Charlie Stross

Years ago (before Epstein, before the GFC, etc) I used to jokingly talk about my pet conspiracy theory, that the world was ruled by the P7: the Pale Patriarchal Plutocratic Protestant Penis-People of Power.

Turns out I was right.

I didn't want to be right …

Feb 2 at 9:49amWeb
Show threadChucklesFeb 2
@cstross Living through history is exhausting and boringly repetitive.
Show threadAgnieszka R. TurczyńskaFeb 2
@cstross A person I know has created a dystopia near future RPG system (unfortunately, only in Polish). I've heard from him more than once something in line: "I've made a fucking RPG, not a dystopian state operation manual".
Show threadCharlie StrossFeb 2
@agturcz I have just thrown in the towel on my long-running dystopian political satire/Lovecraftian horror series because the way it's tracking things in real life Cthulhu is scheduled to wake up next month.
Show threadSeiðrFeb 2
@cstross @agturcz As things go, I don't think we'll have a horrible end so much as no end of horrors.
Show threadjaarkFeb 2
@cstross @agturcz TBH, the New Management often seem to be perfectly reasonable and sane compared to what's actually happening.
Show threadCorvusFeb 2
@agturcz @cstross #shadowrun is a known brand in #rpg. It provoked that exact same thought.
Show threadLord Caramac the Clueless, KSCFeb 2
@corvus_ch @agturcz @cstross Every time I read about Elon Musk dreaming of becoming the Emperor of Mars, I think to myself, "Don't those oligarchs understand that the Tessier-Ashpools were the villains in Neuromancer?"
Show threadShawn "Fruan" PoulsenFeb 2

@cstross Of all the things you could have been right about, I’m glad it was that and not anything out of the Laundry Files…

… not very glad, just so we’re clear.

Show thread🇵🇸 Álvaro GonzálezFeb 2
@cstross You even missed a P.
Show threadGary Feb 2
@cstross if you could just stop Being Right so bloody often that would be great, thanks 🙃
Show threadCryptoLek 🍉🌻Feb 2
@cstross Not sure about the protestant part, but otherwise yeah, spot on
Show threadCharlie StrossFeb 2
@CryptoLek Tell me the Heritage Foundation and Project 2025 isn't a protestant fundamentalist play? Dominionism is all about the patriarchy/child abuse nexus.
Show threadCryptoLek 🍉🌻Feb 2
@cstross fair point, indeed! My thoughts went into direction of israel/zionists/aipac/
Show threadsz_duras - textFeb 2
@cstross drop the protestant aspect and call it the p6 and it almost works…
Show thread~sterpetoFeb 2
@cstross I tought it was Juice people.
Show threadTodd KnarrFeb 2
@cstross Why couldn't we have Victor von Doom? Or Lex Luthor. Or hells, Ming the Merciless. Father. Even Him or Mojo Jojo. But no, what do we get? The lameoids.
Show threadCharlie StrossFeb 2
@tknarr We REALLY need the New Management to take charge now.
Show threadJaime RobertsonFeb 2
@cstross I’d rather not have tzompantli in every city center.
Show threadTodd KnarrFeb 3
@cstross I'm not so sure of that. At least the current Manglement don't have a literal god behind them and can be dealt with without collateral damage at a level even Ouro and Boro (cf "Taylor Varga" Chapter 216 "Combat Specialists") would find excessive.
Show threadsтеvаnЖIVADINOVIЋFeb 2
@cstross i feel like Protestant should be before Plutocratic, it seems to roll better that way.
Show threadDave FreedmanFeb 2
@cstross
Trump answers to the 7 Ps: petroleum, plutocrats, Putin, Palantir, private prisons, pistols, polluters.
Show threadmayhemFeb 2
@Freedman @cstross In short: pariahs.
Show threadOlivier Roux (moose)Feb 2
@Freedman @cstross forgot the 8th P: penis
Show threadMatthew NewellFeb 2
@Freedman @cstross paedophiles too
Show threadNorman WilsonFeb 3
@Freedman @cstross What about the puny penises?
Show threadThomas LobigFeb 2
@cstross soothsayer or conjurer, which are you? Reveal thineself!
Show threadSzymon Sokół 🇵🇱🇪🇺🇺🇦Feb 2
@cstross very efficient, as "Penis-People" can mean both "males" and "dicks".
Show threadJaime RobertsonFeb 2
@cstross I never took it as a joke, seemed too obviously true. At least in the US.
Show threadFredrik GraverFeb 2
@cstross @MerjaPolvinen To be fair, even back then that wasn’t much of a stretch…we just didn’t have the receipts the way we do now.