anyways, on #escalation:

there's a classic effect, in any society, in any time, where when the country is under attack, the citizens rally around the leader

even if many people see through the charade, it doesn't matter. enough in society don't see it, and enough #propaganda is put on full blast, it changes the political and social costs of mass #mobilization, or continuing a losing #war, or propping up faith in a dying #economy, etc

3/x

"I think white gay people feel cheated because they were born, in principle, into a society in which they were supposed to be safe. The anomaly of their sexuality puts them in danger, unexpectedly. Their reaction seems to me in direct proportion to the sense of feeling cheated of the advantages which accrue to white people in a white society. There’s an element, it has always seemed to me, of bewilderment and complaint. Now that may sound very harsh, but the gay world as such is no more prepared to accept black people than anywhere else in society. It’s a very hermetically sealed world with very unattractive features, including racism."

James Baldwin