I think this is interesting and reminds me of the complexity of trying to do Black work within the system. You have to know who is who. Allies exist and are very much necessary in this society to afford change. An institution against you does not listen to you alone. Are allies flawed and part of that system? Absolutely. So while knowledge and ‘magic’ is communal and certainly should be safeguarded, it’s a careful game figuring whose access is damaging and whose is necessary or even both.
It's so interesting because even in friendship or being in community of these people, they still expect you to do some form of labor. Whether it's emotional, or physical they're still extracting from all facets life, from communities to day-to-day relationships there's an expectation.
I think this is interesting and reminds me of the complexity of trying to do Black work within the system. You have to know who is who. Allies exist and are very much necessary in this society to afford change. An institution against you does not listen to you alone. Are allies flawed and part of that system? Absolutely. So while knowledge and ‘magic’ is communal and certainly should be safeguarded, it’s a careful game figuring whose access is damaging and whose is necessary or even both.
What makes this interesting is that it accidentally exposes a cultural transition happening in real time.
“Clocking into my Substack shift” sounds like a joke, but it reveals something deeper:
people no longer want work that only extracts labor. They want work that converts thought, personality, taste, and perspective into value.
The old economy separated labor from self.
The emerging one monetizes selfhood directly.
And “All roads lead back to Cranes In The Sky” is the perfect example of modern symbolic compression.
One sentence carrying an entire emotional architecture:
avoidance, overachievement, movement as anesthesia, productivity masking emotional displacement.
That’s the internet’s new language now.
Not explanation. Recognition.
It's so interesting because even in friendship or being in community of these people, they still expect you to do some form of labor. Whether it's emotional, or physical they're still extracting from all facets life, from communities to day-to-day relationships there's an expectation.
ooooo this hits hard 😮💨