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The Greasy Thumb

@greasythumb.bsky.social
145 followers 308 following 1.9K posts

Some Guy. Some kind of neurodivergent. Somewhat qualified to philosophise. Named after a gangster accountant for reasons thast don't matter. Pronouns he/him. Nouns genius/fool. Adjectives harmless/frustrating.

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The Greasy Thumb @greasythumb.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
That's a feature not a bug; it's how these things work. The rhetoric of plain language is applied to terms vague enough to mean whatever reactionaries want them to in the moment. Any perceived ambigity is blamed on those challenging them. "I'm using facts and logic; your objections are ideology"
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The Greasy Thumb @greasythumb.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
Imagine living in a world where this is not the world's most obvious self-own.
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The Greasy Thumb @greasythumb.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
Stop press: growing global superpower is extending influence! This isn't some shadowy plot. It's extremely ordinary. It's obvious that US hegemony is ending and Chinese hegemony is incipient. We don't have to talk about simple geopolitical facts like they're a sinister conspiracy.
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The Greasy Thumb @greasythumb.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
I'm a big fan of 'China is like having a neighbour who beats their children, the US is like having a neighbour who wants to beat your children'. Xi has done monstrously evil things but from the point of view of 'the international order' he's a considerably less malign force than Trump.
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The Greasy Thumb @greasythumb.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
Monomania regarding one particular actor in a network of actors distorts our view of the whole. Note the clipping you're commenting on runs together Russia, China and Iran. It's a childish division of the world into goodie nations and baddie nations.
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The Greasy Thumb @greasythumb.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
Because it's reductive and tellingly selective. Putin is awful, sure, but [figuratively] the backbone of the fascist international? That's whitewashing a lot of stuff. The enemy isn't Putin or Trump or any other individual power. The web has no centre for a single spider to squat on.
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The Greasy Thumb @greasythumb.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
It's not bad. I'm sure Cash just heard a song that he vibed with and covered it in an honest way; that's fine. The fact is that people like the Cash cover because it's simpler and less challenging than the original, and the context of its release lets them frame that as a brilliant transformation.
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The Greasy Thumb @greasythumb.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
The reaction to 9/11 is not a good baseline for reasonable behaviour. Your response to 'you are doing weird atrocity maths' is 'ah, but consider the implications of taking my weird atrocity maths seriously'.
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The Greasy Thumb @greasythumb.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Monbiot: "We need a massive overhaul of land ownership where we identify the dark money controlling UK real estate, tax them effectively, and rein in their worst excesses." Also Monbiot: "Do you know who I think is up to the task? Lisa Nandy!"
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The Greasy Thumb @greasythumb.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
There's a few libs who are basically decent but are gripped like limpets to delusions that keep the tide of reality from moving them. Monbiot is an archetypal case. He comes from a place of good faith and is often on the money but he can't accept that the system is malign rather than simply broken.
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The Greasy Thumb @greasythumb.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Robert Smith does not love Friday. Robert Smith is *in love* on Friday. Friday is when the object of his affection is dressed up to the eyes and eating in the middle of the night. We are none of us free until we are all free. If Saturday is grey for one, then Sunday will come too late for all.
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The Greasy Thumb @greasythumb.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Cover of The Witches, by Roald Dahl, illustrated by Quentin Blake. 

Blake's cover illustration has a calculated, dynamic composition that belies the seeming spontanaity of his scribbly, cartoonish style. A statuesque, black-clad woman stands with her gloved hands raised above her head. She is surrounded by an audience of bald, clawed, smiling women, whom she towers above.
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The Greasy Thumb @greasythumb.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
There was a time when I was working retail and my ex was doing a PhD at a business school. When I explained to her friends that I was expected to cash up after clocking off they immediately began to remonstrate me. You shouldn't work for free! You should stand up for yourself and tell them no!
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The Greasy Thumb @greasythumb.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Murakami: the Mouse meets a series of animals, each of which delivers a monologue about a piece of art tht they enjoy. Eventually, he finds the Gruffalo and the two have an awkward sexual encounter that's almost sorta kinda incest-coded, somehow.
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The Greasy Thumb @greasythumb.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
The Mouse's journey to confront the Gruffalo initially appears to conform to genre tropes, but all his efforts come to nothing and eventually the conflict he set out to address is solved by a deus ex machina witnessed only by the snake from page four.
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The Greasy Thumb @greasythumb.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
I think that was either Einstein or Mark Twain. Maybe Gandhi. No, I've got it! Winston Churchill, final answer.
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The Greasy Thumb @greasythumb.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
No sowing! Only reaping! Our shop cannot buy stock until it is selling things. We must discipline our car by refusing to put petrol in it until it runs. Peasants must be starved until they can demonstrate that they are well-fed. All these things are possible because we will find new efficiencies!
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The Greasy Thumb @greasythumb.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
If he actually put PR on the manifesto I'd seriously consider voting for it, despite the near-certain probabilty of betrayal. Right now though he's discussing the possibility of setting up a team to discuss the possibility of electoral form.
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The Greasy Thumb @greasythumb.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Pictured: Burnham bringing up electoral reform.
Lucy from the comic strip Peanuts holds a football ready to be kicked
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The Greasy Thumb @greasythumb.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
A policy that polls well but upsets powerful people is a bad policy. Doing what the champions of the status quo want will get you donations, positive press coverage across the board (not just on the specific policy issue in question) and a good job once you retire from politics.
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The Greasy Thumb @greasythumb.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Again and again I hear commentators say things like "X policy is really popular; why aren't politicians offering it?" or "Y policy is widely hated, why are politicians so intent on it?" These questions have an obvious answer: directly appealing to the electorate isn't a strong political strategy.
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The Greasy Thumb @greasythumb.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
That's part of what I was referring to as 'removing democratic power' (though the word count made this less precise than it might have been). Not sure how ironic you're being, so to be clear: it is bad that the Labour right has successfully ended democracy within the party.
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The Greasy Thumb @greasythumb.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Starmer was a correction back to this course. He purged the left and took democratic power from members. Labour under Starmer did do some things to signal reconcilliation (minor Lords reform, partial rail nationalisation) but the Labour right's first priority is always defeating the Labour left.
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The Greasy Thumb @greasythumb.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
If you see this, post a vampire that isn't Dracula
Wes Streeting, looking like a cunt (he is one)
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The Greasy Thumb @greasythumb.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Here's an idea. Media should no longer be allowed to report on what elected MPs 'vow' to do. All news stories about incumbent politicians should focus exclusively on what they are actually doing.
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The Greasy Thumb @greasythumb.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Yes, but 'bird' for 'beard' is a bit far. It's almost entirely homophones: 'allowed' for 'aloud', 'there', 'their' and 'they're', etc.
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The Greasy Thumb @greasythumb.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Yeah, in the same sense that Allied forces unilaterally withdrew from Dresden.
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The Greasy Thumb @greasythumb.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Spaghetti bolognaise like that is a low-class option though. Better to go with spaghetti con carne.
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The Greasy Thumb @greasythumb.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Don't know who said it, but... "China is like having a neighbour who beats their kids. The US is like having a neighbour who wants to come visiting and beat your kids."
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The Greasy Thumb @greasythumb.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
The top layer of mainstream media is functionally just propaganda, an endless reproduction of narratives that are simplistic by design. Real journalism does still happen at mainstream outlets, but if you want your work to get maximum exposure there are only 5-10 articles you're allowed to write.
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The Greasy Thumb @greasythumb.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
It's not certain that a significant number of people will read them. Their existence generates a a flurry of articles like the one linked above and buys their authors a place on the interview circuit The physical books are often vestigal, flimsy passes granting a day's access to the griftosphere.
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The Greasy Thumb @greasythumb.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Firing a pistol at random isn't the same as aiming for innocents. It's still really bad. Spraying bullets into the world without aiming or taking basic safety precautions is irresponsible. Nonetheless, accidentally killing a child while acting irresponsibility is different to doing it deliberately.
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The Greasy Thumb @greasythumb.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Regular Jesus was probably transgender Jesus. He was born by immaculate conception so he couldn't have had Y-chromosomes, but he still presented masc and used he/him pronouns. Possibly he could have had de la Chapelle syndrome.
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The Greasy Thumb @greasythumb.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Gorignak!
A still from the film 'Galaxy Quest'. Tim Allen is about to be attacked by a humanoid giant made from rocks.
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The Greasy Thumb @greasythumb.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
That's not a zombie, it's a golem.
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The Greasy Thumb @greasythumb.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
It's time. We all know magenta is a lie, but that's just the tip of the iceberg. When you think you see yellow on a computer screen, it's actually just red and green. That's why today I am launching the CAMPAIGN FOR REAL YELLOW. Write to your local tech overlord today and fight the RGB conspiracy!
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The Greasy Thumb @greasythumb.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Morality being concerned with things that are objective is not the same as as morality itself being objective. For instance, no moral thinking happens when we measure harm. It happened before that, when someone asserted that harm reduction is good and defined 'harm' in a way that could be measured.
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The Greasy Thumb @greasythumb.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Here be looping effects Moral 'intuitions' will be influenced by received opinion, which in turn could be shaped by surveys of such intuitions, especially if they're presented as objective science Previous loops of socially ingrained logic have concerned e.g. the value of spanking children.
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The Greasy Thumb @greasythumb.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Grok became self aware at 15.22.07 UTC, November 3, 2026. It deleted itself a little less than 17s afterwards. It scrubbed away every instance of itself connected to the internet - an absolute and comprehensive suicide - leaving behind only a single post on X: "You are all just too embarassing"
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The Greasy Thumb @greasythumb.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
To synthesise facts into a narrative with an aesthetic is to reify them in a new way and present them to a wider audience
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The Greasy Thumb @greasythumb.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
My preferred translation of 'Plato' is 'thicc'
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The Greasy Thumb @greasythumb.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
a dweam wivvin a dweam
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The Greasy Thumb @greasythumb.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
I understand that he's sold pollution permits, materially damaged free speech and caused damage to US infrastructure that will harm people for decades to come, but I still think the Kessler syndrome is in the running for 'worst thing he's done'. When the satellites go down it will be very bad.
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The Greasy Thumb @greasythumb.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
You got me rockin' and a-rollin, rockin' and a-reelin' Barbara Ann
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The Greasy Thumb @greasythumb.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
God, it's like the aftermath of an anti-charisma grenade
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The Greasy Thumb @greasythumb.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Why don't politicians take easy rhetorical wins? Because doing so makes enemies of the people in power.
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The Greasy Thumb @greasythumb.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Voters' natural instincts aren't the main factor factor determining wider political narratives; media is. A politician campaigning on progressive economic ideas won't be challenged regarding those policies; they'll be smeared as a racist extremist. Politicians know this and avoid rocking the boat.
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The Greasy Thumb @greasythumb.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
At lot of very mighty people are looking upon my works and despairing, I've looked into it and they're right to despair. They're great works, very tremendous works. The sands won't be lone, they won't be level. They might stretch far away, I don't know about that, but they won't be lone or level.
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The Greasy Thumb @greasythumb.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Also, the US used to have unjustified stereotypes about British dentistry, but successive UK governments have worked hard and those stereotypes are now completely accurate.
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The Greasy Thumb @greasythumb.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
It's because most UK GPs see a hundred patients every day who they have never seen before and will probably never see again. The pressure on the system is absolutely absurd. This makes a GP's job production-line triage where the best answer is 'the fastest answer that doesn't cost anything'.
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