Isaac @isaacwbell.bsky.social · 18/12/2025“You can be anything you want. But not that.” That’s the entire message being espoused by these assholes. Be what they think you should be. Or else. 020 0
Isaac @isaacwbell.bsky.social · 11/09/2025Maybe we could worry less about scolding people for needing assistance and just provide the assistance they need.lawrencekstimes.comKansas ban on using food assistance for candy and soda has yet to be approvedKansas’ request to ban candy and soft drinks from being purchased with food assistance dollars has yet to be approved, while other states’ similar restrictions are expected to go into effect Jan. 1. 000 0
Isaac @isaacwbell.bsky.social · 08/08/2025By the way, if you ever wonder why those of us still pitifully trying to educate people despair when see people who just want to coast through school, show no intellectual curiosity, or are proud of not reading? 100 0
Isaac @isaacwbell.bsky.social · 17/07/2025Okay. James Gunn's understanding of Superman is *my* understanding of Superman. 000 0
Isaac @isaacwbell.bsky.social · 14/07/2025Barack Obama should have appointed Garland even without Senate approval; ignore McConnell’s bullshit and just do the necessary work. Biden should have expanded the court. Both of them, and the various party leaders who they listened to, did not take the threat to our country seriously enough. 241 0
Isaac @isaacwbell.bsky.social · 25/06/2025They don’t believe in anything. They’ve never believed in anything. Therefore, they think belief is a scam, that principles and rules of ethics are just levers to give one a temporary advantage. They will say anything to get that advantage themselves without caring about the future. 110 0
Isaac @isaacwbell.bsky.social · 12/06/2025Some times it’s really easy to explain why I stopped being a journalist. But why in the hell can’t the actual journalists just do their jobs? Just try to report the facts, don’t gloss them over or sugarcoat them. How hard is that to figure out? 000 0
Isaac @isaacwbell.bsky.social · 16/05/2025I’ve always been skeptical about the writer/actor adage that “no one believes they’re the villain of their own story.” I think the world today shows us that several people are not only comfortable with the idea of being villains, they delight in it. 010 0
Isaac @isaacwbell.bsky.social · 07/05/2025Last day of lecture, once again. This time two students said they wanted to visit next year, one asked about writing a story over the summer, and several who were putting in earbuds and staring at their phones while I was giving my final thoughts. As is usual for the end of semester. 000 0
Isaac @isaacwbell.bsky.social · 02/05/2025My last writing project in my English class is a creative one: tell the class a story. It throws these college students for a loop, because they have had creativity hammered out of them throughout K-12, especially high school. So many students act uncomfortable with the very idea. 110 0
Isaac @isaacwbell.bsky.social · 29/04/2025One of the joys of living in the unstylish dystopian future is that health care costs are no joke, even with health insurance. And so even though my wife and I are both employed in decent jobs, we have to do a GoFundMe for supplemental health coverage. www.gofundme.com/f/help-fores...gofundme.comDonate to Help Forest Beat Stage 0 Breast Cancer, organized by Julie BellHi! Back in March 2025, I went in for my annual mammogram. During that time, the res… Julie Bell needs your support for Help Forest Beat Stage 0 Breast Cancer 020 0
Isaac @isaacwbell.bsky.social · 27/04/2025Imma try to talk about the stuff I want to talk about and not wade into the swamp. Let's see how it goes. I just finished watching the first two seasons of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. While trying to look something up, I ran across a bunch of social media posts complaining about everything. 110 0
Isaac @isaacwbell.bsky.social · 26/04/2025I keep debating how much I should engage in social media. I have projects I might want to share and talk about in the near future... But there's all the screaming and free-floating rage to deal with just to have an audience to talk with about speculative fiction. 110 0
Isaac @isaacwbell.bsky.social · 22/03/2025Just as Trump is an idiot's concept of a rich man, or a strong leader, Musk is an idiot's idea of a smart man. 020 0
Isaac @isaacwbell.bsky.social · 19/03/2025This was in reference to the woman who wrote those magical child soldier books. But there are so many rich assholes to whom it could apply. 100 0
Isaac @isaacwbell.bsky.social · 16/03/2025It's fascinating to me as a rhetorician to see how the MAGA party, full of anti-semites and racists, is twisting language to pretend they're defending Jews from anti-semitic people and stamping out racism in our institutions when they're doing the opposite. 120 0
Isaac @isaacwbell.bsky.social · 06/03/2025@gavinnewsom.bsky.social You're an Old like me, so in in the parlance of yesteryear: This ain't it, chief. You're not going to win votes by amplifying their hatreds. You're not going to be more attractive as a Presidential candidate walking over the backs of trans people and progressives.politico.comGavin Newsom breaks with Democrats on trans athletes in sportsThe Democratic California governor made the stunning remarks in his debut podcast with conservative guest Charlie Kirk. 020 0
Isaac @isaacwbell.bsky.social · 04/03/2025It's a really wild time to be a teacher right now, folks. But remember: we are there for our students, not our institutions. 010 0
Isaac @isaacwbell.bsky.social · 25/02/2025Scary out here for faculty, folks. Just had a meeting about how to keep our heads down until The Current Crisis is over. But, well... That would require the crisis to end and I'm not confident that will happen any time soon. 010 0
Isaac @isaacwbell.bsky.social · 24/02/2025This weekend I had a quick lesson in the addictive properties of social media engagement. That’s a hell of a drug. 000 0
Isaac @isaacwbell.bsky.social · 23/02/2025It's really disappointing to see that the ideological purity police have descended on Bluesky as well. Folks, you need to learn to not attack people who are on your side, even if they don't agree with you 100%. The other side manages to have a big tent somehow, we should give it a try. 4266 0
Isaac @isaacwbell.bsky.social · 18/02/2025Today I am officially older than I was. Some years I care about my birthday, some years I adhere to Patton Oswalt's rant about how many birthdays we should celebrate. This year, at 53, I'm the age my grandfathers were when I was born. That's...a bit of a trip. 000 0
Isaac @isaacwbell.bsky.social · 16/02/2025@schumer.senate.gov I'm just wondering how compromising and trying to be reasonable with these people is working out for you. Are you getting the results you want? 110 0
Isaac @isaacwbell.bsky.social · 16/02/2025I had thought ketamine use just made you hallucinate for a shorter period than acid. Does it also make you believe you know everything about everything? Or did Justin Hammer-cosplaying-as-Tony Stark come by that delusion naturally? 000 0
Isaac @isaacwbell.bsky.social · 15/02/2025Wouldn't it be ironic justice if the current fascist regime leads to a resurgence in actual investigative journalism? Even some of the professional stenographers of the White House Press Corps seem to be getting angry enough to not eat every bite of spoonfed bullshit. 010 0
Isaac @isaacwbell.bsky.social · 11/02/2025@pbs.org Apparently you're not paying attention here, yet. But if you ever manage to look away from Twitter, I have a request as a donor: Don't capitulate. Be journalists, be brave, stop bowing down to authoritarians. It's to stand up against these people. 000 0
Isaac @isaacwbell.bsky.social · 06/02/2025Has anyone tried just giving Elon a stuffed animal that says it loves him when he pulls the cord? Would that help? 230 0
Isaac @isaacwbell.bsky.social · 04/02/2025I am ashamed to say that I am beginning to see the appeal of the Second Amendment. 000 0
Isaac @isaacwbell.bsky.social · 01/02/2025@hakeem-jeffries.bsky.social @schumer.senate.gov Fight back now. Stop compromising. Stop bargaining. Fight. We're literally begging you to show even a shred of moral courage. Don't negotiate with fascists. Fight them. 030 0
Reposted by IsaacAlexandria Ocasio-Cortez @aoc.bsky.social · 31/01/2025I honestly believe our most powerful position in a toxic time that feeds on cynicism, apathy,& despair is to genuinely care and act for a better world. Cynicism is our enemy. We should check it, incl. on the left. It’s not intellectually superior. It’s the virus they’re trying to infect us with. NO 413414530124032 0
Isaac @isaacwbell.bsky.social · 31/01/2025Some y’all didn’t read young adult fiction in the past 25 years and it shows. 010 0
Isaac @isaacwbell.bsky.social · 31/01/2025So in the race to the bottom of shitty presidents, I have started to wonder who was the worst racist among them? Jackson, Johnson, Wilson, or Trump? 000 0
Isaac @isaacwbell.bsky.social · 30/01/2025My university just sent out an email reminding us about FERPA and (in so many words) telling us to keep our damn mouths shut when the pigs ask us about our students. And good on them for doing so. But also, what a shitty country this is that we need to remind each other to protect our kids. 020 0
Isaac @isaacwbell.bsky.social · 28/01/2025I wish I could feel some schadenfreude at watching Fuckface McGee set fire to the government and it burning several of the MAGA idiots who voted for him. But the problem is, ain't none of us living in a fireproof house on this one, and he's not done committing arson. 010 0
Isaac @isaacwbell.bsky.social · 25/01/2025Obviously, part of Fuckface McGee's issues with national and international programs to help people out is that he cannot conceive of anything that isn't a transaction between people. The concept of charity, doing good, or helping someone out of kindness simply doesn't exist in his mind. 110 0
Isaac @isaacwbell.bsky.social · 24/01/2025The thing is, if Biden went on camera to ramble about how the states should be solely responsible for disaster relief, he’d be excoriated and people would be calling for him to resign. I expect the hypocrisy by now. But I would love for anyone at the level of national media to admit to it. 010 0
Isaac @isaacwbell.bsky.social · 22/01/2025What I want to do with my social media presence: write thoughtful analysis of speculative fiction and its role in commenting on our society and helping shape our cultural frameworks. What I actually do: get so angry about the ongoing idiocy that I subtweet fascists who will never see my words. 000 0
Isaac @isaacwbell.bsky.social · 21/01/2025What I will never understand is how anyone could be taken in by that guy. I keep thinking that con men at that level need to be, I don’t know, somewhat good at lying and hiding their true feelings? Relatively clever and smooth? Instead we have this incompetent fuckface. 010 0
Isaac @isaacwbell.bsky.social · 20/01/2025Whiny little boys get to cheer their hateful whiny old man for the next several years, I guess. What a different world this would be if these so-called men weren’t so scared of everything, especially women. 000 0
Isaac @isaacwbell.bsky.social · 14/01/2025It’s important to remember, when you find out things about artists that make you question everything: the Art is not synonymous with the Artist. It’s a dialogue, and what you bring to it is at least as important (if not more so) than what the artist intended. 110 0
Isaac @isaacwbell.bsky.social · 09/01/2025Probably they will wring their hands over whether anyone will be angry if they can finally stand up for themselves. 010 0
Isaac @isaacwbell.bsky.social · 08/01/2025Dammit, I responded to a troll. I should have known better, but that stupid outrage circuit cut in before the reason circuits could do their jobs. Although I guess it's illuminating that they categorize the sides of the culture war as "white and male" vs. everyone else. 100 0
Isaac @isaacwbell.bsky.social · 07/01/2025I really don't understand why people want to believe a group that is so afraid of the truth that they're willing to sue to keep those truths hidden away. Shouldn't that be a red flag, especially to people who think the government is already lying for nefarious purposes? 110 0
Isaac @isaacwbell.bsky.social · 03/01/2025It's sad to think that the world would be a better place right now if only some saintly soul had agreed to be Musk's best friend and tell him he's a good boy and oh so funny. Although that would be an actual "Those Who Walk Away from Omelas" fate, they'd be remembered as a hero. 000 0
Isaac @isaacwbell.bsky.social · 01/01/2025*narrows eyes at the New Year* *eyebrows gather in suspicion and distrust* Well, let's do our best, shall we? And Happy New Year to those who practice happiness. 010 0
Isaac @isaacwbell.bsky.social · 01/01/2025Every year I post this to my socials. First, because I think The Anthropocene Reviewed is John Green's best creative work, and second because the message is beautiful and heart-breaking. We're here because we're here, because we're here, because we're here. www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGze...youtube.comAuld Lang Syne: The Anthropocene ReviewedYouTube video by vlogbrothers 000 0
Isaac @isaacwbell.bsky.social · 30/12/2024One of the problems with being raised on comic books and adventure/action movies is that I keep wanting my villains to have more lofty and interesting goals than "More racisms, please," or "Gimme the money!" Is it so much to ask that the next oligarch has a volcano lair and an earthquake machine? 020 0
Isaac @isaacwbell.bsky.social · 27/12/2024I really wish these social media apps would stop trying to curate my experience for me. If I scroll back 8 hours to start reading my feed there, just leave me there and don't try to refresh me or push my attention to the most recent thing. There's a reason I prefer watching discourses develop. 000 0
Isaac @isaacwbell.bsky.social · 27/12/2024Will there be a point when supposed strong and tough-minded people running public institutions and large businesses stop bending the knee? (I know historically it that point only comes after we’ve lost a few million lives and a few billion in wealth.) 000 0