Michael Williams

Absolutely wild that Bill Clinton getting a blowjob could take down two presidencies almost 30 years apart.

it's my first day at AWS and I'm in charge of the big cable labelled "Internet" :)

Just like the Sydney Sweeney ad, it’s impossible to overstate how important the performance is to the success of these people. The set, the costume, the DBZ mug, the video game sound effects. They are selling reprehensible ideas by communicating in the languages of their desired audience.

Norfolk.

Easy: listen to doctors and scientists instead of the anti-science grifters who told us to inject bleach. Come on, @npr.org , do better.

Weird. It’s almost like simply paying creatives to do their fucking jobs is easier and more reliable.

Fascism relies on the existence of out-groups who are bound by the law but not protected by it and in-groups who are protected by the law but not bound by it. This is wholly on-brand.

just saw someone sincerely arguing that they need AI bc they don't have "natural" artistic talent and idk how to make you understand that nobody comes by this shit naturally. it's just...work. it's being bad at it for a really, really, really long time. it's intention, pursued over time! wtf!!!

It’s so weird to me seeing eugenics propaganda by a major American company being written off as a “distraction” by smart people on the left. The propaganda is what makes the atrocities possible, you all get that, right?

This is how they put a sexy face on the very disturbing ideologies that cause the atrocities we’re witnessing. It’s telling us the atrocities are the distraction and to focus instead on the beauty that will result from the horrors. It’s all part of the same message and we should care - a lot.
3/3

The fact that a major American company is leveraging the language of eugenics while targeting young men (yes, this ad is directed at men) who disproportionately supported fascism in the 2024 election should be viewed in the context of all those other very real concerns.
2/3

I agree that, yes, we have more pressing concerns than a jeans ad. But as someone who works in advertising and understands how it’s used to shape public opinion, this ad should be a major concern for anyone who cares about the things the author claims to care about.
1/3

Also, there’s a way to frame this play on words that doesn’t make people immediately think you’re selling eugenics. They chose not to go that route.

As an advertising copywriter at a decent sized company, I can assure you this campaign went through so many layers of oversight and scrutiny. Choosing this particular spokesperson to deliver this specific message at this specific moment was a choice.

I think part of the reason people don’t talk about Trump’s cognitive state is because we’ve grown so desensitized to his nonsense that it’s nearly impossible to distinguish when he’s lying vs. when he’s just being delusional and to what degree the two are overlapping. “Liar Tells Lies” is not news.

One of the defining traits of Boomers is that they pulled the ladder up behind them on every program or social system that allowed them to accumulate as much wealth and status as they have. In hindsight, it seems obvious they’d do the same thing with the country as a whole.

I do not want to increase shareholder value today. I want to be in my cozy basement writing fiction.

"I asked ChatGPT" "I asked Grok" ok well I asked Gandalf and he said he has not passed through fire and death to bandy crooked words with a witless worm

I feel like that’s kind of the point of this particular brand of terrorism. When anybody could be ICE, everybody can be ICE.

Image of Senator Alex Padilla being physically dragged away by the DHS secretary's security.

This is what Trump's government thugs are willing to do in broad daylight, to a US Senator, with cameras on.

They are sending the message that anyone who disagrees with Trump isn't safe in America.

This is authoritarianism.

Imagine the CEO of Kroger saying “our business model would collapse if we paid suppliers for the produce we sell.”

That’s absolutely amazing! 🤣

Screaming “FIRE!” in a crowded theater and then whispering “that was just satire,” to the person next to me while people panic and trample each other.

As a writer, I’m also furious because screaming lies and then whispering “just kidding” isn’t what satire even is.

Screenshot of a LinkedIn post falsely accusing Mark Cuban, Bill Gates, and Warren Buffett of an illegal pay-for-play scheme.

Screenshot of a notice from LinkedIn stating that a misleading post does not violate community policies.

Screenshot of LinkedIn’s community policy against spreading misinformation.

It’s absolutely infuriating that we all basically have to be on #LinkedIn for work and they do nothing to enforce their own policies about spreading misinformation. But it’s ok because it has “satire” in the tiniest lettering possible.

a yellow car is driving down a purple street at night ALT: a yellow car is driving down a purple street at night

Picked up #SpeedRacer on Free Comic Book Day, so of course, had to introduce the 7-year-old to the movie. Happy to report he’s OBSESSED.

“It’s more art than science. That’s why we’re using it to replace all the artists.” Do these dipshits even hear themselves?

Been forced to spend a little more time than usual on LinkedIn lately and, holy shit, every other post is trying to shove AI down our goddamn throats.

Started playing South of Midnight last night and got through the Benjy Tree sequence when I had to just sit down and think about it for a while. Can’t remember any game that’s ever had that effect on me. Well-done, @compulsiongames.bsky.social

It’s clear some candidates took “vote blue no matter who” as an opportunity.