For those wondering why it did fly that way, it was a whole thing on Twitter: weather, fly zones, mostly.

https://www.thepoke.com/2025/02/26/elon-musk-said-planes-fly-straight-line-owned-into-economy-class/

Obviously the permanent main character on Twitter popped up to assert that planes must go straight despite flying in a private jet constantly that doesn’t do that, and after a few hours the original guy said he asked the pilot when they landed (20 min ahead of schedule) and the pilot told him it was to avoid turbulence, which is likely what they say when a full answer seems like it’ll just go over folks heads.

Hey, don’t threaten me with a good time ;)

I think that would honestly be great. One of the biggest problems I’ve seen with Democratic messaging in the last 5 years is that they repeat terms and insist that we should champion them - such as democracy - or revile them - such as authoritarianism - without recognizing an obligation to communicate what those words mean to our everyday lives. I want christian nationalists to be put in that situation:

‘You don’t understand! Solarpunk is communism!!!’

‘Well… I heard they want to give everyone food and shelter and education and healthcare for free. And build parks.’

‘Okay, yeah, but didn’t you hear me? It’s COMMUNISM!!’

‘Wait… is that what communism is? Giving me food and shelter for free?’

‘No! I mean, supposedly! But it isn’t! Look, you need to stop saying that you’d like food and shelter to be free and just agree to fear this word because I told you to! Just stop thinking fondly about living outside of capitalism! I mean it!’

I remember that. It was during a Q&A session in the fall of 2023.

I think we’re seeing an idea – or set of ideas or facet of an idea – spreading as a meme in the classical sense. For those unaware, Richard Dawkins coined the term “meme” to describe a transmissible unit of culture: an idea that takes root and gets received, repeated, imitated, and spread.

Solarpunk is a big bucket (a genre of fiction, aesthetic, style of personal fashion, lifestyle, philosophy, etc.) but I think it really is a meme spreading quickly. Fundamentally, it’s a collection of beliefs that we can live in a radically different, less commodified world of respect for nature and community. And I think people are desperate to discover that such a concept exists and has a descriptor.

What’s also interesting, for those who don’t follow him, is that Ezra Klein self describes as an obsessively self-aware overthinker. He is meticulous in the construction of his thoughts and in the precision of his language. I would go so far as to say that he probably realized with full awareness that his use of that word was likely going to introduce thousands of people to a new word, and/or unconsciously inform people who’d heard the word that it was a respectable term to use in political discussion. I think that bodes well for the direction of our culture as a whole.

I think so too. I am seeing a similar effect in a lot of places.

To second what @JacobCoffinWrites@slrpnk.net just said, to say that cyberpunk didn’t take off as a mainstream concept is bewildering when the richest man on the planet and and emergent fascist leader overtly applies cyberpunk concepts to his entire program of world domination.

It’s like saying that the social media or school shooters never really took off as mainstream concepts. Like… I don’t know how it can get much bigger than this, dawg.

I know, right? ?

It looks so sharp you could cut pastrami with it! Very satisfying, imo.