My last post was very serious and I don't know if I can sleep tonight. So I will try to inject a little levity on this blog. The following are my favorite in-jokes of the Philly Left. Hopefully they will help me sleep.
"All Cats Are Beautiful" - This is what ACAB stands for, because the Left in Philly has a lot of cat-lovers. Personally, I'm a dog person, but it's helpful to remind police if they are suspicious of your ACAB button, shirt or bumper sticker, that all it really means is "All Cats Are Beautiful." There's really nothing deeper to it than that.
"Anonymous Anarchists" - This is probably the most in-jokey of all Philly Leftist in-jokes. During a General Assembly at Occupy ICE in the summer of 2018, a small group of masked, self-identified "anarchists" (not affiliated with any of the groups in the coalition, which included many anarchists) seized the microphone and read from a long list of complaints and distributed a document that become commonly known as "The 18 Page Screed," directed against the socialist organizations in the coalition. It was polarizing and divisive and led to friction between socialists and anarchists in the coalition. While some of us were sympathetic to the concerns expressed in "The 18 Page Screed," we didn't appreciate the disruption and the division they sowed. Since then it's been a joke. That Halloween I dressed as an "Anonymous Anarchist" at a party, as a kind of parody Leftist boogeyperson. The other day, I caught myself saying "an anonymous anarchist sci fi blog" in a text to a comrade, and immediately texted a follow up: "Oh God, I just said 'Anonymous Anarchist.' Shades of '18."
"Fully Automated Luxury Gayspace Communism" - a Queer variant of the meme "Fully Automated Luxury Communism," an expression of the goal of a post-scarcity economy. Originally, the addition of "Space" before "Communism" indicated an interest in space exploration and interplanetary solidarity. The "Gayspace" comes from combining "gay" with "safe space," a much derided term among the Far Right (and among plenty of conservatives, moderates and even liberals). It really should technically be "Queerspace," but "Gayspace" flows better (although "Queerspace" sounds like a faster alternative to hyperspace from Babylon 5).
"Gritty is Antifa"/"Gritty is a Worker"/"Fellow Worker Gritty" - Philly has a reputation (probably deserved) for being particularly militant about our sports teams. Gritty, the newest Philly sports mascot who resembles a fearsome, deranged muppet, premiered around the same time as a massive anti-Trump protest, and Gritty showed up at that protest. Gritty gained a reputation associated with the Radical Left. The Alt Right attempted to appropriate Gritty like Pepe the Frog. It didn't work. Gritty is a fellow worker (in spirit; but not officially a member of the IWW because the local chapter refused to accept soft pretzels as union dues) and you can follow the googly-eyed, orange hellion on Twitter. Gritty tends to be associated with Antifa (which is not an organization, but an idea that fascism should be resisted). The Phantoms publicity team even affirmed his status as "Antifa" and a "nonbinary Leftist icon."
"One Sick Cloud" - The IWW (Industrial Workers of the World) has a concept called the "One Big Union." It's the ultimate goal of Industrial Unionism, a Union that covers all workers. The Philadelphia IWW, at least until a certain point not long ago, had a lot of people vaping. Hence, "One Sick Cloud." For obvious reasons, this has fallen out of favor, much like vaping itself.