This is How the World Ends

A pox on intolerant dualist culture.
We're not not simply male/female, black/white, gay/straight, chaotic/ordered. We are sentient beings spread across a wide range of modes and that compulsory, illusory choice between 'us' and 'them' is destructive to everyone. 'Them' is a lie. We are all 'us', regardless of how we speak, what we eat, where we live, when or if we pray, or how we make love.
Forcing folks into a box that doesn't suit them is not just wasteful, it's rude and unkind. Deriding people for not choosing to reside in a box is ridiculous. Killing them for it is foolish beyond permission.
Cherish difference because with diversity comes stability. Healthy ecosystems are rich in niches. They weather change well.
When you dehumanize others-regardless of why- you're devaluing your own merit as a human being. And because I'm human too, you're devaluing me. 'Them' is a lie, remember. 'Them' is a way to tap into your reptilian hind brain and get you to react without thinking. 'Them' is fear goggles super glued to your face. The only genuine way to get 'them' to go away is to accept that they are 'us'. And that means when you scream at them, beat them, burn them, force them out, kill them what you are actually doing is abandoning yourself. You are the banality of evil.
Be courteous. Nobody said any of this was going to be easy, but it's necessary.
And (tangent) for pity's sake, don't forget to tip your waitstaff.

When I get short sleep and know it's going to be short my unconscious tends to go hog wild, shredding my recent daily experience into chum for the sleep sharks. As follows:
1) I partake of a LARP extravaganza that ensues inside a mall with a cruise ship mounted on its roof, like if Mall of America decided to strap on pontoons and go to sea.
2)This LARP appears to be some cthonic melding of Star Wars: Clone Wars, Lord of the Rings, and Cabin in the Woods. I realize none of these explain the presence of the mimes but they were there anyway. (Don't ask me, I was ASLEEP, ok?!?)
3)I learn (by grim example, not mine, thank God) that leaping madly from the smoke stack of a cruise liner into its open central section, shouting 'Eat my thunderstick you alliance scum!' without checking to see if your zip line is actually zippy is a tragicomic way to die.
4)I overhear a conversation between 2 adult players in the children's fun area that goes something like this:
'Zeke, aren't these the most precious little redneck zombies you've ever seen in your life?'
'Ma, I venture to say it will be a pure pleasure to be consumed by these undead children.'
5)The term 'scrufulous fuckwidget' becomes an expression of ultimate disdain and once I achieve consciousness I agree wholeheartedly.
By and large, this was one of my better efforts and one of a handful of times I've actually woken myself up laughing.