Stuart Delony

DALL-E For the past few years, a certain slice of American Christianity has had one move. Drag queen reading a picture book to toddlers? Groomer. Teacher with a “safe space” sticker? Groomer. Librarian who shelved a story about two male penguins? Groomer. JD Vance went on Fox News and told the country that anyone wishing to avoid the label should simply decline to “sexualize 6-, 7-year-old children.” Matt Walsh built a brand around the accusation.

DALL-E Everything goes wrong at the moment we name it. The chaos is real. The void, the unknown, the wild undifferentiated mess of a universe that owes you no explanation. That’s all actually there. The trouble starts in the split-second act of labeling it, because the label performs a sleight of hand so fast most people never catch it. It converts raw unknowing into false knowing.

DALL-E In 1945, a farmer in Colorado tried to butcher a chicken named Mike. He cut off the bird’s head. Mike did not die. Enough of his brain stem remained for him to keep moving, balancing, walking, and existing in the most technical sense possible. His owner kept him alive with an eyedropper full of water and food shoved down what was left of his neck. Mike survived for another year and a half, toured the country, appeared in magazines, and became a profitable sideshow attraction.