Save yourself from that, if you think you can

'That was what it was always for—?' said Sulien, his voice roughened and thick. 'That's what we were for, to do that for him?'
'Una had dropped with a shudder into Varius' arms, resting there with her eyes shut, as if she'd just crawled out of freezing water. She reached for Sulien's shoulder, and whispered, 'It's over now.'
'I could have killed him and not even hesitated,' Sulien said. 'This is worse.'
'No,' cried Maralah bitterly, 'no, it's far better than he deserves.'
'It was already there,' said Una, slowly. 'You could see that, couldn't you? He was doing it to himself. All we did was ... finish it.'
'Rome will be safe,' said Makaria, though her face looked pinched and paled. 'The war will end. Remember that, if it's difficult to bear.
Sulien nodded and muttered unevenly. 'Let's get away from him.'

— Sophia McDougall, Savage City

For context, this is the moment in a dystopian, alternate history trilogy in which a ragtag resistance army of abuse-surviving women, people who escaped from slavery, people of colour, and other dispossessed people defeat a crazed racist, rapist emperor (whose only experience with leadership prior to illegitimately taking power was to run one Olympic Games) who started a global war as a form of distraction, and has an arsenal of terrifying weapons.

Lest you think the metaphor is a bit heavy-handed, this book was published in 2011!

I need to retire my US politics tag...

... as it's no longer correct.

In any case, if you want to feel delirious joy, my Twitter feed ronnidolorosa is currently wall-to-wall retweets of videos of Americans in large cities dancing, singing, screaming, banging pans, and shouting with joy and relief.

People talk about cities as if they are these cold, unfriendly hellscapes of isolation and alienation, but they're not, they're not! They're full of warmth, and life, and exuberant humanity, and community spirit, and I am a city dweller to my bones (even if I live in what feels to me a tiny, semi-rural town), and I love the beautiful, chaotic mess that is urban living.