There are no good kings. / Only beautiful palaces.
Eight years ago Alana Massey published an essay titled "Against Chill". It was a different time on the internet, in media, and in culture.
It is always a different time, except for how often the now is just a repetition of the then.
And so this is an essay that I re-read at least once a year, because it holds up, righteously:
"But Chill is not the opposite of uptight. It is the opposite of demanding accountability. Chill is a sinister refashioning of “Calm down!” from an enraging and highly gendered command into an admirable attitude. Chill suggests that young love is best expressed as competitive ambivalence. Chill demands that you see a Read receipt followed by a “Hey, was asleep” text three hours later and not proceed to throw your phone into the nearest volcano. Chill asks you to be like, “LOL, what volcano?” Chill presides over the funeral of reasonable expectations. Chill takes and never gives. Chill is pathologically unfeeling but not even interesting enough to kill anyone. Chill is a garbage virtue that will destroy the species. Fuck Chill."
There are people who conflate being calm under pressure with being chill. These people are wrong.
Whether you survive an emergency is not only a question of preparation. It is also a question of recognition. And of who you're with at the time.
Attribution:
There are no good kings. Only beautiful palaces.
Who here could claim to be merely guilty?
The mere.My life
growing monstrous
with ease.
— from The Palace by Kaveh Akbar