Rascal combats silly fascism

Episode 10 of the Rascal Radio Hour is a land of audio contrast as Chase, Caelyn, Rowan, and guest Lin Codega attempt to tackle the serious news of a deeply unserious piece of legislation. The F.U.R.R.I.E.S. Act, authored by Texas representative Stan Gerdes uses the thoroughly debunked rumor of children using litter boxes at school to attack trans and marginalized youth. It's collateral also might outlaw roleplay clubs and elf ears?

Elsewhere, the crew discuss the layoffs at Wizards of the Coast that effectively killed Project Sigil, two new tabletop RPGs that disappointed Chase despite great hopes, and an intriguing first session of Realis (Hobgang, rise up). They then venture once again into the Question Dungeon to ponder the lack of identity in Dungeons & Dragons 2024's settings.

You can find Rascal Radio Hour on Apple, Spotify, and all the other various podcatchers. Leaving a five-star review helps us climb the charts and lets us afford the cat litter and meowing lessons we will need to trigger Texas lawmakers.

Here's an exceprt:

Caelyn: I think the other thing that makes it just so ridiculous and just shows how just aging and completely out of touch like conservative legislators are is like... I know obviously it's not really about furries. It's...

Lin: Ugh.

Chase: Hey, don't let Chuck Schumer get off the hook that easy. Our democratic legislators are also old and aging and useless, alright? Nancy Pelosi's right there.

Caelyn: Conservative and also Conservative, yes.

Lin: Also, for the record, Stan Gerdes, who brought the spill to court, 38 years old.

Caelyn: Okay, okay. So, younger than me, right? That makes this even more ridiculous. Furries aren't really the target. It's an excuse. It's about conformity. However, I knew what furries were when I was in high school, and I'm 42. Like, at least with the satanic panic that was when D&D was was like newly popular. Are we going back to to Y2K to find our boogeymen now? Is that what we're doing? Are they going to be introducing bills talking about the dangers of Britney Spears next? Is inflatable neon-colored furniture and transparent electronics corrupting our youth?

Chase: I wish we could bring back transparent plastic. That shit rocked. That was good stuff.

Rowan: That'd be sick as hell.

Caelyn: Yeah, absolutely, I agree. Y2K aesthetic for life.

Rowan: Also importantly, everything runs on furry labor. Literally the whole world happens because furries made the internet. Also, furries have historically, in the last five or six years, been the most effective hackers that have ruined people's lives because they've been conservative assholes. Why would you target the people with the most power to fuck your shit up?

Caelyn: I'm pretty sure that the first furries that I knew are now like in their 60s and 70s. And like, you know, it's not a new thing.

Chase: Well, okay, to be a little bit optimistic about this bill, I understand that it is incredibly damaging and hurtful to students — they're under enough stress right now. Trans students, furry students, they don't need this smoke, they've got enough. But what I will say is that, as Lynn has said, this bill is so broad as to be unenforceable. It will almost certainly get challenged and just thrown out on its merits in a higher district court.

I don't think that, for Stan Gerdes, the point of the bill is to do any sort of enforcement. If it happens, great. If it manage to harm the lives of marginalized kids in the trajectory of his political career, fantastic, feather in his cap. He's 38 years old. He's looking at a career in what he hopes is a Trump and conservative regime that stretches the next 30, 40, 50 years. This is a signal to Congress, to the Senate, to other like higher level conservative politicians that Stan Gerdes is ready to throw some real bullshit bills out there. He's ready to sign his name to some of the most inane, unenforceable garbage that's ever been assigned to legal code. He's basically saying, "put me in coach, I'm ready to do silly fascism." So, I really think this is what this bill is all about: he's signing up for the silly fascism ballgame.

Rowan: That's the worst Monty Python sketch I've ever heard of. The Ministry of Silly Fascism.

Lin: Just a little goofy, goofy fascist. Just a little goofy guy. Just a little guy.