on the dangers of lifeboat narratives

https://mrissa.dreamwidth.org/1055055.html

As we look around at harsh and closed-off reactions to political refugees from Syria or Guatemala, can we really separate them from the science fiction that has backed us into carefully constructed corners about how limited the world is, how tiny our lifeboat—and how crucial it is for the “captains” to brutally throw “non-contributors” overboard? When cozy catastrophes steer our imaginations into a world where the able and the demographically privileged are the ones who can best contribute to the world, how can that not affect how we imagine the contributions of those around us—and shape policy thereby, as their land heats and disappears out from under them?

[via cjsmith]