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Reply to @evan@cosocial.ca
Evan Prodromou@evan@cosocial.ca (2026-05-29 11:51:28)
But maybe the quote is about some kind of metaphysical incompatibility between the master's tools and the task of taking apart his house. Maybe the axe stops magically mid-stroke mere millimeters from the columns. Or maybe the tools themselves have a will of their own -- animated household objects like in a Disney film. "Nooooooooo," squeals the sledgehammer plaintively as you lift it. "That's my *owner's* house. I could never hurt his house! I wuuuuuvvvv him!!!"
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Evan Prodromou@evan@cosocial.ca (2026-05-29 11:53:59)
Or maybe it's just the nature of the game. After all, the white bishop can't capture the white queen in chess, no matter how well-positioned it is.

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Evan Prodromou@evan@cosocial.ca (2026-05-29 11:56:37)
That might be the key to it -- the Zen riddle at the heart of Lorde's quote. The master's tools can never dismantle the master's house because by the time we get to the house-dismantling stage, they're not his tools any more. They're our tools, or nobody's tools -- a mob's tools, the crowd's collective tools.