Vol. 2, Issue 6: The Predtech Test
How this one simple question can help you to recognize predtech, instantly.
Folks...
I am so, so, so very tired of basic, boring1 politicians who got their power through nothing but bullshit and bravado, and who, because of that, are allowed to do whatever the fuck they want, no matter who it hurts.
I'm speaking specifically about one Douglas "Fail-Up" Ford2, who has been the Premier of Ontario for eight years now, which is about seven years, 11 months, and 3.9 weeks too long.
In that time, he and his “Progressive” Conservative government have done their level best to hollow out every public service including, of course, education. Especially here in Toronto. (Because that’s where all the prime real estate is, doncha know! Who needs pesky schools when you can build a luxury condo or golf course instead?)
Their latest move is cutting more than 600 positions3 - including child and youth workers, community support workers, student success coaches, and parent and family support staff - from the Toronto District School Board, which they have been slowly, sneakily, underfunding since 2018.
To state that their ability to get away with all of this, for so long, is due to predtech4, is kind of like stating the obvious...
... except that predtech is not obvious. That’s the whole point.
It’s something that is literally everywhere, underlying every aspect of society, which is why it’s so hard to see.
Unless, of course, you know which questions to ask.
But before I let you in on that, I need to pull something from the Fictive Kin archives.
Powerless
“When we see violence enacted on the world stage, what comes up for
us all is the violence that we have lived through in our families or in
our past.
[...]
Because not one of us didn’t have to survive some kind of bullying or
some kind of patriarchal violence.
[...]
For a lot of us, that was our fathers, unfortunately, or our brothers, or
somebody else in our family.
Maybe it was our mothers, maybe it was our sisters, maybe it was
somebody else.
Maybe it was a teacher, maybe it was a next-door neighbor, maybe it was
someone that inflicted great harm on us.
[...]
‘Cause on one level there’s nothing different. This is so familiar to all of
us, because of all we’ve had to survive or all we had to see a family
member survive.5(emphasis added; edited for length and clarity)
I first wrote about this quote in March 2025, and I’ve thought about some part of this so many times since then. This part, in particular, stops me in my tracks every. Single. Time:
Feeling powerless in the face of violence from systems that reinforce (white) male power is normal.
Whether they took place in the schoolyard, or at home, or in our community spaces… all of these public forms of violence - and in the specific case of Ontario’s current government, political violence - feels normal to us.
This is a sad, and incredibly toxic, state of affairs. So allow me to offer one way we can de-normalize the work of violent systems, and begin to remember our power.
The Simple Question
Some time ago, I saw an Instagram reel about the central organizing principle of the matriarchal model.6
This principle effectively takes the form of one question:
“Are the children safe?”
I repeat: “Are. The. Children. Safe?”
That simple question is how you can quickly jolt yourself out of feeling powerless in the face of patriarchal violence, because it allows you to spot predtech in the wild.
If the answer to that question is “No.”, then it means that somebody is benefiting from predtech: that is, the nexus of policy, law, economics, education, psychology, communications, computer science, etc. the dominating class has weaponizes against the rest of us, for their own personal gain.7
In the case of Doug Ford, he is using his greater access to institutional power - which includes, but is not limited to, law, government, business, and media8 - to create the conditions that will ensure his continued privilege position, at the expense of our children's wellbeing.9
It’s gross.
It’s unconscionable.
And yet… it feels like there is very little we can do about it, not least because of our bullshit “first-past-theWhich means that now, you can derive your one specific action.-post” electoral system, which has handed the Conservative government a majority three times in a row.
{cue vomiting noises}
In light of this, and as per usual, I’d been struggling with how to end this piece, because I always want to remind you that we are not, in fact, completely powerless, even if it feels that way.
And then yesterday morning, I saw this lovely Substack Note from Michell C. Clark:
The world feels too broken to fix because you’re measuring your impact against the size of the problem.
Don’t do that.
The problem is systemic.
Your impact is specific.
One conversation. One meal. One decision.
Specificity is how systems actually change—one room at a time, from the inside out.10
So, dear readers, you have your specific question: “Are the children safe?”11
Which means that now, you can derive your one specific action.
I’d love to know what you come up with.
❤️
By which I mean, "predictable". Because while the damage that incompetent, narcissistic, and / or sociopathic politicians cause is very easy to anticipate, the impact of their decisions is in no way insignificant, or ineffectual.
I’ve had several nicknames for this man since he became Premier, starting with “D-Frod” because that’s how he won his first election: by defrauding the public through a combination of highly effective - unfortunately- populism and manipulation of the #MeToo movement.
“TDSB Cuts 218 Administrative Staff—But That’s Only Part of the Story”. https://thedeepdive.ca/tdsb-cuts-218-administrative-staff-but-thats-only-part-of-the-story/. The Deep Dive, May 12, 2026.
Riviere, D. "Predtech" - 2026's Word of the Year. March 10, 2026. https://fictivekin.substack.com/p/vol-2-issue-1-predtech
Down to Astro podcast. “Mars Chaos: Executive Orders, Elon’s Coup, Kendrick Lamar, and Cowboy Carter”. February 8, 2025.
van King, L. Matriarchy isn't what you think." January 12, 2026.
Riviere, D. Predtech is Bigger - and so Much Worse - Than I Realized. March 27, 2026. https://fictivekin.substack.com/p/vol-2-issue-3-predtech-is-bigger
The Ford government spent a record $112,000,000 (tax-payer) dollars on advertising in the 2024-2025 fiscal year, thus breaking the previous record by $8,400,000. Source: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/auditor-general-advertising-ford-9.7000456
I suppose this explains how often I hear radio ads for all the (so-called) good things the government of Ontario has done, or is doing, while dropping my child off at school every morning. It’s gotten to the point where even my 8-year-old is like, “This commercial again?”. (Note that it’s a 10-minute drive between home and school.)
I need to be clear that by “children”, I don’t only mean the ones who “belong” to you. I know there are many parents and families out there who are perfectly fine with other peoples’ children being harmed, as long as their kids get to be safe.
“Children”, here, must mean all the children: in your neighbourhood, in your school, in your city and your province, etc.
Otherwise, you’re simply perpetuating patriarchal violence, which will not keep your kids safe, either.
Michell C. Clark. https://substack.com/@michellcclark/note/c-251140204. April 29, 2026.
Another useful option is, “Will the children be safe?”
🤯🙏🏾😌❤️