#Social Issues

[comicgeekscomicgeek]

The shift from "no thank you" to "not now" is a big one. As is the needing an account to actually do/see anything. It's not like places weren't account/members locked in the past, but those were usually for specific privacy reasons, not to get you to sign up so you could get spammed with e-mails.

I don't know I'm not done talking about it. It's insane that I can't just uninstall Edge or Copilot. That websites require my phone number to sign up. That people share their contacts to find their friends on social media.

I wouldn't use an adblocker if ads were just banners on the side funding a website I enjoy using and want to support. Ads pop up invasively and fill my whole screen, I misclick and get warped away to another page just for trying to read an article or get a recipe.

Every app shouldn't be like every other app. Instagram didn't need reels and a shop. TikTok doesn't need a store. Instagram doesn't need to be connected to Facebook. I don't want my apps to do everything, I want a hub for a specific thing, and I'll go to that place accordingly.

I love discord, but so much information gets lost to it. I don't want to join to view things. I want to lurk on forums. I want to be a user who can log in and join a conversation by replying to a thread, even if that conversation was two days ago. I know discord has threads, it's not the same. I don't want to have to verify my account with a phone number. I understand safety and digital concerns, but I'm concerned about information like that with leaks everywhere, even with password managers.

I shouldn't have to pay subscriptions to use services and get locked out of old versions. My old disk copy of photoshop should work. I should want to upgrade eventually because I like photoshop and supporting the business. Adobe is a whole other can of worms here.

Streaming is so splintered across everything. Shows release so fast. Things don't get physical releases. I can't stream a movie I own digitally to friends because the share-screen blocks it, even though I own two digital copies, even though I own a physical copy.

I have an iPod, and I had to install a third party OS to easily put my music on it without having to tangle with iTunes. Spotify bricked hardware I purchased because they were unwillingly to upkeep it. They don't pay their artists. iTunes isn't even iTunes anymore and Apple struggles to upkeep it.

My TV shows me ads on the home screen. My dad lost access to eBook he purchased because they were digital and got revoked by the company distributing them. Hitman 1-3 only runs online most of the time. Flash died and is staying alive because people love it and made efforts to keep it up.

I have to click "not now" and can't click "no". I don't just get emails, they want to text me to purchase things online too. My windows start search bar searches online, not just my computer. Everything is blindly called an app now. Everything wants me to upload to the cloud. These are good tools! But why am I forced to use them! Why am I not allowed to own or control them?

No more!!!!! I love my iPod with so much storage and FLAC files. I love having all my fics on my harddrive. I love having USBs and backups. I love running scripts to gut suck stuff out of my Windows computer I don't want that spies on me. I love having forums. I love sending letters. I love neocities and webpages and webrings. I will not be scanning QR codes. Please hand me a physical menu. If I didn't need a smartphone for work I'd get a "dumb" phone so fast. I want things to have buttons. I want to use a mouse. I want replaceable batteries. I want the right to repair. I grew up online and I won't forget how it was!

[maxdibert]

even if you happen to believe that racism is "worse" than classism (nevermind that doing oppression olympics is embarrassing lol) it would still not apply to the Harry Potter setting since muggles are not a different race or species. Lily was white. book!Hermione was white. pureblood prejudice is much more aligned with classism (and maybe eugenics to a lesser degree) than racism. people who keep claiming that DEs were racist are just throwing words around without interpreting the context of the books - that they're all based around the UK and their class system, not US racism

Exactly. These people operate with a completely Americanized lens on social issues. Let’s not forget that up until the last book, Voldemort doesn’t actually manage to affect muggle-borns on a real, systemic, social level. The discrimination they face is always situational and comes with very specific classist undertones, coming from a tiny aristocratic elite with little to no social influence outside of their own closed circles.

The reality is that muggle-borns have always had the same legal and social rights as any other witch or wizard. No one was banning them from anything unless we’re talking about what? The Sacred Twenty-Eight? Even some pure-bloods weren’t part of that list.

So no, you absolutely cannot compare a systemic social issue like racism—which is deeply tied to imperialism and colonialism—to a few inbred aristocrat weirdos not wanting you to sit at their table. That’s classism. And not even institutional or material classism, just petty, snobby elitism.

[normal-thoughts-official]

Please stop seeing politics as an identity and start seeing it as a collective means for change

[mhizzberry]

I just wanted to share this article about Palestine's right to revolt and why it is important that we support it. It also has sources embedded in the text that debunk misinformation about them and Hamas. I implore everyone to read it and spread this information around.

Edit [12/25/23 3:19 PM GMT+]: I should also emphasize that the article is an opinion piece, so I also encourage you to also do further research to come to your own critical conclusions.

As a whole, the article still explores why Palestinians resist. As someone whose entire history was build on resisting against oppressors (I'm Filipino), I can understand and empathize where they are coming from. This is one way that I wish to express my solidarity.

[mooncaps]

Hot Take from a Genderqueer Ex-Fan: I don't mind if people engage with the story or fandom. As long as y'all stop giving her money and licensed streaming clicks. That's the part that actively does harm. If you're still able to enjoy the story or characters, in spite of the harm the creator does, then honestly good for you. If you can use the fandom to provide comfort and smiles to others, especially to her targets, then that's great. I wish I could get to that headspace. Thinking of the story just makes me sad these days, but if you can find joy in it without handing JK more power to keep pursuing harm, I'm happy for you.

If you're there for your sad trans friends in real life, then whichever blorbos you play with on the side doesn't weigh on me.

Do make sure your trans friends know you're not on her side though. We can't tell from the outside which fans have our back if you don't make it clear.

I’m just saying if Daniel Radcliffe, the literal protagonist of the Harry Potter franchise since the age of ten years old, was able to disavow JK Rowling and move on from the HP universe then actually what the fuck is anyone else’s excuse. There is no one else on the planet who can say their entire childhood was HP more than that guy and he still cared about trans people more than the average tumblr user who says “we’re protesting by making all her characters queer and trans!!” like you can do better. You should do better.

[wonderlandmoonrose7]

I’m just here to remind everyone once again that we can’t stop protesting and boycotting and spreading the word for Palestine, even if it’s been a while. The people in power (mainly the Israeli and US governments) are relying on us losing steam.

And I do want to mention that a small bit of hope to be found among all of this is that things aren’t losing steam. I still see dozens of posts about Palestine every day, I see footage of protests almost every day, and the boycotts are working. I just want to encourage everyone that we just need to keep it up! I’ve seen so many social issues fade out over time, a week of outrage and then things settle down, but that isn’t the case here and I really respect everyone who’s still posting and protesting and seeking out information to end this once and for all. Focus on that hope, and use it to keep going :)

[paperplanes134]

You are not responsible for meeting everyone's expectations. Let them be disappointed.

[comicgeekscomicgeek]

Truth through crowdsourcing. Yikes.

"you can use ai to improve spelling and grammar"

[whereserpentswalk]

Bigotry agaisnt trans men is spreading so I want to send some love to the transmasc community.

I love you trans men.

Love you trans men who don't pass.

Love you trans men who will never pass.

Love you trans men who don't want to pass.

Love you poc trans men.

Love you gay trans men.

Love you lesbian trans men.

Love you straight trans men.

Love you bi trans men.

Love you ace trans men.

Love you Jewish trans men.

Love you atheist trans men.

Love you pagan trans men.

Love you trans men with breasts.

Love you trans men who aren't on T yet.

Love you trans men who'll never be on T.

Love you mentally in trans men.

Love you unmedicated mentally ill trans men.

Love you trans men who self harm.

Love you trans men who've thought about ending their lives.

Love you trans men with cringe interests.

Love you trans men who dress in ways people consider cringe.

Love you trans men who'll never have sex.

Love you trans men who have a lot of sex.

Love you trans men who are sex workers.

Love you trans men who've had abortions.

Love you feminine trans men.

Love you butch trans men.

Love you trans men who still consider themselves cute and pretty.

Love you trans men who aren't physically attractive.

Love you trans men who hate being called cute or pretty.

I love you. I love you. I love you. You are valid. You are a man. You deserve to be seen as a man. You deserve to be loved and cherished as a man. You deserve to be happy. You aren't made worse by your transition, you aren't a burden on the community, we're happy you're here, we're happy you're men, we love you.

Reblog this to send love to your transmasc followers.

[dailyanarchistposts]

Direct action, simply put, means cutting out the middleman: solving problems yourself rather than petitioning the authorities or relying on external institutions. Any action that sidesteps regulations and representation to accomplish goals directly is direct action—it includes everything from blockading airports to helping refugees escape to safety and organizing programs to liberate your community from reliance on capitalism. Here we present a step-by-step guide to organizing and carrying out direct action, from the first planning stages to the debrief at the end, including legal support, media strategy, and proper security.

There are countless scenarios in which you might want to employ direct action. Perhaps representatives of despicable multinational corporations are invading your town to hold a meeting, and you want to do more than simply hold a sign; perhaps they’ve been there a long time, operating franchises that exploit workers and ravage the environment, and you want to hinder their misdeeds; perhaps you want to organize a festive, community-oriented event such as a street party. Direct action can plant a public garden in an abandoned lot or defend it by paralyzing bulldozers; it can occupy empty buildings to house the homeless or shut down government offices. Whether you’re acting in secret with a trusted friend or in a mass action with thousands of people, the basic elements are the same.

[itscolossal]

Through Ceramics, Stephanie Shih Considers the Disillusioning Price of Domestic Bliss

[comicgeekscomicgeek]

Enshittification has made doing almost anything online intolerable.

[comicgeekscomicgeek]

[maxdibert]

Classism will never be as vile or harmful as racism. I think sometimes fans blow Snape's pain way out of proportion and it reminds me of the Marauders fandom with their unrealistic and moronic ships.

In fact, classism is the foundation upon which all forms of discrimination are built. Racism itself is rooted in a caste system, which is essentially a class system where there’s a dominant class (white people) and other classes positioned beneath it. This becomes even more evident in countries where colorism existed for centuries, systems where a person’s worth was measured by how close they were to whiteness. That, too, was a class hierarchy among racialized people.

But since you don’t open a damn book and get all your information from Tumblr and TikTok, here you are, spouting nonsense.

[normal-thoughts-official]

So apparently some Swiss company found out that Brazilian blood has more immunoglobulin (which is used in some medications made by pharma companies) than European blood, and now international pharma companies are lobbying to change Brazilian law to allow them to use our blood as a resource

There is no current evidence that those things are related, but it just so happens that at the same time there is also another law being discussed that would get rid of "bureaucracy" when it comes to ethics analyses of trials on humans. It would also remove the right, which all brazilians currently have, to access to the medication resulting from the trials they participated in

Both sources are in Portuguese because both news have been recently broke by a Brazilian investigative news agency, but if you don't speak it, you can always use automatic translation

I know there's a lot of fucked up shit happening in the world right now, but please pay attention to medical rights in Brasil right now. Especially if you're European, because virtually every company related to this is from your continent and plans to benefit you above all

ETA: using blood as a resource for these medications is not new; however, current law in brasil only allows that use to come from donated blood (because it comes from the plasma and apparently not all of it is used in blood transfusion; I'm not a doctor so I'm not clear on the details but that's the gist of it) and to be processed and used by Hemobrás, the State-owned company that handles this type of medical technology. The new law would allow for private companies to buy our blood from blood banks for their use. It is worth noting that at least one company has already explicitly stated that they won't be making the resulting medication available in the Brazilian market, so, essentially, they will be taking blood Brazilians donated to help other Brazilians and using it to treat immunocompromised Europeans, to the detriment of immunocompromised Brazilians that need the medicine. In the process, they will be making it harder for our State-owned company to use that same blood, forcing us to import from them and therefore making the medication more expensive. They also want to make it possible for Brazilians to sell their own blood - a deeply ethically questionable practice that is discouraged by the WHO and that has led to HIV outbreaks in Brasil in the past