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I had one of the most easily identifiable symbolic dreams ever, after spending far too much time yesterday trolling racists in the Youtube comments section. They’re a plague there, finding videos where black people are being arrested and leaving seemingly neutral comments that conceal obvious racism, once you learn to recognize it.

They’ve co-opted the term “black fatigue” to mean that they’re tired of hearing black people say that they’re discriminated against. So they leave comments like “the fatigue is real” or phrases alluding to unspecified groups, “they” or “those people” or similar, or say how typical the suspect is, “the usual suspects” and so on. Oh, but no one could possibly be discriminating against black people, right? Seriously.

So I dreamed I was riding my bike… which I haven’t had for decades. But I still knew how, you know the saying. I was concerned that the paths I was on weren’t ones where bikes were allowed. As I rode, I passed a house where a large group of black people (like very specifically, only people around, all of them with brown skin) were hanging out on the porch, chattering and enjoying themselves and seemingly not paying me any mind. But as I rode on, I wondered if they were watching me and thinking well or badly of me. I never did find out.

People just need to stop this nonsense. It isn’t even that hard. A little study, a little understanding, and just remembering that if they walk like a human and talk like a human, they are human. Unless they’re birds.

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I decided to try a retriever. Somewhere between golden and labrador. Since @anoddreindeer observed that the blank black eyes were a bit troubling (and considering that I as an adult might like toys that look possessed but not everyone does), I decided to try an alternative I had considered when I started. Behold the smilingest of dumb dogs.

I will now return to crafting the strange and unusual until I feel the unnatural urge to make something basic again.

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I wonder if all the racists I keep seeing with their dogwhistles realize they’re the ones reinforcing a stereotype.

I mean, it could be my recent addiction to police bodycam videos (I guess I just wanna see some criminals get justice seeing as how the biggest ones are getting lame parades and starting wars), but I have been seeing too many commenters saying things about “fatigue” and “those people” and other not so subtle turns of phrase that are clearly saying, “I see brown skin, therefore I see an opportunity to blame black people for my racism.” Even if the suspect never mentioned race during the arrest.

Racists are stupid. I get it. No matter the education level, stupid is as stupid does. And yes, statistically more black people are arrested, and this is only partially due to racial bias in police officers. But implying that it’s the skin color and not the circumstance created, initially, by our people, and exascerbated by modern day racism? That’s ignorance… often proud ignorance.

Yes, black people often cry “racism.” And many do is falsely, trying to game the system, but many more don’t. There will always be entitled people in every group who use what they can to get away with things. See: white privilege.

But many, many black people assume it’s racism because their life experience has been a constant series of reminders that people judge by the color of your skin. For these, pulling the race card is natural. It’s learning from experience. It’s hypervigilance, it’s trauma. It’s not rooted in air, it’s rooted in precedent.

Look, black people don’t need my lily white butt out here defending them. We’ve seen what they’re made of and they are strong, intelligent, and capable. I’m just tired of this backward shift, these hateful fools making me look bad, and the bigot-in-chief who enables them.

If white people feel so threatened by other skin colors, maybe they should ask why they aren’t doing better themselves instead of trying to drag the others down. No one is so outraged at being asked to share as the one who has everything.

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Tumblr is good for creative types because the tag system lets you be truly deranged about how much you like it without feeling as Exposed as a Comment Section

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The Dabous Giraffes - neolithic petroglyphs found in Saharan Niger estimated to be 6,000 to 8,000 years old. The bigger of the two giraffes is 5.4 meters long and is the largest known petroglyph in the world.

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A police officer's portable holding cell, Los Angeles. (1920s)

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Weird when you first start paying attention to animal noises and realize they don't actually sound like the words we use

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Endora (Agnes Moorehead) conjures a "pick me up" potion for cousin Serena (Elizabeth Montgomery), but Serena gets a little too "happy" in the Bewitched episode entitled The Corsican Cousins, originally broadcast by ABC on December 10th, 1970. This was the second of eleven Bewitched episodes where Serena was credited as being played by "Pandora Spocks" (ie: "Pandora's Box" from Greek mythology); this was also in honor of Elizabeth's cousin Panda (derived from her real name Pandora) who Liz was very close to while growing up. Thirteen additional episodes of Bewitched featuring cousin Serena had no one credited as playing her at all. Fun Fact: Elizabeth liked to change-up Serena's beauty mark once in a while when she played her, varying from a heart to an ankh among other symbols. In this episode, she opted for a footprint.👣

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Feeling an incredibly weird specific nostalgia but what piece of media defined 2020 for you (as in you spent that year with it) mine is mtv's catfish

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explain your gender in 10 words or less without using boring words like “male”, “female”, “nonbinary”, “masculine”, “feminine” or “androgynous”.

go!

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Adorable