bootsykitty

[bootsykitty]

My whole goal in life is to do this for everyone

The world's on fire, make friends with crows. 🐦‍⬛💕🦐

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[bootsykitty]

This will piss some people off (JK & Harry Potter)

Many may be familiar with the situation, but just in case…here’s the recap. Many millennials grew up with Harry Potter. The books hold a special place in their hearts. A decade or more later JK came out as a TERF (Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminist). Many of those folks who loved Harry Potter grew up, it seems, to be more progressive. Many have queer and gender non conforming friends. And sadly, many are continuing to help JK maintain her relevancy by engaging with her intellectual property (Harry Potter).

And what I’ve seen from many is a post hoc rationalization as to how “JK doesn’t get that much money anyway”, that they’re “trying to support the workers/actors”, and they don’t do much anyway, so it doesn’t really matter. And it makes sense on some level. People have fond memories of the franchise. They see it as an integral part of their childhood/teen years. They don’t want to let it go as many of us don’t want to let go of things that make us reminiscent of a better time or of a precursor to who we are now.

The reality is that engaging with the content is broadening Harry Potter’s appeal and as such, JK’s platform and apparent relevancy. And as long as Harry Potter, and her by association, are seen as relevant…she will continue to spread her hate. And the number of people who see her hate is directly related to Harry Potter’s apparent popularity. Also with regards to the last item, that their small purchases aren’t relevant in the grand scheme…that is like so many other similar arguments. When I go camping and I see someone burn branches that should naturally decompose to provide nutrients for the soil…they don’t think it’s a big deal because it’s just a few branches. But a few branches…daily…over the course of a year…becomes hundreds of branches per site…becomes thousands of branches in a campground. It matters because it adds up, and the cumulative money goes in her pocket.

Take money out of her pocket.

Remove her relevancy.

Appreciate your childhood in context with the unfortunate associations surrounding it.

Appreciate the feelings you had and understand that there isn’t a need to go back, to engage, in order to appreciate the wonderful time you had.

~

PJ

[bootsykitty]

What they don't know

About a year or so ago, my mom sent me a message around my birthday or mother's day, can't remember which. She went through the memories she had of me, as a way of being sentimental. I appreciated the effort since we don't really talk anymore.

Her and my dad stop talking to me for a year around the time I came out and had my first serious boyfriend. Then again for a year when they found out I'm an atheist. Then I stopped communicating with them as much when I hit a certain point in my life and realized I'm too old for this shit. Too old to deal with their sideways comments about whatever it may be that they don't agree with my life or whatever shitty conservative views they have.

And then finally I cut them off almost entirely in 2020. My dad had sent me an article outlining how Joe Biden is shitty. Yeah, no shit. I'm a leftist, he's a neocon pretending to be a neolib, doing shitty things and acting like it's fine because he doesn't approve of the open execution of gay people...aka the bare minimum. The last thing I needed was a reminder that that year I felt compelled to vote for Biden despite all aspects of how shitty he is.

So, I stopped talking to them.

It was almost around the time I officially gave up on my mom. She was always the more empathetic one, but fed a continuous stream of christian nationalism and bullshit from right wing sources made it clear that as much as I'd like to give her a pass since she is deaf and my dad is her only real source of socializing a lot of the time...she's a fucking adult and can make decisions for herself and realize when a situation is toxic and leave it. And she didn't.

Back to her effort. I realized that the list stopped around the time I was in my early 20s. The fact that she saw that as a positive, as good memories, and I looked at a further decade plus of my life that she just hadn't been involved in. Hadn't got to talk to me about. Was fine largely knowing only the most superficial of details. She gleaned what she could from stalking my socials. Weird. But never felt interested in reaching out to find out more beyond a few yearly messages. And it's sad that she sees that and seems to be fine with that. I don't think I'll ever know.

[bootsykitty]

Mutual Aid is the only way

Not charity. Not from religious groups. Not conditional. I'm tired of this when it's presented as a way for folks to feel better about themselves. Because they separate themselves from those they are helping. Mutual Aid is all about needing help and giving help in a reciprocal way. Not transactional. It's just meant to be a default way of moving through community.

I'm tired of seeing church groups handing out supplies and food to folks on the street and making them sit through a service. How about we don't condition their receipt of help on their willingness to be proselytized to? Why should that be expected?

One time I was handing out soup in a vacant lot and some church folks were there as well. The church folks started preaching in the middle of the space so no one could escape hearing it. Talking about the virtue of suffering. Ew. These are folks often in the worst place in their life and you're telling them should be happy and that it's good they're at where they're at.

No! That just serves capital keeping the poor down by mollifying them with this notion that they deserve this or that it's virtuous in any way. It isn't. This folks need to be pissed and loud and angry. We all do. And acting like we should just take some drug to put us to sleep so we can waddle our way through this existence while those who flourish, flourish because folks are stuck on the streets. Nah. Everyone needs to be pissed.

[bootsykitty]

The downside to empathy...

You'll think, oh lord...here he goes. Sure make an excuse for why empathy is bad.

But that isn't it. This is a frustration over my own handling of empathy when it comes to people I fundamentally disagree with. It can feel like a stumbling block or it can leave me in ways that I don't quite know how to process or deal with the person.

It's when I can empathize with a person who says something shitty or has shitty views, because I can understand how they got there. And it isn't an excuse for it, it's more a nuanced view of what brought them to that place. How it may have been a confluence of childhood trauma, adult trauma, ingrained attitudes passed down to a defenseless kid who got indoctrinated in shitty ways, it could've been some of the previous mixed with struggles of their own that resulted in cementing those beliefs because of the lack of an actual, thoughtful analysis.

And that's another aspect, some people don't have the time for a thoughtful analysis. They live in reactive spaces. They've been steeped in reactivity because it's often all those teaching them knew. They live in artificial scarcity much like the rest of us. But the tools to address it were never taught to them. They learned blame. They learned lashing out. They had community removed from their tools. I can imagine how frustrating it would be to live in that space. Feel you have the answers and being told constantly you don't.

How do we reach them? How do we convert the knowledge of the complexity of their indoctrination into a good analysis and way to move forward. Especially when many live in communities that think similarly. Especially when they risk ostracization if they were to think and move differently from their compatriots.

It creates an odd feeling. Where you're both frustrated at the person. Often angry at their actions. But you understand why. And the understanding brings with it the potential of change. But often we're taught to be so on defense that we can't even think about understanding while we're back on our heels reeling.

[bootsykitty]

We have entire industries and professions built up around the requirement that crime exists. That is why they can’t fathom crime ceasing. Because their material existence requires that it continue and it be inherent to the human condition

[bootsykitty]

Attribution Theory

Attribution Theory is a psychological theory where people see things happen to themselves, and can understand the complexity of the actions that went into the result. They can see the trauma they experienced. They can see the actions and twists of fate that occurred...and they can see how all of it ended up with them where they're at. Usually in a bad place. And they understand the complexity and the fact that much of it couldn't be helped often.

But the other side is that when they see someone who has something awful happen...they flatten the person. They blame the position of the person on the choices the person had. They'll say, must've made bad choices, whatever it was...was in their control. When it frequently isn't. There are always things beyond our control that we can't account for when planning for the future.

But because of this flattening of the person to a one dimensional caricature of what their actual experiences are...they remove the ability to understand. To empathize. Instead, they find more reasons to judge. More reasons to dehumanize and other. And they create a chasm between themselves and these people...resulting in no understanding. No empathy. And there is no humility when they make these judgements and so they can never truly understand and work with folks to address problems.

And this comes down hard when we discuss those most disenfranchised by society...the poor. Because they flatten and generalize and justify the most dehumanizing behavior towards people going through the toughest time of their lives. And because of that, it's hard to find solutions, because they're unwilling to look at root causes. And that is really so very frustrating.

[bootsykitty]

From @kennov8 on ig

“When stepping into the role of a mentor or advisor you’ve gotta understand that them not listening is a normal part of the process and that your job is simply to place the answer within their reach. To make them aware but know that you can’t force understanding because that’s an inner process. Give advice freely without expectation of outcome. This removes a huge burden from both of you. And gives permission to the other person to fail freely which will later become the foundation of their wisdom.”

[bootsykitty]

The ADHD mind

“The air purifier probably needs its filter changed”

“I remember I put them close to the door in the second bedroom so I could find them easily. Let me go grab one”

“Wow the room is a mess and it appears during one of my previous attempts to clean I put them somewhere else. Now I don’t remember where it is.”

“These old Covid tests are in the way I should throw away the expired ones”

“These boards full of pins are constantly in the way. I should hang them.”

“I can’t hang them before the wall is painted. Maybe it’s time to paint the wall”

“The room is a mess how in the hell can I paint the wall?”

*walks out in frustration at myself*

[bootsykitty]

I have more posts to post from Substack. But this is a new one here.

I saw a post on Instagram noting that some Muslim majority countries force women to wear hijabs. And some western countries force women to remove hijabs.

With the claim being that men just need to let women wear what they want to wear. And this is true.

However, we can’t just look at Muslim countries in a vacuum when the reality is that western countries coerce women into associating their value as human beings to their appearance and their willingness to show skin.

Western countries throughout the entirety of a woman’s life tells her through social cues, through direct language, through advertisements on TV, through the choices of other people for relationships, jobs, etc., through TV shows, through friends… that their worth is tied up in their appearance. Women who won’t show skin are treated as prudes. Women who aren’t fit are mocked for their weight.

And that is shitty.

Alternatively, in Muslim majority countries, women are coerced by the society and buy their religion to cover themselves for propriety’s sake. They are told that they are tempting men by showing their bodies. Men, who hold the majority of power in many of these countries… don’t have the power of self-control? This is an absurd claim on its face.

Religions writ large are a control mechanism. This is why they make commandments about basic bodily functions and desires. As a way to make people feel guilty for natural feelings. That guilt is then utilized to make people subservient. 

When in such control mechanism scenarios… whether it is social and religious pressure or self-worth and societal status… neither can be said to be respecting of the woman’s desires. Because in all likelihood, absent those social mores and other forms of indoctrination (and objectification), women would likely wear clothes that they find comfortable and that they enjoy. They would show as much or as little skin as they desired because they didn’t feel obliged to serve or hide from the male gaze.

At the end of the day this should be the goal. No coercion. No ostracization. No arbitrary aspects to conflate desirability with value.

[bootsykitty]

Mutual aid needs to be treated like the default that is expected, rather than an anomaly to be praised.

[bootsykitty]

Repost from substack

One of my biggest problem with leftists is that so many don’t do the work. They’ll realize one thing is fucked up or untrue about their indoctrination since birth…and then will start and end their analysis with that.

They will then frequently go on to defend all sort of other behaviors and things that occur around them…that are part of that same indoctrination schema.

They will frequently engage in virtue signaling around concepts they know less about but have been given viewpoints by others. These mentors are frequently those who brought them into leftism or may have given them that “aha” moment. And thus anything else they say can’t be questioned. </s> And is oft repeated uncritically verbatim.

They will then defend these mentors against others who may question these suppositions and virtue signaling extended as analysis. Even going so far as engaging in cancel culture or ostracizing language.

[bootsykitty]

Constantly disappointed at the number of leftists who continue to virtue signal because they don’t know how to engage honestly…

[bootsykitty]

Repost from substack

Everything is theater.

As in, everything is done to distract you and give you a notion that things are away that they are not.

And until your ability to enjoy things smoothly is disrupted, you will likely never question any of the actors, scripts, and predictable outcomes.

In fact you will fight to stay in the theater because despite not consciously acknowledging the play, you know that there is something else that doesn’t comport with what you’ve been told.

[bootsykitty]

Repost from substack

In the western world we are trained to live our lives in comparison with others.

We are trained to compare our gender presentation to ensure it is adequate with unrealistic standards. Many religions teach us to compare ourselves against a deity. Marketing teaches us to compare ourselves against unrealistic beauty standards. And in every instance we are left wanting and never enough.

And leftism teaches drastic…hyperbolic levels of self acceptance. Where you are good enough because you exist. Where you are adequate regardless of your production capacity. Regardless of your ableness. Regardless of your ability to work. Regardless of your gender. Regardless of your sexuality. Your value is in you being here and adding to the community.

And people can’t accept this because they are taught to hate themselves. And anything that flies in the face of that fundamentally undermines the theory of their reality that they have been fed since birth.

[bootsykitty]

Repost from substack

And the final continuation of future topics…

…we wouldn’t allow bad things. We’ve been told they’re bad and deserving of their treatment, so they must be.”

We are told Utopia is a nonstarter in discussions. That it is unrealistic and thus pointless to discuss. That is in an untenable and impossible proposition because of the nature of man. Selfishness. Ability to harm. And more. But the reality is that we need a plan moving forward. We can’t point to amorphous blobs or concepts or theories as the plan when we need actual concrete plans if we are to ever make progress. How can we plan for handling nuclear reactors if we don’t have a plan for what a future version of that looks like? How can we plan for food production as we transition away from factory farms and overproduction…if we don’t have ideas in mind for what that would look like? How can we repurpose and retrain workers who currently produce detritus for profits sake…if we don’t have an idea of what those facilities are that may need to be decommissioned?

Western culture lives above its means and the majority of the world lives at or below theirs. We are in for an abrupt change that may feel harsh, but is in reality freeing. Think of how many hours per lifetime are spent doing unnecessary tasks. Busy work that may or may not produce profit or may or may not keep an unnecessary manager busy. Think about how much work actually needs to be done to keep us at a level of consumption that keeps us comfortable and fulfilled. Think about how much potential free time would be made available to all of us if we split less work between more people. Think about the stress relieved if you don’t have to work a job you hate to survive.

Empathy, humility, curiosity, are necessary for leftists. We must lead with empathy that accepts that humility is key, because we don’t know everything. We CAN’T know everything. So, we must listen to others with empathy and humility to their lived experiences and be open to new ideas that may challenge our preconceptions. And curiosity is required because we are far too comfortable with falling back into old patterns. Many leftists seem to have discovered that capitalism is crap and the analysis stopped there. No…it’s all crap. It’s all baseless. And it all needs a thorough reexamining, both as to why it exists and why we continue to perpetuate it if it’s unnecessary.

Being proscriptive is borne of a lack of humility and a lack of curiosity. As westerners we are taught that it is ideal to know everything and that we should want to know everything. And some people know everything and other people don’t and that the goal is to get all the knowledge. But the only reality is knowing that there is no path to all the knowledge. No person can know everything ever. And the moment that they think they do, is the moment that they stop being able to access new information which always presents itself.

fin?

[bootsykitty]

Repost from substack

A continuation of future topics…

…that asking “why?” Is annoying at best. That it makes people feel uncomfortable, because they don’t have the answers and often don’t want the answers, even if they could find them.

Fear of being ostracized. We are taught from an early age to act like everyone else. This is a moving target that is harmful to us and our sense of self. We are taught to only show what is best and then blamed when we seem inauthentic. Our authenticity is beaten out of us every day because it doesn’t assimilate with what the norm is. As a result, we rarely if ever get to truly know ourselves as we are trained to find the unique parts of ourselves…detestable.

This drive acceptance of ourselves and our bodies. We are shown models of what is good. Often unattainable images of our ideal selves…heavily manipulated if they ever were even real at this point. This serves a purpose. It is yet another distraction that keeps us preoccupied with the insubstantial over the substantial. And it comes with an upside for capitalism, which is our continued consumption of beauty products, of fashion, of a moving goalpost that we will never make it to…all driving profits in search of the unattainable by design.

How do we break the cycle of indoctrination? How do we do it at scale? How do we make people feel secure in the notion that they will be seen as authentically themselves without fear and without worrying about being ostracized? How do we do all of this to the point where we can change society? And this is even assuming society is in a place to allow it, since we know capitalism will violently thrash against anything that threatens its profits.

And how do we replace all systems? Every single system that harms humans and only benefits the wealthy… How do we make them so they benefit our communities and modify them to meet our needs rather than our profit motivated and inflated wants? How do we produce only as much as we need and shut down systems that exist solely for the pursuit of profit? How do we stop the extraction of unnecessary resources put into products that go into a landfill as quickly as they are made?

And how do we restructure our society so we move in ways that benefit us. No more suburban sprawl reaching hundreds of miles. But density, keeping us close to each other and in community together. Suburban sprawl has sought to put humans closer to nature, all while chasing nature away. Leaving an increasingly small portion of society able to access nature without a car or other transport. We should all have access to nature and have to be outside of our doors. Density provides such a situation. Density also helps us get to know one another. To rebuild our communities and become dependent on each other as we evolved to be.

Pro life is an interesting movement that stems from a society needing to be structured such that it can control people’s basic biology. Once you make humans feel bad for innate feelings in them, you can control them and even make them control others. You control them by making them feel guilt for things which are natural. And you make them control others, by making them feel anger and jealousy over other people who express freedoms in ways that they don’t think they can. And since women are below men for the most part in our society, we put men above them with the expectation that they are there to provide for men and that men control their bodies and their decisions. And that they are little more than the biological function of their bodies.

We are trained to dehumanize people to justify their treatment. Related to poverty, but also related to a lack of self reflection on the ways we as a society benefit from the suffering of others. We are told they are corrupt, that they are backwards, that they are not as advanced in their notions of human rights. And yet we use these as reasons to throw away our own humanity using the justification of their inhumanity for our own inhumanity. These things we readily accept, as they are a psychologically protective mechanism which ensures we are not indicted by our acceptance of the theory of the case that we have been sold. “We know we aren’t bad, we can’t be,… (cont)