#I mean no one has said anything bad or racist

[penguinsomething]

Loved the drum circle at the Oscar’s, hate the online response to it.

[montanabohemian]

so yesterday i had someone comment on a post i made on IG telling me how "offended" they were because i'd simply ended my post with the phrase "end the occupation and free palestine." so much of what they said was actually insane racist islamophobic bullshit and they managed to end their comment by calling all muslims terrorists and literally parroted the "they want to kill americans" fucking horseshit.

the person that made this comment was by someone i've literally known since grade school. i'm not close friends with them but i've gotten to know them over the years and never once thought they'd say anything like this. i actually thought it was a bot account for like a full minute.

i'm sadly not surprised at the rhetoric because that's where we are. we're right back to twenty years ago during the post 9/11 / war in iraq / war on terror fervor kicked off. i'm just. i had to fight this shit twenty years ago and here we are all over again, except this time with the added benefit of fucking social media.

if simply saying "free palestine" is so inflammatory for you, then that is your fucking problem to work through.

[ropes3amthoughts]

I hate when people are like “it wasn’t intentional so it doesn’t mean anything” or “why should anybody have to apologize for an accident,” because while their intentions are not ill, accidents can still hurt people.

For example, you accidentally drop a glass cup onto the floor and it shatters. You didn’t mean to drop the cup, you didn’t mean for it to shatter, but the glass is still on the floor. Even if you didn’t plan to hurt anybody, the glass shards still hurt people. Nobody is forcing you to apologize if you accidentally say or do something insensitive, it’s your choice, but leaving the glass shards on the floor for people to step on will hurt people regardless if “you didn’t mean it.”

Everyone makes mistakes. In fact, most people have probably dropped metaphorical glass cups on the floor. But you can still pick up the glass shards. You can think about why it broke in the first place and hold it differently to avoid dropping it again. You can still be sorry.

If someone else drops and shatters a glass cup, apologizes, and picks up the shards, but you personally didn’t step on the glass and get hurt, that doesn’t mean you should start parading around about how that someone has been wrongly forced to clean up the glass shards. Nobody forced them to pick up the glass shards. They accidentally broke the cup, recognized the glass could hurt people, and cleaned it up. It should not be the standard to only clean up the glass shards when they have cut a thousand people’s feet and they are demanding it be cleaned up.

If you drop a cup and it gets glass all over the floor, it’s ok to admit it. You can still clean up the glass shards. You can get a new cup and hold it differently so that it doesn’t shatter. Just don’t leave the glass on the floor and say you don’t need to clean it up because it was an accident. You aren’t a bad person for making a mistake, but refusing to own up to it and change yourself for the better does make you a bad person.

[dunmeshistash]

Saw someone describe Mithrun as a "Disabled right wing veteran who is convinced hes just as capable as he was in his prime" and also that he would "complain about immigrants" and I'm very confused.

Where did this type of interpretation for Mithrun came from? There's nothing about him that indicates he's "right wing" or any more racist than the average elf and due to his condition he literally isn't able to care about that.

The sentiment of "Mithrun is a racist grandpa" seems to have gone from an absurdist joke based on him saying a "slur" into a real interpretation of the character??

First of all he's 37 in tallman years he is not a grandpa, I know it was a joke based on him being rough and the fact he's an elf (185 years old) but I'm starting to think some people really think he's grandpa age? He isn't, he's about as old as Senshi and Chilchuck, Senshi is actually older than him being 47 in tallman years if he's a grandpa they are too, it's going from funny way to call him into ableist territory pretty fast.

Second he doesn't have the ability to be actively racist anymore, racism implies a sense of superiority compared to someone else from another race, which all the elves have. (althought he still benefits passively from this racism as an elf even if he doesn't actively feel it) Let's go thru his anime appearance and what happens.

Kabru shows up and tries to speak to the elves and convince them to try his way. The elves think the short lived people are all ignorant and treat them condescendingly, even Tansu because they live more than any other race

Then they go from "Short lived people are too stupid to know anything" into "Oh my god this poor baby come on have some cake :)" which is ALSO condescending, nobody is taking Kabru or the governor seriously because they're short lived. These elves are RACIST they're treating Kabru like he's a confused kid "come eat some cake and let the adults talk"

Mithrun is the only authority figure that wants to listen to Kabru

He is a shell of who he used to be, right now he ONLY cares about defeating the demon, if there is a chance this kid (who has had experience with dungeons before) knows another way to get him what he wants he will listen to it, cause he *doesn't* have the capability of being like the other elves.

This doesn't mean he's anti-racist, it means he literally doesn't care, he lets the other elves mistreat Kabru in every other scene unless it has something to do with defeating the dungeon, cause he *doesn't* care. He's not gonna complain about immigrants cause he doesn't care he's not gonna treat short lived people like kids cause he doesn't care, he cannot care, he lost the ability to care.

Past Mithrun was the one that was both racist classicist and a bitch, but that part of him is basically dead.

He said the slur because they asked him not because he thinks is appropriate, the other elves aren't 'casual racists' and him the 'real racist' they are all just as bad he just doesn't have the "desire to be socially acceptable" I guess, they asked, he answered and that was it.

If it would make it easier try to think about it in terms of real life bigotry and how people keep going "you can't even say (...) because of the woke" they aren't any less racist they just worry about being socially acceptable racists.

Anyway, please don't just repeat what other people say as jokes as if they're true especially when you're saying it about a disabled character. Acting like he's worse than his peers because he doesn't have the capability of being socially aware is ableism, calling him a grandpa because he has had a rough life that made him look disheveled is ableism, saying he's past his prime is also ableist considering he learned how to fight *after* he became disabled.

Correct me if anything I said was wrong but I really got peeved after reading several people misinterpreting Mithrun as some sort of bigoted old man who must be taken to a retirement home as if he just causes trouble for people who care for him.

[utilitymonstermash]

In California due to prison over crowding and a policy called realignment, many sentences are now served in county jail. Recently I came across this very funny jail memoir in The Newsweek.

On race:

I knew that I had to join the Peckerwoods, a notorious white supremacist gang. But I am by birth half-Jewish. I have a Jewish last name too, so I was fearful.

My plan was to pretend I was German since my last name is Yiddish, so pretty similar sounding. It's probably not politically correct to say this, but I also don't look like a stereotypical Jewish person, at least in the eyes of neo-Nazis.

I also think my image played into it. They saw a crackhead from Skid Row who weighed 130 pounds and just didn't connect that with a Jewish guy. So I got away with it. They believed I was just a German-American. They had no suspicion whatsoever.

For about three or four weeks, I played along. But I soon realized there was no need to. I never heard anything really racist or antisemitic.

There was another man named Lou. He was probably 50 years old, and every day, he would get a different meal than everyone else—a special meal in a blue box—and people lined up to buy it.

I was curious. I looked in the garbage and saw there was Hebrew lettering on this blue box so I knew Lou was probably Jewish. I asked Lou if he was, and he said yes, that's why he gets the kosher meal.

I said: "I'm Jewish too, actually." He didn't really care. I said I had told the shot caller—a kind of gang leader—and all the guys that I was German when I came in, and now I'm thinking about getting the kosher meal.

I asked what he thought the consequences would be of revealing that I was Jewish. He said: "Oh, well, they're not going to care that you're Jewish, but they are going to care that you lied. So, I would just go talk to the shot caller privately and work this out."

I expected a very violent repercussion for lying. There are violent repercussions for everything, from not washing your hands after using the bathroom to getting caught sharing food with another race.

I talked to the shot caller. He was pretty angry that I lied, but at the same time, he said: "Listen, I'm half Armenian. I'm not even fully white. We don't really care. These are just the rules and we have to follow them.

"As the shot caller, if it gets out that I'm not enforcing these rules, I'll get stabbed on the yard.

"You lied. You got to come clean to all the boys, and it's not a big deal. Just when you get the kosher meal, make sure that white guys get preference over buying it. If no one white wants to buy the meal, then you can sell it to the other races."

On managerialism:

Violence is highly organized in the California prison system. I was in county jail, but it's just as bad as prison, if not worse.

If you get into an altercation with someone, you're not allowed to fight them. You have to go to your shot caller, and he has to go to his shot caller, and the shot callers must decide whether you're allowed to fight in a very controlled environment.

[...]

I had to fight people for breaking very stupid rules, such as sharing food with a Black person—a rule that I think is ridiculous. To be honest, my shot caller thought it was ridiculous too. He told me personally that he shared food with Black people all the time; he just had to keep it secret.

[...]

It's Kafkaesque; there's some kind of bureaucratic overwatch going on and you don't even know if it exists or not, but you just have to follow these dumb rules.

A shot caller is your gang leader in jail. This is not the leader of the entire gang but the leader in your pod, meaning your dorm.

Every gang has a shot caller, and then that jail has a head shot caller, and then the whole prison system has a single shot caller somewhere at the top that is this Wizard of Oz-type overlord who no one ever really sees but somehow enforces the rules.

On yarmulke:

I'm not a practicing Jew; I never was, and no one in my family really is. But when you get the kosher meal, they also give you a yarmulke for some reason.

When the other inmates saw the yarmulke, they were mesmerized by this magical Jewish hat. The people who ran the world wore these hats, they thought, and now they were around one in a jail cell.

The Mexican shot caller would request to wear it when he gambled to bring him financial luck. This started sort of a buzz in the jail, and eventually, lots of people were requesting to wear it. Even neo-Nazis requested to wear it when they were gambling.

I asked them to treat it with respect, not because I am religious, but I thought: "My ancestors were religious. Don't be disrespectful."

The amount of respect they had for this yarmulke was actually disturbing; the fact that a Nazi with swastika tattoos would be so polite about a Jewish yarmulke.

On tolerance towards the Jews:

Once it came out that I was Jewish, I experienced zero antisemitic hate. It was more of a fascination. A lot of these people had never met a Jewish person. They pictured Jewish people as owning banks and companies and potentially even the jail.

So when they saw this Skid Row homeless addict who was Jewish, a lot of light bulbs went off about their preconceived ideas. Immediately, they asked: "What are you doing here? Can't you make a phone call? Don't you know a lawyer?"

I said: "No, I'm Jewish. My dad was a heroin addict carpenter. Not all Jews are what you think they are."

It opened up a lot of playful conversations with these people. They were fascinated with the concept that Jews were lawyers, so I started getting a lot of requests to consult people on their cases.

I had to tell them: "Listen, I'm a carpenter crackhead homeless guy. I'm not a lawyer."

They didn't care; they wanted to go over their cases with me. There was almost some soft antisemitism, but it mostly was playful and fanciful obsession and inquiry. They thought I had mystical powers.

[...]

I have stayed in touch with some of the people in jail. Not all white people were Nazis. In fact, a small minority identified as neo-Nazis; most just identified as Peckerwoods. I've kept in touch with both.

On demographics as destiny:

I talked to Lou about it, and he said that there used to be some problems for Jews, but in the end, the white gangs have such low numbers that they don't really care. They needed people.

[dwobbitfromtheshire]

Summary: Steve and Eddie bond over hating Billy Hargrove, and then they suck face.

Steve dove into the closet and leaned against the wall, sliding a broom through the handles of the storage closet. He sighed in relief as he leaned his head back. He froze and tensed up when a pair of boots appeared under the door. They stood there for a moment before stomping away. Steve moved back into the storage closet and turned around to find the light. Suddenly, it came on, and Eddie Munson was staring at him, only inches away from his face. Steve jumped and stopped himself from screaming outloud.

"Did you just lock me in here with you?" Eddie asked.

"Sorry, Hargrove is out there, and I do not want to face him," Steve said quickly.

"Keep that fucking broom exactly where it is then," Eddie said and slid to the floor. "And have a seat."

He patted the floor next to him, and Steve plopped down beside him.

"You hate him too?" Steve asked.

"With all my fucking heart," Eddie said. "Honestly, a little scared of the guy too."

"He's definitely a psychopath. I don't enjoy the way he stares at me or follows me. Normally, I wouldn't have a problem if a guy has a crush on me but this guy. . . Especially ones who nearly murdered me. . . Well, if it anyone else, I'd be asking for his number, but his personality is way too ugly," Steve said.

"So, you don't really care who knows that you like guys?" Eddie asked.

"I like both and no, not really. I figured you would be safe with the hanky and all," Steve replied.

"Oh, that's just a cool metalhead thing. Does it mean something?" Eddie asked.

"Yeah," Steve grinned.

"Damn. Okay, well, that explains some things then," Eddie blinked. "Not that I'm complaining or anything because I like both too. It took me a while to figure that out."

"We all figure things out on our own time. We get there eventually," Steve shrugged.

"Yeah," Eddie said softly. "I never thought I'd meet someone exactly like me, though. Bisexual. I mean, there's Hargrove, but I'd rather gouge my own eyes out. You know, most people think we have the same taste in music. Sure, he listens to heavy metal, but what that jackass mostly listens to is glam metal like Motley Crue. He's a Tommy Lee wannabe douchebag. Normally, I respect all music but I hate Tommy Lee."

"He dresses like a douchebag too," Steve said. "He's abusive to everyone, including his own stepsister. He's racist too. I had to pull him off one of the kids I babysit. He nearly caved my face in."

"He's a fucking monster. His father's just as monstrous, I heard, but it doesn't justify him passing it on, especially if it's his kid stepsister. Honestly, I'd rather have you back as king," Eddie said.

"Seriously?" Steve asked.

"If you think you were bad, think again. I wouldn't even classify you as a bully. You actually tried to keep some of those jocks in line," Eddie said.

"I just never thought it was all that funny that they did that. It never made sense," Steve said.

"Well, then, it makes you a million times smarter than they are, big boy," Eddie said, nudging him.

"You know, I think he's probably gone by now," Steve said.

"Or he's lying in wait," Eddie whispered, leaning in close to whisper in his ear.

Steve could feel his breath against his skin, and he shuddered. Eddie placed a hand on his leg and caressed his knee gently.

"What are you doing?" Steve asked softly.

"Getting closer to you, it's kind of scary out there," Eddie said coyly. "What's your favorite kind of music?"

"Hmm, I'm not sure if I have a favorite kind. It's kind of all over. I don't really lean towards one genre. I do, really like Queen and Bob Seger," Steve said.

"That's respectable. Queen always rules," Eddie said. "I've listened to Bob myself."

Eddie moved his hand from his knee to his chest, rubbing his ringed fingers against Steve gently. He was practically snuggled against Steve’s side. Steve looked down at his hand before finally looking at him. Their faces were very close now, their lips almost touching.

"There's something that I didn't tell you," Eddie whispered.

"What?" Steve asked.

"What eventually led me to realize I liked both. . .is you," Eddie said.

"Yeah?" Steve asked hopefully.

"Yeah."

Steve leaned forward and closed the distance between them, his lips pressing against Eddie's in a soft, tender kiss. Eddie moved against him, cupping the back of his head and pulling him deeper into the kiss. Steve opened his mouth, allowing Eddie's tongue inside. It wasn't enough for Eddie, however. He needed to be closer to Steve. He threw his leg over Steve and straddled his waist as he sunk down into his lap. Eddie gasped and licked into Steve’s mouth as he gripped the nape of his neck. Steve broke the kiss, gasping for breath.

"Freshman Steve is screaming inside me right now," Steve said.

"Wait. . .you've had a crush on me since you were a freshman?" Eddie asked.

"Yeah."

"Loser," Eddie cackled and kissed him deeply while Steve laughed against his lips.

Steve broke the kiss again, grinning.

"We should probably leave before we develop a problem," Steve said.

"But Steve, what if he's still out there?" Eddie asked and paused. "Besides, what if I want to develop a problem?"

Steve laughed and leaned his forehead against Eddie's.

"If he's still out there, I'll protect you," he said teasingly.

"Steve Harrington, my hero. Well, come on, big boy, let's face the music," Eddie said.

They stood up and slid the broom out of the handle. They opened the door and slowly walked out of the closet. They looked both ways down the empty hallway. The coast was clear.

"Wait, why were you hiding in the closet?" Steve asked.

"I hook up with the janitor sometimes," Eddie replied.

"You do not! Art is a happily married man," Steve said.

"Okay, so, I don't," Eddie cackled and paused. "Wait, why are you on a first name basis with the janitor?"

"I eat in the storage closet sometimes," Steve said. "When I can't use my car."

"Not anymore. Art is going to have to be disappointed. You're sitting at our table from now on," Eddie said. "Jesus H Christ, storage closet and your car? I want to eat your face."

They walked down the empty hallway, their pinkies brushing up against each other's occasionally.

[piratecaptainscaptainpirates]

I've been thinking about how Ed starts directly killing people in s2e8. I've seen a lot of worry that this is tragic, that it's Ed falling back into a life he hates with more vigor, and I don't think it's meant to be understood that way at all.

I think it's a triumph.

One thing we absolutely have to understand: there has never been a time on the show when Ed wasn't killing people. That's true for all characters; this is a show about pirates. Even in s1, Ed was leading successful raids and ordering racists skinned. In a realistic sense, nothing has changed.

The difference is in how Ed does not need to construct intricate ways to distance himself from it anymore.

We know that Ed's first time killing was his abusive dad, an event that deeply traumatized him, and it left him thinking himself an absolute monster. His own capacity for violence disgusts and terrifies him, and even though he's been very successful in a very violent career, he needed to distance himself from killing people ("the fire killed those guys, not me") to avoid confronting this part of himself. He believes that the part of himself that is so capable of violence is irredeemable, a monster, unworthy of love.

Even at the start of the season, when Ed is in a self-destructive spiral, it's debateable if he's directly killing anyone. If Lucius had died, he'd probably have said the sea did it, not him. The guy we see him shoot during the raid sequence already had a knife through his chest - it's a step up, and surely meant to be understood as self-harm more than anything else, but that's still a mercy kill, if anything.

Compare to the finale of season 2. These are direct kills, there is no way to argue that Ed is not responsible. It is not debateable that Ed killed all those British officers.

A lot of the worry I've seen around this concern how Ed is going back to what he's good at (as Pop-Pop told him to), and there's an asusmption that that is killing people/violence. But that's not true, is it? Ed's never been good at killing people, his hangups around directly killing are a known character trait. So...what is Ed good at?

Think about how the scene plays out. Ed sees the Republic burning; he can only assume Stede is either captured, wounded, or dead. He's horrified and dazed, his ears ring - he kills the two British soldiers who happen upon him, he decided to fish up his Blackbeard outfit.

What is Ed actually good at? He's a good pirate, a good captain. He's good at keeping his crew safe, he's good at keeping Stede safe. He has to think he's either going to be embarking on a mission to get revenge or to save his boyfriend.

At first, I was very hesitant about the idea of Ed having to go back to piracy, which he says he hates. But what he was actually trying to do was drown Blackbeard, the part of himself he sees as so unworthy of love. He needed to see that Blackbeard is part of him, that he's not a monster or unloveable, that Blackbeard can help him save his friends and his boyfriend.

It's not a coincidencethat the show goes out of its way to make Ed's killing people in this episode as morally easy to accept as possible. The British officers we see are all racist and mean and unpleasant - like, damn, singing 'we shall never be slaves' while making Black characters serve them? Gross! They got what was coming to them! This is the 'racists deserve to die' show, after all.

And Ed uses this violence as a tool for love, to get him back to his boyfriend, to give them a triumphic reunion. I don't think it's a coincidence that this is when Ed tells Stede he loves him, either - he's come one step closer to accepting he's worthy of love, he's more ready to acknowledge what they have.

Ed doesn't have to feel bad about killing those officers. The show doesn't ask him to. He gets to retire while still wearing his Blackbeard outfit - Blackbeard gets to retire, not be drowned with a canonball in the ocean. And we're left with Ed, still with a lot of growing to do and a lot of self-discovery left, but he's closer to realizing that he's not a monster and that he's so deserving of love.

[demilypyro]

Okay since this doesn't seem to want to go away here's me addressing every single "allegation" that I've heard about. I hope to have at least given a good explanation where the horrible things being said about me came from, and why I consider them either just totally not true or badly misconstrued. Some of my friends have recommended I don't say anything at all, but I've always preferred openness and honesty, so I hope that's appreciated.

I understand that some people will still dislike me even though the things being said about me are not true. That's fine. I don't need everyone to like me, but it's when I'm being consistently harassed and lied about that it interferes with my mental health and ability to work. So I'm gonna try and end things with this.

"She's racist"

From what I can tell this is about one time when I said I keep my interest in anime to myself around new people. I do this because showing you're a Huge Fucking Nerd right off the bat can make a bad impression. I could have said the same thing about Star Trek or comic books, I just happened to be talking about anime in that moment. Someone seems to have misconstrued this as me finding Japanese culture something shameful and lesser than other cultures?... Which I would call a total willful misinterpretation. The rest of this seems to stem just from being Dutch, because the Netherlands is a country that has a problem with xenophobia. This is true, but uhhh I'm mixed myself so I'm pretty well aware of that, and I obviously don't support our infamous "blackface holiday." Just because I live here doesn't mean I agree with everything this country does, be that historically or in the modern day.

"She's friends with racists/misogynists/transphobes"

The only thing I can guess this is about is when I was mutuals with a user called porko-rosso at least 5 years ago and didn't really believe it when people told me they were a bigot. I haven't interacted with this user in over 4 years but people still claim we're like best friends, which was never true in the first place, we just knew a lot of the same people. Most of the resentment from the people who repeatedly spread these rumours about me seems to have started here. So for the record: no, I am not friends with any racists, misogynists or transphobes.

"She thinks she's better than other trans women because she passes better"

This is just not true. This idea seems to pop up just whenever I post about enjoying the benefits of HRT or surgery, but most recently this was misconstrued from a post where I said being trans is about being yourself as much as possible. Since this was in response to someone saying that me trying to pass is "erasing my identity", people thought I meant trying to pass is the same as being good at being trans, which was not what I meant, but some people didn't seem to want to believe me when I clarified. My apologies for the misunderstanding I guess, but that's all it was. So no, I do not hate people who don't pass as well as I do, nor do I think all trans people should be transitioning medically, and I resent the implication.

"She has a secret discord server where she makes fun of pictures of other trans women and calls them slurs"

I had absolutely no clue what this was about when I first heard it. I was sent screenshots that supposedly prove this but all they show is me being rude about someone's appearance one time in january of 2022. I actually thought these were faked because I don't remember this happening and the things said confused me, but one of my friends says she found it was in her server, where she had showed a picture of someone and asked everyone present (mostly other trans women) if they were hot. Apparently I did not think they were hot. So yes, I did insult someone's appearance back in january 2022, but it was an isolated incident. Frankly even I find my remarks in these screenshots distasteful, I don't know what I was on when I wrote that stuff. I'm sorry to that person specifically. What I said has weighed heavily on me and I apologize for it. It's not something I approve of, and don't intend to repeat that mistake. Still, to say it means I hate trans women and I love to make fun of them in my secret discord server and call them slurs is just... a super-villain level of exaggeration. I didn't even know about the word that was named as an example. It's not true.

"She's often rude"

I can't deny this one. Autism gonna autism. I've seen many therapists, doctors, experts, what have you, to try and help me with this, but it seems my particular brand of autistic in combination with the cultural differences between mine and other countries just really often ends with my foot in my mouth when I speak English. I apologize! I have never meant to personally offend anyone. It just keeps happening and I can't stop it from happening.

If after reading all this, you still consider me bad enough to hate my guts, I can't stop you, but I wanted to have at least had my say. I swear that everything in this post is the honest truth as I understand it, and that I've never acted with purposeful malicious intent.

[random-knowone]

There's so much more at stake: The naivety of single-issue voting (Part 3)

Even if you still aren't convinced that Kamala Harris will support Palestine, or she doesn't do so in the "right" way to you, there is so much more at stake here.

Obviously, the ongoing genocide is incredibly important, but you can't refuse to vote just because of one issue. There are many other things at stake here, and it's naive to act like none of those matter, and shows that you're privileged to not have to worry about:

Trans rights: Trump and his cohorts want to ban transitioning and make it illegal to be "visibly" trans. Kamala Harris will defend trans rights and access to healthcare.

2. Reproductive rights: Trump wants to ban abortions, IVF, and contraceptives, stripping away any autonomy for reproduction, and making it impossible to receive life-saving treatments. Kamala Harris is a fierce defender of reproductive rights, and it's one of her biggest concerns.

3. Ukraine: Trump is known to be an ally of Putin and has said in regards to Ukraine "Russia can do whatever the hell they want". Harris has supported them throughout the whole war, and will continue to do so.

4. Disability rights: Trump wants to shut down medicare, raise drug costs, and says disabled people should "just die". Harris has lowered drug costs, and wants to expand Medicare and improve healthcare all around

5. Homelessness/poverty: Trump is a landlord, and wants to increase the cost of living by thousands. Kamala Harris wants to lower costs, build affordable housing, and cut taxes for low-income families. One of her major talking points is that trickle-down economics is a lie, and plans to use "trickle-up" economics to raise families out of poverty and into the middle class.

6. Climate change: Climate Change is a HUGE threat. The biggest in history. If big plans aren't put in action now, it could cause the end of life on Earth. Trump refuses to admit it exists, and does the bidding of Big Oil and Gas. Kamala Harris has worked on the biggest Climate bills in history, and once she gets in office will put even that to shame.

I could go on for hours, but you should get the idea by now. Kamala cares about Palestine, but there is so much more on the line. To act like she's as bad as Trump, to ignore everything else at stake here, is incredibly naive. I see people (probably alt-right trolls) saying that bringing anything like this up is racist, or means you don't care about Palestine. That's not true. Ignoring all other issues at stake is admitting you don't care about disabled people, poverty, climate change, or reproductive rights.

My goal here isn't to attack or insult, simply to get people to consider how much else is at stake beyond one issue. And once again, Kamala Harris cares about Palestine.

[decolonize-the-everything]

It’s my understanding that the reason we don’t advocate for voting (democratic or at all) is because it takes focus away from more important things that actually will make a difference. That being said, do you believe it is a bad thing to choose the lesser evil while still working to eliminate both evils? I know that harm reduction is not a long-term solution but does it cost us anything in the short term? If the net value is even one more person alive than the other choice is it inherently bad? Keeping in mind that the hypothetical person choosing to vote would also be organizing and donating and all the things that I know are so much more important. This is a genuine question and I’m still trying to work out my biases so if I’m missing something obvious then I would probably agree with the message you’re sending across.

Questions like this ignore realities such as: we did not only have 2 choices when this election started, that Biden was worse than any of our candidates except Trump. Besides that, the time for harm reduction has long since passed, in reality there are NO candidates who would reduce harm and framing it as if there are can't be anything but propaganda. Likewise, there is a genocide happening under Biden that was not happening under Trump so even the people who thought their votes were "harm reduction" votes in 2020 were wrong.

I don't know if Trump would've done the same, but I know it doesn't matter because Biden was elected and Biden did it anyway.

Short term, voting for democrats didn't save any lives at all. Short term Biden has quadrupled the amount of disabled and dying people in the world between his handling of COVID-19 and multiple genocides. Short term he's left queer, Black, disabled, and other marginalized communities alone to fight for our own rights against fascist attacks as white men in power have always done.

And he will continue to do so as long as he allowed to stay in power.

Can you really think one life that would be lost under Trump that isn't already at risk under Biden?

The only demographic of people that I see fitting that description would be people who face much fewer intersections of oppression than the rest of us. It's the kind of people who already live relatively safe and comfortable lives that I see being shaken to their core over mere the possibility of becoming actual targets of state oppression.

Gonna go off track a bit here, but stay with me.

....If we look back at history we can see that the majority of Americans have never catered to the safety or well being of the people they marginalized, especially not of their own free will. Example, Americans could have human rights on the ballot tomorrow but we don't. Why?

Our issues are systemic.

Everyone is too worried about "me" and learned to use identity politics to justify it. "Well I'm queer so I deserve to live"

And that may be true, but if you've accepted that belief doesn't that mean you've also made the mistake of believing in it's opposite; that someone else deserves to die?

Yeah. It does.

Which is why we don't have human rights on the ballot. Or roe v Wade for that matter. Our country is still systemically bigoted, patriarchal, racist, and colonial. If our country wanted us to have rights, we'd have them. If the people in power thought we deserved them, we wouldn't have to fight for them. If people in the 50's wanted Black people to have rights they'd have them! Instead newly freed people were met with Jim Crow laws.

And we can look back and say confidently now "well they weren't scared of anything. They were just racist and didn't want Black people around!"

So if there are this many people saying "but what about me, wouldn't you vote blue for queer people?" then it stops being a personal decision "to protect my own well being" and starts to become evidence of a systematically elected choice from Americans to blow up another country to protect American privileges.

So while I'm glad people care about marginalized people enough to use us as virtue signaling police batons during elections, this rhetoric is still just perpetuating the cycle of white supremacist beliefs that we want dismantled.

Americans don't deserve to live more than anyone else does, even if they're gay (or Black or native). When we choose a "lesser evil" based on this idea, this translates into agreeing with white supremacists when they say some lives are worth less than others, namely you're agreeing that American lives are worth more.

And what a lot of "listening and learning" people don't seem to realize when they say "this is the lesser evil" or "think of (marginalized community being weaponized for votes) at the voting booth!" "Vote blue for just one more election!" is the ideas that they are perpetuating long term for a short term win (that isn't even going to effectively help anyone) are much more harmful than anything Trump could've done, especially if Biden is commiting genocide already anyway

•••

So yeah it is inherently bad. Americans have our whole lives to prepare for elections, years to learn about candidates & to do research, 4 years between every election to help get 3rd parties ballot access. Leftists scream about 3rd parties and changes we need to make every year (let alone every election) if we wanna make progress. so how is it that it's only ever 4 months before elections that voting age american adults wanna ask how we could make things better or ask if what we're doing is the best idea?

We are in this position because we brought ourselves here by being apathetic and scared and selfish.

Those values won't save us no matter how many times we lie to ourselves about it.

How many elections in a row exactly do we need to pick the "short term solution" because we're apathetic and scared and selfish before we realize that nobody is going to save us but us?

I'm someone who organized and planned and protested and it was infuriating that there were more people advocating for voting blue than protesting.

I now understand that to mean that there are more people advocating for the problem to continue at it's current rate, than there are trying to solve it.

And no, I genuinely no longer believe that this is a helpful or meaningful political action to take.

[tocomplainfriend]

VIV is constantly criticized by her own fault.

TW: Mention of: SA, Rape, Transphobia, fat phobia, Antiblackness.

(Hey, i'mma probably do a post eventually about episode 4. Btw, awfully shit, worse than I thought it could be... BIG TW OF R-PE AND SA IF YOU'RE GOING TO SEE IT. AND TW of the minimization of those topics too.)

(SORRY FOR BAD ENGLISH IN THIS POST TOO)

BUT I NEED TO CALL ATTENTION TO THIS! One of the reasons I criticize a lot of Viv specifically is because of how much she puts herself out there. She sees something she posts on Twitter about it a shit ton (even on "threads" lol). AND because of how lacking of improvement she has being. (I personally know people I have considered terrible when we were teens, but I have seen legit improvement from them in recent years. They seem like people who struggle, but got to grow up and made up for any problems (or pain caused to me or others). People have the ability to change and become better. Something that matters at pointing out issues or discussing-is the idea of creating change on others. It is better to get someone to change for the better than to cast them into the forever jail of nothingness (unless, IDK, they Sexually Assaulted someone, for example). Specially when they are young people. Doesn't mean YOU have to stick with other people that hurt you, no. Doesn't mean people get to do what ever and get away with it.

BUT All of this problem I have seen from Viv are from age 19-30. (you can change at anytime btw) And see constantly repeats herself and her actions. Seems to have never accepted criticism (said by herself too), and never able to see her own faults. The fact that is a continuous behavior is a problem, how she always responds is awful. My post of "Viv has being transphobic for 10 years", was to signal that. If she really had changed over those 10 years to a genuine thing- I could've taken that! But no, the shitty double standard against trans men... the weird treatment. THE MANY STORIES OF EMPLOYEES GETTING MISGENDERED HEAVILY, TOO.

(I know people who were transphobic [When they were teens mainly], that Genuinely improved and changed their beliefs. Now they treat trans people with respect and care! And still learning about gender-fluid people, too!)

It just seems to be further and further away from getting better! The fact that she only decides to take in account voices from SA victims that agree with her- it's painful as a victim, my self!

And yes, people who sent gore or dumbass shit to Viv (or the team) don't help. And go get help why you're looking and sending Gore to anyone. (Also, stuff like this does lead to people not listening to others people genuine callouts). The fact that I criticize something doesn't mean I agree with the people that go and do shit like the thing I just mention above.

AND ALSO A IMPORTANT THING HERE!

This drawing was created by DollCreep. BUT ALSO FUCKING REMEMBER this was done in response to the shit that Viv drew of him.

If you didn't know Viv drew a transphobic caricature of DollCreep using the name Jojo (his old nickname). This put together with a shitty anti-sjw meme video. DollCreep is a transman, Viv drew a character based on him. A furry wolf girl, If you can see in the image the main thing listed below the character name is the fucking "Sex=♀️". SO ON PURPOSE, CHRIST. Like... AND YES-is shitty from both to have drawn this (even if it was in respond) mainly immature in DC part. But that, or any toxicity coming from DC, doesn't delete the transphobia here. (imagine drawing a racist caricature of a poc person, because they are shitty to you). THE POST LINKED ABOVE SHOWS THE SITUATION, and in the end of the day. Viv says that DC is an abusive shitty person to her, but never realizing her own faults or anything she could'be possibly done wrong! (and again, any wrong done by DC in general can not be deleted by the fact of having being treated badly. If he did shitty stuff himself, that doesn't delete the wrong done in general to him or to others by viv)

Here about transphobia:

(this is like 8yrs old too)

Again, she never acknowledges anything that she might have done wrong. "She is a thoughtful person, that wants tor write queer and disabled characters! She wants to tell empowering stories of..." It doesn't even feel close to that when people bring up actual problems in her writing that are stereotyping or bad, and she just yells and cries. It all feels like empty sticks she is only interested in in the surface level, she doesn't want to actually deal with.

When she says "This characters is black guys ♡♡♡" and then the fucking 7th, a grayish character with zero black features. She can not actually try and draw a black person with a different hair texture, she'll faith is hair isn't straight and spiky (has done this so much too). She is all for positivity and diversity (can not draw more than 1 character that isn't a fucking stick with the same stupid face).

She can not write relationships in general. She cannot do gay couples, then don't lean on the stupid old uke uwu defenceless x big rough seme protector stuff. Again, all the interactions with Husk and Angel are sexual harassment. They are already a revealed future couple (and episode 4 is terrible for them, specially with that song). Stolitz is toxic, and predatory. That is not acknowledged, and all Stolas's predatory behavior and power dynamics are put in the background, cause- "look how sad Stolas is :(! HIS DAD IS SOOO MEAN, HIS WIFE IS A BITCH". All her gay characters are in pure surface: over-sexual twinks that are assholes, which also fit into the top/bottom as personality boxes.

Any other point includes sexual harassment as a joke. BUT KNOW SHE WANTS TO BE LIKE "GUYS SA STORIES MATTER, LOOK AT WHAT I WROTE" as if she didn't lean back into the problem of the diminishing of SA and r- (in general and done to men) with her jokes in HB. With all the sexual harassment that Angel Dust puts on Husk and others. (AND YES THERE IS NO WARNING IN EPISODE 4, FOR ITS HEAVY TOPICS! I do believe all series/movies with this need it. SPECIALLY IF IT'S SO GRAPHIC! "Sexual content" is not the same as a warning for SA or R-pe. An adult can see a movie with sex or sexual nutidy- when they see that- but it's different to get straight assault on screen. Victims can watch movies/series with sex in them all good, you cannot just group consensual sex in the same assault or R-pe...)

The thing where Mammon (the only fat character that isn’t from the fucking background.) is like FIZZ YOU NEED TO LOSE WEIGHT. AS IF SHE COULD EVEN DRAW ANY DIFFERENT BODY SHAPE WITHOUT DYING. Like there is only Mimzy (hasn't appeared yet, not given any importance. In the female lead show). Mammon the piece of shit (does the same as Blitz, but he is actually fully bad.) His design is done with 80 fucking layers on top. Like all the test of the skinny character's clothes suck up to their body except for Mammon. His body is hidden in layers upon layers of clothing (that's all you got?). All you main guys need to fill "the skinny have nothing men" and "skinny woman with big hips and legs, but no fucking stomach"?

AND YES! VIV DOES DO THE FUCKING, "FAT = FOOD LMAOOO". You know the thing HH fans and hater where like the "Bee needs to fat thing is bad, cause of fat = food (only food) is reductive and shitty"

(Can I refer to how the show Bojack H, make Diane gain weight cause of anti depressants- and it wasn't a joke! And she was happier too?)

(mine, from post right below)

... like is a bundle of issues. And Viv will never accept that she might be /or is wrong. That's why it hits the fan with stuff. -And again I liked many of the little concepts and stuff in HB and the original pilot of Hazbin. Shit- I still like Sir Pentious and Nifty. I do like Mammon as much as he is a pack of problems to call out, I fucking love the piece of shit Australian jester- The artist work hard on it, and I'm happy it's an openly queer! (as limited as it gets, too....). I liked Huni-cast, I loved the original voice cast! -and that happens! I could be writing this about other stuff too, not only Hazbin... if I created this blog earlier- IT WOULD ALL BE ABOUT RWBY, DANGANRONPA, even svtfoe...Ladybug... or Agretsuko's ending too. So yeah, sorry for the long post (as if all my post weren't)

[clonehub]

The Clones, Kamino, and Relationships

I've long speculated on what the clones' values would be as a people regarding every type of relationship they could possibly have with others around them -- antagonistic, romantic/sexual, professional, platonic, familial, etc.

Often times when making headcanons along these lines, people tend to project their own social upbringings onto the clones with or without realizing; they rely heavily on a reality that doesn't exist for the clones and then try to justify it with the same reality. Their analyses and theories and hcs end up flawed (and, for me, really annoying to read).

I'm sure you've all heard the fanon/headcanons that clones don't have the necessary and nebulously-defined "life experiences" that are required to mark them as adults. People think the clones lack a certain amount of knowledge about themselves and their bodies, and then others' bodies and how those work. They think the clones have no social awareness; I even saw someone say that clones wouldn't have had rivals, frenemies, or any negative interaction with other clones.

This long form and hopefully structured rant is going to lay out everything I think about how the clones were raised, why they're raised that way, and what that means when they interact with one another and with non clones.

Antagonistic Relationships

The clones argue. They fight. They disagree. We see this repeatedly in The Clone Wars and all throughout the Bad Batch. They disagree with superiors, both Jedi and non Jedi.

Disagreement within a group helps foster social bonds, can strengthen critical thinking/reasoning, and has a few other benefits I don't feel like listing out right now. Regardless, managing disagreements in a group requires conflict resolution skills.

The General Relationship Structure on Kamino

The clones must be taught to be loyal, to be amicable, and how to resolve conflicts within squads and bigger and bigger groupings of clones. The clones are going to war. They're trained soldiers. They have to be able to work on a team. Team work isn't just following orders and it isn't just being friends. That also means swallowing pride, setting aside ego, and even speaking up.

They can get jealous, they can be envious, they can have a whole host of complex feelings and emotions that they need to work through. The Drill sergeants would thus be instructed to be aware of and teach the clones who to work through this (whether they choose pats on the head or a fist is up to them).

I'm saying this to say that fandom often takes clones' "guns n battle" education a little (waaayy) too literally. They're not just given a gun at 2 and told to start firing. They need to be told that you can't turn that gun on your brother just because he said something annoying or you think he's dumb.

The Galaxy Outside Kamino

The clones learn about the galaxy outside Kamino. They get a heavily censored and propagandized history of the galaxy that plays up the Republic and absolutely villainizes anyone else, but they definitely do learn about the galaxy in general. They learn about other species, where those species are located, etc.

I say this to say that people like to act like the clones are so sheltered that they basically gawk at the mere existence of anyone who isn't a clone (so like....racist via ignorance?) which....I don't understand, really. The Kaminoans want to deliver a functioning and high quality product. They can't do that if they don't tell the clones that there's people out there that look different frmo you and speak a different language. A lot of clones are bound to interact with civilians; what sense is there in not prepping them for it?

These history lessons wouldn't even take too long to learn or anything like that. Some people like to headcanon that the clones' education schedule is so tight that they can't learn about "unnecessary" things (i.e. anything that isn't about guns n battle). But the clones are also fast learners. I think they can handle like two days of lessons about the galaxy's species.

Learning about the galaxy also requires --

Social Awareness

I've often seen headcanons that the clones, in one way or another, lack social awareness. "Non clones are basically an alien species! They're bound to ask loud, rude, ignorant, offensive questions! They're not shy, so they'd totally just strip in public if they need to!" (yes, I saw someone say this)

This comes from people infantilizing the clones and refusing to write or see them as the adults that they are. This is also severely shortsighted; again, being aware of the fact that the Kaminoans want a product that can do its job, who is helped by the clones blundering through greater society and destroying the genpop's trust in and comfort with them?

The clones get taught the basics of social politeness. They wouldn't manage the intricacies of cross-cultural interaction from two like high level senators, but that's not their job. They're polite, they're professional, they're aware of what is and isn't rude. They're self aware. They're adults.

Personal and Bodily Awareness

Sorry to the people who are weirdly misogynistic, but the clones also get comprehensive sex ed. It's inevitable that some clones are going to sleep with a non-clone. It's bound to happen! Rather than pretend it never does, the clones are told in detail about two things:

The human reproductive system.

Basic contraceptives and STI prevention.

part of maintaining the health and safety of any given population is making sure that they don't get sick. STIs are a way of getting sick. Part of maintaining the health and safety of a given population is managing unwanted or unexepcted pregnancies. Condoms prevent that. I think the medics have them and distribute them as-needed when they go on leave planetside.

So they get consent training (they'd have to, in order to learn how to interact with anyone ever in a normal and healthy way). The contours of consent would interact with their lifestyles in a contradictory way because they're also rather explicitly told they don't have the right to give/revoke consent over their own bodies, but they're at least told about other's bodies.

But here's the thing. The clones rarely. RARELY. Do end up having sex or a relationship because of two reasons:

They rarely interact with non-clones who are viable for sexual or romantic relationships (as in, most of the non-clones they're in contact with are COs and Jedi)

They themselves do not value sex and relationships to the extent that we do in our society.

for the first point: they're in battle a lot, and when they go on leave they face a society that does not like clones. There are anti-clone protests, 79s is one of the few bars that allows clones in, and when they're at battle they're notably not interacting with civilians for obvious reasons. The average jedi and non clone CO is not going to seek a sexual or romantic relationship with a clone.

This also presumes that clones don't sleep with other clones. I'm not giving ground on this. It's clear within canon that the clones view each other as true family. "Brothers" is not just "brother in arms", but quite literally a familial term for them. Fives' "same heart, same blood" speech in season 3 is evidence. Sister being called/naming herself Sister is another (her being transfem alone isn't enough; if they didn't view their familial relationships as fundamental to who they are, they would have given her a regular name, not Sister). They also refer to one another primarily as brothers, even when there's bad blood -- like Slick insisting that he did loves his brothers. Not comrades or friends or squad mates. Brothers. The entire 501st.

Frankly, the "they're bound to do it" view that many people seem to have is very bizarre to me. Who cares about proximity? What are their values as a people? What have they been taught? What do they believe? Why assume that any given clone would do that? Plenty of people spend a lifetime around their families without ever developing a desire to sleep with them. Who you grow up with can absolutely influence who you're attracted to, but not to this degree.

The assumption that clones MUST sleep with one another relies on a rather wide series of assumptions that just do the thing I complained about in the opener, which is rely on our own culture's values to write the clones. Which ties into point #2 up above:

The clones don't value sex or relationships as something they need to seek out. Yeah, they'd get horny. They're adults. It happens! Part of life. But what's socially considered an appropriate release of those feelings would be different from what we see in today's world. The drill sergeants wouldn't impress upon them the importance of having a partner, because how does that help them? How does it benefit the Republic, the civilians, the clones?

The clones are soldiers who were bred for war and are focused, first and foremost, on fighting and fulfilling their duty. Their most important social values are fighting, duty, and loyalty. Hierarchy, warfare, survival, etc. Can a clone seek out sex? Yeah! Is that even like, remotely common given the points I made above? No! Does the average clone chase civilians or even dream about relationships, sex, etc etc etc? Nope. They weren't taught to value it.

(This isn't to say that wanting these things makes a clone bad at their job, or that having sex means they're breaking a rule somewhere. They're not. it's just like how the majority of college students go for the most common majors because they're taught that those are valuable and desirable things to learn in school. You'll get one or two who have a concentration in something you've never heard of. They're not wrong for that, but they're definitely outliers)

So the average clone is a virgin that doesn't even think about it because it doesn't matter to them. They know about both male and female reproduction, and they know how to interact with civilians.

They're definitely sheltered. I highly doubt that any clone is given the skills necessary to manage like, romantic relationship problems, especially the really gritty ones. They're not told about their rights as beings, their ability to say no to most situations that involve a military CO. But they know about saying please and thank you, solving interpersonal conflicts, and about pads and tampons. They know about boundaries, appropriate behavior in public, and how to use a condom. They know about girlfriends and boyfriends and partners, they just don't generally care about them. They're rare -- not socially shunned, just rare. like the niche college concentrations.

A really good meta to read that I personally love is written by @canichangemyblogname and linked in his pinned. @saga-ordsmed also has a few interesting metas floating somewhere on her blog. theyre not about this topic in particular, but she's got interesting insights into the Republic.

I hope this was coherent enough. I wrote this mostly because I saw a contradictory post that pissed me off and I was yelling about it with friends in discord lol. Basically, the clones are adults, but don't presume that they have the same values that we do, or that the poeple in charge of their care and upbringing share our values either.

[creatingblackcharacters]

Hi friend, Amy a fan of Stardew Valley farm game where play as farmer and make friends everybody in town. Have one town friend Demetrius him Black Man and scientist and have laboratory and study and like dinosaurs and ice cream.

Demetrius is a favorite character for Amy because Demetrius look like Mr. S Amy PT helper and stardew valley fans always stupid say not supposed to like Demetrius because "bad character" or "bad stepdad" and Demetrius is NOT bad and Amy can like him anyway.

Not know what to say when people say that mean stuff about Demetrius, and know it's not fair and stardew fans just think that because Demetrius only Black Man in Stardew Valley. But Amy says "that stupid and mean" and everybody can say "Amy stupid and not have to listen" because of ID.

And that can make it worse for Black Fans have everybody think "only people stupid like Amy think that" and "Amy just not understand social stuff so not notice Demetrius is bad" and really Amy just notice that Demetrius is good.

What can be good to do to help Black fans and help make people listen to them about Demetrius or at least leave alone when like Demetrius?

1) I think it is the sweetest thing that you like him because he reminds you of your PT helper. Like that's so precious 😭

2) it's abhorrent that they treat you like you are dismissible because of your disability. Just because you have a communication disability doesn't mean you don't know anything. So those people are garbage, and their worthless opinions reflect far more on them than you. So don't worry about speaking up for Black characters and Black fans- you're doing just what you need to be doing, and it's a good thing.

3) I went to look up this character, and he apparently has a book called "Practical Tips For First-Time Step-Dads", and is described as very protective of his first daughter Maru. So he's clearly trying to be a good parent overall. But then I went to look up his stepson and YEP! there it was lmao. The dynamic of a Black stepparent and a white child is something I plan on discussing in my next lesson, but suffice it to say, yes those people are absolutely just racist. 🤷🏾‍♀️ And even if he was a "bad person", that has never stopped any person in fandom from liking white characters. Lestat is an adulterer, spouse beater, and Black daughter lyncher, and it has stopped exactly Zero of his stans. So. 🤷🏾‍♀️

4) Here's the thing that I've learned, and it may help you. It'll hurt, but... It's the truth.

Many people enjoy being racist.

They won't call it that! But the things they enjoy (and don't) are affected by said racism, and acknowledging that would mean either sacrificing their enjoyment or accepting that they are a racist (which looks bad!) So they just deny it completely. So tbh, you'll never be able to convince many of those kinds of people to stop, bc the battle is usually far deeper than actual ignorance.

I would encourage you to walk into these battles not with the goal to convince anybody- you'll leave disappointed and disheartened more often than not- but with the goal of pointing it out and shattering that "ignorance". If they didn't know, they know now. If they know now, and double down, they're consciously choosing racism, whether they want to admit it or not. The Black people around you will see your solidarity, and there might even be others you don't even see that learn from the interaction (and then they won't act like that 🤣). That's how I go about it, anyway, and it's saved me a lot of peace.

[shaunashipman]

Why do certain buddie shippers feel the need to justify their hatred for Tommy by turning it into a "moral" issue. "He's racist and a misogynist" when he clearly isnt?? Obviously he was at one point but the show has made a point of showing that he's made his amends (and is not that person anymore) and is on good terms with everyone. We didn't see it on screen because Tommy's a side character. Like is hating Tommy simply because he's with Buck childish? Yes, but I would respect them a lot more if they just owned up to why they really hated Tommy instead of coming up with some fake moral justification for it. Not to mention I highly doubt anyone would call Tommy bigoted if he wasn't Buck's love interest.

so this is not actually specific to buddies or the 911 fandom. it's purity culture. no one is allowed to just dislike anything anymore, you need a Reason™ that the thing you like is morally wrong and bad, and other people are bad for liking it.

but specifically re: bucktommy, it's also because they see tommy as a threat to their ship going canon. like I said in a previous post, they think people showing support of tommy and bucktommy will "give tim and abc the wrong idea" and keep him, which means they can't get buddie. so they need to sway people against bucktommy in order to "send a message" to the show, and admitting that they just don't vibe with him cause they have a different ship isn't going to get people on their side. so they lie and say he's racist and treats buck bad and isn't actually interested in buck.

but it's not working, as evidenced by the overwhelmingly positive response to the pride post. unfortunately, said positive response just makes them double down harder

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

Am I the asshole for not covering for my coworker?

I (29X) have a coworker (26F) that I hate A Lot. She is rude to customers and other coworkers, she is a horrible gossip, she’s PAINFULLY racist and transphobic, she has no idea what constitutes appropriate small talk (CONSTANT talk about her sex life and childhood trauma at our office job to our primarily middle aged coworkers) and basically does whatever she thinks she can get away with as far as not doing her work.

So one of her duties (as the receptionist) is to take the phones off night mode at 8am so that calls can come through. There have been MANY times where she hasn’t done that, sometimes for up to an hour after we’ve opened. I don’t know if she forgets or if she’s hoping no one will notice or what, but it happens at least once a week.

The thing is, I’m the backup receptionist (in addition to my other duties) so I’m the only other person with the phone program on my computer, and I can see when she hasn’t taken the phones off night mode. You can only change that from the main phone, so all I can do is go tell her to do it. And I did that the first time or two that it happened, but then I stopped because 1) I’m not her boss and 2) I literally don’t care if she gets in trouble. I dream of the day she gets fired. Now sometimes she’ll do it herself after a while, but there have been a few times where someone else has noticed and she’s gotten yelled at.

Am I an asshole for not giving her a heads up when she hasn’t turned the phones on? It’s not like I’m actually doing anything to get her in trouble so I don’t really feel bad about that, but I do feel kind of bad about how it affects everyone else. We primarily do business over the phone so calls not being able to come in potentially means lost sales, and we’ve been having a bit of a slump in business recently. But I think the longest it’s ever gone before someone noticed has been like 90 minutes after opening, and also I lowkey think that at least some of the slowdown in sales can be attributed to customers not wanting to interact with our rude ass receptionist, so tbh if they fired her that would probably only help.

Potentially relevant info: she has said in the past that she has ADHD, which would explain some level of forgetfulness. But tbh the way she says it kind of makes me think she’s doing the “omg I’m soooo ADHD haha SQUIRREL!!” thing. Normally I would never doubt someone about a diagnosis like this, but she is that kind of person.

What are these acronyms?

[becausegoodheroesdeservekidneys]

I would really like to know how and why some of my fellow Brits have absorbed the whole "if none of us were any different (language/culture/identity) we would all understand each other better and it would be great" like my bro has said before that he thinks it would be better if only one language exists (I don't think he cares which one) I'm just ?????????? But we can try to understand each other without being the same?????

It's a dominant culture thing. A well-meaning, left-leaning one, but a dominant culture thing. This is a view held by people who don't feel any particular connection to their own culture or language, because it's dominant - it's 'default' and therefore universal and unremarkable.

This means they can't relate to the idea of belonging to your own cultural unit/sub-group. BUT:

It also goes hand in hand with being well-meaning, and left-leaning. They come from a dominant culture - meaning, one that gets imposed on others a lot, which they don't like. So they reject the notion of borders and nationhood and that, because to them, that's a negative, right wing, oppressive concept. It's in the name of nationalism that all the oppression happens; so nations are bad, right? Drawing divisions is bad, right? Dividing ourselves rather than all getting along is bad, right?

(Most famous example of this, by the way, is the song "Imagine". John Lennon was, for all his many and varied flaws, a well-intentioned man, who fell in love with an Asian woman and got subsequently FLOODED with racist abuse for it (as did Yoko Ono). He wrote "Imagine" partly as a response to that. No religion, no borders, no nations... no divisions to hate each other over. Just harmony and love.)

Seems nice, doesn't it?

But it ignores what everyone in a non-dominant culture knows and understands - that there's a difference between division and diversity, and that a single centralised authority ruling over all is Bad, Actually. People's needs go unnoticed. If you belong to a marginalised outgroup of some form, nationalism can have a great many positive benefits, because it's defending your culture and right to exist and giving you a voice that is otherwise lost. Why should we have a single homogenous culture? It'll never happen, regardless - that's not how humans work. Culture is literally the shared set of norms and values in a group. That will always adapt and change wherever there's a mass of people. And that is a good thing, because different perspectives are a good thing.

In fact, with regards to language, I always think a three-tier structure is what we need. I'm actually not against the concept of a lingua Franca, be it Esperanto or anything else. It would indeed be highly useful to have a global language for communication. But specifically for global communication - within a nation/cultural group/etc, you have the one(s) that's native to you and helps define you as a people, and then at a local level you have your dialect that unites you as neighbours. To me, for a healthy society, you need all three of those. (I have similar thoughts about currencies and economies but that is irrelevant here.)

Anyway, those are my personal thoughts, obvs