#and doomscrolling does not change the election

[starriskiesstuff]

[a-student-out-of-time]

An Important Reminder In Trying Times

Hey everyone, Mod Bubbles here.

I know that I've said over and over that I don't like talking about politics on here, but I really feel the need to say this:

This Is Not The End.

I understand things probably seem really bleak right now. A lot of people are going to be hurt by this, and the sheer amount of fearmongering and worst case scenarios are inescapable. But the country and the world are not going to change overnight. To be honest, it may not change very much at all in the next four years. I'm not a political scientist, so I can't tell you that for sure. There's a lot to be concerned about.

What I can tell you, as a student of history, is this: not only have we survived this once, we have survived this every time.

Think about it this way: every single tyrant, every single right-wing representative, every single emperor and colonial power, every corporate scumbag and power-hungry lunatic. No matter how many of them have ever come to power, held onto power, and tried to make themselves seem invincible, not a single one has ever held back humanity's progress and not a single one has proven to be invincible.

There were countries throughout history, especially in the 20th century, that fell under brutal dictatorships and saw countless lives lost. Did the people just give up and accept it? Fuck no they didn't. They fought back. Many of them lived to see democracy restored to their lands in their lifetimes, or fought to see it restored in their children's.

From Europe to Latin America, while many countries still have their issues, they endured and their people have survived. Their governments were not invincible, just as none ever have been.

Regardless of the outcome of this election, the world will go on. People will not just roll over and accept whatever horrible things happen, the fight will continue and we will do everything in our power to carry on as we always have. We'll carry on to achieve bigger and better things.

Let me also be clear: if you feel the need to cry, please cry. If you're afraid, don't pretend you're not. If you're angry, allow yourself to feel that anger. But if you're seriously contemplating giving up or hurting yourself, please don't.

You may hear all this news and ask yourself, "Bubbles, what's the point? What can I do about all this?" I've felt that way too, I have for a long time. I understand completely. It's scary and overwhelming, but I'll tell you exactly what you can do to fight against that: you can be kind.

Do you want to know where the most tangible change in the world begins? It's never at the top. It begins with people like us on a communal level, where we reach out to help others. Whether that means we help our neighbors, our friends, or any strangers we can.

Going out of your way to start fights, looking for someone to blame based on the flimsiest justifications, and just being cruel because you're angry, those aren't how you change anything. Those just add to the problem.

Here's just some ideas on what you can do instead:

Get away from the news, stop doomscrolling, mute doomers, and turn the TV and news apps off. This will get you out of a negative feedback loop that'll make you feel worse and more powerless, which is what they're designed to do in order to maximize traffic.

Remember to eat, sleep, brush your teeth, take a shower, take your meds, and do everything else you need to do to stay healthy.

If you or someone else really feel like leaving the country for your own safety is best, you can still work do so. But please don't convince yourself that if you can't, it's over.

Give back to people as much as you can. Show the people in your life who support you that you care, and that all that they do for you matters.

Donate to good causes you believe in.

Stand up to bullshit whenever you see it.

Do not give up on your dreams and ambitions. One bad leader does not mean your future automatically ends. Stop worrying about any potential apocalypse in the future, because you can do that even on the best days, and instead work toward a future that you CAN achieve.

There's this pervasive and very inaccurate idea that it's only the president who gets to enforce policies on the country. This ignores governors, the House of Representatives, Congress, mayors, and the countless other leaders involved. And it ignores you.

You do not have to spend the next 3 years and 364 days doing nothing but feeling miserable. In fact, that's the last thing you should do. Fear and despair are the weapons they wield, and they only have as much power as you allow them to have over you.

If your view of politics is that you just have to vote for the "right one" and then everything will be utopian, or that if people vote for the wrong one" then we're headed for a terrible dystopian nightmare, I have to tell you that that is incredibly reductionist and also very dumb. I can also tell you from personal experience that it's not them who make the real changes where it's needed.

A friend sent me a video that really opened my eyes on this situation: Adam Conover, the guy behind Adam Ruins Everything, said he's not worried about all this. Why? Because he and some friends were able, through their own power, to make real positive changes in their community. They were able to bring homelessness down in their district by over 38% through their own efforts.

And he's right that, as a silver lining to all this, it made more Americans than ever take a stand against all the horrible shit they were seeing and get involved with solutions.

Speaking from my own experiences as well, when Hurricane Helene devastated my area, it wasn't the politicians who came and repaired roads and power lines, it wasn't them who brought in food and supplies to everyone, and it wasn't them who worked tirelessly to save people still in need. It was everyone in our local communities.

The people at the top have never really cared about anything more than your money and your vote, but the people around you care more than you may believe they would. Hell, even strangers on the internet care more than you'd believe.

Now, even if you've made it this far, you may be wondering "What about when he starts outlawing and banning things?" To that, I say look at Prohibition and see how well that went. Politicians have only ever operated under the idea that banning something will make it go away, and it always does the exact opposite. And if you're still worried, you can get involved with organizations that fight to support these things being available and regulated.

But by now, you may also be wondering "What if I can't get involved? What if I'm too young or I don't have the money, or my parents won't let me?"

Then just be kind.

Stop looking for enemies to blame. Don't martyr yourself for some nebulous cause or the idea that your suffering increasing means the rest of the suffering in the world will go down. Don't torture yourself by telling yourself that you didn't do enough.

Show compassion, show support, show love and genuine care toward people who need it, including yourself.

"But there's so many shitty people in this country and the world, why should I-" Stop thinking that way. This isn't about them, this is about you and how you can make a difference. There will probably always be shitheads and power-hungry morons, but that does not negate the fact that you can choose to be different. You can choose to be kind.

Kindness is a sword that you have to learn how to wield. Wield it responsibly and use it to help others. No matter how small or insignificant it may be, YOU DO MAKE A DIFFERENCE.

I say all this as a 29-year-old who spent most of his life feeling scared and miserable about so many current events, convincing myself I'm useless and selfish because I was worried about so much and I hated myself for all of it. And I've decide I'm not going to do that anymore.

During the last right-wing era, I managed to help build a whole community out of my love for Danganronpa. I created friendships, relationships, and there are people alive right now because I chose to do so. Because I chose to use that community for kindness. I want to keep building from there by going into streaming and reaching out to more people.

I won't lie to you and say that I'm not scared, because I am. But I'm also not going to let fear change who I am. I want us all to be better to ourselves and others, because that is how you defeat hate. It starts with you.

And if you're still concerned, let me share with you a quote from The Great Dictator, a movie made in 1940, when World War II wasn't even at its height yet:

To those who can hear me, I say - do not despair. The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed - the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress. The hate of men will pass, and dictators die, and the power they took from the people will return to the people. And so long as men die, liberty will never perish…

Please take care of yourselves out there, everyone. We'll get through this, just as we always have.

[warrioreowynofrohan]

I have been seeing this quote all over my feed in the past weeks, for good reason.

“Always after a defeat and a respite, the Shadow takes another shape and grows again.”

“I wish it need not have happened in my time,” said Frodo.

“So do I,” said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”

It’s important to me, it’s something I need to hold on to, and yet to me there are also ways it feels different from the current situation. Frodo and the Shire are in terrible danger, and something terribly hard is being asked of him; but the Shire is no danger to anyone else.

What we’re in feels more like late-stage Númenor to me: seeing your society twisted and corrupted to the destruction of people both outside it and within it. Bearing responsibility for what it does with minimal ability to change it. Knowing that many people around you either support it or don’t care much.

Culpability without power.

I’m not in the US – I’m next to it, and our next election is very likely to bring in someone aligned with Trump – but this isn’t just about the US. Austria and Hungary are already far-right. France is on the edge. Russia and China are their own versions of the same thing: authoritarian, nationalist, expansionist, and targeting ethnic minorities.

This is on both sides of the Atlantic now. This isn’t WWII. No one is coming to save us. All of us are going to need to fight this in our own ways. I hope that I’m wrong, that maybe it won’t be as bad as I fear, but I can’t count on that.

I saw a post saying “don’t doomscroll”. It’s right. Don’t exhaust yourself doing things that won’t help. Take a breath. Pet your cat. Do something that comforts you.

And then, organize. Because as bad as 2016 was, I don’t think this is 2016. There’s no waiting this one out. There’s no “in four years”. It ends when we all say it does, and only then.

It doesn’t matter how powerless we feel. It doesn’t matter how futile anything seems. We have to all do what we can. We have to work together. We have to protect and aid the people who will be targeted, in whatever ways we can, and that means organization and networks and knowing each of us is not alone.

Grant us wisdom, grant us courage.

For the facing of these days.

For the facing of these days.

[musashi]

its just so frustrating to have watched the psy-op revolve around black lives matter in 2016 and see all these legitimately intelligent leftists on my dash let their despair at not being able to do more indoctrinate them into what we now have tangible proof was a psy-op. watch them spread that anti-voting rhetoric that definitely had a hand in the worst, darkest government i have ever lived through, where thousands of people--including my friends--died.

it is so frustrating to watch the revisionist history take place now. "there was no psy-op! tumblr was just banning black bloggers because they're racist!"

(tumblr was not the only website affected, black twitter users had a whole HASHTAG where they exposed these bots as fakes, and there are actual fucking government documents you can easily google & read on this)

and now the same thing is happening using the genocide of the palestinian people as the same conduit. indoctrinating people whos politics rightfully are rooted in empathy and righteous compassion, passion for activism and change. showing them these violent photos of war and death, dragging them into these depths of despair, and then cheekily reminding them right at the end--remember, you're powerless. voting won't save them. reblog another gofundme, doomscroll for another hour, traumatize yourself with another photo of a corpse, and stay home on election day seething.

propaganda does not come in the form of a bogeyman. propaganda relies on convincing you that complacency is the best thing you can do.

i understand how horrible it feels. as an autistic person i suffer from hyperempathy, combined with a strong sense of justice that makes me feel like i am ON FIRE if i cannot help someone in need. but you need to take a deep breath, before reblogging that video where a bunch of palestinians out of context say "the election in the US doesn't matter," and think to yourself--why was this video made? what is the source? who is paying them? is it possible that these responses are cherrypicked? does this video give a wide breadth of the nuance involved, or is it just meant to get a reaction out of me?

this is a skill you can build. you are not immune to propaganda. but you can learn what propaganda looks like, and minimize your capacity to fall victim to it.

it's ok that you do sometimes. it's insidious on purpose. it's not a moral failing. but you have to try your best to think back on things, realize you might have internalized some bad ideas, and learn how to do better in the future.

yes, destroy the fucking democratic party. thrash them. rail into them. spit fire and venom and demands at them. protest. rally in the fucking streets. press their backs against the wall.

after we vote them into office.

[kafus]

hey. if you're still doomscrolling about the election. being panicked and angry about whatever the result may be does not change the result, it just makes you miserable with no greater benefit. you probably just need to go to sleep or at least take a break, stretch, eat, do something else.

whatever happens there is so much love and hope in the world and you can still make a difference if you feel so inclined by donating to important causes and engaging in local organizations. do not get me wrong the president matters but the world is not going to instantly explode because of election results. there is so much we can do and so much yet to be done

sending care to everyone

[the-next-two-months]

So, it’s been a bit since the election, and now it’s time to stay informed.

Don’t doomscroll, that does nothing. Instead, find meaningful information on Donald Trump’s plans for our country. Find and download all the information you can on LGBTQ and POC history, abortion, figure out and stay on top of your state’s laws as well as national laws, know the constitution and know what Trump can and cannot change without pushback. Register to vote. Stay informed.

Remember, information is key here. Trump thrives on the misinformed and uninformed, so stay out of those groups. Know correct, valid, and well-sourced information. And to all: stay strong. They can’t keep us all silent.

[man-down-in-hatchet-town]

Wayward Guide: Politics And People

Okay, so I know we're, like, weeks past Wayward Guide in Rewatchers, but I can't stop thinking about the politics of it all. I always forget that, next to Black Friday, Wayward is probably the most political work in this extended fandom of ours. And it's not just the story's local election, or even the scapegoating of the werewolves for political gain. It's the individual people and the roles they play in the disaster that hits Connor Creek.

It's Desmond Brewer, who has power, who has influence, who cares about others. Who has spent so long hiding himself, losing ground bit-by-bit, watching his pack struggle to recover as the outside world moves on, that he no longer believes in his ability to change anything. At least not until it's too late.

It's the Irons family, who have been failed so thoroughly by the system--abandoned without education or support--that in their fear and desperation they will turn to anything that claims to promise something new. They are being exploited and used by elitists who know or care nothing about them, but why should the Irons even notice? Neglected to exploited is not that far to fall...

And mostly, to be honest, it's Sybilus Silver II, who advocates for himself and his pack in his political and personal life, but spends his professional days at the beck and call of those who would destroy him. Because it is his job, and the capitalist system he lives under, and how can a young man with a stutter say no to that? So instead he fights back in every other way he can, but it's not enough, it's not enough, it's not enough, and suddenly his friends are dying while half of his neighbors unknowingly scream for his blood.

And these people, they are us. Desmond is people doomscrolling on twitter, too tired to fight for small change because what does anything even matter? The Irons are these written-off conservative small towns, making terrible choices that only serve to alienate them further when we should be pouring resources into giving their next generation a fighting chance to be better. And Sybilus is us every day, buying something on Amazon because we have to save that bit of money, driving a car instead of taking public transportation because we simply don't have the time, making all these small sacrifices and concessions because we have no other choice.

And, it's like, fuck. Yeah. The Tin Can Bros really nailed that part.

[aceofbooks-creative-anthologies]

Autumnal Darlings Prompt #23: Movie Night and/or Slasher

autumnal darlings masterlist

I was originally gonna write this from when we were in high school, maybe pre-daisugace, but then, well... the election happened. So this is post-timeskip now. Reminder that this is a platonic selfship.

Background: Ace hasn't been communicating with Tanaka all day. He knows something is wrong, and he also knows just how to cheer up his best friend.

wc: 1824; written in first-person from Ace's POV

Doomscrolling. The act of spending an excessive amount of time reading large quantities of news, particularly negative news, on the web and social media. At least, according to Wikipedia. How does one define excessive exactly? Is it about length of time in one sitting? What if it's one article that's a ten-minute read vs ten that are one minute a piece. What about research dives? Is it still doomscrolling if I'm piecing together historical evidence and scholarly research to show that this is all somehow Reagan's fault?

Being an American overseas has never been easy, as much as Mom would like to argue with me on it. But now the thought of even booking a flight to visit my father for the holidays has my anxiety lighting up like a Christmas tree. It was supposed to be the first time Dad has met Daichi and Koushi in person since my college graduation, but now....

What was even the point of getting that degree anyway? It's not like I'm using it? Stupid fucking housewife, can't do shit—

THUD THUD THUD

The knocking on the front door is hard enough that it rattles my nearly empty glass of water on the bedside table.

I snuggle deeper under the covers. Dai and Kou have keys, so they don't knock. We haven't ordered anything in a while, so no mail deliveries. And no food delivery today either—Dai's on a weird diet to support one of the guys at the station, and Kou and I are suffering alongside.... mostly. (Kou eats lunch at school, so he gets to skip out on five meals a week. I generally don't eat lunch, so I'm out five to seven.)

I start to pull up the security feed on the doorbell, but a phone call comes up instead. "Ryuuuuuuu 😝" shows on the Caller ID, and "You and I" by Anabor starts to play at full volume as his ring tone. Fucker changed his ID again.

"Shitshitshitshit...." I fumble with my phone, trying to decline the call, despite having it directly in my face. Instead, I manage to turn it into a video call.

"Oi!" Ryuunosuke Tanaka is holding his phone at an angle from below, so I'm looking up his nose. But I can see our porch light above him. "Open the door! Need proof of life! Suga! Daichi! Are you in there?!"

"They're not home." I manage to say. I sniffle, unsure whether I'm about to start crying or if I'm finishing up. My cheeks haven't been dry for hours, my nose is raw, and my eyes sting.

"Where are they?! This is probably one of the scariest days of your life! Outside of, y'know, breaking up with that shithole ex of yours and the subsequent six months because his dad was connected to the mob, but still!" I can hear shuffling, like he's adjusting his grip on something he's holding in his hands.

"Ryuuuu," I whine, really not wanting to think about Johsei right now. He still waltzes through my nightmares at least twice a month.

"Where's the damn key?" He takes his phone and puts it between his shoulder and ear, so now I'm getting a really good look at his ear canal. I can hear the jingling of his key ring. "I'm going to lose this pizza if I have to keep fumbling around y'know."

The word "pizza" gets my attention. "Did you get it from that place on third?" I poke my head out from under the covers, but don't commit to getting out of bed yet.

"No, I got it from the place over on fifty-second—of course I got it from third! It's a shitty day, you want shitty pizza. I have Kiyo's keys, so can you please come let me in? Your ice cream is melting too."

Instead of responding, I hang up on him. I crawl out from under the covers, slip on my slippers, and briefly consider pulling the big fluffy comforter off the bed, before picking Koushi's college alumni sweatshirt up off the floor and pulling it over my head instead.

I have to turn on the lights as I make my way through our house. Usually they'd be on by now, I hate having a dark home, but I haven't made it out of the master bedroom suite yet today. I had pulled on Daichi's sweatpants before going to the bathroom first thing, and made the mistake of checking my phone. I went back to bed.

Ryuu is waiting on the other side of the door when I open it. He has the biggest, dopiest grin plastered on his face, two large pizzas and a half gallon of strawberry ice cream balanced in one hand, his backpack slung over one shoulder, and his phone and keys in the other hand. He's still wearing the polo and sweats that his gym has instituted as a "uniform".

I squint into the sunlight, and realize I haven't been wearing my glasses all day. "Did you bail on work?"

"My last two clients for the day are Americans on business trips, so they cancelled on me. Where's Daichi and Suga?"

"Kou has a staff meeting and is going out for dinner after, and Dai was on call and has been at a structure fire since...." I make a point of looking at an imaginary watch on my wrist. "Before I woke up at ten."

"Right. And your glasses are....?" Ryu raises the pizzas over my head and shoulders past me through the doorway, kicks off his slides, and making his way to the kitchen.

"Not totally sure." I close the door and follow him to the kitchen, where he's already put the ice cream away and is pulling plates out of the cabinet.

"Have you taken your meds?" Now he's searching a different cabinet, moving cups around.

"No. And it's too late for me to take them." I open one of the boxes of pizza. The crust is as thin as paper, the sauce is leaking over the sides, the cheese is burnt in places, and the pepperoni (real pepperoni!) has grease pooling like an acne-ridden teenager. Shitty American pizza for a shitty day in America.

"No cat videos AND no meds? I have my work cut out for me." He puts a full glass of water in my field of vision, and I know better than to argue with him, so I drink it down all in one go.

"So, movie night. I grabbed a whole bunch of dollar bin movies from the video store by the gym. What's your flavor of punishment?" Ryuu fills up my glass of water, hands it back, and then starts pulling open drawers. "If I were Ace at 3 AM last night, probably terrified of what I will see when I wake up, where would I have left my glasses that help me walk in a straight line?"

I pull a slice of pizza out of the box, not bothering with a plate just yet. The moan I let out is unnecessarily euphoric as I take my first bite of food today. It's sloppy and mostly tastes of tomato and oil, but it hits the spot. I finish the slice in three more bites and then grab a second.

Meanwhile, Ryuu has wandered off in search of my glasses. He comes back with them as I'm moving onto my third slice. "On the cat tree in your office?" I shrug my shoulders, mouth full. There usually isn't a rhyme or reason to where I leave them when I go to bed, but especially so last night. This morning? Whatever. Ryuu puts them on my face for me and I push them up my nose with my forearm.

Ryuu hops up to sit on the counter and grabs a slice of pizza for himself. "Do they even know?"

I shake my head. "They knew I was worried last night, but they both went to bed before I did. And Dai was going to stay home with me, but then he got called out to the structure fire. I haven't texted or called either of them because they're both busy."

"Y'know they'd wanna be here."

"And you know that I'm not going to pull them away from their jobs just because I'm having a bad day. Kou is raising the future and Dai is saving lives. The results of the American presidential election is by far less important."

Ryuu raises an eyebrow in disagreement, but doesn't push. He licks his fingers clean and then slides off the counter. He goes to the fridge, where he had dropped his backpack on the floor. "Movie night. What are we watching? Bad plot, bad characters, or bad effects?" He unzips the bag and starts staking movies on the counter, simply based on vibes.

"Bad plot. Those are usually the horror movies, right?" I put two slices of pizza on each plate and move towards the living room, knowing that Ryuu will grab napkins and our drinks. I sink into the couch—Kou would have a fit if we spilled this pizza on the kotatsu. The couch cushion covers can be removed and thrown in the wash, the futon not so much.

Ryuu comes in and sets our drinks on the slim table sitting behind the couch, for that exact purpose. He tosses the napkins at my face, and then moves to the television, DVD in hand. Back to me as he crouches, he says, "This one is one of those blank DVDs that you can burn stuff onto. I can't read the title, though. It's in English, but the handwriting is worse than Kageyama's in high school."

"What the fuck did you buy? What if it's a snuff film?!"

He finishes fussing with the DVD player and TV settings and laughs. "I have more questions about it being in the bargain bin than about it being a snuff film, if it is a snuff film." He comes back to the couch and puts his feet in my lap as he sits. I narrowly manage to lift the plates of pizza out of the way in time.

I hand him his plate and we both settle in as the credits start to play. The Nail Gun Massacre flashes across the screen.

Ryuu and I watch the slasher three times all the way through before Kou gets home.

"Love! I'm home!" Kou calls out, shutting the door; he could hear Ryuu and I laughing from outside.

Kou walks in to the living room as the pool scene starts, and he watches in abject horror. "What are you guys watching?!"

I snort, which makes Ryuu double over in laughter, clutching his stomach and rolling off the couch and onto the second pizza box, thankfully empty, on the floor.

"Inarguably the worst slasher film I've ever seen." I say through hiccups, wiping at my eyes with my sleeve.

[safflowerseason]

thoughts on our new hellscape

it's taken me a few days to collect my thoughts on the election. I've gone from shocked and horrified (I cried all day last Wednesday) to a kind of numb grief and rage that just filters everything. but here is where I've landed after about a week.

doomscrolling is bad for your mental and physical health. anecdotes, vibes and raw emotions are not definitive proof of anything. i'm not saying vibes and emotions don't matter, but they are not facts, and they do not determine your lived experience and reality. now more than ever, it is essential to not succumb to vibes.

leaving this country is an option for a tiny, tiny, tiny minority, and it is an individualistic solution, not a collective one.

trump's mind and body are disintegrating and absolutely no one else among the right wing--not Musk, not Vance--has a psychic hold over the American electorate the way Trump clearly does.

nothing has happened yet. nothing is foreordained. trump promised horrific things in his deranged policy speeches, and I'm not sugarcoating the destruction he can cause or that the consequences of this election won't manifest in large and small ways for decades. But bad things do not happen in a vacuum. R's/Trump will now be held accountable to the entire country not just their cult supporters, and members of Congress are generally more sensitive to what their voters will and will not stand for. This election showed us that while many people voted for Trump, quite a lot of them also voted for supportive economic and social policies at the state/local level.

Federalism exists and so does American democracy.

Our side needs to get its logistical and organizational shit together. We need to address the information/communications crisis in this country and develop a left-wing communications apparatus the way the right-wing has done. this will obviously take years, but it has to be done if we want to change the direction of this country.

protest and organization on the community, state and national level is the way forward. there are more of us than there are of them, and their coalition is filled with narcissistic grifters and scammers who regularly stab each other in the back and all hate one another. if we don't fight, we lose.

[icedhotcocoa]

I’ve been so worried and stressed these past few days. I found out about the attempted Trump assassination when I opened twitter at home after I saw the movie Longlegs. And it sucks cuz I was in a real good mood too. I know a doomer mindset won’t help us in the long run but I can’t help but be worried. I’m of course going to vote but one of my friends can’t vote cuz their mother won’t give them their social security number for them to register.

And with all the doomers, anti voters, and pro Trump ppl I’ve seen online I’m scared that all our voting will be for nothing and that in the end I’ll only have 5 months left to live on planet earth. I was barely able to get out of bed Sunday and two days later I’m STILL terrified. I’m so scared for the future. It’s not like I WANT to vote for Biden. I do not like him, but it’s either him or a full on dictator.

I just want to live a good fulfilling life. I was already going through a lot of stuff in my personal life hoping things will get by and that I’ll come out on the other side but the state the political landscape is like a double wammy to my already bad mental state. And I start college next month and idk how I’m gonna be able to focus on that with all this stuff going on. I know I can’t lose hope especially not now..but I just feel so hopeless and helpless and terrified. And I feel like i won’t be able to go on

hi anon!! i understand everything you're going through. I think we all feel pretty similarly. i'm just a silly teenager on the internet and i don't know jack shit about fuck but i hope some of what i write can make you feel better-- 1. change is, unfortunately, slow. yes, that means that we can't snap our fingers, or shout loud enough, or even assassinate presidents effectively enough that everything will be better and we will immediately halt the worrying descent into global fascism that i fear might be coming--BUT, simultaneously, this is a good thing. you don't have to panic. even if trump wins this election, the world is not ending immediately. policies take time to enact, dictatorship doesn't happen in a day (yes we still have to be vigilant to prevent it, but no one electoral outcome is the be-all-end-all for our future).

2. STOP DOOMSCROLLING!! i know, i know, it's hard. focus on you. spend some time with your friends. you have a finite amount of empathy to give, everyone does, and that's okay. that's why collective action (yes, like voting), is so important: any one single person has very little time or effort to contribute to politics on a global, or even national scale. nobody is expecting anything from you--focus on yourself first

3. this is completely unrelated to politics and more personal but I actually just finished my freshman year of undergrad! it was spectacular! you will have an excellent time, i PROMISE--again, this is my personal experience as an extrovert, but basically all of my other friends loved their first years too. the leap from senior year of HS to first year of college isn't as big as it first seems, you have lots of people to support you and everyone is going through the same exact stuff you are :3 inbox and dms are of course always open

[dchan87]

Black Democrats aren't going to get enough credit having to put up with white liberals' panic attack after the debate. All it took was for Biden to have a cold, and whites were bringing out the razor blades. Only for it to be revealed that Biden was mostly seen as the winner and the debate largely changed nobody's minds either way.

It was obvious that this debate was an attempted hit job by CNN. No fact-checking Trump, letting him ramble on, meanwhile Biden gets cut-off mid-sentence by the otherwise useless moderators. It was obviously a set-up by CNN. And white liberals fell for it, as if any other candidate could've handled it better on that stage given the circumstances. Biden had to both say his pieces while also being the only one willing to fact-check the rabid baboon on stage next to him.

It's just an absolute embarrassment, watching the white meltdown. I'm embarrassed to be in the same coalition as these people. Biden's voice was a little hoarse, and they're screaming crying throwing up about wanting Newsom as a replacement (because of course they want to screw over Harris, too). Bunch of disloyal hyenas.

Unfortunately, I was one of those white folx panicking over Biden's performance in the first 15 minutes. But thankfully I've calmed down since then, thanks in part to being on a different platform, and not doomscrolling. Anyways, one debate does not an election decide. And it's possible Democrats are more energized now than before, so we got a lot of work to do.

(CNN should get all the criticism for how poorly they handled this farcical debate)

[gffa]

hi this whole supernatural and putin election is all over my dash right now but I have never watched spn, so I have no idea what's going on there. can you pleaseee help me?? I saw you posting about it lol

Hi!  Yeah, I have a post about it here, but basically (AS MUCH AS MY KNOWLEDGE CAN BE, GIVEN THAT I REALLY ONLY READ MESSAGE BOARD THREADS ABOUT THE WANK HAPPENINGS): - We’re all super stressed from Quarantine Brain + Doomscrolling through the election news/lack of news - Supernatural is a long-running show (15 seasons now) that has been around so long, that there are frequent jokes about how it’ll never die, etc. - There are two characters on the show, Dean Winchester (main character) and Castiel (second tier main character) who are shipped together as one of the most popular pairings, their smushname being “Destiel”. - Supernatural is also notorious for being pretty homophobic (from the actors, from the writing of the show, etc.) in a low-key but very “you can feel it way” (and some of the actors have been pretty shitty, from what I’ve heard?), so like literally nobody outside of diehard shippers expected this, despite that the chemistry between them was Something Else. - The show has always been popular, as well as one of the characters/actors on it (Castiel) has an incredibly devoted fan base, but it’s nothing like it was back in 2013, when Misha Collins (the actor who plays the character, generally more supportive of queer stuff, I think?) was IMMENSELY popular, to the point that there was a tumblr “event” scheduled where a bunch of people changed their icons to this one pic of him, then also reblogged the pic a lot, photoshopped the pic onto other gifs to make them Castiel pics, etc., to the point that a lot of people saw NOTHING BUT Misha Collins’ face on their dash all day.  This was called “Mishapocalypse”. - Sidenote:  Within the Destiel fandom, a/b/o tropes are extremely popular, often times with omega!Castiel.  You’ll see that come up in jokes around sometimes, too. - Sidenote x2:  For awhile, it was incredibly popular on tumblr to combine three live action television shows that had a lot of overlap in their audiences:  BBC’s Sherlock, Doctor Who, and Supernatural.  The combination of these three (whether graphics or just talking about crossovers or whatever) became something of a fandom unto itself, called Superwholock.  When I tag all these posts with “Superputinelection”, it’s a reference to how three things were mashed together like the TV shows. - So, okay, this show has been on forever, it’s low-key-to-high-key homophobic, nobody expects anything even from the final season.  Jokes get bandied around like “Destiel will become canon before we get any election results.” - AND THEN DESTIEL BECOMES IMPLIED CANON TONIGHT???  WHILE WE’RE STILL WAITING FOR ELECTION RESULTS???? - Castiel basically confesses his feelings to Dean (the other character in the ship), he directly says, “I love you.” and then immediately is killed and sent to SUPER HELL precisely BECAUSE his love for Dean made him happy, so like it’s (implied) canon gay AND homophobia in the same scene!  Amazing!  (A lot of people also really find Dean’s actor’s face in the scene to be super uncomfortable/showing the actor’s distaste for anything gay, but I don’t have an opinion on that because I’m not into the fandom deep enough to know.  Just that that’s what people are referring to.) - With so many people posting gifs/caps from the confession scene from SPN, it’s basically putting the same image of Castiel’s face all over our dashes and timelines again, which isn’t intentional but BOY DOES IT RESEMBLE THE MISHAPOCALYPSE. - AND THEN, LIKE WITHIN AN HOUR OF THAT, WHILE PEOPLE ARE ALREADY LOSING THEIR GODDAMNED MINDS, THERE’S A NEWS STORY  (well, rumors at the time, but apparently it’s been confirmed? the BBC had a story about it up ETA:  As Mid points out, that BBC article is about something else and I can’t access the NYP one, but I’m not getting google results for it) ABOUT HOW PUTIN IS GOING TO BE RESIGNING. All combined together, it’s been a rollercoaster ride to hell tonight.

[a-student-out-of-time]

More Real Talk

Hey everyone. Mod Bubbles here.

I'm not gonna beat around the bush here: you all know what's going on, you've all heard about it, you don't need me to tell you about it. You've heard about it and you're gonna hear about it a lot these next four years.

I don't want to talk about that. Instead, I wanna address something else that, on a personal level, I believe is a lot more serious but a lot easier to grapple with.

You wanna know what I believe is the biggest problem we're dealing with these days? You can point to a lot of things, but at the core, they all have the same root to them.

Hopelessness.

Yeah, a DR blog talking about hope, how crazy is that?

But in all seriousness, it's at the core of every argument, every political discussion, every post I see made about not just the near future, but the long term as well. It's always the same points about neo-fascism, climate change, wars, cyberpunk dystopias, and global extinction. Very few people today seem to have any faith that the world can be better.

And I can't say I blame them. I was there too once, when I was a teenager. I lived in constant fear of the future, worried about what it means for me, and I'd get trapped in doomscrolling cycles. I'd lay awake at night and cry my eyes out. Yet I'm still here, on the cusp of turning 30, and I'm at a better point in my life than I've ever been.

Fear and desperation are ultimately useful, but they can be self-destructive. They can prevent you from seeing the truth and make you ironically vulnerable to the ones you should be most afraid of.

Why do people join cults or militias or vote for bad politicians? Are they all just stupid or evil? Sure, some may be, but most are just desperate, afraid and don't understand how the world really works. They need a helping hand with deprogramming what they were told.

Here's the facts:

We've already beaten climate change's worst predictions and the changes we've made can be reversed.

Plastic pollution in the oceans is being cleaned up.

Conservation success stories just keep coming.

More people are living better lives nowadays, with lower rates of child morality, starvation, crime, preventable diseases, even bullying rates have declined.

The Green Energy Revolution is here and nothing is going to stop it.

New advancements in materials science are on the way and will revolutionize everything from construction to manufacturing to space exploration.

I say all this because the ultimate source of hope is knowledge. Yes, you can open yourself up to a lot of dark avenues when you start learning about the world, but you'll also learn how much good there is out there being done.

This isn't a distraction, it's how I help people understand that the world can always be better and that just one person being in power will not change that.

Now, I know what you may say to that. I've seen posts about how the internet is going to be censored, that propaganda spread everywhere, that there'll be concentration camps, the constitution will be ripped up, etc.

And to that, I have to be honest: I've already heard it all before.

The things you're worried about today? I was worried about them in 2009 during the Great Recession. People worried about them in 2005 when Bush was re-elected, and the concerns there also included terrorism. Do we even still talk about Al-Qaeda? Not really!

And misinformation in this age has always been a problem, especially on the big sites. These are old problems brought to the forefront, and it's always been important to learn the skills to spot them.

More importantly, all this assumes the administration would actually be able to implement any of their promises. Every administration does that and few of the truly big ones about change have happened, especially because said promises ran counter to reality within the system.

I'm not trying to downplay any concerns about the situation, I promise. It's okay to be sad, scared, and concerned about peoples' safety. It's okay to cry if you need to. What you should not do is give up just because of all this.

I'm going to sound very harsh for a moment, but I need to say it: by being doomerist and defeatist, you're part of the problem. You not only stop helping, you run the risk of discouraging other people from trying because you believe it's pointless. When you succumb to pessimistic nihilism, you create a self-fulfilling prophecy that only rewards those who benefit from your inaction or your death.

Don't do that to people. Don't do that to yourself.

The world gets better when you first believe it can be better. How do you do that?

Well, I can't speak for everyone, but here's some suggestions that I'm sticking to:

Live daily life. Get up, eat, stay hydrated, take your medication, bathe, dress comfortably, listen to music, watch a movie, clean your home, play a game, hang out with friends, just do things that make you happy. As you should always do.

Stop looking at doomer posts. It literally does not help with anything and they are not credible sources of information just because they're cynical.

Do not let go of your ambitions. Always have a dream or a goal in mind, no matter what it is, and always aim for it. It's never stupid, it's never too late, it's something you aspire to and that's really awesome.

Stop looking for enemies. There are more important things to devote your time to than arguing over inane bullshit on the internet. That's been true since the start.

Be kind to people. Let go of whatever anger and resentment you may have for people, try to make new friends, and recognize when you can help someone else in need. Sometimes it's as simple as letting them know you care.

Be kind to yourself. You are not a failure, you're not a burden, you're not a lost cause, you can always improve as long as you're alive.

Remove toxicity from your life. Cut out bad influences and replace them with better things. If you have to leave a toxic environment, you can work on doing so.

Always learn new things. It's really fun to end the day with a new piece of knowledge you didn't have the day before.

Let yourself feel. Are you angry? Sad? Scared? Worried? Let yourself feel it, and then you can move on. Don't bury an emotion or let it stagnate.

Learn to recognize bad faith posts/misinformation. This is a critical skill to possess and one you need to always pass on to others. Not everyone who posts it is evil, sometimes all they need is a simple correction on a matter and the situation will be resolved.

Clown on Evil. Whenever people want you to fear them or take them seriously, you mock them, make memes about them, treat them as a joke and defuse whatever power they try to have.

Be true to yourself. Above all, don't let the next 4 years turn you into something you're not.

I say all this as someone who's been around longer than a lot of people who follow me: your future is not empty. I wished I'd done years ago everything I'm doing now, but I've decided I'd rather do them than spend the rest of my life lamenting and wondering what might've been.

You can spend years convincing yourself there is no future, and then the future arrives and you have no idea what to do anymore.

Change- actual change- starts from below and works its way up. And no matter how much life beats you down, no matter what's on TV or what the future may hold, you can always choose to do something about it.

You can always choose to be kind to yourself and to others. You can always choose to believe. And that's where you can start.

[lady-divine-writes]

Kurtbastian one-shot - “High Anxiety” (Rated M)

Summary: Sebastian comes home to find his husband and son searching for his bucket of Halloween candy. But Sebastian, running errands on a very stressful day, has his suspicions about where it's gone. (1058 words)

Notes: So, I wrote this for two fandoms, posted the first one, thought I'd put a day or two between them, and then never posted this one. My bad. This one’s rated M where the other was T (I think) based on a mention of sex that I wouldn’t feel comfortable saying around my 17 year old, so there’s that XD

Part 59 of Daddies.

Read on AO3.

“I’m sorry, Tom-Tom,” Sebastian hears his husband say as he slips into their house through the mudroom door. Oh-oh, he thinks as he undresses, changing into the fresh set of clothes waiting for him and putting his worn clothes and mask straight into the laundry machine. Kurt rarely uses Sebastian’s nickname for their little boy. When he does, it usually means something’s up. “I don’t know where it could have gone.”

“But it was right here! Right where you and Daddy put it!" Thomas gestures with both hands to the top of the refrigerator - a place Thomas can’t easily reach, but he can see from ground level. A perfect place to keep his pumpkin bucket full of Halloween candy safely out of grabby hands. But as Sebastian walks in on his husband and son searching the kitchen high and low, he can see that the bucket is no longer there. 

And Thomas looks devastated.

“I swear I didn't touch it! Neither did Hepburn! Did you?” Thomas turns to his faithful pet companion, who looks back at him with baffled eyes. “See?” he declares as if that one confused look from his pet Labradoodle proves anything. Hepburn had been trained not to rummage through the kitchen, but if the dog had, there’d be more physical evidence than a missing bucket. “You don’t think Uncle Blaine could have taken it, do you?” Thomas’s lower lip wobbles over the prospect of a beloved family friend absconding with his pail of treats - treats he worked hard for this year since there were so many rules to Trick-or-Treating this time around.

No running up to houses.

No eating treats before they reached home.

No hugging friends. 

In fact, no getting too close to friends at all. 

Take only candy left out on tables or stoops, which meant most of their neighbors didn’t get to see his fantastic costume. Not that that mattered much since the effect of being Dr. Strange had been ruined by the mask and face shield his fathers made him wear.

But all in all, they did the best they could for Thomas considering the circumstances. 

The whole neighborhood came through for the kids.

“No. I’ve known your Uncle Blaine for a long time, and he would never swipe candy from a friend,” Kurt replies, patting Thomas’s head reassuringly while taking the high road.

“Yeah. Uncle Blaine is more of a cronut fan, anyway. If there had been any of those in your bucket ... well ... it wouldn’t have lasted the night,” Sebastian intervenes, saving his husband from the hole of unavoidable questions he’s dug for himself since Sebastian thinks he knows what’s going on.

“Daddy!” Thomas cries, leaping into Sebastian's arms. “Something terrible has happened!”

“I heard.” Sebastian squeezes his son, then kisses him on the forehead. “Look” - He meets his son's watery gaze - “I know you’ve probably done this already, but why don’t you and Hepburn go search your bedroom. I’ll come help in a minute. We'll solve this one. I promise.”

“All right, Daddy. I will.” Thomas gives his father one last squeeze, then walks slowly to his bedroom, sulking with every step. He loves his Daddy, but nine times out of ten it’s Papa who comes to the rescue and solves his problems. 

And he hadn’t.

Alas, all was truly lost. 

Sebastian looks at his husband, watching with a depressed expression as their son drags his feet to his room, and sighs.

“Long day?” he asks.

“Yup," Kurt answers with a nod, eyes unmoving. "Long day.”

“Nervous about the election?”

“Not as much as I thought I’d be, but a little bit. Yeah.”

Sebastian shakes his head. Kurt worries on a whole different scale than the rest of the world he’s learned. If worry were jackhammers, Kurt worrying a little bit could still manage to punch a sinkhole straight through Midtown Manhattan. 

Four years ago, when Hillary Clinton was battling Trump for the presidency, Kurt was so anxious, checking CNN every five minutes for election results and Doomscrolling on Facebook and Twitter, they decided to drop Thomas off at Wes’s house, then had the fuck fest to end all fuck fests, praying that, when it was all said and done and they were too exhausted to continue, they’d be met with good news. 

The news of the first Madame President.

Hell, five straight hours of fucking should have put some positive energy into the air.

But it didn’t work out that way.

And … well … the rest sucked ass, and not in a good way.

Sebastian leans into his husband's ear, ensuring his voice doesn't carry. “Did you stress-eat Tom-Tom’s Halloween candy?”

Kurt clears his throat, his lips tightening into a thin line. He's not a perfect father. He'd be the first to admit he's made a few questionable decisions - not out loud to Sebastian, but still. But this one probably takes the cake. “Yes. Yes, I did.”

Sebastian pulls a reusable canvas bag, filled with clearance Halloween candy he bought from Duane Reede, out from under the sweater he'd folded over his arm just for the purpose, and hands it to Kurt. He'd had his suspicions when he saw Kurt pull his iPhone out of his pocket every five seconds then walk out of the room to check it, the way he'd been chewing his lower lip to pieces, his eyes flicking to that bucket whenever he went to the fridge for water. Even if he was wrong, having an extra bag of Halloween candy in the house never hurt anyone. It only comes around once a year. And at 75% off, it was a steal! “I’ve got you covered.”

Kurt's sigh of relief is so extensive, it shortens him by half a foot. "You are a lifesaver."

Sebastian smirks. "That I am. But I get it." He puts an arm around his husband and squeezes tight. "You didn't see the stale pizza crust I swiped out of the box I took to the trash before I went to the store this morning."

Kurt tilts his head in his husband's direction and arcs an eyebrow. "Really, Smythe? That hadn't been refrigerated!"

Sebastian guffaws. "Are you actually judging me!?"

"Yes." Kurt rests his head against his husband's shoulder. "But only because I'd been eyeing that for breakfast, you jerk."

[olivieblake]

hey I don't have Tumblr but I constantly read ur works bc u make me feel safe and at home which is silly because I don't know you but really I just am so so so so scared im in high school and a female and I feel like my childhood has been ripped out of my hands and that I won't have a future and rbg just like was the final straw? I don't know - I feel so hopeless and angry about being hopeless.

it’s not silly to take comfort in fiction. what you feel while reading or watching something is a real emotion you’re actually experiencing, so let me open by assuring you that there’s nothing wrong with coping with the world by processing in other ways; safe ways, like fiction, have lower stakes and allow you to deal with your emotions in a manageable way. you do know me because you know the way I see the world. and if seeing the world I see is something that brings you comfort, that is something I am unbelievably happy to do

as for the rest: I was just recently thinking how powerfully helpless it would feel to not be of voting age in this election, particularly with all the messages seeming to revolve around some obscure call for action by young people. youth activists like malala, greta thunberg, emma gonzalez are so incredibly admirable, but they are also proof that the burden of producing tangible results can’t simply fall to the young. as frustrating as it is, policy change comes from lawmakers and institutions. direct action can help a community, but as a nation we are shaped by much more than what any individual can do. which is not to make you feel better necessarily (I doubt it does lol), but to be clear that the stress you may feel is not only unfair, but a form of suppression; disillusionment that will keep you from actively participating when the time comes.

you’re not wrong to say you’re being robbed of childhood, and your fear of not having a future is a valid one. there’s not much I can say in that respect because I’m scared, too. for me, the fear doesn’t come from 45 or his political disciples, but the unfathomable schism between the ideologies of the two political parties. how do we resolve this? it’s one thing to elect a new president, to flip the senate, to take the institutional steps necessary to heal all this scorched earth—which are all things we need to do, without question—but how do we confront the ideologies that seem so incomprehensible? the loss of rbg is so painful precisely because we have already witnessed how little some of this country seems to care for the rights and dignities of women and minorities. it is hard, and harder every day, to wonder how it could be possible that what’s right will prevail when institutionally, systemically, we are at a disadvantage. we have no way of knowing whether meaningful change will ever occur, or whether things will worsen. we have to find the energy to believe in, firstly, and then work towards, the progress we aren’t guaranteed.

this should not be happening. the entirety of our political problems stem from a subset of society that feels something has been taken from them, because it has. redistribution of social power is a good thing because it was in one group’s hands for far too long. straight white christians are angry because not-straight not-white not-christians have gotten this crazy idea they deserve a fucking voice, which is why every argument feels so spectacularly dehumanizing. I know it’s hard to see any of this as a good thing—I know everything is hard to see as good right now—but it is, more so than ever before, a long-justified revolution. you are living through a revolution, and that is why you feel stressed, it’s why you feel scared, it’s why you feel robbed. and I wish there were more to say on the subject to ease that for you, but believe me, each day that you choose to be optimistic, to believe that people and communities and societies and countries can change for the better, is a day you’re making an incredibly brave and world-altering choice. 

don’t doomscroll. social media is alarming, twitter especially, because it’s impossible to tell what’s real, what’s trolls, and what’s just people screaming into their computers for lack of anything real to do or say. your algorithm is feeding that little monster in your head that tells you the world has never been like this before; it has, wars and genocides and economic depressions and natural disasters and worse. but change is possible. I can’t promise you when it will happen, but history proves that progress is not a straight line. you have to have faith in the anomalies, the bizarre chance that everything that seems to be going wrong might somehow, with enough effort, go unexpectedly right. there are so few certainties in life; that you will find love or find your passions or find where you need to be are all equally mysteries your life has yet to reveal to you. have faith in action, have faith in conviction, have faith in your value. 

that is revolutionary, and so are you

[kennyrobots]

answer in the form of an answer, part 9.

Imagine that your partner does not enjoy performing oral sex and refuses to ever perform it on you. How disappointed would you be? Your answer: Slightly disappointed. Answers you’ll accept: Extremely disappointed. | Somewhat disappointed. | Slightly disappointed. | Not at all disappointed. Importance: Marked as irrelevant (It's irrelevant as it pertains to me, because I'm going to go down on you. Even as terrible as it will inevitably be (because - damnit, I hope that this question is in close proximity to the other, because my reasoning is in THAT one), I will still do it, because I care about you.) Overall? Slightly disappointed, to be sure, but understanding, if you elected to give me an explanation as to why. I'd like to think that you'd be comfortable enough with me to tell me why you don't want to slob on my knob. ("King's Dead", man. I fucking LOVE that song.) Not that an explanation's a prerequisite for my acceptance of it. (OKC has gotten me used to that.) Your reasons remain your own - I'm okay with this. I mean, as long as I can buy you tacos and touch your butt, I'll be fine. in the year of our lord two thousand and twenty-one, i still fucking love that song. it’s fun. i’m too lazy to look it up right now (and i’m sure we’ll come across it eventually) (i speculated about three posts back that the questions as currently presented on my OKC profile are probably not in the order that i answered them in, but we also have the magic of links to help us navigate around these things) (fuck it, sidebar) (for the record, i miss the old internet, circa 2007, where it was nothing more than a bunch of nerdy idiots trying to make each other laugh, along with spreading completely useless and esoteric knowledge on forums and blogs and the like. i knew that the online sphere had changed once businesses started going onto facebook, which made ZERO sense to me at the time, because why the fuck would i “like” a business? but as soon as them and the boomers and the white supremacists took over facebook, the entirety of the internet was a WRAP. we ought to go ahead and shut the shit down NOW. fucking ALL of it. “but you’d no longer be able to post dumb things on your tumblr or doomscroll while on reddit and/or twitter!” if that means that the rest of the bullshit is gone, then GOOD. DO IT.) (the modern internet was a god damn mistake.) ANYWAY, i’m too lazy to look it up right now, but i think what i was referring to up top with (because - damnit, I hope that this question is in close proximity to the other, because my reasoning is in THAT one) is that unless something wild happens, there’s almost ZERO chance that me and a hypothetical partner are going to be completely sexually compatible from the jump, that we’re going to knock each other’s socks off that very first night (or even that very first day - i can’t and won’t rule out daytime fucking) (i’m just mostly assuming that we have other shit to do that precludes said daytime fucking, but i’d be an idiot to COMPLETELY rule it off the table) (can’t see the future, after all). i personally think that we will EVENTUALLY both have orgasms, but we’re going to take the most scenic route possible to get there that first time, because, for real - we just fucking met, and there’s a lot that goes into making sure that the other person comes (at least, to make sure the woman comes- niggas are like rockets, in that we burn fast and kinda brightly, and the buildup’s probably not worth the effort, can we go home now? it’s cold out here). no, being able to ensure that your partner has a good time and that their needs are attended to is going to take time and effort, and i (fucking finally) understand that. so, even though i know that the first...let’s say five-ten times are going to be kinda awful to meh, i’m committed to trying anyway, because i want to be good at making my partner come, and you don’t become good at it without being bad first. i just hope that her expectations are aligned with mine, and that the first time it’s a slog to get her over the finish line, she doesn’t write me off right then and there. we live in a modern society, after all. effort is underrated and underappreciated, i guess is what i’m getting at.