#anticaps

[genderqueerdykes]

yesterday when working with my case manager, she went through a long checklist of my comprehensive needs to refresh our treatment plan. as a part of the questions she was asking me, she asked for various areas of my financial struggles, including if i was able to afford social activities such as hanging out with friends, going to the movies, etc. as part of my necessary purchases. the question was specifically phrased as "Do you have enough money every month to be able to afford social activities?"

this was not proposed as a "luxury". the question was not phrased as "Do you have enough money every month to afford luxuries/luxury purchases?" this was listed with the necessities like food, housing, medical needs, transportation, bills, and clothing. this made me burst into tears when i realized it was considered a necessary part of everyone's mental and well being. my case manager told me that not a singular person on this planet deserves to have to "earn" the right to socialize, interact with leisure activities, or to do things that bring you personal fulfillment. your money does not, and should not entirely go toward survival and practicality. it will ruin your mental health.

to any poor person who has ever been told that they don't "need" or "deserve" social or leisure activities or that your money "needs" to go 100% toward survival: they are straight up lying to you. it is a fundamental part of your mental health. don't fucking listen to them.

[snailpaste]

capitalism is so fucked because we could be using robots to do our labour while we sit around naked in fields of flowers eating fruit from trees swimming in lakes writing poetry and making art and love but instead we're working minimum wage in shitty dangerous jobs unable to make ends meet while the rich get richer and the robots steal poetry and art

[chronivore]

[hopepunk-humanity]

commie

…Yes? You do realize this is the Commies & Queers website, right?

[raven-the-ghost]

I once heard someone say "even the plants aren't free under capitalism" and it fucked me up ngl

[no-gods-no-masters-tshirts]

[rowanisawriter]

assailed by ads 24/7 everywhere i turn there they are amidst emails and physical mail and in streaming and in all the apps and at work and on the highway on billboards when i’m supposed to be focusing on driving if i ever gain a modicum of power in this world i am bringing a marketing executive onto a platform and killing them live on tv with a brick as an example to the others

[chaifootsteps]

curious question, if it's alright - does 'anti-cap' (referring to your tag on it + seaworld) specifically mean anti-captivity for cetaceans only, or is it a term for being against animals in captivity as a whole, including zoos and sanctuaries? asking because i've never heard the term before and i'm curious.

my stance personally is pro-zoos/pro-(accredited) sanctuaries, but anti keeping cetaceans in captivity given our current inability to provide adequate welfare (as far as i know). if we were to invent conditions that would allow cetaceans to lead healthy and fulfilling lives in captivity, i'd change my mind on the basis of it being a great boon to conservation efforts of marine life. but again, until that's proven, i'm against it.

feel free to delete if you're uncomfortable answering. thank you!

I've usually heard it used in the context of cetaceans, but occasionally in the context of other types of animals. Doesn't really matter though, because the truth is, it's not as simple as one or two easy labels.

You've got to be really careful with "accredited zoos." Just because a facility is accredited doesn't mean it's doing right by its animals, or by all its animals. Loro Parque is humane certified despite all its issues; Georgia Aquarium is accredited despite attempting to import wild caught belugas just a few years ago. Copenhagen Zoo is accredited in spite of its policy of allowing animals to breed freely, then slaughtering the extras. The zoo where I grew up has some excellent exhibits and breeding programs, but their gorilla enclosure is downright shameful.

We'll probably never be able to invent conditions that allow cetaceans to lead the lives they deserve in captivity; they're just too built for their environment, too wide-ranging, and their social structures are too complex. It's comforting to us to think that if things get dicey, we can round up an animal and breed it in captivity, but as we saw with the vaquita, that doesn't work with cetaceans. The only way to protect them is to protect the ocean.

There are zoos and sanctuaries worth supporting, but it's really got to be a case-by-case and a species-by-species type of deal. No one, whether it's the people visiting a facility or running it, should ever stop asking whether this is right, whether things could be better.

[bougainvilea]

one of the best things about the wga & sag-aftra strikes is the publicisation of worker relations. like we should ALL be talking about how we get treated at work, our experiences at work, our contracts and how they are fair or unfair. it's just GOOD because if we talk about it we can understand that there is class solidarity in the experiences at work!

[miku-bookclub]

johnny silverhand not supporting the moxxes and saying not to risk your neck for whores is really the epitome of him being a hypocrite anti-capitalist

[genderqueerdykes]

this summer has been brutally hot. while you're trying to stay cool, please consider giving cups or bottles of water to any homeless people you see. i honestly don't care what your stance on homelessness is: just do it. if you've never had heat exhaustion or heat stroke, you have no idea how utterly miserable overheating is, and it gets worse when you're dehydrated. now consider how much worse it gets when you don't have a consistent source of shade to lower your body temperature. nobody "Deserves" heat exhaustion or heat stroke, leave your "they have to earn shelter" shit at the door. no one's listening.

i live in what's regarded as the worst part of town, dubbed "the war zone". i have countless homeless people walking by my apartment daily, and whenever i'm on the porch, I do my best to offer what I can. some folks turn me down for food, not every person who comes across my block needs narcan, but water is always gratefully accepted. please try to give water instead of sugary drinks if possible and avoid caffeine, as that is a diuretic and can cause people to dehydrate faster. if all you have is juice or soda, go ahead, but please give water when and where possible.

i have never had anyone get belligerent with me even despite the awful nickname this part of town has gained. if someone seems like they are in the middle of a psychotic episode (speaking to someone you can't see, irritable outbursts, confusion, reacting to cues you can't see, and so on) and are visibly agitated or angry, give them space and don't force them into anything. DO NOT CALL THE COPS ON THEM. don't call the cops on ANY homeless people. when a psychotic person is in the middle of an episode, what they are seeing, hearing and feeling are real to them, and can be perceived as life-threatening. sometimes someone in the middle of a psychotic episode cannot parse that you are not a threat, especially if they are in the middle of a particularly paranoid episode, which happens extremely easily when you have nowhere safe to rest your head at night. constantly having to watch over your own shoulder can easily lead to someone feeling constantly persecuted.

my neighbors have been handing out food, water, and cigarettes too, without any provocation from me. now that I've moved in, we have someone to hand out narcan, too. we can build a more compassionate world. if everyone on my block wordlessly helps the homeless folk who walk past without any provocation from someone else, the whole world can be this kind. i promise it can. you can possibly save a life just by reaching out. we all have the power to make a change for the better. a simple glass of water can literally save a life. your unsheltered neighbors are still your neighbors.

[mari-reads]

I HATE the trend of people making 100k complaining that “it’s the new 50k” as if a majority of americans arent currently wishing they had even 50k to work with. It’s not the “new 50k”, you’re just dealing with lifestyle inflation, butthurt about it, and think earning more would fix that (I promise the goal post will always move up)….100k salary would be absolutely life changing

[chronivore]

[champawattigress]

Girl help, I posted a slightly nuanced opinion on cetacean captivity on twitter.

[no-gods-no-masters-tshirts]

[saritawolff]

As reports of other incidents are beginning to come in, I thought I’d make a thread on all the crazy break-ins going on in the zoo world since the beginning of 2023.

On January 13th, Dallas Zoo closed due to a loose clouded leopard. Within hours she was discovered close to her home and safely returned to her enclosure with her sister, who had not left. Her wire mesh fence was discovered to have been intentionally cut open.

The next day, January 14th, it was announced that another cut had been discovered in the Dallas Zoo’s spectacled langur exhibit. However, the monkeys did not leave their enclosure and all were reportedly accounted for and uninjured.

On January 22nd, a highly endangered lappet-faced vulture at the Dallas Zoo was found dead in his enclosure with a “suspicious wound.” The wound appeared to be unnatural and is suspected of being a stab wound.

On January 29th keepers at Zoosiana discovered that 12 of their squirrel monkeys were stolen in the night. The remaining monkeys were uninjured but stressed.

On January 30th, attention was back on the Dallas Zoo as it reported that two of its emperor tamarins were missing after their enclosure had been cut into. As Dallas was in the middle of a freeze, it was doubtful the monkeys would have left their heated enclosure willingly. They were believed to have been taken.

On January 31st, Dallas police released photos and a video of a person of interest who may be connected to the theft of the tamarins.

Later that day, the tamarins were found in an abandoned home following a tip from the owners of the neighboring church. The monkeys were in a closet filled with bird feces and moldy clothes. Police also found cats, cat feces, pigeons, and a water jug containing dead fish in the home.

The tamarins were reportedly very happy to return to their warm home, but had lost weight. The zoo currently has them in quarantine to get their weight back up and monitor them for any illnesses they could have caught from the other animals in the abandoned house.

On February 2nd, 24-year-old Davion Dwight Irvin was arrested after an employee of the Dallas World Aquarium recognized him from the “person of interest” photos. He was reportedly scoping out mesh enclosures at the aquarium and approached the employee to ask questions about the animals’ care.

Apparently there had been unreported thefts in early January of feeder fish and fish supplies as well as training supplies taken from the behind the scenes otter area at the Dallas Zoo.

Meanwhile, also on February 2nd, someone cut open the stainless steel mesh of the Central Park Zoo’s Eurasian eagle owl exhibit. The owl, Flaco, has been under zoo surveillance since he was located on the 3rd and the hope is to lure him back with food once he gets hungry. As of today, February 8th, he has not eaten or drank, as he does not know how to in the wild.

Back to Texas, and despite zoos in the area doubling security, on February 6th keepers found a 4-inch cut in the Houston Zoo’s brown pelican enclosure. The birds are reportedly all accounted for and unharmed.

On February 7th, it was reported that Davion had not only confessed to stealing the Dallas Zoo’s monkeys, but also stated that, if released, he would go right back to stealing animals.

Davion confessed that he had attempted to take Nova, the clouded leopard, but he was only able to pet her before she climbed out of reach. He was also linked to cutting the langurs’ enclosure, but not charged since the langurs did not escape.

It was also revealed that Davion had been a person of interest after staff recognized the zoo regular as someone who often asked a lot of abnormal questions (such as how to shift the tamarins in and out of their various spaces) and had been previously been caught sneaking into staff only areas.

So far the vulture, Pin’s, death is still under investigation. Pin’s enclosure was on the other side of the zoo from the area Davion had been targeting.

As for Zoosiana’s squirrel monkeys, an arrest has been made in connection to the theft. 61-year-old Joseph Randell has been taken in for questioning. The 12 monkeys remain missing.

As it stands, we still have one dead vulture who’s killer may still be at large, 12 missing squirrel monkeys, and an owl in danger of starvation or injury in New York City.

I will reblog with updates to ongoing cases as they become available, or if more zoo sabotage happens (God forbid). Please feel free to correct me if I’ve gotten any dates or information wrong and I will edit or update this post.

(Also, I am on mobile and won’t be able to add a readmore until I can access a computer, sorry) Update: I was finally able to add a readmore and also turned all news links into hyperlinks.