#but at least we have free health care and education

[metamorphesque]

Considering the blissful ignorance with which Armenia is treated by the foreign press, I’ve taken it upon myself to keep you (those who care) updated on what needs to be known.

BACKGROUND

Following years of violations of ceasefire and intimidation against Armenian civilians, Azeri military forces used massive force in September 2020 to invade and occupy two-thirds of Nagorno-Karabakh. In September 2023, Azeri military forces took over the remaining territory, contradicting previously agreed-to negotiations and statements (OSCE peace negotiations, trilateral statements 2020,2021).

While an ethnic cleansing was taking place, the Azeri government arrested eight former members of the Republic’s government and advocates for the self-determination of Artsakh. Those detained include Ruben Vardanyan, an Armenian businessman and philanthropist who served as the State Minister of the Artsakh government.

Mr. Vardanyan and the seven others join over 50 Armenians arrested during the conflict, some of whom have been held for years by Azerbaijan. The negligible information on the health and well-being of these prisoners is deeply concerning.

Ruben Vardanyan

In addition to being the State Minister of the Artsakh government, Ruben Vardanyan is an influential Armenian philanthropist who in 2024 was nominated for Nobel Peace Prize for the creation and support for around five dozen new and unprecedented educational, charitable, scientific and humanitarian structures not only in Armenia, but also in a number of other countries.

Mr. Vardanyan has been charged with financing terrorism, although the legal situation for him and the others remains unclear and lacks transparency. The charges levied against him are considered completely unsubstantiated and are seen as an act of political retribution.

For this reason, it appears Azerbaijan is holding him as a political prisoner, hindering his ongoing projects and suppressing a voice advocating for progressive and positive change.

“We are gravely concerned about my father’s deteriorating health, though we are not surprised by his bravery," said David Vardanyan, one of Mr. Vardanyan's sons. "Despite our initial relief, my father’s conditions are only worsening. The world has shown Azerbaijan that it is watching the fate of the Armenian prisoners, including my father, and from our family I want to thank everyone for their support at this difficult time. I hope that this growing international attention may lead to his release in the nearest future. We urge the international community to further increase the pressure on Azerbaijan to ensure that at least his trial takes place in May 2024 with international observers.” The State Department’s annual Human Rights Report, released on April 23, corroborated the unjust conditions that Mr. Vardanyan and other political prisoners and detainees face in Azerbaijan. The report on Azerbaijan estimated that the country held approximately 254 political prisoners and detainees as of December 2023. The judiciary was also described as largely corrupt, inefficient, and lacking independence. According to the report, defendants in Azerbaijan were often “denied the right to a presumption of innocence; a fair, timely, and public trial; to communicate with an attorney of their choice; to have adequate time and facilities to prepare a defense; to confront witnesses and present one’s own witnesses and evidence; and not be compelled to testify or confess guilt.”

Today Azerbaijan has extended the detention period of Ruben Vardanyan by 5 months.

HELP FREE RUBEN VARDANYAN Join the international community in calling for Ruben Vardanyan’s release alongside the other Armenians being held in Baku, Azerbaijan.

TAKE ACTION by adding your name to THE LIST of supporters.

[weaselle]

@biggyb I wanted to answer you and then it became so much that i felt it needed to be it's own post.

So, if it was enacted on a large or ubiquitous scale, that is absolutely a concern, that if everybody had more money prices would just increase, rendering the UBI useless.

what would we do about that?

One the one hand that is basically already what happens anyway, which is why cost of living increases etc are a thing. And on the other hand there are a few mechanisms that can curb that, things like rent control laws.

But ultimately, personally, i believe the real answer is to remove the money aspect and provide the basic necessities directly.

When we say UBI we’re basically talking about the government giving us money (which has to come from somewhere, and that probably means some kind of progressive wealth tax, which is really just wealth redistribution at that point but whatever)

Anyway I believe it would be more effective for the government to provide those things directly (but not exclusively). I believe the baseline for society is everybody has free access to:

HEALTHCARE

All forms of healthcare (this is an important one, the very best we can do should be available to anyone who needs it, with no conditions, no barriers to entry like complicated paperwork, if you need health care you should get it, period.

INFORMATION

This means a free press, and education, true, but i also mean internet access, which at this point in our society i think is necessary for equality

NUTRITION

So, not just food, but a complete diet. This can still be very basic, little more than rice and beans, with medical exemption options of course, but it can be enough that it is the bare minimum food types, maybe rice beans and a couple types of dark green veggie and a couple types of vitamin C fruit. Possibly eggs or peanuts or something. Nothing fancy, just good quality ingredients that contain enough nutrition to keep you not only alive but fully healthy. And i think this should be provided in both raw ingredient form and cooked form.

CLOTHING

This one gets overlooked a lot, but kids need shoes, and struggling people need blankets and jackets, and everybody needs access to clothes, actually. Again, can be very basic, maybe government issued overalls, socks, jackets, blankets, and some kind of cheap tennis shoes would be most of it, but everybody needs access to clothes.

And finally HOUSING

So for example, the government would build apartment complexes that were just freely available to the public, first come first serve, you sign for it and the apartment is yours until you give it up or take another apartment.

We already have our government building and running public schools and libraries, we just need to upgrade those a bit. We already have governments building and running hospitals, we just need to do a lot more of that a lot better and get these private insurance companies to fuck off.

And then we just need to provide the clothes, open the Food Distribution Centers and build the housing.

Because then it won’t be money, so you don’t have to worry about the prices of everything going up because everybody has more income, which you are correct, is a concern. So just provide those things directly.

This is much less like taking money from the super wealthy and putting it into the bank accounts of everyone else, and much more the way taxes are supposed to work taking money from those that can spare it and using it to build a society that is better for everyone - even improving things for those super wealthy people (who now at the very least get to walk around safer from the sick and the homeless and the desperate - i mean violent crime alone would probably do whatever the opposite of sky-rocket is. Ground-dive.)

And people will still get jobs and spend money! Like, just because you provide government overalls, doesn’t mean people will stop wanting fashion brands. But now nobody will die of exposure from not having clothes. Same with everything, for example, the government school system is extremely developed, but there are still private schools, right?

That would be true of all this. If you gave everyone access to basic nutrition, there would still be steak houses and sushi restaurants and stuff. But now you could actually have the public boycott foods they felt were sourced unethically, or you could, say, regulate the fishing industry into sustainability even if that meant fish became so expensive that the average person could only eat fish once a year or whatever. Businesses might die from it, but no people would. Not even the people who used to own those businesses.

For my money, no money is where it’s at. But UBI would be a nice stepping stone.

What UBI experiments show us is that when you give people money and they DON’T get a job, but just exist at the minimum level, they are usually only doing so to accomplish something like go back to school for a degree or take care of a disabled or elderly loved one.

And the same would be true if we just provided everyone with the basics (except healthcare, everybody must get the best we have when it comes to healthcare, anything else is a moral failing that doesn’t bear contemplating)

but yeah, there would be people who would only wear government issued overalls, only live in government barracks, and only eat government rice and beans… but UBI experiments show us that it would be a small percentage of the population, and they'd only be doing it either to accomplish something worthy, or because they were in some way impaired. 90% of everyone else would still be out there getting jobs so they could move into a nice house and eat fish, but now with the security to quit if those jobs didn’t treat them well!

imo, THAT’s how you fix the economic issues surrounding UBI, you take the “income” out of the equation and you just straight up provide the Universal Basics themselves.

"but how would we build all these apartments and run these food distribution centers?"

well, this dovetails into my other favorite solution for the united states.

See, we spend a FUCKTON on the military, and we're just never going to make that stop happening, apparently.

So I say, we INCREASE the military. I say double it even.

And then we use them here, keeping them sharp and employed and trained etc by doing public works.

The military is already full of engineers and cooks and doctors and electricians and forklift operators and everything else.

So get them building apartments and running food distribution and supplementing hospital staffs etc.

All that stuff involves, logistics, and teamwork, and knowing how to run projects and accomplish missions, it's all good training even for the combat personnel, which is only 15% of the people in the military btw.

The rest are those other jobs i mentioned. So hire and train even more of them, and then deploy them here, repairing bridges and building hospitals and managing clothing warehouses and stuff.

anyway. Food for thought.

[letters-to-lgbt-kids]

My dear lgbt+ kids,

This is obviously not an lgbt+ related topic but I figured some of you may need this: let's talk about "dream jobs"!

In movies and books, it often seems like everyone has one consistent life goal that stays the same throughout their entire life. Everyone develops a passion for something as a young child, realizes that this field is their dream job, and then works in that field as an adult!

Real life can play out very differently - and you don't need to be embarrassed or feel like a failure if it does.

It's common that life goals change over time. You grow up, and you learn more about yourself. Passions and interests change over time. You learn to better understand your strengths and limits.

You also simply learn more about how the real world works. For example, young kids often want to become vets because they want to play with cute animals. As you grow older, you understand that the job consists of much more than just cuddling kittens and the realistic job description may not be as appealing to you. Some people get into vet school, get an internship at a vet, etc. before they realize they actually do not want to be a vet, and that's fine as well. It's not wasted time, it's gained life experience. Parents may be disappointed that you "give up" on that dream job - but it's not you being a quitter, it's you becoming more mature which is a great thing!

You may not have a dream job at all. This ties in with becoming more mature: As you get older, you realize that jobs pay the bills. For many many people, jobs do nothing but pay the bills! You don't need to want a job you are passionate about. Maybe you just want one that pays the bills. This doesn't mean you don't have any ambitions or are lazy - plenty of people pursue passions in their free time. Life goals don't need to be jobs. (Plus, why do we always need to chase something? Maybe you are happy with a calm, simple life and don't want to climb up any ladders. Nothing wrong with that!)

Relatedly, you can be passionate about things without wanting to turn them into a job. Maybe you are really passionate about animals - but you don't want to work with them. Maybe you love to read about medicine - and reading about it is enough for you, you don't want to actually work in the medical field. Maybe you love to write or paint or dance - but you don't want to try turning that hobby into a profitable path. You can love things and care about things and invest time in things without wanting to make money with the thing. Sometimes it's actually best not to turn a passion into a job, so it stays fun and relaxing.

Last but not least: outer circumstances can change. Sometimes we have to give up on life goals for reasons out of our control. Maybe you wanted to work in a field that requires physical strength and an unexpected health issue comes up and crosses your plans. Maybe you wanted to work in a field that requires higher education, but you fall on hard times financially and need to quit school. Maybe you don't find any open positions in the field you wanted to work in. Stuff happens and you have to adjust your life goals accordingly. Knowing that your worth is not tied to achieving one specific goal is really important. Some flexibility in your goals is a good thing.

With all my love,

Your Tumblr Dad

[dee-the-red-witch]

The Monthly Roundup

Okay, normally, this is just a free monthly post over on my Patreon, but I figured I should push this out into the wild as well, because this kind of stuff's always needed. Want this, and a bunch of weekly readings from a cursed tarot deck, media reviews, and other content including fiction and the occasional build post? Maybe consider adding me over there as well. Anyways, like I said, it's a monthly roundup- in this case a bigass collection of links and resources for folks interested in pursuing gender transition one way or another. And while a bunch of it is transfem specific and sometimes medical transition specific, because it's stuff I dug up while hunting down things for myself, there's also things in there good for anyone of any gender, and resources for legal/social transition as well. And this is long enough to deserve a cut for once, so...

Hey! What If *I'M* trans?

The Gender Dysphoria Bible- https://genderdysphoria.fyi/en Wondering if you're experiencing Gender Dysphoria? This may be a good place to start. Realize the GDB is slanted largely towards transfem folks, so it doesn't necessarily apply evenly to everyone, but it does cover a lot of ground that folks may identify with.

Trans Medical Resources

DIY HRT- https://diyhrt.cafe/index.php/Main_Page (for legal reasons, I'm going to tell you to at least try to see a licensed physician or endocrinologist before starting to DIY your own hormones, but keep in mind, I'm not your responsible adult, and if you don't choose to listen, that's on you) This is the main, best hub for sourcing and getting info on doing your own hormone therapy. Keep in mind, it's once again slanted towards feminizing methods, because testosterone is still a controlled substance in most of the world (which is bloody fucking stupid, but that's a rant for another time).

GALAP- The Gender Affirming Letter Access Project- https://thegalap.org/ While we may have new WPATH guidelines with the Soc 8 updates that dropped a little bit ago, most providers and insurers are still on outdated requirements that insist on letters from mental health providers for transgender-related care. Which can affect access to surgeries, HRT, and more. GALAP exists to connect folks with providers who'll give those letters,m in some cases free of charge even.

Gynecologist List- https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Djia_WkrVO3S4jKn6odNwQk7pOcpcL4x00FMNekrb7Q/htmlview This one's more for uterus-owners in general and less trans-specific, but giventhe number of folks with uteri who'd can end up with a hard time finding a willing doctor for some procedures, it's important for everyone. This is a Google database of hundreds of gynecologists, listed by location, willing to perform sterilization procedures with informed consent, without secondary authorization from anyone else. The list is patient-vetted, so your mileage may vary, but for those seeking sterilization and/or hysterectomies as part of their transition it may prove to be invaluable as a resource, because doctors willing to do this work can be few and rare in some areas.

Transfeminine Science- https://transfemscience.org/ Articles, journals and all sorts of researching into, well, just what the name says, transfeminizing science. A lot of medical professionals simply don't have knowledge in the field and are acting on what they learned in med school, which may be way out of date. If they're willing to listen, there's stuff in there to help bring them up to speed. Better yet, it;'s also a great resource to educate yourself so you can advocate for your own care a bit better.

Other Transition resources (legal, social, etc)

NCTE's ID GUIDE- https://transequality.org/documents The National Transgender Center for Equality's guide to changing your legal identity, in a handy format that lets you break it down by state or territory, or even federal documents (United States only, sorry.) and links to the right paperwork to use. Rainbow Passage- https://rainbowpassage.org/ It sucks that we need organizations like this in these times, but I'm glad to see there's people already stepping up to the task. Rainbow Passage is an organization dedicated to helping trans youth get out of trans-hostile states and relocate to safer areas. And if you can, volunteering for them is a great way to help improve safety for trans folk in general.

Seattle Voice Lab- https://www.seattlevoicelab.com/ if you've seen me on social media much lately, then you've seen me talking about this place. This is who I'm (through February and March at least) taking voice lessons through to feminize my own voice more. They also have a bunch of online resources, a discord server, and other help if you need to figure your own vocal chords out a bit better.

Strands For Trans- https://strandsfortrans.org/ Need a haircut, or color or other beauty services you're using for the first time ever as an out trans person and you're not sure where's going to be safe to go? Strands For Trans is the first comprehensive database of Aesthetics businesses for hair and everything, AND THEY VET THE BUSINESSES, to ensure your safety and comfort.

TLC's Life-Planning Guide- http://transgenderlawcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/TLC_Life-Planning-Documents-Transgender.pdf The Transgender Law Center put this guide together specifically for planning end-of-life details. Yes, it's a depressing and tragic thing, but protecting and making sure our identities are still properly preserved after we die is still just as an important part of what we're fighting as anything else is. This guide will help you with establishing a Living Will, controlling hospital visits, and setting up proper Powers of Attorney, so that nothing potentially falls back into the hands of people who might refuse to recognize who you truly are. (In many states, you can designate someone other than your next of kin to take charge of your body when you die (next of kin is defined by law, not by preference). If you need to do that, go to nolo.com and look up article on "[your state] funeral law" to get a rundown on if and how to do this.

Trans Media

The Digital Transgender Archive- https://www.digitaltransgenderarchive.net "The purpose of the Digital Transgender Archive (DTA) is to increase the accessibility of transgender history by providing an online hub for digitized historical materials, born-digital materials, and information on archival holdings throughout the world." (In short, this is one of several free libraries of trans history.)

Totally Trans- https://www.patreon.com/totallytrans/posts Hey, look at that, it's another Patreon! Except, no, wait, it's a podcast! Totally Trans looks at media both historical and modern with a transgendered lens. Sometimes it's silly fun, other times, it's great insights into queer and trans history, and all around it's a great show to add on whatever service you're already getting podcasts through- or you can hit the link above to help support them at the same time for early access.

Trans News, Blogs, and Notes

Erin In The Morning: https://www.erininthemorning.com/ Erin's newsletter runs almost daily these days, mostly with updates regarding trans legislation all around the US. It's a good way to stay up to date, but it can also be a drag these days, largely because it's practically just a constantly expanding list of bad news thanks to the GOP right now.

Stained Glass Woman: https://stainedglasswoman.substack.com/ aka Doc Impossible/Zoe. I first discovered her work and writing when WPATH released their new SOC 8 guidelines, because she was one of the few people that could make the thing actually make sense in non-legalese. But I subscribed andkeep following here for regular updates both because she presents a trans coming out narrative that was just a joy to read, and also covers interesting  news in the field of trans medicine from time to time. Definitely worth adding to your feed.

A Self Defense Study Guide for Trans Women and Gender Non-Conforming / Nonbinary AMAB Folks: https://www.silversprocket.net/2021/09/13/a-self-defense-study-guide-for-trans-women-and-gender-non-conforming-nonbinary-amab-folks/

This is, quite honestly, one of the best self-defense guides I've seen for gender-nonconforming folks (and one of the few, to be honest), short of private defense instruction. AND it's available to read in full for free at that link, or in print for just a 5$ donation. Go check it out.

Other general roundups

Grassroots GAC Resources- https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/19kSzBLo_hjpiBjHN8tvK73sVHU25NKWjMau2vNl8uuM/edit#gid=778305468 Google spreadsheet of links in general, from therapy help and hrt assistance, to all sorts of other info, some of which are repeats from here, but there's also a bunch of others I haven't had time or opportunity to vet yet.

[donniesexceptionalmind]

i can't tell if this is a personal question or not, so feel free to not answer/bock me if it makes u uncomfortable, but did u always know u had autism? i'm pretty sure i have autism, but my parents think it's adhd and i can't tell if it's something i should pursue even if it would cause fights with them

again sorry if it's too personal lol u just seem like u would know duh

Well, it's a very good question!

I did not know.

What I knew was that I was ✨️different✨️.

Alienation is a common feeling of autistic people & it was definitely present throughout my whole life. I did not feel like I'd belong among the people around me (not talking about my family, though. They are very generous & they support me all the time).

I didn't understand my peers & they called me weird behind my back. I had no real interest in interacting with them, although I wanted to be accepted & valued. Instead, I was systemically excluded by my peers & only pursued if I had knowledge to share what they wanted.

Added to that, there were symptoms I lacked to properly identify & lead me to believe I had an anxiety or panic disorder. Turned out it had been suppressed sensory overload which lead to me developing depression & a severe eating disorder to cope with the stress.

It took a lot of research to find out that I was autistic because we four & dad were so extraordinary to begin with. My differences were just taken as another quirk, I mean, we are mutants?

That being said, random research brought my attention to it & Mikey, being the one that loves psychology very much, suggested it in my teens.

Since then I have educated myself A LOT about autism & neurodivergency & I continue my research to widen my knowledge & it is the most accurate explanation of the way my brain works, so why should I be wrong? Especially if the tools to accommodate myself work?

*waving my massive backlog of research around*

ADHD & autism have overlapping traits but they are not the same. It could be possible that you have both, it's not uncommon to be AuDHD. I suggest you do research about autism. I can give you some resources to start with, if that would be wanted.

Should you go for a diagnosis or at least look more into it?

Yes, if it would help you to get additional support. Personally, I believe you are deserving support without a diagnosis, which means allowing noise canceling headphones, using fidgets... but I was referring to health care support actions, I believe you know what I mean, human healthcare isn't my best field of knowledge.

It can be beneficial to know from a professional that you are indeed autistic too, it helps with imposter syndrome

Yes, if you are in need of support & your mental health is doing badly.

No, if a diagnosis would cause you to be restricted or infantalised & you wouldn't be safe

Thank you for the very amazing inbox question & I hope I've answered it to your delight.

Stim away, dear people. ✨️💜

[f1ghtsoftly]

So like, this is why I call myself a Marxist feminists rather than a Radical Feminist because I primarily think that ending the relationship between heterosexuality/submission to male authority and women’s financial security will eventually end the intense prioritization of men by women. Without economic survival being assured without ties to the patriarchal family or heterosexual social structures, women will naturally just care about what men think a lot less.

There are other women who believe the opposite, that one must separate from men. I think this is truthfully impractical and cruel. It might make sense for a young woman without children and a college education, but it makes less sense for less financially well positioned women and once men realize many women who are financially well positioned are breaking away, they will use the women and children they control against independent women (or to at least, stay compliant with the scapegoating). Most women, statistically, have children that they need to care for. Most women, who work for wages, have jobs reliant on their willingness to work harder for less and to take male abuse. Most women do not live in a world where realistically they can reskill and leave their husbands without suffering dire economic and social consequences that will put them at risk for more predation. They literally either cannot afford it or live in cultures were this isn’t permissible. Not only that, but it destroys solidarity between younger and older women which we need to win. Men are 50% of the population. We need every woman on board. This cycle has already happened many times, all over the world, throughout history.

Now you may say? Why don’t women all pick up trades? I think going into the trades is a good option for a lot of women and I encourage it, but when I think about economic security, my mind drifts to more vulnerable periods of a woman’s lifespan like her later years and when she is a mother with young children. It’s easier to be economically well when you aren’t strapped by dependents or in bad health but men use our vulnerabilities against us to accept their dominion.

Women not only deserve inalienable economic security for the carework they preform through raising and educating children and caring for the old and sick but protecting women at their most vulnerable protects us all. If we want to live in a healthy post patriarchal world some, or most, women will still want to have kids. We want those women to need support via labor and $$$ from other women rather then men during that time. When women are old and need help, they need support and $$$ from female driven sources. We will all get old or sick someday, we all were children once, some of us may want to become mothers. All of these life stages are RIPE with male predation and exploitation and women forced “under” male protection , for whatever reason, are often turned against feminists but this is a false, male centered choice. Feminists are natural allies to mothers not men.

Knowing we don’t need to rely on men when we’re weak makes us strong and bold. Kids who grow up in households lead by women, with good financial health and strong female lead social bonds not only thrive but become kids comfortable with challenging male power. Adult women free from the burden of raising children without payment do not need to tie their social and political activities to a domineering and conservative husband. They also don’t need to be as desperate to work in exploitive work environments and can ally with childless women in organizing activities with less financial stress.

Wages for Childcare and full autonomy for female dominated industries IS the issue of our time. I don’t want every single woman to stay in a traditional field, obviously, I’m not in one, but I do want every single woman to know that no matter what there are millions and millions of women who earn good money to throw at lawsuits, financial assistance, who can take time off to protest, who can provide childcare etc etc…for women who do feel called to brave the world of male/het relations.

We NEED a strong base of financial autonomy and self respect. We NEED to make sure men can’t split us in camps of spinsters vs. goodwives. We NEED to make sure every woman knows we have her back, as long as she pays us back with loyalty to women first. It is so critical to the survival of this movement to create strong structures that support separatism rather then undermine it.

[lexiklecksi]

Happy international women’s day!

I wanted to write an intelligent post for this international women’s day, but frankly, I am exhausted. Exhausted of discussing my rights, freedom, existence and sexuality with strangers online. Exhausted of leaving my social media bubble which consists of cool, queer and feminist people to get hit by reality.

There are still too many people who think women’s rights aren’t human rights. And that is unbelievable to me because whether you identify as a woman or not, we need to care about all people in this society. I’m also exhausted about discussing why we still need feminism and why gender equality benefits all genders. But I’m also inspired.

Inspired by all these magnificent women on here who continue to fight for their rights, empower other women and inspire me to not give up the fight. Inspired by all the nonbinary folks and feminist men out there who show their identity even when they are constantly getting harassed. For all the brave people who have suffered from sexual harassment and abuse but chose to live with their trauma.

I know that I am incredibly privileged and I always considered myself to not be a victim of this patriarchal society. But the more I think about all the comments others made about my body, the way some people keep questioning my skills and competence just because I am a woman ….

The gender pay gap and the gender data gap are real, so please educate yourself. Women are still being discriminated against in all aspects of their lives, from their own home to public spaces to the court room. Even in a workplace environment, whether it is harassment or getting paid less than their male colleagues. And I’m not even in a position to talk about working mothers, who have to juggle being there for their children and working full-time while facing uninvited judgment for it.

Let’s face reality: Nobody wants to be a victim, we want to be empowered, to feel free and live our lives the way we deem right. And I hope that’s possible in the near future, at least where I live, but there’s so much to work on. So let’s work on smashing the patriarchy together!

And even though some feminists might disagree with me on this: patriarchal structures suppress everyone who isn’t rich or in power and that includes most men. So it’s not just the female urge to smash the patriarchy, it’s the human urge to free ourselves from the societal, political and religious suppression that tries to hold us down, keep us small and hush our voices. Feel free to discuss this topic further in the comments, this is a safe space.

If anyone feels the need to write something hateful in my comment section, I will delete it. That’s just to ensure my own mental health and to protect the people reading this post and comments. I am open to discussion, but my rights are not up for a debate.

Let’s smash the patriarchy together!

Noted: When I speak of women, of course that includes trans women.

[starseers]

DID is not fun.

It is not your get out of jail free card. It is not just roleplay with a different name. It's chronic, it sticks with you for life. It's a constant reminder of the things that happened to you and it's that one scar that will never fade.

To the systems who have healed a lot, who are able to live happily, I salute you. I'm proud of you and you have every right to be proud of yourself too. But the insensitive teenagers and young adults who are so insecure about who they are as a person that they look at a disorder that developed from childhood trauma, developed from things adults can't ever possibly imagine going through, and go "I want that", I pity you. I hope you have a good life, one that treats you better than whatever led you to a point that made you think like this, but it's time to grow up.

We have been through unimaginable, we have split and fragmented to stay alive. We can't even function alone anymore from all the fragmentation, at least not fully.

If you want DID, smash a bowl on the ground first and try to drink soup from it. Doesn't work, huh? All your doing is taking all the glue for that bowl from people who never meant to break their bowl in the first place. Now imagine there's a major glue shortage and you have to drive over two hours to get a single bottle of glue. Yeah. Let us have our spaces without fear of being romanticized, damn it.

I'm so tired of constantly seeing people's interpretations of this, of us. Especially when we are at some of our lowest points. It's not pretty. Flashbacks, missing time, missing years, people you don't recognize, places you don't recognize, enough panic attacks to power an entire town for 24 hours, to nothing. To being completely normal. To having to try and explain that to medical professionals who don't even believe in the disorder in the first place because before the online epidemic, there was the criminal epidemic.

Don't you see how shitty it is to pretend to have this, or do you just not care?

Considering I see so many people get defensive, people who are so quick to try to justify themselves, you know what you're doing is wrong, but why do it? Clout, time passer, attention, cover up for something else you have going on?

Open your eyes, DID is a disorder. Dissociative identity disorder. Hell, half of you don't even know that's what DID stands for, and that really shows that mental health educators have done a shit job, that or you only listen to people like me on some shitty app and use that as your research.

For fucks sake, if you need research links, come to my inbox and ask, just please listen to people who are actually certified, not Tumblr user blah blah blah.

Thank you for reading.

[thishazeleyeddemon]

To the person using the E-sim I bought for them in Gaza: you have to live

You have to live so that you can make another phone call

Watch another sunrise

Play another game with a ball

Wipe away the tears from your wife's eyes

(Or if not your wife,

than your daughter,

or your husband,

or sister,

or whoever nearby who needs it)

You have to live to watch another stupid TV episode

Go to work when you don't want to

Swear when your car breaks down on the road

Have to call someone in because your walls have mildew

(all these stupid awful little things, but at least you're alive for them)

You have to live,

So I can see the number that says how much data you've used

Continue to tick up.

I will never know your name

Your face

Your favorite food or what scares you

What you like to do for fun

How you sleep through the sounds of the bombs

But you have to live

And even though I don't believe in a god

I hope that if there is an afterlife when we are both there that we will know each other on sight

And that we might be able to speak as friends

And as your friend, I beg you: live.

-----

[the-leegend-99]

I don't know if you've noticed, but Western pop culture seems obsessed with rebellions against tiranny and oppression in fantastic, speculative settings. Star Wars is the epitome of this. People eat up its films, shows, games. Why shouldn't they? It's the good rebels against the fascist baddies. And everybody on social media in this pale West seems to have always something to say about oppression, independece, anti-authoritarianism, human rights, sometimes even decolonization--but not a word when it actually happens in real life. Even on this app you see a lot of moralistic handwringing on the one of the most clear-cut examples of a just rebellion: the Palestinian liberation struggle. And it all seems pretty hypocritical, doesn't it?

Palestine is rising up, trying to free itself from the European, white-supremacist settler-colonial project that is Israel. An oppressed people, victim of 75 years of ethnic cleansing, is trying with all its strength to regain at least some of its stolen land. And Israel, like the proper imperial oppressor it is, responds with genocide, with bombings on Gaza of near-nuclear proportions on hospitals, ambulances, housing, and pogroms on the West Bank, trying to wipe the Palestinian people--the autoctonous, legitimate owners of that land--off the map, justifying it all by branding even infanta as "terrorists and beasts". No different from the actions of the Empire of Star Wars, or its direct inspirator--the US Empire and its colonial destruction of Vietnam.

But where's the rebellion fetish of the Western progressives now? Where's the righteous indignation for the violation of human rights? Where's the enthusiasm for decolonization? Is it allowed only when the protagonists are white and Western? Is it allowed only when the oppressed are "nonviolent" and "pacifists"?

In the face of Israeli violence, which is of a mind-boggling level of scale and cruelty, the Palestinian people don't really have the option of nonviolence and pacifism. Vietnam or Algeria and similar postcolonial revolutionary States didn't decolonize by asking pretty please and peacefully protesting while their colonial jailers bombed them with Napalm.

The Palestinian resistance is fighting a bitter, grueling struggle for national liberation--for the right to exist and decide of its own existence and how to shape it--and it deserves our unshakable support. It needs all the help, support and aid we can gather for it. We cannot afford the luxury of fetishizing rebellion to our tastes and Western morals. If we want struggles for collective liberation to be successful, we must aid those who pursue it to the core. It doesn't have to be pleasant or to look good, or to be "respectable". It only needs to work.

[rachiesratirementhome]

Today is World Wildlife Day, which means it's time for another of Grover's Educational Rambles!

WWD was established by the UN to "celebrate all the world's wild animals and plants and the contribution that they make to our lives and the health of the planet."

Usually I'd take the chance to rave about one of the 4660 odd species of rodent in the world, but this date was chosen because it's the birthday of CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, which is celebrating its 50th today!

"Grove." you say "Those are all definitely words but what do they mean, and why do I care about this?"

Well I would love to go over the Instagram word limit telling you all about that. (Sorry Ally!)

CITES is basically a global, legally binding system that defines the restrictions on the trade of plants and animals under threat. In 2023 it's obvious to us that something like this should exist, think of rhinos for example. But back in the 60's when the conversations that would eventually lead to CITES were happening, attitudes to conservation were very different.

Each country has their own native species protection laws, for example Australia varies state-to-state but in most of the country you can't collect or sell native bones at all without specific permits. Each country also has their own biosecurity protocols, for example in Australia we can export rats, but can't import them (not a bad thing, we lack several devastating diseases here that would make the rescue near impossible to run!)

But what about the conservation angle? What is it that makes selling a cowhide rug different to selling a tiger pelt? THAT'S what CITES is for. Parties (think countries, all but a handful) signed with CITES are legally bound to write policies around and enforce CITES regulations. There are three appendices covering species at different levels of risk.

Appendix 1 handles animals threatened with extinction, and prohibits trade except in exceptional circumstances. So for example, a Zoo maintains a red panda population in which it has a breeding and conservation program. One dies of old age, and it's deemed of no harm and noncommercial scientific interest for the national museum to prepare and display it as taxidermy. The Zoo has CITES paperwork to keep the animals, and paperwork is generated that must stay with the specimen permanently once it's in the museum.

Appendix 2 handles animals not threatened by extinction specifically but who need careful management to keep them from becoming so by unregulated trade. For example, you see a hippo skull for sale. You check if it has its CITES paperwork, so you can own it legally and be sure that it was legally obtained. The seller dodges your questions and turns out to be an illegal poacher, you report them to the authorities, huzzah the system works!

Appendix 3 covers species that are protected in at least one country, which has asked other CITES Parties for assistance in controlling the trade. An example of this would be things like a specific species of goat, Capra hircus aegagrus, in which domestic specimens are non-CITES and free to sell and own, wild populations in their endemic location in Pakistan are protected by the CITES system, to prevent people from capturing them for their own use as livestock.

Basically, it's comprehensive and conservation focused, and is the framework that allows animal based trade and lifestyles to exist while protecting those that need it. It's not without criticism, for example being a negative list means that a species isn't protected until it's listed, rather than having a positive list, where species are protected by default until decided otherwise, but given that there are an estimated 6.5 million land species and 2.2 million in the ocean, I really do understand why it's done this way.

Happy birthday CITES, cheers to 50 years of defining trade restrictions based on conservation needs. We're grateful you exist!

- #Grover

[alphaman99]

Tomas Estevan it all a damn ruse....

From a California school teacher:

I am in charge of the English-as-a-second-language Department at a large southern California high school which is designated a Title-1 school, meaning that its students average in the lower socioeconomic and income levels.

Title-1 schools are on the free-breakfast and free-lunch program. When I say free breakfast, I'm not talking about a glass of milk and a roll, but a full breakfast and cereal bar with fruits and juices that would make Marriott proud. The waste of this food is monumental, with trays and trays of it being dumped in the trash uneaten. Well over 50% of these students are obese, or at least moderately overweight. About 75% or more have cell phones. The school also provides daycare centers for the unwed teenage pregnant girls, some as young as 13, so they can attend class without the inconvenience of arranging for babysitters or having family watch their kids.

I was ordered to spend $700,000 on my department, or risk losing funding for the upcoming year, even though I had little need for anything. My budget was already substantial, but I ended up buying new computers for the Computer Learning Center, half of which, one month later, were carved with graffiti by the appreciative students, who obviously feel humbled and grateful to have a free education in America. I have had to intervene several times for young substitute teachers, whose classes consist of many illegals here in the country less than 3 months, who raised so much hell with female teachers, calling them putas (whores) and throwing things, that the teachers were in tears.

Free medical care, free education, free food, free day care, free housing, etc. Is it any wonder they feel entitled not only to be in this country, but also to demand more rights, privileges, and entitlements? To those Americans who point out how much these illegal immigrants contribute to our society, because they happen to like their gardener and housekeeper, I say: Spend some time in the real world of illegal immigration and see the true costs to American taxpayers. Higher insurance, medical facilities closing, higher medical costs, more crime, lower standards of education in our schools, overcrowding, new diseases, etc. are the real costs of illegals.

America, we need to wake up. The "guest" worker program will be a disaster, because we won't have the guts to enforce it. Does anyone in their right mind really think illegals will voluntarily leave and return? It does, however, have everything to do with culture: A third-world culture that does not value education, that accepts children getting pregnant and dropping out of school by age 15, and that refuses to assimilate; and an American culture that has become so weak and intimidated by "political correctness," that we don't have the will to protect ourselves.

Cheap labor? Isn't that what the whole illegal immigration issue is really about? Business doesn't want to pay a decent wage; consumers don't want expensive produce. The phrase "cheap labor" is a myth, a farce, and a lie; there is no such thing as cheap labor. An illegal qualifies for Section-8 housing and subsidized rent; he qualifies for food stamps; he qualifies for free (no deductible, no co-pay) health care; his children get free breakfasts and lunches at school, where they get a free education; he requires bilingual teachers and books; he qualifies for relief from energy bills; if he is, or becomes aged, blind, or disabled, he qualifies for social security income; once qualified for SSI, he qualifies for Medicare; he doesn't worry about car insurance, life insurance, or homeowners insurance; taxpayers provide Spanish language signs, bulletins, and printed material; he and each member of his family receive the equivalent of $20.00 to $30.00/hour in benefits, whereas Americans are lucky to have $5.00 or $6.00/hour left after paying their bills and his; American taxpayers also pay for increased crime, graffiti, and trash clean-up.

Cheap labor is such a ruse it is laughable.

---Sarah Jones

[womenfrommars]

As pro choice as I am, lets not forget that many first trimester abortions are directly motivated by poverty. Not by some kind of militant childfree mentality. Weirdos on tiktok celebrating their abortion with a cake and a party are a very vocal but tiny minority. Many of the women who have or plan to have an abortion wouldn't do it if they had more money, that's a fact that we shouldn't ignore. Society should support mothers financially. Conservative and most pro choice / liberals have this in common in this debate, they often don't acknowledge the bigger picture to serve their ideology. Abortion is very much tied to poverty. Women should have the choice, but I will never not be sad that a woman felt forced to have an abortion because of poverty. We should be able to offer her enough financial security so she can have her baby if she wants it.

I think this is related to the fact many American women don't even have paid maternity leave or affordable child care... But radfems don't want to acknowledge this. When it comes to prostitution or surrogacy, the argument is that free choice doesn't truly exist given the financial desperation of the women who make these decisions. But abortion is supposedly all about free choice despite its connections to (racialised) poverty. If you believe so deeply in freedom of choice, you're making a liberal feminist argument, not a radical feminist argument. If you want to tackle the root of the issue, you should start with affordable child care, paid maternity leave, and free or at least affordable contraception and the necessary sexual education.

Radfems, much like other pro-choicers, frequently appear to worst case scenarios (think incest, rape, or horrible health outcomes), but statistically speaking those only make up a very small portion of overall abortions. Most abortions are linked to financial and/or relationship issues. You can't make arguments using a very small minority as a pawn. You have to argue your case better

[playingforward]

intro post :3

hi!!! hello!!!

the name’s ajax, although i’m also called a whole Host of other things in place of/addition to that, depending on the vibes. dawn, crow, and violet are the most common ones you’ll see :))

the pronouns in my bio are usually accurate, but they occasionally change. if you interact with me on a personal level (in dms/on other platforms), i'll inform you of my current name & pronoun preferences.

i'm a digital artist in an educational program on the subject, an occasional fanfiction writer, massive mathematics & biochemical sciences nerd, tea connoisseur, jewelry collector, friend to many & awkward to all

this blog is a multifandom + personal mess because sideblogs aren’t manageable for me.

long-term post/reblog topics: sword art online (practically lifelong special interest), persona 5 (+ 3&4 a bit, but i’ve only played p5), the legend of zelda + lu, my dear partner @voheit, homestuck, THE ARCANE ASCENSION SERIES BY ANDREW ROWE PLEASE GOD DOES ANYONE KNOW IT; advocacy/activism

from the river to the sea, palestine will be free. saying so is the least anyone can do about it

tag guide and extra personal info under the cut :)

my username is a reference to the sword art online episode 01x08, in which kirito and asuna have a conversation about who will "play forward" - i.e., make the decision of what they will be doing - that day.

tag guide: these exist mainly for myself, to aid in categorizing + retroactively searching for things i’ve put on here

blue bucket of gold - personal posts/stuff that i’ve had a hand in composing in some way. chatty reblogs aren’t usually tagged with this, but sometimes i forget -> wording derived from a sufjan stevens lyric that felt particularly Me

hoard - a dragon collecting shinies. things i find especially worthwhile

keep - a derivative of hoard, but even more important/Practical information for which i’m likely to search my own blog

emotional intelligence - a derivative of keep, posts relevant to emotional or mental health, self-care, advice, etc. generally tends to be practical. i recommend going through that tag if you need to hear a perspective on life/feelings which isn’t rattling around in your own skull :)

@ voheit - with no space, this tag exists specifically for things that i’d like to share with tumblr user voheit <3 with no time pressure or feeling uncomfortable with tagging them directly on the post, for whatever reason there may be

draconic - posts that feel draconic in nature to me, especially in a way that pertains to my own identity

other context about me:

- too close to legal adulthood and independence for comfort. rapidly approaching the asymptote of 18

-i often use vaguely christian phrases (dear god, lord above, holy fuck, god bless) in a nonreligious way

- I HAVE MEMORY ISSUES!!!!!!!!! i Will forget some things you’ve said to me no matter how much i want to remember. please remind me of it when i ask, or seem to be Obviously Missing Context, and the conversation will flow as before - or get into a fun tangent about the forgotten memory. i am experienced with dealing with my own issues!!! go with my flow and you’ll be just fine. do not guilt trip me about it, though. this is out of my control

- i am a dragon :3 in my heart

- also plural, but we don't talk about it often on here. sometimes reblog informational/positivity posts on the subject.

[serenity-with-lawna]

Just like the caption below, this infographic is created with the hopes of educating individuals with chronic progressive illnesses, or terminal conditions as well as healthcare professionals that serve them. It is also meant for individuals friends and family who are trying to learn more and do their best to support their loved one; or the employer or colleague who just doesn't understand what their fellow colleague and human is going through.

Even the best person in the world can unintentionally gaslight someone they love, and who they want to do good by. However, the problem with letting these unintentional times go unspoken about is that it drives home the realities that ableists all over the world would like to have implemented at all times for people with the conditions we had no control over. It hurts all of us at the end of the day, so if you have ever made a comment, or had someone tell you that you were gaslighting them... take a look at this list of ways people with chronic and terminal illnesses are often undermined and gaslit by their peers in society.

We can redefine community care to be more than just what is supposed to happen within the medical field. This should be everyone's responsibility to each other, and I am on a mission to make every last person aware of this.

While I was waiting for my diagnosis to happen and was forced to advocate for myself while caring for a newborn after almost dying; it was disheartening.

I created Serenity with Lawna as a compassionate community idea where people who are challenged with the overwhelming task of rediscovering who they are because of a chronic health condition or terminal illness can come together and give/get the support they need when they need it.

This community is also to support healthcare professionals to understand what it is like living with a chronic progressive illness, or our friends and family to understand how to support us better, and be able to connect with others to truly -get it-. Here are my tips through lived experience at what will support healthcare professionals in order to get the professional development they need to ensure they are not medically gaslighting any of their patients or are becoming immune to having empathy.

Included are tips for individuals trying to live while managing their chronic illness symptoms or terminal illness' final destination and take more control of their advocacy by placing the responsibility back on the person it needs to be on, and not putting more on their own plate. Hope you will find this useful! If you have any questions or need some more information, please feel free to be in touch - I'm always more than happy to connect with those who would like support. It's the least I can do to give back.

[communistkenobi]

hey, how would you explain neoliberalism to a baby poli sci major? i’ve always struggled with understanding the term because i haven’t been assigned anything to read about it yet

yeah no worries it’s a complicated concept! when people use the word they’re generally referring to one of two things - the process of neoliberalism itself, or the cultural/societal response to, and reinforcement of, neoliberalism as a way of thinking about the world. Sorry this is gonna be long lol but neoliberalism is a weird term that describes a bunch of complicated things that I think are best explained with examples and a bit of history.

the most useful definition of neoliberalism I’ve heard is that it’s an economic process whereby you privatise the public sphere; the free market is offered as the solution to various social problems. Before I describe it more in detail there is a bit of policy history that is important to know. It obviously didn’t arise out of nowhere; neoliberalism is a response to the post-WWII social welfare policies (sometimes referred to as the Keynesian welfare state) where a lot of stuff was nationalised, meaning that that service is now administered by the national (or sometimes regional) government. I’m Canadian so I’m not as familiar with US policy history, but this is when Canada nationalised its healthcare system for example, and iirc this is also around the same time when we got a national pension fund. Social housing (ie housing that isn’t sold on a market) and other social goods were also offered to people at low or no cost (payment for these services coming from taxes). Basically think of like, what if education, healthcare, and housing were offered to you as a public utility and not a product that is bought and sold to each individual person on a private market. This wasn’t universal by any means, like private housing and other privatised services were still dominant, but (again, at least in Canada) things like social housing were much more normalised and weren’t considered to be “housing for poor people” like it is now.

so that’s the policy stage on which neoliberalism arrives. the neoliberal “turn” in western states happened sometime between the late 1960s-90s depending on what country you’re looking at. This meant that a lot of things became privatised again. The process of doing this is usually to first decentralise or “download” the service to smaller regional or local governments (this is why today, cities each have things like their own separate housing policies), reducing federal/national funding streams to those social programs, and then finally defunding them completely. This is also coupled with lowering taxes and flattening progressive tax rates (im not a tax person so this is very simplified, but this means everyone pays similar amounts of taxes as opposed to being taxed relative to your income - this had the almost immediate effect of widening economic inequality). Because cities and states/provinces have less money than the national government, and because they were now receiving even less money due to lower taxes and reduced national funding, it’s a lot harder to run these programs, and so usually they eventually stop paying for them too, or they’ll partner with non-profits or charities who then administer those services (or they’ll sell them to private companies to run). This is why today, non-profits and other charitable organisations have such a large presence in providing services like homeless shelters, addiction recovery, mental health services, disability services, social services for other marginalised groups, etc. they effectively replace “the public realm” by administering basic social utilities to people, except now they’re not run by a single government, they’re run by individual charities with their own funding streams, standards of care, and policies.

And this had a huge effect on the way people think about themselves and other people! More and more aspects of your life were now framed as products you could choose to either buy or not buy. Social services are very often discussed as parts of the government that aren’t “profitable”, the obvious implication being that profit is the primary motive to offering, like, public transit, as opposed it being a public good that helps society function better by letting people move around more freely. You’ll also see these services framed as “handouts” for lazy people who don’t work hard - again, framing basic aspects of everyday life as things you must earn by constant participation in the market, first as a worker and then as a consumer. This is partially a neoliberal conception of public life.

I’ve seen it argued (by Greg Suttor if you want a specific citation lol) that ideologically, neoliberalism is about hiding the presence of the state from people. Society needs things like roads and water and housing and food and education and medical care to run effectively, but running them as a utility is expensive, and it’s basically become a unanimous agreement between all major political parties that spending money on government services is bad (for lots of complicated reasons, one of them being that capitalist interests are fundamentally opposed to paying for services that don’t generate profit), so instead you hand the responsibility off to private companies to do it, who then run it not as a utility for the benefit of the public but as a way for them to make money, turning the utility into a product. This doesn’t make the problem of, say, every person in your country needing a house go away, but now the burden is on each individual to access or not access that via the private market, and that access is dictated by the amount of money you have. It’s a way of de-collectivising mass social needs, and as a consequence it encourages people to think of themselves as individuals disconnected from a larger whole.

A good example to illustrate the cultural effects of neoliberalism is the rise of the concept of self-care, which is essentially pathologising and marketising leisure time - you work hard, you have a bad mental health day, you deserve to treat yourself by buying an expensive coffee, or a new hat, or going to the movies after work. The act of self care allows you to “responsibly” spend your money on things that aren’t absolutely necessary (like food, rent, and clothing) by framing those purchases as a mental health support. And I’m not criticising this rationalisation people do btw, I also do this lol, but this example illustrates that people have such deep anxiety on spending money on “frivolous” things that you need to justify a starbucks latte as a thing that will improve your mental health (+ therefore make you more productive at work).

Anyway this has gotten away from me a bit but I hope that’s helpful lol. I’m not a political theory person so this explanation is policy heavy, not because that’s the only thing that is important but because that is the part I’m most familiar with. Neoliberalism is something that has been happening for decades by now and is very mature. It’s a particular way of conceptualising state responsibility as limited and narrow - public needs are to be handled by the market, and the state handles things like police and border security (notably the only two ‘public services’ that have seen any substantial increase in funding). It’s also a way of understanding the world as a series of private individual interactions between a consumer and the market, often framed as democratic (“the freer the market, the freer the people”, “vote with your dollar”, etc), but what’s on the market are basic necessities you need to stay alive, so “not voting” is not really an option.