#i am so disgusted by this government it’s insane

[thesunsethour]

well. congratulations to the utter cowards in the irish government who voted to scrap the eviction ban. in the midst of the worst housing crisis this country has ever seen they are actively voting to make people homeless. 35% of politicians in the dáil and seanad are landlords. ireland is a country run by and for landlords.

do not ever forget the words of james connolly: “If you remove the English Army tomorrow and hoist the green flag over Dublin Castle., unless you set about the organization of the Socialist Republic your efforts will be in vain. England will still rule you. She would rule you through her capitalists, through her landlords, through her financiers, through the whole array of commercial and individualist institutions she has planted in this country and watered with the tears of our mothers and the blood of our martyrs.”

also, for a more modern example, remember the words of emmet kirwan: “It wasn’t blokes in tracksuits who ruined the country. It was blokes in suits”

either fine gael or fianna fáil have been in government every single year since we became an independent country. now they are in government together; and this is what they do. don’t forget this.

[antimony-medusa]

I read your post on boundaries and the MCYT community recently and have been thinking about as posts that contradict it cross my dash, and I’ve been reflecting on how a lot of what we call “boundaries” are more just like. Community rules? Like take “no sexualization,” for instance. If I’m talking to someone at my workplace, I am not comfortable with them making sexual remarks about me. If someone did, I would tell them so, and not engage in that conversation with them. That’s an actual boundary — something governing how people interact with ME that I am in charge of enforcing. I don’t say “no one is allowed to think anything sexual about me at work ever or tell their friends I’m hot” bc that’s just insane and none of my business, quite frankly. Streamers are well within their rights to say they aren’t comfortable seeing people sexualizing them in their chat or like very publicly on Twitter, but saying no one can sexualize them ever is actually just a community rule, not a personal boundary. Based on how I understand what a boundary is, it can’t be boundary breaking to do something that a creator definitely will not see, because the creator isn’t interacting with the content, and boundaries are about governing comfort in interactions. And saying “I don’t want there to be sexualization or sexual content about me in the main tags bc my main audience is children who browse those tags and they shouldn’t be exposed to that” is a reasonable enough rule to ask your community to follow, but it’s just straight up not a boundary? Like am I misunderstanding what a boundary is? I’m confused bc I’m seeing all this stuff about boundary breaking content and how it’s disgusting even if the creator will never see it and I just don’t get it?

Yeah, I think this is a situation where we're using words to mean something they don't technically mean (see also, "lore"), and then this leads to us also having community arguments about what is acceptable, and it's all totally unnecessary.

Cause the workplace comparison is a good one! If I was telling fellow coworkers how hot they were when they'd said they didn't want to hear that, or walking up to the barista and saying that I wanted them to weigh in on the porn I'd written about them, that would be workplace sexual harrasment and, depending on the severity of the situation, literally a crime I could be charged with. Absolutely inappropriate to do, and I can't express how extremely fair it is that streamers get to say no to that. I am FULLY in support of CCs setting those limits for their spaces and think it's healthy and we all need to respect that.

But "boundaries", as a term, is technically about controlling your own behaviour and people's access to you. You set a boundary and say to your parents "if you bring up grandkids at the christmas meal I will be leaving", or "if you mention [latest discourse] on my blog I will block you". It's about controlling your experiences via your own behaviour and the stuff that you actually see. CC equivalent is saying that any sexualization or shipping in their chats or replies will lead to a block or a ban. That's them controlling their own experience and that's A-ok. Asking a CC to weigh in on what sort of fan work they're comfortable being shown, that's also about them controlling their own experience and is totally fair.

Asking a CC to weigh in on what sort of fan work exists in general— that's not boundaries any more, that's something else entirely. The closest equivilent is companies trying to control what sort of materiel their image or trademarked material show up in, I think? Which is a thing you can do when you're licensing your image, but isn't actually a thing you can do with fan works. Celebrities get to say no they're not going to appear in a commercial advertising an oil company, because they have a moral disagreement with oil companies, but that's because the interaction there is a company offering to pay them money for their image and them declining the money. That's not how fan works operate. The celebrity isn't in a position to decline the money for their "image" being used, because no money is being offered, because the fan isn't making money. It's not a copyright/licensing situation, it's fan works. The celebrity shouldn't be part of the conversation at all, because they should never see that.

And like, there's issues of impersonation or endorsement where it's bad form to do something that looks like it comes from the celebrity, as though they approve of what is being depicted, which is why AI voice lines and deepfakes are being increasingly spoken out against. But man, someone writing Captain Puffy's and PearlescentMoon's cubitos kissing each other on Ao3 and keeping it on Ao3 is not a situation where celebrity endorsement or licensing or impersonation comes in at all. That's a conversation totally within the fandom, without the creators involved. And I really disagree with asking the creator to treat all of fandom like their community, which they should moderate and like, control their image and make kids-and-advertiser-friendly, because that's not how fandom works and also that is unfair to ask of them.

Can one or both of the creators say they don't want to see that? Totally fair. That's a boundary. Can they say that it shouldn't exist in their main tag that kids check? I'm on the side of tagging things to keep them away from minors and people who don't want to see it anyways, rock on. That's a community rule. Can they say that it should never exist ever, anywhere on the internet? That's just not how this works. A) that's not how fan works have ever worked, fan works are for transforming and celebrating existing canon, not for creator approval, and we should stop shoving all of them in creators' faces or asking them to weigh in, B) "boundaries" is entirely the wrong word for what's going on there, like you said. Cause is the mere existence of a thing in a seperate space infriging on the creator's experience and reasonable for them to control? That's what a boundary is, this isn't. C) This isn't even community rules that it makes sense for them to moderate! When you are talking about an entirely different space, cut off from the CCs, doing their own thing to the characters, with age barriers and trigger warnings built in, "boundaries" isn't the right term, but also this doesn't make sense as a space that we're inviting creators into to moderate. This is a seperate space, and stories or art in it aren't hurting people, even if the cc's wouldn't want to see that or even want them in their main community tabs. So yeah when it comes to us enforcing our own community rules, keeping creator boundaries and community rules in mind, the mere existence of a thing does not seem to me like the end of the world. A lot of people have come out and said that all our work needs to be sqeaky clean and able to be shown in the creator's chat, as though the creator is moderating the space and their personal boundaries are involved. And (listing things yet again, this is a post of lists), first of all there's a real focus on sexualization in that case and never on things like family dynamic or kidfic or gore or whump that could also make creators uncomfortable if it was shoved in their faces. (But somehow when anyone brings up those "boundaries" everyone comes to the conclusion that something entirely off on the internet somewhere and never shown to the creators is not going to harm them. Curious.) And second of all, I just disagree that that's a good way to run a fandom community. This is a space for fans, not for the creators, bringing up the "weird stuff" publically to creators is incredibly cruel to people who shouldn't have to see that, AND it's a bad atmosphere for creativity to always want the creators to approve things, fandom is for saying "fuck the man" and doing your own thing. Just tag it to keep it away from people who don't want to see it, and filter the tags for your own experience. Keep everything in its own space and you're good. There's tons of stuff in the fandom that isn't to my taste, ranging from characters that just don't do it for me to tropes that are active turn offs to people writing and undertagging things in ways that is concerning to me. We have got to learn to say "that's not for me" and "that's not for the cc" and put it away (block if you have to) and move on.

[possiblylando]

An 'Early' Analysis of Chainsaw Man Chapter 138

Woah hey I'm back, I didn't feel like talking about the past few chapters cause I didn't feel like I had anything to add since they all seemed pretty straight forward. That being said this chapter gives me alot of talk about. So we get a name for Sex Offender Girl. Boy this woman only gets worse the more we learn about her. Mifune is quite literally a government plant in denji's high school.

It's refreshingly disgusting the type of shit these girls will put denji through. It's like Fujimoto keeps trying to one up himself each time he introduces a new "love interest" (Mifune is not a love interest she is a sexual predator let's keep this 100% clear). Maki was a groomer, Mifune is just a straight up Pedophile. She is going to have such a satisfying death I can feel it. This chapter goes on to confirm a few things. First off, Yoshida is apart of Public Safety. Which sorta debunks a previous thought I had of him being apart of another group. I am interested to learn 1. What Divison 7 does 2. Which Division Yoshida is in Given we know 4 was the rejects and 5 are hybrids. My best guess is that Division 7 is a sort of Espionage/Intel Division. Yoshida likely also belongs to Division 7 unless he's got some silliness going on, Which is very likely. Actually- I just now realized something. She calls it "Special Division 7" not Division 7. Looking through the list of Division members on the Wiki, That Special Prefix is very important. The Special Divisions are all full of freaks and monsters. This Sex Offender is more than likely a monster all to her own if she's apart of a Division we've never even heard of.

Public Safety is just as fucked up as actual governments. It's great.

I hate that she's winning me over. I want this woman dead stop making me think she's silly. Fujimoto is really good at humanizing horrible people. It mirrors real life monsters who tend to blend in with society and even seem charming on the surface. Moving on from this fucking Sex Offender. Asa continues to be the realest character in the series.

I doubt I even need to say anything about how real she is. Asa is a deeply disturbed and neglected person who's shut off from the world despite her own need to validation and recognition. She and Denji are different sides of the same coin. While she tries not to show it, The fulfillment she receives from praise seeps through. This scene specifically resonated with me a ton.

I wish we got a better look into Denji's thoughts in this scene. I can't even really get a grasp on what he must be thinking through all of this. In the last few days he's lost a major part of himself and has been replaced in face by a fraud and in action by a girl who he was forced to dump by his sister. There was a moment here before the reveal on this very page where I was thinking Swords was someone else. It was clearly someone from Part 1. He had a hoodie so maybe it was Violence? But that couldn't be real Violence was killed by Darkness. WAIT- BEAM? No I couldn't be beam he's been dead aswell. The Chapter is called Swordman so then maybe it's Katana man's return? No he wouldn't be on speaking terms with Denji after his testicles got mashed. So then-

Turns out it's the Longsword Hybrid from the end of Part 1. Yeah turns out he's alive. Which as many people have pointed out, Means the rest of the Hybrids are alive. So is Reze alive? Certain fans seem to think she is. At this point she seems to be the only match for Denji who isn't a complete psycho. But she still tried to kill him. But then Denji was still willing to run away with her at the end of the fight. If she does come back I hope she and Denji don't rush into a relationship, Let them chill for a bit before getting into anything serious Fujimoto please. If Reze really is alive I'll talk about her more in depth when she shows back up. But I need to say my peace.

The Whip Hybrid is going to be insane popular and so many of them are going to be just as Horny as Anime-Only Makima fans. I hope Swords ends up being chill with Denji and not another dickhead who tries to kill him. Denji needs another Male friend who doesn't treat him like shit. His only known ""friend"" in part 2 is yoshida and we all know yoshida has not been treating him well.

[15fishes]

dystopian novel but its tumblr

💥thatonemitsurikinnie123 follow

ok but can we seriously talk about how effed up things have gotten that people are actually being arrested for saying swears? like they aren’t that bad that peoples lives should be ruined over them…saying swears is a human right imo…

💕ilikefrogsandcoffeealot🔁 thatonemitsurikinnie123 follow

no it’s literally not? why do you need to swear its literally vulgar and rude. how is not being able to say horrible words a human rights violation? Literally unalive yourself op.

♻️catraisdumbiamverysmart🔁 ilikefrogsandcoffeealot follow

thats not the point of the post you idiot. of course nobody here is saying that saying swears is moral or justifiable. people who say swears like **** and **** should all be unalived immediately, what op is saying is that the oppressive right wing government is trying to control our minds using sanitatized shows like steven universe that have secret hidden homophobic messages so that they can have a perfect word and make us do their bidding like were all sims! its not about the swearing, god, get some reading comreheion. compernmientoln. copresenion. whatever I dont have to pander to this literate-normative society.

⭐️starclansbravestwarrior follow 🔁 catraisdumbiamverysmart follow

prev obviously doesnt live in the US because saying g** is literally illegal too. “boo hoo we cant ssy swears anymore :(“ try living in the states for one day? honestly making a post like this is so insensitive like. did anyone here even consider that its harder for me? did you even remember america when you were making this post? non-americans are so selfish.

☹️thebananamuffinman🔁theblueberrymuffinman

pretty sure op is actually referencing when in 2036 over half the population of america all collectively shouted “****” in protest and then a bunch of people briefly went to jail? obviously op is opposing the new laws theyre only saying that that one time in america was pretty messed up…

💥 thatonemitsurikinnie123🔁 thebananamuffinman

WHAT!?! what are you all talking about!?! I am literally word for word saying that yes!!! I think people should be able to swear!!! why not?

⚽️ishipirlpeoplewhoplayfootball follow 🔁rpfismypassion follow

lol. “why not” ha. are you actually that stupid op? do you even understand the extend of the damage that swearing has done? my grandma literally UNALIVED herself because somebody sweared infront of her. how can you be so brain unalive that you cant see the harm of words that were literally INVENTED to be bad?

💥 thatonemitsurikinnie123 follow 🔁 ishipirlpeoplewhoplayfootball follow

killed.

⚽️ ishipirlpeoplewhoplayfootball follow 🔁 thatonemitsurikinnie123 follow

…what?

💥 thatonemitsurikinnie123 follow 🔁 ishipirlpeoplewhoplayfootball follow

not unalived. killed.

🩸vampireenthusiast🔁 thatonemitsurikinnie123 follow

excuse you? this is the sort of disgusting stuff that comes from opposing the law. it starts with wanting to swear and in less than five seconds op is BLANTANLY advocating for unaliving people

💥 thatonemitsurikinnie123 follow 🔁 vampireenthusiast

STOP SAYING UNALIVED IM LOSING MY MIND. KILL. DEATH

💟queersandbeersandbeesandknees🔁mangaspoilersonmyblog follow

are we just going to ignore the absolutely insane rant at the beginning of this post or…??

✨cutegirlnamedpencilcase🔁flowersandcutekitties

if you reblogged a post with vulgar language like this you’re actually part of the problem. block and unfollow me.

💥 thatonemitsurikinnie123-deactivated182828292929929 🔁 cutegirlnamedpencilcase

you literally just reblogged it fuck off

🖼️arthistoryismypassion follow 🔁yesmynameisactuallymilkstopasking follow

lol op got unalived by tumblr RIP BOZO

🎃ihatealliceskatersforeverandever 🔁acamallcopsaremeanies follow

BREAKING!! EVERYONE REBLOG THIS VERSION OF THE POST OR ELSE IM BLOCKING YOU!!! NEW LAW JUST DROPPED THAT PROPOSES BANNING LEARNING HOW TO READ FOR KIDS 10 AND YOUNGER!! EVERYONE CALL THEIR REPRESENTATIVES!!!!!!!

💥 thatonemitsurikinnie1234567 🔁mcytblog500 follow

im killingmyself for real this time

#tw s****** #illprobably get banned again for this but meh i want to add another digit to my name anyways #DONT check the notes btw lgbterfs (lgbt exclusionary radical feminists) found this post :( #also whats up with that guy who ships the soccer players lol i read some of his fics and its just like all really erotic dentist visits #im kinda into it

50,000 notes

🦝15fishes

I am a completely normal person who did not spend 1 hour making this tumblr post that will not even get 1 note :)

[sakebytheriver]

Was thinking about how I wanted someone who wasn't a Russia defender who believes we should let the entire country of Ukraine become fodder to Putin's dictatorial whims to talk about just how horrific it was that some random in Canada's government just decided to without consulting anyone else or warning anyone in advance to bring a literal Nazi out to the parliament and make all of his colleagues and the Jewish president of Ukraine look like a bunch of idiots who support the fucking Nazis and then I realized you know what I'm not a Russia defender who thinks Ukraine should be devoured by Putin so here I am

That moment was really bad. Hope we can all agree on that

It absolutely should not have happened

As many have already stated most Ukrainians at the time fought for the Red Army against the Nazis and this random speaker in Canada's parliament probably had to work real hard to find this one Nazi and then parade him in front of cameras and ultimately just add more fodder to the literal Russian propaganda that Putin invaded the country to save it from Nazism as if Russia itself (and basically every other country on this earth, hello America, hello Canada, hello Argentina, hello the fucking world) isn't brimming with Nazis

This move was absolutely disgraceful and beyond shameful, honestly the speaker that did it should probably be asked to resign and step down, if he wasn't able to do the basic research needed to know that the person he was parading in front of his entire government and the entire world was a literal Nazi who fought with the SS and to do this move with no prior warning to literally anyone else shows a level of incompetency once only delivered by American politicians, this should be something speaker Anthony Rota never escapes from, this should be brought up at every reelection campaign event and every singular debate he has from now on

But if you are looking at this insanely disgusting moment where an idiot who doesn't deserve his job made an entire room full of people including possibly the most prominent Jewish man at the moment clap and celebrate a Nazi and thinking this justifies Putin's invasion of an independent and democratic nation for no other reason than he's getting older and he wants to make his legacy that he was the dictator who reconquered all the states that broke apart foromt he former Soviet Union, then you honestly might be an even bigger idiot than Anthony Rota

Like I'm sorry, but you have fully bought into the propaganda if you think that Putin is gonna deNazify Ukraine, especially when we have more than an abundant amount of proof that Putin's government has propped up tons of far-right and Nazi groups in other countries to encourage instability

Anthony Rota brought out a disgusting monster of a human being who volunteered to fight for the Nazis in WWII in a completely not thought out PR ploy that has only aided in providing more propaganda for the Russian military/government to utilize against Ukraine, this does not then equal that we stop supporting Ukraine and let Russia completely level their country

Thank you for reading and goodnight

[soop-musical-fool]

Ok I said I would make a pin full of music so here it is

First off, I mentioned KNOWER. It's a long project that started a really long time ago, but their best stuff is probably coming out like right now. As in, they are just about to release a new album, KNOWER FOREVER. The singles on it are incredible, like I'm The President just comes right out the gate with the fattest walkdown I've ever heard from a horn section. The B section makes it feel like I'm enjoying a song like I would a multiple-course meal. Then Crash The Car just transfixes you. Yes, yes, you should listen to those, but don't neglect the fire they put out in 2017 because you owe it to yourself to watch the live sesh of Overtime:

Oh god this post is gonna make viewing my blog super annoying isn't it

Anyway the next thing I gotta mention is Vulfpeck. These guys are famous for scamming Spotify, basically. They released an album full of 30-second tracks of pure silence, just absolutely nothing, titled Sleepify. They got online and said "Yo guys, help us raise money for a free concert by listening to this on loop while you sleep." What they were actually doing was exposing a loophole in the way Spotify calculated royalties, and before they could pull the album (citing "content policy violations," of course), Vulfpeck had already bagged around $20,000, so they put on the completely admission-free Sleepify Tour, which was incredibly fucking based of them.

Vulf went on to become several spin-off projects, all entirely independently released and full of some of the stankiest funk fusion that I cannot stop listening to.

My favorite of these projects, The Fearless Flyers, is headed by Cory Wong, with a guitar idol of mine for 5+ years Mark Lettieri and of course the government subsidized active bass of Joe Dart, but the keystone of the group is no doubt Nate Smith on drums. Dude makes a three-piece set onstage sound like a full kit.

Like just look at what they can do with the added power of sax:

And yeah, I could just talk about those guys, but let's get weirder.

I'm talking modal. The kind of stuff that makes my choir-trained mother cringe inward at the dissonance. Let's talk about the crunchiest, most feral fucking harmonies and keyboard solos that make you question what you thought you knew about chord progressions and key centers.

Obviously anyone super into this stuff will have already heard of Jacob Collier, so I won't show him. But THIS:

I listened to this the first time and it was just.. too much. I put it in its own specific playlist titled "very complex shit" immediately. When I went back to it, enough time had passed and I had learned enough that after way too many listens I can actually follow along with this insanity. This track blew my fucking mind, dude. I have never heard a chorus use so many of the 12 chromatic notes and still sound heavenly. The groove changes add so much texture. The flute solo goes off way too hard. The slower final section is just disgusting syncopation when the drums come back in. Everything about it is incredible, and this album came out in 2007. I am staring back at years of my life I spent not listening to this and ruminating my lack of music theory knowledge. And when I wanted to see if some kind transcribing jazz grad student like June Lee had uploaded anything of System, I found a 2020 reboot with 24 musicians playing System for over twice its original runtime, and guess who did the showstopping final solo??

JACOB FUCKING COLLIER.

Look him up if you don't know. The other musicians I obsess over inspire me. This guy makes me want to quit.

[cosmicjoke]

Thank you for standing up for the Palestinian people. It disgusts me how people act so obtuse about the history of Israel and Palestine. I am so glad that people of color and their allies finally have a platform after HUNDREDS of years of oppression.

No worries. It's the least I can do. Watching people spreading that New York Times article around, without even considering the history of that publication, and the constant lies they've engaged in in propagandizing the American public, along with the rest of the mainstream media, just wasn't something I could let slide. I understand the sensitivity surrounding these types of accusations, but people need to use their heads. Something a lot of people just aren't capable of, it seems like. What the NY Times and the mainstream media in general is doing with articles like that one is trying to draw attention away from the massive war crimes being committed right now by Israel, and being facilitated by the US through it's support of Israel. I'm Jewish, so it's got nothing to do with me being against the Jews. Supporting Israel has nothing to do with supporting Jews. If you ask me, Israel spits on the memory of every Jew that died in the Holocaust. They spit on the memory of every Jew who's ever suffered oppression, by becoming the oppressor themselves. I've never seen another country so perfectly mimic the Nazi party. The irony that it's a bunch of Jews doing it is beyond comprehension, almost. What Israel is doing is pure horror, and evil, and nobody with any ounce of morality within them would ever support any of it. Anyway, yeah, I just wish people would use their brains. The US government is lying about basically everything. It doesn't care about freedom and democracy. It doesn't use its armed forces to liberate people. It uses it to suppress and destroy and control the world. It's a literal empire. Everyone in the world BUT American's seems to know this. And Israel is exactly the same. That "country" is run by insane, sociopathic warmongers who are trying to drag the US into a regional war which could erupt into WWIII so easily, and it's this kind of baseless article from the NY Times that they're using to justify it. Absolute insanity.

[caecilius-est-pater]

“aiding in a genocide but making progress elsewhere” are you fucking insane? that is the most evil selfish despicable shit i have ever heard. you wouldn’t be reblogging shit like that if it was thousands of white kids being slaughtered. what is wrong with you fucking people??? absolutely disgusting how do you live with yourself

I usually don't dignify this stuff with a platform but I'm gonna make an exception because I'm hoping you or other people who feel the same way can help me out. I have a real, genuine, honest, not-a-gotcha question: what do you recommend I do instead?

I hate this as much as you do. I don't want Biden to be president, I don't want to vote for him, and I am not voting for him in the primary. I desperately want another option, I just don't realistically see one. Since it seems like you do, I'm serious, please tell me what it is.

Is there a revolutionary movement underway that you think will replace our current system of government before November? If so, let me know where I can find out more, I'd love nothing more than to replace our shitty system. Is there a third candidate with a shot of winning who is pro-Palestine that I somehow haven't heard about? Give me their name and they've got my vote. Hell, is Trump actually pro-Palestine and committed to ending the genocide? I might even vote for him.

But with the knowledge that I currently have (again, if I'm missing info, please tell me!) it seems pretty certain either Biden or Trump is going to win and we are going to be led by a genocide lover no matter what the American people do or what we believe. But I believe that Biden will kill and hurt less people, both abroad and domestically (I'm a queer trans brown non-Christian uterus-possessing child of a brown immigrant, trust me I am very invested in the domestic policy differences between Biden and Trump). That's where we're at: who's going to kill the fewest kids? I don't see a "kill no kids" option but if you do, please tell me what it is and I'll do that instead.

Frankly I think the November election is not the thing we should be worrying most about right now. We should be focusing on ending the genocide and supporting the people of Palestine - donating, contacting our reps, raising awareness, boycotting, protesting, etc. That's what I'm doing and where I'm putting most of my focus. Local and down ballot elections are also important.

How do I live with myself? Badly, as every American should. No matter how many calls I make, protests I attend, it will never be enough. But I sure sleep a hell of a lot better than I would if I was a "just don't vote" type (not saying that's what you are, it's just an opinion I see way too often) and gave up the one tiny bit of political power I have to try to make things a little less bad for at least a few people, so that I can selfishly feel better about myself for having the ideological high ground.

But I don't want to do that. Tell me what I can do not to have to. Tangible, actionable, realistic steps to take to prevent this. I would love to be wrong on this. I would love to change my mind and find a better way forward. Please.

[the-greatest-fool]

I personally find it very, very strange people chalk up American foreign policy wrt the PRC to Sinophobia. I preface the rest of this creed by stating that I believe there are racists in the government and especially on the right, BUT nonetheless that American competition or even outright hostility to China IS JUSTIFIED.

I begin with a story. When TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew was asked, as were Mark Zuckerberg and other tech CEOs, to testify in front of Congress, there was special scrutiny to TikTok’s treatment of content the CCP would find problematic. Chew, a Singaporean citizen educated in elite American universities, was asked a disappointingly naive line of questioning from Senator Tom Cotton.

Tiktok is owned by ByteDance, headquartered in Beijing and incorporated in the Cayman Islands (famously for scrupulous business). He was repeatedly asked if he had or any point had any relation to the Chinese Communist Party, to which he replied, facially bemused, “Senator, I’m Singaporean.”

This went viral. Online, people commented (somewhat accurately) on Cotton’s racist questions—for instance, asking if Chew was himself Chinese. However, this story seems to have undergone a game of telephone. In the midst of American discussions in Congress over whether TikTok should be banned conditional on being owned by a Chinese company, some TikTokers, aside from blaming the American Israeli lobby for (in my strong opinion) short-sighted and misguided reasons, blamed this on Congressmen “mistakenly” taking TikTok for a Chinese enterprise when it “is Singaporean, Senator.”

This is insanity. I wish to remind readers of TikTok’s empirical bias towards CCP-aligned content; of its promotion of denial of Chinese genocide and violence against the Uigher Muslims, Tibetans, and other Hui; of its tendency to promote anti-American and otherwise anti-social content; and the strong, strong incentive the PRC has (and the great example it has in Russia’s well-documented manipulation of media) to amplify messages that let the American public become complacent to its agenda to invade and destroy a democratic, sovereign nation (Taiwan).

This is no Sinophobia. Listen to your Chinese American peers (at least the ones not so drunk on racial resentiment they’ve begun supporting foreign authoritarians). China is NO MODEL for democracy, social equality, or liberal rights. It despises free expression outside its party mandate. It cracks down on artists too deviant, too *queer*, and too fluid for it to control. It actively bans Western influence and seeks to maintain a monopoly on public discourse. It abhors the notion of freedom. It hates especially that Asian neighbors have adopted liberal democratic agendas perfectly fine, contrary to its extremely racist argument that Eastern Peoples are not suited for democracy, which it claims is a Western concept for Western people. Hong Kong’s streets have never been the same. Do you wish for the bloody sights in Ukraine to be seen again in Taipei? What of the people of Japan, South Korea?

How is it that we’ve decided criticism of such a regime is comparable to criticism of Chinese descended people, who are of countless different faiths, nationalities, and political orientations? How dare my fellow Americans (white and or well off and or privileged) prostrate themselves to China in a disgusting attempt to cleanse themselves of their liberal guilt? (“I recognize I am a settler. I am White. I have sinned. I pray that my Evil home be defeated by these Orientals.”) How dare they turn a matter of geopolitics—because like it or not, our allies in Asia (billions of people) would prefer China not become an aspiring revanchist, toppling nations and conquering waters as it seeks now, and American attempts to contain it, to prevent it from meddling in elections or our market place of ideas are justified—into their social melodrama

You have *no* idea how much it hurts. The largest country in Asia rejects my existence (queer, ethnically Asian but American, etc.). It hates me. And you think that somehow, conceding to it will…what? Oh, it’s for The Cause. “It’s capitalism,” you argue. “It’s colonialism.” Oh yeah? What is TikTok?

Perhaps a rightist would say, “China is no saint.” I say, it is a long running empire built on conquest, bloodshed, repression, and inequality. Of course I hope China one day liberalizes. I hope its people are happy. But I cannot turn a blind eye to Americans who wish to forget its evils to smooth over their own. That is immature at best, diabolical at worst.

China loves for the diaspora to get angry. It loves for liberal and leftist White Americans to “empathize” and be “allies”, to “Stop Asian Hate.” It loathes genuine, factually-based analysis of its policies and of its treatment of its people. Support freedom for all people. Criticize inequalities and injustices at home all you want, but acknowledge there’s a reason why liberal democracy cannot be accepted across the Pacific—and not for a good reason.

This isn’t some ideological game. Wake up and put yourself in the shoes of the people who live on peninsulas and islands surrounded by waters that could one day be filled with hostile submarines ships ready to tear their freedoms away.

[official-megumin]

I am constantly seeing people referring to Palestine as a "terrorist state looking for trouble" and I cannot for the life of me wrap around the logic of these people's brains. When, if ever, did Palestine look for trouble? Never, that's when!

I know this isn't really what you are talking about.

But this whole situation just shows how quick some people are to do a complete 180 turn.

You'll see bigots finally admitting that anti-semetism is real just because they want to seem more respectable when they advocate for the actual extermination of an entire people.

because Palestine genuinely did nothing to deserve this. "oh but hamas did this-" irrrelevant. Hamas wouldn't exist if not for Israel's conquest and destruction of Palestine.

Hamas is entirely a reaction to what's happening, not the other way around.

Sadly some people use this to continue or even fall into anti-semetism to begin with. And that is also just disgusting.

We cannot hold any random jew in the world responsible for the actions of a corrupt government.

Israel is no more actual Judaism than America is actual christianity. Both have twisted and molested what these religions stand for and just use it as an excuse to continue their sins.

Like nevermind that huge swathes of Israeli condemn their government to begin with, nevermind that Palestine has a sizeable jewish population that literally goes back millennia.

You have holocaust survivors and descendants of those survivors condemning the Israeli government.

And that's just the rise in anti-semetism, we haven't even gotten into the rise of islamophobia.

Islam has objectively done nothing wrong here, we're literally just seeing a people associated with Islam be annihilated, and fucking THAT of all things is emboldening people to see arabs in general, regardless of their actual religion. As nothing but monstrous, thoughtless terrorists.

I hate it. I hate that pretty much all we can do by now is to refuse to buy from brands openly(and just imagine how many brands might do it in secret) supporting the genocide and fucking beg our leaders to ask Isreal to stop if we're lucky enough to live in a country that hasn't made speaking positively about Palestine illegal.

I hate everything about this. It feels so completely unreal that supposed "developed" countries have learned nothing and feels nothing when this is happening so openly and obviously

How can anyone just sit and think what is happening in Palestine is not just acceptable, but the good option?

It's so completely fucking insane, that I barely know what to say.

My heart will always be with the Palestinian people, and I will always do everything I can to help them.

[poetrywise]

Life, sort of

I can't access Twitter lately, so I thought mb I should try to be more active here. Yes, I know I said it before, but my VPN hasn't been working for weeks and I kind of miss people. I miss life, in general. For the past nearly 2 years, life has been hell in my country: mass arrests, toxic propaganda, army drafts, idiotic laws, silencing the media and public opinion, to say nothing of the horror we have been inflicting on another country. I don't know about most people but I do feel ashamed and depressed, even though I am, have always been, and always will be staunchly anti-war. Seriously, how have people not learnt to solve their disagreements in a less insane way over the course of our history?

Today, yet another "great" news: LGBT is now considered an extremist organization. They've done all they could to torment queer people short of criminalizing queerness itself. They keep promoting so-called "traditional" values, debating whether women should be allowed access to higher education (I kid you not, this is us in the 21st century) and abortion, all the while wasting 40% of the budget on war; in the meantime, all their beloved "traditional" families live in poverty and find their social support cut. You can get 7, 15, 30 years in prison for changing price tags in a supermarket to anti-war statements, staging an anti-war play, digging into government corruption. Children are being force-fed "patriotic" claptrap at school. Bloggers get fined, arrested or forced to leave the country because they fear for their safety. Life here is a cruel joke.

I know that I personally have little reason to complain, since I haven't been arrested (yet), nor have any of my loved ones. But it doesn't mean I don't get panic attacks (I had them before, I've been seeing a therapist for 6 years, and this situation IS derailing my progress) or fear for the future. My personal future feels ruined too: I can't travel, I can't see my BFF who lives abroad, I can't get paid for my stories even if I do manage to publish them (I write in English and have had 4 stories published in America, but we can neither send, nor accept payment from abroad lately). All this feels so small compared to what other people go through, in both our countries, but it's big to ME. I can't look into the future with any kind of hope because I don't want to live in the country that makes its people and another nation suffer. (Don't get me started on actual things our politicians say, like: Well, if smb drops a nuke on us, it'll be fine, as long as it's not on the capital. [FYI, I live in the capital, but it doesn't mean turning the rest of the country into a nuclear wasteland is fine by me. WUT EVEN!])

Everyone hates my country. We deserve it. I hate my own inability to change that but I'm neither brave, nor smart enough to do anything. When it all started, I tried writing letters to politicians, but this ain't America, nb listens to the people here. The only reply I got was smth like: Well, the West is threatening us, we must defend ourselves, so STFU. Idk what bizarre illusionland these ppl live in. Last time I checked WE were threatening everybody. Including ourselves.

What's the point of this TL;DR? Idk. To speak out in some way, I guess. Like I said, my VPN isn't working, and I can't access Twitter, which is my usual platform for whining XD I'll try to post smth more positive some time. Among other platforms that don't work without VPN are: Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Goodreads, AO3, various torrent sites, BBC sites, many kinds of Western media, and probably a hell of a load more I don't know about. I admire the reporters who are still publishing the truth. It's impossible to hide it from the people these days, but unfortunately, most people just watch TV, which spouts disgusting lies and propaganda.

Nostalgia is a fashionable thing lately, and here's my two cents: I loved the late 90s - early 2000s. Yes, we had problems then too. Like financial crises and local wars. But we had freedom of speech, independent news, we at least tried to respect human rights, we could travel, we had cultural exchanges, foreign tourists, and nb hated us more than any other country. I wasn't ashamed to admit where I was from. I never felt I'd be stuck in a totalitarian state because surely, surely we'd learned! We'd been through it and it wouldn't repeat again. But I guess "all of this has happened before, and all of this will happen again" is a very true saying. I'm so tired. I'm sure I'm not the only one, but I do feel very alone whenever I read the news. I'm lucky in the sense that my family at least shares my opinion, but on a grand scale? I don't know if any meaningful change can be achieved when we can't even form proper opposition: a few parties/organizations both here and abroad are usually at each other's throats instead of working together. So yeah, I'm tired, disappointed, depressed, and idk what else to say.

Wow, hope I don't get arrested for this XD

[pineapplerightsideupcake]

Like you I support a two state solution. I’d like to see peace, I’d like to see Palestinians given back their basic human rights, to safety, food, water, healthcare and the right to live on their land as democratic citizens, I’m so sad that this might never happen. It disturbs me when I see free Palestine activists talk about all Israelis being evil settlers, and wanting Israelis to leave from Israel. To be clear, I do personally think the Isreali government is evil, but I find it creepy the way people don’t separate civilians from their government. People want them to leave and go where? To me it feels that they want them to be homeless and die. A lot of these people are Americans but they say “American settlers are evil too, so checkmate” as if that even means anything, European Americans don’t face any threat of having to leave America, there is no mainstream activist movement that wants European Americans to disappear, they don’t face a significant terrorism threat, it’s not really equivalent at all. They can say that they apply the same rule to themselves because they’ll never be in that position. Of course I am so disturbed the the fascism of Isreali nationalists, who want Palestinians to be wiped out, genocide is their idea of peace, it twists inside my stomach when i see the things they say. I see people online who genuinely want all of palestianians to be dead. This conflict is so awful and it’s so hard to see a peaceful solution. And I am so disgusted by some of the reactions of people who ware not affected by it, the dehumanization of Palestinians and Israelis is insane. They are all people. Every single one of them. But a lot of people don’t want to see that

Two state isn’t even the only option. I’ve been reading some articles about a move to do something a little more blended. The point being that maybe we should respect the people who actually live there to figure out what works for them.

I’m appalled at how many people would rather Palestinians continue to suffer under Hamas and the IDF on principle, rather than both Israel and Palestine ousting their respective reactionary regimes.

[pebblysand]

aren't you embarrassed to be a fan of something written by a transphobic antisemite

okay. i deleted the previous anons relating to this earlier today and didn't respond when they were outright death threats/hate accusing me of transphobia, sent to me all afternoon simply because i got called an "adult HP fan" by OP (for context, see here). truth is: i didn't want to show what "side" this hate was coming from. i think it's very detrimental to the cause, and actually harms trans people at large. this being said, i've fucking had it now, so i will respond.

first of all (and this is anecdotal, at this point), i fucking stand by what i said this afternoon about the original post. the post itself was fucking ludicrous. it meant nothing, was the epitome of someone trying to sound clever using words that held absolutely no substance in context (which is elitist and nauseating), was deeply ignorant and demeaning of an art form that has existed for centuries, and the author was incredibly hypocritical in their response to the backlash they received - not only from myself but from other creators. the fact that i've been receiving hate from their followers all afternoon and that "adult HP fan" was the only actual "argument" they could come back with actually proves my point. cleary, i have hit a nerve, lol.

obviously, as someone who has an entire podcast dedicated to the art and craft of fanfiction, the fact that these ignorant opinions "exposing" fanfiction as a "lesser" art form that "missed the boat on narrative multivalence" (whatever the fuck that means?) are still getting posted and reblogged on tumblr (of all places) is truly incredible. a friend of mine (who i'm not going to tag here because i don't want them to get hate), likened it to: going to Disney and saying all the people there are stupid and not doing their vacation right. While they themselves are at Disney. how's that for "complex figurative language," eh?

secondly (and most importantly, in my opinion), you and your idiotic friends think you're fighting the good fight, right? congratulations on your moral high ground. i have news for you: there are few things more harmful to the trans cause & community than sending death threats/hate to people on the internet. it makes you sound insane. and, you know who wants to make you sound insane? fucking transphobes.

this type of behaviour is so harmful to the trans community. it is so harmful to trans activists around the world who try and make educated, well-articulated points that support trans rights as basic human rights. (which, for the record, they are). and, as someone who does actually support the community, nothing makes me angrier than getting this sort of hate online. because, what if i didn't support the community? you think all the death threats and hate i've been receiving all afternoon would change that? you are not doing anything, here, to support the trans community. you are actually harming it by cheapening and endangering the point that countless people are trying so hard to make to our people and government. and, for what? to suit your own sense of righteousness and entitlement. it makes me sick. and, you should be embarrassed and ashamed of yourself.

this is the bloody reason trans rights aren't progressing. because for every death threat and hate comment there is a bigot at the other end who uses those to "prove" that trans people are crazy and a menace to society. i am beyond furious at this. and, here i am, deleting half the hate i got this afternoon because i don't want to harm the cause by posting it. because i tell myself that posting it will be one more "proof" for the bigots to latch on. fuck you.

this is revolting and fucking disgusting.

[hellsbellschime]

Thoughts on what’s happening in Palestine?

I've been reluctant to make any specific comments on it because I've seen and been sent a lot of unverified information/potential misinformation and I don't want to spread anything false around, and because, while it's insane and I don't want to be afraid to speak my mind or potentially say the wrong thing, I am now at a point in social media world where people will look at things I've said before and use them against me. So I have to not just think about what I think now, but I have to think about whether or not this could negatively affect me five years from now, and that has made me more reluctant to say anything definitive because ultimately, I could be wrong, and I both don't want to get into drama because I'm ill-informed and I don't want to be seen as platforming opinions that I don't even agree with because I don't know enough about what I'm talking about.

But with all that said, I think it's tragic and unnecessary and frightening and sad. It's obvious that the Israeli government is using an actual terrorist attack from an organization that does outwardly say that it wants to kill all Jewish people as a sword and shield to brutalize and murder innocent Gazans, most of whom are children, and to take more control over a region that they already treat like garbage, exercise way too much control over, and that they terrorize constantly as a matter of literal political policy, and that's disgusting. It's an absolute nightmare that Palestinians have been constantly terrorized and maimed and murdered simply because keeping Palestine destabilized serves the worst actors who seek to exploit atrocities for their own gain, and it's sad that this untenable situation is now being made even more horrifying and cruel because once again, the worst actors are exploiting an atrocity to excuse brutality that is orders of magnitude worse than the atrocity that is being used to excuse it.

I'm glad that people are speaking out against it, and I'm extremely upset that the US is now providing a truly insane amount of support to further violently subjugate people who are already violently subjugated beyond comprehension anyway. I hope that the calls for a ceasefire grow louder and actually work, and I hope that the added attention to this issue finally forces some progress toward a legitimate solution that will allow Palestine to actually build up their own working state and will enable Palestinians to live a life free from the control of the Israeli government.

[eddieschains]

TW// g*n violence

the g*n violence and g*n epidemic in america is disgusting. every single day there is at least one “new” story about a sh**ting somewhere in america. it’s gotten to the point where so many people are completely unphased in hearing/seeing the words pop up on the news.

i was talking to a friend of mine who lives in england about the state of america when it comes to this topic and every single thing i would tell her all she could respond with was “that is insane” or “that is crazy” and it is. it is fucking insane and crazy. it was so weird to speak to her about it and hear about another countries laws when it comes to this because it’s so common for us over here.

i personally, have been present in 3 different sh**tings. 2 of which happened while i was in school. two different schools might i add. the school a town across from me had one. the university 20 minutes away from me had one. and it’s all so “normal”?

it’s disgusting how normal it is and i will never stop being angry about it. children, CHILDREN are taught about what to do as young as 5 years old, if they ever find themselves in this situation. and it’s becoming more of a when instead of if.

i have seen absolutely nothing happen in government to help decrease these events happening. nothing has been done to lessen the amount of g*ns or tighten background checks on those who purchase these weapons, even though firearms are the #1 LEADING CAUSE OF DEATH IN AMERICA FOR CHILDREN AND TEENS

AND NOTHING HAS BEEN DONE

so please. please share our stories. sign our petitions. americans, write to your local representatives. make your voices heard. VOTE VOTE VOTE because i am sick and fucking tired of hearing about this happening over and over again.

[zipndots]

like at this point im just trying to keep the world safe for myself and those immediately around me. my initial reason for wanting to learn to drive is so that if my mom ever has an emergency i can take her so we dont have to spend a fortune on an ambulance. my current reason to get a license is so that my sibling and i arent trapped in our own home for weeks on end.

the sidewalks in this city are so atrocious that i am always genuinely amazed when i see a non-electric wheelchair user get on these disgusting rattling falling apart buses on their own. these stupid slabs of concrete are either uneven, cracked into oblivion, have an insane grade percentage, or a mix of all three that as a person that can keep my balance most of the time, i still trip and fall flat on my face. by the way, whos fucking idea was it to just decide wheelchair users dont get to use the light rail? the train? anything that could be more efficient?

aside from degree benefits of being a librarian and the privilege of even being able to go to college, i quit striving for what ive been preparing myself to do for literal years because im realizing just how shitty a state the world is in right now. if one more library goes down the shitter here because either no one can manage it or the state just decides to throw it out for more commercial space or whatever i might just blow a gasket.

i dont care about making money, i dont care about fucking living at this point, but i swear to fucking god if this life is ruined for somebody else, somebody still with hope in their hearts that things will get better, then my patience with this government and the complacency in this awful community will wane so quickly i might as well be in a mental hospital because of how insane it makes me.