#my 10 cents on this discourse because i am SICK of it

[mordcore]

i am so confused too because where i live "cripple" (german: krüppel) has been widely recliamed for YEARS and no one bats an eye if anyone says it in any context. except if its like meant to be derogatory @ physically disabled people.

yall. reclaiming can also mean to rid a word of its negative connotations. one of my friend groups like to throw "psycho" around. i have been psychotic. i think its a great idea. it's not an insult anymore, in that context. one guy is called alex (many people with that name around here) and since he's the only on who studies psychology we call him psycho-alex. that's all that means. "crazy" ("verrückt") is another word equally reclaimed in all my friend groups. it's not a bad thing. it probably means more to those who are mentally ill or nd (not sure that i know anyone who isnt..) but it's a value-neutral term and thats how it SHOULD be. gatekeeping who gets to reclaim a slur based on identity or whatever is Not going to help destigmatize both the word and what its referring to.

of course reclaiming has to be on terms of the affected people but its just baffling to see people be like "its MY slur you dont get to use it" like why are you trying to hard to keep its connotations. like yes. someone saying any of these words with a lot of derogatory is Bad. but whats bad is always the derogatory and the attitudes behind it.

of course these things are slightly more nebulous and nuanced than drawing lines in the sand for who gets to say what word. but maybe the oversimplified way isnt always the one that works best. just a thought. :^)

[quiznakchronicle]

A collection of discourse/vent asks

So over the last few weeks we’ve gotten a bunch of discourse/vent asks, mostly from people frustrated at the number of events in the fandom and/or how they’re being managed. We understand that people turn to us because we’re the ones in the thick of all these events, but please keep in mind that this isn’t a discourse blog. We’ll answer all the asks we have in one shot in this post (under a cut) because we don’t want people thinking we’re ignoring them or don’t care about what they’re saying, but after this we won’t be answering such asks publicly anymore. In the future we’d ask that if you have a grievance regarding events in this fandom please either talk to us in private about it (send an off-anon ask to this blog or DM Mod Pidge at @ace-pidge) or make a separate post about it on your blog. If you just want to anonymously vent/rant at someone may we suggest something like @vld-rage-confessions

Thanks for understanding <3

- Mods Pidge & Shiro

Anonymous said: 12 days ago regarding that anon complaining about event capacity, I think it might be helpful to also bring up a discussion about how certan events are run. Some events are run very smoothly by mods that are mature and act professional, while others are either run by well-intentioned newbies or people who don't have the skill to run the event they are. I have had to drop out of several bangs because the mods have refused to use email for sign-ups or check-ins, instead forcing all the work on participants1/2

2/2 They put all of the responsibility for both creating the piece, communicating with partners and performing check-ins on the participants and then people drop out due to poor communication and confusion. I have asked mods to please use email and send out confirmation / check-in emails and many have been rude and self-righteous about it, calling those that ask for better modding skills lazy or entitled. I am frustrated since I have always handed my work in on time, but have had to drop

3/2 from events due to absolute silence on the part of mods. It is not good practice to run your entire event out of tumblr / twitter and expect all participants to keep checking your blog / check in with you. It is teh responsibility of mods to send out emails and check in with participants, not the other way around. it is the responsibility of mods to make sure the communication is there, and the responsibility of participants to do the work and hand it in.

4/2(sorry) I don't wnat to make a c=major call-out post or shame particular people, but I feel like this is a trend that needs to stop. Certain events (big bangs, I've noticed) are being run like drag-and-drop set-and-forget events that mods don't need to put effort in to beyond putting up a tumblr. Running a big bang is a HUGE amount of effort and if you're not willing to put the effort in to run it properly, you run the risk of burning the entire community. We need to focus on a few well-run events. Sorry, finished. (no need to publish this ask)

I think this is a very good point and in fact I was partly thinking of this ask when I made my events etiquette post with my list of advice to organizers and participants. The importance of good and consistent communication during events simply cannot be understated, it’s what will make or break your event

Anonymous said: 12 days ago thank you so much for posting the thing about too many events. i'm thinking about not accepting zines if i get in because i don't think they'll sell and i don't want to work on something for nothing and i don't know how to get that across to these mods because they think selling a hundred is good but i get more kudos on my ao3 fics than that

Honestly the situation with zines has me particularly worried, because there is actual money involved. In previous fandoms I’ve only ever seen a few zines overall, never this many and all at once. It really does saturate the market. The last thing anyone wants is for people to put in all that work only for it to flop at the end because few people actually order it. It’s not any one person or zine’s fault, because all of them have neat concepts and themes. The problem is in having them all at once.

Anonymous said: 12 days ago I don't know how recently the problems with dropouts have started getting worse, but it could also have something to do with school starting back in a lot of places. If students didn't think about school starting or didn't expect to have more work this year than last year, they might be dropping stuff because of that. Oversaturation is definitely a problem we have, but things might even out a little bit in a few weeks once people adjust and it might get a little bit better? Hopefully?

That’s definitely a possibility. As I’ve said in the past it’s very important to consider your long-term life/work/school schedule when considering whether to run or sign up for an event. I have noticed in the past week or two less new events have popped up, so either I’m not finding them lol, or we’re heading into a lull which will hopefully allow things to even out

Anonymous said: 12 days ago on top of "too many events", there are a lot of /competiting/ events. 3 keith zines (for example) are all gonna compete with each other, period. people only have so much money to give, so someone buying 1 keith zine can't spend THAT SAME money on the other 2. (nor can they spend it on a lance zine, klance zine, etc). thinking these don't compete is the 1st mistake. creators are gonna spend time making things no one will buy and the mods are gonna lose money producing it.

Yeah, I touched briefly on the situation with zines a bit further up. I think the one saving grace for these zines is that while they may all be in production more or less at the same time they don’t go on sale at the same time. But I definitely hear you. We all want all the zines to do well, but like you say people aren’t made of money

Anonymous said: 12 days ago confession: im in an event run by the worst mod ever and its incredibly fucking frustrating. it feels like they dont give a shit about the event. i applied to their zine before i knew that but if i get accepted i WONT participate and in the rejection i will tell them why (its been over a month). they havent done ANY check ins as scheduled have basically disappeared and my artist hasnt replied either. im so mad i want to cry and drop out and never do an event again. this hurts us too you know

Aw Nonny I’m so sorry you’re stuck in this situation... The flipside of poor event management is fandom creators like you being turned off from participating in projects and that’s really upsetting. Fandom events should be a source of fun and creativity, not stress and anxiety. I’m so sorry, I hope in the meantime since you sent this your situation has improved ;A;

Anonymous said: 12 days ago Guys please don't encourage mods who are continuously late on their dates or end up canceling their event due to their poor planning. I get that you want to treat them well but not giving honest feedback ("please keep to the schedule in the future" or "I'm disappointed this was cancelled") tells them that there are no consequences to their bad management. But there are: one week only had 2 participants. Zines aren't making money. Too many events + bad mods = poor participation. I'm sick of it.

This is important. If the way something is being run isn’t working it’s important to say so, otherwise how will the mod grow and learn to do better in the future. I know it feels like “calling out” but it needs to be said. Seeing an event to completion is a partnership between the organizer(s) and the participants and both sides need to be proactive and be willing to listen to each other

Anonymous said: 10 days ago My 2 cents on the events discourse: they're optional so don't sign up. Personally I'm sick of having shitty mods and terrible experiences so i won't be doing anymore vld events. Sucks because i love fandom events but apparently no one who runs them gets the point of them so...

Yeah, I’m seeing more and more people saying they’re just not gonna participate in anything anymore and it sucks that it’s come to this. I totally understand though ://

Anonymous said: 8 days ago dear people who follow QC: we do not have unlimited money. zines for profit are going to continue to do worse because more people will hit their spending limits. we do not need multiple character zines, ship zines, or race zines (galran/altean/etc). if you think galra keith, nature keith and gen keith don't compete with both each other AND the lance zines then please take an econ class before launching. we have plenty more seasons, let's not run this fandom into the ground, shall we?

Anonymous said: 6 days ago I'm quitting fandom events. There are so many bad mods and it's made this experience really terrible for me. I'm telling you in hopes that you publish this ask so people who see it will think about if they're modding for 15 min of fame or if they're taking it seriously. Enough is enough

I think I’ve pretty much said everything further up, so I’ll just leave these last two ones here like this

[strongandfreecad-blog]

The Conversation on Minimum Wage in Ontario is Wrong: Here’s Why.

It is hard to get to the bottom of the dispute regarding minimum wage in Ontario. Very hard, actually. Opinions rang high in late 2018 when the Ontario government passed Bill 47, Making Ontario Open for Business Act, which saw the removal of increasing minimum wage to $15/hr, among other changes. Prior to its passing, commentators stated the following:

The Ontario government should listen to the sensible advice of economists and reinstate the planned minimum wage hike.

[Bill 47] takes away two paid sick days…that will will simply encourage sick people to go to work, where they’re likely to infect others, reducing productivity and adding to health care costs if they end up in hospital.

In what could be described as a pro-poverty agenda, [the Ontario government] is slashing in half the previous government’s planned increase in welfare payments, shutting down Ontario’s universal basic income project that held promise of becoming a world model and scrapping the planned further $1 an hour increase in the minimum wage, to $15, effective Jan. 1, 2019.

Pro-poverty agenda?

I cannot in good faith believe that any government — at least in Canada and hopefully anywhere else — is for poverty.

In no way am I trying to undermine the legitimate fight for workers’ rights and the rise in precarious work across Ontario. The reality is more Ontarians are earning minimum wage than before and the numbers prove this.

In 1997, approximately 2.7 per cent of all workers earned minimum wage. By 2014, this increased to about 11.9 per cent. And, the number of workers making within $5 of the minimum wage increased from about 20 per cent to nearly 30 per cent. The majority of minimum wage earners are in precarious employment.

What is precarious employment?

Some aspects of precarious employment include the following:

Employees on contract with no fixed end-date and can be terminated within 1–2 weeks notice;

There are inconsistent hours and irregular shifts;

The percentage of workers in the most insecure forms of employment (e.g., self-employed, temporary and contract work) have increased by approximately 60 percent since 1989; and

Associated with the documented health costs to increased precarious work, as well limiting a family’s ability to save and invest in their children, there is also research to suggest barriers to training to attain higher net earnings. Workers in permanent positions are 40 per cent more likely to access training opportunities compared to those in the precarious employment sector.

Some may think the majority of minimum wage earners are youth living at home with their parents. In fact, only 18 per cent of those earning minimum wage were between 15–19. And the largest age groups that earn minimum wage are between 20–39. Research has also found that women are more likely to work part time, more likely to care for children and the elderly and are more likely to work in low wage industries. As well, recent immigrants (those in Canada less than 10 years) are over represented in the minimum wage earning group. Approximately 35 per cent of recent immigrants earn minimum wage, compared to Ontario’s 23 per cent average.

What did the previous government propose?

It is no wonder why the previous government, based on this data, proposed Bill 148 in 2017, the Fair Workplaces, Better Jobs Act, which was employee-driven and saw more benefits enshrined in law for workers — particularly that the minimum wage would rise to $15/hr by 2019.

Under Kathleen Wynne’s Liberals, the Province undertook raising the minimum wage as part of a larger strategy, entitled the Fair Workplaces Better Jobs Act. Under this plan, the following was to be established as part of Bill 148:

A plan to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour on January 1, 2019;

Up to 17 weeks leave after a worker or their child has survived domestic or sexual violence, with the first five days being paid days of leave;

Ten days of personal emergency leave per calendar year for all workers, including two paid days;

A required three weeks annual paid vacation for all workers who have been with the same employer for five or more years; and

Equal pay for part-time workers who do the same job as full-time workers.

Many critics worried this was too employee-driven, and that changes were needed. In fact, the Ontario Chamber of Commerce called for the full repeal of Bill 148, citing many concerns — most notably that businesses may reduce the level of capital investment in the Province and that staff hours would also subsequently be reduced in light of the changes.

What is the current government doing?

On November 2, 2018 — Bill 47 — Making Ontario Open for Business Act — introduced (and later passed on November 21, 2018) by the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario aimed at reducing red tape and other barriers to employers in creating jobs and expanding opportunities for workers. Specifically, the Bill would do the following:

Keep minimum wage at $14 on January 1, 2019, and establish a 33-month pause in minimum wage increases with annual increases to the minimum wage, tied to inflation, to restart in 2020;

Every worker is now entitled to three days for personal illness, two for bereavement and three for family responsibilities (total of 8 days); and

Preserves the right of every worker in Ontario to receive three weeks of paid vacation after five years, and protect current paid leave provisions for cases of domestic and sexual violence affecting an employee or an employee’s child.

Sound familiar? Both Bills, while different in many respects, are similar as well. The previous government provided two (2) sick days: this is now removed. The previous government wanted equal pay regardless of Full Time or Part Time hours. This is removed.

However, what is kept by the current legislation is something workers rights groups advocated for: paid vacation after 5 years. Paid leave in cases of domestic and sexual violence. These are critical wins for workers.

Wins for Employees Under the Current Legislation

Both the Liberal and Progressive Conservative Party included key aspects of employee rights in their respective Legislation. In fact, the group — Fight for $15 and Fairness — which is regularly featured protesting the current government’s changes released a very interesting and critical documentdiscussing all of the wins for workers that happened under the current legislation of Bill 47.

But this document and the aspects of Bill 47 that have been maintained from Bill 148 are not attention-grabbing enough. Who wants to hear that the Liberal Party and the Progressive Conservative Party actually agree — especially when it comes to minimum wage and the rights of workers?

Why this Conversation Matters

It has happened countless times. Over and over again. I’m in a conversation with someone and there it is: a snarky comment, an underhanded jab, a political snipe, at Donald Trump, Conservatives, right-wingers, left-wingers, liberals, environmentalists — the list goes on. Without even knowing much of the debate, we have grown accustomed to weaving political attacks into our discourse without even knowing it. We throw around phrases without facts to back it up and presume others believe it to be true. In doing so, it is undermining our ability to further the conversation.

How many protests have happened where there was no clear understanding of the differences in Legislation? Of course, I am not advocating not to protest, but it is even more critical that it is evidence-based: particularly when you are stating an opinion in a public forum. Perhaps it’s the anonymity of protesting that is appealing? Getting lost in a crowd, or going with friends?

I say these things because the conversation on workers rights is too important to treat unfairly. Minimum wage earners are rising; precarious labour is rising. And with automation not too far in the future, one can only anticipate this to continue.

That is why it is important when we launch attacks against a government, a politician or a direction in legislation, we do so relying on evidence and facts.

Our discourse is so important for our future. That is why I created a podcast, which tries to look at topics from both sides. If we keep lambasting the other side, we miss the areas where we actually agree on.

I look forward to you listening to my podcast tomorrow, February 3 on Minimum Wage in Ontario. Hopefully this will continue the conversation in a more positive light.

anchor.fm/strongandfree

Twitter: StrongnFreeCAD Instagram: strngnfree Facebook/LinkedIn: Strong and Free Podcast Tumblr: strongandfreecad Email: strongandfree2018@gmail.com