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There are three main models of disability that are in common use. The moral model, the medical model, and the social model.
You may not have heard of the moral model before, but if you are disabled, you have felt the impact of it. The moral model is disability as a failure of character. It sources the problem of disability in the character of the disabled person. It's the people who insist that if you just tried harder, were better, had a better attitude, that you would no longer be disabled. It is a model that is used by ableists in order to conceptualize of disability as a failing of the individual. An extreme example of this mindset are the Christian Scientists, who believe that all illnesses and disabilities should be healed by the grace of their god and that if you are not healed, something is wrong with you. It is the the most cruel of the models, and the least successful at assisting disabled people.
The medical model is the model used by the medical establishment and by those who put their stock in medical authority. It sources the problem of disability in the body. It measures disability against a theoretical average person, and seeks to make disabled people match that average person more closely. This model works very well for disabled people with disabilities that can be measured, have a potential treatment plan, and want their disability gone. It does not work very well for people who do not match all three criteria. If they match the first and second but not the third, then strict adherents of the medical model often fall back on the moral model, stating that they are stupid, lazy, or selfish for not being interested in being cured. This also often happens if treatment fails to improve the condition of the disabled person.
The social model is a newer model, largely designed by disability activists and scholars and often defined in opposition to the medical model. It sources the problem of disability in the interaction between the disabled person and their physical and social environment. It argues that the solution of disability is to change the environment so that impairments are no longer an issue. This model works very well for disabled people who consider their disability not to be an issue when fully accommodated. It does not work well for people who consider their disability an inherent impairment and/or desire a cure. Strict adherents of the social model often fall back on the moral model when considering these people, stating that they are short-sighted or that they worship the medical model. These are the people who state things such as that depression would not exist in a world without capitalism.
When a disabled person fails to behave as expected by the model a person has of disability, the moral model is almost always the fallback position, because many people cannot conceive of why someone would disagree with them other than a lack of good character. This is a problem, because the moral model proposes no solution but to ignore or abuse the disabled person until they behave as expected.
Another notable interaction is that adherents of the medical model can often be persuaded to support the more traditional parts of the social model, such as providing large text resources to people with impaired vision, so long as there is empirical research backing it. However, they rarely support more radical arguments that challenge how we define disability and how society should be structured or restructured.
All three models have major failure points. The moral model fails every disabled person it is applied to. The medical and social models both fail different disabled people when adhered to strictly. The best approach at the moment seems to be hybridizing the social and medical models, so that they cover each other's weak points and fit the needs of the widest spectrum of disabled people. The main barrier to this is that they are often defined in opposition to each other.
#I personally adhere to a hybridized model of the medical and social models that I informally call the independence model#If an individual is disabled or not is their personal call#as is what they do about it.#it does need to be acknowledged who is considered disabled by our society and how that will affect someone#even if they do not consider themselves disabled#Medical care and accommodations should be available to whoever wants it#but should never be forced or pressed on anyone#Public spaces and events should be accessible to as wide a variety of people as possible#The main failure point of the independence model is that it does not call for a single clear solution#and basing a model around personal choice makes it difficult to make policy proposals
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i have a historiographical quibble with how the antisemitic campaigns in the soviet union in 1948–1953 are often framed as an extension of the holocaust in the scholarship rather than being fully considered within the context of the soviet nationalities policy. except when i'm applying for funding from institutions that do holocaust studies. then i'm fine with it
#the dissertation proposal is still in the slightly amorphous stage but the gist of it is how the reshaping of jewish culture#by soviet authorities in the 1920s-30s affects jewish historical memory#and particularly how the survivors understood the 1948-1953 campaigns within the scope of jewish and soviet history#*now* we look at those campaigns and they fit neatly within the trends of jewish history#of being tenuously accepted and integrated into the mainstream and then persecuted#but at the same time it fits within the broader trends of the nationalities policy which was applied to jews in more or less the same way#as it was to other national minorities#and they were *all* subject to russification in the 1930s and suspicion over their alleged foreign ties#and especially with how the soviet government downplayed jews as the main targets of the holocaust#in a way that still persists in a lot of post-soviet states#coupled with the fact that most of the jews who survived the holocaust were secularized bc they weren't in the occupied territories#and secular soviet jewish culture was disconnected from the religious aspects and the stories of persecution and survival#in holidays like pesach and chanukah#which is all to say that the way scholars of jewish history understand these campaigns now isn't necessarily how#soviet jews understood them *then*#holocaust tw#soviet jewish history#jumblr
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they plumb forgot the action item
#'hi! :) hey if families couldn't afford housing would that be fucked up or what. okay bye!!'#me: oh right okay so do you have like a specific candidate or ballot proposal or policy in mind or-- oh nope she's gone#also it's a form letter I know it doesn't matter but. katie whom agdkgldh#the envelope JUST has a return address and doesn't even include who it's from... hello#refreshingly unsubstantial election mail though tbh. vibes ONLY.
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So I saw The Apprentice (2024) today, and came on this site to look for screen caps or gifs to reblog. But what I’ve found is a lot of publicity photos of Sebastian Stan and a few interviews about the film, but… nothing of the film itself. Which makes me think most of his fans who are blogging about him being in it aren’t actually watching it. And yknow, fair, it’s not an appealing log line, I get it.
But 1) he’s really good in it. And, more importantly, 2) it’s a good film and obviously Very Relevant right now!
I don’t know I just think at this point it’s such a given for some of us that he’s awful as much as it’s a given for others that he’s a Success, and these two groups of people have entirely forgotten to actually care about the fact that what we separately think is not the same thing. We should care about that! We should want this film! We should not be so averse to the complexity of human beings!
#this is compounded for me by the fact that like#I’m trying to decide who to vote for for mayor in my town#and really strugggling with the fact that the answer isn’t easy#bc I don’t know the candidates (except the incumbent and no thank you)#and I don’t know what separates them on policy proposals#and I’ve got a couple round table videos to watch but I’m having a hard time actually getting into it#I really want to value my vote but recently voting has become so entrenched in absolute extreme stakes#that being able to be Normal is#I am finding#quite hard#anyway#the apprentice#film
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The type of a person who is actually half-decent on the youth rights issues but still can't stop Ironically™ talking about how kids and teens are gross and stupid and how they couldn't ever have a young friend and making jokes about enacting violence on youth?
#the key word is ''half-decent'' because the other half of xeir policy proposals which 'ey're typically rather shy about#is extremely far from what can be described as ''decent''#root post#sprout post#vent
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how to email professor about them being disrespectful of ur time and to please post assignments not 24 hrs before they’re due
#posted two assignments this (sunday) morning due tomorrow (monday) night despite us only having#lecture once a week on tuesday nights#bitch u should have assigned this LAST WEDNESDAY!!!!#i have already planned everything i need to do for the next 48 hrs and ur stupid fucking policy research paper proposal#cannot suddenly take top priority bc u assigned it last minute without any mention in class#meanwhile i have actual big girl classes to worry abt like this fuckass biochem exam. do u want me to kill myself BE HONEST#i’m so pissed i’ve had this prof before and she’s so fucking disorganized and incapable of explaining herself it makes me want#to tear out my hair#lucky me she is also one of my advisors now 😁☝️ according to the email i got yesterday#not for long tho i’m requesting a new one asap i CANNOT give her any morsel of responsibility for my career#I NEED A GUN#the gun is for myself fbi i am not making a threat. obama voice let me be clear
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The part of the Zionists rhetoric I've seen online especially here on tumblr that really... not so much confuses or disturbs me because every part of supporting racism and genocide is disturbing, but the part that makes me nauseous in a very specific way, is how many of these people claim to be leftists. Not the Israeli government or the majority of Zionists obviously, they're proud racist right wingers. But here on tumblr you have people who believe in feminism and queer rights and would agree easily enough with surface level takes on how racism in America is bad. And when it comes to conservatives and red fascists they can easily tell when a right wing racist or homophobe is arguing in bad faith, they can make long posts explaining the harm behind terf rhetoric and how it differs from the actual fight for women's liberation. They can look at the Russia and Ukraine conflict and use critical thinking to call out bad actors with ease.
But then with Israel and Palestine they just... Flip. All the bad faith arguments they criticised before is now their modus operandi. They ignore the ongoing genocide and the Palestinians talking about it and focus on the oppressors, only reblogging the same one or two Palestinian voices once every now and then that say everything they want to hear and nothing more.
I think the most striking example is that "antisemitism bingo" someone made where the ongoing genocide was something to be laughed at and the blog made fun of Palestinian civilians being tortured. And yet when a blocklist went around of people who interacted with that ghoulish blog, clearly explaining why we should avoid them, (Hijt:The racism and dehumanisation of Palestinians) these "leftist zionists" immediately were like "Oh its a block list of Jewish blogs! It's only blocking us because we're Jewish!"
Like it's the most bad faith easily disproven illogical argument that every random 4chan troll can make. It's not my actions it's because I'm white! It's not my homophobic remarks it's because I'm straight!
I still struggle to understand how they're able to flip so easily from intelligent historical and societal discussions of oppression and intersectionality to denial of the Nakba, denial of the apartheid and racism that has ruled the Israeli state since its conception, denial of the Israeli terrorism and colonisation ongoing in the West Bank that Palestinians have been speaking up about for years (The save Sheikh Jarrah campaign and the murder of peaceful Palestinian activists predates October 7th by quite a bit and yet received far, far less coverage by western media) and denial of everything the government and soldiers and many citizens are currently doing to murder as many Palestinians as possible. How do you go from pointing out cult tactics to a Maga style tribalism enthusiast just because it's Palestinians being oppressed and not another group?
The only reason I can think of is that unlike say, white people or straight people, zionists DO have an understandable, real fear that they can use to promote their racist cult. Antisemitism exists worldwide and is a problem in every single country. Unlike ridiculous concepts like "white genocide" or misandry, there is grounded, factual and understandable reasons for Jewish people to want a community where they can feel safe. And anyone who truly cares about equality for all must be committed to stamping out and dismantling antisemitism in every country and neighbourhood, because Zionists sure as hell aren't. The more antisemitism exists the greater their fuel for justifying and promoting Israel as the One True answer to it all.
But the solution of Israel involved ethnic cleansing in order to built their majority Jewish state, and relies on racism and genocide to maintain it. Just like any other coloniser state, it's not sustainabile and is constantly spiralling towards fascism. (America currently contending for loudest spiral) And that is obvious to anyone who reads up on the history or just like. Talks to Palestinians for five seconds. Israel exists due to racism and dehumanisation of Palestinians, and anyone who considers that an acceptable sacrifice is blatantly morally bankrupt. But the tribalism is simply too strong for that sort of logic and understanding, and whatever reasons they may have for falling into Zionism, it's still unacceptable. If you're still on here talking about "demonising Israel and exaggerating genocide (for the woke agenda, is what they're two steps away from saying) then I have no sympathy or time for you. One day you will be forced to reckon with your cognitive dissonance and willful ignorance, and the self righteous racist narrative you cling to will no longer be enough to protect you from judgement. Normal people with their morals screwed on right don't support fascism and racism. Leftists sure as hell shouldn't support facism and racism. (And yes this goes for those who defend Russian and Chinese imperialism too.)
You talk about feeling isolated, about having no one but fellow zionists to rely on. No one else will accept how complicated the situation is, you say over the sound of ten thousand murdered children killed and celebrated by the fascists you're carrying water for. Everyone else is just too antisemitic! You say as the Israeli government and military celebrates Hannukah by bombing Palestinians and joking that they're lighting one of the candles.
I genuinely can't tell if these people are aware they're full of shit or just so scared that they've dived deep into cult mentality with zero critical thought allowed. But either way, there should be no more space for them in our community than a nazi, a homophobe or a Trump supporter. They may have parroted similar ideals of equality and justice for long enough, but when push came to shove and the issues began to hit too close to home, they decided that supporting facism is how they want to cope. So be it. Palestine will be free with or without them and I will mourn the intelligent principled people they could have been, but at the end of the day you have to draw the line somewhere. And supporting genocide is generally a solid line to go with.
#What I've learned in recent months that's quite depressing#Is that many American liberals consider racism an acceptable evil the way they don't consider feminism or homophobia#If Biden adopted and increased Trump's misogynistic policies while being actually good on all the current racist ones#I sincerely doubt that people would be fanatically attacking anyone who criticises him the way they are now#Those that suffer due to both parties racism simply has to suck it up and wait their turn for a good candidate#Vote for the guy who will protect me and people like me even though he's supporting and funding the fascists killing your family#Is not a position I thought liberals would ever be in#And adding “I know it sucks but it's the only way” doesn't actually make it better because OK. So what do you actually propose to help?#Because protesting the current president complicit in the genocide is apparently a no no. Even if you'll vote him over Trump#Idk man all I know is I'm grateful for the people around me with principals and morals who can see everyone as people#And not just those similar enough to them.
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this is not how the world works, but i would like compensation for the many petty ways bureaucracy makes my life just that much more difficult :)
#is this about adhd meds?#yes#the car stuff feels like it is personally meant to punish me#but it is at least universally annoying#the fact that i have to physically turn in a copy of a script?#and the number of times i've had to call in advance to see if they even have it because they will take it and not tell me they can't fill i#ew#they should make a rule that if you can't fill a prescription it goes back to the physician or something#so i don't have to keep requesting new scripts myself#this is not a proposed policy i'm just tired right now
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Called my aunt to wish her a happy birthday and we spent an hour discussing what I was doing with my life 😭
#my uncle wants me to go get a PhD in quant or finance or information systems and then become a professor#OR#be a lawyer or a dentist#the PhD thing was very specifically catered when I was like 👉🏽👈🏽 I wanna teach#none of those things sound all that appealing..#space law Has Potential#but I think it would make me want to rip my hair out#they were both like. you have two years but then figure your life out by then#and then they were like. what is ur cousin doing. has he proposed yet#and I was like ??? it hasn’t even bee n a year?? I think they’re going to Japan#and oopsies apparently he had not told them they were going to Japan#my bad#after I. very reasonably said it makes sense to wait 2-3 years#he went ‘what is there going to be left to talk about then. life is all downhill from there. might as well get married now’#and. I’ve never ever ever heard that from a human being before#WHAT DO U MEAN YOULL RUN OUT OF THINGS TO TALK ABOUT#I could never#anyways love having my existential crises exacerbated by familial interactions#they just Say Things#I need to study. I’m gonna go do that maybe#actually no I want to complain more. my uncle keeps saying that the problem with space is that there’s only a few cities that work on it.#and that’s gonna limit my choice of partner#(so funny how they say partner. they are very homophobic and have no idea or they’d go THE MAN YOU MARRY like my mother does)#I feel like space is growing…#altho I’m sure that’s what people thought in the 60s and 70s and 80s and 90s#idk some of these bitches have been around since like the 70s and 80s and 90s#so it’s not like they all got fired immediately#my dental hygienist was telling me space was great until Obama slashed the budget#I didn’t have anything to say back considering I was 8 when he was elected and know v little about his policies#anyways. this is a psa to not call ur relatives even to wish them happy bday because then they’ll trap u in conversation and make u question
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If this blog is going to be of any use, then I need to be able to speak freely. I need to not worry about whether I'm going to gain notes, reblogs, lose followers, get anon hate. The moment I prioritize that over speaking the truth, I've reverted back to the pandering person I was for ten years. And that was intolerable.
It's frustrating, to be frank. I view myself as having a commitment to social justice in general. I also choose to specialize in women's issues, because I am a woman and I see how we are treated. I've written before about why I think radical feminism is a good framework for dealing with women's issues, more than other feminisms.
But I know I have a fair amount of divergence from other radical feminists. I've written about how historical radical feminist works have a loose relationship with science and epistemology. And I think it's time to bring up the elephant of the room, which is how this relates to trans issues.
"Are you a TERF?!? Are you a TIRF?!?!? Are You an SJW?!?!?" I don't think there's a cutesy acronym that encompasses what I believe. I've come to my position on women's issues and trans issues from years of reading arguments on the internet, from consuming books and scientific studies, from talking to people in real life. I've spoken to a lot of trans people as well as detransitioned people. Many of my friends are transgender. I am a gender non conforming autistic woman, who has also been pressured by friends to identify as non-binary. All of this has informed my thinking, and makes it very hard to package into something consumable.
I suspect that there exists something known as sex dysphoria. I know we know very little about gendered dysphoria in general. We don't know what causes it. We don't seem to know how to distinguish dysphoria from the pain of living in a misogynistic world. We don't seem to have a good clinical way to tell who will go on to have persistent, life-long and treatment-resistant dysphoria and who will just grow up to be autistic and or gay and who will not seek transition. There's a lot that we don't know, and that means I have to move in a position of scientific humility. I've had radfems tell me dysphoria is caused entirely by society, and I've had gender identity advocates tell me dysphoria is totally biological. Being that the majority of research on dysphoria is of low quality in any direction and very small numbers, to stake a position on this would be nothing but epistemological arrogance.
I do think the genie is out of the bottle, and there will continue to be larger numbers of people transitioning in the future (compared to 20th century numbers). We need to figure out how to handle the integration of trans people into the communities they wish to be a part of. I think there will be conflicts between the desires of trans people and cis people, and the most pertinent for me are the desires of cis/non-transgender women and transgender women when it comes to integration into female-only spaces. I also think that the language used around what gender identity "is" poses a threat to the fight against misogyny and needs serious scientific revision to become a useful concept.
I've written about the ways in which trans women fail to identify with and work with non-transgender/cis women on issues of misogyny. I think trans women telling cis women that it is not okay to talk about hating men or men as a class because it "leads to transmisogyny" is an unacceptable violation of our freedom of speech and our ability to vocalize our oppression. Your right to have your dysphoria accommodated ends at the moment where you tell me I cannot talk about the downsides of female embodiment. Your right to have your dysphoria accommodated ends at the moment where you tell me I cannot talk about male oppression of female people. Your right to have your dysphoria accommodated ends at the moment that housing trans women and cis women together (prison) results in cis women falling pregnant from rape.
So, what about trans women? I have known several in my life. The vast majority are desperately poor. Some are homeless. I've invested a significant amount of my time into helping homeless trans women find shelter. Trans women face severe employment discrimination.
I think a lot of radical feminists like to assume that all trans women are programmers in Google who transitioned after lengthy careers earning 6 figures. This could not be further from the truth. Most trans women are poor, cannot find housing, and cannot find jobs.
I have a special commitment to female people, but as I mentioned above, I also have a commitment to social justice in general. I don't think it's acceptable in society that trans women should suffer so severely economically for being publicly gender non-conforming. I'm not sure what the best policy solution for this would be. But I think a start would be shelters specifically for trans women, and greater society of gender non-conformity in general. I want nothing more than for my transfem friends to have safe housing, jobs that treat them with dignity, and economic security in general.
Can these two attitudes - trans women are overwhelmingly economically insecure / demands made by many trans women for inclusion result in cis women silencing their experiences of misogyny and may also result in forced pregnancy at worst case scenario - coexist? I think yes. The truth is every minority/marginalized group has demands that conflict with the demands of other minority groups. We need theory to help us decide how to proceed in these conflicts. We need to look at individual cases. We need to think about policy.
My priority will always be female people, and I have no compunction about that. But - perhaps I am optimistic, but I believe we can continue to fight misogyny and to fight for the liberation of female people - girls and women - while also fighting the economic impoverishment and injustice that transgender people face. I do not believe that every demand made by certain activists for inclusion can be met, but I also don't believe it's necessary to meet every single one of those demands to improve quality of life and justice for transgender people. Moreover, I think it is the only way to move forward from the 'gender wars' without harming cis women, without popularizing and medicalizing/aestheticizing gender roles, and without harming transgender people.
#radical feminism#radfem#i hope to write a policy position list at some point with argument ; ideas ; and proposed solutions#i am a little scared to be writing this. but fear controlled me for years from talking about women's issues.#fear should not control me any longer.#what I say is my honest belief and my desire to change the world for the better. i have written nothing slanderous or hateful.
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fascist nazi rightwinger rishi sunak & co.
#slogan#rishi sunak#rishi delays ban on sale of petrol and diesel by five years in net zero pledge#rishi set to axe hs2 link after ‘out of control’ cost increases by nearly £8#trans church minister says sunak’s remarks put the community in ‘greater danger’#sunak says fact he’s never smoked is ‘irrelevant’ to proposed crackdown#sunak#fuck the tories#tories set out policies as conservative party conference kicks off in manchester#‘we all know the tories are s**t’#anti tories#tories out#corruption#corrupt politicians#police state#political#politics#uk politics#uk police#ukpol#uk government#uk govt#ukgov#uk#united kingdom#bigots#liberal hypocrisy#republican hypocrisy#gop hypocrisy#hypocrite
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#to be clear this is the author that wrote a book on eviction#and his policy proposal for this? his radical policy proposal?#why it was simply funding more vouchers of course
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There's a new doug at my work and we already have a doug and my instincts when i see doug is to say "Whaddaya know, doug?" and they look kinda similar which means that the very first thing i have ever said to New Doug is "whaddaya know, doug?" which took him off guard and he was like, "...um. i know it's not time to go home yet, unfortunately."
So I think he'll do fine here.
#chit chat#work stuff#i proposed that we have a no-doubles policy last summer when we had four stephanies and three camerons but no one listens to me#the only department with a no-doubles policy is cashiers because they are vicious and territorial of anything considered individuality#meanwhile most floor people with a double are like 'eh. just means i can ignore pages now and say i thought they meant the other stephanie'
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this election feels so hollow even though it’s likely ostensibly gonna be a good outcome. labour really just sucks fucking ass rn huh
#if the tories lose bad enough to make lib dems the opposition though… a guy can hope#I think it’s the fact that this is the first general election I can vote in that’s making me lose my mind a little here#I have done basically nothing but read today. I DO know a whole bunch more abt voting systems and the nightmare the tories have been now tho#I’m just kinda like. okay so what happens next? bc labour WILL do some decent shit but they also. fucking suck.#planning to look into the local green party once I’m back at uni bc I could actually do stuff there#I think I’m just dealing with a little bit of whiplash going from doing a biology degree where Everything is about climate change#like unambiguously it gets brought up in every topic (I DO focus on ecology and agricultural stuff and not like genetics but still)#clear consensus from literally everyone you talk to that shit has to happen right the fuck now.#it’s not even like I’m unaware of the state of policy rn I KNOW it’s a nightmare to do anything but we at least TALK about it#and then this election where it’s barely a footnote. biggest thing is the sewage dumping everyone’s talking about and yeah fucking finally#but is that all you’ve got?? the labour manifesto is bleak. it has a section and the stuff they’re proposing isn’t bad but it’s so little#and yeah no they’ve changed the official line on the manifesto to ‘make Britain a clean energy superpower’#I SWEAR it was different a few days ago#maybe I’m being pessimistic bc their plans for clean energy if they actually do them could be huge especially if they manage it by 2030.#it’s just that I know what the targets are and they’re already pulling back on shit like EVs bc of the shift right and I am So Tired#two party politics is a curse. as much as reform is an actual nightmare them getting a decent vote share might actually be the thing that#gets people talking abt proportional representation again bc they are nothing if not good at being loud#did you know we had a fucking referendum in 2011 bc what the fuck. and it went SO BADLY even though people generally supported it#god idk I think I’m once again being naively optimistic about people and election coverage has been very good at knocking me down a bit#people generally are good. I have to believe this. but man the british public is making that really fucking hard#genuinely I think a good chunk of that is down to first past the post driving politics to be divisive and aggressive#like is it the only problem? fuck no. but it’s definitely poisoning the way this shit goes bc when all the parties do is jab at each other#what are we actually doing here#idk I’m gonna stop now but this is taking up a ridiculous amount of bandwidth rn I can’t wait for it to be over#already dreading what the next election could look like in 4 years if starmer continues to suck ass bc I don’t trust him to not like at all#luke.txt#I said i was done but I just looked at the lib dem manifesto and oh my god it’s actually pretty good on this? holy fucking shit
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you know lesswrong is like, a cult, right
why do you think i made the 'heartbreaking: eliezer yudkowsky said something good' edit. do you think its because i think ey is a cool and normal guy
#ask#idk how accurate 'cult' is but it sucks!!!!!! big time!!! however the article triviallytrue linked is good!#inasmuch as 'actionable reformist policy proposals for policing' can be good which is obviously limited
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There should be an evil chunk inside an iPhone/Kindle Fire/Samsung Galaxy SFuck/etc that you can just stab and point a hairdryer at and pry out and replace with a real OS
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