#public statements

[capsfriendly]

with the caps at home vs the panthers tonight, i wanted to come on here and say a couple things about the panthers’ visit to the white house.

i’ve seen some people on here and on twitter pointing out the hypocrisy of certain players who have vocally supported diversity initiatives in hockey turning around and doing a photo op with a man who is nakedly trying to strip marginalized people of their rights. the sense of betrayal those fans are feeling is completely justified. despite appearances, conservative politics are incredibly popular among nhl players. i’m not writing to defend any of these men (my views lean pretty far left), but to share my understanding of the ways north american hockey as an institution perpetuates conservatism.

1) barrier of entry

ice hockey requires a lot of equipment to play. to be able to put a child through the decade or more of club dues and equipment fees required to begin seeing returns on investment—in men’s hockey, this begins with stipend pay at the major junior level in north america—requires an amount of money that many families simply cannot pay (though there are a bevy of charities trying to combat this). sports like soccer and basketball, which require comparably little equipment, are far more popular among both players of color and players from low-income families, especially in countries where hockey isn’t a national pastime.

because of this economic disparity between those who can play hockey and those who can’t, locker rooms can turn into echo chambers of privilege.

2) lack of higher education

i’m not sure of the data for other countries, but in the united states, there is a high positive correlation between holding a college degree and voting for democratic candidates. north american players are drafted to the nhl from major junior and collegiate teams, and entrance to professional leagues cuts their education short.

nhl players drafted from collegiate teams often enter the league without completing a bachelor’s degree, getting a year or two of higher education. during those years, many pick classes that they already have a strong knowledge base in, aware they’ll need to keep their grades up to maintain their university’s gpa requirement for athletes. because of this, many miss out on subjects that would teach them about systems of inequality like statistics, sociology, and studies of groups of historically marginalized people.

major juniors players, who move away from home in their mid teens, are even worse off. they leave school, usually completing the bare minimum requirements of a high school diploma to focus on their development as players and travel for games. and up until a recent vote, athletes from the canadian major junior hockey leagues were ineligible from playing ncaa hockey.

3) body economics

like all athletes, hockey players’ bodies are their jobs. the natural decline of their bodies over time limits their playing careers to the years of their lives when they can physically compete with both opposing players (to win games) and their own teammates (for roster spots).

the mean nhl career is 7 years. many hockey players don’t learn another trade and have no guarantee of making a successful career transition after retirement from playing (though some go on to coaching and media positions).

this creates a pressure to make as much money as possible while they still can, knowing that every time the take to the ice to do their jobs, they risk the very things they use to earn money: their bodies.

the physical nature of hockey means that a career-ending injury could come at any point. holding onto their earnings, knowing they’ll likely make up the bulk of income over their entire life, is essential to ensuring the comfort and health of themselves and their families.

earning high paychecks for an inherently limited number of years, it becomes attractive to these players to support candidates who promise to cut taxes for the rich, something popular among conservative politicians. while players may bear no ill will to members of historically marginalized groups and may even support their rights and freedoms, their personal economic situations lead them to vote for politicians who perpetuate that marginalization.

there are plenty of straight-up bigots playing major league sports. the panthers shouldn’t be singled out for visiting 1600 pennsylvania avenue. not because supporting the current administration isn’t reprehensible, but because it isn’t unique among hockey players—or even among athletes.

[gingerylangylang1979]

The need for everyone to make a statement about whatever current event is exhausting.

I just don't care what x celeb, politician, or institution has to say in a public statement about much of anything TBH. Why? Because it really doesn't mean anything unless said entity actually has stakes in the current event and is genuine and articulate. And even then I think most are just oversharing anyways. Why open yourself up to the scrutiny? Not only that what are most of these statements actually accomplishing besides virtue signaling and clout chasing?

If you are supposed to be an ally or advocate I need to see you actually doing something in your daily life to back it up, not a fucking tweet. If you are deeply mourning the loss of someone did you do anything to send condolences privately to those impacted or did you just post an Instagram pic?

I guess I'm just really tired of people doing this shit and people demanding statements of solidarity or sympathy from people that may not give a shit, are indifferent, or superficially invested, just so they can be picked apart and assigned "good" or "bad" based on a sound byte that may or may not actually represent them as a person. People can say anything, but what they gonna do?

I will never forget the post George Floyd empty outrage and statements that didn't amount to much. What are all those allies doing now? I also hate the cop out of "raising awareness". What has this "raised awareness" inspired in your average person? Has the situation improved? Mostly all I see is a hot talking point popularized until the next IT topic. If I see one more apartment window with a BLM flag in a gentrified neighborhood and the resident doesn't even take the time to talk to black people or acknowledge them... I don't even know but I am cringing.

Maybe I'm cynical. I could care less if my friends, family, job, place of worship, grocery store, hair salon, city government, celeb, whoever the fuck makes a statement. And this is why I personally don't make statements about a lot of things unless you can look to my life and see those beliefs mirrored in the day to day.

[some-pers0n]

There's two types of Will Wood fans, the ones who'll say that their favourite song is like BlackBoxWarrior, Suburbia Overture, or Against the Kitchen Floor, and the ones who'll say "yeah my favourite song is this unreleased track called 'Yoink of the Yukon's Public Admission of Going to Rehab' it was played live only once in 2015 here listen it's a banger" and they show you a 19 second 144p video recorded on a 3DS

[fyllophobia]

240225 sketch

[zu-is-here]

<– • –>

[marisatomay]

Man. He really showed up in all black and made the whole Colosseum at Caesar’s Palace join him in a moment of silence for Val.

[violent138]

Jason, over comms: "Hey Dickie I need some help."

Dick, alarmed: *knocking out the guy he's fighting* "Anything, what's up? Are you okay?"

Jason: "I need help with making a resume."

Dick:

Jason: "And don't worry about it, I already faked the police check. Oh and I need a couple references, you cool with a few fake identities?"

Dick: "Before I do any of this,"

Jason: "Shoot."

Dick: "For what possible job?"

Jason: "Don't worry about it."

Dick: "Don't worry--" *slightly hysterical laugh* "--you're aware what your last place of employment was?"

Jason: "Yeah, we should get our stories straight, I put it down as self-employed."

[priceysalt]

PATRICIA ANN LUPONE GET MEDIA TRAINING NEOW

[roses-red-and-pink]

Lolol sometimes it’s so funny reading peoples posts about “Mormon” theology that is based on Exmo stories, tradition/culture but not doctrine, and like random statements by some church leader 200 years ago that was not put into doctrine/canonized, or that he was corrected/reprimanded on, and all of us look back on like “well that guy was racist/sexist. Anyways moving on…” like tbh it just makes me laugh. Like I know our theology is a bit different than mainstream Christianity but y’all don’t need to make it sound like we are out here truly believing half the stuff you say about us.

[holidaycubed]

say you ship suselle and no one bats an eye.

say you ship kerdly, and society goes wild…

[teashirt505]

Steve: Man, I wish I had ESP.

*Billy staring at him from across the court with his tongue sticking out*

Steve: Wait, no I don't.

[vikas-room]

if you liked omori, please consider supporting melon kid (who recently came out with a thread describing workplace mistreatment by omocat) on ko-fi

[nicnevans]

thinking about the culture shift on tumblr away from reblogging and how sad it is. not just for my own artwork and how small it makes my circle feel, but also for all the artwork out there that i just won't see, because the decline in reblogs means its interactions and reblogs might quiet down and "die" before i even know it exists. like. using some of my own artworks' notes as an example, with their reblog maps shown. Here's a side-by-side of two reblog maps, one on a piece i created (and was proud of!) in about 2018, the other with a much more recent piece of a similar quality.

like, looking at these two reblog maps side by side is miserable, isn't it? Look how far the first one spread, how each of those reblogs had a chance to start a new chain reaction, compared to the tiny cluster on a modern-day post. Posts used to travel around this site and connect us, fanart and fics and gifsets and all the rest. Now they're so localised.

How many wonderful fanworks have i never even had the chance to interact with, because they stayed in their little bubble and never reached mine?

i don't really have an endpoint to this post. the culture has shifted, and this is how things are now, but it's sad.

[kindalikerackham]

can I speak my truth for a moment? can we lay down our tomatoes and sit together in the space of possibility that 911 is in right now?

I truly think, in my heart of hearts, that for me, unrequited-buck-feelings-for-eddie canon would be nearly as satisfying as requited-buddie canon

-- HEAR ME OUT HERE ---

Buck talks about it like it's a cliche (and it is), but when has a network tv audience truly seen unrequited best friend queer feelings? When have we seen that happen with two humanized adult developed main characters, one queer, one straight? When have we seen that happen in a way that sends splinters into the friend group/found family?

Like, two supposedly straight male friends finding their sexuality and then finding each other over seasons of underdefined platonic life partner care for each other does feel beautiful and revolutionary. But... so would full balls-to-the-wall in-denial pining for your straight friend. So would learning how to be around each other and rebuilding your relationship into something that fits both of your expectations and desires. Imagine watching Buck learning how to set boundaries with Eddie to protect himself. Imagine Eddie getting pissed about that, but having to cave because. well. Buck is right. Imagine Eddie having to watch Buck heal without him. Or maybe with him. Just. With boundaries. Limits. Enforced "you can't ask that of me."

If you ask me? that's DELICIOUS

[ahappydnp]

i'm sure they were planning on doing a dump soon anyway but the timing feels like they knew people probably really needed this tonight

[secretsofdbz]

So Shueisha just announced that Toriyama passed away last week on March 1st from a subdural hematoma (head injury)

The site has crashed, but it's from both official DB twitter accounts