#social discourse

[brettdoesdiscourse]

I do think the popularity of antis being fine with violence is a symptom of how normalized violence is in our current society. So many antis don't seem to realize that violence is a dark theme and I can't deny how socially normalized violence in media is plays a role in it. It's to the point where it's kind of like "it's not dark, it's just a normal part of media."

And of course, there's nothing wrong with violence in fiction, but it's disturbing how so many people do not realize a ship with fictional murderers IS still a dark ship. You can't sit there and pretend to hate dark ships while actively liking them.

[maxdibert]

Oh, the main café she liked to write was owned by her brother in law, that's how she got to ask for a lot of coffees and not get kicked out for staying there for too long. As for her baby, she confirmed that she brought her to the café sometimes, but she also got friends babysitting.

The whole deal is that Rowling found herself in a hellish situation (just escaped her abusive ex, without a house and with a baby? I don't wish that to my worst enemies), BUT she had a good network of family, friends and economic state help to get through very comfortably. She never slept in a shelter, let alone the streets, because her sister had a very expensive flat she could share with her. Her friends lend her money and gave her furniture when she finally got her own flat. She felt comfy (or cocky) enough to throw away toys a charity had brought for her daughter.

Was it a terrible situation? Yes. Was it as tragic as the press painted it? Not really. One would think that this experience would have made her more aware of those who have it worse and don't have wealthy friends or family to help, but I guess not.

Look, even if she didn’t have to pay for the coffee, my point isn’t about money spent ñ, it’s about not needing to work in order to survive. I mean, what kind of person can afford to spend hours sitting in a café? Someone who clearly has the resources not to work, even while raising a daughter. And honestly, I’m glad — really — that she had a strong support network and was in a safe, comfortable place after leaving an abusive relationship (even knowing what a shitty person she turned out to be). I’m glad she had people around her and help when she needed it. But that’s not poverty. That’s not being a struggling, working-class single mother.

That’s being a privileged person who didn’t need to work, not even with a child and a divorce to deal with.

When I was a student, I worked in a call center just to earn some extra money for myself, and I saw real economic hardship there. Migrant mothers, with husbands doing double shifts so they could just barely afford a shitty flat and basic things for their kids. They couldn’t take a day off to go write in a café, they had to juggle everything, coordinate with their partners to pick the kids up from school, or rely on a neighbour, and if the neighbour had to work, they had to figure it out themselves. That is what a precarious life looks like.

I have no idea what kind of bubble of privilege this woman was living in, to think that maybe not having access to her usual comforts meant she was poor. I’ve known people in actual poverty — and people at risk of it — and I can assure you they didn’t have the time or the financial safety net to sit for hours writing in a café, much less the ability to not work and still have their children safe, fed, and cared for.

And that says a lot about her, about how little she understands the real social realities of the world she lives in, about her complete disconnect from structural issues, and, frankly, about the deep classism baked into her books.

[og-penningpoppies]

People become sooo weird about things they view as "lazy." I do grocery deliveries and as I was checking out one time, the cashier joked and said "what? People can't get their own groceries?"

And it's like. No, actually. A lot of people I deliver to are disabled or elderly. They either struggle immensely to get their own groceries or they outright cannot.

But even more than that, being "lazy" in this regard isn't a moral failing. Even if every customer I delivered to was fully able-bodied and capable of shopping themselves, there's no shame in using things that make your life easier.

[kasunex]

Same anon as before,when it comes to Julia and Andrew,that take got popular on Tumblr bc of an user (not saying who) saying "it seems Julia is highly or extremely religious,which means she was saving herself for marriage and Andrew pressured her" which is ambiguous??,like not all religious ppl think of saving themselves for marriage, there's lot of religious, either fanatist or casual (like many ppl that don't practice but believe) especially women who felt guilty about enjoying sex, bc it's only baby making or "lust is a sin,men and women are evil for only loving sex" kinda shit??, and it's baffling because that belief extended thought reddit,and ppl are not analyzing or saying like "hey I love both characters,even if they are shitty" to "hey they were both shitty but Ashley's actions see less harsh bc she is a girl" like I'm not justifying both siblings bc they SA each other in some routes but like?? I can't stand when I see ppl missing the point??

Yeah, you're correct about that all. Some religious people want to save themselves for marriage, but some just feel guilty about sex because of it, even if they don't care personally. It's not enough to say religious means automatically saving yourself for marriage.

It's also important to remember that religion is, unfortunately, often pushed by the parents onto the child. Thus someone can be part of a religion simply because they were raised to be. I was lucky that my own parents respected my choices in the matter, but many people aren't so.

And then even past all that, it can be hard to know how you're going to react when push comes to shove. In my case, if I had known our relationship was about as unsinkable as the Titanic I might have opted to "save myself for marriage", but in the moment it seemed a moot point since I planned to be with her forever anyway.

C'est la vie and all.

[mrsblackruby]

Israel lied again they are still bombing civilians during the supposed 4 hour “pause” The Israeli right wing gov is a pseudo setter apartheid state the international community should call for a ceasefire and negotiate with Hamas for the hostages and start ensuring Palestinians under occupation human rights.

[starryeyedseeker]

"B-but Ex-Muslims make being exes their entire personality!!!"

Ok so

Are they really or did they just mention it? Are they allowed to indicate their existence as they are or is that 'their entire personality' to you? ISTS (I swear to the stars lolol) 99% of the time this accusation is thrown around when the ex does have other personality traits, but just isn't shameful about being an ex (which is what they really want OOP-)

2. OK, let's pretend you meet a rare ex who DOES talk about it more so than most, who can't let a conversation slide without letting you know they're an ex.

So fucking what? For one, the world doesn't stop at the word ex-Muslim lol

But also, exes have done a shit ton of mental and emotional work. They've worked through a fat book full of deplorable shit to read and in many cases, the Hadiths too. They didn't give up their faith at the whim of 'AlCoHOL sEx' (though these things are not inherently wrong), they spent more time questioning themselves and their readings, and even in an unsure field like faith and theology, do their best to be as sure as they can. They came to the realization that their families WILL choose Islam over them, that a lot of childhood bonds they have will be gone because the other person values a fucking child rapist over them, a living being in the current time who has the balls to question and condemn the general moral code of this shit.

If I keep going like this, I'd be here until next year. I've barely scratched the surface of it, so if other exes want to add on to this, please feel free to do so.

The point is, contrary to your beliefs, leaving Islam isn't a: "Teehee! I wanna fuck without boundaries because the West told me so!". It's years (at least months) of cracking your head at life-long notions, and dealing with the emotional pain of what going against these notions could mean for you, communally, mentally, and even physically (looks at apostasy laws)

That is no easy mental feat (and that's without counting the mental effort many exes make at recovery and unpacking old discriminatory beliefs they once had!!). That deserves credit, even if you don't personally like it.

Finally, if you can claim your identity as Muslim, so can they. This shit either goes both ways or is tyranny.

Let Ex-Muslims exist as they are. Let them claim their identity without constantly looking over their shoulder. Fucking let Ex-Muslims be, breathe and say who they are.

-A Lebanese Ex-Muslim grad student whose identity is central to their research

[akorah]

The third person in the Army helicopter that went down in Washington, DC on Wednesday with AA 5342 was a woman.

In light of Trump's DEI comments, the family has asked the Army not to release her name. In light of Trump's DEI comments, the Army has complied.

USAmerican women, let this be a reminder that some people in power see us as being allowed in the military. We're allowed to be in aviation. It's not our birthright to have careers we love by being born human beings.

This applies to straight, cis, white women in the workforce as well. The "DEI hires" are your allies -- you're one of them.

[x]

[brettdoesdiscourse]

Another thing that doesn't get mentioned enough in the service dog discourse is that you're simply not entitled to another person's animal.

A lot of people complain about not being able to pet or interact with an animal they see out in public and claim that it isn't a big deal or it isn't distracting to service animals.

And let's just remove the entire service animal argument for a second.

Let's imagine (for the sake of the conversation) that you petting or interacting with this dog won't hurt a single thing.

"No, you can't pet my dog" and "please stop interacting with my dog" are not big deals.

It is not hurting you nor is it that hard to respect someone asking you to stop touching or interacting with their pet.

You're not entitled to touching or interacting with a stranger's animal.

And you seriously need to work on yourself if you're throwing a tantrum because you can't pet or interact with a random animal out in public.

[kasunex]

Y'know, when I think back on my public school education, I was really - inadvertantly or not - conditioned to think of myself as Anglo-American.

I remember a family heritage presentation assignment in early elementary (I brought in a claddagh ring) and then in 11th Grade they lightly touched on anti-Italian sentiment in the Sacco and Vanzetti case.

That was it. I was never told about the Know-Nothings, the anti-Catholicism of the 20's Ku Klux Klan, the Irish Brigade, Irish union labor, Molly Maguires, the Fenian Brotherhood, the Saint Patrick's Brigade, Al Smith, JFK, any of it. All I knew growing up was a bit from my family - something about a famine and also there were Irish slaves too.

Up until college, my historical education was all in terms of whiteness. White people came to America on the Mayflower and colonized. White people owned slaves. White people discriminated against other groups. White people were privileged. Never was any kind of ethnic distinction made but for the aforementioned Sacco and Vanzetti case, in that one example.

The Irish-Americans have one of the richest ethnic histories of any group in America, yet we were subtly taught to identify with the WASPs that we had to wrestle power from. This all goes for Germans, Italians, Jews, etc as well.

Considering how often it's taken for granted that "white history" is taught in the USA, I think it's worth noting that I was taught more about Afro-American and even Hispanic-American history than I was about the people I'm actually descent from.

Instead I was taught to identify with people who discriminated and oppressed them based solely on shared skin tone.

[mrsblackruby]

My Ongoing Chill Time Off Tumblr + Hope For Future Organizing

I participated in the poorly planned tumblr strike. Which made me very happy! I like to see users starting to become more disillusioned to the site. And during my break it got me thinking I don’t really like tumblr as an app that much as is. And I’ve experienced a lot of Harrassment, discouragement, and abuse while just trying to speak my mind and it’s very unpleasant for me and tumblr has done nothing to ease that pain. And though I’m not planning on deleting my account anytime soon just yet I think I’m gonna become more serious in becoming less active and keep and open mind to deletion. Also if organizers from the strike I participated in want my help for anything I’ll try to stay as available as possible because I want to help see that strike develop into something beautiful. Until then I would like to communicate I don’t think tumblr has to be a site that’s for profit and collects our data and targets ads at it’s user base to run. And I want to see more change from the internet landscape especially not tolerating cyberbullying which I’ve seen much of online. Until then way less use of the mobile app from me and I’ll be using software to protect myself from the vulnerabilities of dangerous adware. While reminding myself there’s always a possibility for big change to come. I committed 48 hours but I don’t mind committing more of my time in the future.

@alliered @friendofthecrows @transmascanine

[kasunex]

Speaking as a guy with a degree in history and all that.

Jim Crow was not fascism.

Segregation, lynching, all that was horrible. But it was garden variety historical discrimination. Nearly every society has some equvialent. Most of Europe was doing it to Jews for centuries before America was ever a concept. And in the ancient world, most of that shite was a Tuesday.

It was not the same as an ideology that hunted down and killed minimum tens of millions in less than a decade with the intent of wiping them out. It was not ideologically the same, and it was not morally the same.

Fascism isn't just racism. It isn't even just killing because of racism. It's a specific and systematic ideology.

The lack of education on this topic is honestly disturbing to me, both from the "it can't happen here" side and the "any society that ever had discrimination is fascist" side.

via @b.sharise

[akorah]

Head's up to Arizona voters -- this is a story to watch. (image description has been added in alt text)

Read the rest of the article here.

This is extremely important for two reasons

If the Supreme Court decides in favor of the RNC, this means many people who registered to vote in Arizona using the federal voter registration will be removed from the voter rolls due to "insufficient proof of citizenship"

This means the Republicans don't believe they can win Arizona without disenfranchising a significant number of voters

If SCOTUS does find in favor of the RNC, Arizona voters have until roughly October 7th to re-enroll to vote through the state.

[brettdoesdiscourse]

If you care about creatives and artists at all, do not allow AI to take away their jobs.

Don't support AI art. Don't support AI writing. Don't support music made with AI. Don't support movies using AI. Don't support any AI that tries to replace real life people putting their heart and soul into their work and art.

[kasunex]

I've seen some of your Coffin posts and as an adult, what is rape apologia?

Basically justifying rape. I came across a take once that argued Ashley raping Andrew was ok because he was abusive anyway.

Rape is never justified, period. Andrew was wrong to beat Ashley, and Ashley was wrong to rape him.

Of course, that being said, again, it is perfectly acceptable to like, relate, and/or sympathize with Ashley - or any character who does screwed up stuff. Lord knows I do!

But the minute you start arguing something terrible they did was justified, you are by extension suggesting that similar situations might be justified in reality.

That's the way I see it, anyway.

[akorah]

I'm very jealous of your perfect misinformation detector. Definitely following you for correct takes on the news!

I was so worried I was going to get some of them wrong! There were a couple that were just barely plausible enough for me to choose them as true. Basically, I kept asking, "Could there be any potentially compelling argument in this article?" And if my answer was yes, I selected it as true. Looks like it worked out 😂

IRL I definitely check the source the second I see the slightest hint of a red flag--there's some genuinely compelling hot garbage out there.

[brettdoesdiscourse]

Dylann Roof gunned down a black church and was not charged with terrorism.

Jeffrey Dahmer killed and ate at least 17 people and was not charged with terrorism.

Nikolas Cruz killed 17 people and injured 17 more in a school shooting and was not charged with terrorism.

Derek Chauvin murdered George Floyd in the street and was not charged with terrorism.

Luigi Mangione allegedly killed one healthcare CEO and is being charged with terrorism.