#system solution

[victusinveritas]

[thesaltyace]

Y'all I did NOT know this about Harris, and I think it's really critical that we all listen and understand as we approach this election. Video at the end.

This creator's video describes how progressive Harris was as a prosecutor -- actively going against the grain to the point she was accused of being soft on crime. Accused of being a social worker, not a prosecutor. She calls it being smart on crime. She's pushing for systemic changes to give real pathways to reintegrate incarcerated folks back into society and prevent their past from continuing to haunt them moving forward.

"Kamala's a cop" is a catchy dismissive response usually used to shut down conversation rather than add nuance. But this kind of reform is ESSENTIAL to work towards a present and future that treats incarcerated people with value.

I fell for it in 2020 and have thought "Kamala's a cop" without further inspection since - and I'm sobered by the realization that (you guessed it!) I'm not immune to propaganda.

A better system only follows liberal democracy, because library democracy allows for exploration of better systems. If authoritarianism takes hold, it will not allow for the exploration of better systems. We will have to fight tooth and nail just to try to get back to liberal democracy, and I suspect we could not achieve it in our lifetimes.

Harris isn't perfect. But she's a hell of a lot better than many leftists have led me to believe. Don't let perfection be the enemy of good. Don't let perfection be the enemy of harm reduction.

We can either help elect Trump and usher in authoritarian fascism, or we can help defeat him and pull things back in the direction we want to go. Not liking the choices doesn't absolve you from participating and doing the most good you can with the options available.

I'll link the original video in the replies. The original video has captions if you need them.

[littlefankingdom]

Bruce tried to avenge Jason, not Dick

This is just a rant about a lil thing that keeps coming up in fics I read. Often, Dick is "forgiven" by Jason because he "avenged Jason" by killing the Joker and Bruce "ruined it". Or Dick is written to have tried to kill the Joker after Jason's death but not Bruce, and Bruce may have tried to stop him.

First of, Dick did not try to avenge Jason. Y'all really want him to be okay with killing and ready to kill to avenge his loved ones, but Dick is better than Bruce, and that also means he is less likely to cross the line. No, Dick did not want to kill Zucco (Apart from the Titans show, but this show's characterization is awful), and no, he did not want the Joker dead. When Dick killed the Joker, it was in a moment of rage because Tim was in danger. He did not plan it and he immediately regret it. Bruce, with the help of HELENA who is fine killing people, brought the Joker back to life for Dick, because it would have broken him. And Dick still hates himself afterward, for killing the Joker even tho he is alive. And, again, he did not do it for Jason.

And, sure, you can have your hc, but the moment they are in conflict with who the character is (Dick is disgusted by the idea of being a murderer, killing someone or letting someone be killed, even the murderer of his brother), then we are going to have a problem.

Now, about Bruce. Upon discovering Jason's body, Bruce was settled on avenging him. It's why he took away every evidence, so he would not have anyone interfere between him and the Joker. He spent the days following Jason's death, and then Jason's funerals, looking for the Joker to kill him. He refused to call Dick because he did not want him to interfere, he was only thinking about his revenge and did not think the emotional importance of telling Dick about Jason.

The man is not thinking straight. And when he thinks he found where the Joker may be, Superman shows up, telling him that a Gotham's criminal is now under diplomatic immunity and the US gov doesn't want Batman being a bitch about it. And Bruce punches Clark in the face. That's how fucking unstable he is at this point, punching Clark without kryptonite because he is standing between him and killing the Joker.

Clark learns the Joker killed Jason, and he tries to make Bruce accepts to only kill the Joker, the only justice Bruce is accepting at this point, once he isn't a diplomat. YES, SUPERMAN DID NOT STOP BRUCE. Batman nearly succeeds in killing the Joker, but the helicopter they are in is going down, so Superman saves him. Bruce, the fucking madman he is, obsessed over bringing justice to his boy, doesn't care about his safety, he wants the Joker's body! And when it isn't found, he isn't satisfied but accepts to go home.

The Joker will come back at least a year later, and with some ptsd from his last encounter with the Bat and escaping death. Bruce, doing better mentally now that he has a new child to take care of (which he sends with his whole class to Japan to protect), is afraid he will kill the Joker. He keeps bringing up to Alfred how much he wants to kill him for TAKING JASON FROM HIM. But Alfred reminds Bruce again and again that he is a good man and he will resist. He does. This was not the last time Bruce faced the Joker after Jason's death and thought about killing him for Jason.

And, let me be clear, I do not expect Jason to know Bruce did that. The only people who know he did that are Clark, Alfred and Bruce himself (who will probably never tell Jason himself what he did). And maybe Dick, if you want to think (like me) that Bruce sat down with him (way later, after Tim is in the picture so Bruce is better mentally) and explained his mental state when Jason died, and how he didn't tell him not because he was trying to push Dick away, but because he was obsessed with killing the Joker he wasn't thinking rationally about his decisions; not to excuse his actions but to explain how it happened.

Dick is better than Bruce, which is why he grieved Jason surrounded by his friends, people that would support him and listen to him. He did not went on a vengeance mission because he had a support system. Was he mad? Yes, but he tried to open about it to others (the Titans, Koriand'r who was his gf,...) Bruce, on the other hand, is one unhealthy mf that immediately isolated himself once Jason died. He stayed in the cave and dedicated himself only to work, taking all his emotions out on beating people up because he was sharing it. And when people tried to talk to him, he would explode the moment they say anything that he could interpret badly (Clark telling him the Joker has immunity, Dick blaming Bruce for Jason's death...) This is why Bruce tried to avenge Jason and then went out every night being extremely violent and suicidal, and not Dick.

Dick did not avenge Jason and he did not try to, but that doesn't make him a bad brother. He cared deeply about Jason's death, but he is not Bruce, he is better, and that means he is also better at handling grief and not become a self-destructive bomb like Bruce was.

Avenging our loved ones is, in Batman & co's comics, demonstrated to not be the healthy way to deal with grief. Revenge isn't the healthy way to deal with lost, it will only lead to more destruction and pain. It will not bring the dead back, it will only add more bodies in the ground, and it will not heal the wounds.

[felikatze]

i feel like. the more i like and care about something. the less i am capable of watching video essays about it. game i never heard of and don't intend to ever play? sure i'll watch 8hrs discussing it's flaws.

but thing i like? if you think you can point out flaws i'm not already aware of, you are dead wrong. none know better how much my interests suck than me.

and also. if you get one thing wrong about them i'll maul you. with things i like it means i've already seen every single piss on the poor take of it ever, and i'm much more polarized. i got emotional investment. i'm going to start biting people.

[iamfuckingsorry]

So I've recently realized that murderbot's been translated into my native language and it's apparently a he in the translation (which admittedly makes sense, because it's a heavily gendered language and 1. gender-neutral language doesn't really exist in general and 2. "bot" and all the related words - I believe they use "droid" for mb in the translation - are grammatically masculine).

It made me curious how it's been handled in other translations though!

*e.g. being referred to by multiple gendered nouns/pronouns depending on the context, like both "bot" (masculine) and "machine" (feminine).

[non-dys-sys]

It’s never okay to lock a headmate away, never. They could be the worst person in the world, you still shouldn’t lock them away. There’s a difference between keeping headmates away from eachother and taking away someone’s privacy, free will and connections. You are abandoning that headmate, you are telling them that they are not worth helping, that they don’t deserve to get better. If talking it out doesn’t work for them there are other options, I’d recommend giving them their own space to speak their mind without threat of mistreatment for it, for starters. If someone really doesn’t want help don’t force it on them, just let them know it’s always an option and leave it at that. -Ange

[bananonbinary]

one of the weirder things about batman fic is when it tries to dig into real-life morals. like, is the red hood shooting people immoral? is having child sidekicks immoral? is being a billionaire immoral? idk man vigilante justice is already fucked you really have to accept a ridiculous level of hypocrisy just to have any fun in a super hero setting at all. i dunno where you think we can go with this.

[uncanny-tranny]

One thing I always appreciated about English is the fact that "love" as a word conceptually refers to all types of love - from familial, to romantic, to platonic, to sexual, to the love one feels for strangers - all forms of love are referred to with the same word. What I love about this is that love isn't placed on a hierarchy (in theory). To me, this feels almost egalitarian, where all forms of love can be valued in the same way

However, I think this is also a double-edged sword that works against how we express love. Because love so often is still viewed as hierarchical, the kinds of love we can express is narrowed. It's very normal to not express love unless it is familial or romantic, and thus, all other forms of love become unrecognized and unnamed. We've shut away part of humanity in the bid to emphasize certain behaviours and emotions, and I really think that works against us in the long run.

I don't necessarily think English needs new words for different types of love per se. I love that other languages have the distinction ("te quiero" is different than "te amo"), and I think that's a valuable communication device. What I think we ought to do, instead, is focus on emphasizing all love as intrinsically equal to each other. I think introducing new words without solving this issue will only introduce the same kind of strife we are experiencing now.

[sleepynegress]

THIS ISN'T COMMON KNOWLEDGE BUT SHOULD BE...ABOUT MEDICAID....

If you ever find yourself in the position of living in the home of a parent who is disabled and requires full-time care and you are their primary caregiver for at least 2 years, and they intend to leave their assets to you after they pass, make sure to transfer ownership of their assets, home/land in your name ASAP...or they will require you to pay back any benefits received and claim those assets even out from under you, as soon as your loved one passes. This is yet another way that generational assets /wealth are easily taken out of marginalized communities. It is a loan.

And the sharks circle as soon as your loved one passes. Here's an article about it:

Decided to add context. I don't like to talk about it here, because ehh, social media is for my vapid entertainment thoughts for me. It's a hobby/getaway/ place to get semi-social with strangers and online friends with shared interests, but I don't want anyone else to go through what I am... Of course, this applies specifically to the U.S.'s broken healthcare system. So, for those who don't know, my mom passed recently. I am an only child with no siblings or children. My whole life during that time was 24/7 care. She had insurance, but it wasn't enough to cover everything that she needed, so Medicaid was the obvious solution, right? The government takes care of our disabled elderly who have worked until retirement, right? It seemed like the routine thing to do, I had never heard anything during the process about having to pay it back,but sure enough, less than 12 weeks after her passing, I was hit with a warning (which I followed up on and was told I would NOT be charged because of my caregiver status) and then 2 weeks later the "bill". The lady I spoke to, totally changed her attitude from the first time I spoke to her to the point where I felt scammed. Out came a patronizing voice certain people use with children, that measured whiny thing (it's always a red-flag to me and makes me instantly dislike you if you do this even with kids, btw... speak to kids like PEOPLE). I feel like an idiot. I have been doing this for over a decade and didn't think to transfer any assets of hers during that time because it *was* hers. I wanted her to feel as empowered about that as possible.

Not a single soul said I should transfer those assets to keep this from happening and now I'm facing down what feels like some kind of weird conspiracy to take the land and house.

FYI, there have been weird inquiries, the census came to mark down my mother's death literally *immediately* after she passed...and odd timing called the day of the notice to "help", with all the southern Christian signifiers (bless your heart we'll be praying for you).... It feels so seedy. Anyway, all this to say if you find yourself in a similar position....

TRANSFER THOSE ASSETS INTO YOUR NAME 2 years into caregiving or they will take them from you, house etc..

[mauricesmall]

Compost is the foundation of life.

[flecks-of-stardust]

[ID in alt text]

hi sorry still obsessed with this gif i got. it's so funny to me. my baby's little feets sticking out. the pearl in their hands. the slime mold 'walking.' the neuron glow receding. earlier i laughed so hard it hurt and it's still just as funny now watching this help

[neighbourhoodtwo]

usamericans please stop putting your "congrats uk!! hope this happens to us in november!!" posts in the uk politics tag please please you have no idea

[soilthesimpletruth]

You can do it!!! Be like nature and push through.

[agalychnisspranneusroseus]

Imagine you're Mr. Wu and your weird gay daughter runs away in tears after destroying some unespecified object while yelling about you ruining her life. Because you told her you'd be moving to another state. This is the last time you see your daughter in half a year, and when she comes back, she comes back... wrong. She's wearing a light leather armor, a fur-lined cape, and a green flower crown. She has two long scars, one alongside her spine and the other along her chest, the tissue around them covered in burn scars. Doctors say she shouldn't have survived. Doctors say she didn't. Yet she's right here, in front of you, hospital gown clinging to her small, fragile, trembling frame. She fidgets with her hands. Getting her to stay still has always been difficult, but now it seems impossible. She won't let go of her phone. She's always texting her two friends. When you take it away, she gets anxious. You always knew those damn phones cause kids to act weird, but your kid having a panic attack seems too extreme, even for her. Then again, she's always been odd. Nowadays, she wakes up crying and screaming almost every night, and you realize she's been stealing her phone from your bedside drawer every night to text her friends, returning it before you wake up. You catch her once and decide to give her that damn phone back. It's the only thing that calms her down, as if she were a baby with a pacifier. She spends her last weeks in LA clinging to her friends, having sleepovers and playing her weird board games with them. Everytime they drop her back at her house, there's an excessive amount of hugs and tears. But the moments when they call her, or when she leaves to meet with them, or when they show up at their door to pick her up... those are the only moments in which you see her happy. One of her friends, the rude and disobedient one, came back with a big scar on her face. She's been acting a lot nicer, though. The other one too. She acts a great deal more adult now. You doesn't know what happened or where your daughter went. She won't tell you. But you can tell this friendship is the only thing keeping her afloat right now. Maybe you know, deep down, that no one else would understand.

And then you decide to move anyway because fuck her amirite

[transfaguette]

NY corrections officers are striking en masse: yippee

It's because of an act that limits solitary confinement and officers feel they have less authority: oh no