#there is a time and place to be an activist - we won't always be in that time or place either physically or mentally

[uncanny-tranny]

It's a scary time for so many trans people, and I really want to push for everybody to not feel guilty for not wanting to always combat the horrific state of transphobia. You aren't required to be an activist, you aren't "giving up" by trying to live as comfortably as possible. This especially goes for trans kids who don't deserve to have their childhoods ripped away from them to be subjected to transphobia because of their activism.

Trans people: do what you can to survive - to thrive. Your existance is resistance.

[qqueenofhades]

https://www.tumblr.com/qqueenofhades/743255237060689920/the-thing-that-confuses-me-about-the-dont-vote

The “don’t vote” left’s point is basically that, if Biden gets a second term, it’ll basically signal that “They’ll vote for us as long as we’re not Republicans, why don’t we do some REAL fucked up shit, if we can get away with it?” It takes the power out of the people’s hands and places it firmly in the party’s.

I can’t completely disagree with that, my caveat is that there’s no real alternative system or party in place, because top-down change is ineffective; a third party president has to contend with a two party congress.

Except no. This whole "Biden just wants to do as much fucked up shit as possible while not being a Republican, and if you give him a second term he'll do more fucked up shit deliberately to spite you" mindset is only possible as an interpretation if you a) deliberately and comprehensively ignore everything he has done to date, and b) you approach the situation with the maximum bad faith possible. Not to mention, the ultimate outcome of this Big Important Teaching Biden A Lesson is that Trump gets back into power and makes everything orders of magnitude worse, because he does in fact want to deliberately do evil shit to everyone and says so at every opportunity. There is not some magical happy alternative that springs into existence by not voting. If you choose this as a year to Teach Biden A Lesson, you are enabling Trump. Trump will be much, much worse. If you don't care about that, I still do not care what your Great Ideology is. You are not helping anyone and you are directly and irreversibly hurting everyone.

I made a post a few days ago wherein I mentioned that I want to assess Biden fairly, taking into account both strengths and weaknesses, but the rampant bad-faith, lying, misreading, misrepresentation, and open sabotage of him (especially by the online left; the GOP sometimes only wishes they were as good at turning Biden's voter pool against him) makes it really difficult to do that. My frustration with those people makes me just want to go "BIDEN IS GREAT THE END." I know he is a flawed old man (though by literally every account of a career spent in public service, he really does care about making the world a better place and any remotely good faith reading of his accomplishments thus far can see that). It is also very likely that he goes MORE left in a second term because he won't have to face the electorate again, he has always gone more left when pushed before, and he's not actually the scheming genocidal mastermind that leftist social media paints him as. Shocking, I know.

I know there are things in the world we don't like and don't want and want to stop, and therefore we blame our own president for not making it stop. But I have zero, no, none, absolutely none whatsoever sympathy for this pseudo-populist "WE NEED TO TEACH BIDEN A LESSON BY ELECTING TRUMP AGAIN, I AM VERY MORAL MUCH ACTIVIST" mindset. There's this funny thing about America wherein it is still (for now) a democracy. If Biden wins a second term, he can't run again. I would take literally anything these people said more seriously if they focused on developing their dream progressive successor for 2028 (and also figured out how to get that person elected and in a place to make real change) rather than cynically sabotaging Biden in the most consequential election year, again, of our lifetimes. If you don't like him now, find a way to make his successor a better option. Throwing a toddler tantrum and handing the country back to a senile, deranged, fascist, revenge-riddled, theocratic Trump HELPS. NOBODY. I still don't know how many times I'm going to have to say that, but yeah.

[hazel2468]

You know, to get political for a second.

It hasn't escaped my notice that every time someone brings up the presidential election. There is ALWAYS an early 20-somethings queer person in the comments or replies going on and on about how Biden won't help Palestine, about how Biden is doing a genocide, about how "Israel this and that" and like...

You're all fucking idiots for falling for this. You are. Because those people saying that shit are either the morons we see protesting who can't answer which river and which sea they're screaming about or who don't know what Hamas' charter says, OR they're the same fucking bots who appeared all over tumblr back before the 2016 election to try and convince all of us, using the hot political topics at the time, not to vote Dem. Because they had a vested interest in us not voting Dem.

And just to speak on the whole Palestine thing here... Do you really thing. That Trump. The racist fascist who openly wants to be a dictator. Who is buddy-buddy with Netanyahu, the other racist fascist who wants to be a dictator. Is going to do anything other than give Bibi the fucking green light to do anything he wants? If you think that Trump is going to be better for your "Pro-Palestine" movement (which, btw, is in quotes because the vast majority of the idiots supporting it don't know jack shit about what's going on and don't actually care about the Palestinian people, seeing as they have a habit of cheering for the terrorist organization that uses them as human shields, steals their money and aid for their own devices, and they have a lovely habit of attacking actual Palestinian peace activists who call them on it and ignoring what they say they actually need so...) than Biden? You're out of your fucking mind.

Holy shit I am not going to sit here and watch people fall for the same BS they did back in 2016. Israel and Palestine is the hot-button topic right now. Every time you see someone talking about how Trump has promised to roll back all the protections that the Biden/Harris admin has put in place, every time you see someone pointing out that the Republicans LITERALLY have a plan to fucking turn our country into an Evangelical hellscape, there is some fucking numbnuts in the notes, probably with a pride flag in their bio, wailing about "Genocide Joe".

And you all need to ask yourself why the hell there are all of these nearly-identical blogs. All doing the exact same thing every time someone tries to point out that another Trump term would see people literally dead and our country fucking torn apart, possibly forever. Use your fucking brains.

[theconstitutionisgayculture]

What do you define as traditional femininity and masculinity? I don’t think it was bad that women were liberated. Not everyone wants to marry so she should have the right to be able to take care of herself and domestic violence was very high back then so an escape route for women was needed. I think we need higher wages and maybe fewer hours as a whole. Including more time for parental leave. I am curious though as a gay man, do you think two same sex parents lead a home life that is lacking?

First off, I don't see it as "liberation", hence the quotes I used in the last ask. All women's lib did was add more taxable income to the income pool and lead to children being raised by strangers and devices. It's a net negative for society and culture, even if some individual women benefited. I'm not saying women shouldn't be allowed to work, but in a family, only one parent should work full time.

Traditional masculinity is when a man takes responsibility for himself and his family. He provides for his children, treats his wife right, and leads by example. One of his main goals is to see his children lead a better life than he did. If he doesn't have a family, then he should do his best to leave society better than he found it. He should be strong, decisive, and hard working. He should be polite and well dressed. He should protect his family at all costs. He should be his wife's strongest supporter and advocate.

Traditional femininity isn't as different to traditional masculinity as you'd think. Femininity is not weak, it's just strong in different ways. Where a man is more attentive to the physical needs of his family, a woman should be more attentive to the emotional needs. She's the one the kids come to with their issues and their feelings. She maintains the house and does the chores the man can't because of his other responsibilities. She should be publicly modest. She should be unrelenting in defense of her family. She should be her husband's strongest supporter and advocate.

And despite me using the words "man and woman", masculinity and femininity aren't necessarily gender locked. A man can fill the traditionally feminine role, and vice versa. In a single parent family, the parent can potentially fulfill both roles, or another family member can step in to one of them. But the roles themselves are important, in my opinion. You need both influences to raise children right. And they're both ideals that everyone should strive for regardless of which role they want to fulfill.

As to the rest of your ask, higher wages and fewer hours would solve nothing. Assuming by "higher wages" you mean "all jobs raise their wages for all employees" you're basically arguing for an increased minimum wage which always results in higher prices, negating the entire point of raising it in the first place. Just throwing money at a cultural crisis isn't going to fix it. It needs to be fixed within the culture itself. People need to want to fix it. And sadly, most people won't even admit that there's a crisis.

Your claim that domestic violence was "very high back then" doesn't really have data to support it. Domestic violence wasn't even tracked until the 70s, so there's no real data before that, and the first organizations to track domestic violence were feminist activist groups, which have a political motive to inflate domestic violence against women and have a history of lying about women's suffering. The rate of domestic violence has gone down since the 90s, but that rate has mirrored exactly the rate of all violent crime falling, so there's no way to tell if that had anything to do with domestic violence laws being passed, or women being able to work, or any other specific factor other than society becoming less violent as a whole. As for domestic violence being mainly an issue of men beating women, that's just not true. Rates of perpetration are much closer between the genders, with female perpetrators exceeding male perpetrators in some demographics, such as high school students. Lifetime rates are higher against women, but in more recent years men have been victimized more.

Actually I'm just going to post that second link here, because there's a lot of interesting data to look through that shows domestic violence isn't as cut and dried as activists and tv shows try to make it out to be.

So the idea that women need to work in order to be "saved" from abusive husbands might be true in some cases, but it's not a society wide fact of life. And again, I'm not saying women shouldn't work ever. If a woman wants to leave an abusive man and she needs a job to do so, then she should get that job and leave that man. The problem here isn't with women being "kept out of the work place", it's with the whole society wide scam of "you need college and an unbroken work history to be qualified for any job", which is another society wide problem that must be fixed with a cultural shift that will take years, if not generations.

Finally, to answer your question about gay parents, I honestly don't know if gay parents are overall good or bad. All the studies that have been done that show either children of gay parents being worse off than straight parents, or vice verse, have methodology and/or sample size issues and they're all politically motivated. So I tend to disregard all of them. What I do see is entirely non-scientific, but there's a severe lack of proper morals in the gay community that I'm very wary of those people getting their hands on children. At the same time, the gay "community" doesn't represent all gay people. Not every gay person is a trans cultists or a sexual degenerate. But when those people are the public face of "LGBT", and there's no significant push back against that from the rest of the supposedly normal gays, it's not an unreasonable assumption that those kinds of behaviors are, if not practiced by most gays, at least seen as acceptable. Which is not okay and is not an environment children should be raised in.

[justalittlesolarpunk]

Hi there! I'm writing this in hopes that you'll have some advice. Lately I've been struggling a lot with concern for climate change. Mainly because I fear that I won't have a future, that when I'm older I'll live in a planet where you can't even go out because of the heat and everything is completely destroyed. And it's been affecting my day-to-day life. And no matter how much I try to avoid bad news they'll show up to me and I relapse into the anxiety and lose all the progress I made.

The bad news and the things that are happening (for example this thing going around of flowers growing in cold places, the one that probably worries me the most) make me feel like maybe the good things won't be enough and I won't have a future, no matter how much I hope. All I want is to be certain I'll have a life and things will get better

Do you have any advice to stop feeling this way? Thank you in advance!

Hi there. So firstly, thanks for reaching out. Anxiety can make us want to isolate ourselves and so you’ve taken a brave first step in seeking connection. I felt like you feel for a long time, and still do sometimes. It can feel like the change is so huge, so rapid, so irreversible, and human responses so weak, so slow, so apathetic. But I’m here to tell you that however reasonable being frightened is, it doesn’t have to be the end of the journey. Grief and fear are a good start for your environmental affect, because it means you’re keyed in and you care. But stopping there will only paralyse you.

I know the good things feel small, which is why it’s important to bombard yourself with them so you get a sense of just how much momentum we are building in the movement right now. I regularly check out Positive News and the Good News Network, and follow Sam Bentley and lots of ‘weekly earth win’ type accounts. When you see how much plastic people are clearing out of the ocean, how much solar and wind prices have come down, how Paris is now full of cyclists and London’s deaths from air pollution are reducing, how Europe is slowly rewilding and land is being returned to indigenous people, you realise that quietly, determinedly, good is happening in the background. And you aren’t always not seeing it just because it’s smaller or less important - bear in mind that the media sells on engagement, so attention-grabbing disasters will always hit front page news. It’s hard to quantify people who are alive who wouldn’t otherwise be, oil in the ground because people stopped a pipeline. Justice is often less hypervisible and sudden than injustice.

For me personally, taking action and spending time with others who are doing the same is the single biggest thing that cured a lot of my anxiety. Depending on your age, income, profession and health, I would recommend doing whatever is accessible to you of eating as much plant-based food as possible, reducing your use of aeroplanes and cars to as close to zero as is reasonable, making sure your stove, heating and hot water is being powered by electricity, switching to a renewable tariff, attending regular activist meetings and the protests and public debates these will lead you into, buying fewer clothes, single-use plastic items and other non-essentials, lobbying for change at your workplace, your university or your school, and bringing the subject up as often as you can with friends and family, so discussing climate change becomes more of a cultural norm. (I always find with these conversations though that scaring people is deeply counterintuitive and encourages them to get angry with you and bury their heads deeper in the sand. Why not start a conversation about how much healthier you feel when you eat lentils, or how transnational rail is making a comeback, or how exciting it is what they can do with solar and battery storage these days, or the amazing flood prevention benefits of reintroducing beavers?) I saw a tweet once that said ‘I bet 80% of your climate anxiety will disappear if you work full time on climate.’ Now I don’t work in that sphere yet, but I’m currently retraining, and I have to say a lot of my anxiety has quietened knowing that I am doing all I can and will continue to do so for the rest of my working life. And don’t feel like your skills or educational/professional background hold you back either: solving this crisis isn’t just for scientists and can’t be left to only one sector of society. I was an English Lit grad - now I’m hoping to work in campaigning, comms or social policy to make positive change for the better around climate. If it’s possible for you, I’d recommend starting to consider entering the green sector full time. Just watch out for corporate greenwash!

I know that changing your individual lifestyle isn’t going to save the planet, but it might just save you. Once you feel you have done everything you can in your personal life, it might embolden you to show up in activist spaces, to connect with other people who care, and to remember that as terrifying and agonising as the changes we are causing and witnessing are, there is always still hope, and it is easy to create and nurture that hope if you only keep hold of the right narratives and connect with the right people.

I’ve answered some similar asks on this sort of topic, so I’d recommend scrolling back through my blog and reading them, and also following as many solarpunks as you can across all of social media. Solarpunk Presents podcast does a good job of drawing your attention to the good stuff already happening now. Stay safe, take care of yourself and remember you have so much to offer. We were all born at the most pivotal time in human history. That is a burden, but it’s also a gift. We can have the most impactful and meaningful lives to date, and I think we will. But the fight has to start now, and that means we have to be ready for it. You can’t strive for a better tomorrow if you can’t imagine it, so take some time to look after you and really douse yourself in hope and optimism - it’s out there waiting to be found, if you only look in the right places.

[decolonize-the-everything]

In 2016, I went balls to the wall for Bernie - was a registered democrat for the duration of the primaries, became a state delegate for Bernie, went to the Philly DNC in support of Bernie. I saw first hand how broken the system was - counting delegates by hand raising, expecting people to physically be in person and take off work without pay, providing no child care services or transportation assistance, how lifelong democrats walked through the delegate aisles to tell all Bernie supporters "when Bernie loses, you're still gonna vote blue." I canvassed houses of registered democrats in Iowa to talk to them about Bernie, and the responses were either: "Bernie is way too radical, Hillary is getting my vote" or "I can't afford to take off work/I don't have someone to babysit/I'm too disabled to get to the caucus, but Bernie has my full support and I wish I could participate." People seem to forget how hard folx went for Bernie, how he and Hillary were neck-and-neck. They seem to forget that the superdelegates chose Hillary - despite seeing a massive swell of voter turnout and participation in the system because of a candidate that was finally outside what the establishment was wanting to prop up. Despite seeing how much Bernie stirred and lit up the voters, they fought against the very demographic that they constantly try to win over. The establishment will always pick their people, regardless of what The People want. The experience was disheartening, it was eye opening, it was cruel, it was rigged. It still is all of those things.

And instead of reading your frustrations, your needs, your real pain, people will just... blame you for how the system is set up? They really think non-voters are the problem? That is telling me that they don't really know how the system is set up beyond the ballot - they haven't actually gone through the state delegate process start to finish nor have they even educated themselves on what the process looks like and what obstacles were put in place (that the establishment, by the way, doesn't want changed). The established parties don't want to digitize the process - they still want people to physically show up in spaces (and a candidate will LOSE state delegates if people who sign up to be delegates don't PHYSICALLY show up on a specific day, at a specific time, for several hours to be counted), but they won't offer child care services, they won't pay for travel or work missed. They would rather blame non-voters rather than make the process accessible.

This is by design, this is not a fluke.

I don't know how many of your anons actually have been inside or around Republican circles, but damn a lot of what they're spouting at you I have heard straight up in Republican dominated spaces. "We don't like Trump, but we can't let a democrat win - we will get killed, our families will be broken, the country will collapse. Life as we know it is under attack and on the verge of destruction. You have to vote Republican no matter what."

I say all of this also as an indigenous, trans, queer activist. I say all this as someone who puts together rallies, workshops, protests, and spaces of healing. I say this as a trans refugee, displaced due to hostile legislation, still working out housing. I see you, I hear you, and you are not my enemy. You are not the reason why things are as they are. The system has failed us all, the system is rigged, thank you for all the on the ground work you're doing outside the state. I think these anons are cowards and punching down - they need to direct that anger towards democrats and republicans. They should read your posts, get angry (about what the system is, how you've been treated by it, and where it is now) and tear into the establishment that has done you (and all of us) wrong. The victim blaming has got to stop.

Agree

[yourtoradorasextendedwarranty]

People that do video's against guns really will just say anything won't they?

So fun fact. This man (in the documentary) is trying to make an argument that we should not have individual rights to own a gun. This despite the fact that he praises the fact that in Switzerland the gov more or less gives you a gun because they are just "Peacefully shooting for sport" and "Only armed to protect their country".

Never you mind the fact that "Well Regulated Militia" as a term was not meant to say "Well controlled". Well Regulated Militia meant, at the time of it's writing, Well Functioning. And it is a clause that is STILL separate from the second half, which is focused on individual rights to own a fire arm. IE: The people.

He later goes on to explain how many people die from guns every year, even making sure to include suicides to pad the numbers. And the reason that pisses me off is because it takes the same stance of the UK government. "Wait, knives are being used to kill people? Who's doing it? Oh.....well we can't put THEM in jail.......Let's just ban knives outright".

So more or less the appeal to emotion we consistently see when it comes to gun deaths could be used to say, "No one should have cars. No one should have pools. No one should have bikes. No one should have hammer, knives, forks, electricity, etc, etc, etc." If we just ban stuff consistently based on how many people die from them we'd literally ban everything.

Secondly, people like to make a boogeyman out of the NRA and say that they are just some political activist group, when in fact they have done MORE to protect peoples rights to keep and bare arms than the people who SHOULD be protecting those rights. Like protecting the right of a little old black lady in a not great neighborhood to have a pistol to protect herself. When the criminals in that neighborhood would LOVE for her to not be armed at all. Why? Because they WILL be armed. And even if the US did try to confiscate guns, criminals would STILL be armed. Because the world will always have guns.

And now that 3D printing is a thing, Pandora's box has been opened. That lid isn't going back down. So the real question becomes do you really want the only people armed in the US to be Cops, Military, and Criminals? Sorry but no, that's not a world I care to live in. And if you are so proudly gun free, why not put signs outside your house? Go ahead. Just like Schools, and other such places. Put a sign outside your house that says, "Gun Free Zone". Or you could put up a lawn sign that says, "Proudly gun free". Except you won't. And that proves how much of a hypocrite you are. YOU RELY on the understanding currently existing that any home can be armed to protect your home passively. IE: You are reaping the benefits of the second amendment while trying to remove it from law abiding citizens.

I see what you are doing. We ALL see what you are doing. And your an a**hole for it.

[lesbianamalvada]

not to oil a flame but if you consider doing hours of research and collaborating with multiple people to make sure you're factually correct and then publicizing your findings in a digestible format for the public about very significant and harmful disinformation that is still being spread around to this day is the "bare minimum", I think you're the problem

the queer community didnt get where it is by shunning help and trying to pretend you're better than others. have a little respect for your history and the community that protects you, unless you want to know why we had to fight so hard to get where we are

this is seriously over todd in the shadows 😂😂😂. Bruh what research did Todd have to do to point out hacky lies like "Forrest Gump had no cultural relevance" and "Most Nazis were gay". The ones that are still being spread around to this day were 1. Covered by Hbomb as well or 2. He didn't even get to. Yes researching a video debunking obvious lies (that will in turn get you way more praise, clout, money than effort you put in) IS THE BARE MINIMUM . IT'S A DRAMA VIDEO. He debunked obvious shit.

"the queer community didnt get where it is by shunning help and trying to pretend you're better than others."

He made a youtube video, not a nonprofit asshole. I'm allowed to have a fucking opinion on youtube drama.

"have a little respect for your history and the community that protects you"

Wtf? What the actual fuck??? What does a todd in the shadows video essay have to do with my history? How about the fact I have been pointing out Somerton (and other prominent queer youtubers) lies about our history and get other "kweers" attacking me for it everyday. And I didn't need some guy to be mean to my friend on Twitter to do it. Plus TODD ISN'T IN OUR COMMUNITY, and frankly, it shows. Like him being so flabbergasted that James cares more about best actress category than best actor, when that's normal in the gay male community. And I don't have any beef with Todd, my point was the EXTRA praise he was getting and WHY like him being a straight person made his contribution more special???

Also another thing I hate about you motherfuckers, youtube essays aren't protecting me or anyone else from shit. Yeah they *can* be education, but it's a business people profit from like everyone else. And a lot of them raise money for trans issues sometimes but it's not like they are our actual political representatives. Can you name one LGBT activist, their place in history, and what they did? Probably not, you lot can just say "Marsha P. Johnson threw the first brick at stonewall" and run. People like you are why Somerton got so popular, you like the aesthetics of education and activism without doing any of the work, like reading or community service.

"unless you want to know why we had to fight so hard to get where we are"

When will you people learn online discourse about youtube drama has zero effect on the rights of anyone anywhere?? All this because I'm not sucking off some straight youtuber who made a drama video? You're really threatening me with the repeal of my rights? You people are so disconnected from reality. Who the fuck is "we", anon? What have you done?? I was shunned by my mother's side of the family and my dad couldn't even look at me when he found out I was gay. I was homeless because of it, I lost everything. You know who didn't help me during that fucking time??? A FUCKING VIDEO ESSAYISTS!! Changing opinions on homosexuality, lesbian activists who actually made political changes, and myself! That's what "protected" me, okay? Frankly the LGBT community treats lesbians like crap and always guilts us with "we need to stick together" or "you don't want to fight for your rights again do you??" As if we aren't still fighting! So no, I won't be guilted into sucking the dick of the straight white man of the day. I'm not going to put up with being interrogated on why I don't suck dick in general. I'm not putting someone's feelings before my physical boundaries. I'm not going to police my language. I'm not going to qualify discussions of homophobia against lesbians with how some groups have it worse or how we're all effected, or how I'm not one of those problematic gay, or etc. I'm not bending over for an online queer community that produces nothing of value, frankly. This behavior is condescending, self-important, and honestly embarrassing.

[canmom]

an expression of something, or perhaps a record of insanity

obviously there's a famine because israel destroyed any indigenous means of food production, and aren't letting food trucks in, so they're just sitting at the border. not to mention that time the other day that they fired on the crowd gathered around a food truck on the beach, causing a panicked stampede that killed people. 'the guys with guns won't let us in' is not a problem that can be solved by money. still. if even one person escapes death by starvation because an aid org or a medical org had more money on hand, then that money is better off in their hands than mine...

rn i feel very conscious that while it's impossible to achieve any significant change without sacrifice, the converse is not true, there's no magical law that ensures sacrifice must be rewarded. a social media campaign resulting in a few tens of thousands of people trying not to spend money for a week is not a strike pressing demands, and probably won't make a noticeable blip on whatever economic statistics are gathered by whoever gathers economic statistics, and even if someone notices the line going down a bit, they probably are not able to conclude it's supposed to be a general strike for Palestine.

similarly, activist actions that deliberately get someone arrested for the sake of a few hours of annoyance to security are a questionable trade in the battle of attrition. I still remember doing first aid at the massive mobilisation against the arms fair a few years ago, which ran up a hefty policing bill cutting people out of lockons on the main road, but did not in fact stop the arms fair. direct action does not always get the goods.

and in general I believe our people should not be thrown away lightly. getting arrested should be something we are prepared to risk but a risk we mitigate as much as possible, not something we actively seek out. this is something that the antifascists understood pretty well, with tactics like the black-bloc and de-arresting. but the current trend in activist orgs is to exploit the state's unwillingness to inflict bodily harm by putting activists in intentionally dangerous situations and forcing the state to spend and money time freeing them, with the resignation to getting arrested. it's less direct action and more stunts for the media. but is that just an excuse? 'the americans are not what we call a useful people', they say, when the yanks don't want to be arrested.

the gnawing feeling that I must do something wants me to stand up and prove that I give a shit. I just cannot see what would actually be effective with the resources I have available to me. the people who have real power in this situation fundamentally have no reason to listen to me. I'm sure many of them think, quietly, along the lines of that guy at the protest a couple months back who walked by and called me a gender-confused leftist pedo: giving a shit about people in palestine is disgusting to them.

I've signed up to do arrestee and court support and shit like that with a certain org that's had some success shutting down Elbit facilities in this country. between health shit and work, I'm not realistically in a place where I'm capable of doing the spiky direct actions at the moment, but if I can be part of the logistics wing for the people who can do it, maybe I can feel less fucking useless. I hope when the call comes, I'm able to get out there and show up, rather than crushed in another wave of mysterious fatigue.

of course, if a 32-year-old disabled game dev could stop a war from her bedroom, the world would be a very different place... but I must not ignore that I have some power. even if it's just the money I earn at this job.

I frequently fall back to wondering what I'd have done if I'd lived in Germany or Poland during the Holocaust. the fantasy is that I'd be a partisan in the woods, fighting the Nazis by any means available; a likely answer is probably that I'd flee the country, or die in a camp. but the scariest thought is that I'd have been able to get away with 'inner emigration', and just keep my head down and do nothing. cue the daniel kahn song I guess. (Daniel Kahn's song is of course a lot more subtle and bitter in its treatment of the subject, not just this goofy morality play in my head.)

words are cheap!!!

[icyxmischief]

Been following you for over a decade, but I'm afraid I have to unfollow after that Zionist reblog. Please educate yourself on the history of Palestinian oppression and the reality of Israel being an apartheid, settler state with the blood of millions on its hands.

I respect your decision. I think that you should always curate your dash to be what you are comfortable with, and what your moral alignment is.

I also think the best way for me to respond to this message is minimally: with just the simplest of clarification of what I have learned and am acting upon.

I support Jewish communities across the world. I support recognizing that Jews who are upset by Hamas terrorism and who claim PART of the disputed land in question are not Islamophobic. I support remembering the impact of the Holocaust on the (shockingly small) worldwide Jewish community, and its role in strong emotions about the Holy Land. I support that Muslims who are upset by Israeli military bombings are not antisemitic. I support Muslim communities across the world. I support a cease-fire in Gaza and the restoration of its food, water, and resources. I support Palestinian independence.

I do not support an apartheid state. I do not support the current Israeli Prime Minister or his military. Nor do I support Hamas, or any form of terrorism. Mostly, I do not support the rise of black and white thinking around this issue, or any form of antisemitism or Islamophobia.

You are still welcome to think what you like about me, because no matter how long you have followed me, we don't know each other, and you do not owe me belief in what I say. Honestly, I am at peace with that, and the fact that you have probably already unfollowed me, and won't see this.

---------------

Ultimately, one of the most important parts about being an activist--and one I am only learning as I enter my forties--is that you must allow fellow activists to misunderstand you, in order to do what you think is right. This means that there will be partings of ways, which, while hard, is okay. What I think is right, and what I will stand by, requires an admission of complexity--which is not the same thing as saying "both sides are equally bad"--and a realization that social-media-based social justice cannot always accommodate that necessity. I believe this encounter is a prime example.

I am learning a lot of things. Feel free to walk through these thoughts with me, or to keep scrolling to the bottom, where important links are posted.

A) I have learned that: it's important to support Palestinians who are being murdered (including, in Gaza, mostly children) in ways that violate international human rights (access to food, water, electricity, internet and medicine), that are, indeed, genocidal. This means monetary donations. It means taking and teaching courses on the long history of this region of the world. It means rallying to free the Gaza Strip from Israeli occupation. It means protesting the nconscionable acts of the current Israeli governmment and military. It means asking our national leaders to stop supporting the Israeli government.

B) And I also have learned that: Hamas is unconscionably evil, and must be stopped from further kidnapping, m*tilating, r*ping and m*rdering Israeli families (inluding, again, children), who are no more in charge of the Israeli government than Palestinians are in charge of Hamas.

C) And I also have learned that: many Jews believe Israel should not exist because the Torah forbids a central sovereignty "run by a people in exile"; many other Jews believe that it should and that they have ethnic, cultural, and religious roots in the region. The way that they acquired the "nation" of Israel is still deeply problematic. Most importantly, we must continue to protest the human rights violations being committed by the Israeli government. Bombing and starving unarmed civilians will not root out Hamas; it will only radicalize more people to its numbers. But "Israel = Jewish support" is an over-simplification.

D) And I also have learned that: Hamas does not even remotely represent anything ethno-religiously Islamic, nor Palesininian. There are also Palestinian Jews (and Christians, etc). "Palestine = Muslims" is another dangerous and misleading over-simplification.

E) And I also have learned that: both Islamophobia and Anti-Semitism are on the rise, often under the guise of "activism" and/or "anti-colonialism." This is one reason that Pro-Palestinian Jews in America are protesting under the moving rallying cry, "NOT IN MY NAME." There are still ill-informed people who are running up to American citizens who are wearing Stars of David and screaming, "FREE PALESTINE," as if any Palestinian would want you to persecute someone in a far-off country who happens to be Jewish (or any Jew, for that matter). There are Jewish civilians being assaulted in the doorways of their own homes. There are ALSO mosques being bombed and Muslims being assaulted, having their hijabs ripped off, being treated like terrorists, since 9/11/2001 (and earlier). This is why the way we talk about and look at these issues matters. I teach graduate-level courses in the way that propaganda takes root in societies and leads to these unimaginable tragedies (not a flex of credentials, just saying I'm hyper-aware of these issues thru professional exposure). I just can't uphold any overly-simplified or singular point-of-view, because that is the mentality that gives rise to these unthinkable acts.

F) Nothing is more important than de-centering ourselves and our own (we may often think) virtuous rage. My point--and I truly don't mean this unkindly--is that It doesn't really matter if you follow my Marvel roleplay blog or not. It doesn't matter if you approve of or like me or not. It matters that I (we?) continue to listen and learn about the thousands of people literally dying. For this reason, even though I think you have misread my intentions, I am GRATEFUL that you called me out, so that I can check my sources more closely. But demonizing an entire social group (shy of genocidal governments or genocidal terrorist cells) always lands a person on the wrong side of history. I do not want to use my privilege to do that.

You may be wondering why I reblogged an Israeli Government vs Hamas post to a Loki rp blog in the first place. I have pushing 3,000 followers, which isn't a lot, but is enough to make ripples, so I want to pass along carefully checked educational posts (and donation links) from people who are directly involved in this heartbreaking war. These will always be tagged #World News CW.

If you've read this far, thanks for walking with me. <3 I sincerely appreciate it. This is still not a geo-politics blog, and I am not expert enough to entertain numerous messages about the issue. Thanks for understanding.

-------------

While I have your attention, 3 weeks ago, I contacted my local International Faith Center and asked them for the most reliable place to donate money directly to on-the-ground humanitarian relief for children in Gaza. Here it is. There is also Doctors Without Borders and UNICEF. Please spend some of your time, energy, and resources here. Thanks.

[mynamesjameslynx1412]

You have to change because we are not leaving.

I do not usually talk about things like this online because I find such matters to be better discussed with another person in real life. A lot beliefs I have held and discussed have been agreed upon or at least fairly discussed by my family and peers; wars on Palestine and Ukraine, the capitalist system, anti-Semitism, BLM, feminism, etc, etc,

except for when it comes to matter of the LGBTQ community- the community that I am a part of, when the subject is brought up - which is not a lot of times, its always looked down upon as the queers being scum of the earth; akin to murderers.

this week I wanted to speak about the case of Nex Benedict, a kid who was so much like me- I wanted to talk about it so bad, I wanted to overflow with grief, I wanted everybody to know how terrified I was, because all I could think about for the past few days was, "will I be next?"

I started off by talking about the events of what happened, the person I talked to would always show sympathy, then they would ask why the kid was bullied, I would state, "it's because they were nonbinary."

And every response I got after that was along the lines of, "oh well then they deserved it."

"oh well in that case, those are the types of people who deserve to go extinct."

"well it was their fault then. you know bullies are obviously more intelligent than any non-binary person out there."

The people who told me this were the two closest people in the world to me, my mother and my desk-mate (I do not consider her a friend anymore). They told me that this child who was the same age as me, who was in the same community as me, who had the same struggles as me, this child who was dead, who was no longer in this world, who will never see their high school graduation after-party deserved it, and that the people who did it to them were good.

I have never felt more unsafe. I cried all day today, not just for Nex and all of the other kids who've lost their lives in similar ways they did, but for me and all of my trans and non-binary siblings who are seeing this and thinking "Am I next?" "am I going to be assaulted if I come out?" "am I going to be assaulted because I came out?"

And I just want to say that we will not stop talking about this. at least I won't. I won't stop talking about anything, online and in the real world. I will not stop talking about the fear that runs through my veins every single waking moment because I am scared of being killed by my own family for being trans.

and in my conservative third world country, and with my deteriorating mental health I can't do much as a minor and AFAB person, but as soon as I can have my own autonomy I swear that I will be an activist.

I swear that I will raise awareness, and I will not stop until all trans kids are safe. I will not stop until all queer kids are safe. I will not stop until the wars are put to a halt. I will not stop until little girls can go outside without fear of being assaulted. I will not stop until the world is a safe place for every child in my position as I am writing this. I am writing articles, I will speak in debates, I will do what I can in this shit world to make it the world that I have wished to live in as a child.

And God damn it I will die trying.

[ofmumu-archive]

✧ ┆ ( DEWANDA WISE, CISFEMALE, BISEXUAL, SHE/HER ). Not everyone can say they’ve been to Briar Glen, but ANIYAH TAYLOR, a 39-year-old, SOCIAL WORKER, has lived in Briar Glen for 39 YEARS. This is the city for development and they know it. Living in this extensive town means you meet all kinds of people, we can’t wait to meet and see how ANIYAH develops. 

╰ 001 … basic information :

full name: aniyah destiny taylor. nickname(s): niya. age: 39. date of birth: may 30. zodiac sign: gemini. gender: cis female. pronouns: she/her. orientation: bisexual. occupation: social worker. living arrangements: lives alone in a two-bedroom house. pet(s): a yellow tabby ; cheeto. language(s) spoken: english and french. marital status: divorced.

╰ 002 … physical appearance :

face-claim: dewanda wise. hair color: dark brown. eye color: hazel. height: 5'6". tattoos: canon. piercings: canon.

╰ 003 … health :

physical ailments: none. disorders and illnesses: none. addictions: none. drug use: never. alcohol use: socially. smoking: never.

╰ 004 … character & personality :

applicable labels: the … activist, bibliomaniac, diligent. character traits: self-reliant, generous, secretive, blunt, brutally-honest, faithful. hobbies: cooking, doing yoga, reading. habits: swearing, humming to themselves, eye rolling, gesturing while talking, rubbing the back of their neck, peeling off bottle labels, rubbing temples.

╰ 005 … romance :

how do you best like to be loved ( this test ):tba. what does love mean to you ( this test ): tba. why are you unlovable ( this test ): tba. love language ( this test ): tba.

╰ 006 … favorites :

weather: thunderstorms. color: gentian blue; #0E294B. movies: horror. animal: puma.

╰ 007 … family :

mother: lena taylor. ( deceased ) description: had a close relationship with her mother throughout their entire lifetime together. lost her mother approximately ten years ago to a long-time illness. father: christopher taylor. ( deceased ) description: lost her father approximately five years ago. aniyah swears its because he couldn't stand being without his wife any longer.

╰ 008 … quick background information :

Grew up in a close-knit family as the younger sibling.

Knew from a young age that all she wanted to do was help others in the world - didn't know what she wanted to do until later into high school but knew she wanted to help people.

She came to the realization after one of her friends became homeless and she had few options and little support.

Aniyah now works as a social worker, primarily working with young children and the elderly. She also volunteers in the local homeless shelter anytime she has spare time.

╰ 009 … quick personality information :

Difficult to allow herself to trust others - she was married at one point but the relationship ended in divorce after she found out he was having an affair. Due to it, it has made her hesitant to reach out for relationships again.

A workaholic - her caseload is always full and if she doesn't work herself on overload, she won't keep up with everything. Even if she is on top of it all, she still finds herself reaching out to find other places she can focus her attention onto.

A very kind individual that wants to help other and offer generosity ; but won't hesitate to turn the tables if necessary.

╰ 010 … connections :

Click here for connections page

[brilliantfantasticgeronimo]

60th Anniversary Doctor Who Rewatch – “The Unquiet Death” takes

(Hello. This is part of a series of on-going posts covering my analysis / impressions of RTD-era doctor who episodes (and spin-offs?) as I revisit them.* The **approach of this is candid and informal, with aim to be cleaned up in the future.*)

(I’m dividing this analysis into the following categories:COMPANION WATCH(characterization analysis of the companion for that episode)/THE TIMELESS CHILD RETROACTIVE CONTINUITY BONUS (stuff that Hits Different after knowing the TTC)/ **BLORBOS(things that made me emotional re: characters / ships) THEMES(exploration of possible associations, metaphors and recurring themes)/ COLONIALISM/HEGEMONY (political critiques) / ENVIRONMENT (how the set design or architecture plays a role in the story). Note that not all the episodes may cover these points, it will depend on the episode.)

(These posts will be the basis for a larger live-document that will change according to feedback and BTS material that I encounter in the future. For now think of these posts as advanced-drafts being sent for fandom-peer-review).

COMPANION WATCH:

The bit of Rose putting the slimy old man in his place is pretty awesome. It gives me Jackie Tyler vibes as well, for some reason!

Rose Tytler regularly skipped school to go to the mall and look at boys. I stan one (1) normie. (also, it's criminal Rose and Gwen Cooper never interact, honestly!).

It's a small thing but I find it charming rose already is like "you opened the doors last time so now it's my turn!". Rose has this thing with really managing to… let’s say “keep the pants in the relationship” that I think a lot of companion/doctor dynamics strive to do, but don’t always feel genuine/don’t commit to it? But Rose manages at times to keep the power dynamics somewhat balanced (probably from her experiences with dating older guys like Jimmy Stone and Mickey?).

Then again, this episode also gives us the "Accept the way I do things, or go home". Which is a major power move from The Doctor. "You can leave if you want (I'm tempting to firing you), but I know you won't (you'll do what I think it's best)".

"You've got all the clothes and the breeding, but you talk like some sort of wild thing. / Maybe I am. Maybe that's a good thing" Rose as a sex positive activist :)

THEMES Bodies as a resource that becomes more valuable once its dead. Once again separation of the “body” from the “personsoul/consciousness** Modern Hypocrisy. Diplomacy and Negotiation (once again not working). Grief, Mourning and “Respect for the Dead”. Class (the Classic Rose/Gwen dialogue but also ‘’You look like a navvie” (from Dickens to the Doc). Margins: Cardiff, not London. Undertakers? Ghostly Christmas (paganism?). Atheism (falsely questioned?). Science Fiction vs Realist Fiction. Nine fighting / doctoring as his way of “Dancing” (“I think this is my dance” *as he saves Rose from the zombie). Fatality as in literal death and as in an attitude towards life. Illusions vs Reality (Dicken’s dilemma but also the “escapist” aspect of Rose’s travels meeting the reality of having to make tough calls). Time / Death. Destiny. Telepathy. We get also a biiit of an introduction to the whole “Earth’s self-determination” thing the New Series explores (Gwenivere should make the call of what happens to her).

BLORBOS:

Nine referring to Rose as “Barbarella”…….. coughhisroleplayscenariocough

"you look beautiful... considering that you're human" is this another nine stupid apes moment or nine's first "curse of the timelords" moment?

THE TIMELESS CHILD RETROACTIVE CONTINUITY BONUS:

The Child could have come from the (a) rift? see:

DOCTOR: Means it's getting stronger, the rift's getting wider and something's sneaking through / ROSE: What's the rift? / DOCTOR: A weak point in time and space. A connection between this place and another. That's the cause of ghost stories, most of the time.

Dickens gives us some parallels to The Doctor’s curse of immortality:

"Absolutely. I was just brooding. Christmas Eve. Not the best of times to be alone. "/ I've been rather, let's say, clumsy, with family matters. Thank God I'm too old to cause any more trouble. / You speak as though it's all over, sir. / No, it's never over. On and on I go, the same old show. I'm like a ghost, condemned to repeat myself for all eternity. "

ENVIRONMENT: the final confrontation taking place on a basement signaling the “Underground War” theme of s1. Dicken’s performance signaling the self-referential/post-modern vibe of the New Series (show within a show).

COLONIALISM / HEGEMONY: couple points… this is the kind of episodes that the more I thought about the implications the more uncomfortable it got, unfortunately.

History in *theory* being in “flux” and regrettable, but ultimately the Status Quo must be preserved. Many times aliens will come asking for help, whether genuinely or not the show's format is restricted on legitimately changing the status quo of earht, bc it means distancing the audience from "that" version of earth.

Implicit in the mythos of the Time War and The Shadow Proclamation is the notion of human societies being “advanced” (and thus other societies being "primitive". We discover that the Time War was “Invisible to smaller species but devastating to higher forms”. What does this mean? What is a “smaller species” and what is a “higher form”? Also, we know from episode 1 that the earth’s position in the “technological scale” makes it vulnerable to “invaders”. There’s a lot of assumptions implicit in this whole set up: that a technologically “superior” civilization will *always* invade a “lower” one (a kind of naturalization of colonialism), that technological advancements can be categorized this way in a progressive 1-10 scale, and that "a societies is defined by its tech" (presumably The Shadow Proclamation defines tech in the narrow, “tools and science” definition, and not the wider anthropological "any ideas that produce a desired effect" definition).

There’s a bit of an Atheist vs Supernatural thing going on in this episode. The UK is at its core still largely a Christian country, but it’s been progressively shifting with time to an atheist / agnostic one as the ruling classes has distanced from its primary tool of consent making (Christians were 71.6% on the uk's 2001 census, 59.3% on the 2011 census vs 46.2% on the 2021 one). So, it makes sense the writing reflects this anxiety. It gets a bit bizarre though…to explain, let’s look at the crux of Dickens arc, found in this dialogue:

"I've always railed against the fantasists. Oh, I loved an illusion as much as the next man, rebelled in them, but that's exactly what they were, illusions. The real world is something else. I dedicated myself to that. Injustices, the great social causes. I hoped that I was a force for good. Now you tell me that the real world is a realm of specters and jack-o'-lanterns. In which case, have I wasted my brief span here, Doctor? Has it all been for nothing?"

But... his worldview is truly being challenged by the situation. There IS a rational explanation to the “ghosts”, there aren’t “specters and jack-o.lanterns” in the who-world (eu voice: not after The Anchoring Of The Thread!). Dickens walks from the story with the impression that irrationality is True and There’s Life After Death and that he’s wasted his time writing about “the great social causes”. Again… it’s strange. I’m not sure the episode is aware it is doing this?

Finally we get the Really uncomfortable (unintentional?) allegory of this episode…

->The Gelth are refugees from a war between “superior civilizations”. -> The Gelth intentionally lie about their numbers and resources they need. ->They lie about being a “couple hundred”- turns out they’re billions! ->Earthlings cannot share their land with them. Because they will take “everything”. ->The only solution is to kill them, they’re too duplicitous and aggressive to do anything else! ->(And once again, like with the Nestene... there’s not really a grappling with how it was the Time Lords' fault that this is even happened).

[alexjcrowley]

Watched The Extra Man (2010) and was pretty disappointed, not going to lie. I'm more sad than bitter about it. Let me explain.

When the movie started, I thought I was in for a treat. I genuinely thought this would have been a movie ahead of its time talking self expression and gender identity, it would have been one of those things I can tell people "it was far ahead". But, for me, it didn't do.

Let's start by talking about exploring gender identity/self expression. Now, I have just one problem with this point: I wanted more.

The premise of the movie is that it's a story about this guy, Louis Ives, who has an internal conflict with his gender identity, we could say. It felt to me like at some point, while writing the script, the screenwriters got way more interested in the character of Henry Harrison and derailed the movie. The scene with Louis at the bar was great, I loved that scene so much, I wish there could have been more scenes like that! The movie went in a very different direction than what I thought also in regard of Louis's personal journey, to the point I'd be inclined to say at the end of the movie things got more confused than when they started. I am not an expert on gender identity, I couldn't comment and that's why I won't comment on the way they represented Louis's internal conflict, what I can say is that I would have preferred much more time dedicated specifically to that subject and less to...I am sorry, but unlikable side characters.

Let's discuss the side characters, at least the main ones.

Mary is at best a poor stereotype of an animal activist and your classic "pretty girl will make the loser do stuff for her while she hangs out with the cool boyfriend". She is incredibly unlikable and this unlikability brings nothing to the plot. She is just horrible to Louis and this doesn't make Louis grow or anything, she is just there to do and say what everyone who has ever watched 5 romcoms can easily predict. She turns decent 10 minutes before the movie ends, it doesn't count.

Gershon Gruer, I have just one question: did we really need him? I guess he was a comic relief, but he didn't make me laugh, so. I preferred him when he just cycled. And he had the play in the end? Felt lazy.

Lois and Meredith were fine, actually. I liked Meredith a lot, and I liked her monologue about her childhood, but since you only ever seen her in that 10 minutes of the movie, it felt out of place. Like when someone who's drunk tells you their entire life because they're drunk, even if you don't know them. Good to know, Meredith, but what is this thing about your past meant to add to the plot?

Vivian was also fine. Very basic, but not bad.

I wished I could have seen more of Miss Hart.

And now, let's come to the real beast: Henry Harrison. The point is, I know what they were trying to do with Henry Harrison. It's an archetype I personally love. From Count Oliver straight out of the Alan Ford comic books to Monsieur Gustave in Grand Budapest Hotel, the impoverished aristocrat is one of my favourite type of characters (don't @me for "Gustave wasn't an aristocrat!", the concept of this kind of character is someone who tries to keep alive/uphold an old faded lifestyle they cannot afford in the name of an ideal, Zero at the end of the movie says something like Gustave had always been a part of an era already faded long time before). Fanny Button from BBC Ghosts is also a good example of this archetype.

Usually, this character is inherently funny, something about being overly formal and quaint and old fashioned. They make for great side characters. But Henry Harrison, this guy, he is unbearable. I mean it. I am sorry if some of you love him, you won't like what I have to say and you may prefer keep scrolling, but I need to talk about this guy. Yes, the fallen nobleman is usually a funny character and they can easily get on other characters' nerves, but they shouldn't get on the audience's ones. His entire comedic persona comes from being racist, homophobic, sexist and frankly a bit disgusting a lot of the times, also an absolute asshole. And as much as "having outdated beliefs" (let's put it very kindly like that) is a staple trait of the fallen nobleman, he is just irritating! The whole joke is that he is a terrible person. I can find him peculiar in the first 10 minutes he is on screen, then he just becomes a nuisance.

And that's the second problem with him: his screen time. This guy eats up an unbelievable part of screentime. At some point you forget it's a movie about Louis's conflict with wanting to dress up as a woman and it just becomes a movie about how poor Louis has to put up with this other guy. And you know what, since the title is "The Extra Man" maybe I am the dumb once, after all Henry, not Louis, is the extra man, I shouldn't be so surprised so much of this movie is about him. But he truly is a character hard to stand.

I am not one of these people who can't get interested in a story if the characters are "evil", if they're morally corrupted. Hell, Hannibal and Succession fan here, so. But the point is, in a show/book/movie/whatever where the main guy sucks, you need to give the audience a reason to care about him. Not even to like him, but at least to care. I don't give a fuck if Henry dies the most painful death ever. The guy I care about is Louis, who fades like a shadow in comparison to Henry.

"You don't understand, it's the Gatsby-Nick Carraway metaphor" no, no, I do. The point is in The Great Gatsby is fine becausr Nick doesn't really have any interesting situation going on for him (on the contrary, Louis has this complex relationship with his gender identity) and Gatsby not only is not an ass but he's also an interesting character. You want to know what happens to him, you want to unravel his mystery. I just wanted to hit Henry in the head. "His heart was broken" is a very lazy mystery to deserve an hour and 15 minutes of waiting to be discovered. Again, like Mary, he turns decent in last 10 minutes of the movie, and now, I am no screenwriter, but I honestly don't feel like calling that character growth. Henry Harrison feels to me like a bad copy of a boring copy of the fallen nobleman archetype. He could have been written so much better.

So basically I have beef with how they wrote characters and the way they divided up screen time. The acting is not bad at all, the movie is not badly directed, but I can't say it was memorable. Same for the cinematography.

The Extra Man looks to me, in most part, a movie that it's there, extra in the sense that it's not needed. It's a movie. It's not the worst movie. But, especially because it had an interesting premise, it comes out as excruciatingly mediocre and bland.

And I am you don't even know how sorry about it. I wanted this movie to be good. I really like cinema, I have watched movies that are considered to be slower and more boring than what The Extra Man is supposed to be, but I had a hard time finishing it. Not even my love for Paul Dano could save this movie. And I liked Louis as a character, I was invested in his story.

I am writing this knowing NOTHING about how this movie was received at the time and how it's considered today. If some of you disagree with me, because maybe Tumblr and Danonation have decided this is actually a masterpiece, please, don't kill me/insult me. If someone liked this movie I am genuinely curious to know why, I'd love to hear other people's opinion.

[juniperhillpatient]

I don't think I have much to analyze about "Appa's Lost Days" but I feel like I deserve accolades for re-watching it as a true completionist with this re-watch because it's the one episode I've only seen one time & I did NOT wanna watch it again lol :)

I hyped myself up for how bad it was going to be (& got called a weak little bitch by my baby sister for being too pussy to re-watch it lmao) so I think that helped.

Hm....Takeaways.

Uh, I didn't remember that 1. Appa met Guru Pathik, & that was neat

2. Long Feng truly is the devil huh

Ok...what else?

I'm so fucking serious, if you support animals in circuses like....change or stay tf away from tbh. I will die on this hill. Followers in 2022 really are getting watered-down nihilistic & no longer super passionate Rose otherwise y'all would get an essay on this topic. I used to be such an activist, helping organize huge protests when the Ringling Brothers came to my city & shit. These days I'm not much of an activist BUT I'll still die on the hill that forcing animals to perform in circuses is sick & twisted.

I'll just leave you guys with this link with information about how elephants are trained in many circuses, & this link talks about how the Ringling bros trained tigers.

Yeah, watching Appa suffer is pretty rough.

But we do get to see Suki & the Kyoshi Warriors battle it out with the Dangerous Ladies & that's fun!

I don't actually care about defending Azula's evil actions from people who hate Azula & I think I've made that clear, BUT I care about talking about her evil ACCURATELY & I'll say that I remembered this being way worse / have seen people act like it was way worse. All Azula really did was seek out a fight with enemies in a war. It's not like she even personally contributed to Appa's suffering. She just got into it with the Kyoshi girlies after tracking Appa in the hopes of finding Aang. I don't know why some people think this means Azula is a chronic animal abuser or something. Azula doesn't actually show any signs of having strong feelings about animals in one way or another. We know she was mean to the turtle ducks as a kid (I have seen Azula fans argue that she wasn't. I disagree. She obviously threw stuff at them for her amusement. Oh well.) & she was willing to scare Appa, but it was more about engaging in the fight with Suki. It's not like she was obsessed with killing Appa. I just wanted to clarify my take on that having re-watched it.

Also, "don't you know fans just make flames stronger?" IS a good one & it's so cute how Ty Lee is like "good one Azula!" Azula & Ty Lee's dynamic continues to be adorable on the surface & fascinating beneath the surface. Like, yes, Ty Lee was under duress to join the team, but she's not being forced to compliment Azula 24/7. It probably is somewhat about self-preservation & making herself look good, I won't deny that. BUT I think Ty Lee also would've never become friends with Azula in the first place if she didn't like her. Let's not forget, Ty Lee also laughed at the prank on Mai & Zuko when they were kids. All we ever see is Ty Lee engaging in & enjoying Azula's cruel behavior. I just think that's interesting & I love them.

Hmm, I was initially like "I have nothing to say about this episode" but y'all know me I ALWAYS have something to say lol! Alright, for this informal review, Suki gets +1000 iconic behavior points for protecting & helping Appaa <3

[is-solarpunk]

Solarpunk Writing Prompts #7

Here you can listen to original podcast

Here is the source of the podcast's transcript you can read below

Solarpunk Prompts - The Great Infrastructural Project

Hello world. I'm Tomasino.

This is Solarpunk Prompts, a series for writers where we discuss Solarpunk, a movement that imagines a world where technology is used for the good of the planet.

In this series we spend each episode exploring a single Solarpunk story prompt adding some commentary, some inspirations, and some considerations.

Most importantly, we consider how that story might help us to better envision a sustainable civilization.

If this is your first time here, I'd recommend checking out our introduction episode first, where we talk about what Solarpunk is, why you should care, and why this series came into being.

Today's prompt is: "The Great Infrastructure Project"

There is a small, rural town next to whom A Great Infrastructural Project was built. It was a dam, or a huge solar & wind power plant, or a gravitational battery, etc. Over time, the corporations and the government forgot about them and in order to avoid a catastrophe they need to work with unusual, driven activists who came from all over to help them.

This is a living reality for many small communities around the globe.

The village of Xiananshen in southern Zhejiang, China, was an idyllic, historic location which had fallen into disrepair due to depopulation from 20 years of migration. It was chosen for a program called Adaptive Reuse because of its beauty and close location to Lishui city. Local government brought in sponsors and worked with the historical heritage group to update and renovate all of the original houses regardless of condition. Space was rented out from locals. A downtown set of homes were converted to a boutique hotel. Cafes, library, exhibition hall, restaurants fed by the local farms, public parks, and more were designed and built in a cooperative mode called "historic village plus crowd innovation". Employment rates increased, as did tourism. Farms were given a steadier income, especially during the off-season. Designers competed in house renovation competitions for public prestige.

This village may not be built atop a hydro plant, but it shares the experience set forth in our prompt. This type of infrastructure maintenance and revitalization was made possible by a combination of internal and external communities working together.

In their case the goal was the restoration of their infrastructure, but that won't always be the case. Your story may be about a town's need for the safe deconstruction of infrastructure.

The World Wildlife Fund has this to say about infrastructure:

Most categories of infrastructure aren't inherently good or bad—it's all about context. The right dam in the right place can provide benefits with minimal negative impacts to the environment. But the wrong dam in the wrong place can do considerable and far-reaching damage. For infrastructure to be beneficial, planners must consider the long-term impacts, risks, and trade-offs. They must take biodiversity and climate change into account, develop a plan for long-term governance and management, and engage local communities at the earliest possible stages of planning.

It should come as no surprise that many infrastructure projects today do not achieve all these goals. Without long-term governance and management accounted for at the beginning of the project, many projects are left to age, crumble, or fall as burdens to local communities whose survival depends on them.

As stated in an article from the Earth Law Center in 2017:

Due to the high cost of maintenance and safety, many of the world’s dams get more dangerous as they age. The Mosul dam in Iraq and the Kariba dam in Zambia rank among the world’s most dangerous. Should the Mosul dam fail, it could result in the death of 500,000 people and deprive millions more of power and water. The 58 year old Kariba dam could result in 3.5 million dead, leave 40 percent of South Africa without power and cause untold damage to surrounding wildlife, plus the destruction of another nearby dam, the Cahora Bassa. https://www.earthlawcenter.org/blog-entries/2017/12/dams-climate-change-bad-news

And according to a paper published by the International Institute for Environment and Development:

Disconnecting from government energy services to develop independent energy sources, such as micro-wind or biogas can help to build resilience for vulnerable groups.

The paper has a special focus on Vietnam, where fishermen face particular challenges when the electricity goes out. Lack of refrigeration and transportation options can cause great difficulties and losses getting their products to distant markets

The country's power grid as a whole is vulnerable to disruption and failure from extreme weather and flood events. This means that vulnerable populations are dependent on a system that is prone to collapse.

In Gorakhpur, India, and in the Philippines, local committees provide an opportunity for community participation in infrastructure design. After being left out of the conversations for so long and suffering the brunt of the consequences, these communities are eager to exert some control over their lives.

So what does that look like?

Kerry Scott, a social scientist, says:

The primary purpose of infrastructure and our built environment is serving the needs of communities, delivering better social outcomes and improving the quality of people’s lives.

He later adds:

Integrating social outcomes at the start is a must if we want to leave a social legacy.

Our prompt today deals with a legacy infrastructure project, one which clearly didn't take into account the present situation. It must either be maintained or decommissioned safely. It may require conversion to some new method or function. That may require technical skills they don't have, hence the need for outside help. But do these outsiders have an understanding if this place, this environment? Do they know the needs of this community?

One of our opportunities for tension and drama may lay between the community itself and the newcomers trying to fix the project. There may also be tension between these groups and the government or corporation originally responsible for the installation. This two-way or three-way intersection of communities can be very Solarpunk, but it can also easily fall into the style of other genres if we aren't careful.

If, for instance, the corporation responsible for the project is made to seem as an antagonist and the local community must throw off their oppressor in order to self-govern, that is just another form of cyberpunk. The struggle there is about technology being used for oppression rather than about it being used to find a sustainable civilization.

Be wary of blending genres in these stories as well. The atmosphere and aesthetic of Solarpunk can easily be diluted by other genres until it's unrecognizable. A cyberpunk/Solarpunk hybrid will just look like cyberpunk.

As a writer you may want to use that style of relationship between the communities, but be wary of how you frame it. Is the community your protagonist? Are they achieving their goals through Solarpunk ideals?

There is drama inherent to the infrastructure as well. Adding a time limit on action immediately increases tension, so maybe the infrastructure project has an imminent failure coming. The outsiders and the community must work together to save it from disaster even though they don't trust the other fully. The point here is to show some hands-on work with social stakes greater than just us vs them.

We can also zoom in on the specific dynamics of the incoming activists and engineers a bit more. Are they strictly a professional bunch? Do they set up a separate camp with their own rules, schedule, and daily order? Or is it a hodgepodge assortment of skilled people without a prior relationship who move-in to whatever is unoccupied? Perhaps they must stay and board with the locals in their homes. Or perhaps the outsiders are a sect of their own determined to save the locals even if they don't want it.

These decisions will affect how your communities must interact, especially if there's a higher need at stake. Naturally antagonistic relationships could be forced into reluctant collaboration due to circumstance. Such a story would be more difficult to align to the Solarpunk aesthetic, but if well done could act as a moral lesson and strengthens the ideals.

Finally, we should consider what daily life looks like in this small town. Is life oriented around the great infrastructure project or is it a backdrop? Perhaps the boom of construction jobs is over, the children left elsewhere. Is it one of dying cities, where people want to be left alone? Have they been asking for help but no one has answered so far? Are they already self-reliant and happy or working to get there?

One of the most difficult aspects of speculative fiction is the imagining of how everyday life might change due to some unrelated technological advancement. We'll discuss this concept more in further episodes, but for now, try to consider the great infrastructure this town is dealing with and what it does. Is it a power generator, or does it make goods, provide a service, or ease a difficult task. Then, take that purpose and scale it up in your mind. If it was a power generator, now it makes unlimited free power. If it eased a difficult task, now that task's time is reduced to zero. And finally, try to think about how that change would affect the unintentional, everyday things.

When the airplane was invented and fast travel between continents became a reality, nobody ever envisioned a future where you could pop off to London for a stag party weekend.

What is the equivalent mundane change in your world?

Have an interesting idea? Share it with me. This podcast publishes on Mastodon, a federated social network. Our address is in the show notes. Come join us and lets start a conversation.

Until then, I'll talk to you soon on the next Solarpunk Prompt.

Music in this recording is New Unity Dawning, by Bathroom Plants from Global Pattern's compilation Solarpunk: A Brighter Perspective