thecrazyalchemist

[thecrazyalchemist]

[thecrazyalchemist]

people who don't follow chess I promise this post is really funny

[thecrazyalchemist]

Paint’n studies I did on my Wii U gamepad earlier in the year.

[thecrazyalchemist]

[thecrazyalchemist]

Winter has arrived on Poob.

Start your 7 day free trial of Poob today, and watch smash hit Martin Scorcese's Goncharov.

[thecrazyalchemist]

I would be fascinated to know what the western leftist people think of Liberia.

(Actually, no I wouldn’t. I don’t need another headache.)

It might be funny to see them tie themselves in knots, though. Particularly the white Americans, the further they scroll through the Wikipedia entry for the first time.

Quick recap of the relevant history:

Liberia is a West African country founded in the 19th century by freed Black US slaves with support from the American Colonization Society. These settlers (called Americo-Liberians) established a society that in many ways replicated the racial hierarchies of the American South...but with themselves at the top.

They ruled over the indigenous African populations in ways that explicitly and deliberately mirrored colonial oppression, despite being formerly oppressed themselves...for 133 years.

Anon is pointing out that this history:

Involves Black Americans playing the role of colonizers and elite rulers...which doesn't fit neatly into common activist frameworks.

Complicates the oppressed/oppressor binary often used in Western leftist discourse.

Poses a challenge to simplistic narratives about colonialism, racism, and power.

However, Anon may be underestimating the ability and determination of some Western leftists to rationalize and cognitively distort in defense of their binary.

Here are some of the narrative-defending responses I'd anticipate from this crowd if they were faced with these facts:

"Well, obviously the Americo-Liberians had involuntarily internalized white supremacy." When in doubt, blame colonial trauma for literally everything...including becoming the colonizer.

"This just proves how toxic Western imperialism is - it even turns its victims into villains!" Even when oppressed people oppress others, they cannot be seen as having agency.

"Liberia was a CIA plot to discredit pan-Africanism!" They'll say this despite the fact that Liberia was founded in 1847...about a century before the CIA came into existence.

"We shouldn't focus on what Americo-Liberians did wrong - it's racist tone policing and distracts from Western colonial crimes!" Moral relativism kicks in whenever oppressed people do the oppressing.

"It's complicated, but Israel is still worse!" Their thought-terminating cliche for all purposes.

"Why are you even bringing this up!? Are you trying to undermine solidarity with Palestine?!" Any historical facts which don't serve the narrative is treated as an attack, treated with hostility

"The real issue is that white Americans forced Black people into the position of power. They were set up to fail!" Oppression is a pyramid scheme and everyone's a victim if you squint hard enough.

"Maybe the indigenous Liberians were reactionary anyway. Don't romanticize them." Yes, they might well pivot to defending settler-colonial behavior…as long as they don't regard the settlers as white/European.

_____

For those committed to viewing history through a sacred binary, considering Liberia is a horrifying theological heresy. It asks them to do something obscene and unthinkable:

_____

The example of Liberia makes it clear that having been oppressed doesn't automatically make anyone just...and that historical injustice doesn't absolve anyone from responsibility.

If that complicates your activism...?

Good.

Complexity isn't the enemy of justice, but false binaries are.

[thecrazyalchemist]

Entry-level jobs should not require any amount of prior experience, I don't know why this has to be said ffs

[thecrazyalchemist]

Guess what I found in the basement corner at the second hand book store.

[thecrazyalchemist]

[thecrazyalchemist]

I gotta read the watch novels again

get more vimes

What if your ancestor killed a depraved pedophile of a king but because he was, technically, a king, it cast your entire family into disgrace and every single generation worked as a low-level beat policeman until you who are not good at being a policeman in the sense that you hate mystery and are terrible at getting information from people but on the other hand you are sometimes it seems the only person the city (who is a little bit alive and sentient) has on her side and because of that alone you are an excellent policeman and then you have to talk to posh people because your wife makes you and that's worse than anyone trying to kill you. Happened to my dear friend Sam Vimes.

[thecrazyalchemist]

One of my favorite things about Terry Pratchett's books is their unique relationship with used bookstores. Particularly because they are difficult to find, for three reasons. The first reason is that they aren't there. Books in used bookstores were once owned by other people, people who decided to let that book go in the hopes that it will find someone new who will love it. It's very difficult to let go of a Terry Pratchett book. The second reason is that, if they make it into a store, they never stay there very long. They're usually purchased less than a few days after their arrival.

The third reason is my favorite: if they made it to the bookstore, and remained unnoticed, it's because the spine is worn. It's been read and loved so much it's almost unrecognizable from the spine. I've never found a used Terry Pratchett book without a cracked spine, and I love it. Cracked spines, stained pages, worn covers, these are the physical signs of love that we leave on our favorite books, and every Terry Pratchett book I've found in a used bookstore has been loved, dearly.

[thecrazyalchemist]

I'd be one too, just black (because of vibe. And my cackle.)

If I were a cat, I would be a one-orange-braincell type cat

[thecrazyalchemist]

[thecrazyalchemist]

they call him the stick eater because he eats sticks

[thecrazyalchemist]

I'm kind of obsessed with the way sheep are handled. So efficiently. It always looks kind of unpleasant at first and then you notice the sheep are fine with it. They're always being flipped upside down and rolled down a chute or some shit. A shepherd will be tossing that thang in the air and spinning it like pizza dough & the sheep just lets it happen

[thecrazyalchemist]

Reblog to hug prev

Please