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Video of a grey kitten and an orange kitten sleeping on a bed, hugging each other. One or both of them are purring very loudly.

Sound on

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I think it would be cool to recognize that "patriarchy" doesn't refer to the idea that men generally oppress and hold power over women. I think it would be cool to recognize that "patriarchy" is one of several inter-connected means of consolidation of power, and it works by controlling the conditions of what traits of masculinity are good and acceptable, as a means of power over people in society at large, regardless of sex, gender, etc.

That is how come the same trait welcomed as positive in one person of some particular sex/gender/etc is often interpreted as negative in a person of the same sex/etc. Obvious example, too general but simplified for ease of understanding; assertive behavior in a white person is rewarded in the USA in part as a positive masculine trait, while assertive behavior in a black person is punished and treated as a negative racialized trait.

Nothing in a social hegemony exists in a vacuum. In the USA, continuing the example, patriarchy is one of many ways the social structure is reinforced in the population overall. It offers illusory rewards to anyone who is willing to buy into the concept of distinct social stratification and real boundaries between social groups. The ultimate purpose of hegemony in places like the USA and UK, and others with similar systemic oppression is to maintain the system of power consolidated in the hands of a few. It's definitions are arbitrary and derived from any current social trends sufficient to convince the population that they can benefit by excluding the "wrong people" or by keeping an isolated group of "right people."

I think most of us in one form of disenfranchised group or another only get anywhere if we don't treat our groups as isolated and we let our experiences and goals grow together. I don't think stratification is completely avoidable in large social groups, but it's supposed to be a means to an end, not an end in and of itself. I don't know this stuff very well though.

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Mosquitoes actually are not replaceable in any ecosystem that naturally has them and that includes replacing them with any of the non biting species because these are the traits that make them so core to food webs:

Tiny

Can use every single pool of moisture to raise generations no matter how dirty and stagnant and low in oxygen

Can fly

Males get by on just sugars

Females take protein from larger animals to manufacture thousands more eggs

All these things combined allow thst ecosystem to make huge volumes of insects from conditions barren to most other macroscopic life. You might think there are other insects that seem to make huge massive swarms out of nothing but there's really nothing that hits all the same qualities *except other insects that also suck blood.*

It's the precise combo of being able to "prey" on things millions of times larger and breed in nothing but a few drops of filthy rainwater or the moisture in a rotten log. That's the most efficient combination for anything that size to multiply that rapidly where nothing else can even survive, except of course the things that can move in because they eat them :)

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do you have any ideas about why so many students are struggling with literacy now? I know that illiteracy and reading comprehension have been issues for years and most americans read at like a 5th grade reading level but I’m curious why it seems to be worse now (pandemic? no child left behind?)

It is everything. There’s not one answer. I could talk about this forever so instead I set a five minute timer on my phone and wrote a list of as many of the many things that are causing this on a systemic level that I could think of:

It’s parents not reading with their kids (a privilege, but some parents have that privilege to be able to do this and don’t.)

It’s youtube from birth and never being bored.

It’s phasing out phonics for sight words (memorizing without understanding sounds or meaning) in elementary schools in the early aughts.

It’s defunding public libraries that do all the community and youth outreach.

It’s NCLB and mandating standardized tests which center reading short passages as opposed to longform texts so students don’t build up the endurance or comprehension skills.

It’s NCLB preventing schools from holding students back if they lack the literacy skills to move onto the next grade because they can’t be left behind so they’re passed on.

It’s the chronic underfunding of ESL and Special Ed programs for students who need extra literacy support.

It’s the cultural devaluing of the humanities in favor of stem and business because those make more money which leads to a lot of students to completely disregard reading and writing.

It’s the learning loss from covid.

It’s covid trauma manifesting in a lot of students as learned helplessness, or an inability to “figure things out” or push through adversity to complete challenging tasks independently, especially reading difficult texts.

It’s covid normalizing cheating and copying.

It’s increasing phone use.

It’s damage to attention span exacerbated by increased phone use that leaves you without an ability to sit and be bored ever without 2-3 forms of constant stimulation.

It’s shortform video becoming the predominant form of social media content as opposed to anything text-based.

It’s starting to also be generative AI.

It’s the book bans.

what did I miss.

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I am becoming aware of the effect a lack of trust in the media has had on people, paired with a dearth of research skills.

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Just thought to myself "can't women have a bad time in fiction without rape being involved" which really shows you how much you're in the fucking trenches if you are both a horror fan and women fan

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reminder for my american girlies that fentanyl is NOT being brought over the US-Mexico border by immigrants. It's actually overwhelmingly being brought into the country by white citizens.

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Why are agriculture classes the first time I've learned extremely basic info about nutrition and how digestion works. Why isn't this stuff in health textbooks or any easily accessible resource about healthy eating.

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Many Democratic elites appear to have landed on a familiar tactic: blaming everyone’s favorite scapegoat, Big Woke. Everywhere you look, you’ll see someone—often, but not always, on CNN—railing against the far-left extremists that supposedly held the party’s mainstream faction in its vise-like grip in 2024. There’s just one problem with this: the campaign these insiders are describing bears virtually no resemblance to the actual campaign we all just suffered through. They have simply invented an alternate universe out of thin air.

[...]

The ugly truth for these people is that Kamala Harris ran as right-wing a campaign as any Democrat in living memory. She downplayed discussions of her race and gender. She bent over backward to welcome billionaires, corporate titans, and Republicans into the fold. She told Black men that one of her priorities for them was…crypto. She made her past as a prosecutor a cornerstone of her pitch. She bragged about owning a Glock and joked that she would shoot people who broke into her house. She stuffed the Democratic National Convention to the gills with cops and Border Patrol agents while crushing even the tiniest dissent over her support for the genocide in Gaza. She promised the most “lethal” military in the world. She was seemingly joined at the hip with Liz Cheney for weeks. She even praised Dick Cheney! It’s hard to think of what more she could have done to satisfy the people clamoring for her to pander to conservatives.

11 November 2024

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I think the most unintentionally pretentious part of me is I genuinely forget that most people do not have a near-encyclopedic knowledge of mythology and folklore. I literally just assume most people know at least the name of every Greek god. My mom and I were watching the Banshees of Inisherin and at the start, she asked "Do you know what a banshee is?" and I was so stunned because it would never occur to me to ask that question because I would never assume the average person doesn't know what a banshee is. The average person knows what a banshee is right. You know what a banshee is right. You know the names of the greek gods right. You know that norse myth where loki fucked the horse right. Right. RIGHT

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OTPs: A Summary

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POV: Hank in DoFP

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X-men and Repeated Conversations

One of the wonderful things about the X-men films is the wonderful actors they cast for Charles and Erik and how these actors have layered so much meaning into their words. In X-1 there is a conversation between Charles and Erik over chess about the upcoming mutant registration laws. This conversation is also mirrored in the end of X-men apocalypse. Although these scenes have the same lines, the actors convey greatly different meanings via emphasis, pauses, and facial expression. I’ve listed the conversations first and then copied them with my breakdown of each line. I'll link the scenes at the end

X-1

Erik: Doesn’t it ever wake you in the middle of the night, that feeling that they will pass that foolish law or one just like it, and come for you and your children?

Charles: It does indeed

Erik: What do you do when you wake up to that?

Charles: I feel a great swell of pity for the poor soul who comes to that school looking for trouble

Apocalypse

Erik: Doesn’t it ever wake you up in the middle of the night, the feeling that they will come for you and your children?

Charles: It does indeed

Erik: What do you do when you wake up to that?

Charles: I feel a great swell of pity for the poor soul who comes to my school looking for trouble

X-1

Erik: Doesn’t it ever wake you in the middle of the night, that feeling that they will pass that foolish law or one just like it, and come for you and your children?

Erik is trying to sway Charles to his side once more through guilt for his students. He knows that Charles will accept harm to himself for his cause and so this is a pointed barb about putting his students at risk

Charles: It does indeed

Charles is saying that he understands what Erik is trying to do and yes he feels fear and guilt for his students

Erik: What do you do when you wake up to that?

Erik is saying “If you understand, why do you continue? Admit your cowardice”

Charles: I feel a great swell of pity for the poor soul who comes to that school looking for trouble

The emphasis he puts on trouble combined with eye contact is a threat to Erik if he threatens his students. He is saying “I understand what you say, my friend, but leave my students alone

Apocalypse

Erik: Doesn’t it ever wake you up in the middle of the night, the feeling that they will come for you and your children?

This Erik is asking a genuine question. With what we know about Nina and Anna, Erik is asking if Charles understands his fear. The fear his mother felt before the holocaust, understanding that they were coming for her son. Erik is asking and pleading for Charles and his students to be safe. Erik is begging to know how to cope with what he has gone through and to not lose those he loves all over again.

Charles: It does indeed

Charles is saying that he understands what Erik is saying, and yes he has felt that fear. He understands the danger he and the students are in.

Erik: What do you do when you wake up to that?

Erik is asking “How will you keep yourself safe? Please, please be safe. Please have a plan”

Charles: I feel a great swell of pity for the poor soul who comes to my school looking for trouble

Charles's response and the emphasis he places is meant as a reassurance to Erik. He says “We can protect ourselves and we can protect you. Stay here, there is a place for you. Please”

X-1 https://youtu.be/VJsowwK1qJo?si=ffXS54BZEZEnK8aN

Apocalypse

https://youtu.be/GVYxa5wrPcc?si=6Q_faHbTMcL5atDt

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ok well if i was a wolf i would