johnny-guitarr - Tumblr blog

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howdy yall, mousegirlheart here, recording as I always do in mouseville, tennecheese

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Danny Lai Lai (Chinese, based Beijing, China) - 来巡视人间的猫猫神 (The cat god comes to inspect the human world, Paintings: Digital Art

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Take it from someone who has done progressive activism in real, not-just-online ways and also knows a ton of people for whom that's like, their job, and has also lived in red, purple and blue states (Texas, Michigan, Maryland, Massachusetts): activism is much, much harder to do in places where the law and the politicians are actively hostile to your politics. As such, it is not a replacement for voting. You have to vote. You shouldn't just vote, but you should vote and do the other things. This is why everyone who is actually serious about activism that actually does stuff is telling you to vote.

I get really frustrated by the argument on Tumblr of "voting is just one step, it's not the only thing you can do!" because I can never tell if that person is saying "your activist credentials aren't hurt by voting, you can still do all those other things!" - which is true! and good! and some people need to hear it! - or "it's just one of many types of activism that you can do, it's one option" - BAD. It is not. It is the foundational step. You can't really do all that other stuff, or can't do it as well and as effectively, if you don't have the infrastructure in place that you create by voting in the right people and voting out the wrong ones.

This is especially weird given that the Republican Party is increasingly flirting with the idea of violent retaliation against peaceful protesters - and that our history is replete with examples of that happening when they did it in places with hostile politicians, e.g. the civil rights movement in Southern states. Yeah, that imagery ultimately helped them, but it's not the 1960s anymore, we don't have three TV channels everyone watches, you can't guarantee that the people who most need to see it will, or without it being filtered through a bunch of bullshit demonizing the protesters. And a lot of people died or were otherwise hurt in the process, and their lives should matter to you. And a lot of how we ultimately defeated that was because the federal law forced Southern states to comply with all that. Because the people in the federal government making these decisions (like LBJ) were open to the cause of civil rights - which was one of the reasons that civil rights activists made voter registration so key to their efforts in 1964! It wasn't a thing that the activists in those states were able to force on racist, hostile politicians in places like Alabama without help from other people they voted for in the federal government.

There are lots of dedicated activists in Texas who want to help women there get abortions in every way they can; they still could only do so much once it was totally banned there, once Roe fell, and now their work is largely focused on helping Texas women travel out of state. The nationally-celebrated abortion clinic where I lived in Austin had to close and move to New Mexico after the Dobbs decision. Who is in power matters. The laws they pass matter. The way you do something about that? You fucking vote.

Likewise, a lot of this website and the broader left-wing Internet seems to acknowledge that trans rights are way worse in red states like Texas, Florida, Oklahoma, etc. than in blue states like on the West Coast or in New England/the Mid-Atlantic, or even in purple states with Dems in power (e.g. Michigan, Minnesota, Arizona, Pennsylvania). Same with reproductive rights. Okay, why do you think that is? Do you think the activists in Michigan or Massachusetts just care more than the ones in Montana? Or do you think it perhaps has something to do with who's passing laws? And why do you think this pattern holds so consistently in terms of whether that state is run by Democrats or Republicans??? In Michigan and Arizona in particular, they got where they are specifically because voters rejected extreme Republican policies en masse.

Voting comes before everything else. It is not just "one of many options." That's like saying that, say, showering is optional as long as you moisturize or something. Or brushing your teeth is optional. No, those are foundational things for cleanliness; the other stuff is on top of that. You need voting to make your activism work.

[johnny-guitarr]

#PeedIt

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me, begging, tears in my eyes: please. please just tell me what the book is about. the plot. please

a book annotation on the cover, unfazed: A Subversive Masterpiece. A Deep And Touching Story. The New York Times Bestseller. Go Fuck Yourself

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GLOOMY GIRL

OOAK handmade art doll by me

etsy / fourthwall / ko-fi / wishlist / patreon

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If it be your will

So i made this playlist tying DA2 companions to my favorite songs, the criteria being ''I dunno feels like it'' and for Anders it was:

Want to Be Free by Sea Power or

If It Be Your Will by Leonard Cohen (the Antony version)

[johnny-guitarr]

What makes this even funnier is if you’re a rich guy and do this the actual poker players will shower you with praise and stroke your ego (especially when you win hands through sheer variance) and say you’re great and to keep doing what you’re doing because they’re just siphoning money from you and want you to keep it up. Like, that’s the original definition of a “whale” in the gambling sense

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[johnny-guitarr]

she's trying to use her small and cute hands to take my custard bun

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here are some twins i’ve drawn for the persona 2020 planner bonuses! thank you again for supporting us this year and i hope the planner can make your year more colorful, day by day!!

[johnny-guitarr]

YAAAAYYYYYY YIPPPEEEEEE WEEEEEEEE

[johnny-guitarr]

how it feels to be in a transitional period

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[johnny-guitarr]

Phyllis Shafer (American, b.1958)

"Cadmium Sluice," 2023

Oil on linen

18 x 20 in

[johnny-guitarr]

Ship's Cat Chiclet - the Mascot of the Mary A. Whalen (1938) a retired oil tanker, Brooklyn, New York

[johnny-guitarr]

back on my acesan agenda