#anyway idk not looking to argue. smarter people have explained all this better than me i didn't go to college lol

[what-is-it-to-be-pk-esque]

what is up with people and their pr*gnancy HCs I stg why does everything always have to go there every single time 🙄

[jyndor]

so I was talking to my friend @timelordthirteen about some shit and I decided to just share with you all about the importance of actually explaining shit instead of just saying it. the Left, I am looking at you bitch (ily bitch but)

lol would put a read more but tumblr's being a petty little bitch today ❤

shitposting is fun. dunking on asshat right wingers is fun. you know what is not fun? seeing people not understand the basic terminology that we use in the ~discourse*

but. if we are going to use terminology, if we are going to inject regular old laypeople conversations with (imo) unneccessary amounts of academic terms, then we should try to use them correctly** because in many cases misusing them means we as leftists do not have a full understanding of what the fuck we're on about. this dilutes both the meanings of these terms and their purposes. I know I am wordy as fuck and can be hard to understand sometimes (thanks adhd) so what I am about to say is a little ironic, but clarity is fucking important when it comes to strategy and organizing.

so I am going to examine some commonly misused concepts and terms today. yay.

1. THEORY, PRAXIS AND FRAMEWORKS FOR ANALYSIS weeee yes I am fun at parties tyvm

what is a framework? a structure, in this case, for analyzing some bullshit we deal with irl. that's it lol but I use it a lot so I figured I'd define it here. examples of frameworks are: intersectionality, marxism, queer theory. seriously, if you can think it, it has already been analyzed through the queer lens.

what is theory? ideas, knowledge in the abstract based on looking at shit happen and analyzing that shit. it is useful because it can help us articulate what we are going through in our shitty lives. this is why I often recommend people learn about chomsky's manufacturing consent (theory of why we get the info we get from the media tl;dr), not because I think chomsky is the ultimate leftist grandpa but because this site needs some media literacy lmao. and btw, this clip narrated by amy goodman is a great, trippy little 4:30 min long video that explains the basics of manufacturing consent so you don't have to open a book or use drugs!

theory can help serve as a framework to understand what the fuck is happening to us irl, but imo is kind of an incomplete understanding of shit without lived experience (aka - theory v praxis). this is one reason why we should listen to marginalized groups on their own shit and not talk over them - because all of the research and theory in the world does not make me a Black woman living in Flint (aka - ground up organizing v technocracy). it is not about being nice, or politically correct, although we should be nice and we should care about people just because they're people. if you understand the why of listening to marginalized groups, you understand that it is mainly about communities knowing their own problems best and therefore having the best solutions for those problems.

2. MARXISM, CAPITALISM AND OTHER BUZZWORDS (and leftists need hobbies)

so marxism is a framework for socioeconomic analysis observed by mr kpop himself, karl marx (and his sugar daddy friedrich engels). because leftists love to argue, there are so many kinds of marxism, and if you ever feel like you are shouting into the void too much, just look up some arguments between stalinists and trotskyists. it's just... magical. no, I am not defining tankie here.

as many people smarter than I am have said (read: kwame ture seriously watch this video it's iconic), karl marx did not discover socialism or invent it or whatever, he observed capitalism and saw how shitty it is, like any other sane person would do. the point of marxism is not karl marx (which he would say) or tankies or fuckin guillotines***

things that marxism is:

- an analytical tool for looking at the world

- a theory which was used to develop the basis of different kinds of post-capitalist economic systems like communism and socialism

things that marxism is not:

- a system of economics or government lmao marx did not govern dick

- scary

marx looked at capitalism and said "this is definitely gonna fail someday because it's clearly unsustainable, I mean the proletariat is bigger than the bourgeoisie who owns everything uh yeah so I can do basic fucking math. if I have one capitalist and fifteen hundred workers, eventually that capitalist is gonna lose his damn head because he is gonna hoard all that wealth and his workers are gonna get pissed that they don't have their basic fucking needs met. lmao now put on some kpop, freddy" or something. idk that might not be a direct quote.

what is capitalism? (besides horseshit) a system of economics where industry is privately owned. and yes, this includes publically traded corporations because they are still owned by individuals (shareholders) even if they aren't privately owned by one person or a group of partners. truly a nightmare to live in, and we hate to see it.

what is the proletariat? well, the working class. and the bourgeoisie is the owner class, the capitalist class. the rich.

and this is something else that we need to discuss, tumblr. if you are going to say "eat the rich" please understand who you are talking about. we're not talking about random actors or musicians, or doctors or lawyers, even if they make better than a liveable wage. even if they often have zero class consciousness, meaning they don't ~see class, like colorblind racism for classism.

anyone who has to sell their labor for wages and is not part of the owner class is working class. this includes people who cannot work for any multitude of reasons (disability, can't find work, caretaker, etc) and also white collar workers who might be well off in relatively high paying jobs because they don't own the means of production, or capital that is used to produce shit. so yes, that rich actor who is a part of a union is actually part of the working class in marxist theory. when we say eat the rich, we mean jeff bezos, not john boyega. jeff bezos owns the means of production. john boyega is a working actor who is in a union.

this is important not because we shouldn't get pissed off when actors and celebrities do tone deaf shit like singing about imagining no possessions in their mansions while people starve during a pandemic. they need to put their money to good use, have some class consciousness, instead of asking fans to donate to causes that they could fund. but they are not the bourgeoisie until they start owning the means of production. and there is no doubt that many of them do, which is why we might eat gwyneth paltrow but we won't eat john boyega.

and by the way, eating the rich is metaphorical, a reference to french revolution-era philosopher jean-jacques rousseau's quote: "when the people shall have nothing more to eat, they will eat the rich." obviously I don't even need to explain it but I will anyway. basically, the people will forcibly redistribute the wealth of the rich if they have nothing else. this is why there are some very smart capitalists who are in favor of reforms and raising taxes, because they recognize the danger to their necks in not providing for basic needs of the working class. no, "eat the rich" does not mean be pro-cannibalism. but there are many capitalists who would prefer to die than lose their hoard so

oh, and one last thing. "no ethical consumption in capitalism" is tossed around a lot and it's a million percent true, but I need all of us to understand that it is not an excuse to support harmful practices but it is also not meant to shame consumers. it is rather an understanding that we as consumers are not responsible for the monstrous impact of capitalism. we live in it, we have no choice but to consume, and sometimes (most of the time) that means we have to buy shit that was produced in unethical ways. unfortunately supply chains being what they are, all consumption causes harm in some way.

it is a reminder that individual actions are not going to have the impact of collection actions. this is why plastic bag bans, though well-meaning, are not going to have the same impact on climate catastrophe as, say, banning fossil fuels would.

I am a vegetarian and I can recognize that I am doing a whole lot of nothing by not supporting factory farms, and when I was a vegan I wasn't doing much either. boycotts without mass support don't have much evidence of working. this is why bds exists - boycott divestment and sanctions. boycott, meaning don't support goods from various conpanies connected to something, divestment, meaning get companies/countries/institutions to remove their money from something, and sanctions, meaning getting countries to penalize a country for their bad behavior until they comply.

this is what the anti-apartheid south africa movement did and what palestinian rights organizers support for israeli apartheid.

do not allow legislators to put the burden of fixing the ills of society that capitalism created on consumers' shoulders.

3. INTERSECTIONALITY (because it deserves its own section)

I don't have as much to say on this as I did the last bit because holy shit capitalism, man.

intersectionality, a term that was coined by law professor kimberlé crenshaw in the late 80s to serve as a framework for people to critically assess how legal structures impact Black women differently due to class, race and gender. it is not incompatible with marxism (in fact marxism has been argued to be a form of intersectionality).

intersectionality can and should be used to examine why the Black queer experience is unique, for example. I also want to acknowledge that professor crenshaw isn't the only person to come up with intersectionality; sojourner truth spoke about it even if she didn't coin the term, for example. patricia hill collins, another influential af Black feminist academic****, created frameworks for viewing intersectionality. also you can read her book black feminist thought here for free.

intersectionality has been used - improperly - by liberal feminists***** to excuse bad behavior from leaders who pretend to care about women while creating and enforcing legislation that harms women. anyone who stans politicians at all needs help. it has also been misrepresented as essentialism, which it is also not (essentialism is the idea that everything has some assets that are necessary to its identity) because intersectionality isn't saying that every Black queer woman has the same experience, just that Black queer women might experience similar issues because of a system that negatively views them as Black and queer and women.

intersectionality does not excuse kamala harris for prosecuting poor moms of truant kids.

okay if you guys have things to add please do because I want us to educate each other instead of always talking shit. both is good.

* I am not calling out people for not being academic enough or not speaking english or not reading enough theory because LOL I am a 2x neurodivergent college dropout who radicalized by working retail and not by hearing karl marx talk dirty to me. also, not everyone speaks english like, I am truly not shitting on people.

** I recognize that language is fluid and ever changing, and that is a good thing. But diluting terms that serve specific purposes is not ever going to be good.

*** and I don't want to dismiss intra-leftist theory discourse (🤢) because I know how annoying it is to hear bernie sanders lumped in with liz warren, or bernie sanders lumping himself in with post-capitalists lmao of course I get it. but twitter discourse is not dismantling capitalism so ANYWAY

**** actually crenshaw built on collins' work (black feminist thought) and the collins built on crenshaw' work we love to see it.

***** I should go ahead and define liberal feminism as well as rad fem and terf and shit because people use them all very very loosely, especially terf (not every transphobe is a terf but every terf is a transphobe, it's like the rectangle/square thing). but I am exhausted with this so next time.

[ah0pefultransmission]

2, 4, 8, 9, 11, 13, 14, 15, 20, 21, 23, 24, 30, 34, 38, 42, 43, 44, 46 FOR MINSOO

THIS GOT LONG oops

2. Theirmother? How do they think of her? What do they hate? Love? What influence -literal or imagined - did the mother have?

Hahaha. Well, as you know, Minsoo’s mother left him when hewas about 4. I think maybe not that long before his fifth birthday. He was anunplanned baby, probably the result of a one night stand or a failedrelationship. It was really hard for his mom to bring him up, because she wasalone and she felt really trapped. Things with his mom and grandma were reallyfrosty at first too, because Grandma didn’t approve of the dad or thought thatshe should have been smarter than she was about having unprotected sex orwhatever. They’ve patched things up though by the time Minsoo is about a yearor so old, and he sees a lot of Grandma and Grandpa, who was still alive. A fewweeks before Minsoo turned five, he got dropped off at Grandma’s for the night,which happened a lot because his mom had to work nights on whatever her jobwas. She didn’t actually go to work though and left town and no one knew whereshe went for a really long time. I think only his uncle knows now, becauseGrandma won’t talk to her or anyone about her. It was Minsoo’s impendingbirthday that was the catalyst for her leaving; she could suddenly only thinkabout her life in terms of how many years she was going to be shackled to thiskid she didn’t want and she couldn’t deal with it anymore and just decided toleave and start over.

Anyway the actual question is about how Minsoo feels abouther so. I think he has a lot of really mixed up feelings about her? Mostly he’sangry at her. Angry at being abandoned and for not being wanted and angry ather for never trying to explain herself or apologise. She just left and didn’ttell anyone why. He never got closure for all the questions he has for her. Butat the same time he still has a few nice memories of being a kid. Of the wayshe would use these cutters on his sandwiches because he hated crusts and onlywanted to eat circles. Or how she really liked this one band he can’t rememberthe name of and would dance around the kitchen with him standing on her feetwhilst she sang along. He remembers things like what it felt like to hold herhand and the lilt of her voice when she told him bed time stories and the smileshe would give him when she left for work and how she always called him kiddo.All of the good things feel bad and poisoned though because he can’t figure outwhat was real, if any of it meant anything, if these nice happy memories arejust a young kid’s optimistic outlook on the world. I don’t think you could sayhe loves or hates her? It’s all a bit too mixed up for it to be one thing, butit definitely leans more towards the negative.

His mom’s influence is pretty big. Her leaving is the reasonhe’s very distrustful of people. He doesn’t like opening up to other people orletting them into his life in any sort of meaningful way for a long timebecause he thinks they’re just going to fuck him over. He doesn’t like sharinghow he feels because he doesn’t want to potentially give people the ability tohurt him. All his messed up feelings about his mom are the reason he has such arough time as a teen, because he doesn’t know how to deal with how he feels soinstead he just starts getting into fights and drinking as a coping mechanism.He’s also super awkward around other people’s parents because he doesn’t reallyknow how to deal with them.4. What type of discipline wasyour character subjected to at home? Strict? Lenient?

Grandma was pretty strict about certain things. Like washingyour hands before dinner and eating all your vegetables. If Minsoo went out toplay, he had to be in at a certain time for dinner and he’d get in trouble ifhe was late by more than a few minutes. She was never overly strict though,there weren’t a million rules or chores or anything. She just expected to berespected and for Minsoo to do his part in their house. She did have a woodenspoon she used to rap him on the knuckles with when he was being cheeky ordidn’t do his chore though. Never hard but it was enough that Minsoo stillhisses at her now when she picks up any kind of wooden utensil. No back talk,respect her home and the things in it, don’t interrupt her when she’s watchingher dramas. Teen Minsoo pretty much rebels against all these things on purpose,because Grandma is his mother figure and he needed someone to take it out on.8. How does your character feelabout religion?

HONESTLY I DUNNO, is religion different in this universe? Idon’t think he’d be part of any sort of religion though and definitely doesn’tbelieve in a God that oversees everything, and if he is real then he’s afucking dickhead. Is there a religious undertone to witch stuff? He probablyfollows that a bit if there is, because of Grandma more than anything, but it’snot something actively he’s into.9. What about politicalbeliefs?

Rich people fucking suck. He hates them. He’d be a Democratsince they’re in America but he thinks they’re dumb assholes most of the timetoo. He has a lot to say about the state of immigration and social welfare andthe way the government treats elderly people. A lot of it involves swearing.11. How do they see themselves:as smart, as intelligent, uneducated?

Average Ithink? I don’t think he thinks he’s particularly smart. He’s average at ‘cleverthings’ and knows what he needs to know to get by in life. He probably thinkshe’s at least pretty good at science stuff but only because he learned how tomake his own vape juice on the internet.13. Did they like school?Teachers? Schoolmates?

School wasfine for Minsoo. He liked it more when he was kid, though he did have a fewbumps. Had quite a few friends as a kid though he did also have a few fightswith kids that were rude about his family situation Started to dislike it whenhe was a teenager but mostly because he was a very angry teen and he feltreally judged and stifled by the whole environment. He skipped school a lot asa teen and when he did go, he argued a lot with teachers just because he could,it was someone easy to shout at. I think he probably did a similar thing with alot of his schoolmates, hated everyone but had a few friends. The other angrymisfit teens that smoked behind the gym and liked emo music, idk.14. Were they involved at school? Sports? Clubs? Debate? Were they unconnected?

This is athing I’m stealing from Yoongi but I think he really liked basketball as a kid.Was pretty good at it too but not amazing. He used to go out to play with thekids in the neighbourhood and his friends from school and went to like fucking.Basketball practice after school. In high school he was hardly at school andyou would definitely never catch him staying longer than he needed to be.15. Did they graduate? High-School? College? Do they have a PHD? A GED?

I think, bysome miracle, he managed to graduate from high school. Probably didn’t get verygood grades but he passed. Didn’t bother going to college or anything afterbecause he wasn’t interested and was still pretty angry and mad until he wasabout 21. Grandma probably has a lot to do with this, forcing him to go intoschool for his exams and stuff.

20. What were the mostdeeply impressive political or social, national or international, events thatthey experienced?

Uhhhh I guessthis would be me asking you another question before I could answer this. Itdepends what stuff happened in our world that happened in this universe? Idkhow to answer this one really, I’ll get back to you.

21. What are your character’s manners like? What is their type of hero? Whom dothey hate?

He hasterrible manners. He swears too much and flips people off and put his feet onfurniture when he’s still wearing shoes. He’s as polite as he needs to be atwork but that’s about it. Does this mean hero as in like, superhero or reallife hero? Because honestly, real life hero is Grandma. Minsoo would never eversay this to her out loud but she is. Grandma is strong and caring andresourceful, she cares deeply about her family and her heritage. Grandma doesn’tgive a fuck what you think about her or who she is or where she came from andMinsoo really admires that. If we are talking superheroes or the like, I dunnoif Minsoo ever really related to any big superheroes. Probably liked PowerRangers when he was a kid though. WHOMST DOES HE HATE, HMMM. He hates richpeople that think they’re better than poor people. He hates people that don’tfucking tip, Jesus Christ. He hates their building manager because he’s a cheapfucking bastard that never fixes anything when he needs fixing. He hates allthe assholes in social benefits and the government who keep trying to take awayGrandma’s healthcare, he will fight you.

23. What do they wantfrom a partner? What do they think and feel of sex?

Minsoo isbad at like, proper dating, we talked about this before. It’s less that he doesn’twant to date and more that he’s fucking emotionally constipated and can’t tellpeople how he feels. So I guess for a while he doesn’t really want a partnerromantically, just for sex. He looks for someone that’s hot, willing and not atotal jackass to have one night stands with but he doesn’t always succeed onthe last one. Romantically, I guess he wants someone that is willing tounderstand that he can’t always be open about everything? Someone that doesn’t needto know every single thing about him to want to be with him or spend time withhim. Someone that’s fun to spend time with and able to have properconversations. Someone who is cute and handsome. Someone that has their ownlife and is happy to spend time on their own sometimes. Someone thatunderstands that they can’t always come first, because Grandma is the topperson in Minsoo’s life. Someone that isn’t going to leave when things gettough.

He reallylikes sex! It’s fun! It’s fun and it feels nice and it’s something that feelsnatural and easy to him. He’s a very sex positive boy; have as much sex as youwant, with as many people as you want, as long as you’re being safe and nothurting people. Though I think for a while it was more of a “I don’t give afuck” attitude than an actual sex positive one because he was a deeply angryand dumb boy, but he’s much more actively sex positive now. Fuck you for beingrude to sex workers or for slut shaming, he’s punched dudes in bars for callinggirls sluts because of how they’re dressed when they get turned down before.Always makes sure everyone involved is having a good time and that theirboundaries are being respected when he has sex. It’s important to him. For awhile I think sex was another one of Minsoo’s coping mechanisms, finding peopleto have sex with, no strings attached, was a good and fun distraction. It’salways been something he genuinely enjoyed though.24. What social groups and activities does your character attend? What role dothey like to play? What role do they actually play, usually?

He goes out to clubs and bars with his friends a lot.Usually it’s just casual gatherings and drinks, or they go out somewhere fordinner and have a few drinks. He goes to gigs too, on his own or with a few ofhis buds. Minsoo acts like he hates everything and that having fun is forlosers, but he’s actually a party boy. Always the one encouraging everyone tokeep going and have fun, being noisy and singing and making jokes. He likes tothink of himself as the experienced, cool dude with a high tolerance but occasionallyhe is, in fact, the sloppy drunk friend that you need to take home. He stillhas something of a tenuous relationship with alcohol and can get carried away.30. Are they holding on tosomething in the past? Can he or she forgive?

Oooh for sure. He’s still angry with his mom and I don’tthink he’ll ever forgive her. Mostly because I don’t think they’ll ever seeeach other again and talk about what happened, so he’ll never really have thechance to? I think eventually he might let it go a bit, he’s doing a lot betterat not letting it rule his life right now for example. It’s a thing he’s gottenbetter at making peace with but he’s not totally there yet. One day I think he’llbe able to move past it, for himself, but I don’t think he’ll ever forgive hismom.34. Does your character feelself-righteous? Revengeful? Contemptuous?

He’s a very angry dude, unfortunately. Angry at beingabandoned a lot over his life and not ever getting the chance to understandwhy. I think he thinks he’d like to see his mom one day and give her a fulldressing down, really lay into her and scream and shout and make her understandwhat she did to him, but I don’t think he actually really wants that. It wouldn’tdo anything useful for him, he wouldn’t get anything out of it in the end. Inspirit I guess he’s revengeful, he wants to make her hurt as much as she madehim hurt, but I don’t think he has any idea how he would do that and he doesn’twant to try in case she just doesn’t care. I guess he’s also a bitself-righteous, because he feels like he didn’t deserve to be abandoned, by heror by grandpa when he died or by his one serious ex, and it feeds into hisanger.

38. Are they basically negativewhen facing new things? Suspicious? Hostile? Scared? Enthusiastic?

Depends what it is! He’s fine with meeting new people but he’snever exactly friendly. Minsoo holds himself at a distance with most people. Heputs up a front and can come across as kinda hostile or aggressive. He’s finewith trying new things mostly though. Like, wanna try some new kink during sex?He’s game. He’ll drink anything and try most low-key drugs at least once. Like.One time he sucked a dude’s dick in a carpark when he got mistaken for a sexworker and he went along with it because he wanted to know what it was like.Minsoo is pretty chill about doing most things. Maybe even a little recklesswith it I guess? He does a lot of things he probably shouldn’t do because he’svery like, yeah, fuck it I’ll give it a go. He used to be a lot worse about itwhen he was a teen but its less of a thing of his angry rowdy boy phase andmore of an actual personality trait, Minsoo is a bit over confident in his viewof himself and how much he thinks he can handle and sometimes it gets him intotrouble.

42. What does your characterwant most? What do they need really badly, compulsively? What are they willingto do, to sacrifice, to obtain?

YOU KNOW, Idon’t know what Minsoo wants. I don’t think he does either really. He’s a bitaimless. Doesn’t really have a plan or a goal for his life. He’s content goingthrough the motions of life, having fun when he can and trying to betterhimself in little ways. I guess what he wants most is for Grandma to be happyand healthy? He wants her to be able to live comfortably because she deservesit. Before he was willing to sacrifice that, to be horrible to her and make herlife incredibly hard because it gave him the tiniest shred of relief from hisanger and pain but that’s something he really hates that he did now. He won’tdo that ever again, he’d never sacrifice Grandma’s happiness and her feelingsfor himself.

43. Does your characterhave any secrets? If so, are they holding them back?

I guess hismom is sort of a secret? Or at least how much it still hurts him and how muchit messed him up. He’s also really worried about what will happen to him onceGrandma is gone, because she’s not going to be here forever and he worries thathe’s going to fall off the path again without her to help keep him on thestraight and narrow. Generally I guess most of how he feels is a secret? He doesn’ttalk about how he feels to anyone, except very occasionally Grandma and nowKobe a bit.

44. How badly do they want to obtain their life objectives? How do they pursuethem?

LIKE I SAID,he doesn’t really have a goal beyond making sure Grandma is happy and safe. Hemostly does that by forcing himself to go to work to pay their bills and keepfood on their table, by buying her weed for her arthritis, by threatening anyof her customers that try to wiggle out of paying. It’s really important to himthat she’s okay and he does as much as he can, even if it always feels like it’snot enough.

46. Is your character tall? Short? What about size? Weight? Posture? How dothey feel about their physical body?

He is a smolboy. Idk how tall yoongles actually is but he’s small, especially in comparisonto Joon/Kobe. He’s pretty skinny but not in a unhealthy way. He has really bonyelbows. Grandma is always complaining he’s too skinny and needs to put one moreweight, eat something more Minnie-ah. His posture is slumpy when he’s relaxed,like when he’s at home with Grandma or Kobe, but he holds himself a bit tighterand higher when he’s out in public, especially if he’s at a bar or something.Tries to make himself seem bigger and more intimidating that people wouldassume at first glance.