#because the shittiest part is that - individually - most of these people tend to be very friendly

[andromeda3116]

It's because he's God's Chosen Leader and this is A Christian Nation that has Strayed From Jesus And Needs To Be Brought Back To Him. And Jesus has Chosen Trump As Our Savior and therefore, anything he does is excusable, and anything truly inexcusable is a Liberal Lie meant to slander him. He can be flawed, that's okay, Jesus Uses Flawed People To Accomplish Perfect Ends. This is a battle of Good Versus Evil and taking down The Radical Left Communists must be done by any means.

This is why they can break all the rules they want, break the game board, break the Constitution. It's all in pursuit of "saving" the nation and bringing it "back" to Jesus. It's all on the table. It's all acceptable. Lying, cheating, inciting a coup -- I'm sorry, "rallying a militia to overthrow a corrupt government" -- or even murder, it doesn't matter. This is war. It must be won at any cost.

It doesn't matter that, as soon as you take even half a step back, you can see that they're trying to install a king over a theocracy, which is the exact literal thing that the American Revolution was about getting rid of -- because it's their theocracy. Their king. Chosen by God to lead in His name and bring glory to the highest.

...by dismantling any climate change policies and regulations giving us clean air and programs that feed the poor and relieve debt and give sick people healthcare. Because those programs help the "undeserving" and cost tax money that they ought to be getting in their own paychecks instead of helping other people. It's the church's mandate, the community's place, to help the sick and poor, not the government's! The government isn't discerning, doesn't know who really deserves it, and they might give that money to a drug addict or a sex worker or a lazy welfare queen or -- heaven forbid -- one of them transgender people.

(Unless, of course, one of those undesirables wishes to repent and come into the Light Of Jesus, in which case all arms come open and they're taken care of. Given food and shelter. As long as they stay in line and do what they're told and submit to the Glory Of God.)

Sorry, I grew up in Mississippi in the Southern Baptist Church and (well after leaving the church at 19) worked with a bunch of hardcore Trumpers through the whole presidency and got to see deep into how they think and justify everything. The structure of the Evangelical Church at this point is a well-oiled machine for churning out followers of the Republican Party, regardless of what the party does or how it hurts them. They indoctrinate you when you're young, keep you scared and submissive, and turn you into an adult who's terrified of the world. And fear makes people angry and stupid, and makes them want someone to come and make them safe.

And who better to do that than a king who fights for their cause?

Hegel remarks somewhere that all great world-historic facts and personages appear, so to speak, twice. He forgot to add: the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce.

--Karl Marx

"Project 2025 seeks to place the entire U.S. federal government under direct presidential control"

Hang on, didn't y'all have a literal revolution about this??

Why, yes. Yes, we famously did have a revolution over not wanting to be ruled by an absolute monarch and to set up a system of (however flawed it was and is) representative democracy. And the people peddling this BS call themselves "real Americans." Because you see, as long as the absolute monarch is a twice-impeached, convicted-rapist, serial business fraud, currently-charged-with-91-felonies-including-espionage-and-sedition orange psychopath, or some other true believer white-supremacist christofascist, it's all right.

[hillarysss]

astro notes ✨

love edition & sex edition🕊

Part I <<. Please do not repost, plagiarize, reword. 🎀

💌🕊Starting off with Mars in Leo individuals in connections they wanna be pampered and they demand want your loyalty, they will also not settle for less. They could be seen as "too much" or "too high standards" or even if they don't really have standards, they're very strict with who they let in romantically. But once they let someone in they will spoil you so much like these individuals are not scared to let people know who they ride with.

💌🕊There is this myth of Aquarius moons being "detached" from connections and not gonna lie Aquarius moons are just guarded with who they truly let in, they tend to have a lot of acquaintances or people that are "failed talking stages" also eventually they will let you in if they see hope within you and they see a future with you, they will not open up if they see you as temporary, they would have fun but that's it.

💌🕊Okayy but what is it with you Pisces moons being so fucking adorable? I noticed these individuals tend to be mistaken for either water risings, pisces risings, moon - ascendant, neptune- ascendant. I noticed having a Pisces moon will get the native a really ethereal dreamy look and especially with an Air rising it will make the native youthful and age gracefully. It enhances the eyes and there tends to be a "sparkle" in their eyes. The eyes tend to be bigger too & animated eyes. So beautiful

💌🕊Sagittarius moons for romantic relationships they truly are amazing and are probably one of the most fun people you can date.. however you guys are more choosy than given credit for like yeah you'll have fun but you guys escape from your emotions and it is very hard to cage you in like you are doing your own thing because you can only trust yourself and sadly you guys learned hard-core independence since day one. Honestly you guys are the type to ghost people if you're not interested them anymore, they're off to the next person until they find their right match that's when they'll get commit and be as loyal as ever:)

💌🕊Scorpio placements tend to be loyal to the first person they mark their eyes on like "yep you're mine" also how many future spouse readings have y'all watched? haha but keep these people:) they don't let people in easily until they trust their gut that you are good to let in, also don't lie to them they can see through you.

💌🕊Venus in 12th individuals say it with me you are deserving of love. These natives are so kind and the shittiest people try to take advantage of it. You guys are the type of people to have grown up wanting a fairy tale kind of relationship where it's just you and your partner and nobody else, you guys take them for granted stop doing that.

💌🕊 Gemini moons / Moon in 3rd in relationships are quite faithful If I'm being honest but only if you actually keep them interested like stimulate them! For them if you're boring it's a valid reason to break up of course it would be the last straw, but for these individuals you most likely will need a lot of common interests.

💌🕊 Moon in 4th individuals you guys are actually so easy to love and this is why a lot of people tend to loose themselves in you! You guys are like a safe space for so many people so this is why you should protect your loving energy because bad energies could take advantage of it.

💌🕊 Venus in Leo in love will do the smallest things to get your attention like at worse they can try to make you a bit jealous like they're the type to bring out someone else's name in the talking stage and make you wonder who it is.. yet that person does not exist, they just want your attention.

💌🕊Pisces Venuses.. are you guys attracted to artists or people who have artistic / aesthetically pleasing talents? Or is it your soft spot.

💌🕊 No one really talks about this being a charm indicator but Sun & Venus conjuction will make the native have a lot of charisma and a lot of people will respect them & people tend to go to these natives when they are sad because they bright them up.

💌🕊 Scorpio moons / Moon in 8th are the type of people who need a very special bond to be with someone Scorpio rules the 8th house they need someone who will be there for them at the darkest times honestly they kind of want that soulmate type stuff, they just wanna feel heard their emotional needs are often not heard and they seek such love in relationships.

💌🕊 Virgo placements tend to be a little confusing when dating at first you might think they give "mixed signals" but these people tend to really analyze the people they may be interested in dating and change to the energy you give them, if you're nervous they will adapt to that too. So they may not be the type to make the first move, have the same energy as them or be consistent. (Especially Virgo Venuses)

💌🕊 Venuses in 6th / Virgo Venuses are really underrated. No they aren't "dull" they are simply one of the best people you can ask for. They will do the little things and they will remember things about yourself that you didn't even notice, they are the type to sew you a shirt but may not buy you the most expensive ring but it doesn't matter to them because they took their own time on it. They are also the type of people who won't "yuck" if you are sick or not in your best state, they really stick with you.

💌🕊Venus in 3rd individuals you guys would make really good love letters like old-fashioned stuff.

💌🕊 Aries Venuses I've noticed you guys have a really blunt sense of humor that's like super attractive and the Venus sign may not be a good giveaway on humor but honestly? I've noticed it quite a lot they have that "I do not give a fuck if you don't like me" humor.. they also need a partner with a good ass sense of humor too.

💌🕊 Moon in Taurus individuals I'll give you some appreciation.. literally everything you do is made of gold like you guys have the power to make people feel so beautiful and love and people probably feel so treasured when opening up to you, you guys give this really laid back vibe it's so cute.

💌🕊 Moon opposition Moon in synastry can go both ways yes we look at the whole chart but either you absolutely love them and can't get enough of them or you're insanely attracted to them and they sparkle such different emotions, but you find out you both want different things.

💌🕊Please appreciate your local Venus in 2nd individual today! They try their hardest and they are the type of love to really value you! These people will always see your worth hence which is why I believe they are one of the most loyal people in my book.

💌🕊 Pisces risings you guys are so beautiful like I get lost in your guys appearances so easily cause you just look like you're from another dimension, but you guys are so hard on yourselves with the Virgo in 7th. You also don't see yourself clearly. You are beautiful and so is your body. Appreciate your local Pisces rising today.

💌🕊People with Lilith in 7th Or/ And Uranus in 7th are more prone to growing up not seeing the best image of marriage hence why they try their best to find "the one" and why they don't commit easily, I understand you guys and I appreciate you.

💌🕊 Aquarius risings you guys love attention but ONLY from the right people, let the wrong people give you so much attention and see how pissed you get haha, but when it comes to people you love you guys want so much attention but you'll never admit it.

💌🕊Leo risings do you guys attract people who at first seem interested in you then slowly detach themselves from you wondering what you even did wrong? Yea you don't deserve them🥺. (Aquarius in 7th)

💌🕊Beautiful fun fact more so kindness related but the sign of your 11th shows what you get back from being a kind human being. Cancer 11th= More emotional support & you attract people who are a safe place.

💌🕊Air Venus legacy is wanting to stay single cause no one is on your level until you meet someone that actually interests you and now you can't let go.

💌🕊Scorpio placements do you still remember that one person you were stuck on for so long that you gave so much loyalty to and is the reason you have trust issues now? Yea fuck them, I've noticed heartbreaks take a toll on Scorpio placements os much it's crazy. I hope you guys have nice recoveries and that those people didn't deserve you.

💌🕊 Chiron in Capricorn individuals are more prone to trying to commit to things for the future especially in connections but not "feeling good enough" please know you guys do your best.

💌🕊Taurus risings, would you say you attract really obsessive lovers until you loose yourself in them too? (Scorpio in 7th)

💌🕊Pluto in 10th you guys attract the weirdest masculine energy that tries to "control you" make sure you stand your power.

💌🕊Cancer moons I noticed you guys don't really take rejection lightly? Like rejection boils your blood and kind of makes you shut your emotions. You guys like love and attention more than given credit for not gonna lie, but you guys are also quite introverted.

💌🕊 Capricorn placements you will find your match one day I like how you stand your ground and you don't let anybody below your level try to control you. You guys have high standards for a reason the way you love is high quality and only for high quality people.

💌🕊Trust a Scorpio placement with your secret they will take it to the grave..

💌🕊Neptune in 1st individual since you guys tend to take up the energy of the people close to you guys tend to get really random psychic insights of the people you love since you consume that energy.

💌🕊Venus in 12th individuals even if in a new relationship they will always take reference from what old relationships have thought them.

💌🕊 Cancer Venuses do you guys close off after you're heartbroken about something? Like you're there but eh not really.. like you try to be support for people but feel guilty when also asking for support

💌🕊Someone with Libra and Cancer in their chart will make someone super kind and nurturing and also very beautiful this is a common combo of ethereal appearances. Try not to let people take advantage of you though.

💌🕊 Virgo risings.. are your romantic connections kind of a blur? like with Pisces in 7th you probably don't even understand your romantic life sometimes. Also lovers may come out of nowhere.

💌🕊 Virgo placements just ask them out and stop being so nervous on how they may react, you only live once.

💌🕊Pisces risings do you often feel misunderstood in romantic connections and is your advice / acts of services at worse taken for granted? ( Virgo in 7th)

💌🕊People with Venus- Pluto would you describe your love life as intense maybe a little chaotic? I think you guys go through a lot of eh maybe obsessive connections.

💌🕊People with Venus - Pluto may find themselves in connections where they give and give but don't receive.

💌🕊Moon in Virgo individuals please love yourself:( so many of you guys in my "safe place" form (where you can rant) have Moon in Virgo please love yourself. You guys are the best and all you do for people which you take your time out to do is so appreciated.

💌🕊Pisces moons & Libra moons please take care of yourselves! You guys tend to take care of everyone but yourself :(

💌🕊Venus - Pluto individuals may have love interests from the past come up a lot in the future to "test" you they may shake you up a bit, break the pattern.

💌🕊Venus in 4th is such beautiful placement for composite & synastry. These people feel so loved and validated together.

💌🕊Virgo risings please do not over-think if someone actually likes / love you! You guys tend to be self-concerned on how you come off and this can effect on you think others should love you.

💌🕊Venus in 6th culture is running away the minute a love interest starts putting things in your plate, you already stress yourself enough you need someone independent.

💌🕊 Venus in 8th individuals I promise it's safe for you to love sometimes:) I know it's hard since you may have been betrayed in the past but trust that you'll find your people and you are not "hard to love"

💌🕊Venus in 5th individuals do you guys get really lovey- dovey with someone / something then leave it when you find something much more interesting? Unless you are actually super committed.

💌🕊 Moon in Leo / Moon in 5th individuals really just want someone who will take it easy on them and achieve dreams & goals togethers. I noticed people with these placements are very child at heart and may have been taken advantage of at some point for their love they give. It's so pure.

💌🕊Venus in Pisces individuals you guys have much high standards than given credit for not too high but you guys have them! You don't fall in love with every "person" as it states you guys do but you guys when you actually do like someone maybe you guys have the tendency to twist up the view, but that's it. Also trust your intuition in relationships, it won't fail you.

💌🕊Mars - Uranus individuals tend to be very experimental in sex like they will usually try a lot of things as long as it's safe but do check out other aspects. Super open minded people, I love that.

💌🕊 Venus - Saturn individuals you guys will find your people I promise! It may seem like it'll take a while and maybe it will.. you will attract someone deserving of your love and that is loyal to you so manifest it.

💌🕊Uranus in 5th individuals do you guys ever feel judged for what you love? Or that it doesn't fit people's standards. I think everything you love is amazing so do not give it up.

💌🕊Pluto in 4th individuals do you guys attract people with really messy home lives & unstable emotions? Like I feel like you attract unstable people into your life but you still love them.

💌🕊Someone with Moon in 4th & Saturn in 4th will be much more guarded with their emotions than a regular "Moon in 4th" would be like they may feel as if they have to protect their emotions for their own well being. They know their love is high value.

💌🕊If your Jupiter is in Pisces, Sagittarius, Libra you're more prone to attracting a lot of soulmates this lifetime and blessings. You are also more prone to get married but check the whole chart & it being a good marriage.

💌🕊Check Alma (390) and see what aspects it makes for insights in soulmate connections. Post on Alma here.

💌🕊 Libra risings a lot of you guys have Capricorn in 4th you guys really aren't all about relationships all the time, you guys are much more introverted inside than you let on. I can see through your facade and I wanna tell you it's okay to love. You value your independence.

💌🕊 Leo risings / Sun in 1st your guys lives tend to be seen as "glamor" and people may forget to check up on you. People may sadly invalidate your struggles, whatever you are going through you are valid.

💌🕊 Someone with a Fire moon & Water venus is most likely to over-think their love and may see it as "too much" from what I've observed.

💌🕊Someone with an Air moon & Fire Venus needs constant loyalty & admiration & stimulation or else the connection is not cutting for them. (But check other aspects & placements)

💌🕊Capricorn moons are so loyal but they give it a bit tough, they'll tell you what you need to hear for your own growth & their own experiences. Please always appreciate a Capricorn moon because they are trying their hardest to provide you a safe protective place and they are probably one of the only people to bring you back to reality even if they are out of it too.

💌🕊Moon in 12th individuals do you guys like ever emotionally disappear just to find yourself & love yourself again? You guys absorb a lot of the environment. (Moon in Pisces could relate)

💌🕊 Someone with Sun trine / conjuct / sextile moon could make someone who is seen to have “positive emotions” even if they are rotting inside. Also a lot of people go to these natives for love and care and to feel more positive.

💌🕊 Pisces mercuries I appreciate you. You guys have the ability to make words into such beautiful things like you guys excel in poetry and etc. Start appreciating yourself and your capabilities.

💌🕊 Someone with Mercury in 12th would have the tendency to attract people who don’t wanna communicate clearly leaving them confused as hell. Also you guys rarely feel “heard” just know your opinions & your interests & everything about you matters and I love you.

💌🕊 Someone with a Leo moon & Sagittarius rising makes up for a very cheerful combo, they cheer up everyone around them.

💌🕊 I appreciate you Sagittarius risings without even trying you guys make me laugh so hard with your natural jokes. But don’t hide what you go through for the sake of not being seen as a “burden” from others.

💌🕊 Moon in Capricorn & Moon conjuct Saturn individuals would benefit from ranting & writing emotions they tend to rant a lot naturally even if it’s internally. Let your emotions flow.

💌🕊 Give a Capricorn placement roses and they’ll stand them for a hot minute to process someone could ever do such things for them. (Like yes you are easy to love don’t be so hard on yourself)

💌🕊 Libra placements & Leo placements are more prone to getting caught up in love triangles.

® Hillarysss 2021 all rights reserved ღ

[boys-from-santacarla]

Note; I deeply apologize seeing as this is going to end up being long. Onto the information; My name is Ghost(mainly go by this one), Acid, Killer(more of a nickname), or Gore(more of a nickname). I go by he/they/xe/its, and I'm a dude, MLM and poly so it really doesn't matter much who it is. Born March 31st, being an Aries I'm a very loud and energetic person. I'm also very impulsive and get myself into deep shit, even if I don't realize I'm doin' it. I get overly loud when the topic is about something I enjoy or is into, if I try flirting on purpose it's ass but when I do it without realizing I get called a huge flirt. Big music and art geek, I have sketchbooks upon sketchbooks filled just sitting around in my room. I listen to a lot of rock like Queen, Guns N Roses, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, ACDC, Nickelback, KISS, Slipknot, KoRn, and on and on. Although I listen to every genre of music minus country(although there are few songs I can deal with). Big tattoo/piercing person, if you have one visible I will point it out and geek out about it. Although literally don't ask me to name a few songs unless I've been rambling on about it because I have the shittiest memory. I dye my hair so often it's surprising my hair is still healthy. I have literally bleached my hair, dyed it red and let that fade for a week, then dyed it blue and have been touching up the blue ever since then. If it wasn't due to money problems and the fact it's hard to borrow in my town my hair would probably have my hair a different color every two weeks. I ramble quite a bit and have the shittiest focus and memory, so you may have to pull me to the side and tell me to calm down. Would definitely compliment on the boys looks, specially their outfits. I'm a coffee and monster addict at this point, you'll see one or the other in my hand, and the occasional water bottle because I try to keep myself health. My love language is through touch and insulting people. Ex, "I fucking love you dumbass" or flipping you off playfully as a way of saying "i love you bitch". Smoking doesn't bother me, grew up around it my entire life. I love riding on motorcycles, no matter the weather, is it cold asf, nice idgaf, is it raining, shit lets go. I have a bad(good in some people's eyes) of using petnames/nicknames for everyone. Everyone has a wholesome petname from me and then I'll call them a whore or some shit. I cuss too much for my own good, I literally don't have a filter in my entire body. I will impulsively say shit, sometimes that's a good thing and sometimes it's a bad thing. Due to my anxiety I try to stay away from large crowds, but if I'm in them (aka on the boardwalk) I will have music blaring in my ears and my ears glued into my current sketchbook. Although I currently don't have them, I'm going to add them anyways because I'm going to end up getting them when I have the money to go to a piercer or to get a kit. I want a shit ton of piercings. Such as snake bites(lip piercing), tongue, septum, all of the piercings finished on my ears, and bridge. I've stated once I'm a big tattoo geek, so I want a quite a bit of those. I'm definitely a big "oh let's do it myself" person, and I have tried giving myself a septum piercing. (it would've worked if it wasn't for the fact I did it too low to be able to flip it up to hide it) I love the adrenaline of fights, it doesn't matter if I win or loose, although I do prefer if I win. I literally get the most random urge to fight someone for the hell of it. Probably has something to do with impulsive thoughts and shit, but oh well. I'm a big respect person, I live by the motto "you respect me, I'll respect you". I have blackouts sometimes due to rage and anxiety, so I try to keep myself from having them. I have a bad habit of rambling and saying sorry too much. I tend to repeatedly say sorry whilst rambling as I tend to get overly excited and loud when I ramble. I'm a very talkive person if I know and trust you. If you're around me and you don't get your ear talked off or messed with, you're probably not liked or

you need to leave. It's one easy way you'll be able to tell if I get along with you or not. I kinda have a whatever/punk/alt style, a lot of time I just grab something decent and throw it on. Although you'll always see me wearing a belt and my platform shoes. I'm 5'0, so my obsession with platforms grew because of my need to be tall. I wear a lot of baggy clothing, I'm definitely more of a comfort over style person.

Ok, my dude, I'll definitely pair you with...

Marko and Paul

Oh, man, you three are gonna be some threesome (and not necessarily in the sexual way lol)

Just imagine THE MESS

The boys think you're adorable when you get into the romantic mood and try to flirt but end up saying bad pick-up lines, so they'll laugh, but will twirl their hair as whoerish as possible and follow the game. Or they would get on with their manly act and fight to see who will flirt back better.

Now, the chatting will be so goddamn long! You three will go on 4 hour-long conversations that'll get from a "look at this new t-shirt I got" to "so that's why Ronald Reagan was an alien". The worst part is left to the spectators like David or Dwayne since none of you three will be the sane individual and shut y'all up.

The blondes like your drawing, and ask you to draw them or random stuff and people CONSTANTLY, so you'll have many opportunities to improve your skills and try with different models. When they happen to find some of your sketchbooks, they try to impress you or simply give a small present by drawing you or something you like, or at least make the attempt since some of the "fine pieces" as they call them, they give you are like children's school projects.

And, man, about the hair, are you blessed to have the glam diva Paul by your side to give advice and constructive criticism to your hair. He will help you choose the color and will give it style from time to time if you accept. The process to dye it will be so much fun, and so chaotic; experimenting with the pigments ends up with wounds caused from the bleach and the currently used wardrobe disposed later.

A thing they love about you is that you can stand up for yourself if needed, but they rather you not to, because they know you handle yourself and the others well, maybe too well for your good. Paul tries to take care of you as much as he can so there is no need for you to possibly get hurt. It was enough trying to control Marko so he didn't get involved in some stupid street fight every night at the boardwalk to now have to worry daily about you too. Marko shares the passion for the adrenaline of this and will think it is hot as hell, but he protects you as much as Paul, maybe a bit softer than him about it tho, but if you're in the middle of a fight and it starts to get worse than expected, he dead ass will force you to back off. He'll finish the business himself, sweetheart.

As for your love language, don't worry, these dorks will accept you playful pushes with joy, and they'll give you some of them too. But if you accidentally flip and fall some meters before hitting ground, you know the rule: laugh first, help second.

Oh, and you better get prepared for the bullying. You're the smallest in the group, so that leads to a constant attack as a hobbit. Marko joins the quip, but I mean, he'll get humiliated along. Let's just say Paul gives you two a hard time about it. With all the love of course.

They love to get out with you and the others and go to the boardwalk, but they try to take you out on days it is not that crowded, or in hours where a small amount of souls are having a stroll. But, if you happen to go out on a crowded night, they will keep you focused on having a good time, but just mention your getting uncomfortable and you'll be back at the cave in less than a minute.

Paul and Marko really love your style, they think it looks badass and try to match tough outfits with you from time to time. Giving you cool shirts and leather jackets with some patches on them that they think are awesome. Don't ask why some of the clothes have strange-colored stains on them tho.

They go with you to get you ears or nose pierced from the moment you three decided doing it diy style was a bad idea cuz y'all ended up with a bleeding nose and an ear infection the first time of trying it, and because there's no voice of reason in the threesome, Star and Dwayne had to give you kids a very long lecture of not doing those things by yourself.

[whentherewerebicycles]

i am doing SO much interesting reading this morning and it’s making me feel so invigorated and alive!! one hazy thing i am thinking about today is how much of social media culture (but maybe especially twitter) encourages people (maybe esp young people) to focus on & amplify the negative aspects of their lives, characters, relationships, personal experiences, etc., while sort of tacitly discouraging (by not rewarding as strongly) the sharing of strengths, talents, dreams, aspirations, or the fulfilling aspects of our lives/relationships/work.

these hazy thoughts are attached to some even hazier thoughts i’ve been working through over the past year or so, about how social media rhetoric around “destigmatizing mental illness” may help to reduce shame around depression, anxiety, etc. (i’m not entirely convinced on that point), but in many ways seems to more deeply entrench people in a depressive mindset. the way social media encourages people to talk about & share experiences of mental illness tends to strongly reward divulging painful or negative aspects of our lived experience, while dismissing or not directly rewarding (with attention, engagement, etc.) efforts to share practical tools for refiguring the habits of mind and features of one’s environment that can entrench depressive symptoms. social media culture elicits and strongly rewards expressions of suffering, and it also seems to encourage people (especially young people) to see mental illness (or the distress that mental illnesses cause) as a core aspect of their identity, ie, an essential and immutable part of who they are. it’s almost like, under the guise of “accepting ourselves as we are,” we are encouraged to see our depression, anxiety, bipolar symptoms, etc as part of our “authentic selves,” which i think can subconsciously dissuade us from pursuing treatment or lifestyle changes that could significantly alleviate the suffering those conditions cause us.

i also feel very strongly (and this is anecdotal experience drawn from almost 10 years of working closely with college students) that over the past decade social media culture has normalized depression and anxiety in ways that i find extremely disturbing. many of my students now act as if it is completely normal and unremarkable for a person to live with (and to regularly express) lowgrade feelings of “i hate myself,” or “i’m trash,” or “i want to die / it would be better if i were dead.” it also seems to be much less common for students to talk openly about pursuing happiness, well-being, a sense of personal fulfillment in one’s work and relationships, etc. of course, there are absolutely students who still prioritize those things (i see it in their work & in the way they pursue and talk about that work). but they seem to do so in increasingly quiet, inwardly-directed ways, as if there is something slightly taboo about openly expressing a desire to be fulfilled by one’s work, or about openly prioritizing emotional well-being.

i am getting way too far into the territory of drawing Big Conclusions from anecdotal observations so i will back off for now!! BUT I do want to note that i tend to work with students who self-identify as very leftist (somewhere on the progressive to radical spectrum) and who have an avowed concern with a wide range of social and environmental justice issues. now THIS is the haziest thought of all, but i feel like there is a link between what i am describing in social media culture & the extremely-online left’s obsessive focus on what indigenous scholar & researcher Eve Tuck calls “damage-centered narratives.” Tuck defines damage-centered narratives as accounts of the world, or of one’s self and community, that center experiences of exploitation, trauma, damage, pain, loss, and oppression.

Tuck argues that progressive and radical movements tend to rely on a flawed “theory of change,” namely that obsessively and endlessly documenting the damage caused by oppression will somehow move the dominant group to redress historical & ongoing injustices—when actually, historically, the dominant or oppressive group is almost never moved or shamed into changing course. damage-centered narratives not only fail to produce the desired change, but also tend to leave people with a distorted understanding of themselves and their communities as fundamentally damaged, flawed, incomplete, too traumatized or oppressed to heal, etc. in essence, damage-centered rhetoric teaches both marginalized people and members of the dominant group to see damage as both a normal and essential part of the marginalized group’s identity. Tuck’s argument is not that we should pretend like the damage doesn’t exist, or stop documenting the suffering it causes. but she does argue that we need to think about what we center in the stories we tell about ourselves and our communities, and about what happens to our sense of agency and wholeness when we repeatedly choose to center trauma and suffering in ways that crowd out stories of individual & community power, resilience, agency, and healing.

i feel like there’s some link here—like, some way in which social media culture’s rhetoric around “destigmatizing mental illness” has gotten entangled in these leftist damage-centered theories of change. or maybe it’s less of a direct connection and more like, Tuck’s analysis offers a useful framework for describing what i observe in these social media cultures. idk! still working through the tangled threads of this thought (and it’s possible that the connection to political views isn’t the most compelling part of this observation, just a personal pet idea of mine that i am always trying to fit into this narrative).

anyway i think i just want to end by saying that it is in fact NOT normal for lots of young people (or older people!) to be living everyday with a lowgrade feeling of wanting to die, and that we should be really concerned first and foremost with the political and economic conditions that are producing those feelings, but also with a social media culture that presents those feelings as “normal” and tacitly rewards them. but even that articulation does not feel very precise! because i am not saying at ALL that the solution is to stop talking about the lived conditions of our lives, or the fact that many of us DO live in a state of distress. it’s not the sharing of feelings that concerns me at all (all i do all day is share my feelings on the internet!!! sharing and reflecting on feelings is Good, actually!!). rather, it’s the way in which the sharing itself (of feelings of despair, depression, worry, social isolation, hopelessness, suicidal ideation, etc.) becomes an end point & a “good” in and of itself. the sharing becomes disconnected from, idk, a deep culture-wide examination of the conditions that produce those feelings, or from a culture-wide mobilization to materially address those conditions.

AND ALSO, to circle back to my very first point: when the sharing of negative emotions & experiences is rewarded and treated as an end in and of itself (ie it does not spark further individual or collective action/response), it tends to crowd out (and perhaps even render taboo) the sharing of strengths, hopes, dreams and aspirations, our efforts to build more fulfilling lives and relationships, and so on. sharing and focusing on the positive aspects of our lives does not automatically solve the negative stuff, and obviously we are often going to find ourselves in situations where we don’t have a lot of agency or the power to change our material circumstances. the negative stuff is real, and the way it makes us feel deserves to be closely and compassionately attended to. but i just worry about a particular kind of dysfunctional coping mechanism that encourages us to treat the shittiest, most distressing aspects of our lived experience as somehow central or essential to our identities, while persistently downplaying or discouraging us from cultivating the traits and habits of mind that make life worth living & our personal and collective well-being worth striving for. 

[nekodracones]

Gauntlet: Damned If You Do, Damned If You Don’t

Alternatively titled: Concrete Reasons to Hate Gauntlet that Also Make Me Want To Quit The Game.

I’m starting this post 5 days past after when I had originally intended to post this.  Typically one might say that no one needed to know this unnecessary info, except I can probably relate the procrastination directly to my disengagement with the game this past week, which is definitively directly linked to the unhappiness of my teammates during Gauntlet, as we each tried to hit our higher-than-normal personal prize tiers.  Also, while I stoned like a shitty teammate in WD this week, I played Call of Duty Mobile and it’s actually a decent game that rewards my grinder tendencies, so I’ve been occupied with that.

I should make it clear that while this, being the shittiest discount-period PvP possible, made it a particularly shitty Gauntlet to have to grind out, my points stand for any Gauntlet, in general.  Gauntlet being the discount PvP simply highlighted it’s most hateful facets and drove me to analyse where and how exactly this event went all wrong.

...---...

FOUNDATIONAL PROBLEMS

1. Too little opportunity for teams to differentiate themselves by consistent activity- and possible activity is limited.

In higher leagues, many teams have most if not all of their PvE islands on cool down at any given time.  Some larger islands even see people setting timers for their appearance, just so that they can get in hits before said islands disappear. The rest of the time, everyone just waits for PvP islands to appear once every 3h.  This means that differentiating one’s team from the competition falls to PvPs, which come with their own slew of negative implications.

2. PvP and PvE islands die too quickly and regenerate too slowly.

This week, I watched my teammates congratulate each other for getting hits in on Gustav island.  The typical teammate would only get in one hit, and then have to wait another 4h for the largest PvE island to reappear.  In the meanwhile, they would hit the other islands, and at multiple instances this event, we’d have all the islands in cooldown...at the same time, leaving us with nothing to hit.

Current island health seems like it was balanced for supers, not megas.  When islands appear once every 4h only to disappear after 3 minutes, this seems poorly designed.  It should not be possible for no islands to be open at any one time.

3. The first few islands are worth fewer points for each attack for no reason.

For most players in Sapphire and Diamond, all the PvE islands are equal in difficulty.  Not only is it unnecessary to force us to all spend energy and inner fires at suboptimal rates  at early parts of the event, it also creates competition for the PvE islands with better value, and elicits unnecessary consideration of the conundrum ‘Do I kill earlier islands at terrible rates to contribute to team points, or focus on getting personal points for better value by waiting for larger islands to reset?’  I don’t think it’s fair to force people into having to consider the value of personal progress against helping their team; isn’t the point of a team-based game to incentivise teamwork?

4. PvE is meaningless and unsatisfying.

PvE bases have low point value and take precious time to grind, but are also unchallenging and boring.  This isn’t to say that I think making them challenging will fix this, but rather that their point value should be increased and the work needed to get those points decreased, with, say, a raid button, instead of wasting our time.

5. 70% is a win.

Unless every single base on a team is a maxed base, most bases optimised for strength, under level 550 hit 70% at an earlier point as compared to bases optimised for a longer time needed to reach 70% completion, which are often weaker.  This places forces players to choose between having a strong base, or a long base.  With a single defensive base design meta and the latter being generally detrimental with it’s only benefit being a longer completion time, should it be an encouraged base design?

Should sudden spikes in performance be rewarded over constant high performance?  Does the ability to have a fraction of the team complete bases to 70% a few seconds faster really determine a superior team?

...---...

IMPLICATIONS

1. The deciding moments of Gauntlet occur in literal seconds.

As pointed out, the deciding moments of Gauntlet are the PvPs.  Between two competent teams who spend enough megas to finish off a PvP island in one wave, the difference between a loss and a win is very often mere seconds.  This is bad for multiple reasons.  

First and foremost, 2 minutes (or less!) of PvP every 3h is both too draining over 4 days and too insignificant to excite and satisfy when it happens.  Additionally, any internet connection problems or PG server glitches, which are common, within those two minutes can cost your team the entire PvP.  Finally, it’s idiotic that these few seconds to 70% matter far more than the hours of grinding a team does on PvE islands.  All in all, flying a base a few seconds faster comes down less to skill and more to fortune, which makes it a very idiotic metric to determine whether a team should be winning the entire event.

PvP rounds should be decided by some other metric other than completion time.

2. Longer bases > Stronger bases.

This is an unfortunate meta that has been becoming more and more prevalent in recent times.  It rewards the wrong things- logically, shouldn’t planning ahead and building strong towers be encouraged?  Farms give an unequal % of base completion as compared to actual damaging towers of the same or higher level, as they have higher HP.  As most bases have no hope of stopping recent dragons stronger than their towers, if said base isn’t endgame, it’s ideal that a base backload a larger comparative percentage of HP with it’s farms by having lower level, and hence a lower HP kill island ahead of the farms.  Rewarding poor base building not optimised for damage tower strength seems bad.

Somewhat tangentially, shorter bases are preferentially attacked over longer bases in order for teams to win PvPs.  Sacrificing points and risks taken on larger bases just because they take too long to complete devalues defenders and makes PvPs a pure speed race instead of valuing skilled flying.

Stronger bases should be rewarded instead of bases that take longer to complete simply because their HP was backloaded.

3. Defence is undervalued.

Say you shut down an attack on your team’s PvP island before 70%, sacrificing the opportunity cost of being able to launch your own attack on the enemy team and having it land, helping your team complete the PvP island faster, potentially winning the round.  However, while your defence may screw that one attacker, the next enemy hit to land will probably finish off the island, so multiple defenders are needed to make a noticeable dent in the enemy wave.  Additionally, defences are unrewarded in the PvP, your attacker only needs to kill 70% of the defended base with three dragons; in the case of a failure will likely still score a percentage of points from their unsuccessful attack, and also have the choice to receive an energy refund if they drag out their attack for long enough.  Also you’ve probably spent a bunch of hammers and boosts.

Defence should be rewarded more strongly in PvPs, as dragons and bases are two sides of the same coin (and people tend to spend more on bases than dragons, as a rule)

4. If your team isn’t competing for points, your team isn’t good.  If your team is competing for points, your teammates are selfish.  

Obviously, while this statement, while echoed in the sentiments of many players, may be logically untrue, the reality is that individual sandbagging is rewarded in this event.  In a less competitive team with fewer competitive teammates, players are able to access and earn more high-value personal points with less stress and time management.  This is bad; isn’t the point of a team-based game to encourage teamwork?

One might argue that such sandbaggers would miss out on team prizes, but the fact remains that personal points are easier and less stressful to earn on shittier teams, and that alone makes the sacrifice worth it for some.  Team strife is never fun to have to deal with; some may feel any animosity unintentionally caused by competition with teammates for high-value points is undesirable and wish to avoid such a situation.

More points should be made available to decrease the scarcity of points and hence intra-team competition for points.

5. PG isn’t maximising profits from this event. 

By creating a PvP where some point sources are more valuable than others, PG has artificially caused some to believe that it’s not worth it to push for higher personal prize tiers if their teammates are constantly causing said point sources to be unavailable.  This may cause some to spend less PvP resources than they might have otherwise, since they may think it’s ‘not worth it’.  PG isn’t very good at this comparative pricing thing!

The value of certain point sources should be increased relative to each other.

...---...

CONCLUSION

Gauntlet is a pretty terrible PvP as is.  Most of it’s problems arise from it’s not providing enough comparatively high-value point sources; I’d like to posit that island HP were never adjusted appropriately after the introduction of megas. 

 (Megas are a fine high-value introduction to the game; if I had a gripe about them it’d be that IF costs were never adjusted after the energy pack discounts, and 20 IFs to launch one is far too expensive for how ubiquitous and necessary megas are in more competitive leagues now.  This is probably another post, though.)

Where PvP islands used to take 10+ minutes to be cleared with supers; now they’re cleared in a single wave.  If you’re not clearing your PvP islands within 2 minutes, you’ve probably lost that wave, too.  This is obviously bad.

I’m not asking that island HP be adjusted accordingly, or for PvP islands to spawn more frequently, since this would only increase the necessity for megas in this PvP and exhaust team resources more rapidly, but the PvP should be adjusted for their addition to the game.  

A few suggestions:

1. PvE islands should have shorter regeneration times in general.

2. PvE islands can have shorter regeneration times based on how rapidly they’re cleared by the team, since PvE island clearing speed can be a fair indicator of the activity of the team, and hence their greater need for point targets.  Obviously, this also gives greater advantage to teams with generally higher team activity, since they can kill the same island more times than a less active team that clears islands more slowly.  Maybe a point multiplier to be applied on team/personal points based on how many times each island is cleared?

3. Point value of each attack on the smaller PvE islands should be increased to be more in line with the point values that larger PvE islands provide.

4. Install raid button for PvE attacks.  I’m tired of Krelos being used as an excuse for going half-lazy.  Always go full-lazy.  #RaidButton2k20

5. No points awarded below 70%; instead, a full energy refund is provided.  This point is controversial; in higher leagues this would punish players legitimately trying bases outside of their expected ‘ez point’ range.  At the same time, others disagree that people should get ‘free tries’ on enemy bases until they get it down, since it further devalues defenders.

6. 70%ing a base still remains a win; but no points are awarded until farms and mills are killed.  Most bases have their farms and mills behind all their defensive towers, this solution ensures that no one needs to adjust their base so they’re not 70%ed until later into their base.  At the same time, higher level bases remain advantaged as it would take longer to clear/skip islands before the farms, to kill them.  However, this also punishes players hitting above their weight class, and puts a defensive focus on defending farms.

7. Reward defenders by awarding points for dragons shot down; scaled according to dragon DP as compared to base tower level.  Or something.

8. Let all attacks started against PvP islands land, and have bonus hits that land after the enemy island is killed earn bonus team points, with a significant multiplier.  This is good as it rewards teams that have more attackers online and ready to go for their higher blanket activity, instead of just the speed of their fastest attackers.

Mainly, I’d just like this event to not punish active teams for their activity.  It’s tiring to have to entertain thoughts of leaving for a smaller team every time this event runs.  My team’s really nice, so it’s actually a pretty serious internal debate.  #ChronicSandbaggerCat

[klanced]

Hi! I really like your account and I had a couple questions. I'm starting high school soon and I'm kinda worried over it and some other things, do you have any tips or advice? If you don't that's fine. Oh and, who's your favorite paladin?

Hi hi back!! Thank u for the kind words!!! :3c And to answer your question, if I had to choose a favorite Paladin, it would probably be Allura! I love Keith but by GOD he frustrates me sometimes. Anyway, onto the advice!!

Middle school and high school are VERY different, but the differences tend to be either incredibly obvious or more subtle. Like, the kind of subtleness where you’re in sophomore year and you look around you and you think ‘hm. Sixth grade feels very far away.’

Because you’re starting high school I’ll only focus on freshman year, if that’s okay!

For the most part, freshman year is like a underhand throw. They’re trying to ease you into things. High school, after all, means waking up at the most ridiculous hour of your life, depression, and puberty Really starting to take off. For the most part, adults know that you’re going through more stuff than school at the moment. But it’s up to the individual teacher to decide how understanding they’re going to be.

Now where to start… How about academics? If you care about your grades, freshman year is essential for starting off on the right foot. Most of your science/math/English placement was probably decided in middle school, but your freshman year is where you prove where you belong. Basically: you will probably stay at that level of math/science/English for all four years of high school unless you bust your ass and study and move up. (And by that, I don’t mean moving up a math level during the school year, I mean qualifying for honors math for sophomore year, etc.)

If you don’t really care about that sort of thing, okay. But if you want to be in all honors classes or AP classes for your junior and senior year, you need to start working immediately. My biggest regret of high school is that I spent my freshman/sophomore/part of junior year working in an aimless direction, and just went with the flow. Which was fine at the time, but it came back to bite me in the ass once I reached the end of my junior year and started the college process. You don’t have to commit yourself to one specific college from the moment you turn 14. But if you want to go to a good college, or if you want to win scholarships, you have to start planning and working towards that. I don’t mean to give you a lot of anxiety, but my high school was Very competitive and honestly pretty toxic, and it’s influenced my viewpoint.

On a lighter note, take the time to look at all the available classes, even the ones you can’t take yet. If you like biology, consider taking honors/AP bio as an upperclassmen, and plan accordingly for that. What prerequisites do I need to complete? Do I have to be at a specific level for math/science? When am I eligible for the class? That sort of thing.

Also: finish your requirements as fast as possible!!! I hate art classes, and I put them off until my junior year, which was a Mistake because junior/senior year is The Year Of Electives. Well, at least in my school. So instead of taking tons of cool electives, I had to take this goddamn photoshop class to fulfill my requirement. Freshman year me was thrilled about having a free period every day; junior year me cursed my fourteen-year-old self. God. Hindsight really is 20/20.

Another thing… teachers! Try to be kind to your teachers. Unless they’re raging assholes who spit toxic one-liners or seem to single you out in class just to embarrass you. Those teachers can burn in hell. But for the most part, high school teachers are either pretty nice or completely neutral. Any supposed ‘evilness’ will most likely be your angsty hormonal self projecting on them. For example, I hated my freshman year geometry teacher. I thought she was a b word, I thought she was incapable of teaching, I thought she was annoying. In hindsight, I was just shitty at geometry and took out my frustration on her. I joined my classmates in mocking her and the class behind her back, and my convinced 'holier than thou’ self decided I was too important to ever stoop to the level of asking her for help. Because of my big ego, I only got a B+ in math, and it started a pattern for the rest of high school.

Like… there’s honestly no point in making fun of teachers. Yeah, it’s fun to do, and it helps you bond with classmates but… it also gets in the way of you asking for help. Which, by the way, I cannot emphasize enough: always ask for help. Especially during your first few weeks of school, because again: freshman year will set a lot of patterns for the rest of your high school career. It is essential that you ask for help. Sure, your teacher scribbled some comments in the margins of you B- paper, but she was also grading 30+ other papers at the same time. Do you really think her comments are deep enough for you to fully understand where you went wrong? Ask to meet with her, comb over your paper with her, and walk away with a better understanding of how to write papers. Advice and knowledge like this can only help you in the long run. Suck up your pride and push it down; you’ll be better for it.

I focused a lot on academics so let me touch on some other things… like puberty! For the most part, that ball started rolling for everybody back in middle school. But it’s in high school that you really start to see those hormones get expressed. Everyone goes through puberty, and life, at their own pace. Sometimes you’ll feel like you’re falling behind, but you’re not. It’s not a competition. This would be the world’s shittiest race otherwise. Don’t worry about others, and focus on yourself. If you don’t feel comfortable asking questions about your changing body (because lord knows the American education system will never have an actually effective sex Ed course), google it!! There are always answers for those who search them out. Again: worry about yourself.

Another thing: friends! High school is a place where you’re going to meet a lot of new people all at once. You will make new friends. It’s statistically impossible for you to not make a new friend. If you want to speed up the process, join clubs! You’re a freshman, so no one actually expects you to maintain a totally active presence. Do what you can, drop what you can’t, and carry on. Also: the people you were friends with in middle school may not stay friends with you in high school. I ended up drifting away from most of my middle school friends; I still hang out with them, but we’ve lost a lot of closeness. It’s sad, but it happens, and the only thing you can do is move forward. Every lost friendship makes room for two new ones. I can honestly say that the bonds I made in high school were 10x stronger than the ones I made in middle school. And any close friendships I kept from middle school also became 10x stronger by senior year. My theory is that everyone is their worst self during middle school :p if your group can survive that, you can survive anything.

Finally… some health tips! Take care of yourself. It’s important to try to eat as healthy as you can as early as you can. Again, and I know I’m repeating myself, it helps you in the long run. Make sure to drink plenty of water and do not. I repeat, do NOT. Pull all-nighters when you don’t have to. The all-nighters I pulled during middle and early high school have ruined me. Also, don’t drink coffee. You will get addicted. All my friends are coffee addicts and it’s honestly disturbing how much they rely on a simple beverage. Drink hot chocolate instead, if you must! I love Dunkin’ Donuts. :3c

Anyway, this is a bunch of general advice/tips. If there’s something specific that’s bothering you, feel free to hit up my dms at any point!! I may not be fast, but I’m sure to respond. I like helping :3c

[psychodon525]

Repeat after me: THERE 👏 ARE 👏 MULTIPLE 👏 KINDS 👏 OF 👏 RACISM 👏

Systemic Racism is a racial discrimination by governments and groups with a huge amount of influence in the world. These are the things which keep BIPOC poor, and other similar things. This is what most people on this website cite as being the criteria for whether it's possible to be racist towards white people.

Cultural Racism is where society at large has beliefs about a certain ethnic group, and it's very often basically just xenophobia.

Racial Othering is a kind of racism where different groups are separated from the "norm" for various reasons, positive or negative. "Asians are great at math," "Black people are stupid," etc.

Aversive Racism is where someone just avoids a certain racial group as much as possible, whether they even realize they're doing it or not.

Racial Supremacism is the belief that some certain race is superior to any other, based off their genetics. Most often we see this as White Supremacism, but there's also definitely people out there with Arab Supremacist beliefs, or East Asian Supremacist beliefs. (You know, like how some fans of anime talk about Japanese people like they're the perfect people, and are simply better than everyone else on the planet because they're from Japan.)

Implicit Racial Bias is a subconscious form of racism that we're all victim to, due to the way we were raised, and the society we are in. It's impossible to completely avoid. All we can do is acknowledge that part of ourselves, and work to be better about it, and not act on our biases.

And finally Racial Discrimination, also known to 99% of people as "Racism," is discrimination, prejudice, or antagonism towards other people because of their race or ethnicity. This is what most people in the world at large think of, when they say "hey that thing you just said or did was racist."

So to recap, there's lots of different kinds of racism, and here on Tumbl Land, we like to act like the only kind of racism is Systemic, and if someone's prejudice isn't backed by a racist government and a history of oppression, then it's not real racism. But the thing is, MOST people define racism as "discrimination based on race." When someone has some racially charged hatred or discrimination towards a white person, guess what, it's still racism.

Just because your hatred of white people isn't backed up by a system of government which oppresses white people, doesn't mean that it's not still a hatred of white people based solely on race, and thus, still racism. I know that it's fun to see the world very simply as black and white, good or evil, etc, but when you start deciding that an entire group of people are evil, based on something they can't control about themselves, that's when you start sounding like the real evil person out here.

Men are not implicitly sexist, cishets are not implicitly homophobic and transphobic, white people are not implicitly racist, christians aren't implicitly anti-lgbt, boomers aren't implicitly... All of the above.

Just because it tends to be the case that the people who ARE those things fall into those groups, doesn't mean that anyone who is a part of that group is those things, and acting like they are is discriminatory. It's sexist to hate all men because "well it tends that men rape, and rape is bad, so men are bad." Like you realize that women and poc got the right to vote because a majority of white men agreed that they should, when asked to vote on it. (Yes it's horrible that they didn't have that right in the first place, but listen we don't have the time to tackle THAT right now.)

Rhetoric like that is the kind of stuff that white supremacists and terfs and religious extremists say. As soon as you pass judgement on someone without knowing anything about them besides one of the oppressive groups they belong to, you're not "just as bad," but you're definitely not great, and you're definitely falling into the trappings which make horrible people be the way they are. Men, the group as a whole, are terrible and sexist, but you can't assign that label to any given individual within that group until you actually know that they are. Same thing with white people. On the whole, as a group, yes white people are the worst. But if you can understand that it's extremely not okay to say something racist about BIPOC, then you should also be able to understand why it's not okay to say similar things about white people. Sure, there isn't a system upholding those things, and oppressing them, but that doesn't suddenly make it not racism. It's still super not okay.

Racial Othering, as stated above as a form of racism, is a way of describing that belief. Aversive Racism, also a form of racism, is what you are doing when you talk about avoiding white people as much as possible. Racial Supremacism is what you're doing when you say that white people are just worse than other races in any given way. And finally when you discriminate against someone in any way based on their race, that's racial discrimination, aka racism. There are many different kinds of racism, and yes, it's impossible for society to be systemically racist towards white people, and for America to be culturally racist towards them. At the same time though, there's plenty of other ways that individuals can be racist towards white people.

If you call someone out for their racism, I think we can all agree that the shittiest possible response is, "actually no I wasn't, because X Y or Z." Like... If someone calls you out for saying something racist, how about instead of saying "actually it's impossible to be racist towards white people," you take a look at what you said, and truly ask yourself if maybe you did say something shitty, and should just apologise about it.

TL:DR, reverse racism isn't real, but racism towards white people totally is, because it's possible to be discriminatory towards somebody based on race (ie, racist) without there needing to be a system of oppression upholding that discrimination in society (ie, Systemic Racism). Racism towards white people isn't a problem in Society, but it's still a problem in general when anyone is racist towards anyone else.