#but maybe think about how rhetoric like 'all men are evil' can be used as ammo against you

[ultranos]

I recently read Naomi Klein's Doppelganger, and in it, she recollects how she spent over a year forcing herself to listen to Steve Bannon's podcast in an attempt to figure out why the person people often confuse her with (Naomi Wolf) went from feminist to hard-right.

First of all, let's acknowledge the commitment to research because yikes. But second, she notes that this is a long time problem of the left to infight and now a rise of purity metrics. Meanwhile, the right has seen this and responded exactly as the above posters mentioned: they've opened their arms to go "come to us, we understand you, we know you've had things hard too, we care about you".

It's not a matter of if it's true or not. It's just a lot easier to listen to the side that appears to be listening sympathetically over the one telling you exactly how bad you are all the time.

We know the actual statistics about how much more dangerous life is if you're a woman, if you're trans, if you're a PoC, if you're disabled or neurodivergent, etc. I am not arguing those. We know cis white dudes are playing life on easy mode. But "not coddling" =/= "tearing down with no intention of building back up".

The point here is, and the point Klein makes, is that the left is never going to fix this problem and will even keep hemorrhaging people as long as we think telling allies exactly how evil/bad/wrong they are and infighting is the same as fighting the actual problems while the right is offering community and togetherness.

The right flipped the goddamned script and people need to wake up to that fact that the rhetoric they are using is now being used against them to radicalize.

I couldn't have said it better myself.

[transfaguette]

I ask this in good faith, but how is it that so many transmascs hate the idea of (trans inclusive) radical feminism so much? All I know it does is liberate everyone from the evils caused by cis men and the patriarchy.

Well first I would say this isn't an opinion unique to transmascs, but thats the circle I orbit so I understand where that perception comes from.

The problem is that you really can't excise the problematic elements of TERFism simply by removing the overtly transphobic parts.

Radical feminism, both trans exclusive and "inclusive" hinge on the idea of Men (sometimes cis, sometimes not) are perpetrators and Women (and sometimes, vaguely, some* non-women)are victims. Putting aside the individual capability to cause harm which is easy enough to debunk, even on a societal level this is not telling the whole story. The Patriarchy is a system of societal control and allotment of power, and it aims to control everyone, men included. Most men, all but the most powerful in society, which is capitalist, christian cishetero white men, have the patriarchy weaponized against them!

"Cis men" as a class, as individuals, don't cause evil. They are just human beings. Human beings with equal capability to love and nurture and fight for what is right. Which is the other problem with radfeminism, is that it seeks to strip away this humanity from the people around you, and isolate you. and like...what is a cis man, anyway? Like I know the answer seems obvious, but at what point does "cis man" end and "nonbinary person" or "trans person" begin? What elements of cis-manhood cause evil? Where does that "evil" go when someone transitions or no longer identifies as a cis man?

This is, I think, the fundamental problem of "trans inclusive" radical feminism. In continuing to divide the world into Evil Men and Good Women, you STILL impose a system of gender essentialism in a way that does not coalesce with the ideas of queer liberation. A nonbinary person can be a cis man one day, come out as nonbinary and change nothing else about their life from that point. What then? Are they no longer evil? Were they ever evil? How do you even being to decide that without just using the same trans exclusive rhetoric you're supposedly fixing, anyway? And I'm not even getting into the impact this has on trans men, because we are put in this position of being a marginalized gender and victims of misogyny but also placed in this position of privilege due to being men that is not accurate to reality. And sure, maybe you can remedy that by always specifying cis men, but many TIRFs don't see that as a flaw of the ideology, anyway. They Do think trans men are gender traitors and Do think we inherit some sort of evil power the moment we become men.

And there is much, much more to be said on the topic of radical feminism and its pitfalls. These are just the broad points. The dehumanization of Cis Men as a class is not simpatico with queer liberation and it just never will be. It is a good question worth asking, because it can seem good on the surface unless you know what to look for.

[transmascpetewentz]

Moving The Goalposts: Infighting, Exorsexism, and Transandrophobia

I want to start this off not by getting directly into the meat of my theory, but instead by showing all of you a post that I came across today that illustrates exactly what I am talking about when I say that transandrophobes, and specifically TEHMs in this case, move the goalposts in a way that causes infighting within the trans(masc) community. This is a post by a pretty well-known TEHM whose blog I've been watching for a while.

What Jackson is doing here seems pretty obvious on the surface. He's making fun of nonbinary people who were AFAB because he perceives them as fakers and/or trenders. However, when you take a look at some of the other things that he believes, you realize that it just isn't that simple.

This is a post by one of Jackson's mutuals on here. If you don't know what some of these phrases mean, "trans heterosexual" refers to gay trans people (in this case, it's likely focusing on transmascs, but this rhetoric harms transfem lesbians too), and "trans homosexual" refers to straight trans people. What lavenderlad is trying to do is infantilize non-straight trans people, acting like we are complaining about nothing (maybe hysterical, even) for pointing out the oppression that we face from cishets and cis queers alike.

But it goes even deeper.

This right here is a very interesting post, specifically because lavenderlad seems to have changed his tune completely. As opposed to infantilizing us like in the previous post, he has now switched to transandrophobic conspiracy theories about how we are apparently some sort of dominant societal force despite being less than 2% of the population. My antisemitism radar is going off right now, too, because this sounds suspiciously like your average antisemite talking about Jews. He went very quickly from treating us like we're little girls who can't do anything to treating us like evil, scary men who are trying to invade his space.

He moved the goalposts because it was convenient for him at this moment to contribute to the oppression of gay trans men.

To elaborate, there's a specific type of transandrophobia seen in these circles that Jackson and lavenderlad are using. They are applying both maleness and femaleness to us. They infantilize us like we are women, and use our perceived femininity to justify gatekeeping us out of their spaces, while also using very common anti-gay male and generally anti-marginalized male stereotypes such as us being inherently aggressive, invaders, our bodies disgusting, etc. It's exorsexism, plain and simple.

And I feel like these posts show us how transandrophobes and transphobes in general can cause infighting within the trans community. A feminine nonbinary person might look at Jackson's first post and go "see! trans men have so much better than me!" but in fact, trans men, both binary and nonbinary, aren't actually treated any better. The grass is not greener. Trans men who try to conceal our birth sex and/or transness are considered liars, trying to invade spaces we don't belong, and more; but trans men and transmascs who do not try to pass, who don't try to conceal our transness, are accused of being "not really dysphoric."

Do not be fooled into thinking that transandrophobes would like you better if your gender expression was different. They don't want trans men to be displaying our transness, they don't want us to go stealth, and they don't want anything in between. They want us to be cis. Do not argue with your trans brothers about who society hates more; because society will see you as whatever will prove a transandrophobe's point. Address the root problems of patriarchy and transandrophobia instead of letting infighting eat us alive.

[mizusswordtip]

Down The Rabbit Hole ⚝ Killian Jones x Reader (18)

find the story on wattpad

summary: Alice's plan to overthrow the Queen of Hearts is thwarted by a dashing pirate with a hook. Years later, after the curse is broken, they reunite once again.

masterlist

We'd been walking for what feels like hours when Hook, who's been leading us, calls out over his shoulder.

"Up ahead. We'll find the compass just over the ridge." I give him a nod to continue walking which he returns. Emma and Snow catch up to me.

"Do you get the feeling he's leading us exactly where Cora wants us? That this whole thing's a trap?" Snow whispers conspiratorially. I purse my lips, having been wondering the same thing the whole time. If she'd asked me yesterday, I would've jumped on that bandwagon without hesitation but... it doesn't make much sense.

"It's defiantly a trap." Emma concurs without hesitation.

"I'm not so sure." I murmer over my shoulder. Emma looks at me in disbelief.

"What? Don't tell me you trust him?" She asks, brows furrowed. Before I can answer she fires off another question. "How do you even know him?"

"He was in Wonderland. Cora forced him to blackmail me into leaving Wonderland." I explain shortly, not having time to get into the nitty gritty of the details.

"So why should we trust him?" Emma asks rhetorically with a suggestive raise of her brow.

"We shouldn't. But... I have a feeling that he's not loyal to Cora." I explain. Despite my own gripes with Hook (selfish, killer, pirate, thief) he doesn't strike me as someone who'd willingly align himself with Cora unless backed into a corner. Or maybe I'm just trying to see the good in him when there may be none. "But keep your guard up regardless." Hook comes to a stop at the tree line. I walk up to stand beside him and let out a heavy sigh at the sight in front of me. A giant beanstalk that reaches up to the clouds.

"Let me guess. The compass is up there?" I ask with a knowing look at Hook.

"Oh yeah." He answers, sending a sly smirk in my direction.

"So we climb?" I ask through an accepting sigh.

"It's not the climb you need to worry about. It's the giant at the top." He informs. I look at the others who look at the beanstalk with differing levels of concern. I take one last deep breath.

"Let's go then."

It only takes us another five minutes to reach the base of the beanstalk. Somehow, it looks even more daunting up close. I shield my eyes with my hand from the sun as I look up.

"It's a little freakier than I remember from the story." Emma comments.

"Reminds me of death." Mulan mutters to herself. My brows furrow.

"Encouraging." Snow snarks.

"A beanstalk reminds you of death?" I can't help but ask. Hook looks to all of us with a sarcastic smile.

"Well, your compass awaits. Shall we?" He asks with a wave of his arm.

"Wait. If these beans create...portals, why not just pick one and go home? Why the compass?" Emma asks.

"I imagine if there were beans, Cora would have used one already." I surmise with a shrug. Hook looks at me and smirks.

"Right you are love, there are no more. Whatever story you think you know is most certainly wrong." He tells Emma.

"There was a guy named Jack and a cow and something about evil giants with treasure and a golden goose." She explains poorly. What does a golden goose have to do with giants? Is the goose a gold color or is it literally gold? "Or harp." She mutters under her breath.

"Sounds like a lovely tale. But the truth's a little more gruesome. The giants grew the beans, but rather than use them for good, they used them to plunder all the lands. Jack and his men fought a terrible war, defeating all but one of the evil giants. The beans were destroyed by the giants as they died. If they couldn't have the magic, then nobody could. Certainly very bad form." Hook says. As he explains, the more this story sounds familiar to me. My father used to tell it to me when I was a little girl. I remember calling the giants 'villains' and my father correcting me. Told me that the victors get to tell the story, not necessarily the heros.

"Why doesn't anyone just go up and grow some more?" Emma asks.

"Because one giant survived. One that even Jack couldn't slay." I repeat my father's words. Hook nods at me in confirmation.

"And we'll have to get past him to..." He starts.

"The magic compass." I finish.

"Indeed. The treasure remains, and amongst it is the compass. Now it will guide us to your land. Cora has the means to open a portal with the wardrobe ashes, but she can't find your land without the compass. Once we get it, we steal the ashes from her, then we're on our way." I almost laugh. He makes it sound so easy. As if we can simply pickpocket the ashes off Cora.

"How do we know you're not just using us to get the compass for Cora?" Mulan asks suspiciously. He looks at her for a moment before turning his gaze to me.

"I already told you why." Comes his answer. His gaze is so intense, hard to look away from. There's something unspoken in his gaze that I can't read. I turn away from him to face the beanstalk.

"Then we better start climbing." I say, starting to head for the beanstalk when Hook's voice stops me.

"Right, so, I failed to mention that the giant enchanted the beanstalk to repel intruders." I stop and clench my jaw. I turn to look at him over my shoulder with an unimpressed look.

"So are we meant to fly up?" I ask sarcastically. He gives me an amused smile.

"No love. I've got a counter spell from Cora." He says, pointing to the cuff on his wrists before holding his bound hands out. "If you'd be so kind." I walk up to him with a sigh, taking the dagger out of my boot. I grab the ropes and cut them with little trouble. I make the mistake of looking up and seeing the soft expression on his face that I'm pretty sure I wasn't meant to see. "Thank you." He says, sounding genuine. What the hell is going on? It's hard to believe he's being genuine after what he's done to me and who he's working with. Could he actually be genuine? I turn away with a swift nod of my head. "I've got one more of these. Alice and one other can come along." My head snaps in his direction, breaking me out of my wandering thoughts.

"I thought you said you only had one other?" I ask. He points down to my sword.

"Yes but that sword you're holding wards off all magic so you don't need a fancy cuff." He explains. I sigh and then look to the others.

"You guys need to decide who then." I tell them with a sigh before turning my attention to the sky.

"Go on, fight it out. Don't be afraid to, you know, really get into it." Hook says sarcastically before turning his attention to me. "Afraid of heights?"

"No. I was imagining what it'd be like to fly." I say before looking over at him. My words are only half a lie. I'm not afraid of heights and I was thinking about what it'd be like to fly. My concern is over whether or not my body can handle the climb. Despite feeling a lot better than before, I'm still malnourished enough that passing out is a possibility. He looks like he wants to push further but simply nods his head, accepting.

"Ladies, in this world we are slaves to time, and ours is running out. In other words, tick tok." Hook says to the others. I look over to see Emma approaching, which doesn't surprise me. I give her a small smile that she returns as Hook places the cuff on her arm.

"I'm glad you're coming along." She tells me.

"Why's that?" I ask with a little laugh.

"Well if I trust anyone to kill a giant, it's the dragon slayer." She says with a raised brow and a smile.

"Actually, it's called a Jabberwocky." Hook corrects lightheartedly.

"That's not- not this time." I stumble over my words but he understands what I'm saying if his raised brows are anything to go by. I smile smugly before starting the climb up the beanstalk.

[ms-understand]

Bret Kavanaugh is a U.S. supreme court judge accused of sexual harassment and attempted rape. He like most men accused of this behavior painted himself out to be the victim, in this case, because of politics. As somebody who had a similar, but not the same experience at a party when I was in my early 20's, I believe his accuser.

There's a recent Newsweek article, claiming that the FBI, sent tips on this case to the Trump White House, and that's insane. When you apply for a job, the employer can do a background check on you. The FBI investigation into Kavanaugh was a background check, a background check that was sent to Donald Trump's White House.

Now we are in a place where women's rights are being dangerously stripped away, by a court that Bret Kavanaugh sits on, not to mention Clarence Thomas.

There are millions of men in the United States that feel they are under attack for being men. There are white men who believe they are victims of reverse racism. These men have probably never had to worry about being raped. They have never had to wonder if their paychecks are smaller because they are men or white. They have not had to worry about what police will do to them if they get pulled over for traffic violations.

Men in the U.S. are worried about losing power. They believe they are victims when the privileges they have are called into question. I believe the two major political parties in the US are both guilty of the types of colonist attitudes that are causing problems for pretty much everybody, worldwide. However, living in the states I see evidence every day that these men I mention are looking to the republican party as their saviors, as well as the women who also want these traditionalist ideals to stay in place. They view democrats as evil, because they believe democrats are fighting these ideals.

So, do I think both party's suck? Yes. Do I think they're the same? Fuck no.

It's not right that we only have two real choices. Maybe you could say voting for a third party is a choice or that not voting is a choice, but they are not choices that get results. So, please fuck off with your all politicians are the same rhetoric. It makes me think you're working for Russia (Putin) or something. Maybe you haven't spent time in the US or maybe you're completely out of touch with how politicians operate while in office. Maybe you haven't witnessed debates where republicans and democrats argued over our partnership with Israel. Maybe you don't remember why our military went into the middle east and how the Bush administration lied to everyone. Maybe you've never had to listen to republican voters talk at your workplace. I don't know, but I do know you sound like an ass.

[askgothamshitty]

sorry if this ask is kind of loaded but I feel like I'm not radical enough, I know this is going to sound silly and maybe like bait but this has really been stressing me out 😅I'll see takes from TIRFs online who'll say stuff like "if I had a child and they were a boy I couldn't love them" or referring to men as "moids", or saying women with boyfriends/husbands can't be radfem, and I just don't see how that line of thinking is anything but reactionary, even if it's supposedly trans-inclusive? typing that out I feel like makes me sound like a bootlicker for men but I'm literally a man-hating lesbian..but then I see other people agreeing who I respect and I feel kind of crazy for disagreeing and I'm like...am I wrong for thinking this is reactionary, am I just defending men? but I can't understand how categorizing a group of people as inherently evil does not fall into biological essentialist rhetoric.

also counter-productively, as a lesbian, I feel like this just ends up hurting us instead of men, like men aren't going to care if they're predatory but a lot of what is said can be applied to us (for ex: the claim that all penetrative sex is abuse, although to my knowledge this isn't something that has actually been written in any feminist theory and is a misinterpretation of criticisms of cishet sex? I have only seen people online say this anyway) and I just get extra worried that I'm a predator...maybe I just think too much about what random strangers on the internet say idk lmfao😵‍💫

I’ve come across those types, too, and while I sympathize with their hatred of male violence and patriarchal culture, I do think the sentiments they share are ultimately reactionary. Even if they don’t outright say that “males” are born with some “evil gene”, their thinking leads them to the same place - that men are doomed to become oppressors and that relations between men/women can never be revolutionized. This line of thinking, in my opinion, is still functionally biodeterminist, and thus ends up being transmisogynistic. We can see that in the way they often argue that this damning process of “male socialization” also affects trans women since they were AMAB.

I would not say these people represent radical feminism as a whole, though. Most second wave thinkers did not come to the conclusions that we need to, say, ban straight women from feminism or abandon male children. Although they took the prevalence and influence of patriarchy seriously, they still had hope and believed feminism could ultimately change the misogynistic relations and ideologies that make men, men. And if these online radfems are saying things like, “all penetrative sex is rape”, then they’re indicating that they are simply ignorant of radical feminism, since Dworkin explicitly said this was not the conclusion to draw from her work.

As I said, I sympathize with the core feelings these women are dealing with, but their extreme nihilism and lack of faith in the revolutionizing power of feminism makes them ultimately disagreeable. Add in the fact that they adopt 4Chan slang (and sometimes berate male-attracted women with misogynistic language and slurs), and they can be very off-putting and offensive. So you’re definitely not wrong for (or alone in) feeling the way you do.

[pineapplerightsideupcake]

ah, the radfem blogs.

god, I love familiarizing myself with your guys rhetoric. (Or should I say girls??) (are there any male radfems???) (is it like only women??? Because I’m literally a feminist times 7, but idk what’s going on here.)

I try and exist, and my trans moots and friends and you guys just appear out of the wood work and just be so awful for literally no reason.

like, you guys say trans people are all awful. I’m really saddened by that because that’s a VERY big generalization, you’ve met Trans people in real life before?

like wow, that’s actually crazy. I’ve met what 50+? trans people both irl and online, and they have been the sweetest and also the most supportive people I’ve ever known.

just in life and shit.

and I’m a woman, and I don’t understand your ideals.

trans people have been fighting with us in All gay rights things, it’s literally called LGBT.

like, I agree there’s shit tons of absolutely despicable men out there.

and I agree there’s absolutely despicable trans people too, but that’s life??

anyone and everyone can be despicable, and whatever. Evil isn’t limited by race or gender, evil is just evil.

Am I calling you evil??? Fuck no!

but I’m genuinely confused to why you think trans people are invalids.

what’s the reason? You personally were attacked by literally all trans people for something??? Idk (wo)man

Also am I the only person who’s unsettled by women being called females? Because that’s just ew.

we literally have words in not only English but literally every language ever for women. And just why being referred to females better?

it feels so dehumanizing, I’m a woman. Not a female, and trans women are women.

yeah, I know. Pull out the whatever, but also being referred to male is dehumanizing too.

WE LITERALLY HAVE WORDS for it, idk why we all want to go and use dehumanizing language on both sides.

I’m so confused why you think trans people are “holding themselves hostage to have surgery, because they’ll kill themselves” because that is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard in my entire life, more ridiculous then pigs flying.

who said that, literally I want you to quote more than 20 trans people that have said that. Not radfem blogs, not terf anything.

just actual trans people, and if you can’t find anything! Then great!

“Why are trans suicide rates so high?” Um, do.. do you think transphobia literally doesn’t exist.. literally your contributing to it my guy (girl).

if I can speak to not only 50+ trans people, and none of them literally ever has called me names or anything. I think it’s a skill issue, (translation: you’re doing something wrong.) because like how.

I’ve done DEEP research into trans stuff, for literally like 4+ years.

talked to 50+ trans people and their experiences.

and done deep reflection and also talked with trans people about their relationship with gender and all that.

if I can realize that trans people aren’t crazy. (also, being trans btw is not a delusion. A delusion you’re probably thinking of is more like thinking you’re Elvis when you’re a woman. Or thinking you’re princess Diana when you’re a man. And you fit the criteria of a delusional disorder or something.)

and are just idk existing then what’s the point, I don’t hate you and I never will.

but just why?

also as someone who’s talked to numerous victims of grooming and of other internet predators.

I’ve literally heard of exactly 1-2 trans groomers, and I’m also like 90% sure they were lying and were men trying to groom trans kids.

I’ve been on the web, and in real life my whole life. (Call me chronically online, but this is literally the only place safe from my parents abuse lolzor)

and I just don’t get it.

maybe we live too different lives to compare, but I just don’t get it.

why are trans people so bad in terf’s/radfem’s eyes?

when they are just your neighbors, cooks, artists, architects, coders, doctors, and scientists.

idk 🤷‍♀️

tell me why?

I don’t know what you actually wanted out of this unfocused rant where you accused me of saying a whole bunch of stuff I never said and you just decided I must believe.

I can’t and won’t argue with this make believe person you’ve projected onto me. If you’re actually interested in what I think and why, ask me specific questions.

I can say that I don’t believe every trans person is bad or a groomer. In fact many trans people are perfectly lovely. I think trans people deserve to live their lives free of discrimination and violence and like all people deserve the right to self expression.

Where I disagree with you is how the current trans activism movement is conducting itself, along with concerns about intertwined but broader cultural trends. I believe the current movement is doing more harm than good. To trans people as well as women and the LGB.

If you’re actually interested I’d be happy to explain each and every conclusion I’ve reached and why. But I doubt very much this was a genuine attempt to understand me. It is far more likely this ask was a performance that reinforces your own sense of being “good”. And yet you don’t even have the strength of conviction in these beliefs of yours to attach a name to it. If I really am an evil bigot, you have done nothing brave by sending a long winded anon to someone whose opinions you haven’t even bothered to learn.

[piqued-curiosity]

Funny how all she said is that adults shouldn't be outright cruel to children for believing in the dominant ideology, and you're all piling on saying she "obviously" only cares about the homophobes. She's clarified multiple times she thinks you can and should challenge and oppose kids in constructive ways and obviously still express solidarity for gay kids and help them maintain boundaries, but you're all acting like her original post was somehow incompatible with anything except outright endorsement of TRA conversation rhetoric and she deserves to be constantly called misogynist slurs for 2 days. Funny how when lesbians outright call us dick worshipers, compare bi women to men, tell us the abuse and rape of bi women are not real issues or distraction or "being weaponized" against lesbians, you gush with empathy and admiration for those people. Oh you "don't 100% agree" with those statements but you still defend the people that say them, endorse them, praise them, gush about lesbian loneliness, write supplications for compassion and nuance, and make excuses for how your friends saying and reblogging those things uncritically are justified. And of course intone bisexuals are malicious idiots without critical reading skills if they get "hung up" on how these women you admire heroically belittle our rape and abuse and call us pornographic names, because OBVIOUSLY saying things like that don't make a lesbian "a misogynist", it makes her insightful and complicated and nuanced, and still morally superior to any bisexual male worshipers. Your nuance and "critical reading" only goes one way I think. "Don't be cruel to children even if they're wrong you can challenge them in constructive ways" = THIS IS OBVIOUSLY CODE FOR HOMOPHOBIA IS FINE AND SHE ONLY SUPPORTS HOMOPHOBES. "Dick worshiping bis are identical men and exaggerate their abuse to silence us lesbians" = UGH FINE SHE COULD HAVE USED BETTER WORDS BUT STOP GETTING HUNG UP ON YOUR STUPID LITTLE RAPE OR WHATEVER AND LISTEN NOTHING SHE SAID HERE IS A DEAL BREAKER!

“It’s entirely possible OP didn’t mean to come across that way, so I’m sorry if I’m misinterpreting.”

-how I ended my commentary on that post, showing I wasn’t actually in full attack mode.

I personally viewed that post in the same way I view the posts about bi women you’re talking about. Meaning, this is how I thought about it: I agree with your core message, but wish a different tone and approach was used.

Maybe others viewed it in the black-and-white manner you’re describing, but I thought I was pretty clear (I literally said that if I was misinterpreting the post, I apologise to OP, and never once was all “omg evil homophobe she thinks homophobia is fine and good!!!”) showing that that’s not how I was viewing this.

If you’d like to go start up a conversation with people who are acting in the way you’re describing, feel free. Taking it up with me in particular (despite me 1. Not calling the OP misogynistic slurs and disagreeing with the use of them, so I don’t even think I’m part of the group you’re talking about…and 2. Not even being heavily involved in the discussion around that post) and managing to bring up the “dick worshiper” etc. comments that I’ve repeatedly spoken against and are completely off topic…tells me you just have an issue with me and are jumping on an opportunity to yell at me about it. Shoo.

[falling-drops-of-ichor]

I live on my farm as many of us farmers do! But you need to understand that, say, a cattle ranch of 3k acres is a 4 mile span. A large crop field totaling 1.5k acres is still 2 miles. I'm on a mere 7-acre homestead, but I have both houses and farms between me and the nearest town. My house is pre-civil war construction.

"Used to be a small town..." many farmers do not live by a small town and they live on aged homesteads that may well outdate the one we moved onto. Again, I talked about farmers and someone pushed it back onto urban living!

7 miles to town is nothing if you get out into Iowa straight through to Arizona up to Washington. Even in Kentucky a farm can be even farther, and this is not due to cars - I've been places where the roads are weird because they were paved after the farms existed - but rather because farms take up much more space than townhouses. Those farms with a gravel drive off the interstate were there before the interstate.

Were wagons or horses used? Yes! But here's the thing: I can't ride my horse to town anymore. Only comparatively safe option is a car, but that matter of cars being the primary mode of travel of the era does NOT negate the fact that farms just require more land. Riding into town was done because farms were a distance away.

Especially when you live near a winding river and in a swampy area, like I do, where a lot of land is unusable so by the time the land for farms exists, and the houses and roads are away from the river, you just are going to be away from the town! It is legitimately impossible to make it so every single person is within 1-2 miles of a town and this is something that you need to understand if you want to work with rural areas to improve access to necessary infrastructure... but people who live in town can't even understand the issues we face with mental health, nor have you ever encountered the difficulty of accessing therapy even if you get over the additional stigma in rural areas. By and large, if you can't handle farming, you should just quit: this is the rhetoric of farming areas. Do you know how high our farmer and large animal vet suicide rates are? Can you imagine trying to schedule therapy between sick animals and birthing season and needing to plant hay, fertilize hay, or maybe it's corn or soy, fertilize again, and now cut it. You'll cut up to three times if it's hay which takes up even more of your summer. Farming is an on 24/7/365 job. I have missed funerals because of the farm. I can't take most jobs because the farm comes first - those animals depend on me - and most jobs will fire me if I leave or don't come in at random because of the animals.

All those animals who depend on you to feed and water them, house them, keep them warm in winter and cool in summer, tend to them and treat their ailments and injuries... are not only a high stress life, but your livelihood. If my flock perishes I will be without my anticipated meat for the next year AND over $2000 in lost profit- lost cash I will not receive from sales that I needed to afford feed, vet bills, and even the house's utilities.

The farmer suicide rate is 3.5x the average in America, by the way. Men veterinarians are 2x and women 4x the average suicide rate. In 2021, on average 28 people in agriculture committed suicide every day. You know what that adds up to? My family has lost friends to this. We've had to find new hay suppliers because our usual hay guy killed himself, that happened in 2020. And people in town think food comes from the grocery stores so they don't need these farms to exist, and that chocolate milk comes from brown cows, and that cow farts are killing the world, and that eating meat is evil point blank. Farming is not something that is respected by cityslickers and townies (is that rude? Yes. But I'm tired of being nice to people who act like they know things they don't about my own life), and yet here you are pretending you know things about my own life. My grandfather lives on the old familial homestead and he's about five miles from town, on a winding road that has to go out around his and other farms' property line. That's in South Dakota.

With whatever due respect there is, shut the fuck up when it comes to things you don't know near enough about to open your mouth on someone living what you're trying to talk about. "The solution is to be less spread out" as if farms only take up swaths of land because they think it's funny, or something.

The anti-car culture on this website is so fucking annoying. Like, sorry I want to be able to get around without having to spend two hours taking three buses. Sorry I want to be able to go grocery shopping in the winter without having to lug heavy bags home through the snow on a fucking bike

[daintydreams00]

a little vent,

dont open unless you accept the heightened emotional state I am that is simply exacerbated by my mental illnesses that get massively triggered by events such as political elections

tw some mention of OCD/SI

"God has a plan for us all. God knows best. Trust in God."

I've been trying so so so so hard to not be a cynic right now. SO hard. But it just hurts me because why, why God is this the path you want for the US. Why is being so fearful on election days for the past however many times the norm? Why are people genuinely fearing for their lives rn? Why is our future destined to this fate? Is God not meant to care for us, care for our wellbeing? If God has a plan for us, why does this plan have so much misery, pain, and such a desolate future in store? I just cant fathom God to set this as our future; I cant believe that God wants harm to people of color, women, lgbtq+, the non-wealthy, etc. I truly don't. I truly don't think that can be possible.

And yet the current outcome is so dreary, I can't seem to lose some hope. But maybe God does have a plan for us, maybe this is something grander than our immediate existences. The only way I can reckon with this currently is the belief that God is using this election to show us what happens when we don't trust in him. Not in the strictly "im religious" sense, but more so in the Christian values. Kindness, carrying and loving your neighbors, respecting women, etc. Both the present and past of the US have been ripe with hate, prejudice, discrimination, and sinful rhetoric and I can't help to think that maybe this election may seem like an initial "win" for some people, but ultimately i think the consequences of it will be an eye opener for the majority of Americans, but oh why does it have to come at the cost of so many people's livelihoods.

I don't think God is petty. I don't think God toys with our lives. And I do think that this is one of those many historical moments in which He exemplifies the consequences of human free will being so easily swayed by evil. I hope I can one day make out a better understanding of why this is all happening like this, but honestly this is as good as I'm going to get. I trust in God, but I just pray that he protects us all. People are frightened and worried for their livelihoods, while some are fueling their budding rage and hate with the newfound success. And I just wish, at the end of it all, this is as far as American division gets. I don't know how basic aspects of a human existence have become so controversial and contentious, and it's terrifying. It's terrifying to have a leader who so openly speaks terribly about women. It's terrifying to have a party majority who has been predicted to change so much of the future in such a negative manner. But it's especially terrifying to see how people on the internet just act like this is a game, and that "they won" and now troll and spread hate under people's posts expressing their fears for their future. I thought no person could truly be evil, but whether it's ignorance or true evil, I just can't fathom people being so insensitive to their fellow citizens' worries and livelihoods. But clearly, there's so many of them on the internet and in real life. </3

And in all of this, my OCD, SI, and ED have just gotten so much worse. I feel sick thinking about the possibility that this outcome may have been my fault. Because I didn't do what I should have done this past week. Because I didn't pray enough, fast enough, exercise enough. I don't even want to write more about that because I feel so guilty and so evil and just such a bad person. But at least my arms are all bruised up and legs stinging so I've enacted my punishment for you all </3 im sorry i feel so guilty for this being my fault and I cant shake it.

I guess on the bright side, I think im going to have restriction motivation for the next millennia because of how men being proudly and openly misogynistic triggers me to the core. Starving to be desexualized. Starving to be infertile. Starving to exist in a plane men don't know of. Starving because the curves I have now are enough reason to be frightened for my future. Starving because I am evil. Starving because that's the only way to bring back my childhood.

I pray God protects us dearly. I pray for these upcoming years to not be as tumultuous as forecasted. I pray for everyone to be able to have their livelihoods and dreams safe and possible. I know He has a plan somehow, and I just pray that plan minimizes the people hurt. </3

[myfuturepast]

Do you often have a nagging sense that there is something systematically Wrong (with the country, the world, etc) but you can't quite put your finger on it? That's what intellectuals are for.

Intellectual is a word we don't use much these days. It means someone whose job is to think about society and understand how it got the way it is and explain what our options are for change. If that sounds like something political parties do, yes, but they are tainted by self-interest. An intellectual has to be above the fray, although there are plenty that lean politically one way or the other.

Respect for intellectuals is damaged by how hard it is to tell a real one from a charismatic hustler. These can scale all the way from business magnates and politicians down to guys with a posse of yes-men buddies. And honestly, when someone's ideas have that ring of truth, and you feel a building block of understanding the world slide into place in your mind, it's hard to tell whether you really understand something new or you just want to believe it and you're ignoring evidence that disagrees with it.

I used to aspire to it - not necessarily to be an intellectual, I knew that was not my place, but at least to keep up. It's gotten harder as I've gotten older and I'm not sure why. Maybe my ability to focus my mind on anything other than work has eroded. I can tell something's wrong, and I think that erosion is a symptom. I find myself sympathizing with a lot of the 'late stage capitalism' rhetoric. We don't value, or piroritize, anything but money, and we've been told that's good and right but it only helps money make more money; art suffers and human connection suffers and individuals suffer all while being told this is the best of all possible worlds. Leibniz said that in his attempt to excuse the evils of the world, and Voltaire ridiculed him by saying that in the best of all possible worlds, noses must have been made for eyeglasses. We need a Voltaire to point out that humans weren't made to make money.

[lgbtlunaverse]

*deep sigh* "the idea that mens' attraction to women is naturally domineering and overpowering is a patriarchal construct meant to enforce heterosexual gender norms and should be deconstructed" and "this cultural idea has been internalized by many men and does, in fact, encourage them to dehumanize and objectify women they're atracted to, and so simply saying 'men you're not bad for wanting to fuck women it's ok <3' isn't very useful or effective because it's not adressing the real problem" are statements that can coexist.

As you (talking to trixiejinn here, in case it's confusing) said, these behaviours are enforced in men. They are not demonized, they are encouraged and if you're seen as a man by society you're othered and socially punished for not displaying them enough.

"We call it, "being the Man," because we attribute all of the "evils" of desire onto Men." maybe if the 'we' in question is exclusively leftist and feminist circles, but if were talking about the actual place where this idea came from, patriarchy and rape culture, then these things are not considered evil they are considered natural. And so simply sayng they're not evil doesn't do anthing to weaken the construct you're trying to critizice because it already doesn't think that.

You critizice the OP in the screenshot for "you're not a man for wanting to fuck girls" being a half-statement, but "men are not evil for wanting to fuck women" is also a half-statement that does not contend with the fact that the patriarchy does actively encourage men to not see women they want to fuck as people.

The addition in the screenshot sort of halfheartedly tries with "what's disrespectful is crossing boundaries on purpose" but it acts like those things have nothing to do with one another. It's fine to find girls attractive as long as you don't do anything to cross their boundaries, while superficially true, ignores what exactly encourages men to ignore women's boundaries. Those ideas are linked.

"Men can't even find women attractive anymore without being considered rapists!" is a real talking point being used by rightwingers today, and just going 'men shouldn't need to feel bad just for feeling attraction!' without actually going into why men's attraction to women is so often seen and used as a catalyst for violence, or how men are coerced into performing a particular kind of heterosexual attraction, is just literally playing into their hands. If it's fair to critique op for veering close to terf/swerf rhetoric, then it's also fair to critizice the addition for veering close to mra talking points.

*posts about lesbians/bi women and internalized homophobia* everyone: actually how can we make this about telling men theyre valid for being sexually attracted to women 🥺

[hanzi83]

The “Everyone Puts On an NWO  Shirt” Edition

The last blog I wrote about the right wing shift within entertainment seeping into politics was published before I saw the shit storm after “Progressive” host Cenk from TYT had to double down on what his co-host Ana Kasparian’s reactionary position is and then play the victims. Like I am sure there have been and will be bad faith actors trying to make shit worst, but most of the peers of these people were not shitting on them completely and approaching why the rhetoric is dangerous and covered it on their shows because TYT is an influential platform, you don’t believe me, watch one of their live 2 hour streams where the commercials are literally sucking their own dick about how further they were compared to other progressive movements and how many times they are right, so when they argue in bad faith, and people are telling you to reflect and reconsider the angle you are taken, if you care about the marginalized communities that you claim to fight for then why are these people becoming Bill Maher. A lot of leftists are nice about this to a fault because they don’t want to burn the bridge with TYT, but they are certainly trying to burn bridges with other leftists. Ana flat out said she is done collaborating with other leftists because they get used and get boosted up to trash them. I can understand the Jimmy Dore’s of the world doing shit like that, but the people they are claiming now called them names etc, didn’t call them names at all. Just because people call you out on your bad takes that are conveniently getting boosted up by the usual right wing suspects online, then maybe rethink your position but these people want to be known for their informative stories but incorporate shitty entertainment to get sitcom dialogue off, because that is what we need, more political commentators doing their Trump impression. Let me sum up the situation before I go further, because maybe people don’t get what is going on. I know me expressing myself via blog will make people catch feelings but anything I write or say is just my opinion and my theory. Remember people weaponized the mentally ill shit on me to discredit me but then suddenly think I am credible if I dare question conspiracy theories. The reason I want to try and explain and go through the process, because I have seen my fair share of rebranding with public figures, you start to see the trend and this one with TYT it has been one of those rebrands that feel like one of the forced things on the planet. I never seen it be so fucking transparent, and maybe that is by design because you either die a hero or live long enough to become a villain. 

So let me point out better and more informed people who have written or talked about this have done a good job  and go look at their coverage and opinions about this. I know I am not well versed in how to articulate myself at times, and there are always vultures trying to take advantage, it probably doesn’t help that I run my digital mouth when I feel people are being recruited to joining the right wing side and people will lesser of the 2 evils this shit, which they had condemned if people voted for a democrat. They spent years generalizing Trump supporters, and now when they are ready to pivot to the right, suddenly they promote peaceful shit with people who are being radicalized to tink minority groups are lesser than, So Ana from TYT, did a video a few years back about inclusive language in medical procedures to referring to trans men as birthing people, and if you are someone who has not listened to in depth politics regarding the matter from people in that community and you are genuinely confused and you consume shit through entertainment, especially Joe Rogan who seems like he knows about what happens in sports, now I don’t know shit about it, so someone who is a sports person talking about this issue I tend to stop trying to think and assume these people are experts in this shit. There are people who get funded to go more regressive attitudes and persuade people that way, so now because these issues get pushed by celebrities, who don’t play by regular rules, maybe some of the same qualities but ultimately these people all have an agenda, sure they have talent, but there is always a portion of them that is designed to persuade people, it only becomes obvious when it is something progressive pushed, and if you need an art form to specifically blame, it will be hip hop a lot of the time. So when most people in general don’t care about this issue because it doesn’t affect their lives, they have now convinced people the internet is 100 percent real with what is put on there, and because MSM doesn’t cover it, people think they stumbled upon plutonium, they probably watched a bunch of illuminati youtube videos where ominous music is playing in the background while you show different celebrities covering one eye. They think they are the only ones stumbling across this shit, and because MSM is completely shit with issues, that seems to be the role they have played in a more obvious ways to uplift other alt media platforms that pride themselves on being better than MSM but still pretty much have an establishment show. That is what TYT seems to be about more so than ever, Ana Kasparian and Cenk sold their souls to do shitty sitcom banter and trying to be “fair” to powerful right wingers when the systemic trajectory is by default a right wing system, no matter who the fucking president is. They will say they are telling you the truth about telling you how the system is being more and more corrupt, they show trauma porn a lot of the fucking time, then condemn people for being a bit reactionary when powerful right wingers are normalizing Nazi level shit against them, someone like Ana, who so badly wants to be a showbiz celebrity type, which is why a lot of alt media people who cover news never disclose how some of these big time celebrities and larger than life personalities are just regular people, she just said on her show “If Trump was just a comedian I would support him all day but he is running for president” like being a celebrity, you can’t be a government agent who manufactures consent and a cult. They feel so powerful for dumbing down villains that are a serious threat, but you are not supposed to think that because the “liberal establishment” is making fun of him all day and presenting theatrical cases that are more for the sports entertainment so it prolongs but sets you up for the inevitable because his followers who have large following and social clout, are presenting themselves like this could happen to anyone, when it has been happening to people, but they make it seem like they are actually going to do shit with Trump, and so when his side fights back, they will feel they have been targeted and victimized by the establishment while falling for another establishment person who is probably working with the people who claim to hate him so they can usher in fascism. I am getting a bit off track, but no one checks for my blogs unless it is powerful people who will find a way to mentally torment me for writing down my theories that was agreed upon that would mean I would have to be irrelevant. So Ana and Cenk start a shit storm on twitter and even tried to bait people on their show, and when they didn’t receive a reply, Ana went on the attack to someone who basically said she didn’t want to coddle her feelings when she was the one who started to bitch about birthing people term like it is some random opinion, while so many bills are being passed, the right wing sensationalizing videos online, Tucker basically telling his viewers these people are a fucking danger, these people know what they are doing when putting out the opinion, people pushed back against it, some were not so nice, some were trying to reason with them, and now they present it like “YOU CAN’T STOP US FROM THINKING WHAT WE THINK” in which seems to be one of the worst pivots to the right wing when it has been building for a while through some of their opinions. They fear monger about crime, and even the people who counter them with facts get discredited, but I feel both sides are missing that these billionaires, who fund protests, and fund chaos in school boards, people don’t want to believe these people could fund sensationalist crime for viral moments, that add to narratives of crime getting out of control, but TYT will use how regular citizens are scared and what do you tell them, but considering a few months ago during one of their commercial breaks, Ana admitted when reading a user comment, she thinks they are sensationalizing the crime so people fear justice reform, and I figured she would incorporate that eventually but she kept going on fear mongering about the homeless and the crime, and it feels even people who have to counter her within the rules of kayfabe, they can’t be conspiratorial and act like this shit is done by design, our lives have become a funded reality show, and we are using examples to chastise the most vulnerable, like with that new NCAA right wing spokesperson athlete who is speaking at Turning Point USA sponsored shit to spew paid speech for this political sports entertainment, she was confronted by attackers, and TYT chastises the people in that community like “You are not gonna change these people’s minds who might not be familiar with trans stuff” listen there are legit regular people who have been dumbed down by the system who might legit might not know, but this athlete is in a position where she is probably being funded to speak this “truth” because we assume the politically incorrect opinion is some genuine truth when it has been as funded as overly politically correct shit. And they use these sensationalist celebrity examples to then go the angle of “Look I am not a right winger, but this is why they have a point” and quite frankly Cenk and Ana don’t have the charisma to pull it off, they know they are blowing the remaining goodwill they had to now play catch up with Jimmy Dore and others like him because they can’t admit they want to sell out and go that way, when you have prominent right wing accounts encouraging you to get red pilled, it is not a good sign and because I believe shit is gimmicked,  TYT has always, in my opinion reported on gimmicked storylines that are designed for culture war issues while sprinkling in some real commentary, so now Ana is doing a story where to show she is a credible journalist she retracted a story about Rebekah Jones, who claimed that her son was arrested for a meme but it turns out he was gonna threaten to shoot up a school. It was an obvious smear job for DeSantis, so now all the right wing accounts have been calling this woman out, since the world wants you to go into a more right wing mentality in subtle ways, you now have TYT being “fair” to DeSantis that this sports entertainment patsy tried to smear his name when she has a history of fucked up shit like stalking etc, but to me it feels like an obvious attempt to whitewash DeSantis more and more. I have an issue because these people pretended to be for the left and did some good things but ultimately they want to sell out but before they do, they want to act like they were pushed to it. Pro wrestling 101 for heels. They won’t care because they will get their paydays, but they better realize the aesthetic might be nice, you will be protected, you will use your power to fuck up people’s lives, but everyone in your life will hate you and I am sure a lot of sell outs think they need to do whatever to survive for their families and maybe you will have the aesthetic, but you will feel miserable more and more because all of this to have a lame comedy bit where you and whatever host you have on are trying to reboot your favorite comedies and think your banter is actually fucking funny. 

Now that I have seen my fair share of in fighting being promoted while the world gets worse and then we define these systemic issues by the personality and celebrity involved, I am going to question if the people who are opposing TYT are not gonna find their way to become more right wing down the fucking line. It is not a farfetched assumption. Because sometimes people who cover politics, then come off like marks for entertainment, because that fuels everything which is why everyone and everything has to be some sort of nonstop comedy and Murder She Wrote mystery. Even the stuff with these leaks from the Pentagon, feels gimmicked, like the system wants you to know this information, but because we have to pretend that internet is some underground message board where no one else but you and your friends are into, people then think “MSM not covering this” but then other highly platformed shows are covering it but they really sell it like it was an accident, like if you are not that influential and you are going to lie about narratives, why would I even trust you on this matter. To me it isn’t about country vs country, but people pointing out what each government has done, but each side has to blindly defend the government they are for. When the bad faith factors from all countries are going to algin in the future, like to me people will point out Bush and neocons and act like Trump didn’t have a bunch of them in his administration, and they sell you on the idea that these people hate him, so if you hate him then it means you are siding with the neocons, people think calling out Bush or ex presidents mean a thing when the same players who manufactured consent 20 years ago are doing it again with advanced steps, anyone can say they are anti war now and it doesn’t mean shit, especially when you are palling around with people who clearly advertise more war all the time. They give you shit for playing lesser of the 2 evils, to them also now doing it on a really fucked up level since they are the credible media outlets compared to the “MSM” which makes money but it is basically designed to be a punching bag for other less established sellouts who have their own propaganda they want to spew. I know my shit is kind of scattered, I have so many thoughts and theories, and again these are things I can’t prove so you don’t have to take my word for it, but once I realized the internet and alt media can now be used as a propaganda tool, like all this “anti establishment” shit would’ve sufficed 10-15 years ago, but when you are living in a reality show where the educators are dumbing down the villains and claiming they are funny, I can see the establishment aesthetics creeping in, because these people in the know are fully aware of what the world is going to develop into, more promoted villainous shit about republicans wanting to take away food stamps and medicaid, and yes that shit people should be aware of but they know it is just them promoting what it to come while they actually think the theatrical shit in congress is going to be won when the right wing always find a way to deflect, and a democrat will give into the republicans because ultimately we are going to implode and they just found filler ways to be the reason why it will keep happening. So please spare me the shit of “TYT tells it like it is and they are better than MSM” Same shit goes for Jimmy Dore, I have seen this in wrestling a lot of time, permitted anti establishment people, Steve Austin, in modern times, CM Punk, when a lot of these people are probably industry plants. Some could be used for the sake of good or evil, but I am done pretending these new characters being introduced are just some genuine characters that somehow got known, to me it is always planted from different delegations and factions. Now whoever leaked the Pentagon leaks, he will become a guinea pig of someone who will be fucked with but he will become a new character into the fold. I know I went into a million other thoughts but to be honest when I write, I tend to jot down notes so then I can talk about it in a freestyle way, so even though I am writing a blog I am trying to incorporate as much of those thoughts in here so I don’t have to jot notes about it later in private, even though people are always watching what I write regardless, but everything now is designed for culture wars, promoting Budweiser, Mario Bros, or LEGO by freaking out which celebrities from different delegations will represent for it and we start complaining about it while at the core of this shit, it is sports entertainment and product placement. “This revolution/fascism is brought to you by Mario Bros” but you think people are arguing about the Mushroom head character not having enough masculine traits. These scandals going on feel like the new resume for what is on your IMDB page, like Trump is starring in several television shows where he is being charged with crime, you can’t keep up. It is like I gave up on trying watch every show and movie because I would keep up with the internet chatter, but now that shit is even more gimmicked and everyone has their own storylines going, you got procedurals with Lil Boosie, or Meek Mill, you don’t have to follow past storylines, because most of the time their storylines are self contained episodes. People are constantly reporting on this gimmicked shit. To me the world is advanced and has always been for the longest time, but they have to gimmick how they are normalizing these robot cops to patrol the subways and the streets etc, they are making it official because the world is about to get completely fucked up and they setting the seeds for it, more rights being taken way, more normalization of anti wokeness, justifying brutalizing people in vulnerable communities, present all of it with television show and movie aesthetics and we are too busy acting like characters than actually being human. It is hard to root for anyone anymore, nothing on the surface is ever going to get solved because it is supposed to implode into bedlam, we will have shit being purposefully done like all these toxic derailments, and I will give kudos to people covering it and getting the information out there, but the rest of the time will be spent on people who are accountable and responsible denying being responsible for it while maybe Katie Porter or Bernie Sanders will give them a stern talking to, which will get some social media viral shit to cheer on for the bare minimum. Why would I want to be on this planet, so everyone can fucking thrown on an NWO shirt and do the cool entrance with Hulk Hogan, the funny thing is a lot of you want to join that side thinking it is better to be with the bad guys than being with the losers in WCW, but not all of you are gonna be Kevin Nash, or Hulk Hogan, some of you might be the Scott Halls, where you will have all the money but your psychological issues will always come into play, some of of you will become Scott Norton where you will not reach your full potential in the main stable, you might have to go to another promotion to still show how your true talent, some of you will be VK Wallstreet who will just end up being a background player until they kick you out. If you don’t understand the wrestling analogies, go seek a friend who does and he can probably break it down for you, if they aren’t already being sucked in by the worked shoot in with current stuff, they won’t want to bother explaining what the NWO comparisons could be because they are trying to get to the bottom of why Dave Meltzer and Bryan Alvarez’s motives behind putting out anti CM Punk sentiment. This blog is getting out of control, but the main purpose was because I know most people expected this from TYT, but what outrages me is that all the good work they did or people they helped out, they have been slowly throwing it away and wanted to milk as much out of the progressives before they get gigs where they are propped up and they go further right, and instead of admitting that, they are finding ways to have agreements with the shittiest people on the right and having more vitriol for activists and people who are pushing back at their motives. It is fucking sickening to see people who want to be influential, who have advanced knowledge in the system to play dumb about shit and pretend they are the ones acting in good faith, they started a shit storm for no fucking reason, and then complained about people pushing back and act like they want to focus on the important issues. I hope the money is worth it, because you guys will never be the same. Cenk is the type of dude who watched Sopranos and really thought Tony Soprano is the good guy because there might be relatable mental issues the character has that people can relate to. But the funny thing is a lot of you sellouts want to be Tony Soprano, but you end up being Christopher Moltisanti, someone being groomed to be the next big thing but you have too many issues to deal with because you have been lured into a lifestyle by other sociopaths and manipulated into doing their biddings, and the anger you will have for the people giving you marching orders you will take out on your family members and friends. Now the trolls who hate me, who have connection with people in the system, could show them this blog and they could use their power to fuck with me more and I guess that is the consequence since Cenk is positioning it like he is the one getting punched in the face, and how he doesn’t back down, I don’t take those words lightly because I recognize it in other institutional bosses in the political and entertainment world, it means they will be in a position to be protected so they can run amok on their “enemies” but it didn’t have to be this way, even in videos where it is not right wing propaganda, the comment section is full of people who you would see in Jimmy Dore’s comment section, they are clearly catering to more on the right, and since the online narrative is the right wing are the ones being victimized and censored etc, it is like fairness has been granted when most of the narratives that have existed have probably always had roots in the right wing, to the point of telling people progressive ideas are coming and people are scared because they want to go back to a world where this was not promoted so fucking heavy and it makes me question if some of the gimmicked progressive shit in the system was not always there for the purpose of people thinking the opposite being completely the edgiest of all edges and it is not supported by the system, even though people from the system are the ones promoting it all over social media and speaking engagements, while establishment liberals keep promoting them under them being dumbed down villains, which will lower the guard for how smart these people are. I have heard this old adage in showbiz that “You are no dummy making money being stupid” and look at what the world is, yeah me I am considered a wack packer in the Stern world which has always been used to discredit me, but how can I really feel discredited when everyone who is a public figure is a wack packer yourself, you might as well just have Beetle Juice and Hank the Dwarf argue on the congress floor, because that is what most of these politicians and public figures in general have become. It has never been more obvious and people continuing into wanting to buy into this shit is just wasting everyone’s time because there is serious shit on the horizon and we continuously have to present everything under comedy, like is there not enough comedy for you people out there, what does it really mean when everything is entrenched in comedy. It doesn’t even feel like the laughs for this shit is even genuine anymore, the entertainment has become more worthless and useless to me. And this is what seeps into politics when the world is near doom and bad faith actors are pretending to warn about it while they will be the perpetrators in this whole thing to gain the power they so desperately need to turn this world into complete fundamentalist bullshit. The far right can keep normalizing the shit they normalized but if people don’t protest the fascism properly then they get chastised more than the normalization because shitty platforms like TYT give you the impression that the fight can be happen with the ideas presented in congress etc when they probably know the world is going to implode and not everyone has people looking after them, so people need to be in self defense mode from this shit. More people are gonna continue to get harmed from this rhetoric and no one with these big platforms ever have any real motivational shit to get people mentally prepared for what it to come but people who are far right can have their people enacted and go on the offense while pretending to play the defense so they don’t seem like monsters for the shit they are advocating for. I don’t know what the solutions are, I never wanted to be alive for the longest time, and I really don’t want to see this shit play out the way the people in charge want it played out. What hope is there? I am beyond escaping through entertainment, when the entertainment itself is a reminder of where the world is going as well and all the bullshit attached to it. Again I have to put disclaimers that I am not dangerous, I don’t have any weapons, I am being monitored most likely so the ones doing it can confirm, because anything you say about the system and its players, they will try do some shit to smear you at the behest of other powerful people who are getting angry I put this out but the only saving grace is most of the masses won’t know this blog exists, but just the mere fact that I am presenting it with the idea that I can’t confirm every single thing and I am being a little conspiratorial, does anger people and you bet they have people keeping an eye out on whatever I do, they probably monitor everyone and keep a dossier on them, figuring out how they could use them to be a patsy for some shit to further their agendas. The real ones know my true nature and what kind of propaganda I had to beat that was taking me over at times, they know I am not this violent dangerous person. But they will try to paint me as that, since that is what my trolls have notoriously done that if you look up my name, you see those negative stories, and to me that was designed that if Stern ever gets exposed for the shit he did to me, people looking up my name will see this false photoshop of me beating up people and labeled under “Hanzi beat up a gay couple at wild wings” they haven’t done this in a while but just having that in the public sphere, and anyone who has resources can check my background and see if I have been arrested, powerful people have dossiers on everyone. But there is a reason why my blogs and podcasts and tweets are not boosted up at all and it probably still makes them mad that I am putting effort into putting out podcasts, blogs and trying to be creative, because I am supposed to feel less than since I am not supposed to be boosted up on any level. People having their echochamber of celebratory shit can only be the ones to be propped up but even they are not fully happy because they don’t know if people genuinely find them funny or is it for quid pro quo “I’ll socially put you over but you have to laugh the shit I say”. If I do die, this shit will be out there to live on for people to read after the fact. Maybe in a next life or some shit it will be better since this timeline won’t seem to get better for me because of how the world will play out.

[stoneantler]

tw: rape, t///e///r///f///ism

Obviously the big problem with t//e///r///f///s is the transphobia, but it’s worth mentioning how awful they are about rape victims too.

One thing I’ve noticed in the past few months of checking in on these people and religiously blocking them, is that they’re the only group on tumblr that openly talks about rape anymore. There used to be a few blogs dedicated to providing support to survivors. Those have largely collapsed under the stress the work they were doing and no one ever really stepped up to take their place. That’s not an indictment of those blogs; I’m incredibly grateful for the support they provided at the time.

But that’s left t///e///r///f///s as the only ones openly talking about rape and abuse, which I think reels in a lot of young survivors looking for spaces where they can talk about their trauma. Or maybe it’s the other way around, young survivors on here are talking about their trauma and the t///e///r//f///s find them and start supporting them.

But the rhetoric they use around rape is really ugly and frightening. A lot of the posts about sexual violence, as you might expect, are wishing death and torture on rapists. This is pretty standard fair though it’s also always wrapped up language like “see this is just how men are, they can’t be stopped, they can’t change, they need to be prevented from committing violence with violence,” which is not a helpful rape prevention strategy. Though I don’t think t///e///r///f///s are actually interested in ending rape or rape culture. They’re interested in taking refugees from mainstream culture and radicalizing them.

There’s also a lot of strong messaging about how rape ruins women. I’ve seen posts saying that rape is worse than murder and how it’s literally impossible to recover from being raped. The t////e///r///f message from rape victims is that you’ve been irrevocably damaged and your suffering is eternal. How is that any different than, I don’t know, someone’s grandpa who thinks that a woman who’s been raped can’t get married anymore because she’s damaged goods?

But how does this hook any survivor looking for support, you may wonder? The message is deeply depressing and hopeless. But I think they’re reaching out to victims who are invalidated by the culture around them. As a survivor, you receive all this messaging that what happened to you wasn’t so bad, that you’re exaggerating, that you’re being dramatic, etc. Being constantly invalidated makes the trauma of what happened cut deeper and deeper, and gives survivors a keener sense that something is wrong with them. T///e///r///f///s come in and say, “there’s nothing wrong with you, it’s just that you’ve been destroyed by someone evil. It’s natural and expected to be damaged goods forever after that.” And I’ll admit, it feels like that sometimes it really does. But that feeling isn’t forever.

The answer to rape victims being invalidated is not to tell them that they are ruined, but to tell them that they are seen and heard. That whatever happened was bad enough for them to feel ruined and hopeless, but to remind them that they are not ruined and the world is not hopeless. It’s so fucking evil to me that t///e///r///f///s are looking at hopeless frightened hurting survivors and refusing to give them hope. And the thought that survivors are being indoctrinated into t///e///r///f//ism through the abuse they’ve experienced makes me ill to my stomach. And I don’t want to take away the agency of people who have been indoctrinated via this route. They made a choice. But also, their vulnerability was taken advantage of in a culture that has very little room for survivors.

[lycandrophile]

it’s wild to me that someone can tell a story about a cis man being transphobic to a trans man and then come to the conclusion that the moral of the story is “men are vile”. like, there are two men in this story and one of them is literally the victim of it. how do you think that helps him?

just goes to show that even people who truly want to support the trans men in their life are so deep in the “all men are evil” brain rot that they end up both demonizing the trans man by demonizing manhood and misgendering the trans man by talking about “men” as a group that everyone else is meant to understand he doesn’t belong to.

so much of tiktok (and the internet in general) is just a deeply depressing case study of what happens when you spend the formative years of your life believing that the thesis of feminism is “men bad” and not, like, “all people deserve liberation from gender hierarchies and equal opportunities to thrive”.

“men bad” rhetoric will absolutely never help the trans men in your life; if anything, it’ll just hurt them. so maybe, if you actually give a shit about trans men, leave that rhetoric in the past, especially when you’re specifically talking about a trans man.

cis men are not abusive toward trans men because they’re men and men are evil. cis men are abusive toward trans men because they’re cis and have power over us which they can and will use to assert their place above us in the gender hierarchy. cis women do this too because it’s not something innate to manhood that drives that behavior, it’s the power-hunger of cisness.

[feminist-furby-freak]

Alright first of all. This was a commentary on how man-centered our society is that we even refer to lesbians (and saphics) as "non-men" reinforcing male as the default. Yet we never do the inverse calling men "non-women." It actually had nothing to do with "transfems." But now that we're on the topic:

This whole idea that radfems/gcs just don't talk to "transfems" or trans-identifying people is bullshit. Believe it or not many of us, including myself, belived in transgenderism and gender ideology until we got into the real world and started meeting trans identifying people and seeing the actual harms it caused. Most of us fought against becoming gender critical until we couldn't ignore reality and our own morals any longer. Yeah it would be convenient to say everyone who disagrees with you is just uneducated or just hasn't met real people but in my experience it's the opposite. I'm literally a gender studies major at one of the most "woke" universities in the entire world.

I don't think (some) "transfems" prey on lesbians they do prey on lesbians. I've been preyed on, sexually harassed and almost sexualy assaulted by TIMs. When I tried to speak about my experience I was told by my progressive leftist friends to essentially shut up about it. I am far from the only lesbian with this experience.

"Cotton ceiling" rhetoric is by definition rape culture. It literally refers to women's cotton underwear as a barrier to be penetrated, as something TIMs like yourself are being unfairly denied. "Cotton ceiling" rape culture, ideas like "if you like a strap you have to like a penis it's the same thing!" and "you can't know you don't like dick if you don't try it" and "you need to overcome your biases" and "if you don't sleep with someone because you aren't into their genitals you are a bigot/fetishist." This is rape culture! This is telling women they're not allowed to say no (of course you can still say no, we're not MAKING you do anything we'll just call you an evil terf if you don't). This is how I was almost coerced into non consensual sex with a TIM (a bit of a longer story) because he slowly broke down my boundaries with this "logic" even though he knew I didn't want it maybe if he called me a terf enough I would say yes. As a refresher, consent is enthusiastic, informed, specific, and revokable for any reason. Women's bodies aren't public property that you are entitled to!

Has anyone genuinely ever seen gay/bi men called non-women loving non-women ever. Like even a singular time unironically?