#community and love shouldnt be radical

[finchilyflawless]

It all starts with one choice: to care

[bonefall]

quick question. Rn fire alone feels like the obvious "good" choice ("I want people to be able to choose who they love and I want to be kind. We maybe shouldnt kill kits while we're at it?") and thistle feels like the "bad" choice ("I want apprentices to die bc theyre half clan and and screw moms having rights. Oh those rlly important kits that got killed? Yeah they deserved it lol.")

So what reasons would a cat want to support Thistle's law, and what reasons would a cat not want to support Fire alone?

By our standards they're the obvious good and bad choices... but really, I've met a lot of people who support the 'obvious bad choice' irl too.

Like, this line here you wrote,

"I want people to be able to choose who they love and I want to be kind. We maybe shouldnt kill kits while we're at it?" = Say this verbatim at Thanksgiving to your homophobic, anti-healthcare uncle and you unlock the Bonus Slurs.

Remember that there's not always two 'equal sides' to an argument. That's a trap; not every position is logical. Spite, fear, and anger are GREAT political motivators. Thistle Law is ur-Fascism adapted for Clan society, kept simple so I could tell a story with it.

So lemmie run through everything you wrote, I'm going to write dialogue here as if a Thistle Law supporter is responding (so obvious CW for sexism and control and general garbage!!);

"I want people to be able to choose who they love and I want to be kind. We maybe shouldnt kill kits while we're at it?"

"So you want to destroy our Clans and culture?? This isn't kindness, it's pathetic. You want to let [ThemClan] invade us and kick [UsClan] out of our own home. And don't pretend like I want to kill kits, YOU'RE the one who wants our kits not have four Clans to be part of."

"I want apprentices to die bc theyre half clan and and screw moms having rights. Oh those rlly important kits that got killed? Yeah they deserved it lol."

"What?! The Warrior Code has bound our loyalty for generations and kept us together longer than you've been alive. Wayward warriors need to be punished for disloyalty, and there would be plenty of toms in their own Clans if we hadn't ended kit stealing. If those kits really were so important, StarClan shouldn't have been entrusted to some lying, delusional wench of a mother!"

They deflect a lot. Everything goes back to anger and accusations. Even a character like Hawkfrost, who would be more capable of making 'rational' arguments than this person, is harboring a lot of disgust or fear in them.

The emotions are important. Their arguments aren't convincing, they're charged. You're supposed to get angry and start yelling back at them, it triggers their feelings of persecution, and only makes them dig in even further as they feel like the whole world is delusional and only THEY have the truth.

So it's important to stress; You cannot 'fix' these people. There is no successfully 'won argument'. Do not engage with them. Their minds are only changed when they start seeking different viewpoints, and when there's resources for them to get away on their own.

(It is why a lot of real antifascist work has to do with stabilizing communities in poverty and combating loneliness. Economic anxiety and having no other support system are GREAT ways to prevent radicalized people from leaving the 'cult'.)

So... if Thistle Law doesn't make sense to you? Good. It's not supposed to. I hope that I can help people to understand that, y'know?

[gnomesbian]

>be me

> be a fruit

> im 21

> taken

> i have something called c-DID and autism so my genders a fuckin messss lol rip

> lucille is our collective name here. feel free to ask whos fronting, though!!

> he/him/his & it/its & neos only

> ooooh homophobes wanna punch me so bad it makes them look stupid

> yeah this is your only life on earth.. thats right. you only get one chance. you shouldnt spend it wallowing in misery and hatred. you need to Open your heart & mind and accept yourself & people different from you. mspec lesbians are lesbians just as much as a ""gold star"" lesbian. we're all just dykes and fags until the end of time and homophobes dont see anything else.. solidarity with your community, now. appreciate trans women NOW. they are the only reason we have this community. theyre the building blocks, theyre the structure and frame. they built this city, and we must rock and roll in the name of love. cmon guys dont we all like things in common? stop hating each other. it isnt cool ♡ love yrself & yr neighbor NOW and radicalize yrself with LOVE

[viaviv124]

My family sees passive intolerance about the lgbtq movement as an opinion and i want to cry.

Like they're going "everyone should love who they want" and in the same breath say how the lgbtq community is too overrepresented and too radical at times. They basically compared it to climate activists that glue themselves to the street for attention. They also justify the shit jk rowling does with "That's her opinion" and are very vocal with the "transfems shouldnt be able to join women's sports teams" thing but like in a deragotrory way.

I am also the only lgbtq person in the entire family. End me.

[danielnelsen]

i dont wanna see people talking about how harmful discourse doesnt actually bleed into real life, because last year during the public survey on marriage equality in australia, there was a huge amount of blatant homophobia everywhere, and people in my uni’s lgbt group told me and my boyfriend that it was gross when we (lightly) made out.

it’s not a matter of whether you’d call the same expression of pda between straight people gross or not. that’s not a valid argument here. the fact is that we had nowhere that was safe outside of that room where we could actually express that we cared about each other. what we were doing was not inappropriate and it didnt infringe on the experience of any other people in the room; we were not touching anywhere intimate, we were not removing any clothing, we were not making any noise, etc, yet we were told we were disgusting in a place that was designed to be safe for, among other groups, gay men.

im not hardline on too many discourse topics because, frankly, most things just arent worth it. this isnt a sentiment that im targeting at anyone other than people who have a problem with gay pda. but there is nothing gross or harmful about two gay men being physically affectionate with one another.

[transsexual-experiences]

like, i think there is no norm for what it means to be a trans person. at all. trans people have a lot of pressure to do a lot of things at once- ive been pressured to transition, to not transition, to detransition, or to be a different kind of trans at different times.

on one hand, the only common norm for trans people is, in fact, medical transition. the idea is that we have to have a lot of years of hrt, post op for bottom surgery if you’re mtf and top surgery if you’re ftm. there is pressure to do that and the assumption that you want to, within trans communities and outside trans communities. if you are trans you should want to transition and do it.

however, there is the pressure to not transition, even in a trans positive way. just love yourself! you should be ok being feminine/masculine!!! gender is a social construct!!! gender isnt real!!!!!! your natural body should be celebrated and you should just accept it!!! the idea is that inside trans communities, it is more radical to “deviate from the norm” of transitioning, because that politicalness of it is valued more over the people, and if you deconstruct gender you’ll go to the “default” of gender non conformity ~natural sex~, but its not always phrased like that. from cis people, it comes off as “why cant you just accept yourself as a man with boobs or a woman with a deep voice?”

both of these exist at once. transitioning is the norm, not transitioning is the norm. there are so many norms and expectations and also none. there is nothing to normalize in contrast to something else, and maybe we shouldnt be normalizing things to begin with

the way i feel about “normalize not transitioning” and its backlash is. hm. complicated. to say the least

[iridescentides]

hi again dia! happy first day of december ❤️💚 i wanted to ask you what, in your opinion, are the 5 most underrated dcoms? i remember you saying before that you've watched all of them so i'd love to hear your opinions 😊 - 🎅🎁🎄

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH secret santa you are so good! asking me all the best questions 💜

okay so i literally had to make a list of all the dcoms i consider underrated and then narrow down a top 5. theres lots of dcoms that i love, but that i think got the right amount of attention and care (like lemonade mouth and the teen beach movies, for example), so this list just focuses on ones that deserved more hype for their quality level.

5. The Cheetah Girls: One World (2008)

okay so even as i type this i feel like a hypocrite. i have only watched this movie one time. BUT i can acknowledge that its one of the most criminally underrated dcoms ever, tons of people didnt watch it simply because raven wasnt in it. thats why i avoided it as a child, and i didnt get around to watching it until i did my big dcom binge in 2016. and it was so good. theres a really long post floating somewhere around tumblr full of specifics on why its actually the best cheetah girls movie (my favorite is the second one purely out of nostalgia), so to paraphrase some points from that post:

its a solid example of cultural appreciation, rather than appropriation, as the girls go and learn about bollywood and indian culture together

the indian characters arent treated like props or unimportant sides, they get their own agency and storylines that are important

the songs are good!!!

basically this movie was overlooked and slept on even though in terms of role modeling and social value, and just like the first two cheetah girls movies it was important and impactful.

4. Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure (2011)

okay so as someone whos very neutral and occasionally negative-leaning towards the hsm franchise (mostly bc its overhyped and not really representative of all dcoms), i was pleasantly surprised by sharpays fabulous adventure. this is another one that i know lots of people skipped right over and dont hold with as much esteem as the main hsm franchise, and that doesnt sit right with me.

i do not agree with the “uwu sharpay was the real victim in hsm” arguments bc in their efforts to look galaxy brained the people who say that overlook the fact that she was a rich white woman who used her power and status to exercise control over opportunities that should have been fairly and freely available for all; they were not “making a mockery of her theater” in the first movie, they were literally just kids who wanted to try out a new school activity that everyone was supposed to be allowed to participate in; and despite allegedly learning her lesson and singing we’re all in this together with everyone at the end of the first movie, she literally showed no growth in the second movie as she fostered an openly hostile environment and favored troy so heavily that it literally cost him his friends, all as part of yet another jealous plan to take things away from people who already have less than her. she was NOT the victim in the main franchise, and she did not seem to exhibit any growth or introspection either.

and that!!! is why sharpays fabulous adventure was so important. in focusing on sharpay as the main character, they finally had to make her likeable. they did this by showing actual real growth and putting her outside of her sphere of influence and control. we saw true vulnerability from her, instead of the basic ass “mean girl is sad bc shes actually just super insecure” trope (cough cough radio rebel), and this opened us up to finally learn about and care about her character. throughout the movie we see her learn, from her love interests example, how to care for others and be considerate. she faces actual adversity and works through it, asking herself what she truly wants and what shes capable of. and in the end, when she finally has her big moment, we’re happy for her bc she worked hard to get there. she becomes a star through her own merit and determination, rather than through money and connections. this movie is not perfect by any means, but it is severely underrated for the amount of substance it adds to sharpays character.

3. The Swap (2016)

okay i know im gonna get shit for this but thats why its on this list!!! just like sharpays fabulous adventure, its not perfect and definitely misses the mark sometimes, but it deserves more attention and love for all the things it did get right!

the swap follows two kids who accidentally switch bodies because of their emotional attachment to their dead/absent parents’ phones. and while i normally HATE the tv/movie trope of a dead parent being the only thing that builds quick sympathy for a young character, they definitely expanded well enough to where we could root for these kids even without the tragedy aspect. we see them go through their daily struggles and get a feel for their motivations as characters pretty well. as a body switching movie, we expect it to be all goofy and wacky and lighthearted, but it moves beyond that in unexpected ways.

the reason the swap is on this list is for its surprisingly thoughtful commentary on gender roles. its by no means a feminist masterpiece, and its not going to radicalize kids who watch it, but it conveys a subtle, heartfelt message that deserves more appreciation. the characters struggle with the concept of gender in a very accurate way for their age, making off-base comments and feeling trapped by the weight of expectations they cant quite put their finger on. we watch them feel both at odds with and relieved by the gender roles they are expected and allowed to perform in each others bodies, and one of the most interesting parts of the movie to me is their interactions with the other kids around them. as a result of their feeling out of place in each others environments, the kids inadvertently change each others friendships for the better by introducing new communication styles and brave authenticity. 

the value of this movie is the subtle, but genuine way it shows the characters growing through being given the space to act in conflicting ways to their expected norms. ellie realizes that relationships dont have to be complex, confusing, and painful, and that its okay to not live up to appearances and images. jack learns that emotional expression is good, healthy, and especially essential to the grieving process. one of the most powerful scenes in the movie comes at the end where, after ellie confronts jacks dad in his body, jack returns as himself to a very heartfelt apology from his father for being too hard on him; the explicit message (”boys can cry”) is paired with an open expression of love and appreciation for his kids that he didnt feel comfortable displaying until his son set an example through honest communication. this is such an empowering scene and overall an empowering movie for kids who may feel stuck in their expected roles, as it sets a positive example for having the courage to break the restrictive societal mold. for its overall message of the importance of introspection and emotional intelligence, the swap is extremely underrated.

2. Freaky Friday (2018)

this is my favorite dcom, and probably my favorite movie at this point. ive always assigned a lot of personal value to this movie (and i love every freaky friday in general), for the message of selfless familial love and understanding. i know i can get carried away talking about this topic; i got an anon ask MONTHS ago asking me about the freaky friday movies and i wrote a super super long detailed response that i never posted bc i didnt quite finish talking about the 2018 movie. and thats bc on a personal level, i cant adequately convey all the love i have for this movie. so i will try to keep this short.

first lets state the obvious: the reason people dont like this movie is bc its not the lindsay lohan version. and i get that, to an extent, bc i also love the 2003 version and its one of my ultimate comfort movies, and grew up watching it and ive seen it a billion times. i even watched it a couple days ago. but the nostalgia goggles that people have on from the early 2000s severely clouds their judgement of the wonderful 2018 remake.

yes, the 2018 version is dorky, overly simplistic plot wise, a bit stiff at times, and super cheesy like any dcom. the writing isnt 100% all the time. the narrative takes a couple confusing turns. the song biology probably shouldnt have been included. i understand this. but at the heart of it all, this movies value is love. and its edge over all the other freaky friday movies is the songs.

on a personal level, the movie speaks heavily to me. i cried very early into my first viewing of the movie bc i got to see dara renee, a dark-skinned, non-skinny actress, playing the mean popular girl on disney channel. that has never happened before. growing up, i saw the sharpays and all the other super thin white women get to be the “popular” girls on tv, and ultimately they were taken down in the end for being mean, but that doesnt change the fact that they were given power and status in the first place for being conventionally beautiful. so, watching dara renee strut around confidently and sing about being the queen bee at this high school got to me immediately. and in general, the supporting cast members of color really mean a lot to me in this movie. we get to see adam, an asian male love interest for the main character. we have a second interracial relationship in the movie with katherines marriage to mike. ellies best friend karl is hispanic. and we see these characters have depth and plot significance, we see them show love, care, and passion for the things they value. the brown faces in this movie are comforting to me personally. additionally, the loving, blended family dynamic is important to me as someone in a close-knit, affectionate step-family.

but on a more general level, this movie is underrated for its skillful musical storytelling and the way it conveys all kinds of love and appreciation. in true freaky friday fashion, we watch ellie and katherine stumble and misstep in their attempts to act like each other. its goofy and fun. but through it all, the music always captures the characters’ intimate thoughts and feelings. the opening song gives us a meaningful view into ellie and katherines relationship and the fundamental misunderstandings that play a role in straining their connection. ellie sings about how she thinks her mom wants her to be perfect, and her katherine sings about all the wonderful traits she sees in her daughter and how she wants her to be more open and self assured. this is meaningful bc even as theyre mad at each other, the love comes through. the songs continue to bring on the emotional weight of the story, as ellie sings to her little brother about her feelings of hurt and abandonment in her fathers absence. the song “go” and its accompanying hunt scene always make me cry bc of the childlike wonder and sense of adventure that it brings. for the kids, its a coming of age, introspective song. for katherine who gets to participate in ellies body, its a reminder of youth and the rich, full life her daughter has ahead of her. she is overcome with excitement, both from getting to be a teenager again for a day, and from the realization that her daughter has a support network and passions that are all her own. today and ev’ry day, the second to last song, is the culmination of the lessons learned throughout the movie, a mother and daughters tearful commitment to each other to love, protect, and understand one another. the line “if today is every day, i will hold you and protect you, i wont let this thing affect you” gets to me every time. even when things are hard and dont go according to plan, they still agree, in this moment, to be there for each other. and thats what all freaky friday stories are ultimately about.

freaky friday 2018 is a beautiful, inclusive, subversive display of familial love, sacrifice, and selflessness, and it is underrated and overlooked because of its more popular predecessor.

1. Let It Shine (2012)

this is another one of my favorite dcoms and movies in the whole world. unlike the other movies on this list, it is not the viewers themselves that contribute to the underrated-ness of this movie. disney severely under-promoted and under-hyped this movie in comparison to its other big musical franchises, and i will give you five guesses as to why, but youll only need one!

let it shine is the most beautifully, unapologetically black dcom in the whole collection. (i would put jump in! at a notable second in this category, but that one wasnt underrated). this movie was clearly crafted with care and consideration. little black kids got to see an entire dcom cast that represented them. the vernacular used in the script is still tailored mostly to white-favoring audiences, but with some relevant slang thrown in there. in short, the writers got away with the most blackness they were allowed to inject into a disney channel project.

the story centers on rap music and its underground community in atlanta, georgia. it portrays misconceptions surrounding rap, using a church setting as a catalyst for a very real debate surrounding a generational, mutlicultural conflict. this was not a “safe” movie for disney, given its emphasis on religious clashes with contemporary values. it lightly touches on issues of image policing within the black community (cyrus’s father talking about how “our boys” are running around with sagging pants and “our girls” are straying away from god), which is a very real and pressing problem for black kids who feel the pressure (from all sides) of representing their whole race with their actions. its a fun, adorable story about being yourself and staying true to your art, but also a skillful representation of struggles unique to black and brown kids and children from religious backgrounds.

on top of crafting a fun, wholesome, thoughtful narrative and likeable protagonists, let it shine brought us what is in my opinion the BEST dcom soundtrack of all time. every single song is a bop. theyre fast, fun, and lyrically engaging. “me and you” is my favorite disney channel song of all time due to its narrative significance; i will never forget my first time watching the movie and seeing that big reveal unfold onstage, as a conversation and a plot summary all wrapped into a song. the amount of thought and care that went into the music of this movie should have been rewarded with a level of attention on par with that of other musical dcoms.

if disney channel had simply cared about let it shine more, it couldve spanned franchises and sold songs the way that other musical dcoms have drawn in success. i would have loved for a sequel that explored and fleshed out cyrus’s neighborhood a little bit more, and maybe dipped into that underground scene they caught a glimpse of. i wanted a follow up on the changed church community once cyrus’s father started supporting his sons vision. i want so much more for these characters and this world than disney gave them in just one movie.

for its bold, unabashed representation of blackness and religion, subtle, nuanced presentation of race-specific issues, strong, likeable characters, and complex, thoughtful songs, let it shine is the most underrated dcom.

and because i made a full list before i started writing this post, here are some honorable mentions:

going to the mat (2004)

gotta kick it up! (2002)

tru confessions (2002)

dont look under the bed (1999)

invisible sister (2015)

[laurakinney]

what are your, "thoughts on," hickmans xmen books?

im not proofreading this and im typing it on my crappy phone so sorry for any mistakes

hm okay when i first started reading dox i was like. in the middle of getting into the xmen so i didnt really have a solid idea of their characters their relationship and their history so i Loved dox, like i went crazy reading new mutants nad *sigh* marauders cause like. at the time it was everything i needed u know like pretty island? all the characters in one place and not fighting? its really great at first glance but lucky for me time passed

now my thoughts are just. unclear. cause like as much as it pains me to say hickman is a good writer but hes a good writer in the sense that its interesting to read his books when its three years later and all the plot points and big reveals have become part of their universes landscape. and honestly comics make me so tired hickman is a good writer simply for... having good ideas....

but this has been said over and over (because its true) but hickman Does Not Know How To Write Character like legit... i havent read any of his other big runs but this is a Very big problem in hoxpox and dox... i cant tell u a single thing thats happened in xmen and it has had like all my favorite characters as the “main focus”, but even then theyre used more like pieces to the story cause the main focus will always be the plot and hickman setting up a bunch of things

theres also just. the blatantly bad stuff hickmans made a part of krakoa like the imperialism, the eugenics, the exclusionism and blatant disregard for the characters cultures and origin under the guise of New Mutant Nation (cult)

it also makes me ... scared for the future of the xmen and for the undertones it has like. the xmen are not the most liked group now more than ever and the way theyre treated in universe by the population And the superhero community has always been alwful like? the mutant population has been decimated so many times over the years and there are so many groups dedicated to murdering mutants for whatever reasons and anytime any of the xmen say “oh wait this is actually a really shit and opressive society mutants shouldnt be treated like this” they get viewed in universe as crazy and “too radical” 

i got off track here but basically im worried this has some “minorities are supposed to be opressed because this is the way it has always been and any kind of change to the status quo will only lead to worse things” undertones....

send some asks that are like “thoughts on ______”

[corvus-coraxs]

this is my ostrich skull. it's a young adult specimen, and I love it to bits! it is, however, a Chinese sourced skull. I didn't know - I had bought it second hand from an antique shop, and it didn't occur to me ostriches were the new thing!

we've been told for a while now never to buy Chinese skulls - they're often poorly cleaned (this boy here has got some grease, and foxes can be orange with it), and come from fur farms, which are rife with abuse and neglect.....right?

we all want to avoid supporting unethical trades in the Vulture Culture Community, and I'm absolutely all for that. avoid those fruit bats, as they're hunted en masse for their parts. avoid that certain Indonesian eBay seller, and all those African facebook sellers who found 50 perfect dead hornbills. however, on the basis on Chinese fur farms having high levels of animal abuse? the only examples I've seen can be traced back to animal r/ghts activism or radical v*gan (censored so this doesn't pop up in the searches) articles - which have either been exposed as faked, or are notorious for taking what they record out of context, for example, filming a cow bellowing "desperately for its baby," when in reality, she's just in heat.

china is, indeed, infamous for its poor welfare standards and regulations. but I've been thinking, and I've found it hard to believe just because the welfare standards are lower, every single ostrich farm and fox ranch out there are treating their animals horribly. a neglected, uncomfortable ostrich will not produce enough eggs, and it's more economic to meet its needs. a cramped, stressed fox will have poor quality fur.

one example on an article by natgeo shows a photo of a mink fur farm owned by a small business. it shows the enclosures appearing to be quite small, with even smaller, mobile cages containing a mink in each on top, and two staff members. those mobile cages are almost definitely to temporarily contain the animal, possibly during enclosure upkeep. and yes, the enclosures are small - but consider how poultry is raised. often in worse conditions, bred to crush themselves under their weight if not culled, beaks clipped so they can't kill eachother. this is acceptable by our welfare standards, and the same people (including myself!) who have been warning against the ethicality of Chinese specimens, have been happily devouring some KFC.

at this point, it appears arguements against these sources have turned from a worry for ethics, to borderline stereotyping and racism. I've caught some folk saying some nasty stuff following a conversation about Chinese specimens. when in reality, I haven't seen any refutable source to support the notion that, currently, a large enough portion of farming in China is abusive enough to warrant warnings of maltreatment to animals over byproducts on ebay.

this isn't to say go on eBay and buy 15 greasy fox skulls right now because it's actually okay! I haven't found any sources of the contrary, either, which isn't surprising - positive articles about any kind of farming are few and far between as fearmongering over the finnish furfarm and PET@ takes hold of western media, and because, well, farms SHOULDNT be praised with media attention for treating animals well, it's a bare minimum. I'm asking for a discussion - is it as bad as we make it out to be? are the poor practices held by a majority, or only a viral minority?

I would absolutely love any takes and sources on either side of this. I would love to believe things have been exaggerated, but I know i may just be feeling hopeful, too. please note I am not v*gan, never have been, never will, I'm a huge supporter of sustainable farming and hunting for any resource, I believe fur farming should not be banned, please do not dump animal r/ghts stuff on this post.

[littlebabycrybtch]

no but honestly how do yall literally ignore and even Mock rape culture and talk over/disrespect people so much and genuinely not care... like “nothing about asexuality is radical” holy fucking shit yall really still arent allowing yourself to listen to a single ace person since 2011 lmao you really think bc sex shaming exists it somehow means rape culture just CANT exist at the same time ?? or ever affect anyone else in ways that deserve just as much attention and support??? god you can care about both im tired of yall being literally incapable of putting yourselves in someone elses shoes and just fucking... letting ace people be Humans in your mind,,, for gods fucking sake it is absolutely Extremely radical in a society run by sex and riddled with rape culture to identify this way and this concept U S E D to be EMPOWERING! especially for ace women!!! if you think its just ‘celibacy’ or ‘virginity’ you are the dumbest fuck in the room and are proving that exclusionists are being willfully ignorant so they dont have to change their opinion when they take in all the facts and literally Dont Listen to the marginalized group theyre debating. ffs its still apparently too hard for yall to get that we’re not accepted as ‘straight’ by cishets, nor ‘normal’ to Anyone besides the lgbt+ community, sometimes. our identity isnt accepted, isnt privileged, isnt a majority, isnt whatever weird ignorant ‘incel’ fantasy yall have convinced yourself it is lmao. identifying as aspec is undeniably fucking radical so long as rape culture still stands. 

as an inherent targeted part of our existence we have to fight for consent and our right to say ‘no’, even if it is every single time (which for w/e reason seems to just,,, override the importance of consent???), we have to defy the idea that sex is what makes you Human or defines your value so we can be seen as living breathing people, we have fought against heteronormativity and amatonormativity and the constant inescapable violence of rejecting them. we had to get our hormones tested countless times, are forced to start/stop medications and are even forced into the DICTIONARY DEFINITION OF CONVERSION THERAPY ATTEMPTS for this idea that we have the right to let ourselves turn away from sex culture. and dont you dare even breathe ‘not bad enough’ to me, you know damn well that we shouldnt have to exist like this and that you can and should care about it, otherwise stop calling yourself an activist. cuz yall love these activist ideas in Theory but literally threw the biggest most unnecessary fit of the decade the second we dared ask for your direct support on it. lmao like you ruined an entire harmless community that experiences heteronormativity and medical discrimination and rape and turned our struggle into a cringe thing because you were already so ingrained with the toxic aspects of these cultures that you genuinely believed we, the people whos identity is not having sex, are all exaggerating and lying about the problem. and you still dont see how that idea might inherently need some deeper thought and analysis. hm 

tldr, if you deny the struggle of rape culture or that its ‘as bad’ as sex shaming and deserves the same attention you’re not worth debating with, and if you agree then you need to understand why asexuality deserves respect as a ‘radical’ identity for gods fucking Sake its literally just a matter of ‘how much do i understand and respect the gravity of rape culture’. the world doesnt revolve around you! listen to peoples experiences even if they fucking differ from yours!!

[sparrowpraxis]

The Problem with Solarpunk

I love solarpunk. I love the idea of being agressively, radically positive. I love the earth. I want to see it thrive. I love that people get together to fight and create positive change for the environment.

But yall are really botching this.

Any "solarpunk" community ive been in online is rife with academia, elitism, and disregard for poor people. Its making the movement stale and sick.

Posting academic articles isnt solarpunk. Partificating over words and "should-we-could-we" isnt solarpunk. Defending shit people because they wrote some half decent academia isnt solarpunk.

Solarpunk is throwing wildflower seeds on your neighbors monoculture lawn. Its reduce/reuse/recycle. Its grafting food tree stems onto the trees in your neighborhood. Its planting food in the median. Its planting food in parks. Its climbing up trees and joining protests to stop pipelines.

We should glorify stuff like this!!! Encourage action!! Solarpunk is about making the world a better place, goddamn what the people say.

Solarpunk should look like ecoterrorism. It should look like dirty hippie punks giving a fuck about the environment. It shouldnt look like an article passed around to no avail, no action.

[th3okamid3mon]

[SPOILERS] Review/Ramble on Roma (2018) Dir. Alfonso Cuarón

So i just watch Roma, a movie around the 1970´s (1971 to be precise) in México, Ciudad de México

For anyone who doesn´t know, there´s this suburb called Roma, that´s why it has that name, its not in Italy or anything jaja. 

By now, probably everyone has seen it or has been like ¨OH, SPANISH! i don´t want to read the english subtitles ¨ (i hope that´s not the case because SO HELP ME DOG), in my unprofessional and cinema student-ish opinion, I like it. 

The movie is recorded in black and white, not sure with what camera or why the decision was to make it that way but the image has great quality and it makes the focus more on the story and characters than the surroundings (not that the art wasn´t important, in fact, it must have been a hell of a work to make certain pallets of colors to make it contrast different to each, also to not make everyone blend together into a weird spot). Cuarón direct, write and was in charge of the photography (which is what he is known for) , his writing was actually really balanced between the serious main parts of the movie, the common daily basis humor and interactions between the characters. 

Most of the shots were master shots with panning, there were no medium shots nor close ups (At least not until the end of act 3) . Doing this type of shots gives the viewer a chance to see the surroundings of the characters and to view whats going on around. I think this is because, even if we follow the main family and the protagonist Cleo (Yalitza Aparicio), the main point could be that they aren´t the only ones with a life and with problems. We can see other people, we can see them doing their own thing, it gives the film a more genuine feeling about a really busy street, city or town, we can see there´s more life outside the house of the protagonists. 

The whole story has a lot of tragedy, in fact there´s 2 whole stories full of tragedies: Cleo´s (the maid) story and Sofia´s (the employer or ¨patrona¨) story. Cleo is working like a maid and nanny for a family, she doesnt seem to be miserable, just indifferent about that job. It doesnt mean she is uncaring towards Sofia´s children or anything, its just her usual routine that she already knows. It is really nice to watch 2 people which share the same language talking like a usual common thing, other than just spanish. In this case, Cleo and her friend talk in mixteco a native language of México, im glad to see it treated as something usual for them and not like a surprise because there´s still a big community of indigenous people that still practice certain traditions and still talk languages. This includes more people and shows the diversity in the country as well as introducing more talent to the filming industry (not just certain type of people). Cleo isnt mistreated by anyone at the house, which is nice to see (other than the usual racist comments and mistreament), however she has this impotence appearance when her employer gets angry at her (obviously anyone would be terrified, specially if you lived with them and you could be potentionally thrown out). At some point, Cleo gets pregnant and its horrified when she: a) cant convince Fermín (motherfucker 2) that he is the father, and b) isnt sure wether her boss will throw her out of the house or not. 

Sofia is the employer, her children are Sofia, Paco, Toño and Pepe. Her husband Antonio (motherfucker 1) is a doctor which she loves, but once the story starts developing you get to know in the background that their marriage is crumbling. He goes on having adventures with other woman and lying to Sofia, meanwhile Sofia tries to keep it together while her children are acting like children and pre-teenagers. 

One thing i found interesting is the decision the writer (Cuarón) took when he made almost every male character an asshole. You have Antonio which lies and cheats her wife and then you have Fermin who bails on Cleo once she tells him she´s pregnant, also he threatens to kill her and her unborn child with martial arts (it...got a bit weird...). I would add the kids Paco and Toño because they were acting like disrespectful asshats, but I´ll pretend it was the hormones of teenage years and the whole situation between their mother and father. There´s also el compadre (i think its brother in law) of Sofia who tries to ¨comfort her¨. In general, this movie has certain violence towards female protagonists. 

Another thing i found interesting was how everything was according the era, like everything around the characters was moving independently of the characters. Everyone had to move according to the circumstances around them which they didnt had control over. Most notorious example: 1971, 3 years after Tlatelolco 

[NOTE: the image above is a real picture took from the protests from 1968]

The characters move around while events like the protests of students are still going around, the children are talking in one scene bout someone who got shot and in another sequence we see Cleo and her patrona going to a store to buy a crib which is interrupted by the screams of horror from the students, then a pair gets inside the store screaming ¨They are killing us!!¨. Then a group of porros (people who are paid by the government to start riots and make the opponent side the responsible of the excessive force used by the police, AKA, making them the guilty ones) get inside and shoot them. That whole scenario is independent of the characters, yet they are involve in it because they are there, and they cant do anything because thats what a person would do in a stressing situation: nothing, besides, Cleo is pregnant at that point so she would obviously wouldnt make any dumb move, specially when she sees that one of the porros is Fermin. 

[NOTE: this shot is from the actual movie, AKA: ITS NOT REAL]

Including social and politic events in the movie gives it a more authentic atmosphere, it makes the viewer get inside the story and give a view and let us appreciate how México (my country) looked back then as well as giving us a look to everyones personalities during this different time period. 

The interactions of the children and Cleo was the sweetest most adorable thing i have ever seen. Cleo is looked like a human being and not like a third type character, she has a voice and a personality, which is something we dont usually see when it comes to maids. She shares fun with her friends, she has dates, she laughs, she cries, she is human. She also shares part of her culture, with the children and Sofia isnt bother at all. Cleo sings lullabies in mixteco to the little girl Sofia, who gleefully sings with her. Making it so common, so normal and such a nice moment normalizes it; in the shot Cleo and Sofia says prayers first and then Cleo sings her lullaby. Its great to see the interactions and intersections of cultures like that, both are mexicans but come from different homes and cultures, yes, cultures because at the end of the day México is very diverse, it doesnt have just one way to live. There are different cultures within the country. It is really important that we see it as the normal, our normal because we need to include more people, to make it ok for everyone to feel included in the same place, we are from the same place after all. 

Other important point is the fact that this women have each others back in some sense and in most of the movie. Cleo helps Sofia during her times of need when she is stressing over her husbands infidelity and economic state, while Sofia helps Cleo during her pregnancy. Teresa, Sofia´s mother, also helps Cleo by getting her to a store to buy a crib and Cleo´s doctor is actually a woman, so most of the movie is woman helping woman. NOTE: Im not saying the men in the whole movie are awful people, SOME of them are, the one who have more interactions with the main protagonists. I dont want a radical feminist group to take this movie and twisted like they usually do with EVERY fucking thing. The main point of the movie is looking the hard and tough lives of women from different cultures and how they move on, some man do help like the guy who drive them around or Ramon (a side character which i think it was Adela´s boyfriend, Adela is Cleo´s friend), END OF THE NOTE

CONCLUSION: 

It is a good movie that shows a common part of life which involve good and bad things, from tragedies like infant death or civil massacres to the hopefulness of a better way to live, because the end of the movie comes full circles with everyones life but with hopefulness of a bright future. In this case the saying ¨What doesnt kill you makes you stronger¨ fits perfectly. 

The photography and art departments did a great job making the ambient from the 70s and giving the atmosphere to each scene and sequence a heavy and light feeling depending on what was going on. My mom was delighted to see certain places during those times because she remembers during her childhood looking at those different signs and streets, so the ambience was on point. For some reason I feel Netflix sold their soul or something to make this movie cause THOSE CARS LOOK EXPENSIVE, or maybe it isnt as expensive as i thought (should look up that later). The only complaint i could think of is that it should have pass to movie theaters a bit longer or at least project it again cause it can be more appreciated in those places than in your home with a faulty internet (my internet went out at least 7 times); also the effects of the babies were... really awkward to the point of being distracting and funny. They really looked like dolls, they bounce a bit, specially during the scene where Cleo gives birth to the death child (I shouldnt have laugh to that scene...but that damn doll look so plasticy... ) 

All and all, it was enjoyable to watch, the acting was good, even for the children. They did a great job, some of the lines were spoken awkwardly by the oldest kid, as to sound more mature? i guess that was the direction they went for. The characters were likable, they could make you laugh or cry during different times and make you feel for them. 

I think anyone could watch this but it is, what everyone could consider, a slow movie. So make sure to have everything you got and take time to appreciate everything around them, because i think this is like a candy you need to look around, everything they put its meant to be looked at. I give the movie 8/10 

[LOOKATTHATDAMNFUCKINGSHOTHMMMM!!!!GOODSHITRIGHTTHEREIFIDOSAYSOMYSELF!!!HOLYSHIT!!!NOMAMESESTASUPERCABRONALABERGA!!]

[turtons]

revolutionarypoodle said: you have to admit the cost and red tape is discouraging particularly to low income families 100% but then just don't have children imo. rich people pay big money for surrogate mothers (or go to india and pay less) and ivf and they shouldnt have children either - and anyone who needs to crowdsource funds to biologically have a child shouldnt be doing that in my opinion. like, honest to god having biological children should not be such a cultural milestone that ppl think its required and like their god given duty, and there are so many people who do have biological children they dont want either from the beginning or down the line. and people will say that children in foster care or up for adoption are difficult for a variety of reasons but there is no guarantee a kid you give birth to wont have a behavioral problem, encounter trauma, get a chronic disease, develop a disability, whatever. if you want to make an impact on children but cant afford adoption why do you need one of your own - go get a background check and start volunteering at elementary schools or community centers or share a skill and teach kids. i know this will never change and that this is a radical anti-individualistic opinion and i'm normally very individualistic but an unborn child cant choose to come in to the world but there are thousands of kids lying in bed at night desperate to feel loved and they are forgotten as soon as they age out of the system and it's completely inhumane.

[collection-19]

SUNDAY 09 FEB 2020

0400

(((I’ve messed up a lot in my life I wasn’t really there, not because of the people around me but because of me. I didn’t know myself and still don’t really know, but I’m closer because I can see what I was doing. I don’t know everything but I know im in a different place right now, mentally. And I feel stronger, more there, I was ready before for a lot of things, and people got hurt along the journey of my lessons and teachings and that what I feel for the most, the pieces lost along the way. the moments lost. I wasn’t honest, but first to myself and that was that caused it all. not seeing yourself here. But now I see more clearly, I am more of my own person, I acted unaligned impulsively because of the circumstance but I’m changing them now - the words are right, this isn’t how it sounds in my head 0445)))

Man shits been playing on my mind a lot in the last couple months. I’ve been through a lot and have absorbed so much knowledge and experience and choas along the way. The current climate scares me. Im talking about the social, political, economic and environmental climate. Theres so many wrong doings going on rn that my current positions as a student seems irrelevant to the future we could see. Im questioning a lot of things right now and i can see things in this huge web. Everything is interconnected. Its time to start waking up, growing, learning. We need to be absorbing quality content, i mean real shit man. What is happening with indigenous communiates. Why have their rights been stripped. Why are we not learning more about the world today. Why arent we leaning about the history that created the world today. How are we meant to move forward without understanding the past, our past. If you look properly, if you see, you see that actions have changed but the motivations are still the same. We need more dialogue, experience, understanding and to learn from each other. Just start using your time to learn, and enjoy. Enjoy the here and now, living in the present, and have a undertsanding relationship with the past and future. We are more than just employees, social media profiles, constituents. We are active citizens that should be more engaged and participating. We shouldnt just contribute to society throught misplaced votes, jury duty and taxes. We all have a voice right? Its should be normal to talk, speak up, its time to understand what you’re really hearing and seeing. I’m not saying be radical, i’m saying just start questioning more - openly! Without judgement and discrimination (i’m talking about that conditioned hatred not the shit you ‘know’ is bad, that systemic embedded bullshit - we all are players we just don’t see it) and be open to explore things from different perspecitives. Its time to wake up. Life is short, but it means something…

Intentions, motivations, morals, justifications. It’s fine and healthy to be questioning yourself no?, i wish more people voiced some kind of active search for understand of the roots of out opinions, prefernces and actions - right?. We are all people, just living different experiences.

What is speciesism? - why is this relevant.

Im not some radical person, if you knew me in my life you’ll see i’m just a mellow people whos trying to take life easy. Trying to embrace the flow ya feel. I have opinions but they change, i am open to all opinions were people are willing to delve deeper. I dont know much, i’m not someone who thinks they know it all bc i dont, theres too much, im just trying to make sense of the things around me. I dont know the definietions or how to use big words but language is powerful and its kinda mad. Life is a journey of learning and evolving. Are we moving forward? We need more love, kindness, positivity, for everyone. The bigger picture man.

If theres a possibilty of harm, isnt it even worth it. Im talking about suffering and lofe and death here. The real shit people are subjected too. I live a privileged life, i do, and its disgusting that i could be living such a different life if i was born as a different race, different sex, different gender, different appearance, different body type, different height, different household, different class status, different country, difference community, different species. Why would lofe be different? Bc we have lost that sense of collectiveness, them roots. its just comparisons. We’ve lost the sense and the fact that we all live of this earth sharing the same big varied environment but we’re all in the same atmosphere, in the same planet, in the same solar system. in the same… we can go on for days here aha. I guess something that might be fitting is something i heard years ago, (maybe from buddhism) but it went something like we are all just individual drops in a ocean, but a ocean can be still or turbulant right? I dont know what i’m getting at but i think i mean we are all small but we are all part of a collective you know. We can make waves together. I think the key is in that togetherness, is that understanding (but time is running out) we gotta come together man, in today with the people you see, we need to be talking about uncomfortable topics, about hate crimes, terrorism, sex, relationships, traumas, politics, laws, the environment, the food we eat, the things we do, our routines, our likes and dislikes, there are soooooo many more things, but think about some how you’ve known people but how many times have been talked about the experiences that have shaped us or the things that are shaping who we are and our actions. We gotta alogn ourselves, and inner selves. The mind that talks while its quiet. The things that bug you or lifts you. Its a lot more man.

[isitovernowfromthevault]

Political lesbians go back to the 70's as part of radical feminism. Its particularly strong in academia and comes from the idea that relationships between men and women are inherently bad for some reason or another. We cannot escape the patriarchy in our private lives and so we must prioritze and in fact only have relationships between woman, romantic or platonic.

They're a bunch of TERFs.

Ok no, that was harsh. They're not all terfs, and, ideologically speaking, they shouldnt have to be. However, they are a part of radical feminism, and most radical feminism theory is nowadays either terf adjacent or just straight up terfy.

Irl, Ive never met a political lesbian that wasnt also a terf so that might be coloring my view of the situation. I do believe radical feminism is nowaday a ghost of its former self and that a lot of academia who still uses that banner is just terfs now. Obviously i love love love the ideas radical feminism gave us, but this is the one type of feminism i truly believe has gone downhill.

As a whole ass lesbian I also resent my identity being used as a political banner. Most woman who use it have had traumatic experiences with men, thats true, but in my experience those are usually the loudest transphobes inside the queer community.

On a more personal note, Im not sure not being attracted to men and never wanting to date one again are comparable experiences, but terfs have done enough gatekeeping of "lesbian" so im not gonna contribute to it. As always, queer labels are supposed to help all of us and open doors, not close them.

i actually do know a few women who id as political lesbians, but usually they're like queer women who due to like trauma or something decide that they dont want to have anything to do with men and therefore only date women, but theyre not usually exclusively attracted to women, just in practice thats how they live their life. i think its a complex notion and i couldnt see myself doing it, but i can understand that. i dont get straight women who do it though like just stay single

I mean I’m obviously more than fine with queer women saying “I only date women” either as a result of trauma, a heavy homoromantic preference, or even because they’re like “actually as a political choice I want a queer love story.” Same as how it’s obviously fine for queer women to only date men for safety, due to external or internal pressure, or even because they’re like “actually I just want to make my parents proud.” But that’s different to a straight lady being like “lesbianism is a choice fuck men” idk.

I’d never heard of this before but it seems a bit wild to me.

[narcisbolgor-blog]

Thats when I lost my temper: Ash Sarkar on her clash with Piers Morgan

The activist who confronted the Good Morning Britain presenter talks about her fears over Brexit, the future of communism in Britain and her passion for Spurs

Writer, lecturer and activist Ash Sarkar, 26, grew up in north London and got two degrees at UCL. She is now senior editor at radical leftwing website Novara Media, focusing on race, gender, class and power. Footage went viral last week after she appeared on ITVs Good Morning Britain to discuss the Stop Trump march, telling presenter Piers Morgan: Im literally a communist, you idiot.

How is your newfound fame? Surreal. Im punch-drunk but still alive. Before, Id maybe get recognised a couple of times per week; now its most places I go. What if Im really hungover and gross one day? Or having a PMS cry on the bus? But everyones unerringly lovely and just wants to chat about politics, which is encouraging. It shows theres a real desire for engagement and conversation that doesnt treat people like theyre stupid.

Do you think theres a trend towards shouty, adversarial media? Yes, although theres a huge contrast between Newsnight, where you can make a point clearly, and Good Morning Britain, where youre entering a bear pit to get savaged. Piers Morgan and the production team have tacked quite hard towards the alt-right. A leftwing Muslim woman is like throwing chum to them.

How did you feel when Piers Morgan kept talking over you? He kept trying to pin me down on Obamas presidency, even though Id come on to talk about Trump, with the presumption that I was a diehard Democrat. Thats when I lost my temper. I hadnt planned to call him an idiot or go in hard about his journalistic record. I was just frustrated with being barracked for something Im not.

Is his co-anchor, Susanna Reid, complicit? Ive always found her very fair. The following day, you could see her trying to take the fight to Steve Bannon in the face of his [Morgans] fawning and flattery. She clearly understands how to play the foil, but shes a respected reporter. There will come a point where shell ask herself if this is the kind of journalism she really wants to do. Has she worked hard her whole career to play this Mr & Mrs game? Or does she want to strike out on her own and show the full scale of what she can do? I hope its the latter.

Did Morgan boost your cause? Hes accidentally rehabilitated communism. Comrade Morgan, the Peoples Commissar For the Execution of Revolutionary Justice. I just wanted to discuss Trumps despicable politics and the importance of rejecting bigotry. I didnt realise that the next day Id be doing an interview with Teen Vogue about Karl Marxs Grundrisse [laughs]. Lots of us have been plugging away, building a platform to talk about libertarian communism and post-scarcity economics. I never expected it to have a cultural moment like this.

Have you had more TV offers? Celebrity Big Brother asked me to go on. I said, Listen, there are much easier ways to see me get drunk, alienate people and have an ill-advised dry hump. Just find me on a Saturday night out. I could become a tap-dancing poodle in the culture wars, but is that going to get more people participating in politics or just make me a discourse clown?

Owen Jones meets Ash Sarkar | Is communism literally back?

Do you feel you should capitalise on your higher profile? Its not about personally profiting; I want people to support the media organisation I work for. Since Good Morning Britain, Ive had lots of emails from weird men asking if I can fin-dom them financially dominate them by spending all their money. Its unsettling, so Ive been replying with the link to our donations page. Were selling Im literally a communist T-shirts to help keep the studio running.

It was also on placards at the Stop Trump march. How was that? I bumped into some of them. This is what people have been missing: politics shouldnt be about the dour cultishness and pomposity that dominated the left for decades it should be joyful and exuberant.

Your Twitter bio uses the phrases anarcho-fabulous and luxury communism. Can you explain? Its partly poking fun at how people accrue adjectives and put them in their bios as if theyre a meaningful badge. But also, my communism isnt about authoritarian bureaucracy, suppressing freedom or everyone wearing burlap sacks. Its about the desire to see the coercive structures of state dismantled, while also having fun. Its not about driving everybody down to the same level of abjection, but making aesthetic pleasures and luxuries available to all.

How do you envisage communism working in 21st-century Britain? As a long-termist, I acknowledge there are more pressing causes than the abolition of private property. This is why Im a Corbyn supporter. We have the opportunity for a socialism that says austerity is a deliberate political choice. We can more equitably distribute wealth through taxation. We can borrow to invest in housing, railways and healthcare, making them publicly owned and managed assets. Thats what weve got room for in this country right now. Communist vision can help guide that and give people a say in every decision that affects their lives.

Is it possible to support Corbyn but still feel betrayed by him over Brexit? I voted Remain but the cost of losing twice would be catastrophic. It would make life difficult for people of colour or anyone perceived as an immigrant. If you want any hope of staying in the EU, or having a Brexit that doesnt mean capitulation to ethno-nationalism, youve got to tie it to a wider vision of political and economic transformation. Which, at this point, means backing Corbyn.

Youre a big football fan, right? Huge. Im a diehard Spurs supporter who gets her heart broken again and again. I love terrace culture, the flow of the game and those moments of beauty like Zidanes volley where you just think: That is God speaking through you, my son. I became obsessed with Jordan Pickford during the World Cup. Mainly how he looked like Thomas Turgoose from This Is England.

Is it true youve never knowingly kissed a Tory? Absolutely. I make it my business to check. I give them a reading list before a first date, then maybe we can go to Wetherspoons.

What will you say next time you get the call from Good Morning Britain? New phone, who dis?

Original Article : HERE ; This post was curated & posted using : RealSpecific

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