#cw us election

[diamondcitydarlin]

Just some thoughts on the unfortunate outcome of the election and as it relates to my blog; eventually, I'm going to have to get back to disassociating most of the time through my hyperfixations for the sake of my own mental health, but for now I'm letting the devastation kind of rest and sit with me. I'm reblogging good things that happened in this election, promising candidates elected and protections to abortion rights in constitutions, etc, but also vent posts about how awful this is. And it IS awful, I really don't know just how bad it's going to get over the next four years, nor am I dealing well with the revelation that this country literally hates black women more than they do fascist convicted felon rapists that want to tear it all down to the ground (not that this is a surprise, necessarily, but still as infuriating and exhausting as it always has been).

But beyond all this, and after we're done feeling through the grief of what's happened, I hope we don't lose sight of the power we do still have. I hope we don't forget that there's a lot of work ahead for those of us who aren't ready to completely give up on this place and the people who live within in it (and other countries) that are the most vulnerable to this outcome. I know this is a devastating blow that is going to rock morale into pieces for a lot of people, but as of now we still have a lot of standing, power and room for involvement to minimize what damage we can from this incoming administration, and given what's outlined in things like Project 2025 etc, we really need to utilize what we can.

So, yes, absolutely we need to grieve and feel through this. But I hope at some point we can wipe the blood from our mouths and get up and get back to work. There ARE still things we can do to limit this administration's destructiveness over the next four years, but we need everyone in play. Don't forget your power, don't forget strength in numbers.

[disgruntledkittenface]

I started getting more involved in fandom and on tumblr a few months after my dad died. It was a weird time to become involved in a new community because I feel like I really started shutting people out during that time. I shared less of myself and held people at arm's length because I felt like I couldn't trust them with my grief. I had never had a loss like that before and I didn't know what to expect. It hit me sideways, and I felt like no one understood. And to be fair, most people I knew didn't understand simply because they hadn't been through it (and I've learned that grief is very individual – another person losing their dad might not understand my experience anyway). Grief makes people uncomfortable. They don't want to talk about it. And when I did talk about it, and I didn't get what I wanted or needed from those interactions, it really hurt.

It might have gotten easier if my mom hadn't started declining so soon after my dad died. At first, my sisters and I didn't know what was happening. I was the last of the three of us to really accept that she even was declining, and the way they would talk about her made me feel really protective of her. I haven't always been close to my sisters, and being at odds with them about how to take care of my mom really damaged our relationships for a long time. I felt like my dad wouldn't be proud of us because we weren't working together to take care of her. And I knew my mom was embarrassed by the symptoms of her Alzheimer's and didn't want people to see her having trouble with her memory and taking care of herself, so I didn't talk about it very much.

So writing fic really helped me communicate, but I don't think that translated into sharing the minutiae of day here very often. I think my Scorpio placements will always make it hard not to stick to a small, close circle, but I swear I used to be better at this. Since my mom died in January, I haven't felt very connected to the fandom. I don't feel like I fit in, I don't feel like I care about the same things. And it was really hard watching everyone have a collective experience of grief the last few weeks when grief has been so isolating for me. I can't imagine the difference it would have made to share it.

So when I thought about writing something about how I feel this morning, I felt like wait, I don't really do that, I can't do that. I felt that instinct to keep everything in and safe or something. I also worry about articulating something correctly more than maybe I should. I don't like to process what I'm feeling in front of people; I want to process and then say something. But I think that's holding me back.

The 2016 election happened less than a month after my dad died. I remember that week and it was fucking awful. I had trouble sleeping. I felt betrayed by my home state, Michigan. I thought I didn't know people who supported him. I didn't realize how white women held up white supremacy. I had no idea that he would resonate with so many people. But I didn't cry. I think I was already so fucking depressed that I just didn't have it in me.

I woke up this morning and I opened an email from NYT (which, why are they even emailing me, I'm not a subscriber) and it said that he won. And my first thought was no he didn't. My second reaction was to look for the punchline. But there wasn't one. The fact that I didn't expect it for a second time was the punchline, I guess. My husband seemed like he didn't want to talk about it at first. We talked a little before he left for work, but it's kind of like preaching to the choir when we talk because we usually agree.

I didn't cry until after my husband left. I was reading emails that I do actually subscribe to, and I just started sobbing. And it kind of took me by surprise, and I think that's because I didn't cry last time. I just really thought he was only playing to a vocal minority. When I was younger, I thought progress was linear, and it's just really disillusioning to realize that it's more cyclical. The idea of backlash to progress is just so fucking depressing. And I think I understand intellectually that people (straight white cis men and the women who uphold them) feel threatened by marginalized communities having equal rights, but emotionally I fundamentally do not understand. Like the idea of a trans kid having access to gender affirming care in Texas is somehow hurting anyone.

They want to get rid of no fault divorces so that women can't be independent and leave shitty men. They want to take away access to abortion, knowing it affects marginalized people more. But they don't want to do ANYTHING to help a baby after they're born. It's all so fucking transparent. And I don't think he believes in anything ideologically except that he should have power, and so many people's lives are going to be affected on a daily fucking basis in the name of what? (I know, white supremacy.)

None of this is anything you haven't already heard, and heard articulated better or more wittily by someone else. But I wanted to actually say it this time.

[air--so--sweet]

The artist who wrote the comic that the 'this is fine' meme is from created an updated version in August 2016 called 'This is Not Fine'. The last two panels of that pretty much describe how I feel right now.

I know we need to fight but dear god I am tired.

I would like to live in some precedented times for once, where my rights are not at risk of being stripped from me. Even just for like a year or so as a nice reprieve, please.

I am in the UK to be clear but this has ripple effects worldwide and I already did not feel safe or protected by our current government prior to this.

[flock-of-cassowaries]

There are a lot of people succumbing to a lot of media-bubble bullshit.

A part of me wants to blame the people who’ve fucked around and are about to find out (and like… on one level, absolutely fuck then; because they still chose to vote for this man, and in doing so voted against women’s rights, poor people, racialized people, and LGBTQ+ people).

But I also blame late-stage capitalism for making that kind of misinformation bubble so candy-delicious; and for working people so fucking hard that they may not have the energy to engage critically.

Also, this guy, personally:

You know what you did, sir.

[noflowersformygrave]

Content warning for discussions of the results of the US election, and its significance in the trans community.

I'm not American.

I mourned the lost on Wednesday, well aware of the implications and that more of my people will die in the coming days and years. It threw me into a fear that I couldn't quite comprehend. The fact of the matter is, I'm afraid for the safety of my own country. Will Australia fall in line, eventually? When it happened, it made me wonder if there will soon be nowhere safe on earth anymore to be trans and simply exist.

I'm afraid of a lot of things. This entire page is about my anxieties, my struggles with my mental health, and coping strategies I develop for dealing with them. My fears are not unfounded this time. They are not delusions, they are not hallucination. They are sentiments I have seen others share. The fear is founded in reality.

I have seen the call for revolution. When I would beg our people to run, many instead have drawn the line here in the sand. They will oppress us no further. They will not take our heads. They will taste their blood and the future will belong to us, or we will die. They want us to die. I don't know how to feel.

Fighting may soon lead to doom. Running may eventually lead to doom. But running means abandoning those who come after you. So I understand the desire to stay, and anyone who does so, I commend your bravery. Please survive. And if you can't survive, run. If you can't run, you have to survive.

As for me, the result of this was a wake-up call. I have informed my mother that I will not be attending Christmas this year. I cannot spend another moment of my time in the presence of a transphobe who won't respect her daughter's identity. It just sickens me too much.

[lolliepops-rox]

The results are in. Shaggy 2 Dope & Violent J are both the president. Both of them at once.

[directactionforhope]

By the way, even if you fully plan to vote for Biden in November (because Trump would be worse and has declared that if elected he would ban Palestinians from entering the US x, x, x, x)...

You can and I would argue should call or email Biden or whatever other Democrats represent you and just straight up lie about it. Tell them "I'm a constituent, and I've voted for you in x number of elections, and thanks to your support for the genocide of the Palestinian people, I will never, ever vote for you again."

Politicians, Democrats, and especially Biden need a fire lit under their asses, because the vast majority of them clearly aren't going to do shit without one. Or, worse, be like Biden and actively be the reason that Israel can continue its genocide on a political, monetary, and military level.

Tell Biden and other politicians that you will never vote for them again. It doesn't matter if it's true. It will help pressure US politicians to stop this genocide, and therefore it's the right thing to do.

Obviously this also applies to other countries where politicians are supporting Israel's genocide, especially countries that have cut funding to UNRWA (list here).

[would-you-punt-them]

Donald Trump

[thashining]

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[swordi001]

To outlast Trump

To outlast Orban

To outlast Höcke

To outlast Putin

To outlast Erdogan

To just keep living, despite people wishing you wouldn't

We are here. We are many. And we are loud.

Just staying alive is an act of defiance. So stay here dammit. Stay here to outlive all that old privileged fascist scum. We won't give them what they want.

[coulsonlives]

Googling "US election" and seeing the results so far like

[air--so--sweet]

Sick to my stomach and I'm not even in the US

[dangerousalpacas]

[i-lavabean]

Oh friends this isn't my normal kind of post, but a lot of us are hurting or afraid right now.

There's been plenty of posts that have said it better but dear ones, lean into your community. Cultivate relationships with your neighbors, your local librarians, your churches and charitable organizations that help provide for others.

The hardest thing to do for a lot of us will be to leave the "us vs them" mentality the social media age has helped cultivate and see people as just that. People.

People with good ideas, people with bad ideas, but people who need community and who can change. Not all of us have the time or means to donate or volunteer, believe me I know. But dear ones, take the time to check on others and let yourself be taken care of too.

Communities are stronger together, and we all need that right now regardless of location.

Hold on dear ones, we get through this together.

[king-sappho]

It’s funny to me when people say “christofacists are taking over the US!” And although I agree that christofacism is on the rise it’s misleading to say they are “taking over” Like. Let’s be for real. America was founded on christofacism. Do you remember pledging your allegiance to America ~under god~ when you were 5 years old?? I was born in a Christian American cult. After escaping it I realized how much of the rest of America is not much different to that cult. Look at who our politicians are. They’ve been endorsing Christian ideology from day one. Yes, fascism is becoming more intense but don’t forget this is not a new issue in this country. It’s as old as when english colonizers used genocide to make this country “free” only for rich white christian men. Now days they are just trying to reinstate their power over us.

[lastoneout]

Genuinely the blanket refusal for anyone to consider the existence to trans mascs/men, nonbinary people, and intersex people in the reproductive rights conversation is starting to piss me the fuck off. "Oh you never hear of a man going to the ER and people having to appeal to a council of men to save their life" just SAY you don't give a fuck about trans men, holy shit. They are seen as defective women by society and have to deal with misogyny AND transphobia when accessing reproductive healthcare, stop acting like they straight up don't even exist.

Also cis men DO have to deal with this shit. Disabled men have a history of facing eugenics and having their right to have kids stripped of them, and they ABSOLUTELY have to beg insurance and hospitals to save their lives. Did y'all forget about that disabled man who was left to die by a hospital during the start of the covid pandemic because his life "wasn't worth saving" like?? Disabled people legit had to constantly worry that if they got covid a hospital would just let them die, I was PETRIFIED of getting sick because of this. I remember spending hours reading the guidelines hospitals were following to decide who was worth saving and shaking and crying in fear because the system was straight up saying to my face that both I and people like me simply dont have lives that are worth saving. Right now disabled men in Canada are being forced to kill themselves because killing them is easier than helping them, y'all remember that?? You know fat men face systemic fatphobia that kills them when doctors refuse to treat them until they lose weight, yeah?? And we're well aware that black men die in ERs because doctors won't take them seriously, right? Right????

Jesus fucking christ y'all men are not the problem but so many of you are acting like they are to the point of erasing the very existence of marginalized men who are absolutely suffering and dying too because doctors don't give a shit about them. These men need support, just like women do, now more than ever. Stop fucking abandoning them because you think women are the only people who are going to suffer under Trump.

Woman good, man bad is a painfully reductive way of looking at the world and everyone perpetuating it needs to stop right fucking now. I'm not kidding, I am straight up running out of patience at the progressive left's willful refusal to recognized marginalized men as people who need help. Trump is going to hurt so many marginalized men too and idk how else to state that you should give a shit about them.

Like not to steal the Onion's words but I straight up don't know how else to explain that you should care about other people.