#election tw

[sassysnowperson]

Fighting Paralysis

When I get stressed I shut down, and I am very stressed right now. Understandable! But still. (waves hand at the world)

So I'm trying to reach out a bit, just to keep in the habit. To remind myself I'm not alone, that joy and humor and connection and all those good things are out there. And if any of you are very stressed too, maybe it helps to remember that you, also, are not alone. Here's a picture of my cat, who has no knowledge of geopolitics and so much love in his mischievous heart.

If anyone is so inclined, please do reblog and share your own little joys and sanity preservers

[doublejango]

I am already seeing virtue signaling posts from people saying "I don't care what you believe or how you voted..."

That's great. I care. I care a lot. The outcome of this election effects me, but so much more than me. I care. It matters. And if it really doesn't matter to you? Good for you. If you are privileged enough, safe enough, and entitled enough to truly not care about how the election will impact other people... I can't even imagine what that must be like. Nice, I guess?

I spent most of last night and this morning crying.

I'm done with tears now, and have moved on to rage.

And you know what? I promise not to let it burn out. Because smiles and positivity may work for many of us, and I'm not going to lose mine either, I promise not to lose my queer joy--they can rip it from my cold dead hands, not to get too damn dramatic here--but I'm also not in the mood to start forgiving and smiling and welcoming Nazis into the bar.

So. I will hold onto anger. I've been tolerant and accepting long enough in life... and have learned something important about what causes the worst harm.

I have been gay bashed before. Violently. Blood. Broken bones. Lost teeth. And you know what the worst part of the recovery of all of that was, the part that did the most psychological and emotional damage? It wasn't the actual bashing itself. It wasn't even the memory of exactly what it felt like to have something swung full force into my face with extremely violent intent. It was the denial from my "friends" and family afterwards. The people who wanted to deny that it was a hate crime. The people who wanted me to shrug it off and not be upset about it. The people who loved to say oh well it wasn't that bad. You know what helped? Letting myself feel fury. Letting myself name the attack as hate. "It wasn't that bad," though, they said, asif it was their judgment to make--endless hours of dental procedures, pain, wounds that never fully healed, the trauma, the lost work, the new experience of vomiting blood with broken jaws and knocked out teeth. Because it wasn't that bad. And there was so much self-reproach, because I could have avoided it. I wasn't the intended target. He was swinging for a lesbian with me. When the attacker burst out of hiding he was swinging for the side of her head, her temple. I jumped in between them. Didn't think. It was an impulse. Protect the people you care about. So I took it to the face. And I grabbed him. I threw him, and fell doing it. I remember being on my knees in the mud. Seeing my teeth in the mud. Seeing my blood just. Everywhere. And knowing I needed to push back to my feet immediately because it might not be over.

We were lucky. It was over. He hadn't expected anyone to fight back. He ran.

But the people who claimed to love me didn't want to deal with the idea that it was a hate crime. They wanted it to be random and meaningless. That made their world a little safer, I guess. And their denial made my world colder. And my recovery lonelier. Harder. They put me down for "bringing it on myself." As if it would have been more virtuous to let this woman take that attack to her temple, as if I would have been more valid for standing by and watching it happen.

There are so many more stories I can tell you, but the lesson is almost invariably the same: the ugliest hurt is often the one caused by the people who just turn away when you identify what happened to you. The hurts that cut the deepest and last the longest often come from the people we thought we could trust, because they want you to just get over it, don't talk about it, admit it could have been worse, don't call it That.

The betrayal from people who are supposed to have your back? That deepens wounds, deepens trauma.

I won't be that person. I won't tell you to smile and turn the other cheek when someone shows you they hate you. Do whatever you need to do to survive--physically, emotionally, psychologically. Just don't give up, and don't let the cowards force you into feeling shame for not giving up and letting the world break you.

Never be ashamed to refuse to break.

Never let someone shame you for choosing strength. For drawing your line in the sand.

I wanted the "exciting" times of my life to be behind me. But they're not--so be it. I'm not going to tone myself down to be safer. I don't care about my own safety anymore. Any self-preservation drive broke a long time ago when it comes to homophobia. I promise to always be ready to fight. To be a queer menace to "polite" society. I promise to be out and loud and gay, to be a shield however I can for those who can't be out, who can't fight back, who can't even speak up because it wouldn't be safe for them to do so. They are valid, too. And I love them. And I will have their fucking backs. I promise to, in my real off-the-internet life, be someone who will always jump in and speak up if I see queer people being harassed or shamed--especially if they're young. I am older. I will fight for my baby gays. I will love them.

And I will never, never put anyone down for refusing to welcome Nazis into the bar. We don't look the other way and quietly tolerate them. Not here.

I may not be around much for the next few days. I need to handle my own shit. My own fury. My own grief. Because right now, there is so much grief.

But I won't be going anywhere.

I will fight to stay.

Whatever it takes.

I'm not giving up.

If I end up on my knees in the mud again, staring at my own blood and teeth, metaphorically or in fucking reality, so be it. I will get back up. And I will keep getting back up. I won't let go of the anger. The spite. And I definitely won't let go of my love for every queer person, the ones I know and the ones I don't, because that love is what will give me strength to get through this. Whatever comes next.

I may not have much sense of self-preservation. But goddamn, I will fight for you.

[nerdynanny]

HELP ME FLEE THE USA

Hey all this is a promo post for my KOFI where I'll be fundraising an attempt to flee my country. I'm a US resident and have been my entire life, but my maternal grandmother was from Ireland so I'm hoping to claim citizenship somehow there.

In the short term I'm gonna try to immigrate to Canada but truth be told I've no idea what I'm doing. Help and knowhow is appreciated.

I do voice work and graphics. Peep my Kofi for samples. Anything raised beyond the goal will go toward helping others escape. I'll be signal boosting posts like this so if seeing this kinda stuff ain't your vibe just block the tag commissions or whatever.

I'll get my thoughts together better in the coming days and maybe make a more official post. Please signal boost with a reblog if you can, and remember that you are not alone and there are folks who will be justifiably upset about this entire ordeal.

[jonquilyst]

Whether you're American like me or not, this election has not been easy for me either and seeing us band together and comfort each other really makes me appreciate you all. Thank you for being the lovely people that you are. You're all a real godsend. The real world sucks and despite the shortcomings of my country, at least you are all there somewhere in the world to make it better 💖

[mrsmarlasinger]

Enough forced-optimism posts with a tone of contrived gentleness. I get it, hope and community and make breakfast and keep fighting and soup and self-care and don't give up and I'm not allowed to kill myself.

Not to be a buzzkill, but it's ringing a little hollow. Can we get more posts about something interesting, like how Joe Biden should use his last month of presidential rights to assassinate Trump

[system-of-a-feather]

I was telling / reporting to my therapist how this past week since the election went, and honestly, all things considered, we're doing pretty good; thanks a lot to a very intentional effort to preserve my internet hygiene and giving myself the time to process, express, and re-engage with the local community to set myself in a pretty good place

But a really funny thing that had come up was when we were talking about some of the brief flare ups of angry / aggressive thoughts (obviously XIV driven) and how we very much kind of mentally *pat pat* "No, lets not do that", she did the Therapist Thing and checked to see if that seeming repression / rejection of strong anger feelings was shame driven but like...

Honestly? No, we have an INCREDIBLY positive relationship with our anger, because our anger is 9/10 times XIV / originating from XIV and honest to god, XIV is one of our favorite parts, and I say "our" and am okay picking favorites because I both am and know all the parts in our system and we all know XIV is definitely one of the parts that did and does the most of the system. Like he can be extremely egotistical and egocentric SEEMING sometimes, but probably of all the parts, he's by far the part most of us can rely on the most to be a ride or die support in any situation

And so these days? We LOVE our aggressive and angry thoughts and feelings. We welcome them because honestly, while they can SOUND bad, they are communicating a great need for self advocacy and to address an issue thats bothering us and - most importantly - we very much can work WITH our anger, work WITH XIV, to parse the impulse and knee jerk desire to do Great Violence TM and find a better more productive, more efficient and more in-line with our values way to meet the need / address the issue that set it off

And the thing is, XIV DEEPLY understands and respects and trusts that as well.

So the past week there has been a lot of the classic XIV lines that has probably gotten us on a watch list being said, but they're all at least half jokes and very easily "no, we know we aren't going to do that or authentically humor it beyond the wishful thinking image of it"

And honestly.... I think the emotion we have the best relationship with IS anger these days, thanks to XIV largely.

I dunno, just some system appreciation shit.

[playbarbies]

this grief is unlike anything i’ve ever experienced before. i had a major breakdown at 3AM, and i think most people would have thought someone died with how agonized the cries were. but something did die. democracy died. hope died. my faith in my country died. as a disabled queer jew with a reproductive system, i have never been so terrified, both for myself and those i care about, and so disappointed. to my fellow americans, i am so sorry, and i am here for you. my IM’s are open if you need/want to talk. i love you all, please try and do nice things and silly distractions for yourself today. take care of yourself as best you can, and i’m here for you always.

[clairdelunetarot]

I was thinking about doing another tarot game for this month like a monthly thing. i thought it could be something cute. but then i remembered we just entered mercury rx preshadow today 😭

[oflorien]

I feel so sick right now. I went to bed anxious but with hope and now i just can’t wrap my head around things. please know that if you need a place to hide, to vent, to scream, to cry or a distraction I am here. ( I also have a spare room in Canada you’re more than welcome to ). And to every American that I’ve met and become friends with through this nerdy medium of joy…please know that it’s always been your kindness, your creativity, resiliency and beautiful diversity that I associate with America not him, not ever him or anyone like him. I wish I had more hope to give but please know, coming from a poc and supportive member of the lgbtq+ community that you have a safe place with me. I love you all and I wish there was more I could do.

[ruinreigns]

at least there's an end to the orange nightmare ... even if it is in four fucking years .

[spidersins]

i know there's a large influx of people posting opinions & emotions over the election but i keep this a pretty safe space from real world issues. just please, i want you all to know that i'm here for anyone who needs a friend, support, or just a safe space to speak. as someone who doesn't live in america i can't begin to imagine the fear and worry this brings people, and it’s easy to feel alone in it all. please remember you don’t have to go through any of it alone.

[reallyreal-madeingold]

ok if i see one more post about the damn election im going to walk into a lake and become a trout. I am so so so so sick of hearing about it. Fuck.

(For the record. Yes. I am American. Yes, I voted.)

[jonquilyst]

Advice from my mom about the election results

Hi everyone, today I was talking to my mom about my disappointment over the election results, and with a lot of scary posts going around on tumblr and social media in the last few days, I want to share her advice to hopefully bring some peace and a silver lining to the situation. I highly value her advice, so I wanted to share it with my fellow friends here on tumblr

Here's what she told me:

It's okay to feel upset and betrayed. That's a natural human reaction, but you must not get bogged down by the thought of a Trump presidency.

If you do not respect Trump and what he stands for, then he is WORTHLESS to you, and he is not worth your thoughts or your time. By thinking about Trump and what he might or might not do, that is just feeding into your own fears and anxiety.

The best person you can invest in is yourself, not Trump, not Harris, or anybody else. YOU need to do what YOU can to survive and take care of yourself. Whether that's focusing on your job, saving up money, graduating from school, or anything you're doing to work towards your future, that's what you need to be doing, not worrying about Trump.

No matter what Trump does, he can't take away your home, your job, your family, or who you are as a person, whether you are part of the LGBTQ+ community, disabled, a POC, an immigrant, or anything else.

Most importantly, you must not let Trump take away your dignity and your ability to survive and thrive in this country. By crumbling under the pressure and giving into despair, you are giving Trump what he wants. He wants people that don't like him to crumble and give up. Don't give him the satisfaction.

Do not let this random guy who doesn't even know you exist dominate you.

There's no doubt that Trump has caused and will cause harm, but we've gone through 4 years with him, and we can most certainly do it again, because in the end we will survive. We survived the first time around, right?

We will be okay. Everything is gonna be okay. You will be okay.

Count your blessings, and move forward. Don't think about Trump anymore. It's time to focus on ourselves and our own lives.

[lingeringscars]

gonna throw up

[theeverdream]

I know none of us are okay right now and I'm not asking anybody to do anything.

I had posted before and deleted it because I didn't want to influence people that it was pointless to vote for Harris but I was asking how to find out who to check on me if he won

Everybody's talking about not giving up and I want to give up every damn day anyway. Chronically feeling like that started with his first term so I don't know how I'm going to...

I mean I'm going to. Because I have to.

But I need more support than I've been getting.

[spirit-sys]

i think that the real thing this election taught us is that education should be the top priority. not "did harris do [thing] badly" or "how trump did [thing] well"- just that most voters were plain uneducated and arent doing it out of malice. just.. the number of google searches that spiked showing a clear lack of education (which leads to a cult mentality which i dont have the time to get in here) kinda proves my point