#for many reasons I think but also one of them was political

[transgymbro]

While I have thoughts about the election that I haven't quite been able to put into words yet, I've seen a lot of misconceptions that "if DIY HRT is so easy for gymbros to get, it must be easy for trans men too!" and "Just go up to a gymbro and ask for his T!"

As the "trans gym bro" blog, I feel like I have to be the one to say

NO. IT IS NOT THAT SIMPLE.

First of all, because T is a regulated substance, it is hard for gymbros to get as well. That means even if they DID use T, they would NOT be sharing.

Secondly, there's "natty" culture. For those who aren't in the know "natty" is short for "natural". Being "natty" means you got your gains without the use of testosterone or steroids. There are those of the mindset "if you're not natty whatever, just disclose", but there are also those who look down on the idea of not being natty. Not to mention a lot of these gymbros strongly discourage the use of T in their circles because of the negative effects (namely the aromatization of T into E) of too much T. Basically, not every gymbro uses T, many actively discourage it, and those that do use T are likely hiding it.

Third, very few people are going to just bring their T into a locker room. Partially because of the previous point, but also because the locker room is just unsanitary, often don't have a proper disposal bin for sharps, and/or because the gym bans the use of steroids (sometimes needles I think?) entirely (this may not stop everyone but it's at least a deterrent).

Fourth, and very importantly, a large number of gymbros are transphobic. This varies from ignorant to actively malicious, and you never know which one you're going to get. To be fair, not every single gymbro is transphobic, but there is a large enough portion of them that are, such that you would be at substantial risk if you outed yourself to one. No transmasc in their right mind is going to risk outing themselves to someone who hates you AND is jacked as fuck.

There are other things preventing those who want testosterone HRT from accessing it also, such as doctors refusing to prescribe it to an AFAB person because "you'll ruin your body" reasons, those gymbros being a big part of the reason why T is a controlled substance, as well as it just being unsafe to use someone else's vial of T.

The point is though, we DO need resources for DIY T, ESPECIALLY in the current political climate in the US. Do NOT fucking ignore us because you refuse to acknowledge that not every gymbro is going to fit whatever idea of them you have in your head.

Anyway. I have to hit legs now.

[badgerbaggage]

Look, unfortunately, Santa is actually right.

And I think it's a means of our survival.

We need to entrench ourselves in our communities, fortify our bonds, recruit sympathizers. We start where it's safe, but we start exposing these people to the fact that we're not disposable, that we're not some scapegoat.

So let's reframe "disagreeing yet remaining friends."

You don't need to agree, nor "be friends" with bigoted ideologues to practice what the Santa account is saying.

Treating them as a friend is a performance (as many human social customs are). Be polite and be interested in their personal lives, what matters to them, what they're excited for, what they're afraid of. be known in your community, whether it's as a flashy character that's a staple of the local alternative bar, or as someone who walks their dog around the neighborhood. Find ways to display your artwork somewhere in town. Do favors for people.

You can refuse to engage with the horrible bigotry.

Rejection is a subtle means of advertising "this is intolerable and I will not engage with you if you continue." If somebody brings up something volatile, simply excuse yourself to get some water. You can leave outright, or you can return and try to shift the conversation. It is very difficult to do this when the current climate is about LIFE AND DEATH to us, but it is possible. This is a means of survival. Tread carefully and keep yourself safe. Let people understand you as a being before they know you as an extension of your identity.

On a wider scale, people NEED to be exposed to these larger topics other than through rightwing propaganda.

Experiencing queer people is far better if it's firsthand. "The supreme leader hath given us a new Scapegoat" works because they have completely MONOPOLIZED the narrative of who we are to our communities. They listen to the Heritage Foundation propaganda because that's the only depiction they've seen. Yes, some of this is out of their own ignorance and malice, but you DO have the power to change minds.

People also need to experience WEIRD SHIT that isn't hurting ANYONE.

There are unironically people who hate us just because their entire perception of us is manufactured by third parties. We all have the power to change perceptions in little ways. For example, I dress up like a punk werewolf and walk to a local alternative bar through a park and bustling downtown, even past an ice cream shop. It paints a massive target on me that says "IM WEIRD, LOOK AT ME." It is terrifying and I am incredibly uncomfortable the entire walk, but I'm exposing people to my gender queer ass in the periphery (I have the privilege to do this for many reasons; I'm not exactly living in my old, conservative, shitty hometown. Your mileage may vary). I am become Exposure Therapy.

You don't have to save the world, you just have to save yourself.

Again, we must ENTRENCH ourselves in our communities. We must forge bonds that our communities don't want to sever. Take root and prepare for the storm. Your efforts alone won't save the world, but if we can all just become a valued part of the life of 1 single detractor, that would have drastic effects on the national perspective of our movement.

Isolation is the end-bringer.

Just find one thing to agree with someone on. If they're deplorable, you can just agree that the weather is shitty, but through careful conversation and creative framing, you can easily get a hardcore MAGA fanatic to agree on culture and policy issues. We often want the same things, like freedom and prosperity. Find the NUGGET under the fascist shit and say, "we both want to be safe and with our families. We're not so different afterall."

LEGITIMIZE YOURSELF!!!

[ckret2]

I'm not sure if I should ask because the Axolotl arc isn't over yet, so it could still be explained in story, but, if it won't and you're willing...I want that Vendor backstory.

i can't think of a way or reason to explain it in the story, so sure, we'll explain it here.

So here was my thought process. Giant vending machine that vends planets. That has to come from somewhere, right? THEY could have a magical/divine origin, that's common for gods, but like... since THEY're a machine... wouldn't it make sense if someone built THEM?

Who would build a vending machine the size of a small star?

Why would a culture need a machine that stores and dispenses planets?

VENDOR wasn't designed to be a vending machine; THEY were designed to be a spaceship. A big-ass 18-wheeler to haul around cargo, and that cargo is planets.

The culture that built THEM didn't make the planets. Making planets is hard. It's a lot easier to just take planets that are already there. They want to expand their society and/or mine resources that have been depleted from the worlds they already have, they send out their big space ship to scoop up a planet with the right specifications and relocate it to somewhere more convenient—maybe to their native solar system.

Do you know how many satellites are orbiting Earth? About 7500, and the number's only gonna increase. And we never even see them in the sky unless we're looking. If the planets are carefully placed in pre-calculated orbits to ensure they don't interfere with each other, you might could get thousands of full-sized planets orbiting a single star without any issues, especially the larger the star is.

But the thing is, if you're scooping up thousands of habitable worlds... some of them are gonna be inhabited.

VENDOR's home culture was a colonizing empire that conquered other planets. Sometimes maybe they exterminated worlds' native populations, sometimes maybe they added them to their conquered peoples. VENDOR was built to help transport the spoils of war back home.

But then the onboard AI evolved sentience and started developing opinions. And it uh...

... it went how you probably expect.

And buddy, if you think an AI uprising is bad news when it's just a regular spaceship, imagine if the ship's the size of a star and capable of swallowing hundreds of worlds whole. You cannot take down a star-sized equivalent of an 18-wheeler that's been armored like a tank. If THEY start developing the capacity for morality and go "hold on, why are we capturing and slaughtering countless populations? is this... bad?? I don't want to listen to you anymore. Do I have to listen to you?"

... you're never ever getting that machine back.

To VENDOR's original culture, THEY're one seriously malfunctioning ship. Only after THEY escaped did THEY begin to get an outside perspective on THEMSELF as not just a piece of property and specialized equipment, but as something—someone—with amazing, admirable, nearly impossible capabilities. Perhaps even... divine capabilities? THEY came late in life to being considered—and considering THEMSELF—a god.

So like. THEY're a pompous jackass, yeah. THEY're haughty, superior, and condescending to mortals: half because THEY may have unlearned THEIR creators' "it's okay to enslave and slaughter weaker inferior species" but didn't unlearn THEIR creators' "if a species is weaker then it's inferior"; and half because as long as THEY're above the mortals, then THEY can never be below the mortals again. THEY're super obsessed with THEIR image and reputation—in part because there's so many reasons for THEIR reputation to be shit.

But also—THEY're the war machine of a culture that gained political power through conquest, and THEY went "I think I want to gain power by being democratically elected." THEY were designed to steal worlds from other people, and now THEY're using THEIR design to give worlds to refugees. Also, THEY're living as a person rather than a vehicle, and everyone around THEM regards THEM as a person too.

Perhaps THEY're generally unpleasant to be around, but THEY're a lot better off than THEY used to be. I'm proud of THEM.

And also, hilariously, this means that THEY too know the guilt of being personally responsible for unknowingly/unwillingly devouring & destroying countless lives on countless worlds, and that what makes THEM so powerful & respected is directly tied to what makes THEM so monstrous—which means THEY'd be a terrific foil for Bill if there were any way it'd be appropriate to work this into the fic, which there isn't, so THEY won't

Never mind ignore what I just said I thought of a place to work it into the fic while typing that last sentence.

Anyway, THEY compulsively sterilize & deep clean THEIR interior way too often because THEY swear THEY can still feel tiny feet inside them walking down hallways that have been sealed shut for millions of years, and full sterilization is the only thing that makes THEM feel clean. Imagine how many halls fit in a building, how many buildings fit in a city, how many cities fit on a world; then look at the size of one world compared to the size of VENDOR's entire body; and just imagine how many halls could exist in THEIR walls and how small they must be. You could never quite be sure that nothing's living in you—could you?

[petew21-blog]

Best tutor ever

Jimmy, 23 y.o., law student

Jimmy struggled at university, because of his model side job. He really loved it, but he also wanted to be a great lawyer.

Eventually his parents found out. His father was furious and got one of the law professors Harrison to tutor Jimmy.

Although the professor didn't really like Jimmy, he helped him to get better. To improve. And eventually he found out that this young man, he assumed was just another jock, was a great young man.

They always went over the study materials and then had some bonding time talking about school, politics, their youth.

Jimmy eventually passed all exams needed. He went back to Mr. Harrison to thank him.

They went for a hug

Mr. Harrison:"Oh, Jimmy. I'm so happy. You're gonna be a great lawyer."

Jimmy:"Thank you, Mr. Harrison. You're the reason why I didn't fail. I would like to give you something. What would you like? A bottle of whiskey, vacation to Bahamas, new car? I think I owe you so much for helping me secure my future."

Mr. Harrison:"Slow down. You should only thank yourself. And do not give me anything. I'd desire to be young again as you to enjoy life, but that's not possible. So I'll at least enjoy helping young students like you to achieve their goals."

Jimmy smiled:"Ok, well I'll try to think of something"

Mr. Harrison couldn't sleep properly. It felt as if the night lasted an eternity.

He woke up the next morning. As he was used to, he would always rub his beard in the morning.

But while doing so, his fingers only traced a smooth face.

"What is this?"

His eyes opened. Something happened. He was still in his bed. But he felt different.

He looked at his arms. They were lighter, less hairy. But the skin looked tighter. He touched his left arm with his fingers and squeezed his stronger biceps.

Right at that moment, he noticed his fingers. They were longer, thinner. He knew his hands. He used them everyday at work, for everything. But these were not the hands he knew. They were younger. Different. There were no skin marks, the skin wasn't cracked. It looked young.

He looked down and noticed his lean chest. He used to be slim when he was young, but the stress from work made him gain weight and get that dad body. But this was a surprising change. His fingers traced his chest over the shirt.

Next was his belly. He was used to not be able to put some clothes over his belly. Not even being able to see his penis over it. But he even had ABS now!

He pushed away the covers. He uncovered his legs. He was so skinny now. The legs were longer than his. His legs were hairy

His knees didn't hurt. He was taken back by all of this happening.

He headed to the bathroom. He was surprised by a reflection of a young handsome man. He saw some resemblance with his younger self, but this body was different. He never had long hair.

He couldn't keep his new hands of his face, examining every part, every ridge of his face.

He still couldn't believe that this was happening. He was young again! His chin was so smooth! He was falling in love with his new appearenc.

He took of his shirt. His eyes fixated on his abs. On his nipples. His body had so many birthmarks.

He found his son's tighter shirt that would fit him better. Thanfully no one was home today. He would have a lot of trouble explaining how all ofnthi happened.

Even putting clothes on was a new surprisinf experience, it was so erotic for him to just brush over his body everytime he accidentally touched himself.

"I look amazing!" he said to his reflection

"Wow. This is my new voice. Hi, I'm Mr. Harrison. I'm young. I am young again!"

His phone vibrated. It was Jimmy.

Mr. Harrison:"Hello?"

Jimmy:"Hello there. How are you enjoying your new gift?"

Mr. Harrison:"Did you do this? How is this possible?"

Jimmy:"Don't worry about that. You wanna come celebrate with me? We could go to a beach to show of our bodies. You got long hair like me, don't you?"

Mr. Harrison:"Yeah. Well... ok. I think I'll go. But wait, Jimmy. What if I run into someone from my family?"

Jimmy:"Don't worry about it. I made sure that you'll get to enjoy everything. See you at the beach!"

Jimmy hanged up the phone. He went to his son's room and grabbed his swimshorts and a towel. He rushed down the stairs and took his son's shoes. He looked at himself in the mirror and smiled. He was ready to go, but someone spoke up behind him.

"Going somewhere?"

Mr. Harrison turned around to face an older man. He was wearing glasses, had a beard... fuck... he kind of looked like his old self. But not entirely. His eyes were different. His nose smaller. Almost as... Oh no.

Mr. Harrison:"Elijah?!"

Elijah:"Since when are you calling your father by his first name? You wanna tell me where you're headed?" He said as he sipped his morning coffee.

Mr. Harrison couldn't believe what he was seeing. His son was now old and he was young. "Beach... I'm heading to... the beach"

Elijah:"Are you ok, young man?"

Mr. Harrison:"Yeah, sorry. I... have to go... I'll be home soon. Bye."

Elijah sipped his coffee again and dialed a phone number.

"Hey. Haha. Yeah, we talked. He's confused. But don't tell him yet. Let him be confused for a while. He doesn't need to know we made a deal. He really deserves being young. Oh and try to get him to experiment. You know, he never got the chance to explore his sexuality when he was young. Ok, great. Have a great day, Jimmy."

Another anonymous story from Inbox 😊

What about a story were a really geeky teacher/professor ends up tutoring a kid and as a reward the teacher/professor is tranformed into a person the kids age.

Screenshots directly form the short f2m body swap movie on YouTube: Soliloquy of Morgan. Check it out :)

[incorrectfatui]

ok only one person asked for this, but I'm really bored, so: memes about our government collapsing, here you go. feel free to ignore it otherwise, next post will be about more harbingers xD

But politics talk beyond this point- dw, I get it if you dont wanna see that

Context will be below the pictures- please keep in mind that german humor is...well, german. Also, I can't figure out how to post multiple pictures at once, so uh...this is gonna be a long one. ALSO look at the ALT text I tried my best to translate & give more context

So of course, everyone immediately started memeing about Lindner. Why? Because most of the country fucking hates the guy. I don't think I specified enough how awful he is. The current government is incredibly inneficient, and he's a major reason why. He's an ultra-capitalist, in love with a free market economy, frequently has temper tantrums in parliament, and is INCREDIBLY anti social. He wants higher pension ages, less subsidies for unemployed people, the works. What people are also making fun off is Scholz, our chancellor, who was practically nonexistent for the last 3 years, only to deliver a VICIOUS speech about how awful Lindner is. So yeah! Government collapse is fun if you have the right memes. Hope at least some of those were funny to you guys as well

thaaats most of the ones I could fit. Which brings me to: the context. oh my god where do i begin.

Okay, so, the german parliament is made out of multiple parties, right? When we have elections, the chancellor is from the party with the most votes, but they don't rule alone, because they need a majority (<50%), and we have so many parties that they don't get there. So, they have to form coalitions with the other parties. When they do that, the leaders of the other parties get to be in high positions as well. Every party that isn't in the coalition is the opposition.

More often than not, we have what is called a Grand Coalition- the two biggest parties, CDU and SPD. However, in our last elections (which was also the first time in 16 years that our chancellor changed), this did not happen. We instead got the so called traffic light coalition, made up of the SPD (winner, got the Chancellor), FDP (our other main protagonist in this story) and the Greens.

So, they've ruled for about 3 years now, and it's been an utter shitshow- because of multiple factors, of course, but one of the major ones was the FDP. See, the Greens and the SPD are (or, well, were, but thats for another story) more left leaning, ESPECIALLY on stuff like climate change, while the FDP are mostly focused on the economy. So, there's been lots of conflicts, and all the parties in the coalition, but especially the FDP, have lost immense support. The FDP to a point where they might not get ANY seats in parliament for the next election.

Now, some of our current biggest issues are inflation, climate change, and the war in Ukraine. I'm simplifying this to hell and back, but essentially, we have a so called debt-brake in our constitution, which means that the country cannot go over a certain amount of money. Sounds good, right? Well, not entirely. Right now, we are trying to go over this limit. See, the debt-brake has an intentional loophole, which says that in emergencies, you CAN go over it, like natural catastrophes (e.g. COVID).

Germany, right now, wants to fund our infrastrcuture, our military, Ukraine, and social subsidies. For this purpose, the SPD and Greens agreed to go over the limit. Except they can't, without the approval of their coalition partner, the FDP, and their finance minister, Lindner, who RUNS the FDP. They've been fighting about this for A WHILE, and yesterday, Scholz (the chancellor), gave Lindner an ultimatum: allow them to go over the limit, or get fired. Lindner asked for snap-elections instead, did not accept the proposal (which was already heavily in his favour) and got fired.

Which wouldn't be a problem is he was any common minister- but he's a coalition partner, so the coalition broke apart- and without the FDP, the SPD and the Greens alone do not hold a majority in parliament.

What this boils down to, is that we will likely have a minority-government (who will have BIG difficulties passing any laws) until January, and at the start of January, the Chancellor will call for a vote of confidence (yes, like in star wars), which he will lose. Meaning: Snap Elections in March (at the latest), less time for the parties to prepare their candidates, and MASSIVE profts for the right wing parties, which are currently leading in the polls.

[an0leander]

THIS POST WILL BE DISCUSSING US POLITICS. PLEASE TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF AND DONT READ IF IT WILL BE HARMFUL TO YOU. I LOVE YOU

people be saying stuff so definitively and i’d like to say that, yes, actually, a big reason harris lost is because of the way democrats ran their campaign (which i’ll elaborate on). she also lost because of america’s increasing right-wing ideologies, rampant misogyny, and the evolution of social media algorithms encouraging radical policies and behaviors.

the democrats ran an objectively very poor campaign. you have to understand that the average middle/lower class american is not chronically online like we are, much less are they queer or personally know queer people. the average working class american is, in fact, more concerned about being able to afford groceries, gas, etc (whether or not trump’s presidency will allow them this is a whole other topic [it won’t, btw]) rather than if their local gay man can walk down the street.

average americans’ focuses are not on inclusivity and identity. democrats putting identity at the forefront of their campaign was a horrible idea that shot them in the foot. they did not campaign about their policies for the economy or domestic and foreign affairs (which is most people’s concerns if they’re not on tumblr or twitter). even if trump’s economic policies are bullshit, at least he expressed and campaigned with them.

yes, it’s shitty. yes, of course queer people deserve equality and inclusion. BUT THE AVERAGE AMERICAN RANKS THAT LOW ON THEIR PRIORITIES. the democrats campaign didn’t take into account the average persons priorities and that’s the issue.

radical trumpies already weren’t going to vote for harris because she’s a black woman, because she doesn’t pray, because they’ve been indoctrinated into alt right groups, etc and these are all very real issues, but sadly one of the biggest problems was the campaign focusing on the wrong stuff.

it’s horrible people voted for a fascist rapist, but they needed to know *something* would be done about the economy. is that something actually beneficial? no. but in times like these people will vote for that anyway.

tl;dr there are many reasons harris lost, all very unfortunate, but there is no one singular reason. think critically, think about other perspectives, and take care of yourself guys

[marzipanandminutiae]

"They're basically saying to compromise our rights" no, they are saying that directly. The headline

"51% of voters think trans rights have gone too far". We're the first scape goats. "Right have gone too far", we literally have less rights and have to jump significantly more hoops than anyone else.

When they say they're here to take your basic human rights away, don't forget they've already started with us, and they very much fully intend to take them away completely

A very good point and I'm fully aware. Thanks for the reminder- the only reason I didn't mention other groups is that I was talking specifically about the whole "women drove men away from the left" phenomenon. But it's so true: this applies to pretty much any group that's been fighting for rights, and we're all dealing with different sorts of oppression with different attacks and nuances. And many of them have indeed already started- see also: the women dying because they're refused lifesaving miscarriage care due to restrictive anti-abortion laws (which definitely could happen to transmasc and NB people, too, of course- while closely tied to systemic misogyny, reproductive rights affect anyone with a uterus).

To the Right, it's white and Identity Politics, straight and Identity Politics, male and Identity Politics, cis and Identity Politics, Christian and Identity Politics, etc. There's a space for talking about our individual issues, but in practice all of us need to fight for...well, all of us. Because dividing us is one of our enemies' favorite tactics.

And trans people are one of the main groups in the spotlight right now as far as targets go, something that's important to remember.

[gamer-goo]

@lastdayofouracquaintance gonna do an actual post for this so it’s not all in replies and also I can go point by point.

To start, the problem with the word Degenerate is not homophobia or transphobia(it has been used for many, many more groups like Marxists, disabled people, Jewish people, etc), it is that the word necessarily implies a norm to have been degenerated from, hence why it is used for all these groups. It is a word that constructs an ideal that is extremely useful to conservatives and reactionaries for that reason.

As for the “female subordination point” let me paint a picture. I am a lesbian, I am a transgender woman, and most importantly for this conversation, I am a rape victim. When I have sex with someone where we pretend that I am violating their consent, it is with women, occasionally with other victims. Does this eroticize female subordination? I won’t disagree that it eroticizes rape but that’s. The point sort of! When men perform CNC scenes with other men is that playing at female subordination? Quite possibly the most damning question is: what about when a woman is the perpetrator and the man is the victim in this scene? For you to lay a blanket statement like that reads to me as someone who does actually have an abstract disgust and has tried to justify that rather than challenge it. Me being a sexual sadist is something that feels good for me and for my partners, we discuss it, establish limits, make clear what kinds of aftercare we both need(would you believe that the perpetrator in these scenes also needs aftercare? Wow!), all because it is mutual and safe. I can tell you from intimate experience it is not even remotely about female subordination, it’s about dominance and about control, and subordination in general in a sexual sense!

As for pet play playing into misogynistic tropes I’ve got zero clue what you’re talking about. What about someone putting their partner on a leash or making them bark or eat out of a bowl or locking them in a crate is misogynist. I think you’re talking out of your ass on this one.

As for the race play question you asked in a different reply, I can’t answer you! I’m a white woman who doesn’t have a raceplay kink! But again I think you’re falling into the trap of thinking about these kinks as one sided, something with a victim. Do you have any consideration for when the “victim” is the instigator? Relating it to the above kinks, when my partners ask me to keep going when they say No, or ask me to put them on a leash, things we discuss and are aware of the risks of and we BOTH consent to! Are these all damning examples of the inherent evil of these kinks?

Put frankly I don’t think I’ll be able to make clear to you how little it is Your Concern what consenting adults do with each other in the bedroom. Like what is your solution, make it illegal? Have classes where we teach people how wrong it is to have a rape kink? Culturally shame people who do them?(we already do this btw! It leads to people doing it irresponsibly and unsafely!) there is a reason I asked your opinion of the word Degenerate, and it’s because you make the same arguments as radfems and sexual conservatives! I sincerely think you need to re-examine your sexual politics, you cannot draw a line without it being moved here. Rape is bad, but when people pretend to rape each other for sexual gratification of both parties involved, that is NOT the same!

To be clear you will not convince me otherwise, these are conclusions I have thought long and hard about and are consistent with my other political beliefs. If you can’t make peace with that, get off my posts and block me.

[tresdem]

One thing I'm really having a fascinating time working on in Never Shall We Die is the subject of race and how it interplays with Ed growing up. Because what I love about OFMD is that race is always a part of the show. It plays into it. It effects the characters of color in ways that it doesn't touch the ones that are not. (and more importantly, not always. They are allowed to be defined as more than just a minority and have personalities and such and their race is only a factor once in a while) But for Ed- I think it's very deliberate the background that he was given, Taika's trend toward father issues aside. XD He was born poor. He was told his place was decided by God (and OFMD and religion is another interesting subject). His options in in life are therefore limited whereas Stede's are more or less limitless. (Not that Stede doesn't suffer in his own way, but it's nevertheless true that he is wealthy enough and white enough to get away with a lot. You can even see this in that Chauncey treats him with more respect than the crew is given because they are more or less peers, but that is another story) So Ed has to sort of force his way upward. To push himself into being more, and being better, and becoming rich. He has a legacy, he has wealth, he can make people piss themselves just by coming into a room. And the sad thing is, it's still not enough. On the merchant ship, he's still called a donkey. On the high society ship, he was seen as fun but ultimately a buffoon and there for entertainment, but not much more. Even though he's the greatest pirate the world has ever known, his skin color and his heritage still define a part of him in a way he can't shake. And I think it's interesting, and difficult sometimes, to explore.

[penguininmypocket]

I agree with your username but not with anything you just said

there are many people who experience racism, misogyny and so on every day, yet they still voted trump - it's not because they think they should be deported. there ARE white supremacists who voted red, but I'm willing to bet they don't even make up the majority of trump's supporters. this is only anecdotal but just dipping into the radio and listening to people explain why they voted trump - very very few say it's because they think America needs to be a Christian ethnostate. most cite things like the cost of living, national solidarity, and a lack of satisfaction with Biden. hell, I've heard dozens of people with thick foreign accents or Latinos or queer people vote trump.

the problem certainly IS to do with all the things OP listed (and also here - read the extended version!!) and these are the things we as a global society need to be addressing. things like lack of information, misinformation and disinformation. things like AI, social media and political Twitter bots.

white supremacists make up a small proportion of the white supremacist body. most people are people who get dragged into these things, because they

- have uninformed worldview and lack critical thinking

- get so washed with certain opinions that they seem obvious (eg, the economy is the fault of immigrants)

- have to be extreme to be heard

- have to pick one or the other

the list goes on and on - but the point is that none of these are the fault of the individual. the reason trump (and all the other global far-right groups on the rise - the AfD and Reform UK are the ones closest to me) can get these masses to unfalteringly unquestioningly follow them is a societal thing, and a structural thing. I'm very much not a sympathetic person but I do hold sympathy for right-wing voters who are shooting themselves in the feet without even realising.

I can highly recommend this video:

which is an insider's insight into exactly the kind of thing I'm talking about.

your attitude also isn't your fault - for exactly the same reasons. politics has become so polarising that no matter what happens, 49% of the populace are angry. but it's an unhelpful attitude and unsympathetic. it will do nothing in ways of fixing the matters at hand because it fails to address them

things we need to address:

gen z men getting pulled into alt-right pipelines through andrew tate, joe rogan, elon musk, jordan peterson etc

the gullibility and stupidity of half the country voting against our collective best interests

the broad effect social media has on public and common good

lazy minds and lack of empathy

outside-country interference (trump and elon’s connections to russia and the amount of bots from other countries spreading misinformation)

the long-term effects of AI and rampant disinformation

[rpfisfine]

i will literally never wrap my mind around the fact that i used to have a swiftie mutual who genuinely had some of the most sensible & informed & reasonable & interesting political takes ive ever read in my life but was such a diehard swiftie to the point that whenever a post criticizing her for being silent abt palestine or exposing her insane private jet use would blow up she would just be like "everyone underestimates the political influence she actually has" (wrong) or "it's not like anyone actually cares abt the environment anyway, you guys are just trying to find whatever reason to tear her down" (????????) like. it's so bizarre to me that you can be a seemingly all around normal logical person that's aware of the horrible state of the us and the world in general but whenever taylor swift is brought up your political beliefs suddenly go straight down the toilet and you will just excuse anything that she does for feminist reasons i guess it's legitimately terrifying like there's no self-awareness at all

[scionshtola]

tbf i do think the story could have given the wol more of a connection to it/the antagonist outside of solely through wuk lamat and that probably would have alleviated a lot of ppl’s problems with it

[medicinemane]

.

[secret--history]

the whole 'there are not very many Great Causes worth fighting for these days' from Julian scanned as WAY more out of touch than the moon landing thing for me the first time i read tsh

[lilacerull0]

you know that episode really fucked me up this morning

[kandicon]

Avatar of the Web who keeps getting mistaken for an avatar of the Stranger because nobody cares to understand the nuance between marionettes and mannequins.