#help drug addicts don’t demonise them

[autopsyfreak]

if you shit on people for being drug addicts then just know that i hate you.

[royalbilliards]

i would LOVE to hear your opinion on maruki's therapy bc i see a lot of ppl saying he sucked as a therapist and i've never seen one so i can't really say anything with certainty...... but idk, i want joker to have at least an okay therapist just because it's a nice touch. also i think it's more satisfying narratively when maruki is someone joker can lean on for support and get attached to, but then has to oppose because shitty actualization. idk. pathetic wet man makes me go brrrrrr

Welcome to the autism zone.

So a lot of my thoughts on maruki’s therapy comes from my own experiences with a therapist in the past (I’m trying to get a new one right now) but. A lot of what Maruki’s ‘confidant perks’ and what they’re called suggest he’s giving Joker treatment for anxiety and depression, which makes a lot of sense given the way he acts in public outside of the joker persona, and the situation he’s in at Shujin (being bullied, for lack of a better term because it’s 5 am and I just woke up, and ostracised due to Kamoshida spilling his criminal record).

Practices like mindfulness and wakefulness sound like bullshit when you first have to start them, mostly because of the names, but the practices themselves are grounding techniques, being able to be present in your body, aware of your surroundings, and not letting yourself spiral via panic or depression and stuff. Detox is a term for drug addiction and alcoholism rehab, they’re not exactly practices we know Joker needs help with, but they’re most likely preventative measures, so that he doesn’t go Down those paths BECAUSE of his situation, which honestly makes sense, depression, anxiety, bullying from peers and the rest of it, including his criminal record and the way Japan treats students with criminal records, it makes sense that Joker could have easily gone down those routes if he didn’t have his friends and the metaverse to blow off steam and have an outlet for his emotions that he isn’t allowed to have in his day to day life. Flow is also a form of therapy treatment for handling depression, and mostly focus’ on capturing moments of positive mental states and allowing yourself to be completely focused and involved in Enjoyable activities that make you happy.

Because all of these therapy treatments that we get named from his confidant perks are Real therapy treatments that both Work and are widely used to treat specific mental health problems (Depression, Anxiety and Self-worth) we get both an insight into how Joker is actually feeling about things outside of what he shows and how useful these techniques are in his actual day to day life, because he’s using them to handle stressful situations in the metaverse.

There’s also the fact that Before everything, and AFTER everything, Joker doesn’t seem to hold much animosity towards Maruki, yes Akechi does and he’s Totally allowed to hate him, but neither Yoshizawa or Joker do, when Yoshizawa is more than justified in being angry and frustrated with him. And it might just be due to the abysmal lack of characterisation Yoshizawa gets, but mostly she seems like she too, like Joker, WANTS to help him, because we know that Maruki himself struggles with Self-worth problems, delusions of grandeur, a messiah complex (in both definitions of the term) anxiety and depression (along with a few other spicier things I don’t feel like mentioning because I’d need to bring up the psa’s on how demonised disorders need to be treated with respect since no one can do that on the internet). But there doesn’t seem to Be animosity between the three of them. Mostly just worry about someone they both cared about, and trusted.

There’s also the fact that, Jokers interactions with Maruki do not End After you help him with his research, we’re just cut off from the interaction at that point, because Joker in canon is explaining to Sae other more important things, he probably doesn’t feel the need to tell her the confidential therapy treatment he’s receiving at school. Their interaction continues, we get a fade to black, so it’s obvious he is getting actual therapy treatment, but Maruki has probably picked up on Jokers earth shattering savior complex and is easing him into the idea of therapeutic treatment by having him assist in his research, so Joker is more inclined to accept the help, since it’s a Transaction to Joker. If Maruki had more time to be Jokers therapist, and I assume he would have at some point Offered to continue his work as Jokers therapist after his tenure at Shujin ending, he would have eventually been able to work on that with Joker, and weaned him off Needing to help people all the time, and viewing social interactions as a transactional thing.

Anyways, yeah, I don’t think Maruki is a bad therapist outside of the horrors, I think people just don’t think about it because it isn’t spoon fed to them in a social link interaction, which is where the assumption that he’s Only using Joker as a sounding board comes from. But what would I know I just did media studies and have a special interest in analysing media, SHRUG

[jesstinsource]

Do you have any headcanons regarding Jesstin? I'd love to hear them!!! I've basically made my own universe for them since Season 4 ruined them for me 😒😒

ahhh yeah, they be living in my mind rent free too but with a completely new plot line lmao 🤡✌🏼i don’t have a heap of headcanons, i’ve made some posts in the past idk how to find them but i will give u some inspired by s4 and Future!Jesstin because i think they’re cute and because Somebody didn't fuckin die:

jess took her bear that justin won her, and the postcard to college 

jessica is like the fifth member of the jensen family. she’s over ALL the time, and nobody finds it weird. also laine gets on clay all the time about never having a girlfriend because having another girl in the house is “so fun” and she loves it. it’s very cute.

lots of pda with a lack of personal space

a lot of sexual recovery sex and while stuff gets kinky, they’re both pretty sad depressed kids so it can sometimes get soft, and emotional rather than rough.

because justin didn’t die, jessica was the only person who got to read his college essay cause he left his laptop open. she genuinely cried at the bit he wrote about clay, then told him he made three spelling mistakes. which he reluctantly corrected because she. shouldn’t. have. read. it. in. the. first. place!

they both love comedy films. i just can see that being very Them™ like thats their go to genre. and they binge all the netflix sitcoms together AND queer eye.

they're both totally bisexual and i stand by that forever. the gay plot lines we deserved. a black bisexual girl??? finally the show could have a gay female character whose entire storyline isn't her sexuality being demonised.

they’re very woke. jessica schools him on feminism and women’s rights, and justin schools her on poverty, addiction and homelessness. they are The Wokest™ 

they don’t drink much anymore. just a little at parties. justin is completely sober because he doesn’t wanna risk relapsing in any way, or his drug addiction becoming an alcohol addiction instead. and jessica is still hesitant to get drunk since what happened at her party. she's getting more confident though. its also not as fun when he doesn't drink so, she kinda doesn’t push it.

they go out on a lot of dates but they prefer the “stay home, watch a movie and order pizza” dates over actually going out. #married

study dates during senior year were often for actually studying, but often jess would get too stressed and things would..... take a turn

as we take my fic as canon for s4 😉 they dated for a year long distance. berkley is close to oakland which is an hour flight from L.A. they would take turns going to visit. but primarily it was justin (and clay) who would go back to evergreen to see the jensen’s, and jessica would meet up with him.

jess went into studying journalism based in social justice and politics 

justin studied sociology and communications. leading into social work based stuff

they take a break after a year of long distance but come back to each other and their relationship 

yearly dates to celebrate justin’s sobriety, and jessica tries to outdo herself every year. she’s the number one supporter of his sobriety!

at their wedding they swapped traditional colours. she wore a black dress. he wore a white suit. like Prom but 200 times fancier. 

they have two daughters. i stand by this. they play a lot of sports, they’re really smart. their family is just super happy. 

they travel. a lot.

jessica gets a job as an investigative journalist. justin as a social worker, but also an activist for ending poverty. the most important thing he ever did was push for drug awareness campaigns to be run by recovered addicts. and was very much helped by jessica’s platform as an activist. see, made for each other? perfect fucking couple. 

they live in los angeles (inner city) but move out into the suburbs together when they have kids for the Ultimate Domestic Experience™

they live really close to clay lol and after high school clay and jess actually become proper friends rather than acting like acquaintances who just say they’re friends...... 🙄

and i headcanon that they lived happily ever after.

[nicostolemybones]

It annoys me that the don't do drugs talks are about demonising addicts. Ooh they'll force you to do drugs say no. Drugs aren't cool and people who do them are criminals who deserve to be evicted and imprisoned and it's all their own fault they're homeless don't be like *insert insulting word for user here* john. Whilst alcohol is just like- don't drink and drive lol yeah just be safe with it it's fun everyone drinks take care of your liver (kids in my class got so personally offended people didn't drink and I had a teacher refer to a teetotal friend as a bore)

So many people fall into addiction because of mental health issues. It affects minority groups more than anyone. Homeless people, abused people, lgbt+, people of colour, disabled, people below the poverty line.

And they don't actually help. It doesn't stop people doing drugs it just makes those falling into addiction feel like terrible evil people for an illness.

I wish it was more like:

Here's what the drugs do to your body

Here's what an overdose is

Here's how to seek help and recognise a bad reaction to drugs

Here are safe drug hotlines to call

Here's how to support someone with an addiction

Here's access to a food bank

Here's addict support groups aimed at this minority group

Here's what to do if you think you have a drug problem

Here's a list of why so many people have drug addictions

Here's how to spot a dangerous person

Here's how to get help and safety if you're in dept to a dealer

Because yes drugs are bad and we shouldn't encourage drug use but. We should support addicts and create safe spaces for them to recover and end the stigma that prevents them from receiving help.

[drugusersbible]

A Code Of Ethics For Honest Drug Reporting

Truth is the first casualty of war and the war on drugs is no different. Every day both the print and broadcast media bombard the public with a perspective and narrative which has proved to be devastating. This diet of cultural influence and propaganda is unremitting.

The broad consensus behind this is a clear example of groupthink, and it persists across almost the entire mainstream. It is so ingrained in western journalism that it is prosecuted almost blindly, rendering journalists to be an integral part of the problem.

With this in mind, and with no end in sight, I recently considered the question of how journalists could reintroduce objectivity and truth back into drug reporting. What could be done to ground reports outside a paradigm which is neither factual nor humane?  

I concluded that for conscientious journalists, those instilled with sincerity and candour, this wouldn't take much effort at all. Indeed, the framing of a code of ethics almost became an exercise in stating the obvious:

--

A CODE OF ETHICS FOR HONEST DRUG REPORTING

1. The cause of tragedy and death is the erroneous use of drugs, not the drugs themselves. This usually stems from a lack of safety awareness and knowledge with respect to the specific drug or drugs in question. Reports should therefore be framed in this context.

2. Always include the intrinsic and central details in reports. For example, don’t routinely use the generic word drugs to cover substances which are absolutely diverse in nature, effect and potential harm. This wide scale practice is a de facto inhibitor of accuracy, education and understanding.

3. Cultural bias tends to suppress awareness of relative harms, which in Western society severely exacerbates alcohol related problems and misrepresents far more benign options. Effort should be made to reduce and eliminate this tendency.

Specifically, alcohol is a hard addictive drug and should be cited and reported as such when appropriate. Do not hesitate to cast this drug (alcohol) in the comparative context of other drugs when reporting on it, and vice versa.

Within this, review the use of stilted terminology. For instance, why do alcohol users drink their drug, whilst users of other drugs abuse theirs? Why do alcohol sources sell their product, whilst sources of other drugs push theirs?

4. In the context of drug use the mantra ‘Ignorance Kills, Education Saves Lives’ is a statement of fact. Journalists can help to educate by reporting harm reduction and safety information whenever an opportunity is presented.  

Routinely quote harm reduction charities such as Release and DanceSafe, and directly recycle the personal safety data provided by sources such as TripSit and The Drug Users Bible.

5. The police frequently inflate the market value of their drug hauls for self interest, and defending solicitors will commonly consider it trite or provocative to challenge this in court. This misinformation perverts the course of justice and serves to re-enforce the destructive narrative of the war on drugs. When reporting, qualify police claims or independently research the actual value.

6. Substances like datura and nutmeg are deliriants, and are dysphoric and highly toxic. Don’t use words like trip to describe their effects, and don’t refer to them as psychedelics. This is a good example of misleading terminology inciting potentially fatal consequences.

7. Report actual and factual impact data with respect to the war on drugs. For example, with 5% of the world’s population the United States now holds 25% of the world’s prison population, whilst the number of overdose deaths has soared. At the very least don’t repeat the war on drugs precept as though it isn’t challenged.

Within this, don’t pursue a narrative which demonises drug users or drug sellers. Bear in mind that 250 million people use drugs, and most sellers are ordinary citizens who started buying drugs for friends as well as themselves.

Individually, to hold sovereign and exclusive ownership of one's own conscious mind, to explore freely and without boundary, is surely the most fundamental of human rights. Third party intrusion into this wholly personal territory is a grievous breach of this inalienable freedom. It is entirely reasonable to reflect this perspective in reports, particularly with respect to psychedelics.

8. Don’t allow politicians or their servants (including the police) to set the agenda and define talking points, as again, they have a tendency to promote the war on drugs perspective for self interest. Always be aware that the role of journalism is to report objectively, rather than disseminate propaganda.

-- 

None of these are outrageously difficult to embrace, at least if the pursuit of truth is the objective (as it should be). I would also suggest that collectively they almost present a measure of personal integrity for any journalist who is aware of them.

Indeed, I would bluntly ask: if you are reporting in this field, and you are not following these or something similar, why not? What position are you seeking to promote, and for whom?

The continued diet of misreporting and dishonesty is perpetuating ignorance and costing lives. Real people, vulnerable people, are suffering and dying partly as a result of the current role of mainstream journalism in a brutal and unwinnable war.

Drugs users’ lives matter too, and some of the blood is surely on the hands of those who continue to engage as a blunt instrument of state.  

Dominic Milton Trott [Author, The Drug Users Bible]

[danielle-c]

Play | Culture

Exploring my initial word pairing, through looking into connotations of the words themselves.

Play


(Verb) Engage in activity for enjoyment and recreation rather than a serious or practical purpose.

Creativity

Imagination

Make Believe

Immaturity

Story Telling

Childhood

Comedy/Laugh

Lightheartedness

Performance

Entertainment

Happiness

Pleasure

Toys

Leisure

Game

Pasttime

Health

Necessity

Natural

Enjoyment

Freedom

Culture

(Noun) The arts and other manifestations of human intellectual achievement recorded collectively OR The ideas, customs, and social behaviour of a particular people or society.

Tradition

Ethnicity

Architecture

Music

Literature

Arts

Childhood

Adulthood

Old age

Laws & Regulations

Customs

Habits/routines

Periods of time

Science

Clothing

Food/Drink/Cuisine

Identity

Workplace/Corporate

Money/Economy

Cultural Appropriation

Drugs, Alcohol

Ethics

Civilisation

Bacteria

Biology

Growth

Cultivation

In pairing ideas that the given words brought to mind, pairing them up helped me to generate further ideas of how ‘play’ and ‘culture’ could be interpreted. Below are some ideas of possible subject matters of my project.

Word Pairings

Make believe & Film, Literature, Theatre (Arts) - the culture of creativity.

Lack of ‘play’ (leisure time) & the workplace - 40+ working hours, work related exhaustion, health problems related to lack of ‘down time’.

Exploration/adventure & small communities - nomads, alternative ways of living - ‘off grid’, ‘escaping the rat race’.

Experimentation & clothing/fashion - how have trends changed over time? How do different cultures dress and why? What are some ways people have/are experimenting with clothing?

Experimentation & food and drink - ‘trends’ in foods (such as avocados, veganism etc.)

Old age/Retirement & time to travel/explore, the eventual loss of retirement for future generations. 

Drugs/Alcohol & creativity - demonised and illegal, controversial regarding pros and cons, ‘tripping’ etc.

Young people/students & ‘play’ - notorious for alcohol consumption, drugs, unhealthy sleep schedules - taking ‘play’ to the extreme and causing burn out. How do young people’s easy access to ‘play’, with societies changing morals and ethics as guided by an increasing absence of religion and increase in liberalisation impact the health and lives of young people?

Consumerism & toys - the changes in children’s toys over time, from simple and minimal with lesser environmental affects to cheap, plastic, and in abundance. Contributing to plastic pollution and the idea of excessive stimuli for children hindering the development of imagination.

Gaming/screen generation & unknown impacts, the culture of ‘gamers’, screen addicts.

New online cultures, ‘instagram’ culture, ‘influencers’ etc. - a new form of controversial outlet, but possibly encourages creativity? The addiction to online social media cultures, intruding on the time that should be taken to relax, negative impacts on young people.

The experience of childhood across different ethnicities, through time, and across social levels - the experience of play for a rich child against a poor child. The imbalances in the access and quality of ‘play’ for children of different economic family backgrounds & how this can worsen the gap between the rich and the poor over time through an advantaged development.

Ethics & entertainment, religion & entertainment, censorship & entertainment - how has our societies view on ‘entertainment’ changed? From TV programs, films, art and others, our sources of entertainment are becoming increasingly liberal and shocking to older generations. What does religion, ethics and censorship have to do with this? How is this impacting us?

Sporting (leisure) & Health - the idea that how everybody knows exercise is key for mental and physical wellbeing, yet so many don’t achieve the recommended amount. ‘Play’, interpreted as a stress reliever, includes movement - finding a physical activity/sport that is enjoyable, but with modern society this is becoming more of a struggle to achieve for the average person. The science behind endorphins and sense of achievement and how modern medicine is dominating the treatment of poor mental and physical wellbeing over a healthy lifestyle. Obesity epidemic.

Laws & regulations Vs Freedom - the development of laws and boundaries and breaking them, what is ethical lawbreaking? Does It exist? Are we excessively controlled?

Music & enjoyment - complexity, background and presence in past and present societies, the impact of music on our mental wellbeing, bonding of society etc.

Laws, countries & freedom - the earth is our home, yet we cannot roam it freely. Visas, immigration, current affairs regarding the topic.

[imjustatowelpassingthrough]

It’s not always a choice, only for the non-addicted. Addiction is not a choice and unfortunately, those people who are regularly drunk rarely get help. It’s not that simple and I think the main take-away from this post is to not drive while drinking, not to demonise people who do so. We should rather support programs that combat addiction. Especially alcohol is an underestimated drug. Don’t get me wrong here, what’s happening on the street really bothers me and I think we also need to rise more awareness to make people realise possible consequences of their actions to make them care. This post did it perfectly. I rarely drive despite enjoying it, because there are so many irresponsible people on the street. It’s not just drugs, driving while being tired, driving too fast, making dangerous manoeuvres, driving with cars in bad conditions...

Video

[dxmedstudent]

Hey there! I'm a student on pneumology rotation (is this how it's said in English? Maybe lung diseases ward? Anyway) and I'm shocked to see that so many smokers come to get visited and wants release from their symptoms but refuse to stop smoking... today I had a pt who smoked 40 cig/day and had a mixture of emphysema and severe fibrosis, with a doubt of cancer and still refused to even consider stopping smoking. How do you deal with patients like this?

Hello! Medicine’s weird because it’s never just about medicine. It’s sort of a window into the human condition. We learn a lot about human nature through our patients, and our rotations as students are usually where we first see that things are never straightforward. People frequently come in with things that you could, if you wished to, describe as ‘self inflicted’. Personally, I think the term is meaningless, because much of what we deal with in medicine is a result of personal decisions, and because we have a duty of care to everyone, not just the people leading exemplary lives. I didn’t promise to only care for people who do everything right, I vowed to do my best for everyone. Distributive justice is central, here; whilst we might deny a treatment to someone whose body won’t withstand it, or who we clinically feel won’t benefit from it, we do not deny treatments from people as a punishment for their personal choices. But you’ll notice that people will come in, suffer from symptoms that result from something like drinking excessively or smoking, or poorly controlled diabetes, and you’ll do your best to control their symptoms. But sometimes people still lapse. Mistakes happen, but not all lapses are mistakes; sometimes people are genuinely struggling to quit. Sometimes people see little reason to. Yes, people lapse, and their condition gets worse, and sometimes it feels like people aren’t listening to medical advice and don’t want to help themselves. But that’s never entirely true. They aren’t doing it to spite medical professionals or their families or themselves. Usually people know that medically it’s the best decision, but that’s not the only thing going on in their lives. Sometimes smoking or drinking, or biscuits etc is the one slightly nice-feeling thing in their entire life. People will often tell you that they have very little to look forward to in life, and lots of problems, and just the stress of cutting out the one thing that brings them any enjoyment; lots of people would struggle with that.  Which is why medicine is really a job for people watchers, people who want to understand humanity. When you find out about people’s lives and the problems they face, it all starts to make much more sense. And when you treat them as people, not as failed addicts, and not as failing livers or lungs, then they open up to you and you see how much suffering goes on all around us. You really can’t imagine the stories you’ll be told. The secrets people share with you when you make them feel safe. And just how much most people struggle with their entire lives. It teaches us to reserve judgement, because the more people you meet, the more we realise how little we know about their lives. Quitting smoking is so hard. It’s one of the hardest things to do. Addiction, in general is really hard, but some habits are easier to kick than others. Smoking is one of the difficult ones.  I have colleagues who smoke; they know how bad it is, but staying smoke-free when you’re as stressed as we are can be really hard. It’s not something we can truly understand if we’ve not been there. So I think as medics we should try to be as understanding as we can. Which isn’t easy because society sets us up to demonise things, and in medicine it would just be so much easier if people weren’t addicted to things and people behaved in predictable, understandable ways and followed doctors’ advice. But unfortunately, that’s not what humans are like, and the only thing we can do is either spend our entire working lives bitter about it, or just try to understand people as best as we can, rather than judging them. It’s not easy, I think it’s an outlook we have to actively cultivate, but it’s also much more rewarding to see things through this kind of lens. The thing I have trouble with is the concept of social smoking. Like, you deliberately, from a position of not being addicted at all, choose to smoke a small amount of a highly addictive and harmful substance with friends on a fairly regular basis but insist you ‘aren’t addicted’? And this is a common practice amongst people who otherwise don’t drink particularly excessively or ‘do drugs’? Nicotine is more addictive than alcohol and most illegal drugs, and third only to heroin and cocaine in terms of addictiveness when you compare it to most drugs. I fear that  a lot of people who ‘smoke socially’ are in complete denial about their relationship to nicotine. Because there’s a stigma to admitting you’re addicted to something, and claiming that you have control of it and are choosing when to use it is more socially and personally acceptable. It’s just such an incredibly risky move to make, and as a healthcare professional, it goes almost without saying that if you’re not already smoking, I would not recommend starting to, in any way shape or form. Because I know how difficult smoking is (and I grew up with a now ex-smoker parent), and I have friends who smoke from a young age, and that’s pretty understandable because they started through things like peer pressure when they were practically children, and it’s so, so hard to stop. And that makes sense; most people take up smoking or drugs at a young age because we’re particularly vulnerable to peer pressure then.  Because of my history, I hate smoking with a passion (there are literally no benefits, if I could magic away the tobacco industry and people’s dependence on it with a wand, I’d probably do it), but I can understand how difficult it is to stop. But I know close friends who started in their mid/late 20s because their friends were smoking socially, despite knowing very well how bad it is for their health. And I just can’t think of a single sensible reason why anyone would do that at our age. I’m still struggling to understand what causes people to do that. I guess it goes to show that people are still hard to predict or understand sometimes.The only thing that I really, really struggle with, though, is when parents who smoke don’t try to stop smoking after their asthmatic child ends up in ITU. I fully get that it’s an immensely difficult battle. But in my view, if there’s one good reason to try,  saving your child’s life is that reason. If your kid keeps on ending up in ITU with their asthma, you could potentially kill them if you keep smoking. It doesn’t matter if you ‘smoke outside the house’, the particles still get on your clothes and still end up being breathed in by your child.

[goosegoblin]

while we’re at it, imma just list all my discourse-inducing opinions here to get it out of my system

feel free to ask for clarification, unfollow, ignore, etc etc. as long as you aren’t a dick, i’ve got no problems with any of that <3 

- asexual + aromantic people are part of the LGBT+ community 

- drag isn’t inherently transphobic 

- trans women are women and TERFs are bad people

- you can want/ work towards a cure for a condition while respecting people with that condition. it’s sure as shit not ableist to want a cure for your condition 

- ableism doesn’t get enough attention and is left out of many social justice movements 

- mentally ill ppl need to stop silencing the struggles of physically ill/ disabled ppl for the sake of making a point (i.e. those comics/ videos that show people telling physically disabled people to just ‘walk it off’ or ‘just try yoga’ to try and highlight how wrong it is to do that to mentally ill people)

- ideally, we should all work towards eating less meat and fewer animal products. you aren’t a bad person for not doing this, but you are kind of an asshole if you mock vegetarians/ vegans

- climate change is a fuck-off huge problem and we all need to be panicking about it a lot more than we are

- people with paedophillia who have never offended and want to get better deserve help and support, not hatred and death threats

- OCD is still very poorly understood and rarely portrayed correctly by the media and I really wish there was more shown of the obsessive side of it 

- using mental illnesses as adjectives (’can we change the volume to an even number? sorry, I’m OCD about that’; using ‘anorexic’ to mean ‘skinny’; misuse of the term ‘psychotic’) is a bad thing to do. it’s not language evolving, it’s misusing terms in an offensive way that belittles mental illness 

- the mental illness advocacy movement needs to push awareness of less ‘acceptable’ conditions. i want stuff on psychosis, bipolar disorder, severe OCD, personality disorders, intermittent explosive disorder, addictions, binge-eating disorder. i’m sick of advocacy being for skinny white girls in big grey jumpers with anxiety and depression. don’t get me wrong, those girls deserve support (hell, i am one of them). but goddamn, advocacy cannot work by putting your ‘prettiest’ issues forwards and hiding the ones at the back that are harder to dress up

- i’ve basically never encountered a well-written anorexic character (bar maybe Tix from MMFD) and I very much wish people without eating disorders would do a LOT more research before attempting to write them

- asking for a source/ fact-checking is in no way a bad or offensive thing. ‘jfc couldn’t you just google it?’ doesn’t work when the burden of proof is on you

- feminism is equal rights for all genders. men’s problems deserve help & attention, but not in a way that overrides or ignores women’s problems. the same is true of the opposite. that being said, feminism focuses on women because more often than not, it’s women are being looked down on and treated poorly. 

- donald trump is a dangerous and stupid man and i really can’t believe he is the president, what the literal fuck

- the tories are dangerous and i loathe theresa may

- calling women whores, sluts etc is slut-shaming and basically never necessary. ‘bitch’ is a hilarious word when used appropriately (see: Aaron Paul, Glenn Howerton) and is awful in its standard use of meaning ‘any woman who dares speak her mind’. i prefer to reserve the use of ‘cunt’ for people who have hit a significant level of evil. there are very few people who have met this for me, but katie hopkins is one

- the daily mail should be shut the fuck down

- brexit is an awful fucking idea

- if you cannot take care of a pet adequately for whatever reason, you should take action to get the pet to a home where it can be taken care of well. pets are a privilege, not a right.

- there is no real need for white people to have a significant voice in discussions about racism

- pornography is like alcohol: in an ideal world, it wouldn’t really exist/ be used, but we aren’t in that world. most people can use it in moderation and not have a problem with it; some people become addicted to it, and they deserve support to overcome that. 

- addiction is a disease and addicts deserve support & help. you can become addicted to essentially anything, and making fun of people for their addictions makes you kind of shitty

- mental illness is an explanation for poor behaviour, not an excuse. if you did a fucked-up thing due to anxiety or depression or mood swings, you still need to accept responsibility and apologise

- if alcohol and tobacco are legal, weed should be legal. legal does not mean ‘this has no risks and everyone should do it’- it means people should be able to make their own choices about whether or not they want to use it, based on actual fact and reason and not heavily biased anti-drug sources

- family is chosen. ‘blood’ and ‘shared DNA’ means very little. you are under no obligation to ever stick with an abuser.

- prostitution has always existed and always will. it should be legalised and regulated, and the people working in it should be protected

- the demonisation of sex workers is very fucked up. you can’t demand a service (e.g. watching porn) while demonising/ belittling the people who provide it (see also: fast food service)

- if two consenting adults want to do something in private, they can go ahead and do it. i’m not into policing how people fuck. if a grown woman wants to get tied up and spanked, it’s patronising and offensive for me to start lecturing about how her childhood and mental illness might have influenced her choices. 

- incest ships weird me out, but like, you do you. 

- marketing food as ‘guilt-free!’ or ‘sinful...’ is gross and implies eating is a moral choice, which it never is

- goat’s cheese is awful. just awful.

- you can basically cook anything and everything at 200C 

- crocs are the worst shoes to ever be invented

- skyler white deserved so much better

[ellie-pennick]

Drugs and Sadness in Glasgow's High-Rise Ghettos

The Barracks is one of the most deprived estates in the UK – but it wasn't always so miserable.

Glasgow's Wyndford estate

"There is a tendency for alcoholics and junkies to find each other," says Sean Damer, a Glasgow sociologist. "They bring in their homeless pals and know where they can get legless at 10 o’clock in the morning." The Wyndford estate, known as the Barracks, is one of those places – "an exemplar of everything going wrong with social housing in Britain today," according to Sean. "The Daily Mail and the Sun love to demonise places like this, but this is people’s lives. They have no choice but to make the best of it."

In the 1960s, this was a very different housing scheme. People remember it as a place defined by aspiration and community spirit, a place where you could leave your doors open and families looked out for each other. New residents felt they had “died and gone to heaven”. When many of Glasgow's other tenement blocks were demolished in the 70s, people fought to be allocated a flat on the Wyndford estate. Three references were required – one from the police – before a person was even considered.

Then came the 80s. Estates were sold off and Thatcherite housing legislation, particularly the Tenants Rights Act, seriously limited the powers that housing associations had to evict antisocial tenants. Where once a potential resident's connection to the local area was an important factor in their bid to secure a flat, the Tories' right-to-buy scheme placed a new emphasis on the power of private markets.

In the years since, long-term residents of the Barracks have seen a dramatic change in their surroundings. Now, half the adult population are unemployed and it is in the top 2 percent of the most deprived estates in the UK. The problems are concentrated in four tower blocks on the edge of the Barracks, each standing 26-storeys tall, in which substance abuse is rife – most popular are cocaine, heroin and downers, like diazepam.

"You could ask for drugs right now and they’d be with you in a second," says David, 47, whose balcony overlooks the part of the estate where scenes from Trainspotting were filmed. "There are druggies everywhere. Some of them don’t even live here – people sleep on the landings. I’ve lived in Manchester, Liverpool, Dublin and London and the so-called 'hard men' in these places don’t know they’re born.”

Local man Stephen Cafolla, 44.

This is by no means a problem that is confined to the Barracks. Areas of Glasgow suffer a depth of poverty that is rarely encountered in other parts of the UK. Recent figures released by the Office of National Statistics show that this is the ninth consecutive year that Glasgow has been in the top five workless areas in the UK. In some parts, almost 9 out of 10 male adults are on benefits, while children brought up in social housing now have far fewer life chances than they did half a century ago. They are also more likely to suffer from mental health problems.

Shockingly, life expectancy for men is 54 – almost 20 years less than in the city's more affluent districts just a few miles away. It’s pretty grim and across the board Glaswegian men die young. In the absence of any concrete explanation, researchers and theorists have pointed to an ambiguous "Glasgow effect" – a kind of intrinsic despair that has been passed down through generations since the Industrial revolution and that manifests itself in drug abuse, heavy drinking, a poor diet, ill health and suicide. You could argue that it's also a handy metaphor for a government that is dealing with a problem it has no idea how to fix. With the bedroom tax and other austerity cuts cleaving more than £250m from the Glasgow economy, it's likely that the 36,000 children in Glasgow already living below the poverty line will be soon be joined by others.

Miss Simpson, a resident of 13 years, says, “I just keep my head down, I don’t want to notice it.”

On the Barracks, all the flats in the 26-storey blocks are bedsits that were originally designed for pensioners. However, most of them died in the 80s and 90s and since then, the imperative of the private housing association has been to accept anyone to secure a rent.

Alex, 84, has lived here for 47 years. “When it was first opened there was a queue to get in. Now, they let in everybody. It’s a huge shame, people don’t know each other any more.” Miss Simpson, a resident of 13 years, agrees. “I just keep my head down, I don’t want to notice it.” Another man is picking up litter as part of a community payback scheme. He used to live on the estate and has recently been released from prison. He says, “It was always good, but then it just went crazy."

Sociologist Damer, who's written a feasibility study on the future of the Barracks, talked to me about the problem of drug abuse on the estate. “If people are off their faces, they don’t look after themselves. They are so busy feeding their habit they are not concerned with cleaning the landing or caring for their flat. In the high-density multi-storey flats, for instance, refuse is a big problem. If you are out of your face, dead dogs and whatnot go down the chutes. That happens.”

Jim, 50, who has lived on the 14th floor of one block since 1965, says, "I’ve had a family with a heroin habit across the landing and before them, it was my neighbour from childhood, the contrast was enormous. The addicts wrecked the place. Windows got smashed; there was graffiti and threats. There’s no support. When the caretakers leave at three, we fly alone.”

Every Friday afternoon, a charity bus gives out food and offers a rehab service. Michael Sturrock, coordinator for the Teen Challenge service, says, “We target deprived areas, areas with a high rate of addiction. It became apparent in the last six months that there was a real need on this estate. Each week, the bus is packed. There isn't enough being done to help these people.”

William, 33, has lived in the estate for three years. “It was happy, but it’s not any more. People are getting drunk and taking drugs on the stairs. It gets worse every day. There are too many drugs coming in."

Some of the other tall concrete slabs in the city are due to be demolished by 2017. Many think that this is an option for the Barracks, so far has the estate fallen since its halcyon days. “The bedsit flats are not suitable. Either they must come down or they must be reconfigured," says Patricia Ferguson, Labour MSP for Glasgow Maryhill. "They need investment and they need to be made into decent housing in which people want to live." Ferguson thinks that the coalition is guilty of social neglect: “I don’t think the government understands the area and I suspect it cares even less.”

Others feel differently. David MacKenzie, from local housing authority Cube, says, “We have confidence in the estate – we know it has a long-term future. It has its share of poverty and unemployment like many parts of Glasgow, but it’s definitely an area on the up.” After decades of little or no investment since the 80s, they say a regeneration project is now underway.

Unlike London, for residents on Glasgow estates, regeneration isn’t about middle-class outsiders moving in to force out native working-class populations. For people here, this is about making life less nightmarish. It’s about new heating systems to combat dampness and fuel poverty, money advisors to help tenants on the breadline and janitor schemes for young locals who can’t find work. The police have increased their patrols in the area and extended the CCTV systems.

However, it is too much for them to kick in every door in the hope of finding drugs. For many residents in the high-rise blocks, this is too little, too late. Comments range from, “I need outta here, this is the absolute gutter, pure shite,” and, "You wouldn’t put your dog in it,” to, “They're cleaning it up, but it’s a hard, unforgiving place." Whatever the view, for now, for many on the Barracks and other estates in Scotland, the hope of finding a job and a better future remains a distant one.

[artmotherhoodandmadness]

Tomorrow  vote with your head and heart, don't be swayed by May’s desperate tactics. Personally, I’d vote for the Benign Anarchists, if such a party existed

What I always find staggering is how people forget the lessons of history. Corbyn was right to be hesitant about using nuclear weapons, and shouldn't be vilified for not wanting to kill or harm millions of people. Nuclear weapons, if deployed, are always a last resort. In the case of the Second World War the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki to devastating effect, to bring an end to the war finally. The toll on Japan in terms of loss of life and trauma was profound and long lasting, so much so the country does not permit nuclear weapons on Japanese soil, despite being in a vulnerable position in terms of its geographical proximity to North Korea. Case in point Japan has not been attacked and has no intention of attacking anyone since, if only other countries would emulate Japan’s stance on nuclear weapons. 

It’s polling day tomorrow, opinion polls have narrowed to 5 points, some say even 1 point, there is still the assumption that May is going to win. Corbyn is quietly confident. The Daily Mail’s editor Paul Dacre is pushing for a Tory win and Katie Hopkins and her insalubrious ilk continue with their anti immigrant, anti Islam stance. Yes, there are terrorists in our midst and most of Britain would like to be rid of the threat, but stirring divisions and making Britain more polarised isn’t going to help matters.

In light of this most recent awful attack on Tower Bridge and Borough Market the focus of the election campaign is on terror. Why did May let go of 20,000 coppers? Should we shoot to kill? If innocent life is in danger, yes, even Corbyn has backtracked on this. But we have to accept the police could get it wrong, too. I respect Corbyn for wanting to stop selling arms to Saudi Arabia, even if it costs the UK billions, it’s a noble stance. In stark contrast, for May it will be business as usual with the Saudi’s. It’s widely known that Saudi Arabia adhere to Wahhabism, an extreme and intolerant form of Islam and fund terrorists on the sly. But Amber Rudd believes selling arms is ‘good for industry’ not sparing a thought for the people in Yemen being bombed mercilessly. Heartless - do we really want these people in power?

It’s Ramadan right now, people are fasting, I have friends who are Muslim and they are decent, great people, I find it interesting listening to their views which have been informed by their faith and they listen to mine, too. I was raised by Muslim parents, but I am ambivalent about religion as a whole. It’s not a problem, I still count many Muslims as good friends. We’ve had some interesting debates. Wahhabism is not the same and we should start calling the terrorists adherents to Wahhabism to distinguish them from the millions of Muslims who abhor this violence and practise their faith peacefully.

Everything hinges on the young person’s vote and first time voters. Time and time again the Tories have been saved by the loyal and steadfast grey vote, but with her embarrassing  U- turn on the dementia tax perhaps May has lost ground. Watching clips of her on Question Time was uninspiring; she didn’t seem to care about the nurse whose pay hasn’t risen since 2009 nor the mentally ill lady who was on the verge of tears lamenting woeful mental health NHS services. Talk about lack of empathy. She kept saying there is no magic ‘money tree’. I am sorry make companies like Google, Apple and Amazon pay their fair share of tax and there’s a few extra billion quid in the coffers for starters. London has the highest concentration of billionaires; I would love to know how much tax they pay in total. The emphasis is always on public sector cuts, now public sector workers like nurses and teachers are using food banks. That’s shameful.

You would think the way things are going that people would give Corbyn a chance. But somehow people feel assured that unlike Corbyn, May would be prepared to use Trident if attacked. It fills me with dread. Now she’s boasting about tearing up the human rights laws. OK we will be able to kick out more terrorists and extremists, but it means there could be abuses of power, it’s a slippery slope.

Then there were those that attacked Corbyn for sympathising with the IRA and fraternising with them, too. But he made a good point that to deal with difficult situations you have to engage with the so-called enemy. Why isn’t May castigated for being friendly with Saudi Arabia? 

May’s demonisation of Corbyn and his team smacked of desperation. It’s just lame to say that Corbyn will take Britain back to the dark ages. I was a kid of the 70s and it was not all bad, my parents had decent jobs and affordable housing, which seems elusive in today’s Britain.

Aside from this, I admire Corbyn for standing up for his views, for not wavering, for even admitting he has an allotment, he seems more human and less robotic than May who only seems to excel when she has a script in front of her and even then her words are anodyne and uninspiring.

If you could choose between Corbyn and May, surely Corbyn will try and serve all the people of Britain and not just a select few. His promise of free tuition is going to entice the young vote. I wish he would have adopted the universal basic minimum wage, people would have a safety net, but I don’t agree with everyone getting it, giving it the super rich that makes no sense, they’d just blow it in one go on a designer handbag. It would be less expensive and cumbersome than the current nightmare benefits system and it’s been trialled in Finland. With increase robotisation, and job insecurity having a pot of cash that you know is there could be a life line for many.

As for Brexit, don’t even get me started, I concede the EU is in need of reform and an overhaul, now we are out, who will be the better negotiator? Corbyn with his zen like demeanour might fair better than the belligerent and intransigent May, who will stomp and scowl if she doesn’t get her way. Bonne chance.

In some ways the ideal party would consist of a bit of the Green Party, a bit of the Labour party, a bit of the WEP (although it has hardly made an impact I like the idea of a Women’s Equality Party) and a new party, called the Benign Anarchists, because I believe in breaking the rules, but being benign, creating an environment that is cleaner, promotes better mental health, nutrition, great living space for all, access to greenery, open dialogue about taboo subjects, support for the arts, more diversity in the media, giving the disadvantaged access to the best education possible, providing the little guy with a platform to be heard and counted, tackling the gross inequity in the UK, and providing security for all our citizens - not just those that can afford body guards. And as for the press don’t get me started, the right wing bias is something that needs to be challenged, who will do that, certainly not May? Sadly the Benign Anarchist party doesn’t exist, it only does in my head. Some would say I am a socialist, I am not anything, I just think all people deserve a decent shot at life.

For me mental health is key, and there has been some mention of it by the Lib Dems. Lauren Booth, (sister of Cherie Blair) who converted to Islam, was ridiculed for suggesting that many of these terror outbursts are the result of drugs not religion. Drugs may play a part, especially if any of the perpetrators have smoked skunk, the strain of cannabis with high THC levels. Where was Sir Robin Murray in this discussion? He has long spoken of the link between skunk and psychosis. When you are psychotic you have illusions of grandeur, think you are on a mission, the chosen one, make allusions to god, suffer hallucinations, become paranoid. We know that Manchester bomber, Salman Abdi, using cannabis it’s a factor that can’t be ignored. I’ve seen the drug addicts outside my flat in east London, many of them are young Bengali kids. Get rid of skunk and society will be mentally a lot healthier for starters.That’s only in the Benign Anarchist’s manifesto BTW.

As someone who has suffered from psychosis you can be dangerously deranged and lose all inhibitions. I only posed a danger to myself not others, but it’s not the case for everyone.

Book cover commission for Aron Bennet’s book My Sweet Seraltine, about life on anti-depressants, this artwork depicts a brain landscape, (mixed media, 2017)

For a robust and dynamic society mental health is crucial. Right now there is a sickness at the core of Britain that is not just related to terrorism, but also the rise of the far right, gross inequity and woeful mental health provision. May said she would make mental health a priority; it needs to be at the top of the agenda. She barely mentioned it in this campaign, not did Corbyn much, which is why I, as the founder of the Benign Anarchists (a friend told me the name is wank, but I like it) will continue my campaign: Mental Health For All. Case in point I am speaking at a school this Friday in Malaysia and talking about the link between creativity and madness and how many of the great artists were a bit deranged, but it was not a foregone conclusion. With better mental health care provision maybe the outcome would have been different. We need to support our mentally ill, take care of them, help them make a contribution to society. 

My friend, the late Tony Banks MP, took me under his wing, we would meet up at parliament and he would feed the pigeons and have a rant, he said I should have gneo into politics. I studied the subject at the LSE, but I was too timid, too afraid of a backlash because of my views, the way I dress, my mental health issues, my creativity - none of it spells politician. I was convinced that I would get crucified by the British press, black and Asian figures in politics seem to get more of a bashing, don’t you think, case in point Diane Abbot and Sadiq Khan?

In my mind we all have to be activists to instigate change and stand up for our beliefs. Take, Joshua Wong, for example, I am amazed by his tenacity and what he has achieved. He is taking on China! Fighting for the rights of the people in Hong Kong. On Thursday people have the power to instigate change, I choose to exercise my power through art and words and my mental health campaigning. 

When the Benign Anarchists have a shot at winning an election I will vote for them. I have never voted, as a matter of principle, I can’t compromise when it comes to politics, I wage my own campaign like Joshua, but quietly, I have always been an outsider, not embraced by Britain or anywhere in fact, so it would be hypocritical for me to vote, but I care for the UK, and I don’t want to see it turn into a far right totalitarian state.

This vote though is critical, choose wisely and don’t bash Corbyn for standing up for his beliefs. 

If it’s a toss up between May and Corbyn it’s a no brainer.

As the election unfolds it looks like a hung parliament, I think May might just be crapping her pants.