#language politics

[adhd-languages]

Hey do people realise the “bri ish” jokes are really just mocking a predominantly lower class accent for a linguistic feature that has already been mocked for being “lazy speaking” relentlessly in the UK?

[shro0msquid]

I want to learn a new language this year but am torn between Mandarin, Ukrainian, and Russian. The cases are as follows:

Mandarin: There are a lot of mandarin speakers in my university department and it would be helpful for my career and I may consider moving to China in the future. However, I don't feel I'm passionate about the culture though I am interested.

Russian: The language I'm most interested in with current access to fewest speakers. Possibly useful to my career and may move there after the war. I'm interested in the literature and would love to visit Siberia one day. Downsides being the awful government, politics, obviously the war.

Ukrainian: Access to many speakers at my language exchange. But I'm already learning Romanian which is a language in Eastern Europe limited to 1 country and I want to spread out a bit. No chance to visit the country in the immediate future and not especially useful for my career. Could act as a stepping stone to Russian. Again I'm interested in the culture, but not necessarily passionate about it. Could be a useful stepping stone to Russian though and having both languages would be very useful.

Choosing a language to learn is like betting on geopolitics.

[surviving-the-next-4-years]

Republicans deliberately use coded language to trick people to vote for them and radicalize their group. Many don't even realize they're radicalized or what they're saying is even racist. This is why they think the Left is "over reacting" because the either know they're using coded language and don't care, or they don't know anything at all.

[d1sc01nf3rn0]

Los usianos y el concepto de "childfree" está dlv, desde un contexto etimologíco:

Añadir "free" al final indica que te deshaces de algo, o eres libre de algo. La gente sin hijos no se deshace de ellos, solo no los tiene. Además, los niños son seres humanos, personas; no un objeto del que te deshaces o liberas. "Childfree" es una palabra deshumanizante, que aparte hace menos una decisión. Cómo leí por ahí, hace entender que tener hijos es el default, y por lo tanto no tenerlos es un estado. Técnicamente hablando, no tener hijos es el default, digo, nadie nace con hijos o asi.

"Childless" suena igual de mal. "Less" al final de la palabra indica que perdiste o te falta algo. Una persona que decide no tener hijos está haciendo una decisión consciente, no tendría porque reducirse a qué le falta o le sobra algo. "Childless" sería una madre que perdió a sus hijos por x o y razón, por ejemplo. De nuevo, pone que el default es tener hijos, y parte de ahí, al mismo tiempo que deshumaniza.

Ahora viene "breeder". Alch creo que no necesito explicar porque una palabra que se usa para describir a perros es deshumanizante. Suena clasista, y es estúpidamente misógino llamar así a mujeres que deciden tener hijos; porque saben quién más las llamaría así? Weyes de derecha que creen que lo único bueno que pueden hacer las personas gestantes es tener hijos. Así es, suenan como un pendejo de derecha misógino. Esta dlv ver a morras que se dicen feministas usarlo, y no ver lo que hacen.

Dice mucho que no tengamos palabras así en español. Osea, decir "gente con hijos/sin hijos" es muchas palabras, pero sigue siendo mejor que andar deshumanizando personas porque si. La gente childfree hispana adopto esos idiomas de los gringos, no nacieron aquí.

Es muy de usianos blancos no cuestionar su idioma y usar lo que le parezca más cómodo; pero no somos usianos. Nuestro lenguaje es nuestro, se nos fue impuesto y lo hemos cambiado para que represente nuestras ideas (como el uso de la x) entonces no entiendo porque chingados usar un lenguaje que es deshumanizante y misógino nada más porque los gringos lo pusieron de moda.

[thelongestrose]

"you wouldn't say the '15th of March' like a mad prophet" is to me an equivalent statement to "Celcius is the temperature of water, Fahrenheit is the temperature of humans!" (i.e. it isn't you just grew up with it, it's not even that hard to grasp the other system, and you should really examine your US-centric language bias)

“there is no objective correct way to write the date” yeah totally agreed. but there is an objective worst way and that’s MM/DD/YYYY because 1. it makes no sense and 2. the US should be flattened by nuclear bombs

[ravenkings]

[opashoo]

I'm absolutely losing my mind seeing "We need to not treat men and masculinity as inherently evil and worthy of hatred, and not fall back into biological and gender essentialism because that hurts everyone, including trans women" being misinterpreted as "Women need to stop oppressing men", "I think trans women are actually men" or "You specifically who have trauma around men need to get over it because men are the real victims". It's so willfully disingenuous. It makes me sick how willing people are to read in bad faith, especially how willing other trans women are to suddenly start harassing and dogpiling another trans woman.

I am a trans woman too, I understand what it's like to feel unsafe, but it helps no one this cynical attitude that crops up every time someone suggests being kind to men in our lives. "You could save a man you know from falling down the alt-right pipeline" is not the same as "It's your fault that men murder you". "There are people who could be on our side if we don't meet them with immediate hostility" is not the same as "You need to shut up and stop criticizing power structures for the sake of your oppressors' feelings" (I promise there are a lot of people who can be taught about their complicity in oppression without immediately shutting down but you need to work with them). This kind of attitude isn't somehow more informed or correct. It's just lashing out to avoid considering one's own agency.

Making a better, safer world for ourselves requires all kinds of work, but it's always work. It's hard to try to reach out to people who could very realistically harm us, it's work that not all of us can afford to or are able to do and that's fine because we're all just trying to survive. But some of you would rather condescend, tear each other down, and make more enemies before even considering it a possibility.

[omgellendean]

[oneofthosecrazycatladies]

This is your daily reminder that autocrats thrive on hopelessness. They thrive on fear. They win when the people become resigned and believe that fighting back is impossible.

Listen, there’s simply no denying that we are on the road to autocracy. But, believe it or not, we’re not there yet. (Yes, it’s true!) We can turn back!

But in order to do that, we have to believe we can.

There’s an Eleanor Roosevelt quote that gets repeated so often, it’s almost lost its meaning, but I still think it’s worth revisiting in a new light:

“No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.”

Don’t give them permission to make you feel lesser! That’s what they want! They want you to just roll over and accept their dominance!

Listen, I know this whole situation is so fucking exhausting. And wouldn’t it be so great if we didn’t have to fight so hard for our basic rights and freedoms? But these are the cards we’ve been dealt; we’re in this fight whether we like it or not.

So, do whatever you need to do to keep yourself sane. We’re in this fight, but we need to take it in shifts or else we’ll get burnt out and then they win.

Keep yourself sane. Find the moments of joy wherever you can. And remember that no one gets to make you feel lesser just because they want you to.

[mohntilyet]

still i think the one of the more fun differences drawn between illario and lucanis that was lost would be illario's ability to endear himself to others but serious lack of empathy, vs. lucanis' (self perceived) inability to be charming but how much he cares. it's interesting that the game has gone with the "lucanis' ability vs illario's lack thereof" because i think illario being the dellamorte 'best in show dog' vs. lucanis' attack dog would have made me so unwell.

lucanis is... awkward. he's not unlikable, because he is usually very polite, but he doesn't speak much and only seems to care about the other dellamortes. he once sent viago de riva a knife with no note (who knows what he could have meant by this). he does what caterina asks of him, and by his own admission, cannot say no to her. he is a dramatic and prolific killer, and that makes how untouchable he is even worse.

and the crows like illario, sure, AND he's a good assassin! he's even a good crow! he's so good that he can make lucanis smile, and so he is the charming, sociable one. he's the one that stays in treviso and can be relied upon to care, illario's even the one people prefer over caterina and lucanis!

but illario is decoration. he's the prize poodle, and even if poodles were bred to be working dogs, nobody will ever pick him to protect the house over the german shepherd that regularly mauls intruders. anyways the analogy is getting away from me. the point i'm trying to make is that i want illario to have a different kind of jealousy/hatred that's not just over 'being bad at killing' but also an arrogant loathing for everyone around him that is getting harder to hide, because they've forgotten he can bite and is just itching to rip someone's jugular out. illario is very good at hiding his family resemblance to caterina, while lucanis suffers under his grandmother's, and his own, reputation.

[turturros]

Kneecap (2024) dir. Rich Peppiatt

[blergityblargh]

"Harm reduction" as a concept comes out of the field of drug addiction. It was a response to decades of the "war on drugs" locking people up, screwing up their lives, and not doing anything to reduce addiction. It's an appeal to dramatically rethink the problem, to bring a proper scientific understanding to it, and shift the method of dealing with drugs entirely from the criminal justice system to the healthcare system. It's looking at what had been done for decades, saying "well that's not working" and changing tracks entirely.

Do you see how it's not analogous to voting Democrat? How it doesn't just mean "pick the least bad option in a shitty system"? How instead it means "the system isn't working, so let's change it"?

Like if the current political understanding of "harm reduction" were applied back to drug addiction, people wouldn't be advocating for it to be treated as a health problem instead of a criminal problem, they'd be advocating for drug offenses to get $100,000 fines instead of prison sentences. Because that's on the surface a less bad option within a bad system, but that still fucks up people's lives anyways and in a lot of cases will probably mean that someone just ends up in jail for some other reason.

What a real application of harm reduction logic to politics would mean is acknowledging that the American political system doesn't work, thinking about what would actually improve people's lives, and organizing to do that instead.

[fluentisonus]

everybody's a theatre nerd on here until it's time to appreciate that comedy as a medium is just as rich & fascinating & culturally important as tragedy

[theglowsociety]

10 Fascinating Facts About Black Irish History

When people think of Irish history, they often imagine fair-skinned Celts with red hair. But Ireland has a long and rich history of Black presence, dating back centuries. From African merchants in medieval Ireland to Black Irish revolutionaries, here are ten key facts that highlight the deep and often overlooked connections between Black history and Ireland.

1. Black People Have Been in Ireland Since at Least the 3rd Century

Historical records suggest that people of African descent were present in Ireland as early as the Roman era. The Romans never invaded Ireland, but trade and migration brought people from North Africa and the Mediterranean to Irish shores.

2. The First Known Black Irishman Was a 9th-Century Scholar

One of the earliest recorded Black individuals in Ireland was Firmanus, a scholar who lived in the 9th century. He was described as “a man of Africa” who studied and taught in an Irish monastery. This suggests that Ireland had connections with the wider world far earlier than many assume.

3. Irish Pirates and African Connections

During the 17th century, Irish and African histories intertwined through piracy. Irish pirates and privateers frequently raided North African coasts, capturing people to sell into slavery, while some Irish were also taken by Barbary pirates and enslaved in North Africa.

4. Olaudah Equiano, a Former Slave, Was a Prominent Abolitionist in Ireland

Olaudah Equiano, one of the most famous formerly enslaved Africans and an early abolitionist, visited Ireland in the 1790s. His autobiography, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, was widely read in Ireland and helped build support for the abolitionist movement.

5. Ireland Had a Role in the Transatlantic Slave Trade

Although Ireland never had large-scale slavery like the Caribbean or the U.S., Irish merchants and settlers were involved in the transatlantic slave trade. Cities like Cork and Dublin profited from goods produced by enslaved Africans, and some Irish individuals owned plantations in the Caribbean and America.

6. Frederick Douglass Found Refuge in Ireland

Frederick Douglass, the famous African American abolitionist, visited Ireland in 1845 to escape the dangers of being recaptured in the U.S. He was deeply moved by the poverty he witnessed during the Irish Famine and found an ally in Irish leader Daniel O’Connell, who was a vocal opponent of slavery.

7. The Black Irish of Montserrat Are Descendants of Irish and African Slaves

The Caribbean island of Montserrat has a unique population of Black individuals who proudly identify as “Black Irish.” This stems from the 17th century, when Irish indentured servants and African slaves were forced to work on plantations together. Montserrat even celebrates St. Patrick’s Day as a nod to its Irish heritage.

8. Phil Lynott, the Black Irish Rock Legend

One of Ireland’s most famous Black figures is Phil Lynott, the frontman of the legendary rock band Thin Lizzy (“The Boys Are Back in Town”). Born in 1949 to an Irish mother and a Guyanese father, Lynott helped shape rock music and is celebrated as an Irish music icon.

9. Emma Dabiri is Leading Conversations on Black Irish Identity

Irish-Nigerian author and academic Emma Dabiri has been at the forefront of discussing Black identity in Ireland. Her books, including Don’t Touch My Hair, explore race, culture, and the often-overlooked history of Black people in Ireland.

10. Ireland Is Becoming More Diverse Than Ever

Today, Ireland is home to a growing Black community, with many people of African descent contributing to the country’s cultural, political, and artistic landscape. The 2022 Irish Census recorded over 70,000 Black Irish residents, showing that Black history in Ireland is far from over—it’s still being written.

Black Irish history is rich, complex, and deeply interwoven with global movements of people, power, and culture. Recognizing this history helps break stereotypes and highlights Ireland’s long-standing connections to Africa and the African diaspora.

Did any of these facts surprise you?

[allthecanadianpolitics]

One of the most widely spoken Indigenous languages in this country is now available through Google's translation service, the first time the tech giant has included a First Nations, Métis or Inuit language spoken in Canada on its platform. Inuktut, a broad term encompassing different dialects spoken by Inuit in Canada, Greenland and Alaska, has been added to Google Translate, which translates text, documents and websites from one language into another. The latest addition is part of a Google initiative to develop a single artificial intelligence language model to support 1,000 of the most-spoken languages in the world.  There are roughly 40,000 Inuktut speakers in Canada, data from Statistics Canada suggests.

Continue Reading.

Tagging: @newsfromstolenland

[shrews-things]

Amúgy ha bárki szeretne panaszt tenni az Európai Bizottságnál erről az egész borzalomról ami épp folyik, gondoltam leírom, ezeknek mond ellent az új törvény:

Megkülönböztetés tilalma: az Európai Unió működéséről szóló szerződés 2. részének 19. cikke (article 19 of part 2 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union)

Gyülekezési jog: az Európai Unióról szóló szerződés 2. cikke (2nd article of The Treaty on European Union), az Európai Unió Alapjogi Charta 2. fejezetének 12. cikke (article 12 of chapter II of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union), Az emberi jogok európai egyezményének 11. cikkelye (11th article of The European Convention on Human Rights)

Adatok védelméhez való jog: az Európai Unió működéséről szóló szerződés 16. cikke (article 16 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union), az Európai Unió Alapjogi Chartájának 7. és 8. cikke (articles 7 and 8 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights)

A szövegnek nem kell hosszúnak lennie, akár csak leírhatjátok, hogy milyen törvény ellen tesztek panaszt, utána meg bemásolhatjátok a fenti listát <3