#like i'm sure most people living in the usa know it's shit. they don't need you smugly telling them that

[mccleans]

i'm not american but the condescending reaction everyone in the rest of the world has to shit like this has got to be so exhausting to endure

[rosierabbitart]

Hey sorry to get political again, but I think this is extremely important.

So I'm sure most of y'all have heard something about Project 2025, but if not, here's the gist. It's a giant document written by members of the Trump administration, meant to be an instructional guide for if he becomes president again.

This guide is long, and intentionally written to be as boring as possible so voters won't read it and see the heinous shit they want to do.

However, a LOT of comic artists have come together to make comics about the contents of Project 2025, to make it easier for everyone to understand.

https://stopproject2025comic.org/

These comics feature page citations for everything stated and have transcripts below them for the visually impaired.

Project 2025 is dangerous to all of the USA. It will kill and imprison millions of citizens, and the ones who live will have exponentially worsened lives. To name just a few things, they want to use AI to determine the necessity of healthcare treatment for Medicare and Medicaid members, make education a privilege to pay for instead of a right, expand the definition of "pornography" to include anything that views queer people positively and label educators and librarians as sex offenders for possessing books with such topics. The list goes on, you can read these and multiple other topics in the link above.

So what can we do? Well, there's 3 things.

1. Reblog! Repost! Spread this thing like wildfire! Everyone needs to be aware of what they're trying to do.

2. Tell family! Or friends, or neighbors, or anyone really. Share the comics with them, on topics you know they care about.

3. GO OUT AND VOTE! This is the most important one. Go out and use your vote to prevent this from ever getting enacted. Your vote matters, it is a right given to you and if you don't vote, you might not ever get to again after this is enacted.

This election is our only chance to stop Project 2025 from happening. Do your part.

[radgirl-spray]

Rant.

it always gives me whiplash when gringos call me or other latinas on radblog "Republican" and "nazis".

Because they are so sure they are making such the point about us being nazis and bringing conservative and apocalyptic takes on them because we don't want men in females spaces, and yet from our perspective, they are still thousands of people all across latam who simply dissapeared when the north american goverment decided to interfiere in latam's politics which lead to real, actual genocides based on politic stance. Specifically being leftist.

My country in particular had one of the most brutal dictatorships in latam. Over 40.000 people were killed, tortured or simply dissapeared just to prevent socialism, despite the socialist president at the time being chosen democatrically.

Now, women, mostly college students feminists at the time were systematically tortured. I'm not talking about internet persecution or some horrible missgender crime. I'm talking of whole brigades raping 14 to 21 year old girls. I'm talking of soldiers setting girls on fire. I'm talking about men open pregnant women to dispatch the baby. I'm talking about torture and murder.

Why? because they dared to talk about politics, because they dared to talk about contraceptives. About feminine issues. For being Left.

It was also a time where the wrong opinion could get you killed, could mean your children being killed. For being brown, for being indio, for being poor. Think of you neighbour accusing you of hearing certain music and your house being raded and your teenage children being taken to a camp to never be seen again. I'm not talking 100 years ago. I'm talking my parents and anyone who is 5 years older than me.

To this day we are extremely affraid of police and the military. The levels of poverty Latam has are hardly something people in first world countries have seen in a years, because the poverty itself has been caused for said countries and their progress. I'm talking whole neighbourhoods of houses made of cardboard while some first world country leaves a bunch of chemical wasteland just right up the corner where we live so they live better.

Two years ago there was a breakout in my country, it was quite famous. You know the first thing the police did?

They raped and hanged a girl on the street. In 2021.

And then comes some random USA/Canadian citizen and calls you "a republican" and "a nazi".

Did I mention after II world war many nazis escaped to latam and formed whole german colonies for either experimenting on humans or create pedophile nets and raping centers? the more you know.

But we are nazis, we are republicans. Despite the fact that that our indigenous people recognize women as adult human females, that indigenous women were hunted down and used historically to be bred by whites colonizers just like them. Despite the fact that most of us are mestizos, that color and class go hand in hand in latam, that we have a culture heavily based on religious intakes of what's women's place and that we shut up when the men talk, because that's macho culture. We are nazis and we are republicans, despite the fact that their fucking country killed thousands of us because we wanted to try left and to hope for something more than extreme poverty. Shit, we've even been called colonizer by some chicano who doesn't even speak spanish. I mean, what are the odds.

But the white men need to speak, the gringo has something to say, they need us to respect their pronouns and go along with their progress. So they packed their bullshit religion and ship it right down the frontera, and now we have to swallow too. Because we are latinas, we live in the backyard, right? what do we know about the experiences of american dudes in skirts.

[sunder-the-gold]

Listen, please understand that people like me are doing our best to see things from your perspective. You are a cis white male living in a deep-red flyover state. I get that you don't exactly have a lot of motivation to support BIPOC or 2SLGBTQ+ people. But you also need to see that we aren't asking you to support us, but at least you could stop helping people who want us dead?

I think the part that confuses me the most is that this shouldn't even be a hard choice. If you want to broadcast what a hardcore rad-trad right-wing ultra conservative you are… Then OKAY I guess?? You do you. But how exactly does reblogging R-slur filled posts from Bronys like r4cs0 and takashi0 help you do that? I would think that reblogging from people who jerk off to clop porn would be the opposite of what a conservative would do!

So all we are asking is that you unfollow and block a group of people who sexually objectify characters from a children's cartoon show. And then you can go back to bragging about how hard you are going to vote for Trump in November. This seems like a win-win to me.

Hey, @r4cs0, @takashi0, you've got cowardly anonymous character-assassins making the rounds.

I haven't even seen or registered r4cs0's name in forever, and I'm fairly sure I haven't reblogged anyone saying the word "retarded".

But God save us from mean words, because the Far Left sure don't restrain themselves from wishing death and rape on anyone who opposes them.

Really hilarious how Anon wrings their hands about other people disapproving of their life-style while turning around and trying to shame you for what they claim is yours.

(It sure wasn't Bronys who made a mockery of the Last Supper at the Paris Olympics. Exchanging Jesus Christ's message of self-sacrifice and forgiveness for Dionysius' debauchery and hedonism.)

Yet I'm supposed to be the conservatively religious bigot, according to Anon! As though what I'm trying to conserve isn't the American tradition of freedom, as laid out in the Bill of Rights of the Constitution.

The same document that Frederick Douglas was also told (by Marxists) was written by rich white slavers to keep the black man down, until Fred actually read the document and spent the rest of his life championing it as the best model by which all men could enjoy legal equality, liberty, and peace.

Anon also doesn't want me to treat non-'white' people poorly, but they want to make absolutely sure that I know that they see me as 'white' and that I should see myself as 'white', too. Who's the racist?

Which 'white'? I've got no Anglo-Saxon or Germanic heritage in my Irish/Italian mix. And that's setting aside how much the Irish-Americans and Italian-Americans hated each other before I came to be, as a fourth-generation unhyphenated American of the USA.

Anon, I only give a shit about my skin color because I biologically cannot gain a tan for any protection from the sun... and because your political cult think I ought to be shamed and punished for the accident of my birth.

I think Europeans demonstrated great capability by conquering the majority of the planet, and if God's not real and there's no truth but Power, then "might-makes-right" is as legitimate a morality as any other.

But God is real so thankfully He used the imperialism of mere mortals to spread His message of mercy and love so far and deep into the anglosphere that appealing to such virtues seems to Anon like a good way to convince people to do what Anon wants.

Those arguments certainly proved good enough in the anglosphere to bring an end to the Western slave trade, while the Islamic slave trade continues to this day in open-air markets in Libya.

Anon should try appealing to those virtues in Islamic nations and see how far it gets them. Maybe as far as the roof and then the short trip back down to ground-level.

How about in China? Try asking the people of Tibet or the Uyghur Muslims about Communist mercy. Ask the people of India and Pakistan how China respects their dependence on the water of the rivers flowing into their borders from China.

[the-incorrigible-chaia]

This'll probably be my final post on this subject, tbh, it's exhausting. Also, it's long. TW: Oppression, anti-Palestinian racism, antisemitism, settler-colonialism, pogroms.

EMBRACE COMPLEXITY. TURN AWAY FROM SIMPLISTIC NARRATIVES.

A lot of people are treating this like it's a football match, and that their "side" can do no wrong, when in reality it is entirely possible to be aware of and hold both violences in your mind, while also being aware of the power dynamics in play.

For Jews, this is the largest pogrom since the Shoah. (And yes, I'm calling it a pogrom. That seems more accurate to me than "terrorist attack".) The terror and distress resulting from that is built on millennia of pogroms, not just settler fears the way white USAmericans would fear a reprisal from Indigenous people. Half of all Jews in the world live in Israel, and nearly every Jewish person in the world at least knows someone who's lost someone in this attack. The fear is real. As I type this, my aunt and uncle who live in northern Israel were instructed to shelter in a safe room because a Hezbollah [Edit: Hamas] bomb was just dropped on the Ofer Forest.

For Palestinians, armed reprisal was pretty much the only option left after decades of apartheid and oppression by the Israeli government. Just in 2014, for example, Operation Protective Edge killed over 2000 Palestinians, most of whom were civilians. Even in reaction to this very attack, the Israeli government's response was to commit a war crime and impose a total blockade on Gaza, blocking food, water, medicine, fuel, and electricity to approximately 2.3 million people. The fact that they even can do that speaks to the tremendous power imbalance at play, to say nothing of Israel's alleged nuclear capabilities that I'm sure the USA knows absolutely nothing about because if they did Israel would be in violation of nuclear nonproliferation treaties and the US would be obligated to sanction them.

So, I honestly don't know what to say. I don't want to say "it's different when Palestinians do it", because at the end of the day it was still a pogrom, and it's hurt more non-IDF Jews than any single attack since the Shoah, and a lot of people are in mourning. But I also don't want to say "how dare they, I condemn this," because what the hell else are Palestinians supposed to do? They have a fundamental right to live freely and equally in Palestine. They've tried everything else, and the Israeli government's response has consistently been to just bomb the shit out of Gaza, or flood the West Bank with settlers and soldiers, or deny life-sustaining utilities that Israel controls like water and electricity to millions of people. What else is left but armed resistance, at that point?

I mean, shit, we could question whether Hamas really represents the interests of the Gazans it governs or not, or we could debate whether their constitution change in 2017 (they scrubbed most of the religious wording, explicitly denounced antisemitism and specifically condemned colonialism, and even expressed a willingness to acknowledge pre-1967 Israeli borders) is sincere, or whether branding them as simply terrorists is in any way useful, or we could even talk about how Netanyahu supported the funding of Hamas to sap support from Fatah's more progressive stance and forestall any real dialogue.

Or we could debate the concept of "civilian" in a settler colony where the only reason Israeli civilians can even live there as Israelis is through the brutal violence inflicted by the IDF, or the dynamics of how a country with mandatory army service for everyone blurs the distinction between soldier and civilian in the first place, or how the Israeli government has gone hard-right over the past year and an attack like this is exactly what Likud needed in silencing dissent within Israel.

(As for my personal opinion, I think the Likud government damn near deliberately provoked this pogrom with their bullshit on al-Aqsa as an opportunity to manufacture outrage and look strong, knowing full well how many people would get hurt, so that the issue of judicial review gets swept under the rug in the fires of war and revenge. The Israeli government cares more about hurting Palestinians and defending the idea of a "Jewish state" than actually protecting Israeli lives, otherwise they'd have been working to de-escalate and end their apartheid decades ago.)

Shit's complicated. But that's fine. People can understand complicated things. It just takes longer than reading something short and quippy, and it requires you to interrogate your own internal narratives for both antisemitism and anti-Palestinian racism. Also, leave people who are in mourning the fuck alone.

[inevitably-johnlocked]

Why do I feel like a failure? Why do I feel like I'm shit at my new job even if I've never received a complaint in these three months? Why do I feel like everyone is talking behind my back about how boring/ugly/stupid I am? Why do I have to feel like this and not enjoy even a fkng day? I'm sorry if this is too much Steph, but your words really helped me in the past. I don't really know how to handle all of this. I'm about to explode

Hey Nonny *HUGS*

Oof, if this isn't relatable to me, I don't know what is. I first want to preface this with this is STRICTLY my opinion, and that I am in no way a professional. I'm just giving you a few anecdotes from my own life, but please take my advice with a grain of salt; I strongly encourage you to talk to either a therapist, counsellor, or someone you trust.

Also, I myself am going through a rough headspace few months, so I'm going to try my best to answer this as carefully as I can so while I try my best to make you feel better, I have to, for my own mental health, not go on into too much detail that will spiral me myself. I just didn't want to leave this message hanging for a few months when winter is finally over and my headspace would be better, is all, and will try my best. I am worried about you <3

I'm not sure where you live, if you are in an ENDLESS winter like I am, but a lot of this sounds like seasonal depression talking at the least, but more likely poor self-esteem and actual full-on depression if this is a "regular" thing for you. Nonny, please know, as I grew older, most of those thoughts are more-than-likely in your head; a perception of reality becomes exceptionally distorted, especially if you have poor self worth/esteem. Everything feels like the worst-case-scenario, and while I did grow out of it a bit the older I got when I became more "fuck 'em" in my attitude, but I still finally had to see a therapist because it's too much for me to handle on my own. Especially coupled with anxiety and seasonal depression that's at its worst in January and February, and I just... crack some times. Plus my self esteem is really non-existent and whoops, suddenly I'm in the exact same headspace you're in, Nonny. It's terrifying, feeling like you can't escape your own brain's perception of everything.

Sometimes, just taking a step back from everything helps, too, Nonny. I know it's cliché, but doing something you know you enjoy can help improve your mood. I like doing art, replaying a video game I KNOW I love and don't get frustrated in, listening to music, watch a movie, or even just reading. It all turns my brain off after a bit and it does help a lot. And get off social media, because places like TikTok, Instagram and Twitter will only make your self esteem worse.

And I want to stress: IT'S OKAY TO NEED HELP. YOU DON'T HAVE TO SUFFER ALONE. My own therapy is talk-therapy, and we talk about usually my current events but she spends a lot of time letting me know that my own feelings are valid, and we talk through the feelings I have when they overwhelm me. We talk about my job, and my home life, my future and my past, and it's just nice to have someone unbiased to talk to for an hour a few times a year, you know? I think you would benefit a lot from it too, if you are able. I got lucky and connected immediately with the therapist I got, but know mine is an exception: it might take a few different people before you find the right one.

That all said, your message strays darker than I think you realize though, Nonny, and I worry about you. I have a huge list of some help lines and Mental Health Resources that I think you will benefit from as well:

741741 Suicide Helpline / Texting Crisis Service

7Cups Online Emotional Support Therapists

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (USA): 1-800-273-8255

Crisis Services Canada: Call 1.833.456.4566 || Text/SMS: 45645

Canada Suicide Prevention Centre (Talk Suicide Canada): 833-456-4566 || SMS: Text START to 741741

Lifeline Australia: 13 11 14

Suicide SupportLine (UK): 01708 765200

Suicide Crisis Helpline (NZ) 0508 828 865

Kid’s Help Phone (They are Canadian, but I think they’ll be able to direct y'all to the proper place for your country – for youth and young adults 18 and under): 1-800-668-6868 || They also have a Live Chat with a professional counsellor from 7PM to midnight EST

1Call1Click.ca (Eastern Ontario) - A simple way for children, youth up to 21 years and families to access the right mental health and addiction care, at the right time. Call 613-260-2360 or toll free at 1-877-377-7775

Suicide and Crisis Lifeline (USA) - Available to anyone in suicidal crisis or emotional distress. Dial 9-8-8 (as a side note, Canada will also be adopting this number in Fall 2023).

Suicide Hotlines.com (USA)

AND IF YOUR COUNTRY IS NOT HERE: Wikipedia’s List of Suicide Crisis Lines By Country

If you live in Canada, the government is providing SOME FREE mental health resources. It’s an exhaustive list with resources for each province as well as some tips to help cope.

The City of Ottawa ALSO has a list of Local Mental Health Resources. While I’m sure that if you’re not from Ottawa, you can probably call one of them and ask if they know if there’s any for your region.

I'm ALWAYS collecting resources to help spread to y'all, so if you guys have some you've used, please do share. All of my google results are primarily Canadian, so if you have some other regional resource, I want to add them. Mental health is super important to me, and I want to always have an up-to-date list for anyone struggling.

That all said Nonny, my heart is hurting for you, and I want you to know that we are all here for you. Know that you are loved and cared about, and be safe <3 It WILL get better, Nonny.

*SNUGGLE BUGGLE HUGGLE*

[nolanhollogay]

"can i kiss you?"

in my mikeyjohnb feels.....

cw for mikey talking about nsfw things dgdf but not in a sexual way he's just Talking and also mikeyjohnb smoking oui'd

+

It felt like it had been years since the last time Mikey and John B hung out one on one, which was really kind of sad because they used to live in each other's back pockets.

But it was fine. They had all the time in the world to sit and do nothing together.

Especially now that John B had what Edgar pegged as his "teen divorce" from Sarah. (He'd said it in passing, obviously joking, but it made Pope shoot orange soda out of his nose, so it obviously stuck.)

Mikey knew that it was because of his own pent up feelings, but he was kinda glad they were broken up. He missed when John B was John B and not JohnBandSarah. When they weren't all risking their necks for her every three seconds. He liked her, he really did, but it was good to have his friend back.

So, they were in John B's bed, sharing a weed pen that JJ stole off a Kook. He was supposed to be here with them, also partaking, but he said he had "more important things to do" which was JJ speak for being in gross love and hanging out with his boyfriend.

"Hey," he tapped John B on the arm to get his attention. "When JJ and Edgar bang, who do you think is on top?"

John B went through the five stages of grief in under thirty seconds. "Why would I want to talk about that? That's not my business. And Edgar is, like, suuuper Catholic. I bet they don't even have sex." He paused, obviously thinking about it. "Probably JJ."

"First of all, they're definitely having sex, and they're definitely gross and sappy about it. I've seen the hickies JJ leaves on him. Secondly, I feel like it might be Edgar. Church people are always secretly nasty," Mikey said seriously, passing the pen back. "I walked in on him giving JJ head the other day."

John B gasped. "You didn't."

"I did!" Mikey laughed at the memory. "JJ wanted to murder me."

John B blew a cloud of smoke into the air, laughing as well. "I'm surprised he didn't."

"Edgar doesn't condone murder," Mikey teased, "Gimme the pen back, greedy."

"It's not even yours!" John B said, handing it over anyway. He lied on his side to watch Mikey smoke. "Can I kiss you?"

Mikey choked, dropping the pen onto the bed and sitting up as he hacked up a lung. "What?"

"I don't know. We don't have to. I'm just high as fuck and you look pretty and I want to kiss you."

There was a lot of reasons why this was a bad idea. 1. John B was still dealing with his previously mentioned teen divorce. Mikey wasn't sure he was equipped to be a rebound. 2. Mikey had been half in love with John B for pretty much his entire life, and he thought he was getting over those feelings. If they kissed, he'd fall headfirst, right back in. And it would be pathetic. 3. Probably most importantly, Mikey's ex boyfriend was a literal murderer who wanted John B dead, and would absolutely lose his shit if he found out something happened between them.

Still..

"Yeah, okay."

John B's giant fucking cow eyes managed to get even wider. "Seriously? We don't have to..."

Mikey rolled his eyes. "I'm a fully consenting adult, Johnny Boy. Now man up and kiss me."

John B scoffed. "You're such a loser."

"A loser you want to k–"

John B's mouth cut him off.

Mikey's very first thought was Wow, he really needs chapstick. His second thought was Oh my God, I'm kissing my best friend. Then his brain turned to TV static as John B grabbed the back of his neck, pulling him closer.

There weren't fireworks, like in the movies. And it didn't feel like hundreds of hummingbirds were inside of him, which was how JJ described his first kiss with Edgar when he was drunk off of a USA FourLoko. It just felt like it was something that was supposed to be happening. Like puzzle pieces meeting up.

John B pulled away, breathless, and Mikey bit his lip to stop himself from smiling. "S'at okay?"

Mikey nodded, scanning his face to see his reaction. He didn't look upset or confused or anything. He just looked like John B.

"Do you wanna.." He glanced down at Mikey's lips, "do it again?"

Mikey had never wanted anything more in his life. "Fuck yeah I do."

John B laughed, before leaning in again, sliding his hand into Mikey's hair.

[cios-correct-opinions]

its always gonna be like. "easier" to find an illegal plug. but for people like myself - a black gay nonbinary trans man who is poor, fat, disabled, neurodivergent, and living in the southern USA - it's not about ease. it's about safety. it's about do we even know anyone who can hook us up safely without getting caught by the cops and/or snitched on (the answer for me is no. i don't even know where to start i've literally never purchased drugs that weren't prescribed to me or OTC). it's about can we trust the source of these drugs to not be laced with shit that could kill us (also no for me. again i literally do not have like, any connections irl here, much less ones who i trust who sell or know where to buy trustworthy drugs). it's about can we make sure the person we get these drugs from illegally not try to persuade us to do drugs we do not want to take nor do we need to use (i have an addictive personality, it runs in my family, addiction is something a lot of my family members have struggled with, i literally cannot afford to go down that path, financially mentally physically or spiritually, it would drain and likely kill me & my family would abandon me if i developed a substance addiction/substance abuse problem). it's about "does the benefit of having an illegal plug outweigh the possible ramifications of getting caught". im sure you see where i'm going with this, but the answer here is no for me lmao. like. i cannot in good faith nor conscience suggest for people to seek out illegal means of obtaining drugs in the current political climate of today unless they absolutely quite literally have no other choice and will die if they don't because of the above reasons. we need to work on decriminalizing all drugs and putting social nets in place to help people (like all disabled, mentally ill, homeless, addicted people, poor people, etc) before i will ever be okay with advocating for that as a viable option for the majority of people affected by OP's scenario if it works for you, great! i am so glad if it works for you and i am happy you've found something that works. but it's just not viable for most folks in america at least. not without severe and continuous risk

a fun thing about being on medication that carries warnings like 'if you suddenly stop taking this you might have effects that can range from feeling crummy to psychosis' is that the pharmacy will still go 'haha oopsie we forget to get those pills you order every single month, you can do without for a while right'

[seenwip]

It's cruel and inhumane how our education and careers work in the USA, I wish it was better for all of us.

I took one year of college after high school. I dropped out because I didn't know what degree I wanted and didn't know myself well enough to pick. And yes, I was on my own supporting myself and putting myself through college but I don't think education should be limited to those that are privileged. Point is, I didn't want more student loans for a degree that was worthless to me.

Now it's been almost a decade, I do have some ideas of what careers I could go for. As soon as I get the idea though? I dismiss it because it involves college. I shouldn't right?

But I can't imagine having more student loans when I can't afford to live now even with the measly few dollar increase I would get after college.

I can't imagine working full time AND going to college because I'm already burnt out just working full time and living. Doing classes on top sounds awful. Even if I stretched the classes out more years (would be probably 6-7 years). Part of this is taking the generic classes you don't need to be "well-rounded" like I could give a shit less about trying to learn another language. Sorry, my brain is ass with my own language, but it's a requirement. So not only would I have to suffer through a class I wouldn't use but I gotta pay for it and waste time on it. Needless to say, I don't think I could endure that 6-7 years let alone 1 year.

Granted, I do have ADHD and Autism so apparently life is harder for me especially on the executive function side. But what does college need a lot of? Executive function. It's a joke, honestly.

Still, let's dismiss that and say I'm neurotypical. When you hear someone went through college (beyond that magical 4-6 years after high school), it's impressive and shocking. Why? Because you KNOW they neglected some part of their life, majorly sacrificed, and/or have some sort of resource the rest of us don't have. It's rare someone changes careers and it's not because they don't want to. When you go to any sort of place to get help with job seeking they will work with what experience and current education you have now, not what you WANT to do and if you ask, they'll laugh and say you don't have the right history.

Granted, I'll acknowledge I came from a fucked up neglectful and dysfunctional family. So yeah it took time to heal, scrape them from my life and get myself emotionally and mentally together to actually get to know myself. BUT you can't tell me "normal" 18 year olds know who they are and who they want to be when they only have experienced school. They don't even know what they would value in a workplace setting and most aren't aware of what careers are out there. Plus their brains develop from mid to late 20s. So yeah basically where I am right now except as a neurodivergent my brain is still developing for sure. Still, dismissing that, a neurotypical would also have a better idea who they are and what they want to be after the 10 years from when they "should" have gone to college.

I have so much compassion for all of us. I wonder where our society would be if we were able to get the education we needed to better ourselves and our lives. The domino effect of people being happier in their jobs and lives, more educated, and less burnt out would be astronomical.

Me personally? I'm just so sad our country is currently structured on making sure underprivileged are powerless and literally take steps to make sure they stay there. I've fought and fought and often wonder why I try in a system built to keep me here. But, it's my life. I didn't survive my shit family just to be pushed around by a shit society. Even if I never get to actually have the opportunities that others get naturally, I will still fight as long as I can. Because I deserve that. If you made it this far, you deserve that too. We deserve to pursue what inspires us, brings us joy and a sense of wonder. It's okay to feel like giving up sometimes but that doesn't mean we will.

Sometimes along the way we can find other things that fulfill us enough that a job isn't important. That's okay too. Whatever happens, I hope you continue to seek joy and fulfillment.

[13thpythagoras]

Hey, this is a genuine question. I’m not trying to troll you or anything, but what are your main political takes? 

I have the same kind of rude and you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to, but I just feel like I would like to know before I REALLY interact with your blog.

Again, you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to, and I already feel that kind of an asshole for asking this even on anonymous but 

🤷🏿‍♀️

hmm haha fun question, not an asshole question at all, I realized there's a fun freedom in going on anon so I turned on the button after having it off for years;

I'm definitely someone who respects the nuance of politics, and how local and intimate these issues can be, as someone who's born and raised in the USA and lived here all my life it's my main area of focus for politics, but I'm still interested in world politics too anywhere people are in the struggle (I know the USA has the most powerful military in the world and they consider themselves the police of the world's oceans so I'm sure politics here is also on spotlight for people globally, indeed many people's liberation globally hinges on our ability to liberate and re-enfranchise ourselves locally);

my main policy values are justice, peace, and prosperity for all people in the world... this song Everythang by Boots and the Coup encapsulates my political views:

main political takes / hot takes are just that vote by mail needs to be available to every American / eligible voter in the world, no question, it's the most egregious form of disenfranchisement I see out here. The USA gets segregated into a de facto apartheid and then the areas with black people get their polling locations shut down, this is some 1970s South Africa shit going on in modern day in the USA...

Progressives outnumber conservatives by a lot, there's 5 progressives for every 4 conservatives, and the chasm is growing, I see it as the quickest most economical path to victory for progressives to simply expand voting access and eliminate the (technically illegal and blindingly unconstitutional) poll taxes that come in the form of making people wait in line hours to vote, time is money and it's even illegal to give people water in Georgia but they think it's a free country, this is a very real poll tax targeted at working class / people of color and it's been swinging some elections.

I also know that DC needs statehood and 2 senators (but guess what, DC is a majority black district and in segregated America, black peoples' right to vote is under attack and has been largely taken away), we need to combine the damn gerrymandered Dakotas, Puerto Rico needs statehood and 2 senators, the Pacific Islands like Guam and Samoa need statehood and 2 senators, many Indian tribes need 2 senators each in the senate with full voting power, we need to uncap the house again, we need to expand scotus with progressives to undo what gerrymandered-mitch-mcconnell denied to Obama (I believe Senate seniority should be based on how much of your district / state is on food stamps / welfare, or perhaps state GDP to dis-incentivize just purging people from welfare rolls, this would leave the leading Senator Mitch McConnell suddenly ranking lowest in the senate and suddenly the GOP would be forced to reconcile with how their populations are all the most impoverished and on welfare, but no, the USA is NOT a meritocracy because we don't want to do rules like this), we can and should change the balance of the senate, house, and scotus, to reflect what the electorate believes, progressive values are mainstream but corporate media pulls us to the right... of the living breathing Americans alive at the time, less than 1 in 5 voted for Donald Trump, on record. Keep in mind we have 1 in 5 people thinking they can go dictator mode on the rest of us and our bodies... and with the wild new immunity power the scotus just gave the president, scotus just basically made the president a king, and the last time we had that, if I recall correctly, was right after the USA won its first war, with the big help of France, and the population seemed fine at the time to just have George Washington become king, but he said no, we're not going there again. Biden needs to become that hero on the level of George Washington and restore balance. He can do it unilaterally at this point.

I'm also into the "Public Relations" strategy planning too, like defunding the police, it's something I believe in wholeheartedly, police evolved from slave-catchers, they just steal our money and call it "civil asset forfeiture," they are goddamn murderous thieving criminals and they should mostly be put behind bars with all the people they locked up on bogus charges, but I also know that's a bitter pill for Americans who loved NYPD Blue to swallow; framing it as "police vouchers" or "security vouchers" seems to me like it would have more legs with the bovine Americans who sympathize with criminal cops because they saw some expensively-produced primetime TV shows...

I absolutely know that terrorism and collective punishment are the same thing, and it breaks my heart to see people fighting terrorism and crime with just terrorism and more crime. I'm suspicious that George W. Bush, who had brunch with Bin Laden's brother 2 days before 9/11, and we know the Bushes and Bin Ladens were all family friends, we know this; I'm obviously very, extremely suspicious that George W. Bush and his cronies planned 9/11 and carried it out in collaboration with Al Qaeda to wag the dog, which we know was also created by their friends originally to fight the Soviets. This "shock doctrine" is now their single playbook play, and they do it again and again, with the Paris attacks, and October 6, I don't believe for a second the Israelis didn't know exactly what was going to happen, when, by who, and where. They needed it to happen so they could play that tired old record again, the shock doctrine and now they've invaded Gaza and slaughtered thousands of innocent people. Most Israelis are against this but it's just like in America's there's only democracy in name, not in reality. This is what I mean when I say we need justice, we need targetted punishment of the architects at the top for the specific crimes of terrorism, yet we have George W. Bush running around doing paint by numbers getting senile by the lake, unarrested, untried, unconvicted, who collectively punished and terrorized the people of Iraq, Afghanistan, and other countries. The legacy of George W. Bush lives on in how Russia felt emboldened to invade Ukraine, and this Ukraine invasion is as much the fault of George W. Bush as it is Vladmir Putin, Putin had been warning Bush publicly since 2005 not to fuck with long range missiles or the missile shield advancement; Bush did it anyway and now there's a huge war between nuclear armed countries. The legacy of George W. Bush lives on in how Clinton signed peace treaties in the middle east and Bush burned them to ash, and left the legacy in the middle east we see today. Peace in the middle east starts with arresting George W. Bush and putting him on trial in the Hague, until that happens we clearly have no power to enforce justice whatsoever, and there will be a thousand Netanyahus coming around the corner to capitalize on Bush's dogcrap legacy. Bush must hang like a horse thief, he's an election thief, Gore v Bush was theft, if justice is to live and breathe. Bush has millions and millions of murders on his hands, find me bloodier hands on the face of this earth. Bush must be arrested and put on trial for these crimes and more.

Some political figures who I know speak for me include AOC, everyone in the Squad, Barbara Lee, Maxine Waters, and Bernie Sanders to name a few, and I fully endorse Harris for president, trump is a criminal turd and should be put behind bars for life at least for tax evasion, I think it's pretty obvious trump the man was up for auction (bankruptcy court) in the early 90s and the KGB bought his ass, and still owns him and pays him to this day, I think it would be a lie to say Trump isn't a KGB agent, he perfectly parrots their talking points to the extent that if he isn't a KGB agent they've made him an honorary one by now anyway

edit: I also feel like healthcare and politics intersects a lot, cancer is still the number 2 / number 1 killer of us, and the FDA refuses to test the cure that I and many others have found to work. "RSO" is what I mean, the FDA won't test it, many in mainstream medicine refuse to test this orally injestable capsulized cancer cure, because likely they're in the business of treating cancer, not curing it, and cures are bad for their business. They care more about money than lives, those at the top, pink ribbon town included, those at the top of susan g komen are just as guilty of flooding the awareness channels when we should be getting the word out that a cure is here and we need to save lives. Only the open minded will survive...

anyway tldr I'm always happy to offer what I've learned, on topics intersecting with the international-political-economy, and I'm always curious to learn more

[i-got-the-power1412]

Alright motherfuckers, i have been feeling the urge to rant for quite a few days, so here it is, my weird, fucked up, rant/question ✨shizzazl.✨

Before we begin, I would like to inform ya'll that I'm a teenage (17-19) Indian girl. That is, I'm a brown, POC girl.

(so be ready cause this is gonna have a lot of sensitive, bordering controversial opinions, so DON'T LIKE, DON'T READ PLS)

Now-

First things first, what the fuck is wrong with our planet? Like, I'm not a nihilist or whatever, am I bit pessimistic? Well, yes. But other than that I'm not very dark minded, so like if I'm asking wtf is wrong with our world, you know something is definitely wrong. Like I can list like 10 things wrong in the world rn, off the top of my head.

1. Wars and disaster

2. Corrupt governments

3. Insufficient health care

4. Collapsing economy

5. Fucked up environment

6. Lack of gun control and mass shootings

7. Racism

8. Women's lack of safety/sexism

9. Homophobia and queer community hatred

10. Lack of food and and water.

This is all just off the top of my head. Like where the hell did we go wrong that this is what we have come down to. Let's dive deeper shall we?

We are currently in the middle of World War 3. Now hear me out, you're probably like-"Uh no,cause if we were we would know right?"

WRONG.

We don't know shit cause at the moment we are not directly affected by said war. Think about it like this, in World war 1 aka the first world war we had, there were 2 sides right? The allied powers and the central powers. And same in 2nd world war with allied and axis powers. Guess what? We have them now too. Russia and Ukraine and Israel and Palestine. If we divide it in the good and bad, like we humans have a habit of doing, it is Russia and Israel on one side, and Ukraine and Palestine on the other. All we need is 2 more countries to join one-one side, preferably England, USA, France or Canada, and we're done, we're in World war 3. Like what is up with that.

In my college history textbook, which I was studying recently cause I'm in the middle of my exams, I noticed in the Cold War chapter, that it was written that America became the foremost Superpower in the world, so much so that it had the power to acknowledge China as a State. And it made me wonder why? What the actual fuck is so special about that messed up country?

Ok imma make u question ur whole life now ok? U ready? Here we go.

We all know about USA, aka the LAND OF FREEDOM, right? The whole American Revolution, Fight for Freedom and all that?

What made it like that?

Like, from my perspective, all I see is white people, who went to an untouched, perfectly fine land, conquered it, killed and enslaved the real independent, original populace of that country, destroyed their absolutely beautiful and much advanced culture, declared that land as their own, and then got pissed off at their own king for excessive TAXES, and decided that they want independence?

Let me get this absolutely straight. These already INDEPENDENT, PRIVILEGED people came to another country, took the ACTUAL INDEPENDENCE of the people living there, and then fought a long war against their own king for this so called "Independence" and resulted in creating the World's Greatest Superpower, which honestly is today's one of the most fucked up countries which is honest to god falling apart at the seams?

Honestly, it makes me feel just strange. Like I don't even have words for this.

It's the same with England. These people came, conquered, enslaved, killed, tortured, and robbed, like blind looted, India and multiple other countries, ruled for over 200 years and then left after having squeezed a total of nearly $50 trillion from us? $50 TRILLION. Our country would be living on cloud 9 if we had even half this amount today. But we don't cause it was taken from us.

And sure the actions of our ancestors should not be blamed on the current generation. BUT the current generation is no better. These countries are still not making up for their crimes. America is currently attacking and warring with multiple Asian countries but of course, no one cares.

How bout the Panama Papers ? Such a huge scandal, the amount of money hidden and evaded, but the results? Comparatively, nothing.

The presidents of these countries are, quite frankly, useless.

In today's world, in almost 90 percentage of all countries' councils, governments, and senates, only old men above the age of 60, i.e. the age of senior citizens, work and function. Why is that?

If we all agree that the youngsters are the future, then why is the future in the hands of men who are ten seconds away from their damn graves?

USA- Biden is 81 years old.

Trump is 77 years old.

Britain- King Charles is 75 years old.

India- Narendra Modi is 73 years old.

Canada- Justin Trudeau is 52 years old.

South Korea- Yoon Suk Yeol is 63 years old.

China- Xi Jinping is 70 years old.

I think this is rather concerning.

More in part 2

[la-pheacienne]

For all that they talk about GRRM being anti-war, anti-monarchy and anti-feudalism, they love neglecting to mention that he’s anti-Catholicism.

Disclaimer: if in any way I come across as agressive, it's not at all directed at you anon, I'm speaking very generally here, thank you for your ask💖

Listen. The sheer notion of "anti-war" is the stupidest of the stupidest political/moral/ethical attitudes that someone could have. I know this is an unpopular opinion, but someone needs to say it. "Anti-war" doesn't mean ANYTHING. Anti-which war exactly? You need to be specific. Not all wars are the same, not all wars are created equal, there are some wars that need to happen, that are fair, and some wars that shouldn't happen. Yes of course, it depends on where you're standing. But it always does, that's life. And of course in every war there are people suffering, but that's life again. If the enemy comes at your doorstep and wants to destroy you and everything you love or if you have been violently evicted from your homeland, what will you say exactly? Hunie I ain't doin' anything about dat cause I'm anti-war? Lol. No. The "anti-war" agenda is only relevant for privileged, white Americans and Europeans thinking they are Americans, who haven't felt threatened once in their life, who haven't lost anything, who don't know anything about human history and think that the solution to every problem on planet earth is peace and love. No.

GRRM definitely isn't anti war. There is no way a person that dedicates decades of his life reading and writing about brave warriors is anti war. Sure he's "anti- war" in the sense that he doesn't particularly fancy going out with a sword decapitating people, but he's not anti war in any fundamental way. And newsflash, none of the fans of these shows/books are. We're literally dedicating years of our lives reading about war and watching war happen and supporting aristocrats that lead their people to war. That's literally the plot of the story. So no, in real life I'm not anti war, and in the ASOIAF universe I'm definitely not anti war. All of my favourite characters are warriors and/or leaders to battle, Jon, Jaime, Dany, Stanis, Brienne. It's exactly the same thing in any fantasy story. Watching a fantasy story about warriors and being anti war is the most idiotic thing you can do. Go watch Gilmore Girls. Unfortunately, people who should have stuck to Gilmore Girls ended up watching GoT because of its popularity, and that's the very reason we have the Anti-Targaryen phenomenon.

The same for anti monarchy. Like, I don't particularly approve of monarchy, my country has no monarchy because we literally chased the monarch away, thank god, and I don't think it's a good model of political structure in any country. That doesn't mean that I don't acknowledge that Europeans lived with that for centuries. Some monarchs/emperors literally changed history for the better. They conquered, they educated, they revolutionised, they made progress, they broke centuries of tradition. I don't see monarchy, again, through the lense of the privileged American who thinks their country discovered democracy and scorns any other political system because they just know better. No honey you don't, and you didn't discover shit. Magna Carta was created under Monarchy. The Catholicism received it's fatal blow because of a Monarch. Women and bastards gained power and legitimacy because one day a female bastard decided that she could be a better Queen than her brother or her perfect religious female cousin. Cities and schools were created by monarchs. Scientific progress that changed the world was funded by Monarchs. They also did terrible things, they are also responsible for destruction, slavery, misery. But perfectly democratic leaders side eyeing literally every single President of the USA ever also did all of the above. My whole point is, you can be "anti monarchy" if you don't like the way it works, that's fine, I am as well, but if you think that every single Monarch in history was just a "bad person" and you don't acknowledge the value and impact of certain rulers and certain periods of human history then you're simply illiterate. Again, people who think that way somehow ended up watching Game of Thrones, a show about Monarchs, and again, that explains the Targaryen hate. Watching a show that tells the story of Monarchs and Aristocrats doing vile and great/heroic deeds and being "Anti-monarchy"? Sure, you can be, but what is the point of that observation in that context exactly? It makes you look like a fool.

About anti Catholicism. Sure the faith of the seven has clear parallels to the Catholicism, the Great Sparrow was a character that came straight from the Inquisition, the Hightowers are pious little hypocrites that hate women and demonize sex and bastards. The parallel is there. In that particular aspect I do think GRRM consistently shows obsessing over religion as something inherently bad in his universe but it's really not that important because religion is not the focus of the story. Power is. The Hightowers' problem is not that they are religious, even though that makes them even more unlikeable. Their problem is that they are greedy MFs that started a war for nothing and they destroyed an entire realm because they preferred that than to see a ruler with a vagina on the Iron Throne. So it's not about religion exactly, it's about a unfair war (a war motivated by greed and treason) versus a fair war (a war motivated by the need to reclaim what has been taken from you by force and treachery). GRRM is definitely anti Catholicism though, that much is certain, but religion has a secondary role in his universe any way.

[theteasetwrites]

Hey, what's up with Norman hate? I'm pretty indifferent about him and I don't really follow him or check out what he's doing or saying, but did he do something wrong? I only know people are upset that Melissa won't be in Daryl's show and they blame him for it. Idk if it's justified or not tbh. I know the show takes place in France and Norman lives in France so it's pretty convenient, but it's not the only reason the show is set there. I'm sure they wanted to film it somewhere in Europe to expand TWD universe beyond USA. When it comes to how he pictures Daryl I only remember him saying that "Daryl has no game" and that "Leah thing was rushed" and I agree with both so I enyojed that he understood Daryl as a character. Can you give me some source where he says something that doesn't fit Daryl as a character? And what are the "bad ideas" that Norman had that you mentioned in your post?

Hi, so I’m not super up-to-speed with the Norman controversies (I try to remain ignorant because I don’t want my illusion to be broken, but it’s kind of already happened unfortunately), but there’s kind of a lot.

I know Norman has hung out/supported known creeps (e.g., Marilyn Manson, Terry Richardson), and he once mentioned in an interview that he found it “hot” when he was doing a makeout scene with a co-star and she was nervous. He also has used the “t” slur (tho tbh I think this was more out of ignorance than hate) in an interview. I think there might be more things but that’s the gist of what I know and what particularly bothers me. Also Norman has just said a lot of weird sexual stuff that was unnecessary/sexualizing women in a very immature way. All in all, that leads me to refer to him with the term “douchebag.” Also the fact that he wrote a book and used the phrase “helium-filled balloon ass” to describe a woman’s buttocks. I don’t have any receipts rn (not because they don’t exist, but because I’m lazy and most of this is my opinion and I’m not trying to change anyone’s opinion so I don’t feel like I need to show receipts).

At best, Norman is just cringey and ignorant. I don’t think he’s harmful really, just kind of a douche lol. I mean, he’s also really nice to his fans and has done a lot of good stuff with his fame, but it’s good to be critical of things that are deserving of criticism. Celebrity worship is a real problem and they should be held accountable if they do/say something fucked up. Everyone makes mistakes, but how hard is it to just not say weird shit or hang out with creeps?

I don’t think I can point you to exact sources as to why Norman doesn’t understand Daryl, but that statement was mostly just my personal opinion anyway. I think the best example is when Norman said Daryl would “fuck you but wouldn’t cuddle afterwards.” That seemed very inaccurate to me lmao but that could just be me projecting my affections onto Daryl.

Norman’s bad ideas include pushing for the show to be called Daryl Dixon (lol) and also (allegedly) pushing for the show to take place in France. Those are both bad ideas, in my opinion. Basically most of that post was just my opinion.

Also I don’t hate Norman Reedus, but I am critical of him and I think he’s pretty cringey (like why did he have to write a book anyway? I mean he had a ghost writer for sure but still). I don’t think he deserves online hate because no one deserves that, but also, he’s a rich celebrity/grown man who can definitely take the heat lol. I don’t support coming after his family (tho Diane is also a public figure soooo I mean she’s kind of fair game to some extent). I also think a lot of the Norman hate is just c*rylers being upset that he wanted the show to be in France (allegedly) and that ultimately led to Melissa dropping out, but that’s kind of a stupid reason to hate him since there are plenty of other things he’s done/said that are worth criticizing him for.

So my ultimate point is that there are valid reasons to be critical of Norman, but being upset that he may or may not have done something to curtail your favorite ship that has been long dead anyway is a silly reason imo. I think a lot of Norman hate recently is from c*rylers wanting someone to blame, and Norman is there. Blaming the decline/direction of the show on one person is a stretch.

My other point is that it’s okay to be critical of Norman and to dislike him or even hate him if that’s what you wanna do, but Daryl is a different story. I think c*rylers are also projecting their hatred for Norman onto Daryl, which sucks because Daryl is a good character, even if he’s not always the best character.

I don’t hate Norman, but I also don’t worship at his feet. Ok yeah, I run a server called Norman Reedus Whores, but that’s purely to sexualize him ok? I have a right to sexualize cringey middle aged men.

[questioningespecialy]

Black Conversation; Everybody else stay ya ass outta it

oh shit this gon'be alot

pre-edit: This is all my own perspective. I don't recommend others follow suit with my mentality. Got my own tastes and my own issues. Do what works for you, booboo.

Context

So~ I should start off with context I guess. I'm AMAB and from the South (USA), moved to the Midwest for college (for opportunity), and the Southwest after ('cause i couldn't find a job basically 🤷🏿‍♂️).

First and foremost ('cause y'all mofos in here), the Midwest wasn't less racist. It was just less blatant. (iow: they had a bit more "class" 🙄) As for the Southwest? I'm noticing racism still, mostly from light(er)-skinned BIPOC's since I moved outta Colorado. Is there less now? I think? 🤔 Barely get out enough to say for sure. And haven't done the "look like you're on a date with a light-skinned/Euro woman" test yet. 😅 I'mma stop there before I end up writin' 4 different essays on the topics I brought up.

Let's Get In

Now, I already got a passport and been havin' the idea of gettin' dafuq outta this mud since middle school iirc. Why haven't I, though? 'Cause by time I had enough income to actually make a move I was caught up havin' too much fun. That and my options felt hella limited. Time for some more context.

I'm Black. Surprising, I know. There are only so many countries outside of the African continent that aren't gonna be full of people who only see me as a racial stereotype (positive or negative). [insert essay on how representation matters] Nevermind the places where there'll be plenty of folk who do not want my foreign (nationalists), dark (colorists), Afro-ass there. I ain't tryin'a deal with dem mofos, so any country that's got a low-ass percentage of African descended gets filtered out by default. Is that extreme? Am I not givin' places (and its many peoples) a chance? Yep. You think I'mma spend hella time lookin' up "is x country racist towards Blacks?" 140-ish times? Fuck dat. How'bout 10-20. And how would I get to 10-20? By filterin' out a mofo. Suddenly, dating apps.

How Africa Be, Though?

But what about countries within the African continent? Well, that's where it gets funny. See, I've seen how a handful of the Africans that went to my PWI viewed Afro-Americans. There's a default filter of what kinda person can "make it" to an American university in the first place, so I just assume they're representative of most well-off (or lucky) Africans. In short, 1 mofo thought they were better (like a Black sellout tbh), 1 just (benefit of the doubt here) fell victim to America's lies/propaganda, and 2 were both. 🤷🏿‍♂️

Why even bring this up if I've got the tiniest of sample sizes? Well, I later watched group discussions from The Grapevine (defunct as of 2022) where a buncha Afros brought up some things I took note of. One was of a brotha mentioning that, while he was accepted by the Africans in his area (New York iirc), he had to show them that he wasn't a stereotype first. So "one of the good ones" basically (aka: Some Euro shit). I'm sure somebody's gettin' ready to explain dat shit away. Go ahead. I'll probably read it. But here's the thing, I'mma talk how I wanna talk. And I'mma dress how I wanna dress. And I don't really feel myself in places where I don't fell "allowed" to wear a wave cap, locs, or a muscle-t. So why would I want the company (or intimacy) of somebody who thinks I should "talk properly"? Das a flag for me. Yeah, I've got plenty of people in my family who talk propa. And yeah, I'll do it when I feel like I need to. But a friend? A neighbor? The whole damn town? Fuck dat. I'd rather be me in a medium crime rate area than live in a low crime rate area where I can't actually relax.

And how much does this filter of mine limit my options in life? Hellas. Speaking from experience on the opposite end, I doubt I'll regret it and I'm pretty sure I'll be a happier healthier person for it, which is a whole'nother essay. 🤷🏿‍♂️

...Caribbeans 😐

There's another piece I should bring up before getting back to Africa: the Caribbean. First thing's first (yes, i've got an NPR bias), consider listening to or reading these:

Tell Me More's Behind Closed Doors: 'Colorism' in the Caribbean (July 16, 2007) 11min

Code Switch's Amara La Negra: Too Black To Be Latina? Too Latina To Be Black? (March 28, 2018) 35min

Code Switch's Black Like Who? by Gene Demby (April 15, 2020) 34min

Code Switch's Puerto Rico, Island Of Racial Harmony? by Adrian Florido (April 24, 2020) 32min

So the late Ayesha (a panelist on The Grapevine) brought up, during group discussions about colorism/racism in the Caribbean, quite a bit that the above links get into. Simply put, my Afro-ass gonna be treated a certain way for bein' dark and light-skinned mofos are likely to think they're better than me because they're White passing (outside the States). I don't feel like dealin' with dat bs. Sure, there are gonna be areas where it's less common, but I've got no reason not to expect those areas to be pockets compared to the size of the country itself. Which brings me back to the same issue I've had in the USA: "Where can I live?"

So, like,... where?

And that brings us to the next piece of the puzzle: I'm part of multiple marginalized groups. I'm an agnostic non-traditional "dark"-skinned brotha who's also a non-binary transfem with gynesexual-leaning omnisexuality. And I'm neurodivergent. And quite socialist. 😐 So~ my 10-20's gonna get filtered down to 5-10 real~ quick after a "Is x country homophobic/transphobic?" search. And I already know I'm gonna have to ease up on some of the "bear no ism against me" criteria if I don't wanna end up where there's ≤1% African-descended. 🤷🏿‍♀️

(hella anti-gays in the comments; 2 out of 3 of the hosts aren't allies)

So Nothin' Then?

You know a country that caught my eye a few years back? A place I ain't even heard of 'til they were on the news for ditchin' da Queen's ass in late 2021? Barbados,... which is >90% Afro 👀. And you know what I found? They had only just taken significant pro-LGBTQ+ steps. naw fuq dat

Well, Shit. 🤷🏿‍♂️

So where does that leave me? Well, I've felt hopeless about this from time to time. Depressed, pissed, etc. I mean, either I'm gonna start diggin' and find a place that's ideal or I'm gonna give up a part of myself that I know I won't want to... again. Which raises a question: Why bother? Why not stay? Why not just ride it out and try to resist/fight the bs where I reasonably can? Well, that's where we get into the usual territory. Genocide. How bad does it have to get for me (just me) to say "fuck this" and bail? We might be clearly heading in that direction with these damn Conservatives and Republicans my fucking god, but I'm not sure it's certain yet. Real talk, though, if Jewish (trans) people say "we're there" then we're there.

To finish up,

yeah, people who can leave probably should leave for their best interest. Though, it'll make things harder for those who remain. People who can't or have things tieing them here (e.g.: family) should resist/fight to keep it from getting worse (and try to live in racially safe areas). That includes votin', y'all. For every ballot election. (gonna be clear here that i'm of the "research every issue/candidate" mentality; i rarely ever take trusted individuals' word for it)

As for what I think I should do? Stay resistin' and votin' like I been doin', but also... get on dat research so I can have an immediate backup plan and be out this mud real quick. 👍🏿

Here Ya Gifts

ILGA's 5 LGBTIQ world maps: https://ilga.org/ilga-world-maps

Equaldex's collaborative knowledge base (and 14 maps) for the LGBT movement: https://www.equaldex.com/

SafeHome's 2023 LGBTQ+ State Safety Rankings (USA): https://www.safehome.org/data/lgbtq-state-safety-rankings/

(read the tags)

edit: Just realized days later that "every ballot" kinda sounds like "each political party's ballot". I meant every local and national election.

Do we stay or do we go

i have a serious question to my brother and sisters, all those stolen of africa and those that immigrated from their of their own volition and the generations that came after.

ive been doing a lot of listening to the goings on in the world, and ive been learning of our past and our history and philosophy and i have a question that we of the diaspora(not counting the islands in many regards and you'll see why) have not seemed to really be able to qive a definitive response to in the over 200 years since i've first seen this question be raised, and yes the context is different today from when it was first asked, and you may have guess what the question really is.

Do we stay and fight this oncoming wave of fascism and antiblackness that is sweeping through Europe and its settler states that it spawned? or do we turn towards Africa and the carribean nations?

I dont feel i need to say this, its very clearly not a "well if you dont like america, go back to africa" situation. but what im saying is, the western experiment, is falling apart at the seams, im sure we all see it at this point, most the other black folks i speak to are feeling pretty jumpy about it rn, my mother and my great aunt who hate each other and agree on nothing, are getting real strong get out vibes and pushing everyone to have passports. it feels like no matter where we look the white world is trying to position itself as being oppositional to and a defense against POC, the far right is gaining major traction enough in germany they are considering banning a political party(which they should) and that not to speak on much the rest of europe, which is trying to convince us not to be worried about the dudes waving nazi flags and making claims about russians being asian and thus being less human, american police violence just keeps going up to the point we aren't even safe in our own four walls, and much like the past they kill you and then take everything you owned so your family doesn't even get anything. france is proving how much distain it has for the people of africa living in its borders and the cops there are mad that they can't do even more extrajudicial violence against brown people. you got in nearly every EU nation at this point 1 or more parties who's whole thing is "we hate poc and immigrants and lgbt people" and they seem to be gaining support more than losing it.

so i guess im saying, is it worth staying in these places that just hate us? even when there is another place we can potentially go to that doesn't require us to do colonizer shit?

like don't get me wrong i get the idea, we been in x place 200, 300, 400 years why should i leave, my great grandpa had people like that in his life, they didnt make it long. but like you or i most likely aren't anywhere near where our families started in america or britian or france etc,(tho for us in settler states that shit gets even more complicated tbh) chances are your family much like mine has been pushed and pulled across the place to the point that we are damn near nomadic, we are the most if not the second most poverty stricken group in these places, we are more likely to be charged more for half par services goods and the state just refuses to support use to the extent where vast swaths of us are in food desert, areas with low access to internet services and more issues. i dont feel like we really leaving much behind except of course the friends and extended families we have made(which tbh is huge).

This shit sounds super doom and gloom and im aware of that, this isnt really for me to present a sunshine are roses situation, in fact i am really putting that on who ever sees this. if you can read what i laid out here and feel you have something constructive to say one way or the other, i wanna hear it. like i really want to hear both sides, this topic been around a long time, i feel its really about to become super relevent again and i'd like for as many of us to have discussed and thought about this as physically possible(talk to your families and friends about this too, they dont have to come reply)

so black folks, reblog, message in the replys, talk in the tags whatever, just think about this stuff critically and talk about it. poke holes as best you can, bring up whatever figure you can think of that ever even had a thought about this topic. learn about this topic as best as you can, its older than garvey by a lot. theres bad sides to it and not so bad sides to it.

non black folks, please just leave this alone, its truly not the type of topic you should involve yourself with.

anyway i go more i wanna say about it. and im not myself sold that i should move to say ghana(more likely to move with my gfs in Australia rn) and ill likely add more in reply to other people. be safe Everyone of the world.

[renardtrickster]

Am I the only one concern how people like dasha-through-the-snow try to downplay the severity of these clearly anti education bills being pass in places like Texas and Florida. The reason why I'm calling them anti education bills because they are rewrite history. Keeping people, especially children, ignorant of their history and how that history still effecting them today.

You are not the only one, and you should continue calling them anti-education bills. It bears repeating, CRT has never been taught below a college-grade level. Anytime someone talks about keeping CRT out of high school/middle school/grade school, "CRT" means "whatever it means most to that particular person at that particular time and will change in the next five minutes when they talk about it again". And people have been very clear about what they mean when they mean CRT. Martin Luther King Jr. and the civil rights movement as a whole? CRT. Native American genocide? CRT. The South fought a war to keep their slaves? CRT (some woman actually pulled her kids out of school for that, wild shit). Slavery happened and it was evil? CRT. Write a book as a black person? CRT.

It's a very blatant Trojan Horse used by conservative politicians to get into schools and remove anything that has made America look bad ever. And they do it for three reasons. One, anti-education is generally their thing because soft and malleable brains filled with not much is how you become conservative. A worldview informed by intuition and gut feelings, black and white narratives about the justice of comfort and the evil shaker-of-the-status-quo, and the ability to AT LEAST not feel too bothered about human suffering are basically required for the position, among other things. Two, and let's be honest here, conservatives really like racism. Not even in the "subtly" racist ways like "prisons good, cops good, war on drugs good, BLM literally launched a nuclear missile at a city and blasted it into the ocean, killing billions", but they constantly simp for the Confederacy and whitewash (lmao) them. Those who don't know their history are doomed to repeat it, so ask yourself why they're so invested in making sure nobody knows the history of racism.

And third, which I think is the biggest reason why they're so hooked on CRT, secondary even to racism. The fact that they're interfering so blatantly with education is okay with them because education was never the top priority. Charlie Kirk, prominent conservative voice and founder/executive director of Turning Point USA, a conservative astroturf that invades colleges to spread bullshit and harass professors, said it himself in his debate against Vaush on Tim Pool's show. Education isn't the point of education, it's gratitude. Is it nice if people graduate high school knowing about math, language, history, the arts, and science? Sure, but what he wants most is for people to graduate college feeling grateful towards their country and wanting to do anything to ensure its betterment. America can't be the best because the people of America worked to correct their past evils (to some extent), have made great innovations and progress, and strive to still do better. America needs to be the best because it is the best, was the best, always will be the best, and its citizenry are and need to be devoted utterly to laying down even their own lives to ensure America's continued existence, which itself is proof of it's own superiority.

And anti-CRT craze was and always will be conservative politicians trying to get their hands wrist-deep in what children are learning because the thought of America not being seen as a heavenly body of infallible moral virtue makes them almost as sad as people saying "racism is bad".

[werebutch]

For me, everything really got so much better when I turned 18. There's a bit of an adjustment for the first little bit as you start to learn what it means to be an adult, but it honestly brings good things.

Advice time!

1. Get some kind of storage, and keep all your important documents there. Any tax receipts, passports, proof of employment, ect. When you move, it rules to just open a drawer and have all that stuff ready to go. Obviously also make this a secure storage, if you can

2. Cooking! Even the higher-end dishes can be cheaper than eating out almost anywhere. Provided you don't live in a food desert - those are worth moving to a different city to get out of. If you're completely unknowledgable, refried bean burritos, steamed vegetables, stir fries, and most breakfast food are good ones for people just starting out. I've been cooking since forever, and anyone is always welcome to message and ask for recipies, fyi! Also while you're learning stuff, fixing clothes is a great one to pick up if you have the change. In general, how to fix things is always worth learning if you can.

3. Don't feel like you need to move out just because you're old enough to do it! If your parents are people you like (or don't really mind at least), consider staying with them and focusing on building up finances. If you need to get out, see if you can join a rental group, especially queer-focused ones. It's always cheaper to rent with roommates. Keep in mind that living with other people is a skill that takes time to develop and there will be road bumps.

4. There's a lot of new things to do & try! Hell yes. Don't feel like you need to do any of them, just because they're easier/legal to do. Especially for drugs (including alcohol) and sex (especially kink / risky sex). If you do want to try a new thing, start with a smaller amount. Doing something too much or too intensely can really be a rough experience, and doing something in a small amount will let you get a good feel for it, while keeping your head clear enough to understand what's happening.

5. Fuck rules and manners. Learn how to say no to people, its the best skill to have. Also, learn how to say yes - specifically when you're offered help, or free things, or any act of kindness. If someone is offering something, it's often because they'd legitimately be happy to see you have it.

6. Go thrifting! Buying high quality used clothes, instead of fast fashion, will have a much longer life span. Go to shitty little music shows! Go to dingy diners at 2am! But also take care and joy in taking care of yourself. Self maintenance will seriously make everything else much easier, and getting into the habit early will really help.

7. Whenever you move out, you'll be in a totally different environment, and that's really spooky. The first 3 or 4 nights will likely feel scary, and like you made the wrong decision. Big changes are hard, and leaving the consistency of your home is intimidating. Normally, I always say trust your gut instincts, but this one is usually wrong. Humans are built to survive, and your brain doesn't trust new things. Once you've lived there a week or so, you'll love the place. If you still feel like you shouldn't be living somewhere after 3 weeks or so, you should start looking, if you can afford it. Keeping a good and healing space is serious a #1 priority.

8. You may have been lied to about credit cards. My parents, teachers, and a bunch of people basically hammered home "don't get a credit card or you'll lose all your money". I didn't get one for so long, and I was honestly so proud. But, it was a struggle! Occasionally a place will only accept credit, and it'll suck to be locked out of them. Also, you won't build good credit that way. My recommendation is to get a card that doesn't have any fees (doesn't matter about points or whatever) and just use it for 1 or 2 of your purchases a month, that you know you can easily afford, they really don't need to be big. Pay it off immediately. If you end up taking out any loans, pay them on time! Most people recommend paying the maximum amount off of a loan each month, but as a new adult, it'll be ok if you want to hold onto more of your money, and only pay the minimum each month. That's totally OK, just do it on time! As long as you do this, you'll have really good credit.

9. Own it! You're in control now. For me, the simple little thing of picking out my own hand soaps is something I treasure. It's your life, and it looks like it now! You can get posters, fairy lights, plants, anything! Give your space some personality, make it feel like yours! Note- posters feel a little dingy after a while, even new ones. If you have some you like especially, buy some frames for them, or get them as tapestries. Both feel way fancier and more adult. But posters are cheaper, so you can get way more of them.

10. Once you're out of school, it'll be a bit harder to make friends. The best way to do it is to go to social events, like board game nights, hobby groups, ect. Anything with a shared interest means you'll likely find some people you vibe with. Don't feel like you need a ton of friends! Just a few is fine, you want to make sure they're people you truly like being around, that are good friends to have.

11. Oh shit also get vaccinated before you do any of that social stuff. Also,,, maybe look into health insurance. It's a seriously good investment, (more if you're in USA, in Canada it's not needed quite as much. Dental, on the other hand, is definetly worth getting). If you're on your parents insurance, stay on that for as long as possible! It's free baby!

12. Don't try to become what you thing an adult "needs" to be. It's your life, being an adult can be whatever you want it to look like! And, honestly, the first step of being an adult just looks a lot like being a teenager, just with a bit of change every year or so. Take it slow, and put yourself first.

13. That's it! There's probably a bit more I could put on here, but this feels good. I'm open to questions! If this ends up getting posted, this includes other people too! It's a scary process, but it can be a really good thing, and it has been for so many people I know. Good luck, be safe, have fun!

this is super helpful once I start wanting to move out, but I’m not quite there yet :) thank u tho this rlly helps me prepare lol