#reactionary minority

[ivygorgon]

AN OPEN LETTER to THE PRESIDENT

President Biden take Executive Action to protect abortion rights!

2,498 so far! Help us get to 3,000 signers!

The reactionary activists on the Supreme Court are about to strip away half a century of the established right of all Americans to make their own decisions about planning their families. I support and agree with the Senators who have demanded that you use your executive power to protect reproductive justice in America. These four steps would be a great start:

Direct the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) to drop the remaining FDA restrictions on mifepristone, including requirements that pharmacies obtain a special license to distribute it to patients.

Direct the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to aggressively enforce federal requirements that guarantee Medicaid beneficiaries the right to seek family planning services from a provider of their choice as specified by the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. § 1396a; 42 C.F.R. § 431.51).

Direct the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to require that all federal employees, military personnel and dependents, and persons in custody or being provided healthcare, be given paid time off and reimbursement for expenses necessary to access abortion.

Given the risks now presented by states that are criminalizing reproductive decision-making, direct the HHS Office for Civil Rights to require that websites or mobile applications that collect information related to reproductive health (such as period trackers) adequately and proactively protect personally identifiable information and other sensitive data.

Please get creative and get aggressive. The Supreme Court has been hijacked by a reactionary minority. You can help save us. Thanks.

▶ Created on June 15, 2022 by Jess Craven

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[tanadrin]

Matt Yglesias seems to think the only thing for the Democrats to do is to lurch as far to the right as possible and throw trans people under the bus, but I think this is stupid; MAGA candidates not named Trump ran behind their peers, plenty of Democratic policies passed in the form of ballot initiatives, and many Dem candidates outran Harris by at least a little bit. AFAICT the election was genuinely a backlash against incumbency and not a repudiation of Democratic policy positions generally.

Which sucks! But it also implies you shouldn’t screw over members of your core coalition to try to seize ground already firmly occupied by reactionaries. People with reactionary politics will vote for the brand name version, and you run the risk of alienating people who up til now voted for you. The problems liberals have relate predominantly to messaging in a fragmented media environment and the uniquely troubled circumstances of 2024 than they do to an electorate disgusted by trans women in sports or pandering to people who use the phrase “toxic masculinity.”

[alex51324]

In honor of the Christmas season, here's "Comrade Jesus."

NB: The poem, by Sarah N. Cleghorn, was originally published in 1917, so before the Russian revolution. Now that we all know how that turned out, the final stanza is omitted in some printings. This is the full poem.)

Comrade Jesus by Sarah N. Cleghorn from Portraits and Protests (New York: Henry Holt & Co., 1917)

Thanks to Saint Matthew, who had been At mass-meetings in Palestine, We know whose side was spoken for When comrade Jesus had the floor.

“Where sore they toil and hard they lie, Among the great unwashed, dwell I. The tramp, the convict,  I am he: Cold-shoulder him, cold-shoulder me.”

By Dives’ door, with thoughtful eye, He did tomorrow prophesy:– “The kingdom’s gate is low and small: The rich can scarce wedge through at all.”

“A dangerous man,” said Caiaphas, “An ignorant demagogue, alas. Friend of low women, it is he Slanders the upright Pharisee.”

For law and order, it was plain, For Holy Church, he must be slain. The troops were there to awe the crowd: Mob violence was not allowed.

Their clumsy force with force to foil, His strong, clean hands he would not soil, He saw their childishness quite plain Between the lightnings of his pain.

Between the twilights of his end He made his fellow-felon friend. With swollen tongue and blinded eyes Invited him to Paradise.

Ah, let no Local him refuse! Comrade Jesus has paid his dues. Whatever other be debarred, Comrade Jesus has his red card.

* * * * *

[visenyaism]

Funny how when rightwing bigots unanimously spout all sorts of bile it’s just “they’re only exercising their right to free speech and their protests don’t need to be stopped” but when it’s a few people on the other side we get “OMG A SMALL GROUP SAID THIS BAD THING WHICH MEANS THE WHOLE PROTEST IS RUN BY BAD PEOPLE AND MUST BE SHUT DOWN”

Like gtfo??? I’ve seen this crappy tactic used against non-rightwing protests and rallies ALL OVER THE WORLD. A handful of bad-faith individuals are taken as representative of the WHOLE movement with nobody exercising even one ounce of critical thinking.

It’s ridiculous.

the only pro-israel organization i have seen meaningfully denounce the multiple counts of extreme violence levied at protesters by counterprotesters at these campus protests was by UCLA Hillel under the framework that counterprotestors who claimed to represent Israel and all Jewish students being seen breaking bread with violent white supremacists also endangers Jewish students on campuses. I think it’s both commendable and necessary that they did that. 

I think it’s bad faith coverage to imply that every single student protester must answer for everything said at every single encampment otherwise they are all violent antisemites and terrorist sympathizers while none of the counterprotestors have to answer for the frat bros making monkey noises at Black protestors, people shooting fireworks into encampments, the death and rape threats, the or the casual mob violence enacted against protestors we’ve seen nationally in the past few weeks.

if you fail to kick out the violent white supremacists and the reactionary fraternity brothers and the people playing footage from October 7 on loop you also have to consider what that says about you and your movement. that does not just go one way. 

[aloeverawrites]

I'm calling the part of leftists who defend creepy art towards children, causal misogyny in their spaces, and who will label every criticism as 'puritanism', the reactionary left.

They don't like terfs so they defend sexism, they don't like puritanism so they defend predators, they don't like conservative Christians so they defend anything those people are against.

They just react.

[metamatar]

when I engage with white people sometimes in the pnw, in a liberal university etc they're kind of afraid of making jokes or even really expressing any opinions about our cultural differences that are not like adoringly positive bc they are afraid of being accused of racism, and personally I delight in that and do nothing to ease their fear. It makes it less likely for them to actually be racist and I paid a lot of visa fees to get here. a lot of international grad students, esp south asians will ease them, like omg I'm not like those people, I don't mind and the those people being imagined there is I think a stereotype borne out of anti blackness.

[despazito]

Drag them through the town square

[tr1ppykay]

yknow i do think it's possible to support trans men and transandrophobia theory without obsessing over the existence of baeddels

[miraclemaya]

it is always interesting the way the conversation repeatedly slips to like "hey this trans women is a pedo so saying you don't support all trans women being banned is bad" and it's like hey man, do you understand what selective enforcement of rules is. because anyone can type a few words into tumblr search bar and find like hundreds upon hundreds of tme people writing rpf about child youtubers or whatever the fuck and they are not currently being banned on mass.

[kindnessoverperfection]

I've found that, when interacting with others (or myself), it's useful to consider the lessons I'd want to teach a growing child.

If a child makes a mistake, I wouldn't want them to feel shame. I wouldn't yell at them, humiliate them, or in any way indicate to them that their mistake is a reflection of their worth or of who they are as a person.

Instead, I'd want them to associate the process with love and joy. If they say something that hurts someone's feelings, or otherwise ostracizes someone in some way, I'd compassionately explain to them. Ideally, they'd walk away knowing why they said / did it in the first place, how to handle similar situations in the future, and would accept the consequences (e.g. if a friend no longer wanted to hang out with them).

While the consequences may sometimes be painful, I'd do my best to instill in them that mistakes are human and natural, and that the process of learning from these mistakes is an opportunity to improve connections with others and express love.

I have a tendency towards excessive guilt. Memories in which I've said / done something ignorant or hurtful are infused with this guilt and shame- but ideally, I'd feel a sense of love and peace, and perhaps happiness, when looking back on them. Because they were moments of growth, moments I learned how to be more compassionate (even if the actual learning came years later).

So I'll put this out into the void:

When you make a mistake, that is not a reflection of you as a person. It is a moment in time, a moment which was informed by your past experiences. Humans are not static labels, or monsters in an RPG game. We are social creatures who live and learn and react and grow and experience and love. Be gentle with yourself and move forward knowing you're doing so in accordance with your values.

[dankovskaya]

Reading about the early days of the zi*nist project is genuinely horrifying like. Absolute loss of faith in the culture in humanity at large etc

[canichangemyblogname]

Back in August, someone on Harry Styles’ “Harry’s House” merch design team worked a dogwhistle into the design of his new hats. The pop star’s merch line re-issued and redesigned the hats near immediately, indicating that this was not intentional on the part of the Star, his brand, or his official merchandise line.

In my experience, the inclusion of dogwhistles on clothes, in usernames, in account profiles, and even CPAC stages and NYTimes crossword puzzles, is often and usually far from accidental. While this was most likely a mistake on the part of the Star’s official merch brand, there was still someone on that design team who worked an “HH” symbol— for Styles' new album, Harry's House (who abbreviates an album like that is beyond me)— into the design of a line of hats, and the rest of the teams or team members working for his brand lacked the awareness and diversity to catch this on time. It’s clear there was not a single Jewish person in that room or on that team or any subsequent teams for design, merchandising, production, and sale. The way one combats unintentionally putting these symbols into designs and then sending them out to the public is to have a more diverse team with Jewish teammates. I am hoping Styles’ brand learns from this and hires more Jewish designers.

Now, a part of me wants to assume it was a mistake all-around, down to the last individual, but my background knows better than to assume the best, especially given how well-known the “HH” (or 88) dogwhistle is. I’ve also been told that the design’s style is even reminiscent of how Nazi supporters wore the slogan on uniforms.

“HH was used in WWII to mean ‘heil Hitler,’ and variations of it are still used today among white supremacists around the world. The most common variation is the numerical code 88 since H is the eighth letter of the alphabet.”

The thing about dogwhistles is that they’re supposed to go unseen by the general public. The average passerby isn’t going to think anything of what the person they passed is wearing, allowing white supremacists to discreetly signal to each other in public to avoid public scrutiny for their values and to identify and seek out community which supports their worldview.

In fact, they’re banking on you assuming it’s a big nothing burger. They’re hoping people go, “Well, that looks unintentional and the symbol has no meaning to me. And also [insert other group that uses symbol harmlessly] uses it, so I don’t see the big deal. I think you’re making a mountain out of a mole hill.” They want people to double down on- say- Jewish fans being “chronically online” and “whining about nothing,” as many of Styles’ fans have. Nothing works more in their favor than people digging their heels in the mud and insisting on their right to wear the hat and the Star’s right to issue it. (“Look at these cringe ‘woke warriors’ overreacting to your favorite Pop Star. Doesn’t it make you angry? Doesn’t it make you… reactionary?”)

The Star reissuing the hat with a new design is an admission by his brand that the symbol has hateful power and is recognized as so. I’m glad they redesigned it rather than dig their heels in and try to sweep this under the rug. The more people who admit this and who recognize these symbols for what they are, the less effective they are. You combat the power of these symbols by exposing them and educating others.

Combat hate. Learn to see dogwhistles:

[irhabiya]

egyptians (nasserists (my dad)) will swear up and down that they hate the military but will refuse to acknowledge june 30th for what it is, a counterrevolution lol

[dazais-guardian-angel]

feeling sick to my stomach after that finale, actually, wow

[timeisacephalopod]

The perils of loving true crime content but hating when it veers into either Tough On Crime right wing reactionary content or Weird Gratuitous Descriptions of Crimes territory. I find the first far more than the second and it drives me nuts that anyone could think prison will solve violence when prison in itself is a wildly violent place that obviously doesn't work. If it did the US would be Squeaky Clean Crimeless and that ain't true.

Seriously though I love true crime content but these days have such a hard time finding stuff that gives the facts of the story plainly without deciding to advocate for ridiculous prison sentences and a bunch of other copaganda adjacent shit is surprisingly difficult and frankly says a lot about the way we discuss, conceptualize, and react to crime. Especially when a lot of crime is literally just criminalizing addiction, a mental health problem, so fully defending and uncritically advocating for the prison and policing system especially when true crime stories are more often than not stories of police incompetence is just baffling. And no just because true crime tends to mean violent crime that does not mean prison will solve the problem any more than it would solve an addicts addiction and frankly I don't even want an ideological slant I just want the damn facts without right wing shit being evangelized to me. Wonder how many people even notice this shit, because its so ingrained in true crime content that it feels like the only ones who notice are insufferable blue hair pronoun using leftists like myself.

[sn0zzzz]

just warning you that scramratz is openly a doomer

i think that i'm ok with people having alternate opinions when they're not hurting anyone