#social justice on a larger scale

[dykedvonte]

You ever just see a Mouthwashing take that makes you want to bang your head into a wall? I literally just saw someone claim Curly couldn't have been emotionally abused by Jimmy before the crash because he was in a higher position of power than Jimmy.

-Shrimp Anon

The mouthwashing fandom has shown me that people genuinely do believe that certain types of abuse are not as detrimental as other types especially when they deem those immune/resistant, ergo, believing one is objectively worse no matter how it affects the person nor the intersections of power, history and dynamics at play.

Get ready cause this is a yap session:

Cause like it's heavily implied that Curly and Jimmy's friendship was toxic and abusive, pointedly in the direction of how Jimmy uses Curly's belief/comfort in him. Curly wasn't forced to enable Jimmy but he was emotional and mentally on edge around him in almost every scene in some way. Mental and emotional abuse are not contingent on what positions you have at work. Yeah, he's Jimmy's boss but he was Jimmy's friend first and it's like getting into Psych discussion to talk about how social power tends to overshadow any perceived organizational power in the human mind. People are concerned about their jobs ofc but they tend to hang onto and put more value/investment into their personal relationships, hence why there tends to be laws and restrictions around mixing the two.

I always see the sentiments that "Curly is a grown ass man", "Curly is bigger than Jimmy", "Curly is Jimmy's boss", "He just needed a backbone" as criticisms of Curly and while I do agree that on the surface level all of these to be true and viable ways Curly could've taken more control of the situation, I often look at the parallels of Anya and Curly as victims of Jimmy pre/post crash.

The way Jimmy talks to Anya post crash is how he talked to Curly in the pre-crash segments. It's hard to pin-point mainly because we know he hates and wants nothing to do with Anya compared to his contrary but similarly handled obsessions with Curly. It's a weird sort of "honey-moon" effect of abuse Jimmy does in terms of emotional and mental victimization. He is always horrid to Anya, always talking down or questioning her abilities and thoughts in a situation, this of course includes the harassment and assault. However, he has a moment of attempted gentleness/conditioning when he question her about the mouthwash when she's contemplating drinking it at the table. The key difference is he has no personal investment in Jimmy outside wanting nothing to do with him, meaning there is no sort of romanticized version of him that he can condition her off of. He knows this, hence, why he always reverts to trying to make her to scared to oppose him.

This sort of give and take of "kindness" doesn't work on her because she knows he is just doing it to take more from her than whatever he could possibly give but it reflects even the "softer" scenes between him and Curly where he always rewords or rephrases Curly's sentiments and concerns to sound more shallow. He is feigning a deeper understanding by reworking Curly's emotions into something bad and needing to be hidden. Everything is laced with envy and resentment, an outburst just around the corner, I mean he even slams the table in the birthday party scene, a tactic in emotional manipulation to set the victim on edge and cloud their ability to respond. Even if Curly knows Jimmy won't get physical in that moment, the physical actions is intended to make him back down in the confrontation in case it does. This is something that is just not person specific. It ingrains itself into how you interact with the world and life and it shows in major and minor ways with Curly.

Post-crash, the abusive nature is more in tandem to the physical victimization Anya went through and the stripping of voice and autonomy we see take place. Like the parasite in HFIM, Jimmy speaks for Curly most of the time and puts words in his mouth, similarly to how he takes Anya's plans as his own. He very commonly, with the both of them mind you, supplements the worst aspects of himself into them; pettiness, selfishness, lack of understanding... And tries to cover himself with their best qualities; kindness, planning, initiative, etc...

These parallel are just to say that positional power has little to do with if a person can be abused and how it can even be flipped to further the abuse. There is no doubt that Curly could've picked up on Jimmy's envy of his position hence another reason he never confronted him as a Captain but as a friend as doing so would immediately put Jimmy in a space to be confrontational/combative.

I think the disdain some people have when they talk about the heavily implied if not implicitly stated emotional/mental abuse Curly experienced being Jimmy's friend is when treating it as an excuse to why he didn't do more. I can understand that completely because it is not an excuse to why he didn't do more but is a very real reason people in his position in these scenarios can experience whether in the context of a work or social environment. However, I also think the way people talk about it really does demonstrate a bigger problem when talking about abuse when somehow who is/was abused is either part of the issue or enabled it.

Harkening back to the sentiments about Curly's inaction regarding Jimmy, I think the exact phrases I used/have seen show how there is an inherent belief that it is easier to overpower the effects of emotional/mental abuse that go in tandem with the perception of Curly as someone who should be able to. There is not an age you suddenly stop being susceptible to abuse nor a set point or low where you realize how it has affected you. You don't suddenly know to stand up or put a face on to face your abuser nor admit that you inadvertently enabled them to subjugate someone else to the same treatment. Maybe it's my psych brain but their is this growing belief that direct action is somehow easy or always the best method with the game shows you instances where it is not always the case. In real life that rings true too. He should have done more, but it's not impossible to see why he struggled to find a way or didn't even if it makes us mad.

It's not easy to suddenly gain a "back-bone". You don't immediately want to resort to aggression, especially if it mirrors the type you were a victim to. You don't want to believe you allowed yourself to be treated this bad, let it get that bad or allowed something bad to happen to someone else. It is easy to be in denial, to retreat to your thoughts or make excuses to avoid the painful truth. It's frustrating but in a way we know is relatable. It why we both hate and love Curly for it. We know we'd be better, we think we'd be better, we like to think we wouldn't falter in the same ways but it's always easier to say that from the outside looking in. It's easy to see what he was doing wrong because we are seeing it, not him, but the game really does make you picture what you would do if this was your raw reality and it's why this debate about Curly seems so never ending/contradictory. We can all say what we'd do but bottom line is that's much different when you're in the moment with all the emotions and human feelings attached.

I personally think Mouthwashing tackles the themes of rape culture, enabling, toxic masculinity, types of abuse and patriarchy in ways that are meant to deconstruct the typical straightforward views we mostly have of these concepts and how little subtilities of them are just as, if not more, detrimental than the overt/obvious parts. The game deals with the idea of little details and bigger picture in a way to show that sometimes the bigger picture is not the issue but the little details that make it up. It's why I have a personal dislike of depictions of Jimmy as the typical horrible person who would of course do something like this because the game is about noticing the little warning signs, the foreshadowing and foresight.

It's why I dislike the typical discussion of "bro code" and "boys will be boys" for the game because the game makes a point to avoid the standard depictions of such. It is about the type of men who still enable despite not condoning, agreeing or even perpetuating harmful beliefs because they can't see the little details or the ways it seeps into their everyday. The severity is not obvious to them as it was not obvious to Curly, Swansea or even Daisuke the way it was to a woman like Anya. There are little details about Jimmy that should ring alarms but if you are too naive like Daisuke, too distant like Swansea or too conditioned like Curly, they are just off markers.

There is 100% more constructive/concise ways to say "Curly was a victim of Jimmy's abuse on an emotional and mental aspect that clouded his judgements and perceptions in the scenario" while also critiquing on the side of "Curly still had a responsibility to protect Anya as a crew mate and Captain that he failed to do due to biases and stigma's he failed to surpass" without the weird condemnation people give him about should've knowing better than to let himself be manipulated by a person he considered a close, if not family/best-friend and had his own reasons to trust initially. Also stop being weird about victims of abuse in general with this fandom, like sorry not everyone has a like social epiphany the moment someone's nasty to them. People are treating it like you immediately know when you are in a toxic relationship immediately or comprehend when a person is actively dangerous and either it's your fault for not knowing how to leave/cut them off or you deserve it. Like the hypocrisy of people believing how certain fans treat the story reflect their irl views but not their own is crazy.

End statement is: I honestly don't even know man, I've been writing this too long and just like no man on that ship was perfect or really helped Anya when it mattered and I feel like pitting them against each other in discussion on who did the least or most or how it was justified sucks cause in the end Anya always did the most and best thing for herself.

[fairuzfan]

For Liefer to pull up a Camus quote like this is quite laughable because of how the dynamics mirror each other. In the modern day, we have a status quo where Palestinians continue to be imprisoned and murdered and raped and segregated, denied basic medical care for years on end, all on their own land — while Jewish Israelis (to make distinction from Palestinians with Israeli citizenship, as many liberal zionists love to point out) suffer no consequences for anything, even if they play a direct role in the continued erasure and genocide of Palestinians. So if given a choice between suffering no consequences while benefiting from the status quo (that will not change unless the oppressed take it upon themselves to change their circumstance) and suffering consequences in the form of direct personal loss (with the strategy of forcing things to change by ennacting the same type of violence that the occupied experience on a daily basis onto the occupiers), of course someone who stands to lose nothing from the continuation of the status quo would rather the status quo continue if he has something to lose otherwise. Camus, when he said this quote, was not being righteous or overly sensitive. If anything, it shows how little he understood at the time of saying this quote. Because he didn't understand that an Algerian will suffer in both scenarios even if he (Camus) is safe, and for him to say something like this when people lived generations worth of violence for his and his family's (social) benefit is annoying and just plain offensive. Who is he, as a Frenchman born in occupied Algeria, to say what is worth justice when he only stands to lose anything in one scenario but not the other? He did not experience life as an Algerian native in French occupation. He might have observed it, growing up poor, yes, but he never LIVED it. Liefer might have observed the horror of settler colonialism, but that's nothing like experiencing it firsthand. To be the object of hatred to people who have higher status and more rights than you. It's just not his place as a person with nothing to lose if the status quo continues to comment on anything like this. What's the underlying meaning of this quote? "I'd rather others continue to suffer than myself experiencing suffering once."

I'm not saying Liefer doesn't have a right to mourn whoever. Im not even saying he has a duty to accept the consequences he experiences. But to say something so heartless as "I prefer the safety of my own rather than justice" within the larger, nearly century worth of context, is just insensitive and really belies his true opinions of the liberation of Palestine if he's so comfortable saying this outloud with moral authority in the middle of what is an outright bloodbath of Palestinians across Palestine. It's the timing of saying something like this because to say it now of all times when the entire world ignores or even encourages the violence in Gaza but mourns the death of Israelis? An Algerian born Frenchman and Israeli are going to be mourned on an international scale... but Palestinian and Algerian natives? Their deaths are regarded as facts of life by the rest of the world.

This makes it seem like I hate Camus, but I honestly don't, but I think the way Leifer is holding this quote up at face value and as the height of reason really is annoying. People like to mention Camus' "if" in this case as proof that he's actually saying "this is not real justice so therefore I do not have to accept it," but who is he to say what is or is not justice? The point I'm getting at is the people who benefit from occupation, in this case, Camus and Liefer have no right to determine what is or is not justice, despite their personal beliefs. The occupier has no right to tell the occupied what they should do to get freed. That alone is an arrogance in assertion that is so offending — the assertion that the occupier knows how to free the occupied in what *he* considers justice and the occupied just need to do whatever the occupier tells them to do. Because whether they both like it or not, they still benefit from and are part of the occupying force, and therefore have no real reason to fight the occupation at their own expense — the occupation is a violence that they are alright with inflicting if it means they cannot lose anything or anyone.

Also the idea that liefer indirectly compares himself to Camus is a little funny to me.

[calmwaterstarot]

What can we expect from 2024 dear!?? 😌

2024 has a lot going on; there are so many astrological transits happening that have a huge impact on all of us.

January 1, 2024: Mercury went direct after being in retrograde for several weeks. This means communication gets better, legal documents can be signed without issues, and anything related to speech is cleared up.

January 20 - September 1, 2024: Pluto enters Aquarius. This is going to be a wild ride. The last time Pluto was in Aquarius was around the late 1700's, and during that time, the world underwent MASSIVE change. Both the American and French Revolutions occurred, coups happened with governments, royalty was dethroned, battles and wars were fought, the first wave of feminism began, etc. There's so much more than this. You should see the list. I'll include it here--start around 1777 and go through 1798. Pluto represents death, rebirth, and transformation, while Aquarius represents humanity and technology. When you pair these two, you're looking at major transformation socially, politically, economically, and technologically. There's a brief retrograde into Capricorn for one last time during our lifetime, and then Pluto will return to Aquarius for another 20 years. It's interesting to note that the rise and fall of empires throughout history is around 250 years. The cycle for Pluto is 245 years. Coincidence? I think not.

February 16, 2024: A stellium in Aquarius. A stellium occurs when three or more planets are in the same house/sign in an astrological chart. This Aquarius stellium will feature Sun, Mercury, Venus, Mars, and Pluto. The last time this occurred was in February, 1962, and was commonly referred to as the "Age of Aquarius." This time period brought about major changes in the fields of technology, science, and aerospace. I'm afraid that during this time, though, there will be a strong focus on AI and its advancement. Pay attention to headlines regarding an upgrade in technology.

March 25, 2024: Lunar eclipse in Libra. Major historical events typically coincide with lunar eclipses, and since this one will be in Libra, I foresee society wishing for balance, harmony, peace, and justice. I believe this will be a time that humanity will call for us to take a deeper look at how we can end strife and get along with each other. Be ready for major calls for wars and upheaval to end (even though it's happening now, this will be on a much larger scale with this eclipse).

April 8, 2024: Solar eclipse in Aries. On the flip side of the lunar eclipse, we have the solar eclipse in Aries. This will be a time where we start anew and are ready to charge down a new path. Mars' energy represents war, destruction, violence, revenge, but also strength. This particular eclipse is warning us about war and destruction on a collective level because it'll be conjunct the North Node (the direction we're all going). I believe we're headed into a total collapse and rebirth when we add in the Pluto in Aquarius energy, but it's something that needs to happen for us to evolve as a civilization.

May 25, 2024: Jupiter in Gemini, which is actually in detriment. This means the energy is weaker in this sign for the planet. Expect changes in telecommunications (voice, data, and video) and social media, since Gemini is ruled by Mercury, the planet of communication.

June 2, 2024: Neptune is anaretic. Anaretic means that a planet has entered the 29th degree, which holds a sense of finality because this planet has transited all 30 degrees (starting at 0). It's ready to move on and cut ties. What does this mean for Neptune? Well, the planet of illusions will lift its veil and a lot of what we've held onto in our beliefs will die out. Some people will still try to hold on (sunk-cost fallacy) because they're stubborn, but the majority of people will release, mourn, and deal with the fallout that's going to be super messy. Imagine the feeling of being betrayed by someone you love. That's what Neptune lifting it's veil is going to feel like for most. Again, collectively, we NEED this energy for healing and spiritual growth.

July 21, 2024: Full Moon in Capricorn. Most of the time, nothing major happens on full moons, but this one is interesting because it falls on an anaretic degree, just like Neptune. Capricorn represents structure, discipline, rigidity, and order (its ruler is Saturn), so we're going to see some upheaval in regards to these issues. The old way of doing things will no longer serve the same purpose. This is the equivalent of saying, "Out with the old, in with the new."

August 5, 2024 – August 28, 2024: Mercury Retrograde in Virgo and Leo. With Mercury rx in Virgo, this might be a time where you lose or misplace documents, feel irritated, have constant miscommunication, or face scrutiny from the general public. Remember to write down important deadlines and keep everything organized so you don't lose anything. With Mercury rx in Leo, I'm fully expecting some celebrity scandals during this time. Otherwise, it'll be a time of thinking about trying something new or wanting to get out and do something fun.

September 17, 2024: Lunar Eclipse in Pisces. This will happen in the 25th degree (an Aries degree), so anyone with heavy Pisces placements will have creative breakthroughs during this time. We'll see a rise in great music, art, poetry and literature, as well as film and visual arts. This time period might feel very dreamy and whimsical on the art scene.

October 2, 2024: Solar Eclipse in Libra. We had the lunar eclipse in Libra in March, so now, the solar eclipse will bring justice and balance. Anyone with Libra placements in early degrees will feel the need to purge what's not working. Even though most Librans are peaceful, this will be a time of upheaval. Expect people to help the oppressed even more (seeking justice) in a world that needs to be more fair and balanced (Libra energy).

November 19, 2024: Pluto goes direct in Aquarius for twenty years, until March 8, 2043. Buckle up! It's going to be a bumpy-but-necessary ride.

November 25, 2024 – December 15, 2024: Mercury Retrograde in Sagittarius. We all know what happens during Mercury rx, but what happens when it's in Sagittarius? Sagittarius represents higher education and learning, all things foreign and travel-related, religion, and spirituality. Expect religious or spiritual leaders, as well as educational leaders at universities, to have private documents leaked, misinformation stemming from foreign countries and media, as well as travel issues (delays, being rerouted, lots of crowds, etc.). This will not be a good time to travel.

December 6, 2024 – February 24, 2025: Mars Retrograde in Cancer and Leo. This is going to be...interesting. Mars hates being in Cancer; it's in detriment. Why? Cancer represents empathy and compassion, while Mars represents a more masculine energy that strives towards war, violence, and destruction. Cancer wants to provide a resolution to all of the conflict occurring, while Mars isn't having it. Expect masculine energies, especially men, to be more irritated and aggressive during this time. This duo can bring about discussion regarding balancing masculine and feminine energy, which we all have. Because Cancer is represented by the Moon, or the "mother" in astrology, expect some discussions about fertility and reproduction, birth rates (especially the low birth rates of some countries), marriage (or lack thereof), and any social dynamics with males and females. These discussions will carry over into 2025.

2024 is going to be a year that'll go down in history, that's for sure. One silver lining in all of this is that Venus does NOT retrograde this year, so we might see or hear about fewer breakups, and we might see or hear about more people entering into relationships and staying together.

[martyreasemymind]

been thinking about the disparity in the fandom reaction to gator and billy when both have a history of racism and violent behavior, particularly when you can observe the contrast in a single individual (i.e. people who hate billy but love gator).

thinking about how gator's racism and violence is part of a larger, careful depiction and condemnation of a horrific political movement which has half the nation in a stranglehold. how it's woven into the overall narrative and is an integral piece of gator's past, present, and future in the story. how it's depicted as one dimension of a pervasive, poison ideology and infrastructure that is far, far larger than he is but that he undeniably plays a major part in perpetuating.

thinking about how billy's racism and violence is a vehicle for the writer's own egos and self-serving desire to depict themselves as caring about social justice by making a racist boogeyman. how it exists in a vacuum and is never spoken of again. how it exists to give the audience a reason to hate billy and nothing more. how it traumatizes black audience members so white audience members can feel good for hating it. how it is ABOUT the white characters and therefore the white writers and audience members who love to hate it instead of the black character and audience who are brutalized to make it happen.

thinking about how y'all hold sympathy and make excuses for gator but not for billy.

about y'all seeing a 27-year old man who is an active, integral part of a large-scale, violent right-wing militia as somehow more sympathetic than a 17-year-old boy who is lashing out in bigoted ways because he's getting hit in a bigoted household.

y'all hated billy because his racism was easier to see and it made you feel good about yourselves for hating it. y'all love gator because you have to squint to see his racism so you've decided that you can excuse it.

billy's racism affected characters you liked and therefore you, so it was a problem. gator's racism hasn't, so it isn't. it isn't an obstacle to your sympathy because you risk nothing by extending it. there are black men working for gator's father so you have decided that is evidence enough that the bigotry gator holds is not prohibitive. there are no convenient poc under threat to form your moral superiority around 'protecting', so it's an unfortunate character flaw instead of fundamental moral failing.

y'all will gladly gush over and rally behind the redemption of a grown man deliberately and willingly following a fascistic megalomaniac wife beater because his trauma has set him up to do nothing else. y'all will gladly celebrate the death of a teenager trapped in an abusive home who behaves violently and with bigoted motivations because his trauma has set him up to do nothing else.

the only difference between the two is the racism of one inconveniences you to consider and the other doesn't.

[dandywonderous]

What are your favorite video games? :)

you've activated my trap card

video games are the great love of my life, most of my time is spent playing video games, most of my favorite canons are video games. I think video games have such a unique way of telling stories compared to every other medium, and the huge variety in form that video games can take really gives them massive narrative potential. trying to narrow down to just a few is hard but I'm gonna do it

I was a 90s kid so my first big video game endeavors (besides a particular one but I'll get to it in the end) were unsurprisingly the Pokemon games. I started with Yellow but the ones I played the most were Silver and Sapphire, and Gen 3 is still my favorite even though I've played some of the gens since then. Crystal in particular though always has a place in my heart for introducing the female MC to the games; for most of my childhood, Pokemon and video games on a larger scale were always seen as things for boys (the boys on my playground even made me pass a quiz before they would let me play make believe Pokemon with them, a thing they did not make the other boys do) so Crystal adding the female MC felt like validation that I was welcome here. Representation matters! I remember there was also an old Scooby-doo game for the gameboy color I was obsessed with, and also shoutout to the Barbie horse adventure games lol

Final Fantasy will always have a special place in my heart for being the series that really got me into JRPGs, which has been a lot of what I've played since. FFX in particular, because it was my first, will always be special to me, but I also really enjoyed FFVIII (and I accept no slander) and FFXII, and more recently I loved FFXV (all the criticisms are true but damn it, doomed bachelor party road trip is such a fun time). At this point I've played every mainline FF game at least part way if not all the way to completion (except the MMOs, I don't really play MMOs, I'm a single player girly), and a lot of the spinoffs, especially the Tactics games (Tactics Advance man... what a good game). What most of the Final Fantasy games tend to do really well is the found family trope and that's what gets me about most of them.

More recently the JRPG that's held my heart the longest is Persona 5 (and its various spinoffs). I love these little criminals. They are all my sons and daughters. Royal absolutely perfected the turn based gameplay, I don't think it could have been executed better.

Puzzle games and visual novels are also what I spend a lot of time with. Ghost Trick is a transcendental experience - don't look up anything, just go play it. I promise the less you know the better it is. No one needs me to tell them how good Ace Attorney is but Ace Attorney is amazing; my personal favorite is actually Ace Attorney Apollo Justice, partially because Ema Skye is in it in her best incarnation (shoutout to the one other Ema/Klavier/Apollo shipper and your fanfic that has sustained me). I also loved the Professor Layton games. And I'm into less story driven, more laid back puzzle games like Stitch, which is the game I play whenever I just need to chill for a bit (unless I'm doing sudoku puzzles). Also more recently I thoroughly enjoyed In Stars and Time, which is like a puzzle RPG with an amazing story.

But especially on the narrative games front I looooooove Night in the Woods, one of my favorite video games of all. For one thing, there are not a lot of games or media in general that take place in the real world but in a small, dying rural town, and that setting and the characters' struggles and issues really resonated with me, as someone from a small, dying rural town. Also, Mae is an incredible protagonist, who is a female protagonist who is allowed to be massively flawed and not fit into the normal socially acceptable mold, but still be a hero, learn from her mistakes and get better. Also I'm not kidding when I say that this game's meditations on god, the nature of our existence, and what it means to be alive with other people genuinely changed my life. "When I die, I want it to hurt," is a line that will stick with me for the rest of my life.

I'm also a big fan of the "murder game visual novel" subgenre lol. Buried Stars is great, Dangan Ronpa is great, but 9 Hours 9 Persons 9 Doors is what will really hold my heart forever. 999 is such a good story, the twists are presented so expertly, and the way it used its original DS format in particular to tell its story is a masterclass in understanding how the unique format of video games can add to the narrative in ways no other medium can capture. Also the puzzles are just FUN, if you enjoy escape rooms you will love this game. The other games in the series are good too even if they kind of suck as sequels. Also why do they go out of their way not to talk about Santa?? JUSTICE FOR MY BOY!

If I were a youtube video essayist I would make a video on 999 that starts with just a twenty minute rant about how the opening sequence of 999 is one of the best in any video game ever. Like, the way it establishes the tone, the perfect pacing of it, the way it gets the player tense right along with the characters... mmmwah!

I also really like tactical RPGs, especially XCOM. It's so fun, but be prepared to die because you will, a lot. It's not a game meant for people who get attached, it will break you lol. Darkest Dungeon is also really fun but the same warning applies.

And I love farming and life sims! I played the old Harvest Moons back in the day, and more recently I've really loved Coral Island. I've also been playing a lot of Disney Dreamlight Valley, which is more like Animal Crossing but still in the cozy games genre. I need to play more of Potions Permit but I've really enjoyed what I've played of that one, if you want a cozy game vibe that isn't all about farming. And also I've been wrapped up in Infinity Nikki lately, which is a gacha game but boy is it fun (I played Love Nikki for a few years after it first came out too).

And speaking of gachas, I've played a lot of those, but the idol raisers/rhythm games are the ones that really stick with me. For a looooooong time it was Love Live School Idol Festival (RIP), but right now it is Project Sekai, a game I love and play every day. For a rhythm gacha game it has a really great story and cast of characters, and I love it a lot. I'm a VBS fan but I also love/pull for Ena and Shiho.

and this doesn't fit in any of the categories but I looooved the SSX series, especially the PS2 era of games. I played so much SSX Tricky and SSX3 and SSX On Tour. (if you're confused, they're snowboarding games lol)

god there's probably so many more that I've forgotten... I really love video games haha. But there's one in particular I wanted to talk about at the end, because this is the TRUE video game of my youth, the one I put about as many hours into as I did Pokemon, the one I played over and over on Playstation until the disc wore out, a game that is honestly very bizarre, both in the circumstances of its existence and in its plot and gameplay.

and that game is Mary-Kate and Ashley's Magical Mystery Mall.

but I'm going to put all that under a cut. Thanks for the ask! This is probably waaaaay longer an answer than you were expecting haha. I JUST. LOVE VIDEO GAMES. RRAAAAH.

OKAY so Mary-Kate and Ashley's Magical Mystery Mall was a game for the PS1 featuring the Olsen Twins (voiced and everything!) It was basically just a collection of minigames with an absolutely batshit framing narrative, being that the girls go to the mall and buy matching friendship necklaces from a mysterious traveling saleswoman (I think they do call her a word you are not supposed to use, because it was the year 2000, so be aware of that if you look it up). The woman tells them that whatever they do, do not put the two halves of the necklaces together, because it's missing some gems and weird things will happen if they do. The girls walk off and immediately dismiss her advice as stupid before putting the two halves together, which instantly freezes the mall and everyone inside in time, except the girls and the saleswoman. She then tells them that if they don't find the gems that are missing from the necklace charms and put it back together, they will be stuck in the mall forever "with no money to buy anything!" (cue NOOOOOOOOOO)

so you have to play minigames to get the charms back.

most of these are pretty normal. there's one where you do a few snowboarding races (it's no SSX but I liked it well enough), there's one where you work the mall food court (this was sort of like diner dash and I loved it), there's one where you put on a fashion show that I also liked a lot. the last two are the most interesting ones.

so one of the minigames was putting together your own music video. you pick from a bunch of dance moves to make the choreo, then you pick a shoot location, then you move the camera around to film the music video while the girls dance to the song. the game had a few preset tracks, but the really fun thing was that you had the option to have the girls dance to your own CDs (by physically switching the game disc for a CD). this meant you could have them do a music video to ANY track, of ANY length. I had them dance to music from 2 B A Master (the Pokemon CD). I had them dance to all of the songs from Aaron Carter's "Aaron's Party (Come Get It)" album (it was the early 2000s!). I had them dance to a 15 minute stand-up recording by Robin Williams just to see if it would let me (it would!). I had a lot of fun with that minigame, excellent design, video game developers take notes.

the last minigame was the weird one

so if you looked at the little booklet the game sent to tell you how to play (remember when games had those??), there was a bit at the back with the pictures of two teen boys, explaining that they had won a contest to appear as characters in the game! but where could these boys be in a game where everyone in the mall is frozen in time?

in the final minigame, that's where! the plot of which sure is something!

so the final minigame is a picture taking minigame where Mary-Kate and Ashley stalk two boys they admit they do not know so they can take pictures of them, to convince all their friends that they're dating these boys.

yes, you are actually stalking them!

at the beginning of the game, which has way more cutscenes involved than the others, you learn that one of the twins (don't remember which one now) has told all their friends that they know and are dating the cute new lifeguards at the beach! of course, they literally don't even know those guys, and now their friends are getting suspicious about the dating claim. so they decide to pose with the boys in the background to give the illusion that they're on a date. the player gets points for how close the boys are in the picture, and how convincingly it looks like they're actually posing and not just walking past.

after the first couple stages where the girls just stand on a street corner and wait for the boys to get close, the boys get wise and start trolling them. keep in mind that this is all voice acted, so you actually hear the boys start to say things like "are those girls following us? why are they taking pictures of us?" this would be a horror game in any other genre but here it's just supposed to be cute and funny.

the boys troll the twins (and you, the player) by hiding behind surfboards and inside large pots, popping out at random and making it harder to get a good picture of them (but also, ironically, making those pictures look more like they're actually on a date, because why else would they be posing like this?). I remember it took me FOREEEEVER to finally beat this minigame.

at the end, the boys come up to the twins and ask them why they're doing this, and the twins confess to the situation. the boys decide to solve the problem by actually going on a date with them. all's well that ends well!

so anyway yeah that's my oral history of Mary-Kate and Ashley's Magical Mystery Mall, a game I put more hours into than almost any other game in my youth (partly because you can play it in one sitting). the 2000s were truly a wild time.

if you read to the end bless your heart

[z-eusie]

Which out of the big 6 do you believe is the most powerful? Personally I believe Poseidon, mostly due to his main domains (stormbringer, earthshaker and the sea) are all destructive domains, he’s the most destructive out of all of them. Whereas the other gods have more balanced domains to counter their own destructive abilities. Plus Poseidon also has the title of Father of Monsters, due to the majority of his children being monstrous.

i honestly find this a really difficult question to answer because the extent of a god's power is really hard to wrap my head around. it also depends entirely on how you define powerful.

because if you mean powerful as in size and depth of domain or how destructive it is, then yes, poseidon probably wins. if you mean powerful to mean number of people under a person's control, then hades would probably win. if you mean powerful in a sense of how much others rely on you, then demeter might take that title. it's really hard for me to say.

but i think if we mean powerful to be how much influence and ability a person possesses, both literally and socially, then i think the answer would be zeus. especially considering that nearly everything poseidon is capable of (in terms of flooding, disasters, etc), zeus is just as capable of. not to mention, he in fact has done those things on a much larger scale than poseidon has, according to some sources.

i also think that the social power an individual holds is not to be discredited. zeus being the king of the gods carries a lot of weight and power and grants to him rights and abilities that no one else has.

i think the same argument about the children of poseidon can be made for zeus - zeus is father to the greatest gods and heroes the world had ever known, notorious for besting the monsters of the world, including poseidon's children.

i also think that the balanced nature of zeus' domains actually does a credit in favour of my choice - the fact that zeus is tempered by things like justice and fate and is still often regarded as the most powerful deity tells me that there is a lot more under the surface. he could very well sow destruction and chaos on a far grander scale if he wanted to, but he chooses not to.

there's also something to be said about how it took four powerful gods, poseidon among them, to launch a coup against zeus, and they were still ultimately unsuccessful. i know there's a lot at play here that doesn't necessarily attribute to poseidon's sheer power, but if he were more powerful than zeus, then it should have been easy to rival him in that instance.

i can see the argument for poseidon, and i respect it! but i just think zeus' power is often simplified or minimized, and i genuinely believe he is the king of the gods for a reason. i also believe that the position makes him infinitely more powerful, which works in his favour here.

thank you for the question, though!!! that was super fun to explore!

[g4rchomp]

alright I finished Ancillary Sword so time for a post-reading thoughts breakdown (spoilers + another really long post)

I loved the book, I had a lot of fun reading it and I would recommend it for people who loved Ancillary Justice.

It was more lighthearted than Justice, and although it is a direct sequel, it felt more like an exploration of daily life in the universe the book is set in than the continuation of an epic space-opera. I loved learning more about the characters we already know about and new characters that were introduced (I'm adding Tisarwat to my collection of best friends). The worldbuilding was great and I'm personally a big fan of reading about tea sets every two pages.

From personal revenge to.... reform?

Overall, I felt that all the pieces were there but maybe weren't as connected or as developed as I wish they would have. For example, I like Breq's switch from seeking personal revenge to seeking justice at a larger scale. That being said, this shift didn't feel satisfactory for me, I felt like what that shift means to her and why/how it happened wasn't expanded upon enough. She ends up solving most problems she encounters and embodying a kind of "just" posture that ultimately feels... very Radchaai and not exactly like Breq.

I thought Sirix' conversation with Breq towards the end was very interesting but frustrating because everything Sirix states is true: Breq comes from nowhere and thinks she can fix colonialism through personal solutions, thus overlooking the structural and historical aspect of colonialism. Characters tell her several time but she ends up saying "I know all that, I'm just doing what I can to make things better" which, although well-meaning, is not what we know is needed to work towards liberation. And who else in this universe is working towards that sort of things? Reformist Anaander Mianaai. Despite Breq's claims that she doesn't belong to any side, the whole book felt very aligned with Mianaai's goals: reform without liberation.

This book's vilains Hetnys and Raughd are painted as bad persons who abuse their powers, rather than questioning how power is distributed in the first place. The undergarden ends up with clean water and accessible doors but their access to power and self-determination hasn't improved. Breq ends up hiring Sirix's sister rather than working towards a way to keep the family together. She still uses regular Radchaai justice pathways to distribute her own justice, thus making her journey towards social justice a bit lackluster to me.

I don't want to say this isn't addressed at all within the book, it is. Breq knows her efforts aren't enough and several characters note her hypocrisy. Ultimately, I don't think the author does enough with all this, I think it could have been weaved in more thoroughly. I think tying her desire for justice to her deep desire to please Basnaaid could have been a way to do this. We do see some of that but not nearly enough in my opinion.

Is Dilque alive??? can Station say something???

Another thing that is bugging me: when Dilque gets shot, station says "no, Dilque is still in her room" and Breq replies "well go make sure of that" but I don't believe we've had any answers to that. Is she still alive??? if so why would no one notice??? or is it just because she didn't have trackers on??? what's going on??? Why would station say that and then say nothing? maybe this will get brought back in the third entry. or maybe I just missed something lol

Tisarwat my good friend Tisarwat

I loved Tisarwat's story arc and I think the end of the book was perfect for her. crying in Breq's arms because she lost what she had access too for a brief, reminding Breq of all the young officiers crying to her when she was a ship herself. that's good stuff. especially right after the Atagaris tells her she will never understand what it's like to even think about losing your captain as a ship. I love a good ironic, heartbreaking moment. Those chapters were really good and I loved the parallels between Breq and Tisarwat missing the sensory input from that division of the self and Seivarden's short moment of (in)volontarily(?) missing kef when she's stressed out. the story is at its strongest when it's character driven and I wish we had more moments like these in the book to really drive home what matters to the characters we follow.

Seivarden needs some enrichment

I cheered every time Seivarden did anything. She technically did a lot of things: she went back to being a lieutenant, took many important decisions, had a decisive role in several key situations... But to me she shined the most in ordinary situations: in her bath thinking about Breq... sharing intimacy with Ekalu... indirectly confessing some sort of feeling to Breq.... she was very introspective and it was incredibly endearing. I wish she had more interactions with Breq though, they are great thinking partners for one another and I missed their connection.

Alsoooo I think Breq doesn't realize how much she owes Seivarden and how much she likes her. She's so focused on Awn she doesn't realize how devastated she would be to lose Seivarden. she does scold Seivarden when she takes risks towards the end of the book to save her life but I don't think it reflects the bond they have. Throughout the books, we notice Breq realizes how important things/people were to her once she loses them. She reacts to loss more than anything else and this is partly why she always acts after the fact, after the annexion, after Dilque gets shot, after the bomb in the bath. She doesn't plan ahead, she doesn't look forward. I think Seivarden is really important to her, but she just hasn't noticed that yet about herself and about them.

As a conclusion...

I loved Ancillary Sword and look forward to reading Ancillary Mercy. The politics of the book left were a little bit lackluster for me, and some lose ends could have been wrapped up a little bit better. however, the worldbuilding and characters were captivating and I liked the change of pace and scenario.

[estrellasmind]

Congo

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) harbours deep wounds that the world often overlooks. In recent years, the country has been plagued by a complex web of conflict, corruption, and human rights abuses that continue to devastate its people.

Conflict and Instability:

Congo's tumultuous history of conflict is rooted in a struggle for power, control over vast mineral resources, and ethnic tensions. Armed groups, often backed by neighboring countries or international interests, have fueled decades of violence, leaving communities shattered and displaced. The ongoing conflict has led to widespread poverty, malnutrition, and lack of access to basic healthcare and education.

The Disturbing Use of Rape:

One of the most harrowing aspects of the Congolese conflict is the systematic use of rape as a weapon of war. Women, men, and children alike have been subjected to brutal sexual violence perpetrated by armed groups, soldiers, and even civilians. This horrific tactic inflicts profound physical and psychological trauma, tearing apart the social fabric of communities. While women and girls bear the brunt of this violence, experiencing it on a larger scale and more systematically, men and boys are also targeted, facing similar horrors that result in stigma, ostracisation, and enduring health challenges, including HIV/AIDS and reproductive complications.

Humanitarian Crisis and International Response:

The humanitarian crisis in Congo remains dire, with millions in need of assistance. Humanitarian organizations struggle to provide essential aid and protection in the face of ongoing violence and logistical challenges. International efforts to mediate the conflict and support peacebuilding initiatives have had limited success, as underlying issues of governance, corruption, and economic exploitation persist.

Calls for Action:

As global citizens, we cannot turn a blind eye to the suffering in Congo. We must amplify the voices of those affected, advocate for justice and accountability for perpetrators of violence, and support grassroots efforts to promote peace and reconciliation. Addressing the root causes of conflict, including economic inequalities and political instability, is crucial to fostering sustainable change and rebuilding communities.

Conclusion:

Congo's story is a painful reminder of the human cost of conflict and the urgent need for collective action to protect human rights and promote peace worldwide. By raising awareness, supporting humanitarian efforts, and demanding accountability, we can contribute to a future where the people of Congo can live in dignity, free from fear and violence.

Let us stand in solidarity with the resilient people of Congo and work together towards a brighter and more peaceful future.

Here are some ways you can help and donate to support relief efforts in Congo. Times are tough for many right now, but even small contributions can make a big difference. If you’re unable to donate, simply sharing these resources and spreading awareness can also help.

International Rescue Committee (IRC): Provides emergency aid, healthcare, and protection services to displaced people in Congo. Donation Link: IRC Donation Page

Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders): Offers medical care and humanitarian assistance to people affected by the conflict in Congo. Donation Link: MSF Donation Page

GoFundMe Campaigns: Search for verified campaigns specifically supporting relief efforts in Congo on platforms like GoFundMe.

Local NGOs: Support local organisations and NGOs actively providing aid and support on the ground in Congo. Research reputable organisations through platforms like Charity Navigator or GuideStar to ensure your donations are impactful and legitimate.

[welcometomypov]

What is your viewpoint on the January 6th insurrection? Personally, regardless of political affiliation I feel as though it should be condemned, taking 1 Peter 2:17 into account— however, I’ve seen reports that President Trump plans to pardon those who took part. How would you feel about that, as well as the threats to repeat that event on a larger scale if Harris had won the election? I���m politically independent, and this sort of thing is one of the biggest problems I’ve had with the Republican Party and especially the MAGA side of it which seems to have grown more and more dominant.

I think that if Trump had any proof that the Democrats cheated in the election and they chose to respond with an insurrection when proof is ignored, that they would be entirely in the right.

As the Democrats keep saying, "It's the right of the people to abolish the government." (What they forget, is the implications that most of America needs to be ticked off in order for it to work or even work out, and not just the minority. As Trump has proven, he's not on the minority side rn.)

But the proof of such isn't becoming clear until very recently, with (as rumor has it) so many voters 'suddenly' appearing in the 2020 election to elect Biden and then 'suddenly' going missing in 2024?

It's definitely suspicious. But I won't say I have any definite idea of what's going on with that. Trump or Biden trickery? We don't know.

However, I am keeping an eye out to find out what is uncovered.

The insurrection should never have happened because he had no proof. It was not a smart thing for him or for any of his followers to do. It should have been a peaceful protest. It should never have gotten violent and Trump should never have encouraged it.

I haven't seen anything about him promising it worse. So I won't comment on something that I haven't looked into myself.

But he's always been a pretty radical man. That's why we like him.

(Not for this specific radical view. But for others.)

I'm not surprised that more than 2,000+ Republicans showed up because there are 2,000+ Democrats right now who would do the exact same thing if Kamala called them to do it.

Look at the anger and the threats. Look at the post about it running around Tumblr right now that I've seen reblogged to at least three different Republican accounts who are like 'you know this is what Trump did right?'. Insurrection is apparently on people's minds.

Don't tell me radical Democrats wouldn't do it if given the chance.

That's a lie that anyone on any side would spot a mile away.

The thing is...

I don't think the insurrection was as devastating and horrible as the media preaches that it was considering everything that I've heard from Democrat and Republican sources.

The news overkills the severity.

But that doesn't make it okay. And, once again, I'm forced to set my head in my hands and wonder why Trump is the way he is.

I don't have any 'right' opinion on him pardoning those guys.

I don't know. I really don't know the right call.

The idea of justice recently is... Well...

Kamala brought illegal immigrants in and many have spent their freedoms raping and killing people, and I wasn't supposed to want them in prison or kicked out... Democrats have been rioting and breaking into stores, homes, and harming/threatening people, but those are forgiven because they were upset about their social status... But then I'm supposed to believe it when the Democrats say that January 6th is the worst thing that's taken place in America in recent years? People weren't allowed to be upset when they believed the most important election for the American people was cheated and stolen? That everyone there deserves to be in prison but we'll allow the two previous stated examples to go unchecked?

Do you see why the justice ideals in America tires me?

It doesn't matter what I say. They're all in the wrong in God's eyes. But America chooses right and wrong based on whatever works best for the narrative that's most popular or supported.

In fact, if I try to look up any of the Democrat riots, I'm blasted with tons of articles about January 6th. Almost like the internet is trying to prevent me from seeing past a certain narrative.

I'm not a lawyer. I'm not a police officer. I don't know what's best for those guys or if they deserve to stay in prison.

I'll leave that up to someone with more knowledge than me.

Thank you for the ask. I appreciate your time and curiosity :)

[vzyt]

Blog Post Due 11/7

1.What are some of the ethical challenges of digital activism in the era of social media?

There were many ethical challenges that digital activists faced in this era of social media. In such contexts, so much of digital activism relies on a dependence on not necessarily secure platforms in order to keep sensitive information private. It may result in endangering the activists and their communities they are trying to protect. The dissemination of false information or propaganda degrades the credibility and integrity of activism. The veracity of any information at all, being distributed by activists, needs to be something with which activists concern themselves. Inadvertently, some activist voices lift over others by some activists or movements, thus marginalizing less dominant voices within the activist community. It is particularly the case for intersectional movements, where already underrepresented groups-like women of color-do not have an equal presence. In those aspects, activists have to create frameworks that balance efficacy with ethical considerations, especially on privacy, transparency, and accountability.

2. What potential does digital activism hold as a transformative force in the struggle for social justice?

Activism can indeed be truly transformative for social justice since it gives voices to the marginalized, including mobilization in an inclusive manner, and accomplishes campaigns in real time. Social media, online petitions, and digital campaigns are examples of ways activists work their way around media gatekeepers, create global networks, and mobilize support on a scale unimaginable previously. This kind of democratization of activism is far-reaching; challenging power relations can amass concrete changes through public opinion, policy, and even corporate behavior. Digital activism makes people active agents of change irrespective of geographical or social confines.

3. How does Black Twitter function as a counter-narrative compared with mainstream media?

Black Twitter serves as a counter-narrative to mainstream media. It is the avenue by which Black people can express themselves, elevate their voices, and discuss issues of racial equity and social justice that are often underrepresented or poorly handled by traditional media. This is important because mainstream media has historically been biased against or misrepresented Black people and communities. By offering up an alternate platform, Black Twitter allows users to talk back to stereotypes and fills the space for activism and creates dialogue about issues usually hushed or sensationalized by the mainstream press.

4. How does Black Twitter mobilize its use of humor and satire in handling serious problems such as racism, police brutality, and inequality?

Black Twitter uses humor and satire to deal with and call out much larger societal ills. Through humor, the users can make light of the absurdity of racism, inequality, and police brutality as they simultaneously critique and bring awareness to these subjects. This would loosen the tension but at the same time also be more attractive to people. Satirical comments on social media can serve to make difficult topics more palatable, even as they spur conversations and fight back against oppressive systems in poignant and effective ways.

Lee, Latoya. Black twitter: A response to bias in mainstream media. 

Classifying Forms of Activism.pdf

[vmfenvs3000w25]

BLOG 2: Ideal Role of Environmental Interpreter 🏞️

The role of an environmental interpreter comes with the responsibility and challenge of providing an authentic experience which engages, educates, and hopefully inspires the target audience. This job can be executed at different levels and through different means of communication. It is not confined to a hike guide but encompasses those who work on creating interpretive educational media and provide remote teachings. As mentioned in the text, Interpreting cultural and natural heritage: for a better world, American congress funds the “Forest Service” which aims to achieve these two goals: (a) have an enjoyable experience and (b) develop awareness, understanding and responsibility toward the forests. The Forest Service takes advantage of developing technology and its cost effectiveness and accessibility benefits. Environmental education should be available to all, as fostering a connection to our natural landscapes should not be gatekept. Accessibility is a large barrier for those with disabilities to connect with natural heritage. Interpreters with drive to approach their teachings with social justice in mind can help bridge the gap between the world that is to be explored and those who yearn to explore it.

My ideal role as an environmental interpreter would have to include interpreting for an audience of children. My previous experience with outdoor education programs helped me to discover my passion for teaching. I have always loved helping my friends with school or teaching people new crafty skills. This is because I am successful at altering my interpretation and teaching styles to fit the style of my learner. The barriers caused by static teaching create false conclusions that there are people who cannot understand a topic or grasp a concept even if it is explained repeatedly. The problem is that if it is repeated in the same way, there is a misalignment in the delivery in the output of the information and the receiving of the information. This mismatch can create frustration and confusion leading to discouragement in both the teacher and student.

With the understanding of different learning styles in mind, creating an environmental interpretation program to lead/present would need to be tailored to a specific audience or if being provided on a larger scale, it would include aspects that aid all different learning styles. An example could develop a short presentation for public families with children on the benefits of wild lawns (having lawn of wildflower, clover etc). To be the most accessible and digestible, the program would include a physical aspect such as sample patches of lawn cover options, a pamphlet of information on the options and their pros and cons, and an engaging presentation portion with a questions period. To have this accessible to those who may not be able to physical attend, this information could be available online in an interactive webpage, video and/or audio delivery and even maybe an option to purchase seeds for some of the lawn options and have them mailed to your house. The interpreter could connect where these cover options are found in the natural world and their role in natural history and place in different ecosystems.

This is a very specific example of a possible interpretation program, but it shows how as an interpreter how you can make the beautifully overwhelming natural word digestible and personally relatable for an audience. Connecting their personal landscape to the broader context of the world, helping them develop a “sense of place”. I would love to interpret by delivering programs but also interpret by developing them.

[labbaik-ya-hussain-as]

21,480,525 people marked Arbaeen in Karbala and yet the mainstream media is silent. Why?

‎Understanding the media's deafening silence and censorship of the Arbaeen Pilgrimage.

‎Typically, one of the primary factors that captures media attention is the scale of participation in public events. The larger the crowd, the greater the news coverage. But this principle seems to vanish when it comes to the annual Arbaeen pilgrimage - arguably the world’s largest peaceful gathering, with over 20 million participants.

‎If today's world comes to know the wonders of Arbaeen and its impacts, then you will see the people entering Islam in throngs, embracing the Shia School of Thought.

‎وَرَأَيۡتَ ٱلنَّاسَ يَدۡخُلُونَ فِي دِينِ ٱللَّهِ أَفۡوَاجࣰا

‎'And you see the people entering into the religion of Allah in multitudes'

‎[Surah Nasr - verse 2]

‎This might be one of the reasons why news about Arbaeen is so conspicuously censored.

‎Consider the contrast:

‎when protests or demonstrations involving a mere few hundred or thousand of people occur in global cities, news outlets are quick to provide extensive coverage. Reporters and journalists rush to cover events as varied as animal conservation efforts or minor local demonstrations.

Yet, when millions of pilgrims from across different faiths and nationalities converge for Arbaeen in Karbala, to commemorate the martyrdom of an infallible Imam (AS) and to reflect on his principles of justice, sacrifice, and coexistence, the mainstream media is eerily absent.

Why is it that a small protest in London or Paris makes headlines, but the world’s largest human gathering - where women, men, and children walk peacefully together - is largely ignored?

‎Arbaeen is more than just a religious pilgrimage. It’s a great spiritual journey, a form of jihad (struggle), and a powerful social movement centered around the legacy of an infallible Imam. There is a complete, divinely guided human figure at the core of this gathering. This unparalleled historical phenomenon is precisely why the news surrounding Arbaeen is often suppressed, especially in Western media.

In today’s world, dominated by consumerism and Western secularism, there is a growing crisis of spirituality and justice. As more people from diverse cultures and faiths seek balance and meaning in their lives, many are turning to Islam. This trend is causing increasing concern among non-Muslim governments, particularly in the West, where Islamophobic campaigns attempt to paint the entire Muslim community with the brush of extremism.

These same campaigns tend to spotlight radical ideologies, such as those of takfiri groups - movements often funded and fuelled by Western interests - and use them to generalise and distort the image of Islam as a whole.

‎In this context, Arbaeen emerges as a powerful counter-narrative. It showcases the true values of Islam: peace, sacrifice, justice, and co-existence. The millions who walk side by side during Arbaeen reflect the very opposite of the divisive images propagated by Islamophobia, demonstrating a message of unity and shared humanity that transcends all boundaries.

[whyceasefirefaq]

New Idea! (+ POV: You're A Disabled Jewish Activist Protesting The Palestinian Genocide In A Time Of COVID)

I think one lesson a lot of us have learned is that you should not underestimate the emotional labor that is required to sincerely protest the genocide and witness what is happening in Palestine. Just seeing even one video or photo of what recently happened in Rafah can fuck with you on a core level.

And as a disabled activist who is also an anti-Zionist Jew, I do feel this extra ethical responsibility to represent and take action. To be loud and clear when I say "not in my name!", "never again means never again for all!" and "end the occupation!"

Related: Regina Regina In Zionist Blue is a poem that I wrote, a poem from an anti-Zionist Jew to a Zionist one, but really it's just me holding space for all the heavy feelings. In these times, we need to be proactive in our joy, and our self-care, so we can be clear and effective in our activism.

But there is an additional emotional labor required when you're disabled and do not have the same access to the protests that your able-bodied peers have.

Related: #AltTextPalestine: Showing Solidarity By Creating Access Related: Crips For E-Sims For Gaza (Note: Crip is a slang term, short for cripple. Cripple is a derogatory word that some folks in the disability community have chosen to reclaim. Because Crips is also a name of a street gang, some disabled people spell it with a K to avoid any confusion.)

For example, able-bodied activists can boldly declare that not even the rain can stop them from showing up. Meanwhile, motorized wheelchairs are not waterproof. (A light rain is doable if you cover all the important bits, but a heavier rain with deeper puddles can destroy your wheelchair.)

Sometimes the marches take place or lead to locations that are not wheelchair accessible.

And for those of us who have no choice but to be COVID-cautious, going to events where there are large crowds and most folks are not wearing masks, is just not an option.

And when you don't have access to the protests, it can feel isolating. Sometimes you post things on social media and it's as if you are throwing a ball into the void with little to no response. Or you get a response, but it's from a Zionist who attempts to gaslight you or insult you in all caps. But when you have access to the protests, you have access to a feeling of community. You are not alone in feeling all these intense feelings. You are reminded that you are part of a larger collective effort to stop the genocide. And if you lack access to the protests, you are still a part of that larger collective effort, but it doesn't always feel that way.)

Related: Jewish Voices For Peace Power Half Hour is a virtual way to connect with others on this issue.

Related: Sending solidarity to The New School Students For Justice In Palestine, a student encampment that had a protest outside of the school that was accessible. I went during off hours when it was fewer people and everyone was really welcoming.

That said, there are a multitude of reasons why a disabled person would lack access. The truth is, that lacking access is very common for disabled people. Very few things in this world are made with you in mind aka accessible. When you apply that to what is happening in the world, the urgency that so many of us feel is very much compounded because you first have to figure out how you can even take action.

And this was one of the main motivations behind this outreach project. Yes, it was also because not everyone lives in a big city where protests are happening, and why wait for a protest? This is genocide. Take action in between events and new petitions. And for those of us who have no choice but to be COVID-cautious, the outreach project was another way to take action on a smaller scale.

But I also created the outreach project because, this way, if I missed yet another protest due to lack of access, then I could still do something.

And so for a while, I was doing solo outreach on local street corners with my outreach protest sign in hand, calling out "Take action for a ceasefire!" to anyone passing by.

But as you may or may not have noticed, I haven't posted any new photos of said solo outreach adventures. Unfortunately, the mild lung disease that was present, had the audacity to get worse. This was not only immensely rude, but it also meant that I could no longer do outreach, which broke my heart and pissed me off.

At this point, I get easily winded at times and if I am not even more COVID-cautious than I already was, I could very well end up in the hospital, and no.

So, knowing that everyone has something to contribute, once again I was left with the question of how?

NEW IDEA And I haven't worked out all the details yet but I have an idea that I think could be pretty damn powerful.

What if we took the outreach graphics and secured the signs to our wheelchair or car or bike or even just to our clothing etc., so that pretty much every damn thing we do (as much as we can), every mundane task, becomes an act of protest. If you can't leave your home, then post it in the biggest window you have and/or on your front door. If you don't have a printer, then go DIY and create your own signs. They are trying to normalize genocide, so let us normalize protesting it every damn day. All the outreach graphics (including the latest one) are available to download for free.

I am currently in the process of figuring out how to securely attach various signs to my wheelchair. The trickiest part has been the back of the elevating footrests, a part of the wheelchair that people frequently gawk at, making it a great spot for a protest sign. Packing tape was not the solution I thought it might be, but when I figure it out, I will post photos. Feel free to do the same and please tag me. I'd love to see how you do this. I'm rebelwheelsnyc on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok. That said, to all the lovely people who are trying to stop the genocide, I see you and appreciate you. Let's keep fighting together.

[IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Rectangle. Protest graphic. Graphic has a yellow border. The background is a red triangle that's pointing toward the right on a pink background. this is the digital version and so you can see the distinction between the pink and red. The main text has a bold font every word has a black rectangle behind it. It reads don't be silent in times of genocide. The text is white except for the word silent which is in yellow and then the word genocide which is in green. In a smaller size towards the right bottom area it reads not in my name. One line of blue text with a black rectangle behind it. Below that in white it reads this is not up for debate. And below that in the lower right hand corner is the URL why ceasefire FAQ that tumblr.com. lower left corner of the Palestinian flag. To the right of the large text is a watermelon slice. Upper right hand corner is a QR code]

[raybeanschildrenslit]

If You’re a Kid Like Gavin: The True Story of a Young Trans Activist - Nonfiction

If You’re a Kid Like Gavin: The True Story of a Young Trans Activist by Gavin Grimm, Kyle Lukoff, J Yang (Illustrator) - (Nonfiction) Published 2022 by Katherine Tegen Books

This is one of those books that once I had finished reading and set it to the side, I felt like crying. This is one of those books that I wish I had when I was younger to help me feel seen for who I was and am, and to have it be valid and normal and wonderful.

Gavin Grimm is a trans activist who started his journey in activism in high school in 2015, the same year I graduated high school. He released this children’s non-fiction book about seven years later, sharing his experiences and normalizing trans identities for young- and hopefully all age- readers. While Gavin doesn’t share everything with us about his journey in his trans identity, he doesn’t have to, instead he reaches out to the reader in ways that make this aspect of life feel more natural and normal. For many, this can be a heartwarming moment. A place where we are recognized and acknowledged through someone like us generously sharing a fraction of their story. He walks us through coming into his identity, the issues that arose as he more so entered the world, and the actions he took to rally for rights and change. His story is far from over. In the snippet of it he is sharing, he says in his author’s note, “I hope people come away recognizing that we all have important choices to make in our lives- being kind, leading with love, standing up for yourself and others- whereas living our lives as the people we are is not a choice; it's a right. I hope that this story shows kids their own power and what they can do” (Grimm, 2022).

As someone who identifies with transness- identifying as Non-Binary Trans-Masc Queer- it is important that all versions of transness are expressed as they can be and remind others regardless of where they are in their journey that they are real, valid, true. Like I said, I could have used this when I was younger. I applaud Gavin for finding himself so strongly and standing up for what he knows is right. I am his age and still don’t really know who I am but if I had an ounce of his clarity when I was younger I could have saved some heartache, toxicity, and a few tears. I won't go into it but everyone, regardless of queerness or transness, is important and valuable and amazing and stunning. As someone who is queer and wants to push for social justice, diversity, recognition, safety, human rights… I want to be the librarian that shuts down bigotry and ignorance while creating a safe and free environment for the patrons- especially the YA individuals I want to work with, feel seen and heard and safe. I understand that I am repeating myself but I am passionate about this and that’s what happens with me. I think there are a lot of creative ways we can express ourselves in a smaller environment scale; making name tags with preferred/ correct names and pronouns, making zines of our identities, and experiences, hosting a queer club safe space for media discussion and community work. On a slightly larger scale, I can see myself reaching out and collecting resources for people to use and provide opportunities for parades, peaceful protests, celebrations, safe spaces and community gatherings beyond the library, and more.

-Ray 02/11/2024

Grimm, G., Lukoff, K., & Yang, J. (2022). If you’re A Kid Like Gavin. Katherine Tegen Books, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers.

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Fern Oppenheim, David Bernstein and Eran Shayshon

Published: Jun 14, 2024

While the Jewish world was reeling from the inhumanity of the Oct. 7 massacre, an immediate aftershock came in the form of the anti-Israel rallies on college campuses and on the streets of major cities. Since that time, the protests have only intensified. Opposing Israel has become fashionable in some circles. Campus activists feel imbued with a sense of historic mission, perceiving themselves as the modern embodiment of the protest movements of the 1960s. Many Jewish professionals and lay leaders remain overwhelmed and unclear as to how to proceed. Years of investment in countering various forms of antisemitism have been proven inadequate. It should be clear by now that we need a new strategic approach and a comprehensive plan to enact it.

The post-Oct. 7 reality dictates a strategy that counters underlying ideological currents, places Jewish concerns in the context of broader American interests and upholds American and Western values. The current focus on antisemitism makes it appear that the strife on and off campus is a Jewish problem rather than an American problem. Antisemitism is low on the relevance scale for most Americans, but the health of American society is central. Based on our assessment of what went wrong, current survey data and key trends, we believe that the Jewish security is inextricably linked to firming up larger support for American values and a renewed commitment to the U.S.’s key geopolitical interests. We further argue that American Jewish organizations should prioritize work with new partners in civil society who share this mission and who should take center stage in effecting a larger cultural shift. In short, we believe the best defense against antisemitism is restoring the commitment of Americans to the nation’s founding principles under which American Jews and other minorities have thrived.

What went wrong?

The anti-Israel narrative — Israel as an apartheid, colonialist enterprise — gained limited support on college campuses over the past few decades. Yet trends in survey data indicate that while the anti-Israel narrative caused a slow erosion of support for Israel, the overwhelming majority of college students remained neutral and attitudes towards Jews were largely unaffected. In fact, the data through 2016 indicates that, even in the face of hostile campus rhetoric, most college students and most Americans cared little about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The issue was just not relevant to them and they remained in the “middle” — neither “core supporters” nor the “unreachable.” Likewise, antisemitism among college students remained low. Research indicated that the large group in the middle represented an opportunity as it could be swayed towards Israel once it was shown the broader face and humanity of the Israeli people.

So if the same anti-Israel narrative has been around for decades, what explains the dramatic increase in its acceptance now? Simply put, anti-Israel forces have found a way to make their cause relevant to a growing swath of Americans by linking it to the significant cultural and ideological shifts over the past ten years.

With the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement in 2014 and changes in the social media landscape, a binary ideology that divides society into oppressors and oppressed, skyrocketed in popularity on campuses. Anti-Israel groups successfully aligned themselves with activist groups representing marginalized communities, thereby significantly expanding the cohort of young Americans sympathetic to their cause. For the first time, Jewish students found themselves excluded from student social justice activities due to their sympathies towards Israel.

In the heated aftermath of the murder of George Floyd in 2020, this binary, oppressor-oppressed ideology found new audiences outside campuses. Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts, which frequently enshrined the oppressor-oppressed ideology, gained broad-scale penetration into numerous mainstream institutions including business, government, media, science, medicine, culture, K-12 schools, etc. So while the State of Israel and, now, Jews are seen by many as white, privileged oppressors in a broad swath of institutions, Hamas is increasingly seen as a legitimate resistance movement representing the marginalized.

It is important to note that notwithstanding the titular expression of solidarity with the Palestinian cause, protests against Israel on U.S. campuses are about far more than the Jewish state. Instead, they are often part of a larger agenda that aims to reshape the power structure, dismantle the larger social order, defund the police, undermine the very notion of meritocracy and undo the market economy and concept of private property. Many protesters on campus explicitly cite this larger worldview as a motivation for their campus activism. 

Against this backdrop, it is not surprising that in the wake of Oct. 7, most surveys of young people show high levels of support for Palestinians/Hamas and declining support for Israel. The majority are no longer in the swayable middle. Moreover, for the first time since the Anti-Defamation League began measuring such trends, young Americans are more likely to believe antisemitic tropes than older Americans. In short, by aligning with cultural shifts occurring among the progressive left, anti-Israel forces — many representing extreme Islamist perspectives — have successfully made their narrative relevant to many young Americans.

While the Jewish community was busy maintaining support for Israel in the political arena, ideologues sought to and succeeded in changing the culture. We are now experiencing the downstream effects of our collective failure to counter dangerous cultural trends.

A strategic pivot

If Israel is to retain American support down the road and if Jews are to be safe in this country, then action must be taken to reverse these cultural shifts. For the most part, the Jewish community has responded to the post-Oct. 7th onslaught with well-funded efforts to counter antisemitism and anti-Zionism. It is not doing enough to make its case more relevant to Americans than it was years ago, unlike the anti-Israel camp, which broadened its appeal in the intersectional arena.

Yet there is good news amid the bad. In this highly charged environment, Israel and its allies have lost support among college students, but not among most Americans. Raucous anti-Israel protests on campuses have alarmed many Americans, who are concerned that these anarchists pose a clear and present danger to the U.S. The Jewish communal world needs to take a page from its enemies’ playbook and make its cause more broadly relevant by aligning with the significant percentage of Americans who believe in the American dream, oppose chaos and support the principled use of American power in the world. Jews represent only 2% of the American population; we cannot win this battle on our own.

The Jewish community needs to work with those who are already fighting back on various fronts and to catalyze the energies of those who may be concerned but are not yet taking action. The focus of such coalitional efforts must be on strengthening the American narrative and values, not on antisemitism or Israel. And these efforts need to be led by diverse American voices rather than Jewish groups, as they will be seen as more believable and less likely to have an agenda. In short, the Jewish community needs to lead from behind.

We are currently developing a white paper that lays out in greater detail the needed strategic shift and will be holding sessions in person and online in the coming months. For more information, email: americanvaluesstrategy@gmail.com 

[hussyknee]

Intimate Authoritarianism: The Ideology of Abuse Lee Shevek 10 min read Jan 11 For far too long have radical communities and their discourses treated domestic violence and abuse as external from the considerations of revolutionary struggle. Abuse is seen as simply an interpersonal issue, springing from individual pathology which we must address by correcting certain behaviors and teaching better communication skills. The intervention tools of choice are frequently limited to restorative or transformative justice practices, with the ultimate aim of protecting and maintaining the abuser’s place in the community, often at the cost of survivor safety, participation, and empowerment. There is a fear that ousting abusers and challenging them as adversaries to revolutionary struggle rather than as wayward members of it will ultimately weaken us collectively, because, after all, they are still our comrades.

What we fail to see, within this framework, is that abuse is not individual pathology. Abuse is not an unfortunate mistake. Abuse is the form that systematic oppression takes on an interpersonal level. It is an agent of patriarchy, ableism, capitalism, and white supremacy. It is intimate authoritarianism, and must be resisted just as strongly as we endeavor to challenge authoritarianism on a structural level. Until we do so, the logic of authoritarianism will continue to run rampant within our movements, alienate the most vulnerable among us, and weaken our ability to fight authoritarianism on a larger scale. What is Intimate Authoritarianism? Put simply: intimate authoritarianism is the logic of authoritarianism — the enforcement or advocacy of obedience to authority at the expense of autonomy — applied on an interpersonal level. It is the belief that there are certain people in one’s life that it is acceptable (and often encouraged) to harm in order gain power and control over them. While all abusers subscribe to and act within the values of intimate authoritarianism, they are less aberrations from the common belief system than they are people who take mainstream messages about love, power, relationships, parenthood, and the family — that many people to varying degrees accept as true — to their logical conclusions. Intimate authoritarianism as an ideology proliferates throughout our entire society in much the same way that other forms of authoritarianism do, even though not everyone capitalizes on its values in the same way.

About romantic love we are taught that we will receive a romantic partner who can and should fulfill our every need and fantasy, and that it is acceptable to do whatever necessary to find and bind that person to us so that they can serve as the fulfiller of our every wish. We are taught that in pursuance of that person, it is acceptable to stalk, threaten, coerce, manipulate, and harass, so long as it is, in name at least, done “for love.” We are taught that jealousy and possessive behavior is an important expression of our love. We are taught that when the people close to us do not fill their role as wish-fulfillers well enough that we are justified in responding to their perceived failure with punishment and manipulation until they submit to our demands to our satisfaction. We are taught to turn interpersonal connections into private property relations, and there is a host of ready-made justifications at our disposal to excuse any number of abusive acts so long as they are done in service of keeping our “property” under our control, whether they are a romantic partner, a child, an elderly parent, or even a close friend.

By virtue of our closeness to someone, the kind of relationship we have with them, many of us are taught and come to believe that we are granted some kind of authority over them, and common social practices within our communities as well as state institutions like that of marriage and the family affirm that authority.

Among domestic violence researchers, there has been, for decades, heated debate about whether or not abuse is a gendered phenomenon. Statistically, there are far more women in need of support in fleeing situations of domestic violence than there are men. However, studies that measure the use of interpersonal violence (emotional and physical) find that people of all genders tend to use violence against their partners at almost identical rates. The typical approach amongst domestic violence researchers tends to be to land on one “side” of the issue (abuse is a gendered issue vs. all genders are equally abusive,) my research and experience as a queer abuse survivor has led me to a different conclusion.

Intimate Authoritarianism in Practice There are many more people who see forms of structural authoritarianism (ex: fascism, neoliberalism, capitalism) as justified than there are people who manage to use that ideology to bolster their own power, and the same is true for intimate authoritarianism. Not everyone who believes intimate authoritarianism is justifiable ends up becoming an abuser in the same way that not everyone who believes using harm to gain and maintain power and control over an employee, tenant, or prisoner is justifiable ends up becoming a boss, landlord, or cop. Rather, the ideology of authoritarianism proliferates throughout all social groups in such a way that some gain authority through it, others remain complicit with that authority in ways that bolster their own power and status to varying degrees, and still others are made the primary victims of that power and have their agency constrained, reduced, and co-opted by those who wield the power of authority. This brings us to the important question: who uses the values of intimate authoritarianism to successfully become an abuser and how do they do it?

This is but one perspective of a much larger picture. Women in general are more likely to experience the entrapment that characterizes abuse than men, but so too are people of color, youth, disabled people, queer people, trans people, and poor people. This is because the overarching message we all receive in a society characterized by hierarchy, domination, and authoritarianism is who it is acceptable to victimize. Whose pain most people are comfortable to ignore. Who is vulnerable, and how to use power over them to empower oneself. This certainly includes women, but not only women. We receive these messages from many directions, and they are enforced by the coercive control of the State that privileges some social groups at the expense of others, that allows and encourages certain people to be dominated and controlled so value can be extracted from them to enrich the lives of the powerful.

Abuse is not separable from systems. It is, in fact, in large part created and reinforced by them. Abuse, as we explored above, is itself is a product of ideology — intimate authoritarianism — and it is the logical conclusion of many of the mainstream messages we all receive about love. We are all taught that an intimate partnership is the key to our success, and also reflects that success. We are taught that love is possessive, and the more possessive someone is the more they love you. We are taught that we can expect that there is a “soulmate” out there made specially for us, who will meet all our needs, and fill our every desire. Romantic relationships are depicted as sites for fantasy fulfillment, not necessarily mutual connection, respect, or freedom. Further, these expectations are not taught in a gender neutral fashion. We are taught that a woman’s “place” in a relationship is one of subservience. Women are expected to do all of the reproductive labor of the household, provide emotional support, and fulfill men’s sexual desires on demand, and that anything less is nothing but a failure of duty that should be met with punishment. These ideas are not just on an interpersonal level, but are enforced by broader structures: as evidenced by attacks on reproductive rights and women’s marginalization in the workplace that forces them into economic dependence. Social expectations enforced by community/family/friends combined with material conditions that make economic independence virtually impossible, women go into relationships already disempowered.

The most successful abusers are those who can leverage interpersonal, ideological, systemic and communal factors to gain coercive control. The more access one has to leveraging these factors, the easier it will be for them to gain and maintain coercive control over another person. It should be no wonder, then, that the people most successful at doing so are those who are most empowered by the authoritarian status quo, and that those most victimized are similarly those most disempowered by the system. This framework can help us make sense of those abusers who are not cis men (you don’t have to be a cis man to be an intimate authoritarian or to leverage enough kinds of power to entrap someone else), without having to deny the reality that abuse is characterized by power, and thus that the groups more frequently abused will tend to mirror the groups who are most disempowered in authoritarian society.

Abuse, contrary to popular belief, is not characterized by individual acts of violence, but rather is the context of many different tools of control utilized by the abuser. If abusers could only mobilize individual acts of violence, they would meet with far less success in keeping their victims entrapped. However, abusers mobilize a vast array of tools within and outside of the relationship. They refer to the dominant ideology of intimate authoritarianism — which their victims also grew up surrounded by — to justify their actions. They use the support of community members like family and friends to gaslight their victims into disbelieving their own experience. They frequently rely on larger systems — like that of the family that awards them private property rights over their spouse or children, reproductive control, threats of calling the police or border control, economic privilege, systemic transphobia, racism, homophobia, ableism, etc. to make their victims afraid to challenge them, and more — to help enforce their control at home.

I believe that we must move away from our dependence on restorative/transformative justice to address abuse and towards a similar set of tactics that are used in anti-fascist work. In anti-fascist work we prioritize destroying fascists’ capability to carry out harm, not their rehabilitation. Individual fascists are of course welcome to choose to radically change (and there are plenty of people who will help them with that), but it can’t be our central goal. This is because the reality is that most abusers (like fascists and all authoritarians) are not interested in changing, no matter how many emotional appeals you make. They get (or expect to get) something out of being abusers (power and control), and they see the harm they do as entirely justified. Additionally, we have distinct limits on our available resources and it makes little sense to funnel so much of our energy into trying, and rarely succeeding, to save the souls of the people who are currently enacting the most violence.

Abuse is highly contextual exactly because we all have vastly different kinds of power and vulnerabilities within the system, which is why the way abuse plays out can look so different from relationship to relationship. But it always includes utilization of oppressive systems. Abuse is not independent from systems of oppression, it is an intimate expression of those systems. Abusers are agents of oppression, empowered by its utility, and they should be responded to and challenged accordingly. Anti-Authoritarian Response to Abuse Taking into consideration that abuse is authoritarianism on an interpersonal scale, and is itself bolstered by larger structures of authoritarianism at the same time as it enforces those structures in intimate life, we can now understand that abuse can no longer be seen as something apart from the struggle for liberation. Abuse is another front on which we must fight the enemy of domination and control, and to do so we must oust the logic of intimate authoritarianism wherever we find it, even (and especially) when we find it lurking within ourselves and our comrades.

Our priority in anti-fascist work and anti-abuse work is to leverage what resources and skills we do have at our disposal to end cycles of harm and to interrupt/destroy people’s ability to enact that harm. It must be survivor centered. It must recognize the structural and ideological nature of abuse as intimate authoritarianism, and we need to shape our response with that reality in mind, rather than continuously defaulting to treating abuse as an unfortunate expression of individual pathology.

(For a more expanded exploration of how we might respond to abuse, read my essay Against a Liberal Abolitionism) Conclusion Both abusers and the State work to create a narrative of inevitability, and act on the same core logic of authoritarianism, even as their scope may differ. The victim of the abuser or the State is constrained, their agency co-opted, their horizon of choice limited, and value is forcibly extracted from them to empower authoritarians. Under our current system, they are made to feel as if there is no escape and that their only hope lies in the gradual reform of their captor. They are both systems of domination and control, enabled not only by the actions of those who hold and wield authority (abusers, politicians, etc.) but also by a larger social system of complicity from people who, regardless of the values they claim to hold, value order over justice.

Liberation from either, then, does not demand we appeal to the better natures of authoritarians nor even the masses of people who act in complicity with their violence, but that we open up possibilities to build survivor autonomy and learn to trust in the power of their agency. It demands, similarly to anti-fascist work, that we attack the ability of authoritarians to organize their power.

Survivors (whether of State or interpersonal abuses) cannot find relief nor freedom in struggling within the very confines authority has set before us. It requires a breaking out. A trust in our own choices. A desire to build something different outside of that system of control. A rejection of simplistic reform that leaves many of us languishing under the control of others. And, ultimately, the ousting of authoritarian values and the destruction of every social system of domination.

It ultimately suits abusers’ and the State’s ends that we limit ourselves only to their reform. All that it ultimately accomplishes (if it accomplishes anything at all) is a more benevolent form of power and control that still steadfastly denies us any real expression of agency. We don’t need a more benevolent authoritarianism. We need to determine the trajectory of our own lives. To labor and care because it is something we wish to do, a gift we want to give, a path we are eager to explore, instead of being forced to expand someone else’s wealth and power. If you appreciated this piece and want to offer support in my work to make anarchist political analysis more clear and accessible to others. You can sign up to support my patreon or send a one-time gift to Cashapp: $butchanarchy or Venmo: @ genderchaos.