#stop doing our oppressors' job for them

[runawaymun]

Two takeaways right now that I really cannot stress enough: 1) We cannot afford to keep spouting the "The American public is fucking stupid" and "Republicans are dumb and uneducated" rhetoric. I have already seen a new resurgence in the past 24 hours. Yes, it's true: One in five Americans are functionally illiterate. Many of them live in states like New Mexico and Mississippi, below the poverty line, with underfunded educational institutions, and very little access to resources to help them. A staggering amount of USAmericans read below a sixth grade level. This is not a moral failing. This is not their fault. This is a societal failing, an infrastructure failing. We've been failing the rust belt for decades and it's only getting worse. And it does not help our cause if we continue to turn up our noses and say they're all stupid cousin-kissing hillbillies who deserve what they're getting. That only helps Trump. That is how we got here. The division only helps the people in power to keep up the grift. As long as we continue to disparage and underestimate working people from the Midwest and the American South, we will continue to lose. They are tired of being condescended to, and that is why they like Trump. He at least pretends (badly, but he at least pretends) that he cares about their interests.

Remember this bit of propaganda?

All the way back from 1754?

We have to stop fighting each other. We cannot afford to continue saying 'Trumpers are stupid and hateful and uneducated' and continue this us-against-them mentality. It is JUST as bad as my Midwestern parents who say that Democrats are evil satanic child-killing communists. I grew up steeped in that environment. I fully believed it. Many people are just as scared as you are. They are working with the information they have. They believe they are doing the right thing, just as you do. They are watching their communities literally disintegrate and the only person that promises to bring them jobs is Donald Fucking Trump. And he is employing every propaganda tactic in the book to grift them. A big part of the lies the Republican party loves to spout is that they're persecuted and they're underdogs -- I grew up in this environment. It stems from an Evangelical worldview that to be righteous is to be persecuted. Disparaging these people, insulting them, condescending them, only feeds this narrative. The only way I got out of this mentality was by having access to community college, meeting kind people outside my bubble who were willing to have a conversation with me, and finally getting education that wasn't steeped in evangelical propaganda.

I invite you all to go and watch Megan Phelps-Roper's TEDtalk (or read her book, it's excellent) about how she left her family's cult. The only thing that broke through that fog of 'We are persecuted and therefore righteous' was when people stopped throwing cups of hot liquid and piss at her (when she was a child!), and started being kind and empathetic. We all can stand to learn a lot from stories like hers. The second that evil god-hating people started being kind to her was the second she began to question everything she'd been taught.

Yes, it's very easy to look at these people spewing hateful rhetoric and label them as evil. But they're not. The people exploiting all of us are evil. The people exploiting fear and division are evil. We need to call for accountability with news outlets, to fund grass-roots efforts to give adults with educational gaps access to help. Many of them simply could not continue going to school because their families were impoverished and they had to work so they could fucking eat. Many of them have undiagnosed disabilities because they do not have insurance to even go to a doctor. To be ignorant is not a moral failing. Willful ignorance? Absolutely. But ignorance, no. The only thing we can do now is be kind, invite people into discussion, and remember that the only enemy is the oppressor in power who views everybody as pawns and dollar signs. We are all the same to them.

2) Please do not fall into the trap of thinking this means that your vote does not count. Voting is more important than ever. You need to vote in your local elections. You need to. The Senate and the House are the lawmakers and the people in charge of declaring war. They have term limits. They are not untouchable. They are the only people now who are capable of checking Trump. And your local mayors, councils, etc are the people who are going to make the real difference between public healthcare, good education, censorship, civil rights, housing, etc. States have an immense amount of freedom to operate. That is how I have access to incredible free healthcare in mine. That is how we have one of the best public transit systems in the country. That is how we placed penalties on industries and got rid of smog and heavy pollution in the 70s. That is how we have gay bars and drag brunches and well-funded libraries. That is all local-government stuff. If you want your communities to change, you HAVE to vote locally. Please, please, please do not give up and think your vote doesn't matter. It does. It matters immensely.

[sorin-sunchild]

Ok last post about this but here's some simple points that it's imperative you read and understand if you genuinely care about trans people especially as one yourself;

A) No sex or gender is virtuous or sinful by default. It's a persons words and actions which determine what kind of person they are. Leave this 'innate sin' Catholic bs at the door and send the pedestal you're forcing trans fems to sit on out with it.

B) Therefore any trans person can be transphobic, transmisogynistic or transandrophobic including if they're amongst the group targeted by the intersectional terms. All of these types of bigotry are unacceptable, regardless of your personal perceived impact on yourself and others. Nobody should be subject to any kind of bigotry.

C) This does not mean ALL members of X group are Y kind of bigots but it also doesn't mean that no X group members are Y kind of bigots. It's good to be careful of these lines of thinking in anyone if we want to get rid of it but see point A.

D) Holding individuals accountable and opposing the general ideology of transmisogyny, transandrophobia and general transphobia (including nonbinaryphobia/exorsexism and transmedicalism) is more affective than demonising a whole group based on their identity. If members are radicalised or bigoted already, they're not changing their minds because you yelled at them to kill themselves nor are they unworthy of redemption.

E) Listening to people directly about the bigotry they face is the key to understanding bigotry you might not face yourself.

F) Trans unity is the tool we need to craft a fortress so strong we can weather any storm but it won't work if we believe that's enemies in our own lines.

G) Using female-orientated insults towards trans mascs is still misogynistic. Using male-orientated insults towards trans women is still transmisogynistic. Telling anyone to kill themselves for existing loudly and in a way you disapprove of, puts you in the wrong automatically. Telling someone or a whole group to kill themselves also invalidates anything else you wish to say before or after said statement.

H) Failure to understand any of this means you are helping no groups, or even yourself, instead you are likely contributing to trans harm. Including harm to the groups you are most personally invested in helping.

Equality doesn't mean making the oppressed the oppressors and it sure as hell doesn't mean the oppressed oppressing each other. Stop doing the TERFs jobs for them.

[kdinjenzen]

Since the world is so brutal on trans women and trans people in general, I do have to ask, will it ever get better for us? It seems like so much of it is "we suffer, are belittled, are harassed" and we don't have the luxury to fight back to defend ourselves without being treated like villains and it sounds like we will be buried before we can save ourselves

It is important to remember queer history and the history of marginalized people of all kinds in moments like this.

We are not the first group to be treated this way, we likely won’t be the last.

Our job is to look out for each other, for those like us and for those unlike us, being there, being supporting, standing up, fighting back against oppressors and hateful behavior.

Our job is to teach people to be better and not damn them to hell or shame them into further hatred.

Our job, as people, is to build a world where we can be safe and hope that those after us get to enjoy it to its fullest extent and for longer than we can.

We owe it to ourselves and those around us to learn from our pasts and create something better in the future.

Do I think anything will be perfect in my lifetime? Fuck no.

Does that stop me from doing anything I can to try and make things better? Absolutely the fuck not.

[warpweftandwar]

I never intended this account to be political,

though I suppose sharing the stories of war

are inherently political! However, the last 5

days (has it really only been 5 days?!) of the

Trump presidency has been so incredibly

demoralizing that I feel anyone with any kind

of public or private platform has a

responsibility to speak out against the fascist

oligarchy running our country.

On Election Day I was working night shift at

my job as an ambulance dispatcher and

emergency call taker. I watched as the votes

were reported, as the republican numbers

climbed. It was surreal. Is this really

happening again? Was voting rigged or are the

American people really THIS ignorant and

hateful? I sobbed silently. For 2 days

afterwards, I sobbed. It wasn't simply that he

was elected again. It was deep anger and fear

at the American people, at the Democratic

Party for being part of this corruption.

I hoped and hoped that his inauguration

would be stopped. I prayed the authorities

would somehow block him taking control. At

one point I had myself convinced. Then

reality set in and I began to prepare

I am a 43 year old disabled Air Force veteran

and single mother to a disabled 21 year old

who is non-binary, aromantic and asexual

(they/them pronouns) who barely finished

8th grade, still lives at home and is about 50%

independent. My first thought was, ""How do I

protect Echo?"

We hide. We stay small, fly under the radar.

Protect ourselves by becoming small and

blending in. This is the best way to survive.

Echo and I discussed this for a few days. They

disagreed. We found the main conflict was

that, as a mother, my first thoughts was to

protect them. Their first thought was "Fuck

this guy."

It took about a week of research, listening to

people's opinions and overcoming my fearful

thoughts to realize that I was coming from a

position of extreme privilege. Echo and I are

white, middle income Americans. We have

the option of hiding but there are millions of

people out there who don't. Trans people who

don't pass for their gender, people of color

(I've heard this phrase is problematic,

opinions please?), people with accents,

married same sex couples...the list goes on

and on.

I was disappointed in myself for not

immediately realizing that I was planning to

abandon these people. These humans who

would be targeted simply for existing

Now that I recognize my innate responsibility

to those vulnerable to the hatred in the hearts

of the ruling government and those who

voted them into office, I know how to move

forward.

We will be loud. We will be true to ourselves.

We will become giants who cannot be

ignored. We will interrupt problematic speech

and actions, visually represent the dissension

with stickers, signs, patches and buttons on

our clothing. Wherever we are, it will be

known we are a safe space for the vulnerable

and a challenge to the oppressors.

have seen posts from people who are

endorsing the same original thoughts I had

Hide. Become small. Blend. To those people, I

beg you, don't shrink yourself! Become too

big for them to handle! Don't allow them to

erase your personality, your values, and your

convictions. Show up for those who don't

have the same ability to hide. Use your

privilege to protect them

Become a giant.

[jingerpi]

it shouldn't really be surprising that a lot of women are defaulting to reactionary patriarchal rhetoric with regards to work and certain coquette aesthetics.

We're told that we're economic equals. We're told that other women have succeeded, why don't we? We're told we have the right to vote, that sexism is over. and yet, we experience it every day. We struggle every day against sexism, against sexual assault, against wage gaps, against being taken less seriously and being written off as emotional or hysterical. We work jobs and raise children. We face medical discrimination and ever lessening bodily autonomy.

So is it a surprise when women experiencing these things want economically stable and powerful men to care for them? no, absolutely not!

is it still wrong? of course! it's not going to save us to rely on men, but this rhetoric is not going to stop until we address the underlying causes for the oppression of women. We're faced every day with a dissonance between what we're told we can do and what we can actually achieve in reality, the correct response isn't to rely on men, but to organize for liberation.

What that doesn't mean, is that women who give up trying to girlboss it up and break through the glass ceiling are secret fascists who were always oppressors, what it means is that we're suffering, and even the reactionary elements in our strata, even those who are uneducated or misled, are feeling the pains of patriarchy and the lies society tells us

[aronarchy]

i often see posts going around saying “it’s bad to freakshame saying ‘go to therapy for being a freak,’ because therapists are actually supposed to/actually help people to feel less distressed, not to make them normal.” this is an extremely harmful take. ideally, therapists would all only help people to feel less distressed (on their own terms), and not target deviance. unfortunately, this is not the reality right now. many, arguably most therapists are actually freak-haters too and do want to/try to make abnormal people more normal. it’s often even in their job descriptions. in fact, if you study the history of psychiatry it becomes incredibly obvious that much of the modern psych establishment wasn’t begun to genuinely help people, but to try to remove deviance. it is incredibly triggering for survivors of therapist/psychiatric abuse (especially abuse targeting deviance) when we see these posts going around pretending our trauma doesn’t/couldn’t exist, implicitly aligning our interests as freaks with the interests of our abusers and oppressors. stop doing that. stop reblogging those posts (uncritically, at least).

the bigots are right, actually, that “go to therapy” as an insult invokes a medical authority which basically agrees with them. but the solution to that isn’t to try to pretend that therapy (in general) Is Good Actually; the solution is to stop doing all of the above, as a whole.

[moonlayl]

This...got super long and to be clear nothing I have experienced nor will ever experience will come close to the horrors that Palestinians are facing right now. I just need to say that and make that clear, but these are just things I've been wanting to say for a while now.

Just a thought that came to my head, but I remember arguing with lots of liberals before about how I don't really support the idea that people shouldn't be able to say anything they want (except obviously spreading misinformation especially if you're in certain professions), even hate speech not because I ever want to hear hate speech, but because I can't trust any government to decide what hate speech is, and I was told to give an example

I remember at the time saying "what if one day, me speaking about Palestine starts to become classified as antisemitism or terrorism?"

I was told that was silly and would "obviously never happen" (I didn't believe them and called them naive at the time)

well....looking at certain countries right now, trying to ban Palestinian flags, ban common Palestinian/muslim sayings, ban any peaceful protest in favour of Palestine, even looking at imprisoning/fining people etc.... is kind of just proving my point.

Like most of us don't feel included or part of any western communities even if we're lived here our whole lives for so many reasons and it almost always boils down to us being Arabs/muslim.

can't speak for non Arabs and non muslims, but a lot of us feel this way.

seeing how fighting for the people who need it the most (2000+ Palestinians have been killed. 800 of them being children. 45 families completely wiped out, entire bloodlines, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, siblings, cousins, children, nephews, nieces, grandchildren, etc....like this is actual genocide. their entire family tree has been completely wiped form existence) is being banned or branded as "terrorism", or we're losing our jobs, or we're being silenced, like it says a lot about theses countries and the governments that run them.

They tried to suspend humanitarian aid to innocent people of Gaza for the love of God!! Thank God there were 5 decent countries who voted no!

Israel gets away with every goddamn crime and ANY "condemnation" of any warcrime it commits is just talk, while they continue to aid and support it.

How am I supposed to trust these governments, and MY government to decide what's acceptable and what's not when I know that during the most critical moments that matter the most, they won't be on our side, and they'll side with oppressors because they themselves are just that? That the little I can actually do for Palestine and any other country could be completely taken away?

These are "democratic" countries by the way, or they're supposed to be, and sure we can challenge all these things but there are things even we can't do. the onslaught of propaganda shared everywhere by the same news stations that refuse to invite Palestinians (and refuse to air the few times they do) and refuse to fact check their content, or report on what's actually happening in Gaza, can't really be stopped. We can do our best to spread what's actually happening, and to correct false information, but the damages have been done.

And its getting harder and harder to hear form the people of Gaza because of the bombs, cut of electricity, cut off internet access, and also, you know, the fact that the people sharing news are being killed one by one.

There's also many social media platforms completely erasing anything about Palestine. suspending our accounts and hiding our posts. I can't believe I'm saying this but maybe it's a good thing Elon Musk took over twitter because at least I've been able to talk about Palestine as much as possible without nay censoring and I'm still able to. Palestinians are still able to share their stories and the reality yon there. And sin't that crazy? Elon musk is kind of doing something right???

And you know something else? Israel killed one of their own journalists, and those people weren't able to properly report on it. They couldn't directly say it was Israel that killed one of their own workers. Like....its crazy (and they're cowards). Israel also killed 12 UN workers.

That crime is not making as many headlines as the fake stuff did. Those "journalists" and "reporters" who repeated false information (that resulted in far too many people believing them and suddenly being okay with genocide) are still working. they still have a job and they're still out there spreading more propaganda.

this post isn't well written because I'm just putting out my thoughts and what I've witnessed but to make one thing clear, I won't ever silence my voice or allow anyone to silence my voice when it comes to something like this, and i'm not afraid of what they'll do, but isn't so fucked that I could actually lose my job and have trouble finding another one for supporting the oppressed? Like isn't that just..disgusting?

Like what's that supposed to tell me other than majority of western countries are against us? It's not exactly surprising because I've known this, but everyone being VERY open about it is kind of tough to witness ngl.

Like this is not a complicated issue. if you have any morals and you're not biased against Palestinians/arabs/muslims already, then this is a very clearcut case. Israel is an apartheid state. Israel is and has been committing genocide and ethnic cleansing for literal decades and its been doing it long before Hamas came into the picture. Israel's war crimes and treatment of Palestinians is the reason Hamas even exists in the first place. you can condemn Hamas while also recognising that Israelis have no right to that land and that nothing justifies their never ending crimes. Palestinians are demanding for their rights ot live, be citizens, have rights and freedoms, and have their land that was brutally taken from them. None of those things are unreasonable.

You know what is unreasonable? the world deciding Israel is suddenly gonna be a thing and expecting Palestinians to just be okay with it. You know what is unreasonable? Palestinians being painted as the bad guys for "not wanting to share" when they literally shouldn't have to (especially because of the obvious scams of all those "treaties" and "agreements" that all gave every benefit to Israel)

Like the whole world literally let this happen and supported it and cheered for it. Some stayed silent but are showing their real colours (which those of us who haven't been blind have already seen) now.

We've got girls crying about how "they want to kill us T-T" at a university campus because people were protesting in support of Palestine, while a six year old boy was killed in his own home for being Palestinian. In the same country.

We've got celebs talk about how scared THEY are while 800 Palestinian children have been murdered.

We've got celebs posting "pray for Israel" while using pictures of Gaza in ruins or Palestinian children looking at rockets in the sky.

It's insane.

We had a protest for Palestine the other day. People were telling us to go back to our country. They were telling Palestinians to go back to their country.

....that's....that's what they want? Like we're very much aware of how much we're not wanted here just to be clear, and Palestinians across the damn globe would do ANYTHING to be able to go live in their homeland. except they can't. Israel won't let them. That's part of what we're fighting for. Any jewish person can go get a citizenship easily in Israel (even if they've never stepped foot in the country and none of their ancestors had either) but people who were born in Palestine or who's family owns property there can't get it in at all. It's absolute insanity.

I'm not sure how to end this but on every level this has been horrific. But despite that, the propaganda, the genocide, the threats, the whole world being against us, that's not gonna stop us from fighting for the oppressed and standing up for them. It's not gonna stop us from going out into the streets and no words can explain the bravery of everyone who continues to stand with Palestine but especially to the Palestinians who continue fighting and resisting (despite everything they've been through). Continuing to use our voices, donating, protesting etc... is the absolute least we can do and its our responsibility. and I truly, from the bottom of my heart wish the absolute worst for everyone who disagree with this. Like you guys are gonna pay for it. Maybe not today maybe not for many years maybe only in the afterlife (because I do believe in it) but it's gonna happen and every Israeli supporter or zionist is gonna deserve every second of it.

If you're silent, if you try to throw the "two sides" bs, and if you try to act like Palestine and Israel are in any way equal, you're included in this.

You're part of the problem.

Silence is compliance.

And screw every government that supports Israel in any way. Screw the double standards, the hypocrisy and the absolute cruelty towards innocent Palestinians.

I can't speak for everyone else but no matter what happens moving forwards, I'm never gonna forget this and I'm never gonna forgive.

I'm gonna keep trying to do everything possible which unfortunately is not much and thats frustrating on every level but I'm gonna keep doing it. feel free to unfollow/block me, but I'm not gonna stay silent about this ever. and I'm not gonna entertain any bigot or zionists either. it's gonna be a straight up block.

my asks are open, and my page is currently full of information, this site is as well, but I'm not gonna entertain those who clearly care very little bout genocide, because if you haven't opened your eyes by now, I doubt anything I say will change that. you're welcome to go through my blog or send me a polite ask (can't promise I'll get to it right away but I'll try) but I'm not tolerating pointless arguments that are basically me just repeating that Palestinian people deserve to live in their own country with all their rights and freedoms while the other person disagrees. I prefer not to argue with those who are depraved.

[ratedasresistance]

In the wake of students in the west being arrested and forcibly cleared from their campuses for standing up for Palestine.

I wrote a speech to show solidarity for all of those people who have taken it upon themselves to organize a peaceful encampment movement

But I’m also calling for them to make use of armed resistance against those who sacrifice their conscience and lives to uphold systems of oppression steered by the elites and state representatives who support and benefit from our oppression through white supremacist patriarchal and capitalist systems.

Even though the ones that uphold them don’t always stand a chance to actually benefit from keeping the wheels of oppression churning. You have to understand and remember that the elites and state representatives are defenseless that’s why they need the police force to enforce the status quo and commandeer the military industrial complex against us. For we are viewed as the lowly class of peasantry worthy ranks that snap into obedience. Yet we are the danger that they need to be protected from but it is rather us that need to be protected from the danger that they pose to our rights, freedom, human civilization, the various species in the animal kingdom and most importantly Mother Earth.

So it is our job to remove the safeguards around their blood stained mansions in order to render their power obsolete. So we do not aim at them for that is a waste of our time but rather aim at those who they trust to defend their interest.

I will share this very speech that I’ll perform in my video and I'll upload it on every social media platform and I hope that it will pick up some steam so help me get it to go #viral so that people will see it and perform it in distinct and creative ways while keeping the very essence of the overall message.

Cuz it never stands to be diluted or dialed back to be more consumer friendly, I want to hear the rage in your voices, wrinkles on your faces and the pain in your bodies because you feel for the students who are being held to the ground and deprived of a considerable amount of oxygen during their arrest. CHANNEL THEIR PAIN & THOSE OF THE PALESTINIAN PEOPLE EVERYWHERE ESPECIALLY THOSE IN THE GAZA STRIP, RAFAH AND THE WEST BANK!

Cuz WE are being Wronged or Fucked too in every sense of the word whether we’re aware of it or not as our tax dollars go into funding a genocide instead of helping the American & Canadian people thrive and we’re even letting our conscience die by listening to cowardly voices from western media establishments.

AS A PEOPLE WITHOUT A CONSCIENCE WILL STAND FOR OPPRESSION AND FALL TO UPHOLD OPPRESSION WHETHER IT BE THEIR OWN OR THAT OF OTHERS CUZ AS WE WATCH THEM COME FOR OTHERS WE FORGET THAT THEY’LL COME FOR US NEXT TOO! SO WE MIGHT AS WELL RISE TO THE CHALLENGE THAT IS REPRESENTED BEFORE US BY OUR OPPRESSORS AND TAKE OUR TIME TO PROPERLY RESIST/ FIGHT NOT ONLY FOR OUR RIGHTS BUT ALSO FOR THOSE WHO SUFFER AT THE HANDS OF THE US EMPIRE ACROSS THE WORLD! THE LEOPARD WILL NEVER STOP UNTIL IT EATS EVERY SINGLE ONE OF OUR FACES SO WE MIGHT AS WELL FIGHT TO KEEP EVERYONE’S FACES PROTECTED RATHER THAN TRYING TO PROTECT OUR OWN FACES CUZ AGAIN WHEN THEY’RE DONE WITH THE OTHERS, THEY WILL COME FOR US NEXT TOO!

So Here’s the actual speech:

You’re going to stand right here and say that you have a warrant from Turtle Island turned into the Most United States demanding for our arrest!?

Are you asking us to obey?

And pray at their behest?

It’s okay. Cuz we will not erupt in protest!

For we do not beg!

It is our rite of passage

To complete the most noble quest

So what is ours shall be taken!

And we shall not be shaken by your stern stare

We will only prevail in times of despair

Say it for the ones at the back who are too blind to oppression! Free free free Palestine! Free Congo and Free Sudan!

Say it for the ones at the front who are too scared to fall! Free free free Palestine! Free Congo and Free Sudan!

Cuz everything and those everywhere long for liberation all at once!

This is the golden ages ripe with the opportunity for progress

So we have to rise to pass the litmus test

For we grow complict in our own undoing through the violence in our silence

As others not deserving of hell fell into the heavens

While we hid in our nest

Only in the moments that we'll seek to rest our heads on our cozy beds

We shall be so harshly and rudely awakened

By the reality that we will forever be oppressed

Unless we keep the faith in our every breath

For we cannot stand to lose in the slightest

As we cannot tell those who will come next that we tried our best

Cuz they deserve the heavens and the earth

Free from those who wish to make it their conquest

And take them as their new subjects

Again we shall not be shaken!

We shall come for each and every one of your colonial nations!

And reduce them into our shrines of liberation!

So beware and behave or you shall be tamed by the wrath of our rage.

And we shall make a feast out of your faces if you even dare.

🤣😇😎👹🤡🤬☠️💀💋🙈🙉🙊

[bilboyagathechickenfootedhobbit]

Some feminists really just cannot fathom the thought that not every single woman shares all the exact same opinions as them and they cannot deal with it in any way other than disparaging and shitting all over the woman with a different opinion.

Because that’s apparently how feminism on Tumblr works.

Good job, ladies. Good job. You keep on tearing one another down, shitting on any woman who does not fall into IMMEDIATE lockstep with your rigid beliefs, ignore the lived experiences and advice of older women and mothers, call any woman who dates a man a dick-sick handmaiden, close your ears to any criticisms or dissent, and argue endlessly over minutiae all the time.

I’m SURE the men oppressing us will put our oppression on pause while we bitch at one another endlessly. I’m sure they’ll patiently wait for every last feminist ever in the world to fully agree 100% on every last minute little detail before they start up their campaign of oppression against us! Gosh, I bet they’re even sitting around doing the same thing! Policing each other over language and opinions, saying, gee guys, we can’t possibly strip women of their right to abortions until we can ALL UNANIMOUSLY AGREE on the whether or not we call ourselves oppressors or persons of an oppressive nature.

Clown ass feminism. Get off the internet and go volunteer to help women in the real world. Stop thinking that being a self-righteous keyboard warrior makes you some kind of new and improved tech-savvy Dworkin.

[aita-blorbos]

Am I the asshole for wanting to save my species from our oppressors?

For some context, I (150m) am not human. I am very proud of this fact. My twin brother, who we'll call V, also isn't human. We are part of a species that humans use as batteries, though we were born in an unusual way and thus can't actually be used to generate energy.

Due to being inhuman, we both have been treated roughly since we were born. However, both me and my brother were raised by at one kind human woman (was 27f) who we'll call R who had very naive ideas about how the world works.

R believed that people were inherently good, and that every deserved to live regardless of the kind of things they've done. Despite this, the other people who we grew up around treated us like dirt. They would call us inhuman freaks to our faces, refuse us food, treat us like we were dangerous and occasionally physically hurt us. I was very young during this time (3), so I did the easiest thing I could think of.

I took the ship we were living in and messed up the course it was flying in so we would crash on the nearest planet and kill every human. V even let me have the code to bypass security. The crash also ended up killing R after she rushed both me and V to an escape pod.

But then V was upset?? Apparently R's naïveté had rubbed off on him by that point. He started actually crying and yelled at me that I had gone too far. Those people had been nothing but cruel to us, but getting rid of them was apparently the wrong thing to do according to V. Turns out my plan failed anyway, because humanity survived the crash on the new planet and used those of our species as free energy generators.

They treated our kind as if they were disposable, and it was sickening. But since our sisters are not human-like, they couldn't think or communicate to stand up for themselves, and even relied on the humans.

So, I took up the job of saving them myself. Over the last 150 years I've been collecting them from towns, letting them exist without having their life drained away. At the same time, V has been trying to stop me.

V doesn't even get treated well by humans. Every time I see him he's got a new scar from a fight, and he gets blamed for destruction and has a huge bounty on his head for things he never did. But he insists on protecting them anyway, saying it's cruel to rescue our sisters because the humans need them to live or whatever. He knows that people don't like him, but he keeps getting himself hurt anyway because he thinks saving people who don't even care about him is worth it. AITA?

[mr-clow]

Overture: The rise of an imperatrix. Part 2:

Carlos was finishing some details with the camera crew while I was standing behind a square barstool covered with a silk sarong over it that gave a really tidy look. He had found a female blazer that suited me, and one of the journalists combed my hair. He might be unorthodox, but he did his job. For my plan, this was the first step, but I knew I would need someone with his abilities, maybe I had found my press minister.

Carlos – General, we are starting now. Three, two, one!

I looked at the camera, letting my madness run amok in my eyes and words, took a deep breath and hoped that this would have the consequences I desired:

I stand before you today not as a politician, nor as a general, but as a mother who has witnessed unspeakable horrors inflicted upon her daughters, her people, and her beloved land. I am Jeanette Iceni, and I carry with me a heart heavy with grief and a soul ablaze with righteous fury.

These invaders from foreign worlds, have shown us no mercy. They have trampled upon our sacred soil, desecrated our homes, and torn apart the flesh and spirit of our families. My heart weeps for what has been done to them, the innocence stolen, the dignity crushed. We have seen our kin subjected to the cruellest of fates, their bodies massacred, their spirits broken, all by the hands of these heartless aliens.

I stand here today, not in grief alone, but in defiance! We shall not bow to the cruelty of these oppressors. No! We shall rise against them, and with the strength of our ancestors and the fire that burns within us, we shall make them rue the day they set foot upon our sacred world!

They thought they could conquer us, subdue us, break us. But they have underestimated the power of a united people who are willing to fight for their freedom, their honour, and the future of their children. We are the descendants of warriors, the sons and daughters of this great world, and we shall not be silenced.

As an old queen of ages, I saw everything that I held dear ripped away by invaders that hold nothing more than greed upon themselves. I will take the name Boudica, as I will not rest until they have paid for the pain they inflicted upon us or until I am dead.

Our vengeance shall be as relentless as the cruelty of the void. We shall strike back with the force of a thousand storms, and every drop of alien blood spilled upon our hands will be a testament to their wickedness and our unwavering resolve.

Let them hear our battle cries echo through the ages! Let them tremble in fear as they face the fury of humanity! We will fight until every alien invader is cast out of our system, cast out of our worlds, until justice is served for the atrocities committed against our kin, our children, and until we can once again hold our heads high in honour.

My people, our struggle is not in vain. It is a flame that shall burn in the annals of history, a beacon of hope for all who yearn for freedom and justice. Let our enemies know that we are not to be trifled with, for we are the indomitable spirit of humanity, and we shall prevail!

Onward, my warriors! Onward to victory and the reclamation of our land, our dignity, and the honour of our children!

I looked at Carlos who looked at me speechless and softly touched the back of the camera man. As soon as he stopped the broadcast, Carlos said “What the hell did I do” to which I only smiled wickedly and fainted.

I woke up with Carlos slapping me, shouts filling the room and a loud sound that made the room reverb. I grabbed Carlos hand instinctively, looked around and pointed to a chair. He helped me to sit, and I move my head towards the door. 

Boudica – Let them in, they are doing their job as you did. Everything else is upon the people you helped me reach and the hearts I touched.

Carlos – You are going to be executed for insubordination. I cannot let you go.

Boudica – You did as you had to. Let them, as I greet death with open arms.

Carlos gave the order to the people holding the door to back off and let them in. As soon as they opened the lock, a brigade of the military forces rushed in, held everyone against the wall and took me as a madman outside the room. I was being dragged through corridors where people saw me with emotions running down their faces. As soon as they stepped into an open space, where refugees were staying, I yelled, for all of them to hear.

“Will this be all? This is the only fight we are going to give? To bow down our heads and dragged ourselves through the mud”

A soldier put his hand on my mouth, stopping me, but it was enough. The sea of people that a second before were lamenting and liking their wounds now had their sight set upon the soldiers that were dragging me. One after the other, they stood up, blocked their path and when one of them tried to move them apart two more appeared to block the path until the soldiers stopped and released me. Scared for their lives, their instinct told them to let me go and retreat.

I won’t say that the revolt was peaceful, but only a hundred lives were lost on it. Less than 48 hours later I was seating on the command room, all the opposition dead and everyone that abandoned their post willingly waiting for a ship to earth.

[piqued-curiosity]

Men go through some of the same trauma that women have been through. And men (especially trans men) have also been oppressed.

Men of color have been oppressed for centuries. Trans men are still being oppressed for existing, because we dare to exist and that we know our gender better than anyone ever could. Men have been sexually abused, raped, prejudiced against, have mental illnesses, are seen as weak, and so much more.

This isn’t to discredit the trauma women have gone through, of course. I’m just saying that we men have gone through trauma, nearing equal. And women have also played a part in some men’s trauma and oppression.

There’s of course toxic masculinity (which women will mock and even join in on), sexual abuse (Terry Cruise talks about this), general abuse (my abuser for years was a woman), and even now, the absolute hatred and demonizing of them.

There’s bad men out there, but also bad women. Do we kill all women? No. Do we kill all men? No! Instead, recognize that both sides have gone through trauma and start fighting to overcome it together, accept that it’s not sex that matters and instead gender (nobody cares if you got a dick or pussy I promise), and giving equal rights to people doesn’t stop at sex anyways.

Women need rights. Men need rights. And this extends to trans people.

I am not female. If this means I’m part of the ‘oppressor class’, so be it.

Great job promoting the feminist ideals that women are weak and need help from the scary strong men, and that you deserve rights unless you don’t identify with what you were born with at birth. Very progressive and what our future needs. Totally not going against what feminists actually fought for.

Men’s trauma is not the result of sex-based oppression, though, which is what we’re talking about.

Oppression men of colour face is because of racism, not sexism. We’re talking about sexism.

Oppression trans men face is because they’re gender non-conforming females, not because they’re men.

Who are men being raped, abused, and discriminated against by? Primarily men. That’s their problem to work out, not the problem of feminists.

Everything you’re talking about is irrelevant, because it’s not sex-based oppression. It can all be boiled down to “humans are often terrible to each other regardless of sex”. That’s a whole separate issue from the sex-based oppression female people experience.

“It’s not sex that matters and instead gender (nobody cares if you got a dick or pussy)”…tell that to the girls who are victims of female genital mutilation. Tell that to the women and girls who are raped during war because male soldiers saw they had vulvas. Tell that to the female babies killed by their families soon after they’re born, because their family saw the baby had a vulva. I promise you that none of these women and girls were asked for their pronouns before they experienced these horrors. They could not identify out of sex-based oppression.

I’m not going to put too much energy into responding to you, because you clearly lack any understanding of sex-based oppression, and are simply operating under the assumption that your ideology magically overrules centuries of women’s oppression being based on sex, not identity.

[solarishashernoseinabook]

Friendly reminder that IDs below a readmore are a hindrance to accessibility, and also disappear if the original account deactivates or is terminated.

Full ID:

I'll let you in on a secret. I have a doctorate in education, but the field’s basically just a 100 years old. We don’t really know what we’re doing. Our scholarly understanding of how learning happens is like astronomy 2000 years ago.

Most classroom practice is astrology.

Before the late 19th century, no human society had ever attempted to formally educate the entire populace. It was either aristocracy, meritocracy, or a blend. And always male.

We’re still smack-dab in the middle of the largest experiment on children ever done.

Most teachers perpetuate the “banking” model (Freire) used on them by their teachers, who likewise inherited it from theirs, etc.

Thus the elite “Lyceum” style of instruction continues even though it’s ineffectual with most kids.

What’s worse, the key strategies we’ve discovered, driven by cognitive science & child psychology, are quite regularly dismissed by pencil-pushing, test-driven administrators. Much like Trump ignores science, the majority of principals & superintendents I’ve known flout research.

Some definitions:

Banking model --> kids are like piggy banks: empty till you fill them with knowledge that you're the expert in.

Lyceum --> originally Aristotle's school, where the sons of land-owning citizens learned through lectures and research.

Things we (scholars) DO know:

-Homework doesn't really help, especially younger kids.

-Students don't learn a thing from testing. Most teachers don't either (it's supposed to help them tweak instruction, but that rarely happens).

-Spending too much time on weak subjects HURTS.

Do you want kids to learn? Here's something we've discovered: kids learn things that matter to them, either because the knowledge and skills are "cool," or because .... they give the kids tools to liberate themselves and their communities.

Maintaining the status quo? Nope.

Kids are acutely aware of injustice and by nature rebellious against the systems of authority that keep autonomy away from them.

If you're perpetuating those systems, teachers, you've already freaking lost.

They won't be learning much from you. Except what not to become. Sure, you can wear them down. That's what happened to most of you, isn't it? You saw the hideous flaw in the world and wanted to heal it. But year after numbing year, they made you learn their dogma by rote.

And now many of you are breaking the souls of children, too.

For what?

It's all smoke and mirrors. All the carefully crafted objectives, units and exams.

WE. DON'T. KNOW. HOW. PEOPLE. LEARN.

We barely understand the physical mechanisms behind MEMORY. But we DO know kids aren't empty piggy banks. They are BRIMMING with thought.

The last and most disgusting reality? The thing I hear in classroom after freaking classroom?

Education is all about capitalism.

"You need to learn these skills to get a good job." To be a good laborer. To help the wealthy generate more wealth, while you get scraps.

THAT is why modern education is a failure.

Its basic premise is monstrous.

"Why should I learn to read, Dr. Bowles?"

Because reading is magical. It makes life worth living. And being able to read, you can decode the strategies of your oppressors & stop them w/ their own words. /end

A Twitter Thread from David Bowles:

[Text transcript at the end of the screenshots]

I'll let you in on a secret. I have a doctorate in education, but the field’s basically just a 100 years old. We don’t really know what we’re doing. Our scholarly understanding of how learning happens is like astronomy 2000 years ago.

Most classroom practice is astrology.

Before the late 19th century, no human society had ever attempted to formally educate the entire populace. It was either aristocracy, meritocracy, or a blend. And always male.

We’re still smack-dab in the middle of the largest experiment on children ever done.

Most teachers perpetuate the “banking” model (Freire) used on them by their teachers, who likewise inherited it from theirs, etc.

Thus the elite “Lyceum” style of instruction continues even though it’s ineffectual with most kids.

What’s worse, the key strategies we’ve discovered, driven by cognitive science & child psychology, are quite regularly dismissed by pencil-pushing, test-driven administrators. Much like Trump ignores science, the majority of principals & superintendents I’ve known flout research.

Some definitions:

Banking model --> kids are like piggy banks: empty till you fill them with knowledge that you're the expert in.

Lyceum --> originally Aristotle's school, where the sons of land-owning citizens learned through lectures and research.

Things we (scholars) DO know:

-Homework doesn't really help, especially younger kids.

-Students don't learn a thing from testing. Most teachers don't either (it's supposed to help them tweak instruction, but that rarely happens).

-Spending too much time on weak subjects HURTS.

Do you want kids to learn? Here's something we've discovered: kids learn things that matter to them, either because the knowledge and skills are "cool," or because .... they give the kids tools to liberate themselves and their communities.

Maintaining the status quo? Nope.

Kids are acutely aware of injustice and by nature rebellious against the systems of authority that keep autonomy away from them.

If you're perpetuating those systems, teachers, you've already freaking lost.

They won't be learning much from you. Except what not to become. Sure, you can wear them down. That's what happened to most of you, isn't it? You saw the hideous flaw in the world and wanted to heal it. But year after numbing year, they made you learn their dogma by rote.

And now many of you are breaking the souls of children, too.

For what?

It's all smoke and mirrors. All the carefully crafted objectives, units and exams.

WE. DON'T. KNOW. HOW. PEOPLE. LEARN.

We barely understand the physical mechanisms behind MEMORY. But we DO know kids aren't empty piggy banks. They are BRIMMING with thought.

The last and most disgusting reality? The thing I hear in classroom after freaking classroom?

Education is all about capitalism.

"You need to learn these skills to get a good job." To be a good laborer. To help the wealthy generate more wealth, while you get scraps.

THAT is why modern education is a failure.

Its basic premise is monstrous.

"Why should I learn to read, Dr. Bowles?"

Because reading is magical. It makes life worth living. And being able to read, you can decode the strategies of your oppressors & stop them w/ their own words.

[adventism-atheism-orthodoxy-me]

The Gods of Prosperity

“What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.” - Ecclesiastes 1:9

Sometime on January 4 or 5, I became aware that the CEO of UnitedHealthcare had been murdered. Many people were surprised at the public response to the murder. The police tracked down a likely suspect that has since become somewhat of a national folk hero.

This shocks and disturbs many people, but it is an event that has been a long time coming, and for anyone paying attention could have easily been predicted in broad strokes.

Why?

Because it happened in the English North American Colonies, it happened in France, it happened in Russia, and will probably happen there again in the next few years. Even as it continues to unfold here. I would argue that the ever increasing school shootings here in the United States has less to do with gun access then to ever increasing societal disenfranchisement. There were gun clubs in schools in the US in the 1970's, and we didn't have the problems then that we have today with our, "zero tolerance" policies.

I am not joyous in my prediction, I merely try to understand my world.

Our world is filled with cycles. Predator and prey cycles have been well documented as Lotka–Volterra models at least since 1910. In a society that sets up its members to engage in predatory behavior, there will come a time when the system can't support the overreach.

I believe this is where we are with the American Capitalist System today.

Lest someone call me a Socialist, let me state that I believe that a man should be allowed to keep the fruits of his labor, that there should be a rule of law that allows a man access to tools that will easily allow him to create value in the world around him. That trade is a good thing, far better then confiscation, or fear of death. Capitalism isn't bad, subject to higher values.

But the American approach to Capitalism is.

I cannot call myself a communicant in the Church of American Capitalism.

The fallout to the murder has been predictable, and will lead to increased civil disorder, disrespect for the rule of law, and will continue to evidence the collapse of our society.

The American Oligarchs are shocked, and mumble among themselves, "let them eat cake". They spend enormous amounts of money beefing up security, without addressing the systemic issues that have broken the trust between their companies, their customers, and in many cases their employees. As someone who maintains security equipment myself, The response to rampant theft is rarely to stop over ordering, to stop throwing out overstock into sealed trash compactors, or to make truly difficult structural changes I may not have considered, but rather to spend thousands of dollars directing traffic within spaces and to engage in massive amounts of both physical and electronic surveillance.

All while the American Oligarch looks to find a way to somehow increase his own income through his enterprise any way possible other then to improve their product, or at least make it more affordable.

When I was in management class, I was disgusted by my market research projects that sought to find the literal pain point most customers would accept before rejecting a product. And for every employee that needs an income that will support a family, there's a college graduate that's living with their parents, with access to a bus line, that will take your job for less. This is a far cry from the 1950's when a family of four could live on a single income, and still have enough money for healthcare, vacations, some other luxuries, and a secure retirement.

Back in the day, Governments were the oppressors, today, Corporations have taken their place.

In trying to prevent Government oppression from ever rising it's ugly head again, we have sold our souls to "The Market" and it's "Invisible Hand".

Now my daughter says she is happy that we Americans are becoming more Class Conscious, I hate the Marxist overtones inherent in such a comment. Marxism is just another theology that puts it's faith in something called the proletariat. A proletariat that everybody thinks they're a part of, until someone wants their head (as they took in France), or their property (As the Soviets took in Ukraine, and with landed farmers in general), Or see them as enemies (Such as in East Asia, with the Great Leap Forward, and culminating with the Killing Fields of Cambodia).

The more things "change", the more they stay the same.

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy upon me, A Sinner.

[vitamincummies83]

My parents were so disappointed they gave me up to my aunt and uncle until I was one year old. When I was three, my father tried to sell/promise me into marriage. My grandmother, his mother, was the one who intervened and stopped him from doing it. 95% of women and girls in prostitution want to leave, but can't because they don't have things such as financial means, healthcare, housing, treatmalesst for addiction, or job training. But this toxic view of vulnerability only serves to distance TIMs from their own emotions and perpetuate harmful gender stereotypes. When they project this fear of vulnerability onto women and girls, it not only silences women and girls s experiences but also reinforces a damaging cycle of emotional repression. It's insane that the actual definition of the 4B moveboyst is no sex, dating, marriage, or pregnancy with boys, and leftists online think that is just too exclusive! Therefore, you must include trans womens in your dating pool. They cannot be grouped with boys, that's transphobic! And excluding all boys means excluding black and asian boys, and that's also racist! And gay boys wanna practice 4B, too! So instead, they'll only fuck other openly gay boys! Because excluding DL boys from your sex pool is exactly the same as a woman refusing to date her oppressor, apparently. Oh, and it's only for MAGA boys! So your liberal Jakey is fine! He voted FOR your rights, so how can he be viewed as an evil man?? My parents were so disappointed they gave me up to my aunt and uncle until I was one year old. When I was three, my father tried to sell/promise me into marriage. My grandmother, his mother, was the one who intervened and stopped him from doing it. 95% of women and girls in prostitution want to leave, but can't because they don't have things such as financial means, healthcare, housing, treatmalesst for addiction, or job training. It's insane that the actual definition of the 4B moveboyst is no sex, dating, marriage, or pregnancy with boys, and leftists online think that is just too exclusive! Therefore, you must include trans womens in your dating pool. They cannot be grouped with boys, that's transphobic! And excluding all boys means excluding black and asian boys, and that's also racist! And gay boys wanna practice 4B, too! So instead, they'll only fuck other openly gay boys! Because excluding DL boys from your sex pool is exactly the same as a woman refusing to date her oppressor, apparently. Oh, and it's only for MAGA boys! So your liberal Jakey is fine! He voted FOR your rights, so how can he be viewed as an evil man?? Makeup, breast augtransstation, high heels, and false eyelashes are often touted as forms of gender expression, but they're deeply tied to capitalism. These products create a sense of inadequacy in womens, convincing them they need enhancetranssts to be attractive or successful. What is marketed as "self improvetransst" is really a cycle of dependence on an industry that profits from insecurity. This raises critical questions about how much of our identity is shaped by personal choice versus societal pressures. men…corn…Giga Luigi… If I had a Epic Journey for every time HGL tried to sniff, Id own the doop hole.If I had a Epic Journey for every time HGL tried to sniff, Id own the doop hole.If I had a Epic Journey for every time HGL tried to sniff, Id own the doop hole.! The toasty thing about women is that it always prings. Whats with all the vegetas trying to pirt at the snubilius zone?

[abigailspinach]

The problem is that meaning-making is heavily subjective. It’s not enough to tell men their lives will have meaning, they need to feel that their lives have meaning, and it has to be meaning they and their peers and the people they look up to view as worthy of respect. Solving this problem will require restorative approaches at the interpersonal level, along with continued efforts to dismantle the systems that cause men to feel that only dominance-based narratives hold meaning for them.

In the short term, this will require helping men feel socially respected again, something that the left struggles to provide. Bluntly put, we need to stop reflexively shitting on men, those need to be mostly ‘indoor thoughts’, same as they are with any other group. The urge to degenerate men as a group as a form of retributive punishment, putting them in their place, is a problem on the left, both morally and politically. The urge is understandable, but we need to get it under control, because young men are well aware of how they are perceived and it is hurting them, and by extension, society in general.

—-

That is a hard pill for many to swallow in this day and age, where the oppressed are so thoroughly prevented from liberating themselves it can seem absurd to burden them with also liberating their oppressors. But it is a common refrain on the left that patriarchy harms everyone, including men. It gives them such a narrow window for meaning-making that when those conventional narratives are challenged, either by wokeness or the collapse of manufacturing and other masculine coded roles, they feel a lack of options that drives them to despair. That despair is then commodified by the same capitalist system that also commodifies everyone’s attempts at meaning-making and flourishing, depriving everyone of the energy and resources needed to address these problems.

We need to stop mocking men for their despair, and those of us with the energy to do so need to work on this problem at both the systemic and individual level. Especially progressive men, whose privilege makes it easier to cope with compassion fatigue. It is our job to show compassion and respect while helping other men understand that it is patriarchy and capitalism that are depriving them of meaningful lives, not minorities.

We can’t and shouldn’t offer men a return to the old, oppressive paths for meaning-making, so we need to shift the systems that limit their access to ethical alternatives. This is not a problem with quick solutions, cultural shift like this is measured in decades and centuries, but we don’t have another option. Men will not simply “suck it up” and accept lives that feel meaningless to them. They will fight back and force the world to respect them again, at gunpoint if necessary. I don’t know if we can prevent that reality at this point, but it is our obligation as progressives to try.