#tell me if there's a better tag for that

[anistarrose]

[ID: replies from @birdgirl22 reading: "This is why lab grown meat should be a thing. If you would literally die from not eating meat for whatever reason. You can still be vegan, morally. You don't need all animal products i assume, or at least limit the amount as much as humanly possible. And make up for all that pain by donating if possible and spreading the vegan message to those who can be fully plant based." End ID.]

There's a lot going on here that I wish I didn't have to unpack, but that needs to be unpacked and corrected by someone, because otherwise, it will continue to propagate uncorrected, with the potential to harm people with food allergies well beyond this tumblr conversation. There are three fallacies I need to highlight, starting with:

"This is why lab grown meat should be a thing."

The prospect of lab grown meat — while undoubtably an area of research with the potential to help many people, if its products are ever made widely available and sustainable — is used here as a quick rhetorical "get out of jail free" card, to avoid engaging with the possibility that even in an idealized future, there are people who could need animal agriculture to live.

What if lab grown meat does become attainable and accessible, but due to challenges in the lab, we find that it can only practically be grown from a substrate that itself triggers allergic reactions, in many of the people prescribed this cultured meat to cure them of their vexing animal-product ethical dilemmas? This is no more of a thought experiment than the possibility that lab grown meat will someday meet my needs. I am allergic to plants used as substrates and media in the production of everyday food additives — corn, soy, and most of their close relatives, for those wondering — and that's taken enough of a toll on my health on its own.

Cultured meat could be a huge development for me, and as a person concerned with animal welfare, I sincerely hope it will be — but it could also completely fail me, and to assume the possibility of the former preclude any consideration for accommodating me in the event of the latter is indicative of only accepting convenient facts for one's belief system. There are good reasons why "even in the most idealized future, people may need animal agriculture to live" is an understandably challenging thought. (I imagine people in your position also find "hunting and fishing are important cultural practices to Indigenous people who have already had their lands seized, and should have those lands restored to them, instead of their autonomy being seized any further" to be a challenging thought, by the way.) But we cannot discard thoughts simply because they are challenging. Conflicting needs happen. Solutions need to be found without denying a conflict exists, or could exist, or will continue to exist in the first place.

"You don't need all animal products i assume, or at least limit the amount as much as humanly possible."

If you, or anyone else sharing your views, reads just one paragraph of this response, make it this one. Your suggestion to "limit the amount [of animal products] as much as humanly possible" is exactly the type of mentality that's had me teetering on the edge of an eating disorder for years. So, frankly, no. I don't think I will be limiting my animal product consumption as much as "humanly possible." No, I don't think I'll spend every meal asking myself "is this the minimum amount of animal protein possible I need to survive." I won't be asking myself if that bowl of yogurt I eat for lunch, which already leaves me hungry, could be reduced even further.

When I have my near-weekly anxiety attacks about whether the poultry-based meals I eat every day for dinner — because I have no other fucking choice — are too high in sodium and fat, and whether I will die young of heart failure because of the only foods left that didn't leave me bedridden, I won't set aside some time to contemplate starving myself for "ethical" reasons, too. When I worry about the current listeria outbreak in chicken in the United States, and worry how I'll even feed myself if it worsens and spreads to other meats, I won't be sure to keep in mind that I should be "minimizing my chicken intake" anyway, for fuck's sake! Do you think I like being this dependent on animal products? Do you know how prone animal products are to being diseased and being recalled like this? Do you know how a lifetime of food-related illnesses, of hospitalizations, has left me with so much generalized food-related trauma that I tremble with fear whenever I have to handle raw meat?

"And make up for all that pain by donating if possible and spreading the vegan message to those who can be fully plant based."

Oh yeah of course, totally, I recognize that the incredible pain and suffering I inflict by eating animal products is a sin and a burden that I should always carry. I will justify my inherently burdensome, downright parasitic existence in the only way I know how, by donating all the money I totally have — from being totally able to work full-time, from having incredibly manageable healthcare costs, from having incredibly affordable dietary needs. And yes, of course, I'll proselytize the vegan doctrine to everyone I know! When I see someone dare to derive an ounce of nutrition from meat, I'll be sure to guilt until they change their ways — no matter if they might be prone to eating disorders, or if they might have allergies of their own, or if I know that information or have any right to know! I will direct them right to the community that treats disabled people like me as parasitic, as a person who causes pain by my very nature and must constantly fight a battle to justify my own existence! Yes, you've enlightened me, I'll start doing that right away!

Obviously, I'm being sarcastic in the prior paragraph. Disabled people aren't fucking parasites. (Indigenous people who hunt and fish sustainably also aren't parasites. Humans aren't parasites.)

I think veganism is incredibly, profoundly wonderful as an individual choice. I have met vegans and vegetarians — some of them disabled themselves — who engage with me and my experiences, the perspectives I bring to food ethics, with open ears and so much care. And yet, the vegan community at large is incredibly hostile to disabled people. This is a challenging combination of thoughts and facts for me, personally. But as I have argued, when conflicting needs give rise to challenging thoughts, we have an obligation to consider compromises and solutions, instead of denying the conflict's existence.

This is why I speak about ableism in the vegan community — precisely because I think it's such a powerful movement for animal welfare and environmental justice. I want to see it be better. Speaking about ableism that affects me is emotionally, sometimes even physically taxing — I'm chronically ill, as I'm sure you've noticed, and emotions like these can cause problems for me. I'm sweating and shivering, with an uncomfortable feeling in my stomach, at this very moment.

So obviously, it's not easy for me to get this personal. But when I think about other people like me, alienated from environmental justice and animal welfare and food ethics, because of unaddressed ableism? Speaking out and getting personal gets just a little bit easier.

And while we're getting personal? Stranger on Tumblr whom I'm replying to, I have to admit I am not angry with you. I think you have serious misconceptions, but really, all I can think is this — I'm glad I'm not you, and I'm glad you're not me.

Let me explain. I am glad that I could take the "severe food allergy bullet" for you. Because sincerely, from the bottom of my heart, I hope that you never spontaneously develop all of the food allergies that I spontaneously did.

Why? Because as much as I struggle with it some days, I know my inherent worth as a human being. As much as I still struggle with it many days, I know I don't have to starve myself just to be morally allowed to exist. I know I don't have make up for anything about what I eat, and I know I don't have to bear any original sin for my existence as a disabled person — because disabled people are not parasites.

Fundamentally, I am glad that I could take this food allergy bullet from someone who, by the sound of things, might not know these things. Someone who would've struggled with all this even more.

To anyone still reading this post? Promise me you'll value yourself if you're disabled, or if you ever become disabled. That you'll value yourself even if people say you're a burden. That you'll value yourself even if you have a conflicting accessibility need. I want you to keep yourself safe, and keep yourself fed. We can advocate for a better world and for ethical consumption without guilt-based appeals, and without starving ourselves. None of us are parasites.

trying not to start an online fight in a comically inappropriate venue, but people also have some genuinely concerning misconceptions about this, so: if someone tells you that they can't go vegan because of dietary restrictions, you do not know more than they do about those restrictions in question. and they are under no obligation to share personal medical details in order to prove that you are wrong.

moreover, a world in which anyone has to "prove" their need for dietary accommodations to any authority — to say nothing of being denied them a priori because of a refusal to engage with even small scale, ethical animal husbandry — is enacting ableist violence on our bodies. personally, I want nothing more than for for-profit animal agriculture to burn with the rest of capitalism — but you have to understand that telling people like me to "just stop being selfish and stop eating animals" can only be translated as either "only eat things that make you violently ill," or "stop eating even the minimum amount of protein that a human can survive off of."

if you have an impulse to accuse me of overreacting, consider that the refusal of actual medical institutions to take legume and grain allergies seriously has caused me bodily harm throughout my life and to this day — with consequences for my overall lifespan that have yet to be revealed. I am not overreacting.

[hellspawnmotel]

intimacy between an evil spiteful building-sized supercomputer and the lone scientist left behind after everyone else ditched and forgot about her (in which computer wants to kill scientist really bad but her programming wont let her so she just attempts to make her as miserable as possible instead, which also doesn't work because scientist is a freak)

[virtualplushy]

one important thing that Must be understood about interpersonal relationships is that you have to stop interacting with people who love you like they’re one slip-up away from leaving you. you have to trust that the ppl you love mean what they say. you have to believe that when they say “this hurt my feelings,” that they’re also saying, “can you please love me this other way next time?” and you have to wrap your head around the fact that even if you don’t understand Why someone loves you, you can accept that that they do. true, honest, & open love does not function like hp in a video game !!!!!!

[dizzybizz]

i drew them,, with some mixed results

[basslinegrave]

pin-up

b&w originals

[sforzesco]

something. about. the horror of being sent on an impossible (death) quest and obligations and hospitality politics. the trauma of not having a home, and then the trauma of being in a house that becomes actively hostile to you, one that would swallow you whole and spit out your bones if you step out of line. all of this is conditional, your existence continues to be something men want gone.

it's about going back as far as I can with the perseus narrative because there's always a version of a myth that exists behind the one that survives. the missing pieces are clearly defined, but the oldest recorded version of it isn't there! and there's probably something older before that!! but it's doomed to forever be an unfilled space, clearly defined by an outline of something that was there and continues to be there in it's absence.

and love. it's also about love. even when you had nothing, you had love.

on the opposite side of the spectrum, this is Not About Ovid Or Roman-Renaissance Reception, Depictions And Discourses On The Perseus Narrative.

edit: to add to the above, while it's not about Ovid, because I'm specifically trying to peel things back to the oldest version of this story, Ovid is fine. alterations on the Perseus myth that give more attention Medusa predate Ovid by several centuries. this comic is also not about those, either! there are many versions of this story from the ancient world. there is not one singular True or Better version, they're all saying something.

Perseus, Daniel Ogden

Anthology of Classical Myth: Primary Sources in Translation, edited & translated by Stephen M Trzaskoma, R. Scott Smith, Stephen Brunet

[lygma-nygma]

Being a batfam fan is funny because people will make a post like “here’s my headcanon-“ and it’s just something that’s directly canon to the story then post about major canon events and get everything wrong.

[fridgrave2-0]

hehe ghost-turbo haunting felix au

turbo is connected to the last piece of his code in the whole arcade - a trophy he gifted to felix in mid 80s as a symbol of him genuinely caring about their relationships on par with being the best racer. felix also gave him one of his medals and both kept their gifts next to other rewards, but when roadblasters and turbotime were unplugged, the medal was gone with everything else

now, after burning in cola-lava turbo is basically dead, but scraps of his code still were intertwined with the trophy (after all, it was his first winner's cup, but felix never knew about it), giving turbo an opportunity to exist as a shadow incapable of interacting with anything and anyone besides felix, who kept the trophy even after the roadblasters incident

also I went crazy in tags, feel free to check them out

[starkspi]

"You okay?"

Another one from "Managerial Liberties" by the talented @miribalis (in which Adam is accidentally the best wingman ever - what a pun!).

[screwpinecaprice]

Actually cute. Had to do a quick redraw.

Screenshot is from when Jay lit up the Jack-o'-lantern in the living room.

[sebille]

Oh the little change in his expression

[thefloatingstone]

Trying to figure out how to make squid boy emote because every time I've drawn him so far he looks very stern and it just didn't sit right with me. Also the more I played the more I noticed how his expressions change.

Anyway this is what I got so far. I plan to do more because hoo boy is it tricky to pull certain emotions out of him.

[potatobugz]

ITS JUST. ALL CREEK

im glad we can all agree that Craig approaching Thomas in "Le Petit Tourette" and asking him if he could do his laundry was very gay

[tapakah0]

Eh, almost forgot ;~;; Commission for sweet @celestialrose3 ;;~;;; Thank you so much *bows*

[larabar]

sibling generations

[barghest-land]

drew arthur with a little friend. they're talking about life and death