in guarani there's a standard greeting that literally translates to "are you happy" (ndevy'apa) and the natural reply is "i'm happy" (avy'a) and as americans learning the language we were so distressed like "but what if we're not happy....." and our teachers were like "that's so not the fucking point"

we kept trying to think of any other way to reply but our teachers kept trying to get it into our brains that it's an idiomatic greeting, it literally is not the time or place to traumadump, and as usamerican english speakers we are not some special exception for saying "what's up" with the reply being "not much" instead of "the ceiling"

but anyway while i was working in paraguay -- the country with the largest population of guarani speakers -- i got sent an article by some friends back home like "look! they're saying that paraguay is the happiest country in the world!"

and the methodology was "we went around and asked paraguayans if they're happy and recorded their responses" and i was like. oh. of course you did. and of course you got a 100% positive response rate.

On the topic of English people being shitheads towards Welsh people - This fucking dude today on AITA

In the end, if children bother you for sensory reasons and that's why you don't want them to be in the same public spaces as you, there are disabled adults who can and would cause the same sensory issues for you. Adults who are loud, who vocally stim, who have poor boundaries, poor hygiene, who cry in public, etc etc etc. And they're already socially ostracized for all of this.

So actually yeah, it's the bare minimum you can do for the group with the least human rights on the planet to figure out how to accept children as part of your public community without hating them for it, even if you are child-free yourself.

about to say something mean but i feel like every "male-specific" issue is something that also happens to women its just that a lot of you dont seem to see women as people

The only thing the mass encampments and protests currently happening on US college campuses are achieving is making Jews feel unsafe.

Jewish students at Colombia are being forced to finish the semester’s classes on Zoom. They aren’t safe going to live classes.

A Jewish professor was physically barred from entering the campus.

These protests aren’t “freeing Palestine”; they’re scaring Jews.

by Virginia Kruta

Cruz’s response got straight to the point: “If this is a student, she should be expelled. If this is a #Columbia professor, she should be fired. No university should allow one member of the community to advocate the murder of other members of the community.”

Cruz was not alone in his sentiments, as others flooded X with comments on the photo. AG added a second post, saying, “This image also made me think of a great line I saw from @neontaster the other day: The difference between a radical anti-Zionist and a moderate anti-Zionist is that a radical anti-Zionist wants to kill you, and a moderate anti-Zionist wants a radical anti-Zionist to kill you.”

“This was the least of it. At least one Jewish student was attacked at Yale. Several Jewish students were threatened at Columbia,” AG added in another post. “There are videos of the crowds threatening violence, telling Jews to go back to Europe, cheering terrorism, celebrating the American flag being taken down. This is all happening on 2 American campuses. It’s clear that these campuses are clearly not safe for Jewish students right now and not particularly productive for others as they have been taken over by antisemitic and pro-terrorist mobs. This is all coordinated and well-funded by some national activist groups, but the schools allowed for it to get to this place by allowing those involved to keep pushing the line/normalizing such behavior and they hired faculty/administrators who encourage it. Now it’s up to these schools to figure out how to address these mobs. It’s their problem because their reputations are on the line and their failures that led us here. If they refuse to address it, they should face civil rights investigations, lawsuits from students, and permanent reputations loss.”

Leslie Feinberg speaking about activists only letting the most palatable mainstream-acceptable members of a group represent the movement. 

[CC: “But, as soon as a movement begins to emerge and shake things up you get two approaches. First, you get suddenly those from on high who have never been our friends before who come rushing up to say ‘Wait wait wait wait wait! Don’t- don’t… don’t go too fast. Wait, we’re gonna show you how to work within the system.’ And they say ‘You know, some of these people, you don’t want to associate with them in the movement. They’re so angry. They’re gonna discredit your cause.’ Angry. You know, as if anger against oppression is not a clean-burning fuel. They say ‘Well just take a group of your best educated and most articulate and most well-dressed’ Well you know right away we should just say ‘That’s-That’s just racist, elitist, classist-coded. We know what that means.’ But they say ‘You know, if you could just get away from those people who are kind of bringing your struggle down and they’re bringing in all these extraneous things, you know, racism and sexism and the… you- you don’t want a mess… just gay rights now, keep it simple. You know, just one demand and that’ll kinda trickle down, you know.’ But those of us who have traditionally been trickled ON are not real impressed with that strategy. Because here’s what happens, they say ‘Well we’re just gonna go inside and negotiate for these rights. And kinda like, eh, don’t make any noise, you know.’ Well, they go inside to negotiate and you can be outside waiting and waiting and waiting and they’re not comin’ out. Because the next thing you know they’re the, like, governor’s advisor to this or they’re hoping they’re gonna get invited to the White House or they’re on this advisory committee. They’re finding more affinity with those they’re sitting across the table from than the people who they left around the corner.”]

Internet Safety

People across two-thirds of the political spectrum have been taking the piss out of "I'm not racist but" for decades, and now you guys - who are supposed to be progressive - are unironically doing that with antisemitism

The genocide of Jews is an integral part of Hamas ideology. It has been articulated as a goal in their publications and mission statements since their founding covenant. They have never renounced this intention.

If you try to defend or justify the “We love you, Hamas” and “We are Hamas” chants on college campuses, another Holocaust is what you are trying to “contextualize”. If those chants have not caused you to doubt the desire of protestors for peace, then don’t pretend you care about Jewish or Palestinian lives.

Ending the stigma of drug use will save lives.