capitalism ruined the meaning of life by brainwashing people into thinking life has any meaning at all

we are born to live, as is everything on this planet and everything on every other planet, the planets themselves were formed purely to exist, because they have the capability to exist in this universe, no other reason.

Plants do not exist to give us oxygen or food or any resources at all, they exist because theyre meant to, they thrive in earths soil and grow purely because the environment allows it to, a seeds only purpose is to grow, and after that the only purpose is to live. the resources from plants are there to aid nature in its growth, to aid the lives of everything naturally on this earth. the same with animals, and the same can be applied to humans.

generosity is the only thing we need to survive, what one person lacks another has spare, a task one person cannot perform another can. we should all aim to give people as many useful things to them as we can, memories, resources, time.

money is a meaningless concept corrupted by greed and neglectful of compassion.

memories cannot be escaped, the one thing we will have for the (majority) of our lives, memories unite all of us, people, animals, plants. memories have no language, they exist within every sense and exist within the lack of senses. history is a mandatory subject based purely on memories and keeping memories alive. memories have more meaning than money ever will.

a million pounds makes you rich in greed.

a million memories makes you rich in experiences, in knowledge and in life.

we exist to live, and we remember the ones that have lived before us, and we will continue to remember the lives of others because the meaning of life is to live it, remember it and keep those memories alive.

capitalist media

I took a piece of art from my journal like, 2 years ago, and re-did it digitally bc it has been feeling ESPECIALLY POIGNANT LATELY.

Making money off art does not make it impure. Something being produced under capitalism does not make it less valuable as art. Your art isn't devalued by you selling it. A book/movie/play/show isn't less artistically valuable because it was distributed (I am deliberately not using the word "made") by a company.

The idea that monetization is antithetical to art is not a leftist idea. It is a deeply reactionary idea, that finds the idea of artists also being workers are scary.

If you view art that people make money off of as invalid. Then you inherently only view art made by people with the privilege it takes to have time and resources to make art without having to sell it as valuable.

"This isn't real art, it's just a product" might look like hatred of capitalism, but in practice it is hatred of workers.

When Liberals describe a piece of media dealing with contemporary war or politics as being "Morally Ambiguous" they mean nearly always mean that it questions the specific decisions of those in power, not the basic ideological assumptions that their power rests upon. Like it's always "Was it a good idea to invade this tyrannical terrorist shithole in order to spread freedom and democracy?" or "Is it okay to torture evil terrorists shitheads to save people from their oppression", never questioning whether the US actually are protecting the innocent and spreading prosperity or if their enemies really are straightforwardly sadistic oppressors. It may question whether the US is acting like a good guy, but it always affirms that the US inherently is good or at least has the greatest capacity to be. Even in Liberal media where the doesn't come off looking the best, they still make sure to present their enemies as even worse. Not to mention the way that any atrocities the US does commit are presented as either mistakes, malicious perversions of the system (probably orchestrated by enemy infiltrators anyway) or tragic but necessary evils. Meanwhile the atrocities committed by their foes are the proof of their innate evil and strong necessity of stopping them; this is the basis of that whole discussion around whether terrible means should be adopted to achieve the noble end of defeating these villains.

And like a story apparently "isn't making a political statement" when it doesn't give a clear answer on these terms, but the terms themselves are never up for discussion. Like I heard someone call Call of Duty: Modern Warfare "apolitical" because it neither justifies nor condemns stuff like those SAS soldiers torturing Arabs and killing sleeping or unarmed Russians (leaving it for the player to decide oooooooooh sooooo deep), as though its choice of antagonists and decision to present them as unambiguously evil isn't a statement in of itself. And like its choice to give Soviet imagery to the Russian Ultranationlists is apparently just a silly oversight (like ooooh real Ultranationalists hate those Soviet lefties hahaha) that says nothing at all about the creator's view of international politics and anti-US ideologies.

As far as your average Liberal is concerned, media contains political statements are when a character turns directly to the camera and says "This thing is good/bad". Anything else is deep stuff that makes you think and lets you come to your own conclusions. Just play the game, don't worry about who set the rules

tbh its not entirely fair to paint all blatant rep as poor in comparison to queercoding (altho i do love some good queercoding). i think the reason so much blatant rep is Like That, while queercoded stuff feels so much more meaningful and real, is because the blatant rep we often experience is made to Market To The Queers. while it may have queer creatives working on it, the reason its created is to make money off of queers. its trendy. so just write a fairly surface level fluffy movie about white queer teens and get some cash! its blatant, which means it will be treated as a groundbreaking queer media especially by liberals.

while queercoded media on the other hand (intentional or not) cant or wont just slap two conventionally attractive teens on screen and make them kiss and get those rainbow dollars. its an expression of queer silencing, the quiet thats left when you arent allowed to say what you desperately want to. when you cant spoon-feed your audience queerness you have to. yknow. actually think about what it means and how to express that artistically. you have to show and not tell.

thats all to say, there is blatant queer rep that is good. but you probably aren't gonna find it on amazon prime. that kind of rep is being made by queer artists making indie films. i promise you its not either "blatant queerness that feels shallow" or "deep queerness thats not allowed to be blatant". theres a secret third option and its "capitalism will never liberate you and you need to actually support indie queer artists and actively reject queer capitalism to experience the breadth and width of what queer art is capable of being and doing."

moderation wage labor is inhumane and this is one functional reason social media is a fundamentally insolvent concept

I feel like who mock crab day are doing so in a way that (purposefully or accidentally, I can’t tell) misses the point.

As your local anti-capitalist, who will be participating in crab day:

Nobody thinks that tumblr is going to reverse all of the bad changes to its site if we do this. Nobody thinks that this site is without its awful shit (see: flagging queer content as mature). Nobody is seeing a corporation as our friend.

But here are the simple facts:

Tumblr is in debt

Websites can’t function without income

If we can’t buy products from tumblr, we will become the product, in that tumblr will sell more of our data

Tumblr is a product, and if you enjoy a product, you should give its creator(s) money so that the product you enjoy can continue to be provided (that’s generally how capitalism works)

The thing motivating most of the bad changes to tumblr is profit, and gaining new users

I don’t think anyone thinks that we’ll get tumblr completely out of debt, or anything like that. But it IS an attempt to show that tumblr doesn’t have to become like every other social media to be profitable.

It’s a call for tumblr staff to work with its existing userbase, rather than try and find a new userbase with all of these shitty changes. Like, they SEE that the existing userbase is against giving them money. Do you think that’ll make them listen to what we want? No! So they’re trying to get new users; ones who make actually be profitable! Because, even if you don’t like it, we DO live in a world where you have to be profitable if you want to keep a product you like alive.

Staff is at least somewhat aware of the userbase’s current discussions. They know (for example) how goddamn bad we want NSFW content back. They know about Goncharov, they know about the site being called a “hellsite”, they knew about the great Reddit migration. This effort has the possibility to be noticed by the higher-ups, and it obviously isn’t going to fix the site, but it might do something, and that’s more that we can say for just posting to our blogs about how much the new changes suck.

Not to mention that, generally speaking, staying afloat comes first for corporations. There is a very low chance that tumblr staff will address any of the actual issues (like porn bots and queer content being auto-flagged) while it’s still in the red. If it becomes financially stable, then it is possible (not certain, but possible) that staff may be able to put more resources into fixing the stuff we actually care about.

So, like… With crabs being chosen because they’re the cheapest item available (making participating in crab day as non-consequential as getting a candy bar), why not give it a try?

capitalism created a consumer society that starves the poor and fills the pockets that are already overflowing.

you know i think it's really funny (derogatory) that tumblr seemingly has the ability to create popups for ad-free, crabs, anything that will get them money, but when it comes to using popups to guide new users around the website layout they're just like "uww what can we POSSIBLY do?? all these new people only know twitter and they couldn't possibly read a popup explaining how to use the site!! let's just change everything visually appealing about tumblr to cater to our inability to make popups for helpful reasons uwu!!".

like you know what i want? If you're testing a change on me I want a pop up that says so. I don't want to have to rely on the @changes blog to see that. If i'm testing a change I should be given a feedback form that is specifically about that change. I want the results of the feedback forms for changes to be publicly viewable to the userbase. you could learn so much about how this website actually functions for users through that, but no. we can only make popups when it fiscally benefits us! we can't use polls to get a sense of what the userbase is feeling! we can't publicize what % of feedback about a change was positive or negative. we couldn't...possibly...

i’ve been back on my hadestown bullshit (listening to the album on repeat) and you make such good points about the lyrics being dumbed down and how it does a disservice to the narrative and characters. it’s such an artful, creative show that constantly adapts and changes so why not take some risks with lyrics that may take a few times to sink in? that’s the beauty of listening to it through many times. i catch something new that just punches me in the gut each time (also love your hadestown art it’s so good)

Thank youuu glad you like my stuff :3 Yeah!! I think ultimately it comes down to two things, confidence and Broadway requirements. Anais Mitchell isn't hiding how much she struggled writing the show and balancing between artsy, well crafted, and understandable. She also stated many things have been cut because the show was too long for Broadway and they were required to trim it. To both I say, HUH?? First off, Anais Mitchell honed her craft to perfection. No other musical ever managed to drive me to tears with moodsetting "oohs". She wrote a godly love song that sounds like a godly love song. She deserves all the confidence in the WORLD. But she also never hid that Hadestown is a very personal story influenced by her experience as a free artist, so on the other hand, I totally get that no amount of success can ever truly heal your inner critic, and she will always keep trying to adjust her work. As for the second point, I know at least some of the dumbing down is because the audiences complained. I saw Hadestown live 5 years after seeing a bootleg of it, and in those 5 years they added so many cheap jokes and dishonest tension breaks it is Crazy. But I DID notice in older bootlegs that people laughed at inappropriate times, they seemed like they expected something funny to be happening in every scene because they went to a musical and so picked some really weird spots, which doesn't happen in any of the recordings of the new jokey edition. So in dumbing itself down, the musical mamaged to become more understandable to the audience at large. In fact, even after all the changes, at the theater I overheard people talking in the pause, and they agreed the show is "too confusing" and "they can't tell what exactly is happening and if it is real or not". I can imagine that is a frustrating experience when you paid a good chunk of money to see a show, but also bro, google is Right There. Most people just don't have the will to sit down and listen to a pretty piece of media multiple times to figure it out! And sadly shows can't survive only on those who do! To bring this long ramble to a close, we are right back to art existing under capitalism and how one can't simply make GOOD art, they need to make PROFITABLE art, and that is pretty sucky

The Definition of "Woke" (Is anyone else confused?)

I's going to be real right now. I'm so confused about what "woke" is supposed to mean. It feels like an umbrella term for how many contexts it is used in which makes the phrase "woke culture" make a least a bit a sense.

However, I struggle to understand why people don't like it. I get how people don't like "cancel culture" because it begs for accountability when in the end, if accountability is not given, it never actually effects people that need the wake up call the most.

But I'm not posting to talk about "cancel culture." I want to know why every person talks about something that is "woke" or "woke ideology" or "woke culture" they are always talking about pretty normal things. Here's a brief list of what I understand to be "woke," as defined by the local weirdos of the internet.

People of color in media (video games, movies, tv shows, commercials, etc)

People of color in acting, writing, or science

Women in science

The patriarchy acknowledged in any way, shape, or form (barbie movie; commercials, specifically Gillette razors even though they participate in the Pink Tax, etc)

Religions other than Christianity acknowledged in any way shape or form in media (commercials, especially Christmas time/adjacent commercials, etc)

Women with body hair (celebrities not shaving or forgetting to shave, women having hair on their face, etc)

Teaching black history at all

Teaching LGBGQ+ history

Teaching about discrimination and accurate history

Science (Statistics, Vaccines, Climate Change, etc)

Trans people existing (on any material plane)

Feminism (As in the belief that men and women are equal: Equal worth, equal consequences, and deserve equal rights, etc)

Men paying for the bill

Women paying for the bill

Men and Women splitting the bill in any way

Body positivity (Weight, disabilities, etc)

Different body types (men or women, on any plane of existence)

People with disabilities existing in media (any type)

ANY political ideology other than capitalism (socialism, communism, etc)

After thinking it over and making this list, I think a better word for "woke" would be anti-bigotry. Every time I come across someone who is anti-woke, they are almost ALWAYS bigoted in some way or another.

don't you want it?

the rise of american consumerism, article from pbs // four (4) search results from trends 2024, google images captions // black friday pulled in a record $6.22 billion in online sales: adobe analytics, by lauren thomas // temu best finds, google results // rent, written by jonathan larson // sale ends, by banksy // what you own, written by jonathan larson