#or even a sign of if you are being a good activist at all
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one of the things that i think we should pay attention to, socially, about the disney v. desantis thing is that it is really highlighting the importance of remembering nuance.
in a purely neutral sense, if you engage in something problematic, that does not mean you are necessarily agreeing with what makes it problematic. and i am worried that we have become... so afraid of any form of nuance.
disney isn't my friend, they're a corporate monopoly that bastardized copyright laws for their own benefit, ruin the environment, and abuse their workers (... and many other things). this isn't a hypothetical for me - i grew up in florida. i also worked for the actual Walt Disney World; like, in the parks. i am keenly aware of the ways they hurt people, because they hurt me. i fully believe that part of the reason florida is so conservative is because it's been an "open secret" for years now that disney lobbies the government to keep minimum wage down, and i know they worked hard to keep the parks unmasked and open during the worst parts of Covid. they purposefully keep their employees in poverty. they are in part responsible for the way the floridian government works.
desantis is still, by a margin that is frankly daunting, way worse. the alternative here isn't just "republicans win", it's actual fascism.
in a case like this, where the alternative is to allow actual fascism into united states legislation - where, if desantis wins, there are huge and legal ramifications - it's tempting to minimize the harm disney is also doing, because... well, it's not fascism. but disney isn't the good guy, either, which means republicans are having a field day asking activists oh, so you think their treatment of their employees is okay?
we have been trained there is a right answer. you're right! you're in the good group, and you're winning at having an opinion.
except i have the Internet Prophecy that in 2-3 months, even left-wing people will be ripping apart activists for having "taken disney's side". aren't i an anti-capitalist? aren't i pro-union? aren't i one of the good ones? removed from context and nuance (that in this particular situation i am forced to side with disney, until an other option reveals itself), my act of being like "i hope they have goofy rip his throat out onstage, shaking his lifeless body like a dog toy" - how quickly does that seem like i actually do support disney?
and what about you! at home, reading this. are you experiencing the Thought Crime of... actually liking some of the things disney has made? your memories of days at the parks, or of good movies, or of your favorite show growing up. maybe you are also evil, if you ever enjoyed anything, ever, at all.
to some degree, the binary idealization/vilification of individual motive and meaning already exists in the desantis case. i have seen people saying not to go to the disney pride events because they're cash grabs (they are). i've seen people saying you have to go because they're a way to protest. there isn't a lot of internet understanding of nuance. instead it's just "good show of support" or "evil bootlicking."
this binary understanding is how you can become radicalized. when we fear nuance and disorder, we're allowing ourselves the safety of assuming that the world must exist in binary - good or bad, problematic or "not" problematic. and unfortunately, bigots want you to see the world in this binary ideal. they want you to get mad at me because "disney is taking a risk for our community but you won't sing their praises" and they want me to get mad at you for not respecting the legit personal trauma that disney forced me through.
in a grander scheme outside of disney: what happens is a horrific splintering within activist groups. we bicker with each other about minimal-harm minimal-impact ideologies, like which depiction of bisexuality is the most-true. we gratuitously analyze the personal lives of activists for any sign they might be "problematic". we get spooked because someone was in a dog collar at pride. we wring our hands about setting an empty shopping mall on fire. we tell each other what words we may identify ourselves by. we get fuckin steven universe disk horse when in reality it is a waste of our collective time.
the bigots want you to spend all your time focusing on how pristine and pretty you and your interests are. they want us at each other's throats instead of hand in hand. they want to say see? nothing is ever fucking good enough for these people.
and they want their followers to think in binary as well - a binary that's much easier to follow. see, in our spaces, we attack each other over "proper" behavior. but in bigoted groups? they attack outwards. they have someone they hate, and it is us. they hate you, specifically, and you are why they have problems - not the other people in their group. and that's a part of how they fucking keep winning.
some of the things that are beloved to you have a backbone in something terrible. the music industry is a wasteland. the publishing industry is a bastion of white supremacy. video games run off of unpaid labor and abuse.
the point of activism was always to bring to light that abuse and try to stop it from happening, not to condemn those who engage in the content that comes from those industries. "there is no ethical consumption under late capitalism" also applies to media. your childhood (and maybe current!) love of the little mermaid isn't something you should now flinch from, worried you'll be a "disney adult". wanting the music industry to change for the better does not require that you reject all popular music until that change occurs. you can acknowledge the harm something might cause - and celebrate the love that it has brought into your life.
we must detach an acknowledgment of nuance from a sense of shame and disgust. we must. punishing individual people for their harmless passions is not doing good work. encouraging more thoughtful, empathetic consumption does not mean people should feel ashamed of their basic human capacities and desires. it should never have even been about the individual when the corporation is so obviously the actual evil. this sense that we must live in shame and dread of our personal nuances - it just makes people bitter and hopeless. do you have any idea how scared i am to post this? to just acknowledge the idea of nuance? that i might like something nuanced, and engage in it joyfully? and, at the same time, that i'm brutally aware of the harm that they're doing?
"so what do i do?" ... well, often there isn't a right answer. i mean in this case, i hope mickey chops off ron's head and then does a little giggle. but truth be told, often our opinions on nuanced subjects will differ. you might be able to engage in things that i can't because the nuance doesn't sit right with me. i might think taylor swift is a great performer and a lot of fun, and you might be like "raquel, the jet fuel emissions". we are both correct; neither of us have any actual sway in this. and i think it's important to remember that - the actual scope of individual responsibility. like, i also love going to the parks. Thunder Mountain is so fun. you (just a person) are not responsible for the harm that Disney (the billion dollar corporation) caused me. i don't know. i think it's possible to both enjoy your memories and interrogate the current state of their employment policies.
there is no right way to interrogate or engage with nuance - i just hope you embrace it readily.
#does this make sense#to do be deleted probably yikes#(takes a swing at a wasp's nest)#like i think ppl have started to just be really quiet when they like something 'problematic'#and im like... u can be like -#girl tswift NEEDS to just TAKE A BUS . LIKE?????????????????????#while also being like.#''she's a lot of fun''#if ur personal policy is that u don't support her for that reason that's great#but it's like. eating meat???#like yeah some people won't bc the environment. but the fact i eat meat doesn't mean i hate the earth#like i can say that i think the meat industry is HORRIFIC and also downright cruel to its employees#but like. still enjoy a chicken nugget....#there are people who choose otherwise. it's okay . we are people. i make like no money. u probably don't either#us fighting about whether or not it's Right To Eat The Chicken Tender just distracts from like.#actually turning your ire on the corporation#i hope it's clear what i'm saying here is like. when we fight each other for Purity Reasons#we are just doing the work of corporations . for free. like they WANT us to be doing this lol#it's the fucking DREAM of the upperclass that now ALL forms of responsibility fall on the individual
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No-paywall version.
"You can never really see the future, only imagine it, then try to make sense of the new world when it arrives.
Just a few years ago, climate projections for this century looked quite apocalyptic, with most scientists warning that continuing “business as usual” would bring the world four or even five degrees Celsius of warming — a change disruptive enough to call forth not only predictions of food crises and heat stress, state conflict and economic strife, but, from some corners, warnings of civilizational collapse and even a sort of human endgame. (Perhaps you’ve had nightmares about each of these and seen premonitions of them in your newsfeed.)
Now, with the world already 1.2 degrees hotter, scientists believe that warming this century will most likely fall between two or three degrees. (A United Nations report released this week ahead of the COP27 climate conference in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt, confirmed that range.) A little lower is possible, with much more concerted action; a little higher, too, with slower action and bad climate luck. Those numbers may sound abstract, but what they suggest is this: Thanks to astonishing declines in the price of renewables, a truly global political mobilization, a clearer picture of the energy future and serious policy focus from world leaders,
we have cut expected warming almost in half in just five years.
...Conventional wisdom has dictated that meeting the most ambitious goals of the Paris agreement by limiting warming to 1.5 degrees could allow for some continuing normal, but failing to take rapid action on emissions, and allowing warming above three or even four degrees, spelled doom.
Neither of those futures looks all that likely now, with the most terrifying predictions made improbable by decarbonization and the most hopeful ones practically foreclosed by tragic delay. The window of possible climate futures is narrowing, and as a result, we are getting a clearer sense of what’s to come: a new world, full of disruption but also billions of people, well past climate normal and yet mercifully short of true climate apocalypse.
Over the last several months, I’ve had dozens of conversations — with climate scientists and economists and policymakers, advocates and activists and novelists and philosophers — about that new world and the ways we might conceptualize it. Perhaps the most capacious and galvanizing account is one I heard from Kate Marvel of NASA, a lead chapter author on the fifth National Climate Assessment: “The world will be what we make it.” Personally, I find myself returning to three sets of guideposts, which help map the landscape of possibility.
First, worst-case temperature scenarios that recently seemed plausible now look much less so, which is inarguably good news and, in a time of climate panic and despair, a truly underappreciated sign of genuine and world-shaping progress...
[I cut number two for being focused on negatives. This is a reasons for hope blog.]
Third, humanity retains an enormous amount of control — over just how hot it will get and how much we will do to protect one another through those assaults and disruptions. Acknowledging that truly apocalyptic warming now looks considerably less likely than it did just a few years ago pulls the future out of the realm of myth and returns it to the plane of history: contested, combative, combining suffering and flourishing — though not in equal measure for every group...
“We live in a terrible world, and we live in a wonderful world,” Marvel says. “It’s a terrible world that’s more than a degree Celsius warmer. But also a wonderful world in which we have so many ways to generate electricity that are cheaper and more cost-effective and easier to deploy than I would’ve ever imagined. People are writing credible papers in scientific journals making the case that switching rapidly to renewable energy isn’t a net cost; it will be a net financial benefit,” she says with a head-shake of near-disbelief. “If you had told me five years ago that that would be the case, I would’ve thought, wow, that’s a miracle.”"
-via The New York Times Magazine, October 26, 2022
#climate change#global warming#renewable energy#climate anxiety#climate crisis#humanity#green energy#green future#apocalypse#natural disasters#good news#hope#research#hope posting
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Senate 2022: You'd Better Vote!
If you're an American VERY IMPORTANT! elections are coming up on November 8th. Since the 2020 election the US Senate has been tied at 50 Democrats and 50 Republicans with Vice-President Harris casting the tie breaking vote that gives Democrats their majority. Even with such a tight margin Democrats have managed to pass the largest climate action taken by any country so far on earth (yet), lower prescription drug costs, pass the first gun control law since the 1990s , made lynching a federal crime after over 100 years of trying, made Juneteenth a federal holiday, confirmed the first black woman ever to serve on the Supreme Court, passed a trillion dollar infrastructure bill to rebuild our roads, bridges, transportation, better internet, clean water, and support electric cars, saved the US Post Office, passed a renewal of the Violence Against Women Act which had been in limbo since 2019.
Imagine all that the Democrats in the Senate could get done in the next 2 years with a stable majority? On the Flip side if Republicans net just one seat Mitch McConnell has made it clear there will be no progress if he's majority leader again. There are 35 Senate seats up on November 8th, I'm gonna list out the 9 seats with vulnerable Democrats who need re-electing and seats Democrats can flip to expand their majority. Everyone needs to vote, but voting is the start, the most basic thing you need to do, if you live in any of these states PLEASE sign up to volunteer for these candidates, to go talk to voters, to register new voters, to give rides to the polls etc. If you don't live in any of these states, you can still volunteer to make phone calls or text voters it's easy! if you have money to give please please give money campaigns are so expensive. Finally most of these campaigns have merch shops so if you feed more comfortable buying a shirt or a bag or whatever do that lots of them have cool pro-choice things.
Arizona
Mark Kelly (Re-elect)
Senator Mark Kelly was elected in a special election in 2020 and is running for a full term this year. Kelly is a former astronaut and the husband of gun violence survivor and gun control advocate Gabby Giffords. Kelly is a strong supporter of gun control an issue he's worked on with Giffords as an activist for 10 years before Congress. Republicans have nominated Blake Masters, who worked for one of Trump's top supporters, Peter Thiel, Thiel spent 13 million dollars to get Masters nominated. Masters calls himself a "America First Conservative" and a "hard-core nationalist". Masters has embraced the racist "Great Replacement" conspiracy theory, supports Trump's conspiracy theories about the 2020 election being stolen, is against gay marriage, says gun violence is all the fault of black people, and is against aid to Ukraine. Kelly is a good democrat, Masters is a white nationalist and election denier, we need Kelly back in the Senate, and we need to keep Masters far far away
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Florida
Val Demings (Flip)
Congresswoman Val Demings has represented the city of Orlando in the US House since 2017. Before that she served as Orlando's first woman chief of police. In Congress Demings has used her law enforcement background to lend credibility to gun control and police reform. Demings also served as one of the impeachment managers in Trump's first impeachment trial. If elected Val Demings will be Florida's first woman and first black Senator. Demings is running to unseat Republican Senator Marco Rubio. After running against Trump in the 2016 primaries Rubio became one of Trump's biggest supporters in Congress. Rubio reacted to the Parkland shooting in his state by doubling down on opposing any gun control, Val Demings voted to ban assault rifles. Rubio has also been a cheerleader for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis' anti-LGBT/anti-Trans policies that bully queer students in Florida, he doesn't believe in the right to same sex marriage and is for banning books. Rubio also wants a total ban on abortion in all cases, Val Demings has a 100% rating from NARAL Pro-Choice America. Florida needs a strong supporter of Gun control, climate action, the right to choose, and LGBT rights in the Senate, Florida needs Demings not Rubio
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Georgia
Raphael Warnock (re-elect)
Senator Raphael Warnock was elected in a special election in 2020 and is running for a full 6 year term this year. Warnock is the first black senator from the State of Georgia and the first Democrat elected in 20 years. Before becoming a senator Warnock was the pastor of the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church, which was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's church and a center of the 1960s civil rights movement. Warnock used his position to protest and fight against the death penalty, to expand medicare in Georgia, for gun control, and for voting rights. In the Senate, Senator Warnock has been one of the most outspoken on voting rights pushing the John Lewis Voting Rights Act named after his late friend Georgia Congressman John Lewis. Republicans for nominated former football player, and Trump super fan, Herschel Walker to try to unseat Senator Warnock. Walker vocally supported Trump's election lies, posting many times on social media that Biden did not win the 2020 election. Walker declared this week that climate action was "giving money to trees" and "don't we have enough trees?". Walker believes in a total ban on abortion, and is against LGBT rights. Walker is against gun control and floated the idea of the government monitoring all social media and internet usage by Americans instead of gun control. Walker beat his now ex-wife Cindy Grossman, and threatened her with a gun and knives multiple times, after the divorce Grossman feared Walker would kill her and her boyfriend. Walker also is a dead beat dad who has a number of children out of wedlock that he has no contact with, he has criticized black men many times for being absent fathers. The US Senate doesn't need a man who threatens to shoot women, re-elect Senator Warnock.
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Nevada
Catherine Cortez Masto (re-elect)
Senator Catherine Cortez Masto was narrowly elected in 2016 and his running for her second term in the Senate. Senator Cortez Masto is the first women elected to represent Nevada in the Senate and the first and to date ONLY Latina elected to the US Senate. When she was Nevada's attorney general Cortez Masto sued Bank of America for it's predatory lending practices and won nearly a billion dollars against the bank. As a US Senator Cortez Masto has been a major supporter of clean energy jobs and hopes to turn Nevada into the solar energy capital of America. Republicans have nominated former Nevada attorney general Adam Laxalt to try to unseat Cortez Masto. Laxalt spent his time as AG (2015-2019) suing the Obama Administration EPA to fight against strong climate regulations. Laxalt opposed a multi-state law suit against ExxonMobil for it's role in downplaying Climate change. Laxalt also sued the Obama administration to stop DACA, filed briefs supporting radical anti-abortion laws from Texas and Mississippi when they went to court, and sued the Obama Department of Labor to stop certain workers being paid over time. After leaving office Laxalt was the Chairman of Trump's 2020 re-election effort in Nevada. As Chairman Laxalt was the leading figure in the election conspiracy in Nevada claiming the election in his state was fraudulent and Biden hadn't really won Nevada. Laxalt has made many false claims of election fraud in Nevada in the 2020 election. Laxalt launched his 2022 campaign for Senate claiming "woke corporations" "academia" and "the radical left" have taken over America. Nevada has to send Cortez Masto, the only Latina in the Senate, back for another term, Laxalt is dangerously unfit.
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New Hampshire
Maggie Hassan (re-elect)
Senator Maggie Hassan was elected in the closest senate race of 2016 and is running for her second term in the senate. Senator Hassan was a key vote to save Obamacare from repel in 2017. During her time in the US Senate Senator Hassan has helped pass bills to more than double the funding to help treat the opioid crisis as well as banning surprise medical billing. Senator Hassan first ran for office 20 years ago as a way to advocate for her son who has Cerebral palsy, she's been a strong advocate for disability rights and special education through out her time in public service. Because New Hampshire has one of the latest primaries (September 13th) we don't know for sure which Republican will be nominated to face her in November. The front runner is a retired general named Don Bolduc. Bolduc's first foray into into politics was spinning and supporting 2020 election denial conspiracy theories, even after the January 6th riot. Bolduc has closely tied himself to Trump. Bolduc called fellow Republican, New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu "Chinese Communist sympathizer" and accused him of "supports terrorism" for not being conservative enough and loyal to Trump enough. New Hampshire should send back a Senator who gets things done and not a wing-nut calling people in his own party communists and terrorists.
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North Carolina
Cheri Beasley (flip)
Former Chief Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court Cheri Beasley is running to fill a Senate seat opened up by the retirement of Republican Senator Richard Burr. In 2008 Beasley became the first black women to win a state wide election in North Carolina when she was elected to the Court of Appeals. In 2012 she was appointed to the state Supreme Court and won election in 2014. She was appointed the Chief Justice in 2019 the first black woman to serve as the State's Chief Justice. Beasley lost by less than 500 votes her run for a full term as Chief Justice in 2020. In her time as a public defender and elected Judge and Justice Beasley has stressed fairness and equity. If elected she'd be the first black Senator from North Carolina. She's stressed health care and abortion rights as key issues of her campaign. Republicans have nominated Congressman Ted Budd to try to fill the seat. Congressman Budd is a member of the radical "House Freedom Caucus". He voted to repeal Obamacare in 2017. Budd was also a major support of Trump's attempt to over throw the result of the 2020 election. Congressman Budd voted against certifying the election result on January 6th, even after the capital had been stormed by violent Trump supporters. Budd is Trump's hand picked candidate for the North Carolina Senate seat, Budd only launched his campaign after meeting with Trump in Mar-a-Lago. North Carolina doesn't need an election denying Trump toady for Senator, send Cheri Beasley to Congress.
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Ohio
Tim Ryan (flip)
Congressman Tim Ryan is running to fill a Senate seat being opened up by the retirement of Republican Senator Rob Portman. Congressman Ryan has represented the Youngstown area of Ohio since 2003. In his time in Congress Ryan has been a champion of unions and American workers. His Senate run is focused on protecting American manufacturing jobs and bring well paying union jobs back to the American heart land. Ryan is strongly pro-choice. Republicans have nominated author and venture capitalist JD Vance. Vance is closely tied to Trump money man Peter Thiel as well as Arizona candidate and white nationalist Blake Masters. Vance has publicly said that women should stay in abusive marriages. Vance is against abortion in all cases even rape or health of the mother. Vance has also publicly stated he sees the populist, antisemitic, anti-LGBT dictatorship of Hungarian Prime Minster Viktor Orbán as a model for America. Vance talked about how he hopes in a second Trump term to purge all civil servants who don't agree with Trumpism and replace them with "our people". America does not need a pro-fascist who supports wife beating in the Senate, send Tim Ryan to the Senate instead.
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Pennsylvania
John Fetterman (flip)
Pennsylvania Lieutenant Governor John Fetterman is running to fill a seat opened by the retirement of Republican Senator Pat Toomey. First elected Lt Governor in 2018 Fetterman has used his platform to advocate the legalization of marijuana. Fetterman also is a vocal supporter of the LGBT community clashing with the Republican state legislature repeatedly about the display of a pride flag off the balcony of his official office at the state capital. Fetterman is running a campaign that is strongly pro-choice, supportive of criminal justice reform, and calls healthcare a human right. Republicans have nominated Mehmet Oz, better known as Dr. Oz. As a reality TV star "physician" Oz was criticized repeatedly for advocating fake cures and dangerous weight loss pills. During the Covid-19 pandemic Oz pushed Trump's favorite fake cure, Hydroxychloroquine, which is not a treatment for Covid. While running for the senate Oz has endorsed banning trans people from sports by law, and that trans youth are based on "false science". Oz is also says he'd vote to repeal Obamacare and strongly supports fracking. Pennsylvania doesn't need a flip flopping TV huckster from New Jersey as its Senator, election Fetterman.
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Wisconsin
Mandela Barnes (flip)
Wisconsin Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes is running to unseat Republican Senator Ron Johnson. Barnes served in the state legislature from 2013 till 2017 before being elected Lt Governor in 2018, he is the first black person to win state wide office in Wisconsin. As Lt Governor Barnes served as the chair of the Climate Task Force putting forward a 55 point plan to combat climate change. Barnes has been a vocal supporter of policies like Medicare for All, a Green New Deal, and marijuana legalization. If elected Barnes would be the first black Senator from Wisconsin and one of only two Senators in their 30s. Incumbent Republican Senator Ron Johnson has been Wisconsin's Senator since 2010 and is running for his 3rd term in office. In the Senate Johnson was one of Trump's strongest allies. Johnson was one of the main congressional pushers of the 2020 election conspiracy theories to the point his home town paper the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel called him a member of the "Sedition Caucus". Johnson also has pushed conspiracy theories that the January 6th riot was the fault of Nancy Pelosi or the FBI, and said he didn't think it was a big deal and felt safe during the attack because they were Trump supporters. Johnson has also pushed Covid misinformation, such as mouthwash as a treatment for Covid-19 or that "thousands" of deaths had been linked to the vaccine. Johnson has blamed mass shootings on a failure to teach "values" and is against gun control. in resent weeks Johnson has floated the idea of privatizing Social Security and Medicare. Protect Social Security, send Barnes to Congress.
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If you're one of the 85 million Americans who live in one of these States please PLEASE PLEASE remember to VOTE November 8th
Everyone remember to VOTE NOVEMBER 8th! vote in EVERY election from School Board on up to Governor and Senate, now more than ever all these elections matter and they matter a lot.
if you have $10, $5, even $1 to spare please please please think about giving it to one of these candidates, Democrats are passing big things and are running against the worst of the worst.
If you live in one of these states please please PLEASE think about giving just one weekend between now and Election Day to talk to voters and help turn out the vote. Even if you don't live in any of these states you can call or text voters in these states and help these campaigns
#Politics#US politics#Democrats#Senate#Florida#pennsylvania#Ohio#Georgia#Arizona#election#vote#voting#November 8th
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The internet censorship is coming..(again)
There are two well known censorship bill known as KOSA and the EarnIt act.
These bills both promised that they will protect children but unfortunately these are misguided bills that says they’ll do something but then they will do the opposite or make things worse.
Both of these bills are serious threat to the LGBT community and will censor a lot of content especially there
the EarnItact will also get rid of NSFW content and deem it as illegal, and will also get rid of section 230
The KOSA act will let attorneys from Florida and Texas take control and decide what people could and could not watch and sue websites and anything they don’t like and will not protect children but mostly put many vulnerable teens and children at risk while going as far as to even censor important information like sex education, health issues, suicide prevention hotlines and many more
We have stopped these bills from passing before but the cofounder Richard Bluemenhal is clearly not giving up and trying hard and hard again to push these bills back on congress
Last year more than 90/100 human rights groups urged lawmakers and congress to not pass KOSA in the omnibus bill and it got shelved and the same then happened to Earn it last year on February/March
But now he is trying a third time,using and manipulating grieving parents and young people into supporting and lobbying his bills, whiles even accepting anti trans and LGBT groups into supporting his legislations. He’s trying to find any type of scandal a platform is currently facing and turn and twist it on behalf of his agendas.
He says he supports abortions and the LGBT community but his bills will censor those things he claims to support. He can’t have it both ways.
But he was stubborn enough to ignore every criticism and scrutiny he gets about the legislations, being childish and all.
Not to mention that they are also both privacy nightmares to everyone and globally too
That’s why it’s important that you call and email your representatives and lawmakers and urge them to drop Kosa and the earn it act
Let any human rights group you trust knows and tell anyone you trust about it weather it be a friend or family member.
For more information, click these links below ⬇️
You can also help us by joining our discord server on how to stop internet censorship
There also a petition made from Fightforfuture recently about the KOSA act
(Update # 2)
Hey guys I’m back to warn everyone about yet again another bad internet bill it’s called the safe tech act
This act is supported by 7 democratic senators including bluemenhal which is never a good sign with him when it comes to internet bills.
This is a misguided 230 reform and when reading it, all it shows is that these people have no understanding of 230 whatsoever.
It’s just another dangerous censorship bill that threatens everyone’s free speech. The creators claim that it’s won’t hurt free speech but it actually does and they do not understand how important 230 is in its current form right now!
Here is a good article explaining the safe tech act really well and why it’s dangerous :
Also talk to your representatives about this and why it’s bad and if you can, try to explain to them about why section 230 is important. Support digital advocacy, human rights and any other groups that supports free internet and expression and let them know about these legislators and their bad ideas!
Update 3
The EarnIt act is sadly coming back after failing two times, now they are trying a 3rd time.
This legislation is dangerous for privacy and free expression and speech. It will bring lots of surveillance and is just as bad as the restrict act.
https://act.eff.org/action/the-earn-it-act-is-back-seeking-to-scan-us-all
Now it’s being reintroduced by two senators and two representatives if you don’t know what this bill actually does there is more information about it here from these links : https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/04/earn-it-bill-back-again-seeking-scan-our-messages-and-photos
The second one is called KOSA (KidsOnlineSafteyAct),
now this bill has failed to pass last year because a lot of opposition from 90/100 human rights.
It claims it’s would protect kids but it’s actually has a lot of censorship and is very dangerous to lgbt/trans kids and many other kids that are in abusive households. It will actually hurt them instead of protecting them.
If that’s not bad enough it’s tragically gaining momentum and attraction by these child advocacy groups and being sponsored by Dove and Lizzo. And there has been petitions in supporting this unconstitutional bill, One of them having somewhere around 30k signs…
I really wish I could say I’m joking but this is sadly true.
If you want more info on KOSA here they are:
https://www.fightforthefuture.org/actions/censorship-wont-make-kids-safe/
Please everyone call your senators and representatives and tell them to oppose these bills. We really need help into fighting off these bill so we could keep a free opened internet!
#stop kosa#earn it act#im sorry#fuck censorship#net neutrality#lgbt rights#fight for your right#i’m so tired#trans rights#lgbtq#transgender#lgbt#safe tech act#section 230#important#censorship#technology#politics#stop censorship#anti censorship#antifascism#government#congress#lgbtqia#activism#human rights
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✨🪐Astro Notes and Observations #2🪐✨
These observations are all based off my own personal experience and are mostly generic - don't take it to heart if you disagree <3
✨Since I realised how much Mars influence translates into a persons physical appearance, I’ve been looking for evidence of this in other signs and planets, and I’ve namely found it in people with a lot of Moon influence in their chart! I’ve noticed they tend to have big, round features - especially in the face, think big, round eyes. Elsewhere it could mean a round body shape or big belly, even a decent bunda or pair of boobs tbh 😂 but that’s not a total given. There’s just something about them that’s quite… smoooooooooth, and soft looking.
(Zawe Ashton, Princess Diana, and Lana Del Rey are all Cancers!)
✨I find Taurus placements NOTORIOUS for giving unsolicited advice - what sucks most though is that 99% of the time it’s usually quite helpful so it’s hard to complain 😭
✨I know Aquarius’ are often seen as the activists of the zodiac, but in my experience a lot of them aren’t really all about that life. They might be quite forward thinkers, but they don���t usually care to argue - they’re not going to try and convince you about their opinion if they don’t think you’ll actually listen. They are probably willing to have a civil conversation, they’re GREAT conversationalists, but as soon as there’s any heat? They’re out.
✨If you struggle to identify with your birth chart, try calculate it in Whole Signs according to traditional rulership, as opposed to Placidus with modern rulership! I switched recently, and it’s been a total game changer for me. I resonate with my house placements so much more now.
✨Cancer Moon and Mars get the biggest ick from rudeness; the quickest way to get on these guys bad side is by being ill mannered. They are ALLL about good manners.
✨Scorpio and Leo in a chart together makes for the least mysterious scorpios ever LMAO just all the angst and non of the mystery - plus they reallyyyyy like to bask in their own misery, and trust, you will hear about it.
✨Taurus stellium are always putting other people’s needs before their own, truly the mother of the friend group.
✨Cancer and 4th house placements as the homebody nurturing mother archetype is suchhhh a lazy and reductive take - just because someones got cancer placements doesn’t automatically mean they want to be a parent and launch babies out their vagine till it doesn’t work anymore. Why does no one ever point out the way that Cancers absolutely do NOT play about their parents or their siblings? Or how much Cancers take pride in their home/living space? How inseparable they are with their pets? Or that they’re just as much foodies as Taurus! Especially with sweets, anything from Haribos to pastries. Cancers are more than just breeders.
#Astro community#astro observations#astrology#zodiac signs#zodiac#aries#taurus#gemini#cancer#leo#virgo#libra#scorpio#sagittarius#capricorn#aquarius#pisces
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okay as someone who is critical of performative activism can you explain to me how protesting isn't performative? not tring to 'gotcha' you, i just really don't get how standing holding signs in seattle impacts what's happening overseas. the 'block the boat' protest made sense to me bc they were stopping weapons sent to israel, and it makes sense when like laborers damage equipment as part of a work stoppage bc they're wasting the bosses money. but most protests seem to be about 'showing solidarity' and i feel like usually they're more for the benefit of the protestors and to make them feel good for getting involved even if the involvement doesn't directly affect the outcome of whatever they're protesting. i'm open to being wrong about that though?
I used to feel this way, anon. And then I saw Palestinian men full on crying at protests while Facetiming their relatives overseas to show them that people actually cared. And I saw young Palestinian kids walking in front of their parents, moms, dads, aunts, and uncles, leading the chants of thousands of people, filled with confidence, not afraid to name their home land and give a voice to their resistance. And I saw elderly Muslim people, people who have likely not attended many American protests before of this size, emboldened and waving Palestinian flags and recognizing old family friends in the crowd and embracing one another. And I saw the highway be stopped for hours by thousands of us, forcing the entire city's road system to be rerouted, forcing untold numbers to contend with the rage that is being felt. And I saw us shut down all Black Friday shopping on the north end of Michigan avenue, closing off Victoria's Secret (which has manufacturing plants on Palestinian land), and covering the largest Starbucks in the Midwest (an informal boycott Target) with dozens of pro-Palestinian banners and stickers. And I've seen us showing up for one another again and again and again, every weekend, blocking off boycotted stores, ending business as usual, disrupting traffic, exhausting the police (who have had to pull a lot of overtime to deal with us), drawing attention to the cause, ending politicians' fundraising and meet & greet events, and not allowing business to go on as usual our ourselves to be complicit any longer.
I get the jadedness. I do. I have been there, especially after seeing awful police violence against protestors in 2020 and then seeing very little legal change occur. But the meaningful change we need will not occur via legal avenues. Protest is a means of building up collective power, of training people to think more collectively, of helping to normalize the viewpoints that we are advocating for, of disrupting regular everyday activities such as shopping and work that distract people from what is happening, of wearing the police state, of making our political representatives fearful and tired, and of setting the stage for larger, bolder, more disruptive direct actions that prevent or end humanitarian crises.
Block the boat doesn't just happen out of nowhere. You have to have a dedicated team of organizers and hundreds to thousands of devoted activists, medics, legal observers, coordinators, and people on the side lines offering resources and food. You need people to feel uplifted, motivated, and confident. You don't just get that in one day. The west coast has been able to launch incredibly effective actions like these because their work is YEARS in the making. Every major protest, every autonomous zone, every organizing meeting, it has all led to this. It takes work. It takes people being willing to show up and do that work, regularly, even when it is not glamorous, even when they do not get a sticker for it, and even when they cannot always walk away feeling that they've done something personally in that moment. It is a collective, long term endeavor, and it requires toughness and commitment.
Besides, the protests we are talking about actually are direct actions. Protestors yesterday shut down Zara. And now the company has to contend with a lot of bad PR from thousands of us screaming outside Zara's flagship store in the Chicago, speaking out about its advertisements mocking the Palestinian people. Shutting down the highway multiple times and other boycotted stores and ruining political fundraisers is directly impactful too. Now if any protestors want to take it further than that, I welcome them and I'll be there to join them. The Black & Indigenous solidarity rally in 2020 was one really impactful example. It came to blows in a serious way, but we almost tore the Columbus statue down. The city was so afraid of another incident they took the statue down themselves.
This is how we get things done. We show up, in large numbers, we give comfort and steadfast support to those most targeted, we show the state our true numbers, we wake other people up from their slumber, and we keep pushing to do more. We need as many people on the line as possible. The presence of every single person at a protest is powerfully felt. Numbers gives us confidence, it literally keeps us warmer in the cold in a noticeable way, it shows Palestinian people that we are with them, it broadcasts a message on the world stage, and it makes it possible for things like flipping over police cars and starting fires and closing bomb manufacturers possible.
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The "calling police is inherently immoral" takes feel… maybe a bit US-centric? All countries have structural issues with police that come as the result of the conflict of interests between individual people and the interest of the bourgie state, but not every country's police force is a highly-militarized, highly-armed trigger-happy murder force comprised of wannabe bullies the way the US's seems to be. Some do clear that very low bar. Hell, there are tons of countries where regular police officers aren't even armed.
In my life I've called the police twice over student parties past midnight so loud you could hear them two streets away, and once over someone's dog being trapped/forgotten in the trunk of car, distressed and barking continuously.
Even in a world after police abolition, the above kind of policing will continue to need to happen. Some people are dicks, and some situations need intervention. A shitton of civil law, not criminal law, exists for a very good reason and still requires some form of police to enforce. I like to think I have a pretty hopeful view of humanity, but the reason people in my country have stopped smoking indoors, and don't leave their trash in random places, and don't piss in the middle of the street, is that all of those things are illegal and can result in police being called and getting you fined. There is absolutely no way people en masse would obey those "don't be a dick" laws without that stick hanging over them.
In a country where police are so fucked up that calling them over a minor disturbance is likely to get people killed, yeah, I would probably not call the police and just suck it up and mourn the fact that the supposed justice system has become completely unusable for its intended purpose. But not all countries are like that.
(To be clear: I don't agree with calling police over someone doing drugs.)
even in countries where the police are not just outright death squads putting young people, especially young people of colour or working class young people, into a situation where they suddenly have to interact with the police is just not a cool thing to do. you've correctly identified that the role of the police is to repress the working class, no matter whether they're the white supermacist paramilitary groups of the US or the less militarized and better at PR police forces of Europe. like. the police in the UK are also 'not as bad' as the police in the US and yet they still do all kinds of horrendous racist violent shit and kill people. even the darling of democratic socialism norway, famous for its humane prison and policing system, actually still experiences police brutality, because no matter how 'professional' and disarmed the police force is its role is to enforce bourgeois property rights through violence. the idea that there is an 'intended purpose' to the justice is just buying into the police's hype.
& hey by the way you know who leaves their trash in the street and pisses there? homeless people. people who have nowhere else to put their trash or piss. the idea that the police are the only thing keeping society from descending into 'chaos' (i.e. visible signs of poverty and homelessness existing) is genuinely deeply reactionary. it's thin blue line shit. sure, it's cool that calling the police in your country isn't playing russian roulette with someone else's life but if you think that the police aren't 'a murder force' or 'comprised of wannabe bullies' wherever you live then i think you should probably look harder and pay more attention because there are almost certainly anti-police activists there who can tell you otherwise!
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I've been talking with a few people irl about the TikTok ban and I was wondering if I could get your take on it? (iirc you work in election security). Mainly I'd like to know why TikTok/China is *uniquely* bad wrt dating mining/potential election interference when we've seen other companies/governments do the same thing (thinking of the Russian psyops here on Tumblr in 2016). It feels like the scope is so narrow that it doesn't come close to targeting the root problem (user privacy and data mining as a whole), leading me to think it's only point is "ooh China Scary". Thoughts? (No worries if you'd rather not get into it, I just thought of you as someone who might have more insight/informed opinions on the matter).
So I'm not really familiar with all the details of the case and certainly not all the details of the bill. But I will give my perspective:
TikTok as a particular threat to users' data and privacy has been known for some time in the cybersecurity world. US government employees and contractors have been straight-up forbidden to have it on their phones for some time now. I, for example, have never had it on my phone because of these security concerns. (Worth noting, I'm not a government employee or contractor, it was just a known-to-be dangerous app in the cybersecurity world so I avoided it.)
This is because the parent company, as I understand, has known connections to the Chinese government that have been exploited in the past. For example, to target journalists.
Worth noting, another app that would potentially be on the chopping block is WeChat, which also has close ties to (or is outright owned by?) the Chinese government. This is just speculation on my part but it's based on the fact that all the concerns around TikTok are there for WeChat too and it has also been banned on government devices in some states, so I imagine it would be next if the bill passes.
I think this is important to note because I've seen some hot takes here on Tumblr have said that the entire case against TikTok is made up and there is no security threat. That is simply not true. The concerns have been there for a while.
However, the question of what to do about it is a thorny one.
The determination seems to be that so long as TikTok is still owned by its parent company with its direct ties to the Chinese government, there really is no way to guarantee that it's safe to use. From that angle, demanding that the company sever ties and set up some form of local ownership makes sense.
I am not a lawyer, but, that being said, forcing them to sell their local operations to a locally-based buyer is a pretty invasive and unusual step for legislators to take against a private company, even in a clear case of spying. I'm sure TikTok's widespread popularity is a big part of the threat it poses, which lends to the argument used to justify such an extreme step. (Because it is on so many phones, it really could be a danger to national security.)
That said, at one point young activists on TikTok embarrassed Trump (lots of good context in this article) while he was campaigning in 2020, and there was some talk then about shutting it down which seemed pretty clearly linked to how it was used as a platform to organize against him. I'm sure there's at least some right wing antipathy towards the app that has a political basis going back to this event. Trump signed an executive order banning it, the ban going into effect got bogged down in the courts, and then Biden rescinded that executive order when he got into office, pending an investigation into the threat it posed.
Those investigations seem to have further confirmed that the Chinese government is getting access to US user data through the app, and further confirmed it as a security threat.
Now, to muddy the waters further, there's several dodgy investment funds including one owned by former Secretary of the Treasury to Trump Steven Mnuchin that are circling with an interest to buy TikTok if it does sell. That's very concerning.
Funds like Mnuchin's interest in purchasing TikTok (even though they do invest in other technologies too, so it is in their portfolio) definitely makes the motivations behind the sale look pretty damning as momentum builds, that it could be some sort of money grab here in the US.
China has also pointed out that forcing the sale of a company because of spying concerns like this opens a whole can of worms. If China thinks that, say, Microsoft is spying on their citizens, could they force the US company to sell its operations in China to a Chinese investor? Could they force Google? Could they even further polarize the internet in general between "free" and "not free" (as in, behind the great Chinese or Russian firewall, as examples) if this precedent is set, so that no Western companies can operate in authoritarian states without selling their local operations there to a government-controlled organization, and thus be unable protect their users there? Or, if you don't have so rosy a view of Western companies, could it effectively deal a blow to international trade in general by saying you have to have to sell any overseas arms of a company to someone who is from there? Again, I'm not a lawyer, but this is a hell of a can of worms to open.
But again, this is muddy because China absolutely is spying on TikTok users. The security reason for all of this is real. What to do about it is the really muddled part that has a ton of consequences, and from that angle I agree with people who are against this bill. Tons of bad faith consequences could come out of it. But the concerns kicking off the bill are real.
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I'm so disappointed in Susan Sarandon right now. How about never ever have a sentence in any context that includes "Jews getting a taste of".
Especially as a woman. Like how do all these women just dismiss the rape of moms. Murdering of children. Putting babies in ovens!!! Ignoring the hostages living in Hell right now. Just I need a sign of humanity right now.
What they did October 7th wasn't warfare. It wasn't against a military. It was barbaric, animal style torture. Anyone not talking about what they did that day is just a soulless monster to me.
Hi Nonnie!
I couldn't agree more. Her antisemitism really jumped out of her there, didn't it? If your response to the Jews of your country being persecuted and scared is, "Good!" I don't care what excuses you use, you're just an antisemite.
Also, saying that "Jews are getting a taste of what Muslims are in this country," like Jews had it coming, only makes sense if you're saying that Jews are somehow responsible for islamophobia in the US? Which is literally the opposite of the truth. An islamophobia Index study found Jews were the least prejudiced in the US against Muslims. But even if it were true, do two wrongs make a right? The very idea that she's using American Islamophobia to justify American antisemitism is also evidence of her just being an antisemite.
But there were many headlines saying she was fired for being pro-Palestinian. Here's a few examples:
Even many of the headlines who didn't call her comment "pro-Palestinian," stated that she was dumped by her agency for comments "at a pro-Palestinian rally" instead of just saying she was dropped for making antisemitic remarks.
It demonstrates exactly how this new antisemitism works. She can say anything antisemitic, no matter how morally wrong, no matter how factually inaccurate, and it just gets cloaked as being "pro-Palestinian." Will American Jews being scared in the US free a single Palestinian in Gaza? No. Did Sarandon speak for Palestinian protesters a few months ago, when they were being killed by Hamas? Also no. Because she doesn't really care about them, they're just a tool for her to be gleeful over Jews being persecuted.
I'm not even gonna talk about her circulating false information about the Jewish state (that Israeli soldiers are the ones responsible for killing Israeli civilians, not Hamas), and that to do so, she retweeted a right wing, white supremacist antisemite. Sarandon, supposedly a human rights, far left activist, amplified the voice of a right wing, white supremacist antisemite. There really is no end to what antisemites are willing to do, or what they think they can get away with under the guise of "just" being anti-Israel, not antisemitic.
I'm glad she got her comeuppance, I'm glad her talent agency dropped her. Not that her acting career has been relevant for decades. She had two iconic roles, which is two more than many actors, but I was looking at her acting credits, and the last time she had an acting role that really made waves at the time is a 1999 movie. And maybe that also explains why she's suddenly so vocally anti-Israeli since 2021, because that's the only way she's made headlines in recent years. IDK to what a degree this also plays a role, but I do think people like Sarandon and Roger Waters are, at least in part, also feeding their own ego, when suddenly their anti-Israel (and antisemitic) comments get them attention, and from certain factions, even praise.
That's a long winded way to say, I totally agree with you. About Sarandon, and about anyone dismissing, ignoring, and especially justifying Oct 7. It was barbaric on levels that are hard to comprehend. I think it's especially telling when hearing forensic examiners, first responders and morgue workers saying that Oct 7 was like none of the other horrors they had witnessed over decades of gruesome work.
I hope you're doing good, lovely, despite how infuriating all of this is. Sending you hugs! xoxox
(for all of my updates and ask replies regarding Israel, click here)
#ask#anon ask#israel#israeli#israel news#israel under attack#israel under fire#israelunderattack#terrorism#anti terrorism#antisemitism#hamas#antisemitic#antisemites#jews#jew#judaism#jumblr#frumblr#jewish
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maybe this is controversial, but I really don't feel bothered by Taylor not speaking out on political and social issues. I'm her fan because I like her as a person and because her art speaks to me, not because she's an expert on middle eastern politics or public health or feminism. She never signed up to be an activist or an educator and I don't think it's fair to hold her to that standard.
i think, generally, everyone would be more productive if they accepted that none of their celebrity idols will be morally correct all the time and it benefits them to just stay neutral. first of all, they are humans and entitled to believe whatever they want, and we must coexist with people we disagree with even when it sucks.
but it also means accepting that no one becomes super duper famous for being an outspoken activist unless that is their job (and then they might get killed or imprisoned but that's another conversation.) first of all, most people are pretty ignorant. and a lot of leftist beliefs are very unpalatable to the powers that be and the average person. being outspoken is a risk as a celebrity (personal, financial, whatever), so they simply do not risk it, and stay quiet. and frankly, most of us make the same decision in our day-to-day lives: being outspoken activists means sacrificing a lot, including relationships, jobs, and so on.
furthermore, a celebrity can say all the right things, but this doesn't mean they're doing the right things privately. see: lizzo.
so like. you can either enjoy your fun silly celebrity hobby and accept that you will heartily disagree with them sometimes but still enjoy it. maybe even consider that humans can have both good AND bad political beliefs simultaneously, and many humans are ignorant even when they say the right things.
or, you could say there's no way i can enjoy someone who i disagree with on these points, and then you can just get off stan tumblr and find a better hobby.
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All of Taylor's albums were tailored to the most popular aesthetic at the time. She didn't make shit popular, she just adapted. Especially when she made the transition into pop music.
True. She's currently jumping fences with rep as well. Making it out to be a goth punk moment and using trendy words like 'female rage'. The album has the most romantic songs she's ever written. C'mon now. The whole record is electropop with some R&B elements thrown into the mix.
She portrays 'Lover' as her social justice warrior era. 'If I was a man, then I'd be the man'. Yeah, we've seen it Taylor. Miss 'me becoming a billionaire is good for the world because I'm a woman'. She makes herself out to be this 'feminist girl's girl' when in reality it couldn't be further from the truth. She's not a feminist and she doesn't want to be the woman that's advocating for women's rights and leads the path for the future generation of women. She wants to be the man at the top. Her motto is literally 'gaslight, gatekeep, girlboss, greenhouse gases'.
Another thing is her queer allyship. She's mentioned it when and only when it was profitable to her. During her tour she hadn't said a thing when the number of states signed anti-trans bills and the state of Tennessee where she says she lives *according to her own documentary* banned drag. I don't think she said anything about the anti-abortion legislation either. Her activist era started and ended in 2019.
Don't get me started on her position regarding the BLM movement. She only posted something because her own fans started calling her out and then declared that she's 'ferociously anti-racist'. She positioned herself as an advocate *by herself* and then immediately dipped when it stopped being as profitable. If you don't want to be dragged for your silence about social and political crises, don't proclaim yourself as an activist. Simple as that.
I've also seen the video on Youtube about TS being a narcissist (someone posted it on your blog earlier I think). And the guy in the video brought up her guitar teacher. So I looked him up and found an article where he talks about his experience with the Swifts which he got sued for later. According to the man, Taylor's mother was interested in him teaching her daughter how to play country music and was just a stage mom in general. And TS says that she'd been begging her parents to allow her learn how to play guitar and that she's self-taught. She wants her success story to be a rags to riches so bad I can't even.
She's a woman with an extremely fragile ego where millions of people could be praising her and a single negative comment would set her off. She can't handle any form of criticism, break ups or inconveniences like a grown woman simply because she doesn't have enough emotional intelligence to do so. Her being surrounded by yes men also doesn't help the situation. If i were her, I'd rather invest in a good therapist rather than 2 PJs. She drowns herself in work and relationships so she doesn't have time to go inwards and sit with her thoughts.
I kinda feel bad for her, honestly. She's been in the industry since she was 15 and her success was almost immediate. She doesn't know what the world's like because she's been sheltered her whole life and then had other people do things for her. I don't think she has many real friends as well. By real I mean people who aren't afraid to tell you the truth and are able to call you out in your face. Instead she has a bunch of people who appease her afraid of pissing her off and ending up on her bad side and as a result her vanity grows and she completely loses any sort of perspective whether in her friendships, romantic relationships or maybe even her own family.
I also wonder what she thinks about her fandom pirating her concert film instead of paying to rent it. I sort of hope that her fans are starting to wake up to her conning schemes. I mean, you've already made a shit ton of money from the theatre release, why charging 20$ more to RENT IT?Not even buy it. Or is it another narrative about how 'no one can own my work but me'?
This woman sells well but her cultural impact is almost nonexistent. She hadn't done any good for the world causes or inspired several generations of performers like Michael Jackson has with his philanthropic endeavors and incredible performing skills. The artists like Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars, Justin Timberlake (bleh) and The Weeknd were hugely influenced by MJ. These artist create their own unique legacy and impact on their communities. Especially the ladies. Gaga's been an avid LGBT+ advocate since the beginning of her career and created a foundation that focuses on issues like self-confidence, well-being, anti-bullying, mentoring and career development. She also participated in anti HIV and AIDS campaigns, spoke against immigration laws in the US, contributed to 2011's earthquake and tsunami relief campaign in Japan. Beyoncé's a huge advocate for the black community and black women especially which always finds its way in her work and visual art in particular. She's been platforming black culture and history for her whole career (2016 Superbowl and Coachella performance are the brightest examples of black american culture and releasing her Lion King album to showcase African artists' excellence). She also has a foundation where she provides black youth scholarships, clean water for communities abroad and housing to families in need in her home state.
What exactly makes Taylor Swift's cultural impact? Thousands of tons CO2 emissions? Music labels putting a clause in the contract so the artists can't re-record their material for 10 years now instead of 5? Making several versions of the same CD or vinyl so the sales are bigger? Mind you, that's all excessive plastic and paper. Some countries and US states are banning gas stoves. Her position regarding artists being paid during the early days of streaming (when the platforms were launching with a free period tial) was right but no one really benefited from it but her. She was shitting on Apple Music, then they offered her money, filmed an ad and released her 1989 Tour DVD exclusively on their platform. She shat on Spotify, then when LWYMMD came out, she was all over their biggest playlists all of a sudden and recorded Spotify Singles later on. Spotify's always promoted her every release like a motherfucker shoving her in every corner of the platform. Especially for the past 3 years. She doesn't have any memorable outfits or unique style to be called a fashion icon either. She's not a trailblazer she thinks she is. She is only popular because a lot of people *mostly ww* who peaked in high school see themselves in her. She's average in everything she does, her writing topes are also the same (only now she started using compound or uncommonly used words to mask it) but she's extremely commercially successful so that those people can see themselves in her. She doesn't have unique music style or chameleon-like discography like Gaga, Bey, MJ, Madonna, Shakira, Kelly Clarkson, Miley Cyrus or Nelly Furtado. She doesn't have a unique singing voice like Bjork, David Bowie, Freddie Mercury, Janis Joplin, MJ or Bob Dylan. She's no instrument prodigy either. And swifties say that 'Michael couldn't play any instruments'. Well, he was an exceptional beatboxer. She can strum 4 guitar chords and play basic piano, that's it. She doesn't have an outstanding dancing and/or vocal skill.
What is she gonna be remembered for? Her numerous relationships with famous men? While that might be misogynistic or sexist to some degree, she's the one who makes her relationships the centre of her music and public persona and brings them up even 10 years after they ended. Her public feuds with men and women that she can't get over years after? This woman is certainly can hold a grudge and is extremely vindictive. The leader of a parasocial cult that blindly defends her bigotry? I believe so. I don't think I've ever seen a fandom as toxic and as hive-minded as swifties. And again, it's Taylor's own creation. She's the one that constantly says 'look closely for the easter eggs' in her content making her fans theorize on every aspect of her life, or 'if you're very loyal I might invite you to MY HOUSE and you can listen to the new album early, we'll take pics and I'll bake you some cookies'. Of course they'll follow your any order. I'm glad I escaped.
Oof, I'll stop here. That's a very long one already
sorry hehe
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A quick update on what's been going on in Iran
In the last month or so, the street protests have decreased. There have been sporadic demonstrations here and there but the fire from the first three months has paled. I believe soon the fire is going to be back because the financial situation is getting worse by hour now and the regime, instead of appealing to people's good side, has been enforcing inhuman laws stronger than before.
On the 40th day memorial of 2 of the executed protesters, the fire did come back alive and there were multiple big demonstrations in many cities around Iran.
The obligatory hijab law is being enforced harsher than before. Many of my fellow iranian women still refuse to wear hijab out considering all the risks. In the last two weeks, at least two drugstores have been closed because the pharmacist owning the place refused to wear hijab. A couple of higher education students have been banned from using the national library because they took off their hijab inside of the library, and many university students have been forced to sign statements that said they promise to not take their hijab off again or else they're going to be expelled from university and they won't be able to attend any university inside of Iran again. The regime has also threatened women who don't wear hijab on the streets that they would disable their id cards and ban them from receiving social services.
A female engineer also did something really courageous in an event and I suggest you check that out. The news links are below.
More than a week before the earthquake in Turkey and Syria, there was an earthquake in Khoy, a northwestern city in Iran. Not only the Islamic Republic didn't send any help to the city, they tried so hard to stop us, people, from sending help there. They restricted some of the celebrities bank accounts and prevented people from raising money for the city. Turkey even offered their aid but the regime refused. People of other cities did send some food and clothes and blankets for the victims of the earthquake in the end. Even though the casualties of the earthquake wasn't high, many people lost their homes and had to reside in tents in cold snowy weather. But the most bewildering thing was that when the turkey earthquake happened the Islamic Republic volunteered to send help to Syria while still doing nothing for the people in Khoy. Unsurprisingly the help packages they sent to Syria didn't reach the places where earthquake happened, instead it went to Assad inventory.
Also this guy, a true hero. A human rights activist to his very core:
This is it for now. I appreciate anyone who has supported people of iran so far. We won't forget you. Woman life freedom ✌️
#iran#mahsa amini#jina amini#human rights#iran protests#politics#feminism#middle east#obligatory hijab#heroes of the year#iranian women
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i dont even have the capacity right now to make as robust of a post as i would like but i really think we all need to be aware of these updates regarding the stop cop city movement taking place in atlanta, georgia, united states of america. bold added for emphasis in the quotes below:
According to the state of Georgia, buying $11.91 worth of glue can land you on a RICO indictment, if the glue is used to protest the police. That’s exactly what it says in yesterday’s indictment against 61 people who have allegedly been protesting Atlanta’s potential Cop City. If you don’t know what Cop City is, it’s a plan to spend at least $90 million and destroy over 300 acres of forest to build a sprawling training center with a mock urban neighborhood to practice police tactics, specifically tactics of repression. Now, sweeping and overreaching charges claim that “militant anarchists” are engaged in a criminal conspiracy to stop this repression training center from being built. But, the indictment proceeds to lay out actions like handing out fliers, giving people food, and even running a bail fund to help arrested protesters as grounds for this case. The social media activity of people involved is referenced, simple acts of free speech are cited, and even ideas like solidarity and mutual aid are discussed as problems which somehow add to the necessity for this indictment.
...
U.S. police killed more people than ever last year and have not changed or reformed since the murder of George Floyd, and the people in Atlanta organizing against Cop City are very much aware of this. Yet instead of acknowledging the simple fact that cops should not kill, and that their power should not be endlessly expanded while they murder without consequence, the state of Georgia is instead choosing to grossly overreach. They’re instead trying to tie the movement to Stop Cop City to George Floyd and say that efforts to limit police violence are criminal rather than justified.
Regardless of whether or not activists and organizers fighting the massive police repression training center were in the streets in 2020, they are informed by the knowledge that sparked the biggest protest movement this country has ever seen: police murder without consequence, and expanding police power, means more violence, more killing, and more repression of movements to improve society. We must be clear that anyone who opposes police murders and the expansion of the police state is fighting on the side of justice. The details listed in the RICO indictment, like small Venmo charges, an individual signing their name as ACAB, and people attending a concert show that the state is very much on the other side, the side of ruthless oppression. But maybe even more clarifying is the broad, sweeping condemnation of basic tenants of human goodness. The state lists, “mutual aid, collectivism, social solidarity” as tenants of anarchism that run rampant in the movement to stop Cop City. The charges condemn, word for word, “the notion of social solidarity,” which, “relies heavily on the idea of human altruism.” In a tale as old as time, the indictment of these activists and organizers, of these people, these residents of Atlanta, is more an indictment of the state than of the movement opposed to the state’s interests. The state is revealing itself to be the real villain.
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The state has given the people of Atlanta, and everyone opposed to the eradication of democracy, no choice but to fight tooth and nail. They have gone for the nuclear option, and in doing so have exposed themselves. They have revealed the fascist underbelly they typically try to keep hidden. They have exposed that when people exercise every democratic avenue available, and are on the verge of success, they will resort to anti-democratic tactics to crush dissent. Beyond just this RICO case, the city of Atlanta is challenging the 100,000+ signatures gathered by grassroots organizers and volunteers working their asses off. Mayor Andre Dickens and his team are using the exact same regressive signature checking and discounting strategy he formerly opposed now that he wants to ram Cop City through against popular opinion and against the democratic process.
Between the Mayor, the police, and the state, what choice do we have but to fight. When the government declares itself opposed to the very ideas of solidarity, mutual aid, and care for one another they seek to crush resistance. But instead they spark it. People everywhere are seeing the illegitimate nature of the institutions that kill, repress, and incarcerate anyone struggling for a better world. People everywhere see that institutions opposed to collectively looking out for each other, which seek to ban compassion and care with the threat of violence, have no legitimacy and must be opposed. They cannot be upheld or sustained. In a world where we need each other more than ever we can’t abide a repressive state that would rather police us into an early grave than grant us the resources we need to survive. And although it won’t be easy to overturn the system of capitalism and the violent police state that works to uphold it, we’ve been given no choice.
We will Stop Cop City in Atlanta, and we will stop every attempt to build a Cop City anywhere. Officials in other Georgia counties, Baltimore, Ohio, and elsewhere are currently proposing their own Cop Cities, mimicking what they see in Georgia and attempting to build up their capacity to suppress dissent rather than building up their capacities to help people survive and thrive. We will out organize and out mobilize and out build the oppressive systems and institutions that seek to turn this country and the planet into one large police state. We have to. Be careful, but be determined. And get organized. Solidarity.
For over seven years, the fund—a nonprofit fiscally sponsored by the Network for Strong Communities—has provided legal defense and bail support for Atlanta. For aiding #StopCopCity protesters, the three fund organizers were arrested on charges of money laundering and charity fraud.
Of what did this “fraud” consist? The warrants cited standard nonprofit reimbursements such as COVID tests and forest clean-ups in their rationale for the arrests. In the words of Kamau Franklin, an organizer with the Atlanta-based collective Community Movement Builders: “This is an arrest which is meant to, again, criminalize the movement, chill dissent, stop organizing, and stop activism from happening to stop ‘cop city’.”
In so much as the work is radical, it will be under attack. Organizing that challenges capitalism, White supremacy, policing and prisons, and imperialism always carries risk. In the case of the bail fund, for example, what can movements do in the face of state repression? Potentially by shining a light on how mutual aid funding strategies are under siege, a clearer picture may emerge of ways to protect this valuable activity.
Multiple people have noted that the Atlanta arrests represent yet another novel authoritarian and growingly fascist tactic to intimidate grassroots organizing and also draws on a long tradition of state repression against the Black freedom struggle. If successful, it could have far-reaching impacts on the swell of bail funds, abortion funds, transgender healthcare funds, and immigrant justice funds that have grown in recent years.
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The Atlanta Solidarity Fund arrests did not occur in a vacuum. There is a long history of state repression against radical, grassroots power-building efforts—and those efforts continue today.
Historian Say Burgin and political scientist Jeanne Theoharis aptly point out that across 1960 Southern sit-ins, 1961 Freedom Riders, and 1964 Freedom Summer, bail funds were a critical organizing effort for crystallizing and sustaining solidarity action. Where politically motivated captivity for civil rights activists loomed, bail funds responded.
Mutual aid funding for these bail efforts were not just tactical, they were cultural. Mutual aid fundraising, in these contexts, gave everyday people a way to invest and engage in the very struggles they supported and needed. Mutual aid would provide yet another cultural outlet for radical, anti-repressive intent. This opportunity to mobilize people in radical efforts clarifies a threat to stakeholders in White supremacist institutions.
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There are also increasing examples of state actors co-opting both the language and practices of mutual aid. In an interview with mutual aid organizer and writer Dean Spade, the Chicago Community Bail Fund highlighted examples of sheriffs welcoming the arrival of bail funds to support unaffordable bonds, city council-supported ordinances to protect bail funds “while continuing to take the money of Black and Brown community members paying bond for their loved ones,” and the city of New York’s own philanthropically backed bail fund created in 2017. As members of the Chicago Community Bail Fund reflected on New York’s system: “In effect, New York was funding the arrest, prosecution, and release of people caught in its criminal legal system instead of not arresting or prosecuting them in the first place.”
#reaux speaks#signal boost#stop cop city#atlanta#georgia#united states#abolition#environmental justice#intersectional environmentalism#climate change#defund the police#new york#bail fund#mutual aid#solidarity#anarchism#collectivism#mutualism#community#baltimore#maryland#ohio#acab#rico charge
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I was waiting until I had a really dramatic prompt aND I FINALLY THOUGHT OF ONE SO LET'S GO
How about a no-quirks AU where AFO is a woman and she marries Second/Third just for political gain? Say Second is the heir to a major weapons developer or Third is the reluctant new head of a certain branch of government—something where their parents could (be manipulated to) set them up with someone else powerful and they wouldn't be able to say no.
Thus Second or Third's tragic and tense crash course into meeting Yoichi! :D
(You can also shuffle the others' genders around if you'd like I just figured AFO would have to be at multiple disadvantages to consider marrying Second or Third even for personal gain lmao)
Female AFO is fun!
1. Yoichi and All for One are both women in this AU, because I want to explore some sisterly dynamics. They're born into a wealthy Japanese family. Their father owns a major weapons development company and very much wanted a male heir. However, he had fertility problems and it took numerous expensive treatments just to have Yoichi. Their father never let Yoichi forget that she was supposed to be born a boy, and although AFO was the perfect heir in every regard, she was never good enough due to not having a dick. Their mother was weak-willed and unable to stand up for them.
2. Yoichi was a sickly, neglected child and AFO became very protective as a result. As children they were very close. By teens, Yoichi had started to feel inferior toward her favored, brilliant, and beautiful sister. As young adults, they fought because Yoichi had ethical objections to the family weapons business.
3. The Shigaraki father started pressuring AFO to get married from a young age, because he's desperate for a grandson. AFO resisted until their father drew up a document to leave the company to Yoichi instead. This could have been a bluff, but on the other hand, the Shigaraki father would loudly go around saying he'd rather see his company destroyed than in the hands of a woman, therefore if AFO didn't give him a male heir than he would let Yoichi dismantle it. (Seriously, this idiot thinks he's King Henry VIII with all this talk of heirs.)
4. We're increasing the tropes to the max in this AU. Second is the bastard child of a weapons development CEO. He was raised by his grandmother. His family called him back as heir after the legitimate son came out as gay and eloped with his boyfriend to Europe. Second didn't want anything to do with them, but his grandmother needed expensive medical treatment so he had to agree. AFO negotiated a merger of their companies (a major accomplishment) and she asked to marry their son to seal the deal. No one consulted Second before marrying him off.
5. Yoichi has an enormous crush on Second, who's an environmental rights activist and the author of her favorite book. She's secretly devastated her sister is marrying the guy she loves, feels too inferior to say anything, etc.
6. Second is very grumpy about being forced into this marriage and rude to Yoichi when they first meet. (More tropes!) However, AFO can't be bothered to plan this wedding due to running the company and keeps throwing Yoichi and Second together to handle the arrangements. Yoichi and Second fall in love, but there's a lot of angst over Second needing to marry AFO to save his grandmother. This culminates in a grand scene with Yoichi screaming "I object!" in the middle of the wedding, then running off with Second.
7. Here's where it gets really interesting. This was all a massive gambit from All for One. While the Shigaraki father is having a breakdown over the public embarrassment of the failed wedding, AFO takes over his company and has him marched out of his office by security. AFO got Yoichi to sign papers giving up any rights to the family business, using guilt-tripping over the groom theft and promising enough money to fund an overseas operation for Second's grandmother. From the beginning, AFO knew about Yoichi's crush and picked Second figuring he would run off with her little sister and thus leave her unmarried, free, and in a great negotiating position with his family to claim compensation. AFO has been deliberately throwing Yoichi and Second together. After all, she's a good big sister who wants her little sister to have whatever makes her happy.
8. AFOs across the multiverse would be screaming at this one for setting Yoichi up with Second. But female AFO doesn't care. She's just sitting on her massive pile of money, planning how she will use this to guilt-trip Yoichi for the rest of their lives, and laughing at her male alternates for totally lacking any subtlety.
(All of my ask game AUs are free to use in my Three Weeks of Trioholders event.)
#bnha#ask game#All for One#Yoichi Shigaraki#Second One for All holder#Third One for All holder#Three Weeks of Trioholders#5 headcanons game#closed ask game#Female All for One#Duo holders#Ichinii
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Posted on July 29, 2022 by Jean-Carl Elliott
Growing the IWW isn’t just about increasing the size of our membership, it’s also about increasing its depth. Part of “building the new world in the shell of the old” entails developing the people who will be able to run it once it’s built. We aren’t simply signing up workers from our jobs and industries for their dues. We are signing them up to make them into Wobblies! Being a Wobbly means that we know where we stand in the class struggle, we know the lessons learned from those who struggled before us, and we stand in solidarity with other Wobblies who are continuing the struggle today. Being a Wobbly isn’t just about having a Red Card, it’s about leveling each other up! I’ve met so many Wobblies throughout the years who sign a Red Card and then don’t know what to do next. Without a sense of direction, our members tend to gravitate towards other activist groups or they leave the union altogether. We want to keep workers involved and to give them a sense of purpose in the IWW. This article will be part of a series on how to level up your IWW membership. In this first edition, we’ll cover some ways that individual Wobblies can increase their participation in the One Big Union through developing their skills as workplace organizers. Future editions will focus on branches, committees, and other parts of the union. If you think of some additions to these lists, write them up and send them to Industrial Worker!
Take an Organizer Training
The IWW has two Organizer Trainings: the OT101 and the OT102. In the OT101, trainees learn the basic techniques of starting a workplace organizing committee. The committee meets regularly and plans direct actions on the job to build power and address grievances. The training is revised every few years based on the experiences of IWW organizers. We keep the stuff that is working and change the stuff that has been falling short. It’s also a really great way to get in touch with other Wobblies who are organizing their workplaces.
The 102 builds off of the 101. Once you have a committee up and running, you’ll need to learn how to sustain it. Business unions will usually start a committee and then once it’s up and running, they will petition the employer for recognition or they will file for a union election with the government. The IWW is a revolutionary union though. We don’t need or want the government to intervene in order to provide stability. We maintain our momentum through practicing better internal democracy and through recruiting more workers to take part in bigger workplace actions. You should take the 102 early on because it gets more into the details of practicing direct democracy, escalating direct actions, and sustaining your committee. It’s important to incorporate healthy committee practices and strategic planning at the early stages of a campaign. Our greatest weapon is solidarity and these trainings teach the nuts and bolts of Solidarity Unionism.
Start Organizing Your Workplace
There are all sorts of benefits that you and the union can get from organizing your own workplace, even if you just take the initial steps. When you start building good organizing habits, they will start to come more naturally over time. Getting people’s contact information will feel less awkward and you will start drawing your maps in more detail. One-on-one conversations with coworkers will flow more smoothly the more practice you get. And so even if you only make a small amount of progress at one job, you can build off of that experience at future jobs.
Take Another Training
No two trainings are ever the same! Each time, you will be learning from different trainers and with a different set of trainees. They all bring unique training styles and organizing stories. And let’s be honest with ourselves: each training is 16 hours worth of material. We are never gonna memorize it all after one take, or even two for that matter. Take lots of trainings and have fun with them!
Become a Trainer
Organizer Trainers are credentialed by the union to give our official trainings. You can draw from your experiences to give a personal touch to your trainings. It can be inspiring for trainees to hear personal stories from the front lines, even if it is just you showing a map or social chart from one of your workplaces. When you become an IWW trainer, you will be paired up with other trainers to do trainings and so you get to learn from their teaching styles and experiences. It’s a great way to learn new lessons and to pass along your learning experiences in the union.
The Organizer Training Committee (OTC) can train you to be an OT101 Trainer, an OT102 Trainer and a Training For Trainers (T4T) Trainer. There’s a leveling up system for trainers as well. First off, you can’t become a trainer unless you have taken the training. So in order to become a 101 Trainer, you should have taken the training a few times and put it to use in your own workplace. Same for the 102 and to be a T4T Trainer. At the end of each T4T, you will be reviewed by your trainers and they will decide if and how you will be credentialed.
At each T4T, you will learn some new training techniques, but it is assumed that you are coming in with some familiarity with the curriculum. This is why it’s good to have taken the training a few times and to have gained some first hand organizing experience. Don’t worry about knowing every single detail; you will get a better grasp the more trainings you do, and when you start as a trainer you will be paired with a more experienced trainer. On the flipside however, if your trainers don’t think you are ready, they aren’t obligated to credential you and they might recommend you go to another training and take another T4T.
Keep Organizing!
The more we organize and train other Wobblies to organize, the better organizers and trainers we become. Sometimes a campaign might only get so far as being able to draw up a social chart, but then you can use that social chart when you train other IWW members to do it! Maybe you participated in a direct action that flopped. You can turn that into a learning experience by debriefing with your coworkers or by writing about it. The more we learn to tackle the smaller hurdles, the better prepared we are to take on the next ones and to bring more Wobblies with us. Keep fighting the good fight and never stop leveling up!
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Heartbreak High on Netflix: Let's talk about Sasha.
!! SPOILERS AHEAD !!
I've watched a lot of movies and shows, and I've read a lot of books, but I have never met a character that has made me so angry.
Sasha is a narcissistic, ableist bitch.
One of the first things that Sasha does is abandon Amerie completely when the news about the map breaks. I understand being upset and betrayed, but to walk away completely without even asking for an explanation is so baffling to me. She also can't remember if she cheated on Missy or not. How can you not remember that kind of thing?
When Harper shamed Dusty at the game, Sasha immediately called Harper a black hole of negativity and turned her back on her, and suddenly Sasha and Amerie were friends again? Sasha is constantly thinking she's a good person while flipping through friends as soon as they do something bad.
Now, her relationship with Quinni. When Quinni reveals to Sasha that she is autistic, I'm fairly certain that Sasha said something along the lines of "but you're, like, normal". Throughout the series, Sasha acts like she's understanding and an ally and activist, but repeatedly is annoyed with Quinni, especially in the episode Angeline.
Sasha must have known by then that Quinni has a routine, and if she doesn't follow that routine then her whole day is ruined, right? They'd been dating for a while so you think that she would know that, and I'm fairly certain that she did. But Sasha not only messed up the schedule for Quinni's book reading, but upset Quinni five (5) separate times that day. Let's list them, shall we?
Sasha shows up out of nowhere and wakes Quinni up from her nap. Honestly, who does that? Showing up at someone's house and waking them up.
She gets the bus driver to stop for Gelato on the way to the book reading, knowing that they're going to have to get off the bus and knowing that Quinni wanted to get there early. She made the driver stop anyway, didn't listen to Quinni's protests, and did what she wanted even though this wasn't her trip to derail.
She stopped to talk to a friend she hadn't seen in a while, letting a line form in front of them at the shop. Not only that, but she brought that friend on the bus with them, putting Quinni in between the two of them while they talked about a friend that Quinni didn't know, while she knew that Quinni can get overwhelmed.
When they were at the book signing, Sasha acted miserable and annoyed, when I don't think Quinni ever asked her to come. Sasha was on her phone the whole time, not even attempting to share Quinni's excitement for the book reading, and wasn't paying attention at all. Even if you don't enjoy something, I feel like you should still attempt to have fun if someone you care about is excited.
This is technically situation five, but it's a long one:
On the bus back home, Sasha was so upset with Quinni for the book signing. Quinni was talking passionately about how she wants to be a writer and how she wants to write a book, and Sasha says "I want to get pissed". She dismisses everything because she's upset that she didn't get to go to Amerie's party, when she could have gone. She chose to go out with Quinni and was upset that she wasn't somewhere else.
Quinni says that she can't deal with a party right now, and Sasha gets upset that she didn't get the night out that she wanted. She then says that she's always dong things for Quinni, and then says "what about me, do you ever think about me?". Then she drops the rudest line I have ever heard, and says "sometimes it's hard being with you when I just want to be a normal teenager". Who fucking says that?
Quinni asks if she's not normal enough, and Sasha tells her not to pull the autism card. Quinni had a good night, and she got to meet her favorite author and have her book signed, but everything came crashing down when Sasha said those things.
I've seen some Harper hate, but while Harper's action aren't excusable and they aren't justified, her actions are rooted in her trauma and what happened to her at the festival. With extensive therapy, Harper is probably a very nice girl. Her and Amerie were friends for what, at least a decade?
But Sasha is just a terrible person. I can't stand the way she treats Quinni, who is one of the kindest and sweetest people in the entire show. She has this image of herself, a good person, an ally, an activist, but in reality she's awful.
I want to see someone punch her so bad.
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