Beret

18+ but boring. 30, a Tumblelog from the late aughts Sections photos • music • videos • links • words • essays •

[y2k-internetexplorer]

[beret]

Cats of…FreeBSD!?

[what-the-hel-man-deactivated202]

Honestly, this shit with Hogwarts Legacy is just like what happened with Chick-fil-A like ten or fifteen years ago. Some of y'all might be too young to remember it, but it went almost exactly like this shit today, only the target was technically gay people (not like we aren't all lumped together when push comes to shove, but gay was the political scapegoat in US politics at the time, as trans people were still on the fringes of social awareness).

It came out that the people who own Chick-fil-A were donating to organizations in other countries that were actively working to get gay people there killed, and were also very monetarily invested in stripping gay people of any legal rights they'd amassed in the US. So a lot of queer folks were asking for allies to boycott Chick-fil-A to show solidarity.

And it turned into a giant fuckin circus for bigots to rally around. There was even a support Chick-fil-A day, I remember it because I was a server at the time and our restaurant was empty most the day - while the line for Chick-fil-A down the road was like a mile long consistently.

But while that was obviously annoying, that wasn't what hit people the hardest. Cuz we expect clowns to wear the shoes, right, it's not shocking.

What disappointed people, or really demoralized a lot of young queers at the time especially, was the allies who would still go there. Because they like the sandwiches or fries or whatever. The people who'd march with them in the parade or be supportive of marriage equality, who would then turn right around and give their money to people who were trying to actively harm their friends.

Because the chicken was good.

I remember a friend of mine being really just absolutely broken up over that, trying to understand some of her friends reasoning and at the time I couldn't give her an answer. I could now, though.

And it's this:

Talk is cheap.

It costs nothing to say things. A person can say whatever the hell they want, any feel good flowery thing, and it doesn't really cost them.

But when they are asked to actually give something up - or put their money where their mouth is and just....can't do it. Well then there isn't much else for them to say, is there? At least nothing that's worth anything.

Some people had to find out the hard way that the choice between a chicken sandwich and funding people who did not believe in their dignity as a human being was, in the eyes of certain allies, apparently really hard. Too hard, in fact.

These allies would march in the colorful parades and go to the bars for drinks, but in the end, you couldn't actually depend on them to inconvenience themselves. They were fair weather allies, and they were there for the party and that's about it . They wanted entertainment, and it didn't matter if that came from having fun gay friends or a tasty sandwich.

This is the same thing, really, or pretty close to it.

These types of people just wanna have fun. Either you, their friend or whatever, are fun or the game is fun, and if you stop being fun by incidentally making them feel a little guilty about where they spend their money , then they might just choose the thing that doesn't make them currently uncomfortable.

And I'm not saying these people who say trans rights online but who also really, really want to play wizard game and already have are horrible people or anything - they're just not very good. They have no real character. And unfortunately there's not much you can do to change that, other than investing time and energy in people who do.

[anarchistmemedistro]

"First, I must confess that over the last few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in the stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Council-er or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate who is more devoted to "order" than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says "I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I can't agree with your methods of direct action;" who paternalistically feels he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by the myth of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait until a "more convenient season."

Shallow understanding from people of goodwill is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection."

-Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

[embodiedfutures]

“It is important to understand colonialism in all forms – settler, neo, and crude – as a tactic of imperialist expansion and exploitation under capitalism, and to understand racism and white supremacy as the ideological justification for that expansion and exploitation. It wasn’t the Curse of Ham that doomed those of us with darker skin, it was the institution of capitalism as the world’s dominant economic system through colonialism and imperialism. Wherever colonial structures exist, you will find an oppressed population being systematically denied their humanity and identity in order to facilitate their dispossession. Africans on the continent and in the diaspora represent one such population, the Irish in Ireland another, the Pueblo people in New Mexico another, and Palestinians in occupied Palestine are yet another – but such populations exist in every corner of the world. Colonialism forms the backbone of the global imperialist system: the system by which the expropriation of land and resources and the exploitation of colonized labor provides the seed capital for monopoly capitalism. Marx described this process as “primitive accumulation.” In practice, it is theft and genocide on a global scale.”

— Settler-Colonialism, Nationalism, and Patriarchy, Onyesonwu Chatoyer

[effectiveresistance]

Property destruction: a legitimate response to colonialism and climate chaos?

While there’s a chance the destruction of the CGL site was a false-flag operation, we have next to no independent information about what hap

While there’s certainly a chance the destruction of the CGL site was a false-flag operation, we have next to no independent information about what happened or who was involved, particularly given the stunning absence of any kind of surveillance or phone footage. But as others have already started to ask: what if it wasn’t? What if Indigenous land defenders or their allies did in fact execute a highly sophisticated act of property destruction that struck immediately at the heart of CGL’s bottom line? What if—and this is the crux of it, really—such an attack is a perfectly rational and defensible response to settler-colonial genocide? What then?

“In whose interests are acts of Indigenous resistance diminished?”

These are undoubtedly complex debates. But let’s be clear: if Indigenous peoples did indeed decide to retaliate or protect their lands using so-called “violence”—arson, sabotage, and much more—this would be a highly reasonable, effective, and warranted response to ongoing colonization and the decimation of their nations. It wouldn’t have to be “productive” or “helpful” or whatever definition the white settler left (which I am a part of) would come up with. It would be a response to and refusal of violence.

Settler-colonialism is violence. Residential schools, family separation, and mass incarceration is violence. Ramming a pipeline through Indigenous territory during a climate catastrophe, destroying ancestral relations and economies, is violence. To defend territories from further invasion with property destruction and threatening of workers—if that is indeed what happened—would be an utterly rational decision in line with countless other militant struggles.

At the core, this means refusing to traffic in the liberal discourse of “violence” and “nonviolence,” recognizing that the colonial state inflicts ceaseless and brutal violence against mostly Indigenous, Black, and racialized peoples. It means showing up to support legal defense funds, incarcerated comrades, and providing other material backing. It requires improving and developing organizational forms that take training, security culture, and discipline intensely seriously.

But most of all, it means being open to the reality that militant responses popularly regarded as “violent” are fully legitimate, effective, and necessary, despite our lingering liberal biases and fears. It’s completely possible to express skepticism about state and capitalist recounting of such actions—and we certainly should, make no mistake—without ceding moral authority in the process to actions that disrupt, destroy, retaliate, and actualize radical alternatives and futures. To delegitimize the spectre of the false flag, we must re-legitimize militant action by accepting it as a real and even desirable possibility.

[greelin]

as much as i understand being a hater you have to offset that shit with genuine, sincere enjoyment & wonder sometimes lest YOU become the one who is corny. and sad. imo.

[greelin]

where’s your fucking whimsy, jackass? your compassion? is it only irony and judgement 24/7 for you? booooo

[paulfrankjuliusthemonkey]

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again: it’s more important to know and understand fully why something is harmful than it is to drop everything deemed problematic. It’s performative and does nothing. People wonder why nobody has critical thinking skills and this is part of it because no one knows how to simousltansly critique and consume media. You need to use discernment.

[paulfrankjuliusthemonkey]

This is ultimately why propaganda is going to work on you. Because you never learned how to think for yourself and the actual ideology behind things. You simply rely on group think and the bare minimum explanations to tell you what’s good and bad.

[ariaste]

Saw this article linked on twitter yesterday and…. yeah. YEAH. 

[beret]

I remain a fan of “cancel (consequence) culture” but this article is a good framing of the need for careful and critical engagement, and the risk of reaction from narrow info and context collapse

[detectivehole]

some of you are miserable because you're mean. like you're just mean to people and things

[detectivehole]

"why don't i have any friends" because you are mean

[detectivehole]

this can be fixed at least in part very easily though! just stop being mean. i believe in all of you 👍

[eeriedeer-deactivated20240803]

[quirkybrittany-blog]

let’s all take a moment and appreciate our founder

our sexy daddy david karp

without him we wouldnt have all of these fandom blogs shipping and writing about all their feels and creys about their otps

all hail sexy daddy

It’s always a good time at quirkybrittany. Follow her for a peasant and hipster-free blogging experience ♒(★‿★)♒!

[beret]

Return to tradition, etc.

[justin-guthrie]

[beret]

favorite state 🥰

[guerrillatech]

[roadwrkahead]

Life in Code: A Personal History of Technology

by Ellen Ullman

[krudman]

Tech bros strive only to use humanity to improve tech instead using tech to improve humanity.

[campyvillain]

I HATE YOU UNWALKABLE CITIES I HATE YOU CAR CENTRIC INFRASTRUCTURE I HATE YOU CROWDED HIGHWAYS I HATE YOU SIDEWALKS THAT END WHEN THEY SHOULD CONTINUE I HATE HOW UNACCOUNTED FOR BIKE RIDERS ARE IN STREET DESIGN I HATE YOU HAVING TO WEAVE IN BETWEEN CARS ON MY BIKE RIDES WHERE HITCHING THE HIGHWAY IS THE ONLY OPTION AND ITS FUCKING SCARY. I HATE YOU I HATE YOU DIE

[beret]

Today I was in sort of a mood at the farmers market parking lot… Smacked two different cars for accelerating towards me when I’M WALKING HERE… And bruised my thumb because I hit one so hard.

And then I finished walking to my car and drove home when I could’ve just walked 15 minutes there and back.

[whitepeopletwitter]

[olivesawl]

If you’re the kind of person who would do that, you never become Bezos in the first place.

My Dad owned a business my whole life. It was profitable, but it didn’t expand. I ask him once why he never grew it, and he said it’s nearly impossible without climbing on someone’s back–your vendors, your customers, your employees. Particularly that last one. You don’t wait until your business is big to be a good human being. The very first time you have to choose between your own profit and your employees health insurance, you choose the later. You give maternity leave even though the government doesn’t make you. You dock your own salary to not lay people off during a recession. You have adequate staffing and reliable hours. Anybody who says you can’t run a retail business on a normal, reasonable, predictable schedule you know in advance is full of shit. My Dad did it for 35 years (always have one more person than you think you need, and 98% of your staffing problems vanish). It’s just not maximum profit. If you don’t prioritize extracting profit from every corner of your business, you never become rich enough to give billions away. 

(One of the things my father is proud of is that by the time he retired they hadn’t needed to take a help wanted ad in 30 years. Turnover was low, and when a spot opened, referrals filled it.)

[beret]

Just putting this here for record keeping when people I know wonder why I say mean things about the rich and don't assume their best intentions.

[royalharkinian]

If we’re all going down I'm going the way I lived, making shitty memes in the face of peril.

[that-twink-over-there]

This is a MASTERPIECE

[arihi]

Oh my god it’s wonderful

[marissamayr]

The great workplace dilemmas of our time…

[beret]

Bringing this throwback back, one of Marissa Mayer's first tumblr posts.

Now we are all working from home and tumblr is safe for work.

Did anyone win?

[Image: A GIFs of two frames, Marissa Mayer with a "wfh" speech bubble and David Karp, lifegiver, with "nsfw"]

[anarchblr]

*modern anarchists*: Proudhon was reactionary as hell, if he were here we would skin him alive

*Proudhon, teary-eyed*: they sure do grow up fast don’t they?

[anarchblr]

In case y'all wondering what I’m referring to:

[prettykikimora-deactivated20250]

Proudhon:

[beret]

Embracing personal and collective growth, what a weird notion?

[beret]

Oooh, master doesn't know what he wants.

This was delivered with kindness.

It remains the most frighteningly real thing anyone has said to me during sex.

[blackreigen-deactivated20190402]

see i think terry crews has the tendency to be a lil stupid but i mainly think hes just an older blk man like none of the stuff he says ever comes off as that crazy to me when conntextualized as him just…. being an older black man. even the “you need both paternal and maternal love” doesnt seem super wild to me bc its easy to trace that reasoning back to activism abt disruptions of black households with jailing black fathers and how a lot of black activism keeps going back to needing strong blk men in your life. which can be unpacked and discussed and i dnt think its the….. best ideology. 

idk how to phrase this exactly it just…. ya know its not a wild enough statement to me to have a bunch of white gays come and talk abt how hes cancelled. i thinnk he should be criticized tho. i really do. but also i think  its just true that ppl are a lil hyper vigilant with “cancelling” him instead of correcting or disagreeing when it feels like the same old same old 

[blackreigen-deactivated20190402]

and again: i think he should be criticized for it i just… think its a lil obvious that hes coming from a place of belonging in a community that faces an epidemic of black men being jailed and taken away from their families. a lot of blk ppl talk abt lacking a father figure and how this impacts them growing up. i think its easy to throw a queer theory lens on it that nobody needs men in their life, but i really cant in good faith say that its wrong for blk ppl to identify the need for blk men in their life. i just think we should contextualize things a lil more if were gonna give earnest criticism and feedback

[caljordan]

Keep reading

[beret]

Unburied the image description for the screenshot and description shared above: [transcription: Terry Crews on twitter: Had a great talk with @iamstephbeatz this morning on set that shed a lot of light on why the LBGTQ community were hurt by my comments. I want to apologize for anyone who was triggered or felt targeted. I was speaking out of my very personal experiences as a Black Father. And while these experiences for me are very true and real, these can differ greatly from the experiences of others. Being able to sit with @iamstephbeatz gave me a perspective I had not seen before. I believe men need to be more vulnerable in order to fix the many problems that we created and this starts with me. We don’t always have to agree, but we must always listen. I love every person on earth, and want to see every man, woman and child flourish. ]

I remain all about cancel culture, but really I don't think there's lots of folks running around and permanently writing off people over a tweet, as long as the person actually engages with others and make a sincere effort to understand and reflect.

There's a whole lot of handwringing about "cancelling" grown adults who won't even make genuine apologies, or put in some effort to grow.