Little thoughts

Pan|trans man|25 He/Him pronouns

[dailyhistorymemes]

The Choctaw-Irish Brotherhood(via)

[paula-of-christ]

[im-the-princess-now]

I love stuff like this. Didn’t a tribe in Africa send America some cows after 9/11? Like this is holy and the most valuable thing we have. We hear your suffering and want to do anything in our power to help

[dresshistorynerd]

It was not a potato famine. The famine didn’t happen because of the potato yeald failing. Ireland was actually producing more than enough food. However it was almost all land owned by Brittish landowners, who took all of the food out of the country to sell in UK. Potato was what the Irish farmers ate, because it was cheep and could be produced in worst parts of the land, where more profitable food couldn’t be grown. When there were no longer potatos, the decision for the farmers was to either starve and sent the food as rent to the landlords or loose their homes and then starve.

The Brittish goverment was unwilling to do anything for two reasons. First was the laissez-faire capitalistic ideology, that put the rights of property owners to make profits above human lives. Rent freeze was unthinkable and they even were unwilling to do proper relief efforts as free food would lower the cost of food. The second reason was distain for the Irish, and the thought that they were “breeding too much” and the famine was a natural way to trim down the population, aka genocidal reasoning.

This is why it’s important to stress it was not a potato famine. The potato blinght was all over Europe but only in Ireland there was a famine. The reasons behind it had nothing to do with potatos and everything to do with the Brittish.

Apparently what made Choctaw want to offer relief to Irish was the news about the Doolough Tragedy. Hundreds of starving people were gathered for inspection to verify they were entitled to recieve relief. The officials would for *some reason* not do that and instead left to a hunting lodge 19 kilometers away to spend the night and said to the starvqing people they would have to walk there by morning to be inspected. The weather conditions were terrible and many of them died completely needlessly during the walk thoroung day and night.

This apparently reminded the Choctaw of their own very recent (and much more explicit and bigger scale) experiences of ethnic clensing, where they were forcibly relocated. It was basically a death march and thousands of Choctaw died from the terrible conditions also completely needlessly.

In 2015 a memorial named Kindred Spirits was installed in Southern Ireland to commemorate the Chactow donation.

[trickstertime]

Then in 2020:

Irish people donate €2.5m to Native American tribe devastated by coronavirus

Navajo Nation say Irish generosity is the ‘good in all of the bad that is going on’

[deactivated-5215469325748923-de]

So someone pointed out to me recently that in a few years, maybe a few decades, the history of the us during covid is probably going to get twisted. The fact that we all had to make and wear cloth masks is going to be hailed as a symbol of how we “"came together as a nation”“” or whatever the fuck propaganda spin they try to put on it.

So I just want to say, for the record, the time of the corona virus pandemic was not a time when america came together.

This was a time when people hoarded toilet paper and sanitizing supplies either for themselves or to sell at absurd prices to the desperate people who didn’t get to the store soon enough during the shortages

This was a time when scared parents were sending their kids to finish school in the spring in plastic trash bags because they couldn’t think of any other way to possibly keep their families safe

This was a time when grocery store and retail and service workers were forced to keep working whether they wanted to risk their health or not because they couldn’t make rent otherwise and the people with enough privilege to have remote jobs tried to repay them with applause instead of fair wages

This was a time when nurses had the hold the hands of multiple dying people every day as their families watched their loved ones die over a video call because the hospital couldn’t risk having visitors

This was a time when city governments had to handle so many eviction hearings that they rented out convention centers and called in the national guard instead of doing a rent freeze to stop predatory landlords

This was a time when racism and police brutality were so unbearably horrible that people protested in the streets for months even though there was a god damn pandemic that our federal government wasn’t doing shit to stop and the cops were so mad that they were being asked to stop beating up black people that they were beating up everyone

This was a time when schools being forced to reopen in the fall or lose their federal funding had to draft templates for letters if a teacher or a staff person or a fucking child died from exposure to corona at school

This was a time when the president of the United states demanded that the cdc stop releasing data about all the people who were dying because of the warnings he ignored for months were making him look bad

This was a time when some state governments didn’t mandate masks and forced businesses to reopen because they didn’t want to pay unemployment to people trying to stay safe at home anymore

This was a time when Jeff Bezos was on track to be a fucking trillionare because everyone was ordering things on amazon instead of going to the store and the people he worked to death to get it didn’t see a single cent of it

This was a time when instead of providing homeless people with housing, we painted boxes on the ground to show homeless people how far away the had to be on the street to maintain social distancing

We did not come together to make cloth masks. Cloth masks represent nothing less than the absolute and utter failure of a nation’s government to inform and protect its citizens

This was not a time when we came together. This was a time when we survived, and not all of us made it.

This was a time when people casually talked about how many human lives the economy was worth without considering the evil that had just come out of their mouths.

This was a time when thousands of us died for profit and the ego of a cheating narcissists con man who scammed his way into the white house

This was a time that we survived. Most of us tried to do the right thing, stay home, limit trips to the store and socializing, wear a mask. And still, so many of us were lost. Thousands every day.

But that wasn’t a good enough reason for some people, for those among us who were too selfish to recognize the responsibilities we have toward one another as human beings.

This was not a time that we came together

This was a time that we survived

Not all of us made it

And those of us who did survive will never forget the evil we saw daily in our politicians and those around us

[unashamedly-enthusiastic]

Unfortunately, I do love you now that you can dance

[mishafletcher]

ok, but honestly, it is unfortunate. you know how we’re always passing around that ‘you are not immune to propaganda’ meme? this is the propaganda it’s talking about.

it’s cute dancing robots! they have a cute robot dog! it’s cute! it’s friendly!

well, the robot dog friend? cute little jumpy guy, does some careful ballet-esque steps, often between the humanoid robots? so far, both the boston police and the nypd (heads up: autoplaying video, with sound) have ‘deployed’ the cute dog friend. both departments say that the robots are being used as ‘observation devices’, sent into buildings with lights and a camera that sends a videofeed back to the cops. 

part of why i think this video (and others like it) is so interesting is because boston dynamics has defended police use of the robots, saying that there’s a clause that the robots can’t be used in a way that would ‘physically harm or intimidate people’. i don’t know about you, but if i were at, say, a protest, or honestly literally anywhere, and a robot dog started running towards me, i’d be pretty fucking intimidated. i’d assume that it was going to hurt me. if one of the humanoid robots were running towards me, i’d assume it was straight-up about to kill me. 

but these videos do a lot of work to erode that assumption. how can anyone claim that they’re intimidated by, say, a line of robot dogs at a protest? the robot dogs do funny dances online! the video above has been live for about two months, and it has thirty million views. people love them! they can dance!

so when they start being used as mobile security cameras, or when they start being used to maintain a perimeter or for crowd control or whatever, it’s not really a violation of the contract. the robots are friendly! my bet is that when they start setting them out to do security or whatever—and i don’t doubt that they’ll be used for security, etc—they might even do funny little dances and interact with people who stop to gawk at them. anything to normalize increasingly autonomous roboticized policing. get one of the humanoid ones out in the field, and it’s a remarkably short step to autonomous, mobile cctv—that can also detain you if it doesn’t like what you’re doing, or if there was a crime and you’re in the area, or if your face looks like someone from a database, or—

and all that assumes, of course, that the no-harm clause stays there forever, and that police departments, so famous for their love of doing things by the book, adhere to it. but just for fun, watch that video again, and imagine even one of those robots weaponized, outfitted with even ‘nonlethal’ crowd control. 

i’m not arguing that the robots are inherently bad, or that there’s no reasonable use for them, even by cops. but the time to get critical of them is now, not in five or ten years when their use has been largely normalized. this is cute propaganda, but it’s still propaganda, and we should acknowledge it for what it is.

[radicalurbanista]

anyway this is how to disable the Spot robo-dog that the NYPD just purchased

[wondersmith-and-sons]

also? the naming of “Spot the police dog” goes deliberately hand-in-hand with how the language of anti-protest policing deweaponises it from the actual harm caused. labels like “non-lethal” and “less lethal” guns, which fire “foam rounds”, “bean-bag rounds” and “rubber bullets” have taken out eyes and cracked open skulls, are deliberately named to make them sound more harmless than they are. 

foam bullets are solid metal and foam-tipped, bean-bag rounds are sacks of cloth filled with lead pellets and rubber bullets are metal bullets that have rubber-coating - it’s a deliberate trick of language to make writing and reporting about it diminish the violence they cause the victims. 

“police fired bean bag rounds and foam bullets at protestors” sounds like the cops are using kindergarden weapons and not shooting to kill. 

“police deployed spot the robot dog for crowd-control measures” (which is how it will inevitably be written) makes it sound like it’s some cutesy doctor who sidekick out there yelping at protestors, rather than a weaponised, mobile, agile hunk of metal that is designed to break your fucking arm. 

[starlightofaetherius]

I grew up in a poly household. My mother was married to two men who loved her dearly and they were the best of friends. I use past tense due to the fact that one of my fathers passed away a few years back.

I grew up in one of the most stable, loving households I can imagine. I had tons of support from all three of my parents, I never felt alone, and I never felt confused about my parents relationship.

Were other people confused when I told them about my parents? Sure. Did it take some time for them to understand my parents relationship? Yep. And the reaction I got every single time from other kids once they understood? “That’s so awesome!”

Growing up in a poly house did not hurt me, confuse me, or make my life difficult. It sure as hell wasn’t abusive.

Healthy poly relationships do not hurt children.

[gay-emo-quotes]

I really want some more recognition for poly relationships. This is a lovely post and a step in the right direction. Couples consisting of two people can be dysfunctional. It’s not just poly relationships.

[nephil-with-a-gun]

I have poly parents as well! I have my mom and dad who have been happily married for almost 22 years, and my stepmother that they have been dating for almost 10 years now. They are all so loving and caring, and they each have their own talents when it came to raising me and my siblings. I couldn’t have asked for a more stable, loving home :)

[astrodidact]

[whitepeopletwitter]

[ancientson]

You know what? This actually isn’t funny at all because this really does happen. Baby boomers can’t afford to retire; that’s a big part of why millennials can’t find jobs in their fields. And if they lose their jobs (which can mean a variety of things, including their companies finding an excuse to fire them so they don’t have to pay anything for their retirement, which happened to my uncle and 5 people he worked with over one year), they aren’t as desirable because they’re retirement-age. The world has changed a lot since they got jobs they thought were supposed to be secure, and now their old strategies that used to work for finding a job don’t work anymore and they don’t know what does work. So a lot are desperate; I recently talked to a woman who had to be in at least her mid-60s who was begging on a street corner because she was replaced by a younger person and lost her job of 18 years, and it’s not the first time I’ve heard a story like that. A lot of people who were never rich to begin with lost a lot in the 2008 financial crisis and never fully recovered. Baby boomers didn’t all just magically become financially secure as they got older.

This generation war bullshit is 100% manufactured to keep our anger misdirected. It’s not baby boomers screwing over millennials. It’s rich capitalists of every living generation screwing over baby boomers, their parents, gen x-ers, millennials, and gen z-ers all at once and all in different ways. And if we collectively realize that we’re not enemies and that we actually have a common cause with common enemies, it’ll be really bad for the people doing this to us, which is why they’re pushing the generation war thing so hard.

[seoscribbles]

[whitepeopletwitter]

[70slesbian]

i do care if someone hires someone to clean though like you can’t just throw that out there as if it isn’t well known that those people that are hired to clean your home exist because they’re poor. wash your own dirty dishes

[raging-fan-human]

I understand what you’re saying, but you also seem to be ignoring the fact that people who are hiring these poor people to clean their houses are giving those people jobs. If they weren’t hiring them to clean their houses, these people may not have a job at all.

[70slesbian]

i don’t agree with this logic. i don’t think we need to settle for a job or nothing, is the same to be said for women who work under slavery like conditions in clothing factories in poor countries? why can’t we fight for change instead of accepting that some people just have to be maids

[jellybeanforest-a-go-go]

Before she moved in to take care of her, my aunt hired a maid to come to my disabled grandmother’s house once a week to clean for like 2-3 hours and paid her $80 every time she came over. There’s no way my grandmother, who had a bum hip from a car accident and hobbled around with her walker (back when she could even walk), could clean her own house. Maids provide an invaluable service, especially for the elderly and disabled, and they shouldn’t be eliminated just because you think their jobs are somehow not good enough for anyone to be doing. Many jobs like housecleaners, gardeners, etc., are great for people who may not speak the local language, who may have had a limited education, or who came here as adults with limited opportunities. My grandfather, who could speak four languages fluently but his English sucked, became a janitor at the age of 58 to support his family when they first came to America, and his kids always advocated that you should treat blue-collar and traditionally low-paid workers with respect because those jobs are valuable and even someone who cleans toilets is a person who is trying their best. Basically, we shouldn’t try to eliminate these jobs; they should just be better compensated.

[unashamedly-enthusiastic]

There are like 6 cleaning companies in my local area and they’re all run by local women who just LOVE CLEANING

We really need to stop thinking that some jobs are ‘beneath’ people.

If you can’t/don’t want to do something that needs done, hire someone.

But PAY THEM for their value and RESPECT THEM as people

[la-femme-beansidhe-is-cancelled]

Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day by quietly remembering that Native Americans sent more aid to Ireland during the famine than Britain or the US.

[sympolite]

specifically, it was the Choctaw nation that sent aid to the Irish during the famine

[swimmiesofdoom]

1.  “more aid to ireland during the famine than britain” okay let’s clear this up, again– there was no famine, it was a genocide, commited specifically by the british.  ireland was literally packed with food.  the only crop that failed was the potato crop.  the british had no problem with ships FULL OF FOOD leaving british ports on british ships from ireland to other places to make money.  IT.  WAS.  NOT.  A.  FAMINE.  IT.  WAS.  A.  GENOCIDE.   and that probably explains why britain didn’t “send aid”.  britain was literally using the “famine” they manufactured to clear the land of indigenous irish people.

2.  which lends poignancy and power to the attempt by the choctaw nation to send food to starving irish people. 

3.  there was much fanfair about this in the british press at the time, because of course the british government was lying to its own people about what they were doing.  it’s convenient to blame natural disasters like “famine” when in fact it is mass murder– kinda like what’s going on in yemen right now.  but to conclude, what didn’t receive a lot of fanfair in the british press is the fact that much of the corn and other food the choctaw nation attempted to send did not go to starving irish people, it was essentially hijacked and went to feed british pigs and livestock.

4.  which is why every saint patrick’s day we remember the genocide (one of many the british attempted in ireland) of black ‘47.  and we always remember the native americans who responded in such good will and with such generosity to starving people an ocean away from them.

[knit-soup]

And - all through primary school (until age 12) it was taught as a famine; only in secondary school did we learn that the British caused it deliberately. There’s a fair amount of Irish YA novels about the Famine (can’t remember titles off the top of my head), and they’re all pretty brutal with the facts of what happened. Not to mention most people’s great-grandparents probably lived through it - it’s not that far back.

Also there’s a monument to the Choctaw nation somewhere up the country for the help.

[petermorwood]

It’s by Alex Pentek, it’s in Bailick Park, Midleton, Co. Cork, and it’s called “Kindred Spirits”.

“The English never remember and the Irish never forget.” (Chesterton)

Not forgetting is why there are so many Irish names here.

[umbrellanumber5-deactivated2021]

.

.

This.

This is why people who stay in my life are neurodiverse like me!

[nottoolateforthegame]

Huh

[thisisnotjuli]

this!! I swear I lost like all my friendships bc of this, like I had a group of friends in hs that one day I realized "huh I haven't talked to this people in a while" and popped in to say hi and they were all awkward?? because they hadn't seen me in a while?? and that's when I realized that friendship works different for them?? I was like yeah I haven't talked to you in like four months but it's not like I've forgotten about y'all why would anything change, and they were all like we haven't talked to you in four months why are you here again acting like nothing happened? and it was really confusing for me

[mimir-bashir]

YEAH! THAT!

Also I have a thing where I just put the people on pause. If I don’t see them or contact them, my brain kinda put them in stasis. I don’t think about them nor misses them, and I stay on what I last knew about them (how they look, what they study/work). So when we meet again I’m like “wait, you’ve aged?” and I have the same familiarity with them thanI had before.

[gender-snatched]

Anyway all my mutuals I haven't messaged in forever - this is why

[official-lucifers-child]

oh my gods this makes so much sense??? there are people who i haven’t talked to at all for literally over a year and we’ll pick up like nothing happened, but for their people it’s just like...... falling apart but onesided???? i think we’re still on the same level but actually we’re strangers??

[link-the-feral-anon]

Ohhhhhh

[sandersstudies]

Quarantine has been very hard on my relationships :(

[whitepeopletwitter]

[theroguefeminist]

Here is a source: https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/article248698735.html This would be huge if it happened. It would put a lot of pressure on employers to make do remote work or (if they can’t) make work environments safer during COVID and allow high risk people to be safer.

[memeuplift]

[loycos]

proposing on accident just sounds like something PB would do

[umbrellanumber5-deactivated2021]

.

.

This.

This is why people who stay in my life are neurodiverse like me!

[brainemptynothink]

adhd culture is plugging in your headphones ready to bOp and then two hours later realising you haven’t actually pressed play

[catgirlwarrior]

Thanks for reminding me that I’m listening to silent headphones.

[venusmacabre-deactivated2019053]

Love this Autism-ADHD solidarity.

[demimonde-semigoddess]

ADHD culture is turning on your music, then pausing to read something and continuing to listen to silent headphones for 4 hours.

[itoldyouthings]

reminder to all 14-19 year olds girls. that grown man does not like you. you are a victim

[fingerlickinbutch-deactivated20]

He doesn’t like you, he likes your naivety and willingness to put up with shit most women his age probably won’t

[trap-rights-activist]

[remusbush]

Reminder that it’s not just girls that have to look out for this stuff. No matter the gender every minor should remember this

[dankmemeuniversity]

[sandandglass]

[lilobears]

[safitheartist]

For context: This guy is a ex cop who is there to expose the fact that police heavily manipulate these statistics to cover up the truth. He aint a bad person who is lying, he is a good person who is pointing out that the police is lying.