[generalhuggies]

[vintagewildlife]

"I can't believe humans would hunt the thylacine to extinction, humans are fundamentally evil" Hey, did you know that extinction was long thought to be impossible, and within 50 years of humans realizing that extinction via overhunting was a possibility it practically stopped happening? Did you know that humans are so desperate to prevent more losses that they're funneling millions of collective hours and billions of euros into helping other species? Hours and euros that could be spent on humans, and species on whom humanity's own survival does not depend? Did you know that due to an accidental introduction of rats, the Lord Howe Island stick insect population was brought down to 24 individuals and now there are tens of thousands of them?

This bug. This bug that, to most humans, is utterly useless, relatively gross, and completely foreign. Humans saved it because humans do not want to cause another extinction ever again if they can avoid it.

[mcromwell]

Find a humanitarian organization near you and volunteer with them. Do it. I mean it. Even like one day a week. Even an HOUR a week. This shit will change you in the best ways. Your circle will fill with cool people. THE HELPERS-- FIND THEM and then BE THEM

Being in close contact with people who give a shit and are also witnessing the descent of our country into fascism and ACTUALLY DOING SOMETHING ABOUT IT is actually mad refreshing in contrast to the pointless noise that is the internet.

You'll make such fast friends if you:

show up

say "where do you need me"

do what they say

have a good attitude

Done. Easy. Volunteering is awesome and will put you right in the lap of the best people in your area. They're the helpers, they're the people Mr. Rogers told you about!

Doing an easy task like potting trees for a community garden or helping at a food bank will also connect you to people who are doing more, like immigrant support or things that tackle more urgent, dangerous issues going on. So you can scale up your involvement easily by just showing up repeatedly.

Or don't scale it up-- maybe you stop at helping at the food bank and you're stacking cans for a few hours. You're feeding your neighbors. That's a load-bearing part of any revolution. (I use that word optimistically.) The people you meet will be the people you lean on when shit gets worse.

AND VICE VERSA, prove that you are someone to lean ON by showing up and helping. Offer things to people. Your skills may be helpful. Already, just because we've done local volunteering, we have made at least 5 or 6 new friends, got a potential firewood connection, and WELL-PAID EMPLOYMENT (??? OMG)

(and free lunches and snacks and fruit trees) And it's healing as fuck to have people genuinely tell you, in the flesh, to your face, "I'm so glad you showed up today. I appreciate you so much. This would have been harder without you." That shit makes you feel AWESOME and REAL and PURPOSEFUL

(We woke up early for a shift at the food bank, I'm hyping myself up because I am not a morning person LMAO) But yeah volunteering is such a good way to build security and community. There's something for everyone to help with, just get out there and show up, first.

[zetzhao]

Imagine Luke Arnold as Long John Silver in Treasure Island

(With reference to the 1952 film adaptation of Treasure Island.)

I love that moment: "Give me a hand up!"

[danceundersparklinglights]

i’m going to be really honest with you guys i think the tendency to read the absolute worst possible intentions into every action you don’t agree with is getting too automatic and it’s eating you from the inside out

[xinakwans]

to you he's a sex object to me he's a chronically ill white dog

[64mpg]

“my friend is ALWAYS sick and cancelling our plans” it sounds like your friends life suuucks and you should check on them

[essektheylyss]

what really gets me about the ubiquity of the short form video scrolling interface is that it is functionally packaging the concept of flipping through TV channels. it is quite literally a microcosm of the image that we used to use to demonstrate the most tedious and honestly mindless state of boredom. how does anyone enjoy this.

[anglaised]

black ppl make aave or aave related joke > use aave with the community > we r all having fun > white and nonblack ppl find it > they start using it wrong and throwing it into random sentences > it gets bastardized and used as if it’s just a random Funnysound in a sentence > within a month people are mocking and attacking black people for “still” using aave that is now deemed corny meme speech > the cycle repeats

[pawthorn]

the thing about when people say fanfiction is their comfort reading/ writing so them don’t want to deal with heavy themes like misogyny etc is this.

what’s their non-comfort reading?

are they reading feminist and anti-racist literature elsewhere? or are they just completely hiding in fanworks that have a comfortable form of misogyny for them (because yes completely writing women out of stories is misogynistic.)

i’ve said it before and i’ll say it again: reading is safe practice for life. it should make you uncomfortable sometimes. maybe the author has bigotry that you clock and have to contend with (people can be kind and funny and brilliant and sweet and profound and still have dogshit ideas about women and poc.)

maybe the book helps reveal your own biases. i grew up in a conservative culture, so a leading woman who used fantasy birth control and had sex with multiple partners in a normal healthy way was eye opening for me.

i think comfort fic is great! i read it myself. but i also read other things. because if i only eat cotton candy my teeth will fall out and i want to be able to bite when it matters.

[organisedbirds]

anne bonny black sails tragic character of all time. she loves two people and only them. she is miserable if she is without either one of them. if she has them both she compromises her own happiness. she doesn't know what would make her happy because only the two people she loves do that. she wants to leave the sea but jack can't so she stays. she wants to leave that fucking island but max can't so she stays. loyalty to her lovers over loyalty to what she wants. because she wants them.

[fagflint]

+ lowkey highkey all of vane's flaws come from the fact that he was played by a white man bc if hed been played by a black man as he SHOULDVE BEEN! they wouldve (hopefully) fixed the fucking inconsistencies and/or theyd make more sense bc of his position socially (as yes a powerful captain but Also Visibly Racialized) and they couldve done more w his and max's relationship as eleanors partners that she uses AND formerly enslaved people AND "free" Black people in the new world etc etc etc literally max and vane are the ones who Say "and thus as always to traitors" and "i will be no slave again" and etc etc etc IN THE PARALLELS SHOW AND YET!!!!!!!! hes a white man oh im going to be sick

[urie]

stop calling it a girl dinner and call it by its formal name: Fend For Yourself dinner in an ingredients household

[dragon-in-a-fez]

actually I think you should be normal about ordinary citizens of authoritarian countries and yes that applies even to that country you're thinking of right now

[dragon-in-a-fez]

"but they support [dictator] and [violent action]!" okay is it possible that a combination of propaganda, election rigging, and authoritarian crackdowns on dissent could lead a population to look like it supports something most people would find distasteful under more reasonable circumstances

[fnordseer5]

our idiotic ancestors used to believe stuff that's not true but luckily we've now figured out all the true things to believe in

[jewishbarbies]

we need to bring back public hatred for paparazzi. I’m so tired of actors defending themselves against assholes with cameras and being smeared as egotistical divas. they’re glorified stalkers who get paid to harass people. end of. the things these freaks get away with would send normal people to prison but we’re supposed to think it’s okay just bc they’re paparazzi. they SHOULD get shut down for being openly misogynistic. they SHOULD get told off and reported for following someone to their private residence to doxx them. they SHOULD face charges for just about running people over in their pursuit of the next hot celeb. this is not normal. and, actually, these people DO deserve to get punched sometimes.

[tpwrtrmnky]

"Whether someone understands it or not, these are the consequences of the political views they're espousing" is a pretty important analysis tool for online movements because quite honestly, over half of everyone engaging in politics online have no foundations for the stuff they're saying and are just saying whatever makes them feel like a member of an in-group.