ASSHOLE ALERT @gastlyinspector - Tumblr Blog

There are actual tears in my eyes rn can you believe people are this stupid and walk among us all the time

some people read an awful lot, but don't read very well. deep reading is itself a skill. being able to untangle the threads of theme, subtext, characterization, narrative style, and more are all things that it takes time and intentional engagement to learn.

if you've ever watched a movie with your film buff friend and chatted about it afterwards, that friend might have pulled hours more of conversation out of the same 90 minutes of screentime, and wondered how the fuck they did that - it's not raw intelligence, it's a skill that's been honed. And I learned a lot about film from talking to friends who knew about film, and reading critique by film scholars

literature works exactly the same. so if you want to get more out of your reading, there are things you can do to train that. Find a book or short story you think you've got a pretty good grasp on, preferably from a widely read & respected author like Ursula K Le Guin or Ray Bradbury (if you're new at this don't swing for the Toni Morrison or the Samuel Beckett yet unless you feel very comfortable with the complexity of the text - the point is to develop a complicated new skill on good foundations). Then go to JSTOR, create a free account, and look up criticism on the story you've chosen. Find something that looks readable to you and at least somewhat interesting. Read that article, and look at what that writer got out of the same story you've read that you didn't get. Do you see the critic's points? Did they teach you something about the text? Go reread that story and see if the criticism has changed how you read it. Are you seeing more? Are you thinking about the implications of a line that you hadn't noticed before? Does the story feel richer now?

there are other more involved ways of finding criticism. Learning to use academic databases, going to your local library to do interlibrary loans, finding critical voices you appreciate; these are all useful subskills. Literacy isn't just being able to read words, it's being able to read words in context and think about what they tell you about the text, the author, or the time and culture in which the text was produced. Literacy is the skill of being able to look at the world with open eyes and think clearly about how its parts are connected. It'll change your life

toroidalearthtruther

there seems to be a fundamental disagreement between microwave oven manufacturers and the producers of microwave meals over whether the customer should know the wattage of their microwave or if such details should be abstracted away from them

toroidalearthtruther

the microwave rice demands 800 watts of power for 2 minutes, but all the microwave can offer me three settings: one low, one high, and one somewhere in the middle. I turn it to the one in the middle as I happen to know 800W is the average power of most microwaves. the light comes on and the bag of rice starts slowly turning, but rather than hearing the usual rumble of the microwave, I instead start hearing short snippets of conversation - words snatched from the ether. the lights flicker and a chill runs up my spine. the voices remind me of those "spirit boxes" ghost hunters use. I double check the setting on the microwave. "ah," I say, remembering that I had set it to medium,

escuerzoresucitado

angelicguy

guy left at work today and someone replied to his goodbye email with this

Girl, me too

my deltarune fanart

molluscappreciator-deactivated2

vexx-the-egg

dirtbrunch

elbiotipo

we don't hate J.J. Abrams enough

elbiotipo

Branson Reese, whoever you are, I keep your words in my heart all the time.

kaijuerotica

"branson reese, whoever you are" put some respect on the smooth sharks one fear man's name

calware

the truly evil part about lolcowing is that the targets are almost always people who have done something/things that are unsavory at best or objectively harmful at worst and that is used as justification to treat them however you want with no recourse whatsoever. like you suddenly have permission to dehumanize someone for what, fucking entertainment. and if anyone tells you to cool it for a minute, suddenly they're supportive of that behavior, making you effectively immune to anyone who disagrees. like apparently nobody's ever heard of disproportionate punishment

rottingtrouble-child

I saw this video about a doctor who performed an MRI on a 5 year old and discovered she essentially had “brain damage” from excessive iPad use, as the white matter in her brain couldn’t form properly due to an understimulated environment.

Hmm it’s almost like there’s supposed to be adult figures responsible for monitoring her screen time and making sure she develops properly… certainly this isn’t the result of neglect at the hands of her parents…

rottingtrouble-child

“This 5 year old is brain damaged by excessive iPad use”

Translation: This 5 year old is developmentally impaired by neglectful parents who used an iPad as a stand-in for social and environmental stimulation / interaction for hours at a time during critical early stages of child development. The iPad is the cop-out.

rottingtrouble-child

“Children don’t have the strength to hold pencils anymore because they only use screens.”

Translation: Parents aren’t making the conscious effort to help their children develop necessary skills and letting iPads raise them.

When are people going to realize the iPads and whatnot are the instruments through which the neglect is happening through and not the cause? How the fuck do you let your child have such a severe lack of physical strength in their hands that they can’t hold a pencil properly?

rottingtrouble-child

People will see a study suggesting children with higher screen times have poorer or negative developmental outcomes and immediately say it’s the screens causing this, and not the more likely fact that higher screen time = less engagement time with their environment, physical exercise, parents, family, and their peers, all of which are NECESSARY for a healthy upbringing as a social species.

It’s like saying a dog who was kept in a cage all its life and left with atrophied muscles was damaged by the cage, and not by the fact its owners were too lazy to play or walk their dog in order for its muscles to build properly. The cage is the instrument of neglect and the owners are the perpetrators, in the same way parents are the perpetrators and weaponizing screen time as an excuse and painting themselves as helpless bystanders.

thelightfluxtastic

I have a research background in weight stigma and I currently work in mental health, often with LGBTQ+ clients.

I've met nonbinary people who struggle with disordered eating because they only ever see androgyny depicted as featureless thinness.

I've met trans women who struggle with disordered eating because they've internalized the idea that girls are meant to be thin, dainty, and delicate.

I've men trans men who struggle with disordered eating, because they feel women are allowed to be soft/curvy but men need to be muscular or thin and flat.

So many trans people are convinced that weight loss is the key to appearing as their desired gender, even when they want radically different gender presentations.

The societal idealization of thinness and fatphobia falsely invades and derails people's idea of what their "ideal body" should look like.

thisisthinprivilege

The social effects of privileging thinness are so damaging. Like, it's hard enough to deviate from expected gender roles and binary sexuality but now fat people have to do it on hard mode

thelightfluxtastic

This post has kind of exploded and my heart is with everyone in the notes sharing their struggles with this trap.

But to the folks "yes, but-"ing it with statements like 'I know this trend is bad but I just want to be skinny for my own/personal/completely unrelated reasons', I am asking you to take five minutes to consider why that is.

I'm not your therapist, doctor, or dietician. I can't say what is best for your mental and physical health. But take a moment to think: why all your 'gender goals' celebrities or fictional characters are skinny? Why can't a man/woman/nonbinary person look like you? Why is it hard to imagine transitioning in your own body type?

And I say that not from a place of judgement! I've been there- some days I am still there. Even with all my academic background, even with examples/role models of fat nonbinary people, even with years chipping away at internalized fatphobia, I've had to grapple with "But I want to look like [generic paper doll/anime character/celebrity/thin person]".

You are not immune to propaganda. And also, you are just as capable of learning body positivity/acceptance while still transitioning.

You deserve to feel gender euphoria in and with your body type and size.