🤍

[writing-prompt-s]

Temples are built for gods. Knowing this a farmer builds a small temple to see what kind of god turns up.

[sadoeuphemist]

Arepo built a temple in his field, a humble thing, some stones stacked up to make a cairn, and two days later a god moved in.

“Hope you’re a harvest god,” Arepo said, and set up an altar and burnt two stalks of wheat. “It’d be nice, you know.” He looked down at the ash smeared on the stone, the rocks all laid askew, and coughed and scratched his head. “I know it’s not much,” he said, his straw hat in his hands. “But - I’ll do what I can. It’d be nice to think there’s a god looking after me.”

The next day he left a pair of figs, the day after that he spent ten minutes of his morning seated by the temple in prayer. On the third day, the god spoke up.

“You should go to a temple in the city,” the god said. Its voice was like the rustling of the wheat, like the squeaks of fieldmice running through the grass. “A real temple. A good one. Get some real gods to bless you. I’m no one much myself, but I might be able to put in a good word?” It plucked a leaf from a tree and sighed. “I mean, not to be rude. I like this temple. It’s cozy enough. The worship’s been nice. But you can’t honestly believe that any of this is going to bring you anything.”

“This is more than I was expecting when I built it,” Arepo said, laying down his scythe and lowering himself to the ground. “Tell me, what sort of god are you anyway?”

“I’m of the fallen leaves,” it said. “The worms that churn beneath the earth. The boundary of forest and of field. The first hint of frost before the first snow falls. The skin of an apple as it yields beneath your teeth. I’m a god of a dozen different nothings, scraps that lead to rot, momentary glimpses. A change in the air, and then it’s gone.”

The god heaved another sigh. “There’s no point in worship in that, not like War, or the Harvest, or the Storm. Save your prayers for the things beyond your control, good farmer. You’re so tiny in the world. So vulnerable. Best to pray to a greater thing than me.”

Arepo plucked a stalk of wheat and flattened it between his teeth. “I like this sort of worship fine,” he said. “So if you don’t mind, I think I’ll continue.”

“Do what you will,” said the god, and withdrew deeper into the stones. “But don’t say I never warned you otherwise.”

Arepo would say a prayer before the morning’s work, and he and the god contemplated the trees in silence. Days passed like that, and weeks, and then the Storm rolled in, black and bold and blustering. It flooded Arepo’s fields, shook the tiles from his roof, smote his olive tree and set it to cinder. The next day, Arepo and his sons walked among the wheat, salvaging what they could. The little temple had been strewn across the field, and so when the work was done for the day, Arepo gathered the stones and pieced them back together.

“Useless work,” the god whispered, but came creeping back inside the temple regardless. “There wasn’t a thing I could do to spare you this.”

“We’ll be fine,” Arepo said. “The storm’s blown over. We’ll rebuild. Don’t have much of an offering for today,” he said, and laid down some ruined wheat, “but I think I’ll shore up this thing’s foundations tomorrow, how about that?” 

The god rattled around in the temple and sighed.

A year passed, and then another. The temple had layered walls of stones, a roof of woven twigs. Arepo’s neighbors chuckled as they passed it. Some of their children left fruit and flowers. And then the Harvest failed, the gods withdrew their bounty. In Arepo’s field the wheat sprouted thin and brittle. People wailed and tore their robes, slaughtered lambs and spilled their blood, looked upon the ground with haunted eyes and went to bed hungry. Arepo came and sat by the temple, the flowers wilted now, the fruit shriveled nubs, Arepo’s ribs showing through his chest, his hands still shaking, and murmured out a prayer. 

“There is nothing here for you,” said the god, hudding in the dark. “There is nothing I can do. There is nothing to be done.” It shivered, and spat out its words. “What is this temple but another burden to you?”

“We -” Arepo said, and his voice wavered. “So it’s a lean year,” he said. “We’ve gone through this before, we’ll get through this again. So we’re hungry,” he said. “We’ve still got each other, don’t we? And a lot of people prayed to other gods, but it didn’t protect them from this. No,” he said, and shook his head, and laid down some shriveled weeds on the altar. “No, I think I like our arrangement fine.”

“There will come worse,” said the god, from the hollows of the stone. “And there will be nothing I can do to save you.”

The years passed. Arepo rested a wrinkled hand upon the temple of stone and some days spent an hour there, lost in contemplation with the god.

And one fateful day, from across the wine-dark seas, came War.

Arepo came stumbling to his temple now, his hand pressed against his gut, anointing the holy site with his blood. Behind him, his wheat fields burned, and the bones burned black in them. He came crawling on his knees to a temple of hewed stone, and the god rushed out to meet him.

“I could not save them,” said the god, its voice a low wail. “I am sorry. I am sorry. I am so so sorry.” The leaves fell burning from the trees, a soft slow rain of ash. “I have done nothing! All these years, and I have done nothing for you!”

“Shush,” Arepo said, tasting his own blood, his vision blurring. He propped himself up against the temple, forehead pressed against the stone in prayer. “Tell me,” he mumbled. “Tell me again. What sort of god are you?”

“I -” said the god, and reached out, cradling Arepo’s head, and closed its eyes and spoke.

“I’m of the fallen leaves,” it said, and conjured up the image of them. “The worms that churn beneath the earth. The boundary of forest and of field. The first hint of frost before the first snow falls. The skin of an apple as it yields beneath your teeth.” Arepo’s lips parted in a smile.

“I am the god of a dozen different nothings,” it said. “The petals in bloom that lead to rot, the momentary glimpses. A change in the air -” Its voice broke, and it wept. “Before it’s gone.”

“Beautiful,” Arepo said, his blood staining the stones, seeping into the earth. “All of them. They were all so beautiful.”

And as the fields burned and the smoke blotted out the sun, as men were trodden in the press and bloody War raged on, as the heavens let loose their wrath upon the earth, Arepo the sower lay down in his humble temple, his head sheltered by the stones, and returned home to his god.

[sameenbyhat]

Sora found the temple with the bones within it, the roof falling in upon them.

“Oh, poor god,” she said, “With no-one to bury your last priest.” Then she paused, because she was from far away. “Or is this how the dead are honored here?” The god roused from its contemplation.

“His name was Arepo,” it said, “He was a sower.”

Sora startled, a little, because she had never before heard the voice of a god. “How can I honor him?” She asked.

“Bury him,” the god said, “Beneath my altar.”

“All right,” Sora said, and went to fetch her shovel.

“Wait,” the god said when she got back and began collecting the bones from among the broken twigs and fallen leaves. She laid them out on a roll of undyed wool, the only cloth she had. “Wait,” the god said, “I cannot do anything for you. I am not a god of anything useful.”

Sora sat back on her heels and looked at the altar to listen to the god.

“When the Storm came and destroyed his wheat, I could not save it,” the god said, “When the Harvest failed and he was hungry, I could not feed him. When War came,” the god’s voice faltered. “When War came, I could not protect him. He came bleeding from the battle to die in my arms.” Sora looked down again at the bones.

“I think you are the god of something very useful,” she said.

“What?” the god asked.

Sora carefully lifted the skull onto the cloth. “You are the god of Arepo.”

[stu-pot]

Generations passed. The village recovered from its tragedies—homes rebuilt, gardens re-planted, wounds healed. The old man who once lived on the hill and spoke to stone and rubble had long since been forgotten, but the temple stood in his name. Most believed it to empty, as the god who resided there long ago had fallen silent. Yet, any who passed the decaying shrine felt an ache in their hearts, as though mourning for a lost friend. The cold that seeped from the temple entrance laid their spirits low, and warded off any potential visitors, save for the rare and especially oblivious children who would leave tiny clusters of pink and white flowers that they picked from the surrounding meadow.

The god sat in his peaceful home, staring out at the distant road, to pedestrians, workhorses, and carriages, raining leaves that swirled around bustling feet. How long had it been? The world had progressed without him, for he knew there was no help to be given. The world must be a cruel place, that even the useful gods have abandoned, if farms can flood, harvests can run barren, and homes can burn, he thought.

He had come to understand that humans are senseless creatures, who would pray to a god that cannot grant wishes or bless upon them good fortune. Who would maintain a temple and bring offerings with nothing in return. Who would share their company and meditate with such a fruitless deity. Who would bury a stranger without the hope for profit. What bizarre, futile kindness they had wasted on him. What wonderful, foolish, virtuous, hopeless creatures, humans were.

So he painted the sunset with yellow leaves, enticed the worms to dance in their soil, flourished the boundary between forest and field with blossoms and berries, christened the air with a biting cold before winter came, ripened the apples with crisp, red freckles to break under sinking teeth, and a dozen other nothings, in memory of the man who once praised the god’s work on his dying breath.

“Hello, God of Every Humble Beauty in the World,” called a familiar voice.

The squinting corners of the god’s eyes wept down onto curled lips. “Arepo,” he whispered, for his voice was hoarse from its hundred-year mutism.

“I am the god of devotion, of small kindnesses, of unbreakable bonds. I am the god of selfless, unconditional love, of everlasting friendships, and trust,” Arepo avowed, soothing the other with every word.

“That’s wonderful, Arepo,” he responded between tears, “I’m so happy for you—such a powerful figure will certainly need a grand temple. Will you leave to the city to gather more worshippers? You’ll be adored by all.”

“No,” Arepo smiled.

“Farther than that, to the capitol, then? Thank you for visiting here before your departure.”

“No, I will not go there, either,” Arepo shook his head and chuckled.

“Farther still? What ambitious goals, you must have. There is no doubt in my mind that you will succeed, though,” the elder god continued.

“Actually,” interrupted Arepo, “I’d like to stay here, if you’ll have me.”

The other god was struck speechless. “…. Why would you want to live here?”

“I am the god of unbreakable bonds and everlasting friendships. And you are the god of Arepo.”

[corancoranthemagicalman]

I reblogged this once with the first story. Now the story has grown and I’m crying. This is gorgeous, guys. This is what dreams are made of.

[threefeline]

[writing-prompt-s]

This is amazing!

[armeniangenocidehistory]

Yepraksia Gevorgyan, 110

Armenian genocide: survivors recall events 100 years on

[cataclysmic-writer]

To this day, the quote I read in a survivors biography in 7th grade still haunts me. “Who does now remember the Armenians?” 

You know who said that? Hitler. Adolf Hitler, as a way to justify the Holocaust. Because the world turned a blind eye to the Armenian genocide, he thought the world would turn its back to the Holocaust.

The worst part is, he was right. America, Europe, the governments knew what was going on. And they ignored it. Now, more than ever, remember the Armenians. Remember the Cambodians, Rwandans, Jews. Never again means now.

[bitegore]

Remember the Armenians because it’s happening again and it can literally be stopped but not if people keep turning a blind eye, just as they did a century ago

[gdfalksen]

Chiune Sugihara. This man saved 6000 Jews. He was a Japanese diplomat in Lithuania. When the Nazis began rounding up Jews, Sugihara risked his life to start issuing unlawful travel visas to Jews. He hand-wrote them 18 hrs a day. The day his consulate closed and he had to evacuate, witnesses claim he was STILL writing visas and throwing from the train as he pulled away. He saved 6000 lives. The world didn’t know what he’d done until Israel honored him in 1985, the year before he died.

[bemusedlybespectacled]

Why can’t we have a movie about him?

[elasmata]

He was often called “Sempo”, an alternative reading of the characters of his first name, as that was easier for Westerners to pronounce.

His wife, Yukiko, was also a part of this; she is often credited with suggesting the plan. The Sugihara family was held in a Soviet POW camp for 18 months until the end of the war; within a year of returning home, Sugihara was asked to resign - officially due to downsizing, but most likely because the government disagreed with his actions.

He didn’t simply grant visas - he granted visas against direct orders, after attempting three times to receive permission from the Japanese Foreign Ministry and being turned down each time. He did not “misread” orders; he was in direct violation of them, with the encouragement and support of his wife.

He was honoured as Righteous Among the Nations in 1985, a year before he died in Kamakura; he and his descendants have also been granted permanent Israeli citizenship. He was also posthumously awarded the Life Saving Cross of Lithuania (1993); Commander’s Cross Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland (1996); and the Commander’s Cross with Star of the Order of Polonia Restituta (2007). Though not canonized, some Eastern Orthodox Christians recognize him as a saint.

Sugihara was born in Gifu on the first day of 1900, January 1. He achieved top marks in his schooling; his father wanted him to become a physician, but Sugihara wished to pursue learning English. He deliberately failed the exam by writing only his name and then entered Waseda, where he majored in English. He joined the Foreign Ministry after graduation and worked in the Manchurian Foreign Office in Harbin (where he learned Russian and German; he also converted to the Eastern Orthodox Church during this time). He resigned his post in protest over how the Japanese government treated the local Chinese citizens. He eventually married Yukiko Kikuchi, who would suggest and encourage his acts in Lithuania; they had four sons together. Chiune Sugihara passed away July 31, 1986, at the age of 86. Until her own passing in 2008, Yukiko continued as an ambassador of his legacy.

It is estimated that the Sugiharas saved between 6,000-10,000 Lithuanian and Polish Jewish people.

[returnofthejudai]

It’s a tragedy that the Sugiharas aren’t household names. They are among the greatest heroes of WWII. Is it because they were from an Axis Power? Is it because they aren’t European? I don’t know. But I’ve decided to always reblog them when they come across my dash. If I had the money, I would finance a movie about them.

[westsemiteblues]

He told an interviewer:

You want to know about my motivation, don’t you? Well. It is the kind of sentiments anyone would have when he actually sees refugees face to face, begging with tears in their eyes. He just cannot help but sympathize with them. Among the refugees were the elderly and women. They were so desperate that they went so far as to kiss my shoes, Yes, I actually witnessed such scenes with my own eyes. Also, I felt at that time, that the Japanese government did not have any uniform opinion in Tokyo. Some Japanese military leaders were just scared because of the pressure from the Nazis; while other officials in the Home Ministry were simply ambivalent.

People in Tokyo were not united. I felt it silly to deal with them. So, I made up my mind not to wait for their reply. I knew that somebody would surely complain about me in the future. But, I myself thought this would be the right thing to do. There is nothing wrong in saving many people’s lives….The spirit of humanity, philanthropy…neighborly friendship…with this spirit, I ventured to do what I did, confronting this most difficult situation—and because of this reason, I went ahead with redoubled courage.

He died in nearly complete obscurity in Japan. His neighbors were shocked when people from all over, including Israeli diplomatic personnel, showed up at quiet little Mr. Sugihara’s funeral.

[fahrlight]

I will forever reblog this, I wish more people would know about them!

[rhube]

I liked this before when it had way less information. Thank you, history-sharers.

[mousezilla]

Tucked away in a corner in L.A.’s Little Tokyo is a life-sized statue of Chiune, seated on a bench and smiling gently as he holds out a visa. 

The stone next to him bears a quote from the Talmud; “He who saves one life, saves the entire world.”  

I had no idea it existed until a few weeks ago, but it’s since become one of my favorite pieces of public art. 

[ilearnedtoblossom]

The gun epidemic in America is really, really, really scaring me. So in honor of pride month, I suggest that the LGBTQIA community start rubbing our gay little hands all over gun culture. If we ‘ruined marriage’ for them, maybe we could ruin guns for them too??? Like after gun nuts accepted that even children dying wouldn’t make them change, Idk what else could possibly ever.

[your-raifu-is-shit]

Ask me how I know you’ve never interacted with a single gun owner in your entire life.

[goulashnikov-concern]

[thegodofneon]

[that-catholic-shinobi]

Nice try but we want gays to have guns.

[officialmacgyver2-deactivated20]

Fellas is it gay to teach gays to protect themselves? Nope. It’s awesome.

[wheel-skellington]

if [insert minority group here] owning guns causes them to be restricted that is a bad thing

[whiskey-gunpowder]

“fact checker”

[silverscreenx]

Listen to this bullshit

[cookingwithroxy]

‘No matter what they had done, they would have been slaughtered, so it doesn’t matter that they were completely incapable of resisting! Now keep that in mind when we tell you we want to take your guns away.’

[dogsforwhiteboysummer]

I mean yes, the average Jew having a tool that could have launched a led projectile at 1000 feet a second would have made a difference when the gestapo were deciding who should kick the door in, and we know there were Jews who did survive the war by arming themselves and retreating to the wilderness, but I don’t really like guns so it’s better if we just say it wouldn’t have helped. 

[prolifeproliberty]

If it wouldn’t have made a difference, why did the Nazis care so much about disarming Jews?

A tyrannical government doesn’t come for you out of the blue. They come for you after they’ve disarmed you and run an intense propaganda campaign that labels you as a threat to society so few would even consider standing up for you. They come for you after they condition you to believe that they have your best interest at heart and that they are best qualified to make decisions for you as an individual and society as a whole. They come for you after they’ve convinced you that resistance is futile. They come after they’ve convinced you that fighting back only hurts those you love.

If some of these things sound familiar, they should.

Don’t let your guard down, and don’t believe the propaganda. Because that Politi”fact” article is propaganda.

[neverthere12345]

Study shows half of Americans use swimming pools as a communal bathtub as the alternative to taking a bath or shower during the summer. A wave of comments on the study agreeing with the research soon followed, and the people in the comments agreed stating that “Chlorine” can clean toilets, so it was enough.

[neverthere12345]

[mens-rights-activia]

[psyonic-cobra]

[petcareawareness]

People seriously underestimate the impact the media has on notions of pet ownership and what people can handle in animals.

Books, movies, TV, and internet videos from Youtube, Instagram, and The Dodo often show animals in their best moments, or even acting because they’ve been trained to do certain tasks (or are animated as humanlike characters). The fact is that the vast majority of people, even those who already have pets, have a very low or nonexistent level of animal literacy; what they take away from that kind of media oftens turns into “I want that animal as a pet.” 

People who watched Finding Nemo created an explosion of demand for clownfish and blue tangs; Harry Potter, owls; 101 Dalmatians for dalmatians, etc etc etc. When the decision to get a pet modeled after the cute, photo-ready animals seen on a screen is made, there is zero consideration as to whether or not their needs can be met and if people can actually handle them. 

Media featuring animals inevitably creates a boom of abandonment and huge environmental impact precisely because people who were in over their heads and acted purely on a whim got their dose of reality, and it’s incredibly heartbreaking to have to see the news detailing such cases. These are just some examples: 

Yearly reminders have to be passed around telling people not to buy rabbits on Easter unless they’re committed to actually taking care of them  

Thousands of dalmatians were abandoned when families discovered that they are very energy intensive, broody work dogs that are not suited to families with small children, unlike the cuddly Perdita and Pongo

Similarly, huskies and malamutes were surrendered to shelters when people realised they are not loyal Westeros direwolves

Entire ecosystems in Europe and southern Asia lost valuable apex predators when people began poaching them to sell to fans who wanted their own Hedwigs and Errols, and again abandoning them en masse when they discovered owls are highly aggressive, loud, messy, and nocturnal

Japan imported thousands of North American raccoons after the release of the Disney movie Rascal, people let them loose in the wild, and Japan now has a problem trying to figure out what to do with their enormous pest population that has no natural predator in place to control their numbers

Pacific Reefs suffered greatly when people demanded to have clownfish and blue tangs as pets, especially considering they were caught by being stunned with sodium cyanide, which, additionally, severely damages coral as well. NatGeo estimates that up to 90% of tropical fish imported by the US are caught by way of cyanide fishing; this often ends up for naught as these fish are often flushed down the toilet or released to the wild in other ways, which is also why the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico are under threat by voracious invasive species like lionfish   

The gist is that the media perpetuates this cycle of people reading about or seeing animal characters, demand is created, people impulse buy those animals, and then leave them for shelters to care for or release them to the wild when they get a rude awakening and find they’re actually unable to deal with those animals. 

This isn’t even counting other animals like “mini” pigs, chihuahuas, snakes, foxes, etc etc etc. And we can’t exactly blame this on over enthusiastic children when it’s adults who have the purchasing power to buy a pet, and who choose to do zero research, and who choose to indulge said children or even themselves when that I Want the TV Animal as a Pet urge comes on. 

Ignoring what is essentially weaponised cuteness used for online likes is hard, especially when faced with such palatable stuff like that gif of the owl riding the tablet stylus, or the plethora of cat videos. But it costs very little effort to not only educate yourself on the needs of animals and to also not encourage a rapacious pet trade industry, but to communicate that to others so that, hopefully, we won’t have to see things like Peter Dinklage and Jo Rowling having to make statements to the news because of this problem. 

–Mod Nick

[muchymozzarella]

Please reblog this even if you don’t care

They’re trying to erase the existence of the rape victims of Japanese soldiers in World War II because they think the reminder of their crimes might make Japan a little bit cross

Duterte, the absolute coward, is more worried about women criticizing him than actually honoring the women this country needs to remember

Please don’t let these women be silenced.

[curvethemoonshine]

Want to learn more about this horrible time in history, read the book The Rape of Nanking

[fireknight21]

Yea Japan did a lot I mean a fucking lot of nasty shit. So much that even HITLER was saying something about it

[kaldicuct]

Yeah didn’t the nazis more or less beg the Japanese to tone it down a notch?

Then as I realize that pattern has never stopped.

[vikinglumberjack-moved-deactiva]

The man you’re looking for is John Rabe. He’s the only example of a morally “good” Nazi that I can think of. He personally saved the lives of over 250,00 Chinese during the Nanking Massacre. He’s one of the few accurate contemporary sources we have of the Nanking Massacre (because Japan wants to suppress all their atrocities during the Sino-Japanese War for pity points about the bombing Of Hiroshima and Nagasaki).

I mean the Nanking Massacre beats the bombings by 72,000 (300,000 in Nanking vs 228,000 of the combined bombings) deaths alone. Then We Can pull the deaths commited by the Unit 731 at about 413,000.

With just those two we’re already at 713,000 (The population of Detroit) deaths over the (again) 228,000. Adding in the comfort women with 410,000 victims.

A total of 1,013,000 victims in just 3 aspects of the conflict with Japan.

It’s the Japanese that are trying to erase these atrocities. It’s considered political suicide to attempt to even apologize. A man was even threatened with treason for asking to remove his brother’s name from the Japanese monument dedicated to the soldiers in Nanking.

The US has apologized for the Internment Camps. Germany has apologized for the Third Reich.

Japan is with Turkey in trying to suppress their Genocide.

I’m Proud of Estelita, and other survivors like her.

[aflamestillburning-deactivated2]

Please please please

I saw a post about “Please stop hitting on women while they’re at work” and I 100% agree with it, which is why I’m making a separate post to say please don’t hit on people in general when they’re at work.

I work at a bakery and we have this sweet 16 about to turn 17 year old boy who works up front of our store. He used to work at the place next door to us and, while he was there, a girl he was working with developed a bit of a crush on him and asked him out.

He said no, that he has a girlfriend (which she already knew) and thought they could just continue on being friends and coworkers.

Since beginning work at our bakery she stops in every single day and talks to him for the entirety of her 30 minute long break. He has told her multiple times that he’s at work and can’t stand around and talk and when I asked him if he was uncomfortable his response was a very relieved “Oh, God, yes.” 

He’s tried to talk to one of the owners about it and his response was “You can talk to her after work” not realizing this poor boy is being made incredibly uncomfortable on a daily basis in the work place. 

When we told him he could come into the back to find something to do if he needed to he was so incredibly thankful and relieved. This girl spent twenty minutes standing up front waiting for him to come back after he said he had to go do something. Twenty minutes in the front of the store ever after being told he can’t talk to her. He doesn’t know what would happen if he says that he doesn’t want to talk to her and is genuinely nervous every time she walks in.

The only reprieve he gets is from the bakers in the back saying “I get it. Come back here” because the Owners don’t understand that he, a male coworker, can be made uncomfortable by these unwanted advancements being made toward him. 

Please.

This post isn’t made to undersell not hitting on women while they’re at work. I get that and that’s why this separate post exists.

Please.

Don’t hit on people when they’re at work.

Don’t hit on people when they can’t tell you no. 

[animatedamerican]

DON’T HIT ON PEOPLE WHEN THEY CAN’T TELL YOU NO.

[candycourse-ofcourse]

the maps coined a new term to call themselves

P.E.A.R,aka  “pro-expression, anti-repression"  was a term coined by well known pedophile 4-lung stay safe y’all,and block these sick freaks

[ashlake]

theyve also been using the pear emoji along with the acronym to identify each other

[frottinq]

Because “MAP” was too blatant and lets you know what their real intentions are when you explain that acronym. This one, you have to actually delve into why they call it this. This is literally them trying to rebrand pedophilia a second time because the first time wasnt good enough.

[hellsite-yano]

[coolmanfromthepast]

Pedos should hang.

[bravadopinfire]

[unlimited-shitpost-works-deacti]

[tiqqun-deactivated20250830]

Hong Kong on some next level shit, no-selling tear gas canisters.

Teamwork makes the dream work babes!!

[celestial-peaches-deactivated20]

Nothing says friendship like destroying a communist police state together

[tenaflyviper]

If anyone is wondering what’s going on in Hong Kong right now, people are protesting a bill that would allow for extradition of fugitive offenders. The issue people have with the proposed amendment is that it would open up the citizens of Hong Kong–which is independent–to falling under mainland Chinese law.

The bill potentially places in high risk anyone with openly critical views about the governing and policies in mainland China. Given that there have already been many abductions from Hong Kong–particularly of bookstore owners selling materials of a critical nature–this legislation would only enable the Chinese government in further silencing political dissent.

Bear in mind that mainland China is where Winnie the Pooh continues to be banned from mention on all social media because people were making humorous comparisons between Pooh and Xi Jinping–the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (aka the current President of China).

America is far from perfect, but at least we have the freedom to publicly ridicule the bags of raw sewage running this shitshow without fear of either censorship, or legislation that would allow the government to arrest us for it.

[cosmomoore]

This is a nice, concise rundown on what is happening in Hong Kong right now, thank you for sharing. I wasn’t sure I understood exactly what was going on, but this makes a lot of sense and also explains why people are planning to boycott Mulan over the main actress’s remarks.

[libfas]

Oxford claims women can’t deal with pressure, decides to inflate number of degrees just to increase the number of female degree holders

2018 equality is repackaged sexism apparently

[cisnowflake]

The soft bigotry of low expectations. Also, aren’t women already doing better than men at pretty much every step of the educational process?

[yourownpetard]

Aren’t women already earning the majority of degrees? Why even do this.

[alaija]

Being a woman is now a disability. 

Good work.

[thespectacularspider-girl]

This is legitimately insulting.

[libertarirynn-deactivated202006]

[kazeenio]

Her twitter bio says she hosts a podcast on “Healthy Relationships” good lord 😭😭

[historicaltimes]

Rosemary Mariner standing in front of her A-7 Corsair II, 1976. Mariner was the very first female Naval Aviator, the first to fly a front line attack aircraft, the first to land on an aircraft carrier, first to serve aboard a warship and the first to gain command of an aviation squadron.

via reddit

Keep reading

[triggeredmedia]

TN Libertarians Asked To Leave During National Park Cleanup

To show their commitment to voluntarism, members of the Libertarian Party of Tennessee are organizing a trash cleanup of two Tennessee National Parks on January 13th. National parks have been largely neglected because of the partial federal government shutdown, leading to widespread media coverage.

Gov’t: The gov’t shutdown means parks won’t get cleaned! You need us!

Libertarians: We will clean it, voluntarily. 

Gov’t: GTFO! Only we can do this with money we take from you at gun point.

[tiffanarchy]

here’s a better link: https://www.wbbjtv.com/2019/01/14/local-group-of-volunteers-claim-they-were-asked-to-stop-cleaning-at-area-national-park/

This is absolutely typical. People get shut down trying to feed the homeless, too. It’s sick.

[association-of-free-people]

Remember this guy from the 2015 shutdown? He went to the mall with his push mower and started cutting the grass. Storm troopers showed up and ran him off since the mall was closed. I thought it was pretty funny they could fund the storm troopers but not the regular park rangers. Have to try your damndest to punish the peasants when the money isn’t flowing through the trough.

[everythingfox]

High five!

Acoshiba

[girlschasinggirls]

Sexual violence and non-consensual sex rising due to porn, finds survey

'Porn is now the main sex educator for young people,' survey finds.

Rape culture and sexual violence may be gaining ground in New Zealand because of pornography, a new survey has found.

The survey of 622 sexual health services, youth workers, schools and families has found increasing genital injuries caused by violent sex inspired by pornography that depicts violence as normal.

Respondents report “increased degradation, objectification and disrespect of women and girls; normalising of sexual violence and coercion; a disregard for consent; a devaluing and transactional approach to sex; advanced sexual knowledge for development age; an erosion of mutual pleasure and the normalising of painful sex particularly for women and gay males.”

The survey does not claim to be an academic study and was done to inform a set of resources for youth, schools and parents on how to deal with porn, which will be published on October 1 on www.thelightproject.co.nz.

An Education Review Office review of sexuality education in schools, published today, highlighted the survey as evidence that many schoolchildren “are learning about sex through pornography” on their smartphones.

Survey organiser Nikki Denholm, a former sexual health nurse who has worked internationally on female genital mutilation and other sexual health issues, said she was inspired to do something about porn after working on child sex trafficking in the Philippines.

“I was surprised how many young people had been filmed for the sex industry,” she said.

Back in New Zealand, she teamed up with Auckland sex therapist Jo Robertson, sexual health nurses Lief Pearson and Melissa Powell and former child protection worker Veronia Houghton to found the “Light Project”, named “to shine a light in an area that is quite dark”.

Schoolteachers, principals and guidance counsellors who responded to their online survey “gave many accounts of students viewing porn on personal or school devices during school hours”.

One said: “Pornography is now the main sex educator for young people.”

Another said: “Porn is normalising misogynistic, violent, rape culture, racist, anti-LGBTI sexual behaviour - leading to an expectation that this is okay behaviour.”

Sexual health workers and youth workers said they saw “an increase in sexual aggression and sexual violence, including sexually coercive behaviours, increasing incidences of sexual assault (for boys and girls), an increase in sexually aggressive behaviours seen in younger children, sexual violence towards partners and increased incidences of child-on-child abuse including re-enacting porn scenes”.

“Young people are inadvertently educated that it’s normal to endure or inflict pain,” one person said.

A sexual health doctor said: “A number of sexual practices are becoming more common and normalised among young people, I believe as a result of watching porn. These include pubic hair shaving, anal sex, group sex, etc.”

Health services also reported “increasing presentations of young men to Sexual Health Services with sexual dysfunction”.

“These men are reporting problems with ‘normal’ sex not being as stimulating as pornography, causing difficulty reaching orgasm or maintaining an erection,” one person said.

Robertson, who is completing a master’s thesis at Sydney University on the impacts of porn on adolescents, said therapists were seeing young men with erectile dysfunction that “you would have never seen in a 25-year-old” before smartphones.

Therapists expressed concern that parents were ignoring the issue.

“Fathers don’t realise how vital it is to talk to their boys about it. They think it is acceptable, a fad, or just a ‘fact of life’,” one therapist said.

Denholm said the Light Project resources would include tips on how to talk to young people about porn, suggestions for schools, and resources for young people themselves about the importance of consent and where to get help.

“We were very sobered that this is here and this is New Zealand,” she said. “Despite how enlightened adults might think we are, we have got a problem.”