Untitled

[repotting]

the “holding out as married” rule is so fucked up

like… not only can I not marry the love of my life without losing my health insurance and the $800 or so a month I’m forced to survive on

but I can’t even CALL her “my wife” casually

like literally the US gov’t has people whose job it is to go and interview the family, friends, & neighbors of disabled people to just make sure that they never refer to anyone in their life as “my wife” or “my husband” etc

and if you DO, then SNAP! You’re defrauding the US gov’t of the pittance you can barely survive on and you are no longer entitled to your disability benefits

(some kinds of benefits might remain in diminished form but if you were disabled before age 22 you are fucked COMPLETELY and can’t get them back even if you divorce… the only loophole is if the other person was ALSO deemed disabled before 22, because that fucking makes sense)

and this is just… legal and no one but disabled activists ever talks about this shit

so yeah I’d love some of that gay marriage shit but I will never be able to get married, and to add insult to injury, I can’t even casually refer to my partner as “my wife” without risking the health insurance and income I need to survive as a disabled lesbian

[kelpforestdwellers]

this is what we mean when we say the USA does NOT have marriage equality yet

[mtgemporium]

Ok, but if you say that, you’re wrong.

This isn’t a marriage equality issue. This does not impact anyone’s right to get married, and that’s all that marriage equality is. The root of this problem is not marriage itself. Saying the USA doesn’t have marriage equality when this is what you mean is not going to convey this situation to anyone, at any point, and it’s a pointless way to describe this situation because of it.

[darbysallin]

“This does not impact anyone’s right to get married” Hi, I’m a disabled woman who has been with her fiance for 4 years. 4 years of being engaged. I can’t even marry the man i love or I will lose my fucking income, and you’re sitting here telling me this doesn’t impact my right to get married? Are you dumb?

[mtgemporium]

Yes, I am saying that impacting your personal ability to get married is not the same as impacting your right to get married. If you chose to get married, you wouldn’t be stopped. That means your right is not being infringed upon, and acting like a financial incentive not to get married is the same as being legally barred from it is disrespectful to the millions of people who cannot get married without being arrested.

[darbysallin]

Until disabled people can get married without losing their income there is no marriage equality. This is especially true for disabled LGBT+ people. Stop leaving them out of the conversation.

[mtgemporium]

How have I left disabled LGBT+ people out of the conversation? They may experience marriage inequality, but it’s still not because they’re disabled, so I don’t see why they would need to be treated differently from any other LGBT+ person.

Anyways, you’re just redefining marriage equality to suit your own needs and then calling me an idiot because I know what the words actually mean, so I doubt we’re likely to get anywhere.

[pure]

these types of headlines convince me even more that cointelpro never ceased operations...

[pure]

black radicals: abolish the police

the ruling class:

[repotting]

the “holding out as married” rule is so fucked up

like… not only can I not marry the love of my life without losing my health insurance and the $800 or so a month I’m forced to survive on

but I can’t even CALL her “my wife” casually

like literally the US gov’t has people whose job it is to go and interview the family, friends, & neighbors of disabled people to just make sure that they never refer to anyone in their life as “my wife” or “my husband” etc

and if you DO, then SNAP! You’re defrauding the US gov’t of the pittance you can barely survive on and you are no longer entitled to your disability benefits

(some kinds of benefits might remain in diminished form but if you were disabled before age 22 you are fucked COMPLETELY and can’t get them back even if you divorce… the only loophole is if the other person was ALSO deemed disabled before 22, because that fucking makes sense)

and this is just… legal and no one but disabled activists ever talks about this shit

so yeah I’d love some of that gay marriage shit but I will never be able to get married, and to add insult to injury, I can’t even casually refer to my partner as “my wife” without risking the health insurance and income I need to survive as a disabled lesbian

[kelpforestdwellers]

this is what we mean when we say the USA does NOT have marriage equality yet

[mtgemporium]

Ok, but if you say that, you’re wrong.

This isn’t a marriage equality issue. This does not impact anyone’s right to get married, and that’s all that marriage equality is. The root of this problem is not marriage itself. Saying the USA doesn’t have marriage equality when this is what you mean is not going to convey this situation to anyone, at any point, and it’s a pointless way to describe this situation because of it.

[darbysallin]

“This does not impact anyone’s right to get married” Hi, I’m a disabled woman who has been with her fiance for 4 years. 4 years of being engaged. I can’t even marry the man i love or I will lose my fucking income, and you’re sitting here telling me this doesn’t impact my right to get married? Are you dumb?

[mtgemporium]

Yes, I am saying that impacting your personal ability to get married is not the same as impacting your right to get married. If you chose to get married, you wouldn’t be stopped. That means your right is not being infringed upon, and acting like a financial incentive not to get married is the same as being legally barred from it is disrespectful to the millions of people who cannot get married without being arrested.

[ajani]

No more motorcycles

Society has moved past the need for Motorcycles

[mtgemporium]

There was never a need

[gweninblack]

Please spread!!!!

[mtgemporium]

Is this release-release or, like, bail-release

[hotvampireadjacent]

maybe im just paranoid but it sounds like the same asshole who always uses fireworks is rly using them a lot more than usual???  

[mtgemporium]

I’ve heard it’s propaganda but my whole neighborhood has gotten weirdly into it? People are really just taking their kids out w lawn chairs to watch the fireworks every night, I’m glad they’re having a good time but I don’t love the firework sounds

[daughterofmulan-deactivated2018]

The Glorification of White Crime

Take a facet of crime, and then look at television shows/movies that feature those criminals as protagonists.

White mobs.

White pirates.

White serial killers.

White political corruption

White drug dealers

I mostly want to talk about this as a TV phenomenon, but pick a crime, any crime, and Western media has probably made a movie/TV series/play/etc. with a white person that romanticizes the criminal activity. No matter what, a white person can do whatever terrible crimes and still have a TV/movie fanbase that loves them.

When you see black or brown people committing crimes on screen, you are to see them thugs and criminal masterminds and people to be beat down.

When you see white people committing crimes on screen, you see a three-dimensional portrait of why someone might commit that crime, how criminals are people too, and how you should even love them for the crimes that they commit because they’re just providing for their families or they’ve wronged or they’re just people and not perfect. This is particularly a luxury given to white male characters, since there few white female criminals as protagonists.

If and of the above shows were about black or brown folks, there would be a backlash of (white) people claiming that TV and movies are romanticizing criminals and are treating them too much like heroes and that it will affect viewers and encourage violence and “thuggish” behavior. And yet fictional white criminals get to have a deep fanbase who loves these white criminals, receive accolades and awards, get called amazing television that portray the complexities of human nature. Viewers of these characters see past the atrocious crimes and into their humanity, a luxury that white characters always have while characters of color rarely do. The closest that mainstream TV has come to showing black criminals as main characters is probably The Wire, and even then, the criminals share equal screen time and equal status as main characters as the police trying to stop them.

The idea that crime can be so heavily romanticized and glorified to such a degree is undoubtedly a privilege given to white characters. The next time you hear someone talk about Dexter Morgan or Walter White in a positive way, it may be an opportunity to rethink how white people can always able to be seen as people no matter what they do, while everyone else can be boiled down to nothing but a criminal.

[winjennster]

This is true. The only exception I could come up with is “The Wire”.

[acceber74]

The Wire wasn’t the exception tho. That show got ZERO mainstream accolades (and for it being on HBO, that’s just BIZARRE).

The criminality and corruption were never glorified nor justified with “well, I got cancer”, or “I’m seeing a therapist for my emotional issues”, or "hey, it’s prohibition, let me make a buck against an unfair law", or “I witnessed my mother being dismembered when I was four.  Of course I’m a serial killer.  But my victims are criminals so it’s OK!!!”.  These shows started from a place of “empathize with these troubled souls”.

[prissypixipea-deactivated201704]

Not surprising though, this is exactly how the treat white criminals in real life. White man shoots 9 people in a church and we hear his entire life story, see pictures of him as a kid looking innocent. He’s called just a kid. White man shoots up school we hear about his good grades and sad former teachers talk about how he was a good, quiet kid with a bright future ahead of him until this tragedy happened and ruined his life, the tragedy being that he went and murdered a bunch of people in cold blood but that’s never what they say. And ofcourse, he is a child also dispite being well into hs 20’s. We are always expected to sympathize with with white criminals.

[amoisthobo]

Damn this a good post

[themistakeof91]

Great analysis

[gingerly-writing]

Wh-Why is Bottom Storage called Bottom Storage....? 😂

I couldn’t find the og post so I had to yoink this off reddit, but: 

IT’S A THING™ AND THIS POST NAILS IT

[awed-frog]

[dragongirltitties]

[mtgemporium]

In fairness to hannibal, at this point I think he may just like glass boxes as a character trait

[deliciousmeta]

Redemption arcs and Christian hegemony in fandom

Note: Edited and reposted from my personal blog.

As a fan of many characters deemed villains in their respective stories, redemption arcs are often a topic of discussion. Does this or that character deserve redemption? What makes for a satisfying redemption arc? Which redemption arcs work or don’t work?

However, it’s rare for me to come across a conversation that examines the concept of a redemption arc itself, let alone the forces that shape our understanding of what redemption means and how it works.

With that in mind, I’m going to see what I can do to crack open the assumptions behind redemption narratives and see what interesting alternatives present themselves.

As someone who studies Jewish texts as an entryway into Jewish values and ethics, the ways that majority gentile fandoms talk about characters transforming from villains to non-villains often strike me as reflecting Christian hegemony. Or, when speaking specifically of American media, puritanical Christian hegemony.

Redemption narratives are rooted in a deeply Christian framework where people do bad things because they are evil, sinful, or corrupt by nature. The task of redemption is to destroy or purge that corruption, and the surest way to do this is to suffer and die for others.

For an example of a redemption narrative, look no further than Anakin Skywalker. As Darth Vader, he murdered and terrorized his way across the galaxy for decades, but near the end of Return of the Jedi, he sacrifices himself to kill the Emperor and save Luke. Once he proved he still had good in him, he dies as Anakin Skywalker.

While Christianity has redemption, in Judaism, the vehicle for character transformation is atonement. In the Jewish worldview, people do bad things because they’re messy, finite and human. The task of atonement is to repair the damage you’ve done and return to a place of clarity. Sometimes, there is no making up for what you’ve done, so you find a way to live with that yet still strive to do better. The surest proof of atonement is having the opportunity to make the same mistake as before but choosing differently.

Books can be written about the differences between redemption and atonement, but for the sake of brevity, redemption is fixing who you are, and atonement is fixing what you’ve done.

An example of an atonement narrative would be Xena in Xena: Warrior Princess. As the Destroyer of Nations, Xena spent years in the pursuit of power and conquest, slaughtering countless people. But, inspired by Hercules, she realizes she can do better, so she does. She turns over a new leaf, using her strength, leadership, wits and skill to bring justice to the world and protect those who can’t protect themselves. She’s always struggling with ambition and bloodlust, and her reputation as a bloodthirsty conqueror follows her, but many times throughout the show, she chooses not to kill even if it would be easier for her to just murder the weakling in charge and take over.

I don’t think atonement narratives are particularly rare. It’s just that fandom is so habituated to analyzing stories and characters through the lens of Christian hegemony, usually without even knowing it, that alternative possibilities aren’t recognized, let alone explored or examined.

Let me give you an example. I love Azula from Avatar: The Last Airbender. She’s such a layered, complex character, and she’s so much fun. She is, no contest, my fave. She’s also, in the narrative of the show, a villain. One question that gets asked a lot about her is whether or not she’s redeemable.

At first I didn’t think anything of it. Then I started paying attention to the language people were using to describe Azula, and so much of it has these weird connotations of Original Sin. From the way a lot of people talked about her, it’s as though she’s condemned to damnation from birth and that her behavior is an expression of her morally corrupt nature.

It became deeply unsettling to see so many people flat-out deny the possibility of change for her. The underlying message I get from that? Don’t bother trying to do better. Your moral worth is fixed and immutable, and there’s nothing you can do about it.

This paradigm is so jarring to my Jewish sensibilities. Judaism does not deny that people are capable of wicked deeds. The Talmud is very blunt about each person having an impulse to do good and an impulse to do evil. We all mess up. That’s life. But when we mess up, the path to atonement is always open. We can always repent, seek to repair the harm we’ve done and commit to doing things differently.

To me, that’s more empowering.

[phoukanamedpookie]

Updated original post to use Xena as a better example.

[bitchbitesdog]

[nonbxnary]

Calling my trans siblings that do injections (and anyone else that does regular self-injections)!

This is a ShotBlocker. It’s perfect if you have a fear of needles, injections, injection pain, or any other kind of injection anxiety. You place the plastic spikes on your skin and firmly press them down while doing your injection. Having many different points of pressure distracts you from injection pain and I’ve found it helps mentally as well.

I’ve been doing T injections for about a month now and tonight I didn’t have to work myself up to it like I’ve had to in the past. AND it wasn’t as painful as my other injections! I highly recommend getting one of these if you’re struggling to do injections. You can get them for $5-$7 online and they are reusable.

[neurotypical-karen]

After seeing multiple creators having to publically out themselves or reveal past traumas in order to get fans to stop yelling at them for representing a certain minority/concept in fiction, can yall learn to take a second to consider how your words and actions affect others? Especially in fandom spaces? By demanding that people can only talk about certain issues if they’ve personally been affected by them, you are directly forcing people to reveal their trauma/minority status.

[neurotypical-karen]

This was prompted by fans’ response to the latest episode of a TMA featuring substance abuse, but also remember a few months ago when Jameela Jamil was cast to play a queer woman in an upcoming movie and there was so much backlash that she had to come out as queer? That fucking sucked.

[mtgemporium]

This is an interesting side effect of the move towards casting queer actors to play queer characters. If you’re ambivalent towards that issue, you end up with a lot of cishet actors in queer roles, and if you try to solve it it can potentially hurt some queer actors. I don’t know of a solution to this, it’s just interesting to see a valid criticism arise of something that’s been non-critically spread for so long.

[la-laborista-republiko]

Y'all wanna see a cursed boomer meme?

[la-laborista-republiko]

This would be cursed under any circumstances, but we should of course remember that (1) leprechauns are mythical creatures and (2) Chef Boyardee was a real person

[amaranthineanomie]

Also, Irish stereotypes are bad too? Two things can be bad?

[40ouncesandamule]

A define trait of white supremacists is that they are addicted to and feel entitled to black labor

Black people fight for freedom against state violence? ALL LIVES MATTER!

Black people fight to end their oppression? WHY ARE YOU ATTACKING ME?

Black people fight to remove racist imagery from the shelves of stores? WHAT ABOUT THE LUCKY CHARMS LEPRECHAUN AND THE REAL ACTUAL MAN WHO WAS A CHEF?

It’s a tale as old as white supremacy

[mtgemporium]

Hey, this is a bad post. The lucky charms leprechaun is based on how leprechauns were popularly represented in the 20th century, which comes from anti-Irish stereotypes as opposed to being based on the actual Irish mythological being.

The irish have been propagandized and discriminated against because of being irish for centuries, and you shouldn’t dismiss legitimate complaints about stereotyping as white supremacy.

If you don’t understand the historical context of irish oppression, you should research it before you say things like this, because “irish people are white supremacists because they don’t like being exclusively depicted as gold-hoarding thieves with funny accents” is an ice cold take

[40ouncesandamule]

It’s a good post but rather than understanding it, you’ve chosen to get mad. Which proves my point.

If Irish people have a problem with the depiction of the anti-Irish stereotypes then they must organize (like black people have done) to get it removed. I would love it if they would organize with us against our common oppressors.

But rather than doing that, you choose to get mad at me. What you are doing right now is answering “ Black people fight to remove racist imagery from the shelves of stores?” with “ WHAT ABOUT THE LUCKY CHARMS LEPRECHAUN?”

Rather than organizing to get your freedom you choose to aid and abet white supremacy because black people aren’t doing your fight for you. A defining trait of white supremacists is that they are addicted to and feel entitled to black labor. You feel entitled to black labor to fight against white supremacy as opposed to doing the work yourself. You are reinforcing the very white supremacy that is oppressing the Irish people and keeping them from freedom.

When you attack your comrades fighting for a better world as opposed to joining them in revolutionary struggle, you are aiding the oppressive structure which is oppressing you

Rather than assume that I am ignorant, maybe you should do some research yourself. Rather than viewing black people putting out one fire as endorsing all the other fires, maybe you should join us in stopping the blaze. Knock it off with the deliberate ignorance. Saying “black lives matter” isn’t saying that other lives don’t anymore than saying “save the rainforest” means that you hate any other forest or “fight breast cancer” is an endorsement of colon cancer or “remove these racist anti-Black depictions” is an endorsement of “racist anti-Irish depictions”

And I never said otherwise. But rather than reject white supremacy, you choose to attack me and all the people fighting against white supremacy. Rather than join in throwing off the chains of white supremacy, you choose to attack the very people fighting for your freedom.

I don’t want a world with racist depictions in them, so I organized with my comrades to make the world a better place.

You should do the same

[mtgemporium]

You weren’t responding to the original post. If you had been, I would have no issue with what you said. Your post was made in response to someone pointing out that Irish stereotypes are a still a bad thing, and in that context, it was a shitty post and my criticisms were justified.

[40ouncesandamule]

Keep digging, buddy

First and foremost, don’t you dare curse at me child.

Second, your criticisms were not justified in any way shape or form. Nowhere in my post did I claim that person was wrong. Nowhere in my post did I disagree “that Irish stereotypes are a still a bad thing.” Rather, like an adult, I explained why this literal whataboutism is a tool to reify and strengthen white supremacy.

And again, rather than advocate for the Irish or join in liberatory struggle or do anything useful... you attack me.

Basically, you experienced fragility and rather than dealing with it you attacked the Black person who made you feel cognitive dissonance

Grow up

[mtgemporium]

OP was dismissive of anti-Irish discrimination by comparing it to depictions of Chef Boyardee, a real human being. Someone else pointed out that Irish stereotypes are actually a bad thing, and you went on an unhinged rant about how acknowledging that was co-opting black labor.

Sorry to offend your delicate sensibilities, but you’re a dumber fuck than I thought if you think I’m insulting you because you caused “cognitive dissonance.” You’re an idiot who can’t comprehend the concept of someone else having problems without assuming it’s an attack on yourself. You’re a pathetic excuse for an anti-racist. That’s why I’m insulting you.

[yellowbirdbluetoo]

[jacobtheloofah]

why is this edited to say sonic when the original already said sonic

[apocalypse-of-the-fucked]

yall better be just as outraged about this as you were about notre dame

[actualaster]

This is even WORSE.

[goron-king-darunia]

To elaborate why this is worse: Art and religion are all well and good. But information can be critical. When libraries burn, information can be lost forever. Because we photograph art. We have blueprints of the Cathedral. The Notre Dame cathedral did not burn to the ground, only the wooden structures did. The entire library and everything within is gone here. Another reason this is worse? It was DELIBERATE. It was bombed. Accidents like Notre Dame happen all the time. But bombings don’t have to happen. So yeah, if you cared about Notre Dame, logically you should care about this too,

[lastsblues-deactivated20181201]

hey um i know this sounds dumb but please reblog if u think parents tracking their kids is an invasion of privacy thank you

[delilahmay39]

Old lady here….parents have been tracking kids and invading their privacy since the beginning of time. Deal with it. It’s not going to damage you psychologically. You’ll get over it once you’re grown. I promise.

I know it sucks. I was furious about it. But they do it because they love you. And the good ones will stop doing it once they realize they can trust you.

So, moral of the story, play it cool, do what they tell you, go where you say you’re going. And once they trust you and don’t track you anymore, do whatever the hell you want. By that point, you’re probably responsible enough to handle that anyway.

[mtgemporium]

This is such an idiotic response

“Is this thing an invasion of privacy?”

“Yes, but it’s an invasion of privacy that happened to me, so go fuck yourself if you think you don’t deserve it too”

[delilahmay39]

Not at all what I said. But okay. Enjoy your glib name calling rather than trying to comprehend and understand and maybe learn something from another point of view than your own.

[mtgemporium]

No, it’s not what you said, it’s called paraphrasing. I summarized what you said without wasting so much time.

You also shouldn’t assume your point of view is nuanced enough to be worthy of consideration, because if you are old, then you’re speaking on an issue you have literally no personal experience with. It’s an issue that has changed drastically as cell phones became omnipresent, which at least explains why you don’t understand it at all.

It honestly sounds more like you’re trying to justify invading people’s privacy than actually caring about what is in a child’s best interest, so I have no respect for your argument at all.

[la-laborista-republiko]

Y'all wanna see a cursed boomer meme?

[la-laborista-republiko]

This would be cursed under any circumstances, but we should of course remember that (1) leprechauns are mythical creatures and (2) Chef Boyardee was a real person

[amaranthineanomie]

Also, Irish stereotypes are bad too? Two things can be bad?

[40ouncesandamule]

A define trait of white supremacists is that they are addicted to and feel entitled to black labor

Black people fight for freedom against state violence? ALL LIVES MATTER!

Black people fight to end their oppression? WHY ARE YOU ATTACKING ME?

Black people fight to remove racist imagery from the shelves of stores? WHAT ABOUT THE LUCKY CHARMS LEPRECHAUN AND THE REAL ACTUAL MAN WHO WAS A CHEF?

It’s a tale as old as white supremacy

[mtgemporium]

Hey, this is a bad post. The lucky charms leprechaun is based on how leprechauns were popularly represented in the 20th century, which comes from anti-Irish stereotypes as opposed to being based on the actual Irish mythological being.

The irish have been propagandized and discriminated against because of being irish for centuries, and you shouldn’t dismiss legitimate complaints about stereotyping as white supremacy.

If you don’t understand the historical context of irish oppression, you should research it before you say things like this, because “irish people are white supremacists because they don’t like being exclusively depicted as gold-hoarding thieves with funny accents” is an ice cold take

[40ouncesandamule]

It’s a good post but rather than understanding it, you’ve chosen to get mad. Which proves my point.

If Irish people have a problem with the depiction of the anti-Irish stereotypes then they must organize (like black people have done) to get it removed. I would love it if they would organize with us against our common oppressors.

But rather than doing that, you choose to get mad at me. What you are doing right now is answering “ Black people fight to remove racist imagery from the shelves of stores?” with “ WHAT ABOUT THE LUCKY CHARMS LEPRECHAUN?”

Rather than organizing to get your freedom you choose to aid and abet white supremacy because black people aren’t doing your fight for you. A defining trait of white supremacists is that they are addicted to and feel entitled to black labor. You feel entitled to black labor to fight against white supremacy as opposed to doing the work yourself. You are reinforcing the very white supremacy that is oppressing the Irish people and keeping them from freedom.

When you attack your comrades fighting for a better world as opposed to joining them in revolutionary struggle, you are aiding the oppressive structure which is oppressing you

Rather than assume that I am ignorant, maybe you should do some research yourself. Rather than viewing black people putting out one fire as endorsing all the other fires, maybe you should join us in stopping the blaze. Knock it off with the deliberate ignorance. Saying “black lives matter” isn’t saying that other lives don’t anymore than saying “save the rainforest” means that you hate any other forest or “fight breast cancer” is an endorsement of colon cancer or “remove these racist anti-Black depictions” is an endorsement of “racist anti-Irish depictions”

And I never said otherwise. But rather than reject white supremacy, you choose to attack me and all the people fighting against white supremacy. Rather than join in throwing off the chains of white supremacy, you choose to attack the very people fighting for your freedom.

I don’t want a world with racist depictions in them, so I organized with my comrades to make the world a better place.

You should do the same

[mtgemporium]

You weren’t responding to the original post. If you had been, I would have no issue with what you said. Your post was made in response to someone pointing out that Irish stereotypes are a still a bad thing, and in that context, it was a shitty post and my criticisms were justified.