I can't keep finding out this way

she/her, either Ace or Bi, but whatever it is it's all genders equally. Still here after 10 years

[targetedknowledge]

[mini-wrants]

The thing that’s always missing from the “women didn’t fight for the right to work they were already working they fought to get paid” is that many women also very much wanted to work.

Women wanted to be lawyers and engineers and chemists. They wanted to use their brains in challenging and interesting ways. They wanted to get the satisfaction from solving problems and inventing new shit and getting attention for it.

I know not everyone is born with intellectual curiosity or drive or determination but some people are and many of those people are women.

[mini-wrants]

[mini-wrants]

Literally.

[potato-non-grata]

I am constantly reminded that I am the first woman in my lineage to be in the spaces I am. The first to be ALLOWED in those spaces, let alone respected. Maybe I'm in the wrong here, but it genuinely sickens me when someone implies that being a wife and mother is 'just as good.' Like! If it was just as good we wouldn't have been forced to do it.

We have the right to intellectual stimulation, to competition, to social advancement. We have the right to have PROFESSIONS.

[zangoonse]

i love the phrase "cruel and unusual." not only is what you're doing mean but it's also quite frankly fucking bizarre

[depsidase]

[blessedbrick]

That's kind of why they exist actually

[sentimentalslut]

"very guilty and problematic client" holy copaganda batman

[sentimentalslut]

let’s start parsing who does and doesn’t deserve representation and assign moral weight to agreeing to protect their rights I don’t see how this could possibly go wrong

[anarchistmemedistro]

[bitch-duck]

This is the endpoint of assigning morality based on ontologies of people. You wind up with the simplest ontology: good or bad.

[madlori]

Getting tired of saying this but

THE POINT OF A DEFENSE ATTORNEY ISN'T TO GET THEIR CLIENT OFF. IT'S TO MAKE THE STATE PROVE THEIR CASE AND DO THEIR DUE DILIGENCE.

IT'S TO PROVIDE A CHECK ON THE POWER OF THE STATE TO JUST THROW PEOPLE IN JAIL.

If someone "gets off" because of a technicality that means the state DID NOT DO THAT.

[otherside-picnic]

If criminals don't get to have human rights, then the people in charge of deciding what a criminal is get to decide who is and is not human. Do you understand? Is this not blindingly obvious? Do you care?

Or do you assume you will always be "one of the good ones"?

[dykeselfcest]

I fear a lot of people learned to take good care of library books as children and instead of internalizing "leave shared community items as you found them as much as possible, because other people will use them too" they internalized "printing and binding a book imbues it with sacred energy and if you dog-ear a mass-market paperback you're desecrating the entire concept of written language"

[potato-non-grata]

The best part of owning books is absolutely devouring them. Writing full conversations with the author in the margins, highlighting your favorite lines, marking your favorite pages, creasing the spine and folding it open to be easier to read.

If at the end it resembles the broken bones and cartilage remnant at the end of a rotisserie chicken, all that means if you've had a good meal.

[dancinbutterfly]

POV of a person who has intentionally ascended to a leadership position

[doing a daily affirmation into the dressing room mirror]: I applied to be the ringmaster of this circus. I am responsible for writing the incident reports for any damages caused by or that happen to these monkeys.

[sphingidaes]

"hurt people hurt people" yes mistress. anything for you mistress.

[sphingidaes]

I Will Die In Combat For You Mistress

[potato-non-grata]

Wu Ming core

[potato-non-grata]

Casual reminder to everyone that whatever you think is appropriate payback for a wrong will always be perceived as excessive by the other person and will probably result in them trying to "pay you back" in a way you think is excessive. That is why conflict almost always escalates.

De-escalation requires you to do less than you think is appropriate (often significantly so) and forgive the rest.

[leebrontide]

Back in the early 2000s there was a whole movement about listening to your body, and being the expert in your body, and then that just stopped because it turns out doctors do NOT like it when patients say they know something.

[kelpforestdwellers]

Image description: A screenshot of the symptoms of 'factitious disorder,' from the Mayo Clinic. The symptoms are listed below alongside my discussion of them.

This is the 'condition' that used to be known as Munchausen's.

I am not claiming that nobody ever fakes being sick. But it is vanishingly rare compared to the number of people who ARE sick, but doctors refuse to take it seriously.

Let's take a look at some of these. How can they tell if the medical problems are 'clever and convincing' or just... real, if it's one of the hundreds of conditions that don't show up in a clean cut way on imaging or labs ?

'Deep knowledge of medical terms and diseases' is much more commonly a symptom of being forced to do your own research because doctors refuse to help you figure out what's going on. I have deep knowledge of certain medical terms and diseases. Wish I didn't have to.

'Vague or inconsistent symptoms' - you mean like those that occur in, once again, the many conditions doctors like to ignore and dismiss because clear objective diagnostic measures don't exist yet? Like they did with multiple sclerosis before they invented the MRI?

'Conditions that get worse for no clear reason' - sometimes the reason is pretty clear! Medical neglect! And many conditions worsen for no obvious reason. Do they not understand the concepts of progressive,' 'degenerative', or 'relapsing-remitting'?

'Seeking treatment from many healthcare professionals' - it's almost like if a doctor dismisses your symptoms or refuses treatment you might need to look for another?

'Not wanting healthcare professionals to talk to family or friends' - Many chronically ill people live in abusive situations and/or with people who do not believe they are sick.

'Staying in the hospital a lot' - Because you're sick and no one will provide appropriate treatment outpatient. Because they don't believe you. So it escalates to hospital severity.

'Desire for frequent testing or risky surgeries and procedures' - It's almost like people want to find out what's wrong with them? And get treatment for it even if it has risks?

'Many surgical scars or evidence of many procedures' - Sure yeah let's just demonize people for having had medical care. Alright.

'Having few visitors when in the hospital' - Yeah, definitely if a chronically ill person experiences social isolation or abandonment they must be faking. We definitely don't live in a culture that isolates sick people.

'Arguing with healthcare professionals and staff' - And this is the one that inspired my addition to this post. G-d forbid we know anything about our bodies or advocate for ourselves.

Someone I care about very much was recently 'diagnosed' with this despite massive evidence of life threatening, untreated medical conditions. This diagnosis can kill people.

leebrontide, please pardon me if this was more than you bargained for when you made your post. I've been thinking about this a lot recently and you inspired me to talk about it.

[leebrontide]

No this is pretty much exactly what I’m talking about.

Oh, but don’t forget that several of these can also come about due to people having deep shame about their health after being repeatedly dismissed, degraded or basically called hysterical for asking for help!

[kelpforestdwellers]

Absolutely. And I'll add that they even have one for if they DO acknowledge you're sick, but don't like your attitude about it.

Image: Mayo Clinic screenshot, overview of 'somatic symptom disorder.'

"Somatic symptom disorder involves focusing too much on physical symptoms such as pain or tiredness. This focus causes major emotional distress and makes it hard to function. You may or may not have another medical condition that causes these symptoms. But how you think, feel and behave because of the symptoms can be extreme."

"You might often think the worst about your symptoms. You may seek medical care often, searching for a reason for the symptoms, even when other serious conditions have been ruled out. You also might spend so much time and energy focusing on your symptoms that it's hard to function, sometimes leading to more challenges in your life."

So... if you find your symptoms of an actual real diagnosed medical disorder 'too' distressing, seek 'too much' medical care, and want to find out why you're sick, they can just diagnose you with 'Never take this person's medical problems seriously again disorder'.

The 'even when other serious conditions have been ruled out' part is especially absurd. Which other serious conditions? Sure, if you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras - rule out the most common possibilities first. But if you're still having symptoms that don't fit your existing diagnoses? Then yeah, you might want to rule out less common causes!

And the idea that it's not the symptoms themselves that cause the problems, just that you spend too much time focusing on them... I've noticed a strange phenomenon in my personal experience where I spend a lot less time and energy focusing on my symptoms when they are treated to the point that they aren't severely debilitating. Idk, maybe that's just me.

And the symptoms list... how do they not hear themselves?

Image: List of symptoms from same Mayo Clinic page.

Symptoms of somatic symptom disorder may include:

Specific symptoms, such as pain or shortness of breath.

General symptoms, such as feeling very tired or weak

Symptoms not related to any medical cause.

Symptoms related to a medical condition but that are more severe than usually expected.

One symptom, many symptoms or symptoms that change over time.

Mild, moderate or severe symptoms.

It's literally... any symptoms? Mild, moderate, severe, general, specific, related or unrelated to a diagnosed medical condition. With the clear implication that if it's not diagnosed yet or if it's unusually severe, it's fake.

We never moved past 'hysteria' or 'hypochondria.' They just realized those terms have become unpopular and dressed it up in cleverer clinical terminology.

[paulgadzikowski]

Periodic reminder that your doctor is not your boss, your doctor is your paid consultant. All due respect to their education and experience but their job is to enable you to make informed decisions, not to make the decision for you. When they don't supply information you ask for then they're not doing their job.

[capricorn-0mnikorn]

Louder for the people in the back:

When they don't supply information you ask for then they're not doing their job.

Society™ has, for centuries, framed physicians as the ultimate Authority Figures (to the point where they internalized it, and become authoritarian).

Authoritarians hate being challenged. Especially when the person challenging them is marginalized (women, queers, p.o.c, children, the disabled, the chronically ill ...).

[potato-non-grata]

Not to derail any of this, but Somatic symptom disorder IS a real thing, but it's typically something you see after a traumatic event where the person is experiencing 'normal' pain you would expect from a certain injury, but the trauma causes that pain to be even worse and can delay healing (try doing physical therapy while hyper aware of the ache in your shoulder and feeling panic every time it twangs). You see it A LOT in car accident cases.

The solution to that, of course, is not saying "it's all in your head" and sending the patient away. Its combining mental health care and physical health care to deal with the problem... unfortunately not all doctors treat it that way...

If you recently went through a traumatic event that resulted in chronic pain that gets worse when you are under stress or causes a sense of panic when it's aggravated, there MIGHT be a mental health element to that pain. It is still real, you still need and deserve treatment, and also some of that treatment might be mental health based.

(These are things a doctor SHOULD be able to explain clearly and compassionately while ALSO writing you a referral to physical therapy)

[jessaerys]

i think it's beautiful that cats eat you if you die in your apartment and nobody finds you for a while. i don't know why it's used as anti-kitty cat propaganda as if eating you means they don't love u. if i died and no one found me for a while i would want my kitty cat to eat me bc i love her so much and i don't want her to starve. it's not her fault i'm too dead to give her her fancy feasts. she's going thru something scary ok. i don't know a single cat owner who doesn't feel the same way

[storybookprincess]

if i can impart any one piece of wisdom to y’all, it’s to, whenever possible, assume good intentions

assume people are trying their best, want to be good and treat others well, and that when their behavior doesn’t align with those goals, it’s because of outside factors that are pushing them to their limit

it’s hard to do, it doesn’t always come naturally, but it’s worth it

[storybookprincess]

before anyone jumps in with an “op has clearly never worked in the service industry,” i work in a public facing library job

i have a patron who is mean as a snake. won’t respond when you greet her, barks orders at you, and is generally nasty

i couldn’t stand her & dreaded the moment she walked in the door, until i stopped one day & went “wow, to walk around feeling unhappy enough to treat people so horribly every day. what a difficult way to live.”

and so my tactics changed. i made a point to be extra kind & friendly to her. she changed her hair color one day & when i complimented her on it, she was very caught off guard & said “oh, thank you. my whole life i’ve thought i was ugly.”

now we’re at the point where she shows me pictures of watercolor paintings she made & says hi when she walks in the door. she’s not my favorite patron, but she’s perfectly okay. most unpleasant people aren’t inherently rotten, they’re just unhappy & coping with it poorly

assume people are always doing their best, even if their best happens to fall a bit short. assume good intentions

[crocanti]

[birds-in-posts]

White-throated dipper (Cinclus cinclus)

[potato-non-grata]

Damn. He sure was Dipped.

[the-cassquatch]

I think this is really important to see today. A lot of us are scared about National Guard deployment. We remember 2020, we remember tanks in our streets and helicopters flying over our homes and how similar this already feels today.

But the Minnesota National Guard seems to want to change how their deployment will be perceived, to connect with the community. Contrast this look with ICE: hi-vis vests instead of tactical gear, a smile instead of a mask, and ID displayed instead of hidden (the one talking is a Lt. Col by the way. Not sure if he is base commander but high up. Here's hoping he gets that full bird soon!)

They were out offering donuts, hot cocoa, and coffee to protesters at Whipple. "It's a demonstration of safety and security, we're here to help." Even more this was an expression of TRUST. They trust the community to react appropriately.

Look, none of this is perfect. Every bit of this city is tense. But never in my life have I seen even part of a National Guard deployment during protests look like this. Something is changing. Keep up the 'ope.

[yamelcakes]

You don’t have to LIKE the fact that the National Guard is here and please be on the lookout for any abuse of protesters, but they are genuinely one of the most important buffers we have between the federal government and civil war with Minnesota. They’re Minnesotans who have been ordered by Governor Walz to monitor federal activity and keep Minnesotans safe. I bet most of them are furious about the federal government occupying us too. Most local police definitely are.

Please try not to antagonize them— they are our neighbors too. If the feds escalate and try to provoke civil war, the National Guard are going to be the ones responding to that and keeping our state safe. Their purpose first and foremost is to defend the state of Minnesota.

[harpyharpyharpy]

I watched this video on instagram a few hours ago and I immediately started sobbing because this means that Trump doesn't have the military.

He has a paramilitary, but the US Armed forces are so far standing on the side of the people and the US Constitution. This is a gesture of faith and trust and solidarity—and is unequivocally a sign that there is institutional resistance to Trump/DHS/ICE/CBP's violence. We CANNOT WIN without the military. The military is the deciding factor in regimes sustaining or collapsing 100% of the time.

Let the hope of this video penetrate into the cells in your body. Trump doesn't have the military. Not yet!!!

[the-library-alcove]

#b''h trump has spent his career badmouthing the military. sure there's gonna be dolts in the military who still worship him.#but there's plenty of people who won't forget how President Bone Spurs mocked Senator John McCain's status as a POW

@blunderpuff, your tags pass peer review.

[potato-non-grata]

I think it's important for everyone wondering why there aren't a lot of military speaking out against him, particularly high ranking military, to know that it is literally a crime for a member of the military to speak with contempt about the president, vice president, secretary of defense, or a specific list of other people. Just because you don't hear opposition does not mean there aren't thousands of military professionals doing their best to maintain rule of law and national security.

[potato-non-grata]

Maybe I'm too International Law brained but the normal of the new Infinity Nikki season being " this isolated island, with Han-style clothes and architecture, controlled by an authorization power, should have the right to self determination" using the WORDS "self determination" seems...like a risky move for a Chinese game...

[potato-non-grata]

The Cosmere is so ripe for fandom because why is every SA book more than a thousand pages but we DIDNT see this one character interaction that probably happened??? So excited to finish the series so I can read a couple thousand more pages of fanfic authors filling in the blanks.