AAAAAHHHHHH

19 nb apothiace | |Taurus♉

[deactivationgocrazy-deactivated]

"the education system traumatizes students it deems stupid" and "the education system traumatizes students it deems gifted" are two concepts that can and should coexist.

[doubleca5t]

I think I've got a compromise

[revolutionarykoolaid]

Never Forget the Reign of Terror waged against Muslims (and by extension, Sikhs profiled as being Muslim) in the nearly two decades following 9/11.

[royalhandmaidens]

9/11 is coming up - and with it, a sharp spike of anxiety that always accompanies the anniversary. each year our community deals with attacks, threats, even deaths. each anniversary i don’t leave my house. i don’t go to the masjid.

i remember the time someone shot up the side of our mosque when we were inside

i remember the time someone chased two young hijabis with a taser

i remember the time someone intentionally swerved towards me when i was crossing the street and i stood frozen in fear

i remember the time someone slipped a knife threat into my mailbox

or the times my friends and i have been verbally assaulted in crowded public spaces and nobody said a word

call out racism and islamophobia when you see it. check in on your muslim neighbors and friends. refuse to tolerate the bigotry and hate that takes lives and spreads fear - both in public and online. stand united with us against hate.

[elvashayam]

this graphic by artist @maeril (instagram, twitter), translated by The Middle Eastern Feminist, is a really helpful guide, especially for those whom confrontation is a trigger. it's helped me a lot.

[image description, from The Middle Eastern Feminist's post:

An illustrated guide to help a person being targeted by Islamophobic harassment in the public space (in the subway, in the street, etc). The illustrations describe the steps to help the person to safety. There are three characters: the person being attacked is represented as a veiled woman with olive skin, wearing a violet hijab and a lavender dress, the bystander/helper is a white woman with short burgundy hair, a striped tee and boyfriend jeans, and the attacker is a white, bearded man with hazel hair, a teal polo shirt and regular denim jeans.

The four steps are as follows:

1) Engage conversation. Go to them, sit beside them and say hello. Try to appear calm, collected and welcoming. Ignore the attacker (this is, again, very important). (the bystander goes to the veiled lady and says: "hi, how are you?")

2) Pick a random subject and start discussing it. It can be anything: a movie you liked, the weather, saying you like something they wear and asking where they got it... ( in the illustration attached to this step, the attacker has a big "IGNORED" marked on his body - the bystander talks about the weather, and a movie her sister told her about)

3) Keep building the safe space. Keep eye contact with them and don't acknowledge the attacker's presence: the absence of response from you two will push them to leave the area shortly. (in the illustration attached to this step, the attacker has a big "IRRELEVANT" marked on his body and leaves the area angrily - while the two protagonists chat.)

4) Continue the conversation until the attacker leaves, & escort them to a safe place if necessary. Bring them to a neutral area where they can recollect themselves; respect their wishes if they tell you they're ok and just want to go. (here the bystander lighty holds the veiled woman by the shoulders as a way to show support)

/end i.d.]

[royalhandmaidens]

i know i told people not to comment on this if they weren’t muslim but i will absolutely accept this addition because it’s generally really useful info to know. this happened to me once and someone used a tactic like this and it worked wonderfully!

in my situation, it was a woman who pretended like she knew me when a man was verbally assaulting my friend and i - she approached us like we were old friends or relatives and asked “what took you so long? i’ve been waiting!”

and just like that, i had an out! the guy didn’t follow when she guided us away, and she stayed by my side the entire time until i had gotten to where i needed to go. the situation was de-escalated quickly and peacefully

i know a gut instinct to seeing bigotry or injustice is often confrontation, but it’s not always the safest response and tactics like this are extremely useful!!!

(however - just to note: if the situation looks potentially dangerous or on the verge of escalating to that level, call the police. there is a difference between uncomfortable comments on public transit vs the threat of verbal or physical assault - tactics like these work well in the first situation, but the second should be treated differently and with extreme caution. never hesitate to notify the proper authorities in situations where it looks like things are getting out of hand.)

[guerrillatech]

[letsboldlygomotherfuckers]

why do we bother with I hate my partner jokes when your boss is right there

[letsboldlygomotherfuckers]

I love my wife. my boss though? that ball and chain??

[letsboldlygomotherfuckers]

do you understand my vision

[letsboldlygomotherfuckers]

[placeholdername69]

Oh this is too fun

[leatherleaves]

Bestie, your brain, your VISION, ahead of your time

[letsboldlygomotherfuckers]

[letsboldlygomotherfuckers]

[wilwheaton]

(via 135k0diiz7871.jpg (1440×1746))

[unbotheredmuse]

[quietstorm-thundathighs]

[growing-yet-into-magic]

“Hey. Don’t join cults.” Example red flags.

Don’t think “hey, I’m smart, I won’t get sucked into a cult. :/” Smart people get sucked into cults all the time. Learning how to recognize manipulative speech and behavior isn’t about being smart. Since I am always worrying about novices wandering into cults because they’re interested in witchcraft or the occult, here are some pretty obvious warning signs of a group having uncomfortably cult-like tendencies:

There is a clearly defined leader, who is resistant to criticism from inside or outside their group

There are continuing financial demands from members that are unsustainable or unreasonable, and usually is controlled by a single leader

The “there is a specific leader” that is venerated just for being the leader thing is a big warning on its own.

Love bombing. It often doesn’t come with any explicit understanding that a group’s love for you is only extended to fully committed members of the group; it’s not that you are liked, specifically, but that they like what you represent. A new or potential recruit. Huge hugs and big smiles and immediate acceptance on day one, for a complete stranger, doesn’t make emotional sense.

The group or the leader works to separate you from your external friends and family members outside the group. There might be a “they can never understand what we do” or “they are trying to get you to leave us” manipulation. Big red flag. That’s an attempt to make you cut out your own exit strategies.

Abuse cannot be tolerated in a group. That includes emotional, mental, physical, or sexual abuse. Read up on kinds of abuse. Sometimes you have to call the whistle on abuse happening to yourself in your life.

“We’re the only right thing. There are no other right things in the world. If you leave, bad things will happen. Outside people are bad. You have to stay with us to stay safe. You have to listen to us and the leader.” RED FLAG.

Hazing. If the entrance to a group is based on putting you in a physically or emotionally humiliating or painful position, making you do something you don’t agree with, asking you something unpleasant or awful, hey, consider this: fuck that?

Excessive mystery. Sure, a secret society is not going to tell you everything, but they should at least be able to tell you the name of the leaders, who to contact, what groups they split off of, any training they had as an initiate in other groups, if they are initiated in anything else, the general idea of what they do, etc. You should also be able to ask them if they demand anything sky-clad or if they drink alcohol, for instance, and if there is a minimum age for entry.

There should be a minimum age for entry. It should be the legal age of adulthood. Full stop.

They demand that you forgo or stop your medical treatments, including psychiatric medication. It’s one thing to provide evidence as to their own opinion on the efficacy of modern medicine. It’s another to peer pressure you out of cancer treatments or treatments for chronic illness.

Any leader claiming they are the true herald of your god or the only one who can speak to them the “right way”. Even initiatory traditions will be able to recommend other ordained priests and initiated religious leaders in their tradition who are reputable diviners.

Research existing cults. Listen to cult survivors. They often have a great perspective on the manipulation they underwent in order to get sucked into a foreign mindset to their own.

When in doubt: is this something a Scient*logist would do to recruit me? Is this something a scientol*gist would do to keep me in a cult? Exploit my faith? Take my money? Follow me around? Is this something really cool, or do I just like the idea that I get to join a really cool secret society? Will this put my safety or wellbeing at risk? Will I lose my career, friends, family, or health by continuing in this group? A cult could be anything– a self help group, coven, discord server, groupchat, online class, anything. There is no limit as to the format. My reading recommendation for navigating this kind of situation in witchcraft is Traditional Wicca by Thorn Mooney. Even if you are not Wiccan, it’s still a great primer on how to look for a functioning coven that matches your safety and personal spiritual needs. It’s a thorough read on the subject matter of looking for a spiritual group to join.

Be safe. Be smart. Be cautious. And most of all, remember– when it comes to your spiritual experience, you should be in charge of it. No one else. You are the witch.

Blessings!

[maplesyrupbloodfeud]

Just wanted to highlight the part about saying, “I’m smart so I would never fall for a cult”.

People who think this way are the most likely to join a cult because they think they don’t have to learn the signs. The problem is that most people don’t join a cult; they start hanging out with a new group of people who may be a little weird but seem pretty chill. And idk about other queer folks, but I tend to make friends with people who are “a little weird”.

Learn the signs. Protect yourself. And for gods sake stop perpetuating the idea that only people who aren’t smart fall for cults. That idea stops people from protecting themselves, is a really shitty thing to say to survivors and keeps them from telling their stories, and keeps people from leaving since to do so would mean admitting that they’re “not smart”. It’s dangerous and only helps cult leaders keep abusing their victims.

[i-go-unwillingly]

the term cult has been thrown around/glamorized so much lately (especially on twitter and tiktok) and i think it’s important to listen to actual cult survivors and their experiences/stories.

[indigenoustiktok]

[ID:

We Were All Wounded at Wounded Knee by Redbone plays in the background of the Tik Tok.

White text starts at the top of the screen, displaying information. “The song you are hearing was not allowed to be played on U.S radio stations in 1970’s”.

The dancer makes hoops go from Eagle to Earth form.

“It created by a popular Native American band called Redbone and it hit number 1 charts all over Europe.”

“The song raised awareness about what happened at Wounded Knee”

They finish the Earth form, centering themself. “Let’s get it trending”.

Screen switches to the Tik Toker’s name and username, James Jones / @notoriouscree

END]

[magicalshadesoflamps]

No one's reblogged this video with versions of the whole song yet, so here's a spotify link and the youtube video.

[metalheadsagainstfascism]

-yinx1

[byjove]

My advice to any and all of you would be:

Don’t tell your religious parents you’re an atheist/have joined another religion until after you move out.

Don’t tell your homophobic parents you’re gay until after you move out.

Don’t tell your transphobic parents you’re trans until after you move out.

Don’t feel invalidated in your identity because you have not told you parents. Sometimes your family are the last people that should be informed. Your safety is so much more important.

[byjove]

My advice is that if you have shitty but not quite abusive parents, gray rock them until you move out. Keep interactions as pleasant and short and surface-level as you can manage.

[guerrillatech]

[anarchistmemedistro]

what liberals mean when they say they’ll keep families together

[gh0ul-k1ss3r]

my brothers share special interests and my favorite thing to do is walk in a room and be like "hey guys can you tell me about the mariana trench" and then sit there for an hour while they both infodump to me about the ocean it's extremely entertaining

[gh0ul-k1ss3r]

and my parents are always like "oh my god why would you do that" bitch. I want to learn about the ocean and these two thirteen year old boys r my most trusted source

[deadmomjokes]

fr

I mean, I could google questions I have about medieval weaponry and horsemanship, but on the other hand I could message my sister the simple statement “have question about historical saddles” and get both a phone call and a comprehensive 3 page google document within an hour

Seriously, if you know someone who has a special interest you’d like info about, go ask them! It costs zero money, you make them happy, and you learn way more than a basic google search would tell you.

[taksez]

Asking is a love language

[conniejoworld]

Asking is a love language

[yteicosanievilew]

“this makes me personally uncomfortable”, “this seems in poor taste”, “this is somehow harmful but presumably because you’re misinformed” and “this is actively malicious” are all different things. remember that

[vivaciousarcanist]

“this makes me personally uncomfortable”: the work has something that is awkward or triggering to someone, but nothing problematic “this seems in poor taste”: the work is fine, but it’s about something that maybe shouldn’t be joked about/the work has bad timing with the release lining up with a tradgedy similar to the events of the work like the episode tentacool and tentacruel from pokemon “this is somehow harmful but presumably because you’re misinformed”: the work unintentionally has some negative shit in it caused by a lack of knowledge, i.e. a cis person’s trans headcanons accidentally reinforcing negative stereotypes “this is actively malicious”: the work was made with the intention to cause harm

[schafpudel]

#this post needs to be mandatory viewing because the critique of work always being this black and white like… #‘the artist made a joke in poor taste therefore they are clearly an unapologetic violent fascist’ is like holy shit #please learn how to have a normal discussion  about problems without it being 0 to 100

[capitalism-and-analytics]

[dorklesblog]

Mmmm. Don’t like this post. Spread the word

[cadaverkeys]

trying not to think too hard about how gen z/gen alpha casually use leet speak but when millennials used it it was because it was cool and internet age slang, and when gen z and alpha use it its because they need to get past censorship restrictions that would cause their videos on LBGT and civil rights to be algorithmically hidden.

[cadaverkeys]

or about how people use terms like "real life game over" and "unalive" to avoid saying death out loud because video streaming services apparently suppress videos with negative language. we are literally living in an era that was theorised by many states of fiction about a high surveillance cyberpunk reality...

[marlinspirkhall]

[Image ID: the meme which reads "You best start believing in cyberpunk dystopias, you're in one". End Image ID]

[accounting-wunderkind]

The amount of transmisogyny i see towards any "not well passing" transfem person is frankly sickening, especially towards traditionally feminine presenting ones. a lot of y'all will see a masculine or androgynous looking person in a skirt and just say shit like "uwu what a cute femboy" without a second thought, even when the person has said they are not and are in fact transfem.

[accounting-wunderkind]

also some of y'all need to learn how to not refer to someone as he/him just because of a deep voice, even if they're a fictional character, it's still fucking transphobic!

[accounting-wunderkind]

and trans people, don't think you're immune just because you're transgender. the majority of misgendering and casually transphobic and transmisogynistic remarks i've recieved have been from my trans friends and peers, especially tme people.

[accounting-wunderkind]

say it with me everyone, "it's not internalized transphobia if you are expressing it towards others"

[toastbutteregg]

[clown-strife-deactivated2021041]

school uniforms shouldn’t be mandatory

[oakleafwolf]

IF they are mandatory, they MUST be free. In this way, everyone has the same quality of clothing and no one “looks poor”. If the idea behind uniforms is to make everyone the same and stop clothing based conflict, the uniforms have to be free, it’s the only way to justify them.