we use logic, meow @rationalcats - Tumblr Blog

Tumblr getting mixed up.

Why is it that the loudest voices are coming from those who are supposedly “on the margins”?

Could it be because those people aren’t actually marginalized as much as they believe they are?

Tumblr does not hear the vast majority of indigenous voices, because the vast majority of indigenous voices are still being silenced. Having accessible internet access is still a luxury in a lot of our communities. This is marginalization.

No schools, or inadequate infrastructure. This is marginalization.

No potable water, environmental poisons from nearby large-scale developments. Denial after denial that our people are getting cancer from tailing ponds. This is marginalization.

No adequate treatment for addictions, insufficient health service. This is marginalization.

Wilted lettuce that costs five times what it does down south. This is marginalization.

Missing and murdered and seen as garbage, always assumed to be prostitutes as though this justifies our deaths. “High risk lifestyle”? Being visible Native American is a high risk lifestyle. This is marginalization.

Headdresses. Struggling with people taking you for white. Struggling with people taking you for black. That is what Tumblr hears about. People claiming to be marginalized and oppressed. People who speak more loudly than anyone else. People who speak over Native Americans who are real, living breathing members of their Nation. People who are upset about being outside, demanding to be let in.

That is not how it works. You do not get to ignore all of your privilege and pretend that you experience the same marginalization. You do not get to cry about not being accepted, when you do not live our lives and never have. You do not get our sympathy because that “wasn’t your choice”. It was not our choice either.

How can you possibly “be one of us” when you refuse to listen to our concerns about the identities you claim for yourselves? You can pretend that our refusal to accept this is a form of colonization, and ignore the irony inherent in you yourselves telling us who we must accept and on what grounds. You can do this, but we see you doing it.

If you were raised outside, disconnected, or are only vaguely, minutely Native American, you need to stop speaking so loudly. You need to listen, and learn. You need to become familiar with our communities and our voices. You cannot create these things in your head and then guide yourselves with the images you have fabricated. You may not notice that you are doing this, but we see you.

We see you.

You do not see us. You do not know us at all. And until you do, you will never be among us.

#applicable to other communities too #but yeah

stickychecklist

Cow based Economics lesson

SOCIALISM You have 2 cows. You give one to your neighbour. COMMUNISM You have 2 cows. The State takes both and gives you some milk. FASCISM You have 2 cows. The State takes both and sells you some milk. NAZISM You have 2 cows. The State takes both and shoots you. BUREAUCRATISM You have 2 cows. The State takes both, shoots one, milks the other, and then throws the milk away. TRADITIONAL CAPITALISM You have two cows. You sell one and buy a bull. Your herd multiplies, and the economy grows. You sell them and retire on the income. ROYAL BANK OF SCOTLAND (VENTURE) CAPITALISM You have two cows. You sell three of them to your publicly listed company, using letters of credit opened by your brother-in-law at the bank, then execute a debt/equity swap with an associated general offer so that you get all four cows back, with a tax exemption for five cows. The milk rights of the six cows are transferred via an intermediary to a Cayman Island Company secretly owned by the majority shareholder who sells the rights to all seven cows back to your listed company. The annual report says the company owns eight cows, with an option on one more. You sell one cow to buy a new president of the United States , leaving you with nine cows. No balance sheet provided with the release. The public then buys your bull. SURREALISM You have two giraffes. The government requires you to take harmonica lessons. AN AMERICAN CORPORATION You have two cows. You sell one, and force the other to produce the milk of four cows. Later, you hire a consultant to analyse why the cow has dropped dead. A FRENCH CORPORATION You have two cows. You go on strike, organize a riot, and block the roads, because you want three cows. A JAPANESE CORPORATION You have two cows. You redesign them so they are one-tenth the size of an ordinary cow and produce twenty times the milk. You then create a clever cow cartoon image called a Cowkimona and market it worldwide. AN ITALIAN CORPORATION You have two cows, but you don’t know where they are. You decide to have lunch. A SWISS CORPORATION You have 5000 cows. None of them belong to you. You charge the owners for storing them. A CHINESE CORPORATION You have two cows. You have 300 people milking them. You claim that you have full employment, and high bovine productivity. You arrest the newsman who reported the real situation. AN INDIAN CORPORATION You have two cows. You worship them. A BRITISH CORPORATION You have two cows. Both are mad. AN IRAQI CORPORATION Everyone thinks you have lots of cows. You tell them that you have none. No-one believes you, so they bomb the crap out of you and invade your country. You still have no cows, but at least you are now a Democracy. AN AUSTRALIAN CORPORATION You have two cows. Business seems pretty good. You close the office and go for a few beers to celebrate. A NEW ZEALAND CORPORATION You have two cows. The one on the left looks very attractive.

rationalcats

Astrid: trololol

#the Japanese corporation #lol

fuckyeahdoctorwho

rationalcats

-Astrid

#Doctor Who #daleks #submission

aliceihavebeen

rationalcats

pettyartist:

fyeahgenderqueers:

ceasesilence:

caffeinatedfeminist:

propaganda-for-life:

aliceihavebeen:

[Text: VOTE NO ON 26! AMENDMENT 26 COULD

ban birth control pills and the IUD

prevent women from utilizing assisted reproductive technology (like in vitro)

ban abortion under all circumstances, even in cases of rape, incest, or when the mother’s life is at risk

cost Mississippi tax payers millions of dollars

AMEDMENT 26 GOES TOO FAR

Vote NO on Government Intrusion into the private decisions of Mississippi Families. www.VoteNoOn26.org, Mississippians for Healthy Families”.]

Ridiculous people in Mississippi are Ridiculous. If shit like this passes.. I might actually have to move out of MS for medical reasons.. so fucking ridiculous. This is why I hate religion//living in the bible belt aka the noose of idiocracy.

It has so many far-reaching consequences:

It could also ban commonly used forms of contraception that many Mississippi women use - like the pill, the IUD, and ban important technologies that families count on, like in vitro fertilization.

It would prevent life-saving treatments for pregnant women who face conditions like cancer.

It sets out to ban all abortion in any circumstance, even in cases of rape or incest.

And since this amendment affects over 9,000 Mississippi laws, it will have unintended consequences and costs for the state of Mississippi for years to come, in legal fees and other government spending

Signal boost!

This is ridiculous. Signal boost!

Not just women. ALL people who are capable of becoming pregnant!

Signal boost.

Ummm— a LOT of women use and need birth control for other reasons besides contraception. I take birth control because I have endomitriosis and a history of ovarian cysts. It also acts as a hormone balancer.

So yeah— VOTE NO guys.

Elsbeth: AGAIN guys?! seriously, stop trying to pass this. you've failed twice. GTFO.

Astrid: What Elsbeth is trying to articulate is that passing an amendment that defines "personhood" as the moment of conception, cloning or functional equivalent thereof is an incredibly stupid and socially irresponsible thing to do.

This is the part when I say something stereotypically libertarian like: "THEM DAMN FASCISTS TRYIN' TO CONTROL US PEOPLES BODIES!"

#just what

(via a softer world: 573)

hi you can add my name sy!!!

everyone please meet Speck.

we aren't sure who this Sy person is though :3c

-Petra, Elsbeth & Astrid

Guest Post: The Debt Crisis and Why You Need to Fucking Care

Astrid: By Speck. I had to give up Bill O'Reilly for this. So pay attention.

Petra: Astrid is trying to say that this post is extremely informative and that she finds it so valuable that she has agreed to stop listening to bullshit in order to have the privilege to post it.

EVERY SINGLE AMERICAN needs to know EXACTLY whats going on because this whole debt ceiling thing is just the inciting spark to a nuclear explosion of our government and everything americans hold dear to their luxurious existence these are not shock tactics literally we are near to being over as a country heres the deal best i can explain it: there's always been this thing called a debt ceiling. it's the gross (total) amount the u.s. is allowed to borrow as a country, both internally and externally (for ex., bonds from china who is one of our main lenders and very important in this whole debt thing.) the debt ceiling is raised pretty regularly in all types of economic climates, so its not a big thing. the BIG PROBLEM we have here is that for the first time in history the u.s. may actually GO OVER the debt limit, i.e. we will have to borrow more than we are legally allowed to in order to meet some important pay dates in august. the debt ceiling as of feb. 21 this year was $14.294 trillion. gross national debt at that time was around $14.1 trillion. the average debt increase per year is around $500 billion, but it can be as much as $1 trillion in tough years (like 2009, 2010.) so what will happen if we go over? one thing that is definitely going to happen is that the rating services (s&p and moody's are the main ones, theres a third i cant think of right now) will downgrade our debt rating. assuming you know zero about economics, debt rating is basically how likely you are to pay back your debt. the highest rating is triple a, which the u.s. is at right now. s&p and moody's made it clear that they WILL downgrade the u.s. to AA if we miss the limit. that's a certainity. however, with the events of the past week (basically the inability of our government to decide on a plan) they have been threatening to downgrade the u.s. even if we do make it on time. so essentially we might be (probably will be) fucked either way. well its just a rating what does that matter?? consider that about 30% of our gross national debt is held by foreign countries, namely china, japan, the u.k., and a lot of others that i cant name off the top of my head. these countries are like our banks and we are like some guy trying to take out a mortgage. before banks lend anything to anyone, they look at how able you are to pay off in the future: ex. do you have a job?? any money saved away?? have you been able to pay off debts in the past?? that all makes up your credit report. a rating from one of these companies is like a credit report for a business or country. (remember you have to also consider that these companies are generally known to be extremely corrupt motherfuckers (but for more on that check out the burst housing bubble) and for them to downgrade the u.s. is a BIG FUCKING DEAL. i mean look at how long we've been in this shithole and they havent done anything until now but thats mostly because the fed. treasury is corrupt as shit also BASICALLY EVERYONE EVER INVOLVED IN ECONOMICS IS A DOUCHE. there was a great documentary i watched that will literally explain everything on american economics to you...um lemme look up the name and edit it back in later tho.) the u.s. used to be okay ratings-wise but now, of course, shits gotten too real. if we downgrade, our lenders are going to flip their collective shits and here's exactly what WILL happen: - the value of the u.s. dollar WILL drop BY A LARGE AMOUNT. we're not talking greece amount but itll be bad since we're already pretty low - the stock market WILL go down. if we defaulted on the national debt, we could be talking crash (but as of today that's not happening). with downgrade we're just looking at a significant drop, which will affect you hugely anyway especially if your investments (such as college funds....) are dependent on stock markets which NEARLY ALL OF THEM ARE or even worse GASP on derivatives or speculation, which are somehow becoming popular again. this is a side topic but assuming you guys know this little about economics let me at least tell you: stay the fuck away from anything that ever mentions speculation or derivatives or basically anything in the stock market that you are not buying yourself with your own money. you WILL lose everything. you WILL be fucked. thats how the u.s. got to how we are today!!! - our lenders WILL increase interest rates on the national debt. this is basically the biggest thing. if interest rates increase for our country, interest rates increase for everything fucking tenfold. THIS MEANS borrowing WILL get harder. banks will not want to loan you and they will ONLY loan to the best possible people. you will not be able to get a loan on anything and if you do, interest will be absolutely RIDICULOUS. i think this is one of the biggest effects especially for btf, which is comprised mostly of people who are just about to go off to college, etc. so overall, if we get downgraded, inflation is going to be huge. the dollar will drop internationally so everything is going to get way more expensive way fast. like you won't even believe. in addition, loans are going to be nearly impossible to get and if you do get them interest rates will be insane. i'm talking house, apartment, college, car, whatever. for everyone about to go off to college and paying maybe $20,000 a year, your tuition will increase to $50k and youll be paying it mostly out of pocket. that is the fucking reality if this downgrade happens. IF IT DOESN'T HAPPEN, you will be looking at the same effects on a smaller scale. so now that you are all adequately educated about how fucked you are, lets talk about this mess in washington. in order to avoid hitting the debt limit and defaulting on our debt, the government needed to both increase the debt ceiling and decide on an emergency budget that would cut discretionary spending and increase revenue enough so that we would have enough money to actually pay some of these fees coming up in august (for example, social security.) in the u.s. government, the legislative branch (congress) is the only one who can decide the national budget--the president cannot do anything even in an emergency. so it was up to congress to make a budget or increase the debt limit enough to avoid this crisis. so why didn't we??? well as i mentioned the debt limit was increased back in february, as it routinely is. but even back then most members of the government knew that shit aint gonna fly with this debt ceiling and that we were just prolonging the inevitable emergency. congress would need to come to a decision before we next came close to the debt ceiling...and they knew this back in february. let me make it absolutely clear that there is one reason, ONE ABSOLUTE REASON, that this shit was not solved back at the beginning of the year. there is one reason we are in this crisis. there is one reason that our american economy and way of life as we know it is about to collapse. this is not a liberal bias, this is the absolute fucking truth. the tea party. as you should all know, the tea party is a relatively new thing that just came about largely in the last election. it was a result of voters being dissatisfied with the way the obama administration was running things and wanting change. republicans promised this change, but people were still kind of mad about the whole bush thing (which was the reason obama got voted in, this whole party resentment is an infinite cycle) and wanted something even more drastic. so along came """"""tea partiers"""""" who promised """""""""""""""""""a return to constitutional values"""""""""""""""""""" and the """""""""""""""""""""basic rights of all americans""""""""""""""""" I HOPE THAT ALL MY QUOTES ARE INDICATING HOW THESE CLAIMS SHOULD BE TAKEN tea partiers are generally anti-marriage equality, anti-choice, anti-secularism, anti-gun regulation, anti-tax EVERYTHING THAT THEY SEE AS A PERSONAL ANNOYANCE THEY ARE AGAINST not to get into this topic but the tea party is basically an excuse for elected figures to run around like bigots and act only on their own interests and ignore the needs of everyone else. research it a little more and youll see this trend but im sure most of you have already started to...anyway because of this general resentment of both republicans and democrats in the last election, tea partiers gained a lot of ground and a ridiculous number actually got elected to congress. some republicans changed around their views to make them more like those of the tea party and got elected for that too. basically uneducated voters were attracted to this idealism of "constitutional values" and failed to realize what the tea partiers were actually doing (unconsciously i think i mean im not accusing them of being evil geniuses actually i think most tea partiers are of below-average intelligence....) ANYWAY its the general conservative economic idea that wealth "trickles down." this means that the wealth of the rich will translate into money for the poor because the rich create jobs, put more money into the economy, etc. what most people dont realize is that this is very sound economic theory, actually much more solid than overexcessive regulation as supported by liberal economists. i kind of lean generally towards conservative economics IN THEORY myself. but heres the problem: because tea partiers are only interested in what personally benefits them, they are against raising taxes for any reason. the tea partiers voting on this budget are all elected congresspeople, so you can assume that they are personally very wealthy. for this reason, they began a vocal campaign against removing the tax cuts for the superrich put into effect by bush and continued by obama. even tho it would just mean that the rich, poor, and middle classes would be taxed equally AND it would bring in a shitload of extra revenue, they were still against it because they did not want to pay any more than they were already. this movement kind of snowballed until it reached a point where they declared they would accept no tax hikes of any kind for any reason. they came to claim that it was merely a problem of national spending, and not of national revenue, and therefore national revenue did not need to be increased in any way. usually this kind of ignorant bullshit can be dealt with, but because there were so many tea partiers and tea party-leaning republicans, it somehow was not. IN FACT, more republicans began leaning towards this insanity until EVENTUALLY a petition was passed around congress saying that they would vote "no" on any budget that named a revenue increase of any kind. OF ANY KIND. and every single republican and tea party member except SIX signed it. SO. here we are looking to sign into law a new emergency budget to keep our country from imploding and collapsing as a feasible nation. we have a republican majority in congress, a republican majority that has been elected in foolishness and which will not pass any budget that includes revenue increases. we need to pass a bill that will give us enough money to pay off these upcoming debts. THEREFORE, we must pass a bill that gives us at least $1.5 trillion in spending cuts ALONE. understand that discretionary spending (the money we choose to spend on non-essential programs like the war) is only $1.4 trillion. that means we will HAVE to cut ESSENTIAL programs by at least $1 billion. ESSENTIAL PROGRAMS like medicare, medicaid, social security, etc. veterans, the very sick, the elderly, THESE are who these cuts effect. NOT the tea partiers or the republicans who are making this decision and that's exactly what they want. the cuts are drastic enough that there were talks of increasing the social security benefit age or significantly decreasing the program's scope. understand that people depend on this program for survival, and many more people do so than there are rich conservative congressmen. these people are facing poverty or even life on the streets because THESE PEOPLE DO NOT WANT TO PAY MAYBE 2% MORE IN TAXES. as youve heard obama tried to fight this shit by pulling things like posting the twitter accounts of all republican congressmen and asking people to tweet them angrily. but still because we have a republican majority, it came down to either the republican's way or the high way. and as of a couple hours ago we went the republican way. the budget just signed into law by obama contains no revenue increases of any kind. it is solely spending and because of that WE, the young generation, could be facing a world without social security when we are of retirement age. your parents or grandparents could lose medicare or social security NOW. this is on top of everything i outlined as a result of the ratings downgrade. this is where we are. hi im speck and i like armchair politics i hope i wrote this clearly enough so that everyone could understand it because you really need to, everyone on btf should read this post if you have clarifications or i got something wrong please post i am not an expert or even excessively knowledgeable, but i know that its very hard to get information on this...i just wanted to give you a basic understanding, hopefully now you can go to like cnn money and find some articles and comprehend what theyre saying really go out and research!!! it helps a lot thats how i learned everything (also having friends who are way into economics) thiissss issss yourrrrr countrrrryyyyyyy

#debt crisis #guest post

giggle at the ghostie!

so Petra and I really, really love this show, and I think Astrid might too! (we've caught her watching from atop the mantle a few times, silly siamese.)

Petra says she is obviously Pinkie Pie & Applejack incarnate, while I'm Twilight Sparkle & Fluttershy, mew.

that means Astrid is Rarity & Rainbow Dash which I think is v fitting. anyways.

posting this song because I think it is good to remember that when someone posts bullshit or mean things or things you don't agree with, it's best to just stay calm and find some humor in it, instead of blowing a fucking gasket at every little offense.

that's not healthy! being angry all the time is bad for you! instead of raging over every offense just take a deep breath and stay rational at all times! channel your anger into productivity!

debates are about rational, logical argument and disputing counter-points. being the loudest and most angry in the room won't make your argument any more legitimate, and other people won't listen because they don't want to hear angry, self-indulgent, anecdotal evidence that boils down to ad hominem.

MLK was a great example of this! he channeled his anger and passion into riveting speeches that made people go YEAH!

make people go YEAH! and giggle at the ghostie! also maybe take up yoga.

-Elsbeth

light-undiluted-blog

rationalcats

quaking-aspen:

heartbrokeandinchoate:

An advertisement from today’s NY Times Sunday Styles. Allll the rage. Fuck your body policing, fuck your fat shaming, fuck your pitiful attempt at being progressive. Gross gross gross.

“your body can” stop you from getting married? what the actual fuck is that? that doesn’t even make actual sense, beyond (to use your word, @heartbrokeandinchoate) the really gross message that nobody wants to marry a fat person. i don’t even know how to address “your sexual orientation can’t stop you from getting married.”

this is really hilarious in a super!fail kind of way

-Elsbeth

so looking at the most prominent GOP candidates for this upcoming election year, I will tell you right now as to why we will all probably be voting Democrat, even little ole Republican me, as much as it pains me to say it.

Michelle Bachmann- Has a "gay curing" husband. For some reason constantly is talking about slavery. We've yet to figure out why. Most things she says concern us, yes even me. Doesn't believe all cultures are equal. Blames Obama for swine flu (?!) (among other things, ie: believing excess CO2 is perfectly fine). Thinks preventing gay marriage should be the NUMERO UNO priority. Uh, okay hun. We'll just ignore that big ole money pit we've been calling a war. Wants to remove minimum wage. Most likely a fundamentalist. Possibly racist. Likes to say slavery like Beck said Nazi.

Herman Cain- Not the worst of the bunch. However, he doesn't really seem to actually understand the Constitution. Either that or he just really likes to contradict himself.

Newt Gringrich- Kind of Pretty Racist. Unusual stance on immigration (favors guest worker program), which is actually interesting... but... still quacks like a bigot. Loves to pull the Nazi card. Nazi Card = NO in my books.

Fred Karger- WHY ARE YOU ON THE INDEPENDANT TICKET. I REALLY LIKE YOUR STANCE ON SOCIAL ISSUES. YOU ARE A FISCAL CONSERVATIVE. I WANT TO GIVE YOU A HUG. GOD, WHY ARE YOU NOT RUNNING AS REPUBLICAN WE NEED SOMEONE LIKE YOU.

Ron Paul- I really don't want a traditional libertarian running around the oval office. Sorry Ron, while I don't agree with all of your stances, you do have some neat ideas... but I can't get behind someone who refuses to raise any taxes or actually be proactive about the economy. Also your foreign policy scares me a little bit. Petra & I will probably post about you later. Elsbeth already has her GObama 2012 shirt on so she's not going to be much help.

Mitt Romney- Mormon Mormon Mormon Mormon Mormon Mormon Mormon... I recognize this isn't really fair to judge, but to be honest... the power the LDS church already has scares the fucking crap out of me. Will also probably post on this later.

Sarah Palin- Apparently hasn't actually declared her presidential run yet. But as a rational, educated cat, I just cannot back her. I don't even know what the fuck her point is half the time.

Anyways, that's the list as of now. Hoping Fred Karger will gain some popularity in the next thirteen or so months. (Petra is making those "JOIN THE INDEPENDANT PARTY, ASTRID" eyes at me. Ugh Petra. No just no.)

As of now... it pains me to say... Obama is looking like a mighty fine choice. Will continue to keep track of Ron Paul & maybe some others. I wonder if NPR has interviewed any of these guys yet?

Anyways, Jon Stewart is on meow, and I promised Petra I would watch with her. Until later!

--Astrid

#politics #GOP 2012 #astrid post

browcatastrophe-deactivated2013

on "call-out culture" and why I'm not into it

rationalcats

quaking-aspen:

verbalprivilege:

mewmewfoucault:

ourcatastrophe:

(and, side note, don’t think it’s a bullshit evasive term like “politically correct”)

firstly: to me, calling someone out primarily means calling them out for abuse or assault. that’s the context I first heard the term in. like confronting a rapist, for example. therefore, I really dislike the use of term call-out to mean political critique; I think it’s appropriative, and also paints the situation as much more serious and black-and-white than it likely is. but I’m gonna use it here because I think these associations of the term is part of why people use it and part of the dynamic I’m criticising. plus almost without exception it’s people who actually use the phrase “call-out” whose behaviour I have an issue with. they’re often people who seem to have read guides to calling out an abuser and over-applied that dynamic to relatively minor infractions. basically the issue I have with the callout is that personal reactions to it are coded as irrelevant defense mechanisms. when the personal is totally and only political, it ceases to exist as a category worth paying attention to. so the only valid response to a call-out that you think is unfair or cruel is to deploy a counter-callout. it becomes a kind of theoretical arms race, and the winner is the person who can spot the most structural influence on an individual shitty interaction. see: all the posts talking about how call-out culture can trigger anxiety, or rely on racist or classist norms of language use, or in some other way reinforce oppression. all these things are true! but sometimes I think the salient issue is just that people are being total fucking assholes. yeah, everything is political on some level, but that’s not always the only or even the most important thing going on in an individual interaction. (see also: people mistaking their individual feelings of alienation for political marginalisation.) and while being an asshole affects marginalised people in particular ways, and has a political element like everything does, sometimes the best and most useful way to conceptualise someone’s behaviour is just “god, what an asshole”. in particular, while it’s nobody’s especial duty to hold people’s hand, I think it’s unreasonable to expect to maintain a personal relationship with someone you are constantly harshly critiquing. that’s an unequal dynamic and it can verge on psychological abuse. like, do people know the history of the radical political critique? we know that we’re not the first people ever to think of anything, right? it’s not always good and healthy. forcing people to submit to political criticism they were not permitted to answer back to was a key tactic of totalitarian Leftist re-education schemes in the twentieth century; it was also a key factor in the brainwashing of radicals into cult-like terrorist collectives. so telling people that they cannot ever argue with a critique — that they just have to suck it up and apologise — is kind of terrifying to me. those who do not remember their history are doomed to repeat it, and all that.

when I criticise people’s politics, particularly people I expect to have personal contact with in non-activist settings, it’s really important to me that I do it in a way that respects them and doesn’t degenerate into personal abuse. yeah, it’s easy to say that they shouldn’t take it personally, but if you KNOW that a particular way of framing a critique is going to reduce someone to a puddle of cringing self-consciousness, why the hell would you go ahead and do it that way? that’s not ethical and it’s not effective. and don’t tell me you just can’t control your rage, that’s bullshit, you’re not talking like that to your shitty sexist boss, are you? I get pissed off as much as the next person. but I do the mature thing and vent to my friends or, like, my tumblr (that’s what it’s for!). when I’m trying to figure out how to tackle an issue I have with an individual, I wanna focus on what’s effective, not on what I think will make me feel better. and, yeah, on what’s KIND. kindness by definition is not given to people because they deserve it. I want to stop focusing on who deserves what. it’s so gross. we all deserve nothing and everything.

and it’s true that sometimes people are acting in bad faith and you just need to blast them and make it clear that what they’re saying is completely unacceptable. but sometimes people are open to learning. while a lack of evil intent certainly doesn’t make oppressive speech or action harmless, it does and should change the way I want to speak to the person responsible. basically this whole issue reminds me of an interaction I observed many years ago. a younger female friend of mine was being introduced to an older, much larger, male friend. she reached out with her left hand to shake hands. he said “that’s SO rude, don’t you know it’s the RIGHT hand” and, looming over her, grabbed her right hand and shook it, squeezing the knuckles painfully. using the “rules” of etiquette to establish dominance using your superior knowledge of something that is supposed to make human interactions better to make them worse just stop it

i really really appreciate this post

and it also points to this other thing that goes on in the tumblrverse and activist communities that function kind of like it -

- where language schematics become like this sole/central point of activism, and language activism almost gets held above any other type of action for social change: you might be a very thoughtful and dedicated organizer who’s worked for a longass time on the ground or in critical non-profits or NGOs, but if you don’t use exactly the right words, you’re just some privledged asshole who doesn’t give a shit about other people

it’s so fucking disrespectful and mean, and it allows people to make excuses for building insular little mutually-reinforcing communities/posses/cliques that shield them from being critiqued or challenged

word, word, word. I’m also sick of how “call-out culture” has resulted in people silencing themselves way more than they should because people become so afraid and insecure of this dynamic.

self-policing can be so fucking dangerous. i really appreciate this thread.

this. if we are scrolling down tumblr and see a post from your blog and our first thought is "Oh, Bast, what are you finding wrong with it this time?" you're not doing it right.

also the callout posts make Elsbeth really anxious and she starts shedding everywhere, and Astrid starts clawing the carpet and muttering "fucking fascists" and it's just not a pretty sight up in here, okay? okay.

-Petra

astrid, elsbeth & I are reading the bulhana tumblr.

astrid just had to leave the room, and elsbeth is looking a bit ill and has started to paw at her face.

if we don't come back from this, please don't have us stuffed. that's creepy.

-Petra

#cat mod post

masterread-deactivated20200926

this conversation has been agesplained and ablesplained. [warnings: ableism, ageism, slurs, speciesism, descriptions of abusive experiences, imperialism, elitism, maturity rhetoric, development rhetoric]

rationalcats

meravie:

bulhana:

miniar:

[macro saying “everyone calm the fuck down”]

1. SHE IS 15!

Back when I was 15 I did not have half the information I do now. Back when I was 15 I didn’t know even half the terminology she does. Back when I was 15 I was too busy being absorbed in my own little world to even consider doing any form of social experiment or even try to understand the social status of different minorities, including my own. I was TOO BUSY to care about “anything”.

Getting angry at someone who is trying to learn, trying to understand, even if they’re not doing it in the way that we’d like, who happen to be that young, is not nice, at best. It’s pretty douchy at worst.

Yes, I know, a lot of people that age are mature beyond their age in opinions, logic, etc, but we all know (or should know) that the human brain is not fully developed until the early twenties and we all know (or should know) about the emotional roller coaster that puberty can bring.

THIS IS IN NO WAY TO SAY THAT TEENS SHOULDN’T BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY! Not at all. Age doesn’t determine the validity of an argument or experience or the value of statements, but we can’t pretend that age has no effect on the cognitive functions of the human mind either. Yes, there are a LOT of people my age, or well older, who have the mental capacity of a baboon, I’m not saying older = smarter at all. I’m saying that the part of the brain that we use to process calculations of long term consequences, for example, is only beginning to develop ‘round the age of 15 and won’t be fully developed until in the early twenties.

2. SHE KNOWS IT’S NOT THE SAME AS BEING TRANS! Yes, there’s a lot of little problematic things there, but she admits to the big complaint people appear to be having, that 3 days of trying out the “role” of something doesn’t make you that something. She makes a point out of mentioning that she Can Not tell you what it’s really like being trans, because that’s not who she is.

3. THIS IS THE LANGUAGE THAT SHE’S BEEN EXPOSED TO HER WHOLE LIFE! Yes, we can talk about how she should have researched the terms or talked to some more trans people or gotten someone to read over her post before she posted it, but she didn’t exactly go out of her way to choose the wrong terms, the wrong phrases, etc, etc, etc..

- Take all these things and put ‘em together. We have someone young, who wants to understand and decides to do something, which she may not have been able to fully comprehend the consequences of, to try and put herself in our shoes, try and understand, in a world that’s taught her all kinds of wrong things.

(I am a trans man myself, so I know, I do know, what is insulting and inaccurate and poorly thought out about this whole exercise, but… CONTEXT is really important!)

wow, this is some ageist and ableist and speciesist bullshit.

the thing is, you are dismissing what teenagers and children do, when you say all this. also, what you’re saying about brains and maturity and development? (and that comment about baboons?) is really fucking ableist. as though mainstream science has ever been anything but normative and, therefore, fucked up. as though development is some clear-cut linear thing. you say you’re not dismissing the validity of what’s said based on age, but you are. maturity rhetoric is ableist and ageist.

when i was fifteen, i had to try really really hard to somehow survive all the messages of “be mature, be mature, be mature, be mature” i was getting. fuck, i still have to try to deal with that. and i internalized it so much. i was so afraid of being “self-absorbed” like everyone said teenagers were. my entire life, i tried and tried to be more “mature” than i was. and then, when in my privilege i could succeed at that at all, things i did were smiled at and patronizingly admired because “this is so good for your age.” and when i couldn’t? at worst, for examples, i was locked up in psychwards, kicked out, and dragged from one continent to the other. at best, i was called childish and immature and ridiculous.

your experience at fifteen, and your current understanding of it, does not equal everyone else’s experience. when you say that people should “calm the fuck down” (which is in itself a very ableist and kyriarchal thing to say) because this girl is “only 15,” you’re presuming that younger people should not be held accountable for what they do in the same way. and the other side of all of this is that it acts as a way to control and exploit young people, too.

also, this linear timeline of age is so western in design. as though everyone lives and has lived by the same ideas of development and “maturity,” as though this wasn’t and isn’t also affected by colonialism and imperialism.

you say different beings are different, regarding age. but then you dismiss that entirely anyway.

i cared about a lot of things when i was fifteen. also, when you talk about “caring” in such a … prescriptivist way, to say the least … you’re really erasing the experiences of a lot of others, and you’re also narrating “caring” and “empathy” in very ableist ways. not all of us care or empathize in the same ways.

“also, this linear timeline of age is so western in design. as though everyone lives and has lived by the same ideas of development and “maturity,” as though this wasn’t and isn’t also affected by colonialism and imperialism.”

LOL you are an actual moron. Nearly every society in the history of everything puts greatest respect on elders. I don’t see how older people being considered more mature is imperialism considering other cultures put far greater weight on respecting older people.

But no! Let’s label every single thing “western” and “kyriarchal” and “imperialist”. In fact… in another of your posts you go as far as to say the idea of time at all is imperialist and western and that a form of kyriarchy oppressing you. Is a trigger warning now needed for the phrase “Time’s up!!!” in exams? I say this jokingly but the fact is that you actually believe that because you think people telling kids to do anything is “ageist”.

Damn that entropy! The universe and the laws of physics are conspiring against those free thinkers who don’t want to live by some oppressive “time” thought up by white men to keep everyone else down!!!

“i cared about a lot of things when i was fifteen. also, when you talk about “caring” in such a … prescriptivist way, to say the least … you’re really erasing the experiences of a lot of others, and you’re also narrating “caring” and “empathy” in very ableist ways. not all of us care or empathize in the same ways.”

CARING IS A WORD WITH A MEANING. IT IS NOT PRESCRIPTIVIST IF I SAY LYING IN BED ALL DAY WHILE YOUR MOTHER DOES EVERYTHING FOR YOU IS NOT BEING “CARING”. It’s funny how SJ people love to say “words have meanings” when talking about how the word “crazy” or whatever is a knife to the heart of everyone with OCD in the world, when shouting at those who dare to suggest that crazy has a bunch of other meanings that aren’t negative now. SJ people also like to define what “racist” means. It’s apparently systemic oppression of people of colour that ranges everything from the shite we see on microaggressions (“a girl came up to me and said i’m really pretty with nice hair. i’m black. i straighten my hair. i felt scared, alone, panicked, inferior”) to the Ku Klux Klan, with no distinction made between them. God forbid anyone say someone can be racist to a white person, because the SJ people say, “Hahahaha lol no such thing lol that’s not what racism means.”

Yet now, with more goalpost changing from this freakshow, we are expected to believe it is “prescriptive” to say what words do or don’t mean! When I was 15 I was fucking appalling and got all upset over my boyfriend dumping me while my grandparents looked after me for the summer. I locked myself in my room, screaming and crying, I never spoke to them ever and they made me lovely meals and left them outside my door. I actually get upset thinking at how much of a fucking unpleasant bitch I was and if I could have a chat with my 15 year old self I’d punch her in the face and tell her to grow up and get over herself. I wasn’t being “caring” in any sense of the word; I was being selfish, cruel and most importantly, immature.

People grow up and I’m sure glad I did. Bulhana is a perfect example of someone who seriously needs a job on a farm or something to get over herself and stop languishing in selfish self pity and making up fake oppressions to get her out of ever having to be useful to anyone. God I feel sorry for her family.

My favorite part is when Bulhana's post turns into pure anecdote. Did they actually read the post? Did anyone actually bother to contact the original author and explain this to her?

Also how the fuck is this speciest? The orangutan comment? ....I need some freaking catnip. Take over, Petra. -Astrid

Thank you, Meravie & Miniar, for having actual, logical, coherent arguments. -Petra

#astrid needs some freaking catnip

dammit petra. you ate tim canpi (you need to drag the image to the address bar to see all the text. my apologies.)

------------------------------

Please submit your commentary and questions to Elsbeth here:

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As always, Elsbeth reminds you to do your own research and in order to form and constantly challenge your opinions.

#rational cats #comic

WHERE WOULD YOU MOST LIKE TO VISIT ON YOUR PLANET?

The Smithsonian!-Astrid

Japan! Or maybe Montreal.-Petra

Switzerland?-Elsbeth

IRL Petra

#IRL cats

fyeahpdp

rationalcats

fyeahpdp:

Privilege Denying Dude: [Picture: Background: 8 piece pie style color split with red and teal alternating. Foreground: White guy with glasses and light shadow wearing a sweat shirt over a button down and short black hair. Has a smug, arrogant facial expression and crossed arms. Top text: “ [it is perfectly okay to kill plants for fun] ” Bottom text: “ [they can’t feel pain and besides who cares] ”]

my brother said this to me today when i asked him to please stop ripping leaves off the trees. i tried to explain him plants actually are able to feel things, but he just shut me out..oh speciesism.

YEAH, FUCK SPECIEISM.

Stop oppressing me with your fucking humanity, shitty humans! Brb going to lie over Roo's macbook and claw and bite her until she gives me attention. I'm a really fucking adorable cat! I DON'T CARE IF YOU NEED TO EMAIL THE REGISTRAR, ROO. You aren't giving me attention because I am a cat! You tunafucker!

-Petra

#tunafucker is a thing now

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