Better Thy Self

I'm Michelle,but you can call me Lotus if you like (*´・ｖ・) proud rat mama ♥‿ SoCal♥‿//babies name is science ♥‿

[sadsmallbee-blog]

If you guys read this, please go follow my new blog! I post way more on it and I know I'm lame and pretty weird but yeah 

URL: ratfvck

[sadsmallbee-blog]

i hope you're ok, haven't seen you on here recently x

Aw gosh, thank you! Actually I got a new blog and I post way more there, it has a lot of personal posts and junk

You can follow it!

@ratfvck 

[sadsmallbee-blog]

Happy Friday! I'm going to sit in this bathroom and drink Smirnoff till I puke and cry over my failed dreams!

[blackfairypresident]

one thing abt those “rethink homelessness” ads theyre always showing white people holding up signs like “i had a business/i was a dentist/i had a scholarship/i went to harvard”

like thats great.. good for them. but what about the homeless people who never “achieved” anything?

what about the homeless people who came from broken homes, got pregnant at 15, dropped out of high school, got addicted to drugs, never went to college, worked at mcdonalds since they were teenagers

“rethink homelessness” wants to show you the homeless people who were “worth something”. the “good” homeless people so you can look at them and think “oh look i guess all homeless people arent worthless bums after all! i should start caring about some of them!!”

those “rethink homelessness” ads seem to only promote homeless people who “made something of themselves” but then life took a tragic turn for them. as if theyre the only kind of homeless people who deserve empathy and respect

protect and respect ALL homeless people. even the ones who never got even a little close to being “successful”. even the “bad ones” who are the stereotypical homeless people

just because a person never “made something of themselves” doesnt mean theyre beneath you

“rethinking homelessless”?? more like subtle classism imo

[ahredakar]

🗽

[nativefaces]

We’re still here we never left. Don’t let the borders separate us we are are many nations but we are one people remember there natives all over north and South America the borders will not separate us.

[hoveringabovetheocean]

[ktjnn]

^^^^ researched it myself. checked out b/c i’ll be damned if i pass around something as grueling as this if it weren’t true.  i feel sick. 

[wildlyunlikelybabe]

Wow. Black History.

[senoreissa]

So, this happened. Bill Maher, renowned liberal commentator and “realist” who believes Islam is a religion of aggression and violence, took a jab at former One Direction member Zayn Malik during an episode of his HBO show. Look, Zayn is a 22-year-old British-Pakistani from a Muslim family and what Maher made was a tired, low joke that put a hardworking brown musician’s face next to that of a known terrorist who just happens to kind of look like Zayn. It’s appalling. It’s offensive. It’s disgusting.

Shame on you, Bill Maher. Shame on you, HBO. Shame on the producers and writers who came up with this joke. Shame on the audience members who clapped along in agreement. By the way, nice try to make it seem like Maher had no idea how to tell the One Direction boys apart in an attempt to make it seem like this wasn’t about race or religion. Maher is a vocal atheist and has an obvious vendetta against Islam. As an agnostic Muslim, a liberal, and a Pakistani, I have no problems with that. I think he sometimes has a point but often comes off as a bigot when he’s trying to make it, and that may be because he is one. It’s important that we make noise. Less than two months ago, 23-year-old med student Deah Barakat, his wife Yusor (21) and her sister Razan were murdered in their home by an atheist neighbor. Their murder has highlighted growing xenophobia in America that the media has been trying to sweep under the rug. That same month, a 57-year-old Indian man was beaten and paralyzed by police in Alabama while taking a stroll around the neighborhood. But we didn’t hear about these people as much as we should have; these stories spun out of news cycles and have been forgotten. If the races and religions were reversed, I can assure you, this would not have been the case. What Bill Maher is doing is dangerous. He’s perpetuating the myth that any young, brown-skinned, dark-haired, dark-eyed man or woman with ties to the Indian subcontinent is worthy of suspicion. Having lived in the US myself, it’s a special treat when you’re led to a special room at the airport on your arrival, for “further registration,” to find that all other occupants of the room are people with skin of the same/darker color as/than yours. We have brown skin, and we have dreams. We are doctors, engineers, taxi drivers, musicians, lawyers, bankers, and so much more. We are human beings. We are here to do good. Stop demonizing us. Stop holding us responsible for the crimes we didn’t commit. STOP CALLING US TERRORISTS, YOU RACIST PRICK. And for the record, Maher: on April 15, 2013, Zayn Malik was in the UK on tour with One Direction.

[veryfemmeandantifascist]

fuck bill maher!

[donzo1234]

[neurotiac-deactivated20150729]

MEEEEE

[sadsmallbee-blog]

FUUUUUUCCCCKKKKK

[calumswife]

in elementary school i hit this kid cause he said i cant punch and i broke his nose and then my stepdad picked me up and the office was like “you have to say sorry” but then the kid was like “but she proved me wrong, she doesn’t have to say sorry” ladies and gentlemen my best friend of many many years

[sparrow---and---nightingale]

this is violently beautiful

[mademoisellesansa]

Feels About Western Portrayals of Mulan Post-Disney

So I really enjoyed the Disney movie, don’t get me wrong. I loved the songs and how bizarrely sexy Chang’s pixels were, and everything. But I hate what it did to the story of Mulan and how it is now viewed in the Western imagination (triggered by seeing a tumblr photo showing that Mulan was included in OUAT).

Mulan is not a fairy tale.

I repeat.

The story of Hua Mulan, a female war-hero, is NOT a fairy tale.

Unlike Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty and Belle, Mulan is a woman who actually existed and lived her story (not the Disney version). Hua Mulan is a young woman who lived in China during the Wei dynasty. This was a period of relative unrest and the bordering tribes of Loulan were again raiding the borders of China and massing for an invasion. In response, the emperor issued a draft, requiring one male from each family to report for military service. Unlike the popular Western characterization, Mulan was not a tomboy, but an extremely filial daughter. In fact, the traditional Chinese depiction of her (out of armor) is one of a young woman weaving before a window and sighing out of worry for her father. Because Mulan’s father was advanced in years and her brother was still a child, Mulan decides to take her father’s place in the draft. 

Mulan spends over a decade fighting to protect her country along the borders of China. When she returns as a victorious soldier, the emperor is so moved by her filial piety and her patriotism that he pardons her crime of “deceiving the emperor” (the most severe crime possible in ancient China - since the emperor asked for men to serve in the army and Mulan pretends to be a man, she is guilty of this crime, which is punishable by the execution of nine generations). Mulan refuses the emperor’s offer of a position as a court official (women serving as court officials was not completely unheard of in ancient China, contrary to popular belief), and instead asks that the emperor provide her with a strong horse to bring her home, so she can care for her aging parents. 

The story of Mulan is so enduring and beloved in Chinese culture because it is a story of the two most important values in Chinese culture: “忠”/”patriotic loyalty” and “孝”/”filial piety” (I could ramble on about the significance of how these two kanji are constructed, but I won’t~) There is, in fact, no “I” or “me” or “want” in the story of Mulan - “Reflections,” a beautiful song, is a gross misinterpretation of what the story is about - it is a story about “family” and “duty” and “must.” The traditional story of Mulan tells us that soldiers do notwant to go to war, but that, when the country has need, they must go to war. Mulan, like every other soldier she fights alongside, goes to war to serve her nation and protect her family - not because she was “nonconformist” or looking for an opportunity for self-discovery/adventure. 

So my issue with Mulan being relegated to a Disney “princess” in Western media is two-fold: Mulan is a very real, historical heroine unlike the other “princesses” (except Pocahontas) and Mulan’s story is not a story about a woman (like Snow White or Cinderella), but the story of a nation and the soldiers who give up everything to serve it. When we write or think about Mulan, we should be writing and thinking about her in the context of George Washington or Lafayette, historical symbols of patriotism, rather than in the context of Cinderella or Rapunzel or “Once upon a time, in a kingdom far far away …”

~

(Aside: Mulan’s also hardly the only woman to be celebrated for taking up arms to defend her nation. There is the equally celebrated story of the Yang family’s wives who were martially trained continued to fight to repel the invasion even after all of their husbands had fallen in battle. Princess Pingyang who not only led an army to her husband’s defense, but also mustered the entire army she led. In fact, Mulan has so many historical compatriots in Chinese history that there is even a title for these women: 巾帼英雄)

[freethebooty]

people whose first instinct is to smile when they make eye contact with you are some of earth’s treasures and need to be protected

[ultrafacts]

Source For more facts follow Ultrafacts

[becausegoodheroesdeservekidneys]

YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria, Chad, Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Djibouti. Those are the countries. It will be drought-resistant species, mostly acacias. And this is a brilliant idea you have no idea oh my Christ

This will create so many jobs and regenerate so many communities and aaaaaahhhhhhh

[jumpingjacktrash]

more info here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Green_Wall

it’s already happening, and already having positive effects. this is wonderful, why have i not heard of this before? i’m so happy!

[jenniferrpovey]

Oh yes, acacia trees.

They fix nitrogen and improve soil quality.

And, to make things fun, the species they’re using practices “reverse leaf phenology.” The trees go dormant in the rainy season and then grow their leaves again in the dry season. This means you can plant crops under the trees, in that nitrogen-rich soil, and the trees don’t compete for light because they don’t have any leaves on.

And then in the dry season, you harvest the leaves and feed them to your cows.

Crops grown under acacia trees have better yield than those grown without them. Considerably better.

So, this isn’t just about stopping the advancement of the Sahara - it’s also about improving food security for the entire sub-Saharan belt and possibly reclaiming some of the desert as productive land.

Of course, before the “green revolution,” the farmers knew to plant acacia trees - it’s a traditional practice that they were convinced to abandon in favor of “more reliable” artificial fertilizers (that caused soil degradation, soil erosion, etc).

This is why you listen to the people who, you know, have lived with and on land for centuries.

[thatlupa]

^ The bold.

[aquiraxuno]

[thelanorway-deactivated20140317]

Feminism means every woman has the right to choose how she wants to dress..

Don’t tell other women how to dress, mind your own fucking business!

[sorchaception]

YES.

[godknowsqueen]

look

i’m a veiled muslim girl and let me tell you something

i wore the veil because I WANTED to, not because someone forced me. our holy book states that once you get your period, you should cover your hair. some women are 60 and still haven’t worn it. when i reached puberty, i went to my parents and I TOLD THEM that i want to wear it. my parents thought it was too early, but i insisted because this is something that i feel is right.

so don’t go on saying that we’re oppressed. some families do oppress the females, but we’re not ALL like that.

not every woman wearing a veil is oppressed. we just chose to wear that veil like you chose to wear that tiny black dress last night. if a woman is free to not cover up her body, then why is she not free to cover it up, too? 

[cahnteloupe]

IF A WOMAN IS FREE TO NOT COVER UP HER BODY, THEN WHY IS SHE NOT FREE TO COVER IT UP, TOO?

[fckyeahprettyafricans]

As we go by our day, let us all remember to say a prayer for Kenya. Please pray for the innocent lives lost in the horrific Garissa University attack that left 142 students and 3 security guards dead. Pray for Kenya!

#thisisourAfrica

#Pray4Kenya

[quietzombiegirl-deactivated2016]

everyone’s grandparents seem to have really cute stories of how they met, and like my grandparents met when my grandma was running away from police during a protest and she jumped on the back of my grandads motorcycle and just screamed “DRIVE FUCKING DRIVE”