please read this even if you're not indian. especially if you're not indian.
you've seen the jokes. india is "dirty", indians are "everywhere", why don't they fix their own country. ok. let me tell you why, and what's happening right now while nobody's watching.
first, the history you skipped: britain ruled india for two centuries and drained it. economist utsa patnaik's research estimates around $45 trillion in today's money was taken. the india that got independence in 1947 was one of the poorest countries on earth. every "why is india like this" question starts there. you don't get to profit off a robbery and then mock the crime scene.
now, what's happening RIGHT NOW:
in may the question paper for NEET leaked. that's the national medical entrance exam. over 2.2 million students took it. cancelled. years of studying, families' savings poured into coaching, gone overnight because someone sold the paper. students died by suicide after. these were kids who wanted to be doctors.
and out of that came a protest movement. a gen z group called the cockroach janta party, started by a 30 year old named abhijeet dipke, got 22 million instagram followers within DAYS. they've been doing a sit-in at jantar mantar in delhi demanding education minister dharmendra pradhan resign.
and then there's sonam wangchuk. if you've watched 3 idiots, he's the real engineer the character was based on. built solar schools in ladakh. invented ice stupas so himalayan villages have water. spent his whole life on education. he's 59 and he's been on hunger strike for 17+ days now. reporters went to see him this week and he was too weak to talk. and the troll armies are calling him "anti national" and "foreign funded". a man starving himself for other people's children. that's the thing here, anyone who asks a question is suddenly a traitor.
it's not one incident, it's everywhere you look:
• infrastructure worth thousands of crores failing within months of the ribbon cutting. tunnels collapsing in regions where heavy rain is a guarantee, not a surprise.
• youth unemployment near 10% for ages 15 to 29, 13.6% in cities. in a country of 1.42 billion where more than half the population is young.
• only about the top 3% of indians earn above 10 lakh a year. meanwhile billionaire wealth keeps ballooning and the headlines celebrate it.
• manipur burned for over two years. an ethnic conflict, tens of thousands displaced, and the prime minister barely said the word manipur while it happened.
• journalists raided. critics' houses bulldozed. activists sitting in jail for years without trial under laws like UAPA. our press freedom ranking has cratered.
• even the petrol is a fight now, ethanol blending pushed through while drivers complain about their engines and get no straight answers.
and through all of it, the PM, who came to power on religious polarisation (americans, sound familiar?), travels abroad for photo ops and has not held one single open press conference in over a decade. not one.
what i'm asking:
if you're not indian: share this. our media mostly won't cover any of it because the big outlets are owned by the same billionaires the government serves. the only reason wangchuk's fast is getting any coverage is people refusing to look away.
if you ARE indian: speak up even if you're comfortable. especially if you're comfortable. join the protests. add to this, correct me, translate it. staying quiet is a choice when nothing in this post touches your life.
india is not "dirty". india was robbed, and it's being robbed again, from the inside this time. but it's also the country where a 59 year old will starve for strangers' kids and 22 million young people will rally behind a party literally named after cockroaches, because cockroaches survive everything.
the difference between 'regular' people and people who have food restrictions (allergies, etc.) is that food events are exciting and appreciated invitations to the former. To the latter, it can be a massive spike of anxiety, complicated navigations, uncertainty, health risk, and exclusion
Hey y’all, I know Tumblr usually hates it when I ask for money but I don’t really have a social media presence anywhere anymore so this is kind of my last hope /)(\
My rat Blue Jay is in need of surgery to remove a mammary tumor. I usually use CareCredit but since I’ve been using it for my rats for years I’ve uh… accumulated a lot of debt on my card. I have $470 available to spend on my card. I currently have around $200 to my name and don’t get paid for another 2 weeks. Blue Jay’s surgery is estimated between $638 and $1,247.
I don’t have enough to get her the surgery.
Blue Jay is such a sweet girl (she was covering the vet’s hand in kisses while he was doing the exam) and still full of life, but this tumor will rapidly drain her life. I’m trying to do everything I can to not let that happen.
So I’m posting this GoFundMe. I know there are much bigger problems in the world right now, and other people are facing much worse, but if you can donate even just $1 to save this sweet little girl’s life I would forever appreciate it. She doesn’t deserve to die early. If you can’t spare anything, please consider reblogging this post so more people could possibly help.
My rat Blue Jay is in need of surgery to remove a mammary tumor. I usually use C… Sarah Armstrong needs your support for Help Blue Jay Get L
There’s a video of Blue Jay (and her friends) for tax below the break, tumor and all. If the tumor freaks you out, there’s some older picture of her above it, without the tumor.
My rat Blue Jay is in need of surgery to remove a mammary tumor. I usually use C… Sarah Armstrong needs your support for Help Blue Jay Get L
A huge thank you to the 6 people who have donated so far. It truly does mean the world to me that people would be so generous as to help a little rat they’ve never even met. 😭
We’re currently at $398 of my intended $1000 goal. Once that money transfers I’m going to go ahead and schedule the surgery and see if I can split the payment between CareCredit and what I have. Part of the quoted estimate included a spay and x-rays so, unless more donations come in soon, I’m going to decline those so that I can afford just the mass-removal surgery with what I have.
If you haven’t yet, and are able, please consider donating a small bit or just sharing to help me get her the spay as well (so the tumor doesn’t come back) or, at least pay off some of the CareCredit debt so that if something else comes up soon (I have… 7 rats 🫠) I will be ready this time.
Here’s pictures of Blue Jay eating a little cookie with me right now:
Thank you again to the 9 generous people now who donated to help save Blue Jay’s life! I’m currently at $455 of my $1000 goal.
And Blue Jay’s surgery is in two days!
I didn’t get enough so I’m going to decline the spay and histopath (I think the x-rays might be necessary for the mass removal surgery). This means the tumor may come back, but I can’t afford the spay now. :/ I will update everyone on how the mass-removal goes after the surgery is over!
If you can though, I would still appreciate donations. I’d like to get some of the Care Credit debt paid off so that I can use the card next time something comes up.
(Which unfortunately may be sooner than I’d like, as I just found two small lumps on Magpie, Blue Jay’s sister. Sigh. Unfortunately this is the downside of having rats, and when you have multiple that are the same age they tend to all have problems at once. ;_;)
She was a little loopy last night (she came out from the vet and looked up at me with the wettest, most tired eyes imaginable), but is now resting and doing alright.
I want to thank the 9 generous people who truly saved her life. Between the credit I had left on my card and the donations it was just enough to cover the surgery!
However, I’m leaving the GoFundMe up as it would really help if I could pay off some of the CareCredit debt so I can use the card again soon.
Blue Jay’s sister, Magpie, has some quickly growing lumps on what seems like her urinary tract (it never ends 😔) and looks like she’s having trouble urinating. I don’t even know if it’s possible for me to take care of this medical issue so soon after Blue Jays. I’m not sure if I should make a second GoFundMe for this or not. I hate begging for money, but I’m not really sure what else to do at this point… I’ve had rats since 2008 and I’ve always found some way to cover their vet bills but now it’s all catching up to me at once + I don’t have a very well-paying job. For now I am just leaving the GoFundMe up and thankful that Blue Jay and Magpie can at least be there for each other at this time. (Blue Jay’s currently in a separate cage while she heals, but I let Magpie visit for a minute and Blooj immediately started licking her ;_;)
My rat Blue Jay is in need of surgery to remove a mammary tumor. I usually use C… Sarah Armstrong needs your support for Help Blue Jay Get L
Messenger to messenger ✉️ I think Soundwave would appreciate the hard work that pigeons have been thru… as a communications officer himself of course 😌 cough. And of course as a character who often gets left behind, just like them 😒 but whatever yknow… I’m sure it means nothing
Seriously though, I don't think there's nearly enough fic about Soundwave straight up loving animals.
Like, I don't want to see Soundwave being Megatron's number 1 supporter, I literally just need to search Decepticons to have that.
No, I'd rather you give me Soundwave feeding a starving street dog and then, wait, is that dog licking Ravage? Did it just got inside Soundwave chest? Meanwhile Soundwave : this is my new cassette. His name is Frontline and he and Ravage are my best spies.
Like, Soundwave often is a telepath and he almost always has cassettes. Dude would really be one of the most friendly Decepticons while the humans thinks he don't like organics just because he finds humans uninteresting.
Soundwave would be the best cybertronian to remind the audience that no Optimus Prime, humans aren't the only sentient being of this planet and supporting one of the most capitalistic country really isn't proving you right.
I'm just saying, if you pay attention to Starscream in G1's character, especially in episodes where he's the focus (For example: Starscream's Brigade) there are very obvious points to many aspects of his personality people don't really talk about/acknowledge.
Mainly, this post is gonna talk about two of them:
Starscream has an obvious interest in human culture/history, even if he's not particularly interested in humans themselves. (Although I'd argue that Starscream also doesn't dislike humans, but that's a conversation for another day)
Starscream is more competent and badass than most characters in the show, to where the other Decepticons even acknowledge it occasionally.
(Putting a read more split here because this was a bit longer than I expected, lol.)
Starscream, I'd argue, is one of the best examples of the 'crouching moron, hidden badass' trope; he's often used for comedy in G1, usually using his overzealous pride or bad luck, but when it comes down to it, Starscream is a badass motherfucker.
In the Transformers G1 movie, Starscream even shoots his own foot to avoid being crushed (You know he shot his own foot rather than the metal plating because he yells out about it as he flies off). That definitely isn't something just anyone could stomach doing, and Starscream just shrugs it off, kicks Megatron, and doesn't even acknowledge it afterwards.
Starscream also almost wins multiple times in G1, usually only losing because of a random deus ex machina. The best example of this I think being in 'Starscream's Brigade', where Starscream even has Megatron begging for mercy before what's-his-face and his band of merry men just happen to show up at the last second to swing the odds away from Starscream.
It's never really a problem of Starscream being stupid, because he isn't. Starscream only ever loses because of his pride or simple bad luck. (The trope's name kinda gives a bad impression of what I'm trying to say, but that's why I linked a video that talks more in-depth about it.)
And that's not even mentioning when Starscream comes back as a ghost and literally tricks Unicron - who is basically space Satan - into helping him get a new body, escapes without fulfilling his end of the bargain, and seemingly gets away with it. (He got shot and floated off into space, but I think it's important to note the writers planned for him to survive that and come back later. So, Starscream not dying on screen is supposed to imply he survived and got away with it.)
As for Starscream being interested in human culture/history, there are plenty of examples. But using the same example I've used three times because it's the best example of Starscream's writing in G1 - Starscream's Brigade - the entire episode is kicked off by Starscream recognizing human war machines and knowing enough about them to get the idea of making his own army.
In another episode, he also acknowledges a character using 'open sesame' as a password to open a door by saying: "Oh, how original." which implies he's looked into human turns of phrase, maybe even looked into human legends and folklore, and knows that phrase is used enough that it's eyeroll-worthy.
Turning away from G1 a bit, this interest in folklore and legends is also supported by other versions of Starscream: in a comic called 'I have no mouth and I must Starscream', Starscream has an extreme love for Cybertronian folklore and legends, to the point it's implied that Starscream has memorized them. This is a result of his extreme love for Cybertron, sure, but given he's a scientist and inquisitive by nature, I don't see how he wouldn't at least be interested in other culture's stories, too.
Ultimately, I just find it dumb when people boil Starscream down to 'overzealous, dumb, weak guy trying to be the boss', when that's categorically not even true to his character.
“Caesar was not known to use profanity but, on that day, he cursed up a storm so massive that, according to legend, still hangs heavy over all Disney studios and theme parks to this very day.”
I hate what they did to snotlout and the twins in the movies after RTTE and RoB
And for the twins in the 3rd movie Tuffnut would have not have left ruffnut he might not notice for a little bit but the whole ride? And how did NO ONE ELSE not notice? In RTTE ruffnut and tuffnut did so much for eachother and then in the 3rd movie its nothing
Yes I've seen people say this before but all of snotlouts character development went in the trash
Hello, I’m Amy! I’m a minor with autism and a speech impairment. I’ve gotten to a point in my life where speech only irritates me and sends me into a shutdown. AAC was my only form of communication during times like this and I need that back for my health.
My family can’t currently afford to buy one and because of my age and disabilities, I can’t work. Originally I was using my phone and tablet as an aac device but having the app on my phone wasn’t working anymore. My tablet recently got broken so both options are gone.
My goal is $260. This will pay for the tablet and app. App want meant go on sell some time around October 15, this would be best time buy both
Cashapp: babyfaceslider
PayPal: Spooksforsammy
Go to paypal.me/spooksforsammy and type in the amount. Since it’s PayPal, it's easy and secure. Don’t have a PayPal account? No worries.
(Boyfriend manages account; is his just using since can’t have own)
I am not responsible for how my parents react to me setting boundaries or even anything at all. If I say something and they scream or yell or cry and guilt-trip me, that is not my fault.
They have control over whether or not they overreact to me.
They have control over whether or not they abuse me.
It’s not my responsibility to make sure they don’t react a certain way.
so embarassing to be a grown ass adult with "adults arguing" trauma. like oh boohoo i'm a 23 yo baby whose parents fought and now can't handle whenever two people raise their voices at each other
Come to think of it, it really is insane that my entire country is burning alive and literally no one in the rest of the world cares. Thousands of Indians are dying every day from the heat, it's 45+ degrees in multiple areas, the government couldn't give two fucks, we're getting severe warnings and red alerts, and not a soul outside of South Asia is speaking about it because why would you ever care about brown people
Do yourselves a massive favor: practice asking for help BEFORE it's an emergency.
I am a social worker. I have worked in community mental health and in home-based healthcare. And it is much, much easier for me to help you when the situation you're in is not yet a full-blown crisis.
"I'm out of money and have been for a while and now I haven't eaten for three days." This is a crisis. A crisis where I'm likely going to have to put you in the car and take you to the nearest food bank--except food banks require appointments now, and the next opening is in four days, so you're staring down the barrel of a week with no food. That's obviously not going to work, so, let's call eight different food banks until we've found one that has an appointment the next day...except it's in the neighboring county and you can't drive. So now I'm calling your doctor to try and brow beat an emergency plan of care update out of him so I can come back the next day and drive you to the food bank. And we haven't even started on the "constantly broke" part of the problem.
"I don't think I have enough food to make it to my next paycheck. I have (xyz) in my house and that will only last until (date)." This is bad, but not a crisis. We have a few days. We make you an appointment at the food bank and contact your brother to make sure you have a ride there. Now we can spend our visit talking about what bills are causing you the most problems and make a jump on a long-term solution, like looping in a community action agency to cover your utilities and getting you an OTC card from Medicaid to cover some of your groceries every month.
"I'm ten months behind on rent, and my landlord said I have a week to get out, or the cops will throw me out. I don't have the money, and if I get evicted, I have nowhere to go." This is a crisis. Every single thing we do here is going to be some version of a Hail Mary. In Michigan, we have the state emergency relief fund for rent issues, but process time is well over one week. There are community action agencies that we can call to assist you with payment, but they are unlikely to have sufficient funds to cover nearly a year of back rent. We can contact legal aid clinics to try and prevent your landlord from evicting you, but they may look at your case and determine that too much "fault" lies with you. Most likely, I'm going to have to put you in touch with homeless shelters and the public housing office.
"I'm two months behind on rent and I don't think I'll be able to pay next month either." This is bad, but not a crisis. This is solvable. We have time to apply for SER, or put you in contact with community action agencies. We have time to review your finances and see if you qualify for a public housing wait list or other forms of ongoing rental assistance. We have time to talk about a million possible adjustments to try and ease the burden of your rent.
"I am the sole caregiver for my elderly parent who has dementia and is emotionally volatile and fully dependent on me. I have not slept through the night in weeks and I have not had an actual break for over a year. I am having screaming meltdowns multiple times a week and I am threatening self-harm unless someone comes to collect my parent and take over all caregiver duties." This is a crisis. This is a crisis where the ethical code of my profession demands that I call 911 and report the conversation to them. They will likely come to the house and interview you. If they determine your threats were serious, they will have you forcibly committed to a psych ward. Your parent will either be dumped into a random hospital or rehab center, or left in the house on their own. Upon release from your psych hold, you will be expected to resume caregiving duties as though nothing happened. Except, now, adult protective services is actively investigating you, because it was determined you may be an ongoing danger to your parent.
"I am the sole caregiver for my demented parent, and I have not had a break in a couple of weeks, and I feel angry and weepy most of the time." This is bad, but not a crisis. We can get you in touch with volunteer groups for respite, and apply for state funded programs to get more day-to-day help, and talk about long-term planning for when the dementia symptoms get worse. We can get you the phone numbers for crisis lines and enroll you in a support group.
Obviously, you can ask for help at any point. Don't use this an excuse to never ask for help. If you always wait until it's a crisis, fine, you have free will. But you are ALLOWED to ask for help BEFORE you're in a blind panic, and it is always easier to get help when you aren't screaming and sobbing because you think your life is over.
Thinking of trines and gestalts as a soulmate thing. Sometimes you're created together, but when you're not you feel as though a part of you is missing. Like it feels as though there's parts missing from your spark. You find yourself coming across and stranger and you're being pulled towards them. And you know you are supposed to be with them. Not romantically (though that's an option) but in a way non seekers/combiners will never understand. For the first time ever your spark no longer aches with a longing you couldn't understand (or at least not as bad. You still need to find the others)
Then they turn out to be the biggest asshole you've ever met, and you realise you're stuck with them regardless
