I'm not usually one to harp on Canadian healthcare, but...
I just waited over a year for an appointment with an ENT (doctor who specializes in the ears, nose, and throat). I have been telling myself for over a year, every time my ears would flare up and I'd be curled up in bed crying: "Just a few more months. Just hang in there for a few more months."
So. The day comes.
The ENT took a poke at my ears for less than a minute, looked at the computer (I think it was some of my previous MRI results) and told me "Welp. Your hearing is perfect and everything else looks just fine. I can't help you."
Then, as I'm about to break down crying, this man gently puts a hand on either side of my head, and tells me to open my mouth as far as it can go.
This man. This wonderful man. This very smart man whom I appreciate very much, felt the side of my face move and instantly knew there was something "very, very wrong" (direct quote!) with my jaw, and said that it was likely the cause of the flare-ups with my eustachian tubes and the ringing and the intermittent hearing issues.
I waited in pain for over a year only to be told he's the wrong kind of doctor and my issue should have been obvious to pretty much anyone who saw me before him.
And the doctor I do need to see? It's a dentist. The expensive luxury bone doctor. Whom I have ALSO BEEN TO SEE SEVERAL TIMES DURING THIS ORDEAL.
Sigh. I need a new doctor. And a new dentist, apparently.
The only positive to this is at least now I know for sure that it's not causing any permanent damage to my hearing and ears so far.
Pardon the ramble, this has been going on for months (years technically) but I saw a post again today shared by someone moderately influential and it's a "straw that broke the camel's back" thing. I'll probably pop it later.
It hurts to see how vitriolic folks can be when it comes to the OTW's (Organization for Transformative Works) fundraising. The OTW is more than just a "fanfiction host". The work they do and have done, not just with AO3 but also their other projects and occasional legal advocacy, is important to some people.
Is the OTW perfect? No. Are they struggling for funds? Also no. But these "righteous" PSAs implying the OTW is super wealthy and donations are just throwing money into a fire are misleading at best and positively reek of semi-malicious intent at worst.
So why would anyone rage so hard and write PSAs over which harmless causes other people spend their disposable income in support of?
[tinfoil hat below the cut]
Could it be partly caused by the small (but vocal) fandom-adjacent cliques that astroturf to sabotage the OTW's public image at every opportunity because they're Big Mad that AO3 fights to preserve content they don't like?
Do you really believe that if they win re: the big-nope taboos they'll abandon efforts to sour the other topics they hate? For example, LGBTQ+ content (emphasis on the T, gotta protect them kids /s) has been targeted by these same groups--over literal decades of fandom history--as have works and content created by and for victims of various abuses.
[/tinfoil]
I do not personally support the aforementioned big-nope taboos, but censorship in fandom is a slippery slope that we have fallen down before and I do not want to see that happen again.
I'm NOT saying everyone complaining about the OTW/AO3 fundraising is campaigning for or agrees with the TERFs/bigots et al who seed this shit into our communities, far from it. I am saying it is painfully obvious when a post is blindly parroting their rhetoric (which has often been carefully trimmed and presented in a way that appeals to them).
Next time you see a post hating on something (anything, really) out of nowhere, take a second to think about where they are getting their info, and whether or not that source is credible. For fuck's sake, I've even seen fake screenshots of the OTW's website tweaked just enough to "prove" their points. It's childish.
"But they have a couple million in net assets! They're not allowed to have savings!! They're a nonprofit!!!"
No, no, no. Perfect example of the "parroting" I mentioned earlier. Net assets are not cash. That is the value of everything in and owned by the OTW combined minus their debts/liabilities, not how much they have in the bank.
The OTW is pretty transparent about how much it brings in and where the money goes; They have to do this by law to maintain their nonprofit status. Hell, they'll even toss you the numbers if that's your schtick.
Again, not perfect, but nowhere near as greed-riddled as has been implied by so many posts on my dash over the past couple months. I think I'm more just upset at seeing people I know and respect falling for it hook line and sinker. It makes me angry to think about the people I love being manipulated by folks who seem to be allies, but who are simply waiting for permission to destroy us next.
So the mainstream media is basically bullying Biden for ratings and indirectly helping Trump's campaign. (Rant.)
It's cooling down a little now, but it's been genuinely distressing how even the more left-leaning mainstream media won't shut the fuck up about Biden doing bad at the debate.
We get it: Biden is old. But why so little coverage on all of Trump's lies through and since the debate? Because the American people already know Trump lies, and they're desensitized to it. Talking about Trump's lies doesn't get clicks. Making people angry about Biden, however, does bring in the views. Lemme say that one more time:
Reporting on Trump's lies doesn't make them as much money; Exaggerating Biden's flaws, however, does.
Americans are literally fighting to keep their democracy and these outlets only care about bringing up the same drama over and over again for ratings. They can hardly mention a single good thing Biden has done without shoehorning in at least one or two comments about how "everyone is saying he should step down." If Biden steps down, Trump will most likely win. Full stop.
The other day I was listening to 4 different mainstream news outlets talking about how "so many" Democrats in the house and senate had publicly called for Biden to step down. The total at that time? Nine people. That's 9 out of over 250 Democrats. A few more have popped up since, but that was "so many"?
It has never been so obvious that CNN was essentially taken over in the shadows a couple years ago by billionaire John Malone (who claims he's a Libertarian, but is a Trump donor who hangs with far-righters.) Watching otherwise competent newscasters and panelists resort to soap opera-levels of bad acting to push the narrative their bosses wanted was some painful secondhand embarrassment.
Another example: MSNBC, which is pretty damn left, posted the following the other day:
That sounds pretty bad, doesn't it? Here's the thing though: SEN. BLUMENTHAL LITERALLY DID NOT SAY THAT. The actual quote is as follows:
"I am deeply concerned about Joe Biden winning this November, because it is an existential threat to the country if Donald Trump wins. So I think that we have to reach a conclusion as soon as possible. And I think, Joe Biden, as the Democratic nominee, has my support."
What kind of context-shredding garbage was that, MSNBC? It's straight-up misleading; A lie through omission. But unless you were to look up the video or a full article, you'd never know that.
We get it. Biden is old. Here's the thing though: It's not only a vote for Biden, it's a vote for the Democratic administration he brings with him. Biden may be the nominee, but he is surrounded by highly educated folks who have the American people in mind rather than blind MAGA loyalty. You may not agree with some of their policy, but you cannot deny that a MAGA administration would be far, far worse.
If you haven't yet, please look up "Project 2025".
As much as it sucks being in what is essentially a 2-party system, it's what the Americans are stuck with for now. So I leave you with this:
Not voting is a free vote for Trump.
Voting third-party is a free vote for Trump.
Voting for a write-in is a free vote for Trump.
For the love of democracy, vote blue; No matter who.
Register to vote. Check your registration status. Get your absentee ballot. Fast, free, easy, secure, nonpartisan.
I've held things together as much as I can but the close calls have officially gotten close enough that if I don't do something soon we're going to have problems.
Pain be damned, it's time to dust off the tablet. 😤
Don't do this. I don't know you. I don't know your source of "verification". I am not going to spread your message and potentially endanger MY followers when I cannot personally verify who the fuck you are and if you're legit.
I love when I talk about my own identity and what I settled on after years of uncertainty and insecurity only to have internet randos constantly yelling about not forcing identities onto folks who don't want them. That's some boogeyman shit.
I... Didn't? Like, it should be a given from any decent human being that I'm not sitting here forcing my identity onto others just by claiming it myself. That's not how it works. That's not how any of this works, actually, and it's the same logic the bigots and TERFs use if you take more than 10 seconds to think about it.
If Susan says she identifies as a butch lesbian, she is not calling for all of lesbian-kind to adopt butchdom. Maxille calls themselves the King Fruit? Surprisingly not a crusade to force that title on others, though an uprising or two may be due because I don't remember voting for them.
If I say I identify as queer and ask folks to respect that, I am not saying "everyone in the LGBTQ2S+ communities needs to accept being called queer" because that would be fucking stupid.
I am, quite literally, begging here: Leave queer folks alone. You don't have to use our umbrella. We are not threatening you by fighting for our right to just stand here, holy fuck.
We are allowed to point out literal campaigns designed to vilify us. We are allowed to point out that we reclaimed queer decades ago and that there are groups fighting--recently!--to undo that. We are allowed to draw attention to the hitlists and harassment, even if you don't want to see it.
We are not forcing you to listen, but a modicum of respect would be nice. If you can't stomach treating a queer person like a human being with feelings, perhaps you can manage the bare minimum and just leave us the fuck alone in our own spaces.
And on that note: Maybe, just maybe, you can block and move on if one of our posts breaches containment and hits your feed instead of jumping in and shitting on everyone just trying to connect with their peers and find a sense of belonging.
Sitting here panicking over why my power bill is 50% higher than expected this month, even taking summer heat and AC into account. I think to myself: Maybe my last payment didn't actually go through somehow? But there's no mention on any of my billing emails.
So I then load up their online portal to check there. Sure enough, I find this slightly faded bullet-point at the bottom of last month's longform invoice (which I had to hunt down and download because they don't actually attach it to the email they send me every month):
What a lovely reminder at the bottom of the bill that I (and others) don't usually get the chance to read in full because I'm paperless and pay through my bank. :(
TL;DR is the mid-peak and on-peak pricing have swapped places for the summer, so running literally any electronic between 11A-5P (my meds' active hours) has gone up +50% per kWh. Sigh.
