Not a bot!! Just a lurker!
I'm OVER 18, so if that makes you uncomfortable, please feel free to block me! NOT WHITE, NOT CIS, NOT STRAIGHT, NOT PERISEX!
Eridan Ampora icon by Cocajimmycola
“Many people seem to think it foolish, even superstitious, to believe that the world could still change for the better. And it is true that in winter it is sometimes so bitingly cold that one is tempted to say, ‘What do I care if there is a summer; its warmth is no help to me now.’ Yes, evil often seems to surpass good. But then, in spite of us, and without our permission, there comes at last an end to the bitter frosts. One morning the wind turns, and there is a thaw. And so I must still have hope.”
stop fucking acting like late autism diagnosis is synonymous with the white level one women you see on tiktok. every day I am reminded that even when people pretend to care about black people, they just can't help erasing us at every turn.
I'm late diagnosed. no, it's not some 'privilege' granted to me because I was 'mild'. I wasn't just called quirky; I was treated like a monster by so-called professionals, labeled as 'violent', 'sociopathic', 'manipulative', and 'schizophrenic' instead of 'autistic'. remember people like me when talking about late diagnosed autism, or you are disingenuous at best.
a ton of people have unexpectedly followed me over the last 2 days so here is my rent-lowering gunshot:
the american south is the most racially diverse and poorest region of the united states, and any political sentiment that treats the south is stupid or expendable is inherently racist and classist. a lot of y'all are racist and classist. the south is also the heart of american culture. argue with a wall. you cannot deny that everybody in the entire world does not emulate artists from atlanta. there is vested interest in keeping the south poor and uneducated BECAUSE this is the most racially diverse region in this country. if you actually give a fuck about progress, you would fight for the south, not mock us.
The soil testing equipment on Curiosity makes a buzzing noise and the pitch of the noise changes depending on what part of an experiment Curiosity is performing, this is the way Curiosity sings to itself.
So some of the finest minds currently alive decided to take incredibly expensive important scientific equipment and mess with it until they worked out how to move in just the right way to sing Happy Birthday, then someone made a cake on Curiosity’s birthday and took it into Mission control so that a room full of brilliant scientists and engineers could throw a birthday party for a non-autonomous robot 225 million kilometres away and listen to it sing the first ever song sung on Mars*, which was Happy Birthday.
This isn’t a sad story, this a happy story about the ridiculousness of humans and the way we love things. We built a little robot and called it Curiosity and flung it into the star to go and explore places we can’t get to because it’s name is in our nature and then just because we could, we taught it how to sing.
That’s not sad, that’s awesome.
*this is different from the first song ever played on mars (Reach For The Stars by Will.I.Am) which happened the year before, singing is different from playing
Sending love to autistics & others who can't engage in politics
This includes those who:
Are too cognitively disabled to understand politics
Find that politics triggers serious mental health issues that interfere with daily life
Have had their carers/therapists/support workers tell them that politics is bad for them and they need to not read about it
Political participation is hard and not everyone can handle it.
Some people feel guilt or shame about not being able to help more. Cognitive and/or mental health limitations don't make you less of a person. And if you care about helping others, it's okay to find ways to do that that don't cause you great distress.
I have had both a caregiver (my dad) and my therapist strongly advise me not to read about politics because I get way too upset. Listening to their advice is not a sin. I can make a difference in my own way.
Being too disabled to handle politics doesn't make you bad. It's not a privilege. It's okay to focus on things that don't hurt you.
You can help people in your own way, whether it's reaching out to people online, making inspiring or comforting art, or just being kind to the people around you. That's important too. And if it's all you can give, that's enough.
related to my previous post: this is my POV on the eternal "it is/n't that deep" debate always going on with everything, as someone who now just goes "cool okay whatever" and leaves when something disappoints me instead of wasting time raging about what went wrong or waiting around for it to get better. i think it's good to have all those crazy what-if thought experiments, but i also think you need to make sure you're not setting yourself up for heartache! be nice to yourself and be nice to other people (as the moral so often is...)
I've said this before, and I'll say it again, but this isn't the harmless quippy slogan you think it is.
I get it. It sucks to be surrounded by something you don't experience that everyone else puts a lot of importance on. You have a right to your feelings and your culture. But you do not have a right to belittle others.
The "Love Loses" slogan has a lot of things wrong with it, and I'm going to explain below.
It's Historically Dismissive and Disrespectful
Point blank, our predecessors fought and died for our right to queer love. People were murdered for being in love. They were murdered for flirting. They were murdered for existing and appearing queer. The AIDs crisis nearly wiped out an entire generation of queer people because we were the primary ones dying, and nobody cared. "Good riddance to the disgusting queers" was the sentiment. So nobody bothered to look for a cure. They said "might as well let them die, they deserve it", and we did. We died of a disease nobody had heard of before and nobody knew anything about, alone, in pain, scared, hoping our friends survived long enough to throw us a funeral because our biological families surely wouldn't.
Stonewall was a riot where we fought against the police trying to arrest us for existing. With the way police brutality is today, do you really think anyone would have cared if the cops murdered a few of us in the process? Beat us bloody and left us for dead in the street?
Love Wins was pivitol because queer love prevailed over decades — centuries, even — of violent bigotry. "Love Loses" sounds like you're spitting in the face of the memory of everyone who died for our right to love and marry without being murdered and forgotten, and siding instead with the bigots.
It's Homophobic
I don't care who you are, telling a queer person that their love shouldn't exist is homophobic. As previously stated, people fought and died for our right to love without being arrested or murdered.
Like it or not, romance matters to a lot of people. It doesn't have to matter to you, but if you want to be respected for not experiencing or wanting romance, you have to show the same respect to people who do experience and want romance. You're not better than anyone just because you dont want or experience romantic attraction.
Saying "love loses" when it's an important thing to many of us honestly just sounds like you're saying "I think you're stupid for wanting this and I hope you never get this thing that you personally feel strongly about having as part of a fulfilling life experience". It's rude, and given our history, it's homophobic. Just stop.
It's Ableist
Disabled people in love ARE losing. In the US, disabled people have virtually no marriage protections. If a disabled person gets married, they are very likely to lose their disability income. In many cases, a disabled person can't even live unmarried with a romantic partner without losing their disability income. They also can't work (if able), for risk of losing their income, yet disability does not pay enough to even cover half of basic monthly expenses.
Disability income is systematically designed to keep disabled people oppressed, and is built off the idea that they are a burden who nobody could love romantically. They are a curse their families are stuck taking care of, and the disability income is meant to help "ease" the "burden" of caring for them — disgusting.
Saying "love loses" as if it's a good thing completely dismisses and spits in the face of every disabled person who wants to get married or live with their romantic partner and can't, because it would mean losing vital income support.
It's Othering to Partnering Aspecs and Alloromantic/romance favorable people
I don't know how to break it to you, but you are not the only experience in our community. There are romance favorable aros. There are alloromantic aces. There are shades of grey in both aces and aros who are not strictly 0% attraction. We are all still part of the aspec community, and we are just as valid a part of it as anyone who is strictly zero attraction ever.
Saying "love loses" and acting like it's a universal aspec experience tells the rest of us that we don't count. We aren't welcome. You don't respect us or our experiences, and you don't see us as part of the aspec community (or if you do, it's because you're forced to tolerate us — yes, I see you when you say shit like that).
Aspec experiences are diverse, and icing out those of us who don't fit YOUR experience or narrative is aphobic and cruel.
Next up someone is going to claim that the Narnia series isn't kids books.
Kids books is probably not the best way to word it, you can enjoy them at every age, including your childhood, as you get older you may find new truths in them, but they're still good for any age.
