The Personal is Political

This is a blog where I will be spouting out all of my personal political arguments, thoughts and beliefs. I encourage interaction and you're more than welcome to submit or ask questions. I identify as a feminist and most of my personal philosophies are built around social justice concepts. If you want to jump right to stuff I've written myself check the "the personal is politic" tag. The Personal is Political by Ragen Ashlie Roberts is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

[pixyfyre]

[foodieapprovedeats]

Just a reminder that the black experience is truth in itself. You don’t need statistics, books, and articles to validate what non-black people will never truly and fully understand.

[overpricedvodka]

Black 13-yo girl with 10 head stitches after school officer attack.

This week, a 13-year-old girl received 10 stitches in her head after she was attacked by police at Vanguard Middle School in Baltimore. The entire incident was caught on video and shows the school police officer yelling at the small child for apparently no reason. (source)

I want you to watch the video of what happened to this child in the context of a paper I just read which discusses how differently white teens and Black teens are treated after committed crimes.

Read More

[azspot]

Confederate soldiers, regardless of their bravery during battle or their commitment to comrades, were fighting for a government that sought to maintain the ancient institution of slavery. They were preservationists. Accommodationists. Conformists. Anything but genuine rebels. The real rebels were the hundreds of thousands of black men and women who, in what was arguably the most successful slave uprising in world history, did more than simply resist slavery: they actively, militantly, violently, killed it.

The Real Rebels of the Civil War (via azspot)

[micdotcom]

Clergy had the most incredible response to police using Black mugshots for target practice

In December, while visiting a shooting range in Medley, Florida, National Guard Sgt. Valerie Deant came to a horrifying realization: Members of the North Miami Beach police force, who had just left the facility, had been using mugshots of young black men for target practice.

In response, these clergy members created #usemeinstead

[talesofthestarshipregeneration]

now this is what jesus wld do…

[nevver]

What’s wrong with this picture?

[maggie-stiefvater-deactivated20]

I’ll tell you what’s wrong with this picture: assumption.

This picture has gone viral as thousands of people deliver searing indictments of both smartphones and teens.

I’ve met a couple of teens. I’ve had a couple smartphones. Could these teens be playing Angry Birds or texting stupid jokes to each other? Yeah, they could.

But they could also be googling provenance for that painting or taking a second to text a friend about how amazing the museum is or completing an assignment given off-screen by someone standing just beside the photographer. They could be taking notes about the palette choice so that later they turn into a generation of artists that take your breath away.

What’s wrong with this picture? Nothing, until proven otherwise. Welcome to 2014.

[ooksaidthelibrarian]

They are actually using an app as part of their museum tour.

[peoplemask]

a) everyone needs to just step back from the whole ERGHGHGHG SMART PHONES BE RUININ THE TEENS

b) It reminds me about how when I was a teen and used the new and amazing internet access to step out of my miserable depressed life, my parents talked about how the computer was ruining me

c) as an adult with a smart phone i just want to point out that i am perfectly capable of enjoying amazing classic art works, hacking ingress portals, and sending profanity-laden keymash messages to my friends via hangouts all at the same time. In fact, I have MORE THAN ONCE sent “omfg you would really like this exhibit” or whatever notes to friends i think of while at a museum or whatever because if i wait until afterward i will probably have forgotten to tell them

sometimes i even take like 10 seconds in the middle of an exhibit to tweet that the exhibit is totally awesome and people should go visit it

i imagine teenagers also have this ability

[thepioden]

Museum professional chiming in! And let me say: every class on education, on exhibits, on museum culture I’ve taken, every exhibit or program I’ve helped design, the emphasis is on how can we integrate more technology in these exhibits. The people who design exhibits want you using your smartphone at the museum! We are, in fact, counting on it. Not to mention the options that smartphone apps give designers for accessibility, or to expand knowledge, to give opportunities for interaction and further engagement. 

Museum directors are also counting on your to use social media to drum up publicity and excitement for exhibits. Please, tweet about the exhibit, take photos with your friends in the museum if you can and tag them with the museum. Sometimes (many times) we’ll have QR codes you can use to post to our Facebook feeds or to do something special with your phone at the museum. So what’s wrong with this picture? NOTHING THIS PICTURE IS GREAT THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT THE CURATORS AND EXHIBIT DESIGNERS AND EDUCATORS AND DIRECTORS WANT.

[cadof]

A CADOF fan posted this as a comment on FB. I think it’s pretty accurate.

[noetickal]

[thepersonalispolitic-blog]

What Would You Do? television show, showcases the contrast in responses to young white male criminals vs black criminals. Not only did people call the cops 10 times more to report the black vandals, but even sleeping black teenage boys were perceived to be more inherently threatening than the white teenagers who were actively vandalizing a car nearby. [Part One] [Part Two.] 

[kremlindusk]

"Let’s say you want whole wheat rolls. you love whole wheat rolls, they’re good for you and you just enjoy them. Now you walk into a bread shop and ask the baker guy for some delicious, delicious whole wheat rolls and he says "sorry. we only have white bread." now. Imagine EVERY bread shop you go to is like that. Right? Really frustrating. So go home and make your own, right? Only… you’re not a bread maker so it takes you way longer and maybe they’re not as good and you can’t just sit down and enjoy your bread in the same way, right? It’s a different type of enjoyment. Furthermore, other bakers are going to tell you that your bread isn’t real bread because it didn’t come from a bakery. Now let’s go back to the bakery and say that the bread maker looks at you and says “Man! That’s a good idea!” and adds whole wheat rolls to the menu. Someone ELSE walks in and is like “Oh MAN! Whole wheat rolls! I didn’t know these existed!” then that guy buys some great, delicious whole wheat rolls as well.”

Explaining how frustrating a lack of diversity is to straight, white men using bread.  It’s unbelievably sad that we have to break down like this to cut through all the redducated garbage information.  Why do I need to use bread to get you to understand that this is important? (via kremlindusk)

[flyingpurplepizzaeater]

you know what’s a giant feminist issue?

the way the bodies of disabled and mentally ill women aren’t treated as their own

[40ozofbadkarma]

[dougcmatthews]

Class society and its attendant hierarchies create misery and discord at every level

[thepersonalispolitic-blog]

Male Writer: Ah, anniversary jokes are so funny. Because chicks always hate it when you don't remember anniversaries! A plus gold very original

Male Writer: Mother in laws amirite?

Male Writer: My male character who is an author insert of myself pines after a woman I used to pine after in high school. Then they have sex. This is good literature.

Male Writer: Ugh female books are so romance filled

Male Writer: And girl fanfics, so mary suey

Male Writer: Now listen about this original middle aged man who is an expert in everything, suffers from ennui, looks like me, acts like me, and gets all the girls i want.

Male Writer: She was sexy in an alluring, boring way, filled with purple prose and riddled with objectification

Male Writer: If i make a female character parrot my misogynistic views, they cease to be misogynistic! Are you saying you don't respect my fake female characters opinions, feminists?

Male Writer: a good action girl is one who looks hot at all times

Male Writer: If the female main character got in an asskicking line, my work is Feminist with a capital F and no one can criticize me

Specifically White Male Writer: Heroic tropes are so overdone. I'm going to create a boring white guy with stubble to be a completely original antihero no one has ever seen before TM.

Same Guy: It's original because he is a jerk who gets away with bad behavior, just like I wish i could.

Another Specifically White Male Writer: It's in my universe to only have white men do things in my book. I mean, don't you care about historical accuracy

Same Guy: I mean, it's a generic fantasy verse with no real life time period equivalent and i haven't done any research, but i'm SURE that it's historically accurate. To that dark mideval dragon fighting europe period

Same Guy: Where in Europe? Who cares!

Male Writer: There is no better way to introduce a female character to a male character than by him saving her.

Male Writer: Characters hating each other is good sexual tension!

Male Writer: One female character and five male characters is a good team balance

Male Writer: If my female character chooses to act in a sexist tropey way, it's not sexist. In fact, because she CHOSE to do it, it is Feminist.

Male Writer: I am original

[bilbo-baggins-is-fantastic]

Never Forget.

[ready-to-fight-deactivated20161]

Never Forgive. 

[lgbtlaughs]

Why did Facebook ban this user for posting a photo of two fully clothed men kissing?

A photographer has said he had his page banned for 30-days by Facebook for sharing a picture of two men, fully clothed, kissing.

The picture appeared to have been shared from Michael Stokes Photography’s Facebook page, and shows a message reading that the page was banned for 30 days afterwards.

The screenshot of the image, which also seems to show that the page was blocked from posting anything, with the error message: “This feature is temporarily blocked”, was subsequently shared widely on social media.

It was shared by porn actor Jessie Jackman, who wrote: “Since recently receiving a 30-day Facebook ban for posting a photo of two fully clothed gay police officers, Michael Stokes Photography has received many, many messages of support. But he can’t reply to any of them.

Last year FB flagged a photo of two fully clothed women kissing as ‘containing nudity or pornography’

Also last year, FB banned the account of a Queer as Folk producer for celebrating marriage equality

Last year facebook began banning drag performers who used their stage names

In 2013 FB blocked the owner of a marriage equality page after targeted reporting of LGBT content that did not violate FB’s ToS

In 2010 FB banned the account of a trans man for posing a shirtless picture of himself

In 2009 FB banned an advert for lesbian-themed film ‘And Then Came Lola’ which featured three fully clothed women in an intimate embrace

[killerkoalaz]

Ha. Yet I have an account for the wig head I have called gla dis

[bravodelta9-deactivated20210218]

And this is why I hate Facebook.

[be-fearless-brave-and-kind]

1. If you don’t like the way he kisses you, you won’t like the way he fucks you. Get up and leave. 2. If he won’t go down on you, but expects you to go down on him, laugh. Get up and leave. 3. If you don’t want to do something and he doesn’t respect that, slap him round the face. Get up and leave. 4. If he isn’t okay with the imperfections on your skin, if he says they turn him off, get up and leave. 5. If you don’t want to shave your legs and he thinks that’s disgusting and refuses to touch them, get up and leave. 6. If he doesn’t see your body as a masterpiece, as a complete work of art, get up and leave. 7. If he makes you feel uncomfortable about any part of your body, get up and leave.

(via coffeebreakwithmiss)

[wanderandthought]

It’s important that people see this

[fasteronfire525]

I dont even know who this is, but the media pulls shit like this often and it should be publicized.

[bloodlinemagick]

mark duggan was the young man shot to death by the met police here in london, and whose murder, now ruled controversially as ‘legal’, sparked the summer riots a few years back.

[ygsolis]

that photo crop is the scummiest thing ever

[pippin-the-chicken]

I WAS TALKING ABOUT MARK DUGGAN AT WORK YESTERDAY.

DO NOT FORGET HIS FACE

DO NOT FORGET HIS NAME

Ferguson, hold Mark Duggan in your memories with Michael Brown.

You know why.

[micdotcom]

Sweden does the one positive thing for its prisoners America never will

After decades of bipartisan consensus on criminal justice policy, there are some signs that the federal government thinks that the highly punitive system of mass incarceration seems to have gotten out of hand, and some states are making gestures toward making prisons less crowded.

In Nordic countries, like Sweden, prison is not about inflicting punishment and pain.