{Never Give Up on your Dreams}

25 | January 26th

[sheisraging]

Sacha Baron Cohen’s Keynote Address at ADL’s 2019 Never Is Now Summit on Anti-Semitism and Hate

[socialistexan]

“I’ve searched my conscience, and I can’t for the life of me find any justification for this, and I simply cannot accept that there are on every story two equal and logical sides to an argument”

[heresiae]

so, Google and Facebook are failing in the simple principle that Wikipedia was founded on?

[astridfromthenorth-deactivated2]

Wikipedia is not for profit. To be able to do my job, I was forced by my company to take Ethics of AI and Robotics. You learn a lot, but above all you learn that big companies like Google and Facebook don’t give a crap about ethics and morality, or anything that is not profit related. So they are not interested where profit comes from. Facebook frames itself around a social mission, but it’s a for-profit organization that is relentless in its pursuit of growth. And its code of conduct is deeply embarrassing and almost non existent. The AI is built by engineers but sold to and handled by businessmen. And they rarely can be bothered with ethics.

[luxlightly]

I’ve said it before, I’ll say it a thousand more times: No piece of dystopian fiction has ever been a prediction of the future. They are observations and criticisms of the present. 

[luxlightly]

“Wooow! How did Orwell predict the surveillance state so well in 1984??” 

He didn’t. He was making an observation of the surveillance state that already existed in his present, and exaggerated it to make the metaphor obvious.

Learning and discussing these works in terms of them being predictions and having test questions like “do you think his prediction came true?” is not only pointless, but actively counterintuitive. When you frame these works as being ‘people from the past knew that the future would be terrible’ you shift the entire perspective to one of some kind of nostalgia for a past that didn’t exist. 

These author’s aren’t oracles. They’re satirists. Their predictions ‘come true’ because they were already true when they wrote them. 

[mysharona1987]

[ralfmaximus]

My dad was a straight-ticket Democrat, gave money to the ACLU, and left the Catholic church when his local parish prioritized a new, bigger church over hungry parishioners. He was VERY liberal. 

He voted for Al Gore in 2000.

In 2004 (when he was 75yo) an injury forced him to spend time at an assisted living facility for rehab. The TVs there were all tuned to Fox News.

All it took was six months.

Upon his release that’s all he watched. He obsessed over Fox. Became convinced liberals were out to destroy HIS America.

From 2004 onwards I watched my liberal dad – the guy who imbued me with my beliefs and values – decline into a ranting, angry, hateful person. 

He almost died alone because I told him I simply could NOT stand to hear any more about how Obama was ruining the country. He relented, and I said goodbye to him in 2011 at his hospice, only because we agreed not to discuss “politics”.

Fox News is pure 100% brainwashing. I’ve seen it up close, and it is evil.

[sniperct]

It wasn’t Fox News with my dad, it was another evil. Talk Radio. The far right has pretty much taken over talk radio and monopolized it, and through it radicalized a lot of people. My dad worked nights, driving, so he listened to a lot of this crap. Rush Limbaugh and even worse people. There’s like, nothing on the left even close to the amount of ears these people can reach, every day and every night, spewing their hatred and their vile thoughts. Talk Radio is Fox News on steroids and both are evils that need to be addressed.

[sonneillonv-deactivated20220218]

It’s important to recognize the way people are radicalized and find ways to counter it.

[kaijuno]

Hi I’m an avid weed CONSUMER and I can say YES weed is a salad

You heard it here first folks

[the-memedaddy]

Meirl

[danandphilnews]

[howmuchismuch]

oh my god they were loot mates

[insomniac-arrest]

finding out that almost all other animals don’t have periods like we do and instead simply reabsorb the egg back into their uterine lining to reuse the nutrients is like finding out the rest of the class has been taking WILDLY easier tests than you for the whole semester

like, hey, cat why don’t you have to use your Cat Dollars to invest in tampons? And cat is just like: fuck that noise, my body is OPTIMAL for not being made of inconvenient nonsense, sucks to be you

wack.

[insomniac-arrest]

humans: hey, bleeding every month is actually really cumbersome and I lose both valuable nutrients AND fluids I need for survival? What the fuck is up?

evolution: yes, alright, but have you considered this about it? *cartoon blow horn noise* 

[what-even-is-thiss]

Human bodies suck for many reasons including but not limited to:

Periods

Bad backs

Permanent breasts that do not leave once baby is weaned

Dangerously large, unprotected, and non retractable male reproductive systems

Huge brain takes up way too much energy gotta eat more sleep less

Baby brain bigger than hips guess birth is life threatening now

Takes like 25 years for big brain to even finish maturing

[durzio]

•Teeth are critical to living, yet not designed to last more than a few years without constant intervention and upkeep, and don’t grow back if this is not accomplished. Also, losing your teeth means the bones in your ear will shift, and your hearing will worsen.

•Breathing, eating, communication all from the same pathway, major choking hazard. Give me a dolphin style breathing tube.

•Most pleasurable nerve endings on the body locating on the filthiest parts of you, guarenteed spread of bacteria.

•knees and shoulders have almost zero capability to heal correctly, once they break, they’re basically broken forever without massive outside influence.

[larariumluparum]

truer words

[tiktoks-we-like]

[joshpeck]

there is absolutely no way to predict how this video is going to end

[nookisms]

There is exactly one way but none of us noticed it

[babyanimalgifs]

This is so wholesome

[anx1ous-op0ssum]

Update: he finally got the cat to the vet to see if she had a microchip

[callmebliss]

I was already on board with his sweet wholesome open-to-love-and-nurturing heart but I was fully unprepared for getting to that last tweet and seeing how off the hook HOT dude is

[deadjosey-deactivated20200613]

https://twitter.com/pariszarcilla?lang=en heres his twitter is here there is also additonal cat photos of his children. 

[strangeracrossthestreet]

CAT DAD IS BACK

[jackslenderman]

aww, the kids grow up so fast. ;-;

[aquilacalvitium]

HHHHHHHH I LOVE CAT DAD!

[midgardian-april]

This is, by far, the single most adorable fucking thing I have ever seen. 

[trishmishtree]

update:

[lemonsharks]

I love that he kept …. All of them.

[petermorwood]

I’ve reblogged the earlier part of this thread before, and the new stuff makes it even better.

This is the Tumblr equivalent of a warm hug on a cold day.

[teashoesandhair]

You’re welcome.

[askfordoodles]

I remember this thread, but I never saw the grown-up pics ❤

[theminingengineer]

@every-n-anything

[karmic-punishment-deactivated20]

[fierceawakening]

All hail Catdad

[daisy-rivers]

I saw Catdad for the first time today, and my day instantly became exponentially better.

[pretty-frown-deactivated2026011]

I’M CRYING!?

[instant-karma-official]

CATDAD HAS REVIVED MY WILL TO LIVE

[lilith-hargreeves-official]

I live for cat dad-

[rip-paramour]

Cat dad has saved us all

[one-time-i-dreamt]

[inferno-sytem]

CAT DAD!!

[thekristen999]

I had not seen the updates. I am so happy that the Cat Gods smiled upon this person and their new family :)

[thewetblankie]

The tale continues into 2020!

The whole tale

Paris Zarcilla on Twitter

“Happy Birthday my fam. I love you more than you'll ever know. You've brought so much light to my life. You have me forever. X #Caturday #Tw

[madeofwhitebone]

[omghotmemes]

This is what he would have wanted

[aztechnology]

op link the video it’s fucking hilarious

[weavemama]

DO NOT SUPPORT SALVATION ARMY 

[jackharknessday]

I can back this up. It isn’t only their shelters.

I have a family friend who worked at our local Salvation Army headquarters as a a secretary. This particular office took all the Christmas donations for children in need, put them in a warehouse, and on a designated day the staff and their friends picked through them all, taking whatever they wanted. She saw people hauling away bikes donated for specific families. Some local children had hundreds of dollars of gifts donated in their name, and on Christmas they received three cheap things, items likely not even from the person who sponsored them.

My friend quit, and I’ve not given them a dime of my money since then.

Do not give to the Salvation Army.

[gayfeatherfiend]

Do Not. Give. To. Salvation. Army

[rab-it-deactivated20231030]

My turn.

I’m a wildfire and disaster logistics specialist.

I deal with a lot of agencies who provide disaster relief.

I used to say the Salvation Army’s disaster services were the one (literally the ONE) good thing they did.

They would come in, set up a canteen trailer, make and pass out hot coffee and donated food in a disaster, usually being one of the first agencies to get there and the last to leave.

Then I found out.

Every time they did this, regardless of if they were actually invited or deployed by the agency in charge (usually FEMA, sometimes others) they would SELF-DEPLOY. Meanjng they would just show up. Ok. That’s not TOO bad, sometimes agencies have to take initiative and get there before the red tape is sorted out. BUT. They, after they left at the end of the incident, they would send FEMA or the host agency a BILL. They used one or two paid employees (usually the driver of the truck and a supervisor); and many VOLUNTEERS, but they would bill for EVERYONE’s Labor at standard federal rates. They would bill for the food they distributed even though it was all donated by another agency or private parties. They would bill for the coffee they made and the supplies. Except they would use electricity from the shelter location, water from donations or from the shelter, and in many cases, they would get the coffee and industrial filters DONATED, but bill for them at retail prices.

Don’t FUCKING give to the Salvation Army.

[knight-of-vengeance-deactivated]

The Salvation Army is also ass to the workers. A good number of people join it, naively thinking that it’s doing good, and end up leaving cynical and beaten down. The management is hostile, if not outright abusive, and demand some ridiculous hours of it lower to mid-level staff. Don’t support these people.

[eurynomephoenix18]

Visit Original Link

[stilesisbiles]

The fact I haven’t seen Spooky Scary Skeletons on my dash ONCE this October is frankly homophobic.

[stilesisbiles]

IT IS TIME

[peridot-the-kitten]

Halloween >:3€

[mysharona1987]

[the---other]

Every discussion with a conservative about Canadian healthcare begins with - but they have to wait weeks to see….

[blackbirdsdeadnights]

Add me to the list of people who used to believe this… until I actually started talking to people in other countries. I’ll still never not be impressed by my ex making a doctor’s appointment online (at like 4pm) and being seen the next day… yet, we’re told they have to wait for weeks for an appointment. That’s a big lie. I can’t get an appointment the next day in America. Can’t think of a time I ever have, tbh. Maybe two or three days later, but never the next day.

[sevdoesnotexist]

Yeah I mean honestly as a chronically ill Canadian, I think I would simply be dead by now if I didn’t live in Canada. My mother was disabled, and we grew up very poor, but I knew if I got sick I would see a doctor. The only time we have to wait weeks is when we have a non emergency issue that needs to been seen by a specialist as there simply aren’t enough doctors with specialization and those with immediate life threatening issues take priority! And I’m okay with that! I’m okay waiting 2 weeks for my heart ultrasound if it means the doctor is saving someone’s life!

[taken-aurally]

Waiting two weeks for a specialist may sound bad, but here in the United States, I have had to wait two months for an appointment with a specialist, so Canada would still be a huge improvement even without cost as a factor.

[m--ood-deactivated20181217]

This is how far into the earth humans have dug so far.

[jumpingjacktrash]

perspective

[theeldritchbeesechurger]

oh my god

[morallygay]

The crust reveal slapped me

[homo-sex-shoe-whale]

At any given moment, I am thinking about Green Day and Pansy Division

[homo-sex-shoe-whale]

For the record, Pansy Division is a VERY openly gay punk band. Green Day chose Pansy Division to accompany them on their first major label tour..... in the 90s.

Green Day also wore Pansy Division merch!

AND, they actually hung out with Pansy Division!!

+ Billie Joe Armstrong is openly bisexual. Green Day has been out here supporting the queers for 3 decades.

[homo-sex-shoe-whale]

For the record, this was in 1994, when Green Day first blew up as a band after releasing their album Dookie, which was a hit. When I Come Around? Dookie. Basket Case? Dookie. Welcome To Paradise? Dookie. It was their first album to really blow up.

And on their big break, Green Day chose a QUEERCORE band to open for them on their first major tour?!!! During the 90S?!!! I wasn't alive for the 90s but I can't even imagine how game changing that must've been.

[homo-sex-shoe-whale]

Here's what Billie Joe Armstrong had to say about Pansy Division in an interview:

(Read it, trust me)

[autisticchangeling]

I've seen discussions sometimes about how fanfiction-based fandom culture is heavily influenced and dominated by people who are not cis men.

One thing I haven't seen discussed as much though is how much of fandom in general is shaped by neurodivergent people.

I mean, you have autistic and ADHD people with special interests or hyperfixations collecting information and writing detailed meta, connecting very strongly with characters and fandoms. I would not be surprised if the percentage of autistics in fandom communities was significantly higher than in the general public.

And that's not even getting into other types of neurodivergencies and how they influence fandom culture.

I sometimes see people try to divorce fandom culture from the idea of being a "geek", and I understand that this is sometimes because of the association with the sexist geek stereotype, but I also know that there is a connection between the two concepts, and it's probably us neurodivergent people.

[autisticchangeling]

I also think this is why at first I was like "my fandoms can't be special interests, that's just how fandom is"

Yeah, because a lot of people in fandom have special interests

[mycroftrh]

I’ll go slightly further here, and say this (well. this plus ableism) is the root of a lot of current issues in fandom.

Back when I started being in fandom, a couple decades ago, I’d argue that damn near every single person in fandom was autistic or ADHD.  You’d only join fandom if you were obsessive and were chill with doing things that weren’t socially acceptable.  (Because being a fan absolutely was not socially acceptable at the time!  We went to ridiculous amounts of effort to hide that we were fans!)

And fandom culture was absolutely shaped by this.  The standard behaviors in fandom were those of happy autistics.  That’s how you were expected to act.  You remember “squeeing”?  The visual image of it is generally someone so happy and excited they can’t physically contain it so they make a high-pitched noise and flap their hands and - a squee is literally just a happy stim. And so many fans at the time did happy stims that we gave it a special fandom name!  So even if a neurotypical person happened to stumble in, they’d learn that the “social norm” in a fandom space is basically just “act autistic/ADHD” and assimilate.

But then... fandom got mainstreamed.  It became socially acceptable.  And then the neurotypicals started showing up in large numbers.  And instead of assimilating like they did before, when they were the minority, now that there were a lot of them they started going “what the heck is this! why are people here acting so weird!  this is embarrassing!”

...and then we got cringe culture within fandom.

No one says “squee” anymore not because fans don’t squee anymore - happy stims don’t just go away - but because the neurotypicals showed up and told us “squee” is a cringy word and concept.  Which they had ALWAYS told us out in public, but we used to have fandom as an insular autistic/ADHD-dominated space where we were safe and free to be ourselves.

You know how everybody talks about how cringy and embarrassing 2012 tumblr was?  Dude.  We were literally just acting like happy autistics, because that’s what we were.  It’s just that - like you always have - you think autistic/ADHD behavior is cringy and embarrassing.

This isn’t new.  “Cringe culture” isn’t new.  It’s just a new euphemism for the exact same ableism that’s always existed, with the only difference that now it’s coming from inside fandom.

All those posts saying “if these people were bullied more they wouldn’t act like this”?  They’re not just bizarrely tasteless jokes.  They’re because the people making those posts were bullies.  Are bullies.  Fandom used to be where the sort of people who were victims of peer abuse went - where we went to be safe from bullies and be openly ourselves - but now the bullies are in here with us.

On the happier side, while mainstreaming has resulted in a lot of neurotypicals showing up, autistic/ADHD people are absolutely still the backbone of fandom.  We’re the ones collecting tiny bits of info and connecting the dots to write galaxy brain meta.  We’re the ones churning out new content every single day, rain or shine.  We’re the hyper-verbal ones writing 250k fics and the ones who hyper-relate with the characters and make incorrect quote posts so spot-on they sound canon. They may think we’re embarrassing - but they still need us.

[azcrowleyfell]

SO MUCH THIS!!!

Fandom would be nothing without neurodivergent people. Because there’s nothing on this earth that can rival the white-hot intensity of an Autistic or ADHD person in full-blown hyperfocus or special interest mode.