so a very long time ago, my dad worked with an arson investigator
this guy was often one of the first people on the scene following a suspected arson, once emergency services had done what they needed to do. at times, there were also civilians on the periphery. often, they were freaking out, and understandably so; their home or workplace had just, quite literally, gone up in smoke
this investigator wouldn’t try to calm them down. he wouldn’t comfort them or be a shoulder to cry on.
instead, he’d walk up to the person most visibly losing their shit, hand them a fire extinguisher, and say “hey, can you keep an eye out for any other fires, and if you see one, can you put it out with this?”
of course, there was no actual risk of another fire. he wouldn’t be on the scene investigating if there was even a chance that the fire wasn’t completely put out. but the bystander didn’t need to know that
because that person, without fail, would immediately pull it together, take the fire extinguisher, and stand guard. they were, at least temporarily, calm enough for this investigator to do this job
my dad has told me the parable of the fire extinguisher a hundred times, and i think about it a lot. i think about what it says about people and crises. i think about what it says about the grounding power of having a purpose. and i think about the importance of letting someone help me through something, even if that help is just going to be another casserole to throw into the freezer, because useless or not, that fire extinguisher might be the only thing holding them together
still thinking about that r/hypotheticalsituation post where someone was like "what if a potato chip spawned somewhere randomly in the world. and every hour the number of potato chips at that location would double. and the only way to get rid of them for good would be to eat all of the potato chips before they doubled again." and someone calculated that it would only take like, 48 hours of people ignoring a weird pile of potato chips before an absolutely irreconcilable number of potato chips was blanketing a city.
and then people were like "no wait if it spawns randomly in the world, it's highly likely it would be in an ocean" and then people were debating whether there were enough small fish swimming at the surface in the open ocean that would be able to eat a potato chip and thus save humanity from the potato chip apocalypse.
anyway you should always remember that all those foreigners you see dying on the news are just as real people as you are who have just as much interiority as you do. there is nothing about you that makes you more important and it is by pure chance that you are not in their position. in fact, this holds for all of history. every person, no matter the horror of the fate that befell them, had just as much interiority as you do. i feel like some people haven't fully internalized this.
I'm not against protests but it's genuinely fucking necessary for people to be aware of the danger they will be in at these. And someone has to be the one to say this because people have the right to know:
I know a lot of people on Tumblr are planning to go to protests this week and especially on June 14th. Most people on Tumblr — based on what I've seen here — who say they are going to go the protests are extremely unaware of the reality of what these protests will be like. Furthermore, I've seen countless posts very carelessly encouraging others to attend protests.
I genuinely do not think the majority of Tumblr users realize what these are going to be like. Yes, many of you attended protests, some of you have experienced those turning ugly and violent. Please understand that these protests are going to be very different from anything we've seen in the past.
The National Guard is being deployed to pretty much every major city for these — and also Marines. You aren't going to be dealing with only tear gas and rubber bullets from local police, you're going to be dealing with live rounds from the military. It's going to get ugly, and you will be in a situation that is actually a serious risk to your life. This shit is going to be an actual warzones by the 14th.
If you are disabled — physically or mentally — you really should not go to these, at least not the ones in the major cities where the military has been/ planned to be/likely to be deployed. If you have never been to a protest — this is not the time to go for the first time. If you are sensitive for whatever reasons, don't go. If you can't handle the sight of blood, don't go. If you won't be able to handle the very real possibility of witnessing someone getting shot and killed in front of you, don't go. If you have any fears or doubts or concerns about going, then don't go.
Im saying this not just for your own safety, but for other's safety as well, because you could potentially cause others to get hurt if you aren't ready for this and start freaking out or if you have a health-related issue that may cause you to need assistance and/or unable to keep up. Be aware of your physical and mental limitations.
If you're experienced going to protests and you're well aware of what you're going to be getting yourself into, and the potential of how ugly these are going to get, by all means, go ahead. But do not encourage others to attend protests in the major cities without including a warning about the gravity of the situation they'll be getting into. Remember that in the large cities, the clashes are going to be between protesters and military - not just police, but military.
Good luck and stay safe to all those who do go. Bring medical supplies, goggles, water, medicine, a mask but preferably a gas mask, bullet proof vests if you can get one and if you can't, then wear clothing that protects your body such as denim and leather. Wear shoes you can run in. And stay fucking peaceful. Do not give the cops and the military a reason to become violent. You don't want that, trust me. AND FOR CHRIST SAKE, ONLY GO IF YOU ARE 18+, AND DON'T FUCKING ENCOURAGE MINORS TO GO OR BRING MINORS WITH YOU.
I have some news for members of the united states armed forces who feel like they are pawns in a political game and their assignments being unnecessary.
ok time to lock the fuck in *opens discord* ok time to lock the fuck in *opens tumblr* ok time to lock the fuck in *opens gmail* ok time to lock the fuck in *opens youtube* ok time to lock the fuck in *opens an unstable vortex in time and space* ok time to lock the fuck in *opens ao3* ok time to lock the fuck in *opens discord* ok time to lock the fuck in *opens tumblr*
At the risk of sounding anti-intellectual, I think that college should be free and also not a requirement for employment outside of highly specialized career fields
technically you can, if you don't care about degrees.
Free Harvard courses.
Free Courses from Stanford.
Free Courses from MIT.
Free courses from Yale.
Free courses from Princeton.
Free courses on Coursera.
Free Courses on EDx
Free Courses on Alison
For paid, there's The Great Courses+/Wonderium. 20$ a month for unlimited courses.
When searching, the phrases you're looking for are Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), or you can do a general search of say, "free online college courses."
Oh, and so you don't get surprised like I did, have an avoid: Hillsdale College is a conservative Christian site and not a valid MOOC place. Sign up with them and you will get things like THIS IS WHY THE LEFT IS TURNING YOUR KIDS TRANS AND GAY in your inbox.
when i was a tiny baby queer (aka a 24-year-old), i went to my first pride festival probably three months after i kicked ex-gay therapy to the curb and came out to my parents. being the people they are, my parents came with me. they weren’t really sure about this whole gay thing, but they loved me and wanted me to be safe and happy and wanted to be involved in what was important to me, so they came along. (i also think my mother still might have thought i might get drugged or murdered or beaten by a protester of which there were plenty.)
anyway i wanted a memento of my first pride, you know, and this one vendor was selling keyrings, and i liked it, so i bought one. do you remember those italian charm bracelets that were all the rage like 10-15 years ago? it was a keychain like that, and it had a rainbow rooster, a rainbow cat, and then just a rainbow, and so I bought it.
i run into my mom a couple of vendors over and she goes oh you bought something? what’d you get? so i showed her, and i was like, “I’m not sure why it’s a rooster and a cat. Seems kind of random. But I liked the rainbows.”
and my mom, who was some form of minister’s wife for most of my childhood and teenagerhood, stares at me like she thinks i’m joking.
“What?” i say.
“…it’s a cock and a pussy, Jules,” she says flatly, and that is the story of how i died at the age of 24 while attending my first pride festival.
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