jumpingjacktrash:

ukeaco replied to your post: Just so you know, the language of that comic you reblogged is pretty problematic (“used to be a man”) and the author’s since acknowledged that and updated the post with a link to a full explanation. Don’t want you to get reblogged by someone who doesn’t know the author has acknowledged they messed up and gets hurt, after all. :’)

Here here! I say shit like “I used to be a woman” all the time. And I was. I worked very hard to learn how to be a girl and appear to be a girl and I had no idea I was allowed to be a guy. So yeah.

*thumbs up* don’t let people censor you for your own good. when they try, just tell them BUTTS!

butts is always a good argument.

See, I’m not at all convinced that the author “messed up”.  People say stuff like that because sometimes someone tells you you aren’t married, and wouldn’t you know, you aren’t even CARRYING the 100” projector screen, and anyway you lost the Powerpoint slides you use when walking people through the complicated minefields of gender identity, gender roles, and how transition processes work. And you don’t really feel like drawing it all on a napkin, so you just say something simple that they’re likely to at least process, like “I used to be a man”, rather than trying to go into a ton of detail.

Heck, some people really do change what they personally identify as. Someone saying “I used to be a man” may be speaking truthfully of their experience, only now thanks to tumblr they get dogpiled and told they are wrong to say that.  Nevermind how real their experience was for them; they’re not allowed to have had it because it doesn’t fit someone else’s conception of gender roles.

And this is why dogmatism is a bad thing.  The “if you were born a man you’re still a man” people aren’t bad because the personal view they are imposing on other people is the wrong one, and if they’d just impose the right rules on other peoples’ experience it’d be fine.  The thing that’s bad about them is that they’re demanding that other people censor their lives and experience to fit with a set of rules they have decided on.

When you go around telling people that they are not who they say they are, it remains just as bad no matter how carefully you’ve researched the topic, because ultimately the point is that they are the arbiters of their own identity.

You know how it’s a total jerk move to tell someone “no, you’re not a woman, you’re just a man who’s confused”?  It’s just as much a jerk move to say “no, you weren’t a man, you were just a woman who was confused.”  Let people tell you who they are, or were; don’t try to tell them.  (Exception:  If you are the creator of all things seen and unseen, you are allowed to tell the things you have made what they are. And that is the only exception.)

fluffywhite:

sketchamagowza:

MARRIAGE

GOOD

The answer is:  Have them make out for a while. If it’s hot, they aren’t allowed to get married, but you buy them a webcam as a consolation prize.

rainbowbarnacle:

Luka. u_u

Luka you are a bad bad man.　

Totally. Doesn’t discuss sports, doesn’t like beer. Luka’s a horrible man.

vastderp:

owlbutts:

mechanized:

dodostad:

fuckyeahreading:

What speed do you read at? (Remember, it’s not a race!)

You read 869 words per minute.
That makes you 248% faster than the national average.

what the hell

You read 330 words per minute. That makes you 32% faster than the national average.

…it also took me three tries to get all the questions right and i had to re-read the last selection twice to finally get them all :T

You read 901 words per minute.
That makes you 260% faster than the national average.

oh. cool. o-o

You read 632 words per minute.
That makes you 153% faster than the national average.

Oh sweet, my concentration is improving. Ima take this again when I’m not at a pizza place.

1,397.  And yes, the pizza place is disruptive.  At least that kid stopped (for now) playing with the sewing machine treadle in the table.

dustinweaver:

Stuff I stressed over when drawing this image:
-Who sits next to who. I actually did a lot of research for this. Sorry if I’ve gotten something wrong:)
-Where to have it. I wasn’t sure how realistic Central Park was, but I thought it would look the best.
-Aurora’s dress design. Wanted it to evoke her costume, but not to a silly degree. Tricky line to walk.
-The fit of Northstar’s suite. Something slim cut and stylish.
-And the flower arrangements. Never had to draw those before and I really wanted them to be realistic. Good arrangements are more complicated than they look.

I posted more about this cover on my blog. Thanks.

That is really cool.

I hear rumors that the “One Million Moms” performance art troupe are trying to send parodies of angry letters to your employer about this.  (I am aware that they are not aware that they are a performance art troupe, but they are anyway.)

dduane:

Yep.

I think I actually know more people who claim to perform “real magic” than I do people who are gay.  :P

demidoctor:

girl-non-grata:

blaitzen:

…In this culture, instead of using the words ‘stupid,’ or ‘asshole,’ or ‘jerk,’ for people that we vehemently disagree with and wish to put down, we use ‘bigot.’ And ‘ableist.’ And ‘privileged.’ They have become slurs. They have lost meaning for now being generalized insults that people use to cut down others. You don’t like a particular internet group? It must be because you see them as mentally ill. Bigot. Ableist. Oppressor. You don’t agree that I, an asexual, suffer the same indignities as queer people do in daily life? You’re trying to silence me. Bigot. Oppressor. You called me stupid? Bigot. Check your privilege.

What I have witnessed is a circle of people that are waiting to feel self-righteous and attack other people, because getting mad feels good. And don’t you dare pretend to me that this isn’t it, because I have participated in it. Getting mad at someone for their bigoted bullshit feels awesome. It feels righteous. You feel like you’re helping your cause for cutting other people down to size on the internet, when in actuality all you’re doing is shouting at someone who is learning nothing. Or, in more common scenarios, already knows. And in your reblogs, your own followers that your target may not necessarily know join the circular beat-down to feel awesome and righteous about themselves. And it goes on. And on. And social justice advocates eat other social justice advocates alive forever, in a sick incestuous circle and it keeps happening. And it accomplishes nothing. You are not actually fighting oppression like this.

We have misappropriated the word oppression. We have misappropriated the word privileged. We have misappropriated the word trigger, which infuriates me so much I can’t even describe. Something that you don’t like looking at is not a trigger. Something that hurts your feelings is not a trigger. It’s a word that has a very specific meaning, and you have demolished it. People no longer understand when I profess to being triggered by rape and non-con. Shaking. Crying. Flashbacks. Involuntary vomiting. I unfollow people when they post about it. It’s not personal. I’m not trying to hurt anyone’s feelings. But they will get snitty and passive-aggressive about it because they do not understand what I am trying to communicate with the word trigger. Fucking stop misusing it. Fucking stop.

It’s a vicious and toxic environment and I am tired of participating in it and I’m tired of seeing it on my dash. I am tired of people that need to be victimized and am tired of people who point fingers at everyone as victimizing them. I’m tired of misappropriation of social justice terms.

[Post edited for brevity. Bolded emphasis mine.]

This is exactly why they lost me: the Social Justice Warriors who are ever vigilant for any way to feel victimized on behalf of any minority social group, especially ones to which they don’t even belong. Most often being white and middle class, it’s like they’re trying to burn off their own privilege by straight up bullying someone else for theirs.

Language and its use really are significant but intent is just as important as word choice. Too often people are villified and their lives disregarded entirely (like the time I, who have physical and cognitive impairments, was accused of being an ableist who wants to sexually molest mentally handicapped people) because they didn’t follow some strict vocabulary determined by some arbitrary gaggle of disillusioned youth who desperately want to belong to something larger than themselves. Trying to bully people into thinking the way you do is not how you make the world a better place.

The misappropriation of social justice terms is also just out of hand. It demeans the struggles and traumas of real sufferers (like the time I saw someone who is not chronically ill nor a trauma survivor throw a hissy because they didn’t have the “spoons” to be “triggered” by some one disagreeing with them). It’s a bunch of people who took a first semester Sociology 101 class diluting otherwise very valid terms. Someone isn’t an ableist because of the use of one word. You aren’t triggered by something just because it pisses you off. You’re not being anyone’s “advocate” by vicariously playing the victim; you’re self-servedly seeking justification for the indignation you feel at the world for whatever reason. You’re already a special little snowflake so, really, just knock it off.

This perfectly sums up my problems with the tumblr community at large.

It’s like a circle jerk of “justice.” It’s really messy and only serves to make you and those in the circle feel good.

Back in the 80s, I was trying to explain to someone why using the word “rape” for any and all kinds of sex that someone maybe didn’t fully and adequately consider was probably not helping.

That 20+ years later we are still having the echoes of that conversation doesn’t really surprise me.

When dealing with people who are not considering others, just remember this:  The problem with bigotry and abuse is not “the wrong people are doing it”. You can’t just change around who’s on top, preserve the essential structure, and end up with something good.

Or, if I may borrow from an entirely different genre:

“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”

Remember always: With very, very, rare exceptions, your enemies are not the people who are hurting you, but the forces that are driving them. It’s not straight people, but homophobia. The best way to fight homophobia may not involve attacking the straight people, even when they are homophobes.

You want a world in which people are kind and respectful? Be kind and respectful. You have now solved 1/7,000,000,000 of the problem.  Keep it up!

think-progress:

Romney vs. Reality

Er.

That appears to show that he is absolutely literally correct.  If spending is rising more slowly than it has at any time in nearly 60 years, then the pace at which is accelerating is without precedent in recent history.  Now, it is a little misleading not to point out that it is lower, not higher, than anything else recent, but it does appear to be without precedent in recent history.

atlinmerrick:

Marriage News for Gay Marvel Comics Characters

Well this is fine news indeed. I wonder if the boys already have a toaster?

They think they do.  Actually it’s a Skrull.

Marriages mean weddings. Weddings mean parties, with cake! More marriages mean more weddings. More weddings mean more parties, with more cake! Allowing gay marriage means MORE CAKE and MORE PARTIES.

(Well, I’ve seen people present Christian arguments in support of gay marriage, Conservative ones, Liberal ones, Social Justice ones… But I know my country. Any argument that does not involve the hope that a drunken bridesmaid will have a wardrobe malfunction is not persuasive to our people.)