#Also communities isolate people anyways

[blackpilljesus]

I find community discourse incredibly annoying. People are often like "Wheres's the community? We need community! People are so individualistic these days". Individualism gets a lot of criticism but nobody ever questions why this happens. While there are some merits to communities, historically communities have mainly benefitted the priviledged. Most communities evolve into divide-and-rule politics where some are seen as more deserving than others (based on things that cannot be controlled). If you're a marginalised person, more often than not you get bs from communities, not love and protection as advertised.

When you're on the short stick side of the divide-and-rule politics in communities, communities are dangerous for you. It will be seen as acceptable to abuse & put you in horrible conditions simply bc of what you are. Those who abuse tend to be in higher positions in communities so when you call them out people wouldn't care or believe you. You'll be punished when you fight back however. When you're marginalised in a community you receive the worst brunts from people and it's seen as okay to be less deserving of support. You wont be supported in community.

People talk about "safety in numbers" but when the community faces trouble, they will have no problem abandoning or sacrificing the marginalised to save themselves at large. Communities have no problem throwing others away or isolating them once it benefits them. Alot of the time people are used & abused in communities so they're fed up with that, fed up of being treated like second class citizens in communities.

Look at the way communties people reminisce about & yearn for actually turned out. "We had community back in the day" yeah the same ones full of predatory uncles that would abuse women & children and get defended, the same communities full of victim blaming & shaming women + girls for being abused, the same communities where some were implicitly told they were more inferior but if they obeyed those higher up in power they can be forgiven. People talk about a lack of a "third place" bc of the rise of secularism so less are going to places of worship but many people leave those communities (even if their faith is still intact) because of corruption & abuse. The judgements & hypocrisy in these places is a lot (one of the reasons I personally left religion & the community too).

Best believe if you can hold your own down, being in a community is more dangerous than being alone bc like i said when things go south your ass will be on the chopping block first. Hell if people just want to abuse, they'll go for the marginalised first & so much abuse is enabled in communities. They'll ostracise & shun you and the threat of that alone keeps many in line to uphold abusive structures in place in communities.

"But humans are natural social creatures that want to be in groups" is something I hear often & that should make you stop and think of how so many people going against this instinct to survive says a lot about how dangerous alot of communities are. It's our nature to socialise, be in groups yet it's chosen to be independent because of the danger groups actually present when you're not seen as a valued member of them.

At this point people would either say "look inwards" or "find better communities out there" but the problem is that status in communities isnt entirely based on the merit of the way you behave. Finding communities where you're accepted & valued IRL tends to be based on things you cant control. It's not like the internet where you put yourself out there & eventually find your community even if they live all over the world. In reality it's another ballgame, people are more closed off & judgemental if you dont fit certain standards so it's more difficult to find places where you'll fit in. Also, as mentioned the determining factors of the way you'll be treated in communities are based on things you cant control, your characteristics will do more speaking and determination for you. So it's not as easy as just "find a better community". Given the way activism is on the internet, many people forget how conservative & hostile the real world actually is. Things like sexism, colorism, racism, ableism, homophobia, lookism etc; play a big role in most communities irl which is why many people seek alt communities online even though those come with issues of their own but to not stray away from the point this is why many people arent fucking with -irl- community shit anymore.

This discource pisses me off because when you constantly receive crap from communities people blame you for it but when you leave you get badgered for not having or being part of community. Communities benefit the priviledged as they uplift those on top, they get to take more from communities & enrich themselves while those at the bottom get fucked over and it's no wonder so many people get fed up and decide to put things into their own hands than risk being in/trusting communities that wont hesitate to risk or end your life over bs. I know that not all communities out there will be horrible but as mentioned finding communities IRL where you'll be accepted as a marginalised person is difficult. Finding equitable communities where everyone is held accountable for their actions, where people genuienly help each other to get by & survive over divide-and-rule politics is difficult.

People complaining about lack of community but wont address the rampant abuse that happens in them tells me they dont care about community spirit as they claim they just want pools of people to exploit and are disguising it under communal spirit & protection. I dont fw communities & sometimes people will tell me i cant do everything alone, no man is an island -good thing i'm a woman then lol- but fr the people this crap comes from are the type of people that make communities suck & i wouldn't want to be in a community with them anyways bc they're horrible & would just exploit. Individualism is on the rise because so many of us marginalised people who grew up in communities realise we're better off alone & idc what anyone says if they feel they're better off within communitities then bet but a lot of the time others are better off alone. And icl one positive of capitalism is that it gives you a chance to rely on communities less & have a more independent lifestyle. Yes there's still a level of people/community engagement but we're not as tightly bound to a community like a small tribe in a village bc tbh i'd probably be dead by now if i had to live & rely on others that way.

Instead of just criticising individualism & guilt tripping people to join communities, if people actually care do inflection about your "communities". Except this wont happen bc this isnt about community spirit but looking for others to exploit which is why it's being aggresively pushed.

#Also communities isolate people anyways #Yes being alone can also make things dangerous; it isnt perfect & if communities see you they'll view u as a easy target but overall #i personally find it better to be independent of 'community'; doesnt mean i isolate myself tho #If you find good communities out there stick with them; Im not saying isolate yourself; you can work with people but keep distant #dont tie yourself into community #Personally I think people fearmonger around being independent so they cant hold the threat of being ostracised from communities over you #anti community #community

[lastoneout]

the whole guilt-tripping language in posts about important topics paired with how I'm still getting bitches in my notes talking about why it's actually good to tell "bad" people to kill themselves continues to prove to me that a lot of people have absolutely no concept of social justice or activism outside of assuming the worst of and then viciously attacking strangers on the internet

#the worst part too is this is just the logical conclusion of the hyper-individualistic society #that thrives on isolating us from each other and our communities #anyway pls get out and go volunteer to clean up litter or at the soup kitchen or something #y'all need to see that your actions can have both good and bad real world consequences #and also interact with people who share your values but come from different walks of life #and also how to organize with people you don't always 100% agree with #so yeah hang out at the farmer's market or smthn y'all really need to connect with your communities

[seilon]

no like when I say any answer on the queerest city poll that’s not San Fran is wrong I mean it is factually and historically WRONG

#just. look at the history of lgbt rights and major events in queer history in the us #and I’m telling you it is. in fact. dominated by San Francisco #the other cities that contend for the most part are major us cities that contend simply because they are big and/or heavily populated #like yeah obviously dense cities are going to have a higher number of people in various demographics. im thinking mostly about nyc and #Chicago here for the most part #San Fran is not big. it’s dense but not nearly an nyc level population especially historically. #it’s very unique for having been a safehaven for queers for a long time in comparison to the rest of the country #now I am not. by any means. defending it on every front. or considering it superior in any other way basically. I am SOLELY talking about #it’s unrivaled huge and powerful and long-standing queer community #it is- in the present day- literally almost impossible to live in San Francisco. period. it is absurdly expensive. #it’s homelessness situation especially due to the insane cost of living and there takeover of tech companies and so on #is horrific and for no damn reason (the city has enough money to house people Easily through at LEAST the heavy tourism) #the queer COMMUNITY there is what’s important and it’s history of demanding rights and generally flourishing through their own efforts #anyway idk why I felt the need to ramble about this #actually yes I do it’s becuase I think a lot of younger queer people (or queer people who grew up in isolated or conservative areas don’t #know the history associated with San Francisco and why people regard it as being so fundamentally queer #like the fact that portland is in second on that poll- and this is coming from someone who likes portland overall- is so weird to me #it’s a very progressive place but boy it ain’t got the influence and history that San Fran- or even New York or chicago- have #again it’s hard to compare those big big cities to anything but nonetheless #tangential but. sacramento is also a queer-dense city and though we are small and not nearly as flashy as the other contenders it’s worth #noting I think for being more of a safehaven than people tend to think about #anyway. that’s nothing I just had to represent for a second #kibumblabs

[paopuofhearts]

it's almost like the only option is dividing things further black and white then just going hardcore to an extreme.

like.

i spent all day yesterday cutting off friends and blogs of people i love in my native community because of the excessive call for violence as the answer to decolonization, maintaining nuance but only for one side and saying fuck all to everything and everyone else.

but then today.

the number of jewish friends and blogs i've had to unfollow because people are doubling down on "hamas bombed a fucking hospital" when there's clear evidence that isn't true and it's propaganda to perpetuate cycles of violence?

fucking horrifying.

#like as someone from a native background and someone working to convert it's just #heartbreaking and frustrating to feel absolutely abandoned by both sides #simply because pointing out israel is built on a settler-colonial stance even if jewish people aren't settlers and colonizers #because they are indigenous to the area #gets me beat to the ground in native circles because it means i support netanyahu and gver and genocide #and i get the same fucking condescending look of 'you shouldnt talk' from liberal jewish groups that are all for saying zionism is a diseas #and yes they agree as jewish people that they are white and israel is white supremacist like #like i'm sorry the fucking whiplash of what the absolute fuck #but then pointing out that palestinians are being mass murdered and their response is clearly understandable #and israel is purposely using this shit to perpetuate genocide #all of a sudden i'm a fucking hypocrite to both sides #and my poor fucking husband is standing here like 'yes thats what you get for being clearly aware and wanting nonviolence' #how dare i not stand solely with israel #how dare i not demand only free palestine #people are just so fucking toxic and caught up in their own opinions being the only opinions and nuance being a fucking crime for condemnin #as if talking about this shit does anything! people are dying on both sides - one clearly more than the other - and what #you truly think attacking people that aren't specifically nodding along in blind support is really the thing that'll change the world #also saw a thing today that was like “being an ally means i will fight for you” like fuck that #but that's a different thing anyway #anyway i hate both my communities and feel absolutely isolated from them and wow #community just really isn't a thing unless you're ride or die without speaking up about anything huh

[milo-is-rambling]

Sometimes this -> :)))) is just not strong enough for what I mean

#what I really mean is my face hurts from smiling and i know im high but I am happy and it feels so so nice im gonna fall asleep happy #tonight #and I am excited I have plenty of time to sleep before work and I’m gonna work and make money and then have a day off and yesterday was slow #and today might be slow again and I can just hang out #doodle clean stretch stand draw doodle print something for someone check email check tumblr check cat app open computer check online orders #still none doodle again think about leaving drink water copy something for someone tell someone where to find white out or letter openers #etc etc #anyways. I am happy work is easy and boring but fun and I’m happy there #I think I’m still in the phase of isolation post Covid that this is me just exited to be outside again #like sure I’ve gone places but now it’s like I’m going places and working and standing and seeing all kinds of people and remembering they a #also have lives of their own #there are teachers and moms and business men and people getting divorced and people printing trump court documents and putting them in a #binder yes that really happened today idk why this old couple was doing this or why they thought I’d want to hear about it #anyways yeah. people are everywhere you can find community anywhere love is endless #📤

[variousqueerthings]

obsessively detailed DNIs and lack of good faith reading of strangers' words and discussing the rights to exclude xyz for being too weird for your (public) space and this person reblogged a post from a person who follows a person who follows a person who's suspect and righteous anger over any and every misstep of performance and waiting to catch people out and complete lack of trust and...

are you guys... happy?

do you have people around you that form a community? people who aren't carbon copies of yourself or online yes men? do you know people who aren't your age/gender/race/ethnicity/body/brain/don't have the same financial background, educational story, etc?

not all of these all at once all at the same time, but do you go outside your head, is what I mean?

do you remember that other people are people? have you had the opportunity to train yourself to have grace for the fact that everyone has faults and blindspots and perspectives that come from a life led differently, and that to hear and take in those differences make you richer, more understanding, less shut off?

are you able to discuss things while understanding that there is a middle ground? do you think anger and despair are the only emotions worth accessing in order to be a "good" person?

do you have people around you that aren't like you?

are you happy?

#happy pride #idk im preaching to the choir here im sure #but over the last year ive been trying to follow people in communities that i am a part of and/or want to support #and it seems like they're 1. online all the time 2. angry in ways that lead nowhere 3. quite young? #and im thinking back to me 10 years ago and i was SO angry and so isolated and so terrified of other people #and it wasnt as bad to be online then as it is now in terms of You Have To Prove Yourself Worthy And Flagellate Constantly #ive had to unfollow practically every one of those blogs and not because i dont feel warm towards the people who run them #but it's not activism and it's not good for you #also i have looked at exactly 2 dnis out of interest and i understood like... half the words/abbreviations #they're really not a useful tool and they don't appear to be for anyone but a small crowd who understand them anyway? #and even then i think they're more for people who understand and DO agree than those who don't who Will Not Care #anyway..... wheres that post about *this pride get out of your head* yes! #also idk if this needs to be said but im not saying *talk to a violent extremist who wants you dead today* #(and if you believe that then see the bit about *lack of good faith reading*) #also tbh i did one time reach out to someone and go *hey this post is deeeeply dogwhistly* but tbh that was more about like #*i think ace people are gonna look at that post and literally read it as hate it's that surface level #and you probably don't want that reaction* #but checking back and back and back on post origins idk... i think we're using dogwhistles a little too liberally sometimes

[woodsy-hoe]

having a chronic illness with symptoms you can’t explain but need to in order to be treated/understood is so dope guys

#literally my neurologist and gp act like i’m a fucking idiot because i cant remember or describe my symptoms when they’re not happening rn #which is p funny in retrospect because i have horrible brain fog and memory issues so i wouldn’t remember anyways most of the time? 🤷🏻‍♀️ #idk being chronically ill makes me feel so alone and isolated and most people in my life try but just don’t get it (not that i blame them) #also trying to seek out reddit groups or other community-based chat rooms just doesn’t help like we’re all going through it in our own ways #anyways sorry for the rant i’m just kinda at a loss in life rn and am not sure what to do anymore #becca speaks

[vraska-theunseen]

sometimes i misgender myself for a joke like i was talking to my friend the other day and i was like "i'm going to adopt your mom so i can become your grandma" and she was like "but you can't be?" and i know that when my friends do that it's in confusion or good faith based on what they know about me but like. why are you correcting me about Myself. i am fully aware that i am non-binary and i don't need you to correct ME on that when i make a joke about myself. like i've told you what you can call me and now im calling myself something because i am me. it's not as if im not aware of what im saying. just strikes me whenever it happens as incredibly absurd lol

#also kind of why most labels discourse seems ridiculous to me at this point in my life #saying at this point bc maybe i cared about it a few years ago. anyway. we literally made up words to describe things and while i am the #most semantically minded person in the world and if no words meant anything i would kill myself greek heroine style. #also words are just things people use to describe themselves why are you in arms about it 😐 if cishets see you as a fag they will always ses #you as a fag no matter what. no matter how many other people you put down to claw your way into conformity it will never be what you want #and it shouldn't be your goal. your goal should be solidarity over assimilation. #i will be honest i am not the biggest fan of microlabels as a concept because i think the more specific they get the more you're isolating #your experience and maybe not seeing the similarities you have with the rest of your community. and also sometimes i'll see someone use a #word and semantically disagree with the meaning in my head. but i keep it to myself because how #does that affect me. #alex talks

[poisonouspastels]

Google Search i just saw a frog girl npc in Minecraft who was A posing and after looking to see if anyone else has seen her ive started experiencing vivid hallucinations and she is waving at me from the open tab. Google Search i am in a horrible state of delirium am i going to die

#groda moment!!!! lol!!!! #the effects arent actually that quick i should note #usually the decay of the mind and body takes place over a week #can be longer though if someone manages to pull the victim out of such a mental decline on occasion #upon experiencing and delving further into the mystery victims have reported seeing her out of the corner of vision only to disappear #or at least the ones who were still in a mental state healthy enough to communicate fully #she's also been reported as being able to break from the A pose default and make fully capable movements #no screenshot has ever reflected this as fact despite the related claims alongside them #going further down the rabbit hole of the mystery just makes the victim deteriorate quicker #they forget to eat and sleep #they cut themselves off from the outside world #those who live in more of a socially isolated state are the most commonly found after death #often with bodies fused to nearby furniture and having had decayed for a few days minimum #nearby electronics have had their internal circuitry melted almost entirely implying overuse and my extension overheating of the device #either way its been rendered unusable #causes of death are often undetermined or mislabeled #not that i really think anyone would list 'driven to a rapid mental decline by a fake video game character' as a viable option anyway #Groda will find her way around as long as people keep talking about her

[xdarkabyssx]

God what's the point of living every time I try to make things better and actually try to make connections and enjoy life something fucking stops it from happiness wheather its my mental health physical health or state of thr world. Everything's going downhill. I'm pretty sure between covid and trapshobia my life expectancy went down the drain and I'm not sure I'd want to live in this fucking dystopia anyway. And when I try to live. Because I fuck I might be running out of time. something ALWAYS happens and I CANT. I'm just stuck being miserable and alone and I fucking hate this!!!!! I just want to fucking be happy ok???? What's the point of life if it's just fucking misery

#vent #anyway i was in terrible fucking pain for like 6 months and now its pride and i had plans to like. try to meet people and date and go to ev #nts and my friends bridal shower aaaaaand i got covid. and because im a decent fucking person im isolation but im losing all my chances to #live and its fucking depressing. who knows what the state of the world will be like next june? asidd from worse #just #fck everything #also ya know. having adhd and extremem memory issues already makes it nearly impossibls to survive #i had years of my life lost to drinking alone in my room every night and being in excrusiating pain for months on end #i was too depressed and dysphoric and dysmprphic and i m so ducking broken #i hate being trans and grey aro and grey ace #i know its not bad and i love the community but its so fucking hard ya know #go dFUCK

[lee-sanghyeok]

.

#it always surprises me when you check the tag of the group expecting gifsets and some fun posts #but instead it's all y/n smut drabbles #and like #fair #but also?? #in what way are you expaning upon a community if one isolates oneself by one shots that don't encourage people to interact #in a meaningful way besides a quiet reblog (or worse: just a like) #anyway

[rosieposiepie]

Watching the new Percy Jackson episode, and while by no means is the show perfect, I do love how they updated the blending of Greek mythology and the American Gothic for social commentary.

What I mean is Echidna, the mother of monsters, is some respectable-looking vaguely southern white woman who is able to convince the police on the train that three kids shattered a train window and used those institutions to isolate the kids so she can target them and scare them for the chimera's hunt. The way that the police especially treat Annabeth. Now, as a young black girl, she has to know how to ask if they're getting arrested, and gets called out by the police for her tone.

And then, at the St. Louis Arch, we see Grover upset because of the museum, which is basically a monument to Manifest Destiny (literally, there's a shot where the words are in full display in the background). And while they say, "Grover is upset because he doesn't like it when people hurt animals," they explicitly depict America's colonization and destruction of indigenous communities as The Bad Thing. It adds another layer of flavor for the whole "Pan is missing" - it's not just about Climate Change. It's about the extermination of indigenous groups (the centaurs they saw on the train, the reminder that there used to be more of them until humans started killing them). They say "humans" are bad, but they're showing us Western/American colonizers.

Also, a rare yet interesting moment of conflict between Annabeth as a daughter of Athena and Grover as a Satyr. Annabeth insists that the museum's commodifying and glorifying of American colonization is "not what the arch is actually about, it's about architecture and math," but Athena is the goddess who protects social institutions and a patron goddess of the state, law, order, industry, and war. The Industrial Revolution and Western social institutions definitely contributed to colonialism; just saying. We also see in this episode that Athena can be arrogant and cruel - letting a monster go after her own daughter because she was embarrassed.

Anyway, idk. Maybe I'm overthinking this but these were the things that popped out to me on first watch, and now that I think about them more, I would love a continuation of these kinds of themes and tropes in future seasons, if we get them.

#percy jackson #percy jackon and the olympians #percy jackson series #pjo series #pjo tv show #disney pjo #percy jackson spoilers

[sleepyhomosexual]

.

#nothing #the bad feelings have been somewhat at bay but things keep getting bad again #and there is nothing i can do to stop them #fuck #im just alone and even though its partly my fault for pushing people away and isolating myself #it also just feels like people dont want to be with me #every fucking little thing i do is criticized and i hate it #im sorry i laugh to loud and im sorry im sad and im sorry im sorry im fucking sorry!! #im sorry i suck at communication and im sorry i always feel alone #should i even be the one thats sorry? #probably not because i do everything i can to help others but when i need something that may inconvenience others i just say ‘oh its fine’ #dont even fucking need it anyways! #shit shit shit

[time-is-an-allusion]

also the last time I saw my therapist (yesterday), she said wrt the self-shipping, in so many words, “I now understand why you’re Like This”

#.txt #basically it's because i'm extremely lonely and isolated #(some of those factors are within my control and i'm not really taking responsibility for that) #(some of the factors are also not within my control) #(it's occasionally unclear either how to take responsibility or if that's something i can even do in a given situation) #(that's what the therapy is for) #but i am very very driven by relationships connection and people overall #(i am not an extrovert per se but those are the things i value/need the most) #(and a lot of my strengths as a person are those that exist as a result of how you treat other people) #and anyway that's making me seek fictional companionship #as well as participate in a community based around such things #so yeah. she's figured out exactly why I'm Like This. #so now I know too

[becausegoodheroesdeservekidneys]

So this is a weird ask but I figured an Actual Welsh Person would be the person to go to, and you've been pretty gung-ho about the language thing. So I hope I'm not bothering you with this.

Is there a cultural consensus on foreigners learning Welsh? I'm American and I don't have a single shred of Welsh ancestry. My family is historically German, and we've been here since the English Colony days, so it honestly seems really weird even to try to claim some tie to German heritage.

Anyway, my point is, I have absolutely zero legitimate claim to the Welsh language. I don't plan to travel to Wales in the foreseeable future. I have no reason to learn Welsh except that it sounds pretty and I enjoy a challenge.

Putting aside the issue of "lmao it's gonna be stupid difficult to learn an endangered language if you don't have anyone to speak it with" (I have a loose plan for dealing with that, and the experience of learning two languages to "can read most novels without needing the dictionary" level without anyone to speak them with in person already) entirely, do you reckon it's okay for me to study Welsh? I know Americans are really, really bad about just kinda assuming the whole world belongs to us, and I'm trying not to do that here. Especially because Welsh IS endangered.

I imagine your average Welsh person probably doesn't care what some random American does. But like, for people who care about the language...Would it be considered disrespectful or overstepping for me to study it? I don't expect you to speak for the entire country, of course, but I respect your opinion and I feel like you'd have a grasp on what the general feeling towards a foreigner like me might be.

Thanks for your time.

I honestly, truly, do not understand how the discussion around cultural appropriation has been twisted in the cultural zeitgeist to such an extent that people now feel anxiety about learning other languages.

This is not a personal attack on you, Anon - the gods only know that you clearly care and want to do the right thing, and that's beautiful and wonderful and also I will come back to extolling your personal virtues at the end of this post, so stay tuned. But I do want to take a moment here to talk about the broader issue at play, which I have seen echoed multiple times elsewhere, because fuck me what are we doing to ourselves.

Learn. Languages.

That is what languages are for! To be used for communication. If you don't learn languages, you are forcing everyone else to use yours. How have we somehow, as a culture, twisted that into being the less selfish option? How have we done that? I posted my favourite Welsh idiom recently, and someone reblogged it and wrote in the tags that they loved the idiom and would start using it, but they would do so in English because their "Welsh pronunciation would make their Welsh grandmother spin in her grave."

What kind of mental gymnastics is that?

How the fuck do you twist it so badly that you think taking a Welsh idiom for your own and exclusively using it in English is less offensive than saying it in Welsh but maybe a bit wrong? I've literally had people proclaim to me that they're learning Welsh on Duolingo but they never speak it because they're too self-conscious, and they tell me this not to highlight a massive flaw in themselves that they need to work on, but as though I'm supposed to pat them on the head and thank them for... still making me speak English to them.

There was that post where a Deaf blogger received an anonymous ask saying learning sign language is cultural appropriation, as though Deaf people haven't been calling for Sign to be taught in schools. As though a Deaf person being entirely isolated in everyday hearing society unless they have an interpreter with them is less offensive than a hearing person being able to use BSL.

Like, these are not sacred or religious languages. The purpose of Welsh or BSL or what have you is not to perform the Eleusinian mysteries. It's a living everyday language, same as English -

Except it's not the same as English. As Anon here so rightly points out, Welsh is endangered. That means we are desperate for people to learn it. That's how it will survive. That's how we reversed it from 'dying language' to 'living language', in fact - we managed to get lots of people to learn it. You know what is a threat, though? People not learning it because, like poor Anon here, they've been somehow convinced by Western society that you're only allowed to learn languages if you personally have a historic or cultural connection to them that you can prove via six forms of ID and a letter of recommendation from a druid. Or people never using it because they're too embarrassed to try and risk losing face by getting it wrong, or maybe sounding a bit silly, and thus forcing us to use English anyway. Those are threats.

Anon. Listen to me, feel the sincerity of my words: we adore you. We adore you. You cannot imagine how appreciated it is when someone learns Welsh. You cannot imagine how touched we are that you wanted to, that you tried, that you respected us enough and considered us valid enough that you made the effort. Our closest neighbours are the very people who are still trying to stamp out Welsh to this very day. Do you know the number 1 reaction I get, by a country mile, when I tell English people that I speak Welsh? It's some variant on a scoff, and the sentiment "Why? What's the point? Bit useless, isn't it?"

By a country mile. That's the reaction I expect, and brace for, and is overwhelmingly what I get.

So when someone who isn't Welsh actually chooses to learn Welsh?

Imagine what that feels like! To go from not-even-hidden disgust, from outright mockery and often active suppression campaigns, to a foreigner earnestly telling me that they love and respect my language so much they're trying to learn it. Imagine how that feels.

Please learn Welsh. Please learn it. We will love you for it. We will build you a statue. We will bake little Welshcakes with your face on in icing sugar. We will write you poems in complex rhyme. We'll name an Eisteddfod prize after you. We'll name at least, like, three sheep after you. Thank you, thank you so much for even wanting to learn. You're a delight and a marvel and a wonder. Your hair looks great today, as it does all days. You're a strong, independent human being of immense wisdom and compassion. If this were a Welsh myth you'd be a wise salmon the heroes came to for advice. What a fantastic human.

The welcome awaits if you choose to learn

#linguistics #asks #long post

[casualnepotism]

Tigger: you’re a slut for Ken Liu, aren’t you?

Me, re-reading Grace of Kings: hm?

Tigger, laughing: yeah cause I saw you reading it and thought, “oh, that’s nice” but then I saw you taking NOTES and thought, “oh, no, this is slut behavior”

Me, looking up from my note-taking, in a haze: “yeah, yeah I am 😊”

#I just love it I can’t help it #It’s so enchanting help #and re-reading??? my man’s out here foreshadowing book 3 on like page 70 #UGH #It’s about the DEVOTION and the DISCIPLINE and the LOVE and HONOR and HISTORY and LOVE and Kakalwhwkwla #It’s about best intentions and friendship and the horrible reality that we SUCK at communication #It’s about the pride and the inevitability #It’s about the self-importance and the reliance on FAMILY #like how am I supposed to live when fucjin ‘nature has a habit of making friends out of those destined to be enemies’ #hello???? #I’m just supposed to LIVE like this??? #It’s about ‘if Cocru lives on in just one man’ and how Mata believes HE’S the man and Kuni believes it’s all people??? #and how it’s not Mata’s FAULT cause Phin was so revenge-driven and proud that he bred it into Mata??? #It’s how Mata craves softness and it keeps being TAKEN from him by people who take advantage of his kindness?? #It’s about how honor and pride and kindness and love CAN co-exist but people don’t like to LET them #It’s about the boys!! if they’d been allowed to be friends it would’ve been fine!!! #but instead!! it’s also about control!!! #hhhhhhhhhhhh #anyway to answer tigger: yeah. I am. and I’m right #yeehaw isolation cabin #ken liu #dandelion dynasty