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muckmage · 7 months

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Your imaginary number explanation only works on paper and not in a physical space. That's kind of what pisses me off about math - so much of it just isn't physically real and most of it is just used for tracking wealth/money/other capitalist bullshit. Math should be about efficient ways to count and measure, not arbitrary ways to put people into debt or make rich people seem even richer so they can scam other rich people.

I also think this is why so much of our understanding of physics is flawed - our counting system has less to do with the real world and more to do with social structures, so attempting to apply it to physics doesn't work.

I just. Maybe I'm just out of the loop bc I genuinely cannot process simple math equations but I really feel the reason for that is bc it's not grounded in a sense of reality OR in a mindset I can understand. Idk I'm autisitc and also there's a likely chance I have discalculia or some other learning disability/disorder that impairs math comprehension but seeing talk abt these kinds of math problem really make me think that I'm not the problem here.

enter at your own risk, you've been warned

ok oouuh i- Well. I think you seem to have a pretty cynical outlook on maths. To say that it's all about putting people into debt and letting rich people scam each other is just. That baffles me, to be honest. It's like saying language is all about constructing the most brutal insults possible and telling people to kill themselves. Like yeah a lot of people use language to do just that but that's just one tiny part of it. Maths isn't just about efficient ways to count and measure either, by the way, it's its own language, its own art form, a vast mountainous landscape with peaks we've yet to climb and valleys we've yet to discover. Forgive me for getting poetic but maths just isn't that... small, y'know?

I also disagree that this is why our understanding of physics is flawed. To be clear: It's flawed because we're idiots. We're idiots figuring out how our new toy works by throwing it around and pulling and squishing it randomly, because it didn't come with a manual and we have no idea what we're doing. Also, mathematics isn't our way of understanding physics, it's our way of building models that try and predict what would happen in certain circumstances. That might just sounds like I'm being semantic, but I think it's important to point out that nobody actually, truly, has any idea how physics really works. In fact, no ones ever even seen physics, when we make observations about the physical world, we're just seeing what physics does. So we use maths to make models that predict what we expect to see in our observations, and then we use those models and our observations together to try and infer the nature of reality. But we're all just guessing at that point, really.

So with all that in mind, to say that our understanding of physics would improve if only we had a better suited system of mathematics is. Well, I disagree. I also think that there isn't just some "better" system of mathematics out there waiting for us to discover it. I'm reminded of Gödel's incompleteness theorem. I encourage you to look it up on your own if you want, but basically, in any reasonable mathematical system there will always be true statements that cannot be proved. So there certainly are other systems of maths and we have looked into them. They do have their own upsides and downsides depending on how they work, but to say one system is better than another is, well, if I may use the language analogy again, it's like saying one language is better than another, when really it's just different sets of words and rules for us to say the same sentences.

So when it comes back to our current system of mathematics, it's not better or worse than any other system except for how widespread it is, just like how most of the world uses metric, a standardised system of maths makes it easy for anyone to communicate the same mathematical ideas to one another. But there are other systems of mathematics that become useful tools in more niche areas of maths for people to talk and understand those difficult topics.

With all that being said now too, I don't think our current system of mathematics, or any other system really, inherently has any less to do with the real world than it does with our social structures, or anything else for that matter. In fact, I don't think any system of mathematics inherently has anything to do with anything except itself. People didn't invent maths, we discovered it and then we invented ways of talking about what we learned. But numbers are their own thing. Their own abstract metaphysical objects. And they'd exist whether there was anything alive to know about them or not. Saying that there's a special way to use them to understand physics to me implies that numbers are what physics is, in a way, but like I said we have no idea what physics is. It just so happens that numbers are an incredibly useful way of talking about what physics looks like. But it's also incredibly useful to talk about our social structures. Frankly we're incredibly lucky that we've been able to saddle these concepts from abstract space, that our minds are powerful enough to reach out beyond the real to give us these tools of ideation that we can use for so many things.

You said that maths difficult for you because "it's not grounded in a sense of reality OR in a mindset I can understand" and I think those two things are the same problem in a way. I know I just did some big talk about how maths is really this abstract thing that isn't inherently connected to the real world, but we're all still the idiots I said we were, so a lot of maths does need to get grounded in reality for it to be reasonably comprehensible. And being able to ground a mathematical concept is often about shifting your mindset until you can see it at an angle you understand.

Like, you also said that my explanation only works on paper and not in a physical space, and I actually disagree! But I do think I get where you're coming from. I suspect you're thinking about numbers like physical objects, as in, the number 1 is like having 1 apple. So well of course, negative numbers kinda make sense right? I mean you can't just have less than 1 apple but you can get an apple taken away. But when you introduce i, it's like. What does that even mean? And you'd be right that it really doesn't make sense when you think of numbers as objects like that. But numbers aren't physical objects, we're just taught like that as kids, 1 apple, 2 bananas, 3 oranges, because they want us to build the association between the symbols (1, 2, 3) and the idea of that amount of something, of that value, of 1 being 1 apple or 1 step. But that's it, 1 isn't the apple, or the step, it's the idea of "oneness" or "singleness" and 2 is the idea of "doubleness", 3 is "tripleness" etc. It's difficult to even describe the idea of "singleness" without using physical metaphors, which is why we rarely ever do think about numbers in their purely abstract forms. And it's of course why we teach kids with apples and bananas, and why we go on to teach addition and subtraction by giving them more and taking them away. Even though, likewise, addition and subtraction isn't really about giving and taking. Now, I'm not saying you can't or shouldn't think about numbers as physical objects, or addition and subtraction as giving and taking. I'm just saying those are the initial ways we ground maths in reality in order to teach the concepts in the first place. And for a lot of people, this understanding of numbers is all they need for the rest of their lives. But the truth is there are different ways of understanding numbers and the operations we perform on them, and shifting your mindset on how these things work is an important part of being able to grasp more complex concepts, like imaginary numbers.

Finally, I said my explanation does work in physical space, how is that? Well if your understanding of numbers is that they're like objects, and that addition and subtraction is like giving and taking, then it doesn't work in physical space, no. What you need to do is think about numbers as a distance, and think about addition and subtraction not as giving and taking, but instead about direction. So what that means is that numbers don't tell you how much of thing you have, they tell you how far away from zero you are. Now when people talk about the number 1, what they usually mean is positive 1, like 1 = 0+1. (We just don't always draw the addition symbol out front.) So now if 1 is the distance away from 0, then positive + is the direction you travelled away from zero in. And when you write -1, the negative symbol isn't saying you have an "opposite 1" or that you're "taking 1 away", it's that you're travelling a distance of 1 in the negative direction, which is exactly the opposite of the positive direction. On a number line, this idea is pretty easy to comprehend since you only have two directions you can travel.

However, i is defined as being the square root of -1, which doesn't make much sense if you stick with the traditional understanding of what a square roots is, since it seems impossible to take the square root of a negative number. You can take take the square roots of +1, which are just 1 and -1, since obviously 1*1 and -1*-1 both equal 1. I'd also like to point out that taking the square root of any positive number works like this, you always get two solutions which are both the same distance away from zero in opposite directions.

(Square roots and square numbers are usually taught using, well, squares, introducing exponent notation where, say, 5*5 = 5² = 25, which is explained visually with how a square of side lengths 5 naturally has an area of 25, then that the square root is the opposite of this process and that 5 = √25. As you may expect, there are other ways of defining the notion of a "square" and "square root", and I'm sure that some of those ways can help make the existence of imaginary numbers become much more obvious, it's just, to be completely honest I don't know them.)

Now, if you do try to take the square root of a -1 anyway, and you just don't accept that it looks impossible, you'll have to invent a new number that explicitly has the property of squaring into -1, and since this new number won't be able to fit on the number line what ends up happening is that the number line gets extended into the second dimension, as in, it used to be a number line but now its a number plane. And if this sounds ridiculous let me remind you, this isn't the first time we've invented new numbers and extended the number line, again: negative numbers didn't always exist.

Also, remember how I said +1 and -1 are both square roots of +1? well +1i and -1i (or just +i and -i) are both the square roots of -1, and as you can see, they also sit a distance of 1 away from zero in opposite directions. In fact, √16 = +4 and -4, and in the same way the √(-16) = +4i and -4i. I know this likely won't really be able to help you understand, but hopefully it's nice to see how it is self consistent in a way and that it does kinda help to think about numbers like that.

or anything useful at least- i'm no teacher i just like talking about this stuff:> fhsdkjhs

#viciously holding myself back from talking about the unit circle and more trig stuff and how e and pi are involved augahaugahuagh #and also from mentioning that like. antimatter exists. you literally can get -1 apples but that's so not the point fhsjdhks #oH ALSO (i) does have a use in physics too like it's used in a ton of electrical engineering it's not just a pure maths thing it's real #02 #maths moment #no joke i started writing this post hours ago. i literally got on my computer just to reply to this cause i knew it'd be a while lmaofdhkjs #ok but i. i think that's it. ouh.... i think i can finally post it ffdsgfks

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metalmaul · 19 days

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haha yeah remember like way way back maybe 14 years ago or so when there were users on this website who made those "sometimes the curtains are just blue" jokes & caused all media literacy to die forever more haha yeah haha, hi! hi, i was one of those! i killed all literacy, whoopsie!!!! i guess i just simply never ever learned about symbolism or understood any sort of point of anything in media ever again. i know lol i can't understand color or anything ever it just whizzes right over my head to this very day!!!

so, here's some thoughts to share from my perspective. in my case personally, i liked reading back then. i even liked some books that were assigned reading in school & participated with enthusiasm about them in class. there are some people who didn't like reading in general, and almost every time that's actually because they struggle to read. it is something that is incredibly difficult for them to do & not just general laziness or being ignorant forever on purpose. when you hear "i don't like reading" or "i haven't read a book in years" you might not want to gun it to "idiot" because actually, haha, that word's origin also applied to some people that others thought were not smart or worthy of respect because of a certain disability & having greater difficulty than most people to do something they find basic. instead i would recommend thinking "I wonder why that is," because that total lack of sympathy actually just discourages everyone.

anyway, some assigned reading books did not appeal to me, which made me not want to read them but there was this whole "i have to" aspect to it that made me really like the whole thing less somehow. now, to address any commentary: i can absolutely respect if a book is historically imprortant & one of the best ever written, much like all things. music, films, and art are just the same. i do not deny it. however, knowing that cannot make me enjoy something that i just personally do not. conversely, i can recognize & acknowledge when something is terrible & it sucks, but that won't stop me from enjoying it if i do.

something else very important that i think a lot of people have not considered for quite some time: sharing a joke on the internet does not actually mean that you just go to class and say "fuck you. they're just blue." the thing about school is that they give you the choice of figuring some shit out even if you do not want to at all or failing. lots of people mad about this really forget that in school you do school & on the internet you might share a joke. perhaps it is a joke that is very illiterate, even. you like the joke because you maybe really don't want to talk about symbolism in some book you don't want to read in the building you aren't allowed to leave where you spend hours & hours day after day for years being told you have to do a stack of things that you really do not want to by several adults & at least 1/3 of the town's teenaged population is trapped in this same building as you & this all happens at a stage of life where your brain & libido & emotions are cranking up to "nuclear reaction explosion" & down to "should i kill myself?" levels rapidly back & forth all day for a few years & your parents happen to legally own you & your home life is really a custom mix of making life worse generally— for me personally, there was a villain that i knew in that life chapter who was doing cool things like attempted murder so maybe that had some influence on my permanent illiteracy idk... so the joke really just takes the sting out of that whole carousel of shittiness you're experiencing, because you really would like to just not have to think about shit that you don't want to for just a moment, y'know, like just a little. on behalf of all of us, our deepest apologies about the whole destroying all understanding of media forever. not intentional.

now, incredibly, i actually analyzed & thought about many pieces of media at length & with enthusiasm quite often after my brain had settled down from maximum overdrive & i got to own myself & i wasn't in high school & things of such nature. however, i had slowly been declining in my ability to read which had started in high school, but i don't think that was because of a joke i reblogged. i just leveled up in disability on many fronts & reading became, to my dismay, so challenging that i don't read books anymore. i would sure like to. i like short story collections because my brain & my eyes don't fizzle out quite as much if it's little bursts of story instead of a slow burning candle. i also do the best with graphic novels which are an incredible aid for me. the text being broken up & spread out, the illustration accompaniment because when that "can you picture an apple" meme went around, i became aware that i don't make pictures in my head! it did explain why through all my years of reading in hindsight i simply could not picture things in books the way other people did. as a child, i'd read a book & a friend would ask me how i imagine someone/something looked like & unless there was also a film or illustrations, i just didn't! i didn't know what lots of stuff looked like. i wasn't sure how anyone was doing that.

i think that's all i have to say on this topic. i can say i have become friends with some other people over the years who also shared this joke online & they have managed to also have a grasp of media literacy despite a joke they liked in high school. i personally feel like maybe we shouldn't assume that something you thought was funny as a teenager necessarily continued to be representative of the rest of your life. i would also like to offer the idea that media illiteracy has been a problem for a very, very, very long time, & i'm sure this is an issue with quite a lot of factors & might require a pretty complex plan to improve over time that i don't have a lot of faith will happen any time soon. it would require things like "more support" & "teaching children in different ways because no one learns anything the same way" & already I'm hitting lol nah we aren't doing that x2.

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bug-decal-kissing · 6 months

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Hey friends!

Seraphyllic, by DrakianDH, was updated today, with 17/20 Chapters released! It has a rating of Teen And Up Audiences and Graphic Depictions Of Violence, and Major Character Death, with additional tags "scarab the god auditor - Freeform, prismo the wishmaster - Freeform, Priscrab, ProhibitedWish, Scrabby, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, no beta we get turned to legos like the lich, Adventure & Romance, Story within a Story, Eventual Happy Ending, Maybe - Freeform, Author Is Sleep Deprived, The Author Regrets Nothing, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, You gotta work for the comfort, begining poem important, each chapter a word, prepare"

You can read it here:

CAMEO FROM OUR FAVOURITE EDGY BOY <3333 Everyone SHOULD be scared of angry Scarab because HE !! IS !! GOING TO GET HIS MAYBE POSSIBLY PERHAPS CRUSH BACK !!!!

A new work, Two large pizzas with garlic bread please by othersin, was published today, with 1/1 Chapters released! It has a rating of Teen And Up Audiences and No Archive Warnings Apply, with additional tags "Funny, Roommates, scarab just wanted some privacy, prismo just wanted some garlic bread, Walking In On Someone, Drabble, Short Story"

You can read it here:

FREE GARLIC BREAD YEAH!!!!! Every day, we are faced with the philosophical question as to where Scarab's exoskeleton suit ends and where his actual body begins/silly.

NSFW works are below the cut :].

A new work, Fade To Black by Void_Ink_Studios, was published today, with 1/1 Chapters released! It has a rating of Explicit and No Archive Warnings Apply, with additional tags "Smut, Fluff and Smut, Plot What Plot/Porn Without Plot, Tentacle Dick, Alien Sex, Scarab is hermaphroditic, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Laughter During Sex, Crying During Sex, Gentle Sex, First Time, Dirty Talk, Orgasm Delay/Denial, Multiple Orgasms, I'm not sure how vanilla it is when one of them is an alien bug, Smut as character study?, Idk if I achieved that but that's what I set out to do, Vaginal Fingering, Vaginal Sex, Praise Kink, so I hesitate to tag it as vanilla, But no extreme kinks are present here, Alien Biology, except for that I guess, After care, Explicit Consent, Enthusiastic Consent, because consent is sexy, Not Beta Read"

You can read it here:

The devious little GOOBERS getting up to MISCHIEF <333 I LOVE IT WHEN THEY TALK TO EACH OTHER AND HAVE FUN MORE OF THAT PLEASE :]/nf I love Scarab with cool anatomy, thas a cool looking bug man right there of course his parts are going to be cool too !!! Yeah !!!

Timekiller, by MatrixDream, was updated today, with 4/? Chapters released! It has a rating of Mature and Graphic Depictions Of Violence, and Major Character Death, with additional tags "One-shots!, Angst, Loneliness, Isolation, Grief/Mourning, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Post-Canon, (Tags will update as fic updates), Bug Scarab, Popcorn, Captured in a pickle jar, silliness, Physical Disability, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Scarab had his wings removed as punishment headcanon, Blood and Violence, Blood and Injury, Ableism, Chronic Pain, Self-Harm, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Trauma, Triggers, Whump, Monkey's Paw AU, Major character death - Freeform, Violence,, Hurt No Comfort, major angst, mentions of gore, Revenge, Ambiguous/Open Ending, (But still hopeful), Let me know if I missed any tags/warnings!"

You can read it here:

Screaming crying throwing myself onto the ground in emotional agony; MY BOY MY POOR BUG BOY HOW COULD YOUUU </3/pos the monkey's paw AU hurts so deeply, yet it's so good, the ending brings me solstice it's hopeful 🥹

#prohibitedwish #prohibitedwish fics #fade to black #seraphyllic #timekiller #two large pizzas with garlic bread please

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drbased · 10 months

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Ok, let's have a bit of fun tearing something apart:

The first paragraph is entirely circular reasoning, and I'm going to explain why. Let's pick this apart:

So, transness brings to the equation 'a liberal individualism that assumes a singular, internally autonomous subject'? Really? A liberal individualism is what we want in discussing oppression, is it? No consciousness raising, no recognition of what binds us as a class, no finding self-determination through our relationship with the collective? Nope, 'liberal individualism': two words put together which genuinely sound like a parody of what lefties think like. Furthermore, I don't think transness, trans studies etc. really is something that assumes a singular, internally autonomous subject. If gender is both cultural and innate, then the subject cannot be truly internally autonomous, certainly not entirely. And even if you disagree with that assertion, there's no reason to assume that anyone needs a gender to be internally autonomous. You don't need a 'race gender' to find autonomy as a person of colour, you don't need an 'ability gender' to find autonomy as disabled person. As for me, right now I laugh, I can play video games, I can type dumb shit on the internet, I can wear t-shirts, I can do all the things I would do anyway, I can excercise my autonomy to the fullest without needing to apply a label of gender to any of it. Exactly what freedom is brough to light by having/expressing a gender is never really explained.

Meanwhile, feminism seems to bring... everyhing else to the table. Feminism brings the class consciousness, the political action, the actual recognition of how power operates - expressed in needlessly verbose terms. These two paragraphs are absolutely terribly written, by the way: they swing back and forth from overly simplistic to excessively verbose, and it's very clear that it's for rhetorical purposes. In this case, the description of how feminism recognises and analyses power dynamics is described in such a way that feminism is made to seem impersonal and highly theoretical to the point of it being a primarily academic tool; as opposed to the down to earth trans studies, which recognises the individual human at the center. How... ironic.

And it is here where the overly wordy prose goes off the rails. A lot of words are used for 'feminism was transphobic in the past, so now it needs transness... because.' Yeah, that's the circular reasoning. No real reason is given why feminism needs transness. It lacked it before, and I've implied feminism doesn't recognise the internally autonomous subject, so that's why it needs transgenderism. And there is, of course, the obligatory implication that feminists are the real bad guys who hate deviation from the gender binary. When feminists recognise that men took away women's right to vote, they failed to recognise that by pointing out that men did it to women means they're actually supporting men doing it to women. In actuality, we should all just plug our ears and go 'lalala' at oppression, that's what makes it go away. Christ, what bizarrely conservative rhetoric from such a fan of 'liberal individualism'.

This last bit really makes me mad: 'Feminism needs transness/trans studies in order to deliver on its claim of radical inclusivity'. Yeah, nah. Feminism has never, does not and will never, claim 'radical inclusivity'. You just made that up. Idk, maybe some people IDing as feminists in the past twenty years want to claim radical inclusivity. But at the risk of no true scotsmanning - no real-world radical politics (that is, politics that actually aims to disrupt power systems) aims to be 'radically inclusive'. In fact, I would almost say the opposite is true: if something is radically inclusive, then that means the oppressor class gets to sit at the table with the people they oppress, they get to disrupt the conversation and no real action is ever really achieved. So those with political aims tend to be radically exclusive, so that the voices who would normally be drowned out finally get a chance to be heard. Sure, you might consider it a bit single-issue, but that's not a bad thing, and is often the way shit actually gets done in the real world. Being radically inclusive is a way to dilute the conversation and spy on the people you're oppressing, narc

So the first paragraph was a real nothing-burger topped with circular reasoning, but the second one is where it goes from surreal to anger-inducing:

'Instead of a focus on patriachy understood through a rigid male oppression of women...' How dare you. You know literally jack shit about what you're talking about. All the books, all the feminist theory, all feminists have talked about, all our personal experiences, all we have done, all we have achieved. ALL of it was built on the understanding of what patriarchy is. How could patriarchy be done any other way? The use of the word 'rigid' here is really what gets my goat. Because without it, that phrase is going to read as perfectly reasonable to any feminist worth her salt. The word 'rigid' is purely rhetorical, attempting to slide in a judgment where it isn't needed. This writing is so bad, we've swung right back to the dry prose, and prose that serves as a real head-scratcher to anyone who isn't already part of the choir.

But don't you worry, we are reassured that instead of a basic analysis of the patriarchy that has been the backbone of feminist (and non-feminist general female organising) since forever, '... trans feminists took aim at the gender binary as a more fundamental and robust bedrock for the gendered ills that plague us.' Hmm, do they? I've not really seen any evidence for that. I would say that it's actually very hard to organise towards any societal change without the recognition of who power serves and why. If gendered ills 'plague us', then who benefits from the gender binary, exactly, and how? Considering how gender identity is pretty nebulous and hard to grasp, it seems hard to directly exploit anyone for it, or even realistically discriminate against anyone for it. I could explain in more detail, but I've done that elsewhere. Here, I'm going to finish this point with asserting that no, I do not think that 'taking aim at the gender binary' is a robust bedrock for anything.

So the next part, now bolded, is simply an overly verbose rehash of what was said before about how feminism recognises and analyses how power is wielded by men against women. And jesus, when I say verbose, I fucking mean it. Absolutely nothing of real value is said here, so let's move on.

And then we get a rehash saying, once again, the trans feminism wants to smash the gender binary. Once again, I'd like to see some evidence of what that looks like in practice. Because anyone who pays attention to this topic has seen time and time again that in reality, trans people end up reinforcing the gender binary quite a lot. As I've said before, if the only way to express your gender is through cultural signifiers, and those cultural signifiers are built by sexism, then you're going to be supporting sexism. It is unavoidable, no matter how good your intentions are.

#radical feminism #my writing

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chaotic-archaeologist · 2 years

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Hi Reid,

I know you're probably as exhausted as the rest of us are right now and then some since you are providing community resources as well (and thank you, by the way!), but if you have time, I was wondering if you had any advice for choosing a school as a disabled student? I'm applying for grad school and my undergraduate experience was horrible (no accommodations until my last year here, and I have been here 8 years largely due to disability and lack of resources). Do you have tips for how to. Idk, circumvent that? Maybe questions to ask during the application process?

Thank you!

Hi there, dirtling. First, I'm really sorry to hear that you had a bad experience during your undergrad. That's deeply unjust and I hope your grad school institution will be better.

When applying to grad school as a disabled student, I actually chose not to disclose my disability on my application or in meetings with potential faculty. This was at the advice from mentors and other professionals, because while it's illegal to discriminate based on ability, implicit bias can still play a role.

The two things that I did to feel out how prospective schools would be for handling disabilities was 1) ask detailed questions about their healthcare system/insurance, and 2) ask current and former grad students. The grad students turned out to be my biggest help. They're not part of the group that decides to accept/decline your application, so it's less of a risk to disclose to them/ask questions about accommodations. They should be able to give you an accurate account of what systems are in place to help you.

-Reid

#he speaks #he answers #disability advice #academic advice #disabled archaeologist

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qllie · 1 month

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people who are like "we need to teach x in school we need to teach y in school" bother me because I think it's kinda missing the point of the problem...

like I've seen stuff that's like "americans can't name all fifty states/most countries" you know, stuff like that. And I don't think adding "memorize this list of countries" will help students to become more globally aware? because I had to memorize countries in like 7th grade and I aced that test. But now I don't remember most of them. SOOO like my point is school giving you a massive list of stuff to memorize just isn't gonna be all that helpful for most people. Like there are better ways to teach "global awareness" than memorizing a bunch of countries, since a list of countries doesn't really tell you much anyways... (I mean it's important to know where places are to situate them in current/historical events. but like just knowing names doesn't make you "globally aware" you know)

Also stuff like "media literacy, critical thinking, etc" I think is already being attempted to be taught in schools? you can argue about whether it's being taught well, but to say it's simply not there is not true. Like stuff like history and English (composition/literature) generally attempt to teach some form of critical thinking/media literacy. I think my problem with those kinds of posts is they want there to be some kind of "critical thinking" class and like. That's not really how it works? like critical thinking is a skill you learn to apply, it's not like math where it's like "2+2=4, triangles have 180 degrees, etc" like these skills are not just "here's how to critically think boom done."

Okay also another thing I've heard (from people at my school) is stuff like "high school didn't teach me how to write in this specific format we're writing in now nothing I learned is useful." And like okay maybe your school really did suck idk. But like high school isn't aiming to teach you every single type of writing you will be doing in your career (they can't do this since like there are people who are gonna be doing wildly different kinds of writing). It's more about giving you tools that you can apply to what you're writing later!!!! like for example no one ever will ask you to write a five paragraph essay after high school. But like transitions, learning to research, knowing how to outline, forming arguments, etc etc ARE gonna be helpful!!!!

Like basically I think a lot of the "school didn't teach me this" want school to just be like. A list of every single task you will have to perform and exactly how to do it. And like school cannot do that, partially because it'd be boring as hell (and you would remember 0 of it), and also because that's way too much shit to do. I think the point is more to set you up with the skills to figure out how to do things.... you know? And you can argue it's not doing well at that (yes schools are flawed in several ways)...

like okay for example "schools should teach us how to do our taxes!!!!" (people said this at my high school. which had a personal finances elective. which would teach exactly that). Is kind of a bad idea? In some ways I mean teaching students to be familiar with tax forms is good, but they're not gonna be able to definitely tell you how to do your taxes forever... like as your life changes (eg: job, income, disability, family, injury, on and on) your taxes are gonna be done differently. And also if I'm a 10th grader learning about taxes no way in hell I'll remember all of that (or even most of it). Like I think it would be good if schools familiarized students with tax forms (actually) but it's not gonna be able to tell you "do this this and this every time done yay!" like I think it's more about teaching you "here's where to find more info on how to do this" or "here's kind of what you can expect from forms like these"

#qllierant

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obiternihili · 1 year

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there's something about the "work is necessary and also good actually" argument levi is trying to make but goddamn does she suck at it, like, so incredibly so, it's embarrassing

like the thing is those premises can be true while it also being true that much of labor is actually bullshit and not part of the labor that is good or the labor that is necessary. and that usually work fetishism spirals into protestant work ethic/soviet forced labor/ayn rand shit, and more importantly anti disability bullshit

there's more shit fetishists in the world than i wish i knew about but they still aren't enough to run a sewer system and that's a job that's not going away under socialism or communism or anarchist libertarian whatever the fuck. And that's not the only job like that - there's a reason we pay doctors, lawyers, and the like so much. Yes CEOs and shit are grossly overpaid but so much real work is tedious, stressful, uncreative, complicated shit just barely functioning as is. And like yes we're overproducing food thanks to a few miracles in agriculture technology (that actually have some really deleterous effects on the environment but that's here nor there) but also that every world economy is ***really focused on making that happen right now.***

And like have you ever really compared the things you do as a job versus the things you do for hobbies? Or tried to turn a hobby into a side hustle? It's just... night and day the rate at which things get done when you have deadlines vs when you can just blow it off to play a game. And I still can't actually wish "turn your hobby into a career" on anyone because of how soul killing that is.

People aren't going to do the necessary things just because they want to. That doesn't make "don't work? then starve" moral or even per se necessary. But like, it's the Maoists and Polpotists and iirc Suharto's regime also? and such who took the attitude that being a doctor was just a function of how people spent their time and shit. It's not an inherently insano tankie position to be like "maybe we should incentivize labor"

But even more psychologically, there is a kind of a fundamental... something, Dasein, idk - to being able to contribute to society according to your ability. It's several orders of downriver polluting from that that you arrive at work is good. But it's not work, per se, it's not the capitalist material conditions or the communist material conditions or whatever that makes it good. The blood on you hands in fact makes it bad. The necessity of it makes it bad.

But like altruism at its core is one of those things that make us human. Not that rats don't try to untangle each other, but humans take it to an extreme not seen in the paleological record or whatever. It's the expression of that, even if it's somewhat symbolic and abstract that is Being Human; that is, living according to our nature, in the way Diogenes wouldn't have appreciated but would have recognized as following his logic to eudaimonia.

Like take this

there's a charge that gays don't contribute to the next generation, therefore they're parasites. But that isn't true even under that reasoning; we work, we pay taxes, we take care of family by babysitting or being their for our siblings or parents, we create demand and therefore jobs for food, housing, entertainment, all the needs. Even the non-humans like the penguins can adopt orphaned eggs, or perform actions benefitting the group and their genes indirectly. Like, I mean, most ants you meet are infertile, let alone questions of gay or straight or whatever.

Disabled folks run the gamut of abilities. Like as cringe as the euphemism might be for some, differently abled is meaningful in its own ways. And from that the logic that makes gays something nature has repeatedly 'evolved' applies as well. Disabled people create demand, and from their own abilities the physically but non-mentally impaired frequently contribute especially to the arts and hobbies - entertainment, stuff we need to lessen the impacts of stress, etc.

If nothing else they create someone to love. In a capitalist framework that means little, sure. But like

that whole altruism is human thing? the most human thing about it is when bones started showing up in the fossil record of people who survived injuries that left them completely disabled or bones old enough that their abilities to contribute to society through menial labor or what not fell away long before their death.

sabes que, "actualization is important" o cualquiera

going all "work is a virtue in and of itself" is cosmically missing the point; it's what that work is an expression of. Altruism.

like maybe it's a me thing? I had a cat not too long ago. I was taking developmental psychology stuff in conjunction to linguistics and a lack of siblings or cousins being the right age at the time led me to thinking of her during exercises and shit. So not only was I attached to her, I let some part of my brain get *really way far too* attached to her. Then she died at the age of 2 from cancer. And now my brain is pretty broken. And like, I kept trying to think of the things that made her special to me and such. Like it's true she was an easy cat who'd let you move her when necessary and she was good. But at the end of the day I have to face that she was just a cat. She didn't really have time to really show a special personality. She didn't "do" anything except be there for me to feed treats to or give toys. She didn't "mean" anything in this goddamn world except what she meant to me. So like maybe there's a fucking existentialism argument based in all of this

like the material conditions blah blah blah. the value of food is very low when you're on hospice. the value of food is how much you want it. maybe the fucking basics of supply and demand under scarcity follow from that! maybe it doesn't and the value of labor is nothing. Maybe "someone needs to work" is dependent on the subject of that predicate! idk

it's certainly an empirical problem that other people are rating people's abilities to do things. Like, you don't feel what they feel! You don't know their thoughts or life histories or prejudices or empirical limitations of their doctors! fuck anyone legislating you into position!

maybe there's a real fucking systemic injustice that people are even allowed to, let alone how they're required to, do something they're empirically incapable of doing!

Maybe that's a sign that the system needs to be destroyed? But then who would dole out welfare at all? Maybe that's a sign that system needs reform? Only to be legislated right back into place by the deluded people who Do Not Understand What It Fundamentally Means To Be Human

Maybe it's a complicated, complicated problem that needs to rank and value many "competing access needs" or whatever you call this kind of payoff matrix where lots of people lose no matter what gets normalized.

Here's my go: Disability Protections > right to food, shelter, and the minimum needs required to Work On Your Mental Shit > necessary work > work people do to thrive or whatever > etc

i guess the best society i can imagine that would be sustainable as I understand world needs at the moment would guarantee everyone at least a living wage with people like farmers, doctors, sewer workers, etc earning enough to afford reasonable luxuries others can't afford, and empower people who like working or what to turn their hobbies (whether that's underwater basket weaving, fashion for poodles, making videogames, or like architecture or linguistics or teaching or whatever) into something serious, living somewhere in the middle.

at the very least if you read this rambling, disorganized rant i hope at least you take away that This Is Actually A Complicated Problem And Not Just Some Commie Being A Dumb Asshole Again

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systemofpunks · 2 years

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Sometimes I get so pissed at our gf. Because she doesn't fucking understand this shit and there's no good fucking way to make her. She rants at us sometimes about how fucked up the world is and it's always shit we fucking know; sometimes intimately. And it honestly can cause a spiral, especially if we're already having a harder time, because we already think about how fucked everything is and how bad shit is and to hear it out loud is like. Oh maybe we should actually kill ourselves oops lol.

What really got me today was her ranting and she legitimately said "could you imagine..." she redirected and immediately recognized the mistake, but it was so fucking much. Like. Yeah! I don't fucking have to! I have been trafficked! I very well understand how fucked the laws are here! Please stop reminding us!

Idk how to even tell her to do better. Honestly, I think Martin and Vivian let her off too fucking easy. Even if it hurts us. She's just too preoccupied to actually care about this relationship. And I think it could get better again if she'd stop working so much overtime. But she won't! Because they won't stop overworking her! And at this point, it seems like the whole place is about to go under, so idk what the point is! She almost applied for a job where she'd make more and do more shit she wants to do, but she didn't! Because she'd feel guilty or some shit!!

And trying to talk through shit or say anything results in her getting all fucking depressed all day or a breakdown so I don't fucking want to do that! One time she was like. I don't want to make you do something you don't want to do/can't do but also I won't do this thing I really want to do unless you're there and no matter what happens I'm just going to feel like shit! And then has the audacity, to be like, "sorry if you feel like I'm pressuring you uwu."

She knows Martin is terrified of our disabilities holding her back! She knows upholding boundaries is hard for them! And I know she's just being honest and communicating her shit but Jesus fuck.

I'm just sick of watching us get pushed into whatever works best for her. And I'm sick of her saying she feels guilty for not "insert thing here" and then does nothing to change or help! Martin will notice things she struggles with and offer solutions and she doesn't even try them! She'd rather feel like shit than try anything! And now she's not even in therapy anymore?!?? Jesus fucking Christ, this kid sure knows how to pick'em.

-Dante

#a touch of bryan and leonard thoughts mixed in too #advice is appreciated but not required

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thetreeturnedoff · 3 years

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i cry every time i'm on my period and i have to shower with the lights off so i don't see my body and i'm terrified of eating anything cause i don't want my chest to get any bigger and i've contemplated suicide before because of my dysphoria and yet somehow my parents think it might be better for me to not let me transition

like, they think me starting on testosterone could give me cancer, as if i'm the first person to ever transition. and they said they'd talk to a doctor to find out if it's safe, but when i asked if they'd made the appointment they laughed and said they wanted to talk to a counselor?? for some reason??? before deciding if it'd even be worth it to go find info about all this but i don't think they've even looked at counselors yet despite it being a few weeks and i just. and they refuse to use my name and get pissy when they're corrected for using the wrong pronouns but somehow they still think they have the right to say they support me and "love their trans child"

#delete later #tw suicide #tw ed behavior #tw ed thoughts #idk if those really apply but i want to be safe #like i love them and all but what the fuck #in what world is this better for me #when this first all went down i'd gotten my hopes up thinking maybe they'd actually look into it #but as time goes on that's seeming less and less likely #and they're really fucking ableist and only acknowledge me being disabled when it's convenient for them #and refuse to help me when i really need it #and hold me to standards they aren't holding my siblings to #like i get i'm older but my 11 year old brother should not be allowed to throw an hour-long tantrum over not wanting to do the dishes #and he got away with it too #if i'd done that at his age they wouldn't have let it last 5 minutes and i'd have been grounded #and they never take me seriously when i try to explain things about my disorders to them #as if i'm not supposed to know anything about the disorders i'm gonna be living with my whole life #i'm just so fucking tired #i wish they'd take me seriously #and understand that maybe #just maybe #i know myself better than they know me #because i'm the one living in this body #and unlike them i actually do research on the shit i'm dealing with and possible ways to cope #and hell even if hrt does give me cancer i'd rather die transitioning and get to experience at least some of it #than being forced to live like this

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scriptlgbt · 4 years

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Delightfully, we are at an ever-increasing follower rate and there are plenty of new people checking out this blog daily. That’s rad, and I love you all and am glad you’re all here!

Right now we are overwhelmed with unanswered asks (well over 100) and our inbox (ask/submissions) are closed to sensitivity-based questions. Our private messaging is open for more logistical things, like contacting mod applicants and so on. If you’d like to send us a question, unfortunately it’s going to have to wait until our inbox opens again for questions.

Until then, please remember that we’ve answered a lot of questions and our archive and tag page is a great resource for the things we have answered on before.

Thank you for your patience!

- mod nat

#technically I can do sensitivity reading for you but right now I'm dealing w housing instability and a semester of school starting soon #which is a New Endeavor and I'm Really Really stressed out about it bc I also need to sort out student loans #and the fact that I'm a wheel-using disabled person who can't hear and has no phone and specialists keep contacting my partner telling me to #call them back like!! buddy with what ears!!! with what phone!!#I set up TTY on my partner's phone but I've not used it before and there is No instructions online for how to actually make those calls on #an android - only an iphone. so like what's up with that yknow? I asked twitter but it's like all my deaf friends use apple. idk.#and bc I can't reply to these institutions they've written 'noncompliant' in my file so I'm dealing with a lot of problems right now.#oh and students loans defaulted while I was homeless in 2015 so I'm not qualified to re-apply until I can get that sorted out #and I've already went to the office to be like 'what do I do!!' and they were like uh idk email us instead bc idk how to help u everyone's #in a meeting rn so this is bad timing.#I have looked at some of the mod applicants and that will get sorted eventually I promise #everyone else who is active in blog duties has also looked at them #and frankly I'm real impressed at so many of you BUT I do advise applicants look thru our stealth tag and binarism tag bc like #nobody got those questions right and I have a feeling I should have given some hints about them maybe.#honestly if you have trouble with any of those questions #just a tip: we've answered almost all of them before in this blog's history #more specifically I think I've answered them all before. not in the exact wording but I've talked about them for suresies #I'm telling stories in tags like I'm 19 again but let me tell u this: I haven't logged out of this acct in months so #I haven't been able to do tag stories in eons and if I log out of this account the queue will run dry and I won't notice tbh #it's all a hassle. anyway ily all and thank you for the patience to read this #also you may or may not know this but I am literally A Beggar so if u want to help me out financially and can please click my signature #(rn it's like -19c here and I don't have a winter coat. I've just been layering a gazillion sweaters under a tactical jacket and I'm not ok)#(plus have u seen the cost of parkas???? it's obscene)

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welcometonightgayle · 4 years

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I miss being able to go to the library. like Noah Fence but I really need to get out of this house sometimes

#granted I should have used this time to get my license #so I wouldn't have to take the bus #and maybe could resort to living in a bus if I could get one #but on the other hand #imagine being able to afford a car #even if I could get a job I couldn't hold it due to illnesses and shit so. rip to me #I've actually thought about applying for disability and moving out #I feel bad but 1) I am disabled and 2) I literally can't recover to the point where I'm able to work without moving.#but like #I can't move without working<3 #so idk if that's a possibility ummm idk what goes into that but yeah.........in theory I guess #not til the pandemic's over #so let's hope it's not another year here in America #idk what I'd do #probably fucking lose it

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6ad6ro · 3 years

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it doesn't matter what i do or how i live, because the majority of people are gonna think the worst of me. people who are flawed. people who don't think for themselves and live robotically. they'll ignore the effort i put out. they'll dismiss my struggles. they'll pretend my DOCUMENTED health issues are all in my head. the ones i literally get treatment for constantly? they'll keep calling them fake.

i'm just "an immature, lazy manchild still living with my mom". i guess that ignores the fact that i'm here to take care of her when the rest of the family (understandably) gave up on her. they weren't here when i tried to leave countless times and she begged me to stay. they don't feel the guilt and obligation that was left behind when my father died. they don't get that i'm not being "selfless"... it's just... she's my mom and i worry about her.

instead they think of me as "kinda pathetic". instead they say that I'M leeching off of HER. why? why do they decide to think this way? why do they choose to ignore what's really going on, instead imagining some story that makes me look bad somehow?

honestly, even if someone DID live with a parent bc they couldn't get by on their own... that isn't pathetic. ppl who judge for things like that are embarrassing scum. fucking mannequins who think in stereotypes. who live just to make money. great. enjoy your failing western capitalist mindset. suffer in your hypocritical judgement.

speaking of money... i can't believe how ppl will look at me? with how i've ALWAYS gotten by. ALWAYS been there helpin out my friends and family. and say that I'M irresponsible with it. i may be on disability now, but that was probably the smartest financial move i've ever made. some ppl even get JEALOUS. bc i do alright. and don't have to work shitty jobs anymore.

of course, they ignore that i worked since my late teens (woulda worked earlier but parents were too controlling). of course they ignore that my health stuff made regular work a total NIGHTMARE. and that i was slowly killing myself. or driving myself to suicide. getting worse and worse mentally/physically. they think i somehow tricked my way into bein disabled, rather than being drug into it kicking and screaming. they pretend that my "work life" isn't 10,000x better than theirs, and justify it by belittling me. idk if it's jealousy, classist brainwashing, or both. bc i'm SICK of it.

i'm tired of being judged. looked down upon. these people, they ignore my ACTUAL STRUGGLES. like my health issues and sleep problems and mental stuff? my HORRIBLE abusive past? my current REAL problems? and instead just make derogatory stuff up. they'll say "i can't believe you're still like this in your mid 30s" as if things should be somehow better?? as if i'm just doing poorly? "if you just apply yourself better, you won't have panic attacks anymore" like FUCK you.

i feel this judgement from all these... frankly EMBARRASSING people? people who shouldn't be judging ANYONE? and it's just like FUCK you. fuck you! i'm tired of it.

i'm laying here in my bed. trying to sleep the past few days away. because i wanna die. bc i feel embarrassed and ashamed. because i wanna give up. i think "maybe they're right"...

and i wonder why this happens. why do i have such low self-esteem? why do i feel so hopeless? idk MAYBE because some of the closest people in my life NURTURE my shame. they fucking TELL me "you're pathetic" to my fucking face. they disrespect me constantly. i do my best to show them love and help them when i can. in return? they treat me as if i'm far below them.

a big reason i hate myself is i was TAUGHT to feel this way by shitty friends and family. i'm tired of it. i'm sick of forgiving and overlooking other's mistreatment of me. i'm tired of justifying it by saying "well they're just in pain". I'M in pain. because you keep treating me like shit! why should i respect your trauma when you erase mine just to make urself feel better. why do you drag others down to try n make yourself feel better? it just makes everyone WORSE and it's YOUR fault!

i'm done! i'm done. disrespect me, and you lose me. MOST of you on here are amazing. but a FEW of you, people i'm close to? know i'm talking about you. and FUCK you. i was great, and you lost me.

YOUR loss. god you guys sucked, and i was there for you anyhow. i was SO NICE to you! but i'm done. go abuse someone else. the only thing "pathetic" about me? was you.

i've removed the ball and chain that was locked around my ankle. what are you gonna do about it? just sit there, useless. discarded. you can only blame yourself.

#vent #long #might #delete

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skylar36 · 3 years

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So, question for all you neurodivergeny folks like myself who have been masking so hard for so long that they basically started stimming as an adult. I’m 20 and I don’t know how to explain to my mom that the weird thing I’ve been doing with my hands lately is a stim and I should have felt like it was okay to do it my entire childhood, but for whatever reason I didn’t.

Probably the complete lack of adult neurodivergent role models that stim.

I don’t know how to explain to her that I didn’t just start stimming because I saw some people on TikTok do it and thought it was cool, I started doing it because I saw some people on TikTok and thought, “oh, I’m allowed to do that because it’s okay. There’s nothing wrong with me because my head sometimes wants to twitch in different directions and my hands want to fly around when I’m happy.”

I don’t know how to explain to her that I don’t flap my hands around because I saw someone on TikTok do it, I do it because the way I’ve been dealing with too many emotions has been to hit myself (I stop if it hurts, but it’s still not good) and this has been an incredibly positive change in my life.

I don’t know how to explain to her that the tone of her voice when I have conversations with her have such a dramatic impact on me and I shut down when it feels like I’m about to be made fun of even if that’s never what she intends because I’m still feeling really sensitive and defensive about it.

It’s still raw. It feels like I’ve had a part of myself hidden away for so long and I’m so excited to share it, but I’m also so scared of being rejected for it. Or made fun of for it. Not because my family is malicious, but because we tease each other a lot and this is something that isn’t ready to be teased. It’s too new, it’s too raw. Like an open wound.

You can laugh with everyone about an old scar. I have a scar from a fight with my sister years ago and it’s hilarious because it came from such a superficial scratch that I don’t even think actually drew blood. I wasn’t laughing while it was still healing, but I’m laughing now.

Im not ready to laugh at stims that objectively look very silly. I know that someday I will be, but not today. The wound is still healing. It’s scabbing over, but it hasn’t quite scarred and faded into the past yet.

We’ve known that I have ADHD since I was little and my mom has been a strong advocate for my school accommodations and getting medication when it became clear that that’s what would help me most. Just to make it known that my mom is not a neurodivergence denier and she’s never told me that I need to be more normal or anything like that.

Though she did look very confused when I called ADHD a disability, so there is that. I think we’ve got some of that internalized ableist ideas that I have so much potential and if I would just work harder to apply myself, then I would be doing so much better. We’ve worked on that, it’s become clear that it’s not just my dumbass being lazy, we just didn’t know what the fuck executive dysfunction was and what it means. I had been telling people for years (including therapists so idk wtf they were doing knowing I had ADHD and not explaining to the crying middle schooler that what she’s describing has a name and there are tools to help with that, but go off ig) that I didn’t fucking know why I couldn’t do my homework. I wanted to get it done because I always felt better when it was done, but I just could not do it. Nobody suggested that maybe I try this or maybe we do some research on executive dysfunction and emotional regulation in people with ADHD. Not a single fucking adult, even the child therapist that I saw in middle school, but that’s a rant for a different day because I’ve got some feelings about that.

Right, this turned into a vent where I make metaphors that probably don’t make any sense. Anyway, I would still like that advice if anyone has some. My mom isn’t an asshole, she’s willing to listen, it’s just hard not to feel like I’m being talked down to.

Maybe it’s just my own attitude and expectations that are the issue here?

#personal #asking for advice #neurodivergent #adhd #please help #internalized ableism #ig #how does one talk to their parents #adult adhd #stimming #stims

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queenlokibeth · 3 years

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I wanna talk about something. Or not talk about it just mention it. Actually idk i just need to share this.

It often happens that awareness about certain topics... remains amongst the people who directly experience that topic. I'll elaborate. I'll use the disability example, but this can apply to gender, race, queer issues etc.

The term "invisible disability" started making its way around a while back, raising awareness about "hey there are people who don't LOOK disabled but they still are! Because that's a thing" which is GOOD. But who did this awareness reach? Who knows about this term? It's majorly just disabled people, abled people with disabled family members/friends, and maybe a handful of other really woke people.

But that's not really the people who NEED to be aware about invisible disabilities. A visibly disabled person doesn't NEED to know about this term because out of their own experiences they will already approach situations and other people from a lens of "disabilities exist, accessibility is an issue" for example. Abled people don't have those experiences so they just forget that disabilities exist if they're not seeing them. THEY need to know the term "invisible disability" and THEY need to be actively aware of this.

I don't have a solution for this and i don't have a well formed point besides the fact that frequently a lot of "let's raise awareness" content never makes it to the people who do need to see it, who need to be actively aware.

There are exceptions, such as BLM which did reach white people, but even such a massive movement has trouble fully educating white people about Black issues. Same with these trends of like "ladies show ways in which you protect yourself when going out" on like tik tok and stuff, because sure, SOME men are seeing it and realising the shit women face every day, but those videos often mostly reach only other women, and most men are still unaware of the extent of the challenges that we face.

I started thinking about this because I was working with some people on a project, and one of them mentioned that they received feedback from someone saying that our product should take accessibility into consideration, and the team was like "great point!" And the girl who mentioned this immediately went "well i don't know anyone with a disability but if you guys do we could talk to them? Maybe get like an accessibility consultant?" And i had to unmute myself and "come out" as (invisibly) disabled to all of them bc hey! Your accessibility consultant has already been in the team for 10 months! But it was awkward for everyone bc some probably thought that they offended me, others probably didn't take me seriously, and I was left to wonder if they're going to treat me differently now.

So, abled people of tumblr, just as we are all woke enough to, for example, not assume that someone is straight, please don't assume that there ISN'T a disabled person in the (virtual) room!

#mine #disability #accessibility #edsiii #ehlers-danlos

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thurisazsalail · 4 years

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I’m tired of ‘leftist’ anti-intellectualism and America-centric xenophobia posing as liberalism.

Protip: If you are anti-academia on subjects of culture not being taught by someone genetically from that culture, even if they know nothing about the culture they are talking about and have never participated in it and were never raised with it... over someone who actually does have a background in knowledge from people of that culture who lived in it and were raised in it... you might actually be the imperialist you are talking about fighting against. You might actually be silencing the people you think you are elevating through deplatforming actual sources from the cultural background talked about, artificially holding up someone with the right genes but no heritage or ties. You might want appearance over substance to be a “good person.” Rethink your views on academia. Think critically. What sources is a person using? Does a person talk about Africa like it's a country and not a continent (ew), or does the person have a list of resources about specific cultures as spoken about by the people from those cultures? Do they make effort in finding anyone from that culture to present or speak in class, if possible? Do they show videos of those people, which are not denigrating to them? Did the person work hard to find resources for you in a language you understand, or did they work to translate for you? Or are their resources some old white dude from 200 years ago, like using the Budge translations for (ancient) Egyptian? Did they quote Fiona Graham or Liza Dalby on geisha? Because of those people is a damn liar who took a fucktonne of money and prestige from an ailing geisha house and ran, and one actually trained as an anthropologist who spent time in Pontocho, where they knew exactly what she was there for and they suggested she debuted as a geisha to better understand them. Does the person gloss over issues like war or genocide? Or do they say, "Yeah, we should probably talk about that. In fact, you can use some example from recent history to understand the attitudes a bit better. Here they are, and here are some differences. Here are some further reading (and if available, video) sources, including from the groups that got really fucked over." If you SAY you are into historybounding (taking historical elements in your wardrobe and making it ‘new’ fashion) and you want to make the frilly French dresses and the London fog coats, but don't ever want to talk about how people eventually used the Versailles floors as a latrine because of the decadence and wanton wealth they collapsed into... and how the common people suffered because of it... Or how England discriminated against it's own people heavily, relegating Jewish English people to certain neighbourhoods or refused jobs to them, or treated the Moorish-descent like shit, or actively would beat the Irish in public and stole their land... you might not be into history or culture. You might just like looking at the pretty things and copying them. You know. Probably culturally appropriating (if not borderline doing so). Not just "history bounding." People in a marginalised group often have to learn things about our own groups’ history, or else we might see "Stonewall" and believe that a white guy threw the first brick, or that "queer" is a slur. Our own people, gasp, might have to learn from... academia. And strangely, I know, it's so weird, but some of the people who teach... use primary sources (that’s sources from the time/place/people the source talks about, like Gay Manifesto written by gay man Carl Wittman)... or are closeted about being experts on the subjects... because they are talking about their own groups and STILL face discrimination and might lose those precious jobs if they are out... and they're just not identifiable by your *outsider* standards. And sorry, but if you don't know your own history, yes, you are an outsider in that sense. Yeah, I can trace some of my family lineage to Turtle Tribe Seneca. But I am an outsider because the only reservation I've ever been on is the one to Olive Garden. I might have to *gasp* turn to actual knowledgeable people to learn something about that. I can't just dress up in whatever or do whatever and say, "No, it's okay! My great-grandmother is Seneca!" and then claim not knowing better because my heritage was stolen by federal American laws. That's not how that works. There is some tentative evidence that some of my family was Jewish before hiding it and coming to America in the late 1930s. But I still have to go through an official conversion process. I still have to learn Jewish history and Jewish culture, and about Jewish diaspora issues. That’s how it works. If you are Japanese in Japan, same thing applies to certain things. Like if you are performing tea ceremony with your school, you can’t just wander in to most of them with whatever pretty kimono you want. There are rules for that. It is a language, not just a dress. You will be sent home. If you don’t want to adhere to those rules, you will not be accepted. That’s how it works. It sucks, totally. But welcome to real life. You might have to actually work at things... Including managing your feelings and not making other people responsible for them. You might have to take responsibility AND bury your ego long enough to learn from educated people. One tip is... Question sources! That was my biggest gripe ten years ago! Plenty of books about Japanese culture, and all of them with lots of white people (white according to American-centric ideas about whiteness) writing the narrative! I had to work to find books about Japanese social ideas written by Japanese authors. You might have to work, too, and not blame other people for not just *handing you shit.* But in the end, accept that other people might know more than you and that is isn't about being Uppity by nature. It's also about "I have all this, you want some?"

If you don't want to learn, then you have to leave the classroom. You can't be a child, throwing a temper tantrum. You're a grown-up. But don't just assume by someone's face that you magically already know how things will be. Ask for a list, a syllabus, a source, a curriculum vitae. That should give you some insight on what to expect. Ask for clarification. Oh, this class is teaching Arthur Conan Doyle? WHAT are they teaching about him, specifically? Erasure isn’t the answer, here. That legacy still exists.

Stick to a scope: you can't fit six books of info in one hour. You need to stay focused. That's part of learning. No "whaddabouts?" Yes, write them down and message them in! But they might not be for this specific post, lecture, or class. The class might need a thing right then, like when my Humanities prof decided that Britain just "had a skirmish" with Benin. No, they committed genocide because Benin refused to become a colony of England, and you need to know that RIGHT NOW while the class is happening, before the moment is gone or internalized. But if you have a side comment about what happened to diaspora in WW2 once they moved to Hawaii and Brazil, the focus of the class might be on experiences *in Japan* and not on diaspora. Email it. It might become another class. There isn't time for that right now. That doesn't mean the prof hates diaspora Japanese. It doesn't mean diaspora don't matter. It just means that the class is limited in focus and time, and right now, the focus isn't on diaspora. Don't make a big dramatic deal about it. Instead, idk, maybe write a well-sourced paper on diaspora experiences while fleeing hostile Showa-era takeover and release it publicly. You can just... do that. I've done that with transcripts for movies that don't have them, for essays on various topics. You can even get paid for that content! No one had to "approve" me. I put it on fucking Tumblr so everyone could have it. Open-source means something. jfc people. Stop whining. Start having open conversations instead of shutting anything new or different down. Stop the anti-intellectualism disguised as liberalism. Stop the xenophobia and nativism disguised as cultural protection. It's great when a culture decides for itself that most people (from that culture) don't want foreign interaction or interference! Leave them the fuck alone! It isn’t hard! Some cultures are closed. Some are semi-closed, like there’s certain things you can learn about or participate in but others are only for people from that background. But don't get mad when a totally different culture doesn't care or uses it for leverage. You don’t get to dismiss a different culture or denigrate them under the guise of “protecting” other POC by erasing them. And if your excuse is (Culture/group) is imperialistic/all people of ____ descent/race are _____ DUDE FIRST OF ALL WTF and second of all, let me tell you something about American history. French history. English history. There are some nuanced conversations we COULD have here, like adults. Or you could just be honest and say, “This isn’t a conversation I’d like to have right now.” That’s totally fine. Sometimes you just don’t have the spoons or time. I often don’t, being disabled. Or you could shut down like a child and say that this is fine but then mute all posts until you get your way, and anyone who posts an actual source is wrong or bad because intellectuals and experts are suspicious. Your choice. Real life is complicated. Figure it out instead of trying to reduce hard things to a box to fit in easily. Expand your world past your little tiny experiences in your own country and background. Stop assuming every fucking thing in the world works like it does in America. Stop approving/disapproving of any information that doesn’t match up with your American morality or experiences- there are *other people* that deal with things other ways than we do. Stop wholesale condemning anyone better informed than you just because of your ego. Start using some of those critical thinking skills you are supposed to have. If you don’t know how, type “critical thinking development” into youtube for tutorials. -------- Edit: hahaha I KNEW that Tumblr deleted something when it highlighted it. I just couldn’t figure out what at the time. The difference between Graham and Dalby: one worked in Pontocho as a geisha for research, and they knew that ahead of time; Graham lied her ass off to geisha and then tried to open her own house after taking only a few lessons to get famous and make a lot of money. She’s a fucking embarrassment and worse. --------------- Update 11/3 Turns out that dig I made about French costuming (a perennial fave in historybounding and historical sewing groups) and imperialism wasn’t all that far off... here’s a whole ass thread about how many fucking African presidents and leaders France has specifically killed, and how much France has done to just Africa relatively recently. That’s JUST to Africa. I bet some of my Mi’kMaq and Algonquin-descent friends would have some things to say about heritage erasure regarding the French. https://thurisazsalail.tumblr.com/post/633807847387512832

#america #american centricism #academia #anti-intellectualism #xenophobia #childish af #liberalism #intercultural #historybounding #intracommunity issues

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