#progressive liberal

[elaindurham]

Black man accused of kidnapping (and probably murdering) white woman...

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ED - Obviously, Mr. Abston has been disadvantaged his entire life as his ancestors from at least 160 years ago were probably slaves. Abston, according of current progressive liberal thinking should serve no or minimum prison time but, instead, undergo extensive counseling…

#memphis kidnapping #cleotha abston #eliza fletcher #slavery #progressive liberal #vote democrat #elections 2022

[reasonsforhope]

Sometimes you just have one of those moments where the progress we've made as a culture get thrown into stark relief. You look at something and go "Holy shit, that would never have happened when I was a kid."

Today, I had one of those moments when I realized that the teenage boys I'm working with are just. genuinely, openly enthusiastic about going to Build-a-Bear for their outing.

These are sixteen and seventeen year old boys! They just had a whole conversation about what to name their "cute", mostly new squishmallows! They're genuinely excited that they're going to Build-a-Bear this weekend and asking other kids to pick up specific accessories for them!!

Holy shit, that never would've happened when I was 16. None of the boys would have dared to be visibly interested - and neither would most of the girls! There would have been a million gay jokes and "Haha, you're a girl" jokes and "What are you, a baby?" jokes. Teenagers weren't even supposed to care about anything back then!

Less than 15 years later, and I'm watching three 17 year old boys treat all that as not even worthy of comment.

So let's call that a reason for hope. Even when the kids aren't alright, in some ways apparently they are alright. Go Gen Z, honestly. It's so lovely to watch you guys just openly doing and saying stuff that, when I was a teen, would've been a social death sentence.

#obligatory disclaimer that this really really obviously is not universal #I do live in a major progressive city #there's definitely a level of a liberal bubble effect here #but it's still really powerful to see it #because even in a major liberal enclave there were so many limits on the gender roles and homophobia etc. etc. fronts #and also the limits of the oppressive weight of obligatory teen apathy lol #seriously go gen z. so glad you guys decided cringe is dead. I love you for that so much #and I love it for you #not news #life #hope #homophobia #sexism #teens #teenagers #progress #gen z #btw if it wasn't clear I'm a #millennial #plush toy #plushie #squishmallows #build a bear #stuffed animal #like the idea of almost any teenager much less teenage boys #saying IN FRONT OF THEIR PEERS #that they are excited about their STUFFED ANIMALS #when I was a teenager #????? #cannot imagine that ever happening.

[visenyaism]

say what you will about political genius cersei lannister but history will remember her progressive reforms (inventing the idea of firing the kingsguard, elevating bastards to the small council, probably like doubling the funding to STEM research between qyburn and the pyromancers, setting the tower of the hand on fire, etc.) thats the first queen of westeros and its first ever ruler to not have any targaryen blood (unless).

#asoiaf #this is mostly a bit I just like the fact that she managed to be the first queen of Westeros. excepting rhaenyra whose claim is contested #cersei being the most progressive king since egg is like biden being the most liberal president since fdr. maybe johnson

[decolonize-the-left]

Democrats as a party are never ever going to recover from this.

#itd be one thing if biden was actually your only option but MOST PEOPLE not voting for biden have stated explicitly they're voting 3rd party #which makes 3rd parties an actual viable option this year and people who have been claiming to be liberal or progressive just...dont care??? #to consider that they should NOT vote for someone comitting genocide if they dont have to????? like??? #we see this is a PREFERENCE for you now and theres no backtracking that #Democrats #2024 elections #joe biden #jasmine sherman #usa politics

[thurifer-at-heart]

"Christianity is the only major world religion to have as its central focus the suffering and degradation of its God. The crucifixion is so familiar to us, and so moving, that it is hard to realize how unusual it is as an image of God." Churches sometimes offer Christian education classes under the title "Why Did Jesus Have to Die?" This is not really the right question. A better one is, "Why was Jesus crucified?" The emphasis needs to be, not just on the death, but on the manner of the death. To speak of a crucifixion is to speak of a slave's death. We might think of all the slaves in the American colonies who were killed at the whim of an overseer or owner, not to mention those who died on the infamous Middle Passage across the Atlantic. No one remembers their names or individual histories; their stories were thrown away with their bodies. This was the destiny chosen by the Creator and Lord of the universe: the death of a nobody. Thus the Son of God entered into solidarity with the lowest and least of all his creation, the nameless and forgotten, "the offscouring [dregs] of all things" (1 Cor. 4:13).

—Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion: Understanding the Death of Jesus Christ (p.75)

#to speak of a crucifixion is to speak of a slave's death #fleming rutledge #the crucifixion #crucifixion #jesus christ #jesus #episcopalian #progressive christian #progressive christianity #queer christian #liberation theology #theology #christianity #christian

[politijohn]

Source

#homelessness #end homelessness #news #politics #us politics #government #the left #progressive #current events #capitalism #liberalism

[summerreign4077]

At least OJ can rest peacefully now that his ex wife’s and her friend’s killer is now dead.

#oj simpson #current events #grim reaper #fuck the gop #vote blue #vote progressive #vote liberal #don the con #lock him up #oj simpson memes #anti trump

[capitalism-and-analytics]

#politics #liberal #conservative #republican #democrat #libertarian #capitalism #communism #congress #progressive #socialism #antisocialism #anticapitalism #anticommunism #2nd amendment #second amendment #firearms #gun control #gun rights #self defense

[socialjusticeinamerica]

#woke #progressive #liberal #Democrat #never trump #republican assholes #traitor trump #crooked donald #corporate greed #cancel culture #stop voting for fucking republicans #republicans are bigots #republicans are racists

[memecucker]

Bodily autonomy to do what, exactly?

Recreational abortions

#context was my post about how liberal protestants are more trustworthy than progressive catholics bc even lib catholics have a hangup #with abortion oftentimes #but this also applies to stuff like MAID

[casuallydyinginthecorner]

Just because your body isn't where you want it to be doesn't mean you shouldn't take care of it

#treat your body decently #eat some fruits and vegetables #don't punish yourself b/c you're not where you want to be #little by little #one day at a time #progress looks different for everyone and if that means going backwards by accident that's okay it happens #if you're aware of it that's one step closer to where you want to be #body positivity #body liberation #glitter speaks

[gwenllian-in-the-abbey]

Is there anything support the populat interpretation that old valriya and valryians in general are more feminist, and progressive than the rest in Asoiaf?

Anon, thank you! I've been wanting to address this for awhile, so I'm going to actually answer this really fully, with as many receipts as I can provide (this ended up being more of an essay than I intended, but hopefully it helps)

I think there's in fact plenty of evidence to suggest that Valyria and the Valyrians in general were anything but progressive. Valyria was an expansive empire with a robust slave trade that practiced incest based on the idea of blood supremacy/blood purity. All of these things are absolutely antithetical to progressivism. There is no way any empire practicing slavery can ever be called progressive. Now, the Targaryens of Dragonstone have since given up the practice of slavery, but they certainly still believe in the supremacy of Valyrian blood.

And I'll see the argument, well what's wrong with believing your blood is special if your blood really is special and magic? Which is just-- if anyone catches themselves thinking this, and you sincerely believe that GRRM intended to create a magically superior master race of hot blondes who deserve to rule over all other backwards races by virtue of their superior breeding which is reinforced through brother-sister incest, and you've convinced yourself this represents progressive values, then you might want to step away from the computer for a bit and do a bit of self reflection.

And remember-- what is special about this special blood? It gives the bearers the ability to wield sentient weapons of mass destruction. It's also likely, according to the most popular theories, the result of blood magic involving human sacrifice. So there is a terrible price to pay for this so-called supremacy. Would any of us line up to be sacrificed to the Fourteen Flames so that the Valyrians can have nukes?

And if you are tempted by the idea that a woman who rides a dragon must inherently have some sort of power-- that is true. A woman who rides a dragon is more powerful than a woman who does not ride a dragon, and in some cases, more powerful than a man who does not ride a dragon, but that does not make her more powerful than a man who also rides a dragon. Dragonriding remained a carefully guarded privilege, and Targaryen women who might otherwise become dragonriders were routinely denied the privilege (despite the oft repeated "you cannot steal a dragon," when Saera Targaryen attempted to claim a dragon from the dragonpit, she was thrown into a cell for the attempted "theft,"words used by Jaehaerys). The dragonkeepers were established explicitly to keep anyone, even those of Targaryen blood, from taking them without permission. Any "liberation" that she has achieved is an illusion. What she has gained is the ability to enact violence upon others who are less privileged, and this ability does not save her from being the victim of gender based violence herself.

Politically speaking, it is also true that Valyria was a "freehold," in that they did not have a hereditary monarchy, but instead had a political structure akin to Ancient Athens (which was itself democratic, but not at all progressive or feminist). Landholding citizens could vote on laws and on temporary leaders, Archons. Were any of the lords freeholder women? We don't know. If we take Volantis as an example, the free city that seems to consider itself the successor to Valyria, the party of merchants, the elephants, had several female leaders three hundred years ago, but the party of the aristocracy, the tigers, the party made up of Valyrian Old Blood nobility, has never had a female leader. Lys, the other free city, is known for it's pleasure houses, which mainly employ women kidnapped into sexual slavery (as well as some young men). It is ruled by a group of magisters, who are chosen from among the wealthiest and noblest men in the city, not women. There does not seem to be a tradition of female leadership among Valyrians, and that's reflected by Aegon I himself, who becomes king, rather than his older sister-wife, Visenya. And although there have been girls named heir, temporarily, among the pre-Dance Targaryens, none were named heir above a trueborn brother aside from Rhaenyra, a choice that sparked a civil war. In this sense, the Targaryens are no different from the rest of Westeros.

As for feminism or sexual liberation, there's just no evidence to support it. We know that polygamy was not common, but it was also not entirely unheard of, but incest, to keep the bloodlines "pure," was common. Incest and polygamy are certainly sexual taboos, both in the real world and in Westeros, that the Valyrians violated, but the violation of sexual taboos is not automatically sexually liberated or feminist. Polygamy, when it is exclusively practiced by men and polyandry is forbidden (and we have no examples of Valyrian women taking multiple husbands, outside of fanfic), is often abusive to young women. Incest leads to an erosion of family relationships and abusive grooming situations are inevitable. King Jaehaerys' daughters are an excellent case study, and the stories of Saera and Viserra are particularly heartbreaking. Both women were punished severely for "sexual liberation," Viserra for getting drunk and slipping into her brother Baelon's bed at age fifteen, in an attempt to avoid an unwanted marriage to an old man. She was not punished because she was sister attempting to sleep with a brother, but because she was the wrong sister. Her mother, the queen had already chosen another sister for Baelon, and believed her own teenage daughter was seducing her brother for nefarious reasons. As a sister, Viserra should have been able to look to her brother for protection, but as the product of an incestuous family, Viserra could only conceive of that protection in terms of giving herself over to him sexually.

Beyond that, sexual slavery was also common in ancient Valyria, a practice that persisted in Lys and Volantis, with women (and young men) trafficked from other conquered and raided nations. Any culture that is built on a foundation of slavery and which considers sexual slavery to be normal and permissible, is a culture of normalized rape. Not feminist, not progressive.

I think we get the picture! so where did this idea that Valyrians are more progressive come from? I think there are two reasons. One, the fandom has a bit of a tendency to imagine Valyrians and their traditions in opposition to Westerosi Sevenism, and if Sevenism is fantasy Catholicism, and the fantasy Catholics also hate the Valyrian ways, they must hate them because those annoying uptight religious freaks just hate everything fun and cool, right? They hate revealing clothing, hate pornographic tapestries, hate sex outside of marriage, hate bastards. So being on Sevenism's shit-list must be a mark of honor, a sign of progressive values? But it's such a surface level reading, and a real misunderstanding of the medieval Catholic church, and a conflating of that church with the later Puritan values that many of us in the Anglosphere associate with being "devout." For most of European history, the Catholic church was simply The Church, and the church was, ironically, where you would find the material actions which most closely align with modern progressive values. The church cared for lepers, provided educations for women, took care of orphans, and fed the poor. In GRRM's world, which is admittedly more secular than the actual medieval world, Sevenism nevertheless has basically the same function, feeding the poor instead of, you know, enslaving them.

Finally, I blame the shows. While Valyrians weren't a progressive culture, Daenerys Targaryen herself held relatively progressive individual values by a medieval metric. She is a slavery abolitionist, she elevates women within her ranks, and she takes control of her own sexuality (after breaking free from her Targaryen brother). But Daenerys wasn't raised as a Targaryen. She grew up an orphan in exile, hearing stories of her illustrious ancestors from her brother, who of the two did absorb a bit of that culture, and is not coincidentally, fucked up, abusive, and misogynistic. He feels a sexual ownership over his sister, arranges a marriage for her, and even after her marriage, feels entitled to make decisions on her behalf. It is only after breaking away from Viserys that Dany comes into her own values. Having once been a mere object without agency of her own, she determines to save others from that fate and becomes an abolitionist. But because Game of Thrones gave viewers very little exposure to Targaryens aside from Daenerys, House Targaryen, in the eyes of most show watchers, is most closely associated with Dany and her freedom-fighter values. And as for Rhaenyra in House of the Dragon, being a female heir does not make her feminist or progressive, although it is tempting to view her that way when she is juxtaposed against Aegon II. Her "sexual liberation" was a lesson given to her by her uncle Daemon, a man who had an express interest in "liberating" her so that she would sleep with him, it was not a value she was raised with. In fact, she was very nearly disinherited for it, and was forced into a marriage with a gay man as a result of said "liberation." She had no interest in changing succession laws to allow absolute primogeniture, no interest in changing laws or norms around bastardy despite having bastards; she simply viewed herself as an exception. Rhaenyra's entire justification for her claim is not the desire to uplift women, bring peace and stability to Westeros, or even to keep her brother off the throne, it is simply that she believes she deserves it because her father is the king and he told her she could have it, despite all tradition and norms, and in spite of the near certain succession crisis it will cause. Whether she is right or wrong, absolutism is not progressive.

And let me just say, none of this means that you can't enjoy the Valyrians or think that they're fun or be a fan of house Targaryen. This insistence that Targaryens are the progressive, feminist (read: morally good) house seems by connected to the need of some fans to make their favorite characters unproblematic. If the Valyrians are "bad," does that make you a bad person for enjoying them? Of course not. But let's stop the moral grandstanding about the "feminist" and "progressive" Valyrians in a series that is an analogue for medieval feudalism. Neither of those things can exist under the systems in place in Westeros, nor could they have existed in the slavery based empire of conquest that was old Valyria.

#asks #sorry this got so long #anti targaryen #old valyria #viserra targaryen #house targaryen #hotd critical #asoiaf #hotd #game of thrones #valyrians were not progressive #or feminist #or sexually liberated

[fatphobiabusters]

Fighting for fat liberation while self-proclaimed progressives refuse to even admit that fat people are oppressed is constantly hearing:

"We support accessibility! Just not for you."

"We support the right to adoption! Just not for you."

"We support ending eugenics! Just not for you."

"We support the end of capitalism! Just not for you."

"We support treating people of different appearances equally! Just not for you."

"We support celebrating all human bodies! Just not for you."

"We support equal pay for all! Just not for you."

"We support the end of medical abuse and discrimination! Just not for you."

"We support the fight against police brutality! Just not for you."

"We support more positive representation of marginalized groups! Just not for you."

"We support listening to sexual assault victims! Just not for you."

"We support ending job discrimination! Just not for you."

"We support not being left to die in terrifying and fatal hurricanes, like what the fuck who deserves to be left to die in a fucking hurricane?! Juuuuuuuust not for y–"

-Mod Worthy

#fatphobia #fat liberation #thin privilege #progressives #leftism #oppression #Mod Worthy

[decolonize-the-left]

x

#FREE PALESTINE #palestine #gaza #israel #usa #westerners #Americans #liberals #progressives #where is your solidarity

[grayheartart]

"Best he's Ever Been" According to MSNBC. Biden Trails Off Mid-sentence and Can't Remember Lie.

Biden claims that Trump is "going to cut social security and Medicare". The claim is blatantly false. Trump said he would fix bad management of entitlement programs.

Maybe Biden is referring to the 4 different occasions he supported the end of Social Security and veteran benefits when he was a Delaware senator. Dementia will do that to you ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

#politics #youtube #democrats #biden administration #left wing #joe biden #liberals #democrats are corrupt #leftists #progressives #joe biden has dementia #Youtube

[she-is-ovarit]

The liberal culture of perpetually walking on eggshells, fearing that whatever you say might offend somebody, or (alternatively) feeling like you are always a victim to everybody's microaggressions is extremely unhealthy.

The conservative culture of perpetually being rude under the guise of "just saying it like it is", completely disregarding that what you say might offend somebody, or entering into conversations always on the defense is extremely unhealthy.

People in both left and right political groups who fit within these behavioral patterns seem to operate off of getting high from feeling righteousness.

These behavioral trends in both groups breed authoritarianism, paranoia, ignorance, aggression, ideological purity, and black and white thinking.

#as someone who frequently interfaces with both political cultures #you all have more in common than you realize #but judge each other based on the extremists within the other group #and this just in turn makes one's own group become more extreme in response #and also is just terribly obnoxious #politics #human rights #conservatism #conservative #liberal #democrat #republican #libertarian #anarchist #progressive #activism #LGBT #LGBTQ #feminsim #marxist #right wing extremism #left wing extremism