Avatar

@a-bagel-with-anxiety

Hi! My name is Mars :)
I don’t really know what I’m doing
He/they
Avatar

yesterday i was hiking with my dog and passed by a family with their 14 yo princess of darkness trotting behind them in very unsuitable clothes and uncomfortable shoes that clearly weren't meant to get dirty on forest mud. oh the quintessential teenage experience of doing something in a way that is stupid and sucks because it's important that it's your own way 🫡

The experience of being a teenager, especially, is relentlessly being forced to do things by authority figures who have arbitrary power over you. As a result "Okay, I'll do it, but I'll do it in the least compliant way possible" is a persistent and entirely sympathetic element of being a teenager

Okay as someone who professionally works with kids, I'll weigh on on this and say: the thing about defiance and "brattiness" is they are defense mechanisms for having no power in your life.

Kids and teens do not have power in their life. Even in the most ideal of circumstances. They can't really make informed choices about voting or houses and especially in America, the entire social structure is hostile to letting them go where they want to go.

So OP is absolutely right and put it beautifully. "it's important that it's your own way." I've seen preverbal babies force their shoes off their feet in response to a completely unrelated obligation because I can force them to take a nap but I can't make them take a nap AND nicely keep their shoes on. It is arguably a pretty stupid defiance, but defiance isn't about being smart.

It's the scream of a person without power insisting if they have no choice but to do this, they will do it their way! And that's more important than practicality. It's more important than being reasonable.

I firmly believe that deep down adults aren't less bratty or defiant than kids are- they're just given more leeway and power so they're more used to having control and use that to cope. The average 30-year-old would absolutely have a meltdown in the pasta aisle if they were regularly dragged to places they didn't want to be by another adult who they were never allowed to be away from or choose where they were going besides very limited exceptions.

(also disclaimer that in using the term "bratty" I am by no means condemning this behavior. It's born of a frustration that is completely understandable.)

RE: that last bit, for many years I worked a job that required me to wear black socks, but allowed nail polish. I learned to do my nails with toothpicks (this was before nail art was a huge trend like it is now) and came to work with nails painted as different fruits, bright neon, once as an entire PacMan board...you get the idea. Then I worked at a place that required black socks and no nail polish and tried to regulate our undershirts but couldn't actually do so without having to risk being weird about people's underwear. I got so many kinds of weird tank tops. Bright colors, unusual trim. (I was supposed to wear black or navy only.) Now I work at a place that requires no nail polish for very legitimate food safety reasons, which is fine. But the rest of the safety gear is absolutely insane.... ....and so I have a collection of socks that look like fruit, cats, anime characters..... We absolutely are still this petty as adults. We just find ways to make it more socially acceptable because we can.

That fuckin smile at the end

To the worried person in the comments: 

No, a hummingbird’s heart will not stop if it stops moving. You’re possibly thinking of Spoink, which is a Pokemon that supposedly powers its heart by bouncing, and as such can’t stop moving. Hummingbirds don’t sit often because they’re busy looking for food, but they can and do sit. The females sit on eggs in nests, after all, and they do have to sleep. 

Avatar

Fun fact: the leg muscles of a hummingbird are so stripped down to save on weight that they cannot walk. They can step sideways along a branch or other perch, but they cannot go forward without taking flight.

However they absolutely do stop moving. In fact, hummingbirds hibernate! Overnight. Instead of sleeping. Because if they tried to sleep like a normal animal their hyperactive metabolism would mean that they starve to death before breakfast.

Unrelated fun fact: the primary Aztec god of war would take on the form of a hummingbird, and the souls of the bravest warriors were said to turn into hummingbirds in order to join him after death, presumably because every hummingbird is approximately four grams of pure concentrated asskicking which fears no man nor beast and will gladly throw down with somebody seventeen thousand times their size if offended.

this is a really cool post and i love seeing such a small bird but reading “No, a hummingbird’s heart will not stop if it stops moving. You’re possibly thinking of Spoink” killed me 

I was being cancelled because apparently it was classist to put feathers on dinosaurs.

Both dream me and irl me were very confused.

it might have been a dream, but feathered dinosaurs being linked to an ideology isn't that uncommon. Them being viewed as "leftist", "woke" or "gay" has occured several times.

I collect these examples.

Avatar

reblog if you like dinosaurs, are gay, or just really like feathers

ok, i’m built like a noble ox. like i am 6′1 and i am sturdy lady. like thighs for days. if you try to move me. you will be moved. body images aside (lol, i am self conscious about my size, yeah it’s life) 

so like, i am very used to girls standing next to me in public places. i end up acquiring a pack of ladies. just because women are like, that lady is a lady men stay away from. i am jerk kryptonite (usually, i get my fair share of creeps, such is life) but most men have self preservation that this 6′1 ox will break them. and i will

so usually i am in my own phone and look up to another lady standing next to me. and i will immediately look up and make eye contact and nod. like, you know, that nod. i see you and you can talk if there is something wrong. i end up on a reg basis being a defacto bodyguard to these young ladies and small women while waiting for buses and in the metro. 

i am a large oak tree. i protect the other birds. 

ladies, we all got roles. find tree in the wild. we’re always happy to provide shelter from the creeps.

i’ve regularly said, “move on, she doesn’t want to be your friend”

I’m in love

Story time: So I’m 6’2 and “big boned” as my mother would call it. This happens to me all the time and a couple years ago I managed to get the the front row of a Macklemore concert. This woman, probably 5’4, squeezes up next to me and says, “Hey, I’m here alone, do you mind if I stand in front of you?” Of course not. So we’re all having a good time, dancing around, when all of a sudden this Bro™️ is behind me telling me that I’m too tall to be in the front row and it’s not fair. Now, keep in mind that this concert was outside, in February, in Vail CO. It was FREEZING so not only am I of the stature I am but I had my hair up and a beanie on and a big coat and boots. We try our best to ignore him but Bro™️ is drunk and very clearly thinks I’m a man and proceeds to punch me in the back of the head.

LIL SIS WENT OFF, FOLKS. This tiny woman literally moved me out of the way, jumped up, and head butted Bro™️ in the face with such a fury. I thought she was going to kill him, it was truly a beautiful moment in my life.

The moral of the story is that for every tree in the wild there is a cute little birdy who will defend its shelter to the death. Stick together ladies👯‍♀️

If a trans woman became chess world champion, terfs would unironically go: "It's unfair, male brains are much smarter than female brains. It's well known that women are fucking stupid. #feminism"

They literally did this to a trans woman who won a game of jepoardy named Amy Schneider.

Like they unironically argued that men are "socialized to like trivia more than women" and "men are genetically predisposed to have faster reaction times than women" and other complete nonsense.

"Women are fucking stupid and inherently inferior to men" - terfs, without a single fucking shred of irony or self-awareness

Avatar

its literally even fucking co-ed!!! its not like jeopardy is a fucking gendered thing!!! there were also men competing w her!!! wtf

“Oh [other profession] wants better working conditions? WELL [MY profession] is HARDER I work TWENTY HOUR DAYS and I am NOT ALLOWED BREAKS and I’m PAID FOR SHIT and I have NO INSURANCE and I NEVER SEE MY CHILDREN so WHY are YOU COMPLAINING LOL”

have you considered that maybe YOUR job ALSO should not suck that much

Story time. This is not so much for OP but for anyone else who might not have union experience: Bear in mind that there is a strong propaganda effort to get people to this viewpoint. They’re not being willfully obtuse.

I spoke to a neighbour the other day. She’d just taken voluntary a lay-off from her factory job because she had an ongoing injury and they wouldn’t let her adjust her hours in a sensible way. She’d been struggling to make it work anyway but her back was getting really bad. So when they put the word out that they were looking for volunteers to take lay-offs, she put up her hand. Still, she was proud to tell me that she was considered one of their best and fastest workers, even with the injury. She was frustrated that one of the newer workers seemed to have gotten various accommodations, even though that worker was nowhere near as good.

I could tell that she’d been having similar conversations with her coworkers on the factory floor for years. Who got extras they didn’t “deserve.” Who was a shoddy worker and made life harder for everyone. Who came in to work even though their parent had just died to make sure that nobody had to pick up their slack. And all of that pervaded with propaganda about “greedy unions” who slim down your already-skinny paycheque just because they’re all lazy slackers who don’t want to pull their weight and don’t appreciate the nice boss for hiring them. (This is the same across all types of jobs. Next story time I’ll talk about two university profs who grew to fame and fortune via unions and the social safety net and yet both engaged in union busting.)

My neighbour’s injury, incidentally, was a result of her work at the factory, but she didn’t want to try for compensation or anything else. She’d “never taken a single sick day in 20 years” and wasn’t “the kind of person who made waves” so she was just going the regular unemployment route but finding the systems obscure and challenging. She was hurt and shocked that her old employer would treat one of their best workers this way and leave them to deal with the fall-out by themselves.

Meanwhile, Canadian (federal) government workers were striking in Ottawa. And she expressed frustration that they felt “entitled to strike” when the (provincial) services she was accessing were so shoddy and difficult to navigate. Why did they “get to” strike if their work was apparently so poor? She had no sympathy for them.

I pushed back gently. Her factory floor job wasn’t union, but the admin staff was union. They seemed to get a better deal. We spoke about strength in numbers, and how hard it is to try and get your due from your employer without anyone to help you. And how they make all these forms complicated on purpose so it’s easier to deny you money or other support. And how it would be great to have someone to go to meetings with you, who knew all the legal stuff, and who could help you with the forms, and get you the money for the medical services you needed.

She wasn’t pro-union by the time I left, but we’d agreed on a few things, and I’d framed a few of her concerns in a way that made her more ambivalent about strikes (rather than outright hostile). Still, as we were saying our goodbyes, she said, “let’s hope they hurry up and get back to work eh!”

Because imagine what it would cost her to turn around and agree that unions are good, and strikes are good, and you should fight your employer for your fair compensation and your rights. Twenty years of taking no sick leave, working herself to the bone on not enough money, laid off and struggling with the system for basic support. She’s proud of her suffering, all the times she didn’t complain, all the times she pushed on even as the going got harder and harder.

Because if she can’t be proud of it… then what? She’s dumb for taking a non-union job? She should’ve organised and could’ve had better pay and a severance package and free physiotherapy for life? If she accepts that unions and strikes are good, she’s still in pain, still unemployed, still stuck with her lack of support, but now also feels like a fucking idiot for giving 20 years of her life to a boss who threw her out without a second thought.

So. Don’t put up with union busting and do talk to the people in your life about solidarity, but do realise that being anti-union isn’t just folks being aggressively wrong for the sake of it. They’ve been lied to. And they possibly have a lot of complex grief and identity and other experiences tied up in this.

“If she accepts that unions and strikes are good, she’s still in pain, still unemployed, still stuck with her lack of support, but now also feels like a fucking idiot for giving 20 years of her life to a boss who threw her out without a second thought.”

This.

And this applies to a lot of other things you might want people to change their minds about.

Anonymous asked:

I should be allowed to bite people who are mean to me

Do it then. Coward. Go ahead and sink teeth into flesh rip and tear and maim. Bite into their carotid and feel the hot metallic bright blood burst into your mouth, dribble down your chin.

Avatar

"Allowed" doesn't need to be a consideration when there's someone who deserves to be bitten within biting range. break your own chains, kill the cop inside your mind. with your teeth.

What’s the point of grinding to the bone your whole life for money if you aren’t even gonna be there to spend it…

Avatar

"The less you eat, drink and buy books; the less you go to the theatre, the dance hall, the public house; the less you think, love, theorise, sing, paint, fence, etc., the more you save – the greater becomes your treasure which neither moths nor rust will devour – your capital. The less you are, the less you express your own life, the more you have, i.e., the greater is your alienated life, the greater is the store of your estranged being." -Karl Marx, Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844

“The thing about money is, we can always make more, so let’s go out to eat tonight!” —My dad, after being laid-off, working odd and probably demeaning jobs so we could have dinner.

“Ah, baby, I want to buy this for you, it’s not like I can take the money with me when I go.” —My mom, when she bought me new clothes while I was between jobs.

“There’ll always be a job out there you can work, but we’d prefer you happy instead.” —Both my parents on jobs (“I can always get ya a job ditch diggin! They’ll always need ditch diggers. Hard work, but no college necessary. I can talk to the Hall.”—My proud, union dad, enthused, three seconds later.)

“It doesn’t matter what they do with the money after you give it to them. Drugs, beer, it doesn’t matter, maybe that’s what they need? How do you know?” —My dad on giving money to the homeless.

“Nah, we’ll never make any money, my husband has morals.” —My mom’s friend, fondly reflecting on the fact her lawyer husband isn’t working for a big money firm.

“Don’t worry! I’ve got this!” My equally poor friend buying me dinner when my debt card declined.

“I know we didn’t have furniture in the living room when you were growing up, but—ha!—remember Balloon Ball?” —My dad reflecting on the made up, mock-volleyball game we’d play in the open living room, using balloons. He had used electrical tape to make the court.

“I’m sorry we could never take you anywhere greater growing up,” —My mom, reflecting on our “stay-cations.” (“Why?” I asked, reflecting on all our trips to the park, zoo, public swimming pools, libraries, free theater, two dollar movie days, and her and my dad right there with me and my brothers.)

Bring poor is hard and it’s not right that it happens, but I prefer it to the hustle because at the very least, poor taught me what love is and I won’t let a shitty job deny me that.

Avatar

ok!!!

One of my professors got his law degree at Oxford. He once told us how his entire graduating class got offered six figure jobs from a fancy law firm and everyone but him and one other immediately accepted.

They often told him how great these jobs were, showed him their expensive cars and houses they bought and raved about how great it is to have their own gym at work and even separate rooms were they could get some sleep if they needed it.

We asked him if he ever regretted not taking that job and staying in academia instead where his salary was way lower and what he told us would stay with me forever. He said that all these fancy cars would never really be driven, the impressive houses never really be lived in because that huge salary at that fancy law firm came with the expectation that you'd give your life to the job. The gym and the sleeping rooms were so that you wouldn't feel the need to go home at the end of the day. And what good does your fancy expensive stuff do you, he asked, if you never have the time to use it?

Avatar

lemme tell u this we need more mcyt characters who are unashamedly fucked up villains. unfortunately with the way everything works right now that's unlikely

Avatar

if its a kid-friendly server then the ccs risk getting a lot of negative commentary, hate, views dropping off because their younger audience can't conceptualise opposing sides, if its more adult-focused then the ccs still risk getting hate and even stuff like death threats from their audience because people get parasocially attached, even if none of that happens people don't know how to conceptualise villains because so much fandom reading and character analysis (not just in mcyt but i do see it as a big problem here tbh) is black and white thinking of either they're an irredeemable cunt or they're just fine and have done nothing wrong ever. shit sucks

Avatar

Actually at this point it would be really nice to just have a character that does bad things or hurts other maybe even intentionally maybe without good reason or trying to do the "right thing". Without people instantly trying to sort them into a box of "misunderstood baby who we need to forgive first time they apologise" or "fucked up (girl)boss chaa who is evil and murders and we love that for them". People will talk about morally grey characters all the time but like. Where are they.