The kids on TikTok think that just because he was a classic country singer, Johnny Cash was conservative??? My babies he covered a Nine Inch Nails song in his seventies.

Classic country singers (the majority of which came from poor roots) were always talking about how much The Man sucked because they were taking money from poor rural folk. You’re gonna tell me that’s conservative?? Get outta here.

And somehow on the opposite side of the scale with the same exact opinion the conservative kids say “I like the old country music, because there’s no politics to it” Woodie Guthrie’s got a “this machine kills fascists” sticker on his guitar? You think there’s no politics in 9 to 5 or Folsom Prison Blues?!

For anyone confused there was a sudden and dramatic shift in the country music genre. It used to be a genre fixated on the experiences of people. Lived or common experiences that resonated with the common people. It was music that you listened to and it thrummed in tune to your soul because you had lived it yourself. And a lot of that was about ordinary people getting ground up in the gears of society.

The hyper patriotism, beer, and trucks chimera we have now didn't show up until after 9/11 and the world is lesser for it

Allow me to post the entire lyrics to the Johnny Cash song "Man in Black", released in nineteen goddamn seventy-one and written about why he always wore black onstage:

Well, you wonder why I always dress in black

Why you never see bright colors on my back

And why does my appearance seem to have a somber tone

Well, there's a reason for the things that I have on

I wear the black for the poor and the beaten down

Livin' in the hopeless, hungry side of town

I wear it for the prisoner who has long paid for his crime

But is there because he's a victim of the times

I wear the black for those who've never read

Or listened to the words that Jesus said

About the road to happiness through love and charity

Why, you'd think He's talking straight to you and me

Well, we're doin' mighty fine, I do suppose

In our streak of lightnin' cars and fancy clothes

But just so we're reminded of the ones who are held back

Up front there ought to be a man in black

I wear it for the sick and lonely old

For the reckless ones whose bad trip left them cold

I wear the black in mournin' for the lives that could have been

Each week we lose a hundred fine young men

And I wear it for the thousands who have died

Believin' that the Lord was on their side

I wear it for another hundred-thousand who have died

Believin' that we all were on their side

Well, there's things that never will be right, I know

And things need changin' everywhere you go

But 'til we start to make a move to make a few things right

You'll never see me wear a suit of white

Ah, I'd love to wear a rainbow every day

And tell the world that everything's okay

But I'll try to carry off a little darkness on my back

'Til things are brighter, I'm the man in black

That right there is an anti-war, anti-bigot, anti-mass-incarceration, anti-war-on-drugs (Cash was an addict in various stages of recovery who was pissed as hell about how this country treats people with substance issues), eat-the-rich protest song. And it was arguably his signature song, his personal manifesto. Notice that even the Jesus reference, which today would be a signal that the song is about to drop some racist dogwhistles, segues immediately into a line about "the road to happiness through love and charity". As in "Motherfucker, our shared god said love thy neighbor and care for the poor and the outsider, and we both know he didn't fucking stutter." He's throwing shade at self-described Christians who use his religion as a cudgel to beat people with.

Johnny Cash wasn't a conservative. I'm pretty sure if he were alive and in reasonably good health today, he'd knock Jason Aldean's teeth out (or, failing that, write a song so devastatingly memetic about how much Aldean sucks that Aldean would never work in music again).

Johnny Cash was punk rock. He just happened to be punk rock in the body of a country singer.

Gonna repost the link to Jewish Voice for Peace, they have a script you can read from and a tool that will call your reps for you.

There is hope. I promise. Young people just won their case against the state of Montana. Ecuadoreans braved escalating political violence to vote against oil drilling in the Amazon. Brazilian deforestation is down by enormous amounts since Lula took office. They’ve invented hydropanels that synthesise pure water from the air. People are farming in solar parks. A ship just launched for its maiden voyage using rigid sails designed to mimic wind turbine blades. EV sales are taking off, and, more crucially, cities are re-assessing their very relationship with the car. By the 2024 Olympics the river Seine will be safe for people to swim in again. More and more people are replacing their gas boilers with heat pumps. Solarpunks are growing crops in their back garden and distributing them to their neighbours. Great tracts of land are being given back to nature. Young people are channelling their energies into meaningful careers. Pilots are leaving the aviation industry. Yes, the world is dark and terrible and full of awful dangers that keep you up at night, but we are a huge movement that grows every day in numbers and power. Your small actions matter. Our collective triumphs are increasing. Things are going to get harder, extreme weather will be more common, but with ingenuity, resilience and crucially, COMMUNITY, we can build an equitable world on this strange, tired old planet. See you in the future.

I just want to add.

Today, a librarian ordered a book that her community needs, even if it might be controversial in her community.

Today, a man dropped off his weekly contribution to his local food bank.

Today, someone picked up trash at the local park. A woman swept up the litter by her stoop. A man sorted the recycling in his break room.

Someone volunteered at their local shelter. Someone reached out to a friend who needed help. Someone delivered a casserole to a family in mourning. Someone mowed the lawn for their elderly neighbor.

Someone left water in the desert. Someone was a court advocate for a minor in the system. Someone sent an email to their elected officials.

Someone filled a little lending library box. Someone bought something off the wishlist of a teacher or community group. Someone drove someone across state lines and didn't ask why.

Someone practiced using a coworkers neopronouns in the car on the way to work. Someone said thank you to the bus driver. Someone helped pay for a stranger's groceries. Someone painted a protest sign.

A lot of people, in a lot of tiny ways, tried to make their world better today.

They'll do it again tomorrow.

The world can be big and overwhelming and sometimes it feels like we're all helpless. But any small thing you do that makes the world a better place, if you can do it, it's worth doing.

Tiny things matter.

I diagnose you with Chicago

youve heard of do it scared now get ready for: do it weird. is it normal to go to the movies alone? who cares. do it weird.

happy do it weird wednesday everybody

early heads-up

now im imagining what pride events in ankh morpork are like

there will EXCLUSIVELY be kink at the ankh morpork pride parade

(via @takiki16)

(Tags via @romanceyourdemons)

Extremely correct response, leaving out the inevitable debacle over citizens declaring counterfeit genders in order to have rarer pronoun pins to sell to collectors in the underground pronoun market.

Dibbler, only mildly discouraged, eventually realizes he can sell embellishments for your pronoun pin, which he claims will upgrade your gender.

Also of note is that there are no cops present at Ankh-Morpork Pride. This is not because they aren't welcome (everyone knows Nobby is as kinky as they come), but because the festivities include throwing bricks at the City Watch building and they are busy trying to make sure they still have a place to work the next day. The Night Watch prepares each year with a barricade, and pre-marriage Vimes always collects the good bricks so he can save for a house. Nobody is really sure where the tradition came from, but it's good fun and usually nobody gets hurt too badly.

The bricks are provided by Vetinari, who considers it a good test of city infrastructure and training for the Watch.

More from the tags, I love all of you

It’s Earth, Wind & Fire day AND The Hobbit Day! Do you remember the 21st night of September? On September 21, 1937, J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit was first published! 💚

Some people are like "The classic sci-fi novel Don't Create the Torment Nexus is Problematic because it features the Torment Nexus"

#Woe betide if it's just called 'The Torment Nexus' and you're supposed to infer 'Don't Creat the Torment Nexus' for yourself

an important update:

Thank you gritty meme for that important addition.

Some people are like "The classic sci-fi novel Don't Create the Torment Nexus is Problematic because it features the Torment Nexus"

extra special Amok Time Day this year because it’s been 56 years…

happy 9th pon farr spock!

a septennial amok time anniversary occurring on a friday

this hasn’t happened since 1995 and won’t happen again until 2051!

Realized recently I'd never drawn Death and she's means so much to me -

sometimes I worry about the fact that I'm soft to the point of bruising, but then I remember that this is increasingly a choice---as I get older, I care less about seeming "cool" or "detached" etc. I just want to talk to people and understand them, I want to help, I want to move through the world lightly, offering what I can.

Continuing to choose softness and connection in a world increasingly punishing people for it is a radical, punk af act.

You are not bad for bruising easily. The WORLD is bad for hurting you so much in the first place.

the sandman,one of my favorite shots in the trailer

For the Oldsters around here...

I saw yet another poll/reblog for "if you're over 30"... pish. I have shoes that are over 30! (Like, I never wear them but, well, they're nice shoes!)

So this is for the oldsters that I know are on Tumblr.

All the usual blah-blah... reblog, tag, etc...

Hoping for a few more replies...

C'mon folks, lets get this answered. Where are all my older folks? I know I'm not the only one on this site over 50...

I hope that .5% over 80 understands that they are exactly what I aspire to at 80 and that I always want my fandom spaces to include and honor them despite the trend of thinking of fandom as a thing only young people do.

Queer history is not and has never been, a history of tragedies. As someone who has studied it for over seven years, take it from me, there are moments of joy, laughter, and community to find all throughout it.

I truly believe that one of the big barriers that stop young queer people from learning their history is fear. I won't say that fear is unwarranted. There is injustice, heartbreak, and deep true sadness to be found in queer history. But that is not the sum of it.

Just as queer people have been hurt, betrayed, and oppressed, we have also been loved, treasured, and revered. Queerness is not and has never been universally despised. And when society hates us, we make community still. There is beauty in queer history, even in the more painful parts. It takes a level of bravery to open yourself up to that, but I think it is more than worth it.

things i have seen/experienced working in a toy store:

• a customer asking me if boys like coloring

• a customer telling her daughter she can’t give out ice cream stickers for party favors because there will be boys there

• an older couple laughing about how there’s a pink toy sword because a boy would never play with a pink toy sword (because i guess boys can’t like pink and girls don’t play with toy swords. also it wasn’t even pink it was red lol)

• a customer refusing to buy a snail robot kit for his nephew because it was “too cute for a boy”

• a customer sharply reminding me she was buying a gift for a boy when i suggested play food

• a customer telling her daughter she needed to pick a different birthday card for her friend because the one she chose had a pink envelope (her friend was a boy)

• a customer asking what a boy would like for valentine’s day instead of the stuffed dogs she was getting for the girls

• a customer getting upset when my coworker used blue ribbon on a gift bag because the present was for a girl

• a customer saying a toy guitar was “too girly” for her grandson, based only on the fact that the box had a picture of a girl playing with it (the guitar was red with yellow music notes)

but yeah, trans people have some real weird ideas about gender

I worked at a generic clothing store. We sold plain T-shirts and hoodies for school kids who have dress codes. Every day I'd hear the most arbitrary, contradictory gender takes from parents.

Purple is a good color for boys, but lavender is too girly, but teal is fine for boys to wear, but no it's not because it's too light, but girls can't wear teal because it's a shade of blue and blue is for boys, but girls can't wear red shirts because it's a strong masculine color, but boys can't wear red because in the wrong lighting it can look like pink, but yellow is a girls color--- On and on and on, every single day.

Each parent would waltz in with their child and berate me for daring to offer a colorful shirt to their child because "it's not for girls/boys". And even though they contradicted each other on just about everything, they all stated their opinions as absolute truths that everyone knows and agrees with.

Cis people are weird as fuck about gender.