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@graceporple

hi
Anonymous asked:

Hi sorry if it’s is a dumb question but I don’t understand what’s happening with the Tony’s do yo mind telling me? I’m not American so I don’t really get how the wga strike is related , is this a punishment to the writers because of the strike?

Not a dumb question, I'm happy to explain. So. The WGA is on strike. Which means, no WGA members are doing any writing for broadcast television (among other things). Members who cross the picket line would face serious consequences, and non-member writers who work as scabs during the strike also risk serious consequences (like the inability to ever become a member).

The Tony Awards, although focused on Broadway, are nonetheless a televised broadcast. The jokes, the scripts, all the funny bits of dialogue etc? Those are not written by playwrights or naturally improvised by the various hosts and presenters. Those are written by screenwriters. The same screenwriters who are on strike.

So, because of that, in order for the Tony Awards to move forward as usual, the Broadway League went to the WGA to request a "strike waiver." What this means is, they wanted the WGA to agree to allow writers (and anyone striking in solidarity) to cross the picket line to write and produce the telecast without consequences (essentially to break the strike for this particular program).

Naturally, the WGA said no. Why "naturally," you may ask? Because the Tony Awards air on CBS, which is one of the networks that has caused the strike by refusing to negotiate in good faith with the WGA and putting corporate greed over basic human decency and the lives of hardworking people. Granting a strike waiver for this would undermine the whole point of the strike and do little more than line studio pockets with the advertising revenue and viewership from a major broadcast.

In sum: the Tony Awards can't air because they don't have the writers to write the broadcast (in theory, they could try to make it work anyway, but that would be unlikely to go well). If people are upset about that, then they should take it up with CBS. Fuck the Hollywood studios; Support Unions.

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i'm really struggling with letting go of people and not vilanizing myself. like if they chose to cut me from their life then i must be a bad guy? :( tbh i was just wondering if u had any advice in regards to this?

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The simple truth is people are imperfect and will not always make their decisions based off an objective assessment of who you are as a person. Some people just choose the easy way out (avoiding conflict) by cutting you off completely, bc that’s much easier than deliberating over a problem and handling it in a well-rounded way. What makes this even worse is the fact that that kind of thinking is romanticized by pop psychology advice these days—cutoff culture is bigger now more than ever, even when it’s not necessarily the answer. It gets packaged as a confident, no-nonsense approach; the reality is that some people are too weak (or maybe just not emotionally able enough) to deal w your/their feelings. So they remove you from their life altogether as a result.

Obviously I don’t think this is always the ethical thing to do. Sometimes it is the right call to cut someone from your life, but in typical tiktok fashion, people have taken this too far and misapplied it to relationships that simply deserve more than that. You don’t owe everyone everything, but you do owe some people a form of explanation as to why you’re literally terminating then from your life. It depends on the degree of closeness and the situation that instigated the rift to begin with. Deciding when to cut off and when to communicate is an important skill to have—but not a lot of people have it.

Another possibility is just that you did cross their boundaries, you did something you weren’t supposed to do, it was hurtful enough to warrant this recourse, etc… and in that case you have no choice but to review your behavior, vow to yourself not do it again, and move on. This is your first time being alive. Not your second or your third. You’re bound to make mistakes. Everyone is. That’s where healthy self-compassion comes in: with recognizing these mistakes, but with not beating yourself up for them forever. It may read as cliche, but you’re literally human & mistakes are literally unavoidable. It’s when you refuse to adapt your behavior and move on that issues arise.

If you don’t grant yourself the gift of forgiveness, you’ll find it impossible to forgive anybody else. Be graceful and patient w yourself, but don’t make a habit of repeating mistakes. And don’t ruminate on something that’s in the past. There are 8 billion out there and an abundance of friendships to make. Just because it didn’t work out with someone, doesn’t mean it won’t work out with the countless other people you have a chance of meeting and forming a wonderful connection with

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I dunno I mean I knew a lot of Americans were against it but I assumed they were all elitist right wing weirdos.

What's the mainstream left wing position then if it's not socialism?

Oh

Oh no

Your first warning sign should have been when they called the Bismark Model of healthcare, literally named after the nationalist monarchist and noble statesman who invented it, far left.

I don’t know how to explain to people that, in any other country, Biden would be a conservative and somehow most Americans have been convinced he’s a commie.

You’ve just realized something strange about the humans. They’re a race that joined the galaxy recently, but you’ve just found evidence of them already been part of it for many millennia before, but it feels like everybody’s forgotten.

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We were delighted when the people calling themselves ‘humans’ joined the spacefaring races. They were clever and agile, hot-tempered and humorous, fierce and yet friendly, a young species with much to offer us. 

Most species are still delighted. But we are the Bybleotekar, the recorders of the spaceways, and we have begun to wonder. Our merry companions are… not different, but too much the same. They understand so readily, accept so quickly - most new species have trouble adjusting to dealing with aliens, to the realities of space travel, to the sheer bigness of the universe. But the humans are so adaptable, so ready for it all, they might be remembering something they’ve forgotten, not learning something new. 

Some of us, the Izaslanik of the Bybleotekar, the gatherers of information for the record keepers, began encouraging humans to join us, that we might study them more closely. They like the work - they are a curious species, delighting in new knowledge, and they make able assistants. My human companion is named Mira, a young female. She is a good companion, who sings sweetly and laughs often. 

When Mira struck the first blow against what I thought I knew of the universe, against illusions soon to shatter that I had thought were truth, we were attending the coronation of a lesser Netar of the Kktil, recording the customs and ceremonies and unofficially enjoying the colourful celebrations. Mira was watching the dancing, her mouth widened in a ‘smile’. “It’s so pretty,” she said, her hairless face sheened with sweat under the hot sun. “I love the turquoise jewellery.” She pointed to the bright blue stones that bedecked the dancers. “I should buy some. Our homeworld doesn’t have any turquoise, you know. Only a few pieces we brought with us when we came.” 

It takes me a little while to understand what she said. It is only later, during the feasting, that I turn to her again. “You said your homeworld doesn’t have turquoise. Only… what you brought with you. Do you mean turquoise you have bought offworld, since you joined the spaceways?” 

do you ever just think, wow, what a bummer women are so much more attractive than men, then convince yourself that's perfectly straight of you, or are you normal

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peeling those sour rainbow gummy strips into long thin strings and putting them into cheap energy drink to create something im calling battery acid spaghetti will update once ive finished it

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dont do this

I really hope its not too bad bc i actually love both components.

it forms a dry skin at the top made of the sour pellets. not a great start.

tastes really good actually. i also feel like i am about to explode.

do not do this.

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Unanimous consensus: Do not do this

Other people: Hold on I’m about to do this

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"No one can love you until you love yourself" is like the worst possible way of articulating "if you don't respect and value yourself, it's very easy to become attracted to people who don't treat you right and then justify their mistreatment, so be careful."

so THAT'S what it's supposed to mean. that actually makes sense.

The most important thing for a person to be is Interesting

The next most important thing for a person to be is Kind

The third most important thing? FUCKING BADASS WIZARD

Anyway with anti-sodomy laws back on the discussion table I'm going to repeat that you can personally be squicked out by the consensual sex someone else has, but saying that their consensual sex between willing, active, adult participants should be illegal and is indicative of some sort of moral failing is L I T E R A L L Y a major facet in extreme homophobia and absolutely has gotten people killed.

You don't have to like their business but as long as everyone involved in the encounter is saying yes, it's also really not your business.

This is the precident you are helping further by digging your heels in and saying 'but I think it's gross and makes them bad people'. This is what happened last time that was the reasoning for law, and what is being threatened to happen again.

"but Jaz, how would they enforce it"

Easily.

People would report you to the police for any hint of it. Whether real or imagined. You held hands with someone of the same sex. Someone started a rumor that they saw you kissing. You bought a sex toy and the vendor automatically reported you. You clicked a web page or picked up a magazine that had a different suspected deviant on it and the shop owner or internet service provider automatically reported you. You had certain mannerisms. You hung out to much with a specific friend. You seemed too close to a family member. Literally anything.

In some cases people would literally peep through windows, listen at the door, even wait across the street for your guest to come over and then call the police to kick the door down and catch the two of you in the act.

Never forget that the Stonewall riot was started by one such raid where police stormed a gay bar looking to arrest as many "sodomy" and "public indecency" suspects as possible.

That's how. By encouraging people to barge into other people's private, consensual sex lives and make reports to the authorities. By encouraging people to lay traps so unsuspecting gay people could stumble into them. By encouraging people to stalk and harass anyone who showed any sign of 'being a pervert' in the name of 'protecting neighborhoods from predators'. By weaponizing the real concern for predatory behavior against people who were engaging in consensual intimacy in a way they happened to not like.

By doing exactly what I've been continuously saying is bad behavior that has gotten countless LGBT people jailed and killed.

We're not turning this against our own community. Homophobes and transphobes have already made it plenty clear they don't care how good or respectable we are, they just want us all dead.

"how would they enforce it"

well in 2012 a guy named snowden let us know they're basically wiretapping us at all times and have gigantic collections of all our metadata and we have been living in a nice little surveillance state since 2001's patriot act

My uncle used to hang out in those public parks after dark where gay men would solicit sex - from each other, from sex workers, and (when they were particularly unlucky) from undercover cops.

Having sex with a partner in your home was dangerous because it was too identifiable. Your neighbors, your landlord, your family, your friends, any one of them could happen to notice if you brought a boyfriend or a one night stand home, and this was before we had any right to privacy in our homes.

So anonymous sex in the park was SAFER for gay men. As long as you didn't draw the short stick and snag a cop. A cop who would, just as they often do today with sex workers, happily have sex with you before cuffing you, walking you into the station through every reporter in town, and splashing your name and face across the morning paper with a sodomy charge. Then your life was effectively over. And they would leverage that to make you tell them names, give up others to have their lives ruined in the hopes of salvaging what was left of your own.

My uncle came a little too close one day, nearly got caught up in a raid at the park he was at with some friends. He illustrated children's books for a living. If he was caught he would never work again. So he fled. Borrowed some money from my mother and *fled the country*. He only came back once a year, long enough to fulfill visa requirements. He only came back with his boyfriend in 2005 when my mother assured him that things were safer.

If the enforcement of these laws could ruin lives like that back then, how badly do you think it could go for us in the era of unprecedented near total surveillance? Our memories need to be long enough to remember that these laws and the methods used to enforce them are not hypothetical. They have already happened and ARE already happening. There is precedent, there are known mechanisms, and there are known ways to gum up the works too.

Me when I realize that the writers strike will potentially open up new waves of audience support for lower budget, independently created media that people put their authentic selves into, including less limitations on queer, neurodiverse, disabled, and poc representation

It’s always writing that people remember. Let’s see what happens when your creatives go out on their own. So much of the best art is a middle finger to whoever said they couldn’t make it.