Reminder that the lizard alien conspiracy theory is antisemitism
"They drink blood/adrenochrome/feed on fear" - repackaged blood libel.
"They're manipulating the economy and starting needless wars" - repackaged Jewish banker conspiracy theory.
"The reptilian aliens control the media" - repackaged "Jews control the media" conspiracy theory.
"Judaism was created by reptilian aliens in Babylon" - demonizing Judaism by claiming it was created by malevolent aliens.
"Reptilian aliens are creating fake 'vaccines' to harm/control us" - repackaged conspiracy theories about Jews creating dangerous vaccines.
"We're not inciting violence against everyday Jews, we just want to share the truth" - still trying to convert Jews to something else, which itself is antisemitism.
I think if a studio exec says they want to force you to starve to death so you’ll be made to accept garbage wages, you should crush them in a hydraulic press incredibly slowly
Like the fact that rich people have gotten to the point where they think they can just be like “oh yeah I’m literally trying to kill you” without fear of repercussions is beyond infuriating. They need to know what it feels like to be beaten to death by hammers.
Only 13 percent of video games are readily playable and accessible. No other form of media is as endangered as video games. There is no legal path to preserve or archive video games. You can go to libraries and archives for books years out of print. You can rent a movie or download a pdf. There is no legal equivalent for video games. Games companies do not double as archival organisations and they never will. They have never been about preserving. They are about selling. Which is not inherently evil compared to anyone else but they along with the law are directly preventing archivers and preservationists from doing their job and allowing this entire medium to be experienced in the future.
Think of some of the most influential video games of all time. How many of them can you play right now. Without piracy. How many of these could your not very technology literate friend play. How do you think this is affecting not only the wider industry now but also people in the future. And for completely arbitrary meaningless reasons.
genuinely friendly reminder to never EVER share someone’s location/information without their explicit permission. you do not know why that person is asking, what they plan to do with that information, or even if the asker has that person’s best interest in mind at all.
OP is also not exaggerating how common this is. my abusive parents successfully kidnapped me from work once because a coworker who didn’t know my situation told them when my next shift was. my parents didn’t even know where I lived at that point in time, which was very much on purpose. it took me days to get away again. ALWAYS tell the person that is being looked for that someone is looking. never share personal information or even how to get in contact them. you can take information in and pass it along, but you absolutely cannot give any out.
[image descriptions: screencap of tweets from rahaeli @rahaeli 7/9/21.
Hello friends, your regular reminder that a not insignificant number of social media “missing person” efforts are actually someone’s abuser trying to get them back, especially with missing older teens. Please don’t share unofficial missing person flyers–
–and if you do spot/know the person in them, tell THAT PERSON someone is looking for them instead of providing any information to the person doing the looking.
I cannot tell you how many times I have seen a site wide “missing person” turn into the person writing in to ask us to enforce the restraining order, or the custodial parent begging us to shut down the non custodial parent’s attempted kidnapping
Every time I say this, someone says “but what if it’s real, better safe than sorry” and no, it absolutely is not. For a good while I got “this is my abuser, please make them stop” requests for 70-80% of the viral unofficial missing persons crossing my feed.
This number is obviously anecdata–I’ve never been able to find a peer reviewed study attempting to pin down prevalance. But based on those experiences, I absolutely advise never sharing one of those posts.
(I used to finish this PSA thread saying that if a missing person alert came from police or a federal agency, it had likely been screened for abusive tactics and was more likely to be real. I no longer say this.)
This should be your principle for any time someone wants you to connect them with someone else, btw. Never give someone’s info to the person who asked. Tell the asker you’ll give that third party THEIR contact info instead.
–and if you do spot/know the person in them, tell THAT PERSON someone is looking for them instead of providing any information to the person doing the looking.
I will probably be muting this in a bit, but some followup: for those questioning “just how often does this happen, even?”, I wasn’t keeping an exact count but I think we just hit double digits of people saying “this happened to me/a friend” in replies to QTs of this
As in, of the current 70 or so quote tweets, around 10% of them have a person telling a story about a time their abuser faked a social media post expressing concern over them as a missing/vulnerable person in order to continue abusing them.
It’s not rare. It’s not unusual. It is, in fact, vastly more common than *any* dangerous situation in which social media attention can do literally anything to improve the situation. (I’ve rarely seen a dangerous situation massive social media attention can improve, honestly.)
To the people who want to argue about this advice: I have, more than once, personally seen an abuser’s viral missing persons post end in suicide or homicide. I have never in 20 years seen a case of stranger kidnapping at all, much less one that’s resolved by virality.
All I’m asking you to understand is that the abusers who do this are very, very good at convincing you their “missing person” is irrational, in danger, or has diminished capacity. You will never be able to spot these situations by reading over a single post. Ever.
If you want to retweet missing personsviral alerts because you want to do good in the world, please understand that there is a much, much greater statistical chance you are *actually* contributing to making things much worse for the person instead. Please just think about that.
And to answer the “well why are you qualified to say this”, since this has gotten way out of my usual circles: hi, I’ve been working trust and safety/ToS on social media for 20 years now. I am never, ever the person with the worst stories when I go out drinking with others.
/end id]
If you’re doubting this the thing you have to remember is that stranger kidnapping is very rare, for either children or adults. The vast majority of the time, when someone is kidnapped or held against their will, it’s by someone they already know, someone close to them: a parent, a partner, that sort of thing. So if someone has been kidnapped or whatever, the people closest to them (who are usually the ones to put up missing posters and whatnot) should be the first suspects, not the last. It’s possible that the person putting up the missing person fliers is the parent who has custody and the noncustodial parent kidnapped the kids … but it’s just as possible that the person putting up fliers is the noncustodial parent who is doing this as part of a plot to find the kids so they can kidnap them. You can’t tell which is which just from seeing the flyer.
And when people choose to leave voluntarily and cut all contact with people close to them, they don’t just do it on a whim. There’s pretty much always a reason. For example, the people they’re cutting contact with might be shitty and abusive. Now, the reason might also be “the person leaving is messed up by drugs” or whatnot, or “they’re being forced by an abuser to cut contact.” Those are also reasons. But a lot of people who cut contact with someone in their life do it for very good and valid reasons. You can’t tell which is which just from seeing the flyer.
rb this version with image descriptions please
remember this especially now with so many trans and gay people fleeing states that are passing anti lgbtq laws
i guarantee there’s going to be homophobic families saying their “mentally disturbed family member” is missing
All the fucking time in Facebook groups for my local area we’ll get parents looking for their “missing kids” who turn out to be 18 to 30(!!) year olds that cut ties for a reason.
tourism entry agreements for many countries are completely unbalanced and unfair. did you know that people with a canadian passport can go to malaysia without applying for a visa / obtain an automatic tourism visa upon arrival, but if you have a malaysian passport you have to apply in advance for a tourism visa to go to canada? sometimes months in advance? any canadian can just show up to malaysia unannounced and they'll be let in, but my malaysian family has to beg the canadian gov for permission in advance (and get DENIED) just to come see me for a couple weeks. this is what it's like for most western passport holders in general, just because you are allowed free entry to the global south does not mean people in the global south are allowed free entry to the global north.
do you love the color of the sky: abridged version
NO NONONONONO NONONONO I LIKE MY PEACE AND QUIET 500 NOTES IS QUITE ENOUGH FOR ME THANK YOU VERY MUCH HAVE A SPLENDID DAY
beginning operation ‘let’s get this to 10k notes’
Thank you @friendofbones and everyone who got me to 25 reblogs!
Here are some miscellaneous tips and misconceptions for sighted people who want to be a better ally to the Blind / Visually Impaired:
- Don’t assume how much residual vision we have even if you think you can tell. Do not ask extensive questions about our vision and what we can or can’t see in general unless we give permission. Don’t try to figure it out on your own either.
- Blindness is a spectrum and there are many different ways to be blind. Some of us have very complex vision or vision that isn’t static. Someone could read a book fine, but still be blind because they have a very small field of vision and no depth perception. Anyone on the blind spectrum is welcome to identify as blind.
- We act “more blind” than we are because people will refuse us help when we need it if we don’t “fit the blind bill” so to speak. Don’t accuse anyone of faking for any reason but especially for that one.
- It’s not your place to expect us to blend into the sighted world the best we can or use as much of our vision as we can. A lot of us choose not to use our residual vision because with certain kinds of blindness, it takes conscious effort to see/process what we are seeing. It’s easier to be blind than see sometimes.
- Ask if we need accommodations or for you to adapt how you usually communicate. Do not assume we do or don’t need them.
- Start adding image descriptions to ALL images you send/post anywhere. Start considering blind people and screen reader users everywhere because trust me, we are everywhere!
- Stop using “blind” and blindness as an insult, joke or metaphor. There are some uses of those words unrelated to visual impairment that are fine when used respectfully (i.e, “a blinding light”) but choose your words carefully.
- People who have perfect vision with glasses, “visually impaired” is not your term
- For fiction writers, stop with the blind seer / “blind but has super cool special abilities that make up for it or entirely erase it somehow” tropes please.
- Stop using small text in your posts
- Put image descriptions/alt text on the images in your carrds and rentrys and whatnot. Start putting them on your blog or get help to.
- We don’t want to hear about your grandpa that’s going blind or your pet cat that lost an eye while we’re just trying to wait in line for coffee
- Treat white canes like you would treat any other disability aid: it is an extension of the person’s body, don’t touch it or move it without permission. Don’t ask to try it out.
- DeafBlind people exist. We’re out there. We’re not a myth. Consider us too. There are many ways of interacting with the world that do not involve sight or hearing.
- Don’t tell us about your all consuming fear about the treacherous horrors of vision loss and how you wouldn’t want to live if you went blind. Blindness is our reality, not your nightmare. Examine why blindness is so terrifying to you and work to overcome it.
Blind/Visually Impaired people, feel free to add on!
The tourism promotion group Visit Lauderdale reported that over half a dozen organizations planning conventions in Broward County changed their minds citing ” what the Governor is doing in the education/schools.”
It’s almost like putting brainless screeching right wing cattle with no grasp of reality in a position of power is a bad idea or something
And this cunt seriously thinks he should be allowed to be president?
Florida is the most worthless rotting landfill in the entire United States and the brainless cunt in charge of this trash heap seriously thinks that he should be put in charge of a country?
It’s like a drunk driver insisting they should be allowed to work for the DMV
NO GYAOS DON'T DRINK THE BONG WATER
“DUDE
MY HANDS ARE HUGE
THEY CAN TOUCH EVERYTHING...BUT THEMSELVES....
.....
WAIT....”
Absolutely lost in the Sauce!
drive-in movie night ✨
“Their car has a big back seat
FOR BIG BACK SEAT ACTION”
"I cannot tell you the complete, fundamental shift that I have felt in the year since having surgery. I knew that I wanted top surgery for a decade; it's the longest I've ever thought about doing anything. The place where I went, I had that clinic's website open on my laptop for five years. It was this impossible mountain: I want that, but I'm never gonna get it. No one's gonna let me, blah, blah, blah. To have that be in the past now... I stand differently, I walk differently, I carry myself differently. It feels different in my body than it ever has. I have just never been happier. I've never been more centered. I've never felt more stable and present and alive. It's the best thing I've ever done for myself. It’s taught me a lot. The recovery process taught me about rest, accepting help, and caring for my body as something connected to me rather than separate from me, that I’m in opposition to: This is mine and I want to take care of it. I feel good in it and good about it. Part of cis people's fear around gender-affirming surgery is the fear of surgery at all — 'Oh, my God, but that's painful and scary!' My reaction to that is, 'No, no, you misunderstood. It was painful before. Your worry has kicked in at the wrong time. The right time to be concerned was about the pain I was in before this. I'm great now.' Everybody else's concern for me has been on a delay. There's no need to be concerned anymore. That's so freeing."
@lgbtqcreators creator meme: [7/8] lgbtq+ celebs — LIV HEWSON
<3 THEY ARE AN ICON <3
seriously tho i’m sure other people have already said this but given gay marriage isn’t even legal in japan yet it’s genuinely a pretty big deal for a mainline show in a franchise as big as gundam to end with its two female leads openly married
“I always remember having this fight with a random dude who claimed that ‘straight white men’ were the only true innovators. His prime example for this was the computer… the computer… THE COMPUTER!!! THE COM-PU-TER!!!
Alan Turing - Gay man and ‘father of computing’ Wren operating Bombe - The code cracking computers of the 2nd world war were entirely run by women Katherine Johnson - African American NASA mathematician and ‘Human computer’ Ada Lovelace - arguably the 1st computer programmer”
Also Margaret Hamilton - NASA computer scientist who put the first man on the moon - an as-yet-unmatched feet of software engineering, here pictured beside the full source of that computer programme. #myhero
Grace Hopper - the woman that coined the term “bug”
hylocereus–undatus
Grace Hopper did more than coin the term “bug”. She invented the first program linker in the early 1950s, for the UNIVAC I. A program linker translates instructions from one language to another (for example, numerical codes that represent instructions translated to machine code that computers can read), which is the very foundation of how computer’s operate independently. she also pulled a steve rogers and tried to enlist in the military a bunch of times and was denied. then, an exception was made for her when she joined the navy reserves, and she ended up serving for over 40 years (half of which was active duty). she retired from the navy Rear Admiral Grace Hopper. she was born in NYC in 1906. Grace Hopper was a fucking badass.
also computing was typically a job for women (many of whom were black women that made incredible contributions) back in the day, so it’s absolutely fucking wild that straight white men think they are the foundation of computer innovation. men PUSHED women out and took the credit.
tomboy-toni
Reblogging to do what the failed education system never did.
Reblogging to do
what the failed education
system never did.
Beep boop! I look for accidental haiku posts. Sometimes I mess up.
Adding Wendy Carlos to the list! Trans icon and pioneer of synthesized music!!
Also, just about every computerized device outside of desktops is running ARM chips now. Your phone, your keyboard, your car, your watch. Basically everything.
And ARM was primarily designed by Sophie Wilson, a trans woman.
Adding this
Something needs to be done about teachers who hate kids tbh
My sister is currently getting her doctorate in child psychology & education, but years ago she worked as a substitute english teacher at a high school in nyc. She spent half a year subbing for a woman who was out for surgery, and had been teaching english there for years and years. Most of the kids in this class were remedial; they had failed english before and had to retake it. Most of them hated the class, and they hated literature, because they had been made to feel unintelligent. My sister decided to introduce them to poetry, which was a little easier to digest than long form prose, and had them read Robert Frost's "Fire and Ice." And the kids loved it! They connected with it, they were spirited and engaged in class for the first time all year. They wrote their own poetry! They started seeking out and reading poetry on their own! They were all on track to get a C, B or A in that class. And then the original teacher returned and failed every single student, to "teach them all a lesson". That was the moment my sister decided to go into administration so she could hopefully prevent that sort of thing from happening. But it's difficult. Despite numerous complaints from parents and other teachers, that teacher had a job there for decades. She continued to have a job there. There are a lot of teachers like her, wielding power and taking their frustrations out on kids, especially disabled and remedial kids. And students have so few advocates in the classroom.
This post has turned into teachers complaining that this behavior is understandable because of burnout, low wages, etc and like. Ok then quit lmao. If you treat my kid like this because of "burnout" I'm gonna burn out your fucking teeth
I hope y’all understand the racism apparent here and how black women are being expected to conform to the standards of white womanhood in order to be actually classified as women
Misogynoir and transphobia are inherently tied to one another as long as the standards of womanhood are small, “delicate” white women
AND INTERSEXISM. PLEASE stop leaving intersexism out of discussions of the intersection of intersexism and misogynoir!
If you have a senior to check on ask them to "borrow" something small so they think they're helping you.
My mom (72) recently downsized and moved close enough to me that checking on her in person regularly is not really out of my way, but when I was obvious about it she wouldn’t let me “stop-by” because she was, “fine”.
Well, one day I actually needed some aluminum foil so I called and asked if I could borrow enough to cover a baking tin because I didn’t want to run to the store. She said sure, but when I got to her house she needed furniture moved, a wasp nest removed, and her coffee pot fixed. After I got the foil I mentioned each thing cautiously and she let me take care of them for her. So next weekend I’ll need a cup of rice and check on her again.
Don’t “let them think” they’re helping you.
Just LET THEM HELP YOU.
“Hey Mom, do you know how to fix a button? I lost one off my good shirt and I really need to learn.”
“Dad, how do you get your spaghetti sauce so good? If I come over on Saturday can you show me?”
“Playing cards sounds great, Mrs. Simmons, I’ve never learned canasta.”
Elders are also part of your community and they have much to teach you. Exchange. Don’t condescend.
Can we also extend this to disabled people please? I feel like we face a very similar kind of condescension (and obviously there is a significant overlap). I actually know lots of things most people don’t.