In Which I Try To Tumblr

Reminds me of this lol

His sweatshirt reads, “Pro-child, pro-family, pro-choice”. His sash says “honored guest”. His pin says, “honorary sister”.

i love defunctland because youll be watching a completely ordinary and straightforward video about theme park history until kevin says some shit like "nothing makes one face their own mortality more than being a wiggle" and then continues on like nothing ever happened

I went on a defunctland binge yesterday, and I don’t think I’ll ever forget him going on a minute long rant regardind an incredibly detailed explanation of the ideological debate in High Shool Musical 2’s “I Don’t Dance”, only to then completely and suddenly move on from it and continue what the video was actually about.

ooh ooh a favourite of mine would be "a california themed theme park in the already california themed california" from the superstar limo vid

i hope everyone knows that the last wga strike was ~100 days and it’s a pretty common phenomenon for strike support to tank after a month or two when it feels like it’s dragging on and some writers and talk show hosts are crossing picket lines and trying to “return” to “normal” because of people’s livelihoods etc when they’re really just scabs. sure hope that we keep that in mind and are prepared for the long haul and aren’t just in it while it’s convenient for us <3

Thank you, /r/ProgrammerHumor, I love you endlessly.

Redditors competing to make the worst volume sliders possible...

special delivery for @soffies!!!

Evil dictatorship exerting supreme control over its population by giving them human rights

Why doesn't the USA allow LGBTQ+ rights?

Michael Parenti, Blackshirts and Reds: Rational Fascism and the Overthrow of Communism

Bro I fucking love the DB Cooper case nothing about this whole situation sounds real. None of the passengers on the plane realized they were being hijacked until the plane landed two hours after it was supposed to and the fbi showed up with suitcases full of money. The note about the bomb almost went unnoticed because the flight attendant thought she was being sexually harassed so she didn't read it. One of the main suspects was the first trans woman in Washington to have a sex change operation. A reporter who was so dead set on his suspect that he brought him to court was so upset about being wrong that he went catatonic and was treated with electroshock therapy and it WORKED. There's been multiple "I'm DB Cooper" death confessions. He never even SAID his name was DB Cooper. Either he got away with a million bucks in today's money and the most iconic and harmless crime American history or he impaled himself on a pine tree while falling a zillion miles an hour in the dark while clutching duffel bags full of cash and either option is equally hilarious. He wore a clip on tie. He committed an act of sky piracy. What in the fucking looney toons

So I’ve been enjoying the Disney vs. DeSantis memes as much as anyone, but like. I do feel like a lot of people who had normal childhoods are missing some context to all this.

I was raised in the Bible Belt in a fairly fundie environment. My parents were reasonably cool about some things, compared to the rest of my family, but they certainly had their issues. But they did let me watch Disney movies, which turned out to be a point of major contention between them and my other relatives.

See, I think some people think this weird fight between Disney and fundies is new. It is very not new. I know that Disney’s attempts at inclusion in their media have been the source of a lot of mockery, but what a lot of people don’t understand is that as far as actual company policy goes, Disney has actually been an industry leader for queer rights. They’ve had policies assuring equal healthcare and partner benefits for queer employees since the early 90s.

I’m not sure how many people reading this right now remember the early 90s, but that was very much not industry standard. It was a big deal when Disney announced that non-married queer partners would be getting the same benefits as the married heterosexual ones.

Like — it went further than just saying that any unmarried partners would be eligible for spousal benefits. It straight-up said that non-same-sex partners would still need to be married to receive spousal benefits, but because same-sex partners couldn’t do that, proof that they lived together as an established couple would be enough.

In other words, it put long-term same-sex partners on a higher level than opposite-sex partners who just weren’t married yet. It put them on the exact same level as heterosexual married partners.

They weren’t the first company ever to do this, but they were super early. And they were certainly the first mainstream “family-friendly” company to do it.

Conservatives lost their damn minds.

Protests, boycotts, sermons, the whole nine yards. I can’t tell you how many books about the evils of Disney my grandmother tried to get my parents to read when I was a kid.

When we later moved to Florida, I realized just how many queer people work at Disney — because historically speaking, it’s been a company that has guaranteed them safety, non-discrimination, and equal rights. That’s when I became aware of their unofficial “Gay Days” and how Christians would show up from all over the country to protest them every year. Apparently my grandmother had been upset about these days for years, but my parents had just kind of ignored her.

Out of curiosity, I ended up reading one of the books my grandmother kept leaving at our house. And friends — it’s amazing how similar that (terrible, poorly written) rhetoric was to what people are saying these days. Disney hires gay pedophiles who want to abuse your children. Disney is trying to normalize Satanism in our beautiful, Christian America. 

Just tons of conspiracy theories in there that ranged from “a few bad things happened that weren’t actually Disney’s fault, but they did happen” to “Pocahontas is an evil movie, not because it distorts history and misrepresents indigenous life, but because it might teach children respect for nature. Which, as we all know, would cause them all to become Wiccans who believe in climate change.”

Like — please, take it from someone who knows. This weird fight between fundies and Disney is not new. This is not Disney’s first (gay) rodeo. These people have always believed that Disney is full of evil gays who are trying to groom and sexually abuse children.

The main difference now is that these beliefs are becoming mainstream. It’s not just conservative pastors who are talking about this. It’s not just church groups showing up to boycott Gay Day. Disney is starting to (reluctantly) say the quiet part out loud, and so are the Republicans. Disney is publicly supporting queer rights and announcing company-supported queer events and the Republican Party is publicly calling them pedophiles and enacting politically driven revenge.

This is important, because while this fight has always been important in the history of queer rights, it is now being magnified. The precedent that a fight like this could set is staggering. For better or for worse, we live in a corporation-driven country. I don’t like it any more than you do, and I’m not about to defend most of Disney’s business practices. But we do live in a nation where rights are largely tied to corporate approval, and the fact that we might be entering an age where even the most powerful corporations in the country are being banned from speaking out in favor of rights for marginalized people… that’s genuinely scary.

Like… I’ll just ask you this. Where do you think we’d be now, in 2023, if Disney had been prevented from promising its employees equal benefits in 1994? That was almost thirty years ago, and look how far things have come. When I looked up news articles for this post from that era, even then journalists, activists, and fundie church leaders were all talking about how a company of Disney’s prominence throwing their weight behind this movement could lead to the normalization of equal protections in this country.

The idea of it scared and thrilled people in equal parts even then. It still scares and thrills them now.

I keep seeing people say “I need them both to lose!” and I get it, I do. Disney has for sure done a lot of shit over the years. But I am begging you as a queer exvangelical to understand that no. You need Disney to win. You need Disney to wipe the fucking floor with these people.

Right now, this isn’t just a fight between a giant corporation and Ron DeSantis. This is a fight about the right of corporations to support marginalized groups. It’s a fight that ensures that companies like Disney still can offer benefits that a discriminatory government does not provide. It ensures that businesses much smaller than Disney can support activism.

Hell, it ensures that you can support activism.

The fight between weird Christian conspiracy theorists and Disney is not new, because the fight to prevent any tiny victory for marginalized groups is not new. The fight against the normalization of othered groups is not new.

That’s what they’re most afraid of. That each incremental victory will start to make marginalized groups feel safer, that each incremental victory will start to turn the tide of public opinion, that each incremental victory will eventually lead to sweeping law reform.

They’re afraid that they won’t be able to legally discriminate against us anymore.

So guys! Please. This fight, while hilarious, is also so fucking important. I am begging you to understand how old this fight is. These people always play the long game. They did it with Roe and they’re doing it with Disney.

We have! To keep! Pushing back!

Someone reblogged this saying they'd never heard any of this before and they didn't even know how to begin verifying it, so let me help!

Here's a 1995 article from the NYT about Disney putting this policy into effect after promising to do so in 1994.

Here's a wikipedia page about Disney's unofficial Gay Days and how they've been protested by Christian groups.

I tried to find the book I read, but honestly so many different weird evangelical anti-Disney books came up when I was googling that I can't be sure which one it was. 🙃

THERE IT IS AGAIN!  THERE IT FUCKING IS!  i’VE BEEN TALKING ABOUT THIS PHOTO FOR YEARS AND NEVER COULD FIND IT!!  THE LAN PARTY WITH THE GUY DUCT-TAPED TO THE CEILING!!  BACK IN ANCIENT TIMES WHEN PEOPLE STILL USED CATHODE MONITORS AND WHEN COUNTERSTRIKE WAS THE NEW THING.  THIS SHIT IS REAL.  THIS IS REAL SHIT.  SHIT THAT HAPPENED.

Blackundertaker for the link. So kotaku did an interview with a butch of people to track down the people connected with the LAN party.

From the article.

The picture in question originates from Mason, Michigan, where a close group of friends who liked to build personal computers and organize LAN parties grew up. Through Reddit and email, we were able to get in touch with a large portion of the group, as well as obtain verification and additional images…

For the Mason alumni, the night they taped Drew Purvis to the ceiling was just an average day, another LAN party with friends.

“It was still early in the day and the LAN had already become fractured,” said Nick Wellman, another LAN goer. “There were about 10 of us there, and we were already playing three, four different games. Tyler was looking around and said, ‘I think you can duct tape someone to that I-beam.’”

At this point, the teens gathered the necessary supplies, bought duct tape on a friend’s employee discount and had the tallest attendee, Brian, hold the subject, Drew, aloft while the rest taped him up.

What you see in the now-iconic photo is actually the group’s second attempt to suspend their friend from the ceiling with duct tape. After about 10 minutes, the tape digging into his sides, Drew asked to be cut down. They revised their plan, adding pillows, and strapped him back up. Once on the beam, someone else had the idea to stack some tables up so Drew could still play on his computer.

“That is the funniest part about the picture,” Nick told us. “Gaming from the beam was a complete afterthought.”

Drew lasted about two hours suspended above his comrades before retiring to the ground (turns out a duct tape cocoon runs hot).

WGA has called for a strike. Remember that the writers do not wish for a strike (as WGA East reminded everyone) and that this is a result of the AMPTP's insufficient responses to the proposals and requests from the WGA.

The WGA is fighting to ensure that writers receive fair compensation and to improve working conditions that have been eroded for the profit of streaming services. See these articles for a quick rundown of what has led to the strike and what the WGA is asking for: Variety, New York Times, WGA West linktree.

Commentary of "nobody in Hollywood writes anything good anyway" and "this isn't going to improve all the shit television" and "the writers always complain" is not only counterproductive but actively anti-union conversation in favor of the studios, so don't try it — especially not about a strike called on International Workers' Day.

A jokester, eh? I make you laugh? I’m here to amuse you?

Four times taller than the Niagara Falls, the majestic Kaieteur Falls in Guyana sits in the Amazon Forest. At a dizzying 741 feet, it is also known as the world’s largest single drop waterfall!

That looks like a lot more than one drop of water.

Hey quick question but why does it look like one of the Plagues

For people asking about the colour:

(1) time of day and lighting plus angle. This isn’t thé only red photo out there, but it’s certainly one of the most striking I’ve seen.

(2) the water flowing into it is very brown, there’s a lot of sediment in it. Conglomerate and sandstone is the mix I saw listed when I checked.

(3) the foam mixing in will make the brown colour lighter which can make it easier for us to pick out the red elements

(4) waterfall is haunted.

“At the base of Kaieteur the force of the falling water creates a weird phenomenon – constant hurricane. There are constant waves in the small pond, the air is full with fleeces of foam gyrating chaotically. The wind is pulling the visitors and it seems that the day is grey and stormy. But – as one leaves the base of falls – it turns out that the sun is shining and all trees stand calmly.”

Hope that helps for anyone looking through for the answer!

Am I the only one whose eyes went straight to the very large birds first?

This already looks like a portal to hell with demon raptors circling it and you’re telling me there’s also a PERMANENT HURRICANE down there??

This is what I'm talking about when I say the moral panic around kink and fantasy is a right wing position:

The idea that someone's fantasies or what art they like is an indicator they are a dangerous predator is fearmongering and it specifically targets queer people. The "exposing" of people for their sexuality is a tool of the right to smear someone's name as a sexual deviant, and therefore, someone worthy of punishment and exile. There is nothing leftist about this behavior. If you participate in this kind of "exposing" of "pedophiles" you need to reexamine who you're benefiting and what kind of mentality you're falling into.

i wish i could see this picture for the first time again

Every time I see some gamerbro edit of a female video game character to make her 'prettier', I always see something I have mentally dubbed Cockroach Wife Syndrome (in honor of the guy who accidentally conditioned himself to only be aroused by a fantasy of his cockroach wife Ogtha).

That is to say, there is a certain subset of gamerbro who interacts so rarely with real women, that his primary touchstone for how women look is fiction: often video games and anime. So when a video game woman looks too realistic--too close to having traits that one might find in real flesh and blood women--this is foreign to them. This is unattractive. They have been jacking it to hentai and blender animation porn for too many years, and have inadvertently conditioned themselves to only be sexually aroused by the exaggerated cartoonish traits of animated women.

So now every time I see one such edit, I can't help but think. My. What a coincidence you've made her look more like an anime waifu. Truly dedicated to your cockroach wife.

You can’t just breeze over something like “the guy who accidentally conditioned himself to only be aroused by a fantasy of his cockroach wife Ogtha” without at least linking a 20 minute video breakdown of this man’s descent into madness.