This is definitely not a new topic but

the only people I pity in this WFH situation are artists whose spouse/family/roommates now spend their whole day at home and they walk into the artists’ room while they’re drawing emotional stuff and making hideous faces

crush anon to lovers (slow burn)

so i was reading the detective pikachu trivia page and

“Ay yo, Arizona check!”

[Take It Easy by The Eagles plays]

Disgraceful. That egg wasn’t seasoned at all.

Larch valley

To the customers who apologize repeatedly for “bothering” me, or offer to clean up their own spill if I just get them some paper towels, or walk all the way around an aisle so as not to disturb me when I’m blocking their path, I just want to reassure you that you are NOT the annoying customer we complain about in retail. You are very kind and you clearly respect me and my time and I appreciate you. Also I am happy to help you with whatever you need and it is not at all a bother.

To the customer who shouted “EGGS?” at me from twenty feet away because apparently it was just too much trouble to come a few steps closer and use a complete sentence like “where are the eggs, please?”: fuck you.

unpopular opinion maybe but I think purity culture and cancel culture have gone too far, and they’ve started to become so ugly and toxic. let’s bring back critical thinking, patience with others, and opportunity for growth

Okay. Holy fuck. This post blew up – on a sideblog where I had, I shit you not, only two followers when I posted this – so I’d like to clarify what I meant when I made this post.

Great question!

1) I am NOT saying we support murderers, rapists, and abusers; people who decide to commit crimes such as those do not deserve our support, and that’s fine.

2) I am also NOT saying we let creators/celebrities/influencers etc say and do racist/homophobic/transphobic etc things and get away with it.

3) I am NOT saying we go back to the “good ol’ days” where openly being racist, for example, was acceptable. I don’t want that. If you reblogged this post thinking “god, yes, I want to say bigoted things again without sjws attacking me for it” tough luck buddy, but this post ain’t supporting that or you.

This post is actually directed to activist communities, particularly online ones. This criticism is coming from someone who is a part of those activist communities because I think it’s time we have an intra-community discussion about how we react to problematic events.

So say a celebrity does something problematic. Let’s use a real-world example, okay? A while ago, Terry Crews came under fire for saying people needed paternal and maternal love “no matter where you get that [from].”

People immediately jumped on him for implying that children of single parents or same-sex parents were lacking, that he was being homophobic, that he’d blown it, that he was cancelled and could no longer be a role model despite his past activism and support of various good causes, and that was that.

From 0 to 100 real quick. From a valid criticism sprouting from his miscommunication and his audience’s misunderstanding – to saying his role as an activist was forever over.

Do you understand how toxic that is? People – even our ALLIES – cannot make a single mistake, not say a single thing out of line without being dragged forth and humiliated and “cancelled.”

We as activists cannot, CANNOT, demand perfection. We ourselves are NOT perfect, we ourselves have done and said problematic things in the past and so we cannot demand absolute perfection from others.

Our response to problematic things and people has to change.

How should we change?

We should educate. When someone, ally or enemy, does something problematic, instead of dragging them or cancelling them or making fun of them we should politely educate them on why what they did is wrong. More often than not? They’ll understand and apologize!

Always assume ignorance on their part instead of malice, because actual malice in the world is rare, while simple ignorance is widespread.

If we come at them and attack them? Very likely they will double down on their position and refuse to change, because of the toxicity of the response they got from this movement. And they won’t learn and grow from this experience and will likely dig themselves deeper in this hole.

We have to be more patient with others. I know it is tiring and frustrating and exhausting to deal with problematic attitudes and comments, which often come in the form of microaggressions, but we have to rise above our initial instinct to lash out and attack if we want any lasting positive social change to be made.

Because we don’t want a society where people are afraid to speak their minds, do we? We don’t want a society where people are afraid they’ll say the wrong thing and be excommunicated from a group forever, do we? We don’t want a fucking authoritarian Twitter regime, do we, where the slightest misstep kicks you to the cub for good?

I know I don’t. I want a society free of prejudices and bigotry, but one that is patient and understanding when people make mistakes. Even when their mistakes cause momentary harm, because it’s going to happen and it sucks, but it’s a part of the process.

Bottom line is: if you do not become a more patient, compassionate, and understanding person, you are going to alienate your allies. You are going to drive away more and more people from this movement because of how toxic the response to even the smallest of mistakes is. Nobody’s going to WANT to be a part of that movement, and for good reason.

Embrace patience and empathy and education. Destroy cancel culture.

“But antidepressants changes your brain chemistry!”

OH SHIT THIS REMINDED ME TO TAKE MY MEDS THANK YOU

RAINBOWS FOR SALE! GETCHA RED-HOT RAINBOWS!

My brother was diagnosed with depression years before I was, and because of that he started therapy years before I did.

I still remember when I was a young teen and he was playing a Nirvana song and he stopped it at this one line: “I miss the comfort of being sad”

He told me that when you start to get better, there’s a part of you that misses being sad and that if you start feeling that way you have to be extra extra aware and careful because if you indulge the feeling you’ll go down a self-destructive spiral

And even though that was years and years ago, I think about it all the time. Especially when I’m reading discourse on the idea of getting so attached to mental illness as an identity that you don’t want to improve things because you feel safe in it and don’t know who you are without it

I always think of that line “I miss the comfort of being sad” and my brother’s warning