I have never watched a mr beast video and every time I see his face doing that weird dead smile he does in every thumbnail, it just looks like that one photo of charlie from always sunny to me
i don’t understand, are they supposed to get nicer or just less bruised up?
when I was a kid I thought the weather guy on TV controlled the weather and he was just telling us what he was gonna do for the next few days. when he said “30% chance of rain Thursday” I thought he was just guessing how likely it was he’d wake up in a rain mood that morning
I feel like I need to explain. there was a whole internal logic here. there was fucking worldbuilding. I knew there were different weather people on the news in different places and I thought each one was the weather decider for their local area. I knew the word “meteorologist” and thought it was a scientist who had expertise in weather control technology. I never questioned why there was bad weather sometimes because “bad weather” was subjective, after all, I liked cloudy days and snow. and the plants need rain, right? so I figured the weather guy probably had regular meetings with local farmers and gardeners to make sure the amount of precipitation and sunlight we were getting was working out for the crops. I never spoke about this to anyone, because I thought everyone knew. at some point my parents had said “this guy on TV tells us what kind of weather we’re going to have” and I misunderstood exactly one fundamental point and built out an enormous set of logical conclusions from there. this lasted from like age 3 to age 6 btw
tags from someone recently reincarnated from a life as a mantis shrimp
when I was a kid I thought the weather guy on TV controlled the weather and he was just telling us what he was gonna do for the next few days. when he said “30% chance of rain Thursday” I thought he was just guessing how likely it was he’d wake up in a rain mood that morning
I feel like I need to explain. there was a whole internal logic here. there was fucking worldbuilding. I knew there were different weather people on the news in different places and I thought each one was the weather decider for their local area. I knew the word “meteorologist” and thought it was a scientist who had expertise in weather control technology. I never questioned why there was bad weather sometimes because “bad weather” was subjective, after all, I liked cloudy days and snow. and the plants need rain, right? so I figured the weather guy probably had regular meetings with local farmers and gardeners to make sure the amount of precipitation and sunlight we were getting was working out for the crops. I never spoke about this to anyone, because I thought everyone knew. at some point my parents had said “this guy on TV tells us what kind of weather we’re going to have” and I misunderstood exactly one fundamental point and built out an enormous set of logical conclusions from there. this lasted from like age 3 to age 6 btw
tags from someone recently reincarnated from a life as a mantis shrimp
when I was a kid I thought the weather guy on TV controlled the weather and he was just telling us what he was gonna do for the next few days. when he said “30% chance of rain Thursday” I thought he was just guessing how likely it was he’d wake up in a rain mood that morning
I feel like I need to explain. there was a whole internal logic here. there was fucking worldbuilding. I knew there were different weather people on the news in different places and I thought each one was the weather decider for their local area. I knew the word “meteorologist” and thought it was a scientist who had expertise in weather control technology. I never questioned why there was bad weather sometimes because “bad weather” was subjective, after all, I liked cloudy days and snow. and the plants need rain, right? so I figured the weather guy probably had regular meetings with local farmers and gardeners to make sure the amount of precipitation and sunlight we were getting was working out for the crops. I never spoke about this to anyone, because I thought everyone knew. at some point my parents had said “this guy on TV tells us what kind of weather we’re going to have” and I misunderstood exactly one fundamental point and built out an enormous set of logical conclusions from there. this lasted from like age 3 to age 6 btw
tags from someone recently reincarnated from a life as a mantis shrimp
while i slouched, nearly stooping, suddenly there came a booping, as of someone gently booping, booping at my chamber door. tis some mutual, i said, booping at my chamber door. only this and nothing more.
if you’re a Chinese official the first thing you do each morning is check to see if the editors have added a “Downfall” section to your Wikipedia page yet
In a truck stop bathroom washing my hands today and 2 boys, looked about 5 and 9, came in with their little sister who looked maybe 2. The following whispered conversation made my entire day
“We have to wait, there’s a lady in here!”
“That’s not a lady, he has a mustache! We can be in here!”
“Some ladies have mustaches! And she has boobs!”
“Well some guys have boobs! Like Uncle Jake!”
“Uncle Jake is fat!”
At this point I could not contain a chuckle and both whirled around with identical looks of panic on their faces. I smiled and said “it’s alright for you guys to be in here so your sister has help, don’t worry. And I’m both! That’s why I have boobs and a mustache. Some folks are just built that way”
(In unison) “Ooooooh!”
(older boy) “So do you use Sir or Ma'am or both?”
“Both, but I prefer Sir”
“Cool! Well thanks Sir! We have to help our sister now!”
This was in a small town country truck stop and both boys had “Murica” type stuff on and neither of them had any issue at all with these concepts. Their mom approached me while I was in line about 10 minutes later and apologized for them bothering me in the bathroom (they had told her about the interaction) and she and I had a lovely little chat too. I got to introduce her to the term “intersex” and her reply was “I think I’ve heard of that before! I didn’t know that was the word for it. Amazing how many different ways God can make people!”
Sometimes the world is good. More often than you might think, if you give it a chance. It’s not all bad loves <3
hey. if you are a queer/trans person who is feeling hopeless and overwhelmed by the election results, i just want to tell you this:
we have existed as long as humanity itself has existed. through every monarchy, every presidency, every dark age and revolution, queer people have existed. we have survived and lived and thrived and loved. in the face of an unwelcoming society, we have always carved out our own niches where we can find community, strength, and peace.
we survived 2004. we survived 2016 and 2020. we will survive this, too. i promise you.
please stay safe, take care of each other, and if you ever feel like it’s over - i suggest reading about our queer elders and ancestors who lived through time periods that were even more dangerous and hostile. i always find strength and solidarity in their stories.
but most importantly: hold onto one another, build each other up, and love one another. we will get through this.
One time a friend told me that if she wanted to have a chill night she would come to me and ask for tea and a book to read. I didn’t like tea at the time, but I always made sure my cupboards had them in case she needed a quiet night. One time I told my boss that I loved oranges, but couldn’t peel them because of my nails. For a year he made sure to peel me one at least once a week. Once my friends gave me a made up superlative of “most likely to have a pen they could borrow” and ever since I’ve made sure I always carry a pen with me. A long time ago, my high school librarian told me that no one would care what my grade in my sophomore chemistry class was if I’m bringing them doughnuts and asking them about their day.
Sometimes friendship is about carrying pens and peeling oranges. But the point is, surrounding yourself with people who you want to do the little things for. The point of it all is bringing in the doughnuts because you’ve found the people who deserve the doughnuts.
And I’m so fucking lucky, and I don’t always say it or even think it. Because I have friends who send me letters and who told me when the cafeteria at work had chopped tomatoes and who want to watch Scream with me and it just hits me sometimes that this world can do the ugliest things to people, but as long as I still have a friend who will point out dogs on the sidewalks to me then I have something amazing to live for. And as long as I have pals who I want to make peppermint bark for, then I have a reason to keep pushing this world to be better.
WHY ARE SO MANY ADULTS IN POSITIONS OF POWER DEMANDING THAT SCHOOLS INSPECT CHILDREN’S GENITALS?? FOR SPORTS??? ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SPORTS????? IT’S FUCKING WEIRD!! IT’S NOT NORMAL FOR ADULTS TO CARE THIS MUCH ABOUT RANDOM SCHOOL CHILDREN’S GENITALS OK?? it’s not about safety or fairness in sports it’s about control and treating kids like property instead of people
i feel like im going fucking crazy why are the same people who always scream ‘think of the children’ always the ones going out of their way to hurt them
It’s because when many conservatives bring this point up, they’re talking about a hypothetical idea of a child, a magic symbol of innocence.
Actual children are messy and imperfect and depending on which conservative you ask, some of them think it’s okay to beat them up for acting the way children usually do. I have yet to see a conservative actually advocate for proper youth rights.
There’s a reason conservatives raise a stink over pedophilia and abortion but do the exact opposite of what will help. They don’t like it when the victims they advocate for actually speak up and say, “please end child marriage” or “spanking just makes kids grow up afraid” or “the person who did this to me was a religious elder and not a drag queen”.
They’ve managed to get a powerful confirmation bias into their constituents that draws on years of transphobia and even antisemitic conspiracy. And of course, there’s racism too. Some conservatives will not see a child of color as a child at all.
The child further right conservatives want to protect becomes less and less real by the day.
And when they talk about this to moderates, more rational conservatives, liberals, and even leftists? They say “think of the children” and most people assume they’re talking about actual children.
Everyone wants to protect the children, but when it means a fake child instead of actual children, it means people can use it to support whatever they want, instead of taking a step back.
genuinely would rather have two thousand people add a cringe ass comment on my post than everyone silently reblogging aside from queue tags and content warnings
2024 tumblr is so fuckin silent, man. nobody’s contributing to bits. nobody rambles in the notes. everyone is saving their jokes for either original posts or discord dms.
if i were going for a funnyman approach on this post i would say some shit like “reply guys are faced with extinction in the modern poster’s economy despite being crucial to stability” but no. im just genuinely sad over the silence.
genuinely would rather have two thousand people add a cringe ass comment on my post than everyone silently reblogging aside from queue tags and content warnings
2024 tumblr is so fuckin silent, man. nobody’s contributing to bits. nobody rambles in the notes. everyone is saving their jokes for either original posts or discord dms.
if i were going for a funnyman approach on this post i would say some shit like “reply guys are faced with extinction in the modern poster’s economy despite being crucial to stability” but no. im just genuinely sad over the silence.
genuinely would rather have two thousand people add a cringe ass comment on my post than everyone silently reblogging aside from queue tags and content warnings
2024 tumblr is so fuckin silent, man. nobody’s contributing to bits. nobody rambles in the notes. everyone is saving their jokes for either original posts or discord dms.
if i were going for a funnyman approach on this post i would say some shit like “reply guys are faced with extinction in the modern poster’s economy despite being crucial to stability” but no. im just genuinely sad over the silence.
most young queer people/progressives online can’t understand the difference/nuance between fetishization and appreciation/attraction and when you tell them that some marginalized people actually feel represented and celebrated in kink art/kink spaces their brain short circuits. lol.
I’ve seen more appreciation and love for my body type and gender identity in kink heavy spaces than the other. lmao
anyway this is why I refuse to sanitize the sexual and intimate themes of my art because I’m not here to make stuff palatable to people who throw kinksters and horny transfems under the bus. 👍🏾
the people who overly sanitize their own experiences to avoid being part of “those” queers think that they’re in some sort of “respectable part” of the queer community and dont realize that the people who they’re trying to signal to that they’re “not a freak” still think of them as a freak. they genuinely believe that pandering to people who want them dead is enough to save their own skin. sad, really.
*me, owning a strange boutique housegoods/book store selling a variety of mystic, occult objects but no one realizes I live there, this is literally my living room*
How much for this stick I can shake at God?
10 bucks
can i get these three backscratchers with a bundle discount
15% discount for 3 or more
How bout this book? I think it’s look cool with a cosplay I’m planning
40 bucks but never attempt to read or open it
How much is the doll?
Oh that? Just take it. Take it far far away and do not allow it to return
How about this?
$29.99. Just be careful not to leave the candles burning at night, the gremlin comes alive and likes to wander around and go through your stuff
Hey this chair looks cool, how much?
the chair chooses its owner. sit down and see if it likes you
How bout this
Excuse me that’s my great-uncle, he is family
What about this?
that’s not a sale item, that’s my dang lunch
How much is this neat tea set?
OH GODS YOU’VE SET THEM LOOSE
What about this super creepy cool chair?
that’s Lionel. they’re sleeping and I suggest you do NOT wake them
How much for this dandy fellow?
YOU WOKE IT UPWHY DID YOU WAKE IT UP???
How much for the guy that claims to be my childhood friend but remembers things slightly differently than they happened?
The state of gay rights in the early aughts was not good; criminal penalties for homosexuality were rarely enforced but were on the books in many places, there was no right to marriage, and the morality of homosexuality was hotly contested in public. Big culture war issue. In that environment, where substantive protections were lacking, Democrats could be tepid on gay rights without actively giving anything up—if, like Obama in 2008, you didn’t support gay marriage, you could still be seen (correctly) as advocating for an overall better situation for gay people, or at least one that was no worse, in contrast to your right wing opponents.
Trans rights are not in the same position. Before the big trans rights backlash started, access to gender affirming care was pretty widespread, was everywhere legal, and was a matter for private concern only. Trans people could play in school sports subject to whatever their league’s rules were, and the idea of trying to make it illegal to cross dress in public was absurd. The conservative position since has become one of an explicit rollback of rights: revoke access to gender affirming care, create new criminal sanctions to punish trans people, make it illegal for them to participate in school sports, etc.
In that environment, tacking to the right on trans issues means deciding which elements of trans rights you are willing to concede to this project of actually rolling back trans rights. The only thing comparable from the gay rights fight is maybe state constitutional amendments to ban gay marriage, or DOMA—all of which were, IIRC, passed despite gay marriage not being legal in affected jurisdictions. Their enactment, while deplorable, had no material negative affect; gay people already couldn’t get married.
And that this project of rolling back trans rights is not a particular fetish of the religious right is more worrying. Plenty of liberals and liberal institutions are pretty transphobic. Britain has been working to export its flavor of (Moderate, Sensible, Secular) transphobia to other countries in Europe and the Anglosphere. Transphobes winning these fights isn’t a status quo situation—it’s a sharp increase in repression of trans people.
In light of that, I regard calls to “moderate” on trans issues with at best scorn. I think the party of civil rights condoning the rollback of citizens’ civil rights is really bad for its brand, won’t win it more votes, and may sufficiently alienate members of the base—who are invested in the party specifically because of its historic support for civil rights—that they simply don’t bother to show up in elections.
it’s really not possible to infringe on trans rights without infringing on individual human rights in general: the right to wear what you want, decide your own presentation in society, choose your own name, pretty basic stuff!
ALT
it’s really not possible to have trans rights without infringing on human rights in general, either: the right to speak freely, the right to freedom of association, the right to not touch genitals you don’t like, pretty basic stuff!
(for those unfamiliar with “wax my balls”: a transwoman showed up to several female beauticians offering services to women, said “I’m a woman, you must wax my balls” and sued them for discrimination if they didn’t want to touch male genitalia.)
I would think the exact opposite actually: a strictly traditionalist view of gender would make it discriminatory not to wax balls if only men have them, but now that men and women can have balls it’s no longer discriminatory to refuse to wax them, case closed
I’m laughing, but there’s a super useful corollary, which my husband calls “the Red Balloon.” He was a defense lawyer and had a fair number of drug addicts come through, and there is a thing where if you’re like, on your first offense, they’ll do a thing where you can go to treatment and if you complete it they’ll take the conviction off your record.
And he would tell his clients, “Look, everyone’s going to tell you not to do drugs. They’re going to say it over and over again. And it’s like, if people tell you not to think of a white elephant, you’re going to think of a white elephant. But the trick to not thinking about a white elephant is to think of a red balloon. So you need to find your red balloon. For some people it’s yoga. For others it’s woodworking. For some people it’s scrapbooking or gardening or any of a long list of things to do. They focus on that, it’s a lot easier to succeed in ignoring the white elephant.”
So yeah, “watch yourself” is one thing… but the better idea is to watch something else. (Even if it’s fanfic about werewolves fucking.)
It’s a form of productive dissociation, and is super, super helpful.
It’s easy for me to get bogged down in how much pain I’m in… but some of the most painful periods of my life have also been the most productive, writing-wise, because writing is one of my red balloons.
There is a phrase I use A LOT in my parenting and my son gets very sick of it, but it’s true:
The thing you practise is the thing you get good at.
You may not intentionally be practicing “being grumpy” but if you don’t put effort into practicing “not being grumpy” then I’m afraid that’s what you’re doing. It’s hard! It’s really hard! Sometimes, for some things, it’s pretty much impossible and that sucks!
But being carefully aware that you are going to get good at the things you do most of is a good way to be more careful of what those things are. If that makes sense.
You gotta appreciate sometimes how tumblr works in such a way that everyone who wants to reblog this interesting or useful psychological advice is also forced to reblog the thing about werewolf fucking
I’m laughing, but there’s a super useful corollary, which my husband calls “the Red Balloon.” He was a defense lawyer and had a fair number of drug addicts come through, and there is a thing where if you’re like, on your first offense, they’ll do a thing where you can go to treatment and if you complete it they’ll take the conviction off your record.
And he would tell his clients, “Look, everyone’s going to tell you not to do drugs. They’re going to say it over and over again. And it’s like, if people tell you not to think of a white elephant, you’re going to think of a white elephant. But the trick to not thinking about a white elephant is to think of a red balloon. So you need to find your red balloon. For some people it’s yoga. For others it’s woodworking. For some people it’s scrapbooking or gardening or any of a long list of things to do. They focus on that, it’s a lot easier to succeed in ignoring the white elephant.”
So yeah, “watch yourself” is one thing… but the better idea is to watch something else. (Even if it’s fanfic about werewolves fucking.)
It’s a form of productive dissociation, and is super, super helpful.
It’s easy for me to get bogged down in how much pain I’m in… but some of the most painful periods of my life have also been the most productive, writing-wise, because writing is one of my red balloons.
There is a phrase I use A LOT in my parenting and my son gets very sick of it, but it’s true:
The thing you practise is the thing you get good at.
You may not intentionally be practicing “being grumpy” but if you don’t put effort into practicing “not being grumpy” then I’m afraid that’s what you’re doing. It’s hard! It’s really hard! Sometimes, for some things, it’s pretty much impossible and that sucks!
But being carefully aware that you are going to get good at the things you do most of is a good way to be more careful of what those things are. If that makes sense.
You gotta appreciate sometimes how tumblr works in such a way that everyone who wants to reblog this interesting or useful psychological advice is also forced to reblog the thing about werewolf fucking