Now the term "Transition" is transphobic too. You just can't make this shit up.

quickbeam · 2020-07-21T23:08:55+00:00

LOL This type of crap is so unsustainable. Do these people even realize that most normies don't even know what the fuck "cis" is supposed to mean let alone "non-binary"? I bet I could find a bunch of people on the street of an average town that if you asked what their pronouns were they might not even know what a pronoun was and if they did, they might say "I" out of confusion. Most average people either have no idea about this niche shit or they're just sitting around waiting for the beta version to get debugged before they decide to pay attention again.

quickbeam · 2020-07-30T17:18:21+00:00

LOL. This is the Jenga move that will collapse their whole tower.

quickbeam · 2020-07-12T23:55:45+00:00

Alternate Title for This Article: They Told Me There Would Be Sex

quickbeam · 2020-07-24T00:34:27+00:00

https://tenor.com/view/confused-lady-math-lady-dafuq-gif-9356431

quickbeam · 2020-07-15T18:37:29+00:00

Yup. It's a crime against design.

quickbeam · 2020-07-21T17:13:59+00:00

I posted the "who are trans people you admire" because there was a lot of mean-spirited content being posted, and as a Buddhist and a person who tries to have dialogue with people on opposite sides of political issues regularly, I have never seen the value in cruelty, taunts, name-calling, or labeling all of any group as "bad." That's what the TRA's that most people here complain about are doing - labeling all gender critical people as "bad", calling names, insulting people. It's not only making the world a sadder, meaner place, but it also is just really really ineffective as a means of convincing anyone on the fence that your views are correct. I think this community can benefit from some positivity. You can uplift natal women and girls while also acknowledging the humanity and even positivity of trans people or if you can't do that, just at least not being mean-spirited.

quickbeam · 2020-06-30T06:59:55+00:00

This may be a wild ride for a while, as the predominant people I'm seeing on here are Gender Critical folks and then some other folks who keep insisting that the power structure of the U.S. is full of communists and Jews. So like, the literal Nazis are here with what would have been called the "Feminazis" in the 90's. On the one hand, I'm happy to see free speech even if I vehemently disagree with some of it. On the other hand, this is so dystopian that we're stuck with the Nazis.

quickbeam · 2020-08-03T01:01:30+00:00

Avocado toast is delicious and not associated with intestinal parasites. You can make it at home for real cheap too.

quickbeam · 2020-08-02T03:01:33+00:00

Honestly I'm most insulted by this at the level of orthography.

quickbeam · 2020-07-12T23:59:44+00:00

It's the same for dating transwomen. Anyone who thinks a neovagina is the same as a vagina does not have much experience with or knowledge about vaginas. I saw a transwoman talking about how they were surprised that vaginas need to be cleaned all the time, and I'm like, "no, they really don't." It was sad to read. It feels like people are having these surgeries without being given a full enough picture of human biology, the complications that may result, the realities of daily maintenance, etc. This lack of knowledge may result in them genuinely not understanding other people's sexual disinterest relative to their expectations.

quickbeam · 2020-07-20T18:57:01+00:00

LOL - I thought that "white supremacist from Iran" who I questioned on their pro-censorship views seemed kind of fishy.

quickbeam · 2020-07-19T01:54:15+00:00

Anyone who retweets notices of being blocked by other people is in it for the dramz.

quickbeam · 2020-07-16T23:49:33+00:00

I probably disagree with you on nearly everything. However, welcome to the platform! It's honestly fantastic to be an adult who is okay with hearing opinions they disagree with and knowing that the platform isn't going to come in and yank them off.

quickbeam · 2020-08-04T04:09:50+00:00

There is no justifiable reason for a police officer to murder an unarmed person. None. They managed to bring in almost every white mass shooter no problem, so they can bring in some random guy who wrote a forged check or they are incompetent at best, cruel and murderous at worst.

quickbeam · 2020-08-04T02:18:13+00:00

Is it considered good policing practice to put people who are already telling you they can't breathe onto the ground and putting them in a chokehold for over 8 minutes past the point when they have appeared to lose consciousness? Is that better, somehow?

quickbeam · 2020-07-30T22:15:29+00:00

Call me crazy, but I tend to trust doctors/nurses and primary sources like medical research when it comes to diseases, rather than scouring through a bunch of rando internet forums. A former teacher of mine had to be hospitalized for Covid, as did both of one of my friend's parents, so excuse me if I think that it's worthwhile not to gather in crowded spaces or wear a piece of cloth over my face. Also, other countries exist and I see how they've handled the virus. I have friends working abroad all over the world and most of them have been able to resume semi-normal lives because their governments aren't being held captive by anti-science types.

I'm not 100% against conspiracy theories either, but they have to have A) a credible motive B) be something that could actually be kept secret by the amount of people who would need to keep it secret. These Covid conspiracy theories have neither, but especially not B. And even if some of these theories had any truth to them they'd have no relevance to whether we should vote by mail which is no different than voting in person because again, everything gets tabulated by the same people using the same systems and mail-in ballots would 100% be invalidated if those voters weren't on the lists of registered voters that the city clerks and poll workers use to check for voting integrity.

quickbeam · 2020-07-30T21:58:35+00:00

Uh huh, great. So if you think the voting is all going to be rigged anyway, at least we could let people stay home and not get Covid on top of everything else.

quickbeam · 2020-07-23T17:53:18+00:00

I knew a lot of lesbians in college who were rocking that Sarah from "Labyrinth" flowy shirt and a vest aesthetic.

quickbeam · 2020-07-17T18:55:45+00:00

Reddit is finding out that you can't ban ideas, only people. I'd love to see them try to ban the Joe Rogan community after his latest interview was with the woman who wrote the book on the worries about so many young women transitioning. The post is full of comments much more "anti-trans" than most things I saw on the banned communities. But reddit knows they can't just ban a bunch of straight men or their whole site will implode. Same reason most of the porn stayed. (Mind you, I am against censoring anything that's protected under the First Amendment.) I hope people are dropping links to this site onto reddit as breadcrumbs for anyone who needs to migrate if reddit cracks down further.

quickbeam · 2020-06-30T06:56:26+00:00

There are almost 0 actual communists in any position of power anywhere in the United States. The fact that you think there are any communists in positions of power in the States is pretty funny though, I'll give you that. U.S. Communists would actually very much understand why banning speech is bad, if anyone would, since historically it was Communists who were blacklisted in the 50's in our country. Even if they had only attended a meeting or two at a time when that was quite common.

quickbeam · 2020-06-30T02:20:36+00:00

So much this. I basically only use Reddit to lurk on subs that host content probably considered too offensive for the rest of the internet and to keep up with my local community. I wonder why Reddit thinks people even use their site. Honestly if they keep banning subs they're going to end up with a lot of users leaving. I realize it's their right to ban any speech they like, since they're not the government. But it seems ultimately pretty self-defeating.

quickbeam · 2020-08-07T02:04:29+00:00

There are honestly some polyamorous people for whom being poly is pretty intrinsic. I'm one of them. It's also not on the level of a fetish or primarily sexual for me. I don't try to insert that identity into the alphabet or LGB spaces, but there are people in the poly community with rights concerns. Poly people who have several committed long-term partners with whom they raise children can be fired from jobs, discriminated against by landlords, or have their child custody threatened despite offering a safe home. It doesn't rise to the same level as LGB rights, but it also isn't very sensible or justifiable to fire somebody for the mere fact of having more sexual/romantic partners than the standard. Especially when there's so much cheating within ostensibly monogamous relationships.

quickbeam · 2020-08-05T21:49:23+00:00

I purposely go to other subs and add wholesome content/rebut some of the bad arguments in order to keep this site going. I don't do Reddit anymore out of principle and I'm not interested in joining an even more niche site.

quickbeam · 2020-08-04T18:32:51+00:00

LOL - nah, dude, we're here because Reddit started censoring women and LGB people. Sorry to bust up your conspiracy racket.

quickbeam · 2020-08-04T17:55:05+00:00

Yup. This is a great point. It's a huge disservice to the many cops who are upholding professional standards and acting according to the Constitution to allow terrible cops to continue working. It stains the whole profession and probably makes it a lot harder for the good cops to do their jobs. Granted, I think these good police should speak up and say as much, but I understand there could be significant institutional pressure on them. The "ACAB" people aren't helping either.

quickbeam · 2020-08-04T17:49:57+00:00

I'm going to keep coming on here and debating because as more people leave reddit we can probably make saidit a more representative forum without this dominance of white supremacist views.

quickbeam · 2020-08-04T17:47:58+00:00

Hope you'll join us in protesting police brutality then! I don't support police killing unarmed civilians.

quickbeam · 2020-08-04T17:45:53+00:00

Do you or do you not believe it is wrong for police to kill unarmed citizens? If the answer is "yes, it's wrong" then it's totally understandable that people are sick of it and protested it.

In terms of riots/looting: While I understand the motives for these I am actually opposed to both riots and looting. A lot of the rioters/looters were not politically motivated, however, and where I live a lot of the rioters were bored white kids from the suburbs, and some of them politically conservative. The vast majority of protests have been peaceful, well-organized and it's been the police response in most cases which has escalated it.

And here's another thing - I am more mad at police killing people because they are being paid to help people not kill people. I'm not paying the protesters/rioters/looters and they are often arrested. The police, however, are killing people which is unconstitutional, not what we're paying them to do and cruel. It shouldn't even matter to anyone who cares about the Constitution who is being killed or whether they committed a crime or were on drugs. If you have any belief in democracy or our justice system or other police officers being safe to do their jobs instead of being viewed as enemies, you should also be loudly protesting these police officers.

I'm not going to dignify your other comments by arguing about them, but the thing is I shouldn't have to prove you wrong on any of them for a person who believes in our Constitution to admit this was wrong.

quickbeam · 2020-08-04T02:16:17+00:00

In other news, it snowed, so climate change doesn't exist.

quickbeam · 2020-08-02T23:28:19+00:00

"Eating ass" is apparently very popular in the younger demographics no matter what combination of genders are involved. No matter what kind of washing is involved that's a pretty good way to pass intestinal parasites.

quickbeam · 2020-08-02T20:45:38+00:00

I'm so glad I'm not a teenager today. Jesus Christ. I'm not sexphobic, but when I was a teenager the magazines were giving you kissing advice, not encouraging you to perform sex acts which can lead to higher rates of venereal disease, intestinal parasites and things like fistulas which no one should want. I'm not saying no one should enjoy anal sex, but I think there's already way too much pressure on women to perform this from heavy porn consumption.

quickbeam · 2020-07-30T22:17:26+00:00

It's not a phobia when there's a respiratory virus killing people and causing permanent organ damage, my dude. It's called being a rational fucking human being with a sense of self-preservation.

quickbeam · 2020-07-30T22:01:07+00:00

If you're so worried about voter fraud I encourage you to contact your city clerk and become a poll worker. There are paying jobs or you can volunteer. Then you can go behind the scenes and see how the system works in your state. I bet you'll be amazed at what ordinary good-natured people are in charge of ensuring election integrity.

quickbeam · 2020-07-30T21:57:54+00:00

Objection. Relevance.

quickbeam · 2020-07-30T21:57:09+00:00

What's your source for any of this? Also, all mail in ballots need to still be checked at the polls against the lists of registered voters. I know this because I worked the damn polls. Everything ends up being run through the same processes no matter whether it's done in person or by mail.

quickbeam · 2020-07-30T17:36:57+00:00

This shows very little understanding of how votes are counted or where fraud would likely show up. The postal workers don't even open the ballots and why would they disappear a bunch of ballots? It would be very difficult to do with physical ballots (much easier to disappear electronic votes on easily hacked voting machines) and they'd have no idea who any of these people are voting for anyway. The federal government, moreover, is currently controlled by Republicans who would have a much easier time hacking the vote if hacking were to occur since they are in charge of more of the infrastructure and have a Supreme Court majority. Either way, though, it's a lot harder to steal an election than you seem to think. The election has to be very close to make it credibly steal-able. I think the reason Trump wants to delay is he's starting to see that it's not going to be close because of how much he dropped the ball on Covid. If he were a sensible person he would realize that stopping the spread of Covid is literally the only way he could win in November, but he's either too dumb to see that or it's gone so far that we wouldn't be able to stop it without the most draconian measures.

quickbeam · 2020-07-30T17:32:59+00:00

There's nothing wrong with vote-by-mail. I lived in Oregon for a while where everyone can vote by mail (with some in-person for those who prefer it) and it works just fine. Also - some people chose to line up to pay respects to John Lewis, but I'm not planning to go anywhere crowded and inhale other people's germs. It's quite another thing to force people many of whom are medically vulnerable to go out and risk their health or lose their voice in a democracy. BTW - the exact same people are going to tabulate your votes whether they're done in person or by mail. The exact same hand-counters and/or machines. I've been a volunteer poll worker so I've seen the votes get counted firsthand.

quickbeam · 2020-07-26T19:48:02+00:00

How does this sort of thing pass for thought?

quickbeam · 2020-07-22T17:34:20+00:00

I left for the same reason - some subs I lurked in got taken off and I have an intense aversion to de-platforming people. In a society where most communication is taking place on limited platforms de-platforming people isn't technically censorship, but the end result is very similar. So I have no interest in giving ad revenue to reddit anymore. Welcome to the site!

quickbeam · 2020-07-22T17:26:07+00:00

This is the type of situation "get a life" was invented for.

quickbeam · 2020-07-21T23:35:55+00:00

I personally just look at the issue as "women's rights and trans rights are in competition" rather than labeling the issue as "male nonsense" or even really nonsense. It's very complex in my view. I think there are some people with genuine dysphoria that may be best treated through medical interventions, others with dysphoria better treated through psychological interventions and still others who may not be suffering from dysphoria.

I try to just focus on what are the places where trans rights interfere with women's rights or potential safety. I think probably focusing on that would help to win over friends to see what's at stake. No matter what someone thinks of the source of trans identity, most people agree that there are places where women's rights have been trampled on to make way for trans rights, and that's where my focus is, without needing to determine what the motivations of any individual trans person or organization might be.

quickbeam · 2020-07-21T17:44:24+00:00

The best way to change the vibe is to stick around and post with positivity. If you don't have time in your life for that, I get it. But there is some talk of bad actors coming on here trying to contaminate the site with extremism. There have been a lot of attacks on the site, and I think it's worth preserving, especially in terms of having a space where people who aren't specifically here to see gender critical ideas might come across them randomly.

quickbeam · 2020-07-21T17:20:20+00:00

Of course it's possible. What's going to be necessary is to have patient, rational and kind dialogue with people on every side of the issue and to keep up that attitude in communication with people who don't know much about the issue. Rowling is a really good ambassador for this, and she's affected a lot of people in terms of getting them curious to read up on the subject. She was not cruel in her approach. If I had encountered some people just insulting trans people that would not have made me curious, on the other hand.

I think what may be needed are some of the following - more trans/gender neutral spaces available in public spaces in addition to single sex spaces (nothing wrong with more bathrooms, more shelters, etc.), I saw this on Twitter somewhere but having sports be "Women's" or "Open." Allow transwomen to participate in "Open" categories. Maybe it won't seem strictly "fair" to them but on balance it is more fair than taking women's spaces. I think a majority of Americans would agree with this policy. Puberty blockers - I think it's going to require education on these issues and organized activism directed towards politicians. Getting money out of politics would go a long way towards eliminating any influence from the pharmaceutical corporations. There's not much to do about whether people label someone a bigot or not. The best thing to do there is to be solid and comfortable in your experience of your own sexuality and to mentor youths in your life to also be comfortable saying "no" and not feeling the need to give reasons or justify that choice. The more we can advocate for the concepts of consent and bodily autonomy to young people, the better.

quickbeam · 2020-07-21T17:05:53+00:00

What's the point of this? I don't believe in spreading cruelty, only standing up for women's rights in places where women's rights and trans rights come into conflict.

quickbeam · 2020-07-20T19:08:02+00:00

They did an episode of the podcast Blocked and Reported on this article. I recommend that podcast highly for just their general takes on internet culture and woke culture.

quickbeam · 2020-07-17T02:00:09+00:00

My favorite aspect of Buddhism (so far) is the concept of right speech, because it has helped me so much in my life and especially (funny enough) in relating to people online. A few years ago I started practicing right speech in online discussions. I'm still not always perfect, but my experience of being online has been a lot better when I am able to keep this in mind.

quickbeam · 2020-07-16T02:09:40+00:00

This might be the stupidest thing I've ever read. And that includes Trump's tweets...

quickbeam · 2020-07-10T00:08:45+00:00

Same exact situation for me. I'm voting Biden because of Covid too. It's going to get much worse before it gets better, and I have no hope it will ever really get better if we keep Trump around.

quickbeam · 2020-07-10T00:04:07+00:00

I don't think the whole Democratic Party is like this any more than all Democrats/leftists are like this. I mean you're not like that, and I'm a leftist and I'm not like that either. I'm only voting for Biden in order to have not-fascism and hopefully get rid of the coronavirus. It is by no means assured that Biden will win at all, let alone in a landslide, so if you happen to live in a swing state please vote for him and check your local races to see who's running. Quite a few local politicians are not extreme cancel culture types. I don't even mind "woke" politicians as long as they call people in rather than trying to cancel/shame them. I think a lot of people are just well-meaning but not fully informed, and that includes politicians.

quickbeam · 2020-06-30T08:12:24+00:00

Well, I'm a Democratic Socialist and I want everyone to have a living wage for their work, adequate housing and food if they can't work, Medicare For All (mirroring the very functional healthcare programs in like every other country), and affordable or free college education if we're going to require a degree for every job under the sun. I know a lot of other Democratic Socialists and they are highly educated and they want the same things. I'm betting you don't know many actual human beings who identify themselves as Democratic Socialists, so why would your knowledge be better than a person with firsthand experience? Are you a person who thinks Nancy Pelosi and Bernie Sanders are at all similar? If you are, you don't know what you're talking about when it comes to what leftists are advocating for. We're all supporting Shahid Buttar who's running to get Pelosi out. There may be a very few politicians using the socialist label to get power, but it's honestly a pretty poor way to get power in the U.S. right now when you consider that Biden (who was railing against socialism at every debate) is now the Democratic nominee, not Bernie, who could actually string full sentences together in addition to having better ideas. in any case, I'm a very well-educated and well-read individual who has lived and worked abroad, so if you want to recruit people for your anti-communist crusade you'd best look elsewhere. Have a nice day, though! I'm glad to be in a place where people are allowed to speak freely, even if I don't agree with you!

quickbeam · 2020-06-30T06:53:02+00:00

If you think Communists were in charge of the banning then why did Chapo Traphouse get banned and why am I a hard leftist yet several subs I followed got banned? This is definitely being done to signal Reddit as "ultrawoke", but ultrawoke is not the same as communist. Though some people may be far left on both economic and identity issues, there are many who are only one or the other. Bernie Sanders voters basically all got screwed over by the same type of woke signalling, and I'm pretty sure if you think the government is full of communists you think Bernie is one of them. I hate to break it to you but there are almost 0 communists in our government. Maybe one or two in city government. Otherwise just a handful of boring old Democratic Socialists who want things to be more like Germany or Norway and a whole lot of big money corporate middle of the road types who think that banning some subreddits is meaningful political change and can substitute for improving people's healthcare, incomes, etc.

quickbeam · 2020-08-08T03:01:53+00:00

This is really excellent. Has anyone cross-posted it to the other communities on here?

quickbeam · 2020-08-08T02:54:01+00:00

Thanks for being nice to this poster. Even if someone is trolling, it takes about the same amount of time to say something nice as to say something mean. And a troll is usually looking for people to get angry/upset. I usually just ignore people if I think they may be trolling, but saying something nice, well, in case the person isn't trolling, you've just done a good deed for the day. <3

quickbeam · 2020-08-07T19:11:14+00:00

It's not really a lifestyle and sexual choice for me, though. From my early childhood I've had crushes or been in love with more than one person at the same time. I thought I was broken because we live in a society that basically venerates monogamy as the only moral option. When I found out polyamory existed it was a big "aha" moment for me. Again, I don't think it's at the same level as sexual orientation, and there is a big umbrella of non-monogamy which does encompass many people for whom it may be a lifestyle or sexual choice, but there are people who identify as polyamorous where their lovers are their family. They would like to be married to more than one person. A lot of us are women married to feminists.

In terms of discrimination - if you google polyamory and custody you can find a number of articles about custody battles with polyamory. I don't have kids so this thankfully isn't an issue for me. In terms of employment, it's more that polyamorous people keep things hidden on purpose because they assume they'd be subject to firing especially in conservative areas of the country. In Seattle it may be no big deal, but that's not true everywhere. In terms of housing there are often clauses in rentals that prohibit more than 2 non-related adults to cohabitate. So I could live with my partner and my sibling, but I couldn't live with two partners. I could live with my partner and 4 kids but not two partners because I can't be legally related to more than one romantic interest.

In terms of legality, you'd probably need to make law tailored to polyamorous people - but this could be as simple as you add a clause where polyamorous people must write up legal documents assigning ownership/wills/custody as part of having their relationships legally recognized. You could also still limit who counts as dependents on taxes or insurance documents.

It's kind of sad to see a lot of assumptions made about polyamorous people. There are a lot of people out there using the label to do shitty things which aren't really polyamorous. But there are a lot of just really normal, committed, ethical poly people out there too just trying to enjoy their lives and love more than one person romantically or sexually at the same time. We're so boring you probably know some of us already.

quickbeam · 2020-08-07T01:59:55+00:00

I am poly and have never liked this tendency of some people to include polyamory in the alphabet. I do feel intrinsically polyamorous, but it's clearly a different issue with different concerns and non-monogamy encompasses a lot of different groups all on its own.

quickbeam · 2020-08-07T01:45:58+00:00

My god, I thought this was part of that thing where they made those fake research papers up, and now I realize that's why they made the fake research papers up. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2018/10/new-sokal-hoax/572212/

quickbeam · 2020-08-07T01:40:47+00:00

This is the way I most frequently see heteroflexible used, often in an effort not to overly appropriate bisexuality.

quickbeam · 2020-08-04T18:10:56+00:00

I think we'll be okay, but thanks for the concern. :)

quickbeam · 2020-08-04T18:06:30+00:00

Fits a few of the people I know. I know a Type 6 who is pretty low-key and thought they were a Type 2 for a while but came back from the brink. Not at all bisexual as far as I know, but definitely always wore nail polish and sometimes liked to wear dresses, etc. I know a Type 5 who is pretty much dead accurate but actually is lesbian and also identifies as a femme, changes their pronouns frequently enough that it's hard to keep up, but is always offended if misgendered.

quickbeam · 2020-08-04T17:47:12+00:00

You'd have to be the biggest dumb-ass in the world to think that holding someone who can't breathe in a chokehold for over 8 minutes while they slowly lose consciousness wouldn't potentially lead to their death. So he's a cruel murderer or the world's biggest dumbass. I'm thinking the former is much more likely but if it's the latter, he has no business being on the force either.

quickbeam · 2020-08-03T01:25:03+00:00

Given that the OP is posting in English and seems to be coming from a Western perspective, I decided to respond from a Western perspective and specified that I was doing so in order to clarify my viewpoint. The world is so large and so full of variables that it would be impossible to have a sensible discussion on Islamophobia if we didn't clarify our perspectives/countries and the contexts we are living in because institutional power/cultural norms matter when discussing discrimination and bias. You cite articles from the Middle East or Nigeria, but those are very different contexts. Maybe they are your context, I don't know, as you haven't said where you are from. My suspicion is that you are not from those areas, however. I have actually lived and worked in a non-Western country for years and I wasn't even raised in a religion, so I'm able to kind of look at religions as more or less equally valid/equally weird and I do have an international perspective. But I guess though by labeling me a "U.S. supremacist" who hasn't traveled you feel you can muddle the discussion further.

Really, you come off as someone who has a huge ax to grind with Muslims, and I don't feel like engaging you further as a result. I was wrong about the prevalence of hate crimes but only because Jewish people are the victim of so many more hate crimes than Muslims. Muslims still have the dubious honor of coming in second, however. https://ucr.fbi.gov/hate-crime/2018/topic-pages/victims

As to the bulk of anti-Muslim bias coming from immigrant communities - where's your statistic for that? I doubt that it's the case simply because such groups make up such a small % of total U.S. citizens and I know plenty of white people who love saying Islamophobic crap and believe ridiculous things about Islam.

Anyway, feel free to write another paragraphs long response, but I'm disengaging. You can't have a good faith discussion when you won't acknowledge that context matters and it's impossible to have a realistic conversation about religious/racial bias on a personal level when your context is the entire world and all of history as well.

quickbeam · 2020-08-02T20:02:06+00:00

Go review a book then and post your review here!

quickbeam · 2020-08-02T20:01:46+00:00

Thanks for these reviews. I'm interested in reading "Where The Crawdads Sing" now; I didn't realize it was a genre book. I've read both the anti-racism books, but I got a lot more personally out of How to Be An Anti-Racist and I don't think it suffers from the same weaknesses that DiAngelo's book has.

quickbeam · 2020-08-02T19:51:44+00:00

I didn't say Christians have never been discriminated against in the entire historical record or might not be discriminated against in one country or by specific individuals. But it seems kind of irrelevant to bring up things that happened ages ago to inform a discussion about how Christians and Muslims are situated in the West today. I also didn't say that Muslims were "the most oppressed group of people", but speaking as a United States citizen, Muslims and people perceived to be Muslim due to their skin tone/religious garb are often the victims of hate crimes and that discrimination is supported by the current administration in banning people from Muslim countries when no credible threat is present. I do think they are the religious group currently most persecuted in the United States today, followed perhaps by Jewish people who have also been victims of hate group violence. Christians, if they are attacked at all, are attacked for other reasons such as race.

quickbeam · 2020-08-02T18:06:34+00:00

Definitely agree that some people use it as a silencing technique and often they don't even really understand much about Islam in the first place or that Muslims can belong to any race or be from many different countries. It also continues to be nuts to me the amount of erasure of feminist concerns in recent years in social justice communities. It's not like we solved sexism.

quickbeam · 2020-08-02T17:03:56+00:00

In terms of critiquing Islam for treatment of women, I'd say it's a complex issue. In different countries and different sects women experience life much differently. It would be like lumping all Mormons together - from those living on compounds to those living in Salt Lake City. Very different life experiences affecting women very differently. Maybe the best way to perform this type of advocacy would be to find Muslim women interested in changing their own faith and support their work specifically.

quickbeam · 2020-08-02T17:01:49+00:00

I see attacks on Islam as attacks on brown people partly because Islamophobia often stems from racism and often results in racist attacks on people who aren't even Muslim - such as the attack on the Sikh temple in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, or random attacks after 9/11 on people as unrelated to Islam as Buddhist monks. Of course not all Muslims are brown, but a lot of Islamophobes don't even know that. The two often go hand in hand. Also, in my country Christianity is still the dominant religion; we ban Muslims from the country currently, not Christians. So it's kind of absurd to talk about "Christianophobia" when Christians are in power and not discriminated against by powerful institutions.

quickbeam · 2020-08-02T16:58:31+00:00

Keep it classy, dude. Thanks for revealing exactly what type of behavior you view as "supreme", showing exactly how empty all your "philosophy" is. Hope someday you'll wake up from your bad dreams; I really do. For your own sake as well as the world's.

quickbeam · 2020-08-02T16:32:43+00:00

There is a lot to unpack here. It sounds like you're having a lot of medical problems that I don't have, so that's not something I can understand well. I can't do birth control either, but I'm wondering is it possible for you to not take that? Or is it used to help with one of your health problems? If there's a way to get off the hormonal stuff I would and see if there are herbal or more natural options.

In terms of being short - you would still be short if you were a man, though then you would get social stigma associated with a short man, which I hear really sucks. Possibly you would be stronger, but I have known some very strong women and some men who couldn't put on muscle to save their life.

I don't think of myself as feminine and weak. I don't compare myself to other people as much as possible though. I think that the key to a lot of my happiness was when I stopped comparing myself to other people. I said - I'm just going to be the best me I can be today. I'm going to appreciate what my body can do and what I do like about it. There is quite a lot, it turns out. It sounds from your post like comparison is something you're doing a lot with other women's looks. That's a good thing to put down, and it can be done. I think for me it was partially adopting meditation practice and partially making a constant choice again and again to not play the comparison game.

Are people actually insulting the way you look? Are these co-workers and acquaintances or strangers? Avoid as many of these types of people as you can. Self-hate on the other hand, that is your battle you will need to fight with you. I only try on clothes when I'm feeling good. Sometimes I get down if I gain some weight, so I always bring in some sizes I think are too big so I will be prepared. I also try to shop at stores that carry a wide variety of sizes. Of course that takes time to find which places those are.

"The stupid fucking shit I'm supposed to care about" - Fuck it. You don't have to care about anything in particular. I don't have kids, nor do many of my friends. I never wear make-up or heels and I barely do anything with my hair. Most of my friends do not behave in particularly "gendered" ways. We just talk about politics or pop culture or whatever. These people exist.

Not being taken seriously at work is a big issue and not your fault. If it is possible to change the culture at your work with other co-workers, that might be something to work on. Or if it's possible to change to another employer. I'm sorry that's happening to you, though. I would definitely change doctors ASAP. Sometimes you have to change doctors until you find someone who will listen.

If you woke up tomorrow as a man I bet you'd miss things about being a woman. And I bet you wouldn't enjoy the shit men are "supposed" to care about or dealing with some of the culture men are faced with. Maybe I'm wrong. And maybe it's hard for me to understand how painful your medical problems are. I hope you will get relief from those. I hope you will get relief in general. Much compassion.

quickbeam · 2020-08-02T03:29:16+00:00

Like, literally, 10 o'clock on a Saturday and you're not even afraid of Covid, so why don't you go like cough on people at a bar or something? LOL. Gonna go hang with my family. Have a nice life!

quickbeam · 2020-08-02T03:26:39+00:00

I hope you don't get Covid. Even though you are not particularly pleasant on the internet I wouldn't wish a serious case of Covid on anyone.

quickbeam · 2020-08-02T03:25:51+00:00

If I bore you, then I hate to think how boring everything else in your life is, given you're here.

quickbeam · 2020-08-02T03:25:05+00:00

I love how this used to be an argument about how mailing in ballots was supposed to be the most likely way that elites would commit election fraud, but y'all realized that your theory fell apart under inspection and now it's just you randomly trolling me about my mental illness that I'm not ashamed of and your supposed prowess at making foreign food even though you are scared of foreigners.

quickbeam · 2020-08-02T03:23:41+00:00

Oh look at you with your one fascist German word. I speak pretty good German, actually, and I hate to break it to you but Trump doesn't even speak English all that well, let alone a second language.

quickbeam · 2020-08-01T18:46:36+00:00

LGB Non-fiction - The Mayor of Castro Street is a book I feel like everyone should read. I take so much inspiration from his coalition-building, and I think today's activists of all types could learn from him.

quickbeam · 2020-08-01T15:22:46+00:00

Sounds cool! I'm betting my husband would like that book. Kendi's book is a very good read full of historical information and interesting ideas. I'd recommend it for sure, but it doesn't go down as easy as a novel, say. :)

quickbeam · 2020-08-01T12:40:56+00:00

Remember like 3 years ago when woke people pretended to care about rape victims for a while? I guess that's over.

quickbeam · 2020-08-01T12:39:52+00:00

I care about people with low self-worth. People with low self-worth need the help of loving people who respect their right to have boundaries more than other people need them, not less.

quickbeam · 2020-08-01T04:43:04+00:00

I don't have to agree with the author's definitions or categorizations. There are economic leftists and cultural leftists. Many people are both. But even among people who are both some of those people tend towards authoritarian/anti-debate mindsets and others tend towards strong belief in freedom of speech. I'd say older leftists (over 40) tend largely to be pro-free speech and able to debate, much more than people who might identify as "liberal" and "woke."

quickbeam · 2020-08-01T03:56:58+00:00

Shit I can't help myself. Just one link, as a treat. https://www.cato.org/blog/white-houses-misleading-error-ridden-narrative-immigrants-crime

quickbeam · 2020-08-01T03:51:27+00:00

If I thought that spending an hour sending you research refuting your claims would realistically move the needle with you, I would, by the way. But I don't. And I'm bored of trolling you. Technically I try not to troll people because I'm sure you have some good qualities and there's no sense in spreading sadness and hatred in this already sad world. But I'm going now. I guess you can have the last word and feel that you have "owned the libs." Have fun with that shit.

quickbeam · 2020-08-01T03:49:57+00:00

Not any dunce can make the awesome fucking noodles and dumplings I had for dinner. I'm betting you can't. You can't even troll that well. I've seen better trolling from Biden supporters on Twitter which is really fucking saying something.

quickbeam · 2020-08-01T03:49:08+00:00

I would gladly take in any of the immigrant families currently in ICE detention into my household. They are no more likely to be a rapist or murderer than any other person on the street. As to feeding and clothing them - they earn their own money and illegal/undocumented immigrants pay into social security but they don't get any of that money back nor can they receive most social services. I live in the U.S. cause I was fricking born here. But if I could magically trade in for citizenship in Europe I'd be gone tomorrow. Doesn't work that way though. So I do my best to make this country the country that welcomes immigrants (since everyone who isn't black or indigenous is descended from immigrants). I do my best to live up to the statue of liberty and the spirit of helping my fellow human being.

quickbeam · 2020-08-01T03:40:36+00:00

Yes, yes, this entire worldwide pandemic is just a conspiracy to hurt poor old Donnie. Never mind that every fucking country changed their way of life in order to deal with it. I actually have friends who live and work in other countries, (and used to work abroad myself), so I'm not caught in this ridiculous provincial perspective that some of y'all seem to have.

quickbeam · 2020-08-01T03:37:31+00:00

Not being able to turn on one's computer is not a symptom of anxiety/depression. Not being able to treat people with mental illnesses with common decency is a symptom of being an asshole though. Might want to get that shit looked at.

quickbeam · 2020-08-01T02:08:01+00:00

Nope. And I don't like the odds of going to a public place where there's even a 1/1000 chance of dying. Imagine someone saying to you "you can go to this polling place, but there's a 1/1000 chance you'll die and about a 200/1000 chance you'll be really sick for weeks. No fucking thank you. Let's even say a 20/1000 chance. I'll be real generous to your utter lack of concern for facts. Still not going. Those are not good odds for a thinking person.

quickbeam · 2020-08-01T02:05:55+00:00

Not that they're sharing with these mysterious government officials who are somehow going to illegally mail them ballots which they will then totally fill out because they are so committed to rigging elections between working at the meat packing plant and raising their kids, which they will then somehow mail to the other evil government officials who will then hand them off to still more corrupt government officials for processing. All of these people are involved in the exact same conspiracy, somehow. The fact that this is totally believable to you is amazing.

quickbeam · 2020-08-01T02:02:44+00:00

Honestly, if people hate immigrants a suitable punishment would be having to cook all their own foreign food. You shouldn't even get Taco Bell, really.

quickbeam · 2020-08-01T02:01:54+00:00

I have anxiety and depression yet I am not irrationally afraid of people simply because they come from other countries, nor am I so sad or bitter that I assume my fellow humans are mainly dishonest or out to get each other. If I can keep a positive vision of humanity in my mind with my diagnosed conditions, why can't you?

quickbeam · 2020-07-31T22:09:53+00:00

p.s. It must suck to hate and distrust so many people this much. I have fucking full-blown anxiety and depression and I still realize that most people in this country are good-hearted, well-meaning honest people and even if I don't agree with them on everything or they might vote differently than I do they want the best for each other and their families. What you describe in your rants here is not a realistic version of America. It seems like the product of getting most of one's impressions of other people through the television or the internet rather than talking to lots of different types of people in person. Which is too bad. I hope that someday you will have a more positive view of humanity. Take care.

quickbeam · 2020-07-31T22:07:28+00:00

If I felt like spending an entire day on it with the result of you saying that everything I linked to was "fake news" I could refute all 100 of your propagandized arguments. But I'm going to go back to my regularly scheduled life where I will be eating delicious Chinese food prepared by recent immigrants to this country who have made my life much better through their skills and entrepreneurship.

quickbeam · 2020-07-31T22:05:01+00:00

Oh shit I didn't see this epic rant. :) LOL. I take it back; don't work the polls. I wouldn't want to subject ordinary Americans to this mindset.

quickbeam · 2020-07-31T22:04:10+00:00

You are acting as if mail-in ballots are the thing we ought to be worried about when it comes to mass election fraud when the real vulnerable spot where you could change results without a trace are the machines. I'm not naive or uninformed; I've actually worked the polls which I've mentioned repeatedly. It seems like you just want to remain panicked about this much less likely scenario out of what I can only assume is partisanship. Go work the polls if you care so much - I'll repeat it again. It's not hard to get those jobs - they're actually asking younger people to take them.

quickbeam · 2020-07-31T18:19:02+00:00

To the best of my knowledge Bernie Sanders supports freedom of speech pretty unequivocally. I think in campaigning within the party he had to adopt some of the woke speak to get by, but he was criticized heavily by woke types for not swallowing it all wholesale, for things like touting the Rogan semi-endorsement, etc. Bernie's an economic leftist, which is how I orient.

I don't think the left has any kind of monopoly on not being in favor of free speech though. When I was growing up I was basically socially "canceled" for being vocally in support of gay rights. Right wing religious types to this day engage in censorship of books and public art, infringe on religious freedom both by forcing Christianity on people and by trying to get Muslims not to dress as their faith demands, attempt to silence doctors especially when it comes to abortion information, try to erase climate science from government organizations, and the free press is threatened by people across the political spectrum who have economic or political interests in silencing them.

So I think that while the left may hold the most obvious cancel culture cards at the moment in terms of visible culture wars, there are insidious threats to freedom of speech waged by the right as well, that usually affect people like whistle-blowers, journalists, scientists and members of minority religious groups. I'm not okay with any of it.

quickbeam · 2020-07-31T18:02:33+00:00

I'm a leftist. A Bernie-crat if you will. I'm either with Bernie or slightly to the left of him on pretty much every issue. And it's not like I followed Bernie to these positions. He just came along and spoke all the stuff I already believed and I fell in love politically as a result. I'm almost a free speech absolutist and a civil libertarian in most ways. I used to believe in 2nd amendment rights, but that has eroded with the uptick in mass shootings and the realization that the government will always have the people outgunned and most of the people stockpiling guns aren't using them to stand up to the government in meaningful ways anyhow. I'm also a big believer in a strong social safety network and massive government programs to solve issues like climate change. I very much believe in getting money out of politics which the "neoliberal"/"corporate" wing of the party seems to have no interest in doing. I engage in more debates than I really ought to given that life is short.

quickbeam · 2020-07-31T17:27:59+00:00

Not all leftists are woke authoritarian. A lot of us are just leftists and we will debate people sometimes. But being willing to debate sometimes doesn't mean I always have the patience to take on all comers, since I am not a professional debater and I also enjoy other activities such as eating pizza, making art projects, writing fiction, spending time with humans I love and sometimes even working at a job. I get really sick of internet randos alleging that I won't debate them (or I'm cutting off a conversation) because I don't have a good argument when in fact I just find their argument illogical or boring and I strongly suspect that debating this person will involve an hour or more of sending links to information that they will dismiss as "fake news" or making ethical or logical assertions which they will flat out deny, leaving us both in the same space we were before we started debating, only now with both of us having wasted an hour of our lives that could have been spent eating pizza.

So yeah, there are shitty leftists that won't debate people because they don't have real arguments. But sometimes if a leftist doesn't want to debate you it's because you're not the greatest debater yourself or they're just actually not in the mood to argue on the internet. Be self-aware. You can't improve other people, but you can improve yourself. And any honest person should have an interest in improving themselves by reading philosophy or long form books on politics/history/etc.

quickbeam