Sis I need you to spread some of your wisdom and write another "you have to vote for Hillary/dem nominee" truth post because fuck am I worried. Like before the hate on here for HRC was bad but now it's like too far gone and I can't survive a Trump presidency. George Bush was meant to be the "compassionate conservative" and look what he did.
okay my boss made a pot of coffee for the office and i drank that pot of coffee plus some espresso so i’m in exactly the right place to write this post.
hillary clinton is the democratic party’s nominee for president! donald trump is the republican party’s nominee for president! soon they will choose vice presidents! the general election Has Begun! we have exactly 152 more days of hell to live through and every moment of that hell is gonna be GREAT
your options are:
vote for trump
vote for clinton
vote for a third party candidate (jill stein, gary johnson, etc.)
it’s generally understood that no third party candidate has a legitimate chance of winning. wikipedia has a helpful list of high-profile third party candidates over the past 184 years of american history; they do not win elections unless america is divided enough that, say, half of it secedes. america is very polarized right now, but the level of civil violence we’ve been experiencing recently doesn’t point to a secessionary atmosphere. i wouldn’t be surprised if both stein and johnson got higher vote counts than normal this year, but neither will get actual electoral votes.
so a vote for a third-party candidate only makes sense as an act of protest, and stein and johnson will definitely get plenty of those protest votes.
ithe usual reason for protest votes from leftists is that the democratic party and the gop are too alike; people tend to say that “hillary is just as bad as the gop, so it doesn’t really matter which one of them gets into power, they’re all the same anyway.”
i disagree. here are the reasons why i disagree:
donald trump would like to deport all 11 million undocumented immigrants in the united states and build a wall along the american-mexican border. hillary clinton does not plan to deport these immigrants, and wants to give “dreamers” a path to united states citizenship.
donald trump plans to create specific legal hurdles to muslim people immigrating to the united states. hillary clinton does not plan to do this.
donald trump wants to expand concealed-carry permits. hillary clinton wants to increase background checks, ban assault weapons, and have the cdc study gun violence more.
donald trump does not support same-sex marriage, and thinks transgender bathroom laws should be left to individual states. hillary clinton supports same-sex marriage, and wants all transgender people to be able to use the bathroom corresponding to their gender.
donald trump thinks abortion laws should be left to individual states, and plans to put anti-abortion justices on the supreme court. hillary clinton supports abortion’s legality.
donald trump denies the existence of climate change, and plans to exit the paris agreement. hillary clinton acknowledges the existence of climate change, and plans to stay in the paris agreement.
donald trump supports offshore drilling and the keystone xl pipeline. hillary clinton does not support offshore drilling, and thinks keystone xl construction should not continue.
donald trump does not think the minimum wage should be raised. hillary clinton wants to raise the minimum wage.
donald trump wants to end obamacare. hillary clinton wants to continue obamacare and expand medicaid.
donald trump wants to privatize prisons. hillary clinton wants to limit use of the death penalty and allow felons to vote.
donald trump does not think police should wear body cameras. hillary clinton thinks they should.
were this any other election, this post would end here. unfortunately, donald trump’s disqualifications go above and beyond his conservative views.
he has threatened reporters, protesters, and others who disagree with him with legal reprisals only because they disagree with him.
he has encouraged violence against protesters at his rallies.
his candidacy has resulted in demonstrable and proved rises in anti-mexican and anti-muslim sentiment and violence, especially bullying of schoolchildren.
his platform operates on the basic assumption that legal discrimination against certain minority groups– specifically mexicans and muslims– would improve america’s economy and society.
he would need far more power than the presidential office currently has in order to implement his racist, islamophobic policies. it is unlikely that he would hesitate in doing his best to seize this power.
it’s understandable to me that far-leftists dislike voting for a candidate with more moderate views than theirs. and, again, were this any other election, i would sympathize to some extent with a protest vote against clinton.
however, donald trump is a fascist.
i do not say “fascist” as a more exaggerated way of saying “bad person”. it is a specific term with a specific definition. ted cruz is not a fascist. marco rubio is not a fascist. ronald reagan was not a fascist.
donald trump is an authoritarian, rising to power on a wave of racism, bigotry, fear, and hate. he has deliberately created a cult of personality around himself and his name. he encourages his followers to use violence against his enemies, and intends to level police violence against his political enemies and certain minority groups.
i am a jew.
i want to make it clear: i am not personally afraid of donald trump. while many of his followers, like david duke, are virulently antisemitic, his platforms do not focus on my people as america’s enemies. i will be affected by his homophobia and his sexism, but not by his anti-mexican or anti-muslim sentiment.
but while i am not personally threatened, i am personally involved. there is a fascist running for president of my country; i am a jew. this fight is my fight. this man is my responsibility. no fascist will ever come to power again.
historically speaking, the far left’s choices in these fights are crucial. whether they choose to focus their attentions on moderate leftist democrats or on far-right fascists determines which of these groups will be defeated and which will be able to rise to power.
i genuinely like hillary clinton; her policies aren’t radical or revolutionary, but many of them are steps in positive directions for america. she’s practical, experienced, and intelligent. she isn’t a charismatic preacher; i’m fine with that. eight years of government by someone who ran as a charismatic preacher have made me a little more jaded, a little more aware of the importance of effectiveness over inspiration. i encourage people to like her as a candidate for her own sake.
if you don’t like her as a candidate, that’s all right. i don’t need you to.
i do need you to be aware of the consequences of allowing trump to come to power. i do need you to be aware of the promise the entire western world made my people seventy years ago. i do need you to understand your personal responsibility in fulfilling that promise.
that’s why i think you should vote for hillary clinton in november.
I don’t like reblogging this kind of content here, but I’ll make a special exception this once. Please read it and please vote (and register if you haven’t already) in November.
“How is forcing children to diet child abuse? I’m not trying to be mean.. I’m just curious😁 Also this blog is so beautiful.. Being overweight, it always makes me smile when I see one of your posts☺️😍🤗”
I’ve written pretty extensively about this, but let’s expand on the idea.
My logic starts with the idea that anything that would be considered abuse for a thin child should be considered abuse in a fat child. Depriving your thin child of food is abuse, so it’s also abuse when you do it do a fat child.
Calorie restriction is not ok for kids because they are still growing. Also girls who were forced to diet are more likely to be fat as adults, develop eating disorders and to struggle with alcohol abuse.
If you want your child to eat vegetables- BUY VEGETABLES. You are the adult. Children do not have money.
Every time I approach this topic, I am accused of wanting children to eat “1000 Oreos” (it’s always Oreos, idk why)– here’s the truth. You don’t want your kid to eat Oreos? DON’T BUY OREOS. You have the control here. Use it to buy fruit or vegetables or whatever.
I am also approaching this topic as a fat adult who was a fat child who suffered weight based abuse in my home, among other types of abuse.
I agree with the point the autism community has made about interventions on children, which is- if you want to know what the impact of a treatment is on a child, you can ask the adults who were subjected to those treatments as children.
Fat adults who were fat children are the experts on what it is like to be forced to diet as a fat child- NOT parents of fat children. WE know the impacts. They do not.
(TW- descriptions of dieting and child abuse and suicide)-
I was put on less than 1000 calorie a day diets from the age of 8 - 18. I had to watch my thin sister eat normal meals while I was forced on fad diet after fad diet. I had to take diet “meals” (shakes and bars) to school as lunch and eat them while my classmates mocked me. I was put into Weight Watchers at age 11. I was forced to exercise until I threw up or fainted. I was subjected to physical abuse for not losing enough weight.
All of this- behavior which is clearly abuse- was encouraged by every adult around me. Because our culture is ok with the abuse of fat kids.
It destroyed my relationship with my family members. It led to suicide attempts. It made me believe no one could ever care about me, and that no one would ever help me. Because everyone knew. Everyone knew what my parents were doing. And no one even tried to stop it or even talk to me about it.
And at the end of it- I’m still fat.
How much pain do we have to expose, before people will listen? Stop abusing children. Just because the dominant culture says it’s ok, doesn’t mean it is.
Don’t treat fat children in a way that you wouldn’t treat a thin child.
People act like growing up to become a fat adult is the worst thing that can happen to a fat child. But being abused by your parents while your entire community cheers them on?- THAT is worse.
So since Tumblr decided to drop this the first time that I posted it, here’s a briefer version of this:
I’ve been seeing it go ‘round the internets that ‘using the spoon theory when you are not disabled is appropriation.’
Lemme be the first person to say that a) that is not a universally-held view in the spoonie community b) we don’t have any universally-held views, c) I actually think that view is actively harmful and d) I’m not interested in arguing about it, just please stop saying “this is so.”
This is not so. You are not the gatekeeper to who can or cannot use a word. Unless you are the writer of the original spoon theory essay, you cannot say who can and cannot use that phrase.
Now, on to why I don’t think it’s a bad thing.
1) As neologisms become more common, they become more useful. If an able-bodied friend says “I’m running low on people spoons, can we skip the next thing?” I say “sweet, yes, I was feeling the same thing, let’s go home and watch TV.” Those able-bodied people are speaking my language, and they understand what I mean when I say spoons, and that’s because they’ve taken the time to figure out what that phrase means and how it works and how to use it. HOO-FUCKING-RAY.
2) Using “appropriation” in relation to a word that is younger than my middle dog is, uh, not good, y’all. Appropriation is for white people wearing dreadlocks and girls at Coachella wearing bindis and fucking Chief Illiniwek and the Redskins. Appropriation is for Whole Foods putting peanuts in collard greens and white girls with no training or appreciation painting their hands with random hearts and flowers in henna and buying cheap-ass turquoise jewelry made in China rather than getting it from Native artists.
Spoonie culture is a baby culture. (Note: this does not apply to all disabled culture, for example D/deaf culture is pretty long-lived.) We should maybe just chill the fuck out before we start yelling appropriation! because yes our problems are many but people using spoon theory to describe how tired they are is not one of them.
3) AND THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PART: By saying “able-bodied people should not use this,” you are setting yourself and other visibly or openly disabled persons as gatekeepers for the use of this term. You are saying: “you better be out about your disability or you can’t use it, because we’re gonna drag you/call you out about it.”
No one - not you, not me, not anybody else - gets to check anybody’s Cripple Card ™, unless it’s the police literally checking to see if I have my wallet card for my disability placard with me. No one does. No one gets to say “nah, you’ve only got anxiety, you’re not disabled enough.” No one gets to say “you have to disclose your disability or you do not get to use this term.”
Because that’s basically what the upshot of this is: unless you are openly out as disabled, you will not be able to use this term without fear of repercussion – and this site especially is fucking heartlessly beastly sometimes. We eat our own, especially in this baby community of spoonies where we should take best care of each other.
So, tl;dr: please stop saying ‘this is appropriative’ like we had some spoonie meeting and decided on it, because we didn’t; use of a term makes it more accessible; appropriation as a term doesn’t actually belong to us, we should kinda stay in our lanes here; and please think through what it means when you say ‘no one able-bodied should use this.’ It means you’re saying you feel like you get to determine who can use a term, therefore who is disabled enough, therefore you’re gonna be checking Cripple Cards™ at the door.
No you’re not.
(Yes, I realize some disabled persons feel Cripple is a slur. I use it as a word of pride. I will not star it out. If it offends you, I’m sorry for the hurt that causes you, but I will not stop using it.)
I’m going to highlight one part of this: “…you are setting yourself and other visibly or openly disabled persons as gatekeepers for the use of this term.“ This is doubly problematic because not all visibly disabled people are spoonies.
Look, I’m disabled: visibly, openly, proudly. I’m paraplegic and I use a wheelchair, so my disability is not something I could hide even if I wanted to. What I’m not, however, is a spoonie, when we describe “spoonie“ as “someone with a chronic illness or disability that regularly impacts their energy levels and/or ability to get things done“. I use a wheelchair, yes, but I have no problems whatever with energy or getting stuff done (aside from just generally being lazy).
So when people try to gatekeep this terminology and say that only disabled people can use it (which, as stated above, really means only visibly or openly disabled people can use it), what I hear is: “Hey! You there, in the wheelchair! I’ve decided that you are Disabled Enough to use the spoon theory. I know nothing about you or your disability, but you look crippled so I have decided that I know what you can and cannot do.“
So when you try to play gatekeeper for this, what you’re really doing is giving the rest of us bingo on the “ableist shit” scorecard. You’re telling us that:
those with invisible disabilities have to prove their disability, because otherwise they are not Disabled Enough, and
those with visible disabilities are obviously worse off than everyone else, because they don’t have to prove how disabled they are, and
there is such a thing as a “real“ disabled person, and you can tell who is and is not one based on… some arbitrary criteria that can not and will not apply to everyone.
Long story short: as a visibly disabled person who is not a spoonie, I am not okay with being designated some kind of judge of who is and isn’t disabled, and I’m frankly offended that people think they get to put me in that position by proclaiming that certain words are only for “”real”” disabled people.
I have some fucking magical followers, y'all. Read all this.
I need you to consider your audience. When you say you hate your body for being so fat, or that you are afraid of becoming fat, or when you say that you shouldn’t have eaten that lunch or dessert, or when you announce your new year’s resolution to lose 5, 10, 25 pounds, you are saying that you don’t want your body to end up like mine. Your feelings are real and true and valid. And you still should not say them to the fattest person you know.
I know that all of us are impacted by body shaming, and that everyone has real, valid, deep, hard feelings about our bodies. I still need you to stop perpetuating it, especially when talking about yourself. No amount of caveats or prologues make it hurt me less. I need you to know that I’m taking it personally because it is personal.
Anonymous Asks:
curlygirly77 Said:
