Sven Slootweg @joepie91@pixie.town

White friends. Please don’t spend the month of February quoting Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Instead, spend the month learning about systemic racism and taking action towards a more equitable future for Black folks.

You can begin with this rich essay that accompanies a repository of policy-based recommendations:

https://belonging.berkeley.edu/structural-racism-remedies-project

Or read this report on inequity in the workplace:

https://www.wearehue.org/stateofinequity

#BlackHistoryMonth #SystemicRacism #Equity #DEI #Equality #Inclusivity

What if we stopped pretending that we could do everything on our own, and what if we opened ourselves to giving and receiving help?

I used to say all politics are identity politics, but even then, I didn't fully grasp how many people's politics are based in identity instead of principles.

For a lot of white liberals, liberalism is just about looking smart, open-minded, reasonable, and concerned but not aggressive, often in a way that still holds the door open for that which they claim to oppose. It's far worse to be seen as partisan, closed minded, "radical," or "extreme."

There's a reason the primary drivers of transphobia are a cadre of ostensible liberals writing moral panic screeds dressed up as "just asking questions" about "taboo" subjects, which conservatives then use to justify draconian legal punishments.

I'm sure these "journalists" think of themselves as Good People who are Asking the Important Questions. But they clearly think being trans is bad and icky even if they can't admit it.

But it reminds me what poor "allies" a lot of these people are.

And to be clear, the white liberal identity is constructed such that it gives the appearance of awareness and concern about, e.g., white supremacy while shunning the "politicization" that might change it.

if a CEO doesn’t show up for 3 months, it’s called a sabbatical and business operates completely normally without issue. if the janitorial staff doesn’t show up for 3 months, the business can no longer function. so who should be getting paid more?

escape room concept: there is a soft bed with even softer plushies, and you have to get out of bed, and you have 1 hour to do it

Landlords "provide housing" like scalpers "provide" concert tickets.

Sticker spotted in Redlands, California

I guess I’ll get up. This deadline isn’t gonna miss itself.

Less angry version: if you consider yourself an ally or would like to be one, here's two things you should be doing now, today.

First, check in on the trans folks in your circle. Don't make it about you, don't perform, just be there if we're hurting.

Second, get the fuck to work. Tell other cis folks about this, not us. Argue with other cis folks, and make noise so that it's not all on us for a change.

okay this whole "no limit" thing is a really bad default for stop jobs that happen before cleaning up the storage state for shutdown. Every time this happens I feel my life flashing before my eyes. This time, I didn't have to reinstall my OS. This time...

Vind ik het leuk dat ik, voor de tweede keer in een jaar tijd, halverwege een internationale treinreis ergens in het buitenland strand vanwege een treinstaking ter plaatse? Nee. Maar ben ik dan op zijn minst een béétje verontwaardigd of boos op die stakers? Wederom, nee.

Trump has made extreme transphobia an explicit campaign point. https://youtu.be/6xGOZwZo1S8

So many feelings of fear, despair, anger — I'm not proud of what rises to the top, but I still need to say it.

Fuck you, allies. Fuck you for buying Harry Potter shit. Fuck you for politely disagreeing with transphobes. Fuck you for sitting this one out. Fuck you for your lazy jokes.

You made this possible, and for that: fuck you.

(via @aidapsibr: https://tech.lgbt/@aidapsibr/109786064808190532)

cis people need to learn that categorizing trans people into "biological {fe,}male" in medical settings isn't pragmatic – it's biologically inaccurate

when a study studies "biological women", they really mean cis women, who have menstrual cycles and E-dominant endocrine systems, and breasts, and vice versa for studies on cis men.

the problem is that these are entirely seperate sets of characteristics from trans people. a trans guy might have no menstral cycle and no breasts. a trans woman might have an E-dominant endocrine system and no testicles.

the statement "Biological $GENDER have $PROPERTY" means nothing to a trans person, because the science doesn't tell us what actual physical characteristic $PROPERTY is linked to, and assuming we have all the same characteristics as a cis $GENDER is simply incorrect.

A few years ago one of the petrol stations we fill up at, when J commuted regularly, had a deal on where you'd get a free little plushy when spending over a certain amount. They were small and became cat toys. There's a blueberry, a sealion, a mushroom, I think some others. They live on the floor and travel around the house at the whim of the cats. Occasionally we'll be minding our own business and a blueberry plushy will fly across the room.