Sven Slootweg @joepie91@pixie.town

New gender just dropped

​

I don't always encounter alt text for images on Mastodon. But when I do, I notice the alt text descriptions are higher quality than they were on Twitter. In general, I feel like describers are sharing the intent of images more and sharing their visual interpretations more often. When describers do this, the pictures come alive in my mind. In short, alt text feels less robotic on Mastodon and more like my sighted friends narrating their lives and observations to me. It's really awesome and special to watch. Keep up the great work, describers!

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.