Bear - Always Frowning Slightly

it’s run by a fascist

it’s been trending further right for years

it needs serious reform

things you can’t say about the USA:

it’s unique in any of the above mentioned issues

it’s the most right wing or conservative place on earth

many jews experience debates about israel as directly affecting jewish life because other people often collapse the distinction for us. take the woman who was assaulted on a NYC subway while her attacker said "jews are eating kids," or Dan Goldman the rep of the 10th district in NYC who was publicly lambasted by a local coffee shop for getting coffee there, or Scott Wiener a California state legislator who was harassed by masked people at a pride march. the woman on the subway wasn't attacked because of anything she had personally said or done regarding israel. goldman had only gone into the coffee shop because his daughter needed to use the restroom and bought a coffee as a thank you. wiener is a gay jewish legislator with a solid track record of defending trans rights who had the gall to appear at a trans rights event.

the woman was attacked because she was jewish in public, goldman was harangued for being being jewish with a public platform, and wiener was chased out of the event for being jewish. and people projected the actions of the israeli government onto them. (and before people start saying 'well goldman and wiener are pro-israel politicians!' i implore you to take a look at their voting record and see just how run of the mill democrat they actually are on the topic)

incidents like these make it difficult for many jews to treat israel as merely a foreign policy issue, because public attitudes toward Israel often become attitudes toward jews in practice.

Like- imagine he goes downstairs for a glass of water and finds Perry making himself a grilled cheese or something. He’s not wearing the hat so his cover isn’t blown, but he’s supposed to be the dumb housepet yet here he is, making a grilled cheese.

So the next morning, Phineas and Perry are just eyeing eachother, and Perry is just internally panicking like “how much does he know??? Surely he’s figured out my identity by now… Monogram can NOT find out about this” meanwhile Phineas is just like “he could make his own food??? what else can he do???” And like there’s this tension that never gets resolved because they’re both too nervous to bring it up.

Man, I agree and I don't care if it's cringe to say so. My mom has been saying that she remembers the bicentennial when she was a kid, and people were hyped up. She said sidewalks and poles were painted with the colors of the flag. Now? You only see mentions of the 250th anniversary in advertisements trying to cash in on it, really. But among people, nobody’s heart is in it. It could've been great. This person is right and this was part of what was so gutting about 2024; it was the best of American ideals vs the worst of American society...and the worst won. It's still hard to sit with.

The $1 per hour rule. It’s exactly what it says on the tin. If I’m purchasing physical media, I consider it good value if I can expect to get at least one hour of enjoyment for every dollar I spend on it.

I don’t remember what I spent on BG3, but I know it was a good deal because I’ve logged 600 hours in it. Hades II costs $30, and I was more than happy to pay that because I know I’ll play it for at least 30 hours. When I add books to my library, I almost exclusively buy used books that cost under $5 because 5 hours is a good average estimate for how long it takes me to finish a novel.

@iliveinprocrasti-nationn real!! i remember something similar, in one course, with the number of classes we were allowed to miss before it impacted our grade. i tried to argue that if i used them for the holidays, i wouldn’t have any left in case i got sick. they were like “well, the point is you can use it for whatever you want, so if you choose to use it for holidays, it’s still fair.” but it’s not, because the christian students didn’t need to choose between taking off holidays and having off days left!

“YES MAYBE YOU SHOULD!”

But since I’ve gotten too disabled to fight anymore, I… find myself coming back to that maiden in a tower. It’s that funny thing, where subverting femininity is powerful for the people who have always been forced into it… but for the people who have always been excluded, the powerful thing can be embracing it.

As I’m disabled, as I say to groups of friends, “I can’t walk that far,” as I’m in too much pain to keep partying, I find myself worrying: I’m boring, too quiet, too stationary, irrelevant. The message sent to the disabled is: You’re out of the narrative, you’re secondary, you’re a burden.

The remarkable thing about the maiden in her tower is not her immobility; it’s common for disabled people to be abandoned, set adrift, waiting at bus stops or watching out the windows, forgotten in institutions or stranded in our houses. The remarkable thing is that she’s like a beacon, turning her tower into a lighthouse; people want to come to her, she’s important, she inspires through her appearance and words and craftwork.  In medieval romances she gives gifts, write letters, sends messengers, and summons lovers; she plays chess, commissions ballads, composes music, commands knights. She is her household’s moral centre in a castle under siege. She is a castle unto herself, and the integrity of her body matters.