sufferin

In terms of what to do about this:

Begging folks to: 1: Start taking memes seriously, look at where the New Lingo you're getting is coming from online because the answer is almost always either:

Appropriated AAVE, which also serves the far-right agenda in multiple ways. Participating in Digital Blackface and the active destruction of different facets of Black cultural tradition (queer spaces do this SO MUCH. SO MUCH of "gay people talk" is bastardized AAVE and that causes serious harm and erasure of history which is inexplicably linked with histories of resilience and joy and culture making in the face of oppression and enslavement. We owe much of our ability to track what gamergaters are doing At All to the work of Black feminists who paid attention to how the far right started to mimic and impersonate Black women online to seed controversies designed to discredit feminist movements, but I digress (barely))

or

Far right memes designed to push the overton window on acceptable behaviour and things to say more firmly into their wheelhouse. This is something far right governments are both aware of and actively engaging with.

All those Virgin v Chad comics; the incredibly ableist lobotomy reaction images; the resurgence of the R slur; the push of tradwife content and Girl Math and such all either originates back in those cesspits or has been firmly weaponized.

2: Continue to educate yourselves on game development and call for systemic change at shareholder levels. Get loud and write in proper complaints about racist and sexist and ableist design choices. Call for crediting and fair pay for everyone who worked on games, including contracted staff on the other side of the world who provided art assets or quality assurance.

Video games are increasingly recognized world over as one of the most profitable and effective modern shapers of culture. A truly obscene amount of money is constantly changing hands, and where development studios are allowed to form at all impacts what stories are told.

A lot of gamedevs want better than this, but we need audience support and participation. There's huge efforts to unionize the industry - but the same underlying problems are at play in organizing too. Devs, not just white devs in the global north, all over the world need support. Unionization won't fix underlying culture issues, and there's also a lot of people who have no interest in even starting to address those. Please support the Game Devs of Colour expo, look at indie titles, check out independent games journalism efforts who are able to call out the links between the mainstream industry and the numerous active war machines.

Sorry for the huge add-on but as a developer myself I have followed along with this from the start and kept abreast of how the situation has continued to metastasize and develop. It's genuinely so important to talk to kids and young people about this history that's still in motion and provide education on what to look out for, especially if you know any who come from conservative homes. Many of the kids are NOT alright, and they're getting swept up across the world into states of profound alienation and taught to view anyone different than them as less than human.

I ask my students every week to write 10 observations of the actual world. It’s very hard for them.

Ms. Tippett:

Really?

Ms. Howe:

They really find it hard.

Ms. Tippett:

What do you mean? What is the assignment? 10 observations of their actual world?

Ms. Howe:

Just tell me what you saw this morning like in two lines. I saw a water glass on a brown tablecloth, and the light came through it in three places. No metaphor. And to resist metaphor is very difficult because you have to actually endure the thing itself, which hurts us for some reason.

Ms. Tippett:

It does.

Ms. Howe:

It hurts us.

Ms. Tippett:

You naming something.

Ms. Howe:

We want to say, “It was like this; it was like that.” We want to look away. And to be with a glass of water or to be with anything — and then they say, “Well, there’s nothing important enough.” And that’s whole thing. It’s the point.

Ms. Howe:

It’s the this, right?

Ms. Howe:

Right, the this, whatever. And then they say, “Oh, I saw a lot of people who really want” — and, “No, no, no. No abstractions, no interpretations.” But then this amazing thing happens, Krista. The fourth week or so, they come in and clinkety, clank, clank, clank, onto the table pours all this stuff. And it so thrilling. I mean, it is thrilling. Everybody can feel it. Everyone is just like, “Wow.” The slice of apple, and then that gleam of the knife, and the sound of the trashcan closing, and the maple tree outside, and the blue jay. I mean, it almost comes clanking into the room. And it’s just amazing.

Ms. Tippett:

In some basic level, what they’ve done is just engage with their senses.

Ms. Howe:

Yeah, and have been present out of their minds and just noticing what’s around them, which is — we don’t do. And again, not to compare it to anything. They’re not allowed. And that’s very hard for them. And then on the fifth or sixth week, I say, “OK, use metaphors.” And they don’t want to. They don’t know how. They’re like, “Why would I? Why would I compare that to anything when it’s itself?” Exactly. Good question.

So then you think, why the necessity of a metaphor? Why do you have to use a metaphor now? Not just to do it to avoid it, but to do it to make it more there. And it’s very interesting.

> my people

I don't hate my people, I hate who built this country to enslave, murder, and rape everyone who wasn't white/anglo.

I love California's land and everyone who lives on it. I will not flee. But I understand that this country began to rot when the first English colonizers touched its eastern shores. American society stinks of blood, disease and death.

Indigenous people deserve their land back. Black Americans deserve innumerable reparations. Capitalism deserves destruction. It has consolidated power into the hands of the worst people through self selecting for those who are most willing to step on others to get ahead.

- @inaccessiblitykilledchaoticbuggy , I’m on anon cause I ain want you dipshits on my blog no more. Yall fuckin ended chaoticbuggybitchboy with yalls fuckin ableism and it sound like yall still ain got the fuckin hang of shutting the fuck yo and doing better for the disabled people still in the community.

And that there’s a public comment period OPEN RIGHT NOW? It only has 18 comments. Let’s get this circulating!! Public comment period ends on 11/26/25. If enacted, it would go into effect 12/26/25.

I hope I don’t need to explain why this is a problem, especially in our current administration. But a few key reasons why this is a very bad idea and sets a very bad precedent:

- privacy and security. HIPPA and other privacy laws exist to protect the unnecessary collection of data so that it’s less likely to be leaked. Is this data going to be stored securely? Who will have access to it? For what purpose? What safeguards will be in place to protect the proper use of this data? Surely there could be no reason to collect personally identifiable information about “foreigners” and “aliens”. Surely this wouldn’t be used for mass deportation efforts.

- the public comment is aimed at “the specific collection process as well as costs and benefits” for the process. So in your comment, the most effective arguments will center around how this system is infeasible to implement, cost prohibitive, and has no benefit. Focus on how the collection process will cost a lot of money, infringe on rights to privacy, etc.

Others please feel free to add ideas or template messages!!