Damn Everything but the Cicus

thecityhorse:

Uptown Funk Abs

I think I’d make it 20 seconds into this before collapsing… 

Every artist who sees this post should do the following:

- Watch the video.

- Follow the instructions

- Reblog

The minimum wage could actually drop if we had basic income.

And with this system, part-time jobs and “non-skilled” jobs would be much more readily available because nobody would need to work two or three jobs just to stay afloat!

Which would ALSO mean that employers and customers couldn’t shamelessly exploit employees the way they can today, because if losing a job weren’t necessarily a financial disaster, more people would be willing to walk out on jobs where they weren’t being treated with dignity.

And if this also applies to students (and it should) then student loans would become much less of a problem, and fewer people would flunk out of school because of having to juggle studies and work.

Far fewer people would be forced to stay with abusive partners, parents or roommates because they couldn’t afford to move out.

And the thing is, all those people who suddenly had money? They’d be spending it. They’d be getting all the stuff they can’t afford now - new clothes, books, toys, locally-produced food, car repairs - and with each purchase money would flow BACK to the government, because VAT, also income tax.

The unemployed and/or disabled wouldn’t need special support any more - which would also mean the government could fire however many admins who are currently engaged in humiliating - *cough* making sure those people aren’t getting money they don’t deserve. Same for medical benefits and pensions. And I’m no legal scholar, but I somehow imagine less financial desperation would lead to less petty crime, and hence less need for police and security everywhere?

But wait, there’s more. Because parents were spending just a little more time at home and involved with their families, test scores increased. Because teens didn’t have to work to support their families, drop-out rates decreased. Crime rates, hospital visits, psychiatric hospitalizations and domestic abuse rates all dropped, as well. More adults pursued higher education. Those who continued to work reported more job flexibility and more opportunity to choose employment they preferred.

lemme be clear: is it cool that a girl kissed the boy first? sure. HOWEVER A FEW THINGS:

actually this has happened in YA before!!! MANY TIMES!!!! ESPECIALLY IN BOOKS. WRITTEN. BY. FEMALE AUTHORS!!!!! holy shit, john green, women write books too WHO THE FUCK WOULD HAVE THOUGHT. not anyone consuming mainstream media because you’re apparently the end all be all when it comes to YA writing, literally the alpha and the omega, the creator and Only One Who Matters. FUCK GINNY WEASLEY KISSED HARRY POTTER YOU ABSOLUTE CHEESEBRAIN. I thought it was self-aggrandizing, white, straight, cisboy nerd rule number one to know everything about Harry Potter. c’mon. I’m disappointed.

ALSO HERE’S ANOTHER REALLY BIG THING I THINK YOU SHOULD KNOW.

SOMETIMES TEEN GIRLS DO OTHER THINGS IN YA BOOKS! THINGS OTHER THAN KISSING A BOY! THINGS OTHER THAN EXISTING TO CATAPULT THE MALE MAIN CHARACTER FROM HIS SHITTY-DIAPER EXISTENTIAL CRY-MASTURBATION PRESENCE.

which, by the way, that summary is what an actual “manic pixie dream-girl” is. not the thing that you said you don’t do in that post that people love to reblog. Another thing a manic pixie dream-girl is? SOMETHING THAT’S IN EVERY ONE OF YOUR BOOKS THAT I’VE READ.

back to the point!!!! some teenage girls lead rebellions, save the world, bring down governments, save their family’s legacy, battle depression, overcome abusive parents, kiss girls, struggle with religion, help their family, raise their sisters, become kings, play football, bring countries together, have friends who are other girls, build up their own identity, raise children, murder people, play matchmaker, disrupt tradition and destiny, become knights and thieves and goddesses. these are all things that girls do in real books — and that’s just from a glance at my personal library. MOST OF THESE BOOKS ARE WRITTEN BY WOMEN.

what i’m saying is, yes love is just as valid as an adventure/achievement/goal as anything else you might think of. yes, it’s important, especially in recent times, to see examples in the media of girls taking control of their own sexuality and body and choosing to kiss who they want to kiss.

WHAT I’M ALSO SAYING AND WHAT IS MOST IMPORTANT:

GIRLS. DO NOT. EXIST. TO BE. ROMANTIC OPPOSITES. TO BOYS.

it’s a problem that exists throughout your books, mr. green and it’s the most troubling one i’ve yet to encounter in them (which is saying something, because to put it nicely, i have more than a few problems with your oeuvre. girls do not exist to dance wildly and make jokes and plan pranks and be named Katherine and have cancer and be hurricanes all to lift your white straight middle-class uselessly-gifted main boy from the sodden doldrums of his impossibly privileged life. girls do not exist as side-characters. girls are people, just as much as augustus miles colin tobin quentin will grayson are.

they can do things to affirm their identity, agency and individuality other than kissing boys.

AND WHEN THEY DO KISS BOYS, HAVE KISSED BOYS, CONTINUE TO KISS BOYS, it won’t always be written by you. it wasn’t written by you for the first time. by a long shot.

you miss the point of your criticism a lot, mr. green. no one’s mad at you for writing YA or writing plotless YA or writing exploitive YA. well, i mean, yes, we are mad at you for that too.

but what’s really troubling is the tonelessness of both your writing and your person. you don’t seem to be aware of the body of work that has come before you. work in both literature and social movement. you masquerade as some grandstanding ubermensch feminist championing the little guy while operating against privilege and aren’t you so cool because you like girls who aren’t skinny and don’t have breast implants.

news flash john green: girls don’t exist to fit your Nice Guy TM-approved model. we don’t exist to counter the culture of typified femininity for you. we don’t need you to be our White Knight TM. especially since you’re doing a really, really, heart-breakingly shitty job of it.

so much so that you’re not just doing a bad job of a good thing, you’re doing an amazing job of a terrible thing. you’re part of the problem. you’re helping the problem to persist. YOU. ARE. HELPING. THE. PROBLEM. TO. PERSIST.

with every vlog you put out, with every criticism you wave off, with every book you print, with every shitcheese comment like the above that you make on your own writing, you are helping the problem persist.

instead of hand-waving every person who doesn’t worship you as just one of the mass echo-chamber of blind mob-induced hatred, maybe you should try and LISTEN to some of what those people are saying. someone criticizing you is a compliment, mr. green. it says that they think enough of you to think that you have the capacity to change.