Hello! :D This blog is a mix of fandoms. Not very active these days, but keeping the blog for the memories. Fandsoms include One Direction, LOTR, TU/CQL/MDZS. Turtle  #Bravery #forthetimebeing #OT5forever
We often treat commenting and kudosing as transactional, but Iâd like to propose a different perspective.
A fandom is like a community garden; the plants and trees are fanworks, the paths and benches are structures like ao3 and kinkmemes and themed weeks or months. Comments, and kudos? Those are fertiliser. You donât necessarily see them at work, but they make the trees grow stronger and the flowers bloom brighter. When you comment on a fic or piece of fanart, you are nourishing our shared garden and helping to make the soil fertile for future works.
I want commenters to feel proud of that contribution. Whether you turn up with a wheelbarrow of the stuff to tip on your favourite flowerbed or just drop a heart emoji in the donations box, you are helping to make the soil richer, the garden more beautiful.
And you know what? Sometimes you need to just sit in the garden without feeling obliged to do anything to maintain it. Thatâs okay. Itâs your garden too! As an author, I donât want people coming to my stories with a sense of obligation; I want them to be able to enjoy them and be restored by them. If they donât have the energy to comment right now, thatâs okay.
But a comment isnât the price of an entry ticket to someone elseâs garden; itâs an investment in your garden, in your community. You wonât always see it bear fruit, wonât always know what part of the whole it helped grow. But you can know what you put in, and feel proud of being part of the team nourishing and maintaining this wonderful space we all share.
And whatever you do, pleaseâdonât litter, or tell other people theyâre enjoying the garden wrong.
This is so true. Watering the garden of what you are enjoying in fandom helps improve the overall climate for more of that type of content to emerge. A spirit of gratitude, warmth and connection helps grow healthy communities and inspire more engagement and more creative output. We are active participants in fandom, regardless of our role in what's happening.
Our input is feedback and fertilizer for the creators around us.
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I'm a fandom oldie and a strong proponent of "ship and let ship", and I defend everyone else's right to ship what they love... But I think that gives people the idea that I like, automatically love every single ship??? Or every single trope?
I don't though!
There are a lot of fandom tropes that are on my "absolutely fuck no" list. There are a lot of irk kinks that are also on my "nope absolutely not" list, too. Personally, this is healthy. I'm able to look at something and go "Yep, I hate it, but it's not harming anyone, so continue to do as you please."
I think this is where the rubber meets the road for actually having principles. Itâs easy to defend the things we like, just like itâs easy to fight for our own rights and those of people just like us. When you have to use logic to extend your sense of justice to people you canât relate to, that actually takes effort.
We have GOT to stop pathologizing the joy out of life.
Saw someone claim that if you read a lot as a child, you were disassociating. No, you were reading. Because reading is fun.
"I have a problem with maladaptive daydreaming." It's only maladaptive if it negatively impacts your ability to function in the real world. Laughing at a joke you made in your head isn't doing that.
"You seem to do a lot if creative projects. What are you escaping?" I'm escaping this conversation.
Like what is the end goal? Because so far, all this has done has made it harder to enjoy my hobbies because you're turning a mindless process into something I gotta think about.
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for me internet friendships are âwe donât talk all the time but I see youâre online and it makes me happyâ and I really hope itâs like that for everyone
Like you know what is much more sociable, actually, than expecting everyone to adhere perfectly to your pet social conventions? Adapting your interactions, especially if it's clear that you are significantly more adaptable than your conversation partner. It's deeply unfriendly, actually, to assume that someone who's very quiet or awkward or whatever is just not trying.
(There is a lot more. Rather than give you all the images, I've copied the full text below.)
Meredith Rose⏠âŞ@mrose.inkâŹ
November 8, 2024
This is not going to be a repeat of 2016-2020. It will be better, it will be worse, but most of all it will be different. Here are things I want every single person to keep in mind as we head into round 2 of a Trump admin.
My credentials: Iâm a queer female public interest attorney working on tech policy in DC. Iâve been doing this for a decade--longer than some, not as long as others. I had to navigate three different administrations, as well as Congress, regulatory agencies, courts, and the advocacy world.
FIRST: donât let despair override your media literacy.
The left has grifters, just like every other movement. If youâre able and compelled to donate, give to orgs with established track records. Avoid giving to individuals, especially anyone who emerges overnight with a one-weird-trick âplan.â
The left is not immune to misinformation, and everyoneâEVERYONEâfalls for it sometimes, present company included. There is no shame in it. When (not if) it happens to you, you should acknowledge it; delete or retract the post to reduce the spread; and move on.
If a source consistently shares half-truths or outright misinformation, it is not trustworthy, no matter how much âtheir heart is in the right place.â Unfollow and move on.
Prediction, analysis, and reporting are three fundamentally different things. Learn to identify them for what they are. Reject attempts by amateur âanalystsâ to predict the future. They know as much as you do.
Real subject matter experts know and acknowledge their limits. Theyâre also (usually) hesitant to try and predict the future. The best frame their predictions in terms of a range of possible outcomes. Subject matter experts may also disagree with one another! It happens!
SECOND: What we know for sure about how the Trump, how he operates, and how that will impact the next four years.
Trump is a narcissist who avoids reading and doesnât care about details. He cannot be persuaded by argument or logic; heâs moved mostly by flattery, and will agree with the last person who flattered him. He can and will upend his own administrationâs work without warning, often by tweet.
As a result, most policy expertsâeven those "on his side"âdread him taking an interest in their field. Ask any Republican staffer who worked in Congress during the last administration, and most of them will confirm that their greatest fear was Trump tweeting about anything related to their work.
As such, people who are serious about their work will do everything to make it as invisible and boring-seeming as possible. This is the policy equivalent of defensive camouflage. Lots of ânormieâ work will continue in silence. (The lionâs share of tech policy ends up in this bucket.)
If you have a niche issue that you care about, now is a great time to donate to orgs that work on it. Lots of money will be funneled to big legacy orgs working on headline issues: ACLU, climate change orgs, etc. Consider sending your donations where they matter most: local, niche, established.
Trump runs his cabinet like the Apprentice. He thrives on chaos and making people compete for his approval. Not only does he not reward collaboration between his subordinates, he actively undermines it.
Moreover, everyone who works with him knows that theyâre vulnerable to being thrown under the bus at a momentâs notice, for any reason (or for no reason at all). His cabinet is going to be scorpions in a bottle. They will not be able to coordinate, for good or ill.
One scorpion can still do a lot of horrific damage. But large scale inter-agency coordination is unlikely, particularly after the first few months, by which point he will likely (prediction warning!) have gone through a handful of cabinet secretaries already.
FINALLY: The view from inside civil society heading into 2025.
In 2016, Trump was a largely unknown quantity. The left and establishment right alike wasted a lot of time trying to read tea leaves and make sense of this guy, because he was completely outside the realm of what anyone had dealt with. Thatâs not happening now.
He did us a favor by broadcasting his plans in advance (aka Project 2025). Civil society has spent the last 2.5 years strategizing around it. Weâre not starting off flat-footed.
The Biden admin did a good amount to future-proof its own achievements. Folks can speak to their own areas of expertise, but clean energy and CHIPS and Science Act (investing in domestic semiconductor production) have benefitted from huge sunk investments. That moneyâs not getting clawed back.
OVERALL TAKE-AWAYS:
It's going to suck. But civil society and the political left have some advantages we didn't have last time. We know him, we know his angles, and we know who he's bringing in--none of which we had in 2016.
We'll get through this. It will be grim, but we'll get through it.
John Cutting⏠âŞ@johncutting.bsky.socialâŹ
Thanks Meredith. I really valued your analysis over the past few years, and I think this is a reasonable, actionable framework to think about the upcoming storm
Meredith Rose⏠âŞ@mrose.inkâŹ
I really cannot overstate how much time was (necessarily) wasted in 2017 trying to figure out this guy and his influences. The fact that he's not only a known quantity, but ran the most over-studied administration in this nation's recent history, makes this a very different game.
John Cutting⏠âŞ@johncutting.bsky.socialâŹ
I bet we can weaponize his narcissism. Let's say some ghoul starts making progress with a mass deportation effort, if we start calling that ghoul that "shadow president" en masse, Trump would fire him in right away and appoint Hulk Hogan or something
âŞMeredith Rose⏠âŞ@mrose.inkâŹ
This is exactly why I don't think Musk will last very long. Trump is very clear that he's the only one in the room allowed to have an ego or any kind of brand name.
This is actually the most hopeful thing I've read since the election. It's hard to believe we'll all be okay just because we're full of spite or we're on the right side of history. It's easy to believe Trump and his administration is a pile of venomous bucket crabs in clownshoes.
Take that part about grifters and amateur analysts on the left seriously. Scam artists take advantage of panic and desperation, and a lot of us are feeling panicked and desperate. Also, when people are panicked and desperate, their critical thinking skills suck and they don't necessarily come to logical conclusions even when doing their best. God knows I've fallen for scams and dramatic worst case scenarios. The most important thing is to check your sources and be suspicious of dramatic appeals to emotion (though dramatic appeals to emotion don't mean something is false, either).
Isolation fries your brain. I know there are lots of ways to wind up trapped in an isolating situation, but reach out to other people- preferably multiple groups of other people- any way you can. Volunteering is a good way to do this.
yeah this includes disabled people, and poc, and queer people. just because you were hurt doesn't mean you can scream at everyone else you dont get a free pass.
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The beautiful thing as you get older is that you realize so many ârulesâ are made up and you can just do whatever. Posters can go anywhere in the house not just my room. I can sit down while cooking a meal or taking a shower. I can make the same thing for breakfast lunch dinner for a week straight. I can roam around the house shirtless. I can wear a dress with jeans. The world is my oyster key word my and I can live as I please embracing little things such as this
Some of us don't have the spoons, the head space, the mental capacity, the physical strength, the energy to be the kinds of activists and advocates that you might wish to see us being.
You might want to make sure to check your ableism in your social justice.
This is exactly why you dont gatekeep, period. This is why you dont force a person to admit they're gay to enter a gay bar. This is why respectability politics are pointless. This is why you let others be and dont force your expectations and assumptions on others.
i mean this in the nicest way possible you guys but you NEED to take better care of yourselves online. getting severely anxious about mass quantities of horrible things you cant change every single day is normal considering the internetâs ability to educate on worldwide issues, it shows that you have empathy and that you truly do care. but relentless knowledge of constant suffering on this scale is NOT something humans are psychologically equipped to handle. itâs okay to shut off. itâs okay to just take a break and enjoy yourself for a while in your own localized space
It was half meant as a joke, but I recently read a post that was something like âIf youâre not outraged, youâre probably setting understandable boundaries with the news you consume onlineâ, and I still havenât stopped thinking about it
Human beings, not to mention human society, was not built to receive information about the state of the entire world at all times in a firehose of data.
We evolved knowing only about our immediate circle of relatives and social cohort. Once we started forming societies, youâd know about your immediate vicinity. Village/tribe/collective/whatever. Youâd occasionally get a whiff about the outer realms, but not often.
When writing was invented you could receive letters, news pamphlets, treatises nailed to the village square. Youâd get a little.
Even after the Industrial Revolution, there was a remove from you and the news, partially time-related.
Itâs only in the last few decades that we have been subjected to a constant barrage of instantaneous information about everything that happens everywhere. We were not meant for this.
Itâs okay to compartmentalize and focus on your immediate needs and interactions. Thatâs what your brain wants to do. Itâs okay to save your emotion for your personal connections, and receive news of the world from a more dispassionate place - in fact thatâs better, because we donât do great with responding and formulating plans of actions while in a panicked state.
If someone makes you feel guilty for not caring The Most about Everything, theyâre an idiot. You literally canât. Your brain canât do it. Itâll shut you down and you wonât like that.
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Iâve texted their hotline before. It was super helpful and even if it hadnât been the amount of time youâre there can be enough to let your urges fade and stay safe.
I'm compiling some safety tips here for people in the US here that I found online. Some things you may want to do before January:Â
Make an appointment with your doctor to talk about a long-term birth control plan, such as an IUD or vasectomy.Â
Make an appointment with your doctor to make sure your vaccinations are up to date and to get a Covid booster.Â
Check in, and stay in contact with, your queer friends. Thereâs strength in numbers. Community is important.Â
Consider renewing your passport if necessary.Â
Consider stocking up on fluoride toothpaste, pregnancy tests or other health products you worry about not (safely) having access to in the future.Â
Rest up. Hydrate. Eat. Take care of yourself. The best act of rebellion is staying alive. You donât need to feel strong or brave or even optimistic, just be kind to yourself.Â
Some additional information on fluoride, to answer the questions in the comments: as everything in this list, this is a safety measure for potential situations that could arise. I obviously can not predict the future. With that in mind:
Fluoride is an important mineral primarily used to strengthen tooth enamel and prevent cavities. It helps rebuild weakened enamel and can reduce the amount of bacteria in the mouth that causes decay. In many places, fluoride is added to public water supplies in safe amounts, a measure backed by numerous studies showing it significantly reduces dental issues, especially in children.
Politicians who are right-wing extremists or conspiracy theorists may, however, seek to ban fluoride due to long-standing misinformation that fluoride is a form of government control or even a toxin (similar to the misinformation about vaccines that they also may seek to ban).
As dark as it may sound: if you are a woman (or are read as one) and youâre considering breaking up with or divorcing a man, do it NOW. Who knows if you still can when Project 2025 comes.
Thereâs a post going around by @lesbiantestsubject on how to stockpile HRT
Maybe keep on extra eye out on signs of suicidal tendencies in your friends. Suicide rates may skyrocket.
Just⌠hug your trans friends. Seriously, we need it.
Good additions! But obligatory addition on my part to that first point: breaking up or filing for divorce can be dangerous, especially in an unhealthy or abusive relationship.
So, if thatâs your situation: Reach out for support. Let trusted friends, family, or a support group know about your situation. And plan your exit carefully, even if time is of essence. Choose a safe time and place to leave, ideally when the other person isn't around. Plan how you'll get out and where you'll go. Collect IDs, bank info, and any essentials beforehand so you're prepared to leave without having to go back. Also, create a safety plan. Know your options in case things escalate, like where to hide or who to call. Have emergency contacts ready and consider storing a âgo-bagâ in a safe place. After leaving, consider limiting what you share publicly and possibly changing passwords. This can prevent tracking or unwanted contact.
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