Not for following

"etymologynerd" is at it again and this time i do feel i have to say something. the disability advocates have it covered on addressing the impact, but there's also a serious problem with the linguistics.

in a video shared on may 16, adam aleksic begins by saying: "i think we have to accept the fact that the 'r-word' [retard/retarded] is permanently coming back and it's functionally changed meanings to no longer directly refer to disabled people."

this first sentence alone betrays a fundamental misunderstanding of language change in several points.

this word never went away. what we're seeing now is an attempt at re-normalization by people who sense that they will not be socially punished by openly using this term.

we actually don't have to "accept" its return to mainstream use. for decades, disability advocates have worked to inform the public of the harm caused by casual use of this term. the harm has not disappeared, and neither will this advocacy and its impacts.

now i'm just mad. how tf does it NOT refer to disabled people? the entire point of a pejorative term is that it negatively invokes comparison to a person, group, etc. the assertion that the r-word has changed meanings is categorically false. at most, its primary context has changed from clinical to casually pejorative, but the insult fundamentally rests upon the original reference.

he goes on to refer to the "euphemism treadmill," another concept he misrepresents by extending the metaphor to say that terms which have been sufficiently distanced from their original reference are no longer pejorative. to quote: "...once we sufficiently distance a word from its historical usage, it stops taking on the same offensive power and just becomes colloquial instead."

which... what? what the fuck is he talking about? the words he uses as examples – idiot, imbecile, and moron – are definitely still offensive, if perhaps less impactful. "just becomes colloquial instead" is a nonsense phrase. are offensive words not colloquial? the only english word that comes to mind as having changed so much in definition as to no longer be offensive is "nice," which has been shifting in meaning for more than 700 years and was never a weaponized clinical term.

he ends by saying, "it is undeniably true that the people who are afraid to say the r-word right now are going to get old and die out, while younger generations keep saying it with no knowledge of where it came from." again, fundamentally misunderstanding language change in society over time. it rests on the assumption that we're all going to start or re-start using this slur and never have a conversation about its harms, which just completely ignores both the abovementioned disability advocacy and the fact that people tell each other not to use offensive words. you think i'm just not gonna teach my kids that using slurs is bad??

the whole video is devoid of both empathy and an understanding of long-term semantic change.

Transgender Dysphoria Blues

Artist: Against Me!

Release: 2014

Note: The lead singer is trans.

Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party

Artist: Hayley Williams

I have never. Seen this specific typesetting mistake before. I've seen editing mistakes I've seen writing mistakes I've seen typos aplenty I have never seen someone accidentally paste the file version details into the text while typesetting.

that's the first page of the book as well like. I'm assuming this got missed because it obviously happened after the copy was finalised. that's an InDesign file (and not the first InDesign file of the project (clock the 'V2')) so idk much about the publishing process but this is presumably final final steps before committing to print.

because theyd rather someone stay terrible or just straight up die than become a better person 

from a compassionate point of view it’s deeply distressing and from a pragmatic point of view it’s outright frustrating

There is something so painful about acknowledging that the person who hurt you gets to keep living life and that there is a possibility that they could be the person you needed them to be.

It’s heartbreaking because someone who is stuck relooping the past is always going to be turning over what could have been and if they were capable of change then the fallacy insists “it was my fault”

Which— let me tell you— that is NOT the case.

Life is a complicated web of circumstances and growth is constant, random and without end.

Forgiveness is neither owed nor is it always virtuous to seek.

Part of accepting responsibility for past misdeeds and actions is knowing that there is going to be someone in the world who hates you, who has a view of you in their head which will never shift and will always be the shape of a monster.

Sometimes it’s best to just leave people alone and accept that you’ll never be forgiven in some spaces. It’s not fair. It’s not always just. But it’s just how it is.

Another good fictional example of this is the ending of The Beginners Guide, which is a fictionalized version of the creator of Stanley Parable describing a relationship he had with a map creator who vanished and touring you through a series of their maps.

The game ends with a map sent directly to Davey that plays out as a giant fuck you to a person who stole their work and put it on the internet against their wishes. The final portion of a “museum” with letters from the map maker to Davey.

The final hallway the map maker, Coda, has messages that pontificate on what the missing element within Davey is that compels him to push for clout and violate his trust and consent.

The messages end with

“I realize that this doesn’t make sense to you just yet.”

“Which is fine, you’re not my problem to solve.”

“But I do hope that one day it clicks, and that you make peace with this thing you are wrestling.”

“And when you finally see what I am talking about.”

“don’t say anything.”

—

That’s the hardest part about the broken relationship between those who seek and give forgiveness. Those who hurt (verb or adjective).

How can you make things right when to do so requires contact and contact requires violating boundaries on communication?

You don’t.

It never gets made right.

The versions of one another that exist within memories remain, even with the knowledge that people grow, change, get better, make new connections and try every day to be better people.

It’s the only mature way for any party to act.

“Maturity, one discovers, has everything to do with the acceptance of ‘not knowing.”

And so for those who were hurt, they have to accept that the other person gets to continue and your entitlement in their journey is to no longer be part of it.

And for those who caused pain and seek redemption. Sometimes taking the pain of being hated is all you can do.

I’ve sat on both sides of that fence. I continue to sit on both sides of that fence. It’s tough. Unfair, even.

Some of my harshest crimes were committed in childhood. I know I will be hated forever for them. I know there is someone in this world who stalks me with intent to cause me intense emotional and perhaps even physical harm because of my actions 20+ years ago as a scared, powerless kid who sided with the abusers.

And I hate the person who hates me. For things he did when we were kids and for things he has done since we grew up. I can empathize with him. Offer him some understanding. But I can’t forgive him. I’ll never forgive him. He has no right to it and he has no right to my shame or regret.

Sometimes life’s a bitch and you just keep living.

"Soldier F, whose anonymity is protected by a court order, faced charges of murdering James Wray, 22, and William McKinney, 26, as well as five charges of attempted murder.

Foyle Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) MP Colum Eastwood said it was a "difficult day" for the Bloody Sunday families, but said they could "hold their heads up high".

"It is absolutely clear that those soldiers, including soldier F, shot and killed people on Bloody Sunday," Eastwood said.

"These were innocent people, no weapons, just on a civil rights march, mowed down by the parachute regiment of the British army. That's what happened and that's absolutely clear.

"Everybody now knows what happened on Bloody Sunday," he added. "Everybody knows the victims were innocent and everybody knows where the guilt actually lies."

The decision to charge Soldier F was taken by the Public Prosecution Service (PPS) in 2019.

He was one of 18 former soldiers reported to the PPS as a result of a police investigation, which followed the public inquiry into Bloody Sunday conducted by Lord Saville.

That said, I used to blame Bioware's abandonment of Andromeda on people complaining. Now I understand how goofy this kind of thinking is. People should complain (you know outside of the usual right-wing whining). And the companies making these games should listen. So, I blame EA for the most part. Bioware too, but to a lesser extent.

Ok first imagine cute, anthropomorphic bugs. Let's call em Buggos for now.

Theyre sexually dimorphic, with one bigger than the other. They also have visual sexual markings on their bodies. These attributes are more important to Humans than Buggos as Buggos detect Buggo sex more easily by smell, which Humans cant. Buggos use smell heavily for communication, but also have a fully developed vocal and written languages. They have pretty strong gender roles.

This in mind, maybe you will understand the untintentional confusion that happened during initial Human-Buggo cultural exchange. Buggos easily grasped gendered pronouns in Human language because most Buggo languages have them. But after sharing knowledge of biology, both realized that theyve been miscommunicating. ....Maybe? This is still up for debate. Let me explain:

Female Buggos, in the biological sense of "the sex having eggs", are the larger of the two, with deeper voices. They are expected to be sexually passive compared to males, and bottoms. They have an ovipositor that is normally hidden, but grows like a human penis during sexual arousal.

Male Buggos are smaller, with higher pitched voices. They are expected to be sexually aggressive compared to females, and tops. For reproduction, they have a cloaca that must be carefully positioned over a female ovipositor during coitus. Otherwise, sexual activity is very similar to Humans, and only sometimes done for reproductive purposes.

The spread of this knowledge caused many pause. Male Buggos, used to being called "she," and visa versa, were unsure whether to continue to allow the practice. Many felt that the original pronoun use was more appropriate, as culturally, male Buggos and female Humans have many things in common, and visa versa, and tend to be attracted to "he"'s of either race, and visa versa. Others, especially Buggos, felt that the original pronoun use was too queering, citing things like "male Buggos should never be called 'she' as they cannot be fertilized". Such persons tend to prefer that gendered pronouns match biology, and for the other race to be portrayed as inherently queer.

Others took the news with awe. Some rejoiced, finding courtship and sex with the other race more comfortable than their own.

Governments that didnt already abolish gendered pronouns in offical dialogue, do so for Human-Buggo correspondence, to side-step the issue and keep arguing and cultural clash to a low.

For everyone else, it was a nothingburger. Whimsical and curious at most.

The photograph depicts a large sign split vertically, with the left side championing “common sense” Republicans for “cutting your taxes,” and the right side mocking “crazy” Democrats for “trans-ing the mice,” a reference to the past misleading claim made by President Donald Trump that taxpayers funded medical research to make “mice transgender.”

Yeah, this'll save 'em. *eyeroll*

And UGH the AI generated slop is gonna turn off so many voters.

 - Marilyn Monroe, last taped interview, days before her death

Also:

As one of the biggest Ella Fitzgerald fans, she literally helped desegregate her performances. Ella was not allowed to play at Mocambo because of her race.

Ella Fitzgerald: “I owe Marilyn Monroe a real debt… she personally called the owner of the Mocambo, and told him she wanted me booked immediately, and if he would do it, she would take a front table every night. She told him – and it was true, due to Marilyn’s superstar status – that the press would go wild. The owner said yes, and Marilyn was there, front table, every night. The press went overboard. After that, I never had to play a small jazz club again. She was an unusual woman – a little ahead of her times. And she didn’t know it.” thisisnotmyfairytaleendingg (Source: dmvnessa)

ALSO:

In August 1956, Monroe began filming The Prince and the Showgirl, with Laurence Olivier staring and directing. The production was complicated by conflicts between him and Monroe. He angered her with the patronizing statement “All you have to do is be sexy” and his attempts to get her to replicate Vivien Leigh’s interpretation. She became pregnant and miscarried during the production, which heavily worsened her depression and increased her drug abuse.

She was on courses of strong medication, had invasive surgery to try and limit the damage caused, and despite trying for a baby numerous times, suffered many miscarriages because of her condition. The miscarriages especially sent her into deep depression, since she desperately wanted to be a mother.

There is speculation that the condition may have been one of the triggers in her drug dependency as well, because when you have endo, you will take whatever you can to stop. it. hurting.

Nothing makes a story more unreadable than being able to see the author squirm apologetically for the story they actually want to write—wringing their hands and imploring the reader please, please don’t be mad, I know it’s ideologically questionable but I need you to not be mad at me!

For example: a Good King™️. It’s one thing for a story to present a fictional monarchy and ask me to root for it. It’s another thing for a story to say, hey, I know what you’re thinking—but don’t worry! I can justify this premise! I have introduced a lot of convoluted self-aware political justifications for why my king is good and likable without actually asking any risky ideological questions! These characters aren’t actually problematic! Don’t be mad at me!

which i would not necessarily describe as a 'good idea' tbc