MamaAtheist

Danny Coleman (via azspot)

Still angry? Donate to public school classrooms in need of help. 

STILL angry? Good! Thank you! Stay fired up! Contact your local school district and pay off cafeteria debts so kids can eat breakfast and lunch again, the way the amazing Ashley Ford did. 

I’m really alarmed by the misinformation I see on social media right now, so here is a little simplified guide to WTF is going on.

(Edited to work better for tumblr, I originally just made screenshots for Twitter)

What is a NAZI?

Nazi is an abbreviation for National Socialism (Nationalsozialismus) an ideology associated primarily with the 20th-century German Nazi Party (especially while it was being led by Adolt Hitler). The idea that National Socialism lived and died primarily through Hitler is actually a myth propagated by post-war propaganda and Hollywood. America destroyed those Nazis!! YAY!! – Wrong, They still exist. Although not under that name. Any far-right groups is basically a “Nazi” party (many even used the term “National Socialism” until a re-branding in the 80’s.

The German political scientist Klaus von Beyme describes three historical phases in the development of far-right parties in Western Europe after World War II.

From 1945 to the mid-1950s, far-right parties were marginalized, and their ideologies were discredited due to the recent existence and defeat of Nazism – because people were murdered. In droves. Like millions of people. Death camps are REAL. 11 million people died, including 1.1 million children. Thus in the years immediately following World War II, the main objective of far-right parties was survival; achieving any political impact at all, was largely not expected.

From the mid-1950s to the 1970s, the so-called “populist protest phase” emerged with sporadic electoral success. During this period, far-right parties drew to them charismatic leaders whose profound mistrust of the political establishment led to an “us-versus-them” mind set: “us” being the nation’s citizenry, “them” being the politicians and bureaucrats who were then in office; beginning in the 1980s, the electoral successes of far-right political candidates made it possible for far-right political parties to revitalize anti-immigration as a mainstream issue.

What does anybody in the far right REALLY support?

How politics work is that there is two sides. The right and the left. In the middle, Liberalism and democracy.

The far-right isn’t about the “working man” at all. That’s what the LEFT is about. The Left is ALL about the public being in control. There is currently no major leftist parties in power in America (Democrats are closer to the middle - center-right, actually. They just get called the left party because nobody is).

What the right really advocates is private economic ownership (aka the rich getting’ richer), racial hierarchy (whites better than everyone else) and Social Darwinism (which is the idea that “weak” humans, aka the old, the sick, etc, deserve to be removed. That means gradually killed. Don’t get attached to your grandma). Extreme right-wing politicians are usually extreme nationalists (“bringing back JOBS to AMERICANS” = eventually they will exploit you as workers void of rights), and are opposed to immigration. They are also profoundly chauvinistic (that means women are seen as inferior).

Is Trump a representative of the extreme right?

Most definitely, since he supports all that was listed above. Loudly, too.

So, Trump isn’t going to really help the so-called American Working Man?

Who even is that? Everybody American works, no matter who they are. But if you mean that you’re a white middle class American, then you’ll get candy for a year and then be abused just like the rest of us. You’re already losing your rights to free information and healthcare. So, you might as well join the fight with us.

Who is Richard B. Spencer?

Richard Bertrand Spencer (born May 11, 1978) is an American white nationalist, known for promoting white supremacist views. He is president of the National Policy Institute, a white nationalist think-tank, and Washington Summit Publishers, an independent publishing firm. Spencer has stated that he rejects the description of white supremacist, and describes himself as an identitarian. He advocates for a white homeland for a “dispossessed white race” and calls for “peaceful ethnic cleansing” to halt the “deconstruction” of European culture.

The Identitarian movement is a European political movement that started in France in 2002 and is basically all about destroying anybody who is a shade darker then milk. The Identitarian movement has a close linkage to members of the German New Right, aka Neo-Nazis.

So this guy is definitely a “Nazi”.

Was it ok to punch him?

It’s never ok to punch someone who has not provoked you. HOWEVER, what Spencer is doing is saying: I want to hurt people. I want to hurt people a lot. Not today. But, tomorrow, maybe. His very existence and allegiance is a constant menace. Picture it this way, if you met a guy in the park and he said hi, I don’t have a gun today, but I might tomorrow, and I might come back to shoot people, would you just ignore him? No. So in conclusion, march peacefully, but do punch Nazis. 

I really want to point this out because it’s a legitimate thing that Trump is far more extreme right than you may think. It also explains why this is a thing that happened. See, compared to many other countries in the world, my own included, the American political spectrum is offset to the right.

So what OP said about there not being an extreme left is absolutely true, there’s barely a left to begin with.

Sourcity-Sourcey-Source

I’d like to point out that this is a recorded phenomenon in political science and not my own biased interpretation of your politics. Noam Chomsky—cognitive scientist, historian, social critic, and political activist among other things (this guy pops up in my university classes from time to time; the dude’s part of the curriculum whether that says anything to you or not)—has been pretty outspoken about this.

“… so what [Republicans have] done is mobilized sectors of the population that have always been there but have never really been politically mobilized, like Evangelical Christians, the nativists who are afraid that ‘they’ are taking our country away from us, white racists, … gun-people who are so terrified that they have to carry their guns into church because maybe somebody’ll come after them. 

You know, these sectors of the population are there, and that’s now the base of the Republican party.”

So, this election night was a shocking, absolutely horrifying blow to my American friends. Even my friends here in Canada couldn’t come to terms with it. I saw panic attacks, fears about even visiting American relatives in the States again, and even a depressive loss of faith in humanity. How could this be where the world is today?

Because, it’s this gradual shift to the right that’s so insidious, that happened for a variety of complex reasons, I’m sure, that can to some make it seem like the current Republican party is a reasonable center-right party, when in actuality they are legitimately far right. And as such, able to take advantage of these small groups on the outside that have desperately wanted a podium for a long time.

It’s also important to point out that this isn’t just the United States and it never really was. Even now, because of Brexit and Trump’s election, the radical nationalist/fascist/racist/sexist/whatever end of the political spectrum is now being galvanized globally with the success and encouragement of this and aided by political echo-chambers in media, the internet, and small communities.

Donald Trump and his senior staffers are all using unsecured email servers. Right. Now.

You’ve got to watch this speech from the Philadelphia Women’s March that implores white women to think about who they’re really marching for

“Intersectionality ensures that we listen to our each other’s experiences beyond our personal understanding,” said speaker Ericka Hart. “Intersectionality takes time and forces us to be intentional in our inclusion. Intersectionality centers those who are most marginalized, those who are always fighting for their lives regardless of who is president.”

Gifs: Zuri Pryor-Graves

Dear fellow white women: we have a bad habit of self destruction. We have to stop aligning ourselves with white men. We are not ‘one of the guys’ socially or politically. They have and will actively try to ruin our lives. They only care about us when… …it suits them.

And our alliance with them HURTS NON-WHITE women. This is key! Women of color lead the way. They know how to fight. If you don’t care about non-white women, first fuck you. Second you are just hurting yourself. I’m ashamed most white women went for Trump but that’s only our most recent act of violence. White women: get your fucking shit together.

If you’re a white woman uncomfortable with this kind of call-out, check yourself. We don’t require acknowledgment of basic human decency. There’s a reason WOC mistrust us. If you don’t like it, BE BETTER. And they’ve been telling us this for years. But if you won’t listen … … to them, first fuck you, second listen to me, then: WOC mistrust of WW is founded. We need to get sorted.

luvyourselfsomeesteem:

theseriouscynic:

editingatwork:

halfhardtorock:

Straight men who infantilize women’s friendships have no fucking survival instinct. Like my uncle is always making fun of and rolling his eyes at my aunt’s friend lunches and telephone dates with her lady friends, teasing her like she’s a gossipy teenage girl in high school drama. And my aunt just laughs about it but I know for a fact that if it wasn’t for her best friend K, she would have probably set him on fire by now. 

Like straight men are capable of maybe a quarter of the indepth emotional labor and support women do for each other. Like men can literally have one friend named Bob that they go fishing with once a year and still be content for life. Then they think it’s cute and girlish that their wives have these long term, integrated, emotionally intense relationships with women but like…LOL, it’s not because men don’t need those kinds of relationships, it’s just that they get it all from their wives while offering peanuts in return. PEANUTS.

Like if your woman is on the phone for 2 hours with her friend and you think that’s childish of her, just know that she spent half of that time getting the support that you should be giving her (but are incapable of) and the rest lamenting what a giant fucking baby manchild you are.

This is how homophobia and misogyny hurts men: it makes these kinds of in-depth, deeply emotionally invested friendships a feminine thing to do, and therefore unmanly (and un-straight) for men to do. Men are brought up to shy away from cultivating these kinds of deep and platonic friendships with other men. Because, you know, if you talk to your male friends all the time and hang out with them and cry in front of them and hug all the time and lean on each other (emotionally and physically) when you need support, it makes you gay and womanly. Which is, apparently, the worst thing you can be.

I’ve read articles and personal stories about and by men, talking about experiences they’ve had that have shown them how painfully out of touch they are with their own emotions and their own ability to open up and connect with people, including themselves.

I worry about men a lot. I worry about the number of men who find themselves incapable of providing emotional support for their friends, their significant others, and themselves, all because of how they’ve been raised to bury and ignore their more vulnerable emotions and tactile tendencies because they’ve been taught that this kind of closeness has to be stamped out at all costs.

!!!!! So important.

So so so important

Studies have shown that this sort of emotional shallowness is a leading factor in why men are more likely to be violent, to drown their sorrows in drug and alcohol abuse, and to successfully commit suicide.

They throw all their eggs in one basket with a significant other, or at times a parent, and when problems arise in that relationship, because they have no other relationships to speak of, they quickly turn to destruction.

This is why I often give out advice that people need to expand on their relationships. You literally CAN’T have it all hinge on a single person, it is a horrific idea and it will destroy you and the things and people you love. You HAVE to have relationships with other people.

Anyone with any mental health issue can tell you that the inability to talk it out, the lack of having someone to turn to, makes things go careening downhill, faster than we can catch them back.

Somehow this is considered an acceptable way of being for men, and their lashing out is “just how men are”. It’s more masculine to shoot yourself than to take medication. It’s more masculine to beat your partners than to have a conversation with them. It’s more masculine to bottle everything up until it erupts and people die, than it is to simply ask for help.

And people want to blame women and feminism for it, for “making men afraid”, or simply try to list the likelihood of surviving suicide and avoiding drug abuse as “female privilege” or something that is a nature-given trick of “biological sex”, rather than address the very serious issue of toxic masculinity and extreme, self-destructive hatred of being perceived as anything like women.

1. Take responsibility for what you said or did.

2. Think about how you were feeling at the time, or what was driving you to act in that way.

3. Related to this, try to identify the underlying need, or the motive behind the thing you now regret. (For example, respect from others, approval from others, wanting to feel good about yourself, wanting to pay another back, and so on.)

4. Express your regrets and attempt to make amends if your words or your actions have affected someone else.

5. Think of how you’ll change and will act differently, if the same situation occurs again. This is the real person that you truly want to be.

6. Write yourself a caring and empathic letter where you forgive yourself, and tell yourself you can move on.

hands shot up around the room, people smug about their ability to “weed out the riff-raff” when it came to hiring for their fortune 500.