this is why I feel unsafe with libs especially non black ones because they take simple jokes the oppressed make at their oppressors and use it as a chance to dehumanize us further/see black people and other racialized minorities in a aggressive light. these ppl just want us to sit here and take their performativity and abuse, not actually stand up for ourselves
also painting black nationalist/liberationist in a evil light despite the efforts they made to ease the ongoing oppression on black people is just so goddamn racist you people are so racist hiding behind lib speech
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i like when eridians describe grace in other-worldly, incorporeal, eldritch ways. that he's beautiful and terrifying at the same time. a horror you can't look away from because you don't want to miss a thing.
you can never get a clear listen to him. his primary sense node is covered in "hair" and the part that isn't is hidden by two crystals that refract sound waves in a pleasing but disorienting way. he covers his body in billowy cloth at all times. not snug and sensible and unobstructive like eridian coverings, but loose and layered, draped and flowing.
the most clear part of him are his internal organs. because yes, the alien's carapace isn't sound-proof. his single heart beats insistingly in his core, his lungs exchanging gas constantly, his long digestive tract always bubbling and contracting. his thorax is packed impossibly tight and it's all moving and singing.
and it shouldn't be possible, with how fragile he is, for that internal pressure to maintain. how does the thin membrane of his external organ (another horror that sends eridians reeling) keep it all contained? his "skin" is so easily pierced, cut, bruised, burnt, how does he not split open under his own mass?
when savior rocky first arrived home and described the environmental needs of his alien, the scientists thought he'd made a mistake in his frantic panic to get everything out. it isn't possible this being lives at such low atmospheric pressure, at half the gravity, and in a gas that's nearly double the weight of ammonia. in a gas so dangerous, so caustic. and if it does then how is it obligately terrestrial like rocky claims? shouldn't it fly or float instead? (and then to see it in the water, learning that it can float or sink at will.)
and this alien has come bearing gifts that will not only save your species but launch it into impossible heights of technological and intellectual advancement. he has discovered the solution to astrophage and bred it to thrive on threeworld and translated his instructions into eridian. he has given your people the complete sum of his people's knowledge, advanced in ways the eridians can't believe and behind in ways that seem ludicrous. and he has given his life for your people to have these things.
he knows how your solar system was formed. he knows how the universe started.
his name means beautiful and generous and relieving.
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āBecause the truth is, tech doesnāt have an image problem. It doesnāt have a message problem. It has an intention problem. Whatās wrong with the axe murderer who broke into my house is not that he hasnāt successfully persuaded me to buy into his narrative. Whatās wrong is that heās trying to kill me with an axe. Similarly, when you launch a product thatās designed to put millions of people out of work, block access to sources of verifiable truth, replace human creativity with slop, and lower the barriers to every sort of atrocity, the problem isnāt that you havenāt told the public a good story about those things. The problem is that you are trying to do them.ā
Rocky shifts. āI am⦠you do not have the word yet. Eridian who works alone often, not close to many other Eridians.ā
āWhat, mechanical engineer?ā
Rocky chitters with amusement. āAcceptable.ā
āIs Adrian your only friend?āĀ
Rocky draws back, like heās taken offense. āI have friends. Coworkers. But different.ā
So just Adrian. And him.Ā
āThis worries you,ā Rocky says.
āAdrian is your mate,ā Grace points out. āIām not your mate.ā
āCorrect. You are not. You do not like to be a mate.ā
Grace isnāt sure how to respond to that, so he ignores it.
āIām your friend,ā Grace says.Ā
Rocky hesitates, for a second. ā...Correct.ā
āLike your coworkers.ā
āNo.ā
Grace sighs, rubbing his hand across his face. Okay, maybe thatās fair. Itās not like he felt about any of his coworkers like he feels about Rocky.
āBest friend,ā Grace amends. āYouāre my best friend, too.ā
Rocky hums. āAcceptable.ā
āJust acceptable? Now you are offending me. Can you just explain?ā
This makes Rocky fall silent for a minute longer than usual. Grace is half-ready to apologize and to say letās move on and to retype his own name without the superfluous my.Ā
āThe Earth ābest friendā is not strong enough,ā Rocky says finally. āIt does not translate this way.ā
Grace runs his fingers through his hair, a little nervous, for some reason. āOkay.ā
āIt isā¦ā Rocky pauses. He has to pause more often, now that theyāre not using the translator, to simplify his language. āIt means that I am not Rocky without my Grace. You are part of⦠of the whole. When I wake up, I think of you. When I work. When I eat. When I think I am going to die.ā
Rocky speaks slowly, but itās still a lot of Eridian for Grace to grasp all at once. Even as he works out the sentences in his head, he can feel hot tears rising in his eyes.
āIt means that when you are sick, I am sick,ā Rocky continues. āAnd it means I will take care of you, because taking care of you is taking care of myself.ā
Grace bunches up his sleeve, wiping it across his face, blinking furiously.
Rockyās voice is soft. āSo Grace is part of Rocky. Grace is like a cell. You see? My Grace.āĀ
Grace is quiet, for a moment, trying to get himself together. When he speaks, his voice is shaky.
ā...Oh.ā
Rocky hums, pressing his carapace gently against Graceās arm. āYou are leaking. Does this make you sad?ā
Grace shakes his head, sniffing, crossing his arms across his knees and resting his chin on his sleeves. āNot at all.ā
āGood, good.ā
āI feel like that,ā Grace mumbles. āJust like that. Just exactlyāexactly like that.ā
āAbout your old mate?ā
āDonāt act stupid. You know Iām talking about you.ā
Rocky hums, burrowing closer. Grace curls one arm around his carapace. Thatās not enough, so he leans over, dropping his head down so his forehead presses against the xenonite.Ā
āMy Rocky,ā Grace whispers in English.Ā
āMy Grace,ā Rocky echoes in Eridian. Grace can recognize the note at the start. He will add it when he plays Rockyās name.Ā
āHow long have you called me that?ā Grace asks. āMustāve been a while. I didnāt notice it change.ā
āLong time,ā Rocky agrees. āLong, long time.ā
just saw a 'comments' tab on someones blog you know where the following and likes tabs would be if enabled and it was just showing all the replies theyve made on peoples posts. this is fascinating when did this feature come out
if you've made replies on posts there is now a tab on your blog showing every post youve replied to and your reply.
if this is not what you want, either go to your blog and click comments and disable it from there or just go to your individual blogs setting pages. just change it from blue to grey if you dont want everyone to see your replies AND the post you're replying to
PLEASE BE ADVISED that it is set to disabled for blogs that have not made any replies but it will turn ON if you reply with that blog in the future.! i just tested it with my main, which was greyed out but it turned on the moment i left a test reply
figured i'd get the word out bc i have not seen a single mention of this and i'm sure there are plenty of people who maybe comment on things they don't want on display for everyone to see on their blog lol. you can still look at your replies with it toggled off just no one else can, like locking the following and likes list
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watched three girls who reblogged its new blog mutual aidpost (made literally 15 minutes ago) already disappear from its notifs. transfems are not included in their pride :/
25 years ago an unknown Chinese protester stood in front of a tank in defiance of the government. No one knows the identity of the man but he was given the nick name āTank Manā. This is one of the most iconic photographs of the century.
Itās actually been 27 years now since the incident known as the Tiananmen Square Massacre occurred.
The picture above, famously referred to as āThe Tank Manā was actually taken on June 5, the day after the massacre.
(Which honestly makes him the one of the bravest person, to go back and stand up to a regime after such a terrible event transpired)
So what happened?
Iām gonna give the TL;DR version:
April 15, 1989. Hu Yaobang, a former Communist Party Chief dies.
Many people, includingĀ workers, laborer, students and some officials come to mourn. You see, those protestors were originally there to mourn, not protest.
Time passed and there were some hunger strikes, and protests, and a call for accountability and reform from the government.
Eventually, things went south, because the communist party doesnāt have time to deal with these sorts of ādemandsā and grievances.
Keep in mind, the people wanted not the end of the Communist Party, but for the party to stop with the official corruption, rule of law, and the gross monopoly of information and power.
Incidentally, China still suffers from all of these SAME problems to this dayā¦
June 3, 1989. The massacre started at night to disperse the crowd. Many were shot, wounded, and killed.
June 4, 1989. Some of the parents of the protestors who never came home went looking for them. It was still total mayhem.
June 5, 1989. The iconic image of the tank man was taken. To this day, no one knows what became of this person.
Content Warning for video: blood
āTell the worldā¦ā
I cannot stress how important it is that people remember and know about this event.
Do you know how China responded? With lies and censorship.
Even now, in 2016, we do not have an official death toll on the Tiananmen Square Massacre, the Chinese government doesnāt even acknowledge the event as a āmassacreā. And they weaves these cover stories of ācounter revolutionaries trying to overthrow the governmentā. Therefore, the violence was necessary to ~protect~ the people. (Or some bullshit like that)
The amount of lying and censorship in China is, quite frankly, scary amazing.
Tumblr, which somehow managed to fly under their radar, found itself being blocked in that country.
After all, tell a lie often enough and it becomes the truth.
And those who remember the incident in China?
ā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦well, you tell me.
Please at least REMEMBER this tragedy. Untold innocent lives were lost, and a nation has been fed a lie for almost three decades now from their oppressive af regime.
Tiananmen Square happened when I was seven, and letās just say children have a really interesting way of interpreting information.
I just remember thinking it was a happy event, because all these people were out on the street, and at first the army were interacting with these people. And it almost looked like a festival because people were singing and talking, and hopeful. And then tv coverage for the events got cut off.
The blocking of the live coverage had all the adults anxious, nobody said anything for ages, I just remember my grandmother saying, āJust be glad your father isnāt in China, now.ā
And that stuck with me to this day. Because yeah, if dad had been in China then he would have been in Beijing studying, he would have been on those streets with those other students.
It was the first time I knew that something horrible had happened to all those people I saw on the television. I donāt even remember how I knew that the army must have shot at the civilians, I just knew. Because when you grow up in China, especially in the 80s you knew there were things you donāt say, that you canāt express in a public forum, because that can get you and your family in trouble. You just knew, and it didnāt fucking matter if your were a child or an adult.
To this day I donāt remember how I found out what happened in Tiananmen Square, because the news covered it up, but people found out. My grandparents knew, my uncles and aunts knew. Extended family visited my grandparents, I remember people telling my mother not to mention my fatherās name because my father was a Chinese Beijing University graduate, who had gone overseas. Because there were people who died in the protests that my dad knew.
And it was all just so frightening because nobody was telling me directly what was happening, but I just knew that all the people on the streets was probably dead.
Looking back on it, Tiananmen Square instilled in a me a life long distrust of governments, but especially the Chinese government. Iām ethnically Chinese but I never want to return to China, not even for a holiday, and this has been my attitude even before Xi Jinping took power. Because Tiananmen Square was a peaceful protest that ended up with the army using heavy artillery against their own people. How can you trust in a system, in a government like that? Because if my dad had delayed further studies overseas by two years he would have been one of those students, one of those fucking kids on the streets that would have died.
And you know, when the Umbrella movement was happening in Hong Kong I was deeply panicked and just anxious because I kept on thinking all those people, all those kids are going to be killed. And when that didnāt happen it was such a relief.
When I found out years later that Chinese people a few years younger than me didnāt know what happened in Tiananmen Square I was so fucking angry. I canāt even articulate the rage and the sheer tiredness of it all.
Dad and I talked about Tiananmen Square a few times through the years, broadly, politically, and at times with sheer rage on dadās part. I donāt even know what I wanted to say, but just fuck this fucking regime.
I was In Hong Kong when Tiananamen Square Massacre happened. Hong Kong was still a British colony then and had full freedom of press, and its reporters were there recording live footage while trying to stay as long as possible when tanks rolled in and shots were fired, when students lay in blood and their fellow students piled the injured bodies on those wooden plank carts to get them to the hospitals, while asking the Hong Kongers who were there to support the movement to please remember that night and spread the story of the massacre far and wide, because they already knew they would be silenced, if not imprisoned or murdered.
That night, and in the upcoming months, Hong Kong was in perpetual tears, and in literal shock.
Hong Kongers were mostly Chinese, just south of the border with people traveling back and forth. It also shared a language, and so HKers could follow the whole movement and hear news that western media had little access to without the distorting effect of translations. And they followed very closely, because by then, Hong Kong was already scheduled to be returned to China in 8 years time. How the Chinese government dealt with the movement would be a sign of how itād treat dissent, how itād treat people whoāre used to the idea and practice of freedom.
What they saw was deadly. Ugly. It broke the hearts of millions of Hong Kongers who trusted that The Chinese Government had left its Great Leap Forward, its Cultural Revolution days behind. Those who could leave, left. Everyday the airport was filled with families about to be torn apart, who decided to trade the life they had in one of the richest, most vibrant and freest city at the time with the unknown, just so their own children would have the freedom to speak their minds, to have a higher education and not to be seen as the enemy of the state because higher education always led to independent thinking, to questioning, to asking for a better government as those university students in Beijing in the spring and summer of 1989 did.
The heartbreak and fear was almost palpable in its intensity. Most HKers were refugees from China or 1st generation of them. Unlike the HK youths now protesting who are more generations removed, they felt much more connected to the people in China. They still saw themselves as Chinese, like those students in Beijing. They mourned. They cried and cried and cried. They wore black or white everyday like it was the death of their closest relatives. TV stations played these Tiananmen Square clips all day. I can still play many of them out of my memory, can still recite what the students and government officials said (for example, they didnāt use tear gas because they only had three), the songs played ā I know every word of Chinaās national anthem for that reason; the students were singing it. They were patriotic. They demanded reforms because they wanted their country to do better. 8964 was and still is, etched in my psyche. It is just one of the long list of atrocities this government has done against its people, but this one, I was close enough to feel it.
China censored the June 4th Massacre quickly and thoroughly ā if you believe China has censored queer material, for example, Iād say this ā the extent of that censorship is not even close to what a true China censorship does. A true Chinese censorship is you canāt find the info, or a hint of that info anywhere. You canāt talk about it in a roundabout away. You canāt change some elements of time/place/person and pretend itās fictional. It would literally ban the numbers 8,9,6,4 from search results, even though the searcher may really be just be interested in the numbers themselves. Whoever speaks of it may be sent to the police station for a ādiscussionā; their family would be sent, if the speaker is outside China; the speaker may be arrested, and may never be seen again.
The western worlds pretended to be enraged about the massacre for a while and soon forgot about it, kept its diplomatic relations with China and did business with its government as usual. UK returned Hong Kong to China as scheduled, on July 1st, 1997. The city has been the only place that insisted on the mourning the victims and had done so insistently, consistently for 30 years, holding a yearly candlelight vigil in Victoria Park until this year, when because of the protests, the Chinese government decided to not even pretend to honour the international treaty they signed that promised HK its freedom until 2047 anymore. They shut the vigil down in the name of the pandemic (there were <10 cases/day then). Still, some people risked being arrested to go to Victoria park and lit their candles.
The Chinese government fears HKers for this reason. They are outside their iron curtain / firewall but have always been close enough geographically, culturally and ethnically to know and more so, to care. And thereās nothing more a government like Chinaās fear than people who insist on remembering the truth. With the National Security Law in place in Hong Kong now, probably the yearly vigils canāt continue. To understand how insane that law is, by writing this reblog, by saying things that make you dislike the Chinese government, Iām already in violation of its Article 38. It doesnāt matter Iām writing it in a foreign country. It doesnāt matter Iām a foreign citizen. That law includes everyone on Earth.
Yes, that includes you. And you. And you. And you. They can arrest you for trying to overthrow the Chinese government if you pass the borders of Hong Kong.
Please help remember 8964 Tiananmen Square Massacre. That summer day, Beijing citizens asked Hong Kongers to please remember this event for them because they knew they wouldnāt be able to afford to remember it themselves. Now that Hong Kongers canāt afford to remember it anymore, Iām hoping that everyone who reads this to please remember it, for the students who perished only because they wanted their government to be better, for the Tank Man who, on his way home with his groceries, decided to stand in front of a tank all by himself because it was the right thing to do.
I mean, when people literally have to invent the date āMay 35thā because āJune 4thā is censored, you know that thereās something major that people in power donāt want to have discussed.
I was visiting a friend at his dorm in the USA where he and his roommates, all PRC Chinese academics in tech fields, were glued to the TV news. Ever been in the company of a dozen guys whose hearts were breaking?
Image Description: A black and white photograph of two marchers on a street, lined with observers. One carries a sign that reads, āA gay landlord is still a landlord,ā interspersed with stars. End ID.
this photo is in black and white because it was taken in black and white on black and white film. a color version does not exist. black and white film still exists to this day. hope this helps.
Also one answer for why so many famous photos are black and white is because staff shooters for a lot of newspapers, and freelancers who sold most of their work to newspapers, often shot B+W pretty much up to the digital turnover, both for higher fidelity of details in the first place, faster processing (because they could develop at home or in the paper's onsite labs), and because they expected to be printing in black and white eventually anyway.
Also, while today we tend to associate black and white photography with things that happened a long time ago because color photography has been around for so long, it used to be more associated with things to be taken seriously/serious journalism.
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hello a question. what are beginner horse riders tending to sit on if not their butts? why do they need to be so frequently reminded to sit on their butts?
Because they donāt! Most humans have DOGSHIT POSTURE and are EMBARRASSING and GHASTLY TO BEHOLD.
The natural instinct of the Untutored Monkey in Distress is to tip forward shambolically, clinging to the ancestral tree, like a bereft shrimp. This is the unhandsome posture in which people answer emails, sit upon fellow-creatures, and, regrettably, attempt to flirt.
It is clearly mildly frustrating for any horse to tolerate this clinging-to-the-neck behaviour. In addition to the lack of decorum, youāre forcing their neck to hold your bodyweight. They canāt hear your signals and you are constricting their movement, like a child who accepts a piggyback ride, and then throttles you.
Correct posture, Iāll quickly remind us all, is SHOULDERS OVER HIPS. The weight of your upper body should be balanced through the spine which means OVER THE HIPS, you horrid shrimp. š¦
This posture is so rare, and so alien to basic humans, that it feels like a synthetic adjustment. Many untutored humans genuinely struggle to connect their body with this instruction. A rider in a position of calm connection feels - to a common lay person of poor posture - to be leaning backwards.
So riding instructors say: sit on your sitbones. Lean BACK. Sit on your BUM.
Itās like the common riding instruction to put your heels down.ļæ¼ in truth, the correct posture for hunt seat and other active disciplines is flat-footed. You have to scream āheels downā to get the Average Body to assemble their skeleton into a connected, responsive posture that will feel INCREDIBLY artificial to them - but the ācorrectā pose isnāt āheels downā!