It will never not be absolutely fucking sickening to me that the cost of implementing the measures necessary to prevent climate change from killing us all in 50 years, the financial cost of saving the lives of everyone and everything on Earth, is always, always part of the discussion. What cost!! What fucking cost could there be that is too high for preventing the world from burning?? Are you fucking insane?? What's wrong with you?? "Oh we can't do that, it's too expensive :((((" More expensive than every living thing on the planet suffering and dying??

Regardless, it's hardly as if the money isn't there, we know who has it.

Any one of these ghoulish cunts could solve all of our problems in a heartbeat and instantly become the most beloved person in history, but every single one of them wakes up every day and decides not to, and apparently we're supposed to just be fine with it. We're supposed to just shrug and be like OH IT'S THEIR MONEY? THAT'S ALRIGHT THEN.

Well, I'm not. I'm not fine with it, I've never been fine with it, and I suspect that you haven't either, dear reader. I am not "fine" with the rest of us dying a slow, painful, miserable collective death because of this shitty little handful of shrewhearted fucks.

I don't care what you do. Just do something. Write to somebody, call them or show up at their offices, attend a protest, whatever.

I am and always will be aggressively pro-trans (and pro-aro/ace, pro-bi and very specifically pro-queer in general), and you don't get to hang out here or touch my stuff if you aren't 100% on board with it.

Furthermore, queers have always been in league with Jews, PoC, the poor, the disabled and every other minority that routinely gets cast aside and othered by society, and we need to start showing up for each other hardcore. Solidarity amongst marginalised folks, always.

I don't just mean genAI; I mean the "20% discount" on a product whose price slowly crept up by 30% in the months preceding the sale. I mean the "recommended" search results that are only there because someone paid money; not wanting to buy from a certain company and going to a "competitor" who is - surprise! - owned by the same parent corporation; companies pretending to give a shit about queer people but only in June (if ever). The answer that is offered first when you're looking for something or asking a question is always a fucking trick, and your ability to dig for real, correct answers is diminished every day.

Did you know that Google actually used to work? That the internet actually used to be good and functional? That products actually used to be well made and built to last?

A content aggregator is an account or website that steals media from other sources and reposts it as if it were their own, usually without credit and without adding anything useful. These differ from themed blogs in that they do not reblog from or link back to the original source or provide any helpful additions, e.g., translations or info; they really do just steal shit and repost it themselves to grow the account with very little or no effort, which robs the real original poster of the audience that their work would otherwise have earned them.

We have a lot of these on Tumblr now, but we did not always have them and, in fact, we used to have a very strong culture of always reblogging from the OP where possible and only reposting with their explicit permission and with full credit and links back to their other sites or accounts if they weren't on Tumblr themselves. I don't think it's a coincidence that artists and writers are so hard to find on here now that this philosophy has seemingly vanished (although it would hardly be the only reason).

If you're interested in seeing just how bad the problem is, I would challenge you, dear reader, to pay attention to who the OP is when you're reblogging things and spend just one week avoiding content aggregator accounts. Yes, even if it's a really cute and funny cat video. Don't reblog it if it wasn't posted by a person with a real blog who also posts things themselves or at least reblogs from other people sometimes. You'll soon see just how many of these thieving fuckers there are here, reaping the rewards from others' work.

It's a long shot, I know, and it feels pointless to try given how huge most of these scummy accounts have become, but if stolen content stops getting notes, content aggregators will have to put some actual fucking effort in to earn an audience like the rest of us.

"How can I enjoy this game if it doesn't have hyperrealistic graphics that will require me to buy yet another new console or PC upgrade in order to play it?" You don't need that shit. Look at the pixelated princess in the pixelated castle, limited representations of grander concepts and ideas, and use your fucking imagination. The castle is imposing and the princess is beautiful, you can fill in the gaps yourself.

"How can I know what's happening in this book if it doesn't have any pictures?" Read the descriptions of the characters, locations and events and use your fucking imagination. Interpret the text in whatever way pleases you the most; the author had their own ideas, yes, but they aren't here right now. Right now it's just you and the story. It can look like anything you want. Make yourself happy.

"How am I meant to have a conversation with my favourite character without using this AI chatbot?" Think of what you know about your favourite character and use your fucking imagination. You don't have to be limited by the glorified autocomplete tool. Listen to some music and start making AMVs in your head to fall asleep to like we used to back in my day. The chatbot doesn't know your favourite character, but you do.

How can you write that fic? Use your imagination. How can you come up with that new outfit? Use your imagination. How can you think of gift ideas for loved ones? Use your imagination.