Hey, I'm Grey

Happy Smallpox Eradication Day

they're trying to get me to do something called ""my job"" instead of reading about medieval english poaching laws

My job on the solarpunk commune will be making artisanal polyethylene.

People are unfazed if you hate women but if you dislike dogs they assume you're a bad person

Tumblr users will read a post complaining about normalized misogyny and hyperfocus on your claim that it's ok to dislike dogs

I just have to lock in and get through my to-do list and then I'll start my new system with a clean slate and everything will be better.

Example of Tumblr's aging userbase: people complain about prices rising and how things were better in the past and are getting worse all the time (often in spite of contrary evidence!), have often developed a sharp technophobia based on misunderstandings of how technologies work and moral panics about dangers that are not supported by research, and hold strong opinions about the problem being due to moral failings that can be fixed by simply destroying the unvirtuous and showing personal virtue, and also are convinced that the past was both better and also harder, and that kids these days have it too easy (but they feel sorry for them because everything sucks now)

really losing my patience for any 'feminist' statement to the tune of 'we need feminism because women fill a fundamentally different and necessary role than men and will be better at doing x y or z'. like actually i think we need feminism because it is an unbearable death of the spirit by inches to exist in a world where you are not seen as a fully realized human being because of a single cultural determination, and because a world that enshrines such things creates systems that are fundamentally sick to the core

One way that I see the conspiratorial belief that nobody actually likes reading play out in the real world, in a way that matters and is not just an excuse to be bitchy online, is how staff treat “reading time.” I so often see “reading/homework time” in which kids can choose between a math worksheet and an unsorted box of random books. What the hell kind of message does this send about reading being fun vs indistinguishable from homework??? In contrast, I used to go to a program where the reading corner had bean bag chairs and multiple copies of the newest Percy Jackson so the kids could have a book club. The guy who ran that program got ( rightfully) promoted but then was laid off when Trump didn’t disperse Title I funds last year. *rimshot noise*

since I feel obligated to continue repping hearing protection: this was just earwax build up getting pushed in and you can get that sucked out in like five minutes, wear your hearing protection.

How about instead of trying to separate people into “readers and non-readers” (what I’m reading as yet another flavour of good vs bad), we meet people where they are and discuss what they’re reading and enjoying so we can offer suggestions.

That would be lovely, yes, please.

I mean sure, we should always try to avoid making one’s actions into one’s identity. But I think part of the problem is treating “reader” as meaning “good person” and not “person who reads a lot and enjoys reading.” It’s not insulting to say that someone who genuinely finds it shocking and unbelievable that a person could read in an entire year the number of books I read last month does not have the same relationship to reading as a hobby that I do. Insisting that we not see this as a difference because actually nobody really enjoys reading and that people who claim to do so are morally shaming others is exactly what I’m complaining about.

It just feels like "this text is AI generated" is less relevant than "this text spreads misinformation." If it was old school, hand written, human curated misinformation, is that ok, then? As long as it wasn't AI generated?

I love immediately forgetting what books I put on hold at the library because it's a fun surprise when I get the email that it's available now. AND it's free. The following items are now available for pick-up: Éminence: Cardinal Richelieu and the Rise of France? Great! I almost forgot I wanted to read about that!

when a cloth mutual sees your wire post it’s not that bad but when a wire mutual sees you clothposting……😓