theunitofcaring:

Today I finally managed to re-register to vote. I’ve been meaning to do this since we moved, but it was complicated and the state of California’s website was a hassle and it required me to mail things and the baby ripped up the thing they mailed me and altogether it was just not going to happen. The reason it finally happened was that I asked for help.

I filled out a short form on vote.org, so I didn’t have to interact with California’s website. They mailed me something to print, and my housemate printed it and brought it to me to sign. I signed it and he put it in the mail. Now I’m registered.

If you’re like me and find bureaucracy interactions terrifying and hard, and don’t expect to succeed at them and as a result you often don’t try, I recommend this: set a timer for ten minutes. Go to vote.org and spend ten minutes taking steps that move you closer to being registered to vote. You are reasonably likely to succeed and be registered by the end of that, or to have enough momentum to continue. This matters – it may not matter if just you do it, but it matters very profoundly if all the people like you do it.

You are not a bad person because you haven’t gotten this figured out yet. You are not a failure because you haven’t gotten this figured out yet. You are not less worthy of a voice in our democracy because you haven’t got this figured out yet. 

thebibliosphere:

I took my meds too close to bedtime again and I need you all to know the dream I had last night involved Robin Williams becoming the new Defense Against The Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts. Not, a character portrayed by Robin Williams, just Robin Williams as himself running around Hogwarts doing wandless magic and being as loud and big as possible because and I quote before I forget:

“Listen, children, I’m not saying all this bad shit that is happening isn’t scary and you shouldn’t be concerned–because you should!–but I’m telling you this now for free. Life is a boggart, it’s the biggest boggart of them all. You never know what it’s going to look like one moment to the next. And sometimes you just gotta laugh. It’s okay to laugh. It’s part of the grieving process. You need to grieve before you can heal. But it’s okay to laugh while you’re doing it.”

I didn’t wake up right after that, some more stuff happened in a hazy sort of way as the dream began to dissolve into conciousness, but I remember him yelling Expecto Patronum as he punched a Death Eater in the face. Because sometimes, evidently, you have to make your own happy memories.

The Very Model of a Modern-Age Millennial

dr-archeville:

The Very Model of a Modern-Age Millennial
   

by MEG ELISON

I am the very model of a modern-age millennial,
I’ve got no cash, no house, no kids, and student debt perennial,
I know the rules of Tinder, and I’m not sold on monogamy
(For what it’s worth I think that stems from troubles ‘tween my mom and me)
I’m very well acquainted, too, with matters on the gender front
Myself, I am nonbinary; your labels I so do not want
Been disillusioned by my expectations with a lot o’ stuff,
The skills with which I am equipped for life are frankly not enough

My job prospects are hobbled by insistence on a living wage
Compete at entry level with some washed-up folks at twice my age
In matters of identity, employment and such petty ills
I am the very model of a modern-age millennial

On Monday I killed Applebee’s, on Tuesday I axed country clubs
I’ve never bought a diamond and I have no use for cashmere gloves
I quote dank internet memes in lieu of sharing actual thoughts
For earnestness has been passé since sometime in the early aughts
Still advertisers flail and fail to capture all my buying power
(The sum of which amounts to renting GIG cars by the paltry hour)
I’m subject to the bleak nostalgia of Generation Xers
And YouTube sensibilities adored by web-savvy youngsters
So I get to the take the blame for our country’s tanked economy
While fighting for my basic rights and bodily autonomy
In short I’m fucked in matters from the vital to the trivial
I am the very model of a modern-age millennial

In fact, when I know what is meant by “social justice warrior”
When I can tell at sight a fascist MRA conspirator
When such affairs are treated as unsolvable new mysteries,
I shake my head and wonder if the Boomers studied history
When I have learnt what progress has been made and then just flushed away
My generation’s best bet looks like playing Fortnite drunk all day
In short, if you’re angry right now and spewing aged white vitriol
Remember you created me: the modern age millennial

For I’m the generation raised upon the game Monopoly
You’re hoarding all the wealth and jobs and mock me for my poverty
So now I’m skewing socialist with discourse quite ungenial
Please check your local ballots for the modern-age millennial

The Very Model of a Modern-Age Millennial

ardwynna:

ardwynna:

These imbeciles are still going? I’m sure the authorities just love having their attention taken away from protecting living children to investigate yet another case of some twit freaking out over fictional characters.

What’s she going to do if she does catch me, hmmm?

The response to being told to stop making shitty false accusations is to make more shitty false accusations apparently.

There’s a massive difference between being affected positively by fiction, and fiction allegedly causing someone to go against what they already know to be morally acceptable behavior, which most people do not have the capacity to do, as it requires lack of function in the prefrontal cortex. As someone who went to college to study the minds of abusers, I will be more than happy to educate you about how what you’re suggesting is psychologically unsound, including sources to substantiate it.

tenaflyviper:

suwhat:

Or maybe creating content for and supporting ships that are pedophilic normalizes said relationships. Causing minors to think these types of relationships are normal and healthy, putting them at risk of getting into a abusive relationship with a adult.

Do you actually have anything whatsoever to prove these statements?  And don’t even bother copy-pasting the link you’ve been throwing around on another post, because that portion of the PROTECT Act was deemed unconstitutional on a federal level as of United States vs Handley, which is the ONLY CASE THAT WE KNOW OF that was based completely on drawn material of fictional characters, without any discovery of other types of material in the possession of the accused:

“Last year, the Supreme Court declared unconstitutional a
federal law that criminalized the possession of “virtual” child pornography,
i.e., materials whose production may not have involved the use of real
children.”
  Oh, look…it’s from justice.gov!  You know–that site you like so much.  I’m pretty sure the Supreme Court knows better than you do about what does and does not constitute a violation of federal law.

I’d like to note at this time that many of us are defending shippers because of the implications of limiting artistic freedom of expression.  I do not watch any of the shows commonly brought up in these discussions.  I have no ships to defend.  I don’t write fanfiction.  However, I understand that it is necessary to defend fictional material in order to protect other liberties, even if I don’t personally like or agree with the material.  The way you people tend to act by instantly assuming anyone that criticizes you must be a “pedophile” is like insisting that all women that are pro-choice “just want to kill babies”.  There’s more to it than that.

There are a LOT of other sources out there that say you’re completely full of shit, especially the actual statistics regarding all violent crime, including rape, murder, and child abuse.  While
our media has become increasingly violent–and pornography more easily
accessible–actual rates of violence, rape, and abuse are the lowest
they’ve been in decades
.  If what you keep insisting were true, we would be seeing the opposite effect.  That’s basic common sense.

If you’re going to try to make the “obscenity” argument, “obscene” is subjective, not universal (after all, to certain parts of the world, women choosing to leave their hair uncovered is “obscene”, and eating a cheeseburger is considered sacrilegious) and anime and cartoon
fan art
made by primarily teenage girls would still have to be legally proven
“obscene” and lacking in
“literary, artistic” value in order to be deemed illegal
(don’t forget
that
Vladimir Nabokov’s “Lolita” is considered a piece of classic literature,
despite being told from the point of view of a manipulative pedophile.
We are also one of a few countries to offer A Serbian Film uncut on DVD and Blu-ray). To the
furthest extent of my knowledge, that has never occurred on a federal
level in modern America, and likely never will.  Tumblr is based in America.  Your belief that these artworks are illegal is based on a superficial understanding of the 2003 PROTECT
act, without research of its finer points or its execution, nor of its dismantling.  

You need to understand that you’re abusing terms like “normalize” in
regards to the most hated crimes of all time.
 Rape and child sexual
abuse are hated even more than murder, to the point where child abusers are often killed by other inmates in prison.  There is nothing that could possibly “normalize” something so hated.  Unlike you, I actually know how the criminal mind works, and what goes into creating an abuser.  It’s not as simple as you want to believe.

It has been shown time and time again that criminals and abusers have a lack of function in the prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for controlling our impulses, connecting our actions to their consequences, and having empathy for others.
Now, there are those out there with low functioning in these areas that
never harm a fly.  Why?  Because there are more ingredients required to
create an abuser.  How?  Not by “problematic” works of fiction:  They are primarily a result of broken homes, traumatic experiences, and–most importantly–parental abuse/neglect.  
Parental influence (or lack thereof) has been directly linked to lack of function in the brain, and behavioral issues, meaning that their time in the crib had a far greater influence on them than anything they will ever read, see, or hear.  When
nature and nurture have come together to create a psychopath, they have
molded an individual that is disconnected from reality in a very
dangerous way
.  It takes many factors working together to create
people capable of committing abuse.  No amount of fiction changes a
person’s upbringing, genetics, or brain function.  
These are not average
people.  They are a very, very small minority of people that are fully,
completely aware that their behavior is wrong–they simply lack the inhibition to not go out and do it, and the empathy to care.
 They would be this way regardless of the media they consumed, and removing them from it would change nothing, except potentially causing them to actively seek out the real thing, which–unlike fictional media–causes real, physical harm.

When it comes to grooming, an abuser can groom a victim without ever using anything sexual whatsoever.
If literally anything–including cartoons themselves–can become a tool
of control, it is asinine to believe that blindly attacking one form of
fan content that isn’t even seen by a large, worldwide audience is going
to do fuck all whatsoever to “solve” the problem.  I hate to tell
you this, but you literally CAN’T “solve” or “stop” pedophilia, rape,
abuse, etc. completely, because you cannot prevent damaged people from
being created.  
It can continue to decline (which it has), but there
will always be shitty people that developmentally harm their children
(and, by the way…
the greatest threat to children
statistically?  It’s their own mothers).

By the way, I myself am also one of those CSA victims that you think you speak for.  Being offended does not mean you’re automatically in the right, as–again–the feeling is not universal.  It is because neither of us speak for all victims that we cannot seek to limit anyone’s freedom of expression, which would be scapegoating
at best (i.e., a false proposed “solution” to a problem that negates
its actual causes, and remains in denial that the idea of concrete
solutions just aren’t realistic.  In other words, your crusade
against fan-created content is no more a solution to real-life rape or
pedophilia than wrongfully blaming minorities was for Nixon and Reagan’s “War on
Drugs”).  It’s just a way for a privileged group of people to feel better about themselves, and believe they’ve accomplished something when they actually haven’t done jack shit.  It’s a way for people to either avoid accepting any personal responsibility they may have, or avoid facing the truth that they don’t have the ability to combat the issue.  If we operated by your logic, then it would be ethical to
limit the liberties of LGBT citizens, because allowing those rights is
“offensive” to religious extremists by not adhering to the values of
their religion.
As a member of the LGBT community, I’d rather we didn’t adopt the same line of thinking as that used to justify bigotry.

Lastly, the way you misuse serious terms actually HARMS VICTIMS by making it harder for their legitimate claims to be taken seriously.

Is there anything else you’d like to be proven to be the “ignorant and uneducated” ones about, or are we done here?

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@capsgirl19 for your edification

marvelsmostwanted:

Hey! This is important. The midterm election is Tuesday, November 6, 2018.

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1. Register

2. Plan ahead

3. Learn

4. Vote!

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A longer version of this post with more voting resources can be found here.