god these violent delights are fucking AWESOME lol. having a great time. btw does anybody know what we're doing after this
('Hairy Locomotion' c.1959 by Remedios Varo)
Might I give some advice:
Not everyone has (or needs to have) the energy to thoughtfully respond to republicans on the Internet. You do not have to do that.
But some people do, and can. And I think we gotta let them.
An example:
I have a former teacher, I'll call her Grace, who is an incredibly kind woman in her 70s. Devout catholic, had voted for various parties over the years, but has been pretty strictly democrat over the past 15-20 because that aligns with her values of kindness and service.
She shared a post about the pope's recent letter and expressed that she agreed with his concerns about how trump is treating immigrants. A friend of hers commented a long paragraph basically saying "dear Grace I care for you but I don't understand how you can be a Christian and a democrat. Blah blah abortion blah blah gender blah blah drugs."
Grace replied "I'm very busy right now but I am going to respond to you soon with my thoughts". When she did it was an incredibly generous, rational monologue that connected with this person's humanity, their shared religious values, and made a beautiful case for why she supports who she does. I didn't agree with a good half of what she said as I am not a Christian, but the result was an expression of values that I think put her on the side of justice and compassion.
The person replied and thanked her and said she had a lot to think about. It was probably the best case scenario for a Facebook politics conversation
You know what came very close to ruining it? A bunch of (mostly younger) people piling on with "fuck you you racist maga pos" and "no one has to explain anything to you, go to hell" etc etc. Even after Grace wrote that she intended to reply herself.
I watched this republican respond to all the easy, quick insults by saying "this is why I don't think any democrats can be Christian, this is how you all speak to me." If Grace hadn't put so much work into writing her response in a way that was tailored to fit this person, I would not be surprised if that person left Facebook doubly certain that Christian nationalism is the way to go.
I'm not saying we can't cuss out jackasses. I'm not saying everyone needs to respond to bad faith arguments like Grace did or use their time like she did.
But this was on Grace's Facebook page, and interrupted the work she already volunteered to do. Just so these individuals could feel like they "did something" and got a shot off at an enemy.
I think that's selfish and childish and unproductive. They could have said anything they wanted in their own space, but they made grace's job harder for no fuckin reason. And then "loved" her reply and said "that was beautiful Grace, thank you for sharing your thoughts"
Like... Buddies. Pals. If someone volunteers to scrub the toilet fucking let them.
genuinely insane how difficult it is to participate in your own life
"You were in my dreams last night" yeah our souls have been clawing through our chests to get to each other since we met but I'm glad you noticed
Would being called big dog fix me? Who knows?
Don't open a PM with a stranger with "hello".
1. You sound like a bot
2. You don't give anything to respond to
Try to say something nice and ask questions that the other person can respond to.
drinking lots of coffee until something good happens
Former Minnesota Vikings punter, Chris Kluwe, who was blacklisted from the league for standing up for marriage equality, speaks at a city council meeting where he calls Trump a Nazi. He is subsequently arrested and carried out by police.
Tumblr please introduce polls, I think we could really revolutionize shit posting on this website by introducing democracy to it
ghost boy(s), he/him/his/they, midtwenties, “academia coded boy but he’s done his degree and works at a bar and does all his reading on the subway” — both a boy and a system (woaw)
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