callingoutbigotry:

blackinasia:

blindjewwanderinginthedesert:

(Image Description: a blind black woman and a blind Klansman walking across a crosswalk. The original tumblr post’s author supplies the title of Love is Blind”.)

xomadamecupcake:

bankuei:

Let’s talk about The Kumbayah Myth.

In the Kumbayah Myth, racism will just stop if everyone just started acting nice to each other, and the only reason we still have racism is that people are silly.

Part of the Kumbayah Myth is the erasure of history, violence and power.  In this falsehood, either no one is really at fault, or, actually, EVERYONE is at fault, so everyone is equally bad.   This actually exists only to make white people feel better and never have to change their behaviors.

Go look at Without Sanctuary and maybe read up on The Reconstruction and come back and tell me it’s all equal and IF ONLY Black people were nicer shit would have been different.

Now, let’s talk about this picture I linked.  It says, “Love is Blind” and has a blind black woman and a blind Klansman walking across the street holding hands….

Well, even the symbolism fails, because:

a) The black woman is basically minding her own business

b) The blind Klansman DRESSED UP AS A KLANSMAN- even blind he still HATES PEOPLE.

c) AND WE’VE JUST EQUATED A BLACK WOMAN, by nature of simply BEING A BLACK WOMAN as equivalent to a murderous terrorist.

Oh.  Ok.  If only those damn Black women would stop being so Black, the KKK wouldn’t HAVE to lynch, murder and burn them in self defense. 

You know, tit for tat, right?

But let’s keep going- the only reason, at least, we’d see this picture working is because HE DOESN’T KNOW SHE’S BLACK.  Otherwise, he’d push her into traffic and claim, “I’m blind! I didn’t know what was happening!”

What the world needs is not more hugs.  It needs you white people to stop killing people of color.  It needs for you to stop defending murderers.  It needs for you to stop equating dark skin as violent threat, and therefore, justifiable homicide in self defense.   It needs for you to recognize that YOU, collectively, pull this shit, and no, it is not “equal”, there is no “reverse racism”.

Love is not blind.  Hate is blind- it refuses to see what it does, it demands no one speak of it or say a thing.  And it kills and conveniently forgets a moment later.

Then demands hugs and holding hands and singing kumbayah, and wonders why everyone is so mean to it.

This argument is like, legit going on in my Facebook right now. ALL OF THIS. JUST ALL OF IT. 

All of the above commentary, plus a little extra. In addition to everything said above, which I support the sentiment of entirely, this picture and the above commentary really bother me on a whole host of levels because of the way they use visual disability. The original poster (bankuei) states that the image depicts ““Love is Blind” and has a blind black woman and a blind Klansman walking across the street holding hands.” 

Why does this bother me? Well, let’s start with four general reasons. These reason can also be read as a general commentary about ableist language and how incredibly damaging it really is even when it gets used by others in the battle against other ‘isms’. I would like to believe that there was no malicious, no ableist intent, on the part of the original tumblr post’s author (bankuei), but ableism is still ableism even without intent and it is just as damaging. 

First complaint. This language is really ableist. LOVE is not BLIND. Seriously, an emotion does not have a physical disability. Please stop using my disability as a synonym for “lack of prejudice/discrimination”. The blind face a ton of prejudice and discrimination and guess what, just because you are blind does not mean you completely miss prejudice or racism or any other ‘ism’ when it occurs. Enough said. Please stop using ableist language. It’s not symbolism or an analogy  It is ableist. 

Second complaint.  She doesn’t know he is a Klansman because she is blind? Both the author and the individual who made the image fall victim to this type of logic. If you think race (in the case of the woman) or a radical, oppressive political identity (in the case of the member of the KKK) are something a blind person misses because they are blind, you do not understand visual disability at all. Seriously, the ways these identities have been worked into language, the ways we interact with each other, the ways we navigate the world, etc. are incredibly nuanced and complicated. You do not need to be able to physically see them to know they exist. This complaint is especially true if you consider the original post’s comment about “love” and the implied relationship. Sight is not the only way a person would be able to understand someone else’s identity or proclivity to be an oppressive, violent scumbag and this is especially true as relationships form across time. Completely ignoring how blind individuals can and do navigate the world, the author takes their ableism in their analysis a step further; “The blind Klansman DRESSED UP AS A KLANSMAN- even blind he still HATES PEOPLE.” WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN!?!?!?! Please stop privileging sight as a key component of navigating identity, identification, and the world as a whole. 

Third complaint. The creator of this image is ableist. The two figures are depicted on a crosswalk in front of a red car about to finish crossing the intersection (upper right of the image) and about to pass behind a gray car that has just finished crossing through the intersection and is now beyond the cross walk (bottom left of the image). Hmmm…so is that red car running a red light? Highly unlikely considering the gray car just made it through the intersection itself. Maybe they both ran the light. Or maybe the two caricatures just walked out into oncoming traffic without waiting for a red light. Yeah, hahahahaha. Super funny. Another really good one because hey, blind people cannot cross the street! Hahahaha, no wait, that’s messed up. Please stop depicting images of blind individuals not being able to carry out basic mobility tasks (and yes, this is another really common theme). 

Fourth complaint. Not only is the language and the imagery itself ableist, but the author uses this ableism as a means to another end: addressing racism. The original post states that if the KKK member knew his companion was Black, ”he’d push her into traffic and claim, “I’m blind! I didn’t know what was happening!”” Yeah, because someone who is blind cannot possibly know there is traffic there unless they can see it clearly! I mean hey, they already just walked into oncoming traffic, right?. Ha, great joke; I am rolling on the floor laughing. In an attempt to address that this Klansman is a scumbag and is obviously racist, you just made another ‘blind joke’.But using ableism as a tool against racism doesn’t stop there. It gets taken a step further when the author claims that LOVE isn’t BLIND, HATE is BLIND. Really? That’s the conclusion? I am pretty confident that hate itself does not have a visual disability. In an attempt to address one ‘ism’, you just used another and threw another community under the bus (so to speak). Please do not use ableist language in an attempt to illustrate why this image is racist as all hell. 

In conclusion:

Dear World,

Please do not use ableism in your social justice battles.   I wholeheartedly support the sentiment in the original post. The author is right on in many ways. But horribly wrong in others. Let’s not push each other’s heads under water in our own attempts to not drown under oppression. Thank you for listening. 

This additional commentary from blindjewwanderringinthedesert is so very important. We can not use and perpetuate another form of oppression (here- ableism) to address another (here- racism). Thanks so much for adding on and clarifying this, as it is so important and is a point that many people in the SJ community (myself included) can be so prone to miss. 

Reblogging for commentary

green-street-politics:

theres-a-hole-in-the-earth:

situpsandfruitcups:

princessmonsanto:

comfort-the-lost:

kingdizzy88:

dabaryah:

I tested Walmart’s brand of bottled water and I was shocked to see they sell the most toxic water ever. I tested for Total Dissolved Solids using a TDS meter and the number I got was 271. THAT IS THE MOST TOXIC WATER I HAVE EVER SEEN. Even NYC tap water TDS score is 39. Poland Spring is 42. The water is not even drinkable. I think it’s Criminal to even make profits from selling this water filled with sodium fluoride and who knows what else is in that. 500 ppm (parts per million) is the EPA Maximum but even though the FDA is corrupt their recommended is 000, which is pure.

THE ONLY BOTTLED WATER THAT READS 000 IS DUANEreade/Walgreens ‘NICE’ branded water.


PLEASE SHARE THIS INFO ALONG.

- anonymous

Damn wally mart… Damn… :/

My stomach just churned.

OH MY GOD.

shut up. i’ve been buying these gallons for the gym for months

Fuck that, boil your tap water and put it in the fridge and stop BUYING water. Holy shit. Water is free in America, whyyyyyyyyy do people buy water.

the water coming out of my tap is not free nor is the water from local bodies of water (like, i can’t just go and start heaving buckets and buckets of lake water home… as if i’d want to seeing as i live in north texas and our water sources are far from safe to drink without serious filtration systems).

do you pay for your own bills?  because if you did, you’d be well aware that tap water is not free.

nor is everybody’s local source of water potable, even when they boil their tap water.

there are rural areas here in north texas where people cannot safely drink their tap water, no matter what they do with it at home, and it’s during those times they are forced to buy water from the store.

some of them can afford the more expensive water options from natural grocers, and bottle their reverse osmosis or deionized water in reusable safe containers, or buy the already-bottled water options at these stores.

but not everybody can afford that… and chances are if they’re going to walmart to buy the jugs of store-brand water, they probably have no other options.

And even if they did, everyone should be able to reasonably expect that they aren’t being poisoned without ANY kind of notice or warning or label on the products they’re consuming, so they can make INFORMED decisions on whether they consent to consuming the toxins.

mamamantis:

so are we gonna discuss how fucked up it is that women have to wear makeup to be taken seriously at work and job interviews but if a woman has a genuine interest in and enjoyment of cosmetics she is written off as shallow, vain, and stupid, and consequently not taken seriously

wtfniceguys:

( via niceguysofokc.tumblr.com)

marchqueen:

crystalzelda:

ameliaelizabeth:

TIME’s new cover makes me so mad I could write essays about it, but instead I’m going to keep job hunting since in today’s world a university degree means nothing and therefore like much of my generation, I’m stuck choosing between minimum wage jobs and internships that I can’t afford to accept in an attempt to pay off my tens of thousands of dollars worth of student debt.

I’d be interested in reading this article to see exactly what makes us entitled and lazy. Are we lazy because more of us are completing high school and going to college than ever before? Are we entitled because our standard of living is declining? Do we live with our parents because we’re too slothful to leave or is because our education costs are getting steeper and steeper while we’re getting less and less aid?

Tell us, Time Magazine, about how we’re narcissistic little slugs when we’re faced with an economic crisis that resulted in a lowering of our standard of living, an increase in tuition costs and how when we get out of our very expensive schools, more and more of us are going to end up working minimum wage jobs. 

…how it was the bank’s fault that got us into this recession in the first place, and how our government bailed THEM OUT.

I just-

I’m not going to continue down this thread. Because, really apparently:

 “Why they’ll save us all”

That doesn’t sound narcissistic or anything,

How WE are going to save THEM and EVERYONE

((put more fucking pressure on us why don’t you))

^^^^^^^^^^^Basically, fuck this cover/article/magazine and everything it stands for. Fuck off. This is the exact  manipulative bullshit that overlooks the ACTUAL PEOPLE who fucked us over in the first fucking place. And to cover their self-interests at that too. Fuck off, Time. 

marrymejasonsegel:

aumlicious:

Truth of the matter.

STOP.USING.FAT.PEOPLE.AS.A.SYMBOL.OF.GLUTTONY.FUCKING A

REALLY? HE’S EVEN ON OXYGEN. 

WHY IS BEING ON OXYGEN AND IN A SCOOTER AN EXAMPLE OF HOW SHITTY AMERICA IS?

HOLY SHIT I HATE WHOEVER MADE THIS

I ACTUALLY WANT TO KICK THEM IN THE FACE.

This. We can condemn the u.s. for the oppression it creates without upholding other oppressive systems. :( 

thiscuntsays:

lexicalization:

steffalopod:

hopeful-teen:

girlnextdiorwearschanel:

I love this. It’s such a great comedic way to get a serious and useful message across. I love it. Fight eating disorders.

FUCKING LOVE THIS OMG

no this is fucking stupid and fetishistic and im tired of seeing it on my dash. i have friends and family members who have struggled with eating disorders and seeing them sexualized like this is gross and i fucking hate it. this is no better than the fucking “i heart boobies” bracelets, it is using a (largely) women’s issue to reduce them to sexual objects, just like everything else does in this world. fuck im so mad

this is really offensive (for women in general and especially women with EDs)

“great comedic way”

your sense of humour is shitty

FUCK off to the jackass that thought this was ok.

iinventedeverything:

iinventedeverything:

and oh, my god, the media industrial complex is already running their scads of “chechnya: breeding ground for terror” stories.

GOD, this makes me sO FUCKING SICK. look at this bullshit. it even has the BALLS to say: The reduced turmoil inside Chechnya has been the…

i can’t figure out how to get what bruja posted—but the response was “Chechnya an/or Kyrgyzstan shouldn’t have to answer for these two men. For fuck’s sake, they grew up here. But you know, anything to justify rampant xenophobia.”

i didn’t know that they grew up here—i am only catching bits and pieces of all this in between work—but i agree FULLY now that i know, and just, OMG, THIS MEDIA COVERAGE IS SUCH BULLSHIT.

publicshaming:

A 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit Iran, leaving dozens dead, within 24 hours of the Boston marathon bombing. What is the connection? Well, there isn’t one…

…that is, unless you’re a big asshole:

(The person above deleted their account. But that won’t stop me from finding her shitty tweets and posting them here.)

Yeah, that was some “deep thinking.”

siriusbingers:

kisskicker:

“And the second reason was — during the years that I spent running Walt Disney Studios — I learned about how hard it was to find a fairy tale with a good strong male protagonist. You’ve got your Sleeping Beauties, your Cinderellas and your Alices. But with the origin story of the Wizard of Oz, here was a fairy tale story with a natural male protagonist. Which is why I knew that this was an idea for a movie that was genuinely worth pursuing.”

—Joe Roth, producer of Oz the Great and Powerful

#this is especially gross to me because it is taking a world/story that hinges on female power and ruining that  #like the whole point of the wizard of oz is that women have the power; dorothy has the power  #nothing changes without her - the scarecrow the tinman the lion need her because they are powerless to change themselves but she isnt  #and supplementing that you have glinda and the wicked witch; active characters; gamechanging characters  #who influence and affect dorothy far more than the wizard ever does - all the wizard truly is is a motivator for dorothy’s journey  #and like it is heavily implied that the entire story is a dream of dorothy’s - she has created the whole world  #and it makes sense that in her world the men are the ones who need saving and the women are the ones who wield power  #so like taking the world of oz and that signifance and going OH TOO MANY *GIRLS* WE WANT A BOY LEAD  #is some nasty ass shit  #like lmao jokes on you jerkface MOST FAIRYTALES ARE ABOIT GIRLS AND THEIR EXPERIENCES  #and that is why they are so important and valuable to our culture  #like even stories you think are about dudes? are about girls  #peter pan wendy’s manic pixie dream boy  #scheherazade playing the long con  #rumplestiltskin’s fatal flaw: underestimating a woman  #like have as many male leads a you want - it will never change the fact that  #the wizard of oz is a story about a girl looking for a man to help her  #and then figuring out that she didnt need it - she could help herself

[TW: Stalking/Harassment]

aboutmaleprivilege:

ineedsmensrights:

mooncunt:

nagayki:

deadlydinos:

letsfuckingcuddleok:

nothingsgoingtochange:

Someone give this guy a motherfuckin’ certificate.

I reblog every time 

this guy deserves more than a certificate

“In year 7 you were already uncomfortable around me, so I manipulated our teacher into putting us together for a project and when you didn’t want to come to my house, instead of meeting in a neutral place like a library, I did the entire project so that you’d owe me. In year 8 I gave you a bunch of gifts, a really inappropriate quantity, and continued to do so even after you made it abundantly clear that you didn’t want them. By the time the school disco rolled around in year 9, you knew me well enough to know that I wouldn’t take no for an answer, so you made up an excuse and left the whole dance to escape from me, and somehow it’s me and not you who got the worst end of that stick. In year 10, I bought you another grossly inappropriate gift that required you to spend time with me in order to use it, and when you misunderstood how I wanted you to use it I didn’t say anything but just stewed on that information. And now, in year 11, I’m going to publish my victim complex and the entire history of how I’ve stalked you over the past five years, comfortable in the knowledge that because I’m a man, I will be taken seriously and you’ll be vilified.”

She has every right to think boys are dicks. Here’s example number one. This post is really really gross. He shouldn’t get a certificate; he needs to get a restraining order.

YES THANK YOU

MOTHERFUCKING THANK YOU

Fuck dudes, for real.

THANK YOU FOR THAT COMMENT.

-Lala

“I stalked you for five years and I’m being congratulated on doing so by many, many people on the internet.”

It pisses me off when privileged white people (mostly PRIVILEGED white abled/cis/straight dudes as well as (Not even CLOSE to the extent privileged white dudes do ) equally privileged white women too) perpetuate abuse culture. Sometimes it’s in the tiniest of ways. Like those “friends” (aka acquaintances you want nothing to do with but are forced to socialize w/ anyway) belittle/mock you while throwing a shit fit when you verbalize your displeasure. Like “no!waaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhNO!!!ONE!!! u don’t get it!!! I LOVE/LIKE  U!!! WE’RE JUST MESSING AROUND!!!!!!WAHHHHHH!!! UR SO MEAN!!11!!!!! please tolerate me treating u like shit!!! Stop being such a [put any oppressive slur here]!!!! You’re so whinny!!!! WAAAHHHHHHHHhHH!!!! VALUE MY FEELINGS EVEN THOUGH I COULDN’T GIVE A SHIT ABOUT YOURS!!!” Like FUCK YOU and GO FUCK OFF. I want SHIT to do with you. I’m not going to engage with you if you mock me ONCE. FUCK OFF. We’re not friends. 

staypositiveforyoursilverlining:

yourpinkdiary:

This picture has been floating around for a while, and I’ve kind of realised now why it makes me a combination of annoyed and sad. 

This picture implies that all either of these girls have is their sexual identity. That’s it. The only thing that defines who both of these girls are, are the number of boyfriends they’ve had. 

It’s basically saying you can’t call Miley Cyrus a bitch (I’m not even going to go into the word slut here, ok? I think it’s a disgusting word and shouldn’t be used to describe anyone no matter the circumstances for it) because she’s been with the same guy for three years and they’re engaged. She’s in a committed relationship; therefore she can’t be a bitch. Because that’s what defines her. Her relationship status defines her whole character. 

It’s saying that Taylor Swift can’t be called sweet, elegant and inspirational because she’s had multiple partners in the past couples years (and like with the word slut I’m not getting into the absurdity of the statement that she’s had 13 boyfriends in 3 years). She hasn’t been in a long term relationship before; therefore she cannot be sweet, or elegant, and definitely not inspirational. 

That’s what these pictures are saying. And that’s what anyone who brings up this sort of an argument is saying every single time. A females entire identity is defined by how many different people they’ve had sex with. By that standard I am no-one, because while being a heterosexual female I haven’t had a boyfriend, and in fact have barely even kissed a guys before. So essentially, with this argument, when we define who a girl is entirely by how many people they have, or haven’t had sex with I am no-one. That’s fun. 

It’s just something to think about. Because it needs to stop, it really does. Before you go and say something like ‘she’s not sweet, she’s had, like, 4 boyfriends’ think about how you would feel if your entire person was defined by how many people you’d been in a  relationship with. Because I’m sure you’d say there’s so much more to you. And there’s so much more to both of these girls, and any other female (and male) celebrities. 

FUCKING THIS. And AGAIN, these two can be called out on their problematic behavior WITHOUT upholding misogyny/patriarchy/slut-shaming/rape culture. And YES-their humanity IS FUCKING MUCH MORE than their number of relationships.