A blog with a mix of personal stuff, fandom, and more~

stfuconservatives:

team-joebama:

filthypickle:

team-joebama:

it’s pretty funny that some conservatives are so quick to jump to the stereotype of “black welfare recipient” complete with a made-up limerick about loving welfare and implying they’re too lazy to work

meanwhile the individual behind her is carrying a sign stating “Good Jobs Now” indicating that this woman is part of a march or demonstration for proper and decent employment

Hey, Democrat, you might want to check yourself before you wreck yourself next time. This photo is a screen shot from an actual video of a woman yelling into the camera about how we should all vote for Obama because she was a recipient of Obama’s free cellphone giveaway. I don’t really give a shit what her race is. Had this been a white woman, or a latino woman, the issue would be the same. Black people do, in fact, make up the largest group receiving welfare and entitlements in America. This is not a stereotype. Blacks only make up 13% of the total US population, and more than half of them are on the government tit. Facts, not stereotype. 

Oh you mean this:

Today, 38 states, one of which is Ohio, participate in the Lifeline program. If you live in one of those locales and your income is at or below 135 percent of the poverty line, or if you qualify for certain benefit programs like Medicaid and TANF, you can apply for a free cell phone that offers you 250 minutes of talk time per month. The people who are getting these phones aren’t getting iPhones or other smartphones; they’re often people in urban or rural areas who are being supplied with basic cell phones so they can call the hospital when they’re sick, or receive calls if there’s a problem with their child at school.

If you’re upset that Obama is giving “freeloaders” gratis cell phones paid for with your tax money, don’t be. Firstly, Obama had nothing to do with the Lifeline program: the “Obama phone” narrative is a myth that both liberals and conservatives have fallen for since 2009. Secondly, Lifeline isn’t paid for with tax revenues. Rather, Lifeline is funded with a pool of money, called the Universal Service Fund, which is paid for with revenue donations from telecommunications providers. Some of those providers—like Verizon, for instance—pass off that cost to their customers with a Universal Service fee, but the government doesn’t mandate that the money come from citizens, meaning it’s technically not a tax.

It is sort of sad that the woman in Drudge’s “Obama phone” video has no idea that her free cell phone has nothing to do with Obama. But conservatives who would try and hold her up as an example of a liberal president gone wild with handouts are just as sad and ignorant, and more cruel by a large margin.

so to recap

• the phones are not an “Obama giveaway”
• they are not even a government giveaway because they’re not paid for with tax revenue
• they aren’t extravagant or in any way a luxury, they are 250 minute plans for limited or emergency use

Maybe you should take your own advice and check the facts before talking.

Aaaand the majority of welfare recipients are white, so, you know, facts.

And lololol forever at “It wouldn’t matter what her race is” followed by “and Black people are statistically leeches on the government and my precious tax dollars.” Well done, filthypickle. Well done.

spastasmagoria:

fuckyeaharthuriana:

pumpkinmeloncholy:

djjarak:

Before I say a word, know that I’m not a racist. I simply think that changing the ethnicity of classic characters just to prove how not racist you are is a cheap thing for production companies to do. I mean, Lancelot was not an African. Not in one story or piece of art was he depicted as anything but an English born white man. Do you have any idea how rare Africans were in England in those days? Only just recently has the first skeletal remains of a black man been found and from the condition of them, he was most likely a slave and not treated very well. I know Lancelot isn’t real. Unlike Mulan, he really is from a fairy tale… but c’mon. I know I may sound like I’m taking this stuff too seriously, but why bother getting into a TV series if you’re not going to let yourself really get into it.

Isn’t it hilarious when you think about the fact that Lancelot didn’t exist? You know who else didn’t exist? Basically every character in this series! Do you know what else didn’t exist? Magic…magic totally didn’t exist. And people couldn’t turn into dragons. And there are no such things as wraiths. There’s a lot about this show that could be complaining about, but you’ve chosen to complain about the fact that Lancelot isn’t white. 

Dear self-proclaimed non-racist, if in a fantasy series, with magic and dragons and entire universes existing through portals in hats, you find it more unrealistic/unbelievable that Lancelot is played by a person of colour, what do you think that makes you? 

I don’t see as many complaints when history’s completely white-washed and characters who should be people of colour aren’t played by people of colour. I don’t see anyone complaining because Jesus is usually depicted by a blonde-haired blue-eyed white dude even though there was no way in hell he was white. Just because Lancelot’s always been depicted as someone white doesn’t mean it should stay that way, (especially when you consider the fact that people of colour are severely underrepresented in entertainment). The story of King Arthur is a legend that has been interpreted many different ways through many different lenses and in fact, there are a few black characters who do appear in the legends. There are even artistic depictions of at least one knight as a black man: 

[Art by Pavel Tatarnikov]

There might not have been very many Africans in England and Wales, but contrary to popular belief, black people didn’t suddenly appear on earth as downtrodden slaves. There were significant numbers of black Africans who went to Europe during the 15 century onward. Also, ever heard of Moors? They ruled parts of the Iberian Peninsula for 700 years (from 8th-15th centuries). North Africa was very prosperous and advanced in comparison to England during the middle ages. There are plenty of depictions and mentions of wealthy blacks in actual European history. There are also depictions of people of colour in popular stories (Shakespeare’s Othello for instance).

Simply because there was a skeleton of one black man found in England that indicates that he was likely poor, doesn’t mean every black person in England (during whatever time period you’re invoking to support your ill-formed ideas) was poor. There is historical evidence of wealthy people of colour from various time periods in England and even though European history tends to be depicted as completely white in general—it wasn’t. That sort of thinking doesn’t even make any sense when you consider that there were Africans in ancient Rome. It doesn’t make any sense when you consider that there was plenty of trade happening between European countries and African countries for centuries—honestly, these continents are not that far apart at all (Strait of Gibraltar).  

In addition, slavery as we think of it did not exist until the trans atlantic slave trade, and though there were systems of slavery in various parts of the world—including England, they weren’t race-based. 

Next time you launch a complaint like this, perhaps you should spend a little time actually googling for historical reference? I mean, not that it matters since as we’ve established, Lancelot didn’t exist and there are people who turn into wolves and dragons on this show. I’m sure your delicate sensibilities will be just fine. 

Thank you for this commentary. (And Palamedes, Safir and Segwarides were PoC in arthurian legends).

Re-reblogged for epic commentary of goodness and history-ness.

stfuconservatives:

clitsromney submitted:

I think I’m about to just give up on Facebook. The boy posted this on his page, and I, being fed up with the internet this week, decided to share my point of view. I was never great with expressing my opinions with words, but I think I gave it my best shot. He came back with this:

”I am not sure what part of America is catered to Caucasian individuals. Are you talking about how colleges are forced to deny overqualified caucasian students acceptance because of ‘Affirmative Action’?? No, in fact it is the opposite, race has become such a big part of America that it affects our day to day life. Why would we turn down the more qualified people to jobs and colleges just because of ‘Affirmative Action’? That tears down everything that America has enstilled because now ‘doing your best’ doesn’t count for anything.”

I’m so fed up right now, I can’t even think. Plus, I have to make dinner for my lovely girlfriend.

Your smartass intelligent replies would be lovely. 

Well, I would begin by posting this: http://www.mittromney.com/coalitions/women-for-mitt

And then say “So you aren’t voting for Romney, right?”

And then this: http://www.mittromney.com/coalitions/juntos-con-romney

And then “RIGHT?”

And then this full page of his special interest groups: http://www.mittromney.com/coalitions

And then: “RIGHT???”

And then ask how a country where 77.6% of Fortune 500 directors are white men and 82.4% of Congress and 96% of the Senate are white could possibly be biased against white people. In fact, how a country could be biased against white people even though white people are statistically 13% more likely than Black people and nearly 20% more likely than Hispanic people to be a college graduate (according to Census data).

And then ask why colleges are forced to push aside overqualified candidates for legacy admissions and athletes. And ask him to find a single example of race being the ONLY factor in a person’s college admission. Ask, and wait. I imagine you’ll be waiting for a while.

acidicfacepaint:

prejudiceismagic:

This Guy. I like this guy.

This is from the same comment thread that this comes from.

After all the terrible stuff that this blog’s dredged up from derpibooru, it’s nice to know that someone in power who understand that “race = culture/voice/personality” is pretty freaking racist.

And for anybody who does think that, here’s an article for you.

Faith in fandom restored.

haralambros:

Today’s the first September 11th since I’ve lived in New York City where, if I chose to, I could stay in my apartment all day because I’m currently unemployed, and I’m not in college anymore. I don’t think many people in general realize this, but I (and many other Muslims/Arabs/Middle Easterners/North Africans/South Asians that I know) have to spend the week before September 11th mentally preparing myself for a flood of dirty looks, racist comments and threats, and physical violence in the worst-case scenario. Every year before this year, I’ve gone out of my way to trim up my beard as short as I possibly could, and have made sure not to speak any Arabic in public, but I won’t be doing any of that this year.

I am a light-skinned Arab and a practicing Muslim. Despite the fact that my full legal name is 25 letters long and VERY Greek, Islamophobia and racism make it a normal occurrence for me to be pulled aside without fail for a “random search” when I have to fly because I fit the profile of what a “suspicious person” looks like.

Because of Islamophobia and racism, I was too afraid to walk home from my high school in suburban Florida, even though I lived five minutes away. I knew if I did I would hear people driving or walking past me shout things like terrorist, sand n****r, or towelhead, among others. I feared for my physical safety every time I had to do so.

Islamophobia and racism made a train car full of people stay silent while my mother and I were verbally harassed by someone for speaking in Arabic to each other coming home at 2 AM on a Friday night on the D line. We were told that we should “go back to fucking Palestine” so that “our people” would “stop taking over Brooklyn.” We were going over the Manhattan Bridge when this happened, so we had to just look away and silently take it in order to avoid a physical altercation. We switched train cars at the next stop, but we STILL got off two stops after ours and had to wait 20 minutes for the next train going in the opposite direction because we were afraid that the guy was going to follow us home.

Islamophobia and racism make many Lebanese and Syrian people, in addition to most of the non-Arabs and non-Muslims, in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn openly complain about the Yemenis living in the neighborhood for wearing niqabs, or having long beards and wearing gallabiyas (basically looking “too Muslim”), for “ruining the neighborhood” and making it “filthy.”

Here are some great things you should remember especially for today, but really for any day of the year:

• Do NOT ask or expect a Muslim/Arab/Middle Easterner/North African/South Asian to apologize for something they had absolutely NOTHING to do with.
• Do NOT ask a Muslim/Arab/Middle Easterner/North African/South Asian how they feel about September 11th.
• ERASE any version of the following phrase from your vocabulary: “You should go back to where you came from.” If I had a dollar for the amount of times someone has said this to me, I’d be a millionaire. I was born in this country, I have as much right as everyone else to be here, and I am NOT planning on leaving anytime soon.
• If you see a Muslim/Arab/Middle Easterner/North African/South Asian being harassed by somebody, HELP THEM. I’m only speaking for myself here, but many times I’m too afraid to say or do anything about it for FEAR OF MY PHYSICAL SAFETY

dionthesocialist:

Read the whole thing on The Black Kids Table.

It looks like everyone on Tumblr’s support staff failed basic Civics and Economics, so let me tell you how freedom of speech works. Your freedoms end where mine begin. You may have the right to blog all you want about Neo-Nazism and Culturalism, but the moment you enter someone else’s space and threaten them, you have violated their freedom. Tumblr explicitly places the rights of white supremacists, Neo-Nazis, and violent racists over the rights of black and brown people who’ve committed no other crime than talking about their daily lives.

To add the cherry to the bullshit sundae, Tumblr has been known to go as far as blaming the victims for their abuse. I once sent an email to Tumblr support about a user who had basically made his entire blog a dedication to adding racist commentary to everything I said. Tumblr’s response: “It sounds like you’re both to blame here.” There are dozens if not hundreds of users who can give similar accounts of Tumblr staff’s mismanagement of abuse complaints by blaming the victim for the problem. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. I had the nerve to talk about racism, so a white person has every right to call me a nigger. Right. Okay. Cool story. It’s gotten to the point where most recent death threats aren’t even reported because users are not confident that Tumblr staff will help them.

This isn’t the treatment everyone gets though. When Laci Green, an inexplicably popular Youtuber, first came to Tumblr, she faced immediate criticism due to some Islamaphobic and cissexist comments she’d made in the past. A few overactive trolls hurled death threats in her direction. She, however, received the full cooperation of Tumblr staff and even the local police authorities. When a story about a Jewish man assuming a black woman was a prostitute began burning up everyone’s dashboards, people requested the story be removed from Tumblr so as to not cause judgement against the Jewish community. Not only did Tumblr remove the original post, they began deleting the post from people’s blogs once it was re-posted. Anyone have a guess as to why those complaints were responded to aggressively? Could it have been because those victims were white? Survey says…

They were white. The message is clear here: if you’re black or brown on Tumblr and want to receive messages, you have to endure abuse.

alexandraerin:

litglutton:

Today, tumblr has exploded in opposition to Victoria Foyt’s novel “Revealing Eden,” the first book in her Save the Pearls series. This outpouring of intellectual criticism is great! Follow the “Save the Pearls” tag and you’ll found a huge collection of people who have written up poignant and articulate reasons why this book is a very, very bad thing. But what if you want to do more than post about it on tumblr?

1. Rate the book 1 star on the websites for Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Goodreads, LibraryThing, and other popular book review sites. Even if you do not feel comfortable writing out a reason for your low rating, enough 1 stars will influence the book’s overall rating and discourage potential readers.
2. Comment on the Save the Pearls Facebook page. It is actively maintained, so your comments will be read by some aspect of the publishing house.
3. Reference Save the Pearls and Victoria Foyt on twitter. This is quick and fairly easy.
4. The Save the Pearls website allows you to comment on the book’s video trailers and Eden’s blog. You may even submit your own videos there. Just be warned that the site has been “moderating” comments, so negative remarks may never actually be posted.

I will personally ask that all users who make direct comments towards the book and author refrain from using profanity, violence or threats, yet I accept that I cannot control or expect to control your actions. Use your best judgement.

Do you want to move beyond the Internet?

1. Visit your local library to inquire whether or not they stock “Revealing Eden.” If yes, speak with the head librarian about the many options available for the library. You may start a petition to: a. remove and throw out any copies, b. personally buy the library’s copies from them, so that the establishment is reimbursed for the money they spent, or c. restrict access to the book for any reader under 18, requiring them to have a guardian’s permission in order to check out the book. Just keep in mind the library’s funding (or lack thereof) and how they typically acquire books. Some may find it painful and harmful to actually throw novels out, so offering donations or compromises will always be helpful.
2. Create your own collection of alternatives that you can suggest/lend to potential readers. The genre of race-related dystopian fiction exists and there are high quality others out there. “Noughts & Crosses” by  Malorie Blackman is a good place to start.
3. Do not buy the book! If you are interested in reading it but do not support the author, then look into (legal) ways in which you can get a copy without giving money to the publishing house. Having one copy that you may lend throughout your circle of friends is a good idea, as is exchanging and borrowing digital copies through online libraries. 

I do not recommend or advocate stealing copies of this book, destroying someone else’s property, or impeding upon an adult’s right to spend their money/read however they choose. If you want to have a bonfire, as I joked before, go for it. Just make sure that all copies are willingly and legally burned.

And as always, educate yourself on the matter at hand before taking action or criticizing those who take action. Tumblr is filled with wonderful commentary on what is wrong with this book series, so in addition to the Save the Pearls tag, here are a few of my favorites: X x X x X x 

Apparently reviewing a book on Amazon improves its ranking, even if it’s a negative review. Given that, it might be better to just go through and rate the existing one star reviews as helpful and the five star reviews as not helpful, or posting responses to the positive reviews.

stfuconservatives:

foreverliberal:

Justice for Tasered 8-Months-Pregnant Woman! 

Police in Chicago used a Taser on an African-American woman who is 8-months-pregnant because she parked in a handicapped parking space. 

Tiffany Rent parked there because she was trying to calm down her 3-year-old daughter. She tried to explain what happened but they wouldn’t listen, and gave her a ticket for $200.

The police, who had blocked her in, started insulting her — one told her to call Jesse Jackson — and Rent got into her car because she was scared. They tasered her through the window, and her boyfriend, Joseph Hobbs, had his elbow dislocated while trying to protect her. This all happened in front of her children. 

Rent and Hobbs were taken into custody and charged with resisting arrest and simple assault. Rent was taken to the hospital for treatment, and may have to deliver her baby early because of the stress.

Please tell the Chicago Police Department to do a full investigation of this incident and get justice for Tiffany Rent! 

Sign the petition here. Sources are here and here.

I don’t even know what to say. I am incredibly appalled and angry. Justice for Tiffany Rent!

— Brittany 

Appalling. There is no other word for it. I’ve pulled into handicapped spots for a minute to make a call, find something in my purse, calm down kids in the car… no police officer has ever so much as glanced at me. Why are police so fucking racist? As if a totally unjust $200 isn’t enough, they fucking Tasered her. Unbelievable.

cruelestyouth:

I’m not sure if this made it’s rounds on Tumblr yet, but I just got an e-mail with a petition about it:

It is shameful that a respected African American faculty surgeon at the UCLA Medical Center could be intentionally demeaned based on his race and that university officials could ignore blatant acts of racial discrimination. But that is what is happening at UCLA.

Imagine being graphically depicted as a gorilla in a slideshow photo. That alone is offensive. But the fact that the slide was publicly presented for laughs during an annual medical school sponsored event attended by more than 200 physicians, faculty, residents and guests is both shocking and indefensible.

Not only was Dr. Christian Head’s face superimposed onto the body of a gorilla standing on all-fours, but the photo also depicted him being sodomized by his Caucasian supervisor. This, unfortunately, was just one of a series of racially motivated incidents that Dr. Head has had to deal with over the past several years at UCLA. His complaints to administrative leaders at the Medical Center, the University and UC Regents have gone unanswered. In fact, his complaints have spurred additional acts of humiliation, attempts to push him out of academic medicine and retaliation.

The Los Angeles Wave and Los Angeles Times newspapers have written about the vindictive and racially motivated actions that UCLA Medical Center supervisors have taken against Dr. Head, the ONLY African American surgeon in the Head & Neck Department. In fact, Dr. Head is only 1 of 2 tenured African American teaching surgeons in the entire UCLA Medical School out of more than 200 faculty surgeons.

Rather than do the right thing to keep the work environment free from discrimination, UCLA has opted to ignore Dr. Head’s formal requests to stop the harassment and retaliation against him. Racial discrimination has no place in institutions of higher education or, for that matter, anywhere in our society.

Tell UCLA to stop the discrimination.

Here is a link to the petition.

It’s not that I’m surprised by any of this, but my gut twisted at the detail that he was depicted being sodomized by his supervisor.

And white kids cry about black people being in higher education because “affirmative action” or what the fuck ever.  But this is the type of stuff black people in higher education go through.

thefullmetalbitch:

The petition is here. There’s only 6577 signatures. Sign it and reblog.

Sometimes I hear people say that racism/sexism/etc in culture isn’t important or worth criticizing. ”Oh it’s just a book,” they say. ”It’s just a crappy TV show.” ”It’s just a commercial.”

This argument always baffles me. It’s like if you put poison into a fish-tank and then say “Oh well I didn’t poison the fish, I just poisoned the water.” The fish lives in the water, dumbass; it’s completely submerged in and surrounded by the water. I’m pretty sure that poisoned water is going to affect the fish.

Similarly, we all live constantly immersed in this miasma of information that we call “culture.” People are not born prejudiced. We don’t emerge from the womb knowing that all black men are scary thugs, that all Latinas are spicy sexpots, that all Indians are violent savages, that all women are weepy and frail, that all gay men are depraved pedophiles, and that all people in wheelchairs are objects of pity. We learn these things, usually starting at a very young age, and we often learn them from our culture — the books we read, the movies we watch, and the constant barrage of advertising that we don’t really pay attention to but which still manages to seep into our brains, and which shapes the way we think about the world, for better or for worse.

If you want to save the fish, you need to purify the water.

sinousine:

occupyallstreets:

Arizona Official Considering Banning Ethnic Studies In Universities Too

Two years ago, Arizona outlawed the teaching of some ethnic studies courses in K-12 schools, and now it may expand the prohibition to universities too.

Just weeks after the state passed its infamous immigration law, it also passed a law aimed at scuttling Tucson’s Mexican-American studies program, which critics claimed taught kids to resent white people. The argument, at the time, was that teaching subjects like critical race theory to kids in high school amounted to indoctrination because they were not old enough to question the teaching critically, like university students.

But now, Arizona’s chief education official sees university-level Mexican-American sudies programs as a danger too:

Arizona’s superintendent of schools, John Huppenthal, says Tucson’s suspended Mexican American studies curricula teaches students to resent Anglos, and that the university program that educated the public school teachers is to blame.

“I think that’s where this toxic thing starts from, the universities,” Arizona Superintendent of Schools John Huppenthal said in an interview with Fox News Latino. “To me, the pervasive problem was the lack of balance going on in these classes,” Huppenthal said.

Not surprisingly, a long list of Latino groups and education activists have protested the move, as they did when the state shut down Tucson’s program, decrying the imposition on free speech. “What we’re trying to do is expose children to a much broader perspective, so that we’re not indoctrinating,” said Augustine Romero, the former director of Tucson’s Mexican American Studies Department.

The ethnic studies law, which bans schools from offering courses designed for a specific ethnicity, had far-ranging consequences, including banning books like Shakespeare’s The Tempest and other seemingly anodyne works of literature.

And while many call the state prohibitions unprecedented, Devon Peña, the former director of the National Association for Chicana and Chicano Studies said, “There is a precedent, and it’s called McCarthyism.” “It’s just a witch hunt of a different color. Now, instead of going after the reds, they’re going after the browns.”

Source

This is fucking bullshit.

I…well my teachers made the excuse of “but you’ll get to learn it [history that’s non-european, writers who aren’t dead white men in college]” :{

inothernews: