I’ve been seeing a lot of inspiration porn lately and I just wanted to say something really quick
Disabled/neurodivergent people are not here to help you be a better person. We’re not put into your lives to teach you how to be more patient or how to be kinder or how to never give up or whatever bullshit y’all talk about.
Disabled people are here because they’re here. They’re disabled because they’re disabled, not to teach you some moral lesson(that you could learn yourself).
Able-bodied/neurotypical people can and should reblog this
The Imam of Peace drops a MOAB on the U.K. Trump protestors
Hello rightsmarts, the latest in conservative news. I’m just reblogging this because it’s gotten around to the punk side of things and sometimes it seems like anarchists forget that PR is important in political movements.
(RAICES) to help the children in detention camps. The comparative cost of the balloon is about a quarter of a percent of what was donated to RAICES alone.
You know what’s great about a balloon? It’s ridiculous. It’s got a fun, airy parade feel. You go to a protest with the Trump Baby and you see people who share your values and are equally frustrated with the world – and it’s hard as hell to show a bunch of people having a fun old time with a parade float as dangerous antifa terrorists.
(Also it gets news cameras pointed at protests of Trump, and at this point we should all recognize the value of big stunts that get you free press because Trump sure as hell did.)
That and it gives frustrated, burned-out activists a bit of a laugh. We’ve got to have levity, we’ve got to be able to enjoy things and have a sense of humor. If we’re all grimly grinding away and donating all of our spare change to the ACLU and only ever talking about the horrible things that are happening we’re going to get too exhausted to carry on. Which is exactly what folks like rightsmarts and Imam Tawhidi want.
So a professional pot-stirrer is criticizing activists for spending the equivalent of a quarter of a percent of their donations on a fun balloon that bring out large crowds to protest, creates feelings of solidarity and levity, and is an excellent PR tool.
Yeah, fuck off with your bullshit. People recently crowdfunded a couch for Elon Musk and tried to give Kylie Jenner $100 million so she’d be a round billionaire. Nobody should feel the tiniest bit bad for donating to the construction and display of a protest sign.
The Trump Baby balloon is a good investment on the part of protesters and helped ensure that Trump knows he’s not welcome or appreciated by the people of London.
(hey by the way this criticism of decadence and fun is the kind of puritanical authoritarian shit that you get from the right and from tankies and it’s why nobody likes tankies. bread AND roses, motherfuckers.)
Sharing this with you all.
Reminder – it’s possible for people to do more than one thing at a time! We can spend money on charity and protests. We can fund libraries and food programs. We can laugh at stupid shit on the internet and still read serious news.
someone: repeating things that reinforce a negative self view and world outlook such as the oh so popular tumblr niche of nihilistic ‘i want to die and everything is awful’ “jokes” me, in recovery, trying not to get dragged into that with them:
“And remember: the sky is the limit! You can be anything you want to be!”
“Thank you. I want to be a secretary.”
That stopped them short. “What?”
“A secretary,” she repeated.
“But…” they trailed off, dumbfounded. “Why? You could be a CEO, a scientist, a law–”
“I don’t want to be a CEO,” she said. “I want to be a secretary.”
They scoffed. “You want to answer phones all day?”
She smiled. “Yes.”
“Schedule appointments?”
“I like organizing.”
“Be a second banana?”
An affirmative nod. “I’m skilled at helping.”
“I just don’t understand,” they said. “HOW could you be okay with all of this?!”
“I enjoy the work.”
“BUT YOU CAN BE WHATEVER YOU WANT TO BE!”
“I know.”
“Then WHY?!”
She shrugged.
“Because I want to be a secretary.”
Honestly though, this is very similar to my mom’s experience. She’s always been super bright, but has realized as she’s gotten older that intellectual pursuits just aren’t her jam. She dropped out of her PhD program to have kids, and although she has her master’s and was a pretty good school psychologist, she hated having to make huge decisions. She’s a church secretary now and loves it, and she’s GOOD at it; she’s letting her school psych certification permanently expire this year with zero regrets. If you can be anything you want, that includes the things we don’t tend to value as highly as a society. Not everybody is built for or wants the “respectable” careers.
My grandma did this to me, saying that i didn’t want to get stuck on the outside, making coffee and filing papers. The thing is, that’s exactly what I’ve always enjoyed the most, making and organizing things. That would be enough for me.
Nobody seems to realize that if you tell people they can be anything they want to be they will. And not everyone WANTS to be doctors or lawyers or CEOs or scientists. Sometimes, they just want to be a secretary.
it took me a LOT of therapy before i was able to shrug off the effects of the Gifted Child Upbringing enough to realize that what i really wanted to be was a house husband and Local Queerdad who writes novels sometimes. god, i’m so much happier now.
ain’t nothing wrong with an ordinary life. don’t let anybody tell you you have to be the top dog to be worth anything.
