eupraxia

I'm of the opinion both violent and nonviolent means are probably necessary and there's plenty of nonviolent means of engagement. no war has been fought without support from somewhere, whether that's a national war machine or the supporting element of an insurgency. there's always logistics, resources, and well organization that has to occur.

I'm in no condition to fight myself, but over the coming decades I'm gonna have to be thinking about how much violence I'm comfortable being around and how much we can support people in the thick of it. violence is definitely present already in day to day life, but it's more of an orphan-crushing-machine kind of violence that feels more normal.

chronic pain conditions are something our healthcare and disability systems specifically don't handle well and I haven't met anyone suffering from them that doesn't want to [redacted].

my experience with it has been nebulous and hard to diagnose but incredibly disabling. certain treatments like acupuncture or cupping that specifically target fascia, or shit like somatic therapy, aren't really legitimized by insurance so absent of a diagnosis with a known intervention your choices are to go to a pain clinic and take something possibly addictive or pay your way into alt medicine providers who can either be exactly who you need or hokey grifters.

and I can only imagine the hell that insurance companies put you through for surgical interventions they are supposed to cover but definitely don't want to. reading my partner's rejection letters from her company disability provider has been fucking fascinating

too many misunderstand anarchy to be about destroying structures that exist. many of them are doing a pretty good job of that to themselves already, and the ones that are left would rather slaughter us than disarm. it's the final throes of a dying beast. too dangerous to throw more lives at, but nature will run its course eventually.

so we (anarchists) instead create structure to survive where we are, with the goal of directly helping people help each other, aiming to grow past existing power structures. it has been surprisingly possible to do a lot of praxis without even firebombing a second Chipotle

It sucks because I know a lot of people referred to as SJWs, myself among them sometimes, and my read is that what pisses people off about them is not exclusive to minorities or the left wing, but the label tends to just apply to people advocating for the oppressed, and the behavior often comes from pain and vulnerability.

A lot of marginalized people lack the space irl to be politically active in a meaningful way. This goes double if you're trans or closeted or showing up irl is dangerous in any way. Online, you have a platform and can speak your truth, but that's about it. Social media platforms are incentivized to put a bunch of chuds you don't agree with in front of you to keep you engaged, and so people end up angrier and angrier, stuck constantly responding to bigotry but never able to actually do much about it, or even hold a good faith conversation. Pet peeves become big sore spots because people keep poking at them and it feels like there's nothing that can be done to change how anyone feels. Small disagreements over language become big blowouts because it's probably the tenth time it's happened today and it might not feel like anyone's on your side.

Funny enough the person I know who fits this description the most is a right-wing incel, marginalized in some ways due to neurodivergence. He's prone to big conspiratorial blowouts at the mere mention of climate change or queer people because he sees it as necessary to "educate" people. I don't think most would call him an SJW yet his engagement with politics and the ways in which he pisses people off are exactly the same.

Same one I got!! And as someone with an overactive duty complex and an inability to be taken care of...

...please?

Hi, this sentiment from non-americans pisses me off and it's okay, but I feel it's important to explain why so I'm copying another comment I made today.

Goodness knows some of us are trying our best. I mean keep in mind our country is a democracy in name but systemically props up white supremacists in excess of the real popular opinion. And a media disinformation machine keeps the working class divided against itself, with open support from the wealthiest and owners of the most popular social media platforms. Social media platforms that, let's be honest, are super recent inventions we are not yet capable of engaging with safely. It makes it an uphill battle to try to reach out to people whose necks aren't on the line. And the responsibility to do so falls upon the disenfranchised themselves, who are increasingly saddled with economic and health burdens that might just kill us someday.

I get the potshots at Americans, but frankly I don't plan on taking the blame if this goes tits up - many of us did a hell of a lot more than vote to resist fascism. Nothing happened here that isn't happening elsewhere. And I'll fight the notion that citizens at large are the problem. It's a cynical outlook that serves to individualize the responsibility for a systematic disaster. Our country was built to make this possible after all. And I sure as hell know I don't plan on giving up. Kind of morbidly curious about how much of an incompetent clusterfuck Project 2025's implementation will be.

Victory or no, fascists are paper tigers and I plan on sticking around to remind them of that fact however I can.

Goodness knows some of us are trying our best. I mean keep in mind our country is a democracy in name but systemically props up white supremacists in excess of the real popular opinion. And a media disinformation machine keeps the working class divided against itself, with open support from the wealthiest and owners of the most popular social media platforms. Social media platforms that, let's be honest, are super recent inventions we are not yet capable of engaging with safely. It makes it an uphill battle to try to reach out to people whose necks aren't on the line. And the responsibility to do so falls upon the disenfranchised themselves, who are increasingly saddled with economic and health burdens that might just kill us someday.

I get the potshots at Americans, but frankly I don't plan on taking the blame if this goes tits up - many of us did a hell of a lot more than vote to resist fascism. And I'll fight the notion that citizens at large are the problem. It's a cynical outlook that serves to individualize the responsibility for a systematic disaster. Our country was built to make this possible after all. And I sure as hell know I don't plan on giving up if Trump clinches the presidency. Kind of morbidly curious about how much of an incompetent clusterfuck Project 2025's implementation would be.

Victory or no, fascists are paper tigers and I plan on sticking around to remind them of that fact however I can.

The way I see it is that tradition is working pretty damn well on the whole. People are producing kids just fine, taking care of them as they grow and become adults is the hard part. That lineage you point to is the only reason I'm alive today, yes, but there are a lot of other "only reasons" I'm alive today that happened after I was born, and many of them were very much not from my biological parents.

Personally there was a lot of generational trauma in my upbringing and I don't wanna pass that on. These days I've taken that parental drive and repurposed it toward the adults in my community whose parents have decided to abandon them, usually due to being queer. It's different than having a parental relationship to a kid, but I'm finding a community guardian role is filling the same emotional need. The people I care for won't carry my name, but I didn't even carry my own name lol.

I used to struggle with the fact that nothing I do will likely outlive me, but now I feel it's just as worthwhile to make the present day better for the people who need it. I'd still love to work with kids, maybe teach or something, but being trans makes many parents less willing to allow their kids to be around me. I might foster someday, it'll be a challenge but I think it's something I'd get a lot more out of.

Ballots aren't where effective political action happens. Demanding better means organizing outside of election years, maintaining strong communities, and showing up to participate in political action that isn't just ticking one of a few allowable boxes. Demanding better sometimes means just doing better, regardless of the state's involvement. That isn't directly applicable to, say, genocide, but it does help build a real base of support that allows people to work outside the system to further that progress between elections.

I'm voting for Harris because I would much rather organize under her administration than Trump's. It's a dead simple choice imo, because demanding better means doing the work every other day than Election Day.

and definitely pay more attention to your local elections, those will more directly impact you and the people around you.

my main beef is that "too fat" is a wildly varying scale from person to person because everyone stores and processes fat differently. and if you're "too fat" that may not in fact be your most relevant health concern. my experience with health providers that focus on BMI during intake is that if you're "overweight" many other health problems will be seen through that lens even if they're unrelated... in my case, lots of dieting advice, being told to exercise more come to find out decades later I had an undiagnosed nervous/muscular condition. now that it's treated somewhat, my weight stays pretty much in "normal" BMI with the same or lower activity. I'm kinda pissed it took this long to get treatment for an underlying condition because the ruler said "too fat."

Can also recommend looking into local HEMA clubs as a step in that direction depending on your goals. Generally they tend to be queer friendly (if not queer themselves) and can help you learn some melee combat basics, which may be more relevant depending on your environment. I learned a lot from axe-and-shield fighting, even though it's not directly applicable in most real world situations. But the silly Viking shit was fun enough to make me really love showing up and practicing, and it helped me get confident using an axe. So now I feel comfortable open carrying a utility axe for self-defense with a lot of plausible deniability. Also taught me how to deal with a riot shield :3