How clearly does the point need to be made that "police officer" is just a fucking job, one with minimal training and minimal monitoring. It is NOT some kind of promise of honesty, truth, or heroism. It is a bunch of assistant managers with extremely powerful weapons. IF you can understand "pedophiles choose to be priests and teachers so they can get to children", IF you understand "arsonists choose to be firefighters so they can be present at their own crimes" - then you can ALSO understand "people who are bigoted, violent, and power-hungry choose to be cops for the opportunities the job presents" and you can ALSO understand "any occupational culture that chooses fraternity over justice - and the allowance of violence in the name of a unified front - is therefore siding with their worst representatives"

by the way. the average time to train to be a police officer? 19 weeks. A little over 4 months. many states only require a high school diploma and no further education. there is often no requirement of any form of previous experience - no interning or observations. it took me 3 years of experience and a master's degree for me to get my job in writing. hell: in my state, it takes at least 6 months with a permit before people are allowed to drive a car.

being a police officer is an entry-level job, and we are handing them weapons. nothing about their occupation automatically makes them smarter, quicker, braver, or in any way elite. there is very little in their onboarding process that would allegedly "weed out" the worst of the applicants - and once they are part of the fraternity, they're not gonna leave.

we have been taught to respect, honor, and worship them by virtue of a job title they barely even had to try for. they sign no contract, swear no vow, and make no promise to the general public. it is a community that is extolled above others and given virtually no oversight. think about the kind of people who would be attracted to that opportunity. the adage: power corrupts. absolute power corrupts absolutely.

circling this back around to say FUCK ICE, and fuck you if you willingly support them just because they're "a federal agent" and therefore "deserve respect".

ICE officers are a fucking privatized militia they do not have authority over united states citizens and none of their so-called "purpose" requires live rounds and weapons. It is entirely made up of fascist racist dickbags with no fucking training. they are lower than scum. they're police-school dropouts with no fucking spine. there is no honor in their position. they accomplish nothing but terrorizing communities they don't even fucking live in.

Any!! occupation or government !! that chooses fraternity over justice - and the allowance of violence in the name of a unified front - is therefore siding with their worst representatives.

As an aroace person I actually never had that feeling of being broken. I thought everyone was the same way and some people were just dramatic 😭

THIS IS SO FUCKING FUNNY THATS EXACTLY HOW I FELT WATCHING ATTACK OF THE CLONES FOR THE FIRST TIME LMAOOOOO 😭😭😭😭

I’m starting to think a lot of people don’t realize their parents are abusive because we have so completely normalized some types of abuse as “unintentional” to the point people just automatically forgive them when they. really shouldn’t

guys. unnecessarily strict rules/punishments are abuse. repeated verbal insults are abuse. and for fuck’s sake, oh my god, NEGLECT IS ABUSE.

THIS INCLUDES EMOTIONAL NEGLECT.

[ID: Tags reading #this includes emotional neglect btw #neglect is so little talked about it drives me crayzay #misc /End ID]

Simon Hannah, Reclaiming the Future: A Beginner's Guide to Planning the Economy

For anyone who actually wants to read the map, here's a better view of it.

One of the things which I think should be most shocking to people who have no experience with Homeless shelters is how often they have policies which *actively make it harder for their residents to find or keep a job*.

What happens if you have a strict curfew but the bus back from your new job only comes once every hour? Better hope you don't leave work even five minutes late, otherwise you ain't getting to sleep indoors tonight! Hope that doesn't impair you at work tomorrow!

Also, better not try to get any swing or night shift work!

This is so obviously stupid and counterproductive that I think those of us who have never had first-hand knowledge of being homeless can't imagine that this kind of stuff is *normal* in American shelters.

Like legitimately they seem designed to keep people homeless.

A lot of things I have read about homeless shelters seem to operate on the principle (spoken or unspoken) that homelessness is not something which can befall Nice & Normal people, and therefore, the unhoused are somehow a separate class of people that need and deserve weird rules and regulations and curfews to keep them in line and even punish them.

The goal of these shelters seems to be not to provide assistance in getting people stable jobs and homes again, because the people that run them do not actually believe homeless people can keep jobs and homes. So they run shelters as a containment system.

That same attitude is why you get places that push for laws that criminalize the unhoused while cutting the resources that would help people get jobs and homes and help people with the issues that make it hard for them to get and keep jobs*. They don't think of the homeless as folks like themselves who are struggling, folks whose lives could change for the better. If homeless shelters are run like Jail Lite, it's because the people in charge would really rather be sending those people to prison.

*(It doesn't all have to end in Getting A Job. I think you deserve a home and food, etc even if you are incapable of meeting capitalism's demands that you must be Productive to be a full person.)

remember that the prison industrial complex is very real and very powerful and includes government run prisons. the cop union and the prison guard union are some of the most politically influential unions., before you even factor in the corporations who build, maintain, and run prisons.

im getting really fucking sick of all this “it gets better!” bullshit. im going to have depression for the rest of my life. it’s not going to “””get better””” fuck you

i have really great news guys, despite it all

to everyone reblogging this and saying that you’re the exception, or this will never apply to you, you are not alone. back when I made that first text post I felt the same way. but something I realized in between the first half and second half of this post is that it starts with you. it starts with wanting to be done with the misery. it is so much easier to give in to whatever mental health issues you’re dealing with, especially in a world that is built against us. however it is so worth it to not give in. it is so worth it to do things that make you feel good even though it can feel impossible to start. it’s so worth it to fail at something because at least it means you tried.

getting yourself out of the hole is hard, and can feel damn near impossible at your lowest. but it isn’t impossible. i am living proof of this. nobody is responsible for your emotions but you, and if you want to be happy, you have to create your happiness. do whatever you can to surround yourself with joy. not hedonism, but actual joy. accomplishments, good relationships, engagement in healthy hobbies and habits. it can be hard, there’s no denying it, i still struggle myself sometimes. the reward is so worth it. feeling like you’re the best version of yourself is so worth it.

to quote the queen kali uchis: i know it’s hard, but did you even really try?

Ask yourself: do you really want to not live at all, or do you not want to live the life you currently feel trapped in? Do you simply see no other realistic option? It is not a choice between eternal suffering and death.

That is not to say that things aren’t bad where you are now- odds are, your distress is valid, and things are horrible to get you to this point. But the odds also are that you DO want to live! And keep holding on, because things will never get the chance to change if you don’t live to see it!

Things are really scary and dangerous right now, but what the powers that be WANT us to do is give up. Find a reason to keep living- even if it is simply out of spite. Find something to look forward to, no matter how small: a game or movie coming out, petting more cats/dogs/other animals, anything that helps you keep going.

You’re going through hell right now- but why would you stop in hell? Keep going.

You’re going through hell

right now- but why would you stop

in hell? Keep going.

Beep boop! I look for accidental haiku posts. Sometimes I mess up.

actually. has anyone talked about the southern baptist convention on here yet...

so the southern baptist convention essentially runs large chunks of the christian south of the us. it's one of the largest denominations of christianity in the u.s. and it's an evangelical denomination.

they were a key factor in roe v wade being overturned.

they are now going after same sex marriage federally. there are many states that have protections and in state law for same sex marriage but a large chunk of the south is at major risk if they succeed. they are also targeting pornography and ivf from what it seems, but i can't easily find m ore information on this beyond typical evangelical stuff.

i do not have easy access to articles so if anyone would like to add anything i've missed, please do. i don't want to fearmonger but i do want this to be known.

being on tumblr for a long time but never reading homestuck like

Made this just for y’all, figured it’d be fitting for the end of pride month!! 🏳️‍🌈❤️

I love this woman with all my heart I redownloaded tumblr for my soulmate

People on insta asked me to draw myself 👌

Hand in Stone

My therapist (who knows my gender and is not an asshole!) Recently recommended me a JK Rowling book, and was VERY surprised when I said that I wasn't comfortable giving money to someone who wanted me gone.

We had a conversation where I explained that Rowling was very vocal against the trans community and used a lot of her wealth to bail out transphobes and fund anti-trans agendas, and they just said, "I hadn't heard about that- I just thought she was passionate about the female experience."

That's what they do, though. They say things that sound fine and normal and maybe even good on the surface to an uneducated third party and it kinda holds up until you start asking questions.

"Protect women and children!" Is a rly that any decent person can get behind. What nobody seems to do on their own is ask, "protect women and children from who?" And, "from what?", and, "Is that fear realistic?" And, "has that actually happened to any degree worth considering as a systemic issue?"

might get shot and killed for this but allo people only being able to categorize platonic relationships as "parental" or "siblings" is actually so embarrassing. have you never had friends before

sometimes the pipeline of little girl to trans gay guy isnt as deep as parents make it out to be. “oh but you wore a fairy dress all the time back then!” yeah and im a fairy now what of it

To some people you’re an NPC

To other people, you’re the special, unlockable character that they worked and worked to finally get- and when they do they’re so happy because they got the game just so they could find you.

The fact y'all are still passing around this post, eight years after I made it. Exquisite. I hope it’s still resonating with people outside of mid-2010’s tumblr.