This administration is going to give us plenty of irrelevant stories like the one from Hamilton last night. But we need to make sure we don’t get distracted from the stuff that really matters.
Like the fact that Ivanka, who is supposedly going to be controlling her father’s company in a “blind trust”, and her husband attended a meeting between her father and the Japanese prime minister. (x)
Or that Trump settled the Trump University fraud case for $25 million. (x)
Or that foreign diplomats are attending events at Trump’s newly opened D.C. hotel. (x)
Speaker Paul Ryan’s office is conducting a brief yes/no phone survey– the only question is “do you support President Obama’s Health Care Bill?”
You will have to listen to a somewhat biased history of the bill, but at the end, you can press a button (and NOT TALK TO A PERSON– perfect for people like me with phone anxiety) and register your opinion about ACA. There is also an option to leave a message but as of tonight the mailbox was full.
(202) 225-3031 is the number! Good luck! This is a super small-effort thing that you can do without feeling self-conscious.
I can find literally nothing about this survey news-wise, aside from a pretty random reference to it on reddit, but sure enough when I called the number and pressed the number to “share your opinion on health care,” there was a survey question (after, yes, a pretty biased “here’s what we want to do to repeal the EVIL HEALTHCARE LAW” spiel). So whatever Ryan’s doing, I guess he now has my button press vote too.
In the meantime, dudes do this! Please be warned that after you call there’s a weird-ass 30 second silence before the automated message kicks in. Just roll with it.
Ok that was thoroughly bizarre. It gave me the distinct impression that Ryan doesn’t actually want to talk to his constituents. Plus, yeah, the recorded message propaganda is troubling.
TBH I’m not a fan of the actual ACA, I’ve had concerns about its economic structure from the beginning that I think are being borne out. But I am 100% in favor of universal health care, and I 100% do not trust Ryan to offer a plan that will protect the people I care about. So yeah, given 1: support the ACA or 2: support letting the other side get their hands on healthcare? Heck yeah I pressed 1.
Passing this on.
I can’t help but guess they don’t want media coverage–They want a large response from a very specific demographic so they can announce stats of how people want to repeal ACA nearly unanimously.
Now is the time for CONCRETE ACTION, American followers. Not
reblogging, not sharing on facebook, but actual picking up a phone and doing a
thing.
Stephen Bannon, Trump’s chief strategist-elect, I suppose we’d
call him, is a white supremacist and an anti-Semite, anti-Muslim, jackass. This
appointment is dangerous to a lot of people you claim to care very much about.
And call them. Don’t email them, emails get ignored.
A sample script:
Hi, my name is ______________. As a constituent, I need my
Senator/Representative to know I oppose Bannon’s appointment, and I am
horrified such a man is even being considered. I hope that (legislator) does
not stand for open racism as an appropriate attitude in a chief strategist, and
that this doesn’t signal his/her approval of white supremacist ideology. I hope
(legislator) is planning to formally oppose the appointment.
I mean, jazz it up if you want—I know my audience and so
spoke about how Nazi ideology has no place in Montana, how we’re supposed to be
a land of hard work and fair play, not somewhere that supports blaming others
for our individual problems. I talked to my republican rep’s intern about how
this is why so many people have a bad idea about republicans, and it’s so
important to show we’re not like this, that Zinke truly believes in his
Christian ideals that all men are equal (I am not even slightly a republican or
Christian but also I have literally no issue lying about it to this dude). Know
your audience.
Everything I said about being ready still goes, but don’t
sit back and just let this happen, pick up the damn phone. If you want to send
me an ask about why you can’t do this—skip it, I’m not interested. You’re the
only one who has to live with you, you’re not answerable to me.
I finally just did this. You’re turn!
I think I just realized something.
I’ve been on Facebook a lot lately where my ‘irl’ friends are—where my family is, posting a lot of political posts, scanning through for them posted by others.
It’s not that I want to obsess on it, it’s just that nothing else is holding my attention. Nothing is bringing me much joy for long. Which I know is probably a sign that I’m experiencing some level of depression.
I keep telling myself that it means I need to disengage, get off Facebook, do something else, but I just can’t seem to.
So I think I realized part of what’s going on (the other part is that I just don’t have many other hobbies outside of Tumblr/Facebook really)
I’m desperately flailing, looking for rays of light of understanding and a willingness to learn there, where my friends/family are. I’m desperately seeking some hint that people, the people who aren’t on Tumblr who haven’t already spent time getting past social justice 101, are realizing how important it is to go out and educate themselves, to learn, to not pull the victim card or whine about how they just don’t… can’t get it.
And of course it’s a hopeless task. Oh, there are people on there that get it, but they’re the same people who got it before. And it’s so fucking bleak. How do I move past that need? How do I stop this cycle? Ugh. I don’t even know.
I can distract myself for periods of time, don’t get me wrong. Overwatch is a blessing right now. But it doesn’t last.
im honestly so aggravated about that “make mike pence gay” post i cant believe it was on my dash at all. you should all fucking know better. gayness is not a punishment or a gotcha and it is never funny to try to pull “what if this homophobic public figure is actually a self-hating gay” especially when they do real violence to us. i dont want to see that post again. i dont want to see jokes about shitty homophobic men having secret affairs with each other. ive been tolerating the latter but honestly not anymore and if you pull that shit from now on im gonna fucking say something
Honestly, it’s irresponsible to treat Trump supporters in any way that suggests their actions and views are excusable. The ones you know, shame in both public and private. Shun them. Large-scale social enforcement works. Bigots’ going unrebuked is why we’re in this mess.
The deluge of desperate, whining pleas from so many Trump supporters circulating right now to not “bully” them, to extend them respect as though they didn’t just vote to strip it alongside actual, tangible rights away from masses of people, essentially to coddle their consciences and pretend their vote wasn’t a vote for injustice itself—this is evidence that enforcing accountability via social means WORKS, and plenty of these assholes are indeed afraid of it.
An identifying marker like that is not symbolic. An identifying marker like that is to say to people who are regularly in REAL danger “I am safe. I will help you.”
This is not a small thing you are undertaking. If you pin one on yourself, and a guy is harassing me in a bathroom, I am going to turn to you for back up. Please get yourself in a mental place for that possibility, this is not an abstract mark of solidarity. If you can’t do that, that’s ok, but then don’t wear the pin because I’ll suddenly be turning to someone who can’t help me.
If you have never been in physical danger for living your life, understand that a lot of people have been. Get your head around the reality that they are now going to expect you to step up, they’ll be relying on you as a safety net. You are now in danger by association. That is brave and beautiful and I hope what you intend. Don’t mistake this thing for a symbol, it is not. It is a weapon you have drawn against the status quo.
I have a scar on the back of my head from ten stitches and general weather ache in my ribs and lower back because I’m queer and trans and I’ve been beaten for that. If you want to stand in solidarity with me and mine….know what you are getting in to. Be mentally prepared for that.
^^^^^^^^^^
I’m seeing people jumping on board this trend who can’t even tell of their racist friends/family members on Facebook, I do NOT think they are ready to engage in person. I think to them it’s like throwing that French flag filter on their FB picture – it’s just a bit of performative allyship they aren’t even really thinking about. This isn’t about smiling at the pretty hijabi woman on the bus, it’s about being there for her when the 6′2″ white dude starts standing over her shouting at her for being a terrorist. It is real, it’s ugly, and you better know what the fuck you’re getting into.
The president is a figurehead, a spokesperson, and a mascot.
And this is what I think a lot of idiot Bernie or Bust white people didn’t get.
The president’s primary power lies in the president’s ability to define what it means to be American in the eyes of the American people. As a figurehead, as a spokesperson, as a mascot – when an American president expresses an opinion, it becomes An American Opinion™.
There are laws in place to protect marginalized groups. The president doesn’t have the power to nullify existing laws. However, the president has the power to tell people “This law is silly. Let’s ignore it.”
That’s exactly what Trump did in the debates, when he vocalized his support for stop-and-frisk, and doubled down on his support of the policy even after being reminded of the fact that it had been ruled unconstitutional and illegal.
Look at what’s been going on in this country over the past year. The BLM movement wasn’t created because of unjust laws. It was created because racist white people brokejust laws and then faced zero consequences for doing so. Racist white jurors acquitted racist white criminals because they believed that it was okay, and normal, and right to break laws protecting black people, and to violate the rights of black people.
“But both candidates are racist people.”
I don’t need white people to explain to me that both candidates are racist people. I already know that, better than most.
I know that black inmates from private prisons worked as house slaves for Bill and Hillary when they lived together in the governor’s mansion in Arkansas. I know that US incarceration rates skyrocketed during Bill Clinton’s presidency. I know that “No Child Left Behind,” spearheaded by Hillary Clinton, was the foundation for today’s school-to-prison pipeline. I know that private prisons donated millions to Hillary’s campaign this year.
But where Hillary’s campaign portrayed her racist history as a series of embarrassing, shameful mistakes, Donald Trump’s campaign flaunted his racism like a medal of honor.
Here’s what white people need to understand – marginalized people aren’t scared of Trump, the racist person. We are scared of Trump, the racist figurehead, the racist spokesperson, the racist mascot.
We don’t care how Trump feels about us personally. We don’t have to live with him. But we care what Trump says into his megaphone, from his position of power, on national news. Because the views he expresses validate the racist, homophobic, and misogynist views of the people we do have to live with.
I’ll say it again:
When an American president expresses an opinion, it becomes An American Opinion™.
We have to ride the bus with the people who voted Trump for the president. We have to apply for jobs from the people who voted Trump for the president. We have to go to college and work with the people who voted Trump for president. We have to buy our goods and services from the people who voted Trump for president.
Those people now think that it’s okay, that it’s acceptable, that it’s normal to make our daily lives a living hell, because Trump said so, and because just about half the voters in this country agreed with him.
I am not afraid that Donald Trump will try to throw me in a concentration camp.
I am afraid of the 60 million people who I now know would either stand by and let him, or actively help him if he tried.
I don’t care if she took racy pictures. I don’t care if she married Donald Trump for his money or he was a literal sugar daddy. I WOULD NOT EVEN ACTUALLY CARE IF SHE WAS A WORKING PROSTITUTE (which I’m pretty sure she wasn’t and am not accusing her of being).
None of those things are shameful for me, and I will not have you drag other women through the mud for being a sexual person no matter how massive of a misogynist they are married to.
Don’t be that person. Don’t be the one who says slut shaming is bad, except when…
NO!
It either is. Or it isn’t. (it isn’t)
I don’t honestly care if you dislike Melania. I’m not a fan. I think that anyone who speaks positively for Trump and his policies is, whether they mean to or not, contributing to the oppression of POC, LGBT, and other women, no matter who you are. And I support you disliking her for this reason. (Though there’s a whole host of other implications regarding if she’s being abused behind closed doors and putting on this public persona for her safety. This is why I say I ‘dislike’ her and not ‘hate’ her, because I wouldn’t be surprised really if this was the case, and if it is, then my feelings would alter dramatically.)
But not because of what she may or may not have chosen to do with her body between consenting parties.
Thoughtfulfangirling 