You Wouldn't Be Alone 😡😧

‘WHAT TEACHERS MAKE” A poem by Taylor Mali. Illustrated by Zen Pencils. BUY THE POSTER

Awesome info on what to do if your #puppy is chewing #training

KEN ROBINSON ‘Full-body education’ (Ballet Boy part 1)

Illustrator Lili Chin’s adorable series Dogs of the World illustrates 192 breeds of dogs grouped according to geographical origin.

Weekly political statement.

Democracy relies upon the least educated of a society to understand an arcane process designed to be confusing to even the most educated of a society. It is a process of electing intellectually incestuous individuals of a nobility into a position of power on nothing more than the power of their ability to lie or seem appealing. The system itself generates ideologues who do not understand the system but worship the system as morally superior for the reasons of egalitarianism despite it never actually being egalitarian.

Democracy has always excluded the poor, women and racial minorities and it subjects those individuals to the whims of the majority who are manipulated by the rich white men to feel their very existence is threatened by minorities.

Minorities are not in fact protected by democracy but threatened by it as it by its nature is designed to exploit them for political and social capital.

Don’t be surprised when it so easily slips into fascism, they function on the exact same principles. Fascism is right-wing demagoguery and populism. It offers to solve all your problems for you by exterminating a civilization ending threat that it has established as the cause of all your worldly problems.

Democracy is objectively shit.

Toxicity

Toxicity doesn’t get resolved by telling people to not be toxic, telling people they are evil/wrong or by telling the community they are just a few rotten apples.

None of those attempts to understand that toxic individuals are toxic for a reason.

When a company establishes a fandom around the idea of tribalism and/or nationalism, and tries to use these to establish an identity around that - I am a fan of X - they breed toxicity.

When someone messes with that identity people get hurt, frustrated, angry and sometimes violent because it is perceived as betrayal, intrusion from outsiders and sometimes like an erasure of the person’s identity.

It is hard to imagine the emotional devastation until you feel it yourself. It is more than just disappointment, it is earth shattering, it is cataclysmic, it attacks your very being and thus distorts your view of yourself and the world around you.

And here is the thing, it is not a few people who are overindulgent in a fandom - it is everyone. We all experience it from something. Or rather we all have the ability to experience it and react to it in a way that is over the top and violent. There is always something you would have thoughts of murder for and the issue of harrassment doesn’t come from people who are horrible, wicked people. It comes from the people who cannot stop themselves, people who need to express their anger, frustration, violence, and who have no healthy ways to vent it.

People lacking in social circles, people who have been routinely told their opinions don’t matter, people who have trouble expressing themselves to those they do know.

These aren’t failed people, they are people who know it is wrong but are emotional. These are the majority of what is called “the toxic fanbase”.

You’re not morally superior to them, you are them. The distinction between them and you is that your toxicity manifests itself in socially acceptable ways. You complain to friends, you have your opinions reinforced by others, you vent your emotions on forums or to other fans.

And you need to understand above all that while the people who harrass others are doing the wrong thing, it is not a moral failing but a social failing. If they are surrounded by people with similar dispositions they become trolls and fascists, they become bigger problems because a group of likeminded individuals reinforces an opinion and gives justification for criminality.

You don’t have to talk to them, just understand why it is they become like they are. Understand how to avoid becoming one yourself. Understand that this is what companies want, the harrassment is just a side effect of playing you against one another. It is an unconcious desire to make you into tribes so you consume more products.

Instead of screaming at each other, include them in your conversations. Even if it is painful at first, even if it is excruciating, just having the chance to talk makes everyone less likely to go and threaten eldesth on someone else.

You don’t have to like them, but when you burn bridges you can’t expect them not to blame you when they have trouble crossing the river.