Leave me a place underground, a labyrinth,
where I can go, when I wish to turn,
without eyes, without touch,
in the void, to dumb stone,
or the finger of shadow.

I know that you cannot, no one, no thing
can deliver up that place, or that path,
but what can I do with my pitiful passions,
if they are no use, on the surface
of everyday life,
if I cannot look to survive,
except by dying, going beyond, entering
into the state, metallic and slumbering,
of primeval flame?

- Pablo Neruda

current mood: sad

t's not about who you are, it's about what you did. Good, kind, well-intentioned people can do racist and sexist and ablist and ... things. Saying "X isn't a racist" tries to derail the conversation from behavior to character. You can win the character argument -- you have friends, you have people you've treated well, you have character witnesses. You can't win the argument about what you just did.

jonquil

feral_journey

yuki_onna

adoptingcat

Because aversive racists consciously endorse egalitarian values and deny negative feelings about blacks, they will not discriminate directly and openly in ways that can be attributed to racism. However, because of their negative feelings they will, in fact, discriminate, often unintentionally, when their behavior can be justified on the basis of some factor other than race. Aversive racists may therefore regularly engage in discrimination while they maintain a nonprejudiced self-image. The term “aversive” in this form of racism thus refers to two aspects of this bias. It reflects the nature of the emotions associated with blacks, such as anxiety, that lead to avoidance and social awkwardness rather than to open antagonism. It also represents that, because of their conscious adherence to egalitarian principles, these whites would find any thought that they might be prejudiced to be aversive.

bcholmes

ozarque

housepet

A Double Edged Flat Screen
Electronics Store | Texas, USA

Customer: “You have to help me, I don’t know what to do!”

Me: “Calm down, ma’am. How can I help you?”

Customer: “My husband and I bought a big screen TV last week from this store.”

Me: “What’s the problem with it?”

Customer: “I want it out of my house! Is there anything you can do?”

Me: “Is it not functioning properly?”

Customer: “No. It works perfectly, that’s the problem. Every night, our house turns into a sports bar, all his friends come over to watch TV until 3 am and I can’t get any sleep! They eat all the food I cook, they broke my grandmother’s crystal vase and they spilled beer all over the rugs! I want my house back!”

Me: “Well, you know ma’am, you could always turn the tables.”

Customer: “What?”

Me: “You have girlfriends, right?”

(The woman’s face displays a grin of diabolical proportions.)

Customer: “You have DVDs here, right?”

Me: “Just over there…”

Customer: “Thank you very much for your help!”

(I took my break just after that and saw the woman carrying in her arms at least a dozen DVDs. Among them: the Sex and the City movie, Terms of Endearment, Sweet November, Steel Magnolias, Legally Blonde, Divine Secrets of the Yaya Sisterhood and even Gone with the Wind. Her husbands’ beer buddies never stood a chance.)

askesis

Being gay is not supposed to be a crime in Russia. Homosexuality was decriminalized in 1993; six years later, the law that sent gays and lesbians to psychiatric wards was annulled. But Russia would still rather have its homosexual citizenry invisible — and silent. Nikolai Alexeyev knows that very well. He's just been released from jail for trying to organize a gay-rights demonstration in Moscow.

President Obama has recently appointed Dalia Mogahed to the Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. Senior analyst and executive director of the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies, Mogahed has worked to dispel stereotypes and misconceptions about Muslims and Islam. She recently co-authored the book Who Speaks for Islam? What a Billion Muslims Really Think with Islamic Studies professor John L. Esposito.

joedecker

ysabetwordsmith

If you want ideas on how YOU can make the world a better place, I recommend both Bloggers Unite and Change.org as good starting places.

I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by
pop culture, pampered hysterical paranoid,
calling 911 for getting the wrong burger, being stuck
in traffic, or being unable to get McNuggets,

hitchhiker

Q. How many copyeditors does it take to change a lightbulb?
A. The last time this question was asked, it involved art directors. Is the difference intentional? Should one or the other instance be changed? It seems inconsistent.

Q. How many publishers does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
A. Three. One to screw it in, two to hold down the author.

He did love me—no one will ever love me so again.--Jane Eyre

If you identify as a POC/nonwhite person and you read or watch scifi or fantasy, give yourself a name check in this thread. I am particularly wanting shoutouts from people who do not live in the US and who have still managed to read genre fiction.

fightingwords