Okay, friends, let’s talk about going to protests and weaponizing our whiteness, if in fact we are white.
You know what the protesters who marched with Dr. King wore? Their best. Their clergy stoles, their suits. If you’re a doctor or a nurse? Wear your scrubs. If you’re a parent? Wear your PTA shirt if it’s too hot for a suit. If you’re a student? Dress like you’re going to go volunteer somewhere nice, or wear a t-shirt that proclaims you a member of your high school band, your drama group, your church youth group. Whatever it is, make sure it’s right there with your white face.
This is literally the tactic of the people who marched with King in the 60s, and we need to bring it back, and bring it back HARD.
I do this all the time when I go to marches. I wear my cutest, least-offensive geeky t-shirt, crocs and black pants, or I wear my t-shirt that mentions my kid’s school district, or now I’ll wear the pink t-shirt that says I’m part of the Sisterhood at my shul. If it’s cold enough, I wear a cardigan and jeans and sit my ass in my wheelchair. (I need to anyway.) I put signs on my wheelchair that say things like ‘I love my trans daughter’ and ‘love for all trans children’ or something else that applies to the event. Dress like you are going to an interview if you can, or make yourself look like a parent going to pick up a gallon of milk at the corner store. Make yourself “respectable.” Use respectability politics and whiteness AS A WEAPON.
Fuck yes I will weaponize the fact that I look like a white soccer mom. And you should do this too if you can. Weaponize the fuck out of your whiteness. If you are disabled and comfortable with doing so, turn ableism on its head and weaponize it. Make it so that the cameras that WILL be pointed at you see your whiteness, see your status as a parent, see your status as a community member. See you in your wheelchair or with your cane. If you have privilege or a status that allows you to use it as a weapon or a shield, use it as a shield to defend others or a weapon to break through the bullshit.
This has a fair number of notes, so maybe it’s already been mentioned but …
The “Sunday Best” thing from the Civil Rights Movement of the 50s & 60s, or wearing markers of an assigned profession (e.g. scrubs) is an established tactic of social movements. They’re part of what Charles Tilly (one of the academic god father’s of social movement theory) called “WUNC” displays. WUNC can be broken down to:
worthiness: sober demeanor (!!!); neat clothing (!!!); presence of clergy, dignitaries, and mothers with children;
unity: matching badges, headbands, banners, or costumes (!!!); arching in ranks; singing and chanting;
numbers: headcounts, signatures on petitions, messages from constituents, filling streets;
commitment: braving bad weather; visible participation by the old and handicapped (!!!); resistance to repression; ostentatious sacrifice (!!!), subscription, and/or benefaction. (Tilly, 2004, pg. 4 – tumblr-style emphasis my own)
While I’m very much in support of anti-fascist protesting in whatever form it takes, especially when engaged in a counter-protest, one of the great tragedies of the American political climate right now is that we’ve really forgotten some of the biggest lessons of the Civil Rights Era. King didn’t trot out fresh-faced students, church women in big fancy hats, or the elderly and disabled without knowing what he was doing. He (and the other members of his affiliated organizations) knew that if the police were photographed using violent repression against a mother holding her child, or a student in slacks, a cardigan, and Buddy Holly glasses, it would go over very differently than if they were photographed beating up “unruly thugs”. Their presence alone would be notable to people locally, especially in the heat of the south. But so would photographs of repressive violence against “nice people” that would then get picked up by the national media, and maybe in markets that were more sensitive to racial oppression.
[And like, there are other factors as well. People also sometimes think the Civil Rights Era erupted spontaneously from Jim Crowe and segregation in the South, and those are giant factors (”depravation” and “grievance”, in jargon), but there were also legislative things and court rulings brewing since the 1920s (the NAACP had been trying Civil Rights cases, and looking for test cases over the years), and the Cold War meant that America needed to appear to be the perfect image of opportunity and equality (together these things manifest as an “opportunity structure”. again, jargon). Not to get to down on protest as its own thing, but the structuralists do have a bit of a point.]
… There are other types of anti-fascist counter-protesting that have developed in various ways through the years. And like, a big thing in social movement theory overall is that while there are common tactics (”protest repertoires” in jargon), historical contexts matter a lot and some groups will have to do more dramatic performances of the WUNC to get attention. There’s also the move revolutionary antifa-type riot mentality. I’m not gonna call that one wrong either, mind, but since the Civil Rights Movement was brought up, it should be noted that those two forms of protest differed intentionally.
Anyway, as someone turning in a dissertation on this in a couple of days, here’s some drive-by political-sociology. If you want to learn more about the research behind processes of social movements, where they succeeded, and where they failed, I totally recommend checking out:
Charles Tilly (2004) Social Movements 1768-2008,
Sidney Tarrow (2011) Strangers at the Gates: Movements and States in Contentious Politics,
Sidney Tarrow (1998) Power in Movement: Social Movements and Contentious Politics,
Frances Fox Piven & Richard A. Cloward (1988) Poor People’s Movements: Why They Succeed and How They Fail, (this is on the Civil Rights Era protests and the somewhat fraught legislative follow-up exactly)
McAdam, Tarrow and Tilly (2001) The Dynamics of Contention
(McAdam has a quite well-regarded book on the Civil Rights Era specifically. I haven’t read it personally as it relates less to my regional context. However like, that’s worth noting and looking into. Also all of these are stodgey academic texts, but they’re not uncommon in university libraries, or even in some bookstores. They’re also all a bit old now and shouldn’t cost you a ton online.)
As a note – My point here isn’t to descend from the Ivory Tower of Academia and say “you people on the streets are doing this wrong!!1!”. Theory doesn’t always match up with Practice, and as noted by pretty much every notable theorist anyway… Context matters a TON. Not all movements will be able to use the same practices or performances. Sometimes their inaccessible, sometimes they just don’t have the cross-context appeal. It’s about experimentation and finding opportunity. To be clear, this isn’t about me telling folks how it should be done. Still, I think it’s worth sharing information when it’s available, especially if people who might not know are trying to draw specific links to historical cases. Social movement theorists have pretty much all agreed that WUNC displays (along with other factors like media diffusion) are super duper important and can be recognized in movements across historical contexts. I think it’s worth it for younger activists who might be looking for protest repertoires that work for their movement as it’s developing to take heed of the successes and failures of the past. Especially since a lot of it is either a) so much a part of history and culture that it doesn’t really get examined for its constituent bits, or b) has been mythologized to the point that it’s hard to look for really good popular historical information on its technical processes.
(If people have questions, feel free to DM me. I might be a little slow the next couple of days as I finish up proof-reading and checking all my citations but yeah. Let’s share knowledge and smash the fash.)
The Nazis of 2017 gained the ground they have with articles about how they were “dapper.” That was a political choice, and it worked. It snowed a lot of gullible goyim. People refused for almost a year to call “the alt-right” Nazis because they looked “like average white people.”
Nazis see their whiteness as a weapon already. Get yours out there and show them – they will never sway everyone. “If you have privilege or a status that allows you to use it as a weapon or a shield, use it as a shield to defend others or a weapon to break through the bullshit.”
Not someone who typically adds to an already long post, but I have done the whole dressing dapper af thing and it WORKS. A few years ago there was this big city council vote about an anti-discrimination ordinance that was going to be passed in my relatively progressive, but still very southern hometown. There were huge protests on both sides, both for and against the ordinance, with each side wearing a specific color (red was for, purple against) to show which side they supported. Most of the people against the ordinance were bussed in by hyper conservative churches and many didn’t even live in the town. It was a lot of old people and many of them wore nice clothing. I knew this would probably be the case, so I, being a southern girl at heart and knowing how these people work, broke out my crinoline and nicest red dress and perfect white gloves. I curled my hair and put on makeup and I showed my ass up to the protest. Made a point to be the picture of a perfect southern belle. And it threw the bigoted assholes for a serious loop. It was like they were short circuiting or something. They kept telling me how I reminded them of someone from their church or how pretty I looked and “how would a nice girl like you like a big cross dressing man in the ladies room???” which of course allowed me to explain, ever so nicely, that they were being bigoted assholes. And they Did Not Like that, because I was forcing them to look in the mirror, at someone who looks like them/someone they claim to be “protecting” and question their motives and beliefs. Seriously guys, it fucking works. Weaponize the fact that you look like the oppressor and throw it in their faces.
Bless this last comment.
say it again:
Weaponize the fact that you look like the oppressor and throw it in their faces.
OKAY IS THERE A SINGLE PERSON ON THIS WHOLE GODDAMN SITE THAT DOESN’T HATE LUCIFER BECAUSE I JUST KEEP SEEING THE BANDWAGON OF ANTI-SATAN HATE PASSING BY AND I DON’T UNDERSTAND
*bursts through a window carrying a large poster that declares my love for satan* I HAVE ARRIVED!
*summer saults very poorly through the door with my fake horns on and Lucifer on my shirt* I HEARD YOUR PRAYERS
*karate kicks my way through the crowd of haters* DID SOMEONE CALL??
*stands on top of a chair waving a banner while wearing devil horns and devil tail earrings* HAIL TO THE KING BABY
*poorly attempts to moonwalk*
*winks*
Hey you.
*crawls out from under the floorboards* ALL HAIL SATAN
Hey there!
{{these hate-mongering Stepford wives had better leave my babies be 😈}}
*aggressively flies here*
@ the Lucifer haters.
LEAVE LUCI ALONE!
OR WE WILL SKIN YOU ALIVE IN THE NAME OF OUR LORD AND SINNER!
God, I was so preoccupied with calling out my friend that I completely forgot to copy-and-paste an entire conversation we had last night about the fact that Lucifer was vilified purely because of destiny. Silly me.
In S5 Luce pleaded with Michael to end the fight before it even started. Michael instigated it, he insisted that they “complete the prophecy” or whatever. Lucifer is just as chained to his destiny as Sam and Dean were. Michael is the only one who wanted the Apocalypse out of those involved, Lucifer simply wanted to be in a vessel that wouldn’t fall apart. It’s not his fault that happened to be Sam.But then the S13 writers pretty much fucked up his entire character, so I mean *shrug*
But wait, there’s more.
Lucifer was villainized in Season 5 because of destiny, just as Sam was. He was villainized in Season 7 because it was Sam’s memories (and for all we know, Michael pretended to be Lucifer in the Cage to ensure that he maintained his position as the “hero). He was villainized in S11 because he was trying to bust out of the Cage, where he was held for centuries and no doubt being tortured by Michael, just as Sam was. Plus, Daddy Issues and Amara torturing him. Centuries of torture will make anyone angry and bitter in general (case in point, Dean when he got out of Hell in S4. He was very murderous/angry/enjoyed killing a bit too much for his own good). He was villainized in S12 because HEY IMPRISONED AGAIN (geez, theme much). His entire focus the whole season, while putting up with Crowley and the demons, was finding out where his son was and how he was doing. S13 started out on the same route with Jack being his entire focus, but then they utterly screwed that over in the finale with everything.
bUT WAIT
THERE’S EVEN MORE
Sam and Lucifer were both treated like shit by their fathers for having differing opinions, they both got kicked out because of one choice, and they were both frequently villainized due to their roles in “destiny”.
The only reason Sam wasn’t vilified by the entire fandom like Luce was was because Luce was pre-labeled as Lucifer, Satan, etc.
If Lucifer had any other name, one without the Judeo-Christian baggage that follows him everywhere, I 100% believe that he would’ve been pitied and loved instead of hated and thrown to the wolves.
PLEASE IF YOU KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT WHERE MY HUSBAND IS SHARE IT WITH ME OR THE MASON OHIO PD
PLEASE SHARE THIS POST TO HELP FIND MY HUSBAND
Dillon Alexander Williams went to Kings Island with me and my mother Melanie Dean but is now nowhere to be found. Last time I saw him was at the Build a Bear in Kings Island and he seemed completely fine. After hours of security searching they discovered my husband was no longer in the park and hadn’t been since 11 am. He was seen on camera walking out of the park, through the Soak City parking lot and out towards the Sunoco on the other side of the street.
He was last seen wearing black jeans, pink converse, a red and black Deadpool letterman jacket and a Marie the cat beanie like in the pictures I’ve provided.
I’ve been asking around and no one has seen him. This is legitimately the most terrifying thing I’ve ever experienced in my life, please, if you have ANY info call the Mason PD or send me a PM on here. I just want my husband home.
I called the Mason PD myself and asked if there was a missing persons report on Dillon Williams and /yes/ there is an actual report and search going on for this guy. So it’s not made up that he’s missing.
HEY GUYS I DID MORE DIGGING ON THIS AND GOT IN TOUCH WITH DILLON’S MOTHER
He’s not missing, its a false police report. He’s trying to get away from his wife.
Obviously I asked permission to post these screenshots of the conversation I had with his mother. He is not missing. OP is trying to use Tumblr and Facebook and stranger’s lack of knowledge of the family and situation to find him and control and further abuse him.
Yo this is fucked up! I posted the original post last night I think so here’s an update for yall
Everyone seems to interpret the alignment system differently, so I figured I might as well share my current views on the subject.
Lawful Good: Truth, justice, and/or a code of ethics is the best way to do good for people. Evildoers must answer for their crimes.
Neutral Good: I don’t have any particular method of doing so, but I do good in whatever way I can.
Chaotic Good: I will fight for personal rights and freedoms for all people. By any means necessary, I will rebel against those who would subjugate the people, and crush any evils.
Lawful neutral: There are some basic rules and/or laws which should never be broken, but aside from that you may do as you want. However, order must be maintained.
True Neutral: I care about myself and my loved ones. If I’m fighting, it’s either for them or my own gain.
Chaotic Neutral: My own freedom is the most important thing. Nobody can tell me what to do.
Lawful Evil: Order must be maintained by any means necessary. Those who would oppose the authority who maintains order must be crushed. There are still rules we must follow, but none of them come from an ethical basis.
Neutral Evil: I do evil when I get the chance, but I’m not going out of my way for it.
Chaotic Evil: I live solely for evil acts. Whatever my particular brand of evil is, nothing can stop me from spreading it.
Hi everyone, my friend Ben (@sunflower-louis) is in a shitty situation right now.
Ben has struggled with money related shit for a while now, but he’s not one to ask others for resources or to complain about his situation, he tries his best to make money on his own and solve whatever problem he faces. In fact, he’s always been very generous to me and other people.
Now, since he didn’t give many details on donation his fund’s description, here’s a conversation I had with him just a little while back:
And here’s two pictures of him on the day of graduation from High School. (Both were posted on June 12th of this year, he’s just recently started attending college)
So, if you can, please donate to Ben’s GoFundMe or share this post around. Ben’s is one of the nicest people I’ve ever met and I really hate to see a friend struggle.
!!!ADDITIONALLY!!!
I can’t donate to Benjamin myself. I’m 16 and have no credit card of my own, and, albeit I come from a wealthy background, my parents do not let me donate their money to funding campaigns because they’re scared they might be scams.
So, if you’re somewhat distrustful of donations or just don’t like donating money, I’m offering to do Art Commissions in exchange of money that you can deposit directly on Ben’s GoFundMe (so, instead of sending me payment via Paypal or whatever, you send that money to Ben’s campaign)
Work that costs 5 dollars (small drawings and icons (both pixel and non-pixel), minimal colouring):
Work that costs anywhere between 7 dollars and 10 dollars (sketches, minimal to no colouring, I accept doing up to 4 characters on one just sketch, if background is requested it will not be detailed):
Work that costs 15 dollars (full colour and lineart shots of characters, will only do until waist, only simple backgrounds or no background at all):
Work that costs anywhere between 17 and 20 dollars (full body shots, full colour,
only simple backgrounds or no background at all
):
I can use different artstyles if requested to. DM me for examples.
DM me for any questions relating to commissions and to request commissions.
DM Benjamin ( @sunflower-louis ) for questions relating to his situation or his funding campaign.
My brother has an infected tooth, I was able to get him 800 dollars of my own money and now I’m broke as shit, but he still needs $300 to get his tooth fixed, he’s in a lot of pain and I just don’t have the money to help him
for those of you who don’t know you absolutely can die from an infected tooth and I’m pretty fucking worried because he hasn’t been able to do anything lately and the ER wont do anything about it because it’s dental and the dentists wont do shit because the insurance wont cover it.
There’s a reason why those regulations were in place, to protect consumers from shit like this. To no surprise, this administration’s policies are not for the protection of it’s people-they serve the interests of the large corporations-not for the people, not for America.
It should also be noted that these companies could still follow the now-repealed safety regulations. They’re showing their colors as bastards by immediately jumping on all this deregulation to save a few bucks at the cost of consumers’ health and well-being. Any of the people running these companies could take the easiest moral stance and literally save lives, and they adamantly refuse to do so because they are literal monsters who value capital over lives
Anxiety-prone-human 