Hatesquash - GenX-Rage

Ooooh apparently it starts tonight so here's some important advice for people watching Eurovision this week!!

1.) Don't.

Ive said it before but I feel I must say it again; Fascism, as defined by Benito Mussolini, is the union of state and corporate power.

Fascism thrives within liberal and neoliberal democracies.

Fascists aren't just those guys you don't like. Fascists aren't just people executing minorities in the streets. Fascists aren't just people building camps. Fascists aren't just white men with tiki torches.

Keeping Trump out of power doesn't keep fascism out of power.

Joe Biden is ideologically a fascist. So is Kamala Harris. So is Hillary Clinton. So is every politician that listens to corporate lobbies.

Every politician that engages in insider trading is a fascist by definition.

Beat that Vote Blue No Matter Who Drum all you like, but I need you to acknowledge that you're putting a fascist in power.

In fact, understand that you are putting effective fascists in power. Understand that your quiescence is what makes fascism function.

Blue Fascism is worse than Red Fascism because it puts the trembling useless creature that is the 'liberal leftist' to sleep. Which means that instead of caring about the world around them they can slumber beneath the earth until they pupate like cicadas in 4 years and beat that fucking drum again.

Red hot actionable news: the website StopKOSA.com will send a letter from you about this godawful bill to your legislators. Zero effort. You literally just give them your e and mailing address.

You can see the text they’re going to use, and it’s editable, so you have the option (and it’s much easier than writing from scratch) to add a few words up front or tinker and paraphrase if you like, but you very much don’t have to. They will also offer you your legislators’ phone numbers — WITH handy talking points notes — for optional follow-up after the letter is taken care of.

(Hat tip to Julia Serano for alerting me to it. She has more to say about the potential of this bill to effectively eradicate LGBTQ+ content from the internet. If you thought FOSTA/SESTA was bad…)

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KOSA is a censorship bill that won’t make kids safe. Instead, it'll put all internet users at risk, especially LGBTQ+ youth. If you believe in a free and open internet, tell your lawmakers to reject #KOSA! https://stopkosa.com/

Fight for the Future

Stop KOSA

KOSA is a censorship bill that won’t make kids safe. Instead, it'll put all internet users at risk, especially youth. If you believe in a fr

To reiterate: Christopher Paolini, author of Eragon and other such books, blocked me on Twitter for calling him out about his AI-generated cover.

Tor has admitted he approved this cover and they have been consulting him every step of the way. He is complicit.

It’s honestly so fucking frustrating that this is going to go forward. That the cover to Fractal Noise is gonna be published with AI art that has ripped off other artists. And neither the author nor the publisher give one flying fuck about it.

I don’t think a lot of people really understand what this means. Book cover art is already nearly universally shitty. You go look at fantasy art covers, and they’re all photomanipulations, generally a single girl on the cover doing magic or looking into the distance. There’s no variety. But at least people get paid for them.

With AI art, artists don’t get paid. You know who does? The people who made the dataset. The people who sold the “cover.” Even though it took less than 20 minutes to make.

If this isn’t infuriating you, I don’t know what the hell else to say. Machine learning is coming for everyone’s jobs, and corporate wallets don’t care if it’s safe or not. Certain areas are already experimenting with AI Amazon deliveries, and it’s been hinted that long-haul trucking is next.

This is unacceptable. PLEASE. I’m not going to guilt you into sharing this, but it is CRITICAL that we take a stand now and STOP THIS FROM HAPPENING. If you follow me, I am asking you as a friend to share this, and to find it in your heart to put pressure on people who publish AI art without paying artists.

Tor could change the cover. They’re not, because they’re using Fractal Noise as a test run to see if they can get away with it. Don’t let them. I don’t care how much you like Paolini’s work (although I think Eragon was a boring slog, so I had no qualms about calling him out), you HAVE to do your best to make this stop.

so matt's absolutely giving scorched earth orders behind the scenes right. Not only are publically visible transfems dropping like flies, but every third person who musters up the audacity to comment negatively on Staff or Matt about this vanishes fucking instantly

Middle East Eye

South Africa to prosecute citizens who served in the Israeli army

'When you come home, we're going to arrest you', South Africa’s foreign minister tells Israeli soldiers

South Africa’s Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Naledi Pandor said that nationals who have served in the Israeli army will be prosecuted upon re-entering the country, as Israel continues its devastating war on the Gaza Strip for the sixth month. "I've already issued a statement alerting those who are South African and who are fighting alongside or in the Israeli Defense Force. We are ready. When you come home, we're going to arrest you," Pandor said during an African National Congress meeting earlier this week.

INTRO TO LEFTIST THEORY

So I wrote a recommended reading list awhile back, but have increasingly become aware it can be daunting. As such, I wanted to present a simplified sort of guide to leftist theory. So here’s a sequence of texts to help you get to grips with it all, rather than just a mass of recommendations. So let’s get started!

The Communist Manifesto. Just read it, comrade. It’s like fifty pages long, and intentionally simplified, so as to be accessible. Start here.

What next? You wanna expand your familiarity with Marx & Engels? How about Socialism: Utopian And Scientific? Written by Engels as a truncated, simplified form of Marx’ magnum opus Capital (which you should also read, eventually, but is a bit much to start). Want more? Check out Wage Labour And Capital, another of Marx & Engels’ shorter works which is a good, simple introduction to understanding our plight in both human and economic terms. Want something similar but not limited to the perspective of just a couple (visionary) gentlemen? The Conquest Of Bread is also short-ish and an easy intro, but this time from a less orthodox angle (anarchism!?); simultaneously a plea for tenderness and a call to arms.

So now, you’re comfortable with Marx et al, but you want something a bit more pracitically engaged with revolutionary movements? Try Quotations From Chairman Mao. There’s a reason the Black Panthers prescribed members read this little red book; rather than a single long text, the short, punchy form gives a lot of good ideas to the budding revolutionary. Want something a bit more in-depth? State And Revolution is surprisingly applicable to our present predicament; this is how we agitate, educate, and organise, regardless of how we identify. Speaking of which, want something that won’t scare people with the mere mention of Lenin or Mao? Consider Reform Or Revolution? The question is rhetorical, so why not get familiar with the rhetoric.

Okay, but maybe your interest in leftism is via a specific experience of marginalisation. These old school classics are all well and good, but what about something that really speaks to you?

Are you trans, or have you got a particular interest in gender and its politics? Read Transgender Liberation: A Movement Whose Time Has Come, which lays the groundwork, and is still pertinent today. Want something a bit more in-depth and academic? Gender Trouble: Feminism And The Subversion Of Identity can equip you to rhetorically destroy TERF nonsense like nothing else, among other things!

Right, and what about the intersections of gender and other forms of marginalisation? Feminism For The 99 may be a good starting point! Maybe something a bit more introspective, that tackles race and identity? Sister Outsider: Essays And Speeches is a digestible and inspiring collection which you can read in short bursts or all at once.

But some of this seems a bit Amero-centric, huh. If you wanna grapple with racialised imperialism more broadly, maybe delve into Discourse On Colonialism. Oh, but that seems to ignore the significance of sex and gender? Well luckily we can ask Can The Subaltern Speak? which may draw a lot of these threads together.

Yeah, but some of this postcolonial stuff seems a bit tangled up with history and international relations, so maybe a more in-depth understanding can be gleaned from Orientalism. Looking for more contemporary, less academic? Well we should all know by now Decolonization Is Not A Metaphor.

And what about the environment; isn’t capitalism largely a threat because of it’s refusal to address climate change? Yes, have a look at An Ecosocialist Manifesto.

Or do you find yourself asking Are Prisons Obsolete? Well let me tell you, you’re not alone!

The point is that this stuff is easier than you may think, and readily accessible. And yes, we’re in this together, and we’ve all got to co-educate, but it starts with you.

Why anyone, anywhere believes without question cop spokespeople/statements is fucking bullshit.

I am on my knees begging, begging people to remember disabled people in the LGBTQ+ community this month. Please don't leave us to die.

COVID never ended and it made many people immunocompromised. Wear a mask at Pride events (and other places too). Yes, even if it makes you uncomfy or doesn't match your outfit.

Some anti-trans laws are specifically targeting mentally disabled people, arguing that we're not capable of making decisions about our own bodies and thus should not be allowed to medically transition. Include us in discussions about trans legislation.

Disabled people already face high discrimination in work and housing, and it's worse for those who are LGBTQ+. Stand up for your disabled and LGBTQ+ peers.

Some disabled people with caretakers can't come out because the people they depend on aren't safe. Support closeted LGBTQ+ people.

The insurance companies that always find a reason not to cover gender-affirming surgery are the same ones that always find a reason not to cover medication or therapy or mobility aids. Have some solidarity with disabled people who have to fight against the same greedy pigs you do.

Make sure Pride events are accessable to mobility aid users, people with service animals or caretakers, people with sensory issues, etc. Or at the very least, be honest if they're not, so people don't waste their time going there only to discover they can't participate.

It breaks my heart seeing so-called leftists throwing their disabled siblings to the wolves. You like to say that you'd punch a Nazi, throw bricks at police cars, fight tooth and nail for the rights of LGBTQ+ people... But the moment it concerns disabled LGBTQ+ people, you drop your support like a rock. Your hypocrisy is disgusting, and it's going to kill many people in the LGBTQ+ community this Pride month unless you take a moment to realize that, whether you like it or not, some of us are disabled and we don't deserve to die for that.