growsomethinggood ()

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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: September 30th, 2023

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  • Just so you know, someone isn’t “really nice” if they make jokes like that. Maybe she used to be nice, but she isn’t acting that way now.

    I’m not sure how old you are, but it sounds like you’re both still teenagers or maybe young adults. People are trying to figure themselves out at that time, and sometimes what they try out is edgelord (especially when the edgelords are gaining political power). She may be testing boundaries of what is socially acceptable, in which case it’s in her best interests as well as yours to gently push back against this kind of behavior (or more forcefully later if she doesn’t take a hint).

    Something like, “hey, it makes me uncomfortable when you make those ‘identify as’ jokes. You know I’m nonbinary and that sort of humor makes me feel like you don’t respect me. I fully support your identity, including your faith, and as your friend I hope you would do the same for me.”

    Even if you are 1-on-1 for that chat, she is almost certainly going to respond negatively to that, so I would drop it there, but be prepared to remind her that you don’t like it later. Ideally after some reflection she wakes up and realizes she’s causing harm to your friendship, but be prepared to break it off entirely with her if she doesn’t want to treat you with respect.





  • Well maybe let’s not “and all” the racist parts. You can still be critical of works you otherwise enjoy.

    I think it’s easier to separate the art from the artist when those artists are long dead, like Poe and Lovecraft. It is materially more difficult when those people are alive and still benefitting from their works. This has been a big issue with JK Rowling for example, where consuming her media (book and movie sales, video games, theme parks, the new show, etc.) often directly benefits her and her transphobic crusade. Gaiman doesn’t have that kind of political baggage necessarily but it’s also understandable that people don’t want to support him in any way now. So, like, don’t trash your already purchased novels or anything, but also I think it’s perfectly reasonable to avoid Good Omens Season 3 if you want, you know ?











  • I definitely would consider currying favor with the incoming administration a potential gain, which is why even if this is truly a technical error, so many people would believe otherwise considering the messaging from Meta these past few weeks. Regardless of intentions, Meta has failed in their user experience at a time when many people are evaluating if these platforms are worth the trouble- purely as a tech business that seems like quite the misstep. Of course, the truth is that it doesn’t matter, we already know Meta is bowing to right wing pressure and actively choosing to allow harm to LGBTQ+, women, and other minorities on their platforms, and they shouldn’t get plausible deniability for their mistakes.




  • I think more folks need to understand that “hey I didn’t like that joke” or “hey I know you didn’t mean it that way but that hurt me” as inherently being shamed by someone, or even shameful at all. People are messy! We’re going to step on each other’s toes even when we’re doing our best. I think OP did an absolutely perfect job of saying, oh, you’re correct, that wasn’t my intention, let me make sure that’s clear to everyone right away. And then no one has to make any fuss about it from there. At the end of the day, your feelings about being gently corrected are yours to deal with, not the responsibility of the person or people correcting you.

    And to be clear, I know this is difficult! It’s emotional labor you have to do. If you want to reframe your feeling of shame as something else (I like gratitude personally, like my friend has told me I have something in my teeth and I should fix that before I talk more), that can be useful.

    Ultimately, trans people and other minorities don’t owe you gentleness when they’re hurt. It helps to be nice and low expectations like I have tried to be here, but that is a privileged position. It isn’t easy to hear someone lash out at you in pain and say “thank you for sharing this with me, I will reflect on it” but I’m telling you, it is worth it. Listening to other people is so important to protect minorities in any majority-ruled democracy.

    And like I said, no one has to do this. But this is the process by which you can take casual allies of circumstance and make them trusted friends. And I think we all need more trusted friends nowadays.