unless-we-choose-to-reverse-it: rollad20andkissme: psilentasincjelli: keepfabandgayon: davidduspookyspackage: CANADA IS TIGHTENING SECURITY ON ITS BORDERS IN THE EVENT THAT ROMNEY WINS and it was announced in the most passive-aggressive way ever go canada Canada please you’re our only hope I mean, Canada is its own country and isn’t just our back up plan but CANADA PLS I dunno. In the event that Romney wins, I will personally be standing outside of one of the gates into Canada with a sign reading “WELCOME TO THE PROMISED LAND”.
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unless-we-choose-to-reverse-it:

rollad20andkissme:

psilentasincjelli:

keepfabandgayon:

davidduspookyspackage:

CANADA IS TIGHTENING SECURITY ON ITS BORDERS IN THE EVENT THAT ROMNEY WINS

and it was announced in the most passive-aggressive way ever

go canada

Canada please you’re our only hope

I mean, Canada is its own country and isn’t just our back up plan

but

CANADA PLS

I dunno. In the event that Romney wins, I will personally be standing outside of one of the gates into Canada with a sign reading “WELCOME TO THE PROMISED LAND”.

Source: fawkesmulder

TAL9000: Expressing a political opinion while developmentally disabled

magickal-halloween-cat:

allies-person:

So, a woman with Down’s syndrome wrote President Obama a letter explaining why she supports him, and why she takes issue with Mitt Romney’s infamous “47%” comment. The Obama campaign features said letter on its website.

And conservatives are…

So remember everybody:

Whatever you do

DON’T FUCKING VOTE ROMNEY!!

Source: allies-person

shortformblog:

Two books by two Arkansas Republicans who shouldn’t have written books

Think the graphic design on these books, each written by a Arkansas Republican running for office this November, is terrible? You should read what’s inside. The guy on the top (Jon Michael Hubbard, who is already in office) says that slavery wasn’t really such a bad thing — “Would an existence spent in slavery have been any crueller than a life spent in sub-Saharan Africa?” — while the guy on the bottom (Charlie Fuqua) supports deporting all Muslims and killing unruly children. In other words, great Columbus Day reading. *facepalm*

And if anyone thinks it can’t get worse than this, google “RJ Rushdoony”. You wonder why they worry about so-called “Shari’a law takeover” when you realize they’re dead serious about ^this.

(via casual-isms)

Source: Daily Mail

A Bear of Very Little Brain: manly-carrot replied to your post: Okay, I know that there are, in all...

unless-we-choose-to-reverse-it:

manly-carrot replied to your post: Okay, I know that there are, in all likelyhood, multiple reasons why this could never work, but…
the difficulty with this is that most people have very little understanding about what their ta dollars actually do, so they could check off education but…

Adding onto that guy’s other note: that would increase the size of the US Tax Code by roughly 2000 times, me thinks. Not good.

fuckyeahmexico:

MEXICO IS HAVING THE LARGEST PROTEST THE WORLD HAS EVER SEEN BUT THE  MEDIA BLACKED IT OUT

Tens of thousands of protesters marched in Mexico City on Saturday to protest against Enrique Peña Nieto’s apparent win in the country’s presidential election, accusing his party of buying votes and paying TV networks for support.

Demonstrators were angered by allegations that Peña Nieto’s Institutional Revolutionary party (PRI) gave out groceries, pre-paid gift cards and other goods to voters before the national elections on 1 July.

Students, unionists and leftists in Mexico City carried signs reading: “Peña, how much did it cost to become president?” and “Mexico, you pawned your future for 500 pesos.”

Officials estimated about 50,000 demonstrators gathered at the central Zocalo plaza.

“The fraud was carried out before (the election), buying votes, tricking the people,” said Gabriel Petatan Garcia, a geography student who carried a sign in Finnish. Protesters also carried signs in English, Japanese, French, German and other languages to call the attention of the international press.

“The PRI threatens many people and buys others with a couple of tacos,” said Manuel Ocegueda, a 43-year-old shop worker at the rally.

Peña Nieto, a youthful 45-year-old married to a soap star, won last Sunday’s election by 6.6 percentage points, according to the official count, bringing the PRI back to power after 12 years in opposition. The party had ruled Mexico for 71 consecutive years, with what critics say was the help of corruption, patronage and vote fraud.

PRI officials deny buying votes and say the elections were free and fair.

The final count had Peña Nieto with 38.21% support, leftist Andrés Manuel López Obrador of the Democratic Revolution party with 31.59%, and Josefina Vazquez Mota of the conservative National Action party with 25.41%. The small New Alliance Party got 2.29%.

The final count will be certified in September by the Federal Electoral Tribunal. The tribunal has declined to overturn previously contested elections, including a 2006 presidential vote that was far closer than last Sunday’s.

In the weeks before the latest polls a student-led movement, Soy132, mobilised demonstrations and online protests against his links to the media giant Televisa, saying that both manipulate public opinion and state institutions in malign synergy.

A series of articles in the Guardian added to the controversy by publishing evidence that Televisa paved his path to the presidency by smearing rivals and disguising pro-Peña Nieto propaganda as news. Televisa has denied the allegations.

Accusations of vote-buying began surfacing in June, but sharpened later when people rushed to grocery stores on the outskirts of Mexico City to redeem pre-paid gift cards worth about 100 pesos (£4.50). Many said they got the cards from PRI supporters before the elections.

López Obrador said millions of voters had received either pre-paid cards, cash, groceries, construction materials or appliances.

Some demonstrators covered the heads of statues with plastic shopping bags from Soriana, the supermarket chain where the gift cards were redeemable. “We have to come out in the streets to denounce that the PRI bought votes, and there were people who sold them,” said a 32-year-old psychologist, Raquel Ruiz.

Some protesters said overturning the election result would be difficult, while others thought there were judicial means to prevent Peña Nieto from assuming the presidency.

López Obrador said he would file a formal legal challenge to the vote count in electoral courts based on the allegation that PRI vote-buying influenced millions of votes.

Simply giving away such gifts is not illegal under Mexican electoral law, as long as the expense is reported to electoral authorities. Giving gifts to influence votes is a crime, though it is not generally viewed as grounds for overturning an election.

Leonardo Valdés, the president of the Federal Electoral Institute, said he did not see any grounds for overturning the results but that an investigation into the gift cards had been launched.

The PRI spokesman, Eduardo Sánchez, said last week the gift-card event had been “a theatrical representation” mounted by the left. He claimed supporters of López Obrador took hundreds of people to the shops, dressed them in PRI T-shirts, gave them gift cards, emptied shelves to create an appearance of panic buying, and brought TV cameras in to give the false impression that the PRI had given out the cards.

Cesar Yanez, the spokesman for López Obrador’s campaign, denied the PRI accusations.

• This article was amended on 10 July 2012 to make clear the video is of protesters in the city of Guadalajara.

Via: munkstrap, elysethekraken

(via kloee)

Source: fuckyeahmexico

atheist-overdose: Teenage girl threatened to call the police on my facebook page[fixed]follow for the best atheist posts on tumblr I’m honestly beginning to think that when the day comes that American Christians REALLY have their privilege stepped on (for example, when there are visibly more non-Christians being positively represented in the media and society than Christians) a good number of them may actually go full-out genocidal. This is so utterly deep in their psychology even we have no idea…
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atheist-overdose:

Teenage girl threatened to call the police on my facebook page[fixed]

I’m honestly beginning to think that when the day comes that American Christians REALLY have their privilege stepped on (for example, when there are visibly more non-Christians being positively represented in the media and society than Christians) a good number of them may actually go full-out genocidal. This is so utterly deep in their psychology even we have no idea…

(via thesapphoshow)

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(via justanotherrenaissanceman-deact)

Source: considerthishippie

norisme: It's really not about calling us "uterus-bearers" and then patting yourself on the back: these are [some of] the things...

kiriamaya:

fuguestasis:

  1. Teach everyone you work with to give trans people basic decency and respect. Especially trans women/transfeminine people, especially trans people of color, especially disabled trans people and especially trans people who don’t “pass” or who don’t have a…

Okay, I like the ideas being presented here, BUT:
“Stand against….capitalism”

^I WANT YOUR GROUP TO DESCRIBE WHAT YOU MEAN BY THIS. EXACTLY AND PRECISELY (or to as great a clarity possible). I’m fully against inequality of opportunity and standing up for the poor, oppressed and working class and can understand why lots of feminist movements have had direct or indirect relations with syndicalist/socialist/etc. systems of economics, but this wording is going too far - I need to know exactly what you mean by this now. Because regardless of any history of oppression, or excesses that create it, I will emphatically NOT stand against the very thing largely responsible for building the modern world, which ANYONE on Tumblr (or the Internet, for that matter) benefits from (including you).
(^and I believe I’m speaking from logic and the historical record, not my privilege, when I say that. I don’t deny the validity of your experiences and oppression, but logic is objective and is independent of privilege. The historical record, not as much, but I think it’s safe to say most records of history agree that communism, socialism and similar systems generally don’t work on large scales, especially where equality is concerned).

Now, come at me :)

(via io-l-oi-deactivated20120425)

Source: poorlifechoicesblog

kloee said: An equal society is a society in which it is EQUAL. Which means there is no difference of the status/cultural reputation between any gender or lack therof

I get this, but remember - in order for a society to be truly equal and free of oppression, it must be equally free of whatever mechanisms that possess the potential to create inequality, privilege, oppression, classism, etc. The thing is that, if society were to be truly equal and free for all minorities, we’d have to lose some ideas that are, against some minorities, very deeply ingrained - e.g. for trans people, ideally it seems it’d be a society lacking gender-neutral pronouns (or any concept of gender in language, which would be very difficult for languages like French), distinction based on binarist ideas of appearance, the lower status of genderqueers and anyone between the poles of the gender continuum (obviously), and possibly the entire concept of human gender itself, if the ideas in this essay are any indication. IMHO at the moment, these goals, while not worth any less to fight for, are (save for raising the status of genderqueers IMO) either unfeasible or unrealistic, especially for the last one. I personally think (and admit to hope) that there’s another road for that one where some form of male and female would be preserved, but without any strict definitions or constraints on appearance and behaviour and no conception of those between as any less human - this is why forms of the “two-spirited”/trinary gender classifications idea of some Native American societies has been quite appealing to me recently as a possibility for an ideal society.

So basically, I’m interested in every in and out of these concepts and how they would logically take shape in the real world - real-world applications of feminist ideas is what these minorities want to see, no?? Simple ideals/maxims/morals to follow are frequently very beneficial and helpful as direction-keepers, but the real world is unfortunately far more complex than that. I’m not saying that society shouldn’t be that way, but still…..

/rant :)

People of color, women, and gays — who now have greater access to the centers of influence than ever before — are under pressure to be well-behaved when talking about their struggles. There is an expectation that we can talk about sins but no one must be identified as a sinner: newspapers love to describe words or deeds as “racially charged” even in those cases when it would be more honest to say “racist”; we agree that there is rampant misogyny, but misogynists are nowhere to be found; homophobia is a problem but no one is homophobic. One cumulative effect of this policed language is that when someone dares to point out something as obvious as white privilege, it is seen as unduly provocative. Marginalized voices in America have fewer and fewer avenues to speak plainly about what they suffer; the effect of this enforced civility is that those voices are falsified or blocked entirely from the discourse.

Excerpt from Teju Cole’s essay “The White Savior Industrial Complex”.
 (via jalwhite)

This is particularly poignant this week.

(via quixoticlyqueer)

(via io-l-oi-deactivated20120425)

Source: jalwhite

lassandra: magico-tramonto: yumjuice: A seven-year-old has donated $140 to the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center and the Human Rights Campaign Foundation (HRC) because he doesn’t think it’s right for gay people not to be treated equally. The child, Malcolm, was given $140 by his parents to donate to the charity of his choice. He chose to split the money between the gay centre and the HRC. The cheque was accompanied by a hand written note that read: “I am sending you this money because I don’t think it’s fair that Gay people are not treated equally.” A note from the boy’s mother said: “To teach the importance of improving the world around him, Malcolm was given $140 to give away to the charity of his choice. After hearing a story on the radio about the mistreatment of gays and lesbians, Malcolm became both upset and curious about the issue…to help, he chose to split his money between the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center and the Human Rights Campaign Foundation.” Faith in humanity: restored. That is such an awesome kid. good kid, his parents gotta be proud of this kid : )) Maybe there is still hope for this Planet….. what an awesome kid :) this really made my day…. The very best thing about this is that it shows (amongst our youth at least) that homophobia is truly dying. There is no longer any reason or justification for continuing it (and there never was). The homophobes are dying. They may never be extinct, but they are doomed. No wonder they’re so pathetically desperate.
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lassandra:

magico-tramonto:

yumjuice:

A seven-year-old has donated $140 to the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center and the Human Rights Campaign Foundation (HRC) because he doesn’t think it’s right for gay people not to be treated equally.

The child, Malcolm, was given $140 by his parents to donate to the charity of his choice. He chose to split the money between the gay centre and the HRC.

The cheque was accompanied by a hand written note that read: “I am sending you this money because I don’t think it’s fair that Gay people are not treated equally.”

A note from the boy’s mother said: “To teach the importance of improving the world around him, Malcolm was given $140 to give away to the charity of his choice. After hearing a story on the radio about the mistreatment of gays and lesbians, Malcolm became both upset and curious about the issue…to help, he chose to split his money between the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center and the Human Rights Campaign Foundation.”

Faith in humanity: restored.

That is such an awesome kid.

good kid,

his parents gotta be proud of this kid : ))

Maybe there is still hope for this Planet….. what an awesome kid :) this really made my day….

The very best thing about this is that it shows (amongst our youth at least) that homophobia is truly dying. There is no longer any reason or justification for continuing it (and there never was). The homophobes are dying. They may never be extinct, but they are doomed.

No wonder they’re so pathetically desperate.

(via )

Source: riannag

occupyallstreets: Obama And ISP’s To Launch Largest Digital Spying Scheme In History (Must Read) If you download potentially copyrighted software, videos or music, your Internet service provider (ISP) has been watching, and they’re coming for you. Specifically, they’re coming for you on Thursday, July 12. That’s the date when the nation’s largest ISPs will all voluntarily implement a new anti-piracy plan that will engage network operators in the largest digital spying scheme in history, and see some users’ bandwidth completely cut off until they sign an agreement saying they will not download copyrighted materials. Word of the start date has been largely kept secret since ISPs announced their plans last June. The deal was brokered by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), and coordinated by the Obama Administration. The same groups have weighed in heavily on controversial Internet policies around the world, with similar facilitation by the Obama’s Administration’s State Department. The July 12 date was revealed by the RIAA’s CEO and top lobbyist, Cary Sherman, during a publishers’ conference on Wednesday in New York, according to technology publication CNet. The content industries calls this scheme a “graduated response” plan, which will see -Time Warner Cable -Cablevision -Comcast -Verizon -AT&T and others spying on users’ Internet activities and watching for potential copyright infringement. Users who are “caught” infringing on a creator’s protected work can then be interrupted with a notice that piracy is forbidden by law and carries penalties of up to $150,000 per infringement, requiring the user to click through saying they understand the consequences before bandwidth is restored, and they could still be subject to copyright infringement lawsuits. Read More Response: This is much worse than SOPA/PIPA and ACTA. It doesn’t necessarily censor the internet but it spys on everything you do. Your ENTIRE web history will be watched and recorded and might even assist the government. This was coordinated by Obama and his administration with the help of the MPAA and RIAA. What is so dangerous about this is that this is not a law it is a policy adopted by several companies. That means this will not be debated in Congress and you will agree to be spied on by signing a contract with the company. Internet censorship is becoming a reality and now the corporate elite will legally be able to spy on you. If we spread this and cause an uproar like what we did with SOPA, maybe they will back down. Either way people NEED to know about this. ……..Well, so much for “we the people”. Right then: Anonymous, over to you >;))
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occupyallstreets:

Obama And ISP’s To Launch Largest Digital Spying Scheme In History (Must Read)

If you download potentially copyrighted software, videos or music, your Internet service provider (ISP) has been watching, and they’re coming for you.

Specifically, they’re coming for you on Thursday, July 12.

That’s the date when the nation’s largest ISPs will all voluntarily implement a new anti-piracy plan that will engage network operators in the largest digital spying scheme in history, and see some users’ bandwidth completely cut off until they sign an agreement saying they will not download copyrighted materials.

Word of the start date has been largely kept secret since ISPs announced their plans last June. The deal was brokered by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), and coordinated by the Obama Administration. The same groups have weighed in heavily on controversial Internet policies around the world, with similar facilitation by the Obama’s Administration’s State Department.

The July 12 date was revealed by the RIAA’s CEO and top lobbyist, Cary Sherman, during a publishers’ conference on Wednesday in New York, according to technology publication CNet.

The content industries calls this scheme a “graduated response” plan, which will see

-Time Warner Cable

-Cablevision

-Comcast

-Verizon

-AT&T

and others spying on users’ Internet activities and watching for potential copyright infringement. Users who are “caught” infringing on a creator’s protected work can then be interrupted with a notice that piracy is forbidden by law and carries penalties of up to $150,000 per infringement, requiring the user to click through saying they understand the consequences before bandwidth is restored, and they could still be subject to copyright infringement lawsuits.

Read More

Response: This is much worse than SOPA/PIPA and ACTA. It doesn’t necessarily censor the internet but it spys on everything you do. Your ENTIRE web history will be watched and recorded and might even assist the government. This was coordinated by Obama and his administration with the help of the MPAA and RIAA.

What is so dangerous about this is that this is not a law it is a policy adopted by several companies. That means this will not be debated in Congress and you will agree to be spied on by signing a contract with the company.

Internet censorship is becoming a reality and now the corporate elite will legally be able to spy on you. If we spread this and cause an uproar like what we did with SOPA, maybe they will back down. Either way people NEED to know about this.

……..Well, so much for “we the people”.

Right then:

Anonymous, over to you >;))

(via pochedetigres)

Source: occupyallstreets

alexithymia-inclined: modeliscious: heavenly—bodies: s-onrisa: e-babe: U.S.- Mexico Border wow. that is awesome. I’ve driven this road at least 12 times.Know it well.  For a minute I legit thought this was the Palestine-Israeli wall. O__O
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alexithymia-inclined:

modeliscious:

heavenly—bodies:

s-onrisa:

e-babe:

U.S.- Mexico Border

wow.

that is awesome.

I’ve driven this road at least 12 times.
Know it well. 

For a minute I legit thought this was the Palestine-Israeli wall. O__O

(via nittygrittyboyfriendstealer)

Source: e-babe

There is a distinct disadvantage to having privilege:

When you try to understand the plight of the unprivileged, to get inside their heads, or try to aid them in the face of oppression, you can never fully succeed. Because no matter how much you may care for them as a person, you still have privilege, and therefore contribute to their oppression as a member of a privileged society. You cannot change it, but in a way, what you are oppresses them.

That is the only tiny similarity I can have with the underprivileged - what I am somehow hurts people (though in their case “hurts” is just the bigoted getting offended) - and every bit of that is useless.

……well shit.

notyrcisterpress: (click through for a downloadable version)In light of the tragic death of Mark Aguhar, a Chicago-area pissed-off queer artist and friend (calloutqueen.tumblr.com//markaguhar.tumblr.com), we receive and post a short submission on her death.  Naturally, this is not a happy essay.  There is a trigger warning for explicitly talking about the pain of Mark’s death, “suicide,” eating disorders, disease, death, our complicity in society, and the pain that comes from the absence of redemption. With total hatred and total love, <3 NYCP ===================================== “Please, scoff at the wretched layers of my memory and that of so many others; stare intently into such a reality without seeing the shadow of society in its every wrinkle and wound. I envy blind bliss; what joy must come with believing that each individual death carries no greater meaning than the technicalities of the departed body.  To see this utterly morbid world without the red tint of hatred is not seeing it at all, though I cannot claim to be grateful for what my eyes have captured. It is with a sagging and anxious heart that I fight against all that drains the life out of itself. I fight not because I think we will emerge victorious, but because it is the only thing worth living for, the only thing that will relieve this fear of impending murder— through addiction, through cancer and suicide. “ -Delete Me, I’m So Ugly It’s difficult to even begin to deal with the murder of another fierce-as-fuck gender rebel by this world.  And let’s make no mistakes about the nature of this death, Mark Aguhar’s death was murder.  Murder of the slowest, most agonizing variety.  Murder that the fucking pigs of this world  dare to call suicide, although in other cases we might know it as addiction, schizophrenia, or AIDS.  In this way, Mark’s fate cannot be separated from the steadfast rhythm of trans women being murdered by police and gender-pigs, from our grandparents being murdered with capitalist cancers, from our parents drinking themselves to death or to the times we’ve spent agonizingly throwing up our dinner as the water runs in our bathrooms. These moments are the stench of death in civilization, the result of the processes that try to mangle and mutilate our monstrous bodies in hopes that they might one day be the disgusting properly-functioning, beautiful bodies that we spend our lives obsessing over, simultaneously desiring and wanting to destroy them.      Most of the time I’m afraid we’re accustomed to ignoring these (impending) murders, trying to harden our hearts and keep going, hoping that no death will stain our bodies and souls if we move fast enough.  This week, I tried to do just that with Mark’s death.  The news exploded like a bombshell, yet I said, I think, “Wow, that sucks” to the friend that had told me of Mark’s death, and promptly walked away.  I didn’t even permit myself to think about it for the slightest second and buried myself in work and television and the internet because I knew that it would smash my weak and pathetic heart.  And here I am, in a puddle of my own tears reading her words, looking at her art, totally disgusted with myself.  I paused upon a piece that they had made called Not You (Power Circle) 2011, upon which, in lipgloss,  the words “Who is Worth My Love, My Strength, & My Rage?” were scrawled.  I couldn’t agree more with her; I’m so ashamed of myself.  I’m so ashamed of all of us really, for not having destroyed this horrible civilization before it took Mark’s life, for allowing it to take so many of our friends and family while we spend our time trying to be numb or trying to ignore the systematic murder all around us.  The painful truth is that we helped murder Mark Aguhar.  We couldn’t possibly tell ourselves that we’re ignorant about the murderous reality of this world, and we couldn’t possibly fool ourselves into thinking that our consent workshops, pronoun charts, and DIY mental health meetings could ever stop a wholesale slaughter of this magnitude.  The shameful weight of so many murdered generations of friends and families and lovers truly does weigh on us, begging for a redemption that remains so painfully absent.  I’m rather sure that I will never see such a redemption, but I do know that we cannot allow the deaths of our loved ones to pass without the world feeling the pain in our hearts and this very moment.    However impossible it may be, I want everyone to be forced to stare the reality of this murder in the face.  I want all of the apparatuses that have taught us to hate and murder ourselves and each other to be sabotaged, punished, destroyed.  I want disgusting and painful and gorgeous art just like Mark’s to saturate every city block until everyone feels all of our suffering.  As Mark herself said, “I don’t need to be strong, I need for the world to stop being so fucking weak, that my sisters are being swallowed up before my eyes.”  We need to understand that the grief and the pain and the weakness inside each of us is not our only way of grieving, and that together perhaps all of these weaknesses and inadequacies and disgusting pathetic bodies might be enough to punish this civilization for what it has done to Mark, to Deoni, to Agnes Torres, to so many others whose names escape our tongues.  I beg you, do not let Mark’s death pass without remembrance and vengeance.  Go forth and bring to the world the “mutual annihilation” that Mark so gracefully believed in.  Let no murder of our comrades pass quietly and without answer.  May our memories of Mark stoke the flames of our hatred for everything that makes us monsters and pushes us further toward destruction every day. Hmmm…..I am totally innocent of any experience even remotely similar to these peoples’ - something that invalidates one’s very identity and existence to the point that the only solution is a radical identity with the sole aim of what appears to be total revenge. Now fully understand that this kind of systematic-and-still-largely-subconscious oppression would drive the oppressed to react in such manner, and I fully respect their right to feel as they do - especially when the oppression would drive them to such an extreme that they are unable to continue to exist. If the only solution is seething hatred toward oppression and returning what they receive in it to find solace, then so be it. BUT: Do Not make hatred your only rule. Because one day you must answer the question: What do you do when you attain your vengeance?? And what might you lose in its pursuit?? If you cannot, then you will get nowhere. No one, not even the most valiant, brave and powerful, are free from the laws of nature. ^I am not saying you haven’t considered this: many of you certainly have. But remember to keep it in mind…
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notyrcisterpress:

(click through for a downloadable version)

In light of the tragic death of Mark Aguhar, a Chicago-area pissed-off queer artist and friend (calloutqueen.tumblr.com//markaguhar.tumblr.com), we receive and post a short submission on her death.  Naturally, this is not a happy essay.  There is a trigger warning for explicitly talking about the pain of Mark’s death, “suicide,” eating disorders, disease, death, our complicity in society, and the pain that comes from the absence of redemption.

With total hatred and total love,

<3 NYCP

=====================================

“Please, scoff at the wretched layers of my memory and that of so many others; stare intently into such a reality without seeing the shadow of society in its every wrinkle and wound. I envy blind bliss; what joy must come with believing that each individual death carries no greater meaning than the technicalities of the departed body.  To see this utterly morbid world without the red tint of hatred is not seeing it at all, though I cannot claim to be grateful for what my eyes have captured. It is with a sagging and anxious heart that I fight against all that drains the life out of itself. I fight not because I think we will emerge victorious, but because it is the only thing worth living for, the only thing that will relieve this fear of impending murder— through addiction, through cancer and suicide. “

-Delete Me, I’m So Ugly


It’s difficult to even begin to deal with the murder of another fierce-as-fuck gender rebel by this world.  And let’s make no mistakes about the nature of this death, Mark Aguhar’s death was murder.  Murder of the slowest, most agonizing variety.  Murder that the fucking pigs of this world  dare to call suicide, although in other cases we might know it as addiction, schizophrenia, or AIDS.  In this way, Mark’s fate cannot be separated from the steadfast rhythm of trans women being murdered by police and gender-pigs, from our grandparents being murdered with capitalist cancers, from our parents drinking themselves to death or to the times we’ve spent agonizingly throwing up our dinner as the water runs in our bathrooms. These moments are the stench of death in civilization, the result of the processes that try to mangle and mutilate our monstrous bodies in hopes that they might one day be the disgusting properly-functioning, beautiful bodies that we spend our lives obsessing over, simultaneously desiring and wanting to destroy them. 
    Most of the time I’m afraid we’re accustomed to ignoring these (impending) murders, trying to harden our hearts and keep going, hoping that no death will stain our bodies and souls if we move fast enough.  This week, I tried to do just that with Mark’s death.  The news exploded like a bombshell, yet I said, I think, “Wow, that sucks” to the friend that had told me of Mark’s death, and promptly walked away.  I didn’t even permit myself to think about it for the slightest second and buried myself in work and television and the internet because I knew that it would smash my weak and pathetic heart.  And here I am, in a puddle of my own tears reading her words, looking at her art, totally disgusted with myself.  I paused upon a piece that they had made called Not You (Power Circle) 2011, upon which, in lipgloss,  the words “Who is Worth My Love, My Strength, & My Rage?” were scrawled.  I couldn’t agree more with her; I’m so ashamed of myself.  I’m so ashamed of all of us really, for not having destroyed this horrible civilization before it took Mark’s life, for allowing it to take so many of our friends and family while we spend our time trying to be numb or trying to ignore the systematic murder all around us.  The painful truth is that we helped murder Mark Aguhar.  We couldn’t possibly tell ourselves that we’re ignorant about the murderous reality of this world, and we couldn’t possibly fool ourselves into thinking that our consent workshops, pronoun charts, and DIY mental health meetings could ever stop a wholesale slaughter of this magnitude.  The shameful weight of so many murdered generations of friends and families and lovers truly does weigh on us, begging for a redemption that remains so painfully absent.  I’m rather sure that I will never see such a redemption, but I do know that we cannot allow the deaths of our loved ones to pass without the world feeling the pain in our hearts and this very moment.
    However impossible it may be, I want everyone to be forced to stare the reality of this murder in the face.  I want all of the apparatuses that have taught us to hate and murder ourselves and each other to be sabotaged, punished, destroyed.  I want disgusting and painful and gorgeous art just like Mark’s to saturate every city block until everyone feels all of our suffering.  As Mark herself said, “I don’t need to be strong, I need for the world to stop being so fucking weak, that my sisters are being swallowed up before my eyes.”  We need to understand that the grief and the pain and the weakness inside each of us is not our only way of grieving, and that together perhaps all of these weaknesses and inadequacies and disgusting pathetic bodies might be enough to punish this civilization for what it has done to Mark, to Deoni, to Agnes Torres, to so many others whose names escape our tongues.  I beg you, do not let Mark’s death pass without remembrance and vengeance.  Go forth and bring to the world the “mutual annihilation” that Mark so gracefully believed in.  Let no murder of our comrades pass quietly and without answer.  May our memories of Mark stoke the flames of our hatred for everything that makes us monsters and pushes us further toward destruction every day.

Hmmm…..
I am totally innocent of any experience even remotely similar to these peoples’ - something that invalidates one’s very identity and existence to the point that the only solution is a radical identity with the sole aim of what appears to be total revenge. Now fully understand that this kind of systematic-and-still-largely-subconscious oppression would drive the oppressed to react in such manner, and I fully respect their right to feel as they do - especially when the oppression would drive them to such an extreme that they are unable to continue to exist. If the only solution is seething hatred toward oppression and returning what they receive in it to find solace, then so be it. BUT:

Do Not make hatred your only rule. Because one day you must answer the question: What do you do when you attain your vengeance?? And what might you lose in its pursuit?? If you cannot, then you will get nowhere. No one, not even the most valiant, brave and powerful, are free from the laws of nature.

^I am not saying you haven’t considered this: many of you certainly have. But remember to keep it in mind…

(via io-l-oi-deactivated20120425)

Source: notyrcisterpress