I've been struggling with this war since it broke out. I feel so strongly for the Palestinians and what they're going through right now on top of decades of struggle. At the same time some guilt & confusion, because the predominant western narrative is so strongly skewed towards unquestioning support of the Israeli state and a laser focus on the acts of Hamas.
This essay was what I needed to set my head straight:
https://www.dissentmagazine.org/online_articles/a-response-to-joshua-leifer
How to avoid spreading false news about the conflict.
@inherentlee @taurus @futurebird
Sometimes BAME / POC people hide in plain sight as part of the white queer community, especially if we're mixed race, in mixed relationships or part of mainly white groups. It's complicated.
Just because we haven't pointed ourselves out doesn't mean we're not here.
I'm enjoying mastodon so far but wow, all the comments about how white it is are extremely right. Almost all the other trans folks I've found have been white, and I know that isn't representative of the real world or even likely mastodon as a whole. I'd love to hear more from trans and queer POC (and POC all up, I've just been connecting with a LOT of trans folks).
Can anyone boost this to help me find more voices to listen to? Or recommend some hashtags? I don't even know how best to tag this.
Year 3 of the pandemic and we still don't have one integrated app/website/number where we can:
- View COVID rates in our area
- Find a vaccine site
- Order free rapid tests and N95 masks
- Report rapid test results
- Order treatments
- Check air quality
What are we doing?
“You can find us anywhere you get your podcasts.”
I *adore* this phrase, because it has been like two whole-ass decades and not one single venture capital darling has managed to unseat plain RSS as the distribution method for podcasts. Not one. (And they have really tried!)
Podcasts are just out there, like air. You don’t go to one place to get them; you get them from everywhere and anywhere. You can choose how you want to engage with them and manage them and it is legitimately heartwarming that nothing has ever gotten in the way of that being a fundamental fact.
This is the best of what the web is. It will never have a stock ticker or even a marketing scheme. Most people don’t even know it is there. But it endures (past the many, many attempts by squillionaire corporates to kill it) because of its absolute unshakable utility.
My suggestion: any time you hear “anywhere you get your podcasts”, send a little thanks to RSS for keeping the real web alive.
Imagine you have a friend. Let’s call him Rick Reasonable.
Now imagine you have an enemy. Let’s call your enemy Bart B. Oilingwater.
Bart is a real piece of crap. Here's what he does: Whenever he sees you, he throws boiling water at you. Usually you dodge it, but every once in a while, he catches you with a bit. You have to constantly be on the lookout for Bart, because if you let your guard down, it’s scalding water time!
That seems like a perfectly reasonable question. The problem is, it’s entirely the wrong question. It’s a category error, because while you are debating, your opponent is merely *using* debate. The fact that you are engaging means they have already succeeded.
Once you're willing to debate whether one group of people or another should be abused, then abusing and expelling people from society is something that is up for debate. It's on the table. It's listed on the exchange.
Which was the point.
It is going to become necessary, if we are serious about justice, to use discernment about a person’s clear intentions before determining whether it is appropriate to engage with them in this marketplace of ideas—even before determining if the marketplace itself is appropriate.
Some people’s ideas are genocide and slavery. They don’t want to win a debate, they just want to be listed on the exchange.
They don’t have ideas, as such. They have intentions.
With all of the horrible things happening in the world, it’s nice to find the wins. Especially in the area of our environment. A group called Coral Guardian is restoring coral reefs, and it’s quite magnificent.
These photos represent 7 years of work on the Indonesia’s Hatamin Island. In this they have increased the fish population by 5x with 53k corals restored.
More wins like this, please.
https://www.coralguardian.org/en/
#Climate #Environment #CoralReef #Restoration #Ocean #Sea #Fish #Ecosystem
Swiss Chalet Sommelier
KenWalkerQB 
Firehorseart Lives!
lee 
Dr. Lucky Tran 
attacus
A.R. Moxon, Verified Duck 🦆
Mark Wyner Won’t Comply 
