reasonandempathy

[reasonandempathy]

Iroh: so Toph, what are your goals in life?

Toph: I’ve been banned from every major city’s transportation system except Omashu

Toph: I don’t know what their limit is but I will fucking find it 

[reasonandempathy]

[reasonandempathy]

Here’s another one for the atheist crowd.

[reasonandempathy]

I...tried to make a meme and got carried away and made A Thing that is like partially unfinished because i spent like 3 hours on it and then got tired.

I think this is mostly scientifically accurate but truth be told, there seems to be relatively little research on succession in regards to lawns specifically (as opposed to like, pastures). I am not exaggerating how bad they are for biodiversity though—recent research has referred to them as "ecological deserts."

Feel free to repost, no need for credit

[reasonandempathy]

HAPPENING NOW: texas state troopers are menacing a pro palestine protest on ut austin's campus. AN ENCAMPMENT HASNT EVEN BEEN ESTABLISHED YET

[reasonandempathy]

to be clear as well:

Interviews and spokespeople are referring to "they broke previously existing rules, these were always the rules and they broke them."

Columbia changed its rules after the October 7th attack explicitly and unilaterally to make things like this "against the rules" by a committee that didn't include any students or any faculty.

These were rules put in place specifically and explicitly around the 10/7 attacks and protests around Palestine and the occupation. Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace were both suspended for Columbia for violating the new, unilaterally revised and applied, rules.

the Columbia University arrests are worse than they seem. They're arresting protesting students for trespassing. It goes without saying students cannot meaningfully "trespass" in the common areas of a university they attend. So Columbia University has suspended all student protestors from their institution, in the process revoking their access to housing, their belonging, and most crucially damaging their academic futures. We are witnessing full scale silencing and removal of anyone of conscience from the next generation of academia.

[reasonandempathy]

[reasonandempathy]

[reasonandempathy]

The International Phonetic Alphabet consonants found in English, with keywords and relevant parts of the mouth highlighted and colour-coded. (Source.) 

[reasonandempathy]

Keep seeing people ask why European students are not also protesting. Here is a brief list of some examples of students protesting in the countries USAmericans think of when they say "Europe". This doesn't include the student groups that I've seen participating in the regular (sometimes weekly) mass marches in some cities.

UK

Students from the University of Leeds and at Goldsmiths occupied campus buildings (Feb and March 2024)

Students also held a national strike day for Palestine (Feb 2024)

Students from colleges (~16-18 year olds) and universities staged walkouts in four different cities (Nov 2023)

Even children went out to protest (Feb 2024)

Students in London marched in December

SOAS students held a solidarity rally in October

France

Protests at Sciences Po have held several protests since November

At the Sorbonne too in November

These November protests were simultaneously held in universities across the country

And though the French love a good clash with riot police, there have also been campus candlelight vigils and flags put up

Spain

University students went on strike in October

Secondary school students did the same in November

Student organisations participated in a week of Basque-Palestinian solidarity in February (it feels so wrong to put them under this header in this context....)

Germany

Student protests (Feb)

And more (March)

And more (Nov, & this source article is awful btw)

Also an occupation of a campus building (December)

In an environment where pro-Palestinian views can get you into trouble

Italy

Heavy-handed policing in response to protesting secondary school students in Pisa (Feb)

Students interrupting conference in Turin (April)

More protests in Florence (Nov)

Mass protests in various cities in October

And students on hunger strike in Rome

& More!

Sit-ins on campus in Antwerp, Belgium (November)

Students involved in marches in Czechia (October)

Academics demanding Uppsala University (one of the spiritual homes for the academic study of peace and ending conflicts!) respond to the genocide

In sum, if you say "why aren't students in x country protesting too", the answer is they have been, you just only read USAmerican news

[reasonandempathy]

[reasonandempathy]

Right-wingers lumping "left", "liberal", and other words that mean "not-right-wing" into one camp has been the literal tactic for over a hundred years now.

So...yeah. They're doing that.

[reasonandempathy]

Fuck antisemites and antisemitism.

“ThE lEfT iS nOT aNtIseMITiC”

The left are turning into the very people they keep saying they’d slap. They’re fucking Nazis.

[reasonandempathy]

You. I like you.

A loving, married couple wake up one day to find that they have returned to their high school days, when they were the most popular student and the class geek.

[reasonandempathy]

Relevant link to Biden wrapping up Pro-Israel measures with capitalist interests.

Here's a broader article on Sage and a video from Breakthrough News.

Saw this and I actually wanted to add some actual details, in case people didn't know/weren't curious.

US Specific Recessions:

Recession of 1990 and 1991

2000 to 2001 Recession

The Great Recession, from 2007 to 2009 (this does not include the recovery, which took years and arguably never really happened)

The COVID Recession

Genocides:

Rohingya (2016 and ongoing)

Iraqi Turkmen (2014-2017)

Yazidis Genocide (2014-2019)

Darfur (2003 and ongoing)

Congolese (2002-2003)

Hutus (1996-1997)

Rwanda (1994)

Bosnia (1992-1995)

I'm presuming we can all agree he was also referring to Ghaza right now

So yeah. 9 Genocides and 4 major recessions since 1990. If he was born in 1985 there are 3 more genocides (Anfal, Gukurahundi, and Isaaq).

[reasonandempathy]

I would like to introduce you to the Cold War, the current definition and practices of capitalism, how we got here, and why the US determines (and determined) the economic structure of the entire planet.

Further reading:

If you're more interested in books than articles:

The Invention of Capitalism: Classical Political Economy and the Secret History of Primitive Accumulation by Michael Perlman

Capitalism vs Communism: the Cold War by Mark Hitchens

The Cold War and After: Capitalism, Revolution, and Superpower Politics by Richard Saull

Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy: Third Edition by Joseph A. Schumpeter

Americana: A 400-Year History of American Capitalism by Bhu Srinivasan

Obviously reading all of these would be a lot. But read, like...2 articles and/or 1/2 books and you should see why ""That's "that's a government thing not capitalism" is a silly thing to say. Face value. Literally fall-on-your-face in economics/theory 101.

Actually, it's literally the 100 level of classes in college.

Different college, but it's literally on the syllabus of econ 101 at John Jay.

In the second paragraph critically evaluate the articles by asking a series of questions. One purpose of this assignment is encouraging you to “think through writing.” This means you do not need to answer your own questions. You can answer your questions if you want to, but you should not conduct research outside the two newspaper articles. To critically evaluate the issue consider adapting the following questions to the subject/topic of your articles. Or think of other probing questions. What are the motives behind the actions of the economic “actors” (companies, individuals, governments)? What is the right thing for the actors to do? Would other actors respond differently? How is the government involved? Is the government doing the right thing? Who determines the “right thing?”

Saw this and I actually wanted to add some actual details, in case people didn't know/weren't curious.

US Specific Recessions:

Recession of 1990 and 1991

2000 to 2001 Recession

The Great Recession, from 2007 to 2009 (this does not include the recovery, which took years and arguably never really happened)

The COVID Recession

Genocides:

Rohingya (2016 and ongoing)

Iraqi Turkmen (2014-2017)

Yazidis Genocide (2014-2019)

Darfur (2003 and ongoing)

Congolese (2002-2003)

Hutus (1996-1997)

Rwanda (1994)

Bosnia (1992-1995)

I'm presuming we can all agree he was also referring to Ghaza right now

So yeah. 9 Genocides and 4 major recessions since 1990. If he was born in 1985 there are 3 more genocides (Anfal, Gukurahundi, and Isaaq).

[reasonandempathy]

I listed the US because those are the 4 recessions I know of. God knows I don't think the english speaking white guy was referring to Japan's economic history.

Though I think it's telling you need an explanation of the connection between the US economic system and international politics since 1990.

You can say that's "not much of an answer" if you'd like, but I'm not inclined to walk through "International Capitalism and the US" with a libertarian who (presumably) defends the IDF.

Saw this and I actually wanted to add some actual details, in case people didn't know/weren't curious.

US Specific Recessions:

Recession of 1990 and 1991

2000 to 2001 Recession

The Great Recession, from 2007 to 2009 (this does not include the recovery, which took years and arguably never really happened)

The COVID Recession

Genocides:

Rohingya (2016 and ongoing)

Iraqi Turkmen (2014-2017)

Yazidis Genocide (2014-2019)

Darfur (2003 and ongoing)

Congolese (2002-2003)

Hutus (1996-1997)

Rwanda (1994)

Bosnia (1992-1995)

I'm presuming we can all agree he was also referring to Ghaza right now

So yeah. 9 Genocides and 4 major recessions since 1990. If he was born in 1985 there are 3 more genocides (Anfal, Gukurahundi, and Isaaq).