coldalbion

[coldalbion]

I saw a post about tumblr user ages...

Reblogs are welcomed for that sweet, sweet increased data pool (aka getting more than 20 responses 😅)

[coldalbion]

the neurotypical invents the neurodivergent. neuro(non)normativity is a constant negotiation of social conditions + relation to capital + carceral frameworks of legal, educational, medical systems. “neurotype” is not an ontological status. it is a mirror held to the world in which it exists.

[coldalbion]

The hunger, Miles Hyman

[coldalbion]

Faster, faster rides Odin He dared to raise up from Hlidskjalf To live an ancient dream Faster, faster rides Odin The One Eyed God is running wild Odin has transformed Sleipnir In an iron horse

Cover artwork by Celso Mathias

#the old man #happy wednesday

[coldalbion]

#vendetta is a friend of mine #the old man #happy wednesday

[coldalbion]

[coldalbion]

"[Ur-Fascism] depends on the cult of action for action's sake. Action being beautiful in itself, it must be taken before, or without, any previous reflection. Thinking is a form of emasculation. Therefore culture is suspect insofar as it is identified with critical attitudes. Distrust of the intellectual world has always been a symptom of Ur-Fascism, from Goering's alleged statement ("When I hear talk of culture I reach for my gun") to the frequent use of such expressions as "degenerate intellectuals," "eggheads," "effete snobs," "universities are a nest of reds." The official Fascist intellectuals were mainly engaged in attacking modern culture and the liberal intelligentsia for having betrayed traditional values." – Umberto Eco, Ur-Fascism in the New York Review of Books 22 June 1995

[coldalbion]

I've spoken before about the increasing tendency of online communities to coopt the language of specific material difficulties face by minority groups to give their personal complaints more "moral" weight.

The example I always use for this is "gatekeeping" - it was used for a long time in the trans and disabled communities to denote the situation we often face where a cis or able bodied medical professional got to determine whether we belonged to a group enough to access treatments we needed. This is a very serious medical issue that we face that leads people in the community to wind up using black markets and risking their lives with less than scrupulous people who seek to profit off of this medical alienation. Some people wind up in incredibly amounts of physical and mental pain or even committing suicide.

I spent a long time not understanding why in the last maybe 6 or so years so many people, mostly younger, seized on the words as if it was theirs to describe merely not being included in a group by others of the same identity were no route for filling a material need is impacted. Even more recently I've run across people who are using it to mean that information they want - for hobbies, interests - is difficult for them to find.

I hear all the time "language changes" - which is definitely true. But it's worth looking at why given language changes happen - and who benefits. This is a whole field in linguistics and it tell you a lot about the values of a given group. It hit me when I came across it most recently that whether people admit it or not, they borrow that language because they want their complaint to be taken as seriously as the material complaint they see it originate with.

And this is obviously not great right? Like you not being allowed in a discord you want or it not being easy to figure out how to knit a sweater are very obviously not on par with being denied a badly needed medical treatment to deal with your pain because you're not considered "disabled enough" by an able bodied doctor. I get this is largely happening subconsciously and we don't really have a language to talk about it making it even harder or people to catch in their own usage. I don't have an answer to that as I'm not a trained philosopher or linguist but I do have some food for thought.

For those who can be honest with themselves enough to see that they likely use words like this to lend the moral weight of marginalization to their mundane concerns, I want you to know some practical issues with this.

One, it pretty instantly flags you as being unsure of the veracity or relevance of your point, unlikely to be receptive to the other person, and more worried about appearances rather than the issue at hand. Which is a shame because you may have a really good point in there. You may absolutely be calling out an issue that needs addressed. But borrowing the language of these groups for their moral weight is simply not needed when you've made an effective argument.

Two, moralizing the mundane is a facet of carceral cultural creep. This really could be it's own post, but simply put, we've come up in a media ecosystem which tends to praise "justice" systems as being the means for processing difficult experiences - regardless of how true that is when interacting with the systems themselves. So even people who are out here saying ACAB will unironically police other people on having and performing the correct opinions in ever tightening loops (as punished people are needed to keep the rest o the group in line). You're not exempt from it and the desire to make mundane things like people not wanting you in their clubhouse and not finding the right video out to be a moral failure on someone else's part is rooted in those very non-progressive ideas.

Three, generalization means the language loses it's moral weight as it gets used meaning it is a constant process of habituation and more and more groups will wind up having their very important and specific terminology taken up for the sake of this particular selfish pyre. Once you've habituated to the language you can never go back and grasping at the language that these groups have to continually reinvent in light of this watering down is a type of violence given the material costs to groups who can no longer name the heinous act of the systems they face. If you indulge in this, it'll never stop and can never be enough.

The answer is pretty simple. Learn to state your feelings plainly. Learn to form solid arguments without resorting to mental shortcuts like coopting the marginalization to moralize your mundane experience. Learn how to set actual boundaries (which are about controlling your own behavior not others) and walk away from people and groups that don't align with your preferences and pursuits.

The answer is grow into yourself - stable, healthy, flexible.

[coldalbion]

being disabled is a full time job and I’m being so serious when I say that

[coldalbion]

[coldalbion]

One month to go until I’m at Brighton Fringe again!

My show ‘Death Becomes Us,’ is mostly comedy but with a healthy dose of discussion/spoken word on the topic of death, dying and grief. ⚰️🪦💀🐦‍⬛💜

‘Come with Emma on a funny and thought-provoking journey with her latest comedy show at the Brighton Fringe! Death Becomes Us is a hilarious exploration of the absurdity of life, the taboo subject of death, and how we navigate the complex emotions of grief.’

[coldalbion]

Prime Wednesday material from John Carpenter here

#I mean come ON #the old man #john carpenter #lost themes IV #Youtube

[coldalbion]

"We have yet to understand: that if I am starving, you are in danger." - James Baldwin

[coldalbion]

Chaos Mage, by Sergey Urlapov (Sergon), via DeviantArt.

[coldalbion]

FRINGE out of context (3/?)

#fringe #walter bishop

[coldalbion]

Thought and Memory.

#black bird magic

[coldalbion]

"They say that with spells in Samsey once Like witches with charms didst thou work And in witch's guise among men didst thou go" (x)

(ref and info on the wand: x)

#the old man