overpopulation is a fucking shitty myth we as a species produce enough food and have enough shelter to feed and house every living human and then some.
it’s simply not profitable to do so.
capitalism is shit
Hey hot take!! Malthusianism has been broadly debunked since basically the 1970s and yet, much like Freud’s endless ramblings about secretly wanting to bone your own parents, it’s one of those fuckstupid ideas that refuses to die!! Also I’m really disappointed in the Russo brothers for buying into literally the dumbest incarnation of environmental “ethics” there is, holy shit
They didn’t,… buy into it. The point was that Thanos was…. wrong.
They totally bought into it. Thanos is treated as wrong, but his wrongness is moral, not factual. There is, for example, no pushback against his claim that killing half of Gamora’s people has resulted in her planet becoming a paradise, even though that’s factually unlikely (Gamora is maybe thirty, so less than a quarter century after losing half its industrial base, her planet is now prospering? Sure thing, Thanos) and actually contradicted by some of the graphics in Guardians of the Galaxy, which state that Gamora is the last survivor of her species. We’re meant to think that Thanos is wrong because his plan is evil, not because both his analysis and his proposed solution are mistaken.
The fact is, Hollywood has long been in love with Malthusianism for the same reason that post-9/11, it became so enamored of torture. Because to the overwhelmingly privileged white men who make up its writing base, it reads like a Tough Question for which there are No Good Answers. The fact that it’s a moronic idea to which there are obvious rebuttals hasn’t percolated because they don’t want it to, because they’re too in love with the supposed drama that comes from pretending that freaking out about overpopulation in this way makes any sort of sense.
The Russos bought into it, or at least think they’re being edgy or relevant or whatever by doing this. At no point in the narrative does anyone contest Thanos’ claims on anything but moral grounds even though his premise is extremely flawed. They’ve stated that Thanos wiped out half the universe’s resources as well as half its people so the universe is… exactly as fucked as it was anyway, but now it’s full of traumatized, grieving survivors. So all of this was for literally nothing, and I have no idea what the hell they thought that was going to accomplish.
It’s also worth pointing out (as @blossomsinthemist did in the notes of the post I’m reblogging from) that this “committing genocide to save the universe” bullshit is something they came up with. That wasn’t the premise of the original Infinity War comic at all. They decided that Thanos killing people for his own selfish reasons wasn’t good enough so they made up this resource scarcity bullshit and – I cannot stress this enough – did not challenge his beliefs in the narrative at all.
Like, we are absolutely supposed to think Thanos is a complicated character and we’re supposed to feel for the pain he’s enduring in his quest to save us from ourselves and seriously, fuck that.
Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on you. Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. Look! The wages you failed to pay the workers who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the innocent one, who was not opposing you.— James 5:1-6
At first I thought this was an angry Tumblr post but then it turned out to be the Literal Bible and it got 1000x better
I could use this as a curse. The words of the bible have enough collective force behind them that I can probably get some decent effect from it too.
Honestly probably just saying it out loud will cause ructions of shock and alarm!
this kinda stuff is exactly why i decided to try to buy as few nestlé brands as possible (they are unfortunately sometimes hard to avoid)
Nestlé is LITERALLY on an obnoxious campaign to privetize access to clean drinking water as we speak. They fundamentally do NOT believe that access to water is a basic human right: they believe that buying it from them is what’s a basic human right! If you boycott only ONE brand for the rest of your life, let it be Nestlé!
This has been a household boycott of my family’s ever since my childhood, because in the 70’s, Nestlé did one of the most disgraceful things imaginable: they went into some of the poorest countries in Africa, gave away free infant formula samples just until the mothers’ breast milk had dried up, and then started charging for it – which of course they couldn’t afford, so literally millions of babies died. You can read more about that here, and more about the history of the widespread boycott against Nestlé here on wikipedia. As for the water campaign, just google “Nestlé water scandal” and you’ll get more results than you can even read. This is NOT a good corporation to be giving your money to!
They also insist on continuing to bottle in areas suffering from drought despite not having proper permits. The state of California, I believe, can attest to this. Not that this at all compares to the formula thing.
I’m afraid that I don’t know, but I probably wouldn’t. I’m a highly mediocre seamstress. I have sewn exactly two things in the past year: a miniskirt with beetles on it, that is extremely Bad, and a “button snake” for the baby, who slapped it out of my hands the minute they saw it.
BUT I know lots of people who do sew and would probably know all about it! And the fastest way to gather information on a topic is to make a slightly inaccurate claim. So I will just post this, loudly claiming that there is NO SUCH THING AS RAVELRY FOR SEWING, and we will reap a rich harvest of corrections.
I had a vague recollection of some sort of discussion on the Ravelry forums about this so I went on over there and searched, and the upshot seems to be that it’s been tried here and there but by sites who want to be sewing-Ravelry now rather than wanting to be like Ravelry when they grow up, thus putting the profitability cart before the developmental horse to a greater or lesser degree.
Two sites I see named in forums are textillia.com and thefoldline.com – I haven’t visited either, and the forum mentions are between six and twelve months ago, so, well. No warranty implied or given, okay?
Our Kickstarter had another great day yesterday, netting over $2000, which is especially amazing considering that we have yet to experience the expected drop-off in donation rates that Kickstarters usually experience after the first three days. Instead, the last two days have been even better than our third day, all thanks to those of you who have advocated for us and shared our announcements around. Thank you, truly.
Now also feels like a good moment to revisit our budget:
Some people have inquired about our estimated expenses for our developers in particular, and I want to explain what our thought process was here. We’ve seen many wonder why we’ve asked for such a small amount and it’s because we have to keep our expectations reasonable with regards to Kickstarter’s all-or-nothing policy. We could have asked for 100k or even more, sure, but then we’d run the risk of only earning say 50k, failing to reach our goal, and not being able to keep any of what we’d raised. We decided on ~$40k as a goal that we’d likely be able to reach, and while we’d ideally like to raise more than that, we couldn’t take the risk of setting too high a bar that we couldn’t reach at all. If we surpass our $39.9k goal, which we hope we can, the majority of the extra funds will go into offering a higher rate and/or more weekly hours for our developers.
Most large social media ventures have a huge team and a huge budget because they go in for venture capital funding, and we have considered that option and decided not to do it, primarily because we don’t want to have the added pressure of having to make Pillowfort into a profit machine to quickly make back the millions that we’ve borrowed from someone else. If we are going to be indebted to anyone we’d rather it be the users who are going to be using our site, and while it’s risky to use crowdfunding, venture capital runs its own risks– it’s worth noting that Imzy, a recent social media platform that many were excited for, received $8 million in venture capital funding and still had to shut down 6 months later.
We know we are taking a calculated risk by choosing to avoid seeking venture capital. But we believe it’s worth it so that we can develop the site with user convenience and efficiency in mind, not trying to earn back the investments we’ve borrowed. We’ve all seen the sites we’ve used, such as LiveJournal and Tumblr, start to make decisions based on profit instead of user experience, and we don’t want to repeat that cycle. We also know that it’s a risk for you guys to choose to fund us, but we’re taking the risk right along with you– we’ve been taking that risk for the last 2 years that we’ve been working on this site for free, and we’ve done that because we believe in what we’re trying to build.
hey so protip if you have abusive parents and need to get around the house as quietly as possible, stay close to furniture and other heavy stuff because the floor is settled there and it’s less likely to creak
socks are quieter than bare feet on tile/wood and for the love of god don’t wear slippers/shoes if you can help it
climbing ON the furniture will disrupt the pattern of your footsteps and make it harder to hear where you are in the house
crawling will do the same and if you get caught crawling you can pretend you fell
the floor near the wall can be really loud if the floorboards/carpet is old and not completely flush to the wall
do NOT attempt to use a rolling chair to travel without footsteps. they are extremely loud and hard to steer
Also. Breath with your mouth and not your nose. Your nose will whistle. Trust me. If you need to get into your fridge, jab your finger into the rubber part that seals the door closed and create a tiny airway. This will prevent the suction noise when you open the door. When drinking liquids (juice mostly), pour out your glass (or chug from the jug) and replace what you drank with water. If it was full enough in the beginning, no one will notice. DO NOT STEAL ALCOHOL. THEY WILL NOTICE IF IT’S WATERED DOWN. Bring a pillowcase for dried foods like cereal and granola. It helps to muffle the sound it makes when it pours.
If your house has snack packs (like gummy bears or crackers or chips), count them every day until you know the rhythm that they get consumed. (This took me a week and a half with my twin brother and sister). Then join the rhythm when you make your nightly visits. It will be that much harder to figure out it was you.
KEEP A TRASH BAG UNDER YOUR BED FOR WRAPPERS AND STUFF BUT DONT FORGET TO THROW IT OUT WHENEVER YOU CAN. BUGS YKNOW. Hope this helped.
I might have some useful info to add.
-a jar of peanut butter is long lasting and easy to hide under a bed or in a dresser drawer. I lived off of jars of peanut butter and boxes of saltine crackers I would buy on grocery trips with my mom.
-two words: Slipper Socks. These are the socks that have rubber designs on the bottom for grip. They make no noise, and also keep you steady on slicker surfaces like tile and wood. You can find them cheap at Walmart. They also keep your feet more protected if you’re outside.
-if you’re secure enough in your room to have a small food stash, make sure you’re not too obvious about it (duh) but also move its location every few days. I kept mine in a shoebox under my bed, then switched it to a backpack in my closet, then wedged between my bookshelf and wall, and I would cycle locations until i moved it permanently to a false-bottomed drawer I installed in my dresser when my father was gone for a weekend. I would NEVER put food directly into my stash after taking it. I would keep it in pockets of my clothes and between books until everyone went to sleep, then I’d stock and stow my stash for the next few days.
-get a water bottle with a filter in it. I used to be able to reach my bathroom from my bedroom door down the hall using a huge step or minor jump/leap. If I was afraid of being caught at night, I’d fill up the humidifier tank we kept under our sink while I took a short shower, and would refill my water that way. It might not be the best option, but I kept a small stockade of water under my bed for emergencies.
-if you can, smuggle your garbage out in your backpack or purse. Dispose of it at work/school. I got caught twice by carelessly throwing away packaging.
-if someone knows the situation you’re going through (close friend/partner/etc) see if there’s a way for them to get food or other supplies to you at school or work or what private time you may get. A hidden first aid kit literally saved parts of my body before and I owe it to a close friend.
-try learning the building’s natural rhythm. The house I grew up in would creak and settle heavily every night for 3-5 minutes. That was my shot, and I had to be QUICK. I still got caught a few times, but learning the patterns in our floors and walls, when they creaked, WHERE they creaked, kept me going. Eventually I was sprinting in slipper socks to the kitchen and back in less than 90 seconds.
-if you have stairs, or live upstairs. Sit as you go down them one at a time, or climb up them like an animal. It keeps you low/out of lots of motion sight, and also can reduce noise and creaking by distributing weight over more than 1-2 steps.
-You can use common hand sanitizer to remove the stains certain snack foods leave behind (coughs cheeto fingers) and a dry toothbrush can help scrub the color off your tongue. If you can get powdered toothpaste or toothpaste tabs to keep on hand, it makes a huge difference in sneakiness.
-I don’t recommend going for dried foods like granola or cereal unless you can sneak it to a secure place to get it. It’s too loud, it’s a gamble every time for something with less caloric intake than it’s worth if you get caught. Of course, there are times when that’s the only option!!
-if you’re taking milk, add water, but be SURE to shake/agitate the bottle to distribute the dairy fat with the water. I got into the habit of shaking milk jugs when I started sneaking it, and explained the habit as something I read in an old comic strip my father showed me. (Back when whole milk had a lot more cream fats and they’d separate, so shaking it would redistribute the cream.) I still shake milk jugs to this day.
-if your windows open or don’t have screens, eat leaning out an open window. Any food mess will be lost in the dirt. I was lucky I had bushes and birds outside that would catch my granola bar crumbs before anyone could notice.
-canned goods are tempting, but not worth it. It requires too many tools (can opener/strained sometimes/utensils/some need heat) stick to thinks like various nut butters (sunflower/peanut/almond), crackers, dried fruit, and easy to conceal food bars (nature valley/nutrigrain/etc.) dried ramen packets are good uncooked if you can stand the texture. Apple sauce and pudding cups are also easier to sneak and stash than one might think, and can be eaten with your fingers. The only canned foods I recommend are condensed soups and precooked pasta (spaghetti-o’s). You can easily mix them with a little bit of hot water from the tap and get something more sustaining than a handful of captain Crunch. The cans are cheap, sometimes recyclable, and drinking soup takes way less time than chewing solid food.
-if you menstruate, attempt to stash pads/tampons in a safe location. Sometimes shit happens. Pads can work as bandages in emergency situations. Sometimes shark week comes unexpectedly. If you can sneak a roll of toilet paper or paper towels, these are also life savers.
-plastic utensils from takeout containers can be hidden inside socks and will be worth their weight in gold when you least expect it. I bought myself a tiny plastic bowl from the dollar store and kept cheap trinkets in it on my desk so it didn’t seem like a bowl I was eating out of. You could try this with something like a mason jar, which is also useful for drinking out of or storing water.
-if you’re eating a crunchy or solid food, try soaking it in water. Mushy food can be repulsive in texture, but I could clock the sound of someone eating a nature valley oat bar from like 6 miles away. Dunking it in water (or using a secret bowl+water) can reduce noise, and also eating time since you don’t have to chew as much.
-keep a laundry bar or tide pen on you. Laundry bars are super useful, a little hard to find though. I washed a lot of stains out of my clothes with laundry bars in my bathroom sink as a kid. Not proud if it, but it kept me flying under the radar at school.
-clear rubber bands, plain twine or string, paper clips, and thumb tacks. Indescribably useful. I once rigged a system to open tricky cabinets and get objects from inside using two paper clips and a foot of plain string like a mock lasso system.
-if you’re pulling objects from tall cabinets, use your chest or stomach to cushion them. Let them fall into your torso and then into your hands cradled underneath. Not as loud, not as much grabbing, if someone sees it they can mistake it for it falling on you by the body language.
-get a bandana. Or four. Napkins, bandages, tool, and accessory all in one.
-get a tiny sewing kit. I’m talking 3 needles and a spool of thread tiny. Scissors if you can sneak it. See things into your clothes. Make hidden pockets or compartments. Threadbanger on YouTube did a video a few years ago about sneaking things into music festivals using tiny clothing mods, but they may be useful in sneaking money or medicine.
-on the topic of sneaking money. don’t take bills, take change. If your abusers don’t meticulously count their nickels and pennies, they’re an easy(ish) way to build up a tiny savings pool. I found nickels the least noticed coin I took, even more than pennies, and taking two every few nights from where they’d be tossed on our countertop soon built up to a semi-reliable fund I passed off to someone to get me food for my stash without having to sneak it from the kitchen. As soon as I became “independent” in my food storage, I was subjected to much less scrutiny. I managed to build up a solid 1-2 week ration supply after hoarding change.
-you can tape SD cards to the inside of book dust covers(the part that folds inside the actual cover of the book), if you have a sewing kit or zipper on it inside the stuffing of your pillow (trim a corner, stuff it inside, stitch it closed) or (this is final resort) VERY CAREFULLY remove the covering from your outlet and tape it to the wall stud before replacing the casing. I kept mine inside part of my wooden bed frame that I hollowed out using, you guessed it, take out silverware knives and 4 nights without sleep.
-THE FLOOR IS LAVA WAS KEY TRAINING FOR ME AS A CHILD. I learned to take pillows with me, climb on furniture to disrupt my flow of movement, toss a pillow down, and use that to cushion any rattle our living room could give off as I crept to the kitchen from the side entrance so my mom’s dog wouldn’t bark or alert anyone. I highly suggest crawling around on all fours like some sort of beast to stay out of sight.
-can you run your house blindfolded?? If you can’t. Maybe you should try to learn. I suffered some heavy eye traumas growing up and had a collective 3-4 months just IN THE DARK. Eyes bandaged, left alone. It was terrible, but damn if I couldn’t navigate the whole place silently, without any visual cues. This helps a lot with the whole moving around in the dark thing, too. Listening is obviously key.
-if your parents start getting suspicious, or you’re suspicious they’re getting suspicious, watch out for traps. String on the ground that gets shifted when you walk on it. Baby powder or flour left to track footprints or doors opening/closing. My dad was partial to wrapping a bungee cord around my doorknob and attaching it to the closet across the hallway. I wouldn’t be able to open my door enough to get out, or if I did, I risked ruining the structural integrity of the wrappings he did, and he would notice.
-learn to tie some knots. Strong ones. They’ll come in handy at one point or another.
-remember that you’re not totally alone. There’s people out there for you. Wanting to make everything better. You don’t deserve what’s happening, it isn’t normal, and you will eventually find help. But staying safe is important, and you are important.
It upsets me that people might need to know these but I know it could really help someone by reblogging
ALWAYS REBLOG
Things that have helped me over the years:
•Keeping a $10 bill on the inside of my phone case for emergencies. My mother will search my wallet and bags but has not taken my phone case off when she takes my phone as of yet.
•stashing loose change I find in the soil of my potted plant. Very quiet hiding place for coins. All bills are quickly confiscated but coins I have managed to hold onto this way
•changing food stash locations constantly. A good stash I’ve found is buried in my mice seed mix. Small packages or granola bars can fit in there pretty easily and the wrappers are flushable (I know it’s bad to flush them but my trash is routinely searched)
• always deleting online traces in case of phone/computer search. This includes search history, forbidden apps, messages, pictures, notes, games, etc. I don’t know how many times I have deleted the tumblr app during the day only to re download it late at night to use it. My phone and computer are constantly confiscated and gone through with a fine tooth comb. I delete anything I might possibly get in trouble for after I use it and re download it when I need it again. Don’t delete all your browsing history though, they will notice if it’s suspiciously empty. Fill it with safe and approved stuff and remove anything you might get punished for.
•learning what each and every door in the house sounds like so I know who is where at all times without having to leave the room
•learning where those ‘sweet spots’ are in the house where you can notice anyone coming before they can see you or what you are doing
•always having a pre-approved cover. I use books and preaching videos as covers. I can hide a phone in a book or quickly switch apps to the one playing the video if surprised or discovered.
• always being aware of ‘the trail’. If I tell a friend something who tells their sibling who tells my sibling who tells my mom I get punished so basically tell no one and it won’t come back to bite you. This includes talking about tv shows/movies that are forbidden, forbidden foods/drinks, activities, apps, games, friends, political views, etc. Express an opinion and it’s bound to reach someone you don’t want it to.
•never take from your abuser’s personal stash of food or money. The family pantry is fair game to carefully pilfer from and so is loose change but never take from their personal purse/wallet, fridge, pantry, or stash. They WILL find out.
•beware of traps and manipulation . My mother will leave money and food unattended and wait for it to disappear. She will also act like she wants to do a good thing and help you out but in the end you will pay for it a hundred times over. Avoid this if at all possible.
• NEVER develop a false sense of security. I have made the mistake of not deleting an app (Pinterest) because there had been a few weeks between phone searches and I felt a little safer. I got caught and severely punished. ALWAYS COVER YOUR TRACKS. Don’t get too confident in your methods, eventually they will find something. Make sure it’s something minor.
I just want to point out that when deleting apps, make sure to check that the app store you use doesn’t record what was recently installed. I know that the Google Play Store does this and allows you to delete things from your history, but I don’t know anything about Apple.
Apple does, in the purchased section of an account, so don’t have a false sense of security for apple apps and always try to use websites with no cookies.
Apps for screeensharing to TVs (such as Samsungcast) also have search tools so if you clear your history you can also use that and make sure to clear it. Just don’t play a video or it might end up showing on the TV screen.
I feel so sad that so many of you guys go through this all the time. Rebooting to spread the word.
Stay safe my lovelies
So, so unfortunately important. Reblogging because I would’ve loved to have had seen this growing up – I figured most of it out on my own, of course, but through an amount of trial, error, and traumatic consequences no child should ever have to go through.
Adding a few tips on my own:
-Train yourself to breathe and walk as quietly as possible. I’ve learned it without even noticing as a child; I inhale and exhale a lot and that allows me to breathe a little every time, the process is soundless. When sick, breathe with your mouth. The slightest sound can be deadly.
As for walking, stay close to walls. I’m basically walking like people who practice dance do (people often call me out for it) and it allows me to move quickly and unnoticed. Heck, it works so well that I can walk right in front of my parents without them even noticing.
-During family reunions, social event or moments when they are really focused on something (tv, book, etc), you may walk, or even “steal” something right in front of their face. Be careful though, it’s not without risk, and you’ll have a lot of trials before getting it right. Do not attempt it if the price of this trick is too high.
All you have to do is be careful of what they can see. They are facing one of your family member who is right next to them? This might be your chance. Don’t enter their line of sight, or do it as little as possible, all you need is a hand to grab what you need anyway. Don’t look at them while you’re doing it, act as natural as possible, don’t rush. It works amazingly well in family reunion, as the fuss in constant. If the objet you want to grab make sounds (like a bag of chips) you got to be careful. Grab them at the edges, and attempt this only when you feel like it’s safe (your parent is focused on something else, is not facing you, there’s a lot of noise, you think grabbing the object won’t make enough noise to get noticed, etc). Try to practice by “stealing” some of your friends stuff, pretend that you’re just messing with them and return their stuff at the end of the practice.
Test your parents; at which point do they notice your presence? All parents are different, you just need to know where you can be cocky. That being said, wearing bright colors or having a keychain that makes sound is not a good idea.
-Try to test what “tricks” work with your parents. For exemple, I learned that avoiding talking with my dad for a few day will allows me more freedom as to where and how far I can go (I needed to go on a reunion on an other city, and he allowed me to go on my own, while he doesn’t want to let me buy groceries down our street most of the time). Avoiding talking to my mom have an other response though; she gets more negligent. Keep track of your little experiment, takes notes if possible, use your phone if they go through your stuff.
-Locking your stuff away won’t work, because they’ll try everything to force it open. Specially if it’s a diary. Creating codes might help you. For exemple, I write World, W ld. Capitals written with capitals, last two, three or four letters written above the first letter. You might need to guess some words if the note isn’t recent, but putting fully written keyword will help you. Those keyword need to speak to you, and not to your parent, this way you’ll be the only one able to read it.
Hope this helps.
My situation wasn’t something I could feel out, as they were completely random in what they found acceptable and how I was punished.
I skipped class and didn’t receive any punishment, but the next time I was caught was brutal.
Things that helped me were far between, but I have a few tricks that worked.
– Crying got me out of trouble often, once it even got me out of a beating for being 1 minute late home. This only worked because I never cried, so shocking them in some way like that could help.
– They’re right, locks don’t work. You know what got my dad to stop making “midnight visits”? Sleeping naked. I have NO idea why, but he stopped coming in after that.
– Layered clothing helps lessen the blows.
– If they’re going off, figure out what helps best in the moment. Silence might make it worse, but crying might help. Unfortunately this is a trial and error system.
IF YOU HAVE TO RUN AWAY.
-Plan an exit strategy.
Where will you go? Don’t tell ANYONE about it. Concerned friends can get you killed. If running into a forest for immediate escape, trees can help.
Don’t sneak off after a fight. It’s not worth it. They’ll be expecting it.
Leave siblings. They might be able to convince the police you were hurting them and kidnapped them.
If you know a pet is going to die because of you leaving:
Practice a silent command for “quiet” for a dog. Bring a leash, extra collar, meat scraps or whatever can tide it over. A dog is going to want to return home. Dogs will also add extra protection if you have to go through the forest. If it barks prepare to run.
If you have a cat WITH a collar, any string will do as a leash. A carrier is slow and cumbersome. Cats are tough, so if it breaks free and runs off, you might not be able to get it back, so a tight grip is needed.
YOU HAVE LEFT AND ARE CONCERNED THEY’LL FIND YOU?
I ran into this issue. It’s a debilitating fear.
Get yourself (if you like) a big scary ass dog. Abusers can punk out when faced with harm. I got a Shepherd and that dog would die for me.
Look for a place with a private driveway that can’t easily be seen. I lived a minute away from them for a year and they never saw me.
You have a car that they recognize? Buy 20 cans of matte black spray paint, tape, and newspaper. New paint job to keep them guessing.
I understand why it’s hard, but I strongly suggest a protective order.
Survive until you can be free. Being broke and alone is better than this.
Frankenuff’s Castle 