Well, someone has to do the terrible work of being the devil’s defense lawyer.
you know, i was just thinking about the term ‘devil’s advocate’ and how we’ve kind of lost sight of what it’s for.
we mostly see it in the wild, as it were, used by douchebags to mean “i need attention and i’m too chickenshit to admit i’m bigoted, so i’m just going to pretend i’m trying to tear down progressive discussions as some kind of intellectual exercise, rather than because my shriveled, wrinkly ego is threatened by basically everyone on earth.”
in a formal argument context, though, like debate clubs or the legal system, it’s a helpful service to make sure you haven’t left any holes for your opponent to exploit. playing the part of devil’s advocate also helps you understand the other side of an argument, which is necessary to effectively oppose it.
(at least, in court it is. here on tumblr you apparently don’t even need to know what someone is accused of to prosecute them, you can just use accusations interchangeably and people will believe you because they’re afraid you might have enough friends for a harrassment campaign. remind me again why tumblrites think they’re progressive? cuz they sure act more like a wild west lynch mob, from what i’ve seen.)
anyway, being the devil’s defense lawyer isn’t terrible work. it’s important work.
because it makes certain the police did their jobs properly when arresting him, so his conviction will stick.
because it sets a baseline that says, look, even the devil gets due process, so don’t even think of denying it to that other guy just because of how he looks.
because, in a way, it says to the devil: “we’re not like you. we follow our own ethical and legal rules even when we’re having angry feelings. we’re not a mob, we’re a nation.”
kurt vonnegut wrote, “I can think of no more stirring symbol of man’s humanity to man than a fire engine.” well, i can, and it’s these words: “if you do not have a lawyer, one will be appointed to you.”
Day: August 23, 2017
If you missed Intersex Awareness Day yesterday, don’t worry! You can still share this phenomenal infographic made by our youth advocate @hannlindahl! Thank you so much for all the work you do for the intersex community, Hann! We are so proud of you!
Painfully aware, through the recent terf/radfem bullshit, that people are misinformed about intersex people.
This is really important to understand, not only because it helps explain why sex is not as simple as people make it out (and why sex and gender are different, in this usage) but because babies have for many years been surgically assigned one sex or another which complicates gender identity later. There is a strong movement to NOT assign intersex people to a gender in infancy, which is one of the reasons we need a nonbinary gender designation recognized at every level of government. Because currently such things are assigned based on genitalia, having a nonbinary option widely accepted would very much help intersex children. At present, Oregon is, I believe, the only place in the US that allows a birth certificate to be generated without designating a child male or female, and recently started issuing driver’s licenses with an X designation rather than M or F, but until passports and Social Security records catch up, intersex people and nonbinary people are all a bit stuck when it comes to making sure all documentation agrees, which can be significant in some situations.
the thing about childhood emotional abuse is that the parent/abuser molds (intentionally or not) a child into the victim they want. they program the child, sometimes from birth, to be attuned to unspoken threats, invective, and demands, learned from the abuser’s pattern of behaviors. this can make the abuse extremely difficult for a child to identify for themselves or to outsiders. one look or one seemingly benign comment – unremarkable to anyone outside the abusive system – can invoke an entire history of abuse. one subtle cue from the parent can cause terror and shame that seems out of proportion in the moment, but is perfectly reasonable within the context of the long-term abusive relationship… and that hyper-responsiveness/vigilance in the victim is in fact a goal of the abuser (whether conscious or not).
it can be really hard to explain emotional abuse; it’s more obscured and insidious than physical abuse. that’s actually built in to the abusive system; it’s a feature. if you can’t explain why one look, comment, or other cue from a parent sends you into a panic or shame spiral, it’s not your fault and it’s not just you. take that feeling you have as sufficient cause to do whatever you need to do to protect yourself. the threat is real and your boundaries are justified.
What I mean when I say “I can’t do that”- Anxiety Version:
- I am unable to do that
- I am too stressed out to do that
- I cannot face the humiliation of attempting to do that
- My body will physically not allow me to do that
- I am on the verge of a panic attack
- I cannot do that
What people hear:
- I am unwilling to do that
- I am just shy
- I am overreacting
- I am lazy
- I need to get more experience in social situation to help my anxiety
- I need a push
- I don’t want to do that
Never hit reblog so fast in my life
Also, it can mean “doing that is technically possible for me, but would take an embarrasing (to me) amount of time and be exceedingly difficult, so I’m setting boundaries.” It’s okay to refuse to do things that are painful even when they’re technically possible.
How do y’all eat your bananas?
1-5 anything else is gonna be baked or ice cream or smoothiefied1-6. 7 or 8 maybe if I had a strong craving. Anything past that is inedible unless mashed and used as an ingredient in something
Noah fence but 1-5 is unripe you ignorant fucks
4-7, 8 is pressing it.
6-9 maybe 10 if I can throw out the brown
How y’all eat hard/unripe bananas lol?….8-11. 12 if it’s the last one and I’m like ‘fuck it’
You eating more brown then banana at 10🤔🤔
6-15
8-10
0 tbh I don’t care for bananas
6-11 preferably, maybe 4 or 5 if I’ve really had a hankering. My fil eats them at straight 15
but past 11 they’re bread or muffins
A Tip for Book Lovers
If you go to libraries and if you shop at Thriftbooks (both of which I recommend) then you may already know this fact. But if you don’t, let me enlighten you;
These places are breeding grounds for BED BUGS.
No this is not me telling you to stop. No this is not me calling that places dirty or gross. This is just the consequence of book sharing. Because these books trade hands and houses in a wonderful and perfect system of intellectual freedom. And I think that’s beautiful. But when a book trades houses that many times it’s prone to pick up something. That something is usually bed bugs.
Due to their natural structuring, books are ideal homes. And once a book returns to the library or the warehouse, these bedbugs wiggle out and find more places to burrow and breed.
And here’s another fun fact. Unlike ants, bed bugs are not social insects. They don’t like each other. So if you think you can just put down a single trap and catch them all, you’re wrong. They don’t work like that. If you poison one, it won’t go home and do a secret handshake with a hundred other of its friends. It’ll just die. If you kill one, you’ve only killed one.
Why am I telling you this? To scare you? To ward you away? Of course not. I’m just here to make sure you’re aware AND to introduce you to something that could save you a shit ton of grief.
The moment you bring the book home or take it out of its packaging, PUT THAT FUCKER INTO THE FREEZER.
NO. THAT’S NOT A JOKE. MOVE THE LEAN CUISINE OUT OF THE WAY AND POP THAT SUCKER INTO THE FREEZER!!!
Extreme cold and extreme heat kills bed bugs. And since we’re not Trump and holding book burnings is generally looked down upon, we do the next best thing. Freeze it. No, it won’t damage the book. A few days in there will only leave it cold and bug free. But if you’re worried, pop it into a large Ziplock before you do.
Read safe and stay bug free, my bookish friends! 📚📚📖
Holy shit that’s good advice
Take it from a survivor…. Bed bugs are a world of grief you want no part of.
If you want to be absolutely sure, you can even bake them in a low temp oven first before freezing them. (This can mess up the binding of some books though. The glue starts to melt.)
Also, from someone who spent HOURS AND HOURS covering each book with PLASTIC, this method will literally make any librarian HATE YOU. We spend hours covering each book. The plastic is very very thin and even a long time in the sun can fuck it up. It crinkles and unsticks and melts easily. And replacing it is near impossible. You’ll fuse the two together and make the job really difficult for us. If you find a bed bug, freeze the book, and then TELL THE LIBRARY RIGHT AWAY. WE HAVE THINGS. AND IF WE DOING, WE CAN CALL THE RIGHT PEOPLE!!! It’s easier to shut down a building and spray some shit than it is to replace all the books people might throw into their oven. Plus, it’s a fire hazard. And that glue, when heated, can be TOXIC. Don’t put your personal health at risk. And don’t make libraries hate you. Don’t. Please. From a former library worker who still has muscle memories of covering books.
DON’T.
Do Your Fucking Research *Nicki Minaj Voice*
Wow… Lmao.
Some people threw white paint on it a few years back.
They want to be a victim so bad.
Fun Fact: That’s a statue of the fist which Joe Louis used to knock out Max Schmeling, Hitler’s favored heavyweight boxer in 1938. Schmeling won the 1st bout by knockout in round twelve, but Joe Louis came back in the follow-up match and laid him the fuck out in the 1st round.
Fun Fact: Schmeling was hated by the Nazis for losing to a black man and for having a Jewish manager, and he hated them right back, stating in 1975 that he was glad he’d lost the fight because the thought of the Nazis using him for propaganda purposes sickened him. He also personally saved the lives of two Jewish children and later became lifelong friends with Joe Louis.
So maybe don’t refer to him as “Hitler’s favored heavyweight boxer”…
Urocyon's Jaunts 2.0 