Activism, Social Justice, Protests and you: The Political Discussion Containment Thread

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Activism, Social Justice, Protests and you: The Political Discussion Containment Thread

Post by Jenner »

This is a thread about discussing activism, protests, and things a person can do to act for change and progress.

Why we are doing this and why is this thread necessary? Basically, you have to get political sometimes and many of us no longer have the luxury of neutrality. I can't speak as much for outside the US, but there has been a frightening rise of white nationalism and fascism across the world and my country in particular is already knuckle deep in fascism and well on its way to becoming a full blown fascist police state.

Before I go on, a disclaimer:
This is not a thread for talking about how much people organizing to defend their basic humanity upsets you. Or how inappropriate you think it is that people are angry and marching. Or how offended you are when the oppressed complain about being oppressed. Or about how non-minorities will be, at worst, mildly inconvenienced by equality. LunarNET is foremost a Lunar-centric gaming site, but we still have forums to talk about other things. There're hundreds of other non-political topics you can post on; this thread doesn't change that, and no one is forcing you to read it. You don't have to come in here mansplaining with your hot takes. You can post literally anywhere else.

Now then...

This poster is displayed at the U.S. Holocaust Museum. See how many you can check off then ask yourself how many checks there needs to be before it's fascism.
Image

If you want to fight this sudden overt push for fascist, misogynistic, anti-Semitic, Islamophobic, homophobic, xenophobic, racist, white supremacist, etc. agendas, you need to understand that these people don't care about the truth. They're telling their supporters, and you, what needs to be true for them to achieve what they want. They're telling you who is or will be under attack. And so we're clear, nothing they say is a distraction from some other, more important, thing because everything is an attack, and everything is important.

We can't collectively pick and choose one issue over another, because everything unchallenged is another foothold for them -- we don't have the luxury of living single issue lives. And when Donald Trump or any of his talking heads, GOP or Democrat or whatever, spouts some garbage, it's fine to point out what they're saying is false or terrifying, but also always remember to mention who they're targeting.

About things to do...
  • Remember self care, take time for yourself to recharge and rest because we are under constant assault. You can't fight a forever war, you'll burn out. It's okay to stop for awhile.
  • Go to town hall meetings and be seen and heard by your local, state, and federal representatives. This is the most effective method of putting a face and voice to the humanity that they are trying to deny you.
  • Call or mail your representatives. Our politicians have already said how the immensity of calls is overwhelming and I hear Donald Trump literally disabled the White House phone (so we started calling his hotels and stuff.)
  • Volunteer with an organization that promotes your interests, for me it's disabled rights and women's rights, though I also care about all the other things (Black Lives Matter! No person is illegal! No Dakota Access Pipeline! Etc) but I am only one person and can only do so much.
  • Donate to an organization to help, I recommend CAIR, the ACLU, the Southern Poverty Law Center, Planned Parenthood, RAINN, the NAACP, Black Lives Matter, the National LGBTQIA Task Force, the National Center for Transgender Equality, the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund, the National Immigration Law Center, the National Immigration Forum, the International Refugee Assistance Project, and the Black Alliance for Just Immigration. But there are many others.
  • Post. Tweet. Blog. Protest. Speak out however you can. Your voice matters, your story matters, you matter and you are important. You might not convince the people against you with your words and actions but that's an incredibly high victory condition. Your words, your support, and your visibility aren't just for your opponents, they're also for the people being oppressed and victimized, so they can SEE that they are not alone. And they're for the people on the sidelines, so they can see humanity at work. And, most importantly, it's for you. So that you can know in your heart that when this crap came down the pipe you said, "No, never again" and resisted. That you know where you stood in the biggest civil rights battle in our generation. That if people ask you what you would have done during the abolition movement, or the civil rights movement, or woman's suffrage, or Stonewall, you won't even have to hesitate to wonder. You'll know. Because you're doing it now.
  • Finally, for God's sakes vote. There is an election every damn year in my state, and even these tiny community elections can have a huge impact on your day to day life. So find out when your local election is and vote. Vote in every election. The mid term elections are coming up on November 6th in 2018 and we need to vote these fascists or fascist enablers out of office. If there is nobody worthwhile to vote for find someone who is and encourage them to run and vote for them, or run yourself. Primary the current GOP and weak Democrats. Campaign for your candidate and vote the fascists out. Over 200 House seats are going to be up for grabs on November 6th 2018, if we organize we just might be able to take the House and there are enough Senate seats up for grabs that I think we could take the Senate too. Let's try! It's important!
I'm going to be posting more in this thread with more specific things to do as they come up. But also the Women's March has an entire site dedicated to how to resist right here.

And a final repeat of that disclaimer:
I want to make it clear, again, that coming into the thread and complaining that people are protesting and demanding their equality (no matter how you dress it up), or telling people who are oppressed or facing discrimination that they have it all wrong, is not what this thread is about -- and it's absolutely pointless.

Because none of that is new. We've been forced to have this goddamn debate for 150+ years and the arguments are the same, just with different words and other minorities filling in the blanks. I'm not interested in humoring or entertaining it any further. I'm not interested in having yet another thread about social justice being derailed off topic by certain people who demand that we explain why we want equality, or basic realities like how inequality exists in the first place. There are plenty of other sites where you can complain about SJWs and you're welcome to make your own thread here. Just don't be surprised if it spins off into intolerance and hate speech and gets locked or deleted, because that -Dragon Diamond- isn't welcome here.

And, I really don't want this thread derailed. I'm a bit mad at myself that I took the bait and nuked Arlia in the last one and I'm not gonna mess around with this one. It's not personal and I love you all.
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Re: Activism, Social Justice, Protests and you: The Political Discussion Containment Thread

Post by Jenner »

Ok I'm moving onto specific things now...

So, the Women's March was pretty great, but not without some issues that have come to light and that we are working through. It started as a white woman's Facebook post that went viral. Luckily some folks got their hands on it and reached out to the black community and got them involved. They also got Linda Sarsour involved and she rules. In general the Woman's March, in spirit, started out for white women and became about all women. In practice there were some hiccups, there were reports of racism towards the people of color and the indigenous people who showed up and brave folks who dared to point out that it was white women who elected Trump were hassled a bit.

Image
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Fact: White people elected Trump.

There have been several other protests since the Women's March such as the Muslim Ban protests at airports and at the White House which drew massive crowds with less than a day of organization. There was also the Day Without Immigrants. The next upcoming protest is the Day Without a Woman also known as the Woman's Strike on March 8th of this year, which is International Women's Day. I wanted to talk a bit about this upcoming protest and the upcoming Science March scheduled for Earth Day.

Day Without a Woman / Women's Strike (March 8th, 2017)

Day Without a Woman

While it's not the case for me, because Kizyr is awesome and does more than his share of housework this is not the case for most women. In general, the bulk of household chores are performed by women. If you are interested here is a link of the groundbreaking article by Pat Mainardi about this, entitled The Politics of Housework. And here is a blog post by a man who realized a little too late what his laziness was really saying entitled, She Divorced Me Because I Left Dishes by the Sink.

Additionally, the woman is often doing the the majority of the emotional investment in keeping the relationship running and maintaining connections. This is called emotional labor and it is work. Here's a link to a metafilter thread about unpaid and obligatory emotional labor if you're interested. And Here's a link to a pdf version of that whole thread condensed for easier perusal.

If you are a woman and you are going to strike on March 8th I strongly recommend a total strike from all the labor you perform and that is often taken for granted. Don't just strike from your paid job, but strike from housework and emotional labor as well. Bonus points if you are a mother and can also shrug all child care off onto your children's father that day because child care is another job that is performed predominantly by women.

Science March (April 22nd, 2017)

Next I wanna talk about the Science March scheduled for Earth Day (April 22nd.) I have been hearing some troubling things from minority academics that the Science March is shutting out minority voices and representation, people imperative to the field, and focusing only on the much regaled STEM fields while doing the whole condemnation of the humanities thing. They claim the whole march is being dominated by white people who are mostly men and that the movement has made no outreach towards minority academics. When called out, the movement has only gone on the defensive and told these individuals to come to them. These minority people say they did approach organizers and were blocked and dismissed.
Here's a link to a storify of the whole thing.

This is looking very bad, and if the Science March doesn't pull its head out of its ass soon it's not going to bode well for the message they wanna send. Science isn't just for white people and it definitely isn't just for white men. As it stands, unless I hear something good out of the minority academics as the movement nears its due date it's highly likely that I'll not be marching in this protest. I'll let you guys know.

Feel free to talk about your experiences with activism and such in this thread and any other stuff of that nature
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Re: Activism, Social Justice, Protests and you: The Political Discussion Containment Thread

Post by Kizyr »

BTW, here's a guide I've been regularly updating -- whenever you're looking at all this and wondering "what can I do?":
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... edit#gid=0

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Re: Activism, Social Justice, Protests and you: The Political Discussion Containment Thread

Post by Sonic# »

Both Jenner's list and Kizyr's link have good, practical advice for being involved in the political process. I think they hold true no matter the issue and no matter your larger political affiliations.

Voting matters, but it's just a start. At least in the US, representatives have to take communications from their constituents. (The New Yorker has a great article on What Calling Congress Does. It also acknowledges things like e-mail, paper letters, and the like.) Then local politics is where a lot of important but overlooked policies are born. Just pick an event or action and set aside a bit of time to try it. If it helps, find ways to be positive (thank your representative if they did something well) as well as critical. (Anecdote: the assistants at John Lewis's congressional office apparently sound surprised when thanked.)
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Re: Activism, Social Justice, Protests and you: The Political Discussion Containment Thread

Post by Alunissage »

The news about the science march is troubling, but completely unsurprising. The lab I work in (as admin support; I'm not a scientist myself) has always been fairly diverse (at one point I was dealing with hiring paperwork for people of six different nationalities, including Iranian and Nepalese), but I know that's more the exception than the rule, and also that a lot of that filtering out of women and minorities happens at the postgraduate level and beyond, when the faculty positions aren't there or aren't offered.

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Re: Activism, Social Justice, Protests and you: The Political Discussion Containment Thread

Post by Jenner »

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Re: Activism, Social Justice, Protests and you: The Political Discussion Containment Thread

Post by Kizyr »

Sonic# wrote:Voting matters, but it's just a start. At least in the US, representatives have to take communications from their constituents. (The New Yorker has a great article on What Calling Congress Does. It also acknowledges things like e-mail, paper letters, and the like.) Then local politics is where a lot of important but overlooked policies are born. Just pick an event or action and set aside a bit of time to try it. If it helps, find ways to be positive (thank your representative if they did something well) as well as critical. (Anecdote: the assistants at John Lewis's congressional office apparently sound surprised when thanked.)
All of this is very true... What I put together is based on my experience in DC over the last 15 years, including knowing many people who've worked on campaigns, on the Hill, or in the White House (...previous administration). Your advice is also valuable -- just thanking the people working the offices and phones goes a long way, since they're often working really hard and have to deal with being on the front lines with constituents (which is why thanking them is doubly important when you disagree with your representative).

I do want to mention two things I often recommend against: (1) don't call Senators/Representatives outside your state/district (unless they're on a committee, in which case use the committee's number and not the rep's) -- they don't log calls from non-constituents and it ties up the lines for other people; and (2) emailing -- this is typically the least-responded/most-ignored form of communication. Instead, the things that are most effective at getting heard are: (1) in-person contact (at town halls or local events, and even at their main offices if you can manage it), (2) calling, and (3) physically writing. Already this is having an effect; I've seen it with my own reps at the state and federal level.

Oh, and Virginia also has a major election every year. I've been repeating this often since it's worth repeating: 2017 is the Governor's race plus VA House and Senate; 2018 is the US Midterms; 2019 is again the VA House and VA Senate; etc.. This doesn't even get into county-level races and special elections. (...and I'm looking into being more involved at that level too.)
Alunissage wrote:The news about the science march is troubling, but completely unsurprising. The lab I work in (as admin support; I'm not a scientist myself) has always been fairly diverse (at one point I was dealing with hiring paperwork for people of six different nationalities, including Iranian and Nepalese), but I know that's more the exception than the rule, and also that a lot of that filtering out of women and minorities happens at the postgraduate level and beyond, when the faculty positions aren't there or aren't offered.
Yeah, this just brings up so many of the issues I have with academia as a whole... I've seen some very good and well-run, ethical labs, including ones that are good at being inclusive and promoting people of diverse backgrounds. Unfortunately, I've also seen a lot more circumstances where advisors are able to basically exploit the students working for them (since students' years of effort, sometimes ability to even stay in the country, hangs entirely on their decision), a lot of mild to severe harassment (from just forced overtime to much much worse) that'd quickly get someone fired in the corporate world, and a real resistance, especially in science and engineering, to accommodating women entering the field (especially if it's already male-dominated, or if you want to have a family -- which applies to men and women, but mostly used to exclude or disregard women). (I know I'm probably preaching to the choir here.)

In my case it was a significant reason I didn't want to go into academia. That and I would've been going into economics, which... would've been difficult considering my (now-significant) disdain for theory-laden academic economists.

There's also the extent to which I hate the disparagement of the humanities. (Really, the only reason economics isn't counted in the humanities and sociology is, is because economists have managed to convince more people in power that our theories are more worthwhile and profitable. It wasn't even until recently that our field became more reliant on real data, and even then there's so much resistance -- especially in academia -- to relying on math and data instead of hypothetical thought experiments and arbitrary numbers.) I'm hoping that the Science March takes note of if and how it's perpetuating these problems; until then I'll just continue to clap back at folks' disparagement of the humanities or belief that somehow they have the luxury of being apolitical when one party has adopted a decidedly anti-science and anti-intellectual stance. KF
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Re: Activism, Social Justice, Protests and you: The Political Discussion Containment Thread

Post by Jenner »

A Mod named FluffieDuckie made a list on Something Awful that I'm just gonna steal word for word because it's really good:
Here's their list. If you have other resources please post them and I'll add them to this post:

https://www.indivisibleguide.com - These guys are getting huge and very active. I'd say they're a good place to start

https://www.moveon.org - Has been super active. They don't just have petitions to sign, they've started hosting "Resist Trump Tuesday" protests every Tuesday so you can look up protests in your area to participate in. They've also partnered with some other groups for larger initiatives and hold conference calls on Sunday nights to talk about accomplishments and areas of focus going forward.

https://www.wall-of-us.org - you can sign up to receive weekly emails with actions to focus on (letter writing, phone calls, etc)

https://www.grabyourwallet.org - is a group who is boycotting businesses who financially benefit the Trump family

https://www.swingleft.org - This group is focusing on swing districts for the 2018 elections. You enter your zip code and they assign you to your closest swing district. So far they're in their organizing stage so they haven't had any work for us to do, but as we get closer to the election there will be action items to do to help win those seats back.

https://www.solidaritysundays.org - is a great group for feminists against trump. They have local groups all over the country that meet one sunday a month. It's a great way to meet like minded women who can become your protest buddies.

https://www.townhallproject.com - lists upcoming representative's town halls

https://www.resistancecalendar.org - Tries to collect major resistance events actions from all these different groups into one location.

https://www.Roganslist.blogspot.com - You can sign up here and get regular emails with phone calls to make, postcards to send, and interesting things to read

https://www.countable.us - Follows and reports on what congress is doing in a way that even a politics newb like me can follow.

https://www.5calls.org - Gives you 5 suggested calls to make every day. They even include the phone numbers and a suggested script to make the call easier

https://www.peoplepower.org - if you like getting in on the ground floor of something this is your project. The ACLU is starting a group of grassroots volunteers to take the fight "not just to the courtroom, but to the streets". Their first initiative is to encourage your cities to become "freedom cities" to fight ICE.

https://www.flippable.org is focusing on getting more democrats in state level positions.

http://www.peaceisloud.org/small-victories/ - for when you're getting burned out and think we're not making progress

https://www.americanprogressaction.org/ ... e-near-me/ - a comprehensive list of resistance events in your state.

https://www.popvox.com/ - if you sign up to be on their newsletter they send non-partisan weekly summaries of US government activities.

if you're a meetup user, meetup has set up resist groups in 1000 different cities. anyone who joins can add local events. you can find your meetup group here https://www.meetup.com/pro/resist/

-----

My intent with this thread is for us to share our efforts to help encourage others to get involved. Please share what you're doing, even if right now it just involves watching anime and eating swiss cakes.
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Re: Activism, Social Justice, Protests and you: The Political Discussion Containment Thread

Post by Jenner »

Plagiarizing FluffieDuckie again:
If you want to file an ethics complaint about a federal employee (say for example Sessions) the correct way to do that is by fax. they won't take telephone calls

you can use http://www.faxzero.com to send a free fax

Send to: DOJ Inspector Michael E Horowitz
Fax #: 202 616 9881

Name of Offending Employee: Jefferson Sessions
Date of Offense: 1/10/17
Location of Offense: Congressional Hearing
Offense: Lying under oath
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Re: Activism, Social Justice, Protests and you: The Political Discussion Containment Thread

Post by Kizyr »

Hey, I'm putting up a quick guide I initially posted to Facebook (which is itself a shorter form of my longer activism guide) here to spread it a bit more... Once again, full guide is here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... sp=sharing

First a brief introduction. This is directly meant to answer the "what can I do?" question that so many people have. I realize that the question really is an expression of two things: how to do more than just voting or whatever other action(s) you may be engaged in right now, and how to reconcile the desire to do more with limited time and resources. And, I believe there is a lot that almost everyone can do.

The idea behind this list is to start where you feel comfortable -- at "calling your reps", "marching in demonstrations", "donating to orgs", or elsewhere. Get into a habit of taking that action and the ones before it (on the "less time/resources" side of the scale). Once you're more comfortable, push yourself a little and try to do more -- if you can, fantastic; if not, keep at it where you are. This list isn't definitive, but it's good for anyone stuck wondering what to do or how to do it.

Here it is, starting with what requires the least time/resources (1) to what requires the most (10).
  1. VOTE: Vote in every election. Learn when there are upcoming elections for your county and state (these are often mid-term or odd-numbered years, like the 2017 election in Virginia that will determine the governership and state legislature) by going to your county's or state's board-of-elections website. Mark the dates in your phone and set reminders. And seriously, vote in the damn midterm primaries and elections (like 2018), not just the Presidential years.
  2. CALL: Call your Senators and Representatives periodically, anywhere from once per month to once or more per week. Check https://5calls.org/ to find out whom to call (including names and numbers), and what relevant bills/resolutions you can reference (if applicable); they even have sample scripts. (My guide also has other tips for calling your reps.)
  3. ATTEND: Attend town halls and similar events hosted by your Senators and Representatives. Follow their Facebook page to get notifications on when and where they'll be, set a reminder in your phone, and then show up. Once there, you can listen, meet with like-minded people, and/or pose questions directly to your reps.
  4. MARCH: Attend marches and demonstrations when they arise on issues you care about. Follow groups on Facebook and join some email lists to find out about upcoming ones, and mark them in your calendar. These can be small ones organized in short order (such as the ones against the Muslim Immigration Ban), large ones with more planning (such as the Women's March), or local ones (such as shows of solidarity at a local house of worship).
  5. SUPPORT: Support your friends, family, and neighbors, particularly those who are vulnerable and facing difficulty. This can include being a good friend, periodically checking in on them, reaching out when you need help yourself (especially as you yourself may also be facing difficulty, so don't count yourself out), and generally letting folks know we're not alone.
  6. DONATE: Donate when you can or set up recurring donations to organizations dedicated to fighting oppression and bigotry, and to political candidates (at the local, state, and federal level) that you support. Examples include the ACLU, SPLC, IRAP, and CAIR. Examples also include local charities and organizations in your immediate area. (My guide has a lot of these under the "Organizations" tab.)
  7. SPEAK: Speak out on issues that concern you, and in response to when you see people (or yourself) being targeted or harassed. Do some research to make sure you can recognize immediately when someone (including yourself) is being harassed (as even if you've been in that situation, it's hard to realize when it happens in the moment quickly enough to react). Don't be afraid to write posts on Facebook expressing your feelings (and delete/block posts/people who harass you in response). Look into writing letters to the editor in your local paper.
  8. VOLUNTEER: Volunteer at local organizations or local chapters of large organizations, dedicated to fighting oppression and serving people who are vulnerable. Follow the organization's Facebook page or sign up for their email list to get regular announcements of upcoming volunteer opportunities.
  9. ORGANIZE: Organize marches, demonstrations, petitions, or other direct actions. At this point you are taking more independent action, and so you'll need to do your own research to figure out what comes next.
  10. RUN: If you're extremely dedicated and have the resources, you can also start running for office. Start local -- city, county, or state legislature -- and go from there. Remember you're focused on your community first.
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Re: Activism, Social Justice, Protests and you: The Political Discussion Containment Thread

Post by Jenner »

I hope everyone's keeping fired up. I've got a big post about The Tax March and white supremacy (not related) coming up as soon as I'm done editing it.

If you've got the time I'd like to ask you all to call your representatives about protecting Net Neutrality and check 5calls to see if there are other issues you'd like to call about. 86% of the calling is being done by women, by the way.

Judges keep slapping down and blocking Trump's racist witch hunts.
Trump's Copy and Paste directly from Nazi Germany VOICE department is getting flooded with prank calls reporting crop circles, flying saucers, alien abductions, etc. And, best of all, from some Native Americans calling to complain about crimes on their people by outsiders. Nice.

We're going to the Climate March today and I haven't slept yet.
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Re: Activism, Social Justice, Protests and you: The Political Discussion Containment Thread

Post by Mog Dragonheart »

Should we start worrying about the Islamophobia after the manchester bombing?

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Re: Activism, Social Justice, Protests and you: The Political Discussion Containment Thread

Post by Mog Dragonheart »

I've been striving living my entire life to be unequal to everyone around me. I always aimed to win at everything I do. I always aimed at the top grades in class. I always aimed to be better than everyone I meet if something piques my competitive edge. Now-a-days I want to earn more money than everyone else. Are you saying I've been doing it all wrong?

The early sign of fascism is when the Common People begin to violently demand more Government control over our Free society.

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Re: Activism, Social Justice, Protests and you: The Political Discussion Containment Thread

Post by AlexHiro4 »

Jenner wrote: Before I go on, a disclaimer:
This is not a thread for talking about how much people organizing to defend their basic humanity upsets you. Or how inappropriate you think it is that people are angry and marching. Or how offended you are when the oppressed complain about being oppressed. Or about how non-minorities will be, at worst, mildly inconvenienced by equality. LunarNET is foremost a Lunar-centric gaming site, but we still have forums to talk about other things. There're hundreds of other non-political topics you can post on; this thread doesn't change that, and no one is forcing you to read it. You don't have to come in here mansplaining with your hot takes. You can post literally anywhere else.
Lol. Wow. Basically, people aren't supposed to comment on this post unless they completely agree with your viewpoints. Got it. :lol:

I have no desire to actually discuss politics with you guys anymore after that ridiculous circus of a thread regarding the women's march on Washington. I simply wanted to make a sarcastic comment. Mission accomplished. Have a great day. :lol:
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Re: Activism, Social Justice, Protests and you: The Political Discussion Containment Thread

Post by Kizyr »

Well, to be fair, suffering from oppression and fighting back against it isn't morally equivalent to denying that the oppression exists or complaining that pointing it out makes one uncomfortable. It's not a "two sides of the same coin" kind of thing here -- much like if someone started a thread talking about having been assaulted or robbed, we don't need to hear the assaulter's point-of-view to present a balanced argument.
Mog Dragonheart wrote:Should we start worrying about the Islamophobia after the manchester bombing?
That's always been in the background, but the anti-Muslim bigotry doesn't seem to need a "catalyst" anymore to sustain itself. Absolutely nothing can happen and people still act out. ...I haven't noticed anything particularly worse about the last few weeks though.

BTW the Pride March(es) were last weekend in DC and several other cities. Those were rather good, at least around here.

Though in other news, the Senate GOP is attempting to push the AHCA (including the dismantling of protections of the ACA) without discussion or debate this week. Especially folks in states with Republican Senators should be calling their representatives about this. For all the whining they did about the ACA being passed through quickly (which is false... that was after months of debate and the full text plus summaries were all publicly available during that time) they're sure keen to push this through as quickly as possible without any review. KF
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Re: Activism, Social Justice, Protests and you: The Political Discussion Containment Thread

Post by Imperial Knight »

The House version of the AHCA consistently polls near 20% approval. The Senate of course won't say what's in their version but it seems it won't differ substantially from the House version. I'd be happy about them being so desperate to pass such a dreadfully unpopular bill if it didn't mean over 20 million people were going to lose their health coverage.

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Re: Activism, Social Justice, Protests and you: The Political Discussion Containment Thread

Post by Alunissage »

AlexHiro4 wrote:
Jenner wrote: Before I go on, a disclaimer:
This is not a thread for talking about how much people organizing to defend their basic humanity upsets you. Or how inappropriate you think it is that people are angry and marching. Or how offended you are when the oppressed complain about being oppressed. Or about how non-minorities will be, at worst, mildly inconvenienced by equality. LunarNET is foremost a Lunar-centric gaming site, but we still have forums to talk about other things. There're hundreds of other non-political topics you can post on; this thread doesn't change that, and no one is forcing you to read it. You don't have to come in here mansplaining with your hot takes. You can post literally anywhere else.
Lol. Wow. Basically, people aren't supposed to comment on this post unless they completely agree with your viewpoints. Got it. :lol:
There's actually quite a range of possible responses besides "completely agree" and "derail into how offended/hurt/inconvenienced you are by other people's activism." Including no response if you have nothing to say.
I have no desire to actually discuss politics with you guys anymore after that ridiculous circus of a thread regarding the women's march on Washington. I simply wanted to make a sarcastic comment. Mission accomplished. Have a great day. :lol:
Mission of showing yourself to be an unfunny jerk also accomplished. Seriously. This is on a spectrum with (not the same as) trashing things to show you can. It's really not a good look on you.

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Re: Activism, Social Justice, Protests and you: The Political Discussion Containment Thread

Post by Kizyr »

...well, given the attacks on Muslims in London and the girl murdered last week in VA (which was close to where Jenner and I live, and near one of the mosques I attend) I suppose the last few weeks *have* been worse.
Imperial Knight wrote:The House version of the AHCA consistently polls near 20% approval. The Senate of course won't say what's in their version but it seems it won't differ substantially from the House version. I'd be happy about them being so desperate to pass such a dreadfully unpopular bill if it didn't mean over 20 million people were going to lose their health coverage.
They've finally released the text. I will post summaries later when I have time, but the main features are major cuts in Medicaid (which will cause people to die), shifting more costs to state and local governments, enabling states to back out of requiring insurers to accept people with pre-existing conditions or cover essential health benefits, enabling insurers to charge more based on age, dropping the individual mandate penalty, and cutting taxes (most for people above the 200k/year range).

...so no, not very happy about this. KF
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Re: Activism, Social Justice, Protests and you: The Political Discussion Containment Thread

Post by Imperial Knight »

To clarity, I wasn't attempting to make light of the real-world consequences of this legislation (which will be catastrophic). I'm just amazed that they're planning to go through with this when the politics are so unfavorable, with the last note being a reminder of what's really important here. That is, millions of people (including children) losing their coverage (or being forced onto worthless plans) which means people dying, being crushed by medical bills, etc.

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Re: Activism, Social Justice, Protests and you: The Political Discussion Containment Thread

Post by Imperial Knight »

Sorry for the double post, but the CBO score for the Senate bill is out. Highlights:

-Compared to current law, 22 million people will lose their health coverage by 2026 (House version was 23 million).
-In the next year alone, 15 million people will lose their health coverage.
-Next year, 4 million people will lose their employer insurance.

This bill is absolutely monstrous.

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