It’s always wild to me how much sex gay men have that they have to put out announcements like this, it often feels like monogamy is rare among them based on news coverage (not sure how true it actually is), whereas for my gay trans ass I’ve never even sought casual sex and hadn’t had any since I first transitioned in my teens and subsequently decided my virginity was to be no more, now my only partner is always my S.O., I figured it’d be the norm amongst queer people.
Wild, so they practice polygamy? Gotta say I don’t know any gay men but I’ve never seen lesbians or bis, both cis and trans be anything but monogamous.
Is it an fwb network thing or like proper relationships but they just don’t care who their partner bangs on the side? I’m genuinely curious, not trying to come off as insulting.
The internet? These people had these views long before the internet was even invented, you just know about it now.
If anything the internet has massively amplified progressive voices by making information so free, over half of youths today in countries like the US and the UK claim to be socialists, such a thing would be unthinkable even 20 years ago.
If anything the high degree of manipulation of media is a normalisation of the internet’s disruption to the status quo.
The left needs to stop blaming tech because we are all leftists discussing this here thanks to tech, and public projects like the internet as well as the open source movement and the information-sharing they facilitate is the #1 thing actually protecting women and minorities from laws like these.
These people have always existed and held these opinions. Many, many people are just awful, ghoulish bigots, and while they shush to be polite in person, they make it heard at the voting booth.
If you want to pin the blame on something, you have to detangle modernity and technology from corporate and institutional abuse of these things or you’re just a neo-luddite and you have more in common with these folks than you realize
That’s not what he said though, he said it wasn’t shared to the same quantity, which is easily demonstrated by looking at total internet traffic stats as well as % of households with a connection and the type and speed of that connection over the past 30 years.
But this is a chicken or the egg problem, don’t you see?
They didn’t become radicalised, they started voting, so at least to some extent, perhaps one they themselves were unaware of, they already agreed with everything Trump says, with things the GOP stands for, nobody made the choice for them to do this, they gravitated towards this stuff because they always had shitty views, but they weren’t politically active.
The answer isn’t to pretend politics doesn’t exist or blame the printing press for printing or people for discussing politics, the answer is… well idk the answer. Maybe a civil war, casus beli being extermination for wrongthink? it’s at least more likely to happen than a global revolution leading to corporations losing control of algorithms and social media, idk what else at this point, humanity is fucked, most people are bloodthirsty as hell, active or not.
Yeah I DIY all the time, and I didn’t ask anyone to do anything for me, but usually when you tell someone it’s good to do something, it is good to specify what it is exactly you want them to do, so they can do it by following instructions at least using them as a jumping off point.
The issue I have is everyone parrots this organising and community stuff but no one ever specifies:
What the practical purpose of this is and how or if it benefits anyone? Generally people will team up with strangers for some mutually beneficial specific goal, not a vague reference to political theory they’ve never heard of, what is this goal here?
What constitutes a community in this sense (a definition would also be a good start, people throw this word around a lot, i.e. the “gay community”, the “trans community” but it is clear there’s no such thing, this is only used to avoid saying “trans people” by the press)
How to start and/or join a community. What’s is/are the website(s) where such communities are advertised? Especially in non-American countries? Or if it requires interaction IRL, what is the socially acceptable way to do so, because it is not really acceptable (or gets people onboard) to go talk at random strangers on the street and is a good way to get the police called on you.
Unless all those things and much more is elaborated on at length, then the call to action doesn’t really specify what the action is. You can absolutely go donate food to the homeless but it has zero to do with any community, just go buy sandwiches at the store and hand them out and feel good afterward, so that’s what I’ve done before, but this community/organizing stuff seems to go over my head.
Forgive me if I’m being dense, but I’m starting to think that either the phrase “organize a community” has some sort of inherent meaning I am simply unable to comprehend (perhaps it makes more sense in closed suburban housing in America where people talk to and know their neighbours, unless that’s just in movies), or it has no meaning at all.
No, I’m from the UK. There was an anarchist fed in London that ran a solidarity cafe at a gay club during the day, though eventually shifting to mostly zoom calls, but it closed because no one went there, probably because they just had Facebook and a mailing list and finding them organically online was almost impossible.
I’ve lived in London, UK in dense urban housing, the only time I’ve ever spoken to anyone in the area was when a neighbour below had a water leak caused by the floor caving in underneath what could only very charitably be called my bathroom.
He could barely speak English and seemed to be living in the same squalor studio but with a family of 4, he was a man and like 20 years older than me.
Then I moved out to a flat in a smaller town, very suburban, closest shop was like a 10 min walk. I don’t think I’ve seen a single person ever speaking in public apart from groups of university students, whom I wouldn’t want to approach for fear of being accused of being a groomer (I’m trans and besides that frankly I would’ve kept my hand firmly on my wallet if some adult approached me out of nowhere when I was in uni), and 50 year olds out on the town either with kids or just getting lunch for work.
I tried to organise with my neighbours once to get the landlord to install some sound insulation, but I asked them to at least stop blasting the music from speakers at night at their daily house parties of 20-30 people (they already lived in a house share of 6, packed like rats) in the meantime, which apparently crossed a line and caused a conflict that endured for years and involved attempts on their behalf to scam me into paying their energy bill by going to the landlord.
All other attempts at talking were met with gaslighting and aggression, I had to resort to discussing it with the landlord because I was worried they were gonna cave in the ceiling with their attempts at smashing things at their floor so I’d give up and leave, fortunately a guitar amplifier aimed squarely at the ceiling blasting the X-Files theme throughout the night got them to stop and we are now in a temporary cease-fire.
That’s probably the closest to earnest human communication I’ve experienced with a stranger. Fwiw I don’t think I’ve ever witnessed anyone else talking to anyone else like that either, in fact I’d say by sheer coincidence I’m the only person I know who even has seen their neighbours.
Closest my best friend got was an auto-generated emaul from their landlord’s agency filing a noise complaint on behalf of neighbours when we both could’ve sworn their place was empty of furniture, nevermind people.
He doesn’t “do politics”, and when I prompted him, he didn’t seem to even understand what the word meant or how policy would even relate to anyone’s day to day life. All he follows is K-Pop and gadgets. I only know him from school, the rest of my friends are my exes.
Some anarchist I am, huh?
When it comes to friend circles, either people are exactly as radicalised as I am in theory, but don’t bother with any praxis because they don’t know what to do either or are so incredibly depressed by even broaching the subject they avoid it altogether, apart from maybe donating to the green party or more realistically some weird debate streamer, or some of the more far removed acquaintances don’t understand politics and probably couldn’t even name who the current prime minister is, all they care about is football and maybe if they’re nerdy - FIFA on da Xbox with the lads. Nevermind politics, even basic history usually escapes them. Maybe they’ve gone on twitter once to look up their favourite brand and now say Trump seems like a charismatic funny guy.
A friend of mine used to say that about Putin - that was the extent of her political opinions that and being “kind”, despite the fact I repeatedly told her it’s not very nice when I’m a literal refugee from Russia thanks to the guy.
A mutual friend of ours did get radicalised eventually - she became a nazi, not like rightoid or alt-right but dead on “dear leader” hitler-loving nazi and excitedly once showed me a portrait of some SS guy she drew which she expected me to like despite knowing I was trans, (later, she offered me to try meth with her, which was funny but not actually that odd since we did drugs together all the time) we used to at least have stuff to talk about though because she seemed to at least think actively about the world, even if her conclusions to almost all problems were invariably some form of eugenics and “more white people”, even public transport would be solved with this, according to her.
When it comes to the workplace, I think we used to have some vaguely political discussions, but as my immigrant status hinges on maintaining a job, and it’s in tech - for what has now been acquired and is now managed by an American multinational and with that brought the attitude of that culture, I tread very very lightly.
Needless to say, the alienation is brutal. Most people generally seem like a different species, I think me and my cat have far more in common than I do with any people, whether it understands Kropotkin or not. People and events seem procedurally generated, they appear just as randomly and quickly as they disappear, no one seems to have more than 2 lines of dialogue.
Even outside of politics, most everything I am deeply invested in is something seemingly no ordinary person has ever even heard of, at least on the internet people seem real, hivemind af sure, but not as atomized. Maybe in the US people are just way more engaged with this stuff.
Thanks for linking that post, it’s a neat story, but it seems to start in medias res of having already organized an entire event, not exactly helpful instructions wise, but inspiring for sure.
Oh I’ve definitely done things like that for the homeless. But it doesn’t really do anything about organizing or creating any sense of community, which is what I was asking about.
Those people are gone the next day, and a fresh batch replaces them. I don’t think I’ve ever seen the same person twice.
If I ever even saw any neighbours or had any evidence to them existing, how does mowing their lawn bring about any political aims exactly? They’re just exploiting my labour then, not that I’d know how to mow a lawn or do most other house tasks as I’m not a homeowner.
Besides, I think showing up to some house unnanounced to strangers and offering to help with “tasks” will be met with a call to the police because they’d suspect I’m either trying to rob them or sell them something.
As for coworkers, most people are outsourced contractors who either don’t speak English, or do but live overseas. I think I’ve seen my direct coworkers twice IRL, they are all each from different countries.
I do know what wilful ignorance means, and this ain’t it, because you’ve failed to explain anything that applies, so I am not being willfully ignorant, but I am completely ignorant to what you’re talking about as you’ve failed to explain it, and what’s worse you’ve decided to come back with insults etc.
I think as most people I am here to learn and interact with like-minded people, but as you can see by my upvote count, it is highly likely that I’m not alone in this situation, so if you want people to actually do any of this, you’re gonna have to chill with the condescending tone and gatekeeping of being a public good and actually explain what you mean by any of this “community” or “organizing” shit or how any of this is meant to work in practice.
I think all properties are owned by overseas landlords and investment megacorps though, finding housing is impossible, and the local council is powerless, they can barely even collect the trash piled up outside so space might be an issue. There are no public spaces here and those few that exist need explicit permission for anything, and I don’t think that will be allowed if there’s even a hint of politics, not that rich homeowners with a garden would be onboard for any such thing.
Also I think knocking on doors will result in a “what do you want?” followed by a “fuck off I’m not buying”, rather than anything useful.
I know queer people, who maybe know some other queer people they’re friends with not because they’re queer, but there isn’t any community, and they’re spread across the country, few and far between.
They have no interest in any community. I’ve tried to organise a thing for us all to meet up, but no one is interested. Everyone needs money, they have phones for making themselves feel better. Most either don’t understand politics at all, or much of anything in general.
Advertise on Facebook
Cool, i’ll give this a go, see if I can get some kind of trans support group going. Cheers.
I’m sorry but it’s pretty clear that by the upvote count I am not alone in this. The left is ineffective, this is why.
Come off the high horse and enlighten us bud, how does one go from no strangers have ever spoken to one another in public to some mysterious Hollywood fantasy of “community”?
Thank you for such a detailed answer! It’s very helpful!
Perhaps it is simply not a thing in this country/area or I don’t have the right connections for it as I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a “queer event”.
It would be great if I can find such a queer community, as I don’t know any other queer person who is aware of such events or communities if they exist, and if not, perhaps I can get to organising them. I’ve def never heard of a queer punk band, nevermind show, nevermind trans being a thing in the UK sadly, with the current political climate I doubt that’s a thing. Seeing other queers IRL and perhaps talking politically with them is exactly what I need.
I’m in South East England. There’s a weekend market here, but it’s all organized by the council and such, it’s not something mere mortals can really influence. Other than that while entertainment here is sparse, I think most people just stay inside the home. I wouldn’t call this a rural community, it’s a small town, I’m not sure if it would be harder or easier if the population was in the hundreds instead of hundreds of thousands.
Thanks for linking that! I’ll check it out. I’m pretty outgoing and social, at times it seems the only person in the world who seems to be okay just chatting to people, but I also want to get it right, so it’ll be good to read up as much as possible before any action.
I connect with some people just fine, and I’m not low on mood or anything, I’m a pretty thick-skinned in this regard so I don’t think it’s me really. All of this, as shitty as it is, I don’t let it get to me, I huff the green utopia flavoured hopium
I think it’s just this country sadly, as the other poster mentioned, every single person I’ve connected with is either from another country originally (or still) or has more of a global cultural outlook thanks to the internet.
True honestly, I’m not a Briton originally, and the people I’ve made the best connections with aren’t either, or are heavily global in culture thanks to the internet.
As for what I want to do I’d love to organize some kind of thing for queer people, immigrants and maybe other outsiders, in my perfect fantasy of a community I picture outdoor activities, maybe hikes or bicycle rides or longboarding or some such, and facilitate culture sharing exchange and just a place to get to know people, who may be one day able to help each other with mutual aid and whatnot as well as organize ways we could all pitch in and perhaps help the unhoused etc, all in an unofficial manner, under no banner as simply good samaritans if that makes sense. Doing that, with other like-minded people - I think would be as close to paradise as one could reasonably expect in our time.
That’s so cool! Very jelly. Would you mind sharing how you found all these communities when you moved around?
I’m very surprised a guy from London was gobsmacked by this, London if anything was the most alienating of them all and I never found any communities there either.
Odd tbh, the only flyers and stickers I saw was Snapchats for buying weed and the occasional TERF one.
The only record store I saw was operated by two elderly men who seemed extremely irritated at the fact they had customers and especially me (store’s in Notting Hill), and low-balled harder than pawn stars (I needed money to get to work once so had the misfortune), they also seemed to be part of a chain.
At speaker’s corner I def saw political orgs too, but it was either anti-vaxxers/anti-maskere or TERFs usually.
I did find one cafe in Islington with pride flags, but there wasn’t anything besides that, certainly no “bulletin boards” and the coffee was the most disgusting swill I had, don’t think I’ve actually seen an independent book shop that wasn’t Waterstones or WHSmith in my 8 years living there.
Only thing I saw close to a community centre was a mormon church, which was never open, but often had entertaining crazy spiceheads outside of it that would chase people down the street on occasion.
I guess it depends on the area. I was also advised to look on Facebook, which is a good idea as I’ve never been on there before. Thanks for sharing your experiences.
P.S. Btw just to avoid confusion in the future: “City of London” especially when capitalized in this way as a specific name is actually a bit different from “London”: it’s a district within London en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_of_London semi-autonomously operated by the CoL Corporation, judging by you mentioning Speaker’s corner I think you meant just London en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/London which is the stuff around the City of London.
Yeah we def had. And Aaah fair enough about the City. I’ve not lived in the City, only in North London, for a long time quite close to Hyde Park so I’m pretty familiar with speaker’s corner.
I do remember also seeing pro-Russian war protestors by Bayswater next to the Ukrainian protesters outside the Ruski embassy once. It was pretty funny because between both groups there were like 10 people total and most people just went around them silently ignoring them like typical Londoners about everything, occasionally granting them with a tut
So is this just a paedo’s charter, since the whole reason we have sex ed that early is so kids know if something being done to them is wrong?
Oh wait
The Telegraph also reported that the guidance will make clear that “gender ideology” involving discussions regarding changes of gender is a “contested subject”, and that teachers must say that there are two biological sexes."
CDC warns of new mpox outbreak, urges vaccination (www.advocate.com)
Yet another Republican comes out against no-fault divorce (www.motherjones.com)
Old XKCD, still relevant (lemmy.dbzer0.com)
Was trying to extract a totally legit copy of Skate 3 I downloaded today to play on my Steam Deck
community is punk (slrpnk.net)
No sex education in schools 'until children are nine' guidance to say (inews.co.uk)