Post script: if I had posted this on Twitter, even in the olden days, people would already be here telling me how "unattractive" it is to call yourself beautiful.

I am the biggest proponent of doing self work, of healing yourself, & of learning to exist harmoniously with other people.

So if that's "self-improvement," great, but this whole thing where if you're not constantly striving to be "better" somehow (skinnier, fitter, wealthier), you'll turn into some sort of unlovable slob? I'm not having it.

Fuck that shit. That's meaningless nonsense. You don't have to prove your worth, dear one. You're here. That's enough.

The narrative that you must be constantly "improving yourself" is pushed so that you don't try *improving society*.

People in my right-wing community twisted themselves into little rage knots over hearing the phrase "you're perfect the way you are." Then they pretended to laugh while saying "what could be more ridiculous than loving yourself?" and high-fived each other like they'd made an actual point.

"the Left hates beautiful women."

No, they don't. People like me, & I'm fucking gorgeous.

"No, you can't be beautiful, you're fat."

Yeah, fuck off. You're the ones who hate beautiful people. *Clearly*

Spoke to my friend who lives near St. Cloud, MN yesterday. Shit is awful there too. They also have a large Somali population so ICE is there harassing, brutalizing, & kidnapping people.

They said it was weird being scared to go get coffee from the convenience store like they have done every weekend for years, because who fucking knows? You don't have to be doing fucking *anything*. Just have them think you're following them, & they'll be dragging you out of your car.

This is so fucked.

My little bro decided to confront the fam (really our older siblings, but in the context of the family group chat) last night with "here's what's really happening in my neighborhood in Minneapolis."

Haven't heard much from any of them except for oldest bro saying he was at a work event & would have to wait until he was off work to respond.

I know oldest bro has a capacity for care & empathy. He's hoping he actually accesses it—for the sake of a relationship with little bro at least.

Emotions themselves are neither good nor bad, but they *are* powerful. Especially anger. It has some uses we need right now.

Many of us were literally told there were things we were *not allowed* to be angry about. That is authoritarian control. People "above you" do NOT get to tell you what you may or may not be angry about.

A few days ago I posted, "you may have had your anger stolen from you as a child. If so, you should find it & get it back."

I'm entirely serious about that. A lot of us were trained as kids that the people in charge of us could be angry, but we needed to be quiet & submissive in the face of "authority".

No. Your anger is yours. Your anger is powerful. Find it. Harness it. Direct it.

It was taken from you because it gives you power.

@inthehands
I suppose it's probably just been too cold & windy for them to do much of anything for a few days?

God. I am so fucking angry. All of my love to the people of Minneapolis. Keep resisting. Keep protecting each other. Keep documenting & bearing witness. This is absolutely awful, but there is beauty & joy in the love & support I see people showing each other.

All power to the people. Solidarity forever!

Ok, neurodivergent friends, does having to sit/stand upright in public impact your energy calculation for, say, a night out with friends?

When I am tired, I tend to melt into a puddle, & it's kind of stressful knowing that if I'm out at a restaurant, I'm going to have to continue to sit properly & upright no matter how tired I get.

Is this just me?

RE: https://dice.camp/@artemis/115928749884003294

Ok, yes, actually I need to bring this up. Has anyone else noticed this happening?

I swear it's to the point of people going "haha! Silly Trump! Doesn't he know Greenland belongs to *Denmark*? 😂"

Like wtf is that colonizer bullshit?

Actually Fedi, do me a solid. If there are any Greenlanders on here I should know & be following, let me know.

I know just enough about Greenland to know that I don't know nearly enough.

Non-violent direct action is still *disruptive*. The point is to gum up the works & make it difficult for oppressors & complicit parties to continue their usual business.

If we are going to get anywhere at all, we are going to have to learn to be a lot more comfortable with creating disruption.

Frankly, a lot of Europeans and Canadians talking about Trump's obscene threats of violence seem to be reacting with shock that he is threatening to do to white people what the US already does to brown people in other countries.

It wasn't okay before either. America loves to start wars & kill people, & that's BEEN true.

But frequently it was in browner parts of the world, & frequently it was *with the help & cooperation of your governments too*.

You draw the line at Greenland, huh?

Don't talk like Canada hasn't been a faithful helper in American Imperialism.

No, it's not fucking right, the threats being made. And guess what? I have Canadian family going back literally hundreds of years. I think I actually qualify to be a Canadian citizen myself (gotta get that taken care of). I'm not hating on Canada.

I'm just saying, colonizer nations aren't innocent. Period.

The things we actually need to do to put a stop to the US's reign of terror are not polite, nice, or safe things, & I suspect a lot of the foreign liberals criticizing us for our supposed "inaction", would not actually support us doing the things it would take to make lasting change.

I think the person responding angrily to this a) only read the first post & b) assumed that when I said we couldn't win by trying harder that I was saying we shouldn't try.

No, I'm talking about timelines & I'm talking about *methods*. A lot of the people saying angry things about Americans right now end up coming back to wanting us to vote out oppression or protest until it goes away, neither of which works, no matter how hard we try.

If Americans had the ability to change our government simply by "trying harder", it would have been done already. We would all have healthcare & food to eat at the very least.

That's not how this goddamn works, & it's weird seeing cozy liberals in other countries talking like it is.

For one, y'all are doing genocides too. Looking at you, Canada. You need to get right with your indigenous population, because your governments & your "law enforcement" are still perpetuating a genocide.

It's not so fucking easy to stop violent oppression. It doesn't work to just say "stop doing this to us".

We're fucking working on the resistance. We're working on what we can do to end cycles of violence.

Stop hating people for not being able to immediately & unilaterally end oppression. That's not how any of this fucking works.

Patriarchy has to go because so much of the violence these ICE assholes are doing traces back to their feelings of inferiority as men.

They don't have successful relationships with women (or anyone). They don't have the skills or social ability to get "good" jobs & keep them. Many can barely even read.

They feel inadequate & instead of rejecting the system of oppression, they become its servants in the vain hope of gaining "respect" as "real men". Their rage is almost infinitely exploitable.