Notices by Max Pearl (pearlbear@social.overlappingmagisteria.org)

Please, white people on the #Fedi: if a BIPOC person says that they have been mistreated and bullied here, don't say shit like "must be your instance, pick another one." That's not the right answer.

I'm finding it fascinating that from the left Harris is getting a lot of criticism for having been a prosecutor and having jailed lots of people of color, and from the right, she's being criticized for being soft on crime, in favor of defunding the police, etc.

From my perspective, her history as a prosecutor and attorney general is pretty mixed, but on balance, especially compared to others who have held those positions, I think she was fairly progressive.

I want this to be totally clear. "DEI Hire" isn't just shorthand for Black (or not white.) It contains the assumption that people who aren't white are inherently inferior and, thus, inherently unqualified. Therefore, any person saying this is a white supremacist racist full stop.

I love the #Fediverse. I have interesting conversations with interesting people. Some annoying trolls, but mostly hasn't been a problem for me. I love the variety of new #fediverse tools (I'm all in on @bookwyrm)

My problem? An extremely tiny percentage of the people who are significant in my life are on the #Fediverse. So I'm sticking around, but realizing that, even though I don't want to, I'm spending more time on corporate social accounts because of those social connections.

Ultimately, it's social connections that is why I'm on social media in the first place. If I didn't care about either of those things, I don't think I'd bother with corporate social media.

Which is why the whole argument about #Threads and the #Fediverse feels so fraught to me. There are more people I care about on #Threads right now, believe it or not, than here. Do I trust Meta? Jesus Christ, no. But I'd rather interact with those people here than there.

@gwynnion I agree with this, and I think the Democrats serious lack of attention to housing affordability is the linchpin. If anyone working full-time could afford housing right now, things (like the record low unemployment) would feel much different. The problem is, Democrats are capitalists, and ultimately, capital always wins. I don't know how to change that equation.

I actually think that any county where 2 adults working full-time minimum wage can't afford a place to rent should ban short-term housing. (Right now, I'm assuming that's most counties - it certainly includes where I live.)

I like AirBnBs mostly, but I think it's time to force the hotel industry to compete with places to stay that have some of the same amenities.

Hawaii ban on short-term vacation rentals moves forward in state legislature https://abcnews.go.com/US/hawaii-ban-short-term-vacation-rentals-moves-forward/story?id=109043795

This bolsters my own pet theory: there is no such thing as "neurotypical" or "neurodivergent". Humans have a spectrum (or clusters) of behavioral patterns, and they are all useful and functional, and it's only the modern industrial age where "normal" was defined as behavioral patterns that mean people can be successful in modern environments.

https://www.sciencealert.com/adhd-traits-may-have-evolved-to-provide-foraging-advantages-study-says

I feel personally attacked by this cartoon.

If it sometimes looks like it's trans people vs. Black people on the #Fedi, that's just not true. Some of us are both, and it's not fun feeling stuck in the middle. And it's also a false narrative. It's Black people working to create a safer space, with some real resistance.

@youronlyone #Pixelfed: Share pictures. #Friendica: create community. #Mastodon: have conversations. #Bookwyrm: share your love of books. #WriteFreely: Blog with friends.

This is a really interesting study. When Black newborns are cared for by Black physicians, their "clinical penalty" that is the difference in mortality from white newborns is halved.

What's fascinating, if you dive in, is that this is despite the fact that Black physicians tend to have higher caseloads, and also tend to serve more underresourced patients.

Things that make you go hmmmmm...

https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1913405117

HT: @TheRaDR

I will not knowingly use #AI generated art, content, music, etc. I don't want to encourage the replacement of people's creative talent. I'm not even going to experiment with it. I want #AI to sort my email usefully, or figure out how to schedule meetings with multiple people, analyze enormous datasets, etc.

Anyone on #friendica? Server recommendations?

The @rapidblock tool looks amazing. I admin a tiny instance, just for me and a few people I know, so this isn't imperative, but I'm hosted on @mastohost, and I can't find a way to bulk import these domains. Anyone know of a way?

@timnitGebru
I have to admit that your posts on Effective Altruism lead me to some googling and reading, because I wasn't familiar with them. Oh, my. Frankly, the name itself is just full of hubris. And is there a discussion on what measures of "effectiveness" actually mean, or is it just more white savior stuff? Sigh.

I've been reading and thinking a lot about what's been happening on #mastodon around questions and issues of #racism, #moderation, #contentwarnings, etc. I have a few thoughts.

First, I'm old. I mean OLD. My first internet experiences were as an adult academic in the mid-late 80s. As a Black person (and at the time, a woman) it was not unusual to be met with micro-agressions, harassment, and incredulity when I was online.

Thus, I have never expected, nor found, truly safe space online. 1/

That said, I have found, and relish, safer spaces. And I have tried to work toward fostering those spaces. I was on #mastodon in 2018, but spent little time here, primarily because few of my peeps were here. But I did enjoy browsing, and I also did notice how white it was.

I wish that we had not spent so much investment in corporate social media so that these conversations could have happened earlier. They might have been able to have been addressed more fully with some spaciousness. 2/

But here we are, Muskyman has created a situation of urgency, and this has to be dealt with. So...

1) If you are white, please shut up when #BIPOC folks talk about their experiences. Just fucking listen. Don't explain, or minimize, or ask for proof or examples. We are the ones who are targeted.

2) There definitely isn't a #BIPOC consensus about the use of CWs for #racism. If you are white, and don't want to see racism, do some self-examination. You are not the target.

3/