Negro Matapacos (“Black Cop-Killer”) was a famous stray dog from thestreets of Santiago who joined student protests across the city from 2010, and in particular during the 2011 movement for free education.

he was a stray dog from the streets of Santiago, and began joining student demonstrations in 2010. The following year, one of the biggest social movements since the fall of the military dictatorship began, fighting for free education and against neoliberal reforms to the education system.

Negro Matapacos was then seen regularly at every demonstration, defying tear gas and water cannons and always barking at or attacking only the riot police, and never any students or rioters. He subsequently continued to appear sporadically at future demonstrations, and hung out on university campuses, becoming beloved to student and radical movements as a symbol of resistance to violent authority.

His last days were spent resting with people who took him in, with a crowdfunded veterinarian.

Some people who knew him sent us some of their memories of him, telling us how he defied tear gas and water cannons, and only ever barked at or attacked police officers, and never students or rioters.

After his death, his legacy lives on in songs, street murals, an award-winning documentary and in the memories of all those who knew him. He was a good boy.

Megathreads and spaces to hang out:

reminders:

  • 💚 You nerds can join specific comms to see posts about all sorts of topics
  • 💙 Hexbear’s algorithm prioritizes struggle sessions over upbears
  • 💜 Sorting by new you nerd
  • 🌈 If you ever want to make your own megathread, you can go here nerd

Links To Resources (Aid and Theory):

Aid:

Theory:

  • President_Obama [they/them]
    ·
    2 years ago

    When 'they' is used as a singular pronoun, it'd make grammatical sense to use third person verb conjugations as well. I don't really see people do this though? Can any native speakers weigh in?

    (Example: They walks to the car. They sees a friend.)

    • jabrd [he/him]
      ·
      2 years ago

      That sounds incredibly wrong to my ears and, because English is a language governed by vibes instead of rules, is therefore incorrect usage

      • President_Obama [they/them]
        ·
        2 years ago

        Right that's what I thought as well, but at the same time it's kind of odd to use a singular pronoun with plural conjugations for the verbs. Wasn't sure if this was a thing the :british-maw: & :amerikkka-clap: has already sorted out or not

        • ClimateChangeAnxiety [he/him, they/them]
          ·
          2 years ago

          Unfortunately there is a solid correct answer, and that answer is to use the plural conjugations even though you’re talking about a singular person, which is dumb and stupid and genuinely makes it more difficult to use singular they for people

    • ClimateChangeAnxiety [he/him, they/them]
      ·
      2 years ago

      I’ve always said this, and the only reason it’s wrong is because the vibes are off and it sounds wrong.

      Most English speakers don’t consciously know how their language actually works at all, but can absolutely point out when something is wrong

      • GreenTeaRedFlag [any]
        ·
        2 years ago

        It is a wildly inconsistent language, so you just have to go off of vibes. I have studied multiple languages and can understand why they walks might be appealing, but they walk simply looks and sounds better.

        • ClimateChangeAnxiety [he/him, they/them]
          ·
          edit-2
          2 years ago

          It’s so interesting to me that even though no one consciously knows the rules when you hear it you know instantly. Like only one of these is right:

          The big bouncy red rubber ball

          The red bouncy rubber big ball

          And if you speak English you instantly know which is which

          • GreenTeaRedFlag [any]
            ·
            2 years ago

            I would probably say it big red bouncy rubber ball.but yeah it's such a weird language.

            • ClimateChangeAnxiety [he/him, they/them]
              ·
              2 years ago

              That’s what I put the first time and I second guessed myself. So I guess my own instincts aren’t that good. But definitely the second one is more wrong.

              • GreenTeaRedFlag [any]
                ·
                2 years ago

                It wasn't far off, and had cool alliteration. English is such an order dependent language people just blue screen if I ask "The pepper and salt may I have?"

      • ClimateChangeAnxiety [he/him, they/them]
        ·
        2 years ago

        But they isn't replacing I, it’s replacing he or she.

        He walks to the car

        She walks to the car

        They walks to the car

        But that sounds very not right

            • jabrd [he/him]
              ·
              2 years ago

              It’s a plural pronoun being applied to individuals. If English was more strict with its grammatical rules it wouldn’t be correct usage to use they for singular individuals at all

          • ClimateChangeAnxiety [he/him, they/them]
            ·
            2 years ago

            It is always correct to say “they walk to the car” whether it’s singular or plural, according to the rules of English.

            But that’s dumb and stupid and makes using singular they for people’s pronouns harder

    • GreenTeaRedFlag [any]
      ·
      2 years ago

      You're right from a pure grammatical similarity perspective, but English is inconsistent and vibes based. It sounds wrong so we won't do that for at least a generation. A faster and better solution would be to import a foreign pronoun for a singular individual which is not gendered(not necessarily neuter as that can be dehumanizing, and removing the possibility of gender isn't always correct where ambiguity could be), but anglosphere did too much colonizing so we won't need to borrow a word or have it forced on us, everyone speaks our tongue.

      • President_Obama [they/them]
        ·
        2 years ago

        It's fine and feels right to use "they are" anyway, just wanted to make sure it wasn't like, a thing to insist on "they is" for NB acceptance.

        • GreenTeaRedFlag [any]
          ·
          2 years ago

          I guess non-binary people can weigh in on that, I'm just giving my linguistic perspective. I'd probably change if asked.

          • President_Obama [they/them]
            ·
            2 years ago

            Well that's why I asked here, woke native English speakers everywhere. I don't speak English in my daily life, so I'm not aware of pronoun discourse.