Join the picket line if you have time. Order pizza/coffee or whatever else if it can lift morale. See if you can organize a teach-in about labor rights, about Amazon/Bezos abuses, or historical Teamsters Ws.
Morale is the most important thing on a picket line, and it is also the place where people learn solidarity and raise their class consciousness the most. Any amount of support means a ton.
I will always stand with teamsters and join their pickets if they are in my town. The teamsters stood with my union and didnt make deliveries to our boss when we were on strike and i will never forget that.
So much of the "soft patriarchy" comes down to "provide and protect", as if just those two aspects are wholesome as long as we strip it away from violence. But violence and domination are always going to sneak back in to further the mans provider and protector status. How can i provide if i dont dominate and exploit at work to further my career? How do i further my career without the wife in her proper place, supporting me? Protecting my family sounds nice, but what does that even mean? Because to so many people i grew up with, it meant protecting the virginity and purity of your beautiful daughters, and protecting the neighborhood from "undesirables"
So i recognize that a ton of my insecurities are rooted in my desire to "provide and protect" and my shame that i "fail" in this regard. My wife is a breadwinner and i have been only partially employed the past year. Our living situation isnt as good as it "should be" because i cant bring home enough money to buy a piece of land. What is "protecting" my wife but imagining potential harms and getting prepared to do unnecessary violence?
I dont think it is inherently bad to provide and protect, but also, to remember that these are universal desires that arent owned by men, and means more than "making a lot of money" and "being ready to shoot at intruders". I want to provide for my wife when she asks me for a cup of coffee. I want to protect my community from bigots and fascism. I want to spend more time with mutual aids that provide meals for the community. And just as a "man" wants to provide and protect, women do as well, but that is just called "motherly love". Living in an LGBTQ neighborhood, i cant ignore the painful past of lesbian women providing and protecting for their gay comrades suffering from AIDS.
"Rather than defining strength as “power over,” feminist masculinity defines strength as one’s capacity to be responsible for self and others."
This quote says all i need and more...before even being responsible for others, we have to be responsible for ourselves. This means self care, taking time for health, and continuing the practice of emotional openness. And being responsible for others - doing what i need for my family, and keeping an eye on my community to see how i can help address their needs. But again, this doesnt just mean "buy a gun and get ready to shoot at homophobes and ICE agents". Thats just reverting to a different version of patriarchal masculinity. A nicer version that stands for a good cause, sure, but the most important thing for me now is to focus on what i can do for myself, loving myself, and trying to give that love to the next layer outside of myself.
I am a dumb idiot that doesnt understand how money works. But here is my basic meaning by "no growth needed"
When every chinese citizen is in a comfortable home. All commodities and energy necessary for domestic consumption are produced sustainably with zero emissions. There is a set amount of work left to do annually (maintaining infrastructure, producing those commodities) but as time goes on the labor hours required to meet domestic consumption needs continues to reduce. In this scenario, you are saying China needs to maintain export surpluses to keep their cash reserves as needed. But isnt the end goal of CCP to achieve communism? And at this point why wouldnt they be transitioning towards true communism? Why would pension funds be needed when housing, food, and healthcare can be guaranteed to every citizen? Why would they continue to export, other than the required amount to get goods and raw materials that cant be gotten domestically
Dumb question - what happens when there is no growth left/needed by the chinese people? Right now, any growth is good as it allows them to alleviate poverty, but eventually all chinese citizens will have a good standard of living. Does China value growth above all else, or will they eventually work to prioritize automation and lessen working hours?
This wont come until the middle of the century, but i fear a scenario where foreign investment grows to much and neoliberalism has a stranglehold on China. When the population is out of poverty, infrastructure is solid, and net zero is reached, China can focus on moving towards achieving communism above all else. As we know, the neoliberal reliance on GDP growth would make a transition to communism impossible and economic crisis inevitable.
I've written in past threads that there wasnt much "violence" from my father, outside of a "normal" level of spanking. He definitely could be emotionally abusive at times, mostly through subtle belittling.
But what he did have in full force I believe is a need for absolute control, and the ability to lash out when he couldnt get it. Usually, he searched for control of the trivial, and this is where i see myself. Things like what brand of something we buy, where we shop, the thermostats setting, where stuff goes away - things that i dont even communicate openly but find myself irked when random stuff isnt how i wouldve liked it. If I can blame my mother-in-law, im especially angry (i harbor resentment toward her, and i am trying to see how my patriarchical thinking feeds it). And especially if my wife makes decision involving finances, i am resistive and dont trust her. I dont "lash out" except for just becoming irritable and being a general dick, which usually leads to a fight (bc my wife is not stupid and knows something is up).
And i could totally keep saying that its because of my ADHD, its just how i am, and make those excuses. But i need to learn to cede control of things to my wife, she is half of our household and can make decisions without me, just as i make so many without her. I make mistakes and stupid decisions with our finances constantly, she has every right to also make financial decisions without my input or my fighting.
Regarding the sex chapter...our sex life has not been so great lately. Probably to the level of needing couples counseling. I am only recently unravelling how fucked my view of sex has been, growing up in purity culture, with my dad being a sex addict, myself retreating to the dark corners of pornhub from an early age with great frequency, its just a mess of mostly shame and fear. And its hard to open up about. Ive wished i could just snap myself into a stud, initiating sex daily and making her orgasm three times, rather than just being a fat, out of shape loser that will leave her needing a vibrator anyways.
Im sounding negative and i am venting, but this chapter did give me hope that we can return to a healthy, mutually pleasurable intimate life. I need to remember to just focus on the present and cultivate intimacy holistically, and i also need to work on being emotionally open and not afraid to discuss stuff like this with her. If i dont work at these things, i dont know how happy or long-lived our relationship can actually be.
When you rely on socialized medicine and only vote for the party whose sworn enemy is socialized medicine (well not like the Ds are pro socialized medicine but...)
If you are "healthy" and just need to go to your regular preventive appointments, having read nothing from other peoples experiences, i could see rating it as "fair"
I didnt like Bill Burr during his "you get canceled for everything phase" but he seems to have a good head on his shoulders, challenges idiots like Rogan and Bill Maher and didnt endorse Trump so he might be alright
Dont use the 99.9% pure, well regulated product! Use the stuff we found in the dirt instead.