Gregory's Server
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15 posts total
I love BlueSky, mainly because it's now our best bet at Twitter not being as influential in the US midterm elections (that are coming up sooner than we think). I like to brag and boast when I am right about a call, so it's only fair to admit when I'm wrong: I really thought Mastodon would get it together on the onboarding and trust and safety front. In fairness, Mastodon is getting it together... but just far too slowly to matter. A slow "yes" is often the same outcome as a "no."🤷🏿♂️ It's cope to talk about how billionaires changed the outcome of the election. Because it's making excuses for the fact that the majority of white men and white women, voted for Trump. But... * Black folk are *much* more online than white folk. * Black folk moved further *left* 🙂🙃 1/N This is like when people tried to pretend that Cambridge Analytica had a huge change in how people vote. Nonsense. Black folk were the *most* targeted. How they vote didn't change. Your granny was a Fox watcher before Cambridge Analytica. Your granny voted for Trump again after Cambridge was gone Everyone voted how they always vote. In 2016, 2020, and 2024. What changes, is turnout. 2/N Susan B Anthony was a bad person. She didn't fight for "women's right to vote " She fought for "*White* women's right to vote." It would be one thing if she just didn't focus on Black folks' right to vote, but she actively worked against it. As hard as she fought for White women to get to vote, she actively campaigned against the Black vote and constructed a coalition of racists to keep Black feminists out, and hold Black voters back. She was a white supremacist. White supremacists are bad 1/N
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 @mekkaokereke Man that’s fucked up. *And* it’s fucked up that I didn’t know until you said it. @mekkaokereke met a woman a few months ago here in Paris doing research on exactly this topic (white feminism against black people's voting rights at the end of the 19th century/beginning of the 20th in the USA).  @mekkaokereke similar for the "famous five" suffragettes in Canada. A very mixed record that included eugenics, racist immigration advocacy, privilege. No way to simplify it. They have a complicated legacy and are probably overcelebrated for a fairly minor aspect of women's rights. 🤔Remember that time 4 years ago when we were inches away from a fascist election disaster? And we voted hard and avoided that disaster by mere inches? And then all the Black people said "Great! Here's how we can make sure that we never come this close to disaster again?" And all the white people we voted in power, mostly ignored us?😮 And Biden told us to STFU? And threatened to fire any of his staffers that talked to insurrectionist and said things like "Being an insurrectionist is bad?" 1/1 And Biden acted like the big problem was not rising fascism or open attacks on the institution of US democracy but that there wasn't enough "civility in politics" anymore? And that we're all guilty of incivility? Remember that garbage? And remember how right after the "Black women will save us!" election, and all the promises of "We'll fix it after the election!" All we got was a few more "Black faces in high places" but we got *even more racist* on police reform and wealth inequality?🙂🙃 2/N Some of y'all are still confused as to why it seems that Silicon Valley billionaires are "turning to Trump." That's because you don't listen to Black people, you disrespect poor white people, and you ignore obvious statistics that have been staring you in the face for decades. Silicon. Valley. Billionaires. Have. Always. Supported. Trump. Not because they like the tax breaks. Because they are more likely to be racist, and racism is the greatest predictor of Trump support. 1/N There's a statistical lie that the US tells itself: "Poor white people are more racist than rich white people!" This is objectively, demonstrably, false. It's been shown over and over. But we still cling to it. We use lies like: "college educated white people are less likely to vote GOP!" First of all there's not a 1:1 correlation between racism and GOP. Second, business owners are richer than employees, and most US business owners *didn't* go to college. 2/N This is not good. A thing that gives me hope: Iran has the *capability* to strike Israel in under 15 minutes. Iran has anti-ship drones that are almost impossible to shoot down. Iran could have shot first and stayed silent and then claimed responsibility hours later. Iran *chose* to do a strike that provided hours of early warning. Iran used drones that are relatively easy to shoot down. Iran announced that they were retaliating before they did so. Before the inevitable questions of "Whose side am I on anyway?!" I'm on team Palestinian children, Israeli children, Iranian children, and Yemeni children. I'm on team children. Because that's who gets hurt most in war, whether that's open war, proxy war, or anything in between. Anyone hoping for escalation, on any part of this conflict, hasn't thought things through. At all. ♥️♥️♥️Shoutout to the staff of the hotel I stayed at for expertly de-escalating a Karen situation! ♥️♥️♥️And shoutout to the white hotel guests that stuck around to make sure that hotel security heard exactly what she was trying to do. My favorite comment: "Wow! A Karen situation in real life! I've only ever seen these online! This is surreal! What is she thinking?" End result, yours truly did not get kicked out of the hotel for no reason, and feels slightly better about the state of the world.
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  @mekkaokereke 🤔 1) There are Instagram accounts posting content today that would prompt many Mastodon admins to defederate immediately. 2) Those accounts are not being moderated by Instagram. User reports are closed without action. So their Threads version of those accounts will likely also not be moderated. 3) So many Mastodon admins will defederate from Threads shortly after federation. So I'm not sure why folks are spending so much time debating whether defederating before the inevitable harm is bad? @mekkaokereke there are so many people - and importantly organisations - on there, that if/when it federates, I'd view it as probably too big to defederate. Silencing so many people because of the actions of a few, or because of inadequate regulation of their megacorp owner, seems like snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. @mekkaokereke until Facebook actually implements ActivityPub, any consideration of [de]federation is pointless. If and when their posts become available, it’s fine to treat them the same as any other instance, which would result in most instances defederating them for failing to moderate harmful posts. Giving all this attention to their stated intent just means there’s less attention left for better things Again, I question the assumption that "VC" is bad, because by assets under management, the vast majority of VC money is controlled by Alt-Right, openly anti-democratic, anti-social, hyper capitalist, fascist adjacent men. These dudes make horrific, near genocidal decisions in everything they do. The bad part of "nazi bank" is nazi, not bank. We need banks. So I won't know if VC is bad until Eg, Black women get more than *checks notes* half of 1% of all VC assets to manage. Happy #BlackHistoryMonth ! I hope to get to Black history soon, but I'm still working through white US history. There's so much of it! Q: Why are Black people in the US so much more likely to die in traffic accidents than white people? Are Black folk more likely to drive under the influence of alcohol or drugs (DUI)? Is it street racing? Are y'all just bad drivers? A: Hmm. I'm stumped! No one knows the answer to why this happens! Just kidding. It's racism. It's always racism. A big portion of US traffic deaths are "SUV vs anything." "Anything" can be a smaller car, a cyclist, or a pedestrian. Because of the systemically racist way that US infrastructure has been built, "SUV vs pedestrian" strikes are disproportionately likely to involve a white driver and Black child pedestrian. White SUVs drive in places where Black kids walk. This affects people of all colors, but the most dangerous way to be a pedestrian in the US *by far*, is to be a Black child aged 4 to 15. Happy #BlackHistoryMonth ! I'm still not talking about Black history. I'm still talking about white US history. Q: Why do Black kids not do well in school? Is it because their dads are uninvolved and uncaring parents? Bill Cosby and Herschel Walker told me that, and they are good and wise men that we should listen to! It's Black dads' fault! Boo Black men! A: No. Black kids only do poorly in school *in extremely racist countries.* Happy #BlackHistoryMonth ! Not ready to talk about Black History. Still talking about white US history. Q: Why are Black neighborhoods so often high crime neighborhoods? Must be a lawless people! Violent! Thieves! Predators! A: There is no such thing as a "high crime neighborhood." The whole concept is entirely made up based on our notion of what we consider a crime. You may be thinking:🤔 Wait... What?! Not true! A high crime neighborhood has more drug use and sales, theft, and even murder! But let's dig into that and unpack the racism a little. Drugs are easiest to understand. At this point everyone should know that white Americans do more drugs than Black Americans. They also do more hard drugs. We don't consider Drs. offices to be high crime, and yet, opioids. Black neighborhoods only seem like they have more drug use, because of how we've decided to define crimes around drug use, and how we choose to enforce. Citizens! *Puts on steel toed boots* I urge you to remain calm at this moment! *loads rubber bullets into launcher* violence is not the answer! *Hangs night stick from belt* We grieve with your community! *Pulls reflective visor down on helmet* Peace is what this moment calls for *climbs into tank* The great MLK Jr said and I quote: I love police, and they are our friends! *diesel engine roars* So obey, comply, and remember we are in this together! *Tear gas launcher slowly points towards crowd* Are we ready to talk about how police dressing in riot gear and acting, well, like cops, makes crowds more likely to riot? No? OK then. Proceed. https://www.themarshallproject.org/2020/06/01/why-so-many-police-are-handling-the-protests-wrong |
@mekkaokereke Is there a place where we can donate to help these goals get achieved? Thanks!
Edit: I know about the main donation link for Mastodon but I wonder if maybe there is something else where money is earmarked for these goals?