Comradeship // Freechat

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Talk about whatever, respecting the rules established by Lemmygrad. Failing to comply with the rules will grant you a few warnings, insisting on breaking them will grant you a beautiful shiny banwall.

A community for comrades to chat and talk about whatever doesn't fit other communities

founded 4 years ago
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I just wanted to say, thank you so much to the people here who made it possible. Without your help it wouldn't be over and done with now. Life has been hard and miserable for a while now but at least this is one problem crossed off the list.

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NOTICE:

I realise now that the main problem here was my post on Hexbear, It was shitty and failed to get across my actual views. I still wish I could've been allowed to properly discuss it, but I understand the decision to ban me. Looking at my original post, I can very much get why that is ban worthy, even though that wouldn't be my decision. What happened happened, as much as I'd like to further expand upon my views, I'll try not to waste your time by trying to explain my views that I fully do not understand, that I've developed throughout the process of arguing with people in the comments. I feel silly for making this such a big deal, sorry. You could look through my replies here to see a further expounded on version of this post here. It really boils down to misunderstanding and semantics, I agree with most of the substance of the comments on this post on their face, it is just that often argued in favour of things I didn't mean to. My view of anti-Semitism boils down to, yes it is present, but it is not systemic. As I already mentioned, you can look through the replies if you want to see more of that

Click here to view the original version of this postI recently made a post that, according to the moderator which banned me, "conflated Judaism with Zionism". The post did not in any way conflate Judaism with Zionism, it was me being tired of people trying to center anti-Semitism and over inflate the presence it has in society.

It had an inflammatory title, "I don't give a shit about anti-Semitism", which I can get why people would find problematic. But the text if the post was not in any way conflating Zionism with Judaism. I explained the reasons for the rise in anti-Semitism, the genocide the Israeli state is carrying out, and why I am tired of people acting like it is of most importance.

Jewish people are not systemically oppressed, they've been integrated into Western society, into whiteness. What has happened to Jewish people and their assimilation is similar to the experience of Italians and the Irish (in America). There will be no Holocaust 2.0, Jewish people in NYC are not at threat of being lynched. The victim mentality and the centering of the Jewish experience only plays into Jewish supremacism, Zionism. Jews are not special, it shouldn't be controversial to say that.

I'll repeat the analogy I made in the original post: Imagine if your main concern was the safety of German minorities after they did the Holocaust. It's completely ridiculous and shouldn't be taken seriously.

I suspect the main reason for the "conflating Zionism with Judaism" part is me saying most Jewish people support Israel, which Is a fact. I pointed this out as a reason for the (over-exaggerated) rise in anti-Semitism. I did not even once state anything in opposition to Judaism and Jewishness in in of itself, only gave reasons to the generalisations. I can forgive someone taking this as somehow conflating the two in the context of, I repeat, the inflammatory title, but what I said wasn't in any way remotely that.

To quote Prof. Finkelstein, on when he asked his mother if she had ever met a decent German:


I remembered one German soldier, he had a kind of a guilty look on his face.

That was all she could remember—one. So it doesn't surprise me that she loathed all Germans.


This is what I was getting at. A common response to seeing a genocide committed by Jews is, albeit irrationally, to loathe all Jews. Just like, for a time, people hated all Germans. To center the hate towards Germans in the post war years would be seen as ridiculous, rightfully so. Even more ridiculous is to imply this will somehow transfer into violent lynchings.

People like us should know that Zionism and Nazism are not contradictory ideologies, they can coexist and work together (and have historically). So why (I am referencing the replies to my post, not the moderator who banned me) is it that people think Elon throwing a sieg heil is a sign of an imminent Holocaust in the USA? The main donor of Trump is a Jewish Zionist. I repeat, Jews are not at threat. It is ridiculous and, as I already said, plays into Jewish supremacy.

In the brief period where the post was up, I did not receive any real counter arguments, only people flinging insults who clearly either did not understand the text I wrote or didn't even read through it. I was then of course banned. I expected the forum named @askchapo to be open to discussion. I am sure if I had an actual conversation on the topic with the moderator who banned me, I'd either be able to convince them of the content of the post, or have my own mind changed.

Bans shouldn't just be thrown around like that, especially considering the content of my post. The text giving reason to the ban was a single sentence, it did not touch on the content of the post. Just "conflating Judaism with Zionism", that's it. No specific line of text was noted.

At last I'd like to add that the post was primarily in response to liberal Zionists like Owen Jones and other such figures, not to fellow leftists. Figures who disingenuously over inflate the importance of anti-Semitism, its presence and general effect.

I fully agree that anti-Semitism usually leads right back into far-right ideologies that are in staunch opposition to us, but that is not what I was trying to argue against in the post.

Click here to view the post on Hexbear

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So, a while ago it came out that my uncle(who's from outside the family and married in) cheated on my aunt (mom's sister).

They're still married. Honestly not sure what they'll do since he is the one with the job and our family doesn't have enough to support her and her children.

But I just don't get it. I get falling out of love or even finding other people besides your spouse attractive, but cheating is just such a layered lasagna of shit.

1.You want to eat your cake and have it too. (There's an entire community of people who cheat on their spouses called "cake eaters."). I don't understand what you get out of that though unless you're just really lustful (and even I wouldn't do that and I'm a lustful removed). If you want to break up/divorce that's fine but you can't just have emotional/physical relationships without changing anything. Which leads to point 2

2.How little fucking respect do you have for your wife and family? Because the thing is that youre denying your partner any autonomy in the relationship. You dont even respect them enough to even talk about it, or you don't respect them enough to think they deserve to know about it or will ever find out.

I mean look, there been some stories I've heard where I understand, if the relationship is already dead. It still sucks but I can understand if it's inevitable anyway. But otherwise i just can't conceptualize how selfish and shit you have to be to do it.

And I wouldn't ask if it wasn't so common. I mean it doesn't happen in every relationship but it's so common basically everyone is paranoid their partner is cheating on them. So I just really don't get it

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Today he

pawed at me for food and pulled lenins "imperialism the highest stage of capitalism" away from me (engaging in greed and anti-theory idealistic behavior)

fought with his brother (violating democratic centralism and encouraging disunity)

Slept (laziness)

Yelled at me (he refuses to say "Mao" and instead says "Marw," indicating he has a grudge against the greats socialist leader, he also bothered me outside the peoples congress meaning he has engaged in violating democratic centralism.)

Wanted to go outside (engaging in Bourgeois individualistic behavior)

Immediate execution or gulag for him?

(/s)

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I like to listen to state radio sometimes because of interesting debates going on over there and today a spokesperson for the companies and entrepreneurs came to talk about why companies are less inclined to give steady contracts instead of flexible one year or shorter contracts.

Was it:

A) we want to profit as much without having to deal with workers rights

B) still Ukraine war?

C) woke?

None of the above. The argument given was just simply 'geopolitics'

No word salad or anything, literally just 'geopolitics'

'You can't get a job mate' - 'Why not?' - 'Ah you know man, geopolitics and all'

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I live in Belgium, originally from The Netherlands. Both countries are essentially build up like this: city center - suburban stretch - city center with farm land in between. There is virtually no real nature to be found in both countries with the exception of a small part of southern Belgium. What natural parks we have are basically large artificial plots of nature. Every single inch of these countries is managed beyond belief.

Want to enjoy the few plots of land that are deemed 'nature'? So do the 30 million other people living here. The most remote part in The Netherlands is a point at which you are, hold your hats, 11 km removed from the nearest road. A two and a half hour hike at best.

It's suffocating. There are people everywhere, all the time. You can hear cars at any point in these countries. There is no natural silence. It drives me nuts.

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La enfermera que me atiende en dicha unidad trans me contó que está haciendo todo lo posible para que yo tenga cita con el endocrino antes de que termine el año o a principios del año siguiente.

Si hay suerte en la cita con el endocrino y añade el tratamiento hormonal de hombre a mujer a mi receta médica, finalmente podré quitarme de encima gran parte de mi disforia.

Quería compartir eso con ustedes camaradas porque desde que me dieron esas noticias estoy muchísimo más feliz y menos deprimida. Cada vez estoy más cerca de ser mi verdadera yo. 🥹 💖

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As someone who was bullied by a racist white teacher, this hits hard. When she felt that she went too hard, she faked niceness to me so that I wouldn't report her. White people are the masters of faking niceness.

But it's easy to peer through their thinly veiled racism, and thirst for blood against minorities (such as Asians). They accuse us of being two-faced, famously the Siamese Twins which is taught as propaganda in every school. It's just projection in the end. The Native Indians were right about white people and their tongues.

You're constantly on guard when dealing with whites, and it's tiring as hell. They have perfected the art of backstabbing.

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I never knew just how much walking around outside improved my mental health until I lost the ability. While going through this benefit appeal, cancer treatment and recovering from a stroke, everything has been so hard but being able to walk down to the beach and spend some time outside with my landlady's little dog each day, made life tolerable. Then I got stuck inside for a while due to my foot surgery, and this other one coming up on Thursday. Being stuck indoors has made life much more frustrating and stressful and given me nothing to look forward to, but at least this had an end date. After recovery from the surgeries I would be able to walk around again. But now I have developed achilles tendonitis. It's the second time I've had it, the first time I was in a plaster cast for 10 days and couldn't walk properly for months. This time who knows how long it will last. Google says it could take a year to improve, or it might never get better. I'm a lot older and sicker than the first time I had it, at best I could be stuck indoors for a year, at worst, forever. I just feel like this is the final straw. It's too much on top of everything else. Potentially spending a year stuck inside doing nothing, staring at 4 walls. Getting more frustrated every day. And all for what? It's not like I'll even have a good life to look forward to afterwards. I feel like I just don't even care about anything any more, not even whether or not I win my benefit appeal. I don't even have a friend in the world to talk to or spend time with, everyone abandoned me when I became disabled. What is the point of even struggling on with this shitty life any more?

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Hey there

I sincerely hope all me comrades are having a nice day

I've been in a somewhat not amazing situation for quite some time (not best mentally, in transitioning and unemployed again), thought I'd ramble a bit and ask for a little advice. I despise almost every job I get and years of constant stress are ruining my physical and mental health to the point where I struggle to keep on going at all. I don't want money from anyone here but I'm trying to figure out how I could fill my budget before I stabilize a bit more and will be able to keep a job which should happen later in the summer.

A friend suggested a free psychological counseling available here where I live which might be a good start.

I'm getting a little bit of income that pays for ~40% of my room rent and receive some help from the family (mostly food). I generally stick to intermittent fasting and get ready to sell some music gear I don't use much. I used to make some small money doing side gigs (physical labor) or constructing a tiny website here and there but I'm not an experienced developer and it shows so can't do it professionally. I found learning python and c++ fun btw (clears my head from worries (: ) but it seems I have to sort out adhd stuff to think about rebranding seriously.

Generally if anyone has any ideas how I could earn or save some extra cash to deal with a small crisis, I'd be very happy to read some advice.

Hugs

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I gave up completely on working in school, it was pointless graduating because my life will still be shit regardless if I graduated, My ADHD was neglected and my deaf right ear was the scapegoat for my poor performance. And I gave up working in school and just surfed the web and listen to music on the school laptops. The only reason I stayed because I thought my parents would use my lack of education and employment as an excuse to kick me out of the house.

I kept lying to my family that I was doing good in school until they find out. When my grandmother found out that i was failing she interrogated me about it I told her the reasons. Then she took me to school to officially dropout and had cried.

Fortunately I didn't get kicked out. Now I'm trying to find a way to leave my family. And I am thinking of living in an rv

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For those who didn’t know, I am a 28-year old gamer and college student. I was diagnosed with autism since early age.

I am very dependent on my pension and my aunt on my budget, however most of it went for food. So I have set this fundraising to help me cover college-related fees, free tuition couldn’t cover beyond intended purpose.

PS: My goal will include funds to buy a new phone, my five-year old Realme 6 still survived with broken volume buttons.

PPS: My big brother might give up support for me, so I raised the limit to $1000

Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/ahriboy/goal

Please if you can spare anything, Thank you!

(For more information,questions, Or for any other ways to send donations/gift cards/etc. if any of the above options don’t work for you, please DM me!!!)

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I want to join the Dutch communist party, the NCPN. I've had this idea for a while now but never made it definitive because of some doubts.

Currently I'm a part of a party called BIJ1, which is an anti-capitalist party with a large focus on intersectionality and antiracism. I still think the party does good work, so I don't think too negatively of them. But I still feel like there's not much potential in the party anymore. Because this party attracted people from every brand of leftism from social democrats to anarchists to some MLs there was not a clear vision of what type of socialist society they wanted to work towards.

I joined at a time when I wasn't an ML yet, so that vision wasn't clear for me either. Because of this lack of vision and personal differences fights broke out. This led to people being banned from the party, elected members leaving the party and keeping their seat as an independent or with a new party. This all eventually led to us losing our only seat in the house of representatives in the last election. I'm not sure what we can do to regain that trust. I still feel that we could climb back up and regain that trust but the only way to know is after the municipal elections, which are a year away.

I feel like that lack of vision makes them unsure of their strategy. We call ourselves a party for the streets, but I feel like we focus the most on electoralism. We don't work that much with unions, we don't organise strikes or protests. BIJ1 WILL be absorbed by the system if this continues. I heard calls for governing in coalitions with socdem parties when we're big enough We did succeed though, in stopping our racist house of representatives speaker from appearing at an anti-slavery remembrance. There needs to be more of a focus on class struggle in BIJ1, otherwise they'll lose the socialist views. And to be honest it is a problem since the beginning of the party.

Like I said there were social democrats who joined the party who liked the intersectionality but not the socialist views. Some joined thinking it was only an anti-racist party. Some of them were elected members, like the municipal coucil member who left the party for the christian zionist Christian Union. The electoral candidates aren't screened that well, with a very short list of questions that don't reveal too much about their ideology. There's also no background checks. We've had electoral candidates who are cops, who were transphobic. But it's hard to screen when you don't have good vision what you want your party to be. We don't school our members, like other organisations either. We don't have a book club or something like that.

I thought that maybe I could help change all this by steering the rest of the party towards Marxism-Leninism but you can't do much on your own. I'll have to be upfront about being an ML, which I haven't yet for some reason. I've come across some people who say very anticommunist things, including the story about the Trotskyist I shared a couple months ago and I feel like I could never be able to push back against that. I know that a lot of other MLs have left the party and have joined mostly NCPN. I feel like BIJ1 should work together more with parties like NCPN but it doesn't make BIJ1 suddenly communist. BIJ1 also never uses the word communist, only socialist. And even then they mostly opt for using the word anti-capitalist instead.

At this point it makes more sense to join a communist party. They know what they strive for, focus a lot on extraparliamentary work, vet their incoming members, and has a lively youth organisation, which I want to join. BIJ1 is pretty old now and their youth organisation is abandoned. With BIJ1 I sometimes feel left out because a lot of the time I'm one of the only young people. And I feel like I can't do much for the party and what I do isn't that useful.

Like I said, I've been thinking about this for a while now but a few things were holding me back. I firstly didn't want to join another party until I was fully out as a trans woman so I wouldn't deal with coming out again. But then I also didn't want to join until I was on hormones for at least a couple months, since I don't want to look like a man to them.

I still have some good connections from BIJ1 and I don't want to dissappoint them. Last meeting I felt really included and I'd love to keep working with them. And I don't know anybody from the communist party and my social anxiety makes me fear that I'll become lonely. I kinda feel like I have to connect to someone who's already a member before joining to stop this feeling. But I actually think that I could make more connections, also with people my age. But there's still a fear that I won't be admitted to NCPN so I would leave for nothing. But I could always join another organisation like RSP.

The only thing I have left to do is think about how I'm going to leave the party. Does anybody have some ideas how I should do that?

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So i have been thinking more and more about how stupid it was for the west to willingly deindustrialize. And ive had a realization about why they did it.

If you go back to when capitalism began to really take off a lot of the time different companies and capitalists acted very violently towards eachother. We can see how things like stocks and financial markets were used as a way to reduce inter-ruling class violence by providing an outlet for them to compete inside a legal framework they controlled. The gamification of it.

This seems to have worked for them for awhile. Allowing them to accumulate wealth at an insane rate without much risk of just being assassinated by some rival industrialist.

I think though this has ultimately poisoned their world views and will be what destroys them. In the current era rather than capitalists wealth being based on actual capital, factories, industrial output of their companies, etc. Its more and more based on market speculation. Even the ones who do own factories their wealth comes from stocks whose value is highly speculative.

They have forgotten that it is a game. They have lost touch with the material reality of power. So they willingly hand the means of production over to a communist nation in pursuit of more speculative value without realizing theyve handed the keys to the castle over to the people.

China basically joined their game, and let them feel like they were winning. Allowing them to become rich in the market while China accumulated actual wealth and power via industrial capacity. China seized the means of production without firing a single shot. Or technically, China tricked the west into handing over the means of production willingly.

I think there is now a small faction of them that realize theyre screwed. And its why your seeing so much insane behavior from empire. Its flailing about in a panic.

Because China has already won. The fight between capitalism and communism is already in its final stages, and the communists control most of global production while capitalists are incapable of catching back up.

China played them for fools. The hubris of western capitalists made them think they could simply use financial markets to control the world. They can't.

So whats going to happen now? Well the camp in the west who realize that they lost sight of reality will try to force reindustrialization. As they are now. But the majority of western liberals still dont get it. So theyll fight back to keep doing their financialized games. Sabotaging their own efforts to reindustrialize in the process. You can see this in how Trump and his goons are using tariffs to play the market or how the CHIPs act failed since the companies used the money on stock buy backs.

They are like addicts. They cant stop sabotaging their own system.

China knows this. Its why you saw Xi courting international investors recently. He was basically saying hey keep up the financial games we will make you rich. Like waving a beer in an alcoholics face when theyre trying to quit.

All this is to say, rejoice comrades, for our causes victory is all but assured. China has the west in checkmate. No matter what move they make, they will still lose. They may do lots of damage before their defeat comes, but i think that defeat itself is now a certainty.

Do not allow your own circumstances to blind you if you are in the west, or a nation controlled by it. For even if circumstances seem dire right now i think everything is going exactly to the Communist Party of Chinas plan, and their plans do not stop at Chinas borders. They will not be finished until every human being is free from capitalist oppression.

~ In 1922 a bear discovered fire. A flaming torch the bear carried for a generation. From the skies an eagle attacked, and when the bear died to its claws the world thought that flame lost. But a young dragon ate it and fled to the heavens. Today that flame is a raging inferno. Held within the mouth of that dragon. The eagle thinks it owns the skies, and all the earth below them. Soon though the dragon will descend from the heavens and the eagle will burn. ~

万岁中国!

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Commodification of news under capitalist model creates barriers to access in form of paywalls, ads, data harvesters, and so on. Western media, driven by profit imperatives, increasingly treats news as a luxury good rather than a public utility. Paywalls lock critical reporting behind subscription fees, while ad-driven revenue models bombard readers with intrusive trackers and disruptive marketing prioritizing profit over access.

On the other hand, Chinese state-supported media model sidesteps these barriers by decoupling news accessibility from commercial pressures. I find myself reading outlets like Global Times or China Daily precisely because they provide clean, accessible articles without the junk. These platforms ensure information reaches a wider demographic, including marginalized groups who are priced out of Western media ecosystems. The structural advantage here is undeniable because Chinese media is unburdened by the need to “sell” audiences to advertisers or shareholders.

The west champions "free press", but the reality is that access is often restricted through financial and technological gatekeeping, while China’s approach leads to practical accessibility that's not possible under capitalist model. As a result, I expect that Chinese media will become increasingly more dominant globally due to being easily accessible.

It might not take off in the west where there's too much propaganda against China for people to turn to Chinese sources, but that's not the case for the global majority.

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I was listening to a podcast and the guy was making a point that the Jedi were just like the janissaries of the Ottoman empire because they "stole children" and I just... got so annoyed that I couldn't listen to it anymore, even though I kinda wanted to due to the other host.

I know where the argument about the Jedi comes from, which comes from the days of the old EU and Karen Traviss and all that stuff, but I just sort-of had a flash of anger. It's just a pop culture franchise, right? It's literally just a story. Hell, The Acolyte was pretty rough on the Jedi's portrayal and I enjoyed it.

Anyway, I just found it pretty dumb, but for some reason, I found that I couldn't continue. It's like I had a mental block.

I paused for a moment but then the Spotify episode remained paused.

I wasn't even that angry, but I... just found myself not interested in this spiel even though I'm normally interested in the podcast.

It just makes me feel so... Idk, silly? Thin-skinned?

To be fair, there were a few things in the podcast that annoyed me; they berated a person that asked a question in good faith, or so it seemed, and they never seemed to challenge each other all that much.

I don't even like the Jedi that much! By the Clone Wars era, they had clearly grown dodgy and conservative. Mind you, Anakin Skywalker is or was an abuser who killed Indigenous Tuskens, but, well, you know, some of the rules and how they were implemented in the Jedi Order probably didn't help his mental state either, though that's probably more the Council's doing.

Anyway, I don't know what came over me and why my anger "paralyzes" me sometimes. I haven't watched it in a few weeks but might again. But I feel somewhat ashamed because it seemed so, err, small.

218
 
 

So, as it is, in Belgium, after you have reached a certain amount of worked days, you are eligible for unemployment benefits. These benefits are unlimited in time and you can theoretically work the aformentioned days, get fired and get benefits until retirement.

Unions also play a big factor in the unemployment industry so to say as they are the ones taking care of the files for the workers to get the maximum out of their rights versus the government.

This system, while it has its flaws, makes sure that the workers of Belgium are protected from falling into poverty, giving them at least some money to get by.

The new neoliberal government will now make an end to this, citing the usual crap like lazy people taking advantage of the system, the need for budget cuts, whatever. They will limit the period of benefits to a maximum of two years. You will get one initial year if you have worked for one year in the three years prior to your request, with an option to get an additional month of benefits for every 4 months worked outside of that year, up to 1extra year.

This means that in order to get the maximum period of benefits, you need to have worked at least 5 years WITHOUT interruptions.

The vast majority of people getting benefits are hopping from one shitty interim job to another, barely getting by with benefits as their only safety net from extreme poverty. Because poverty is already what they are experiencing. The only options left beyond benefits is state welfare but the rules for that are so strict that most people currently unemployed will not be eligible for that, meaning they will have NO income.

These new measures are absolutely insane, threatening many people with dire poverty, and it will have tragic results on this country, believe me.

I will fight until the end for this. Not only because this affects my job as well, but because I cannot live in a society that deems this to be normal. Where is the solidarity man?

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USA: "China is sending Uyghurs to death camps!"

Also USA: sends brown people, LGBTQ+, and other people they don't like to a death camp in El Salvador

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I went to Sainsburys today. As I got to the self-checkouts, I could see there was a much bigger queue than usual. I soon found out why: they have just updated all of the self-checkouts, and the new software is glitchy. About half the people there checking out were requiring assistance from the staff, and the three staff members could barely keep up.

For a while now all of the self checkouts have had screens above them that record, or at least watch you while you scan. You can see yourself in the screen, I assume it's to deter theft. I started scanning my items, and immediately I found out what the new software is. On the first item, the screen snapped an image of my face, and kept the image on screen above me, while the screen in front of me that shows the scanned items got a big warning flashing up on it, declaring that I had bagged an item that I hadn't scanned.

Both screens froze like this, my face on the screen above with a message in huge letters on the screen below declaring to the entire shop I had bagged something without scanning. Declaring me a thief to the entire shop, even though I hadn't done anything. Because the staff were so busy with all the glitches I had to wait there like this for about 10 minutes until someone would deal with it.

As I waited I watched the other checkouts and saw that this glitchy new tech was doing the same thing to other people. It seems ridiculous, it's made the process longer, caused a bigger queue, and is wrongly accusing everyone of stealing. It seems counter-intuitive, they want more people to use self checkouts but this is going to put me off using them in future.

I dread to think what they'll come up with next. Maybe they'll eventually get rid of all cashiers and when the machine accuses you of stealing there will be no one to check your items and see that you haven't. I wouldn't be surprised if they have robot police waiting to arrest you for supposedly unscanned items soon.

And let's not forget this is to stop starving, poverty-stricken people from accessing food in the only way some people have.

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And if not, if Burkina Faso fully unites with them under AES, will it mean a loss for socialism?

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[62% of 100% complete]

For those who didn’t know, I am a 28-year old gamer and college student. I was diagnosed with autism since early age.

I am very dependent on my pension and my aunt on my budget, however most of it went for food. So I have set this fundraising to help me cover college-related fees, free tuition couldn’t cover beyond intended purpose.

PS: My goal will include funds to buy a new phone, my five-year old Realme 6 still survived with broken volume buttons.

Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/ahriboy/goal

Please if you can spare anything, Thank you!

(For more information,questions, Or for any other ways to send donations/gift cards/etc. if any of the above options don’t work for you, please DM me!!!)

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Amid capitalism and patriarchal socializing, some of you may have a difficult relationship with emotions. You may come to view them as a kind of inconvenience or flaw in the way of being a well-oiled machine. That when others talk of processing emotions, it means you need to process them like one might oil a squeaky gear on a machine, so that you can go back to running smoothly.

But this understanding of emotion has it backward. Experiencing and processing your emotions is itself a part of what makes you human. When you do this, that is what is "running smoothly" in human terms. The nature of a human and a machine is not the same. We are judged by our humanity and a machine is judged by its efficiency. For us to compare, a broken gear is not equivalent to a broken arm, but instead is more equivalent to a broken morality. It is when you repress, distract, and otherwise deny yourself the time and energy to process and experience emotions that you are becoming more comparable to the squeaky gear of a machine. You are denying yourself a part of your humanity, just as the squeak is denying the machine a part of its efficiency.

Remember to understand yourself as a human, judged by standards of humanity. I know there are many metaphors out there that frame humans as similar to [whatever the latest technological advance is], but you are still human doing human things, whether you see yourself that way or not.

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Body-wise, I was feeling weird when I had a sudden burst of energy and "heart flutters" and that may already be the answer to my question as to what was ailing me or what I felt physically "bad."

Thing is, I couldn't tell you otherwise what was bad and why my mood dropped when my energy rose.

It may be that, when I get energy, I feel angst or anguish over realizing the state of things as my mind becomes clear or perhaps I'm feeling my own body or lack of depersonalization for the first time (it's happened multiple times but you know what I mean).

I don't want to be unscientific so I thought I'd ask others here with the hopes that someone will have the valid answer (of course, I'm using Google or Bing so it's not like I'm just relying on the opinion of random people, though maybe the search results aren't that good either).

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After some months of seemingly being free of anxiety I feel like it has returned in the last few weeks, which sucks. I probably will never be free of it because it seems that I am wired to be prone to anxiety though I can now recognize that I most of the anxious feelings are just inside my head and I am not in actual danger or whatever. Yay for progress, I guess.

Working out helps. I actively rejoined the gym months ago after my running period and some dude told me: 'well you'll see the results in around 6 months', which seemed kinda long at the time. Lo and behold some six months later and here it is: I am seeing the results. Which is nice and motivating.

Gardening also helps in calming it down. I am growing a window sill herb garden and my basil is already coming up. Still waiting for the parsley, pepper, thyme and the lemon balm but they will take some more time. On my balcony I have spinach, chamomile, salad, green onion and chives coming up soon. My native flower set up is doing great to with daffodils blooming and a wild hyacinth coming up, which is sadly rare these days.

Thanks for making it through my rant. It feels good to ventilatie and while I have people to talk to in real life it is nice to write down thing once in a while so that I can visit it at a later time when I feel down.

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