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Gaston really is the most terrifying Disney villain because he could be anyone in the world.
He’s the most terrifying Disney villain because he could be anyone in the Republican party.
(Source: thomasfinchmackee)
WHAT IS HAPPENING IN ISTANBUL
from: http://defnesumanblogs.com/To my friends who live outside of Turkey:
I am writing to let you know what is going on in Istanbul for the last five days. I personally have to write this because most of the media sources are shut down by the government and the word of mouth and the internet are the only ways left for us to explain ourselves and call for help and support.
Four days ago a group of people who did not belong to any specific organization or ideology got together in Istanbul’s Gezi Park. Among them there were many of my friends and students. Their reason was simple: To prevent and protest the upcoming demolishing of the park for the sake of building yet another shopping mall at very center of the city. There are numerous shopping malls in Istanbul, at least one in every neighborhood! The tearing down of the trees was supposed to begin early Thursday morning. People went to the park with their blankets, books and children. They put their tents down and spent the night under the trees. Early in the morning when the bulldozers started to pull the hundred-year-old trees out of the ground, they stood up against them to stop the operation.
They did nothing other than standing in front of the machines.
No newspaper, no television channel was there to report the protest. It was a complete media black out.
But the police arrived with water cannon vehicles and pepper spray. They chased the crowds out of the park.
In the evening the number of protesters multiplied. So did the number of police forces around the park. Meanwhile local government of Istanbul shut down all the ways leading up to Taksim square where the Gezi Park is located. The metro was shut down, ferries were cancelled, roads were blocked.
Yet more and more people made their way up to the center of the city by walking.
They came from all around Istanbul. They came from all different backgrounds, different ideologies, different religions. They all gathered to prevent the demolition of something bigger than the park:
The right to live as honorable citizens of this country.
They gathered and marched. Police chased them with pepper spray and tear gas and drove their tanks over people who offered the police food in return. Two young people were run over by the tanks and were killed. Another young woman, a friend of mine, was hit in the head by one of the incoming tear gas canisters. The police were shooting them straight into the crowd. After a three hour operation she is still in Intensive Care Unit and in very critical condition. As I write this we don’t know if she is going to make it. This blog is dedicated to her.
These people are my friends. They are my students, my relatives. They have no «hidden agenda» as the state likes to say. Their agenda is out there. It is very clear. The whole country is being sold to corporations by the government, for the construction of malls, luxury condominiums, freeways, dams and nuclear plants. The government is looking for (and creating when necessary) any excuse to attack Syria against its people’s will.
On top of all that, the government control over its people’s personal lives has become unbearable as of late. The state, under its conservative agenda passed many laws and regulations concerning abortion, cesarean birth, sale and use of alcohol and even the color of lipstick worn by the airline stewardesses.
People who are marching to the center of Istanbul are demanding their right to live freely and receive justice, protection and respect from the State. They demand to be involved in the decision-making processes about the city they live in.
What they have received instead is excessive force and enormous amounts of tear gas shot straight into their faces. Three people lost their eyes.
Yet they still march. Hundred of thousands join them. Couple of more thousand passed the Bosporus Bridge on foot to support the people of Taksim.
No newspaper or TV channel was there to report the events. They were busy with broadcasting news about Miss Turkey and “the strangest cat of the world”.
Police kept chasing people and spraying them with pepper spray to an extent that stray dogs and cats were poisoned and died by it.
Schools, hospitals and even 5 star hotels around Taksim Square opened their doors to the injured. Doctors filled the classrooms and hotel rooms to provide first aid. Some police officers refused to spray innocent people with tear gas and quit their jobs. Around the square they placed jammers to prevent internet connection and 3g networks were blocked. Residents and businesses in the area provided free wireless network for the people on the streets. Restaurants offered food and water for free.
People in Ankara and İzmir gathered on the streets to support the resistance in Istanbul.
Mainstream media kept showing Miss Turkey and “the strangest cat of the world”.
***
I am writing this letter so that you know what is going on in Istanbul. Mass media will not tell you any of this. Not in my country at least. Please post as many as articles as you see on the Internet and spread the word.
As I was posting articles that explained what is happening in Istanbul on my Facebook page last night someone asked me the following question:
«What are you hoping to gain by complaining about our country to foreigners?»
This blog is my answer to her.
By so called «complaining» about my country I am hoping to gain:
Freedom of expression and speech,
Respect for human rights,
Control over the decisions I make concerning my on my body,
The right to legally congregate in any part of the city without being considered a terrorist.
But most of all by spreading the word to you, my friends who live in other parts of the world, I am hoping to get your awareness, support and help!
Please spread the word and share this blog.
Thank you!
For futher info and things you can do for help please see Amnesty International’s Call for Urgent Help
(via gay-jojen)
adventurerscelebrationgathering:
Tell ‘em.
I dedicate this little number to all those who like to say Disney princesses are nothing but passive, submissive, and horrible role models.
Bless this post.
thank you so fucking much
I’m sorry, but… these are all from 1990’s or later, when Disney actually made an effort to made the princesses more proactive.
The ones who are really criticized are the pre-Little Mermaid ones!
I’m not sure whether it’s even fair to criticize the pre-Little Mermaid ones. All the princesses are representative of the times when they were created; Snow White was the ideal young woman of the late 1930s, so judging her the way we would judge a woman from 2013 just isn’t fair— she’s not a “modern” woman so you can’t judge her as a modern woman. Not only that, though, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was basically a giant experiment in animation. No one had ever attempted a feature-length animated film before, so there was no earlier standard to judge it and its characters against (and remember that animation has always been viewed differently and with different expectations than life-action). That film was a huge gamble, and the studio was still trying to figure out just how much they could do with animation as a medium; so, to a certain extent, the main focus was really on the art and animation, and not on developing the characters (seriously, all the characters in the film have one main personality trait, so it’s not just Snow White who’s screwed over).
The same is really true for Sleeping Beauty. Walt recognized that the story was going to share a lot in common with past princess films, so the main goal was to make the film different from Snow White and Cinderella— and they did manage to differentiate it through its art style and musical score. Also, the focus isn’t really on Aurora, so Sleeping Beauty is the only princess film where the princess isn’t the main focus; the artwork is the intended focus. Sleeping Beauty is the film that was meant to be a “moving tapestry” like Walt always wanted.
And are we really going to fault Cinderella for not being proactive when she’s constantly abused by her own family? After years of psychological torture, do you really expect her to be proactive? She lost both parents and was virtually imprisoned by her stepmother; the fact that she’s still sane, kindhearted, and industrious after all she’s been through seems to speak to a very strong character if you ask me :\
(via writer-of-rohan)
So today I had someone look at me knitting on the bus and ask ‘could you BE any more gay?’
I just calmly said ‘I could have a dick in my mouth’.
(via goldenunderwear)
The Purity Myth.
If you’re a female this should concern and frighten you in a big way.
jesus christ.
If you’re a human being in general this should concern and frighten you in a big way.
i kind of want to puke a whole lot
(Source: thesexuneducated, via goldenunderwear)
There are massive protests happening in Turkey right now to overthrow the Islamist government, and this is the front page of CNN.
For updates, you can follow: http://istanbulfreepress.com/ (Some images are quite graphic)
(via satyabear)
In NBC’s series “Hannibal” one of the episodes mentions a Viking torturing technique known as blood eagle. So in case you were wondering…
The blood eagle - ritual associated with Odin where the back is cut open, the rib cage spread apart and the lungs pulled out all while the victim remains alive. It is supposed to be the classic example of Viking and therefore pagan barbarity. There is just one problem — other than in the fertile imagination of 12th century and beyond writers, there is actually very little concrete evidence that it happened.
Carving a blood eagle is now considered to be a 12th century misinterpretation of skaldic verse. In short a 12 century Christian invention to show how dreadful and terrible the pagan Vikings were.
image (click for larger view): A section from the Stora Hammars I stone from Gotland,Sweden. The illustration shows a man lying on his belly with another man using a weapon on his back. There is a Valknut above him, and two eagles, one of which is held by a man to the right.
I really hope this newfound media interest in Vikings means that a lot of the common misconceptions about Viking culture (IE, HORNS ON HELMETS) will be addressed
African American doctors attempting to save the life of a Klu Klux Klan member:
This photo left me speechless, this is what respect is.
this is what grace is
oh….shit..
wow…
I never scroll pass this photo.. This is humanity, a lot of people can learn from this picture.
First - this isn’t a real picture of a real event- it’s an advertisement.
Second, let’s talk about the fact that if it were real, this would mean that the hospital staff lives in a place where people are rolling in full Klan regalia - guess what MIGHT happen if that guy died and what the Klan might decide to do to them and their families?
The idea that Black people are magically full of love for white people, infinitely suffering, and willing to do anything for white people is a trope white people loved to create and push up since slave times. The ever-loyal slave, ex-slave, magical negro, mammy, best buddy, sassy black friend trope is not new.
The Kumbayah Myth is something folks love to buy into and look how this picture sets the bar as a set of behavior for Black people… no demands are being made about behavior for the white guy.
The supposed “beauty” in this photo half these people are fawning over is it creates a situation where the best of Black people- the smartest most compassionate, are put in servitude to the worst of White people. They’re not celebrating humanity, they’re celebrating that whiteness is still the most important thing in this picture.
Alladat up there.
Food for thought, y’all
especially the bold
(Source: jocelynbeexo, via gay-jojen)
You Keep Using that Word, I Do Not Think it Means What You Think It Means
The words “psychopath” and “sociopath” get thrown around a lot today, particularly on Tumblr. With the growing fanbase of Hannibal, a show centered around a potential psychopath, I thought I’d give a quick (hopefully) overview on just what these terms mean and how to use them accurately.
[Tagging Sherlock and Hannibal fandoms in this because I keep seeing wank on my dash surrounding these terms.]
Katie, thoughts?
(via 148km)
