my quarter-annual check-in
Oh god, just typing that subject heading MAKES ME SO SAD. piecesof_reeses, what have you done with your life? Four months and change have gone by with nary a peep in the world of livejournal, and what do you have to show for it?
Well.
Not much, really.
Actually, mostly I just came on here to rant because honestly, having 100+ tabs on Firefox is not something my non-fandom friends can really relate to. Shocker. But no, okay, seriously, my Firefox browser has been in a state of near mutiny for MONTHS, sputtering and freezing and crashing, oh my god. I know how to stop it! I have the key! I know what I must do. But it's just so hard, dammit. I bookmark twenty fucking fics one day on Delicious. And then I resurface again, from a haze of schoolwork and midterms and gross shrimp Ramen (that's like, my LEAST FAVORITE flavor and it's all the student store ever seems to have DDD:), only to find that my tabs have mysteriously multiplied once more to bring me to 100+ tabs.
No, I know what this is. You don't have to tell me. This pattern of abuse, this cycle of dependency. I NEED TO MAKE A STAND. BOOKMARK TEN FICS A DAY. AT LEAST. CHIP DOWN THIS MONSTROSITY, ONE TAB AT A TIME.
..........or at least whine on el-jay a lot about doing it. W/e, w/e, I try to keep my goals realistic, okay.
Um. Yeah. So that's what it's like in my head right now. SO HOW ABOUT 'EM VAMPIRE DIARIES. (Actually, no. Don't tell me. I am so far behind, I am that that kid with the glasses perpetually twenty feet behind the rest of the pack, huffing and puffing and staggering.)
Actually, wait, no, I might have something to talk about. I haven't posted on here for months, dammit, I'm going to keep going until this second wind gives out. LET'S TALK ABOUT THE ENVIRONMENT AND THE GREEN MOVEMENT AND HOW IT IS RACIST. Yeah, I said it.
Guys, I'm a hard-core liberal. Pretty much everyone who reads this/knows anything about me is fully aware of this fact. The green movement? Fuck yeah, let's save the fucking environment. But anyone who even examines the green movement for, I don't know, like five seconds, usually notices that its make-up is pretty problematic. Most of the leadership is white. Also male. Also coming from families who earn incomes way above the poverty line. Now, I know there are exceptions. Of course there are. But on the whole, that is the pattern.
So, I want to say upfront that this is not going to be very coherent, and that I am not trying to "blame" anyone for this. Because I think the phenomenon is something that is repeated in several other liberal social movements, and it's just something that seems to naturally happen. I mean, who has the time/education/money to do this kind of shit? I'll give you a hint: it's definitely not lower-income minorities.
But what I find particularly nauseating about the green movement is the way capitalist structures have created a subculture that is so inherently exclusionary, white-oriented and upper-class-flavored. And very few people have called them out, which is the true problem. Obviously, capitalist system=profit incentives=this kind of thing was ALWAYS GOING TO HAPPEN. But people in the green movement have, far from rejecting that subculture, actually gone out of their way to not only engage in it, but openly advocate for it.
I'm talking about those $20 reusable burlap bags, the mass-produced purses made out of trash, used or recycled clothing that costs upwards of several hundred dollars. Seriously? No, really. What. The fuck. This shit isn't part of a movement. It's part of a goddamn trend. And it's part of a trend aimed almost exclusively at white, upper-class peoples (don't tell me you haven't seen those pretty white girl models). There is something very, very wrong about a movement that claims to be "for the entire planet" embracing a culture that undeniably excludes people who can't afford the same luxuries. And it's even worse to judge people for not engaging in this "planet-saving" behavior because we're not buying green, carbon-footprint-free, painstakingly-pieced-together-from-our-grandmother's-dresses clothing.
It's wrong, and it's offensive, and you know what? It's just plain depressing. So little attention has been paid by members of the movement to bringing lower-class people of color "into the fold," and unless you are helping produce some kind of green alternative that doesn't cost $100, then get out of my face. Or do something about it.
Er, that was more pointed than I was expecting.
Well.
Not much, really.
Actually, mostly I just came on here to rant because honestly, having 100+ tabs on Firefox is not something my non-fandom friends can really relate to. Shocker. But no, okay, seriously, my Firefox browser has been in a state of near mutiny for MONTHS, sputtering and freezing and crashing, oh my god. I know how to stop it! I have the key! I know what I must do. But it's just so hard, dammit. I bookmark twenty fucking fics one day on Delicious. And then I resurface again, from a haze of schoolwork and midterms and gross shrimp Ramen (that's like, my LEAST FAVORITE flavor and it's all the student store ever seems to have DDD:), only to find that my tabs have mysteriously multiplied once more to bring me to 100+ tabs.
No, I know what this is. You don't have to tell me. This pattern of abuse, this cycle of dependency. I NEED TO MAKE A STAND. BOOKMARK TEN FICS A DAY. AT LEAST. CHIP DOWN THIS MONSTROSITY, ONE TAB AT A TIME.
..........or at least whine on el-jay a lot about doing it. W/e, w/e, I try to keep my goals realistic, okay.
Um. Yeah. So that's what it's like in my head right now. SO HOW ABOUT 'EM VAMPIRE DIARIES. (Actually, no. Don't tell me. I am so far behind, I am that that kid with the glasses perpetually twenty feet behind the rest of the pack, huffing and puffing and staggering.)
Actually, wait, no, I might have something to talk about. I haven't posted on here for months, dammit, I'm going to keep going until this second wind gives out. LET'S TALK ABOUT THE ENVIRONMENT AND THE GREEN MOVEMENT AND HOW IT IS RACIST. Yeah, I said it.
Guys, I'm a hard-core liberal. Pretty much everyone who reads this/knows anything about me is fully aware of this fact. The green movement? Fuck yeah, let's save the fucking environment. But anyone who even examines the green movement for, I don't know, like five seconds, usually notices that its make-up is pretty problematic. Most of the leadership is white. Also male. Also coming from families who earn incomes way above the poverty line. Now, I know there are exceptions. Of course there are. But on the whole, that is the pattern.
So, I want to say upfront that this is not going to be very coherent, and that I am not trying to "blame" anyone for this. Because I think the phenomenon is something that is repeated in several other liberal social movements, and it's just something that seems to naturally happen. I mean, who has the time/education/money to do this kind of shit? I'll give you a hint: it's definitely not lower-income minorities.
But what I find particularly nauseating about the green movement is the way capitalist structures have created a subculture that is so inherently exclusionary, white-oriented and upper-class-flavored. And very few people have called them out, which is the true problem. Obviously, capitalist system=profit incentives=this kind of thing was ALWAYS GOING TO HAPPEN. But people in the green movement have, far from rejecting that subculture, actually gone out of their way to not only engage in it, but openly advocate for it.
I'm talking about those $20 reusable burlap bags, the mass-produced purses made out of trash, used or recycled clothing that costs upwards of several hundred dollars. Seriously? No, really. What. The fuck. This shit isn't part of a movement. It's part of a goddamn trend. And it's part of a trend aimed almost exclusively at white, upper-class peoples (don't tell me you haven't seen those pretty white girl models). There is something very, very wrong about a movement that claims to be "for the entire planet" embracing a culture that undeniably excludes people who can't afford the same luxuries. And it's even worse to judge people for not engaging in this "planet-saving" behavior because we're not buying green, carbon-footprint-free, painstakingly-pieced-together-from-our-grandmother's-dresses clothing.
It's wrong, and it's offensive, and you know what? It's just plain depressing. So little attention has been paid by members of the movement to bringing lower-class people of color "into the fold," and unless you are helping produce some kind of green alternative that doesn't cost $100, then get out of my face. Or do something about it.
Er, that was more pointed than I was expecting.