hope is necessary in times of rage

[flamingsword]

There is now scientific evidence that Fox News really IS the problem. And now that we know this, we can fight back with higher precision.

"Staunchly conservative Fox News viewers who spent a month tuning in to CNN instead reported a broad shift in their political opinions — until they returned to watching Fox, according to new research co-authored at UC Berkeley.

After nearly four weeks of watching CNN in September 2020, the Fox News regulars remained firmly conservative. Still, the study found, they were more supportive of voting by mail, less likely to believe that Democratic candidate Joe Biden wanted to eliminate all police funding, and had less positive evaluations of then-President Donald Trump and other Republican politicians."

sunflower_auction is an online fanworks auction, designed to raise money for nonprofit organizations that help the people of Ukraine fight back against Russia's invasion. So if you have money you want to throw at a charity for someone to write you a fic, here's a good place to ask for that.


#Land Back

On Friday, the Rappahannock Tribe celebrated a historic win: the reacquisition of 465 acres of their ancestral homeland at Fones Cliffs, a sacred stretch of bluffs on the eastern side of the Rappahannock River in eastern Virginia.

“We have worked for many years to restore this sacred place to the Tribe. With eagles being prayer messengers, this area where they gather has always been a place of natural, cultural and spiritual importance,” Rappahannock Chief Anne Richardson said.

After teachers at a charter school unionized, nearly a quarter of the teachers had their contracts pulled. The kids are fighting back.

"Several speakers in the public hearing portion argued that the non-renewal choices were made in retaliation to teachers’ vote in the fall to unionize with local 2110 of the United Auto Workers.

Before the Monday night vote took place, dozens of students, staff, and parents spoke during the meeting’s public comment portion to denounce the plan. ... After a day of student-led protest, Common Ground High School’s board voted to allow the administration to discontinue contracts of four teachers at the end of the academic year amid a broader discussion of the school’s direction. [Update Tuesday afternoon: Students walked out again on Tuesday, shutting down classes, and are planning mass absences on Wednesday.]

Steps AO3 Can Take to Minimize Racism in the Archive (Version 2)

---

I don't have a lot of good news this week, but please drop things in comments if you have hopeful, good, or beautiful things.

Comments

[ex_flameandsong751]

I would offer to do Sunflower Auction but my severely fucked up experience with Fandom Trumps Hate in 2019 has put me off to ever offering my work for any kind of auction or exchange ever again. However, I still think Sunflower Auction is a good thing and I'm glad it's happening. I've been donating to Ukraine directly after rent, it's not much but every little something counts.

I REALLY liked that post about what AO3 should do to cut down on racism. There is a racism problem in Silm fandom that no one wants to seem to actively acknowledge and reckon with [or they pay lip service to it while still supporting racists] - here's an example of something that has 2000+ kudos and counting [larger screenshot for context], screenshots taken by a friend and used with permission; that's just the tip of the iceberg. [For context, the person writing this fic is white.] I am friends with three POCs who feel unsafe in my fandom and I've talked to another who has experienced race-related bullying from the fandom and it's disgusting. [It's especially disgusting when you consider the whole fucking point of LOTR was people making friends across species, which was an allegory for race relations and way the fuck progressive for its time.] I don't want to just up and leave because the canon has taken up space rent-free in my head for three decades, but it's also really frustrating and I feel like AO3's current sit-on-hands-do-nothing isn't helping. I tend to fall on the side of free speech because I write problematic porn and I hate antis, but there's a difference between that and this.

I _wish_ I could get my mom to watch CNN instead of Fox News. LOL.

[ex_flameandsong751]

OK good things: Please enjoy this video of a puppy helping to plant potatoes in Ukraine.

[No, I am not on Reddit under this username.]

[(Anonymous)]

Weirdly, I AM on reddit, but i keep forgetting my screenname which makes logging in kiiiinda difficult.