Dave T-W @davoloid@qoto.org

"One thing I don't think people realize is that in arguments about human rights, it's not about trying to persuade the other party. It's not about them at all. They've already made up their mind.

It's about persuading the audience.

If I call out my teacher on being homophobic I'm not trying to change his opinion. I'm trying to convince any closeted kids in the room that they're not the monsters he's made them out to be.

If I argue with my aunt about how racist she's being it's not because I expect her to change her mind. It's because I'm hoping to god my cousin's kids hear and learn that maybe skin color doesn't mean what she says it means.

People will try to hush you and say 'they're not going to change their minds, don't bother' but it's not about them. It was never about them."

-sepulchritude

160 years ago, in July 1863, a 4-day reign of terror descended upon NYC Black-Americans, who faced targeted violence, persecution & destruction. The riots exposed the deep-rooted racism that permeated Northern society, as Black men, women, & children were brutally attacked and subjected to horrific acts of cruelty. It was the deadliest riot in American history, but it showcased again the resilience of Black America.

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@blackmastodon@a.gup.pe @BlackMastodon@chirp.social #BlackMastodon #Histodons #History #NYC

If you were Black and woke up in NYC on Monday, July 13, 1863, things got terrifying quick. For Black New Yorkers, there was no reprieve. Black life was dispensable to white mobs & law authorities. The Civil War, poverty, & rabid racism in 19th-century New York explains the events of that week. For Black Americans, the NYC Draft Riots were a heinous episode in an already brutal age. But it didn’t happen in a vacuum.

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@blackmastodon@a.gup.pe @BlackMastodon@chirp.social #BlackMastodon #Histodons #History #NYC

I am pleased to hear that Wesleyan University in Connecticut has ended legacy admissions. That program unfairly helped the children of alumni as a form of affirmative action. If admissions cannot be race conscious after the Supreme Court’s decision, then they shouldn’t be legacy conscious either.

Zoom. Enhance 🤯 #SurveillanceCapitalism #ClimateChange #Manchester

Sometimes #factchecking takes time. I posted this article in 2017, but found the final piece of information on June 15th, 2021.

Further reading: alleged photo of Gorbachev, Reagan and Putin from 1988. https://hoaxeye.com/2017/06/23/gorbachev-reagan-and-putin/

https://helenajamborwrites.netlify.app/posts/graphicalabstract_1/

@helenajambor's beautiful posts on graphical abstracts

#FederatedMemory

Para el cafecito de la tarde tendremos EMPANASAURIOS!

First posts are always strange but here goes this #introduction:

I am Beverly Ochieng (or just Bev) - a security and media analyst with #ControlRisks, specialising in the Sahel, Wagner operations in Africa and conflicts in the Francophone regions.

Also love a good book + playlist, scenic hiking locations and bright colours.

Hoping to follow and be part of engaging conversations in a safe space :)

Half-expecting the government to nominally reduce the number of those taking university degrees by re-naming half of the universities as "polytechnics".

I am floored and fascinated by the near-literary quality of many of the descriptions of images that people carefully craft when appending pictures to their posts on Mastodon. Some of them will reveal a detail that had escaped my attention. Others will help me understand a subtle joke I had missed. Others still are true poems. ALT are their own microblogging world that reveals itself as you hover on a picture. And I hover, and hover.

#AltText #inclusivity
#Mastodon #netiquette #tootiquette