FoxQuirk 🦊 @quirk@computerfairi.es

the best part of this completely absurd crisis is that the most simple law of economics is that a commodity is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it. all of this theoretical value in the real estate market is completely fake because there is no way most of these houses could actually be paid for at their asking prices. capitalism: the most rational economic system

imagine explaining the housing crisis to someone who didnt live during capitalism

me: there are hundreds of thousands of people who sleep without shelter in cities every night

guy from 1000AD: that sounds bad. is there not enough construction material?

me: no theres actually a surplus of houses but a few people own most of them and refuse to rent or sell them at affordable prices for 99% of the population because they think the houses will be worth more money in a few years

guy from 1000AD:

the great irony of the "housing crisis" is that it is not a crisis in the supply of housing. there are plenty of houses and apartments, all the problems are caused by their use as financial instruments.

@FuchsiaShock Everything as above, sadly, yes. The fascists and their more socially acceptable faces ignited this a few years ago, and whilst there's some good pushback in the US, thankfully, the UK press and almost the entire political apparatus ranges from "well, both sides need to be nicer to each other" to "fuck 'em".

If there's comfort to be found, it's in the inevitability of their failure, just as they failed to demonise being gay or lesbian - even now, public support *is* on our side, and will remain so.

But as you note, that support can be timorous - the past few decades have seen the people of the UK become wholly obedient and acquiescent, even helping the worst elements of politics sometimes, as with the 2019 Tory takeover, where racism and xenophobia came to the fore, preferring the white lies of zero immigration, nationalism, and isolationism to rebuilding the NHS and providing housing.

Currently, we must do what we can to make it clear to Truss and her backers that using us as a football will *not* win her acclaim; I see that as the only viable avenue. Appealing to her sense of humanity and compassion - well, yes. If she can be persuaded she won't personally benefit, we may yet be spared the legal battles that would ensue in their attempts to roll back human rights, and not just for trans people, but more broadly.

And fuck Starmer. He was who we needed with Brexit, but now, he makes Blair look principled.

I don't know that staying in the UK is a good idea, under a far right populist authoritarian government, with a media that, across political lines, has attacked us unceasingly for years and looks only just to be ramping up (even the fucking Guardian's UK editorial team has it in for us). I do know that staying in the westcountry is increasingly looking like a bad idea. There's a reason LGBTQ+ people, even now, still seek community in larger cities.
Anyway, I'm girding my loins for a long hard fought battle, to be fought worldwide, for trans people, for disabled people, for people of colour, for women, for those in poverty, and the rest of those that the people in power seek to divide and conquer. It's a battle we must win. The alternative doesn't bear consideration.

This was not what I wanted when I came out 8 years ago. I just wanted to live a normal life as a woman. Instead I've been abused, threatened, smeared, witnessed propaganda campaigns in media against people like me, made afraid to live my life. And nobody but us seems to care enough to do anything. Friends and family say they care, but then they either do nothing, or try to gaslight us about our experiences because they don't experience it themselves, or don't understand how much it all hurts, and think we're making mountains out of molehills. It's upsetting, but not surprising in this climate, to see so few people actively and openly supporting our civil rights.

We're gonna continue to lose more trans people to violence and suicide in the interim. Nearly half of us attempt suicide, 90% of us have considered suicide. And those numbers will go up. People I know are gonna be abused and hurt and people I know are gonna die, all because of this constant climate of hostility. This is the fight of our lives, and its a fight FOR our lives, against a well-funded, well connected anti-trans lobby that is using us as a wedge issue and political football.

Well, not many people seem to give enough of a shit to speak up about the disinformation campaign about trans people being run by the media and the government, so trans people and our allies have to protest. We have become politically untouchable, none of the leadership of the major parties wants to openly support us, though we have support within all the major parties - even the tories have some lgbt members who are extremely upset with what's going on with this Johnson government. How quickly they have been pushed aside as things moved from Cameron to May to Johnson..
And it looks like we're gonna have to get used to getting out there and protesting a lot over the next few years, maybe even taking direct action like we did when people were being left to die from AIDS, and when section 28 was put in force, the last time the Tories had uncontested power.

i feel like snaps and flatpaks and appimages are a step towards a closed source and blackbox linux.

like, "oh don't worry, the developer made sure this will work perfectly" and "this is too complex for you peasants to compile from source (gnome calculator)".

sure the packages might get signed by the devs as "this is what I compiled for you", but at what point are they not kept in check, or fall for some npm hack that compiles in a bad dep?

then like a window store purchase where the user doesn't have permission to open their flatpak, just gives it permission to access whatever it needs and hope it works.

Felt cute and the wife got me a big kirby to hold at night since I gave Capy to Burger as a bed.

for real, sometimes I sound cynical but I want to be clear: the goal is a world where everyone gets to feel loved and live a fulfilling life of their choice. no cops. no bosses. no landlords. no borders. just people and love and the whole green earth

this and NOTHING less

if you think it sounds sappy or impossible, that's the cop in your head. it's more than possible, it's inevitable. you can see it peeking through, even now. you can meet the people building it

you can BE one of those people

They aren't just crimes laid at a white man's feet.

They're friends, coworkers, lovers, fathers, daughters.

They are people we each could have known, collaborated with on a project, laughed with in a checkout line.

That matters more. Their humanity. Their absence.