A lawsuit filed in 2014 against GEO Group, one of the largest private prison companies in the country, gained class action status this week following a ruling by U.S. District Judge John Kane. The lawsuit alleges that as many as 60,000 immigrants imprisoned by United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement in one…
by Matt Novak on Gizmodo, shared by Beth Elderkin to io9
Did a man in Japan really get crushed to death by his porn collection? No. But you’d be forgiven for thinking otherwise, thanks to this dumb game of Telephone we call The Internet.
Festivals are a great way to partake in a culture different from your own. Romani people have numerous festivals throughout the year, many of which are open events and welcoming to non-Roma participants. Festivals, such as the Appleby Horse Fair, Khamoro, and the California Herdeljezi Festival, are all great examples of open cultural events that allow you to actively participate in aspects of Romani culture.
For a list of some more Romani festivals, click here!
2. Consume Romani Media
Romani media is completely underrated. There are a plethora of great producers, actors, musicians, and radio personalities who are ethnic Roma. Consuming media is one way we can actively engage with and learn about another culture without being disrespectful.
Romani authors are plentiful, and with a larger-than-ever presence of Roma on the internet, Romani books and poetry are becoming much more accessible. There are numerous books that have been translated from the Romani language in English, Russian, Hungarian, French, Spanish, and various other languages. A quick internet search can now produce comprehensive lists of ethnic Romani authors.
4. Buy Real “Gypsy” Fashion
Retailers, such as Romani Design, and the Tzigania Store, have made Romani-inspired clothing and jewelry accessible to and designed for both Roma and non-Roma. If you like traditional Romani motifs, purchasing clothing from a store like Romani Design not only supports ethnic Romani designers, but also allows you to consume Romani fashion in a way that is not appropriative.
If you’d like to learn more about appropriation versus appreciation, click here!
5. Learn a Language
While Roma have varying opinions on non-Roma learning our language, generally speaking, learning a foreign language is one way to appreciate a different culture.There’s also the added benefit that knowing more than one language has been proven to positively impact brain function. There are several reputable books and websites that can assist in Romani language learning endeavors.
6. Support Romani Art
Support Romani arts by purchasing Romani art, or going to galleries where Romani art is featured. As Roma, our traditional artwork is often overlooked and comes second to non-Romani depictions of us. Supporting Romani arts and efforts to preserve Romani arts has a profound impact on our communities, and allows you to appreciate Romani culture.
To learn more about Romani arts initiatives, click here!
7. Donate to Romani Causes
One way to appreciate Romani culture and ensure its preservation is to actively support Romani rights causes by donating to NGOs or participating in human rights events centered on Romani rights. There are numerous existing organizations that help Roma around the world. However, some of these organizations struggle to receive proper funding, or are promised funding that becomes tied up and “lost” by incompetent politicians.
Learning about the history of our people and culture allows you to better appreciate it. Sometimes, history can help put culture into context. Why people continue to practice certain traditions can be as important as the tradition itself. Learning about the history of Romani people can also give non-Roma perspective as to why we keep certain aspects of our culture guarded. Understanding closed versus open cultures, and what that entails, can be a great way to show appreciation for a particular culture.
Romani music is both diverse and beautiful. We have a rich musical history and our contributions to modern music genres are often underappreciated. We had a great influence in European classical music, as well as Jazz and Flamenco. Listening to Romani music is a great way to appreciate Romani culture. Some excellent musicians are Ando Drom, Esma Redzepova, Via Romen, and Gipsy Kings, among others. Check out this page for some more Romani musicians by country!
10. Lend an Ear
Sometimes the biggest appreciation we can give is to listen to people speak about their own culture. If we say something misrepresents us, or is offensive, it’s probably because it is. There are many depictions of Roma that are steeped in racism, whether we realize it or not. If members of the Romani community ask you to respect our culture, the biggest appreciation you can give is just listening to us. Listening to ethnic Roma speak about our culture, or reading and sharing articles written by ethnic Roma are both ways of appreciating Romani culture.
I’m part romani and know very little. Thanks for this!
I still think it’s hilarious that the reason nobody ever figures out Superman’s secret identity or where he lives or what he does when he’s not saving the planet, is because he already told them all the Kryptonian stuff that can’t be tied to any of his human friends or family. I guarantee you the in-universe wikipedia article on Superman lists his name as Kal-El and the “personal life” section says that he lives full-time at his private fortress of solitude at the north pole. Nobody in the world looks at Clark Kent and thinks “oh my god, maybe he’s superman!” for the same reason nobody ever starts to suspect that their coworker who looks KINDA like Barack Obama is actually secretly Barack Obama – They know who Barack Obama is and know what he does and they know their coworker Greg is Greg and not Barack Obama. They have no reason to assume Barack Obama secretly moonlights as Greg The IT Guy at their workplace even though they’ve never seen Greg and Obama in the same place. At best, “Greg is secretly Obama” would be a running joke at the office, and the same is true at the Daily Planet. “Kal-El of Krypton, who lives in a CRYSTAL PALACE at the NORTH POLE and whose dayjob is SUPERMAN, sometimes puts on a suit and pretends to be a clumsy reporter and lives in a one-bedroom walkup in Metropolis” is a ridiculous concept to anyone who doesn’t already know it’s true
actually, no. don’t wait a minute. i will accept this. i would just clear the bullshit-factory from my mind, get sussed out, constantly have my shit together in every situation, and charged my entire being with creativity and awareness.
i am so down with this~
Yes please.
No more depression. No more anxiety. No more losing my temper at stupid shit. No more crippling fear for the future… None of it.
You guys don’t think big enough.
Feeling motivated and pumped 24/7. Conscious access to your pattern-matching faculties and muscle and generic memory. Splinter your hemispheres and delegate different tasks for improved multi-tasking. Whatever it is you’re doing, from rocket science to playing Starcraft for a living, you’d be dominating the field in a decade.
not big enough.
with 100% brain power you can learn anything much faster than anyone on earth and master it at a record pace, you could out program entire companies, out smart geniuses, never sleep as you can rest your brain in phases become the all powerful being.
every post on this site always ends with world domination has anyone noticed that
I 100% think that if you went inside, you would walk into a normal sized one. It would be seemingly normal, with everyday employees and shoppers. And you’d wander around and almost forget the weird beginning of this adventure, buy a DVD, and then step back out into this field.
The sort of strict bans on “unhealthy food” that some people push regarding food stamps could literally kill me. I need a high sodium, moderate-high caffeine, red meat containing diet with a lot of pre-prepared foods, due to my odd combination of health conditions. Dietary needs aren’t some simplified fucking chart for first graders, they’re complexly different for lots of different people, especially disabled people.
Paternalism towards poor people is not only repulsive and cruel, it’s literally fatal. It’s violent. People will starve because of it. People will become malnourished because of it. And people are already dying and being malnourished already.
A desire to micromanage every tiny aspect of poor people’s lives doesn’t indicate a concern for our wellbeing, it indicates a concern for control and power over us.
Oh my god, someone has footage of it! I remember one time my dad, lil brother, and I were leaving a Ryan’s. We were waiting for a chance to hop onto the road and in the distance we just saw everything turn grey. We saw it come closer and closer and come to find out it was rain!
It was just a wall of rain - the end of the rain, really. I’ve never seen it again, but it’s so cool to see footage of the edge of rain!
This is disgustingly ableist. Disabled people have worth, their labor has value, they’re working just like everyone else so they should get paid as much as everyone else. Why are we debating this??? It’s common sense!
tbh disabled people should be payed more because at least for me my disability makes taking a fulltime job just so fucking painful and near impossible. ive lost my job twice because i had too much sick time lmao
The Department of Homeland Security is considering a measure that would separate women and children crossing illegally into the United States from Mexico, according to three government officials who spoke to Reuters.
My entire life has been a prayer that the assholes of the world will see that, not only is asshole-ness is not the only way, it's the worst way to be, it accomplishes nothing, and only hurts the people living that way.
ultimately i think kindness is the most radical thing you can do with your pain and your anger. it’s like, you take everything awful that’s ever been done to you, and you throw it back in the world’s teeth, and you say no, fuck you, i’m not going to take this. you say this is unacceptable. you say that shit stops with me.
humans are fucking terrible and this awful world we live in will fucking kill you but if you are kind, if you are brave and clever and try really hard, you can defy it. you can impose on this bleak and monstrous structure something beautiful. even if it’s temporary. even if it doesn’t heal anything inside you that’s been hurt.
i’m gonna sleep and i’m gonna wake up and i swear by everything in this deadly horrible universe i’m gonna make someone happy.
i’ve seen a number of comments and tags where people feel that they must swallow or repress their anger in order to engage in kindness. that is not at all what i am recommending here. radical kindness is an expression of anger. it is not passive. it is not repressive. it does not require you, in any way, to forgive those that have fucked you up. it does not require you to be quiet.
it just requires that you be kind. viciously. vengefully. you fight back. you plant flowers. give to charity. play games. pet someone’s dog. scream into the dark. paint and write and dance, tell jokes, sing songs, bake cookies. you have been hurt and you don’t have to deny that hurt. you just have to recognize it in other people, and take their hand, and say: no more. enough. fuck this. no more.
have a cookie.
i will say this again: we are all going to die. the universe is enormous and almost entirely empty. to be kind to each other is the most incredible act of defiance against the dark that i can imagine.
it just requires that you be kind. viciously. vengefully.
Bolding for emphasis. Because I am angry at the state of the world right now, so very angry. And I am trying to channel that anger into helpful, kind actions.
I don’t feel an obligation to be kind to those who have hurt me.
But I DO feel an obligation to be kind to those I am otherwise capable of hurting.
It just feels like the most just thing to do in an unjust world right now.
disabled person: i need a job to survive in this capitalist hellscape. the job is literally killing me. I would have a much more fulfilling and healthy life if I wasn't forced to work
disabled person: but sadly i'm not allowed a healthy and fulfilling life, i am forced to die well below my life expectancy because of this.
abled person: WOW GOALS! I'M SO INSPIRED BY YOU FOR WORKING. IF YOU CAN DO IT ANYONE CAN DO IT. HEAR THAT YOU OTHER LAZY DISABLEDS THIS PERSON CAN DO IT SO YOU SHOULD TOO. BE #INSPIRED. ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE IF YOU PUT YOUR MIND TO IT. (:
Image description: [pale purple and yellow background with dark text] This April, don’t support an organization that harms autistic people. [crossed out logo for Autism Speaks] Support one built by autistic people, for autistic people. [logos for the Autistic Self Advocacy Network and the Autism Women’s Network]
If you were born as you are in a world where everyone had superhuman fighting abilities, you would be considered disabled.
If you then studied martial arts for 10 years to gain fighting abilities, you would still be disabled, because you had to put years of effort into doing something that everyone else does naturally, and because there would still be fighting moves that you’re not able to do (for example, no amount of martial arts training will make you able to throw someone across a room).
Disabled people learn coping techniques to survive in a world that was not designed for them. Even after learning the coping techniques, they are still disabled.
u guys i literally want a female remake of every movie ever, every single film that men hold dear, every single fucking motion picture that men nut over, i want it to be remade and be female lead.
die hard starring angelina jolie, fight club starring kristen stewart and saiorse ronan, pulp fiction starring jodie foster and viola davis, the godfather with meryl streep, dirty harry starring cate blanchett, american psycho starring margot robbie, training day with laverne cox and alicia vikander, james bond with gillian anderson, i want them all!!!!!!
