April 2011
March 2011
Gay men remain banned for life from donating blood, the government said Wednesday, leaving in place — for now — a 1983 prohibition meant to prevent the spread of HIV through transfusions.
The Food and Drug Administration reiterated its long-standing policy on its Web site Wednesday, more than a year after the Red Cross and two other blood groups criticized the policy as “medically and scientifically unwarranted.”
” —MSNBC
(thanks to PenumbralCertainty for the link)
(is the text formatting fixed now? goddammit Tumblr)
sylph - a graceful and slender young woman.
euphony - a bearable or agreeable sound.
quixotic - extremely romantic and chivalrous.
pareidolia - a psychological phenomenon, wherein a person has the notion of seeing faces of people in clouds, hearing hidden…
- Being an asshole doesn’t make you sophisticated, edgy, a courageous warrior against the oppression of political correctness, or a truth-teller. It makes you an asshole.
- If the harder of two options is to keep your mouth shut and refrain from making a comment or joke that perpetuates racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, rape culture… that is far more courageous, and innovative, than opening your mouth and making said comment. And that makes you not an asshole, or at least not as much of one.
- Arguing that intolerance should not be tolerated is not, in fact, a paradox. Saying “But if you say ‘don’t tolerate intolerance,’ that makes you intolerant too, and that’s hypocritical!” doesn’t make you some kind of intellectual giant. It makes you an asshole who would rather mess around with seeming “conundrums” instead of thinking about things like free choice, bodily autonomy, basic human rights, and the limits of religiously-imposed morality in a secular state.
- If you are yourself a girl or woman, hating on other women is not some novel, transgressive or subversive act. Women have actively participating in upholding misogyny for thousands of years. If you want to be novel and subversive, try supporting your fellow women.
- Becoming an ally to marginalized groups will not turn you into a saint. It will, hopefully, make you less of an asshole.
- Recognizing people’s basic rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness should not be a paradigm-shifting exertion of mental effort. Angels will not come down from heaven with trumpets, and deprivileged groups will not come to you with offerings of cookies. Just recognize that people have the right to live freely and happily, and do what you can to help them. Not because you get something out of it, but because it’s the decent-non-asshole thing to do.
