Hi this is your reminder that there is no such thing as The One True Cause and if people are trying to tell you otherwise then they have an agenda that your wellbeing isn’t part of
Post inspired by this, which infuriated me
Snappy take: People like this becoming therapists is a huge part of why I’m skittish about therapy.
Elaboration: I’ve noticed a really troubling trend of therapists openly declaring that they “center” certain abstract groups in their treatment, rather than centering, you know, the patient. And like – it’s fine if you only feel capable of dealing with black issues, or trans issues, or Jewish issues. Specialization is okay. But you should be professionally bound not to take on patients you do not feel you can center. No matter who you are, no matter how privileged, you deserve healthcare providers who will focus on the person in front of them and not treat your existence as incidental to some broader goal.
“White supremacy is a force that offers you comfort in the face of mental illness and trauma” is, like, maybe not such a good take, in my opinion.
Okay, like, anybody can call themselves anything on the internet, but this is such a dumb take for a therapist. Police also abuse the mentally ill. The current protests offer an opportunity for solidarity and joint emancipation of many different disadvantaged people from systemic abuse by the police.
Aggressive instigation of violence by the police is not asource of safety or comfort to the mentally ill, it is a source of danger and instability.
There’s no reason at all not to make that a positive incentive, and emphasize the way even small acts of participation can be understood as part of an effort to assert your worth, your control over your own life, and your ability to make positive change in the world.
To ignore that and take a negative stance, to say that white supremacy is a useful and successful coping tool that you’d be strong enough to abandon if you were a good person is, pardon the irony, insane.
god every time i see these videos of white americans kneeling in front of police lines trying to live up to some warped idpol-christian idea of repentant justice i get so fucking mad because below the line of the equator any dumbass that tries that shit gets their shit knocked but meanwhile up north y’all could be throwing down and instead choose not to. think about all the fucking shit we deal with, be grateful that you dont and FUCK SHIT UP
what i mean is:
police in rio de janeiro kill more in a year than the lapd does in a decade. that’s right. these people make american cops look like boy scouts.
but even in the middle of a pandemic, we are fighting back. anti-fascist marches planned for this sunday will be also protesting (god, and how many things there are to protest in this shithole) police violence and the genocide of the black youth.
while we are used to dealing with probably one of the world’s most violent riot cops (thanks to americans, i found out this week deploying teargas on a civilian population is actually a war crime, despite having inhaled it numerous times against my will), it actually is disheartening to see people in the first world think it’s a matter of changing hearts and minds.
i don’t mean all of this in a moralistic way, like, you shouldn’t feel bad for us. but i do mean it in the sense that – and i can’t really think of it in other terms – your hatred of police strengthens our hate, and vice-versa. what made the riots after george floyd’s murder notable in brazil and all over the world wasn’t that they were large, but that they were ferocious. in the end, what starts to dissolve colonial distinctions between “you” and “us” is not us acting the same, but all of us together burning this world to the fucking ground.
“For years mental health professionals taught people that they could be psychologically healthy without social support, that “unless you love yourself, no one else will love you.”…The truth is, you cannot love yourself unless you have been loved and are loved. The capacity to love cannot be built in isolation”
— Bruce D. Perry, M.D., Ph.D. – “The Boy Who Was Raised As A Dog”
I recently learnt that executive dysfunction can be broken down into two main categories: anxiety that your attempt won’t be satisfactory, or confusion about where to start or how to break it down into steps. As much as we feel bad about it, it’s extremely important to remember that it is NOT laziness and we in fact shouldn’t feel bad.
executive dysfunction be like *wants to do something* *doesnt do it* *feels bad* *wants to do something* *doesnt do it* *feels bad* *wants to do something* *doesnt do it* *feels ba
Ya’ll should check out JellyEnvy on twitter if you haven’t already, they’ve done an AMAZING job with these commissions and they’re all around a really cool person! Also a big artistic inspiration
The true realm of freedom, the development of human powers as an end in itself, begins beyond it, though it can only flourish with this realm of necessity as its basis.
