Category Archives: Society

Posts related to societies, people, communities, etc. Generally about humanity, human rights, people, and what affects them.

ACAB explained

ACAB (All Cops Are Bastards) is an acronym used as a political slogan associated with dissidents who say they are subjected to political persecution and police brutality. ACAB is also one of the main slogans of anarchists.

I’ve seen a lot of discussion about the acronym ACAB (and 1312) recently. People are arguing that not all cops (blue pigs) are bad, which is true, but that’s not what we’re saying.

First of all, we don’t say all cops are bad, we say All Cops Are Bastards. We don’t mean bastard as an unpleasant or despicable person. Bastard is taken from the word bastardize meaning corrupt or debase.

Cops are inherently corrupted in two ways:

First is that they are corrupted by the possessions of power. They can use their authority to inflict power on people.

The second and the most important reason on why all cops are bastards is because the very laws that they are trying to enforce are corrupt and they are used to subdue different identities and minorities.

So cops can be corrupted by their power and cops are corrupted by the laws they enforce; All cops are corrupted, All Cops Are Bastards.

Now that this is clear, let’s have another example. Imagine you’re in a hospital getting ready for a surgery. A nurse comes to you and says most of our surgeons are very well educated, it’s just a few who don’t have a degree and will kill you.

Or, you’re in an airport buying a ticket and the person behind the counter tells you most of our pilots are very well trained, it’s just a few who don’t have any training and will crash the plane and kill you.

It doesn’t make sense, right? Because everybody in those industries must be well trained and educated, because it’s the life of people that is in the matter. We can’t afford to have a few bad jobs there, everything must be perfect.

That is the same thing with cops and law enforcement. Most of cops being good is not enough. It’s either all of them be good or the whole system be corrupt. Doesn’t matter if most of them do their job very well, it’s those few who kill people and abuse power.

The system that is bringing these into power is corrupt so we can’t take a chance or run numbers. People are not numbers, people are living beings. If a system is corrupt, all of those who are in that system, all of those who are subscribed to that system are corrupt, whether they like it or not.

When we say ACAB, we’re not trying to offend anybody, we’re stating the fact that the system is corrupt and it should be dismantled from power. So, stop making excuses for cops and try to reform, rebuild the system in a way that is fixed and can’t be corrupted.

Demand an stop on Lisa Montgomery’s death sentence

Lisa Montgomery is on death row and she is waiting for 2021 January 12 for her sentence to be executed. Execution is murder and nobody, with no reason, deserves to die. Execution doesn’t make society safe, and it certainly is not a fair sentence.

Death is a brutal sentence. Ms. Montgomery was the victim of an extreme level of physical and sexual abuse throughout her life against which the state never provided protection and for which it failed to offer remedies.

Now, as Trump administration moves forward with a federal killing spree in the lame duck period, a group of United Nations rights experts on Thursday urged the U.S. government to halt the planned execution of Lisa Montgomery—a convicted murderer who suffered horrific abuse throughout her life.

She would be the first woman to die by federal execution in nearly 70 years. She’s been described as “profoundly mentally ill” and “the most broken of the broken.”

In their joint statement, the special rapporteurs and other human rights experts say Montgomery was repeatedly “betrayed” by state authorities, pointing in part to her legal defense that failed to adequately address her mental health.

“Ms. Montgomery was the victim of an extreme level of physical and sexual abuse throughout her life against which the state never provided protection and for which it failed to offer remedies. She suffered from several mental health conditions which the state failed to care for,” the experts wrote.

Please demand an stop on her death sentence and save her life. Save a life by speaking out. It’s a matter of life or death for a human being.

New York’s Strand bookstore appeals for help

The New York Strand bookstore, one of the New York’s landmarks and probably one of the most important landmark of NYC in literary appeals for help due to financial crisis caused by coronavirus.

“We’ve survived just about everything for 93 years,” proprietor Nancy Bass-Wyden said in a statement, of the store her grandfather founded in 1927. “The Great Depression, two world wars, big box bookstores, ebooks and online behemoths. We are the last of the 48 bookstores still standing from 4th Avenue’s famous Book Row.

Please buy from your local stores and support local businesses instead of chain markets and Amazon. Specially, if you want a book, please buy it from your local physical bookstore if you can’t borrow it from your local library.

This way, you can be sure there’s no DRM involved and also local business won’t get shut down because of evil giants like Amazon.

Don’t like me, please!

One thing I don’t understand is people’s behavior in social media. First of all, when did we start calling social networking sites and apps “social media”? Like, that’s not media I’m active on. Of course I share media but that’s a network rather than media. yeah I get it all of these are media but still, nevermind.

I have a lot of problems with this social networks. I mean I’m OK with sitting in a cafe and suddenly a person comes and talks to me then somebody else mentions a thing and we make a social group. No matter that’s temporary or permanent, that’s nice. However, what I see in online social networks, say like Twitter, is misery.

People’s interactions are now boosting (retweeting) and liking comments. Everywhere we sit there are people taking photos from their food and rating restaurants and checking-in in squares. In most fun places, we see sad, tired, sick, and dead (not physically) people looking at their phones being active in their so-called social media not having fun but pretending.

I have a lot of problems. When did we start needing followers? When following people became a thing? I follow a bunch of people that’s not basically bad but what I have problem with is needing and craving for followers. What I don’t understand is showing a relationship or endorsement or likes by following people.

I don’t need my friends following me. If one of my friends unfollows me, I wouldn’t break my friendship with that person. I understand how simple it is. If a person doesn’t like what I’m saying or sharing, that person should be able to stop interacting with me.

Since when do we need followers? How a number on our profile online shows our personality or whether we’re good or bad or right or wrong? How can we be hurt by having less followers than others? Why we need to have less following than followers to have dignity or self confidence?

Another thing I have problem with is liking. Why there’s no social network that doesn’t have a like button? Why we can’t simply agree or disagree by talking? I would really appreciate if someone comments on my blog post and tells me that that person disagrees.

How liking a post shows agreement? I never like any post on social networks because I hate it. I hate showing my interest by clicking on a button. What’s wrong with mentioning people and talking? What happened to people being able to respond?

There are social networks that let you disable commenting; why there’s not social networks that lets you disable liking? Talk to me. If you do like it, write it down and tell your reason. Even write your own experience and story about it. I hate getting likes. I hate getting boosted. What I like is to see you write your own experience about stuff I said.

No. I’m not interested in you because you had more followers than following or your toots (tweets in Mastodon) get hundreds of likes and boosts. I’m following you and I’m interested in you because you have experienced life and career and a lot of other things and I found them interesting.

Another thing I have problem is messaging apps. Since when WhatsApp and Telegram and Signal became our standard messaging system? What happened to emailing people? Why are you giving me you Telegram phone number instead of a professional or personal email address? Why do I have to install an app to be able to communicate with people?

Back in the days, we did everything with our emails. Even for planning stuff. We weren’t scheduling a party or a meeting on a group chat on a messaging app, we would create a mailing list, private or public, and discuss it there and everybody were happy.

Another thing I have problem with is having social profiles instead of a website or a weblog. Now everybody has a Twitter or Mastodon or Facebook. Even those who have websites just put links to their social networking profiles. You open their website and it’s like here’s my Twitter, here’s my GitHub, here’s my Instagram, don’t bother me, bye.

What’s wrong with people? I miss those days when it was fun to open a personal webpage of somebody and surf it. I miss those days that we would create special pages for stuff. People were enjoying their lives before social networks. We would take pictures of our trip and even if we wanted to share them, we would create a post or a page.

Now everybody has a Medium account. Even our weblogs are now in social networking sites. Social network for photos, social network for statuses, social networks for code, social network for weblogs, social network if you read a book.

Why we don’t read books? The hell happened to reading books? Now we get every information from BBC or Fox News for retarded people or CNN for those who believe Biden really likes them. When did we stop reading books or going to a library? I’m OK with reading news, I read news, but that’s not where you learn stuff. You learn by reading and experimenting.

Another thing I have problem with is talking. Why we can’t talk to each other anymore? Why people think me not agreeing with their view means that I have a personal issue with them? I don’t even know you and you have no impact on my life. I do care if you’re violated or abused or hurt because you’re a human being but those are serious stuff.

Why are you boosting/retweeting stuff you don’t agree and make more people see that? Why can’t we comment or mention stuff like normal human beings. What’s different on online social networks than non-digital networks? Why people get offended or hurt because we don’t agree with them?

Me telling you that your belief about flat earth is stupid, is because your belief about flat earth is stupid. I don’t care if you were graduated from Harvard or you employ 300 people. And I don’t have any personal issue with you whatsoever. Let’s say if you get hurt and some random other person gets hurt, I would do everything I can for both of you equally.

Lots of problems. Why do people share everything? Getting on the plane, getting off the plane. Going to a party, coming back from a party. Eating food, going out, having a date, taking a shower, having a new job, quitting a job. People share everything. Have a little privacy. I don’t care if you’re hungry, get some food instead of writing about it.

Another thing that I have problem with is craving for acceptance and being right. Why can’t we apologize? Why can’t we be wrong? I’ve been wrong in many things in my life, so were you. What happened to accepting our mistakes and moving on to fix them? Why do we argue when we know we’re wrong? Nobody ever said oh that person just apologized that guy has no dignity. have you ever heard such stupid thing?

Accept your mistakes. Don’t block people because they proved you wrong and you didn’t want to be seen as a person who has mistakes. You’re not a god. Everybody makes mistakes and you’re not an exception. Accept your mistakes so we know you’re reasonable human being.

Separation vs Segregation

People should understand the differences between separation and segregation. Many people are against segregation. A lot of times, separation is a good practice. For example, separation of criminals from other people is good.

If a black person commits a crime, it would not be wrong to separate that person from other people; that’s not racism, that’s punishment for society’s safety. Same goes when a white person commits a crime. Separation is not a bad thing.

Separation is the act of disuniting two or more things, or the condition of being separated. Separation is based on decisions and wills.

However, what we are against is segregation. Segregation is racist. Segregation is a system of institutionalized discrimination. Segregation is forced on people not because of their acts but because of their nature.

I believe criminals, thieves, abusers, etc. should be separated from other human beings, for a specific period of time, of course. I believe dictators, racists, fascists, Nazis, and many others that I can’t recall now should be segregated.

Let’s campaign for our (digital) rights

For many years, campaigning was the only option we had to defend our rights. Even today, when we want to raise our voice to show what we want, we campaign for or against stuff. For example, FSF is now campaigning against using proprietary software for education and wants schools to use free software instead, to protect students and defend their digital rights.

Well not every time we campaigned for something, we succeeded but at least many people heard our voice and started learning about what we said. Campaigning is still very important for advocacy. Individuals like me, can do nothing without the power of society joined together for a common interest.

In today’s world, many of our rights are being violated. Even those who believe that are supporting us sometimes do stuff we don’t expect at all. The 16th anniversary of OpenStreetMap was celebrated at an online Zoom conference. We know for a fact that Zoom has serious problems over security and is a proprietary software.

Now, as a user of OSM, if I protest against it, nothing would happen as I would be considered an individual who doesn’t like Zoom. But if we campaign against it, the anniversary holders will realize that what we’re talking about is a matter of public interest of OSM users.

Joining the campaigns that defend our rights is very important. In many ways, campaigning is the only way that can support our belief and rights. For example, while ago, ICANN was giving the .org registry control to a private firm, which EFF campaigned against. The results were great. ICANN canceled it because it realized that people are highly disappointed. Now, PIR (Public Internet Registry which is a nonproft) is still in control of .org domain extension.

Now, our problem is that many people don’t participate in a campaign because they see a large group of people were already joined. We should know that no number is considered enough when we campaign. The amount of people who join the campaign shows the power of that statement people are campaigning for.

Sadly, many people don’t bother to take few minutes and signing a campaign which they know is for their own benefit. It is very wrong. As I said, more people joining the campaign, more power the campaign gains to defend its goal.

Please join the campaigns that defend your rights because they are not worthless. In fact, they did a lot of things for our own good and they are still powerful to defend us. Campaigning is still important and useful in many ways. Let’s campaign for our rights again.

Why do you have children?

I see some people ask others “why don’t you have children?” and I believe it’s a stupid question. Not having any children should not be asked about. In fact, what should we ask people is “why do you have children?”

We need license for many things, such as driving. However, having children does not require anything. Having children is a big and important responsibility and not everyone should be allowed to have children. Those who do not have children, in my opinion, have done their social and human duty better than others.

I believe people with no children realize how important and serious this responsibility is. Not having children should not be questioned; it’s having children that should be criticized.

With current problems in the world, having children in many cases is cruelty to that child and should be considered selfishness. We give birth to children, but we don’t own them. Raising them good is our responsibility and duty. They’re not our properties, so we can’t treat them anyway we want.

If they are oppressed in any way, whether physical or emotional, we are guilty. If they are dissatisfied with the situation they are in, we are responsible. I’m not against breeding at all, what I’m against is giving birth to children without being prepared for the responsibilities.

I also believe nobody should be forced to have children nor be forced to not having children. I believe we should spread knowledge and information about it. Forcing people to not having children is not acceptable at all, just like how forcing people to have children is wrong.

If someone says to you it’s raining outside and someone else says to you it’s not raining outside, your job is not to say “person A says it’s raining, person B says it’s not raining.” Your job is to open the fucking window and find out if it’s raining outside.

Mehdi Hasan

Start educating people about sexism when they are children

I’ve seen an amazing video of kids reacting to sexism and I was wondering is it because they are educated about sexism or this is just their humane nature. The video was about a females getting paid less than males and how kids were reacting to this discrimination.

I don’t think those kids were educated about sexism and I believe their reaction and what they did was just their nature. Humans are not sexist, racist, discriminatory, etc. by nature. They are just taught wrong. Our kids watch their environment and learn its behavior.

Now, if we start educating our children about sexism (and other konds of discrimination), they won’t act as sexists, etc. We should teach them to treat every person equally with justice, and teach them if they were treated less, they should step up and fight for their rights.

Most of us were never taught to be strong. Nobody taught us to fight against those who treat us with discrimination. We should stop this. We learned it the hard way, we should make it easy for next generations.

https://open.tube/videos/watch/ed0fbb2d-b6f6-4825-877f-359e00bf3220
The effects of sexism on children. Reactions to female discrimination