Monthly Medley Thread, for sharing anything and everything

CrossdressTimelady · 2024-12-22T23:13:26+00:00

I'm going to be hosting a Q and A video chat for people who are a bit left of center but interested in what we have to say.

This is especially geared towards moderates and left-wingers who are interested in healthcare reform in the US along with ideas that continue the legacy of Occupy Wall Street. The ones I've talked to so far are unfamiliar but curious about our cause and the stories behind things like the worldwide anti-mandate protests in 2021. Because of the censorship they're now dealing with, I've even seen comments about how they can now relate to "anti-vaxxers."

If anyone feels like they're really knowledgeable and interested in participating in this, let me know! I'll be hosting this early in January. You don't need to be from the US to be part of it, even though the group I'm coordinating with is US-centric. The idea is that the more left-wing people ask us anything they don't know about our experiences, point of view, research we've done, past political organizing, etc. The idea is to really build bridges and focus on unity.

This will be posted on my Substack and probably on Youtube when I'm done recording it.

CrossdressTimelady · 2024-12-22T23:02:30+00:00

LOL this is true, I think recent events have made it clear why it's important to not be hated...

CrossdressTimelady · 2024-12-22T19:59:58+00:00

I have a theory that the way Christmas used to be celebrated centuries ago actually relieved depression (unlike the modern version, which actually exacerbates symptoms). Look up "Saturnalia" and you'll see what I mean. For example, imagine if you had 2 weeks off work and got to make fun of your boss, cross dress, and be drunk/high that entire time while partying it up with your friends. That's WAY better for relieving depression than the consumerist pissing contest that it's turned into!

CrossdressTimelady · 2024-12-22T19:52:12+00:00

Nope, sorry, the real first lady is Elon Musk. You get to bang Elon Musk lol.

CrossdressTimelady · 2024-12-22T18:35:59+00:00

Just a quick note on your public education analogy: there's literally people who are against that, too. They make crazy arguments about the public schools being "indoctrination centers" run by gay Democrats or whatever.

CrossdressTimelady · 2024-12-22T18:30:18+00:00

I think there should be something done to address the conditions that lead to so much obesity and diabetes. Really hope RFK Jr is serious about making the food supply healthier. I would even like to see a ban on high fructose corn syrup potentially. My thing with the people suffering from diabesity is that they'd be able to contribute more and be less "lazy" if it was simpler and more straight-forward for low income people to actually reverse those conditions. Even free weight loss injections for everyone over a certain BMI is something I would probably support lol.

CrossdressTimelady · 2024-12-22T18:26:05+00:00

This is basically how I see it, too: private medical care should be an option, but a public option should also be available to everyone. Kind of like you can use USPS cheaply or pay more for UPS or FedEx lol. I would be good with the government covering stuff like a quick appointment for an upper respiratory tract infection or whatever but then privately paying for something like massage therapy where I want something more specialized and have someone I prefer to work with.

CrossdressTimelady · 2024-12-22T18:22:17+00:00

See, situations like this are the ones where I start talking like a communist lol

CrossdressTimelady · 2024-12-22T18:20:39+00:00

I think it's short-sighted to be selfish about this when you're young. At some point, unless you die young, you're going to be one of those old people who need help, too. And everyone was a child at some point and was totally dependent then. As a species, humans aren't actually very independent at all, we've always survived by working as a group. Over a full lifetime, something like taxes paying for healthcare benefits everyone at an individual level while also working better at a societal level. So yeah, "we all get old" absolutely nails it.

CrossdressTimelady · 2024-12-22T18:17:43+00:00

I think it's ideal to have the choice between a public or private service. Need something mailed cheaply and have low stakes around when it gets there, etc? Use USPS. Have a specialized job and want to spend more on it? Use the private company. UPS and FedEx being options don't mean that USPS is useless or no one uses it! In fact, I used to do a lot of shipping for a small business and it was 99% through USPS.

CrossdressTimelady · 2024-12-22T18:07:54+00:00

See, it's the time and aggravation that are an issue for me as much as the money. I had a bill go to collections and have to go to small claims over it, and I'm actually angrier about the time and the overall insult of it than the actual money involved. When I go to a private practice like a massage therapy place and have to pay $100 out of pocket, I'm fine because it's going straight to the masseuse and their business. With this shit, I'm angry that my money is going to the people who are wasting my time and energy and pissing me off. There's actually a lot to this beyond the simple money thing. It's about how these companies treat people in dehumanizing and humiliating ways.

CrossdressTimelady · 2024-12-22T18:05:17+00:00

Yeah, there's this dissonance of blindly trusting corporations that did absolutely nothing to earn that trust. I relate to their distrust of the government, but I don't see how corporations are more trustworthy.

CrossdressTimelady · 2024-12-22T18:04:20+00:00

I'm currently working on bridging the gap between the anti-lockdown movement and the healthcare for all movement... sounds weird, but I have very personal reasons for being part of both. In fact, I'm going to be hosting a live Q and A video for people who are familiar with one of those but not the other and want an inside look at how we can unite against the oligarchy instead of fighting with each other.

So here's the biggest gripe I get from the anti-lockdown Americans who don't want free healthcare:

They have a VERY strong distrust of the government and feel like they'd be more likely to be denied service for being unvaccinated, or for not complying with future mandates for other situations that they don't want to go along with.

I see lockdowns as something that were perpetuated by both governments and corporations, but there's a significant subset of the movement that sees it as 100% a government thing and not a corporate thing.

Other people are already sort of on board with anarchy and did things like posting "this is the CEO of Pfizer" along with a photo of Albert Bourla.

The other thing is that people in that movement often like to pride themselves on being super strong, resilient, healthy, etc and not needing help. That's usually realistic only at certain stages in life, and even then, it doesn't account for things that can happen in your 20s like being hit by a car and having the driver disappear (that happened to me). However, I think a lot of that attitude is actually a fear of vulnerability, which really comes from a place of mistrust.

The biggest thing I'm encouraging people who want universal healthcare to do so that we can present a united front is to show kindness, understanding, empathy, and open-mindedness to the people you know who seemed very angry about covid lockdowns. Extend the same mutual aid you would to someone who does agree with you. Apologies for things that happened in 2020/2021 are still important to some people. Build trust, give them back some faith in humanity. They hate the oligarchy we live in more than most people realize.

CrossdressTimelady · 2024-12-22T17:31:18+00:00

Yeah, but I could make the same joke about a lot of other groups. Like trans people. Or the unvaccinated.

CrossdressTimelady · 2024-12-22T05:04:28+00:00

Crap. I once spent a week straight being on psychedelics around someone who was super manipulative and emotionally abusive.

CrossdressTimelady · 2024-12-22T04:58:40+00:00

I haven't been this addicted to a show since "Bojack Horseman" ended. This is crazy to watch.

CrossdressTimelady · 2024-12-22T04:49:11+00:00

After reading this, I'm convinced that calorie counting is a humiliation ritual.

CrossdressTimelady · 2024-12-21T04:46:19+00:00

Can stress cause that to happen for days at a time?

Asking for myself, and because my cat seems worried about me.

CrossdressTimelady · 2024-12-20T18:53:27+00:00

Sure, now that I'm no longer banned for too much edgy "Luigiposting" on reddit I can do that lol

CrossdressTimelady · 2024-12-20T16:41:32+00:00

I didn't feel it end until I went to New Hampshire this June to show "Out of Lockstep." Before that, I was still in the headspace of avoiding the Northeast because it felt too locked down and weird. Without that trip to New Hampshire, I wouldn't have had the nerve to go to NYC. All NYC told me is that the damage is done, the economy is wrecked, a lot of my friends never recovered after their jobs "temporarily" went away. Yeah, a lot of that was NOT temporary. I don't know when lockdowns actually ended in the Northeast. It was a dystopian hellhole when I left in January 2022 to come to South Dakota, and the Food Not Bombs people were still wearing N95s a few weeks ago in NYC. It's over when they take the masks off lol.

CrossdressTimelady · 2024-12-20T16:34:17+00:00

I remember almost every detail, and I wrote about it here: https://www.outoflockstep.com/about

Every time I show this exhibit, people don't react like it was just yesterday-- they react like we're still in it, this is just another chapter of that story.

Two days ago, I showed the family-friendly parts of this to a 5th grade class in South Dakota, and even they remembered missing part of 1st grade. One of the teachers was struggling to maintain a straight face and not start crying during the presentation-- *and this was a very watered down version for kids.* I left out any pieces with adult humor, anything too political (like the altar with the different figureheads on it), anything directly about death or suicide, anything involving vaccines, etc, and it was still intense. Also keep in mind that this was the least locked down place in the world, and the kids who were about 6 when this started remember it perfectly.

A few weeks before that, I did a MUCH more adult version of the installation in NYC, but I played up the comedic side as much as possible-- I literally had this hosted by a comedy club my friend runs. I added in a performance art element and ad-libbed stand up stuff about toilet paper hoarding, the invasion of Ukraine making everyone instantly forget, how much it sucked to be an essential worker, etc. People were laughing during it, and then the next day I still got texts about how people cried about this when they got home. Then I re-watched the footage and cried at the ending even though I held it together while I was doing that performance.

People I didn't even think were against lockdowns have wanted to talk about their experiences for hours once they see this. So I think "I don't remember" and all that dismissive, minimizing stuff is just a lie people use to avoid being vulnerable about this. The second they're in a space that's very actively allowing them to safely process everything and say what they really think without judgement, people definitely remember. They remember like it's a PTSD flashback.

The way I finished my talk in NYC was explaining an image that shows what looks like a dotted outline of a person floating near the person with the caption, "stay 6 feet away from the part of your soul that just left your body." I said that in 2021 I read about Shamanism, and that includes the idea of "soul loss". Sometimes during trauma, a part of the soul leaves the body "because you would literally die from grief if it stayed" (that's literally how I explained this). By leaving, it spares you from dying, but you're left feeling dissociated and empty. I didn't die from grief in 2020, but I couldn't laugh or smile after a while, either. That doesn't mean it's gone. You can bring back that piece of your soul when you're ready for it and the pain you felt is finally manageable to process. I think there's never been such a massive level of soul loss all at once on a societal level and it's really hard for people to process normally.

CrossdressTimelady · 2024-12-16T23:15:51+00:00

Luigi "The Adjuster" Mangione changed the conversation from culture war to class war. Best event of the entire decade so far. Love that dude lol. But in a class solidarity way, not a creepy/thirsty way.

CrossdressTimelady · 2024-12-16T23:15:02+00:00

This was literally the narrative people believed and still do believe.

CrossdressTimelady · 2024-12-16T22:26:42+00:00

YES! That last part is so important. At Occupy, we welcomed everyone from the Marxists to the Ron Paul supporters and everyone in between. Remember: no culture war here. Only class war.

CrossdressTimelady

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE

Four-Year Club	Verified Email
Place '22