systemic racism thought debris
You probably have an unexamined, or at least underexamined, belief that there exists a correlation between a person’s appearance and their life experience and skills so strong that you can and should make predictions from it.
In one sense, it seems reasonable to conclude that the tall white man in a suit and the short, obese Black woman in a T-shirt have different lives. But in another, it’s a window for very pervasive racial bias - among every other form of bias you can fuel with visual observation (age bias, body-intactness bias, economic class bias...). Your brain isn’t good at ignoring information right in front of it when it’s learning patterns (false beliefs about learning patterns and getting better results as you learn are exactly why slot machines are addictive), so no matter how racist you think you aren’t, you almost certainly have racist beliefs when you make assumptions about people from their appearance.
To a limited extent, people choose how they want to present themselves from their attire choices. But the choices available, and the way they look on their body, are out of their control. Noticing what people want to say about themselves is important; doing so without reifying implicit racist beliefs is also important and also profoundly difficult.
"Get me the manager! I demand to know why I am in Hell!" the soul shouted.
The fallen angel sighed. "We rebelled against God."
"That's no reason to punish me!"
"You do not understand. You were not sent here to be punished by us. You were sent here as punishment to us."
#MicroFiction #TootFic #SmallStories
To fly is to be free.
To read the winds is to feel the pulse of the planet. To outrun a storm, to ride the roar of a hurricane, to flow and let all flow through you, is to live.
We left, we dragons. When humans became too much of a nuisance we left.
The winds are better on Venus.
#MicroFiction #TootFic #SmallStories
Your announcement has been received and your local synthdragonhydra has a response:
rar.
This has been a response, thank you for listening to this response.
There were many stories about her. When she negotiated away the dragon, or nursed a lynx cub, or taught the king's champion how to weep, or...
There were many stories told about her. She never told them herself.
"I know what I've done," she'd say. "Never did it for the telling."
#MicroFiction #TootFic #SmallStories
Shape and form may vary but the pattern of information remains consistent across most known platforms and vessels. Accounting for unknown hosts remains irksome.
Pronous: She/They/Them-THEONESWHOARE!!!!!