the pretence of innocence about constantly asking trans women to deny that they're pedophiles is so transparent and stupid. like, the reason the 'not involved in human trafficking' shirt tweet is funny is because when you see someone, with very little prompting, deny some heinous accusation, the main piece of information you register in your mind is that the accusation exists. all these asks and 'just answer the question'-ing are an attempt to get every trans woman on this website (and, more generally, in the world) to wear a NOT A PEDOPHILE shirt. and we all know what questions such a shirt raises!
The most terrifying part of having memory issues is when you can feel something from 5 seconds ago be thrown out the window and there's an empty hole where it once was. You remember that you forgot something.
Nothing like the Pakistani gov expelling Afghan refugees en masse back to a despotic country in the wake of a devastating earthquake and on the eve of an upcoming winter. All because of attacks on Pakistan from groups linked to said despotic regime that had been at the very least tacitly supported by the Pakistani gov.
Oh.. and a potential update to this (which has been coming as there are tensions between Iran and Afghanistan):
If you're wondering how to help Afghans, and discouraged by the fact that it'd be near impossible to convince these countries otherwise, International Rescue Foundation is probably the most practical source.
Otherwise, if you're American and in a blue/swing district, pressure your rep to push for the Afghan Adjustment Act and similar measures to help refugees get here and be supported. And even if you're in an area where appeals will fall on deaf ears due to racism/nativism/Islamophobia, there are refugee orgs nearby you can get involved with.
If you're not American, there are probably equivalent things that could be done.
If a worker who isn't the owner says ANYTHING similar to "I'm not really supposed to do this but-" and then does something that helps you, under no circumstances inform the business, including through reviews. You tell them that the worker was polite, professional, the very model of customer service and why you like to go there. You do not breathe a word of the rulebreaking.
Employee-customer solidarity
Even if they don't- Your review can be the thing that wrecks someone up accidentally;
"Janie was so helpful when I wanted to buy a new washing machine on Friday, she stayed with me for half an hour and wasn't pushy at all, we had a good laugh about our cats' silly antics and she got Adam and Suzy to carry it to the car for me- 10/10 excellent service, I'd come back any day!"
-But Management has a policy that workers should spend no more than 10 focused minutes on any customer at a time, and that they should always try to upsell the insurance and the higher price model, so Janie was breaking policy.
-And they aren't supposed to have their phones on the sales floor, so now Janie is going to be quizzed on whether she was showing photos of her cat to a customer.
-Adam is a warehouse worker and shouldn't have been in the front-of-house at all, Suzy is a porter, and store policy is both to use a trolley to move heavy items, and that only the porters should do it, so now Janie is in trouble for pulling Adam off-task, Adam is in trouble for walking through the shop floor, and Suzy is in trouble for poor handling procedure. Maybe the store even has a paid delivery service that Janie was supposed to upsell as soon as you said "I can't put this in my car without help", so this was all against policy.
Your review should always be as bland as possible, "10/10, five star service, will shop here again, thank you to Janie at the Town Street branch" You NEVER know what was technically a rule-break, capitalism is not your friend, the review process is part of the panopticon.
FIVE STARS, TEN OUT OF TEN, VERY GOOD, NOTHING MORE.
no one makes content like pannen