Every time I rewatch breaking bad I’m completely STUNNED by how fast Walt resorts to cooking meth to pay his medical bills. He doesn’t try literally anything else before resorting to meth. He finds out he has cancer and then immediately contacts the first meth dealer he can find and is like “let’s be partners.” Like I cannot emphasize enough that cooking meth was Walter White’s FIRST resort, not his last. His old college friends even offer him an executive position at an immensely successful business he helped found so the health insurance would cover most of it and his pay would more than cover the rest, and he turns it down because he doesn’t want “handouts.” The story of breaking bad is about Walters descent into immorality and depravity but he really fucking hurtles off the diving board at the first chance he got and ignored the people throwing him life preserves.
This is why I don’t watch mainstream television. The whole pre, pro, and post production crew all knew they were profiting off of glorifying meth usage to millions of impressionable viewers and they did it with glee.
This is so funny. You thought Breaking Bad was about how doing meth is cool?
We need everyone’s help right now to protect the rainforest and Indigenous People
The Amazon Rainforest is under a massive threat. I know you’ve heard this a million times, but this is different. There is a piece of legislation that will decimate the rights of Indigenous people of Brazil, who have been protecting the rainforest. It’s unfathomably bad. It has majority support. And they’re voting tomorrow. As reported here, the Bill allows “the Brazilian government to find energy resources, set up military bases, develop strategic roads, and implement commercial agriculture on protected Indigenous tribal lands, without any prior discussion with the affected peoples.”
The thing you can do—and I know this sounds overly simple—is sign this petition—and tell your friends to do the same: SIGN HERE.
As reported here, the Bill allows “the Brazilian government to find energy resources, set up military bases, develop strategic roads, and implement commercial agriculture on protected Indigenous tribal lands, without any prior discussion with the affected peoples.”
Again, this bill has majority support. You may be wondering, why will a petition signed by people who don’t live in Brazil make any difference? Because it will give those opposing it political air cover. It will show the world is with them.
There was an arrest across the street from my place in Oakland one day – three cop cars with a bullhorn and guns out – and before I could even get out the gate there were a couple people posted up and one of them was filming and another one was narrating in a calm but very loud voice, just
“HE IS COOPERATING! HIS HANDS ARE EMPTY! HE IS DOING WHAT HE IS TOLD TO DO! HE IS HOLDING STILL! HIS HANDS ARE EMPTY! HE IS NOT BEING THREATENING! HE HAS PUT HIS HANDS BEHIND HIS HEAD AS ASKED! HE IS NOT RESISTING!”
and that was something I hadn’t thought to do before. It certainly let the cops know what the narrative of eye witnesses was going to be.
I especially liked “his hands are empty” because this statement would still be true and a witnessed reason the police should not become violent even if it turned out he had a weapon on his person somewhere.
I see people in NYC stop and record a lot. Even if they are just being nosey, that’s still witnesses if shit goes down.
We must be vigilant. The New Solidarity. You might just save a fellow human being.
If you don’t feel comfortable with doing the narrating thing (which really is quite clever), even just standing around and blatantly staring actually legit helps immensely.
There are studies that show that even an image of someone looking can be effective to change people’s behaviours.
Sidenote: If you see a cop stopping an Indigenous person, the same protocol applies.
I did this in a parking lot when I saw a group of Black men and teens being harassed by a cop. Stayed in my car, but whipped out my phone and started to record, pointing out via narrative when I could hear the cop contradicting himself and changing his story. At the eight-minute mark, when I knew he was past the reasonable-stop guideline time (thanks, legal tips side of tumblr!), I flipped on my dome light.
Fam, what happened next was INCREDIBLE.
The cop had been gesturing in a wild way, almost flailing, like he was actively trying to get these guys agitated. He saw my dome light, saw a white face with a phone, and suddenly his hands came to rest on his vest. Within 90 seconds he’d packed his shit up and gone.
The most outspoken gentleman in the group came up to me and went “whatchu doing in there?” So I straight-up told him “it looked like you were being harassed, so I was recording.” The whole group recognized someone who was on their side, and started venting about the shit that had just gone down.
Turns out the asshole had had them stopped for a good five minutes before I pulled in. That means they were stopped, with no probable cause and a cop changing his story no fewer than three times, for AT LEAST THIRTEEN MINUTES. While chatting in a parking lot. One car had pulled in next to another that turned out to belong to one of his buddies and they were just shooting the shit when Officer Bacon came by.
Want to know the kicker here? One of the cop’s stories was that a group “matching their description” had been reported by the grocery store security guy for shoplifting. Black man, red shirt with a sports logo, jeans. Know what this convenient report didn’t mention?
HIS HEIGHT.
This guy was, without exaggeration, at least 6’10”. I assure you any report of him would have mentioned his height FIRST. And you’d best believe I pointed that out in my narration.
Cops WILL try shit. You CAN stop them. I did it and it was as simple as having some patience and a camera.
Same for muslims!
Look out for your fellow marginalized people!
Honestly, this applies to everyone. It’s a higher priority for the aforementioned groups, but nobody is safe around the police. The police are the enemy.
