I don’t typically post linkspams, but maybe I should do it more often, particularly if I want to connect more with FreethoughtBlogs and The Orbit.  Here are a few links, with my brief commentary:

“Self-entitled ungrateful fuckoff”

Niki of Seriously?!? explains how pathetic welfare is in the US, and how people feel the need to micromanage the things people on welfare buy.  Speaking for myself, the one thing that made me strongly pro-redistribution was reading about the current programs, SNAP and TANF.  To qualify for SNAP (food stamps), you need to find work within three months, which sounds like a recipe to trap people in terrible jobs.

The danger of legislating on what ifs

Thoughts of Crys is on of my favorite new blogs on FTB.  This post counters what-if arguments made by pro-lifers.  The problem with these kinds of arguments is that they prove too much.  For example, you should never refuse sex with a partner, because what if that sex would have led to a child, it’s like you’re murdering that child!  This is a general issue in consequentialist ethics: how far in the future are the consequences still relevant?

Toxic Feminists are rare, but they do exist

Bi Any Means recounts a bad experience with a feminist Facebook group.  I agree with the title, but would go even further.  I think in feminism and social justice, we have a tendency to dance around internal criticism and drench it in qualifiers.  Maybe this is because we have some truly awful external critics, and everyone wants to make it clear they aren’t one of those people.

Breaking news: Gamergate is garbage; water is wet

If you didn’t know, New Frontier is the group blog functioning as a testing grounds for some new FTB bloggers.  Here is a post by Siobhan about a trans character in a new Baldur’s Gate expansion, and gamers’ reactions.

Note to atheists: low incarceration rates are not a sign of morality

From Greta Christina, the title pretty much says it all.

Outside of blogging…

My Brother’s Husband

Note: website contains erotic art, which may be shown in the suggested links, although this particular manga is SFW.

Tagame, who is a well-known artist of m/m bdsm manga, is publishing a manga about gay/lesbian issues.  This is a scanlation.  Note the page links on the bottom, and there’s also a volume 2, and volume 3 is either not published or not translated yet.

The story is about a single father in Japan, who is visited by his late brother’s husband, who is Canadian.  Over time, he gradually confronts his own prejudice against gay and lesbian people.  This manga functions as a walkthrough of basic gay/lesbian issues in Japanese culture, but the story is also well-written in its own right.

It… does kind of suffer from white savior syndrome, but I think this is mitigated by it being written by a native Japanese person rather than a white westerner.

If you’re unaware, there is plenty of Japanese manga with m/m content out there, but it’s very unusual for it to get real like this one.  If you’re interested LGBT issues in Japan, I also recommend this documentary featuring Ellen Page (warning: autoplay).

LGBT Climate in Physics

The American Physical Society recently released this report establishing the current state of affairs and suggesting steps moving forward.  I am out at work as gay, but not as ace.  Being out as gay is easy because I am That Guy who talks about his boyfriend all the time, but being out as ace is pretty difficult because it doesn’t come up.  I don’t personally face problems at work.