The Productive Pessimist

  The Productive Pessimist's focus is on "living the problems to bring through the answer."  That focus statement acknowledges three things: 1. There's always more than one problem 2. There's usually a single answer which covers all the problems 3. The best answers come from those who've lived the problems personally. This focus means we often find ourselves at odds with the more prominent non-profits of the UK, who do very well because businesses like to believe they "can't possibly afford" to pay for services - until their friends, network contacts, and family members are providing them as a business - but like to show their generosity and social engagement by publicly donating to well-regarded, prominent charities in some way, and the British public like to console themselves that the "lower taxes" they insist on every election are an entirely reasonable demand, because the voluntary sector will just mop up all the various socioecono...

  "If women want equality, it's fine if I punch you, then?" "Why should I give up my seat for a pregnant woman? They wanted equality, after all!" "Equality means she  should be doing a proper day's work, too, not lounging around scrolling socials all day!" These are all common retorts against the equality that is legally enforced to the benefit of cisgender, able-bodied, mentally well women (and which is often more readily and fully given to white  women in those categories.) The perception of the Left is that this is "proof that men just want to be violent." And some men - and some women, and some non-binary folk - undoubtedly do. The possibility of being an objectionable piece of sh*t who wants to harm others, and make irresponsible choices, is a fundamental aspect of being human, which is why the consequences  of irresponsible and anti-social choices should never be weakened or removed. For many others, though, their discomfort with th...

  Recently, my regional newspaper carried an article which cited that 25% of domestic violence victims are men. That article was discussing a wider situation of a DV incident involving a same-sex male couple, which will immediately allow some people to claim that "See?! It's all still just violent men!" Except, that 25% will be an understatement, because men are often focused on what is practical, and, in the UK, it's not practical to report domestic violence when you're a male victim. Firstly, there are almost no  refuges or support groups for men. (And, with support groups, especially online ones, when men set them up, they very quickly get inundated with women demanding access, because "something" about any of the hundreds of resources for women "doesn't appeal" to the women demanding access to spaces intended for men - when those same women would be outraged if men tried to access women's spaces with the "justification" of...

  The social model of disability  states that there is no "disability", in the sense of individual limitations, only "social barriers".  In its neutral form, this is simply an invitation to business and government to come together, and be guided by individuals affected by social barriers in how to create a better world. Unfortunately, very few things' neutralities survive their first exposure to human beings, and the social model of disability is no different; even in a "perfect" world, with maximal intersectional inclusion, there would still be people who had a negative experience, despite not behaving in anyway that "deserves" punishment or exclusion. (Although, in a truly maximally intersectionally inclusive world, it could be argued that no one  would "deserve" punishment or exclusion... It depends on whether there is any real possibility of educating and socialising out intolerance in others, which is very much the "elepha...