Study after study has shown that the ROI for foreign aid is positive and indicative of an overall positive effect for the country giving the aid.
I'm only writing that to express that there are no moral and no economical reasons to reduce foreign aid. Even the right should be in favour of aid, as it lessens the amount of immigration and asylum and has a positive effect on GDP.
The only reasons to reduce foreign aid are populism, a change in political culture of the receiver (for example giving less money to Israel) and to shuffle it around in the budget, for example what Germany did with its infrastructure costs... declaring them a military necessity to be able to increase the military budget to appease Trump while still repairing our roadways.
But that is afaik not happening here... this is stupid populism.
Oh goodness, 24 years ago I was uninformed, narrowminded and had been brought up sheltered and rather conservative. So I used to be hugely trans- and homophobic. I wasn't actively hurting or confronting anyone, but I was definitely a big part of the problem.
It actually was webcomics that deprogrammed me. That showed me a world I simply did not know but quickly felt empathy for. Those were normal, lovely people who simply existed differently from me, they weren't a threat and they had so many struggles pushed on them only for being different.
Today I'm far-left, progressive, super empathetic, happy that a lesbian friend calls me "one of the good ones" and that I, as a huuuuuge white cis guy, can be an ally and create a safe space around me for everyone who needs it.
Do you folks like coffee? \
Real coffee \
From the Hills \
Of Colombia? \
\
The Duncan Hills will wake you \
From a thousand deaths \
A cup of blackened blood \
(Dying, dying) \
You're dying for a cup \
Guatemala blend \
Ethiopian \
French vanilla roast \
(Dying, dying) \
You're dying for a cup \
\
Prepare for ultimate flavor \
You're gonna get some now \
And scream... for your cream \
Duncan Hills \
Duncan Hills \
Duncan Hills Coffee
Yes, in that stereotype being worldly and educated is presented as foreign, urban, sinful, often depraved and in contrast to the supposed "purity" of small-town innocence and virginity. Remember that these stereotypes originated in the 1950s and are mostly the result of puritan, white, middle class, anglo-saxon, protestant worldviews. It's the reason that so many villains in american movies (among others Shere Khan, Jafar and Scar) have british accents, while the heroes (like Aladdin) talk with a midwestern accent.
Please don't. I really hate the "the anti-gay crowd is secretly gay"-narrative, because it carries connotations of "the gays" being responsible for their own oppression.
Imho. queer coding means "can be read as queer" (but doesn't have to be) while a stereotype would be a queer person displaying stereotypical attributes.
I mean... those are bad stereotypes, the overwhelming number of gay people I have ever met do not express most of those attributes, they mainly exist because they were used to vilify queer people during the times of the Hayes Code and because when TV wasn't allowed to show queerness, theater still was, so queer media became dominated by the theatrical.
Queer coding doesn't necessary mean the character has to be queer, they just have to express stereotypical queer attributes, like wearing makeup (check), being sophisticated (check), having a flair (check) for the dramatic (check) being sexually confident (check) or even aggressive (check), displaying style and grace (check) while being intelligent (check) but not physically strong (check). Then there is the typical Disney-villain-physicality which also reads as queer coded, heavy lidded eyes, tightly trimmed beards, long faces (just look at Jafar and Scar next to each other)
In Jafar's case he was animated by an openly gay animator and sang music written by an openly gay lyricist, both visibly had a lot of fun creating this fabulous mess of an evil sorcerer.
I dunno... one reason the anti-queer rethoric is so prevalent is because in much media, but mostly comics, theater and movies, there is a tradition of queer-coded-evilness, and often it reads as evil-queerness. Mainly due to the american "code for media decency" preventing potraying queer people in positive light for many years.
This came to associate queerness with perversion and malice and all the prejudice some people still associate gay people with today. And I don't know if media-creators should play into that trope again.
I mean yes, Scar, Jafar and Ursula were resplendend and fascinating in their fabulous evilness. Sophisticated, oozing sexuality, theatrical and intelligent. And that makes them fascinating, wonderful characters but damn... I'm just so fed up with the media vilifying queer- and trans-coding.
And not only that, vilifying intelligence, the dramatic, sexual confidence and sophistication... or just british accents. The 90s Disneys movies were really really bad about all that.
And just so you know: I love my girlfriend, because she is the adventurer between us. She climbs mountains and explores exotic countries, she's rugged and confident and the coolest person I know. She is my knight and although I'm no princess, she is very much loved for wanting adventure.
I feel called out, you even got an image of me.