lady-veronica-jones

[lady-veronica-jones]

Hey! 👋🏼 I was looking at Tonys panel with Carol and his AA panels. It got me thinking how can a person like Tony .. who is an atheist, a believer of science and a confident engineer rely on AA which has a religious foundation (the 12 steps) and place so power on God. I know secular AA have different takes on it and encourage a personal definition of God as any higher power the person may choose. But doesn’t that defeat Tonys belief? Because I don’t think he believes in a higher power regardless if it’s a deity or not.

This is a wonderful question. There’s a lot of nuance to the answer, in my opinion, because I think there are some things called into question here that Tony (very realistically) treats with a lot of complexity.

Firstly, Tony’s atheism is kind of... I don’t want to say it’s up in the air, because at this point, I think it’s kind of made its place in canon and fanon both. But, most likely as a result of the times in which he was created, he has been shown in canon (at least in the early stages of his life) to follow some sort of organized religion. This is from Iron Man Vol. 1 #164, and it’s... not strong evidence for him being a spiritual man, as most people who call themselves “not that religious” tend to be religious by way of traditions, but. You know. It is what it is.

Of course, we could dismiss this as yet another thing that early canon imposed on a character who wouldn’t be like that at this point in time, but I think it brings up interesting beats in the way Tony’s character has progressed over the years.

Considering him as someone who may have been raised as traditionally religious makes sense in the context of defining events, as well, given that we watch him pray the Lord’s prayer in #14 of Iron Man Vol. 4, one of his Civil War tie-ins.

Given the proximity to the alcohol (and the point he’s at in the timeline, here), one could also easily assume that even if he had no religious background, the very presence of the Lord’s prayer in AA meetings could have formed a connection in his head between this “worship” and sobriety-- at the very least, enough of one that the prayer strengthens the effectiveness of his willpower. It seems the little push he needs to pour a drink down the drain is borderline Pavlovian.

There’s actually a lot of religious imagery in Tony comics in general. He’s a man with a suit facing conundrums of cosmic proportions. It’s difficult for him to keep rationale exclusively within the range of earthly probabilities.

Point is, his atheism doesn’t come from his disbelief in a higher power. It’s quite the contrary, actually. His atheism comes from a belief that there’s no single entity that could claim the title of God, that any being willing to try has, just by being, already forfeited the title.

Which is a fair assessment to make, given that he’s fought many people claiming to be Gods, and they’ve all bled. He’s also watched people worship Gods that turned out to not... really be Gods, whether they were otherworldly beings, his buddy Thor, or, uh, himself. The idea of him, at least. In space.

Because of course that happened.

But Tony actually does have a higher power to give himself up to in these meetings. In Civil War II #1, he very explicitly states it:

“I respect the future. I believe in the future. I worship at its feet.”

“The Future” to him is something he can affect, certainly, but he’s aware of just how massive it is, just how massive all of time is compared to the few decades he’ll spend on earth. This is his higher power, his cosmic deity of choice.

It can’t bleed. It can’t falter. It’s inevitable.

And this mindset is... pretty in line with everything else he’s done. He’s referred to himself as a “necessary monster.” He’s implied many times over that he thinks he’s rotten and potentially dangerous, but he’s also intelligent and capable and he wants to do the right thing, even if he doesn’t always know what that is. 

If you’ve ever been in a religious environment, you’ll probably recognize his mindset going into any problem: there’s always a solution, always information he’s missing, always a “right choice” he’s looking for with a domino effect that’ll be as favorable as possible for future generations. He trusts in the future the way people trust in God, with an awareness that he’ll never have all the pieces to make sense of everything, but he can have enough information to act. And he must act, or else his worth, his right to be alive, even, is at stake.

So, needless to say, he’s not praying to a mainstream God. But religious imagery isn’t and has never been off-putting to him, and though he certainly could seek out unreligious (is that a word?) alternatives to AA, I find it hard to believe that he would, given just how influential his higher power of choice is as it guides him through life. He puts everything at stake for it, going so far as to make choices that will destroy not only himself, but also his relationships with his loved ones if it means he’s doing what he perceives to be the right thing.

Secondly, even if he were a man who had no belief in any form of higher power, not even a stand-in for it, AA still might not be something he’d discard in favor of an alternative.

Religion serves as a guide. Most often, it has “do”s and “do not”s, certain beliefs it supports, and a kind of... basic explanation of what human life is and how it should be treated. One of the more common threads among most religions that I’m aware of (I am not an expert in religious studies; please don’t @ me) is the idea that human life is generally sacred, and as such, people should treat each other with respect. Yes, some texts can contradict this, but the general rule is “be nice to each other!” when you really look at the basics of what people are trying to teach. At its core, religion is linked to what we as humans already tend to for the sake of survival: compassion.

As such, though we might not always identify with religion as a concept, it’s not difficult to identify with some religious morals and teachings. Some people take to certain teachings better than others-- it’s super case-by-case-- but if you’re stuck in a religious environment listening to some preaching or anything, there’s probably going to be something you can relate to, and some way you can morph and adopt the message. This isn’t, like, all-encompassing, by the way. Of course there are some things that atheists and religious folk will never be able to relate to within each other, but.

You get what I mean.

I’m an atheist myself. I spent a chunk of my schooling at a religious institution. At best, there were messages that affected me deeply (as they were hard-hitting even when I stripped them of the God-worshipping aspects). At worst, I had to grit my teeth through some assignments, though I felt mostly indifferent (if slightly resentful at times, more out of frustration with the closed-mindedness of the administration than with the concept of religion itself). My experience isn’t universal, of course-- some people in my shoes were more frustrated and angry than I was, and I can see why. But my point is, being an atheist in and of itself (even one as strict as Tony) doesn’t render religious imagery useless.

For example, if you happen to pass by a pastor preaching about struggles with guilt, you might not identify with the sentiment of “Give your worries to God and know He’ll take care of you.” However, you could identify with the sentiment of, “Those little things, those side effects of decisions you’ve made? They’re here. Those decisions have been made. You’re allowed to swallow past the reality of what it is that’s passed and move on. You’re allowed to let go of it, so long as you’re better today than you were yesterday.”

It’s especially easy to do this if you’re listening to or being exposed to content from a religion you’re already familiar with; in Tony’s case, if we assume he was a Christian at one point or was raised with Christian ideals (not unbelievable in the slightest, given his circumstances and upbringing), then he wouldn’t have to do a lot of heavy lifting in order to get to “core messages” of certain Christian teachings that he could still identify with. Couple that with the higher power mentioned before, and... it’s not hard to see what might be appealing to him about AA, and it’s not hard to see why it was so effective at sticking in his mind all the way through his darkest periods in life.

Now comes the less healthy part.

There’s also an aspect of self-flagellation to it that I feel Tony might identify with on a deeper level. We’ve seen him hate himself openly, and we know how he regards himself. Even if he managed to find himself in a courthouse-like environment where the religious undertones were more about judgment than recovery, I don’t know that that would necessarily... push him away? He’s already told himself there’s something rotting and evil at his core many times over. He’s already committed himself to a lifestyle of atonement and progress, punishing himself when he fails to accomplish things no human reasonably could and barely praising himself when he doesn’t fail. Do I think these kinds of meetings would be totally sustainable for him, given that he clearly needs to feel pride or relief on some level for conquering his demons? No, not really, but. I don’t think he’d abandon them straight away.

Besides, every healing environment he’s been shown in has been more on the welcoming, open side, even if we only get to see a bare bones interpretation of AA (with deeper exploration happening more with Tony’s response to it, or his and Carol’s responses to each other) in canon. He’s in a good place with it, and it’s very nice to see.

Tl;dr: Again, great question. At the end of the day, I think the combination of self-loathing, his desire for progress, and his conceptualization of “the future” as his higher power makes AA a good fit for him despite his lack of a belief in "God” as an entity.

[lady-veronica-jones]

harry: (in annoying voice) i know you two are holding hands. like seriously cant we be just three of some time rather than the couple and harry. 

[lady-veronica-jones]

Making fun of misogynistic uncle and aunties

Wearing a mask slaps actually. My face is Not Exposed and I don't have to perform facial expressions for neurotypicals as much

[lady-veronica-jones]

I hope this is helpful.

"Feminazi" a way to shut up the women when we are being too radical for men.

The comments on which feminazi reply came, was "In India the idea to flirt with a girl is to harass the girl, all thanks to Bollywood film industry, which has made stalking and harassing and abusing a girl romantic. Majority of movies has depicted this behaviour and normalised it where at the end somehow the girl falls in love with the guy who was stalking her btw just because he beat up some bad guys. I will even name a few movies if you want me to.

Other comments were like when a guy was actually defending acid attacks. How men even do this fathoms me. So talking about acid attacks makes me a feminazi.

I think men who are actually good, and feminist themselves will not need to defend themselves when women are talking about rape and acid attacks and general misogyny and sexism around them because they know they have never done it and also realise that it happens.

[lady-veronica-jones]

"Feminazi" a way to shut up the women when we are being too radical for men.

The comments on which feminazi reply came, was "In India the idea to flirt with a girl is to harass the girl, all thanks to Bollywood film industry, which has made stalking and harassing and abusing a girl romantic. Majority of movies has depicted this behaviour and normalised it where at the end somehow the girl falls in love with the guy who was stalking her btw just because he beat up some bad guys. I will even name a few movies if you want me to.

Other comments were like when a guy was actually defending acid attacks. How men even do this fathoms me. So talking about acid attacks makes me a feminazi.

I think men who are actually good, and feminist themselves will not need to defend themselves when women are talking about rape and acid attacks and general misogyny and sexism around them because they know they have never done it and also realise that it happens.

[lady-veronica-jones]

"Feminazi" a way to shut up the women when we are being too radical for men.

The comments on which feminazi reply came, was "In India the idea to flirt with a girl is to harass the girl, all thanks to Bollywood film industry, which has made stalking and harassing and abusing a girl romantic. Majority of movies has depicted this behaviour and normalised it where at the end somehow the girl falls in love with the guy who was stalking her btw just because he beat up some bad guys. I will even name a few movies if you want me to.

Other comments were like when a guy was actually defending acid attacks. How men even do this fathoms me. So talking about acid attacks makes me a feminazi.

I think men who are actually good, and feminist themselves will not need to defend themselves when women are talking about rape and acid attacks and general misogyny and sexism around them because they know they have never done it and also realise that it happens.

[lady-veronica-jones]

When you tell a lie," said Sherlock, voice low and words rapid, "the world of your lie must be as concrete and complete as the world of the truth." He unfolded to his feet in one smooth, unbroken motion, shedding the blanket onto the chair behind him. He was wearing his ratty pyjamas and his blue dressing gown. "Thus, when you construct a lie, it's better to keep as many of the details true as possible, so that there is less to remember when you're questioned."

Sherlock (BBC) fanfiction

"Laguna by coloredink

[lady-veronica-jones]

In conversation with Bhartiya Sanskar (B.S). Indian culture.

Teenager : I want privacy

BS : what is that. No we don't have that here

Teenager : it means that, I want to have sometime for just myself, away from family.

BS : no we don't do that here. And you are child anyway, why would you need that. Are you doing something wrong. Aren't you, you..... (trying but obviously BS cant cuss ) you wrong child.

Teenager : "facepalms"

I know someone will be offended but before that just think about it, you have faced it too.

[lady-veronica-jones]

Harry was not so oblivious

Ron: You only like him[cedric] because he’s handsome

Hermione: I don’t like people just because they’re handsome

Ron: *cough* Lockhart!

Hermione: Okay besides him

Ron: Well you don’t like anyone else

Hermione: Well I like you don’t I?

Ron: What?

Hermione: …

Harry: What does that prove? You just further proved Ron’s point about only liking handsome people

[lady-veronica-jones]

So everyone in the Harry Potter fandom is reigniting the old shipping war again and arguing whether Hermione should have ended up with Harry instead of Ron and I’m kind of chuckling to myself because whatever I always shipped Harry/Ron.

[lady-veronica-jones]

A JOINT FAMILY AMONGST PANDEMIC

There is a pandemic across the world and it has locked us all inside the houses

Houses or perhaps homes, there are all different sorts of home in the world, happy, empty, lonesome, sad, angry, toxic.

I don’t Know about the rest, so I m going to talk about the one I live in. A home of joint family of 10, for some it must be surprising to think of 10 people living in single home. I remember my friend once saying “you are living in a village”. I had laughed at her because honestly it isn’t so bad, we are combination of happy and sad and sometimes angry, and all thing culminating into companionship sometimes unwanted but more often than not, appreciated.

Well this pandemic has forced all of us to inside home at the same time, as obviously otherwise we all have jobs or schools or colleges and temples for grand parents to spend all our time at home, and honestly for me it was a blessing.

Afcourse we are privileged enough to have single room for each if we want to avoid each other. Which we more often than not, do use.

Guess what I am trying to say is that among the heart loving stories of families coming together in this pandemic, there are also stories of families who are already living together, and are (not) desperately so ( because lets face it this is much better than not having a home at all) waiting for this pandemic to be over and done with. Because it is much easier to tolerate each other when we have our personal lives to return to. For some of us it means returning to their lives to different cities altogether.

And as joint families go ours is unique, no cliché scenes of women labouring away at kitchen, everyone has a job be it men or women, and everyone like to cook and do cook be it women or men.

And Yeah we are actually a family of 11 one is obviously living in another part of country for job and couldn’t come home. We are obviously missing him.

Sincerely,

A joint family from small town India

[lady-veronica-jones]

[lady-veronica-jones]

To all the bjp bhakts,

Please open your eyes.

#

[lady-veronica-jones]

Siriusly!! Well lets go then!

Just so everyone is clear. Every single pun on this blog is intended. I completely intend to make you suffer along with me for every pun.

[lady-veronica-jones]

They say why don’t you laugh any more, how should I say to them that it’s hard even to smile any more.

They say why are you always so quite, how should I tell them that there is no one who would listen

They say I don’t go out anymore, how should I tell them that I don’t have that company I long for.

They ask why I m so sad all the time, how should I tell them that I simply don’t have anything left to be happy about.

How should I tell them, that it hurts, that I have everything on appearance but nothing when you actually look

How should I tell them, I simply just don’t have reason, to go out and integrate myself in the world anymore

How should I tell them that I am waiting for that one ray of sunlight which will make my question my stillness but its been a long time, and I m simply tired to wait any longer.

That I just want to rest.

But ..... but then I hear something

A voice, a voice calling me, asking me. begging me to wait a little bit longer...

The voice is asking me go on a little bit longer, asking me to have faith when I have lost it all. Telling me it will be worth it in the end, this hurt, this pain, this suffering will be worth it.

What’s that “it" is, I don’t know but something in me want to agree with that voice.

Because a part of still wants to live, still wants to wait and go back to innocent days

[lady-veronica-jones]

This is what is happening in India, during the regime of dr. Man mohan Singh led congress the people of India craved a strong leader, corruption was rampant in congress and even if dr. singh himself wasnt involved in corruption, it was quite evident that he was unable to take strict actions against his party leaders. Then there were so many matters pending, plus the economy was spiraling downward. So when Narendra modi came with a promise of corruption free democracy, and all the other grand promises almost whole of India rallied behind him, but slowly our fetish for a strong leader is transforming the very basis of democracy in the country, more often than not this party is passing acts and amendments without any debate, without even telling the very citizens for whom these laws are being passed and public in its blindness, following and literally, swallowing every bit of propaganda, this party is spreading.

Situation has come to a point, where we cant question our government, a democratically elected government of a democracy. They are implying and modifying acts according to their suitability. And when intellectuals raise question against their decision, the bhakts just starts harrassing them, calling them urban naxals, and left wing libtards and anti national.

We are moving towards a fascist regime, and almost whole of country is assenting to it.

yall ever heard about the wave

[lady-veronica-jones]

Answer to What was your favorite insignificant/minor moment in the Harry Potter books and movies? by Anu Smriti https://www.quora.com/What-was-your-favorite-insignificant-minor-moment-in-the-Harry-Potter-books-and-movies/answer/Anu-Smriti-2?ch=99&share=74ea5994&srid=3t0lR

Some thing written by a fellow potterhead and fellow ron fan