lilietsblog

[lilietsblog]

hi im relistening to artificial condition and just realized that at no point do murderbot or ART make proper introductions and it's making me giggle. ART pretends to be a normal bot pilot to lull mb into a false sense of security, waits until murderbot is effectively trapped and unable to escape, and then proceeds to threaten it and scare the shit out of it by way of greeting. and murderbot, understandably, does not then proceed to ask what to call it or anything, it's just like. this guy fucking sucks. i'm gonna call it "fucking sucks".

AND ART PUTS UP NO PROTEST.

like okay we don't know exactly how much access ART has to murderbot's... data? thought data? we know it derives something from how murderbot interacts with the feed (access to interpretable emotion), we know it just sort of barges in wherever it wants, we know from system collapse that "no, ART can't read my mind, it just knows me really well", so like. it probably doesn't have context for the origin of this new nickname, which murderbot presumably begins calling it with no explanation.

but ART's smart so like it definitely knows what ART stands for, given (gestures at murderbot's entire disposition), and this is just so funny to me. ART refers to murderbot by some complicated string of letters and numbers that any other bot would use, and murderbot refers to ART as "you jackass" and ART's probably just soooo pleased that its newest bestie4lyfe gave it a nickname it's all so unbelievably funny

[lilietsblog]

so someone on my dash recommended fruits basket and like a normal person i immediately found out theres two of them, looked up which i should start with, and found out the answer is the 2001 one

theres just one little problem... I AM NO LONGER USED TO THIS ART STYLE HELP IT IS SCARY

i did a little surgery to make myself feel better

it's... it's not just me, right??? the second one is less bodysnatching alien looking???

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rewatching steven universe with my roommate who's never seen it before has been a bit of a trip because while they're trying to ask me who tf pink diamond is i'm just sitting and wondering how i never picked up on pearl's gradual butchification as the show goes on. girl put on a suit once and realized things about herself and you can literally see it happen in real time its actually awesome as hell

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My job on the Commune is going to be writing the new version of the Money Stuff newsletter but all about production quotas

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Armsmasters beef with taylor was so valid actually

Imagine this Kermit the frog looking ass bitch comes up to you and is like "can I rob a bank with my friends?" And you're like no because what the fuck? And she goes ahead and does it anyway.

She then shows up to a gala you're at and just thrashes the place for like no fucking reason whatsoever and humiliates your team.

Yeah no I'd crash out too. It's on sight.

[lilietsblog]

What I get from things like the Neil Gaiman scandal, and the hundreds of other scandals that happened last year with prominent normal-seeming celebrities, and the hundreds if not thousands more similar scandals that will happen this year, is that far from being an aberrant act of the deeply disturbed, under our current culture sexual abuse seems to be common to the point of mundanity.

I mean survey collecting data about rape/abuse rates already sort of showed this, especially when you take into account under reporting and less clear cut cases of coercion. But I think that people would benefit from recognizing what seems to be the case; if you take a room full of randomly selected, seemingly normal and well-adjusted people, the mean human being, a large proportion of them will have committed sexual assault; especially if they are men (due to cultural ideas around manhood and power), and especially if they are in positions of power or influence.

Furthermore, an even larger proportion of those people possibly would commit such acts if they were placed in such a position of power or cultural leverage. And even larger proportion - hell, maybe even most people? - could conceivably be turned into somebody who would do so if influenced by certain cultural factors. This isn't some unspeakable aberrant act, it seems to be something that comes fairly naturally to humans, in the same way that more mundane violence does, or cultural conflict, or bigotry.

Which doesn't lessen the severity of these acts! None of this changes the outsized impact that sexual violence has on its victims. But at the moment I feel we put the rapist into a special class, a sort of bad person who is both never in the room with us, and who we ourselves could never become. This is not a good way to frame the issue, as it makes victims less likely to be believed and psychologically insulates aggressors from the reality of their actions.

And aside from a harm reduction angle of recognizing and preventing assault, it dovetails with a conversation that's been rattling around my head for a long time about how we need a better narrative around accepting when people in our lives have committed violence and abuse and leaving room for them to be rehabilitated into our communities rather than regarded as eternally spoiled. This ties into abolitionist thought, but also into the reality that the perpetrator will often be someone who you would not want to, or could not simply cut off and discard, but someone who will continue to exist in spaces with you, somebody who has more to them than just a single horrific act. (There is no prerogative on victims to see things this way, of course - but some people inevitably will be and remain emotionally close to perpetrators!)

In these situations - while recognizing and not diminishing the harms they caused - they will need to be allowed to both be and do better, and need a narrative that allows them to be people despite their past, rather than collapsing them down to the worst thing they've ever done. The same of course goes for other perpetrators of violent acts who should be given room to reform. Realizing that abuse is just a very bad thing that people do sometimes - and that it could come from any person - will help with all of these goals.

[lilietsblog]

I also continue to see the widespread false and antisemitic belief that today's Jewish people are not "real Jews" all over posts regarding Palestine.

If you take on this point of view, you are willfully choosing to ignore historical, cultural, and scientific facts.

I'm not Ashkenazi, but boy have I needed to defend my siblings to a crazy degree. I will never forgive you all for making me have to talk about genetics and genealogy in this way, but here I go. Studies show that Ashkenazi, Sephardi, and Mizrahi Jews share a common Middle Eastern (Levantine) ancestry.

Ashkenazi Jews also have MENA Y-DNA lineages (J1, J2, E1b1b). The majority of Ashkenazi Y-DNA lineages are more closely related to other Jewish groups and Middle Eastern populations than to populations in Europe, supporting Jewish origins in the Middle East. This is science. Deep ancestry tools that break down DNA further, and research/studies also show the significant Levantine ancestry of Ashkenazi Jews.

Yes, due to the forced diaspora, they do have European ancestry as well. However, that does not change the FACT that they do indeed descend from Jews who came to Europe from the Levant and are NOT "fake Jews". I refuse to give people the "They are just uninformed" pass on this. The diaspora from ancient Judea into Europe is documented; it is a historical fact that this happened and that Ashkenazi Jews descend from them.

I don't know who needs to hear this, but more than one group of people can be indigenous to an area. Both Palestinians and Jews are indigenous to that land. Acknowledging this does not mean you think what the state of Israel is doing is okay. But lying about the ancestry and very real roots of Jewish people is not helping Palestinians. It is only spreading a lie. If you genuinely believe you do not conflate the State of Israel with Jewish people, it should not be an issue to acknowledge any of this.

What is happening to Palestinians breaks my heart, and I will continue to stand up for them in the ways that I can. However, I can not stay silent on this massively growing attempt to make Jewish people into something we are not and erase our connection to our history and ancestors.

People need to be better with their activism. You do not have to resort to one of the biggest antisemitic false narratives to support Palestine.

[lilietsblog]

Just thought people may enjoy this :)

[lilietsblog]

[lilietsblog]

The Jesus/Judas Complex

The only Good Jews are the Jews who are self-sacrificing, who will go willingly to their deaths for the salvation of others. The Good Jew, who will willingly undergo torments unto death, is the only Good Jew.

The Good Jew will absolve their murderers. The Good Jew will 'turn the other cheek'. The Good Jew will write "I still believe that people are good at heart" when being persecuted. The Good Jew will lay down and die for the comfort and education of others.

But for all other Jews who fail to attain such lofty standards?

They are betrayers, corruptors, colonizers, genociders, child murderers, blood drinkers. Capitalists and communists. Sexually depraved and yet sexless, where even the Jewish men are emasculated. They are White, yet also still Other. They are rootless cosmopolitans, from nowhere, yet told to go back where they came from. Their mere presence is a taint, and yet they hide among the disciples of the Good Jew, waiting for their chance to betray and sell out.

The only Good Jew is a Dead Jew who goes willingly to die, on the cross of the Romans or from the knives and guns of terrorists. All other Jews, who refuse to lay down and die, who dare to say "Am Yisrael Chai", that the Children of Yisrael Live, are therefore innately evil and irredeemable, and must be shunned for daring to cling to life.

[lilietsblog]

Exactly. There's no justice system so perfectly impartial that a death penalty won't result in sorting people into "this is whose death we won't mind" versus "this is who we don't want to kill at all". Which is absolutely going to align with the lines of "how important a person this is".

Being anti-death penalty is literally the easiest stance ever. People just say "but should the state kill THIS type of person?" and you just say "no". Not killing people is so fucking easy actually

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not to put too fine a point on it but like, isutzumi was fully 100% a slave of shuro's family

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may be a hot take but i think the fact minors can access 18+ content by just clicking a button that says 'yes im totally over 18 trust me' is like. totally fine tbh. its a non-issue. i dont care if curious teenagers are looking at porn. they've been doing that for as long as porn has existed. id rather teens explore their sexuality through images on the internet than rush into real life experiences when they're not ready for it yknow. the UK is trying to put stricter age verification in place (which in turn is becoming an online privacy nightmare) and like. for what. who is it helping. why is this a problem.

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Some of yall will be like "but what about serial child rapists". Here's the thing: the government will not be killing the category "serial child rapists". It will be killing the category "people the government has convicted of being serial child rapists". Are you feeling the difference?

Being anti-death penalty is literally the easiest stance ever. People just say "but should the state kill THIS type of person?" and you just say "no". Not killing people is so fucking easy actually

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"I love you but you're doing wrong in a way I cannot condone" and "I hate you but you're being wronged in a way I cannot stomach" are top tier and I need more of them.