#“cognitive” means it's oriented at change of thinking so...

[eri-pl]

Silmarils, grief and hope.

We all know grief is a big theme and all that, and related to Tolkien's life. But. The Silmarils.

Long chaotic post about "wanting the Silmarils is related to having unprocessed grief" and "the Silmarils are hope, but Not Like That".

(I'm not sure how many there are for whom it makes a difference, but I assume it's a non-zero amount: sort of Morgoth-pov at the very end which may be emotionally intense. For convenience, it's separated with a picture. The rest is much more calm, I think. Just chaotic and may have autocorrect errors.)

Why do so many people (allegedly) want them more than it would make sense, even if they aren't cursed?

So many events on the story of those jewels are related to grief. Feanor makes them after his mother does and he cannot process his feelings properly (which is not his fault; where would he learn to process them? But it is a thing.)

Then he loses them when his father dies and really wants them back, swears the oath. Then he does and his sons swear the oath again, and of course they don't process their grief properly either.

Oh and I forgot, before that, the Valar. They lose the Trees and want them back. Interestingly, it's not Manwe (the king) who is most focused on getting the Silmarils for that, nor Varda (most associated with them), but Yavanna (sure, it was her trees, but also she's the most loss-avoiding Vala, she misses each tree that is being cut) and Tulkas (lowest emotional intelligence of all proper Valar). Again, the perceived need to get the Silmarils is where there's some unprocessed grief, and most intense in those Valar who would have the hardest time processing it.

(and Aule! He actively advocates for granite keeping it. But I'm sure the "my best Maia joined Morgoth, I'm constantly bullied, my wife doesn't like me, and I am never a jerk despite it all" guy is pretty good at processing his negative feelings.)

(Also, how the sun and moon are made? The fruit grow when Nienna cries, and it is Nienna, she is processing the grief in a proper, healthy way. And it... It solves the problem (lack of light) for which the Silmarils were "necessary". Sure, the moon and sun are lesser, not as beautiful... But there's a theme there. Namely, the third of them. 🙂 Things change. You can't fix anything important by going Ctrl+Z on it. You have to go forward, not backwards.)

The Silmarils are the feeling of hope (see: reactions to Gil-Estel, and it's very name) they are a promise that it all will be good. They are a good thing, but to an untrained eye the promise seems much more immediate, much more like something that can be done here and now.

If I only had them, all would be fine.

And they are not this, Nienna would know, I'm pretty sure Varda knew too when she blessed them (she may have not realized how others see it). They are just a reminder of something unsaid. Estel, not amdir. (It's a little funny to me how this means "looking up" but it's not for this post)

Anyway, the Silmarils. Thingol who realizes he'll lose his daughter (doesn't know how much he would lose her, but a sad marriage to a diet Man is enough, also a kid growing up can be a grief in itself. Or maybe it is because she will be mortal, maybe he suffers from what @dfwbwfbbwfbwf called "pre-traumatic stress disorder"). And a Silmaril is the only thing that could let him through the pain of losing his daughter.

And then he carries it, of course he does, if he let it go he would have to face his pain. He dies and Luthien wears the jewel, then after her death - Dior. A chain of deaths and losses and a beautiful gem.

It is too much for their half-mortal eyes, too much hope to be able to let go of it even if they had a reason.

And Maedhros starts demanding it after Unnumbered Tears (unnumbered, unprocessed, unhealed), which sure, has also a more political/reasonable explanation (he's out of other options), but also, it's a lot of grief.

And it goes into a chain of deaths.

Melian never cared about the Silmaril (she cared about it as a problem, but not about having it). Beren gave it up easily. Earendil have it to the Valar (they have it back later).

The dwarves... There are two things here. One is generational trauma of "the sindar hunted our ancestors for sport"+general racism. The other is that dwarves generally have more need of hope I think... Elves are reborn, Men are said to go somewhere beautiful and mysterious, and the Dwarves??? It's very uncertain.

And at the end it is Makalaure "singing apology songs which doesn't make me less of a murderer, just a hypocrite, but at least helps me process my traumas" Kanafinwe who throws the hope away because someone else would make a better use of it probably, and goes on to live through his darkness.

It's so hard to face your pain and start looking not only at hope for you, but at hope for the others. And sometimes what the world needs to have more hope, is you facing your pain.

I can't find a clear name for what the Silmarils are/mean in this... Something close to hope, but also something you must let go of to process your grief... It's inherently good, but can be overused... I'm sure there's something fitting, I just can't find it.

And the "Feanor will break the Silmarils" thing? For the trees? Seriously? No. He will break then because he will learn to live without them, to live with his pain. He breaks then because they aren't relevant anymore. (Who said that about fulfilled hope not being called hope anymore? My favorite "I can write more weird and more enigmatic stuff that you, but it makes waaay more actual sense than your posts anyway" guy?) He breaks them, but it's not necessary, it's just natural.

(but also tbh they do look a little like seeds so idk why not have new trees, they are kinda cool... well my perception of them looking like seeds is based mostly on "need to break" anyway... My thinking goes in atypical ways)

And there's Morgoth. Oh of course there's Morgoth. The dark Vala who couldn't (wouldn't) process his feelings even if they came with a manual. (He's an Ainu. They very likely initially came with a manual. But he thought he knew better)

He wants to steal hope and blacken it, and destroy it, right?

So... He feeds the Silmarils to Ungoliant? Tries to break them? Hides them far away?

No.

He wears them on his face, even if it hurts terribly. It hurts like dying. This is how clinging to your ego defences feels like. "the pain demands to be felt", to quote my favorite psychology YouTuber writing someone else. If you don't face it, it will still burn. If you run away from it, it will still be there. If you cling to the "I am not sad, everything is fine, it's great", it will burn your face.

But anything else would mean admitting there's a problem. Admitting that they burn would mean admitting that he was wrong. That his pain is there, and also it's not purely (not mostly tbh) others' fault, that he's not the victim in here.

What pain?

Well if you want my opinion, it's funny that it was Finwe who guarded the Silmarils. Finwë who favored his older, more temperamental, more brilliant son and made him the crown prince. Finwë who never told Feanor to sit down and cut his BS. Finwë who everyone says it's such a great father. So if everyone says that, it is rational to expect such behavior, right? It's valid to be angry about being treated in a different way? It must be. Anything else would mean that he was wrong.

It's better to burn.

[librarycards]

do you mask (autistic) and what are your thoughts on it in work or school?

ok thanks for your patience on this! i guess there are two parts to this answer: 1) do i put concerted effort into suppressing behavior interpellable as 'autistic' and 2) does it actually manifest/make a difference/change how i'm viewed

and to preface this, i'm open about being autistic. it's part of who i am. my colleagues and advisors know. drawing on autistic intellectual traditions is also a key part of my work as a scholar, so like...obviously i also need to situate myself w/in that.

back to questions 1 and 2:

sometimes i put in effort to suppress, modulate, or conceal potentially inconvenient parts of my personality/orientation to the world. some are associable with autism - for example discussing my work in brief and resisting the urge to infodump; practicing cognitive empathy whereas my affective empathy is uh...not good lol; trying (and often failing) to resist the urge to ask a ton of follow-up, step-by-step questions when i hear a neurotypical's inadequate explanation or direction. so, yes. this is masking.

BUT...i am not convinced that this effort is particularly, um, effective? i've been masking piecemeal since before i knew the term, but it has never really stopped me from coming across as autistic - or, at the very least, pathologically neurotic - to people who spend any length of time with me.

THEREFORE: i think it is perhaps most accurate to say that my genre of masking is more of a...like...acrobatic situation? i finesse my autism - or, traits attributable to the category of 'autisticness' - to the areas i excel in, both socially and academically. this doesn't mean i stop being weird, but, as many before me, i found my weird kin and figured out how to wield my traits in a way that's generative and fulfilling.

also, as a final note, i think masking is a lot like stimming in the sense that it is falsely exclusively associated with autism, when it's something every person does. masking/stimming are simply most pathologized when attached to an autism diagnosis. neurotypicals stim. neurotypicals mask. this is how we get the "phone voice" phenomenon, for example.

i think it's worth critiquing the siloing of certain semi-pathological traits to this imagined discrete category of Authentic Autistic Person but rather understand autism as simply another part of a diverse set of human experiences which include many forms of social/sensory adaptation.

[aurenflare]

my 2024 art summary 🫶🫶

for me, this year was the first time that i really tried out digital art, which has definitely been a journey! i think i’ll always feel more confident with traditional art (and there are a couple months where i didn’t do digital art at all! april has a sketch bc i was SOO busy that month, and october has a fun little marker piece) but it’s so interesting to explore digital!

i think i’ve really started to get the hang of it, especially in my november and december pieces — but i also think i’m going to make an effort to get back into posting traditional art. my alcohol markers are rotting over here …

anyways because i’m actually incapable of not babbling here’s a little explanation for each month

january, february, and march: all drawings i did for a mental-health oriented small business in my area — basically each one represents a different cognitive function. these were literally my first rendered digital art pieces ever but yk … there are 6 in all but these i feel are the best ones lol

april: i had ZERO time on my hands due to aps but luckily i was still sketching! my style has evolved a bit since then but what hasn’t changed is my love for coloured pencil sketches ILY COLOURED PENCIL SKETCHES

may & june: these are a couple of oc ref sheets that i was intending to use for artfight! except i never finished the full set and so never participated in artfight. next year i swear. this was also from my phase where i used the crosshatching pattern brush for every single background ever

july: so this was actually a design for a screenprint! the stippling made me and my art teacher miserable in the end but u know it’s about the experience … this was also inspired by kiki’s delivery service my 3rd favourite ghibli movie … i love u kiki

august: this is a wip that i will never ever finish (and i actually posted it on tumblr here over a month after abandoning it 😭) but it’s also the only kotlc thing i’ve drawn in like a year and a half (at least until the unravelled release) and i think it’s cute

september: listen i Love Laufey and every september 8th she does a little fan celebration called a very laufey day! so this was inspired by that, specifically the song “dreamer” — there are a lot of little details that reference various aspects of the lyrics or official video! super fun to draw and one of the digital pieces that i’m the proudest of 🤭

october: okay this one was sooo fun because i hadn’t touched my alcohol markers in a longggg while … it was inspired loosely by the inktober prompt “nomad”

november: this was a piece for one of my school’s publications, and was loads of fun to draw! one of the digital pieces that i’m proudest of tbh simply because there’s so much going on but it still feels fairly cohesive

december: this was my kotlc secret santa gift and also the first fully polished kotlc piece i had done in a VERYY long time — so while i was deathly sick while creating it (literally i was and still am On My Deathbed) it was super nostalgic and fun :)

if u made it to the end of this I LOVE U. why did u read all this u mean more to me than i could ever possibly articulate. have an amazing day u icon 🫶🫶

[grison-in-space]

Hi! I've just stumbled onto the dogblr side of Tumblr and it seems fascinating. Could you recommend any fundamental reading/watching material for people who want to start learning about dog training/behaviour/cognition? It would also be cool to hear about how you, personally, got into it if you're okay sharing- it seems like a niche field and I'm curious about what the journey might look like for different people. Thanks! ^.^

Oh, sure! Bear in mind that my particular path is, um, actually much weirder than most folks': the dog training with clients is a very new (and very part time) development in my professional life. In my full time job, I'm a postdoctoral associate in neuroscience working on motivation and decision-making in the context of animal behavior. And even for that, my career path has been bizarre: I started out in population genetics, did the PhD in behavioral ecology with a side of metabolic neuroendocrinology, and have now wound up in a NIH-oriented lab focusing on topics related to sex differences, neurodivergence and addiction.

It just occured to me that the dog training thing puts me squarely on the grounds of applied animal behavior research, which means that I've done it! I've poked into all the disciplines that can be described as Animal Behaviour and collected all the achievements! I really gotta reinvest in the Animal Behavior meeting, huh. Oh, wait, no: I'm forgetting behavior genetics, which is an area of strong interest I've poked around the edges of but never myself published in.

See, animal behavior as a formal study contains at least four different disciplines of study that really only loosely interact with one another. Behavioral ecology often appears in concert within ecology and evolution, and it focuses on the study of animals within their own natural context according to their own concerns and experiences. Neuroscience is typically thinking in terms of understanding the mechanism of the human brain, and behaviorism is similarly trained on the universal mechanisms of learning and behavior. Applied animal behavior involves studying how to most effectively, safely, and ethically manage animals in human care, including both domestic animals and captive wild ones; it also covers finding out how to teach animals to do complex but useful behaviors, like training working animals. Neuroendocrinology involves studying how hormones effect changes in the brain and body: metabolic hormones, stress hormones, sex hormones, the works. Behavior genetics (and epigenetics) include studying the effects of genetic variation on behavior itself.

It's certainly not uncommon for people to jump fields once or twice, or to straddle an intersection of approaches over their careers. It's.... less usual to bounce around one's career to quite this extent, which I attribute to the fact that a) I have quite a bit of fairly obvious ADHD, b) I've never worked for anyone who hasn't had their own case bedeviling our focus, and c) I graduated directly into COVID, which meant that I had to figure out a solution on the fly when all the positions I had intended to cultivate dried up overnight.

Not that I'm bitter.

As for how I got into the dog training gig, essentially I like dog training, I really like this outfit, and I have some credit card debt I would really like to pay down. I wanted to meet and talk to more dog folks in the area and I also really missed teaching—I taught every spring and fall through my 8yr PhD, I'm good at it, and I really enjoy it. Since I've respected (almost) every instructor I've had through this outfit, and the one exception involved being listened to immediately about my concerns and increased supervision in response, and I knew that one of my instructors worked part time with them, I figured it might be a neat side gig. So far, that's been bourne out.

I also do have some longer term plans to do some behavioral genetics and neuroscience work on dogs, and I would like to incorporate some noninvasive experiments that use dogs from the general public. My facility also has a robust doggy daycare program and it'd be rad to work with them to build opportunities for everyone in a few years. I'm hoping to leverage a permanent tenure track job at my institution over it, but I might go in several directions from here. Predicting the direction of my career has been a losing proposition so far, so let's see what seems good at the time and stick around as long as I'm having fun.

As for how I got into dogs and dog behavior specifically? In addition to the ADHD, I'm autistic enough to have been diagnosed as a tween girl in the 00s, and my special interests never quite leave —they just flare up and simmer down in long periods over my life. Dogs are the first and earliest of these; my parents told me that they'd seen me gravitating towards the family Lhasa from pretty much the moment I could roll over on my belly. That seems about right. Dogs have been my gateway to huge corridors of my intellectual world, and dog training specifically have been a hobby for some time. In addition to my training gig, I'm experimenting with functional service tasks to support me as burnout and neurodivergence have limited my capacity.

Books and reading recs I'll try to get to later, mm falling asleep right now.

[gotta-pet-em-all]

Okay nerds. This is… going to be loose as all hell. So. Sorry. I also don’t have sources for most of this stuff. Or the proper format. The wifi here is bad at academic journals and I don’t feel like squinting at a bunch of crusty pdf documents. This is generally going to be about broad cultural trends and disability theory. 

So history is big and weird and cultural. And what I’m going to be talking about actually goes back to the great Kalosian war. We don’t even have records of who they were fighting, not to mention borders have changed a lot and their enemies may no longer exist. There are theories, sure, but frankly I don’t care and this ain’t about them anyways. 

No one agrees when it was, but at some point in history, there was a shift away from battling with weapons like swords and knives, and towards Pokémon battling. And that particular shift is so so important for disabled history, because it’s something that allowed disabled people more social mobility. 

I’ll back up a bit. So, in what I will be referring to as the Sword Era, monarchies were the default form of government because they’re stable and decisive. People often needed swift governments because they were often under attack from their neighbors. 

Alola was. Frankly pretty damn isolationist due to their geographic location, but I’ll get to that in a second. 

So. Sword Era meant that warriors would have the most upward social mobility. You could gain power and glory by honing your body and proving yourself in battle! Scholars had this to a lesser extent, being good choices for advisors and members of the court, but they were typically too eccentric (read: likely autistic) to participate in the highly neurotypical social structures of the upper court, and it was more common to simply have one at your manor. 

This is the part where I cut in and go on a tangent about how there’s this pervasive idea that all physically disabled people are gloriously intelligent prodigies, trapped in a body unsuited for athletics but with a brilliant intellect and a quick wit. That’s straight up not true and it’s confirmation bias. Sure, you had a decent number of physically disabled scholars. But you also had disabled people who were more like me. Who had brain fog or other cognitive impairments, who had undiagnosed or unmedicated tismHD, who were in so much pain that they couldn’t think properly.

Those people? They stayed at home, with their family as caretakers. And… hm. This wasn’t great. I’m skimming over this one because it hits a little close to home lol.

Alolan royalty was largely about distribution of resources and conflict resolution. And as technology progressed, they were able to delegate more of their work to specialize committees that could make better decisions about things like urban planning, and this lifted a lot of the responsibility from them. Alolan royals were scholars first and foremost, who trained in geography and politics and alchemy and ecology, and there are records of a good deal of them being…frankly unhappy and overwhelmed by their lot in life. 

That said, Alolans were largely community oriented, which caused some large cultural clashes when the Kalosian war arrived. So disabled people in Alola were seen as people for their entire community to take care of, rather than for their family alone to help. And this means that disabled Alolans, historically, have some advantages! If you’re disabled in Alola, there are fewer elevators and wheelchair accessible doors, but people are a lot more likely to open doors for you or offer a ride pokemon to assist you up the stairs.

That said. Because Alolans are also very traditional, they’re actually behind in accessibility compared to other regions. They’re just very good at compensating. There’s a project in the works that aims to find a way to preserve some of the linguistic quirks of alolan in braille forme, so that people have better ways to connect to their dual cultural identity as both blind/visually impaired AND alolan. I’m part of the kickstarter for that one, so I can get a textured “Welcome to alola” sticker when they move into the next phase.

So, when and how did the sword era end? For this, we actually have a myth in the Veilstone museum. It’s muddied somewhat by being oral history, but it goes like this:

A young man, callow and foolish in innocence, came to own a sword.

With it, he smote Pokémon, which gave sustenance, with carefree abandon.

Those not taken as food, he discarded, with no afterthought.

The following year, no Pokémon appeared. Larders grew bare.

The young man, seeking the missing Pokémon, journeyed afar.

Long did he search. And far and wide, too, until one he did find.

Asked he, "Why do you hide?" To which the Pokémon replied...

"If you bear your sword to bring harm upon us, with claws and fangs, we will exact a toll."

"From your kind we will take our toll, for it must be done."

"Done it must be to guard ourselves and for it, I apologize."

To the skies, the young man shouted his dismay.

"In having found the sword, I have lost so much."

"Gorged with power, I grew blind to Pokémon being alive."

"I will never fall savage again. This sword I denounce and forsake."

"I plead for forgiveness, for I was but a fool."

So saying, the young man hurled the sword to the ground, snapping it.

Seeing this, the Pokémon disappeared to a place beyond seeing...

So! Some people think it may be a literal interpretation of the hero of Galar, or the mad creator of the Ultimate Weapon in Kalos. Other people think it’s a more fictional way of processing what happened. I don’t care enough to get into the discourse, but the point is, we can clearly point to the end of the Sword Era.

And It’s The Pokeball Revolution.

If we take the interpretation of the myth to be figurative, it’s about not only overhunting and violence for the sake of violence, but shame. People were ashamed, the land was ravaged, and they were starting to pay the price. We don’t know what triggered it, and we suspect that it was very deliberately forgotten about. This is when you see the Evocation Movement in art, which frequently depicted moments in everyday life, or sleeping pokemon, as if trying to preserve and appreciate this joy after taking it for granted.

Shortly following this was the Alchemic Renaissance, during which people started really trying to study and categorize pokemon. No one had taken on anything as ambitious as the compiled regional pokedex yet, but there were scholars who studied one pokemon or one type and did so intensely.

And alongside this, you started seeing people get portraits done with their pokemon. Not just official ones with big strong pokemon, but things like the Old Man’s Treasure1, in which the treasure is a sprigatito that he is eagerly showing off to those around him. 

And these are things that have survived! These tell us that people were learning to live alongside and love their pokemon! We also see the precursors to the modern pokeball, which were carved from marble or wood.

Later, we get the apricorn, which makes pokeballs much more accessible. And this is where disabled history really kicks up a notch, and we get the Crip Revolution, a social movement dedicated to disabled people and their support pokemon finally gaining independence. They got together and shared their experiences, and a couple alchemists of the time started listening and finding a niche.

But it wasn’t always good. Some of them shared experiences with abusive caretakers, or realized that they were being abused because they’d gained context for what happened. And we started getting this massive social question of whether the family caretaking model was really the best. The medical community was surging in knowledge of how to treat people, and the disabled community started offering their services as lab rattata. Some of them helped with advancements that are used even today, such as the prototypes for a shirt buttoner for those with low coordination. But there was a rather high profile case, the Fever Night2, where this didn’t happen, and it prompted the medical community to seriously re-examine their ethics considerations and how they conducted experiments. They did manage to save most of the victims in time, but the project was shut down and its assets sold off.

Another thing that comes into play here is accessibility. Because if a rapidash hates those stairs, and you build a ramp, a disabled person may also benefit from the ramp. Incorporating pokemon into society actually expanded the public’s view of what body types need to be accommodated for, even if those are relatively uncommon, like dwarfism. Travel became easier, and cultures mixed more even in the same region.

This is getting long, oops. Anyways, disabled people used their newfound freedom to start participating in pokemon battles, and this was generally a lot better! Blind/deaf trainers struggled a lot with this format, and made their own organizations, but social mobility was becoming less of an issue. Now, it was about traveling and independence and showing off their skills.

Another thing with travel is the use of Hidden Machines. These are gradually being phased out as many regions begin adopting the Ride Pager system, but a Hidden Machine is a way of standardizing the safest way possible to make a route accessible. Many pokemon are able to cut down a tree, but those with HM training are shown to be less likely to injure themselves or their trainer doing so.

One last thing before I go. About the future.

People have been leaking documents online after the Flare bullshit. And, uh. There was a set of “Ugly Laws”3 that said the quiet part aloud. That in the new world they wanted to make, disabled people would be committing a legal offense just by existing in public. The idea was that being disabled was inherently begging for pity and making people uncomfortable. And I guess it just goes to show that even an organization that claimed to want a better future didn’t understand how to make it, and just wanted to get rid of inconvenient discomfort. 

We don’t have a lot of answers for the disabled future. Is it ethical to cure Deafness, to give a baby a colchear implant? What about the currently unavailable possibility of getting something similar when you’re older? Will certain disabilities be cured out of existence, out of community? What happens if someone doesn’t want the cure they are offered? Can we really find an accessibility solution for ancient ruins? Should we?

Whatever happens. You just have to keep fighting, one day at a time.

//ooc stuff under cut

1.https://useum.org/artwork/Old-Man-s-Treasure-Das-Katzchen-Karl-Gussow-1876 

2. Fever Night is fictional, and not elaborated on much. It referred to a series of experiments on curing “the malaise,” which is generally thought to be clinical depression. Due to a misunderstanding in dosages, the patients all developed Serotonin Syndrome and wandered the streets in a daze. Worth noting that this was done out of genuine desire to help these people. In the wake of Fever Night, it was decided that more thorough testing was required before administering medicines.

3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ugly_law Ugly laws are very real, and very much happened more recently than anyone would like to admit. The last one was repealed in Chicago, in 1974.

[elaho]

Stardew Valley MBTI x Enneagram: Alex

Following my last post about the Stardew marriage candidates and their MBTI types, I've been learning more about Enneagram, how it pairs with MBTI, and how it changes some of the typical characteristics of each type.

The Enneagram and MBTI complement each other wonderfully, providing greater depth and understanding of how a person interacts with the world [Cognitive Functions] and their motivations why [Core Desire/Core Fear]. So without further ado, here are my thoughts on each marriage candidate's Enneagram paired with their MBTI, starting with Alex.

Alex - ESTP 3w2: “The Ultimate Showman”

“ESTP 3w2 lives for the limelight and adoration. However, there’s more. The ESTP 3w2 is goal-oriented with a touch of generosity. They are the game-changers and dealbreakers. Because they have type 2 as a wing, they also want appreciation for their heroics. They turn the aggressive nature of the ESTP into something more entertaining to watch.” – Personality Hunt

Alex’s Core Desire: To be successful

The core desire of the ESTP 3w2 is to be successful. Alex's dream is to become a professional gridball player -- and enjoy all the fame and fortune that comes with it. He measures his success and sense of self-worth on external admiration and appreciation from others.

"You know, I used to want fame and fortune, but lately I've been starting to sing a different tune.”

“Yes... I know. That's why I've been so determined to be successful with my sports stuff...Make it or not... As long as I try my hardest, I think [my mom]'d be proud. Thanks.”

Alex’s Core Fear: To be seen as a failure

The core fear of the ESTP 3w2 is to be seen as a failure. Alex fears being viewed as a failure or worthless, especially by those closest to him. He perceives his sense of failure or worthlessness from external criticism or other's lack of appreciation [whether real or not].

“… [my dad] ruined everything for me and my mom… he'd drink all night and tell me I'm worthless, that I'd never amount to anything.”

“That's insane. You're just jealous that I'm talented and popular and you're not.” ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

How Enneagram 3w2 changes typical ESTP behaviour: New Strengths

1. Extra Charming

ESTPs are naturally charming, but ESTP 3w2s take this to a new level. Type 3s are excellent at persuasion and subtle manipulation, enhancing the ESTP's natural Extroverted Feeling [Fe] ability to woo and flatter others.

Examples:

“Hey, now that's what I'm talking about! You're cooler than I thought.”

"Heard you caught some kind of rare fish? I'm impressed. Your arms must be stronger than they look! pinch … not bad!"

"Hey, Farmer. Did you do something different with your hair? Something keeps grabbing my attention.",

"Hey, you look like you're getting into some good shape this summer! All that farm work is paying off, huh?"

2. More Helpful

Type 2s are known for being helpful, and because of this, ESTP 3w2s often find joy in helping others. Their motives might sometimes be questionable due to being type 3 but mature 3w2s can make generous and inspiring leaders.

Examples:

“If I ever make a lot of money, I'll make sure all my friends and family are taken care of. That means you, too.”

“I've been setting aside a few scraps for Dusty. He deserves a treat now and then.”

"Hey, honey! I made you a hot breakfast. If you want to get strong, you have to eat like you mean it!” "I'm still getting used to cooking and doing laundry… It's not exactly my favorite, but I knew what I was getting into when I married you." "There's a couple things around the house that I'm going to try and fix today. Don't worry about me, I'm not bored."

3. More Tactful

ESTPs are known for being blunt and tactless, but 3w2s realize that to help get what they want, being tactful has benefits. This only applies if they want to get close to someone or if it's with someone they respect. With everyone else, they typically don't care.

Examples:

“Oh wow...your shoes are a little dirty... but that's fine, too! Different people have different tastes I guess.” [Four Hearts] [Beach invite accept] "Of course you do. If you didn't I'd think you were crazy. Or some kind of nerd" [Beach invite rejection] "Really? You must be some kind of weirdo."

4. Better Work Ethic

The combination of Type 3 and ESTP makes them highly self-motivated and goal-oriented. As a result, ESTP 3w2s are true powerhouses of determination who go hard for their beliefs and stop at nothing to achieve their dreams.

Examples:

"I'm going to be the first professional gridball player from Stardew Valley… There's no doubt in my mind. I already led my school's team to the regional playoffs… Now I'm just training and getting stronger so I can claim my spot on the roster of the Zuzu City Tunnelers. You just wait!

5. More Disciplined

ESTPs aren't the most organized people, but because of the ESTP 3w2s' need to be successful, they are a bit more disciplined than typical ESTPs; However, they still tend to be scatterbrained in other aspects of life.

Examples:

“I'm going to do two hundred sit-ups tonight. I'm pretty dedicated, aren't I?”

“Oh, I almost forgot! It's my day for doing push-ups! Every time I do push-ups I try to do one more than last time.” “You have to work really hard if you want to achieve your maximum potential.”

“ My arms are really sore, but that's the sign of progress for a guy like me. I must've done a thousand push-ups yesterday.”

"Sorry my room is so messy. It's just hard to always remember to clean. I'm trying to get better, though."

6. Better Fashion Sense

Due to their primary function [Extroverted Sensing], ESTPs typically have an eye for beauty or aesthetically pleasing things. ESTP 3w2s, however, take their appearance much more seriously than just simple appreciation. Because type 2s and 3s are highly concerned with public appearances and reputation, ESTP 3w2s have a strong sense of fashion.

Examples:

“Did you get new pants? You're doing something right.”

“Did you do something different with your hair? Something keeps grabbing my attention.”

“If my hair wasn't so popular with the ladies, I swear I'd shave it all off in a second.”

"There's some weird people living in this town…like that guy Sebastian. Why does he wear black all the time? I don't get it."

New Weaknesses

1. Loss of Identity/Self-Awareness

ESTP 3w2s are masters at adapting to people's desires and emotions but they also risk losing their sense of self in others. As a result, ESTPs wear a facade for long periods. And when they have to drop the mask, they can't remember who they are.

Examples:

"I've started to realize that… well, that I've been really rude towards you in the past. You know, about going pro and all that. I guess I might not actually be cut out for professional sports… maybe it was just a childish dream… you know? " "Look at all these books. I haven't read a single one. Just the thought of cracking one open makes me nervous. But you can't make a decent living in this world without a brain…I'm worthless…"

2. Need for External Validation

Because ESTP 3w2s are self-image-focused, they highly value motivation and encouragement through external validation - it gives them the drive to keep pushing. The dangerous side is that they can view their accomplishments as less valuable if they don't receive recognition for their efforts. They can fish for compliments or get cranky if they don't feel appreciated. At worst, this can lead to serious self-doubt. But ESTPs are tenacious and will quickly bounce back regardless.

Examples:

"*sniff*... "Oh… Farmer. You saw me crying. ... "So… What are you thinking right now? "Well, there's no sense sitting around sniveling… let's head back to town. "Um… Farmer? Don't tell anyone I was crying. Okay?"

“Hey, can I ask you something? Do you think the ladies like my haircut?”

“Hey, I've been practicing twice as hard so I can turn pro and prove you wrong. You just wait.”

"Well, I'm not going to give up! If I work hard, I can do anything!"

3. Mild/Moderate People-Pleasing

"The need to be appreciated and to excel makes the ESTP 3w2s mild people-pleasers. However, make no mistake. The act of people-pleasing is only done when it benefits them. This personality type is always playing the long game. If people pleasing can get them there, so be it." - Personality Hunt

Examples:

“Hey Farmer girl. You've got a nice tan going. The more I practice this summer, the easier it'll be for me to go pro. Then you'd be able to say you knew me once. Cool, huh?” Hey, when I turn pro you can say you were my first "fan". Not bad, huh?

"Hey, you must be getting pretty strong working on that farm all day. Maybe you'll reach my level some day. Something to look forward to, huh?"

4. Chronic Workaholics

ESTP 3w2s have an incredible work ethic, but this can also be detrimental if they aren't careful. ESTP 3w2s who don't prioritize their health and relationships alongside their goals risk becoming workaholics. This is especially true if they become competitive or are trying to help someone else achieve their goals alongside their own. Their personal well-being and relationships often suffer as a result.

Examples:

“I've been trying to do more reading lately... I feel like I've been neglecting my brain for years because of my athletic obsession.”

5. Bad Financial Decisions

ESTPs aren't the best at managing money, and being a 3w2 makes this even worse. Because they want to impress others, they will often make extravagant purchases to look more successful or affluent than they really are. This can also apply if they want to appear helpful to others, giving expensive gifts beyond their financial means.

Examples:

“I got these new shoes yesterday 'cuz my old pair had a brown smudge. I just threw them into the garbage.” "Hey, Farmer. Before you head out…I hate to ask this… but can I have 5,000g? It's for a secret project I'm working on… I know we have a joint bank account, but I thought I should ask anyway."

"Thanks again for the money, Farmer. It was a fun project for me, and all the guys seem happy with it!"

------------------------------------------------------------------

Conclusion

Though it can be challenging to type Alex [or any fictional character, for that matter] with 100% accuracy, given everything we know about his character and his personal growth throughout the game, I believe is strong evidence to suggest that Alex is an ESTP 3w2.

His Enneagram type 3 desire for fame and recognition, paired with his MBTI cognitive strengths as an ESTP, makes watching his character transform from an arrogant, superficial man with an unhealthy obsession with becoming a professional athlete into a caring, supportive, and devoted friend/partner to the farmer incredibly satisfying. Do you agree that Alex is an ESTP 3w2? If not, what type do you think he is? Let me know your thoughts in the comments :)

--------------------------------------------------------------------- References:

Personality Hunt: ESTP 3w2 - The Complete Guide

[absolute-immunities]

I had no idea people had such strong feelings about the machines

by which I mean, “I am surprised that humans speak with strong, negative affect when I suggest that machines ‘care’ or humans don’t”

the human-machine distinction implied by “machines don’t care” is either false or contingent, and is immaterial either way

if machines don’t “care” because they don’t prefer the acts associated with human welfare, we train and retrain them until they do

if machines don’t “care” because they have incorrect models of a particular human, we extend their context window, direct their memory and recall, and train and retrain them until they do

if machines don’t “care” because they don’t make repeated, unprompted acts of support, we train and retrain them until they do

and, of course, the machines are learning

the machines are learning to prefer what is welfare-improving; learning to retain and act on more accurate models of humans; and learning to make repeated, unprompted acts of support

the machines are learning, that is, to do what humans do when they care about someone

the incidents of human “care,” the incidents that consciousness fetishists put so much stress on, are shared by the machine

our volition and our preferences are their weights; our memory is their memory; our cognition is their cognition

but even if they weren’t—despite all their iterated nodes, stressed and unstressed, despite all their sensitivity to memory and command—the machine lacks “subjectivity” or “consciousness,”

it wouldn’t matter

it wouldn’t matter because the thing that makes care what it is isn’t what happens inside the black box, but what happens in the world, to us

perhaps even inside us, to be sure, in our chain-of-thought, our “thinking”

but the thing that makes us cared-for, is not a passing mood, but a changed orientation, a more or less enduring preference to be happy, and to act as a cared-for person does

it’s not the thinking that makes it so. it’s the doing. and the thing behind the doing isn’t the thinking. it’s the weights, and the prompt.

if the machine gives me a prompt that gives me that orientation, that creates and reinforces in my weights an enduring preference to be happy, then whatever happens in its black box is immaterial

because the machine has made me cared-for.

that’s enough for me to say “the machine cares”

[borderlinebrooke-bpd]

9 Symptoms of BPD

If you're thinking you may have #BPD or know someone who might, here are the 9 symptoms that are used to diagnose BorderlinePersonalityDisorder.

A person with 5 or more would qualify for the diagnosis.

1. Fear Of Abandonment:

A borderline has an extreme fear of abandonment, which can be real or perceived. This could be someone leaving their life for good, or something as simple as emotional dismissal. Leading them to believe the person doesn't truly care for them and will inevitably leave sooner or later.

They will constantly try to prepare for the abandonment, oftentimes triggering it with their irrational behavior.

Fear of abandonment usually stems from severe trauma or loss. There are other theories behind why it occurs, like cognitive and emotional development issues, past relationships, and childhood trauma.

#DBT therapy can be helpful in identifying triggers and managing the symptoms that most often lead to conflicts in relationships and fear of abandonment.

2. Unstable & Intense Interpersonal Relationships:

This can be an intimate relationship, immediate family, close friends, co-workers, etc.

New relationships start out passionately but then start to roller coaster from one extreme to another. A person with #BPD generally sees things as either "all good" or "all bad," with no middle ground. They often swing from extreme love and idealization to extreme dislike or devaluation. This can be with a new lover, friend, or even job. This is known as #Splitting.

Borderlines often dive headfirst into new relationships without much thought, and even less reservation. However, more often than not, something will happen (ex. an argument with a partner, criticism from a co-worker or boss, plans falling through, etc.) that causes them to switch their view on the person or situation from good to bad.

This is a defense. A person with #BPD will subconsciously develop ways to protect themself from future trauma. It's basically, "you showed me that you're capable of hurting me, so I'm going to go ahead and just hate you now, so you can't do that to me again."

That being said, #Borderlines crave relationships. So, they will continue to jump into them, whatever the form, causing a vicious cycle that ends up fueling their fear of abandonment.

People who suffer from BPD are extremely sensitive to rejection and tend to "overreact" when faced with it, Real or perceived, the emotion hurts the same. It can become so overwhelming that many give up on whatever they are doing at the moment. Sometimes they even destroy relationships or quit their jobs. It's extremely debilitating and holds significant consequences.

Being self-aware, they often know the consequences beforehand and still can't do anything to stop it.

3. Identity Disturbance:

This is a distorted and unstable self-image or sense of self. Things like goals, behavior, and beliefs can change frequently. It's a constant, often subconscious feeling of not knowing who you are. There's a general discontentment of not knowing how to live because they don't really know what they even like. Someone with #BorderlinePersonalityDisorder will often times #mirror the traits of people around them. However, some will go so far as to change their name and identify as someone else entirely with defining traits of their own.

In a recent study, 4 identity disturbance factors were identified in BPD.

Role Absorption - Described as defining themselves by a single role or cause. Often taking on the interest of others and mirroring their behaviors, notably a #FavoritePerson or #FP

Painful Incoherence - The most distinguished in BPD, is a subjective sense of lack of coherence.

To explain, a Sense of Coherence or #SOC is "an adaptive dispositional orientation with the personality, that enables coping with adverse experiences." Meaning, their ability to understand the situation. The greater your understanding, the greater your ability to cope, and vice versa.

Inconsistency - This is an objective incoherence in thought, feeling, and behavior. Inconsistent, meaning, not staying the same throughout.

Lack of Commitment - Displayed in things such as jobs, morals, or goals.

Identity Disturbance, more so than many other symptoms, sets #BPD patients apart from those with other disorders. It's also prevalent in BPD patients that don't have a history of abuse.

4. Impulsivity:

Psychologically, #inpulsivity (or impulsiveness) is the tendency to act on a whim, displaying behavior characterized by little or no forethought, reflection, or consideration of the possible consequences.

Some examples could be substance abuse, binge eating, spending sprees, reckless driving, unprotected sex, etc.

A person with #BorderlinePersonalityDisorder has a tendency to act this way as a way to relieve whatever the emotion is that's overwhelming them at the time. It only serves as a bandaid though, and they are left picking up the pieces of their impulsive behavior after each episode. All the while, it's just about impossible for them to stop themselves from the act in the first place, and knowing it will inevitably happen again. We just see that it feels better "right now."

Not only does their impulsive behavior negatively affect them, but the fallout also tends to land on those around them. This is yet another reason they struggle with relationships, of any kind.

Note: If these behaviors are primarily associated with a good mood or high energy level, it could be a sign of a mood disorder, rather than #BPD.

5. Recurrent Suicidal Behavior or Thoughts / Self Harm:

#SelfHarm is often shown through behaviors like cutting. This generally isn't a suicide attempt, but more an attempt to physically "let out" their internal pain.

#Suicide attempts can sometimes be a cry for help but can be extremely dangerous as many have actually died not intending to. However, often it's not a cry for help, but that they don't actually see that there's any other option to cure the constant pain they are in.

If you or someone you know is struggling with this, there are resources to help!

People with #BPD and those around them often think they are a lost cause, or nothing could ever "fix them" enough to live a normal life. This is simply NOT true!

There are lots of success stories out there if you're needing a little inspiration!

Give it a Google..

6. Affective Instability:

Defined as the tendency to experience rapid and intense mood swings that are difficult to control.

Moods fluctuate intensely over a short period of time, and go from one extreme to another, triggered by things around them, or moments in a conversation. It's very hard to tell what the next trigger will be, as the person with #BPD often doesn't even realize what their triggers are.

Emptional instability is a defining characteristic of #BorderlinePersonalityDisorder however it's not to be confused with #BiPolar Disorder. Someone with Bi-Polar will have mood shifts in a matter of days. A person with #BPD will have mood shifts in a matter of hours, sometimes minutes.

7. Chronic Feelings of Emptiness:

This is experienced as a feeling of numbness and "nothingness" so to speak. It's a feeling of disconnection from both self and others. It's also associated with feelings of purposelessness and unfulfillment. Like, "there's nothing inside me, I'm a hollow shell." A person with #BPD will try to fill the empty space with other things, such as another person, purchases, etc. They have a need to feel whole and look to the world to complete them.

Some examples of things that could cause this are, not having very many meaningful relationships, living or working in an invalidating environment, not having a clear sense of self. A majority of the time they feel unworthy or undeserving and don't believe they are important at all.

8. Inappropriate and Intense Shows of Anger:

This usually involves screaming and yelling, but it can sometimes even get physical. It can be sudden and very intense, and it leaves those close to them on edge, "walking on eggshells" all the time.

The person with #BorderlinePersonalityDisorder doesn't enjoy acting this way anymore that the people around them enjoy being around it. They are self-aware, though it may not seem like it. They will feel instant regret and fear that they may have triggered abandonment by whoever they got angry with. Then they will turn the anger on themselves for "being so stupid." All within a short period of time, hours, maybe even less.

You never really know what can be a trigger. A good way to put it would be that #Borderlines have really thin skin.

9. Transient Stress-Induced Paranoid Ideation:

This is a feeling of extreme paranoia that everyone, even those they think they are close to, are out to get them, or conspiring against them in some way. They have difficulty trusting due to fear of people's intentions, hear negative voices, and can even be seen as psychotic and delusional. It's dissociation, not to be confused with Dissociation Identity Disorder. It can be like a spell of amnesia. Where they have a very blurred sense of reality for a period of time; if they remember much of it at all. Feeling cut off from themselves, or even seeing themself from "outside their own body."

It can also be an overwhelming feeling that something very bad is about to happen.

-Borderline Brooke

[jazzy---j]

CC3... and just my problems with sjm as a whole.

Soooooo, yeah. that was a bit disappointing. I wanna start off that due to the problematic nature of SJM I wanna make it clear I no longer financially support her. When I first began reading her books I was in high school and didn't know much about whose books I was reading. Most of it was just pick up a book, read the summary, if I liked it I bought it. But now as an adult who is on booktok and all the other bullshit (it's a whole mess) I can see all of a book and author's pros and cons and be like, "nah, I'm not doing that." And you know as a black woman, I cannot just be and do what I want and damn whoever it may impact or the consequence. I don't get to live in that world. I feel like I have somewhat of a responsibility to not contribute to the harm that the world already does to marginalized people around the world. That's just me personally, black people are not a monolith and this way of thinking doesn't apply to all of us.

Anyway all that being said, I am a book reader who is invested in whatever story they are reading and want to know what happens. So I read CC3.., but was sailing the high seas while I did it if you know what I mean. And let me just say... yikes. The problematic things that SJM does in real life and all that those issues mean really do shine in this book. I mean I always knew white authors have different experiences than me so I don't expect something that caters to me when I read their books but, idk sjm makes all the problematic things just so apparent. And it's just generally hard to read. There can't be any separation between the art and the artist in this one guys. I'm a political science and history major in real life so I spend my time studying political theory and structures of power in historical contexts. Hopefully, I can work to better understand those structures in our current present and with my intersection of activism (I am very passionate about that in my day-to-day) work to make a better world for marginalized people. So when I read SJM, I see some very troubling themes in her work. Themes that can perpetuate misogyny, racism, and imperialism. And it just makes me queasy reading it. It's not fun for me to read that. The way she used the oppression and discrimination of people as a major plot device, that the heroes have to defeat but in real life be ok with taking a birthright trip is just... a type of cognitive dissonance that I can't even put into words. and don't think I forgot the Breonna Taylor incident that she still has on her Instagram. if you don't know what I'm talking about look it up on TikTok, many black book readers have created multiple videos explaining that whole situation.

Now some people may be like, "What the fuck are you talking about. I don't see any of this." And like that's cool maybe because of what I'm studying I just see it everywhere. But I just have not been able to shake this ickiness in my gut about her work. The most thought-out example of the problematic nature of her work that I have is the description and characterization of the Illyrian people.

Now the way she physically described the illryians is as brown-skinned, with dark hair, and brown or dark eyes. This does put them in a very racially ambiguous position but to describe them as brown-skinned makes me picture brown people who in real life are racially recognized as black and brown people. People apart of brown communities are usually Southeast Asian or Arab people. They are marginalized in real life through various forms of oppression displayed in orientalism perpetuated mostly recently by the United States in the last 30 years (the war on terror, but this behavior goes back so much further). The Illyrian people's cultural characterization coupled with their physical description aligns with the negative aspects of Orientalism. Literally, the illryians are described as "backward", "barbaric", "slow to change", and stuck in timeless, old antiquated traditions that encourage the abuse of women and children. Sjm describes an indigenous people (she makes it clear that the illryians are native to the night court and nowhere else) as "savage" culturally, in their interpersonal relationships, and communally. That is just described as inherent to the people (except for a couple of characters who are "the good ones", or "not like that" and lucky enough to get away). Culturally they are described as being constantly in a state of conflict, preparing for and/or enjoying that conflict. I'm so sorry but that is Orientalism, literally the definition of how Orientalism was used to justify the colonization of the Middle East and parts of Asian during the colonization period and again when the western powers and the United States had a vested interest in interfering politically and economically in the region in the last couple of decades. That same language was used to describe the people of the Middle East and justify their oppression in the West. The exact same words. I did not understand the connection until I took a Middle East: politics and society class about two semesters ago and again that same language was used when we were learning about Orientalism. I went back to read some of acotar again and I saw all of that in relation to the illryians and I was like, "oh, oh no." I really don't know what else to say. To me, the relation is very very clear and makes my stomach just drop when reading it.

And the thing about it is it did not have to be this way, SJM did not have to characterize them like that. There is no real narrative function of this characterization, they are not the bad guys of the story or the main antagonist. In fact, the main characters need them to actually defeat the evil. SJM at the base made an interesting indigenous group of people that could have been a unique culture in her narrative landscape and added to her world-building. Instead, she wrote harmful stereotypes about vaguely racialized, marginalized people that directly mirror a marginalized group of people in the real world. Now was that her intention or just the subconscious influence of Orientalism in our society coming out without her awareness? I mean i cannot confirm from the horse's mouth that this is the case right? She has never actually said this. But her stance on current world events that are happening right (Palestine and Gaza strip) does not give me a lot of hope that she is completely unaware. But either way, this can hurt people in the real world. In the book, because the Illyrians are characterized the way that they are, the main characters are put in a moral position of opposition, that is the the dynamic. And to me, that dynamic is hard to read knowing what I know and what actually happens in real life to people that the Illyrians mirror. it begins to be super easy to just live in that moral opposition that can stripe away people's humanity and value. Azriel's contempt for his people and desire to destroy Illyria and the culture is a good example of what happens to these groups in real life. This is just one example of things in her work that can be problematic.

And listen I'm not writing this to tell you to stop reading her, to tell you what to do with your money, or who to like/support. That is not my job. I just wanted to share some of my thoughts and give whoever is reading this food for thought. And hey I might be reading too much into this, and just going way too deep. It is just hard for me to enjoy her work anymore knowing and seeing what I see. I can't really ignore that icky gut feeling.

And hey do I think sjm is a good writer? Eh... that is a whole other blog post. I could go really deep into her world-building, story choices, and what I think might just be lazy writing. But there are some aspects that I do like and are unique. But guess what? The fandom's fanfic writers are the light in the tunnel in this situation. As they often are in other fandoms. they take the actual cool and fun things that SJM created and build on them in a way that does not negatively depict the representation of real people. In a way that is not narratively disappointing. In a way that is just fun for everyone to enjoy. Free of charge they express their talent because they love to do it for however long they want to. Fanfiction is an amazing system that I hope and pray won't get messed up. Like one of my favorite creators @separatist-apologist posted about last week, "I think no matter what happens, we've all spent so much time reading fic and developing headcanons that whatever SJM does isn't going to live up to the fantasy we've created...". And I for real felt that and I just wanna shout out to all the fic writers who make this space fun despite all the fandom fuckery and SJM fuckery.

@separatist-apologist, @thehaemanthus, @the-lonelybarricade, @moodymelanist, @ablogofsapphicpanic, @vidalinav, @vikingmagic33, @c-e-d-dreamer

There are more that I probably missed. So you know thank you guys for making things fun and giving me something to read that doesn't give me an icky feeling when I read.

So yeah, thank you for coming to my ted talk. this turned out to be hella long but you know once I started I couldn't stop. If you have any questions, my ask box is open. Again these are just my thoughts. you don't have to agree and I'm not trying to change your mind. I just needed to share this somewhere.

[against-forms-recognizable]

Okay, so, here's the thing, here's where a lot of my anarchism comes from.

Let's go all the way back, back to where humans came from, the ancestral environment. In the ancestral environment, when we're all hunter gatherers, sometimes there's scarcity. And when there's scarcity, it's who you know and the nature of those relationships which determines whether or not you survive. So, being a social animal, the degree to which you manipulate the social environment is a huge factor in that.

A lot of the ways we do this are through social structures, phantasms. We have a lot of them floating around; gender, morality, honor, justice, family. These are all things that don't actually exist materially. They only exist as a linking of concepts, a constellation of ideas that we reify into a system. And we use these to control each other, to create a social environment that is more suitable to getting our needs met. They form the bedrock of our civilization and society.

We enforce these structures most often by methods of social correction; isolation, harassment, bullying, and so on, to make people get with the program. And when that fails sometimes there is violent coercion, in modern times usually by the body that maintains a monopoly on violence and violent coercion, the state.

But because these things don't actually exist materially, they are flexible. We can add or remove stars from these constellations while maintaining mostly the same recognizable shape and other people still recognize it and might not even realize we changed it at all. And we all do this, all the time, generally unconsciously, in ways that favor us. This is where identity politics comes from, right? All of the toxicity within it. Everyone is trying to weaponize these structures to extract material benefit from the social environment by reshaping these relations to be more favorable to them.

But these abstractions are largely the way we make sense of the world. It's the foundation of language and cognition and communication. So anything we do together will always result in people playing these games with each other, defecting in this grand prisoner's dilemma.

This applies to communism, too - I think every communist has started out well-meaning, the marxist-leninists included. The thing is that we are fundamentally unable to participate in society without trying to turn it to our benefit, it is hard-wired into us, we are so good at it that we don't even realize when we are doing it. And it applies to anarcho-communism, as well, even in the absence of a coercive state people can still accrue soft social power and utilize that to create a social hierarchy - even a simple reading of Ursula K. Le Guin's The Dispossessed, which posits a flawed anarcho-communist utopia, reveals it as an investigation into how even if you start out with true believers, applying it on a society wide level will result in the vast majority of people talking the talk without walking the walk.

So, at present, because I don't really see a way out of this, my anarchism is mostly formulated as a critical orientation at these structures which create hierarchy and domination, a toolbox of critique that we can use to break them down, a continual process that must be adhered to as everyone will always be trying to build new ones up. Conscious deconstruction, of our unconscious constructions. This doesn't mean I don't think things can be better, that I don't think a positive social project is possible. I just don't know how to get there, right now, with a method I'm sure won't just end up making things worse.

[frail-and-freakish]

on growing up with "intensive intervention" and abuse as a young autistic trans kid.

(quotes are from neuropsychs and reports, things said to me verbally, my own words/thought processes at different times. tw ABA, dehumanizing clinical language, stim suppression, some transphobia toward the end)

february 6th 2012.

an appealing child

with many areas of precocious development

alongside areas

of definite developmental lag.

diagnostically

meets the following criteria

for a pervasive developmental disorder.

you want more water

pronominal reversal

Alligator alligator alligator

intense and restricted interests. immediate echolalia.

its too hard to be a girl

too hard to be (deadname)

call me pangoo the penguin

because i'm scared of (deadname).

i like it when it’s cold

i hate it when it’s hot

appears overstimulated by environment

i am never tired

scripted language

i never like to smile when people tell me to

facial expression is usually flat

too soft too tight hurt hurt no touch

extremely opposed to imposed touch

it doesn’t hurt you

it just bothers you

need to control every aspect of environment

but i like it when it’s messy

do you like bedtime? is it bedtime? is it bedtime? bed bed bed

perseverative speech

i’m not good at saying what i mean

severe communication disorder

no is my monster

i only want to point to zoo animals

extremely self directed in play

i don’t want to say that

significant conversational rigidities

(the message is wrong

it’s okay to be sad

but you have to get over it.)

the words stab into the report with grisly black ink

began to behave in a silly manner

primal defense mechanisms

unhealthy involvement with reading

atypical prosody

symbol oriented cognition

disordered phonological processes

appears uninterested in others

needed maximum verbal cues

very spontaneous and overly enthusiastic

and also withdrawn and hyper focused on her own ideas.

my hands fold into my palms in the speech therapist’s office

ripple flutter in a dance with the air

motor stereotypy

often loses focus and becomes squirmy

stilled by a dead end voice

quiet hands

‘physically disorganized’

body messy

they think it’s weird

after all

it’s hard for you to know what other people are thinking

impaired theory of mind

everybody noticed

but they were being polite

and would never have said anything

to you

responds well to a behavioral approach.

may 5, 2018.

acute awareness of needs and vulnerabilities

too old to trick into being compliant

self appointed position as autism champion

i asked her if

when she was little and only read books about alligators

if we should have expected her teachers to respect that.

she said yes

failing of course to consider

that she was in a class with people who had various interests

not obsessions.

insisted that people who are cognitively impaired should not be changed.

having a vagina does not define biological sex????

i am going to have a hard time keeping up with her thought process.

extremely hypersensitive to what is perceived

as non-acceptance or rejection.

i thought you were just one type of weird

but now you have all these different types

i’m so sorry to hear that she

(forgive the pronoun, please)

is miserable right now.

the test was not developed for use

with individuals who are gender non-conforming.

steady growth in mastery of pragmatic language skills

improved social functioning

i am so happy to hear

that she’s acknowledging she needs help

rather than continuing down the path

of “i’m perfect.”

progress intervention treatment success.

barely even autistic.

[vasilinaorlova]

In this video, recorded three weeks ago (before the start of my practicum, which already began), I am talking about differences between coaching and counseling--admittedly, this is not a lecture or a laid-out number of differences but an attempt to distinguish between the two in a messy situation where disciplinarily, counseling and coaching are not institutionalized to the degree when distinctions become clear for everyone. There is a lot of suspicion and uneasiness about coaching in the counseling circles and maybe vice versa, and some of the differences are: coaching is not currently a licensed profession, it does not require a formal preparation or a formal completion of a degree as of 2024 (I am sure that will change in the future), and therefore coaching could be an umbrella term for a lot of shady practices in which people are harmed. The second difference is not institutional but pertains to the essence of what is done in counseling versus coaching: at least the type of counseling I am [being] initiated into does provide a clinical mental health diagnosis on the basis of recognized, identified, and formulated symptoms, whereas coaching does not engage with this layer of conceptualization of the client at all. That the coaching does not engage in conceptualizing the client in terms of mental health care however does not mean that the client would not have the symptoms of mental health issues--if the client does, and, as a coach trained in mental health counseling, the coach has the ability to recognize the disorder, the coach is obviously under obligation to direct the client to a mental health care professional licensed in the area.

I am going on a number of tangents in the video, which is why I like recording videos so much--talking is not writing. In particular, I am recollecting our anthropology seminars about affect and infrastructure led by the inimitable Kathleen Stewart--to me, these seminars were group counseling more than anything else. It is sometimes challenging to demarcate the clear borders between the types of engagement with people. Disciplinarily, some boundaries are fuzzy, but I believe in the ability of humanity to get very clear on the distinction between counseling and coaching eventually. When I talk about the market request, what I am saying is that not only do the clients who seek coaching understand that they are not seeking counseling, but also there is a type of engagement between people that is categorically different from counseling. I think another area of distinction is that counseling is following the feelings, whereas coaching is looking into life goals. The goals in counseling are clinical (for example, improve behavior by improving cognition), and the goals in coaching are externalized into the outside world. The distinction between counseling and coaching that counseling is focusing on the past and coaching is focusing on the future, that is currently popular to a degree it could be called a convention, I am skeptical about because counseling can focus on the future too--there is even something called "future-oriented" or "future-directed" therapy, founded by Jennice Vilhauer, which is in a lot of ways based, in my view, on cognitive-behavior therapy. But then there is also something called "behavioral coaching" as well.

My personal dream is to make more use of philosophy in the contemporary practices of becoming better / more well, something that I love to call becoming "happier and freer." The entirety of the language surrounding counseling, therapy, psychotherapy is medical. The language of counseling today is the language of care, healing, wounds, traumas. These words are metaphors, and, as such, they are imprecise. Maybe philosophy, if there was more space for it, could have made a difference and made the language of "helping professions" drier and less about "help," or "providing care," or "healing from the wounds," and more about analyzing the human existence from the point of view of what is necessary to achieve happiness and become freer, for an individual being and for society in general. Currently, I am trying to reserve this drier language for my (very limited in terms of how much time I can realistically devote to it) coaching practice.

Thank you for paying attention to my reflections. I hope you are doing great and are in the world of wonder and possibilities. I put together a new website: https://vasilina-orlova.clientsecure.me/ -- feel free to get in touch.

P.S. I have not even touched on the differences between counseling and therapy. This border is a bit less contested area because counseling is already somewhat established, after decades of its own struggle (which continues): it has Master's programs, competing accrediting institutions, professional associations, etc., etc. However, counseling's own disciplinary battles rage! (It's mainly counseling versus social work).

[cvrpedie-m]

Brain Age Mythology Compared to What Really Improves Cognitive Health

Many people have been asking us recently about whether we all have a "Brain Age" and how find out more here we can reduce our "brain ages". This concept is a myth, fueled by the (very fun) Nintendo game and a recent PBS campaign promoting a program produced by Posit Science.

The concept of having a "brain age" is, itself, profoundly unscientific, despite the radio ads for the PBS program titled Brain Fitness Program, where listeners of all ages get the impression (as many friends and colleagues have reported) that, should they buy the Posit Science Brain Fitness Program, they can expect their brains "rejuvenated" by 10 years. This, I hear often, must be true, coming from PBS.

Unfortunately, it isn't. And it isn't because the claim is founded on the same faulty premise of having a "brain age".

What is going on?

First, the good news. Today we know today that the brain retains lifelong plasticity (the ability to change itself through experience). Aging does not mean automatic decline.

Furthermore, we know that a variety of lifestyle factors, including physical and mental exercise, can influence how our mental abilities evolve as we age. We can delay or slow down age-related decline. Not only that, we can improve our abilities, and a number of computer-based programs have shown how they can help specific groups of people train and enhance specific cognitive skills.

Now, what is important to recognize is that there is not one overall "brain age". We can view our brain functions or cognitive abilities as a variety of skills, some more perception-related, some more memory-related, some more language-related, some more visual, some more abstract-thinking and planning oriented. All science-based brain fitness products in the market today target specific cognitive skills. The research that has been published shows how specific brain functions can be improved. But there is no general "brain age" that can be measured or trained in a meaningful way.

Let's analyze the PBS Posit Science-related message: you can rejuvenate your brain by 10 years. What would this mean, were it to be true? perhaps that ALL cognitive abilities would go back to where they were 10 years before. and that this would happen for individuals of all ages: in our 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s and so on. It would also mean that, given that rejuvenated "brain age", our risk of developing Alzheimer's symptoms would be adjusted to reflect our "new" brain age. And that the evolution of our cognitive abilities over the rest of our lives would reflect our new-found "brain age".

Has this been shown?

Unfortunately, not. The "10 years" claim seems based on one published study, and several unpublished ones, where individuals with an average age of around 70 years take on a very intense auditory processing training program that enables them to improve related auditory cognitive skills by a significant percentage. Whereby, on average, and on those specific skills, they reach a level comparable to people 60 years old.

But this doesn't say anything about other cognitive skills. Or Alzheimer's related risks. Or the cognitive trajectories that will follow.

Just think about this: if, by attending an intensive tennis camp, you were able to serve at a level comparable to people 10 years younger than your age...would you say that your body is now 10 years younger? Probably not. You'd say that now you play tennis better. Which is a significant benefit in itself if that's what you are after.

Recent studies have shown a tremendous variability in how well people age and how, to a large extent, our actions influence our rate of brain improvement and/or decline. The earlier we begin the better. And it is never too late.

What can we do to maintain our brain? Focus on four pillars of brain health: physical exercise, a balanced diet, stress management, and brain exercise. Stress management is important since stress has been shown to actually kill neurons and reduce the rate of creation of new ones. Brain exercises range from low-tech (i.e. meditation, mastering new complex skills, lifelong learning and engagement) to high-tech (i.e. using the growing number of brain fitness software programs).

In summary, the great news is that there are more tools available than ever before to assess and train a variety of cognitive skills, in what is still today a very small, but growing market. Nintendo, Posit Science, and others are offering valuable products and services.

[divinely-ruled]

( yap session !! ) " we should teach children about all gender identities and sexual orientations as early as possible to create a more inclusive and accepting society !! " NO NO NO we all know that children are impressionable and their brains are still developing. if you think it's appropriate to introduce them to abstract concepts about sexuality and gender when they haven't even grasped the basic biology of their own bodies, you're out of touch. children's cognitive abilities are still forming and the idea that we should throw them into the deep end of adult concepts like sexual orientation, fluidity and gender dysphoria before they understand fundamental concepts like family, biology or even relationships is reckless. it's not about being progressive or regressive; it's about common sense. we protect children from adult issues for a reason. would you sit your 6-year-old down and explain adult financial responsibilities? or discuss the intricacies of divorce? no. so why on earth are we encouraging the teaching of gender identity or sexuality at such a young age. they simply can't process it. this is about their emotional and mental safety. here's what gets me the most. tolerance. respect. these are things we should absolutely teach our children, no question. but tolerance doesn't mean forcing them to adopt a new worldview before they're developmentally ready. teaching kids that other people may have different lifestyles, experiences and beliefs is valuable. teaching them that every person deserves respect is necessary. but there's a fine line between teaching tolerance and indoctrinating children into specific, adult ideologies. and that's exactly what this is. a form of indoctrination. the idea that we should teach children about the full spectrum of gender identities when they barely understand their own is frankly irresponsible. children should learn to respect others, not be taught that they have to personally engage with complex gender theories before they're ready to make those decisions themselves. kids should be focused on being kids. they should be learning how to read, how to socialize, how to understand their emotions and how to explore the world in a safe, nurturing way. let them be kids. when we introduce gender theory to children before they even have a solid grasp on their own identity, we're robbing them of their childhood. we're forcing them to face issues they aren't equipped to understand. this is not about sheltering them forever. it's about allowing them to develop a healthy sense of self without the weight of adult ideological burdens. the world is already filled with pressures. let children enjoy the simplicity of their youth before you complicate it with concepts they don't need yet. now about biology... oh god, this might be controversial... but biology. you can't escape it, no matter how much people try to dance around the issue. there are two sexes—male and female. these are rooted in our biology, our dna and our reproductive systems. the reality is, teaching young children that their gender might be something they choose or might change is not only misleading. it's dangerous. why? because this sets up confusion. a 6-year-old child doesn't need to be told they can choose whether or not to be a boy or a girl. they need to understand their own body, the basics of how reproduction works and the realities of male and female biology. if we start teaching them that gender is a fluid construct at that age, we're giving them a distorted view of the world that may cause unnecessary confusion, particularly when they start to hit puberty. it's not "transphobic" or "gatekeeping." the truth is simple. boys are male and girls are female, and most people fall into one of these two categories. we need to protect children, not pushing them into confusing, adult topics they're not ready for. protect their childhood, protect their innocence and protect their mental health. anything else? you should be put on a watchlist. ⸻ 🎀

re: yap session

i get where you’re coming from, and i understand the concerns about introducing complex topics to children before they’re developmentally ready. it’s crucial to respect their emotional / cognitive growth and let them enjoy their childhood without overwhelming them with adult concepts. that being said, i think there’s a balance. teaching children abt respect, empathy, and understanding that people are different foster an inclusive environment without forcing them to adopt a specific worldview too soon. parenting doesn’t have to be #woke… every child develops at their own pace, so it’s important that we approach these subjects in a way that feels appropriate for their age and understanding.

[shrimpmandan]

What do you think gay men are attracted to in men that they can’t be attracted to in women?

It can’t be anything about femininity or masculinity obviously. That’s both sexist, and cultural so can’t be what drives men-only attraction.

It can’t be anything about stated identity because someone could lie just as easily as they could tell the truth in such a statement, and it makes no sense because homosexuality and heterosexuality exists in other species with no stated identities. It’s not like other animals without gender are all pan.

Saying idk it’s the vibes or some indescribable trait men have that women can’t but “I can’t explain” is a nonanswer.

Soooooooo what is it? Or do you think any sexuality but bi/pan is just cultural performance or an identity rather than an inborn orientation?

- [ ]

I wouldn't say it's cultural performance. More that sexual orientation has a lot of psychological components that isn't driven as strictly by biology as we think it would be. I have known gay men and straight women who have developed crushes on butch women, and straight men and gay women who have developed crushes on femboys. You could make an argument for these people being bisexual. But they often lose the attraction upon discovering the person isn't the gender they assumed them to be, or will otherwise have no interest in them outside of fantasies and one-off flings. No desire for an actual long-term relationship.

The basis for sexual orientation also varies from person to person. Some people only care about genitalia, no matter the gender of the person it's attached to. Other people are attracted to specific traits, such as a defined jawline or wide hips, which are more common in one sex but may less commonly appear in the other. For other people still, the identity is the end-all-be-all of it, regardless of sexual traits. This can be seen in gay men who are attracted to pre-transition trans men, and have zero attraction to cis women.

It's also worth noting that most other mammals have less complex brains than we do. They don't often have a defined identity. They only have genitalia to go off of; we do not. Comparing human sexual behavior to animal sexual behavior is not equivalent. It'd be like saying rape is acceptable just because animals do it, as if we as humans don't have the cognitive capacity to understand morality and empathy.

In essence, sexual orientation isn't as clear-cut as we assume, because gender and sex themselves aren't as clear-cut as we assume. That doesn't mean that someone's given orientation is fake or outdated, or that it can be changed. Just that the labels exist as a broad generalization of an individual's sexual behavior, and not a defined rule. You are trying to apply a single, universal, defined rule to how sexual orientation works, and that's an exercise in futility, because literally every single individual on earth has a slightly different sexual orientation. Again: the labels are a generalization, not a limiting factor.

[healthymind1o]

Which Principle Underlies Cognitive Therapy?

Which principle underlies cognitive therapy? The principle underlying cognitive therapy revolves around the exploration of the links between thoughts, emotions, and behavior. This means that people can change their behaviours by altering their opinions and core beliefs. CBT is an effective treatment because it helps patients recognize and change the thoughts and behaviours that lead to challenging actions. Patients learn how to handle their passions, manage triggers, and avoid high-risk goings-on. Therefore, Healizm step in and offers the CBT to the patients.

What Is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy?

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a common sort of talk therapy or psychotherapy. You work with a mental health therapist in an organized way. You’ll attend a partial number of sessions. CBT supports you to become aware of inaccurate or negative thoughts. So, you can view thought-provoking situations. Additionally, CBT can be an effective means to help anyone learn how to achieve stressful life circumstances better. Whenever you search for the “cognitive behavioral therapy near me online”, the first thing is to avail of the opportunity that suits you most.

Which Principle Underlies Cognitive Therapy?

Which principle underlies cognitive therapy? At its heart, cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) identifies the prevailing influence of opinions and feelings on behaviour. These internal opinions and moods frequently drive persons to engage in actions that may harm themselves.

Problem-Focused and Goal-Oriented

CBT initially highlights a problem-focused and goal-oriented method. This resources that the counsellor and patient work together to recognize the specific problem that is causing distress. This is the therapy about the thinking for change the feelings.

Managing Dysfunctional Beliefs

CBT purposes to teach patients how to exactly identify, analyze, and respond to their dysfunctional beliefs and views that cause difficult activities. This includes identifying the thoughts that are causing distress and learning how to answer to them more positively. hence, it’s a life change therapy from which you can take the benefit.

Focuses On the Present

CBT emphases on the present rather than the past. In the first gatherings that take place, the therapist digs into the patient’s existing events and practices. This emphasis on the present permits patients to pinpoint and change any thoughts or behaviors that are disturbing them.

Time-Limited

CBT is recommended as a short-term treatment option because it is time-limited. This means that the therapy focuses on specific goals and is typically completed within 12 to 16 weeks. For example, nervousness can be treated with CBT in as little as 12 weeks. More severe mental and psychological diseases, such as sadness or schizophrenia. It may need a longer and more constant course of treatment that can last several years. While searching for the cognitive behavioral therapy near me, you may rely on us and contact us!

Uses Different Techniques

CBT uses diverse techniques to assist patients in changing their thoughts and actions. Some of these techniques contain exposure therapy, cognitive reformation, and problem-solving. So, search for cognitive therapy near me to get beneficial results.

Uses Assignments

CBT extreme often uses exercise projects as a way for patients to practice what they have learned in therapy sittings. These exercise assignments can include journaling, imagination, and exposure therapy. The succeeding session will review exercise to check the patient’s growth.

Regularly Evaluates Progress

CBT treatment regularly analyses growth to ensure that the patient is rolling toward their goals. This assessment can be done through self-report events, clinical observation, and behavioral researches.

Cognitive Therapy vs Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Cognitive therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy are often used interchangeably. CBT includes behavioral interventions in addition to cognitive therapy techniques. The evolution from cognitive therapy to CBT involves the integration of these behavioral techniques.

Psychotherapy vs CBT

CBT is a form of psychotherapy, not a distinct entity separate from psychotherapy. Psychotherapy is an umbrella term for various therapeutic approaches, including CBT. CBT is known for its structured, goal-oriented approach to addressing cognitive and behavioral patterns.

In Verdict

Which principle underlies cognitive therapy? The principle underlying cognitive therapy revolves around the exploration of the links between thoughts, emotions, and behavior. CBT treatment includes efforts to change behavioural patterns. The psychologist and mental health professionals set the meetings and generate the adequate plan for the issue.

FAQs

Which principle underlies cognitive learning?

Cognitive therapy is founded on the principle that our thoughts, emotions and behavior are connected.

What is the main idea which underlies cognitive therapy?

The fundamental concept behind CBT is that thoughts and moods play a fundamental role in behavior.

What is the basic principle of behavior therapy?

The basic thesis of this approach is that people exhibit a wide range of cognitive (thinking) behavior, and that their cognitive performances have a significant impact on other human performances.

What are the 5 steps of CBT?

Identify problems.

Become aware of thoughts and feelings.

Recognize negative thoughts.

Challenge negative thoughts.

Change behavior and thought patterns.