#(I just have to accept that these are real phenomena that I have to rely on sloppy heuristics for because it's just not clicking)

[fazedlight]

"What is gender?" and "What is camp?" and "What is sci-fi vs. fantasy?" are all the same-shaped problem in my head.

Everyone knows what they are but no one can explain them to me 😭

[dharmafox]

Please talk about Mononoke's feminist themes! For the record, I already agree; I just love reading your meta commentaries. 💚

Oh, thank you! I also love writing them, and I'm happy when people ask. 🙂

Just a warning, this got very long...

The Role of Daoism

I think at the core of Mononoke's treatment of feminism is the idea that men and women are fundamentally the same, in that the true nature of both is made up of the united "masculine" and "feminine." This view comes from Daoist philosophy, which considers the interdependence of yin (the "feminine") and yang (the "masculine") to be the true nature of all things. The interaction of these complementary energies is the source of all growth and change. Since growth and change are essential to life, the unity of "masculine" and "feminine" is also. In Mononoke, this not only means the life of a society, but also the life within each individual.

The human society in Mononoke is distorted because of the separation it creates between yin and yang. Women are denied their internal "masculine" and assigned only the "feminine" energy of submission and acceptance, while men are driven away from their internal "feminine" and assigned only the "masculine" energy of assertion, aggression, and emotional detachment. The warped social structure in which men control and exploit women depends on this internal alienation of individuals from themselves, and thereby also their external alienation from each other.

These divided "masculine" and "feminine" roles are an unsustainable denial of nature. The confusion and suffering they cause create the mononoke: expressions of the energies humans struggle to suppress. The Bakeneko, the Zashiki Warashi, the Nopperabou are all expressions of the rage that women aren't "supposed" to feel on their own behalf. The Umi Bozu is an expression of the feminine aspect of Genkei that he isn't "supposed" to feel and has come to fear.

Exorcising the mononoke requires drawing out these aspects and reconnecting humans with their real, complete selves. It requires a rebalancing of the "masculine" and "feminine" that gives women back their power and men back their hearts.

Birth As Transformation for Women

An important symbol of this kind of transformation is birth. In western feminism, we're wary (for good reasons) of birth being used to represent feminine power, but it's a central concept in Daoism: The manifestation of all new phenomena depends on the interaction of yin and yang. In Mononoke, childbirth symbolizes the emergence of positive change for women. Giving birth transforms them from static, submissive objects into complete beings who are no longer convenient for men to exploit. Their desire to have their children is a defiance of men's control over them.

This is clear in "Zashiki Warashi," where women are the victims of forced abortions so they can continue to be exploited as prostitutes. Having their children would free these women from prostitution, which not only explicitly treats women like property, but does so in a way that directly reinforces men's power over and lack of empathy toward them.

Unlike the men who use them, these women's children do not embody the alienated "masculine" but the women's own "masculine": parts of themselves that represent their wills and their potential for new and better lives. Their connection with their children is their connection with their true selves, the interlinked yin and yang and the growth and change that emerge from them.

When this "masculine" and the life it would create with them are cut off, they become a mononoke: an expression of the women's grief and rage at the denial of their natures.

Incidentally, their role as symbols of the "masculine" could be why all of the Zashiki Warashi appear to be male.

It's kind of subtle though.

This co-operative "masculine" and "feminine" and their power to transform are a threat to the system that relies on women being solely "feminine," submissive and unchanging. Those who depend on that system are desperate to destroy them.

This also happens to Shino: She is used by a man who turns on her the moment she is carrying a child. Shino's child is a threat to this man's power and status, and quite possibly represents a threat to humanity's entire dualistic psychological and social structure.

Shino chooses to embrace her will, her capacity for assertiveness and self-defense, in the face of everyone who tells her she's being "irresponsible" and "selfish." Her "masculinity" protects her, her child, and the potential for change they symbolize.

The themes of prostitution and childbirth that are prominent in "Zashiki Warashi" begin all the way back in the first "Bakeneko" with the way the Sakai family treats Mao. They're not only willing to effectively sell her off to another family in exchange for having their debts covered, but they're selling her to a man who is impotent - who can never give her children. Even before realizing just how badly the women in this society need change, the Medicine Seller recognizes this situation as bad for Mao specifically: he remarks that it's unfortunate for her, with no reference to the man or his family.

The Medicine Seller knows that the denial of childbirth deprives Mao of something that is rightfully hers: her own potential for transformation and growth.

The Alienation of Masculine and Feminine Results in Stasis and Death

"Nopperabou"

Ochou's and Lady Ruri's stories don't use this childbirth metaphor (except perhaps by the absence of childbirth), but these stories also carry the themes of prostitution and death. Ochou is effectively prostituted by her mother, who submits her daughter to men's control in exchange for property. The man Ochou is married to sees women as objects to be purchased and used.

Because Ochou is burdened with a sense of moral obligation (the same form of manipulation used against all the women in "Zashiki Warashi") to fulfill her "feminine" role, she fights against the drive to embrace her own "masculine" - the Nopperabou. The unresolved conflict between her guilt and the need to accept her complete nature traps her in an endless cycle of suffering and death: she lashes out at her abusers but cannot fully integrate her power or escape her mother's manipulation.

This guy's a big help.

Without true unity with her "masculine," Ochou cannot change. Once she understands the root of her guilt, she's able to move past it, and she becomes complete again. Once she's reunified with it, her "masculine" energy serves her real needs - it gives her the strength to leave the cycle of suffering behind, setting her free instead of keeping her trapped. This change finally gives her the "new life" she sought.

The fact that the part of herself that Ochou lost as a child first appears as a duplicate of her shows that this "masculine" is not something separate from her "feminine." Like Genkei and Oyou in "Umi Bozu," Ochou and her "missing half" were together in the beginning, and were never meant to be the separate "male and female" that they appeared to be.

"Umi Bozu"

In "Umi Bozu," Genkei, like Ochou, has been split in two, this time by the rejection of his "feminine" self. He's struggled for years to move on and to reach enlightenment, but he can't let go of the memory of his sister. At the beginning of the arc, Genkei is clearly old and approaching death, but he's realized that he can no longer avoid his sister's memory.

The Medicine Seller equates Genkei's fear of Oyou with a fear of his own heart - perhaps even meaning that they are one and the same. When Genkei's fear is understood as the cause of the mononoke, he literally splits in two. His missing half takes the form of the mononoke, which, when the Medicine Seller exorcises it, becomes a feminine form that literally re-enters Genkei and transforms him. Through the reunification with his "feminine," Genkei dies but is "reborn."

Into a twink.

"Nue"

The "Nue" arc's main theme is stasis and death, and it again explores the use and exploitation of women, men's lack of empathy toward them, and the inescapable connection between them. This arc shows a man's violence toward a woman rebounding on him immediately: Nakarai kills Lady Ruri, finds himself covered in wounds, and dies. Killing her kills him as well.

It's quite funny. I mean horrible.

Muramachi and Robou also treat Lady Ruri as nothing more than a tool to get what they want. Their disregard for her life and humanity is so egregious that they rummage around her murdered body looking for the Todaiji they planned to marry her for, and they joke about having a "wedding ceremony" after they compete for its possession. The Medicine Seller, who usually (certainly not always) maintains calm in the face of humans' reprehensible actions, is openly shocked and angry at their behavior.

This guy's whole life is witnessing horrors. If he's looking at you like this, you've truly fucked up.

All three of these men have been trapped in endless stasis and death by their complete focus on their own desires. They see Lady Ruri as nothing more than a conduit for those desires, leaving them utterly disconnected from her humanity.

Their disconnection from her is accompanied by disconnection from themseves, to the point where they're unaware of their own deaths. As with Genkei, accepting those deaths is their only way of escaping them and being "reborn"; otherwise, like Ochou, they remain trapped in an unchanging cycle.

This arc, like the others, implies that all of the men and women in it are interdependent, with each of the female forms of the Nue appearing through the perceptions of each of the men. They appear separate, but neither could exist without the other.

Fear

Genkei's story not only shows stasis and death as a result of his alienation from his sister, but also explores the root cause of men's resistance to their "feminine": fear. The men in Mononoke depend on the isolation of their "masculine" identities for a sense of safety. The identity that Genkei has spent his life building up is defined by pushing away all emotion, all vulnerability - all in an effort to hide from his feelings for his sister. The longer he clings to this isolated self, the stronger his fear becomes.

Rejoining Oyou means becoming completely vulnerable, letting her and all the feelings she brings with her inside him. The Medicine Seller tells him that this will kill him, and in a sense it does: His old self is replaced by his "reborn" one.

Facing this fear and embracing the "weakness" of the "feminine" is a profound act of courage, one that makes Genkei stronger and freer. Accepting his "feminine" is his strength.

Unlike Genkei, Sakai and Moriya in "Bakeneko" #1 and #2 never develop this courage. They remain crippled by fear until it destroys them completely. As they continue to deny how much they've hurt women, they become more and more terrified - of women, their own "feminine," and the pain and anger they've poured into them. Their attempts to grasp at safety by rejecting and attacking women make them feel less and less safe as their own inescapable "feminine" and women's inescapable "masculine" demand acknowledgement, growing in power and anger until they become the Bakeneko.

In "Bakeneko" #2, Moriya is the embodiment of the link between misogyny and cowardice; he blatantly exhibits both. Setsuko's will, her "masculine," threatens him with the truth and with the fragility of his status, both in his relationship with her and in society. And Setsuko's "feminine," her more vulnerable emotions, terrify him as well. He can't face these combined aspects of her - and of his - true self, and he is left with abject terror, constantly seeking safety behind his misogyny.

In "Bakeneko" #1, Sakai remains terrified throughout the arc of having to confront his truth. Right up to the last he keeps denying it, and he sits frozen in fear when the Medicine Seller tells him he has to turn around and look at what he's done. Sakai can't face his complete nature, because the schism between the "masculine" and "feminine" in him is so deep that his "masculine" has become a monster and his "feminine" is filled with pain. Acknowledging his real "feminine" would mean feeling what he's done, and acknowledging his real "masculine" along with it would mean fully understanding the horror of what he's become.

Yeah, asshole.

Unfortunately for Moriya and Sakai, there's no escape from their fear except through the "feminine" - through letting go of their resistance and accepting their destruction. They must die, transform, and be reborn from the cosmic "yin."

This is true for everyone whose internal divisions have created mononoke. The only one who can remain unchanged by the death and rebirth of yin is the one for whom the "masculine" and "feminine" are already unified.

Kind of tickles honestly.

I could say more; I could talk about the Medicine Seller himself; I could talk about how he relates to women and the "feminine" and how much his own path depends on them, but I've said a lot of that before, and I think I've covered the bigger concepts as I see them. There can't be much doubt about Mononoke's feminist themes. Its message is not only that society's treatment of women has historically been grotesque and horrible but that it's a denial of nature, one for which there will always be a price to pay.

[deeply-embarrassing]

“The Wilderness” will 100% be partly real and it’ll be a gag

One of the most predominant themes of the show is belief, and the “absolutely no supernatural elements” road seems both an unlikely and boring way to explore it!! At the request of no one, here’s a rather long post on why I believe some supernatural elements in Yellowjackets will eventually be confirmed as true (there’s a TL;DR)

• Seasons 1 and 2 explore "classic" religious beliefs a lot, as the Yellowjackets slowly regroup all the unexplained phenomena in one particular entity. The show expands on faith: as God [The Wilderness] cannot be proven, His very existence depends on whether we believe He exists. God depends on us so, in a sense, we create God. We are God: The Yellowjackets and The Wilderness are one and the same. Whether the Wilderness truly exists or not doesn’t matter as long as they believe It does: it leads to the same practical results.

To explore this, season 2 includes fewer unexplained phenomena, more desperation from both groups, more hallucinations from Lottie which aren’t “clear” visions. Basically, season 2 focuses on “classic” cults, in both timelines. So when Lottie says “Is there a difference?”, we assume she means it doesn’t truly matter if there truly is a Wilderness, they’re one with it.

• BUT “belief” isn’t just about religion. Strong, almost core beliefs, can shape our reality. Can lead to biases, to denying or ignoring what’s right in front of us, to rewriting our histories. It’s dangerous to have beliefs you refuse to question, so like:

After season 2, most characters (and casual viewers) believe that Lottie’s psychic abilities and the Wilderness aren’t real. And thus despite still having no explanation for a bear offering itself up or Lottie’s disturbingly accurate visions in season 1. And I think it’s all preparing us for an eventual reveal that Lottie was (partly) right all along.

My basis for that is Lottie’s storyline in season 2, and especially in the last episode. It was very dedicated to making us realize that in both timelines, Lottie is often exploited, abused and demonized due to her “delusions”, her belief in supernatural elements.

[Developping on that abuse, but skip it if you know what I mean  : early on, the teen group mostly mocks her. Then, they rely heavily on her for hope and guidance. She ends up feeling so responsible for the group’s wellness she accepts to be Shauna’s punching bag. Misty eventually gaslights her into believing she started the murderous rituals, and lies to the group about her agreeing with that practice. Once they were rescued, I doubt they protested her being institutionalized.

Most of the adult group blames her for the creation of the cult and their former actions, as if she’d forced them to join, to diminish their own guilt.  They believe Lottie's visions and newly recovered faith in the Wilderness are symptoms of her mental illness and trauma. So they assume she’s a  danger to Natalie, but she saved her life. They assume her cult’s malicious, but it’s not. They take advantage of her, some of them (all?) secretly wanting to do a ritual but pretending to be humouring her. They institutionalize only her as if they (all?) hadn’t been ready to murder whoever got picked.]

It could simply be the show portraying how certain mental illnesses make one vulnerable. But from a storyline point of view, if Lottie were truly “just delusional” by the end of the show, then Yellowjackets would portray a lot of bashing of a mentally ill character. It wouldn’t be a great look, and it wouldn’t be particularly original and subversive. It would also mean Lottie's future appearances would be repetitive.

• What would be interesting and subversive would be for Lottie’s psychic abilities and beliefs to be eventually confirmed as (partly) real all along. The implications would be huge for everyone.

For Lottie, she’d have to rethink her entire life. For the other Yellowjackets, they’d have to reconsider how they rewrote their own histories and to face their treatment of Lottie.  For all of them, they’d have to decide what to do with that knowledge, and their strong (false?) belief that their relationship with “It” is equal  could lead to tragedies.

And for the viewers, it’d force us to face how eager we were to consider it all to be trauma responses, and why we were so eager to do so. And after the reveal, watch some of us directly fall into the trap of believing the teen group understood the Wilderness correctly.

-> “Some supernatural elements were real all along but the group didn’t understand them correctly” is a fantastic opportunity for drama, plot twists, and an amazing rewatch value.

• TL;DR: Yellowjackets loves to subvert expectations and to explore beliefs. It appears unlikely it wouldn’t eventually tackle the dangerosity of strong beliefs to the point of blindness, and would be a missed opportunity imo. And not only when it comes to religious beliefs, but also to common beliefs for many characters and viewers, such as the nonexistence of the supernatural in the show.

[creature-wizard]

The fact that so many new age conspiracies rely on science being bad makes me think they somehow based the whole thing on one of those "Top 10 UNSOLVED Mysteries!!!1!" kids books

It would more likely be the other way around.

The thing about this movement is that it's always been trying to present its beliefs as scientifically plausible, if not scientifically inevitable. One of their strategies has been to latch on to some poorly-understood phenomena and claim that their belief system explains it.

Like back in the Victorian period we really didn't know all that much about how the pyramids were built or the actual workforce that built them, so it wouldn't have been incorrect to call them an "unexplained mystery."

Unfortunately for them we now know a lot more about the construction of the pyramids and world history in general, and everything they make up about Atlanteans or aliens is less and less tenable.

Since this is a spiritual/religious movement whose attachment to literalist interpretation is on par with Young Earth creationism, they can't admit that they were wrong about their scientific and historical claims. Instead, they dig in their heels and claim that a dark conspiracy is just trying to keep the truth suppressed. And since "mainstream science can't explain X, but I can" is their only real pitch, they just keep repeating it, and a lot of people who aren't very scientifically or historically literate just accept it.

[transamorousnetwork]

Violence Accomplishes Nothing For Transgender People

Muriel and I were talking recently. In case you have been up on the news, I have a girlfriend. She happens to be trans. I call her Muriel because I respect her privacy.

Anyway, she and I were talking about an article she wrote. It was about radicals, terrorists, and generally violence perpetrated by radicalized people. In it she described a trans person who, themselves was “at the threshold of radicalization”. This person, she wrote, made the case for direct action against those perpetuating violence against trans people. Muriel also said she agreed with this person’s arguments. Almost.

But she changed her mind.

During our conversation, we talked about a lot of past violence. Violence perpetrated by terrorists yes. But also “economic” violence billionaires wage. But I couldn’t help focusing on some transgender people’s calls for violence against those who wage violence on them.

I understand the sentiment. But no matter how much relief such violence offers temporarily, it’s not worth what violence ultimately creates. Which is, of course, more violence.

I want to dig into this a bit. 

Violence is powerlessness manifested

If we look at people who commit violence, we’ll find something of note. Every violent actor acts from powerlessness. Violence is the act of the powerless. It is action taken by one who has lost all control. Or someone bent on “justice”. Which in most violent cases, is really “revenge”. In every case, they believe they have no other option. That’s powerlessness.

Every racist, bigot or conservative, Christian whacko who perpetuates violence against trans people also does so out of ignorance. Think about it. Such people rarely get to know a transgender person. They do no research on the matter. Or they rely on religious texts. Texts often taken out of context. So they possess no real education on the subject. They’re fueled by fear. And they feel powerless. All that leads to irrational action. Which is almost always what violent acts are: irrational.

The only exception is self-defense. But even there, violence is problematic. I’ll get to that in a bit.

Some trans-attracted men resorted to violence. That’s the “gay panic” defense often used years ago, when it seemed trans women were being killed at epidemic rates. “Gay panic” points to powerlessness. The men literally scared themselves out of all reason. Because their stories about their trans-attraction triggered catastrophic conclusions. “What will my homies think?” “What will my fellow Marines think?” “They’ll ridicule me!”

So people who fear the transgender phenomena act from fear, ignorance and powerlessness. Is it then really a good idea for trans people to choose violence? Trans people arguing for violence are becoming that which they fear: Irrational, ignorant powerless people.

The alternative to violence is compassion. Let’s look at that next.

Violence relinquishes the moral high ground

I argue often that trans people represent a leading edge evolution of humanity. By definition such people will face persecution. All pioneers do. At first. Then their way becomes accepted practice. And that’s what trans people are doing. They set a new bar for what it means to be human. A bar taking humanity to another level of human-ness.

This means, of course, that trans people hold a high ground of morality. And, because of what they represent evolutionarily, they exist on the right side of history. Just look at how many trans children alter their parents’ views. I argue more such positive change is quietly happening. In homes, schools, boardrooms and yes bathrooms, more positive change is happening than not. It’s just that resistance is news. Controversy is too. So the media reports that. Instead of the good news. Which explains why I suggest that my clients not listen to the news.

Good news doesn’t sell.

So the trans community resorting to violence instantly gives up its moral high ground. It becomes what it is changing. Then it perpetuates more of that.

Violence almost always creates more violence. Look around. The Middle East is aflame with it. And that conflict has been going on forever. Terrorists haven’t solved their perceived problems with violence. The US and its allies or Russia accomplished nothing with violence waged on Afghanistan. Indeed, it could be argued that they just created more terrorists. There’s no value to the trans community in embracing violence.

Which brings me to the next point.

Violence creates no positive outcomes

Very little good happens from waging violence. This is debatable though. World wars, for example, triggered a lot of positive outcomes. But were those outcomes worth the deaths, carnage and suffering?

And even with those outcomes the seeds of the next war were planted. Which is why we keep having wars. If anything is guaranteed from violence, it’s that it sows the seeds of more violence. Including escalation of violence.

Even in the case of self defense, violence creates more problems than not. Violence is very expensive. It’s legally risky. It sows the seeds of retribution.

^^A conversation playing out in graffiti between presumably trans people and cis folks.

Notice those best prepared for violence eschew that path. I’m talking about experts in meting out violence. Special forces individuals and highly-ranked martial artists, for example, are some of the most peaceful people around. When confronted with violence, they near-always mete out the least necessary violence to neutralize the threat. In other words, their violence is informed largely by compassion, light-heartedness and a rational, open mind trained through years of practice. I should know: I have high ranks in nine different martial arts disciplines.

If a situation has devolved to violence, then involved parties have both lost. The best option is averting any need for violence in the first place. Which means creating an environment where you and violence are incompatible. That’s a natural result of my client work.

But that’s also another story.

Violence brings more suffering on the violent

A client once asked me about people out there who would do violence to you no matter what. “Shouldn’t I prepare myself or at least think about those possibilities?” She asked.

“Here’s another alternative,” I said. “You could create a reality wherein those kinds of people can’t find you. Then you don’t have to prepare for anything.”

It’s taken her a while, but she now sees the wisdom in those words. For she doesn’t worry about bad things happening to her anymore. The same potential exists for every trans person. Every person actually. We all are the center of our universe. Nothing comes into our experience we don’t invite. And we invite through our stories.

So if we want a life free of transphobes, creating that life is easy. It takes some work at first. But it’s available to any trans person. And when that world exists, where’s the need for violence or even preparing for it?

But the violent always are on edge. They perpetually think about facing violence. So they must arm themselves. Then they must brandish their arms. They must bluster and join forces with other violence-oriented people.

That kind of energy isn’t conducive to the human organism. It literally creates sickness. Mental illness yes. But also physical illnesses like cancer and other deadly conditions. 

Furthermore, no matter how much you prepare for violence, there will always be someone more violent than you. One that can literally consume your life.

Is that the kind of life you want? I sure don’t. I’d rather create for myself a life of peace and harmony. And let the violent blow each other up!

Trans people are better than that

Finally, trans people are so much better than needing to resort to the irrational acts of violence. So many more productive options exist. The most powerful – and rewarding – one being taking charge of your creative powers and creating a life where violence can’t find you.

In that state, we maximize our connection with that which had us choose coming into the world as trans and trans-attracted in the first place. Maximizing that connection infuses us with a sense of our divine power. That power can literally change worlds. 

And it does change worlds. Nothing else does, believe it or not.

Violence certainly doesn’t. It hasn’t ended wars. It has’t created peace. Communities aren’t free of it.

But your world can be free of it.

Embracing violence is beneath transgender people. It does no one any good. And it robs trans people of the love that inherently exists in them.

For if you’re contemplating violence, you’re not contemplating love, compassion and joy. Love compassion and joy alone makes violence go away. They’re my weapons of choice these days.

I suggest they be yours too.

[greensaplinggrace]

I’m thinking of making a version of this post with some examples of the manipulative posts explained above, because at this point it might be better to see all of the variations of speech people will use to create certain tones within fandom. but for now, I want to bring up a bit about how cult tactics work.

people don’t operate on a constant level of analysis and data-checking. they rely on easy ways to gain information and form fast conclusions. if you’re not learned in recognizing subtle forms of data and emotional control, then it is incredibly easy to absorb false information or false dichotomies without realizing it. this is a skill often learned in literature classes, as recognizing the way words are often couched to create an emotional response is one of the core aspects of the field.

this is especially relevant to engaging with news, but also applies to fiction, advertising, and any personal interaction with others. in spaces where people group together because of a common ideal, the issue of cult manipulation is even more prevalent, because much thought control relies on a foundational principle to exploit, and a desire to remain accepted amongst one’s peers. furthermore, it often relies on isolation, or a sense of "us vs them", which many groups fall into naturally.

fandom, as you can see, is just as susceptible to cult tactics because of this. I have seen fandom infighting on two occasions devolve into cult practices, one was ship based, and the other was morality based. on both occasions, there were accounts afterwards from people who got scammed, who got abused, and who got emotionally manipulated by the leaders of these cults.

as such, I think it's important for people engaging in fandom to avoid generalizing statements and isolation. I think it's important for them to engage more with the source material than with metas. and I think it's important for them to be wary of a lot of the language used in meta, critical, or callout posts that directly undermine one's ability to trust themself, gather reliable and factual information, and gauge the morality of a real world situation as opposed to a fictional one.

in the above post, I broke down how misinformation can be used to manipulate a certain mindset within fandom through the creation of false dichotomies and a reliance on thought and information control, as well as emotional control. which eventually and often leads into behavioral control in fandom spaces, through the threat of exile and moral branding.

the BITE model is one of the most reliable forms of identifying this kind of manipulation that I've seen. below is an image that most succinctly describes it (although further research reveals more about the complexities and it's impact overall):

fandom discourse can seem benign - and if often is (most of it is just ego stroking and fandom wank, to be quite honest) - but sometimes people will take extra steps to form insular communities in fandom that begin to show these signs, and the posts that start to show up in tags as a result are pretty indicative of this type of phenomena taking place.

in a ya fandom where the population of younger people is pretty high, this seems especially insidious.

I saw people say Darkling is a r*pist and I'm scared of liking him now. Is he really?

no lol. and I suggest you get out of the discourse circles while you still can. they'll be telling you the darkling wanted genocide next, or that he deliberately planned genya's fate from the start.

this fandom has some of the most rampant misinformation campaigns I've probably ever seen. in other fandoms, the discourse is simply arguments that get out of hand. it is only shadow and bone which seems to attract people who will straight up lie about these things.

I don't know if it's because they believe it (maybe they haven't read the books or maybe they're bad at media literacy or maybe they even have trouble separating reality from fiction), or if it's because they like to control what happens in this fandom (the people here act like any post they don't like or that doesn't fit the 'acceptable parameters' is an attack on morals everywhere. there's a lot of thought control that happens in the general discourse tags), or if it's because they don't want to be outcast from the 'acceptable' side of the fandom.

but I recommend taking a step back and remembering a few things:

a) this is fiction. none of it is real.

b) it is ya fiction and attracts a generally younger audience

c) trust in your own interpretation of the text, and don't rely on other people's moral crisis and danger spiraling posts to guide your beliefs.

d) there is a lot of heavy handed 'think of the children' 'we just want what's best for you' manipulation going on in these tags, but you are not inherently immoral for disagreeing with them. don't trust the slogan.

e) block liberally and blacklist every tag you need to. antis will make you think they have your best interests in mind, but they are just as prone to harassing and gaslighting people as any other extreme loud minority discourse group in fandom.

and f) every part of fandom has a bad side. no side is actually better or worse than the other. no side actually sends more hate. no side actually has worse people. no side actually has more victims of abuse or more diversity or more experienced professionals. it's all relative. they're going to speak from their own experiences, which will always skew towards their own biased interactions with the fandom. that's just how it works anywhere.

[nothorses]

ive seen a few posts talking about gender socialization as a terf idea, and im not sure I understand... I was wondering if you could help? I understand gender essentialism is a dangerous tool they use, and I see how "socialization" gets used as a more acceptable way of framing hatred of trans people.

but also, im a trans man and I do genuinely feel like my being raised "as a girl" affected my personality and interests, especially in childhood. particularly things like being taught to be quieter and more polite than my classmates and stuff. is there something im missing here?

The term "gender socialization" generally implies that socialization relies strictly on gender, and I've seen this defined either to mean AGAB (trans women are socialized and men, and trans men are socialized as women), or the gender you actually are (vice versa). Either way, it's an extremely reductive and restricting view on what is, yes, at least related to a real phenomena.

The thing is, "socialization" is different for everyone. The factors that play into it can range from the gender other people think you are, the gender you think of yourself as (which might change over time), the gender you actually are, to things completely unrelated: race and ethnicity, disability status, religion, the culture you grow up in, and so many others.

What's being discussed is essentially the impact of one's culture, and their culture's view of gender, on the way they think of themselves. Boiling that down to "male or female", even if you're not calling trans women "men" and trans men "women" to fit them into that model, is still a massive oversimplification that denies any possibility of variation in experience.

For example: I also internalized a lot of misogynistic ideas about myself growing up. But I was raised by a single mother who believed in some feminist ideals, and in a progressive area, and without the influence of religion in my family; so some of the ideas I grew up with were "you're a bossy bitch who talks too much", and some of them were "Never Rely On A Man". And while I didn't know I was a trans man yet, I also felt dysphoric about things like crying; not because I believed men couldn't cry, but because my mom encouraged me to fake cry because crying (white) women get their way.

That's not really a comparable experience to one that, say, a Christian cis woman in the US south might have.

The other flaw in this theory is the implication that "socialization" is static. Once you reach a certain age (which is never really defined), you magically stop absorbing messages from the world around you, and become cemented forever as Socialized Male or Female.

Aside from the fact that this obviously isn't true, you have to wonder: what about trans people who transition when they're children? What are they socialized as?

This isn't just an inaccurate view of the way people develop. It's a form of gender essentialism- the idea that gender determines certain immutable qualities in a person- which is itself related to, and supports theory underlying, sex essentialism; i.e., TERF and otherwise transphobic ideology.

Buying into the same idea that "man" and "woman" are stagnant categories with no overlap isn't good when you allow trans people to be categorized by their actual gender instead of their AGAB. It's still the same core philosophy, and it's still just as damaging- to intersex and nonbinary people in particular, but also to all trans people. The gender binary doesn't serve any of us.

Trans liberation means understanding, or at least leaving room for, the nuances and complexities. It means allowing people to exist in complicated ways, and to define and categorize themselves. The strict, static, and binary understanding of gender presented by "gender socialization" theory only works against that.

[kalpasio]

The Several Attempts To Make You Aware

Attempt 5

A 5 + 1 Kalpas x Reader request, chapter 5 below!

Emile finally convinced Kalpas to explain to you what was going on in his mind and not just spring it on you, and Kalpas finally conveyed to you that he wanted to be the person you relied on.

“Look, I get you’re a stronger fighter than me, but I didn’t just become useless overnight.” Kalpas normally wouldn’t care how others felt, but the scowl you were sending him while you spoke made him feel as bad as you intended.

“I know you can fight,” he spoke in a low tine, though there was no real anger behind it. “I want to fight with you.”

“And I’m saying you don’t need to! I know you’re always looking for a battle, but you can’t just steal all of mine.” People around the canteen were staring at you both. Seeing someone yell at Kalpas was a rare event; no one was brave enough, or stupid enough to do so. Seeing you angry was even rarer, and the stares came out of both curiosity at witnessing the two unlikely phenomena at once as well as concern that they might be a bit too close to a very nasty fight.

“I will fight for you, but that’s not what I’m trying to do!” Kalpas’ voice rose to match your own.

“Then what the hell do you want?!”

“I can’t speak for Kalpas, but I’m fairly certain the entire base wants you both to argue a bit quieter,” Sakura spoke from behind you, and heat rushed to your face when you realized how loud you had been. Before the argument could flare up again, she continued, “You promised Rin you would help her make muffins.”

That had Kalpas closing his mouth rather quickly. He would rather give up a good fight than disappoint Sakura’s sister, and apparently you were no better. When you were invited to join, the spat you’d been having was forgotten and you accepted readily.

When the door to Sakura’s apartment was opened, all of you were greeted by Rin’s bright smile and a big hug. Kalpas was last, and he picked the girl up and carried her into the kitchen. Instead of joining them, you were pulled into Sakura’s living room to give you both a bit of privacy to talk.

“Kalpas is only worried about you—” Sakura raised a hand to stop you when you opened your mouth to complain. “Because he cares for you and would be devastated if something were to happen.”

“Sakura, I hate to say it, but we’re living through the end of the world. Something is going to happen, sooner or later.”

“I understand that, trust me,” your friend sighed. “Kalpas is not the most skilled at explaining himself. What he is trying to say, at least as far as I can tell, is that he will do all he can to protect you and if that’s not enough, he fully intends to die by your side and nowhere else.”

 Her words caused you to grow silent as you thought through them. In a way, it made sense, though you were still extremely confused, and the furrowing of your brows indicated as much. Your moment of contemplation didn’t last very long as a shout from the kitchen drew both yours and Sakura’s attention.

“Oh no! Now they’re all stuck together!” Rin sat on Kalpas’ shoulders, looking over his head to the bag of chocolate chips in his hands. Though now it more resembled a bag-shaped block of chocolate rather than individual pieces that could be stirred into batter.

The two had been making decent progress on the muffins, with Rin directing Kalpas where to go from atop her perch, but her sweet comment a few seconds ago caught him off guard. Telling him that he should give some of the muffins to you, since Rin had seen couples do it in all her movies, made him freeze and his hands grew hot enough to melt the sugar in the bag. Luckily, he hadn’t simply caught fire or hurt the girl on his shoulders, but the fact that you were now staring right at him had him struggling not to boil the chocolate.

Sakura—ever the life saver—stepped in and calmed Rin down, assuring her the muffins weren’t ruined while removing the crumpled bag from Kalpas’ hands. His handprints could still be seen where he’d been gripping tightly while the chocolate all melted, and the perfect mold left behind made you giggle a little. As quick with a knife as she was with a sword, Sakura cut the chocolate out of the bag, and then into chunks that could be used in place of the chips.

Kalpas and Rin took over from there, and within an hour, the muffins were out of the oven and cooling with Rin watching them eagerly as though that would help them set quicker. When Sakura declared them safe to eat, her sister immediately snatched one and was eating it so fast you were worried she might’ve gotten some of the wrapping paper too. Sakura took one next, and when you reached to get one, Kalpas handed you one instead. The second the muffin was in your hand, Rin gasped and you two stopped moving out of fear that something was wrong.

“Are you two getting married!?!?”

“Eat your muffin,” Kalpas remained almost completely unbothered while you and Sakura were trying not to die; you from embarrassment and her from holding in her laughter.

After the conversation you had with Sakura, you seriously considered what she’d told you. So when Kalpas started trailing behind you on the way to the next mission you were overseeing, you didn’t stop him. The problem-causing cadet you had to babysit was on her best behavior, not wanting to give Kalpas a reason to blow up—not that he really needed one. Throughout the entire mission, the only issue was trying to keep the enemies alive lone enough for the new MOTHs to fight them.  

Kalpas had you running around like a chicken with its head cut off, trying—and failing—to stop him from killing everything. Your cadet insisted it was fine, even though he was normally just as bad about wanting the highest kill-count. Eight encounters later, you gave up. Kalpas cleared the rest of the area while you and your recruit Whinny followed behind making bets on whether each fight would last one second or two.

When you were all heading back to the ship, you pulled Kalpas aside. He was still breathing heavily, more from his loud laughter than from the fight itself, and a few licks of flame came off him every so often. Most of the buildings in the area were crumbling either form the Honkai, or the man standing in front of you, but you were able to find one that was still in decent shape.  

“Look, I get that you enjoy a fight, but the whole reason behind these missions is to get the new agents used to fight, and they can’t do that if you just kill everything in sight.” You felt like you were telling a very large child to keep his hands to himself, and Kalpas was playing is part rather well. Arms crossed, eyes glaring, and a frown you didn’t even need to see to know it was there; he looked like he was having a temper tantrum, and the fire around him wasn’t helping.

“If you want to come on my personal missions, that’s fine, but these smaller ones, I’m not even supposed to help with. You turned a two hour battle into a two minute skirmish.”

“Your MOTHs are pitiful,” Kalpas spat, making you sigh and move your weight to one hip. “There’s no rage, no bloodlust or passion-!”

“Yes, yes, they’re not as good at destroying things as you,” you sighed and rolled your eyes when you saw Kalpas look almost prideful at your accidental compliment. “That’s not the point! They’re never going to be passionate about killing Honkai if you never give them a chance to.”

“They’re not worth your time.” Kalpas leaned towards you, flames appearing more frequently. He just couldn’t understand why you’d follow some inexperienced, uninteresting, weakling agent instead of fighting yourself. Were you seriously leaving him at the base to come do this? Your narrowed gaze told him that his words only succeeded at making you mad, and not at getting his point across.

“I’ll show them how to fight,” he spoke with a grin, and you could hear the underlying threat in his voice. Those agents would be dead before they even had a chance. “Let me save you the trouble.”

“Killing all the recruits isn’t going to help anything!” you hissed, trying not to be so loud the others on the nearby ship could hear. “And you don’t get to tell me how to spend my time! What do you care if I waste it all?” Did you even hear the words coming out of your mouth? Kalpas spent months trying to show you that he wanted to be the one you spent time with!

Unconsciously, his flames grew as he became more and more frustrated with how oblivious you were. Despite his close proximity, neither of you noticed the rising heat. Kalpas was fully ready to go on a rant about how he cared for you.

Until the fire sprinklers went off. Perhaps the building you picked was a little too intact. The fire coming off the man before you was under control, but it still set off the fire alarms and doused the both of you. Under normal circumstances, seeing a fuming, wet Kalpas, complete with steam rising from his head, would have you in stitches laughing. Right now, however, you were soaked through too, and had already been pissed. Alarms downed out any words coming from his mouth, and you weren’t going to stick around to hear what he was trying to say.

The frown on your face was deeper than ever, and even following behind you, Kalpas could tell you were done. All the way back to the ship, you both were silent. If the look you were giving before was bad, the look you gave when you saw Kalpas had completely dried off during your walk was downright murderous. Even he had enough awareness to give you some space.

The flight home was silent, and the first person off the plane was your trainee who looked like she couldn’t decide who was more terrifying: you or Kalpas. You were close behind her, gone before Kalpas could get a single word out, which was probably in everyone’s best interest.

There goes attempt number five.

Definitely not compensating for the last fic. Nope. Also the power button on my laptop is right next to the "end" key and I have hit it way too many times.

[gffa]

Do you think one could follow the Jedi Code/Lifestyle in real life as a positive manner of living or do you think it only works in Star Wars? I asked this on r/Mawinstallation and the answers I got were either:

''The Jedi code is oppressive so no'' ( this was the most upvoted answer )

''The Jedi code works but only for the Jedi''

''The Jedi code requires the force to work and since the force doesn't exist in the real world, the code cannot work''

And finally, I got only a single reply that said

''Yes, the Jedi code does work in real life, that's the entire point of Star Wars''.

What is your take on this?

This is going to be sort of a long, roundabout answer, but the short version is: In the finer details, we're not space psychics, but as a general idea? Yes. First of all, what even IS the Jedi Code?  Are we talking about the whole “there is no emotion, there is peace”/”emotion, yet peace” meditation mantra, which we should point out is nowhere in the movies or TV shows, but is entirely in the novels and comics supplementary material?  Are we talking about a more generalized idea of Jedi philosophy?  And what, precisely, does that mean?  I mean, what’s oppressive about it and what scene evidences that that’s what the Jedi taught? Second, there are two talks that George Lucas gave that I think really illustrate this view of emotional navigation and how that impacts Star Wars and the Force: There’s the writers meeting of The Clone Wars where he talks about the light side and the dark side and there’s an Academy of Achievement Speech from 2013 where he talks about joy vs pleasure:     “Happiness is pleasure and happiness is joy. It can be either one, you add them up and it can be the uber category of happiness.     “Pleasure is short lived. It lasts an hour, it lasts a minute, it lasts a month. It peaks and then it goes down–it peaks very high, but the next time you want to get that same peak you have to do it twice as much. It’s like drugs, you have to keep doing it because it insulates itself. No matter what it is, whether you’re shopping or you’re engaged in any other kind of pleasure. It all has the same quality about it.     “On the other hand is joy and joy is the thing that doesn’t go as high as pleasure, in terms of your emotional reaction. But it stays with you. Joy is something you can recall, pleasure you can’t.  So the secret is that, even though it’s not as intense as pleasure, the joy will last you a lot longer.     “People who get the pleasure they keep saying, ‘Well, if I can just get richer and get more cars–!’ You’ll never relive the moment you got your first car, that’s it, that’s the highest peak. Yes, you could get three Ferraris and a new gulf stream jet and maybe you’ll get close. But you have to keep going and eventually you’ll run out.  You just can’t do it, it doesn’t work.     “If you’re trying to sustain that level of peak pleasure, you’re doomed. It’s a very American idea, but it just can’t happen. You just let it go. Peak.  Break. Pleasure is fun it’s great, but you can’t keep it going forever.     “Just accept the fact that it’s here and it’s gone, and maybe again it’ll come back and you’ll get to do it again. Joy lasts forever. Pleasure is purely self-centered. It’s all about your pleasure, it’s about you. It’s a selfish self-centered emotion, that’s created by self-centered motive of greed.     “Joy is compassion, joy is giving yourself to somebody else or something else. And it’s the kind of thing that is in it’s subtlty and lowness more powerful than pleasure.  If you get hung up on pleasure you’re doomed. If you pursue joy you will find everlasting happiness.”  –George Lucas And how I like to compare that to The Hijacking of the American Mind by Robert Lustig, MD, MSL, which is a book about how corporations have hijacked our pleasure centers to make us focused on reward over pleasure.  It talks about the exact same concepts, with only slight word adjustments, but otherwise might as well be verbatim: “At this point it’s essential to define and clarify what I mean by these two words—pleasure and happiness—which can mean different things to different people.     “Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary defines “pleasure” as “enjoyment or satisfaction derived from what is to one’s liking”; or “gratification”; or “reward.” While “pleasure” has a multitude of synonyms, it is this phenomenon of reward that we will explore, as scientists have elaborated a specific “reward pathway” in the brain, and we now understand the neuroscience of its regulation. Conversely, “happiness” is defined as “the quality or state of being happy”; or “joy”; or “contentment.” While there are many synonyms for “happiness,” it is the phenomenon that Aristotle originally referred to as eudemonia, or the internal experience of contentment, that we will parse in this book. Contentment is the lowest baseline level of happiness, the state in which it’s not necessary to seek more. In the movie Lovers and Other Strangers (1970), middle-aged married couple Beatrice Arthur and Richard Castellano were asked the question “Are you happy?”—to which they responded, “Happy? Who’s happy? We’re content.” Scientists now understand that there is a specific “contentment pathway” that is completely separate from the pleasure or reward pathway in the brain and under completely different regulation. Pleasure (reward) is the emotional state where your brain says, This feels good—I want more, while happiness (contentment) is the emotional state where your brain says, This feels good—I don’t want or need any more.     “Reward and contentment are both positive emotions, highly valued by humans, and both reasons for initiative and personal betterment. It’s hard to be happy if you derive no pleasure for your efforts—but this is exactly what is seen in the various forms of addiction. Conversely, if you are perennially discontent, as is so often seen in patients with clinical depression, you may lose the impetus to better your social position in life, and it’s virtually impossible to derive reward for your efforts. Reward and contentment rely on the presence of the other. Nonetheless, they are decidedly different phenomena. Yet both have been slowly and mysteriously vanishing from our global ethos as the prevalence of addiction and depression continues to climb.     “Drumroll … without further ado, behold the seven differences between reward and contentment: Reward is short-lived (about an hour, like a good meal). Get it, experience it, and get over it. Why do you think you can’t remember what you ate for dinner yesterday? Conversely, contentment lasts much longer (weeks to months to years). It’s what happens when you have a working marriage or watch your teenager graduate from high school. And if you experience contentment from a sense of achievement or purpose, the chances are that you will feel it for a long time to come, perhaps even the rest of your life.Reward is visceral in terms of excitement (e.g., a casino, a football game, or a strip club). It activates the body’s fight-or-flight system, which causes blood pressure and heart rate to go up. Conversely, contentment is ethereal and calming (e.g., listening to soothing music or watching the waves of the ocean). It makes your heart rate slow and your blood pressure decline.       - “ Reward can be achieved with different substances (e.g., heroin, nicotine, cocaine, caffeine, alcohol, and of course sugar). Each stimulates the reward center of the brain. Some are legal, some are not. Conversely, contentment is not achievable with substance use. Rather, contentment is usually achieved with deeds (like graduating from college or having a child who can navigate his or her own path in life).       - “Reward occurs with the process of taking (like from a casino). Gambling is definitely a high: when you win, it is fundamentally rewarding, both viscerally and economically. But go back to the same table the next day. Maybe you’ll feel a jolt of excitement to try again. But there’s no glow, no lasting feeling from the night before. Or go buy a nice dress at Macy’s. Then try it on again a month later. Does it generate the same enthusiasm? Conversely, contentment is often generated through giving (like giving money to a charity, or giving your time to your child, or devoting time and energy to a worthwhile project).       - Reward is yours and yours alone. Your sense of reward does not immediately impact anyone else. Conversely, your contentment, or lack of it, often impacts other people directly and can impact society at large. Those who are extremely unhappy (the Columbine shooters) can take their unhappiness out on others. It should be said at this point that pleasure and happiness are by no means mutually exclusive. A dinner at the Bay Area Michelin three-star restaurant the French Laundry can likely generate simultaneous pleasure for you from the stellar food and wine but can also generate contentment from the shared experience with spouse, family, or friends, and then possibly a bit of unhappiness when the bill arrives.       - Reward when unchecked can lead us into misery, like addiction. Too much substance use (food, drugs, nicotine, alcohol) or compulsive behaviors (gambling, shopping, surfing the internet, sex) will overload the reward pathway and lead not just to dejection, destitution, and disease but not uncommonly death as well. Conversely, walking in the woods or playing with your grandchildren or pets (as long as you don’t have to clean up after them) could bring contentment and keep you from being miserable in the first place.       - Last and most important, reward is driven by dopamine, and contentment by serotonin. Each is a neurotransmitter—a biochemical manufactured in the brain that drives feelings and emotions—but the two couldn’t be more different. Although dopamine and serotonin drive separate brain processes, it is where they overlap and how they influence each other that generates the action in this story. Two separate chemicals, two separate brain pathways, two separate regulatory schemes, and two separate physiological and psychological outcomes. How and where these two chemicals work, and how they work either in concert or in opposition to each other, is the holy grail in the ultimate quest for both pleasure and happiness.”                                – Robert Lustig, MD, MSL And then lets add in what Dave Filoni has said about the Force and the core themes of Star Wars:     "In the end, it’s about fundamentally becoming selfless moreso than selfish.  It seems so simple, but it’s so hard to do.  And when you’re tempted by the dark side, you don’t overcome it once in life and then you’re good.  It’s a constant.  And that’s what, really, Star Wars is about and what I think George wanted people to know.  That to be a good person and to really feel better about your life and experience life fully you have to let go of everything you fear to lose. Because then you can’t be controlled.        “But when you fear, fear is the path to the dark side, it’s also the shadow of greed, because greed makes you covet things, greed makes you surround yourself with all these things that make you feel comfortable in the moment, but they don’t really make you happy.  And then, when you’re afraid of something, it makes you angry, when you get angry, you start to hate something, sometimes you don’t even know why.  When you hate, do you often know why you hate?  No, you direct it at things and then you hate it.  And it’s hard because anger can be a strength at times, but you can’t use it in such a selfish way, it can be a destroyer then.        “These are the core things of Star Wars.“  –Dave Filoni So, the core things of Star Wars and the Jedi teachings (because Jedi teachings are basically almost word for word how GL described how the Force works) can very much be a reflection of real world teachings and ways to live by, because all of the above are about how GL viewed the world and what he wanted to put into his movies. Further, Jedi teachings are basically just reworded Buddhism + Acceptance and Commitment Therapy.  And both of those are very livable by our real world standards, if you so choose.  GL was very much about how SW had themes that were meant to be picked up on by the audience and even DF has said this:  “ Jedi have the ability to turn the tide, to make a significant moment, to give hope where there’s none.  That’s their ultimate role to play, to be this example of selflessness.  And that’s what makes them a hero, when no one else can match that heroic thing.  And then our job is to emulate that, to use that example, and further our own lives.” --Dave Filoni Ultimately, the Jedi are specifically focused on disciplining themselves (which GL has said is the only way to overcome the dark side, in that TCW writers’ meeting), probably to a degree most of us wouldn’t have the room to devote to, but that doesn’t mean that the broader strokes aren’t meant to be applicable to our lives or don’t echo real world teachings.

[antoine-roquentin]

Fascism—a form of revolutionary conservation—gains force as a means to smash the workers movement, to crush communism. If today there is no fascism, it’s because there is also no communism. It’s for this basic reason that the analogies with Weimar are wide of the mark.

There are, of course, other authoritarian, conservative politics out there, but conservatism itself is historically weak. As Corey Robin has argued, the U.S. Republicans, for instance, only hold onto power through the Senate, Electoral College, and the courts—precisely those institutions that don’t rely on popular support. Liberalism is still majoritarian, and even as it has become more authoritarian. Populism is merely its ineffectual shadow.

So, why do we fantasize otherwise? The historian and author Barbara Tuchman coined an eponymous law that holds that “the fact of being reported multiplies the apparent extent of any deplorable development by five- to tenfold.” As Tuchman elaborates:

Disaster is rarely as pervasive as it seems from recorded accounts…. Besides, persistence of the normal is usually greater than the effect of the disturbance…. After absorbing the news of today, one expects to face a world consisting entirely of strikes, crimes, power failures, broken water mains, stalled trains, school shutdowns, muggers, drug addicts, neo-Nazis, and rapists. The fact is that one can come home in the evening—on a lucky day—without having encountered more than one or two of these phenomena.

Perceptually ready to find disaster, we’ve been primed by cinema as much as history-writing and the news to expect emergencies to feel like, well, emergencies. The reality is that very serious and dangerous situations—war, for instance—are often boring for the participants. The much-prophesied global pandemic, now that it has arrived, hasn’t been permanent emergency but rather a lot of tedium and a steady wearing down of society. Nothing feels as real and immediate and urgent as we were told it would be. When does the real stuff start?

At a basic level, then, we should wonder if our favored fascist dystopia is not an attempt to make good on the projections of the culture industry, the reality of the contemporary emergency having failed to live up to its hyperreal expectations. The radical aspects of the Trump presidency were his tweeting and his grating bravado; the rest, continuity—the same deportations, tax cuts, and wars as before. To adapt our political views to Hollywood schemas, we choose to imagine that the mundane degradation of politics is actually fascism, or that the real fascism, the real disaster, the real dystopia, will emerge next time around.

However, it’s not simply that this fantasy is a function of the fact that we are all subjects of the culture industry; it’s also that the fantasy enables a certain kind of left cowardice in the guise of left bravery (antifascists out on the street punching Proud Boys). The leftist denunciation of the powers-that-be as “fascist” is ultimately complicit with the constitution of elite authority. When we rebel, we build up power as a substantial Other, and thereby infinitely postpone seizing authority for ourselves. As philosopher Todd McGowan has written, “rebels never have to see how their resistance manifests itself without what it resists. Rebellion provides the comfort of being on the outside while imagining that there is a substantial enemy on the other side.”

Fantasizing the fascist threat makes it feel like those in power are really wielding authority, rather than being the incompetent, self-contradictory forces they are. The reality of power today is a void of outsourced authority—outsourced to science, both physical and economic; to external enemies; to the objective necessities of globalization. Without our participation in sustaining the fantasy of substantial authority, we would all have to face the void: now what’s going to happen to us without the barbarians? The desired-for fascist dystopia is thus a kind of wish fulfillment: it allows us to imagine that someone might exercise a strong hand, that our world of drift and wearing-down will end, so that we can finally be confronted with our real reality—the naked exercise of power, not this simulacra.

The political right, it should be said, has its own versions of fascist fantasy. In the 2000s, it was “Islamofascism,” an idea as fraudulent as Trumpofascism. Today, the populist right conjures up “Cultural Marxism,” an unholy alliance of the Left and international capital. The “Great Reset”—an uninspired rebranding of “ethical capitalism” by the World Economic Forum, whose purpose is to provide legitimation for a stagnant capitalism—has been recast as a Bolshevik plot. Shit, they imagine, is getting real. The truth, of course, is that it’s all the same shit, just with different aesthetics. This is the secret of our contemporary political polarization: both populist reactionaries and liberal antifascists loudly shout about how everything is changing, when really we’re just getting the same slow decay.

Reaction has always thrived off lurid fantasies—this, for once, is a genuine continuity with fascism. But for the portion of the Left that participates in the fantasy of antifascism, it is self-sabotage. Elites are unfit to rule—we know this, and their response to the pandemic only confirms their incompetent authoritarianism—and yet we persist in imagining them to be domineering masters. In thinking of them as fascist strongmen rather than weak placeholders, the Left avoids its real task of filling the political void with a concrete, alternative program.

Rather than stoke fears about an imminent fascist takeover, we should accept that dystopia has already arrived. It is a low-intensity, mostly banal dystopia, but dystopia nonetheless. Images of emergency, immediacy, sudden action and tanks on the streets—these are fantasies used to cover over the much more mundane situation of diminished popular sovereignty. Worse, in fearing a fascism that doesn’t come, we make ourselves prey to other forces—both those that currently destitute democracy as well as those that may emerge.

When government becomes too intractable, when the continuing absence of popular sovereignty means that elite discipline and coherence ebbs away, the stage is set for a new character to bring order. This may be a sensible and self-composed figure who provides succor to all of those exhausted by an increasingly rancorous culture war. This non-partisan, charismatic figure would be parasitic on worn-down democratic institutions, on the feeling that, “if this is democracy, I don’t want it anymore.” For all of us accustomed to fantasizing about fascism—an act of abnegating our own authority—a 21st century Caesarism may prove seductive.

should be read in the context of AOC supporting pelosi against a candidate perceived to be worse, hakeem jeffries, and ending up with no committee posting as a result. would a progressive movement within the democratic party that championed hawkins over biden, ultimately causing biden to lose to trump, have more or less power than it does today?

[cobra-diamond]

Mirror & Misdirection - The Distortions of the Mirror Scene

How excessive, myopic emphasis on the Mirror Scene distorted both the fandoms and Brykes’ understanding of Azula, and what the Finale actually says about Avatar’s most controversial villain.

Executive Summary

           To understand any fictional character, you have to understand their Goals, Motivations and Conflicts. This applies to Princess Azula from Avatar: The Last Airbender. 

           Ever since Azula was humanized in the Finale, arguments have raged over whether or not she has the capacity for meaningful growth and change like any other character, or any other human being.

           At the core of these arguments has been the infamous Mirror Scene where, while talking to an hallucination of her mother, Azula expresses doubt, regret and tear-stricken grief. As a thoroughly established villain who had never before shown such feelings, this scene was taken as character-defining.

           However, the Mirror Scene alone does not reveal all of Azula’s Goals, Motivations, and Conflicts. Instead, the Mirror Scene, when taken by itself, is only a Conflict. As a result, the Mirror Scene has distorted both the fandoms and Brykes’ perception of Azula by assuming she is entirely the work of complex, vague and puzzling psychological phenomena surrounding her mother, versus a variety of well-defined Goals and Motivations.

           In actuality, the Finale gives us two other scenes that, combined with the Mirror Scene, give us everything we need to understand Azula’s Goals, Motivations and Conflicts.

           In this article, I will provide an alternative explanation of Azula’s character that relates directly to the source material and which does not rely on psychological theory.

           First, I will summarize the “Azula Debate” to provide proper context for this subject.

           Next, I will explain the character-building concepts of Goal, Motivation and Conflict and why they are especially critical to devising a workable understanding of Azula.

           After that, I will explain how the Finale yields Azula’s Goals, Motivations, and Conflicts, and I will provide an alternative explanation of the Mirror Scene as it relates to them.

           I will then explain why the fandom incorrectly fixated on the Mirror Scene and how this distorted both the fandoms and Brykes’ understanding of their most controversial villain.

           And finally, using these Finale-revealed Goals, Motivations and Conflicts, I will suggest a “path forward” for Azula’s further involvement in the Franchise.

The “Azula Debate”

           When the Finale aired in 2008, one of the most striking and controversial developments was the rapid humanization of Azula. For the first time, we saw the fearsome and always-winning Princess scared, paranoid, emotionally fragile and crying. It was a radical shift from our previous image of Avatar’s most hated villain. Nothing like it had yet happened in the Franchise.

           The topic of Azula’s newly-revealed humanity was so compelling that even Mike and Bryan were asked about it in the Sozin’s Comet novelization. While their answers were vague and disjointed, the fact they had an affirmative answer shows that Azula’s humanity wasn’t an accident; it was intended.

           And the fans saw this: they saw an Azula that was more complex than what they had been previously shown, or lead to believe existed.

           While Azula’s breakdown in the finale was well-animated, scored and voice acted, and the show wrapped up nicely overall, the Finale created more questions than answers for the Fire Princess, most of which still have not been answered to this day.

           What is Ursa and Azula’s relationship? What is Azula’s moral compass? What does she value? What is the extent of her empathy? What lines will she not cross? Why does she use fear to control people? Does she enjoy hurting people? Can she feel love? What does she want in life? Why did she throw bread at turtle ducks? Is she a sociopath? Will she reconcile with Ursa? Is she mentally ill? Will she ever rise from the ashes of her shame and humiliation? What happens to her next?

           These were the sorts of questions fans were asking in the aftermath of the Finale, and which fans are still asking.

           Unfortunately, the fandom did not approach this topic with unity.

           What began after the Finale was an endless back and forth about morality and affective empathy; psychology and personality disorders; juvenile delinquency and abuse dynamics; Dracos in Leather Pants and Freudian Excuses, with one side arguing that there wasn’t anything inside Azula worth exploring, while the other side desperately clung to the hope that there was potential for compelling growth in Azula. You could term the “anti” side the “Azula Haters” and the “pro” side the “Azula Fans”.

           The “Azula Fans” are a diverse group that cannot be generalized. In summary, they found Azula compelling for a variety of reasons, they had questions they wanted answered and they desired to see Azula fleshed out fully.

           The “Azula Haters” are equally a diverse group and so cannot be generalized. Overall, their motivations are primarily to relate Azula to real-world bullies and abusers, thereby preserving her as a platform to talk about escaping domestic abuse situations and how to give up on toxic family members. Relating Azula to the real-world in this way is not to develop the world of Avatar and its characters, but to express their own anger, cynicism and heartache over what’s occurred in their own and other’s lives, and teach lessons about it.

           The key point is this: the purpose of the Azula Debate was not to discover the truth about Azula and determine how to tell a story about her. It was to either admonish “Azula Fans” for being misguided and ignorant in their understanding of Azula, or to prevent the “Haters” from discouraging their last, major interest in Avatar.

           In the twelve years that have followed since the Finale, neither side has “prevailed”.

           Aaron Ehasz has spoken about the potential for a Post-Finale Azula arc whereas Mike and Bryan have said little, or nothing. Wheras the fandom can all agree about their love for the heroes, Azula is like talking politics at a family gathering; it will not be pretty and passions will be inflamed.

          While Azula was brought back in The Search and Smoke and Shadow comics, these works yielded few, if any, answers to her developments in the Finale, and she remains a divisive character. In fact, much of her complexities established in the Finale were ignored in The Search and erased entirely in Smoke and Shadow.

          It can be argued that the Azula from the show did not actually make it into the comics and still remains “in an asylum off the coast”, waiting to be further developed.  As a result, both Azula Fans and Haters argue to this day with no end in sight.

           Driving these debates is the fact that nobody, not even the Creators, have provided a comprehensive, question-answering, Franchise-consistent explanation for Azula that combines her wickedness with her humanity.

           To Haters, Azula is the embodiment of all things awful and terrifying that must be removed from society. To Fans, she is the potential for another compelling character-driven story utilizing the original cast.

           A word frequently used to describe these “compelling” additional stories about Azula is “redemption”. This is a vague word with multiple meanings. Typically, both Avatar fans and the Creators interpret this as a character who is morally good on the inside realizing their mistakes and atoning for them; these characters are not truly bad people; as long as we don’t think they have crossed any moral “lines in the sand”, they can be accepted into the circle of “good people”.

           This is what has caused debates surrounding Azula to be focused on questions of morality, affective empathy and psychological disorders instead of her Goals, Motivations and Conflicts; if “Haters” can prove that Azula is genetically bad, then there is no potential for a story about her because it is impossible for her to change and grow, and stories require their characters to change and grow. On the other hand, if “Fans” can prove she is “human”, then she does have the capacity to change and grow, and the themes of the Franchise can be applied to her.

           Unfortunately for Azula Fans, there are two seasons of wickedness, smirking and bedeviling Zuko to back up the Haters’ position.

           But Azula Haters also have to contend with the Finale. It demonstrated the existence of Azula’s humanity and was an intentional decision by the Creators; Fans are not “reading into” it. Even Katara felt Azula’s humanity.

           So who is correct?

           Well, the Haters are, for the most part.

           The show spent a lot of time portraying Azula as unnecessarily cruel without a shred of self-doubt, suggesting her villainy is not just a matter of her upbringing and choices, but intractable psychological defects. Even the Creators wanted Azula to reflect a “deeply rooted malevolence.” To counter this, Azula Fans point to the Finale, and more specifically, to the infamous Mirror Scene.

           The Mirror Scene shows Azula expressing doubt, remorse, hurt and even tear-stricken grief. The Mirror Scene has been used by Azula Fans to explain all of Azula’s humanity, sort of as a Rosetta Stone of her innerworkings. Even the Creators seem to think this way, as shown by their answers to the Sozin’s Comet interview, and their choice to make Azula’s relationship with her mother in The Search take center stage, and drastically so.

           THIS. IS ALL. WRONG.

           In order to understand a character, you have to understand their Goals, Motivations, and Conflicts. Any character, especially Azula.

           The Mirror Scene and her relationship with her mother are not what’s vital to understanding who Azula is, what she wants and how she fits into the Avatar world. This is not an attempt to be “edgy” or “different” or “contrarian”. You will never, ever find your answers in The Beach or in the Mirror Scene alone, no matter how hard you try. This is because the Mirror Scene is only one of three scenes from the Finale that must be taken together to understand Azula on a fundamental level.

           The Mirror Scene is not enough. It has not answered the fandom’s questions about Azula’s Goals, Motivations and Conflicts. It has not provided a compelling argument against the evidence that she is a monster whose villainy was only limited by the censors and, most importantly, the Mirror Scene is not Azula’s most defining moment.

           These three, together, are:

And I will explain why.

Understanding Characters: Goals, Motivations, & Conflicts

           This section gets into some of the “nuts and bolts” of storytelling, but it is necessary for understanding Azula; she is too complicated and the source material too thin on her. Stick with this and you should learn something.

           In order to understand a character, you have to have a clear understanding of their Goals, Motivations, and Conflicts. Other writers have different terms for these concepts (Need, Want, Desire, Obstacle, etc.), but they are universal to storytelling.

           Stories are not meant to be exact replicas of real life. Yes, they can say something about life, but ultimately, stories are about characters having problems to solve and their journeys to solve them. It is not enough for a character to just “feel”. They have to want things, need things, do things, and something has to prevent them from getting what they want and need.

           Conflicts are what prevent characters from achieving their goals (their wants and needs). Motivations are what drive characters to pursue their Goals, and Goals are what characters strive to physically achieve.

           Goals are physical; they can be touched, held, acquired. They can be a person, a place, or a thing. They are not emotional or psychological. “Love” is not a Goal. Being in the arms of someone or waking up in bed next to them, however, is a goal. Goals are what enable characters to be active in the story, to move through the world, exert force on their surroundings. Sitting on the sofa, or ruminating in a prison cell are not Goals; getting up to join the protest or hatching an escape plan are. At the same time, “wanting power” is not a goal, but “becoming president” is.

           For some Avatar examples, “Capture the Avatar” is a Goal. “Master all four elements” is a Goal. “Liberate Ba Sing Se” is a Goal, but “My mother thought I was a monster” is not.

           Goals, however, do not exist by themselves. They are the result of Motivations.

           Motivations are internal. They are abstract. They cannot be touched or acquired. They derive from the thoughts, feelings, philosophies and psychologies of the characters. Some motivations can be caused by external forces, such as fear of breaking the law, a military commander giving an order to a soldier, or the threat of dying from starvation, but those external forces are not Motivations: fear of imprisonment, commitment to one’s leaders, and the will to survive are because they are emotional, philosophical, psychological.

           Motivations are where characters encounter those moral “lines they won’t cross”. It’s where they doubt themselves and wonder if they are willing to go “all the way” to stop the villain. Motivations are what drive a character to question if they should kill the man who murdered their mother, if they should kill the Fire Lord and ignore their culture, or betray their uncle to return home. Without Motivations, characters are robots. With Motivations, characters become people.

           But a story where characters face no opposition is not a story. This is were Conflicts arrive.

           Conflicts prevent characters from achieving their Goals. They can come from a variety of sources: internal or external; emotional or religious; psychological or philosophical, or combinations thereof. Conflicts can stem from Motivations (for example, somebody violating their moral code), but they are not themselves Motivations. For example, if a character is motivated to carry on the cultural values of their lost people, but their duty requires them to violate that culture, their struggle to reconcile the two is a Conflict. Or, if a character is motivated to be the image of the son his father wants, but finds out that image is completely against everything he stands for, his struggle to remain at his father’s side or leave is a Conflict.

           The type of Conflicts that “build character” are the ones that result from Motivations, not merely external forces. A character simply climbing over a fallen tree is not as compelling as a character who must decide if they should cut down the tree when there’s a nest of endangered owls living in it. Characters must decide for themselves. They must struggle with their feelings and values.

           However, Goals, Motivations and Conflicts are not the end-all-be-all of character. Characters can have secondary goals and motivations. They can have quirks, flaws and personality traits that give them depth and round them out, but their Goals, Motivations and Conflicts are what creates a story about them. They’re why Zuko being willing to burn down Kyoshi Island does not tell us the full story of Zuko, but it tells us something about him. They’re why Azula hanging Ty Lee over a burning net does not tell us the full story of Azula, but it tells us something about her. And they’re why Aang killing a buzzard wasp in cold-blood does not tell us the story of Aang, but tells us something about what he’s going through and what will make him ignore his values.

           In short, we have to know a character’s Goals, Motivations, & Conflicts in order understand them, only then can a character be fully fleshed out in a story that makes them overcome diversity, change and grow.

 The Goals, Motivations & Conflicts of Princess Azula

           In order to answer the lingering questions about Azula, including how to tell a story about her in the Post-Finale world, you have to understand what she wants, why she wants it and why she is unable to have it. In other words, you have to understand her Goals, Motivations & Conflicts.

           As it turns out, the Finale gave us all of this. Now, keep in mind, the Finale doesn’t tell us everything about the Fire Princess, just like how the show doesn’t tell us everything about General Iroh prior to Lu Ten’s death, but the Finale tells us enough in order to develop a workable explanation of her character. This explanation of her character was revealed in three scenes, starting with the one in The Phoenix King where she is speaking to her father on the platform, followed by the scene in Into the Inferno when she is talking to Lo and Li in the throne room, and, finally, the Mirror Scene.

           Not everything is explicitly stated and neither does it explain her bullying, teasing, smirking and smugness, but it doesn’t have to. Those are flaws, quirks and other personality traits. These three scenes in the Finale give us the big stuff; the information that’s needed to tie her into the franchise at large and make her a product of the Avatar world versus a mere set of villainous qualities.

           And it begins with The Phoenix King.

Pivotal Azula Scene #1: The Phoenix King

           I’m sure you can picture it: Azula racing to join her father on the platform, getting told she’s being left behind, frightened because she thought they were going to burn the Earth Kingdom together, snapping at her father for treating her like Zuko, desperately insisting she deserves to be by his side, and, finally, flinching as she gets yelled at.

           That’s some big, heavy stuff, huh? She’s been afraid of being treated like Zuko all this time? Burning down the Earth Kingdom is some child-like, emotionally needy ploy to be with her father?? She feels she deserves to be by his side?!? Azula has problems?!?!?

           This scene reveals a portion of Azula’s Goals, Motivations and Conflicts.

           Before I begin, I must warn you: I’m not going to spend a lot of time using clever words and metaphors to convince you. If you ever have the urge to shout “But wait! I disagree with that and here’s all the reasons why!!” I encourage you to slow down, approach this with an open mind and try to ignore your existing ideas about Azula.     Forget about her smirking and smugness, her throwing bread at turtle ducks, her tormenting of Zuko and especially the psychological disorders that people have tried to tie her to. We are focusing on her Goals, Motivations & Conflicts as revealed by the Finale, not essays and fan interpretations. We are applying time-honored storytelling principles to Azula as if we were trying to tell a professional story about her.

Azula’s Goal #1: Be With Her Father

           In the Phoenix King scene, Azula said she wanted to “do this together.” She said she deserves to “be by his side.” She doesn’t want to stay behind. These are physical, tangible things. They comprise a Goal.

           Why does she have this Goal? Don’t worry about that right now; we’ll get to that later, but right now, the Phoenix King shows and tells that Azula wants to be in the presence of her father. She wants to stand next to him. She wants to do things with him, and she is willing to snap at him over it. This scene also reveals her Motivations.

           Hold on. Wait. Stop. I know you’re doing it; you’re thinking, “”But they’re both predators feeding off each other! ‘Be with her father’ must actually mean something sinister and her real goal is to extract power and influence off of him!”

           Stop.

           Relax.

           Forget all of that. We are exploring what the Finale shows and tells us. Ignore fan theories. We are in unexplored territory right now.

Azula’s Motivation #1: Not Be Treated Like Zuko

           Not being “treated like Zuko” is abstract. Being “treated like Zuko” means being openly disrespected, thought of as irrelevant, viewed as a disappointment, not being wanted, sent on fool’s errands, belittled and cast aside.

           Being challenged to an Agni Kai isn’t being treated like Zuko as the Agni Kai is a standard Fire Nation practice; child Zuko was perfectly willing to fight the general over his mere “disrespect”. If the General had burned him, would the General have been treating Zuko “like Zuko”? Neither is the act of being physically punished being “treated like Zuko”; lots of kids in the Avatar world probably get physically hurt by their parents. Terrible, but not unique.

           It’s not the physical abuse that makes someone be “treated like Zuko”, but the emotional. In a society where Agni Kais are commonplace and soldiers are expected to be tough and aggressive, being “treated like Zuko” is a state of mind; it is emotional, philosophical, psychological. Think of it this way: if Azula had been challenged to an Agni Kai, fought with aggression, and Ozai “merely” burned is favorite on the arm somewhere to end the fight because it had served its purpose, and later expressed pride to her because of her aggression, would that physical harm be treating her “like Zuko”? The Fire Nation’s leadership is supposed to have a warrior culture.

           In the Phoenix King scene, the Motivation behind Azula’s Goal of “being with her father” is not merely to avoid the physical harm of an Agni Kai, but her fear of being “treated like Zuko” and everything that means. This isn’t the entire message of the Finale, but it’s what this particular scene is saying, and Ozai’s response to Azula’s fear reveals one of Azula’s Conflicts.

Azula’s Conflict #1: Her Father Doesn’t Want Her

           Imagine if Ozai had taken Azula with him and they drank tea, played Pai Sho while and, together, lost to the Avatar. She’d probably be far less distraught than she was at the end of her Agni Kai with Zuko. Certainly her hair wouldn’t have been disheveled and she wouldn’t have been screaming and crying.

           What prevents Azula from achieving her Goal of “being with her father” is that her father doesn’t want to be with her.

          Look at that sequence closely, in particular the change in Ozai’s expression after Azula arrives. Is that the face of a man who wants his supposed favorite around?

           Wait. Stop. I know you’re doing it again: you’re thinking about Ozai’s capacity or lack thereof for love, why Azula feels this way or what her ulterior motive is or what psychological disorder is driving her to cling to him like a parasite.

           Once again… Relax. We’ll get to that. Just focus on what the Finale is telling us here: Azula wants to be with her father (a Goal), she is scared of being treated like Zuko (a Motivation), and her father is not giving her what she wants (a Conflict).

           Does Ozai assure her that he isn’t treating her like Zuko? Does he put his hands on Azula’s shoulders and tell her that that isn’t what’s happening?

           No!

           He buys her an expensive car to get her to shut up. Azula hasn’t been given what she wants in this scene. “Fire Lord Azula” is not being at her father’s side. Being coronated is not “doing this together”, in fact, it’s leaving her alone. It can be argued that Ozai manipulated Azula in this scene by giving her something she wanted, so how was he able to manipulate her?

           By understanding her Goals and Motivations, next of which are revealed in the Throne Room Scene.

Pivotal Azula Scene #2: The Throne Room

           Ever hear the phrase “show don’t tell” in storytelling? Show the reader what the characters feel and what they want? Show what a character is willing to do to achieve their goals? Well, sometimes you do need to tell a reader what a character is thinking in order to make it starkly clear to them, and in the Throne Room scene, we get just that: a clear statement by Azula of what her Goal is, and it is a whopper.

           In fact, this stated Goal by Azula is so monumental that it can be considered character-defining. It ties her royalty into her relationship with her father into her being a prodigy into her high standards (“almost isn’t good enough”), even into her struggles to be a “normal” teenager in The Beach. It makes the “Princess” in Princess Azula actually mean something. It makes “Princess of the Fire Nation” actually relate to the Fire Nation.

           Azula’s second Goal, as stated explicitly in the Finale, is to be the greatest leader in Fire Nation history. Those are her exact words.

           Be something; a physical condition. It requires her to take action, to be active, to accomplish things. It is a Goal.

Azula’s Goal #2: Be the Greatest Leader in Fire Nation History

           In the Throne Room scene of the Finale, Azula says that she will be the greatest leader in Fire Nation history. She says it. This is not an interpretation or “reading into” things. The Finale has told the viewer what the Princess component of Princess Azula wants to be when she grows up: the greatest leader in Fire Nation history. This is a Goal; something that can be physically achieved. While it is true that what constitutes “greatest” can be subjective, certainly it involves a combination of reputation and physical accomplishments, especially given the goals of the Fire Nation at the time: conquering other nations and advancing the country’s wealth and power.

           That this scene has flown under the radar for so long is mind-boggling. It is akin to asking a child what they want to be when they grow up, only this is a flame-throwing, feudal-era teenager who is being raised to command armies. Look at it this way:

           “Little Jimmy, what do you want to be when you grow up?”

           “An astronaut!”

           “Little Susy, what do you want to be when you grow up?”

           “A doctor!”

           “Little Princess Azula, what do you want to be when you grow up?”

           “The greatest leader in Fire Nation history!”

           Azula told us what she wants to be when she grows: the greatest leader in her country’s history. That is a pretty lofty goal that has been tempered by age or experience, something a young person could easily think they could achieve, but then again, maybe it wasn’t so unreasonable for her: she captured Ba Sing Se, defended the Capital from invasion and can bend blue fire and lightning at a young age.

           So, why would a princess strive to be the greatest leader of her country versus just lounging around all day? That is for her Motivation to explain.

Azula’s Motivation #2: Her Father’s Expectations + Pride & Belief in Her Royal Title

           This Motivation is really multifaceted, but in order to simplify things, it is being tied to her royalty in order to emphasize its connection to the Throne Room scene.

           If “being the greatest leader” is a Goal, then the reason why she wants to be the greatest leader is her Motivation.

           This is where some speculation becomes necessary. Even though the Throne Room scene stated this Goal very clearly, it doesn’t say much about why she desires this. You have two ways you can approach this question. First, you can cynically assume that Azula is motivated by nothing honorable or relatable, therefore she is closer to a parasite feeding off of the Royal Family, or second, you can assume she is a product of the world she lives in and so is motivated by things that can tell us about the Royal Family, the Fire Nation, and life under her father. Because the former results in no room for growth and change, and is entirely based on psychological theory, this article will assume the latter.

           Because there are no clear answers for why she has this Goal in the Finale, I am simply going to list a variety of potential Motivations. Most likely, the answer is a combination of these at the same time:

·         Ambition to achieve (like a great athlete striving for excellence);

·         Enjoys challenging herself;

·         Desires to be someone (famous, notable);

·         Internalizes her role as Princess and sees herself as nothing else;

·         Enjoys fighting, firebending and military subjects;

·         Enjoys politics, ruling and statecraft;

·         Excels at her royal role, so enjoys being good at it;

·         Believes in the purpose of the Imperial Government;

·         Takes pride in Fire Nation history and wants to contribute to it;

·         Enjoys having power over people;

·         Seeks praise;

·         It’s what her father expects of her;

·         Believes her father is a great leader and so wants to be like him;

·         It’s what’s expected of a Fire Nation Princess;

·         Wants to maintain the legitimacy of her family and “prove her worth”;

·         If there’s any sort of sexism in the Fire Nation, maybe she feels she needs to work “twice as hard to get half as far”;

·         Following the sexism angle, maybe she wants to distance herself from any “limiting” feminine roles;

·         And others.

           In the Throne Room scene, we are given a hint as to what might be one of Azula’s motivations for wanting to be the greatest leader in Fire Nation history: not being treated like Zuko (i.e. living up to her father’s expectations).

           Right before she gives the aforementioned line in the Throne Room scene, she says to Lo and Li that her father doesn’t think she “can handle the responsibility of being Fire Lord”. Perhaps one of the reasons for pushing herself toward ever greater achievements and abilities is to prove to her father that she truly does deserve to be “by his side” and not “treated like Zuko”.

           But Azula is also a princess. That is extremely important.

           Azula is a member of the Royal Family and is a military and authoritarian leader by default. The Throne Room scene is the chance to inject the Fire Nation into Azula’s character, not just emotional disfunction and psychological dependency. Remember what kind of country Azula lives in: it is full of walking flamethrowers who must be kept in line.

          Remember all the warfare in ancient Japan? No? Then take a look at this article, The East Asian Origins of Fire Nation and Its Villains, for an idea as to why the Imperial Government exists and why the Royal Family is very concerned about being successful, and using force and intimidation to do so.

           “I want to be the greatest leader in Fire Nation history” is the chance to use Azula to convey broader subjects about the Fire Nation’s politics, history, culture and how they effect someone who is either too young or unable to be what is expected of them: a feared military ruler in a militarized society at 14 years old.

           Also note that her goal of being the “greatest leader” was stated after she learned she would be Fire Lord. This means the Goal was not accomplished; the Motivation didn’t go away. Being Fire Lord is not being a great leader; it is simply being Fire Lord. To her, wanting to be the “greatest leader” comes from a much deeper source and, in fact, could be argued as a character-defining Motivation. Along these lines, Azula is not merely Azula; she is Princess Azula at all times, everywhere. To her, there is no “Azula”, but only “Princess Azula”. Her title is her identity.

           You might have to apply some artistic license here, but you can do so in a way that is both faithful to the source material and builds upon it. For example, while the show was active, there was a description of Azula from the viewpoint of the Fire Nation on Nickelodeon’s website. Note that it sounds very similar to what Zuko said about his sister in Siege of the North: Part 2. This heavily suggests that not only is Azula what her father wants, but also what the Fire Nation and Imperial Government want in a princess.

           To summarize, Azula’s second Goal is to be the greatest leader in her country’s history and her Motivation for this Goal is a combination of wanting to meet the expectations of her father and flat-out believing and taking pride in her role as Princess. But what about her Conflicts as a result of this Goal? Well, as the Finale demonstrates, she isn’t the greatest leader yet. Once more, some reasonable speculation is required.

Azula’s Conflict #2: She Struggles to Be a Great Leader

           Azula felt she had to compel the Captain into taking the ship through the tides right now in order to exert her dominance (this is explained in the Tale of Azula novel). She relies entirely on fear instead of using a combination of trust and fear, like someone who read Machiavelli but wasn’t old enough to actually understand what it was saying; she failed to understand Zuko’s motivations and so he turned against the family; she failed to understand that people are willing to sacrifice their lives for loved ones, or even make stupid mistakes, so she felt personally wounded by Mai; she didn’t know how to handle both Mai and Ty Lee’s betrayal and so lost all faith in her subject’s loyalty; and she banished all of her servants and guards instead of figuring out how to act differently.

           If Azula’s father is her “measuring stick” for success, then being at his side and doing things with him is not only protection against “being treated like Zuko” but also a sign that she is doing everything right as a leader in training. Remember that her Goal of being the greatest leader didn’t go away when Ozai gave her the crown; the Goal is coming from someplace deeper.

           But Azula begins to doubt herself in the Finale. She begins to feel paranoid and she doesn’t have the life experience and knowledge to tell her why Mai and Ty Lee betrayed her, how to adjust accordingly and what to do differently. She’s never failed before. She’s unsure of what the future will be and she doesn’t have her father to measure herself against. She is not yet a great leader.

           She wants to be the greatest leader in Fire Nation history, but how will she become that if she keeps failing and her father left her behind? She wants to be by her father’s side, but how can she be if she’s back in the Fire Nation struggling to have the loyalty of her closest subjects (guards and servants)?

           If Azula’s second Goal is to be the greatest leader in her country’s history and the Motivation behind it is a combination of her father’s expectations and pride and belief in her royal title, then her second Conflict is that she doesn’t know how to be a great leader or live up to her father’s standards. In the Finale, she is trying and failing and she doesn’t know what to do.

           This leads to the third and final pivotal Azula scene: the famous Mirror Scene.

Pivotal Azula Scene #3: The Mirror Scene

           If there were any key emotions during Azula’s breakdown, they were paranoia, fear, anxiety, grief, uncertainty and doubt.

           It’s been established by the Phoenix King scene that she wants to be with her father to avoid being “treated like Zuko”. Knowing what happened to Zuko, that must create a hell of a ton of fear, anxiety, stress and doubt within her.

           It has also been established that she wants to be the greatest leader in her country’s history. That must also create a ton of fear, anxiety, stress and doubt: will she be the greatest leader? Will she fail? Does she even have what it takes? What if she doesn’t? What if Zuko is better than her? What will her father think of her? What will her country think of her?

           During the Finale, she is paranoid about the consequences of disobedient, vengeful subjects who might assassinate her.

           She doesn’t know what to do or what the future holds.

           She is doubting herself, she is afraid she might fail.

           She feels grief, but about what exactly?

           There is a pattern emerging from the Phoenix King and Throne Room scenes. You have a teenage girl (remember, that is what Azula is) who is anxious and panicky about being left behind and mistreated by her father; you have a young, military ruler-in-training who has very high standards for herself and is failing to live up to those standards; and you have a member of royalty who is alone, afraid and doesn’t know how to deal with failure or handle what she is feeling.

           Remember what I said earlier about ignoring your existing conceptions and feelings about Azula? Well, you also have to ignore the 30-year old voice actress and general appearance of being older. You need to think about the franchise at large.

           What were the ages of the main characters: 12? 14? 16? 17 at most? Kids and teenagers, essentially. That is a unique selling point of the franchise—young people going through adversity—and it makes it easier to feel sympathy for them, just as the youth of the characters in the Hunger Games made it more relatable to kids and teens, and allowed adults to feel sympathy as well (adults are the ones who take care of kids and teens).

           In fact, the characters of Avatar being kids was an important part of the story: themes of family were critical to Katara, Sokka, Toph, Zuko, Mai, Ty Lee and even Azula (in the end). Therefore, you have to keep in mind the importance of youth to the main cast and franchise at large.

           How old is Azula? 14-15?

           Do you now see the pattern?

           Who do kids and teenagers rely on when they are in trouble?

           Who helps them understand their feelings?

           Who is supposed to have all the answers?

           Who tells them they’ll be okay, they’ll figure it out, they’re not alone?

           Parents.

           What is Ozai to Azula? A parent. A terrible one by our eyes, but still a parent. Is he there for her during her time of need in the Finale? No. Does he help her understand the myriad of feelings that are causing her to unravel? No. Does he provide guidance as to why Mai and Ty Lee betrayed her and how to learn from it? No. Does he tell her she’ll be okay, to not worry, that she’ll figure it out and she’s not alone? No. Could he have done these things? Yes, because he’s a parent of Azula. Did he? No.

           Would it have helped her to have a parent who could walk her through her struggles? You’re damn right it would have. She would have still had a platoon of Dai Lee and Imperial Firebenders to protect her and she’d have been Fire Lord.

           But she didn’t have Ozai, either physically or emotionally. She didn’t have a parent to help her. Teenage girl, military-leader-in training Azula couldn’t handle the tidal wave of adversity that struck her, and so she drowned. Lo and Li weren’t parents; they were advisors; subjects. Her servants weren’t her parents; is she going to expose her weaknesses to the people she doesn’t trust and whose respect she must command? Neither were her Dai Lee or Imperial Firebenders (her guards). But she wanted a parent to help her… And she has two.

           One of them, her father, not only wasn’t physically present, but also made it clear, in subtle ways, that he wasn’t ever going to be there for her “in that way”; she didn’t jump to the “you can’t treat me like Zuko” conclusion if it wasn’t clear to her that that’s exactly what was happening.

           So who is the only other person in the world who can say the things a parent can to Azula? Who is literally her only other parent?

          Her mother.

           Ursa is not Azula’s conscience speaking to her. Ursa is not a Freudian Excuse. Ursa is not a Shakespearean metaphor for god knows what. Ursa isn’t even a spirit talking to her through the Spirit World. Ursa is, in Azula’s mind, her parent and this reveals Azula’s third Goal.

Azula’s Goal #3: Have a Parent Who Can Help Her

           Remember what Avatar is based on: kids and teenagers going through adversity. Ask yourself this: do you believe that all of Avatar was a “lie” and that the “real” Avatar is full of nudity, torture, rape, grotesque violence, “grimdark” themes and the cast is really 18+? I don’t. Work with the source material; it’s what we have, it’s what was made.

           Azula is a teenager at the top of a feudal, military government who has extremely high expectations for herself, a father who has her living in fear of being spurned and abused, and who has certain proclivities (i.e. flaws) that are causing her harm. As a result, she is full of fear, anxiety, stress and doubt as a result of her struggle to achieve her Goals. She wants a parent to say and do the things that parents can: sooth their children’s fears, teach them life lessons and help them understand why they’re wrong and how to set them straight.

           Azula’s third Goal is to have a parent who can help her, physically be there for her, do and say the things that parents are supposed to in order to make her fears, anxieties, stress and doubts go away.

           You always had such beautiful hair?

           I wouldn’t miss my daughter’s coronation?

           I think you’re confused?

           I love you?

           Who the hell says those things to someone like Azula?

           A parent, or at least Azula thinks a parent would. She might not be able to put this combination of Goal-and-Motivation into precise words, but the teenage girl in her feels it. Her Motivation to achieve this Goal is her feelings.

Azula’s Motivation #3: Alleviate the Stress Caused by Her Goals

           Is having a parent the only way for Azula to alleviate her fears? No. She can achieve great things for her country, make marked progress in firebending, be praised by her father, be with her father, have friends to hang out with and, most importantly, she can alleviate her stress by making sure she never fails. If she works hard enough to never experience failure (“almost isn’t good enough”), then eventually she’ll come to believe that she can’t failure, and so won’t be burdened by it. It’s simply impossible… Like an inexperienced person would believe. There is certainly no shortage of highly talented young people in the real world who are both very confident and afraid of failure.

           No one wants to live with fear or anxiety or stress; it’s painful and draining. Same for Azula. In her time of great adversity during the Finale, these feelings were not unknown to her; she was already afraid of failure; she was already full of stress over meeting her father’s expectations and becoming the greatest leader; she was already guided by very high expectations. She already lived with fear, anxiety, stress and doubt and it was kept in check by being naturally talented, working exceptionally hard, having the personality for the environment she lived in and never failing. But in the Finale, she was struck by a tidal wave of failure and did not have the knowledge, or support, for staying afloat, like a teenager.

           In the Mirror Scene, Azula wants a parent—Ursa, Ozai—to help her with her problems, with her feelings, because she can’t handle them. She is motivated by the fears, anxieties, stresses and doubts of a flawed, inexperienced teenage girl who was raised to be a feudal, military dictator in a rapidly changing world, and is failing.

           But as we know, she didn’t find a way to alleviate her feelings in the Finale. Why? Because of her third and final Conflict.

Azula’s Conflict #3: She Doesn’t Have a Parent Who Can Help Her

           Could Ozai have helped her? In theory, yes. He knows how to rule through the same manner that Azula is emulating and he’s a 40-50 year old man with the experience, emotional maturity and, most importantly, respect of his daughter. Does he help her? We know he doesn’t. So during the Mirror Scene, Azula retreats to the other parent who could help: her mother, the one who, while not a military leader who rules through fear, can still tell her the sweet, soothing things that mothers are known to say, and say it with the authority of a parent.

           But Ursa is not physically present to say those things. Not only this, but Azula doesn’t even believe her mother would say those things, let alone mean them if she did. Why is her relationship with her mother this bad? We don’t know; the show or comics never showed or told us.

           However, “my mother thought I was a monster” is not a revelation of Azula’s Goals or Motivations. It is a statement that reveals one of her Conflicts: she doesn’t have a parent who can help her. Either she literally doesn’t have parents who are physically and emotionally present (Ozai), or she doesn’t believe she has parents who are (Ursa).

           To repeat, we do not have an explanation for “my mother thought I was a monster”, but ask yourself this: if the “Bear Mother” had actually been standing there during the Mirror Scene, would her words have sounded so haunted, shallow and detached-from-the-moment as if an inexperienced, confused teenager was saying them? Hell no. We’d have gotten the earth-shattering Mother-Daughter heart-to-heart that has eluded the franchise for 12 years (and which likely will never occur).

           In the end, Azula did not get the parental support she needed and she didn’t accomplish any of her Goals. She got swallowed by the tidal wave of failure, bashed against the rocks, swirled in the mud and dragged off to an asylum where she will wallow in her misery for all time, never to rise from ashes of her shame and humiliation. Her motivations did not leave her, though; they will burn inside her until the end of her days…

           Unless her story is advanced.

The Flaws, Quirks and Personality Traits of Azula

           Before this article explains how and why the fandom and Creators misunderstood the Mirror Scene, I want to spend some time exploring Azula’s Flaws, Quirks and Personality Traits.

           These are general terms for the variety of additional features that add “depth” to a character. Flaws, quirks and personality traits are separate from Goals, Motivations and Conflicts, but they can cause Motivations and create Conflicts.

           For example, if a character wants love (a Motivation) but they struggle with feelings of jealousy (the result of a flaw, quirk, or personality trait), then their Conflict becomes their struggle to overcome this part of their personality when dating their romantic interest. This is a rudimentary example.

           Another example would be a husband enjoying watching and hearing his wife scream when she finds fake spiders in the bed (YouTube can reveal lots of example of family members playing pranks on each other). Scaring his wife is not his Goal or Motivation in life; he simply enjoys doing it, and if he is trying to maintain a happy marriage with his wife, this flaw, quirk or personality traits creates a Conflict.

           This is how you have to approach Azula’s wickedness in the series. Remember how I said earlier not to think about all of that? Well, now you can.

           Smirking triumphantly while Zuko is burned for refusing to fight? Threatening the Ship Captain over a reasonable concern in order to exert her dominance? Throwing loaves of bread at turtle ducks as an 8 year old and still having turtle ducks swim away from her when she’s 14? Shoving Ty Lee to the ground and laughing at her because she upstaged her? Tormenting Zuko over something as awful as his father being ordered to kill him and enjoying it? Smugly hanging Ty Lee over a burning net to make a point? Enjoying teasing and inflaming Zuko? Smirking deviously? Has little respect for others perceived as beneath her? Makes flippant, dismissive comments? Can’t separate herself from her title? Doesn’t appreciate the “softer” sides of leadership (trust, loyalty, love, etc.)? What are these things?

           They are Flaws, Quirks and Personality Traits.

           Azula’s primary Goals, Motivations and Conflicts are independent from whether or not she feeds turtle ducks by hand or throws the entire loaf at them, or smirks while bullying Ty Lee to establish her dominance, or enjoys teasing Zuko for his perceived weaknesses; Ty Lee would remain a subject to the Crown and Zuko’s problems with his father would not go away.

           Azula’s smirking, smug, nasty, sassy, Hyeena-woman persona is what makes her distinct. They are her flaws that create additional Conflicts and exacerbate existing ones. They are the quirks that make Azula a warm body and not simply a set of villainous specifications moving around on screen. They make her feel “alive”. They are the personality traits that separate her from all others in the show.

           Remember what Azula’s Goals are: be with her father, be the greatest leader in Fire Nation history, and have a parent to help her. For two of those, her wickedness will both help and hinder her.

           Not being concerned for peoples’ feelings and having no tolerance for weakness? Makes her able to manipulate corrupt, militant organizations like the Dai Lee. Pushing Mai and Ty Lee too hard and making them resent her? It got her their cooperation, for a time, but it ended up creating the chain reaction of fear, anxiety, stress and doubt that eventually ruined her. Embracing her father’s treatment of Zuko and doing everything necessary to avoid the same? Well, she never really got “treated like Zuko”, did she?

           Not having appreciation for trust and love and focusing solely on leading through fear? Makes her able to thrive in the current Imperial Government, but also incapable of adapting to failure. Teasing Zuko? Tormenting him? Perhaps her acting in “evil” ways strained her mother’s relationship with her and lead to the “monster” impression. Now that would be quite the flaw.

           Azula’s wickedness both helps and hinders her, and in the case of the Finale, contributed to her downfall. Her wickedness is a flaw. It harmed her. It prevented her from achieving her Goals.

           Flaws, Quirks and Personality Traits only tell half the story of a character, and in the case of Azula, they’re not enough to understand who she is and what she wants, and more specifically, they’re not enough to advance her story in the Post-Finale world.

The Distortions of the Mirror Scene

           By not paying attention to the two other pivotal Azula scenes in the Finale, the Fandom and Bryke developed a distorted, myopic understanding of the Fire Princess where mental illness, unexplained issues with her mother and violent action against hallucinations comprised the sum total of her complexity.

          As a result, just about every piece of the Mirror Scene, from physical actions to key words, along with Azula’s Flaws, Quirks and Personality Traits ended up becoming stand-ins for her Goals, Motivations and Conflicts in official franchise content: The Search and Smoke and Shadow.

           By focusing on Azula’s feelings and feelings alone, the Mirror Scene wound up becoming perceived as the pivotal scene for exploring her depth and even became the source of Bryke’s understanding of her when they wrote the comics. Take a look at these panels from The Promise and The Search to see what this means:

           Where are her unresolved feelings concerning her father?

           Where is her relationship with her country?

           Where is her connection to the “Princess” in her name?

          This is not to say that Azula’s time in the asylum couldn’t have resulted in her developing such extreme feelings for her mother. In fact, it does make a certain amount of sense: if she is spending her days racked by endless, gut-wrenching shame, humiliation and hopelessness, then the idea of her temporary psychosis from the Finale getting worse is reasonable; it becomes a Conflict for her to overcome.

          However, this is not portrayed as what has happened to her. Instead of the Azula from the Finale getting worse, we get the Azula from the Mirror Scene falling off the cliff; all of her complexities from the Finale are absent. Once more, it isn’t that Azula couldn’t have gotten worse, she definitely could have, it’s that Azula’s relationship with her mother alone does not explain the depth of her complexity established in the Finale, which includes her father and country. If she really is suffering from gut-wrenching shame, humiliation and hopeless, leading her to succumb to wacko delusions about her mother, those feelings have to be coming from something already established: her father and country.

           If you think I’m cherry-picking, go back through The Search. Scenes like the above happen over, and over and over again with zero mention of anything close to her Goals and Motivations from the Finale. Remember, feelings are not Goals or Motivations; crying about “destiny” and having “proof” in a dream sequence are not enough, especially when the Finale already established the myriad of things she wants, why she wants them and why she can’t have them.

          In The Search, Azula is not shown to be motivated by a sense off shame or humiliation over her defeat in the Finale, or sense of responsibility for failing to stop Zuko’s take over of the country. You would expect that someone who wanted to be “the greatest leader in Fire Nation history” would not be dismissive of what their failure resulted in, whether or not her enemies had outside help or not. The closest The Search comes to giving Azula Goals and Motivations separate from her mother is wanting to claim the throne from Zuko over arbitrary reasons of “destiny”. Never in the Finale did Azula espouse “destiny” or a desire to be Fire Lord just for the sake of being Fire Lord; it was tied to her desire to be the greatest leader and please her father. Instead, Azula spends the entirety of The Search lashing out at hallucinations of her mother and wanting to make the voices stop. Not once is her father or country mentioned as Motivation.

           Azula does not get portrayed like this unless “love” and “hallucinations” and “being confused” and “my mother thought I was a monster” are taken as the full extent of her Goals, Motivations and Conflicts. You do not portray Azula like this if you properly understand the Mirror Scene as depicting a troubled teenager believing their parent is lying to them (”Don’t pretend to act proud. I know what you really think of me...”) versus her conscience trying to “weaken” her with “love” (”Same as always, Zuzu. Even when you’re strong, you’re weak). In The Search, Ursa is not Azula’s parent in any capacity, past or present, and we are not shown how she has come to feel this way.

           You do not make Azula’s relationship with her mother this drastic unless you fully believe that everything about Azula can be acquired from the Mirror Scene and the Mirror Scene alone, and it appears this is precisely what Bryke believed.

          In a way, the Azula in The Search is an answers to the macabre question: “How much further out of her mind can Azula go if she believes her mother is the source of all of her problems and every key word and emotion from the Mirror Scene is carried forward?”

           To further this point, here are some key lines from the interview in the Sozin’s Comet novelization where Bryke discussed Azula’s “evil”, with commentary added:

           “As The Beach and Sozin’s Comet showed, she has a lot of unresolved issues with her mother.”

           Yes, it appears she does. Where do they come from?

           “She really feels that her mother didn’t lover her as much as Zuko, and this drives her crazy, literally.”

           Wait, what? She was already falling apart by the time the hallucination occurred. What about Mai and Ty Lee, her father and her role as Princess?

           “There are some truly evil people in the world, but in the case of Azula, her repressed emotions and jealousies corroded her spirit and made her become that way.”

           Made her become what way? She’s the Fire Princess; she enjoys being mean and powerful, and she just had a mental breakdown and fell flat on her ass in front of her nation’s capital. What “corroded spirit”?

           “And who knows, she might have a chance to heal.”

           Heal from what, her villainy? Her personality? Her breakdown? She wouldn’t be Azula anymore?? What are you referring to??

           By itself, the Mirror Scene does not reveal Azula’s Goals, Motivations and Conflicts. By itself, it only shows examples of things that give Azula grief and confusion and clearly recognizable human emotions that the viewer can relate to. In other words, feelings.

           Feelings are not Goals. Feelings by themselves are not even Motivations; they have to be in the context of wanting, needing, desiring something in order for them to become Motivations.

          “My mother thought I was a monster” is not a want or a need or a desire. It is a statement of a Conflict and nothing more, whereas, “My mother thought I was a monster (Conflict) and this eats at my soul (Motivation) because I want my mother in my life helping me (Goal)” is getting somewhere.

          Using the mirror scene as a sole reference is how Azula’s throwing of the hair brush in the Finale turns into shooting lightning at water, or her gripping her hair and screaming to reject the words of “love” from the hallucination, or her desiring to literally murder the physical embodiment of the hallucination; it’s because the writers are trying to wring every drop of meaning from this out-of-context interpretation of the Mirror Scene.

          It’s how her want for the throne is based on vague, brand new notions of destiny instead of duty to her country. It’s how you get not a single word from Azula about wanting to correct her image in the eyes of her father... Because the Mirror Scene didn’t say any of this; it was all about her mother, love and confusion.

           And don’t think this myopic, excessive emphasis on the Mirror Scene and Azula’s feelings was limited to Bryke. Oh no. Nobody is getting off easy.

           Take Aaron Ehasz’s comments about his brain bugs for a Post-Finale Azula arc in a hypothetical Season 4, which many fans have found inspiring and also devisive:

            He focuses on “pain”, “love”, “feelings”, “change”, even uses the magic word “redemption”. These are all abstract. Where are Azula’s Goals, especially those revealed in the Finale? Where is “I will be the greatest leader in Fire Nation history?” What does she want to accomplish in this Season 4? What will she be doing? Feelings are not enough. Motivations are not enough. There have to be Goals attached to them.

            “Azula is in the depths of her abyss” is not a Goal, whereas “Azula is in the depths of her abyss (Conflict) because she wakes up every day with gut-wrenching feelings of shame and humiliation that she wants to go away (Motivation), so she wants her normal life back (Goal)” is, once more, getting somewhere. And better yet: “she will do whatever it takes to end her misery” is the beginnings of a story.

           Now take a look at what author Gene Yang wrote when he was asked by a fan if it is possible for Azula to have “happy closure.” What does “happy closure” mean? Well, as someone who now understands Goals, Motivations and Conflicts, you know that it means a character achieving their Goals and no longer having any Conflicts, but what is Gene Yang’s answer?

           He says it’s not even possible.

           Of course it’s possible for Azula to have “happy closure”. Any character can. It’s a matter of them achieving their Goals or losing the Motivation for them. She’s not a robot.

           But hold on! Wasn’t Gene Yang just being vague? Wasn’t he only trying to make a point to get the fan to think for themselves? Maybe even hide the plot of Smoke and Shadow?

           You could have thought that at the time, but as we now know from Smoke and Shadow, Gene Yang wasn’t making a vague, thought-inducing comment to that fan. He was stating that Azula can’t achieve her Goals or change her Motivations. Remember what her Goals and Motivations were from the Finale: be with her father, be the greatest leader in Fire Nation history, and have a parent who can help her. None of those Goals and none of the Motivations behind them were resolved at the end of the Finale, or by the end of The Search; they were ongoing. We didn’t even find out if they had changed between the Finale and The Search. Now take a look at these two scenes from Smoke and Shadow:

           Not even Azula’s mother and brother know what she wants, and in fact, neither do Gene Yang, Bryke, and for the longest time, the majority of the Fandom.

           Why can this conclusion be made about the Creators? Because Azula’s Goals, Motivations and Conflicts established in the Finale, and which had not been resolved by the end of The Search, disappeared entirely in Smoke and Shadow.      

           Without hallucinations, without her mother’s voice giving her haunting assurances of love, without feelings directly attached to the Mirror Scene, there is nothing else inside Azula in the minds of the Creators. Once she runs away into the forest at the end of The Search, after hearing hollow platitudes from her brother, she becomes “weightless… free”.

           There are no unresolved issues with her father. There is no goal to be the greatest leader in her country’s history. There is no desire to absolve herself of her failures to prevent the old regime from falling. There is no sense of personal responsibility for failing to stop Zuko and thereby prevent the destruction of the colonies. There isn’t even a relationship with her mother if it can’t be tied to hallucinations.

           By placing all emphasis on the Mirror Scene in the comics, everything about Azula became searching for “love” and feeling “confused” because those were the key words used by the hallucination in the Mirror Scene. “Love” becomes just a word she needs to hear (“I love you, Azula” from the hallucination, “You’re still my sister” from Zuko) without regard to who it comes from (supposed to be from her parents) or whether it is actually meant (there is no reason for Azula to believe Zuko, or even seek it from him; he’s not a parent and he’s a mortal enemy responsible for her ills).

           There was nothing about one’s duty to their country as a Princess; there was nothing about living up to her parents’ standards, both parents’ standards; there was nothing about becoming the greatest leader in Fire Nation history, and becoming Fire Lord (either via the letter or vicariously in Smoke and Shadow) is not becoming the “greatest leader” to Azula. It simply means being Fire Lord. This is what was revealed  in the Finale when she still wasn’t satisfied despite being on the verge of being crowned. And finally, there was nothing about resolving her feelings of fear, anxiety, stress and doubt that resulted from her failures to achieve her Goals during the Finale.

           So why did this happen?

           On the Creators’ side, it’s impossible to speak for them, but judging by the interview in the Sozin’s Comet novelization, not even Bryke paid attention to the Phoenix King and Throne Room scenes. They became myopic about Azula’s relationship with her mother too, and forgot all about her other relationships and motivations, namely those involving her father, country and self. As a result, their understanding of their “favorite villain”, as they described her in the Art of the Animated Series, became a vacuous, distorted mirage (literally a ghost in Smoke and Shadow) of her former self and her Arc that was begun in the Finale was abandoned entirely.

           On the Fandoms’ side, it’s a combination of things:

1)    The Fandom had not been “primed” to have their view of Azula challenged, so the “subtleties” of her relationship with her father and country got overshadowed by Ozai donning a ridiculous outfit, Azula banishing people in a blue-colored throne room and “Oh my god, Ursa!!”;

2)    The Mirror Scene was “sexy”; it was eye-opening, jaw-dropping; it made you go, “Holy crap!” The eerie violin score was haunting, the voice acting was top notch and it had big, bad Azula on her knees sobbing like a wimp. Naturally, it stood out in peoples’ minds whereas the Phoenix King and Throne Room scenes fell behind the desk, and thirdly;

3)    Azula’s relationship with her mom is primarily about feelings. A show as visually stunning and well-voice acted as Avatar is, first and foremost, about inspiring feelings in the viewer. In fact, all stories are about inspiring feelings. The Fandom did not go into the Finale looking to learn about Azula’s complexities, so The Phoenix King and Throne Room developments did not receive the same amount of intense, emotional attachment as the Mirror Scene. Simply put, the hallucination of a mother telling her teenage daughter that she loves her, and that same teenage daughter collapsing into tears over it, is much more heart wrenching and relatable to kids and teenagers than the pressures of ruling a military feudal dictatorship in the image of the Big Bad.

Summary

           To understand a fictional character, you have to know their Goals, Motivations and Conflicts. Next, you have to identify their Flaws, Quirks and Personality Traits, which add distinction and depth and provide internal sources of Motivation and Conflict.

Azula’s Goals, as revealed in the Finale, are as follows:

Be With Her Father;

Be the Greatest Leader in Fire Nation History;

Have a Parent Who Can Help Her;

Azula’s Motivations, as revealed in the Finale, are as follows:

Not Be Treated Like Zuko;

Pride & Belief in Her Royal Duties;

Alleviate the Stress Caused by Her Goals;

Azula’s Conflicts, as revealed in the Finale, are as follows:

Her Father Doesn’t Want Her;

She Struggles to Be a Great Leader;

She Doesn’t Have a Parent Who Can Help Her;

           The Mirror Scene and Azula’s relationship with her mother are not enough to reveal her Goals, Motivations and Conflicts. The Mirror Scene, by itself, is only a Conflict, whereas the two additional scenes in the Finale—the Phoenix King and Throne Room scenes—provide her other Goals, Motivations and Conflicts that make the meaning of the Mirror Scene clear: a teenager looking for the support of a parent.

           Excessive emphasis on the Mirror Scene and, by extension, Azula’s relationship with her mother, have created a distorted view of Azula that has harmed her portrayal in the comics and stymied explorations of her value to the Franchise. Instead of Azula being a feudal military leader-in-training who struggles with both her feelings and Goals, she has been reduced to both a myopic interpretation of the Mirror Scene and is limited to her Flaws, Quirks and Personality Traits, none of which are enough to advance her story in the Post-Finale world.

Closing Remarks: How to Move Forward with Azula

           For those fans of Avatar who are curious about what to do with Azula’s Goals, Motivations and Conflicts, and makes use of her Flaws, Quirks and Personality Traits, you have to ask this question: what value can more Azula bring to Avatar?

           No individual character will be more popular than the franchise itself, especially a hated villain who might have the ability to change and grow. Below is a screenshot from Google Trends showing the relative popularities between Azula, Zuko and Avatar: The Last Airbender search results. It demonstrates that secondary characters like Azula are nowhere near as popular as the franchise they are a part of.

           In order to make a character like Azula worth exploring in detail, they have to be made important to both the Main Cast and the Franchise at large. It’s not enough to just have “a” story about Azula; her Goals, Motivations and Conflicts have to be valuable to the Heroes and world of Avatar. There are no hard and fast answers as to how to achieve this, and the franchise has clearly moved on from Azula, but with Avatar being rebooted in live action form, here are some ways to begin approaching this in case the live action version moves into Post-Finale territory.

Azula’s Unique Selling Points

           These are the things that make a character fun, interesting and enjoyable to have on screen. In other words, likable. Toph’s cheekiness, for example, is a Unique Selling Point. Aang’s free-spiritedness is a Unique Selling Point. These can also be called the “fun and games” of a character. They are what viewers want to see, hear and feel when these characters appear on screen. For example, if Toph and Azula are going to appear on screen together after Azula is taken out of the asylum, there better be sass, like in Day of Black Sun.

Azula: Um, right. I think your friend just said that genius. And since you can't see, I should tell you I'm rolling my eyes.

Toph: I'll roll your whole head!

           So what are some of Azula’s Unique Selling Points?

Blue fire;

Lightning;

Skilled martial artist and firebender;

Royalty;

Intelligent;

Snarky and smug;

Smooth-talking;

Confident;

Female in a militarized society, but who does not eschew femininity;

Makes “princess” associated with power and aggression, not passivity;

Dark subject matter surrounding her (e.g. the unresolved emotions in the Finale);

Determination;

Emotional fragility;

Youth (the kid/teenager themes of the show).

Azula’s Value to the Franchise

      This is what makes a character more than just a background character or plot device. It’s what makes them create new fans of the Franchise, add interest, sell product. In other words, add value.

      Haru, for example, adds little value to the Franchise because he’s just a regular Earthbender with no Unique Selling Points and his relevance to the plot and characters is over. Iroh, on the other hand, is absolutely full of Unique Selling Points and provides insights into the Avatar world and its characters. His perspective adds value. His abilities add value. His importance to the Heroes adds value.

      So what makes Azula relevant to the franchise beyond just being a villain?

She can teach us about firebending through her blue fire and lightning;

She can provide an aggressive firebending female, which ATLA does not have;

She can teach us about the Fire Nation through the eyes of someone who doesn’t appreciate Zuko’s transformative policies;

She can teach us about what it means to be a girl/woman in the Fire Nation;

She can teach us about the Fire Nation’s military, government and history;

She can represent the “old” Fire Nation that Zuko must reform.

Azula’s Critical Relevance to the Heroes

           Since any story is ultimately about its characters, Azula not only has to be relevant to the Heroes, but critically relevant to justify deeper exploration. So to which characters is Azula critically relevant?

           Ursa, Zuko, and to a lesser extent, Iroh.

           As Azula’s mother, Ursa will be implicitly concerned with her daughter’s well-being regardless of how us fans feel; as a young member of the Royal Family who can firebend, she is relevant to the Royal Family’s continuation, and by extension, Zuko’s legacy; and as the sister of Zuko, she is Iroh’s niece, in other words, family.

           Essentially, if there is any drama surrounding the Royal Family in the Post-Finale world (and how could there not?), Azula is a fundamental part of it. I call this the “Royal Family Drama Triangle”.

Azula’s Critical Importance to the Plot

           Azula must also be essential to both resolving the Primary Conflict of the story. This forces the viewer or reader to implicitly care about Azula’s Goals, Motivations and Conflicts since she impacts the fate of the Heroes directly.

           What are some of the problems that Azula can be critically necessary in solving? To begin answering this question, you have to sit down and think about what kind of problems the Heroes would face in the Post-Finale world. This article series, How to Develop Avatar’s Season 4, provides one such scenario.

           One way to answer this question is to look at the unchanging aspects of Azula’s character, the thing’s that don’t go away whether she is a villain or not, and these are: 1) she is a young, firebending member of the Royal Family; 2) she is a member of the old regime that Zuko must reform; and 3) she is Ursa’s daughter. This suggests that the type of plot that Azula can take a major role in is one where the Fire Nation and Royal Family are at the center. Princess Azula of the Fire Nation might not care about the rest of the world like Zuko, but certainly she will care about the Fire Nation and its Imperial Government.

           Some of the specific problems in the Post-Finale world that Azula can help solve:

Quelling unrest in the Fire Nation over Zuko’s policies;

Stopping a rebellion against Zuko and the Imperial Government;

Saving the Royal Family from assassination/coup (i.e. eradication);

And others if you can come up with them.

How to Develop an Arc for Azula

           Finally, how do you go about developing an Arc for Azula in the Post-Finale world? Remember that to understand a character you need to identify their Goals, Motivations and Conflicts. This also applies to creating a character, but when it comes to creating an Arc, you have to add in the Epiphany.

           A character’s Epiphany is simple to describe, but difficult to execute: it’s how they grow and change in order to either achieve their Goals, or lose their Motivations and move on in life. The Epiphany is the result of the character’s journey to achieve their Goals combined with their Motivations, Conflicts, Flaws, Quirks and Personality Traits. It is, in essence, what the story is all about. For example, Zuko did not arrive at his Epiphany easy and his decision to betray Iroh in Crossroads of Destiny was not a random step backwards: it was the result of everything about him. An Epiphany for Azula would undoubtedly be complicated and multi-layered, probably much, much more so than Zuko’s.

           To begin developing an Arc for Azula, you first have to identify what remains of her Goals, Motivations and Conflicts from the Finale when the story picks up with her in this new Post-Finale story. Remember that she suffered a mental breakdown, was humiliated in the eyes of her nation and has been locked away in an asylum for some length of time.

           Next you have to devise a new Central Conflict that drives both her and the Main Cast through the story, something that requires all of their actions to solve. Then you have to establish her new Goals, Motivations and Conflicts in relation to that Central Conflict and the Post-Finale situation she faces, and finally, you have to put her in situations that test her, make her think, challenge her values, that make her change and grow. How you do this is up to you, but her are some pointers:

           Always think about her Unique Selling Points. Blue fire? Make her ability to produce blue fire important to the story and not just a thematic decision. For an idea as to how to tie blue fire into the Avatar world at large, see the article, The Science and In-World Reason for Azula’s Blue Flames.

          Azula was locked in an asylum? Make it have lasting effects on her that she struggles with. She is royalty? It better be more than just a title, but responsibility and a part of her personal code. Snarky, confident, intelligent and brave? There’s a lot you can do with someone who doesn’t shy away from danger and enjoys infuriating people, especially when they have the literal firepower to back it up.

           Always strive to make her add value to the Franchise. She is a female firebender, something that ATLA has a dearth of. This is good; make her femaleness mean something. Along these lines, she is a great opportunity for a “Female Power Fantasy”. Just ask R.F. Kuang about it. She is also not the victim of circumstance or the actions of others as many characters in Avatar are. This gives her a different type of change and growth story compared to Zuko’s.

           Use her to talk about the Fire Nation’s militarized culture, the same culture that “pure heart and unquestionable honor” Zuko somehow has to change. Use her to reveal the Fire Nation’s history and politics as it pertains to Zuko’s rule without going into “Info Dumps” since, as a princess, Azula would naturally be concerned with those subjects. Also use her to help advance Avatar’s East Asian themes. The fact that Azula is a feudal leader-in-training and female can give you a lot of material to work with (east Asian origins article).

           Maker her critically relevant to the heroes. Find legitimate reasons for why Zuko, Ursa, Iroh and even members of the Gaang would care about Azula’s thoughts and feelings; if they care we care. Don’t think this is possible? It is definitely possible.

           And finally, make Azula critically important to the plot. She cannot be a side character; she is too loathed and hated and has too much bad blood with the Gaang for her presence to be tolerated without some pressing need for her to be around. Whatever role she takes, it has to be big. It has to be obvious that Azula’s involvement is required. The Gaang has to think, “Well, damn, we need Azula’s help.” Zuko has to think, “I hope she makes the right decision and helps me. I know she can.” Iroh has to think, “I hope my niece isn’t killed.” Ursa has to think, “I want the love of my daughter. I want my daughter back.”

           In short, you have to make Azula important.

           Remember: her Arc in the Finale was not finished. It still can.

[theroguefeminist]

I think a big thing stopping people accepting nuance in regards to the gendered socialization one picks up, is because so much of our theories about CIS gender dynamics can become very thorny and not as immediately satisfying if that happens. A very unambiguous socialization model seems super super baked into everything third wave feminism has to say.

The existence of trans ppl definitely throws a wrench into a lot of simpler frameworks for gender in society. That’s one reason terfs, who are 2nd wave feminists and even more behind, can’t stand trans ppl bc terfs can’t really reconcile their narrative about how being “female” can only be understood as an oppressed class you’re put into based on genitalia at birth and then imprisoned in due to socialization–and how abolishing these classes would solve patriarchy. Now suddenly you have ppl saying they identify as women despite being “socialized as male” and ppl saying they identify as men despite being “socialized as female”? That flies in the face of the framework. It starts to become clear that gender is more than a hierarchical class system rooted in power and oppression, but also has a component of identity and self-expression.

Fortunately, most of us have moved on from 2nd wave feminism. We have come to realize that gender is more than that. Most women and men don’t want to cease being women and men, and that desire isn’t necessarily incompatible with dismantling patriarchy or challenging gender norms.

Later strands of feminism take the identity and self-expression aspects of gender into account but tend to use clumsy attempts to reconcile the problems trans people bring up, i.e. disconnect between identifying as one gender but being treated as another, spending a large portion of your life living as one gender and another portion of your life living as another, being treated as one gender in some instances and another gender in different instances, opting to live as one gender despite years of being “raised” as another, being unable to identify or tell everyone’s gender by their behavior and appearance, identifying as /neither/ male or female, etc.

The fact that gender involves coercive socialization is not something any of us trans people would deny: we are the first to point out how we are all forcibly assigned a gender at birth and raised according to the strictures of that gender. In fact, our experience is even more painfully at odds with that gender assignment than the average cisgender person. Which is why most (non-feminist) cis people’s first objections to trans people are that we’re trying to say gender isn’t biological or innate but socially constructed and we’re all being pushed to play narrowly defined roles. The average person has to reconcile a completely uncritical understanding of gender as innate when presented with exceptions that prove the rule. Most cis people balk at this and just try to deny our existence in response.

Feminists on the other hand ALREADY KNOW gender is socially constructed. I think this is why SOME cis feminists are more readily able to absorb trans people into their worldview. After all: gender is socially constructed, it’s forced on all of us, and being gender nonconforming can be seen as a form of rebellion. HOWEVER, even the most well-meaning, trans-positive cis feminism will find points of conflict with trans existence. Like you say, that the explanations reliably model CIS gender dynamics and experience but not trans ones. Unfortunately, a lot of feminist critique of male power/privilege and female oppression rely on the very gender binary system that, in mainstream patriarchal society, situates male and female at opposite, mutually exclusive poles. 

We know to critique the gender binary of course. We know it’s “bad” or at the very least incomplete, but beyond an elucidation into restrictive gender norms that keep women down or further men’s toxic behavior, no feminist framework truly escapes the binary. We still talk in terms of men versus women, male and female socialization, etc. I’m not saying this is wrong per se when you consider that, in many circumstances this framework actually is correct. You can probably compare most mainstream current feminist thought to Newtonian physics: it’s a perfectly accurate model in the limited scope it was used to model phenomena. In fact, to do away with it would be a mistake.

And I guess that’s what I mean about trying to reconcile anything being next to impossible because I would say the trans model, like the Einsteinian model, is looking at things with a different lens. Using a lens that includes the phenomena of trans experience we see gender differently–and dynamics do not follow the predictions we would make with the cis feminist model. But I would say that like the Einsteinian model, the trans lens does reveal things the cis feminist model left out and see the original phenomena we measured in a different light. If someone accepts that gender is an identity, and not just a mode of oppression or power, that may change how someone approaches feminism and liberation, particularly in terms of how their actions and words might impact trans people.

One problem is we do not deal very honestly or thoroughly with this issue. We sidestep the conflicts that arise–the ways in which trans existence challenges cis feminism–for a variety of reasons, I think partially in the name of solidarity, partially because we fear minimizing/enabling/obfuscating the very real system of patriarchal power or, on the other hand, excluding or hurting trans people from the conversation by acknowledging the conflict. I think our constant quest for solidarity and intersectionality–for a wholeness of theory–has forced us to collapse the complexity of this issue. But the feminist lens and trans lens are different lenses, and that needs to be acknowledged sooner rather than later.

[itszxx77]

Uniqueness

My direction

I want to combine my first and second idea together. People always like to buy different clothes, shoes and bags from others, because everyone wants to be unique and different. People don’t like others to copy them or buy the same things with them. But in real life, people tend to blindly follow the trend of shopping, and also have the mentality of conformity. So this leads to the second ides, people controlled by internet and data. When company needs to sell something, they will use huge data to present and advertising it. It will give people an illusion, when you go buy it, the purpose of the company is achieved. Thus, basically I will study for why people wants to be the unique one but still buy the same things as others? It’s data controlled people buy things blindly?

Research Method 

- Scientific research 

- Observation

- Interview

- Empathy experience 

Curious about

Why everyone wants to be unique but no one wants to feel different? 

Why everyone wants to feel normal but no one wishes to be average.

Why people wants to be the unique one but still buy the same things as others? 

It’s huge data controlled people to buy things blindly?

When you buy something online, you may not see what you really want to buy, but you may also be attracted by advertising and social media. What you see may be the illusion created by big data. It shows you a lot of products it wants to sell, and then quotes you to buy them.

Adjacent phenomena 

Psychology  

“I don't know about what everybody wants. But everybody is different presumably. And some people may wish to express that individuality rather than being forced to conform to some arbitrary standard. It's basically freedom of self expression.

Some people may be afraid to stand out or express themselves. This may stem from a time when being different was a cause for suspicion and mistrust within the tribe or band or whatever. Conform or be cast out is an easy decision.

So some people in the first group may resent being told how they should be. They may have a strong sense of identity. And some people in the second group may be more concerned with being accepted.”-----Steve Logan

TED---The human insights missing from big data

“It’s not big data’s fault, it’s the way we use big data.” “When we are quantifying in systems that are more or less contained. But not all systems are as neatly contained. When you’re quantifying and systems are more dynamic, especially systems that involve human beings, forces are complex and unpredictable, and these are things that we don’t know how to model so well. Once you predict something about human behavior, new factor emerge, because conditions are constantly changing. That’s why it’s never-ending cycle. You think you know something, and then something unknown enters the picture. And that’s why just relying on big data alone increases the chances we’ll miss something, while giving us the illusion we know everything.”

https://www.ted.com/talks/tricia_wang_the_human_insights_missing_from_big_data#t-482229

Article---Conform to the social norm: why people follow what other people do

https://theconversation.com/conform-to-the-social-norm-why-people-follow-what-other-people-do-107446

Celebrity influence on Today’s Society

https://medium.com/@nlafreniere/celebrity-influence-on-todays-society-77321834955a

TED---How influencer’s have transformed modern marketing

https://www.ted.com/talks/rachel_david_how_influencers_have_transformed_modern_marketing

[wisdomrays]

Insistence on Unbelief

QUESTION: Although unbelief makes its presence felt in a person’s heart as a deep void and anxiety, many people continue to stick with it. What are the reasons for this?

ANSWER: Unbelief has nothing attractive and appealing since it makes life appear as a horrible field of chaos and struggle where anything can happen at any time, and death is viewed as eternal destruction. It is a source of constant anxiety with potential threats; it is a horrible cliff and void. There are certain weaknesses that make a person deaf and blind such that those affected by them can resist the most evident truths, be deprived of faith, and drift toward denial. These are discussed below:

Arrogance

A person who sees oneself as great may refuse to bow before God. But greatness exclusively belongs to God as stated in a hadith qudsi, and whoever tries to compete with Him in this respect and attempts to share it, He throws that person in Hell.

Given that true greatness belongs to Him only, what befalls a human being is to be a servant to Him. The eternal is only One; everything and everybody must acknowledge their being zero before Him. Humans need to be viewed with respect to this latter one, other-indicative meaning (or the meaning manifesting the Divine). Just as a letter that has no meaning on its own takes its place in a word in order to convey a meaning, humans similarly find their true value only through attachment to their Creator. Otherwise, viewing themselves as independent beings who bear any meaning on their own is nothing but deception. When viewed from this perspective, “self-confidence” and similar notions coined in our time do not have any value unless they gain true depth by trusting in God. Indeed, individuals’ free will, inclination, and ability of making that inclination into a willful choice are God’s gifts to us. The Supreme Will granted a place for human will. When a person makes a choice by the relatively existent human will, God Almighty makes it real with His Divine Authority. When humans see themselves thus, many problems find solutions. Otherwise, considerations such as “I am your supreme lord,” (an-Naziat 79:24) as expressed by the Pharaoh are nothing but snorts of arrogance. While this remark of the Pharaoh is an obvious claim of Divinity and thus unbelief, having thoughts such as “I saved them/ I did it/ I struggled/ I saved my people from such and such evils…” resemble indirect claims of Divinity and is a kind of hidden shirk—associating partners with God. There cannot be two “I”s at the same time. As “I-ness” or “self-existence” is a property of the Divine Essence in the true sense of the word, then the “I” is nothing but a relative existence granted to human beings as a measure (of comparison) so that they recognize God’s existence. That is, humans are supposed to understand His Supreme Will through their relative will, His doings by their doings, His infinite Knowledge with their minuscule amount of knowledge, and with their limited sight they will try to understand His all-encompassing Sight. Additionally, the shortcomings, confines, and comprehensibility of the human senses are a means of understanding the incomprehensibility of His infinite Qualities. This fact is expressed in the verse (translated as), “…and they do not comprehend anything of His Knowledge save what He wills” (al-Baqarah 2:255), as it points to this same human limitedness; what encompasses everything cannot be encompassed at the same time. The All-encompassing One is God. That is, He encompasses everything with His Knowledge, Will, Power, and doings; we are encompassed by Him. If a person fails to soundly put oneself in the proper position in relation to Him, he or she will be deprived of faith. This Pharaonic consideration based on arrogance is the underlying reason for most people’s denial of faith.

Wrongdoing

Not knowing one’s boundaries and acknowledging no limits is another major obstacle for having faith. There is no doubt that this is a kind of zulm, or wrongdoing (which includes a broad range of wrong actions from deviancy in a small matter to the unforgivable matter of denying God). This is what lies behind the denial of faith of all tyrants and wrongdoers. They become losers by attributing whatever takes place to their own strength and power. The prototype Korah is a striking example in this respect as depicted in the Qur’an: “He said: ‘All this has been given to me only by virtue of a certain knowledge that I have.’ Did he not know that God had destroyed among the generations before him men who were greater than him in power, and greater in wealth amassed?” (al-Qasas 28:78). As it is stated in the verse, God Almighty seized many powerful societies, including those people who could move mountains, and buried them to the ground for their not knowing their boundaries.

Mistaken viewpoint

Another factor leading people to unbelief is having a mistaken viewpoint. It is a crucial factor for understanding and interpreting existence and phenomena. If you fail to adopt the proper viewpoint, you either cannot see at all or cannot see correctly what you are supposed to see. Your studies and research may allow you to cover a certain distance, but without the proper viewpoint you will get stuck somewhere never reaching the truth of the Divine Essence. What really matters with viewpoint is being able to see everything in accordance with its true nature. Namely, it is the effort of seeing something as what it is in truth. For this reason, one needs to look at that thing with a correct viewpoint. In addition, the goal of looking must be seeing. For example, you can look at a library with so many books, but if your looking does not have a purpose, you do not see the names and colors of the books before you. Therefore, they say that looking and seeing are separate things that should not be confused.

In order to indicate the deviated viewpoint of the Pharaoh, the Qur’an relates the following statement that he made: “O Haman! Build me a lofty tower so that I may attain the ways, the ways of (peering into) the skies, and that I may have a look at the God of Moses…” (al-Mumin 40:36–37). A contemporary cosmonaut with the same twisted viewpoint said that he made a tour around the earth but did not see any deities.

Blind imitation of forefathers

Following one’s forefathers is another reason for unbelief. In many verses in the Qur’an, this mistaken attitude of unbelievers is highlighted. For example, it is stated in a verse (translated as), “When it is said to them, ‘Follow what God has sent down,’ they respond: ‘No, but we follow that (the traditions, customs, beliefs, and practices) which we found our forefathers in’” (al-Baqarah 2:170). Throughout history, those who do not believe and do not wish to believe find a misguided antecedent for themselves and follow him by blind imitation. According to these imitators, even if their predecessors worshipped stones, trees, or even idols made from desserts (as in the pre-Islamic Meccan society), they were “unquestionable.” No mistake could be sought in what they said or did. And this is one of the very important points that cause people to lose and leave them deprived of faith.

While escaping the bite of a gnat…

When all of these impediments listed above are viewed, it is not possible to find anything reasonable, logical, or acceptable to serve as a sound reference. These factors listed as causes of unbelief cannot be referred to as points of support. Thus, people who do not believe continue in their unbelief by relying on things they misconceive as points of support, and this does not promise a person any good whatsoever. People in this situation prefer only to comfort themselves with some temporary consolations. In their own mind, they see a way of escaping responsibility and being comfortable by not stepping into the sphere of faith, because when faith or religion is accepted, then responsibilities of religious practices will ensue, for faith is not solely a theoretical issue. One needs to fulfill certain responsibilities and refrain from certain things forbidden. In other words, solely saying “I believe” does not suffice. After this acceptance, certain commandments known as good, righteous deeds need to be carried out and many indecent, wicked, and vile conducts forbidden by religion need to be forsaken. As some misperceive these as an obstacle against enjoying life, they insist on not stepping into the circle of faith.

Let me state one final point; even though believers have entered into the sphere of faith by overcoming all of these obstacles that give way to unbelief, they must be conscious of the fact that each of these impediments and weaknesses still poses a danger to them. As all of the factors listed above serve as obstacles against stepping into the sphere of faith—God forbid—they might also be a reason for a person to step out of the sphere of faith. When these illnesses and weaknesses gain a certain degree of dominance over a person’s feelings and thoughts, and when they pressurize the conscience and manage to inflict some holes and cracks in it, one can be swung out of the sphere of faith unaware.

God’s Messenger, peace and blessings be upon him, drew our attention, for instance, to one of these deadly viruses by stating that a person with an atom’s weight of arrogance in the heart will not enter Paradise. In this respect, a person must constantly face oneself, constantly see God’s blessings in oneself, constantly praise Him and offer thanks for those blessings, and must never forget that these blessings might possibly lead one astray toward perdition.

[moistwithgender]

Media Roundup (February 2019)

I wanted to try and squeeze in one last finished show into the last day but I ended up having a really bad sleep schedule hiccup. Anyway, here’s what I finished this month:

Games:

This is actually the shortest list this month, on account of me mostly playing through a single game somewhat slowly. If you follow my posts, you might be able to guess what series it’s a part of.

Super Robot Wars EX (SNES): At the end of the previous post I warned that if you want to get into SRW, SRW2 is an extremely rough starting point, even though it’s canon to the four or five original SRW canon games mostly on the SNES. Thankfully, there is a youtube video that shows you all the dialogue and combat snippets from SRW2. That said... if I wanted to stick hard to canon, I would have either played SRW3 first, or waited for the incoming re-fan-translation that will drop probably at the end of March. BUT, I wanted to play SRW and not jump to a game so far ahead that the mechanics alienate me to the earlier games, so I started EX. EX is largely a contained side story that takes place in and revolving around the original properties of SRW canon. Said original properties involve La Gias, the world that exists inside of planet Earth, and a three-sided war involving mechs that run on magic. There’s a lot of politics and strategic talk and fantasy worldbuilding grounded in fantasy science and it’s actually really fucking cool. They take the time to explain how due to a (magical) scientific phenomena, prophecies are always accurate in La Gias (yet preventable with the right effort), which is exactly the kind of bullshit I love.

However, due to summoning rituals, the setting is also flooded with “Surface Dwellers”, AKA people from different mecha anime who have been written into a melting pot setting that contains all their narratives (sometimes cleverly tweaked to allow and complement each other). This isn’t just a hand wave, but worked into big plot points. It is genuinely stunning how much the creators of these games actually tend to give a shit about making these narratives believable and interesting. I say “believable”, though it’s also worth noting that, as with manipulated inclusion of various IPs, canon is general is somewhat malleable in SRW. There are usually multiple plot options in the games, and EX features a unique system with three separate campaigns that, depending on the order you play them, and also depending on the choices you make and how well you play, change the sequence of events in other campaigns as they weave into each other. It’s not handled amazingly, and to see everything, you may play the campaigns some three times each. I don’t really have that kind of patience, because these early SRW games are also sufficiently challenging games. While not nearly as bullshit as SRW2, EX features a fair amount of incentive to save and reset for better RNG, and you might spend an hour or longer on later maps because situations get really tight. EX is also considered one of the easier early games (phew). Despite that, the maps are almost all really enjoyable, you just have to be willing to work for your victory at times.

The writing, with much credit going to the stellar fan translation imo, is also a compelling read, and dialogue is frequently hilarious despite how much it also focuses on political intrigue and fatal drama. The “hard” campaign (at times equally or less difficult than the “intermediate” campaign) has you playing one of the main series antagonists, whose right hand minions include an oujosama who openly talks about how horny she is, a princess with hardcore stockholm syndrome (or is it?), and a semi incompetent little blue bird as a psychic familiar. A running gag is them chastising each other for using rude words. These characters have apparently been popular enough to reappear even in the modern titles, which largely are self-contained timelines of their own, with their own canonical tweaks.

Last point I want to touch on (this single game just has so much to it) is that playing this game out of order is interesting in how canon is referenced. In most self-contained-stories-in-greater-narratives, you’ll get somewhat forced exposition drops when a character is (re-)introduced. Most of these games so far tend to treat pre-existing characters on the same ground as OCs, where a character doesn’t say, for example “yo I’m goku I come from earth and I’m a super saiyan”, but kind of just realistically reacts to the scenario as per their characterization. If you learn more about them, it’s mostly via seeing them interact with other heroes or villains from their own canon (though later games include library bios to catch you up if you want). While this creates an interesting experience where, if you don’t know a series, you get that curious feeling of walking in on the middle of something, but instead from the beginning. The most interesting aspect of this, and what I consider the defining aspect of the game’s storytelling, is that the same delivery is used with the original characters. From the get-go, the original characters in SRW EX talk about other elements the way real people do, without vaguely audience-oriented exposition. Some people won’t like this, but it makes it feel much more real to me, and complements my recent exploration of the breadth of mecha, where I know a ton of names and have very little context, and slowly accumulate context as I go along. It’s a lot of little micro-mysteries. EX didn’t start this, either. SRW2, which is both the first SRW with a plot or even dialogue, introduces the main OC of SRW, Masaki and his Cybuster, who has a lot of his own lore, and tells almost none of it. You are left for the entirety of SRW2 to only grasp the fringes of what Masaki’s story is, and when he says “hey I’m actually leaving now in the middle of the game because I have my own plot bye” you just deal with that. SRW establishes that the world is way bigger than you, even though the core concept of the series is rooted in fanservice. Now, part of this is that Banpresto and Winkysoft probably had a big MCU-style plan from the beginning (cough most ambitious crossover in history cough), because, well, look at this release timeline and associated narrative chronology:

-Super Robot Wars (Game Boy, April 1991) No plot, or dialogue, but establishes the Big Three (Gundam, Getter, Mazinger) as playable characters and has the kaiju villain from an old 70s Getter+Mazinger crossover movie as the final boss. The pilots don’t exist, the robots are all apparently sentient beings. -The 2nd Super Robot Wars (NES, December 1991) Beginning of plot, introduces a proper antagonist (Bian Zoldak), an antagonist force he leads (Divine Crusaders), light political intrigue, Masaki Andoh and his nemesis Shu Shirakawa are established vaguely while having a separate plot that is not explained. IMAGINE juking your audience with your own main character like that. He doesn’t serve as protagonist yet but is clearly, like, the most important OC? Bian and Shu even serve as the final bosses and you don’t even know who Shu really is. The kaiju villain from before comes back for a single map and evolves into a stronger form unique to the game. The heroes from SRW1 also all acknowledge that SRW1 happened and they know each other. This establishes that you cannot rely on canon. -The 3rd Super Robot Wars (SNES, July 1993) Haven’t played yet but I hear this is where they really started playing with canon. Mixes the Divine Crusaders plot with the plot of the original Gundam series. Multiple endings exist now, and plot regularly splits into dual branches. -Super Robot Wars EX (SNES, March 1994) Here’s where it starts to get complicated. This focuses on Masaki’s setting, while continuing off of SRW3′s plot. Elements introduced here will continue to be referenced in SRW4 (the ending screen even explicitly states that, which reinforces my idea they planned this all years in advance). Multiple campaigns with malleable canon means nothing is concrete ever again. -The 4th Super Robot Wars (SNES, March 1995) Campaign now splits into Super Robot (Getter, Mazinger) and Real Robot (Gundam) routes, which is easier to handle. This game finishes up the “Classic” SRW timeline, but would also canonically be replaced by two remakes on the PS1 (SRW F (1997) and F Final (1998). However... -Super Robot Wars Gaiden: Masoukishin - The Elemental Lords (SNES, March 1996) Masaki gets his own game five years later, beginning his narrative. This game has no mecha IPs, and is exclusively OCs. The most complicated aspect is that this game is split into two chapters: the first, at the start of Masaki’s story, and the second, which... if I have this correct, follows after EX and SRW4. The previous games have, supposedly, been referencing this game that has not existed until now, and this game references what has come before. Playing SRW feels like being lost in linear time. This game starts off its own timeline of games that, I hope, stay confined to the OC-centric games. 

So here’s the timeline:

First half of SRW Gaiden SRW2 (loosely referencing SRW1) SRW3 SRW EX SRW4 Second half of SRW Gaiden

As a result...I can never be comfortable writing a suggested order of play. In playing these games, you simply must accept that the world is bigger than you, and at all times you will be an outsider to some degree. You know, until you’ve played all of them. Which you can’t yet, because they aren’t all translated yet.

Phew! That’s a lot of words about Classic Timeline SRW, and I’ve only played through two games. Thanks for reading all of that, I hope it kept your interest. Despite how complicated that got, EX is a great game and easily in my top SNES RPGs now, up there with Live A Live and Dragon Quest V. Let’s move on for god sake!

Oh, right. Almost forgot: (SRW EX: Masaki’s Chapter: Beaten 2/9/19) (SRW EX: (One of the two versions of) Lune’s Chapter: Beaten 2/15/19) (SRW EX: Shu’s Chapter: Beaten 2/20/19)

Fun fact: In EX, if you use a cheat code on the title screen to play through Shu’s route with a suped-up absurd final boss-strength version of his mech, and run into one of the other protagonists, then when you later play as that other protagonist, you’ll have to fight the cheat version of that mech as a boss.

Orbital Paladin Melchior Y (PC): I had to play something else this month, and because I’m trapped in a fugue state, I made it something mecha related. Melchior Y is a small, hour-long visual novel/shoot em up made by John D. Moore, who I know mostly as a_new_duck from the selectbutton.net forums. I’m... not gonna have as many paragraphs to talk about this, or anything, as I did with SRW EX, so if he sees this I hope he doesn’t take that as a negative. Reportedly, this has multiple routes, though as of this writing I’ve only played one of those. I don’t know if that means multiple endings! I liked it for the small gamejam game it is, though. John is an academic and a mecha fan (and did his thesis on mecha, iirc) and so this is reasonably an introspective mecha story focused on children conscripted for space war purely for their utility, and adults who boss them around despite no longer being allowed to pilot once they hit the very beginnings of adulthood. It gets dark! A smaller positive about it is the matter-of-fact inclusion of queer identity, comfortably existing alongside religion without having to immediately make the plot about the conflict between those (at least in the route I played). I enjoyed it, and if you have the patience to explore artier games that aren’t polished AAA cash houses, you might gain something from it too. Here’s a link if you’re curious, it’s currently free.

Anime:

Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai: I already wrote about this last time, oops! Still, despite a couple stumbling points, this is fun character-driven supernatural lit, and if you’re mad at Persona games for bad political takes, then this... at least this doesn’t have those! The funniest thing about the series is that the bunny outfit is easily removable from the plot and barely relevant past the first couple episodes. (13 episodes, finished 2/5/19, Crunchyroll/Hulu)

Punch Line: I actually went in expecting something akin to the sort of wackiness I remember way back when FLCL was fresh. I didn’t get that, necessarily. What I did get was (as I would discover after I wiki’d it later) a fucking Kotaro Uchikoshi story. That’s not a bad thing, but if I had gone in knowing that, I would have been prepared. Uchikoshi writes light novels. Extremely convoluted, mysterious, non-linear light novels. As I was watching this show, I actually thought the whole time “is this a fucking light novel adaptation?” It wasn’t, but it was by the guy who wrote Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors (one of my favorite DS games), and Ever17: The Out of Infinity (probably one of the most miserable game experiences I’ve ever had), and I was easily identifying his particular brand of storytelling. There is a LOT that can be said about his style, but I’ll try to keep it short with a paraphrased example (don’t @ me if this doesn’t explicitly describe any one of his plots, it’s close enough). He likes to tell stories that start as quirky or high-concept, but somewhat mundane, skip a scene at one point, and then progress until you suddenly hit a big plot point that turns everything on its head and, in my experiences, causes things to immediately end tragically. Then you see the scene you missed. The scene held a plot point literally so important that it completely changes what the story was ever about. From then on you are fed a trickle of left-field plot twists until eventually the plot is unrecognizable from how it started. His work is as stupid as it is clever, and he’s got the strongest grasp of continuity I’ve ever seen a human being have. This is the polar opposite of SRW’s “fuck canon” philosophy, and that’s not for the worse on either account. Punch Line starts as a story about a boy who dies, becomes a ghost, and then has to figure out... something? (I should clarify I watched all of this overnight while not sleeping as as the story built more and more upon itself I had to fight to keep following it) BUT ALSO, if he sees panties twice, he’ll accidentally destroy the earth. Those details are, like, one percent of the secret plot that the show is built upon, and by the end when the wacky dorm sitcom has become a full blown world war with government conspiracies, I was like “wait why is that girl a superhero again?” Everybody deserves to experience an Uchikoshi story once, just for the wild novelty of it. I don’t think this is his best work (I think 999 is better), but it perfectly exemplifies his style.

Also, I spent the full binge watch (which I rarely do) thinking it was a visual novel adaptation. Absolutely convinced. But, it turns out that, no, he just writes like he’s making a VN game. The “panties = genocide” concept is so obviously a choose-your-own adventure mechanic that I thought it had to be. On the bright side, an actual VN adaptation later came out, and even came out in English on the PS4. And they added in apparently ten episodes’ worth of significant extra plot, so I might play that.

Also, it’s called Punch Line because in Japanese it sounds like “panty line.” That’s it. Also maybe it’s referencing plot twists, or mortality, idk. (12 eps, finished 2/6/19, Crunchyroll/Hulu/HIDIVE)

Mobile Suit Gundam II: Soldiers of Sorrow (Movie): A month later, I finally got around to the rest of Gundam 0079. I think I might like this movie best of the three, even if it does feature a lot of character death is kind of a downer at times (granted, that’s kind of most of Tomino’s work isn’t it). This movie is where most of Kai Shiden’s character development occurs, and it’s nice to see his go from a bastard to a sympathetic, uh, bastard. He’s terrible and my son. (Finished 2/9/19)

Mobile Suit Gundam III: Encounters in Space (Movie): You know I really like the original Gundam in concept, and even execution, but sometimes I’m chewing through it. Even when boiled down to the compilation episodes I’m just pushing through at times. I mean, I think part of that is my burnout and executive dysfunction issues preventing me from fully enjoying things, but it could also just be that I’m baby. This was the movie I liked the least, despite having some of the best moments in the series. The final showdown is genuinely incredible, and there’s probably a lot of essays out there discussing the recurring theme in Gundam of invoking the figure of Newtypes, while also regularly denying being one (even to oneself!) after engaging in a lot of telepathy. My problem with MSG3 is that they packed the most plot points into this one, and it gets to a point where it was hard for me to follow. Mirai goes through two separate love triangles, and a huge tactic (bordering on the severity of a war crime) happens and then is iterated on in such a small amount of time that I actually lost track of who had it and how I was supposed to feel about it. If I were to rewatch it, I might grasp it better. I spent this movie feeling like I should have just watched the 50 odd episodes instead, for the sake of comprehension. Idk! Hate to end this on a negative note, because this series has layered characterization, complex examinations of war, the things people do in war, and the ways that war changes people, and also cool robots. It’s probably something you can revisit multiple times and gain new value from each time. (2/15/19)

Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team: Guess who watched this on Adult Swim a long time ago and almost totally forgot! This series is amazing and probably going to stay my favorite Gundam series. The animation is consistently beautiful and consistently had me comparing it stylistically to Cowboy Bebop, from the body language to the lavish mechanical displays to the character writing to the excellent english dub. The US got it ater it was complete, but the original airing of it was spread out over three and a half years, and given how flawless it is, I can understand why. If you’ve have a spot in your heart specifically for watching the switch axe change shape in Monster Hunter, you’re gonna lose it watching them do maintenance in this show. Character-wise, while 0079 was about watching whiny teens complain and break protocol on a regular basis, 08th MS Team is as much about living army life as it is about going on missions. There’s soldier superstition, there’s writing to girlfriends back home, there’s complaining about staking out in the desert for five days. I haven’t watched MASH, but the things I have heard about it make me link the two. 08th MS Team is also about a super unfortunate star-crossed love between people on opposite sides of the war. This plot element is a recurring one even back in 0079, but here it feels the most heart-wrenching, and with the very weighty and believable mech combat (it’s so pretty, good god), I was constantly worried about the well-being of all the characters, Fed and Zeon (except for Ginias). If you have any interest in anything, you have to watch this. I’m not good at selling things.

I watched all of this when Hulu was threatening to remove it, but now it appears to still be up? Uh, so go watch it I guess. Oh fuck, right, I almost forgot. The last episode of this is so bad they didn’t even air it on TV in the US. It’s tangentially related to the plot, claims to be about the main characters but instead centers on two side characters and like six new ones, has zero character development, has comparatively/definitively awful animation, relies entirely on misdirection towards the viewer to keep the plot barely hanging together, and has no satisfying payoff. Thankfully, it’s sort of an omake episode, and you can completely skip it. (12 eps (minus 1), finished 2/20/19, Hulu)

I can’t find a decent HQ poster so have this you filthy animal.

A Place Further Than The Universe: It’s not about robots! Wait. Is it about robo--it’s not about robots! I had heard about this show for a while, it was almost universally agreed upon by everyone that follows seasonal anime to be easily the best show of all of 2018. And wow they were not kidding around about that. APFTTU (oh god that acronym) is about four high school girls who decide to go to Antarctica. It is a feelgood comedy with occasional ventures into very real drama, and is rooted very realistically. The show is semi(?)-educational with the attention it gives to showing how real life expeditions work, while also liberally flowing into the poetry of the concept and experience of such a thing. The four girls are all hilarious and innocent without being cloying and, and this is the most important part, without being written with voyeuristic appeal. It is not off-base to have concern for the ways in which a significant number of female cast anime are written with intent to appeal to lonely men who want to feel a safe ownership of something innocent and attractive. It’s not all of them, but it’s a significant amount. Male gaze exists even in the lesbian shows, it’s something you sometimes have to roll with. Here, however, these girls are fully realized and believable, it is obvious that they are developing people, and that is treated as its own value, not as something to covet. If you’re lookin’ at thighs in here, that is your problem, and I’m calling God. A subplot that comes up involves a guy who gets a crush on one of the older women, and he tries to make it about his narrative and is immediately shot down by the whole cast, because this isn’t a vehicle for his romantic conquest. This isn’t anyone’s romantic conquest, really. It is significant to me to say, “this is an anime I could show to my mom and not be worried about.” I know I just said 08th MS Team was required watching for everyone, but A Place Further Than The Universe is required watching. (13 eps, finished 2/26/19, Crunchyroll)

Giant Gorg: At some point I picked this out to watch on CR without any prompting. Wait, I had one prompt. I knew nothing about this show except I think for seeing it on a short list of tumblr user @lightningclone’s favorite anime. It kind of floors me that this came out a year before Zeta Gundam and has way way better animation. Granted, Zeta has twice the episodes, which might be a big factor. The defining trait of this show is probably way it unravels itself, focusing for multiple episodes on exploring what of the great mystery of Austral Island and Gorg has been established to the audience, before revealing something more an deliberately taking it’s time as it takes you to the next reveal. The reveals don’t feel like twists, because a twist comes out of nowhere and sidelines you. The reveals here feel organic, and expected, but all the same compelling. Another good trait of the show is the characterization. Everyone fits into a very different role both in terms of personality and function, they all have their own motivations, and they all complement each other in unique ways. Also, this show has an Usopp. Back before Usopp was a thing. He’s Dr. Wave, and he’s the best character. 

If I have any criticism for the show, it all comes at the end. Near the end a character does a heel turn that, while a little twisty, is hinted in the beginning of the show, and in his heel turn the writers go a bit overboard and have him commit some sexual violence that goes on for an intentionally uncomfortable amount of time, and features frontal nudity. I know we’re supposed to think “oh god he’s a horrible person actually,” but 1) the main character is a child, I kind of expected this to lean family friendly with the occasional dark element (ignoring all the hilarious New York graffiti at the start that says FUCK in several places because America), but... okay! And 2) the stakes rise to a point by the next episode that the characters, including the victim of that violence, all just shrug it off, like whatever! The character is even redeemed by the end, which I wouldn’t mind if the betrayal itself was less physical. It’s a bit much for me, and I wish they hadn’t done it. Aside from that, I feel like the ending itself is a bit anticlimactic, but everything up to these two points had been so solid that I still think it was worth the watch. Worth it if you like mystery, adventure, and big robots, but worth bearing in mind the trigger warning for near the end. (26 eps, finished 2/27/19, Crunchyroll)

Manga:

Shin Mazinger Zero Vols 1-3:

[Serious Content Warning For Everything]

Shin Mazinger Zero is reprehensible garbage and I hate it. While inspired by Go Nagai and intentionally over-the-top, the absurdity is juvenile, offensive, and often just empty. Now, it may seem hypocritical of me to complain about transgression in something based on Nagai’s works, but I genuinely don’t find this transgressive, just extremely self-indulgent of toxic masculine fantasies, both sexual and violent. It has interesting ideas, about how Mazinger is both a tool possible of great good or great evil (literally the mission statement in every Mazinger work), and it wants to explore alternate timelines to see how characters can be corrupted or overcome corruption. The visual of a demonic Mazinger is genuinely pretty rad.

...Okay maybe he’s not, he’s kind of overdesigned. I like the toothy grill, though.

The problem with that exploration of corruption is that sometimes a character is just a horrible monster for no reason, without much explanation (so far?) for how that comes to be. Maybe in volume 4 they’ll get more into that, since they are currently in flashback mode, so there’s no undoing the damage.

Anyway, female characters so far are hypersexualized and submissive or motherly, or hypersexualized and, like, totally unreasonable. The hot robot girl sat on my lap in her underwear and did sex moans, why are you mad, main love interest? Men are testosterone as FUCK. The hero is constantly yelling to the point of visual distortion, no matter how the drama of the scene is being portrayed. The old man villain Dr. Hell is, for some reason, jacked as hell, and in the backstory to the main timeline (it’s all post-apoc) he shows his superiority over everyone by crushing Not Obama’s balls in his grip. I know exactly the kind of dude that would find this appealing and that’s the kind of person I avoid.

Honestly I knew this series was going to be a trashfire from square one and just kept reading out of morbid curiosity. The story starts in media res at the end of the world, with sexy girl robot disintegrating the hero so his soul can go back in time and try the timeline again. Okay, sure, I’m on board. Immediately next we’re shown what I would assume is The One Timeline To Get It Right, after establishing that there have been thousands of timelines where the hero is corrupted by evil. Pretty normal storytelling. And then, uh, the hero’s grandfather molests and murders the hero’s girlfriend, because the hero might become evil. My face is in my hands at this point. The incomprehensible shame. The hero is then corrupted and goes on a killing spree and humanity’s caught in the crossfire and the world ends. After *that* we get the One Timeline. Why? Why say things have always been bad (and I guess imply that bad things are the default) and then waste my time with the worst shock value trash that comes after for a full volume before actually starting the story? It’s edgy garbage! Why is this an official Mazinger work? Stuff like this is what makes me stop and think “wait are all Nagai’s works like this and I’ve been lying to myself when I like it?” Christ, this turned into a rant. Moving on.

[Content Warning Over]

Dumbbell Nan-Kilo Moteru? Vol 1: Idk if talking about horny manga after that mental breakdown is gonna make me look weird but hear me out.

Hot girls lifting weights.

You still here? Okay, good. I started this on a mutual’s recommendation and while it’s not regularly engaging with my own things (I’m more of a “watching fit woman deadlift and hoping she drops it on me and I disintegrate like so many dead leaves” person), and with the two main girls being high schoolers, I try to avoid engaging with that in that way. Luckily, there’s a teacher my age with a bob cut, so we’re good! More interesting, though, this is in the same genre as that Skullface Bookseller Honda-san anime (though less biographical), where the author just wants to explain their job or hobby while also using likable comedy characters as the vehicle. Anime made edutainment work.

I’m starting to get tired and I wanna wrap this up but unfortunately I have a bit to talk about regarding the last manga I read in Feb.

Tokyo Ghoul Vols 10-12: I’ve been reading this for the past, uh. I read it a lot last year, I don’t know when I started, though. Around 8 books in I started slowing down and taking long breaks because phew! I’d hit the end of the series’ big bad story arc and was having trouble picking up from there. I’m glad I did, though, because the story is still getting good. Here’s hoping I can handle the sequel series, because Tokyo Ghoul itself only has two books to go.

I’ve talked about TG a few times before, maybe just on Twitter. It’s very intelligent “vampire” lit that ramps up the stakes of transition by saying “you can’t just suck their blood and let them go! Human meat is your food and you’ll suffer without it.” At first, I was like “oh wow lol this is edgy” but the last twelve books have talked about trauma, alienation, and most importantly loss of innocence. It’s also about the importance of the bonds between people. The main character is perpetually at odds with himself, trying to be a good person in spite of the fact that being a ghoul is literally and figuratively being a monster. It could easily be an overwrought story of self-indulgence and angst but everything in it has been careful and effective. Ghoul culture is thoroughly built up and balances concepts of territory and posture along with careful deception for the purpose of staying a part of, and hiding from, human culture. It’s about predators who cannot remove themselves from their predatory nature, even if they want to be people with families and educations. There’s an organization that wears white and hunts ghouls with weapons crafted from ghoul bodies and functionally I can’t fully argue with them, sort of, but hey we’re starting to discover that corporations are corrupt (who knew?) and that’ll be fun.

But forget the poetry and human condition, the best thing this series does is that unashamedly works the Hot Topic aesthetic. The main character likes reading books and wears an eyepatch to hide his heterochromia and works as a barista. He wears a mask that evokes an S&M lifestyle. Ghouls can only eat people and all other food taste rotten. Except for black coffee. There’s also a number of ghouls with black nails and eyeshadow, and very heavily coded queer male characters (some more flatteringly portrayed than others but that’s a whole other thing). If Sui Ishida never listened to Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge, I’ll eat my fucking feet.

@sun-eater-official I think this might be up your alley. Or maybe not! But these aesthetics sound like you. Actually, you should probably watch 08th MS Team too, for the Bebop vibes.

So that’s everything! I thought I had a short list but apparently it was all things I had a lot to say about. Again, if you read all of this, thanks a lot, I hope I end up introducing you to a new favorite. In the future, I may have to split these into separate posts for each category. I have a lot of free time to write these lately. Writing two roundup posts back to back is a bit tiring, but I don’t have to do another until April starts.

[caughtontape3-blog]

The certainty concerning the Supernatural

Cochise What is actually the "The supernatural"? The idea means from the Latina: super- "above" nature concerns entities, forces or trends which are regarded by simply a number of as beyond mother nature, for the reason that they cannot become explained in the notions as well as laws from the everyday globe.

Cochise

Supernatural topics are frequently WRONGLY associated with marvelous and occult ideas and are generally a classification for reasons which invoke explanatory constructs that in principle are generally beyond human conception, knowing or verification. A the greater part of super-naturalists of just about any given religion merely think in a very filter subdivision, subgroup, subcategory, subclass of all unnatural explanations involving reality whenever all the great thinking of all religions, prior and present, are this.

Instances of super naturalization; From the Hebrew Bible, effects and also other misfortunes are defined as indications of God's fury or vengeance. All way too often in theological posts, I hear the phrase mysterious bandied about, and also most men and women on both equally sides of the discussion tend to accept typically the nebulous term as the sensible idea (whether or maybe not they recognize which supernatural events perform exist).

Miracles such as walking around water are first looked at as impossible by the nonbeliever given that they violate the rules connected with physics; then often the believer guards the assert by labels the celebration supernatural as if this kind of magically transforms into explanation for unbeliever, From generally there the topic turns to no matter if or not that wonderful event actually occurred.

Exactly what does someone mean if they call something super-natural. This means that any event that may transpire is natural; within fact, issues can end up being said to simply along with the category of the actual earlier this means of unnatural given earlier mentioned.

The solely thing left for great events to be usually are points which could by no means be observed, could possibly certainly not in any way influence us all. We can existing countless, in fact infinite, feasible supernatural items (for instance, that our whole world is available as the super-fast blink of a subatomic molecule in most other unreachable meta-universe you can never interact along with; or that many subatomic chemical in our market composes an entirely separate world itself), but we get zero reason to feel any of them applies, and such views tend to be not the slightest bit verifiable, along with so they are unreadable.

Creation is in by itself magic of planing in addition to input of God. Typically the only chance I notice left is that particular number of absolute natural physical legal guidelines to our universe (whether not really we know associated with them for sure correct now), and supernatural occasions are events that carry out the truth is happen (hypothetically visible in order to us) but that contradict these absolute regulations.

Which suggests all evidence inside favor of any mysterious event is always circumstantial. And in my watch, circumstantial evidence is in no way adequate to be able to validate wonderful events. I truly do concede that will there must be many point where a human body of circumstantial evidence may be so great, in which perhaps accepting that some sort of unnatural event happened may be fair.

Are great events popular. John Wesley: An innately honest male, retained a new child-like visibility to all varieties of organic and supernatural probability. Human being Curiosities, Natural Curiosities, All-natural Events, Supernatural Situations, Individual Curiosities.

It was expected that one who came while extensively as Wesley might encounter unusual persons, their very own achievements, and all their eccentricities. (Journal, 1790) With regard to Wesley, the particular natural as well as the supernatural were being a good extension of each various other, and never hesitated for you to assign, to divinity activities this individual knew were component of the normal purchase as well. (Journal, 1773) Some experiences were, naturally , beyond scientific explanation.

WHAT / THINGS WE DO ABOUT Haunted houses and places? Have you considered Ghosts?

Conjuring and secret HAVE ALWAYS BEEN VIEWED AS supernatural along with a remaining form of magic, the fact remains that conjuring and miraculous are using God developed issues called "WORDS" sprained like a curse. Words are usually the standard formula this God employed to create typically the universe, phrases are often the framework by which as much as possible consist which is the actual REAL EXPLANATION SATAN change and pervs the ideas of conversation and precisely what we hear in your day-to-day lives!

Believers fight further more that just as scientific research has evolved from beginning, puny attempts to make clear natural situations (such seeing that spontaneous technology and the particular doctrine of humors) straight into a much more reputable modern-day science, religion offers evolved through early weak attempts to elucidate supernatural functions (such because animism) in the much more trustworthy modern religions.

Believers be aware that the vast majority regarding humanity, of all competitions, religions, and ages, consider and have always assumed in mysterious phenomena involving one form or any other.

Believers conclude that while a lot of people have invented religions to help these groups cope with frightening and also inexplicable phenomena, others include come to rely on wonderful phenomena through intellectually trustworthy means, having been asked by reason, evidence, along with experience that the galaxy should not be explained by naturalistic explanations on your own, but will be best understood by means of recognizing the Supernatural.

Believers likewise note that while a few many people denied the presence of supernatural craze by way of intellectually honest signifies, obtaining been persuaded by explanation, evidence, and experience that this supernatural does not can be found, other people have denied typically the unnatural out of the deep worry that great forces may possibly exist in addition to have a real as well as tangible impact on each of our lives, and also a fear which the universe could possibly be much more complex than their hypotheses allow.

By its individual classification, science is unable to function properly of looking at or examining for the lifestyle connected with the supernatural. Thus, believers in supernatural phenomenon carry that scientific methods may not detect them; therefore often the insufficient evidence does not really matter.

Scientists counter-top that will if this is and so, subsequently believers in excellent naturalism themselves would always be incapable of seeing almost any supernatural phenomenon, since man senses themselves run in the laws of physics, and can only feeling events developing in the actual natural, physical planet... However our senses were created to help commune with a mysterious God so it is usually possible that people can see as I possess EACH super and UN-natural occasions.

John Drane publishes articles in which "science is perpetuating "intellectual arrogance" when it is not going to accept the possibility associated with supernatural activities and miracles"

But what regarding A short while ago and Haunted Residences?

The haunted house can be a constructing that is a facility with regard to supernatural occurrences as well as paranormal phenomena, but precisely why? Effectively, The bible tells you regarding demonic strongholds THE TWO in Spots and Men and women throughout it's internet pages and also their is NO unknown in order to why these spots and the ones are "Haunted" together with a profile from the particular past, if you recognize the full story behind the idea!

Often the supernatural can send to cognizant magical witchcraft's, religious awareness or unfamiliar forces (Familiar Spirits) this cannot normally be observed except by their consequences in the all-natural world.

Some examples of "supernatural phenomena" are miracles executed by God, ghosts that happen to be merely Demons IMPERSONATING THE ACTUAL PERSONS THEY ONCE LIVED IN IN LIFE in buy to deceive the human race concerning life in the hereafter; psychic abilities like psychokinesis and telepathy are a great deal better classified as paranormal when compared with supernatural because they bargain with "the mental realm" BUT there are actually spiritual pushes at work RIGHT BEHIND ALL THESE SO-CALLED ABILITIES. Just how do i learn?

I spent 6 decades involved in Wicca then as a black witch doing many evils when all those I hated along with about myself untold strain.

As a result experience I right now believe that Husfader in addition to Eve had selected mind and physical capabilities CONSIDERABLY BEYOND those we now have these days but lost a chance to employ them over time SOON AFTER the tumble. This really does not mean that all of us are likely to use these people today, only why these skills are under the exterior waiting to be INDUCED BY SIMPLY SPIRITUAL MANIPULATIONS VIA VICES IN ORDER IN ORDER TO DECEIVE AND TRICK ALL OF US.

The term supernatural is definitely contrasted with the expression healthy, which presumes which several events occur regarding to attract wealth, and other folks do not, because that they are a result of forces outer to dynamics. But the item must be understood that will Satan and all vices will UNDER THE AFFECT OF THE SPIRITUAL REGION, THEY ARE "DEAD SPIRITS" can not draw from The lord's highly effective realm so many people do the things we do when we all find ourselves in a situation involving lacking abilities... THAT THEY SIT ABOUT THEIR REAL ELECTRICAL POWER WHICH IS SIMPLY "DECEPTION". Vices simply use typically the "Natural Laws" of often the Universe which Satan has learned BETTER that any kind of people scientist because having been presently there as God's proper side angel at the development.

The demonic realm bottoms it's existence upon the actual natural laws of design as well as "twists and forms this to form whichever will con and operate human facts weather in which is "Spiritual or even Natural" in manifestation.

Various other persons assert that situations this appear to us to become supernatural occur according to be able to attract wealth which we accomplish not yet comprehend (This is just what My spouse and i have simply said, Satan will use ATTRACT WEALTH IN WHICH SCIENCE HAS NOT STILL FOUND OUT ABOUT TO BE ABLE TO DECEIVE THE PARTICULAR WEAK ORIENTED TO BELIEVE ALONG WITH PROCESS FALSE WORSHIP. ).

Throughout contrast to super- naturalists, naturalists assert that almost all things work according for you to a law connected with evolutionary nature not seeing that Our god created these laws and regulations to help work with Spiritual rules of religion. In contrast in order to atheists, super-naturalists announce which God, miracles, or perhaps different supernatural phenomena are generally actual, verifiable, and portion of the legal guidelines of nature that individuals complete not yet understand, (this is true to any point since it would possibly be silly for ANY RESEARCHER TO SAY THAT SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH POSSESSES ALL THE ADVICE. After all, using savoir record of injuries and also down right silly statements of the past what makes they?

O. K. can your supernatural be seen basically as being a human coping process? A number of believe that human being beings ascribe wonderful qualities to purely organic functions in an attempt to be able to cope with concern along with ignorance.

Since the perception in magic is really outdated and held some sort of great electrical power over the particular minds and creative imagination associated with earlier generations before typically the concept of experimental scientific disciplines which you'll only believe in case you don't observe a number of evidence out there with regards to forbidden scientific finds amid so-called ignorant savages in the past. He BELIEVES often the supernatural does not are present, while most people regarding most ethnic categories with most points in record have got claimed otherwise, is actually merely for you to perpetuate the actual intellectual cockiness of past generations involving Western thinkers, and far coming from delivering an answer to the particular inquiries raised by story that merely begs much larger and even more important questions in relation to the character of European intellectual traditions. Much connected with what we call technology nowadays was once presumed to be supernatural.

The actual control of electricity, typically the make of steel, stereo swells, all were as soon as viewed as beyond the court associated with nature, and consequently supernatural, through conventional researchers. As such, what on earth is considered to be supernatural right now might be completely explained another day.

A lot of claimed supernatural occasions might be studied by often the scientific process; however, when the physical regulations simply by which an event happens grow to be known, the affair is no longer grouped as 'supernatural'. Fundamental unnatural hypotheses are difficult to help specify, let alone analyze. Where research is ready to address issues throughout dispute, to correct issues regarding fact, or in order to call in to question promises of power grounded with history, it has from time to time been able to ease antagonisms based on rivalling supernatural states.

Otherwise, (for example) the actual politics in addition to morality of the scientist usually are as opinion-based or while reliant on assumptions regarding the supernatural seeing that these of anyone else -- and lastly, individuals may make a decision to remain sometimes passively agnostic about each and every problem that cannot be screened or actively hostile to be able to claims of authority that will cannot be scientifically warranted.

There are many attempts for you to validate claims of great tendency scientifically. Many activities after accepted as mysterious are understood as indications of your natural, explainable characteristics which are misinterpreted. People in which believe in wonderful situations accuse those who usually do not of naturalizing genuinely unnatural events; people that perform not trust supernatural functions accuse who have do involving super-naturalizing honestly natural occasions.

Believers can easily rightly act in response to the many cases of super-naturalization by arguing the fact that super-naturalization usually takes place does not refute the existence of the particular supernatural any more in comparison with the fact that experts often make errors refutes the existence of typically the natural whole world.

The principle of the supernatural provides intrigued people of just about all cultures for hundreds of years. Most instructors of the normal savoir such as biology, physics, or neuro-science would almost certainly state, if asked, this there was not a such issue as the great. Just what is it about often the natural savoir that potential buyers people to deny the presence of the supernatural.

The saying of modern science, by simply indicating that ALL conduct conforms on the laws connected with nature, absolutely rules away all probability of a mysterious even to help occurring within the natural entire world. Along with what would a wonderful being be if the idea endured but could PERFORM very little (I'll tell anyone, it would be demonic, since they CAN CARRY OUT NOTHING BUT DECEIVE).

Cases of the effect associated with scientific research on mysticism as well as miracle abound; eventually the item is luring to think that ALL testimonies regarding the supernatural can become defined scientifically. Therefore, regarding not enough proof otherwise, many of us must let the possibility which a supernatural occasion might take place. We may possibly ask yourself what, if certainly not the laws and regulations of mother nature, might cause a new unnatural event to occur.

Organic beef wonder whether a sealed group of laws exists this kind of that inside supernatural activities these rules are never ever violated. The problem on this idea is that, hoping this sort of set of "supernatural laws" is present, there will be nothing that prevents the actual grouping together of the particular attract wealth with the meant supernatural legal guidelines to application form a closed pair of regulations to which all behaviour in the universe adheres. Normally stated, a fixed of "supernatural laws", when it existed, would assist the central axiom involving science rather than contradict this. This does not necessarily, however, mean that great events as observed throughout the information world cannot end up being caused.

The particular Bible educates that The almighty (who is usually of course the mysterious being) always will keep The promises, so many connected with the incredible things They has done via Christ Himself and throughout the bienheureux may be said in order to adapt to a pattern with that context. However, that will does not mean in which every single supernatural occurrence is definitely an "act of God", nor would it mean this every"act of God" is actually done according to any assurance He has created.

There are outwardly by no means ending arguments among a lot of theologians, mystics, parapsychologists, non secular leaders and the loyal with regards to Supernatural Manifestations, Clairvoyant Power, Prophecies, etc. Regarding those who tend not to trust in supernatural events for those who doubt typically the truth on the Scriptures.

Possibly if we would will not recognize the Sacred Scriptures as Divine Revelations automatically merits, then, through often the extremely laws proposed by means of Parapsychology to explain apart supernatural déclaration, the truth of the Sacred Scriptures would then be validated and confirmed.

Rational gentleman is quick to lower price any supernatural manifestation INVOLVING ANYTHING BECAUSE IF THIS INDIVIDUAL CONFESSES THAT THE MYSTERIOUS EXISTS HE OR SHE MUST ADMIT THIS GOD IS OUT THERE AND HE OR SHE CANNOT DO THAT, HENCE THE ONLY OUT IS Any ALL-NATURAL EXPLANATION.

Let you explore what exactly may always be behind these rejects associated with supernatural manifestations. In the event that guy cannot deal with wonderful manifestations, man will neglect them. So what is right behind the much spoke about, and sometimes denied, unnatural events with the evil dynamics.

To the start eyesight and observant head that should be evident which there is some sort of coherent relationship between the first teachings of the Religious Scriptures and Miracles, which usually are the legit marque of the supernatural, to be able to wit: The infinite strength of God may be seen through man, through trust since accordance to the actual Will regarding God, for you to over come virtually any thought of or real limit within whatever circumstance he might get himself.

1: The reason why right now there such an insistent to be able to secularize and/or deny amazing things and other supernatural symptoms to the issue of attempting to help neutralize the particular Divinity

only two: Do the adversaries involving the supernatural and, as a result, of true mysticism have got a vested interest in typically the throughout the world consequences that their own ideas, philosophies, and theological instruction will have? Models in the great sector are closely linked to principles in religious spiritualty, metaphysics. The supernatural strategy will be generally identified with certitude or other belief methods - though there is usually very much debate as in order to whether a mysterious is definitely necessary for religion, or maybe that religion is needed intended for holding a notion of the wonderful because religion is merely men made reflection of exactly what God intended and NOT NECESSARILY the truth reality of their presence.

Individuals denying often the plausibility from the supernatural normally claim that really the only situations which cannot be analyzed scientifically are those which often are not perceived by just about any means.

If an function claimed to be unnatural genuinely has happened, the idea can as a result be researched scientifically and is definitely not supernatural. Some examples connected with great phenomena are products and also ghosts. The Holy bible is rife with descriptions of mysterious functions and divine remedy inside human affairs.

For you to a super-naturalist, the place is not whether wonders are supernatural or not really, however whether they happen at all. You will need to be aware that no matter which will philosophical predictions one decides to read the seen scientific data, either naturalism or super-naturalism, are every bit as unscientific. But for the concern of whether science makes it possible for for intelligent cause away from nature itself rather compared to the impaired process associated with naturalistic evolution, Could scientific disciplines explain phenomena with regards to smart agents. Can the wonderful can be observed as well as not.

Evidently, the Holy book is full of webpage of supernatural events along with experiences. That is certainly not to say that unnatural beings or occasions tend to be observable. But it will mean that the simple fact that some great activities are observable presents all of us reason to believe that will supernatural beings exist, and also the fact that we can not view them is a new consequence of the limitations, quite than any incompetency upon their part.

This is actually clinically, scientifically documented throughout various reports and information, and is a great visible change brought on simply by opinion (or appeal to) mysterious causes. Yet possibly this may suggest that, beneficial or damaging, prayerful elegance to the wonderful, Lord or Satan possesses seen results. Life by the unnatural, or by way regarding a naturalistic mechanism to get evolution, are generally equally untestable, and unobservable.

Other Arguments are that particular supernatural reason cannot be famous via another. This presupposes in which all supernatural explanations are indifferent. It implies that invoking the actual supernatural is the blanket clarification (An explanation for popular ignorance).

In which supposition presents another capability of the doubt alone: it is based in materialistic naturalism, which thinks a previous that no great celebration can ever take place by any means. While for any single event it can be difficult to distinguish between distinct supernatural explanations, the similar thing will also apply to natural details. Distinguishing involving different information, whether all-natural or mysterious, requires frequent events consequently that a style could be observed (Isn't this particular the job of technology? ).

In this situation there are different sightings that match each hypothesis for instance studying a ghost's habits so we recognize between 2 different wonderful explanations with regard to ghosts (An intelligent haunting or 1 that seems to complement the living surroundings as though to interact with individuals who are living there as opposed to. a continuing haunting or even one that takes on the particular same thing over in addition to over as if reliving a life that features transferred.... Both can possibly be explained by demonic activity).

There are difficulties with generalizing supernatural explanations yet that does not indicate that it is extremely hard. Difficulties in generalizing unnatural explanations can result by numerous causes: Rarity involving a great event will be one such as typically the Reed sea parting regarding Moses.

Some supernatural situations never happen frequently plenty of (maybe only once) to be able to make a generalization achievable, but the same matter can occur with healthy functions, if similar occasions will not occur frequently ample to look at more than some sort of few occurrences. If identical supernatural events are not necessarily effectively observed then generalizations could be impossible because connected with the lack of data. Many supernatural events evidently involve intelligent entities as well as the behavior of intelligent choices would be hard, nevertheless not necessarily impossible, for you to generalize, particularly when interacting with one or more nonhuman clever entity. Many events the moment thought to be mysterious are now known to help be natural. This sort of activities were deemed to get wonderful because nature ended up being terribly understood by those that produced such claims. On the other hand a new scientific application of unnatural explanations concludes that organic process are inadequate, definitely not because of lack associated with knowledge although because regarding the actual inability involving chance and natural legislation to provide an satisfactory explanation for example the creation connected with the Universe compared to Progression.

It is possible this a great explanation could possibly be replaced by way of a normal one if a lot more files becomes available (i. electronic Proof of the contrary having occurred), but often the reverse is also probable. Finding the natural leads to of stuff, does not really totally negate mysterious will cause and purposes (For illustration God can and contains EMPLOYED the Natural to provide concerning his plans my spouse and i. at the. Jesus' death about the get across to deliver salvation to man). A few aspects of Quantum physics suggest that even all-natural reasons have underlining wonderful brings about.

A supernatural description can simply be postulated by simply eliminating most possible healthy explanations. This particular objection presupposes that unnatural explanations are usually magical just as if simply invoking the great is a explanation; this is certainly not the lens case. A proper mysterious explanation would certainly explain precisely how the event took place, however simply not be limited by the natural laws associated with our actual universe. With other words creationists are generally quick to point out there that the wonderful is usually the cause for the actual existence of lifestyle as well as natural laws to retain it.

However simply simply because the particular supernatural has produced life it will not mean which it cannot supersede typically the natural laws governing generation. He might conclude, given that this actions violates organic law, that will something through outside place time (supernatural by definition) is triggering the space time period fold.

If a supernatural affair is studied long sufficient or perhaps multiple supernatural situations ended up studied, some specifics about often the supernatural lead to might be deduced, merely as is done having silent and invisible natural objects similar to subatomic particles. This resistance leads the supernatural in order to irrational belief, but the a couple of are not similar. Quite a few events in World's historical past require a super-naturalistic notion system before they can certainly be accurately interpreted or maybe understood. Wear them in the actual definition of science in which precludes a supernatural speculation.

In fact, many regarding the scientific daddies who all created the very research still in use currently conuted on God or the supernatural keen force this created initial and endured that formation with normal laws of physics, hormone balance and mathematics to oversee it.

The denial in the supernatural that is portion of naturalism is any purely philosophical and also primarily atheistic position. By simply eliminating supernatural hypotheses coming from thought, materialists eliminate out of control some sort of large body of likely answers for past, current along with future phenomena. Within beginning and historical study, an overall denial of the particular supernatural will result in grave fault where unnatural events get indeed taken place; therefore great explanations needs to be considered exactly where appropriate.

Eventhough it might look obvious flood which these kinds of an event had happened whether you believe within super-naturalism or not, the item is important to acknowledge typically the depth and width on the strata covering often the Earth ahead of a man or woman can understand the dependence with this interpretation upon one particular presupposition belief system as well as the some other. Given the actual volumes involving rock concerned, it simply will not become possible for any territory animal to survive a new ton able to make the entire geologic section without supernatural treatment, in addition to yet the world is definitely filled with various vulnerable lifeforms. I believe that will supernatural events are all-natural events that we usually are not sophisticated enough to be able to explain in the perception a supernatural God employs his or her advanced knowledge connected with natural regulation to carry out something in our sphere that seems at the particular time for you to beyond character but is basically just ahead of time of our know-how about all these things.

If we had been to go back again 3, 000 years ago as well as clone a sheep, it could be considered a supernatural occasion by many of typically the people as a result time interval would it not? Many of us by natural means survive death and also the just supernatural point about it is actually most of us don't fully understand this yet but when all of us get at this time there we will certainly automatically know even as tend to be known by Jesus today. I think the skeptic calls them supernatural as it helps them to independent these matters from the healthy order of things and this also protects their belief technique, after all its all of about whatever you work therefore hard to tell yourself NOT THE FACTS THROUGHOUT FRONT OF PEOPLE WHICH MATTER..... RIGHT?. Really the only mysterious thing about clairvoyant potential and life soon after loss of life is that we no longer fully understand them. That they normally are not being debated below along with can't be as opposed to supernatural functions individuals claim to observe.

Fundamentally: 1. ) Supernatural occasions are excluded deliberately inside science. Originally the basic principle could very well have been implemented (in early Greece) due to the fact it was a considerably more fruitful way to realize the universe than super-naturalism. This does not signify supernatural events may not necessarily be looked at as scientific research. "Supernatural" activities can end up being either subsumed underneath people ultimate laws, or even scientific disciplines cannot be fruitfully given to them at all.

two. )Those asserting the happening associated with supernatural events in addition to agencies usually describe these individuals as and have been observed or perhaps experienced revolutionary, a verificationwitness being so exclusive in which they cannot deny it took a little time for place as in this circumstance having experienced situations so deep in witchcraft that no person can convince us otherwise instead of the Atheists who else have experienced SIMPLY REFUTE EVERYTHING.

Those question often the plausibility of wonderful functions typically define all of them because events which can not be recognized by natural or maybe scientific senses, and as their comprehending may be said to help sit with religious, enchanting, or mysterious explanation-yet is still tightly outside of the actual realm of technology. Yet we can only be aware that a supernatural event will be impossible if we understand before hand that materialism is usually the appropriate world-view that it is not. Their one thing to propose that idea in the particular supernatural is false (as Hume said), yet we all must agree that that is feasible. Once many of us accept that unnatural causing is logically achievable, typically the question is whether we certainly have evidence for the living with the supernatural. The debate contrary to the supernatural becomes naturally poor when a straightforward believer from the supernatural converts into a lifestyle personalized testimony to the great upon witnessing something these people truly know to always be "supernatural". The genuine watch to the mysterious may make his case with the detail in which he or she talks about his account regarding that which usually he absolutely knows being supernatural.

Typically the problem of the condition becomes clear when most of us find out personal testimony involving an bank account of the event which with their surface can only possibly be classified as supernatural. This specific description of the wonderful recommends the following inquest: if this is definitely not supernatural what is the idea, natural? In case so.... SHOW IT while using same efervescencia you point out I have to prove God for being genuine. Remember that all opinions are open to argument UNTIL EVENTUALLY REAL EVIDENCE IS USUALLY DO, THEN IT'S "PUT YOUR DOLLARS WHERE YOUR JAWS IS" TIME PERIOD which is definitely where all Atheists as well as Skeptics must UPLOAD OR MAYBE SHUT UP! It is just a effectively known fact that values DEMONSTRATE NOTHING without Data in order to back them upwards and also God has granted a whole lot Evidence to backside up his says this it is sheer folly to be able to deny it's ordinary lifetime before our vision.