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revchainsaw · 3 years ago

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Nausicaa and the Valley of the Wind (1984)

Prayers and Salutations Cult Members! I am your mysterious minister Reverend Chainsaw and this is another nights revival service at the Cult Film Tent Revival. I bring you a special word tonight. Tonight's word is about a person who roamed the earth, in a time where people were backward and warlike. A leader emerged into a kingdom full of eschatological expectation. This leader came preaching peace, and was killed for the sins of the world, but was resurrected. In that resurrection a new hope was brought to the planet, and true healing through the power of love in the face of violence is made possible. I am talking of course about Princess Nausicaa from the Valley of the Wind.

The Message

Nausicaa and the Valley of the Wind is the film that put studio Ghibli and Hayoa Miyazaki on the map. No animated feature this grandiose and epic had been achieved by 1984, as much as Disney may beg to differ. The tale may be simple, and it may feel super 80s to us today, but Nausicaa is a masterpiece, and the fact that Howl's Moving Castle is brought up alongside Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away more often than Nausicaa is a farce and a tragedy.

The film takes place on a fantastic planet that seems to have suffered the ravages of an apocalyptic war. A war that involved gigantic warriors with powers so devastating they about made the entire planet inhospitable if not uninhabitable; save for a few areas. The fall out of this ancient war has left the earth in a state of repair, where the natural processes of a planet healing has creating giant toxic jungles.

Beyond these jungles lie two imperialistic factions, they seem almost to be city-states but it's not terribly clear. The Kingdom of Tolmekia, a militaristic proto-fascist society of almost Spartan sensibilities. Tolmekia is governed by the ambitious and cynical Princess Kushana, But I like to call her Furiosa. Just like Furiosa, Kushana is physically missing parts of herself, a visual metaphor for her metaphysical lacking and the parts of her humanity she has cut away. Kushana's world view is one of fear, a fear that can only be quelled by waging a genocidal campaign against her enemies.

Speaking of enemies, the Athens to Tolmekias Sparta would be the Pejite Kingdom. The Pejites might like to view themselves as simply responding to Tolmekian aggression, but the narrative of the film, and the story told quite visibly on the body of Kushana, is quite different. The Pejites are just as bloodthirsty if not more palettable in their approach, but like the Tolmekians, they believe only their own lives have any value. And thus, in this theatre of war, a Giant Warrior from the ages before is unearthed by the Pejite Kingdom, Stolen by the Tolmekians, before the forces of nature themselves, seem to conspire to drop the Giant Warriors "egg" right into the Valley of the Wind.

The Valley of the Wind is populated like the world of Avatar the Last Airbender, that is mostly of children and the elderly. The people of the Valley have been able to remain untouched by the ravages of war and the toxic jungles of the damaged world primarily due to geographic luck that's explained in minor exposition in the film. They are ruled by a King, and they are all deeply enamored by their beloved Princess Nausicaa.

Nausicaa is a gentle soul. She is kind to animals, she is empathetic, unreasonably patient, and bears pain and grief inflicted on her out of cruelty with a saintly understanding. She really is a thinly veiled Christ figure, scratch that. There is no veil. But she's also my favorite Christ figure. She does not preach a message, as much as she tries to save everyone from their own short sighted goals. She is not perfect, she does lash out and do some fantasy sword fight murder, but she regrets her actions so deeply that it seems to have played a part in motivating her to become even more compassionate and patient with the evils of the world.

Nausicaa discovers yet another plot by the Pejites, who are afraid of the possibility of the Tolmekians awakening the Giant Warrior, to use animal cruelty to enrage a group of almost invincible giant insects known as the Ohm. By luring the Ohm into the Valley of the Wind where the Tolmekians have become an occupying force, they hope to completely wipe out everything that threatens them. The Tolmekians DO awaken the Giant Warrior and pure pandemonium ensues. Nausicaa manages to save the Baby Ohm and calm the rage of the bloodthirsty Ohm swarm, and to defeat the warlike tendencies of both the Pejites and the Tolmekians. All the while fulfilling a prophecy fortold about a messianic savior figure called the Man in Blue.

Now that you have heard the Gospel of Nausicaa, please stand to receive The Benediction.

Best Character: Half a Person

Now that I've spent the better part of this review gushing about our Lord and savior Nausicaa. I have to admit, she's at times a bit too perfect, a bit too saccharin. Even her flaw, or her one weakness and her failing to be perfect, just adds to the perfection. I can't even say she never makes mistakes cuz she made one, and that's infuriating. It's even more infuriating that I still think she's a great character. Normally this kind of thing really kills a hero. Most Chosen Ones are the most boring and least likeable characters in their narratives. I don't know how Nausicaa avoids this trap, but she does. I'll have to do some meditating on that.

However, just like in your typical Chosen One fantasy narrative, the hero is a lot less fun than the villain. I'm going to say the best character in Nausicaa is Kushana. I want to be like Nausicaa, but I don't understand her. She's almost alien, even though we learn all about her. Kushana is mysterious, secretive, and enigmatic, yet I understand her. She barely has an arc, she doesn't really change. She's cold and cynical to the bone, but I don't need to see much of her situation to completely understand why she is the way she is. I usually hate totalitarian bad guys, but Kushana I like. Sue Me.

Also fun fact, did you that Nausicaa means 'Sinker of Ships'. That's kinda fun.

Best Scene: Spoiled for Choice

I'm going to be lazy and say take your pick. There is really not a bad seen in this movie. If the action isn't going, then there's intriguing dialogue. If there's no dialogue then you may be about to get hit with a forceful burst of whimsy. There's horror, there's swordfights and aerial dogfights. The only thing in Nausicaa I don't like to see, is the bloody tortured Ohm Baby. It's like a god damned Sarah Mclachlan commercial.

Best Creature: Foxy Shazam!

The Ohm are so simplistic yet so detailed. The number of eyes is alien, but the way they are used is expertly expressive. Who'd think you could get me to love what basically amounts to a silverfish with the intensity that I love a kitten. How did Miyazaki pull an Okja with a creature that should be haunting our dreams? I don't know.

And what about the Giant Warrior! If you are an Evangelion fan then you probably already know that Hideaki Anno designed and animated the melting goopy biomechanical beast. Surely a sight that would make both H.R. Giger and Clive Barker giddy with excitement. Just the image of the silhouettes marching amidst the desolation of the old world is burned into my brain.

So which of these is the best creature from Ghibli's first outing? It's fucking Teto. It was always gonna be Teto you idiot. Just look at Teto, he's adorable. He's too cute to exist. I'm so alone. I need a pet.

Best Character Design: Tolmekian Regalia

I originally included this category to talk some about Kushana, however, at that time I also thought I was going to say Nausicaa was the best character. I thought hard about deleting it, but I think it's a different category and you can't accuse me of playing favorites because my favorite character is clearly Teto. Just to keep it simple. It's the two costume shift from full military regalia in white and gold, to the one metal arm, warrior princess get up. It's a great costume and a great look. Get on this shit cosplay nerds. It's great for Cons in Canada, you have to think about layers, and you can't keep going as Mr. Plow. It's lazy.

Best Excuse to Talk About Patrick Stewart's Character: Lord Yupa

I just realized that I was about to write this whole review without talking about Lord Yupa. Lord Yupa is a sword saint and all around badass I think a lot of entertainment, especially in the west is lacking bad ass old men. Lord Yupa particularly shines in the early half of the film as a warrior and as a wise council to Nausicaa. If she's Jesus then Yupa is John the Baptist. He is also voiced by the elegant and eloquent Patrick Stewart. He also comes with 2 chocobos!

Worst Character: For Whom Asbel Tolls

This might also be the worst actor category as well. Actual Cannibal (haha meme) and actual monster (haha real life) Shia Labeouf doesn't so much act in the role as he read the lines and it was recorded. The good news it doesn't effect the film too much because Asbel is completely forgettable. He is a catalyst to some of the action, but besides that I don't really care for him.

Worst Aspect: To Be Fair ...

It would be unfair to completely ignore anything negative about Nausicaa. I have already mentioned in many places that there are some pretty corny, or pretty predictable tropes to this movie. But what I can't capture in words is exactly why it feels fresh when it's done in this movie. I suppose that's what makes it good. It's just so good that it's weak points are lifted up by it's strengths. Some people may bored of Nausicaa's unyielding goodness, or that she very rarely chooses to take action as much as she chases and pleads with her surroundings, but I mean, she does pay for that eventually. It's a fantasy story and it hits a lot of timeless themes that have been hit in stories for as long as human beings have been telling stories. Some people may feel that it doesn't do enough to stand out.

Summary

I have defined the S tier for myself as "near perfect and personal favorite" films. I like to think that Nausicaa and the Valley of the Wind is near perfect. Some may say that it looks like it might just be a personal favorite. In the case of Nausicaa, I'm having a very hard time telling the difference. I think it would be overly simple to claim that Nausicaa is just an ancient archetypal heroes journey with an 80s anime coat of paint. I think it's doing quite a few new and interesting things with that formula, those things are just playing out all around that narrative as opposed to being at it's center. For a first full length outing by the studio, you can really see Miyazaki's heart and the values he holds close to. I'll repeat myself so that we are completely clear on the matter. I think Nausicaa and the Valley of the Wind is a near perfect movie.

Overall Grade: S

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lookwhatilost · 3 years ago

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I’m going to use this video as something of a case study to prove my point. Some things that are necessary to point about Ben Shapiro: he is an intelligent person, he speaks quickly, and he makes good quips. This makes him very good for the YouTube video “LiBtArD wReCkEd” compilations. He’s also very dishonest and he tends to misrepresent statistics. This is, of course, because Ben is a fascist and fascists don’t care if they’re telling the truth.

So, this is a thirteen minute video, and barely a fraction of what this student is laying out is going to get covered. The reason why Ben is letting him talk as much as he does in the beginning instead of interrupting him the moment he started explaining what socialism is is because he’s looking for something to quote back at him. Usually he’ll let his “debate” opponent talk until he finds something to do this with, and hit them hard on the point he stops them on.

Next we have this “workers or the government” thing Ben comes back at him with: he clearly said “workers owning the means of production”. He even said it twice, I believe, and Ben pretty much says “I know you’re talking about that, but if you said THE GOVERNMENT owning the means of production, that would be very ineffective” and then he rattles off on that. Even though this student never said anything about redistribution – he deliberately stepped away from that point at the very beginning. He acknowledged the fact that Ben will often talk about redistribution without actually engaging with the core points of socialism and, once more, he never said anything about government control and he never said anything about lack of free market enterprise. Socialism and free market enterprise aren’t in any way disparate. Market socialism is a thing.

Hypothetically, what you’d have to do here is let him talk on, and when he’s done, say “That was great and all, Ben, but I pretty clearly said worker owned means of production. Would you mind answering the actual question.” You can’t treat people like this in good faith. Ben knows exactly what he’s doing here with his talking points. No one brought up the Scandinavian countries. No one brought up government owned means of production. Nobody brought up free market enterprise. Nobody brought up being paid $100,000 to dig holes in the ground. No one brought up redistribution policies – unless you count the kid bringing it up to clarify that this wasn’t what he was talking about.

He then brings up that he’s an owner. Ben is smart enough to understand the basic principles of socialism, but he recognizes he isn’t capable of addressing any substantive criticism, so he’s deliberately pretending to misunderstand what this kid is saying. “Freely choose to alienate your labor” as if you have any choice in society these days. That’s like saying you freely choose to shit inside of a toilet. You don’t have many other options in regards to that. You can if you want to, but eventually, you’re going to get in trouble with it. Again, this is a deliberate misinterpretation. The workers owning the means of production gets brought up, and he spends the first two minutes of his response saying “if you meant the government owning it, that’s disastrous, and by the way, Norway is actually capitalist, and socialists won’t tell you this, but they actually have free market enterprise. And I’m a worker, so workers do actually own the means of production. Isn’t Bill Gates a worker?” Aren’t the tens of thousands of people under Bill Gates also workers? We’re talking about all workers, not just the one worker who also happens to own the company.

Him crafting rebuttals that actually take into consideration the tenants of socialism would, at least on some level, give the socialist credence to argue in a reality based sense. If a reactionary defends their belief system by attacking socialism in ways that are actually salient, you’ve set the socialist up to debate in a fact based argument, and that’s not what reactionaries dominate. Reactionaries dominate in a purview of recited dialogue trees, of snooty quips, and emotionally based arguments. This is where they thrive. They do not want to bring the argument into a reality based discussion.

In three minutes, he’s introduced so many stupid misconceptions that the student is going to spend more time arguing against the misconception than he will putting forth his own argument. He could spend a literal hour trying to correct the dumb, deliberate straw men that Ben Shapiro has thrown out here and never will he get a chance to substantively put forth any real advocacy for socialism.

To counter his “criticism” on labor theory of value: what if you spend a lot of time and money digging up diamonds from the ground? There are plenty of diamonds that get dug up that have absolutely no mechanical or industrial purpose. He’s saying “labor theory of value is dumb and bad because the market theory of value is what’s correct” without presenting any sort of argument to support that. Neither of these are holistic theories, both of them have valid places in society as lenses of interpretation, but this is not a substantive criticism. It is, in fact, very stupid.

It also helps that he has all the social capital in this situation. You never, ever want to challenge a reactionary when they have the podium and you don’t, and while they have the audience and you don’t. If they are even slightly intelligent, it is literally impossible for them to lose in the eye of their audience.

When the student brings up Mondragon: this is what reactionaries do. They define capitalism as freedom. Capitalism is when the owners of capital own the means of production and socialism is when the workers own the means of production. Not that we should take much that economic theorists say for granted on the account of most of them being cheerleaders for capitalism, but there are plenty of things that Ben laid forth that many economic theorists would disagree with. For one, he’s laid out the assertion that free markets are somehow absolute to capitalism and antithetical so socialism, that worker owned communes are an example of capitalism, and the degree to which government intervention is present in an economy is deterministic to whether or not it is socialism. Reactionaries operate in a delusory, fantastical land where the characteristics of capitalism are amorphous and capable of being shifted to suit one argument to another. In one instance, capitalism is the liberator of the working class, the distributor of technology, and in another instance, the very real consequences of capitalism are instead a product of corporatism, of government intervention, of “globalist” policy. Not true capitalism, mind, just other things.

And hey, guys, I’ve read the Communist Manifesto. Does anyone remember any segments in there where Karl Marx claimed the government needed to cram down and force people to participate in guild markets? Does anyone remember that part? I don’t.

Anyway, this is why you don’t argue with reactionaries when they have the podium and you don’t. The student got a bunch of time to speak where he laid out a very calm point, Ben got a bunch of time to speak where he then said a bunch of shit that had nothing to do with the kids argument to mislead the audience, and then deliberately interpreted what the kid was saying to present a straw man that the kid would have to correct. Now Ben has got the student in a position where he’s basically saying “I don’t disagree with anything, you’re basically saying capitalism. Worker owned means of production? That just means the people who own it also work at it, right? If Republicans did that, would you vote for them?” The kid is never going to be able to correct all this, not in a million years, and now when he speaks up, Ben is going to keep hammering this in, deliberately interrupting the kid and forcing him to answer misleading questions.

This is how you win a Ben Shapiro debate. This is how you “own libtards”. You get the mic, deliberately misinterpret what they say, you throw straw men at them and force them to defend or respond to that, both of which are impossible, and then, just to keep them off base, you continue to interrupt them when they respond to your point. It’s a very, very simple formula to follow if you are intellectually dishonest and a complete fucking asshole.

But yeah, the free market is not exclusively capitalist. For one, the free market does not have prescriptions. The free market is not a physical entity, it’s a concept that some people aspire to, unfettered trade. And free market socialism is a thing, yet again.

At around the 8 minute mark of this video, the student makes a bit of a mistake because he’s not really harping in on the public vs private ownership of the means of production, but Ben Shapiro’s line there is completely irrelevant: “So companies shouldn’t be able to have investors?” This is a tangential question. This would be like him talking about socialized ownership, and Ben leans into the microphone and asks “well, who’s the CEO then, dummy?” This is to say, it’s tangentially related, but it has nothing to do with the thrust of the argument.

His counter to the pencil factory example is pathetic. No one mentioned doctors. No one mentioned everyone in society getting paid the same amount. This has nothing to do with doctors and pencil factory workers, this has to do with pencil factory workers and pencil factory owners. He thinks this is a “gotcha” but it literally has nothing to do with the argument the kid is making.

It is so, so difficult to maintain your composure when you are around a hostile audience. At least if you were on stage, you would have the positional authority over them. You’d be in a place where, at least physically, you are given credence by the architecture of the room – standing atop something, having the lights on you, being behind the podium, having unfettered control over the mic. These things can lend you a lot of confidence. But if you’re just standing there and someone else is holding your microphone, and the audience claps whenever Ben Shapiro says something… Ugh.

But it comes as no surprise that Ben sees capital and labor as one and the same, because he’s a fucking capitalist and he’s a piece of shit. To him, people and money are just interchangeable cogs in a larger machine that he benefits from, and that is how most capital owners see them. After all, labor is a resource, and capital is a resource, and that’s all you look at them as – resources – there isn’t much of a difference between the two. Now, of course, you’ve got a few more ~libcucky~ takes on it, like how humans are human beings, and we have rights, and should be entitled to happiness and respect, but that doesn’t really factor into that sort of economic, capitalist worldview.

To summarize, this juxtaposition, “you’re a socialist, I’m a free marketer. You’re talking about things that are voluntary, which means they can’t be socialist, because socialism is authoritarianism”, this is the dichotomy that he’s been trying to reenforce this entire conversation. I don’t know how deliberately he’s doing this, but it’s very effective. In the mind of every audience member right now, what Ben is doing right here is destroying this “libtard” right now by saying “Heh, idiot. You think that’s socialism? How can that be socialism if there’s freedom involved?' and that’s basically what he’s going for here. But when the kid gets flustered and struggles to make a coherent point in the face of all this, Ben can just shit on him. And then the people who edit this shit put in airhorns and laugh tracks so the smooth brained dipshits watching this unironically know when to clap and bark like seals at the libcuck getting owned. It’s pathetic and it’s not a real argument. Fin.

#shit i do while waiting for my boyfriend to wake up or something

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imuybemovoko · 4 years ago

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My beliefs now

I set this blog up for a bunch of different purposes including conlangs/worldbuilding stuff, my writing, and my views on religion and maybe also politics. So far, mostly, I’ve ranted a lot about the beliefs I left behind. Now that I’ve let that particular sketchy brand of Christianity, now that I’ve discovered the ways it and my conservative family background were probably turning me into a fascist while I was still in all that, I figure I might as well try to hash out where I stand now. I’m around eleven months out from my deconversion, and a lot has already changed. I might try to attempt a before and after thing but there’s a lot to unpack about how I used to think and I’m not sure I’ve understood everything yet. I think I made the mistake of thinking that not very long before that repressed memory about “Sharon” and her Jonah display came crashing back in March. This is current to late July 2020 and may not include everything.

So without any further ado, let’s talk background. First, some things I’ve already either mentioned or given more than enough evidence for. I used to be a Christian fundamentalist. (Clearly. I rant about it a lot.) I got into that because I was raised religious, then let myself fall right the fuck into what I’ll call “deep end lite” shortly before senior year in high school. Some local churches in my small town arranged a missions trip thing and the way I agreed to go along felt in the moment like surrendering to a voice that’s been speaking to me all along. In ...a way, it was. Just not the voice I thought. I’m pretty sure I didn’t want this god, at any point like ever, until that little part of me whispered that it would be easier to accept him. I have a megathread document that I’ve stored a lot of my “God stories” from my time as a Christian in. Unfortunately I didn’t remember many specific details of this experience to write down in there, but I did write a bit of a “life-story” thing that reminds me that, chronologically, that happened after a period of focused attempts by the church to indoctrinate me, some traumatic things my family did, social struggles, and feeling like an asshole because of things I’d done in the past. I remember having this growing sense over the previous year that I was approaching some kind of very dangerous breaking point, to the point where (trigger warning: mental instability, school shooter mention. Please either stop here or skip to where it says “in other words” in the next paragraph after this if that’s going to be an issue. It also keeps getting dark from there for a minute. Please, please tread with care if you need to. There is no shame at all if this becomes too much. Take care of yourself first and foremost.)

when discussing how I came to accept the faith, I told some of my Christian friends that I felt like there was a scary chance of me becoming a school shooter. I think this may have been a post-hoc projection, but I can’t quite be sure of that. I was in a bad place for a bit there in high school. I had a wild temper and some sketchy intrusive thoughts.

In other words, it hit at a perfect moment of weakness. That’s how oppressive forms of spirituality function, it’s how hate groups function... it’s a massive shit cocktail and I found a pretty bad influence in the form of people who promote that whole “born again experience” thing in Christianity. I’d say I’m glad I missed out on being dragged into a fascist ideology this way, but uh... I’m no longer convinced I didn’t grow up around something like that. More later.

From there I spiraled my way through my first attempts at college through the university’s chapter of the Chi Alpha campus ministry and, peripherally through that, Assemblies of God (holy shit those guys are wild), then through a local Baptist church (more peripherally) and Calvary Chapel (I was a worship guitarist here for like 18 months and helped with their youth ministry for almost as long) closer to home and a CRU chapter at my community college. With each passing year I slipped further and further into this weird shame-induced funk where I got like... addicted to Jesus and hated myself or something. It’s a bit hard to find words that don’t take multiple entire extra pages and I want to be concise, so I’ll simply call it “Jesus-flavored depression” for brevity and because that was enough of a genuinely bad time (and I’m still fucked up enough) that I might need some fairly serious therapy.

Near the end of 2018 I was reaching a breaking point, wondering why nothing ever seemed to change in my life from “sexual sin” (...which in my case literally consisted of being attracted to women and occasional self-pleasure, but they literally teach you to hate yourself for less than that in the spicier churches rip) to my direction in life to how trapped I felt by my family. I also started to have more questions about the violence in the Bible and some of the sketchier doctrines, and that was strongly reinforced by some of the things I saw in a creative writing class I took, including an atheist who shared a story of a profoundly negative experience involving being taught about hell at a very young age. All that led to the absolute disaster that was December 2018. It was my last semester at the community college I went to. Finals week was a fucking disaster, and the week before that too, and my grades were really good but at great cost. I won’t go into a ton of detail because 1. space concerns and 2. this time is still damn painful to discuss, but just know that I’m unconvinced I’d have survived that month without this song. (Yes, that’s Paramore. Shut up xD they’re still good.) I looped it for like three days straight and I think it was just enough to keep me going through what was the third time I had any suicidal kind of thoughts ever and by far the worst and longest period of it so far.

So the next several months (and I won’t go into a ton of detail about this, I intended this post more to describe my current position and I don’t wanna get too in the weeds with background) were a confusing period of questioning, starting with, of all things, my family dynamic. The spiral after the week before finals was ...considerably worsened by some comments my dad made, and between that and some experiences in the past that the creative writing class I took that fall reminded me of, I was exposed to a bit of a deeply toxic pattern. I might discuss that more deeply in another post, but for now suffice it to say that extensive youtube binges and some other research between about January and March told me the situation is probably adjacent to pathological narcissism in some way. I brought some of this up to the church I was attending at the time (a small town Calvary Chapel, if I haven’t mentioned that already) and their responses were ...inconsistent. Some people blamed me, some people said “oh dang your dad is abusive”, and some people took the “your parents are trying their best” tack. In retrospect I think that made me doubt if God’s messaging to these people could really be trusted. Then, in about April, the question of hell came up again. I was helping in the church’s budding youth ministry at the time and we had about four regular attendees between the ages of 12 and 18. There were about three weeks in a row when one of the other adults (I’ll call her Kelly for the purposes of not doxxing; also more on her later) talked at length about how unbelief leads to hell. I remembered that atheist from creative writing, made the connection to these four kids, and thought, “what the hell are we doing?” (Pun not intended but rather convenient.) I immediately backed down from my role in the youth ministry, citing other equally valid but less pressing reasons involving stress from the issues with my dad, and tried to go on with life. But the floodgates were open.

In late May or early June, I was staring out a window one morning and suddenly a question crossed my mind unbidden: “Is God a narcissist?” I thought back to a relatively recent sermon by the associate pastor in which he explained that the purpose of the world was “for God’s glory”, to some apparent sudden flights of rage, and some other factors in the scriptures, and thought, “holy shit, I need to investigate this, because God is also very adjacent to narcissism.” It took a hot minute for the ball to really get rolling with that, but once it did... I came to a point by late June or early July where I delivered an ultimatum to God, something to the tune of “Ok, either show me how all these questions I have can be answered beyond a doubt or I’m done.”

There was no answer.

God was silent during this time, and the people in the church were shocked that I had the questions I did and either concerned or ...rather spicy. I joined an ex-Christian discord server to aid in a proper, thorough investigation. I aired my questions both there and on a Christian discord server. The Christian server was toxic as fuck and the ex-Christians started making a crazy amount of sense. I watched some videos from Cosmic Skeptic and TheraminTrees (most notably the latter’s deconversion story) for new perspectives and, by mid-August, had crashed out of the faith altogether.

So the last time I ever stepped into a church with the intent of attending service (I showed up after once in January of 2020 to kinda let them know and that went pretty badly lol) was about two weeks before I started college again in the fall. I burned all but one of my Bibles and a collection of gospel tracts I never did anything else with and stylized it like my limited understanding of what a satanic/pagan ritual looked like, complete with a chant in my conlang Aylaan for a more personal twist because of course, to feel edgy. (I did a lot of kind of weird shit to feel edgy; that’s one of two of them I’m sure I don’t regret.) And after that, things got ...ah, confusing?

Because of course when the linchpin of your understanding of the world gives way, everything becomes fucked for a hot minute.

So the first thing that happened was a couple months of anxiety and confusion. I slowly started to deconstruct my inherited political views too. (More on that later.) Then I had this really beautiful interesting moment in late September where I walked past a tree on the way to a class and had a sudden realization that I didn’t have to force the tree into a Christian framework anymore, it was just a beautiful mass of green shit and cellulose. I could appreciate it in whatever way I felt was best. I damn near broke down crying in the bathroom before class, it hit me that hard. So that’s fun xD

Since then I’ve kinda gone through a bunch of funky phases with this, including a couple of months of fairly salty atheism. Along with that process, I started questioning my sexuality in December (more on that in another post in a minute lmao it’s a trip) and literally shredding my politics in the face of Trump being a crackhead in a dangerous position getting away with confirmed illegal shit, COVID-19 and the ...dehumanizing responses of corporations and their sponsored politicians, and then what I noticed about the deaths of Ahmaud Arbery and George Floyd and the fallout from that. (In a nutshell, holy FUCK there’s a huge problem and it’s messed up that people don’t see it.) At this point, I’m socially progressive and pretty left leaning. I don’t know what the hell to do about it or how either other than some of the tense discussions I’ve been having, but I’d like to work against racism and discrimination too. So that’s cool and a lot better than where I was...

which... I regret deeply.

I don’t know exactly how to define my old political views, and they were marked by considerable cognitive dissonance. I’ll try to illustrate this as best I can but I don’t know what label I can use. Here goes.

Cursed images aside, I think the best way to explain this is through some background, i.e. what my parents believe, because my beliefs were largely inherited.

This might be majorly over-simplified and based on what I remember of my own pre-deconstruction views and what I hear them say lately. I’m doing my best, but take it with a grain of salt. Basically, it seems like they walk this weird line between constitutionalist and very authoritarian that I see a hell of a lot of in rural America. Kinda like the Republic party used to before they yeeted into Trump’s mindfuck wholeheartedly. They’re homophobic to a rather alarming degree (more on that in another post soon) and not ...overtly Christian-supremacist but you can tell that their ethics are dripping with it and they’re terrified of Islam and they’d like to legislate some aspects of Christian morality. They also support the second amendment, which is the one thing I still agree with them on that I’m aware of, but they take it to more of an extreme than I’m willing to. For further ...flavor, they also reject the premise that parts of our society are systemically racist (and maybe also the idea that such a thing is even possible because of course), subscribe to the “bootstrap theory” for everything they can think to apply it to, reject climate science, and have been extremely conspiratorial about COVID-19. Also they like making it out like everything is a Democrat conspiracy theory, compare the Democrats to Hitler and Stalin to a weird degree, have on at least one occasion called Fox Motherfucking News left-leaning, and think Alex Jones is wacky but sometimes raises valid points.

So that’s, in a nutshell, a bit of a look at my past political views, except I think I was a bit more Christian-dominionist than them and I think I had moments of “...does this really make any sense?” for years before I crashed out of everything. The first domino was my Christianity, but once that fell, my entire approach to the world went some places.

So ...yeah. Oof. I was sketchy as shit. Glad that’s changed.

So uh... I’ve already mentioned a vague (read: as much detail as I feel confident providing) description of my political views now, but after all this bullshit let’s finally get to the other half of my titular current beliefs. This ...isn’t going to be easy to explain either, but I feel more confident going into more detail. Buckle up :^)

Alright. So except for a couple of months where I was like “there is no god reeee” half because I was sOmE hYpErInTeLlEcTuAl SkEpTiC and half because of trauma from the toxic flavor of Christianity I left and some shitty developments in both politics and my social circles (I’ll talk at some length about “Kelly” in a sec here I think), since leaving Christianity I’ve always been what I’ll call “hopeful agnostic” (I think I stole this term from Rhett and/or Link lol). In a nutshell, what that means to me is “there may or may not be a god, but I hope there is at least one and they’re nice, or like, at least some spiritual thing that has a good aspect that can help me”. I also dabble in shitty rituals where I burn dead plants and occasionally also hate literature like gospel tracts (and, that one time, a couple of bibles) and basically call on “anyone who is listening and gives a fuck, else the placebo effect” for whatever my goal is. Like... witchy-adjacent but I don’t think about it very much at this stage. I kind of enjoy it, and I think for one reason or another it can be good for my mental health, but I’m wary of any kind of commitment or even more serious experimentation, even as I hope to find something good, because ...trauma, and maybe even absent that a desire to not be wrong in a way that’s dangerous to anyone else again. So that’s fun :^)

So if you’ve made it this far through this weird bullshit, thanks, this story is kind of important to me xD and if you couldn’t, and you’re not reading this ending thingy because it got too dark or it pissed you off or something, that’s cool too and you’re beautiful and valid. Whoever you are, I hope you find whatever healing you need. :)

#ex christian #spirituality #politics

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wak-after-dark · 5 years ago

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Still not able to come up with an argument about the Epilogue treating Gamzee (the murderous corpse molester) better than Jade (sat around for 3 years with depression only to have a dog dick and then be abandoned by her friends) huh? Guess you're just an idiot and willingly sucking Hussie's dick for a job at Whatpumpkin down the line. Maybe write some incest porn like IPDG and you'll get hired.

Wow get a load of this guy.

Okay I should probably just delete your comments and not give you the time of day, but you’ve been periodically sending me this kind of ask, and I really have to ask, do you really, really believe you’re someone with some sort of Moral High Ground right now? Like I’m not even defending the Epilogues as masterpieces or trying to shove them down people’s throats. I am literally just enjoying the content the WP Team put out and talking about it, and you come to my Inbox, to spew this accusatory nonsense and flinging insults. If you can’t read the Epilogues in a positive manner, and think they’re dogshit, sure, go ahead, but you’re like, trying to act like I’m some sort of brainwashed sheep and you’re trying to make me see the light. Also “Still not able to come up with an argument“ very passive-aggressive there, I have talked about the Epilogues, my opinions and takes on them, and how I feel about the way they deal with characters at LARGE here, if you haven’t bothered to look for the info, and the several responses to some of your asks, then don’t blame me for it. But sure. Let me talk about every single point you JUST mentioned here like some sort of big Masterpost, and when you don’t agree with my point either way, stop fucking harassing me on Anon, seriously you alone have been making me consider turning anon off entirely, which all things considered may just be the healthiest option I could consider, but here I am!

Okay let’s begin with Homestuck proper. Gamzee is a Villain. He’s framed as such, people have constantly shown backlash against his character because he’s got fans that would like to see him redeemed, since a good chunk of his story happens with him brainwashed or mind-altered in some sort, but every time he’s shown to go back to doing awful things and killing people. He abuses Terezi, kills Karkat, and gets killed by Kanaya in return in one Timeline, and in another he gets locked up in a fridge, ends up in Caliborn’s planet, and trying to serve his Lord just gets beaten up, shot, left half-dead, until his final appearance in which he gets cut in half and absorbed into Lord English. Then, the Epilogues happen, and he becomes the butt of a joke about undeserved redemption arcs. His very existence in Candy is a joke that he’s not worth redeeming, actually, but tries to force himself to ‘seem’ like he has, despite ruining Dirk’s funeral, making Jake and Tavros’ lives miserable, supporting a Fascist ruler, taking advantage of a potential minor, and it all ends up with him being choked, killed, and his corpse being used as a Weekend at Bernie’s joke. Like... Is that really what you consider ‘good treatment of a character’? He gets away with a lot of bullshit, but he’s like. Constantly, and consistently, shown to be unpleasant, gross and awful. Like. He’s an awful person, and a comic relief, that does fucked up shit for most of his appearance, and I am not sure how any of this can be read in any sort of positive light. I’ve seen Gamzee fans MAD at how much he gets shat on.

Meanwhile, let’s take Jade. A huge theme of her character, sadly, is loneliness and isolation. I dislike that, like many Jade fans. She’s forced into depressingly helpless situations where she lacks agency or control over her own body, or the situation she’s in, and it’s shown affecting her greatly. I want my girl to be happy as well. So when the Epilogues came, and had her getting Callie-possessed, that was bad, it was like, AGAIN she gets the shaft. I want her to be happy and do what she wants to do and be badass with her powers! But- Oh wait, none of that is what you’re complaining about!!! You keep insisting on the Dog Dick instead of any of the genuinely heartbreaking things that happen to her. Jade has a dog dick. It is mentioned once in the entire Epilogues. It mildly affects her desire to have a child with Dave, but she doesn’t even shown herself that broken up about it, and had been looking about potential alternatives, even having Rose as a surrogate. There’s not a single joke made in the Epilogues about her HAVING a dog dick, nor any sort of isolation that happens as a product of her genitalia. Is it a weird choice to canonize that headcanon? Yeah! It kind of is! But this is also a reality where Obama and Dirk make out. And if someone is uncomfortable about Jade having a dog dick, or doesn’t like her being more openly sexual, then that’s fine!!! If they have a transphobic read on Jade, that’s fine!!! You can dislike it, and Homestuck, and the Epilogues, and the writers! But I, as a trans woman myself, and one who’s horny on main a lot of the time, liked the freedom Jade expressed to just do whatever she wanted with new partners on Earth C, and her seeming acceptance and lack of conflict at just, having junk. She does fuck up with Dave and Karkat, because she pushes them a bit too hard, specially Karkat, trying to use the Quadrant System to insert herself in a Black relationship. In Candy, this culminates with political tensions breaking Karkat away from the triad, which is bad for everyone involved. But in Meat, Jade states that they can tell her to just stop and she will, because she genuinely likes both Karkat and Dave, but their feelings are too deeply bottled and complex to just come to light. Does this put some tension in her relationship with them? Yeah! Does this ISOLATE her from her friends? No! Karkat and Dave DO still wanna hang out with her even if she’s a bit too much. John and Jade apparently chat online a bunch, and Jake seemed to have a good relationship with Jade before the whole Jane thing. She is close enough with Rose and Kanaya that Rose considered the surrogate mother thing. She has friends and ties! The major things that happen to isolate her is, Karkat leaving- Caused by Jane’s rise to power- Dave dying- Caused by Ultimate Self Timeline Shenanigans- And being possessed by Callie- All things outside of her control. I want her to get her agency back, but beyond that, her, as a person on Earth C, was not abandoned by her friends, and your obsession over her dog dick as a root of her issues and the bad stuff that happens to her says more about you than about the Epilogues in my opinion.

Guess you're just an idiot and willingly sucking Hussie's dick for a job at Whatpumpkin down the line. Maybe write some incest porn like IPDG and you'll get hired.

You know what? Yeah I would love to have a role at WhatPumpkin. Because I’ve seen the people working at it do other things, and I’ve seen their passion for Homestuck. The people currently doing Homestuck love Homestuck, and this is not up for fucking debate. As for the incest porn thing? Fuck you. Fuck you, fuck you, and a thousand fucking times fuck you. Once again, trying to get some stupid moral high ground mentioning incest. “Oh look at me, I am criticizing someone for something they wrote years ago”, is how you actually sound, and that’s only on the surface. V from Homestuck was never confirmed to be ipgd. V got harassed, and ‘doxxed’ by dubious sources and, I believe, Kiwifarms shit was going on at that time, so that was extremely shady and shitty. And the result of them being equated ended with ipgd being told to kill themself because of old fic they’d written, which, GUESS WHAT, was actually a critic to the way Incest was extremely popular in Fanfic back then, written by ipgd themself, a god damn survivor of that same bullshit they wrote about!!! Congratulations! THAT is the kind of bullshit people like you pull. You just cling to some idea of what’s right and wrong, and end up hurting real people that’ve gone through real shit, instead of considering nuance to your actions and thinking that, HMM, PERHAPS I SHOULD NOT HARASS SOMEONE ON THE INTERNET BECAUSE THEY DID SOMETHING I DON’T LIKE OR HAVE AN OPINION I DON’T AGREE WITH! But nah, let’s go send death threats to people we don’t like, riiiiiiight????

My fandom wish for homestuck 2 is the characters are treated with respect but since every single one of the new authors hate women and only want dirk and jake as well as Dave and Karkat to fuck on screen while Vriska gets comphet child raped by gamzee why bother lol.

Like, I don’t even know what to say. Have you seen like... The rest of the work the WP Team is doing with Homestuck stuff? Addressing actual issues? Doing right by the characters? Acknowledging their fucked up stuff while also showing them in positive lights? A good chunk of the Team, too, is queer? Like if they were all cis straight dudes I could see your complaint but they just. Aren’t??? At all???? Even Taz, who’s probably the biggest Dirk-Jake fan around, absolutely wants the best for other characters, yes, Jade and Rose included, you are just too jaded and blinded by your perception of the Epilogues. Vriska and Gamzee... Yeah that’s iffy. I am not going to defend that, whether it was a mistake with the ages or it was just Gamzee being more awful, that was extremely nasty. There’s also like, suicide and abuse and dictatorship in the Epilogues though. All of this shit that happens is awful, but also it’s not PROMOTING it or saying it’s a good thing? It’s... Fucked up. Comphet though, I dooooooooo want to elaborate on that, because, while I do like the reading of Vriska as being more into women, she does show a near-consistent fascination for Nic Cage and, then, ARquius as someone with a similar aesthetic? Like don’t get me wrong, Vris-Rezi is absolutely the way to go and the healthy thing for Vriska, but also I am not 100% sure if you can gloss over every single one of her relationships with guys as Comphet? (Compbi? Since it’s Trolls) Not to say it justifies anything with Gamzee, that was just nasty. But I feel there’s nuance to talk about Vriska’s sexuality.

Hussie doesn't like his fans or care about Homestuck, how you can read the Epilogue and say the opposite it honestly insane and a complete bold faced lie. Any author that cares about their work would read someone demanding a character be given a dog dick and say no. Any author who cares about their work and their fans wouldn't have released such a purposely bad and painful epilogue and then demand payment for a resolution. Just give up. That's the moral of Homestuck. Give up. It's pointless.

Nah man, you’re just jaded and hurt and projecting. Hussie and the WP Team love Homestuck. It would’ve been so fucking easy to just stop doing Homestuck and move onto something, not even release an Epilogue. It’s like when Homestuck ended. People accused Hussie of a rushed ending with Act 7 back in the day, of disliking Homestuck and the Fans, of having just wrapped it up quickly, but like... If you want to wrap Homestuck up quickly... There were a million fan theories and endings out around that would’ve been so much simpler, easier and basic than what we got. The fact we got Act 7 and all it entailed, the shit the characters go through the Epilogues, of course a lot of awful shit happens, but like... Precisely? If you’re tired of doing something, you just wrap things up. You don’t set up new plot points and mess with the characters and push a new narrative outlook on something. This is the work of an experimental team that still do love the content and characters. Again, you return to the fucking Dog Cock like it’s the biggest sin the Epilogues commit. You haven’t even mentioned Jane’s fascism a single time, but you’ve mentioned Jade’s Dog Fucking Cock like fucking twenty times. Who the fuck cares about what sort of junk Jade has, the Epilogues themselves barely even care, it’s mentioned in the passing and it hardly affects a THING at all. You ask me how I can ‘read the Epilogues and see the opposite of what they say’, and I ask you the exact same thing, because despite all the awful things that happen, Rose and Kanaya keep fighting against tyranny in Candy. Kanaya realizes she’s been brainwashed and chases after Rose because she’s NOT giving up on her wife. Roxy explores their gender identity and finds new things about themself. Karkat gets to live his rebel leader dreams in one Timeline, although with a bitter split from Dave, but ends up together in a proper relationship in Meat. John’s arc in Candy about feeling isolated from a world that seems fake, before realizing his nihilism has hurt the people he cares about and wanting to fix it. Jake’s morale of ‘better late than never’, working up the courage to take Tavros away from Jane- And in HS^2, working as a double-agent trying to sabotage Jane from within? Jane’s been shown at her worst in candy, but in Meat she’s shown to still be redeemable, and that’s exactly what the team’s aiming to do, too.

Like... I can see all the bad stuff that happens. And I find the reactions of the characters to these awful situations are interesting, and the political conflict among friends and the pushing forward in such a dark situation, resonates with me, personally, and some of my own experiences? Not to say, the Epilogues are a Game Over scenario? They are a low point. HS^2 sets up to be the high point. Like... When Game Over happened, a lot of people were like “Welp, Hussie just killed everyone, lol, guess he just got tired of Homestuck”, despite the Retcon Powers being there as the obvious solution. Epilogues, lots of shit happen, and similarly there’s still like a hundred ways to build up from there to a satisfactory resolution? Storytelling can have low points you know. It hurts when it’s characters you care about, duh, specially when it plays into the weaknesses they already acknowledged but fell into again despite themselves. I see why so many people would dislike them and take a more negative vibe from them than they actually convey. But I am still baffled as to why people like you feel entitled to shit on the WP Team and send harassment and insults to people who do enjoy them. You’re not helping anything. You’re not doing anything good. You’re just being a dick.

As for the “demand a payment for a resolution”, they didn’t demand anything? I will be the first one to say that I don’t like the Extra Bonus for 5 bucks, and think it would be better if the Bonus got released like, a month or two after it has for Patrons, an ‘early access’ scenario like I do with my Patreon. And I hope they change this. But aside from that??? The Patreon is optional to support the creators because, it’s not just Hussie, it’s a big team, and they’re also using the Patreon to help them with other projects like Pesterquest and Hiveswap, because we live in a capitalistic hell world and need money to be able to pursue passion projects. The main updates every month- And twice a month starting February- Are completely free for people to read, still, the paywalled content still circulates around the community despite being paywalled, and other paid projects like, Pesterchum, for their scope and the amount of fun they’ve given me, they’re super cheap and worth it.

You ask me how I can ‘see the opposite the Epilogues say’, you tell me that I am an ‘idiot sucking Hussie’s dick for a job at WP’, you act like I am scum and brainwashed and there’s literally no reason why I should ever like something you don’t.

You know what I am though? I am happy and excited about the things I’ve been given! I am happy with the representation I’ve seen the Team push lately. I’m happy with the way the characters have been treated in Pesterquest and have high hopes for HS^2. And I am interested in the events of the Epilogues, while acknowledging that of course a lot of fucked up shit happened in them.

Back when the Epilogues happening and I was reading them, I was reading Candy at like 4 AM and was LOVING the fucked up-ness of the Timeline and wondering what may happen in Meat. I got a PM from a friend asking me to make a channel in a server I’m in, to quarantine Epilogues Discourse, and was genuinely confused as to why there was Discourse going on. I went through the rest of Candy and Meat with some dread waiting for some ball to drop and something to turn really controversial, and I finished them still enjoying them? Obviously there was a lot of awful shit. Obviously there was a lot of things people wouldn’t like. Obviously they were tales that likely alienated a chunk of the Fandom that was looking for a happy ending. But honestly, the unbridled fury and subsequent harassment of people over them is just plain embarrassing. It was confusing then, and it’s even more confusing now, well over half a year since their release, and still sending random Tumblr Blogs this kind of bullshit.

So there you go! All of your questions and your bullshit, answered! Now let’s get this out of the way: You’re not going to like my answer, you’re not going to agree with a majority of what I just said, you’re not going to CARE about any of what I just said. Spare me the fucking asks and anon hate. Just move on and do something productive with your time.

#Homestuck #Epilogues #Discourse #HSE #After Dark #Anon Hate #Long Post #Longpost

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articlesofnote · 4 years ago

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despised phrases: “political moment”

I spend a lot of time not talking about what goes on in my head because a) it’s hard to articulate, b) I don’t usually want to engage with how pessimistic I tend to be, and c) because of said pessimism most of what I would articulate would probably make things harder for the people around me, who are also struggling with what is more and more clearly a hell-world to which we have unwittingly contributed and continue, in many ways, to support under duress. i also spend a lot of time (a LOT of time) reading articles of political analysis, mostly left-leaning, which inform that pessimism-unto-despair that i suspect is harbored by many more than just myself. i want to not think the things i think and feel the ways i feel about the world that i now know i’m living in. how can any feeling person know what we know about the world and the suffering in it and not feel compelled to respond to it - to have it shape them? how can you not take it in to yourself in some way and be transformed by it? or destroy your soul by trying to build walls against it? a tangent worth exploring at a later time! in any case, it’s pretty clear from what reading i’ve done that the forces of our social universe are not of any moment, in any sense of that word. there is a nigh-overwhelming weight of experience and emotion and attitude in every facet of what we experience in every moment of our lives - so overwhelming that truly, the only sane response is to spend most of our time ignoring it, so we can get on with our lives and not spend all of our time paralyzed by the knowledge that, for example, our standard of living is not only made possible but is ONLY possible through the immiseration of huge numbers of people. And, moreover, that this has been true for generations at least, centuries more accurately - or in the most inclusive analysis, as long as we humans have been organizing ourselves into hierarchical societies. so what then does this phrase “political moment” mean? what rhetorical purpose does it serve? there is the here and now, yes, and there is a true uniqueness in it - as the saying goes, you cannot step into the same river twice. but it seems to me that the phrase is more... insidious, perhaps? the right description escapes me at the moment. it is as though those who use it would have you forget that the past exists and informs the present - as though the current “moment” is an isolated crystal of reality, disconnected from any forces that shaped it in to what it is - from any history we might understand and trust to inform our decisions. rhetorically: “forget the past! it is done and dead! the demands of the present are too great to think about how we got here! and forget the future too! it cannot be known! there is only the Political Moment, the immediate constellation of power and structure that demands from you a singular response.” in other words - lest my prose get too abstract - “you’d better fucking vote for Biden!” and as bitter a draught as this is to swallow, it must be swallowed, because (and I do agree with this) the alternative is devastating - really, the alternative is devastation itself. (vote biden and we’ll have a chance to save ourselves!) but god damnit, this too is insanity! Biden represents the status quo that got us to this point! History, alas, exists and is relevant! Only by the conceit of the “political moment” can we ignore, even briefly, that Biden might as well be the flagbearer for the forces that destabilized American (global?) society to the point where paramount executive authority could fall to Trump. And make no mistake! You might as well say that power was fumbled into his hands - first by the Republican establishment in 2015, so wrapped up in fighting each other that they forgot to consider (until too late) that maybe Trump would actually win if they didn’t try to make him lose - then by the Democratic establishment, so blithely confident that Trumps’ lack of political legitimacy would doom him that they decided to run a campaign based on the attitude “well, she’s not the other guy!” what galls me is that it seems inarguably clear that this is not some accident on the part of the Democrats! they don’t just happen to find themselves in this position every four years - they have a habit of ceding political capital to the Republicans every time it seems like they might have to actually fight on a point of principle! year by year and issue by issue the Democrats enable an ever-more abusive institution and its growing coterie of fascist auxiliaries, and the fruits of their calculation are daily more obvious. and they do it, as far as I can tell, solely so that when election seasons come they can say with at least some semblance of honesty... “well, at least we’re not the other guys!” (vote biden because he’s less obviously a criminal!) * * * so, after however many words i’ve spent getting to this point, here’s the argument i’m making: the democrats benefit so clearly from a truly toxic opposition that they are now, and have been for decades, motivated to foster that toxicity because it improves their electoral odds without their having to do anything other than be slightly less awful: do you want to shovel 100 tons of shit, or 99? (”why do I have to shovel shit at all?” what are you, a communist?) but because they’ve made this devil’s bargain, they have no positive accomplishments to point to any more, whereas the republicans have been vigorously and successfully pursuing their (horrifying, destructive, popular) policy agenda for at least twenty years at this point. also, here’s the buried lede you’ve been waiting for: i’m pissed off by the phrase “political moment” because i think it’s part of a rhetorical strategy to keep folks from thinking about long-term structural trends that got us to where we are. (vote biden and don’t think about why you’re not voting for someone better!) because i believe in intellectual honesty, and also because i want to feel there has been some point to my writing all of this down, i’m going to make a few predictions based on my above thesis: 1) democrats will cave to the GOP on replacing RBG before the election. their justification will be something along the lines of “not wanting to divide the nation during an election year” or some other such horseshit. 2) biden will lose the election, in one of two ways: - decisive trump victory: the biden “strategy” is like a rehash of Clinton 2016, but worse: he’s not doing any campaigning at all and the democratic party message is, you guessed it, “well, he’s not the other guy!” the political messaging in support of biden isn’t pointing to anything he’s actually accomplished or will try to accomplish if in office, just that he’s a “fundamentally decent man” who has “endured unimaginable hardships” - close-ish election where biden has a small lead on election night but when trump inevitably throws a fit and contests the results, biden concedes. the reason will again be something like “not wanting to divide the nation” which will be more plausible because folks... - there’s gonna be election-related social unrest no matter what happens anyway, don’t forget to vote for biden! because after all, technically he’s the better candidate.

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green-blooded · 5 years ago

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Discovery Rewatch 01x01 - The Vulcan Hello

These are the notes I’m taking as I rewatch Discovery. I’m including screencaps both to support claims and also to help me remember things when I look back on this later (for fanfic purposes, probably, heh). This will include spoilers for the entire series, since this is a rewatch.

The first episode opens on a Klingon yelling about unity and purity and all that stuff, and I get what they're trying to do! However! If you're trying to say something about fascism and specifically white supremacy, it doesn't work to transfer those concepts onto a dark-skinned alien race that has been racially coded from the very start. I had a problem with this whole Klingon plot arc, so expect me to complain about it a lot.

On the other hand, the introduction to Burnham and Georgiou is really beautiful. We get a strong feeling for Burnham's discomfort with herself which the show will be exploring for at least two seasons, and her close relationship with her captain, which plays a huge role in the catalyst for the series. Burnham being so sure that they're stuck, and Georgiou calmly creating the insignia in the sand so they could be found? It's made me unreasonably emotional both times I've seen it now. It is such a strong indication of what this show thinks Starfleet should be; a signpost and a hope for the future.

Small nitpick, but I wish the theme song had a little more energy. It's pretty, but it doesn't get me pumped like the other non-Enterprise themes. (Sorry, Faith of the Heart fans.)

Georgiou's ready room is so good, and includes some nice environmental storytelling/characterization, since there’s such limited time to get to know her. Like, for example, we’ll find out in an upcoming episode that physical books are rare, and she has several. She also has a bunch of

The cinematography isn’t as distracting as it gets later in the series, but the lens flare and canted angles show up immediately. The angles particularly are SO jarring, given that Georgiou is a good and heroic character, and knowing that is important given her mirror universe counterpart is so different. I would’ve been more effective to start with canted angles when the conflict about the Klingons starts between Burnham and Georgiou.

Burnham's eagerness to take the risk of going out into the radiation to explore, and Georgiou's concern but willingness to let her go? Very good. There is such an immediately strong relationship between the two of them. And Burnham laughing and her heartbeat rising while she's in the flight suit? So good.

"The only word to effectively describe it is 'wow'." Cute characterization. I like how you can see the Vulcan traits she picked up from being raised by Sarek, but then little Human moments really shine through.

I like that there is a true feeling of the sense of how huge space is... but it'd be better if it were contrasted by the close quarters like those we saw in TOS. I vastly prefer the concept of Starship as submarine rather than, like... space city.

Annnd, then there’s the first Sarek scene. Oh, Sarek. You traumatize Michael to show her that she has an emotional response to, uh, reliving the attack that killed her parents, because OBVIOUSLY SHE DOES you weirdo. Then you tell her that her Human heart is the problem. But you brought her into your home to teach Spock empathy, because I guess Amanda couldn't? But she shouldn't react to obvious emotionally affecting events? BUT SHE SHOULD HAVE ENOUGH FEELING TO TEACH IT TO SOMEONE ELSE? SOMEONE ELSE WHO YOU TREAT LIKE SHIT WHENEVER HE HAS EMPATHY. Sarek. Please. I'm begging you. Be less Sarek.

All the Klingon stuff is boring, hi. I also don't quite understand the purpose of keeping their scenes in Klingon. Especially if we're trying to reflect the current fascist movements in the world right now. Putting them in more layers of latex and all dressed the same and speaking a fictional language... it makes it hard to connect with it, and easy to 'other' the concepts rather than connect them to real events. I just feel like they didn't quite have the courage to come at this theme head on, and it weakened it drastically.

While these things are fixed (to an extent) in the second season, it is really disturbing how the first season keeps driving home the idea of a person's (alien) race dictating who they are. Klingons will fight. Kelpians are prey. Michael is special because her "natural" Human impulses are masked by her Vulcan childhood. I will probably be mentioning it a few times while I rewatch the first season.

"If a death was necessary, I am satisfied it was not yours." Sarek, what did I say about being less Sarek? Please. I am begging you. Just tone down the Sarekness.

"Vulcans don't make the same mistake twice." Michael, you have to know that's bullshit. You know BOTH Sarek and Spock who make the same mistakes over and over again their entire lives.

After seeing the interactions between mirror!Georgiou and Michael, it is really interesting to rewatch her interactions with this Georgiou. And the way Michael fears Georgiou's death more than she fears all the deaths that would come with war is so heartbreaking, even to the point of betraying her.

I think it’s a strong first episode... a LOT happens, but it’s pretty easy to follow, and I feel like it introduced Burnham, Georgiou, and Seru well. Too bad about the Klingon stuff...

#dsc #st: disco #discovery #star trek

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androgynousblackbox · 5 years ago

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“Rebecca Sugar is a nazi apologist because she wanted to redeem the diamonds”

Okay, honesty hour. I am fucking sick of that shitty as fuck argument, and you want to know why? The people who use it pretend to tell me that Sugar makes nazi apoligism every time she “cuddle up” the diamonds (meaning, not killing them and forcing them to repair part of their many fucks ups, so then we can bring war and even more genocide over the gems who want to keep the order of the diamonds and the ones who don’t, instead of letting them live their lives in peace) and makes them more than one dimensional baddies who are perpetually bad all the time. There is no malice in that, apparently, it’s just ignorance, but is still very bad, you see, because. My problem with that is the following:

THAT IS NOT WHAT APOLOGISM IS, YOU DISINGENOUS MOTHERFUCKERS. HAVE ANY OF YOU EVEN SO MUCH KNOWS THE MEANING OF THE WORDS YOU SAY.

An apologist, according to dictionary, is “a person who argues in favor of something unpopular. ... The word apologist comes from the Greek word apologia, meaning "speaking in defense." Not all apologists are bad news; some just defend an unpopular idea.” The Webster dictionary say “one who speaks or writes in defense of someone or something.” Pretend to say that Sugar is speaking in favour of the Diamonds’s way of doing things is a bold faced lie and a disgusting one at that, that when told by people who were told by others this is the case and never bothered to make any research to see if it was true makes them look lazy, but when comes from people who have seen at least one season from finish to end? It’s downright incredible how much you completely missed the fucking point. And this is a children’s cartoon, it’s not that subtle at all. The entire show relies on the premise that the Diamonds’s order was fucked up, not only for the gems that were lower class (like Ruby), not even just for the ones who were higher class (like Sapphire), not even just for the servants (all the Pearls), but even for the Diamonds themselves (Pink’s abuse). Almost every single conflict on the show (the corruption of gems, Pink’s abusive tendencies, Spinel, Steven’s poor mental health, Pearl’s trauma, the hiding of the Off Colors, Lar’s death, Bismuth’s poofing, the entire gem war, etc, etc) is there to tell just how fucked up the gem system really is and how is not working to make the gems happy. Since day one the show is beating you over the head with how all of this is bad and how our good guys rebel against that. Literally the only thing they didn’t do was have Steven turn to the camera and say on a Sonic fashion: remember, kids! Fascist regimes are bad for you! If you see someone promoting fascism, that is no bueno! You would have to put a big effort into not seeing that. A lot of effort. And when the entire series ended, what they did? They destroyed that entire system from the top to the bottom. They changed everything so now gems are free to do what they please without being scared of being shattered. They forced the Diamonds to bring back the gems they harmed. They brought peace to the entire universe so now no one has to fight to be themselves, where they can be themselves, even if that themselves is not the same person they were expected to be their entire lives. This show looked at what the Diamonds were doing and spat all over that, said “this is bullshit” and, not content with that, they did everything they could so no one would have to live that way anymore. What part of any of that is meant to be fascist apologism again? You want to know what an actual fascit apology would have looked like? It would have started with our protagonist being dissastified with the way things are done in Earth and finding it all kinds of wrong because it lacked order, discipline, a clear authority. There would be this lingering longing for such a thing until we finally meet personally the Diamonds and everything looks perfect on every single way: all the gems are just oh so happy to serve, the Diamonds are oh so wise, never making a single mistake ever and everyone is glad to have find them, to be under them and offer themselves up for whatever they want, because this is how were meant to be from the start. That would have been fascist apologism because this system would have been presented as perfect, the Diamonds would have been these perfects beings who are just so magnifique, so benevolent and totally worthy to rule over everyone ever. A narrative where we would have to accept that everything is better when the Diamonds are put above everyone, where the creator is really doing their damnest to defend fascism, like an actual apologist. That show? That show doesn’t fucking exist. That is not at all what happens in Steven Universe. I don’t why that was the specific way in which many people have just decided to slap on it and call it “criticism”, but I hope someone else sees this and realize just how full of shit that claim is. Words have meanings. You can’t just ignore that just because it sounds bad enough for you. Do not go accusing people of defending fascism when they like a show where they actually tear fascism appart. Do not go lying about a story you didn’t like or don’t even know just to make it seem like some moral achievement you alone reached. There are problems on the show and unfortunate implications, like in any piece of media, that we could maybe talk about, but nazi/fascist apologism isn’t one of them and you all look ridiculous pushing it so hard.

#nazi mention #steven universe #antis dni #su crits dni

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themiscyra1983 · 5 years ago

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The Elephant In The Room

Let me preface all this by saying I do not have time for assholes. If you come at me with insults and contempt, I will block you.

The other day on Twitter I said the Harry Potter books aren’t good. I said this to a friend but I guess some people just keep an eye out for whatever Harry Potter shit pops up on Twitter and/or the algorithm just likes to spit in people’s eyes because hoooo boy people saw and lost their minds. I blocked two people over it because they decided to be assholes, and had a somewhat terse conversation with someone who was more politely insistent before going, finally, “I’m glad you find joy in something I no longer care for” and putting an end to the conversation.

It’s no particular secret that I’m in the fandom, and prior to J.K. Rowling going full, ‘no plausible deniability here’ transphobe, I’d bought my share of official merch. Frankly I should have stopped that sooner, but it took getting figuratively slapped in the face multiple times before I finally admitted Rowling’s ignorance carried a distinct air of willfulness and malice. Anyway I still HAVE the stuff I bought before, the Ravenclaw crap, the wands I was collecting (no more of that, I fear, though I’d hoped to pick up Tonks and Ginny’s wands at least before I brought an end to it), the Ravenclaw goblet I was gifted from a friend who bought it before JKR passed the plausibly just clueless horizon. There is still much in the world that I love, but much of that love comes now from the creations of others, and I cannot in good conscience spend money in ways that directly benefit Rowling’s financial empire.

And the Harry Potter books are not, in my view, good books. I’ve felt that for a while now. I’ll go a step further: I think they’re dangerous stories to tell children; I think I would be uncomfortable reading them to any children I might have. They are not stories that should be viewed without a critical eye. I loved them as a teenager. I’ve grown more uncomfortable with them - and, as with Twilight, far more comfortable with how critically thinking fans have transformed the work - as time has passed.

This actually has very little to do with the fact that, well...Rowling is not the best writer. Listen. I’m a Power Rangers fan. I’ve watched every incarnation of Star Trek, and every single movie. I have no problem with trashy fiction. You will find me rooting around in the garbage with the finest raccoons. But that is part of it, yes; there are flaws in the craft of it, and I don’t feel that, inherently, we needn’t judge children’s fiction by adult standards. I would argue that the very BEST children’s fiction is also excellent by adult standards. But this is the least of my concerns.

Here are my actual concerns.

Rowling wants credit for declaring Dumbledore gay after the fact, for saying Hogwarts is a safe space for all students in ways not reinforced (and in fact actively contradicted) by the text, for cheering the fan-created same-sex marriage of Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnegan, but she doesn’t want to take the creative risks that go along with that. When she had the opportunity, with the Fantastic Beasts movies, to make that subtext text, she and her cronies outright declined it. At every opportunity she has shied away from actually putting her high-minded ideas to the page. This is a cowardly choice at best.

Further, Dumbledore’s only canonical love interest (and it is not clear whether the love was requited) was a pretty fascist with whom he fell in, politically, for a time. I get it, we’ve all had crushes on terrible people. But this is literally his one and only love, requited or not, and after he defeats Grindelwald he is left to pine away for the remainder of his days. The one gay love story in the books - if you tilt your head, and squint, and accept Rowling’s word for it - is a tragic one that leaves one man in prison and another celibate and alone and, increasingly, a manipulative bastard who upholds the status quo.

There’s nothing wrong with a tragic love story. I’ve enjoyed quite a few. But when this - THIS - is what you hold up as a triumph of representation, in the absence of ANYTHING else...no. No cookies for you.

Let’s also talk about how I don’t feel Rowling wrote Dumbledore or approaches him with a critical eye. There is NO excuse for leaving a child in an abusive home. No, fuck your blood wards. You’re telling me that Albus Dumbledore - ALBUS DUMBLEDORE - could not devise protections better than leaving Harry with abusive relatives who despised him and everything he stood for? Then, too, when Dumbledore did intervene in Harry’s life, he did so with full knowledge that he was setting Harry up to be a sacrificial lamb, AND WITH THIS SPECIFIC END IN MIND. None of this is acceptable. Dumbledore is a fucking manipulative, abusive bastard who uses people and throws them away, and the fact that it WORKED OUT for Harry does not absolve him of his crimes.

Moving on, and bear in mind I’m still getting my steam up on this whole rant: Seamus Finnegan. Seamus Finnegan is the one canonically, obviously Irish character in the books, named quite stereotypically, but more importantly, in the books and movies, is shown to be interested in (a) liquor and (b) making things explode. He’s REALLY GOOD at making things explode. Do I need to explain why it’s problematic for the one Irish character to blow things up all the time? He also does this in defense of UK wizardry’s status quo, so, you know, even if you were all IRISH FREEDOM FIGHTER YEAH, I assure you he is not that guy.

There is an entire species of sapient magical creatures who exist solely to serve witches and wizards. Hogwarts is run on slave labor and most of the finest wizard families hold slaves. But it’s all right! Only one of them has ever, in the context of the books, wished to be emancipated, and everyone else views Dobby as a weirdo for wishing to be free, and paid for his labor. Dobby, incidentally, later lays down his life for the wizarding savior who tricked his master into freeing him. The only other emancipated house elf we see in the books, Winky, spends her time in a state of drunken depression, rendering her useless and scarcely capable even of caring for herself. She wished to remain enslaved, do you see, and was helpless without the benevolent guidance of her master.

There’s fan work that has tried to address this by exploring a mystically symbiotic relationship between house elves and wizards and witches, and yes, yes, J.K. Rowling is drawing on European folklore here, but let’s not give her credit, okay?

Goblins. Goblins! Goblins have a long history of being antisemitic stereotypes to begin with (hence why I have seen multiple Jews on Tumblr push back HARD on ‘goblincore’), but J.K. Rowling just...right. They’re short, ugly, have hooked noses, generally look like antisemitic cartoon figures. They are locked out of power but control all the wizarding world’s banking, and do so in very usurious ways, for example charging wizards to hold their money, etc. Now this might be an interesting commentary on how Jews have historically been oppressed and forced into fields that goyim felt themselves too ‘pure’ to work in, were it not for the fact that Rowling’s fantasy Jews LITERALLY AREN’T HUMAN, and more, ARE ACTUALLY GREEDY, CONNIVING, AND WILLING TO BETRAY YOU AGAINST THEIR OWN SELF-INTEREST FOR PERSONAL GAIN. FUCKING GOBLINS, MAN.

Then there’s the travesty of Magic in North America, which disrespected the intelligence of Native Americans (none of them figured out you could point a stick at something to make the magic go until white people showed up to help, apparently, but don’t worry, they’re really CLOSE TO NATURE and GOOD AT NATURAL MAGIC), disrespected the beliefs of specific peoples (no, skinwalkers aren’t just misunderstood shapechanging wizards and witches smeared by the greedy and ignorant, you’re whitesplaining actual mythology to the people who hold it sacred), made the ONE wizarding school in America white with an appropriated Native veneer, and generally just...Did Not Get America. As bad as the UK Wizarding World is, Rowling demonstrated complete IGNORANCE regarding the long history of what we now call North America, ignorance of even modern American culture (there’s a reason why American fans particularly tend to ignore the idea that wizardry is locked down tight behind a wall of secrecy here), ignorance and disrespect toward Native populations, and an unwillingness to do the research necessary to do this shit right.

There’s more. There’s blood purity, and gender politics, and Severus Snape’s portrayal, and all kinds of shit that grates, and I’m just tired.

Writers make mistakes. it happens. But Rowling does not recognize her mistakes. She does not seek to make amends. She just barrels on with her shitty opinions, regardless of who she hurts.

it is at the point where I am no longer even willing to thank her for graciously allowing us to play in her sandbox. We don’t need her blessing; the OTW has done far more for fanfic than she has. And it is, indeed, beginning to grate on me that people constantly try to apply Harry Potter metaphors to real life and real politics. As my friend Doc often says, find another book.

I love butterbeer (or at least the knockoffs available outside the Universal parks), I still read fanfic sometimes, I still like to play with ideas like the Harry Potter movies as performed by Muppets, with Dan Radcliffe as Snape and Tom Felton as Lucius. I’m glad the movies brought us a generation of actors, mentored by performers like Alan Rickman and Maggie Smith and so many others, who have gone on to bigger and better things. Much of my merch is packed away, but I still hold on to some of it because it has new meaning for me in light of fanwork, or because (in the case of my Ravenclaw hat and scarf) it’s warm, winters here are cold, I don’t want to buy new shit, leave me alone.

I am accustomed to seeing fans turn trash into treasure. I’ve tried to do it myself. But I feel, quite strongly, that the original text in this case is trash. it is radioactive, stinky trash. You won’t persuade me otherwise, and I’m done apologizing for it. If Rowling wants me to respect her and her work again, she’ll have to earn it, but I’m very trans and she low-key hates my kind, so even if I weren’t a random reader I wouldn’t be holding my breath.

And I really, really need to emphasize to you all that it is okay if people don’t like a given work of fiction. It is okay if people HATE that piece of fiction. You don’t need to change the minds of everyone around you. You absolutely will not succeed in doing so. Please, I’m begging you, make peace with that - and please, I’m begging you, even if you like something, try to consider it critically.

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carpecerevisiam · 5 years ago

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Rumrollinsweek: Nov 27th Home

Extra long fill for this one, since I don’t think I’ll be able to fill Hobby. Sorry if you’re on mobile. Oh, and very minor homophobic language.

It takes them far, far longer to find Rumlow and Rollins than Steve is comfortable admitting.

It’s close to three years before they close in on their location, and in that time S.H.I.E.L.D lose three good agents and hundreds of thousands of dollars bribing officials and paying informants.

Three years spent being led by the nose on a wild goose chase through dangerous, deprived, and miserable places filled with desperate, ruthless, and cruel people.

Three years, and in the end it’s a grainy CCTV image that gives them away. Nothing more, and nothing less.

—

In the wake of Insight, some Hydra agents fled to Mexico in the naïve hope of offering their services to the government or the cartels, but all were picked up shortly after they stepped foot on Mexican land.

S.H.I.E.L.D. and its sister agencies had infiltrated all levels of Mexican law enforcement a very long time ago. Nothing crosses the southern border unnoticed.

Others went to Alaska or Canada seeking to disappear into the wilderness, but occasional survival training courses are scant preparation for the harsh realities of a truly off-the-grid existence, and most staggered out of the forest and back into the waiting arms of the authorities quickly enough, whilst those that didn’t were found by hunters and drones.

The smarter ones—those with the foresight to plan for contingencies and the possibility of failure—left the continent before going to ground, finding positions with mercenary outfits and PMCs, or as private security for politicians, warlords, and gangsters.

India and China made a show of handing over those who sought safety with them, but Russia took in several and was ostracised by the rest of the world. But Steve suspects that decision had less to do with ideology and more to do with the many overt and covert attempts made over the years to destabilise the country—at least some of which had S.H.I.E.L.D’s fingerprints all over them.

Everyone expected that Rumlow and Rollins would have been amongst those provided sanctuary by the Kremlin.

To everyone’s surprise, they weren’t.

—

Greeley, Colorado, is a city of some 107,000 inhabitants.

Just twenty-five miles to the west rise the majestic Rocky Mountain range, but the city—and Steve struggles to think of it as such—is surrounded by just miles and miles of perfectly flat farmland, unbroken but for telephone poles and the occasional towering grain silo.

The city is a neat patchwork of wide streets and squat, bland buildings. It has none of the vibrancy or diversity of New York, none of the life. It is a perfectly ordinary and forgettable little settlement in a perfectly ordinary and forgettable part of a perfectly ordinary and forgettable fly-over state.

It makes Steve want to laugh and laugh and laugh.

—

“Rollins just left,” comes Natasha’s quiet voice in his earpiece, and Steve checks his watch.

Seven-thirty AM on the dot, just like every other day. That Rollins’ routine remains unchanged is a good sign; it means that he, too, hasn’t realised that he’s under surveillance.

“Copy that,” he replies. “Put Davies and Kaszynski on his tail. We’ll move in an hour if they give the all-clear.”

“Of course,” she says, in a tone of voice that tells him she has already done exactly that.

Steve knows she is as frustrated by his caution as the rest of the team, even if no-one will say anything. He doesn’t blame them; he’s frustrated at himself, but they have worked too hard and for too long to risk everything at this late stage.

Rumlow and Rollins are far smarter than any of the other targets they’ve been chasing. The slightest mistake might tip them off, and then Steve will be back at square one all over again.

He won’t let that happen. He can’t.

He stretches as best he can in the van’s cramped space and settles in to wait.

—

The house is as perfectly ordinary and forgettable as everything else. Utterly suburban. A single-story brick-and-render affair on a generous corner plot; two bedrooms, two bathrooms, open-plan kitchen and living room. The carpets are beige, the walls a pale cream.

“And I thought the gays were meant to be good at interior decorating,” Mackenzie drawls. She’s standing off to Steve’s left, looking around with an expression of disgust. “What did this place cost, anyway? Two-fifty?”

DeMarco laughs. “You kidding? Try three-seventy-five, oh and get this—they paid in cash.”

They still haven’t been able to trace the funds. Whoever is in charge of the finances, and Steve reckons it is Rumlow, knows how to keep things hidden.

“Alright,” he calls out. “Alpha team, you’re with Natasha. Take the garage and the yard. Don’t leave any stone untouched. Bravo, let’s start with the living room. Charlie, keep watch.”

Everyone nods and then the teams split up.

Mackenzie stomps off deeper into the house, scuffing her shoes and leaving grey-brown streaks on the carpet as she walks.

—

Steve keeps out of the way as his team tears the house apart with methodical precision, pulling up the carpets and levering up the floorboards, examining the walls for cavities or hidden safes, sweeping crockery and glasses onto the kitchen floor as cupboards are emptied and then pried from the walls.

Instead, he busies himself going through what he assumes must be Rollins’ book collection, because Rumlow never struck him as the type of man who would read for pleasure. There must be at least a hundred books; most are fiction, some by authors Steve has heard of, many by people he hasn’t. But there are some non-fiction books scattered here and there—books on history, on science, on literature, and music, and gardening of all things, all dog-eared and obviously second-hand.

Steve tries to imagine it: Rumlow and Rollins strolling through downtown Greeley, sipping takeaway coffees and making their way from thrift store to thrift store, Rollins looking through the books with idle interest, running his fingers over the spines until something catches—

“Guys?”

Steve looks up to find Mackenzie standing next to an armchair that looks like it’s big enough for two. It’s clearly seen better days; the leather is faded and cracked in some places and sagging in others, but it looks comfortable.

She holds her knife aloft with a wicked grin. “I just wanna say, this is the best day of my life.”

Steve has never heard tearing fabric sound like it’s screaming.

—

Bravo have moved onto the bedrooms by the time Steve is done ensuring that nothing is hidden in or behind the books, and he can hear Mackenzie’s gleeful voice ring out as he makes his way to join them.

“Holy shit! Look what I found!”

“Is that a—”

There’s a peal of cackling laughter. “You’re damn right it is! Fancy one, too.”

When he reaches the door, he sees the team clustered around a dresser, on top of which Mackenzie has placed her find: a large, blue-green dildo.

“Who d’you think took it?” she’s asking, and someone—Steve can’t see who—offers up Rumlow’s name.

Mackenzie shakes her head. “Nah, can’t see it,” she decides. “I mean, sure, he had that whole look going on with the hair and all, but I can’t see him taking a dick up the ass like some kinda fag, even if it is just a plastic one.”

DeMarco scoffs. “You can’t seriously think it’s Rollins bending over and letting Rumlow dick him?”

“Indeed, I do not,” she agrees with a smile. “I think it’s Rollins bending over and letting Rumlow shove this beauty up his ass because that bastard’s dick has been burnt to shit and doesn’t work any—” She stops, eyes widening, as she catches sight of Steve in the doorway. “Oh…shit. Cap.”

The rest of them freeze where they are, waiting silently for a reprimand that Steve can’t bring himself to voice.

Rumlow and Rollins are Hydra. They are traitors. They’d consciously worked to take away peoples’ freedom and to enslave them under Hydra’s fascist vision. Mackenzie lost friends in the Insight disaster, as did Davies, as did DeMarco.

As did all of them.

He turns on his heel and leaves without a word.

—

An hour later, Natasha comes to join him out front.

“Bravo are done,” she tells him, laying a gentle hand on his arm. “Do you want to check anywhere else?”

Steve shakes his head. “No point.” There’s nowhere else to check. It was just a house. A home. “We’re done. Let’s go bring them in.”

#rumrollinsweek #hydra husbands #brock rumlow #jack rollins #steve rogers #rumrollins

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jacksonsdead · 5 years ago

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FALLOUT OC INTERVIEW

Tagged by both @robobrainmurdermysterytheatre and @ticktockthem Thank you! Rules:

1. Choose an OC.

2. Answer them as that OC.

3. Tag 5 people to do the same. I’m choosing my courier!

(Also some of the answers feature Jack, who belongs to @robobrainmurdermysterytheatre ) Callie and Desmond are my other OCs ;)

What is your name? Haley

How old are you? Late twenties? Hard to keep track out here

What do you look like? Blonde, been told by plenty of people that I’m pretty, unfortunately...that’s not always an advantage.

Where are you from? Where do you live now? I’m from Nevada, lived in a little community just outside of West Vegas when I was a kid. Now I mostly still travel but the boyfriend has a house just outside of Freeside so I guess that’s what I’d consider home.

What was your childhood like? Not...great...Don’t really remember much of my parents, just flashes. They were apparently pretty famous singers/performers but they died when I was still really young. I was raised by my older sister and most of my memories of her are good, which... makes dealing with things harder considering how she died. And after she died? Well...I was 17 and stupid and I’m not getting into the rest.

What groups are you friendly with? Are you allied with any factions? I don’t consider myself ‘aligned’ with any factions but there are some I’m on good terms with, honestly I try to keep my nose out of things entirely but...well you have to draw a line sometimes. I respect the hell out of the Followers of the Apocalypse, one of the few factions I’d go out of my way to help out. And the Kings? I like their leader a lot, seems level-headed and pragmatic. And have you seen the way they dress? Every member of the Kings is attractive as hell.

Tell me about your best friend. Don’t have that many but my closest are probably Callista, Cass and Jack. Callie’s running New Vegas now, was always ambitious as hell, no one I’d trust more to get shit done and done right. Plus we’ve been looking out for each other since we were kids.

Cass is the type of friend who is going to tell it to you straight--she doesn’t mince words, doesn’t bother with niceties, and honestly, there’s something refreshing about that. Really fun to drink with too.

And Jack? Jack is...well he’s way more than just my best friend, more on that later.

Do you have a family? Tell me about them! I have a daughter, didn’t know about her until a few months ago. Basically one day this 12-year-old kid shows up and introduces herself. We’re still getting to know each other at this point, but she’s sharp; really clever and funny.

What about a partner or partners? ...I could have you sitting here all day but I’ll only mention the ones that matter. There’s Manny, Desmond and Jack.

Manny is an ex but when we were together? He was just, such a genuine person; authentic and honest. I knew pretty much *right* away that he was way too good for me, but it was hard to not want that, to not want someone just...nice? But he was still so obviously in love with someone else so I ended things and maybe that wasn’t fair; I honestly hope him and Boone work out.

Desmond...well the way we met isn’t exactly the type of story you tell the family. Thought he’d just be another in the line of feeling-sorry-for-myself-late-night-mistakes. But he ended up being one of the most decent people I’ve ever met, quit the raiders for me and buy a house kind of decent--didn’t think I’d ever find something like that. He’s also really good with the kid so, think I’ll stick around.

And finally, Jack.

(screenshot courtesy of @robobrainmurdermysterytheatre )

I met Jack when I left Nevada for a while--took the first caravan I could find going the furthest away and eventually made it to Boston. I was...not ok. I’d had one foot off the edge of a cliff for a while at that point, ready to fall, just waiting for a push. Turns out Jack was too--and I think we both felt that instinctually, that connection. We had a lot in common, that disregard for our own lives, that recklessness born of misery and through it all, somehow, we each became the one thing keeping the other from drowning. And man, we had fun too. I can honestly say there’s no one that *gets* me like Jack, knows how to have a good time. Some of my fondest memories are my time with him; Sometimes I wonder why I even left Boston at all. We still talk, and he visits in the winter, wish he could visit more though, I miss him all the time. Who are your enemies, and why? The Omertas and I have history and no, I don’t want to talk about it. All I’ll say is that if you go into Gomorrah knowing that they get teenagers hooked on chems and then force them into prostitution to pay back their debt, then fuck you.

Have you ever heard of The Brotherhood of Steel? What do you think about them? They’re kind of assholes right? I mean, you fly around on airships with prewar tech that could be used to help, I don’t know, the world, but instead you use it to grind people under your heel, to “civilize” and then you take any prewar tech they may have away for yourselves. Not a huge fan of them honestly, don’t trust them...but the power armor and airships are pretty cool, I’ll admit. And to be fair, there are a few individuals in the brotherhood that seem pretty decent, I’m just not a real fan of organized militaristic factions as a whole.

What about The Enclave? Don’t really know very much about them but the propaganda spewing fascist patriotism is annoying as hell.

How do you feel about Super Mutants? Hate fighting them, try to keep my distance; there’s just something viscerally terrifying about mutated GIANT used-to-be-people that turns my stomach and gets the fight-or-flight response going. Granted, the friendly ones are fine, but there’s also something so sad about them too, makes you sick to your stomach knowing that they used to...not be that way.

What’s the craziest fight you’ve ever been in? The entirety of my time in the Sierra Madre Casino was just one awful clusterfuck that’d I’d rather forget.

Have you ever fought a Deathclaw? Unfortunately, and I have the scars to prove it. I typically try to avoid them or snipe them from a distance. Better make your shots count though, cause once they see you, it’s over.

Do you like fighting? To be honest, most times I try to talk my way out of it, but sometimes there’s nothing that you can do to avoid them. And then? Well sometimes there’s stress that nothing but a good fight can ease. What’s your weapon of choice? Prefer to keep things at a distance, typically use a Anti-Material rifle. But if things get close a .45 pistol or That Gun is my next choice.

How do you survive? Your wits, your charm, your skills, brute force, some combination? (a.k.a. what’s your S.P.E.C.I.A.L?) Half the time? Spite. Spite and instinct. Charm can usually get me out of most situations, or into them depending. And usually if you’re stuck, hacking a terminal or two can get you all the information you need.

Have you ever been in a vault? What do you think about them?

👏I👏Hate👏Vaults👏

How do you beat all the radiation around here? Has it affected you? I carry a lot of Rad-X and try to filter my own water whenever I can. I have no issue with ghouls but I don’t want to be one.

What’s your favorite wasteland critter? I know that they’re dangerous but NightStalkers are just cool.

What’s your least favorite wasteland critter? MOTHERFUCKING CAZADORS. You see one set of wings? Don’t worry there’s 50 more nearby AT LEAST. How do you feel about robots? Robots are honestly fascinating, Jack taught me a lot about programming them. And I’d do anything for ED-E, they’re my favorite to travel with.

How many caps do you have on you right now? Doesn’t matter how many I have, if I need more I’ll just play a few hands of Caravan or Black Jack.

Nuka Cola or Sunset Sarsaparilla? I like both honestly (especially Quantums) but out of the two I’d take a Sunset Sarsaparilla, way more refreshing in the desert heat.

Do you do chems? Used to be a Med-X junkie when I was a teenager, try to stay away from it now but it’s hard not to use when they’re such a tactical advantage. I keep chems on me for battles and occasionally for recreation even though it’s probably not a great idea. Used to do drug runs for the Great Khans too.

Do you ever think about the Pre-War world? I hack a lot of terminals and read a lot of emails and it really does get me curious. Trying to imagine a world that I only have the skeletons of to use as a frame of reference? A lot of the stories Jack tells me seem impossible, but the evidence is all around us if you know where to look. It’s honestly fascinating to learn about.

What’s your deepest regret? What would you do differently? My sister shouldn’t have died, I should have stopped them or, hell, I should have been the one to...It just shouldn’t have happened.

What’s your biggest achievement? Or what do you hope to achieve? I’d say that being a courier and going to all these places that most people have never seen or heard of or imagined is definitely a big accomplishment. I’d like to see more.

What do you want for the future? For yourself? Your friends? The world? I could try and say I have lofty, big goals for the world, that I look at the big picture but honestly? I just want to find peace for myself. To not wake up already tired. I want my kid to be happy and provided for and never go through anything I went through. I want to see Jack.

I TAG: @undeadcourier and @courierspikeee

#fallout new vegas #fallout #new vegas #courier six #courier 6 #haley #long post

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arcanalogue · 5 years ago

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ON TYRANNY - An Unsolicited Tarot Tour, pt. III

I didn’t intend for these posts to be a catalog of how fast the world can change, but last week the UK officially left the European Union, and the GOP-led Senate voted to end the impeachment trial without calling a single witness, ending this week in acquittal.

From inside my home, you can’t tell the difference; walking around in my neighborhood, nothing seems to have changed. That’s the curious nature of trying to stay well-informed, isn’t it? All of the bad news has an atmospheric quality; we receive it digitally and then project it around ourselves like a vaporous envelope, the opacity of which we can adjust at will.

As I twiddle with the settings of my own envelope, I try to ask myself: am I remembering to rest and enjoy my time at home, or am I using the privacy as cover for tormenting myself? Am I a being a true neighbor and citizen as I scuttle about in the world, or am I merely perceiving others as obstacles, intruders, unwelcome distractions, and blocking them out?

Am I embodying my fear? As I struggle to process and contain all the bad news, do I become the bad news?

It often feels like I end up overcompensating in order to prove I’m not adversely affected. Sometimes that’s impossible, and the envelope around me is fully opaque. If I’m lucky I can ride my bike down to the river and sit for a while, dial it back, absorb a broader perspective.

If I’m lucky.

The book ON TYRANNY presents a series of tasks aimed at challenging our own perceptions while also tracking changes in the world around us. A historian, Timothy Snyder seems to appreciate the sort of mental hygiene that regular people must use to cope with the dread and futility that become our constant helpmeets as dangerous forces rise to power. We grow attached to their presence, and come to trust them more than the wild interlopers that sometimes come galloping through, such as, say, hope. Or bravery, which requires the possibility of great sacrifice.

Dread and futility require nothing of us, except to observe, and to hurt. Oh that’s handy, I can do that! But these become such all-consuming preoccupations that we mistake them for activity. Sharing a news story is like bearing witness: I was here, I heard about it, I grieved, I passed it on. A complete cycle we can repeat until we’re limp with exhaustion.

Hope less comfortable, and harder to pass along. It requires one’s spirit to run counter to the movements of the tide. That’s why it’s so valuable, and why it’s a distinctly anti-fascist instinct. Hope represents everything about a human that simply can’t be predicted, or controlled.

Where do you go looking for it in your home, or in your neighborhood? That’s what drives me out into the world most days: I’m looking for hope. When I remember to look, I usually find it.

If I’m lucky.

Alright, enough of that. Having already combed for parallels between Snyder’s chapters and The Magician, The High Priestess, and The Empress, it’s time to soldier on and see if the next few cards offer anything illuminating.

As I wrote before, The Empress and The Emperor represent the interior and exterior aspects of one body: their empire.

Snyder’s fourth chapter begins:

“Life is political, not because the world cares about how you feel, but because the world reacts to what you do. The minor choices we make are themselves a kind of vote, making it more or less likely that free and fair elections will be held in the future. In the politics of the future, our words and gestures, or their absence, count very much.”

When you go out into the world, you may not be fully in charge of your surroundings, but that doesn’t mean you’re powerless to make important changes. You can use your presence and privilege to protect others. You can counter the hatred that arises spontaneously, or intercept the message.

The nastiest people are often the most cowardly, counting on the elements of shock and surprise and a quick getaway. This is always the case when people shout or hurl things at me out of car windows. Slurs scrawled in graffiti are basically the same — it’s a low-risk gambit that hurts many. And when people encounter something unpleasant, they tend to just quicken their pace, pass on by. It’s not “their job” to deal with it.

I totally understand that well-meaning people don’t want to risk a confrontation, or compound a victim’s embarrassment by drawing attention to what happened. But I tell you, as someone who has been harassed and physically attacked in public: the message this ultimately sends to victims is that they’re truly on their own.

You may not be the Emperor of our nation, but you can go about righting some of the smaller wrongs, helping people feel as though it matters to someone.

Like when I noticed that someone else had painted over the “NO FAGS” graffiti which had recently appeared on a wall in my neighborhood, and my very first thought was: Well shit, why didn’t I do that?

I think I know why. I wanted to prove that it didn’t bother me. I wanted to assume it wasn’t aimed at me directly, that it was none of my business, and that it wasn’t so easy to trigger my outrage. And here’s a big one: I really, really wanted someone else to care enough to do it. It wasn’t “my job” to deal with it.

But what about the kids who walk past there to get home from school? I hadn’t thought of them. Should they have to grow up with the same fear that I did? Do I want the people who did this (or those who weren’t bothered by it) to imagine this sort of thing will be tolerated here?

Let’s take responsibility for what others are subjected to in life’s “common areas,” including the internet. May we ride as The Emperor, acting swiftly and according to the most benefic principles.

Authority is tricky: it asserts that some protocols simply must be followed because we say so, that’s why. Within certain professional institutions, there are many things that “just aren’t done,” or are done “just so” — often for good reason.

We run smack up against this kind of thinking when it’s time to make way for better systems. This is by design. It’s supposed to be hard to revise certain standards, they’re meant to evolve slowly, if at all, to preserve a sense of continuity throughout our progress. And yes, this has conveniently allowed certain privileged parties to leverage their position across generations, and profit from the results. But it also prevents any johnny-come-lately demagogue from overturning or erasing standards to suit their particular will.

Or at least, it used to!

The widely-lamented demise of expertise has led to corners being cut left and right, and somewhere along the way the concept of authority itself seems to have been atomized.

Snyder writes:

“Professional ethics must guide us precisely when we are told that the situation is exceptional. Then there is no such thing as ‘just following orders.’ If members of the professions confuse their specific ethics with the emotions of the moment, however, they can find themselves saying and doing things that they might previously have considered unimaginable.”

Many of us aren’t in professions where these decisions wield real power, but our decisions still affect others. And there are doctors, lawyers, teachers, business executives, and civil servants all across the country who are grappling with these distinctions as we speak, and we must perpetually remind them how much our collective fates depend on their adherence to professional ethics.

Everyone wants to cut the line. Everyone wants to be the exception to the rule. Everyone wants to just give up and take it easy. Writ large, this turns our entire civilization into a contest to see who can be the biggest cheater, who can cover up the grossest incompetence. And who does that sound like?

It sounds like, for starters, a chiropractor in South Dakota who wants to decide which treatments medical doctors may offer to trans children.

Did you know The High Priestess and The Hierophant are a partnered set, a duality, just like the Empress and Emperor? Writing about The Priestess and defending institutions, I invited you to “reflect on the mental architecture” that produced your own mind.

This chapter asks you to examine how certain decisions end up contributing to others’ architecture, defining their experiences. You may be more powerful than you know! The Hierophant is part of a lineage of teachers and students, influencers and influenced, each of them just one link in the chain.

How many broken links does it take for our world to stop recognizing itself in recollections of the past?

Of all the card/chapter pairings so far, this one admittedly seems like the biggest stretch... and yet, if this isn’t a snapshot of the pro-leader paramilitary making nice with the official police/military, then what is?

Snyder writes about how paramilitary forces first challenge the police and military, then penetrate them, and finally transform them. There’s an undeniable courtship at work here, a sort of debauched mating ritual.

FYI, this exact courtship was the subject of the recent Watchmen series on HBO — a truly excellent one-season arc that involved crisscrossing ties between military, police, and paramilitary factions, all tangled up in relationships between friends, lovers, and families.

What Snyder warns about here is the recurring love affair between armed "freedom fighters” and those tasked with maintaining civil order. First they discover that they’re more alike than different... and then, eventually, there’s no telling the difference between them whatsoever.

Let’s keep these Lovers star-crossed, shall we?

This is Part III in a series of posts about Timothy Snyder’s ON TYRANNY, which can be purchased via your local bookstore, and also here.

#the lovers #the hierophant #the emperor #major arcana #timothy snyder #on tyranny #tarot cards

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mike-rowe-katze · 5 years ago

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My megapost/rant on Steven Universe, villains and various other things about purity culture (ported from plebbit)

GREETINGS, MOTHERFUCKERS OF THIS WRETCHED HIVE KNOWN AS R/STEVENUNIVERSE! IT IS I, FUBARMEMESDX, WARRIOR OF HATRED AND MISERY! I AM HERE TO DESTROY YOU AND ALL OF YOUR MISCONCEPTIONS REGARDING THIS FINE ENTERTAINMENT PROGRAMME!

Anyway, as for my first point, which I have argued in the past, here is why Diamonds Did Nothing Wrong™ (nothing that's not reversible or inconsequential):

I love the Alright Diamond Authority so much. They're my favourite virtual band. So cute and heartwarming. However, there is an issue here. Whenever you so much as mention a Diamond who isn't coloured pink, you fools immediately start screeching about politics. What I question here is "why?". I shall address all of the common "arguments".

They committed genocide!

As much as the sub loves this word, they don't know what it means. It's the systematic, targeted extermination of an ethnicity from society.

Stop trivialising this word. We need a new word for actual genocide. By your own stupid standards, by eating plants or animals who eat those plants, you have """""""""""""""""""""""committed genocide""""""""""""""""""""""", with massive sarcasm quotes, and I am about to explain this. Who did they commit "genocide" against?

Against planets!

If Peridot's cluelessness about complex organics as a "scientist" and Jasper being a "perfect soldier" while fighting with a crash helmet and breaking down to cry in the middle of a fight didn't already tip you off, Rebecca's 2013 pitch notes for the show, which are identical to the final lore, and a tweet by Ian (https://twitter.com/ianjq/status/1166481003780530176) confirm that Earth was the first planet with intelligent life encountered by Homeworld. Pretty much, the colonies were a good thing, because they created lots of cute Gems, while only sacrificing plants (which you also do, by necessity to live as a human being) and possibly animals (and, if you haven't been vegan for life, you're in no position to preach) to do so. I am a vegan (cue "HAHA HE TOLD US" jokes) and have been for several years, but understand that consumption to continue your species is not fucking genocide. I bet you think Animal Crossing's fishing renders the game an extended metaphor for the genocide of Native Americans. By the way, I'm glad Steven is veggie now. It makes sense, because I always wondered why Steven gave White shit for her "lower lifeforms" stuff, while continuing to consume beings he saw as "lower". Glad that angsty Future Steven is consistent. Also, White isn't wrong. Every lifeform in the show other than Cluster and Obsidian stands at a lower height than her.

Against off-colors!

First, let us establish that an off-color Gem is an imperfect one. An imperfect Gem is one who shows any emotion in their decision-making whatsoever, as androids designed for unfeeling self-reproduction.

White is motivated to stay in her room doing fuck-all because she is afraid that people will see her imperfect body and no longer love her.

Blue is demotivated by pure grief. ("What good will any of this do? The more I make these Gems suffer, the more I long to see you again, Pink.") As far as she knows, the Crystal Gems murdered her daughter, just for doing her job of colonisation. She still doesn't just crush them under her comically oversized fingertips. If that isn't merciful, I don't know what is.

Pink has transitioned into Steven. When he's not out there encouraging the other three to be honest with their emotions, he's emulating White and beating himself up over the fact he can't make everything perfect.

This brings us to our interlude - why Steven is trans Pink:

But GONE!

That meme line doesn't mean what you think it does. Steven has her body (both the gemstone and the light form, seen as a past form in Change Your Mind), her memories (reawakened in Jungle Moon, Can't Go Back, Familiar, Together Alone and Change Your Mind), her powers (to create life, to raise the dead, to cure corruption, the shield) AND her position (as a Crystal Gem and member of the Diamond Authority).

The only things different are the identity, and the flesh body (which is weak and cannot function as an independent human being, and can shapeshift and fuse).

Basically, if you interpret GONE as meaning "he never was her", it's the story of an asshole who abandoned everyone who ever loved her, then dropped all her problems onto her son.

On the other hand, if you interpret GONE as meaning "he no longer identifies as Pink", it becomes the story of a trans boy who became kinder and fixed his mistakes.

It is very clear which one fits more with the show's central theme of self-improvement.

But Pink wasn't an asshole! She saved Earth!

Nope. White did. Can a single Lapis drain Earth's entire ocean? Yes (albeit not killing anyone doing so, since people outside of the cast only exist when the show calls for them to, and Earth would be irreparably fucked in Ocean Gem if the realistic consequences of ocean draining applied, so it's safe to say they don't). Who commands Lapises? Homeworld. Who commands Homeworld? White. Pink's rebellion was non-lethally ended with a single hand attack. If Homeworld really wanted Earth to be destroyed, they could and would do it. They're a bunch of filthy tsunderes.

The point is here is not that Pink was evil, or that Pink was an angel. It's that Pink was bad, but she got better as Steven.

The trans Steven interpretation is further supported by

Blue's "she prefers to be called Steven".

The Tale of Steven book, a retelling of Change Your Mind's dedication to trans kids.

White's pointing out that Steven knows things (the aforementioned memories) that he could not know if he were never Pink.

The parallels between Pink and Steven, especially with Cactus being the new Spinel.

Rose's tape saying she's going to become half of Steven (the properly functioning gem half). Not die for Steven. Become "half of" Steven. Love being him.

This is blatantly obvious. I'm not even trans... or maybe I am and don't know it yet. Anyway, that's irrelevant. How this stuff flies over the heads of 99% of you puzzles me. Hell, it even flies over the head of faelapis, who is otherwise the smartest person in the SU fandom.

Anyway, now that's out of the way, back to the main subject:

Yellow, the only Diamond who even pretends to be competent (she is who you commonly refer to as "the Diamonds"), and is motivated by a desire to look strong and please White, Blue and Steven. Her big boots allow to her stomp any of her enemies into the ground with ease, yet she cannot bring herself to even shatter Amethyst, who is defective, a rebel, an Earthling and directly fighting her,, when given the opportunity. If she won't shatter Amethyst, then who will she shatter? No-one.

Basically, they are off-colors. They also create all the other ones and cast them away as their imperfect parts, their waste which they are ashamed of.

You might bring up those drones, but the fact that Padparadscha, who sees constantly into the past, is still alive, that the drones only scan the gemstones, you can hide behind a fucking rock, and that the drones are indiscriminate and attack Steven, a Diamond, defuses any threat the drones may pose. Either Yellow knows they're useless and is just keeping her reputation up, or she is too naive to be dangerous. Take your pick.

Yellow, after knocking Steven out in Reunited, doesn't even stomp on his body. That's right. She won't even kill the person who, as far as she knows, is the Rose Quartz who murdered her beloved Pink. She says "time to execute" in The Trial, but if she was really so dead-set on that, she would just... do it. With her bare hands. They're big enough. Her later speech about being "brittle" and not cut out for the job suggests the "pretender" interpretation.

Now, to continue:

They're fascists!

Diamonds possess an unholy amount of physical power. They say they'll shatter off-colors and rebels, and could with their bare feet, but don't. This leaves two possibilities: either they're tsundere characters who don't really want to, which is in line with the show's theme of "you're better than you think, you should stop being so hard on yourself", or they're too stupid to realise that they can do that. Either way, they don't pose a real threat, and certainly don't enforce a political ideology. Unlike most "evil emperor" villains (think Star Wars' Galactic Empire), who do kill their enemies, albeit inconsistently as the result of an "idiot plot" required for to the heroes to win, Diamonds are so physically powerful that they literally cannot be defeated in battle by the heroes (Blue can take her entire ship crashing onto her without a scratch), and have the ability to poof enemies or take control of their minds instantly. They absolutely could kill their enemies effortlessly, but 100% consistently don't. This means that they, for whatever reason (probably just being big softies), are merciful and don't actually want to.

Stop poisoning this show with politics. All of the characters are motivated by raw emotion. If they had grand political goals, they wouldn't break down, they would be mechanically dead-set on achieving them.

You might cite Jasper's speech in Earthlings as "fascism", but in the very same episode, this is rendered moot - she, as Homeworld's "perfect soldier", stops fighting to cry, with no tactical advantage.

Pretty much, picture this:

You are God - an invincible being who creates every person as an imperfection of you that you split from yourself. You are also a robot, created with express purpose of assimilating the cosmos with no second thought. You also have very big sandals, allowing you to stomp anyone who dares oppose into the ground. You are faced with the opportunity to do this countless times. Instead of actually doing it, the job makes you miserable and you choose not do it.

Instead of praising you for your bravery in defying your programming and showing everyone mercy, a subreddit forms a lynch mob saying you need to be executed, as pointless vengeance, for things you didn't do, after you opened up.

This is the story of White Diamond.

I feel that most people who disliked Change Your Mind, were operating on the false premise that this would be a show about "beating muh fascists", ignoring every single hint that it gave them about its personal themes and every single time the antagonists spared Steven and co. The show couldn't make it more obvious that its combat was irrelevant and inconsequential, but I guess you're so accustomed to conventional "good guy kills bad guy" shows that you forgot this one was different, and desperately grasped for ways to degrade it into a show about evil.

You also claim that White was rushed, which is probably based on your fallacious idea that "character is x% evil, they must take x long to change". White Diamond is my favourite fictional character. She's been a real source of comfort to me and my OCD, with her whole "feeling guilty and embarrassed about things she really shouldn't" thing. She's a bit like Pink from The Wall, with the "learning to break your metaphorical wall of isolation" theme.

Pink (Floyd, not Diamond), funnily enough, imagines himself as Hitler at one point (In the Flesh Part 2, Run Like Hell, Waiting for the Worms). I can relate to these power fantasies, the feeling of wanting things under your control, then realising acting meaner won't solve anything. Not to the actual Nazi aspect, but to that.

White, however, has none of these. She's like The Wall but with none of the political charge or Roger Waters' bitterness. Of course, the sub still tries to Nazify her anyway. Perhaps it's because of her name... poor choice.

They're dictators!

No, they're gods. They don't possess just political power, they create every other member of their species out of their excrement, are near-invincible, can raise the dead, and every other member of the species is inherently predisposed to following them. Do Christians complain that the biblical God, who is actually massively homicidal in his depiction, is undemocratic? Do you go on "Mario-critical" rants because Princess Peach, a "dictator" - a member of a fictional royal family, albeit one who actually does stomp her enemies, is portrayed in a positive light? Of course not.

They cause corruption!

Yeah, and that was great. It ended the rebellion without killing anyone. It only muted and confused Gems, then Diamonds healed it. White's initial reason to come out of her room is to reverse corruption. It worked out in the end, and we see that the formerly-corrupted Gems are still friends of Diamonds.

They made the Cluster!

If you're talking about destroying Earth, remember that the Cluster's concept art shows her as only 12 temples tall, which matches her arm length in Reunited of about 3 temples tall. She couldn't. I have said "I want this planet to die" before, in one my blow-outs. Depression is a bitch. Sometimes I feel like that. Doesn't mean I'm actually gonna destroy the world. It's just Yellow spouting shit to reassure Blue. Either that or she is dumb and harmless. Pick one. What competent general's best weapon is a friendly anxious girl who gives you thumbs ups?

If you're talking about suffering, have you forgotten Gem Drill? The Cluster isn't a crime. She's a person. One who is capable of peaceful existence and learns to love herself. She stops worrying once Steven assures her that she is not alone and has company in the form of all the shards composing her. This can apply for other forced fusions, too.

I always thought the Cluster's arc was about body positivity - if you're shaped differently, but are not at risk from your physique, there's no reason to worry. Undertale fans commonly make the same mistake for Amalgamates - for characters who look weird but are friendly and capable of peaceful existence, the mistake of portraying them as endless suffering for the sake of sounding edgier.

Pretty much, the shattered Gems composing her found new life. She's good. And the other ones are safely bubbled in Yellow's room along with the Crystal Gems in Change Your Mind.

They're rapists!

Not this fucking shit again. Fusion isn't sex. Sharing food can be used as an analogy of consent. That doesn't mean food is sex. If you say this, you also call Pearl (Cry for Help) and Steven (Change Your Mind) "rapists", which is incredibly insensitive.

They're slavers!

Creating AI servants then, out of your own compassion, allowing them to act freely, isn't the same as finding free people and enslaving them.

They made the zoo!

The zoo is a "cruise ship", as Y-6 describes it, where caveman and Quartz inhabitants (except Holly) live blissfully in utopia. The show has a theme of "if it makes you happy and harms no-one, keep doing it". What's wrong with staying in the zoo, then?

Do not mention actual human zoos. Those were not utopian. Those were racial segregation prisons. The human zoo in the show is one in name only.

They're Hitler / any other real political/criminal/racial/religious/economic/military figure!

https://i.imgur.com/kkczmoN.jpg

Have this. As for non-Nazi individuals or organisations you may mention, they obviously don't exactly match the left checklist, either.

Godwin's law isn't cool.

For the few of you tankies here who think that Andy is a Nazi, see this: https://faelapis.tumblr.com/day/2019/06/06/

Nazi Germany and World War II are interesting historical subjects, and funny ones to satirise, but this show doesn't feature them at all.

Now I am done explaining why they are not bad. Your entire view has been shattered. Or not. You might still try to argue your objectively wrong view by repeating the word "genocide" over and over, but you cannot argue against what I have just explained. I cited the sources and the show themes. The crew and u/PixieDustFairies are both (unintentionally?) on my side. You have lost.

I say "Diamonds", but I mean "any character from this show", including but not limited to Lapis, Jasper, Bismuth and Spinel.

But it's like I'm pissing in an ocean. No matter how many people receive my message, the sub's dominant mindset will be "muh war, muh genocide, muh vengeance, muh dead Pink". They will always be ignorant and follow the zeitgeist of objective incorrectness. I can't voice my frustrations enough. The Muse lyric in my flair was chosen because I wish I could destroy the city of delusion that is this sub.

Anyway, onto the second point: Self-improvement.

Even in an alternate universe where Diamonds actually did any of the bad stuff you mindlessly accuse them of, that wouldn't change the fact that they want to help, and there's no reason not to let them.

You might bring up real-life criminals who pretend to improve to escape prison then re-offend, but the difference is that Diamonds aren't in danger. They couldn't be imprisoned or killed, and their enemies are always at their mercy. Furthermore, these criminals are motivated by psychopathy or political ideology, whereas Steven Universe villains are always motivated by raw, genuine emotion. Any improvement they show is, therefore, out of kindness and not ulterior motives.

Also, why would improvement in a show about self-improvement be fake? This is not a show about "people trying to kill you" (the villains stop themselves, and saying "I'll kill you, Steven, Earth go boom!" is the status quo in the show, not a special "evil" exception). Steven lampshades this in Space Race from season 1. He's used to it. The villains are not representations of real attackers (the poof/bubble system exists to stop real combat comparisons). They're you. Representations of different issues you might have, and how you shouldn't hate yourself for them. If the show were to have a "some people are just irredeemable lol" message, it would be giving up on you. I've seen a lot of people say "oh, this show's only real flaw is that it redeems everyone". Nope. That's its strength. That all of its major villains, who are essentially therapy dolls, find hope. The reassurance that you will find hope.

"Some people just can't change" is also objectively wrong. You can't change other people. They can. You might say "muh hitler/other reviled political figure", but the difference is, Hitler and co chose not to change. It would be an entirely different story if they did. Too bad for you and for them, they didn't. IRRELEVANT! INSENSITIVE! FRIVOLOUS! FUTILE! Saying "Steven redeems (insert character)" is a critical misunderstanding of what Steven does - he encourages the villains, but ultimately, the villains themselves make the choice to open up.

Why would a show about emotional comfort suddenly switch to being a cynical court of law? If it were a court, Amethyst would be jailed in Gem Glow and Steven in Laser Light Cannon, for theft of Cookie Cats and destruction of Beach City respectively. The point here is, anything that doesn't result in any permanent damage to characters is irrelevant. Why would the characters be Machiavellian manipulators in a show explicitly intended as a therapy tool for its author and its viewers?

A fandom with a similar problem is Undertale. Sans explains in neutral routes that, although "self-defense" would be acceptable in real combat, your save/load powers mean you're never in any danger. The best way to explain Undertale is with kittens. That is to say, a kitten scratches you, in an "attempt to kill you". You know for sure that the kitten can't hurt you. Why would you stomp on the kitten, then? That's all it's saying. Not anything specifically about combat. Just "be nice when reasonably possible", nothing more complex. In the game, because you are an immortal time-travelling puppet, it's always reasonably possible. The other things it says are "you can doesn't mean you have to, don't push it" and "depression is a bitch". Fans seem to disregard this, and that's where the common but inaccurate names, "pacifist" and "genocide" runs come from. The "pacifist" run isn't pacifism, it's just common sense. The "genocide" run isn't targeted, it's "destroy absolutely everything". It's omnicide if anything.

The monsters don't give a fuck about politics, and just want freedom, which could be obtained with your soul, but even then, they're willing to turn over within minutes if they like you. Asgore did nothing wrong, because he (1) keeps the human souls alive in jars, and they help you later, (2) arranges a duel with you and will only fight you with your explicit consent, (3) is responsible, along with Papyrus, Alphys and Flowey, for the freedom of monsters without a second war, (4) wants you to win and (5) holds back in battle. He's too hard on himself, and so is Toriel too hard on him, but fans often forget all of the previous to paint him as an evil murderer.

Anyway, if SU were trying to be a combat manual, why would the characters be magical androids whose bodies are made of light and can be poofed and bubbled? You cannot be forced to kill Gems, Steven has psychic powers allowing him to confirm mental processes, and humans in-show can be revived by Diamonds, so any real stakes are dissipated, leaving a solely emotional and personal context. A glorified talk show with fantasy battles to look exciting.

Here's point three: They are near-invincible.

As explained in the point about Blue taking the whole ship, you would be at their mercy. Attempting their murder would not be a good idea. If they so wanted to, they could crush you in an instant. Befriending them is the only way forward here.

Fourth, they create every other Gem:

If you were to kill even one Diamond, you would fuck Gemkind forever. It's not cool to end a species for the sake of vengeance. Diamonds themselves are cool enough not do that, despite having Lapises and boots at their disposal.

Now for point five: They are required to heal corruption.

Are you forgetting that Yellow, Blue and the Crystal Gems' explicit goal is to coax White out her room and heal Nephrite and co? If you murdered her, you would never be able to do that. Keep this shit in mind.

Point six, you can poof and bubble Gems.

Even if Diamonds were hypothetically evil, unwilling to change, not invincible, not mothers and not required to heal corruption, there would still be no reason to shatter them. Poofing and bubbling is easier, more effective and causes less suffering.

Do you support the death penalty? If so, why? I'm not talking about war or defense. I'm talking execution here.

It can only be performed after the target is imprisoned and helpless, so it has no advantage in public safety over life imprisonment.

The only purpose it serves is vengeance for the sake of it, which has no place in a justice system, something which is logically intended to protect the public and nothing else.

Basically, say, there's this guy who eats babies, stabs grandmas and kicks puppies. You might say he "needs" to die, but if police have already captured him, they can just throw him in jail and be done with it. He can't hurt anyone further. Killing him will not un-eat those babies. It simply enacts vengeance, which is understandable to want, but the death penalty isn't just for this guy. It's a system. One which kills helpless prisoners and, sometimes, innocent people.

But that's not really relevant. Diamonds couldn't be imprisoned in-show anyway. Too powerful. They aren't baby-eaters, either. As I explained earlier, this isn't about justice, or crime, or survival. The show defuses itself.

Finally, the seventh: They're fucking fictional. Warning, Star Wars ahead:

Even if Diamonds were just one-dimensional symbols of evil and corruption, like Palpatine (who is my favourite Star Wars character for that reason - being over-the-top, smug pure evil), it would still be okay to like them. Fictional villains, if they even kill, which Diamonds are shown not to, kill other fictional characters. Not real people. Liking villains doesn't make you recreate them. They're here to drive plots. Liking Vader doesn't make you kill children in military strikes. ~~Working for the US Army might.~~ Liking Hux doesn't mean you like blowing up planets. Liking Poe doesn't mean you like blowing up planets. SW is a series in which brazen mass destruction and ridiculous numbers of background character deaths are commonplace. This says nothing about your personality if you think its characters are cool. It goes for heroes, too. Liking Luke doesn't make you a space-wizard-fighter-pilot. Liking Han doesn't mean you like smuggling spice. I could go on and on.

Oh, and don't get me started on Kylo Motherfucking Ren. This dude kills a bunch of fictional characters, including his daddy. He does so because he's an unstable goth witch. His First Order, while containing Nazi-inspired imagery in some areas, hires black soldiers, so he is certainly not a (fictional) Nazi. Also, stop calling him a school shooter. He didn't shoot up a school. He lightsabered up a Jedi Temple, a military academy. But, you have fuckers on the internet saying that you support the KKK if you have a picture of Kylo Ren on your cereal box. You can relate to Ben without stabbing your dad, just as you can relate to Luke without getting your hand cut off by your dad. Liking a character doesn't mean re-enacting them. Characters are vehicles with which to drive the plot.

Here are some handy things to remember before you spout politically loaded terms about cheesy villains: did your character shoot up a school? If not, they're not a school shooter. Is your character an anti-Semite? If not, they're not a Nazi. Does your character pass up an opportunity to kill their enemies when they feel like it? If so, they're not a fascist. Does your character believe that the state should control all resources? If not, they're not a communist. Is your character a military agent? If so, they're not a serial killer. Did your character sexually violate someone? If not, they're not a rapist. Is your character an adult attracted to prepubescent children? If not, they're not a paedophile. Is your character fighting for Islam? If not, they're not a jihadist. Is your character fictional? If so, it's okay to like them regardless of their in-universe status. https://dingdongyouarewrong.tumblr.com/post/187991068090/yall-have-gotta-stop-using-words-like-abusive is a post that summarises my feelings here.

Kylo Ren is perhaps the character with the most obsessed hatedom of all time. He does bad stuff, they all say "HES EVIL KILL HIM". He decides to stop doing bad stuff, they all say "REEE HES NOT ALLOWED TO BE GOOD". He can't catch a break either way. If you're looking for an asshole Star Wars character who has no conflict within him and relishes in pure demonism, see Palpatine. If you're looking for a court of law, if you're looking to see a lynching, don't watch Star Wars, a series whose original trilogy stars technically a terrorist as its protagonist. That's right. If SW were a court like you wanted, rather than an adventure film, Luke would be executed. The Empire is the government, remember. Is this what you want?

I wish SU's fanbase was as chill as Final Fantasy VII's. FF's fanbase overall is split as fuck, to an even greater degree than SW's, but let's talk VII specifically. Everyone likes Cloud, Rufus, Sephiroth and whoever. In-universe, one is an ecoterrorist, one is a corrupt businessman, and the other is an arsonist. The fans seem to understand, for the most part, that these characters are just driving a fictional plot - didn't hurt any real people, aren't in a court, and it's okay to like them and even ship them.

I hate your "anti-improvement" attitude. If this fictional edgelord wants to become kinder, why not let him? That's what I don't understand. Your obsession with "justice" doesn't protect anyone further, it just tries to make sure bad never becomes good. I say Vader's redemption is "deserved", because you get the right to be less shitty, by, well, being less shitty. Who cares if he killed children? So did Obi-Wan and Yoda. It's Star - it's fantasy, and it's Wars - it's massively destructive in-universe. It's Star Wars, not Real Isolated Incidents of Violence. Do you say Luke is irredeemable because he killed 1.2 million background characters in a terrorist attack? It's not about the actions. It's what they represent. The younglings represent Anakin killing his innocence, whereas the Death Star represents Luke beating the odds, stopping the doomsday weapon. What matters is that Anakin showed his ability to care, reawakened by Luke. That Luke was right in saying Anakin wasn't completely fucked.

Anyone can improve. This is an objective fact. If you strive to be the best you can, that's enough. Some people, like the politicians and criminals you always bring up, choose not to. If the real Hitler hypothetically decided to stop the Jew-killing thing and join the Allies, why stop him? Of course, he didn't. This disqualifies him as a comparison here. The desire to improve is what, fictionality aside, separates characters like Anakin and Ben from MUH POLITICS. The obsessed antis are all like, "y u ship rey with dad killuh?", which is like saying "y u ship leia with drug smuggluh?" - they're fictional - explorations of concepts and personality, not criminal records. As soon as you're space, you're not Hitler. I am sick and tired of all these useless and often asinine comparisons. If you try to equate fantasy villains 1-1 with real figures, you're gonna have a bad time.

I also find it very insensitive to put fictional villains on the same level as real depraved criminals. Someone who kills fictional characters to drive a plot of entertainment versus someone who destroys real lives for no purpose. I like playing as Bowser in Mario Kart. I don't like kidnapping princesses. I like Radiohead's Knives Out. I don't like cannibalism. Town of Salem is my favourite online game. I don't like witch hunts.

On a related note, emphasis is everything. Luke Skywalker might have more kills than a slasher villain. That doesn't mean he's more disturbing than one. It's all about focus and narrative purpose. Luke is no sadist or pervert. There is no emphasis on the pain and visceral suffering he might cause. This is also why, for example, I am more comfortable with Ravenholm in Half-Life 2 than I am with, say, a screamer shock site. Ravenholm may be more "graphic" (screaming zombies, dismemberment and whatnot), but it serves its purpose as part of a whole - a good game, with a specifically and effectively spooky part. The hypothetical screamer, on the other hand, is a cheap one-trick pony with no greater purpose or tonal merit. Anakin burning is more disturbing than the destruction of Alderaan, because despite being zero deaths vs. countless, the former has emphasis on pain and desperation, whereas the latter is simply a depiction of a big rock exploding. I like Town of Salem, but I probably wouldn't like it if its lynchings were less comical as a gameplay mechanic and actually tried to depict suffering.

Finally, this is why your government is probably less despicable than a terrorist organisation. Your country's government might have killed greater numbers, but it is probably less targeted and ideologically extreme, and serves a purpose other than to destroy. This is also why despots are less viscerally disturbing to discuss than serial killers. It's why Waiting for the Worms has more artistic value, and is less disturbing, than actual neo-Nazi propaganda - it serves a tonal purpose within its greater work, rather than simply being a glorification of Nazism. Depiction and advocacy are two different things.

But, enough Star Wars (and real wars). Diamonds and co don't even do anything like that.

Anyway, I hoped you enjoyed the complete absolution of Diamonds. You probably won't listen. You will probably ignore all of the evidence and citations I have provided, and will counterargue with politically-loaded words whose usage I have already debunked.

In summary:

Actual show's Diamonds:

A group of four people, who learn to understand each other and realise they're not that different.

Can be a bit scary sometimes, and absolutely have the power to wipe you out, but never do so because they are soft pushovers.

Created every other Gem as an extension of themselves.

Are motivated by a feeling of inadequacy, desire to cheer up the others, sadness and all three of the previous, respectively.

Created the Cluster, a revival of the shattered as a being capable of love and healing, under the guise of blowing up Earth (which it would only take a single Lapis to do).

Haven't a clue about alien biology.

Are walking disorders, but trying their best.

VERSUS

Sub's idea of Diamonds:

A single person named "The Diamonds", who is pure evil and not like the heroes at all.

Always shatter their enemies with no second thought.

Took over Homeworld, and should be overthrown.

Are motivated by a lust for power and political ideology.

Created the Evil Cluster, a horrible abomination of eternal suffering that is beyond help.

Enslaved several other sapient alien species.

Are pure evil and all their help is fake.

Now, which one seems more in line with the therapy show? The top, of course.

Appendix on Kevin and Average Dickery:

You may ask why Steven has more sympathy for Diamonds than Kevin. Other than the fact that no-one here is that bad, as explained previously, here's why:

Major vs Minor: All four Diamonds are major characters. Kevin is a minor recurring character. Of course Diamonds are going to be given more attention than him. If you're looking for a character who initially acts like Kevin (an average "jerk"), but is major and warms up to Steven, see Lars. On a related note, Kevin himself seems to be hiding some kind of affection when he comments on how genuine Stevonnie is. This is like asking why Luke Skywalker has more sympathy for Darth Vader than, say, Ponda Baba, or why Mario goes racing with Bowser and not some random Goomba.

Emotional discharge: Steven is about helping people in need of comfort and encouraging self-love. Whereas the show's "serious antagonists" (eg Jasper, three Diamonds, Lapis) show deep insecurities and flaws, Kevin is simply there to teach Stevonnie a lesson about obsession - Stevonnie is willing to give Kevin the benefit of the doubt, with his lying "little brother" story, but he's just being a heel, some dude who lives for the haters, rather than an actual mess. This is like asking why I like Thom Yorke, who frequently threatens to kill me in song lyrics, over some random dude harassing me in the street.

Necessity (Banana Co.): Befriending the Diamonds, healing corruption and not starting another war are the goals of the Crystal Gems. Central plot. Kevin, on the other hand, is some dude occasionally harassing/partying with Stevonnie.

Status quo: Saying "Imma kill you, Steven, planet is boom" is the status quo for new major characters - engaging in inconsequential magical fights, singing and crying. On the other hand, mundane creepery/dickery is something uncommon for the show.

It's great if Kevin helped you stop being creepy or obsessed, and I think he's cute, but obviously him and (more majorly) Lars' thing is less important in the show's context than the central theme of emotional difficulty, and getting over it, presented with Crystal Gems, Diamonds et cetera.

Other Appendix on how White/Yellow/Blue are no worse than Crystal Gems and this is intentional because it's about sobbing messes who find comfort in each other and not good guys versus bad guys:

Threatened to kill Steven/Garnet/whoever!

Garnet threatens to permanently bubble Lapis and Peridot, simply for not being on her team, essentially threatening to kill them. Also, the Crystal Gems have seemingly endangered Steven's life or directly fought him in many situations.

Forced fusion!

Pearl tricks Garnet into fusing with her. Steven also fuses with the other Crystal Gems to awaken them from poofing.

Called fusions they don't like abominations!

Garnet called the Cluster an abomination, and said she wanted her destroyed. Blue's "fusion police" attitude also spreads to Garnet when she's anal about Sardonyx and the mutant fusions. Funnily enough, the Cluster is probably a healthier relationship than Garnet. Ruby and Sapphire can split, but are left helpless without each other. The Cluster's components, on the other hand, necessarily stick together and never separate, to feel whole. That is to say, Cluster is symbiotic, whereas Garnet, although contented, takes away the autonomy of two Gems who could function separately.

Threatened to destroy humanity!

Bismuth threatened to destroy the Diamonds, and thus Gemkind which is kept alive by them.

Killed (insert being here)!

Didn't happen, see earlier analysis.

Pretty much, it's just the term "Crystal Gem" that instantly marks a character as "good" for you. Perhaps. Or maybe the star. If you're going to judge "the Diamonds" as one entity, at least be consistent and judge "the Crystal Gems" as a single entity, too.

I very strongly disagree with people who say that the show "needs" an "irredeemable" villain. While pure evil villains are fun, this show is not about this kind of person. It's not saying that psychopaths don't exist, it's just not about psychopaths. The point with this show's every major character is that they all represent different temper and self-worth issues, and how to overcome them and be loved in spite of them.

Saying this show is bad because it doesn't try to be a combat manual and isn't about Machiavellianism is like saying The Dark Side of the Moon is a bad album because it doesn't have any death metal songs on it. Alternatively, it's like asking "why doesn't my yoga class teach me how to operate a tank?". Man, I wish my therapist gave me a licence to operate M249 SAWs. "Why doesn't Animal Crossing let you go to hell and slay demons?" "Why doesn't Doom let you relax and build a town?"

Death metal is cool. Pure evil villains are cool. But, just as Pink Floyd is not a metal band, Steven Universe is not a good-versus-evil show. TDSOTM, as an introspective album, would not benefit from a death metal song. SU, as a hurt/comfort show, would not benefit from a psychopath character. The villains might be you. That is, they're not representing enemies you will face so much as problems and quirks you might have.

On a related note, I despise the "appeal to worse problems"/"children in Africa" fallacy. Just if you're sociopolitically sound doesn't mean you're personally sound. It conflates "X is bad" as a statement with "X is the most globally important issue". It's like saying "You've been shot? Don't complain! You could be on fire!". Radiohead's Palo Alto sums it up (I'm OK, how are you? Thanks for asking, thanks for asking! I'm OK, how are you? I hope you're OK too!). You get rich, or maybe you have a nice life on paper. You have to pretend you're fine because that would be "spoiled" to be honest with your feelings. MGMT's Time to Pretend also does it well, as does Yellow Diamond's character in the show.

Different things have different subjects. That's it. You might like a cold political drama on a massive scale. That's cool. It tackles societal and political issues. But SU isn't that. It's about personal issues. A different kettle of fish entirely.

That is all I have to say about Diamonds.

Now for an interlude, a different point: Stop calling people paedophiles and rapists over a show.

I will make the point if you are attracted to Steven, Connie or whoever else, this does not make you a paedophile, because:

Paedophilia is the primary sexual attraction to prepubescent children.

Steven is a teenager, a point at which sexuality is natural.

Steven is drawn in such a way that he does not resemble a real person, so attraction to him for whatever reason does not mean attraction to any real age group. Amethyst, Peridot, Ruby, Sapphire and Spinel are all shorter, less mature and higher-pitched than him. I don't any crusades against liking those five.

You might say "bUt hE's 17!", but that's just an informed attribute in-show. The form of Ame/Peri/Ruby/Sapphy/Spinel means your objection is not appearance-based. If wanting to fuck Steven meant you wanted to fuck real children because 17-year-olds are children, then wanting to fuck Jasper or whoever would mean you want to fuck mummified corpses, because that's what real 6000-year-olds are.

It would also mean you're calling Rebecca Sugar a "paedo" for having drawn Ed, Edd 'n' Eddy smut as a teenager.

They don't look like real children, so nothing deeper is meant by that. Hell, even Pearl looks more like a real child than Steven does. That is, still not at all similar in any meaningful way.

Also, it's okay to ship anyone.

Don't give me the "ShEs 6000 and hEs 17" bullshit. Gems don't age, so the physical time they've been around has nothing to do with their maturity or feelings, unless you're going to argue that Peridot, Amethyst and Spinel of all people are intended to be like old women.

FUCKING STOP CALLING RULE 34 ART "CHILD PORNOGRAPHY". SERIOUSLY, ARE YOU PUTTING HEAVILY STYLISED FICTIONAL DRAWINGS THAT DON'T ACTUALLY HURT ANYONE IN WHICH THE AGE IS SIMPLY AN INFORMED ATTRIBUTE ON THE SAME LEVEL AS ACTUAL CHILD SEXUAL EXPLOITATION? JESUS FUCKING CHRIST, WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU? THIS IS THE MOST TRIVIALISING AND SENSATIONALIST SHIT I'VE EVER HEARD.

Also, for the few of you who call Steg "child porn", FUCKING STOP. Not only does Steg look more like Freddie Mercury than he looks like an actual child, so, even less realistic than Steven, no children were sexually exploited to produce him.

Stop harassing real people over the rights of drawings. You may say they "normalise" CSA, but that's the "Doom makes people shoot each other" argument verbatim. Cartoons don't look real. Shooting stuff in Doom doesn't feel real. I'm saying real harassment causes more harm than a picture of a cartoon Steven's little wiener.

Even in the case of real child abuse, you still shouldn't want people murdered over it. If you do that, if you celebrate the murder of imprisoned child molesters, you're still celebrating murder. Murder of helpless people who are incapable of doing any more harm, and usually didn't even kill anyone.

Here's a disclaimer: I'm ace. I'm not attracted to any characters or real people, nor do I have any ship I particularly like other than generally "every Gem loves every other one".

I am not defending Nazism or child abuse, just telling you to stop fucking TRIVIALISING those terms and explaining why this show and its fandom are neither.

Anyway, now my three controversial points are fully argued, have one that's a bit more minor but still pisses off this contrarian sub:

Spinel did nothing wrong.

Whenever I view this sub, the top post is always about how Pink is a pure angel and Spinel is evil, saying "oh, neglect doesn't excuse Spinel's doing nothing of consequence but it does excuse Pink's ruining of Spinel". Fuck off.

I have already explained how Pink became Steven, so he's out the way now.

Anyway, let's get to Spinel.

She's literally Bismuth 2.0.

She was screwed over by Pink/Rose for 6000 years. She lashed out and said she would destroy Earth/the Diamonds (and, by extension, humanity/Gems), but a single girl with a drill couldn't do that. She decided, ultimately, of her own accord, not to kill anyone despite the vast physical power she possessed. She's a big sobbing pushover. She worried that no-one would love her, but Garnet/White, Amethyst/Yellow and Pearl/Blue proved her wrong.

The movie is basically Made of Honor but longer.

This sub upvotes literally anything that shits on Spinel, but not the same for Bismuth.

Why?

It's just contrarianism, isn't it? In September, we were all gushing over her.

She was tricked and abandoned by her "best friend", only find out after patiently waiting for six fucking thousand years that Pink had lived a life without her and replaced her with "real" friends. I'll say it, Spinel's rage is completely justified and understandable. The Crystal Gems, Rose cared for them. But she didn't care about Spinel. Those other friends stole everything away from her. And then, you know what? Who stopped Spinel? Spinel, you fucking imbecile. Not Steven. He says things, but it's ultimately her decision to break down crying, not kill anyone, smash the distinctly non-ocean-destroying machine, and admit that she needs help. That's brave.

And you know what? When Steven lowers his shield, Spinel could use her giant fists that have the power to break the injector with a single punch to uppercut Steven's fucking head off. But she chooses not to. She doesn't have it in her.

The sub says "tRiDe tA kaMMet jingledinglecide!". Well, guess what: it's not fucking genocide if there is no target ethnicity, and it's not fucking "trying" if you stop yourself. That's like saying being a misanthrope is racist.

So, what are her "crimes", in the end? Just being upset. That's literally it. But you think she should be killed for thoughtcrimes because she had one bad day. Apparently, all her hurt and anxiety doesn't "justify" being upset. She's "evil" because she even did the status quo for the show, consider destroying Steven and Earth. And, before you starting ranting about property damage, Ctrl+F Laser Light Cannon.

Picture this:

You were created to love someone.

That someone leaves you and says she'll return.

You wait six fucking thousand years, patiently, for her.

Turns out, as far you know, she's dead. She lied to you. No-one ever loved you.

Now, her "son" and his friends, celebrate "everyone getting a happy ending", while leaving you high and dry, when you were the one literally created to be her friend.

One of those other friends remembers you. She still doesn't tell anyone about you.

You have a "planet-destroying" injector. Fuck that planet. It's full of worthless, ignorant scum. Scum who ruined your life and gloat about having a happy ending.

You, naturally, snap. You slam the stupid-ass drill into the planet. Literally anything you do would be understandable at this point.

Bastard son cuts you in half, after stealing your weapon from you. This isn't self-defense, it's vengeance.

You regenerate without your memories.

You regain them, revisiting that garden you were left in.

Son sings song about how you'll feel found again.

Then, he basically admits that he only cares about his "real" friends, and only needed you to turn off the drill and nothing else.

Alright, fuck that guy. He knows exactly what your issue is, abandonment. He still thinks abandoning you will be a good idea. Selfish prick. Wilful ignorance. He claims the be the saviour of the universe, yet only cares for a few people. Some of those few people - the water one and the rainbow one, they have the exact same issue as you. He wanted to help them. Why not you?

Turn drill back on, fight him.

He finally realises that his previous understanding and care is what led him to his "happy ending" in the first place.

He lets down his shield.

Your fist, which can grow to infinite size and break your entire comically oversized drill with one punch, could blow his head off.

You choose not to, because you're nice. You're sad, not a psychopath.

He's probably ready to abandon you again for his "real friends", although he says he won't.

Three nicer Diamonds come and adopt you.

That's Spinel. This sub has the idea that, because Rebecca said the word "toxic", Spinel "deserved" her abandonment and crippling self-esteem issues - the idea that she's "evil" and Steven is the perfect victim who can do no wrong. "Toxic", God, I hate that word. It usually avoids explanation for a predefined good/evil mindset. The whole point of the movie is that Steven improves himself, just as Spinel does. He realises that he's not being as helpful as could be, and decides to change that. You might "oh, he has no obligation to help her", but if he's helped people like her before, there's no reason for him not to continue doing so. Are you content with regression? What Steven does before his realisation is the equivalent of throwing a firework display in front of someone who you know is a PTSD-riddled ex-marine, knowing what will happen but doing it anyway, for the pleasure of your "real friends" - reassuring her worry that no-one really cares for her.

Don't tell me you wouldn't snap if the above sequence of events happened to you. Hell, that's a good benchmark. "Would I feel this way if x happened to me?" If the answer is "yes", it's justified. I'm not talking politics here, I'm talking emotional breakdowns. Not justified in a court, but in terms of understandability. If I had a fist that big, I would have almost certainly murdered at least one of you by now. I'm not saying I want to, I'm just saying I don't think I could manage that level of restraint with such great power. That, as discussed earlier, is why Diamonds are exceptionally merciful and patient characters. If you were a robot, literally created for the express purpose of managing quarries and producing more robots, but then choose not to use your massive physical power to crush your opponents anyway, what did you do wrong? Why do people call you "HITLUH"? That's the greater Diamonds. When people say White, Yellow and Blue "abused" Pink, they don't seem to realise that Pink was literally engineered for the things White and co. made her do. It's use as intended.

With Spinel, it's special needs. You don't seem to understand this. If you feel no sympathy for Spinel, either you don't feel from fiction (in which case, I admire that, but why are you watching Steven Universe?), or you're heartless. You're like one of my brothers. The one who knows I self-harm, and jokes about it at my expense. Someone who thinks upset people are just "acting" and are "unjustified" - they need to "man up". Fuck off. The central message of this show is that you shouldn't suffer alone, you're worth it and you should love yourself. I've seen some of you say the characters "deserve" their self-hatred. FUCK OFF. You're not helping anyone this way. You might end up driving someone to suicide one day, and that person, I fear, might be me. You make me feel awful for liking these completely innocent and uplifting characters.

One last thing: This show isn't political.

It never says anything about how to handle war, race, religion, economy or crime. Is it that many of the characters are LGBT+? That's not an ideology. People call this show "feminist" and "essjay woowoo", but it never advocates a political system or says anything about "men vs women". LGBT+ is just identity and comfort. Religions, parties and feminist/racial groups feature a set of laws and codes, whereas mental conditions and gender/sexual orientations are purely personal. I, unlike many, perfectly understand non-binary people, because, like hugging a pillow to bed, or having essential oils diffused through your bedroom, it's just something you do for personal comfort. Not an ideology you enforce, or a gross physical habit you perform, just an identity, something you prefer to be called. Why do you give a fuck?

Now, just as I was writing this essay, I discovered that the show was ending in March. Fuck. It was my iron lung. I'm chained to it. I probably would have killed myself due to a severe bout of depression and self-harm about 1.25 years ago, if it wasn't for this show. That's how White Diamond made me feel. Loved. The depressing thing is that everything dies. Either your show dies young, or it lives long enough to become stale. It's like the end of Off. If you side with the Batter, the world ends. If you side with the Judge, the world continues to suffer. It raises the question of what is preferable: oblivion or suffering? This show took the former route. I'm excited, with worm Steven and whatnot, but also dreading it. Petscop, my other favourite show, ended back in November. No more new episodes to think about and overanalyse. Maybe I'll write a fanfic. I have had dreams about SU characters, after all. At least it's not Pokémon, where greed and complacency turn you to shit.

What's next? "Radiohead disbands!". Probably. "Everything ends, broken. Why can't you forget?", they said, in Planet Telex. That's true. Everything, from shows to relationships, ends in either disrepair or death. I just can't cope. I wish I could just not get attached to things. I wish I could distance myself, and not care when they go away or turn bad. I wish I could be the sun, and not care when the stars go out. I don't know what to do. The sky is falling in.

That will be all.

#rant #fuck you all #i'm a piece of shit #purity police #anti-anti

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serenagaywaterford · 6 years ago

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5) Honestly, imo it would made a lot more sense if Serena got involved with the Resistance after 2x08. She's a writer and a good propagandist, June's an editor, they could carefully go behind Fred's back. Also, Commander Lawrence is there. They could have brought down Gilead from within. Maybe I'm being simplistic, but I think it would have given a nice msg. An instigator (and impassioned supporter) of a misogynistic (and homophobic) totalitarian regime becomes a victim herself, but decides to

6) to do sth about that monstrous situation she created, even if that means that she will go down with Gilead. Then again, I do understand why the creators didn't go there. This is the handmaid's tale, not the redeemed fascist's tale. Regarding 2x10, oof. I pride myself in having a hard stomach, but that scene made me REALLY, REALLY uncomfortable (and ENRAGED). (A lot more uncomfortable than the previous ceremonies, which were terrible enough on their own, AND Eden's death* .) And given that

7) Serena has the gall to tell Fred that June hates him, because he raped her. Like bitch, stfu, it was YOUR idea! You raped her and used Fred for the penetration. And not only that, but she manipulated Fred/played him like an instrument. She knows at this point that he's a serial rapist/abuser AND in love with June, so ofc he wouldn't decline the opportunity to abuse her once again. It really is telling that June was screaming Serena's name, not Fred's. I wonder wtf was going on Serena's mind

8) to put the baby's life in danger. She could have punished June after the birth if she really wanted to. That being said, I personally think that Serena was kind of OOC in that episode. Not because she's an angel that is not capable of such hideous things. But, after taking under consideration 2x08 and 2x09, I felt that her 180° change came out of nowhere. Especially, since she took a small taste of her own medicine. She knows what abuse/domestic violence feels like. As for the marital rape,

9) it may have been clichéd, but it would also have made sense. A person that repeatedly rapes a woman, beats his wife and is okay with mutilations draws the line at forcing himself on her? Since when do creepers have standards? One last thing, because I've spammed you enough. *I mentioned Eden's death (which made me cry like a baby). How do you feel about her? Bc was disappointed that the fandom blamed a 15 year old child that was forced to marry a man twice her age. Not only that, but she

10) forgave him and kept Nick and June's secret? // END OF RANT // My apologies.

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I think I have to put a read more here! Eep!

“Then again, I do understand why the creators didn't go there. This is the handmaid's tale, not the redeemed fascist's tale.”

I had to laugh IRL there. Cos, it’s true. It’s June’s story, technically speaking, not Serena’s. And I dunno but I feel like I suspect that’s where they eventually want to take the show. But S2 is too early for that? I personally don’t know why. There’s no law an American programme must go one for 14 seasons. It could easily be a 4 season series. Or 3! But I’ve read things that Hulu wants to keep it going as long as possible. Huge mistake, imo. Organically speaking, Serena changing course after 2x08, or even, at a push, 2x09 would have made much more sense than this “will she? won’t she?” BS they keep doing with her. I think she’s come around in a way she hadn’t before by the finale (or Eden’s murder). But it still doesn’t seem like it’s something she’ll carry through with--especially without June. It’s interesting how much Serena relies on June for incentive/encouragement. Basically everything Serena’s done in resistance since mid-S2 has been because June has done or challenged her or said something to prompt her. I feel on her own, she would be ~meeker. Even things like, “Hey, so I know this way to possible save the baby... what do you think?” is clearly her going “Please say what I want to hear!” It’s like she can’t just do it herself. She needs June’s input. June was calling almost every shot in 2x08. In 2x09, when left to her own devices, Serena folded. It took June screaming at her in 2x13 for her to do anything about reading. So, without June around I feel like Serena will just go back to old ways. Which is ridic cos she is an intelligent, powerful woman when she actually has the balls. The only thing Serena manages to do on her own is assault, hate speech, and war crimes lol. The easy shit.

That said, I kinda like how they ended 2x08. I loved Fred seeing the rose on June’s bedside and putting all the pieces together and seeing that as the true threat: Serena and June as friends/partners in rebellion. The beating scene was horrific too, mostly cos I’m not one of those weird fans that was sitting there cheering, “YAY I’M SO GLAD SERENA GOT BEAT! SERVES HER RIGHT!” (I just... want to throttle every single person who’s said that. Not necessarily cos I wuv woobie Serena sfm but because way to miss the point of the entire series.) but the aftermath was even worse, imo. June reaching out and attempting to maintain the bond, but Fred managed to break Serena really easily. Like it’s just so awful how easy it was for him to snap that bond, cos he knows his wife and her pride, etc. It was ... so manipulative and evil genius. (Although it doesn’t take a genius to figure that out, Freddie boy.) It was just such a prime example of exactly how they maintain power in Gilead and how they managed to get it working: estranging women from each other. And it was just such an apt way of visualising the concepts June talked about in S1 about keeping women at arm’s length of each other, suspicious, etc. in order for men to keep power. So, in that sense, I thought it was well done. But then... I was like, “OH FUCK THIS. NOT AGAIN. FUCKING SERENA. WHAT A DISAPPOINTMENT. WHY CAN’T SHE BE STRONG LIKE JUNE. UGH.”

I dunno.

Yeah. 2x10. I was “lucky” to have seen that scene ahead of time... so I was prepared when it happened during the episode. But it was still repulsive. Aside from the nonsensical writing of the whole thing, it was just gross. And I think maybe you’re the first person that when talking about this has mentioned how grossed out you are by the other Ceremony scenes. So many people just... don’t really mention them. I remember the article about 2x10 and how the showrunners were saying something along the lines of “Is it really that big of a deal when the same thing has been happening the entire time?” Nobody reacted the same way those times, because the Handmaids are quiet and well-behaved during their rapes, even though, on some level I think Serena and some other wives (IIRC) are completely aware of how terrible it is (Serena even admits as much...but does it anyway uuuggghhhhh.) This is the only time June ever fights back and suddenly not only are Fred and Serena faced with the brutal reality of the act but as the audience we are as well. It’s easy to look the other way when nobody is crying or struggling but WHAM. Fuck that. This is gross and horrible and here is what it REALLY is. And it’s hard to swallow.

June crying Serena’s name was probably the absolute worst part, cos it just makes it crystal clear that everyone knows exactly who is responsible for that rape. June knows who has the power, whose idea it was, and she knows the only one to stop it is not Fred. (God, I fucking hate Fred but like you said, he was totally played by Serena. I don’t let him off the hook for it but really it was her idea, 100% and he just thought “Hell yeah! Sounds good!”)

I feel like as much as Serena understood the Ceremony is pretty bad generally, I don’t think she recognised it as “real” rape until that moment. I feel like a lot of those Gilead people are just so willfully blind and selfish and horrible that they actively refuse to see things. Like Serena’s weird ass enthrall about child brides. I know some of that was to get back at June but she seemed genuinely awed by how beautiful it all was. NO BITCH IT’S NOT. IT’S CHILD ABUSE AND SEX TRAFFICKING.

I just have given up trying to understand why Serena would do such a monumentally STUPID and DANGEROUS thing if she honestly cared about the baby--which, incidentally, I do believe she truly loves Nicole and babies. As crazy as that is. Even if her love of Nicole specifically is totally a self-centeredness. But she loves babies. Babies above all else apparently, including other women. And she’s not an idiot. Baby health aside, that is a HUGE crime in Gilead to rape a pregnant Handmaid for any reason. I’m supposed to believe Serena is just so massively upset about June’s false labour that she goes mentally insane, even after being subjected to the similar treatment like a week earlier? It’s a huge, nonsensical risk on basically every single level.

I’ve come to the conclusion, considering all those things you did, it was just bad writing. Her 180 just... is bonkers. I give up. I don’t think there’s any way to logically get from 2x08/09 to 2x10 without taking some leaps. Do I think Serena would punish and abuse June for humiliating her? Absolutely. That’s her MO. She lives for that shit. But rape? It... I dunno again. Fucking weird. I don’t know if it’s on purpose or what, but I do find it interesting that after that Serena never raises a hand to June again, when she had some opportunity. She still punished her by separating her from Nicole but she never physically assaults her again. (Not that I’m saying she’s a changed person or anything. I just thought it was curious but I don’t know if it was deliberate on the show’s part or just a symptom of lack of real opportunity.)

ITA re: the marital rape too. I see no reason Fred wouldn’t escalate to that. It’s all Joseph Fiennes fault. Which is probably what pisses me off the very most. He decided that was just too much for his character? C’mon. That’s too much but what Fred does in the next ep is peachy keen? Oh, right, because in 2x10 we can blame Fred’s behaviour on his evil wife. It’s not really his fault. I see. But you can’t blame Serena for him raping her. Ugh. So, cos, Fiennes doesn’t like it, we lose way more context for Serena--who, lbr, is the more important character in this whole series out of the two of them.

EDEN. OMG BB EDEN.

I’m with you. I was actually pretty disgusted at fandom’s response to her. SHE IS A CHILD. But all these Nick/June shippers were going hogwild attacking her for getting inbetween their precious self-insert fantasy relationship. (I have a particularly low opinion of Nick/June shippers primarily because of their reactions to Eden, tbh. Before that, I was like whatever, each to their own.) This is a story about women and girls in a horrible society, and the focus seemed to be on tearing apart this female child for something she had zero control over. I never got the “Eden is evil and gonna fuck shit up for Nick (and June)!” vibe. She seemed to be a regular girl caught and raised in a misogynistic awful place and just lost. I absolutely ABHORRED the way Nick treated her the entire fucking time. (I honestly hate him so much, and most of that again is due to him since the forced marriage, both in the way he was with Eden and with June. And the number of fangirls fanwanking away all his shitty fucking behaviour and throwing Eden under the bus didn’t help my attitude.)

She’s a KID. FORCED TO MARRY A GROWN MAN. A man who it wouldn’t kill to just be straight up with her and a little bit kind. Fuck. (Serena’s grooming certainly wasn’t good either. Like, seriously lady, shut up. Stop pressuring the kid to fuck an adult man who hates her by telling her “Well maybe you can like it too!” AHHHHH.)

To me, aside from the babies/children, Eden was the most truly good character on the entire show. She was patient, kind, caring, FORGIVING, loving. Completely innocent bb girl. And then she gets fucking murdered for kissing a boy she actually likes and wants to be with. Which, was ........... wow. Gilead’s hypocrisy killing a pious young girl, presumably fertile... Yikes.

And that little girl was more brave than ANY other character. And maybe some of that is teenage thinking but still she was staring down death and refused to back down. Sure, it’s unreasonable, and an adult likely wouldn’t have made that decision... but also what was her option? Repent... and become a Handmaid? That would have been her fate since she’s an adulteress and fallen woman. And since she truly believes in goodness, and God, and Heaven (presumably), she sees it as a way for her and Isaac to be together. Meanwhile, it took a literal death sentence for Nice Guy Nick to actually recognise he could have maybe been a bit kinder to her. Then she’s asking for HIS forgiveness. AH. Eden bb.

I have a lot of feelings about Eden, and the way fandom treated her. Even when she was killed, fans were still calling her stupid and annoying for her choice--likely the ONLY real choice she has EVER had for herself. (I think that concept gets forgotten.) Like WTF sort of world do you live in that you watch a show about fascism and female oppression and turn around and bitch out the YOUNG GIRL strictly for being a young girl in a fascist society?

But hey, this is the same fandom that calls Janine annoying and crazy, and says Serena deserves to be beaten and mutilated by her husband/Gilead. Way to miss the point of the entire show. But that’s a totally other rant for another time, heh.

Also, anon, NEVER APOLOGISE FOR YOUR RANTS. They are so wonderful to read cos I completely agree! And it’s just such a relief to see reasonable people around these parts.

#rants and raves #Anonymous

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