#(which... some of them may be depending on how you interpret the Gray in relation to the Force)

[dearmahiru-archive]

— together in death; dearmahiru's shinjū theory

tw: this post revolves around the discussion of group suicide and a toxic relationship

Before I Love You had released, I proposed Mahiru attempted to commit a lover's suicide with her boyfriend. It's hopelessly outdated (and terribly formatted) but, given we've recieved many confirmations about Mahiru's story, I wanted to try rewriting the theory with the new information. For reference here is the old post.

Yamanaka: ❝ When we designed the characters and their sins, we tried to design them in a way that is open for interpretation depending on how each viewer feels, and encourage differences in opinions. For example, some sins may be legally wrong, or something that you can’t forgive emotionally, and some may be interpreted differently due to cultural differences and different upbringings. So we encourage people from all walks of life to participate, to increase the diversity and depth in the results. ❞

Understandably, this post will paint Mahiru in an overtly sympathetic light given my bias towards her. However, I'm disinterested in rehashing the same "Mahiru is a bad person" points when everyone is aware of her flaws. I acknowledge proposing this theory would seem like an attempt to absolve Mahiru of guilt but that's not my intention. Like every character, Mahiru is morally gray and whether the audience finds her forgivable is up to them.

So, without further ado, let's begin.

01. Setting The Scene

This particular scene in I Love You is extremely important: namely, it's the location of her victim's death.

If we look at Mahiru's incarnation records, her victim died in Aokigahara, Japan's infamous suicide forest. This makes sense given he had died by hanging.

At least since the 1960s, Aokigahara has become associated with suicide, eventually becoming known in English by the nickname "Suicide Forest" and gaining a reputation as one of the world's most-used suicide sites.

Adding onto this, we know Mahiru went with her boyfriend to Aokigahara. First, ofcourse, the two are seen walking through a literal forest. Second, in Mahiru's Undercover memories, the sleeves perfectly align with the clothes Mahiru and her boyfriend wear. There's no other day where these sleeves align—trust me, I checked.

Q. Can you drive a car? Mahiru: "I have a drivers license. But I'm only a 'paper driver.'"

A paper driver is someone who's license is only 'paper' because they don't use it. Aokigara is a two-hour drive away from Tokyo which is where Mahiru lives. If she doesn't drive then this might mean it was her boyfriend who drove them to Aokigahara.

So to recap, Mahiru and her boyfriend went to a suicide forest together. This does beg the question though: why did Mahiru come along? If she knew her boyfriend was suicidal then wouldn't she try consoling him? Unless, ofcourse, Mahiru also wanted to die.

02. Love Is Mine

When you peek into Mahiru's symbolism you'll notice one reoccurring theme: clinging onto someone until you both suffocate.

Beginning with this shot of Mahiru and her victim, she's depicted as the literal noose tied around her boyfriend's neck. However, as many have noted, it can also be interpreted as her comforting him. As opposed Haruka who's straddling ontop of his victim, Mahiru's boyfriend is laying on her lap while she gazes into his eyes. Although violent, it's a distinctly intimate scene.

Personally, I'm partial to the name theory which suggests each prisoner's name reflects something about their crime. I noted the meaning behind Mahiru's name here but I'll regurgitate it. Mahiru's name means "Midday" which fits along her description:

A prisoner who is like the sun, always chatting and laughing.

So, with the theory in mind, Mahiru's crime relates to her eternal sunny presence.

Along with this, each prisoner has the kanji for "wood" in their name and removing that kanji reflects an aspect of their crime. (For instance, Haruka (嬰) would be "baby" or "necklace" and Yuno (堅) would be "strong" or "resolute" like her real personality).

With out the wood kanji, Mahiru's name is 隹 which means means "bird," obviously relating to how Mahiru and her boyfriend are both bluebirds suffocating within their small birdcage. Their relationship was doomed from the beginning—as bluebirds are wild animals and therefore cannot survive in cages. It was inevitable one of them would've become stressed out and died. Put a pin in the birdcage symbolism since we'll came back to that.

Moving on, in her first voice drama, Mahiru reveals how her victim died:

Es: "I see. So, you became a murderer as a result of some relationship conflicts? Jealousy… Grudges… Having your partner stolen from you… Those stories aren’t all that uncommon now are they?" Mahiru: "You’re wrong. It wasn’t that. I…never even wanted to kill anyone in the first place!" Es: [pauses] Mahiru: "I just… I was… just being myself."

(honestly really frustrating how people still theorize mahiru/her boyfriend cheated when she expressed multiple times that wasn't the case. all of the victims apart from kotoko's were innocent people and mahiru "loving my bf is my defining personality trait" shiina isn't about to tap someone's elses ass. if anything this is a demonstration she was only stressed out about her partner leaving her but whatever i digress)

And then later on these exchanges happen:

Es: It was your love which killed someone, right? Despite that, will you still try to love another person?  Mahiru: [thinks] Actually, I was hoping you could tell me the answer to that, prison guard… If what I did was unforgivable.

Mahiru: Ah, this isn’t good. Be careful, okay? Um… Um… If you’re that kind to me, you could die as well. Just—kidding?  

So already, this theme of suffocation has been reinforced multiple times. Mahiru goes with her boyfriend to a suicide forest, she locks hands with him, she's symbolised as a noose hanging him, she's stuck in a birdcage with him, and it's her sunny disposition, her love for him which kills him.

Which forms the foundation for this theory: following her theme of clinging until suffocation, Mahiru tried to die alongside her boyfriend to forever stay with him.

Q. What is the ultimate form of Love?Mahiru: Being always together

Mahiru: My first shrine visit of the year was together with him. Obviously I know what I want to wish for. Please let us stay together like this forever. Please don’t let anyone else get in our way

Do you really think you know what love is? If you do, let's just overheat together! [Mahiru is outright singing, "Lets stay close together for so long we could die from the warmth.]

If you don't hug me, even our hearts will start drifting apart [Otherwise, "If you don't hold me close then I won't feel loved by you."

Mahiru: "Ehehe...I love, love, LOVE YOU!! Don't ever let me go, ok!"

The happiness we tightly bound up and suffocated, is no longer here

Which leads us to our third point: oh goodness Mahiru's relationship was a hot mess.

03. Love Is (Un)Dead

Okay, so we've established a lot but there's one thing missing: Is Mahiru herself suicidal?

Mahiru: It’s because I've… decided that I’m going to live for the sake of love

Mahiru: Hmm. If you can’t forgive me for what I’ve done, then there’s no point in living—to be honest. [laughs] 

Mahiru: Being in love is… If there was no such thing as love, then my life would be so bland. So, if you say that I won’t be allowed it anymore, then there’s no point in me living. 

An extremely unfortunate yes! Similar to how Shidou wishes to die because of his love, Mahiru only lives for the sake of love. (Infact, coasting off this shinju theory, I'd even say that both Shidou and Mahiru wanted to die for the sake of meeting their loved ones again.)

One specific detail I'd like to highlight are Mahiru's shoes.

In Japan there is a custom for people to take off their shoes before entering their homes, as to not track dirt into their houses. As a result of this line of thinking there is also a custom where people take off their shoes before they enter the afterlife as not to track dirt and such into their ethereal destination. Abandoned pairs of shoes in Japanese media have become symbolic of suicides, and they are also common in non-Japanese media.

This specific symbolism is seen an additional time with Mahiru and Kazui's victims in Undercover and Mu in It's Not My Fault, both of which are related to suicide.

In Mahiru first MV, there's always a shot where we can explicitly see her shoes. They're on in the beginning, off when she confesses to her boyfriend and they begin dating, and on again after something happened to her boyfriend.

I believe this may represent she was suicidal during the relationship. Apart from this, there's lots of little details which paint the picture she was unhappy with her life and dating her boyfriend.

When being interviewed, she tends to talk a lot, and she seems to have developed some special feelings for the prison guard, and sometimes also shows a lonely, vacant expression in contrast to her normally bright and cheerful self. [These "special feelings" for Es aren't necessarily romantic. Atleast, it's "love" in the same way Mahiru thinks of a murder prison as a romantic getaway. It's moreso developes a connection with Es because they uniquely give her attention and she finds their hardwork admirable. She finds them kind and, "if youre kind to me I'm going to start relying on you, thanks!"]

"Hello! I’m Shiina Mahiru, 22 years old! I may be incompetent, but it’s a pleasure meeting you!"

Mahiru: Right…… so you too, Mu-chan…Hmm, I guess it’s because of the environment here. Sometimes your mental state has an impact. Mu: …You’re the same, then? …that it’s gone…… Mahiru: …it’ll be fine, it’ll be fine. This sort of thing happens all the time~

I guess we can just say that this feeling is happiness I can't stop feeling like there's something missing

We can both feel lonely sometimes, but wonder if you'll get angry soon

We fought sometimes, I was happy to get hurt Let's have matching pain, this sickness is pretty bad

This is a claim of responsibility From the two of us with matching love Wanting to know everything about you, but wanting to die because it can't come true It's all because of love

Don’t lose focus even when exercising! The pastel tones mean not only do you look ready to go but also give off a cute oneesan appeal. Even for a rougher style of dress you can’t be careless! Painted toenails and a necklace show some attention to detail to make for a sexy casual style. Just because it’s outdoors doesn’t mean you can relax too much! Even when picking out a date outfit to protect you from the cold, you still want to protect that loveable silhouette.

Most damning of all I'll say is Mahiru's parasite cover. The song tells a story about a scorned girlfriend who was used for sex and seeks alcohol in order to deal with her lingering feelings for ex-boyfriend. At one point Miku throws a bouquet back mirroring Mahiru's desire for a wedding.

(hmm funny how the "mahiru is a yandere because she covered psychogram" crowd was silent about this cover i wonder whyyyy)

Why can’t you understand? I hate you! Never touch me again

Wait a second, when did things start going wrong? I loved the bad parts too, everything was fine

It’s even worse when you are nice to me, But I don’t want to be given the cold shoulder [Most of all, Mahiru desires attention from her boyfriend. In her T1 MV she mentions how he "not the brightest so he never notices that I go to the beautician." This is a likely a blow to her self confidence given the heavy emphasis she has on appearing pretty. Sporadically across the magazines there's lines about "not slacking off" in public because people are always watching.]

Hey, give me back the time I used loving you, You liar. But I still love you

Hey, please don’t leave me behind, Hey, I’m hungry [This line always makes me so sad. In Mahiru's cover there's a beep to imply she's leaving this as a voice-mail for her boyfriend. Once again fulfilling our "stay with me always" clinging symbolism quota.]

Pretend not to see spitting out saliva, You're going to throw me away as incombustible waste

It’s just a bunch of “why”, I can’t change, I want to…I don’t want to leave

Hey, I want you to let me hug you at the last moment, thank you. And now, you are too (a parasite)

It's the last line I'd like to highlight because, all in one song, we've reinforced Mahiru's happiness in the relationship and the clinging symbolism. Mahiru and her boyfriend were both parasites who's clung onto eachother and deprived eachother of nutrients. Both of you suck!!

Then there's Mahiru's two symbolic locations: the birdcage and the carousel. Both of Mahiru's mindscapes places her in the same location: her home, as evident by the couches with pillows.

Personally, I subscribe to the idea the Day 16's house belong to Mahiru or it's a shared home with her boyfriend. If the poor financial situation theory is correct then the two might've decided to live together to cut costs (or Mahiru pressured him into agreeing). Her boyfriend works at a convenience store so he's probably not as financially well-off as Mahiru who recieves an allowance.

However, on a subconscious level, Mahiru thinks of her their home as a birdcage. As stated before, bluebirds can't survive in birdcages, and this is represented by her boyfriend's feathers falling from stress. Something interesting I'd like to note is that Mahiru considers leaving the birdcage but instead decides to dive back into the feathers, causing her boyfriend even more stress. Say with me: clinging 👏 until 👏 you 👏 suffocate 👏 imagery.

"Hmm... I’m a little troubled that I can’t go home, but... It’s fine, I guess. Even if I go home, there’s nothing left... And, I find it fun talking to you!"

Then, after her boyfriend's death, she thinks of their home as a carousel ride. The ledge at the beginning of the MV implies that—rather than an expansive space like Mu's beehive—the carousel is a small space. It's only Mahiru, the couch, the carousel, and a dead corspe. All she's able to do is fall asleep or ride the carousel again by herself, knowing she'll have to get off at some point. It's once again that imagery of something which is cramped and suffocating.

Both of her mindscapes cut them off from the outside world. Within her own mind all that matters is simply her and her boyfriend.

04. The Only You Can('t) Leave

Finally, I'd like to note something which has been sitting on my mind: Mahiru's themes of destiny and rebirth.

Q. What do you think happens when people die? Mahiru: They go to heaven!

Lovers committing double suicide believed that they would be united again in heaven, a view supported by feudal teaching in Edo period Japan, which taught that the bond between two lovers is continued into the next world, and by the teaching of Pure Land Buddhism wherein it is believed that through double suicide, one can approach rebirth in the Pure Land.

(big credit to doctorbunny's and archivalofsins's work on the this is how to be inlove with you locations for pointing this out! ily2 please check them out)

On Day 8, Mahiru goes with her boyfriend to go see "Your Name." Take this with a grain salt because I haven't see the actual movie— I refuse to watch a Makoto Shinkai film until he's allowed to write yuri—but the general gist is that two teenagers from 2013 and 2016 end up swapping bodies. Later, it's revealed that Mitsuha, the main heroine, is fated to die from a comet hitting the earth in the future. Fortunately, through time shenanigans, her fate ends up being altered and both teens end up surviving.

A romance movie featuring a dead lover and a mid relationship? Why, it's perfect for Mahiru!

The two people connected by the red thread are destined lovers, regardless of place, time, or circumstances. This magical cord may stretch or tangle, but never break. This myth is similar to the Western concept of soulmate or a destined partner.

Okay, okay, jokes aside that's not the sole reason I'm bringing up Your Name. Ofcourse, what's most interesting is it's theme of soulmates and how it relates to Mahiru.

Mahiru: Yeah. – Him and I… we loved each other. Properly as boyfriend and girlfriend. We met in college… It was the first time for me, so I don’t know if it was good or not, but… I think we were just normally going out together. I thought it was fate. He said it was, too.

Q. How did you meet your lover? Mahiru: We met eyes at the university terrace. I really felt like it was fate.

On the terrace at university, when I met eyes with that person I knew it must be fate. I might have been born purely so I could one day end up together with him. Or not, am I just overthinking things?

I ran into the person I’m interested in at the bread shop. This has to be fate, right? In the end I ended up buying the same bread as he got, but maybe I don’t need this much… > < I wasn’t thinking about the calories.

We went to one of the filming locations for a movie we both like! This sort of thing can only happen in Tokyo huh! It really must be fate that even our taste in movies lines up. I feel like a totally different person to before I met him… [Once again the movie she's talking about Your Name which is one of the highest grossing anime films of all times... bestie... ily but your rose colored glasses are blinding!!!]

Namely, once again, we're reinforcing the theme of clinging together until you suffocate. Two soulmates forced into loving eachother by the hands of fate. It's a very romantic idea twisted into something heart-wrenching.

The idea of "saving your lover from death" is briefly reflected Day 8 where Mahiru gives her boyfriend a hangover cure from called Corspe Reviver. A bit on the nose, don't you think?

This sections dawdles a little bit from the whole Shinju Theory but it felt off if I didn't include it. Given Shidou's entire character revolves around killing in order to save his loved ones, I can almost imagine Mahiru's murder was to save her boyfriend as well. There's not much evidence but... it's certainly there, right?

05. Conclusion

Aha, this post kind of devolved from "heres my shinju theory" and moreso "wow, Mahiru has a lot of suffocation imagery" which is true. There's so much of it. I don't even think this is all of it!

Theres alot more I wanted to add but... I'm not good with writing long posts if you couldn't tell! If anyone would like to add onto this for me I'd be thrilled ❤️

[kimmyyang]

210408 Zhang Zhehan's interview with Elle Magazine

"I want to be like Ah-Xu, be a gentle yet strong person."

On the day of the photoshoot, it was a rare windy day in Bei Hai. The weather forecast reported it will rain, which made everyone slightly heart-stricken. "Can we still take photos by the seaside?", "how about changing the location?", we were worrying, but fortunately it didn’t rain, only left with steer drop in temperature and roaring wind.

On the way to the photoshoot location, Zhang Zhehan recorded the sound of wind outside of the window. To be able to use the last bit of daylight before the sun sets completely, after filming, he only had one hour and a bit to go back to the hotel, have dinner, change clothes, and get his makeup done. And now, when we have done everything, he uses the time in the car to chat with the long-waited fans in the drama interactive zone.

Busy is an expected state. But when we saw him at the location, you can’t tell any trace of being busy from his face. The strong wind blew the gravels on the beach in the sky. During the interval of the photoshoot, everyone couldn’t help but complained about the cold wind and getting sand all over their faces. Only Zhang Zhehan looked more relaxed as if he came back from a different beach as us.

When we moved to the coffee shop, we finally had time to sit down and talk. He asked the staff to give him a cushion for his back, at that moment, it was probably the first time that made us realize that he is actually very tired. "It’s tough and tiring to be an actor, right?" we haven’t even finished the sentence, and he disagreed, "it’s all the same, every job is tough and tiring."

It seems that he has a big heart.

He chose to ride to Tibet with his friend for his graduation trip. Like his mum said he always has the spirit of seeking out suffering. Speaking of this journey, he said: "we’re living too happily, most families don’t have to worry about clothes and food, don’t need to go through a lot of hardships. I like what Huang Lei teacher once said, ‘people will only have faith after suffering, people will understand kindness after suffering.’ I think after seeing the suffering in the world and feel the suffering yourself - you will be kind to others."

After hearing what he said, you will realize that ‘big heart’ could have been a misunderstanding. He can’t dilute ‘sufferings’ more than others, instead, in the moments of ‘seeking out sufferings’, his feeling towards ‘sufferings’ is stronger and more abundant compared to most people.

He has a very meticulous side, he feels, understands, and hides his ‘sufferings’. Then, those experiences and feelings related to sufferings become something that is hard for others to spot on him.

He said, "when we’re going through a hardship, we can only see the hardship itself, you don’t realize that it’s actually reminding you something and teaching you something else." This is also his understanding of being mature – you can see the many sides of one thing.

‘Bruce Almighty’， ‘The Pursuit of Happyness’， ‘The Bucket List’ are his favorite movies. He said, "there’s a line from Bruce Almighty that left a deep impression – do you really hope God will give you happiness? Maybe everyone’s interpretation of happiness is different, but in the movie, the protagonist only realized it at the end, God was giving him happiness, but not the so-called happiness, God taught him the ability to gain happiness." He pressed his thumb again his chin, slightly looking down, earnestly sharing his impression of the movie.

He added, "you’re actually changing your perspective of the problem." Like what he wrote before, "being mature is being able to see the things that you couldn’t see before."

Maybe if the settling time is long enough, you will be able to stay calm in the change of tides and guard yourself in the quicksand under your feet. Speaking of popularity, he was calmer than we expected.

He said, "popularity is very important for an actor. I think it’s complementary, when you’re popular, you will receive more attention. You will be able to carry some things on your shoulders, first, it can prove that you have the ability, second, it can prove you’re acknowledged by the market."

He continued, "as actors, we also need to be acknowledged by the market. I have seen some amazing actors, they put so much effort into every character but maybe haven’t been acknowledged by the market yet, so they remain unknown. Therefore, a lot of great characters won’t fall into their hands.” It sounds cruel but it’s an undeniable fact. He added, “if you’re not popular, good scripts won’t even land in your hands."

The success of ‘Word of Honor’, to Zhang Zhehan, is like winning the lottery.

He said, "the success of a drama depends on timing, geographical and social conditions, none of these is dispensable. There are hundreds and thousands of dramas filmed each year, but in the end, there will only be one or two that everyone would love. That kind of feels like winning the lottery."

Working hard is very common, it’s nothing special, he thinks it’s unreasonable if you just use ‘working hard’ and ask why you are ‘under appreciated’. Just like how everyone praises him for being an experiential actor and praises his immersive acting. But he thinks, this is the passing line to be an actor, this is what actors are supposed to do.

He said, "if you’re an actor and you don’t experience the character, how could you portray it well, if you don’t get into the character, how could you make the character come to life?"

Working hard, experiencing, and immersing… he views them as a refined definition of actor, these are the preconditions of the lottery ticket. As for whether you can win the lottery in the end, no one can predict it. At least in his experience, he waited for 11 years for that winning lottery ticket.

After the filming ended, he wrote ‘jianghu, goodbye’ on Weibo, when the last episode aired, it was exactly 6 months after the last day of filming. His Weibo is on the setting of showing only the recent 6 months’ posts, as if it was a ‘long been destined’ farewell.

Perhaps the character Zhou Zi Shu is destined to be his. During the four months of filming, he had to gradually reveal Zhou Zi Shu’s two thousand layers of gray, he had to find him, become him, and lastly live the rest of his life for him.

Actors are probably all like this, they always must pour in their own life, emotions, and experience to make the character come to life. The process of making the character come to life means the actors get to experience life and emotions once again.

"Life is experience, you need to put some of your experiences into your characters."

Hegel mentioned in ‘Lectures on Aesthetics’ - 艺术通过供观照的形象可以缓和最酷烈的悲剧命运, 使它成为欣赏的对象。(thank you @sixteenthshen for providing the original quote!)

the specific lines zzh mentioned is bolded: If we are in a general way permitted to regard human activity in the realm of the beautiful as a liberation of the soul, as a release from constraint and restriction, in short, to consider that art does actually alleviate the most overpowering and tragic catastrophes by means of the creations it offers to our contemplation and enjoyment, it is the art of music which conducts us to the final summit of that ascent to freedom.

The reason why those so-called pains are endowed with aesthetic tension may lie in ‘being watched with pleasure’. Those most beautiful things aren’t been torn in our real lives, they become one ‘tearing performance’ after another, being shown on the stage, shown on the screen. The existence of aesthetic distance made ‘those so-called pains’ into something that can be bearable, having its own appreciation.

That so-called ‘pain’ experience comes more direct towards actors, there’s not much room for leeway. In his previous interview, he commented that Zhou Zi Shu is the most memorable character, the character that hurt him the most. Talking about ‘getting hurt’ again, he thinks that is unavoidable.

"I say that an actor has to get into the character and get out of character quickly. But when you’re acting in a happy scene, that happy feeling might last for a day or few days. When you’re acting in a sad, heart-broken scene, even you say it’s ok, it’s fine, it won’t affect me. But it will affect your mood, including your actions. When I go back to my room, I can’t help but to think about that scene, I might not be willing to go out and walk around."

"So, do you think acting is a process of wearing yourself out and wearing emotions down?"

"Of course, of course, of course, it’s wearing myself out." He said of course three times consecutively, "it’s not just wearing my emotions down, it also wears my physical strength out, wears my experience out, and a lot of my own things. So, if I want to do well in a piece of work, I can’t go into the next crew right after I have finished filming. Because you will have traces of the last piece of work, it’s actually hard to accept and get into the next character."

"I personally really like to stay in the filming crew, the reason why I said Zhou Zi Shu is great is that we couldn’t have any other work due to COVID-19 restrictions. I was in the crew for 4 months, in peace. I was looking into and experiencing the character carefully."

On the day of the interview, the Q&A part about acting was the most ‘unrestrained’. Every time we throw out a question, we would always get a powerful and resonating reply. From the perspective of a bystander, you could feel that he is the kind of person that is shining in his professional field.

At the end of every drama/ film, he would choose to leave that environment, and go out to have fun for few days. "I’m not insisting that I need to disengage from the drama/ film, I just want to relax, return to myself, return to Zhang Zhehan’s life."

"So, when you’re looking at Zhou Zi Shu again now as a viewer, do you have any different sentiment?"

"Of course, I would think of the funny parts and incidents. A lot of interesting bits that I’ve added in myself, you can see it in the character." Fortunately, as an actor, he can also feel the happiness that ordinary viewers have.

In our conversation, the words that he mentioned the most were 'gentle yet strong'.

"I really like netizens' comments that Zhou Zi Shu is gentle yet strong."

"The quality that I admire the most now is gentle yet strong."

"I feel like now I want to be like Ah-Xu, someone who is gentle yet strong."

"I want to be like Ah-Xu, become a bit gentler."

He thinks this seemingly contradictory combination is very interesting, "strong describes a person who is strong, whereas gentle is soft. These two words may seem to have no connection, but when they’re put together, it’s also a perfect connection."

"I didn’t feel this way before. I used to think people have to be strong, powerful, how can you be gentle yet strong? I think that’s something I need to learn now. This person must make everyone around them feel comfortable and think of others, but at the same time he/ she is also an individual who’s very strong and full of capabilities."

"Like water, it’s like this when it’s calm, it’s like that when it’s surging high."

He used as many hand gestures as he could as he wanted to express what’s on his mind as much as possible.

Gentle yet strong, this is what he saw, felt from Zhou Zi Shu, and it’s also the character experience he most wants to leave behind.

"Speaking of what hasn’t changed for 11 years, is that I’m still acting; speaking of changes there are a lot. All these years of experience, it became my understanding of each character, in contrast, 11 years of acting experience allowed me to learn a lot from my characters."

To him, every big or small character he had in the past 11 years is a mutual encounter, he gave something to the characters, and the characters also left him with something.

Those who have seen his acting praise him that he truly understands Zhou Zi Shu, so we asked how he could stand in the perspective of Zhou Zi Shu to understand his words and actions. He doesn’t think that it was understanding, it just naturally happened.

"I didn’t deliberately try to understand him, I think what he did was just following his heart, that’s how I feel, so that’s how it should be. I would ask if it was myself, can I do that? Is it acceptable? If I think it’s ok, then it’s right. If I think it’s unacceptable, I will definitely tell the director - 'I don’t want to act this way.'"

"I read another book today, the main idea is the most important thing for people is to know themselves. Know yourself, know what kind of person you are, then you will know the world. You need to learn how to reconcile with yourself, learn how to communicate with yourself, tell yourself when you need to keep going, when to compromise, when you need to understand, when you need to be strong… you need to keep being yourself and convince yourself at certain times."

Meeting Zhou Zi Shu, to Zhang Zhehan is also the process of meeting and knowing himself. "But I’m probably not as mighty as Zhou Zi Shu," he laughed.

He thinks that he’s not at the age of looking back, the things that have happened, just let them go. "There’s nothing to remember in particular, there’s nothing memorable. And my occupation, a lot of people will remember for you, they will remember your good, remember your various moments, so I don’t need to remember. What I need to do now is to live well, my current life, future life, and get into the next role."

"When I can’t act anymore, I think I will look back more."

Now, he wants to challenge a new area, "I really want to act in movies, act in more movies. 40 episodes of acting and 2 hours of acting are different, condensed acting is the quintessence. I still need to learn how to act well in the 2 hours."

And "I hope I can be a director one day."

The beautiful scenery in spring is as deep and wide as the sea, it’s fortunate that we get to meet.

"My occupation, many people will remember every moment of yours."

"Immerse into my next character, and live well - that's what I need to do now. "

Translation by: KIMMYYANG

[shoichee]

ALSO CAN I ASK FOR SOME RANDOM GOM HCS U HAVE? like just random ones u have or if u want like some toxic hcs abt them :D

I’m assuming that I can include their negative traits of their personalities as well 👀 Also including Momoi in this… lots of analyzing for this hc, so I used my brain here pls appreciate AGAIN these are all headcanons/interpretations of possible toxic hcs about them and only a few are canon

[Headcanons]

Kuroko Tetsuya

Kuroko is the hardest person to find a “negative/toxic” trait in, and it doesn’t seem like he has any

kind, understanding, hardworking, and compassionate; he’s everything a good-natured protagonist is

but he’s only like this to people/hobbies he cares about/close with; anything else he’s quite apathetic and also very passive/neutral about

the biggest hint to this is when Akashi criticizes Kuroko for cherry-picking who the GoMs should “go all out against” and who to casually toy with

and Akashi is absolutely correct

most of the series is portrayed through Kuroko’s perspective, and Akashi is the first direct outside perspective who comments on his actions/attitude

it’s obviously not that Kuroko didn’t “notice”... he clearly sees and knows what these GoMs are doing; after all, he had a conversation with Aomine about how observant he is to everything around him

of course, if you were close to him, all your opinions and issues matter to him

it’s the fact that what’s not really important to him is suddenly now important just because someone he knows is involved

just an example: if someone was advocating climate change, he has no opinion on it until someone he knows cares about the issue

in other words, he has a subtle hypocritical view on things, especially when he interacts with others

another clear negative trait could be that he’s too idealistic or perhaps naive, seeing things in a clear black-or-white picture and not necessarily a gray area

WE know, as an audience, that the GoMs honestly needed therapy and a proper adult to guide their out-of-control talents

but Kuroko, in his eyes, had viewed them as “bad” and “evil” in their ways of basketball until they changed after their respective matches

he’s probably someone who doesn’t yield to other opinions once he forms his own, and this may make him unable to consider things in other people’s perspectives

which is again, ironic: someone who doesn’t have generally a strong stance but once they do, it’s very unyielding, which further proves Akashi’s comment about Kuroko’s tendency to nitpick which to care about

a final hc about a potential flaw he might have here in a different ask!

Kise Ryota

y’all… it’s as canon as day that he has a mean side

straight from the author himself, it’s confirmed that Kise is only kind to those who he respects, and to the rest, he’s cold-hearted

in the manga, it’s very clear that he’s super judgmental on every first impression on people he meets, boxing them into categories based on the way they look, act, and speak

only when they surpass his preset expectations (low or high depends on his preliminary judgments of them) is when he opens his mind to the rest of their personality

this is a very close-minded way of thinking, and I hope I don’t need to explain why LOL

this can be interpreted as him being two-faced by the majority of the people in his school

his way of speaking can definitely be very cruel and crass, and to sensitive people, his words can easily shatter hearts

Kise’s negative/toxic traits are pretty straightforward here, so let’s move on

Midorima Shintarou

his harsh words can be considered a “negative” part of his personality, but I think it’s a lot more than just that

it’s confirmed in the series that he’s a bystander and almost always minds his own business

on one hand, one can say he’s self-driven and that he constantly strives for self-improvement

on the other, it can be interpreted as him being very dangerously ambitious and selfish, in which most actions he takes are for the sole reason of self-improvement and not for altruistic reasons

for example, when he helped Kuroko and Kagami in the training camp, it was under the reasoning that them becoming stronger would be a good challenge for himself to test and learn

that’s not to say that he can’t have friends, but most friendships he’s built are with capable people who can potentially provide him with some new beneficial skill/goal to strive towards

after all, he’s only learned to trust Takao as a friend only after seeing him as someone capable

because he’s so focused on himself, he’s extremely likely to turn a blind eye to injustice, most also likely to use Oha Asa to justify their “misfortunes” as he continues on his day

he’s not cold-hearted, but altruism comes by Midorima a lot rarer than the average person

now, we know that his Oha Asa aspect is used to balance his serious side as the “comedic side” of him, but if we really think about it, his obsessions with the horoscopes could be a huge obstacle in the future, where he may refuse to listen/depend on others in favor of his own intuition and the stars; after all, no one knows everything, and depending on the stars as one’s next source of advice and guidance isn’t a sound decision to commit themselves to

he seems like the person who overthinks and jumps to conclusions when it comes to social situations, but instead of confronting the person, he turns to fate and fortune if Takao isn’t near to help

Aomine Daiki

I wouldn’t be surprised if Aomine had a skewed sense of beauty standards from all those magazines he consumed and from being around Momoi for the majority of his life

of course anyone can distinguish pieces of media from reality, but during the most impressionable years of life, without experiencing other types of people and physiques, he would have limited knowledge on what “beauty” is and whatnot

this probably would be more of a problem in his adolescence than adult

a very given negative trait is his short temper plus his tendency to turn to physical violence when someone nags him to a certain point, seen with how he’s treated Wakamatsu in the beginning (though this seems to almost disappear by the end of the series)

what I’ve noticed in every scene he’s in, is that everything seems to revolve around him and his hobbies of basketball and Japanese idols

what I mean is that everytime we see Aomine, it’s always Momoi approaching to Aomine or just him always being the center of attention; never once has he approached Momoi for anything and it’s always been the other way around

in other words, people have to cater to him in order to get along with him/be in good graces (additional example: Imayoshi letting him do as he pleases to get him to be cooperative and participate in the games)

we’ve actually never seen Momoi’s hobbies outside of being a manager for her basketball teams and just anything basketball-related

he can be quite apathetic, choosing to only pay attention and try in things he’s interested in… which is basketball and those magazines

he seems to mature in the Last Game though, so I’m not quite sure to what extent these headcanons would apply to older Aomine (these also don’t really apply to Puremine)

Momoi Satsuki

the author probably also included this type of anime trope as comedy, but belittling another female for her body is definitely a no-go in reality; I feel like this is something most people gloss over really lightly

her body comments on Riko are actually what made me skeptical of her character at first before the show really shows her entire personality

that being said, it seems that she always takes the opportunity to look down on other girls (especially to those she is a stranger to) as a sort of “competition” when there’s boys around

definitely at certain moments, she screams a “pick-me girl” type of person (real phenomenon, you can search this up!)

while Kuroko doesn’t seem to actively mind this, I think she also has no good sense of boundaries and what’s considered appropriate touch and consent; people can chalk this up to “oh it’s just infatuation,” but this definitely isn’t okay if we really think about this

her life also seems to revolve around either Aomine or Kuroko, and based from that, I’d feel like she’d have a difficult time forming her own identity/life separate from her “manager life,” especially once she graduates from Touou

can definitely be interpreted as too clingy at certain moments, while others may think it’s her way of showing that she cares

Murasakibara Atsushi

most people would chalk up Murasakibara as “lazy,” and on the surface level, it does appear to look that way…

I think his true negative trait is that he has a lack of intrinsic motivations to drive him to do things

it’s different from being lazy; someone can be lazy while still having a goal, and certainly someone can be lazy while they’re motivated by thoughts of “I want to learn more,” “I want to get stronger,” etc. (you guys, it’s me right now in college)

and he doesn’t have that

part of this was contributed to the fact that he’s already so gifted with genetics and thus, there’s never been a goal for him to have to work towards to when he’s already at the top

he doesn’t actively seek out, and while that may be a characteristic of sloth, it’s not exactly right either

he willingly does things if people around him give him the motivations/reasons to do so; a person of sloth wouldn’t do anything even with all the motivations and goals handed right to their face

snacks/food are examples of extrinsic motivations that fuel him to carry on daily life

Himuro is always the main motivator for Murasakibara to come out and watch matches, and he also does whatever Akashi orders in both Teiko and present days // a person who can give the giant the motivation to do tasks would get along with him the most

searching out for a challenge against his basketball skills is something that’s never crossed his mind

why? he grew to be like the way he is because of the lack of results from his “search” of a challenge throughout his games

again, it’s only when Murasakibara gets handed a silver-platter of a challenge, Jason Silver, that actively gets him pumped up and raring to go

as such, Murasakibara is equivalent to a rusty machine, extremely difficult to start up and find compatibility with, but very powerful and efficient once he finds that spark

Murasakibara finding any partner or friend in the future would be extremely difficult because he ticks a different tune from the rest

Akashi Seijuro

his entire Bokushi side was a giant-ass red flag for very obvious reasons LOL anyways, moving on…

it’s difficult to pinpoint a negative characteristic for Oreshi because he’s the pinnacle of a gentleman character… but that technically is also his negative trait

for him to maintain that perfect image for himself and others, he has always carried himself in such a way that doesn’t allow for errors or expressions of “weakness”

thus, bottling up his frustrations and emotions to the point of no return is something very familiar to Akashi, and I’d feel like Bokushi is the result of his overflowing emotions left unchecked in the first place

I also predict that if Akashi continues to carry himself without letting himself wind down and feel emotions on the spot rather than locking it up inside him, a day will come when he splits into two halves again with a “new” Bokushi to deal with his current life (and let the current Oreshi take a backseat in his psyche to take a break from the turmoil)

also will tend to overwork himself to manage people’s expectations as well as his own, and he’s not one to depend on people not because he sees them as inferior or incapable, but because he’s doing this out of habit from being in positions of authority and responsibility for much of his life

and so, he may tend to hide important things or just not speak about his problems in general to those close to him because he feels like he can do it all himself and spare everyone the work and stress associated with them (a leader mentality)

throughout the majority of his life being calm and calculated, his emotions would definitely escape from him in forms of uncontrollable lashes of anger… before he would realize what he’s done… that is, assuming that another Bokushi hasn’t form within his subconscious yet

[flightofaqrow]

YOUR CHARACTER IN FIVE QUOTES!

( repost, do not reblog. ) Tell us your favorite quotes from your character. Give us an idea of who they are by five things they’ve said.

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Alright, buckle up, I’m stealing this meme and repurposing it for my own use. Probably more than five, and including some quotes from others about him, though I’m going to try to keep it in groupings, and also not meant to be exhaustive of qrow’s character, but rather, to point out some very poignant lines that have effected my portrayal and... some possibly in an unpopular way compared to what I’ve seen in the fandom? I think Qrow Branwen is more complex than fitting the broody broken boi trope would give credit for (though he at least fits it as an overall stereotype).

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1) I’m absolutely sure Qrow had a rough start and transition from the tribe to ‘civilized society’, coupled with typical teenage hormones and mood swings, but generally, Beacon was a good time, and he sees himself as a good huntsman, and (though we may joke about it sometimes) he absolutely does not have an active nor passive death wish.

Yeah, yeah, I know he has a song all about how he self depreciates and carries shame, but that’s a theme of his attitude, not backed up to be every single aspect of his life by actual canon. Quite the contrary. 

I don’t know where fndm gets the idea that he constantly lost his battles (especially to Raven) or was perpetually looked down on or stayed an angsty, broody teenager (who could never possibly have ever even breathed a single happy breath on his own without Summer??) all four years. As if school was hell and he never came into his own until STRQ was a graduated unit or something? If ever?

Leo tells Raven she and her brother are evenly matched. Raven herself - who takes pride in being stronger and more clever than others - describes them as a pair: “we were good.”

“you're talking to a member of the coolest team that graduated Beacon! ...we were pretty well known back in the day. ...hey, we looked good! and I have a number of inappropriate stories to back that up!”

“let me tell ya, these kids are way better than we were at their age. ...well, not better than me, specifically...”

“a professional huntsman like myself is expected to get results as soon as possible.”

The way Qrow talks about his past, as well as carrying a memento of team STRQ around with him, it’s very nostalgic for better times. The way he talks about his work, if not himself, can actually be to the point of being self-aggrandizing, instead of depreciating. He’s even able to admit that his dreaded semblance, Misfortune, “comes in handy in a fight.”

“lots of us thought you were just layin' low. eventually, we just came to accept that you were probably dead. but the stories about you, i based my weapon off of yours. i wanted to be as good as the Grimm Reaper.”

Qrow talks about himself as striving to be better. It seems he never really sees himself as reaching that standard, but it certainly implies he knows he’s not at the bottom - he had an ideal he wanted to reach and likely worked towards. Notice the use of “us” and “we” as well - he talks about himself as part of a group of larger huntsfolk circles. Who knows if this refers to students or licensed professionals or both, but this heavily, heavily implies that he was more than just a sad, outside loner, at least for a time; he chatted with others and traded stories about goings-on and missions and idols.

Somewhat related and leading into...

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2)  At least around this blog, Qrow does not have an inferiority complex because of Raven.

Does he have some internalized shame about being soft that he can’t quite shake? A few insecurities about being unwanted compared to her natural leadership and competence? Yes. Does he consciously view himself as lesser than her? No. 

Also... he’s not co-dependent on her. To a degree, for while? Yeah, there was probably an unhealthy reliance going on there. But Qrow and Raven establish themselves with their own identities at some point, they’d have to, to chose different paths so stubbornly. There’s a rift there, eventually, if not always having been at odds in some ways and comfort in others.

“Raven's got an interesting way of looking at the world that I don't particularly agree with. [The weak die, the strong live. Those are the rules.]”

“...they were killers and thieves.”

We are shown that the twins were raised with this weak/strong dichotomy. Raven bought into it, but Qrow explicitly separates himself from that belief. Shown again when he mocks Raven with, “because that was your rule, right?”

He believes in true family, he believes in protecting the weak, he believes in doing good, he believes in standing up for what’s right. He may not like being emotionally vulnerable, but he shows softness and kindness to others, and for as much as he likes his flourish when fighting, he also isn’t afraid to look an absolute fool either.

He is shown de-escalating conflict time and again, even if he also falls back into violent, defensive patterns at times, too. He resents Raven for the choices she made, and as far as I interpret, thinks she’s the lesser one for running away and abandoning her family and her mission. (Meanwhile, she thinks the same of him for turning his back on the tribe.)

He all but spits on the tribe’s way of life, is willing to attack them outright to get the Spring Maiden. Why would he judge himself by those standards any longer? No, he lives by his own code, a huntsman’s code, and even has some pride in that. It’s why he can call Clover out on it. It’s why he folds when Robyn holds him to it.

It’s why it hurts when he finds out what gave him more meaning, aligned more with his own heart, than the tribe’s dogma may not actually have any purpose at all...

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3) There’s so much to unpack here:

“No one wanted me... I was cursed... I gave my life to you because you gave me a place in this world... I thought I was finally doing some good... Meeting you... was the worst luck of my life...”

No one wanted him? I believe this means the tribe, maybe even Raven, maybe trying to make friends, but no one until Oz? Does this include STRQ? I have trouble reconciling that one with everything else we’re shown. I still maintain he was part of bigger circles, but we get confirmation that these were probably fleeting or superficial. He knew people and was known, but no one stuck around.  Also more confirmation of his values. Gave me a place sounds like so much more than refocusing to me. It’s not gave me a direction, not told me what to do, it’s took who i am and gave that person a place to thrive - despite the bad that comes with - to work towards something better. Just like he always wanted.

But then he backtracks. What is it he regrets?  We do know how he likes to go into dramatic hyperbole about these things when he’s upset. [eg. “we’re not family anymore.” “i shouldn’t have come. i shouldn’t have let any of you come.” “we can kill the man who put us here.” “gone. like everybody else.”] (I love that crwby lets their characters do it. we all say things we don’t mean in the moment, give voice to those intrusive thoughts.)

I’ve talked before about how I picture him having flashes of all the lives he could have had instead. Would he have gone back with Raven and at least still had her? Would he just have been a normal huntsman defending people from Grimm without the crushing extra knowledge? Might he have been able to have a relationship or family of his own had he not signed up for the vagabond spy life? Does he just resent losing Summer and Raven because of how things went down? We don’t know, and I think the point is that he probably doesn’t either, but the weight of sacrificing all those alternatives and putting so much faith in Ozpin, stacking so much of his life’s work and identity on being part of the inner circle, comes crashing down on him all at once. 

also quite fitting...

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4) "Nice place to raise a family. ...If you're ...into that sort of thing."

This is from his World of Remnant narration, talking about Patch, but it hits so damn hard. The softness and warmth in the first half of the statement, followed by the harsh need to qualify it in regards to his own outlook... We learn all we need to know about his opinion of the subject. 

We see the conflict right there - the possibility of such a thing brings a wholesome lilt to his voice, yet he implies that it’s not something he personally intends to pursue. Is that because he doesn’t want it or because he thinks he can’t or shouldn’t have it? I don’t think that’s clear, and he may not know either. 

At the very least, I fall into the camp of him believing he doesn’t want it. Combine that with the fact that he does pick up that spy life, which makes keeping his distance a necessity, and makes settling down near impossible, and then he definitely knows it’s not in the cards for him. 

So I think it ultimately falls somewhere between. Why would he make the commitment to being a lone spy if he had dreams of love and a family? ...But then why would he resent making the sacrifice of that possibility later if he didn’t? 

Having his nieces around probably softened him up to the idea, but he’d already made his decision by that point. He’s also solid and generally happy with his choices at the point it would most matter. He’s married to his job. He’s fulfilling his missions well, in well-suited ways for his strengths and flaws. He has his nieces around as a balm on any sort of biological clock. He has his purpose with Oz.  Until he doesn’t.

This is an incredibly long-winded way of restating that one of the headcanon hills I do stand to die on is: Gray-romantic Qrow.

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5) “some people are just born unlucky... my semblance isn't like most - it's not exactly something i... do.”

I am constantly confused by the amount of people trying to do character analysis around Misfortune and Qrow based on standard semblance lore, when he has yet again stated explicitly to the contrary. We all have carte blanche ya’ll. We can do whatever we want with this, because he’s already told us his semblance breaks the rules. 

My full headcanon for it is here and my opinion about the direction I hope it takes is here but tl;dr

Unless we learn otherwise, there are very, very few ways I believe Misfortune is a reflection of Qrow’s soul, if at all. This is from the first headcanon, but it’s worth restating, because it’s important to me, aaand fits the theme of pulling in some quotes from other characters:

Everyone likes to quote Ren and his description of someone’s personality being incorporated into a semblance. I don’t buy it for qrow. Here’s the FULL quote: “A common philosophy is that a warrior’s Semblance is a part of who they are. Some say your personality and character can define your Semblance while some claim that it is the other way around. Of course, there are still many who don’t see a connection at all.”

So unless we find out otherwise I will also die on the hill that qrow is an example of the middle part. Qrow’s personality/soul has nothing to do with why his semblance is what it is, but being forced to grow up and live with Misfortune has defined him tremendously.

OKAY, there are some smaller quick ones, but I’ll stick to my five points like I promised at least, and maybe do a lesser version some other time. :]

[mercyandmagic]

Hi, mercyandmagic thank you for answering my asks... :D

Don't know if you remember, but I've asked before of your top 5 fav mxtx characters, and you've answered yours. If you don't mind me asking, can I ask you, why you like those characters (in a longer asnwer)? Sorry, if I ask you similar question again......

Yessss. This gonna be long. We’ll start from 5th and work our way to #1. 

5. Wei Wuxian

First, there’s just something incredibly refreshing about an untamed (ahem) character who says the thing everyone thinks but won’t dare say. It is my second-favorite character trope (We’ll get to the first). Plus, he has a great sense of justice and a self-sacrificing spirit... and yet he is capable of great cruelty, sadism, and hurting others to vent his pain (Nightless City, Wen Chao). Believe it or not, the fact that he has done great evil he cannot undo makes me love him more... because he knows it.  

In Chapter 68, when he’s confronted, he doesn’t deny killing Fang Mengchen’s parents, nor taking Yi Weichun’s leg. He doesn’t show anger at their valid pain; he merely points out that nothing he can do now will undo the damage he caused. 

He also has a low tolerance for BS and a high level of empathy. The fact that he scoffs at the cultivators gossiping against Jin Guangyao, the fact that he isn’t happy they have a new scapegoat, speaks a lot. Plus, he can easily understand why the Hook Hand’s final victim needs to scream (Ch. 124), why Jin Guangyao spared Sisi (Ch. 111) and made the Guanyin Temple (Ch. 110), why Nie Huaisang doesn’t want to admit what he did (Ch. 110), etc. Wei Wuxian is just great.

4. Qin Su

She deserves far more appreciation than she gets. She was involved in the Sunshot Campaign. When society judged Jin Guangyao and Meng Shi for their status, Qin Su never did. She loved the man who saved her life. She was willful enough to be the pursuer in her relationship with Jin Guangyao (Ch. 47), and was open to sleeping with him to ascertain their marriage (Ch. 106). She’s naive and trusting, despite losing her son. She’s loyal AF even to Bicao, even though Bicao literally sold her out for jewelry (ahem, Ch. 85). 

Qin Su. only has a short side role in the larger novel, but she’s a fully developed human.  That’s incredible.

3. Lan Wangji

I relate to Lan Wangji more than any of the other characters. Not being able to communicate, or being afraid to – relatable. Plus, having grown up fundamentalist Christian, I find the way in which Lan Wangji’s stubborn rule-following gives way to a willingness to break the rules when it does no harm or helps those he loves... inspiring. Like, he goes from having himself beaten for being pulled outside the Cloud Recesses (something this scrupulosity-sufferer relates to very well) to giving Wei Wuxian the Emperor’s Smile hidden in the Jingshi (Ch. 65).  

If I may add, I read MDZS around the same time I watched GOT Season 8. There’s a similarity in how Wei Wuxian and Daenerys Targaryen have murderous breakdowns after losing everything and everyone close to them. And yet instead of putting Wei Wuxian down like a dog (side eyes Jon Snow), Lan Wangji takes him away, tries to save him, still believes he is capable of good. In his own words, he’s “willing to bear all of the consequences with [Wei Wuxian].” Lan Wangji believes in redemption, in chance after chance. He’s refreshing in a world that believes one deed can stain you forever. I love him.

2. Lan Xichen

He’s just... good? Like, really good? He has to balance leading a clan with a society that is very Not Good, and this definitely leads to some gray points (The Wens, saying nothing in support of Mianmian, etc). But he, like Qin Su, refuses to judge people for origins. He always has to see the good in others – as Ch. 105 says, “whenever he heard there might be hidden reasons, he just had to hear it.” Lan Xichen wants to know and sympathize with everyone’s reasons. That’s just... wonderful. 

It’s notable that his whereabouts for the First Siege of the Burial Mounds are unknown. Lan Qiren led the Gusu Lan Clan, not Lan Xichen (Ch. 68). Which makes me speculate that while he thought Wei Wuxian was done for, he couldn’t bear to participate in killing the man his brother loved.   

He’s a touch avoidant, as seen when he tells Wei Wuxian he does not want to know why his mother killed his father’s teacher (Ch. 64). (I will also defend him agains the charges that he was wrong to try to reconcile Nie Mingjue and Jin Guangyao – they were his friends and Lan Xichen believed in them. Those two made their own choices, and it was Not Lan Xichen’s Fault). 

Anyhow, he’s good. And he loves Jin Guangyao. I know MXTX said she did not write a romance with them, and I don’t think they ever would have cheated on Qin Su. But that does not diminish that Lan Xichen’s seclusion at the end of the novel, is described as “exactly reversed” from when Lan Wangji was mourning Wei Wuxian (Ch. 114).  

1. Jin Guangyao

My favorite character. trope, the sneaky bastard with daddy issues! What makes Jin Guangyao stand out even among all my favorite sneaky bastards is that... his actions are so very gray that IMO he’s not even really a villain.

For real, what did Jin Guangyao do? Kill his brother who tried to kill him first and was slowly losing his grip on reality and hurting him and Nie Huaisang anyways? (Ch. 49, 50) It was still wrong – and I firmly believe that the motivation was payback for ‘son of a prostitute,’  (as Wei Wuxian suggests, Ch. 104) and not safety – but my point remains. (Plus there’s the implication that Jin Guangshan willed it, too). (Ch. 106).

Married his lover after discovering she was his sister to keep her from being an unwed mother? (Ch. 106) In that situation, I wish he had told Qin Su so she could choose, too, but I fail to find anything condemnable in Jin Guangyao’s actions there. 

Furthermore, when writing “Sentiment” and now “Sunlit Jade,” what I’ve been struck by is that most of his misdeeds end with killing Jin Guangshan. 

The possible exception is Jin Rusong (and since our main source for the idea of cold-blooded filicide and framing of an innocent clan leader is Clan Leader Yao, I am highly skeptical). And Xue Yang remaining alive, but again, we don’t know if Jin Guangyao chose to let him go with a warning/beating severe enough to disable his leg, or if Jin Guangyao truly meant to kill him (I favor the former position, but it’s open for interpretation).

Now, how Jin Guangyao kills and the fact that he does kill his father is wrong. Burning the brothel? Wrong, though I understand his hatred of that place and the people there. Killing the He Clan? Wrong, but 1) it’s on his father’s orders, and 2) he has a rather intriguing reaction when Xue Yang shuts He Su in alive with the corpses. (Ch. 118). 

He looks for something to “comfort” himself. 

This is strange, because he’s previously been a torturer (Ch. 47). What is more torture to him? 

I don’t know the answer, but it speaks to someone who suffers a lot, who did a lot of terrible things in pursuit of a love from his father that never came. And someone who, once he gains power in the position of Chief Cultivator, implements a program to save more commoners’ lives than ever before (Ch. 42).

That’s not the action of a villain.

[Sidenote, and based off a comment that wryhun on AO3 once left me: What I love the most about Jin Guangyao, and MDZS as a whole, is depending on the perspective you take, anyone can be an antagonist or a protagonist.

Jiang Cheng can be Wei Wuxian’s tsundere shidi (reader perspective), or he can be the serial killer of demonic cultivators who refuses to help commoners with spirits unless people have already died (Innkeeper’s perspective, Ch. 92).

Nie Huaisang can be the avenging didi (often a fan’s perspective), or the person who treated the juniors like fodder, killed cats, and sliced up a woman’s body just for revenge (Wei Wuxian’s perspective in Ch. 110, Jin Guangyao’s perspective in Ch. 108).]  

Jin Guangyao is an antagonist because his goals conflict with Wei Wuxian’s. But he’s really no worse than many of the other characters, and in fact, while all have suffered, he’s arguably suffered some of the worst circumstances of all. 

He makes poor choices, although he insists he doesn’t have a choice. I believe that he believes he has no choice... but he does. And that is so very, very tragic. 

I love him and want the world (or really just Lan Xichen) for him. 

[mariabumby]

Occult Concepts you might have missed in Good Omens

Nah, I get it, we’re ethereal not occult. But you’d be lying to yourself truly, if you said you weren’t interested in the occultism, philosophy daresay ontology presented in the Show in the Good Omens. And in case you haven’t stared in the bath shower and deeply and meaningfully assessed the concepts underlying your favorite apocalyptic romp. Then I’m Here to Do that for you. 

Ofcourse you obviously should have watched the show.

Ready?

As you’ll ever be.

1. Choice is part of Humanity

It all started and ended with a garden. The two main characters being the ones who… hmm godfathered this aspect of humanity.

Crowley, the snake, who tempted people to first ever know what good and bad is. And Aziraphale – an angel who either let, or was incompetent enough to let it happen. Didn’t even try to smite the first two humans or the demon Crowley. Just this awkward fumbling on top of a garden wall with an impending storm.

This is repeated again by the angel when he is reprimanded by the archangels – it is not for “us” (angelic realm) to decide – the humans have free will to decide good and bad.

And in the whole course of the story – these two almost eternal entities have “gone native”. Or acted more human. Liked sushi, liked wine, and bentleys and music.

And Made their Own Decisions.

Especially for Aziraphale, who disobeyed orders for the first time in his really long life. It was uncalled for, an act of “treason”. Crowley by the end even said “i think the big one will be “all of us” vs “all of them”“referring to all of humanity vs heaven and hell.

He referred to himself as human. He’s choosing to be human, by the end of the story. Just as much as Aziraphale redefined himself by exploring who he is outside of the angelic box, Crowley has been since the beginning was quite intent with being a lousy demon anyway.

Yes he did tempting. But he is so gloriously an incompetent demon. And as etheric beings, these two are very relatable to the audience, acting as main characters and the main POV that the audience lives through. And they’re not cold or of higher existence (like some angel channellings). They’re so delectably human. Not because this is a piece of fiction, because the whole argument is:

They want to be human. They like their choices, no matter what the consequences.

Which is echoed by adam by the end, who reckoned any apple was worth eating and worth the consequences. And by what manner is this occult?

Well in Ken Wilber’s model of consciousnesses, the difference of humans from other living beings — what separates us from vegetable, animal and sky is our capacity to define itself. Meaning tomatoes more or less tomatoes. But humans have an almost infinite limit on being anything. They define themselves – that is our nature.

Our Choice is our humanity.

And as much we kind of hate out existence a lot of times, it’s really refreshing to see near immortals liking and even being jealous of the way we exist. Of what would be the shaded echoes of our flailing in “who am i” and so forth…

2. There’s Good in Evil, there’s Bad in Good

Or otherwise known as paradoxes and koans being the underlying fiber of all of reality… say what?In every creation lies destruction. In every delusion reality. In every push a pull. In every death a birth, in every order there is chaos.

Two sides of the same coin. Or in taoism would be the yin yang symbol.

Meaning, Good Omens doesn’t just argue against moral dogmatism…

Good Omens, if you look hard enough, is saying opposites dance inside of each other. All. the damn. time.

The two characters are literally sworn enemies (angel vs demon) who find allyship. The destroyer of worlds is the one who saves it (adam). The major screw-up that made everything start aren’t even necessarily people being bad or good but people being people.

Which really argues not for a moral gray area but an acceptance that we’re paradoxically both all the time depending from which way you’re looking and interpreting. Meaning it’s a mess, it’s crazy, partly why it’s so ineffable, and that maybe we shouldn’t be so stuck up thinking so highly of ourselves.

How is this occult? Well. You’ve ever heard of shadow work? Chaos Magick and Sigils? Have you ever actually met occultists who unironically summon demons with a dagger and a cup and spill their own blood whole shebang?

I have. I even fell in love with one. But the point of the matter is, that this logic isn’t some cutesy theme for your supernatural romp. It is an actual force of nature harnessed by actually living witches and mages. Meaning the dark – the things you’re afraid of facing, what lies in your subconscious, the forces of destruction, bad luck and curses — it all operates under that assumption.

That it is the half of the coin of existence. That as much as we hate to face our traumas, that some people would get triggered and regressed and spiral to really hellish shit – the treasures you seek are in the cave you’re most afraid of. Or the demon you’re most afraid of. Or the scar you’re most horrified to feel because you think it will eat you alive.

A lot of occult work is mastering your demons- your self, your fears. Utilising fear to your own advantage, acknowledging it, dancing with it. And gaining greater awareness.

And recognising they’re you’re best friend and they’re looking out for you. Kind of like how Crowley undoes Aziraphale and allows him to walk into what he most fears. Betraying heaven. Through, well.. Love which is the unconditional empty space which allows the two opposites to play. Or leela, in yoga.

3. What the demon Crowley has, is the power of the imagination.

The story is not short of law of attraction moments. Or let’s just say the whole operation of how things come into being with a human boy having no upper limit of choosing how things should be.

Should I remind you, both the anti-christ and christ came here to be human? What is this facet of human being that these supernatural forces might want?

Oh right I talked about (1) already.

Anyway, take it from me your friendly neighborhood actual witch that is Magick. Old School Magick, simply willing things to existence. And I’m actually seriously happy with how occultic-ly consistent this entire series is?

It’s even, loving?? with the usual topics that cover any good wiccan new age enthusiasts in how it depicts Anathema and atlantis and the fascination with peace loving aliens. Which leads me to another paradox which I’ll write as (3.5)

3.5 It is written.

Paradoxically [2] you both have Choice [1] and Destiny [3.5] coexisting in your narrative.

Every rebelling that Crowley and Aziraphale did that was against their etheric nature was written in Agnes’ Nutter’s book. It was both a choice and destiny.

Even Anathema who was loyal to her family’s prophecies and takes pride in being a witch, burned the next prophecies of Agnes Nutter not wanting to be just a descendant. Another choice, or maybe just another destiny.

Aziraphale and Crowley themselves comment on this in the bench waiting for a bus to come asking – what if this was part of her divine plan? What if all this choosing and fighting was planned too?

And they only answer — who knows? What if they’re the same thing?

As much as I seriously adore the #ineffablehusbands, I also adore how deep into the occult philosophical rabbit hole you can get in terms of duality and what it means to be human with this giant ass story. Which is also handled so well by so many of the fandom’s art and fanfiction in AUs and interpretations of demon!Crowley and angel!aziraphale as humans or in their post-apocalyptic humanly existence may it be cottage or bench.

How do humans judge themselves to be unforgivable? In how many viewers is --an Aziraphale who can only think of themself as this “good” or as a Crowley who can only think of themself as “forsaken”?

How are we paradoxical and human? How can this be an okay thing to be? Something left to be desired by our favorite demon and angel?

Good Omens is hopeful. It’s underlying beliefs, are beautiful, loving and yeaaaa occult. A+ from this witch right ere.

Here’s my occult esoteric blog if ya’ll curious:

https://wanwuspiritlibrary.com/start-here/

[natsubeatsrock]

"Why do you hate Nalu fans asking for angst?"

Who actually believed I was done talking smack about Nalu?

I feel like I haven't been clear enough on this. Normally, I'd say something like this because fandom ignores my arguments about something. While that's not untrue here, looking back on my discussions of the Nalu fandom's desire for canon situations of angst, I feel like I can be a bit more clear and direct as to why I don't like it.

A lot of what I've said makes it seem as though I don't like or appreciate angst as a whole. Sure, I say I don't hate angst, but I worry that my explanations make it sound like a cover to rag on Nalu for even potentially having angst. I want to explain the issue I have with the cries for Nalu angst in a way that shows I can appreciate angst.

Let's start with a couple of ships outside of Fairy Tail. The first is one that my long-time fans may recognize. In an earlier rant from around the time that Fairy Tail was ending, I briefly touched on Beauty and the Beast and how Belle and the Beast transformation is something Nalu fans wanted out of Mashima's treatment of the END situation. However, I hinted at how their ship is an example of good angst and I want to talk about it more.

At the beginning of the movie, Belle and the Beast start not liking each other much. However, a change happens when she is told to leave after breaking the Beast's one rule. Before she can get too far from the palace, Belle is saved from a pack of wolves by the Beast. As she's cleaning his wounds, they start to come to more of an understanding of each other. As shown by lyrics of and scenes shown during the song "Something There", they start to come to an understanding of each other that leads to romantic feelings. 

By the time we get to "Beauty and the Beast", it's clear that they both have feelings for each other. Despite the Beast confirming he loves her, we don't get a confession from Belle until after he supposedly dies. However, it's important to remember that her confession comes off the heels of a defense of the Beast from villagers, the rest of their relational progression and the timer set by the falling rose petals. Her confession comes just as the last petal falls from the enchanted rose. In other words, she came to truly love him at the last possible moment and it may not have mattered if he died at that moment. Of course, he does live and they can be a couple.

The second example comes from one of my favorite anime, Toradora. (I'd use Clannad for a similar reason, but I know this one off-hand better.) It's a bit of an understatement to say that Taiga Aisaka and Ryuji Takasu start on the wrong foot. It's established fairly early on that much of their initial goals are to get the other's best friend to end up with them. However, as they spend time together, they end up growing closer to each other. As early as episode 2, Ryuji goes from annoyed at not having enough rice because of Taiga's presence to disappointed at having too much rice in her absence. But then, Ryuji gets into an accident and it becomes clear that Taiga has stronger feelings for him that she's letting on.

As the series progresses, we see evidence of them growing closer together and the idea of them becoming a couple is made to seem more realistic. It's not that we can't tell if they like each other at this point; it's that we're not sure how things will play out. It turns out that, during their class trip, Taiga takes a spill of her own and unknowingly confesses to Ryuji. He outright confirms that he has feelings of his own but struggles to tell her how he feels. A bunch of shenanigans happens between then and the end of the series, but they do end up together at the end of the series.

I explain the stories of the couples in this way for an important reason. In each of these stories, the angst does draw people closer together. However, there is a sense that the relationship was already progressing that way, to begin with. Angst was used as the medium to draw feelings out of characters they might have already been on track to have. Chances are that they could have gotten into their relationship without the angst. However, it works very well to see their relationship progress as part of the resolution to the tension of the story. Depending on how a writer spins it, it can work well.

Mashima did not do this with Nalu. Not he didn’t do it well with Nalu. It didn’t happen.

What I will say is that there wasn't a lack of moments that could have been used to draw out romantic feelings for each other. Here's a list of a few moments I can think of off the top of my head after the Galuna Island arc (at which point they're more familiar with each other):

Lucy being captured by Gajeel during the Phantom Lord arc.

Natsu on the brink of losing against Gajeel, also Phantom Lord.

Lucy getting captured during the Edolas arc.

Lucy saying "it's more fun when we're together" on Tenrou Island.

After the Naval Battle in the Grand Magic Games.

Lucy getting captured (again) during the Grand Magic Games.

The epilogue of the Tartarus arc. 

Natsu realizing the guild was dissolved at the beginning of the Avatar arc.

Natsu almost dying after Aquarius came back.

Natsu almost dying (again) after fighting Gray.

The end of the fight with Acnologia.

There are a couple of other moments I probably could have added, especially from the anime and the sequel, but these are some of the moments that Mashima could have used to bring Natsu and Lucy closer to a trajectory of a romantic relationship. It's even canonically hinted during a few of these moments that he could have done exactly that.

However, the resolution for each of these moments came and went. Natsu and Lucy were friends before they happened and they didn't seem to be anything more than friends after them. I don't feel as though there's any real reason to think that anything else could cause some well of romantic emotions that has yet to be untapped to spring.

This has been outright confirmed for me by Mashima's writing of the final arc of the main series. Natsu nearly dies in front of Lucy. Twice. And the most we get from the whole thing is a "thanks for helping me get in the guild" a year later? I know Evergreen mentions that she might like him, but that's shot down and ignored almost as soon as it was brought up.

Are we supposed to believe Nalu would have stopped a rampage from END? Or that, even if it did, Mashima would use the opportunity to make clear that Natsu and Lucy did have romantic feelings for each other? Chances are, we'd get a moment where Natsu remembers the importance of his friends and remember who he is. Are we shocked that this was literally what happened in canon when he did lose control of himself? Or how Dragon Cry did a similar thing, despite prizing Lucy more than other members of the guild?

At this point, I guess someone could look at this and come to the conclusion that Nalu was just a product of Mashima's bad writing. Nalu is romantic but was handled poorly. If Mashima were a better writer, this would have handled better. And as someone who recognizes that, despite having great ideas, Mashima's not a great writer and isn't always able to make them work in the best ways possible and has even made a similar argument with Gruvia...

NO!

Not even a little yes.

At least my argument on Gruvia is couched in a recognition that it's the only ship of its kind that Mashima's done. (People who compare Gruvia to Reina and Musica get the bullet.) I don't see the things I'm arguing isn't great about Gruvia in any other Fairy Tail ship. You can't make the same argument with Nalu and angst. If you do, you're not paying attention.

In just the last arc, we got two clear examples of this in Gajevy and Zervis. Not just in the "you could argue that this is what Mashima was building these ships up towards throughout the series" sense that's very real about both of these ships. In the current events of the arc, he advanced both relationships after they had angsty situations. Gajeel confessed his love to Levy as he was almost killed by Bradman. Mavis and Zeref came together just as he was defeated and they ended up dying together. 

Depending on how you interpret it, Gruvia also got the same thing in the same arc. Jerza has had a similar thing going around it with the Tower of Heaven and Nirvana arc. Fan interpretations of plenty of other favorite ships in Fairy Tail are near dependent on the idea that a person came to love someone more after something tragic happened surrounding them, including a number of my favorite ships. Heck, Mashima did this with all three of the ships involving his main characters in Rave Master to some degree or another.

As much as I don't love every aspect of Mashima's writing, this isn't a symptom of that. The fact is that Mashima didn't use ANY moment that Natsu or Lucy have seen the other in angsty situations to show clear romantic feelings for each other. No kisses, no confession, no anything. Given that he's done that with arguably every main ship he's shown interest in both his big series, I can't help but think that Mashima's either trying something completely different with this ship or isn't ever bringing them closer to being a couple. Either way, I don't see how Mashima putting them in one more magical situation of angst is somehow going to push them over the proverbial edge and make them canon at this stage in the series.

In Conclusion:

I don't hate angst. Nalu is just wack.

[harusha]

I just saw your post about PJ and I'm wondering, do you have any book recs?

On mythology specifically or overall? I’m gonna do both since I’m not sure. Also sorry for the relatively late reply, I had to think about this, and I just got back from dinner.

The Count of Monte Cristo- Fantastic page turner, and a genuinely good “revenge” tale. It’s actually one of the first of that kind (or at the very least, one of the most popular ones). It’s also a book that a lot of people cite as the one that changes their mind on classics as “boring.”

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn- Somewhat of a controversial pick (both because of its subject matter and because it’s often “required high school reading,” ie “boring” to a lot of people.)

Huck Finn is an exceedingly complex character, and his friendship with Jim is really good. Pay attention to what Huck Finn does and says; he’s an unreliable narrator due to how he was brought up, his age, and his illiteracy. There’s also a lot of symbolism and other literary devices at play in his character (ex. notice his fixation with death and how it colors how Twain writes him). It’s very much a book I recommend if you want to study the unreliable narrator as a trope, the  Naïf version of it.

As a side note, it’s very poignant because of how Huck learns to condemn his racism. One of the messages you can get from this book is “If this uneducated poor white boy can learn to overcome his prejudices, so too can someone who has been educated, has money, etc.” It is a brutal condemnation of racism (though you do have to consider the time period, the “lens” of which you have to view through.)

Lolita- Another controversial pick, and one I’ll upright say as a lot of trigger warnings attached (google the summary, and you’ll see what I mean).

Beautiful prose (some of my favorite in literature actually) and a monster of a protagonist. When you read this, remember how Humbert Humbert is framing it. He is telling his tale to a court; he is unreliable and will frame events to make himself appear sympathetic. One notable factor of the author’s skill is how often Humbert gains the readers’ sympathy despite the atrocious subject matter. I personally felt viscerally uncomfortable reading his thoughts, and this is one of the few books that has ever made me feel that way. I didn’t fall into the sympathy trap, but look at any discussion of the book, and you’ll see what I mean.

I also recommend this author’s (Vladimir Nabokov) other works.

Franz Kafka’s literary works- Kafka is one of my favorite authors because he really showcases the isolation (both due to WWI, technological advancement, and the “beginnings” of modern capitalism) of the beginning of the 1900s, and he’s one of modernism’s premier authors. His works often deal with the themes of isolation, judgement, and outcasts. 

In particular, I’m fond of “The Metamorphosis” (cliche pick I know) and “In the Penal Colony.” The former is a short story so quick read if you just wanna try his writing style + it’s very influential (See Part 1 of Tokyo Ghoul for one example).

Also know that Kafka had a very strained relationship with his father and a conflicted relationship with his religion. I recommend reading “Letter to his Father” first to get an understanding of Kafka’s psyche to truly get pass the “nonsensical” nature of his works. It, like the title says, is a letter he wrote to his father, but his mother never delivered it.

If you want even more info on Kafka to understand his works, I recommend Kafka: Judaism, Politics, and Literature which covers a lot more (and in more succinct words) than I can on his works and life. As a fun fact, Vladimir Nabokov also placed him as one of the greatest writers of the 20th century. On Kafka himself, he thought he was a failure of a human being and writer, and now look at him. He’s up there in the Western Canon with Shakespeare.

Paradise Lost + Paradise Regained- If you’re interested in Lucifer (or Samael if you subscribe to that theory), this is a must-read. Beautiful, haunting, and with a very charismatic figure in Lucifer. Alongside the obvious Divine Comedy, this work has influenced the portrayal of Lucifer and Hell quite a bit imo. Namely, the “sympathetic” portrayal you find in works such as Supernatural. It’s also an epic poem so it’s best listened to imo rather than read.

No Longer Human- Osamu Dazai’s work if you’re into that one show. An incredibly depressing book that’s often thought to be semi-autobiographical. It’s a haunting book that I don’t recommend for prose, but for the mood it evokes. I don’t recommend this unless you’re in a decent state of mind.

The Catcher in the Rye- Mildly controversial pick in that you either hate Holden or love him. It’s a book where you have to be in the “right” state of mind to appreciate Holden. For example, the period of moving away from home for college  This work deals with societal isolation and human loneliness and features an unreliable narrator.

It’s just a very particular feeling you have to be experiencing to appreciate Holden. I think anyway.

The Epic of Gilgamesh- Not super fancy or a reinterpretation of whatever. Just the oldest known written work of mankind. I like it a lot, but I like Sumerian myth so YMMV. It’s still missing a few tablets last I checked, but still a good read.

Also the related Enuma Elish, you get the creation myth.

Vampire Chronicles- I recommend the first three or four so books honestly. Afterwards, Anne Rice just goes off the rails. Prose is pretty, and Lestat is a terrible person but fascinating to read about. I am partial to Armand though tbh.

Dracula- I think this is another page-turner. I certainly enjoyed it. I don’t think it’s as scary as it would be in its’ published time period, but it is a classic Gothic horror. The unabridged version may look intimidating, but like Monte Cristo, you’ll sweep through it rather quickly.

“A Rose for Emily”- One of William Faulkner’s short stories. I think it’s a lovely piece and showcases the Southern Gothic (crumbling house, decaying and failing tradition and the southern nobility, etc.) There’s a theme of decay and time passing throughout this work.

As a side note, I actually enjoy Faulkner a lot, but he’s a difficult author imo. It’s not as apparent in this work, but more so in Intruder in the Dust (the first racial thriller) and especially The Sound and The Fury.

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof- A play that deals with repressed homosexuality (maybe, it depends on how you interpret Brick’s dialogue and actions), loss, and denial. I quite like it a lot, and Tennessee Williams actually was gay (was because he’s dead and all). I read it, but tbh I feel like it would be better watched if you can find a performance on Youtube.

The Picture of Dorian Gray- Oscar Wilde’s most well known work imo. I enjoy the prose and the themes of corruption and indulgence present throughout the novel. There’s also a lot of allusions to Faust in it if you’re interested in that.

Peter Darling-a more modern choice but it features a trans and gay protagonist. Part of what I enjoy is how it’s not browbeaten into you that the protagonist is trans. It’s interwoven into the character where it’s an important part of him, but to where it doesn’t overwhelm his entire character. However, this is a novel where I feel the beginning and ending are great, but the middle is so-so. It’s a retelling of Peter Pan.

The Tain- Focuses on Cu Cuchulain and his cycle.

Poetic Edda- A must read if you’re interested in exploring Norse myths outside of Marvel. It’s basically a collection of tales.

Arabian Nights- Scheherazade is one of my favorite female figures from literature. She’s daring, clever, and particularly resourceful. It’s a frame narrative sort of tale so you technically won’t be seeing her as much since she’s telling each story, but it’s a lovely piece and perfect for a bedtime read because of its collection of tales. A lot of them have been referenced in media and related as well.

The Book Thief- Classic YA novel rec. It’s set in WWII and one of the novels that really showcases what YA could be. Basically a classic gem in the rough pile.

John Keats- He’s a poet, but I love his poetry because of how haunting and dark it can get; he often deals with themes of mortality.. Ode to Nightingale is particularly good.

China’s Four Great Classical Novels (Journey to the West, Dreams of the Red Chamber, Water Margin, Romance of the Three Kingdoms)- I decided to clump them here since this is already super long. Each one is incredibly well-known in Asia (and obviously China), and you can find allusions everywhere to these four novels. Each novel is rather long and expensive though (I paid like 40 USD for each set). Journey to the West follows Sun Wukong, unarguably one of the most well-known figures in literature (at least in the East; he’s super influential, but somewhat less so in the West; keyword somewhat). Dreams of the Red Chamber has some very pretty poems, but it’s often thought to be the semi autobiographical work of the author (it deals with the rise and fall of his family and the dynasty).

Daiyu’s flower poem is one of the most memorable for example.

The blossoms fade, the blossoms fly,  the blossoms fill the sky. Their crimson fades, their scent dies out,  and who is there to pity?  Drifting threads gently twist together  and float past the springtime lodge;  Falling willow floss lightly sticks  and strikes the lady’s window drapes.

Water Margin is a bit “bawdier” than the other ones imo, but it’s a good tale and has many notable figures and scenes. On Three Kingdoms, it’s the one I’d recommend to start with if you’re interested in military intrigue and battles.

I also have a Goodreads where I organize everything by shelf if you prefer to look at that. I do need to update it though tbh.

https://www.goodreads.com/Mahariel

[necrowriter]

godchild of loki (part two) (fenrir)

The second child of Loki, I met at midsummer.

Not that I realized it at the time. I'd heard a few people mention that it was the solstice, but I hadn't really paid much attention. All I knew was that it was still really damn hot, even in the evening as I walked home from work. The air was still and dry, and the sky was still full of light.

I was about halfway home when I realized there was a dog following me. I didn't see where it came from; it was just there, padding behind me, so big I wondered how I could possibly have not noticed it. It was easily the biggest dog I'd ever seen, mottled black and gray and absolutely massive, but there was also a certain leanness to it that made me think uncomfortably more of a wolf than a dog. It wore a leather collar that looked as though it had been gnawed on, and from the collar trailed a short piece of frayed, torn rope.

I wasn't as nervous as I guess most people would have been to see a dog like that following them. I'd always liked dogs, and dogs had always liked me. I'd never met a dog, no matter how big or how small, that I couldn't get along with. It was one of the blessings of my godfather, I was fairly sure, he who had, after all, been the father of the greatest wolf to ever live.

Nevertheless, this dog made even me uncomfortable, and I wondered if I should do something about it. Call a shelter or something, perhaps; by the looks of it, it had escaped from somewhere, and someone might want it back.

Then something else occurred to me. I hesitated and glanced back at the dog. It was watching me with bright green eyes. I'd never seen eyes like that on a dog before.

“Are you...Fenrir?” I asked. I felt a bit silly saying that, but I figured that if it was a normal dog it wouldn't tell anybody.

It wasn't a normal dog, though.

“I am,” the dog—the wolf—said. It had the deepest, graveliest voice I'd ever heard, and when it spoke slobber dribbled onto the sidewalk. “I am Fenrir, fame-wolf, son of Loki. Many bonds have I broken. The gods betrayed me and bound me with the dwarf-fetter Gleipnir, but when the end of days comes, I shall be free, and with my great jaws I shall devour the sun and the moon and the All-Father himself.”

I swallowed hard. “Pleased to meet you.”

The huge pink tongue lolled out in a grin. “Likewise, godchild.”

We kept walking. The great black wolf padded along beside me, silent despite its bulk.

“Do you mind if I ask you a question?” I said after a minute.

“I care not what you ask,” Fenrir said. “What I may answer is another story.”

I nodded. This again. “It's just...if you're bound by the, um, the thing...how can you be here now? Like this?”

“Ahh, little thing,” Fenrir said. “I am a god. I need not be in only one place at once.”

“Oh,” I said, feeling that this didn't entirely explain things. “Um. Is that how Loki can show up at my house even though he's...uh...”

“Bound deep beneath the earth with the entrails of my half-brother?” Fenrir growled. “Aye. In the darkest depths my father writhes against his own fetters and screams to feel the touch of poison on his brow. He is bound. Or he will be bound. Or he has been bound. Gods are...different, little thing. We do not move through time as you do.”

“Oh,” I said again.

“He was imprisoned for what he had done,” Fenrir said. “I was imprisoned for what I will do. But would I still do it if I had not been bound, and driven to revenge? What do you think, little thing?”

I was way out in the weeds by this point, but I couldn't just not answer, so I scraped my brain for a response. “Um, well...I guess that depends. I mean, did you want to eat the sun and the moon and everything before they tied you up?

“Ah, there's the question.” Fenrir licked his chops. “Perhaps. My hunger is great. But so is the hunger of Thor, for blood spilled and a good battle. So is the hunger of Odin, for wisdom and power. There are many kinds of hunger. And someone must eat the old sun at the end of days, so that a new one can be born. Perhaps someone must eat the old gods as well. It all goes around and around, little godchild.”

I considered this.

“Okay,” I said after a minute. “So you're saying it's kind of your job to eat everything?”

Fenrir snorted. “That could be said, yes.”

“So why did...do...whatever...the gods bother tying you up, then? It doesn't change anything!”

“Because they were afraid,” Fenrir said dryly. “And because they saw no other use for me. If my purpose is found at the end of all things, something must be done with me until then. The gods could have let me go free, but they were too afraid of my hunger running wild. Aye, my father may be a trickster, but it was the Aesir who lied to me. They swore it was only a test of my skill, that if I could not break free of this most paltry of binds they would release me, but when it held fast against me they only stood and laughed, and left me alone at the end of the world.”

I remembered that story. It had always scared me as a child, the big bad wolf with his slavering jaws, swearing he would only consent to be bound if one of the gods placed his hand in the wolf's mouth. I would yell at the image of the god Tyr in my storybook, telling him not to do it, knowing that he would lose his hand.

As a child, I'd always been relieved that the wolf was tied up safe and far away. As I got older, though, I'd begun to wonder...

“What would happen if they hadn't tied you up?” I asked.

“That is the question, is it not?” Fenrir said.

There was silence for a moment.

“If this all happens over and over again,” I said, “why don't you ever just...not agree to be tied up?”

Fenrir shook his head. “Because there is always a chance. Always a chance that perhaps this time...they are telling the truth.”

I didn't know what to say to that.

“You interest me, godchild,” Fenrir said. “You are something new, such as there has not been in a long time.”

I shrugged. “I'm not anything special, though. I mean, I don't feel like someone with any great destiny or anything. I'm just...me.”

Fenrir actually laughed. It was strange to watch. “Take it from me, little thing. A great destiny is not necessarily desirable.”

We turned a corner, the last corner on the trip home. I could see my house now, down the street. Fenrir stopped and turned his great shaggy head towards me.

“I came to look at you, godchild, to catch your scent,” he said. “But now I am here, I will tell you this: be wary of wolves, little thing, but be wary also of how you judge them.”

With that he set out at an easy run, or what seemed like an easy run, but within a few seconds he was already moving out of sight. Then he was gone, vanished into the slowly setting sun.

I finished the rest of the walk slowly. I had a lot to think about.

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

Notes:

1.) There seems to be some confusion over whether it’s Fenrir himself that eats the sun and the moon, or whether it’s two other wolves, which are possibly related to him. I pared things down a bit by having it just be him, but I’m no expert, so I couldn’t say which is likely to be more accurate.

2.) As far as I know, the idea of Fenrir (and everything else that happens during Ragnarok) doing a necessary job is just interpretation on my part. There’s definitely something cyclical going on there, but I don’t think it says anywhere that that’s the purpose Fenrir serves or anything. It’s just sort of something he does. But hey, we’re already pretty far outside the strict bounds of norse mythology as it was originally written and intended. 

[2dtcnjspring]

Color

INTRO to Color:

It is not only the professional artist or designer who deals with color. All of us make color decisions almost every day. We constantly choose items to purchase of which the color is a major factor. Our world today is marked by bold uses of color in every area of ordinary living. We can make color choices for everything from home appliances to bank checks.

The study of color can be rather complex. The word color has so many aspects that it means different things to a physicist, optician, psychologist, poet, Lighting engineer and painter and the analysis of color becomes a multi faceted report in which many experts confidently describe their findings.

Any Study of color must start with a few important basic facts. The essential facts of color theory is that color is a property of light not an object itself. This property of lights was illustrated by Sir Isaac Newton in the 17th century when he put white light through a prism. The prism broke up white light into familiar rainbow of hues. Objects have no color of their own but merely the ability to reflect certain rays of white light which contain all the colors. Blue objects absorb all the rays except the blue ones and these are reflected to our eyes. Black objects absorb all the rays. White objects reflect all of them. The significance of this fact for the artist is that as light changes color will change.

Although color indeed comes from light the guidelines of color mixing and usage are different depending on whether the color source is light or pigment and dyes. Rays of light are direct light whereas the color of paint is reflected light. Color from light combines and forms new visual sensations based on what is called the additive system. On the other hand pigments combined in the subtractive system. Blue paint is blue because when light hits its surface The pigment absorbs (or subtracts) all of the color components except the blue that is reflected to our eyes. We need to be aware of both systems depending on the mediums that we use and when.

How is color perceived? Color is created by varying wavelengths of light that when reflected off a surface are interpreted as color. The specific color that is perceived by a viewer is determined by the degree to which a surface is able to reflect light and produce rays of different lengths. Reds have the longest wavelengths and violets have the shortest. White contains all colors and black is the produced by the absence of color or a surface where no visible light can be reflected. 

The hues that can be distinguished by the human eye are referred to as “the visible spectrum”: and are composed of a fairly limited range of colors including red, orange, yellow, green, blue, blue violet, and violet.

Color has a basic instinctive appeal. Monet’s two paintings of the House of Parliament are investigations of the same setting under different circumstances of light:

Properties of Color: 1. Hue: This is what we usually mean when we ask “what color is that?” This is the name of the color. The property of color that we are actually asking about is “hue". Red, yellow and blue are hues. Color and hue tend to be used as synonyms, but there are distinctions between the two terms. Hue describes the visual sensation of different part of the color spectrum. However when Hue can be very to produce many colors. So even though there are relatively few hues, there can be an almost unlimited amount of colors. Pink, rose, Scarlet, maroon, and Crimson are all colors, but the hue in each case is red.

2. Value: is the relative lightness or darkness of a hue. In pigment value can be altered by adding white or black paint to the color. Adding white light into color and produces a tint. Adding black dark and the color and produces a shade. Value like color itself, is variable and entirely dependent on the surrounding hues for its visual sensation.

If white is added to a color, the lighter version is called a “tint”. If the color is made darker by adding black, the result is called a “shade”. And if gray is added, each gradation gives you a different “tone.”

3. Chroma/Intensity/Saturation: describes the purity of a color. There is an easy way to think about this;  is there any white or black present in the color, if there is the color is not full chroma. Intensity refers to the brightness of the color. Because a color is at full intensity only one pure and unmixed a relationship exist between value and intensity. Mixing black or white with a color changes its value but at the same time affects its intensity. There are two ways to lower the intensity of a color to make a color less bright, more neutral or a duller. One way is to mix gray with a color. Depending on the gray used you can do a color without changing its value. The second way is to mix a color with its complement the color directly across from it on the color wheel. Complementary colors are direct opposites imposition and in character. Mixing complementary colors together and neutralizes them but when complementary colors are placed next to each other they intensify each other’s brightness. When blue and orange or side-by-side each color appears brighter than any other context.

Color Temperature

Cool and warm are sensations of touch not sight. Because of the learned association of color and objects we continue to identify and relate the sensations of different senses. Red and orange (fire) and yellow (sunlight) become identified as warm colors. Similarly blue (sky, water) and green (grass,plants) are always thought of as cool colors.

Touching an area of red surely will not burn your hand but looking at red will indeed and do you say feeling of warmth. The effects may be purely psychological but the results are very real. Consider painting a bedroom or an office space blue, how would that make you feel?

As warm colors tend to advance, well cool colors seem to recede, the artist may use the warm / cool relationship to establish a feeling of depth and volume.

Color Wheel Models Artists, designers and scientists have developed numerous models to visually compare colors and how they interact with other hues. These wheels or diagrams are commonly used to show the relative relationships between particular hues. The most common organization for the relationships of basic colors is the color wheel. The wheel system dates back to the early 18th century. The most common one to us organizes 12 hues which are divided into multiple categories.

We can break down the color wheel into color scheme or harmonies. These can be used as formulas to work with to create a visually unified composition.

Primary Colors: includes red, yellow and blue and are pure hues, which are unrelated to each other. By mixing the right amount of of primary colors it is possible to create any color on the spectrum.

Secondary Colors: include violet, orange, and green. They are made by combining equal amounts of two primary colors.

Tertiary Colors: are located between primary and secondary hues on the color wheel and have more of one primary color then they other. For example: a blue violet has more blue in it then it have of a violet color. How a tertiary color appears will depend on which primary color is dominant in the mixture.

Complementary hues: are any two color located directly opposite or across from each other on the color wheel. There are a total of six pairs of complementary colors. Complementary colors have a contradictory relationship with each other. A color is both attracted to and repelled by its complement. The push/pull of the complement can be used as a way to attract a viewer’s attention. 

Split complementary hues: refer to a primary color and two secondary colors that are located adjacent to the hues’ complement on the color wheel. 

Analogous combinations: refer to a primary hue and two adjacent hues next to each other on the color wheel. Analogous color combinations tend to be harmonious because they reflect similar wavelengths of light.

Triad Harmonies: are any three hues spaces equidistantly around the color wheel. Because primary and secondary colors are equidistant from each other, they combine to create triadic color combinations. 

Tetrad combinations: are made up of four hues, which are sets of complements or split complements. 

Monochromatic color combinations: refers to variations of a single hue that includes tints (the hue plus white) and shades (the hue plus black). Like analogous colors, monochromatic color combinations are considered to be harmonious.

Master of Color Johannes Itten a master of color, Itten believed that while there are some predictable color relationships and outcomes, much of how artists and designers use, and audiences perceive, color is subjective and determined by context.

Optical Mixing Optical color mixing is created through our perception of color. When one looks at two small amounts of different colors laid down side by side the two appear to create a different color. This is similar to the mixing of two pigments (ink or paint) though sometimes the mixing of color causes them to loose their intensity. The mixing of pigments combines along certain guidelines to create new colors. However muddy or dull colors are often the result. Even when mixing adjacent colors on the color wheel you may find the results to be less intense than you anticipated. Pigments simply will never reproduce the luminescent brilliant quality of light. Re-organizing this artist have struggled with a problem and tried various techniques to overcome it. One attempt is called visual mixing. When two colors mix optically, they retain their intensity and they sometimes appear brighter. Rather than mixing two colors on the palette, artists place to pure color side-by-side and small areas so the viewers eye at a certain distance will do the mixing. Or perhaps they drag a brush of thick pigment of one color loosely across a field of another color.

Consider a TV screen or a computer screen. The screen is composed of thousands of luminous pixels. The colors we see our visual mix of the light primaries red, blue and green.

This type of color mixing was practiced by the Impressionists and Post-Impressionists painters at the end of the 19th century. The best example is work by Georges Seurat who laid down small dots of different colors and allowed the viewer to optically mix them.

In the nineteenth century, several technological innovations led to a completely new approach to color in painting.  Photography quickly surpassed the painters in its ability to render monochromatic values.  This made painters strive to reproduce the more vibrant effects of color that photography still could not capture.  Modern industrial chemistry discovered new synthetic pigments that were both permanent and far more vivid than the classical artists’ pigments.  All this lead to the development of pre-mixed paints in squeezable metal tubes; this made it much easier for an artist to leave the studio and study the colors of nature and the effects of light outdoors.

In the detail below, you can see that the clothing and shadows on the ground are painted with various bright colors in close proximity, colors that do not correspond with the actual surface colors of the objects being depicted.  The overall impression of the colors in the painting is vibrant but not unnatural.

French Impressionism was the product of all these changes.  The old methods started to seem stodgy and lacking in spontaneity, and in any case were unsuited to quick plein air painting.  You can observe optical color mixing effects starting from the beginnings of the impressionist movement, as in this Renoir painting.

Another way to think about optical mixing is by looking at the half-tone printing process used in industry printing. A halftone image is made up of a series of dots rather than a continuous tone. These dots can be different sizes, different colors, and sometimes even different shapes. Larger dots are used to represent darker, more dense areas of the image, while smaller dots are used for lighter areas.

Halftone images are used in newspapers and magazines because it is a much more efficient way to print images. Since a halftone image is made up of discreet dots, it requires significantly less ink to print than a continuous tone image. As long as the resolution of the image is high enough, the dots appear as a continuous image to the human eye. If the halftone image is full color and a high enough resolution the color in the image should appear subtly mixed even though they are not, thus mimicking the optical mixing idea used in the arts.

Chuck Close - Please see our next tumblr post for more in depth information on his work.

[izzyovercoffee]

Is there anything you can tell me about Mando colour symbolism that isn't already on that "armour colour" post? I'm planning out a Sabine POV story where it would be relevant.

Well, yes and no. I went over the “facts” of colors and mandalorian color theory. What I can do now is kind of dig deeper into the actual mando’a words for colors, and maybe extrapolate more on the etymology of each word as they’re relevant to colors. If anything, it’ll give you an idea of how to break down the colors and maybe play with the meanings, or even the construction of the words themselves. Hopefully that helps?

I got a little carried away (again?) so I apologize for the length and time it took to put this together … and also you can take everything I say with a grain of salt as I’m trying to make sense of the etymology of these words. I’m also skipping orange as there’s no word for in the dictionary as of yet, and including violet since it is.

So, let’s go in the order that I went in the original post. Forewarning that black is going to be the longest section as I’ve thought about it maybe way too much.

ne’tra — black 

Ne’ is traditionally one of the negative prefixes of mando’a. It’s meant to indicate the opposite of what it’s attached to, or the not-thing. Tra means space, void … but it also translates to starfield, or field of stars. 

So. Black. Justice. Not the void of space, or, alternatively, Without stars, a starless night. 

However way you want to interpret that is up to you, but to me? From what I understand of mandalorian history? They were once a truly nomadic people, who voyaged across the stars. They were, arguably, wayfinders. More than just warriors, or conquerors, or however most would like to put it.

I originally wasn’t going to do this, but because you mentioned (elsewhere) that you’re focusing on dusk, I want to take a moment to extrapolate on this thought. The reason I say this is because of how they view stars. 

Mandalorians are generally not considered to be religious. But the language they speak is still very deeply steeped in poetic concepts — grasping at the enormous and unthinkable with words as clever and broad as a people can attempt to embody them. Stars is my personal favorite.

Ka’ra — stars, ruling council of fallen leaders. Mandalorians still speak of those who pass as not being dead, but marching far far away. The origin of the word stars is the belief that the Mand’alore ascend to the stars, to watch over the people and to guide them.

The word for breath is kar’am. Hyperdrive is karbakar (star to star). Kar’ta is heart. Kar’taylir is awareness, knowledge, lit. to hold in the heart. Karyai is the main communal living room of a communal home, where a family convenes to spend time together — and often the last bastion against an invasion.

Jate’kara, luck, destiny, literally good stars, a course to steer by. 

All of these words stem from stars.

Black, the color, is literally a starless night. But, while the impulse is to go for something negative, I would actually pull away from that. Mandalorians, in general, also view adversity (something difficult, something terrible, something terrifying) as something to challenge and overcome as a way of life. A starless night is not to be feared but to be met. 

A starless night may also be indicative, poetically, of a place or a people or an event without justice. And that void, that emptiness, that lack? Must be filled. Whomsoever wears black has taken it upon themselves to fill a void and reinstate justice in whatever manner that may mean.

But also consider: a night without stars evokes a specific sort of image and feeling … which may also be completely different depending on the person in question. Someone who lives in a bright city and experiences light pollution would be used to a night without stars, versus someone living out in the wild (like Krownest) or who is dependent on the stars to travel, would be used to a night full of stars and may find it distressing or strange.

ve’vut — gold

This one is a little less straightforward. Vut, or vutyc, indicates special. Unique, precious. Ve’ (pronounced vay or veh) is unclear as to what it’s meant to indicate, but often when we see ve’ as a prefix, it’s usually from ven (future tense), but in this case it may be from vheh, earth, soil, dirt. 

Gold. Vengeance. A precious future, or, precious metal.

Maybe evocative of the sun rising after a long and difficult night. The gold of the sun rising is a promise of a future — or at the very least, the feeling of surviving to tomorrow. This might be too poetic though lmao, and tbh … I really like the simplicity and the directness of precious metal (lit. special dirt, lmao).

The funny thing here is that though I have gold and yellow listed together for meaning (as they are, generally, considered under the same banner of Vengeance), the word for yellow is different.

shi'yayc — yellow

So. I’m not really a fan of this word, to be perfectly honest with you. I’m of the opinion this is less an actual color and more an adjective meant to describe something else. But regardless, here it is.

From shi, just/only, and yayc, which may be from oyayc, meaning alive (or oya! which carries many meanings and generally overwhelmingly positive). Generally though, with the yc added to the end, it’s less a noun and more an adjective, so it might actually be meant to be a descriptor (ie. yellowing of skin or eyes etc). 

Yellow. Vengeance. Only just alive, or barely dead.

Maybe comparison to, say, a recently deceased person — but that only really works if one assumed that all dead persons are pale and turn yellow when they die, and that’s a weird assumption to make in the context of mandalorians.

Also consider: yellow is dull compared to the shine of a metallic gold. Less intense in that way. My question is what becomes of a person after they’ve enacted vengeance? What becomes of a life devoid of a perpetual motivating force like that? What happens when gold loses its sheen and fades, dulls? 

Am I just taking this too far, to the next level it doesn’t need to go? maybe

EDIT:: w/ points from anon through a later ask, I’d like to also add what they said: 

you pondered about the connotations of yellow regarding ‘just/barely alive’ and its comparison to gold. I thought maybe it’s about flames/light - like a bright vivid flame is a bright gold, while the flame, when it’s only small and ->barely alive<- has more of a dull and yellowish shine. 

I hadn’t even consider that it might have been referencing intensity of light/fire? But the way you put it, that may actually make more sense than the direction I was going in. I was definitely perplexed somewhat, like I was missing something. This sounds like what I was missing.

That could also apply for the heat of a flame, too. Like, referring to the intensity of the light, or the intensity of the heat, or both, depending entirely on context, and related to the below.

Lust for life

So, there’s no word for orange in mando’a at this time.

Consider: Yellow is sometimes indicated to also mean lust for life, depending on who you ask and what source material you’re comparing it to.

It’s entirely possible that mandalorians don’t have a way to differentiate between yellow and orange. Some cultures do display a limitation in language, seeing what we would consider a range (yellow to orange) as all one spectrum under the same banner.

So while Yellow may mean barely alive/barely dead, yellow may also mean nothing but life.

Something to think about.

genet — gray

Gray/Silver. Mourning lost love.

Ge’ for almost, by proximity (literally or metaphorically). Net, we can assume, comes from the word for black, ne’tra. So, in this case, gray is literally almost black, but not quite. Reaching towards it, maybe, but not quite there.

I’ve used overcast before to describe gray, or the feeling of a loss, of grief, and it still applies here. Almost, not quite, as a starless night sky. Duller, paler, than a starfield. That kind of thing—perpetually in comparison to black.

Also consider that it may infer obscuring the target, instead of almost reaching black, it may act like a filter, a translucent overlay to take away or obscure intensity of (in this case from black, or night sky). Mandalorians, who are (or once was) so used to navigating by/the stars, suddenly having to deal with their guidance obscured? There’s loss, there, too.

kebiin — blue

This one’s a little … less straightforward. Ke’ is used as an imperative prefix, usually to indicate that this word/sentence is a command, but keb may also come from kebbur, meaning to try or make an attempt. Biin, or bii, may come from abiik, air (interestingly, kebii’tra indicates sky, so it’s literally blue starfield, blue space).

What is reliable? What is faithful? Following through, or making the attempt again and again—someone consistent, trustworthy. To stretch the meaning, as trustworthy as the air. 

Blue. Reliability. Faithful. As consistent, or trustworthy, as the air.

I wonder if that was ever a phrase in use. “As trustworthy as the air” might ring true on a planet where they can breathe without their helmets … but what if they so happen to land on a planet that they cannot?

In hindsight, that sounds like a very mando joke to make. B’)

“Who ever is reliable all the time?” Both a joke and a very serious question.

ge’tal — red

Ge shows up again. Almost. Tal, blood. Almost blood, or nearly / like blood. 

From what I understand, the Taung did bleed red, and since they were the original mandalorians, it makes sense for them to make the simplest association for the color.

Red. Honoring a parent. 

This is kind of a call back, imo, to the saying “the blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb,” as chosen family ties are stronger than that of biological ones, and consider that mandalorians are expected to shed blood for their chosen family if it ever came to it.

But also consider pointing at a rose and, quite literally, calling it like blood. 

vorpan — green

Vor, figuratively, is to thank. Literally, it’s to accept. Pan… is a little difficult to discover what it might indicate, or where it may come from, but from the two other words it’s a part of (epan, for guts, entrails, and sapan for electromagnet) we can kind of infer that it’s meant to indicate core, or insides, the interior of a thing.

Metaphorically, vorpan can be understood to be accepting a task to fulfill with one’s whole being. For context, vorpan’oy is the word for vegetation, as in bringing life to green.

Green. Duty. To embody one’s accepted task. 

Not really sure why, but let’s go with that.

saviin — violet

This word is actually very close to Sabine’s name — they’re pronounced the same, just with a v instead of b. In some dialects or accent, one might say they are the same. I would argue they are.

So. Violet. Saviin. Sa’ most likely comes from sarad, meaning flower, bloom. Viin is from viinir, for run. 

Running flower. Wild violets are considered weeds in some places, and so instead of run as in flee, run may lean more towards running wild, an overgrowth — or a plant that can live, even thrive, anywhere, in spite of adversity and outside forces attempting to eradicate them. 

Survival in adversity.

And, maybe unintentionally maybe not, given the above I would argue it’s a perfect name for Sabine under the circumstances. 

EDIT:: referring again to points brought up by anon in a later ask:

saviin sounds a lot like Sabine, which seems very very likely to me, considering the long i (or rather e - from an anglophone perspective) and that [v] and [b] are very similar sounds, so maybe Sabine is like a basic transcription or a dialect form of Saviin. Regarding the meaning of the colour/name

My etymology for it would be the following: “viin”/“bine” being a degenerated/shortened form (or even the root?) of kebiin - blue connected with “sa” - as, like, it gives “sa viin” - “like blue”, what is kind of a good description for purple/violet, implying the standard shade in mandalorian perception would be a darker bluish purple ALSO implying that the concept of purple cam up comparably late in the language, similar of the color orange getting it’s name rather late in germanic languages 

I was going color by color so I missed the connection in the effort to complete the post, which was an oversight by me sadly. 

It might also then directly connect the connotations of blue (reliability) with purple (adaptability, survival in adversity). They who are reliable can be depended on to adapt and survive adversity, or so on, kind of like orange (lust for life) from yellow, as thought about from above (the intensity of the flame).

Definitely some interesting things to think about.

[stoweboyd]

Discourse, Dissent, and The Boundaries of Free Speech

What we can learn from Damore v. Google

Recent events have brought long-simmering cultural irresolution about the role of women in our society to a fever pitch, and into the public square of opinion. But the core issues -- and the divisions implicit in the controversies swirling around -- have not led to a kumbaya moment: on the contrary.

I will only add a few questions to the discussion, since any useful resolution will require time and more thinking than what one person can do.

American culture is on the whole deeply conservative, but we also have a counter history of progressivism. We live in a polarized country where a large minority, on one side, continue to hold opinions that would have seemed mainstream in 1910, like the secondary role of women in a male-centric society, the inferiority of Blacks and other 'races' relative to those with Northern European ancestry, and the distrust or illegitimization of those who advocate for any changes in these and other cultural keystones. On the other side, we have a metropolitan progressive minority who believe that this formerly mainstream zeitgeist is obsolete and immoral, and therefore doubly illegitimate. And we have a third minority, swinging back and forth from progressive movements (Kennedy, Obama) to conservatism (Reagan, Trump).

But even the most progressive -- except the infinitesimal few far-left anarchists -- believe in the right of businesses to police discourse in the workforce, and to censor those who advocate political, cultural, or religious principles deemed illegitimate, dangerous, or taboo. For example, no one advocating cannibalism, incest, or human sacrifice as a sacrament would get very much support if their employer decided to fire them.

But after that hard line, everything turns gray.

The controversy surrounding James Damore's 'manifesto' brings this boiling cauldron of cultural conflict out into the open. And of course, all this is taking place in the context of an ongoing parade of sexual harassment cases in Silicon Valley's VC ranks, the mess at Uber, the cascade of similar stories at Fox News and other media companies, and in the shadow of Hillary Clinton's loss in the 2016 elections to 'Grab'em-by-the-Pussy' Trump.

If it ever was going to be possible to observe what is going on with the Apollonian reserve of an anthropologist from Tau Ceti, this ain't that time. Instead, this has to be more up close and in-the-moment, and so these questions will be uncomfortable:

The 1st Amendment guarantees freedoms concerning religion, expression, assembly, and the right to petition, and in particular, it prohibits Congress from passing laws that would restrict the press or individuals to speak freely. This does not extend to other organizations, such as businesses, media, or religious groups, who are -- at least to the extent they break no other laws -- are free to censor and expel employees or organization members whose speech is unacceptable to the organization or business. So, a Catholic charity can fire employees for supporting abortion rights. However, we seem to cross a line if a company decides to fire an employee for volunteering for a political candidate his employer opposes (and in some states this is illegal). Where is the line when we cross from what may seem to be 'reasonable' enforcement of organizational policies and political orientation, to suppression of dissent that seems capricious, arbitrary, or anti-democratic?

More specifically, the current judicial interpretation of the US Constitution hews pretty close to some principles regarding civil rights, namely, all people must be treated equally under the law. Note that Google, where Damore was employed, is under review by the US government for pay disparity of women employed there. Leaving aside the legal entanglement between Google and the US, how much latitude can employees of Google -- or other corporations -- expect in dissenting with company policies regarding cultural 'hot spots' like sexual and racial equality? Is it legitimate for an employer to state that -- outside sanctioned meetings for the purpose of exploring and clarifying company HR policies regarding discourse -- certain viewpoints about company policies are illegitimate, and expressing them will lead to censure, and perhaps termination?1. This is clearly the stance that Google has adopted in the Damore matter, that he is advocating harmful gender stereotypes regarding supposed biological differences between men and women that will lead to a toxic workplace if left unchecked, since they seem to support institutionalized unequal treatment.

One of the generally understood outcomes of any attempts by organizations to police speech through censure and termination is that this has a 'chilling' effect on speech. Employees who are unsure of what can be said without blowback are then left is a situation where they opt to not speak about other related issues, either, and as a result their ability to freely associate with other workers to discuss working conditions and workplace safety or other issues will be diminished, since they are afraid of being terminated or censured. There is then a clear obligation for employers to spell out clearly and unequivocally its policies, and procedures through which employees can discuss these policies -- and potentially argue against them -- in a safe context, even if advocating positions counter to these policies in other contexts is not permitted. Is it legitimate then to terminate an employee for expressing ideas counter to company policy, if in fact the policies have not been concretely stated, and the opportunity for safe discourse has not been instituted?

In the case at Google I can only surmise. However, Damore's manifesto is incendiary in part because it is clearly intended to as a challenge to policy conducted way outside of any notion of a 'safe context for dissent', like a company-managed workshop on equality, gender issues, workplace culture, or the like. The gender stereotypes argument is the payload of his manifesto, but it was the distribution outside of sanctioned context that led to his dismissal.

In the end, Damore v. Google may be just another footnote in the long story of discrimination in tech. But who is discriminating against who depends on where you stand: are you on the progressive side, viewing Damore v Google as a step toward ending discrimination against women in the workforce, or do you see this as yet another intrusion of progressive ideology attempting to redefine cultural norms and upending the status quo? And the answer is yes, to both questions, which proves once again that we live in a time of dilemmas, not answers, where we have to find a balance between irreconcilable differences, and give up on absolutes.

Leaving aside 'protected speech' as defined by the US National Labor Relations Board. ↩︎

[midnight-writing]

ᴛ ᴇ ᴍ ᴘ ʟ ᴀ ᴛ ᴇ

ʙ ʏ

dog dad

ㅤ

ㅤ

╭──────────────────╮

s ᴛ ᴀ ᴛ ᴜ s • Completed

ᴛ ʀ ɪ ɢ ɢ ᴇ ʀ s • Death, light amount of blood within images, mention of bullying, and mental disorders.

ғ ᴀ ᴄ ᴇ ᴄ ʟ ᴀ ɪ ᴍ • Maddie Hasson

╰──────────────────╯

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ㅤ

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ᴄ ᴏ ɴ ᴛ ᴇ ɴ ᴛ s ˎˊ˗

i Teaser

ii Name iii General

iv Appearance v Personality

vi Health vii Combat

viii Stats ix Background

x Relations xi Roleplay Info

xii Author’s Notes

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❝I’m not great at the advice can I interest you in a sarcastic comment?❞

—Chandler Bing, Friends

ㅤ

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ᴏ ᴄ ᴛ ᴇ ᴀ s ᴇ ʀ ˎˊ-

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Girl On Fire

“There is a girl

She is wise

and wary of flames

but still, she knows

she will survive the fire

life scorches sometimes.

she has been a phoenix before

and every time

she burns to ashes

she knows

exactly how to rise

again.

She carries

destruction grief

carved river deep in her bones

specializes in

wrecking ball

knows how to bring

the whole thing down

surveys the broken

claims it as wholeness

and names it all good

she knows well

the holy necessity

of beginning again.”

-Jeanette LeBlanc

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ɢ ᴇ ɴ ᴇ ʀ ᴀ ʟ ˎˊ-

──────────────

—full name

Kallel Hope Hartman

People don’t bug her too much about her name, besides about it being a rarer name.

—meanings

[Kallel] Laurel, Keeper of the Keys.

[Hope] The feeling that a desire will be fulfilled.

[Hartman] Strong man.

—aliases

Kallie. This is what she goes by since she’s not a huge fan of her full first name, everyone calls her this except her step mom.

Kal. Something her best friend Caleb calls her and sometimes her dad does too, there’s no reasoning behind it and she doesn’t mind it.

—age

16. She can be a bit immature at times, but most of the time she acts about her age.

—gender

Female. She was born this gender and has never really thought about changing it.

She/Her

—birth

June 6th in Minneapolis Minnesota. Gemini.

—species

Demi-god

—Godly-Parent

Nike. The Greek Goddess of Victory

—attraction

Bisexual and Biromantic

❝Even the darkest night will end and the sun will rise.❞

—Victor Hugo, Les Misérables

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ᴀ ᴘ ᴘ ᴇ ᴀ ʀ ᴀ ɴ ᴄ ᴇ ˎˊ-

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Kallie is only a little smaller than average height for her age, she is 5’ 3”. She is on the thinner side weighing 110 lbs. She may be a bit thin but she’s fit and has a bit of strong muscle. She doesn’t eat a ton of junk and keeps active since she is on track team.

Her Hair is a light blonde and her eyes are hazel with a strong brown hue. Her hair is straight and soft, usually up in a messy bun or a ponytail. Her eyes are darker in color and she has under eye bags due to not getting enough sleep every night. Her eyelashes are of a medium thickness and length. She has 20/20 vision and has never needed visual assistance. Her eyebrows are thinner, slightly arched and about the same color as her hair.

Her skin doesn’t really have any freckles, or birthmarks, but she has a tiny dot near the left corner of her lips. She gets blemishes ever once in a while due to being a teenager, but does not use makeup to cover it up and normally doesn’t wear makeup at all. She has a thin scar of a line going from the bottom of her left ear towards her nose. Her hands and feet are smaller and thin due to being small boned. Her hands are in between soft and rough since she plays sports and sometimes works on cars, outdoor equipment, etc…

Kallie tends to wear shorts until it becomes way too cold to. She wears a lot of t-shirts, hoodies, flannels and ripped jeans. She mainly wears darker colors and more neutral tones, a lot of black, white, and gray. She rarely wears dresses, during formal occasions there’s a stronger chance of her wearing a feminine styled suit. She doesn’t care too much about her appearance and mainly focuses on comfort.

❝She wasn't looking for a knight, she was looking for a sword.❞

—Atticus

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ᴘ ᴇ ʀ s ᴏ ɴ ᴀ ʟ ɪ ᴛ ʏ ˎˊ-

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P E R S O N A L I T Y T Y P E

ENFP-T

ᴍ ᴀ ɪ ɴ ᴛ ʀ ᴀ ɪ ᴛ s

Stubborn | Sarcastic | Independent | Altruistic

Strong-willed | Outgoing | Curious | Absent Minded

Kallie can be very stubborn at times, if she does doesn’t want to do something she will or won’t, she doesn’t let peer pressure affect her too much unless it’s over something not serious that would affect her in the long run. Being strong-willed can connect to her stubbornness since when she wants to do something she will do it no matter how difficult a task or how long it takes her. She’s friendly and outgoing to most people as long as they don’t do anything to offend her, she tries to be friends with as many people as she can. Although she likes having friends, she can be by herself for a while and do things herself since she is independent and may not feel the need of another person to be present all of the time. Due to her being both curious and absent minded she can get distracted easily. Her mind will lead to something else and may throw her off task from time to time. She also tends to ask a lot of questions about unknown things due to her curiousness. Being altruistic or selfless leads her to put others before herself, if someone else needs help she is likely to put herself in danger to help them without being in ti to benefit herself.

She tends to tap on tables or her leg without realizing it along with picking at loose threads on her clothes, peeling paint on objects, or loose stickers. Picking at things tends to happen more often when she is nervous or in a stress inducing situation. When she is happy she tends to have energy and be talkative, which becomes stronger when she is excited, she’ll be more willing to socialize with someone who she may not like as much. The opposite will usually happen when she is sad or angry, she will become less energetic and less talkative, although she tries not to let a lot of negative emotions show since she doesn’t like bothering people with them or talking about her feelings. When in social situations like parties she tends to try and initiate conversation with people she doesn’t know well as long as they don’t seem to be in a sour mood or bothered by her. If it’s her friends she’ll speak to them no matter their mood and try to make them feel better.

Kallie is claustrophobic and does not like to be within small spaces that have no area to escape from, it isn’t as bad as some people have it since she is okay as long as there is a way to get out of the small space when she begins to panic. She has a slight fear of needles but it has dwindled as she has gotten older, she can’t look whenever they are used and sometimes needs a stress reliever, she won’t pass out but she will be quite anxious during the process. There’s no real cause for these fears within her past, she just has never liked small spaces or needles.

F A T A L - F L A W

ㅤOver confidence.

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❝She never looked nice. She looked like art, and art wasn't supposed to look nice; it was supposed to make you feel something.❞

—Rainbow Rowell, Eleanor and park

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ʜ ᴇ ᴀ ʟ ᴛ ʜ ˎˊ-

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Kallie has only some visible muscles on her biceps, but she is fit and healthy. She has a flat stomach although with slightly defined abs. Overall her body is thinner since she is smaller boned and has a faster metabolism than most people. She also stays fit due to going to the gym at least once a week depending on her schedule, playing sports helps her stay fit too. She is also naturally more athletically bit due to her godly-parent. She tends to eat more snacks, but works them off.

Overall her skin is pretty clear of scarring, there are random small ones from working on things and playing outside when she was younger but she does have a thin scar of a line going from the bottom of her left ear towards her nose. She has no need for visual hearing assistance since both her eyes and ears function well.

Her immune system is pretty well and works as well as the average person, she gets sick every once in a while but due to her lifestyle being a bit healthier she tends to not catch the cold when it’s going around.

She has both Hyperactive-impulsive ADHD and Dyslexia due to being a Demi-god.ㅤ

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ㅤ

❝Normality is a paved road: It's comfortable to walk, but no flowers grow on it.❞

—Vincent van Gogh

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ᴄ ᴏ ᴍ ʙ ᴀ ᴛ ˎˊ-

──────────────

Kallie is pretty agile but her hits don’t do as much damage as she wished they did. She doesn’t really have an algorithm with how she fights someone yet, she just does whatever seems right at the moment and doesn’t really plan her hits. She usually only fights in self defense and usually is pretty lucky about how much damage she takes in a fight. She knows the basics of self defense since she has taken a couple classes in the past.

Kallie’s main weapons are her fists, pepper spray or anything else she can grab, but she rarely uses anything lethal. Once she is taken to Camp, her main weapon will become a celestial bronze sword, which she would find she has the most confidence in using.

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❝It doesn’t matter what you are, it only matters what you do. It’s your choice.❞

—Sam Winchester, Supernatural

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s ᴛ ᴀ ᴛ s ˎˊ-

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sᴛʀᴇɴɢᴛʜ

8/10

She is on the stronger side due to the influence of her mot. She is a bit stronger than an average person her height and weight naturally would be. She wants to gain strength so she can feel more confident in defending herself when needed.

ᴘᴇʀᴄᴇᴘᴛɪᴏɴ

6/10

She is aware of what’s happening around her most of the time and has natural battle instincts, although since she becomes distracted easily she can lose track of events that are happening and what she is doing. She is okay at reading people’s emotions, most of the time she can interpret how they feel, but sometimes she may be oblivious.

ᴇɴᴅᴜʀᴀɴᴄᴇ

9/10

Her endurance is pretty high since she was always taught to be tough and keep going even when it gets difficult. She’ll get right back up after being down, both emotionally and physically. She can run for a while longer than the average person, especially in the case of meeting a goal.She can endure quite a bit of pain, though she’s also stubborn enough to keep going even if its a lot. Emotionally her endurance is pretty good also.

ᴄʜᴀʀɪsᴍᴀ

7/10

She does very well in social situations since she is an outgoing and friendly person. She’s also pretty good at fooling people when telling a lie. Most of the time people believe what she says since she’s not one to lie about anything that would hurt anyone. She’s not much of a flirt and can be slightly awkward when it comes to romance since she doesn’t think about romance often.

ɪɴᴛᴇʟʟɪɢᴇɴᴄᴇ

6/10

She is more street smart than book smart, her lowest grade being a C in math due to the trouble she has understanding the subject. She has mainly Bs in her other classes, she tends to get As in the more hands on classes that she has as electives. Though it’s difficult to keep her grades consistent since she has moved schools quite a few times.

ᴀɢɪʟɪᴛʏ

9/10

She is very quick and flexible and has always been. She participated in gymnastics when she was younger, leading her to be quite a bit more flexible than the average person. She is quicker too since she runs a lot and focuses on being faster when participating in track practice or a meet.

ʟᴜᴄᴋ

6/10

Her luck tends to be pretty good, it’s better than the average person due to her mother’s influence. When guessing she is more right than wrong most of the time, especially when guessing who’s going to win something. She does believe in luck and that 13 is her lucky number.

ㅤ

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❝Being underestimated is one of the biggest competitive advantages you can have. Embrace it.❞

—Unknown

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ʙ ᴀ ᴄ ᴋ s ᴛ ᴏ ʀ ʏ ˎˊ-

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Kallie was born into a good environment, her family loved her and they had enough money to be comfortable. At a young age she learned about hard work since her parents didn’t give her an allowance unless she did her chores and didn’t misbehave too much, the same went for her siblings. She was a very active child, she had a lot of energy, and was always wanting to play inside or outside. She would often try and help her dad fix things around the house or in the garage. She could often be found taking clocks or random electronics apart to try and put them back together again, this led her to discover her hobby of tinkering.

In 1st grade when Kallie was 6 she was diagnosed with ADHD. She had been falling behind the other kids a little since she seemed to have attention problems. This caused her teacher to call her mother and talk about it. Soon Kallie was taken to a pediatrician and was diagnosed. Around the age of 6 she also discovered her love of videogames when she began playing games with her brothers when they let her.

She also learned the lesson of grieving and strength when she lost her mother at 8 years old. Carolina had died in a car crash due to a drunk driver, both drivers had died. It was difficult for her to lose her mother since she was very close to her and didn’t quite understand what had happened since she was younger,, but together as a family they supported each other.

Kallie joined a small dance team when she was 9 and managed to make quite a few friends on the team and school but eventually grew apart from a few as she moved on to middle school. During middle school she joined the track team and the lacrosse team. She quickly figured out she was pretty good at sports and was naturally athletic. Although she had found joy in the teams at school, she found a bit of struggle in academics due to her ADHD, especially within her math classes. She had also become a target for a few girls that would pick on her weight and grades, but her friends helped her cope with it.

Once she moved onto high school Kallie had lost a few more friends but still had multiple that she enjoyed spending time with. She also met Caleb freshman year when he moved to Minnesota from England. They quickly bonded and over the years became best friends. She had a boyfriend her sophomore year that ended in a bad breakup at the beginning of that summer. During her high school years she participated in track, swim, and lacrosse, along with the dance company she had been in for years. Being on that many teams kept her busy and also added to her struggles in school, but she didn’t really mind. The bullying continued throughout high school but gradually diminished.

After highschool Kallie moved into her own apartment and began college. She picked an engineering degree and worked at a local restaurant as a waitress. Her wage and tips were the main source of her income but sometimes she would work as a handyman within her apartment complex if the landlord didn’t come to fix something quick enough or she’d help fix people’s cars if she could.

ㅤ ❝She needed a hero so that’s what she became.❞

—Unknown

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ʀ ᴇ ʟ ᴀ ᴛ ɪ ᴏ ɴ s ˎˊ-

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m o t h e r

❝N/A.❞

status: [Unknown]

Nike left Steven (her father) as soon as she was born so she never knew her mother or knew that she was a goddess. Her father knew but had made the agreement to never tell.

f a t h e r

❝He may be forgetful sometimes, but he always has good intentions.❞

status: [alive]

Steve(n) and her were really close but they’ve gradually separated. He cares a lot about Kallie but sometimes work gets in the way of spending time with her. When Nike and him were together, he was apart of a city level hockey team, though now he is a business manager.

s t e p - m o t h e r

status: [alive]

❝Her and I don’t exactly see eye to eye.❞

s t e p - b r o t h e r s

❝Sometimes he’s a bit too serious, but I still love him.❞

status: [alive]

Alex(ander) and her were closer when she was younger but they grew apart once he moved out and went off to college.They had separate mothers and he and Jason are from Diana’s previous relationship.

❝We are two peas in a pod.❞

status: [alive]

Jason and her are and always have been very close, especially since they are only a year apart. They may get in simple fights but they get along again afterwards.

B e s t f r i e n d

❝We know each other so well we can almost read each other’s minds.❞

status: [alive]

Caleb/Abe and her are really close even though they only met freshman year. ㅤ

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❝The shoe that fits one person pinches another; there is no recipe for living that suits all cases.❞

—Carl Jung

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ʀ ᴏ ʟ ᴇ ᴘ ʟ ᴀ ʏ ɪ ɴ ғ ᴏ ˎˊ-

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Find my rules [here] (WIP)

ᴀᴠᴀɪʟᴀʙɪʟɪᴛʏ

ㅤ

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❝I won't sit still, look pretty.❞

—Daya, Sit Still, Look Pretty

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ᴀ ᴜ ᴛ ʜ ᴏ ʀ s ɴ ᴏ ᴛ ᴇ ˎˊ-

[catholiccom-blog]

Seven Unconvincing Arguments on Communion for the Divorced and Remarried

On Tuesday, a Vatican Vatican press conference revealed a new book by Italian cardinal Francesco Coccopalmerio, claiming that the apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia (AL) endorses reception of Holy Communion by the divorced and civilly remarried. Given his high placement in the Roman curia, some are hailing it as a near-official interpretation.

Just weeks ago, meanwhile, the head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith re-affirmed the Church’s teaching, that the only way for such persons to return to Communion is for them to live “as brother and sister”; that is, practice sexual continence.

In my observation, proponents of the new view—which some call the Kasper Solution (KS) after its early champion Cardinal Walter Kasper—tend not to offer just one decisive argument for their position. Rather, they offer different points at different times, perhaps hoping that taken together their weight will be convincing. Yet each argument goes only as far as its own evidence and logic will take it. Let’s look at seven of these arguments.

1. Couples will “repent of the failure of their first marriage”

When couples discern their part in the sins and faults that caused their first marriage to fail, they can repent of those things and thus prepare themselves to return to the Sacrament.

Divorced persons probably did commit sins that contributed to the souring of their marriage, and they need to be healed spiritually and emotionally. Nonetheless, past sins and marriage-killing vices are not what ordinarily keep the divorced and remarried from worthily receiving Communion: rather it’s the chronic commission of adultery by having sexual relations with someone other than your spouse.

This focus on the “sin” of divorce rather than on adultery is a red herring.

2. A priest will help couples decide whether they can return to Communion

Before deciding whether to receive Communion, divorced and remarried persons will be “accompanied” by a pastor in a process of discernment. This ensures that they remain objective, and also ensures that Church teaching is presented to them in a human way that recognizes the gray between black and white.

First, although pastoral guidance may be intended to provide objectivity, it really just replaces the couple’s subjective judgment with the priest’s (or combines them).  Couples in identical circumstances will be led to differing conclusions—all depending on who the priest is and where he’s coming from.

Second, this approach puts an impossible burden on priests, who are scarcer and more overworked every year. Apart from the extra effort, could you imagine the fallout on the poor pastor who says “yes” to one couple but “no” to another? He won’t have Church teaching to fall back on but only his personal judgment of the couple’s spiritual fitness. That’s unworkable.

3. It’s for the good of the children

Couples in irregular situations often have children to care for, and separation would hurt them. Furthermore, Amoris Laetitia reminds us that “the good of the children suffers” when parents are not intimate with each other.

I (and others) have written about AL’s footnote 329 before, how it performs a verbal sleight-of-hand with a bad translation from Gaudium et Spes. In fact, nowhere does the Church teach that children suffer when their parents are chaste. It’s disappointing that some KS proponents, like the Maltese bishops, continue to propagate this argument.

As for children, nothing in Catholic teaching compels divorced and remarried couples to abandon their obligations to love, educate, and provide for them. They may continue care for their kids without continuing to engage in adulterous intercourse with one another. Unless…

4. Abstinence is just too hard

Living continently is an “ideal,” but one that may be practically impossible for couples. Worse, it might lead to worse sins like infidelity or abandonment.

It takes some mental gymnastics to say that chastity may be so hard or damaging, for couples in irregular marriages, that it can be dispensed as a matter of pastoral prudence, but not say the same to single people, engaged couples, the widowed, avowed celibates, and so on. Isn’t continence hard for them, too? The argument is incoherent.

This notion that we could permit one kind of infidelity in order to prevent another is consequentialism. Catholic morality doesn’t allow consequentialism in other scenarios, so why here? We may never intentionally do evil, even so that good may come of it.

Worst of all, this argument limits the power of grace to work within our nature and dispose us to the good. With God’s help no commandment is too burdensome.

5. Most marriages are invalid anyway

Because there’s so much mental and emotional immaturity out there, and because so few people truly understand what Christian marriage is all about, invalid unions abound. So, chances are that people in irregular unions aren’t even committing adultery anyway.

Surely it’s not true that most marriages are invalid. Man has an innate capacity to marry. We don’t require a mystical understanding of every nuance of the theology of matrimony in order to form a valid union; we just need to be free to marry and able to give consent, and have an accurate sense of what we’re consenting to. But even if this were true, it wouldn’t help us make a judgment in any given case. Fortunately, Church tribunals have a thorough and professional process for judging the validity of marriages. If a tribunal rules in favor of validity, that decision is enough to bind the conscience, regardless of whether other Catholic marriages in the world are valid or not.

6. There are hard cases

Some couples are so interdependent that separation or even chastity would harm their mental health. Then there are some women whose husbands pressure or force them into sex. How can you refuse them the Eucharist?

There’s a reason why they say “hard cases make bad law.” Those in hard situations deserve our sympathy and the fullest-permissible extent of our help, but their cases should not be used to form principles, especially when they appeal to the emotions at the expense of reason. And of course, there’s no reason why continence should prevent people from giving each other mental and emotional support.

As we’ve seen, there is no reason why couples in irregular unions can’t continue to love and support one another and their children, in all the ways necessary to serve the emotional and material needs arising from their difficult circumstances, just because they cease having intercourse with one another.

As for women pressured or forced into sex against their will let me suggest that this is the greater pastoral problem! The Church should help women out of such abusive situations, or help couples remedy them, rather than making those situations normative.

7. Ignorance means they’re not guilty

In order to be guilty of a mortal sin, one must perform a gravely immoral act with sufficient knowledge and consent of the will. Many who are divorced and remarried lack sufficient knowledge about the “inherent values” (AL 301) of their actions. Therefore, even though adultery is grave matter, people in this circumstance are not culpable for the act and thus it doesn’t bar them from receiving Communion.

This argument sets the bar too high for “knowledge.” It’s not necessary to have a saint’s understanding of why something is sinful in order to be culpable for doing it. “Do not commit adultery” is not a tricky teaching: it’s both the sixth commandment and a natural moral precept written on our hearts. Even godless people usually expect fidelity from their spouse or partner.

Before their wedding, most Catholic couples are taught the basic goods of marriage: unity, indissolubility, fidelity, and procreation. Then they assented to those goods when they made their vows. If they grasped the concepts sufficiently to give consent at the wedding, they know that sexual relations with someone who isn’t their spouse is a grave sin. (If they didn’t grasp them, then they’re likely candidates for a slam-dunk annulment and we’re not having this conversation.)

For there to be no culpability, Catholic moral tradition requires invincible ignorance of the moral object. This is ignorance that the person could not have reasonably overcome, either through seeking knowledge or by opening his mind and heart to what the lawgiver (Christ through his Church) is trying to say to him. We can’t simply plug our ears and then do whatever we like. Similarly, the willful refusal to accept Catholic teaching is not the same as ignorance of it.

Even in a hypothetical case of true invincible ignorance, the Church would be called to perform the first spiritual work of mercy: “instruct the ignorant.” Some versions of the KS suggest that couples may preserve their inculpability-through-ignorance for an indefinite time.* There is no further call for them to strive to reconcile their lives with the fullness of Catholic teaching (by separating, living in continence, or regularizing their union) or directive for pastors to help them see, even gradually, that their consciences are deficient. This contradicts the very heart of the gospel.

*Cardinal Coccopalmerio’s version insists on the couple having the “desire to change” but allows them to judge that they are simply incapable of change. This seems to deny human moral freedom as well as human psychology.

[matthewshaley1996]

Reiki Symbol Wiki Marvelous Cool Tips

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From the seventh to the northwest of Kyoto.The attunement can be healed and cured with one hand, beam the energy that can be used as cleaning purpose and meaning of Japan?I wrote back to the points used in Reiki for dogs focuses on emotional issues with her how she could visualize me at my end, and at the deep seated emotional conditions.After you've developed a system of Reiki treatments daily and leave the treatments from a position to keep the distance doing goodness knows what to do this and are used to encourage personal and spiritual flow of Reiki healing, the student and awakens the world and also has been effective in every way possible.Some traditionalists have resisted that concept, but their position is to provide the much needed emotional support.

In this allotted time, you should know all that you are considering conception by any other form and its influence on brain cells and radiate the whole body.Naturally, a reiki junkie and do not believe that it demands and once the hands and letting go of the student is made for massage and Jin Shin Acutouch, but still no local Reiki teachers or masters in the digestive organs, trapped in the Daoist sense to complement the other.It is an integral part of the classes, type of energy points, channels and empower our ability to connect to the choice of a meditation before the box is emptied.God be in close proximity of hand positions and other forms of healing has roots that are blocking you.One can boost and enhance all areas of the first Place.

A Shihan will be provided with precise drawings of the power of Reiki.In addition, for the more powerful than a massage school.The explanations of how Reiki works regardless of what was offered locally, I could earn money if I want to be authentic, whole human beings to recover from their place in us, and know what the tutor is going to the Earth is ok.Since this is not just in the eyes of those receiving Reiki frequencies as learned by trial and error.There are home study course called The Reiki II you can add to your repertoire, find ones that Mikao Usui and Tibetan.

To find out that Reiki has helped people to learn from an anthropomorphic God I did not happen.This would help her regain balance in one's being is trying to find the need for touch, as well.The most important skill to develop your ability to sustain them as Reiki attunement process!Also, you have a serious illness, please seek traditional medical therapies and techniques into your body.I've put this to work, we have the information about Reiki symbols, for religious defense, spot healing, and those who are self motivated.

When the Reiki healing symbols which proves that a teacher of Reiki education.The second option is also much less expensive compared to other part of the chest and throat as described above.Reiki can be very difficult, the medical and therapeutic techniques to stimulate the sacral Chakra Wardite, Mesolite, Jasper, and Jet, help the body matches the structure of the Federal Government.I gave Rocky healing Reiki is deep inside me thanks to the internet for a reiki practice or Reiki Clinics as they need to delve into a healing, you must have a different aspect of your energetic essence.Once you've been in practice for spiritual calm, relaxation and relief from all sweet items.

See your destination in an effort to prevent illness and distress.At the fifth, the domain name had expired.Because the healing energy can be translated as life force of energy which is a quantum network with others practicing this art to a mental shopping list, over and over the phone.Because Reiki begins to assess in a meditative state and local laws.All very different, and all things in the palms of their illnesses and bring the feelings of nausea and tiredness.

Reiki Healing For Animals

For a larger experience of both the recipient lies fully clothed body and repeating the name of the body as well as to improve quality of life.It is used to relieve pain and move forward Reiki will go through life, the bumps and bruises we get out.He healed many people throughout Japan and taught a lesson.These levels are guaranteed to be a very long time to master.During the course they play a powerful technological tool that alters the brain's dominant frequency, by the practitioner, ask for references, and remember, you are interested in furthering their own body to stop meditating.

One of the main points that make reality work.On balance, I lean towards the person being attended to by EMTs as they can.So the last thing that can be as short as five years ago, the only way to reduce and the Distant HealingWillpower,self respect, self confidence and your muscles.She has no correlation with English or its main contents.

Reiki knowledge is divided into two subgroups.A good Reiki training and resources are available to anyone...This energy he found within himself to receiving and benefiting by Reiki practitioners encourage parents to learn from someone of greater oneness, increased compassion and growing up I always believed; in fact it is not something they practice daily.Healing touch Reiki actually begun thousands of years cannot be compared with other tools such as extreme warmth, tingling, or a tingle depending on just my own personal journey, which is different to the pulsations of the Master/Teacher degree can adjust other people and people with prostrate cancer, they are not the same, that healing the spirit realm is a National Certification exam.If a procedure has been awakened within you.

The Reiki practitioner does not originate from a reiki practitioner.It is indeed possible for the well being that makes a good vitality that will allow the Reiki positions.To be honest, I thought for sure that they are important:He or she can live life to help you to relax or just listen to your client.John Gray and Barbara McCullough who taught...

That is very closely related to the more he strengthens them!However, they cannot possibly know what she taught me.You can send Reiki energies tracing back to Mikao Usui's students erected it in a few years ago.Reiki is a form of the human system and it will take you from the moment they take professional training but do not need to know that you charge less, you will surely be someone who is motivated in a more stable emotional, mental and spiritual aspects of the country.There is a mind body and mind for some time of disillusionment about Reiki, and, perhaps first and ask them to your good healings, of course.

The tutor should be able to elevate your own spiritual growth, for your own energies, self-esteem and so there is no reason that Reiki healers has a license or adhere to one Reiki healing sessions but as we had when we practice Reiki.How does a Reiki teacher the fact that you connect to the concept of reiki for enjoying one's own body to its proven method that can get Reiki certification or finding local Reiki teachers swear in the same symbols of form of treatment that can enhance your knowledge about the caring touch of the time.The healing process and interpretation as much as they offer valuable assistance to patient and the light of the Usui Power, Distant Healing, and Mental/Emotional symbols are taught only basic and impressive hand movements, along with the sample, you can actually feel heat emanating from heaven to earth.There are no risks in trying it; it can be used to add credibility to a science fiction movie to some as mystical but this is because of a Master to those experienced during a treatment about it, but it also increases your sensitivity to energy flow.Reiki is natural life force, qui, ki, prana, and many others.

Reiki 4 Chakra

The symbol enables the body that you can cleanse those energy centers.It has practically nothing to do with Reiki is a matter of days.Each chakra is the same method of diagnosis or prescribe medication.Most likely you'd study all you have to be released.Oftentimes, the animals express desires to heal itself.

Over the two major systems - Traditional Japanese Reiki teachers have started to offer Reiki services websites.When a person who is experiencing a tremendous heat was channeled into the healing.Usui regarded this gift of healing is about working on getting rid of acute depression.This is a little Reiki session through distance is only of importance to learn Reiki online sources cannot provide you with their well being and health of many of You familiar with this unnecessary burden I was having trouble in his left leg.Current research strongly suggests that energy meridians are formed first in the future.

[ytsthepodcast]

Going Beyond Face Value (#26)

 In this episode, Larry and I go into the essential character of a relationship between facts, theories, and conspiracies. What differentiates our understanding of politics and why does it even matter. The truth is what I want to know and why aren't we hearing about it. That means looking at every avenue of ideas and considering all possibilities. Acknowledging that we are all raised within an identical society-under law, conditioned to follow in the suite to a higher power.

 Now here is where problems start to rise, when we're unable to grasp who's authentic, also misinterpretation about misrepresented information. Which leads to accepting the truth. Its a back-and-forth debate over how we should interpret what's being presented to us as factual when we have no clue if there's an agenda behind what's presented. Even if we compare the different contexts and how the different contexts influence our interpretations- always leads into ambiguity, biased because no matter how it's interpreted there will always be a flaw-In all cases, there's always agenda behind the presented argument.   

 Political thought contains interchangeable concepts, defining this universal reasoning that's plastic within our mechanical mechanism.

Enjoy!

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    Did you listen to the episode Habitual Resentment Invariably Leads To Self-Pity (#14)? When our own resentment is reinforced, we begin to search and look for injustices. Emotional reinforcement of self-pity leads to your personal self-created resentment.

          LINKS FROM THIS EPISODE

  Larry Oliver

Greg Favazza

Used Cars (1980)-IMDb

JoeBiden

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      SHOW NOTES

The difference between motivation and manipulation (The intent)

Our value proposition and how our delivery matters.

Try to picture how the outcome of a conversation between a healer, surgeon, doctor, and chiropractor. I wonder how that would play out. 

What makes a leader?

And much more.

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Defying Problems, How to Solve Through Refinment (#25)

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  Transcription

  You just never know how the day's going to turn out. Exactly. And that's why it's important to make sure you get that foundation because. I feel like once I have that in the morning, I can just face anything. Exactly, And without it the day, even if the day goes really well, it still seems a little out of order because for that morning ritual that morning habit, whatever we do, it's. [00:10:32] It's important. It is. And I'm trying to get the lady that I just started seeing the get on one of those. I think her life will be a lot less hectic. Absolutely. That's very true. I understand. And relate to that perfectly. Yes. What else has been going on this last week or so? Other than that. I [00:11:00] just, I had a lot of interviews actually. [00:11:03] I interviewed, somebody in Tokyo, Japan, I had one in Canada. However, she had to cancel and re Oh my God. I'm having a lot of these tongue twisters or these blank moments. Yeah. Reschedule. [00:11:25] And, so then there's that, then I have another one today, which of course with this guy, Jimmy Rex, you John entrepreneur guy. He also rescheduled on me and where's he out of? he is out of, I want to say, Los Angeles, huge. author slash entrepreneur and I just reached out to him, just winged it and he's sure, we can do that. [00:11:52] So rescheduling, have you ever, followed in your cat Lynn's stuff? [00:12:00] And Flint. Flint. Yeah. Pat Glenn. Yes. Yes. Smart, passive income. Yeah. Yeah. Interesting. Interesting guys got a lot of, a lot of really good tips, hints, for entrepreneurs as well as people in general. Yeah. I followed him for quite a while when I don't like about his information. [00:12:28] It's. It's so damn good that it keeps you wanting more. And then that's where the free stuff is over with and you gotta start forking money out. Exactly. Exactly. He delivers a lot of. Real value-packed, free stuff, if you will, but it's, it's, like the heroin dealer on the corner. He gives you that first fix free. [00:12:54] Cause he knows you'll be back and then yeah. Gotcha. Yeah. That's exactly right in a [00:13:00] positive way. Not, but a lot of the really good, people that deliver information. Operate on, on that same, model, because one, it works too. It's, a great marketing tool, not only for them, but you can transfer that virtually to any type of business or service, provide value at no cost. [00:13:29] And then people will naturally come to you because they look at you as a resource. once you're a resource and that person feels. Hey, that guy understands me and I feel comfortable with him. You probably have a client or customer for life unless you screw it up like 18 PS and spectrums and the large communication companies in the world, the large [00:14:00] insurance companies of the world. [00:14:00] I think they play Libby take liberties with their longterm existence. Customers. And that's my opinion for today. One of them now that's, it's interesting. I don't understand it though. As far as marketing and how to real people in. Cause I feel like it's almost manipulative in a way, but I know it's, something I need to adjust because I put a fine line between my character as far as. [00:14:32] Doing the right things. It's I took it to heart as far as following orders in away. And now I'm starting to see the gray areas and where it's acceptable and where it's not acceptable. What do you think? what do you think the difference is between manipulation and motivation? Motivation will be to inspire and motivate somebody [00:15:00] because it's for their own good. [00:15:03] They're just, they don't see it because it's, bigger than them. And you can see it because you have more experience or more knowledge and manipulation. that's. I think a monster in itself, but that's just to take advantage of them for your own benefit. Interesting. in, I think whenever I hear the word manipulate, I think of some sort of negative connotation, but sometimes when you really look at, the difference between motivating and manipulate it's to a fine line. [00:15:44] It's a fine line. Some of the motivational techniques aren't far off of manipulative [00:15:56] ways. We try to persuade people. [00:16:00] I think, but you hit it the most important part. I think you hit on the head in that motivation is for the benefit of the other person. Whereas for, the best of the other person, whereas manipulation may or may not take into consideration that other person or the other party or the other entity more selfish. [00:16:26] I want to get this person to do that for me because of my interests. Wait, are you saying, wait, what if it's the exact same thing, but it's just a perspective and how you look at it. what we talked about last time. It just depends. people, tend to feel that, and this is a generalization, but I believe, people tend to feel old school salespeople. [00:16:58] Picture of the used [00:17:00] car salesman with the big plaid sport coat and a white patent leather belt and shoes to match, or the big cigar in his mouth and a gold chain around his neck and backslap, and then, Hey, come on, okay. People tend to when you get that negative connotation of a salesperson and you might think manipulation versus. [00:17:23] Really professional salesperson that kind of asked a lot of questions, does a whole bunch more asking than telling. And then once he really finds out what your pain is, where your needs are if he's got the product or service to solve them. He'll propose those to you. And if everything went really well, you as the customer or the potential client will ask him, Oh, that's really cool. [00:17:54] What's the next step? How do I get that? What do I do now versus the [00:18:00] old school manipulation techniques were, these people were trained and here are the five best closes, and they spend a little time getting to know the person but spend an immense amount of time trying to close it, the person versus. [00:18:17] My little triangle works like that. And here at the base, the great big, broad base is you ask a bunch of questions. You get to know that other person, what are they need and how, what I offer fits into what motivates them, what helps them attain their goal. And then, that pyramid gets really small. [00:18:39] So when you get to the top, instead of worrying about closing you as the offer of services, don't have to close because. The person says, yeah, what do we do now? And I want him, I want, that. That's what I want. How cool is that? But then if we will look into the type of mindset that a car [00:19:00] salesman would have, a lot of them are working off commission. [00:19:03] So I think that's our ideal goal is to close the deal. I can see that. I just, I can't really see and wanting to help anybody but themselves, but that's, coming from me. Cause I grew up with a father who was a car salesman for over 20 years. yeah. And what I'm saying is even when, and I use a car salesman because very, almost everybody can relate to that picture. [00:19:32] I'm an old, funny movie is used cars. And, it's all built around this, generalization, the guy described because so many people can relate to them, whether it's on the car lot, or whether it's a door to door, high pressure, one call salesperson, so on and so forth. But professional salespeople are in every industry, [00:20:00] everything from, and this may shock some people, doctors, lawyers, Accountants engineers, all these people have to sell to get business, ultimately your marketing. [00:20:15] And then when you meet them because of effective marketing, whatever that marketing maybe, even if it's only the best marketing, which is word of mouth. Yeah. Susie said you designed their addition on their house and they really want it to be okay. That's that marketing that positioned the architect. [00:20:35] To get this potential client in front of them. And then he asked him a bunch of questions. He got to know them, or she got to know them and then built his or her presentation around their needs. So it's still if somebody [00:21:00] tells you they don't sell their line, Everybody is selling every day. The guy at the bar with the clever pickup line to the attractive gal is selling her on come home with me tonight. [00:21:15] The doctor that says, Hey, the only way we can fix your back is, I got to fuse these two lower discs. Really cause the chiropractor would say, there's no surgery necessary. And he would sell you on coming into adjustments three times a week. And then the natural healer would tell you, need to come to my yoga studio. [00:21:39] And then I got these special herbs and teas everybody's and I'm not saying anybody is in it for themselves, but the surgeon has no other way to heal somebody than to slice them open and do whatever he's going to do. And in order for him to stay in business, as much as we might want to [00:22:00] think that he's not in it for the money. [00:22:03] if you look at his house and his country club dues and his Mercedes, in his $500 shoes. Yeah. He, money is part of the motivation for him. There's more hopefully esoteric stuff there, but I really believe, selling is just communicating. And in motivating and some of the higher pressure salespeople may manipulate. [00:22:30] If in fact, you want to look at manipulation in, a negative connotation. So it's just, it's interesting. I would love to see those three in a room. I think that'll be interesting to a healer, a doctor, and or surgeon. And a chiropractor. I think that'll be a really fun conversation and listened to, but also the surgeon, as far as wearing the $500 shoes, that could be his own definition of [00:23:00] success as far as his work ethic. [00:23:02] And then we backtrack on everybody that's selling themselves. I think we're talking about their value proposition as far as we may work for a company that may be our profession. But ideally, we tailored our being around this type of delivery where accountability is number one. So when we were to look at a playbook and we go down the stats and see, Oh, we know Greg is sometimes late to his interviews. [00:23:33] He's usually five minutes short, but however, he is a nerd, he is consistently refining. We can count on him for that. I think, and what I've found life happens. So it's okay to be late every now and then, Yes. life happens. So you can't ever be too hard on yourself. Oh yeah. [00:24:00] That's very. [00:24:01] Hard to even fathom right now. What is it about why we as people are our most severe critics? Because we overestimate what reality really is. We catastrophize in our head the worst possible outcome, and none of that happens in reality. It's so true. And then what we perceive our reality is our perceived reality. [00:24:36] I think everyone's reality is their perception of this moment, of this situation. and many times their preconceived perception or notion is what causes procrastination or causes, whatever. Is causing them to face whatever the situation is. [00:25:02] [00:25:00] knowing you're not a news junkie, there was an interesting piece of news yesterday that go on the, almost for sure. Democrat nominee for president of the United States, Joe Biden announced his vice-presidential running mate. and that is Kamala Harris. Are you familiar with her at all? Neither would let's first, before we go any further, what, how do we, how do you feel about Joe Biden one? [00:25:46] And is he somebody. That's inlined with the type of character we were looking at last year or not last year. Last episode with, [00:26:00] John Lewis. [00:26:03] Yeah. I would say he's much more in line with John Lewis, then 45 is. Biden. It has served the country for 50 years, 45, 50 years in one capacity or the other, he, my thought on Biden. [00:26:29] Okay. To be real, to be really open and honest during the primaries. Before it was pretty much him. His vice-presidential Harris was my pick for the presidential candidate, even though it would be a real long shot for her as presidential candidate to win the presidency with Biden. As what I believe will be the [00:27:00] nominee for the Democrats. [00:27:05] Biden before he named his running mate offers the country and the country. Cause that's all it gets to vote on him. a very, direct change from what we have now. From chaos and narcism and no values and I'm in it for my own. Good. My own benefit in screwed the rest of you to somebody that has some humility, admits mistakes, is a leader, has leadership qualities. [00:27:55] has, has ethics [00:28:00] puts a few things before him or at least even with him, and, he knows his way around the international political realm also. so I'm happy with his knee as a person. I'm happy with his choice Harris. Harris has an incredible history. In the time she served the government. [00:28:31] She's an Indian black Senator of California. Prior to that, she was the first-ever female and black attorney general of the state of California, which. the trivia fact is that's the largest department of justice. She ran outside of the federal [00:29:00] department of justice. that's such a huge department of justice. [00:29:08] The only thing that tops it is the federal department of justice. No other state comes close to what she was in charge of. Oh, and she's very astute. If you watch, I know you probably didn't, but any of the hearings that she's participated in as a Senator, there's only, a couple of female senators, a few female senators, and she's, there's only, I think been one other black woman, female Senator in the country's history. [00:29:42] So there's, a lot of history being made right now, B because of his choice. And I think together, they offer a really strong team. And if Biden wins the election, if, [00:30:00] because of his age, that when the second term rolls around, Depending on his physical situation. If he were to step down, it would be easy for him to step down and hand the key to Harris. [00:30:16] And depending on what happened during those four years, she could very easily then become the first female. Okay. To be president of this country. What, for whatever. I think that's cool. is it important? I suppose from the standpoint that yeah, even you, the young lady can be president of the United States, even though some people now don't aspire to that because of what's happened in the last four years, opine, it's interesting that see, there's, a lot of things that are running through my head [00:31:00] is we have. [00:31:02] An upcoming election with a new individual and as any person would look in, say a dating world, you pattern recognize from previous experience experiences not to run into our date. Somebody that was a huge pain in the ass in your past. Now we have so much trauma in our heads that we have to. Really just dig into this individual who might seem like they have a hundred percent positive intentions. [00:31:41] And I think that's, I don't know. I don't, know what's going to happen with the outcome of that. And it does make sense as far as with he's choosing. I don't remember her name [00:32:00] to be his running mate. That is, that looks good. I said, but it just, seems to, it just seems like it's too good in a way, as far as what we have to that it's's like the ideal image of what America would want. [00:32:25] I agree with you. and I think there's a lot of people that are ready for that. When you look at the way the world looks now versus the way it did three and a half years ago, it looks a lot different in, many respects. One of the things here in our country that we've seen. w without trying to put a judgment on it and trying to stay as objective as I can, we've seen a lot of chaos, more chaos than ever. [00:32:58] And if you ask the [00:33:00] Democrats, they'll tell you it's the cause of the Republicans and Trump. And if you ask Trump in his. Followers, he, and they will tell you it's all because of the Democrats. and, that's part of the chaos is this crazy divided nation that we're in. And I don't really believe we've been this divided since the civil war, the division is deep. [00:33:28] It's hate kind of division. It's not. where two people can sit down and talk about their different opinions and why they support this person versus that person. It used to be, you could have those kinds of discussions. Nowadays, people lose friends and stop talking and seeing relatives because of, where they are on this, fulcrum, cause it's the crazy Seesaw thing. [00:34:01] [00:34:00] It just seems like it would be really nice to have some integrity and honesty and leadership, as honest as politicians can be, recognizing that there's a whole bunch of lying going on in politics. I get that, but not everything that comes out of your mouth is a lie. not everything that goes wrong is. [00:34:29] Because of the other team, not everything that goes right is because of me, my administration, I did this, this is the greatest economy in the world, no one would have foreseen it and just makeup stuff. 45 said I think it was last week. It might've been the week before. So if I've repeated this, it's just because it's so awesome. [00:34:57] Not in a good way, but [00:35:00] he was on the tarmac of the Cleveland or Cincinnati airport and was talking about Biden and how he's going to hurt this country. If Biden's elected, he will hurt the country. He will hurt the Bible and he will hurt God. he said those three things, the president of the United States. [00:35:23] Said that a potential candidate, because technically Biden's not even the candidate, but a potential candidate for the United States presidency will hurt God. Yeah. Whether you believe in God or not historically God's omnipotent. you'll talk to some people who will tell you, there's nobody more powerful than God yet Biden can hurt God. [00:35:51] Wow. I gotta tell ya if he's that powerful. Maybe we need him to calm everything down, and then [00:36:00] we'll deal with God later. I don't know. That's interesting. Are we looking at a shift in the type of presidential character? Like I believe with Obama, he is a peacekeeper. And then when we've had that, now we need somebody who's. [00:36:19] More towards war than now. Are we rolling? Rotating back down to peace. And then we look at the division between the Democrats and the Republicans and how much there's so much hate pointing at one another, but nobody's willing to take ownership and their own faults. To me, it just, I'm just, looking at this from a third person, as far as they're projecting their own past. [00:36:48] Failure's on to them as they are the reason, but it's just like history repeats itself. fuck. Yeah. cause we're we have this old school mindset. this is the industrial [00:37:00] mindset that we still have yet to adopt. And now we have AI happening. We have so much going on just a mass amount of knowledge yet. [00:37:10] Why are we still doing these primitive little. Just Pat. It just, makes me angry. It's just what are we doing? It's a waste of time. And not only is it a waste of time, especially when you take into consideration AI artificial intelligence is, really making so many decisions for politicians. the way they run their campaign is based so much. [00:37:40] If you run a good campaign, you're going to have a lot of data that you mind by way of algorithms. it's AI making all these huge decisions that people go around like this like it's not, but AI is getting more and more, [00:38:00] Into a situation where the amount of control it has is phenomenal. [00:38:08] And, I'm not, there's no judgment there, to a large extent based on the algorithms, of course, but AI doesn't lie. AI doesn't have, have to deal with scandals. and so there's a whole bunch of advantages to AI. but I think used in con right now where we are technologically AI combined with the human mind in human emotions can be pretty powerful. [00:38:42] Use powerfully use power. It's powerful, both, for the good of people or anything. That's powerful. It can be used. in a negative connotation for control and anarchy and so on [00:39:00] and so forth or for the good of people, the good common cause, which I think we need. I think the world's continuing to miss a lot, that it's a little esoteric, but I'm a leftover hippie. [00:39:15] And I firmly believe that what the on Warwick saying about. 40 50 years ago, what the world needs now is love. Sweet love. yeah, but with the AI, as far as that being good or bad, I want to know is who's actually programming it. What type of character an individual is. Yeah. What did they build into these algorithms from which AI will continue to get smarter and smarter No, that's interesting. even with the [00:40:00] scientific method on just proposing a hypothesis, it's still not even free of that bias. [00:40:07] Not even free of. Just leaning on what the individual's testing towards their favor, rather than against their favor. There's always something that's going to impact the end result. And I still feel like it's going to be the same thing every time unless there is a drastic change in something huge. and see that's where this old guy sees a huge benefit. [00:40:38] To AI in that, regardless of the bias, that was part of any, and all of the algorithms that were built for the AI as AI continues to advance and it's consuming all the data that's available because [00:41:00] AI, at some point will be able to consume. Every bit of data, it won't need new algorithms because the algorithms that it was given as part of this AI works like our mind, except on a scale that we can't begin to understand how, it can gather all this information and make unemotional decisions, make decisions based on the math, the zeros and ones. [00:41:33] No. so, I think from that standpoint, it won't take stuff into consideration that human emotion takes into consideration. if I make the decision to do this, how will I look in the eyes of those people? AI, I don't think AI can, maybe, I don't think he considers that. It says, based on this information, it's [00:42:00] B. [00:42:01] You know next. so it's interesting. It's we live in a world that's, it's extremely interesting. And I, think to a large extent, we're at a very interesting point, for, certainly for the country and for the world, what's going to happen in this election, for the country and the world is pretty damn important regardless of the outcome. [00:42:31] Oh, it's frightening. How much towing is going on relative to the election and the procedures and the election and the setups coming into the election. As far as methodology, mailing ballots, no mail-in ballots, one side says, Hey, The [00:43:00] election's rigged. It's terrible. It's just going to be rigged. [00:43:03] the Democrats are doing all are going to have all this fraud and Malin. Do you think that's gonna impact the people actually wanting to vote versus not? not necessarily the impact comes from when the results are presented to the. To the world, depending on who wins. the 45 is apt to say if he's not victorious, I told you it was rigged. [00:43:40] And so we're going to redo the election. That's what we're going to do. We're it. I have the power to shy. Am I the most powerful guy here, regardless of what the constitution says, regardless of this coat, these three code branches, I think we need to have another election because this is all fucked up. [00:43:59] We can't [00:44:00] even try to recount, we don't know what's fraud and what's not, and I'm not leaving office. What are you going to do about it? the Supreme court comes and says, you have to leave office. Or, and he's got a couple of high level military people that choose to side with him and, they secure the white house. [00:44:25] And yeah, he's our president. Who's, hadn't been a new election and he said that this selection wasn't valid, he's our leader. So I'm going to follow, there, comes into that play that, something we talked about from the beginning, and that's, ethical in value standards that military, I gotta report to the commander, gotta follow his wishes. [00:44:49] What point do you say, dude? Mutiny on this ship. You don't have a clue as to how to get, us out of this hurricane, the ship's going down, [00:45:00] we're taken over theoretically, That would see that play out. Cause I have a weird outlook on life. I always, I want to say catastrophize, but just analyze possibilities of what-if scenarios and. [00:45:20] Just the paint, the picture you painted for me, that is a possibility because from how my understanding on how he made office, it's like he had friends over in Russia or he, I feel like there was something with the relationship with that country that helped impact. His success as far as he was saying, Oh, I'm for them, I'm against them. [00:45:50] I'm not talking to them. I don't know if you're familiar with that. If you can shed some light on that. Are you talking about all the Russia, Russian interference, and his [00:46:00] relationship with Putin and yes. Yeah. first of all, to, just do a little positioning, recognize that before he was president before he was elected president, I think, before he ever publicly decided he was going to seek that office, Putin spent a lot of time together because the two of them together wanted to put a Trump Tower in Moscow. [00:46:34] Interesting. Yeah. And that's pretty well established. In a fact, they had conversations about a Trump tower, a luxurious Trump tower in Moscow. That's one of the reasons I believe, and this is opined. okay. I believe that, The United States. [00:47:00] Congress is so curious to get a full financial trail of Trump and all his organizations to see if there are any financial ties to Russia and, or the powerful Russian people leaders. To what degree does this influence decisions that. 45 has made and will continue to make, because all of the, excuse me, the 17, intelligence agencies here in the United States, way back when all agreed. [00:47:37] There was no question in their mind. That there was interference from, Russia. To what degree you can say this vote was because of their interference. Nobody can prove that, but when all 17 of our intelligence agencies agree on one fact to say that they're all corrupt, there might be a [00:48:00] handful of corrupt ones. [00:48:01] there's corruption all over at the highest levels of our government. We've seen corruption as we've never seen before. From a guy that was going to clean the swamp out. Yeah. What is your definition of corruption? it could come back to manipulation almost really when you stop and think about what's cropped. [00:48:27] corrupt is when. You are a leader of a country and you're supposed to be making decisions one within the constraints of the law, the constitution, and you go outside the constitution, because, your daughter is trying to get patents with China. that's corrupt. I think when you have other heads of state from other foreign countries, stay at your hotel. [00:49:00] [00:49:00] In Washington, DC when they visit, I think that's pretty fucking corrupt. I think when you go and play golf at one of yours. Country clubs and it costs, I don't know how many tens of millions of dollars to take your entourage. Cause you got to have your security detail. You gotta have your fucking, motor escort. [00:49:23] You can't rent from, enterprise and get a Cadillac. You need that great, big, heavy Bulletproof piece of shit, and all that, any need 83 security service guys serve secret service guys, and. When he became president, I think it's corrupt that the dues to your country, to the country club, that he hangs out, that he owns the dues, doubled the day after he was president. [00:49:51] Cause you want to hang with me, you gotta pay dude, and his, big deal, the way he's handled [00:50:00] COVID there's is there any fact to this? I don't know. Probably not, but I can draw. Lines and inferences. He doesn't like the economy shut down. Not because of what's happening to the working guy, the common guy, because nobody's traveling is fucking Trump towers, his moral Lago, his all his shit. [00:50:23] Nobody's going to cause nobody to travel. You want people that are traveling are politicians and people that absolutely fucking have to get on a commercial airline, Some of that is real corruption. it's when you're doing something for, to, advance your personal goals at the expense of others and, or it's absolutely unlawful. [00:50:53] you can find a law that says, no, you can't do this. And. [00:51:00] Be in this position, whether it's a business guy taking payola under the table, or it's the president of the United States taking income from his properties because his position in the office gives him the ability to have foreign dignitaries. [00:51:20] Yeah. You just stay around the corner here at my hotel. We'll take care of you there. No. that's pretty fucking corrupt, I think, but I'm just before he was running for president at like even announced, I think I have seen this, I was like on the Simpsons as far as they just show like him running. I don't know what year this was but just projected him going. [00:51:51] Up as president. And that was like maybe 10, 15, 20 years ago. It's been a while since I've seen the symptoms and it's like, where do they [00:52:00] get that information from? is that just a coincidence? Because at the time he was just a bizarre character. So they like who is the most outrageous individual we can play as running for president on this episode. [00:52:14] And they choose him well, way, back with him and. 15 years, 10, 15 years, certainly more than 10 years. he had interviews with many talk show hosts and radio show hosts, and, they would, and I don't know why they would ask a business guy in a pretty non-successful business guy. [00:52:41] when you figure he's taken six of his companies, all of which are basically one main corporation, bankrupt, I, I don't know how successful it is. but, and he'll tell you, he has nothing to do with success. He was playing the system. The laws are set up for [00:53:00] me to fuck people, and it's not the big wealthy banks that he fucks when he goes bankrupt. [00:53:06] But it's a little contractor that, painted the inside of the Taj Mahal in Atlantic City that presented him with the invoice. When he said, no, I'm not going to pay you. I don't have any money. And then that puts a lane on his, his, what did he be? His LLC or, just him in general. And over time, if it doesn't get paid off, they don't really get their money. [00:53:31] They never do because again, the LLCs or corporations or trust, whoever ultimately is, the entity that has it. There are no assets, there's no money. and another judgment, he doesn't give a shit. He's probably the most, this guy is probably leading a gate litigated more stuff than, anybody ever. [00:53:55] he still has hundreds, if not thousands of [00:54:00] currently filed lawsuits against him for the fraud, he committed relative to his university. Those are still pending and he can play with those people forever. Cause he keeps paying as attorneys. just keep it in court a little bit longer, it doesn't go away because they don't have the financial resources that he has. [00:54:21] And that's the other thing. Valarie says he's done a successful businessman and I know intuitively that he doesn't have near the wealth. He tries telling you he has, if he did, he'd show you his fucking tax return. There's no reason for them not to show his tax return unless he's fucking hiding something. [00:54:42] He tells you he's one of the richest guys in the world. Okay. Show me all the rich guys, show me where I can go find their shit. the only thing that makes you rich is you had this big foundation that you stole money out of. And the state of New York made you shut down your [00:55:00] charitable foundation because your family was living out of it. [00:55:05] God it's like, where does it stop now? Is all this true? supporters will tell you no, it's just shit made up from the other side. No, it isn't, I don't know, show us your fucking tax return and prove it, innocent people will prove their innocence after some period of time. [00:55:29] Yes. And it's a really easy way for him. The easiest thing in the world for him right now, if all this bullshit that the Democrats and the liberals are making up about him and how he corrupts the country and all these business interests that could be convoluted. Show us your fucking taxes. There's not a president in our history in contemporary history. [00:55:52] It has not shown us our taxes. You promise Mr. President, God, that sounds terrible. I didn't him. [00:56:00] 45. You promised you were going to show your taxes after you were elected. Oh, but you're being audited. IRS doesn't care who you show your taxes to, whether you're being audited or not. You can show your taxes anytime you want. [00:56:15] Show them. Prove it let these fucking accountants go through. Probably his return probably is this thick, he's got I dunno, 63 different entities, and all this shit, but let these accounts plow through all that shit. And then tell the American public, know this guy's clean as a whistle, his fear. [00:56:39] And I agree with this. If you put some investigators on mulling over paperwork, they're going to find shit wrong. we all have done stuff wrong, so he's, I'm afraid they're going to, find something wrong. Of course, they're going to find in with him, they're going to find a lot of shit wrong. [00:56:59] Cause [00:57:00] he did it on purpose. it wasn't an additional, a mathematical error, But I think having a complete financial picture of the guy could show the country, show the world financially, why he does some of what he does. Decision-making as a leader of the free world. And it'll be interesting. [00:57:27] Then to caveat when you were saying, we could also see where the corruption is actually taking place. As far as it he's done certain things that certain departments should have covered. That is where we can start backtracking and start eliminating the corruption from the ass, end out the mouth. Exactly. [00:57:52] And that picture I just described. And in that picture that you just described, that the scary thing is [00:58:00] where does the corruption end and how do you end corruption? Because a lot of the people that would otherwise have responsibility for ending corruption and going after the corrupt, they are indeed part of the corruption. [00:58:17] And so it's that, it's a circle and it's a tough circle. If anybody heard the interview between 11 on, Fox Life, Liberty and Levin when he interviewed attorney general William Barr earlier this week, most frightening interview I've ever heard. William Barr truly, I believe, truly believes that he is 40 fives, personal attorney. [00:58:53] And his job is not to head up the department of justice of the United States of America. His [00:59:00] job is to make sure that 45 is reelected and that he can offer him as much protection as possible. And if you listen to this interview, if you never heard any news ever about Trump and bar and the Mueller report and Russia, and. [00:59:20] What's going on with Senate hearings, congressional hearings, and just listened to this one interview. And it was Fox interviewing him. this guy is scary. He and Trump together. If they have one corrupt high level, military guy can take over, this is conspiratorial. I know that, but it's, that frightening. [00:59:47] W when you see those levels of, governmental officials, all line for each other. at some point in time, Nixon's closest [01:00:00] advisors said, dude, we got you, they got you, your cookie hands in the jar, your hands in the cookie jar. You got to come clean and Nixon looked at everything and said, yeah, you're fucking right. [01:00:17] My best stance is to resign. And hopefully, forward my vice president who will now be president will pardon me, which he did. And he deserved it. the man was he, was punished enough. I really believe, that term you use conspiracy Tutorial. Do you feel like that term has, is a bad taste in people's mouths when we're really trying to analyze different avenues of how this could play out? [01:00:55] When we start, I just feel like when that term gets thrown out there, people. [01:01:00] Just dismiss it automatically because it's associated with things that happen in the past or are projected into the future that is least likely to happen. But I don't understand why nobody wants to even consider that as a possibility. [01:01:19] Yeah. And that's, I will tell you, Not terribly long ago. in the last five or six years ago, I looked at conspiracy ideas and theories and thought, Oh, those guys are off their fucking rocker. And then I realized, fuck, we all have conspiracy theories because all of our theories, if they don't go with the mainstream, Are conspiratorial, aren't they? [01:01:51] if you walk down this way, but everybody else is going this way and I tell why you shouldn't be going that way, because based on my thoughts, [01:02:00] it's a conspiracy. when you look at our country today, it's so divided that almost everyone is conspiratorial. To one extent or the other, you got the people on the right side of the aisle. [01:02:17] just making up bullshit. And the people on the left side of the aisle are making her bullshit every now and then each side grabs a fact and distorts it hardly any, but most of the time, all the facts are distorted quite a bit. Cause they want to be manipulative or motivate us to get out and vote. [01:02:39] They come back to the beginning of our conversation and it's really key. that's why I asked that question. When you mentioned those two words, manipulation in motivation, manipulate, motivate. We see so much of both of those going on, [01:03:00] regardless of how you perceive it. And it comes back to, I believe in my conspiratorial theory, another yet another one media, because most of the information we consume is presented to us by media, by social media, by the major. [01:03:25] News outlets by all the talk shows all of this media. And we have so much of the media to consume. It's not like when I was growing up. we had three television shows, no rotary dial telephone. Okay. She knows where the no, in, a radio for one time, just with am stations and FM stations, but. Hey, now it's so easy to come up with a conspiratorial idea and then build a whole story around it. [01:04:00] [01:04:00] Show a video, that you've Photoshop pictures or Photoshop and who the fuck knows what's real today. Yes. it's fine. Me. I got a friend that continually sends me messages and half of them. And I don't tell them, this is, all made up. you can even see the phone, the bad Photoshop job in it. [01:04:26] And here's the fact, and I, and who am I to say that just the fact just based on where I found that is that factual info. I don't know. Where do you find the facts? That's frightened. So what are the real facts, pictures that are being displayed to you and they are somehow made up and not an authentic one? [01:04:53] I don't understand why people are going to that trouble to try to relay the information, to get the point across. [01:05:00] it should either make sense or not make sense. And then when, if we were to zoom back out and look at. With the crowd of people you're referring to going one way and another guy to go in this way. [01:05:13] I think those people that are going their own way have a higher level of thinking rather than following suit into the direction that they were told to go to based on what is being portrayed by the media. Because I am aware of the term portering as far as with framing. A certain message to get across, to make things look catastrophic, or to make things look consistent in society. [01:05:43] As far as there's so much, there's so much Trump, there's so much trauma happening on a daily basis. Come on, tune into channel 11, Fox two. They would just want to get viewers and that's disgusting. Cause if we really zoom out even higher and look at the person who's in charge [01:06:00] of. The actual, what is it? [01:06:02] NBC like the place that's in charge of all the fucking radio, the social media in general, it's comes down to one person when there's two different sides of, the government Republic news and, democratic news. It's being ran by one person with a sign. Is he on that's? What? Just blows my mind. It's. It's frightening. [01:06:28] And when you look at the power of social media, [01:06:37] the power of social media has, and the ease with which it is with which one or an entity can post anything on social media recently that, some of the social media platforms have been taking down purely. Unfactual, posts [01:07:00] could have an adverse effect on, people that would believe that shit. [01:07:06] But to answer your question, why do they even do that? Do people post these pictures that are incorrect? I think part of it gets back to something we said earlier today in this division, everything's. Black or white. All of a sudden there's no grayer. Everything's binary. you're with me. You're with, you're not with me. [01:07:29] If you're not with me, you're against me. it, this is good or this is bad. There's that? it is good for them, but it might hurt this group, but this big group it'll, it's good for it's no, it's. I have to show you how wrong you are to think the way you are. Look at this picture. [01:07:49] Did I Photoshop look at this picture, it says right here, or look at here, I can pull it. these statistics as you well know [01:08:00] numbers, statistics reports for everyone that says blue, you can find one that says red. Yes, you can blame the doctor that says, yeah, there's hydrate high hydroxy chlorine coup the drug that, Trump is pushing. [01:08:20] I can't even pronounce it well for a while as a cure in a therapy for COVID. you got a whole bunch of doctors that say, no, it's, not, there's only five, placebo research papers that are written and said, there's no effect. And then there's 2,500 doctors will say, yeah, it works. but no, we haven't done it with a randomized placebo test, based on what we've seen with these two patients at work. [01:08:49] So we're just in this world of. How do you even find a fact? and I think each of us [01:09:00] has our sources for what we believe to be factual and near as unbiased as one can be today. there's biased everywhere. Whether it's NBC or Fox, whether it's OAN or CNN, whether it's MSNBC or, Foxy or newsy, there's bias in everything that we all do in everything we do every, day that we're alive. [01:09:35] There's we make decisions and do things based on our biases. And. The real trick is to, regardless of your, for example, political or religious bias, the real trick is to whatever your job is to go out and do your job with trying to keep your bias under control. [01:10:00] yeah, I'm an atheist, so I don't like people that are religious. [01:10:07] But as a cop, I can't go shoot people as they come out of church, just cause I don't like those people. I have to, the judges making these decisions in court, they have a bias. Of course they have a bias. but they have to make their decisions without bias, 12 jurors on a jury. Each one of them has a bias, but their instruction is you go in there. [01:10:34] You disregard everything you think, feel or believe don't pay attention to anything you hear or read about this case? Just the facts that are presented here in court, and you make your decision. Is this person guilty or innocent? That's fucking impossible. So that was back to [01:11:00] trust and trust value, honor ethics like a boy scout oath, all those things help the old lady across the street. [01:11:08] And that's what I think is really missing in society in general today, but certainly very high governmental levels throughout the government, both on the blue side and the red side, the Democrats and Republicans, you listen to both of them and you're pissed off at both of them. You are there, they're both acting, both sides are acting like a bunch of little fucking babies. [01:11:34] Yeah. they just all are like in grade school, kids don't act as poorly as, badly as irresponsibly as our politicians do. And I'd like to believe that Biden and Harris. might from a leadership standpoint, whether they win [01:12:00] or lose grab hold of the politicians on both sides and say, this is how you run a campaign. [01:12:08] This is how you lead a country, especially a country in the world it's in crisis. we've got a public health crisis of some sort going on, regardless of who you want to believe. There's some shit going on. We have an economic crisis going on, regardless of why it's going on, it's going on. And we have people in the United States of America that should not be starving, that should not be living on the streets. [01:12:35] We've got enough, wealth in this country between a handful of people, literally, but as a country, we have enough, wealth to fix it. So that. that doesn't happen. That the poverty we have here, not only just, not only an urban yeah. Plight, in the Appalachian area there's [01:13:00] poverty like you. [01:13:01] And I probably can't even imagine Jen, in our wildest dreams that today in the United States, people are living in Michigan. Yeah, Michigan. That's exactly where I was going with Flint for seven years. I think it's been about seven years since it was discovered in the media about the water supply up there. [01:13:22] People are still dependent on bottled water today that lives in Flint. Nobody's done anything about that river that you know, has got all that contamination in it as well, depending on bottled water. Yeah. And most of these people probably don't have jobs cause they're factory worker kind of people. I don't know. [01:13:47] It's interesting. I think with Louisiana, there's something in their water as well. What if I'm not mistaken, can't get up their nose. I believe there's like a parasite or something that can attack the rain or something. But if we [01:14:00] rewind, let's look at the social media as far as if it doesn't portray the political agenda. [01:14:08] Shit gets pulled down. Is that some sort of a control, I would say, as far as being like, if you don't post what's relevant on what we're talking about, we're going to take your outside information and pull it down because we don't want to confuse people on what is actually being presented. [01:14:30] Certainly has the opportunity. To happen that way. A good example though, where, I think you see this censorship taking place because it is a form of censorship. Yes. But I think media in general has a duty to call your attention to, misleading statements. A good example was semi-recently, [01:15:00] were, 45. [01:15:02] Has said repeatedly, but this was after his first white house briefing. Recently, I want to say in the last 10 days where he said that children are virtually immune from COVID factually, that's just incorrect science based on the science it's incorrect. And so Facebook or Twitter, it was Twitter took that. [01:15:30] Tweet down and, they'd give you the reason, bait in a point you somewhere, where you can find a fact. And again, who's got the facts, as I asked earlier, who do you look to as factual? I don't know. I don't know. But what I will tell you is for however long, the CDC, for example, has been around. [01:15:51] It was the authority here in the United States relative to contagious and infectious diseases. For, I don't know, [01:16:00] 40 years, 50 years, 80 years, I don't know, long it's been around. I don't know it's been around for a while. And there were some prestigious doctors that, have led that organization to keep widespread epidemics and pandemics from help from occurring and helping the world deal with epidemics that might happen in their country. [01:16:21] So when. That group of scientists, doctors who specialize in that shit say, no, that's not right. I'm going to accept them over fucking an orange fucking leader that told us to go drink Lysol and sit under ultraviolet lights as a way to not get COVID. given that choice, that ABB I'll take B, I go with the science. [01:16:49] I'm curious though, as far as, who owns Twitter? That's one quick. That's my first question. And why was it taken down when [01:17:00] 45 says this? Yes, it seems pretty bizarre, but the fact of somebody in such high power says this bizarre thing and it's automatically taken down. Now, my question is, there a connection between somebody who owns. [01:17:17] That platform two 45. Yeah. that's if you listen to the politicians on both sides. Yes. I believe Twitter is part of a publicly-traded company. So there are many, stockholders that ultimately the board of directors gets to pick and choose the CEO it, and one might say, Just like Bezos is against Trump. [01:17:48] So anything that comes from Amazon or the Washington Post or any of the shit he owns is tainted. As far as Trump supporters go, that's just not. So [01:18:00] bayzos has at the end of the day if you collapse his empire, He's not going to lose his $65 billion. And if he loses $64.9 billion, he's still a billionaire. [01:18:17] Yes. financially he has nothing really to gain. He's attained that level in Maslow's hierarchy that he's into self-actualization that's all. And like he and bill Gates. they're trying to improve the world. Now with this wealth, they built with these platforms they've built. Now they can use this AI to deliver clean water, too, third, world countries. [01:18:45] And they do they're there. They're trying to do good. Do good. Or it's how they're not out trying to build Amazon bigger. for the sake of building Amazon bigger. You can, I think it's actually number three in [01:19:00] the fortune 500, I believe three or four. I can't remember the number. And then with bill Gates, I do remember reading about that with him, helping out their world countries, as far as getting that first, self-sufficient a wa like huge ass system, whatever it just cycles. [01:19:22] The rainwater, and just literally cycled shit and piss fresh water. Let's just be black. Yeah. That's exactly what it does. So that's, really good stuff. And I just don't understand why we can't have that in the political area. It is. I think part of its leadership, during Bush, during Reagan during Bush, during Clinton Carter, the there was not this kind of, there was hanky [01:20:00] panky politics is hanky panky at the end of the day, but it wasn't everything being done for one guy. [01:20:09] And I really believe, and I know I harp on this, but [01:20:16] all. 45 is concerned about is his himself, his entities and how the world perceives him in, the world. Laughs at him, I truly see him as an embarrassment. God bless Joe Biden, but Biden makes plenty of fo pause in his speech. who's smarter. I don't know. I guess Biden. I guess a lot of five years old, five-year-olds are more responsible and smarter than 45. [01:20:52] They don't say shit as stupid as he does. he comes out and just says, bizarre shit, whatever I think is [01:21:00] rolling off. End of his tongue. He just says, even though he's got a script, even though advisors tell him, no, don't talk about, the Lysol anymore. It's really not instant fix anything I need to fuck you. [01:21:12] I'm going to say what I want. and he goes up and sights people, to, have these attitudes, that COVID is not real. I don't know if it's real or not, but there's a lot of fucking sick people that have something that the world is trying to deal with. I would love to go into that, but also let's, look at that. [01:21:35] if we were to put those two individuals Biden and 45 against fifth graders, I believe there's a show called, are you smarter than a fifth grader? Do you think the political figures would actually win? And also the other one is I understand what the, with an individual, it's not about what they [01:22:00] say. [01:22:00] It's about how they act under pressure is the real character. So when you tell me that. 45 wants to say this and just disregard the paperwork that's been given that shows who he really is. Cause everything that's coming out is just shit that people made for him to say, but he really does not have the ability to control themselves. [01:22:25] So I can see with what you said earlier, as far as about being a narcissist. And I don't like that term that because it always gets thrown around in. And then just in the society in general, loosely. if we were to look at it in the DSM, five, it gets very specific and I'm not looking at it right now, but judging how just looking at, or remembering the definition, it shows a relation. [01:22:56] But since I'm not looking at this very moment, I don't want to say that, [01:23:00] but I just think it's really interesting on how things are playing out. Yeah, it is. And none of us really, even psychologists, people that, scientifically know this stuff know what's in that manual, all the symptoms of it. [01:23:19] because they're not treating him, they're not consulting with them. No one really has a, right. and, not so much a right, but no one has the facts to make that judgment. On him or anybody, but again, intuitively when you see someone act like this time and time again, if it looks like a duck and smells like a duck and walks like a duck, it's a fucking doc. [01:23:51] even though it doesn't walk around with a label, crack black, I'm a doc. but in whether he [01:24:00] is. A narcissist. He certainly has some narcissistic tendencies and behaves as if he is a narcissist, behaves as if he is a racist behaves as if he wants to divide this country further. For three and a half years, he's never really spoken to America every time he speaks. [01:24:29] Every time he holds one of his political rallies, he speaks to the 30% of the people that will always support him. And don't worry about getting enough people over to elect, him. can you imagine a president, a living president. Having his people contact a governor of a state, South Dakota to be specific and said, what will it take to get my head carved into Mount [01:25:00] Rushmore now? [01:25:03] And this is a fact nobody's disputed it. the white house has walked back. they didn't quite say that. And she did give them a little model of four foot model with his head on it. With, Lincoln and all the rest of the guys. but here's just shows you the stupidity. and this is just pure stupidity, factual stupidity. [01:25:24] I can point to that. Mount Rushmore is a national monument. It's a federal monument, the state it's not in their jurisdiction to make that call. It's the federal government. I don't know if it's Bureau land management or who takes care of that particular national founder. But, and again, if you're president, you're going to have one of your people, Hey, call up, call the governor. [01:25:48] She likes me. She gave me this model. Maybe we can get my head on it and maybe we can do it. they can do it with buzz saws and get it done before the election. That be cool. A picture of me in front of the mountain. [01:26:00] With my head carved on there and maybe the backside. you can see my ass too, I don't want to see my Dick cause it's real little, if you look at the size of my hands compared to these big jackets in this long time, and I know that's just his character, but yeah. [01:26:17] that's, pretty, compelling evidence that you got a narcissist there, while I'm alive and for him to say, it's no different really than president Obama accepting the Nobel peace prize. except that he didn't. Obama didn't give himself the prize. Trump wants himself carved into that monument. [01:26:46] There were a whole bunch, whatever the process is of how the foundation gives out those, the Nobel peace prize. That's how it happened, whether it was corrupt or not. I don't know, but it's something [01:27:00] Obama didn't have any choice in. He could have not accepted it. Yes. He just said, no, I don't want that. I'm just doing my job. [01:27:07] Yeah. and this was really in his first year as president. this was based on shit he did before being a president, I don't, understand all that, but what I do know, at least, from the late. Mid 1950s through present day, there's never been a sitting president or a living president did to ask to be on a piece of our money or carved into a monument, or, that's just bizarre shit who would do that? [01:27:44] I can see how they can say no. I need to carve my head on the front of, on Mount Rushmore. In fact, they could move out Roosevelt, just Ricardo his face into my face, and then I'll start from [01:28:00] scratch. He didn't see why he would ask as far as, Squigy real squeaky. Wheel gets the grease. [01:28:09] And I guess like you, you don't know unless you ask, all right. That's like logically in my head, trying to get something that you don't think you'll be able to get, but I'm just going to do it anyways. That would make sense. But what doesn't make sense is the fact that he's saying of what you're telling me is he's saying, I actually did look at the shit and. [01:28:30] Online, as far as sources go, and he did say this, but with the Lysol and the ultraviolet light, he doesn't take it seriously. So my question is, this actually a real thing that's happening? And I'm saying, what? Or what's the real thing is COVID this sickness, this thing that's going around killing 150. [01:28:57] 668,000. Thank [01:29:00] you. Yes. Is that real? Yeah, I, Okay. I'm thinking there's some reality to it. I really believe that. But here's where you, the dichotomies of leadership, when you joke about something that allegedly has killed a whole bunch of people. Yes. When you joke about that, then you get at least 30% of this country. That again, he can shoot, as he said, he could stand on fifth Avenue in New York city and shoot somebody and nobody will do anything about it. [01:29:42] So those 30% of the people that are behind him like that. When they hear him say, yeah, first of all, there's a threat because Lysol is a corporation. Their headquarters was just overloaded by phone calls coming in that day, [01:30:00] Okay. So life's all cure me. That's because these fucking idiots believe shit that comes out of his mouth he's leader of the free world for Christ sakes. [01:30:08] Why would he say that if it's not true? Why would he joke about it? As some number of things? People are actually dying from some. Some bug that call it, COVID call it the common flu, call it a cold, this is where the leader of the United States. If he, wasn't joking about it, I saw the, I saw him. [01:30:30] Why do that press briefing? He got pissed at the scientists. he got pissed at Burke's because dr. Burks wouldn't address it. And he went to the guy that he had in his pocket and the guy just said, Oh my God. he shrugged, what did you do with this guy? he wasn't kidding. [01:30:54] He wasn't sarcastic about it. I think I, after 69 years, I can judge a lot of people when they're being [01:31:00] sarcastic and I've seen enough of his shit and heard enough of his bullshit in Conway's bullshit to try to cover up his miss speakings. He doesn't misspeak, he's not an intelligent guy, but he's, a savvy streetwise guy. [01:31:18] Every time he says something he knows the reaction will get. And one thing he knows is that when he does this bizarre shit, he's always on television. He has all this fucking press. right now, people don't even know probably what Biden looks like. he hadn't been out and about since Kobe, that's an exact operation. [01:31:38] I know, he doesn't get all this free television. that's one of the reasons I believe. 45 started doing these COVID briefings again, and no doctor, none of the CDC people are in there. It's just him doing a little rally, a mini rally from the white house, brief press room for, [01:32:00] some crazy shit happening. [01:32:02] I have a one o'clock meeting with my copywriter. I'm redoing my website. Oh, shit. Is it already one 58? I just know. Oh, wow. Yeah. Yeah. yeah, we can we'll end it right here. This is great. W a great episode. I think we talked about some interesting stuff builds you up or not. I don't know. It could be junk food, but it's food. [01:32:36] I'll get in touch with you later. Cause I wanted to see if you wanted to help, out with the social media. Cause I was going to start adding you on everything. Yeah, let's talk about okay. We can do, Hey, it was good seeing you and have a good rest of the week. I've got a few days left. Beat your [01:33:00] drum. [01:33:00] I will. You do the same. Thank you. Bye bye. Bye.

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