#GARGLE MY BALLS!

[asthevermincrawls]

who else up garging they goyle

[luvlyv1ctor1aa]

pov: me about to gargle on toji’s smelly balls

[thedukeside]

I'm not here to stir up shit. I've got no skin in this game anymore, but I think it's important to remind the community about just how long these communication issues have been prevalent amongst Thomas productions. For example, I was at my peak-obsession with Sander Sides at 14. The signs started cropping up of a sinking ship while I was in my first year of high school. Disgruntled artists, lackadaisical deadlines, and silenced staff members were the norm. Now I'm about to turn 21.

[actualbird]

im having an anxiety spiral on my priv twt bcuz of vague ails and im sharing it here because the tail end made me laugh (and also because sharing my woes is like my number 1 hobby)

EDIT: ADDING POLL TO CROWDSOURCE REASSURANCE FOR ANXIETY

[coldresolve]

are you a torture apologist, or are you just dumb

... said with all the due diligence this subject warrants, etc etc. i’ve written posts about this before, it’s fallen on deaf ears, people either aggressively ignore it, or they go out of their way to take me in bad faith, and when the latter doesn’t work, they fall back on ye olde reliable: tone policing. but we’ve had that conversation too, haven’t we? it’s my culturally determined value of blunt honesty versus your culturally determined value of politeness. i express my opinions in a way that’s admittedly harsh and hyperbolic, and in so doing, my intention is to treat you like someone who is mature enough to distinguish my point from its delivery, and emotionally well-adjusted enough to deal with whatever the fuck some rando on the internet has to say about what you wrote. i also do it because its more fun this way. are we still cool? ffs lol

the thing is, right, it’s fucking easy not to write torture apologia. very straight-forward and simple, in my humble little opinion. you learn what the usual arguments are, and then you try to avoid accidentally making them – a bit like how, when you learn that white supremacy is a thing, you typically then go on to try and not write some wildly racist shit. same principle.

and i genuinely don’t understand why people are so opposed to this, specifically. they don’t know they’re doing it, which is fine, but then when you try to let them know they’re doing it, on the off-chance they even acknowledge that you said anything, they’ll hit you with an “its just for entertainment,” or “it’s not that deep.” so you tell them they sure seem to spend an awful lot of time weaving torture apologia into their vapid, shallow entertainment. and they don’t like that, jesus. but what else are you supposed to say?

i figure i just havent bullied people hard enough about it, honestly. and by bullied i mean pointing out the mindless use of torture apologia as plot points in the slop everybody writes. i would happily tell all of this directly to the writers of 24’s jack bauer, but those guys aren’t here, so.

you probably won’t be surprised to learn that the majority of the myths surrounding torture are rooted in facistic, reactionary thinking. might makes right is big among people who endorse corporal punishment; the ends justify the means is in play when governments try to excuse the use of t-, ahem, enhanced interrogation tactics. allegedly.

and among a much, much longer laundry list of bullshit i’ve seen spewed – oh, not by shady governments, but by you:

torture as an interrogation method yields reliable information

some forms of torture are more sophisticated than others

torture makes people obedient

torture used as a punishment deters unwanted behavior in others

brainwashing is a thing that is possible (usually through torture)

it’s not torture unless it leaves a physical mark on the body

see to me, it’s fucking easy to rework that scene in your story where torture results in the perpetrator gaining trustworthy intel. fucking easy to reconsider that arc where a character gets rewired by torture into passive obedience. fucking easy, when writing a story, to not accidentally send the message that torture is a tool that works. but hey, allow me to really dig my teeth in.

you drumming up your torturer as “skilled” in the “art” of torture feeds real nicely into the myth that torture works as an interrogation method, here under the condition that you should at least do it properly. is that what you believe? or do just believe that there’s an extra special way to cause extreme physical or emotional destress in a person which, for vague unspecified reasons, superceeds all the other, more amateurish ways one could go about it? the former would make you an direct torture apologist – the latter, a fucking twat. ask yourself why “some torture methods are more sophisticated than others” is an idea that needs to be perpetuated. who benefits from that idea? who would feel really validated by that idea? which government on this green earth of ours, hypothetically speaking, could use this idea as a way to paint their own acts of torture as more cultured or civilized than, say, hypothetically speaking, the torture used by those other nations where the brown people live? allegedly.

alternatively, your little good boy slave fantasy seems to imply that being subjected to torture will make a person obedient. is that what you believe? is it true that might makes right? say, wouldn’t state-sanctioned corporal punishment be justified as a tool to make people obey the law, then? no? okay, hear me out then, cause this is really out there, but. could the idea that violence is a tool that makes people more compliant with the demands of their aggressors, possibly maybe perhaps, be something you only find it acceptable to greenlight as the result decades of war propaganda? naaaaah. fiction isn’t reality, and it means nothing, and victims of torture are weak and malleable and broken, and also what they say can’t be trusted cause they have no real fucking agency anyway. fuck me.

“but elias,” i hear you say, “how am i supposed to write an interesting story that features torture in a way that’s in accordance with scientific consensus on its effectiveness and/or consequences? realism and compelling storytelling are diametrically opposed to one another!”

here’s my take: you just straight up lack creativity. cope and seethe.

if you’re interested in writing about torture, read up on what it is, instead of assuming everything you’ve been told by military-sponsored action movies is true and valid. we’re talking about some pretty extreme facets of human behavior and psychology here, but ones that none the less exist in reality. the bare minimun is to not buy in to the myths and propaganda surrounding it. the next step is to write what it can look like in reality. the big boy galaxy brain move is to write torture in a way that challenges the status quo on how we culturally view torture, and how all these false myths affect victims and perpetrators alike. you just have to fucking think about it.

torture for information doesn’t work – but your perpetrator might be convinced that it does. so instead of going the easy route and proving them right – explore how they're wrong. show torture failing. show your perpetrator’s desperation as they gain nothing. they conceptualize their actions as the lesser of two evils, but whoops, there is no second evil. hows that for a change?

is there such a thing as “torture lite?” does it make any real difference whether it leaves a physical mark behind or not? where do we draw the line between interrogation and torture? is that question not interesting enough for you?

is complying with demands under threat of torture the same as genuine obedience? maybe your victim is forced to pretend in certain ways, through feelings of absolute powerlessness. their survival is pitted against the guilt that comes from following the demands of their perpetrator/s. the sense that they’re betraying themselves, the hatred they feel against their aggressor for making them obey, which is otherwise completely uncharacteristic of them. they’re never reduced to a blank slate, there’s always an internal conflict. what if they reach a point where they have nothing left to lose? real torture makes people more defiant. human beings are amazing at adapting to impossible situations. how is that not a wicked fucking cool thing to explore?

brainwashing isn’t real, but your victim’s loved ones believe that it might be. this means that their attempts to talk about their complex feelings toward the more humane sides of their torturer, or recount moments of a strenuous mutual understanding, are met with vehement denial from the people who are supposed to facilitate their recovery. “don’t talk about him like that, he hurt you.” and a desperation to get people to understand that it’s just not that simple. they’re not just saying it because they’ve been brainwashed – people just aren’t black and white, torturers included. the way they feel compelled by the pressure of their loved ones to just… keep quiet about that aspect of their trauma.

here's a fun fact: not only is torture absolutely useless at everything it sets out to do, but rates of PTSD are equally high among victims and perpetrators. the latter is something called participation-induced post-traumatic stress, or perpetrator trauma. you see it in murderers, too. nobody talks about that. and i get it, it’s a touchy subject, we wouldn’t want to portray torture as something human beings do. but, and here’s my counter-argument: maybe reality is just messy and complicated. and maybe exploring that messy complicated reality in fiction can serve as something interesting and worthwhile. emotionally cathartic. no?

if you read up on torture in psychological studies, regarding the psychology of both victims and perpetrators – and possibly also read some sociological studies about how governments have used a lot of the myths i’ve mentioned about torture to excuse their own actions (allegedly) – you start to get an idea for just how comprehensibly it fucks with people, and how effective that propaganda machine has been. real life torture is not rare. torture will continue to not be rare as long as people believe in the idea that it is useful. so maybe it’s a good idea to approach the subject with a little bit of thought beforehand, you know? we could approach fictional depictions of torture with the same amount due diligence we take with the topic of rape or child abuse, instead of, you know, literally affirming all the myths that justify its use and then brushing off criticism like mine in that aggressively uncritical fiction-isnt-reality,-depiction-isn’t-endorsement,-zero-further-introspection way.

or whatever. maybe im just a big meanie, i must be fun at parties, etc

[punkeropercyjackson]

"We need more media where nonblack characters have important relathionships with black characters that aren't overshadowed!!!"You guys couldn't even handle Nico and Hazel,then you couldn't even handle Lance and Allura,then you couldn't even handle Jason and Duke,then you couldn't even handle Hunter and Luz or Gus and NOW you can't even handle Gwen and Miles OR Hobie OR Jessica

[boag]

Just almost reblogged this post but then I remembered why I blocked the OP in December 💀

[naomiknight-17]

Someone is like... arguing with me on my 'Senshi is aro/ace and I don't ship him with Chilchuck' post???

There's like a 7+ paragraph reply

Bruh

I said right in the original post that I don't ship it but you go have your fun

That is not an invitation to write me an essay on why I should ship it

Also I couldn't even get through the whole thing partially because it's nigh-incoherent but also because I absolutely do not fucking care

[doctorhomo]

people will say “there’s nothing wrong with the job market” then you’ll be unemployed for two months because you had to leave your last job because of abusive managers and the only job you can get will offer you around 24 hours a MONTH and will also cancel your shifts the night before you’re due to come in but not actually tell you so you get there in the morning and there’s actually no reason. then you message the work chat to say there’s an issue and management will read it and ignore you for 15 minutes then say “call IT”. so you go yeah okay fine i will then you call IT but it’s 8:20 and they dont have the phone line open until 8:30 so you have to sit and wait then they tell you “oh someone else did your shift already. yeah they moved it. yeah no you didnt need to come in”. but i should be very grateful for that <£300 monthly pay check shouldnt i? i was stressing out all night because i couldnt sleep and knew i had work in the morning so i just didnt sleep and i actually could be in bed rn. but im waiting on a bench in the cold bc the pet shop isnt open yet and my rats need treats

[vinnyard]

Screaming into the tumblr void over Netflix having an Emmy winners selection and JATP not being in it 💥💥💥💥💥💥💥

[feast-for-the-worms]

Why is it so impossible to find hosted shows online. Maybe I don't want to have to torrent everything to watch it. Where are my beloved websites gone and why does everything only have 2 of the 8 seasons on disney plus but only available to watch in the us and 1 other season on netflix and the rest of it doesn't exist in any form any more. I fucking hate this shit I'm not paying you fuckers for anything

[fishgirl514]

ASLFUA CHAPTERS 127-132 MOODBOARD

[singedbutter]

.

[bunnywan]

daily pic of ewan that makes me want to blow him

[cyberneticjunkie]

"hit follower limit" whats next? Frolicking limit? Loving limit? Laughing limit? Living limit?

[lonelyplanetfag]

steve finn is fucked up in the head but i love him so much forever