#I get that this isn't a popular opinion but like

[trainsinanime]

I sometimes reblog posts about US Americans being weird here, but honestly I don't love how angry or smug most of these posts are. It's just that angry and smug posts tend to get more traction, and so they get reblogged more, and so I tend to see them and reblog them myself. Hm, maybe there's a lesson for all of social media and for me in particular here.

Anyway, what I want out of these posts is not for any US Americans here to feel bad; it's just "funny" and perhaps, perhaps a tiny bit of consideration for how being US American means you experience the internet on easy mode.

This is not your personal fault. Nor is it ethically wrong. It's just a thing that exists, and it may be worth thinking about it.

Examples of that easy mode include:

It's your language. The vast majority of people on the internet need to know a second language to at least participate passively, let alone actively post. It's not just the internet; for e.g. my job, all documentation for all the tools is only in English, and I was required to listen to English lectures and write both my bachelor's and master's thesis in English, my second language, to pass. That's why e.g. posts about bilingualism tend to cause a bit of a discussion, because knowing a second language isn't a special skill but a necessary survival tool.

It is your world-wide culture. The list of most popular video games, TV shows, movies and songs tend to be fairly similar across the world (in particular the part of it we call it the western world, another discussion that I'll get into below), and they're dominated by the output of US media. There is no equivalent to e.g. Disney anywhere outside of the US.

It's your debates and discussions. Because of the huge importance the US has economically and culturally (not to mention militarily), we tend to discuss US topics a lot, and we tend to discuss them from an American point of view.

This introduces American oddities into a lot of the world. For example, I'm a STEM guy, I have a STEM education, a STEM job and my primary hobbies are also STEM based, so what I notice are imperial measurements like feet and inches. Those are not "one of two equally valid choices", they're the unique hobby of the English-speaking countries, and within them, increasingly only the US. But we still tend to see them here as if they were a normal usual thing, and often europeans (including me) feel compelled to provide translations into these units.

But it's not limited to that, court room dramas are another example where courts in the English-speaking world tend to work very differently from those in the rest of the world. E.g. there's no pleading guilty or innocent in most of the world. There are boundless more examples of that, and these things can be grating every once in a while.

As I said before, I don't think there's any moral value here either way. You're not wrong for being an American (but you're also not better because of it). As I hinted at before, I'm still in a very privileged position myself, being from a wealthy European country, and my culture even without Disney is still far closer to that of the US than it is to most of the rest of the world. I'm sitting in the very same glass house, just maybe a different corner (TODO fix this metaphor before posting).

For example, I'm talking about court rooms and inches versus meters, but if we're thinking about history and ethics, there's deep issues in both of them. When it comes to measurements, it's ultimately the question of whether you use the measurements of London or those of Paris. For most of the world it's a colonial imposition either way. You can make arguments for why one is better for technology than the other (and as you can probably guess, I have strong opinions here), but in the grand scheme of things, neither of them is more "ethical" or more "universal", not really anyway. Same with the way legal systems work, where again, countries either adopted (and more often than not were forced to adopt) either the English system or the French system (with quite a few countries choosing to adopt the German version of the French system as well).

I know that's a boring digression but it's something that's usually missing from these posts, especially ones written by europeans, including some I've written myself. I don't really have a conclusion to any of this either, except perhaps that this is something that's worth being aware of.

[thyandrawrites]

Aren't the villains just as dismissive? Tbh I don't think there is any way of getting through to the villains even if they shown empathy. I hope I'm wrong though but this is the final arc and nobodies stance has changed and I don't see it changing but fingers crossed that things will change but I think there needs to half way meeting between both sides before things begin moving forward if it does.

It's true that the villains aren't stepping down from their points, but it's not on them to do that. The villains are not the ones responsible for the social injustice of their system. They are canonically a minority that the HPSC has repeatedly tried to silence with state-sanctioned assassinations.

And while it's also true that there needs to be a middle ground somewhere (the villains cannot be saved so long as they keep killing and the heroes can't save so long as they kill their targets), please note that the ones actively seeking a dialogue here are the villains.

Dabi's broadcast was aimed at people thinking more critically about the blind trust they put in heroes. He wanted them to ask heroes for more accountability in his stead, because he knew heroes would never listen to him. He didn't just want justice for himself or he would've simply killed Endvr. He wanted a fairer society to stop people like Endvr from doing what he did for two decades and getting away with it.

Shigaraki made a whole speech on the battlefield of the first war about how heroes constantly trample over the individuals for the sake of an abstract greater good. He addressed how thinking only of the masses creates pockets of evil under the heroes' noses. Shigaraki's whole shtick is that he was kidnapped and groomed by a supervillain because he was left wandering the streets for days, bloodied and traumatized, and the heroes of his neighborhood had so many bigger fishes to fry that they never noticed he needed help too.

And though we might argue that as an adult he's now vowed to cause indiscriminate destruction without dialogue because that's what AFO groomed him for, we can also argue that when Shigaraki is not directly under his abuser's influence, he makes choices that show us he actually does want that dialogue. Remember, he seeked out Deku at that mall and explained his whole villain manifesto to him. He told Deku all about how their society functions on this search for an abstract greater good and ignores individual in immediate danger. And he demonstrated it, too. He had deadly fingers on Deku's throat and no one blinked twice or stepped in to investigate, because "heroes would deal with it". He wanted Deku to acknowledge this. This is such a hangup of his that he brings it up again in the war arc as well. And no has given him an appropriate response still.

Then there's Toga, and she's the one who most clearly proves this. The heroes' argument is that they can't listen to the points presented to them because the villains hurt their friends. So long as the villains don't own up to their crimes, they say, that sours any good argument they might've had. Which is hypocritical as hell. The heroes also killed Toga's best friend and refused accountability for it. In fact, they let Hawks stay a hero.

Yet, despite all this, Toga was still able to put her grief in a box and set it aside for ten minutes, and seeked out Uraraka to attempt a dialogue anyway. A villain, who the heroes keep referring to as an immature, hedonistic and selfish freak, had more emotional maturity than any of them. She went to Uraraka to understand what a villains' life is worth to heroes. Ochako's response confirmed her suspicion; to their society, Jin wasn't human enough to deserve compassion. His death served the greater good, so it doesn't matter if he left friends behind, if people cared about him. It doesn't matter if heroes hurt Toga's friends, but it's a death sentence if Toga hurts the heroes' friends.

So.

Why should the villains act less dismissive? They tried fitting in and it didn't work. They tried setting out a conversation with heroes and it also didn't work. What the heroes wanted from them is what hero society always wanted from any disturbance to the status quo—either take it in silence, or to get erased as a threat.

The villains are literally fighting for their lives here, meanwhile the heroes are just fighting to maintain their privileges. It's not even remotely a fair fight. That's why it's on the heroes to change their attitude first

[necrotic-nephilim]

in lieu of having posted any writing/headcanons/asks in the past few days because i have been *so* busy and unable to do anything fandom-related which is terrible and evil, i have a poll out of morbid curiosity and self-indulgence. i've been meaning to ramble here about how i feel about DC's lack fo Deaf representation and which Batfam members i would personally make Deaf, but i am mildly curious about the larger opinion and now i will subject you all to the question, i would love to hear thoughts/opinions/headcanons on any specific choices. (would love d/Deaf/HoH opinions esp but i'm mostly expecting this to reach the hearing crowd, so opinions from hearing ppl are ones i'm very curious about. if you've never given it thought before you are going to now or else /lh)

[wii-no-ma]

I hope that Nintendo still includes miis in the next console (and puts the Mii maker on the menu instead of hiding it)

[alexoreality]

You might not have to hear this but some one piece ships literally don't make sense that it gives me the ick 🥲 (some ships i just respect and leave alone, i'll color them in blue.) (And the ones that give me severe trust issues is purple)

AceSan - ...okay... The smirk...? What else...? Trauma bonding?? What...? I mean, its cute, i can leave the ship alone and its fans. I think this ship stemmed from the way Ace was drawn looking at Sanji *my boy was greasy* Y'all are horny though.- (sorry. But they'll get along so well with supporting and stuff- TRAUMA. MY GUY. I KNOW IT WHEN I SEE IT 😭

HanLu - thats a grown ass woman.

LawLu - and thats a grown ass man. (But Luffy's 19- AGE GAP???)

ZoSan - i'm sorry HUH. The two men that insult each other 24/7 were being shipped??? HUH. (But they respect each other- I KNOW THAT??? BUT GODDAMN THE FICS DON'T GET THEIR CHARACTER RIGHT 😭 ZoSan is a well-liked ship, but don't consider them canon and that they'll kiss after Zoro defeats Mihawk)

ZoBin - THAT IS HIS MOTHER FIGURE.

SaboSan - ...They never met 😶... and what if they do? Trauma bonding again?... Y'all I'm sorry but huh- how. Legitimately I'M SPEAKING RATIONALLY, HOW THE FUCK WOULD TWO PEOPLE FALL IN LOVE??? THAT WAY???

UGH ITS JUST A 2D CHARACTER!!

Well DAMN YOU WEREN'T TREATING THEM LIKE THAT WHEN I WAS DISSING THEM??

[ben-the-hyena]

Why do fandom Discord servers whether be they huge or smaller with some friends in it always attract the worse people in the world who ruin the experience for everyone

[oh-meow-swirls]

babblong is hilarious to me cuz his theme is used in psychic specters and only psychic specters. not even in 3. only psychic specters. and also the anime cuz that's where it originated ofc (just like the koma brothers' theme)-

[letmetellyouaboutmyfeels]

I need you all to understand that I worked for about two months on Further Than Blood (my 50k vampire fic) and banged out In the Gray (my 26k zombie fic) in roughly 48 hours. People like the former but they are going absolutely BATSHIT over the latter.

My first point is that writing is a bit of a crapshoot. You can never truly be sure what stories are going to hit an indefinable sweet spot that drives people to madness (complimentary). So write what you want to write, and don't destroy yourself over whether people will like it or not.

My second point is that I've gotten a lot of compliments for churning that second fic out in basically two days. People want to know how I did it. I joke that I don't know, and that I was clearly possessed, but the truth is: Two decades of work went into that fic.

The burst of inspiration and skill that allowed me to write that fic in such a short time didn't come from nowhere. It came from working on my writing almost every day for twenty years. It came from taking breaks from writing when I needed to. It came from reading fics and books and watching films and shows written by people far more skilled than I am. It came from making writing a daily habit, even if it was only a sentence, rather than sitting around hoping lightning would strike me.

Those two-day sprints of inspiration, where the writing just flows, where you feel in the grip of the story, where the muse is basically giving your writer brain a blowjob? You can't wait for them to come around. They will, but not without all the work behind it. And if you only wait for those moments, you'll write very little, and you'll be waiting for a long time.

The last time I had a fit of inspiration like that and churned out a fic that people went batshit over?

December, 2018. Confidence Trick, my best Timeless work. That's almost exactly four years ago, for those of you keeping track.

To summarize:

Write for yourself. Write what you want. You don't know what'll be popular and if anyone else says they do, they're lying.

You can't sprint the 500 meter dash and win a gold medal if you don't get up and go for a run every morning.

[potatoesandsunshine]

my thing is i actually do like alistair more once he hates you. like he becomes more compelling to me once he’s decided he’s done with the warden completely

[nostalgia-tblr]

today i spent SEVERAL minutes contemplating the difference between "sympathetic villain" and "charismatic villain" and whether fandom as a whole confuses these categories sometimes

[unproduciblesmackdown]

speaking of your coming of age movie that never happens & your narrative non-narratives, shoutout to the arcs that’d be supposedly “worse” lmfao like posts about people-pleasers being like “i’m in my villain era” when it’s just consciously prioritizing themselves at all / noting when boundaries for their own wellbeing are being trampled, and the like. wherein i’m like, well i like talking to people i suppose, i can do the hours of monologue at a wall for one mode, got chatterbox mode, funny guy theatrical mode, etc, but in actuality also, i do not like talking to people lmao. the “yeah, that’s me” movie ending with another voiceover while upbeat music plays & you’re cheerfully walking along in 0.75x speed through some picturesque arena filled with socializing people like =) putting on headphones, turning up the volume, ignoring everyone, dodging people according to the berth one wants to maintain,

[debleb]

americans try not to immediately turn anything irish into magical mystical uwu pagan faeries challenge (100% IMPOSSIBLE)

[musical-chick-13]

I would like everyone to know that it’s not just Unpopular Female Characters, the overwhelming majority of the male characters I happen to really like are either from obscure, niche properties no one knows about or (more often) also widely disliked.

[atlantic-riona]

.

[princessclefairyberry]

Replaying Pokémon Shield (again) and I just fucking love this game so I'm here to rambleeee SPOILERS AHEAD (LITERALLY RIGHT AWAY) THIS IS NOT MY FIRST RODEO

(Edited to add the read more cut which I meant to do last night, oops)

First things first: the player's mom is so goddamn cute. I WISH I looked as good as she does. Need to get me some overalls and cute flower-print wellies and try to achieve her aesthetic

I love how right from the beginning, there's a little hinting and foreshadowing as to Hop choosing to become a Pokémon professor in the endgame instead of pursuing a career in Pokémon training. When you're in Hop's house, if you go to Leon's room there's this big set of shelves with what looks like dozens and dozens of books on it. If you examine it, your character remarks that the books look difficult and only adults read that kind of book. But five-ten minutes of gameplay later, Hop remarks that he's read all of the books Leon left behind! He also tapes and studies all of Leon's matches. This boy is smart and studious! Like yeah he's ten, a little brash, a little reckless, but he's doing the hell out of his homework.

I also love how Hop is kind of the main character of the story at the beginning? Like he's Leon's brother, he's the one who's had this dream of becoming the next Champion, he's the one who already has a partner Pokémon. The focus only shifts slowly to you (narratively) as Leon and others start to realize that you're like... maybe an actual contender in this race.

Something I only picked up on this playthrough, but wondered about before: how does Leon know he's looking for a Wooloo in the Slumbering Weald at the beginning of the game? Like he's already found and secured the Wooloo by the time you and Hop come to. The seemingly-canonical answer: the player's mom told him. If you go tell her that you're heading out to Wedgehurst after getting out of the Weald, she mentions that she already heard about your plans to go to Wedgehurst from Leon. ("And yes, I heard the news from young Leon. I'm glad someone bothered to tell me!") Since your house is literally right next to the entrance to the Slumbering Weald, and she's already spoken to Leon (there's no opportunity for him to speak to her post-Weald), it seems likely she saw you and Hop chase the Wooloo into the Weald and told Leon when he came by looking for the two of you.

On a different note, naming myself and my Pokémon basic Welsh vocabulary words so I can at least remember something other than microwave (microdon) and love/darling/sweetheart (cariad). (Yes my husband is a sweetie who calls me sweet things ahsdfgfhdsj) My character is Mefus (meh-vihs), meaning strawberry, because that's my long-time online name outside of tumblr, and my Scorbunny is Cwningen (koo-NEENG-ehn), meaning rabbit.

If my Welsh pronunciations are bad blame my husband lmao

If my pronunciation KEYS are bad, there's no one to blame but me 🤣

[bioethicists]

this is going to sound simplistic + i promise you it's not: stop following people whose entire schtick is being cruel or fighting with others online. even if the ppl deserve it! even if it's not a ~problematic~ cruelty! even if you agree with all of that blog's opinions!

it's one thing if someone snaps back when provoked or posts the occasional "get a load of this guy". nobody needs to play up respectability for people who haven't given them respect in return. but if someone's online identity centers around being needlessly mean for laughs + they're constantly seeking out socially acceptable, easy targets for petty cruelty, that's a red flag. there's a huge difference between not taking shit/cracking a joke + mocking others as your several-hours-a-day hobby.

especially if, when they are inevitably in the wrong + mocking someone mercilessly to their 50k followers over something petty goes south (shocking!), they become extremely defensive or block everyone or play the victim or dismiss it as "well, how was i supposed to know they were autistic? i'm autistic + i don't meow in public" or whatever.

this isn't a "well i knew all along" post bcuz nobody should be shamed for being in the dark about something like this but many of the popular bloggers who have later been exposed for serious harassment or abuse should not have shocked us. if someone's blog is 90% shit like "you should light yourself on fire because you watch x anime" or "look at this so-called lesbian bitch + her ugly fucking boyfriend at a kink convention- it's giving drowned rats", should it really shock you that they are also being cruel or abusive in less internet-acceptable ways? if they've already shown you that they get a such a thrill out of being vicious that they do it daily + are regularly rewarded with thousands of followers?