#I guess people are not helped when misinformation is spread as well

[laeana]

I say this as someone who likes both Charles and Carlos, but it’s always sad to see hate being thrown at Carlos whenever he does well and when the biggest fuckup is on the team. Why are you blaming him for a situation which happened because of Ferrari?

Because from what I saw, Carlos was screwed up by Ferrari, not pitted when he asked, still let Charles pass, was not told not to overtake Charles, and did not give Max’s DRS on purpose, despite what some people want to believe.

So how is that not on Ferrari? Other than the argument “he was fired he doesn’t have to care about team orders”, how come Carlos was not a team player today? Did he affect Charles’ race? Did they lose places because of him? They ended P3 and P4, they gained points on McLaren. I’m legitimately asking; Are you not just mad because Charles is not in front? If Ferrari had pitted when Carlos asked, he could have even gained a spot.

So I’ll say it again, how is that whole situation not on Ferrari?

[dr-spectre]

Splatoon 2 Callie Explained - (In my interpretation)

So in this blog post I wanna go over what is going on with Callie in Splatoon 2 because there's a lot of misinformation being spread around due to how unclear the events of Splatoon 2 were. I'm going to provide my own thoughts into how the Hypnoshades actually affect Callie and clear up what hypnosis actually does to a person, because a lot of people think that Callie was kidnapped and then mind controlled but its actually a lot more complicated than that. I've done a ton of painstaking research into this so if you would like some sources to what I'm saying then I'll be happy to provide it in the comments below when asked!

Okay so first off we need to establish one thing right off the bat, no, Callie was not kidnapped in the sense that she was snatched up by DJ Octavio and then brainwashed while she was kicking and screaming trying to stop him. The idea that Callie was snatched up randomly is simply not to true due to the fact that the OFFICAL Splatoon 2 relationship chart states that Callie was willing to hear out DJ Octavio and go with him. Why? Because if you look at Sunken Scroll 21 and 22 in Splatoon 2, it gives insight into Callie's declining mental health as she struggles to put on a happy face as she walks through a huge crowd of people, as well as the fact that she drew a squid with a sad face on it in Sunken Scroll 22 which is a very clear giveaway that she isn't doing well. Also keep in mind Marie was busy with her own solo thing too and Callie even states in the relationship chart that she's busy and lonely. It also explains why Callie doesn't experience any sort of trauma, turmoil or resentment after Splatoon 2 because well, she wasn't kidnapped and the shades were not forcibly put on her. (Also in Squid Sister Stories chapter 7 there's an artwork piece of Callie walking towards DJ Octavio's star mark so there's that too....)

Now I want to get into how hypnosis actually affects a person and what being hypnotized is actually like. Being hypnotized is described as having "heightened attention, increased focus and heightened suggestibility." You do not get put to sleep and become a puppet as popular media shows it to be, but instead you are hyper aware of what is going on around you. It's also said to be highly relaxing and can help with patients who struggle with anxiety and other mental issues, which might explain why Callie kept putting the shades back on, she enjoys wearing them to some degree as it helps her deal with the pain of being a celebrity, kind of like an addiction but unfortunately Splatoon 2 doesn't explore it at all and Marie (CALLIE'S OWN GOD DAMN COUSIN BTW!) jokes about it..... ugh...... at least she overcomes that addiction OFF SCREEN unfortunately....

Now that part about "suggestibility" is important to consider because contrary to popular belief, you don't lose awareness and memories while you are hypnotized and the person who is in charge of hypnotizing you, CANNOT force you to do anything that's against your wishes and you do NOT lose control of your behavior. Meaning that on some level Callie actually wanted to side with the Octarians because her life beforehand was shitty. The shades do not control Callie but instead put her in a hypnotic state that relaxes her and increases her attention and suggestibility.

For example, if DJ Octavio were to tell Callie to kill Marie instead of Agent 4, she would probably have a ton of hesitation about it and probably not follow his orders. Callie doesn't want to kill Marie, but she doesn't care or know about Agent 4 and that's why she had no problems with following DJ Octavio's suggestions. She also didn't try to attack Marie during the final boss when she was flying around and she just wants Marie to leave her alone because guess what, she's suffering from mental health issues!!!!!! And her relationship with Marie got worse and worse overtime as shown with the Squid Sister Stories.

If you were hypnotized and then the person responsible of your hypnotism handed you a weapon and told you to kill your best friend, you wouldn't do it because it's against your wishes (unless you secretly wanna kill your best friend for some reason....)

With all of this information laid out, it actually does make Splatoon 2's admittedly mid story a bit more interesting, it shows that Callie does have these dark traits and flaws about her, and the Hypnoshades bring out the worst in her. The angry, power hungry and harsh side to her, that was even built up from Splatoon 1. If you look at the dialogue from the Naughty vs. Nice, Early Bird vs. Night Owl and Callie vs. Marie Splatfests, you can see that Callie actually got upset at Marie multiple times due to her attitude.

It really does make Tidal Rush more emotional and powerful as a song if you really think about it. It's a clashing of two cousins whose relationship has been broken apart and Marie is desperately trying to reach out to Callie and fix what she has done. Maybe Marie blames herself for why Callie ran away and that's why she sounds like she's on the brink of tears in the song.... And it makes Spicey Calamari Inkantation more triumphant as a song too.

It does make me a bit angry that Nintendo doesn't wanna dive into these topics as well as Callie. She is flawed and has dark traits about her but, she doesn't try to change or grow from them in any significant or well written way, its like they forgot about it in Splatoon 3 which.... sucks man. I'm hoping we get a Side Order type deal with the Squid Sisters for Splatoon 4 and we dive deeper into the psyches of these girls, because what we have is really interesting but it lacks explanation and nuance and everyone keeps boiling it down to "welp Callie got kidnapped and mind controlled!" Which... its more complex than that... With Agent 3 and Marina it's for sure mind control and i would like to talk about them in a future blog but, with Callie? It's different and there's a lot of layers a lot of people tend to ignore because Splatoon 2's story is just... meh.

[thestrangestthing89]

It's not an apology, it's a clarification. He very directly says "you misconstrued what I said" a thing multiple people around here have been trying to say for months. He said this exact same thing in an Instagram post he made a few months ago but people lack the reading comprehension skills to follow something like that. So he said it in a TikTok video again only some people are still not understanding. And it's because they don't want to. (He has recently taken his Instagram post down, I'm guessing because he is getting relentlessly harassed.) The truth of the matter is that many people didn't take the time to understand basic facts about this situation (like what the word Zionism actually means) and the result was that a lot of misinformation spread because people were desperate to make sure their followers knew they were The Most Progressive and The Most Anti-Racist. They did not talk about this issue in a way that was culturally sensitive. They made assumptions about Noah based on anti-Semitic stereotypes and I don't even think they realize they are doing it because, again, they aren't well-informed. But every time someone twists the word Zionism to mean "pro-genocide" and makes the flying leap that anyone using that word is laughing at people dying they are falling into the stereotype that Jews are bloodthirsty. Anytime people say that any Jewish person has the wrong information in this situation and needs to education themselves about their own culture, they are believing that Jews can't be trusted. They did all of these things to Noah and they did it very easily because they are ignorant. These people essentially turned into an angry mob. I can't even count the amount of comments I saw that were basically "I hate Noah too!!! Wait, what did he do? Someone tell me!" They piled on because their peers were doing it and not because they had any clue what the problem was. It was the cool and trendy thing to do so they did it. And they deluded themselves into thinking they were saving Palestinians in the process when they actually didn't do shit for anyone. The only problem is that the people who did this didn't take the time to inform themselves before piling on. Noah didn't apologize to them because he doesn't have to. They owe him an apology though and I think the ones with larger followings are responsible for a lot of this and imo are lucky they didn't get sued for defamation. He didn't do any of the things they are accusing him. They decided for themselves what he thought and believed based on very little information and they have no right to do this to anyone. They seriously think Noah is responsible for single-handedly killing people. He's not in the military or a politician. He didn't even endorse anyone who did. This whole situation is the stupidest fucking thing in the world. They are more outraged over the bullshit they made up about him the actual political situation and it's because they don't actually care. They are using Palestinians as an excuse to say hateful things, but they aren't helping them at all. I don't think Gen Z-ers are realizing that everyone older than them is getting increasingly more concerned about the way they go about their political activism. It's a serious problem and this current political situation only highlighted problems with them that had been occurring for a while now. Relentlessly harassing any Jewish person online for not speaking exactly to your liking isn't activism. Threatening to kill people who disagree with you isn't activism. Trying to ruin someone's career because they didn't act like your parasocial bestie isn't activism. Spamming the comments of everyone's posts with Free Palestine isn't activism and it sure as hell isn't what spreading awareness looks like. That requires being well informed first. Not to mention learning how to have difficult conversations without screaming hysterically at people and shouting that they must be pro-genocide/racist/misogynist/homophobic every damn second just because they said something you didn't take the time to understand.

They need to learn to ask for a clarification before assuming the absolute worst about people. They do this to people in the fandom constantly and it's why no one decent posts here regularly anymore. They are ignorant, plain and simple. But they are so desperate for peer approval and for people to think they are the best activists ever that they don't realize how much damage they do when they behave this way.

The people still pissed at Noah were always going to be. They were always going to pick him apart because they are anti-Semitic and they made that very clear. All he is saying is that people need to understand that both Jews and Palestinians are human and stop taking sides. A thing that anyone with a shred of human decency has been saying for months. The people who haven't been saying this tend to be very young (teens and early 20s) and it's because they fell for a lot of unverified information on TikTok - something that is concerning a lot of people given that it is an election year in the US. All anyone had to do here was listen and they didn't. They are too busy trying to be morally superior to anyone to bother having an actual conversation. They still aren't listening. There was nothing wrong with what Noah said here either. But people are determined to believe that he was laughing at people dying when he wasn't. This literally never happened. They just heard a word they weren't familiar with a jumped to awful conclusions. It's not their place to educate anyone on anything. They are not qualified to do so. And I wish people were smarter about who they were reblogging and weren't so desperate to get more followers by jumping on the bandwagon. They cause so much drama in the fandom constantly by acting like this. This is just the latest example.

The people who think it's now suddenly ok to be violent and homophobic towards someone just because they perceived that person to do something they didn't like, were waiting for an opportunity. They wanted to be horrible and they think they got a reason. They didn't and there is never a reason to behave like this. But it did reveal just how many people in this fandom are horrible human beings. The people who weren't saying this directly were still agreeing with those people and were not better than them. It should have set alarm bells off in their heads that the only people who agreed with them were being vile. That should have been the first clue they were on the wrong side. I wish people learned to think for themselves better. They were clearly jumping on the bandwagon and didn't understand what was going on. And I stand by my comment from a few months ago, we would not be dealing with relentless drama in the fandom if the show had a higher rating. And I do think they need to focus more on their original adult audience again. Most of us do not feel comfortable posting regularly in this fandom when it got taken over by kids who don't understand any of the things they are upset about, but they are upset with everyone and everything constantly. No one came here to babysit.

[ametistapp]

Since it's Autism Awareness Month, here's

Why the puzzle piece is offensive to the Autistic Community

[Large text: Why the puzzle piece is offensive to the Autistic Community]

Unfortunately, the most commonly used symbols to represent autism are all puzzle related, like the ones bellow.

These symbols and similar ones are typically used by Autism Organizations that are run by allistic people rather than autistic, Autism Speaks being the best-known example across the internet, but not the only one.

I'm not going to go deep into how bad Autism Speaks is, but just to leave you with the tip of the iceberg, know they used to put out ads that demonized autistic people (and even one in which one of the organization's leaders spoke about wanting to drive herself and her autistic daughter off a bridge).

Autism Speaks, and many others, attempt to "teach" people about autism, without hearing what actually autistic people have to say, and that's their biggest (but not at all only) problem.

Now, stay with me as we dive into history...

The puzzle piece was first used as a symbol for autism in 1963, by UK's National Autism Society, later on being adopted by Autism Speaks, which made it more popular.

Back then, autism awareness campaigns were viewed as being similar to, for example, cancer awareness ones, because autism was seen as an illness, a disease (which it is not).

As I've made clear before, the puzzle piece is heavily associated with organizations that spread misinformation about autism, making it, of course, already a bad symbol to represent us, but there's something I personally feel bothers us a lot more, and that is the symbolism of the puzzle piece.

The puzzle piece represents an idea of "mystery" and — you guessed it — being "puzzled".

And us, autists, don't really appreciate being called confusing.

Not only that, these words were often used to describe autism offensively in the past (and still are). And, on top of that, most times, when you find a puzzle supposed to represent autism, it is incomplete.

Isn't the message clear enough?

We're people, not puzzles that have to be worked out. We're not incomplete and we're not "puzzled".

So

Which symbols can you use for autism awareness?

[Large text: Which symbols can you use for autism awareness?]

The infinity rainbow symbol is common for all neurodivergent people, while the golden infinity is specific for ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder, in case you didn't know the acronym).

The infinity symbol represents the complexity and vastness of neurodivergence and autism.

Autism is less about "severity" and more about different struggles in different topics and areas (though not a lot of people seem to understand that, unfortunately). After all, autism is a spectrum, not a scale.

And if you're interested in why golden is the color of choice for us, that'd be because the periodic symbol for gold is Au, which I think is very clever, haha.

Some people also like to use red or plain yellow, I don't know a lot about that, but I'd recommend you research it.

And since we're on the topic of color, just a warning: in the Autistic Community we kind of avoid using blue to represent us, especially because it is heavily associated with Autism Speaks' "Light It Up Blue" movement.

Blue is seen as a representation of feelings like sadness, as well as being commonly associated with boys (this is important because women and other AFAB are often misdiagnosed and underdiagnosed because many people still think autism is only found in boys, and because many traits are viewed as "normal behavior" in AFAB people).

This isn't to say you can't use blue in the title of your PowerPoint presentation about ASD, it's just a thing we try to avoid.

Well, that should be all.

I decided to make this post because I've seen many people post about which symbols to use for Autism Awareness Month, but no one explaining why.

Thought this could help some poor lost soul understand it, lol

Happy Autism Awareness Month, my beloved Yippies, and a thank you to everyone who stopped to read <3 (heart).

Now I'm gonna go clean my search history and my gallery, just reading "Autism Speaks" gives me the ick.

[theswiftheartsystem]

Tw: very aggressive anti-endo post I’m responding to (Syscourse of course with that.) also I will most likely curse here and come off as very angry.

Okay, so I normally wouldn’t do this, but this post genuinely pissed me the fuck off. I blocked out identifying information of the person because it’s not about this person, it’s about the general misinformation spread by these people. Please do not harass this person, this post is clearly engagement bait, which is what ultimately made me decide to do it this way.

Religious forms of plurality has existed and been known about far longer then DID has. Not just Tibetan Buddism. Which just shows you haven’t done any fucking research whatsoever. That’s pretty typical for posts like this, but still.

“Support actual victims” A lot of endogenic systems have trauma as well, but you deny them the right to exist because the trauma isn’t valid to you. It isn’t the “right” way. A lot of endogenic systems form alters to because there brain isn’t shielding them from the trauma by forming DID or OSDD, or a different form of plurality, so they fucking do it themselves. But no, they don’t fit your narrow views of plurality so therefore “to bad, so sad, you don’t deserve support” A lot of systems are Trauma-Endo, but that trauma isn’t real enough to you because you have decided “I don’t experience this, so it doesn’t exist” same fucking argument is used against queer people, people with invisible disabilities, (which DID can be, and we consider it one for ourselves personally, that doesn’t mean it is for everyone) and basically every fucking Minority.

Even if endogenic systems have no trauma, which does happen, why are you against them having a safe space??? That means they won’t be in your safe spaces because they have separate ones?!?!

I assume the persecutor thing is something to fall back on “Oh my persecutor said it, it wasn’t me!!!” As a persecutor myself, I don’t give a shit if you are a persecutor, or a caregiver, or whatever. You still are responsible for what you say and do. You are still responsible for what your alters say and do.

I assume this person is saying endogenic systems have factious disorder or something, but guess the fuck what. People with factious disorder deserve safe spaces too. Factious disorder is a real fucking disorder not just a quirky thing to call people. They deserve help and therapy with factious disorder, like you deserve treatment for DID.

Also as a final thing to add, it’s funny how sysmeds complain about how endogenic systems go on tags for them, when they don’t want to see it, and then purposely try to make upsetting post and using the tags used by the community so they see them and get triggered.

Endogenic systems have done nothing fucking wrong to you by existing.

-Edward

[hopefull-mindset]

How do you feel about the difference in Nagito's confession in Japanese and English?

In Japanese he kinda pauses saying something along the lines of 'in love with y...' before going on about hope inside.

But in English it's straight to loving the hope in Hajime.

I was hoping I’d be able to talk about this! If anyone needs a further explanation on the translation error, I recommend reading this first. It’s my favorite explanation because it deconstructs the Japanese to English process thoroughly, and the ambiguity of the whole thing really explains why Hajime was so confused. I’ve seen doubt as to fan translations being right at all, so I hope this helps out.

Now there isn’t many new things to say about a game this old with a large fanbase like this, but with new fans means more information to be spread (and misinformation respectively), so I’d be happy to speak!

UMMM I have no idea if anything I said down below is even what you were asking me, maybe you were just asking me about the decision of changing it, which um I don’t blame the official translators for going straight into it because it’s a fairly ambiguous line and most japanese fans go straight into it too when they qoute it, but official translators are not credible for their care of finer details that could be clearly translated into English, so it’s whatever I guess. Japanese fans also shouldn’t be our guide to consuming media of their language since they’re also just people, and I think it’s probably just easier to quote it like that without it sounding confusing the way it does in text.

This has been practically common knowledge by now to know that it was an aborted love confession, meaning there isn’t much to be said on its own. With all that’s been spread about this, a common misunderstanding is with the use of “Aishiteru” (愛してる) being “more romantic” than any other form of “I like/love you” (Suki/Daisuki), which is not true. It’s much more intense than the other two because of it directly using “Ai” (愛) and in turn used less compared to them because of its intensity. In same line of thinking, usually it’s reserved for serious occasions like marriage, a loved one on their death bed, a final goodbye for someone you care for deeply, etc. but none of it makes it anymore romantic because all three can be used platonically. It’s solely dependent on the context it’s used for.

It’s just like how we use “I love you” in English and how many things it could mean at once, albeit we don’t have three separate ways to express it. Well there’s actually more ways to express love, but you only really need to know these three. I know a lot of sources tend to say “Aishiteru” (愛してる) is romantic, but that’s most likely because you’re looking at sources that are talking about it in a romantic context. It’s not platonic in the sense that you’d go up to your friend and say it, that sends a lot of mixed messages and real odd to attempt, but platonic in that someone you truly have a deep connection with, family member or otherwise.

On the contrary, it’s much more common to use Suki/Daisuki (好き / 大好き) in a love confession and everyday life. Usually you wouldn’t even use “Aishiteru” (愛してる) in your entire life, that isn’t uncommon. So typically the most you’ll see or hear “Aishiteru” (愛してる) used is in fictional japanese media or songs. Using it in a confession like Komaeda almost did is like… imagine going up to someone and telling them that you want to spend your entire life together, meet their parents, fully commit to each other, raise children (if that’s what you want), and die together before you’re even in the relationship or even had your first kiss yet. Like obviously you’re not saying all of that, you might not even mean that, but it’s implied with the intensity of it. It’s that extreme and would definitely confuse someone if you tried. It’s not exactly for someone you just started dating either.

Why does “Ai” (愛) make it so intense though? Compared to other ways of saying love like “Koi” (恋) for example (not gonna explain that one), it’s the purest, most heightened form of expressing love verbally in japanese culture because of the giving and profound nature of it. It’s loving in a way that encases a warm feeling all around you, so painfully genuine yet committed. Its something that’s formed over time with much care, and doesn’t ask for anything back. It’s that big to use, but siamotainously it’s awkward and a little embarrassing to use because it’s practically unsaid irl. There is a lot to personal reservations and such, but as a culture, japan is more reserved with their verbal expressions. This doesn’t speak for the entire country, but just in general actions speak louder than something as literal like “Aishiteru” (愛してる).

I had to go over that before I talked about Komaeda because I don’t want there to be a misunderstanding with what I’m about to say. Sorry to break the news to anymore who was star-eyed after learning what “Ai” (愛) meant in context, but the reason I went over that first with extensive context is because Komaeda is not at all liberated when he uses it. Not only does he use it here in the infamous error of all errors in sdr2, he uses it when he talks about hope, talent, and Junko. Shocking I know, but that’s why I had to go over that “Ai” (愛) is not just romantic love so this will be less awkward for all of us.

Ignoring the oddness of it and how dramatic this usage is, it’s incredibly in-character for Komaeda to use it like that considering his sincere and devoted nature when it comes to hope and talent. He says himself that what he feels is selfless, so that’s going to reflect in his speech, but he uses it so casually that it feels like a joke. It’s a quite poetic expression of love, even with all the cultural context, so it’s fitting. He’s pretty no filter with how he talks about it, but with anything else with Komaeda—it’s more complex than that. While being 100% honest with everything he says, his deep connection with hope and talent is borderline obsessive and that brings into question his relationship with love.

I have many thoughts on how his hope/despair stuff works, but let’s stay on topic this one time because a lot is intertwined. With his usage of “Ai” (愛) with reference of Junko, we should all know he doesn’t love her. He doesn’t love the embodiment of despair and despises it in the same breath he even expressed love for it at all. What he feels for Junko is obsession through and through, but what he feels is still genuine connection, it’s just absurdly twisted. It’s why he still uses it, even though at most what he feels for her is contempt. He “loves” it because it’ll be destroyed for what will truly shine in the end. The connection is deep enough for him to take her hand and finally become one with it.

Junko didn’t twist his concept of love completely, it was already a little off, she exploited the potential of it. I’ve mentioned this point before in my twitter thread, but when faced with the motivations in trials 1, 2, and 3 he cannot see past their motivations other than their “hopes”, rather than their actual reasons: various forms of love. My immediate thought while writing was, “was it not really absolute hope that he needed or wanted, but instead the selfless love people like Naegi or Hajime could wield for others?” I can’t tell you how correct that is, but it holds close to when he said what he wanted was somebody’s love before he died.

To really talk about that with more depth, I’d have to do a separate post about his view of people in general. If you’d like to see that, just let me know. I really would like to stay on topic, and you weren’t exactly asking about that.

Now don’t be weird guys, it doesn’t make his confession any less genuine just because his concept of love is kinda fucked due to only being able to feel it through his obsession with hope since all genuine connection is very limited (non-existent) for him, it just puts into more context as to why Hajime was confused. He’s said something similar about his feelings of hope as early as chapter 1.

Does this mean he really did just meant the hope that sleeps inside Hajime? Well obviously not, otherwise I wouldn’t be talking about this. It also doesn’t mean that his love for Hajime is on the same obsessive level as Hope, talent, or freaking Junko for the matter. Junko was a whole other situation when his mental stability was at its worst. Here’s what actually happened: right when he admitted he wanted somebody’s love, he immediately backpedaled that claiming everything he said was just something he lied about because he started to see that Hajime might want to grow closer and forgive him, and then then started rambling about total bullshit about Hajime killing him and the potential hope in him, even though he just said that he didn’t get the same feeling from him as other ultimates.

Very funny Komaeda, though I don’t think he wasn’t being genuine there. Maybe he did think that regardless of the “both miserable bystanders” comment because he also thought he himself could be ultimate hope in chapter 5. I feel like we knew this part well enough, so I’ll talk about the confession finally. I don’t know what compelled him to try and confess like that, but maybe he was trying to be more honest after what he did to derail him and backtracked again? Who knows.

He was starting with an actual confession, but why did he backtrack the way he did? I have two potential answers. First answer was that he didn’t want to weigh Hajime down with the burden of his feelings, and made it sound like his typical Komaeda bullshit instead. Second answer is that Komaeda doesn’t know how to express his love for Hajime and derailed it to Hajime’s hope instead because that’s the only context he’s used “Ai” (愛) in and is used to that. Him using it here doesn’t make it less sincere in his almost-confession, it’s just… complex.

Maybe if this was his only hint of loving Hajime, his feelings for him would be more controversial as “canon”, thankfully it isn’t! Maybe both answers are right in their own right, it would definitely correlate with my own thoughts about his stupidly complicated justification’s for getting closer to Hajime and making excuses for him. If you haven’t read it, I said that while Komaeda was catching feelings for Hajime as an individual, he made excuses for himself that the reason he cared for him was because he was an ultimate (meaning someone who carried potential Hope), but the only reason he let himself be close to a “supposed ultimate” was because we felt that they were similar and that he had “an air unlike the others”. Which was probably why he was so confused as to why he still cared after finding out what he did in chapter 4 because his justification no longer worked.

Although we know that Komaeda absolutely does love Hajime, I am relieved that they used different expressions of love here (both Suki and Dasuki) to make sure we know he does love him. Can it be used platonically? Sure, but the context does not position it like that.

That’s my um opinion I guess?? Hope you got more than what you were expecting? I wonder why I keep making long posts when it’s not going to get that much attention…. I was originally going to say that what’s important about him using “Ai” (愛) is the genuine intent there and not the romantic implication of it since context matters more, and that hasn’t changed at all, but this turned into a completely different conversation. My bad.

[nerves-nebula]

heyo, uh sorry for the super long message, and sorry this question is a little strange or somethin, you dont have to answer it, but youre like the only person i have seen on the internet comfortably talk about csa, and i wanted to just kinda say ive been debating including csa in one of my characters backstories but im nervous i will misrepresent it or something (i have experience with being sexually harrassed/coerced when i was a teenager but it wasnt drastic and i am not a victim of csa) and i guess i wanted advice. i don't want it to seem like its for cheap shock value, i do want to make it thematically relevant. the character, who i will call S for conveniance, was raised in isolation by their mother for their entire childhood and was abused and neglected, and S was raised to be "bait" for people to lure them in so their mother could eat them (uh. yeah cannibalism is here too. their backstory is already fucked up without the csa) i have a basic idea for how the csa starts, how it incorporates itself into the story and how S is affected by it, but i dont know, im nervous about including any of this because again, its a serious topic, and i want to portray it in a way that doesnt feel like its there just to make the reader disgusted. so if you have any pointers for me i'd appreciate that. again no big deal if you dont answer this

well it sounds like you've already made it thematically relevant with the whole "raised to be bait" thing so good job. I can absolutely see myself reading a story like that and thinking "this would be improved with csa but the author probably didnt wanna go there" cuz I can't imagine a situation in which a child is created for and frequently put in that kind of danger for the parents benefit that wouldn't somehow cross over into CSA or at least emotionally incestuous behavior.

it makes sense to be nervous when writing about it but without exact examples i can't really tell you if i think you're off base on anything. im not sure if any of the general pointers i COULD give would be very helpful on account of i'm not the end all be all of csa representation haha. my situation wasn't even that bad, i'm just inordinately fixated on it for some reason.

some people will tell you that under no circumstances should you write a graphic csa scene. this comes from an understandable place where in the past a lot of csa in media has been very uhhhh exploitative i guess? just for shock value, like you said here? which can be alienating and hurtful and rely on unrealistic tropes and spread misinformation and a lot of bad stuff. but i personally like when things get a bit graphic, its why i liked The Incest Diary so much. it really depends on the tone of the story and you're just gonna have to accept that you're not gonna please everyone.

as for less/non-graphic csa portrayals theres this article by this author Rene Denfeld which i really like and respect. i've read her books The Child Finder and The Butterfly Girl and i think they're both good examples of portraying explicitly that a child was raped, focusing on the childs inner world, and what its like to live with and cope with that trauma afterwards, all without anything very explicit.

as a side note, i don't think that "Trying to make the reader disgusted" is a bad reason to include it. i dont think you need a higher justification to write about csa other than "I Wanted To." that doesnt mean i always enjoy or agree with how ppl write about it but trying to evoke disgust isnt inherently bad because it is disgusting. I often evoke disgust with my art even when I don't mean to just because people are more sensitive to it than I am.

but being overly cautious about writing about csa, to the point that you don't even include it, means that most of the ppl writing about it will either be dickheads who don't care at all about being sensitive and victims of csa themselves and when those are the two main categories things get iffy and stressful and the survivors voices often get drowned out. im not gonna go into why cuz that'll take foreverrrrr. but my point is that I don't believe CSA is worse than like, death, or grief or murder or something. you can write about it if you wanna you dont need an excuse.

[sysmedsaresexist]

Let's talk about stances and personal growth

System safe (yes, even those ones), CDDs first

I really hope you'll stick with this one until the end.

My follower count has been fluctuating more than my anxiety levels the last few months as I try to figure out how to put into words what my own stance is.

I've brought in mods who have the same... I guess medical understandings as me but different philosophical and tolerance views to try to help myself grow and learn more.

Apparently, this was a bad thing to do. Who knew.

It's really sad how much pushback I've gotten from both sides. Anti endos in my inbox like, "how dare you give an inch, you traitor," and pro/endos like, "wait, are you anti endo? You lied to me."

But the truth is something that's ever changing and evolving, and figuring out the key to syscourse was realizing that you can't argue against self perception.

You can still have discussions that allow both sides to grow their understandings, knowledge, and opinions, though, and I'm not sure why my community seems to be turning on me for showing kindness to others.

I wish people would just accept me as I am and talk to me without trying to assign a "side" to me. I have information. You have information. Why don't we share it and both be better people?

There are cruel idiots that I don't agree with on both sides, I'm not loyal to anything or anyone except the desire to spread accurate information on CDDs.

CDD systems are my priority. Not sure when I was unclear about that.

I will always have the best interests of CDD systems at heart, but protecting them doesn't need to be at the cruel expense of others who are talking about a way of seeing themselves and the world in a different way.

This isn't new, any mental disorder comes with this very same challenge.

Anyone who has ever had to mask anything about themselves has experienced this on some level. Something about you just doesn't quite jive with what other people are describing. You don't see gender the same way, you don't take in knowledge the same way, you can't mentally visualize like other people, you don't have that kind of imagination, you don't have that kind of memory, you don't-- it's never ending.

Even the concept of consciousness and multiple selves has been around since the dawn of forever. People are incredibly multifaceted, it's not out of the realm of possibility (in fact, it's documented) that there are people that are more in tune with that aspect of themselves. People with BPD struggle with this, frequently giving names to the parts of themselves that seem beyond their control, but we don't condemn them, so what's different in syscourse?

Syscourse is happening because the two communities have intersected in complicated ways-- in my opinion, this centers around shared language and spaces that I don't think should be shared. I don't believe that the experiences are the same, and I think shared language hurts both sides. I think this is the root of all syscourse. If you've ever said, "if they would just stay out of our spaces, if they would just use different words--" Yeah, me too. Same hat. So why do you block me, as if we're that different?

Other people might think the root is something different. No big deal. I'd like to meet and talk to those people and grow my understanding. I want to see more sides and arguments.

Isn't that terrible of me?

In this way, I am both pro and anti endo, simultaneously. I'm not here to argue about self perception, but I am here to argue against misinformation and overlap in information that confuses and harms those with CDDs.

I see the tags filled with people who act the same way I did when I first started my blog, and I want to shake them and drag them into the front seat with me and say, "Let me save you so much bullshit. This isn't an argument that can be won."

I was incredibly lucky. One of the most well-known, respected syscoursers to both the anti and pro sides was kind enough to do that to me.

And looking back, it's almost hilarious how they just... let me be the little shit that I was being, while respectfully and kindly sharing resources and information. They're way more patient than I am. I am forever grateful to them.

But what I realized, after a while, with my mentor's gentle help, was that I wasn't understanding what the argument was, or why it was happening, or what was actually being said to me.

And it took being kinder and showing some humility and being brave enough to go into other spaces to find those answers.

And it's helped me fight more effectively for those with CDDs.

... And endogenic systems.

Because how can you argue if you can't understand what they're saying or where they got the idea from?

And it's made me a kinder, better person to everyone else who's just struggling to get through their one shot at life in a way that makes them happy and fulfilled.

It's like everyone forgot that we actually need to have conversations in order to create change.

And that change in yourself isn't always a bad thing.

#pro syscourse conversation

#pro respect in syscourse

[phoenix-is-the-hottest-thing]

That was my mistake, my source was basically just the overall atmosphere of the first chapters of Elysian Realm and how she was referred to as a traitor. Thank you for correcting me I did not mean to spread misinformation

Apology accepted! It's alright, you just got a bit carried away at the end of the day, but it's good to remember that most folks won't question "facts" if they have no prior reason to doubt them. We can't count on others to fact-check. Spreading speculation as fact is unfortunately VERY VERY EASY even when we don't mean to!

Adding stuff like "I think" or "My guess is" helps tamper credibility a little bit (though it's not anywhere near foolproof with word of mouth quoting instead of linking...). What I often do is that I go back and look for my sources mid-rant to make sure I'm not making anything up from half-remembered blurbs, when it's my own post I'll even add proof in the form of quotes or references.

Obviously there's no need to always go that far, no one wants fifty asterisks in your ask to source every statement and it's not too serious when it's just a fictional character, but do pay extra attention if you're talking about an actual person. Speculating about a fictional character ultimately just results in grumpy fans (usually). Making shit up about a stranger can have harsh consequences! Keep speculation to an absolute minimum there, even if they have rancid vibes, okay?

Keep in mind also, when you don't like the character (or person), you will subconsciously paint them in a less favorable light. Even neutral or kind acts may seem bad from a certain angle. They're just helping this grandma cross the street to make themself look better!

The inverse is also true, we will be inclined to trust and agree with people if they go along with what we already believe, like or feel is right. Everyone's point of view in the world is subjective, we will see what we want to see if we're not thinking things through, and gravitate towards an echo chamber that reinforces existing beliefs.

To circle back to the original point, you sent someone who hates Elysia information that made her out to be originally written as murderously narcissistic (admittedly less boring than what we got) which was not founded on actual facts, but very difficult to verify since it's scrapped content. Now, I know that this was an accident, a mistake on your part. That's okay! However.

Some people exploit this implicit trust maliciously for their own ends (like trying to cancel someone, or a character/ship they don't like). These people know that if they sound like they know their stuff, an audience won't think twice about it, all they need is a platform to spread their ideas even with no basis.

For example... they can send an anon ask to a relatively well-known blogger. They know they can even make themself sound innocent from planting the idea by asking it as a question. As long as people hear it, it doesn't matter if it's true in the slightest.

My point is, I will believe you in particular just made a mistake, but from what @cloud-ya's told me, there was an ask in her inbox doing that exact thing to the extreme. Specifically bringing up wild speculation about what Elysia would think of real-world events, framed in such a way as to make her sound like a terrible person. Elysia is a fictional character, she doesn't have opinions, any speculation thereof is projected onto her according to your own personal agenda.

Needless to say that's not appropriate in the slightest and highly manipulative. Deleted immediately. Asks like these should never see the light of day!

So, let us take it as a warning both for folks like you who send their thoughts, and folks like me who receive them, that we can all accidentally contribute to hatred and misinformation, even if it's an accident...

Let's keep everyone safe by paying attention to what we platform!

[rappaccini]

I kinda expected that to be the case as far as hard evidence. Honestly despite holding the headcanon quite dear and it being a reason I got into Gwen in the first place I feel like even atsv is underwhelming for how hyped up it is. I’m glad there’s enough plausible deniability tho :3

Thank you so much for taking time to answer my questions! If there is a readily available reading list you recommend I’d appreciate it ^^

yeah... i think the coding in the films is great, and i'd love for it to be canon in the comics... but it isn't. and i don't like bursting people's bubbles but so many people, especially teens, are coming into gwen's comics so sure they're about to see this representation, and they're setting themselves up for a lot of disappointment and confusion. and the people who keep insisting it's Canon In The Comics are well-intentioned... but all they're really doing is spreading misinformation. it's... you know that tweet about how expecting queer rep from marvel is like losing at chess to a dog. that's what people are doing, expecting the comics to make her trans.

and no problem! here's the most complete reading list.

that list is very thorough and will give you a brief of each arc and the specific numbering of the issues (which gets necessary when the crossover events pop up), but it doesn't put the events in chronological order, which will probably be confusing. here they are, best as i can tell:

start with edge of spider-verse #2. it's her origin and the basis of gwen's character in itsv.

it's part of the larger spider-verse event that kicks off the concept of the spider-verse to begin with. gwen is one of the stars, but her characterization is very much in its infancy.

then web-warriors. gwen meets hobie here, and this is where the gwen-hobie-pav trio in atsv comes from. continuity's a little weird with this one but just treat it as 'what gwen was doing during spider-verse' and you've got it. she's also a little ooc here, but it's not offensively bad.

then the latour run: the foundation of gwen's character, almost entirely set in earth-65. (it changes names and resets its numbering a few times. very confusing. the arc names are usually more helpful, so...)

-> arc 0 is most wanted. these five issues are what atsv gwen is based on: gwen, in the midst of being manhunted by her father, reveals her identity to him.

-> arc 1 is greater power. harry osborn reappears in gwen's life and they clash over his hatred of spider-woman.

... my best guess is the clone conspiracy event happens here, if not even earlier. a ton of clones, including gwen stacy, return in an event that makes little sense but has the occasional interesting moment.

the spider-women crossover. gwen, jessica and cindy team up to solve an interdimensional crime conspiracy involving earth 65's versions of cindy and jess. supposedly sony will make a sv-continuity-set movie based on this someday.

-> arc 2 is weapon of choice. after gwen loses her powers, she struggles to adjust as the punisher closes in.

-> arc 3 is long-distance. gwen becomes murdock's reluctant apprentice during the holiday season to protect her father.

sitting in a tree crossover. if you want to see where gwiles comes from, it's here.

-> arc 4 is predators. gwen and harry go on the run in madripoor as assassins close in.

-> arc 5 is gwenom. gwen is consumed by her symbiote and goes on a rampage after murdock puts her father in grave danger.

-> arc 6 is the life of gwen stacy. gwen's final showdown with murdock is interrupted by an interdimensional hail mary from her alternate selves.

the mcguire run / spider-gwen: ghost-spider: when gwen becomes a multiverse wanderer, changes codenames to ghost-spider. this is the first attempt at sticking her in 616. everything set on 65 is great, everything in 616 is frustrating.

-> arc 1, the ballad of gwen stacy, follows gwen attempting to help an alternate self who became the green goblin, and grappling with her worries about mortality.

it's so tied in with the spider-geddon event (which is also where margo and the miles->gwen->hobie love triangle come from in atsv) that if you don't read it it won't make sense. gwen has an excellent and in-character presence here.

-> arc 2 is impossible year. gwen tries to adjust to life as a celebrity, including being a hero for hire and dating harry, as she hunts man-wolf's gang.

(the title past this point changes to "ghost-spider" but it's still the same writer)

-> arc 1 is dog days are over. gwen starts attending college in 616, and attracts the attention of that world's jackal.

annual: acts of evil: ghost-spider. gwen's trapped in murderworld and fights illusions of her previous villains.

-> arc 2 is party people. earth-65's storm siblings, a pair of influencers, arrive in new york and battle gwen for the right to be its only heroes.

last remains event. peter faces off against harry, who digs up corpses to make him feel guilty. it's bad but she has a few decent lines.

gwenom vs carnage is a miniseries that's part of a larger event you don't need to read at all, and is technically the conclusion to the mcguire run: em jay is transformed into carnage by the jackal, and she and gwen have the most queercoded fight imaginable while gwen's banished to 616.

end of the spider-verse event. shathra attacks the spiders with a brainwashed army. gwen has an extremely minor role and is the possessed the whole time.

spider-gwen: gwenverse miniseries. gwen's somehow back on 65 and has to fight a multiversal influencer with an avengers team made up entirely of variants of herself.

spider-gwen: shadow clones miniseries. a villain clones gwen and infuses her copies with the dna of, for some reason, earth 616's sinister six.

annual: contest of chaos. gwen and silver fox are trapped in a simulation together during the contest of chaos event.

spider-gwen: smash miniseries. can be read right after gvc without missing anything. gwen, back on 65, reconnects with her band as they tour with dazzler, who's being pursued by a stalker.

giant-size spider-gwen. basically the fifth issue of smash, written by the same writer. treat it like one event. it's even packaged that way in the paperback.

now we're less than one arc into the phillips run / spider-gwen: the ghost-spider. (yes, it's the same title as before with a 'the.' very confusing.) she's back in 616 For Good. again.

haunted is the name of the arc: gwen arrives in 616 to stay under mysterious circumstances, and faces an icy welcome. jury's out on if it's good, skippable or bad but necessary bc it's currently releasing.

and it'll probably get a second arc, minimum.

gwen is also in the spider-society event currently releasing. (edit: it's me from the future, just skip it. gwen doesn't do anything and has no interesting characterization beats. also the event is very out of her continuity so my best guess is it's after gwen's fugitive arc in sgtgs.)

and she'll be in the tva miniseries coming up soon.

... and here's a key:

green = necessary to read and a good-to-great experience

yellow = necessary to read but a mixed bag, with some good moments weighed down by very frustrating ones

pink = not good but doesn't damage the character or her continuity, or gwen's in the story but has such a minor role that it doesn't affect anything. you can skip it and basically miss nothing

red = necessary to avoid getting confused later but you're gonna have a bad time with it

[ihavedonenothingright]

Always slightly saddened by how classics spaces on social media aren't really populated by people who like and study the languages most of this material is in. Some of that's a product of general inaccessibility (schools don't offer Latin or Greek, online materials are hard to come by), but I've also met people at uni who want to pursue classics degrees, but deliberately make their own majors instead to avoid taking languages. And that makes me sad. Particularly because learning the languages is what gives you the most cultural insight, and misinformation spreads so much faster when nobody knows what they're actually arguing.

But then again, I guess part of that could be how those classes are typically structured. I enjoy them, but not everyone else does. So maybe something more casual would help. And considering there's a lot of people on here who at least like greek mythos, I assume there's some who might want some casual, useful vocab, even if they don't want to get into the nitty-gritty of the grammar.

So with all that considered, would people be interested in sort of a cursory intro to Latin or Ancient Greek blog? It would mostly include things like "ways this word can be used" and "how to parse a sentence even if you're not super well-versed in the language" but I'm open to including more complex, technical stuff. Also I want to push the Nissus and Euryalus agenda on Tumblr, how come none of you are obsessed with the tragic queer footrace cheaters?

So:

[kingofpopmj]

Hi :s 🤍

i have two questions and i would b very very grateful if u or any other fan could answer them for me..:

1. do u know a series called My Wife and Kids? in it there are "jokes" about Michael, but some fans dont seem to think its bad. is it really not bad or am i right that i cant find it funny?

2. is there a list of "public people" who have been disrespectful to Michael? for example a few days ago i was cleaning my music and there was chris brown, justin timberlake; 💀💀 i unironically cried with shame and guilt for being so distracted and stupid

anyways, thank you. 🤍

Hi hunni!

I am familiar with the show My Wife & Kids. I guess it depends on the fan. Personally, I don’t find it funny nor do I care for it. It’s awful to continuously use Michael as the butt of “jokes” that aren’t well thought out or funny. I’m pretty firm on that. I know the movie White Chicks has a “joke” about his nose. I don’t watch it because of that. There’s other movies/shows that make disgusting jokes and/or purposefully spread misinformation. I do not watch.

Chris Tucker is the only person I can think of off the top of my head that tells genuinely funny stories about Michael. Chris isn’t two faced and he is one of the few that stuck by MJ during the tough times. Michael enjoyed his company and humor. A true friend. He’s always been respectful to MJ.

I have seen a list of people that have publicly disrespected Michael. I believe it was on Reddit. I’ll do some digging. If I find it I’ll post it! If not, I’ll create a list myself of the people and what they did.

I’ll be honest I have my own mental list of people that have been terrible to Michael and I actively avoid supporting them in anyway.

I like to lead with love, something I learned from Michael, but I can be ruthless when absolutely necessary. I’m protective. I think Michael would appreciate it though. 🤣

I hope this helps 🫶🏻

•nevaeh•

[compassionatereminders]

hi dokter (i think i spelled it right? sorry;;). im gonna sound like an asshole and i feel horrible about that but, i feel like a lot of people fake DID and multiple personality disorders. I know that i shouldnt fake claim people and such but, ive been on discord servers and theres a random channel dedicated to alters finding out who they are and then they always know how to set themselves up with a bot mechanic and switch between people rapidly. im a jerk for this, but genuinely in my head there is no logical explanation for how they have amnesia but know and understand discord completely. or how people will have fictives that are nothing like the source, just genuinely nothing like the character. its present in a lot of teenagers that struggle with mental illness and escapism, i think its less of a knowingly faking thing and more of a misdiagnosing themselves and truly WISHING there were more people there and they could share a body with dream. I feel like i do a fair amount of research, and looking into DID leaves me confused sometimes with how a lot of people online display their symptoms. why do alters all share an account and sign it? how do they all know the password? how do they all know how to operate it? (referring to tiktok because so much DID content comes from there, all with teenagers and young adults. i have yet to see someone over the age of like, 23 talking about DID. Not saying that just cause youre young you cant be blank, but i feel like its worth noting.) i guess i consider myself a kind person, and i dont care about what people do if it doesnt harm anyone. but this DOES harm people. i think its mostly people self diagnosing because they identify mood swings, different interests, and a yearning to be closer to their favorite fictional character or not be alone. so they truly do believe that this character is possessing them, even when its truly them changing their voice, putting on different clothes, adding an accent, and such. when people fake an illness, they dont fully understand what its like to have it and act in a way that is not accurate. isnt this the kind of thing that leads to stigmatization? to people completely changing their definition of DID since all they have seen is kids faking and acting like their favorite minecraft youtuber? i dont know. i feel bad since i hear from people with DID that they do feel this way, they feel like people now have a warped view of the disorder from people faking it online. Im not speaking for everyones experiences, maybe some dont care maybe some think its a coping mechanism, i have no idea. im sorry i went off on such a rant. i really like kats blog, she's helped a lot in ways. one last asshole note. A part of me is crying out that youre just kat typing while speaking her true and harsher thoughts under a different name, like an alter ego. im sorry, i know she wouldnt do that and im sure thats not what you are. i just had to ask, to clarify i guess (Even though i more just. stated it. sorry;;). i am probably not very nice in your eyes now, i dont mean to be the mental illness gatekeeper or anything but when you can very clearly tell so many are faking something serious its hard to just, go along with it. p.s. since youre a dokter who shares kats mind, how did you get all the education to be a psychiatrist? i feel like kat alone could be one, since she is very well educated and good at that stuff. is that why? or another reason. jsut genuinely curious;;.

None of us are psych professionals and none of us are claiming to have DID. Like sure there is a general issue of misdiagnosis causing the spread of misinformation which is to some degree harmful, but when I am explicitly stating that I don't have DID, how do you then read that as me faking DID? How is my experience inherently fake just because it isn't corresponding with the clinical experience of DID? Why is having the clinical disorder DID the only way my experience could be valid and real? Why is anything besides the clinical diagnosis DID fake in your eyes? Please spell that part out for me

[mooifyourecows]

Hey moo! Hope you’re doing well. Things are still crazy and I’m still trying to stay afloat. Just read your (lack of) and the other person’s response (I wish you well too!), and I have to say to say to call a person a transphobe just because I think JP gives good advice is quite derivative and a bit of a hyperbolic stretch. Again, I believe in giving credits where it worths, and I believe intelligence and fruitful thinking comes from being able to accept truth coming from people we don’t especially identify with. Some (if not most)of his words did strike him as a good person, even if I can’t agree with everything he believes in.

PS: I’m still a big fan of your writing and I’d still read all of your work because again, I’m not a transphobe and it doesn’t bother me.

Lotsa well wishes! Xx

-JP anon (I guess??)

So which of his iconic views do you most resonate with? His denial of climate change and support of fracking and burning coal? Denial of Covid and his strong antimasking/antivaxxing stance? Denial that conversion therapy exists/is bad? His belief that people who support the queer community are "serial rapists who prey on children"? His anti-therapy platform? What about the fact that he thinks the 2020 US election was rigged? Or his support of Ron DeSantis? He hates drag queens too, if that's your thing. He also clearly thinks women shouldn't vote. And he retweeted an article that suggested Elizabeth Warren should be hanged. Not to mention hes against deconolization and supports confederate statues. He's shown support of a guy who said Germany merely "mucked up" by causing the holocaust. He looooooves Elon Musk and constantly replies to him and tags JK Rowling in his proud transphobic tweets. He constantly misgenders trans people and spreads abortion misinformation. He calls doctors and health professionals who support gender affirming care "butchers" and calls for their destruction. (And all of these tweets were sent out between now and May 11th. NINE. DAYS. I only took screenshots of a few of the DOZENS of hateful bullshit he's said and retweeted. This man has spewed more hate in 9 days than i have in my 29 years.)

I agree that there are times when horrible people have an opinion or two that arent horrible. But when someone is as hateful and cruel and DANGEROUS as Jordan Peterson, supporting them and thinking they're "a good person" because of one or two not horrible things about them is ridiculous. Hitler loved dogs and was an artist. I love dogs and art too. Doesn't mean he is deserving of my respect or support. Doesn't mean that he's a mostly good man.

There are so, SO many people out there who ARE good people, who spread love and acceptance, who could help you feel better about the things you say JP helped you with. There is no reason that this particular individual is your sole source of that support and comfort.

I wish better for you. It might be hard to find someone who you 100% agree with, but you should at least agree with their core. And at his core, Jordan Peterson is a hateful, transphobic, narcissistic, climate change denier who uses his platform to spread misinformation and encourage violence against several marginalized groups, including women.

In the end, it doesn't matter to me whether or not you like him. I'm not responsible for your beliefs and I don't want to be. But I'd appreciate it if you stopped coming into my inbox with this "he's not that bad" shit. We will never agree. We will never see eye to eye if this is how you think. I want better for you but you'll never have better if you don't realize that what you've got is trash.

[sunsetshifting]

hello! i have a question, can you explain clones and how they work?

(Answering the oldest asks first! Please forgive any unclear bits, I wrote this right before I took my little break~)

Sure! Sorry this took so long, I was having a break from the blog to deal with some IRL stress <3 yk how it is haha. Regardless, I’m happy to share my thoughts on the topic!

Clones are quite the contentious topic within the shifting community, but I’ll do my best to explain it, anyway~

'Clone' is a non-literal term for the version of oneself that remains after you've shifted.

They are, all things considered, just another version of your consciousness.

But how does something like that even work?

.

As stated earlier, the version of you that remains after you've shifted out of this reality is often referred to as a 'clone', though that's not an entirely genuine name for what they truly are!

Your consciousness is infinite, spread across the equally infinite multiverse of existence. Each version of you, across any reality, has a consciousness just like your own (When shifting, we actually merge with our DR self's consciousness, rather than taking it over/filling out an empty spot! Pretty cool, huh?) As such, when you shift out of this reality, something has to fill in the gap. This is where 'clones' come in!

Clones are, in truth, just other versions of oneself. Given the infinite nature of one's own consciousness, it's not too hard to leave behind another version of it to take care of things in your absence.

(For lack of a better example, think of your consciousness as an infinite water source (the 2x2 sort) in Minecraft. No matter how many buckets you take out (or universes you spread yourself across), there is always more to replenish it.)

.

So now we know what clones are, technically, but what do they do?

Well, they do whatever you would’ve done! Your clone is literally just you. If you would’ve spent all day playing videogames, so would they. If you’d normally be working or doing chores, they aren’t going to flake on them just because you’re not there to witness it.

Sunny, it can’t be that simple- and yet it is.

Clones are one of the woefully over-complicated topics of the shifting community, and something people tend to focus on way too much at the start of their journey (not that I’m discouraging asking questions! Quite the opposite!) They are also one of the topics that tend to get quite a lot of misinformation spread about them, which I’m happy to help clear up^^

As such, I’ve got a little FAQ here to assist!~

.

FAQs

Why are they even called 'clones'? (And is there a better term for them?)

Though I’m not 100% certain on where the term originated, my best guess would be early shifttok (think the Draco shifttok era.) Most likely, someone came up with the term off-handedly, not intending for it to be the official term (or generally not thinking too hard on it), and it simply stuck with the community long-term.

As for there being a better term, it sort of depends on who you ask! Some people just call them other selves, some people don’t give them a name, it’s really up to the individual. Personally, I only refer to them as ‘clones’ within the confines of the script, and when discussing them outside of that context, I refer to them as “other selves” or just “me”.

.

What happens to them when you/I shift back?

Same thing that happens when you shift to your DR! You merge with your ‘clone’/other self. This is why you end up with all the memories that your ‘clone’ had created in your absence (if you were gone long enough for them to go around and do things.)

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Am I a clone?

If you’ve got the wherewithal to question this, then the answer is probably no. Were the answer to be yes, it still wouldn’t matter, as clones can still shift, and are equally as valid as the other consciousness that they split off of.

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Can I script changes to my ‘clone’?

Unless you’re manifesting in addition to everything else, then the answer is probably no. That is, unless you plan on shifting to a new “base” reality (aka a new CR), wherein you could reasonably script whatever you liked.

If you plan on returning to your regular CR/OR, though, then the answer is no. If you wouldn’t normally get straight A’s or workout daily, then scripting that your clone will won’t do anything, as they have just as much free will (and motivation to do those things) as you do.

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Does my 'clone' know that I've shifted?

For some reason, this seems to be an extremely contentious question within the shifting community. To keep things simple, it seems to vary from person to person. Some shifters claim that their clones are aware enough to write down various things about their shift, some shifters claim that their clone had no idea. Personally, I was asleep for my whole mini-shift, so my clone didn’t really have the time to do/think anything. (I will happily update this section once I’ve fully shifted, however!~)

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I hope those answers helped in some capacity! Like I said, I wrote this all right before I took my break, so it might be a little fuzzy. I was pretty tired that day :<

I'll be getting around to all the other asks in my inbox (8 in total) within the next few days! (Today included!) I'm attending a birthday party later today, so I won't be back for a good few hours, but once I am, I'll get right to work on those asks! If I find the time, I'll try to work on them while I'm at the party!~ (If anyone's curious, it was my nephew's second birthday a week ago! This is his second party, as my dad couldn't attend the first one, so it's a lot smaller and more casual :3c)

Happy to be back! And as always-

<3 Happy Shifting! <3

[emiliosandozsequence]

If you're ever in the mood I'd like to hear about how you ended up getting diagnosed with Osdd-1b please 🙏 and a lil bit about treatment/living with it as well? Thank you for being open about this subject btw 💖💖💖💖💖

i guess the whole story starts in 2016 when one of my best friends at the time began to identify as a system. i really didn't know much about them at that point except that they existed and i was more familiar with the symptoms of DID rather than osdd-1b (like experiencing total amnesia, which i don't and never have). i did not at all think i had it, but as my friend started talking to me about their experiences and i started to learn more about the illness myself, i started to wonder if maybe i did, especially because of my level of trauma.

it took me two years to really go through my own journey of accepting i had it (which only happened bc an introject fronted so forcefully it forced me to confront some things about myself; tho tbqh the only reason i didn't accept it sooner was because someone else (not a professional of any kind) had convinced me i was faking) and then two more years to get officially diagnosed (tho i'm no longer working with that therapist for unrelated reasons).

i haven't actually been through any therapy for osdd-1b in particular because i have bad luck with therapists and a hard time opening up besides, but i definitely would like to do that at some point because i think it would be helpful (same with just trauma therapy in general; i have...terrible luck with therapists...like really really really shitty luck). i don't work bc i'm disabled and chronically ill so i can deal with our switches and stuff pretty easily, but even then i'm good at masking. i don't want to go too much more into it bc it's personal, but suffice it say i need a lot of therapy that i just haven't ever gotten due to being repeatedly failed by both my parents and the system

living with it can be really difficult because of the trauma and the mood swings and forgetting things constantly all the time, but sometimes it can actually be really fun too. like i have introjects in my head!! they're personifications of fictional characters and i think that's really cool!! i also have a whole world in my head, which i think is pretty cool too!! the only reason i don't talk about all of this more is bc people tend not to be very understanding of it tbh.

i appreciate you showing curiosity to understand this illness tho tbh!! there's a lot of misinformation out there about it and especially on this website, so i don't mind talking about my experiences and spreading awareness!! that being said, this Is a really personal subject, so there Will be things i won't talk about 💕