#Just 'cause you think 'the right people' are being oppressed doesn't make oppressing them okay?

[astralazuli]

So there's that D&D class quiz going around, & I took it & was so deeply offended I got Paladin.

& so I have had conversations with both Bestie & Birdfriend about this grave insult & they both were like, "Well... They have a point?" & informed me that my desire to absorb hits meant for others & deep drive to help whenever I actually can & strong convictions make me a bit Paladin-coded.

& I am just so... Idk. It's just interesting to get glimpses of yourself from other people's POVs. To be told that my defining characteristics are protecting & healing others & being incredibly fighty about the things I care about... Especially as someone whose brain specifically fixates on whether I care enough, do enough, give enough... Yeah. It's just kinda wild.

Anyway, I'm now adjusting my self-perception to include the fact that if I were a D&D character, I would be an Oath of the Ancients Paladin & not a wizard & that actually that's okay.

[punkitt-is-here]

Hi, I'm genuinely looking for an explanation here and not looking for an argument /srs

Can you explain how calling a transfem a TERF for spreading ideology that I genuinely assumed was included in the definition of TERFism is othering ? Not to be that guy, but I'm autistic and I'm having a very hard time connecting the points you're making, and I genuinely want to learn and understand what you're saying /gen

Again, I do hope this doesn't come off as hostile, I am genuinely trying to learn and understand better, and I want to be able to fix misconceptions about what a TERF is in my own mind, and I haven't seen anyone bring this point up before /gen

You absolutely do not have to answer this, but I hope you have a fabulous rest of your day, and I do apologize for what I said, as it wasn't necessary for me to comment on the situation.

Yeah totally! Okay, I got a lot of this from Ibram X. Kendi's "How to be Antiracist"* where he talks about describing "racist" as an identity means that hardly anyone is going to ever "identify" with it, even if they are a racist. It's much more helpful to talk about actions being racist or anti-racist. Someone committing racist acts speaks far more to the vulnerability of anyone to cause harm, rather than it being something ONLY reserved for someone with the identity of "racist". For example, Clarence Thomas, a black man, has done untold amounts of harm to the black population in the US. If we subscribe to the "oh, (X) can't be racist, they are (a minority)" train of thought, it means people are less likely to understand that Clarence Thomas commits racist acts. In the same way, describing yourself as an anti-racist is not enough, as it can let people be comfortable with racist actions because they think "oh, I'm an anti-racist, I can't commit acts of racial harm." That's why it's more helpful to describe acts as racist and anti-racist rather than framing them as identities.

In a similar way, describing someone as the label of "TERF" can have a similar effect. Because it's specifically a label centered around being anti-trans, transgender people of all kinds will easily assume they cannot be transphobic, because the label of TERF is ideologically opposed to their existence. It invites ridicule rather than introspection. By saying actions can be transphobic, I think it helps a lot more because it's easier to understand that trans people can be transphobic. For example, Blaire White is right there. Despite being a trans woman, she is actively doing transphobic acts. By calling out an action as transphobic rather than describing someone as a "TERF", it helps fight back against the idea that being trans means you cannot be transphobic. For a super duper simple example, I can step on my dogs tail, but it doesn't mean I hate dogs, it means I committed an act of harm against my dog. Describing me as a dog-hater when I LOVE dogs would invite ridicule more than it would a tendency to watch my step when my dog is in the house. I hope this makes sense!

*I'm not trying to say the Black and Trans experience is exactly the same, just that like any oppressed group, there is a lot of overlap in tactics and thinking, especially for people who are Black and Trans. Reading about other groups can really give you a ton of helpful insight on how to work within your own identity!

[xclowniex]

I just saw the dumbest fucking video of all time.

There is currently a racist anti Māori bill which had its first reading the other day in parliment.

There has been so much opposition to it as it is anti Māori.

In parliament, a Māori MP, Hana Rawhiti, who is 22, ripped up the bill and started a Haka. I cannot put into words how amazing what she did was, and the fact that another member of Te Pati Māori called David Seymour, the person who proposed the bill a cunt. The Haka was beautiful and I hate how she has been suspended from parliment because of it.

Onto the video I saw.

Someone from the US, who is not Māori nor from New Zealand and has never met or spoken to any Māori before claimed that the reason why the ripping of the bill and the haka was done, is because they were inspired by the Palestinian cause.

And this just makes me sooooo mad. Like can't Māori do these frankly impressive acts of activism for their own rights without any other group being the cause?? Like Māori history is rife with actions like this against oppression. It's not something new to Māori.

Its just the absolute ignorance of Māori history and then claiming to care about Māori history and rights. This person doesn't truly care, they just care about furthering one cause.

And initially I was unsure if this next interpretation of what he said was correct or not as not all people who support Palestine support hamas. But I checked out his other videos and he called hamas a resistance group and supports them so I think this next bit is a far understanding of his words.

Hamas raped people. Your average Palestinian is not hamas. But comparing Māori to hamas, is fucked up. You are implying that Māori are on the same level as rapists and murders. Māori already have an unfairly high incarceration rate, and now you think it's okay to compare them to rapists and murderers???? Comparing them to your average Palestinian? Fine and okay. Comparing them to hamas? Fucked up and racist.

[nuancefem]

when someone says that women weren't allowed to do xyz until a certain date mainstream tras might give a side look like hmm :/ this isn't inclusive of trans folks... but otherwise leave it alone.

but if you say that specifically cis/bio women and transmasc ppl weren't allowed to open their own bank account until 1974, suddenly you're making the transfems feel a bit too privileged and it causes a riot bc you're pointing out that amab/male folks used to have an INSANE amount of privilege on the basis of being born "amab" and even if they were super gnc, they still had that privilege from birth. to this day, cis/bio men and transfems do NOT go thru many specific struggles that cis/bio women and transmascs experience. but that's somehow controversial as FUCK to say in most tra spaces. why?

fr why is that? why?? why are transfems so fucking oversensitive to anyone pointing out that they're not oppressed on every single axis of oppression? meanwhile transmascs are bending over backwards being super fucking supportive of transfem rights and having so much nuance about things without much knee-jerk defensiveness at all. could it be that perhaps... hmm... "amab" upbringing does not teach amab/male folks what it's like to face misogyny, so they often do not enter feminist spaces, and now that they enter leftist spaces they don't know that we're all about intersectionality and nuance and acknowledging the ways one might be privileged in some ways and disprivileged in other ways? instead of showing allyship to cis/bio women and transmascs, transfems and their more extreme allies instead sit on their thrones and get offended whenever anyone implies that they might need to be good allies too. why is that?? why are cis/bio women and transmascs enabling that behavior so much?

hmmm it's almost like how afab/female folks are conditioned to excuse inappropriate behavior from amab/male people from a very young age... almost like the stereotypical One Of The Boys (in this case Males) trope, trying to be a Cool Girl (or Cool Trans Boy) to be validated by the ones in charge, the amabs, who are just poor sweet misunderstood cinnamon rolls uwu. i think mainstream tras really idolize transfems. which comes from a sweet place, and might feel good, but also means you're infantilizing them like precious perfect little princesses who can do no wrong. that might be validating for transfems ─ who doesn't like being coddled every now and then? ─ but also means not holding them accountable the way we're supposed to hold EVERYBODY accountable in leftist spaces. or at least that's what we generally pride ourselves in, right? isn't that supposed to be a leftist thing? intersectionality and all that?

and this is why so many cis/bio women and transmascs are joining radblr. this is why even some transfems are saying okay, this is too much now, and actually seek out female/afab voices and hear their povs and apologize for how they're treated by tras. the tables are starting to turn. people are too fed up with this shit. we are getting muzzled for talking about the most basic feminist stuff ever, things that back in the day oldschool trans folks were WAAYYYY more likely to see as common sense and feminism 101. systems of oppression are complex. you can talk about how hard transmisogyny is, and you'll get sympathy from most of us, but you gotta listen to how hard anti-female/afab misogyny is and how we're uniquely persecuted in specific ways you aren't. and you gotta work hard to learn how to be a good ally to us, you gotta research, you gotta learn. so many transfems have no fucking clue how to do that. so many cis/bio women and transmascs are acting like their loud guard dogs too, coddling them, speaking for them, enabling them. it's leading to really bad shit to happen. it's enabling transfems-on-female/afab abuse and bigotry... and you just sweep it all under the rug, say it was just a "terf" roleplaying, it must be a troll, it doesn't matter. it's just one or two victims, why should we even care about them? why make any changes to prevent further victims? that's such a classic male apologist mindset!!! this shit is not okay. we will never accept that bs.

you need to clean up all the misogyny and homophobia in your spaces or the only sane folks will come to radfems and find actual nuanced discussions about oppression, and you'll be left with crazies. if y'all are gonna act like oversensitive toddlers then radblr is gonna be where it's at for real leftist activism. enjoy your little tra circus ig 👋

[random-dragon-exe]

Okay, MAJOR SALT COMING! Also a long post!

So I have the Disney Villains tarot deck but before I go into the salt part of the post, let's go into the positives.

The cards have stunning art and each card is appropriately themed to the villain generally speaking about 98% of the time. (IMO).

Another positive is the roster of villains included. Seeing even a few minor/underrated villains is pretty cool and impressive.

Some examples of these villains include Bowler Hat Guy, Madame Mim, Madame Medusa, and possibly Yzma.

Now onto the salt.

As impressive as the span of villains is, two villains are absent who (IMO) deserved a card.

King Candy

Frollo

First, there are other villains absent, but I'm sticking to these two since I've seen these movies. Now going in order, it is an absolute SHAME (IMO) that King Candy doesn't have a card, but I have an idea of which card suits him best.

The King of Swords. Although this card is given to Scar, and I do love how it looks, I believe that King Candy deserved it.

Plus, Scar appears on like three other cards, so I think it's okay for him to appear three times (sorry Scar, I do love you too).

Anyway, I'm going to go into some detail as to why I believe King Candy/Turbo deserves the card by going into the meaning of it and how it relates to him.

I'll admit, I have a lot of points and can talk about this for days, but I'm going to condense them to 3-ish. I'll do the same for Frollo too in a part 2 post.

Going for a two in one here: The card is about being an authority who uses reason and their intelligence for good. while the reverse of this is being cunning to deceive people.

After Turbo hijacked Sugar Rush, he was very methodical about his approach to make it sound like he's their rightful ruler. He locked up their memories, then he fabricated the lie that she was a danger to their game. Turbo did his best to make sure nothing went unchecked and made sure to make the lie sound convincing to protect them (but mostly him). He's very strategic, and was able to come up with a plan to manipulate Ralph with 16 manipulation tactics in one go. He was even able to feign being concerned to play on Ralph's attachment to Vanellope.

I think the best line that best captures this aspect of the card is "Doing what's right, no matter what." AKA: He recognizes that it may sound harsh, but he makes his lies sound reasonable to protect his subjects and game.

The card also represents enjoying structure when upright. But it's controlling and oppressive in a need for order when reversed.

Turbo needs everything to be to be going his way, as he's a control freak.

Inserting the test animation here, he even says "You are a threat to my game, to the order I have maintained. And if there's one thing I can't abide, it's anything out of order!"

Also, the split-second something isn't in his control, he starts to fumble and break into either rage or nervously laughing. He's capable of coming off as cool and composed, but he's scared of being caught and it can cause him to lash out in anger (another aspect of the card).

Just as mentioned in the previous point, he made sure nothing went unchecked and made an entire world literally revolve around him. He can and WILL happily use all of his resources of excessive force he has like the cops, the Sugar Rush equivalent of S.W.A.T., and the fungeon to detain someone who stands in his way.

As a minor note, there's a line in the tarot guidebook that states the reverse of the card can represent "someone who needs to win at any cost." Which describes Turbo to a T. He not only wants attention but he's also extremely competitive. It's part of his programming, and it ties to his love for racing. To always come out on top and be #1. No matter who or what stands in his way.

That core drive (pun intended) was the cause of his villainy in the first place and earned him his infamous status in the arcade.

Okay, I don't want to sound too salty, but you can imagine my disappointment when King Candy didn't get a card.

Oh well, Its fine, I still love and use this deck.

So I guess we can call this the thrilling conclusion to the 3 part saga of including King Candy in Disney Villain merchandise.

Also as a sidenote: hypothetically if he did get this card, what would the imagery be?

I feel the card has the potential to get creative with the glitch effects. For example make it so that he's glitching between the Turbo appearance and the King Candy appearance. If we want to be a little cheeky, we could have it set in his castle, and out the window, we see a the cybug Ralph initially sent to SR flying outside a castle window. (similar to Hook's card as the crocodile is seen outside)

So basically, my interpretation would be a mix of these images and Captain Hook's card:

But, if anyone else has really cool ideas, I'd love to hear them! If you want, you could also draw it out to illustrate your point (pun intended) Honestly please do, I'd love to see other people's interpretations of this card for him. The possibilities are endless!

Join me in my antics next time when I analyze Frollo and and the card I think he should've gotten.

[lord-squiggletits]

i know i’m late to the conversation—i just watched the movie this month—but i feel compelled to say this because i was genuinely shocked (still am) to see that the overwhelming takeaway for many viewers was the "d-16/megatron was right" bs. while it’s understandable to sympathize with his anger and grief, justifying his actions in the end or framing them as entirely right feels so deeply misguided. what surprised me even more was the tendency to shift the blame on orion/optimus, as though he was solely responsible for d-16’s downfall. it’s disheartening to see orion/optimus being villainized so much. his efforts to reason with d-16 came from a place of desperation and hope, as he tried to prevent the escalation of violence. at that point, d-16 had already begun to spiral into his unchecked rage, disregarding the safety of those around him. to see that nuance overlooked, with orion being faulted for a situation that was far beyond his control (the whole "don't be like sentinel" thing is often used to shit on op lol), is genuinely baffling.

while i love that the movie showed the tragedy of d-16’s arc and even empathize with his situation, painting his actions as justified—and vilifying orion/optimus in the process—feels like a misreading of the movie’s core message. sorry but i was so happy to see your post about the movie, it was tiring to see so many 'megatron was right about this and that' comments.

Oh man if you're new to this fandom, you really ought to know that this place is full of people who glorify terrorism and war in the name of "justified revolution" and it doesn't really matter what Dee/Megatron does or how horrible/over-the-top it is, he's oppressed or he's mentally ill or he's just plain upset which means that everything he does is justified and questioning him makes you evil.

It's so funny because I hoped for sure that a continuity where both OP and Megatron were working class individuals before the war would reduce this kind of shit take (compare to something like archivist/librarian OP and gladiator Megs in TFP or CBV, or cop OP and miner Megs in IDW1), but unfortunately this fandom literally still found a way to blame Orion for everything even though he suffered the exact same things Dee did..... and furthermore Orion literally was the rebel challenging the system compared to Dee who wanted to keep his head low and not cause trouble so honestly at this point I just think the fandom (and somehow new fans whose first exposure to TF is this movie) purely sides with Megatron on everything as either a knee-jerk reaction or some misguided attempt at being counterculture and intelligent.

People get sooooo mad when you tell them that unbridled rage and killing everyone who disagrees with you isn't a good social/political strategy, but then again this is a problem that is universal to humanity and not just the Transformers fandom. It's just a shame that so many people looked at a movie that blatantly spells out what the moral of the story is, and has all of the protagonists be working class oppressed people fighting against a tyrannical system, and their takeaway from it is still basically "fascism is okay if you're mad enough about it and if your friends try to stop you it's a sign that they're centrist liberals who think punching Nazis makes you as bad as a Nazi." It's childish black-and-white thinking masquerading as critical literary analysis.

And at this point people pretty much just don't give a shit about Orion/Optimus and will find a way to make him the villain no matter what the context is, no matter if he also has feelings or if he also deserves to be respected/listened to/validated as Megatron's long-time (possibly lifelong) friend. If ppl look at the way Dee treated Orion and their other friends and DON'T see what was concerning about that then there's really no saving them until they deradicalize a little and learn what usually happens when "kill all the bad people until society is a utopia" is implemented as a governing party's primary strategy.

[gauntletqueen]

the italian boxer isn't a cop, isn't 100% white, and was crying because of her dead dad. she's come out in support of the other boxer people are using her as a weapon against to be racist. the way the olympics and the media is treating both boxers is really fucked up, i do not think the italian woman did anything wrong, she's just a useful tool of oppression people are utilizing against her will

Okay you're part right, part wrong. I've done some more looking into it and I'm glad I did cause it's Nuanced~ Not here to prove you wrong, just gonna list it all out clearly so we can all understand the situation better.

I haven't personally seen any racism coming into the controversy so I don't understand why you're bringing that up, or that Angela Carini isn't fully white. The most I can see is a few mentions of Italian politicians using the situation to try and earn some brownie points by standing behind Angela Carini, but even then they're also latching onto the narrative that Imane Khelif had an unfair advantage, due to her being transgender. She isn't, btw. She's a cis woman,another case of transphobes jumping at any opportunity to try to push their bullshit, even when the target isn't trans, and nobody had even accused them of being trans before that point.

While I can't find definitive proof that Angela herself is a cop, she was raised by cops and is a member of the boxing division of one of Italy's police forces. I can't figure out if that means that she is also an actual cop but that's probably where the assumption comes from.

"she was crying because of her dead dad" is true, but oversimplifying it. Specifically, she's said that her brother and late father were boxers before her, and taught her the sport. She wanted to honor them in the olympics, but the tension, stress and expectations got too much for her in the match against Imane, who it seems fought much harder than Angela was used to. This caused her to have an emotional breakdown. That's all extremely reasonable honestly I can't imagine having to handle to pressure of representing your country At The Olympics, especially not when there are also such big personal stakes. Supposedly she was cited as shouting "it's not fair!" as she left the ring. This is what got transphobes like JK Rowling and Musk to co-opt the story into their bigotted narrative that Imane must be transgender, as transphobic women in the past have blamed their losses on the fact that a transgender woman Was Involved.

It's likely that they might also have used Imane's disqualification from participating in the 2023 IBA Women's World Boxing championship. The organization had declared her testosterone levels to be too high, which supposedly "proved they had XY chromosomes". Since then, the International Olympic Committee has removed the IBA as the organizers of boxing at the olympics due to "continuing irregularity issues in the areas of finance, governance, ethics, refereeing, and judging" So. Perhaps they are a bad judge of chromosomes. Because again, Imane is a cis woman.

Anyway. Angela has stated (translation taken from Wikipedia, the original italian article is behind a paywall) "I want to apologize to her and everyone else. I was angry because my Olympics had gone up in smoke. I don't have anything against Khelif. If I were to meet her again, I would embrace her"

So yeah, she's done nothing wrong, she just cracked under immense pressure, and might be a cop or cop-sympathetic, but that doesn't seem to really have anything to do with the situation. The important thing is that rightwing bigots jumped at the chance to make her a martyr against her will, as you said.

[ben-talks-art]

We need to make "explain but doesn't excuse you" a more popular sentence

I was thinking back to my list of favorite characters, and how I have people like Rameses in it and thought to myself "Why do I like this guy again...?" and then I started to recall why I was so into his story, and honestly ended up liking him even more.

Something that I noticed about the way writers try to handle backstories nowadays, is that they love to use a sad past to make people be on a character's side and then proceed to absolve them of their crimes.

Like, we love redemption arcs, we love character development, we love bad guys turning good... But I feel like we might love it a bit too much, as if we were waiting to forgive a character for all they did before even getting to them realizing the mistakes they made.

People love picking a villain they're into and going "Oh, it's not their fault, it's because they were raised that way, it's because they were abused as kids, it's because they lost someone they loved, it's because society treated them like trash, it's because they never had friends, it's because their girlfriend dumped them on Christmas eve..." and so on.

There is an obsession with "My character did nothing wrong because their past justify their actions!"

And here's something people tend to forget. A past explains one's actions but doesn't justify it.

Being abused by society, being trained by terrible morals, being oppressed and attacked... they all explain why someone would think it's okay to hurt others, but doesn't actually justify them hurting others.

Just because we know why someone's doing all the things they do, doesn't make the stuff they do any less bad.

This is why I love Rameses. They show the human side of him, they show he wasn't just born evil, they show that he could have been a decent person if he just had the right people to raise him.

They could have so easily made him just a cartoon villain who happened to be born evil and take joy in making others suffer under his command, but no, they show how he became this way, how he went from just a regular kid to a tyrant unable to feel sorry for others' pain and suffering, who was so brainwashed by the traditions of his family that he couldn't even process the harm he was bringing to others and why he couldn't even see the slaves as actual people in agony.

And, again, what I like about this story is that they explain how he became this way, but they don't paint him as blameless. The story acknowledges that he has blood in his hands, even if he himself doesn't, and it makes sure that he pays for what he did, even if what he did was the result of a long process of terrible lessons being passed down by generations that he didn't start.

At some point he became an adult, he became free from his father's command, free to make his own choices, and free to listen to the right people, free to look at what his actions were causing...

He had agency for his choices... And he still made the wrong decisions.

I feel like if others tried to tell this story today, they would either have made Rameses more evil from the start so you wouldn't feel bad for the tragedy that befalls him, or they would give him some sort of realization where he thinks about the harm he did and develops a change of heart in the last second.

I keep thinking about how there was a group of people going "Azula did nothing wrong!" when the new live-action Avatar show started and they basically tried to move all the blame from her to her "big bad evil father."

It makes me wonder if they released Prince of Egypt today, if there would be some sort of revisionism where people would try to argue that Moses is the villain for "not saving his brother" or something like that.

To the point I'm beyond curious about how things are going to end up in Arcane, since that series has a very similar story with two siblings that ended up splitting apart and reuniting but realizing that they were completely different in the paths they chose to follow, with one trying to fix the errors from the past and the other embracing them and trying to view them as part of who they are.

Is Arcane gonna go all the way and make Jinx an irredeemable monster that needs to be taken down, or are they gonna try to pull a "deep down, Powder is still there!" stuff?

I really hope they don't. I hope they give her an ending similar to Rameses where he's defeated but doesn't even get the luxury to die, just left alone and powerless while watching his most beloved family member moving on with his life while he's still stuck in the past and suffering the consequences of his actions and realizing that he achieved nothing.

And what I especially like about his ending is that even at this point he still doesn't realize why he's being punished so much, just showing at full power the danger of ignorance and refusing to see what's right in front of you.

It would be a terrible tragedy, but I think it would make for a great message.

[tokiro07]

Undead Unluck ch.238 thoughts

[Five Years and an Anime]

(Topics: thematic analysis - Rules, character analysis - Ruin/Soul, narrative analysis - Fuuko, speculation - finale)

What do you MEAN UU doesn't get the cover for the five-year anniversary?! It ain't Blue Box's anniversary, get outta here with that!!!

Is it cus we're not gonna make it to ch.240??? Does it not count if it's not divisible by 48??? That's cruel!!!

But, in the end, it's a petty concern. The covers don't make it into the volume releases or anything, but the color pages do, so it's more important that Tozuka focuses on the final color page for next week's issue. Whatever he chooses to do with it, I have no doubt it's going to move me to tears, especially if he pulls what Medaka Box did and saves it for the last page rather than the opener, though I'm not counting on that

Rather than lament what was not or fret about what may be, let us revel in what is: and what that is is a fantastic cooldown chapter leading into our finale!

God Tier

With the old Gods defeated, the Union have been granted the role of being the new Gods of the final world, and with that role comes the right to decide on what Master Rules will govern it

However, despite being given this right, the Union decides only to make one change: to alter Revolution in such a way that Autumn is added back into the seasons, making this final world identical to ours

At first glance, it seems oddly lax to leave negative Rules like War and Sickness in the world, as they are some of the biggest contributors to human suffering. However, practically, philosophically and narratively, I think that the Union made the right choice here

As Billy says, he imagines that the presence of War as a Rule helps regulate conflict - the key word being "imagine." He can't envision the ripple effect that removing War would have, for better or worse, but after seeing what happened to the world when Andy nonchalantly killed Insect in L100, it's clear that the delicate balance of this world that Sun so painstakingly created over the course of billions of years does work. Altering that balance without extremely careful consideration could be catastrophic, so only a change to revert to a previous, tested state is truly safe

Then there's the idea that the Union have become Gods; if they were to change anything about the Rules, that would mean changing the lives of all of the people on Earth - a decision that affects everyone without any input from them whatsoever. That was exactly what the Union was fighting against: Gods who would impose their will onto the unsuspecting populace. It would be hypocritical to think that it's okay for the Union to risk making the world suffer just because they "earned" it

Fuuko's goal wasn't to gain control of the world, it was to attain freedom. She wanted to live in a world where people could make their own decisions, for better or worse; the benefits and consequences of their actions rest solely with the individual, not an unseen and capricious God. And if the Rules of humanity still cause suffering, then it can't just be up to a chosen few to make things better - it has to be all of us, working as one, to enact change that helps everyone

And though he never actually renounced his faith in God, it was thanks to this decision that even Ruin was able to accept that the Union won in the end

Not So Ruined After All

Ruin's perspective has always been that the Master Rules were perfect, that Sun's Intelligent Design was necessary for the world to function properly. The Rules of humans never made sense to him because they were made to benefit the few and oppress the many, whereas the Rules of God were made to oppress everyone while also bringing balance to the world itself

Ruin's greatest fear was that if the Union, if humanity overthrew God, they would dismantle the Rules that allowed the world to operate and introduce one-sided, short-sighted Rules that would lead the world to ruin

The Union's decision to leave the Rules as they were has assuaged that fear. The world turns the same as it always did, just now there aren't literal monsters that magically manipulate the Rules with the specific intention of making helpless humans suffer. The world that Ruin loves remains the world that he loves, and the Union no longer has a reason to fight - everyone wins

However, with the two no longer in conflict, Ruin is left without a purpose. He has no one to fight for and no one to fight against, and even if he did continue to oppose the Union, there would be no benefit to it, as the world would not change. Ruin's reaction to this revelation is fascinating: because the world won't change anymore, he has to

Get Busy Living or Get Busy Dying

Ruin can't just coast on being an immortal misanthrope anymore, now he has to participate in the world as it is. If he can't adapt, he'll have no place in the world that he loves, and that would make everything he did to ensure the world was shaped to his wishes completely pointless

Therefore, he has to find something that makes him worthwhile, something that makes it meaningful for him, who almost prevented this world from existing, to remain in this world. The conclusion that he comes to is at once nihilistic, that the world cannot be changed, and yet incredibly optimistic, that people can be

With this perspective, he decides to help other people change in the same way he did, to help others understand the beauty of the world. How this will look is anyone's guess. Maybe he'll find people trying to jump off bridges and give them a reason to live like Andy did for Fuuko. Maybe he'll get into environmental activism to protect the planet itself. I'd like a bonus chapter or light novel to cover that, but even without that, the mentality motivating it is really interesting

It's especially fitting that the first person he convinces to change isn't a person at all, but UMA Soul, who Luna has left behind to observe the world that the Union has created

Witness Me

Luna's motivations for allowing Soul to keep living as the only remaining UMA are just as esoteric as her motivations for facilitating the game between her and Sun in the first place, but from what I can tell, I think they're the same motivation

Luna believed that her and Sun's exile from their home world was meant to teach them a lesson, specifically so that they could understand why they "lost." Who they lost to is still a mystery, and one I'm not sure Tozuka wants to answer, at least not at this time, but in the end I think it's safe to say that Luna did in fact learn that lesson. From watching the Union defeat Sun through Love, Luna realized what it was that she and Sun lacked

In the final battle, Sun only spoke once, to express to Luna that the end of their game had come. Since he didn't complain or object, I think he may too have come to understand Love and accepted his defeat. It is the proverbial stone so heavy that even God couldn't lift it, the ability to create something greater than Himself, and thus, in a sense, proof of His greatness

But Soul could not accept this. Soul rejected this outcome and fought against it with all his might, only to be defeated in the end because of his petulant small-mindedness. Perhaps if he could have embraced Love as I suggested he would, he could have achieved something greater and validated the world as he wished

Not that it mattered in the end either way. When Andy approaches Soul and suggests he had something to learn from the Union's world, he looks around at it. He sees man and beast walking in harmony. He sees sickness among the healthy. He sees several unique souls, of different ages and sexes, gathered in one place, with different opinions and reactions to the scene taking place in front of them

He sees his friends. Though the UMA no longer exist, their Rules still do. The Union didn't kill their memories, and so they still live. Soul may not have understood Love before, but I think this might have been enough to start to give him an idea of it

And with a basic understanding of Love, Soul realizes that it would be cruel to deny that Love to the ones who refused to forsake him and his friends even after everything they'd done. With but a snap of his fingers, he performs his first Loving deed: he returns Fuuko's memories

Deja Vu All Over Again

Again, my immediate reaction to Fuuko getting her memories back so easily was that it was a strange choice. We didn't even get a full chapter of Fuuko being without her memories, and in that chapter she barely interacts with anyone, mostly just looking around confused. The weight of Fuuko's memory loss is never given a real chance to sink in, and that is a bit of a shame

But I'm not mad about it

For one it allows Soul to find a little bit of redemption, the single act that he's taken in the entire series that actually has any meaningful consequence. It showcases how even Soul, for all his staunch resistance to it, has the capacity to change and love

Secondly, it expedites a foregone conclusion. It's not like we didn't know that Fuuko was going to get her memories back, as this is clearly the kind of series that fully intends for everyone to have a happy ending. Again, even Soul is technically getting one, so it would be absurd for Fuuko not to

I definitely wish that we had more time for Fuuko to try to remember, to know that there was something missing from her that she wanted to get back. I envisioned it as Andy taking her to familiar locales - Lake Baikal, Longing, Uluru, Stanley Park, Tokyo Tower, etc., and finally Shibuya Station, but logically it makes sense to go to the place where they first met immediately

Even if Soul hadn't been there, the shift between Fuuko timidly asking Andy to step back from the ledge to suddenly leaping over the fence to pull him back herself because he isn't Undead anymore is a perfect way to illustrate the return of her memories. It's poetic, it's moving...

It's wicked sick!

Undead Unluck has always had bizarre pacing, so it's only appropriate that it have it right at the end too, and again, I can forgive it because the scenes we get within that odd pace are always so excellent. Even if he's being hampered by Jump rushing him along, Tozuka doesn't miss, and my faith in him for these last five years has been well-rewarded just by this one scene

And we still have one chapter left!

For old times' sake, I'll speculate just a little

I'd bet we're going to have the wedding, even if it's only a brief montage. We may get a glimpse into the future of the Union, with everyone living out their careers, starting families and growing old. One thing I can say for sure though: we'll see Andy and Fuuko aging together. I don't know if it'll be at the same time or if one will continue on a little longer, but at least one of them, surrounded by the aged Union and the new lives they've brought into the world since, will finally experience...

The Greatest Death Ever

Until next time, let's enjoy life!

[horizonsstandstill]

I'm also against using "rest in power" or other Black terminology for white people.

For several reasons, such as;

- It's easy to provoke disenfranchised Black people into starting divisive arguments because they want their oppression to be heard, and psyops take advantage of that,

- Terms Black people coined are always taken out of context and this harms their ability to fight against oppression when they are using them,

- The use of more revolutionary and provocative terms will give the agents of imperialism a hard time to shame the people into silence or denounce them as racists,

- Our terminology should include horizons, visions and goals that will encourage our people and make the enemies shake.

Therefore I suggest using terms such as;

- May your sacrifice be a milestone in a society we will build on the ashes of imperialism,

- Rest knowing that the empire will crumble with your spark,

- We will remember your heroic act as a catalyst for the destruction of our oppressors,

- You will never be forgotten unlike the colonial order we will dismantle.

See if the psyops could argue with these. And whenever people use divisive arguments, don't argue. Ask them questions on the issues such as what they think of cops, military industrial complex, prison and slavery system, indigenous rights and who are their favourite Black thinkers. If they can't provide satisfactory answers, don't engage them. They deserve cancelling over speaking about things they don't understand.

Black people in the imperial core can be the victims of the imperialism as well as the perpetrators of it. It depends on how disenfranchised they are and how much they are willing to suck up to the white supremacist order in order to be able to oppress other people. Everyone can serve as an agent of imperialism regardless of race, class, gender, disability or any other axis of oppression. That is not even limited to imperial core. That's why it's up to the oppressed to think about who are benefiting their actions.

It's important that the electronics we use to do our "activism" come at the price of the suffering of Congolese people. Possibly Bolivian people too. Also the sufferings of the workers that are exploited in the Far Eastern countries. We all could suffer from imperialism while using the materials extracted through the imperial order of suffering. That doesn't make any of us less oppressed. It gives us a duty to try to end all kinds of oppression and dismantle the imperialist system altogether.

As a side note, discriminating against people while advocating against other types of discrimination makes a person a disgusting hypocrite.

If your communism ends when you think you can't consume products from underdeveloped countries cheaply, you're a scum.

If your anarchism ends when you think it's not okay for people to gather and build structures out of their own volition for only themselves after the revolution, you're a scum.

If your feminism finds it convenient to stereotype men of other races and caricaturise them as monsters, you are the monster.

If your veganism doesn't recognise the situations of indigenous people and disabled people, sufferings of agriculture workers and environmental degradation that vegan products cause, it means you're not against cruelty to all living beings. You're just a self righteous idiot.

If your anti violence is only for those who resist against the legal order that oppresses themselves, you are amongst the perpetrators of said oppression, deserving of violent resistance against yourself.

If your queer rights activism ends at the people who are acceptable queers in your worldview, you're a bootlicker of the patriarchy. Those boots are coming for you next.

If your disability advocacy is not inclusive of recreational use of substances -legal or illegal-, you're just another selfish person being loud.

These are just examples. They can be multiplied into several cases.

Being against one type of bigotry doesn't excuse other types of bigotry. People can make these mistakes for a lot of reasons, but once it's explained to them if they continue their bigotry, they should be cancelled altogether. We should not engage them at all, and a blocklist is in order. No need to waste our time in good faith because of bad faith actors.

Say, "Okay, bigot/bootlicker/racist so on..." to call them out. Then blocked. If they learn, they have to learn it the hard way.

[bisexual-horror-fan]

Seeing as Scream 7 is going to end up being cancelled because who even wants to watch it anymore, what would you personally have done with the plot and storyline?

Also Happy New Year!!!!!

This ask. Oh my GOD! This ask yes! Okay, okay, let's get into it.

I want some serious stakes, some real blood, hear me out. I want shit to be serious. So.

We start off with someone getting ready. We are unable to tell who they are, like gloved handles lacing books, sheathing a knife, all that, like it is not clear who it is. We then see them leave, we keep on their boots as they walk, some cuts, they make it to wherever they are meant to be. We hear rustling in their backpack, and then you see the robe drop, they are in the Ghostface fit. It pans up slowly, phone is out and they are calling someone.

Who do they call for the opening cold call?

Gale Weathers.

We have the opening scene, the back and forth, all that, they've broken in, they get the drop on Gale, I am talking a dirty, nasty thing, like she is tryna come around the corner and just gets a knife in the side of the throat, blade is dragged through and just full throat slit. She is bleeding and choking everywhere. Ghostface doesn't leave until she is dead. Multiple stab wounds. Stays until she is no longer breathing.

It is an uncomfortable shot, long. Ghostface with the mask a little bloody just staring down at her.

Then, they leave. No big dramatic slash to the title. Not this time.

We get into the main people, Tara, and Sam and Chad and Mindy finding out that Gale is fucking dead. Obvi there is concern about what this means.

I think the four of them have been cautious about getting close to other people, but the small relationships that they have allowed are not targeted like they all expect. It's the opposite. Anyone who is causing the core four issues is ending up dead.

Suspicion is thrown on the core four hard. Kirby is involved, she is of course trying to help, when she gets a bit too close she is hurt but not killed, just seriously maimed, to the point of medically incuded coma lets say. Sidney is mentioned briefly, she is staying farrrr away from all of this mess, everyone is glad about that, because man she still deserves that break.

The cops feel very unhelpful and so it's on the four to try and solve this, but it's hard, long, twisting, shit is confusing and not making sense and they are TIRED. The average Scream movie takes place over a few days, this will be longer. Suspicion is weighing heavily on all of them, the murders are piling up, it isn't totally making sense, it's messy, there seems to be no real reason to who is dying. At first.

It comes out over time that these people who are being killed sucked, did morally shady and awful things.

I want this body count high and us caring about the people in my opinion is not important. I want them amount of gore and the uncertainty to be bringing the scares and the heat, I want it oppressive.

And then. Kirby gets out of her medically induced coma.

And guess what she has to share?

She knows who did it. She is on the phone with like Tara and Kirby reveals the killer is Sam.

Not sure the place of the final set piece, but somewhere outdoors is appealing to me, don't ask me why, (also btw we should just set this in winter, blood on snow man, we need it, we need a winter set Scream to finish this series cuz this would be the finale' in my opinion)

Mindy is there for the reveal monologue cuz she deserves that. Sam goes off about how frustrated she is. It's been years since the last Ghostface event. She talks about how good it felt to kill and having some asshole pop up and terrorize them, she got to kill in self-defence, get some of the urges out, there has been no such opportunity in too long. She tried to ignore it, the pressure is building, she is attempting to be good, but then she gets an email from Gale who reaches out, she is trying to be better and do right by her, telling Sam and giving her a heads-up she is going to be writing a new book about the events of EVERYTHING, a full covering of all the Ghostface murders with her years of perspective after everything and Sam is just done.

She decides she is going to get her fix. She is gonna take out Gale and be done. She does it and oh my fucking God she missed this. She cannot stop herself, it becomes a compulsion. So, whenever the opportunity arises, when someone fucks with her family, with the core four, she takes the opportunity. It escalates further, she is seeking out people who she deems deserve this because that makes it okay, right? She is better than those other murders, those previous Ghostface's. She has been through so much, she's earned the right, she is doing it to protect her family. She has just fully snapped under everything.

They, the core four, assume she is gonna take them out. They know too much, she is going to end them.

She doesn't hurt or go after them because she wants them all to be together always. Tries to convince them that this is what is right, this is what should happen, just keep quiet and she will keep everyone safe. Girl is manic and unhinged.

They can't let that happen.

Three against one. They don't kill her but manage to hurt her bad enough to restrain her. The cops are called, she is hauled off, screaming and crying and heartbroken. The core four is no more, but hey, the triangle is the strongest shape in nature, so maybe they can find a way to be okay. Sam is naturally locked up and ngl at this point we also get some serious confirmation Stu IS alive and is ALSO in prison because Sam gets a letter from him. Sam and Stu are prison pen pals, no, you cannot change my mind.

[bandzboy]

I've been a stay for 6 years, I've seen all the bad and the good things, and skz have been a really important part of my life. With everything that was going on, I decided to take a break from skz until this whole lose my breath era was over. Now I wanted to come back for their new album, but it just doesn't feel the same anymore. It's been months yet nothing has changed, they haven't apologized or addressed any of the concerns, they are still working with zionists. Their lyrics seems so meaningless now, this is from their new song "Head above the clouds, stand tall for the hell of it. Tower over crowds, don't pause 'cause I'm lovin' it. Heavy and I'm proud, backbone never suffering". In the past I would loved this song, but now them saying this while being silent about a genocide and happily working with zionists, just feels wrong. I know that one person leaving won't change anything, but I don't think I can support them anymore. As much as it hurts, it's time to admit that they really don't stand for what they used to.

anon i'm honestly on the same boat as you and tbh your feelings are valid if you decide to unstan it's truly okay bc i get you! truly i've been following everything going on and it's insanely sad that so many stays have been trying their hardest to make them know but all we get is silence. it doesn't help that jype is also trying to silence people too but you know it just sucks because there's no way they haven't seen it at this point there's no way they don't know their fandom is so divided over this ever since the lmb release. i wanna believe they are good people but it just so crazy they keep being tied to zionists or hanging out with them and it feels like a slap in the face every time i am not gonna lie and unfortunately, they aren't the only group that is silent rn and it truly makes me question all the people i stan at the moment and what their intentions are... like i truly sit here and think to myself what the really reality is! i can't be excited about things anymore because of how everything is looking rn. i knew i wasn't gonna tune in for this next skz comeback when the lmb fiasco happened because unfortunately it tainted everything for me and it's sad! i don't know what i'll exactly do either but since i'm so dead set on making things right and to keep pushing it i am sticking around for that because my interest in kpop is kinda slowly going away and it's sad. even tho i want idols to have better working rights and it's something that i will always bring up and, i'm very passionate about you could say, it's hard for me to stay knowing that these people are so comfortable being silent and it hurts to know this was probably the plan all along. the way when people started to bring up celebrities speaking up, people were already not including kpop idols with everyone else like... the group of people that should speak up and i think that was the moment that i realized how wrong everything is like how we expect them to essentially do nothing and not gaf about anything and that's messed up ESPECIALLY coming from groups like skz that have lyrics that are very much about rebellion and fighting back oppressive things and so on and it makes you really think that yeah maybe this whole shit was just a concept to them and they don't bring that into their real life. it just sucks atp i'm just venting i could go on because i have SO MUCH TO SAY i'm just now realizing i've been bottling this all up almost but yeah all of this to say that i truly truly get it and just know you aren't alone when it comes to feeling like this towards groups you stan because it's happening to a lot of people atm

[ohara-n-brown]

I think the people that are asking others to vote for Biden are always missing a big thing.

I get the argument - 'Trump is worse and more of a threat to all of us, so you have to vote for Biden, he's the lesser of two evils!'

Okay, makes sense.

But these posts NEVER EVER bring up the moral dilemma, or how to handle it.

Why 'Blue No Matter Who' WON'T Work Right Now -

You are asking people to directly go against their morals and vote for a man funding genocide -

But then you refuse to give either

1) A way for those people to come to peace with their decision after the fact and

2) A way we're gonna hold Biden accountable AFTER he wins.

You are asking others to vote for a man funding genocide.

Okay, so once they do - and go home and lay in their beds - only to wake up two months later and see Biden sending another 10 billion dollars to Israel-

What moral comfort do you have to give them? For them, knowing that's their money and the man they put into power.

Do you have anything to say to them? Nothing? Because you don't care?

How do you expect them to sleep knowing they've betrayed their morals? Or do you think betraying your morals is something someone can outright choose to do with no mental reprecussions?

And this isn't just some abstract comment. I'm being LITERAL. We all have to go against our morals at least each in our life yes, but you still have to deal with the emotional aftermath.

You all are asking people to set aside their morals without acknowledging that morals, and without justification for it after the fact.

Really, those posts sound like 'Please vote for Biden, we know he's funding a genocide and you don't like that. But PLEASE it's so important. Oh thanks, you voted for him. Wait you feel guilty?.... Not my problem.'

And two - you're providing NO SOLUTION for Biden's behavior.

Biden has been funding a genocide. In the last 130 days he has sent BILLIONS of taxpayer dollars to a foreign country for genocide and war.

You want me to vote for him. And then you never ever ever mention how you plan to get him to STOP doing these things.

You're telling me 'Trump is dangerous! He doesn't listen to the people, he dehumanizes the oppressed and wants them dead!'

Okay, true.

But if Biden ends up in office AGAIN how are we gonna stop him from continuing to abuse his power AGAIN?

Or have you just not thought about that? Are you not concerned about the fact you have no ability whatsoever to hold your own canidate accountable?

Do you just not think about that because it makes you feel powerless and uncomfortable?

Biden has proven he too doesn't listen to the people.

And he in fact, DOES dehumanize the oppressed and does indeed want them dead. Just because those people aren't American doesn't mean anything.

Biden wants oppressed people dead.

So now that we know he does and wants those things - and we can't get him to stop NOW - and yet you want me to re-elect him without offering me methods in which he'll change.

Okay, buddy.

If you want to convince people to vote for Biden you're gonna have to

1) Engage with their morals and explain how they can come to peace with voting for a Genocidal Fascist and their tax dollars being directly used to aid that AND

2) How we plan to hold Biden accountable and change his behavior AFTER I've sacrificed my morals to give him more power.

If you can't do that in your post - shut the fuck up.

You're not gonna tell me to vote for a Genocidal asshole only to tell me 'ummm if you feel guilty afterwards that's not my problem just vote for him okay and also after he's elected I have no idea how to get him to do what we want cause he doesn't even listen to us right now but I promise he's better than Trump so just do it okay'

I'll see entire posts asking for people to vote for Biden - and the post will just not mention Palestine.

They'll talk about Trump, trump, trump - but literally no one with ever say 'Listen, I know Biden is the reason thousands of Palestinians are dead, but-'

Because they know that sounds fucking ridiculous and evil so they leave that part out and hope we don't notice that you've conveniently forgot to mention why we're at this crossroads in the first place.

They tell people to vote for Biden, but never mention why people don't want to vote for him.

Because Democratic voters do not support the massacre of Gaza and Biden does not care.

HOW ARE YOU GONNA MAKE HIM CARE? If you can't tell me - don't tell me what the hell to do. Cause you don't even know what you're gonna do.

If you can't acknowledge the conversation, You're ignoring the crimes of your canidate breaking international law, simply saying they didn't happen or don't matter in the general scheme of things - just like a Trump-ette.

You're literally telling me that Biden will save America and the only chance we have at keeping it... Shit we're not even saying America is 'great', like the Trump-ettes.

We know the US is shit and that Biden contributes to that. None of us actually even believe he'll make America better in the slightest.

At the very least Trump supporters stupidly believe he'll bring about positive chance.

Biden supporters acknowledge he probably won't bring positive change for anyone really. And then they still go vote for him.

That's even fucking sadder. It's less evil, but just as fucking sad.

Voting for a canidate you know doesn't care about you, your education, your health, your home, your life, or really whether you're dead or not.

But you still vote for him - because he's blue.

If you want people to vote for Biden but refuse to engage the moral argument OR Biden's silencing and ROBBING (Yes, using executive action to send billions of dollars overseas against the wills of most Americans is fucking robbery) of the American people -

Please just shut the fuck up. You really can't expect me to listen to that.

'Vote for Biden... just cause!! Don't think about it! Don't think about what happens after! Just do it :) Why? Democrats are inherently better, that's why'

You've got to be joking

So yes, make the argument you want. But if you can't back it up, don't blame others cause they didn't vote.

Blame yourself for not thinking through your point for more than twenty seconds. Blame yourself for expecting people to conform blindly.

If you want me to vote for that man but can't tell me how we're gonna free Palestine from that same man's genocidal glee then I'm begging you to shut the hell up.

[sys-confessions]

not really a confession ig, more of a vent. but it weighs on us like a confession might. sorry if it doesn't fit right.

so we recently got posted to systems cringe for our system and omfg. one person flat out referred to it as hysteria. Wow. Yes, hysteria. The "disorder" used to discredit women's struggles and aids into the "crazy woman" stereotype that has historically been used to oppress people and if I remember correctly led to women being lobotomized. (May be wrong, but I'm pretty sure hysteria was used as an excuse to lobotomize women. My memory may be wrong.)

This is because I made silly intro posts that they deem I made up as if...I did it on the spot and, ya know, not collecting info slowly over a couple years as our system becomes more known to me. The fact they assume I made it up because they'd try to make it up really says more about them than me.

Also, small mention of programming we are a tbmc/programmed system. The fact they assume we were saying all alters of ours were programmed when we never made that claim at all. And that us making a positive post about an old special interest meant the alters we had from that (from around our trauma, cause ya know, childhood interests) means those were programmed alters too. 💀 Love the lack of literacy skills here. We are a programmed system, we do not hide that fact as it is our ugly reality and those specific blogs are meant for going over that. We simply mentioned old dormant alters we had from such interests as a child. And if they actually cared to look into our account aside from mocking us (not something they'd ever do), they'd notice that we refer to our programmed parts in an entirely different way from our alters and refuse to name them at all since we cannot ensure safety from our programmer and whatever group did it to us and must be cautious with the info we share.

Just saw the comparisons to hysteria, saying we were in a cult for...posting about being a system (when we barely even interact with anyone cause of a fear of people), and implying us posting our alter intros were self harm is really funny (in a sarcastic/pathetic way) to us. They really did make a LOT OF ASSUMPTIONS about us based on some intros and a post. But that's pretty much required for them to care this much about strangers online and completely defend their own actions.

Also love they bring up saviour complex because someone might care to learn about our system when they have a saviour context towards the hypothetical suffering systems they imagine. Completely ignoring the fact that the systems they post can also be suffering systems. The more we think about it, the more ridiculous and sad pathetic it seems. Like. Oh no. Our silly light hearted posts and intros got posted. What ever will we do now? Anyway.

Again, hope this was okay to send in even if it's more of a vent. Not a lot of outlets for us and we have a history with harassment so we tend to be pretty paranoid when directly referencing something involving us. So yeah. Just had to get it off our chest. Thank you.

This was perfectly fine to send, don't worry at all, anon! The blog may be named after confessions, but it's very flexible. Whatever you want to send, you can.

We hope sending this vent helped you feel better. System cringe is ridiculous. I thought it was a well known fact that you cannot, in fact, judge anybody's mental health and/or disorders over the internet, but apparently it's not...

[thatweirdtranny]

Re: starbucks and israel

I'm convinced it's proof that goyim think capitalism = jews and big corps = jews.

1) they hate jews so much they refuse to fact check or do even a basic google search to know what the fuck they're doing (pair this with tiktok brain... thats a dangerous combo)

2) they hate starbucks for imaginary reasons connected to israel and are boycotting it for those reasons instead of. you know. all the human rights violations because their hatred for jews run that deep and also they most likely believe jews run the world which makes it easier for them to stay in this delusion (of course starbucks is connected to israel. the jews made capitalism!)

3) the bds bullshit is the greatest proof that everyone thinks jews created capitalism slavery corruption oppress the working class etc etc. bds is great because fuck big companies. bds is bad because it targets these companies on the sole basis that jews created them own them run them oppress the world. israel doesn't have a special relationship with any big corp. israel doesn't get special treatment or have special anything u just think the jews have secret powers and therefore fall easily into this shit. that's just antisemitism. the exceptionalization of israel must be studied. it's classic antisemitism. the fact that people are actually making a little progress on boycotting powerful companies JUST BECAUSE THEY HATE JEWS AND THINK EVERYTHING IS OUR FAULT must be studied. i don't think we control the world if it's soooo easy to target us and single us out instead of actual white people and the actual oppressors <3

4) i can excuse human rights violations but i draw the line at big companies "protecting" and "supporting" israel (lie). they can't even tell you what their cause is but they do know they hate the jews! something something billions of dollars to israel (again false) but it's okay when even more money is sent to any other country but it's not antisemitism. lol at this point even if a single dollar is sent to israel the logic is that whatever has connections or interactions with israel / israelis is evil and must be destroyed. totally normal behavior

it’s just fucking bonkers the way starbucks will do various union busting bs and most stores sre well known for being toxic to the baristas and everything is all about the stupid fucking drive through times even at the best starbucks locations, and it’s fucking i/p that people boycott this company over?

all because the starbucks union supports palestine and the company simply clarified that the union is separate from the company and the company is staying out of it? you could boycott starbucks for so many reasons and this is the hill these morons choose to die on??

i want to know what these people actually think they’re doing to help palestinians because if they were frequently paying for an $8 coffee then they can afford to send $25 through a charity like anera to help gazans, but i sincerely doubt they’re doing anything that material to help palestinians. terminally armchair activists that they are.

the bds movement is a joke, it’s obviously just about a mix of self righteousness and antisemitism when they’re boycotting actual peace orgs that do more to promote a culture of peace than anything they’ve done.

[drdemonprince]

(Not the original anon, just responding with some thoughts, I hope that’s okay and that my tone comes across as respectful.)

I think it’s disingenuous to pretend that the only difference between Vyvanse and heroin could be a moral one. It’s precisely because I don’t see any difference in the moral value of those two groups of drug users that I want both of those groups to live full lives, not die early deaths due to drug use. In my country heroin is the main hard drug associated with extreme poverty, I don’t think it’s right to equate it to even the most controversial & harmful of prescription psychiatric drugs.

It sounds like you and I have values that are pretty much aligned -- except that your final statement seems to imply that a medication being prescribed somehow imbues it with a quality that makes it inherently less risky or damaging than a non-prescription drug.

Given the number of lives claimed by the opioid epidemic and the number of people who become chemically dependent upon other pharmaceuticals, do you really believe that to be the case? Doctors used to push hard-core barbiturates on bored housewives and to this day they still force psychiatric patients to take incredibly strong anti-psychotics that can cause heart attacks if a single dose is missed. Fetanyl is famously deadly, and it's also a prescription painkiller. Marijuana is approved for medical use in many states in America, but it's highly illegal in the UK. And one of the reasons that heroin is so dangerous to take is because it can only be accessed through a shadow economy where there is no accountability for contaminated doses, and use is so highly illegal and stigmatized that users are forced to quietly overdose in dingy bathrooms rather than controlled access sites.

Do you see the point I'm getting at? You and I might have certain emotions about certain drugs and we might not want people to die or to suffer and that's all well and good -- but that's not an objective reflection of what using a drug has to look like, or what it would look like, in a world where certain drug users weren't oppressed. There are actually a lot of really disturbing side effects and habit-forming qualities associated with many ADHD stimulant treatments, but that doesn't mean people shouldn't have access to them or should be demonized for using them. I simply also believe the same thing about heroin and weed and caffeine and cocaine. This doesn't mean I'm waving my hand around and saying all substances are equally safe -- the reality is that all these substances come with risks, and people use them for a variety of reasons, and that we should accept that reality and work around it rather than trying to make it not be the case.