#PLease be careful

[embersign]

OSHA - A Warning for US citizens

If you work at a hazardous environment for a job - PLEASE KEEP AN EAR OUT for this new bill that one of the Republicans have put out. They want to ABOLISH OSHA. That means taking away any sort of protections at your work to keep your work safe. This means hazardous chemicals, hazardous worksites, things that haven't been repaired in ages won't need to be. Your work sites may become kill-zones for underpaid average workers. Start looking now if you can, start trying to find alternatives. I know its hard but its not worth risking your life to make scraps for a billionaire. --- For those who don't know, OSHA was created because of incidents like the Radium Girls, where the women's jaws were literally falling out of their faces because of the radium poisoning they were suffering from, and the lack of government protections meant the company could allow this to happen with no compensation to the girls, or any sort of justice for them or their families when they suffered from these horrific breakdowns of their cells and parts of their bodies. My great grandmother fought for her coworkers rights and was labeled a COMMUNIST, when the company she worked for did not provide proper training or warning systems for the work they did, and her coworker lost his arm. They wanted to give him 10 dollars and send him home, no job, no unemployment, nothing. THIS IS THE WORLD REPUBLICANS WANT US TO LIVE IN. Where we are TREATED LIKE CATTLE.

[tonycries]

[thevulturesquadron]

They are so unserious. I love them so much.

[cornedbeefhashtags]

🚨 PSA: Exceeding the maximum boop limit will run an executable file that can install a virus called The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition on ANY device 🚨

[teddybeartoji]

i think you hiding your face in rin's neck could possibly . kill him

[breathlesswordsbloodyknees]

Narrative Doom

Introduction

I've been playing around in and exploring this space where Sauron as Halbrand was genuinely seeking redemption, trying not to manipulate events but merely nudge them.

In my view, at this point he's in survivalist bed-rotting mode post-goo-form when he meets Galadriel. (I think he's more of an opportunist than a schemer in this era. Not that he doesn't have those schemes, but I think he's pushing those bad bad urges down. I have a web of scenes that I consider in this view for some other day)

I’m building much of this piece on these previous work: (link) (link) (link)

It's led me down some interesting philosophical rabbitholes, and I'd like to share.

Now, important to note, Sauron is a Maia—not a 'human' by any means. He's an ancient spiritual being who doesn’t feel the way us teeny tiny mortals do.

But on a broader scale: Tolkien’s work, like fiction as a whole, reflects and explores the human experience, so we’re riding that train.

All this with the framework of not absolving him for anything that came before or comes after. I plan on expanding into his evil alongside Morgoth and his actions in Season 2 at a later date.

But right now, we’re just exploring this blip of a moment where I consider Sauron could be genuine in repentance.

This is more an analysis of Sauron, but I feel like it has a lot to explore for Haladriel fans. There's some critique of Galadriel's choices here, but I want to make it clear: I'm not assigning blame. More just digging into the complexities.

And, well, I don't think this ship would be as compelling if it didn't have complexities.

Spoilers:

All of TROP S1

Vague themes/lines in TROP S2, mostly from S2E1.

The Good Place spoilers for overall theme and a few season 4 lines, but nothing outright about the plot.

Trigger Warning:

Be warned, I’m going to delve into some dark themes in a very personal way. Including but not limited to abuse cycles, personal trauma, harmful behaviors, and empathy within all of that.

I won’t lie, this work was hard for me. Painful to untangle. I would encourage you to have empathy and compassion for yourself, as well as me, while you read. I tried to put warnings before I go into these themes. Please take care of yourself.

---

To start

Sauron’s narrative, at its simplest, is a cautionary tale: If you let your ambition and drive for power go too far, you turn to evil. Higher values over sinful pleasures. Pride goeth before the fall.

But on a deeper level, being solely a cautionary tale, an overarching villain, a lesson to learn, what does that mean for the complexities of Sauron in The Rings of Power?

Charlie Vickers puts so many layers and so much emotion into his character. Yet he keeps it to a lot of imperceptible movements that, I found out last night, get almost completely lost in low resolution. I can see that being a part of some of the stricter interpretations of Vickers' Sauron. But there’s a vulnerability there that touches on some deeply raw thoughts.

—

So the relentless question in fandom: Does he mean any of it with Galadriel or is he just the Great Deceiver?

I'd like to ask, how much of it is just some deeply relatable ‘human’ behavior? Deflection, defensiveness. Half-truths, twisted truths, fibs.

Because as he says on the raft, he did tell her the truth, that he had done great evil in service of Morgoth. He never lied to her.

(An aside: I personally don’t give the “my ancestor” thing much weight as a true lie, I mean it’s his backstory and he had more reason for it than the Darkling did imho)

But really, who doesn’t try to hide and smooth over the worst ugly evil nasty bits of themselves and their past? We want to shine in the eyes of others—it's a fundamental desire to most.

—

On the other side, touching on influence and ambition:

Aren’t we all trying to sway events and leave an impact in whatever way we’re capable? Don’t we all attempt to sculpt the world like clay? Isn’t that really all we can do in this world?

And don't we often tell ourselves that we’re doing it for a better outcome? Even actions deemed ‘good’ and ‘heroic’ create ripples that have negative impacts, if only just for the orc babies.

I’ve been thinking a lot about orc babies.

—

Galadriel, from their first conversation on the raft in S1E2, backs him into a corner. She’s relentless in her quest for revenge against him and he’s whoops—sitting right there, doing the side eye meme. He’s gotta be self-preservational. And that rings true to me more than outright deceit. (At this point)

But I think over the course of the season, playing as Halbrand, “Lost King of the Southlands”, he’s trying. Trying to be “the hero she seeks”. Trying in the only way he knows how, which is…well, not great, he really toes the line. But he’s trying to ‘choose good every day and choose it again tomorrow’, while he’s on the path she set him on. So it’s a step by step journey towards the light, but the path is ever slippery.

And inevitably, as we know, he fails.

—

TW

So what does that mean for those of us who feel like we’re trapped in the narrative, hurtling toward a doomed end through harmful behaviors we can’t escape? Tied onto the train tracks, staring down what feels like an inevitable fate.

When all you’ve known for ages is subjugation and torment and abuse, what do you become? (Which makes Mairon even more painful, with his origin of beauty and light. Like a whisper of I was once admirable too)

I keep coming back to the image of grooves, well worn. And well, under the influence of an abuser and beyond, I too have done evil.

Holding the good you’ve aspired to and the evil you’ve done in one space; it’s a sharp, heavy feeling like holding coals, like touching a hot pan, something to run and hide from. And looking at my deeply ingrained behaviors from childhood, along with trauma that’s happened throughout my life...I see those grooves echoing in jagged bloody ways that feel comforting, even natural.

For a long while, it’s been the only way I knew how to self-soothe, these behaviors that can cause harm to myself and others. So I’ve been twisting around the question: Can we ever truly be free of the evil we’ve done? If it’s all we’ve ever known, baked and beaten into our bone marrow?

In Sauron’s case, the answer is no. His story unfolds the way it was written. The bad guys perish, the good guys win.

(though there’s the “they meet in Valinor” after canon theory, hope ever shines through)

—

That all brings me into The Good Place and that show’s moral thesis.

Spoilers for The Good Place:

More or less, the show states “people improve when they get external love and support. How can we hold it against them when they don't?” and “What matters isn't if people are good or bad. What matters is if they're trying to be better today than they were yesterday.” (S4E8)

Scanlons’ What We Owe to Each Other and the rabbithole of contractualism that I haven’t fully delved into.

I resonate deeply with what The Good Place says. All with the understanding that you have to put on your own air mask before you help others, don’t set yourself on fire to keep other people warm.

But I do believe we should help each other in what ways we can, rather than writing people off entirely.

So, I struggle with Galadriel’s moments of “shutting the door” being considered wholly empowering. Light prevailing, resisting the allure of darkness and the draw of power. It is indeed all those things, especially for her journey. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t blame her.

But there’s an itching here for me and I have to scratch it.

—

In S1E8, if we’re assuming he’s genuine, he put it all out there in the raft illusion. It was his biggest, his all, his hope. A leap of faith. Real vulnerability with an internal truth that was like holding coals.

He did what was ‘right’. He reached for support, for understanding, for community, What We Owe to Each Other.

(though we can’t ignore the scene before that where he’s wearing Finrod’s face. But I haven’t followed that thread yet).

He made a play for a better future.

And she—light and goodness and holiness in her hair, denied him.

“You are Morgoth’s friend”, “There is no such future.” Boiling him down to his worst parts, reinforcing his worst fears.

Is that all we ever can be?

---

TW

When do we write off people like Sauron, with all his history of wrongdoing? People like my abusers or even myself? When does the potential for redemption become irrevocably lost?

How much empathy should we show, and what are we obligated to offer? What do we owe to each other? All of this while carefully balancing the line of not condoning or becoming an apologist, along with taking care of yourself first.

It’s mind-boggling.

---

The answers are out there: self-compassion, self-forgiveness. Change comes from within. Balance. But it's the same way people say go outside, exercise more, drink more water to fix depression. When you're in the throes of darkness, those words feel hollow, trite. And that glossy sunlit path is more than treacherous when you walk it, especially alone.

So again, I say, I scream: Should we not still help each other?

It's not just internal and external separately, we need both. I have to believe that. Internal change and external support.

—

Conclusion

In the end, I'm really only left with more questions. This barely scratches the surface of what I've been brewing on, I could go round and round for days. I mean, that’s what I’ve been doing this week.

Regardless, all the typical takeaways feel hollow. Choose light, choose hope, every single step, no matter how hard.

It’s never quite that simple, on a very visceral level. And for some of us, like Sauron, it never materializes.

It all just eats and scratches and twists inside me. Ultimately though, I think Caitlin Seida said it best about hope and redemption and the struggle in her poem, Hope is Not A Bird, Emily, It’s a Sewer Rat. Which I greatly hope you’ll read and find what I have in it. (link)

So I guess we keep being scrabbly little sewer rats, hoping to claw our way out of the dank dark cave. And y’know, it may not mean much, but I’ll be here, down in the muck. Right there with you.

Maybe that’s all we owe to each other.

Follow-up

[lonely-abstraction]

⚠️ Security Warning ⚔️

I vet these kinds of "mass threats" carefully, a lot of the time they are fake, but unfortunately these are very real. I have personally talked to a victim of this group of people myself. I'm not even sure if she is OK right now.

There are a group of doxxers / hackers going under some name UTL trying to target the Gacha Community, or anyone they can get a hold of.

I haven't experienced this myself, but from the victim I spoke to:

If you click on a link from them or friend them, they will get some kind of access to your account.

They somehow install an Integration onto your account which allows them to add you into their servers -- probably 25+ of them is what I saw

Once you're added into their servers they will target you / threaten you / blackmail you if you leave.

You'll need to work for them (aka, dox other users and threaten others) if you don't want them to doxx your information on X or 4chan.

They will also target users of ANY server that you're added to and your friends list. Or they will force you. We don't wanna know which

The staff have banned as many accounts as we could get ahold of (we need User ID to ban people outside of the server), but they haven't actually gotten us on their list yet, and who knows how many accounts they actually have.

We want to warn you to stay careful about your information and what you send & click on the Internet. If you're concerned, we simply advise turning OFF your friend and DM requests, don't click on links from users that you don't know, and turning on 2FA. You should already know this, but DON'T FRIEND ANYONE YOU DON'T KNOW!!

If you keep your account safe and stay alert, you'll be doing the best you can to stay safe :)

This following link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCKzUf5y-ik is a video better describing the situation.

Love from y3llowx! 🙏

Please be all careful !

The users to avoid are named UTL or Blalama8

The server is called Celestial cafe

Do not enter in this server or accept friend requests from them

Here is the server to avoid

Please share my post so people could avoid being doxxed !

[unhingedangstaddict]

ATTENTION. The same “babysitting jee” fic from earlier today (in which tommy SAs and kills jee-yun) has been reposted under a new title "My favorite thing is done with you". Unlike the first one it is rated mature and I don't know if there is anything it can be reported for now

Please be cautious and tare of yourselves out there.

[ninamodaffari]

Just to warn you guys -- this is a scam. You probably know it already, but most of these emails that go to your inbox offering money to either have your art in a magazine, buy it off you for Ethereum, or 'buy your piece for my wife for our wedding day' - are scams. Do not trust them, do not give away your personal information, do not send them money. They are preying on your desperation and appealing to your better nature with compliments, hoping to fool you.

IMG Caption:

Hello Nina,

I hope this email finds you wonderfully well! I'm Caleb Vaughn, an art collector from New York, and I've been utterly enchanted by your breathtaking artwork on Artstation. Your unique talent and style have truly captured my heart!

I am particularly interested in this artwork.

[artwork linked]

It resonates deeply with me, and I would be honored to make it a part of my collection. I'd like to extend an offer of 2.5 ETH to purchase this stunning piece. Moreover, I'm eager to explore the possibility of acquiring three additional artworks from your collection at the same price.

Your artistic voice is remarkable, and I'm excited about the prospect of supporting your creative journey. If you're interested, please let me know, and we can discuss the details.

Thank you for sharing your incredible art with the world. I look forward to the possibility of working together and witnessing your continued growth!

Warm regards,

Caleb,'

[phantomram-b00]

So, I got yet another donation scammer on my ama…thanks—

Here proof that this is a scammer:

Also with the fact that this account was made literally today. Seems that the cat scam isn’t working and now going to this tactic. Disgusting. Like absolutely.

So ghost pals mutuals or people who are gonna come across this blog please be very aware and don’t give these scammer any of your hard earn money. Best advice I can give you like I’ve mention before is copy and paste their ask in search bar to see if they copy or if there a pattern.

[astral-wings]

I'm going to post very often, maybe even multiple times a day about my usual alterhuman and witchcraft content. Constantly thinking about something that's out of my control isn't good for me or anybody else

I had a big spiritual achievement before all this shit happened but now my mind is clogged, so perhaps later

I'm gonna curl up and make pine needle tea, dedicated to all my queer folks

Please stay safe y'all <3

[draculafactory]

https://archiveofourown.org/works/62624869

Behold: The Big Sad

Vi gets sick

[calypsosystem]

guys please be careful on what blogs you decide to promote. I got these asks from two separate accounts with no history outside of reblogging Palestine related posts. please be careful and trust vetted lists

this isn't to say don't trust asks like this, but please take a look at the profile beforehand

[tiredsmashbros]

https://www.tumblr.com/tiredsmashbros/747424630530359296/yooo-this-is-so-cool-i-love-their-outfits-so

this is AI.

i legit had no idea... gonna keep this short and spread the awareness bc this can be srs if other AI artists are trying to lie and "pass". bc they're not tagging their work as AI i legit thought it was digitally handmade. probably bc they know they'll get bullied if caught LMAO

i'm unblogging immediately after posting this but in case the link anonymous gave doesn't work anymore i'm going to link the individual's account. you can make your own judgements, but that cowboy peach honestly screams AI from its inconsistency 😭

💥 DO NOT HARASS OR INTERACT WITH THEM. just block and move on. i do not condone harassment of any kind.💥

thank you anonymous 💛

https://www.tumblr.com/pixlgirl

[showf4ll-media]

I’m thinking about some of the shit I’ve personally seen go on with big creators in fandoms and. God. Some people really need to learn a bit of internet fame because you did a few things that got more attention that was really necessary doesn’t make you a god.

I’ve been around a handful of a big artists- both literary and artistic- and I swear, if I ever become “known” in a fandom and turn out like them I just won’t recognize myself anymore. I dont want to be recognized as the same person I am today if I stoop to that level. It’s just fucking sick. Get a fucking grip man and realize your actions because of your god complex have effects on those around you.

This post is vague. A few people do come to mind, and I’m sure a few do to you too. Just remember that your favs are human too. If they make you feel weird, if they give you attention but only at the expense of you licking their shoes clean- fucking run. No amount of fame makes you deserve to treat others like they’re below you. Especially not when your ��fame” only extends to internet communities.