#Rules-based Order

[bkkblogs]

Norms, Power, and the Western Delusions of Benevolence

Dive into a compelling critique of Western self-perception as benevolent powers in this insightful blog post. Uncover the complexities of cultural norms, political orders, and the often overlooked role of power in shaping these norms. #Norms #Power #West

Cultural norms shape the emergence and evolution of political orders. However, these norms are not static or homogeneous, but rather dynamic and diverse, reflecting the power relations among different actors in local and global contexts. Huntington (1996) argued that the clash of civilizations, or the cultural conflict between different regions and groups, is the main source of global instability…

[probablyasocialecologist]

[hazel2468]

Something that I need people to understand, especially on this hellsite. Is that oppression does not depend on who you actually are.

It depends on how the world sees you.

If the world sees you as X identity. They will treat you as X identity, whether you are or not. If the world sees that you are not X identity, but they can use the oppression of X identity as a cudgel to make you act the way they want you to? They will use it.

Oppression is NOT dependent on who you actually are. It depends on how the world sees you. It depends on how people see you and what they decide to put on you because of that.

Oh. And when someone experiences a form of oppression that is NOT based in the reality of who they are? It's still that kind of oppression. It's not "misdirected"- it is still that kind of oppression being leveraged to maintain the current social climate.

[rustedleopard]

I feel like if Chujin was still alive during the events of Undertale Yellow, his and Clover's relationship would be incredibly rocky. Pacifist!Clover could bring him around to tolerating them (after all, they have that sort of effect on everyone), but it would be more in a "this human is the only 'good' human" manner than a "maybe I should reevaluate my opinions on humans overall because you can't judge an entire group based off (very biased) stories and one bad experience." Even then, that opinion would be subject to change should Clover ever get frustrated or behave "too aggressively" or act in any manner that isn't perfectly docile. If Clover ends up attacking a monster then it's "humans are just as horrible as they were in the war stories, I should've known better" regardless of the circumstances that could've pushed Clover to fight. Suffocating expectations and endless demands for patience when he wouldn't ask the same of a fellow monster.

And heaven forbid he ever meet Clover on a No Mercy Run...

[secondbeatsongs]

when you're into the Big Ship™ in a Big Fandom™, you have the luxury of having an OTP - a real One True Pairing, where you can read about just them for ages, and you will never run out of fics, and everything is perfect and beautiful and nothing hurts

but when you go to a smaller fandom, you'd better pray to whatever god you worship that someone else in this room ships the same thing that you do, and that if they do, they're writing more than late-night crackfic, because you're on thin fucking ice!

and how small is your small fandom? is it less than 100 fics? maybe even...less than 20 fics?

welp, then it's time to make peace with that god and either open up a text document or learn how to ship everything, because it's swim or drown babey! and your ship is sinking fast

anyway all of this is to say that after hanging out in small fandoms and shipping less-common pairings for a while, going back into a Big Huge Fandom™ is wild because suddenly it's like...wait, why didn't I ship these people again? I don't remember. why was I only sticking to one ship in this fandom?? boring of me, honestly. these guys should make out.

[b0ringasfuck]

Netanyahu si preoccupa del suo culetto... ma non è che si può scaricare tutta la responsabilità di questo casino su di lui.

E se anche effettivamente venisse spiccato un mandato d'arresto oltre all'evidente fatto che andrebbe implementato, non è nemmeno detto che con Netanyahu sotto pressione comincino a volare gli stracci tra US e Israele.

Facilmente le cose continueranno come prima, perchè ai potenti non gli fai cambiare politica con le ramanzine e se negli States dovessero continuare le proteste, prima o poi verrebbero represse in maniera pesante e alla fine non è che siano tantissimi gli americani disposti a finire in galera o essere menati o peggio per i palestinesi.

Alla conclusione della guerra del Vietnam ha sicuramente contribuito l'opinione pubblica interna, decisamente più motivata visto che ti spedivano a schiattare... ma soprattutto il fatto che le abbiano prese.

Solo che non c'è solo la classe dirigente occidentale e l'opinione pubblica occidentale.

Ci saranno tanti paesi, "democratici" o meno, che negli anni si sono conquistati abbastanza autonomia politica per non essere dei leccaculo dell'occidente che si chiederanno, vista la sfacciataggine con cui parliamo di rules-based order internazionale ma finiamo regolarmente per pulirci il culo, se un domani potrebbe toccare a loro.

E avremo dei paesi in cui le classi dirigenti ci guadagnano più della loro gente a leccare il culo, come il nostro, che continueranno nel loro declino... e dei paesi che cercheranno alternative.

E insomma, o dai il buon esempio, o prima o poi le regole le fanno gli altri e non è detto che poi ti piacciano.

AH per altro non si capisce se sia la ICC/CPI (mandato d'arresto a Putin ma non organismo UN) o la CIG/CIJ (quella a cui s'è rivolto il Sud Africa contro Israele, organismo ONU).

Più facilmente la seconda... ma visto che la fatica non la stanno facendo i giornalisti, perchè la devo fare io?

Circolano queste notizie rispetto al criminale #Netanyahou

#PalestineGenocide

[so-very-small]

a person who shrunk down to three inches tall roughly five months ago: *finally accepts that they will never grow back and return to a normal life, and are doomed to an overwhelming existence of survival in a world no longer meant for them*

somewhere, in the distance, Rod Sterling looks at the fourth wall: Man that shit was fucked up. Anyways. Tune in next week for more fucked up shit.

[felidform]

it looks like picrew finally got me for not labeling my fanart according to site rules LOL so just letting you all know the reason they're currently not available is because they got suspended, I didn't take them down or anything, I'll see if I can get them put back up but I'll probably have to update the watermark or something

[blackpilledkremlintsarina5294]

[themintman]

N e ways here's Jack's actual design for the au I posted about the other day lmao

Love this sorrowful lizard.

[bkkblogs]

The Next Great War: The End of History and the Last Hegemon

Join me this week as I explore the competition between the US, China, and Russia, the battle for hegemony, and the potential for a great power war. Let’s also unpack the inability of academia to challenge great power revisionism together. Don’t miss out!

In the field of international relations, still marked by the memories of the great power wars from the first half of the previous century, the focus is primarily on understanding international conflict. This focus is particularly sharp when it comes to conflicts between great powers, as these are the actors that establish order within the system[1].  In this perspective, states are like…

[ncfan-1]

I have a few wants for Mae’s story next season, with the hope that she gets her memory back relatively quickly being a pretty important one, but it’s not the only want I have for the way things go for Mae that I consider important. There’s something else that feels even more important: namely, that Mae find people in her life that deeply love and prioritize her.

There’s something very pointed going on in Season 1. “Everyone seems to want you,” Qimir says to Osha, but by comparison, nobody ever seems to want Mae. When they’re children, Sol professes a connection to Osha, and Mae is little more than an afterthought; as an adult, Sol ultimately leaves nothing for her but the worst parts of himself. Qimir is visibly fascinated with Osha from first sight, and ultimately doesn’t seem to have thought much of Mae even before she attempted to desert his side; he seems to brush her off the way you’d brush a speck of dust off of you.

And don’t get me wrong, I don’t think that Osha should have chosen to stay with Mae in Episode 8. It doesn’t make sense from a storytelling standpoint, not at this juncture. This is the culmination of Mae’s character arc this season, where she is finally able to stop clinging to Osha, to accept that what she wants more than anything is for Osha to be happy, even if she isn’t with her. For Osha to choose to stay with Mae at that point would feel wrong, for Mae has to prove to the audience that she has reached this kind of peace regarding her relationship with her sister by accepting that Osha doesn’t want to stay with her without bitterness. As for Osha, this is the culmination of her character arc this season, which has been about taking her life and her power into her own hands, and it would be strange for her to stay with Mae when Qimir has offered to help her do what she wants. It wouldn’t feel right from a storytelling standpoint; for things to make sense, they have to part ways at the end of Season 1.

But even if Osha frames it as making sure that Mae is safe from any reprisals on Qimir’s part, and even if it’s what make sense from a storytelling perspective, what it ultimately amounts to is that Osha doesn’t choose Mae, either. Nobody ever chooses Mae.

And it’s so uneven. I’m not saying I want Osha to be this alone, too—I don’t. But it’s wrenching to watch this woman who has nothing and no one at the beginning of the season still have nothing and no one at the end of the season, because even the memory of Osha forgiving her and loving her again has been taken away from her. Even her memory of the one person she had left who actually loved her has been taken away from her. She had nothing then, and she has nothing now.

Like I said, it feels pointed, the way Mae is never chosen, and what I’m hoping is that this means that it won’t be the case anymore in Season 2. Vernestra, you say, and yeah, I have high hopes for that dynamic, but no matter how things shake out between Mae and Vernestra, that is never going to be a relationship of equals, and I don’t think it’s ultimately going to be the kind of relationship where Vernestra would choose Mae, not meaningfully. Not over every other option.

That’s what I want for Mae, really. Someone who will love her deeply and choose her over everyone else, every time. With her memories and without. Knowing what she’s done, the good and the bad, knowing what she’s capable of, the good and the bad, knowing her past, knowing her faults and knowing that those faults aren’t all of who she is. Someone who would choose her without a second thought.

Because I feel like there’s going to be a scene like the one in Episode 8, where this time, it’s Mae who chooses. But Osha had more than one option. Either Qimir or Mae were viable options. Osha had a solid foundation to rely on, whatever she decided to do. But as it stands, Mae only has Osha. Osha is all Mae has. And if we do get a moment like that in Season 2, where this time it’s Osha asking Mae what she wants, if she wants to go with her or not, if Mae’s options are still “Osha” or “be completely alone,” then it's not the meaningful choice that Osha had, is it? My point is, I want Mae, whatever she decides, to have actually had a meaningful choice. To not be completely dependent on Osha for love and acceptance. To have someone else she could turn to if she decided that she didn’t want to go with Osha. To not have her choices be: Osha—or no one.

[gurokatt]

There are two main horror movies so far with creatures/monsters based on senses.

Cannot look and cannot speak [Bird Box and A Quiet Place]

We need a monster movie where you cannot hear them

[agentfascinateur]

Go Slovenia! ✊🏼 Recognize Palestine! 💜

Make things right 👍🏼

[survivalove]

might do a long post on why i think mel going back to noxus is not so tragic

because the overall pessimism in her main tag and just among mel fans in general is…

and like, i get the pessimism. seeing how she was handled in arcane season 2. certain *choices* that genuinely would not have made it on screen if a single black woman was in the room, i get it completely. and yes, a lot of my lack of pessimism has to do with wishful thinking which, again… with this writers’ room i should not have that much confidence.

however COMMA i also think there are signs from early as season 1 that noxus is not the big bad scary place in mel’s eyes that a lot of you guys think it is. and i also just tend to be an optimistic person in general lol

so… i’m hesitant 🤣

[k-wame]

when liberalism has lied to you