#Theories of Conflict

[waitingformy-fanfiction]

told my friend my favorite piece of literature was Theories Of Conflict and she threatened to email my english teacher that exact thing

Oh, god. 😅😅😅

Sometimes I need to reread the first paragraph of ToC and marvel at how far we’ve come.

[waitingformy-fanfiction]

Youth Pastor Buttons’ Nonreligious Husband!Specs RIGHTS 🖕

[bluebugjay]

It's so insane that the interaction in episode one goes Charles bringing up how Death would separate them if she caught them and Edwin is the one to say he would never let them happen as if he doesn't passenger princess his way through every vaguely tense interaction or moment of conflict they get into

[liberalsarecool]

#ConflictTheory

What Is Conflict Theory? Conflict theory, first developed by Karl Marx, is a theory that society is in a state of perpetual conflict because of competition for limited resources. Conflict theory holds that social order is maintained by domination and power rather than by consensus and conformity.

[caffeineandsociety]

All the bullshit queer infighting about queer subgroup a refusing to be normal about queer subgroup b, or no it's b that can't be normal about a, or no it's both of them refusing to be normal about subgroup c-

And I feel it's time to recognize that the problem has less to do with specific identities and more to do with people refusing to be normal about queer people other than themselves

Yes someone who's like this will usually be slightly more normal about someone whose queer identity is more similar to their own than not, but I have never seen, for example, an explicitly transmisogynistic trans man who wouldn't jump to throw another trans man under the bus for "making us all look bad" at the first viable excuse, and we all know how big overt exclusionist movements like terfism end up just aggressively policing the ingroup to make sure they never, ever, ever deviate from a perfect True Scotsman

It's self-centered bullshit is what it all is and I think it deserves to be seen for that

[apothekaries]

people literally supporting hamas while they're calling themselves leftist.. are we now actively supporting the iranian government??? supporting the hamas' attack right before israel was going to sign a peace contract with saudi-arabia is just vile. a contract that would have led to the betterment of palestinian lives. yes, the israeli gov HAS to be criticized harshly, obviously, (and it is by progressive palestinian and israeli orgs) but you're cheering for the hamas now??? an organisation that has actively surpressed elections since 2006, incarcerated and tortured thousands in 2019 in gaza, cooperated with the iranian, syrian regimes and the hizbollah in lebanon. these are governments that openly wish for the death of all jews. get your shit together.

[rednblacksalamander]

Campus security officer Pepe Silvia was unavailable for comment.

[greenfiend]

On the topic of Band-Aids…

Sure Will “ripp[ed] off [the] Band-Aid”, but where did it leave us? It left us with an enormous wound, spreading all across Hawkins.

A heart shaped lake ripped apart in the centre.

Obviously, that wound needs to heal, and somehow I doubt Mike and El’s “love” for each other will help matters. Especially since Mike’s “love” speech to El occurred right before this wound opened up.

People who simply study scripts and script writing only know a portion of what’s going on. A lot of clues come from the visuals and subtleties that are not written on a page.

[tategaminu]

Rayla and Callum freeing Runaan together in S7 as opposite of Rayla getting his bow alone in S5 without telling him because they are now doing crimes as a team?

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

So in the Octavinelle manga, Yuu is named after the Sanzu river. Now this makes me wonder what afterlife associated name will the next manga Yuu have

I’m not a fan of it, but this could technically support the “Yuu is dead in their original world” theory (especially considering that this is a pattern continued from Yuuken and Yuuka, the previous two manga!Yuus). (Because why do all of their names have connections to the afterlife??? 😭)

Yuuken’s surname, Enma, could be a reference to Yama, who is the master of hell in both Hinduism and Buddhism. Meanwhile, Yuuka’s surname, Hirasaka, is the same as that of Yomotsu Hirasaka. In Japanese mythology, this term is used to refer to the boundary between the living world and the underworld. Now we have Yuuta Mito, whose name (when written) is 宥太 三途. The 三途 portion is the same as the “Sanzu River” (三途の川), which is basically the River Styx in Japanese Buddhism.

It is also odd that all three manga!Yuus are also in circumstances where they happened to be at a crosswalk or passing in front of a large vehicle before they are whisked away into Twisted Wonderland (though this could just be the usual isekai trope)… and waking up in a coffin… Now that I think about it, I think Crowley also vaguely implied “parting from the former world” and moving “onto the next one” in the prologue, though to be fair, that statement is so vague it could literally mean anything 🤡

I guess two was a coincidence, but three is a suspicious trend and a concerning pattern… (not to mention they also stay in Ramshackle, where spirits unable to move on also reside.)

Well, I guess if Yuu is dead then it resolves them having to go home because there’s literally nothing for them to return to— 💀Easy solution for not leaving Twisted Wonderland tbh/j

[waitingformy-fanfiction]

I just need you to know that Theories of Conflict got me through high school and now They Were Roommates is getting me through college

Bless you, dear child 😭

[smile-files]

nickel and balloon stuff from spring on the breakfast!!! i'm keeping in mind that in the previous episode, both of them were under the impression that their friendship wasn't real...

in a way, ii3 balloon is a lot like late ii3 cabby. of course, balloon did something indisputably immoral (manipulate and exploit others), and cabby only did something thought to be immoral (keep and use files about her fellow contestants) -- but both did something wrong and had to subsequently undergo a disproportionate amount of abuse and malignment for it, ending up with them being apologetic and submissive to avoid any chance of being framed as bad again. the biggest difference is that cabby has internalized the guilt others have attributed to her, while balloon largely hasn't -- he understands the concept of rolling with the punches for the sake of keeping good connections, but he doesn't believe he deserves it.

nickel brushes off ii2 a LOT this episode. to rid himself of his guilt regarding that time, he necessarily has to delegitimize the hatred he felt towards balloon then, thus also ridding balloon of his guilt. he expresses this all vaguely, choosing to remember ii2 fondly and saying off-hand that its baggage should be laughed off -- implying that balloon has been forgiven. reasonably, balloon is happy that nickel seems to actually believe he's changed for the better, so initially this makes him happy.

of course, though, it becomes clear that nickel just wants to shove his own actions under the rug, and balloon reasonably gets pissed off. nickel treated balloon and suitcase like complete garbage in ii2, and balloon clearly hasn't forgotten that.

"it keeps things easy." it keeps things easy to roll with the punches, to endure nickel's abuse and accept his sudden friendship. note, also, that nickel is still placing the blame on balloon: he's saying that balloon didn't want to "make things better", as if nickel and balloon ever having a rift was entirely balloon's fault, and his problem to fix.

and as we can see, nickel still hasn't fully forgiven balloon for ii1. as i've discussed before, nickel seems to secretly feel incredible guilt about how he treated balloon in ii2 (which is why he goes to such lengths to repress the whole memory of it) -- but that guilt is about the way in which he expressed his disdain and distrust of balloon, not those opinions themselves, nor the motivations for them. this is all very interesting, then -- if he still believes balloon can't change from his old, bad self, why did nickel start being friends with him at all?

i think a large part of it is his projection onto balloon. nickel sees himself in balloon: someone who screwed up big-time and isn't able to become a better person after that (according to nickel). we tend to gravitate to people similar to us, after all. i wouldn't be surprised if nickel was also trying to overcompensate for his hostility towards balloon in ii2 by being very friendly with him in ii3, thereby helping him forget that he was ever hostile to him at all.

the most fascinating thing to me about balloon and nickel's relationship is how impersonal it is for balloon. he seems to value what nickel's affection represents rather than nickel himself -- and it represents that he's been forgiven. anyone who saw balloon and nickel's conflict in ii2, which was a product of balloon's nastiness in ii1 and nickel's subsequent inability to forgive that nastiness, would likely come to accept balloon and forgive him themselves if they then saw nickel being friendly with him -- because nickel is the epitome of the ii contestants' anger at him, and nickel of all people (seemingly) forgiving him would imply that he's really changed. the relationship is almost entirely a symbol in that regard. i don't think balloon has much residual guilt about is actions in ii1 -- he feels like he's adequately addressed them and changed -- but nickel having a positive relationship would be helpful in affirming that stance and proving to himself that he really has changed.

i wouldn't say it's cruel of balloon to keep this relationship going on under that pretense, but it is backhanded, and it helps explain why he was ever willing to accept nickel's friendliness unchallenged. he wanted his crimes to finally be laid to rest once and for all, and keeping nickel on good terms with him would let that happen. people would finally shut up about it. up until now, nickel wasn't explicitly denying his past cruelty towards balloon anyway, so balloon would be able to ignore that he neglected to ever bring it up; now, though, nickel is denying not only what he did to balloon but also to suitcase, which balloon is not able to tolerate. now that he's confronted nickel about that though, nickel snaps back with his condemnation of what balloon did in ii1, thereby uprooting the social stasis balloon had been able to maintain precisely because nickel refused to bring anything up before. in a way, then, balloon is purposefully shoving the past under the rug, just like nickel is.

we can't forget, though, that nickel has his own complex about fearing that he's incapable of change and incapable of forming positive, genuine relationships with people. balloon is essentially revealing that, in a way, he wasn't really friends with nickel -- at least not in the way nickel wished and fooled himself into thinking they were. if balloon truly were friends with nickel like that, then that would mean that balloon had forgiven him for his cruelty in ii2, and perhaps that he really has changed... but no. balloon hasn't forgiven him. why should he? nickel never apologized -- and given how he never apologized, it's impossible that he could've changed anyway: nickel doesn't want to apologize because that means addressing his guilt and allowing himself to feel it. he wants the forgiveness to be handed to him on a silver platter, without him having to do all of the painful work, and he's incredibly upset when it isn't. he wants to not be a bad person, but in order to do that, he has to feel like one, and he really doesn't want to. he hates who he was and doesn't want to associate with it at all.

(note how it's the suitcase robot who says "you can say sorry" when nickel says that nothing can be done about making things better...)

there's clearly an immeasurable amount of resentment these two have been harboring for each other throughout this season, which they'd only been hiding for the sake of fooling themselves into thinking they've changed (nickel) or thinking that others think they've changed (balloon). and now that they've let themselves explode with anger, partly related to the lies they'd been telling themselves falling apart, they yell at each other and balloon drops nickel down a hole!

ah, balloon and nickel's relationship... it's bizarre, it's toxic, it's convoluted, it's shady, and it's incredibly sad. i'm glad i'm revisiting ii3, especially this episode -- i used to be utterly baffled by nickel's writing, particularly in spring on the breakfast, but now it makes complete sense to me. also, i used to think balloon was entirely the victim in this relationship, while now i know that he has his own faults and own baggage in that regard. it's weird -- they hate each other, but at the same time they're dying to be liked by one another. god i love these freaks...

[communistkenobi]

I had to read Durkheim over the summer and was completely unprepared for how racist he is. I mean I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that a French guy in the 1930s loved to talk about skull shapes but for a man credited as a founding father of sociology I thought he would have something slightly more interesting to say. like it’s pretty unfair putting him next to Weber and Marx when his biggest theoretical contribution seems to be “class conflict in society will decrease as the European cranium produces more laws that make it illegal to get mad at your boss”

[swordmaid]

wren 🪶 ・ entertainer ・ bard/fae warlock ・ absolutely mid at everything 👍

his lore is linked to yves (he’s her dream guardian!!!)

[juaneloriginal]

silly thingy

@blackkatdraws's sillies

[stagefoureddiediaz]

Sorry for the terrible zoomed in screen grab but hello buck in a white tee yet again!! This is starting to get worrying and interesting in equal measure!

So white tee above from new bts but he’s also been in a white tee in every other bts non uniform costume we’ve seen - except 2

We have this one

This one

And this one

The two non white tee featuring costumes are this one

And golf Buck

First up - lots of white shoes - which means scenes about Buck and bucks journey to find happiness.

Then we have the fit of all of these costumes. With the exception of the golf one and sort of the vertically striped shirt one (and possibly the brown shirt one but as I can’t see much of it it’s hard to tell), they are all what I would class as loose fit and oversized. Which is not Buck at all. I wrote a lot about bucks clothes being intentionally too small in previous seasons - and how it represented him not fitting in his skin and being constrained and confined by his life. And that held true because as soon as his bisexuality was unlocked he was wearing clothes that fit him better and we saw him wearing jeans for the first time since season 1 (technically he was wearing jeans before but they were all coloured jeans - black or grey etc, but now we have him in proper indigo coloured jeans which is what I mean).

Now we’re in the territory of oversized and ill fitting. And that is pretty telling - especially in tandem with the change in colours we seem to be seeing for buck. The dark blue jacket and the greyish striped shirt are the most in keeping with bucks previous wardrobe we have seen. Everything else - including the coloured trousers is out of his wheelhouse.

Buck has pretty much always worn much bolder brighter colours - more in the jewel toned spectrum.

But now we have all these browns greens and tan colours and that’s very interesting to me. The choices made for buck for this season is starting to paint a picture.

The tan of the new bts and all the washed out and lighter greens are much more colours we associate with Athena and Eddie than Buck. They all point to the idea of conflict and combat as their colours associated with the military (which is why Eddie and Athena wear them - Athena because the police are a type of military in a literal sense)

Tan as a colour has several meanings but the two key ones that I think are most likely connected with buck are growth and healing. The lighter almost khaki greens - which have brown undertones are connected to blending in or going under the radar. There is also the meaning of growth, renewal and rebirth attached to it as a colour as well. These are all themes that seem to be likely arcs for buck this season. His bisexuality awakening g can be seen as a moment of rebirth and therefore it is fitting g to see him in these colours. Growth healing and renewal also fit with the idea of him learning about himself and because I have my theories about Tommy as a narrative device, healing seems very likely an important aspect of bucks story as well.

As for the oversized nature of the clothes - I’ve talked about it before, but it’s implying buck doesn’t yet fit in his new skin - he’s unlocked this new part of himself and now he’s figuring it out and what it all means for him.

The oversized choice is about growth - he’s got room to grow into who he is - it’s an extension of his too small clothes constraining him and I’m expecting to see a couple of things happen over the season with the oversized element of his costumes. From early on I expect to see better fits in places and around people he’s comfortable with - so around the firefam. But I also expect to see the oversized clothes when he’s uncomfortable or around people he is wary or not comfortable with- which means Tommy and possibly on some occasions around Eddie or even Maddie and Bobby. Buck doesn’t know Tommy so this is expected - especially as Tommy is connected to the newest part of buck he’s discovered. This also does fit with my theory about Tommy being a manifestation of parts of buck that buck needs to deal with - in order to live himself and embrace who he is.

The other thing I want to talk about is how so many people are claiming buck is stealing Tommys clothes or dressing like him. I want to debunk this as a concept, because it really isn’t the case at al and it creates a false narrative about bucks clothing. Tommy has worn a khaki colour way once. That’s right just the once - and it was his first non uniform costume of s7. All of his other costumes have been reds, blues, greys, or dark greens. Much more in line with bucks normal colour palette and nothing like the colours we’re seeing buck in right now. I remain convinced the first costume is also meant to be a red herring and as 7x04 is from Bucks perspective it means that costume isn’t necessarily a true representation of Tommy - it’s coloured by his jealousy.

What I’m really intrigued by and interested in is the amount of white t-shirts. Buck wearing white spells trouble in his life and to have so much of it is rather alarming! What form the trouble is going to take we have no idea - beyond Gerrard. But it seems season 8 is not going to get off to the happiest of starts for Buck!

And that’s not even going into the blue - green of it all - which I don’t have time to get into tonight but may pick up on tomorrow if I have the time!