#all i know is capitalism sucks and i do not trust communism

[idylls-of-the-divine-romance]

Love that pastor who read Acts 2:44 and went "This is not a doctrine for socialism" lol

[usedpidemo]

Commissions version 2.0 (Rules and FAQ, plus some very important housekeeping).

Let's do this again.

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—————

Full transparency, I genuinely don't know how long I have left. My family and I have been going through some very difficult times lately, but especially financially. Our family business hasn't been doing well ever since the mall closed off the parking area where our shop resides, consequently reducing our exposure visibility to the general public. We don't have the capital to buy for marketing materials like posters and flyers. It's been a rough month for us sales wise. There's talks of our store having to shut down if this keeps getting worse before the construction may be completed sometime in 2025.

We're just barely getting by. We've had our power cut twice already because of late payments. We've lost running water once. Not to mention we're still behind on dues to the mall for letting us rent out the space, the suppliers, the employees working for us. There's so much we have to pay, and right now, our revenue is not enough. At this point, we're only banking on a miracle to save us from complete financial ruin. Hell, I don't even know if we can even afford basic necessities in the near future. This includes the internet and my education, which sucks because I'm so—so close to graduating and being able to help out in some shape or form.

I'm telling you all this because it means I'll be forced to let go of stuff that I'm genuinely passionate about. Finding a job in this economy is already fucking difficult for anyone, let alone in this country with horrible pay and inflated living costs. I don't wanna waste hours away at a thankless job I'm clearly not fit for, and I might as well spend that energy on something I have some experience in. I will deal with burnout when I get to that point; right now it's about making the most of whatever resources I have currently to live another day.

I am not requiring you to feel sympathy for me or asking for free money. I know that you have bigger priorities than to show care for some random person on the internet. But even just a reblog to spread the word is more than enough. I seriously cannot be here without your continued, unwavering patience and support even after three years doing this. I know I'm not the best, but I certainly am trying.

With that said, all my content will remain freely accessible regardless. If it's in my masterlist, it can be read. Thank you—thank you—so much for reading.

[bogkeep]

i remember the shift, when i went from being "some random kid online who likes to draw" to "popular fanartist within a small community". it was on the fan forum for a webcomic nearly a decade ago. i had been posting my art on tumblr for a couple years already, usually getting between 0 and 15 notes on each, with a couple exceptions here and there. as you can probably imagine, being an awkward queer and autistic teen had never made me feel particularly popular before. i wasn't really lonely, personally, though many of my peers are and were, but the idea of many people actively wanting to be my friend and thinking i was genuinely cool - that was incredibly novel.

i have always loved getting attention for my work and find people interested in what i have to say. like, who doesn't? it was a very fulfilling and inspiring experience when it started happening to me on a regular basis, to the point where i could expect it. i went from being constantly apologetic about how annoying i imagined myself to be to others, to feeling confident that at least some people were excited to have me around. absolutely revolutionary to realize that people weren't just pretending to like me, they liked me for realsies, and that putting myself out there and being sincere and genuine in my enthusiasm and interest was actually a positive trait many people valued. wild!!!!!!!!

when you come from a place like that, of course you try to be everyone's friend. that's the scarcity mindset. you have to hold on to every friendship ever offered to you because it's such a rare and precious thing and you don't know when or even if it might happen again. but if you get Popular, well, at some point you learn that you can only nurture so many friendships at once, and that you can't click with everyone. like, it only makes sense. but it sucks!! learning the necessity of rejecting people and letting them down is a harrowing journey, but one that must be made.

there's many deeply lonely people out there, especially online, a space of Connection. connections to other people are so good and necessary and being lonely is an awful thing to be. this means there's a lot of people who can't even imagine not wanting more friends, let alone not be constantly looking for some. it's always a bit of a tragedy when a Very Lonely Person tries to attach themselves to someone Socially Overencumbered, as that's highly unlikely to end satisfyingly for anyone involved.

anyway, i think capital f Fame is like that, but times a hundred thousand. it's deeply fascinating to me how Fame is treated as this deeply aspirational state when it's proven again and again to be a cruel and abusive mistress. like, i understand - don't we all want some attention, some validation, for someone to recognise us on the street with stars in their eyes, like OH you're the COOL PERSON who did the COOL THING and i want nothing more than a HUG and a SELFIE and also i made you this HAND MADE GIFT and PAINTED A PORTRAIT OF YOU... that's the dream, isn't it!! to be recognized for your skill, to be admired, desired! THAT'S WHAT EVERYONE WANTS, ISN'T IT.

but it isn't.

there's a limit to everything. there's a whole spectrum of Getting Attention and Validation between "literally everybody ignores you and everything you do" and "paparazzi follow you everywhere you go" - and i can promise that you can find a lot of fulfilment and joy on the lower end of that scale. it's difficult to explain sometimes, especially to people who get No Attention - it's like telling someone who is starving that the most expensive restaurant in town isn't really worth the hassle, a good affordable sandwich will make you so much happier, trust me. like maybe it's just personal preference and what i can personally tolerate! but i had merely a whiff, a crumb of what they serve at that place, and it's Not That Good. easy for me to say huh!!!!

i'm basically a nobody on the wider web, but i've still had my fair share of unpleasant stranger interactions both of the rude and overly familiar variations. i've been treated as a commodity rather than a person. i've been put on a pedestal and dragged through the mud by the same people. it kinda sucks!! and i don't want to tell people that they should never ever put themselves and their art out there because people might be cruel, because that shouldn't be the expectation! yet for some reason, it is!!!! people experiencing Fame have to deal with all kinds of inhumanely horrible things literally no human person is equipped to experience. many people say that's the price people pay for fame, but that's said by people who haven't experienced even a Fraction of the stochastic terrorism an Audience can do to you if they choose. not all attention is good attention.

i know none of this is a fresh new hot take. i know we all know stalking is unethical and traumatic. but i am still so fascinated by the divide between people who don't understand why anyone would reject any form of adoration and those who have to work very, very hard to keep their boundaries intact.

[agirlunfilteredsblog]

HOW TO PREP FOR COLLEGE/UNI ADMISSIONS 📚🎓📖

Hi girls!! Seems that many of you liked my tips and tricks for studying, so I figured I’d give you my advice on how to prep for college/university admissions. I’ll also link down below my post on tips for studying if you guys haven’t seen it yet!!

1. LEARNING YOUR PRIORITES

As much as we hate to admit it, colleges are looking for students that can perform well in an academic environment. For you to successfully demonstrate that, you need to have the grades. That means learning to prioritize school, no matter how much that sucks. I’m not saying that school should consume you either, all I’m saying is school should be one of your biggest priorities. If you’re trying to get into a competitive school, grades mean everything, so the higher the grade, the better the chances.

2. ENGAGING IN SOCIAL ACTIVITIES AT SCHOOL

I know that it’s hard sometimes to put yourself out there and join different clubs, but trust me, it helps tremendously with admissions. Showing that you can take initiative, proves that you’re a hardworking student. Although debate teams and student bodies are the most known school activities to join, there are so many others that don’t require so much public speaking. You could be part of a student journal team or found your own little club on something you hold dear to you. These little things may seem insignificant, but in the grand scheme of things, they can be worth a lot!

3. HAVING PASSION PROJECTS OUTSIDE OF SCHOOL

This is something highly achievable for anyone. We all have something we love and can capitalize on. Personally, it took me awhile to find the one thing that stuck, but once I did, it no longer felt like a task. Since I am someone especially sociable, I started volunteering at a rehabilitation hospital where the patients just wanted friends to talk to. I started going there regularly and it simply became part of my weekly routine. Once there, I noticed many of the patients were partly or fully deaf, so to be able to communicate with them, I started learning ASL. You see how easy it is to find small passion projects?? Beyond that, you can always start a blog here (like me hehe) on something you’re passionate on or a website!!

There are surely other things you can do, but these are the three things that really helped me during my admissions. I want to remind you all, that you can do all these things and still be rejected from your top school, but that is OKAY. Rejecting is only redirection and trust me, life has a path for you that is amazing. Sending you all the best luck for your admissions <3

all my love,

a girl unfiltered 💋

[amalgamezz]

About your aro post in your tags you said you don’t care for any loves (romantic, familial [<- I don’t feel that one too :D] etc.) does that go for friendships as well? Or are you more of a person who doesn’t care for connection at all? I hope I worded that right…

heya, thank you for this ask, and no worries, your wordings are fine! sorry, this will be a long one because my audhd demands that i should provide full contexts 😔

as i interacted and got to know more about aplatonic and loveless communities, i found a certain solidarity/kinship with them. ever since i was in elementary, friendship has never been something i actively seek myself. i still got along well with classmates. my relationships with coworkers are chill and good. i have mutuals and friendly acquaintances here and there to talk about our shared interests. i try to maintain a good relationship with my family because capitalism sucks ass, especially for single people. in a way, this, too, is how i practice relationship anarchy — to give each casual and non-casual relationship i have a function and learn to appreciate them instead of putting the burdens on one or two committed relationships. for me, friendship has become a label for happy coincidences born out of those relationships after long and frequent interactions, if both parties desire a name for it. i have some positive connections with friends who i trust with my life, and i would mourn intensively should i lose them, but tbh, im not sure if i would personally call it "love".

i was lovequeer before i am loveless. im actually still considering myself lovequeer in a way that i strongly believe that love doesnt have to be romantic and that no kind of love is superior to the other. my personal relationship with love is complicated, but mostly sour. as an aro, i am a fierce defender of non-romantic loves. it annoys me greatly when people casually throw amatonormative phrases such as "there is no platonic explanation for this" or "friends dont do that" around. it is usually a hopeless and lonely battle because people dont really care about "not all loves are romantic" until you reject the concept of love altogether. more often than not, it becomes a gotcha towards aros who express their frustration with obsession over love by society.

this frustration, too, drew me closer to the concept of lovelessness. lovelessness means different things to different people, but for me, its the rejection of love being a superior, necessary, or moral trait of a human being. i had a knee-jerk reaction at first when i learned the term, but the more i read about it and introspect, the more it resonates with me. i remember how my parents hit me when i was a kid. i remember my aunt chewed me out in front of my entire family for expressing my wish to stay single and childless. i remember being driven to tears as my dad sneakily threw out a gift from my friend that i hung on my car and replaced it with a rosary. when asked why, they said because they wanted what was best for me. because they wanted me to be happy. because they loved me. it all sounded contradictory, but i have been with them long enough to know that they were being genuine. i dont wanna think its not a real love because i dont find it useful and more often than not, it only makes me question myself if i have been a fair evaluator and get guilty when i think im not. instead, i just have to accept that good intentions dont always bring good outcomes. their love is real, but its like a sun that burns and hurts more intensively the closer i get to it. i started coming to terms with love being a neutral but strong emotional motive that drives humans to do something — just like pleasure, joy, anger, sadness, envy, etc. whether you do good, bad, or neither because of it solely depends on you. i can acknowledge that they love me, but that doesnt mean they should be able to use it as an excuse to hurt me. this applies to all kinds of love.

i have nothing against love or the people who cherish it, but as i start dissecting and understanding more about love, it becomes less and less significant in my life. i start to realise that i dont need to love someone to bring them happiness or do good for them. i dont need to love my friends to care for or emotionally support them when they need it. i dont need to love my mutuals or even strangers to consider donating for their groceries. i dont need to love the victims of war to condemn the hideous crimes committed against them by some certain govts. love doesnt make me human. i just simply am, and im happy with the loveless relationships/connections i currently have.

[owlbean]

I haven't seen the movie or the show and i haven't read any of the other books in the series, but i read Lestat, that's the only one i read, not even IWAV and all the details ppl post about and the gifs i see is just hilarious bc to me it's like gossip about Lestat, like oh he did that? Fr? Armand did what now?

The Vampire Lestat (the sequel to IWTV) is a supremely goofy book but it is the leadup into Queen of the Damned, which is EVEN GOOFIER!!! And it only gets crazier from there trust me. Lestat goes to Atlantis.

Thing about all these books is yes they are all my babygirls but also they're all just the WORST people. Louis sucks. Lestat sucks. Armand sucks. I want to personally kill Marius with a hammer I don't even like him. Everyone is lying and doing awful things to each other constantly. Being a terrible person is just part of what makes you being a vampire and you just have to deal with it.

Sometimes the show isn't as good at communicating this however and so the difference between book readers (who know what's coming) and non-book readers (who have to go on what the show has given them) makes for very strange fandom discourse. That's not a dig at show only watchers btw like I said the show can occasionally fumble the ball and cause a misunderstanding. Armand's capital-h Hatred of Claudia (for slightly different reasons in show vs book but.) vs Lestat's regret over Claudia (in his own Lestat way) is one of them. I saw it but I knew it was there going in. Also because characters are aged up and a lot of characters' ethnicities have changed it means that some things just take on VERY different meanings in the show (everyone is so fucking racist to Claudia at all times always holy fuck)

Anyway shout out to Gabrielle. I love your tboy swag Gabrielle.

[ablednt]

Anti-tone tag posts drive me insane because people cannot get it into their fucking heads that if tone tags don't work for them then they're just... not for you?

They're accessibility tools for the people using them and also show that people can ask them about their tone without judgment or accusations. In a climate where neurotypicals AND neurodivergent people with ulterior motives/who plan on capitalizing off of NT's ableism often repeatedly try to trip people up and misrepresent them whilst simultaneously aggressively punishing any attempt to Understand, tone tags are a matter of self-protection and accessibility.

For that reason I struggle to trust people who make fun of/heavily criticize tone tags overall because in my experience when people want to restrict the ways with which I can tone a message they're doing that because they want the power to interpret whatever they want, doing it because they hate giving people the power to decide for themselves what their tone is.

Tone tags aren't going to help every single ND person in existence, no accessibility aid works for Literally Everyone Ever.

Imagine if (and no doubt this has happened before/continues to happen) someone was posting about how unnecessary, faddish, cringy, and infantilizing wheelchairs are when plenty of people can walk and plenty of disabled people can walk in crutches or with a cane. Wheelchair users are suddenly blamed for having these needs, told they're "giving up" or mocked and it fucking sucks and it also becomes that much harder to get a wheelchair because now you're fighting with everyone on whether or not it'll even help you.

tone tags are the same. No one is telling you to have them all memorized and use them as a default and never question anyone or anything. What we're saying is that for many of us it is not a possibility to always write out exactly what we mean, tone tags give you an asking point and give us a defense for when people inevitably try to take everything we say woefully out of context like what nearly almost always fucking happens to neurodivergent people.

If you don't know what a tone tag means. just fuckin ask it isn't that hard, copy and paste this if you want "what does [tag] mean? idk that one" this is normal people who use tone tags with each other will just ask each other what a tag means and get a simple answer. If anyone gives you shit for not knowing a tone tag already then they suck, don't represent the whole of the ND community, and aren't genuinely trying to ease communication. the point is that you're supposed to ask if you don't know. It's truly not that hard come on

[scraps-pile]

I also want to tie this directly to the prevalence of online censorship.

literally, on this very website, you used to be able to post porn. and there was also a pretty intuitive tagging etiquette for posting porn. and this was largely enforced by the community... there was no real consequence to posting untagged porn, other than people avoiding your blog because they couldn't find it or filter it. tumblr now has "community labels" but that's laughable compared to the social etiquette that we ALREADY FUCKING HAD.

literally, if you didn't tag your post as #nsfw #femdom then the femdom enjoyers couldn't FIND your post, and the people who didn't want to see it couldn't BLOCK that post. even the term "not safe for work" is meant to be a tag you can block when you're at your job, and don't want to be seen looking at cock or something. and it doubles as a way to find stuff.

and what this meant, was that tweens and teens could exist on the same website as porn, and not feel like the mere presence of porn was a threat to them. because it was opt-in.

sure, there was a chance you'd run across something by accident, but you didn't feel like anyone was making you look at it on purpose, and you could unfollow/block anyone you wanted.

but I cannot overstate how important it was, that you could coexist peacefully with porn, without having to engage with it. it was a choice that you were given. and for tumblr's age demographic at the time, it was important to develop that sense of maturity around navigating the internet.

when that choice is taken away from all of us, that's when porn seems threatening. the implication is that it cannot be trusted to exist at all, or it will hurt you. so it's been eradicated, for your safety. you shouldn't have any reason to want to see it anyway.

for adults, this kind of attitude is extremely patronizing. where are adults allowed to be adults, and view adult content, on the internet? and I think it's also right to point out that, in the absence of sanctioned and effective filters, people will try to find a way around it by not filtering anything. when you punish people for labeling their nsfw, by decreasing its visibility, or flagging the post and not letting it exist at all... people are then disincentivized from labeling it at all.

but think about the attitudes described in the rest of this post. normal adults are used to interacting in an age appropriate manner with kids. in their private lives, these adults could have wild kinky sex, but any child they interact with will not ever know that. literally, parents can have sex with each other, and keep that part of their lives private, and away from coworkers, in-laws, and their own children... that kind of self management is SO NORMAL in an adult's day-to-day life.

to ban all interaction between children and adults implies that zero adults can be trusted to do this, and no child is safe as long as any adult is present. this same thing applies online... especially in spaces that allow the option of porn. kids have a tendency to get curious about stuff that you're trying to keep them out of, and get into stuff they shouldn't. if online porn posting is super decentralized and unsanctioned, then you lose that sense of large scale community, and all the protections that come with it. now, if a child comes across a seedy adult somewhere on the internet, there's less likelihood that a normal adult will be around and clock that as a red flag, or try to stop it.

this is what happens when you take a hatchet to online communities that were working just fine. you end up with communities that don't work anymore. if any of this paranoia is justified, it's because the conditions for it to be justified were created.

(also, this is 100% the fault of corporate censorship, because businesses want a squeaky clean PG-13 platform on which to advertise. capitalism will suck the humanity out of all human existence before it will ever give you the right to an ounce of pleasure, or the warmth of human connection. never forget that.)

Sometimes when people on the Internet are like "ADULTS CAN NEVER INTERACT WITH MINORS IT'S CREEPY" I remember how, at 12, back in 1997, I was on the Witchvox forums with people ranging from me to people in at least their 50s, and no one there was ever a creep to me, no one ever made me feel uncomfortable or asked for my personal info, and when I finally broke down after a particularly brutal day of bullying at school and posted about it they were the first adults I'd ever met in my entire life who told me the bullies were the problem and it was okay to be angry about it.

Kids need to interact with adults who will listen to them.

[eyeballtank]

Some random political takes.

>Credit card companies are on a crusade against adult art but barely do anything about their services being used for actual illegal shit.

Shout outs to idiots who said shit like "it's a private company, they can do whatever they want" to whenever someone they didn't like got screwed over by companies.

"Private companies" don't exist, they're just an alternate form of government.

And don't be surprised if they affect even you.

2:

Going back to people drawing like the TF2 Medic punching Hitler, doesn't TF2 lore suggest he could've worked with Nazis?

Even then, didn't he sell the souls of his mates to the devil?

And aren't all the mercs psychos anyway?

Like again, it's the difference between hating Nazis in a moral way vs political way.

One actually acknowledges the horrors of the holocaust and WW2, which means you'd also have to acknowledge the horrors of others.

The other almost lines up with "I disagree with you, therefore you're Hitler" and specially in an age where everyone is already crazy over politics.

At least if you drew BJ and Doomguy, it makes sense since they're both heroic and one fights Hell.

How long until people draw characters like Griffith or George Reitman from Mai-chan's Daily Life lol.

But ALSO: We're in an age people treat fictional characters like real people.

So if people already bitch about fictional characters being "heckin problematic", what's the point of drawing them killing real life monsters when by your own logic, you might as well put them in the same room?

3:

Because Communists fought Nazis, people forget that they're not that tolerant either.

Like yeah, Marx did believe racism was something Capitalism used, so workers never got together to fight back.

But Che Guevara hated black people and Castro was homophobic.

There could be a Commie leader who says shit like "we need more workers, therefore we need to reproduce and only one orientation can do that" or "it's clear which race works the hardest".

Like is it a coincidence that Communism showed up in China and Latin America, when you consider how racist those countries are?

Maybe I am very wrong about this, but it also depends on what kinda info I can trust.

4:

"I used to have an anti SJW phase but I grew up" by saying this, you're admitting to adopt modern lefty beliefs for the same reason why you had an anti SJW phase to begin with: Trying to fit in and chase beliefs for social benefits and convinience.

No actual beliefs, you were always a sheep.

5:

Saw a guy making a cheap horror game with some half naked girl model and there were gamedevs quote tweeting him, by shitting on him.

First of all, why not retweet the people you want to get attention and ignore the other guy?

People are going to think you're jealous over someone that otherwise could be overlooked if not for you.

Second, he's called a grifter: Does that mean he's FAKING being part of a certain group you already hate?

Because when it comes to people pointing out "corporations pretending to be woke" and the like: At what point does it matter to bring up grifters, if you already hate a certain group for their beliefs, regardless if they're sincere about it or not?

You already put "guy who hates when a Japanese game gets censored" and "Alt right grifter" in the same room, even though there's also the narrative of "it's the rightoids that are trying to take your games away".

Like yeah, Grummz sucks but by calling him a grifter means you can't put the "whiny gamers" in the same room if said gamers still have actual taste/preferences and look into the stuff they genuinely like while also knowing Grummz sucks ass.

Anyway, a guy on Twitter said that a lot of RW guys don't actually watch anime and the right wing dudes quote tweeting him are unironically proving his point.

Wow, you posted Frieren: Would you care about that series if not for people whining about it and the race discourse?

6:

A bit of a realization is that sometimes, lame nerds do know good stuff (Even if they hide under layers of irony or come up with "consuming the media critically" excuses to act whiny about it) while the nerds that try to be cool end up having basic taste.

Could be a case of one group being self hating nerds with Troll's Remorse and the other being a "tourist" that tries to be cool and sometimes gets certain ideas like "artists people like were weird and that's ok" but don't actually explore interesting stuff.

[oolong-strawbby]

Mulling over Singapore culture & why it is lacking.

…

Why does heritage matter?

Because the past informs today’s culture.

Even if we can’t protect the exterior of our heritage (Joo Chiat shophouses, temples and jungles) we must at least archive the history & stories of these places to benefit future generations, and pay respects to elders who thanklessly helped our society thrive.

So why does culture matter, and for that matter, what is culture?

Culture is a blah blah set of social behaviours, food, art, literature, traditions, blah blah.

More importantly, culture defines our values. What we uphold morally, how we treat one another on the street, how we raise children — a society without culture is not a society at all.

That’s just a gathering of automatons. Humans without humanity.

So how does this tie into community? (and my fav C slur — capitalism)

Capitalism is destructive to culture, because its only value is in profitability. Not instilling a sense of unity, values or art for its own sake.

If anything, capitalism is the antithesis of community, because it breeds competition, paranoia, bigotry and the inability to trust others.

Under this system, I do not win if my fellow man wins. I must be a loser if my neighbours find success or happiness.

Everything is viewed through the lens of transaction.

So how can we help? We get back to our own roots, we discover how the past used to live and that there are alternatives, that we did not always rely on soul-sucking apps, megacorporations and exploiting poorer countries for what we needed, but each other.

The empire of capitalism is not easy to imagine collapsing, but luckily it defeats itself. It is a self-eating dog that doesn’t know its tail is in its mouth, even after it’s been chewed to the bone.

All we can do as artists is to remind people why we want to be alive.

It is also important to remember that art is not enduring, or even valuable for its own sake, it is just expression. Expression is neutral. The conditions in which art truly thrives is by support, feedback and love.

Art is never created in a void. We are always trying to reach someone, to know we are not alone. That is fundamental to all creation. It’s why we’ve created vaccines, medical hygiene, the possibility of flight, the typewriter, the fire.

Sure, not all inventions were created out of selfless love for humanity. Some were for prestige, others for militia. But they were never kept secret because their creators knew that it served a greater purpose, and helped bring humanity forward in some way, be it in the sciences, medicine or arts.

But you can’t instil this sense of inventiveness and innovation without some archival of our past. Be it the successes or mistakes we forged along the way. To erase that is equivalent to enforcing state-level amnesia on an entire population.

Each generation seems to be becoming duller and duller, because we’ve lost the value of knowing what came before us, and the alternatives that could exist.

(Of course, can’t argue to uncensor Singapore’s communist roots in my government-orientated school project can I).

[seadeepy]

I’m feeling lonely, I don’t have many close friends and I feel bad about it. I’ve been through many seasons of my life, where I had more or less close friends I talked to, and right now I don’t have much (especially in the city I live). I don’t know what to do - I’ve been trying to make friends but it’s such a slow process and I feel discouraged. I just want to have more community and joy in my life through connecting with others.

Did I send this anon ask to myself and then forget? But honestly, anon, I'm in a really similar situation. I just moved away from home for grad school, and so I'm simultaneously struggling with maintaining long-distance communication with my close friends and trying to make new friends in my new city. It really sucks that most things like moving jobs or moving cities force you into both those situations at once.

Making friends in adult life is so fucking hard, dude. There's all those articles about how it requires spending a certain number of hours with people, and I think it just boils down to how little free time we have under capitalism. If you only talk to someone over lunch once a week, it'll take a long time to build deep trust and affection.

Idk if you're someone who prefers IRL friendships or is more comfortable with people online, but either way, my advice is the same -- find shared activities. I can't do small talk, and it makes the first stages of forming friendships kind of excruciating, so I've had much more luck with things like fandom servers on Discord and playing D&D. You're both doing something you enjoy, and you're doing it together, and that gives you something to talk about and accelerates friendships like you wouldn't believe. Even watching a TV show together and talking about it counts tbh, but so does going to the beach or a museum or even Costco together.

If you're not sure who to invite to that kind of thing, or are looking for larger communities, I think social events like book clubs, craft nights, recreational sports, and music groups are also solid IRL activities that bring you into contact with people who share your interests.

And lastly, one of the best things I've been practicing is giving more love to people who reflect it back to me. I only have so much time and energy, so putting it into relationships where the other person's also trying is much more rewarding than pining for people whom it's hard to keep contact with, regardless of which people I'd "prefer" to be close to or even whom I care about the most. That means I text people who actually text me back, and make plans with people who also invite me to stuff occasionally. It's not a value judgment on those people or our relationships -- it's a self-care strategy, and it's been a very necessary change in how I think about friendship.

Anyway, these are things I've been trying myself, when I can muster up the time and energy. On my busier weeks, sometimes all I can do is go to lunch/dinner with someone, just to keep that thread of connection intact. Or text them links I think are relevant, or just muse about small things that have happened that day.

It still takes time, but I think some strategies definitely accelerate the process. I'm sorry you're lonely, anon, and I really feel you on how intimidating/discouraging the whole thing is.

[stephenjaymorrisblog]

Argentina’s New Presidente

Javier Milei Is a Phony

Stephen Jay Morris

11/12/2023

©Scientific Morality.

            You should know that it is bad enough that most Americans are geographically challenged. But when it comes to politics? A big, fucking, “Duh!” Conservatives depend on peoples’ stupidity. Thus, there are certain nouns not commonly used by them. When it comes to political vocabulary, Americans are Igonorantia. The Democratic party, for decades, never uttered the term, “fascism.” Now, in the year 2023, you can’t shut the cretins up! In the 50’s and 60’s, you couldn’t stop hearing the noun, “communism,” thanks to the idiotic Conservatives. They are alarmists and will always be alarmists. They are constantly trying to alarm the public. They also love those who suffer from misoneism. The name of the game is obscurantism. That is what anti-intellectualism is. Stupid people are easy to control. Why do you think conservatives are against public universities? They tell the white, working-class and white middle-class masses that being humble and docile to authority is the way God wants them to be. “Let authority do the thinking for you. Just take care of your family, pray to God, and leave the government to the experts.” I have stated this fact umpteenth times.

            The American people are inherent parrots. They repeat every new, trendy phrase they hear. How many times have you heard a Millennial use the phrase “I mean?”  Well, now there is a new term being introduced to the vast American people by corporate media. That term is “Anarcho-Capitalism.” It is abbreviated as “An-Cap.” Question: How many Americans will seek out the definition of “Anarcho-Capitalism?” Answer: About 2% of the population. I am one of the 2%.

            So, what does this have to do with Argentina’s new president, Javier Milei? Vocabulary is significant to him. It’s how he brands himself. When seen on news reels, he is gesticulating like a court jester. You’d think he was fucking, Abbie Hoffman, clowning around! It is all false imaging created to appeal to the plebeians of Argentina. Newsreels show footage of him campaigning with a chainsaw for a prop, and spouting the same, old, tired rhetoric heard decade after decade. “Cut government!” “Government is the problem!” “Don’t trust the government!” “The government is bad!” What the conservative’s message really is, is “We hate liberal government! We love conservative government!” Well, if they hate government so much, then why are they running for political office? If the conservatives really hated government, they would be true Anarcho-Capitalists. Why does Milei identify as that? Because of its esoteric appeal to the Millennial intelligentsia. Hell, he is not even close to being a Libertarian! When you say you are an Anarcho-Capitalist, you are saying that you want to abolish the government with the military and all its functions. Here is another fact: most An-Caps are atheists. When President Javier Milei says he is pro-life, he is taking a Theocratic position. Also, he wants Argentina to dollarize its monetary system; that is, convert to the American dollar. Now that doesn’t sound very anarchistic to me. Most anarchists want to abolish the monetary system.

            So, who is this Javier Milei, dumb ass anyway? He is another suck ass for American imperialism!  He is a flunky for Neo-liberalism. P.S., for centuries, the CIA has been supporting every Fascist regime that has popped up in South America! Every time the South American people voted for a Democratic Socialist president, the CIA overthrew the government. Now, the CIA has a new public relations scheme: they pretend to hate the MAGA movement. They pretend they are all classic liberals. They probably told Javier to call himself an An-Cap. Allegedly. I like speculating. In short, I don’t believe the media.

[lunarsilkscreen]

Management as a Job

Administrative positions, or management that is on the same level as every other employee, is a thing. They get paid the same, they do the same amount of work, the difference is; their job is to ensure smooth operations of a company. They fill positions, they rate on employees they don't work with (a level towards objectivity), they analyze systems and processes and work with other divisions to identify flaws in those processes.

Literally, management's job.

The things they can't do are job specific. Training employees, organizing workflows, and above that, producing which jobs have greater value or priority to be worked on.

Also management's job. (But Job specific, stuff you need experience in the field to properly identify)

So why do we need people above that?

Let's look at "treasurer" or CFO "Chief financial officer" their job, is to not embezzle the money, and to identify wasteful and non-wasteful spending. The first one is pretty easy I think, the second, however, requires industry experience and communication with the admin responsible for organizing purchases (and inter department communications.)

President or CEO (Chief Executive Officer) this job is to wear all the hats. You need extensive knowledge of all levels of operations to know what's brought to your desk can or cannot be executed.

At these levels however, there's certain tasks you can and cannot give. A president/CEO shouldn't be responsible for firing an individual, because they don't know enough about their day-to-day tasks, but the more broad command "downsize" can be given.

The problem in many cases is the compensation in which to perform the duties. If your goal is to save the company money, you should first identify what the larger economic impact is (are we hemorrhaging money because we really suck at budgeting, or are we being impacted by the broader economy?) In which case, would it be more prudent to take a defensive position and weather the storm, or would it be more prudent to let go of all the experience that knows how to run the day-to-day?

Or, should we cut-costs elsewhere... Perhaps, executive paychecks that could save the company the most money to weather the coming storm?

But if we do that, how can I trust that the treasurer won't just take everything he can get his hands on and run?

That's really what lawyers are for. To penalize people that do that. But small people, we can't afford that protection. That's why companies have legal divisions and people, on average, don't.

Another problem is how we the little guys interpret compensation. An executive might get hundreds of thousands in non-monetary value things. Stocks, Benefits (like health and dental, company car and chauffer, company chef, company paid dinners with the staff, gift cards they get from companies they work with in-lieu of cash)

We only read that the executive gets paid 8 figures. 8 figures in what? Chinese yuan? Corpocoin Digital currency? (Read: stocks without government protections) Delta airlines points?

Most everything in this world is given a monetary value, and the announced worth of a good, is how much a consumer or little guy has to pay for it. And I know, you're thinking "it's stuff that I have to pay out of pocket" and you'd be right. And we should be mad at them for their benefits we don't get.

But in some case, they can't just cut those benefits in a way that actually saves real spending. Perhaps, the company could sell those non-monetary goods on some kind of free-market system that competes with those prices. You know, like doing this thing I heard about called "capitalism".

When the going gets tough you gotta save money somewhere, right? Or, make money by selling things you don't wanna sell, maybe even for less than what they're worth.

I tried that one time, I was told "cash only" and then they were legally allowed to take everything I owned in excess of what I owed.

[wild-karrde]

Hope your travels went well this week!

Just wanted you to know how much I love your In Command re-write. 💙💙 It was such a great read to start with, but you are adding so much depth, development, and tension. I’m sure it hasn’t been easy to go back and rework so much of it, but WOW it’s been amazing! I’m sucked in all over again! Senna is the shit. Fisk needs to die slowly. And fucking Rex is a 👑 and I would die for that man.

And *squee* I’m so excited for the conference. The dance and subsequent shootout were always a highlight for me.

Anyways - no rushing or pressure. Just wanted you to know how much I’m enjoying the read and how grateful I am for your hard work and putting it out there for all us clone nerds to enjoy. 🤓 You’re amazeballs!

FRIEND I AM GIVING YOU ALL OF THE FOREHEAD KISSES/INTERNET COOKIES. I'm recovering from a sinus infection that came on after the trip, and this message has completely made my whole day (which has been long and filled with coughing/sneezing). It means everything to me that you're enjoying the IC rewrite. I know I keep saying it, but it has been so fun to revisit this (and I'm resisting the urge to go rework every fic now... although I don't think I'd do anything as extensive as this again). There are certain things I wasn't quite as happy with the first time around (chapter 8 being one glaring example), and I feel like I'm doing a much better job of communicating how Rex and Senna's relationship formed out of a mutual trust and respect that eventually grew into something more (despite their best efforts... I do love a good 'idiots in love' trope).

THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR THE KIND WORDS and OOOOOH BOY I have IDEAS about that week in the capital...

[yourtoradorasextendedwarranty]

I agree with the post that said,

"To these people, “Capitalism” is literally, not figurative, but literally defined as, “There was money involved”.

Because it's true. That is what these people think. The dumb part about it is that they seem to lack understanding and awareness that Capitalism is a system of economics. Where as we live in a Constitutional Republic.

The issue is, That's what we are SUPPOSED to be living under. However let's consider the following:

OR

Do those sound familiar? Sounds a lot like what's going on right now. And do either of those words say "Capitalism". They do not.

Long story short Capitalism is hanging on by a thread. And the Constitutional Republic in which we live is being decimated by powerful people with random aligning interests.

People need to stop simping for Communism and Socialism because they are basically asking for a worse version of both of these Corpo ideologies. If we lived in a Capitalist system, these corporations would never be "To big to fail". They'd fail, and be punished for failing. Not to mention the fact that banks would not be able to do whatever the F*ck they please. Because they'd know that if they screw up, they'd suffer the losses. And honestly? If banks get liquidated, the board of directors, the CEO, and the top brass in general should have to pay penalties to the customers if they can't get their money out. And if they can't reimburse every single customer, they should be stripped of almost their assets (specifically high end luxury items). At which time all of those assets would be sold off, and the government would come in and cover the rest of the cost. And all of the people who were involved would have their new income deducted from outside of livable funds until every last customer is paid off.

I don't care if this makes banking impossible. Don't f*ck around with peoples money. And for real, let companies fail. I know people will lose their jobs. Trust me, it sucks. But again, these companies need to be aware they are liable for bad business practices.

Also, Dissolve BlackRock, StateStreet, Vanguard, etc. On the crime of asset hording with intent to monopolize and jack prices up. And if there are no laws against that, there should be. (Also the insider trading at all three companies. Where they actually own select parts of one another. Again. This isn't capitalism. This is Corpo run bullshit.

Learn English communist morons.

Although I do tend to favor government policies supporting children, in what world is this a failure of Capitalism?

1. It should be funded through State/Local governments, not the Federal government.

2. It’s ultimately a failure of parenting (in most cases).

3. You’re literally complaining that the state is misallocating funding to societal needs.

[beesmygod]

who fills the pot holes in “lore olympus”?

the thing about criticism is this: you can absolutely think “too hard” about something intended to be light fare and the delicate balancing act of art criticism is about threading various needles to avoid as many retorts as possible accusing you of opening discussions in bad faith. one of the many ways to obliterate trust in your critical audience is to become so derisively nitpicky that your attempts to draw attention to the pre-existing holes in the setting or the structure of the story will look like petty sabotage. i recognize this is the risk im taking when i get set off by the existence of sports luxury vehicles within a fictional universe created entirely to cater to a specific sexual appetite. indeed, there is no type of pedantry more obnoxious than the sexual pedant.

BUT.

the work doesnt exist in a vacuum. if we’re going to be honest about the work’s intent (or, how the work’s intent explicitly reads to the audience), part of the fantasy is to be completely taken care of. i mean, who among us hasn’t dreamed of this, at least briefly. it’s one of the most fundamental of all human desires. but to be taken care of, in settings which are founded in capitalist societies (everyone groans at my shit), begs the obvious question: where is the money coming from?

author’s note so everyone knows im not insane (hahahaha): i’m not here to argue the virtues of communism over capitalism or imply that depicting capitalism favorably in your comic is a moral failing. it is not capitalism itself that i have a problem with (...in artistic depictions), it is the way that it is invoked within this comic specifically that bothers me; it demonstrates a terminal thread of thoughtlessness that threatens to unravel the entire setting, premise and moral ambiguity of what is being presented as a desirable fantasy. this element is the catalyst that sparks the degradation of the taboo into the unconscionable. 

look i’ll be up front: my primary motivation is that this comic sucks and im a hater. the anti-feminist overtones are their own kettle of fish but the runner up contender for most concerning (oooueerrrg, everyone is groaning again) element is the complete lack of class consciousness. look, i mean concerning in the sense of “why has none of this gone recognized by, like, anyone?” every time i show someone a real LO panel they react like i’m went out of my way to fuck with them in an ultra specific way. it has completely recreated the feeling of being the only person in my friend group watching riverdale, if riverdale were the crown jewel of the WB.

to strip the pretension from the phrase “class consciousness” and put it in plain text: the insertion of modern capitalism into the comic has necessitated the creation of an underclass to serve the gods (the focus of the comic). as a result, the comic has repeatedly needed to justify the abuse, exploitation and acts of dominance over the subjugated class in order for the main cast to remain sympathetic. the author is incapable of envisioning a world that does not operate on disparity, in spite of the immutable fact that the gods are the sole arbiters of seemingly infinite creation.

and i’m capable of comprehending that there are times when a work has grotesquely unlikable asshole protagonists on purpose. it could be argued that the fickle behaviors of the gods is SUPPOSED to be detestable and there are obviously times where that is the intended audience read. but this is not “succession” and the entirety of the work does not indicate that it is trying to create quiet commentary by inviting the audience to draw their own conclusions on the characters by simply presenting them with the truth of their actions and deeds. additionally, if the romantic hero also engages in that behavior and it’s unremarked on or encouraged by the author or the heroine, what is the intended audience read?

regardless, all this to say: i do not want to alter the content of the comic, but to verbalize how it reads to me as an audience member. the purpose of criticism is to demonstrate and encourage reflection and to help refine one’s own perceptions.

okay. right. the cars.

this is minthe. i could write 100000 more words about the treatment of her by the comic and, by extension, the author. her introduction is about as subtle as a brick: she serves as the evil whore foil to persephone’s virgin perfection. her introduction as hades’ randomly abusive, hyper-sexual, and cruel younger girlfriend is contrasted with persephone’s naivete, chastity, and sweetness. shes literally smoking a cigar and wearing lingerie. somehow she is not the hero.

like i said, there’s a lot to unpack with her but i need to stay on target. minthe is a nymph, one of many “beast races” (for lack of a better term) that populate olympus and fulfill menial tasks and jobs. for example, this guy runs a modeling agency.

a modeling agency that include car shows. or...dealerships. its not really clear. anyway: she is introduced to hades in a flashback through his brother zeus who sexually harasses her during her shift.

lol uh. or comes as close as he can without becoming objectively villainous instead of “rakish”. as a result, what plays out is all VERY schoolyard behavior.

he executes a 0/10 prank that still kills for some reason.

and then it happens. “it” isn’t a singular event limited to just the example im about to give. “it” is the complete undercutting of the dramatic and logical tension within the story and “it” happens with alarming frequency as the comic introduces more and more modern elements. each additional luxury vehicle or department story or cell phone comes with the artist being forced to depict the people (or in this case, beast races) providing those services. the author cannot imagine a world where luxury is not predicted on service or a product, even or especially when the existence of the service or product does not make sense.

back to “it”...hades poofs away:

if gods can poof and fly (as its been implied some or all of them can), what in the hell is the purpose of the luxury vehicle on olympus? the beast races are sure as shit not buying them as they are explicitly the working class in every single one of their appearances. what does it run on? who pumps the gas? who services the cars? the streets of olympus have been paved so that cars can be driven so this would suggest the city’s infrastructure was centered around the use of vehicles. does he hire someone to drive him around in it, despite the fact that he can teleport? he and persephone clearly use it to get around even though she can fly. these cars are so successful despite having an extremely limited number of buyers, they make enough money to hire booth babes all day explicitly so they can be sexually harassed by the men (of a superior magic immortal race) buying the cars.

why does an entire seemingly unnecessary industry exist within the confines of the universe?

all of the above questions are overthinking a basic logistical problem with the setting for anyone with a moral center: in order to be served, one must have servants. the entirety of the universe in LO is constructed around not a modern re-imagining of the ancient myth, but instead a lazy and depressing hodge-podge of various products and physical items the author places great value on as status items in the real world. and, sadly, this is not as a bit within the universe. this isn’t setting up any message other than the central one of the comic: love and worth can be quantified with a dollar amount.

hades’ department store (staffed entirely by beast races who are delighted and eager to serve their master) offers a purse that two beast race women drool over, only to be informed:

this scene has a direct and obvious purpose: through it, we establish that hades’ store caters to the ultra-ultra-rich. this is a level of rich that is unobtainable to anyone except the pantheon of gods, whose unique abilities maintain the fabric of reality and thus set the terms for the world they unilaterally control. at best, minthe, a nymph, experiences a fraction of this wealth when sugaring for hades. on the other hand, persephone is the heiress to a cereal empire (who is eating the....?.........you know what dont even get me started on that whole thing) so she is all but assured to be independently wealthy even if she was temporarily without funds during certain events of the comic.

back to the purse: hades and persephone arrive at his own department store so that she can have a restorative shopping montage. she learns a heart-warming lesson about how its okay to be rich in what i think is one of the most gratuitous and absolute dog-brained moments of the entire fucking comic, thus far, including the part where persephone gets big and accidentally steps on (real, human, ancient greek) people and has to go on the lam. her accidental manslaughters evidently require a tribunal and a trial of her peers, which is odd when contrasted with the justice meted out on the beast races indiscriminately and unilaterally by individual gods who act as judge, jury, and executioner.

granted these are not the nice gods (i can think of an event with demeter, persephone’s confusingly controlling mother, specifically, as seen above), but there’s an echo of this behavior when hades bullies two beast race women into divulging information about persephone. in one example, a woman purchases a hair comb from a pawn shop, ignorant that it was a gift from hades and persephone is the one who pawned it for emergency funds. when hades shakes her down and demands where she stole the comb from, she directs him to the pawn shop and he just...takes it. to give it to persephone again. whether or not she was made whole or is even okay with this is completely inconsequential to the author but left me, the reader, in a total lurch. the complete disregard for addressing this within the narrative is less shocking when taken into total account with everything else ive been talking about.

the sequence in which hades takes her on a shopping spree to both improve her mood and express his love was too grotesque for me on every conceivable level. it is not just the shockingly antiquated “women b shoppin!” stereotype presented as a healing process, but the open and shameless conflation of money and love, net worth and self-worth. what possible message could come from this except to reinforce that within the fictional universe of LO, it is the place of the lesser to fawn over what persephone is ultimately entitled to. it is her birthright as the protagonist/self insert and as a literal goddess who determines the creation of food...and nymphs. the underclass. the gods are responsible for the creation of their servants.

the industries exist because they are 1:1 representations of or conductive to what the author considers to be a desirable luxurious fantasy. i do not think there is a more complex reason than that, as that is the reason why the entire comic exists: as a personal love letter to the author’s tastes and desires. and frankly, that’s the point of comics. ALL comic artists should succumb to this desire. what continues to vex and haunt me however is the complete lack of reflection occurring despite the author putting these elements together and presenting them for an audience who then lapped it up without questioning what, specifically, was appealing about this and why. it is by sheer accident that these elements combine together to paint an unflattering picture of a culture that has created artificial disparity for no apparent reason than personal gratification.

my question, is this:

who fills the pot holes on the roads built exclusively so that the gods can drive their luxury cars? why do they do it? to get hades some pussy????