#also he wants to invade other countries and shit which is like not how i view a republic

[sillylittleshows]

what’s really getting me is that trump is literally in the republican party and yet he wants to take away rights left and right????? what happened to the values we made this a republic for likeeee something something wanted rights from britain something something……….

[stillunusual]

The word "Nazi" has a specific meaning to normal people, but to vatniks and tankies it has five basic meanings…. "anybody I don't like" "anybody who disagrees with me" "anybody who's a citizen of a country that Russia wants to invade" "anybody who opposed or simply didn't want to live in one of the tyrannical regimes I simp for" "anybody who was oppressed or killed by one of my favourite mass murderers" EDITED TO ADD: a tankie clown reblogged this post and made some typically asinine comments, so I thought I'd elaborate a little bit…. Tankie clown: @well1x is either referring to the fact that a lot of the "deaths under communism" listed in "the black book of communism" (which gives us the 10 million number or whatever) are quite literally Nazis in WWII, or they're referring to the fact that the only people who have been made to deliberately suffer under communism have been literal Nazis and fascists (generally speaking)

Joining the tankie cult requires you to live in a delusional clown world and believe in a shit ton of made up (and often contradictory) nonsense that requires a considerable repertoire of mental gymnastics (and lies) to maintain….

@well1x is literally trying to claim that all victims of communism are "nazis and facists" (sic), which - back in the real world - is a very obvious lie. It's also a blatant example of victim blaming. For example, most of the millions of men, women and children who were robbed, raped, imprisoned, sent to the gulags, tortured, starved to death, executed or ethnically cleansed by Stalin's henchmen were not Nazis or fascists, and many were innocent of any crime. The vast majority of the population in Stalin's Soviet Union also had to put up with crippling poverty and backwardness, the brutal suppression of their religious and community life and the total lack of freedom.

Based on his comment, I doubt if the tankie clown has ever read "the black book of communism" and I'm also not sure why he mentions this book in particular, when there are thousands of others that thoroughly document the numerous crimes of the regimes tankies insist on being the useful idiots for, and I think it's safe to assume that he hasn't read any of those books either (in fact, I doubt if he's ever read any book whatsoever)…. Tankie clown: Karina then shows an image of (presumably) some kids in the Ukraine famine. This is completely unrelated though because this famine was not manufactured by the USSR as say the Irish famine was by the English. Can't really attribute natural disaster to "muh communism"

Again - a typical genocide-denying tankie lie.

Tankies generally start by saying that the holodomor was Nazi propaganda, and when you debunk that they claim it was just a natural disaster, and when that doesn't work they make up some bullshit about how millions of farmers who barely had enough to live on were wealthy kulaks who burned crops and slaughtered cattle (and therefore deserved to die). And when you point out that the red army actually broke into their homes and confiscated all their grain, every cow or chicken or any other food they had, and that the Soviet authorities blacklisted villages, sometimes purely for containing relatives of Ukrainian independence fighters, and prevented the villagers from leaving, shot them for even collecting ears of grain from the fields, and watched them starve to death - tankies will just deny it, or laugh, or pretend that millions of holodomor victims were all rich landlords (and therefore deserved to die) etc etc….

I've also never seen English people pretending that the Irish famine never happened, or claiming that the victims deserved it, or that it was a good thing, or that Britain should re-conquer Ireland. On the other hand, it's difficult not to notice Stalin's smooth-brained groupies swarming all over social media every day denying or justifying the holodomor and other crimes of Russia and the USSR, and hoping that Russia not only re-conquers Ukraine but also Finland, the Baltics, Poland and other countries it has invaded and occupied in the past.

There's no point trying to reason with tankies using facts, logic or common sense - and appealing to their sense of decency while they're simping for their favourite mass murderers is a complete waste of time. Tankie clown: Karina then says @well1x is defending imperialism(???), defending ethnic cleansing (which …what??), dreaming about labour camps and mass shootings (for Nazis yes plz), and does not do any praxis (based on?).

Yep - most tankie clowns claim to be communists while simultaneously embracing Russian fascism, supporting the imperialism of Russia’s mega-rich ruling class, mindlessly repeating the Kremlin's propaganda and cheerleading their war crimes. These morons seem to have no idea that the Russian Federation is an empire made up of many conquered states that Russia invaded, occupied and colonised in the 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, or that Russia's war against Ukraine is a brutal attempt to reassert control over one of its former colonies. Russia's history of imperialism is at least as bad as that of any western country - and they're still doing it in the 21st century.

And I have seen countless examples of tankies speaking openly of wanting to mass murder their ideological enemies (or people they don't like) - because they also delude themselves into believing that if their revolutionary dreams ever came true, they'd be the ones doing the arresting and killing, despite the fact that in a real revolution they'd be about as much use as a fart in a spacesuit. They also have no idea how their small dick energy is somehow going to bring capitalism to its knees, which they'd inevitably end up crying about if it ever actually happened in reality.

Most of them are complete losers who spend the majority of their time sitting in their bedrooms huffing their own farts while reading tankie fan fiction online. Tankie clowns also claim to be against western imperialism and capitalism, despite living comfortable lives in western capitalist countries and owing everything they have to capitalism, including the freedom to use their capitalist smartphones or laptops to post anti-capitalist tantrums on social media platforms owned by western capitalists (thus helping these western capitalists to maximise their profits).

This is generally the sum total of a typical tankie's - ahem - "revolutionary" activity.

The vast majority of tankie clowns wouldn't dream of ever giving up the comforts of capitalism to move to one of the authoritarian shitholes they stupidly simp for, because then they might not be able to play their favourite capitalist video games anymore….

It's also a fact that Russia and the USSR have ethnically cleansed millions of people. Tankie clown: OP takes this insane train all the way to the station, and says @well1x is talking about anyone they don't like which… no. They're talking about the traditional Nazis.

No - they're falsely claiming that all victims of communism are Nazis and fascists. Learn to read…. Tankie clown: But also let's break this down. Who does OP think is being called a Nazi? "anyone I don't like" I mean I don't like Nazis, but I don't think everyone I don't like is one lmao. Funny tho, dude throws around the word tankie until it has no meaning.

In my experience, if you disagree with tankies about anything, they will pretty soon call you a fascist or a Nazi. It's they who throw around words like "fascist" and "Nazi" until they have no meaning (and most of them hilariously claim to be opposed to fascism while simultaneously supporting it - if it happens to be Russian). Tankie clown: - "anyone who disagrees with me" if you disagree that all human beings deserve to live a dignified life regardless of race/sex/gender identity/sexual orientation/age/disability/whatever then yeah you probably are a Nazi

Straw man. See above….

It's also amusing to observe the doublethink of somebody who apparently believes that "all human beings deserve to live a dignified life" while simultaneously thinking that when his favourite mass murderers oppressed and/or killed huge numbers of people it was perfectly OK…. Tankie clown: - "anyone who's a citizen of a country that Russia wants to invade" why the fuck are we talking about Russia? Believe it or not OP, USSR does not stand for "United Soviet States of Russia" lmaoooo

We're talking about Russia because most tankie clowns support Russian imperialism and mindlessly parrot the Kremlin's propaganda about how Russia's latest invasion of Ukraine is some sort of special de-nazification operation (see above). Tankies are generally so ignorant, gullible and stupid that they will literally believe anything the Kremlin tells them…. Tankie clown: - "anyone opposed or simply didn't want to live in one of the tyrannical regimes I simp for" tyrannical regimes lmao. These were only "tyrannical regimes" for people who actually were in fact Nazis.

Again - this is the kind of reality-denying nonsense I'd expect to hear from a tankie clown. One thing that really appalls people in the central and eastern European countries that experienced the reality of being occupied by the USSR and/or Russia, is the staggering ignorance and stupidity of western useful idiots who have no idea what it was actually like, and are not only dumb enough to join the tankie cult, but insist on westsplaining to the victims and their descendants about how the horrors they and their families suffered (usually for doing literally nothing) either didn't happen ("cuz the CIA made it all up") or claiming that they somehow deserved it ("cuz they were all Nazis/fascists/kulaks/slave owners").

Back in the real world, these were tyrannical regimes for tens of millions of ordinary people who had done nothing to deserve being subjected to tyranny…. Tankie clown: - "anyone who was oppressed or killed by one of my favourite mass murderers" yeah basically that's what I've been saying.

Thanks for proving my point….

And please note that smoking weed on your mum's sofa isn't actually going to bring the world revolution closer.

That was just a joke…. 🤣😂

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Noah Berlatsky at Everything Is Horrible:

As several commenters have pointed out, it’s hard to know how to react to Trump’s recent threats to conquer Greenland and/or Canada and/or Panama by force and/or economic coercion. Is this actually a plan? Is it a weird phantom his rage-calcified synapses produced when the microphone got thrust in front of him? Does taking it seriously lend it credence it shouldn’t have? Does mocking it downplay the danger? World leaders are in fact taking it seriously; France and Germany both warned Trump not to attack the borders of the EU. On social media, as you’d expect, people have taken a more mocking tone. One commenter joked that they would accept annexing Canada if every province got two senate votes. Fwiw, I very much doubt that Trump will actually try to annex Canada or Greenland. I fear that some sort of military intervention in Panama is a good bit more likely, given Trump’s racism and the long history of US presidents stealing shit from Latin America whenever they feel like it. But whether or not Trump implements any of his imperial schemes, I think it’s worth thinking through what conquest of Greenland, or Panama, or Canada would actually mean. Trump may not pursue this particular evil plan, but it’s worth explaining at least briefly why it’s evil, if only as a reminder of just how ugly Trump’s disdain for democracy is.

Disenfranchising millions

The quip about Canada electing Democratic Senators is telling I think, because it underlines a central problem of colonialism in democratic polities That problem is that, in theory, claiming more territory is also claiming more voters. If you engineer a hostile takeover of a territory, you’ve just added an electorate which hates you. If Canadians or Panamanians are allowed to vote in US elections, they will generally vote to regain independence first and foremost. At the very least, they are likely to vote against the asshole that launched the invasion. This is not a new or unique problem. Colonial representation, or the lack thereof, was the cause of the American Revolution; Britain wanted control over the colonists, but it did not want to give them votes in Parliament. Or, as another example, there’s Israel—a “democracy” only if you ignore the fact that Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank can’t vote, because if they could vote they’d quickly demand an end to the occupation and control over their own territory and lives, which Israel’s government does not want to give them.

Trump is a fool, but he does have some sense of who votes for him and who doesn’t. And he’s consistent in saying that people who don’t vote for him should not be allowed to vote at all. Any annexation of Canada, or Greenland, or Panama, would be done on MAGA terms—which means that the people in those countries would be disenfranchised. Remember that Puerto Rico and other US territories still don’t have full US voting rights! Trump would absolutely not let Canadians vote for Democratic Senators. MAGA would say that Canadians needed time to learn the ways of American democracy, or he would say they were not loyal, and demand that anyone who wanted to vote had to swear an oath to the US, and to Trump personally. You might then get Senators from Canada—elected by an all pro-Trumpist far right rump electorate.

Colonialism is bad

Trump has of course claimed that Canada/Greenland/Panama would be better off under MAGA. The pretense is thin though; it’s obvious that Trump wants additional territory because he thinks it would make the US bigger and more powerful, and perhaps just because he likes the idea of taking stuff by force. This duplicates the historical disconnect between colonial rhetoric and colonial policy. Colonizers always say that they are working for the good of the colonized. Rudyard Kipling famously encouraged the US to invade the Philippines for the good of the Filipinos; “Fill full the mouth of famine/and make the sickness cease.” Walter Rodney in his classic How Europe Underdeveloped Africa (1972) notes that “colonial apologists” claim that colonial rule was responsible for “economic modernization” and “political uplift and emancipation.”

Rodney puts a wrecking ball through those pro colonial arguments. He points out that European development in Africa was all aimed at extracting resources for the benefit of the colonizers, not the colonized. Europeans only built roads where they needed to get goods from the interior to the coast; they did not invest in infrastructure to allow Africans to travel in their own countries, or between two countries. When Africans wanted to learn new technologies and build new industries, they were systematically stifled; the British made it illegal for Ugandans to own cotton gins, for example.

[...]

Why aren’t you laughing?

Again, it feels ridiculous to talk seriously about what an invasion of Canada or Greenland or Panama might mean practically. It’s not going to happen. Why talk about the consequences for democracy, or the potential for exploitation and cruelty, or the consequences for reproductive rights? It’s all silliness. It’s just Trump babbling.

Disenfranchising Canadians by annexing Canada is a foolish move.

[ilikepjo24]

Sokka could have killed Azula if he wanted to, indeed. He could force her to retreat even more, cause I her to fall. He could stab her. He didn't. He retreated and let Zuko throw a fireball at her, one that she managed to avoid.

That says a lot about Sokka and about everyone else on that rooftop as well.

Sokka didn't want to kill Azula. He could. And it would be convenient for him a Team Avatar if he had. But despite her imprisoning his dad and girlfriend, and ruining his dobs plan and killing his best friend and almost harming his sister on multiple occasions, he still doesn't want to kill Azula.

However, I don't think it's about being a good person or anything like that. Sokka was never afraid to do sketchy shit if that's what needed to be done. He invaded the Fire Nation when they were at their weakest. He crashed airships, killing hundreds, without even giving it a second thought. He killed the Combustion man without flinching. He wouldn't be afraid to kill Azula if that's what he thought was necessary.

And yet, he didn't. There could be multiple reasons why. It could be that he feared if the most important person (by FN standards) in the elevator thingy was dead, the guards wouldn't hesitate to cut the line immediately. It could be that he thought they had a chance of capturing her and having a vulnerable hostage, since they had better numbers. It could be for Zuko's sake. As a brother, it's possible he wouldn't be interested in killing a little sister infront of her older brother.

As for Suki and Zuko... They don't hate Azula. Sokka just threw away an opportunity of getting rid of an enemy and none of his allies that saw it were bothered. No one said "wtf are you doing? Why would you do that? You could have saved us so much trouble!". They are not eager to see Azula dead despite her being their enemy. Suki doesn't hate Azula, even after Azula imprisoned her. And Zuko doesn't hate Azula either, so all the fics of him having Azula endure any kind of torture are ooc, and they need to be stopped.

No, seriously, stop it.

When it comes to Ty Lee, I noticed that she didn't react to her friend almost dying? I don't think it because Ty Lee doesn't care for Azula, so it's either that she didn't notice because she was busy, or that she had trust in Azula's abilities to make it out alive.

And Azula is... interesting. She either doesn't value her life, or she values it, but she values her duty more. There's no other option. Because how TF is half your foot touching sweet death, and then you just continue without flinching or being scared or anything? You just move on? Honestly, whether Azula doesn't care about being alive that much, or does care, but would still find it honorable to die on duty, it's still interesting. It creates lot of questions about Azula's mental state at the moment and about her dedication to her father and country. Where does it end?

If it's neither of the two, then Azula was just being an arrogant-ass motherfucker which also creates questions. Is it because she trusted her own abilities a lot? Is it because she believed Zuko wouldn't let her die? Is it because she thought Sokka wouldn't kill her? And why is that? Does she consider him soft, cause he didn't hurt her in the dobs, or does he consider him too weak to kill her? And is that because he's a "water tribe savage" or because he's a nonbender?

Every time Azula is on screen, there are so many things to analyze!!

[kazhanko-art]

sorry for being annoying about this, it will happen again

I know I said the US probably won’t invade us; I still think that’s probably true, but it’s definitely becoming something I’m saying partially because I’d really prefer it not to be true. But trump has said he will use “economic force” on us, and it’s starting to seem like he, and a lot of americans, do want to take canada and other nations like panama and greenland.

And I don’t want to be an alarmist, but fuck it’s scary. I know it’s stupid hearing some dude from north america that has faced a legitimate threat of war on its soil in well over a century. But it’s scary that so many americans genuinely think we want to be a part of them; that we’re an authoritarian hell hole begging for their “liberation”, or worst of all, simply find it insulting that we don’t want to be a part of their country; that we do see ourselves as different.

It’s scary how fast it seems americans have bought into it, and how many don’t seem to know or care what trump is threatening us and others with. Even news sources that tout themselves to stand against trump don’t seem to view it as anything but teasing (like it’s funny for the leader of the world’s most powerful state to consistently mock and demean other nations sovereignty)

At the very least, for us, it’s going to suck economically. If his threats mean anything, he will try to cripple us economically. And we’re the USA’s closest allies; have been since the early 20th century; many have family across the border, we share a lot, we’ve done a lot to help them. In theory our relationship is the kind many would wish to have with their neighbours in terms of stability and cooperation. And yet this is how it goes. I can only imagine what’s in store for places like Pamama; if Americans are willing to turn their backs to us, then I worry about a country many of them probably have even less regard for, and I presume less means of standing against them with out significant sacrifice.

I’m also worried Trump may stop american and canadian military cooperation, which could mean we’re left exposed to other threats like Russia. I’m thinking that’s not likely, not because trump wouldn’t but because that might cause too many security concerns for the US that someone would say no.

Idk, shits scary right now. I’m hoping I’m worried over nothing, but Christ. It’s hard to try and spiral about it; even knowing that won’t help, it’s hard not to think about.

I knew in theory my home was never guaranteed safety from war, and I’m sure this shit is frustrating to read for those who war is an actual reality for, and not hypothetical, but I guess on some level it was hard to believe I’d actually be thinking about it like this. That this would be a conversation my country would actually be having. It’s surreal.

I’ll try to keep reminding myself there probably won’t be a war. I’ll try to not get mad at americans on here and elsewhere. I’ll try.

But I just wish that whatever the future for my home will be, that this wasn’t just the very beginning of whatever shit he has in store for us, and that we were across the shitty finish line already

[atopvisenyashill]

Do you think the stakes and perception of a dragon vs dragon war are different in book vs show?

We hear in HOTD how the analogy, really, was nuclear war. To unleash dragons is to unleash the equivalent of nuclear war. And, if you think there is a difference, what is your opinion and how do you think that changes things?

Excellent question to dig into.

Firstly, I wouldn't say it's a 1:1 analogy - for one thing, George pretty explicitly doesn't like doing that. He's very open about his inspiration and that inspiration is quite clear, yes, but he's been very insistent that some of this is just shit from his head. And that is important when we talk about the influences on the series and imo especially the magical aspects.

But secondly, despite some people's pushback against the allegory - that's just directly something George has talked about. Apologies for the wall of text i'm about to paste, and bold is mine for emphasis-

“Dragons are the nuclear deterrent, and only [Daenerys Targaryen, one of the series’ heroines] has them, which in some ways makes her the most powerful person in the world...But is that sufficient? These are the kind of issues I’m trying to explore. The United States right now has the ability to destroy the world with our nuclear arsenal, but that doesn’t mean we can achieve specific geopolitical goals. Power is more subtle than that. You can have the power to destroy, but it doesn’t give you the power to reform, or improve, or build.”

He's pretty explicitly making the comparison himself. Now, to be fair, this is an older quote - from like 2011ish I believe. We have a more recent one, from 2022-

Interviewer: Do you think it’s possible to have a dragon and live a benevolent life? Or would you inherently get pulled into using that power?

George: That’s an interesting question… It’s often been said that the dragons are the nuclear weapons of my imaginary world. They are the most devastating weapon and they cause great destruction and massive loss of life… This is part of Dany’s storyline in the original novels. Dany has three dragons, but that doesn’t mean she can necessarily rule cities like Meereen, where she finds herself Queen, easily, without destroying them… I’m a baby boomer, born in 1948, and, growing up in the 50’s, there was always the spectre of nuclear war. I lived through the Cuban Missile Crisis and Khrushchev and saber-rattling and there were all these books about the nuclear Holocaust or about Armageddon… We were worried about that, but these nuclear weapons have only been used twice in all of history on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Afterwards there was a long period where only America had nuclear weapons, nobody else in the world had them, and there were always these concerns about “well, we can win any of these wars”. MacArthur and some other people wanted to use the atomic bomb in the Korean War. When China invaded, the thought process was “why are we letting them do that? We could win the war!”… Barry Goldwater, in the 1964 election, also thought “Why are we fighting this war in Vietnam? Let’s just drop a nuke on Hanoi.”… But we never did it, we always refrained. We were the dragon riders that would only use our dragons to intimidate… but now as more and more countries have that, I think the danger becomes greater and greater and someday someone is going to use them. Right now the danger is very high, if Putin starts losing the war in Ukraine is he going to resort to nukes? And then the question becomes “if Putin does resort to nukes, does America unleash it’s dragons or do we not and let him get away with it?”. These are profound questions, we could debate this for an hour with a panel of political scientists, but there’s not an easy answer.

So. I don't think there's a meaningful difference between the show essentially saying "using a dragon during warfare is not dissimilar to using nuclear weapons" and george calling dragons "nuclear deterrents." It's maybe not so straightforward as people say - I think they mentioned taking inspiration from Vietnam for the Stepstones stuff ie napalm/agent orange and I think that's just as good of a comparison because I think the point is essentially that the dragons are very dangerous weapons and the books (and show) are exploring what happens when war breaks out and you have the ability to use a weapon that is destructive on an extreme and wide scale level.

And the comparison he's making there - that as more and more countries have nukes, it feels inevitable that someone is going to use them one day - is a pretty standard argument when talking about disarmament and that concept is explored all throughout the Dance and Dany's story. The Dance for example - a lot of the criticism of Viserys comes from his decision to just start chucking eggs at people left and right, which means there are a lot of dragons just hanging around that help escalate the fighting. This is really obviously contrasted with Jaehaerys, who makes it a point to keep the dragons and eggs under lock and key. Then you bring it to the main series - much of ADWD is Dany reckoning with the idea that the dragons are too dangerous to be around people after Drogon kills a little girl, and there is a lot of foreshadowing that the dragons are going to turn on each other because their riders will be at odds. Sure, it's easy for Dany to keep ahold of them when it's just her but if Euron or Aegon or Jon or whoever bond with a dragon, very similar to Aemond & Vhagar, there is nothing she can do to stop it - and if they decide to use that dragon against her, it escalates the fight to dragon v dragon warfare. It doesn't matter what Dany's intentions are when she hatches them because the dragons won't always be under her control.

And all that other stuff - that's covered too. The idea that sure nukes are a great deterrent but that doesn't mean you'll win the war because politics and power is more complicated. Dany takes Meereen easily with the threat of dragons but finds it's a lot harder to effectively rule Meereen than it is to sack Meereen. Rhaenyra starts the war with the most dragons, Aegon starts the war with the biggest dragons, but both of them wind up getting fucked over largely due to political blunders and not necessarily due to dragon on dragon crime (the dragons don’t exactly help the situation but). I think Dany is very aware of the dangers dragons pose but by the end of ADWD, she's purposefully closing her eyes to that danger (and probably is on the road to using Drogon as a weapon rather than in defense), and as she escalates her use of Drogon, the people trying to bond with a dragon (or not even trying - the show does introduce that idea of a human & a dragon just following a magical bond to each other, and i do wonder if that’s something george mentioned, but regardless, someone successfully pulling a quentyn IS an issue on its own) are going to get their own ideas about offensively using the dragons - mutually assured destruction incoming.

I think some of the push back is because "the dragons are animals" but first of all - well yeah, but twoiaf does introduce the concept that dragons are animals made with blood magic.

In Septon Barth’s Dragons, Wyrms, and Wyverns, he speculated that the bloodmages of Valyria used wyvern stock to create dragons. Though the bloodmages were alleged to have experimented mightily with their unnatural arts, this claim is considered far-fetched by most maesters, among them Maester Vanyon’s Against the Unnatural contains certain proofs of dragons having existed in Westeros even in the earliest of days, before Valyria rose to be a power.

They're not natural animals - they're chimeras. They're man made & rooted in magic, and it seems that although they have close bonds with their riders, the dragons themselves don't necessarily have a sense of self. And we see that a LOT in the books and the show, the way the dragons change loyalties INSTANTLY despite years of familiarity with other humans & other dragons. Vhagar loves Laena so much she hesitates in harming Laena when ordered, but that love does not last nor does it extend to not killing Laena's mother. Vhagar, Meleys, and Caraxes all had riders that were friendly, and spent years flying together - none of them fight their riders when attacking each other! I don't doubt Vhagar's love for Laena anymore than I doubt Viserion's love for Dany but I do doubt Viserion's ability to recognize Dany as his mother once he is bonded with someone else. They're not dogs, they're not cats, they're not even fish or lizards or wyverns really - their whole being is subsumed by the desires of their rider and while dragons are known to get a lil snippy with their riders (see the combative relationship between Vhagar & Aemond), they do not otherwise fight their riders when warring with each other. These animals are just not - I don't want to say not that intelligent, but they're not that self aware.

And it's not their fault - George specifies in both those quotes that it's the riders themselves who are the main corruption point. It's not that dragons are inherently evil, it's that power is complicated to control, and war can very quickly spiral into unending slaughter. When a tiger starts attacking humans, you can usually trace that behavior back to something a human has done - encroaching on their territory, interaction with big game hunters/poachers, being driven out of their natural habitats into cities, etc. All man made factors. This is what I mean when I say it’s not 1:1. Certainly we’re not having conversations about whether tigers or orca whales can be considered weapons of mass destruction, but a lot of the issues that spring up around dragons are already issues apex predators face. There are a lot of rules surrounding what constitutes a proper sanctuary or zoo because it is complex and dangerous for humans and predators like bears, wolves, panthers, what have you, to coexist safely and healthily. Dragons have the added extra issues of a magical bond that seems to either overpower their own consciousness or is a substitute for a consciousness, and being fuck off huge fire bombs.

tldr- are dragons nukes in the books as well? they are at least partially meant to be an allegory for nuclear weapons, yes. Emotionally speaking, they’re more complex than a non sentient object, and their emotional attachments - whether they are more or less non sentient & their consciousness is completely dependent on a rider or their consciousness is simply easily subjugated by a rider - are important aspects, the fact that they’re living creatures are part of why it’s so hard for dany to reckon with whether they can coexist with humans in meereen. honestly, if the dragons felt less alive, i think dany would have had an easier time controlling them. but that’s true of them in f&b as well; aegon was legitimately better off of sunfyre had stayed where he was, instead of desperately following that bond to try to help his stressed out rider. they are animals, and spiritual guides, and chimeras, and weapons of mass destruction.

[dehautdesert]

If there's something I absolutely adore it's when a long-ass book or book series does its work with the worldbuilding and messages so well that by the halfway mark the author doesn't need to add any, like, interpretation or commentary to their scenes, just present them as they are, and you get the metacontext anyway and feel exactly what the author wants you to.

I'm currently on the third book of the Inda tetralogy, which is a series whose protagonists come from a pretty gung-ho, militaristic, honor-based culture, and the series explores how this type of culture kinda hobbles their society through following a group of military academy buddies from childhood until they all take up important positions in their society (and the main protagonist is a strategic genius with a natural flair for leadership who leaves his backwards backwater country at a young age and spends large swaths of time running a pirate fleet that robs other pirates Robin Hood-style, if I may try to get some of my Vorkosigan-loving mutuals to consider reading this).

So, anyway, I'm at the point where they're all in their early to mid twenties and they're going off to war against a far superior invading force. And because their culture glorifies war and military accomplishment so much, and because the king and all his generals are childhood best buds who haven't actually gotten to spend time all together in a while, they basically make the march a sort of a frat boy party, but in a cute way.

They're so happy and enthusiastic to see each other, they're literally like puppies, hugging each other and jumping at each other and talking and laughing over each other and begging their fathers to let them ride ahead to meet the army so they can all ride together to the castle. And they do the most ridiculous playful shit, they march into towns at a gallop with banners and trumpets and shit and throw feasts and competitions and sing songs and do cool war dances and are all charming and hot as they retell their dumb schoolboy stories and the locals are all FUCK YEAH THESE GUYS ARE SO COOL I NEED LANDRED TO DICK ME DOWN TONIGHT and literally every one of the POV characters is so filled with enthusiasm and exuberance and zest for life and childish, giddy happiness at the prospect of finally getting to spend so much time with the people he loves (and their love for each other really permeates every interaction they have), and reading all this... kinda makes you wanna cry.

Because they're riding off to war and the series has been so poignant so far about the follies of war that at this point it doesn't have to move a finger to imply how harrowing it all is, nor does it need to portray the dissonance between what they're walking into and their fundamentally good-natured, loving, youthful enthusiasm for each other, beyond just showing it to you.

It's one of the warmest and funniest and happiest parts of the series so far, and it's also a big payoff because they spent the last 1000 pages apart and they have excellent character dynamics, but it also makes you want to cry the entire way through it as you're reading it because the implications of the larger world around them loom so large, and I think that's a brilliant accomplishment as far as writing goes.

[the-crow-binary]

Im quite curious about your opinion on the portrayal of the french revolution; I know it was a super complicated political moment with multiple fronts from the commoners wanting better life conditions, the bourgeoisie wanting to get the nobility out of the way (which it's part as to why it cant be directly translated into 21'st century american capitalism analogy 🙄), how multiple nobles supported the revolution for moral values despite going against their families interests (bc social class influences but doesnt instantly determines your morals) and that many revolutionary groups supported the independence of Haití (heck, many members of my countries independence participated and almost got beheaded in the resulting mess. And ad hundred and something years later France would try to invade us lol). What im trying to say behind my ramble here (sorry for that lol) its that im sure nfcv made it a slavery bad black ppl vs white ppl american dilemma without getting into the complexity of it and i say this as a foreigner with basic history knowledge, so i do wanna see your take on it

Which portrayal of the French Revolution? 🙃

I swear this very important Historical event that affected not just France but all of continental Europe and is considered as one of the world's biggest events was just used as background for the characters to fight and be racist. The characters keep throwing around the word "revolution" from all sides, but we don't see shit. Maria gives context in the first episode (there's a revolution, they overthrown the monarchy and declared a republic, they arrested the king...), talking to a group of revolutionaries, and from then on the story could've literally taken place in an imaginary country with imaginary politics it would've been the same.

Oh, what am I saying, there IS one thing. Our motto. 🙃"Liberty, equality, fraternity" 🙃 Yeah it has been thrown here and there... Except that it wasn't our official motto yet. We had the notion of liberty and equality, sometimes fraternity, and it was in the middle of other words such as "friendship", "sincerity", "charity" and "union". There is some people and even some books who used this motto but it was abandoned then taken back later... Just this is a mess lmao but the point is. I cringed everytime the characters screamed "Liberty! Equality! Fraternity!". And while we're on the subject, Richter, at some point, meets three girls during a festival (I suspect one of the girls to be Marianne, who wasn't a real person but the symbol of Liberty) talking about dressing up as Liberty and Equality and Fraternity. And Richter, thinking he is so smart, say that you need to be a man to dress up as Fraternity, because it means "brotherhood" (and the girls go "sisternity then" and don't correct him). Oh, and the writers clearly thought it was very clever too, since later on Annette's teacher (and even the Messiah I think??) will ALSO talk about the motto, saying "liberty, equality, brotherhood". IT DOESN'T MEAN "BROTHERHOOD". I MEAN IT CAN. BUT IN THIS CASE IT MEANS "FRATERNITY". IT'S A TERM TO TALK ABOUT A BOND EXISTING BETWEEN PEOPLE CONSIDERED AS MEMBERS OF THE HUMAN FAMILY. AKA IT CONCERNS EVERYONE. YOU ARE NOT CLEVER, AMERICAN WRITERS.

Also I thought a fucking festival at a time like that where people dress up at the concepts of our not-exactly-official-motto-yet was stupid, and it is. There was no such festival, however, we did have the "cult of the reason". To put it simply: it was a serie of events and civic holidays wich were organized by a group of atheists. In it there WAS an event called "Fete of the Reason"... Where one ACTOR dressed up as Liberty. It was NOT multiple people representing liberty, equality or fraternity.

The fun fact is, the French Revolution was a pretty good occasion for NFCV to promote it's CHURCH BAD mentality. We were taking away the church's power, more people became atheists, anti-christian vandalism and blasphemy was actually encouraged, it was a mess. Paris even ordered to shut down churches at some point, wich did not happen in the end. So yeah, this precise moment, right before the Vendée War, was perfect for the church-haters those writers are. And it ended up just being as bad as the original show, without any nuance... Ok there might be a little bit of nuance because of Mizrak, a guy who served the church and in the end actually team up with Richter and the gang, and it looks like he's there to stay. Emmanuel (the abbott) tries to be complex, but in the end, he is still a God-obsessed man that makes terrible decisions and is not a good representation for the church. So okay, it might be a BIT better than the original show thanks to Mizrak, but it's not saying much.

Another thing. Only the main characters are shown to have a dislike for the church. We don't see ANY of the french people doing anything against the church (but we do hear the church complaining about the revolutionaries, tell don't show y'know), not even talk about it. It's mostly jokes about how haha priests are sexual predators/they can't keep it in their pants (with the occasional "it exploits the people and take their money" line, and by occasionnal I mean once). There IS a few shades thrown at God here and there, honestly I didn't bother remembering the exact lines because they are so cliché and really not that deep. I think Maria is the one complaining the most.

What angers me the most is the lack of ANY ACTION FROM THE FRENCH PEOPLE. It's like nothing is actually happening except vampire killing people and vampire hunting (wich begs the question: WHY bother making it happen during the FRENCH REVOLUTION?). Nocturne literally made the french people the side (oh what am I saying, the BACKGROUND) characters in their OWN REVOLUTION. AND ALL I HAVE TO SAY IS. WHAT THE FUCK. Maria is supposed to be a revolutionary leader but she doesn't lead anyone. We never see anyone do anything outside of the main characters. The french are literal planks, except from those three girls from the festival and villains, they don't even have a voice. At some point the vampire Messiah arrives in town, in plain view, and people are like "OUR SAVIOR IS HERE! OUR DELIVERER!" and I thought the people shouting were vampires, but no, there is humans TOO. ALL TOGETHER. And you have no idea how much I hate that they basically portray the french people as not doing shit and needing someone else to save them 🙃 To do things for them 🙃 And also. That that someone else is not even french themself. 🙃 Even without the Messiah... the revolutionaries we saw were led by Richter (romanian/american/british idk at this point), Annette (Haitian, even if Saint-Domingue was owned by France at the time), Tera (Russian) and, of course, Maria, who's both Russian and French, at least. Those four were doing most of the work while the french people were in their houses cooking baguettes, I guess. And by "work" I mean fighting vampires and night creatures, there was nothing done about the Revolution. Almost like there is NO REASON TO MAKE A CV SHOW ABOUT THE FRENCH REVOLUTION

Oh and I just HAVE to talk to you about Saint-Domingue, and the BLACK PEOPLE ARE OPPRESSED theme going on with Annette. And that's when I'll have to take out this magnificent dialogue again:

"Even these french with their high ideas, what do they know about we've suffered? And what do they care? They're building new world, but it won't be freedom, or equality or brotherhood for US"

This is said by Annette's teacher. Worth to note that before that, in episode 3, she also shat on the French revolution and our motto. Basically, the show portray the French Revolution as being one thing and the slaves in Saint-Domingue having their own other revolution. And not just that, it implies that the French did not care about slaves, and that they do not know what suffering is (yeah, people just start revolutions because they feel like it y'know 🙃). And the anti-white dialogues are portrayed as normal and are even applauded, btw. And it is BUUUUUUUUUUUUUUULLSHIT. MY FUCKING GOD. OH THIS SHOW MAKE ME SO ANGRY.

First off: Only the colonies were pro-slavery. The french pretty much weren't. A "Society of friends of black people" was even created in France in 1788 to fight for the abolition of slavery. People fought for black people's rights during the French Revolution. Books written by black people to join the fight came out. The French Revolution scared the colonies who were very against losing their slaves and it led to Haiti's own revolution (slaves rebelling, killing their owners, burning the plantations... Nocturne at least got that part right). So both revolutions are very closely linked and the slaves might not have rebelled at this point if it wasn't for the French Revolution threatening Saint-Domingue's economics and creating social upheavals.

And what does those shitty american writers remember? BLACK PEOPLE OPPRESSED. BLACK PEOPLE SUFFERED SO MUCH MORE THAN EVERYONE ELSE. LOOK AT THESE POOR BLACK PEOPLE. WHITE PEOPLE ARE SO POWERFUL. THE FRENCH ARE UNGRATEFUL ACTUALLY. BLACK CHARACTER IS RIGHT TO SHIT ON THE WHITE FRENCH WHO DON'T CARE ABOUT THEM.

FUCK.

Oh, and I mentioned the Vendée War earlier... So, fun fact, during the revolution, we have what we call "la Terreur". It's a pretty gruesome period of time during the Revolution that caused the death of hundreds of thousands of people. La Terreur happened from 1793 to 1794. So one year after this first season of Nocturne. 🙃 I'm just saying. It wouldn't surprise me if they used this for season 2. 🙃(I literally do not trust them)

And the vampires... Look the vampires have their own can of worms that I'm not motivated enough to open. I'll just say that, of course, in classic NFCV fashion, the message the show is trying to pass is not subtle at all. They're just evil. All of them. All of the french nobles. Evil evil EVIL EVIL!! NUANCE AND COMPLEXITY ARE FOR PUSSIES.

Also the count of Vaublanc? Annette's ex-owner? This guy existed. And he never owned slaves. He was pretty pro-royalty, at some point he voted against slavery, then later voted in favor of it... but he did not own slaves. But honestly I don't care about that guy much, I just wanted to show that NFCV really doesn't care about nuance. Everything has to be black or white (lol) and that's why we have no human nobility in Nocturne.

Urgh. UUUUUURGH. I SWEAR WATCHING THIS SHOW WAS A PAIN AND THE MORE I THINK ABOUT IT THE MORE PAINFUL IT BECOMES. THERE IS SO MUCH GOING ON IN THE FRENCH REVOLUTION AND NFCV IS DOING JACKSHIT WITH IT. I MEAN IT'S SO MUCH FUNNIER TO SHIT ON THE BELMONT CLAN AND SHOW TIDDIES TO MAKE THE FANS HORNY.

So, my opinion on the portrayal of the French Revolution: CREATE YOUR OWN FICTIONAL REVOLUTION NEXT TIME AND LEAVE THE HISTORY OF MY COUNTRY ALONE.

[goldmanguyperson]

intro post for NERDS!

Please don’t send me donation asks. They won’t get posted here. I’m really sorry, but I want you to know that your time is better spent with someone else.

(post features potentially triggering and general uncomfortable content under the manifesto section)

I might sometimes post musings about sexual ideas and i will be horny on main sometimes, but i will always tag it properly. Under the tag “nsft”. i also have exclusive tag “#gold goes crazy on main” that you can blacklist if you dont wanna blacklist the more general tags for your own reasons. i also have an NSFW Tumblr account under the name veganvore (i just think the name is funny, sorry vegan vorers). i will block accounts that do not state that they are an adult over there, which reminder, will also prevent me from seeing your stuff. ALSO THERE IS NSFW IN MY LIKES, and it might not be tagged well or use the same system I do

I try to tag for commonly triggering content but i sometimes forget for stuff like bugs because i simply dont find them scary or upsetting. if you really cant handle seeing a bug at any capacity then my blog probably isnt for you. I tag anything that looks like a bug as a bug, but i tag spiders separately because some people fear them uniquely, and i do not tend to tag for crustaceans such as shrimp or crabs because discomfort around those is less common. I tag very plainly; I do not use cw or tw, I just flat out tag the thing as itself. i also try to tag for all animal death and dead animals, including bugs and fish (which are tagged separately because i know not everyone reacts to dead bugs or fish the same as mammals or birds or reptiles)

I do not tag syscourse as syscourse anymore because I get too many people who I don’t want to speak to when I do. replacement tag is #really stupid shit you dont wanna see

If your dni has an identity that i identify with on there then know i am not not interacting with you out of respect, i am not interacting with you because you are a fucking asswipe. Be a better person. People who believe they know more about me than me, or use trauma as an excuse to be bigoted and stay bigoted, do not have my respect.

Liberal blocker

actual stuff begins here idk why i ramble so much man

im gold just call me gold. Or, my other names include tank and any model/(appropriate. none of the bigoted ones) nickname of tank, plane, or nuclear bomb (aside from fat man or little boy or enola gay for hopefully obvious reasons). i will respond best if it is very clearly directed at me or is one of my favorite vehicles/bombs: tsar bomba, kv-1, molodets, locust, chaffee, whatever whatever

my pronouns are he/him (normal caps), He/Him, and HE/HIM. i stole pronouns from god and HIM from the powerpuff girls

trans and gay full of autism adhd yum

WASHINGTON STATE BEST STATE WEST COAST BEST COAST FUCK CALIFORNIA THOUGH WE GO FAR FAR NORTH PACIFIC 🦅🦅🦅🦅 RAHHHHHHHHH

im a shapeshifter otherkin. I am othervague for all these things (swings between kin, hearted, and link): birds, machines, and ‘pedes (millipedes and centipedes). am werebear; this is not a physical identity, i just much prefer to use the “were” term for it rather than otherkin, as it feels much more correct. But really, i can be anything. i have experienced a whole range of nonhuman stuff, cuz shapeshifter. if i post in a more specific tag know i am not attempting to like… invade, or anything. i do actually be feeling that way

Russia place/countrykin. not a putin supporter or even a nationalist; Слава Україна. more connected to the land and its “memories” than anything else. if this confuses you please read my post: Nationalists do not love their country

i am plural. im fuckitgenic. I reject the entire genic label system. you dont get to know how traumatized or not i am, cuz i dont even fucking know either. I don’t even think it’s that relevant. I am because i am, we are because we are, trying to look back into this life to see why it turned out this way is, in our opinion, just not fucking worth our time.

You probably wont see my headmates here as they struggle to form words for outside use, but you still might.

headmates you might see include:

The Eagle (he is a bald eagle)

The Nothing Beast (a big jet black dromeosaurid-like monster with back spines. actually quite nice. speaks in all caps)

Sputnik-1 (introject of the satellite). Profile is @satellite-one!

Bear (a spirit bear. might come off a bit mean. Bear is often just trying to protect us, but Bear also struggles with friendly or respectful communication)

Alan @amcomputer

if you start complaining about “uehhh but i have to know if youre traumatized to know how valid you are!!!” im going to skewer you like a shrike. we do not take kindly to prescriptive labeling.

i am posic (Perception of Object Sentience, Individuality, and Consciousness). I don’t believe objects speak to me and i dont believe they are externally alive, but i feel like they should be. it happens especially with military vehicles and nuclear missiles. when i look at them i feel a similar sense of life i feel when i look at an animal. is it weird? Oh yeah. It is. i have thought about this a lot and i can expand on it in another post if wanted.

im also objectum and conceptum tbe american flag is my boyfriend im sorry… I hate the government and i hate borders and i understand it would be better for countries to not have influence over material reality and all that shit (i am an anarchist. winning) but countries as a concept beyond reality are really important to me please understand. nationalists hate him (me) actually

carrd (mentions nsfw topics)

neocities (wip)

tags

#shut up! the eagle’s talking! - essays and personal experiences [not in use]

#this is chrome ball radio - My headmate Sputnik’s thoughts and feelings. [not in use—@satellite-one]

#gold goes crazy on main - mentioned above. though not actually just plain horny stuff, more for musings that may be sexual and have to do with me personally and I GUESS I LIED!!! ITS HORNY

#and that eagle? well. hah. It was me - just stuff about eagles. Any kind. i love eagles

#falconer hood experiences - Dreams that i have. theyre crazy. you will want to read

#first past the posting - Primarily posts about voting in the US. i used to try to use it as a general USpol tag but i keep forgetting (as i do with many of my tags) and truly i think the voting part is the stuff i want to collect the most

#galaxies of valleirkro - My spore stuff. Many permutations. Species will be tagged #valleirkro (species name), for example #Valleirkro Zoxun. Characters will be tagged their full name, such as #ikli-kit keletet.

#M.A.D. or Mutually Assured Destruction - Sentient country stuff that got out of hand and now is basically sci fi alternate history about learning to love each other and rise up against the powerful people and ideas keeping us apart. Characters will be tagged #M.A.D. (character name), as they only have a single peopley name. For example, #M.A.D. Maximilian. I do not tag them as the countries they are if I have a name for them, mostly because I don't want confusion when speaking of them in the same breath as the actual country. if you want to know which is which, do not be afraid to ask - i usually try to choose names that are of cultures and languages in the country, but I know not everyone is familiar with other languages, and many names are found across multiple cultures. Curious about what the fuck the ‘canon’ i keep talking about is or why not all characters seem to act in a way you’d expect? read this post.

#gold's Starmen - Characters that can traverse the multiverse. Characters are mostly of the species Arvien; flat-faced bird people (yes made out of a desire to try to get away from the country stuff. i know yes, it did not work. but now i have a whole new world so it's cool). Species get tagged as #Starmen (species), for example #Starmen Arvien. Characters get tagged their full name, for example #Zakul Kuzarus. Sometimes exceptions are made for characters that do not have a "full" name. They instead have their species name after their name, like in #Ihsek Xek.

#0001 or One Past Zero - Sentient machines! Primarily focused on old military vehicles despite the time period it’s set in (i have very obvious interests lol). Group of sapient nukes go boom (because thats the only way i know to start a story i guess) and send the world into a new era with very weird problems like uhhh world war 3. Characters mostly tagged “(name) (vehicle type)” because many do not have more than one name, like in #Yaroslav KV-1.

#black hole stuff and #black hole guys - I like black holes, and characters with black hole symbolism/heads make me go googoo

Tags for animals i like: #bug #water bug #invert #parrots

sometimes i post stuff under the tag “#strano shari”. this is because i made the mistake of thinking about the very scary looking russian state sponsored countryballs comics again. it is called страно шары (can be romanized as strano shari). every single time i post about it my research will go nowhere and you will want to stop me. you cannot stop me. you should probably filter this tag if you dont want nightmares

manifesto (sort of like a dni + its opposite but i actually explain things to ease my anxiety and autism) if you dont wanna read this thats fine but dont be surprised when i say something you dont like lol

Almost anyone is welcome here. But if you believe that you know more than other people do about their own identity then go away. Disgusting shit. Begone

that being said you cannot change your race. racial emotional limbo should only belong to people who are mixed race. You can find ways to participate in another culture without being the race often associated with it. many people would be much happier to show you their culture if you weren’t trying to identify as the race associated with it. Begone

I cant believe this is something that needs to be said anywhere but if you are an apologist for imperialism, capitalism, or authoritarianism, or are otherwise a supporter of any of this shit, fuck you. USSR, Russia, USA, China, Israel, Nazism, whatever i dont care. they all suck and you shouldnt be trying to blanket excuse them. Begone

I am a trans man and i believe in bigotry that is specifically targeted towards us because i live in the real world as a trans man. you guys are just weird. radical feminism is not a solution, as it accepts gender binaries and gender stereotypes as immutable truth, and refuses to see the complex intersections between identities due to saying gender is the only thing that matters socially (like really guys? class is definitely more important). it can only ever be regressive and bigoted for these reasons

go away if you indulge in zoophilic or pedophilic content. hope it’s obvious why. indulging in lusting after real ass living beings who cannot consent is fucking weird as shit. Begone

I do not care what kinks you have as long as you arent (nonconsensually) hurting anyone. yes i mean any of them. Yes even whatever one youre thinking about. i dont care. all i care about is that any that can be safely done irl are practiced safely.

transage is fine. its not about pedophilia, that is a 4chan smear campaign cuz they thought it was fucking weird. it is about age regression and trauma and that kinda shit, idk, just read up on chronosian identity or something if you want. Also the things we associate with certain ages are more often than not socially constructed and so like idk, fuckin whatever dude. Begone

if you think age regression is bad then you do not know what it is. it is also not pedophilic in nature, it is often about comfort and often is a trauma or anxiety response. Please research and talk to real people before assuming something is bad just cuz it sounds weird. Begone

mspec lesbians are cool. “contradictory” labels are cool. my (real physical person) boyfriend is every letter of the queer alphabet and every person who hates a contradictory label will face our combined wrath. Begone

medicalism die begone. scientists do not know everything and often even science itself goes against “medicalist” beliefs. Minds are actually super crazy and weird and science understands this. If you are happier, or more at peace, and more able to understand and work with yourself because of a label and the support that comes with it then it is a good one.

^ includes “not supporting” endogenic systems by the way. Begone

creating headmates is fine (i think most of my headmates were accidentally created) but tulpa terminology is based upon a pretty heavy series of cultural appropriations of Buddhism (have you ever heard of “chakras are connected to your organs”? yeah. thats not true. thats a western idea that comes from the kinda colonial concept that we can force an eastern religion into the originally western conception of science as almighty truth that everything must tie to to be considered real by anybody, and the western idea of tulpas are mainly from this version of buddhism). Asian religions and cultural practices are already a really big target for western cultural appropriation, maybe we shouldn’t add to that, okay? i mean i wont tell you to go away like i have for the others here. and i actually wont tell you that its absolutely not okay because this is a pretty complex little cranny of reality. but i do ask you to perhaps be a little more conscious of how this stuff all connects

it is okay to be wrong

bangalangadooda

[dykephan]

hi, totally agree with you about the december getting together thing and just wanted to add on to a few points. One about online perceptions and stuff is they mightve both wanted to have this appearance of a cool, sexy, mysterious, emo guy on the internet who is "mature" and has casual sex all the time nbd lol and not wanting to seem clingy. Its kind of embarrasing to want more sometimes (its cheesy, its meant to be). For Dan I also dont think he would want Phil to see him as an obsessed fan (also the age thing) so putting up a nonchalant front would help put them on more even footing. For Phil its just like you already said mainly and not wanting to scare Dan off, following Dan's lead. Also Dan just getting out of a longterm relationship and being 18 he might not have been inclined to tie himself down quick when he was single for the first time in a bit, especially to someone who lives far away, but then obv realized this thing with Phil wasnt just going to be some casual fling. Also lol this "reveal" was not weird/ suprising to me bcos of my own experience of being with this girl for like 3 ish months had been friends previously we were having sex and saying we loved eachother etc but whole time being like we're not dating though lol

oh 100% agree, especially when you're at that age it's sooo embarrassing to admit you do want to find someone who cares about you and enriches your life and shares a future with you... it's so much easier to flirt with strangers online and pretend you're too cool to feel any particular way about it. like you said, i think it comes down to both of them realizing that this was not going to be some casual fling. and 2 months is honestly no time at all considering how much they had to think about & plan for!!

also yeah i agree it wasn't surprising to me it was more just like. first of all like holy shit why are you sharing this information with me unprompted are you sure you meant to say that?? second of all, i guess i didn't KNOW until i KNEW. it's one thing to look at the things they posted around that time period and make guesses, but hearing it out loud made me feel sooooo dumbfounded. idk why but that one hit me way harder than the tour bus thing...

anyway let me share a personal anecdote here because it's only fair after i've invaded their privacy i should embarrass myself a little fksjfks many years ago i started talking to a tumblr mutual and we got super close as friends, we spent literally hours talking every night and we'd even fall asleep on skype just to be with each other. i told her things i have still never told anyone else in my life. and ofc there was heavyy flirting which was fun except i have horrible commitment issues.. doing all this online didn't feel as scary and real to me. but then we made plans to actually travel and meet up, and i started getting. idk. itchy 😭 but i did go across the country to meet her and it was such a perfect weekend, she was so funny and beautiful and even more magnetic in person. it clarified my feelings about her in a way that chatting online never could, but also it scared the shit out of me and so when that weekend was over i went back home and i told her i couldn't do it anymore and that was it. we tried to be friends after that but it just wasn't the same and neither of us had our hearts in it. i still think about her and hope she's doing well but we haven't talked in years

so basically i'm living in the dark dan and phil timeline where they filmed pinof and then said okay bye dude 👍🏻 fuck my stupid baka life

[theseventhoffrostfall]

Israel needs to look at Turkey and realize that the west probably wont do anything major if they do raze gaza/palestine and tbh they should have just done it 50 years ago and dealt with the consequences then. But when Turkey wants to do something geopolitically shitty, they don't whine and beg for NATO to tell them it's ok, they just fucking do it, ignore the criticism, take the political punch on the chin, and get back to cooperating with the west. I'd rather not raze the Gaza strip, but if you're gonna do it, you have to understand people will protest that, and trying to lobby countries to suspend the 1st amendment/other equivalents just comes off as extremely petty.

People are gonna make a stink at the UN sure but we all kinda know that if they did go full Manifest Destiny we'd still work with them anyways. It's a brutal as fuck, Sisko level choice but personally, I do think the 2 State Solution has failed and will never work. Fair or not, it is what it is. I don't like how Israel handled it and there's no way to even isolate it in a vacuum either with Western powers, anti-Western powers, and even the concepts of Jewishness/Israeli (a nationality? Ethnicity? Religion?) and Islam/non-western views of nationhood making it fucking impossible to isolate variables on. It all just fucking sucks and I hate it, but if there's ever any chance for peace, the Palestinians either have to be forcibly co-opted into Israeli identities with carrot/stick approaches, resettled elsewhere, or just literally driven into the sea. Ideally offering housing and healthcare and jobs would at least let you get a baseline of what percentage of Palestinians DO want a chance to have a better life and who is a hardliner, and even then you cant just kill al the hardliners. And the whole "they're a sovereign state so we can invade and collectively punish them" but also "they're locked in there like the Warsaw ghetto and we cut their power and deny them food" dichotomy is also maybe a reason they feel like striking back.

And even then it's gonna be generations before we might see any hope of reconciliation. But this was a papercut that festered and rotted and turned gangrenous and at this point you can't just clean the wound and change the bandages, this shit is gonna happen again, and again, and again back and forth. Maybe next time it'll be 10 Palestinians shot, or maybe 100 Israeli civvies, maybe 100,000 die when Iran lets them smuggle in a bomb, who knows.

It kind of reminds me of Dune in that Netanyahu is Paul and he KNOWS what has to be done and he's still too afraid to do it. Not that it's a golden path or anything, moreso that his actions have created something that can't be stopped and applying the brakes now is just making it drag on longer and more messily and he needs to see his ideals through regardless of the cost and push through to the other side. Which again, sucks, and I hate it, but there's no way this can be resolved either without a lot of hard, immediate, violent political change, or running away from that and doing another 50 years of low intensity back and forths.

I'm gonna go ahead and advise you not to make pop culture analogies on a post saying genocide is the only realistically logical option.

[mugiwara-lucy]

Actually cupcake if an ally nation engages in actions that directly endanger the lives of their allies, then the country in country can and will attack them which is what President Trump will do. He does so much for America and dumb bitches like you are too retarded to appreciate it. Oh and President Trump and Border Czar Tom Homan CAN and WILL use the Military for deportations since they are allowed that to handle an invasion on US Soil which is what these criminal scumbags have done. You should be ashamed of yourself. You pick these disgusting piles of scum sucking shit over your fellow patriot loving Americans who just want to make America a great country for ALL Americans regardless of gender, race and sexual orientation.

I don't hate anyone because the bible tells me not to but I don't care. These disgusting subhuman piles of shit are responsible for the amount of young women being raped and murdered like Laken Riley. That poor girl's family has to bury them just because these parasites want to turn America into their third world shit hole country. But after invading Mexico and mass deporting all these animals, America will reign supreme and at the end of four years you will regard President Trump as the greatest president of your entire lifetime. But with JD Vance, Tulsi Gabbard and Vivek Ramaswamy, America has a great future ahead of itself.

Haha thanks for the laugh and thanks for proving how fake MAGA “Christians” are. You idiots aren’t supposed to seek retribution but are supposed to forgive people. Yet you guys just weaponize and use Christianity as a crutch and a weapon.

Also keep Laken Riley’s name out of your mouth. None of you guys ever gave even a remote shit about her before she died so shut up. This is just like when you pieces of shit used Mollie Tibbett’s name as a way to spread your Anti-Immigrant bullshit.

And the way you talk about immigrants who BARELY contribute to the crime percentage in this country? Have some empathy would you?

FYI, Mexico has done NOTHING to America except for not be white which is what Trump wants. Even as a teenager I knew “Make America Great Again” meant Make America WHITE Again.

And yeah I choose immigrants over MAGAts. Immigrants are not only some of the kindest souls I’ve met but they contribute MAJORLY to the economy and I’ve learned so much stuff from them to better my life. MAGAts on the other hand? Are some of the cruelest, hateful, hypocritical, racist, misogynistic piles of shit I’ve had the displeasure of meeting. Immigrants contribute WIDELY to our economy such as with Agriculture, Construction and Hospitality. What do you idiots contribute to society other than the stink of racism and hate?

If Trump and his big dumb bald meathead Tom Homan DOES invade Mexico they WILL DIE. Not even sugarcoating it. You think President Sheinbaum is like those weak MAGA bitches like Alina Habba, Riley Gained and so many others of that ilk? She will FUCK THEM UP.

Just like how he can NOT deploy the military against civilians. Then again we all know he wants to be the American Kim Jong Un.

And what do we have to be thankful to him for? Bullying Transgender Americans? Taking away women’s rights? Wanting to CENSOR HISTORY? Yeah he wants to defund schools that teach about slavery and segregation. I wonder why? 🙄

Donald Trump will be remembered in the same light as Adolf Hitler.

[readingaway]

Danielle Babbles About Books - Hot Moon by Alan Smale

Some spoilers ahead.

Okay I don't have a ton to say but there are a couple things I wanted to write down. So first of all, I did like this book. It was tense - fittingly, with rounded characters. But there were a couple things I questioned.

First thing is the infodumping. Specifically in one scene, Vivian is getting caught up on everything that's been going on. The thing about that scene is that almost everything she's learning is stuff the audience already knows. So for that few minutes I was stuck thinking "this could've been summed up" like really it should've just skipped over all the stuff the audience knows unless there was a change. Also, the information could've been presented differently. Like newscasts! Vivian could've watched the news, or read a newspaper. Better yet, newspaper reports could've been sprinkled throughout to worldbuild and create tension. Show the audience what's going on outside. That's my unasked-for critique of a published work. I don't love it when reviewers do this a lot but it stuck out.

The other, bigger thing, is certain choices about this alternative timeline of sorts. Starting with, "wait, why the hell did you erase Watergate?" and continuing with "why did you erase Ford and Carter?" and "are you sure that speeding up the war in Vietnam was necessary?" There are some other things about history and culture. One being that I'm 80% sure I remember correctly (it's been about a week) that one of the prominent cosmonauts is Ukrainian. But there's some lines about "mother russia" and I can't remember if she said them or not but, especially at the moment, I have to wonder about that.

It's noted at another point that the cosmonaut program is clearly very white, that all the cosmonauts are european, etc. which is a good note to have (although, none of the american characters are noted as being non-white either.)

And, another thing of note is how frequently it's said that the US is "imperialist" which, while true, and it's either said by soviets or americans talking about soviet assumptions about them, at no point does anyone think or talk about the fact that the USSR was controlling many other countries. In this alternate timeline, the USSR interfered in Vietnam and invaded Afghanistan. And not one of the americans pointed that out as imperialist.

But returning to the US... seriously why erase Watergate? My guess without searching for anything from the author would be that it makes putting Reagan in office earlier make more sense. To some. So in reality, we had the watergate scandal, Nixon resigned and was pardoned by Ford, which contributed to Ford's unpopularity, and Carter took the presidency after Ford. Then Reagan. It could be that the implication is that by having a more stable and pro-republican government, the american plot to set up special ops and nuclear arms on the moon could go through. Without scandal and scrutiny and power changes the government could do more secret, stupid stuff. But back to reality, a lot of stuff happened during that time period behind the curtain anyway. And it's not like democratic presidents haven't approved any of these real projects.

It's just way too much respect for Nixon for me. Just skipping Watergate and not having any scandal open up afterward? Really? And then there's more consequences to consider like. Nixon is the president who started the "war on drugs." And who's to say what other shit he would've pulled if he'd been in office longer? And Reagan being elected earlier?

Basically, even as not-an-expert on this time period, that's some significant changes from real history and there's not a clear reason for those changes. If you're doing an alternate timeline sort of thing, change as few things as possible. Having a mostly secret branch of the US air force that does space missions and having the US and USSR doing more moon landings and building bases there are already significant changes from real history. I don't think that changing well-known bits of american history was a good mood unless it had a clear effect on the premise/ plot. These changes didn't. (There were also some changes to USSR history, but I'm not as familiar.)

My final negative note is the cover. The cover is good except for the face in the helmet. I didn't notice it for a while but in this larger picture I can't not see the face and I hate it.

Aside from all this, I did like the book. If you think the blurb sounds interesting, give it a go!

[a-tale-never-told]

From what everyone has said and what you mentioned in the posts before about the USSR, one of the big divergences in this timeline is that they never invaded Afghanistan, and thus weren’t wasting their resources trying to conquer a country nicknamed the graveyard of empires. Maybe we can go more in depth on that

//Ah yes, Afghanistan, the infamous shit show that we commonly know today. It is perhaps one of the "better" aspects of this blog, without that conflict even existing. So let's talk about it in a brief summary, shall we?

//So the main reason as to why the Soviets entered Afghanistan was because the communist government in charge of Afghanistan at the time urgently requested Soviet aid. Afghanistan by the year 1979 was in severe turmoil, with riots by the general population against this man, Hafizuallah Amin.

//Amin, a radical and a madman, was already in absolute control of the party, and had disposed of the previous leader of the nation, Nur Mohammad Taraki, the General Secretary of the party from 1965 to 1979. After a power struggle that had ended with Taraki being executed and Amin completely in control, systematic issues began to rear its head. But that would be a disastrous mistake, as Taraki was the former head of the Party, and had forged close relations with the Soviet Union around this time.

//The Soviet leadership were already not fans of Amin for killing Taraki, an act that shocked and angered General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev, who was the head of the Soviet Union since 1964. By 1979, the same year that he died, Taraki was trying to convince the Soviets to militarily intervene in Afghanistan and destroy the Islamic rebellion that was raging across the country. And when I say that, I'm not talking about just sending military aid in the form of arms or military advisors, but actual Soviet soldiers on the ground in Afghanistan.

//The Soviets admittedly refused every offer the Afghans tried to make, but by 1979, with Amin's regime collapsing all around him, the rebels starting to achieve incredible success, they decied to hold a special commission meeting to discuss about what to do in Afghanistan. The reasons for this are not entirely clear: some say that it was the political instability in Afghanistan under the regime that caused an intervention, while others cite the Iranian Revolution (which happened the same year) and the rise of Islamic extremism to be the main motivating factor for the invasion.

//Brezhnev, being an indecisive idiot, wavered in the fact of how to conduct and give an appropriate response. The main three decision-makers that pushed for intervention were Andrei Gromyko, the Soviet foreign minister and a significant player in deciding foreign policy for the state, Dmitri Ustinov, the Defense minster who was an absolute Warhawk, and our good old friend, Yuri Andropov, by then head of the KGB. They believed that an Islamic takeover would create a regime hostile to the USSR, and also believed that the US and Pakistan, an American ally, were openly funding the rebels. After much debating, a decision was made: On December 27th, 1979, the Soviets launched an invasion of Afghanistan. They killed Amin and replaced him with a moderate leader.

//I don't want to go too in-depth, but basically, the entire invasion backfired massively for them, and all the invasion really accomplished was uniting all of the other Islamic groups together to fight against a common enemy. So the main difference here that prevents the invasion is that the communist revolution in the 60s that brought the Afgan communists to power simply doesn't happen, or at least doesn't happen until a few years later, like in the late 80s. By that time, the problematic issues that had been there since the start of Brezhnev's reign would now be so high that an external war was completely out of the question. It also greatly improved diplomatic relations with the rest of the international community, as the invasion resulted in every nation opposed to this placing sanctions on the USSR, and disowning them from the rest of the world with the exception of their own allies.

//As for Afghanistan, it would still be a relatively poor nation. It may have governments that are certainly not democratic, but otherwise, it would be a relatively stable nation. The Soviets would end up having better relations with the US and the rest of the world until Regan eventually gets elected, and then we go back to the status quo of anti-communism and the prevention of it spreading anywhere else.

[bogleech]

These replies meant well but they miss the point, we are absolutely dealing with a fanatical hive minded cult here. Zombie and Sheep are completely appropriate euphemisms for people who willingly chose not to think for themselves, and if Trump says the sky is green then his whole barking, flopping gaggle of drunken seals will not only immediately believe the sky is green, they will also believe you're a baby-eating commie satanist if you think it's ever been blue.

I'm just going to copy/paste what I already added before:

-

"The number of people who seriously didn't know anything other than "he said he'd fix the economy" can't be that common. And if you ever heard him speak, you heard him define "fixing the economy" as "shutting down the border," because his single biggest campaign tool has been the complete and utter lie that "illegals" are a significant drain on the economy or that they're on the rise. Both are false. The vast, vast majority of his supporters, I'd say well over 99%, maybe more like several hundred to one, hold at least one, normally several of the following beliefs:

That there are bloodthirsty foreign devils deliberately invading at all times from the Southern border, and they can be blamed for the financial struggles of the "legal" citizens.

Anyone outside the traditional gender norms is an insatiable pervert and wants to corrupt innocent children.

Those who get abortions or in some cases even use birth control are murderers and filthy whores.

People in poverty are just lazy druggies who didn't care or try hard enough and brought all of their suffering on themselves.

The Disabled and in fact anyone unable to just work, work, work and work for at least some retail shit are a burden to be scorned.

Everyone bombed and killed by the U.S. military or any of its allied countries is always either a terrorist or an acceptable sacrifice in the fight against terrorists.

Police brutality is overstated and most people hurt or killed by cops did something to deserve it, but most especially minorities, who may or may not be genetically predisposed to crime.

An idea that Jewish people secretly control the world through a vast interconnected conspiracy that may also involve demon worship and child trafficking.

Doctors and scientists are liars who drain money from the economy and are wrong about everything that might inconvenience a rich man.

Non-Christians of any kind are degenerate and dangerous.

Trump's entire platform, and that of all other GOP candidates these days, is a deliberately fuzzy promise to act on any or all of these hysterical prejudices. He's most consistent about the first one and made it pretty much the central pillar of his whole campaign, because the paranoia over an imaginary "border crisis" is by far the most popular culture war uniting the right. Which is pretty fucking sad considering just how utterly fabricated it is, and how effortless it is to find that out in only seconds. However, not all conservatives subscribe to all of the same moral panics at the same time, so right wing influencers spend a lot of time weeping and gnashing over "liberalism" or "socialism" or this word that rhymes with "yoke" so that every one of their stupid, angry grovelers can read into it as a promise to defeat whatever it is those words mean in their mushy fucking brains. The single most important thing to understand of all, though, is that the lies are not what make them hate people. They already wanted to hate those people. The lies are concocted after the fact to justify the deeds they want to commit. They are stupid, scared, gullible and weak but they are also willfully spiteful with a massive punishment fetish, so when you get enough of them together they can actually wreak havoc. The point of my original post was that they're not anything as cool or impressive as evil nefarious villains. They're more comparable to a mindless but inexorable flood of sewage.

-

I will also add: almost all of them categorize other human beings as "illegal aliens," and to them those aren't just words, but an actual demographic label they want to force on anyone who didn't fill out all the right forms, which they want enforced as an unforgivable crime.

Getting upset that I turn around and throw "dehoominizing langwidge" back at them is honestly a little ridiculous and even kind of uncomfortable, like if you saw a guy beating his wife and patted him gently on the back to remind him he matters. No he doesn't! Put a knife in that hand first! Referring to violent xenophobes as zombies or animals or vermin shouldn't bother you any more than calling them shitheads or assholes or even just jerks, because all possible words and language are completely inconsequential compared to their actual efforts at legislative dehumanization.

That's what "dehumanization" actually is. Not calling someone a dog or a ghoul in words, which is merely an expression of how ugly their behavior has become. Dehumanization is the actual treatment, by action, of other people as less worthy of basic rights and that is what they set out to do every single day. Like are some of you seriously that sheltered and naive. Yeesh. If you're personally acquainted with that one-in-a-million kind-hearted well meaning oaf who ignorantly supports the right wing out of innocent childlike ignorance, congrats but it doesn't change a thing and maybe your poor sweet gentle pet maga should have cared enough to know what they were voting for?

Young people have GOT to stop talking about conservatives like they're scary menacing monsters. Yes the policies they back are horrifically destructive but that's entirely because of how individually stupid, fearful, emotionally stunted, weak willed and catastrophically gullible they are. That all is what made them become right wing to begin with. Just the most easily manipulated zombie sheep on earth.

[compacflt]

Watching battleship right now and it got me thinking about ur post wondering how maverick and ice would react to current recruitment methods like e-girls and I just have to wonder what their thoughts would have been about this movie. It's more focused on the ships and not so much the fighter jets, obviously, but still...just a giant ad for the Navy. Also Rihanna which is perhaps the most important part of it all.

im no whitemanologist but if ice & mav are anything like my dad theyd probably think it’s some pretty sick shit

full disclosure: had not seen battleship until just now, when i watched it so i could answer this ask. thoughts: man, what a waste of jesse plemons! actually the whole cast is kinda stacked: liam neeson COMPACFLT (fuck yeah), Rihanna, alexander skarsgard….. woof. and yeah, it’s a gigantic fuck-you ad for the navy, but even i got a freedom boner when they hopped on *that ship* at the very end (70-year-old ordnance notwithstanding). like, i get it. that kinda whipped ass actually.

as recruitment material it’s very interesting. *guy who has only ever seen top gun watching any other movie* WOW JUST LIKE TOP GUN!!! no, but seriously, all these pro-Navy pro-mil movies are pushing a characterization of the military & the people in it that is laughably absurd. Our main character is always some guy who’s quietly very talented but outwardly a huge asshole who never plays by the rules & stays in the institution that gives him power only by the skin of his teeth. These movies are about *belonging* and push a message that even the most screwy of screw-ups can find their place in the military with a little patriotism and perseverance (maverick voice: “just wanna serve my country and be the best fighter pilot in the Navy, SIR”)—when that’s clearly not true. so, yes, in Battleship hopper is our asshole persevering main character who does everything (EVERYTHING) wrong until he just happens to do one thing right (read sun tzu I guess?) & gets a command of his own. The message is, join the navy, doesn’t matter how much of a fuck-up you are in real life, you too can excel & be recognized & get the outrageously hot chick & lead other men & have immense power….

…when we get invaded by aliens. cause that’s always the other part of these movies that kinda confuses me: unless it’s a historical movie (black Hawk down, american sniper, SPR, hacksaw ridge etc) in the modern age of pro-mil movies we have to make up an enemy to propagandize. TGM’s “fifth-gen fighter” advanced nation, for instance. Not Russia and not Iran and not DPRK, some other shitholistan that isn’t made of real people so we can drop fictional bombs on them without feeling bad. And these fictional enemies are always more advanced than us, because we are perpetual underdogs (& have been since the AmRev war, it’s part of our historical DNA). But… that discrepancy doesn’t reflect reality, obvi. If Tom Cruise hadn’t wanted to film inside real planes, TGM could’ve been a 5-minute short film of an F-35 dropping a precision guided bunker buster from 40,000 feet. like, we have the logistical/materiel capability to execute pretty much any mission we want with little to no actual struggle. But that makes for poor propaganda storytelling. So… aliens it is

It is also worth engaging with Top Gun: Maverick as a recruitment text in and of itself, and I don’t mean like “oh planes cool = people want to join the navy” I mean, this is a movie where the CORE EMOTIONAL TENET is that a kid who wanted to be in the navy got shut out & is still pissed about it. The central emotional tenet of TGM is Rooster trying to finally prove to Maverick that he IS ready to join the Navy. The whole movie is built upon the assumption that the Navy is someplace You Want To Be. It’s not just a recruitment text, it’s a recruitment story. And again, it’s asshole-rule-breaker Maverick who juuuuust manages to stay in because he’s actually super talented all along and not actually a fuck-up, and the Navy legitimizes him as a person (in my reading, as a man) at the end… warlock voice: “You’re where you belong.” Is he, though? All the evidence seems to suggest otherwise!