#america number 1

[oh-my-damn]

It's so ironic to me that America has made their motto "the land of the free" and not to mention the phrase "America's number 1" (at what exactly? Nothing good, I assure you, but you are number 1 at a lot of terrible things, including country to commit the most war crimes without being prosecuted for it)

America wasn't free for everyone when they coined that phrase and I would argue it still isn't. When do we start seeing the system and the way it's been set up for what it is?

Pledging allegiance to your country every morning before class is an arguably very strange thing to do, yet it's been custom in America the past many decades.

Having to practice how to hide from school shooters is an arguably very strange thing to do, yet it's been custom in America for the past many decades.

Invading other countries and killing civilians under the guise of "protecting them" or "granting them freedom/democracy" is an arguably strange thing to do. Especially considering the lack of freedom and outright democracy that exists in your own country as you do it.

I recently started a re-watch of Scrubs. In that show, which originally came out in 2001, there is an episode that mentions and slightly discusses the Iraq War. The episode itself paints the picture of a divided people, with very conflicting opinions regarding whether or not the war is valid, and why America is in it to being with.

It reminded me of today, and the wars America have since been and are still fighting. It reminded me of the justice system, not just the American one, but the international one, which has been set up to ensure that America has free reign to do basically what they please without any repercussions.

I ask, if your citizens cannot earn a livable wage or pay rent due to massive inflation, if they have to go in massive depth to go to school or in case they get sick, if they have to fear repercussion for expressing their opinions, are they truly free?

If they are trapped in a system based on capitalizing on and controlling everything that makes one human, who is truly free?

Perhaps the billionaires are. It's interesting, is it not, that America has such a large number of billionaires while simultaneously having such a large number of homeless people?

It is interesting, is it not, that America claims to be the driving force of "democracy" yet their voting system is inherently flawed and dare I say outright corrupt due to the fact that you can practically pay your way to presidency, and the people are not considered nor listened to when it comes to matters of law?

It is interesting, is it not, that America claims to be the land of the free, yet they police their citizens so heavily, they don't even know when their rights are being taken away?

It is interesting, is it not, that we glorify a country that historically has caused so many issues and problems, has taken part in fighting wars on behalf of other people at the cost of millions of lives, that acts as if they are the leaders of the democratic world despite their presidents being paid for by corporations or nations to serve their own interests, that polices peoples free speech, that is capitalistic in its fundamental values and does not care about its own citizens safety or wellfare.

Isn't that interesting?

Why is that?

[f1version]

logan’s helmet is flirting with me

[olympeline]

@endlesscolddreams and @liemurienn dropped some really good replies on my USUK vs. FrUK post and it’s made me think about the differences between both pairings and why they might attract their respective fans the way they do.

Let’s begin with USUK, which nearly from series start has more canon on its side. Or rather it has more “serious” moments. Hetalia is a gag show at heart and its non-jokey parts are few and far between, ship tease included. The first gut punch most fans will encounter is Alfred and Arthur’s battle during the American War for Independence. That will definitely stick with a lot of people if for no other reason than it’s so unexpected. The funny, silly anime about pasta and gag war abruptly pivots to a main character sobbing his heart out in the rain while another looks on, stony faced, with no joke at all. This can’t not leave an impression. Even fans who loathe Alfred never try to pretend his effect on Arthur isn’t huge. Then the series carries on teasing the things left unsaid between them in both serious and silly shapshots. With all this is mind, it’s not hard to see why USUK became the big, swinging dick of Hetalia’s ships. Aside from the borderline canon Gerita, nothing else really has the weight behind it I think.

This definitely makes it what I would call an “easy” ship to get into. That sounds bad because fandoms can be very judgey about pairings they find to be basic. Just like everything else in the arts, there’s a perception among some people that if something is popular then it must be dumber/less deep/worse. Pure elitism basically. And it’s bollocks. Just because something is popular with the masses doesn’t make it worse. It just means it’s popular. Plenty of people hate USUK for the perfecly legitimate reason that it just doesn’t gel with them. But there’s always been a minority undercurrent of “I hate this just because it’s the fandom’s most visible ship!” Seen this happen a million times with other communities over the years.

USUK also has the almost universally beloved tropes of Happy, Gregarious, Extroverted one loves Moody, Gloomy, Introverted one. Who loves him back but can’t say it because tsundere. FrUK on the other hand is more subtle. It has Slowburn, Rivals/Enemies to Lovers as its bread and butter. These tropes are well loved but there’s no big, attention grabbing dramatic moment early on that makes use of and cements the FrUK interpretation of them in the minds of fans. Francis and Arthur share a lot of screentime but it’s all jokey and fun. Even the ship tease is all gags relating to Francis being comically pervy and Arthur being comically stuffy and flustered. Francis gets some heart rending moments later (Joan of Arc, the wish for a mortal life) but Arthur isn’t included. Even though he could have been because of what happened to Joan. It’s left up to the fans to add him. In another universe the Closet Cleaning arc was replaced by a Bitter Hundred Years War arc, and FrUK subsequently took the top spot in the fandom’s ship rankings as a result.

Leaving plain, old personal taste aside, I think all this divided the fandom between shippers who wanted something they could leap into and get early gratification (USUK) vs shippers who wanted to expend a little more energy on interpretation (FrUK). Because there’s plenty of drama to be had with Francis and Arthur thanks to the French/English historical rivalry (see above). But it’s not offered up on a plate in canon like with Arthur and Alfred. A USUK shipper gets drama given to them while a FrUK shipper has to dig deeper and make their own fun. Different strokes.

This kind of thing is very interesting to me. Please feel free to add on your own interpretations if you like ☺️

[priafey]

things the US needs to address:

the collective psychosis that leads people to make posts like these

[abnosome1]

#hecc

[kittycowboy]

crazy that indonesian isnt even top 29 help??? its 56(?)

IKR??? esp bcs Indonesia is like the fourth modt populated country in the world ,,, like obv mandarin and english n hindi wld be above it, then spanish n arabic bcs its got so many countries, but its wildddd its so low for native speakers. Even if u include non native speakers its only 11th :0

[kyuoki]

[blowflyfag]

I’m the most eligible bachelor in Miami and you’re nothing but a tumblr blog.

im the most eligible bachelor in ur mom's area <3

[ramen-flavored]

My Shaylaaaa!!!

[clementinesforthesoul]

im feeling like absolute shit rn and im this close to relapsing over the literal dumbest dumbest dumbessttt thing but im fucking falling asleep before that. i have pe tmr we're not doing that dumbass

[wise-innocence]

l'eagle.....

"It's good right!? The two words are almost perfectly unscrabbled plus I'm pretty sure eagles represent justice in some... places. I'm thinking of rolling out some new business cards with the phrase..."

"... Unless you're trying to make fun of me here in which I've got some choice words for you, Temmie."

[princesswithsomeinterests]

Cory not only wants to throw the next hoh, he also wants to work with Cameron…

[skyhawkstragedy]

I love how this episode completely glosses over the fact that Cory and America mutually wanted to throw people off that they’re a potential duo so it inadvertently gives Cory a villain edit

they keep evil editing this guy FOR WHAT

[liu-yu-xin]

This photo was when I first GOT yangyang like hes grown up so much from the bowl cut 18 year old at debut he grew into his look and yeah absolutely he got that dog in him. Or something i dont actually know what that means

[butyrospermum-parkii]

and while we are at it, Fuck everyone who buys a french bull dog and fuck everyone who is breeding them.

[hesitationss]

just scrolled thru an account harassing ppl for showing support for noury about being "anti ukr/aine" bcuz they tweet about palestine. they're saying they "don't give a shit about some random palestinian who lost their hand" and they said "germans were too kind to communists during ww2" i hate these nazi bitches!!! like the normalization of nazism is so incredibly fucked up and it's only going to get worse in europe and north america oh my god.