#and abject hypocrites

[queer-scots-geordie-dyke]

God, I get the absolute worst people in the notes of my posts.

Imagine being the kind of atrocious human being who says that Jews have a "victim complex" after suffering a pogrom which took 1,200 lives and a concurrent 400% worldwide rise in antisemitic abuse and violence, less than a century after the worst genocide in history decimated two thirds of their population, which they still haven't recovered from, and which is being denied more and more with each passing day.

Imagine being the kind of unimaginable cunt who finds that acceptable behaviour.

Would you say that Black people concerned about racism and police brutality have a "victim complex"?

Would you say women concerned about sexual assault or domestic violence when 1 in 3 are victims at some point in their lives have a "victim complex"?

Would you say trans people concerned about anti trans legislation in health and social care have a "victim complex"?

So why is it, again and again and again, Jewish people facing very real oppression and persecution are seen as fair play to behave hideously towards?

[normalbrothers]

alicent squirming through her abortion while larys is doing all that is sexy. she's male blorbo coded because i want her to go through all that

[woso-dreamzzz]

The Talk II

Hardersson x Teen!Reader

Part of The Big Adventures Universe

Summary: Magda's Powerpoint

It's probably the worst thing you've ever suffered through.

Next to you, Pernille has to smother her laughter as you slouch lower and lower in your seat.

The first part you already knew about. The actual act of sex was something you'd covered a while ago in biology so that was basically like a study session.

The next stuff you'd rather not learn about from your Morsa but Magda was nothing if not thorough as she went through slide after slide of sex positions and how it worked between two girls.

It was traumatising and you could do nothing but stare at the screen in abject horror.

"Alright," Pernille says when Magda gets particularly passionate about one part and you look like you want to melt into a puddle of nothingness next to her," Why don't we take a break for lunch and finish this later?"

"Oh, but, Pernille I was just getting to the part about-"

"That's a great idea, Momma!" You're up like a shot, nearly tripping over your own feet in your haste to get away.

"But Pernille-"

"Come on, Magda," Pernille laughs, gently pulling Magda to the kitchen," Give her some time to compute what she's just been told. We've never had a conversation like this with her before."

"Is it informative enough? I think I left something off and I don't want her-"

"Yes, Magda," Pernille says," Plenty informative. You're doing a great job. Princesse, get your fingers out of that jar!"

You huff a little, pushing the jar of nutella away as you lift yourself up onto the counter.

"You know," Magda says, suddenly straight back into lecture mood," Some people like to incorporate-"

"La-La-La!" You say quickly, slamming your fingers into your ears. "I can't hear you!"

Pernille rolls her eyes fondly at you both as Magda attempts to wrench your fingers away.

"Alright you two," She says," Food. Eat."

You practically inhale your food while Magda follows at a more leisurely pace.

"Hey, where are you going?" Magda asks as you hastily put your plate in the sync and attempt to escape upstairs. "We're not finished yet."

"I...er..." You stumble over your words trying to find an excuse. "I've got homework!"

"No you don't. You finished it all before going out with Frido."

"Er..."

Pernille is no help to you, looking down at her plate smiling as you scramble to think of another excuse.

"I'm nearly done anyway," Magda continues," Just give me a sec."

The second time is just as painful as the first as you sit, tense on the sofa, as Magda walks you through sex toys, something that you really didn't need your own mother to teach you about.

But she does it anyway and you know she's doing it because she loves you in her own weird way.

But, still, you don't think you needed the printed out sheet of the list of sites that explored all the nitty gritty of STDs.

It was nice that she printed it but you're pretty sure pinning the sheet to your notes board will ruin the whole aesthetic of it.

"Any questions?"

Magda looks immensely proud of herself, chest puffed out in pride as she comes to the end of the PowerPoint she spent all day working on.

You sit there, bright red, unable to do anything but stare at the little animated hand waving on her questions slide.

"Er...no...That was very...informative."

"Oh...wait! I forgot!"

Magda clicks to what must be her last slide and you groan loudly.

'Remember! The key to a good life is abstinence!'

"That's so hypocritical!" You exclaim," You and Momma have sex all the time!"

"That's different. You're our baby. I don't want you having sex."

"You just made a whole PowerPoint about sex!"

"Yes. Because I don't want you doing it."

You turn to Pernille, gesturing wildly as you sputter.

"I know," She says, patting your head," But just smile and nod. She'll drop it sooner or later."

[messiahzzz]

as much as i dislike the dialogue option that leads to this scene, i genuinely appreciate gale's response. it is easy to overlook what he is actually trying to convey here and is instead commonly dismissed as him being "overdramatic" or as a display of his bruised ego.

player: it was fine. gale: i see. gale: well, fine is... fine. nobody weeps because the weather is fine. no monarchs were overthrown because their ruling was fine. no artworks were burned because they were not masterpieces, but merely fine. player: would you have rather i lied? gale: the dignified thing for me to say is 'no. of course not. forthrightness before all.' but honestly? yes... i would have rather you lied. gale: i'm just a man. an imperfect one, with needs, wants, and flaws by the bushel. a fragile vessel in which to place potentially world-ending power. gale: perhaps it would be better to not shake such a vessel. gale: forgive me. these were already trying times before elminster delivered his missive. now, for me at least, they are potentially end times.

gale is no stranger to introspection. despite having his natural blindspots, he is fully aware of his flaws and imperfections. he lacks an inherent sense of self-preservation, displays impatience on occasion, can be hypocritical, has trouble handling pointed criticism well, and has a tendency to respond in passive aggression if he feels his competence is brought into question. he seeks admiration and is known to not honor his limitations and own safety for the sake of receiving praise.

gale: [...] people have always commented on my confidence, sometimes my over-confidence, and in one particularly cut throat assessment at university - my 'abject and incorrigible self-delusion.'

gale is not blind to how he is perceived by others, nor does he dismiss their conclusions without careful consideration. instead of deflecting he simply takes what they dish out and files it away for later contemplation and inspection.

player: because you acted the idiot. and paid the price for it too. gale: as always, i endeavor to be invigorated by your candour, rather than eviscerated by it. gale: blunt as your summation is - it's correct. i dared to call myself an archmage while acting the apprentice. the hallmarks of a most excellent idiot, unfortunately.

player: i can't say i share the same high opinion of you, gale. gale: always bringing such candour to our conversations. some would think twice about mocking gale of waterdeep, but you just go straight for the gut. nodecontext: playing along, making fun of himself gale: i like that about you. it's one of your rarer qualities, though i fear my ego can take no more of it tonight. nodecontext: cheerfully accepting the brush off, not taking it personally

needs, wants, and flaws by the bushel.

gale craves as mortals do. for relevance, safety, consideration, loyalty, care, acceptance, and love. he's desperate, he's angry, he's petty and hurt and lonely. he's contradictory, and at times inconsistent. he's afraid, he stumbles, he yearns. if he loves, he does so with all his heart but forgets to extend the same love to himself. he gains understanding only to disregard it later. he is absorbed yet devoted. he expects kindness but is bewildered when it is extended to him in turn. he's neither a perfect colleague, a perfect companion, a perfect lover, nor a perfect husband. he's just another human who's trying to navigate and make sense of the world. who is silently hoping for his soul to be handled with tenderness and care, to finally be seen for who he is —no need for performance or pretense — and to be unconditionally cherished nonetheless.

a fragile vessel in which to place potentially world-ending power.

he knows the burden he carries. understanding that even a momentary lapse in judgment could spell catastrophe if he doesn't exert tight control over his emotions at all times. he knows what is at stake should he lose the composure he painstakingly had to master. a mere moment is all it takes. this self-assessment isn't an "indirect threat" intended to subject pressure on tav or solicit pity, it's a stark acknowledgment of the truth. he is a fragile human, housing powers that should've never been his in the first place.

player: unbelievable. did you ever think what would happen if the tadpole got the better of you? gale: every waking moment. every dreaming moment too. but there was no way out.

he is also keenly aware of how his (former) colleagues perceive him, following his fall from grace.

player: bold. few would dare to reduce a goddess to their 'muse.' gale: i am, after all, the villain of the tale.

this line in particular is one i often think about. it makes me wonder about the extent of information gale received from the outside world after locking himself in his tower for an entire year, setting magical wards so no one but tara would be able to enter. did he hear the whispers? ("shunned by the goddess of magic herself, of course, it was only a matter of time before he flew too close to the sun.") were his colleagues ridiculing him, applauding mystra for cutting off the rot at the source? how did he arrive at the assumption that he is perceived as "the villain" and not the victim?

player: you must have been lonely, with only tara for company.. gale: sometimes. but i imposed it upon myself, after all. i set up enough wards to keep an army at bay, never mind the few colleagues who sought to inquire about my welfare.

or is this solely his own harsh judgment of his folly? that there is no chance anyone would meet him with sympathy, kindness and understanding after what he had wrought. he was too greedy, too impatient — selfish in arrogance, ravenous in ambition. letting delusions of grandeur guide him. he brought it all upon himself with his lack of patience. entirely convinced of his success and skill, blind to the possibility of failure. now doomed to drag innocents into the abyss with him. the hallmarks of a villain, right? after all, who would truly believe him that his ambition hid no ill will?

players: by rights. i should kill you. gale: perhaps that is what i deserve, but you deserve no such thing. [...]

[petr1kov]

i guess the reason why joker 2 didn't work as a deconstruction of the first movie is that they tried to course correct the way arthur is portrayed in it so hard that they seemingly forgot that the first movie did give us real reasons to empathize with him. that was clearly done by the creators as a way to distance themselves from the terrible fanbase their joker had attracted, but it feels hypocritical to act as if the blame is fully on the audience not knowing how to interpret the movie when, to me, that movie's main problem always was that it wanted to have its cake and eat it too, by wanting to portray the joker both as an abject villain and as a tragic victim of society who is abused and neglected to an almost ridiculous extent by nearly every person he encounters in his life, all while never really committing to an angle or having anything to say about him as a person or the circumstances that created him. so to 'course correct' a story like that by making the guy who was already terribly abused face even more abuse and humiliation, all with the intent to show the audience that he was and always will be a pathetic loser primarily so his fanboys will feel upset, it just feels cheap. no wonder almost no one was pleased with the result.

[neuroticbookworm]

Another Thai BL, another Asian parent-child conflict that enrages the audience and yet, is extremely nuanced. I’m gonna try and speak on it as an Asian kid who grew up in the East, but currently lives in the West, carrying complicated feelings on the Asian parenting I received.

I’m seeing a good discourse in the tags from @lurkingshan, @respectthepetty, @bengiyo, @heretherebedork and @williamrikers, among others, on the hypocrisy of a dad who hit his son in anger and is now lecturing him on the importance of controlling one’s actions when angry. I agree with everyone that the dad is being a hypocritical piece of shit. But I do not think that this is a failure in the writing of the show. Quite the opposite, actually. Because of how Ten responds and acts in the face of this hypocrisy.

Ten comes across as belligerent and confrontational in every interaction he has had with his dad, but it is never uncalled for, and he never seeks it out himself. He tries to stay out of his dad and his stepmom/his dad’s girlfriend’s way as much as possible, and only responds in a defensive manner when provoked. And in today’s episode, he even kept himself open enough in the conversation with his dad, despite his anger, to concede and accept a very good point when raised. Ten understands his dad’s hypocrisy but refuses to stoop to the same level of pettiness because he knows being a good partner and a good friend is more important than being right. This is a mark of excellent writing, in my opinion. The main character is fiercely loyal to his partner and his friends and does not let his baggage with his dad cloud his course of action.

I also see calls for an apology from the dad already brewing in the fandom. And I understand the instinct to want that. It is always so satisfying when mistreated children finally get the apology that’s been long overdue. But it’s rarely this simple in an Asian household. Times are changing faster than most people can in a lifetime, and there are systemic, cultural flaws in how an Asian society understands and teaches parenting. And if we factor in the social, economic, religious lines that heavily influence how an Asian person forms their social circle, it would’ve left these parents with little to no peers who can tell them what they’re doing is wrong. Parents striking their kids is clearly considered evil nowadays, but only a few years ago, it would’ve been a perfectly acceptable response to control a bratty child, on and off screen (and it still is in some Asian cultures).

Now, NONE of what I said above is an excuse to write off the behavior of Ten’s dad as acceptable, just because it’s very Asian. As an Asian who grew up in the East, the demand for an apology does not particularly resonate with me, because Ten and his dad both know that their problems are not gonna go away as soon as Ten’s dad apologizes. Because:

If Ten starts demanding an apology for every shitty thing his dad has ever done, where should he stop? Should he demand an apology for the time his dad probably struck him as a kid when he was trying to get him to memorize multiplication tables, as is wont of every Asian parent ever (it is such an ubiquitous experience to Asian kids everywhere that there are reels with millions of views on IG, referencing this experience. Does this mean every Asian parent is evil and must be put on trial by their kids? Holy moly, think of all the money therapists would make if every Asian kid in the world decided to call out their parents on their shit. Entire economies would crumble to dust from the sudden disruption in cashflow.)

Is an apology going to comfort Ten? Asian parenting warps the sense of self of both the parents and the kids, because of the levels of abject sacrifice involved in it. It is extremely possible that Ten’s dad had worked day and night to provide well for his family, for his son, before Ten’s mom fell ill. It’s the same choice he made for his wife, but in this case, it paid off, because now Ten is financially well taken care of, and he is privileged enough to pursue a career in medicine. If Ten demands an apology from his dad for not being there when his mom was dying, do we know for sure that when he gets that apology, his mind won’t conflate the sacrifices his dad made for him, thus making him feel guilty for forcing someone who clearly cared about him enough to work hard for him, into defeat (look at this rich soup of Asian parenting misery, yum yum yum. I know it’s delicious because I’m paying my therapist weekly to make the broth less spicy).

The dialogue in the show whenever Ten’s mom is brought up and discussed is always very carefully worded:

Not “because you did not act”, but “because you took so long to act”. Looks like Ten’s dad made a choice that ultimately did not pay off. He cared, and he wanted to do something to save his wife, but whatever he chose to do ultimately did not help. And now she is dead and he has managed to not help and comfort his wife in her final days AND unwittingly traumatize his son with his absence. The show has painted this storyline with enough nuance that I don’t believe we are meant to read Ten’s dad as a simple villain, but rather a father who does care but has made some serious mistakes. This situation is so emotionally complicated and realistically, it’s gonna take years for both of them to find a middle ground. Ten is gonna have to grow up and make a few mistakes of his own in life to develop proper empathy for his dad, and that’s gonna put a couple things into perspective for him (I’m not saying Ten is bound to make mistakes because he is bad. He is going to because shit happens in life and human beings always do better in hindsight than in the moment). And the dad is gonna have to grow old and let his aging body humble him a little and shrink his ego enough to see that he had failed his son by not being emotionally available to deal with their trauma, together.

I’ve been watching Kim’s Convenience, a Canadian sitcom that follows a Korean-Canadian family and their shenanigans. I’m only on S04E02, but there is a father-son conflict at the centre of this show that is still not directly addressed by both the dad and the son. It’s been years (almost a decade, I think) since the son has been driven out of his home by his dad for a dumb mistake he made as a teen. And the way the show works on it is so infuriating, because it is so Asian. It is rarely addressed aloud in the presence of the dad or the son, lest it leads to anger and screaming and storming off. The path to reconciliation is built with mom calling her son for help to fix something in their home because his dad is too stubborn to ask for it. With the son visiting the hospital when the dad had to undergo surgery, and having their first real conversation in years which the dad forgets after waking up from the influence of pain drugs. With the daughter’s old phone passed down to the dad with her brother’s number on it, which leads to them texting each other. It is all extra frustrating for me because I’m extremely straightforward in my conversations with my parents. I do not like ambiguous endings to verbal conflicts because they are a ticking time bomb and I do not have the capacity to forget its existence and let it tick away in the background. But, I understand it when my friends, and Asian characters in TV shows, don’t want to force things out in the open if it can be swept under the rug for the time being, because peace of mind in Asian households is fleeting and you would be wise to take what you get.

Good TV shows can best serve their audience when they serve their characters, and stay true to the experiences of the people they are trying to represent. My teen ass was regularly shocked, appalled and intrigued by the sexual liberation promised by Western media I consumed while I was in school and college. I was surrounded by a sexually repressed society that was convinced that the only moral way to enjoy pleasure was after marriage with your partner. And very predictably, this means a lot of dead bedrooms, unhappy marriages and kids growing up with no real understanding of what romantic love looks like. I would’ve never had the courage to move my entire life to the West, if the Western media I watched had not represented its people in all their messy, horny glory, albeit with a rose-tinted lens on gender, race and sexuality.

Some Asian parents in media need to fall at the feet of their children and apologize. I remember being absolutely fucking enraged while @lurkingshan and I watched Double Savage at the behest of our friend @waitmyturtles, and in the finale, Korn was the one who fell at the feet of his absolute piece of shit of a dad to apologize for FUCKING NOTHING. And after Shan and I were done surviving that show, I remember telling my friends that most Asian media does not have strong writing whenever Asian children need to defy their shitty parents and come to terms with their destructive parenting, because chances are, most Asian creators would not have successfully done it. Hence, intergenerational trauma (gasp! It’s all connected!).

So. I would never demand to see Ten’s dad apologize to him to consider Cooking Crush a successful show, because that is not the cultural context this story operates in. Would I enjoy it if he does? Hell yes. Would I be mad if he does not? No, because Ten is proving him wrong time and again, and that’s a constant reminder from the narrative of who is in the right.

[wxnheart]

𝙰𝚙𝚎𝚡 𝙿𝚛𝚎𝚍𝚊𝚝𝚘𝚛 - 𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐱 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫 (𝟑/𝟑)

Part 1, Part 2

To fight for an empire that would not even think to fight for you is a fool's errand. It is a foolish choice. And yet he brandishes his sword despite it all. Barbarian. A wild card. An enigma. Words uttered from the lips of the ignorant, thoughts shared amongst the hypocrites. He had never sought acceptance, had never craved it, praise nothing but a blur that passed him by. Until you, spurred by devotion, screaming rejection, convinced him so. He brandishes his sword in the name of the Imperium and makes loyal fools of you both.

Jaghatai Khan

He was an anomaly, even amongst his brothers. In his father's image is he born and in his father's image is he reborn anew. He is Man made merciful, kind, and contrite. He is Man made passionate and... obsessive. The forge burns brightly, fueled by his humanity, fueled by his obsession. An obsession that carries with it guilt. An obsession that threatens to consume. An obsession that inspires him to build. And such is the duality of Man.

Vulkan

He envisioned you and wondered what it meant. He envisioned valor, courage, and righteousness and what he saw did you no justice. And he'd been afflicted since. He met you, envisioned still, and saw valor, courage, and righteousness drenched in blood. And still, they did you no justice. He envisioned you and the flame of his divinity waned and the affliction grew. He envisioned you and rage simmering beneath the beauty, shame blanketing his father's blessed creation, prepared to fall.

Sanguinius

You are a kindred spirit. Your gifts are to be commended. Your mind, though nowhere near as expansive as his, is a maelstrom all its own. In you he sees familiarity. In you, he sees... potential. And so, he harnesses it. To what end, you do not know. You will never know. And so you traverse the infinite corridors of knowledge, intent on going beyond, intent on proving yourself. And your gifts and your mind would be his to know, his to conquer. Without your knowledge.

Magnus the Red

You thought him barbaric, bestial, an animal. He was a warrior through and through, everything the Emperor created him to be. The perfect weapon, one you thought something of but what that comprised, you did not know... until he showed you otherwise. Until you saw precision, a cold ruthlessness under his fanged grin and hungry, possessive eyes and it made your blood run cold in abject fear. And the Wolf claimed his territory.

Leman Russ

Limitations be damned, he pushed you further and further. He crafted you for greatness. He molded you into one of the Emperor's finest. He made you perfect. To his liking. And the Gorgon ensnares his prey.

Ferrus Manus

You spoke of redemption and it gave him hope. And so he hoped. And he fought. And he toiled. And he hoped some more. And amidst the ruins of his father's majesty did he hope still. He pulls you into the darkness, calls you companion amongst the stars, and blanketed in hope, you are made to search tirelessly for redemption. You hope. You fight. You toil. All in the name of redemption. All according to his whims.

Corvus Corax

[eeerilyrealistic]

kathy acker blood and guts in high school finished 06082025 in the sleeper van on the way to brussels

a decadent, surrealist, absurd piece of fiction. erratic insertions of non-plausible characters and happenings, which reveal societal truths and philosophical revelations through humor. streams of thought interrupted, eroticization of political and power structures, introspective defiance, nonsensical yet tragic plotlines that seek to reveal underlying meanings. minimizes human desires to: eating, sleeping, fucking, loving. rejection of systemic value, experimentation with absolute loss of self, personhood, dignity; you are reduced to scum. janey, the abject of our story, is inherently manipulative and immature due to an abusive and traumatizing upbringing.

she is repeatedly cast aside and doomed to fail-- perpetually oppressed due to characteristics obtained outside her control. yet, she is still cognizant, speaking, and defying until her demise.

masternote of quotes i like that are insightful and not vulgar:Boppy doppy doopy wah yahyah mm. Is that what you think craziness is? Are you scared you're going crazy? Do people who go crazy freak you? Look sweetheart.

I live on a desert island. It’s a nice desert island. I like it here. This is what I do: I eat; I sleep; when it rains and gets cold, I hide under some rocks. I like it here. But I'm getting bored... What can I do? I can repeat what I see. I can draw this old grey trunk lying flat across a valley of sand.

You can buy anything but health. If a person isn't healthy, even if he is very famous and rich, he has nothing.

OK These are characteristics. I can either do what I want to (satisfy my characteristics) or not bother.

This is a message to myself. You are pursuing your own desires and your own desires are BORING.

Once upon a time, there was a materialistic society. One of the results of this materialism was a 'sexual revolution'. Since the materialistic society had succeeded in separating sex from every possible feeling, all you girls can now go spread your legs as much as you want 'cause it’s sooo easy to fuck it's sooo easy to be a robot it’s sooo easy not to feel.

The world I perceive, everything I perceive are indicators of my boring needs... All my emotions, no matter how passionate, are based on my needs.

Living locked up in a slave trader's room is easy. I mean, you have the same emotions over and over again, the same thoughts, the same body, and after a while, you see it's all in your mind: you're stuck to your mind. SLAVESLAVESLAVE.

ALL EXISTENCE HAS A GOLDEN SHEEN.

No matter what love what joy, what agony you know alive, soon alone you will be dead with me, and I will rub bones love with mingled bones.

...he has to perfectly read his lover's mind, silently, unobtrusively, like a corpse, and figure out at every changing second what his lover wants.

Trust is loss of thought.

One of the most destructive forces in the world is love. For the following reason:

The world is a conglomeration of objects, no, of events and the approaching of events towards objects, therefore of becoming stases, static, stagnant, of all that is unreal. You get in the world, you get your daily life—your routine doesn’t matter if you’re rich poor legal illegal—you begin to believe what doesn’t change is real, and love comes along and shows all these unchangeable forever fixtures to be flimsy paper bits. Love can tear anything to shreds.

Heavily ornamented and constructed so beyond human scale they cause fear.

Well, I couldn't help it, I just LOVE to fuck, he was SO cute, it was worth it.

You're acting hypocritically, Janey. It's because you're male-centred. Look at me. I don't smile when I don't feel like it and I don't go out of my way to help anyone.

I don't give a shit about anything

I don't have to do anything

everything lives

Your conception of who you are has always, at least partially, depended on how the people around you behaved towards you. You sensed the people around you aren't right: what you did, your need, you weren't defying them to defy them, it was your need, was OK. You don't know. How can you know anything?

The roads are getting so super-paved and big and light and loaded with BIG MACS and HOWARD JOHNSON that the only time people are forced into danger or reality is when they die.

[lyledebeast]

Sex and The Patriot Canon

For having inspired so many sexy fanfics, The Patriot is a deeply unsexy film in most respects. The only characters who canonically fuck are the parents of the children sacrificed to "the cause." Sex is extremely utilitarian in this film; any romance scene in which one of the participants sighs and says "very well" in a tone of abject resignation is going nowhere very steamy fast.

This has been an inspiration rather than an obstacle to the numerous fanfic writers for whom Colonel Tavington not fucking is unconscionable. But it's been interesting to see how often complaints about Tavington's characterization in fic comes from people who write or prefer to read stories where he has sex, often involving hard kinks, with women. I read these complaints and have to wonder, what character do they think he's out of? The film's Tavington does not so much as look at or speak to a single woman in the whole run time. The Patriot is an extremely male-centric story, but it is not set at sea. Tavington has access to women; he just doesn't appear to have any interest in them.

The only time we see him in the same frame as a woman is right after the militia blows up a ship a few yards away from Middleton Place, and both he and the women in front of him are preoccupied with that! In contrast, we do see both of Tavington's captains, Bordon and Wilkins, chatting with women at the same party and seeming to enjoy themselves. But, as we see in other scenes, Tavington is a bit awkward with even his male peers in celebratory settings. How is his conduct different with Patriot women?

It isn't. He addresses a crowd that includes women, but when Anne Howard shouts at him he does not even acknowledge her presence. The people he tortures for information are both men, at least one is a deserter from the militia. It would have been very easy to include a scene of Tavington sexually menacing a militiaman's wife--he and his men burn eight of their houses--but we don't see that. When Wilkins tells him Ben Martin would send his children to stay with his sister-in-law, Tavington has zero curiosity about this woman. Every time the opportunity for Tavington to interact with a Patriot woman presents itself, he interacts with a man or boy instead.

A fic in which Tavington has sex with a woman, brutally or otherwise, is already making a pretty significant departure from canon regardless of what else is going on. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that! Most fic is canon-divergent in one way or another. If a fic is going to just regurgitate canon in different words, what is the point? But an interpretation of a character in fanfic doesn't become a standard for how authentic that character is in other fics just because it is popular. Maybe those who voice these complaints have something other than Tavington's sexuality in mind, like his voice or his personality: things that could remain canon-complaint even as he does any number of things he doesn't get to do in his far too brief screentime. But for someone who clearly enjoys one kind of canon-divergence to describe other divergences as "out of character" seems a little hypocritical, or at least lacking in self-awareness.

[aikoiya]

I just do not understand the insistence that animals must be sentient.

Because if they were, then why are the animals that kill other animals not labeled as murderers?

Hell, why aren't cats seen as malicious, mini, jigsaw killers considering how they play with their food. Why aren't ewes looked upon with disgust for often trampling orphaned lambs that a farmer tries to get them to adopt? Why aren't wolves seen as bullies for hunting in packs to kill prey? Why aren't dolphins more acknowledged for being effing rapists?

If you believe that animals are capable of reasoning, then that automatically makes all animals that eat meat into exactly what humans that eat meat are, thus they should be looked upon with every bit as much scorn as certain vegans look upon regular ass people. And it'd also mean that any animal that hunts is a murderer.

Hell, many animals are cannibals! In fact, plenty even eat the young of other animals or even their own young if they're so much as lacking in B12!

Literally! Mother hamsters are known to eat her own babies if she's put on an all-corn diet! They don't even have to be dying because of it!

You can't claim that animals are all sentient & then not hold them responsible for their actions! That's hypocritical! Because if these animals are sentient, then they are making the active decision to commit these actions & should be held acountable for them! Period!

Seriously, unless an animal is specifically an obligate herbivore, they will likely still eat meat given the chance!

And, whether you like it or not, animals are only as vegan as their options. As soon as times get tough for a deer, it's gonna be eyeing up any little Tweeties or Thumpers they come across. Same with horses, sheep, ect.

In fact, if animals are as deserving of life & respect as us, then doesn't that make having pets the same as slavery? And how do cat owners even justify feeding their pets? At least those that force their cats into a vegan lifestyle are being consistent even though they're abusing the poor things. Those cats aren't gonna live to be 10 years old on a diet like that & they'll be miserable the whole time.

Like, how do people twist their brains into so many directions just to justify their lifestyles??

Seriously, humans are so freaking unique within the animal kingdom. We are probably the only creatures who would do all this nonsense for the sake of critters that honestly don't give an eff.

Like, dude, whatever. You don't wanna eat meat, then don't. No skin off my brow. More brisket for me! But don't moralize your choice & don't demonize those who love a delicious steak.

Here's what some don't seem to understand; those animals are gonna die anyway, whether it's by the hand of man, a predator animal, sickness, or old age. Their days are numbered no matter what. And, quite frequently, they'll still get eaten. So, in the end, what's the difference if a sheep is eaten by a human or a buzzard or a coyote?

You didn't save that sheep's life. You only postponed the inevitable. Because if you're not the one who eats it, then someone or something else will. You cannot stop it.

And it's likely going to hurt regardless, so saying shit like "anything to reduce at least a little bit of the pain in the world" is just pure naiveté. You haven't reduced the pain in the world even a little. And in fact, considering how a lot of animals don't even care if their food is all-the-way dead as they're eating them, you could even say that that animal might end up experiencing even more pain than if they'd been killed by a human.

And that isn't even taking into account sickness or accidents! How do you know that that animal's last moments won't be spent in complete misery or abject fear??

Because one of the things about humans is that, for the most part, we prefer our food dead-dead before we eat it. And we intentionally go out of our ways to make death as painless a transition as possible, even for the animals we're gonna eat.

If we're gonna keep it 100, ya'll. Humans can be some of the gentlest, most merciful killers on earth.

Hell, we have laws against animal cruelty!

And, the thing is, animals... don't. Period. In fact, most don't make it to old age.

So, in the end, your efforts were meaningless.

[queer-scots-geordie-dyke]

I've heard some American leftists that kicked Jews out of their circles for not being ok with terrorists and rape, were reaching out to those Jews after Trump got re elected and asking some of them for advice or other things.

How do you go out of your way to treat people this fucking badly for 12+ months and then abruptly act like you want their advice/help?? I don't even know what to do anymore. This feels like the Twilight Zone.

Honestly, I really don't think there's a deeper answer than that they're abject hypocrites with absolutely zero consistent ethics or morals. They're a joke.

[bonefall]

How do Erin hunter and the rest of the researchers find the clans again after they move to the lake territory? Also, what do they think when there’s the stuff with the beaver dam at the beginning of oots—do they know about the journey to get the water back?

"How do the researchers find the Clans after the destruction of the White Hart?"

They followed Millie, attaching a radio collar to her and releasing her along with Graystripe. It was a gamble that paid off; Graystripe displayed too much distress when he was forced to wear it.

It's not their intention to stress out the cats they're trying to study!

The Beaver Dam

I'm not sure if it's situation 1, or situation 2;

Situation 1: The beavers were introduced by an unrelated rewilding program. There were scientists watching in abject horror when the Clan cats left the Sanctuary Lake Reserve to confront the beavers, fearing that they would hurt them and ruin the entire project.

Situation 2: The beavers migrated here from further west, they were hunted to extinction in this area during Hollyleaf's Century and just now they're edging close enough to return.

In either case, it was Dovepaw who realized that the beavers were defending kits inside that dam, and if destroyed, they would just build it again. So instead of just fighting them and moving on, the patrol steals them and brings them back to the lake.

There are now beavers at Sanctuary Lake, defended zealousy by ShadowClan. Dovewing has a very easy time becoming accepted (hypocritically, even, by Berryheart and her cohorts) because of this act of service.

Beavers are sometimes called "Construction Buddies" in the ShadowClanmew dialect.

[walkwithgod07]

35 Plead my cause, O Lord, with them that strive with me: fight against them that fight against me.

2 Take hold of shield and buckler, and stand up for mine help.

3 Draw out also the spear, and stop the way against them that persecute me: say unto my soul, I am thy salvation.

4 Let them be confounded and put to shame that seek after my soul: let them be turned back and brought to confusion that devise my hurt.

5 Let them be as chaff before the wind: and let the angel of the Lord chase them.

6 Let their way be dark and slippery: and let the angel of the Lord persecute them.

7 For without cause have they hid for me their net in a pit, which without cause they have digged for my soul.

8 Let destruction come upon him at unawares; and let his net that he hath hid catch himself: into that very destruction let him fall.

9 And my soul shall be joyful in the Lord: it shall rejoice in his salvation.

10 All my bones shall say, Lord, who is like unto thee, which deliverest the poor from him that is too strong for him, yea, the poor and the needy from him that spoileth him?

11 False witnesses did rise up; they laid to my charge things that I knew not.

12 They rewarded me evil for good to the spoiling of my soul.

13 But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth: I humbled my soul with fasting; and my prayer returned into mine own bosom.

14 I behaved myself as though he had been my friend or brother: I bowed down heavily, as one that mourneth for his mother.

15 But in mine adversity they rejoiced, and gathered themselves together: yea, the abjects gathered themselves together against me, and I knew it not; they did tear me, and ceased not:

16 With hypocritical mockers in feasts, they gnashed upon me with their teeth.

17 Lord, how long wilt thou look on? rescue my soul from their destructions, my darling from the lions.

18 I will give thee thanks in the great congregation: I will praise thee among much people.

19 Let not them that are mine enemies wrongfully rejoice over me: neither let them wink with the eye that hate me without a cause.

20 For they speak not peace: but they devise deceitful matters against them that are quiet in the land.

21 Yea, they opened their mouth wide against me, and said, Aha, aha, our eye hath seen it.

22 This thou hast seen, O Lord: keep not silence: O Lord, be not far from me.

23 Stir up thyself, and awake to my judgment, even unto my cause, my God and my Lord.

24 Judge me, O Lord my God, according to thy righteousness; and let them not rejoice over me.

25 Let them not say in their hearts, Ah, so would we have it: let them not say, We have swallowed him up.

26 Let them be ashamed and brought to confusion together that rejoice at mine hurt: let them be clothed with shame and dishonour that magnify themselves against me.

27 Let them shout for joy, and be glad, that favour my righteous cause: yea, let them say continually, Let the Lord be magnified, which hath pleasure in the prosperity of his servant.

28 And my tongue shall speak of thy righteousness and of thy praise all the day long.

[our-lady-of-haymakers]

Reading academic works by Americans on the history of feminist movements and theory, particularly from the 1980s to 2000s, is kinda wild because of the sheer unabashed incuriosity on display about literally any culture outside America?

It's particularly striking how these texts, which are so intent on engaging with every pro and con and implications of strands like radical feminism and socialist feminism (the latter coming under far more critique than you'd expect, and the former under far less), completely sideline and dismiss the prospect of learning from feminist movements in the PRC or USSR.

I'm not even talking about that dogmatic line of American thought that spreads venomous untruths about socialist countries, or even the more professional approach wherein a researcher honestly admits that they don't have the data or areas of specialization to focus on societies outside America (they sure love to gesture vaguely towards Asia for the occasional generalization); these are works that just take it for granted that feminism in socialist countries had mysteriously petered out and failed at some point, and see no need to dwell further on the issue. I've genuinely seen more energy put by American writers into arguing for the secret and subtle rights of women in medieval and classical societies than they do for their socialist contemporaries.

The logic at work here- a logic I believe is still at work in the thought process of all too many Americans in academia today- is that if there exists a single marginal or niche body of feminist/queer/Freudian-but-make-it-subversive writing in American academia, then the project of American (and implicitly global) feminism is alive and well. Conversely, if we have accounts of a single woman in China or Russia who is presently part of a heterosexual marriage or nuclear family or primarily domestic labor, then this proves that the project of feminism in all the socialist nations has been an abject failure, and all Marxists are hypocrites.

At its root, this reflects a tendency in the American academic to enthusiastically critique power imbalances and oppressive dynamics in society, but to be remarkably incapable of recognising these same mechanisms of manipulation in academia itself. Rarely do they ever look across their manuscripts and ask, "Is it slightly odd that I have spilled so much ink on the past few years of primarily academic feminist movements in my country, and yet dismissed in less than a paragraph the collective decades of feminist history in other countries- especially those that my government has spent billions running a concerted campaign of propaganda and dehumanisation against?"

Well, American? Is it?

[anemcia]

❝I…❞ Though there is an attempt to speak, it's foiled by a rough, frustrated sigh. ❝I hate you. So much. You're utterly egotistical, needlessly sadistic, a complete hypocrite and utterly infuriating. You never leave me alone, you never shut up, you take what you want, do what you want, without a single consideration. You put yourself on such a high pedestal, you think you're above it all -- above everyone.❞ There's a sharp intake of breath. ❝But, outside of that, you're… insightful. You're intelligent, you're passionate, you're witty -- hell, you're even playful when you want to be! And that's-- that's cute!❞ Exasperated, there's another sigh. ❝Sometimes, you're cute, and it drives me insane. You drive me insane. I… I hate how much I've come to like you. All this time I've spent with you, you've… gotten in my head a little. --A lot. I think about you so often. I… like spending time with you. Despite everything... I like you.❞

Confess something to my muse on anon. - [ACCEPTING]

Oh, he knew this song all too well. The lengthy, insulting onslaught of drivel and hatred, before a gentle serving of praise and affection. The abject rejection of his righteous spirit, yet so magnetically drawn the very same resolve, were two sides of the same coin. A crooked grin crept upon the god's lips, tentatively folding the letter into his pocket. Such a foolish mortal, to fall so easily into his palm like the injured bird she was. So desperate to prove herself as an individual, but so painfully desperate for his undivided attention. For his divine, holy approval.

"This sad display would be pitiful if it were not so amusing... You wish to be rid of me, yet remain in the cage I have presented. You have come to love the silver bars that bind you, and I cannot deny that I take full pleasure in knowing you sing only for me. You will never be free of sin, but you have my compassion. I will clip your wings one day, little bird, and you will never leave my side again."

[danggirlronpa]

Which Future Arc fakeout death would you make stick: Aoi or Kyoko?

With (and because of) strong love for her character: Kyoko, in a heartbeat.

DR3 feels incongruous to the games for a lot of people because it centers around very different themes. Where the DR games use trauma and violence as allegory for the common traumas and process of radicalization in teens (in addition to more straightforward uses of violence to examine propaganda and torture porn), DR3 moves its setting to primarily an adult sphere. Teen life, including its abject cruelty, is presented through a lens of brightly colored, rotten-orange nostalgia - or, for the adults with bad high school experiences, presented as dull, gray, and faceless. Instead, it is the side of the adults that is given complexity, depth, and that TV-beloved Gritty Realism TM.

In service of this shift, DR3 doesn't use death in the same way as the games. In the games, death is used as a way of highlighting the tragedy itself; character arcs are cut off midway through and normal teen issues become murder scenes. In DR3, instead, the focus is not on the violence but on the character who is committing it.

DR3 revolves around reflection of - and closure for - the traumas endured as a teenager. To that end, all of the characters are either completely flat to fill the ranks (Daiki, Gozu, Miaya) or have character arcs which their death/survival is a direct part of resolving (Koichi fulfilling his promise to Jin, the tragic conclusion to Seiko, Ruruka, and Izayoi's messy relationship).

With this in mind, not only should Hina not die, she shouldn't have even had a fakeout. Hina's arc in THH is that of a girl whose love pushes her to the absolute extreme of despair - and whose love, similarly, revives her and motivates the enter group to finish the Killing Game with no more deaths. Hina is an emotional lynchpin to the culmination of THH. You'll notice she doesn't get much of an arc in DR3, and that's because Hina's arc has been completely finished; instead, we see her caring for and protecting the people around her, as she has learned to do for the survival of the group. Killing her spits in the face of her arc and removes a key component of what makes the THH survivors function. Which WOULD have a place in a different version of DR3. But in the version of DR3 we got, it's antithetical to the story's goal.

Kyoko's death, on the other hand, is, point-blank, the perfect culmination of her arc. This is doubly true if the series is paired with DRK, but since most English fans haven't read it, we'll just talk about THH on. Kyoko's arc is about learning to rely on others instead of doing everything on her own, and of the divide between logic and emotion. Kyoko is emotionally immature in THH. She overreacts with jealousy when her first friend has a secret, even though she knows it's hypocritical. She sees her father's bones with a detached disinterest, and is overwhelmed at the realization that he was not a one-note villain. For how incredibly capable she is, Kyoko doesn't understand how people work or how to rely on them, and she suffers for it. It isn't until she goes to save Makoto after his execution that we see her truly rely on others - continued into helping him save the Remnants in SDR2.

Kyoko's death in DR3 is the perfect culmination of this arc. An exact parallel to the version of Kyoko in THH who asked Makoto to accept his own death so that she could solve the mystery of the school. With the same cool-headedness that determined she would have to kill someone she cares for to survive, Kyoko makes the same judgment, but with the opposite intention - that she has to die for someone she cares for to survive. From a character who is repeatedly stated to not have an interest or grasp on morality, her life ends with the most selfless thing she can possibly do. It's tragic. It's hard to even consider. It is a perfect culmination of her arc.

And, importantly: it also serves into the greater theme of DR3, which is self sacrifice. Self sacrifice shows up Constantly in DR3 - Koichi for Kyoko, Kyoko for Makoto, Juzo for Munakata; right down to ideological sacrifice, like Chisa to encourage despair and Kazuo to encourage "hope." As the final self sacrifice, Kyoko's death is lent a narrative weight which closes out a story which she, ultimately, was one of the primary drivers of from the beginning.