#and dehumanizing outsiders

[heroes-fading]

ok but on a serious note while I'm shit posting to address something more serious I think a big part of why that tlou inspo is struggling is learning more about neil druckmann -- who grew up a settler in the West Bank -- and how his zionism is pervasive across the entire universe. other people have said this better (jewish currents does such a good deep discussion on this). seeing that lens makes it hard to unsee.

i am a big believer that what people do with a piece of media in different mediums does not have to be endorsement for every idea of the author, and that in fact there's power in reshaping those narratives. but I feel really unsettled by it, and it's hard to both watch Palestinean kids die every day and know that in some form we are dealing with propaganda that exists to serve their dehumanization.

good article here, great podcast here

[apollos-olives]

before october 7th this blog was a meme page btw.

[redrobin-detective]

Rewatching the Umbrella Academy has me thinking once more about Five being just Five. All the others have normal civilian names, chosen by Grace supposedly, except for him. That leaves two slightly hilarious options.

Five was asked about a name prior to hopping forward in time and was like 'nah I like being a number' and blinked away or the more plausible option that

The names were chosen after Five left

Which leads me to this idea that each of the Umbrellas had given thought over the years to a name for their lost, wayward brother.

Luthor: Guy. Am I the only one seeing Luthor crying because Five had been the Boy within their team and then never got to grow up but if he did he'd be a Guy. It feels like him to equate Five's alias to his name.

Diego: Diego would come up with nerdy, annoying names for a nerdy, annoying brother. He'd think to himself that Albert would fit him and Diego would call him Albrat when he was being a prick. If he were still around that is.

Allison: Allison would be flipping through the baby book when pregnant with Claire looking for names with meanings like Lost or Traveler or Beloved Son coming up with names like Wendell or Calian.

Klaus: Klaus would absolutely refuse to mentally settle on a name. He's gone through a million of them from Mario to Klaus Jr to Off Brand Peanut Butter Cup to Jeff. It's easier to play around with different names than to think about how Five isn't around to choose.

Ben: He seems like the kind of dude who never really formed any other names for Five. Like Five is Five? He listened to Klaus's ideas from silly to serious and Ben was never able to take them seriously.

Viktor: He'd given it some thought during childhood but never really thought about it seriously until Five returned. Though unmentioned, some of the ideas that Viktor had tosses around - before and after Five's return - were some suggestions Five would have approved of.

[clanborn]

my alaska clans don’t really have any notable naming conventions because cats interchange clans a lot (and i named everyone before i really thought about naming conventions lol) except that nicknames are sorta built into their society. since cats tend to have long names friends/family and clanmates tend to use nicknames more often in casual and familiar settings. nicknames can be just a cat’s prefix (loon as nickname for loonshadow) but can also be shortened or simplified further to a single syllable of the name (gray for graylingblaze or hem for hemlocklight). they can also end up as an abstraction of certain sounds in the name that warps into new sounds (rizi for horizonshine, pronounced “ree-zee”, etc). all cats end up with a nickname eventually, sometimes multiple, it’s kind of like a first name/surname situation in which the full prefix-suffix name acts as a more professional surname.

[torchstelechos]

Housemaiden Lillian tried not to judge, truly! She thought the saviors of Vaugarde were incredible individuals with amazing talent and never ending bravery. Its just... shes not quiet sure what to think of the traveler in their group. At first she had thought them an unfortunate soul that had pushed themself too far to save Vaugarde as he had collapsed after the celebration, but after a while it became clear something was wrong with him.

The ever present smell of something sweet in the air when she entered the room to change the towel on their head. The way the lights flickered and bent around him in a pattern unlike anything she had ever seen. It was unsettling, it was wrong. But no one else seemed to notice! The other saviors simply went about their business and talked to the unconscious traveler laying in bed, unable to respond but listening all the same. It was like she was the only one to notice, to see, to be aware.

Then one day the traveler was awake when she came in to do her rounds. Simply sitting up, looking out the window in awe at the sunshine, turning to stare at her when she opened the door a tad to quickly. His eyes snapping to her and sparking with thousands of lights that dissipated in an instance, now back to the dark shade they'd been previously. They squinted at her before smiling wide, too wide, teeth sharp and pure darkless; the appearance of ceramics and not bone. It took everything in her to not scream at the strange creature masquerading as a human in her medical room, but she prevailed as she simply nodded at the stranger.

"You're awake. Thats good, I'll let your party know."

Turning around before the stranger could speak, she hurried away. But it was fore not as the creature let out a sound akin to the sound of glass shattering on the ground, but no, actually, was it the sound of a million tiks of a clock all at once? Or perhaps the sound of sobbing? Maybe even the grind of rock against scissors... If Lillian had to name what sound the creature made it would have been the knowledge of death breathing on her neck but she knows, she knows, she knows... the creature had simply called out "wait!"

The world reset itself and she turned back to the creature, the stranger, the traveler, the human. The thing that bent the lights and shades around it into undefinable things, as it looked at her with pitiful eyes.

"Could you... get me some water, please?" Its hands come up in a pleading motion, as if in mockery of prayer, and Lillian tried to ignore the anger that brought to her. She swallowed, and nodded.

Hurrying down the halls to the kitchen, turning left here, turning right there, bump into housemaiden Mirabelle- ah! Wait! Mirabelle needs to know her... thing... is awake. Yes, she can handle that abomination in human form.

"Housemaiden Mirabelle! Thank goodness! Your... ally is awake in the infirmary, please do go talk to them. Im sure they would enjoy your company!" Please, please, please take it from her hands she does not want to see it ever again, please.

Mirabelle's eyes widen before crinkling in joy, her hands clasped not unlike the creatures own previous pleading. Her smile was that of a human, perfectly normal, perfectly sized.

"Oh! Oh! Oh yes! Thank you so much! I'll go see him right now, thank you for getting me!" and off she ran, her pins dinging as she goes.

Oh thank goodness indeed, Lillian sighs, before continuing onward to grab a pitcher of water. She took her time to grab it and walk back, the unease oozing in the air around her but she is a housemaiden! And she wont! Give in! To some weird creature pretending to be human! Huffing and puffing she stomps back to the infirmary with the requested water. At the door, however, she paused.

What if the creature was a saddness pretending to be human and she had sent Mirabelle to it? What if it was something far worst than a saddness? What if Mirabelle was already dead and Lillian was to blame and that creature escaped and suddenly there was no more saviors and what if, what if, what if???

Opening the door to peek inside, Lillian is surprised to see how normal it is. The creature is smiling at Mirabelle, who is laughing at something it had said. The defender was also there watching on with soft eyes. The researcher sat close by with the child hanging off her, loudly talking about the food they were going to make the creature eat now that it was awake. And everything was... normal? There was no smell of sweetness in the air, the lights didnt bend, and the creatures smile was normal with normal teeth. It was almost like Lillian had imagined it all... did she? It's been stressful after the King and she had only just reawaken from being frozen.

With a sudden rush of guilt, Lillian came in quietly before setting the pitcher of water down on the bedside table. Nodding at the saviors who all cheered and waved and smiled at her, all of them human, completely normal humans. So why, why did she dehumanize the injured traveler? Was it because they weren't from Vaugarde? Was she being prejudiced? Why, why, why?? She thought, well, it doesn't matter what she thought. Clearly she was in the wrong and had turned against one of the saviors because she was tired and stressed out, what a horrible thing to do. Taking a careful breathe in, she turned to smile at the traveler in the bed and froze.

No. No no no no no no. THATS NOT A HUMAN. The shade of pain, of breaking, of rotting, of failing, of something awful reflected back at her from its eye. Stars, thousands, millions, the entire night in it's eye. The light bending and stretching and changing and becoming something WRONG.

Lillian screamed before running but the world bent and turned and shook and she fell hard. The creature making a noise impossible to describe the very feeling of time shattering in her ears and the yelling of humans alongside it. Wrong, wrong, wrong wrong wrongwrongwrongwrong-

Lillian felt. The world. Change. and Shatter.

Lillian woke up in bed, she forgot what she was dreaming about but the saviors were there. She remembers the traveler smiling at her, she smiled back. What a nice fella, that traveler was. Though, she did feel like she forgot something important, but well, you know the saying. If it was important, you'd remember it.

With a smile, she went about her day and hoped the future stayed just as perfect as it was now.

[lotus-pear]

okay guys I see what ur saying with the Dazai critiques, man’s insane. I personally enjoy that insanity but yk, fair game to hate

but I have to say that I at least don’t defend yk. bc it would be exponentially funnier if I did, but my heart wouldn’t be in it </3

this leads me to remembering one of my favorite comments ever on dazai opinion that I found on Twitter X once

actually hilarious to me to see ppl simplify the murder as mental health… it’s just… how

crazy stuff, fr

cuz dazai has hundreds of counts of murder and torture and manipulation… but he’s just sad uwu

im cackling at this rn hkyxkagrgea

bsdtt try to actually characterize anybody in bsd fucking correctly challenge (impossible) GO‼️‼️ imagine calling dazai a cruel and heartless individual when he literally wrests control of his entire fucking life at the mere age of eighteen DESPITE being suicidal and devoid of emotions and any will to live after the death of his dearest friend/parental figure. do they understand how mentally STRONG someone has to be in order to do that? do you guys fucking understand how EASY it would have been for dazai to let that be his breaking point and finally kill himself? every time i look back at oda's death scene i am stunned and miserable at how reluctantly dazai gets up. like he wants to die right there too. but he picks himself up and escapes the mafia. he carves a life out for himself despite being a fucking hollow shell of a human. a husk of the boy he could've been had oda not died. alienated from society with no skills outside of the mafia despite his analytical mind with the word "traitor" on his head and no one by his side. can you imagine doing all of that while being barely at the brink of adulthood? that was a CHILD.

[techno-rat]

techno and his relationship to dehumanization is SOOO important to me .

[no-light-left-on]

absolutely feral about how so many descriptions of the Outsider try to rob him of any leftover humanity he might have left. he's a leviathan who 'takes on a human form of many shapes'

a boy is killed and something terrible is born

in his unwanted divinity, what people underline the most is the humanity that was ripped away from him

[zemoiii]

Iraqi women and men are protesting against the new bill.

And this is what happens to your country after getting invaded by the US based on a lie, making you borders vulnerable and open to a theocratic government, Iran, who wants to control you politically by installing a puppet governmen and try to force Iraqis into accepting whatever new islamist bill, that a riot flourished in October 2019 and lasted for two years until it surrendered to violent attacks by Iranian militias that left hunders dead.

The context of that bill: legalising child pride, the child custody goes to the divorced father instead of the divorced mother (even if he's abusive) and prohibiting divorced mothers from custody money unless she obeys her divorced husband's sexual advances.

The major problem with this bill is that the Quran have encouraged any of those stuff, never at all. The ones who want to legalise those laws are some Shia Sheiks (most definitely belongs to an Iranian militias). The vast majority of Iraqis (Shias, sunnis, Christians etc..) doesn't accept this law at all. But of course, like any outlandish religious bill, there are the conservatives who whole heartedly defend this.

And of course, some western media outlets will rather twist the truth and keep calling Arabs and Muslims as terrorists and extremists as the usual, despite most MENA countries have negative views towards the Sharia Law.

If you had done reading this, please reblog. Not only local outrage have effectively post-poned this bill and (hopefully) will get it rejected, but an international outrage will definitely help us. But please.. for fucks sake don't ever say "Iranians" instead of "Iran" as they themselves have rioted against their theocratic government back in 2022 but were met by the same fate of October 2019 riot in Iraq.

[bonefall]

naruto as a whole is a fucking mess and i say thisas somebody whos read the entireseries 3 times over. “naruto is going to change the system! haha teehee never mind hes not doing anytning about the child soldiers and slave castes and the genocides.” “sasuke can be upset at his brother for committing a genocide but actually genocide against an oppressed bloodline is good if theyre getting uppity and its sanctioned by the government and also have a genetic predisposition to be evil so he should just get over it and be okay with it” “sakura needs to stop obsessing over a guy whos not even interested and become strong for her own sake. actually shes a housewife now”

kishimoto im going to blow you up with my mind

YOU GET IT

For real though I think what they did with Sasuke's arc was one of the most baffling fucking things I've ever seen. "Actually. Your brother who carried out a genocide loved you :( he only put you in the Torment Nexus for several days because uhhh he wanted you to hate him and not find out about the government who ordered it. Everything he ever did was actually to protect you. And Uchihas are actually kinda rotten anyway so it's good an entire GROUP OF PEOPLE died. Don't think about any babies or children who were also slaughtered btw uhh nope all of them were bad."

Sasuke: "Yes I understand. I will now rule the world through fear. Actually nvm Naruto won our fight so, my philosophy is gone now."

Thank goodness that Evil Sasuke killed the three Bad Government Officials before that point, though. We had this whole theme going about toxic structures, cycles of abuse, and how oppressive regimes can propagate themselves even when a leader is well-meaning... but, like, Naruto REALLY wants to be Hokage, so actually if you just kill these Three Bad Governors it's gonna be fine.

There is no need for systemic change. Slave castes and child soldiers are fine. It's ok as long as the president is blonde :)

[moonshynecybin]

why can’t anyone be normal about appalachia i’m gonna explode

[ghosts-and-blue-sweaters]

It is just me and my complicated relationship with c!Phil against the world.

[askewhammer]

"I hate smokers!!!" alright in what way. do you hate the smoke or..? oh you hate them as people. alright explain to me why you hate someone as a person who most likely has an addiction they likely cannot control. also is this hatred towards them also directed towards other people who have addictions with drugs, alcohol, gambling, etc? do you view them as people or do you dehumanize them. answer quickly

[ivie-online]

was going to comment on the ‘failure of basic journalistic dilligence in the mass media’ or whatever but realized it would make it seem as of the problem was a momentary lapse in integrity that had been addressed. and it hasn’t been, not in the slightest.

It is so morally unthinkable that these major outlets never once mentioned the thousands of Palestinian adults and children stolen from their homes and from the streets by Israel. And even now, when it comes to their release, these pieces spend endless paragraphs describing Israeli ‘hostages’, but just a few words on the many children being returned (many of whom were arrested after being accosted by the IOF), who they refer to only as ‘prisoners’.

these white supremacist rags have been very consistent in their efforts to uphold the most violent tendencies of western imperialists, yes. but this refusal to acknowledge the reality of the situation: that Israel took thousands of hostages first, is one of the most blatant examples of their explicit support of this project, and of their mass failure to recognize the humanity of Palestinians.

[karamazovanon]

completely random observation but i truly love how so many of my notifications are from lesbian flag pfps/urls/etc. lesbians just fucking love dostoevsky!!! what is it about his work that resonates so hard with us. is it the existential struggle against repressive social institutions and expectations. is it the immense internal anguish & rage barely concealed by a paper-thin veil of politeness out of fear of impropriety that finally overflows explosively. is it the spiteful female characters tormented by the narrative. is it the murder

[transbeamrooikat]

writing Ghoul is always so fun she's so. feral animal (/pos)