#and if you do believe ‘fuck christianity’ that’s well within your right

[moonmoonthecrabking]

hey so i was wondering: what is warrior nun’s view on religion? like is it sort of judgey and “people are idiots if they believe in God” or is it more “christianity can be fine/cool actually” or i guess where is it on the scale? like each of those as a percent? if you could let me know id really appreciate it!!!

[txttletale]

could you elaborate on your thoughts on boom and 73 yards ( i agree with you i am just struggling to put into words why.)

boom was whatever. the initial conceit of the doctor being trapped and having to stay calm was really cool! i really like that. the ambulances that euthanize you if you're not deemed worthy of medical care and the tacky chatgpt hologram ghosts were both really cool ideas. it just doesn't stick the landing for me, the twists are contrived and fall apart given any thought whatsoever. like what the fuck were any of the soldiers Doing if there just straight up weren't any enemies. it's a twist that sounds cool to say more than it has any meaningful impact on the story or the stakes. i guess 'the arms manuifacturer created a fake conflict' is the intended emtional stakes there but that would hit like a hundred times harder if it was an actual conflict between two factions and people were dying, right? like if anything sending a christian militia to blow themselves up tae fuck on a nowhere planet instead of presumably killing actual living people is an improvement, surely?

also the resolution was dumb as fuck lol i am a huge hater of power of love saves the day shit not because i'm a cynical misanthrope but because it never fails to make me say 'oh so i guess nobody ever loved anybody before lol' and this is no exception like if one chatbot can shut down the whole operation beacuse he loves his daughter are we meant to believe that no other parents or hell nobody who loved anybody else for any reason died in this fake war before? it's cheap and schmaltzy and unearned. anyway the first twentyish minutes of this are all-time great doctor who and gatwa/gibson were incredible in it but it absolutely falls apart into a confused pileo f some of the worst Moffatisms at the end

73 yards on the other hand was incredible! obviously like it requires you to approach it with a different mindset to most of doctor who, right, doctor who usually furnishes you with the big explanation scnee where the doctor says 'well the ghosts were actually particle wave vectorforms created with the necros radiation from the god-king's techsceptre' or whatever--this is the usual narrative mode of sci-fi--but 73 yards is fantasy, right, this is the twilight zone, this is 'wouldn't that be fucked up?'. i interrogate the technical and logical specifics of boom so much when i think about it because that's the language boom is speaking, boom is framing itself within this logical, a-to-b worldview, the satisfying click-together puzzlebox. but 73 yards is a nightmare or a folk tale, right? kate stewart¹ says it herself, 'when faced with the inexplicable, we make up rules and apply them to it'.

so yknow reading it that way it all clicks together beautifully, right, (apart from russel t davies' embarassing swing and miss at Political Commentary in the middle. we get it davies you wrote years and years. we know. trust me we know). the doctor and ruby disrupt the binding circle, free mad jack, and are punished -- the doctor, as perpetrator, with being banished (perhaps in jack's place) and ruby with her worst fear coming true constantly, until ruby defeats mad jack, re-sealing him and fixing what she broke, at which point the circle rewards her by reversing the punishments. and the core horror i think is very effective and unsettling! the idea that there is something that someone could say to turn everyone against you, the closest people to you in your life, your own family, the institutions that are meant to deal with the exact problem you're having--that's fucking terrifying! and yknow i think especially as an autistic trans lesbian something that speaks to me a lot

so yeah. i think that boom establishes its logics and framework and then trips and falls onto its face while 73 yards does the same and then makes perfect use of them. that said i think in 20 years people who are autistic about doctor who will be like 'did you know in the 2020s there were two episodes in a row where the doctor caused the entire plot to happen by stepping on something' and thjatll be the main thing they're remembered for

[thrashkink-coven]

Hi! I saw your post about the appropriation of religious imagery by extremest hate groups (a good post, I share your feelings of frustration) at the end you made a vague statement about the satanic temple and was wondering if you could elaborate on what happened there? They are a group I admittedly only have passing knowledge of, but what I have seen has usually been pro LGBTQ advocacy or similar things. Not that I don't believe you- I don't really interact with large institutions because they tend to become inevitably corrupt and have inherent gatekeeping, but I was wondering if you wouldn't mind explaining what exactly or which extremist propaganda they have been aligning with recently? Or is it just because they are generally anti-theistic?

(I have, in fact, been almost literally living under a rock the past few years so I apologize if the answer is something obvious, but I couldn't seem to find anything with cursory searches so thought asking someone in the community would be a better source)

I couldn’t even begin to outline all of the terrible shit the leaders and founders of The Satanic Temple have done over the years. They are a group of alt white scammers using progressive ideology and leftist sympathy to fill their pockets. They use their image to pray on young women at sex parties and employ real cult tactics to isolate and abuse them. They are a company comprised of sexual abusers, manipulators, and fascists parading the name of Satan to manipulate actual Satanists and Luciferians into giving them money, despite never showing any real respect to those philosophies or religions. We all already know they’re not theistic satanists and they don’t really worship Satan, but they also have absolutely no relationship with Satanism or Luciferian gnosis. You cannot be a Luciferian or a Satanist and be friends with Nazis. Idgaf call me a gatekeeper. They just like to use the image of Satan for publicity stunts to ruffle the feathers of a few Christians. They do not embody the Luciferian spirit or the values of Satanism.

I have a deep hatred in my soul for Douglas Mesner and how much damage he has done to the image of Luciferianism and Satanism, not to mention the real world damage they have done to abortion advocacy groups. The strategic moves of opposing institutions that oppose LGBT rights has actually given a bad name to good faith organizations who already have enough negative stigma around them. Abortion advocacy groups don’t need the narrative that they’re sacrificing babies to Satan by being supported by the Temple of Satan on top of all the backlash they already receive by Christo-fascists.

They DO NOT use the money donated for abortion advocacy to help young mothers or to fight real cases of human rights abuse, they have never actually helped a real woman obtain healthcare. The leader himself openly admitted to taking money donated to the Satanic Temple to pay his personal bills.

Asides from the plethora of real accusations of sexual assault and violence against female members of the church itself, the leader Douglas Mesner has actively supported abusers and suppressed victims from WITHIN THE CHURCH!! (kicking them out, harassing them, threatening them lawsuits etc) from obtaining justice. They have never made any actual strides in the fight towards liberation and have actively supported real fascists for years now. Douglas Mesner has advocated for eugenics and made horrible anti semitic and racist comments in the past and continues to support alt right nationalists who actively spread hateful rhetoric. The lie they promote of wanting to protect women’s and LGBT rights is a well crafted marketing scheme to give them a good image while they abuse and manipulate their own members behind the scenes.

This is a fantastic video essay that dives deep into the history of the members and their controversies:

Genuinely, from the bottom of my heart,

FUCK THE SATANIC TEMPLE

There are of course members who are great people who truly take the philosophy to heart, who have seriously fought for liberation and have sadly had their empathy hijacked. But I don’t like cops and I don’t like people who support Douglas Mesner and his band of freaks. They cannot be trusted and they have done far more harm than good. Actions speak louder than words.

[swiftthistletea]

I really do not believe that alternative pedagogies are worth it over traditional schooling. There are plenty of problems with traditional schooling sure. And I think that the only alternative type of schooling that has any sort of merit is Montessori but there are still problems with Montessori that I do not like. I like the focus on independence and calm environments within Montessori, and I think Montessori toys and furniture rule. My lead teacher/mentor came from a Montessori background and its been really interesting listening to her describe why she decided to leave. For example, if youre doing Montessori properly youre not supposed to praise children when they achieve something. Self motivation is a big part of it. Personally I believe children thrive when praise that's earned is given. It's not a bad thing to hype up a kid when they zipped their coat up for the first time, especially if its something that they've been struggling with for a while. Now Waldorf is just a fuckin mess. I think the method and schools lull a lot of parents in with the anti-tech sentiments, the focus on art and imaginative play, and heavy reverence and importance placed on nature and children experiencing nature. But Rudolf Steiner was a big esoteric occultist theosophy head before there was a schism and he formed his own philosophy/spirituality. This philosophy/spirituality informs the Waldorf teaching method even if it doesn't seem so overtly. The delayed academics and importance placed on Preserving the Magic of Childhood seems nice. Until you learn that they believe children should not be introduced to any kind of reading readiness (aka letters and phonics) until their baby teeth fall out; which means children that go through Waldorf education will not learn how to read until 1st through 3rd grade. That is way too late from a developmental standard imo; it wont fuck them up but if they switch to a traditional school they will be behind their peers because well, they ARE behind and this is intentional. Teachers and parents are told to discourage children from seeking out more academic pursuits until they are deemed to be old enough. How is that "child focused"? Also a lot of the things they teach like their specific obsession with wet on wet watercolors and eurythmy IS occultic in nature, the Waldorf true believers will tell you this. They believe that preschool children shouldnt use the color black in art or use any sort of "sharp" art tools like regular crayons and pencils until a certain age because it it's damaging to the soul. Preschool children forming basic shapes and symbols in art like hearts and smiles too early is considered an attack on their innocence. How could an educational method that bills itself as being "imagination and arts focused" say that while herding children into making very specific types of art with very specific colors? It's interesting that a lot of big tech people send their kids to Waldorf schools, Hollywood families as well. It's getting more popular recently. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation donates to Waldorf organizations. I still believe that parents have a fundamental right to seek out schools they think is best for their children, and they have a right to raise their children as they see fit barring like, abusive situations or whatever. But I think parents should also be cautious. And I 100% think Christian parents who are interested in Waldorf/"Forest Schools" because of the anti tech and nature walks need to be extra cautious. Anthroposophy and eurthymy ARE absolutely spiritual in nature and Waldorf is NOT "just about nature and art".

[jamethinks]

two things i believe must be avoided at all cost when talking about anime is misogyny and incest. It never ends well for anyone involved because no one is willing to take the l and admit that what they're watching is fucked. But i'm an asshole so i will.

One of my favourite pairings in sxf is Yor and Yuri (PLATONIC) but my least favourite pairing is also Yor and Yuri. There are two sides of it: the actual relationship vs how it is actually portrayed in the manga

**Now this is media analysis and social commentary. It's not about me or what i think. IT IS ANALYSIS. I hold this pairing very near and dear to me and i want better for them but you cant improve if you dont know what's wrong in the first place. this is about what's wrong. not me.**

The actual relationship: an interesting plot about two siblings who have to manage their shared trauma and learn how to have a healthy, non-codependent relationship with each other. It's complex, it can really add layers to Yor as a character and just overall elevate the story in a wonderful

Then there's how it's portrayed: Yor has a weird and clingy brother hehe who is obsessed with her because she's his sister.

There is a lot to be said about the portrayal of the relationship and the different social connotations it pulls from. And a lot of this has to do with the subtle individualist natalist ideology present throughout the series.

tldr: the story wants to portray yor and yuri's relationship as something perverse and unnatural in order to stigmatize sibling relationships in adulthood. also misogyny hehe

On one side: it's done for cheap laughs, it sexualizes Yor (that would require a whole other post) and it make Yor out to be some poor weak defenseless soul who can't even set boundaries with her own brother

On the other more in depth side: it is a rejection of the extended family model. it takes what could just be a close sibling relationship and morphs it into something so perverse and uncomfortable.

Individualism and the nuclear family have a joint impact on siblings. It encourages competition and separation. There's a reason they normally portray it as a girl and a boy. Within the nuclear family, children should not have a relationship with each other only with the corelating parent. It is expected that your children will grow up and branch off into their own personal families and stay apart.

And so media tends to stigmatize adults (especially of opposite relationships) have close bonds to their siblings. It is again seen as a flaw or almost childish. A well adjusted adult won't even speak to their siblings or touch them.

And then Christianity gets in the mix and purity culture and it just falls into chaos.

Yuri's affection for his sister is treated as a very childish attitude. His love for his sister is so strong it hinders his ability to even do his job right. Being around his sister makes him act stupid and juvenile.

His attachment to Yor is also implied to negatively impact her. She joins the Garden for his sake. He's blocking her from being with Loid in a genuine way. Their relationship blocks Yor from being a woman and so it's seen as growth when she pushes him away for Loid and Anya, adapting to her role as a mother and wife.

And that's not to say Yor cant have boundaries with him but Yuri is written in such a way that the only reasonable boundary is to cut him off. And while that can happen greater context makes the whole thing feel icky. You can give them a more nuanced relationship without getting rid of what makes their dynamic so interesting (ie the codependency) but the story isn't interest in that narrative.

And this is not exclusive to sxf it is a common problem in anime and other forms of media. When you have a culture that sees grows as separating yourself from your family, incest becomes very common as a way of compensating for it. If you're constantly being told that it is inherently sexual to want a relationship with someone... then shit like this comes about idk what to tell ya

[queenwille]

are you pro-israel/anti-palestine?

hi, first, i appreciate you asking very politely and not assuming things.

i’ll say i’m a zionist, which isn’t an offensive word. i believe in the right of the jewish people for self determination in the form of a jewish state in the land of israel, the promised land of the jewish people.

i find calling israel, the only jewish state in a sea of muslim/christian states, an “ethostate” and mocking the jews for feeling the need in one, as very antisemitic rude and offensive. that goes without mentioning how ignorant and rude it is to claim all jews are white europeans. literally cancelling the whole rich history of the jewish people in the arab countries (which they were mostly chased out of as well).

the need to live within your given or chosen community is such a natural thing, even animals do it. for some reason, when it comes to israel and the jews, it’s wrong. before anyone starts, please let me remind you that within this very large jewish community, there are 2.5 million arabs (mostly muslim, some christian). they share equal rights, a citizenship and an israeli ID/passport. yes, even the sister of the top hamas man (who was arrested this week for having documents and money linked to hamas, a terror organization).

that being said, i am in no shape or form, nor never was i, anti palestine. i think it’s just not as simple as some people who joined the hot trend across the world see it. the state of palestine was never established for many reasons that don’t involve the jewish people. i do mean this when i say i do wish the palestinian people a safe and established land, but it’s simply not that easy. it really isn’t no israel=yes palestine. they have so many other needs other than demolishing the land of israel. their inner conflicts are very much alive to this day (google fatah/hamas conflict), their lack of actual support from neighboring countries and other reasons they have there. they’re really not at a good starting point, but no one ever talks of that. it’s just easier to masturbate to the idea that protesting in favor of demolishing israel and sending +-7,000,000 jews to fuck knows where will be enough.

let me make it clear, the fact that civilians are being killed and hurt breaks my heart. i say this knowing fully well that many took part in the oct7 massacre. generations, on both sides, being brought up with nothing but hate and fear of each other boiled up to this disaster. which is why i find the whole western pro pal movement, spreading fake news and hate and deepening the conflict, as not just offensive, but also very dangerous. for both sides (+diaspora jews). calling hamas freedom fighters and not the terror organization that they are is as dangerous to the palestinians as as it is dangerous to israelis/jews. they are given actual legitimacy for actions that are considered extremist and terror on an international level. yes, they do hide in UN protected facilities, using inocentes as human shields. and when we say the west is next, it’s not just a spicy slogan, it’s not really about the jews, but the western culture.

i am very angry of the way the hostages are being ignored or bluntly canceled (ripping off their posters everywhere). it’s hypocritical and very upsetting. i will also mention that i seriously don’t appreciate using the jewish holocaust and appropriating it’s terms and the well known generational jewish trauma and mocking it.

lastly, i would like to mention that a lot of what’s happening right now around the world just proves the need in a jewish state. being close with an army that’s main goal is protecting its people literally feels safer for jews even under missiles and terror attacks. let me inform you that the main reason that israeli casualties are lower, is the invention of the Iron Dome, operated by the IDF. It has saved thousands of civilian lives since it’s first use. no, it wasn’t hamas’ more humane ways or idk what i read. israel literally spends every last dime to keep it’s people safe, while hamas won’t even let the palestinian people have a safe hospital. instead of mocking our worries and constant feeling of being persecuted and in danger, to the point that a jewish state feels like a life or death matter, maybe try to think what you can do to change that. saying we’re delusional or closing mouths when we claim for antisemitism isn’t helping, and it sure isn’t what’s currently happening in the world and social media.

again, thanks for asking. i have so much more to say and that’s before actually going into current antisemitism or even into october 7th, i just think i’ll stop here for now. i hope this somewhat answers your question.

[lizbethborden]

i saw a post where someone described forced marriage as an example of the oppression of asexuals/aromantics and it's like.. . . no. it's an example of the oppression of WOMEN first and foremost.

It's interesting. I'm not going to tell people what to call themselves, but for the record, I am an ace truther you might say. I don't believe that 99.9% of the people identifying as such are asexual/aromantic--given how many complex and ever finer-grained micro-identities they've cooked up to explain how and why they do experience and enjoy sex and romance. Obviously I'm not going to kick down anyone's door and make them give the label back, but I'm providing that context for my interpretations.

The general critiques given for society--too focused on romantic relationships, undervaluing platonic ones, overemphasizing sex, and then, like in your example, the material criticisms, forced marriage, etc.--are worthwhile critiques. They're aspects of culture that have negative impacts for many people. But at the same time as "aphobia" seems to be doing political analysis, it's doing so with its eyes averted from the basis of all of these cultural elements, which is misogyny, the oppression of women. Society is designed to funnel women into heterosexual romantic/sexual partnership in order to keep the means of human reproduction under male control. Period. Rather than address the baseline motive, each element is decontextualized.

What's striking to me at least is how effective an "ace movement" could actually be in criticizing this structure. When Christianity first began to pick up converts in the Roman empire, there was a moral panic because men and especially women were removing themselves from the chain of reproduction by living chastely in anticipation of Christ's return. That's an aspect of the movement that died rapidly, since Jesus didn't come back and they had to make the next generation of Christians pronto. But the panic it produced spoke to the effectiveness of its criticism. Women were declining their social role. They were in some times/places believed to have spiritual equality with men (per Paul). There's evidence of women leaders in the early church. For a brief window of time this action seemed to facilitate an upheaval of the social order, at least within the context of the church.

But asexuality as it stands right now is, like many other identity groups, atomized in a way that it makes a bunch of little individual criticisms of society and culture, but not to a degree that it has meaningful effect. It's not about organizing, it seems, it's not about really doing anything. Because "asexuality" is framed as an internal ontological difference from other people, with a myriad of different possible definitions via micro-identities, there's no governing ideology except to ask for--what else, in this individualistic world? The right to do what one wants as an individual and not be bothered for it. Not organize around the wage gap or rent gouging or other barriers to comfortably living alone, et cetera.

It's kind of a band-aid on the larger social issues. Rather than look at the reality of oppression, it's easier to break down the, ummm, the wooden floor into individual planks and scrutinize each plank for its flaws and say that that's why your feet hurt when you walk on it. Well maybe it's actually the fucked up foundation, not the wooden floor, and you have to address the underlying cause. This is a dumb metaphor, but you get me.

[antirepurp]

Question: what unfiction series do you recommend?

ohhhh this is a tough one for a number of reasons, including me having been busy lately so im not sure exactly what's new and interesting at the moment. that said...

i've been thinking about petscop again and how it plays with old creepypasta tropes and elements in its presentation, how it presents you with a game you have and will never play, and still evokes a kind of nostalgia within you and gives you an understanding of what is and isn't normal within its context. it isn't for everyone, in the sense that you'll never have a clear picture of the story and are forced to interpret things yourself, but for me that is just. mint shit. i love not knowing what happens in petscop but also knowing exactly what happens in petscop it's great

i also mentioned valle verde recently. similar to petscop it's a game you'll never play, but it goes extremely hard on its presentation and i just have to applaud it for that. there are animated 2d cutscenes for the opening of the game that the player skips, because they've seen them so many times. there are fake games within the fake game. there's a tremendous amount of love and effort that has been put into this series and that alone makes me run up the walls about it. the story has also been interesting to follow and it knows when to get into the scares, instead of throwing jump scares or something at you constantly. each video has english subs but they're also available in spanish. pretty sure it's spanish and not portugese. im going to be real embarrassed if i say it's spanish but it was actually portugese

monument mythos is also a classic! and tends to live in my brain rent-free whenever i revisit it. especially the early seasons fall more into line with analogue horror if that's a style you enjoy. it's alternative american history with supernatural elements and it strikes the part of me that enjoys history despite the fact my understanding of american history is shallow at best. monuments are haunted and there's goofy trees that do fun things it's great

and there's sagan hawkes video on a creepy dinosaur game! i adored this one when i watched it, again a lot of effort has been put into it for the sake of the presentation and watching it without knowing it's unfiction is wild because it feels so fucking real even right up until the end. i long for a dinosaur game that doesn't exist. i long for many games that don't exist it turns out

also some rapid fire takes im also picking up from the top of my head: minecraft alpha 1.0.16 versions (mc unfiction that's still on-going i believe, there's ARG elements so an analysis video could be worth watching alongside it), diminish (another game that doesn't exist made by the player's dead sister, beware though the game is hard and the player is bad and the videos tend to be Long), myhouse.wad (linking a video exploring it since it's a doom mod, but there's a link to it in the description if you'd like to try it for yourself!), angel hare (lovingly animated christian children's show! but oops that angel is your guardian angel and is talking to you, specifically)

i would also recommend checking out night mind on youtube, he covers a lot of unfiction projects to bring more attention to them and many of them are ones that are quite new as well! he also runs the night mind index, a site with information on what unfiction is but more importantly it has a huge list of all sorts of unfiction projects that people have submitted to it that you can check out!

(i did make some unfiction myself too here on tumblr, i don't think that counts as a true recommendation lol but if you're curious the blog is mallardmonster and the first post is here!)

[theic-manic]

Hi, so this is going to be a bit of a long ask, and if you don't think you can answer that's absolutely fine, I would appreciate even being redirected to something/someone else.

I've always felt somewhat drawn to hellenism in the last three, two years. I was brought up christian but I never believed in that god, like absolute certainty. I was atheist for most of my life, but I couldn't find it in myself to be that completely skeptic if hellenism when I found out about it. Recently I felt particularly drawn to Apollo, like he outright popped into my head, so I decided to try for real this time, and called out to him, I study the ancient classics and I knew a decent bit about hellenism from my own research, but I went to look into Apollo more and SO much just aligned with my life right now.

We had this one day of blinding sun immediately after, and I was so happy since I felt that was an answer, I go to school very early so I saw the sun rise and in the evening I went out to thank Apollo for the day when the sun was going down.

What scares me is that since I've called out to Apollo, I've been tired, and it's not my "normal" tired. I can usually do things even if I haven't slept well in a while, but all of a sudden I'm tired all the time, from the moment I wake up to when I go to sleep. I tried sleeping more, didn't fix it. I genuely haven't been able to do anything for days, including things I told Apollo I'd do for him since I can't make proper offers yet (I live with my parents atm, not a minor tho). I said sorry but idk I'm worried the reason why all my energies are suddenly gone is because I upset him or someone else, and I would be happy to ask for forgiveness but I don't even really know how to understand WHO I've upset (from my understanding Apollo isn't tied to sleeping or tiredness, i thought illness but I don't have anything) or if I've upset anyone at all, and I was hoping for some tips from someone who had a bit more experience than me...?

Thank you so much for your time and your answer if you're able to write one to me!

Hey,

Thanks for the ask.

This is completely understandable and not unheard of among many of us...

Apollo is the god of plagues and diseases (among other things), so people prayed to him to be healed of the illnesses that he sent them.

He also had a history of giving people plagues and disease out of anger so I understand how you might think you've somehow enraged a deity however unlike Christian religion, it typically takes either someone of great importance or someone to fuck up royally to manage that and I honestly doubt that you've managed either.

There's just a solid chance that you've not set appropriate boundaries with Apollo and also others within your life.

In my intense and extensive experience as his devotee, if you're not doing what's required to look after yourself (such as not establishing boundaries with other people to ensure that you're not setting yourself on fire to keep others warm) he will absolutely knock you onto your arse (make you bedridden) to force such lessons.

The good news is that you have nobody to seek forgiveness from.

You need to do the following:

- Rule out all possible mundane causes such as diet, dehydration, stress, sleep disturbances, changes in medication, seasonal changes etc.

- Start setting boundaries with others to look after yourself.

Yes, that includes close friends and family.

- Start setting boundaries with Apollo (and any deity you worship).

I once had a migraine stop in its tracks because I asked, out loud, "what the actual fuck Apollo? You can't be making me ill whenever you need my attention, this is toxic as fuck".

But yeah, do those 3 dot points, and you should be okay.

Rest, hydrate and try to ponder what lessons on self care you may be needing to learn right now while making it clear to Apollo what your limits and boundaries are regarding worship and how he connects with you.

Sincerely,

An Apollo devotee hit with a random infection and lethargy as I am being reminded of this very lesson in boundaries being an act of self care myself.

[windvexer]

A) your "the gods fucking suck sometimes" post came across my dash at a really good time in my own practice, which I feel like so many of your posts do, Chicken, and thank you for that.

B) i don't really engage with the witchcraft community except for lurking, so I guess who am I to talk, but i'm really becoming frustrated with the amount of beginner-friendly stuff on this website that tells people that 'everything they've heard about witchcraft is wrong so don't worry.' I wonder whether it comes from a place of fear deep-set within witches from a, well, Christian society of being seen as something they're not - and I don't imagine it's necessarily malicious, rather it comes from a place of comfort within their craft (ah, well I haven't suffered for years, so nobody else possibly could!) and a personal effort to distance themselves from an ingrained stereotype of witchcraft, which results in downplaying a lot of the things that align with that........

Regardless of intention people learn from that, become more experienced themselves, and when that leads to dismissing the experience of your fellow practitioners/assuming your craft and aspects of it are universal that's going well overboard

A) I am glad to hear it was helpful :)

B) At this point in time I'm not even talking about like, tricksters (and when people say that, I think they just mean "liars," the trickster archetype really needs a new PR team), demonolatry, or evil gods. I'm talking about regular, normal witchcraft!

People can have beautiful, fulfilling paths that are never dangerous, and then decide to deepen their connection by entering into intense ritual work with a local spirit for a year. And that work becomes demanding, and exhausting, and they have to make sacrifices to maintain it. And sometimes they ask if it was really the right choice.

It's not just about danger! It just sucks sometimes!

I had a tumultuous few early years of witchcraft, but even now when my path is feeling so much more comfortable and fulfilling and really like my true home, I still have responsibilities. Do I want to go to sabbat every 28 days? No! I'm lazy! I want to play Sims 4!

But I can't stop going, because I need to go. Because I love my spirit family. Because it's a part of me finding my true home in this world. I need those things.

It's just also sometimes a chore. You know?

I have spells I need to upkeep for my life to go how I want it to go. I have to take care of them. It can be tedious. Sims 4 has horses now. You know? It's 110 degrees outside. I don't want to walk around the property giving myself a sinus headache from the dust, checking on wards. But what else am I gunna do?

I'm not saying that the two modes are "safe" and "dangerous." I'm just saying, witchcraft can be burdensome. And not everyone is in a position where they can "just change it."

So yeah. I'm not trying to be on a "witchcraft is hella dangerous for real" rant. My rant is more like...

If this is a genuine faith that can carry people through decades of life, and we believe we are truly interacting with entities that have their own personhood and agendas, then from time to time things are going to get hard for some people.

That from time to time, developing those relationships will be difficult and require sacrifice. If we believe this is a faith that can allow people to work to modify their lives, then at times it will be work and feel like hard work and be something that a practitioner can't wait to be done with, because not only does Sims 4 have horses, it also has llamas that you can pet.

And pretending that can't happen, or always blaming the witch when things go badly ("just change! if you don't like your path, modify it! it's anything you want it to be! such-and-such spirits are always benevolent/will never hurt you/will never mislead you!"), isn't a service to anyone.

Idk. The more I talk about this the more I feel like my entire point is "witchcraft is just kinda like real life, it has its ups and downs." Which I could have just said that one sentence this morning and not have had to type all this lmao.

[dragondroid]

Christians can fuck off with their "but my version of Christianity is the real one, all those horrible people are fake Christians" shit.

The reasons I left religion entirely are at the core of Christianity, not artifacts of a single sect or church:

- There is no definite evidence of any kind of deity or spirit that stands up to any kind of scientific rigor. If I'm relying on something in my life, I'd prefer something that works. Besides, you'd think that something as allegedly powerful and important as the christian god would be obvious, something that would be independently discovered by all cultures, like gravity or math or death, but he's... Not.

- Christianity teaches original sin, that humans are fundamentally wretched and incomplete without god, but the people I've met outside of Christianity are often more genuine, pleasant, accepting, and accomplished than those within the church. It's obvious we can get along just fine without a god.

- Christianity teaches that God is always watching you, including your very thoughts, and judging you. That is not a healthy mindset to have.

- Christianity as a whole is just... Incredibly insecure. It restricts people from exploring other ideas. In the bible, god shows that he hates any kind of dissenting idea or opinion or chance that someone could be his equal or do well without him (See Lucifer, the Tower of Babel, the Golden Calf, the first commandment, etc). God straight-up tells us not to put him to the test (Why not? Afraid we'll be disappointed?). This is not the behavior of an all-powerful constant of the universe, or an organization that possesses ultimate, indisputable truth. This is the behavior of a narcissistic, insecure child.

- Speaking of all-powerful, god would be either a sadist or shockingly impotent for some all-powerful, universal deity. Like, y'all realize he supposedly made the rules, right? If he didn't want people to suffer, why make it possible at all? And before you pull the "no joy without suffering" card, even if that were true, why would god have made it that way? Why couldn't he just make it so joy was possible anyway? Why is suffering not as unfathomable to us as nonexistence?

The list goes on. And that's before we get into the problems I have with individual sects.

I don't know why I made this post; I suppose spending time with my religious family over the holidays made me want to get this kind of thing off my chest.

Oh, and for any Christians reading this who want to swoop in and save my poor, wretched apostate soul, the trick to get me to believe in your god is simple.

Show him to me.

[cryptidhyrst]

assuming i am asking the correct person, I saw a post you made that repeatedly reinforced the point that the tv show Danny phantom was not in the superhero genre. I mean this in the LEAST confrontational way, and i am simply CURIOUS about the reasoning behind your ideas, and i have nothing personally against you. i just want to know about why you said that Danny Phantom wasn't a superhero. i am merely curious, nothing more. I don't agree nor disagree, i just want to know.

I'm sorry if this was weird, or if i got the wrong person.

If i DID get the right person, only answer if you want to, or if it's convenient.

Have a nice day!

I don't think I've made a post about Danny Phantom and how it's not a show that can be classified as belonging to the superhero genre, but I did reblog gilly-moon's post about Danny Phantom redesigns and briefly touched upon the topic there.

I'm always happy to expand on my thoughts, especially when it comes to Danny Phantom! (I hope you're okay with me answering this publicly).

Now to get this out of the way: Danny Phantom isn't a superhero show; nor does it belong to the superhero genre.

"But, Cryptid. Danny fights ghosts. He has powers. He saves Amity Park from calamity and destruction from time to time. Surely that counts for something."

And yes, normally these things would, except, well at its core Danny Phantom just isn't a superhero. But before diving deep into my thoughts about why it isn't, I think we need to establish what exactly makes something/someone a superhero?

I once read a paper that defined a superhero story and a superhero as having four things: a mission, powers, a (secret) identity, and a costume. And Danny Phantom should be all of these things, right? He has the powers, the secret identity that he keeps hidden (unless you're of the rare persuasion that Phantom Planet is canon), he has a costume, and debatedly he has a mission (keep his friends/family/Amity Park safe from ghosts). All of this should make it a superhero show, right? It should be no different from Teen Titans, Miraculous Ladybug, or the numerous Marvel and DC animated shows that exist.

Believing that Danny Phantom is a superhero show is contingent on one thing and one thing alone: whether or not you take Butch Hartman's statements as canon or not.

Now it's no secret past season 1 of the show, that Hartman was remarked as saying that:

[...] the ghosts [in Danny Phantom] are in fact otherworldly monsters and creatures that came from the Ghost Zone, with no connection to human spirits.

He gives this explanation as a way for letting the audience create the backstories for the ghosts that do appear in the show

Which has worked in the favor of Phandom; after all, I can't even count on both hands the number of posts or projects that I've seen that have attempted to give some or all of the ghosts in the show their own backstories. Hell, even my own project gives many of the ghosts their own backstories as well.

Now Hartman's no stranger to modifying or adding onto DP canon as he pleases *coughtenyearslatercough*. Much of what he adds, tends to be rejected by the Phandom for various reasons. And I think that Hartman's evangelical Christian leanings and beliefs tend to bleed through in the way that he approaches the way ghosts exist within the DP universe. (I say this because fringe Christian ideologies tend to be really really fucking weird about paranormal entities such as ghosts).

Now, if you think that what Hartman says about the ghosts in DP being monsters from a different plane of existence. Then you're going to be more inclined to believe that the show fits within the superhero genre. After all the whole plot of: young kid gets electrocuted in parent's machine, gains powers, and fights ghosts fits within that system.

But if you're like me and disregard 100% of what Hartman says and believes that ghosts are well...ghosts (and that death exists within the DP universe, because what are ghosts, if they aren't the remnants of dead people?) then the plot of the show is: young kid gets electrocuted in parent's machine, dies, comes back to life with powers, fights ghosts.

One scenario treats Danny Phantom as a superhero show because the caveat is that ghosts are interdimensional monsters that traverse into Danny's plane of existence to wreak havoc. That would make it a superhero show. The other scenario treats Danny as a cosmic horror nightmare tale that it is, except it's trapped by the limitations of being a kid's animated show.

So yes, while Danny does have nifty powers, a secret identity, a costume and the whole shebang. It just doesn't make him a superhero. He's fighting ghosts (regardless of the fact that Butch Hartman would argue this point); at best this makes him a kid version of a ghostbuster.

Tl;dr: Danny Phantom is a superhero show if you believe Butch Hartman's stance about ghosts being interdimensional monsters. It isn't if you think Butch Hartman tries to skirt around the concept of paranormal entities because he's an evangelical.

Edited to add a closing statement.

[paradoxcase]

@wellhappybirthdaytomeiguess:

Fascinating to me that a nun commiting suicide TWICE drove two of the big background events: John identifying soul (when she puts a bullet in her brain) and the Lyctors being forced to take the final step in the process (when she talks Alfred into a suicide pact).

Yeah. Cristabel seems to have been a very strange person. I noticed there was also a mention of her and Alfred meditating together in this chapter, I guess he must also be pretty strange even for a hedge fund manager

John needed the suicidal nun too be able to identify the 'individual code' that identified separate souls within the larger 'program' of the 'world soul' I think. Once he did that he could get that specific about souls....I think.

Yeah, he was able to see the individual soul at that point, but it said he was still not able to do anything with it because Alecto was there

@eye-lantern:

For the nun, well. She is a nun, so the soul is more important than politics. She has found here second coming, but the idiot is raving about how the merchants in the temple are not funding his project instead of becoming closer to his Father. She has a few loose screws but a very clear sense of purpose

@wellhappybirthdaytomeiguess:

@eye-lantern This comment about the nun is really well said, in my view. She was a zealot, both before and after what happened, but she seemed to believe deeply in the 'holy' mission.

When you put it like that, I guess I can see it. I wonder what she is actually like on the other side, after they all come back and I guess have probably forgotten Christianity?

The reference to the shaman and the sun refers to a Maori legend about catching the sun in the sky (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamanuiter%C4%81)

Ahh, neat. But John envisioning himself as Maui (if I understand that right) now makes me think of him singing the "You're Welcome" song from Moana. It's interesting that Maui shows up in both Hawaiian and Maori mythology

@eye-lantern:

I agree that John's decision make little sense, and to me that's part of the message

He is a random dude who was given power over life and death in the most stressful situation of his life. He couldn't handle it better. Anyone in this situation would have their worst aspects exacerbated and for him it was his vindictivness. He misuses it immediately because he is hooked on directly to the absolute power of a screaming mad planet. A few days of lack of sleep can fuck up your reasoning so bad, and he was already at his lowest.

His behavior after becoming Jod is more logical, but informed by the fact that no one can ever harm him, and he can kill with a thought. Life has lost all human like stakes to him. It's nothing more than a game to play with his dolls/friends.

Oh, yeah, I get that he was stressed out and sleep deprived and made a bunch of bad decisions, but like for days up to this he keeps talking about how how it's so important that the trillionaires not be allowed to leave, and nobody tells him that that's not right. Well, I think Augustine maybe did once, when he was like "why don't you do some good wizard shit", and Cassipeia said so way too late, but when John was all like "we have to stop them!" at the beginning of the chapter, no one said anything. I feel like there were some sensible people in this group who should have said something sensible at that point? Mercy, Augustine, Pyrrha, Cassiopeia?

For the burnt thumb thing, when you hurt a finger a lot of instinctual reflexes are: aply pressure, get close to you, and for a burn, wet. So a lot of kids shove any hurt finger in their mouth. Also works for bleeding.

Sure, but I don't see how that relates to "it's human nature to take things" because you're not taking anything by doing that?

And my personal theory for the gift she gave him. She gave him an instinctual look in the working of a plane of the laws that regulate the world. Kinda like how humans and some species evolved to understand abstraction, that allowed them to use tools, and even make them. But when discovering a new concept it's easier to use it to hurt than to heal of build. If you give a sharp rock to someone, they'll understand how to make a weapon before using it to fray plants and create rope. John is a monkey given a toolbox and he realise the hammer breaks things, and did not go in depth with the mastic and spackle because it did not do anything interesting immediately. I think if he had not focused on death, the "easy" option of what he was given, he may have realised he had powers that could have saved humanity

I don't know. I mean, it seems like necromancers generally can work with organic material, but might not be so good at changing the climate or neutralizing pollution. Or do you think that John's powers are significantly different than necromancy, and the powers of regular necromancers don't ultimately come from Alecto, but are just a different thing caused by the thanergy radiation from the undead planets?

[madqueenalanna]

sorry (lie) to defend hate crimes md but. i think a lot of 2020s discourse misses the context within which the show originally operated. and this is NOT to say "well racist jokes were funny back then" cause that is NOT my point. my point is all the stuff that isn't the racist jokes

like, house md started airing one year before supernatural and bones, two other shows i'm deeply familiar with. supernatural is rife with casual homophobia, racism, misogyny, you name it. bones is so deeply entrenched in boot-sucking post-9/11 government that it's almost unwatchable these days. house... isn't very topical. he makes a lot of 80s references, or older. there are maybe two troop episodes? but let's be real we've been in the middle east so long that hardly dates it. and like, what does the show house md have to say beyond house's personal bad actions?

prisoners on death row deserve respect. homeless people deserve the same treatment as anyone else. mental health conditions like schizophrenia (presumed or otherwise) or munchausens don't disqualify people from actually being sick. being fat is sometimes a symptom instead of a cause, and people overlook genuine health concerns in favor of blaming obesity for everything. orthodox jewish beliefs deserve respect, while christian grifting should be mocked. there is significant, murky overlap between chronic pain and opioid addiction and there is no easy middle ground (the show itself muddles this point repeatedly, to be fair). autism is more akin to another language than anything else, and autistic people deserve to be met where they're at. abortion UP UNTIL BIRTH is acceptable, even desirable given circumstances. it is acceptable, even preferable, to repeatedly defraud insurance companies and bureaucracies if it's in the best interest of the patient. eating disorders are dangerous/fatal and should be treated as such

like, i get it. a lot of aspects of this show have not aged well, particularly the main sell of "edgy epic atheist" house, which WAS a very mid-00s type of character. and i'm as guilty as anyone as doing pepe silvia on this show to make it sound epic (like here) but i do genuinely believe i'm not wrong. even if you don't read house/wilson as romantic, and you don't need to, their relationship is so intense that it eclipses either of their various romantic entanglements. wilson went through 3 ex-wives and an ex-fiancee, house gave up on at least 3 significant relationships. house gave up his vicodin, his medical license, his entire life so that wilson didn't have to die alone. how can that not be poignant, even now? how can anyone deny the emotional impact of that? fuck your destiel, fuck your good omens. you didn't earn eight years of THIS

rambling as usual but i'm right. this show can be a really difficult watch at times for cringe reasons but it can also be so unusually astute that it takes the breath away. what other show, especially in 2005, was giving the circle speech from "lines in the sand"? that episode aired the same year as supernatural's racist truck or bones' "troops did friendly fire but iraq was still justified" penultimate ep. can i say house was a GOOD show? idk. but it raised a lot of interesting points and had a lot of against-the-grain compassion that i still find sorely lacking even now, 20 years later

[gavisuntiedboot]

I'm the anon that u called Islamophobic. I think I didn't get my point across. Mena is notorious for having no democracy or electing fundamentalist gov. This isn't being Islamophobic this is a fact. I don't think Palestinians will want to live in peace after what israel put them through especially kids from Gaza.

Creation of Israel was to make it a Jewish state not a secular state. Makes no sense for them to change law of return. Especially with Netanyahu n abbas to find a middle ground

Its naive of u to think that it won't start a Civil War like in Lebanon. They don't like each other. Either way there will be genocide of Either group. Forcing a one state solution is not feasible,unless u want a blood bath. Ut will be 1947 all over.

I'm not Islamophobic like u make me out to be. I live in a country that feeds the same kind of propaganda. What israel is doing in wrong. They shouldn't have been making a state there. Things happened has happened.

Both of the leadership in very corrupt. This is the reason I support 2 state solution so that they don't kill each other. Or otherwise jews just go back where they come from Europe or Mena wherever.

Also river to sea is a call for genocide. It was used by Israeli gov and also Palestinians. U want to mean it something but it isn't.

I hope there will be peace someday without a genocide

Anon, read these words carefully: you ARE being Islamophobic and racist when you say these things.

MENA is notorious for actually having their governments collapsed by the West and then benefiting from the chaos. That's what happened in Egypt and Kuwait and Lebanon. They never let elections stand as the people want them. You are saying that "MENA people don't know how to pick governments or they pick a Muslim one." Like dude. There is currently no fundamentally Islamic government anywhere in the world. It doesn't exist. Like who are you referring to when you make this statement? If I say "Ukrainian people don't know how to elect a good government, so Russia should have Ukraine" it would be an ASS BACKWARDS STATEMENT. YOU, non-MENA individual, think we don't know how to pick or elect a government. So what if it's an Islamic government? IF THAT'S WHAT THE PEOPLE CHOOSE FOR THEMSELVES WHAT IS THE ISSUE? You're Islamophobic and racist because you believe that people in the MENA region are not capable of making decisions for themselves or capable of being civilized.

"Well I don't think that Palestinians will want x..." Respectfully, what you think means ABSOLUTELY FUCK ALL IN THIS SITUATION. You are not Palestinian, you don't talk to Palestinian or even Middle Eastern people apparently, and your response is "Well they already took the land so let them keep it." No. Fuck you. It's our land and we want it back. Because by your logic "well Franc took Algeria so they should just be fine with it". Like you fundamentally do not believe brown people have the right to their own land and to self determination. If Russia took a portion of Ukraine, you would never say "oh just let Russia keep it what happened already happened" because they're white.

The West fucks up the MENA region and then tells brown people to deal with it. Lebanon was created to make an Arab state for Christians so they would leave Syria. Then the same Western countries put a Muslim government in place TO MAKE SURE THE MIDDLE EAST WASN'T AT REST. THE WHITE WORLD BENEFITS FROM THE DESTABILIZATION OF THE MIDDLE EAST. SO THEY CASUE IT THEMSELVES.

Israel shouldn't exist. And God willing within our lifetimes it will cease to exist. And I mean that in the same way the Soviet Union ceases to exist. Not as a call for killing, but the dismantlement of an oppressive political system of ruling. I want the state of Israel to disappear, not Jewish people.

And finally, from the river to the sea was a slogan made by Palestinians. Israelis stole it, like they stole everything else. Palestinians say it with one meaning, and your refusal to accept the meaning from the creators of the phrase speaks to the internalized bigotry within you. When people say "Black Lives Matter" do you feel threatened? Do you think it is a call to end white lives? Do you burn with the need to say "well ALL lives matter"?

Your argument is based in the fact that you see brown people as incapable of self governance, that because they were massacred in '48 they don't deserve their own land, that everyone is bad so Palestinians should shut up and be happy with a two state solution and that's the best we can do. You are a racist and you are Islamophobic, and I will not be responding to any of your further attempts at a rebuttal until you can sit with yourself and realize that. You think you're free from propaganda? The propaganda has worked extra hard on you, because you still believe that we are not civilized people.

I hope you have the day you deserve.

[truckermelissa]

If you see a conservative saying this, just be aware, that they are lying to you. Wholesale. This is why they use weasel words when they say these things. Always watch for these words when talking with conservatives. "Many" "Most" "Millions of" etc. These are weasel words, and they use them because they know they cannot quantify a single word they said. The reality is, if there are conservatives who are "fine with gay people" they are an extreme minority going back decades right up to the present day, so small a minority to be politically invalid, and that's what counts here. Unlike conservatives, I actually know Queer History, I'm 41-years-old, and I have a VERY good memory. Let's go through the catalouge of Conservatives in the last 40 or so years. 1980s: As the HIV pandemic was raging though the queer community conservatives were perfectly content callously watching it slowly and painfully kill 100s of thosuands of people. The deaths reached nearly 20,000 in the US in 1992 alone. They called it "god's retribution", nothing quite like "Christian Love" indeed.

President Ronald Reagan didn't say a single word nor lift a finger to do anything about it. Finally in 1987, after pressure from epidemiologists and queer rights groups, he created a commission. Led by a one Admiral (ret.) James David Watkins.

Now the Admiral here was a big fan of witch hunts within the military to dishonorably discharge anyone suspected of homosexuality. So that basically is all you need to know about him. Even his half-hearted attempts at doing something, anything at all, were completely ignored by the Reagan and later Bush Sr. administrations if you can believe it. Mind you, the Reagan/Bush administrations desire to do nothing at all about the AIDS pandemic not only worsened the pandemic, but had utterly no basis whatsoever in science, medicine, or sociology, it was pure Christian Conservative ideology. Nothing else. 1990s:

As the AIDS pandemic continued to burn though the population, the conversation began to shift by the early 1990s. In 1993 Bill Clinton and a hostile Congress were butting heads over a number of things, mostly related to the deficit left by the Reagan Administration. One of the talking points of the day was Gays in the Military.

Conservatives unilaterally wanted the military to go on witch hunts and dishonorably discharge all LGBTQ service personnel. They claimed it would destroy the military to let us serve. To which I have one question: Hey conservatives, how's that working out? It's been 12 years since LGBTQ were allowed to openly serve. Has the military collapsed yet you fucking idiots? Or were you lying as fucking usual? Anyway, Bill Clinton managed to piss off the Left and the Right (yes, the Left was fighting for gay rights in the 1990s) by introducing "Don't Ask; Don't Tell" in 1993. This would be policy for 18 years. Indeed, I was in the US Navy from 2000-2011, and am well aware of Don't Ask; Don't Tell, posters like this were common as were slurs from the chain of command.

Additionally, conservatives at the time were arguing that LGBTQ people should not be able to adopt and should they somehow have biological children, should be taken away from them. Funny how that came full circle huh? If your noticing a trend here, then you are paying attention. Much of the conservative horse shit is recycled over and over again.

Keep in mind, Trump did the same thing in 2020. I would LOVE for Conservative LGBTQ to circle that square, but I digress.

Now, it wouldn't be until the Obama Administration in 2011 that Don't Ask, Don't Tell would be repealed and gays allowed to serve openly, to much fierce resistance from........CONSERVATIVES!

2000s: Bush Jr. is president, trade towers are rubble, and we are engaged in what would become a 20-year long campaign of conquest on the other side of the planet. Bush backed a Constitutional Amendment to ban gay marriage.

Additionally, Bush defended gay sex bans.

That's right, gay sex, much less marriage, was illegal in much of the country until 2003, something that would come to an end, much to the chagrin of conservatives, in Texas v. Lawrence. This isn't ancient history, this was 20 years ago, on similar grounds of Roe v. Wade, which is why CONSERVATIVE judges in the Supreme Court want to "revisit" it. Conservatives want to make gay sex illegal again.

2010s: As stated earlier, in 2011 Don't Ask, Don't Tell was repealed by Obama. Additionally in 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges was ruled making gay marriage legal across the country. Indeed prior to this some states came up with the 2nd-class citizen status of "civil unions" while others outright banned gay marraige in any form. I'll let you guess what states those were and if they were red or blue states. (Hint: It wasn't Blue States) But Obergefell passes and DOMA (Defense of Marriage Act) is ruled unconstitutional. Boy were conservatives pissed about this.

LGBTQ rights were fought for and won not because of, but in SPITE of conservatives. Anyone who tells you differently is either lying, stupid, a propagandist, or any combination thereof. While Democrats could be criticized for their general inaction, and even at times complicit behavior, it was not they who were driving the fight against our rights. It is, has always been, and continues to be CONSERVATIVES. So if there's this chunk of conservatives who are allegedly fine with LGBTQ people, they are politically irrelevant within conservative politics. So irrelevant as not even worthy of consideration, and at worst, they do not exist. Never forget it.