#and participate in the system we HAVE

[princesssarcastia]

tumblr is really bad a politics actually. please don't form opinions about political systems on tumblr. oh my god. this made me literally blind with rage and confusion for a second there.

just because the mainstream democratic party has started using "threats to democracy" as part of its campaign strategy this election cycle doesn't mean this is untrue?? please don't let your hatred for mainstream democratic political messaging make you also hate that it has FINALLY cottoned onto the fact that the american right would like us to stop living in a multiracial democracy/pluralistic society. that is a good thing, actually. it's a good thing that mainstream politics are finally willing to acknowledge that one of the two major parties is only interested in trying to destroy the political system we live under, is only interested in shoving gravel down our toilets so they blow up.

we do actually have a democracy. it's not a total direct democracy. there are a shit ton of flaws in the system. this is in part because, in fact, it's a relatively young democracy! I agree with nikole hannah-jones' assertion that the u.s. has only been a democracy for real since the 1960s, when civil rights legislation Black americans fought and died for started going into effect.

which is why this moment, 60 years on, is so important. it's a radical stress-testing of a system that it's important to preserve so that we can continue to make more progress from this point. we have to prove that the system can work this way.

i get it. voting sucks. gerrymandering has backed so many of us into a corner. we've politically and legally incentivized imprisoning members of minority populations so that they can no longer vote. the supreme court actually gutted some of that legislation passed in the 1960s that made us into a real democracy, sending us into the period of backsliding that we're currently in.

do you know how many of the candidates I voted for in my last election won? zero. ZERO. every single one of them lost. I get it, okay? this all sucks! it makes you feel powerless! but you can't let that feeling win.

that feeling is a lie they're trying to sell you so that you give up. so that you stop fighting for the democracy we've got. "bourgeois democracy" get the fuck out of here. oh my god. shut up.

[felonytaxevasion]

Can I hear more about the worm vs the boys please if you want to expand on it on tumblr? I love worm and I don’t really like the boys and I can't quite explain to myself why

Yea absolutely! Im sure there's some other Wormblr posts out there that go into this in more depth but I can paraphrase what I was saying to my friends.

We were mainly discussing the concept of "edginess" and excessive anger, violence, and shock value in media and I brought up Worm and The Boys as examples so that I could sort of warn my friend about the tone of Pact without directly spoiling anything. My main thesis is that Worm is incredibly super duper edgy, however it doesn't come across as nihilistic and misanthropic like The Boys does.

I feel as though too often The Boys is usually taking the stance of "well humans suck so if you gave humans superpowers they would find unique ways to suck and the only thing separating normal people from monsters is power. So no one should have power" which I don't inherently disagree with to an extent. It's an exaggerated critique of capitalism and celebrity. But it's also such a gross way to look at humans/the nature of humanity.

Contrast with Worm that says "bad people with superpowers will use their powers to do uniquely horrible things. But good people with superpowers will also be out there doing uniquely and incredibly good things for the benefit of humanity. Every human as the potential for abhorrent cruelty. But it is just as true that those same humans all have the potential to do good."

I think it's really important that the two final and most major antagonists in Worm are motivated by nihilism and hatred of humans. Jack Slash and Scion both have the philosophy of "Humans are cruel. The parts of humanity that are good are losing out to cruelty. Why try and fight it. It's easier to just kill everyone". Contrast Taylor who, I'm 99% sure, never for a second questions if humanity is worth saving. Everyone around her in Gold Morning says "there's nothing we can do so we should at least die happy" and Taylor says "I cannot die happy unless I spend every second of my last day fighting for the miniscule chance to save humanity from extinction". Taylor and the fucking insane lengths she will go to save humans when she doesn't even like them all that much is the heart of Worm. (And like don't get me wrong worm is also about Taylor fucking failing to not partake in human cruelty at basically every opportunity. Quite possibly the worst anyone's ever done it. But that doesn't change the fact that she is trying and in the doing is pushing the audience to try as well)

And on the other hand I think the attitude of The Boys kind of just IS Jack Slashs. I honestly cannot even fathom what the take away is meant to be beyond "people are fuuucked up dude". If I wanted to be especially cruel I would say that I think a large majority of fan base for The Boys was generated on the basis of shock value and the incredibly strong performances from the cast. It's easy to get in to season 1 because it presents a horrible world with no redeeming qualities but you can assume in later seasons "they're gonna figure it out! Good will win out! Or at least good will lose for reasons that connect with the audience and make it a tragedy" but three seasons later theyre floundering to find a message and a reason people should care about the world and it's characters.

At the end of the day TLDR I think worm works because it has something to say and uses edge to support the thesis. The Boys exists more as a framework to explore cruelty in fiction and I just don't think it has a lot to say outside of that.

[catboygirljoker]

hey you ever think about how its implied that you have to be turned into a nobody to get norted, like, every member of the real org13 who isnt literally xehanort or literally possessed by xehanort is a nobody (except maybe vanitas but *gestures* thats a . different can of worms), and the people who were recompleted had to then become nobodies again in order to be in the real org13 and serve as a vessel for xehanort, like perhaps your heart has to be removed in order to make room for another heart,

and then do you ever think about the one character who canonically got norted before becoming a nobody and is still norted even after being recompleted and thus canonically didnt need to become a nobody in order to be norted, and then lose your mind a little bit

[owlrageousjones]

Is Blanche Devereaux a Landlord?

Random thought of the day: Is Blanche Devereaux of the Golden Girls a Landlord? And if she is, does she deserve the guillotine?

Obviously, in the strictest sense, she is a landlord. She owns accomodation, and she derives income from renting that accomodation out. That's a landlord.

But in saying that, Blanche lives in that same house - she rents it out to the other women because she has space and she's a widow with no dependents anymore. She had a large house to raise children and live with her husband, but her children have moved out and her husband's moved on (to the afterlife).

The absolutely moral thing to do would be to either let her roommates stay with her for free (because housing is a human right) OR to downsize.

And it's easy to say that's what she should do, but the absolutely moral thing for most of us to do is to sell most of our belongings and give the proceeds to charity but that's the kind of behaviour you'd expect from a saint, not some random person. I think we generally agree that there's a gradient between the extreme ends here.

And although it's kind of a meme, landlords do provide a service - as someone who has owned their own home with a mortgage, owning a home can be annoying and stressful. Owning your own home makes you feel like you put down an anchor, and when you want to move, you end up asking yourself if it's worth raising that anchor. For some people, it's better to have the freedom and flexibility that renting can provide.

(Also technically you don't have the stress of wondering how you're going to pay for repairs because that's the landlord's responsibility, but you know, that also puts you at the mercy of the landlord.)

In some ways, I think there wouldn't necessarily be anything wrong with having landlords if those landlords weren't private investors whose desire is profit - if the government owned my house, and I just 'rented' it from them by paying taxes, and then I would be able to move at some point if I chose, that'd be a neat solution.

(But then it also raises all sorts of questions such as: should I, a single bachelor with no dependents, be allowed to have a house with more than one bedroom? Under the capitalist system, I could have as big a house as my pockets could afford, even if that is a terrible allocation of space and housing.)

Looping back to Blanche, neither Rose nor Dorothy seem like they might've been in a position to buy a house - Rose sold her previous home, so maybe she would have the funds, but she was also moving from a small town to Miami, so the houses would probably cost a lot more (but she could probably afford a condo or small apartment). There's also the fact that living in a shared accomodation with each other was almost definitely good for them, socially wise.

I know living on my own was kind of sad in some ways, even if it did mean I didn't have to wear clothes in the summer.

So is Blanche bourgeouise? I mean... probably, but if the Revolution came, would she be up against the wall?

[ieatwormsandtheytasteverygood]

the immortal urge to see if my country has blaze on tumblr, just so i can make more people suffer with the elrond pregnancy post.

[aortaobservatory]

Happy Halloween Month, wish you were here!

Rip 😔 another soul(player) lost

(/lh)

Hello again! I do apologise to everyone for my absence; I have been going through a lot of real life things. I received your other ask inquiring about my well-being; sorry that I did not answer it, but I am well! I've finally got some semblance of a plan together for my life.

I've returned to university and finally figured out what path I want to take. I am a creative person, and touching other people with the stories I tell and the art I create is something I believe I was born to do. (Emphasis on the 'other people' part. My art is important to me because it is for others, and I enjoy fine-tuning my work to evoke specific emotions in those who view it.)

I have been busy with other projects, but October is my favorite month, and Halloween is my favorite holiday, so I'll likely be around, if not on this blog, then on my main blog or other sideblogs. I am keeping my main blog a secret, however; I enjoy the anonymity of this blog, and I enjoy the lack of bias it provides to my followers. To everyone here, I am just the Seer of Heart, and that's all I intend to be.

When Homestuck comes back around in my hyperfixation rotation, I'll return here and begin to post again, but I thought you all deserved an update. Thank you for your care <3

[disassociation-culture-is]

Disassociation culture is your “friends” getting mad at you for breaking promises you never agreed to but what if you did? I can’t remember.

And also not remembering doing the stuff they’re saying you did, but how can you argue when you can’t remember or be present.

it’s fine a couple of my friends just kinda suck

.

[sasslett]

and so the day is finally upon us - the FFXIVSwap name draw! The partners have been determined, and I will be messaging you over the next day with your recipient!

REMEMBER - this is a secret Santa-style gift swap! The person who you'll be making a gift for will NOT be the person who makes a gift for you!

When you get your message, please 1. Respond to it to let us know you got it, and 2. Reach out to your recipient to gather any OC info you'll need!

If you're unable to participate, please let us know ASAP so we can reassign your partner. And if you don't respond to our initial message with your pairing within 5 days, I'll assume you're no longer able to participate and reassign both your gifter and recipient - no gaming the system! This is a swap to do something nice for other people, not to be selfish and mean.

If you have any communication issues with your recipient, please let one of us know and we'll help you handle it, or even reassign you if need be.

And, as always, remember the rules!

Be kind - everyone has different levels of skill, but we're all doing this out of the goodness of our hearts to enthuse about each other's OCs.

Communicate! I'll be checking up to make sure everyone has heard from their partners. If you don't at least reach out, there's a good chance you may be removed from the swap for being seen as inactive/absent. If you need info from your partner, ask!

No being mean, making fun of others' OCs or creations or anything of the sort. If we learn that you've done such, you will be removed and your partners reassigned.

Have your OC info in a convenient form to share with your gifter! Don't make them have to read 30k words of a fic or trudge through a tumblr tag. Have a concise set of info ready to go - and remember, the more thorough you are, the better your partner can make something for you!

There's no time limit for the gifts, as everyone has different speeds and different things happening in their lives, but do try to communicate an idea of your time table. We'll be reaching out to anyone who hasn't finished their gifts in about one month, just to check in and keep track.

Remember that not everyone uses mods, and if you use mods for your character, your partner may not have those same mods/may not be willing to install mods for you. No harassing people about using/not using mods - if I find that you have, you'll be removed from the swap and your partners will be reassigned.

Only one OC per gift, UNLESS you have discussed this with your gifter and they have agreed to do multiple! More OCs are more work.

There are no rules on what the gift can be, so long as you put your heart and effort into it. Gpose, writing, art, whatever it may be!

Use the tag #ffxivswap to share your creations, so we can all enjoy them!

As always, if you have any issues, please reach out to me and I'll sort it out. At the end of the day, everyone who gives a gift will receive a gift, we won't leave anyone high and dry. Let's all have fun and celebrate each others' OCs and creations! Remember, we're doing this for the love of the community and the game, and by the Twelve, do not make me regret this.

[metapphjores]

there is no future or liberation for any movements that sees their "enemies" as non-human

[thedrotter]

a once in a lifetime miracle: oc art!! this is Shiva.

doodles from a month or so, but i cant really draw properly right now. but i wanted to do something meanwhile so i colored these :33

[ookaookaooka]

why do i ever read the comments on political posts lmao. i swear i can feel my blood pressure going through the roof

[valiantlycleverinfluencer]

I hate Doug ford so much.

[cringelordofchaos]

"OMG! Did you know that pigs would easily eat a human? How scandalous! Outrageous! Disgusting! Pure proof of their immorality!"

- average Jessica, who eats porkchop with their family once a month

[the-call-center]

Two system questions for systems with fictives:

1. How do you deal with fictives from a source you really like, such as your favorite TV show?

2. How do you deal with fictives from a project you're currently working on, such as a book you're writing?

Thank you in advance for any answers!!

[clementimetodie]

something messed up about the acknowledgement that even adult animals play (and it's good for them), but play is discouraged of adult humans

part of this, I think, is the idea that if you are playing, you are shirking your responsibilities. and sure, humans can fall into the bad habit of using play as escapism and at the end of the day keeping food on the table/taking care of family, etc. should take priority

but if there's a mental health aspect to play in animals, why do we ignore those benefits for humans?

[dreadfutures]

Every day I read about the news in the Middle East and across the globe and I honestly can't imagine what the world will be like in 100 years. I hope it looks very different.

Just gotta do our time on this planet to make our individual corners of the world a little better, and encourage the people around us to be better, and hope that's enough.