#and that sucks i think. i want to be supportive of the people who are wronged but i also want to tell the racists to go suck an egg

[unoriginalcontent]

Been thinking a bit about this post; I do believe that to empathize with Trump voters, at least on an intellectual level, is important for purely pragmatic reasons. The idea there is that the right wing propaganda machine is a menace that no one knows how to deal with, and so if we can understand the concerns and anxieties of the conservative voter, we might have an opportunity to demonstrate how Trump is tangibly not addressing their problems and turn them against him. And hell, even if they did vote for him out of bigotry, maybe they'll still be willing to turn on him out of self-interest. However much it sucks, many of these people will not care if you simply point out that his policies harm other people. They've already set the human cost aside as acceptable losses, or else they outright support harming these people, which is why a different strategy is necessary for them. If we can get conservatives to turn on Trump, then even if it's not for the right and morally-correct reasons, that's still a win.

Of course that's all in reference to conservatives who were probably already predisposed towards whoever has an R next to their name on the ballot. When it comes to leftists who refuse to associate with democrats out of protest, I just don't know. I can understand that someone might want to vote out of self-interest and also believe that a Trump presidency is beneficial to them. Obviously they're likely to be wrong, but it's not hypocritical to have believed a lie and acted accordingly. Conversely, I think most leftists are people who will claim that government and voting shouldn't just be about self-interest, and that helping other people is a worthy end unto itself. And yeah, they should have known better.

If you're educated enough on the issues to have known all of Harris's shortcomings, how the hell do you not also know Trump's? If you know them both, how the hell can you conflate the two as equally bad?

We have this idea in the left that our systems are bad, and therefore we can never make progress until we destroy the systems entirely and build something new from the ashes. If you believe that, then please get your head out of the clouds because that's what Trump and Musk are trying to give us, and it turns out to be bad. We live in the system, we depend on the system, if we didn't then it wouldn't matter how many federal programs Trump is trying to abolish. Even if you specifically will be fine, you're writing everyone else off as an acceptable loss. It's not wrong to imagine and strive for a better world than this one, but unless you have viable alternatives ready and waiting, you won't get there by breaking things.

Maybe it's unfair to blame the current situation on people on the left who didn't vote for Harris. I don't even know how much blame matters at this point. And yet I think this is an important thing for all of us to keep in mind. Your moral clarity can be used against you. No matter how good and pure your ideals are, the real world has to come first. And right now that means acknowledging that a huge portion of our democracy chose Trump. And they don't care if you're hurt from his policies, or if I'm hurt, for a lot of these voters your suffering is probably just sugar on top. OP is absolutely right, they probably don't regret wishing leopards onto other people, but that doesn't mean it's not worth convincing them that we should stop the leopards before their faces are eaten. People are going to be poisoned by food which they voted to deregulate, and a part of me wants to think of that as justice. I feel angry. I feel spiteful. These people are taking human rights violations and touting them as victories, fuck them. But anger and spite won't fix anything, even from our side. And no matter how awful some of these people might be, together they're a hell of a voting block. I wish that I could force people to care about the suffering of others, but I can't. And so I hope that it's possible to at least get them to care about themselves.

And if you do think of yourself as progressive, and you still refused to vote for Harris, then I think OP is right, and you really do take a look at yourself. It is true that many of our problems are created and perpetuated by larger institutions beyond our control, but when it comes to democracy, it's not enough blame the system. You're a part of the system. If you don't want to participate, you need to have an alternative that is—crucially—viable, actionable, and realistic in the immediate short term. If you don't have that, which I guarantee you don't, then high-stakes elections are not the time for moral grandstanding.

Sorry for rambling here on your post, I'm probably a bit scattered. I've been having a lot of discussions with people about this sort of thing lately. Whatever strategy the left has for winning hearts and minds, it clearly hasn't worked if someone like that can still win the popular vote. I don't know how to fix that. But I think we all need to be a lot more comfortable ceding the moral high ground if it means making progress in the trenches.

Trump voters owe me financial compensation.

[wingsdippedingold]

My rapid fire ACOTAR hot takes that y’all will hate:

I pray the pros don’t find this

I don’t ship Elriel or Elucien because I ship Elain with singleness and just traveling Prythian to learn about different plants and then settling down somewhere to become an apothecary. Is she aromantic and suffering from comphet in my head? You’ll never know

Nesta would not have eaten Lucien alive, I think she’d be tentative at first but then realize he’s not a threat to her then grow to enjoy his presence. They could have had a great romance that actually helped her grow as a person, unlike Nessian.

Nessian is a mutually destructive relationship. Cassian is too insecure to date someone who he thinks looks down at him. Nesta needs an emotionally supportive partner.

There was ZERO need to actively SA Feyre publicly to make her look subservient or as if she had a “claim” laid on her. The reasoning is weak, and SJM an Rhysand fans need to admit that they only defend it because they thought it was sexy, or because they self-insert and can’t make Rhysand actually look bad.

Tamlin isn’t a bad leader, but it doesn’t suit him. He’s much more of a people person than someone who would like to be removed from them and working on laws and politics.

Tamlin should be walking around the SC as they rebuild and see a woman directing townspeople on how to do so. Tamlin would admire her for being able to connect with people but also being able to govern well. They would have a romance and that woman would eventually become a lady and help Tamlin govern because she wants to make a difference and is good at that stuff. They eventually get married 💥

Canon Elain is my least favorite Archeron. I think she’s manipulative and worse than Nesta in her cabin behavior because she wasn’t upfront about it. She let Feyre think she was useless and kind, to later only throw her under the bus. Nesta is the one who went to the wall for Feyre, and Elain didn’t gaf about Nesta caring for her the second is stopped benefitting her. Elain even acknowledges all that Feyre did for them, and yet she still didn’t do anything

BUT to append to that, I totally get why she’s that way. It’s her only means of survival because since childhood she was treated as a doll with noice of her own. She can’t be upfront like Nesta because she won’t get taken seriously, so her only way to get what she wants is to manipulate people and use her niceness as a mask.

Nesta and Feyre have a closer relationship than Nesta and Elain solely because they were constantly arguing. Nesta “favored” Elain, but it was still distant, but she actively watched Feyre and treated her like a whole person even if it was poorly. I think this is also exemplified in their appearance. Feyre and Nesta look very similar, while Elain doesn’t look like them as much.

You can’t argue that Feyre’s childhood was traumatizing (it was) but then say that it had no negative effects on her development and ability to socialize.

Feyre is NOT good at reading people despite what y’all like to argue. She can barely read Nesta, a woman she’s known for 20 years.

She suffers from hubris and has a savior complex. For example, when the debtors came to cripple her father she notes that they only left after SHE cried and soiled herself. In her perspective she will always be the hero because that’s how she makes herself fell good.

Arguable my hottest take: I don’t think Nesta and Feyre had a power imbalance in the cottage to make their relationship abusive. In fact, I think Feyre held more power over Nesta, Nesta just didn’t acknowledge it/was mean so it didn’t seem like it. Feyre was their father’s favorite, was the breadwinner, and technically dictated whether they would get to eat. Feyre held control over her family’s survival, even if she didn’t want it, and they all knew this. It is specifically why Elain sucked up to her (a character know to jump to whoever has the most power at the moment and would protect her the most)

Feyre doesn’t act how she wants to, but rather as she thinks a good person would. She doesn’t want to hunt, but she does so because she thinks she has to. Many of her acts are “selfless” but are often shallow. She also thinks everyone wants to the helped the same way she would want to be.

To add to this, she doesn’t love her sisters. She doesn’t love them for who they are, but because of proximity. She even says to Nesta when trying to get her to come to solstice “but you’re my sister”

Feyre did not know love and it did not know her, and thus made her latch on to whoever gave her affection and she deemed as her own savior (Tamlin and Rhysand). Should she finally ever feel suffocated by Rhysand (though he has ensured she won’t), I wouldn’t doubt that she would run to another.

Feyre has 0 healthy relationships. ZILCH

By adulthood, Feyre’s illiteracy is no one’s fault but her own. As a child she didn’t want to ask Nesta, but she didn’t ask Elain or her father either. Even then they fell into poverty at like 9 and she still didn’t learn much so that doesn’t make sense. She refused Tamlin’s help and Rhysand literally had to force her to learn.

Rhysand’s character makes 0 sense when you consider her upbringing, family, friends, personality, and powers, and is just a product of SJM trying to write the morally grey ultimate love interest.

I’m on the fence about him being a master manipulator towards Feyre and the IC. I doubt Sarah meant for him to come off like that, but if he actually was it would be a masterful story and make his character feel more cohesive.

HOWEVER, if he was a manipulator I don’t think it would be that impressive for him to manipulate Feyre. She is naive and new to the world of fae, and she switches her opinions like night and day. She would be the perfect target. Again, this comes about from her upbringing and her own hubris.

The series should stuck to being a trilogy. Insert it drags on and makes new problems that aren’t even properly addressed

This was not rapid I fear

[batboyblog]

The news about slashing indirect grant funding to 15% is making me feel physically ill. It's really wonky, but it's also a huge girder supporting the whole university system. I just feel despair about the future of education.

I know that UAW and some of the other academic-adjacent unions are going to be having some kind of day of action on the 19th, so I'm not just doing nothing while I spiral, but I am spiraling :/

"These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated” -Thomas Paine

I find these times trying my soul, I will admit, despair is hard on my heels most days, and particularly the nights, I fear I'm not very good conversation these days. The damage to everything I care about is massive and every day has 4 new crisis each important to know about. And its hard not to think about the likelihood Trump will be President for at least 4 more years, this has been 3 weeks, what will 4 years be?

however, I do draw hope, Trump and Musk are idiots, Trump is a weak little man, we've seen Trump back down already a few times, the courts are grinding into action. We saw in Trump 1.0 the Muslim ban and flood gate of illegality that seemed like it just would have to break everything. And then also the courts stepped in and things did slow down, it was horrible from start to finish, particularly that last bit where the world ended? that sucked. But the breakneck "oh fuck the Republic won't make it" speed did stop and I hope here also, I hope Musk will step on Trump's toes like Steve Bannon or any number of people who thought they could control Trump and end up exiled into outer darkness (and broke, and dying after ODing on disco drugs)

that said the next 4 years will suck a lot, no two ways about it. This is the struggle the fight of all our lives. Where ever you are check Mobilize for protests, for chances to phone bank and fight back. Also call your Congresspeople even and PARTICULARLY if they're Republicans, because like Musk is saying he's gonna mess with Medicare, and Social Security, and Education and all kinds of stuff that even Republican members of Congress don't want or REALLY don't want their voters to know about till its WAY too late. Scare the shit out Republican Congresspeople, Republicans voicing that they didn't like Tariffs got Trump to back down.

But most importantly don't despair, don't give up, do not surrender hope, it's all worth fighting for it really is.

[yermes]

For everyone else who’s been in a shit ass mood recently 🌙

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Pick a meme

123

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Disclaimer: please take what I say with a grain of salt and not as the gospel. I just want to share some ideas of practicing and giving advice using the medium as often as I can with school, work, and my own personal studies and practice. But I am working on sharing my notes soon so that will be exciting! Liking and sharing does a lot 🥰

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Socials: My Socials **☾**

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The cards

The Magician ✨

Your self expression avenues have been cut for whatever reason. To express yourself is to express divinity. You need and outlet where you can do so without being judged because it seems like being unable to do anything creative and something so definitely you, you feel as though you cannot. Or you have been over doing it in so many other aspects in your life you are just completely unable to even think about expression. It sucks when more mundane things come in the way, its hard when expression is a luxury that few can afford because mental resources have been so ran through. But dedicate a few minutes per day for it at least.

The Deluge ⛈️

Pent up emotions babes and it is flowing out. No matter what you can’t hide from your emotions, feelings, how people have treated you and how it came to be emotionally. You may be acting like a BITCH but its because you are a bitch with feeling, which may be on of the hardest conditions to be in. You need support or a hand or a hug, so fall back on your girlfriends, guy friends, family or anyone who can help you. Its okay to have phases of not being super okay but remember its not okay to take it out on others. We can be sad messy bitches but as long as we remember we are responsible for our own messes.

IV of Swords rev 🌩️

Feeling zombieish? Gifted 3rd grader burn out? You need to recover, you can’t think about doing anything for approval or other people. Free yourself from the conceptions that keep you sad and miserable. Learn for fun, read a book so slowly your gifted self wants to vomit, bake cookies, take everything so so so so so so slowly its painful. Recovering from other peoples expectations is hard and debilitating, you must start to slowly break your own prison that you made yourself, for yourself. You don’t have to appease anyone other than yourself and now you have to learn what that means.

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Extras:

Story/vent:

The people, they bother me

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[shithowdy]

on ur posting art comic, someone put alt text in a reblog for a piece of mine and said "Hey OP add this to your post or you're not being inclusive enough" and I genuinely didn't know how to respond. I feel like a lot of the time these people start with good intentions but then ascribe an arbitrary set of rules that make you a horrible person if you forget or maybe don't have time to add certain accommodations as a singular person on a blog

i've already harped on how making these demands isn't fair to people who are prone to OCD spirals, have struggles with literacy/cognition, don't know english well, have low energy, etc etc, but beyond that, i truly think that this behavior, when earnest, is the result of a total lack of self-awareness that one has fallen for the propaganda trap of erasing the distinction between corporations and people. everyone has to be considering "their brand" at all times when this is just not how life works. there's a reason grocery store owners have to make their aisles wheelchair-accessible but Jim The Eccentric Rock Climber can turn his entire house into an obstacle course for him and his buddies: one of these things is meant for all-access public use, and one of these things is meant to be enjoyed by Jim's sphere of influence. Maybe if Jim makes a really good disabled friend that he wants to have come over, he'll rework a pathway for them so they can be included. Maybe if Jim wants to turn his obstacle house into a business, he will consider more ways to make it inclusive for disabled athletes to attend. But until that point, it's just his house.

"but it was posted publicly-" so are triggering works of fiction, but we all for the most part understand "don't like, don't read". the idea of telling someone to redo a free-to-read fanfiction without triggering elements so it can be accessible to readers with those triggers is preposterous, so why are we suddenly okay demanding extra work from visual artists who may not feel capable of (or even comfortable) describing their work with words? it sucks not being able to enjoy something, i'm not unsympathetic to this, but i don't think you can be supportive of weird, unmarketable, emotionally-charged art while at the same time demanding it be made describable in english for what is essentially SEO and data-training purposes.

art is for everyone, i absolutely stand by this, but that doesn't mean every single piece of art ever made has to be for everyone. visual art is a language in and of itself, and sometimes it cannot be translated.

[genderqueerdykes]

sorry for the random vent, but this whole transandrophobia discussion is making me so sad. or more ike.. the reaction to it.

Like... the trans people I know irl (be it transmasc, transfem, nonbinary, something else...) are AWESOME. Supportive and kind, a community. Yet, for some reason, on tumblr there's such animosity?? Over transmascs wanting to talk about their oppression?? And sure, some of that is probably terfs wanting to break us apart, but i dont think that's all it is. And I just... why do we get called horrible things, like transmisogynist, antifeminist, MRA, for that? I've had literal trans guys tell me they hate all trans men that talk about transandrophobia, because it's a "dog whistle" for hating trans women? When it's literally not?? like. i feel like i'm going a bit insane. I get told absolute vile things that "transadrobros" are apparently saying, but i never seem to witness it first hand. the reaction to a bunch of people talking about their own oppression is literally making me feel gaslighted about what is, and isn't being said.

Why can't online spaces be more like irl? Why can't we lift each other up, protect each other, listen? I hope it will be like that again. But NOT by silencing trans mens struggles, villifying them and sweeping everything under the rug. But at this point, i fear that's where it's heading. Idk if it's the majority of the trans community thinking like this, or if their voices are just very loud, but it's making me feel alone.

it's great to hear you have good irl spaces like that, that's awesome. and i've had the same experience irl as well, as people im extremely close to online.

i agree so hard. i dont understand why people who say transandrobro aren't being called out on it. i don't understand why people who start misgendering trans men and mascs when they don't agree with them don't get called out on it. i don't get why people who shit on intersex trans people don't get called out on it. i don't get why people who are awful to nonbinary, genderqueer, gnc and other gender variant people and don't get called out on it. it's awful.

being called an mra hatefully is so exhausting. why do people think thats a bad thing in this context. trans men are treated like shit. ive seen people freak out over the word transmisandry. it doesn't matter what it's called, it's real. people in the queer community are treating masc queer people like shit. people do it outside too but people are doing it inside rn. people are not allowing queer masculine people to talk about anything right now and it just sucks

transmascs get called terfs constantly despite being trans men. they get called transmisogynists. it's so hard to criticize anything transfeminine people do without getting attacked. it's so hard to address transandrophobia inside of queer spaces without getting attacked. it's so hard to point out that everyone has internalized bigotry to let go of no matter what without getting attacked. it sucks

people take the pain cishet patriarchy has caused them and take it out on trans men and mascs instead of the establishment that holds them down. it sucks. the fact that transmascs legitimately just cant dole out criticism anymore without getting called a slew of awful names is just. come on. people tell trans men to die every day. people tell trans men they're confused girls every day. i always get misgendered when somene disagrees with me. people always treat me like i'm an unreliable narrator for being a hysterical cis woman who wants to be special

it sucks. im sorry you go through this too. people are so hostile right now its getting to be not worth it

[waitineedaname]

hiiii lily what is this ‘orv’ i have been seeing…..

HIIII MIKE. SMILES. orv is Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint! it's a webnovel with an ongoing webtoon adaption and it is making me Fucking Crazy. basically the premise there's this really unpopular really long webnovel called Three Ways to Survive an Apocalypse, and for years, Kim Dokja has been the only reader. when the novel finally ends, the author sends him an email with the txt file of the whole novel, and then suddenly the novel is wiped from the internet and in that instant, the events of the novel begin taking place in Kim Dokja's world. the apocalypse begins and humanity is subjected to cruel scenarios and challenges livestreamed for the entertainment of these powerful entities called constellations, and as the only one who read the story to its end, Kim Dokja is the only one fully equipped with knowledge of how this story goes (or at least, how it originally went)

it is SO good. it lures you in like "ooh this is a normal reverse isekai" and then ends up being CRAZY. it deals with questions about the boundary between characters and Real People and whether that distinction really matters, and it's one of those stories that looks the audience dead in the eye and dares you to look away first. literary devices are made Real (oh fourth wall we're really in it now...) and it plays with narrative voice and pov and unreliable narration in such fun ways. it is ultimately about the value of stories and the value of being a reader and the choice to wrestle with the story that's been written for you in favor of the story you really want to tell. it's also about Kim Dokja having something Deeply Wrong With Him skdlfjlksdjf the journey i went on with him was "okay he's a reader insert who reads novels as escapism, i get it" -> "oh actually he has something wrong with him" -> "oh he has something Wrong With Him" -> "WHAT. WHAT THE FUCK. HELLO. WHAT WAS THAT." I'm obsessed with him.

I read the webtoon first which I think is a pretty effective onboarding point! some of the art had my jaw on the FLOOR it's so cool. the webtoon has adapted roughly the first third of the whole novel so far, and if you want to read the novel just dm me and I'll hit you up with the epub file lol (not just mike but anyone who is interested!)

[edwinisms]

I know how it sounds at first, but I really gotta feel bad for the boys that sacrificed edwin; I mean even the term “sacrificed edwin” paints them in a more sinister light than they really deserve– considering that wasn’t really, actually their intention.

they were bullies, they were homophobic (and/or were self loathing gay boys themselves taking it out on edwin, or were equally likely peer pressured into acting a certain way), they planned something stupid and mean to do to an innocent, anxious boy with the goal of scaring the shit out of him, all because he was effeminate and an easy target. but they didn’t know or expect any of the ritual stuff to be real. they were all laughing and joking during the ritual because it was just that to them– a joke. a cruel joke, but a joke.

teenagers can be mean and stupid and they usually regret it as adults and grow out of it / grow from it. they were stifled the chance to grow out of it, at least while alive. none of those boys deserved to be instakilled and sent to hell; they’re really not that much less deserving than edwin himself. they were all just kids, after all.

[torchickentacos]

The pokemon anime subreddit fascinates and frustrates me on equally deep levels

[uchiha-gaeshi]

Does anyone else automatically size themselves up with people their age and look for ways that you’re inferior to them? Just me? Ok….

[officialsollux]

Donation post

I have some severe health issues and have been homeless or in emergency housing unable to afford rent or food for months (and in similar situations for years). I am in quite severe pain and traumatised by some horrible things that have happened to me, and I am just at a complete breaking point that I cannot push off anymore. I have reached out to every possible public resource & have a case manager, but these issues have completely trapped me in ways I can no longer compartmentalise off. I would love it if anyone could share this link for a donation post or dm for my main where I have revolut / venmo. Obviously I get people aren't always in a position to help but having people show support and share would be very meaningful ❤️

[imminent-danger-came]

I really am so sad I don't like isat. The themeing was very good

[sublux]

i'm so mad i don't have private insurance through an employer so i could get any kind of therapy or medication or anything. tags are a rambling rant

[fortunatehazelnut]

I do sympathize with this guy but oh my god it is SOO telling that the 3 groups of people he listed were cis men, cis women, and trans men...

[jinxofthedesert]

I recently got out of a toxic and unhealthy friendship on here. I had to be the one to end it; hopefully the other party decides to leave it be and not smear my name due to realizing it wasn't healthy and that I had to end it because of it.

Basically, if someone makes you start feeling like shit, from your life, to your goals, passion, and everything else, then it's not a rewarding friendship. And it's hard to sometimes see it in the moment. Because you want to think the best of peeps, especially ones you care about.

But sometimes the healthiest thing for You is to know when to put your foot down and end it, even if it hurts you and them. At the end of the day, you matter and what you're doing matters and no one has the right to make you feel shit for who you are when you're just living your life. Life is hard enough without adding peeps who make you feel that way or question how you live when, prior to them showing up, you were happy with all of it.

To anyone in a relationship or friendship like that, I hope, like me, you are able to take a stand and realize you deserve better.

I knew I was being manipulated but not how much until I talked to others close to me. I pray you all never have to experience such a thing because damn, you know you did the right thing, but feel so fucking guilty at the same time.

But your happiness matters. You matter. Please remember that.

[hoshizoralone]

How did you first get into Nier? And who is your favorite character(s) in each game?

was over at a friend’s house early summer in 2016 and they asked “do you want to play a game about a hot single dad” and that’s how it all started.

my favs are dad nier, yonah, weiss, a2, and 6o :) here is a bad picture of my dad nier shrine on my bookshelf