Race for Refugees - 30 Tunes, 30 Days!
Hey everyone,
TL/DR: I'm going to be recording and releasing 30 folk tunes on my violin for the month of September in support of Refugee Action! You can sponsor me here:
Like most people here in the UK, I've been horrified by the events of the last few weeks. Now more than ever, it's time to show solidarity, stand up against hate and discrimination, and demand a fairer future for refugees and people seeking safety in the UK.
Refugee Action support refugees' rights and services across the UK. Race for Refugees runs for the month of September - it's a race for hope, with a difference - participants take on a challenge of their choice for the month!
I'm a folk musician. I grew up with a genuine love for the folk music traditions of the UK. I've played in folk rock groups and ceilidh bands, covering traditional songs and dance tunes. But I'm perhaps not the type of person you immediately picture when you think of UK trad-folk!
My grandpa was an immigrant from Ghana in the 1950s and was blessed to be able to build a wonderful life here. I think we should demand nothing less for today's immigrants, especially those seeking safety and asylum.
Every day in September, I'm going to be recording and releasing a traditional fiddle tune from the British isles in support of refugees. There'll be jigs, reels, hornpipes and strathspeys aplenty!
Please sponsor me if you can, and help support refugees across the UK!
Thank you!
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On the MegOP fandom trend of saying "Optimus should apologize to Megatron"
(Speaking specifically for IDW1, though it applies to a lot of MegOP especially ones that do continuity soup with heavy reference to IDW1)
I was talking to a friend in DMs and they mentioned a common headcanon/fanfic trope that I also concurred with, and both of us said it's something that bothers us: a common take in the MegOP fandom goes basically along the lines of "If Optimus had just apologized to Megatron, the war would've ended" (or other variants including "if he'd tried harder to understand Megatron/work in collaboration with him").
And firstly, this is incorrect for a number of reasons:
There were attempts at peace negotiations during the war, but they fell through. So Optimus WAS trying to work with Megatron to the point of participating in formal diplomatic meetings.
Optimus tried multiple times on page to convince Megatron to just stop fighting and work with him for peace (Autocracy, Chaos Theory) that Megatron rejected. Given that these on-page examples take place at the start of the war and at the end of the war respectively, it makes sense that Optimus asking Megatron for collaboration is something he was trying/willing to do the entire time. So again, Optimus was always willing AND ATTEMPTING to work with Megatron and find a joint solution
Even before the war when Optimus was still Orion, he was very explicitly inspired by Megatron's writing and names Megatron as one of the people who "opened his eyes" to the wrongs of Cybertronian society. So how is it that people claim "the war went on for too long because Optimus never tried to understand Megatron" when OP literally named Megatron as one of his biggest idols, thus implying that OP does understand Megatron's ideals
But the primary purpose of this post wasn't to defend Optimus, actually. Even though I personally think Optimus did plenty (dare I say, everything) to try to end the war, there are some who may still think otherwise, so instead of arguing about whether Optimus did "enough", or who should apologize to whom, or who "deserves the blame" for starting/continuing the war, I'd actually rather talk about this:
No matter who is most "to blame" for the war, it's my firm belief that neither Megatron nor Optimus would even expect/demand the other to apologize to them at all.
On Megatron's side, he would never seek to judge Optimus negatively for the decisions to the point of saying "you wronged me, apologize." Whether it's evil Megatron who doesn't care about atrocities and revels in an opportunity to expose Optimus as a hypocrite, or post-war/Autobot Megatron who knows that his own evil actions are irredeemable, the idea of Megatron judging Optimus and demanding an apology for the war specifically strikes me as out-of-character. Why would Megatron demand or even want an apology from Optimus when Megatron knows fully well that he has his own sins to bear, he prolonged the war for his own selfish/material gain, and that he is responsible for an untold amount of suffering? Demanding an apology would imply that Megatron sees himself as the wronged party and Optimus as the wrongdoer, but by the end of the war, Megatron is too aware of his own part in the war to ever demand such a thing of Optimus. Even if he DID think that Optimus was "equally to blame" for the war (which he doesn't/wouldn't, btw), Megatron's own feelings of guilt would prevent him from trying to seek the petty satisfaction of the moral high ground or making Optimus beg for his forgiveness.
Additionally, Megatron knows Optimus very well as a person: he knows that the position of leadership is full of "loneliness [and] agonizing self-doubt" for Optimus (Chaos Theory) and that "when Optimus hurts others, he hurts himself" (MTMTE). Another reason that Megatron wouldn't demand nor want an apology from Optimus is because Megatron knows Optimus so well that he already knows that being a war leader fills Optimus with immense guilt and suffering. Given that Megatron knows about Optimus' self-doubt and guilt, why would he even need an apology when he already knows how much Optimus regrets the war and desperately wishes/wished for it to end?
Then, as established in the previous paragraphs, Optimus is too full of guilt for his part in the war (both before it started and in being unable to stop it sooner) to demand an apology from Megatron. Again, demanding an apology would put Optimus in an implied position of moral superiority and/or victimhood, but Optimus doesn't see himself as morally superior or as a victim (or rather, he sees himself as being responsible for these bad things happening and internalizes this as a duty to do better/fix wrongdoings). In other words, Megatron and Optimus both share this view of themselves and each other: Their hands are so dirty, and they both feel such guilt over this, and they know each other well enough to know that the other feels this way as well. Because both of them feel blame for the war and are acutely aware of their own flaws/part in suffering, both of them feel far too responsible for the war happening for them to ever blame their archnemesis for "not trying harder" or "being responsible for the war."
Hell, if you even look at the socio-political climate of Cybertron before the war started, neither Megatron nor Optimus were the ones who put this conflict into motion. The corrupt legacy of the Primes, Functionism, class issues-- all of these things existed before Megatron and Optimus did. Even once they started doing things like writing about social issues (M) or fighting against the Senate (OP), both of them were "underlings" in sense that they weren't leaders:
Megatron's writings may have inspired the Decepticon movement, but that movement existed as an independent entity with its own leaders and speakers long before Megatron became the "official" ruler of the Decepticons. He wasn't even the leader of the 'Cons until he took control of the gladiator arena and the nonviolent sections of the Decepticons were (presumably) subsumed into the underground, exploitative battle culture that Megatron created.
Optimus-as-Orion was a police officer to start, but even once he started going against the Senate, he mainly worked in collaboration with others like Senator Shockwave and Zeta (later Zeta Prime), who he either saw as his idols or who were literally superior to him in rank due to government/military structures.
So with this in mind, even from a social level, while Megatron and Optimus may have been "catalysts" of a sort that caused the war to escalate to an outright planetary/galactic level, the scenario is too complex to solely lay the blame for the war at either of their feet. I'm not confident in saying that Megatron/Optimus would explicitly think of this when talking to each other, but what I'm trying to say is that M/OP were just catalysts in a long chain of brewing tension that exploded into a war. Even if one could claim that one of them "started" or "escalated" the war, the social issues that caused the war and the positions of power that allowed them to become leaders in the first place were falling into place before either of them actually BECAME leaders.
In other words, this shared fate of being the final reaction that exploded a societal conflict into outright war... Megatron and Optimus both have that in common. And because of this, I really don't think either of them would even think to ask the other to apologize because they're both in such similar positions, with such similar feelings of guilt and responsibility, that they understand each other's feelings without words. To demand an apology would be akin to taking that shared vulnerability/guilt and stepping on it, attempting to claim that one is right/superior and the other is wrong/inferior, and that the inferior one needs to grovel and take responsibility for the bad things that happened.
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GUYS. GUYS. I HAVE A THEORY!!!
So this certain merch of Jax made me think of something.
You see how everything in the background is broken? Even his nameplate. AND THE FUCKING VOID IS BEHIND IT ALL. I can see how people could think that this further proves the Jax is an npc theory, I mean they're even making his merch look different compared to the others. But I think it could be something else. You know how you can mess with a game's code to the point of completely breaking the game? I think that's what Jax is doing. This man knows a lot more than he's letting on. He definitely knows a way to get to places in the circus he's not supposed to. He already has keys to everyone's rooms that he definitely IS NOT suppsoed to have. I feel like he's tried so hard to find an exit that he ended up completely breaking some parts of the digital world. His room specifically. Obviously Caine doesn't want anyone to mess with the digital realm. So it only makes sense for Jax to keep looking for an exit in his room. Although, Caine can enter people's rooms. Maybe he's also find someway to block Caine from entering or looking inside his room? That's really the only plot hole I can find for this theory. The background of this merch is supposed to show the character's rooms or where they hang out the most, but it's different for Jax cause he probably destroyed his room trying to find an exit. I feel like his room is just a glitchy mess now, if he even still has a room that is. No wonder this certain piece of merch of him looks so out of place. It's showing how he's literally tearing apart the fabric of the digital realm in order to find an exit.
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You know, it's been years now, and I still follow a few blogs that post for thr fandom... I need the last few remaining fans to know: anyone that popularized the last name "McClain" for Lance, I need you to jump into a boiling pool and you can never get out.
Maybe look up Cuban last names??? And don't use any of the first 10 results??? Do your fucking research??? Look up how Cuban last names work, maybe??? Don't just settle for the whitest last name to fucking exist, and call it a day????
It works similarly in mexico, First name, maybe middle name, sometimes third name if your parents are feeling a bit quirky, then Paternal lastname Maternal lastname. Maybe! Maybe he's mixed! A mexican parent and a Cuban parent! A Brazilian parent and a Cuban parent! Maybe!!! He's even part native! But I don't trust white fans with native characters. Learn to behave and maybe we'll trust you with native characters.
Just. Stop it with McClain.
IF YOU ARE WHITE, YOU CAN REBLOG BUT IF YOU TRY TO START SHIT I WILL BLOCK YOU!!!!!
IF you are latine, specifically Cuban, feel free to add your own thoughts on this matter
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One thing that my bestie pointed out to me tonight that disgusted me and made me immediately recoil- my behavior has been changing because of the Boy and whether or not he engages with me, and my mood is hinged on whether or not he gives me attention. 🤮 ewwwww!!! Cut that out right now!! Of course it's normal and fine but I don't need that! Especially right now, post breakup, my life is a mess. The sex was amazing but I need to start detaching myself from him because he changed SO MUCH in the past 4 weeks. He played a looooong game to get to me. Bought pastries from me twice in the past year, sent me messages every day, got his tattoos at a shop in my neighborhood, asked me out, and now he barely talks to me. Which is so bizarre. But maybe he believes he can kick back and stop trying because he thinks I've fallen to my knees for him? I really can't try to decipher his behavior nor do I want to. He is pretty immature (hence "the Boy") and if he wasn't so talented in bed I would've stopped engaging with him from the first time we hung out.
Due to my apartment ceiling caving in, I'm couch surfing. He knows this and offered to get us a hotel room this weekend. This is a final chance to see if he can do something an adult man would do, and follow through with a plan. If he doesn't, I'm going to tell him he disappointed me and I don't have space for that right now in my very busy, very stressful life. So he won't be coming back to my apartment after the ceiling is fixed.... and I guess I'll never be invited over to his place because he lives with his parents! Oops 😬 🤭
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