#because it feeds into their rethoric that see

[singing-swan]

I should not have reblogged that post on subtitling because now I'm mad about how translators are treated again lmao

With how international everything has gotten translation has never been more important than it is now and yet translators are consistently treated like shit. You have to produce quality work in record time. If you make a single mistake you'll be shat on endlessly. And don't expect to be paid more than a pittance because "this is an easy job any bilingual person could do they just don't have the time" (actual stuff I've heard).

And then industries actually move away from hiring skilled professionals to hiring the cheapest possible option (when they're not using ai outright) and suddenly everyone is crying that translations are shit now and nobody is making the connection. That maybe translation is an actual skill that requires actual training and that investing in competent people is worth it.

Sigh.

[randomwriteronline]

"Sweet little one, standing upright, to me you appear dressed in white. But your red nose, what wonders it does: shortens your life the longer it glows."

"A candle," Velika smiled.

"Correct." Mata Nui replied. Then, he offered another riddle: "Which part of the bird has never soared the skies but slithers instead upon the ground, and swims on the surface of the water without ever getting wet?"

"The shadow."

"Correct. Two parents have five daughters; each daughter has a brother, and each brother has five siblings. How many members compose this family?"

"Eight."

"Correct. A beast of long legs, of strength filled to the brim - yet no eyes adorn its head, its intelligence quite dim."

"Pinchers."

"Correct. Today is the third of seven days. In seven years, which of seven will today be?"

"The fourth."

"Correct. I am that which cannot be touched, but inhabits all living things; I am what kills them, burning quietly, and through their mouths the plume of my combustion shows in the cold."

"Oxygen."

"Correct. Through my long black neck breathes my red heart, hacking out smoke as warmth from me departs."

"A stove."

"Correct. She who fights the winds and waves from the bowels of the seas to maintain her treasure so far away, thin yet heavy, weak yet invincible: who is she?"

"The anchor."

"Correct. A ship rotted upon the shore: each plank that fell away was slowly replaced, until it was remade completely new. Yet from the rotten planks, preserved adeguately, a second ship was constructed in the image of the original. Which one then is the true ship?"

"Both and neither," Velika smiled. He tilted his head in his hand, amused. "You're really not good at this."

"An 'and' is not an answer." Mata Nui replied: "Please choose."

"It doesn't matter, does it?"

"A rethorical question is not an answer. Please choose."

"The one from preserved wood."

"I see. A crow, dying of thirst, struggled to get water from a deep vase lodged in a pebbled shore. In its desperation, it began piling rocks upon one another; and so it saved itself. How?"

"By piling them in the vase, forcing the water upward."

"Correct. Swells all around you, like a glove fitting; never shall it hold you, cold embrace fleeting."

"Fog."

"Correct. An unusual farmer plows through a barren snowy field, sowing black seeds in quick succession; what he reaps is just one fruit which feeds many over the years, and never wilts, but only lasts as long as it is not burnt or faded."

"The written word."

"Correct. It is one of the visages by which we can be recognized, odorless, colorless, impalpable - and yet it can reach us far away."

"The voice."

"Correct. It is what the rich lack and poor have plenty of, what the strong fear and the weak have power over, what the happy desire and the dead need."

"Nothing."

"Correct. What am I doing?"

"Stalling me."

Mata Nui smiled: "Correct."

Velika did not move.

"It's useless, you know," he said, grin frozen upon his fake Matoran face as it struggled to hide his true one: "You can't stop me from my goal with these little guessing games of yours."

"I was under the impression you quite enjoyed making riddles."

"I made you."

"You helped. It was admirable, indeed; but it was not your labor alone. You are not one for the practical sciences, after all."

"I made you. You are a soul, a thinking brain. I allowed you to be that."

"You, and others."

"Does the fine print matter?"

"Of course it does. You would wrongfully claim full ownership over the universe entrusted to me otherwise."

"I made them. They are sapient because I allowed them as much."

"And you wish to destroy them now, as they are past their use, and for them to comply and go quietly to you, without making a mess, as otherwise it would be quite the inconvenience."

"Of course."

"Fathers owe their children as much as their children owe them."

"They're not my children," Velika laughed loudly as if that was the most hilarious thing he'd ever heard: "They are a successfully completed experiment! Archived and finished! I can't leave the mess of my previous project all over my desk if I want to start a new one, don't you think?"

Mata Nui did not move.

"You are awfully cruel in your insatiable curiosity." he noted simply. "Indeed, you are Teridax's father."

"I told you I don't have children."

"But we were your successors, were we not? A lonely god on a mindnumbingly long journey, one scientist in a team with delusions of grandeur."

"You are things I made. Things I gave awareness to. Nothing more."

"Nothing more?"

"Nothing more."

"Is this also your opinion of the universe within me?"

"Of course."

"Then you have no claim on us."

Velika raised his head from his palm and laughed. He laughed again, spitting out phonemes without a rhythm. He forced himself to laugh, because otherwise the confused wrath within him would have needed to explode in some other way.

"Pardon?"

"It brings a riddle to mind."

"I don't want a riddle. What did you just say?"

"Again, I was under the impression that you enjoyed posing riddles. At inopportune times most of all."

"Cut it. What did you say?"

"A woman bore her daughter, and decided it was not her duty to care for her: she still observed her growth over the years for sake of a morbid fancy, never intervening nor gaining any affection for her. At last the daughter found great happiness and fortune; and so her mother came, and demanded a part of her riches as compensation for giving birth to her. Was she right in requesting as much?"

"I said I don't want a riddle!"

"That is not an answer. Please choose."

"Quit that! What did you say to me?"

"That is not an answer. Please choose."

"You insulted me, is that it? You insulted me?"

"That is not an answer. Please choose."

"Shut up!"

"That is not an answer. Please choose."

"Fine! Fine, you broken piece of junk, fine. Repeat it, I didn't listen."

"A woman bore her daughter, and decided it was not her duty to care for her: she still observed her growth over the years for sake of a morbid fancy, never intervening nor gaining any affection for her. At last the daughter found great happiness and fortune; and so her mother came, and demanded a part of her riches as compensation for giving birth to her. Was she right in requesting as much?"

"No, she denied custody and has no say over her nor her belongings."

"Correct."

"So? What did you say?"

"I said the exact thing you repeated with your answer." Mata Nui replied. "You have shirked your responsability towards us, and you have no right to decide of our fate."

"You are things," Velika hissed: "Things are made!"

"We are people. People are made, too."

"People are born! They are thinking creatures!"

"Are we not, then?"

"No! You are things that I have given sapience to! You owe me life! Obedience! You owe me everything you are!"

"Are we then yours?"

"Yes!"

"By what virtue?"

"By virtue of creation!"

"By virtue of birth." Mata Nui repeated. "A virtue that we have agreed holds no water when a parent abandons their children."

Velika's eyes burned: "You are made," he insisted. "Not born."

"People are made, too. They are engineered by chance, put together by two others. The creation progress requires time and resources; afterwards, the new being needs to be programmed and taught what to do, what not to do, through trial and error."

"It's different. It's completely different. I gave you that intelligence. In people it's innate."

"From when? From the moment your cells are assembled? From the second you develop eyes? From the instant you are brought into the world, kicking and screaming? There is indeed an ability, innate, for understanding tasks and languages; but it all has to be instructed. Neither of us were born capable of speech, yet we could understand a language of our own, for that is how we were both built."

"Do not equate yourself to me. You are code, bits and pieces of electricity, the vague hint of a self."

"On that same electricity is based the neural system that is your 'I'."

"But I am your maker. I created you. Not the other way around."

"And so? You have denied custody of us. You refuse to recognize our personhood. Are you not our parent who abandons us, our creator who destroys us?"

"I have no children!"

"Then we do not owe you anything."

Velika raised his hand and grabbed the air, right where a neck should have been.

"I will kill you," he threatened: "I will annihilate you."

Mata Nui held his gaze without flinching: "That you can."

They remained still.

The room was empty.

"I had such knowledge to share... But it would have been too long to tell, I am afraid." he only lamented. "I have lived a long life, all in all - sometimes it has even been pleasant. A lousy god such as myself will not make much difference by now, alive or otherwise: my people have moved on from any whims that may have moved my requests once. Go on then, if it pleases you."

The hand twitched, but did not close.

It spasmed, clutching, hardening, but did not close.

Velika clenched his jaw, tightening his fist, but it did not close.

He tried, and tried, and tried, and tried, and tried; but it did not close.

"I will kill you," he hissed. But suddenly he wasn't sure he could.

Mata Nui waited.

Nothing happened.

His hand of thought - invisible, impalpable, barely real - grazed his creator's chin and lifted it slightly with his fingertips.

"What is it that the brilliant man standing before the machine he has made to do his bidding - to labor away endlessly in his stead, to travel where he would not, to learn what he could not, to sing and write and draw what he cannot - fears most of all?"

The Great Being did not answer.

Silence stretched over the small endless space the word should have been spoken into through his voice.

Mata Nui smiled.

"Leave." he ordered. "There is no place in this world for a god that treats its people like toys."

Velika lunged forward and grasped the Ignika in his hands.

By the time other beings arrived drawn in by the horrid noises, the body writhing and raving had lost its limbs, its bones, maybe even its skin. It clung to the golden artifact still somehow, trying desperately to claw at it, break it, unleash its wrath upon it as it continued to mutate the creature into something less and less able to function the longer it remained latched upon its surface by its own stubborn volition; it howled wordlessly, voice cawing through what was supposed to be its mouth in a garbled attempt at speaking, but there was no mind behind the gruesome wailing - just a violent, infinite, senseless anger.

It shrieked at them when they rushed to put it down, partly frightened to death by it, partly trying to spare it from the anguished existence it was bound to go on to live - screamed something, something that could have been 'obedience', or close enough.

Mata Nui did not stir from sleep.

[streets-in-paradise]

Blessed Once, Cursed Twice

Gladiator (2000) Oneshot

Pairings: Maximus x Fem Reader/Maximus x Lucilla. (One sided) Commodus x Lucilla (just implications of his obsession with his sister)

Warnings: Pre movie, decontextualized party scene ( because i want to get it written without wasting creative time in thinking how it can make sense lol). Commodus is the reader's wingman helping her to approach Maximus because he wants him to abandon the pursue of Lucilla. Reader gets a bit mean to him because he is careless for exposing her in order to speed the thing.

Summary: For reasons beyond your understandment, Commodus has convinced you of letting him help you win over Maximus despite knowing that would go against the wishes of his sister. Trying his way goes way out of your safe zone, making you feel exposed and midly humilliated. Through your playfull little payback you find yourself before the handsome soldier.

Note: The foreshadowing elements here were Inspired in some ideas I came up with after doing this post.

Tags: @wildsaltair

The night was still young and full of promises, like your hopefull self to the thought of seeing your crush. Knowing that Maximus would be among you kept you in a beatutification race with Lucilla during your preparations, dreaming to be the one to catch his attention for once. You weren't resentfull of your dear friend, but you knew she had the upper hard and it was hard not to feel envy on your wishfullness always negated. The spaniard noble was too low to aim for her anyways, reason that should have made him more attainable for you.

Aware of your situation craving the affections of the same man, she could have showed kindness and allow you to have him knowing that he was an impossible marriage choice for her. She didn't, and you knew you would never win. Still, the flames of your lovefull hope could not be entirely estinguished and you were willing to comform with less. A sweet glance, polite conversation and some lovely smile followed by courtesy compliments would be enough to feed your daydreams for months. Lucilla could crown herself champion and you would humbly accept the second place in the race for his heart, doomed to admire him in silence for respect of your friend. It was the only arrangement you could aspire for in noble terms, because desperation haven't made you open to questionable paths to fullfill your dreams.

As an insidious temptation allways waiting for a moment of weakness to strike, Commodus repeatedly tried to open that way for you. Suspicious enough was finding him approaching you as a caring friend wanting to help, but worse was hearing his advice pushing you for a betrayal.

" You look beautifull, Maximus would be plain stupid if he ignores you tonight. " You heard him whisper from behind as he joined you in the wait for his sister. " What you really need is just release yourself from your moral restrictions and fight for him. Remember that you have as much right as my sister to aim for his affections , ... perhaps even more. "

Looking aside with caution only find him positioned in the right angle to whisper near your ear, you gave him a skeptical side eye.

" I have a concience, Commodus. It's not my fault you weren't born with one. "

He simply chuckled, advancing further to place himself beside you.

" Your stoical attitude is your curse ... Why sacrificing yourself for someone who would not return this heroic gesture? My sister had her chance of stepping aside, but it's clear she doesn't care enough about your silent suffering for that. There is no betrayal if she backstabbed you first, only an act of justice. "

He had a way with words that made the most despicable act sound sensical, logical and desirable. A true wonder of wicked rethoric, but you were well trained to spot it.

" There should be an entire academia dedicated to the study of the dark corners of your mind. We would learn a lot of how evil works its deeds. "

The callout wasn't enough to make him desist from his misterious interest.

" ... And yet I remain the onlyone who tries to help you. I must not be so horrible after all, ... the only friend of your purposes."

He leaned a hand on your shoulder and you shrugged with indifferent distrust.

" For your own convenience, although the reason keeps escaping from me ... "

Commodus gave you his softest glance, and in that moment he felt almost sincere to you.

" I find you longing relatable. "

" What can you possibly be longing for? The throne of your father? ' Emperor Commodus, the altruist' ... Or should I say Commodus, the matchmaker? It makes no sense to me, ... unless in your wicked delusion you fear a noble man like Maximus being welcomed into your family could steal your father and your throne from you. In that case I must warn you: his union with Lucilla is not your problem. He wouldn't betray you, as I would not betray your sister. "

Despite you felt closer to exposing him, he remained calm as if you wouldn't have figured out a single glimpse of his motivations.

" As soon as we will find your beloved, you will see what my wicked ways can achieve working for your cause. "

It didn't took long for him to find Maximus and practically push you towards him with a scheming smoothness that made it look a perfectly natural and casual approach. You could have admired his odd talent, if you wouldn't have been so careless of him from the moment that you saw the man of you dreams.

Splendid as usual, so handsome and naturally tantalizing before your eyes, Maximus was all smiles for you in complete unawareness of his effect in your behavior. His imponent presence made you feel small, but it did in a comforting way. You could only think of how good you would feel trapped in his strong arms, how safe and loved you would be if he would choose you for a wife.

"Pleasure to see you again, good lady."

His voice brought you back to reality and you could only smile, to what he concluded the introductory gesture taking your hand to place a kiss on your knuckles.

Strenghts were abandoning you. So easily you were falling apart for him and he began to notice it.

" As it's mine, brave lord. "

Frustrated with the slow pace of your shy demeanour, Commodus redirected the attention towards himself in order to start his interventions.

" We have found you in excellent time, Maximus. Turns out were having a very productive conversation about wants. "

His tease intented to work as encouragement for you to start flirting, but the heavy erotical undertones circunstantially lead into a wrong guess.

" Very well, your highness. As you don't interfere with my conquests, I won't disrupt yours. "

The mere sugestion weirded you enough to forget how overwhelmed you intially felt because of the inminent need to correct the claim.

" Commodus has nothing to do with any want of mine, neither I belong among his desires. "

The quick clarification delivered without thinking forced you to improvise an explanation for the words of the prince.

" … It was a theorical discussion. He despises intellectuals, but I am well read and I find arguments stimulating. "

There was a shade of relief in the semblance of Maximus when he sweetly encouraged you.

" I know, the last time we talked the notion of fate in Virgil. "

" … And you left me picking an interest in cartography. " You added for him, ecstatic of realizing he did remember you. " You are a fascinating man, Maximus. "

The polite praise impulsed his compulsion for humbleness.

" … Not as much as the brilliant minds in Rome, but I enjoy reading during the few moments of calm the life of the soldier allows. "

His admiration for what he believed to find in the capital as someone who never stepped there was almost naive.

" Rome was founded in the choice of a bribed judge. "

The satirical comment was clever as a response, but it deviated too far from the discussed intentions and Commodus interpreted it as a sign of regret that he wasn't going to allow you.

" She got polemical so quick! It's a good sign, that means you are stimulating her. "

The shame painted in your face said enough, so you pretended to laugh your blush away after his surprising and clearly purposefull lack of subtlety. He was being too direct, as if all he cared about was making it happen without considering your opinions on the process. You didn't want your feelings revealed before you could tell if there was any real chance with the man of your aspirations.

That would have humilliated you, but Commodus only cared about himself.

" I am not closed to challenging perspectives, but yours would need of a more explanation." Maximus interrumpted the silent disagreement you were having with the son of the emperor, reminding you with his attention why you were willing to make a deal with him in the first place. " That is a peculiar interpretation for the roots of Rome."

An idea came to you in order to prove Commodus you too were capable of ruthlessness. If he wanted so badly to help you out in the pursue of Maximus, he would under your own terms. Even if that would turn out uncomfortable for him, as it was for you finding your limits for tolerance to expousure constantly mocked by his lust inciting contributions.

" Because nobody wants to acknowledge Paris as the true, accidental responsible for the glory of Rome. Not when we also have Romulus. Ascanius, Aeneas or Hector. All greater men than him, yet their fates were submitted to the choice of Paris. Troy was doomed to fail no matter what path would have been taken ... but would there be a Rome without the support of Venus and Mars to the trojan cause?? Philosophers are so concerned in doing moral sanctioning of his verdict that they miss sight of what he discarded. We owe to Paris more than what we dare to acknowledge, because he represents everything the roman spirit isn't. Vain, selfish, lazy, sensuous, effeminate ... "

The callout to the prince's insecurities worked well as a playfull revenge, observing him fall for the trick as fast as the goddesses pouncing on the golden apple at the wedding of Thetis.

" His choice was an impossible one. Abandoned from birth, expected to die and then raised as a shepherd ... How would Paris learn to value noble virtues that no father taught him in? We would never know if Juno would have made of him a great king building the empire earlier with Troy as capital. Nobody encouraged him for rulling, not like the did Hector ... They casted him out. "

Using him as device to impress Maximus, you trully iniciated an intellectual discussion with Commodus.

" There is a big problem with your position: you are implying that a correct choice exists and Paris should have aimed for the throne. The underlying dilemma on the Judgement of Paris is that the intersection of curses from the loser goddesses turn your accepted bribe useless. If he favors Juno, Venus and Minerva become his enemies. "

Maximus must have found some sort of amusement or investment in what you were saying, because he was listening attentively. Perhaps it was wishfull perception of your delusional infatuation, but you could swear there was pride in his eyes as your reasoning overcame the point of the prince.

" Blessed once, cursed twice. " He summarized for you both. " He has the throne, but lacks love and military direction. Soon he surrounds himself of flatterers and starts taking bad choices while his competent generals turn against him. "

Leaning closer to him with complicit demeanour, you seeked the proximity you craved for with the argument as excuse.

" You are being too generous, my dear Maximus. That is an oversimplification of the fate that awaits this boy king. "

Acting secretive because you were about to get even stranger, you were ubicated with enough closeness to talk lower as if you aimed only for him.

" Venus is vindicative and we already know that Paris doesn't mind about being betrayed by the wife he already has, because he so easily left her for Helen. No, for him the curse would be different from Diomedes'. She would drive him mad with repulsive desires out of his control: if Minerva favoring his best general against him doesn't end his rule, the scandall would. And so, I doubt the empire Juno promised to Paris would become a reality before he would lose everything. "

Maximus was following you, but you could only stare at his lips while he delivered a complementary reply fixing the one flaw in your exposed point.

" You forgot to mention he is not the rightfull heir to the throne. In order to receive his bribe, he would have to kill the eldest brother or win an unleashed civil war, what would be hard to achieve without the guidance of Minerva."

Ignoring the annoyance menacing with turning into anger on part of your failed accomplice, who was aware that the list of adjectives you used for the portrait of Paris were a mock to him, you rushed to praise the contribution of the lovely soldier.

" That would have never occured to me! But is fantastic how alike our minds work ... Don't you think? "

The sweet smile you directed him could have melted the snow on the cold north he never wanted to get used to.

" Has anybody told you that the quick sharpness of your mind could have made of you a good strategist? "

It turned to a smirk with his praise, a rush of confidence struck you on the sudden finding of something that you knew for sure would impress him.

" Marcus Aurelius himself, ... although not in those terms. But I would rather not to talk about that, at risk of troubling our prince. He is abnormally silent and I have learn to fear that. "

Calm on the outside, his complacent yet somehow wicked semblance warned you of the comeback.

" … I was merely wondering how our friend would solve the debate. Which are Maximus' strongest wants? After all, that is the esence of the issue: a man being comfronted with his more longed aspirations. "

Detecting a tease of some kind, Maximus replied to Commodus being too faithfull to himself.

" I believe I would simply reject the bribe, your highness. "

Even if his answer wasn't necesarily a clever one, it was the most selfless presented in centuries of revisions for the episode.

" Then you would be three times cursed, because you can't reject a divine gift. " You sweetly adviced him, trying hard not to be evident in your admiration. " Three different paths shape three different men: the powerfull emperor, the victorious general and the eternal lover … Follow your instincts and pick one. "

Your voice sounded almost seductive on the invitation, what surprised you of yourself.

" I am a soldier, lady. I can't risk loosing the blessings of Minerva." Maximus added, hinting his definitive answer. "And i don't claim this as a personal ambition of becoming general, but because duty demands it. "

Commodus released a few chuckles, amused by what he perceived as naivety.

" … But you would become an invincible general of brilliant tactical wisdom! Only alone and powerless. Enjoy a lifetime of endless fighting for the gain of those you serve."

His sadly precise observation left you in a good place to present an advance in terms you felt more confortable on.

" Maximus, … would you endure a life without love? "

He turned his glance exclusively to you, making your heart race as you waited with expectation.

" It would be the hardest sacrifice, because there is more of me to consider regardless of my profession. I have no interest in joining the fate of Achilles, of dying crowned with glory as a single man. "

In his words you read the chance you were waiting for and you didn't hesitate.

" I'm tired of Rome and its innate corruption, the simple life on the province would suit me well. "

He chuckled with you, what successfully masqueraded the move as a subtle joke, but you trully hoped he would consider it.

The arrival of Lucilla would soon take the attention away from you, enforcing you again in the role of a mere watcher, but you endured it with satisfaction.

[mesetacadre]

How do you avoid becoming a doomer with politics? I want to be more politically active but the current political climate makes me feel depressed.

talked more about this here but essentially, nothing is static. Conditions change all the time, the quantity of organized people can fall and rise (with parallel but not necessarily 1:1 development of quality). What today seems like an impassable wall, tomorrow (not literally tomorrow) will more and more began to be seen as a necessary step for an improvement to happen. The fact that there exists a scientific method of analysis of history and capitalism also acts as an accelerant; how much time passed between the first bourgeois state and the first formulation of scientific communism, 50 years? That is unprecedented in the history of modes of production, and it only took another 50-60 years after that before the first relatively permanent instance of the next mode of production.

The way I see this, inaction and pessimism feed into each other, pessimism favors inaction, and inaction reinforces pessimism, by limiting your perception because it limits personal experience. And that cycle can only be broken by first stopping that inaction, since it is possible (not always) to force yourself to act against your general feelings. And then, only by working against that inaction and finding an organization/party or general line of action that works for you, can you begin to sustain an action-optimism cycle (of course, it isn't this simple and I would not call my outlook to be optimistic, but this is the best way I can think of explaining this). This cycle is, in my experience, very fragile, and somewhat often I continue to act through periods of relative pessimism by inertia and by the continuance of the responsibilities that bind me to my party most strongly. I can keep talking about the way society and the economy evolve, but at a personal and more inmediate scale, this is the only way to avoid "doomerism", at some point you're going to have to start acting if you want to avoid it, and rethoric can help, of course, but you'll only start to internalize it once you experience becoming an active part of these mechanisms. For me, it sometimes feels like a hobby, other times like a chore, and most times like the best thing I could ever do with my life. But it's crucial that you're not only driven by blind hope. The amount of effort and time you can contribute as an individual will vary wildly, depending on your own personal circumstances, and in my experience the most common type of organized person you'll encounter is the one that can only really dedicate a few days a week or a couple of hours every few days.

There is some nuance to "you have to end your inaction" too, of course. I'm not saying to join the very first group you encounter and dedicate every minute of free time to it, but you also can't be waiting for the perfect opportunity or org to come along. I contacted my ML party on a Tuesday during a winter academic break, while I was only just beginning to stabilize out of a suicidal episode but still depressed, and while considering myself mostly an ancom (I was very lost in that regard, my beliefs were not truly emergent from any proper anarchist core, but I digress). You don't need to have read x books or need to have encyclopedic knowledge of your local movement to begin to organize yourself, and you also don't need to believe 100% in the emancipation of workers. The best time to begin is the next time you have some free time to research and begin to contact some orgs/parties, that's as best as I think I can put it. I can't assure you that it'll be straightforward, but I can assure you that you can't get out of doomerism just by thinking about it.

If it's too daunting, think about those executive dysfunction "tricks". Joining A Party can sound very big an unapproachable, but you can break it down into looking, for example, for "Communist Party of [your country]". Look at their socials, see what they do and say, maybe you find an offshoot org that looks better, or run into a completely unrelated group. Then you contact them, ask when they're doing something in your area or if they can invite you to some kind of meeting, etc. Be willing to contact them if you find a couple of drawbacks too, sometimes rumors turn into the thing everybody says about x or y org, without really reflecting reality. Have criteria, of course, if some org is talking about immigrants like they're invaders, for example, it is probably not worth your time. Everything depends on what your local scene looks like. Getting experience at a mediocre org is still better than staying at home and looking on at the state of the world like it's hopeless. this isn't a very well-structured post, I've been writing this across a few days when I can, I hope it's helpful

[ribstongrowback]

I don't think there is a more clear indictment of the idea that voting is a tool of resistance than the current political situation of the US and France.

In the US, marginalised people are still actively being killed by the government because the bourgeoisie, of which Biden himself is a part of, still benefit from their suffering. They can cry all the crocodile tears they want but that's just a fact. They won't help you unless it helps their bottom line, because the whole system is corrupt.

In France, I can see how it clearly works from the front row seats: people voted in order to avoid giving Macron any kind of majority, hoping that he'd need to actively compromise with other parties, but he's been frocibly passing his laws in ways that completely override the Assemblée Nationale, essentially making his government an oligarchy that completely disregards the elected representatives. His government is also actively parotting fascist rethoric to marginalize leftist MPs and target minorities.

Voting doesn't fucking work.

The system needs fixing and you can't vote people into a system to destroy it. It will not work.

If you want your ideology to win, if you really want to fix your political system, you have to actually do things and voting isn't that. Voting only further legitimizes the opressive state. You need to find ways to circumvent it.

Find your people. Share resources and skills. Create a hub. Build things outside the established power stucture that it must contend with. Go on strikes. Feed the homeless. Throw seed bombs. Blow up a pipeline.

[glitter-stained]

I think it's interesting that Alfred is so bad because when you look at him, he's not a hero, and not just as in he's not a good guy but as in, he's on the periphery of the story. Things don't happen to him, things happen to people around him and he shakes them to move them forward so the story can continue; that's why I see him less as a character and more of an incarnation of the narrative. Systematically in the comics when is raised the question of "why did Alfred do that" the answer is "because the writers wanted him to". Why did Alfred make Tim/Damian/a literal army of street kids into Robin? Well, it's a batman story, there needs to be a Robin. Gotta replace the last one. Why would he prioritize his daughter? She's not a main character. Of course Bruce is more important, he's Bruce Wayne. Why is he leaving Bruce when his back is broken? Well, if Bruce can't be of use anymore... Why is he portrayed as a wise old man while spewing the most unhinged classist + victim blaming rethoric, turning a dead child into a cautionary tale and rewriting history to convince/feed into bruce's lie that Jason was always doomed to end up that way? Well. Guess who is trying to convince you, the reader, that all of these things are true.

(I'm not saying that he is a 100% flat character, that there are no motivations to his actions aside from it or that he is never criticized, I don't think that's totally true and I've also not read everyone of his apparitions god save me, but I do think this is what he represents in dc.)

Personally I use Alfred as kind of a meter as to what fuckery dc is going to try and feed me next, because paying close and critical attention to what that specific character is saying and doing is a good tool to be critical of what they're trying to feed you. He's a fucked up little deus ex machina that is here not to make sure the characters get away but that he can continue to tell the story of the main character, no matter what or how many children he must sacrifice on that altar, and I have to say his death destabilises me a lot (though i gotta say, dc pulling an Alfred band-aid "solution" with Pennyworth manor even beyond the grave is extremely funny.)

He is also objectively terrifying as a character. Like, yk that fanon headcanon that Alfred is casually immortal? This, but make it eldritch horror. He will raise you and outlive you no matter what you do. You cannot escape the narrative no matter what you do.

one of the biggest lies the fandom with tell you is that alfred pennyworth is a good man.

he’s horrible. people just don’t realize he’s horrible because they’re all too focus on the superhero’s.

not many people in the fandom know this, but alfred literally has a daughter. her name is julia. why does no one know about julia? BECAUSE HE ABANDONED HER. it’s canon that he chose the wayne’s over his OWN CHILD. when she’s introduced in the comics she hates her dad because he abandoned her in england to raise a child that wasn’t even his.

the infamous jason “a good soldier” memorial? yeah, alfred did that. bruce wanted it taken down. alfred also left jason’s destroyed robin suit on display.

alfred is the reason tim is robin. dick and bruce are trapped by two-face and alfred just… gives tim a robin costume and sends him on his way. no formal training. no nothing.

every blame dick for damian becoming robin? wrong. it was alfred. dick was against it. alfred is the first one to give damian the robin costume, like he did to tim years before. dick did eventually choose damian as his robin, but that was while damian was ALREADY ROBIN. (he even tells tim that he doesn’t pick tim to be his robin because he considers tim to be an equal, not a sidekick, but i digress)

when bane breaks bruce’s back, alfred literally packs up and leaves. he travels. he just drops everything and goes to explore the world, until dick eventually hunts him back down.

it’s also a common theme that alfred couldn’t find the right balance between being a father figure and a butler, so he was constantly enabling bruce growing up (and still does) because technically bruce was his boss… even though he had custody of him.

edit: actually technically (in some runs) bruce’s uncle has custody of him but literally makes being absent an olympic sport But you get what i mean

[imnotabeard]

Fandom dynamics and babygate talk

I need to get this out of my chest more that anything and I feel like this is the best place to do it. I have to agree, I’m an avid Twitter user but I rely more on Tumblr if I happen to need actual info or resources. I know (kind of) how both of the platfroms work and I know this is not going to reach anyone and I can talk my ear off about stuff that happens to annoy me at the moment. I’ve tried to talk bout this before but it didn’t go rather well over on Twitter. It honestly could be just my incapability to explain complicated subjects in a way that comes across neutral and delicate in a way. My questions here are rethorical and I don’t require real anwers for them. My head has some trouble wrapping around how some fans think. I remeber back on Twitter how certain subjects are completely off limits, like babygate. I just want to understand how you as a fan can act online as the moral police themself when you refuse to see the problem and do the research to make an actual opinion on a subject. If you think (which I guess you don’t) that Louis is a father to a child, how can you defend his actions as a father and tell the whole internet about if you fully well know he ignored the child for four years and then lets another man to feed the kid because Louis only pays tenth of the child support he is supposed to. And everything was unraveled online after the kid’s mum scammed the guy for a boob job and the supposed father (Louis) fucked off to England and sold his house in California. Also after years of speculation online on weather the child is his or not, he refuses to get a dna test to shut down the rumours. The fans are quick to shout “hey that’s disrespectful, Louis is the father, you can not discuss matters further because I say so” when you as a fan have to aknowledge everything wrong with the situation and you think you are entitled to tell others what’s right and what’s wrong. It all goes so much deeper than just shallow fandom talk for most people on Twitter to grasp. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions and own moral compass, I’m very aware of that. Louis doesn’t owe anything or any of his actions to us but you can’t keep ignoring things that are just right there in front of your own eyes. I don’t have to justify things for someone just to make a random person online happy. I know you don’t have to justify anything for your favourite artist, you could just be pure evil but I’m talking here about peope who act like the moral police theselves. I’m not looking for answers here, maybe letting out some of the frustrations pent up after keeping it quiet on other platforms. I can already hear the older larries in my ear telling me to stop thinking about other people’s stupid opinions on Twitter hahaha, which is valid but yet here I am. I could talk about this for hours honestly but maybe I’ll save it for later.

[endlessly-cursed]

Happy FFWF!!

What are some Headcanons about primrose grey as a parent you have ?

❤️❤️❤️

She has some goals she wants them to reach, though for that she is patient and invite them to feed their knowledge instead of pushing them to do it

Unlike many women of her rank, she is a close, warm and loving mother who rarely leaves them more than two hours with tutors and other staff. She normally educates them herself in subjects she is well instructed, and turns out to be her children's favourite mother

She also breastfeeds them herself instead having a wet nurse

She reads them classics and plays the piano for them from a young age so their intelligence is more acute

She's also the one to personally nurse them and must always be present when the doctor's examinating them

She teaches her son and daughters similar educations so they don't feel inferior or superior to one another, but equal with some differences between them

She teaches her daughters that a life without marriage or children is possible should they want it and that they are the owners of their destinies, not other people, must less men!

She also teaches her son to understand the best he can what it means to be a good man and treat women right

She also insists that all of her children must know how to shoot and fencing, oratory, rethoric and the basics of politics should women be allowed to vote one day so they vote with the head and not the will of their possible husbands

She also takes her son to Parliament – not because he is a man, but he is her heir – and makes him take notes and listen intently to everyone speaking, even if he disagrees, so he can have a good idea of how Parliament works

They all have a broad knowledge of languages, history of Europe, North America and some countries of the world, philosophy, music, court etiquette, the wizarding world, politics, the estate's finances and ancestry, literature, mathematics, sports and fashion trends

Every time a child of hers is learning a new language, she buys them a book she knows they'll like so they learn the language in a fun way

She loves to kiss and hug her children and let them know how much she loves them

She also takes them to visit all of their surrogate families and her husband's relatives to keep family ties tight and well-built; she frequents the Seymours (@gcldensnitch ) the Alderlies (@gaygryffindorgal ) and the Berkeleys (@beloved-bucky ) the most

She also takes them to travels to experience these cultures they constantly learn about and to see the culture with their own eyes

During Hogwarts, she writes them a letter every Sunday and expects a reply by Wednesday, though if they're with the OWLs and NEWTs, she leaves them to answer whenever they can

She also presents her son and daughters to the King and Queen. Alexandra was presented twice, once as the daughter of Primrose, and the second time as Lady Fersen

She also gives them lectures of how important it is to choose one's life well and meticulously, for divorce during that era is frowned upon and wishes the best for them

She also insists that all of her children have a good hygiene and health, which makes them frequent the doctor and have a bath twice a week at least

She also doesn't hire ladies in waiting for her daughters so they trust their judgement. She dismissed her own after Gia was born

Speaking of, her son has a valet of Irish origin, and her daughters have one lady's maid to help her with garments, though when they grow up they no longer need them

She always defends them and talk them up, proud of her descendants and doesn't hesitate to cut ties should it be necessary: her family comes first

[fortunatelychaoticphantom]

What is your opinion on the portrayal of bloodbending vs that of energybending in atla? It might be a stretch but I think because energybending is solely used by Aang, it is not thought of as "evil" as the way bloodbending is.

That might be the most perfectly succinct way to describe the difference between the two bending forms that I have ever seen.

A part of the fact that Aang does nothing to gain the ability to energybend and instead it is simply bestowed upon him at the last second as a cop-out to making a choice, is that this technique, its cost and its consequences are not at all discussed in any form. In “The Puppetmaster” we got an entire episode dedicated to the way water can be harvested from practically anywhere, including the human body, and what it means, with the disturbing visuals of dead Fire Lilies and crumbled sucked-dry trees to drive the point home

and this comes as an extension to the already established manipulation of water in plants that we saw in “The Swamp” and the creative water sources in “The Runaway”. In “The Old Masters” and “Avatar Aang” we get, like, what? a combined 30 seconds of explanation of how energybending works? only it’s more of an inspirational quote than an actual explanation... Honestly, we still don’t know how this works or why it works and why is Aang able to preform this technique in the first place.

Considering the horror narrative of Hama’s story and the atrocities that she committed*, it’s obvious why bloodbending was framed in such a dark and heavy light when it was presented. The fact that is was never touched again except to be used when Katara was at her “darkest” in “The Southern Raiders”, shows what the creators think about this ability. It’s ridiculous to think that in thousands of years of history not a single waterbender besides Hama has ever bloodbent**, or that there is no existing traditions, discussions about it’s possible use in healing, or even taboos about this subject in Water Tribe cultures. But, anyway, the writers just tossed this ability aside and declared it “forbidden” in LoK, so that kids will know just how bad bad bad this bending form is.

Energy bending, on the other hand, never got this treatment, even though it is absolutely horrifying???? and lacking any redeeming quality that I can find like with using bloodbending for healing??? They didn’t bother to go into the depths of horror that is energybending in AtLA, but boy oh boy did they try to in LoK. But instead of actually talking about energybending they did a pretty sinister thing (in my opinion), that feels like it was specifically made so as not to taint the purity of the technique and its wielder, and just copy-pasted the implications of energybending onto bloodbending.

LoK’s first season actually tried to touch on the pain and devastation of what it means to be stripped away from your bending abilities. And even though it was far from perfect and never fully explored or resolved, at the very least they showed us that side. We see how drained and sad that pro-bending player (don’t remember his name) was after losing his bending, we see how heartbreaking Lin’s power-stripping was and what a sacrifice she had to make to ensure that the last airbenders in the world will not lose their abilities, we see how broken Korra is after losing her own bending, even though she still has airbending, and the very very much implied suicidal thoughts that it brought to her. We understand that taking someone’s bending has gravitas, has deep emotional implications. But... we can’t talk about energybending in a bad way, right? So...

HEY KIDS! Did you think ebergybending was a random ability that did whatever the plot needed it to do with no plausible reasoning or explanation? Well! From the people who brought you the Magic of the Pointy Rock, we re-introduce you to bloodbending!! But now! It can take your bending away! For some reason! We don’t know why! It just does!

**Bryke at some point, probably**

So beside shifting the entire discussion from one technique to another, even though only one of them actually does the thing we are talking about, they went so far as to make sure we don’t suspect for a second that what we see is actually energybending, showing Amon/Noatak always positioned behind the person he strips, using only one hand on the forehead

instead of Aang’s position in front of the person, with two hands, one on the forehead and one on the chest (don’t even get me started on what a horrible ending this shit was. I swear if I see one more literal deus ex machina in this franchise I’m gonna scream! oh wait, this is just season 1...)

(Sorry for the low quality of photos. I don’t have LoK for obvious reasons so I had to screenshot these from youtube)

So, in summation, yeah you’re absolutely right. Energybending is specifically and methodically portrayed in a positive way, even when it shouldn’t be, especially in light of and in contrast to bloodbending, a form that gets far too many beatings and more than it deserves, for reasons that I don’t understand at best and I don’t think I want to understand at worst (the fact that this is a Katara-centric ability and her lack of statues in LoK, its connection to Katara’s very much existing brutal and belligerent tendencies that are continually ignored and swept aside for the “dream girl” image, the connection between bloodbending and anti zutara rethoric in tsr... this list isn’t pretty)

----------

* I still don’t understand how Hama’s victims were alive. She kidnapped just one person each month, but the cave was full of people. Did she feed them? cleaned their potty buckets? like what was the point?? to make them live through the pain that she had to live through as a prisoner? how is this sustainable for one old lady? this makes zero sense and drives me crazy to this day. There should have only been one living person, the most recent that was kidnapped, and just skeletons around them. That would have been more logical. And it’s not like skeletons weren’t shown on the show... sorry, I’m rambling (and haven’t seen the episode in years, I hope I remember it correctly).

** Toph’s metal bending is a little different, since obviously metal had to be invented at a certain point so no one could attempt to bend it before that. Human bodies on the other hand have been more than available and full of water since the dawn of humanity, and I doubt there hasn’t been a single waterbender powerful enough who could sense the presence of water in people and, I don’t know, tried to talk to someone about it? also, waterbenders are healers?? they actively know the human body, not just coincidentally? how did no one talk about this before?? and regarding metalbending again, It’s not entirely unreasonable that Toph really was the first to bend metal, since of course there has to be a first in everything. But honestly if you ask me it’s a little... weird. But this is very much off-topic.

[t3rrortoff33]

As soon as I post wasps people feel the need to tell me every time a wasp has stung them. Like my cat once slipped on my chair and tore up my entire back that didn't make me swear to destroy every cat either. Someone who apparently got stung in the eye got ANGRY at me saying the wasp probably thought it was getting squished by them blinking because apparently I was victim blaming. Like. Yeah im sorry a small fragile insect gets scared by mundane things and uses the thing specifically designed to make big animals that can be potential threats leave them alone, gonna make sure to tell em that if they try to defend themselves it'll make people see them as bloodthirsty murder monsters so they can stop stinging people ig!!

It's especially infuriating when they are all "omg all bugs deserve love EXCEPT WASPS" or they spout the same stupid "wasps kill bees and endanger the environment" rethoric because they only kill honey bees cause honey bees push out all other potential food, maybe humans could stop destroying local biodiversity by keeping an actual crap ton of insect livestock instead of demonizing wasps for taking advantage of that food source.

I did not walk into a swarm of wasps gathering around my little insect feeding station to get nice photos of them and the hornets that would occasionally visit while the wasps were flying at and crawling on my face, or take closeup photos of the wasp nest in my attic while the workers were coming in and out and buzzing around to get a better look at me without getting stung by either that colony of common wasps or the German wasps also hanging out at my yard ONCE just for some rando who has never spent a minute of their life researching hive insect behavior to tell me they're vile and just sting for no reason.

I have been stung twice my entire life and the first time was when a wasp landed on my hand and licked some fruit juice off and I, assuming it was a fly because I didn't look down, swiped it away with my finger resulting in it stinging,the second was last year when I got cocky and tried to grab a wasp with my hand to transport it our of a bus window. You can imagine how well that went. Both of those times was fully my fault and perfectly reasonable situations for the wasps to use their defense mechanism. If anything we're lucky they only have such a mild venom, it's practically harmless and if you're not allergic it's mildly itchy and hot at worst. Truly not a great enough threat to justify exterminating any nest you see.

when people are allergic to bee venom like my mom and POSSIBLY me it's always expected to respect the honey bees presence and just be careful around them, you never see someone want bee hives destroyed because their second cousin twice removed has an allergy and MIGHT get stung.

I say it all the time, wasps are essentially the same as bees behavior wise, we just can't exploit them for a resource. Except wasps can be conditioned to tolerate humans right at their nest in almost any circumstance while honey bees will go bonkers if you wear a black shirt near them (/hj)

All of these photos are from my garden wall last year, they would tolerate me picking up food and fishing them out of the water dishes whenever they would get stuck in them after fights (the German and commons were constantly beefing it was a little funny to watch these wasps scrap mid-flight)

i posted a tiktok that is vaguely pro-wasps and already got someone threatening to harass me on every social media. Delightful. Can't wait to check tiktok when I'm home and see some more threats :)

People lose all rationality and sympathy when the discussion turns to bugs-as-animals. When they're confronted with the fact that, hey, bugs are real live animals, not machines designed to hurt you.

[norgestan]

do you think that the blacklash for eskam s4 wouldn't be so strong if the season aired when it was originally intended? not that i don't think the criticism is unjustified but our expectations have been building and building up since march and for them to be not met on any level is much more disappointing. Obviously there are circumstances out of our control, but if the season originally aired back in april we wouldn't have got that 2nd trailer where kasim was framed as a love interest (1/3)

and maybe it wouldn't of have been such a blow when discovering what he actual purpose is the season is cause it was revealed pretty quickly. I am not trying to say that it's our own fault that we were too hyped up for this season and it's our fault that we were disappointed. Because eskam has proven themselves with the previous seasons, and that's reason enough to be excited. I am just hypothesising if the reactions would be different if the season was aired when it was meant to It might of been worse since it would have been airing during ramadan and might have felt like more of a betrayal to have these storylines during such an important and spiritual time for so many people who this season for (idk, i kinda feel like this season is more for (christian) white people than it is for muslims, lol). Sorry if this is a long ask, kinda want to get my feelings out there, thanks :)

dw anon!!! i love seeing long asks in my box! thank YOU for coming in :)

well first of all, i won’t be able to really comment on that part about muslim representation because i’m not muslim lol. but personally, especially when i look at kasim’s plot if looks like something out of a white mainstream show (cough cough elite), and i’ve already talked about how i think kasim’s motivations and actions are presented so that non-muslim, female teenage audiences can empathize with him for being gay over being muslim. so to that i can agree at some extent!

as for the reaction, i personally think it would’ve been worse. i’ve seen a few muslim blogs in the talk mention how certain clips would feel worse if they were on real time, as eskam fucking up their storylines during ramadan would feel like a bigger blow to them. you make a point about the trailer (and whenever i think about it i rage a little lol) but prior to the season’s release, a lot of us were hoping that they’d introduce a muslim character of color to split yousef’s role in the way eskam did with miquel and alejandro in s3. when we came to know that sofian had been casted by the show, those fans (me included) were hopeful that that’s where the show was heading, and we were effectively getting our first believing yousef in skam history. so the trailer did nothing but to feed the hype that we were already feeling... we were pretty hopeful on kasim being amira’s love interest up until the episode 3 script leaked.

but kasim not being amira’s love interest is definitely not the only problem. i could list you like five different ways in which kasim’s character would’ve been better, more sympathetic and more revelant to amira’s journey and the season’s themes, and eskam just went for the cheapest route to get some drama with both las labass and potentially the girl squad. even if i ignore all the racist, islamophobic and lgbtphobic rethoric of this storyline, eskam already fucked up the writing in terms of:

instead of making the conflict arise from the characters’ flawed personalities and actions, it introduces kasim who acts like a plot device to cause all of these divisions, meaning that kasim has no real character and all the conflict amira is experiencing with dounia rn is based off dumb miscommunication. (aka, the problem isn’t that amira is a Bad Person for outing kasim when he’s ruining her friendship with dounia, the problem is that this is such an ugly way to pin them against each other and create a hell week when we already know there’s other things amira and dounia can disagree with.)

relying on dumb miscommunication when the conflict used to be character-driven. again, the fact that kasim only exists as a plot device means all of this is plot-driven, and therefore, less compelling to watch. add to that the fact that you have to constantly ask yourself why x character is acting in this way, when that had never been a problem before.

depending on exposition and dialogue to develop relationships and characters. one of the things that really bothers me about monday’s clip with dani is that amira tells him that she has a bad temper and she has to control herself better. except that... amira is not like that? sana was like that. amira has always been level-headed and kind, even when she calls people out. she isn’t fierce and impulsive in the way sana was (in s1 we can see how cris is the one to take the fierce edge, like when she liked all of cristian’s photos, threatened to punch inés, called viri out for the photo, etc). but we’re supposed to simply believe this, and that’s why she won’t talk to dounia about kasim? and then there’s all the exposition dump in the extra clips of episode 3 that tells me nothing about why lucas even likes kasim or why kasim is in love with him and why am i supposed to want them to be together. and there’s also dounia describing kasim as a very perceptive, loyal brother that we’ve never seen on this season so far. obviously i don’t expect them to get this right in every season, there’s always gonna be some exposition dump here and there, but things like rewriting amira’s character instead of showing us how hard it is for her to control her temper is such a stupid thing to do when we’re on her pov, to name one of them.

like, not only there are things that are done worse here than how they were done in og, they’re failing by their own standards, representation aside too. the worst thing is that even when they’ve fucked up so many things, they’ve done it in a way that keeps people hooked in and coming back. i’m sure that nora’s season turned more people away than this one. idk if to blame audiences for falling for this festival of half-assery when to me it seems like eskam knew exactly what they were doing when they created the kasim/lucas drama, turned dani into everyone’s favorite love interest, so on and so forth. but i definitely think that at least on tumblr, the outrage would’ve been just as bad, if not worse.

[industrial--revolution]

A thing I'm growing increasingly annoyed about in Argentinian politics is the nationalism some people in the left push for. Specially when it stops being anti-imperialist discourse and starts to white-wash XIXth century history.

So, I'm a history major, my main focus is the Medieval European period, but I also like Argentinian XIXth century history quite a lot.

A thing that's increasingly common, is people who take the conflict between Unitarios and Federales in the early to mid XIXth Century and turn it into pseudo-nationalist rethoric that confronts the "pro-imperialist" Partido Autonomista Nacional/Unitarios against the "nationalist" Rosas/Federales.

Which is... Not an accurate description? You can only reach that conclusion if you take this "Hispanidad" far right wing discourse, or are completely ignorant about the period. Because the Federales could be as racists as de Unitarios, the main difference was that the PAN looked up to France and the UK and aspired to a Western European, city-centered, "civilized" white society. While the Federales aspired to a more Spanish-heritage centered, rural, mixed but with the Casta system with white people on top, society. We see this two ideologies in the figures of Juan Manuel de Rosas and Domingo Faustino Sarmiento

It was the opposition of two models of colonisation, the Spanish or the Anglo-French. Pretending one was "good" and the other was "evil" is what the Spanish right wing does to pretend they "civilised America" and to white-wash their history.

Neither side was the "good" side, we ended up with a mix of both in our politics. From the Conquista del Desierto and the killing of natives more similar to the US west expansion than anything the Spaniards did, to the "Latin, South European, Catholic Argentina" ideal (that mimics the WASP construction in the US but with a emphasis on Southern European heritage) in the XXth century, but both where heavily racist and European-centered, neither cared about Latin America or a Latin America identity and the Left Wing erasing this to foster nationalism to feed their populist government should be a shame to any Argentine who identifies as Anti-racist.

[arcticdementor]

The Paths Ahead

Author Sarah Hoyt gives four scenarios for the not-too-distant future:

1. “Pie in the Sky”:

In this scenario people set themselves free.  At some point, they get tired of the disaster porn the media is feeding them and get out of their basements, and look around to realize that no, we’re not all dying like flies, there are no bodies on the streets, the hospitals are so far from overwhelmed that doctors and nurses are choreographing dance numbers in the hallways, all while grandma’s cancer gets worse, and mom goes without heart surgery because the government closed the hospitals, to make way for a surge of COVID-19 deaths that never happened.

Then people get angry and jam the streets and start screaming and yelling and refusing to be arrested. They, in fact, become the America Hong Kong thinks we are.

The governors, in terror, realize they’ve gone too far, and lost all plausible cover.

If this happens soon enough, it will be tight this winter, but not outright famine.  If this happens soon enough, and Trump realizes it (if he has a talent, it is reading people) he puts the blame squarely where it belongs.  He denounces “governing by “experts”” and does a 90 degree turn and tells us how we were fooled.  And what the media and the DNC (BIRM) did to the country, all to put their spokeszombie in charge.

…

In ten years, from a happy, prosperous America starting to colonize space, we look back at this moment of utter insanity and say “yeah, but without it, the breakage of the old institutions would have been slower, more painful, and we’d have ended up in a more centralized and less free society.”

2. “It Could Be Worse”

As the lockdown extended into July in some places, and the other places were far from normal, as the obviousness mounted of shortages, and that those who had presumed to tell us what to do were not only wrong but criminally so, unrest started to happen.

The fourth of July was bad across the country, as the nation woke to what had happened in Sacramento, and there was a brief attempt to demonize “militias” which had worked so well under Clinton.  But while horrified by the events shown on TV, America as a whole had listened to the media for the last time. So the attempt had the opposite effect.  One on one, neighborhood by neighborhood, neighbors started talking, organizing. At least in the functional parts of the country, this resembled more a mutual aid society.  “Oh, your computer needs a part my dead computer might have.” and “I see little Timmy has outgrown his shoes. Well, since they still won’t let thrift stores happen and clothing stores are having supply issues, let me see if I have a pair Billy wore only for a month before his growth spurt.”

…

As cold hits and  the personnel to man power plants isn’t always available — the authorities are still being paranoid about colds and there are union rules — even those who are self-sufficient pass some very cold nights.  Media’s dramatization of homeless freezing in the streets is shrugged off by a population that is scrambling for the next meal (having money doesn’t mean there’s food you can afford.) Strangely a lot of the homeless clean up. More than freeze or starve? Who knows. It’s not like the media covers those.  There are also some brutal crimes, some food riots, neighborhoods perceived as “rich” under siege by those who wish to redistribute.  No one knows how many. The media makes it sound like “they’re coming for you next, and you must elect socialists to save you.”  The socialist rethoric is now strident.  You’re fairly sure 2020 has lasted a lifetime. Your doctor is still only sporadically in, as your local government takes sudden panics over “infection.” And you know damn well that grandma wouldn’t have died of her cancer if she’d had some chemo. She was only in her early seventies, too, and you were counting on her for babysitting.

When the famine hit in the rest of the world, including parts of Europe, most people didn’t even notice.  They noticed the push at the border. They noticed politicians talking about the brotherhood of man and how we should open our borders and ship all our food abroad.  In a leaner — literally — and more food-anxious population this goes over like a lead balloon.

Which is probably why all hell breaks loose when the election results come in and the international socialists won.

…

They don’t recommend you teach your kids about the winter of 20-21 until they’re mature enough. They leave it to you to decide what mature enough is, but for most people it’s just before franchise. Which is now 21 in most states and restricted in the way each state decided.

…

Most states agree that you’re an adult after you served in the army or have been married for 3 years with at least one child.  SSM?  Well, some states allow it. Cut your cloth to fit your pattern. You might have to immigrate to another state. Yes, it’s a pain now a days. But that’s the result of sending power back to the states and disempowering the out of touch feds.

Whether the fiddly bits of the person you marry are unlike yours or not, devolving to local rule means Mrs. Grundy has a say.  The Karens didn’t go away. But instead of policing you for compliance with mask policy or compliance with the latest SJW command, after the boog the Karens want you to know you should be married, faithful and living a life just like everyone else.

We never go social credit or intrusion by the state. But we find out the tyranny of our neighbors is just as strong.

Oh, the boog was brief but horrible.  Between it and increasing economic disorganization, we lost more people and wealth than we could afford.  The US is a young country. Neighborhoods are full of children. Most of the children are either homeschooled, or schooled in neighborhood-arranged schools so the parents can go to work.  Admission to college (rare) or trade school is by merit exam. No one collects data on the race of the applicants. They seem representative of the area it’s drawn from.

But college or trade school come after the army.  Mandatory for men. Voluntary for women.  Strangely no one complains women aren’t given combat posts, by and large (there are exceptions.  The beast is always hungry), probably because serving in the army has a real chance of dying.  People joke about it, nervously, as “have two and one for the war.”  Most people have more, simply because they remember the twenties and how the elderly with no support network …  well, most of them didn’t starve. But it wasn’t pretty.

3. “Cry Havoc”

It was around June the rocket went up.  No one was quite sure what caused it, because it didn’t happen in JUST one place, but seemed to happen everywhere in the space of a week.

…

Someday when there is enough leisure and money somewhere to study the matter, someone will discover the true, first trigger to armed insurrection.

Was it when New Jersey, for the upteenth time blocked a protest and started arresting protestors?  Was it people protesting the closure of their local hospital being shot on by state guard in another state?  Was it the food riots in Chicago? Or the subway riots in New York City?

Figuring it out is more complicated because the media never reported these until it was everywhere at once.  People woke up one morning to find out the nearest large-ish city was burning, there were shots nearby, and large, angry mobs in the street, and your nearest highway was bound to be blocked.

They did the sane thing and hunkered down, this time for cause, turned on the TV — mostly showing governors assuring people everything was all right — and waited for things to calm down.

They didn’t.

…

We are in the tenth year of the rebellion.  You’d think it would have burned out by now, but there is just enough coherence and order to keep food on the table — sort of — most places.

Yes, the US army has engaged, but no one is even sure on what side.  The answer is probably “on all”.  We believe they are trying, most of all, to restore peace, except there is very little left.  And a conventional army always has trouble with guerilla warfare.

Ordinary Americans still live, through this.  Those who can work from home, if home is in a safe place and they can find a market for their work.  And you remember how you hit the net during a snow storm, to find out what streets were safe to drive on? Same thing. Only it’s with gunfire and explosions as the risk.  Informal networks, both of neighborhood and on line also communicate when food is available and where.  You might even be able to find your local doctor, who is often operating way outside his specialty and with no materials but is better than nothing.

The possibility of driving to the grocery store and finding yourself in the middle of a pitched battle is always there.

…

There are rumors of a force marching on Washington DC to capture it and make some sort of order. Some people say it is the US military itself. Other people… well, reports vary.

Orders are given periodically purporting to come from the government, but since everything comes through informal networks, it’s impossible to be sure.  We thought they had a network just for this?

This can’t go on forever.  Right now, what’s happening is people leaving places they feel are hostile to join either family or their ideological brethren.  That too is an order of sorts. The population is choosing territory.

4. “The Boot”

It started with Winnie the Flu, and looking around and wondering why everyone else had gone mad.  Shockingly even a lot of people who were smart and whom you’d have considered rational and freedom lovers went all in on the side of the lockdown, and swore it was all justified, even though the rules made no sense and most of them had nothing to do with disease.

…

BUT the few people who screamed about this were dismissed as “denialists.”  Apparently denialists of the end of the world.

And the government band played on.

And the two weeks turned into a month and a half to three months lockdown, destroying businesses, livelihoods, lives, and disrupting many supply chains including those for food. The fact people were confined in the house, watching TV 24/7 and that TV was non stop doom porn didn’t help.  It never occurred to anyone that if TV could dramatize everyone under 80 who died, it was because there were so few of them.  Instead people panicked.

…

There was a “temporary” lockdown in November and in the all vote by mail the left party won a stunning victory that might or might not have more votes than logical or plausible.

But people were too scared, some of the virus, some of the already precarious conditions. Too busy trying to find food.

The unlocking in December was trusted-people first.  And in the aftermath — because the virus was so bad, you see — strict tracking of every citizen was instituted. Strict social credit too.

Want to keep a blog, or talk on your phone more than peer-to-peer one person at a time? Your social credit has to be perfect.

No one knows how many people died the winter of 20/21 or how many by famine and how many by bullet.  Many a hunter in the woods, accidentally uncovers a mass grave, but if he knows what’s good for him, he doesn’t talk, and when the police who track the phone he must carry later ask what he saw, if he knows what’s good for him, he saw nothing.  With a few years of staying silent, he might be trusted again.

And he has to be trusted. Everyone does. Otherwise buying necessities is impossible. They’re so scarce anyway.  And having a job is a privilege. Receiving your dole if you don’t work is a privilege too.

…

If you manage to kill someone important on camera, you just sealed a death warrant for everyone you know. And the viewers, if they’re smart, will forget.

Periodically, if the rulers sense something particularly unsettled, they might lock down an entire region. It’s always a “virus.”

After 2028 they stopped bothering with the elections.  We don’t know why power changes sometimes, only that the new face shows up on TV and nothing changes.

But we’re living. More or less.  Most people live.  We’re told people abroad aren’t that lucky.  of course, no one not cleared has gone abroad in a long time.

Maybe some day someone will rebel in the name of freedom again, but food is so scarce, and even talking of how things used to be will get your ration card pulled.

[lyxthen-reblogs]

That's perfectly okay! I think the entire Pines family is autistic, but in terms of his character conflict, I think NPD fits Ford well (I don't really relate to him, he reminds me of someone I know and who I love very much).

The thing with Ford is that he has learned to compensate his lack of self esteem with ego, he does genuinely think he is better and deserves to be treated better than other people. Even if it's not entirely conscious, he does look down on others, even people he actually *loves* like Stan and Mabel. He thinks there's people destined for greatness, and he is one of them. With Dipper, he offers him the internship because he thinks Dipper can accomplish great things, and may even think that Mabel is "holding him back" academically, not understanding that academic success is not the only thing that matters (he also really likes having someone that looks up to him, he craves admiration, but that's like, a plus). Again, he is not trying to split up the twins out of a desire to manipulate them, he loves them and wants what's best for them, it's just that his ideas of what is best are kind of, not, the best.

I think his arc really is about learning to see the value in what other people can bring to the table, even if they're not as smart as him or agree with him on everything. You kind of get the feeling that he thinks of himself as the series' protagonist, and that everything is his fault and he has to solve everything on his own and he has to have this hero's journey that ends with him saving the world all alone-- but he really is just a guy, in the end. Just a random human trying his best, like everyone else is.

And with Bill, you know, Bill sees this deeply insecure human that can't relate to other people and who needs desperately to feel important and goes "it's free real state!" and takes advantage of that. Ford is a victim of manipulation and abuse and no amount of character flaws, real or imagined, is going to change that. And it really does irk me to see people say "he had it coming" because that's just typical victim-blaming rethoric but to people it's fine, because of what? Because Ford isn't the perfect helpless victim that has never harmed anyone else UwU cinnamon roll? Bill is enabling his worst ideas and impulses, feeding into his messed up worldview (one that is a result of societal pressures and material conditions outside of his control) just to use him.

I have to say it like it is. The only one guilty for starting Weirdmageddon is Bill. And like, I relate to Bill! He's a really compelling character in his own right. He obviously feels some way about Ford and sees himself in him, they do have a lot in common. But he's also like, an abuser, and I think that's the thing that makes him different from Ford, in the end.

Like, sorry for rambling, I just have opinions! You don't have to read any of this or reply at all! I'm just pouting my thoughts here because I said "why not sure"

Me rocking back and forth going "their opinion is valid, their opinion is valid" when I just heard the worst and most wild, foul, cringy, out of pocket take about Ford Pines in existence

[uwuminatixd]

I feel like the man yelling that has been yelling in the streets screaming the end is coming after the end finally comes. Not exactly a situation I want to say “I told you so.” Russia didn’t hack our election, they hacked our egos. About 5 years ago I started arguing with my best friend allot. We both believed in a couple conspiracy theories. She had started getting further into them. To the point where she was saying anti vaccine rethoric. The public reaction or even pubic knowledge of this movement wasn’t as pronounced as it is now. I told her that I was pretty confident that what she was saying wasn’t true. I went and looked it up and the next time we hung out I brought up all these different resources and explained to her why what she said wasn’t accurate. After that we had gotten in numerous, what I thought were friendly, debates about the subject. The resources that I gained looking into debunking her anti vaccine stance lead me down a rabbit hole. I looked into my position in GMOs and Monsanto being evil and found out I was wrong. I started digging into what else I could be wrong about, found myself not being so anti nuclear energy or fracking. This lead me to the early days of the online skeptic community and a group called GMOLOL. The group has since spawned numerous science communication pages and personalities. It has also spawned March Against Monsanto counter protests. Some of the most colorful personalities in the group now write articles in major publications and can be considered full fledged internet personalities . The backlash against the anti vaccine moment has taken off . However in our group, we were on the front lines so to speak of the ‘fake news’ epidemic. We saw the slide. When everyone started getting better and better at keeping themselves in these bubbles of online 'news’ sources feeding people what they wanted to believe. Taking these facts personally because it was what they built their identity around.  This past election it came to a head. This system was used by Russia to manipulate the narrative. They had been doing it for a while through RT, pushing conspiracies that the far left and the far right could sink their teeth into. They invigorating the tea party of the left to take hold. This election wasn’t lost because the right was so extreme, they’ve been that way. It was lost because the left became extreme. It started with the Bernie Sanders crowd. They couldn’t handle reputable media being rightfully critical of him. They couldn’t handle any criticism of their positions. Bernie let them shelter his ego and that lead him to make stupid decisions that pulled everyone into the rift. They gobbled up 'fake news’ and hyper partisan sources that told them what they wanted to hear, even if it wasn’t factual. This civil war early in the election alienated the undecideds, and the millennial equivalent, those who decide their opinion based on the shit they see on Facebook and how they want to be perceived on social media. All of them with the goal of looking cooler than you because the Hillary voters will take care of us anyways. There were the hard liners who voted for Jill Stein. The ones that won’t forget to humblebrag about how they are a Hufflepuff and team Spark. They were unpopular in high school, and have internalized it into part of their personality and they now have an ego. They actively pursue unpopular options because they sniff their own farts about how 'weird’ they are. In the heyday of boybands they were the ones who listened to 98 degrees and talked shit about NSYNC and Backstreet Boys and that Joe or Andy were the hottest members of Fall Out Boy and you know that they don’t really believe that. Then there are the cool contrarians and the people who follow them who voted for Gary Johnson. This group is a mix of the burnout types who were good at talking and the unpopular kids who would orbit them. The Daniel and Lindsey a la Freaks and Geeks. They really honestly only care about weed, but they have a built in group of easily convinced following who has been suppressing themselves to fit in for years now anyways and prefer not to have conflict and sees that everyone flees from intelligent conversation as soon as a libertarian starts going on about taxation being theft. Rant over

[autumnwritcs]

malcfactorss​

Cecily maintained the personal belief that their hypothetical kid would be the best of the best and would in fact wrong it all, not just front like they did. Although she realizes that doesn’t help her argument so she holds her tongue, as she has for most the trip as it isn’t really her place to meddle in family drama. She was smart enough to know that everything that transpired here had been going on long before she walked into the picture. So when the news about Beau’s lie came out she remained silent, despite finding it mostly amusing considering it had been the same method he’d used to secure sleeping with her the very first time. But obviously the family was big on karma or something. She didn’t need to protect him just now, he could handle himself. 

Thus far, Carrick had made big moves to reconnect with him family with relatively little apprehension. She was proud of him and maybe even began to let her guard down. Especially when he’d reached out sincerely to his mother regarding her health. Even though it quickly changed to a focused glare that she directed across the table at Beau. She just knew he was there to say something to get him upset, she should’ve voiced that before they arrived but she didn’t want to be wrong god forbid. And now she was feeling like his calm movement through this trip was going to be quickly escalated. So she tries to place a hand on his thigh to get keep him from boiling over. 

If he was about to ignore his family’s glares Beau was definitely going to ignore Savannah’s, as if she had any word about his actions, never mind if she was with his brother, the only person he was looking right now and not even in a guilty way. Regret was not something Beau experienced and he was not going to pretend otherwise hence he kept his cool and continued to feed the boy on his lap, unfazed by his brother obvious anger.

“You haven’t changed at all, have you. Always the entitled smart ass, thinking you’re right on whatever shit you pull want to pull out.” Carrick accused him; as much as he was trying to keep it cool, not even Savannah’s hand would be able to do much.

“So what if I do whatever the fuck I want?” He asked rethorically, ignoring his mother’s beg to stop. “It’s not like you were here to stop me, were you, Carrick?” Beau’s relaxed stand morphed, his shoulders straightened and his eyes narrowed on his brother. “Unlike you, I was the one here listening to mom crying because you got yourself extra time, I was the ontrying to explain why you didn’t want to see us when you got out. So, yeah, I’m fucking entitled to do whatever I want.” 

“Oh, please! How can you say that you tried to explain why he wasn’t here?” Lauren jumped in. “How could you? You’ve got no idea, Beau. Carrick went through someone no one should. He needed time to heal and that’s something you won’t ever understand because  you don’t care for anyone but yourself.”