#but I used to be into it despite how horrible it was

[millers-angel]

can we get some Joel miller x f reader where she's actually pregnant and maybe some smut??

domestic!joel x pregnant!reader cw: joel is a tit sucker, lactation kink (not sure tho but just in case), domestic fluff

you were sitting on the kitchen floor, your back against the lower cabinets. your eyes were puffy, cheeks flushed, and your hands were covered in flour and something sticky that used to be batter. the oven was still on, and the smell of overcooked—or maybe just completely ruined—pastries filled the air. you sniffled loudly, wiping at your eyes with the sleeve of joel's flannel.

the tray on the counter was a disaster. the cupcakes were soggy in the middle, flat and sad-looking, with uneven edges and half of them torn where you'd tried to get them off the tray too early. you'd wanted them to be perfect. something homemade, something sweet for him to come home to.

and now they were ruined. and you were crying. again.

the front door creaked open.

“baby?” joel’s voice carried through the house, deep and warm, laced with just a hint of concern. “where are you?”

you didn’t answer, too embarrassed and emotional and tired.

his boots thudded softly against the wooden floor as he walked in, dropping his bag by the door like always. when he turned the corner into the kitchen, he stopped in his tracks.

there you were. sitting on the floor. red-eyed. flour on your face. the faintest little pout trembling on your lips.

his expression softened immediately.

“love,” he murmured, crouching down in front of you, one hand gently cupping your cheek, “what’s wrong?”

you looked up at him with a teary frown. “i was making cupcakes,” you said, voice small and watery. “for us. and they’re horrible.”

joel blinked, glancing at the counter behind you. “those?” he asked, trying to bite back a smile. “they don’t look that bad…”

“they are,” you insisted, sniffling. “they’re soggy and weird and ugly. and i wanted them to be nice for you.”

“hey, hey, c’mere,” he said softly, pulling you gently into his arms, kneeling in front of you as you buried your face in his chest. his hand rubbed slow circles over your back. “it’s alright, sweetheart. you’re okay.”

"i'm sorry," you sobbed.

"for what, love?"

"for messing up the cupcakes,"

"no, nothing of that." he tucked a piece of hair behind your ear. "you want those cupcakes, don't you?" you nodded, almost painfully. "i'll make them, don't worry."

“you’re probably tired from work,” you mumbled into his shirt, “and now you have to deal with this. and you don’t even know how to bake.”

joel huffed a soft laugh against the top of your head. “that true. i don’t. but i do know how to follow directions. and i know how to make my girl lay down when she’s been crying over pastries.”

you looked up at him, lips twitching despite your tears. “joel…”

“uh-uh,” he said, brushing your hair away from your face. “go lie down. i got this under control.”

“you sure?”

he smiled, warm and easy. “of course.” his palm settled over your belly, thumb brushing gently along the curve of it. “me and the baby got it from here.”

you melted at that, leaning into him as he pressed a kiss to your forehead.

“now go rest, love.”

the bedroom was dim, lit only by the golden spill of late afternoon sun through the curtains. joel stepped in quietly, wiping his hands on a kitchen towel, the faint smell of warm pastry still clinging to him. his eyes found you instantly.

you were lying on your side, curled around your growing belly, one hand tucked beneath your cheek and the other stroking slow, absentminded circles over your skin. one of his old flannel shirts hung loosely on your frame, the undone buttons showing your perfect belly. your bare legs tangled with the blanket, and your face—god, your face looked so soft like that, peaceful again, even if you have been crying.

joel paused at the door, breath catching just a little in his chest.

that was his baby. his. inside you.

you were his girl, and he had done that. he’d put his baby in you. and now there you were, glowing, blooming, wrapped up in his clothes and his world, carrying the proof of how much he loved you. how much you loved each other.

his heart swelled with that quiet, aching male pride. not loud or boastful—just deep, like roots running into the earth.

you shifted slightly, and the hem of the shirt lifted a little higher over your thigh. joel couldn’t help the way his gaze traced over you. he loved everything about this. the way your body had changed—your fuller hips, the heaviness of your breasts, the gentle swell of your belly. all of it made him feel something primal and tender at the same time. protective. in awe. completely and utterly wrecked by how much he adored you like this.

he walked over slowly and sat on the edge of the bed, reaching out to run his hand over your stomach, just like you’d been doing a second ago.

“hey,” he said softly.

your eyes fluttered open. “hi.”

he leaned down to kiss your temple, then your belly. “you look so damn beautiful like this,” he murmured, voice low. “you’re glowing.”

you blinked up at him, smiling sleepily. “i’m wearing your shirt. and i cried over pastries.”

joel chuckled, the sound rumbling in his chest. “still,” he said, brushing his knuckles along your cheek. “prettiest thing i ever laid eyes on.”

you squinted at him playfully. “you’re all covered in food.”

he glanced down at his shirt, which had flour on the sleeve and a bit of frosting near the hem. “maybe,” he said with a smirk, “but i come bearing gifts.”

he reached into the little box he’d brought in and pulled out a paper towel-wrapped bundle. “look what i got.”

your eyes lit up instantly. “cupcakes?”

“damn right. fresh outta the oven. made ’em just for you, sweetheart.”

you sat up slightly, reaching out. “they smell amazing…”

joel handed you one, then sat down beside you, watching as you took a bite. your eyes fluttered closed in delight, and he swore he could live in that moment forever.

“these are so good,” you said around a mouthful. “how’d you make them so… soft?”

he leaned back, resting on one elbow. “watched a video on youtube,” he said casually, grinning.

you let out a full laugh, half-muffled by cupcake. “for me?”

"to please my girl," he added. "for our little one right here, too."

you smiled, almost crying this time. "you're the best, joel."

“don’t you worry,” joel said, stealing a crumb from your wrapper, “from now on, i got the food covered. you just focus on keepin’ comfy.”

you rolled your eyes, licking frosting off your thumb. “joel…”

he turned serious for just a second. “i mean it. you can do whatever you want, love. you and our little bean need to be as comfy as possible.”

“little bean?” you giggled.

“yeah.” he smiled, eyes dropping to your belly as he gently laid his hand over it.

you looked at him, amused. “joel… the doctor said weeks ago it’s not a little bean anymore. it’s more like a… like a small butternut squash now.”

joel let out a warm laugh, the kind that crinkled his eyes. “yeah, well. still my little bean.”

you rolled your eyes, but your smile gave you away. “you’re ridiculous.”

you tore off a piece of your cupcake and held it up to joel’s mouth. “here. taste it.”

he leaned in and bit it right from your fingers, humming low in his throat. “damn, sweetheart… these are too good.”

“i know,” you said proudly, grabbing another one from the plate. “and now i want iced tea.”

joel chuckled, already standing up. “iced tea, comin’ right up.”

you settled deeper into the pillows as he returned with a tall glass, the ice clinking softly. he lay beside you again, passing it over, and you took a grateful sip before digging into your second cupcake. raspberry filling smeared your cheek, but you didn’t care—this was bliss.

joel didn’t think there was a better sight in the whole damn world. his girl, pregnant with his baby, cheeks full of raspberry, eyes sleepy but glowing, humming in delight from a craving satisfied.

he’d give you anything. every cupcake, every back rub, every slow morning kiss. your pregnancy had only made him love you more—every change, every curve, every need you whispered at 2 a.m., he treasured it all.

“you got some right there,” he murmured, brushing a crumb from your cheek with his thumb.

you caught his finger gently between your lips, pulling it in and sucking the frosting off with a little smile, your eyes locked on his. you let your tongue swirl around his finger for some seconds, deepening on his finger.

joel stilled for a second. not even a second—half of one. something lit up in him, arousal. his voice dropped.

“you keep doin’ that, darlin’, and i swear this won’t be the last time i get you pregnant.”

you laughed, mouth still sweet, and leaned in to kiss him, a soft press of lips. joel slid his hands to your hips without thinking, holding you there, smiling against your mouth.

you kissed the corner of his lips, then lower, your mouth brushing along his neck. “you taste like sweat,” you whispered with a giggle.

he let out a tired groan. “long day. the build’s goin’ good, but… yeah. it’s work.”

you sighed, tracing your fingers over his collarbone. “you’re so strong.” the way you said it—like it made your chest flutter—made him grin.

you kissed his neck again, slower this time, your gaze flicking down. the sweat still clung to his skin, the dark curls of his chest hair damp, his shirt clinging to the muscles underneath.

he chuckled, low and rough. “i probably need a shower.”

you shook your head slowly. “nope.” and kissed him again, right where his pulse beat steady and warm. your fingers pressed into his side, and he held you tighter, heart going a little heavier now.

your fingers moved slowly, undoing the first button of his shirt, then the next. the fabric was still warm from the day, clinging to his skin in places. you didn’t say anything—just watched him, waiting, asking without words.

joel caught your hands gently before you could finish, his calloused palms closing around yours, he can't resist your touch, once he feels your hands over his chest, he's gonna lose it. you looked up at him, your eyes soft, open. it wasn’t just want—it was a quiet plea. just… you, needing him.

he didn’t say anything either. just leaned in, guiding you down, easing your back into the pillows. he held your hands there, beside your shoulders, his fingers laced through yours.

you laughed, breathless, your nose brushing his. “you like having me like this, don’t you?”

joel smiled, low and lazy. “yeah, i do.”

he looked down at you like you were something he’d made with his own hands—something precious and sacred and his.

“you look mine,” he murmured, his voice low and sure. “every inch of you.”

joel looked down at you, laid out beneath him in his flannel, the buttons half-undone just enough for your bump to peek through, soft and round, still dusted with cupcake crumbs and a faint smear of raspberry frosting.

you looked so needy like that. warm and flushed, still licking sugar off your lips, eyes a little hazy, cheeks full of want and trust.

it undid him.

he leaned in, kissing the top of your belly first, then working his way up. as his lips found yours, his fingers slipped down to the buttons that were still clinging closed and undid them one by one, slow and steady, until his shirt hung loose on your body, baring all that softness beneath.

you held your breath for a second, feeling the cold breeze on your already sensitive breasts.

“mm,” he murmured, his voice warm against your lips. “you taste sweet.”

you smiled against him, breath catching when his hand traced up your side, hand resting on the bottom of your breast.

"yeah?" you teased.

he kissed your jaw, then down to your neck, lingering just under your ear.

“you're all sweet," he whispered going lower, over the slopes of your breasts.

you closed your eyes, knowing what was coming, wanting what was coming. he opened the flannel that barely clung to your nipples, fully revealing your breasts now. you couldn't hide it, and joel loves how sensitive they are, joel loves playing with them until he gets what he wants.

he stared.

you saw it in real time, the way his gaze darkened, eyes filling with desire, with need, with hunger. your breasts were swelled, puffy little nipples waiting to be sucked. he licked his lips and shifted his gaze to yours, slowly, enjoying the view you're giving him.

in response, you just cupped the back of his head, pushing him down to your chest until his beard rasped your slopes, until you felt his lips brushing your nipple.

“mine,” he murmured, more to himself than you, but you felt it everywhere.

and then, you just felt a warm sticky fluid coating your breast. joel's drool. his lips wrapped around your nipple and sucked while he played with the other one, pressing his palm over the surface, tugging gently at the nipple until it was too much.

"oh, joel," you moaned. "they're gonna—"

and they did. your nipples started leaking.

you tangled your fingers in his hair and cupped his head on your breast, making him suck the milk.

"you're too sweet," he rasped.

you whimpered when you felt his teeth digging gently on your tip. he was so lost on you, started bucking his hips against your thigh, rubbing his bulge on your inner thigh while all you could do was pushing him down to you.

joel loved doing this to you. he loved the way you cooed him while he worked on your breasts. he loves the way you taste, the way you squirm beneath him, the way he can feel how wet you get just by him sucking on your breasts.

he raised his gaze to you, looking all needy, pleasure written all over your face.

"don't stop now, joel." you said between gasps.

he let out a low chuckle, deep and warm, the kind that rumbled from his chest as he lifted your leg gently over his torso. his rough hand tugged your panties down slow, careful, reverent.

he looked at you—laid out in his flannel, belly round with his baby, cheeks flushed and still dusted with cupcake crumbs—and for a second, he forgot how to breathe.

god, you were everything.

his.

you, all soft and glowing, belly full of the life he gave you, trusting him with every inch of you. made something deep in his chest ache with how much he loved you. how much he needed you.

you were carrying his baby. letting him see you like this. letting him take care of you, love you, have you.

he swore nothing had ever made him feel more like a man than this—than you. pregnant and needy and so damn sweet, letting him spoil you, letting him fill your cravings, letting him hold you in moments like this. cupcake-stained and glowing and his.

you hummed once he held his dick in his hand and fisted himself looking at you. it wasn't the first time you watched him doing this. you flushed once you saw him twitching, once you saw him leaking precum, once you heard him whimpering for you.

"joel," you whispered. "i think it's my turn to get milk, isn't it?"

his gaze darkened and immediately leaned. his cock brushing your entrance. he lowered his mouth to find your lips as he sank in you and thrusted.

joel was careful due your pregnancy but he always made you feel pleasure, he always made sure you had an orgasm. he loved watching your breasts as he thrusted, watching them bounce, seeing your perky swollen nipples, seeing how swelled they were.

hearing your moaning on his lips, on his ear made him feel some kind of male pride. knowing he's the only one, knowing he's got you like this. all filled. in every way.

he felt your walls clenching, trapping him—again. it was about time until he felt you spasming beneath him, body getting limp. but he didn't stop, no. he liked when you laid there passively and he could keep pounding you, that you allowed him to keep filling you until he's done.

he left his girl leaking his cum down there. there was no more satisfying sight than that.

joel pulled you on top of him, chest to chest, your cheek resting just above his heart. you were still slick with sweat, hair damp, breath slow but uneven. he held you close, one hand running lazily up and down your spine, the other splayed wide over your lower back, like he never wanted to let go.

“i’ll make us something to eat,” you murmured, voice soft and tired.

he scoffed, pressing a kiss to your temple. “hell no, you’re not movin’. i got it.”

you huffed a breath that was almost a laugh. “you just got home, joel. you’ve been workin’ all day. you deserve to have your girl make you dinner.”

joel tilted his head to look down at you, his thumb brushing a bit of sweat from your jaw. “what i deserve,” he said, “is for my girl to rest. you carried our baby around all day.”

“and you’ve been buildin’ a house all day,” you shot back, lifting your head a little. “let me spoil you a bit, yeah?”

he gave you that lopsided smirk, one that still made your belly flip. “i already got spoiled,” he said, tapping two fingers lightly against your thigh. “you let me take care of you.”

your cheeks went hot, even as you tried to hide your smile.

“plus,” joel added with a teasing gleam in his eye, “you already fed me.”

you groaned, burying your face in his chest as you laughed. “joel,” you whined, all flustered.

he laughed too, low and satisfied, and kissed the top of your head. his hand settled protectively over your belly again.

you sighed happily, resting your head on his shoulder. “i have a feeling…” you murmured, “that it’s a girl.”

joel stilled for a beat, then looked at you with that soft kind of awe that always made your chest ache.

“yeah?” he whispered.

you nodded, brushing your fingers over the top of his hand where it rested on your belly.

joel’s thumb moved slowly, tracing the curve of your bump. the world seemed to pause for a second—nothing else existed. just you, him, and the little life growing inside you.

“that tickles,” you said suddenly, laughing with a mouthful of cupcake. “she’s gonna think daddy’s got scratchy hands.”

he smiled, shifting on the bed until he was lying next to you, his head level with your stomach. he kissed it gently. then again. and again.

“hey there, little bean,” he whispered against your skin. “it’s daddy. just wanted to say… i’m buildin’ your crib. it’s gonna be real pretty. sturdy, too. you’ll be safe in it.”

you bit your lip to stop the tears. happy ones. stupid ones. overflowing ones.

he looked up at you, resting his cheek against your belly. “you hear that, baby girl? we’re all waitin’ for you.”

your heart swelled.

you never felt more like someone’s. more like someone’s home.

joel, your cupcake hero, your belly-kisser, your crib-builder… and the love of your life.

you looked down at him, still whispering to your bump like it could hear him.

his thumb brushed back and forth gently. “can’t believe you’re makin’ a whole person in there,” he whispered. “our person.”

“you did this to me,” you teased, eyes glinting.

“damn right i did,” he said, grinning. “and i’d do it again. i will.”

☁️*ੈ♡⸝⸝🧸⋆

[vercengetorixadvisor]

And lemme break down the issues just a little with the supposed propositions

"Saving the planet": by exploiting workers in the third world in artisanal mines for lithium and rejecting nuclear at seemingly all costs despite the fact that the technology has improved immeasurably since the last negative occurrence happened. I'd call it an accident, but you've either got Fukushima, which had no negative effects once handled or Chernobyl which the Soviets essentially fucked up on purpose for.

"Providing everyone healthcare": yes, and see how well that's working for Canada. I agree our system needs reform, but there's other ways of going about it than state sponsored.

"Pay every worker a living wage": which changes constantly and has shown to fuck over an entire economy when done as suggested.

Now on to the critiques

"Endless wars": yeah, I agree, that's an issue. I don't think anyone's disagreeing there except on maybe how to end them.

"Predatory capitalism": propped up by the state regularly with our tax dollars. State involvement means it's, by definition, not capitalism.

"2 billionaires owning more wealth than half of our nation": see, this stat is skewed, first off, if that number is coming from the same study I'm thinking of, they took debt into account. Thereby making a person with one dollar, liquid, to their name has more wealth than 35% (roughly) of the population. Factoring in what's liquid instead of debt leaves us with a smoother line that looks more like a reasonable ramp. With the favor going largely to people who are risking their wealth to create jobs and spread it out.

Look, I get having issues with how our nation is run, I just spent the last 4 years taking a lot of issues with how we're doing shit. It's not that your wants are extreme, it's how you "plan" to go about achieving them. Plan being in quotes due to your last candidate only having 2 ideas, both of which were horrible.

Rather than diluting the money supply for a (very VERY) temporary living wage, let's try to reduce prices by removing money from the overall supply. Thereby deflating currency since we don't have a hard currency to speak of beyond a few folks that'll take gold and silver.

[sillysonata]

Hi :D

Just wanted to say that I love love love you LoZ AU!! All the art you make for it is so spectacular and the the story is so captivating :)

If you don't mind questions about the au, I was wondering -- what was the inspiration for it (and/or how did you come up with the name for it?)

My biggest inspo was def using classic fairytale tropes, think Cinderella rapunzel Snow White sleeping beauty, and using a pretty soft ‘Disney’ esque art style to boot 😩 a kind main ‘heroine’ that sings to animals and is very romantic, the evil wicked villain & cronies who ‘curse’ them or otherwise have them put under their thumb in some way, and the strong hero that ends up saving them from the horrid life they led and they ride off into the sunset or sumn. Something corny but a bit dark since as a fairytale enthusiast I love that shiii

But as I started to think about it more I thought it would be cool as hell with a sort of “role”reversal, but done in a way where they technically all still fit their triforce markings. Link may be meek compared to his other counterparts and he’s a very head in the clouds kind of person but he’s def courageous for staying a good person despite it all, Zelda may want to be a hero and angry at the world but she is still wise enough to know not to let her anger get the best of her, and always is doing it all for what matters most, her ppl

And the general “role” reversal I mean is the question what if link was not the strong and badass one, it was Zelda, but their roles are not reversed in the sense that she’s still hyrule’s princess, he’s still some random guy destined to save the world? Link being saved by Zelda in the way that she protects him but him saving her by being this sweet and loving person kinda intrigued me idk

The name kindaa just came from the fact that since link is a servant to Ganondorf, doesn’t know of his own history or anything, and no one knows of his whereabouts the hero is missing for all they know, and that’s what drives the main conflicts and moments of the story. It’s why link believes himself to be the monster, it’s why Ganondorf is still considered a trustworthy “good” figure despite all the horrible stuff he’s done in secret, it’s why Zelda is so serious and tries to prove herself more than she “needs” to. It’s why the king and queen die, it’s why the sages are recruited. But it also especially shows that even after Ganondorf has kept link away from the world, somehow, just like in every other timeline, he finds his way back to Zelda. & ofc in this more fairytale esque timeline they have a romantic relationship

Sorry if this might not explain it well 😅 but feel free to ask for any more clarification

[sleepy-n-thinkin-stuff]

Twin, where have you been

[tittyinfinity]

I just remembered that up until 5th grade, all of the sports teams I was in weren't separated by gender. I played basketball and baseball with boys. And we did just fine.

It wasn't until 6th grade when they segregated it by gender. It didn't make sense to me. I was now in softball instead of baseball, because "softball is for girls" and "baseball is for boys" (which confused me bc my dad was on an adult softball team).

Now, my brother's all-male team didn't win a single game. My all-girls team won every single one.

They presented the boys' team with this HUGE trophy, and if you wanted replicas of it, they were $30 each.

My team was presented with a very small trophy. Extras were $5.

That's when I decided gender-segregated sports were bullshit.

[unsolicited-opinions]

@knicrow writes in the comments:

@knicrow seems to accidentally demonstrate my thesis.

Israel's casting as "the powerful oppressor" in this case is not simply due to social categorization...

My thesis is not that groups or nations are inaccurately labeled "powerful." I wrote nothing like that. If you're writing in good faith (which I presume), this is a reading comprehension issue on your end and I urge you to read it again.

My thesis was that this worldview requires morally judging all groups/nations as either oppressor or victim without consistent moral standards, without looking at intent, without evaluation of actions. And that's exactly what you're doing. You're defining Victim and Oppressor based on capability.

...it is due to the fact that Israel's resources, funding, and support are miles beyond what the group that they are attacking could hope to garner...

@amarytha does this too, citing the "...insane imbalance of power."

You're both right that Israel has built the most powerful military capability in the region, an improbably enviable economy despite scarce natural resources, and cultivated international alliance with one of the world's great powers.

No honest and informed person denies the massive power differential between Israel and Hamas.

But you're both suggesting it is this power differential which makes Israel the villain. Instead of applying any consistent moral principle, you're defaulting to the exact same dynamic my thesis describes.

This framing, this bias has seeped into your minds more deeply than you realize. Look at the language you employ:

...it is due to the fact that Israel's resources, funding, and support are miles beyond what the group that they [Israel] are attacking could hope to garner...[and that Hamas]...is incapable of retaliating in a comparable manner.

Israel didn't attack, and Hamas' role isn't that of retaliation.

I don't know how many more times this needs to be said, but it's at least once more:

Hamas started this war by invading and attacking Israel, murdering Israeli civilians, and promising to do it again and again.

You probably already knew this, but that didn't stop you from framing Israel as the aggressor/instigator...despite the naked falsity of that framing.

Please ask yourself why that is. I'm not calling you a liar, I'm assuming your biases are unconscious and I'm asking you to honestly, privately, sincerely examine them.

You're not alone in falsely framing Israel, which was attacked on seven fronts and has never started a war.

@amarytha wrote:

...how is that supposed to justify the State of Israel essentially carpet bombing the gaza strip in the 21st century?

Again, this is factually, provably false.

@amarytha has not studied wars of the past and does not know what carpet bombing is. Most likely, they are deploying a term they don't understand because Amnesty International accused Israel of carpet bombing.

Carpet bombing (also known as saturation bombing) is indiscriminate, wide-area bombing using large numbers of unguided bombs and aimed at destroying entire areas regardless of specific military targets. It is often associated with WWII (think Dresden or Tokyo) or the Vietnam War.

That's factually not what the IDF has done in Gaza. The IDF has had specific, legitimate military targets (Yes, international law says that hiding weapons and combatants in/under hospitals makes them legitimate targets) which it has struck using guided, precision munitions. The IDF has done more to minimize civilian casualties than any military in history and you won't find a single military historian or scholar of war who disagrees, because these are facts.

The best evidence that the IDF has not engaged in carpet bombing is pretty obvious.

If Israel had been carpet bombing Gaza, there would be no Gazans alive in the strip. That would be a genocide.

War is fucking horrible. Every war is fucking horrible.

Every Palestinian child killed is a tragedy, every Palestinian child is worth as much as an Israeli child. Children and other innocents always die in wars, which is why wise people don't start them unless they must.

It is a tragedy of historical proportions that Hamas started this one, but it is a war and innocents die in wars.

Hamas took billions in foreign aid and, instead of using it to building the infrastructure to improve the lives of Gazans or prepare for declaring statehood, they used it to make their leaders in Qatar (and now Turkey) rich and to build 450 miles of tunnels under schools and hospitals for the explicit purpose of maximizing civilian casualties. Then they invaded Israel, murdered everyone they could, and promised to do it again and again.

Hamas targeted civilians. Israel tries to spare civilians in its efforts to end the threat of Hamas.

Despite that, @knicrow and @amarytha frame Hamas as victims and Israel as an oppressor.

I'm imploring them to take some quiet, private time to ask themselves these questions:

1. By what moral principle do I regard Israel as evil aggressor and Gazans as innocent victims?

2. Do I honestly believe that any nation in Israel's circumstances would tolerate Hamas' continued existence?

3. If a government is responsible for protecting its citizens from being murdered by a neighboring people, what should Israel have done about Hamas?

----

Once again, you're not disputing my thesis, you're demonstrating it. You're saying that because Israel is more powerful, Israel is morally wrong. That's not ethics or morality. That's you having internalized the very framing you claim to agree is ridiculous...until it is applied to Israel.

Since you've never studied ethics, I urge you to start with James Rachels' The Elements of Moral Philosophy, available to you at no charge here. It's one of the most commonly used texts for undergrad Ethics 101.

Morality, says Rachels, should be based on reason, impartiality, and the weighing of relevant facts, not merely on power dynamics.

Rather than looking at relative strength, look at the nature of actions, intentions, and consequences.

Rachels also stresses that impartiality is a core moral principle and that the interests of all parties should be considered equally unless there is a morally relevant difference.

Being stronger is not a morally relevant difference.

If Israel uses its power to avoid civilian harm while Hamas deliberately targets civilians and embeds military assets in civilian areas, an impartial moral analysis would not assign blame based on who is stronger but on who violates moral norms in actions, intentions, and consequences.

Please: Get off social media now and then and read a book.

Y'know all the Gen Z folks online who oversimplify the entire world and all morality into a binary oppressor and victim dynamic which...just doesn't reflect reality?

Which routinely regards murdering, raping, suicide bombing, gay-hating, misogynist terrorists...as the good guys?

Want to know how they developed this particular set of cognative distortions?

This worldview, often seen among Millennials and very common among Gen Z leftists, was produced by the corruption of a good and useful bit of critical theory meant to address nuance, complexity, and compassion: intersectionality.

Coined by Kimberlé Crenshaw in 1989, intersectionality began as a way to explain how different forms of discrimination overlap and interact, especially for Black women who face both racism and sexism in ways that neither anti-racist nor feminist frameworks alone fully addressed.

So, for example:

A white woman might face sexism but not racism.

A Black man might face racism but not sexism.

A Black woman faces both, and often in compounded ways.

This seems like a helpful way to understand complexity in lived experiences, right?

Because it is! It's fantastic and appropriate and necessary! Sojourner Truth brought it up in 1851.

So late Millennials and Gen Z college students were exposed to sloppy versions of Crenshaw's thesis and, like a lab leak, the idea spread beyond academic critical theory into activist and online spaces...where it began to mutate into something else entirely.

Instead of just understanding overlapping disadvantages, intersectionality became a kind of oppression calculator.

People began to stack their marginalized identities in a way that assigned moral authority. The more marginalized identities you hold, the more your voice is prioritized.

If you have "privileged" identities (white, male, cisgender, etc.), you may be expected in leftist spaces to sit down, shut up, and only listen.

The problem: it is awfully illiberal to grant agency to (or take agency from) an individual based on their group association.

(Liberals recognize that as old fashioned bigotry masquerading as justice.)

Oppressor/Oppressed

So this framing helped flatten the complexity of individuals into a binary of oppressor or oppressed, based solely on which and how many marginalized identities one can claim.

This inevitably led to hierarchies of victimhood in which competing identities are ranked to determine whose suffering is more valid.

Leftists seemingly trade memes like the one below without irony:

That's the origin of Oppression Olympics.

This is where it went completely off the rails, with some movements and organizations deciding that only those with certain identities or performed political perspectives should be permitted to speak.

But...what if you're not a holder of one of these victim identities? Well, if you belong to a privileged group, you're now the proud owner of collective guilt and are held responsible for the system of oppression...even if you've personally done nothing wrong.

This made it easy to turn entire groups, millions of complex people in varying and nuanced circumstances...into simplified moral symbols.

If a group is judged powerful or privileged, it (and anyone associated with it) is an oppressor.

If a group is judged marginalized, it becomes the victim.

Wait, though - it gets worse.

Once this kind of "intersectionality" (which no longer resembled Crenshaw's) became part of the social media discourse, algorithms boosted simple, emotional content that aligned with the victim/oppressor binary. In social media, engagement is everything, and it distorts everything.

Gen Z folks are particularly susceptible to these distortions because they have spent most of their lives soaking in performative social media activism which offers a (wrong but) clear, simple, binary moral compass in a world which otherwise feels messy, confusing, and overwhelming. This gives them the opportunity to express solidarity with those who suffer injustice, which makes them feel like they're good people for siding with the good people against the bad people.

So intersectionality went from "people are complex" to "if you check [X] boxes, you are righteous, and if not...you're complicit."

Intersectionality started as a tool for empathy and nuance, helping us see how systems of oppression intersect and interact. This, I want to repeat, is great.

In social media activism, though, it got flattened into a worldview where people and nations are judged morally and collectively based on their group identities and perceived power.

You know how you can tell that this isn't really justice? Justice is rarely so simple, binary, and completely devoid of nuance.

Okay, so there's the mindset of the Gen Z leftist. Let's look at how they apply it to Israel.

The many and complex facts and long history of the Arab/Israeli conflict don't fit neatly into this framing, so the narratives must be re-written to cram them into the shape such leftists demand:

Palestinians = oppressed

Framed as an indigenous, stateless people living under military occupation and suffering from systemic discrimination, they are exclusively innocent victims without agency who need the good people of the West to save them from...

Israel/Jews = oppressors

Cast as a colonial, European, settler colonialist, imperialist, racist power, seen as inflicting structural violence on a vulnerable population.

And because these leftists don't read history (just memes and TikTok), they believe this oppression has been going on from time immemorial.

(That's perhaps part of where they get the idea that "Palestine" is an ancient civilization.)

This framework, this need to be on the right side of a false binary requires them to aggressively ignore, bury, appropriate, downplay, or invert all Jewish historical trauma, indigeneity, and security concerns...all to make a complex set of circumstances fit into the box of their simple moral binary.

Think about it. Isn't that the content of most of the ugly comments you get from them? Simple, moral binaries which aren't supported by facts, evidence, or reason?

(Yes, the far right Gen Z folks do the same thing for different reasons and in a mirror...where victim and Oppressor switch places. That's how we get cishet white Christian males who are certain they're being oppressed, but that's a topic for another time, maybe.)

Israel as White Colonial Power

Israel is increasingly racialized as "white" or "European," despite its multi-ethnic population (including ~50% Mizrahi/ Sephardi Jews and ~20% Arab citizens).

Zionism, instead of being recognized as a liberation movement for Jews after ~2000 years of genocides and ethnic cleansings, is recast as an extension of European settler colonialism...despite Jews being undeniably indigenous to the region and never meeting the definition of 'settler colonialism.'

The term's definition, the leftists realize, must be changed so they can cram Israel into the oppressor box! It's become a common tactic.

Remember when Amnesty International could only try to make "genocide" stick to Israel by changing the definition of genicide?

Remember when Ireland demanded that the ICJ change the definition of genocide for the exclusive purpose of slapping that label on Israel?

Its still effin' ridiculous, but at least this finally explains their cognative distortion of reality: They must distort reality in order to feel okay about themselves.

Palestinians as Eternal Victims

Palestinians, to be crammed into this framing, are depicted as having no agency, portrayed solely as victims of Israeli evil.

Violence by Palestinian actors (terrorism, 138 suicide bombings, incitement...October 7th...) is justified, excused, or omitted as a "reaction" to occupation. They're oppressed, say the leftists, so they bear no responsibility for their choices.

Like children. Infantilizing, isn't it?

Power is Oppression

Israel's military, economy, and alliance with the US make it the powerful party and therefore the oppressor. Why?

Because the framing requires the more powerful side to be morally wrong...even if it is acting in self-defense.

Not satisfied with ordinary Jewish Erasure, this victim/oppressor framing erases:

Jewish indigeneity to the land.

The Holocaust's role in accelerating global Zionist momentum after WWII

The ethnic cleansing of 850,000 Jews from Arab lands, most of whom went to Israel.

~2,000 years of Jewish ethnic cleansings and genocides.

This false binary requires that Jews be racialized as white and labeled privileged.

De-legitimizing the oppression of Jews usefully de-legitimizes their right to self-determination.

So history, facts and reason are set aside, any attempt to bring nuance to the conversation is shut down, any fact or point of view shared by an Israeli or a Jew is obviously a lie because Jews, remember, are oppressors. As a result, any defense of Israel is framed as siding with oppression. (As has been the case so many times before, Jews are just wrong and evil and will therefore be condemned regardless of what they do.)

Again, think about it. How many times on Tumblr have you seen a reasoned defense of Israel and the response from the tankies is something along the lines of 'you're lying and defending genocide?'

The victim-oppressor lens simplifies the complex, long-term Israel-Arab conflict into a grotesquely, dishonestly simplified morality play with a powerful villain and a powerless victim.

That's why kids who claim to care about justice do shit like this:

Understanding how they got like this is just the first step.

The next question is:

Can they be de-programmed?

Thoughts?

[mzminola]

Fascinated by the difference in how Aral & Cordelia treat Elena, and how Miles does (in Warrior's Apprentice, at least, I haven't reread the later books yet).

Aral & Cordelia are very firmly paying all of their liege-lord obligations to Bothari. He won't let Elena get an advanced education, he's got a very firm idea of the kind of person she should marry (and that marriage is a certainty), and he's lied to her her entire life about where she came from.

Miles rightly points out that Elena is their liegewoman as surely as Bothari is their liegeman, and they cannot owe him everything and her nothing. Don't they have obligations to her? Why does Bothari's narrow plan for her overrule her desires for her own life?

Aral dismissing Elena from the equation makes unfortunate sense from the Barrayar patriarchal structure. Cordelia's dismissal is harder to swallow. She's from Beta Colony and has never accepted Barrayaran sexist cultural norms. She actively rails against them. But when it comes to Elena, suddenly she's hands-off. The trauma bond and sense of debt towards Bothari overrides everything else.

Miles eventually also tries to deny Elena a future of her own choosing by invoking oaths to Bothari...but it's not what he's motivated by (he's motivated by his crush on her, his own personal desire to keep her tied to him), and he reverses that decision.

Aral & Cordelia have kept Elena in ignorance of her origins for 18 years. While there are a lot of secrets wrapped up in the Escobar war, the abuses of prisoners and the origins of the uterine replicators are not a load-bearing one. Outside Barrayar, they're not even a secret at all. Supporting Bothari's lie leads to Elena finding out the truth in the worst way possible (much like keeping the truth of Serg's actions from Gregor also lead to disastrous results). They also spend those 18 years never asking Elena what she wants out of life.

Miles at seventeen years old with no authority but that he borrows from his parents or can bluff, sets out to answer questions Elena has, and when he learns going home will be dangerous, he gives his blessing to the marriage she chose, and tasks her new husband (because Baz has practical experience in this field) with teaching Elena everything she wants to know about her chosen vocation. He dowers her with a fleet.

While Miles definitely knows Elena personally better than his parents do, as she's a peer, he still actually has spent far more of his life with Bothari than with Elena. He's extremely aware that Bothari has saved his life multiple times. But for Miles, a life-debt to Bothari does not override supporting Elena as an independent person, while for Aral & Cordelia it does.

[ganondoodle]

(idk if anyone wants to keep hearing my opinions on totk book stuff but-)

apparently it says that rauru DID have kids, multiple even, which yeah... is kinda necessary for zelda to even be connected to them so much so that sonia can SENSE a blood connection (which, even with all the excuses with magic, is just a little too far for me to suspend my disbelief bc its over, OVER, ten thousand years worth of generations that seperate her from them that one lil touch of the hand can sense that (feels more like an attempt to make you care about them or .. see them as zeldas "better" parents just bc they exchange a few nice words, i never got the feeling they were 'better' parents and its also kinda disrespectful to her actual parents, like sure rhoam wasnt the best but i wouldnt call rauru better just bc he was polite)- i could see maybe the light power of hylia or sth but since its the coolest dude that ever lived rauru now that had it which still doesnt make sense and makes me unreasonably annoyed and she can sense BOTH of their powers in her? nah) the fact theres NOTHING about them in the game itself is just so ... no way they planned any of this

i dont think theres anything they can do or say that wont make be believe they either

are making it up alla 'fix it in post' mentality trying to hastily explain stuff the game never bothers to do to try and appease fans or let it appear as if they thought about it at all

something went really REALLY wrong during development, which kinda seems likely given how the game turned out (im sorry i cannot let go, its not just the writing, the game design too and how little was changed in the map while being so damn expensive, i dont know how people dont feel scammed q_q)

given that they (allegedly) spent the last entire year of development on polish (where??? where????? huh??? like it would make it more understandable (EXCEPT for the price) if there was alot of trouble, which was also bc it got delayed and ... turned out like this, but they dont want to say it, especially given their reputation, with that quote i have heard way too many times 'a delayed game blah blah') i just??

are they just gonna go and do it like they did with kashiwa (kass)? "they uuuh where flying around the whole time ony cool sonau tech maschines, you just dont see or hear from them ooooorrr they were uuuuh out of the country at the time" (sending invitations to other continents to join their glorious kingdom ;) )

(bet they are also gonna say they did all the stuff like ... moving the shrines around (lol?) and lifting the islands up into the sky- which is still weird bc ... didnt they also say they were living in the sky before coming to the surface?? so where?? did they park all their islands on the surface and the mystery kids had the keys so they had to repark them back into the sky after they returned off camera?? xD also why are the islands so different as an environment if they where from the surface? like even the STONE up there is different- and if they were first in the sky then on the surface and the nback in the sky .. why is there not a single yellow tree or grass in the past- you cant really argue that it changed bc they were up there so long bc .. nothing else changed, the suddendly and totally always there sonau buildings are largely in prime condition, only some slightly moldy, and what we see of the glorious past looks barely any different from the present, aside from like ... some standard trees shuffled, no castle yet and that glowy uwu filter DESPITE that stupidly long time frame between it)

[microknifeyuri]

Following the ii dark fics thing.

On some- if not most of the dark fics, disorders also tends to be used as a main thing to explain why the character is doing what they're doing. Which is, of course, not really great. Most au's that do this are about the Bright Lights as well.

Listen.

I can totally GET it. Mental health is a very important thing and having it ruined by people, or by other factors, can and WILL do some real damage to you. Yes. I can totally see a character doing questionable things because of their mental health being so so bad that it leads them to think that maybe, just maybe, these thoughts and actions aren't as bad, or that given the situation they're in, they're somewhat justified/it isn't inherently terrible of them, because of the state they're in doesn't let them think clearly, and they hold onto something because it's the last thing that makes them feel real.

One thing is doing that.

The other thing is using mental illnesses or their symptoms (per example: BPD, DID, Schizophrenia, and others) as the main reason as to why a character has done a killing spree or commited terrible actions. Meanwhile yes, having said disorders and going through heavy amounts of stress, and having no support can really make things difficult, mental illness won't make you a criminal or an awful person, a disorder isn't something you can just use for "oh well they have this so they commited murder because of this", people that have those already go through enough with others not even accepting that their condition is real or that it doesn't make them a bad person, for other people to use those disorders as a "Hey So This Is Why This Character Is Bad Now" for a story.

just sayin'

[fantasmadelaciudad]

every social media platform has become so unusable that i might just seriously for real throw my phone into the ocean and move into the middle of the woods.

[alternautxyz]

uuhhh in other new that lmk s5 trailer dropped and people are very

mixed

for context the new season is being partly animated by wildbrain i think. flying bark is still working on the show but probably due to all the other projects they've been working on like the atla movie the animation is off.

its understandable that people are upset. lmk has some of the most consistently dynamic and lively animation ive ever seen, and going from that to ok animation kinda sucks. as a culmination of a lot of what the series has been building up to people were inevitably going to be disappointed

at the same time people shouldnt harass animators. like ever. no amount of trying to petition or anything will change the s5, people are just trying to do their job and theres no probably no major changing to the finished product by now. and theres still a lot of that lmk charm in there, and we haven't even seen the whole season yet to judge it. flying bark is still working on it, and even if the animation never reaches the peak of the old seasons it still has the same writers so at least the writing has the chance to live up old standards. idk though we'll just have to wait and see

[salsflore]

i forgot to mention but last night i had a kind of fucked up dream and it’s furthering my dislike of a certain harbinger

[aria0fgold]

Also my mom asking if there were another outing, would I join still? And I was like: "...you mean with just us?" and my older sister was like: "No, just them, I'm not joining." And I tried my hardest to not give the most disgusted expression I have before saying "No."

[h0estar]

catching up to bnha (spoilers for chapters 387-390)

i did not thug it out fr.

the way 2021 me was anticipating a todoroki family confrontation, getting excited about it, and predicting that i would 100% cry. well, fast forward to 3 years later and she was absolutely right.

how did 4 chapters of a shonen manga manage to scrape off 50 years of my lifespan? every page i turned felt like my heart was going to bleed out from my chest.

the reveal that toya always had rei's quirk was actually a punch in the gut!! i was in my little corner crying over the parallels of how every time toya would self destruct, his mother in her own way kept him in check... and when he was about to literally blow up and take everything down with him, rei physically showed to stop him and oh! i can't do this ahahafkkadks

"Everyone's...watching me. Is this what it feels like? If it was... so simple a thing, then why? Why not... sooner?"

i'm not even going to lie. the chapters had my ass looking like this. i was full on sobbing from chapter 387 and it just got worse with each page. it was hell on earth. pain. so much pain. pain everywhere.

"why not sooner?"

hey, haha. so i actually disintegrated :)

all this boy ever wanted was for his family to look at him. to watch him. to acknowledge him. to know he was trying his best. to help him. be there for him. and every time i think about this, my heart hurts every single fucking time because it really was a simple thing, but why? why had no one done it sooner ಥ⁠╭⁠╮⁠ಥ

seeing rei, fuyumi, and natsuo show up in the battlefield to confront toya, endeavor hugging toya mid-battle, toya's vision of his whole family (except shoto ಥ⁠╭⁠╮⁠ಥ) surrounding him, happy and proud; shoto showing up and saying he alone wasn't enough to stop him and that maybe he wasn't actually the family's masterpiece (while looking at toya djwkdkw).

shoto's inner monologue of how he wants to cry for others, and how right now he's trying his best to stop toya with his family because he still has so many things he wants to say, so many arguments he still wants to have with his older brother and with his family. and it's painful to think that despite being siblings, toya and shoto barely interacted before all this. they never had a chance to build that brotherly connection, yet shoto still sees him as a his older brother and wants to understand him better more despite toya probably not feeling the same way faijfkwkd.

and you know what takes the absolute fcking cake for me?

their parents apologizing.

i actually full on sobbed when endeavor finally took full responsibility. when rei and endeavor apologized. when endeavor was dragging his feet to hold the defeated toya in his arms and say sorry for not showing up. when endeavor apologized for what he put every member in his family through. from toya to rei, fuyumi, natsuo, and shoto. when toya was saying how much he hated his family, and endeavor sat there accepting everything... i was crying with them. i was in so much pain, genuinely.

the tragedy of the todoroki family being my favorite mha subplot speaks a lot. again, i feel so much for toya and i love him with all my heart and seeing this depressing family patch up and confront their past together, without leaving anyone behind actually formed a huge gap in my soul, sanity, mind, and whatever's left of my heart.

these chapters were mad depressing, and i will be sending horikoshi my therapy bills pretty soon.

featuring the manga panels that sucked my tear ducts dry.

[goofyjelly]

oh my gosh having a trump supporter as a dad is so hard; him and his girlfriend were in literal tears cus they thought he died lmao 😭

[235uranium]

"loki is akechi's hate" "loki is destroying akechi's psyche" you're all cowards. loki is akechi's anger and outrage at being trapped and abused. and that is NOT a bad thing