#but also we should be mindful of the people that struggle at an extreme disadvantage

[sunnywalnut]

I mean like objectively... Yeah. But also. Why you gotta say it like that

my biggest suggestion for this is ask questions! it keeps the conversation going, you seem interested in them and you learn a lot!

[bored-philosopher-corner]

Incel Culture and Feminism

The term “incels” (short for "involuntary celibates") are individuals, primarily men, who identify as unable to find romantic or sexual partners despite desiring them. This term originated in the 1990s and was initially used without negative connotations. However, over time, it has come to describe a subculture often associated with misogynistic and extremist views. Members of the incel community frequently express feelings of resentment and frustration towards women and society. Some incels believe that they are entitled to romantic or sexual relationships and view their lack of success in these areas as a significant injustice. Unfortunately, this ideology has been linked to several violent incidents. We might want to ask ourselves, before going further, why that is that so many people adopt this term for themselves and want to identify as an incel? It turns out that many individuals who identify as incels experience significant loneliness and a lack of social support. They often struggle with mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, and paranoia. These feelings of isolation and frustration can lead them to seek out online communities where they find others with similar experiences. This sense of belonging can be a powerful draw, even if the community fosters negative and harmful ideologies. We should want to know what sort of thought runs through their minds, their beliefs, how they view the world and the people around them. Incels often believe that they are unable to form romantic or sexual relationships due to factors beyond their control, such as genetic disadvantages or societal structures. They tend to view women as being only interested in physically attractive men (referred to as "Chads") and feel that they are unfairly excluded from the dating pool. This belief can lead to a sense of victimhood and resentment towards women and society. Incels primarily engage in online activities, participating in forums and communities where they share their frustrations and reinforce their beliefs. These discussions often include misogynistic and misanthropic content, and in some cases, incels have been linked to violent actions. The incel subculture is frequently described as being part of the online male supremacist ecosystem.

Over time, the term has become associated with a predominantly male subculture characterized by misogyny and extremism. The incel movement gained notoriety in the 2010s, particularly after several high-profile violent incidents involving self-identified incels. There are a lot of violent incidents associated with incels, in recent years we could mention a few. In 2016, in Isla Vista in California (USA), one of the most infamous incidents involved a 22-year-old man who killed six people and injured fourteen others before taking his own life. He left behind a manifesto expressing his hatred towards women and his frustration over being unable to find a romantic partner. In 2019 in the city of Toronto, Canada, a man drove a van into pedestrians, killing ten people and injuring sixteen. He identified himself as an incel and cited his frustration with women as a motive. In Ohio (USA) in 2019, a man was arrested for planning a mass shooting. He had been active in incel forums and had expressed a desire to kill women. We could also mention the incident of 2021 in Plymouth (UK), in which a 22-year-old man killed five people and injured three others before committing suicide. He had been involved with incel communities online and expressed hatred towards women. These tragedies, which are much more numerous and prevalent than the few we have cited, highlight the potential for violence within the incel community, driven by extreme misogynistic beliefs and a sense of entitlement.

On the other hand of the spectrum of political agendas, we find feminism. Feminism is a movement and ideology that advocates for the social, political, and economic equality of the sexes. It seeks to address and dismantle the systemic inequalities and injustices faced by women and other marginalised genders. This ideology has some key aspects, such as equality, empowerment, and intersectionality. Indeed, feminism strives for equal rights and opportunities for all genders in various spheres, including education, employment, and politics, to mention a few. It focuses on empowering women and marginalised groups to have control over their lives and decisions. Modern feminism often emphasises intersectionality, recognising that different forms of discrimination (such as race, class, and sexuality) intersect and compound the experiences of oppression. The ideas and fights of feminism evolved throughout several waves and a few centuries. The first wave of feminism as we know and understand it comes from the 19th and early 20th centuries, it focused on legal issues, primarily women’s suffrage, the right to vote. Second-wave feminism was around in the 1960s and 1980s. This second era focused on addressing broader issues such as workplace discrimination, reproductive rights, and sexual liberation. Then, between 1990 and the early 2000s, third-wave feminism emphasised individuality and diversity, challenging the definitions of femininity and advocating for a more inclusive approach. And, of course, fourth-wave feminism (2010s-present) uses digital platforms to address issues like sexual harassment, body shaming, and gender-based violence, with a strong focus on intersectionality. We think feminism constitutes an important part of our everyday life as it stands. Indeed, feminism has played, and still plays, a crucial role in advancing women's rights and improving societal norms. It has led to significant legal and social changes, such as the right to vote, access to education, and workplace protections. Despite these advancements, gender inequality persists, making feminism still relevant and necessary today. Feminism brought significant changes in various aspects of society, regarding legal rights, workplace equality, reproductive rights, challenging social norms, and addressing violence. It has been instrumental in securing women's right to vote, own property and access education. It has also led to laws against gender discrimination and sexual harassment. The various feminist movements have fought for equal pay and opportunities in the workplace, leading to policies that promote gender equality in employment. Feminism has played a crucial role in advocating for women's reproductive rights, including access to contraception and safe abortion. The movement has challenged traditional gender roles and stereotypes, promoting a more inclusive and diverse understanding of gender. Feminist activism has raised awareness about domestic violence, sexual assault, and other forms of gender-based violence, leading to better support systems and legal protections for survivors.

A new and important part of feminism is intersectionality. And, thus, intersectional feminism is a framework that examines how various forms of discrimination (such as racism, sexism, classism, and others) intersect and compound each other. The term was coined by Kimberlé Crenshaw in 1989 to highlight how different aspects of a person's identity can combine to create unique experiences of oppression. A few concepts of intersectional feminism which we could investigate are the recognition of our multiple identities, the idea of compounded discrimination, inclusive advocacy, and the importance of historical context. Intersectional feminism recognizes that individuals have multiple, overlapping identities (e.g., race, gender, class, sexuality) that affect their experiences and opportunities. It acknowledges that people can face multiple forms of discrimination simultaneously, which can exacerbate their marginalization. Intersectional feminism aims to include and uplift the voices of those who experience overlapping forms of oppression, ensuring that feminist activism addresses the needs of all women, not just those from privileged backgrounds. This line of thought considers the historical and social contexts that have shaped the experiences of marginalized groups, recognizing that long-standing inequalities require comprehensive solutions. We think that intersectional feminism is crucial because it provides a more nuanced understanding of inequality and helps create more effective and inclusive policies and activism. By addressing the interconnected nature of social identities, intersectional feminism ensures that the fight for gender equality benefits everyone, especially those who are most marginalized.

Of course, we understand that there are fundamental differences and conflict between feminism and incel culture, which should be addressed. Indeed, we are faced here with an ideological conflict. Incels often view feminism as a threat, blaming it for their perceived social and romantic failures. They believe that feminist advancements have unfairly empowered women at the expense of men. The incel subculture has contributed to the spread of misogynistic and extremist ideologies, posing a threat to women’s safety and societal harmony. In response to this, feminism seeks to dismantle the very structures of inequality that incels blame for their issues. Feminists advocate for a society where all genders can thrive without discrimination or violence. Feminism has brought about positive changes, promoting equality and challenging harmful stereotypes. It continues to work towards a more just and inclusive society.

            What we want to put forward in this argument is the idea that there is a link between masculine violence and modern feminism. Masculine violence refers to aggressive behaviours and attitudes that are often rooted in traditional notions of masculinity, which emphasise dominance, control, and physical strength. This violence can manifest in various forms, including domestic abuse, sexual assault, and other forms of gender-based violence. There are cultural norms and social factors which explain, though do not excuse, such behaviour. Indeed, cultural norms and societal expectations often reinforce these behaviours by promoting the idea that men should be dominant and assertive. This can lead to a toxic environment where violence is seen as an acceptable way to assert power and control. Masculine violence has severe consequences for individuals and society, contributing to a cycle of abuse and perpetuating gender inequalities. It affects not only the victims but also the broader community by fostering fear and perpetuating harmful stereotypes. All the while modern feminism advocates for the social, political, and economic equality of all genders. It seeks to dismantle systemic inequalities and promote empowerment and inclusivity. As we understand, a key aspect of modern feminism is intersectionality, which examines how various forms of discrimination (such as racism, sexism, and classism) intersect and compound each other. This approach ensures that the movement addresses the needs of all marginalized groups. Feminists use digital platforms to raise awareness about issues like sexual harassment, body shaming, and gender-based violence². This has helped create a more inclusive and diverse understanding of gender.

            We know from experience that there exists an uncomfortable intersection of masculine violence and modern feminism. Indeed, modern feminism challenges the patriarchal structures that underpin masculine violence. By advocating for gender equality and challenging traditional gender roles, feminism seeks to create a society where violence is not seen as an acceptable way to assert power. Feminism also encourages the development of healthy masculinity, which rejects violence and promotes emotional expression, empathy, and respect for all genders. This approach aims to reduce the prevalence of masculine violence by addressing its root causes. Moreover, feminist activism has led to significant legal and social reforms aimed at protecting victims of gender-based violence and holding perpetrators accountable. These reforms include laws against domestic violence, sexual harassment, and other forms of abuse. Therefore, the rise of modern feminism, particularly intersectional feminism, represents a significant shift towards greater equality and inclusivity. By challenging traditional notions of masculinity and advocating for systemic change, feminism seeks to address the root causes of masculine violence and create a safer, more just society for all. Feminism as we understand and witness it correlates, somehow, with the rise of recent male violence for many reasons, which we are going to explore, such as that feminism is perceived to be a threat to traditional masculinity, the easy online radicalisation of young men, and the fact that they seem to face a crisis of identity in an evolving society, which leads to an increase of male violence in recent history. As feminism and intersectionality challenge traditional gender roles and promote equality, some men may perceive these changes as a threat to their traditional notions of masculinity and power. This perceived threat can lead to a backlash, manifesting in increased aggression and violence. The rise of digital platforms has allowed for the rapid spread of extremist ideologies, including those found in incel communities. These platforms can amplify feelings of resentment and entitlement among men who feel marginalised by the progress of feminist movements. The shift towards gender equality can create a crisis of identity for some men who have been socialised to believe in traditional masculine ideals. This crisis can lead to increased frustration and, in some cases, violent behaviour as a way to reassert their perceived loss of power. Several high-profile violent incidents have been linked to men who feel threatened by the rise of feminism and the changing social landscape. These acts of violence are often framed as revenge against women and society for perceived injustices. As we understand now, the rise of feminism and intersectionality has significantly challenged patriarchal structures, promoting greater equality and inclusivity. However, this progress can be perceived as a threat by those who adhere to traditional notions of masculinity, leading to a backlash and, in some cases, increased male violence. Addressing these issues requires a multifaceted approach, including promoting healthy masculinity, challenging harmful ideologies, and fostering inclusive dialogue.

            In other words, feminism as portrayed today, especially intersectional feminism, stands against incel culture, and can even help them, whoever they might be, wherever they might be, to understand themselves better and that patriarchy as a system is oppressive for the sake of its own survival. Rejecting such a system of oppression might liberate them from a culture of violence against minds and bodies, a culture of restriction, a culture that benefits no one and was never truly meant to benefit anyone. Incel culture is often characterized by extreme misogyny and exclusionary beliefs. Members of this community frequently express hatred towards women and blame them for their personal frustrations and failures. The ideologies promoted within incel communities are ethically problematic as they perpetuate harmful stereotypes, encourage violence, and undermine the dignity and rights of women. This culture often fosters a sense of entitlement and resentment, which can lead to real-world violence. Incel culture poses a significant threat to societal harmony and safety. The promotion of misogynistic and extremist views can lead to radicalization and violent actions. Addressing these issues requires a concerted effort to counter harmful ideologies and promote healthy, inclusive narratives. While, on the other side, Feminism and intersectionality are grounded in the principles of equality, justice, and inclusivity. They seek to dismantle systemic inequalities and promote the rights and well-being of all individuals, regardless of gender, race, class, or other intersecting identities. Intersectional feminism emphasizes the importance of recognizing and addressing the unique experiences and challenges faced by marginalized groups. This approach ensures that feminist activism is inclusive and empowers those who are often overlooked or marginalized. Feminism advocates for social, political, and economic justice, challenging structures that perpetuate discrimination and violence. Intersectional feminism, in particular, highlights the interconnected nature of various forms of oppression and works towards comprehensive solutions. We understand better now that everything separates incel culture from intersectional feminism. On the one hand, incel culture puts forward and defends principles of exclusion, the perpetuation of harm, or upholds misogynistic ideals. On the other hand, feminism and intersectional feminism promote equality, advocate for justice and inclusivity. Indeed, feminism and intersectionality are rooted in the principles of equality and inclusivity, seeking to uplift and empower all individuals. In contrast, incel culture is exclusionary and promotes harmful stereotypes and violence against women. Feminism advocates for justice and the dismantling of oppressive structures. Incel culture, on the other hand, perpetuates harm by fostering resentment and encouraging violent behaviour. Intersectional feminism emphasizes the importance of inclusivity and addressing the unique challenges faced by marginalized groups. Incel culture is inherently misogynistic and exclusionary, undermining the principles of equality and justice. Therefore, the ethical foundations of feminism and intersectionality stand in stark contrast to the harmful ideologies promoted within incel culture. By advocating for equality, justice, and inclusivity, feminism, and intersectionality work towards creating a more just and equitable society. Addressing the challenges posed by incel culture requires a multifaceted approach, including promoting healthy masculinity, countering harmful ideologies, and fostering inclusive dialogue.

The fundamental differences between incel culture and intersectional feminism underscore a significant ideological conflict. Incel culture is characterized by exclusionary and harmful beliefs, often rooted in misogyny and a sense of entitlement. In contrast, intersectional feminism is an inclusive movement that seeks justice and equality for all genders, recognizing the interconnected nature of various forms of oppression. Incel culture perpetuates misogyny and violence by fostering resentment towards women and society. This subculture often blames women for personal frustrations and failures, leading to a dangerous sense of victimhood and entitlement. The violent incidents associated with incel ideology highlight the real-world consequences of these harmful beliefs. Intersectional feminism aims to dismantle the systemic inequalities that underpin gender-based violence and discrimination. By advocating for equal rights and opportunities, feminism challenges traditional gender roles and promotes a more inclusive and just society. This movement recognizes that true equality requires addressing the unique experiences and challenges faced by marginalized groups. To create a more just and inclusive society, it is essential to address the root causes of masculine violence. This involves challenging cultural norms that promote dominance and control as aspects of traditional masculinity. Fostering healthy masculinity encourages emotional expression, empathy, and respect for all genders, reducing the prevalence of violence. Feminism challenges traditional gender roles by promoting the idea that all individuals, regardless of gender, should have the freedom to define their identities and pursue their goals without societal constraints. This shift towards gender equality can help reduce the backlash from those who feel threatened by changing social norms. Systemic change is crucial for addressing the root causes of gender-based violence and discrimination. Feminism advocates for legal and social reforms that protect victims, hold perpetrators accountable, and promote equality. These reforms include laws against domestic violence, sexual harassment, and other forms of abuse. By promoting equality and challenging harmful ideologies, feminism offers a path towards understanding and liberation from oppressive systems. Rejecting the patriarchal structures that perpetuate violence and discrimination can lead to a more inclusive and just society for all.

In summary, the ongoing struggle between incel culture and intersectional feminism highlights the need for a multifaceted approach to address gender-based violence and promote equality. By fostering healthy masculinity, challenging traditional gender roles, and advocating for systemic change, feminism provides a framework for creating a safer and more inclusive world.

[maxwellchi]

Academic Obsession: Advantages and Disadvantages

April 27, 2023 | by: Argel Yuna C. Diaz

Our future is somewhat dependent on our grades. Grades are typically what they'll consider when obtaining a scholarship from a desired school or being accepted into their dream jobs. It goes without saying that they are quite helpful as a way of obtaining a desired goal, therefore getting a higher grade is very beneficial. Some students focus too much on this idea in order to achieve the grades they desire because they perceive that in order to receive high grades, they must do well or extremely well in their academic performance. I am the kind of student who strives to get the best grades possible.

I wasn't a student who often focused on schoolwork, but I want to do everything in my capacity to get a high mark for my beloved mother. Thomas (2011) noted that financial worry, the need for academic recognition, parental attention, and internal pressure were the predictor variables within the research on student grade obsession. When my mother is happy with my grades, I am thrilled, which motivated me to work hard to raise better. Growing up, I also realized how important getting extremely high grades was, so I kept working extra hard to get them. I became so preoccupied with wanting to get outstanding and better results that I was oblivious to my fixation with it.

Obsessing over your studies may have benefits. You can receive good grades, which means you can pursue your chosen dream and spend your time and attention on it. However, these benefits may also be unhealthy. There have been times when I've gotten disappointed if I received a passing mark with a few minor errors because I want everything to be perfect. When I have nothing to do, there are times when I check my marks and feel dissatisfied. I additionally contemplate how poorly I performed in my previous academic endeavors. Being excessively focused on your studies has a lot of disadvantages as well.

It can be harmful to rely solely on students' grades as a measurement of success. I concentrated on this as a value rather than utilizing the advantages of getting good grades as motivation. I developed a strong fixation on my accomplishments and my comparisons to others, which made me feel less confident. If you focused solely on your grades, there are many more difficulties, but it largely harms your emotional and physical health. I became anxious and lost sight of why I was attending school, but thankfully I had my mother to talk to.

It took me some time to quit stressing over my academics; even now, I still struggle with it, but I just have to keep reminding myself that it's detrimental to my health. Stop and take a break if you feel anxious because you're excessively worrying about your grades. Be happy with your accomplishments of obtaining what you can and want. We should always keep in mind that we are more than simply our marks. If you ever feel stressed out over your grades, get in the habit of looking away from them and just unwind. Find an approach to improve it without spending too much time or jeopardizing your well-being rather than dwelling and hating what you've got instead.

An academic obsession develops when a student seeks attention, feels under pressure, or has any other personal motivations. It might be beneficial in certain ways, but it's really bad for one's health. It alters how pupils learn; they now more often memorize material than comprehend it. If you become aware of how critical of yourself is when it comes to your grades, try to communicate and be open with others. It might take some time since it's difficult to discuss this with other people and it's difficult to try to form a new habit, but the most crucial thing to you is the little steps and progress you make constantly.

References:

Thomas, J. (2011). Factors Relating to Student Grade Obsession: A Quantitative Correlational Study. Retrieved April 27, 2023, from https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED534698

[missmentelle]

What is c-ptsd? How is it different than ptsd?

Excellent question! 

In a “classic” case of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a person begins experiencing distressing symptoms after surviving a traumatic experience. This event is usually a short-term or one-time thing - the most common examples would be sexual assault, combat, miscarriage, the sudden death of a loved one, or a serious car accident. Usually symptoms start to develop within three months of the traumatic event, and include things like:

flashbacks or intrusive memories

nightmares

hyperarousal (constantly feeling jittery, or “on high alert”)

a desire to avoid reminders of the trauma or similar situations

feelings of hopelessness

feelings of detachment from family and friends

emotional numbness

self-destructive behaviour

difficulty sleeping

emotional outbursts

difficulty concentrating

overwhelming feelings of guilt or shame 

After the diagnosis of PTSD was finalized in 1980 (largely because of the huge influx of soldiers traumatized by the Vietnam war), clinicians started noticing that this disorder fit for people who had experienced one-time events, but it wasn’t as good a fit for people who had experienced prolonged interpersonal trauma, like years of constant child abuse. So the diagnosis of complex-PTSD (or c-ptsd) was created to better describe those cases. 

C-PTSD differs from PTSD in a couple of key ways:

It has different origins. Sufferers of c-ptsd were not abused one or two times - most people with c-ptsd were abused over the course of several years; in most cases, they were physically and/or sexually abused by a caretaker when they were children. 

Sufferers often struggle with relationships - they have a hard time identifying and responding to the emotions of others, they struggle with boundaries, and they often have enormous difficulties with trust. 

It comes with a host of cognitive issues - people with c-ptsd often struggle with processing new information, completing tasks, self-monitoring, planning, processing visual information, and linking cause and effect. 

C-PTSD is heavily associated with language delays. People with the disorder often struggle a great deal with all aspects of language - in particular, they tend to struggle with expressive language (putting their thoughts and feelings into words). 

People with C-PTSD often struggle with memory and consciousness - it is very common for them to have selective amnesia surrounding their trauma, and to experience long periods of depersonalization or dissociation. 

C-PTSD is associated with difficulties regulating emotion, to a greater degree than what we see in “regular” PTSD - sufferers may experience extreme mood swings, which include very serious episodes of suicidality or anger. 

Some people with C-PTSD (although not all) may experience sexual extremes - they may display hypersexuality, or extremely inhibited sexuality that may come with deep feelings of guilt or shame. 

C-PTSD often involves extreme struggles with personal identity - it’s common for people with this disorder to feel so “separate” from other people that they have a hard time even recognizing themselves as human. 

C-PTSD often carries extreme feelings of helplessness, where sufferers feel completely powerless over their own lives and have a difficult time initiating things. 

People who have C-PTSD are at great risk of being re-traumatized; they tend to gravitate towards abusive relationships like the ones that they experienced in childhood. People with PTSD do not display this tendency. 

Treatment for C-PTSD differs from treatment for “regular” PTSD - successful treatment requires addressing the issues they have with relationships and personal identity. 

It is important to keep in mind, though, that c-PTSD is not an officially recognized diagnosis; it has not been added to the DSM yet, as there is still a lot of debate about whether c-PTSD is a distinct disorder. There is some evidence to suggest that it might be, but it also bears some serious similarities to PTSD and borderline personality disorder; researchers are still untangling the complicated effects of child abuse and figuring out the best way to classify, diagnose and treat it. Some clinicians don’t use the term c-PTSD at all, and prefer to use the diagnosis of Disorder of Extreme Stress Not Otherwise Specified (DES-NOS), or Developmental Trauma Disorder (DTD). Other clinicians stick to the DSM and only use the diagnosis of PTSD. People rarely fit neatly into psychological categories, and it can be hard to tell sometimes when a person has a combination of several disorders or a separate disorder entirely. 

The good news is that if you have been diagnosed with PTSD when you feel you should be diagnosed with c-PTSD, you are not at a huge disadvantage - studies show that being diagnosed with a specific trauma disorder instead of generic PTSD doesn’t actually change your treatment outcomes. PTSD is such an incredibly variable disorder that no two cases of it look exactly alike; anyone who struggles with trauma should be receiving a customized treatment plan that addresses their specific symptoms, whether they have a diagosis of c-PTSD or PTSD. The specific terms that your clinician uses often have more to do with what your insurance company wants than with the treatment they plan to give you - so long as you feel comfortable with your clinician and the treatment is helping you, the specific diagnosis is a secondary concern. If you ever have questions about your diagnosis, be sure to talk to your mental health professional and ask them to clarify anything that you are wondering about.  Hope this answers your question! MM

[asmallnerd]

Autistic Shoto Todoroki

The analysis

First off, I would like to say that this is purely a passion project. I am not a professional, I am an autistic teenager and I’m just very interested in this character because I heavily relate to him. I’ve collected some scenes from the manga and two specific things from the third light novel.

If you could boost this (if you’re interested that’d be great because while I really enjoy doing this it does take a lot of time! With that being said let’s dive into this and I hope you find this interesting!

Could Shoto Todoroki be autistic? Here is why I think he absolutely could.

Emotional perception

Let’s start with one of the most obvious things about his character. The emotional factor.

Shoto doesn’t emote in the way his peers do. Now, of course this also plays into the brooding mysterious guy archetype, but that’s not what we’re talking about.

Shoto’s face is typically relatively neutral, this is apparent from the moment we first meet him and while he does tend to express his emotions more clearly later in the story, it doesn’t ever really change. Something that immediately comes to mind is how in chapter 202 Iida asks if Shoto is alright because Iida noticed his expression change (because he knows him very well by this point). Ojiro points out that he did not notice this, since Shoto’s face barely changes at all.

We see Shoto in a lot of situations where his peers show excitement while his expression remans completely flat. This lack of emoting is something extremely common in people with autism. It’s not that they don’t have emotions or don’t express them at all, they just do it in a way that is hard to understand for people outside the spectrum or those who don’t know the autistic individual very well. They often struggle to understand what emotion they’re feeling in the first place and of course it’s hard to express feelings if you don’t know what you’re feeling.

Shoto doesn’t only show difficulty expressing his emotions but also recognizing those of other people. One of the best examples of this is the final exam arc, where he gets paired up with Yaoyorozu. In chapter 63 specifically, he doesn’t realize that Yaoyorozu is upset about something even though to someone else it’d probably have been obvious. Only when Aizawa points out that he should listen to her does he notice that he’s been doing something wrong. Shoto didn’t notice she was upset, and he didn’t notice he was being rude.

Emotions and emotional responses are continuously shown to be difficult for Shoto to handle. What he has absolutely no issues with, on the other hand, are academics. Of course, we can naturally assume that he’s been drilled to study hard from a very young age, but he is also extremely intelligent outside of the classroom. During the sports festival he is the first person shown to figure out that the obstacle course poses a lot more disadvantages to the people in the lead, during the practical exam, he is able to come up with a solid strategy very quickly.

During the training camp arc, him and Deku are the ones to come up with a strategy to protect Bakugo on the spot. He also doesn’t seem to consider his intelligence anything special. A lot of autistic people tend to assume that other people’s experiences align with their own. This can be seen when he seems surprised about Denki worrying that he’ll fail the written final exam. He asks how he could possibly fail if he’s been attending class, like the concept is entirely foreign to him (also there’s about a 0% chance this was a joke because this is Shoto we’re talking about.) He is very good at logical problem solving but emotional issues seem to stump him.

Literacy and verbal filters

Moving on, another big factor that Shoto seems to struggle with is his tendency to be overly literal and very blunt. There are several instances where he says things that we as readers as well as other characters perceive as insensitive. Once again, his interaction with Denki about the final exams (chapter 60) can be an example. He didn’t seem to think it was inappropriate and because this is Shoto, he didn’t ask to tease him either. Denki even points out that this was insensitive to say. A more subtle example is his conversation with Izuku in chapter 73, when they talk about Kota. His overall phrasing is fine, but he remains very blunt and direct and essentially ends up telling Izuku that his tendency to cut to people’s hearts with his words is annoying.

My personal favorite for an example can be found in chapter 83, in the hospital after the training camp, when the class visits Izuku, Shoto points out that “Of course Bakugo isn’t here.” Needless to say, he couldn’t possibly have timed this statement any worse. It wasn’t necessary in the first place, but he didn’t register it as something inappropriate to say.

One example of not him being unintentionally rude but just showing a different approach to telling the truth is seen in the third light novel. The fifth chapter revolves around the class preparing a birthday party for Iida. At one point, Sato asks if Iida has food allergies out of nowhere. Iida naturally asks why he needs to know this, Shoto is immediately ready to answer the question honestly, which would have spoiled the surprise, had Izuku not stepped in.

Autistic people often have trouble seeing whether something is or isn’t appropriate to say. Neurotypical people’s brains have a filtering process, it helps them be aware of possible responses to a statement. This filtering process is not functional or only limited in autistic people.

Shoto is also overly literal. In chapter 57, he gets upset over his friends continuously getting their hands hurt and refers to himself as “the hand crusher”. He is very serious about this and does not understand how Iida and Izuku could possibly think he was joking.

In chapter 164, he answers Gang Orca’s metaphoric question entirely seriously. During the interview training in chapter 241 he first seems confused by the made-up mission in the first place. He then proceeds to ask Mt Lady if she has a heart condition when she uses the phrase “My heart would burst out of my chest”. Finally, he appears genuinely horrified when she calls him a “lady killer” (“My smile will kill women..?!”)

In chapter 257, when Mineta claims school talk will “ruin the taste of the food”, Shoto simply says it tastes the same to him, to which Mineta proceeds to call him out for being overly literal.

Autistic people typically struggle to understand jokes and sarcasm, in fact, it’s often one of the main characteristics in people with an ASD diagnosis.

Overfamiliarity and Oversharing

Shoto’s tendency to overshare is another thing that is very typical foe ASD.

He doesn’t seem to understand that telling his life story to a classmate he’s barely interacted with prior is not exactly an appropriate thing to do. He repeats this later with All Might and, most notably, in chapter 165, when talking to the preschoolers during his provisional licensing course.

He also seems to have a slightly different perception of what makes someone friends than his classmates. As shown in chapter 241, to him, spending time with Bakugo during the licensing course is enough to deem them friends. Even when Bakugo points out that there is no correlation between the time spent together and friendship, he still doesn’t seem to understand.

Autistic people tend to become overly familiar and are easily attached to people if they perceive just one of their interactions as positive.

Attachment to inanimate things

This is something not really shown in the manga, but noteworthy, nonetheless. We know that Shoto, upon moving into the dorm building, remodeled his entire room from a modern, more western style room, into a traditional Japanese style one. The second chapter of the third novels goes into depth about why he did this. Shoto was entirely dumbstruck and thrown off by how different the room is from what he was used to. He knew the traditional Japanese rooms from home and his brain assumed that the dorms would be the same. He felt like the different style was wrong. He doesn’t like the unfamiliar flooring and even a small thing like the positioning of the light switch bother him.

He’s not comfortable in the unfamiliar environment, so he decides to change it.

Autistic people often struggle to adjust to changes. In environment and routine. They feel most comfortable in a well established and familiar routine, that includes the feel of their living space. A change of environment this drastic would be extremely stressful for someone on the spectrum.

Another thing that isn’t particularly obvious but does make sense when considered is that Shoto seems to have a comfort food (cold soba). While he’s never shown or stated to be a picky eater he does seem to opt for the same food whenever he gets the chance. Autistic people often have a very restricted diet due to sensory processing issues that apply to food textures, smells and taste.

Additional points

Shoto seems to be a little face blind. He doesn’t know who Kota is when Izuku mentions him, which seems to genuinely surprise Izuku. He also didn’t remember Inasa at all despite them having been at the same entrance exam.

In chapter 202 he’s shown completely zoning out. Of course, this can happen to anyone, I just found it interesting because it was shown so clearly, making it obvious that it was something we should pay attention to.

In the novel chapter in which he remodels his room it is also mentioned that the feeling of synthetic floor against his feet upsets him.

Shoto also seems relatively indifferent to temperature. Of course, that would correlate to his quirk as well, but it is also common for autistic people to struggle with temperature perception as well as other things that neurotypical people don’t struggle to recognize like hunger or thirst. This specifically applies to situations where you would typically end up in pain like, for example, frostbite. Shoto would obviously be used tot his but him showing no reaction at all to his body halfway freezing over was a little unnerving.

He also is shown to be relatively uninterested in certain social events like for example the room competition after the class moves into the dorms. He doesn’t want to be there; he’d rather go to sleep. In the beginning he also shows clear disinterest in making friends with his classmates. Both very typical things for people on the spectrum.

In chapter 244, Hawks asks Shoto a question in a way that seems to confuse him so much he can’t even form a coherent response. [Hawks: “Seemed like you were in trouble, Endeavor.” Endeavor: “Me? Not a chance.” Hawks: “But it seemed that way, didn’t it, Shoto?” Shoto: “Um..I…uh…”]

He probably didn’t register if Hawks actually wanted him to answer or not.

In chapter 64 he mistakes Yaoyorozu crying for her feeling sick, horribly misreading her expressions.

This last point is more personal than the rest, watching his reactions to Endeavor’s fight with the Nomu in chapter 190 made me think of the stress progression that often causes autistic shutdowns. Shoto was clearly becoming more and more stressed as he was watching and once it was over simply seemed to shut down. That is a very typical response to emotional distress or overstimulation in autistic people.

Final disclaimer

This is purely for my own entertainment; it is not meant to be offensive to anyone and I am not saying that this is absolutely what is going on. I’m simply elaborating on a theory/headcanon that I have. That being said, if you have questions feel free to drop them in the ask box, I’d be thrilled!

[blazenhearts]

The only people who have ever brought up accessibility issues with build mart are the stans of the Dream Team. None of the actual players have said anything except for a couple of times, and that was when change happened. After players were struggling to tell which blocks were which, Noxcrew added block titles so everyone could see what block they were looking at without it being invasive. If any player has a problem with being overwhelmed during the game, they can take it up with Noxcrew. The fans don’t need to complain for the players, they can do that themselves.

If it’s accessibility you’re worried about, I could argue just about every game in MCC is inaccessible and hostile to certain players in some capacity. Parkour Tag and Battle Box require coordination and cool nerves under pressure, which is inaccessible to players who have wrist/hand mobility and coordination issues and have extreme anxiety, for example. The issue is not that Build Mart is particularly inaccessible compared to other games, just that it’s a game that several players with large audiences dislike and continue to voice their distaste for the game publicly (which they’re allowed to do). It does have memorization aspects, yes, but so do games like Battle Box, where players can memorize certain strategies for certain maps, or Ace Race, where they can memorize the fastest route to get somewhere. The only difference is there is no defined group-hate towards these games, even though they have aspects that could be hostile to a large number of players.

The only people who have brought up accessibility issues with build mart are the stans of the Dream Team.

I have seen a lot of of Dream Team stans talk about inaccessibility. I think a lot of that comes from seeing how frustrated they get whenever buildmart comes up, especially considering we watch george, whos colorblindness is incredibly severe, and dream, whose spoken about how his ADHD negatively impacts his performance in buildmart a lot. But just because it seems like a particular group is more vocal about it doesn't negate that fact that inaccessibility is the issue. If I had to watch any cc struggle with a game that they literally cannot approve upon because of their disability, I would advocate for it to be removed.

Noxcrew did add block titles, but what's the range? Non colorblind players can easily look at a block and name the color from across the map, but colorblind players would have to over within range to come to the same conclusion.

The fans don't need to complain for the players, they can do that for themselves

Of course they can which is why I also brought up the fact that as a viewer it can be overwhelming. Also the reason I posted it here in tumblr and didn't tag anyone. I'm not fighting battles for the players; I'm pointing out how ableistic buildmart is.

I could argue just about every game in MCC is inaccessible compared and hostile towards certain players

Buildmart is a game you can't practice. Also games like battle box and ace race are games that players can improve on. Pvp isn't your strong suit? Practice, talk to pvp players. Ace race tridents messing you up? There's a map that you can practice on! You're colorblind and literally cannot see the difference between lim and yellow concrete unless you go all the way up to the block? ... what do you do then?

It's not that other games aren't hostile or that other games don't put certain players at a disadvantage. It's the fact that there's no way currently for colorblind and nd players to improve.

The only difference is that there's no defined group-hate towards these games

I wouldn't mind if other games got called out for inaccessibility, there's always room for improvement. And calling out when games are punishing players for things they cannot control is not a bad thing. If you see something that should be changed, talk about it. Every person's accommodations are different and they over lap, especially with large diverse groups of people so not every game is going to be each players best, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't call out games that are fundamentally putting people with particular disabilities at a disadvantage.

Buildmart ,as it currently is, is a memory game in which being able to quickly identify colors is a huge advantage which makes it an inaccessible game to nd player/players that struggle with short term memory and players that are colorblind.

[youuuimeanmee]

"How long until you stop pretending that everything that has happened to you in the past has been resolved? Walking away from a problem doesn't fix anything. They'll either stay in the same place or they'll follow you, but they won't disappear."

These words from the latest chapter is like a smack in the face. This certainly pushed me to re-read earlier episodes with new context. It makes me reconsider a lot of Nol's behavior, like, maybe Nol's guilt towards Shinae has started long before the formal. What I mean is, the party incident might be the last nail in the coffin, but Nol's low self-worth for her might have started long before that. And as usual, his feeling for Shinae always connects with Kousuke. This is what I mean when I said I couldn't separate Nol, Shinae, and Kousuke before, so I guess I'll just go with it.

⚠️This is not a meta. I'm just dumping my interpretation of the episodes that catches me. I might as well call it "Nolan's POV" since I couldn't get better words to call this post.

1. Episode 22-23

This is probably the start of it all. Nol wanted to escape the school life full of fake people, but he ended up troubling his friends. Nol only taunted Shinae so he could've had fun with her, but she passed out as the result. He knew she was pushing herself, he never thought she would push this hard just to get the food he jokingly bet on. Was his quick reaction really just his nature to be quick on his feet, or did he get reminded of his traumatic past? It's convenient we couldn't see Nol's perspective after Shinae fell, even though Quim already elaborated Nol's observation and his fast response to the fall. Nol's feeling is very telling in the next episode though; he feels so bad, he sacrificed his freedom just so Kousuke could get her some food. He also genuinely thanked him for it. At first I was as confused as Kousuke were (Nol's at disadvantage here, why is he thanking him?), but now, I just realized how much Nol is feeling guilty for her.

2. Episode 25-33

Last night still affected Nol: Even though he's uncomfortable to be alone with Kousuke, he didn't ask Shinae to accompany him anymore, unlike last time. He didn't want to bother her; hence the hostility he showed Kousuke when he asked her to join them (maybe I should return to this later, it's probably way more than that since he distrusts Kou so much). But the way Shinae lighten up the situation, even with Kousuke around, gave him a little hope that maybe, working with the Hirahara won't be so bad anymore if he's with her.

On the other hand, Kousuke is being oddly nice. He returned him to his nana's house, agreed to not immediately jumped on to Yui's health facility, agreed to eat a burger with hands despite his extreme discomfort, and took the trouble to buy him food personally. Kousuke has been trying to treat him nicer, so those little actions gave him a little hope that maybe, Kousuke has changed. Shinae's application resonated with his feeling and motivated him to make his family accepted him once more. He has been avoiding any Hirahara affairs due to his trauma but this time, maybe he'd like to give it a shot.

Shinae has accepted his friendship offer. She is going to work with him, which means he can breathe a little easier. Kousuke also treated him differently than all those years. If he keeps being useful to the family, maybe things will finally change right?

3. Episode 43-45

This is probably where Nol realized Shinae is desperate for money. She already told her condition in the burger place, she tutored his friends, she asked him about Yui, she applied at his company, and now already worked at Wac even before she heard the news. (Remember, he has good memory). He tried to help his friend who's struggling to keep her facade, but despite his effort with best intention in mind, Shinae berated him how he makes her uncomfortable when he already has a gf so he should know his place.

First Kousuke is sending him home early again, now Shinae. Nol is probably reminded once again that his sincerity is always misinterpreted by other people. It's like he's unneeded. But still, he knew Shinae has a point. He isn't aware how a man with a girlfriend supposed to act, because he couldn't even reach his "girlfriend." He realized he may be desperate for some sort of connection with someone. He shouldn't be selfish. Shinae's words hurts him so he decided to back off for now.

🚩 : Feeling misunderstood, feeling unneeded.

And then, he checked Shinae's application.

Nol found out Kousuke is using Shinae's application to make him work. He is pissed for trusting Kousuke has changed, yet he felt he should've known better that his friends would dragged to his family's affairs. He's extremely disappointed in Kousuke -though it's not something new, yet, he couldn't blame him after listening to his reason. But still. This is the first time after a while that Nol genuinely wanted to try again with his family. Nol knew Kousuke would never appreciate him no matter what he's doing but, was he wrong for hoping otherwise? Nol is crushed. He failed to win Kousuke's trust despite trying his best, he made Shinae uncomfortable by his friendship, he lead her on with a false hope, only to find out she couldn't get a decent job because of him. Forget about making new connections, people will eventually suffer because of him. It's like the world is telling him "Stop trying." He's exhausted.

🚩: Disappointment, hopelessness, self-blame.

And then, Shinae came, asking him if he's okay.

Her previous words might be the least worry in his mind (because he knew she has a point), yet she still apologized for it. Even though he's the one who constantly forced his way onto her, she said she appreciated him. The fact that she told him what he could improve means she gave him a second chance; she trusted him. This is huge coming from a person who has trust issues, and also huge for the person who's used at being rejected. Nol is conflicted, he didn't know if he should accept her trust when he's the one who make her life more difficult without her knowing it. To him, Shinae is kind; he didn't deserve it. He's glad Shinae didn't cut him off, but at the same time, his guilt prevented him from truly accepting her. He's probably feel bummed too that he couldn't do more for her (this part I think, plays a huge role in episode 93; he learned to be persistent with his ways without making the other party uncomfortable --the taco scene). Shinae's kindness to him despite her own problems (working part-time, problem with her dad) made him determined to be better for her sake.

🚩 : Guilt, facade.

4. Episode 47

Kousuke and Nol's disagreement from the night before didn't stop Nol from trying. He still wanted to work to prove himself. And yet, he was fired without any good reason, without him knowing. Even after he came all the way to continue working, Kousuke still rejected him, so his bitterness towards him hasn't disappeared yet.

🚩 : Desperation.

5. Episode 49-53

That night, Nol had to attend a party he didn't like. His father reprimanded him as usual, and he found out that apparently, he quitted work because of a friend -which is false, but he couldn't find himself to refute. His father didn't let him explain and instead, ordered him to wait for Alyssa --it's as if he's never worth anything more than an idol's boyfriend. He's forced to break his promise to Shinae (keeping her food), even though he's already determined to make her feel better. Kousuke's irritating false concern didn't help. Yui opened his trauma again by touching his face and serving him tea. To make things worse, his supposed-to-be-girlfriend greeted him half-assedly, even though they haven't met for a long time. She has gone completely to the Hirahara's side.

🚩: Abuse, isolation.

6. Episode 55

The night constantly told him to "Give up." He only got Shinae by his side, but he couldn't lean on her. Not only because she already had enough shit to handle, but he also didn't want to drag her to his problem more than he already has. Besides, Shinae has been too good by staying as his friend even though he has been a burden to her (forcing his friendship, not respecting her boundaries, ruining her chance) so he couldn't ask for more.

🚩 : Low self-worth.

Nol tried to be a better friend for Shinae. He tried to make her comfortable with whatever means: respecting her boundary, comforting her with make-up and food, cheering her up during her dance, and giving back her jacket. Seeing her first smile of the night eased his guilt a little bit; maybe feeling a little bittersweet that he can only be useful when he's supporting from the sidelines. Still though, it's not like it makes him feel okay. He tried to be strong, but he couldn't really do it given how shitty he felt because of his family and his girlfriend. His mask cracked. Friendship is supposed to be two-ways right? He needs some sort of consolation that he's not really alone.

He didn't want to lose her. Remember that he's good at tying things up together. The fact that Shinae is here, in Kim's private party, means she got involved with Kousuke or Yui. She stubbornly stayed despite her great discomfort means she owed them something -probably money-related. When he came back, he found her dancing with Kousuke. He just knew his family would target his friend to control him. It's similar with Alyssa's case, how she's swayed by Hirahara's offer and then left his side. In his suffocating life, he's afraid Shinae would do the same. But. Who is he to stop her from doing what she wants? If anything, the Hiraharas probably helped her more than he ever could, just like Alyssa. He should've supported her as her friend. In the end he didn't want to worry her so he stopped.

🚩 : Fear of abandonment.

TLDR; I honestly don't know what to make from this post. I guess I just want to vent what I thought was Nol's pain and how much I'm hurting after re-reading the old episodes with the new perspective. Like, the string of events really leads you to an unavoidable crash in episode 65. The way Shinae is angry for his sake --even though she doesn't have to, even apologizing for snapping even though it's not her fault, is just heartbreaking for him (and me too). It really cemented his believe that he's pathetic (useless), a complete waste of time, and she should find someone better.

Aside from that, episode 23, 44 and 55 blow me away. I never realized how much guilt Nol carry for Shinae, I never thought Nol's disappointment towards Kousuke would be this deep, and I thought Nol was simply jealous of Kousuke when he danced with Shinae, when in fact, he's been sending Shinae SOS the whole time. Quimchee's story-telling ability is just superb.

This is just how I read him now. Maybe there's other interpretation? What do you think?

[noobsomeexagerjunk]

Always Shine and Redefine Our Humanity

How Eret Contributes to the Dream SMP's Narrative Themes of Change and Self-Discovery

I can’t believe listening to a song from a fairly obscure but growing musical (where I took this post’s title from) would prompt me to inspect Eret’s character more but here we are. I will heavily use @theeretblr's (whom you should subscribe to, btw) Character Explanation thread as a basis, as well as statements about their character from their most recent streams and things that I have gathered from other essays by people who clearly have been watching from the start.

This will include sentiments and theories I want for the character because I kinda got attached to them as of late. Please keep in mind that I have been watching since around Late November-Early December, so my biases would be appropriate to such a viewer.

This essay is a discussion of the roleplay character.

1. Eret is Self-Preserving & Versatile in Skill (and this is why they're powerful)

"Those who are given Power hold on to it."

Something I’ve observed concerning Eret’s Betrayal of L’Manburg was their motivations for doing so. For a time they have believed that power and security mattered. For a time their interests went first. CC!Eret referred to the choice as "an offer no one would refuse" as well. This wasn't just luxury and (they didn't know it at the time, but false) power, it was the protection they would be allowed to have by the admin of the server. It was being allowed to do whatever they wanted, despite the means to it being dishonorable and interestingly enough, demanding of permission.

Eret was willing to do anything to remain secure and equipped, and I argue that they still do until now. The difference is that now, they are more concerned about how they maintain their security in that they wouldn't hurt other people or be extremely unethical in the pursuit of this security.

Also, they're privy to grinding when it's necessary, they know how to build structure and contraption, and they can hold their own fairly well. They're very well-spoken and can deliver on appearances and ambiance, excellent at both comforting and intimidating whomever they choose. They had to have been this skilled for a while.

2. Eret has a Forgotten History (of bringing down powerful groups of people, apparently)

"Those who don't know History are doomed to repeat it."

So remember that interaction with Foolish? I want to bring this up because I feel that having particularly close ties with a God of Undying/Death has implications.

Foolish also brings up "taking care of [a] Wither cult"—an organized group! Wasn't Eret known for taking down an organized group on the server? L'Manburg, at its founding. He was part of the rebellion against Manburg. He was against the Eggpire. Yep, that's a pattern.

What does this mean? Well:

Eret's hands were never clean from the start, clearly before the Final Control room, and it can be inferred that they're redder than they seem

Eret's tendencies towards self-preservation may have been influenced/learned from Foolish

Eret may have had (if they still don't do) an inclination to pursue power through the dismantling of organized groups that also seek/already have established power

Eret's current skills are the way they are due to his past

And we cannot forget the CC confirmation that c!Eret has relations with Herobrine, the infamous Minecraft urban legend known for the horror he brings and how many lovers of Minecraft frame him as this terrifying powerhouse entity beyond human comprehension. This relation is still a mystery, but from what we know, it can tell us a lot about what Eret has forgotten about himself and what Eret is capable of!

3. Eret is Concerned by What People (though only those that matter to him) Think of Her

"I think Respect is a big thing."

In light of her power, we have to remember that Eret regretted pursuing power upon recognizing the loss of respect and friendship that came with the throne. This becomes a much stronger detriment when she realizes that the power she thought she had never actually existed in the first place—one can say she would dread pursuing power for herself again. To subject oneself to the standards of others after all is to subject yourself under constant scrutiny.

In her regrets, she learns and realizes what she wants—to be loved and cared for, to be truly alive with her loved ones. It's why she decides to improve herself, and she works and makes the effort to try! She struggled (and still does) in the process of pursuing forgiveness, illustrating that her determination towards an end is very strong, gradual as it may be.

It's how she looks up to Wilbur! Still! I reckon the two believe they're responsible for the other. Change! What an incredible thing the two are able to do.

4. Eret Knows What He Wants (but is struggling to figure out how to get it)

"That was a long time ago. I've changed things and I know not to break people's trust anymore."

One of Eret’s biggest concerns right now in Season 3 is his relationship with the Crown, mixed and fickle it seems based on his streams during this time. His kingship carries more and more weight each passing day, debating whether forgoing the effort and spilled blood Eret had to get the Crown is worth it. (I mean, he accepted the restoration of his Kingship when George got dethroned.)

The Kingship is still power, and it's become true power after Dream had been put in prison. We know he's admitted being deathly afraid of Dream, so this period of genuine Kingship would be incredibly special to him. Ever since he's been finding ways to make his kingship genuinely meaningful, redefining the evils the Crown used to have by doing good to whomever sincerely, freely, and willingly. He's attempted allyhood with like-minded individuals based on his judgment of their character. Remember his Knights? These consisted of HBomb, Puffy, and Punz, each of which exhibited behaviors (predilection for community, dedication to duty, moral neutrality) he has as well!

But yet, the blood spilled for that Crown still stains him, and it cannot be denied that it will continue to do so for as long as Eret wears the crown. I wonder if he believes this, whether a part of him does deep down. Dream being in jail doesn't just mean freedom to be a king but freedom to quite literally be yourself, whatever it may be.

5. For these reasons, Eret Represents Constant Self-Actualization and Rediscovery

"I'm a strong, independent...whatever the fuck I am."

Given the points established above, Eret is unfamiliar with her full self and wants to shape herself into someone desirable and genuinely contributing kindness to a clearly broken world, a world whose brokenness she also happened to contribute to.

Her enthusiasm for History and the pursuit of enlightenment speaks volumes to this motivation. It's her repeated, dedicated efforts to try and try and try and try, to be better! Not just to be a better person herself but for everyone else to be able to be better too! She's aware that perfection is impossible, but clearly recognizes that constant reevaluation of the self is nonetheless necessary.

It's how she's open to engaging with as many people as possible despite differing opinions and carried baggage. She researches and explores and examines! She does no harm but takes no shit.

Every facet of her, to the terror her eyes have been known to give, to the air of affirmation radiating in her domain of a Pride castle, to the blood that decorates her fingers, to the people she has given support to, to the people she has disadvantaged, to the History she keeps, to the part of herself she no longer remembers, to the power she carries—Eret knows how to be truly alive.

[pirate-prince-skye]

Essay under the cut. It’s for my world lit class and I had to include Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own, and an academic source, but my professor said I could do most of it on black sails so :/ yeah. I might have got some of the details wrong bc I haven’t watches bc in years but I’m pretty happy with this. (black sails parts in bold)

Intersectionality and Living on the Margins Intersectionality is defined as “The interconnected nature of social categories such as race, class, and gender as they apply to a given individual or group, regarded as creating overlapping and interdependent systems of discrimination and disadvantage.” But there’s much more to it than that, a complicated system of gathering and blocking prejudice that almost seems like something out of a video game, with no way of knowing outright which identities will be enough to save you from being marginalized, and which ones will attach to each other, pushing that social stigma further to the extreme. Virginia Woolf’s “A Room of One’s Own” explores the theme of intersectionality, and in more ways than one, as Woolf reflects the complex and compounding nature of intersectionality theory in the very structure of her work. But more than being present in one example, or existing in the mind of one historical writer, intersectionality theory has had a place in history for as long as people have noticed differences amongst each other to exploit. The same ideas continue to be important today, where our interconnected and socially conscious world is waking up to all the ways those differences overlap and interact with one another, and now more than ever, we have the resources and space to discuss them. “A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction.” Says Virginia Woolf. In her book, “A Room of One’s Own,” Woolf outlines all the reasons she thinks all women who wish to write should have a physical and social space of their own to do it in, and argues that such a space is necessary for women to succeed in the literary world. Women throughout history have struggled to get their voices heard, a trend that sadly has continued to today. However, in the late 19th and early 20th century, many women also wouldn’t have had the means to support themselves. Woolf recognizes the position of women in society, as well as their need for additional space and time in order to operate on the same playing field as men, especially when trying to enter the world as a writer. However, there are further struggles some women have in even getting to that point. While upper class women may have the funds and free time to write freely, poor women would have to work much harder for the opportunity, and the combination of those two identities may prevent them from writing altogether. Not to mention being a black woman, who may be denied the property if she had the money, or an openly queer woman, who may have a hard time getting anyone to listen to her work once published. In a study conducted earlier this year on intersectionality, results found that “Overall, the prevalence of sufficient leisure time physical activity was highest among men, individuals with white skin colour, and among those in the highest group of education and income.” Men, white people, educated people, and people with more disposable income are all groups with privilege. Among high income, white, educated men, the average amount that had sufficient physical activity was 48%, while for low income, nonwhite, less educated women was just 9.8%. Many factors contributed to this difference. Money allows for time, and education for more money. Men and white people both get more opportunities, and with both identities, someone could benefit from both identities, effectively doubling their privilege. Women and people of color, however, are both marginalized communities, which tend to get less opportunity. By combining these two identities, the reverse happens, and the struggles that an individual would face for either identity overlap to create something much more difficult to overcome. One great example of this overlapping marginalization can be seen in Black Sails, a television series about the pirates of Nassau, a town on New Providence Island in the Bahamas, set in the early 18th century. The show includes real historical pirates alongside characters from treasure island, as well as ones original to the story of Black Sails. All of these characters end up on the island for different reasons, but for the most part the little town acts as a refuge for those cast out by society. The main cast features queer people, disabled people, and people of color, all who would have not been treated well in mainstream English society. With all of these social issues, as well as the general piratey pushback on society, a lot of these identities run into each other in ways the history books wouldn’t have been as quick to show us. One of the central characters in Black Sails is Max, a prostitute who works in the brothel frequented by all the pirates of Nassau. Of course, there is much more to Max as a person than how she makes a living. Over the course of the story, the show explores her relationships, fears, and goals, and we get to see her grow and change as much as anyone else in the show. But society only sees her for what’s on the surface, and it’s that same judgemental society that put her there in the first place. When asked about her past, Max describes a lonely childhood. Born to a rich white father and a black mother who he wasn’t married to, Max was unwelcome from an early age. She spent much of her early years outside the home, neglected by her father. However her position in society wasn’t only affected by her race, but also her gender. If Max were born a white woman, she would have been brought up as part of the family. She would have been given an opportunity for an education, at least the amount upper class women would have been allowed at the time. She would have had the chance to engage in high society, despite not being able to make waves in it. If Max were born as a mixed-race man, on the other hand, she would have had an easier time finding work. As a man, Max would have had more opportunity to find “honest” work, and make a living for herself without the social stigma that comes along with working in a brothel. As a mixed-race woman, Max is both left out by her family and unable to find respectable work on her own. One of the only options left for some stability and freedom in her life is to free to a pirate island and work in a profession that isn’t well respected, even in their society. Max’s livelihood, and the events that lead up to it, happened specifically because she was a black woman living in the 18th century, and wouldn’t have happened without the intersection of those two identities. Another example of intersectionality in black sails can be seen in Captain Flint. Flint is a fearsome pirate, and one of two captains consistently bringing in the most money for the island. But, like a lot of the other characters, he isn’t there by choice. When Flint was younger, then called James McGraw, he had a relationship with a man named Thomas Hamiilton, and to an extent, with Thomas’s wife Miranda. Knowing society at the time, the three of them were able to keep things quiet. One day, however, Thomas’s father was over for dinner, and after criticizing his son, James spoke out rather loudly in his defense. Thomas’s father figured out pretty quickly there was something between them, and a little while later, Thomas, the main target of his father’s prejudice, was taken to an institution in order to “fix” him. From there, it is implied that Thomas commits suicide. James and Miranda, in the wake of this, have their lives upended. James loses his job in the military, and both are cast out of polite London society. Many of their relationships are threatened, and they are forced to move with the hope of starting new lives. Throughout all this pain, unbelievably, James and Miranda are quite lucky. While they experienced marginalization and were pushed out of society based on attitudes on sexuality at the time, they were spared even more of it because of the privilege they both held. James was well respected, a lieutenant in the military, and Miranda came from a wealthy family. That meant James ended up losing his job over the scandal, rather than going to prison, and Miranda brought with her the money and connections that allowed the two of them to start over. While they both endured great pain, these assets acted as a sort of social buffer, keeping them from further harm. With the intersection of marginalized sexuality and preferable social class, one was able to save them from the other. Race, class, gander, and all sorts of other things come together to make up who we are. When these identities intersect, they interact in unique and often unexpected ways, changing people’s lives exponentially more than any one of them would do on their own. When these marginalized identities intersect, it creates new spaces that are infinitely more complex to navigate, and to understand. And when they intersect with identities that hold privilege, those kinds of conversations take a different direction, the more socially acceptable parts of a person taking the front  and acting as a shield for all of the pieces of those individuals that would be hidden or ostracized otherwise. Intersectionality theory gives us valuable insight into these overlapping and ever-changing worlds, and, like the stories of struggling women writers, and vengeful, forgotten pirates, begins to explore what it truly means to live on the margins.

[randomtwstuff]

TWST - What They Hate + Why

Warning: kinda long, definitely unnecessary. Don’t mind me.

Riddle - rule violations; it’s been explained in his backstory in chapter 1 but he’s had basically every part of his life formed around obedience and following rules set out for him, so it makes sense that witnessing someone else go against that sort of thing would probably set him off

Trey - not having brushed his teeth before bed; Listen. I honestly have no idea why this boy like his teef so damn much. But thinking about it, him being around sweets all the time probably makes him wary of getting cavities. So there’s that.

Cater - sucking up to his older sisters; Completely understandable from a younger sibling’s standpoint.

Deuce - limited time sales; Another one that’s hard to understand without character context. But to me, this reflects on his inability to think of solutions in a pinch, and how stressing such situations probably are for him.

Ace - indecisiveness; Boy likes having a plan. Can’t argue with that. Also, his quickfire personality definitely contributes.

Leona - playing with children; And yet, he’s still a beloved uncle. But in all honesty, someone who radiates this strong of a tsundere vibe will automatically be reluctant to involve themselves in overtly emotional situations, such as anything dealing with kids.

Ruggie - being at a disadvantage; My boy’s from the streets, and most definitely has been in enough bad situations to warrant not wanting to experience such a situation again.

Jack - fighting without reason; He’s got a strong sense of justice, and works hard to get anywhere - especially grades - so doing things without a worthy reason or otherwise wasting time over starting drama and fights is against his personality. Good good boy.

Azul - relying on luck; He’s worked extremely hard at everything he’s ever done to get where he is now, and relies on his own learned methods and tools to get jobs done. So, it would make sense that relying on luck, or witnessing someone else rely on luck (and even worse, succeeding), drills directly into his being.

Jade - predictable and expected things; He and Floyd have said time and time again that if Azul were to become boring, they would leave him. And although Jade doesn’t have nearly as erratic a personality as his brother, they are close enough in motive that his sense of adventure and excitement would prevent him from being around anything overly boring - thus his trips up mountains and collecting weird mushrooms.

Floyd - shackles; I’m uncertain if this means shackles as in the object, or shackles as in he hates being restricted in any way, but I feel like it might be the second one. Floyd is a very, very free spirit whose ever-changing personality makes him unpredictable in every way. So, it fits that any method of restraint - mental or physical - would clash heavily with him.

Kalim - eating by himself; Why would anyone ever let him be alone??? My poor boy???? Alone??????????!?!?AaaaaaaAAAAA - But in all seriousness, it makes sense considering he’s probably spent a significant amount of his life surrounded by people, and the idea of having to go to a meal (or probably anything) completely alone would make him sad.

Jamil - touching bugs; Now, is it just the touching part, or do bugs in general...bug him? sorry not sorry Because both the situation of him calling in someone else to take care of a bug - maybe Yuu - because he doesn’t want to be anywhere near it should it try to crawl on him, and the situation of him freezing up at seeing one or shrieking when one lands on him are just so fucking funny. (I don’t really have any explanation for his feelings toward bugs since a lot of people hate bugs.)

Vil - intentional negligence; I had to look this word up I’m so fucking dumb Vil takes things like self care very seriously - even if his ‘routine’ is a bit lengthy and he seems harsh at times about it - and as such having to witness someone intentionally leaving themselves in a state of disarray because they simply don’t care about it would very much tick him off.

Rook - people intruding on his private life; He is a hunter. With a wall of mystery photos. And an album full of other mystery items. It seems he has no problem with other peoples’ privacy, only his. Probably because a lot of his things are weird. I still love him though

Epel - being mistaken for a woman; He wants to be ‘manly’, and as such, being called the supposed ‘opposite’ would be a blow to his attempted persona. Boy wanted to be in Savanaclaw, after all.

Idia - face-to-face conversation; Since we don’t have any other information as of right now - he’s an introvert. Who spends so much time inside, with only Ortho as his physical company, that talking to anyone in person terrifies him. Honestly, I feel like there may be more to this than just introversion, since he is quite possibly one of the most extreme cases I’ve seen in a character, but who knows, he could just be a stereotypical otaku-nerd-man character (like Levi!)

Ortho - lightning; I don’t really know enough about him to make any assumptions other than that, he’s a robot - or what many people have headcanons of, a cyborg - who runs on at least some form of power source, with its own generated energy. Lightning generates an absolute fuckton of electricity, and a human being struck by it can a.) hurt a lot, b.) permanently damage their body, or c.) fucking end them, so a robot/cyborg being struck by it - as machines being struck by lightning have shown - would be annihilated. Completely valid fear to have.

Malleus - using machines; He’s probably very old, being a fae and all, and although Lilia has shown that they play videogames and watch TV, he very well may have been raised away from it - although, he was raised at least partially by Lilia himself, so either they were both introduced to machines later on and Malleus was the only one who struggled, or he just never got used to them.

Lilia - losing things; I am unaware of any backstory to this, but it is a very valid thing to hate. I do it all the time, so it’s very relatable.

Silver - sleeping away his time; Seeing that he has been shown to fall asleep at random - possibly narcolepsy, or something else we’ll find out about later - and also him being a loyal knight to the current prince, it makes sense that the former would interrupt his duties as the latter. You can’t exactly protect someone if you’re knocked out. I mean, unless you sleep-fight. Then you’re good.

Sebek - being considered a nuisance by the Young Master, whining; I find his undying loyalty to Malleus adorable, to be honest. Having this much of a senpai crush going on would definitely make any negativity from said senpai hurt quite a lot. But what does it mean by whining - does he himself hate whining, or does he hate it when other people whine? Maybe both?

[norealnameshere]

Arie Rambles About Text Hypnosis!

(A long writing/essay about what I’ve learned about text hypnosis and the stuff I commonly tell people when they ask about it. :3 )

I adore text hypnosis. I’ve had chances to experience all of the main hypnosis mediums (other than in person, text, voice, video being the others) from BOTH sides, as a tist and as a subject, and text hypnosis is still probably my favorite. 

It also seems to be the least known and least liked of all the mediums, and I’ve found myself writing and rewriting information about and defenses of it time and time again, and I had the idea to write up a neat little document to share and save myself some time. X3

In this (extremely long) piece of writing, I will mostly be addressing a lot of the questions and complaints I’ve heard from people when I tell them I do text hypnosis. The main parts will be a discussion of trance states, the complaints people tend to make, a list of advantages vs disadvantages (and some suggestions for dealing with them), and a bit about tips and tricks and advice from what I do and what I’ve done. X3

Before I begin, I still very much consider myself an amateur, please do not take this as straight fact, it is merely a writeup of my opinions and what I’ve experienced. (At the time of writing, I’ve been doing text hypno as a subject for about a year and a half, and as a tist for about a year.)

Introduction, mostly about kinds of trance states

A lot of the misconceptions about text hypno are at heart misconceptions about hypnosis itself - I’ve also done a LOT of working with newbies and introducing them to hypnosis, and I always tell them that the first thing to do is to toss away pretty much whatever their preconceived notions are. Film/tv shows/books and stage/street hypnosis are fun to watch, but what they portray are very specific ways of approaching trance - possible, yes, but not common in actuality.

The popular image of hypnosis is of someone going limp, eyes closed, unable to move, barely able to respond aloud. Or, as in many thriller/spy movies, someone hypnotized against their will, brainwashed and able to be set off with a single word to go do...whatever they’ve been programmed to do. And those are POSSIBLE, just not at all common. (The second usually requires a great deal of drugs and other bad shenanigans, but that would be another topic for another informational writing. Perhaps I’ll write on subject agency one day. Likely I’ll not. xD)

However, trance states come in a HUGE variety of appearances, and there are some that happen in everyday life, outside of hypnosis. The most common one mentioned is if you’re driving along and find yourself at your destination without really noticing the journey along the way. Another is reading a page of a book and realizing that you can’t really remember any of what you just read. ‘Zoning out’ is a type of trance state. I like to consider those uncontrolled trance states, and hypnosis and meditation guided trance states. (And the difference between those, to me, is like someone walking ahead of you and leading you down a path (Meditation) vs someone taking your hand and pulling you down a path (Hypnosis))

(I always tell newbies in a first session that if they feel lightly relaxed, I consider it a success. Like any other skill, it is something you can build on and deepen *pun intended*. ;3)

And people can trance differently at different times - most of the time I’m ‘down’, I’m just very still and seem to focusing intently on the computer screen, either waiting for words if its text hypno or listening for words if its voice or video. I have gotten to a point where I can go body limp, face blank, completely out of it levels of trance, but it’s not something that happens commonly, and not something I want to have happen commonly. I very much prefer the kind of trance state where you can listen and react and are in an incredibly suggestible state. ;3

Complaints and Misconceptions, Mentioned and Addressed.

WITH THAT SAID, let’s get back to text hypnosis. 

There’s a few major complaints and misconceptions about text hypnosis, and I’ll go through them one by one with the common points I make in response.

“Text hypnosis can’t be real, because in real hypnosis the subject goes completely limp and there’s no way they can type.” (This is an actual thing said to me by a supposedly trained and credited tist I was negotiating a session with. When I tried to say actually, that’s not true, he sent pictures of his girlfriend to ‘prove real trance looks like this’, and jumped down my throat when I asked if he had permission to do that. I’ve had some interesting people in my DMs in the past. xD)

- Those paragraphs up there about trance states? Yep, that, that’s how I usually respond. (Although I may or may not have gotten REAL detailed about some of the things I’ve done while under in text hypno when I responded to the interesting individual I mentioned. x3)

“I don’t understand how someone can type while they’re tranced.”

- Unless you’re someone who genuinely struggles with typing and has to consider every key as you press it, in general typing is not exactly an active thought activity. Most of the time you don’t go ‘I need to type yes, so I’m going to press the y key now, and the e key now, and the s key now. Often, you don’t even think ‘I am typing the word yes now.”, you just...think words and type them as you go, without even directly thinking about the keyboard.

However, it is also something you can work on making easier and more natural. When I’m working with someone new who is uncertain about typing while in trance, I will start by not making them for the first session, I’ll take them down, then bring them up again and check in on them and ask for feedback. I tell them that any questions they see during trance they can answer aloud or in their mind, whatever works well for them. When they’re comfortable with that level, I’ll start having them answer with a y for yes and an n for no (and make sure to ask only yes/no questions). We’ll work up from there as necessary. :)

“I hate text hypnosis because there’s no feedback.”

- I will grant that feedback is not as immediate as it is in voice/video/in person. You cannot hear or see the person and know, moment by moment, how they appear to be doing. However, there are many ways of getting feedback, and sight/sound are not the only ones by a long shot. 

Especially in a first session, I tend to do a series of short drops - taking someone down a little bit, bringing them up, and checking in on how everything is going, what’s worked well, what hasn’t worked as well, etc. Not only is this a good way of getting feedback of how things are going, it also serves to fractionate the subject a little. ;3

As you do more text hypnosis, you also get to know things to watch for - responses starting to slow down, grammar and spelling changing, fuzzy typing (oh gods, I love fuzzy typing~), etc. Having that history of what was typed means you can also have your subject read back over what happened and give you feedback based on that - I know quite a few people whose memories get fuzzy about what actually happened in sessions, but having that record can jog the memory and help them go ‘oh yeah, that happened, and this could have gone better, and...”

Sometimes I feel like it’s *better* feedback in the long run, because I can scroll back through the history and see what I’ve done in the past and how it’s worked. Since I started doing mostly voice hypno with my pets, I’ve missed having that record, because I have a terrible memory. ^^”

“Text hypnosis is fake, it’s all just roleplayers.”

- Sometimes, yes. Usually that’s something you can figure out if you make sure you have a good, thorough discussion and negotiation beforehand, to find out what everyone involved wants out of the session. If it’s something that really bothers you, make sure to include it in your list of questions.

I would say this is a VERY important thing to find out if it’s someone you’re planning on doing an extended number of sessions with, but that’s also the kind of person you should have constant ongoing discussions with anyways. (Hell, I’ve been with my tist and my pets for a long while now, and we still periodically have negotiations. Things change and need to be rediscussed. It happens. :3)

If it’s a one off session, well...at least you’re getting practice with your writing, right?

(I will update this from time to time with other frequent questions or complaints I hear or receive.)

Advantages vs Disadvantages

Now for something a little more fun! Advantages of text vs the other mediums, as well as disadvantages and how to overcome them. :3 (This is definitely a section I’ll update over time, as I think of more things to add. ^-^)

Advantages:

- One of the absolute best things about text is the record it leaves. Unless you record your sessions, voice and video and in person sessions are left only in the memories of the participants. In text, unless the place you’re typing in is deleted after a certain point (or if someone edits their text afterwards, tho’ that actually can be fun too, and I’ll address it later. ;3), you have this useful record of what you did, what was said. 

This is great for multiple reasons. The first and biggest one for me is how much it helps, considering my memory issues - I have a shitty memory, and forget things way too easily. On both tist and sub side, it’s great to be able to scroll back and reread what happened in a session. Second, rereading is a great way to relive and refeel those memories (especially if you miiiiight possibly have the ability to reexperience memories almost as strong as the moment they were made, coughcough) which is also hella good for conditioning. (;3) Third, it can be fun to link back to certain points or use bits of the written record against people. You can tease them with things they wrote, reference past experiences, or (and this is definitely absolutely completely hypothetical and not something I’ve had done to me at ALL, oh no. >.>) leave little ‘traps’ if you know they reread - “When you reread this, send ‘this message’ to me so I know you did, and then forget~” kinds of things.

This fact can also help if you have different schedules or are in different time zones, you can leave short written bits for the other, delayed action traps so to speak that go off when read - not as a replacement for active sessions, but a fun supplement. :3

- Related to this idea but in a different direction, you can create...hmm, kind of ‘homework assignments’ for a subject to read later, or read over and over again. VERY useful for conditioning, especially if you have a suggestion or an order of ‘once you have finished reading this, write [this sentence] to me to let me know you have read it.’

- Another HUGE advantage of text is privacy. I still live with my family and, while I have the benefit of a basement room, interruptions are common and curious ears are a possibility. For people who live with roommates or with bedrooms in the house closer to family members, privacy becomes even more critical. On the subject side there might be some visual signs of what’s happening, depending on what’s being done and how they trance, but overall on both sides it will just look like concentrating intently on the screen and typing, just like writing an email or visiting with people on a discord. 

As a side note to that, you can also do fun things like be innocently sitting in a voice channel with them, chatting with other people, while sending them suggestions or triggers in text, and watch them try not to react, try to resist. ;3

- Just like there are certain tricks only doable in voice or video or in person, there are things you can do in text that aren’t easily replicated in text. 

Just a few ideas off the top of my head are using formatting for various kinds of emphasis (italics and bold are great for helping to add ‘tone’ to your typing, strikethrough can be a fun way to tease someone or to say something you’re too flustery to admit openly, spoiler text can be used to tempt someone and trick them or trap them); italics can be used to denote ‘actions’, which some people either have or can develop the ability to ‘feel’; making use of brackets for different effects (anything I write within {these} you obey immediately and then forget doing is a big one. I’ve created an ability for like...the back part of my head to communicate with my tist even when the active part of my head is dropped, which is pretty useful to be able to go {hey, that thing you suggested got interpreted wrong and I’m kinda stuck now}, and report on things without having to actually come back up. x3); tying triggers or suggestions to emotes to have innocent seeming ways to play with someone or fluster them; and so many more. X3

- Text hypnosis is a godsend for people with hearing or speech problems. I have certain hearing issues that make it hard for me to hear people with certain voice pitches, especially when over a phone or a voice channel. It can break immersion and be frustrating if you have to keep asking for someone to repeat what they’ve said or repeat yourself for someone. You don’t have to worry about volume control or if your microphone is picking up everything you’re saying, don’t have to worry about people misunderstanding your accent, don’t have to worry that you’re mishearing something and responding in the wrong way. 

- One of the biggest reasons I love text hypnosis is the small amount of space I have to think about what I’m writing before I send it. I am WORLDS more creative with my phrasing in text as opposed to in voice, because I don’t have to worry about stammering or stuttering or hesitating while I figure out where I’m going next. Plus I have a tiny amount of time to change what I’m sending before I hit send, if I realize mid sentence that its not what I want to say. I can be thinking about the next line while I’m still typing the last one, but I can’t think of the next sentence while I’m in the middle of saying the current one.

- Seeing a whole page full of typed mantras is lovely, just saying. ;3

Disadvantages (and potential fixes!)

- Biggest one is lack of immediate feedback, which I discussed earlier. :3

- Those who aren’t as skilled at typing or reading may find themselves having some issues. One of the things that brings me out of trace the fastest is having to wait for too long - this is a major disadvantage for tists who are slow typists. ^^”

This problem does present more of a difficulty to get past than some, but I do have some suggestions to try. One thing I’ve done (and that can also be useful if internet flickers and having ‘buffering time’ so to speak, for ANY medium that uses the internet) is to account for that at the beginning with something like “If there is quiet for a moment, you’ll find yourself quietly rereading the last few lines you’ve received, each line you read helping to keep you calm and keep you deep.” or “Any time there is a pause in the words you read for more than a few seconds, you’ll find yourself focusing on [some spot on the screen].’ Specifically on discord, the ‘someone is typing’ message can be useful as a focus anchor.

I don’t approve of copy/paste text hypno in the most part, but perhaps if speedy typing is not something you’re good at, and if it’s a basic induction, AND if you tell your subject what you’re doing, then I could see using it to help make up for slower typing. It’s often easier to keep someone in trance with slower typing than it is to take them down in the first place. You could also possibly give them a written induction file to basically prime the pump. The key is to talk to the subject and find out which, if any of these options are potentially usable. (Also make sure you write your own induction, don’t just copy someone else script.) I would suggest being ready to throw in some in the moment typed lines as well, reacting to things the subject may say. Be ready to improv a little.

- This is more of a problem with manipulative, bad tists than with text hypnosis specifically, but a written record could be used against you (in the same way that someone could secretly record you in the other ways and then use them against you). Be very careful about what information you share with people, basic internet safety stuff, okay?

Also watch out for if someone edits or deletes that record in an attempt to gaslight you or mess with you. If that’s a concern, you can make backup copies of sessions to keep on your computer so you always have the original to consult. Most chat programs that allow editing will also indicate that the original has been edited, so that can also help.

And finally, a few tips and tricks I’ve picked up, basically things I’ve found fun to do, from either side. X3

Assorted Tips and Tricks

- Text is AMAZING for teasing. I am actually known and am infamous for my teasing (there is a server where I helped contribute to a week of so much teasing in general chat that they designated a separate channel for heavy teasing. x3) - I started dabbling in teasing for weeks before I actually tried my hand at any actual hypnosis. (Teasing is wonderful in voice, too, but I have noticed sometimes if someone is chatting normally, then suddenly throws out something teasing, it can be easy to miss it among the normal chat. It’s much harder to miss when it’s in text, especially if accompanied with an emote. ;3)

In text you can also leave teasing messages for someone to see later, maybe after they’ve gone to sleep, or while they’re playing games, or distracted in voice chat somewhere. Like a fun little trap they spring later, and you get a lovely ‘hfouiwenfkwje!!’ later. x3

It’s also fun to have ‘in jokes’, so to speak, and to slyly slip those words and phrases in with normal talking, and get people flustering that way. (For instance, if you use a certain kind of imagery to drop someone, like balloons, and then find ways to slide balloon references into your typing to remind a subject of that session.)

- Group hypnosis is a lot of fun - there’s a few places I’m in that have text channels that allow open hypno, and slyly twisting around the conversation and playing with words until you catch a bunch of people and set them drifting is fuuuun.

It’s also sometimes easier than in voice, because either you have everyone mute and you feel like you’re talking into a void, or you have a chaos of overlapping voices. In a group text session, you can often begin with something like ‘the more you see others type the same kind of responses you do, the more the phrases affect you.’ I have seen cases where you have almost group mantras going on, and the people involved said seeing the others typing definitely added to the experience.

- If you DO have an opportunity to do voice at least once, or once in a while, you can make use of that to add to your text hypnosis - I have some people I have done BOTH with, and they said that they were pretty quickly able to ‘hear’ my voice in my typed words - I actually try very hard to match my written style to my talking style for that very reason. :)

I also have a few emotes that apparently really resemble expressions I’ve done in video before, and I can make use of those emotes to evoke memories of those expressions, and things I’ve done while grinning just THAT way~ ;3

Conclusion

So!

Almost a month after I started and many pages later I am done with what was supposed to be a quick little writeup of ‘things I tend to tell people when text hypnosis comes up’, and knowing me I will continue to edit and add to this as I think of new things.

However! It is done for now, and I hope my rambling was useful as well as entertaining. :3

I am more than glad to expand upon anything I’ve written, my DMs are open for questions or you can track me down in a discord server and ask there, I’m in a few different ones. ^-^

[starr-fall-knight-rise]

Humans are Space Orcs, “You Survive We Thrive

Things are heating up with Krill’s mini plot line. Sorry I posted a little late today :) Hope you like it

“So, what do you think?”

….

“This is… disturbing, most disturbing.” 

“That poor?”

The psychologist, a sturdy little vrul, steel grey in color, with red-tinted orange eyes looked up from where he was examining the projected data rolling in lines of minutely scripted characters through the air to vanish. 

He had no issue with his divided attention, continuing to read the scrolling data as he spoke with the official, “That bad, I have never read a psychological evaluation this….  Strange….”

“Psychological degradation.”

The doctor shook his head, “That is what seems strange about it. There WAS no psychological degradation. His intelligence quotient remains high enough that the test cannot accurately represent it in numbers. He not only succeeded in all our tests, but often broke them from the inside going out. He shows extreme scores on logical thinking, and procedural memory, but the strange part is his creative problem solving has skyrocketed enough to break the test. There is no degradation, but his scores and IMPROVING. I even created a matrix for emotional intelligence, not a perfect test, but  think accurate enough, and he scores extremely well on that.”

There was  a pause between the two of them.

“Did you think to test him against the human? See if maybe the changes could be explained by that?”

The psychologist looked on miffed, almost insulted, “Of course I took that into account. That was one of the first things I did.” He switched the projected information, “The human’s scores are….. Well they are erratic at best and downright confusing at worst. Let me explain. You see this here, as far as intelligence goes, he's about as smart as the average beta, which gives him a little over average for humans. I mean you would hope that he is, but there is nothing special. His spatial intelligence is…. Well its excellent, far beyond excellent. And the same can be said about creative problem solving. Emotional intelligence is higher than the doctors both show the same in procedural memory, however a relating to semantic memory the doctor far outstrips the human. Numerical intelligence does not seem to be the human’s strong suit. In fact, I don’t think I have ever seen someone score that low before. I would say the same for episodic memory, accept worse. The human seems to think that he can remember things well, but it seems that he actually cannot.” “What does that have to do with anything.”

“Well you know how I said that the human’s intelligence scores put him at the low end of beta…..”

“Yes.”

“Well in aggregate, putting all his scores together, he would count as an alpha.”

The official stood back in surprise, “How? How can that be possible.”

“I am not entirely sure at this moment, but…. It is quite fascinating… I was thinking about going to talk to the human face to face, see if I can’t figure out this mystery.”

The official nervously shifted in place, “You should be careful, psychologist, you are starting to sound like the doctor did before he went off his rocker.”

“Has he gone off his rocker though?” The psychologist retorted.

“I mean yes, of course he has.” 

“The tests say he hasn’t.”

The official harrumphed, “Well, aren't you also saying earlier that he had shown extreme increases on the aggression quotient as well as that for emotional response.”

“yes , but that hasn’t affected his other scores.”

The official sighed but then nodded, “Very well, but be careful, and don’t spend too much time with the human. He has proven to be dangerous, and may have an affect on you.”

“You worry far to much, it took the doctor months to be affected by him, and he had already showed signs of instability before that. I will be fine.”

***

“Dr…..Dr….. try to pay attention please.”

Krill lifted his head in annoyance pulling himself from a contemplation of all the stupid things the humans had probably been doing while he was gone, “I have answered all of your question. I have no idea why you would still be interested.

“We have plenty more questions.”

“No you have the same question but phrased slightly differently every time.” Krill sighed and glowered at the illuminated blue walls.

“Why are you so angry, doctor.”

He turned to look at them, “I am angry because I realize there are things about humans that I prefer over my own species sometimes.”

There was a pause.

“And what might that be?”

“Well, for one humans generally accept an answer after the tenth time I have given it. Not to mention that….. Well…. There are a lot of things.”

“Go on, we are listening.”

Krill sighed his shoulders sagging. He tried to control the human body language, but was finding it difficult, “OUr species has spent decades surviving, but isn’t the measure of a successful species one that can flourish. Our population has been stable for the past thousand years, and it has functioned the same way during that time. We don’t try to get better, we make it to, yeah that's ok and then we quit. Humans don’t just Survive, they TRIBE they are always trying to get better, to improve upon what they have. Where illness is a reason for death because we are no longer useful, they created technology to make life come to them. It has been less than a decade, and humans already live all across the galaxy. Their population has reached an all time eruption, and there is no reason it cannot get bigger. And here we are piddling along on our single planet, in upwards of ten cities doing the same thing we have done for generations.”  

“The point of our species is survival.”

“We have proven to be good at that, why not go on from survival and into…… thriving.”

“The Universe is not meant for us. We are not as durable as others. Our planet is all we have.”

Krill shook his head growing more excitedly agitated, “that is where you are wrong, the bigger universe is out there for us. I have proven it. I have visited and stayed on death worlds for weeks at a time. Do you want to know the secret?”

The other Vrul looked a bit surprised, but intrigued. Looking on at Krill like he was insane.

“The secret is sociability. I survived because I had humans to help me. WIth their help I have been able to go anywhere and survive in any place. If we learn from them, we have a chance to live like they do.”

“And how is that?”

“Free.”

***

Commander Vir floated in near darkness a soft blue light illuminating him from all sides. He couldn't have said which was was up or which was was down. The only color he saw was blue, and aside from his own body there was nothing else, so he floated, rotating slowly his hands held out to his sides his legs relaxed and resting easily in the air. If he closed his eyes, he could almost imagine the warm heaviness of a space suit, and his breath against the glass, a thin barrier between him and space.

Images of his first spacewalk ran through his mind with the fiery light of a star rising behind a strange alien world. 

There was a sort of soft rumbling that broke him from his thoughts, and he spun in mid-air to find a vrul float into the room. It seemed as if he was upside down though…. Or well he couldn't have said which one of them was upside down considering space didn’t seem to have a right side up or upside down.

He struggled for a few seconds rotating to face the Vrul.

Despite being the captain of a spaceship, he didn’t actually spend much of his time in zero Gs, though that was a fact he would forever be salty about.

“Commander.” The Vrul acknowledged  floating closer as Adam finally righted himself.

“I am afraid you have me at a bit of a disadvantage…. Who are you?”

The Vrul stopped his orange-red eyes glowing strangely in the blue light, “I am the psychologist.”

“Ah, let me guess, you wanted to see what about a human makes your species so vulnerable to change?”

“Precisely, smarter than your tests suggested.”

Adam frowned, “You know that seems to be a thing with you Vrul. Every time I meet a new one of you, I spend most of my time getting insulted, and yet there isn’t really much I can do, since you guys don’t say anything that isn’t true.”

“And the doctor does not?”

“Not anymore.”

“Why is that.”

Adam, in boredom, began rotating backwards feet thrown up into the air, watching the Vrul as he slowly spun in a circle, “Hmm…. I think…. I think the answer is because we socialized him.”

Spinning back around, the commander would have said that the Vrul seemed surprised. Generally those emotions were easier to read on Krill, but he supposed that was part of the reason why he said what he said.

“That is… an interesting theory, human.”

“Not really a theory. A theory implies that it cannot be tested. I would suggest it’s more a hypothesis.”

The vrul looked at him in a contemplative manner, “Go on, I am interested to hear what you have to say on the subject.”

Adam was a little surprised, “Vrul were kind of known for being stuck up pricks who thought they were smarter than everyone else, but he supposed that this might just help krill out of his current predicament.”

“Well you have talked about the doctor changing a lot, and I have this theory that every one of those changes have to do with his adaptability living in a pack.” The Vrul waited for him to continue, so he did, “You say something about how Krill is more emotional now, right? Well, emotions are adaptable to humans. Aggression allows people to keep their place in the hierarchy. We have trouble listening to krill like we should, so he gets mad at us, as a way to show us  he SHOULD be respected. You might have discussed his use of human facial expressions or body language, well, body language is EXTREMELY important to properly communicating with a human, if he didn’t adopt those habits than he wouldn’t be able to communicate with us effectively. You guys talk about how he moves wrong, well that's part to do with body language and part to do with how quickly humans move. He can’t keep up with us if he floats.”

The psychologist looked Adam over with a critical eye, “Have you been thinking about this?”

Adam shrugged, “Not really, it just makes sense. And I argue that it PROVES that your species is more adaptive than you originally thought. Krill isn’t broken, he has…. Well micro-evolved. I guess.”

The psychologist looked on with interest, “And…. what do you care about him.”

Adam snorted, “Look. Once you make friends with a human, or a group of humans your as good as family, sometimes better than. We have a saying on earth, the blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb. It means that the people you choose can sometimes be more important than the people you didn’t. Well we adopted Krill into our pack, he's as good as family to me, and I will do ANYTHING to keep him safe.”

WIth a slight shift of his body, the Vrul floated back.

Adam floated forward, “And when I say ANYTHING, I mean it.”

“But he's not even your species.”

Adam shook his head, “Doesn't matter, the human bonding instinct is so powerful that we routinely bond with inanimate objects. I bought a cactus (a plant) during my time in the airforce academy. I named him melvin, he’s still alive and lives at my parents house. We are great friends. I know a guy who won a stuffed pig at a carnival, and now it goes with him everywhere. My sister always buys the most mangled shaped food because it makes her sad to think that no one will buy it….. She's sad…. For vegetables.”

The Vrul had floated back even further.

“So when I say that we can bond with inanimate objects, imagine how we feel about Krill. Not only my good friend, but our doctor and our surgeon. He saved my life on multiple occasions which also means I owe him a debt of honor like the Drev see honor. I can’t let him go until I repay him, and even then I don’t plan on it.” 

“What are you trying to say?”

“I am saying that I WILL get y friend back, no matter what I have to do.” 

[xtruss]

German Neo-Nazis Are Still on Facebook. And They’re Using It to Make Money.

There are at least 54 Facebook profiles belonging to 39 entities that the German government and civil society groups have flagged as extremist. Those entities have nearly 268,000 subscribers and friends on Facebook alone.

— September 24, 2021

— By Erika Kinetz

This story is part of a collaboration between The Associated Press and FRONTLINE that examines challenges to the ideas and institutions of traditional U.S. and European democracy.

It’s the premier martial arts brand in Europe for right-wing extremists. German authorities have twice banned their signature tournament, called Kampf der Nibelungen, or Battle of the Nibelungs. But the group still thrives on Facebook, where organizers maintain multiple pages, as well as on Instagram and YouTube, which they use to spread their ideology, draw in recruits and make money through ticket sales and branded merchandise.

The Battle of the Nibelungs — a reference to an old heroic epic much loved by the Nazis — is one of dozens of far-right groups that continue to leverage mainstream social media for profit, despite Facebook’s and other platforms’ repeated pledges to purge themselves of extremism.

All told, there are at least 54 Facebook profiles belonging to 39 entities that the German government and civil society groups have flagged as extremist, according to research shared with The Associated Press by the Counter Extremism Project, a nonprofit policy and advocacy group formed to combat extremism. The groups have nearly 268,000 subscribers and friends on Facebook alone.

CEP also found 39 related Instagram profiles, 16 Twitter profiles and 34 YouTube channels, which have gotten over half a million views. Nearly 60% of the profiles were explicitly aimed at making money, displaying prominent links to online shops or photos promoting merchandise.

The groups are a who’s who of Germany’s far-right music and combat sports scenes. “These are the ones who build the infrastructure where people meet, make money, enjoy music and recruit,” said Alexander Ritzmann, the lead researcher on the project. “It’s most likely not the guys I’ve highlighted who will commit violent crimes. They’re too smart. They build the narratives and foster the activities of this milieu, where violence then appears.”

CEP said it focused on groups that want to overthrow liberal democratic norms and believe the white race is under siege and needs to be preserved, with violence if necessary. None has been banned, but almost all have been described in German intelligence reports as extremist, CEP said.

Online the groups seem harmless. They avoid blatant violations of platform rules, such as using hate speech or posting swastikas, which is generally illegal in Germany.

By carefully toeing the line of propriety, these key architects of Germany’s far-right use the power of mainstream social media to promote festivals, fashion brands, music labels and mixed martial arts tournaments that can generate millions in sales and connect like-minded thinkers from around the world.

But simply cutting off such groups could have unintended, damaging consequences.

“We don’t want to head down a path where we are telling sites they should remove people based on who they are but not what they do on the site,” said David Greene, civil liberties director at the Electronic Frontier Foundation in San Francisco.

Giving platforms wide latitude to sanction organizations deemed undesirable could give repressive governments leverage to eliminate their critics. “That can have really serious human rights concerns,” he said. “The history of content moderation has shown us that it’s almost always to the disadvantage of marginalized and powerless people.”

German authorities banned the Battle of the Nibelungs event in 2019, on the grounds that it was not actually about sports but instead was grooming fighters with combat skills for political struggle.

In 2020, as COVID raged, organizers planned to stream the event online — using Instagram, among other places, to promote the webcast. A few weeks before the planned event, however, over 100 black-clad police in balaclavas broke up a gathering at a motorcycle club in Magdeburg, where fights were being filmed for the broadcast, and hauled off the boxing ring, according to local media reports.

The Battle of the Nibelungs is a “central point of contact” for right-wing extremists, according to German government intelligence reports. The organization has been explicit about its political goals — namely to fight against the “rotting” liberal democratic order — and has drawn adherents from across Europe as well as the United States.

In 2018, members of a California white supremacist street fighting club called the Rise Above Movement, and its founder, Robert Rundo, attended the Nibelungs tournament. A few months later, four Rise Above members were arrested on rioting charges for taking their combat training to the streets at the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. A number of Battle of Nibelungs alums have landed in prison, including for manslaughter, assault and attacks on migrants.

National Socialism Today, which describes itself as a “magazine by nationalists for nationalists,” has praised Battle of the Nibelungs and other groups for fostering a will to fight and motivating “activists to improve their readiness to fight back.

But there are no references to professionalized, anti-government violence on the group’s social media feeds. Instead, it’s positioned as a health-conscious lifestyle brand, which sells branded tea mugs and shoulder bags.

“Exploring nature. Enjoying home!” gushes one Facebook post above a photo of a musclebound guy on a mountaintop wearing Resistend-branded sportswear, one of the Nibelung tournament’s sponsors. All the men in the photos are pumped and white, and they are portrayed enjoying wholesome activities, such as long runs and alpine treks.

Elsewhere on Facebook, Thorsten Heise — who has been convicted of incitement to hatred and called “one of the most prominent German neo-Nazis” by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution in the German state of Thuringia — also maintains multiple pages. Frank Kraemer, who the German government has described as a ”right-wing extremist musician,” uses his Facebook page to direct people to his blog and his Sonnenkreuz webshop, which sells white nationalist and COVID conspiracy books, as well as sports nutrition products and ”Vaccine rebel” T-shirts for girls.

Battle of the Nibelungs declined to comment. Resistend, Heise and Kraemer didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Facebook told AP it employs 350 people whose primary job is to counter terrorism and organized hate, and that it is investigating the pages and accounts flagged in this reporting. “We ban organizations and individuals that proclaim a violent mission, or are engaged in violence,” said a company spokesperson, who added that Facebook had banned more than 250 white supremacist organizations, including groups and individuals in Germany. The spokesperson said the company had removed over 6 million pieces of content tied to organized hate globally between April and June and is working to move even faster.

Google said it has no interest in giving visibility to hateful content on YouTube and was looking into the accounts identified in this reporting. The company worked with dozens of experts to update its policies on supremacist content in 2019, resulting in a five-fold spike in the number of channels and videos removed.

Twitter says it’s committed to ensuring that public conversation is “safe and healthy” on its platform and that it doesn’t tolerate violent extremist groups. “Threatening or promoting violent extremism is against our rules,” a spokesperson told the AP.

Robert Claus, who wrote a book on the extreme-right martial arts scene, said that the sports brands in CEP’s data set are “all rooted in the militant far-right neo-Nazi scene in Germany and Europe.” One of the founders of the Battle of the Nibelungs, for example, is part of the violent Hammerskin network, and another early supporter, the Russian neo-Nazi Denis Kapustin, also known as Denis Nikitin, has been barred from entering the European Union for 10 years, he said.

Banning such groups from Facebook and other major platforms would potentially limit their access to new audiences, but it could also drive them deeper underground, making it more difficult to monitor their activities, he said.

“It’s dangerous because they can recruit people,” he said. “Prohibiting those accounts would interrupt their contact with their audience, but the key figures and their ideology won’t be gone.”

Thorsten Hindrichs, an expert in Germany’s far-right music scene who teaches at the University of Mainz, said there’s a danger that the apparently harmless appearance of Germany’s right-wing music heavyweights on Facebook and Twitter, which they mostly use to promote their brands, could help normalize the image of extremists.

Extreme-right concerts alone were drawing around 2 million euros a year in revenue before COVID, he estimated, not counting sales of CDs and branded merchandise. He said kicking extremist music groups off Facebook is unlikely to hit sales too hard, as there are other platforms they can turn to, like Telegram and Gab, to reach their followers. “Right-wing extremists aren’t stupid; they will always find ways to promote their stuff,” he said.

None of these groups’ activity on mainstream platforms is obviously illegal, though it may violate Facebook guidelines that bar “dangerous individuals and organizations” that advocate or engage in violence online or offline. Facebook says it doesn’t allow praise or support of Nazism, white supremacy, white nationalism or white separatism, and bars people and groups that adhere to such “hate ideologies.”

Last week, Facebook removed almost 150 accounts and pages linked to the German anti-lockdown Querdenken movement, under a new “social harm” policy, which targets groups that spread misinformation or incite violence but didn’t fit into the platform’s existing categories of bad actors.

But how these evolving rules will be applied remains murky and contested.

“If you do something wrong on the platform, it’s easier for a platform to justify an account suspension than to just throw someone out because of their ideology. That would be more difficult, with respect to human rights,” said Daniel Holznagel, a Berlin judge who used to work for the German federal government on hate speech issues and also contributed to CEP’s report. “It’s a foundation of our Western society and human rights that our legal regimes do not sanction an idea, an ideology, a thought.”

In the meantime, there’s news from the folks at the Battle of the Nibelungs. “Starting today you can also dress your smallest ones with us,” reads a June post on their Facebook feed. The new line of kids wear includes a pretty shell-pink T-shirt for girls, priced at 13.90 euros. The boy model, in black, already has boxing gloves on.

— FRONTLINE | PBS

[d-naggeluide]

Last Agni Kai: BNHA-remix edition meta

This is about the last two chapters of my fic, In Which Dabi is Definitely Not a Todoroki (aka the 'serious’ part, where the comedy turns to tragedy).

First of all, in both canon and this story, Endeavor is equivalent to "Hawks' shining light" so ending chapter 17 by saying that light went out... *spoilers under the cut*

should have resulted in zero surprises the next chapter when I outright stated that Endeavor died.

Endeavor is, ironically, the tragic hero of this story. He does everything right in the end like a hero should -- choosing the greater good, the protection of the people and defeat of the villain, over his own family. In the end, doing the heroic thing costs him everything. But I'd like to think he also gains something, too: he finally has Shouto's forgiveness, and in whatever happens in the macro-plot, I'd like to think he impacts both Dabi's and Shouto's lives for the better. By winning (or losing, however you look at it) the battle, does he forestall the war? Does his final act keep the children he raised as soldiers from the battlefield of a War Arc that never happens as a result?

I also think it's important that he never gets a completion of his redemption arc. He sets his feet on the right path, but his time is cut short before he can truly make things right (is that enough? If we take the Biblical analogy, yes, but the theme of this story with respect to forgiveness is that it has to be earned through hard work, so in this context… probably not). This, then, is his final tragedy and his true sacrifice; he never gets the chance to accomplish the one thing he wants to in his personal life, even though professionally he's gotten everything he wanted.

Speaking of which. Dabi. Who gets everything he wants and has wanted for so long. When the hate is gone and nothing is left, who is he? He's cast himself for so long into the role of the villain to get what he wanted, but in his own mind he was his own hero. Now he realizes that… it's not enough. And it cost too much; not only the impact on his own family (which might not actually matter a whole lot to him since they are still mostly estranged) but to himself. The things he's done, the moral cost to go from who he was to who he is was too high. I'm not a villain stan so I'm not going to go so far as to blame it all on the system -- I think that Dabi had the chance to make the choices he did. Even if the system made the consequences of the 'right' choice unattractive, that's still no excuse in my view for doing the things he did.

Throughout this narrative (and also so far in the canon) Dabi is a very static character. Sure, we get to see different sides of it outside of the hero/villain conflict, but while he's ever so slowly taking steps towards acknowledging his past, he doesn't get very far. That's why Dabi's acceptance of Endeavor, or part of Endeavor, at the end is very important… he can finally admit that there was one part of Endeavor's footsteps worth following, and he's been following the wrong ones all along; better to follow the right ones than outright reject everything as he thought he'd been doing instead. I think this a good place to end the story for him; he can still go either way but this all ties back into his re-acceptance of his family, which started with Shouto.

Through Shouto, the reader experiences it all. He's content to go along for the ride until certain lines are crossed, and then he finds himself caught in the middle -- wanting balance, a happy ending that is ultimately impossible. Through him we feel the pain of loss, love, and hate. He is far less strictly moral in this story than in canon, although of course what happens after the canon Dabi-reveal remains to be seen. A lot of his work towards love and acceptance, of both himself and others, happens off-screen, but I think it's fairly clear that he's uniquely situated to recognize that there's a villain and hero in everyone. And even though he's more morally grey in this story, he remains a stubborn shithead who's kind at heart, and I think that he knows that if not for this, he might've easily ended up like either Dabi or Hawks.

Since I imagined the Last Agni Kai-like showdown pretty much as soon as I decided to include a plot, I realized I really wanted to show it from the aerial perspective -- to play with symbolism of place (above, below, and left/right for Shouto) especially. Not to mention to try and get the scale across. At first I thought that meant Bakugou as a narrator, but then I realized… it had to be Hawks. He's deeply entangled with the Todoroki family, and between him and Dabi, they represent two extremes of who Shouto could have so easily become. Not to mention the Hawks and Endeavor design as the Angel/Demon duality and role-reversal, with the angel falling to evil deeds while the demon rises to overcome. Hawks' down/up is Shouto's left/right, but Hawks shares the same identity dilemma as Dabi, the struggle between burying who he was and not liking who he is, needing to either find a balance between the two, or to reclaim the one. Hawks not needing Endeavor's shining light in the end is mirrored by (hah, intentional puns about my own writing) Dabi; Dabi learns that he didn't need to kill Endeavor as much as he needed to kill that part of himself that was only hatred, the part that he saw in the mirror all along.

Side note: Bakugou's a brilliant character for a writer, as he gets to call it like it is and his whole character is basically 'fuck destiny, I'll do this myself.' Between him and Deku, it's an interesting analogy for equity: Bakugou starts out with all the advantages (privileges), while Deku has none. Level out the starting line for Deku, and he's able to achieve the same heights, if not greater, than Bakugou. Bakugou's resentful at first (who wouldn't be, to see their position of easy favor in the world challenged) but eventually grows to respect his opponent/friend. If only that were real life… because for real, who's going to give a disadvantaged person something as powerful as One-for-All? Okay equity rant over, meta over, hope you enjoyed the story!

P.s. I suppose I should mention that the truth of siblinghood is this: 95% of the time you're roasting them about the stupidest shit at every opportunity, and 5% of the time you're legit trying to kill each other. So this could have only ever been a fic that was mostly comedy.

[dustedandsocial]

Need to jot something down and get it out of my system, so I don’t keep responding to terrible tweets

It seems important to at least understand the implications of basic communist principles, regardless of what position we’re in on the left currently. That does not feel like utopianism or drawing blueprints to me, it feels like something that helps flesh out our motives and strategies right now. Regardless of communism’s likelihood, those principles tell us who we are and how we should act and clarifies our struggle. 

It could be that a stateless, classless, moneyless society is a contradiction-free utopia, heaven on earth, and also no less than 1,700 years away. Yet I think people could find the contradiction-free version of communism impossible while still maintaining a desire to pursue a communist society without illusions. Furthermore, communist principles are not actually suspended in our vision of the future, they involve beliefs and actions that have been with us for probably thousands of years. Communism would be a process of realization, not an alien consciousness seeping into the world.

This is partly why I think the emphasis on a distinction between lower and higher phase communism is unhelpful. Not only for how the lower phase morphs into state socialism when in the wrong hands. But also because it sounds like it involves some kind of break between two separate societies, and that the first phase would involve guidance. We don’t need guidance to learn communist principles, they have long been a part of how humans interact with one another. But I see people get hung up on the phase distinction all the time, which in turn leads to state planning seeming appropriate. 

There aren’t supposed to be two separate communisms. The phases are a part of the same process. Any higher phase would clearly be impossible unless its lower phase was in fact the birth of human liberation. The state can’t wither away if an army of guys in newsboy caps are pointlessly forcing workers into the fields every day at gunpoint. That the state would be withering away is not an invitation for organizational hierarchy. It means that we enter the communist world as capitalist subjects, who must struggle in order to overcome capitalism’s impact on our collective consciousness and reach any higher potential. The state can’t be a part of aiding struggle because overthrowing capitalism only comes with the elimination of the state. The state is a roadblock cutting us off from any struggle to test our potential. That struggle requires the state’s elimination as a precondition.

An actual communist world could very well deepen contradictions. It could make some of our problems more complex. New problems would reveal themselves once you’ve eliminated the ones we’re dealing with now. Even abundance may not be as magical as it seems. The value in abundance is that it eliminates coercion, but it is not the goal in and of itself and it does not guarantee peace and harmony. How that abundance affects our social relations is what matters, and it hopefully would just allow us to relate to one another in new, less destructive ways. 

There’s the weird idea, even among MLs, that communism must be easy from the onset in order to be successful, that it requites preparation and a countdown clock. There’s no reason it can’t be extremely difficult, birthed in difficult, contingent conditions. We would have to go through the process of maturation without instruction and together manage our mistakes in order for the communist world to meaningfully take shape. Breht Revleft Radio wouldn’t need to stand over our shoulders the whole time. The process would have enormous obstacles, yes, and it would still likely be preferable to what we’re dealing with now. 

You can have a stateless, classless, moneyless society where everybody is at each other’s throats while in the process of laying its foundation. Why can’t you? Why does it have to be capitalism, climate disaster, and barrel bombs versus literal heaven on earth? Why would anybody need to evolve first? Because we’re scared violence might breakout? Do you know what’s been happening in Syria or Yemen over the last decade?

The reason it bothers me is that I feel like you need to get this across somehow and not let people think communism is this violent leap directly into stress-free living. Yes, that would be very unlikely! But we don’t need guarantees that our problems will all be resolved on some spiritual level. You’re never going to rid the world of contradictions. But this isn’t the fucking issue! The issue is whether or not communism, even at its predictably difficult onset, is better than what we’re living through now, or what we’re being offered. On what grounds would communism be preferable? Are the current conditions forcing our hand anyway? Is there even an other option at this point, beyond mass suffering and ecocide? Can you counter everything I’ve said and explain why running Matt Bruenig or Connor Kilpatrick or whoever for president in 2024 is going to get us out of the crisis?

I think we need some plan for climate change that affirms humanity, seeing as though humankind is what we’re trying to save. Talking about it only in terms of nature, with the always-implicit idea that we are not an aspect of nature ourselves, makes it easier for fascists to solve the problem. For me, communism is the gateway towards building up our collective self-esteem in defense against the worst impulses of the right. 

The movement towards communism would be one that solves issues by highlighting and negating the logic of capitalism through actions that necessarily plant one foot forward into a fully decommodified world. People are currently being made houseless in the middle of an economic crisis despite there being enough empty housing for everyone in the country. A communist movement would negate the logic of capitalism and fill those empty houses through force via collective action. This would loudly affirm human worth, demonstrate an alternative vision for the world, and highlight the absurdity of being ruled by an economic system, all at once.

No, we don’t want blueprints insofar as they design our future, but we can address the implications of communist principles in order to clarify what we’re actually fighting for. We need a basic life-affirming vision right now. I don’t think mild yet still impossible welfare reforms are going to cut it. If you’re still bickering with Democrats about votes and non-votes, as if you can scold them into not being a capitalist party, you should realize that you’ve hit a wall.

No clue how to get people on board with even the horizon not being perfect. It makes sense to me, but people don’t seem to like the idea! I’m told that in order to take the present situation seriously, we have to abandon ideas around a future society’s principles, even ones that actually help give us direction in the here and now. Never mind that I'm poor and vulnerable myself, struggling without ever abandoning the idea of total human liberation. I just think history shows us nothing but poor or otherwise greatly disadvantaged movements fighting for immediate gains and human liberation simultaneously. I think you see that in the movement for prison abolition right now, even if the need for revolution isn’t explicit.

I don’t think we’ll get anywhere unless there’s hard work done in clarifying communism or at least fleshing out a coherent vision around human emancipation and taking its principles and their implications seriously.

Or maybe we avert disaster by running Freddie de Boer for president in 2024, what do I know. It’s not like Liz Bruenig ever called me one of the greatest living writers of her generation.

[forcedrug0]

Amino Acids For Plants.

Dbal Types, Crazybulk Bewertung

Content

Ostarine As Well As Ligandrol Enhance Muscle Mass Tissue In An Ovariectomized Rat Model.

Modern Technology.

Company Summary For Sarms Ventures Restricted (.

Tumor.

Individuals commonly have feelings of shame and disgust at their lack of control during and also after binge eating, which can enhance that cycle of adverse feelings, constraint as well as binge eating once again. People with binge eating disorder consume huge amounts of food over a short amount of time.

This not only leads to enhanced muscle mass development but likewise results in muscle mass retention and also the development of new muscular tissue cells. This SARM was at first created to aid people suffering from muscle loss, but it's primarily made use of by body builders to avoid muscle wasting. GHSRs are additionally found in the locations of the brain that regulate hunger, mood, enjoyment, memory, biological rhythms, cognitive functions, and memory. When you take Ibutamoren, you'll not just lose fat and construct muscle yet will certainly likewise feel better and more sharp, improving your health and fitness performance. A big part of this factor is just how Ligandrol increases your energy.

Ostarine And Also Ligandrol Enhance Muscle Cells In An Ovariectomized Rat Design.

You'll have the ability to exercise for longer as well as can sustain much more extreme training sessions, which will certainly bring about some serious muscle gains. is one of the most effective muscle-building SARMs on the market. It only takes a few weeks for Ligandrol to work, even after a solitary cycle. Body builders will additionally experience other benefits when making use of Ostarine, such as enhanced bone thickness and also faster healing time. Bodybuilding deals many physical benefits as well as can enhance your figure. When S.A.R.Ms bind to the receptor they show anabolic and also hypertrophic task in both muscle mass and also bone.

People may find it hard to stop throughout a binge even if they wish to. Some people with binge eating disorder have defined feeling disconnected from what they're doing during a binge, or even struggling to keep in mind what they've eaten later on. Lots of people recommend that the product is administered only as soon as every four weeks, dbal kinds.

Innovation.

Manufacturers should examine each product in independent labs, which need to provide their consent for sporting activities supplements to show up on the market. Without it, clients may doubt the correctness as well as safety of the item as well as not buy it. Some SARMs had actually been checked years before they were authorized for usage. Although costliness is a family member term, most users will certainly agree that the rates of SARMs are high.

Unlike individuals with bulimia, they do not typically follow this by getting rid of the food via, as an example, throwing up, though occasionally they could quickly in between binges. BED is not about selecting to eat big portions, neither are people who deal with it simply "overeating"-- far from being satisfying, binges are extremely stressful, usually including a much bigger quantity of food than a person would want to eat.

Business Review For Sarms Enterprises Limited (.

On top of that, cycle assistance decreases the opportunity you'll experience any kind of negative effects. Several PCT supplements include natural vitamins, minerals, as well as herbs such as ashwagandha remove, Tribulus Terrestris essence, Rhodiola Rosea essence, vitamin E, as well as saw palmetto essence. provensarms The Benefits And Disadvantages Of Sarm Sarm will certainly stabilize hormonal agents while enhancing body structure and your overall feeling of health. Yet there specify supplements that body builders and also anybody taking SARMs should use. Supplements include vitamins, minerals, fats, amino acids, as well as various other useful ingredients. People take supplements for even more reasons than health and fitness advantages. Supplements contain important vitamins, minerals, and also various other compounds that enhance your wellness.

Does Vitaminhoppe sell SARMs?

SARMs are drugs and they are not dietary supplements. Using the internet one can easily find SARMs for sale. The bigger retail stores like GNC and Vitamin Shoppe do not carry them, but the smaller independently owned supplement stores are notorious for distributing SARMs.

While brand in the Buy SARMs industry are necessary to muscle gain, it is advised you take BCAAs with protein supplements, specifically whey healthy protein. BCAAs promote muscle healthy protein synthesis, which is the process of building muscle. It's also stated that BCAAs reduce muscle damages in addition to the size and also extent of delayed start muscle soreness, encouraging bodybuilders to lift extra. High-quality cycle support supplements contain active ingredients such as grape seed remove, Tribulus Terrestris essence, vitamin E, N-Acetyl-I-Cysteine, saw palmetto essence, celery seed extract, and hawthorn berry. Cycle support shields essential physical functions, such as cardiovascular, liver, prostate, and cholesterol health and additionally supports your blood pressure.

Tumor.

Binges might be planned like a ritual as well as can entail the individual buying "unique" binge foods, or they may be much more spontaneous. Individuals might most likely to extreme lengths to accessibility food-- for instance, consuming food that has been thrown away or stealing food. Binge eating generally takes place secretive, though the person might eat normal meals outside their binges. People with binge eating problem may likewise restrict their diet or place in specific guidelines around food-- this can likewise result in them binge eating because of hunger as well as feelings of deprival.

It deserves noting that Cardarine itself was initially recommended as a means to combat excessive weight.

SARM-type mass tablets from this team allow to burn fat cells without shedding muscle cells.

SARMs for weight reduction and aid in building a brand-new one consist of Ibutamoren, Cardarine and Endurobol.

Typically when I stop with my steroids, my strength decreases and I am losing weight.

SARMs were really discovered by mishap in the 90s when cancer cells researcher James Dalton recognized the molecule andarine, or S-4, which came to be the first-ever SARM.

I obtained it for myself, not as much to be getting mass but more or less for after steroid cycle.

This would certainly be similar to a SARMS three-way stack that is usually ran with Ostarine, other than there is an opportunity of more dimension being put on while cutting. An excellent dosage for this technique would certainly be 3-5 mg a day for 8 weeks. LGD has revealed one of the most capacity of any type of SARM to place on size that can be considered a mass. rises, and also have had a considerable boost in calorie consumption. An advise dosage for this kind of goal would certainly be 5-10 mg day for 8 weeks. If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to conserve your preferences. This means that every single time you see this site you will certainly need to allow or disable cookies again.

Types Of Bonds In Biological Particles.

Being uncertain of any of the above can show that you shouldn't be taking efficiency enhancers right now-- this is due to the fact that your body still has the capability to enhance normally. Just when you can not improve any longer would I recommend taking into consideration taking performance enhancers. Appreciate that performance enhancers will not make you buff by themselves. As your body reacts, you might really feel a lack of cravings, but this ought to not put you off from sticking to your diet regimen. The most effective SARMs available for sale come with clear and detailed directions.

How long should you take Mk 677?

Previous studies in humans demonstrated that daily oral administration of MK-677 in healthy older adults,8 GH-deficient adults9 for 4 weeks, and GH-deficient children10 for 7 days increased serum GH, IGF-I, and IGF binding protein (IGFBP)-3 concentrations.

A considerably higher intramuscular fat web content of the quadriceps femoris muscular tissue was observed in the OVX+LG 4 group compared with the Non-OVX team. In OVX rats, the fat web content of the muscle did not differ from that in the other teams. All rats obtained a soy-free rodent diet regimen (ssniff Spezial Diät GmbH, Soest, Germany) throughout the experiment. OS as well as LG were supplied with the soy-free diet regimen (ssniff Spezial Diät GmbH).

Purely Necessary Cookie must be enabled at all times so that we can conserve your preferences for cookie settings. It suggests that buyers have proper security when looking for sports supplements, both online as well as offline. Authorities are reacting extremely promptly and also capturing scammers offering fake SARMs.

The gastrocnemius muscular tissue, soleus muscular tissue, as well as longissimus muscle were extracted. The GM and SM were weighed as well as all muscles were frozen in liquid nitrogen and stored at − 80 ° C up until additional analyses. Either left or best muscular tissues were utilized arbitrarily in either histological or enzyme analyses. In Experiment II, intramuscular fat content was established in the quadriceps femoris muscle mass in Non-OVX, OVX, as well as OVX+LG 4 groups.

The staying food in the cage was evaluated weekly to determine the average everyday food consumption of a rat by splitting these information by days between the evaluating as well as variety of rats in a cage. The ordinary daily dose of OS and also LG was determined based upon the day-to-day food intake and the mean BW in the cage on the particular week. After 13 weeks post-OVX, all pets were euthanized under CO2 anesthetic. Blood serum was gathered for more analysis of creatine kinase as a marker of muscle mass damage.

CRN updates guidelines on SARMs, caffeine - NutraIngredients-usa.com

CRN updates guidelines on SARMs, caffeine.

Posted: Mon, 09 Jul 2018 07:00:00 GMT [source]

If you have not gotten any, part three has been made to assist you obtain the most out of your cycle. Perfect for those who do not take pleasure in having a healthy and balanced level of testosterone. I actually lost weight no strength obtains no anything basically. My diet plan is really much better than its ever before been training is good too. It will radiate more-so if ran in conjunction with SARMS S-4 as well as Cardarine (GW ).

However, they are still associated with venous thromboembolism as well as stroke. C4 (frequently referred to as pre-workout) supplies an increase of high levels of caffeine and also various other active ingredients to increase endurance, power, and also performance. It's perfect for body builders of all degrees, however you must adhere to dosing instructions carefully.

OS as well as LG are still being investigated in professional trials, and neither have been accepted as therapies to this factor. There are no studies reporting in vivo impacts of OS and also LG on postmenopausal muscle mass framework and metabolism. The objective of the present research study was to check out the impact of OS and also LG on the muscle mass tissue of ovariectomized rats as the typical design for postmenopausal problems. The OS impact on bone tissue and also pet design as a component of Experiment I has actually been lately published. Hormonal agent substitute therapy in postmenopausal women is connected with severe adverse effects, such as a boosted risk of coronary heart problem, bust cancer, stroke, as well as venous thromboembolism. Nevertheless, it is still one of the most reliable therapy for postmenopausal signs and for meticulously picked women, advantages might exceed risks. Selective estrogen receptor modulators have useful results on the musculoskeletal system like estrogen, they have less negative occasions on busts and also the womb.