#but he is still voting and so should you!!!!

[oediex]

You know what, yeah, that bell hooks quotation wasn't appropriate, it doesn't say what the person who added it think it says.

But I don't think it's fair to say that that man who everyone is pissing on somehow claimed we had to "hold his hand" or "coddle" him or whatever. Or even that women had to do it.

He never once even mentioned the word 'woman' in that post. I'm not excluding that that what he was implying - it's very possible! - but what he said was "the left", and let's be clear, this is his understanding of what the left is. I saw people saying that a "self-proclaimed leftist" should understand that his answer was still drenched in patriarchal thinking. But he never once proclaimed he was a leftist. Perhaps he thinks he is, but all he said was that he got "out" of the "alt-right". For all we know, that means he voted for the Democratic Party and we, who are on the left, all know that's not the fucking left.

The question that was posed was how do we keep young men from turning right wing, and he offered an explanation. An explanation! Not an excuse! Again something that a lot of people just assumed.

And yes, it was a flawed explanation, and yes he has some things to learn, and yes it was uncritical and terribly phrased.

But can we recognise that not everyone has the necessary critical thinking skills to completely dig their way out of the overarching ideology that fucking rules our lives? Critical thinking skills aren't something that we are born with. It's something that is learned, something that you have to train. It's a never-ending project. And from what I know of the educational system in the US? That's not where you get it.

Speaking of bell hooks, at least she understands this. In that book (The Will to Change) she writes that "most men never think about patriarchy - what it means, how it is created and sustained." She writes how the patriarchy sees men's violence and the one emotion they're allowed to have, anger, as "natural". Understanding the patriarchy is something that has to be learned, and you either figure it out yourself by reading, but most of us probably had someone in our lives who talked to us about it, taught us about it, and then we might have started reading more about it.

What if you don't have someone like that? What if all you hear is that the things feminists tell you is bad is what was imprinted on you as "natural" to you?

Here's bell hooks:

Yet no one talks about the role patriarchal notions of manhood play in teaching boys that it is their nature to kill, then teaching them that they can do nothing to change this nature—nothing, that is, that will leave their masculinity intact.

Here's what she says of her own brother:

As patriarchal thinking and action claimed him in adolescence, he learned to mask his loving feelings. He entered that space of alienation and antisocial behavior deemed “natural” for adolescent boys.

She clearly pinpoints the moment of these patriarchal ideas taking hold to be in adolescent, and the question that was posed was, what can we do to stop that from happening? I've seen people say that nothing can be done until we change the material conditions that make it so that men systematically have power over women. And yeah, undoubtedly that is a fight we need to have. But is that truly the only way we can keep (some) boys from falling into the grasp of the (alt-)right? Is there no hope in at least reaching them in the meantime?

I've seen a post saying, "omg of course he goes for misandry" and while misandry isn't real in that men are not systematically oppressed, that doesn't mean that there aren't some out there who express hatred or disgust of men. That's not what the left stands for, obviously, but it is not absent. Here are some comments from the notes on some of these reaction posts (and presumably these are all people who consider themselves leftists):

"you should be hunted for sport"

"makes me want to commit homocide"

"kys right now"

"'leftists constantly said i should die' yeah fucking right"

"we need to double male loneliness and I'm not even kidding"

"I HATE MEN AND THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT. THEY HATE US MORE AND THEY HAVE ALL THE POWER TO DO ACTUAL HARM TO US. Misandry is NOT FUCKING REAL but I wish it was"

"we should kill people who don't get it"

Is that hatred of men (non-systematically)? Not all of it, but some of it definitely or possibly qualifies. And it sure does look like some people (who probably think themselves leftists) think this man (or men in general) are the "scum of the earth" and that they want him/them dead. How else do you interpret some of these phrases?

Now imagine that this is something that you encounter online, and with the help of the stranglehold of the patriarchy, whispers of right wing ideology, confirmation bias, and negativity bias? I can imagine you might end up concluding they "hate you for your immutable traits" (remember patriarchy teaches boys that violence and anger is natural to them) and that they "blame you for everything that's wrong in the world".

Is that the right conclusion? No. But as much as being able to use reason is part of being human, so is not being immune to ideology and propaganda. We wouldn't fucking be where we are right now if that wasn't the case.

How do we teach boys that anger and violence aren't "immutable traits"? How do we educate them about the power of the patriarchy? Well, where does it have to come from if not from the fucking left?

Does it have to be you? No. Does it have to be women? Also no. It's probably good if it's men, and especially men who themselves walked with the right at some point (if someone has already been pulled into the right, rather than catching them before).

It can be a woman though, if there's someone who wants to do it. I don't mind doing it if someone wants to talk about it. Will I be nice? No, I won't hold back and I will tell them if what they're saying is wrong. Will I coddle them? Fuck no. Will I keep trying if someone clearly isn't listening? No. Will I be compassionate? Yeah, I think I will.

Because compassion is really important when you're trying to keep people from falling into the far-right, or even if you're trying to get them out of it (which again, isn't what we were talking about in the first place).

Here's Pete Simi, professor of Sociology, talking about Life After Hate, an American non-profit that tries to help people leave the far-right:

The organization was started by former hate group members who have been doing a lot of outreach in terms of providing testimonials and trainings to schools and law enforcement and other community groups across the country. The focus of their message is the importance of using compassion to inform prevention and intervention efforts and aftercare for individuals who want to change their lives but may need various types of support. I think LAH is a very promising development and I hope it will continue to find the resources that it needs to expand the services it provides.

Being compassionate doesn't mean coddling. It doesn't mean holding their hands and it doesn't even mean being nice to them. It doesn't exclude holding people accountable for their views. It does require patience, though. And I understand that if someone is holding the belief that you are not allowed to exist, that isn't something you can do. And that's fine. It doesn't have to be you.

But somebody has to do it, and it has to be someone on the left.

Now none of that means that the suffering of men under patriarchy, and the fact that this has to be addressed loud and clear, are more important than the suffering that women, and especially women whose oppression intersects with other levels of oppression. I've seen some tags on reaction posts that stated "omg of course centring men in discussions of gender" - but the post was about men. That was the whole starting point!

Because men do suffer under the patriarchy. And it's pushing them to the right, towards misogyny and racism, unless they develop the necessary critical thinking skills to understand their own suffering. And you know who thinks so too? bell hooks.

Often men, to speak the pain, first turn to the women in their lives and are refused a hearing. In many ways women have bought into the patriarchal masculine mystique. Asked to witness a male expressing feelings, to listen to those feelings and respond, they may simply turn away.

Since men have yet to organize a feminist men’s movement that would proclaim the rights of men to emotional awareness and expression, we will not know how many men have indeed tried to express feelings, only to have the women in their lives tune out or be turned off.

It is a form of abuse that this culture continues to deny. Boys socialized to become patriarchs are being abused. As victims of child abuse via socialization in the direction of the patriarchal ideal, boys learn that they are unlovable.

The patriarchal model that tells men that they must be in control at all times is at odds with cultivating the capacity to be responsible, which requires knowing when to control and when to surrender and let go. Responsible men are capable of self-criticism. If more men were doing the work of self-critique, then they would not be wounded, hurt, or chagrined when critiqued by others, especially women with whom they are intimate. Engaging in self-critique empowers responsible males to admit mistakes. When they have wronged others, they are willing to acknowledge wrongdoing and make amends. When others have wronged them, they are able to forgive. The ability to be forgiving is part of letting go of perfectionism and accepting vulnerability. At the same time, constructive criticism works only when it is linked to a process of affirmation. Giving affirmation is an act of emotional care. Wounded men are not often able to say anything positive. They are the grump-and-groan guys; cloaked in cynicism, they stand at an emotional distance from themselves and others. Affirmation brings us closer together. It is the highest realization of compassion and empathy with others. One of the negative aspects of antimale feminist critiques of masculinity was the absence of any affirmation of that which is positive and potentially positive in male being. When individuals, including myself, wrote about the necessity of affirming men and identifying them as comrades in struggle, we were often labeled male-identified. The women who attacked us did not understand that it was possible to critique patriarchy without hating men. Indeed, recognizing all the ways that males have been victimized by patriarchy (even though they received rewards) was a way of including men in feminist movement, welcoming their presence and honoring their contribution.

“in order to create loving males we need to love males” means teach boys that they can be themselves without being less of a man. it means being encouraging and nurturing of their emotions so they don’t become cold and hateful. it means showing boys, early in their lives, that they have value outside of what our society deems proper masculinity. what it doesn’t mean is that it’s our job to handhold men who see women as walking sex toys through the concept of empathy, and maybe if we’re really really nice to them and don’t say things that hurt their feelings they’ll stop killing us for saying no

[bi-astolfo]

Hey, everyone who didn’t vote because of the administration’s support of Israel how’re y’all feeling now? Huh? Now what? We’re still gonna support Israel under Trump’s administration and he’s signaled that he’s a staunch supporter of the genocide and urges them to “finish the job.” Meanwhile, Kamala Harris spoke out against the killing in Gaza but I guess that doesn’t matter.

Then what about the people at home? If they’re both just as bad when it comes to the genocide in Gaza then why not vote based on another issue? I guess trans people’s lives don’t matter to y’all? Having the supreme court conservatively stacked for the rest of our lives didn’t matter? Abortion rights? Gay marriage? The fact that they attempted a coup and were gearing up to try again if they election didn’t go their way? None of that mattered enough to get you to vote?

A lot of people are saying that anger should be directed toward the right and the people who voted for Trump. But so what? It’s not like my opinion matters to them. As a queer man, my life doesn’t even matter to them. It apparently matters to the the left but your lack of voting sure doesn’t show it.

So yeah, thanks for making a stand! You may have literally picked a hill to die on! Nevertheless, I hope you all live to regret it.

[itsfreerealestatelol]

Just. Really fast.

I really do try to keep politics away from my social media but...

I'm American. We just voted for the stupidest candidate we could have possibly voted for. If you know that one Cyanide and Happiness skit where the presidential candidates were a perfectly good, reasonable and professional person vs. a literal glutton for humiliation promising to make the country fall into ruin just for shits and giggles? Yeah that's basically this election right now. We fucking voted for a man so cartoonishly bad he is basically a Cyanide and Happiness character.

This country quite literally hates women more than it actually wants to have freedom. That's the bottom line here.

We are literally getting lambasted by OTHER COUNTRIES because we voted for Trump, our allies overseas are quite literally calling us idiots, and frankly? We fucking deserve it. People want to kill themselves over this election, LITERAL CHILDREN are concerned for the future of this country- I recently heard my very, very conservative, God-fearing mother express concern over her own future moving forward over Trump. It wasn't just her either, it was my entire right-wing family as well, they are all so concerned about what's going to happen with Trump in office, so it's not just the fucking liberals or whatever who are terrified of what's about to happen.

I'm scared for the hundreds of thousands of other queer folks out there who didn't get the chance to start living their truest selves before their rights got stripped again. I'm scared for the women who now have to live in constant fear of their own bodies because what if they get taken advantage of and don't want to carry the baby, or what if they miscarry or birth a still born? Congratulations you're going to jail! I'm scared for the POC people in our country who are about to face the worst racism this country has seen since the goddamn slave-years. I'm scared for every single person in this country who isn't a cishet white man because they're about to face the consequences of someone else's actions and have no say in it.

I'm scared for the businesses who are about to face tariffs so dumb they're going to have to restrict their worker's pay. I'm scared for the enviornment because Trump wants to go after the fucking climate crisis for some goddamn reason. I'm scared for my own future, because I want to go through college, I want to be an architect, and I may not get that opportunity over the sex I was born with and didn't get a choice in having.

I agree with the people that are saying shit like "if we can elect a president with 34 felons, then you should be able to get a job with one" because yeah. I think people are seriously forgetting Trump is convicted on 34 felony charges, is a rapist, a literal national security risk, is half a billion dollars in debt, is also convicted of fraud, whose own political party minus the loud part stopped supporting him, and his administration is not returning to the White House because they either hate him or are in jail.

And yet we elected him to be our president.

All of this to say-

Raise fucking hell.

Demand those votes be recounted, fight for your rights, donate to good causes, research what stores and businesses support human decency, do what you think you can do within your own limits to help our country and it's people.

We are not done fighting, we are not going to just wallow in our own defeat. If they get to be loud, then we get to be louder.

As Optimus says, "Freedom is the right of all sentient beings"

-

Edit:

Trump doesn't have the power to do shit right now. That is why I'm saying we fight before he does.

And also,

Our lives are worth more than the price of gas and eggs. Remember that.

[smilesatdawnmain]

ETERNAL LMK AU (Part 7) (Interactive Story)

Tug a war!!

The rules are simple.: I will give the written passage, and then at the bottom there will be a vote on how the characters act next!

Story: Eternal Au

Ships: Shadow Peach

The string burned in his grasp. The feeling of heat, for a being without physical form, was disorienting. Despite the sensation, Macaque powered through and pressed his heels into the ground. As a soul, a ghost, his abilities on this plane were now restricted.

However, if he knew anything about Soul mates, there was a high chance there was at least one thing he could still have a semblance of control over. The connection between their souls. If it could pull him around- it could pull Wukong around!!  

Digging his heels downward, anger surged in him. He heaved with all his might, feeling the string grow taut, sharply coiling up and against Wukong’s own chest. The King gagged when his leisure flight was pulled short, frozen in mid air as he felt something sharp tugging him back. 

He spun around, his eyes scanning the area for whatever had grabbed him. But there was nothing there, and when he checked his chest, there was no physical force holding him in place. "What is going on?" he twisted and turned, trying to shake off the strange sensation.

Macaque struggled and wrestled with Wukong, as if trying to wrangle a raging bull. "You infuriate me!" He shouted at Wukong in frustration. How could this man have such a strong hold on him? How could he be his soulmate? How dare he hurt him- leave him- kill him!!

“Let go of me!” Macaque wailed, “Move on from me! Fuck you! I hate you!

 The idea of being stuck, forced to follow close behind as Wukong went about his day to day. It was disheartening- infuriating even, watching Wukong live in peace in their home when it was his fault in the first place that things were like this. How dare Wukong return here after everything he did! After everything Macaque went through to ensure this place was okay after he left. 

"You're pathetic. You're awful! You never listen to anyone. You act impulsively and then act so pitiful when you get in trouble for it. But you never learn from the impulsive things you do!" Macaque barked. Seething, he felt his own ears flicker and glow. 

The two Diyu collectors stepped back, eyes wide when they realized what he was about to do. With a feral roar, he yanked back the string with every ounce of strength in his tormented soul, determined to unleash all of his pent-up rage and fury upon them

Wukong's screams are cut short as he is violently ripped from his cloud, plummeting towards the unforgiving earth below. In a matter of seconds, he slams into the ground with bone-crunching force, sending shockwaves of agony through his entire body. “Gah!”

Macaque's rage burned hot as he yanked on the golden thread with all his might, forcing the still writhing Wukong upward, eyes wide and dazed. "You selfish, arrogant bastard!" he snarled, pouring years of pent-up frustration and hurt into each vicious tug. "You left me behind! You chose that human over me! And now you have the audacity to keep me tethered to you?!"

With each pull, Wukong jerked in the air, bewildered by the invisible force yanking him about. His golden eyes darted around frantically, searching for the source.

Wukong flailed in the air, gasping as he was yanked about by an unseen force. His golden eyes widened in panic and confusion as he searched frantically for the source, eyeing flickering gold to seek the forces that was doing this. He bodily twisted and turn, unknowingly fighting Macaque’s tugging.

“Uh…” The Diyu collectors shrunk a little, pale and glancing at one another. “We should… uh- we should go,” they concluded.

Macaque turned to them sharply, “What??” he hissed. "Hey! You can't just leave!" Macaque barked at them, unable to follow due to the basic "Leash" around his waist, which only let him get so far from Wukong as he was tugging it. So he dropped it for just a moment, leaving Wukong to be confused.

They sheepishly shrug, having no intention of sticking around if Wukong was on the alert for them. Their powers and glamors would only keep them hidden for so long at this rate. Honestly, they had no doubt with enough patience, Wukong might even just see his mate- maybe even touch him him as they were soul mates, which was unheard of, but hey, Wukong had done the impossible before, "Well technically we can. We have no idea how long this might take. We got other souls we gotta check on to see what is holding them up." a scroll formed between their fingers, a long list of names written up on it. They had been eager to snag the soul of Sun Wukong’s mate, but they would have to cut their loses. They couldn’t take him if he had the tether. "We'll just mark you down as "In the process, needs closure" and we'll check in when we have the time. We'll sense when you are released from that tether so don't worry, we'll come get ya."

Macaque's face contorted in fury as the Diyu collectors began to fade away. How dare they-! All this and they wouldn’t even- well, not like he wanted to go with them, but stilL! "You can't just leave me here!" he snarled, lunging towards them. But his efforts were futile - his hands passed right through their dissolving forms.

"Sorry, pal," one of them called, their voice echoing as they disappeared. "Duty calls. We'll be back...eventually. Try to find closure or whatever in the meantime!"

And then they were gone, leaving Macaque alone with the thrashing Wukong. The Moon Monkey let out a roar of frustration, his fists clenching at his sides. The injustice of it all burned in his chest like molten lava.

Wukong was still dazed from the sudden pull that had yanked him out of the sky. As he struggled to stand, he tugged at the string between them, not realizing that it had tangled and shortened their distance.

Macaque let out a surprised yelp as he was tugged forward and lost his balance. The two of them struggled for a few moments, each trying to regain control of their own footing. To onlookers, it may have appeared as if Wukong was fighting against an invisible force. In reality, it was two souls unknowingly battling against the other's grip, connected by an unbreakable string.

“Let me go!” Macaque growled. Could Wukong even do that? Did either of them have the power to break the connection of a soul mate??

…Soul mate…

He was Wukong’s soul mate. It brought tears to his eyes, as much as he wished it didn’t. It hurt. Wukong was meant to be his, and in return, he was meant to be Wukong’s, so how did this happen?

He stumbled closer to Wukong, using the string to draw himself nearer. “Idiot… Idiot..I was yours. I was your Moon…!” he sobbed.

As Macaque stood before the King, he watched as the ruler searched and searched in vain. Little did the King know that his beloved Moon was right in front of his face. In that moment, Macaque resigned himself to never being seen by Wukong again. He stopped pulling, stopped fighting, stopped trying.

This was his life now, wasn’t it?

His punishment.

Did he want Wukong to see him? Did he not...? Even if Wukong could see or hear him, what would it change?

Previous

Next:

[khorneschosen]

You're asking to have an argument about Trump's previous term to this one.

When it's quite clear the issue is about which side has the most empathy, common sense, and tolerance.

And when it comes to common sense y'all have none common sense belongs to a philosophy that you no longer practice or believe in.

It's a bumpkin version of rationalism, which Marxist outright deny the existence of. So you guys don't have common sense because you guys aren't rationalist or for that matter rational. Hence why existentialism formed as a reaction to the fact that the prophecy of Marx never came to fruition.

The masses and the proletarian never revolted on mass capitalism didn't become one giant monopoly nor is it really in danger of ever becoming a monopoly where the state is not involved.

What's more the standard living and wealth of the people living under capitalism or even quasi or broken capitalism are still doing better than all the people states of the world Even when those people states have access to a great deal of resources from the rest of the world.

This is by the way why market socialism is the big new hot push, what they really should call it however is modern Chinese socialism.

And however has the exact same problems of a socialist government with fewer tools to be able to deal with it. It's basically the state controls you and you control the factories but we control you so we control the factories anyway. Which is remarkably how national socialism works, you know it as fascism.

And then when it comes to empathy you guys have what can only really be described as transactional collective empathy. If a person or a group does what you say you have a great deal of empathy for them so much so that you'll let them get away with anything however if any member of that group goes against you or is even really just neutral and a way that you can't abide, even a small way you have no empathy for them.

And we've seen that when it comes to cishet white men for a while, and Asians and Jews recently, and even more recently Arabs and Hispanics who do not vote Democrat.

What I'm really describing here is just an in-group preference based on political or philosophical lines, But even then it's more based around whether or not that particular group is useful to you. Because despite everything destiny is one of your guys and y'all treat him like shit, because at times he dares to challenge you guys on some of your worst excesses and on your own terms. In a way that you simply cannot ignore. You can't rightly call him a conservative because the evidence of your own eyes and mind do not allow you to.

This too by the way goes for tolerance, The one axiom that you seem to have in group and outgroup preferences for being your politics and how useful someone is to the cause, you have no tolerance for it.

Meanwhile conservatives come from various different areas of influence. The Protestant and Catholics have long had their doctrine changed to better meet and work with reality. The capitalists are hard realists to the point of irrational pragmatism at times. And the nationalists are operating on a very old form of your system but they do it just for the people within their own nation. Which is just demanding that the benefactors be within their national boundaries.

Oh and liberals have a strong philosophical tradition that goes back to the enlightenment. Of course I mean classical liberals rather than communist calling themselves liberal because it's a lot easier than calling themselves a communist.

So as far as logic goes they're nowhere near as bad.

And as for empathy they are by definition conservatives they are being challenged and at every point of the challenge they have allowed you to challenge them in ways that they frankly shouldn't have. That their own code would have allowed them to crush you at any point and yet refuse to out of empathy intolerance for your kind.

And we're talking collectively right we're not talking about individual examples because if that's the case we'll be here all night but in the broadest strokes conservatives do have empathy tolerance and they're far more logical. I mean even scientific studies have shown that they have more risk assessment which you define is fear for the sake of your propaganda but really it's just risk assessment. Which one we're dealing with the country that is the leader of the free world and if its economy goes tits up, will destroy the free world and an economic collapse from which it will never recover from I don't say that fear or risk assessment is misplaced.

Like baseline conservative is infinitely more rational. Baseline libertarian is infinitely more rational because they at least acknowledge the reality of economics or culture. Y'all routinely ignore the risks or even cost of your actions and policies and ideologically do not believe in rationality.

So yeah leftist and I do mean leftist are less rational, less empathetic and less tolerant.

Also if you want me to get to your second question reword it a little bit, it's confusing how it's currently written.

[mithrilhearts]

Maeve's 4k Follower Event

Battle of the Plot Bunnies Finals!

Wow!! This has been such an exciting event, and honestly, some of these polls turned out WAY different than I anticipated (which makes it very fun) - so thank you to everyone who has participated! I can't wait to see what project comes out on top for this last poll.

As always, thank you for your continued support! I enjoy writing, and to see people still invested in that makes my heart practically glow. I can't wait to unleash some new stories upon you guys (and they are coming! Both Bagginshield and Dragon Age ehehe). Thanks for reading, supporting, and just being there!

✨Feel free to ask my any questions about these fic ideas prior to voting, if you like! I will do my best to answer as quickly as possible!

Happy Voting!

‼️Fic Summaries/Information below!‼️ All information below is subject to change as the fics develop

Sweeter Than Honey - Rated Teen+

Bilbo Baggins runs a successful honey farm on the west side of the Brandywine River. His peaceful days of honey handicraft grow tense as a new logging company, owned by one Thror Oakes, draws closer to his land. It’s how he meets Thorin, a lumberjack living under the thumb of his grandfather, the owner. They should have been adversaries - the two are on opposite sides of nature, but as it is so often said: opposites attract. - Outdated Ficlet - Basic Information/Ideas via ask game

Twice In A Lifetime - Rated Mature

Just days before the siege on the Dimrill Gate, Thorin voices his guilt about his inability to keep his people safe when Smaug took the mountain. In the middle of an angry prayer to Mahal himself, the ringing of an anvil is the last thing Thorin remembers before waking up within the rolling green hills of the Shire. It’s there he’s greeted by a set of hazels he’d never forget. Not in this lifetime. - Outdated Ficlet

[asm5129]

…after the civil war, a few key mistakes were made.

the south’s economy was destroyed because it was reliant on slave labor, and never really fully recovered. And suffering breeds resentment.

On top of this, no one *wants* to believe their ancestors fought for something objectively evil. So the states rights narrative was appealing.

And in trying to heal the divide in America, many confederate leaders were not granted simply mercy in the form of a pardon, but actively given power once more.

And while slavery was dead (outside of prisons, anyway), black Americans were still considered inferior. The Reconciliation era included tremendous violence against black Americans.

In many ways white Americans healed through white supremacy.

Essentially, concessions were made to heal the divide that ultimately failed to address the problem that caused the war in the first place—whether anyone other than white men were included in the phrase “all men are created equal”.

Healing division inevitably includes concessions and compromise, but the way it was done in the aftermath of the civil war was fundamentally flawed because it treated a problem that still existed as if it had been solved. When you let racists back in power, they will do more racist things, whether or not the institution of slavery for African Americans still exists.

When we try to heal from where this country is now, we must learn from that history. People in the south don’t deserve for people to see them get hit by a deadly hurricane and hand wave it away as “they got what they voted for”, but neither should we allow those who have lead red states down the path of fascism have a say in what healing looks like.

In order to reconcile with one another, we have to be willing to sit down and have conversations with one another like people. There will be people who are not willing to do that, or who will try to take advantage of it, and we can prepare for that.

But we do need to be able to coexist.

We can start with the basics. Do people have enough stability? Can they afford food? Do they have support when they need it?

And then we can talk to them about what they need to address that.

It’s telling that the main issue people voted for Trump for was the economy. People are suffering, and even though Kamala’s economic proposal was very good she didn’t always do the best job explaining it, especially for those who would need it most who are often not super educated. And ultimately it wasn’t enough of a change, and what’s more, it asked people to be patient and not angry. Trump is able to gain the support he has because he taps into deep suffering and anger and gives it a target.

Kamala didn’t give legitimacy to that anger the way they needed.

these are my thoughts on healing the division in America, i suppose. I hope you find them interesting.

**Btw, these thoughts are mainly informed by information from the documentary *Civil War (or Who Do We Think We Are)* and the book *Democracy Awakening* by Heather Cox Richardson, both of which I highly recommend to help grasp a deeper understanding of why America is where it is today.

[remotewatch]

recreationally feral Jack when the reader wants to shower before they fuck

[kneel-before-queen-loki]

As someone who is going to be affected (woman of reproductive age that wants more kids): it's still true.

Yes, it's uncomfortable. Yes, it feels bad. But it's good to talk to people that oppose you. The more isolated both sides become, the more extremist both become, and both get closer to fascism. Not just them, but us too.

People refusing to connect across party lines is the reason the right is so incredibly awful. They'll never have any reason to believe trans people are being genuine because the only one they know is a Kardashian, and we've never worked on a farm so we have no appreciation for what's at stake for them.

I know it's hard, but have the conversations. Tell them why they shouldn't vote red even if they like a few of the policies. Especially with your family. I promise they're not as extremist as they seem, you won't have to argue why you deserve not to be murdered. A lot of them just voted for the guy who had lower inflation while he was president because they're struggling to make ends meet. Most of them have never had to think about having certain rights taken away and don't appreciate what that could possibly mean. Many more are just crossing their fingers that no one would do something that inhumane.

They're never going to escape their media bubble without you, and you should take that into account when you're making up your mind about contact levels.

Just saying 🤷‍♀️

[navree]

genuinely would love for some of the "both parties are the same" people to name me a single election in the entirety of the twenty first century where the outcome for the country wouldn't have been better if a democrat had won

[hitmeupaep]

there actually everything to me

[artistformerlyknownasbutttrumpet]

Your election post was the most holier-than-thou, performative, bullshit I’ve ever read. Get a grip and get some self awareness.

i will take "missed the entire point" for 500, alex

[billdenbrough]

fundamentally disinterested in the recurring discourse about kevin's drinking that aims to a) make it his Specific Problem To Focus On And Overcome when it is a crutch and coping mechanism to get him through a Much Bigger Problem (emotional fallout he can't square with by himself, culture shock, trauma, loss of his extremely wildly co-dependent relationship w riko, losing the structure of the nest, mourning a future he was meant to have, processing a grave injustice, anger and fear and desperate grief, all of which is his Actual Specific Fox Problem) while he builds himself back up, and b) thinks that even if it is a problem (more on that later), it's the foxes' problem to deal with.

like. it's just not.

yeah, he doesn't drink until he meets them. they gave him that habit, and in traditional terms, they're (the monsters specifically) a 'bad influence'. but these are the foxes. this is kevin day, son of exy, whose meteor is crashing spectacularly through no fault of his own. there are no traditional terms to be found here. the framework for it literally doesn't exist. neil comes into the foxes with more conventional expectations—appalled at the athletes' substance use, his horror at matt's trip to columbia, his steadfast and early repeated stance that none of the foxes should let andrew treat them the way he does, and certainly not nicky—and tends to engage with them less as the series goes on and he folds himself into the foxes. the thing about the foxes is that they've all been in pits deeper than they are tall. and some of them got a helping hand on the way—erik, andrew's extreme intervention methods, stephanie walker—and wymack was always waiting for them on the other side, ready to throw down a rope, but all the foxes dragged themselves out of their own holes. often not alone, often not without assistance, but at the end of the day, they have to do it.

there's that line neil has about aaron in that scene that got deleted when the timeline shifted around, when he thinks about how aaron got this far in life on his own, surviving on willpower and sheer desperation. that applies to aaron in a way that's a little more acute than some of the rest of them—boy who doesn't let the foxes in bc of andrew, boy who doesn't let nicky in bc he doesn't know how, boy made of flinching and seeking an escape and grieving the one who hurt him—but is broadly true for the foxes en masse.

this isn't to say the foxes can't help each other, but it's not their job. it just isn't. they'll keep kevin alive, keep him safe, keep him flanked and contained within their ranks. they'll fight tooth and nail in this battle with him, fight to get him to that championship game, fight to get that trophy in his hands. but that's all they've agreed to. that's all they're responsible for, in this covenant they've made with him. he says they can make this happen, and they're going to get him to that final game, but it's up to him what state he's in when he gets there.

like. they're foxes. they've been triaging their whole lives. they hate each other and they hate everyone else more. they're the kids with their backs up against the wall. half of them are addicts. i don't think kevin is comparable, personally; he's getting through a horrific situation with a coping mechanism. that's not the same thing as battling yourself to stop using. but that's not really the point of this. what i'm getting at here is that to the foxes, it's easy math: kevin who can lean on vodka and andrew and wymack and the foxes to stay upright when he's not ready to stand on his own two feet is still a kevin who is standing. a kevin with one less piece of scaffolding to lean on is a kevin who falls over, a kevin at risk of complete collapse, a kevin one phone call away from running back to the master, a kevin one crucial loss away from not ever making it back to himself at all. they're triaging. this is low on the totem pole of things they have the room to care about. they very much have bigger problems, both individually and even just kevin-related. if alcohol makes seeing the boy he knew best in the world and moved in tandem with his whole life and who destroyed their entire legacy and his entire life in one move — if alcohol makes facing that boy easier to stomach, then, fuck, why would they take that away? they're foxes. they've all got their demons. this is what kevin needs this year and a half to let him face his, that's all. they can understand that. it doesn't have to be pretty, as long as it keeps him in the fight. that's the priority.

i think there's absolutely space to explore this in fic and art and fandom in a way that maybe does explore it as a Problem, both that it's an active problem for kevin & that it's something to explore other foxes helping him with (there's a t&n fic that i've been gnawing at the bit to read for months that seems poised to explore this premise, and that's super up my alley)! i just think we're in different territory when we're talking about the series—and its characters and dynamics—in a conversational rather than transformational way, and end up talking about this like the foxes are responsible for kevin's choices. i love kevin day. i read these back at the start of 2015 & he's so dear to me that loving him was the blueprint for how i feel abt kageyama. but it's been pretty weird to see how the conversation has been translating Loving Kevin Day into... thinking the foxes are doing wrong by him with respect to this in actual canon. like that's just not how it operates there

[stuffedsand]

innocent voting kazui every day is not enough i need a gun

[runawaymun]

Man what a horrible way to wake up.

[2030kamenriders]

Taiga from Kiva started a fangire democracy after the main events of Kiva. However a lot of the older and "more traditional" fangires still prefer the chess-monarchy system, causing this weird situation where they keep voting for Taiga to be king prime minister, but dislike his policies

A lot of initial fangire alternative food is just. Doing the glass fang thing to fish and chickens and stuff. They're working on other stuff akin to vitamin supplements, but it takes time.

Haruna Terui starts off thinking "wow cops!" as a little kid, but gets disillusioned by it sometime before adolescence. Judging by how tired Accel seemed to be in that one Zi-O crossover, it might have happened as early as then. If that's the case, it's probable that Ryu was upset that he couldn't protect his kid from the trauma.

Despite this, Haruna still constantly tries to solve various cases and such around the city, and does a lot of studying the law. It's very likely she starts leading the detective agency at some point.

Also Haruna's aroace.

Masao picked up languages pretty early compared to most children. This is partly because a lot of the grown-ups around him accidentally follow the "don't use the baby-talk accent" rule when raising him.

Kivats can catch an equivalent of White-Nose Syndrome (it's a disease that affects bats), but it just looks a bit different (since. They don't have noses)

A lot of Castle Doran's rooms have been getting restored or repurposed for various things. (I mean think about it. It's a huge castle and we only ever see a few rooms of it.) One of the rooms is some kinda indoor greenhouse where they grow all the roses.

Stepping out of the Kamen Rider sphere (inspired by that "Who could solve the Death Note case" chart that goes around Tumblr) the characters from hit children's show Blue's Clues could enter the Gaia Library (and perhaps the Narumi Agency building directly) via the power of the Blue-Skidoo teleportation method

Time-travel and inter-dimensional travel go hand-in-hand in the RiderVerse. To travel to another dimension with time-travel powers, go back in time and change something, then go to the future. Provided that you yourself are immune to timeline changes (like by being a Singularity Point) you should be okay; you just have to make sure to make the correct timeline changes to get to the correct dimension. This can be difficult in some cases, so just having dimension-hopping powers streamlines that. Not sure how the reverse would work (dimension-hopper traveling through time), but considering how Decade moves in Zi-O, there's gotta be a way

Actually, I'm curious. What's some random Kamen Rider headcanons you guys have?