#but who are valuable parts of our community and are working to make this world a better place to be LGBT nonetheless

[chemsitryforthegirls]

Mini rant on living a "good" queer life

I don't relate to the advice every queer podcast/influencer/media seems to be pushing these days of "cut off your family, move to LA, you don't owe anything to anyone, destroy any societal structure to fit your narrative."

It is self-absorbed, unsustainable, and an excuse to hurt whoever you please in pursuit of "living your truth". I hate that young queer people who are just coming into their identity are vehemently discouraged from finding ways to live contently within the systems they are a part of. It's fine to want the kind of life that looks nice on a Christmas card and it doesn't make you a "bad queer" to want that.

Don't let the loudest of our community tell you that choosing to live a life that is "ordinary" or fulfills society's expectations doesn't make the world better for the next generation or isn't proudly and boldly queer. Who made me realize I could be a lesbian? Who convinced my family and friends it wasn't the end of the world? It was the women who looked like everyone else, who held ordinary jobs, who had a families and houses with a white picket fences and lived the lives I spent my whole life dreaming while also loving another woman. We don't make our communities better or more accepting by abandoning them. It is radical queer activism to stay put as well.

It takes a long time to build communities, relationships, and families that weather the test of time. You are not perfect either. You are guaranteed to put your foot in your mouth, find yourself on the wrong side of a conflict, or mistreat the people you care about over the course of your lifetime. If you surround yourself with people who cut off anyone who missteps then don't be surprised when you fall from grace and find yourself very much alone.

[dailyrothko]

No, the Popularity of Abstract Art is Not the Result of a CIA PsyOp

If you are unlucky enough to move around the internet these days and talk about art, you’ll find that many “First commenters” will hit you with what they see as some hard truth about your taste in art. Comments usually start with how modern art is “money laundering” always comically misunderstanding what that means. What they are saying is that, of course, rich people use investments as tax shelters and things like expensive antiques and art appraised at high prices to increase their net worth. Oh my god, I’ve been red-pilled. The rich getting richer? I have never heard of such a thing.

What is conveniently left out of this type of comment is that the same valuation and financial shenanigans occur with baseball cards, wine, vacation homes, guitars, and dozens of other things. It does indeed happen with art, but even the kind that the most conservative internet curator can appreciate. After all, Rembrandts are worth money too, you just don’t see many because he’s not making any more of them. The only appropriate response to these people who are, almost inevitably themselves, the worst artists you have ever seen, is silence. It would cruel to ask about their own art because there’s a danger they might actually enjoy such a truly novel experience.

When you are done shaking your head that you just subjected yourself to an argument about the venality of poor artists plotting to make their work valuable after they died, you can certainly then enjoy the accompanying felicity of the revelation they have saved to knock you off your feet: “Abstract art is a CIA PsyOp”

Here one must get ready either to type a lot or to simply say “Except factually” and go along your merry, abstract-art-loving way. But what are the facts? Unsurprisingly with things involving US government covert operations, the facts are not so clear.

Like everything on the internet, you are unlikely to find factual roots to the arguments about government conspiracies and modern art. The mere idea of it is enough to bring blossom for the “I’m not a sheep” crowd, some of whom believe that a gold toilet owning former president is a morally good, honest hard-working man of the people.

The roots of this contention come from a 1973 article in Artforum magazine, where art critic Max Kozloff wrote about post-war American painting in the context of the Cold War, centering around Irving Sandler’s book, The Triumph of American Painting (1970). Kozloff takes on more than just abstract expressionism in his article but condemns the “Self-congratulatory mood”of Sandler’s book and goes on to suggest the rise of abstract expressionism was a “Benevolent form of propaganda”. Kozoloff treads a difficult line here, asserting that abstraction was genuinely important to American art but that its luminaries, “have acquired their present blue-chip status partly through elements in their work that affirm our most recognizable norms and mores.”

While there were rumblings of agreements around Kozloff’s article of broad concerns, it did not give birth to an actual conspiracy theory at the time. The real public apprehension of this idea seems to mostly come from articles written by historian Frances Stonor Saunders in support of her book, “The Cultural Cold War: The CIA and the World of Arts and Letters” (New York, New Press, 2000). (I have not read this 525 page book, only excerpts).

The gist of Ms. Saunders argument is a tantalizing, but mostly unsupported, labyrinthine maze of back door funding and novelistic cloak and dagger deals. According to Saunders, the Congress for Cultural Freedom (CCF), an anti-communist cultural organization founded in 1950, was behind the promotion of Abstract art as part of their effort to be opinion makers in the war against communism. In 1966 it was revealed that the CCF was funded by the CIA. Saunders says that the CCF financed a litany of art exhibitions including “The New American Painting” which toured Europe in the late 1950s. Some of this is true, but it’s difficult, if not impossible, to know the specifics.

Noted expert in abstract-expressionism, David Anfam said CIA presence was real. It was “a well-documented fact” that the CIA co-opted Abstract Expressionism in their propaganda war against Russia. “Even The New American Painting [exhibition] had some CIA funding behind it,” he says. But the reasons for this are not quite what the abstract art detractors might be looking for. After all, the CCF also funded the travel expenses for the Boston Symphony Orchestra and promoted Fodor’s travel guides. More than trying to pull the wool over anyone’s eyes, it was meant to showcase the freedom artists in the US. enjoyed. Or as Anfam goes on to say, “It’s a very shrewd and cynical strategy, because it showed that you could do whatever you liked in America.”

For what it’s worth, Saunders’s book was eviscerated in the Summer 2000 issue of Art Forum at the time of its publication. Robert Simon wrote:

“Saunders draws extensively on primary and secondary sources, focusing on the convoluted money trail as it twists through dummy corporations, front men, anonymous donors, and phony fund-raising events aimed at filling the CCF’s coffers. She makes lengthy forays into such topics as McCarthyism, the formation and operation of the CIA, the propaganda work of the Hollywood film industry, and New York cultural politics—from Partisan Review to MoMA to Abstract Expressionism. Yet what seems strangely absent from Saunders’s panoramic history, as if it were a minor detail or something too obvious to require discussion, is the cultural object itself: The complex specifics of the texts, exhibitions, intellectual gatherings, paintings, and performances of the culture war are largely left out of the story.”

Another problem with the book seems to be that Saunders is an historian but not an art historian. For me, I sensed an overtone of superiority in the tale she’s spinning and most assuredly from those that repeat its conclusion. The thinly veiled message of some is that if it were “Real art” it would not have had be part of this government subterfuge. The reality is very different. For one thing, most of us know it is simply not true that you can make people devoted to a type of art for 100 years that they would sensibly hate otherwise. Another issue is that it’s quite obvious none of the artists actually knew about any government interference if there was any. Pollock, Rothko, Gottlieb and Newmann were all either communists or anarchists. Hardly the group one would recruit the help the US government free the world of communism. Additionally, this narrow cold war timeline ignores a huge amount of abstract art that Jackson Pollock haters also revile and consider part of the same hijacking of high (Frankly, Greek, Roman, or Renaissance) culture. If you look at the highly abstract signature work of Piet Mondrian and observe the dates they were painted, you’ll see 1908, 1914, 1916. This is some of the art denigrated as a CIA PsyOP, 35 years before the CIA even thought about it. Modern art didn’t come from nowhere as many would have you believe to discredit its rise. There was Surrealism, Dada, Bauhaus, Russian futurism and a host of other movements that fueled it.

Generally, people like to argue. On the internet, “I don’t like this” is a weak statement that always must be replaced by “This is garbage” or my favorite, “This is fake.”

It’s hardly surprising that the more conservative factions of our society look for any government involvement in our lives to explain why things are not exactly as they wish them to be, given the (highly ironic) conservative government-blaming that blew up after Reagan. In addition, modern fascists have always had a love affair with the classical fantasy of Greece and Rome. Both Mussolini and Hitler used Greece and Rome as “Distant models” to address their uncertain national identity. The Nazis confiscated more than 5,000 works in German museums, presenting 650 of them in the Entartete Kunst (Degenerate Art, 1937) show to demonstrate the perverted nature of modern art. It featured artists including Marc Chagall, Max Ernst, Wassily Kandinsky, and Paul Klee, among others. The fear of art was real. It was the fear of ideas.

To a lot of people on the internet just the mentioning a “CIA program” is enough to get the cogs turning, but as with many things, the reality of CIA programs and government plots is often less than evidence of well planned coup.

The CIA reportedly spent 20 millions dollars on Operation Acoustic Kitty which intended to use cats to spy on the Kremlin and Soviet embassies. Microphones were planted on cats and plans were set in motion to get the cats to surreptitiously record important conversations. However, the CIA soon discovered that they were cats and not agreeable to any kind of regulation of their behavior.

As part of Operation Mongoose the CIA planned to undermine Castro's public image by putting thallium salts in his shoes, which would cause his beard to fall out, while he was on a trip outside Cuba. He was expected to leave his shoes outside his hotel room to be polished, at which point the salts would be administered. The plan was abandoned because Castro canceled the trip.

Regardless of your feelings on this subject or how much you believe abstract art benefited from government dollars, Saunders herself quotes in her book a CIA officer apparently involved in these “Long leash” influence operations. He says, “We wanted to unite all the people who were writers, who were musicians, who were artists, to demonstrate that the West and the United States was devoted to freedom of expression and to intellectual achievement, without any rigid barriers as to what you must write, and what you must say, and what you must do.” Hardly the Illuminati plot we were promised.

In 2016, Irving Sandler, author of the book that started Kozloff tirading in 1973, told Alastair Sooke of The Daily Telegraph, “There was absolutely no involvement of any government agency. I haven’t seen a single fact that indicates there was this kind of collusion. Surely, by now, something – anything – would have emerged. And isn’t it interesting that the federal government at the time considered Abstract Expressionism a Communist plot to undermine American society?”

This blog post contains information and quotes sourced from The Piper Played to Us All: Orchestrating the Cultural Cold War in the USA, Europe, and Latin America, Russell H. Bartley International Journal of Politics, Culture, and Society, Vol. 14, No. 3 (Spring, 2001), pp. 571-619 (49 pages) https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20161004-was-modern-art-a-weapon-of-the-cia https://brill.com/view/journals/fasc/8/2/article-p127_127.xml?language=en https://www.guggenheim-bilbao.eus/en/learn/schools/teachers-guides/the-dark-side-of-classicism https://www.artforum.com/features/american-painting-during-the-cold-war-212902/ https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/modern-art-was-cia-weapon-1578808.html https://www.artforum.com/columns/frances-stonor-saunders-162391/ https://www.artforum.com/features/abstract-expressionism-weapon-of-the-cold-war-214234/ Mark Rothko and the Development of American Modernism 1938-1948 Jonathan Harris, Oxford Art Journal, Vol. 11, No. 1 (1988), pp. 40-50 (11 pages)

[cavegirlpoems]

They Think Empathy Is A Sin Because They Worship Satan, Literally, Not Metaphorically: an esay.

OK so. I am going to do something inadvisable and make a lengthy post about something other than game design, because I can and I want to.

It's a long one. Like, extremely long. So, to avoid "Do you like the colour of the sky [gone quaker, gone tolstoy, christian anarchist edition]", here's a convenient break so you can scroll past if lengthy religious diatribes aren't your thing.

To begin with, some baselines. I am writing from a Christian perspective. More specifically, I would describe myself as a Liberal Quaker. To me, at least, this involves Christianity as a communal mystical practice, with unprogrammed worship (IE no clergy) and an entirely flat religious heirarchy. Values associated with this branch of religion include honesty, charity, humility and peace.

I adopted Quakerism as a religious framework because it was the one that worked for me. I was raised in, and still live in, a culturally Christian society; as such, Christianity provided a religious framework of symbols and meanings that I was culturally fluent with, whereas other faiths would have required a steeper learning curve since I lack that baseline familiarity. That said, I try to study and understand other religions: I would say that what I've learned of Islam and Budhism - while I'm far from an expert - have been valuable to me.

Politically, I lean hard to the left and hard towards anarchy/libertarianism. I would describe my politics as antifascist first, and then largely anarcho-communist after that, but I'm a pretty big-tent progressive. I'm also a british trans woman who keeps ending up voting Lib Dem for lack of better options, if that gives you any context.

Now, let's define some terms as I understand them and intend to use them. These are all metaphors or symbols, that we can use poetically to better articulate certain ideas. I use Christian imagery here, because that's what I'm fluent with; if I was instead fluent with Jewish or Daoist or some other religious culture, I'd be expressing my ideas with those symbols instead. So.

God: A manifestation/personification/symbol of absolute perfect goodness. God is Love. That is God is absolute unconditional love for all of creation.

Jesus/Christ: Jesus is a representation of God's love for us humans taking tangible effect. Jesus is a sacrifice God made on our behalf to rescue us from Sin. Jesus is inspired by the historical figure Yeshua of Nazareth, a 1st-century Jewish religious thinker who was quite popular and then executed by the Roman occupation.

Sin/Original Sin: Sin is simple, it's when we do bad things that hurt people. Since God loves all of us and doesn't want us hurt, God doesn't want us to Sin. Original sin is part of us; the fact that we are capable of Sinning simply because we're human.

Satan/The Devil: Satan is the force that urges us to Sin.

Heaven/Paradise: A state of goodness, where - since we have escaped sin and embraced God's wishes for us, we do not suffer.

Hell/Damnation: The state of rejecting God and personally embracing Sin, and therefore suffering.

When I talk about these things, I do not mean them in the literaly sense that a fundamentalist might. I do not believe that there is an actual literal guy called Satan who is red with stylish little horns and a goattee who spends all day tempting people and poking dead souls with a pitchfork.

Rather, these are social constructs. By way of analogy, gender and money are social constructs; they're concepts that have no inherent existence in a world that's ultimately just atoms and energy in a vacuum, but because we believe in them and lend them social weight, they gain power in our lives. In the same way the concepts of God, Satan, Sin, etc clearly effect the world. Saying 'Sin' isn't real is like saying your bank account isn't real; it has a tangible effect on the world, so it's useful to discuss it.

Does this mean that I think God, Sin, etc are just made up arbitrary symbols? No. I happen to believe in them. I happen to actively choose to believe in them, because I want to invest them with meaning in my life. This is why it's called 'faith' and not 'rational observation'. But even if they were purely arbitrary ideas, then I think that - like other purely arbitrary ideas such as 'human rights' and 'love' - they're worth believing in anyway.

Lastly, the Bible. I like the bible. It's an old historical text with some incredibly beautiful writing in it, that conveys some potent and meaningful messages. It is very obviously not an account of literal fact, but interpreted through a lens of metaphor or poetry it has a lot to teach. Not everything in it is perfect - it's a historical text that has been translated and retranslated repeatedly - but IMHO you can get a lot out of it, and its writers were, as a general rule, onto something.

You will notice that these ideas are wildly counter to the culturally conservative evangelical christian mainstream. They are, however, entirely unremarkable within the framework of liberal theology.

OK. These should be our base assumptions going in. Perhaps you disagree with them; if so, that's nice for you, but here I'm describing my worldview, not prescribing what yours should be.

It is perhaps notable that I've got this far in and only just finished defining my terms.

SO.

I have observed in the past that there are - effectively - two different, largely incompatible, religions both called Christianity. On the one hand, we have what I believe in, a belief structure that champions such virtues as mercy, forgiveness, peace and humility. On the other hand, we have the mainstream conservative evangelical christian right; this version of christianity values things like obedience, authority and (most of all) punishment.

These are fundamentally incompatible belief structures. As a stark illustration of this, consider what these two christianities want for wrongdoers. One branch wants them to repent, atone and be forgiven. The other wants them to be punished and suffer for their transgressions.

I am going to differentiate between these two beliefs. Because it's my essay and I'm on my side, I will call my beliefs Christianity, and the other side Christian Fascism.

I would argue that my values are more fundamental to the underlying message of Christianity (as derived from the teachings of that guy Yeshua I mentioned) than the other approach. In no particular order:

we have the parable of the prodigal son. Here, Yeshua teaches his followers that when somebody fucks up and then changes their mind, this is to be celebrated and they are to be welcomed back. The message of reconciliation and forgiveness is obvious.

we have the parable of the good samaritan. Again, the message is clear: we must seek to do right by even our enemies.

there are many other stories and teachings attributed to Yeshua with similar messages. Forgiveness and redemption are constant themes in his teachings. He praises the humble and the downtrodden consistently.

However, most importantly, we have the central facet of Christianity itself; the crucifixion. What happens here, and why?

God comes to earth as Jesus, and - after spreading his message described above - is publicly tortured to death in one of the most horrific execution methods available at the time. This sacrifice is made, knowingly, to absolve humanity of Sin. All of humanity. No exceptions. God loves us, He wants us to be forgiven when we sin, so he suffers and dies for us to offer us a way out.

It's right there. John 3:16: "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." God loves the entire world so much that He made this sacrifice, so that whoever wants it can be saved. No exceptions. Whoever you are, God loves you, and sent Jesus so you can be saved if you want it.

This is the single central pillar on which the entire rest of Christianity is built.

So, yes. The 'no true scotsman' argument gets used in discussions around Christianity, but in this instance I firmly believe that it is, in fact, possible to say that somebody is doing Christianity wrong, because the central message of Christianity stands for something (mercy, redemption, charity, etc) and when somebody acts in opposition to that, then whatever they are doing is not christian.

(an analogy: suppose somebody called themselves a communist, but in practice they voted for right-wing parties, assisted the owning-class over the class interests of the workers, espoused anti-communist rhetoric, and never did anything communist. They could claim all they want: the truth remains that they are failing to be a communist through their actual behaviour. likewise any other set of principles).

So. Christianity is not Christian Fascism. Christian Fascism is, instead, fascism wearing christianity as a disguise. They are not, meaningfully, christian, they just want you to think they are. They might believe it themselves, even.

Another example: terfs. Terfs are transphobic bigots who appropriate the name of feminism to advance their transphobic agendas. They want you to believe they're feminists. They might believe they're feminists themselves. But the things they say, and do, and seem to believe are profoundly unfeminist, and feminism as a movement has a duty to reject them. That terfs wear the mask of feminism doesn't discredit the actual feminist movement.

It's idealogical parasitism. Hollowing out one ideology and wearing its skin to advance the agenda of a different, opposing ideology.

Fascists do this a lot because the actual things they want are straightforwardly evil, and being evil on purpose tends not to be popular until you're, like, super indoctrinated, so they use appropriate the language of other movements as a trojan horse.

To my mind, there is a fairly simple litmus test for these things. There are two groups in the Bible that we are repeatedly, consistently, unequivocably told to treat well. One is Widows. The other is Refugees. These two groups were hilighted by the writers for a reason; they're vulnerable demographics with fewer social connections to support themselves, who can easily be neglected or actively victimised by a society that doesn't make an active choice to support them. When Yeshua says "Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me", they are 'the least of these'.

Luckily, widows are not in the modern day at the centre of a huge culture war. Refugees, however?

So. A good litmus test. How somebody believes we should treat refugees, and immigrants more broadly. The message of the Bible is consistently to help foreigners who come to your country, to provide for them and help them settle. Jesus doesn't make any exceptions about visas or 'legal immigration' or contributing to the economy. He tells you in no uncertain terms that you must help refugees, always, every time. If you disagree with that... you're not a Christian, you're a Fascist appropriating Christianity.

(There is a massive discussion that could go here about the bible's position on sexuality, queerness, divorce, etc etc. I cannot be bothered with all that. The christian-fascist reading of these verses tends to get the most visibility, because the translations of the bible with the most visibility leaned into these interpretations. there are other interpretations and other translations that don't have these problems. I could go into more detail, but I have better things to discuss. Two key points:

the bible was written in societies where the family was incredibly reliant - socially and economically - on the husband's support. If the husband casts aside his wife and family, or stops giving a shit about them, they're totally fucked. This is the same society where 'do not let widowed women starve if they no longer have a husband to support them' is reiterated constantly. So, many admonishments against adultery etc should be read in this light: your family rely on you, do not abandon them. Many other passages - eg sodom & gomorrough - are likewise condemnation of things like sexual abuse.

more importantly, remember, the central message of christianity is one of absolute universal love so powerful that Jesus personally sacrificed himself to save us. All of us. 'The world' that God loved includes the gays and the divorcees etc. That central message takes precedent over any edge-case reading you might find that suggests that God's love has exceptions.)

There is an asymetry in public discussions of christianity (and, I think, religion more broadly).

If you have a set of beliefs that value everybody's intrinsic worth, that values considers charity and mercy good, that tells you to embrace foreigners and outgroups more generally, you will tend to the left. You will tend to adopt other left-wing ideas alongside it. Among these are ideas like cultural sensitivity, inclusivity, etc. If you believe Jesus commands you to embrace foreigners, then you will do your best not to reject them or their practices, even if they practice a different religion to you. This is doubled when christianity is a culturally hegemonic force, and you wish to do right by the meek and the humble who are being oppressed (often by that hegemonic force of christianity).

What this means is that on the left - where those following the message of Christianity properly should end up - there is an understanding that making explicitely Christian arguments is alienating and disrespectful to those you should have solidarity with. So, as a result of following (Christian) moral principles, the leftist Christian will generally not express their principles in explicitely religious terms, even when they could do so.

Not so on the right. The right doesn't have a problem with making the outgroup feel alienated or disrespecting them. Often, it quite likes this. So, they will use christian language to express their ideas.

So, even if both sides are balanced in numbers - heck, even if the christian fascists are significantly in the minority - the majority of people being vocally christian will be the christian fascists. And this presentation will reinforce the issue.

If this pattern continues within christian circles as well as in public forums - and it does in my experience - then this likewise gives the christian fascists a dispropportionate influence over what christianity becomes. So, it becomes important that in internal discussions, christian fascism be vocally opposed, and opposed in explicitely religious terms.

The fascists are not doing christianity. They do not speak for christianity, and they are not representative of the entirety of christianity. Their hollowing-out-and-puppetting of christianity to promote evil is itself an act of evil; people like this are why we have the word blasphemy.

Seeing somebody spewing hatred that results in actual, material harm to actual, real vulnerable people, and claiming that this is done in the name of Christ, is a profoundly horrific and perverse thing. It makes me feel ill to witness it.

(A further thought: traditionally, Christianity has held that Salvation is through both belief and works. That you must not only want salvation, you must act on it - which is to say, be a good person. If you claim to be saved but continue to willfully sin, that isn't good enough. So, christianity is what you do, not just how you label yourself. There is a correlation between discarding the belief in salvation by works, and christian fascism. John Calvin's spanner remains in the works to this day).

A thought on Idolatory. What is idolatory? In my view, the treatement of a man-made, worldly thing with the same reverence as holy things. If there is an object or symbol that represents a worldly, human thing that you insist must be treated with reverence and ceremony - as if it was holy - then you have made an idol of that thing.

You know, when I first learned about the way americans treat their flag, I was horrified. Because that flag is an idol. It is so obviously and clearly an idol, and yet. And yet.

Patriotism and nationalism - the revering of the state - is idolatory.

The way we fetishise cops and the military is idolatory.

Even discounting that these symbols are things that do horrific evil as their stated goals, you have taken a human thing - a political body - and treated it like its sacred.

When we consider that an Idol can be a concept or a structure, and not just a literal graven image, we start to see idolatory everywhere on the political right. This is, after all, the entire concept of 'civil religion'. The american founding fathers are not saints, the american constitution is not a holy text, and the american flag is not a holy relic, and the treatment of these things like they are is obvious and flagrant idolatory.

Read up on Tolstoy's thoughts on christian anarchism, as a logical end point of these ideas.

A little diversion on the Antichrist. I dont think Revelations is a literal predictive prophecy, I think it's a warning. It describes - through poetic and symbolic language - pitfalls the faithful might encounter, and encourages them to stand firm against them, and promises that however dire things get, good will triumph over evil in the end. It says 'things will get bad, here are some specific ways they might get bad, but you should hold onto hope'.

Who is the Antichrist in this text? It describes a type of person. Somebody wealthy and politically powerful, who achieves a position of global power and unifies disparate nations under his banner. He isn't christian, but he makes a pretence at piety and convinces the masses to treat him as a religious figure, even as he perverts and distorts religion towards his own hateful ends. He's supported by powerful cultural entities, and combined with his charisma this makes his ascent to power seem inevitable. He is utterly, utterly evil, but he also has really powerful branding that people willingly adopt. He will rise to power in a time of turmoil, sickness and widespread disasters.

Remind you of anybody?

His mark goes on the forehead and the right hand. The red maga hat, and the roman salute. I know I'm doing a paradoelia here, but surely I'm not the only one seeing this shape in the inkblots?

In times like these, I keep coming back to Revelations, and its message that even though things will get really bad, there is always hope, and God's love wins out in the end.

So. The christian fascists are not doing Christianity. They are not following Christ's agenda, which is one of universal love, mercy, and redemption. So, what are they doing, and whose agenda are they serving?

I think you see where this argument is going.

I have not discussed Satan much yet, because while I'm cogniscent of Satan's influence, my faith focusses on Christ; on mercy and redemption and fundamentally goodness rather than evil. But discussing satan becomes pertinent.

Satan is not simply a red guy with a goatee scheming to take over the world like Bible-Skeletor. Indeed, satan is not really a 'guy' at all; it's a tendency. It's the urge to sin, the temptation to not be your best self, or to be your worst self. Every time somebody pisses you off and you have that little spiteful urge to fuck them over? That idea is satan. Every time you want to take something for yourself when somebody else needs it more? Satan.

It is, I think, useful to have a concept of satan that you can personify, so you can (internally) argue against those urges.

Anyway. God loves us universally and absolutely, and wants us to flourish and prosper and do right by each other. Not doing that is Sin. So, here are some things that are sins:

the pursuit of material wealth and power at others expense (see; camels and needles, the meek and their inheritence, etc).

the defining of outgroups against whom cruelty is acceptably or encouraged.

the belief that some people are lesser; less deserving of God's grace and mercy, and so your own kindness too.

raising worldly human powers - states, laws, militaries, flags - into idols.

the - as established - blasphemous perversion of God's will towards evil ends.

These are pretty central patterns we see over and over again among the christian fascists.

They see the outgroup (queers, sluts, immigrants, muslims, people who get abortions, jews, leftists, and so on and so on) as lesser, as deserving of punishment, and they embrace the thought that God will punish them with eternal hell. (See that time pope franky said he hoped Hell was empty, and a lot of these people were furiously angry at the thought.)

They think 'prosperity gospel' isn't a blasphemous oxymoron.

They treat human authorities - cops, armies, nations - with reverence. They fucking love flags, they get extremely patriotic.

They take their hunger for power and their hatred, and they wrap it in the bible - they take God's name in vain - and sully holy things with their evil.

Plus, if we scroll back up to my tangent about the antichrist, there's a pretty good contender for the role currently, and they've embraced him whole-heartedly.

So, their worldview promotes sin.

And they are obsessed with the Devil.

But they don't see it as something they must struggle with; after all, they tend to reject the idea of salvation through works, and claim their saved because they're saved. According to them, rather than doing Christ's work making them christian, because they claim to be christian whatever they do - no matter how evil - retroactively becomes Christ's work. The things they do are good because it's them doing them, and the exact same things done by their enemies would be evil.

So they ignore that little satan-urge in their head, and displace it. They see Satan in everything else, in the outside world, in everything that isn't christian fascism. And then they do Satan's work, by seeking to punish the people they project this satan onto.

What does Satan want? He wants you to hate, he wants you to hurt others, and to profit at their expense. And their religion teaches them to hate and punish others and profit.

They serve satan. And they do it in the name of faith. They are clearly worshipping. So, who do they worship? They worship the one their actions serve.

That is to arrive at the thesis statement of this whole essay, and something I sincerely and wholeheartedly believe, in a literal sense:

the right-wing evangelical Christian mainstream worships and serves Satan.

And then what? I will confess, I am as fallible as any other human. These people - due to their hatred - hurt me and people I love. I am angry at them. I am incandescently angry at the things they do. There is a slippery slope leading from righteous indignation to hatred, and I am struggling emotionally to stay at the top of the slope, and not become actively hateful.

But rationally, how I want to feel? What my better self feels? I feel pity. Hell isn't a place with lots of bats and fire, it's seperation from God's love, and - even if they don't realise it - they turn away from God, and they suffer, and their spread their suffering. They are profoundly spiritually sick, and I want them to get better. I want them to fucking stop. I want them to step out of the dark place they've gone to and return to God's side, and to repent, atone for their actions, and find the same Mercy I want for everybody.

It's fucking hard to look at somebody who viscerally hates me for existing, and want them to recieve salvation, but I try.

I don't know how to fix them or save them. They don't want to be saved. They think our attempts to reach out to them are corruption. They think mercy is weakness and pity tempts you.

They warn each other not to give in to the sin of empathy. It's fucking heartbreaking.

[sirfrogsworth]

Help Save the FrogFamily Home

This community I’ve built has been so incredibly generous to me over the years. Part of me feels I don’t deserve to ask for another thing. But I am facing desperation and I don’t know what else to do.

I’ve had a rough couple of years. First, my beloved corgi, Otis, passed away. Then my mom’s health took a turn. I had to take care of her all on my own. And eventually, COVID took her from me. Then my dad’s body began to fail him. I had to be his full-time caretaker. I had to watch his body and mind slowly deteriorate until he finally passed away in March.

I wish I could just take some time to mourn my parents and heal my soul…

But life decided against that.

We tried to make plans so that I would be taken care of after my father’s death. That I would be able to stay in our family home for as long as I desired. But those plans are falling apart at the moment.

Lawyers and probate and debt collectors, oh my.

There is a chance we can get everything sorted, but all indicators show that it could take a while before that happens. Possibly a long while. And my disability payments aren’t even enough to cover the mortgage–much less all the other bills and expenses.

I need to buy time.

Literally.

I need to extend my financial runway long enough to get things sorted. The longer that runway, the better the chances are I can figure all of this out.

I need time to sell all of my parents’ valuable belongings. I need time to fix up our very large separated garage so I can rent it out as a workshop or storage. I need time to fix up the house so it is suitable for a roommate. And I need time to work with social security so I can possibly find financial independence for life.

Unfortunately, without that time, I could face homelessness. I’m sure I could find a place to stay for a while, but I would lose the only home I’ve ever known. The home my mom and dad spent a lifetime fixing up and perfecting. The place in this world I feel most safe and comfortable.

I’ve already lost so much recently. I’m not sure I could bear losing my home as well.

If I lost my home I’d probably have to live on couches for up to two years until government housing was available. And then I’d have to spend the rest of my days in a small single room apartment. I know there are people who would feel lucky to have that, but I’d really prefer to stay in my house if possible. And I don’t think anyone would blame me for wanting that. Especially when all I need to make that happen is a little time.

So I am asking all of you to help buy me some time.

Every $1200 equals another month I have to sort things out. I honestly don’t know how much time I need. I would hope 3 to 6 months would be enough. But the wheels of bureaucracy can move frustratingly slow. So the more time I have, the better the chances are I can save my home and secure my livelihood.

Thank you so much for reading this.

Check out the GoFundMe page here.

[five-one-two-station]

Everybody should have their own fun, and this isn't trying to harsh anybody's buzz, but I find the impulse to make your own cutesy/badass Replika oc doing funny or heroic or badass things a little odd. Like, that character you designed as a super badass soldier, or well-armed and armored steely eyed cop type... who would they have been built to fight or police exactly? Remember who all those guns and weapons were intended for use on?

I know we're all sick of discourse over who "gets" the game, and I'm by no means scolding anybody for something that harmless, but what's interesting to me is the sense that designing overtly "cool" Replika personas and OCs, complete with the propaganda poster style imagery, feels a little...

I mean, bluntly, it's like the in-world propaganda worked, unironically, on some level, for many people. Kolibris aren't scary, they're whimsical and fun! Storches aren't notably cruel enforcers and chain gang drivers, they're Protektors! Falke isn't a camp commandant, she's a beautiful angel!

The Replikas aren't cool and heroic figures in the reality of the game. They're the carefully crafted organs of a system of control so dreadful it could do what it did to Elster and Ariane. They're victims to that system themselves too, sure - and humanising them is a nuanced and valuable observation of how totalitarian regimes maintain themselves - but that doesn't negate the fact they're also the ones who operate, enforce and perpetuate it, a big part of what the game knows and communicates about such societies. It's notable that the game makes it clear few, if any, of the Replikas actually buy into the Nation as an ideal at all - they enforce it no less pitilessly anyway, incapable or unsafe to imagine anything else.

Their affectations, pasttimes, trinkets, and even affections for each other, all serve to draw a stark contrast to how callously they regard the gestalts they keep suppressed. Their disposability is something they're conscious and fearful of themselves, but fail to recognise as a commonality with the people they brutalise every day, their business as usual. The only grief, tragedy or suffering they acknowledge is their own - they have no regard for any such things in the humans they have... well, dehumanised.

But S-23 Sierpinski was such a hellhole for most of its denizens under "normal" conditions that the nightmare it becomes is arguably an improvement; if only because there are fewer people left now to suffer it. There's a dark poetry here - because the place's banal cruelty is "off camera" to us, it's very naturally less real to us than the grief of the crying Eule. It's only natural, too, to forget how grim the Replikas' purposes are when you don't have to see anyone endure the brunt of it.

And isn't that the very same effect a state like the Nation is seeking in the first place, by disappearing people away to such dark little corners to have it done? In our world, no less than that one.

That works like a kind of propaganda too, not being able to see it - a propaganda of hidden things, as powerful as any poster. A space that's been intentionally left blank.

Kolibris are literal thought police; they intrude on people's very minds, interrogating them to death as a matter of course, with hardly a care either way. The various Protektor classes are functionally concentration camp guards and slave drivers. Falke and Adler are overseeing what amounts to a gulag, one so unimaginably awful Ariane preferred to spend years of her life alone in space to the prospect of being sent there, and inevitably worked to death, far underground.

I think there's a reason we never see one of those posters for LSTRs in game. How could we be asked to forgive our own if we ever did?

[funishment-time]

🔵 Kodaka BlueSky Q&As: Misc DR & Multiple Characters

⚠️ DISCLAIMER: Please be advised! Translations of all Japanese answers derive from a combination of Google Translate and my manager's three-quarters-remembered Japanese. We've tried our best to work out what he's saying, but there will be mistakes here and there. Do not take this as gospel!

To avoid spreading too much misinfo, where we're completely boggled about an answer, we've decided not to even make an attempt. We'll still list the post, but mark it accordingly.

➡️ AN IMPORTANT NOTE FROM KODAKA BEFORE READING:

First of all, the questions answered here are not official. Everything that is official is what is said within the work. In contrast, this is simply what Kodaka, the creator, thinks, and it is not the correct answer. Use this as a starting point to enjoy the depth of each character, or to say, "That's not right!" and enjoy it with your own interpretation. I think of this as a way of communicating with the characters who live in fiction. This is important, so please spread the word.

💕 FEBRUARY 2024:

Q: Out of all the characters that have appeared so far, who is your favorite visually?

A: As a fan, Haruko from FLCL. Among my own creations...hmmm, Monokubs lol and Enoshima.

/////

Q: Sorry if this has already been said! I saw a tweet saying that Fukawa Toko's novel "Before the Scent of the Sea Disappears" was made into a short film by Kodaka Kazutaka! Is there anywhere I can see it?

A: I don't have it..! I have the data on my PC, but…lol

/////

Q: Are you interested in making games in the world of Ultimate Talent Development Plan? I would like to see all the characters together. (Sorry my Japanese is not very good. I am using a translator.)

A: It's too early to tell. I'll continue to make more and more characters.

/////

Q: I love Ultra Despair Girls, but it's sad that so few people are playing it 😢 Are there plans for a port or remake for the Switch?

A: It's an absolute masterpiece! I'm proud to say that it has the heaviest storyline I've ever written, and the friendship at the end will have you in tears. And it's also pretty fun to take down all the Monokumas in one fell swoop. The controls are a bit rough in some areas, so I'd like to tweak them and re-release it. But maybe that last possibility is impossible in today's world...

/////

Q: What is your favorite chapter in the Danganronpa series?

A: Hmm, Chapters 1 and 6 of 1, and Chapters 5 and 6 of 2. Maybe Chapters 1, 5 and 6 of 3.

/////

Q: I love Danganronpa Zero, and I'd like to ask if there were any particular things that you were thinking about when you were writing it.

A: At the time, it was my first novel in about five years, and although I said "I'll do it" lightly, I wasn't good at writing the narrative, and after pushing myself into scrapping it many times, I finally managed to get it done by writing the narrative from the protagonist's point of view.

/////

Q: I got hooked on the Danganronpa series when I was in elementary school and am now a working adult!! Danganronpa is my favorite work of all time! Of course I played Rain Code too!! I love how Shinigami-chan grows and becomes more human as the story progresses! I wonder if a sequel to Danganronpa is really possible...? I'm also waiting for a sequel to Rain Code I'll keep waiting until I die! I love you!

A: From elementary school to working adult…! Thanks to Danganronpa, you've become a fine adult! Neither sequel is impossible. I'd like to expand more, get results from other new works, and make myself more valuable, and do it when it's best for me.

/////

Q: Are there any characters that have a secret backstory in any of the Danganronpa works?

A: For the most part, there are still stories that we haven't talked about.

/////

Q: This may be a question that can't be answered (it may have been asked already), but in the bad ending of Danganronpa, Togami holds a portrait of Fukawa, and there is a child of Togami? Will the truth about that ever come to light?!

A: With the loss of Kirigiri, and the decision to live together within the school, everyone had a change of heart and decided to join hands. Fukawa stopped belittling herself, and Togami stopped being arrogant, and the two started dating, but the next day Fukawa died in an accident. She died after choking on a dumpling, and Togami was confused, believing it was a curse from Celes. As Asahina comforted the depressed boy, things just sort of happened and Togami's child was born. Asahina loves children, and decided that this was her mission and she would give birth to everyone's children. And since that was all there was to do in the boring school life, everyone did it a lot. After that, she gave birth to more than 10 children, and the school flourished.

NOTE: This is the worst thing I have ever read.

/////

Q: I can't help but wonder about the night that Asahina, Hagakure, Togami, and Fukawa spent in the gym in Chapter 5 of Danganronpa. What were they doing that night?

A: I think they were standing in the dark gymnasium, each at one of the four corners, going around tapping the shoulder of the next person in the corner...

/////

Q: The "motivation video" that appeared in V3 featured someone important to each character, but it wasn't revealed who was in the motivation video for the characters in the main story. Did you have a set idea in mind of "this character is this person", Mr. Kodaka? Some characters talk about family or special people in Free Time scenarios, but there are also some characters who don't talk about such things, so I'm curious.

A: I had it set at the time, but I've forgotten about it...

NOTE: ugh

/////

Q: What's your favorite romantic pairing in danganronpa?

A: Monomi and Monokuma.

/////

Q: I love the scene in Chapter 6 of the original Danganronpa where the mastermind and the scissors girl (I will not reveal her name for now) meet and politely greet each other. Mr. Kodaka, are there any funny or gag scenes from the Danganronpa series or Rain Code that you like?

A: There are heaps of gag scenes and funny scenes, but when I first saw Monokuma and Monomi's comedy routine in 2 with their lines incorporated, I felt something otherworldly that I'd never heard before. We record out of order, so after incorporating it with the game, I was surprised at how otherworldly it was.

/////

Q: I would like you to publish profiles of Danganronpa Zero characters! Please do so!

A: Let's ask Spikechun! Spikechun reserves all rights! Let's all protest and demand that these profiles be made public!

/////

Q: In the summary of the materials for Danganronpa 1, there was a detailed description of the non-killers' punishments, but I wonder if those will ever be made into a movie...? I've been dying to see it 🥲

A: It's not exactly a good idea to capture people dying on film…

/////

Q: Who is the most popular character in Danganronpa? I would be happy if you could tell me one male and one female!

A: My personal opinion is... For guys, it's Shinguji. There are girls who are attracted to weird guys like that. For girls, it's Iruma. There are boys who are attracted to weird girls like that.

NOTE: I believe this is IRL, not in-universe, as Kodaka later answers who has the most friends in-universe, and it's not Miu or Kork.

🍀 MARCH 2024:

Q: Excuse me for asking a question! Who is the strongest drinker among Munakata, Yukizome, and Sakakura? 🥹

A: It's probably Yukizome.

/////

Q: Among the BGM used in the original, 2, and V3, is there any that you particularly like, Mr. Kodaka? I absolutely love New World Order from the original, DANGANRONPA SUPER MIX from 2, and V3 Discussion - SCRUM - from V3!

A: The punishment music was created first, and it created a Danganronpa atmosphere, or rather a playful yet serious atmosphere, so it has a deeply cryptic vibe.

/////

Q: I bought Danganronpa again on Steam and had my ex-girlfriend play the whole series, and she got hooked. This may be mentioned in other media, but are there any characters who weren't meant to die but ended up dying?

A: While I was writing, some roles were switched, but I don't think there were many changes to the plot. I think it was Nidai and Kuzuryu who switched roles...

NOTE: His memory is correct. Beta designs show a Fuyuhiko-like character who was meant to the the team manager, and a mafia guy who was a big Nekomaru-ish dude.

/////

Q: In the Danganronpa series, you get underwear when your bond with a character reaches its maximum, but whose underwear do you like the most, Kodaka?

A: Personally, I'm not interested in underwear. They're dirty.

/////

Q: I know you didn't write or supervise Danganronpa S at all, Kodaka, but have you played it since its release? And if you did, were there any event conversations that you particularly liked?

A: [From @/genoskissors: "エアプ is slang meaning he knows about the games content, but has not played it himself." Thank you for the correction!]

/////

Q: [A longer question, found here, that comes down to: "i'm curious how your writing with your world evolved in ways you may not have had planed..."]

A: The scenario changes a lot when I write it. It is live. Try writing it, move the characters around, and it keeps changing. Because the characters are alive.

/////

Q: Yamada and Celes seem to have been quite close during their school days, but how did they end up like that?

A: "I've gotten better at making royal milk tea."

NOTE: This is probably Hifumi talking.

🥬 APRIL 2024:

Q: Will you ever make a V3 animation? That could be so cool I’d love to see it so much.

A: That is a matter for Spike Chunsoft to decide.

/////

Q: Who is the character with the most friends in each of the Danganronpa games: the original, 2, and V3?

A: I guess Yamada, Koizumi, and Angie. I'm not sure if I can call Angie a friend, though.

/////

Q: Chabashira Tenko and I have the same birthday and blood type, so I'd like to know how a character's birthday and blood type are decided. I'm currently studying Japanese.

A: It's decided by fate.

/////

Q: Tired of answering questions about Danganronpa?

A: I'm not bored. I love Danganronpa. However, I may forget some things, so I don't want to answer carelessly.

🌺 MAY 2024:

Q: I think Harukawa-chan had romantic feelings for Momota-kun, but did Momota-kun see Harukawa-chan as a romantic interest? Or did he just see her as one of his "students," like Saihara-kun?

A: "I didn't realize it at the time, so I wasn't even conscious of it. If I had realized it sooner, things might have been different..."

NOTE: This is probably Kaito talking.

☀️ JUNE 2024:

Q: I feel like there weren't any characters in the original Danganronpa who were definitely able to cook, so who was cooking at breakfast and the like? I'd also like to know if there were any characters who could cook in the original!

A: I think they basically just used pre-cooked food, but I think Fujisaki and Yamada seem like they can cook.

/////

Q: How did you decide the seating order for the class trial?

A: Intentionally in random order so as not to create any patterns.

/////

Q: Are there any characters in 1, 2, and V3 who are not virgins? Sorry for the really vulgar question.

A: A rough estimate is a quarter.

/////

Q: Is it decided how old the characters in works such as Danganronpa and Raincode are? If so, how old are they?

A: Of course, Danganronpa is mostly in their teens. Raincode has a wide range, but even Yakou is in his 30s.

NOTE: This is kind-of hilarious, because I'm pretty sure it's canonically stated Yakou is actually in his late 20s...in something that Kodaka himself wrote. I'll have to go find evidence.

/////

Q: I'd like to know the recommended menu items at Hanamura Diner!

A: Fresh tonkatsu.

NOTE: Tonkatsu is a fried pork cutlet.

/////

Q: Were the Love Hotel scenes also supervised by Kodaka-san? When Ouma says that he doesn't care what Saihara does to him, is that what he says to make it possible for him to have anyone in that space under his control?

A: I did supervise it. But I left that to people who are good at that sort of thing and refrained from interfering too much, and I still refrain from doing so now.

/////

Q: Is there any trick to Tanaka Gundham's chuunibyou dialogue? I'm curious to know how you think of the unique expressions used by Saionji Hiyoko and Iruma Miu.

A: The insults come out super easily, but Tanaka's lines were thought out thoroughly, based on the light novels I've read, so it's exhausting.

NOTE: A "chuunibyou" is a kid, generally 12-13, who believes they have secret powers or a grand backstory. Gundham's a bit old to be a chuuni by Kodaka's own admission in the DR2 artbook, but that was apparently part of the charm (and why it was so difficult to write him). It's spiritual Naruto running.

🎇 JULY 2024:

Q: I'd like to know what underwear your favorite Danganronpa character wears, Kodaka-san.

A: Monomi's panties. Diapers.

NOTE: This is how rumors get started, Kaz...

/////

Q: Do Rain Code and Danganronpa take place in the same world? Do any of your games and works have a shared universe with another? Or are they all separate? 🤔 💭 I'm asking because I just had a dream about Rain Code today!

A: I won't make a clear statement. I am not sure what will happen in the future. Anyway, please spread the Rain Code around the world.

/////

Q: If Hope's Peak Academy had regular exams, who would have the best overall grades?

A: It would have to be Togami. Kirigiri has clear strengths and weaknesses and doesn't seem like she'd be good at things like art. However, when it comes to multiple choice questions, Komaeda who relies on luck is the strongest, Ouma steals the answers in advance, and Ki-Bo tries hard and is average, but is bad at calculations.

🌭 AUG 2024:

Q: when i played danganronpa there were times where i wondered about how some characters got along with their family, have you written/thought anything about a character's family background that isn't mentioned in the video games?even if it's something small i feel like it would be interesting to read

A: I think, but the fact that I did not put it in writing means that I left it to the player's imagination.

/////

Q: If Sonia and Fubuki met, who would take the initiative in the conversation?

A: Even though they don't match up at all, they seem like they'd get along really well.

NOTE: Fubuki from Rain Code.

/////

Q: When all the Danganronpa characters are gathered together, who do you think has the most aura?

A: It must be Ogami. I think everyone would look at her first.

/////

Q: Thank you so much for making "Danganronpa"!! 😊💓💓 Many fans have a special feeling for the relationship between Komaeda Nagito and Hinata Hajime. Is there a possibility that the two will become lovers in the future?

A: I have no plans to create anything that takes place after Danganronpa 3.

🍁 SEPT 2024:

Q: Are there many undiscovered super-high school level talents outside of Japan?

A: You could make a Danganronpa World War. 150 students are locked in a school, about 10 incidents occur at the same time, class trials are held here and there, and punishments are handed out one after another.

/////

Q: Are you afraid of bugs, Soda? I'd like to know who among two people can stand bugs and who doesn't like them!

A: Soda is not good with insects that suddenly appear, fly, or move suddenly. Sonia is fine with insects.

/////

Q: I would like to know Ouma's first words and reaction upon seeing an armed Keebo-kun!

A: “This isn’t like you!”

🎃 OCT 2024:

Q: Hello, Kodaka-san. You're probably tired of questions about the sexual orientation of characters. Komaeda in particular is one of the most talked about characters when it comes to this topic. It's actually a little sad that the fandom cares more about what gender a character is attracted to than who they actually are. This may be weird to ask after writing this much, but I want to ask out of pure curiosity: what do you think about couples in Danganronpa? I don't think any couples have ever actually been confirmed, is that intentional? There's been a lot of discussion about that topic, so I just wanted to know.

A: Like the Asahina ending in Danganronpa, there's the possibility that different people could become couples with different people. That's what makes it interesting.

/////

Q: Will the V3 characters be made into anime someday?

A: I'm not getting any offers...! I'm sure there are a fair number of people who would watch it...!

🦃 NOV 2024:

Q: I really want to see a world where Danganronpa Kirigiri is made into an anime or manga...

A: I want to see it too...!

/////

Q: Will Danganronpa 2 be made into an anime? This is something I've always wanted to see

A: I want to see it too...! I want it to be made without my involvement...!

/////

Q: A question about V3. I've heard a lot of speculation that in V3, the conclusions reached as a result of trials other than Chapter 1 are different (there is fraud on the part of the mastermind), but are there any chapters other than Chapter 1 where something different from the truth is said to be the truth?

A: It might all be a lie

NOTE: The question here might be a bit hard to understand, but it's basically asking if all of V3's culprits were actually culprits. A very peculiar answer.

/////

Q: I'd like to see a remake of the original Danganronpa with added theories and scrum debates, or a despair arc (school days)! I'd like to see it while the voice actors are still in good health.

A: That's true. But it's boring if it's just a remake. I would do it more like this...

NOTE: Don't quote me, but I believe "this" is what the question asks, i.e. he'd remake the game with added stuff.

/////

Q: Hello! What are Kuzuryu-kun and Peko-chan's best and worst subjects? I can't help but wonder!

A: Peko is good at everything. Kuzuryu is bad at a lot of things.

/////

Q: Why was the island in SDR2 named "Jabberwock Island"? I can't think of any other elements from Alice in Wonderland...

A: Yes, that's what inspired me to use the name metaphorically.

🎄 DEC 2024:

Q: What do you eat to come up with a character like Komaeda?

A: Meat buns in Kanai Ward

/////

Q: I think V3's punishments are similar to the original punishments, including the unused punishments, in many ways, but were you aware of that?

A: I think the second game wasn't that cruel, or rather it was mostly on the lighter side, so I wanted to make this one cruel.

/////

Q: Although they are both super high school level detectives, what is the difference between Kirigiri-san and Saihara-kun? 

A: Kirigiri is a better detective in terms of career, talent, and family history. 

/////

Q: Are there any good rappers among the characters? If so, who would it be? 

A: Hagakure or Kuwata or Soda or Ouma 

/////

Q: Mr Kodaka, In response to your question on Twitter, I would like to ask. Who have you considered as candidates to be your successor for Danganronpa? Back in 2020, you mentioned Uchikoshi might be a good candidate for being the creative director for Danganronpa. Taro? Hino? Takumi? Hashino? Kamitani?

A: It's a story about young people, so young people are good.

/////

Q: Do you remember that pot of aphrodisiac soup from Despair Arc? How would other characters react if they drank it? 

A: I want to make that doujin game and earn money.

NOTE: A "doujin game" being a kind of fan game. Basically, he's joking that the aphrodisiac soup with other classes is kind of a fan smut idea...but he'd still do it for the money. One way to get TooKyo out of debt, I suppose...

/////

Q: How did the trick in Chapter 5 of SDR2 come about that left many players in despair?

A: Famously, after months of having the planner in charge of the project come up with many ideas, and then losing them all over the place, he suddenly came up with the idea. It was built on his despair.

NOTE: This is another weird one that's hard to translate, but I think he's referring to himself as "the planner in charge of the project," so he's saying that he went through hell trying to figure out how to kill Komaeda.

/////

Q: Are there any characters in Danganronpa who believe in Santa? 

A: Souda, Gonta

[shypotatoes013-blog]

I'm not sure what the proper CW/TW for this would be, kindly inform me and I will add it! Not proofread.

I don't want to be political on the TL, but I think this has to be said because for Americans, we are about to be entering even darker times.

Alongside the ban of TikTok yesterday, apps like Capcut and Lemon8 have also been banned. Gaming apps and companies are being banned as well, but I do not have a list as of yet.

This is not the beginning of censorship, but it is worsening now more than before.

About Tiktok:

This ban is not about TikTok but our freedom of speech. Even if you do not use TikTok or like it, this affects you too! They label the app as a national security threat and instill the idea that millions of American's data is being collected and used by the chinese government.

This is a fear based propaganda tactic that they weaponize against Americans for essentially anything they do not like. The false claims, surrounding China and communism that they conditioned American citizens believe, makes it easy for them to do this.

Do not fall for these tactics, henceforth, and become informed on your own. Using your own discernment, instead of basing your opinions from what you hear, is important in these times.

We will likely be seeing more of these things happening from this point forward and, especially, when Trump is inaugurated on January 20th (Tomorrow)

Why they are doing this:

There are many reasons our Congress and government officials are applying these unjust policies.

1: Unification with other nations.

They do not want us to be individual thinkers and to be able to think critically. TikTok has been a way, for many around the world, to connect and share their experiences. This is worrying to our government because people are awakening to how corrupt our power system is.

The rest of the world is not like this. We are given the illusion of choice and freedom, but we do not have a say in anything at the end of the day. And the saddest part is that the rest of the world already knows this.

We realize that we do not have universal healthcare, we have poor food and water quality, lack of education outside of our own country, the highest disease/crime/obesity rates, and overall poor standard of living. We are trillions in debt as a nation and 2% of the nations wealth is shared between the middle and lower class.

Americans have to work multiple jobs to pay for rent, taxes and groceries. We have no paid maternity leave, childcare and staggering homelessness rates. Gun violence is prevalent in schools where elementary aged children are risking their lives to get a subpar education that teaches no real life skills and our government is heavily militarized making it virtually impossible to protest these things without fear of being killed.

2: Money. America is a corporation. Not a country.

We live in an Oligarchy. Which means the people are controlled by the 1% who own most of the nations wealth. People like Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Andy Jassy, Black Rock, Vanguard, JP Morgan.... Etc.

This also means that these people are capable of swaying political decisions and people in power with money. Often lobbying their interests to push bills against the will of the people and without the consent of.

All of our Congress have stocks in Meta. Meta is owned by Mark Zuckerberg and the apps that he controls are Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger. Which, by the way, if you read the privacy policy they are doing the same thing that they are claiming China is doing. TikTok is banned in China and has been! This is another tactic to shift blame.TikTok is owned by Mr. Shou Chew, a Singaporean man.

Stocks in Meta are not valuable if people are not using the apps. This makes TikTok a competitor app. Since it is not American owned, they cannot control the narrative or the revenue and these stocks are becoming worthless. Mr. Chew would not sell the app to American corporations.

As a side note, on TikTok, the day before the ban, I was getting ads for Facebook and Instagram and there is now a link to Tiktok on facebook. I fear that Mr. Chew has caved as he said in his last video that he has been negotiating with Trump to have the app reinstated. This is NOT a victory. This means our government won and it should be avoided at all costs along with all Meta apps. Please delete them and leave 1 star reviews. Tank their ratings and crash their stocks.

3: Project 2025

I am sure some of you have heard of this by now. I've been trying to inform people about this since last year when the heritage foundation was making their agenda to pass far, right wing religious laws to suit their narrative. They are a Christian nationalist group against the rights of all humans who do not follow their ideology.

If you haven't heard of Project 2025, you can read online what the project entails. That means banning of media such as games, pornography, women's right to healthcare and safe abortion and strict laws imposed within the lgbtqia+ community. Dousing religious freedom and mandating Bibles in schools. This is just a quick snippet from my memory, but you should look into it when you can.

A silver lining:

If you have not heard of Rednote or Little Red Book, it is a completely Chinese owned app that is similar to Pinterest, Tumblr, and TikTok all in one format.

This app has been wonderful and the Chinese are overjoyed to have us there. Their government even warmly invited us to take refuge. I've personally observed instead of interacting so far.

BUT

There are many who share their thoughts on their social media platform being overrun by foreigners and diluting their carefully curated experience on the app.

Do take note that IF you decide to go there, it is NOT your home. You must abide by their laws and be kind.

1. Be courteous and use translations in both English and Traditional Chinese if you pose. DEEPL is the most accurate for translation.

2. They do NOT have to accommodate to you and your needs. Do not go in acting entitled and causing drama.

3. There will be major cultural differences and trying to understand them rather than being offended is best. We all live by different standards and they are generally curious about you and your life! So be nice.

4. TikTok slang and Brainrot is not acceptable. They think we're funny, but people are already commenting inappropriate things under videos of attractive people (and there are many attractive people there.) Brainrot will actually get you banned.

5. Observe for a little to see what kind of content they post. You can even make friends. Most of them want to learn English and are willing to teach you Mandarin.

Anyway, that's all I have to say for now.

[youmakethelight]

On the issue of the 'Daryl Dixon' spin-off title

Everything about the making of the 'Daryl Dixon' spin-off reflects so much of what is wrong with society, and the issue of the title neatly encompasses much of it.

The title sends a LOUD message that Carol is beneath Daryl in value. Although Carol has been a flagship character for the same length of time as Daryl, and although Melissa McBride's acting talent is more critically acclaimed than Norman Reedus', her character is still marginalised. What does that tell you about how women's work is compensated in comparison to men's?

I've only been in this fandom for 2 months, so it isn't hard for me to remember what it was like to be general audience for this show. Seeing Carol treated this way confirms a prejudice echoed across much of society that women are side characters for men. Most of the audience won't be giving the title much of a second thought; they'll take it at face value. Thus, that message that women are inferior to men will spread insidiously. None of us are immune to it. It seeps into our expectations, our attitudes, and our behaviours.

The title is just the tip of the iceberg of issues with this show. Nonetheless, it is a clear indication of exactly how problematic and widespread the misogyny and inequality are over there. Tolerating this part - the misogyny that we can see - allows them to get away with worse that we can't.

I commented on an amc twitter post that I don't want to watch the spin-off when the title doesn't elevate both the female and male characters equally, and I received a reply from a stranger who criticised this decision, stating that it's 'just a title'. Nothing about it is just a title. Deliberate choices were made. A title reflects the content. And this title indicates that Carol is merely a supporting character in Daryl's story, instead of a main character of equal, uplifted value, in her own right. Is that the content we want to see? Is that the content we want other women, or even men, to observe? If not, then we shouldn't tolerate a title that communicates that.

Do we want Melissa McBride to be paid less than her male co-star? And do we want her to receive the message from her place of work that she's second to him and undeserving of having her name recognised as much as his? Those are things we're tolerating when we tolerate a title that explicitly excludes her.

None of this is or should be the responsibility of the audience. The accountability lies entirely with the leadership at AMC. Nonetheless, we do hold power, and how we use that power is valuable. We can exercise power with our voices, our wallets, and what we choose to engage with.

Personally, I will not give public praise to any part of this show that doesn't make distinct effort to support and uplift the women working on it. All the while that I'm not seeing a male leader on the show use his power and privilege to be a feminist ally, I'm not going to give him any of my praise. And all the while that I see the title continue to disrespect Carol, Melissa McBride, and women as a whole, I'm not going to give the show my money or my views.

It is a wound to my self-esteem, as a woman in the world, every single time I see that title. I don't have to tolerate it, and neither do you.

[smolerthanthediagram]

Just saw a post about how studies path is different for everyone and it reminded me of how I loved the Good Will Hunting reference in Community and how it shows some interesting anti ellitist views about career choices and social class

Im adding a link of the scene in question for context but for those who can't watch it, in s1 ep24 there are some math students struggling to resolve a puzzle on a green board. Then they are gone and Troy approaches, takes a chalk, stares at the board, ans just goes away with the chalk lol, before stopping at the water machine to drink, but sees it's not working, so he then proceeds to repair it like he has been doing this his whole life. Then he leaves and two plumbers, who saw the scene, come to talk to him, too late.

First the gag is really funny, like textbook setup payoff joke, but with a double payoff because the first one is that Troy is not good at logic so it shouldnt be a surprise he doesn't resolve the puzzle. But because we all know good will hunting we are still expecting it. But this would have been unsatisfying/unfinished if Troy would have resolved nothing at all, and so instead he repairs the pipes of the water machine, and this is how we get to see his actual gift : repairing stuff.

Troy in this gag is a mirror of Will : just like him, he is in a life path that can't make him discover and exploit his true potential ; like him his speciality is almost a gift, something he has intuitively, and that he is always good at, and can get him to prestigious places (Troy later learns he is the chosen one to plumbing school AND AC repair school, and even becomes the Messiah of the latter and saves someone's life and restores justice with his gift - s3 ep 22). But on the surface, Troy has an opposite path from will : while Will starts as a janitor and ends up as a student, Troy does the opposite: he starts as a student and becomes a worker of manual labour, something that, in our world, is seen as less valuable, and a downgrade from his former status. But not in Greendale. Here the ac repair school is like this masonic organisation that controls Greendale's budget and by doing so holds the actual power, because they are the only ones who can actually guarantee their students a job at the end of their cursus.

And while it sounds crazy, it is not far from the truth. Speaking for myself, I tried (and failed) a master degree in human sciences only to find out I wouldn't have been sure to find a job with it anyways because long studies are not valuable anymore, whereas almost all the people I know who did short studies and more manual labor are in a more stable situation than me. I also have ADHD, and I'm almost sure Troy has as well which explains in part the struggling in this capitalist élitiste system. While classes give Troy a hard time to focus or study, repairing is something Troy is actually good at, and the series explains it by making a parallel with air conditioning and people, because "the true repairman will repair men" (s3 ep 22). Troy seems to actually use his high emotional intelligence (yet again something seen as less valuable than logic etc) to repair stuff because he know how things and people work. It doesn't matter if he doesn't have extended knowledge about everything because he is best at focusing on what's just before him and between his hands. This way community shows another look on manual labor and it's actual value, because let's not forget that without it the whole society litteraly falls appart.

PS : just a reminder that I know that choosing a job is very often not motivated by gift or passion because capitalism and so the ones in power need poor people who have nothing to lose to do the physical, hurting labor while the rich get to choose. This post was just taking about these jobs are seen as inferior because they are mostly done by people with low education, but that doesn't mean these jobs don't require actual skills and knowledge, on the contrary. Just wanted to clarify a bit

[figs-and-cigs]

Saw a post recently that said if you're not a good communicator you shouldn't be in a poly relationship. My first thought was, "right communication is an absolute MUST!" But thinking about it some more, I think there needs to be more nuance to the idea. What makes good communication? And who's to say who should and shouldn't do polyamory?

I'm an easily overwhelmed, agoraphobic, introvert - and at times communication IS hard. I often seek alone time with very little interaction with the outside world.

I had a girlfriend who HATED texting and wanted lots of in person face to face time. That relationship slowly unravelled and disappeared - without communication. I'm a texter and couldn't fit my schedule or find the spoons to spend more time with her - and she never texted.

I had to explain to a new person I'm dating that I'm not good at asking a lot of questions - which can look like a lack of interest and a failure in gathering information for a good match. The reality is I figure others will tell me what they want me to know over time as they get comfortable, and if it's important it'll come up. Meanwhile, I'm an open book. I communicate with lengthy paragraphs and stories to paint a picture of my world. Which often gets others to share similarly - through text, and more importantly get to know me on a deep level. In person I'm spastic mess, I get emotional about everything and excitement or frustration can jumble words into an incoherent rant.

When I'm upset, I cry... And trying to help someone see my point of view doesn't work well between frustrated sobs I can't control. With my husband we make an effort to take a pause with intense discussions and let me write/text it out. And while he can be a stoic type during emotional discussions - giving him time to process is important. But my anxious attachment will precieve it as if I'm doing all the communication and he's got nothing!

I also unintentionally go into circles and rants as I process which can be overwhelming to the other party. I've been in relationships where we'd talk and talk and talk and talk until we'd exhaust each other and that talking might turn into yelling or unhealthy silent treatments. Neither of us could understand each other or find common ground.

To prevent this with my husband we set timers. 5/5/10. We each get 5 minutes to share our thoughts, and then we'll have 10 minutes to collaborate on a solution - or to bond or support each other.

I have a FWB who I rarely hear from. Maybe every few months when he's in town and able to set a date to meet. He's not the talkative type unless we're alone in a room together - and I realized I'm ok with this. I don't need constant contact to enjoy my time with him.

I think a huge part of healthy relationships is meeting people where they're at and accepting each other exactly as we are. The good, the bad, the messy, and perfectly whole. And it's beautiful and wonderful! But it's also complicated and hard. Not every relationship is going to last. But the experiences together are valuable nonetheless.

When our communication styles and skills are different, what do we do!? Ironically, we communicate about it, and even a "bad communicator" can find work arounds. I think it comes down to boundaries and trying to understand each other. And if it doesn't work out between both of you - it doesn't mean we can't find someone else who it can't work with.

And while we can find total acceptance of each other one would hope each of us is working on personal progress and improvements in areas that we struggle.

Just like there's no one right perfect way to be poly, I don't think there's only one right perfect way to communicate. We each need to find what works best for us and our individual relationships. And it's going to vary and be different almost every single time.

The end.

[theramseyloft]

What’s your opinion on pigeon racing and flying? Do you think it benefits the health or tractability of a breed or could it ever be done in modest ways without the large aspects of neglect?

Ooh, this is a tough one.

Racing, in particular, is not exclusively for entertainment.

Just like riding horses or running sled dogs isn't.

The races that earn the biggest pot, for example? Supply breeding stock to the parts of the world that still exist where they are depended upon as messengers, and having them or not is still a matter of life and death.

Hell, if anything ever happened to our current means of electronic communication, Racing Homers are very literally the best possible alternative to fall back on, historically tried and tested.

And because their ability to navigate is central to meeting that need, training tosses and actual races are genuine necessities that cannot be replaced by any other means.

So I can't, in good conscience, say that the breed or practice should die out.

That said, GPS trackers are much smaller, cheaper to make, and easier to come by, though I don't know what kind of power they would need to transmit in real time, or if the addition of that would make it too heavy to carry.

If a GPS capable of real time transmission could be made small and light enough for a racing homer to carry without effecting their flight speed, I would love to see them used in tosses and races so that races could be monitored and birds who stop flying either very suddenly during the day or longer than it takes to wait out a night can be recovered.

A volunteer team of spectators would be ideal for that.

I can see some potential down sides to this, like people tracking the birds specifically to take pot shots at them, or trying to find a way to intercept and steal some, but a healthy racing homer's base speed is 60mph, with some sprinting lines clocked at up to 100.

And unless they physically can't, they do not stop until they get back!

The average person isn't going to be able to trap or catch that bird unless something is seriously wrong.

And having the on-the-move flight data in real time would be valuable to racers both for the data itself and as a means to draw spectators.

There isn't an aviary on the planet big enough for the length of sustained flight from which the musculature of the Performing breeds has developed, but we have ways to artificially enhance the immune system: Vaccines.

Natural immune systems develop over generations of survival.

Pathogens adapt to their host by becoming less lethal over time.

No host? No spread. Pathogen population dies out, and that strain becomes a dead end.

Hosts adapt to their pathogens over time by developing more and more aggressive immune responses with each exposure.

Vaccines work by presenting the immune system with the means to identify a pathogen without the damage to the host that would usually happen while the body is trying to organize the response to take it out.

We have vaccines for Paramyxovirus and Paratyphoid. There is an inoculation for Pox.

It would be amazing to have a full vaccine for Pox, not to mention Adenovirus, Circovirus, avian flu, and ornithosis, or if it were possible to vaccinate against protozoa like coccidia and trich.

Honestly, the improvement of medicine is a matter of time and funds.

In the mean time, all we can do is our best to selectively breed hosts with strong immune responses to the pathogens we don't have vaccines for yet.

[goldenlinixx]

future!harry / dad!harry x taylorrussell

The trophies are not the most valuable thing in my life, my love xx

"mummy mummy mummy what are those trophies in daddy's room?" taylor is in the middle of preparing lunch when the loud footsteps and completely excited voice of her almost four-year-old daughter light up the house styles. no sooner has tay turned round to look at her little girl than the exact same green eyes as her husband's are looking at her. "my angel, what are you doing in daddy's working place?" "i was looking for rooti" "oh my angel, you know that root has her place here in the living room. that's where she’s lying: look". there lies the little family dog, who has now reached old age, asleep in her basket, completely unaware that her „sister" is excitedly running around the house looking for her. tay lovingly strokes the curls from her daughter's face. taylor loves to answer the questions from her little one. it was only a matter of time before she discovered the "trophies", as she affectionately calls them.

„the „trophies" is the most valuable thing your dad owns. it's a so-called grammy, my little sunshine." "a grammy?" "yes exactly, a grammy … daddy and i told you that he makes a lot of people in the world happy with his songs, right? and you know my love... a grammy is the most valuable thing a music artist like daddy can ever get in his life and career." "so daddy is a superstar?" "yes my little peanut, you could say that ... daddy is a superstar" taylor can't help but smile and place a loving kiss on her little daughter's hairline. they have just finished their intimate moment when they hear the front door slam shut. "i think daddy's back from his jog" as soon as taylor has finished her sentence, the little one is already walking quickly towards the front door. "daddyyy you're a superstar" harry can just about put his airpods down on the cupboard before his three-year-old daughter jumps into his arms. "hello my little darling." this really is the best thing for harry. he has never wanted anything more than to be almost run over by his own little daughter after a strenuous run. "now tell me again peach ... what am i? a superstar?"

harry's little daughter hugs him close. "yes, i was looking for rooti and then i looked in your room and then i saw your trophies and mummy told me that they are grammys." in the meantime, taylor has also found her way to her two favourite people. first and foremost, of course, to say hello to her husband. this morning they hadn't seen each other because he had left early for his long sunday run. she only caught a loving kiss on her sleep while she was still half asleep.

"our little angel was very excited. i told her that her daddy makes a lot of people in the world happy with his music and got his grammys for it." smiling, harry can't help but go up to his beloved taylor and pull her tightly into a hug and a long, deep kiss. of course, he holds their daughter tightly in his other arm. "oh so that's how it is. a hello to you too my darling" "hi babe" the intimate kiss between the two is quickly interrupted by their sweet little daughter. "and mummy told me that it is the most valuable thing you own" harry carefully sets his daughter down on the floor. that he can communicate with her at the same level, he squats down lovingly next to her.

"mummy's not quite right. you know, my love, the trophies, the grammys, are not the most valuable thing in my life that i own. musically speaking, yes, but in a personal way, you are the most valuable thing in my life. you, your mum and your sister in mummy's belly. you know, my peach ..music was the most important part of my life for a long time and it still is to some extent. but when i met your mummy, love took centre stage and i wanted other things in life. i wanted you, for example ... but now i mainly write music or songs because i'm happy. and i'm happy because i have you. you are the most important and therefore the most valuable thing in my life. so love you to the moon and back." in support of his loving explanation, harry gives his little daughter a loving kiss on the head, who then presses herself very close to her dad.

"you said that so beautifully, h. we love you so much too" in support of her statement, taylor can't help but caress her baby bump, which has grown quite a bit in the meantime. harry notices this too and immediately puts his hand on his wife's bump as well.

in that moment he realises once again that his music will never make him as happy as his own little family does. his success can never reach the value that being a dad does. he will be forever grateful that he spent that one month in los angeles and met taylor, the love of his life.

harry and taylor can't wait to show their daughter all the photos and videos taken at the grammy awards that night as a bedtime story. harry has wished for nothing more in life than to be able to show his own children these photos one day. that moment has now arrived and he could never be happier.

—————————————————————-

i really love harry and taylor so much and can't help but write down my thoughts and sweet imaginations that keep buzzing around in my head.

i hope you enjoyed it!

xx Celine

[trans-axolotl]

Notes on the Radical Model of Disability

I'm seeing a lot of discussion today about different models of disability, and wanted to share my recent reading notes on the radical model of disability, which for me has been a super helpful model for understanding how disability works.

"The radical model defines disability as a social construction used as an oppressive tool to penalize and stigmatize those of us who deviate from the (arbitrary) norm. Disabled people are not problems; we are diverse and offer important understandings of the world that should be celebrated rather than marginalized."

Source: AJ Withers, Disability Politics and Theory. "Looking Back But Moving Forward: The Radical Model of Disability"

Key Points:

The radical disability model was developed by many disability justice activists (including Sins Invalid and the 10 principles of Disability Justice), and was inspired by many different models, including the social model. Withers points out that there are a lot of valuable parts of the social model, but also lots of limitations.

The radical disability model is not the same thing as the social model of disability. It rejects the strict social model separation between "impairment" and "disability." Traditionally, in the strictest versions of the social model, people use "impairment" to describe someone's individual limitations--generally considered the "biological" part of disability. People often use things like chronic pain and hallucinations as examples of "impairment." In the strict social model, disability is described as oppression added on top of the "impairments" people are living with. People usually describe things like inaccessible buildings and strict social norms as examples of the disabling impact of society. Withers points out how sometimes, the social models ideas about the separation of impairment and disability can leave many disabled people feeling excluded and like their experiences aren't represented. This article by Lydia X. Z. Brown talks a little bit more about those topics--using the terms "essentialism" to describe the impairment view and "constructivism" to describe the social view.

Instead, the radical disability model argues that you cannot easily separate impairment and disability, and points out that both "impairment" and disability are always socially contextual. Disability must be analyzed in context to the society we are currently in, both so that we can understand the experience of oppression and so that we can understand the impact it has on our bodies and minds. For example, someone living with chronic pain will still have chronic pain no matter what society they live in. But things like whether they can sit while they work, whether they have to work at all, if they can afford assistive technology, if there is easy access to pain medications, etc, all affect their body and lived experience of pain in a very real way. Ending capitalism would not suddenly take away all the pain they are experiencing, or make them not disabled. But it might change their ability to cope with pain, what treatments are available to them, and what their bodily experience of pain is like. Similarly, someone's experience with hallucinations can be dramatically shaped by the context they are in, whether they are incarcerated, if their community reacts with fear, whether they have stable housing, and more. The radical model of disability looks at how the different contexts we live in can affect our very real experiences of disability. Instead of the medical model, that only looks at disability as a biological, individual problem that can only be fixed through medicine, or the strict social model, which focuses on changing society as the only solution for disability, the radical disability model looks at how different societal contexts change both our biological and social experiences. It acknowledges that disability is a very real experience in our bodies and minds, but looks at how the social environments we live in shape all parts of "impairment" and disability.

Intersectionality is a key concept for the radical disability model. Withers points out how disability studies often ignores intersectionality and only focuses on disability. "Disability politics often re-establish whiteness, maleness, straightness and richness as the centre when challenging the marginality of disability. Similarly, when disability studies writers discuss other oppressions, they often do so as distinct phenomena in which different marginalities are compared (Vernon, 1996b; Bell, 2010). When oppressions are discussed in an intersectional road it is commonly treated like a country road: two, and only two, separate paths meet at a well-signed, easy-to-understand location. Intersectionality is a multi-lane highway with numerous roads meeting, crossing and merging in chaotic and complicated ways. There are all different kinds of roads involved: paved and gravel roads, roads with shoulders and those without and roads with low speed limits, high speed limits and even no speed limits. There is no map. The most important feature of these intersections, though, is that they look very depending on your location." (Withers pg 100.)

The radical model of disability is inherently political. The radical model of disability looks at who gets labeled as disabled, how definitions of disability change, and how oppressors set up systems that punish disabled citizens. Oppressors set up systems of control, violence, and incarceration that target disabled people, and shift the definitions of disability based on social and economic changes. Withers shares examples of this, talking about the eugenics movement in the United States as an explicitly white supremacist movement that defined "disability" in a way that targeted racialized people, how homosexuality was added and then taken out of the DSM, and many other examples of the way certain people are labeled as "deviant" and impacted by ableism. Disability becomes weaponized by oppressors as a tool of marginalization, and affects many different marginalized groups. This interview of Talila A. Lewis is a really great article that explains more about a broader definition of ableism, and expands on a lot of the topics mentioned here.

Disabled is not a fixed, one-size-fits-all, never changing identity. However, it is an important personal and political identity for many people, because our experiences of disability are real and impact our bodies, minds, and social experiences in many ways. Withers argues that in disabled community, we need to have room to celebrate and have pride in our disabled identity, as well as being able to recognize the pain, distress, and challenges that being disabled can cause us.

Within the radical model of disability, we should work collectively to build access and actively fight to tear down the systematic barriers that prevent a lot of disabled people from participating in our communities. Withers argues that we need to think beyond just changing architecture (although that's important too!) and understand the way things like colonialism and capitalism are also access barriers. Going back to the first point about disability in context, Withers explains that we must also think of access in context--there is no one "universal" way to make some accessible, and we need to be able to adapt our understanding of access based on the political and relational context we are in.

TL;DR: The radical model of disability is similar to the social model of disability, but instead of viewing disability as being only caused by society, it looks at how our real experiences of disability are always shaped by whatever social context we live in. It acknowledges that our disabilities are embodied experiences that wouldn't just suddenly go away if we fixed all of society's ableism. The radical model of disability is a political model that analyzes how definitions of disability shift based on how oppressors use systems of power to marginalize different groups of people. It offers us a framework where we can feel real pride in our disabilities, but still acknowledge the challenges they cause. It points out the importance of organizing politically to dismantle all kinds of access barriers, including things not traditionally thought of as access issues, like colonialism, capitalism, and other forms of oppression. Here's a link to another great summary by Nim Ralph.

other reading recommendations for understanding the radical disability model: “Radical Disability Politics Roundtable.” by Lydia X. Z. Brown, Loree Erickson, Rachel da Silva Gorman, Talila A. Lewis, Lateef McLeod, and Mia Mingus, edited by AJ Withers and Liat Ben-Moshe.

"Work in the Intersections: A Black Feminist Disability Framework.” by Moya Bailey and Izetta Autumn Mobley

"Introduction: Imagined Futures" from Feminist, Queer, Crip by Alison Kafer.

[yellowocaballero]

isgbtw?

This is the story I am working on right now! It's the Immortal!Gojo story. It was inspired by a misconception, and the very concrete idea that Gojo seemed to understand what a high school was exclusively through television. The center of it is Geto and Gojo, but I don't really respect Geto as a person, so whenever I write Geto/Gojo it always ends up....uh, interesting.

A little bit for you:

Gojo identified the problem quickly.

Granted, this was partly because he created the problem. That was Geto’s stance, and Gojo reliably found Geto fairly wise for his age. Gojo argued that the Council of Elders had basically committed suicide by proxy by aggravating him. Geto had said that there was no use arguing that sentence, which Gojo interpreted as admitting that he was right. 

“The world of sorcerers has a manpower problem,” Gojo said, sloshing around his imported tea in his finely painted cup. Servants skittered around the edges of the courtyard, heads ducked. Civil servants and advisors pressed their ears against paper doors. Holding this meeting in the Gojo clan compounds would have been less ostentatious, but it wouldn’t have been as fun. “Sorcerers are always dropping like flies, and our noble families constantly waste burgeoning talent in their own families. We kill each other in constant infighting and do the curse’s job for them. It’s just a waste.”

Geto just sipped his tea, prim and unflappable. He could walk into any room and make himself seem like he belonged. Gojo had hoped that walking into the Emperor’s palace as if he owned the place and casually using his private tea garden would impress him just a little, but he barely blinked. “Agreed. Murdering each other through infighting is certainly a waste.”

“Suicide by proxy.”

“As you say, Gojo-sama.”

“I do say,” Gojo said, a little huffily. He jabbed a finger at Geto, who only raised a single eyebrow. “You’re part of the reason I began thinking of this at all, you know. How many incredible talents like yours slipped completely past us just because there was no sorcerer in their boring village to train them?”

Quietly, Geto muttered, “Or because their boring village killed them for being different.”

Geto had barely survived his own village, which was one of the funnier origin stories Gojo had heard lately. “And what happens if the civilian-born sorcerer does manage to survive and find a community of sorcerers? They’re shunned! The powerful turn up their nose, call them garbage, and treat them like burakumin. The amount of valuable sorcerers we’ve lost to pride, exclusivity - the elders just feel threatened by newcomers, you know. They were threatened by you. If it wasn’t for me, nobody would have ever picked you up and trained you.”

Geto sipped his tea. “I’m very grateful.”

“Of course you are, I saved your life. And you made me think about how many more lives I could save.” Gojo leaned forward, tilting his head and flashing a winning grin. Geto arched a second eyebrow patiently. “I can only take so many apprentices at once. Teaching children one or two at a time is just too slow. So do you know what my idea was?”

“What was your idea, Gojo-sama?”

Gojo leaned back, adjusting his loose kimono and gesturing vaguely in the air. A servant dived in instantly, bowing her head and topping up their cups of half-drunk matcha. Those Tokugawas really hoarded all of the good stuff.  “I’m going to found a monastery. An active, worldly monastery, in the heart of this new capital. The first generation of the Sect of Gojo! What do you think! Doesn’t that have a nice ring to it?”

Disappointingly, Geto just looked amused. He was impossible to impress these days. He had been far more impressionable a few years ago. He acclimated to Gojo quicker than most. Most sorcerers had known him their entire lives, and a few reds and blues were still enough to dazzle them. Not Geto. He was a unique boy. “With you in the place of the Buddha, I presume?”

“Obviously.”

“Say that a little louder, Gojo-sama. I’m interested.”

“Anything to amuse my ferocious student.” Gojo cleared his throat, raising his voice until he could be heard clearly across the entire courtyard. Knowing the impressive sound of his own voice, probably much further. Maybe even the Emperor was listening? “Gojo Satoru is the next Buddha! He possesses the mandate of heaven!” The words echoed across the courtyard, and Gojo waited patiently for the sound to die down. If Geto thought that the Emperor might pop up to - what, scold them? He was sorely disappointed. “See? Nothing happened. You’ll be my first student, right?”

“I’m already your student.”

“You can be my first priest. Never mind, priests are a pain. It’s not about the monastery aspect, Geto. I don’t care about that. Being worshiped grows dull quickly. I want to train the next generation of new sorcerers.” Gojo broke into a smile, jabbing a finger at Geto. This was the fine point on the idea. This would really interest him. “I’ll train those who the old clans won’t touch. Any undesirable, any rejected or exiled progeny, any commoner-born sorcerer - I’ll take anybody who nobody else wants. And they’ll all be loyal only to me. What do you think?”

Strangely, Gojo found himself holding his breath. Geto didn’t outwardly react or say anything for a long time. He just took a sip of his tea, eyes closed in thought. Geto waited until five exact seconds before Gojo’s patience wore out before he spoke. 

“It sounds perfect, Gojo-sama.”

Gojo beamed. Mission accomplished. Geto wasn’t a completely controllable factor - a compliant one, yes, but not controllable - so he always felt accomplished whenever he successfully made him do or feel something. It wasn’t even a guarantee: sometimes Gojo entered a conversation with Geto meaning to convince him of one thing, only for the conversation to end turned around on its head with Gojo believing something completely different instead. It was mostly fascinating and occasionally annoying. 

“So you’ll join, yes?” 

Geto replaced his cooling cup on the tea table. A carefully manicured stream coursed in front of them, and shafts of bamboo waved in a cool wind. It was a good day to co-opt the Emperor’s palace. One ought to take tea with their favorite apprentices when possible. They wouldn’t be around forever. 

“Of course I will. You aren’t done training me yet, are you?”

“You have a lot left to learn.” Gojo mock-wagged a finger at him. “I won’t let you go until you reach your full potential, Geto. You could approach my power one day. People like you shouldn’t go to waste just because others feel threatened by you. You’re too entertaining.”

Geto smiled, eyes creasing shut. “I hope to continue entertaining you for a long time, Master.”

“That’s what I like to hear!”

It hadn’t been for Geto. It had been for Gojo. Geto had only given him the idea - shown him how talented the overlooked could be. He had seen too many driven, intelligent, and kind children reduced to servitude within their clans for the crime of being ‘untalented’. 

A good master could take even the lowest potential student and make them a powerful sorcerer. By throwing out children with low potential, the other masters were just admitting their limitations and incompetencies. Gojo - who had no limitations, no incompetencies - would always be capable of doing what they were too short-sighted to even see could be done. Gojo operated on a different plane of existence, and within his six sights he could see the long centuries stretching out before them. 

The curses were only growing in strength. The world of the sorcerers could not afford to cannibalize forever. Through weakening themselves by tearing out their own flesh, they would be consumed. And the sorcerers would…and Geto would…

Maybe Geto had a little to do with it. Maybe it had been for Geto just a little bit: to assuage his troubled heart, his nightly confessions that he couldn’t watch any more sorcerers die. Gojo didn’t tell him that for a very long time. But Gojo was sure that Geto had always known anyway. 

Geto was a little omniscient like that. Of course, not as omniscient as Gojo. 

[thedrowsydoormouse]

Ok I don't know if I'm sleep deprived or if this actually makes sense but bear with me because I think I've figured out the backstory for Finetime! Spoilers for Dot and Bubble below the cut.

Ok so what do we KNOW about Finetime?

It's on a different planet than the Home World

It is literally in a bubble that is cut off from the outside world

Everyone there is between the ages of 17-27

It's filled with all the rich (racist) kids who could afford to go there

They "work" for two hours each day

The weather is controlled by a satelite

The home world was also overrun by the slugs

So what can we hypothesize from that information? (Side note, anything you are about to read that is racist, classist, or both are not my actual words but what I would assume someone from that society would think or say. I do not hold those beliefs and I do not wish to associate with anyone who does.)

The grown ups back on the Home World (an already racist, classist society) had already started to drive their Dots insane and they knew their days were numbered. So they gathered up a bunch of their "least valuable" (to them) citizens to Boldy Go and find a new planet that won't immediately kill them and build a new settlement, not really caring how many of them make it back, if any, because again, racist and classist.

While the new settlement is being discovered and built, the people back on the Home World got to work planning. They knew there would only be so many spots available in the new community (think like lifeboats on the Titanic) so the easiest way they could think to secure those spots is to have people pay for them and they needed to make sure every person going could fend for themself (more or less) and was within reproductive age, thus the 17-27 year age limit. But that creates a problem. If your entire population is made up of a bunch of rich 20 somethings who have no marketable skills, how will society continue to function? So they automate everything with computer programs and AI to handle the nitty gritty and the 2 hours of "work" are basically games that keep the AI running smoothly. Then construction of Finetime is complete, the "undesirables" leave the bubble and move out into the jungle (I'm assuming. We never really find out what happened to the people who built everything because the only person we meet who would know is Ricky and well ...........), the bubble is sterilized because poor people cooties, and the stage is set for our "adventure".

So off they go, a rocket full of Rich White kids who, if they were told they were going to be the last of their kind, they either weren't paying attention or didn't care. They assume it's going to be a long holiday and once they turn 27 they'll all head back to the Home World and back to Mummy and Daddy. So they continue on, business as usual. They play their little games for two hours every day to maintain the status quo then spend the rest of their time living like rich kids on vacation. All the while their Dots are plotting to wipe out all of them the same way they started (and eventually finished) back on the Home World because nothing has fundamentally changed. The problem is the computers that run everything need above a certain population to continue functioning normally, so the first few slug victims (#allhailthegloriousslugs) didn't really make that much of a difference. But as more and more of them get eaten, the computers start to struggle to keep up and things start to go a bit haywire, like the weather satellites having issues (I know that was a real world issue and not meant to be part of the plot but it works so well in my backstory theory that I'm going with it).

TLDR: a bunch of rich, racist assholes did what rich, racist assholes do and basically destroyed their planet, used a bunch of working class people and people of color to find and build a new society on a new planet, sent their obnoxious, self absorbed trust fund babies to go live in that society, and the the completely expected thing happens when the problems continue in the new community because nothing about the society itself fundamentally changed. Any of the people who managed to escape Finetime who also manage to not drown when the boat their on inevitably runs aground (because they can't even walk without arrows, no way in hell they'll know how to drive a boat) are either going to starve to death or have to contend with countless wild animals and potentially even the people who built the bubble city in the first place. Not a single person on that boat will live longer than a week.

[drdemonprince]

What's your take on the solidarity camps of students in countries where the colleges are state funded?

I recently got into contact with my local SfP group, which is planning a camp atm, with the goal of getting our college to stop an exchange program with an Israeli university heavily involved in weapon development. But they havent even made that demands to our college. I know the college would refuse those, but I am nontheless worried they are hurrying into building an encampment for the sake of having one. Not the actual focus behind the camps. The main goal of the camp would be to exist in solidarity to others and since our city is small I doubt anyone will hear about it.

Of course I am helping elsewhere to the best of my abilities, but I worry we will put valuable resources into it and ultimately achieve nothing.

Making the camp for the sake of having one is a laudable goal. it is a wonderful thing whenever the people seize the land to return it to public use, and build interdependent networks where food, housing, books, lessons, community, etc are all shared.

Nearly every campus encampment is formed with the understanding that university administration will not agree to demands. The building of encampments is a start of a much larger movement to seize control over the universities -- control that has been systematically taken away from the students and faculty that shape it over the course of the last several decades.

Think about it for a second. How absurd is it that the students whos debt pays for these institutions and the professors whose research, teaching, and publishing shape the intellectual life of these institutions have NO say in what the university does or how it spends the money that they are both responsible for?

what value does an administrator introduce to that equation? why are they even there? why have the number of administrators grown every year while the number of tenure-track and full-time professorships shrinks? why have student representatives been booted off the Board of Trustees in favor of people who do not teach, research, study, or contribute to any of the actual meaningful work of a university in the first place?

Getting campuses to fully stand with Palestine and divest from genocide (and divest from the Israeli apartheid state) is a tall order, because violent colonial Zionism is baked into how these institutions now work. A university today is more of a real estate and investment holding business than it is an institution of knowledge -- and so massive corporations, the military, and settler colonial states and their lackeys have more control over them than the students and professors do. We're an afterthought.

When students form encampments on campus and refuse to budge or even to negotiate with administration, they do so knowing that a far more dramatic upending of the existing power structure is in order. And forming a large, vocal, physically present, interdependent community is a crucial step to having the power and social bonds necessary to take control of our universities back.

Everything is connected. Universities are invested in Israel for the exact same reasons they no longer offer job security to professors and exploit underpaid part-timers for the majority of their teaching labor, closing out entire generations of marginalized scholars from research and publishing or institutional leadership. I know these trends are less stark outside the United States, but they are happening worldwide, and ours is a strong example of what's coming for the rest of the world. So it is GREAT to see students outside the US standing in solidarity with us and seeing that all our struggles are connected.

(To read more about the rise of administrative positions in academia and the loss of influence students and professors have, check out the book The Professor is In by Karen Kelskey).