#can we agree to disagree?

[avelera]

Ugh, sorry, one last political point because it’s the day for it and this is bugging me.

Democrats and people on the left in the US have got to knock it off with this whole, “All Trump voters are obviously stupid” thing.

I’m sure it’s satisfying to believe, but it is simply not true, and making assumptions about your opponents that aren’t true is how you lose elections.

Half of the voting population of this country is not stupid and it is ludicrous to insist on believing that. Trump voters include doctors, lawyers, business owners, people with PhDs and graduate degrees, and people who attend college courses for fun. They are, unfortunately for many of us including yours truly, our parents and relatives and I at least know for a fact in those cases that they are well educated, well traveled people.

Assuming these people are just stupid and uninformed is, in fact, stupid. It a simplistic view of the world that is going to make your platforms lose if you embrace it and refuse to look deeper.

In practice, people engage in politics because they want the greatest happiness and prosperity for the largest number of people that they care about.

Everything after that is just haggling over price.

For example, the Left/Democrats might believe that the great amount of happiness and prosperity is brought to the largest number of people they care about when an advanced degree is available to everyone without leaving them in crippling debt, when people can age with social services that allow them dignity, when billionaires and companies cannot exploit their workers, and when peace and just causes are allowed to flourish around the world, including the education and enfranchisement of women, and the long term health of our planet. I personally believe that brings long term prosperity to us all.

Left and Right wing voters right now both probably agree that everyone is happier and more prosperous if they can afford a house and have a job that covers their needs and then some. How to get to that is the sticking point that they disagree on.

Right wing voters also want prosperity for themselves and those they care for and what they disagree on with the Left is how to achieve that. I’m not going to go into their platforms here because the whole point of this post is not assuming things about your opponents.

Now in order to persuade people to hold more Left leaning views, you need to make the case for why what you care about is a thing that they should care about and, more importantly, how it enhances the happiness and prosperity of them and those they care about.

Otherwise, you are asking them to vote against their own interests, which no one engages in politics to do, at least not on purpose (even if it is the ultimate outcome in many cases).

If you don’t care about making this argument to opposite side, then fine, you’ve already lost and you deserve to keep losing elections.

You deserve to lose because you’re not making a case for why anyone should support your causes in order to gain happiness and prosperity for themselves and those they care about, including expanding the field of people they care about, and it is ludicrous to expect people to do that without being persuaded either intellectually or emotionally.

This is what finding common ground and building coalitions is about, even if you don’t agree on every point. And if you self isolate and stick to your purity, you deserve to lose because politics is about how we govern large groups of people towards a common goal that, ultimately, is best simplified as the goal of their greatest happiness and prosperity.

Good faith politics is negotiating over what that means. Because resources are finite we can’t all get everything we want all at once. And not everyone agrees on everything so you need to prioritize the best possible allotment of happiness and prosperity for the short and long term, and that’s when we get into the nitty gritty of all the horse trading that happens in politics etc etc.

And you get into things like billionaires having outsized ability to enact their own happiness and prosperity but here’s the thing, many people especially on the right go along with those views because they believe (rightfully or not) that those goals will increase their own happiness and prosperity as well and if you don’t agree you’ve got to explain to them intellectually or emotionally why that is and provide and alternate platform or path for them to gain it that is more effective by at least some measure of that value.

Anyway, at the risk of this becoming a political science thesis from someone who isn’t a political scientist, just an amateur academic, tl;dr please knock it off with assuming everyone who disagrees with you is stupid, it is a losing proposition and it doesn’t get us anywhere near the goals we want to achieve politically, ie, the greatest happiness and long term prosperity of the people we care about.

[bread-wizards]

I actually think Dorian and Orym should fight more.

Remember when their slowly building tension over and entire episode (full of passive aggressive remarks and blame throwing) led to threats? And how after, Orym thanked Dorian for handing over the crown sadly because he knew Dorian would be mad at him? And Dorian couldn't even look at him because he was legitimately hurt, thinking Orym was disappointed in him for doing what he thought was right? That was peak.

The fact they went from that to their current closeness and trust is the best part of their entire dynamic. Their relationship was hard fought and still will be. They will fight for it because they respect and care for one another deeply, and their disagreements don't change that, only improve it.

[snekdood]

"if we make america worse and more of a dictatorship that will be even harder to unravel and make it the way we want the country to be, maybe then everyone will join our Glorious Revolution!" bb girl you cant even be in the same room with someone who thinks you should vote, how in tf do you think you're gonna unite people to fight in The Revolution with you? it's gonna be you and your 5 friends, i hate to break it to you.

[castiellesbian]

Supernatural was on so long in the hands of so many people with very differing views on the story they were telling that there is evidence in canon to support almost any interpretation.

[so-sick-of-17]

If this election goes badly, I will never forgive people who put their personal morals over the good of America. The system is flawed and we should criticize Kamala Harris, but we also need to prevent as much harm as we can. Not if, WHEN, Kamala Harris wins the election, we are allowed to breath a sigh of relief and get rid of the knot in our stomachs. We will not stop fighting but taking a minute to celebrate the little victories is the only way a lot of us can get through everything. We will continue to fight for Palestine and demand Kamala Harris do more, but we can appreciate that things aren’t going to get worse and that doesn’t make us selfish.

[kavalyera]

if u cant handle a simple disagreement then ur immature

[lokiusly]

I think that deep down Mobius couldn’t prune the two kids because he subconsciously knew— he felt like it would be like pruning his own children. He was a father and will always have that instinct, no matter how many times he was brainwashed.

[mbat]

jews: this thing in fiction feels jew coded to me, this character/group has several parallels to jewish people and i see myself here :)

non-jews: nah, that aint right, its clearly coded to be this other thing/youre stretching so hard to find a connection that isnt there

jews: this thing in fiction falls into antisemitic tropes, this character/group has several common antisemitic tropes that have a long history of being used against my people, and i think we should really consider not using these tropes anymore/consider if theres a better way to go about making the same point without doing it in this specific way

non-jews: nah, that aint right, its clearly coded to be this other thing/youre stretching so hard to find a connection that isnt there

just something ive noticed

[asweetersapphic]

y’all do realize that the statements “police brutality is abhorrent and never acceptable” and “i feel bad for caitlyn kiramman arcane in s2” are two statements/thoughts that can coexist, right?

[un-pearable]

[nell0-0]

A bit of a controversial take, but-

Every time I get a comment saying "you should change the badly done fan art bit to good" or something like that, I cackle. You see, that's the point. I draw what I like and it doesn't need to be good, just out there.

It serves as a reminder to just have fun messing around, that I'm drawing for myself, and if I think a drawing ain't good enough, then no problem. The blog has its name for a reason.

I think a lot of artists would benefit from that outlook. It sure helped me with burnout and feelings of inadequacy. If it's not fun, then why?

[gxlden-angels]

Bro I hate fundamentalists and culturally-fundie parents they'll say shit like "spare the rod spoil the child am I right haha yea my parents used to have to beat my ass with a switch almost everyday but I sure did learn my lesson" but like??? no you didn't??? you were hit multiple times for something you very obviously did not, in fact, learn

Like studies about how harmful even lightly spanking children is aside, you're literally contradicting yourself?? Some even admitted they got worse as they got older cause they wanted to see how far they could push their parents before they got punished

And studies not aside, you're gonna get child raising advice from the same book that tells you to stone your wife if her hymen doesn't break on your wedding night instead of the decades of research we have now?? Just say you're a bad parent and move on my guy. Skill issue

[reel-fear]

If you want my opinion, I think we should give Lone Wolf the benefit of the doubt, yes it does look a little bit cheap in some areas but the game does look pretty fun and both the art and characters are still on point. Alice and Sammy are also returning so that’s a plus! I think it’s best that we stay optimistic for this game and Bendy’s future.

That's fair and I respect your opinion, I think my thing is I'm worried people are too optimistic about Bendy's future games being better than the ones they've already created because the team behind Bendy is very anti-listening to feedback. Which means it's likely these games won't improve unless fans make a bigger push to be more critical of them and show the devs they won't spend their money unless the team can prove they care about this franchise and aren't gonna let the polish drain just because it makes more money.

I criticize Bendy not because I want it to die or be bad, I only do it because I hope one day either 1. A competitor rises up and gives the fans essentially a better version of Bendy that they deserve and they can use my feedback and others to see where it can be improved. or 2. The bendy team listens to my feedback and the general fandom's to make future games better. Plus generally get their act together.

As it stands the trailer is rushed and cheap, which is bad because a trailer for a game should be the most polished part of the affair. I mean this is what is supposed to convince people to buy the game when it comes out! I had the same problems with The Cage and I'm unhappy to see this becoming a pattern. [I mean that's a game I'm even more confident is going to horribly crash and burn cause I honestly don't know why'd they make a midquel to a game which everyone hated the ending of-]

Look. I understand some people feel a sort of loyalty to the Bendy devs, it's hard not to feel like you're in some sort of friendship when it comes to such a small indie team. But at the end of the day you have to remember defending them when they mess up only gives them more reasons to ignore feedback and most of all you don't know Mike or Meatly as people outside of what they Choose to show in their public image. So when the public image they've crafted is one that's bad and leaves people worried about how the games they're making are gonna turn out. Nobody can be blamed but them. And if you really care about them and/or Bendy it's better to boost feedback even if it's negative.

Like sure Sammy and Malice are returning but look at the treatment they got in Dark Revival! Meatly and Mike have never addressed how poorly done the original characters were in that game and I think it's cause far as they're concerned it was perfectly fine and people are complaining about nothing. [That or enough people didn't seem to care for it to matter to them whether that point was valid or not] Despite the fact Sammy was shot down for a gag after finally speaking up [and was in a ton of Dark Revival marketing material] and Malice was nothing more than a rip off of her chapter 3 self with no interesting changes, we never got to hear her thoughts on how the world is doing, on how she feels now hearing her enemy, the ink demon, was supposedly killed, or on Wilson, the keepers, etc. I mean it was a huge waste and with the promise Sammy will be 'restored to his Chapter 2 glory' I want to call this poor writing out now rather than wait for the cage to come out and pretend I never saw it coming.

Criticism is a good thing for Bendy, we should embrace it rather than shunning or discouraging it. I hope most of us can agree on that. Even if I seem harsh, I would rather lean towards that, than risk going too easy with my words and being ignored by the devs.

[queenofmalkier]

Okay, I just have to say it to anyone feeling isolated or picked on or like the Main Character standing against Amazon's Wot-Show wrongs: nobody is mad that you don't like the show. People have different opinions! Different expectations! In a series this long there's dozens of things people will disagree on in terms of importance and that is normal!

You know what nobody likes?

The condescending, holier-than-thou attitude of some individuals who don't like the show who have decided that It Is Actually Bad And Terrible and anyone who likes it is Wrong.

Who constantly invade show-friendly spaces, who review bomb, who basically act like five year olds having a tantrum in the middle of Target.

People who I'm sorry to say don't seem to understand that there's no one way to adapt a series. Think of it like the works of Shakespeare and move on with your day.

The way I'd do it is going to be different than the way you'd do it, which will be entirely different from the way a third person will do it. That doesn't make any of us wrong - and YET you get mad when reasonable people point out that when you say the show is an Evil Bad Wrong No Good Bad Adaptation Without Question you are discounting those of us who think it's honestly not bad.

And then those same people wrap themselves up in a mantle of hurt and victimhood because everybody is being mean to them! Nobody understands!

Honey, we understand talking to you about the show right now is like talking down some drunk guy in a Denny's parking lot who is screaming at the curb. You aren't making rational points. You are Big Mad and trying to make it the problem of anybody who doesn't think the way you do.

I know I've made an effort to be understanding and empathetic about it, I've tried to explain my reasons for enjoying the show while seeing the point of others who hate it, but I'm tired of only receiving "that's cute you think that but Actually I Am Correct still" in return.

There's no growth, no learning, no further understanding. At this point it's bitching to bitch while pretending to be the only one knowledgeable on the subject. It's screaming about "that's not what I'm asking for!" while, actually, the complaints you're making are very much asking for a perfect 1 to 1 adaptation or some secret third thing that remains a mystery to me.

Either way, I love ya'll, I love WOT, I hope like hell this is a taken as the I Don't Know What Else To Do intervention, come-to-maker post it's meant to be but if it's not and you're angry maybe think about why.

[landinrris]

You win some: find out one of the undergrads in lab is into f1

You lose some: find out she's a staniel (and maybe a chirlie) within 30 seconds of speaking 🫠

[bleue-flora]

I'm pretty sure c!Dream wanting c!Tommys trust was just to get the disk from him. Dreams tweet about it "help him with his goals"

I'm sure he didn't anticipate for c!tommys mental health to break down that much in exile so there would be a little bit of empathy thinking about his talk with c!punz. But majority of exile was him pretending to be c!tommys friend specifically to get c!tommy to hand him the disk. He didn't want c!tommy as an ally. The way he treated c!tubbo during the arc was very similar, pretending to be his friend until c!tubbo gave him that disk. It wouldn't make sense for c!dream to want to be allies with either of the two because he knew that without the separation of the two and him watching over, they would revert back to harming him again. c!dream wouldn't try to make allies with one of his enemies out of thin air knowing that they have different goals. His exile plan stopped when c!tubbo gave him the disk, and the disks allowed him to continue with the staged finale plan. And for the anon that brought up that early era truce, c!dream has no reason to trust c!tommy, they were constantly scamming each other back in the day theres an hour long vod of the two making fake disks and armors out of thinking the other will scam. I had to correct some of your past anons because some of them do not understand the motivation of exile.

For sure, I really don't think he thought or intended for Tommy's mental health to take such a dive. I think he was manipulating him obviously, but I don't think he was trying to break him. (I mean for starters because breaking people is not a good way to get what you want and Dream seems to know this, and plus Tommy spirals a whole lot without Dream's help so it doesn't seem intended...)

Anyways... I don't think Tommy has a disc, does he? I'm pretty sure Tubbo has one and Skeppy or Badboyhalo has one or something. So I don't that reasoning works. I do think he was probably trying to get the disc from Tubbo, but also I think his actions can be multifaceted. If his long term goal is a peaceful server and a big happy family, which we know is true because he damn well repeats it enough til the very end. Then forming a peaceful relations with Tubbo and L'manberg makes sense. Becoming Tommy's friend so he stops terrorizing the server, specifically his friends, makes sense. Tommy doesn't need Tubbo to get up to shenigans, he causes a lot of problems without Tubbo's involvement. Sure, Tubbo enables his behavior by usually having his back in the aftermath of those, where consequences of his actions come into play. But Tommy hurts Dream a whole even during Exile, no Tubbo needed and I don't think Tubbo ever seeks out to hurt Dream without it being apart of one of Tommy's schemes. In fact, Tubbo is actually the smart one usually trying to tell Tommy not to provoke Dream or do bad things. Tubbo is actually a very reasonable character, one I feel like without Tommy (and Wilbur by extension) and then later Quackity, he and Dream probably would have been allys or at least friends, more so than even Sapnap. Tubbo just wants to build things and be friends, he's not one to start conflict. In fact, despite Tubbo actually being the one to kill Dream in the cave in the beginning of the disc saga, he says in Daedalus that Tubbo might be one of the people who hasn't really done anything. And I think he kinda believes that, that Tubbo's actions have usually been lead by others or were reactions to things. I also think there is a difference especially in Dream's mind of ally and friend, I think later he still thinks Sapnap is his friend even is Sapnap is not longer his ally, so it doesn't seen unreasonable to me for him to try and become Tubbo's and Tommy's friend to get them to stop going after him all the time. Not that he actually expected them to become his allies and help him. There is a lot neutral ground between friend, ally and enemy, where he was perhaps trying to get Tommy and Tubbo similar to how he did with Sam later in Daedalus. So, it's perhaps less of trying to turn his enemy into ally out of thin air and more of how 'bout y'all just stop coming after me, which obviously didn't work since L'manberg started plotting to kill him.

Regardless, I think Dream's Exile plan ended the moment he planned to put himself in the prison, a good bit before Tubbo gave him the discs. At which time, he says this and I think it's pretty telling that perhaps his relations with L'manberg was not all disingenuous.

I don't know, it just sounds real to me. It sounds raw and betrayed and we know he was part of the plan in exploding the community house, so it's not about that like he frames it for the rest of the server. I think it more so has to do with the Green Festival, where they were quite literally about to backstab him. Making me think that the discs were a piece, but they weren't perhaps the whole focus during this time. That they didn't become the main focus until after he felt it necessary to get imprisoned and planned the staged finale.

I mean, is it so unreasonable to think that layered within his manipulation of Tommy and Tubbo, there was genuine yearning for friendship there? Can he not be logical and emotional? Strategic but also hopelessly optimistic? Just because Tommy doesn't think before he does, doesn't mean that characters can't have multiple plans and variables at play. It is so truly so unreasonable that what ended up happening wasn't Plan A, but Plan B, C, D... that he didn't start out with bad intentions, but was forced to constantly adjust based off circumstances.