#cultural engagement

[biblebloodhound]

Getting Along In a Different Culture (Esther 2:1-23)

Maintaining one’s distinctive religious practice in a diverse and changing environment is always a difficult challenge.

Queen Esther, by Sefira Lightstone Later when King Xerxes’ fury had subsided, he remembered Vashti and what she had done and what he had decreed about her. Then the king’s personal attendants proposed, “Let a search be made for beautiful young virgins for the king. Let the king appoint commissioners in every province of his realm to bring all these beautiful young women into the harem at the…

[biggest-gaudiest-patronuses]

the fact that shakespeare was a playwright is sometimes so funny to me. just the concept of the "greatest writer of the English language" being a random 450-year-old entertainer, a 16th cent pop cultural sensation (thanks in large part to puns & dirty jokes & verbiage & a long-running appeal to commoners). and his work was made to be watched not read, but in the classroom teachers just hand us his scripts and say "that's literature"

just...imagine it's 2450 A.D. and English Lit students are regularly going into 100k debt writing postdoc theses on The Simpsons screenplays. the original animation hasn't even been preserved, it's literally just scripts and the occasional SDH subtitles.txt. they've been republished more times than the Bible

[shareyourideas]

6 Reasons Why You Should Opt in for a Youth Exchange Program

[hsmagazine254]

Revamp Your Brand: Unique Ideas to Rebrand Your Company

Innovative Strategies for Rebranding Your Business Rebranding your company can breathe new life into your business and make it more relevant to your target audience. In this article, we’ll explore unique and innovative ideas to help you rebrand your company effectively. Understanding the Rebranding Process 1. Reflect on Your Vision Take the time to revisit your company’s vision and redefine what…

[martyschoenleber]

Love and Truth in This Historical Moment

This is not a well titled post. Because the reality is that “LOVE and TRUTH” are the same in every historical moment in time. Nevertheless, our historical moment needs to rediscover that love and truth travel together in a Person (Jesus) and to deviate from that Person, that standard, is destructive to both love and truth. Eric Metaxas, makes just that point in his latest book. “Truth and love…

[eldritchdyke]

Every remake of a game should come with a copy of the game it is remaking that is compatible with modern hardware but otherwise untouched and I'm not even exaggerating this should be mandated by law. If you're going to attempt to recreate a piece of art you have to give people access to its original context otherwise it becomes the only context and makes the previous version simply a superceded product

[aprofessionalwithoutstandards]

Seething that this fucking shitass wizard terf game is even on this list to begin with but tf2 fans this shit's sixteen years old and still on the Tumblr 2023 videogames list. AND it beat the shitty wizard terf game. We simply continue to win

[ID: Screenshot from Tumblr's top video games list, showing Team Fortress 2 at number 15 and Hogwarts Legacy at number 16. End ID]

[notmontauk]

i find it pretty interesting that goncharov was a fever dream fueled by creativity, collective effort, and a “yes, and” mentality while zepotha started as a very clever and engaging marketing ploy and has now become a competition to actually make the movie. i’m not exactly sure what that means but it sure feels like it means something

[pygmy--tyrant]

one trc opinion i have that i don't really have an entire explanation for is that i think blue and henry are the only characters with like a normal knowledge of pop culture. like they've seen movies they've heard music. henry definitely more than blue but despite the fact that blue's tastes would be more weird I DO think she knows about more mainstream things. she has heard top 40 radio she has watched a disney channel movie she is capable of making references. everyone else on the other hand? gansey is not aware of anything that came into being this century. adam gives strong 'doesn't listen to music' energy. you ask him what he likes and he's like i don't know. i just don't listen to music. ronan is probably the most perplexing case because we already know he had a weird fucking childhood in which he only read alice in wonderland (and i believe it) and YET in his routine in cdth he has a designated 'movie night'. WHAT movies is he watching! i simply refuse to believe this man is capable of making a Reference. at least not a normal one. he'll just cite whatever irish myth his dad told him about as if everyone else is gonna be like oh you're so right ronan this is JUST like that part in the táin bó cúailnge. am i making any sense tonight ladies. gansey does not know who taylor swift is

[ellstronaut]

not to be that person but fuck

n don’t get me wrong I love smut as much as the next person but I cannot stand meaningless smut. With no substance just mindless sex with no passion or any ounce of affection attached to it. No buildup, no pining, no tension so thick it’s palpable no “fuck why are these jeans glued on” no “clumsiness or characters being awkward because sex is awkward sometimes and intimidating” no characterisation, character development or poking fun in a lighthearted way because

“dino boxers really?”

the way they’d be so unapologetic about it too maybe not even vocal but the look that fucking look that screams “yeah? n what you’re gonna do about it?” or maybe they’re flustered but that’s hot either way because it’s them, it’s their quirk

It’s the little details

The vulnerability? The insecurities—trying something new but being afraid to cross or plunge into unknown territories

but it’s their touch—guidance—that unspoken “you’re safe with me”

Subtle hotness/intimacy man

But yeah sex sells. Let’s be real. It’s a cheap way to get views especially when not mindful of how characters would react in such situations

[prolibytherium]

Just in general I think trying to look to pre-late modern period history for validation of LGBT+ identities is an absolutely useless venture. Every single underlying human experience defined through the lens and framework of LGBT identity has always existed, but it's impossible to pin down Exactly who and what a figure might have been if they existed in this contemporary context and decided to self identify via these labels.

It's also a wildly reductive lens that flattens the complexity and variety of how sex and gender has been constructed across time in different cultures, how sexual norms have varied, etc. This is not a constructive approach to learn about history and you're never going to be able to fit historical figures neatly into little identity categories.

[centaurianthropology]

One thing that I think a lot of Disco Elysium meta misses (likely because a lot of it is very clearly written by young Americans writing from an intensely American-centric cultural perspective without even really realizing it) is that one of the singular and central themes of the game is massive-scale generational trauma in a home that is economically collapsing as its resources and people are being drained by an occupation.  People have noted that no one tries to help Harry, despite the fact his mental illness is incredibly obvious to everyone around him.  He tells Kim that he completely lost his memory, and Kim politely asks him to focus on the work.  He tells Gottlieb that he had a heart attack, and Gottlieb tells him that if he’s still alive it couldn’t have been that bad.  That he’ll drop dead sooner or later, but then so does everyone.

And that’s the most important thing: so does everyone.  Look at Martinaise.  Look at the world in which Harry lives.  It is not our own, but it is adjacent to ours.  More specifically, it is clearly adjacent to the states of the Eastern Bloc: overtaken and occupied by a faraway government that clearly doesn’t care about Revachol or its people.  And that is obvious in every tired face, every defeated citizen, everyone trying to eke out a little happiness or meaning in spite of the overwhelming trauma and damage around them.  The buildings are still half-destroyed.  The bullet holes are still in the walls.  The revolution was decades before, but it still feels to the people there like a fresh wound.  The number of men of Harry’s generation who are not alcoholic or otherwise deeply fucked up are very few.  Some, like Kim, hide it better, but the deeper you dig into his history, the more you realize how damaged Kim is.  He’s more than a little trigger happy, and hates that about himself, but he is a product of his environment: Kim’s entire life is seeing people he cared about shot and killed, so his instinct now is to shoot first himself, to protect those few people left who still matter to him.

Harry is not unique in his trauma.  He is a distillation of an entire culture of people who tried to rise up and make something beautiful, and were instead routed and occupied.  He is trapped between the occupation and the people on the ground, along with all the rest of the RCM.  Their authority comes from the occupying government, but it is implied that they were formed out of the remnants of the citizens militia which sprung up from Revachol itself as a way to try to mitigate some of the horrors being committed on its streets.  The Moralintern sure as hell wasn’t going to get their hands dirty, so they happily conscripted (and therefore could better control) this group, who are only recognized in certain places, and whose authority mostly amounts to giving out fines.  The RCM is corrupt, but it is corrupt in the same way its culture is.  Bribes are considered standard with them, not a moral failing, but a necessity, so long as those bribes are correctly logged as ‘donations’.  It’s how the RCM stays afloat, and the rest of Revachol completely understands that.  Everyone would take a bribe if it meant they kept eating.  Everyone would take a little under-the-table money if it meant keeping a roof over their heads.  The officersof the RCM certainly don’t make enough to see a doctor.  They have an in-house lazarus, and if he can’t fix them they just die.  Mental health care?  What mental health care?  Harry doesn’t get it for the same reason no one else does: it doesn’t really seem to exist.  There are no counselors, no psychologists, no psychiatrists.  How would they even start?  If the world is what is broken, if everyone is suffering a similar catastrophic amount, it makes sense that Harry’s trauma would simply get rolled up with all the rest.  Kim asks him to get on with the job because Harry’s suffering is not remarkable in Revachol.  He is one of an entire generation who have an astronomical number of orphans from the revolution, and so many younger people are left more or less orphans as their parents drink themselves into oblivion like Cuno’s father.  So Harry’s truly unique attribute is embodying all that trauma, having it all inside of him, filling him to bursting.

To really engage with the themes of the game, engaging first and foremost with the reality of Revachol is imperative.  Imposing our own reality onto Revachol, particularly if coming from an American perspective (which tend to have the habit of both viewing the world through an American lens and not realizing they’re doing it because they’ve never experienced a different lens), will always feel shallow to me because of this.

All that is to say, I would love to hear some more explicitly European meta about this game, and especially Eastern European meta.  If anyone can point me to some good, juicy essays from that perspective, I would be grateful!

[shalom-iamcominghome]

My jewish community, friends, rabbi, and educators: We are very invested in helping you be jewish. Do you want to help read the haftarah? Here's a chanukiah! You can have it!! Borrow these books! Here's some books! You need more books... Come to pesach! Come to the chanukah party! When are your classes done? We need a minyan for once!

Me and my 50000 IQ: What if I am Secretly Appropriating judaism? What if I am doing a Cultural Appropriation........

[moonturtlephilosophy]

I think one of the biggest drivers in the "transandrophobia discourse" is that the women/transfems who are currently going after transmascs, belive that men have some inherent qualities. The flavor changes depending on who is talking, but it's always one of them: bioessencialism, genderessencialism, sexessencialism, ect.

Newsflash: feminism includes everyone and strives to free ALL from these societal systems. As soon as you exclude literally anyone, you're not a feminits anymore. Even if that group is cis, white, hetero, able-bodied, upperclass men. They are not opressed by this system, but they sure are affected! And need to be included in femminist discussion. Both about their struggles with patriarchy and capitalism AND about preventative measures for rape, SA, sexism, ect. (How they cause harm through perpetuation of harmfull systems. That they did not put in place. Literally just please give men a space to deconstruct these systems for themselves. They are not gonna 100% see themselves in theory made by women and thats ok. That doesn't make them automatically evil.)

[renshengs]

i just think if you are going to get really passionate about any deeply cultural show with distinctive ethnic names, and you are going to be so passionate about it, in fact, that you are going to consistently post about it in a public space for other people to see and/or you're going to write fanfiction about it, then you should at least make an effort to correctly spell the characters' names and know how to refer to them.

while fandom spaces are indeed for your personal enjoyment, there is a willful ignorance in the way a lot of people navigate fandoms surrounding media that is more culturally alien to them that reflects their subconscious unwillingness to take these cultural differences and intricacies into consideration. in my post's case, as i am chinese and am frequently in fandoms for chinese media, i can only speak on the fandom etiquette around names from shows that are generally more popular in english-speaking circles, like word of honor, the untamed, etc. and to be completely straightforward i think the name and terminology butchering has been pretty bad with some fandoms and absolutely unbearable in others.

"but i'm bad with names/i'm bad at spelling!" i can empathize. but i think making excuses is also a terribly avoidant thing to do. type with more care. find a method that works for you. the cultural context is crucial to the show and its characters; why are you here if you don't care about it? and yes, not paying mind to name usage is absolutely an ignorant thing to do, even if you are doing it unintentionally. obviously, spelling a name wrong does not indicate you are someone with that kind of prejudice, but not making any effort to get it right is irresponsible and insensitive, especially considering that native english speakers in the west have an extensive history of being dismissive and rude toward ethnic names, chinese ones included.

lastly, because this website has a victim complex that almost rivals twitter's:

the aim of this post isn't to imply that anyone who misuses or misspells names are bad people who should be witchhunted and torn apart (nor am i going to do that, which is why i am making a post about it), or that people who have dyslexia and other disability issues with reading & spelling accurately just need to "get better" (see: "find a method that works for you"). typos are not morally wrong & my point is not to shame anyone. i just hope people can find it in themselves to reevaluate their own stubbornness and just—learn to tread with more care. to treat these stories and their characters with the consideration that they already give to the media they're most familiar with, and to approach the cultural learning curve with willingness, or else just don't engage with such things at all if you are not able to understand that to enjoy them fully and deeply requires you to actually interact with the cultural context in which they were created.

[uncanny-tranny]

Gymbro tip of the day: call yourself an athlete if there is a physical exercise you enjoy doing (no matter how proficient you are or how often you engage in it)

When you take on the role of something - such as "being an athlete," you will be more likely to engage in that thing. It's sociology 101, and it really can work. You are an athlete! Yes, even if you"just" do yoga! Take on the role and don't stress about your level of proficiency.