#diminishing perspective

[life-spire]

@ jeremybishop

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[anyoldfandom]

I am actually. I am so emotional over the Salazar parents and I need to share this to tumblr too.

A lot of stories where the MC is adopted I feel. Either dismiss the biological parents and the impact they have on the kid's life, or makes them evil and abusive, framing the loss of the bio parents as a good thing, or at least something we shouldn't think about just look at this new family.

But Genrex doesn't do that. From the start, Rex wanted to find out more about his parents - it's one of his primary character motivations, next to helping people. He loves them, even though he doesn't know them.

And the more he finds out about them, the more he realizes they loved him. Rylander is consumed by guilt but as Rex's first connection to his pre-Event life, the first thing he does is hug him. And when he tells Rex about his parents, the two things Rex knows is that 1) they were scientists, and 2) that when he was in danger, they were desperate enough to use their secret, experimental technology to save him. Technology built from their desire to help the world, to save countless lives and end countless suffering.

And then. When he finds out that they were dead, he doesn't stop caring. It'd be so easy, too, to tie it up there - his parents were good people, he got his answer about them, the end. But they don't. He doesn't. Because the show is saying once again that they are his parents. He still calls them mom and dad, even as the show makes it clear Holiday and Six adopted Rex as their son. Even as the show even parallels Six and One with Rex and Six (and I will talk about that more later if I don't forget, trust me), to really drive home how much they're family. Rex even says he considers the two of them family, and later that he considers Noah, Claire and Annie family.

He has new family, the show tells us, but his old family still matters to him. He's upset that he never has the chance to meet his parents, that everything he hears about them, about his time with them, is secondhand knowledge. It tells us clearly that not only does Rex still love them, but that he still wants to know them. And everything we find out about them reinforces the love that they had for each other.

We see Abuela and the family in Mexico, who connect him to his birth family and tell him that he was so loved back then, and still is now. We see their office in Abysus through Rex's eyes. The picture of him and his dad on his desk. The drawing Rex drew, proudly pinned to the wall.

We see it in the familiarity of the drawing. That that robot, that build, was what Rex created when he was lost and scared and alone - that it was made to keep him safe. That it first appeared in his mind in a place he felt safe.

The show says, tenderly and softly, that the love is still there. That the fact these people died was nothing but a tragedy, that their love is a big part of what made Rex who he is today - that every molecule in his body is filled with their final gift to him. That every time he cures someone, every time he uses a build, every time he makes a machine - we see the love that they had for him.

And the way he quietly absorbs his father's face. The way he freezes and whispers "Mamá?" when he finds out Zag-Rs has their mother's voice. The fact that she even has her voice as a testament to Caesar's love, too - that it was meant to bring comfort and safety. The way Rex yells at Caesar when he finds out they have a family property, a connection to their past, the way he fights to protect it.

And, none of this takes away still from Six and Holiday being Rex's family too. None of this removes the work either set of parents did for him, the love either set has - the show says that it was unfair that the Salazar parents were lost. That Six and Holiday are not replacements, that they still love him as parents but play different roles in his life. They can not, and have no desire to, replace the Salazars. But Rex needs parents, he needs protectors, and so they will do what they can for him - at first out of necessity, to keep this kid they barely know safe, but then out of love. They aren't replacing what was lost, but are doing their best to do what Rex's bio parents would do. And they do mess up in it - they mess up in ways Rex's bio parents might not have. Six is clearly bad with showing affection, affection we saw the Salazars give Rex so easily, and Holiday is overworked and stressed constantly, sometimes breaking under the pressure and snapping at Rex and Six, things we never saw the Salazars do.

It's just. It's about how sometimes things will not be the same. They will be different. That doesn't mean the people you lost aren't still with you.

[evie-doesnt-write]

I know this is a hot take but allowing Xie Lian to be a genuinely flawed character who makes mistakes and, in the past, has been (and can still be) wrong but still tries to be good, with his inherent goodness not dependant on these things, makes him a better and more sympathetic character, and actually enhances his goodness rather than taking away from it

[wonder-worker]

"[Elizabeth Woodville] was the only member of [Crown Prince Edward of Westminster's] original 1471 council not already on the king’s council and her name headed the list of those appointed as administrators in Wales during Edward’s minority. [She remained on the council after it was expanded in 1473 and granted significant new governing and judicial powers]."

"In 1478 Prince Richard [of Shrewsbury] married the Mowbray heiress. Like his elder brother he had a chancellor, seal, household and council to manage his estates. His council, like that of Prince Edward, comprised the queen [Elizabeth Woodville] and a group of magnates and bishops, few of whom were Woodville supporters [...] It was Elizabeth who mattered, for Richard resided with her and Rivers treated his affairs as their own."

-J.L. Laynesmith, The Last Medieval Queens: English Queenship 1445-1503 / Michael Hicks, Richard III and his Rivals: Magnates and their Motives in the Wars of the Roses

[astralleywright]

ultimately the thing about the, "how dare the rest of Bells Hells debate whether to save the gods or not when Orym's family was killed by the people trying to kill the gods" take is that a personal tragedy is not a determinative argument, especially wrt an issue this fundamentally world-altering. its completely understandable that Orym finds the deaths of Will and Derrig inextricable from this topic. what's being demanded of him emotionally is enormous. but nothing about being in opposition to the gods requires that someone take the actions Ludinus and the Ruby Vanguard have taken, and they are far from the sole representatives of this ideology. and Will and Derrig's actual feelings regarding the gods had very little to do with their deaths.

(and, really: if the deaths of Orym's family makes questioning the gods' place unconscionable, than what does Aeor make of supporting them?)

beyond that: the discomfort of a single individual does not disallow a topic from discussion. it's an indication to tread lightly, with care and patience for that individual. but it is not grounds to consider a conversation as vast and complex as this one decided. especially given that Orym is far from the only member of the Hells who has intense emotions and traumas tied up in this; Orym's feelings should not take precedent over, for example, the negative experiences Ashton and Laudna have had with gods and their followers.

but also, like, even if you truly believe that anyone being ambivalent or antagonistic towards the gods in this situation is self-centered and wrong, unconditional support is simply not where the Hells are at. and if they don't talk about it now, they're gonna have to talk about it later, when they're being asked to put their hand on the scale and there's mere moments left to act.

[m4ndysk4nkovich]

maybe some people will disagree, but i personally believe that to actually be an apologist/defender of a certain character you have to be able to hold them accountable when they fuck up

[illithilit]

That moment when you realize that Mourndax is so flippant about everything bc ofc he is. Man's barely had any agency in his life under his parents' control, and he's less than five years removed from that. He hasn't exactly had time to learn how to make decisions of his own, and acting like you don't give a shit what the outcome is, or that you've simply changed your mind about it for no particular reason is a lot easier than admitting to still remembering how much the leash hurt when pulled on.

[unproduciblesmackdown]

ppl will be explaining how a difference is a difference & not a Deviation from a Superior state, & people who are the ones considered Default Normal (superior) will be like "okay....to be polite....i Might say i consider Some aspects of Some people's existence mere 'difference' & not being less than me...." as like hey i'm a Benevolent god. i still actually get to consider you worse & don't have to "humor" anything that challenges my superiority. if you only want everything to fit into the norm then it will all come back to upholding the norm. thinking of people's analysis of their own realities as equally legimate as being like Obscure, Irrelevant, Superficial & then using that reasoning to justify dismissing them. same as worrying that the [Different Lessers (Others(tm))] as Everywhere = a manifestation of the awareness that, yeah, respecting them as equals Does threaten your norm which is smothering everything everywhere. ppl who need to lock in the idea of Borders around personhood like um Yes they're all delineated separate Identities outside any hierarchy & so i think it's relevant to for some reason push back against "ohh so now Everyone's queer" like why not. why couldn't they be. what if they were. what if queerness was everywhere b/c it's ideological not a cordoned off Alternative Identity that is accommodated by focusing on Love(tm) as the new border around whose existence we might begrudgingly accept at arm's length (i.e. being otherwise "normal"! just imagine swapping out the binary gender (or, deep breath, presumed Private Parts) of one partner in an exclusive romantic lifelong nuclear family marriage, & that is Gay / Trans Rights. still gross but maybe we can do it, as long as they don't talk about it or shove it in our faces or even exist for more than one encounter w/us in our lives b/c what are the odds). evergreen laughing at someone suggesting ableist logic might be embedded in language of past & present b/c it's just So little to ask for that it's irrelevant but it's also So much to ask for that of course i'm not gonna do anything more than pass it along like "this is why i don't take ableism seriously" like yeah it's the disabled randos like it's the individual cringe teens(tm) ruining [the cishets would take Gender seriously otherwise!!!] & that's why you won't think about it or do anything about it & continue being comfortable with the norm & resent that actually their Difference is Less & disability is something worse that ppl "excuse" & all these ways that people are & all these things that they do are funny & weird & inexplicable & etc & one can't possibly be cruising along perpetuating a hierarchy with a sense that you're reasonable, well meaning, kind, etc etc & thus Justified, systemic oppression definitely wants to maximize how uncomfortable & arduous it feels to everyone rather than push to make it more streamlined & rewarding to embrace, or at least accept, whatever superiority over others you're afforded

[life-spire]

@ sam-tn

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[raspberryjellybrains]

I've been thinking a lot lately about Delirium and the way she speaks. She talks around a concept, never hitting it head on but glancing off through a series of metaphors and related concepts that explain things far better than wording them straight might. It's very relatable, and I think that's why I like her; that's how I think.

To me, the world isn't composed of precisely defined concepts but a series of interconnected existences which can all, ultimately, be related to each other. I also experience things in the incredibly specific manner Delirium seems to. I have sensitivities largely untethered from aversions, meaning that while I don't often find things deeply unpleasant or intolerable, I still experience them with an unusual specificity which often defies concise explanation. The best way I can convey certain feelings or experiences is through other feelings, experiences, and concepts to weave together a series of approximations that through their similar and dissimilar traits narrow down to what I'm trying to describe. Delirium does this too, and it's treated as a part of her that's no better or worse than any other. There are those that don't understand and those that do, and those that at least try to are awarded for their efforts because finally and most importantly, she genuinely has something to say. Her speech patterns are deceptively rambling because she takes a long time to say what she means to say, while simultaneously saying exactly it.

Delirium is neurodivergent coded in such a cathartic way because of this. I feel her frustration and joy because I know what it's like to be the person trying to explain something that has no words to assign, asking all of the time if there's a word for what she's feeling as a rhetorical and genuine question so that she can explain something without explaining it and call into question why we feel everything must be precisely laid in the place of as few words as possible. She is incredibly intelligent, but loses track of all of what's happening in a far more obvious way than most because there's just so much to keep track of, which is also very relatable as a neurodivergent person. Without putting labels on the experience, she perfectly captures it. I just... I like Delirium quite a lot, and think she'd be very good at post-modern literature.

[marshmallowprotection]

Heya, Kait. I just wanted to ask something.. this has been something that has been bothering me kinda for a while. It's nothing serious or anything but do you think I could love Saeyoung like I used to before?

To elaborate more, I actually have started loving this other character from another media but I didn't expect myself to consider them as another f/o of mine. It also shocked me how fast I started to love this character and even when I tried to deny it, my love for them only grew from there.

I had a conversation about this with one of my best friends and they told me that it was alright for me to love more characters. But at the same time I kinda feel like I'm abandoning Saeyoung which i know is not true. I KNOW I still love this redhead and he will always be my number one, no matter what.

But I feel guilty that when I look at him, I don't feel the same I used to. I know I love him, I really do, but I'm scared that one day I'll stop loving him. I have loved characters before that one day my love for them just slowly faded so I'm kinda scared that this day is coming for Saeyoung.

This hasn't been bothering me as much as it did but I can't help but think about it a lot. Do you think I can love Saeyoung like I used to? I even stopped having the excitement to write my self-inserts with him but I want to try to write them again.

And I feel guilty because I was SO, SO adamant and sure that I wouldn't love another character as much as I love Saeyoung. I feel embarrassed to admit this all.

I don't want to give up on Saeyoung ever and he has been a character that I have loved the most and longest. He has helped me through so much and even the new character has as well. I see myself in both of these characters so much and I find so much comfort in them.

I felt kinda scared sharing this but I also wanted to hear your thoughts as well.. you have helped me a lot with your writing about Saeyoung and I am so thankful for it.

What do you think?

Your friend is absolutely right. You're allowed to love more than one character! There is no law stating that you can't! There are no laws in here about love! You're allowed to enjoy media any way you want and there is no reason to feel ashamed or guilty about that. You have love in your heart for Saeyoung Choi, and he loves you!

There is no doubt about that in my mind, and there shouldn't be any doubt about that in yours. Love is something that adapts and evolves as you get older, though. The way you love something may not be the same today as it was yesterday, nor will it be the same tomorrow that it was today. But, is that a bad thing? No, it's not. Just because you've found more characters you love just as dearly doesn't take away from what you feel for Saeyoung.

In fact, Saeyoung would be happy to know that you've found ways to be loved all across the cosmos. Your happiness is his happiness at the end of the day. Whether you give all your attention to him or not won't be a problem. Your smile is what matters to him. Think about the time you've shared with Saeyoung, how far you've grown, and what it feels like to love him the way he loves you. He is special to you, and you will always remain special to him.

Love is a part of us as human beings, my friend. No matter where we go today our hearts will always be fondest of those that helped shape us over time. Even if there comes a day when Saeyoung isn't the first thought in your head, he'll always be in your heart.

He helped you so much, didn't he? You'll never forget that. You won't have a day pass you by where you're not grateful for what loving him has done for you over the years. I think you still love Saeyoung just as much as you did yesterday. You haven't lost your love for him. He has a place in your heart carved out just for him. That love won't fade for you.

Even the characters you loved before him... that love hasn't yet faded from your heart. It's still a part of you. Love shapes us as people and those things that shape us never leave us. Just because you're not in the midst of creating and consuming content for a character doesn't mean you don't love them all the same. You know when you pick up a toy from your closet that you used to love as a kid?

It brings a smile to your face and you remember what it felt like in the moment to have it. That's what shows us that we never forget what it feels like to love something... even if time passes us by and things do change for you, you'll never lose Saeyoung because Saeyoung is right there inside of your heart.

Don't leave being afraid of losing someone when they're always with you.

[ailithnight]

I think it should be on everyone's bucket list (it's certainly on mine) to go to one of those light pollution 1 zones and just sit under the stars for a night, to truly experience the milky way as all our ancestors did up until very recent generations, at least once in their life.

I don't think it would suddenly, magically change the world. I don't think it would sudddenly make cruel or greedy people reevaluate their world views. But I do think it would have a lasting affect on a lot of people. Especially those who've never experienced less than, like, a 7. I think it would be the kind of experience you carry with you for the rest of your life. Something you tell others about for the rest of your days in boisterous glee and in reverant whispers. Something that changes you in such infinite infinitesimal ways.

It might just make poets out of warriors. And warriors out of poets.

I think one big reason why we don't consider the stars as important as before (not even pop-astrology anymore cares about the stars or the sky on itself, just the signs deprived of context) is because of light pollution.

For most of human history the sky looked between 1-3, 4 at most. And then all of a sudden with electrification it was gone (I'm lucky if I get 6 in my small city). The first time I saw the Milky Way fully as a kid was a spiritual experience, I was almost scared on how BRIGHT it was, it felt like someone was looking back at me. You don't get that at all with modern light pollution.

When most people talk about stargazing nowadays they think about watching about a couple of bright dots. The stars are really, really not like that. The unpolluted night sky is a festival of fireworks. There is nothing like it.

[theclosetskeletons]

Not to be a hater but I listened to tma this summer and unfortunately... just didn't get much of out of it. Even the episodes I remember loving weren't more than spooky with nice prose which made it overall disappointing

Anyways I started relistening to I am in Eskew today and it is Hitting! Perhaps this was what I was looking for the whole time

[sizzlingsandwichperfection-blog]

What's the difference between a Sierra Leonean child and a Palestinian Child? I don't mean this in a combative way. I just don't understand the cognitive dissonance.

I appreciate the question, and you not asking it in a combative way. I guess I don't think there is a cognitive dissonance. I condemn the bombing (and have publicly called for a ceasefire since October). I have helped raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for aid to Gaza through the Project for Awesome, and I have personally donated tens of thousands more to support Doctors without Borders' work in Gaza. Equally importantly from my perspective, I'm regularly reaching out to my congressional and senate representatives to let them know how I feel about the horror of my country sending bombs and other weapons to Netanyahu's government.

If you're asking why I don't talk about Gaza every day, there are a few reasons, but the biggest one is that when I do, it doesn't seem to push people toward more organized or effective activism; instead, it seems to lead to people yelling at each other and dehumanizing each other and also parsing my words in ways that seem unfair to me. There's a lot of, "Why did he say this or not say that," rather than my motivating more attention or resources to the cause of a free, safe, and secure Palestine. I'm sure that's a problem with how I'm talking about this, but I've tried talking about it in a variety of ways and in a variety of places and always with the same outcome.

I would also argue that it is not your job to talk about tuberculosis every day (which killed over 100,000 people needlessly last month), nor is it your job to talk about the crisis of maternal and infant mortality in Sierra Leone (which kills over 50,000 people needlessly each year). There is more than one problem in the world, and I feel that my time and resources are best focused on making long-term, open-ended investments into issues that are not receiving much attention in the rich world. That's my personal approach to making change. It is not meant in any way to diminish your approach to making change, which I think is also legitimate and effective.

[thelazyhero-ttums]

I feel like one of the main reasons physics also tends to be more well known is it is the easiest science to observe and get a grasp of to the general viewer. When it comes to biology and chemistry, they tend to be more "invisible" than physics. Physics is more "flashy" than the other sciences and is probably the easiest one to grasp at the most basic level. This doesn't mean that physics is easy by no means, but people observe physics on an everyday basis: Step on the gas -> car goes forward -> you get pushed back into your seat. Whereas things such as biology and chemistry, although they clearly have such a big influence on modern day life, aren't as observable. The average person doesn't look at a plate of food and think about all the science it went through to get to them.

I wholeheartedly disagree with the OP's original claim of "physics is seen as the more prestigious of the three main sciences, with biology at the bottom and chemistry in the middle." At least from a common person's perspective. I think it's the opposite, physics is seen as the least prestigious which is why it's more well known. With chemistry and biology seen as more prestigious/difficult, and that's why people outside of those areas of concentration don't know that much about it. To "research" this a little I googled "Theoretical Physics Research Papers" and "Biological Research Papers." What popped up for physics was the "International Journal of Theoretical Physics, Vol. 21, Nos. 6/7, 1982" and what appeared for biology was a study regarding the "Biomineralization of lithium nanoparticles by Li-resistant Pseudomonas rodhesiae isolated from the Atacama salt flat." Sensing that it wasn't fair to read a journal compared to actual research article I also read "The Standard Model to the Planck scale." The point being that when I read the physics articles compared to the biological article I felt as though I understood more. It doesn't matter if I actually did or not, because I felt as though I did. This point to prove that physics is probably more popular because it feels more accessible and easily understood (even if that isn't true in the slightest). It is also not lost on me that physics could feel more accessible/understandable because it is more predominate in pop culture.

I think popular culture and media obviously have a big influence on this as well, they decided that it is easier to grasp an audience's attention with stories about physics. This can be seen most recently with Oppenheimer (2023), a major film that followed the creation of that atomic bomb. It is easier to grab the audiences attention with physics, and the audience doesn't need to understand the science in the slightest bit to see the end result (which in the case of Oppenheimer is incredibly flashy). Another movie that comes to mind when thinking about popular films and physics is Hidden Figures (2016), which is about three African-American women working at NASA to launch John Glenn into orbit. It has been decided that movies centered around physics have a more compelling narrative. Whether this is true or not doesn't actually matter, because it has thus far been decided out of any one person's control.

TL;DR: Physics (and therefore physicist) are more well known because of popular media and the narratives created about them.

Okay something that bothers me is the fact physics is seen as the more prestigious of the three main sciences, with biology at the bottom and chemistry in the middle. Like. I doubt most people could name a famous biologist, but they could name 5 famous physicists. Why are Albert Einstein and Stephen hawking household names but Norman Borlaug and Jonas Salk aren't?

Not to dismiss the accomplishments of Einstein or Hawking, or their genius, but their actual tangible contributions to society have been miniscule compared to that of Borlaug or Salk who have each saved LITERALLY hundreds of millions, if not billions, of lives each. Half the food on your plate was probably grown thanks to Borlaug and Salk is the reason half your siblings didn't die of polio as a kid.

Sure Einsteins theory of relatively is important for modern satellite communications but really though how can it compare?

This is coming from someone who studied physics. I love physics, and years ago when i was at uni I looked down at biology and so did everyone else studying physics. And I know others did too. Retroactively of course I know this was so very wrong.

If society as a whole started treating biology with more respect then maybe more students would go into that field. If we had rockstars of medicine and agricultural science that were household names rather than just physicists? think of how many more lives could be saved, how many more lives could be improved.

I'm not saying physics isn't important, and more scientists of any kind is always good, but proportionally I think societies priorities are a little skewd.

[felucians]

Since Spotify now has audiobooks included in Premium, I'm listening to "Yellowface" by Rebecca F. Kuang.