#disclaimer that i do not mean any offense to americans
Explore tagged Tumblr posts
Text
Morten Morland :: @mortenmorland on :: @thetimes – political cartoon gallery in London
+
LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN
January 20, 2025
Heather Cox Richardson
Jan 21, 2025
The tone for the inauguration of Donald J. Trump as the 47th president of the United States at noon today was set on Friday, when Trump, who once trashed cryptocurrency as “based on thin air,” launched his own cryptocurrency. By Sunday morning it had made more than $50 billion on paper. Felix Salmon of Axios reported that “a financial asset that didn’t exist on Friday afternoon—now accounts for about 89% of Donald Trump’s net worth.”
As Salmon noted, “The emoluments clause of the Constitution,” which prohibits any person holding a government office from accepting any gift or title from a foreign leader or government, “written in 1787, hardly envisaged a world where a president could conjure billions of dollars of wealth out of nowhere just by endorsing a meme.” Salmon also pointed out that there is no way to track the purchases of this coin, meaning it will be a way for those who want something from Trump to transfer money directly to him.
Former Trump official Anthony Scaramucci posted that “anyone in the world can essentially deposit money” into the bank account of the president of the United States.
On Sunday, Trump’s wife Melania launched her own coin. It took the wind out of the sales of Trump’s coin, although both coins have disclaimers saying that the coins are “an expression of support for and engagement with the values embodied by” the Trumps, and are not intended to be “an investment opportunity, investment contract, or security of any type.” Her cryptocurrency was worth more than $5 billion within two hours.
CNN noted that the release of the meme coin had raised “serious ethics concerns,” but those who participate in the industry were less gentle. One wrote: “Trump’s sh*tcoin release has caused possibly the greatest overnight loss of credibility in presidential history. He made $60B. Great for Trump family, terrible for this country and hopes we had for the Trump presidency.”
Walter Schaub, former head of the Office of Government Ethics under Trump in his first administration, who left after criticizing Trump’s unwillingness to divest himself of his businesses, wrote to CNN: “America voted for corruption, and that’s what Trump is delivering…. Trump’s corruption and naked profiteering is so open, extreme and pervasive this time around that to comment on any one aspect of it would be to lose the forest for the trees. The very idea of government ethics is now a smoldering crater.”
At a rally Sunday night at the Capital One Arena in Washington, Trump highlighted the performance side of his public persona. He teased the next day’s events and let his audience in on a secret that echoed the “neokayfabe” of professional wrestling by leaving people wondering if it was true or a lie. After praising Elon Musk, he told the crowd “He was very effective. He knows those computers better than anybody. Those vote counting computers. And we ended up winning Pennsylvania like in a landslide. So it was pretty good…. Thank you to Elon.”
This morning, hours before he left office, President Joe Biden pardoned several of the targets of MAGA Republicans, including "General Mark A. Milley, Anthony S. Fauci, the Members of Congress and staff who served on the Select Committee, and the U.S. Capitol and D.C. Metropolitan police officers who testified before the Select Committee.” Biden clarified that the pardons “should not be mistaken as an acknowledgment that any individual engaged in any wrongdoing, nor should acceptance be misconstrued as an admission of guilt for any offense.” He noted, “Our nation owes these public servants a debt of gratitude for their tireless commitment to our country.”
But, he said, "These are exceptional circumstances, and I cannot in good conscience do nothing. Even when individuals have done nothing wrong—and in fact have done the right thing—and will ultimately be exonerated, the mere fact of being investigated or prosecuted can irreparably damage reputations and finances." He later pardoned his siblings and their spouses to protect them from persecution by the incoming president.
Before he left office, Biden posted on social media: Scripture says: “I have been young and now I’m old yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken.” After all these years serving you, the American people, I have not seen the righteous forsaken. I love you all. May you keep the faith. And may God bless you all.”
This morning, members of the far-right paramilitary organization the Proud Boys marched through the capital carrying a banner that read “Congratulations President Trump” and chanting: “Whose streets? Our streets!”
Two days ago, Trump moved his inauguration into the Capitol Rotunda, where his supporters had rioted on January 6, 2021, because of cold temperatures expected in Washington, D.C. Even with his supporters excluded, the space was cramped, but prime spots went to billionaires: Meta chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Apple chief executive officer Tim Cook, Google chief Sundar Pichai, TikTok chief executive officer Shou Zi Chew, and Tesla and SpaceX chief executive owner Elon Musk, who appeared to be stoned.
Right-wing media mogul Rupert Murdoch, who launched the Fox News Channel in 1996, was there, as were popular podcaster Joe Rogan and founder of Turning Point USA Charlie Kirk.
Although foreign leaders are not normally invited to presidential inaugurations, far-right foreign leaders President Javier Milei of Argentina and Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni were there, along with a close ally of Chinese president Xi Jinping.
The streets were largely empty as Trump traveled to the U.S. Capitol. Supporters watched from Capital One Arena as Trump took the oath of office, apparently forgetting to put his hand on the Bibles his wife held. After Vice President–elect J.D. Vance had taken the oath of office, sworn in by Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, and Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts had sworn in Trump, the new president delivered his inaugural address.
While inaugural addresses are traditionally an attempt to put the harsh rhetoric of campaigns behind and to emphasize national unity, Trump’s inaugural address rehashed the themes of his campaign rallies. Speaking in the low monotone he uses when he reads from a teleprompter, he delivered an address that repeated the lies on which he built his 2024 presidential campaign.
He said that the Justice Department has been “weaponized,” that Biden’s administration “cannot manage even a simple crisis at home while at the same time stumbling into a continuing catalog of catastrophic events abroad,” that the U.S. has provided “sanctuary and protection for dangerous criminals,” that the government has “treated so badly” the storm victims in North Carolina,” and so on.
Fact-checkers at The Guardian noted the speech was full of “false and misleading claims.”
Trump went on to promise a series of executive orders to address the crises he claimed during his campaign. He would “declare a national emergency at our southern border,” he said, and “begin the process of returning millions and millions of criminal aliens back to the places from which they came.” (Border crossings are lower now than they were at the end of Trump’s last term.) He promised to tell his cabinet members to bring down inflation (it peaked in 2022 and is now close to the Fed’s target of 2%), bring back manufacturing (the Biden administration brought more than 700,000 new manufacturing jobs to the U.S.), end investments in green energy (which has attracted significant private investment, especially in Republican-dominated states), and make foreign countries fund the U.S. government through tariffs (which are, in fact, paid by American consumers).
He also vowed to take the Panama Canal back from Panama, prompting Panama’s president José Raúl Mulino to “fully reject the statements made by” Trump, and Panamanian protesters to burn the American flag.
With a declaration about the Pennsylvania shooting that bloodied his ear, Trump declared that he believes he is on a divine mission. “I felt then, and believe even more so now, that my life was saved for a reason. I was saved by God to make America great again.”
After his inaugural address, former president Biden and former first lady Dr. Jill Biden left, and Trump delivered a much more animated speech to prominent supporters in which CNN’s Daniel Dale said he returned to his “lie-a-minute style.” He rehashed the events of January 6, 2021, and claimed that then–House speaker Nancy Pelosi is “guilty as hell…that’s a criminal offense.”
But the bigger story came in the afternoon, when Trump held a rally at the Capitol One Arena in place of the traditional presidential parade. Supporters there had watched the inauguration on a jumbotron screen, booing Biden and jumping to their feet to cheer at Trump’s declaration that he had been saved by God. In the afternoon, Elon Musk spoke to the crowd, throwing two salutes that right-wing extremists, including neo-Nazis, interpreted as Nazi salutes.
Trump and his family arrived after 5:00 for the inaugural parade. The new president spoke again in rally mode after six, and then staged a demonstration that he was changing the country by holding a public signing of executive orders. Those appeared to be designed, as he promised, to retaliate against those he feels have wronged him. Among other executive orders, he withdrew the United States from the Paris Climate Agreement, drawing approving roars from the crowd.
As Jonathan Swan of the New York Times noted, “Signing executive orders and pardons are two of the parts of the job that Trump loves most. They are unilateral, instantaneous displays of power and authority.” After signing a few executive orders for the crowd, Trump threw the signing sharpies into the crowd, and then he and his family left abruptly.
Back at the White House, retaliation continued. Trump pardoned or commuted the sentences of all of the January 6 rioters who had been convicted of crimes related to the attempt to overthrow the results of the 2020 presidential election, including Enrico Tarrio, the former leader of the Proud Boys who was serving 22 years for seditious conspiracy to overthrow the government of the United States.
His pardon also included Daniel Rodriguez, who was sentenced to 12 and a half years in prison after pleading guilty to tasing Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanone, who suffered cardiac arrest and a traumatic brain injury. “Omg I did so much f---ing s--- r[ight] n[ow] and got away,” he texted to his gang. “Tazzed the f--- out of the blue[.]”
Trump signed an executive order that withdraws the U.S. from the World Health Organization, another that tries to establish that there are only two sexes in the United States, and yet another that seeks to end the birthright citizenship established by the Fourteenth Amendment. He signed one intending to strip the security clearances from 51 people whom he accuses of election interference related to Hunter Biden’s laptop, and has ordered that an undisclosed list of Trump appointees immediately be granted the highest levels of security clearance without undergoing background checks. He also signed one ordering officials “to deliver emergency price relief.”
Behind the scenes today, officials in the Trump administration fired the acting head of the U.S. immigration court system as well as other leaders of that system, and cancelled the CBP One app, an online lottery system through which asylum seekers could schedule appointments with border agents, leaving asylum seekers who had scheduled appointments three weeks ago stranded. Trump officials have also taken down a government website that helped women find health care and understand their rights. They have also removed the official portrait of former chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley from the hallway with the portraits of all the former chairs…now all minus one.
But for all their claims to be hitting the ground running, lawyers noted that some of the executive orders were poorly crafted to accomplish what they claimed—an observer called one “bizarre legal fanfic not really intended for judicial interpretation”—and lawsuits challenging them are already being filed. Others are purely performative, like ordering officials to lower prices.
Further, CNN national security correspondent Natasha Bertrand reported that almost an hour after Trump became president, “current and former Pentagon officials say they don’t know who is currently in charge of the Defense Department,” a key position to maintain U.S. security against adversaries who might take advantage of transition moments to push against American defenses.
Bertrand reported that the Trump transition team had trouble finding someone to serve as acting secretary until the Senate confirms a replacement for Biden’s Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. Trump’s nominee, former Fox News Channel weekend host Pete Hegseth has had trouble getting the votes he needs, although tonight the Senate Armed Services Committee approved him by a straight party line vote.
Bertrand notes that two senior department officials declined to take on the position. The Trump administration swore in Robert Salesses, deputy director of the branch of the Pentagon that focuses on human resources, facilities, and resource management—who has already been confirmed by the Senate in that position—as acting Defense Secretary.
Beginning tomorrow, the Republicans will have to deal with the fact that the Treasury will hit the debt ceiling and will have to use extraordinary measures to pay the obligations of the United States government.
LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN
HEATHER COX RICHARDSON
#Letters From An American#Heather Cox Richardson#Inauguration Day#executive orders#rule of law#Presidential Pardons#nazis#setting the tone
27 notes
·
View notes
Note
This is really stupid, but during the part where we find his mom’s letters, there’s a line that’s translated as “so it ain't too difficult to read them” and I find the fact that they used “ain’t” instead of “isn’t” incredibly funny. It caught me off guard and I laughed for a solid minute before I could continue, lmao.
// spoilers for tot main story 9
LMAO IT CAUGHT ME OFF GUARD TOO. an "aint" also happened in luke's dialog in the correctional facility when he was intimidating those bullies all dead-eyed raven mode scary and i was like.....wha? KJHAVFJHASVKFJAKSJA
like....it's not grammatically INcorrect, but it's definitely an Interesting Choice, Given The Rest Of The Tone
does is luke pearce become american when in raven mode???????? i think thatd be the scariest thing about him if that were true. jHVAKJFAJKSF
21 notes
·
View notes
Text
German terms of endearments for your fic
.Now, it's been two years since I've fallen into the X-Men/Cherik-fandom and one thing that I have seen continuously is people trying to find terms of endearment in German for Erik to use for Charles (or his mother for him). (I've lost count of how many times I've seen the word "Liebling" spelled wrong) And honestly, no offense. I know it's hard writing a character who speaks a language you don't. And obviously, you're gonna make mistakes. So I thought I'd share my knowledge as a mother tongue in German and let you know some of the most common ways we described our loved ones. ;) DISCLAIMER: I am but one single person, grown up south-east from Berlin, I DO NOT speak for the whole of Germany, nor do I ever intent to, especially since we are anything but a cultural monolith. Just keep that in mind while reading. ;)
Exclusively romantic terms: - Liebste (fem.)/ Liebster (masc.) : literally means "most loved". Closest English equivalent is probably "love" or "beloved". Bit old-fashioned. Makes you sound like a 20th-century-gentleman. ;) Make sure to write it "I-E" NOT the other way around! It would make the opposite sound. - Geliebte (fem.) / Geliebter (masc.): literally "beloved". Makes you sound even older, like Jane-Eyre-19th-century-old. Again, I before E. - Süße (fem.) / Süßer (masc.): literally "sweetie" (I KNOW this is probably now confusing, but trust me.) This is where we get into the... sappy side of German. Like, there are some mid-forty/fifty-couples who use that, but the rest makes it probably just cringe. (I know I am right now really helpful by starting with those that are not really modern, but I've seen this used because people translating English terms so I just wanted to say it here.)
Terms for both romantic and parental love: - Liebling: literally "darling". Classic, neutral, always the safe option for every situation. (I before E ;) ) - Schatz: literally "treasure". Again, safe option, though this leans rather to the romantic side, but can be used for children either way. And then of course, some animal pet names may be used for either children or romantic partners, but honestly, I don't know any couples who do that. So, those will go into the parental category, I'm afraid.
Terms for children: -Spatz: "sparrow". That's what we basically use as "sweetie". You can also use the diminutive "Spätzchen" for either toddlers or said by grandmothers. -Maus: "mouse". same thing. Diminutive is "Mäuschen". Tendency in usage for girls, but can work for either gender. (This is what my Mom still calls me sometimes even though I'm already 22! XD) -Motte: "moth". This is now really rather for girls, and rather those whose names start with M. -Krümel: "crumb". Not used by many, rather comes from the North, also rather used for unborn children in the womb. -Fussel: "fluff". Also not that common but can be cute in my PoV. :) -Hase: "rabbit". Diminutive is "Häschen". This one's rather for boys in my experience.
And then again, at the end of the day, expressions of affection are personal and as we get more personal in German, we tend to use our respective dialects. Yes, there are actually quite a many dialects for our relative "small" country. Around 30, to be concrete. Though they are all decreasing in being used, sadly, as we get more and more globalized and mobilized. However, here are some examples that I know, my knowledge being utterly limited as I am only one single person from the region south of Berlin:
-Kleene (fem.) / Kleener (masc.): "little one". If you ever have a character originating from Berlin or south of Berlin, this can be used for children. -Meechen: "girl" in the dialect of the region called "Lausitz" around the border of Brandenburg and Saxonia. Also for kids. -Schätzelein: diminutive of "treasure" in Colognian dialect. Romantic in nature, though it can also be used in a way like hairdressers in American movies sometimes call their customers "sweetie". (please, if there's a person from Cologne here, correct me on that!) -Liebchen: "darling" or "beloved" in Saxonian dialect, I believe. Rather used by old couples. -Min Dern (fem.)/ Min Jung (masc): "my girl/boy". Northern dialect. In the region around Hamburg, if I remember correctly. Used for kids.
That's it for the moment. I will probably add to this list whenever I learn some new, but I hope this is already helpful for some people. Have a great day! :) Also, if to other German mother-speakers, feel free to share your perspective, correct me if I did put something in the wrong region or enlighten me with other words.
#fandom things#fanfiction writing#german things#germany#cherik#kurt wagner#erik lehnsherr#ao3 stuff#translation
251 notes
·
View notes
Text
Flash Commissions: Medical Bill Edition
Hello all!
So, in February, I had to go to the ER for a serious acute illness (I'm healed, don't worry!)
My insurance denied covering the bill for a test, despite telling me they would cover EVERYTHING for this ER visit, leaving me on the hook for almost 900 dollars.
We love the American healthcare system.
Anyways, this means I am opening up some fast, cheap commissions earlier than expected because while I will try to fight my insurance, I don't have this kind of money, and I can't just. Decide to not pay the bill because I do not want that to go to collections.
Anyways! If you can't commission me (because we're all going through it, I know,) reblogging so more people can see this is enough.
All inquiries can be taken through my DMs on this account. I have samples to give directly upon request, but this blog has a lot of art and writing samples. All payments are taken through my Ko-Fi over here. I will expect full payment upfront for these, but I am willing to negotiate.
See below the cut for pricing and other information, such as fandoms, the wills and won't, and disclaimers.
These commissions at these prices will be open until I have enough to comfortably pay my medical bill, and then may stay open depending on what happens in the future.
Thank you
Daphnis
Visual Art (Limited due to time/energy constraints)
Digital icon (simplified designs where applicable with lineart, color, and shading): $15 USD per icon, $12 per icon if you buy 2 or more.
Digital sketches (simplified designs where applicable with flat color):
Bust: $10 USD
Half body: $15 USD
Full body: $20 USD
Additional character fees apply and will be 50% of the base cost per character, rounded down to the nearest dollar if necessary.
Writing
A flat rate of $10 USD per 1000 words up to 5000 words, and then $8 USD for each additional 1000 words.
Fandoms I feel comfortable drawing and/or writing in:
Transformers (I will draw for any continuity; check my pinned post for continuities I can currently write)
Sonic the Hedgehog (both games and live-action movies)
MLP: FiM (Writing up to the Season 5 finale, but will draw for anything in the series.)
Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu (Writing only up to before Rebooted, but drawing for anything in the series)
Will do:
Mild gore (robot or organic; bleeding and flesh wounds)
OCs or Self-Inserts (with proper references for art and sufficient character bios for writing)
Self-ship, Canon x OC, OC x OC, and Canon x Canon (with stipulations that it's not. A minor and an adult, or a ship that otherwise squicks me. Inquire in DMs.)
Furries
Humans
Mecha
Will not do:
NSFW
Offensive/hateful content
Excessive gore (exposed organs, bones, etc., Broken limbs. Stuff like that.)
DISCLAIMER: I reserve the right to reject any commission for any reason. I will not take your money if I think I will end up changing my mind about doing it or have too many commissions in the queue. In the case of the latter, I may start a waitlist.
#daphnis.docx#Emergency commissions#commission information#macadam#Sonic the Hedgehog#MLP G4#Ninjago#On my knees begging actually
96 notes
·
View notes
Text
stop using kyle as leeway to talk politics. i know ive talked about this before but shit on this site just gets worse and worse. stop using him as a gateway for your political beliefs on the israel/palestine conflict. it doesn’t prove your point. targeting a fictional jewish 9 year old isn’t gonna make the war end so you might as well stop hurting actual people with your bigotry and go to twitter or something if you want to debate politics.
your posts and fanart using kyle as a mask for your opinions isn’t going to get the israeli government to be like “oh y’know what we should do? we should stop because this person on fucking tumblr says so’ like it’s not helping anybody. it’s hurting actual jewish people from what i can tell. send me all the anon hate you want. i don’t care. i can take it. but i’m sick of seeing this shit.
another thing i have a problem with is the fact that this fandom so desperately claims not to want tratt to make an episode based around this conflict, but i know that if they were to make an episode and didn’t portray israelis in the worst light imaginable this fandom will go ballistic because ‘it’s offensive to the palestinians’.
i’ll say this once and i’ll say it again. i absolutely do not under any circumstances support what israel is doing. i think that what is going on there is absolutely disgusting and words cannot comprehend how vile this situation is. however, you also can’t just look at what you want to look at. there is a lot of history between the two, stuff i am not yet qualified to talk about because i don’t feel like i know enough about it to say what i want to say. you also cannot just overlook october 7th. you cannot ignore what the people in israel went through as well.
with that little disclaimer out of the way, back to the topic at hand. south park has made so many offensive jokes. jokes about the holocaust, about sexual abuse, about political issues outside of this. and yet nobody cared. but i can absolutely tell that yall will go absolutely ballistic if tratt were to make an episode that didn’t show the israelis in the worst light they can. so why only care now? why isn’t anyone angry about the past jokes they’ve made? why isn’t anyone upset about that, but the moment anyone in this fandom talks about israel/palestine it’s always ‘censor israel because israel is bad and leave palestine because palestine is good’. like if we’re going by that logic why does nobody censor russia when they’re talking about it? (from what i can tell) why does nobody censor one side when talking about american politics? why is it just this one single conflict that people are so up in arms about censoring one party and not the other?
i do agree that a south park israel/palestine episode would be in horrible, horrible taste. i’m not saying like ‘oh let tratt make that happen because it would be funny’ no. it wouldn’t be funny. that’s absolutely not the case. however, if you guys are going to rant about why tratt airing a south park episode is bad, why do you turn around and ignore the fact that this fandom is actively making fanart and fanfics so they can talk about their political stances while using kyle as a puppet for said viewings?
i guess what i’m asking si where is the line. because form what i can gather, this fandom thinks it’s okay for people to make the most disgusting fanfics and fanart of kyle, tokenizing him and marginalizing him, but the moment someone mentions tratt making an episode it’s suddenly too far? in what world does that make sense? because i know yall don’t do your research beforehand. you just hear what you want to hear and say what you want to say. but the minute someone counters you with actual evidence you freak out. why is that?
(and again. i’m saying this now so i don’t get anyone thinking i don’t support free palestine. what is happening in palestine is vile and disgusting. it’s awful that this is happening, and i have been doing what i can to help out in the means of fundraisers and raising money. i don’t support what israel is currently doing. but i also don’t support october 7th, and i don’t condone the people who claim that people outside of the israeli government have anything to do with what israel is choosing to do just because they’re from israel or they are jewish. i am very anti genocide on both sides, obviously. and i do support free palestine whole heartedly. this post is simply made for the fandom because i’m so sick of seeing people get driven out of the fandom because of the way the fandom treats people like them. this goes for any fandom. not just south park, even though this is basically me ranting about that specific fandom.)
#south park#skipper speaks#kyle broflovski#israel#palestine#politics#(feel free to block the politics tag if it bothers you/you don’t want to look at stuff like this)#i feel like i should put a tw but i don’t know what it would be for
17 notes
·
View notes
Text
Meghans offensive charm I mean charm offensive by u/Mickleborough
Meghan’s offensive charm, I mean charm offensive According to Closer rag, here’s what Meghan’s going to do for Christmas:https://ift.tt/Gqa8Inb Flogging the dead American River ‘Orse.https://ift.tt/Bif3e6y How to make friends and influence people, Meghan style: buy them. (Isn’t Hollywood on a permanent diet? If so, what’s the point of something sweet (jam) which needs to be spread on carbs?)https://ift.tt/Kxf4GAt Desperado, why don’t you come to your senses (although I don’t believe this next bit)https://ift.tt/eUoOKP9 Manifest much?https://ift.tt/X8gR37G Closer article does scrupulously go into her failures as well - I’ve not extracted all of it. There’s also an entertaining fantasy about how the Portugal plot of land, I mean house, will work.The Christmas 2024 Charm Offensive is an interesting form of PR. A positive spin’s put out when things are bad. Where have we seen this type of headline before?To answer my own question: At the end of 2023, we had The Year of Redemption:https://ift.tt/UbwzLcW piece in Us rag was picked up by mainstream media in the U.K.This very positive spin followed hot on the heels of the termination of the Spotify contract (surprise!). From the Us exclusibe, it really looks like someone was on crack cocaine:https://ift.tt/RjmcTKQ following the delulu of The Year of Redemption was The Summer of Lurve: https://ift.tt/rHp26cZ Summer of Lurve looks like it was a major push to launch American Rubber Orchid - certainly more major than subsequent events have led us to believe, viz failed trademark registrations: really quite sloppy when you’re wanting to put your brand out there.https://preview.redd.it/2yzqg0i69x0e1.jpg?width=843&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1dac567f4e65b971e8f64d00c9dbb92befd08898Didn’t see much media blitzing other than a few tacky Instagram posts.This pattern of positive announcements sounds like the beginning of the end. Megxit was in 2020 - there was nothing like this in the high after they left the Royal Family, what with signing million-dollar contracts with Netflix and Spotify. The Year of Redemption proclamation in 2023 was the first such declaration. Niw we’ve got 2 in close-ish succession. How do you rebuilt bridges when they never existed! Closer archived / unarchived - on the charm offensiveUs Weekly archived / unarchived - for the year of redemptionExpress archived / unarchived - for the summer of love post link: https://ift.tt/Rr8plq7 author: Mickleborough submitted: November 14, 2024 at 09:00PM via SaintMeghanMarkle on Reddit disclaimer: all views + opinions expressed by the author of this post, as well as any comments and reblogs, are solely the author's own; they do not necessarily reflect the views of the administrator of this Tumblr blog. For entertainment only.
#SaintMeghanMarkle#harry and meghan#meghan markle#prince harry#fucking grifters#grifters gonna grift#Worldwide Privacy Tour#Instagram loving bitch wife#duchess of delinquency#walmart wallis#markled#archewell#archewell foundation#megxit#duke and duchess of sussex#duke of sussex#duchess of sussex#doria ragland#rent a royal#sentebale#clevr blends#lemonada media#archetypes with meghan#invictus#invictus games#Sussex#WAAAGH#american riviera orchard#Mickleborough
2 notes
·
View notes
Text
DCRC Week #15
Guys pretend this post isn't slightly late I've had a reeeally long week making those fashion drawings and renovating my entire bedroom. Anyways it's time for PKNA #11: Urk everyone say Hi Urk cause we're gonna see him in a second!
(extra long and image heavy post warning)
I'm gonna be so fr I have a huge headache right now and there's a big crew of people redoing the carpet in my house and making really loud banging sounds. I can't take a nap because my entire bed has been deconstructed and my mattress is standing up against a wall. I'm hiding in the room we shoved all our things into and I have like 4 feet of living space total right now. I'm saying this as a disclaimer because I'm probably gonna be even less coherent than usual (somehow) but hopefully hearing the insane ramblings of a tired Puffy will only enhance the experience.
And here in the horrors of the duck universe we have a regular human man sitting next to a flesh-colored dog-nosed creature. Guys seriously why are all the dog people in the duckverse always skin colored like would it kill them to put in some variety... like some different dog breeds... nevermind the fact that 99% of the ducks are all pekins. I'M JUST SAYING. As a furry I think we need to ask for better. And by better I mean just make a poodle character or something idk change it up a bit
Ok not to immediately drag on with the same topic but this might be one of the scariest designs I've ever seen idk what it is about this weirdly big-armed dog man but I'm so viscerally uncomfortable looking at him. Like it's not just me right. He's scary.
Why is donald just flashing his ass at uno in this panel. mf YOU do something??
Bro is really just pointing to the tree like :0
Gay ass look. Why did they exchange glances like this.
Haha don't worry Donald we put the Raider away in jail and he totally can't escape now. Not like he did the first time anyways.
Hi Urk. No other commentary I just like this panel.
HE FUCKING KILLED LYLAAAAAwhy is her hand flesh colored in the last panel
I like that Lyla hitting the ground makes a TLANG sound cause she's made of metal
idk why it's so amusing to me but Urk just calling PK a "total buzz kill" is so like. like to me it's the equivalent of "get lost DUDE you're harshing my vibe MAN" do you get me
Alright. Listen. We're gonna have to address the elephant in the room here (or the elephant-sized duck anyways). Urk is a Native American, specifically meant to be a member of the real life Iroquois tribe. I am not Native American, nor am I particularly knowledgeable on the culture of any specific tribes, so I'm not going to pretend to be an expert here, but just so we're clear: referring to any member of America's native population as being "red" is generally a big no-no.
Urk is meant to come from a dimension with an alternative form of history, one where North America was never colonized and continued to develop under the rule of the many native tribes that once dotted the landscape (one that also got super advanced because of aliens or something but that bit is honestly not that important). Could this concept of an alternate history be an interesting one to explore in a DIFFERENT piece of media? Perhaps. Does this Italian-made Donald Duck comic do a particularly good job of handling the cultural representations here?... eh.
Again, this was made overseas, it's the 90s, representation in media wasn't exactly great back then. I've certainly seen a lot worse *cough* Darkwing Duck *wheeze* but I think there are aspects surrounding Urk's lore that could certainly be better as well. Like I said, I'm not a Native American, I'm not going to pretend I'm an expert on this topic, nor am I going to say anything in here is downright offensive (I don't think I have the right to do so) but I think it's a point that's worth bringing up because it's kind of hard to ignore when reading Urk-related stories (which there are a few of because he sticks around after this comic).
ANYWAYS with all that said. Back to saying stupid shit
UMMM I DUNNO ABOUT THAT ONE BRO
First of all, haha oops the Raider accidentally pulled this poor random guy into our dimension. SECOND OF ALL, I've seen multiple pieces of media now insist that the Raider is some kind of "predatory bird" like a hawk or an eagle but I REFUSE to believe this information. SORRY but he is a rooster and I am always going to see him as a rooster, I DON'T CARE WHAT CANON MEDIA SAYS!!! MF SAID "BUKHAWHAW" IN THE OFFICIAL ENGLISH DON'T THINK I FORGOT THAT!!! THAT'S A CHICKEN!!!!!
Lyla looks cute here hi Lyla
OK SHOUTOUT TO URK JUST SMASHING A WHOLE CAR WITH HIS BIG FUCKING FISTS. HOW DID HE DO THAT
Billy ain't ever gonna forget this for the rest of his life dawg 💀 have fun unpacking this one in therapy
how did the fucking creature develop racism oh my god
WHAT DID LYLA EVEN DO WRONG THIS TIME?? FUCK YOU TIME POLICE free my girl
Everyone say "Hi Urk" again because we're stuck with Urk now
Kinda thought PK was flipping a middle finger here for a split second
Ok Fangus Tales now. Say it with me "we love Fangus Tales" yayyy
what the fuck
yeah actually you know what of COURSE Angus hates dogs. he actually sucks so bad you guys
let him fallll I mean WOAH who said that
YEAH OK OF COURSE ANGUS PARTICIPATES IN ILLEGAL DOG RACING
Dog you have very poor taste in people I'm begging you to like anyone other than Angus Fangus
Ok that's it see you next week and by next week I mean probably within the next 24 hours because I really like the next comic
5 notes
·
View notes
Text
America's Family Explained [Countryhumans]
Fitting that I start off what I hope will be a little series with headcanons about my favorite countryhuman. As biased as I may be, I also just know the most about US history, so it seemed like the place to start. I've tried to combine actual history with sensical storytelling, because the most by-the-book interpretation doesn't always line up with what makes sense for a character backstory and I've taken some liberties in those cases. I will also be explaining the reason behind my headcanons in case people want to know how I got from A to B, not just dropping them and running
Also, disclaimer that this is MY PERSONAL headcanon/AU. You are free to agree with it or not, but don't leave hate telling me why I'm wrong, just move on because there's no established cannon in this fandom and we can all do whatever we want provided it's not wildly offensive.
Part I: Birthday
Establishing America's birthday seems like a silly thing to do, both because most people are going to immediately assume it's July 4th, 1776 and because it seems such a trivial thing to headcanon unless you're specifically setting out to write a fic celebrating his birthday.
Establishing his birthday, however, is actually really important to everything else I'm going to talk about. First of all, 1776 can't be America's birth year because that would mean that a) he just popped into existence fully formed b) he would miss all of the influential American Revolution events that took place before that and c) it doesn't make sense with the allegory of teenage America rebelling against his overbearing father Britain that I like so much. Instead, I picked the year 1607, because it is the year Jamestown, the first permanent British colony in the Americas, was established. Technically, his birthday should be May 13th, but I like having it on July 4th better, so his birthday is July 4th, 1607.
Part II: Parents
America's parents are Kingdom of France and Britain (The modern UK). This is a debated topic within the fandom from what I've seen, because the common idea that America's parents are France and Britain just doesn't really make historical sense, and frankly I agree.
As for France, modern France is technically the fifth Republic, which didn't come into existence until 1981, but even if you wanted to group all the iterations of French democracy together into a single personification (I don't, but theoretically), that still puts her 18th birthday in 1791 (countries turn 18 when they become independent), meaning it's really unlikely she would have been around and of any reasonable age to bear children in 1607 without any good reason to, therefor I have made Kingdom of France (her grandmother) the mother of America and his full siblings.
The reason this doesn't apply to Britain is because I'm considering the 1535 union of England and Whales as the beginning of British rule rather than the 1707 union of England and Scotland, which is when the name Great Britain formally began to be used. This means he is around to father America in 1607.
Obviously, France and Britain were at odds during this period, but they had entered into an arranged marriage when they were younger and were obligated to have children out of it, thus America and his sibs exist without breaking the universe and having this version of France and Britain actually like each other.
Obviously, there are a couple other candidates for America's parents that I could have used. Technically, Spain makes a lot of sense, but the Spanish Empire is male and married to Kingdom of Portugal in my AU, and Britain as the father is non-negotiable to me, so this isn't an option. I know some people headcanon Native America as his mother, but I feel like combining the entire scope of native culture/language/etc. into a single personification doesn't really make much sense and Kingdom of France works better story/wise (though for what it's worth the different Native American tribes/nations/confederations do have personifications).
Part III: Family
America has a lot of half-siblings between all the British and French colonies, so I'll only be focusing on his full siblings. Canada and Australia are the other two full sovereign nations in this group, Canada for obvious reasons, and Australia because Dutch Empire (the other European candidate for his parent) is also male in my AU, so they needed a mom and Kingdom of France makes the most sense due to being Britain's wife, even though there's no real French colonial history there. I don't have an aboriginal tribe as their mom for the same reason I don't have Native America as America's mom. New Zealand was also raised alongside the four of them, though her mom is actually Maori.
Besides that, America also has two twins--Confederate and Virginia (who was born Jamestown Colony)-- and the other 12 original colonies + the states they would eventually split into are his younger siblings.
The states are obviously America's children, but they're a mix of biological and adopted, and a couple more are at least partial siblings (Louisiana and Washington, for example) by blood, but they all view him as a father figure so I'm going to avoid the minutia in this post.
Ending thoughts
I think I'm going to work my way through the British/French family next for this little headcanon series, but I'll probably keep going until I stop having fun or don't have anything else to say. I'll eventually probably talk about character arcs & histories, but I'm trying to ease into this and not promise too much because I have a bad track record for putting a lot of pressure on myself over a fandom project and then quitting it entirely.
With that being said, feel free to drop and ask if you want to know my HCs about a specific country or some more elaboration on something I mentioned here. I have a pretty developed AU in my head/in google docs so there's a good chance I'll have something to say. No promises if you ask about something I don't really know anything about. I'm absolutely in favor of talking about niche subjects and less popular countries within this fandom, but that does mean I would have to do the research, and I can't promise to have the time or energy for that.
3 notes
·
View notes
Text
Souichi x Spanish!Reader
Disclaimer: SPANISH and English Mixed
I love the idea of Souichi picking up on the Spanish words i use daily, so i decided to write a super self-indulging fic on what that might be like if we were actually dating.
I purposely wrote his lines really weird in Spanish for 1 specific reason.
⊛Japanese people have a tough time pronouncing L’s because its not in their vocabulary! Instead all L’s are pronounced as R’s! ⊛
I wrote this super fast after class, so im sure there's a lot of misspells. probs both in english and spanish lol.
I also had a tough time trying to write in a way that showed that Souichi was unfamiliar with Spanish. But i tried my best. Hope its understandable.
(btw the Spanish used is specifically from latin american slang, so i apologize if it means something else in the Spanish you know)
Dating a foreigner is tough. That’s what Souichi parents told him when they found out you 2 were dating.
They tried to warn him that food you ate might not be his taste, or that the way the people of your country greet one another might be a bit too much intense for an antisocial like Souichi. But since you were more interested in assimilating into Souichi’s culture, you 2 never really seemed to have a problem with any of these things.
However, truth be told, during the time he’s been with you, there was one problem that never seemed to go away. The language barrier.
Although you both were able to have a normal conversation in the same language, there were times when you would switch back to your mother-tongue.
For example, whenever you would get angry and curse. Instead of using words Souichi would understand, your mind would suddenly switch back into Spanish, making you use words like ‘Coño’ or ‘Puta’.
Souichi had literally no idea what any of those words meant, but they sounded kind of funny, and since these words could be easily pronounced in Japanese, Souichi would often practice saying them in his free time.
Like when he had gotten caught mid-curse by his older brother. Instead of cursing at him in Japanese like always, he used the word ‘puta’ to confuse him. Ultimately giving Souichi a sense of pride for being able to speak in a language no one in his family understood.
Of course, there were times when you would use clean-words from your mother tongue as well. Specially whenever you were feeling very affectionate.
Souichi quickly understood the meaning of ‘Hola’ and ‘Gracias’, but there was one phrase that he couldn’t figure out for the life of him.
‘Bebé lindo’.
Every time you 2 would meet up, you would yell this at him.
He’s asked you to explain it multiple times, but you insisted that it would be better if he didn’t understand. However, Souichi would not accept that kind of answer. If you were going to speak in a language that almost no one around you understood, then he wanted to be apart of it as well.
That’s why he decided that today he would greet you the exact same way you did to him. This way, if it was something offensive, he would be able to tell immediately by your body language.
Souichi listened carefully as a pair familiar sounding footsteps approached his room. As soon as the door slide open, you put your hand high up in the air and exclaimed “Hola, mi bebé lindo~!”
That was his cue.
“Ola, me bebe rindo!”
A quizzical expression formed on your face as Souichi responded back in a language other than English.
Finally piecing the puzzle together, you laughed through your nose.
“What’s so funny?” Souichi asked, now feeling even more confused as to what that phrase might actually mean.
“You got masculine and feminine mixed up. I’m a girl, so you would need to call me ‘Linda’ not ‘Lindo’.”
“Oh, I see. So, I’m ‘me bebe rindo’ and you’re ‘me bebe rinda’”?
“Yes.” Your cheeks suddenly turned rosy-pink as you realized what he had just called you.
“I mean no! Hehe... D-Don’t call me that.” You put your arms in an X-formation, trying to express how much you didn’t want Souichi to use that phrase.
“So, it does mean something nasty!” Souichi said with confidence.
“No, no. It doesn’t mean anything nasty. It actually means... ‘cute’...‘baby’.” You put your face in your hands, trying to hide how embarrassed you were feeling right now. “It’s a phrase commonly used by people who are dating...”
Souichi brought his hand up to his chin. It all made sense now. If this were any other case, he wouldn’t appreciate being called something as defenseless and pathetic as a baby, but at least it was better than the other bad words he had previously predicted it might mean.
“Well, now I see why you only say in Spanish. If I were to call you ‘my cute baby’ in English, I’m pretty sure my grandpa would come back from the grave just to cringe. Haha.” A evil grin spread across Souchi’s face as he looked upon your still extremely-flushed demeanor.
“But since I do wanna try using Spanish more, from now on, I think I’ll call you ‘me bebe rinda’~.”
“Ahh!! No no no!! No nicknames!! No more Spanish!!”
Souichi laughed as covered your ears, trying your hardest to block out his half-joking utterances. Even though you were used to speaking in an affectionate way, you were still super shy when it came to receiving it back.
It seemed like this little language problem you 2 had would now become a new weapon Souichi could torture you with.
#ok dont read#it sucks#fluff#i guess?#souichi x reader#souichi tsujii x reader#souichi self insert#spanish#english#ignore all misspells#i cant use any language properly#neither japanese nor english nor spanish#god im good for nothing
190 notes
·
View notes
Note
re. people fanoning Izzy as Super Working Class I think they’re often making a (patronising, inaccurate) generalisation about (English) Northern accents. That’s never been a one-to-one mapping for class and income and is DOUBLY misrepresentative of the 1700s, but I think it was a springboard for people who wanted it to be true
interesting! im USAmerican and i literally cant tell the difference between british and australian accents so like, i REALLY have no context for this. i do remember ppl talking abt accents from back in my tma days, but all i can recall was just "people get classist towards people with Northern accents" and "the RP accent is the Posh Fuckhead accent" (and i could very easily be remembering those wrong, it's been a while)
i guess it makes sense that accents aren't always that neatly categorized. but because this is a topic i am INCREDIBLY ignorant about, i don't personally feel comfortable dismissing the "con's accent means he's poor" argument because you, an anonymous stranger on the internet, have told me that generalizing northern accents as working-class is patronizing and inaccurate, no offense
(i mean genuinely, please dont be offended by that, anon. like tbh when i write it out like that im like "yknow what anon, youre probably right" bc i feel like generalizing ANY aesthetic marker like that can get pretty dicey, but i would have to do more research on the cultural significance of UK accents before im ready to fully agree with your statement)
what i do feel comfortable saying is that the accents in ofmd are literally all over the place and for THAT reason the "izzy has a northern english accent so CANONICALLY he HAS to be working class" take seems like a pretty big reach, imo. if someones gonna choose to cling to con's accent specifically as proof of something in canon then i want to hear their explanations for ed and stede's kiwi's accents, for ed's british accents in the backstory, for doug's american accent. there are SOME instances in ofmd where character accents do have deeper implications, but it's mostly subtle, character-specific things, and i can easily see that those instances dont necessarily indicate that con o'neill's accent is one of them:
so disclaimer again that im VERY bad at telling UK accents apart (british accents especially), but im pretty sure the british characters who have dialogue and hold positions of power all have Rich Douchebag british accents?? (please correct me if im wrong lol). im talking abt the king, stede's two prisoners, and the badmintons, specifically. and it makes sense that they'd want to get the accents right for those guys, bc ofmd is VERY clear in making sure we know that The British Are The Enemy. giving them a stereotypical Rich Jerk accent just emphasizes that
(also the only reason im specific abt brits who have positions of power is bc i know there's at least 2 random british soldiers who have lines in e9, but i have no FUCKING idea what their accents are. if theyre ALSO douchebag richman accents, that further proves me point. if they DONT have posh fucker accents, that also kinda makes sense bc theyre like, cannon fodder to the british navy. theyre still bad racist ppl, but theyre dont hold power the way the other 5 characters i mentioned above are)
i might not be super informed abt all the details abt what accents signify in the UK, but i know enough abt history to know that ewen bremner going ham on the scottish accent in a show where the british are all portrayed as irredeemable colonizers is Based As Fuck. and this doesnt rlly apply to con/izzy bc con's accent is still english and izzy literally aligns w the british navy to achieve his goals, something that ofmd explicitly condemns
i know samba schutte personally chose to have roach's accent say something about the Roach Backstory he made up as part of the show's encouragement to have the actors for some of the side characters come up with backstories for their characters, but idk if all the actors chose to have their accents mean something. also, coming up with backstories obviously wasnt something that actors playing characters with more importance to the plot were asked to do. rhys, taika, and vico were given their characters' backstories. izzy is more important to the plot than roach (and wee john and fang, two other characters whose actors' have talked abt the backstories they came up with for their characters), and while we dont have a backstory for him yet, i wouldnt be surprised if con didn't get to come up with one. basically, samba deciding to have roach's accent mean something doesn't inherently mean izzy's accent means izzy is poor
#ofmd#our flag means death#ofmd meta#izzy hands#con o'neill#samba schutte#ewen bremner#mine#txt#meta#ask#anon#roach#nathaniel buttons#og#this has been a fun discussion for sure tho#i dont think i actually heard from ppl who are 100% convinced that izzy is canonically poor and work that into how they interpret the show#which is a bummer. wouldve liked to hear from that side#like genuinely in good faith i want to know the rationalization for that opinion. what's their reasoning.#everyone else is saying it's ppl misreading izzy but i wanna hear their Defense
7 notes
·
View notes
Photo
FIVE TRUTHS ABOUT BLACK HISTORY
PART 2
This will be a 5 part post to give details of the above statements also the underline links are left so you can click for more of the back story and informational history.
I will post only a synopsis of the information given to the 5 points of truth listed in the introduction, for this is not my story to tell, I am only sharing a bit of truth.
The full story is for the five truths click below the synopsis
2. Terrorism, even if we refuse to acknowledge it
The largest terrorist attack in Oklahoma was not at the Federal Building in Oklahoma City in 1995. It was down the road in Tulsa in 1921.
The Greenwood neighborhood of Tulsa, Oklahoma, was unique. In the early 20th century, it was referred to as “Black Wall Street” and was home to Black and Native Americans who had become wealthy from oil discoveries.
Wealth, however, did not mean equality. White residents were disturbed by the growing black wealth and sought to impose official segregation measures.
In 1914, Tulsa passed a law that forbade anyone from living on a block where more than three quarters of the preexisting residents were of another race.
In isolation, Greenwood thrived. Its main strip boasted attorneys’ offices, auto shops, cafes, a movie theater, funeral homes, pool halls, beauty salons, grocery stores, furriers, and confectioneries.
The resentment among whites against this community was a powder keg awaiting a spark. That spark came with a sexual assault allegation against a Black teenager named Dick Rowland. What happened in the elevator of the Drexel Building on May 30, 1921, is unclear.
A game of telephone, the story became more inflammatory with each retelling, and spread rapidly,” writes Dexter Mullins. A Black man took his life into his hands if there was even the suggestion of interest in or offense against a white woman.
When Rowland was captured, some Black World War I veterans from Greenwood armed themselves in front of the courthouse to prevent a lynching. In front of the courthouse, a group of white men approached the Black men from Greenwood. “Nigger, what are you going to do with that pistol?” one of the white men asked. “I’m going to use it if I need to,” was the reply. The white man grabbed for the gun, and a gunshot rang out. It’s unclear whether it was accidental, a warning shot, or an attempt to injure or kill. In any case, all hell broke loose.
The Tulsa Massacre destroyed more than 35 blocks of the city, along with more than 1,200 homes and left some 300 people dead, mostly Black. Ten thousand people were left homeless. Yet this act of domestic terrorism is rarely mentioned or taught in schools. What we choose to remember speaks volumes.
*”WE ARE STILL BEING TERRORISED”*
THERE IS A SCRIPTURE THAT SAY
THE DEVIL COME TO STEAL - KILL - AND DESTROY
FIVE TRUTHS ABOUT BLACK HISTORY If we want to understand the state of race in America, we need to know our past — particularly the painful parts. by
Jeffery Robinson, ACLU Deputy Legal Director and Director of the Trone Center for Justice and Equality
BLACK PARAPHERNALIA DISCLAIMER PLEASE READ
ALL IMAGES FROM GOOGLE IMAGES
#black paraphernalia#THE WORST SIGHT#this is america#green eye monster#FIVE TRUTHS ABOUT BLACK HISTORY
6 notes
·
View notes
Text
Disclaimer: I mean no offense to anyone believing whatever they believe. This is simply an analysis of my own belief system and my personal interpretation of Saiyuki.
Saiyuki and Atheism
While watching episode 2 of Saiyuki Reload Zeroin, I was reminded of something that might actually be the main reason that Saiyuki really hooked me and stuck with me all these years. I was just too ashamed to admit it. So, when I first watched it as a 13 year old, initially I just thought I was doing it to be rebellious, because the characters did a bunch of stuff that I deemed “wrong” in real life, like smoking, drinking, and cursing. But even back then, I instantly noticed something that hit me in a personal way. Saiyuki made me realize I’m atheist. Or at least, heavily opposed to a lot of Christian concepts. Now, I’m not saying Saiyuki intended such a thing. It’s just that my young American self saw it this way. I never went to church growing up. Most of my knowledge of Christianity was passed down from my mom or from other religious people in my life. I was raised vaguely Christian, without any real understanding of it.
Anyway, one of the first episodes of Saiyuki that I watched was episode 9 of Reload, where the characters enter a town in which people live their lives following the directions in a book, which ended with the moral of the story being that you should live your life the way you choose, instead of following a set of instructions, because they aren’t always the right thing to do (like how that poor boy would’ve gotten stuck outside the castle, because the book said not to lower the drawbridge). So my personal interpretation of that was “Oh, this is like how people do whatever the Bible says, even though it was written so many years ago and the things that it says to do and not do are totally outrageous by today’s standards”. That’s what I thought as a 13 year old. And while I don’t think that’s actually what was intended, I can’t unsee it. Years later, while I now have more knowledge on Christianity and the Bible, I still agree with my viewpoint that living your life strictly based on how a book tells you to live is not a good idea.
Now, it could’ve just ended with that, but the entirety of Saiyuki is riddled with more blatant atheist views. Or more accurately, views that can be seen as atheist from a western perspective. Since then, I’ve realized that Saiyuki is actually a very religious story. It’s very much about Buddhist principles. Years later, I learned that “if you meet the Buddha, kill the Buddha” is in fact not anti-buddhist, but actually a real Buddhist concept! However, there are scenes and themes that are undoubtedly about not believing in or following God. “Even if I don’t believe in God, I believe in myself”. Kouryuu said this in a flashback in volume two. In volume 4, Sanzo says: “The gods don’t save anyone. You have to save yourself.” There’s this overall theme that makes me feel like… it’s okay to not believe in God, as long as I believe in myself. Sometimes all you need to get by is faith in yourself. Not everyone has to have a god to look to for help.
Then of course, we have the whole Kami-sama arc, where the antagonist is a man who calls himself God. Hakkai says “let’s go pick a fight with God”. It’s not that this particularly resonated with me. I never wanted to fight the concept of God, but there was this feeling, as a teenager, where I was knowingly watching something that my mother deemed blasphemous. So maybe I was just being rebellious. Nonetheless, it still gives off this feeling of the protagonists opposing God, which adds to that atheistic theme.
And then we have scenes like the one in Reload/Zeroin, where villagers come to Hazel for help, and he says “I’m not a god,” which makes you think for a second that he won’t be able to help them. And then he says “God won’t do a thing. It’s not worth the worship,” saying that he’ll be much more help than God would be. Now, in that particular case, I think it’s just meant to show how cocky Hazel is. But we see this theme quite a few times over the course of the story. It emphasizes that people here on earth can actually make a difference for themselves. Whereas praying to God and expecting a higher power to solve your problems for you doesn’t always work out.
I know I’m taking some stuff out of context, and it’s hard for me to pinpoint exactly when these themes were brought up in the story without going back through and analyzing it as I read it. But in summary, my atheist interpretation of Saiyuki really stuck with me. And while I sometimes think I might not be completely atheist, I still agree with a lot of Saiyuki’s philosophy. It really emphasizes the theme of believing in yourself above all else and tells people that they CAN solve their own problems.
24 notes
·
View notes
Text
I Can Do Anything I Want
Requested from no one.
Tom Holland x Male Reader
(Tom be looking sexy)
Warning: Violence, kidnapping, psychotic Tom, mention of nudity, all character are above the age of 18
Background: March 21st, 2030, 7:00 PM, you were getting ready to bunker down with your mom and dad. You hoped that nothing would happen tonight but someone decided to come in and give you a visit.
Tom is 20 and you are 18
M/n: Male name.
L/n: Last name.
F/n: Friend's name
Word count: 2900
I hope you enjoy it!! Sorry if it is bad! And there are probably many mistakes and grammar errors.
«⁕⁕⁕⁕⁕⁕⁕⁕⁕⁕⁕⁕⁕⁕⁕⁕⁕⁕⁕⁕⁕⁕⁕⁕⁕⁕⁕⁕⁕»
DISCLAIMER: I MEAN NO OFFENSE, DISRESPECT, OR HARM TO ANY OF THESE CELEBRITIES! THIS IS JUST FICTION.
«⁕⁕⁕⁕⁕⁕⁕⁕⁕⁕⁕⁕⁕⁕⁕⁕⁕⁕⁕⁕⁕⁕⁕⁕⁕⁕⁕⁕⁕»
MINORS DNI. FEMALE READERS… I’LL ALLOW YOU TO READ MY FICS BUT DO NOT FETISHIZE ANY OF MY STORIES
«⁕⁕⁕⁕⁕⁕⁕⁕⁕⁕⁕⁕⁕⁕⁕⁕⁕⁕⁕⁕⁕⁕⁕⁕⁕⁕⁕⁕⁕»
You were sitting on the couch with your mom sitting on the left side, and your father on your right side. You were waiting for the announcement to come on. ‘It's almost 7:00 PM…” you thought to yourself. The holiday you hated the most was about to begin.
Just then the emergency broadcast came on with that ear-shattering sound. And the screen on the TV turns blue with the symbol of the NFFA in the background.
“This is not a test.”
“This is your emergency broadcast system announcing the commencement of the Annual Purge sanctioned by the U.S. Government.”
“Weapons of class 4 and lower have been authorized for use during the Purge. All other weapons are restricted.”
“Government officials of ranking 10 have been granted immunity from the Purge and shall not be harmed.”
“Commencing at the siren, any and all crime, including murder, will be legal for 12 continuous hours.”
“Police, fire, and emergency medical services will be unavailable until tomorrow morning at 7 AM when the Purge concludes.”
“Blessed be our New Founding Fathers and America, a nation reborn.”
"May God be with you all.”
Then the air horn sirens blared meaning the Purge officially began. Your family has already set up defenses. You, of course, never participate. Your family put out blue flowers to show that they don’t want to participate but they support the purge.
You know your parents, they didn’t support this “holiday” at all. Come on now, 12 hours without any laws. Your parents spoke out against it.
Some (well most) Americans find the Purge to be successful. Unemployment rates plummeted down to 1 percent, crime rates decreased, and the economy was revived.
If you are wondering how this came into reality, it all started back in 2014.
(little history of how the Purge became a tradition in American society.)
In 2014, the United States was facing economic collapse, rising social unrest, and multiple wars. The economic collapse was worse than the Mortgage Crisis of 2008. Neighborhoods across the country were destroyed by an opioid epidemic.
Then a party was founded as a substitute for the Republicans and Democrats, they called themselves the New Founding Fathers of America or NFFA.
In 2016, the first experimental Purge took place and it proved to be successful. Then in 2017, the second experimental Purge began this time it was Nationwide.
Not long after that, the 28th amendment to the US constitution was ratified meaning that Purging is now an American right.
The Purge starts on March 21st at 7:00 PM and it ends at sunrise, March 22nd, 7:00 AM. all crime is legal for 12 hours, no killing high government officials, and don’t use explosives or bioweapons. Those who don’t follow the rules will be hanged.
This resulted in crime and unemployment rates dropping down 1 percent, government spending down 37 percent, and the GDP soared to 37.21 trillion dollars.
Still, many people disagreed with this because it was believed that the Purge was used as means of population control, and to decrease the poor population but they couldn’t do anything about it.
(little history lesson over. I just wanna include that part for those who have never seen the purge.)
We got off the couch and went to go do our own things. “Sweetie do wanna eat dinner?” my mom said, I smiled. “Yes please.” she smiled at me and went to go cook dinner. You went upstairs to chill in your room. Your window was boarded up but you could easily remove it when things go down.
————————————————————————————
Time skip (8:00 PM)
————————————————————————————
It's been one hour since commencement. You were up in your room just watching YouTube videos. Your mother was downstairs cooking Lasagna (or whatever your favorite dish is) your father was downstairs watching the news.
The news would keep up with things happening tonight. Were watching a live stream showing what was happening on the outside. Building on fire, people killing each other, and parties. All of this was caught on drones.
You would hear the occasional screams and gunfire in the area but you and your family were secure.
Then you heard banging on the front door. The door and windows were boarded up with wood planks. ‘Who is that?’ you thought, you were worried it was one of your bullies who decided tonight was the night they get to get rid of you.
You went downstairs to see your parents. They had fear in their eyes, then the door busted one. Three men wearing tuxedos with masks on walked in. then they pulled out their guns, that’s when you dashed and went up into your room.
Your parents tried to run but they were quickly gunned down. You could hear gunshots go off and their screams filled the house.
You locked your bedroom door and ran to the window to remove the wood plank blocking it. You could hear the footsteps coming up the stairs. One of them called out to you, “M/n⁓ where are you⁓? Come out from hiding… are you in your room?”
You recognized that deep British accent, it was Tom! Tom Holland from your class! ‘What did I do to him? I never did anything wrong to him!’ but that didn’t stop you from removing the plank. You jumped out the window and ran for it.
Tom busted through your door to see that you have escaped. He gritted his teeth and went downstairs to see his twin brothers sitting down on the couch with their masks off.
“So he got away?” the older twin said. “Yeah, he did. We’ll find him though. He isn’t stupid enough to go downtown. He’ll probably head to his friend's house.” Tom said a little anger that his precious lover had gone away.
“We already took care of his friends. But we couldn’t get to one of them.” The younger twin said, Tom nodded and went out to go find you.
(Btw Tom's parents live in the UK and they don’t know what he is doing. Tom’s brothers are just helping him catch you)
————————————————————————————
Time skip (9:00 PM)
————————————————————————————
You were running to your friend's house hoping they would help you. You had to be careful while running through the streets, there were purgers everywhere. The city of Los Angeles was crawling with them, especially in the downtown area.
Thankfully you took your phone with you to see what time it was. ‘9:00 PM.’ you turned off your but you made sure it was on silent mode so it wouldn't bring attention to you.
You had a little encounter with Purgers but they were quickly gunned down by a machine gun attached to the back of a car. You saw vehicles on fire, dead bodies, and an old lady just watching a body burn.
‘This is all crazy!’ you thought as you ran faster just to get off the streets but what you didn’t was that someone was following you.
After running for 30 minutes you finally arrived at one of your friend’s houses. You didn’t realize that their barricades were broken until you twisted the knob on the door.
You walked in to see the whole place trashed. You walked through the rooms to see F/N parents dead, lying on the floor. Their eyes were open, you see nothing in them. “Please don’t be dead…” you said putting your hand over your mouth as you tried not to cry out loud.
You slowly walked up the stairs and approached F/N’s room. There you saw it, F/N lying on the floor dead as well. You burst out crying but that ended when you heard a car pull up.
“Find him!” you knew who that was immediate. You couldn’t run anywhere because they were downstairs, and the window had steel as a barricade. So, you hid in F/n’s closet.
You knew they had a pile of clothing in the corner, so you buried yourself in their clothes. You heard their footsteps walking up the stairs, and them breaking down the door. Then you heard them in the room.
You could see a figure walking through a small hole in the clothing pile. You covered your mouth so you wouldn’t breathe too hard. “CLEAR!” the figure yelled and went back downstairs. You heard their conversation from downstairs because of how the walls were thin.
“I thought he would be here!” Tom yelled, and out of anger shots one of his own men. The twins and the other weren’t fazed by this. They knew Tom had a few screws loose.
Then you heard them leave but you didn’t believe they actually left so you decided to stay where you were for the 2 to 3 hours.
————————————————————————————
Time skip (3:00 AM)
————————————————————————————
While waiting you accidentally fell asleep (why? because of plot purposes and I'm the author)and you realized that it was 3:00 AM, 4 hours till the Purge ends. You thought you could stay here but then you smelt something burning.
You got out of the pile to see the room was on fire. ‘What?! How?’ you quickly got and ran before the roof caved in on you. The backdoor was barricaded but due to the fire, it melted the steel allowing you to escape. (is that possible?)
You were on the run again but before you left, you noticed a group of people watching the house burn. ‘Are those my teachers?’ The group was your teachers from different classes. You knew they didn’t like F/N at all.
‘What has this country become?’ if this keeps happening, if more innocent people keep dying, then the nation will become the “Nation of Murders.” you decided to ignore them and run.
But one of them saw you, “M/n? Is that you?” one of them yelled. You froze, ‘how did they--?’ you turned around to see them walking towards you. “Hey don't worry we ain’t kill you. You are our favorite student!”
You looked at them shocked. “Why are you out here? Aren’t you supposed to be with your parents?” you looked down and began to cry. They noticed and said they didn’t need to know.
“Do you wanna come with us? There’s a neighborhood block party.” you nodded and decided to go with them. ‘So I guess they kill the kids they hate.’ they then took you to one of the nearby parties.
But one of Tom’s men noticed and decided to alert the big boss.
(just to be clear, in the Purge series there isn’t a legal purge. Meaning that you can kill someone who is 18 or younger. Now that’s fucked up.)
You and the teachers arrived at the block party. You see everyone partying, some had creepy masks, and others were naked grinding against each other. You lost your teachers in the crowd so you decided to just hideout.
————————————————————————————
Time skip (6:00 AM, one hour till the Purge ends.)
————————————————————————————
(if you are wondering why Tom didn’t show up early, it's because he was busy doing something else….. Or maybe its because I was too lazy to put anything during that time skip)
You checked your phone and noticed it was 6:00 AM. ‘One more hour!’ you smiled as the night was finally coming to an end. The sun was rising in the distance but people were still partying. ‘I survived the night.’
You even began to party yourself in celebration of surviving. You had a couple of drinks but not enough to be completely drunk. You danced with some people. Overall you were having a good time
But that happiness was short-lived when the gunfire began to go off. People were screaming and tripping over each other as they tried to run away. You already knew who it was. Tom fucking Holland and his group arrived
He noticed you in the crowd and smirked as he can finally have you before the Purge ended. You ran away from the crowd to one of those large garbage containers. You hid behind them hoping Tom won’t find you.
You could still hear the screams of people and more gunfire further down the street. You creeped out from your hiding place and walked back to the street.
You were horrified by what you were seeing. Dead bodies everywhere, your teacher’s dead bodies, and some people you were dancing with. All dead.
Then you heard footsteps behind you, you turned around to see Tom there smiling sadistically at you. You admit he was kind of hot but that doesn’t matter right now. “Why are you doing this? I never did anything to you! And did you find me?! ”
(6:55 AM)
“Why’m I doing this? Well, it's because of M/n…… I love you M/n! You never did anything wrong. And how did I find you? Well, remember there's an app where you can track down certain people’s phones? Well, that’s how I found you, that and one of my men told me.” Tom sounded proud of what he just said.
(6:57 AM)
“I thought I could use this Purge night as a way to finally have you to myself! I hope you share the same feeling like me.” you couldn’t believe what you were hearing.
“Tom…. look, you’re a cute guy, hell I would probably have dated if you just came up to me like a normal person would. But no, you went ahead and killed everyone. You killed my family and friends, and you think I share the same feeling like you! No!” you yelled the tension was thick and Tom was angry.
(6:59 AM)
“I loved you! And they were getting in the way!--” Tom took a pause, “If I can’t have then no one will!” Tom charged at you with his knife. ‘What happened to his gun?’
But you quickly snapped out when he charged at you. You dodged his attack but he stabbed you in the arm. He was about to finish when…
(7:00 AM)
*INSERT SIREN NOISE*
The siren went off meaning the Purge had come to an end. Tom was still going to attack but was stopped when a voice came on, “Stop what you are doing! I repeat stop what you are doing! The Purge has concluded. If anyone does a crime, you will face the consequences.”
Tom stopped what he was doing and looked at you, “Next Purge, I’m going to get you.” Tom then got into his car and drove off.
You felt like you were going to faint from blood loss but then someone drove up to you. “Hey, okay?! Oh my God, we need to get you to the hospital!” they picked you up and carried you into the backseat, and drove you to the nearest hospital.
The radio was on and began to report on tonight’s events. “Just after 7:00 AM, March 22nd Pacific Standard, the Annual Purge was concluded. Reports are coming from all over the nation that this was the most participated Purge yet….
364 days until the next Purge...
THE GOOD ENDING
Bad Ending.
Time skip (6:00 AM, one hour till the Purge ends.)
You checked your phone and noticed it was 6:00 AM. ‘One more hour!’ you smiled as the night was finally coming to an end. The sun was rising in the distance but people were still partying. ‘I survived the night.’
You even began to party yourself in celebration of surviving. Yo had a couple of drinks but not enough to be completely drunk. You danced with some people. Overall you were having a good time
But that happiness was short-lived when the gunfire began to go off. People were screaming and tripping over each other as they tried to run away. You already knew who it was. Tom fucking Holland and his group arrived
He noticed you in the crowd and smirked as he can finally have you before the Purge ended. You ran away from the crowd to one of those large garbage containers. You hid behind them hoping Tom won’t find you.
You could still hear the screams of people and more gunfire further down the street. You creeped out from your hiding place and walked back to the street.
You were horrified by what you were seeing. Dead bodies everywhere, your teacher’s dead bodies, and some people you were dancing with. All dead.
Just then you felt something being injected into your neck. You passed out but before you completely passed out, you got a glimpse of who it was…. It was Tom.
“You're finally mine M/n. I’ll keep you forever…. No one will take us apart….”
PART TWO CAN BE FOUND HERE
#tom holland#x male reader#tom holland x male reader#the purge#violence#good ending#bad ending#kidnapping#psychotic tom holland#mention of nudity
187 notes
·
View notes
Text
Christians and thoughtcrimes, or, can thoughts be sins?
I have read a lot of really interesting posts on here regarding the understanding that Christians believe thoughts can be sins, as opposed to believing that sins can only be actions (either that you did and shouldn’t have done, or that you didn’t do but should have done). I’ve been thinking about this question a lot recently because of the place I’m at in my own spiritual life, and I thought folks might be interested in one explanation/perspective from one Christian on this question.
[general disclaimer that making generalizations about Christians globally is laughable and fruitless, there are over two billion of us, we barely agree on anything, including, in some cases, whether some of those other two billion people are even Christians. This is my understanding based on my life being raised an observant American Episcopalian by observant American Episcopalians.]
I am inserting a readmore for those who don’t feel like reading Christian rambles today (this is fair!) but for those who are curious, read on. If you have any questions or want to chat about things, I’m open to DMs or replies made in good faith.
I hang out on Weird Anglican Twitter for various reasons (please do not attempt to find me there, and if somehow you think you know me from there, we shall not speak of this). There are two people in the acquaintance circle of WAT who recently got engaged. One of them was also just ordained to the priesthood. For context, these are two people I do not know at all outside of Twitter, although we have many mutual acquaintances because the Episcopal Church is the size of a hazelnut.
Shortly after they announced their engagement, one of them tweeted about how her now-future-husband had recently been on retreat and was praying about their future marriage and his (at the time upcoming) ordination and how he basically heard the voice of God saying that God was well pleased with him. (For those who may not be familiar with the Gospels, this is really weighty phrasing--the voice of God is heard from the heavens using this phrase at the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River, cf. Matthew 3:13-17, Mark 1:9-11, Luke 3:21-23).
And my reaction to this tweet was strong.
God, I was so fucking annoyed. My first thought was literally “The age of miracles is past” (which is turns out is me mis-remembering a quote from Henry V, “Miracles are ceas’d,” reflecting a belief that the sorts of miracles that appear in the Bible no longer occur in modern life). Like fuck you heard the voice of God, the age of miracles is past.
The thing is, I don’t even believe that. I believe that miracles still occur; I know people I believe they’ve happened to. I don’t think hearing the voice of God is out of the question in the slightest. But there was something about this context, and these people, that honestly pissed me off. (There is some context about the personalities of these folks that I’m leaving out in an attempt to scrub identifying details, but the personalities definitely played a part in my reaction.) This tweet made me mad, and I stayed mad.
Now, I didn’t do a thing about it. I didn’t say a word to either of them. I thought “fuck, that’s a strong reaction to a tweet” and kept scrolling.
So, is there sin here?
I have heard the term “thoughtcrime” used by folks to describe the purportedly Christian idea that thoughts that just float through your head are actionable offenses that God will be including on your sin tally, thank you very much, and I want to be clear that there are definitely Christians who believe this and I think they are wrong. I do love the word “thoughtcrime” though, I think it describes the concept very well and it kinda makes me laugh.
However, there are a lot of different understandings of sin across Christendom, and based on my own understanding, yeah, there was some sin going on, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to hell (I don’t believe hell exists and that is a stance supported by orthodoxy, but that is a different post) and I don’t believe I’m going to thought jail.
Some people understand sin as crime (you did or thought the bad thing and now God’s gonna punish you) and some people understand sin as a condition, like an illness (it’s not exactly your fault that you’re sick/living in a world where people including you sin, but, idk, you’re still responsible for sneezing into a tissue if you can at all help it/doing your best to minimize harm and not sin in spectacularly destructive fashions. This is an imperfect metaphor.) You can definitely hold both views at the same time, but I am MUCH more inclined to go with sin as condition, and that’s definitely what was going on here, because what was underneath my strong reaction to this one-off little tweet about a nice thing that happened to someone I don’t know was a whole host of things that draw me away from God--and sin, ultimately, is that which draws us away from God. Literally. That is the definition they taught me in confirmation class.
The more I thought about this reaction--this thought--the more it bugged me, so like the curious Christian I was raised to be, I talked about it with some people, including my partner and my confessor. Through talking with these people, I realized that my reaction had mostly very little to do with these people (although it did have a little bit to do with them specifically) and much more to do with how I’m feeling about God these days.
I am not on super comfy terms with the Lord at the moment; mostly I feel like she’s not very interested in me, which I am annoyed with myself for feeling because a core part of my faith is my belief that God is interested in humans as individuals and cares about us personally, and who am I out here thinking I’m ~so special~ that God is somehow not interested in me? Get a grip, MG. But no matter how I feel about it, that is what my relationship with God is like at the moment, and the idea of this extremely heterosexual man who appears to check every fucking social conformity box getting to hear the voice of God while I am sitting over here, a raging bisexual worried sick that her bodily autonomy is gonna get taken away and that my selfhood is going to get erased if I get married (which I want to do) and parent a child (which I’m open to doing), can’t even get the Lord to answer my calls pissed me the fuck off. The point isn’t the thoughtcrime, the point is that there is a lot of resentment and envy happening here, and that resentment and envy are detrimental to my soul.
The strong feelings make logical sense! It’s not that I have no reason to feel this way. But the sin comes in with the fact that resentment, envy, and while we’re at it, pride (”I’m so special the Lord doesn’t care about me”) are bad for me and take me away from God--that’s what sin is. It’s not that God’s out there reading my mind going “wow, you were kind of a bitch in your mind in response to that tweet, and I’m gonna get you for that.” It’s that I had a lot happening under the surface that is bad for my spiritual health and that I wasn’t dealing with. The bitchy thoughts were symptoms, and just because I have reasons for being envious etc. doesn’t mean it’s fair (to anyone) or good for me, or not a sin.
But MG, you may say, without that strong reaction to that tweet, would you have even noticed that sin lurking around making you miserable? Isn’t it kind of good that you were in a bitch in your mind, if it helped you realize what was going on and work on making it better?
To that, dear reader, I would say that the medieval mystic Julian of Norwich is high-fiving you from the world to come, because she writes about this very thing in Revelations of Divine Love. God can suit all things to God’s purpose, even sin, which doesn’t mean that sin is good, just that God is all-loving and all-transforming. God isn’t out to get us, and sin isn’t a death warrant--this is literally the point of Jesus--but because Christians are supposed to strive for life in God and unity with God, we are still responsible for addressing our sins, not out of fear, but out of love--for ourselves, for our neighbors, and for God.
#the means of grace and the hope of glory#christianity#lots of Lent thoughts happening over here#mg says stuff
13 notes
·
View notes
Text
If you're a leftist, support disabled people and you're supporting the Kellogg's Strike, please read this.
Hi so friendly notification to anyone supporting the Kellogg's Strike: There is no official Kellogg's Strike, it has not been negotiated by workers yet. But on another note: I want to talk to you about something extremely important, especially if you're a leftist. While I'm a leftist too, leftist circles have a very big issue revealed by the Kellogg's Strike that seriously needs to be addressed. And I want to start this off with a disclaimer: No, I am not attacking all leftists, nor am I attacking you just because you're a leftist, but I seriously need your help in tackling this issue.
While a lot of leftists are talking about this in good faith, a lot of leftists are being ableist in their pursuit of doing this. And I am not joking. I'm not calling out all leftists here, I'm trying to bring this to people's attention because it's super important for disabled people.
For the quick explanation of this: One autistic person explained that because of their natural food sensory issues, their food palleted is extremely limited and Kellogg's is one of the few foods their body can eat without rejecting it, and a bunch of leftists decided to mock them and make fun of them for it. For the long explanation:
It began with this person. This person named Theo said "Do not cross the picket line, no matter what." with not crossing the picket line meaning don't do anything that is against the picket line (but literally speaking, don't workers literally need to cross the picket line to get in the building?) And so this person named Steph is autistic. In case you weren't aware, autism can come with sensory issues, which means your senses can be really flawed, including faulty sense of smell, needing subtitles when watching movies, and not being able to eat certain foods, which is the case here. This person cannot eat many different foods without getting sick, and that includes Kelloggs. And no, this is not fake. I'm autistic, and I cannot eat vegetables. When I get burgers at places I have to order them with no toppings of any kind or else I'll throw up. And so, when this person saw "Don't cross the picket line no matter what" they took this with offense, as them being shamed for buying Kelloggs when they actually need to. Not just that - they took it as deliberately guilting people who can't support the boycott.
So they replied "guilting people who can't support boycotts is ableist". And how did a lot of people respond to this? I'm sorry to say, much, much more horrifically than you'd think. To sum it up, I have seen self proclaimed 'leftist activists' (no offense if you are one, like me) do stuff like:
Mocking the person who said this by turning their statement into a copypasta (search "Heavy food sensory issues frosted" on twitter)
Their disability is fake (erasure) and that they just want to keep their cereal (one person said "Americans just want to keep their sugar" with a screenshot of the post)
Other disabled people saying that they should just "cope with it and do something else" because no matter what it's bad if it interferes with work strikers (imagine a group of people on strike stood in the way of a guy in a wheelchair getting on a wheelchair ramp, so they told him "Sorry dude, just cope with it and use the stairs")
Accusing autistic people of 'being needy for attention' and 'making it about them'
Twisting the narrattive, trying to claim they said "I can only eat Kelloggs" and "Do not support this boycott" (they never said that)
Accusing this person, and tons of other disabled people defending them, of being bots. One person tried to accuse me of being a Kellogg's corporate worker
What's the worst part of this, there are like hundreds of people posting that copypasta of their statement, and people are seeing it out of context and thinking Kellogg's is just using bot accounts to post the same thing to manipulate people. It's seriously so fucking stupid.
I have screenshots of this but at the same time I really, really don't want to post them because honestly they're just sickening, like, I never thought ableism would be so ripe and large in leftist circles. And the thing is? A bunch of leftist people blocked me when I pointed out their bigotry.
and you want to know what the best part is? All of this was for nothing. Because as it turns out, there is no official boycott going on.
https://twitter.com/LoveAmuSystem/status/1446374154568015876
So why am I mentioning this? Because I need your help. This is a big issue and I don't want ableism like this to just be so casual in leftist circles. So all I'm asking you to at the base level is do your thing, support whatever you want to support, but please, please do not trample on disabled people in the process. But if you want to do more, here's what you can do to help:
Read these tweets and threads about why this isn't okay. If you want, read the replies too
https://twitter.com/LoveAmuSystem/status/1446374154568015876
https://twitter.com/amaditalks/status/1446092589669748739
https://twitter.com/lyxanna/status/1446269549758844931
https://twitter.com/swampflora/status/1446148747545694214
https://twitter.com/MaxieMoosie/status/1446178029101715456
https://twitter.com/KmTenant/status/1446155314101985284
Raise awareness about this. Specifically, make posts about this on tumblr and twitter (especially twitter if you can). Talk about how this kind of stuff is not okay and hurts people with autism and eating disorders.
Thank you for listening.
#kelloggs strike#boycott#workers rights#leftist#leftism#marxism#working class#anti capitalism#disability rights#ableism#autism#autistic#eating disorder#tw ableism#tw hate#socialism#kelloggs#activism#disability activism
44 notes
·
View notes
Text
Ikevamp headcanons after watching Hamilton
Quick disclaimer: Yes I know this is a show about people who had owned slaves and slavery is bad. Having said that there's a reason why we suspend disbelief for a couple of hours and just allow ourselves to be swept into the story. I also love Phantom of the Opera but I also am aware that this is a story that involves an abusive and toxic relationship. The point is that I am aware that there are problems that needs to be discussed, but I still love the music, the story and the shows okay. This is just fan content not meant to be taken seriously and is just for fun. Okay? Now let's proceed.
I'll be doing Will and Arthur first since I'm currently doing Shakespeare's route and was inspired to do this after MC watches Romeo and Juliet with Vincent and I was wondering how Will would react to watching Hamilton. And Arthur is here because he is my husband/main lover. I might do Mozart and Napoleon next.
SPOILER ALERT: For anyone who hasn't seen the Disney Plus version of Hamilton, there might be some spoilers here (unless you already saw the show or know the story that is).
General Scenario:
You don't know how but Le Comte was able to get the filmed version of Hamilton, a musical which you've told Sebastian that you've been dying to see but was never able to because tickets were always sold out and entering the lottery was going to be a little too expensive for someone who lives in Japan and who doesn't exactly have the money or the time to simply fly to New York if in case she won. You were also excited because apparently Le Comte was able to modify the 21st century tech room that you use for your online classes and was able to get a wide screen and high quality surround sound which made you appreciate his efforts. A part of you was also curious as to how the other residents would react. You were scared that some of them might take offense, especially Napoleon who knew one of the characters in the show in real life. Would they react weirdly for seeing people different from them portray people that they knew? You were also wondering if they might even appreciate some of the 21st century slang that you and Sebastian would sometimes slip back into whenever it was just the two of you alone. After talking it out with everyone and explaining a few more things (like how its probably going to be different since it is a series of captured pictures-or at least that's your closest analogy- being played super fast with the synchronized sound of the actors- or what you were almost tempted to call "Techno Magic") during a dinner in which Shakespeare had decided to be present in, they were actually interested in what this show is about. Napoleon convinced you that he's fine and actually someone else playing Lafayette might even help with the suspension of disbelief since its been awhile since he has last met him anyway. Will even mentioned that while he has read and heard about stories from America, this is probably going to be the first story or production he's going to see from it. The only one who showed any hesitation - to no one's surprise - was Mozart, since he is attached to the kind of music he is familiar with (aren't we all?). But after prodding from both Jean, Le Comte and you giving him the puppy eyes, he finally relents. The day comes when everyone was once again free and for practicality everyone decided to have a meal first so that they won't be hungry during the show and also for you, Le Comte, and Sebastian to explain a few things everyone else may need to know to truly appreciate the show (like how the Presidential system and elections worked during the setting, what the word "Rewind" means, what is beatboxing, etc). So finally everyone gathered into the tech room after the meal, the lights were dimmed and once everyone was settled, you hit play. And as self-predicted of you, you find yourself crying in the end.
William Shakespeare (I'm still doing his route so please don't hate me if I get him wrong. Also no spoilers please).
- He was a bit shocked at first by how exactly up close you could see the facial expressions of the actors as well as the various ways it would cut to another person. He could now understand why you struggled with trying to explain how its played in a theatre but not exactly like the theatrical experience. But as you saw in your periphery, by the time Philippa Soo sings her first line, Will had already adjusted and allowed himself to be an audience and shut off his director and actor mindset (for the most part at least).
- While he didn't specialize in musicals, he found himself paying attention to the story of "the ten dollar founding father without a father." He knows how music could help both the actors and the audience in succumbing to their emotions in a scene and to suspend disbelief from reality. In his productions the words are not overwhelmed by any score but rather complemented to bring out the emotion he wants to evoke and for actors to show. Since many parts of the show has been influenced by the spoken word style without completely removing it from being sung, he has become enlightened with how powerful a show can be when it is done right.
- He not only enjoyed the story (especially the flow of it) and the production (especially some of the more technical details that the other residents hadn't noticed as far as a stage production is concerned), he loved that even the ensemble members had good acting and some of the onstage humor. One of the meta things he enjoyed was the obvious reference to his most superstitious work.
- Once you've seen how he loves analyzing the technical details of the production, you excitedly tell him about a special member of the ensemble who is known as "The bullet" among fans of the show. You could see him being enlightened as he watches the show with you again (this time with just the two of you) and he now sees "the bullet" and the way she interacts with the characters in a whole different light. He was so impressed with this idea that he may have adapted it into one of his new original plays (its not a copy paste of Hamilton's "bullet" but he definitely adapted assigning a member of the ensemble to have a special role that may not be significant at first, but he heavily notes that this member would have to be unique in interacting with any of the other characters).
- He didn't know what to expect from a 21st Century production but he found himself impressed with the prose and writing of various raps and songs. His favorite from Act 1 in terms of rhyme schemes was "Right Hand Man" and from Act 2 it was Jefferson's rap in "Washington by your side". And after settling down a bit his favorite emotional parts were "History has its eyes on you", "Hurricane", and "It's quiet uptown".
- He was impressed with how the double roles was given and how it actually is true for both of their roles in both acts. Ambiguity is one of his favorite things to have in a work, and he gives props to Lin for all the ambiguity he later realizes was in several parts of the show. If he and Arthur had been a little bit more closer, they probably would have bonded over the ambiguity Hamilton's comma in his letter to Angelica (see kids, grammar matters).
- A part of his brain wonders how the real life Hamilton would react to this and if him and Burr would still be enemies. But after some thinking he decides its not worth his efforts of asking anyone to bring them back since a wonderful production of their life has already been made even if it may not necessarily reflect who they truly are. He of all people knew what it's like to be inspired by great figures, it was fortunate that Lin Manuel Miranda decided to make a show about them before he had the chance to.
- You explain that in America Hamilton is one of the lesser known founding fathers of their nation and how it may be because his political opponents later on became Presidents and therefore was able to form the narrative. He becomes inspired by it and begins to search out people or stories who are hidden gems who may not be historically famous but had much more interesting stories than some of the ones he has heard of.
- Afterwards once you are sure that he has gotten comfortable enough with the genre you show him various videos of people rapping to his works and his reactions range from impressed to amused to "that's not what I mean when I wrote that" and you had to calm him down and explain that they can't hear him anyway after he started giving serious critiques on what the text means.
Arthur Conan Doyle
- While he was knowledgeable about many things, America's founding fathers was not one of them. He along with the other residents have gotten used to any rumors or exaggerated accounts of their lives and you and Sebastian have already warned that this is just a fictionalized production of the real person. As a writer of some historical fiction books he argued that he of all people was aware that any work based on history will speak more about the creators rather than the actual people they are writing about most of the time. He was nevertheless interested as to why you have become fascinated with the treasury secretary (and maybe it was with a twinge of jealousy that you began to expressly show admiration to another man even if he wasn't among the residents in the mansion). After all unlike many other residents of the mansion, on the surface it seemed that Hamilton was similar to Theo who mainly played a supporting but crucial role to his brother. He was thankful that you didn't hold it against him and was comforted that you were in a similar place. You even told him that the only thing you really knew about Hamilton before listening to the soundtrack and watching "Animatics" was that he was in the ten dollar American bill.
- And as someone who has delved into writing historical fictions, this was probably one of the most entertaining productions about a historical figure he has seen. He's going to be honest with you in that at first he was wondering if revealing Burr shot Hamilton in the opening was going to hinder him from enjoying the show; but he was pleasantly surprised that this was not the case at all. As a matter of fact it now made him want to find out who the real Hamilton was (although a part of him doubts if the real Hamilton had any regrets at all). According to him, this is why as a fictionalized historical work, the show is a success because it makes you want to find out more about the events and figures of the story (even if it means looking at darker realities that they did). And while the real Hamilton may be a lot different from what was shown, with all the things he went through and all the things he has done (for better or worse), he now wonders why exactly Le Comte hadn't approached him since he seems to be no better or worse than the average resident ("He and Newt could probably discuss mathematics all day."). You then explained that his political rivals (Jefferson and Madison from the show, and Monroe who wasn't shown in the musical) had later on become Presidents and was able to shape the narrative away from Hamilton. "Ron Chernow made Hamilton's biography because he was the lesser known founding father who was fading into obscurity among Americans and Lin read the book and recognized the story of someone who has risen through his writings. And to Lin that was also the story of hiphop." While he wasn't involved in politics as much as Hamilton was, Arthur had enough experience to know what it feels like to have those kinds of people in power. He also knows just how powerful it is to be in "the room where it happened" and how sometimes the real decisions weren't being made in an office but rather in either a private party or the right bar when people in power had their guard down and were more susceptible to being influenced.
- He could relate a lot with Hamilton on many things that he's only comfortable allowing either you or Theo to see. From being just so much more aware of death's inevitability coming for every living thing to survivor's guilt even though a part of him knows its irrational (but sometimes the emotional nonsense just overtakes our perspectives and actions). It's why he could understand Hamilton's need to write as much as he can before he dies. It's why for a time in his human life he had deviated from writing about Holmes and ventured into other genres. He could also relate to the need to prove what type of person he was, and how to go beyond his tragedies to serve people in their own ways. Hamilton did it as a soldier and the creator of America's financial system. And he is doing it as an informally practicing doctor and as a writer. It's a need that he's trying to mitigate since you've repeatedly told him that he doesn't need to prove anything to you or to anyone and to write whatever he pleases. But he also can't deny that it's still somewhere lodged in the back of his head.
- Just like William Shakespeare, in terms of the wordplay found in rap and the ambiguity present in the show and how those things were executed made him amazed and momentarily speechless. He was especially fanboying about "The comma after dearest" and how this essentially shows how important grammar was. It went to the extent that afterwards whenever he would write to you he would address you either as "My dearest, Y/N" or "My darling, Y/N" with special emphasis on the comma (sometimes you could see how there's more ink in the comma than some of the actual words. That's how much he wants to emphasize that you hold the title of dearest or darling). And you excitedly share with him some of the trivia knowledge of the show (like how in real life it was Angelica who originally made the comma mistake by writing to Hamilton as "My dear, sir" in one of her letters and it was Hamilton who was asking her what the comma means and even replied with "Ma chere, soeur") and how Angelica really did reference the Icarus metaphor in one of her letters to Eliza. And even though he wasn't a major musical nerd (he sang for fun), he would now join you in watching Howard Ho's Hamilton videos musically analyzing Hamilton (and would probably try to find a way to use this knowledge to annoy Mozart in some way).
- Speaking of music: Maybe it's because he's biased in his love for you but aside from Sebastian he's probably the one who has no qualms about the hiphop genre and was immediately into the various wordplays that rapping allowed. And because of this his favorite characters in terms of rapping are the ones played by Daveed Diggs (probably more than Hamilton himself even though you've explained that Lin is the one who wrote the whole thing). He even adapts to how Daveed as Jefferson would say Isaac's third law and incorporated it into his "let's tease Newton" kit. That's when you know he really loves Daveed Diggs ("Every action has an equal opposite -" "WILL YOU PLEASE STOP SAYING IT THAT WAY?! I didn't mind the first few times but this is ridiculous Arthur" "It must be nice, it must be nice to have a Newton on your side"). And his favorite character emotionally was Angelica (her raps in Schuyler Sisters and Satisfied may have helped).
- Speaking of the Schuyler Sisters, after watching it with you another time (this time with just the two of you) one of his favorite things to say is that you've got the best of all three sisters within you (Angelica's wittiness and intelligence, Eliza's cares for the more important things in life, and Peggy's humor) with the sexiness of Maria Reynolds. But because he sees all 4 of them in you he has the benefit of not needing to choose among them. Having said that there will be a period wherein he teases you if he makes you "Helpless" or "Satisfied" (and you respond either by kissing him or singing "That would be enough").
- Whenever you would sing as one of the Schuyler sisters he will join you as any of the male characters the moment he masters the soundtrack and could even sing it without the music. His favorite rap songs are "Guns and Ships", "Washington on your side", and of course "Satisfied". He also really loves "Non-stop", "the 10 duel commandments", and "The room where it happened". But his favorite sequence is from "the Winter's Ball" all the way to "Wait for it". Since it has romance, a shocking revelation, and gives insight to the perspective of the antagonist. He's also one of the first people to attempt to learn the choreography whenever he's in one of his mental blocks in writing. Of course he makes sure not to injure himself.
- He posts song lyrics to keep himself motivated in his times of mental block "There's a million things I haven't done. But just you wait" and "I'm not throwing away my shot" frequently appear around his desk.
-And whenever he's feeling low or insecure, just like Eliza you remind him to "Look around, Look around, how lucky we are to be alive right now."
#Ikemen Vampire#Headcanons#ikemen william#ikevamp#Hamilton#William Shakespeare#Arthur Conan Doyle#Ikemen Arthur#Lin Manuel Miranda#Daveed Diggs#Philippa Soo#Ron Chernow
39 notes
·
View notes