#don't glorify war

[doodles-and-hedgehog]

Thoughts are with the people for whom fireworks are a trigger

[smhalltheurlsaretaken]

if you're wondering why I kind of abandoned this blog, there's several reasons (fandom just doesn't feel fun anymore, I'm trying to cut back on screen time, I've been feeling like my faith is in contradiction to what I see/read/interact with on here is for years and years now) but the final straw has been what I see on my dash every day about Israel/Palestine.

I keep seeing people I used to interact with and used to like now peddling conspiracy theories, debunked claims, inflammatory headlines, and even bloodthirsty rhetoric with tens of thousands of notes (when corrections of those posts get ~500 notes at best), and reacting to nuanced conversations like they're calls for hatred, all while turning a blind eye to the very literal vicious hatred or sheer ignorance in many of those big posts. The level of black-and-white thinking is so strong that we are wayyyy past 'us-vs-them,' we're in the kind of discourse where even 'know thy enemy' (being interested in understanding the opposing arguments even just so you can dismantle them) is considered hatred - people can't be bothered to know what they're arguing for or against, nothing short of plugging your ears and screaming for the death of the Bad People is enough. This is a wave of just about the most hypocritical, callous and uninformed 'activism' this website has ever been guilty of and it's too much. I'm done with this.

And yes, this is about antisemitism. You can all shout 'not antisemitic, just anti-zionist' all day long but you have done jack shit to prove you don't hate Jews beside chanting 'punch a nazi' in the same breath you use KKK slurs and cheer for groups that have 'curse the Jews' in their slogan. I trust none of you anymore.

[litnerdwrites]

The IC are more like mayors than anything else, since they basically only govern Velaris.

Keir looks after the CON, and the only time we hear about Mor's rare visits there without Rhys, she only mentions visiting her parents, not any actual governing. For the most part, the CON govern themselves, and maybe they report to Mor who reports to Rhys? Idk, she still doesn't really govern it though, since she's almost always at Rita's.

The Illyrians also seem to do their own thing for the most part. The bat boys may visit every now and then, but even when Cassian visits any camp other than Windhaven, he likely doesn't spend more than a day or two at each one since he's only gone for a couple of weeks at a time.

There are no other settlements in the NC that we hear of, or on the map. Rhysand's armies consist of pretty much Ilyyrians, and sometimes darkbringers. Comparatively though, how many soldiers, comparatively, can a single city have as opposed to other courts or even the Illyrians, who're spread through out multiple camps.

They aren't even that good at ruling, since they only care about a third of their court. For all they complain about Nesta, at least she put her people's safety, including those who hurt her while in the cabin, before her own when she insisted the Queens try to save them. Regardless of her personal feelings towards them.

For all that Rhysand calls himself a High Lord, or Mor a queen, they're more like Mayor. Maybe even President, if you squint.

[wonder-worker]

"It is too easy to dismiss [Leonor of Navarre] as an overambitious schemer who would do anything to obtain a crown, shedding the blood of her own siblings and her subjects in order to attain the throne. However, a deeper investigation of her long lieutenancy and ephemeral reign shows a woman who fought tenaciously to preserve her place but also worked tirelessly to administer a realm which was crippled by internal conflict and the center of the political schemes of France, Aragon, and Castile. She tried to broker peace, fight off those who opposed her, repair the wounds caused by conflict, protect the sovereignty of the realm, and keep the wheels of governance turning. Leonor was not always successful in achieving all of these aims but given the background of conflict and the lack of cooperation she received from all of her family members, bar her loyal husband, it is a huge achievement that she survived to wear the crown at all. Many writers have argued that Leonor deserved the troubled lieutenancy, personal tragedies, an ephemeral reign, and a blackened reputation, basing their assumption that she committed a crime that cannot be [conclusively] proven. However, a more fitting description of her would be that of a resolute ruler who successfully overcame a multitude of challenges in order to survive in a difficult political landscape and gain a hard-fought throne.”

-Elena Woodacre, "Leonor of Navarre: The Price of Ambition", Queenship, Gender and Reputation in the Medieval and Early Modern West, 1060-1600 (Edited by Zita Eva Rohr and Lisa Benz)

[hms-tardimpala]

Okay, so here's what happened. For Schrödinger's WIP, I've made a ton of research in a very short time, and I sort of cursed myself. Because now that I've done this research, I'm acutely aware of the horrors of war, reading all these testimonies make it seem like it happened yesterday, so it feels very disrespectful now to use it as a setting for a story. Even though I have read books where it is a setting for a story and they didn't feel disrespectful at all. I'm paralyzed.

[elgaladwen]

Even though I am going to the airshow tomorrow it is hard to stop watching planes practicing for the airshow. (You can pay to ride on a B-17 Flying Fortress or a P-40 Kittyhawk ahhhh!)

[origami-butterfly]

It pisses me off so much that Mary Seacole isn't on the GCSE history Medicine Through Time course, and Florence Nightingale is.

[sharlmbracta]

so maybe the point of living is of the one reason to live instead of the other reasons not to

[james-stark-the-writer]

The Boys is the Undertale of superhero media

[inkoutsidethelines]

So I had no expectations for this post to blow up, but it has, and I have a couple of responses in mind for the trends of comments that I've seen on this post.

"How is a toddler loving their parents toxic?"

It's not! That's normal and appropriate! The prequels make it very clear that the Jedi Order adopts children young because they know that their way of life is hard, and older children or adults will struggle to adjust to it. Anakin is a prime example of this. In an interview (that I'm not invested enough to hunt down) George Lucas actually said that had he been found at an earlier age, Anakin would have been able to adjust to the Jedi way of life when it comes to non-attachment.

It should also be noted that parents willingly let the Jedi adopt their children. It's not like the Jedi are kidnapping anyone.

2. "Did the Jedi know that's what attachment means?"

Yes! They did!

3. "The Jedi never explained that to Anakin."

They did actually, and we know they did because Anakin explains the concept himself. Anakin knows the teaching, he isn't stupid. Anakin chooses not to follow it.

4. "I thought SW meant sex work at first..."

For a moment, I was so caught up in the indignation of people misunderstanding attachment in Star Wars, I lived in a world where sex work didn't exist.

5. "I need to misunderstand the concept for my fic tho"

Valid, carry on.

"no attachments" in SW literally just means "don't be selfish and possessive". that's it. that's all there is. doesn't mean jedi can't have friends and loved ones. they can. just. don't be possessive and selfish about it. don't murder thousands of people in an effort to save one.

[hauntedtotem]

yall guess what I found at the con

[otogariado]

the thing about the US is that their political influence and power is so pervasive it's almost sickening. recently for my humanities class, we watched and analyzed "the act of killing", a 2012 documentary about the indonesian mass killings of 1965-1966 which was, for all intents and purposes, an ethnic cleansing. and yes, the documentary was primarily about indonesian history, their historical and national trauma, and the collective amnesia of what happened. let's not take it away from that. but there's an insidious observation from the documentary that you might miss at first glance about how much influence the US had on that ethnic cleansing. the government supported it, undoubtedly not dissimilar to how they have recently funded israel billions of dollars towards their ethnic cleansing of palestinians. the US has been doing this time and time again, has never once apologized for any of it and taken real accountability, and always manages to wash their hands of any real responsibility for what they have supported. you'd have to be living in such an isolated, privileged vacuum of intentional ignorance if you haven't realized this yet.

[wonder-worker]

that feeling when you want to write a long post ranting discussing something you feel especially strongly about but you're just. too Tired to actually sit down and do it

[lucienne-thee-librarian]

ALSO also gotta love the shorthand assumption that Lesbians Just Be Mean and Rude b-but, but somehow it's not weird to say that because see we're using an ironic loving tone!!! Totally!!! We definitely don't still see female characters as obstacles to be gotten out of the way by making her a Mean Unlikable Lesbo We Clearly Don't Give Enough of a Shit To Actually WRITE About, Nor Her Relationship With Her Girlfriend Either but We Totally Like Tho We Pinky Promise, when she's in the way of two men and our lesbian allyship isn't 1000% nothing but this...super backhanded lipservice that I personally find more fake and off-putting and patronizing than anything!!

Hey so your girlfriend got put into a fandom and um, they kinda. Yeah they made her the Mean Lesbian Friend. Yeah it's entirely because she's the only girl who's not overtly caring or kind. Sorry. Also they-- yeah she's characterized entirely as a wingman for the popular gay ship. Sorry again

[running-in-the-dark]

re your tags on the Oppenheimer post

idk why they made that movie either beyond white cis men love to talk about themselves

and I hate that the Barbie fans picked it up and gave it faaar more promotion than it deserved.

until that post I honestly just assumed the movie must be about something else (I don't care much about what movies are coming out so didn't look into it) because that would be too weird, especially with all the barbie memes and stuff

it's a really weird topic to make a(n apparently positive?) movie about but what do I know 🤷

[remmys]

🎃 TFTOBER 2024 !!

Hey there!! I really wanted to participate in an October prompt list, but seeing as I've been really hooked on TF2 for this entire year, I figured it would be fun to do a TF2 themed list!!

If you participate, feel free to tag your posts w/ #tftober !!! I'd love to see what other people do <3 This list should be perfectly doable for any medium (art, writing, sfm, etc!)

Below the cut is a list of all the prompts with some extra flavor text/ideas! Things are kept vague in a typical drawing prompt fashion

DAY 1 - Main

Who's your main? Who do you play most often?

DAY 2 - Hats!

It's not called a glorified hat simulator for nothing! There's plenty of cosmetics at your fingertips in the game!

DAY 3 - Relationships

Everyone knows someone. Whether it's a family member, a friend, a lover, or even an arch nemesis!

DAY 4 - Pyrovision

Put on the goggles and take a look at things with a new perspective!

DAY 5 - Battlefield

Probably where a mercenary spends most of their time

DAY 6 - On Break

Battles don't rage on forever. You've gotta take a break eventually

DAY 7 - Offense

The front lines. The moving force

DAY 8 - Defense

The back lines. Makes sure nobody gets too far

DAY 9 - Support

Everything in between! Perhaps even the foundations of some teams

DAY 10 - Teamwork

It's not called TEAM Fortress for nothing, right?

DAY 11 - Fem Fortress

Happy Friday! Give some love to the girls!

DAY 12 - Free Space

Draw, write, or SFM to your heart's content! Do whatever you'd like!

DAY 13 - Respawn

Nobody stays dead.

DAY 14 - Capture the Flag

That briefcase isn't going to steal itself!

DAY 15 - Backstab

Should've checked behind you.

DAY 16 - Mann vs Machine

Guns and bullets or nuts and bolts? Who knows what could be running through those metallic minds...

DAY 17 - Expiration Date

Teleportation and bread. What else can I say?

DAY 18 - Headcannons

Think a little deeper. What do you just know has got to be true about the mercenaries?

DAY 19 - At home

Everyone comes from somewhere. Everyone has a home.

DAY 20 - Headshot

Looks like you stood a little bit too still.

DAY 21 - Alternate Universe

Emesis Blue? Lil' Pootis? A universe where the mercenaries are all alligators? The world is your oyster.

DAY 22 - Australium

A divine and valued substance rarer than gold

DAY 23 - Administrator

There's more to a war than just the fighters

DAY 24 - Pets

Some people have a soft spot for certain animals. Others choose to keep theirs around 24/7.

DAY 25 - Injury

An inevitability of war

DAY 26 - Control Points

A constant back and fourth

DAY 27 - Comics

Ink, panels, and pages. A story through words and pictures.

DAY 28 - Custom Class

Is nine really enough to cover everyone needed in a war? Probably not!

DAY 29 - Ubercharge

A miracle of medicine

DAY 30 - Sentry

Sometimes the best way to get good aim is to not be the one aiming

DAY 31 - Scream Fortress

Happy Halloween! Scream out to your heart's content and enjoy the spooks of the night!