#educate yourself and others

[perrysoup]

I will give Zionists half a point, hear me out.

The Free Palestine and other anticolonial efforts are not antisemitic. They have nothing to do with Judaism, they are about oppression that in the case of Palestine is done by people who chose to use the veil of Judaic belief to make you think being opposed to their genocidal actions is antisemitism.

HOWEVER, with the Free Palestine effort especially, it is ripe group for actual antisemites, white supremacists, and Nazis to try to convince you it is related to Judaism, exactly like Zionists do.

These people will try to worm in, convince you is a “Jewish Issue” and the “problem is Judaism.” THAT IS A BOLD FACED LIE. This never has and never will have anything to do with any religion, especially not Judaism.

Look out for common signs:

describing the perpetrators as “they” or “them”. The lack of an actual described may seem like laziness but it’s meant to make you think of a single religious block. If they don’t use descriptors to clearly identify who “they” are first, it’s extremely likely based in Antisemitism, or if they focus on “they” as a religious item it is also extremely likely to be antisemitism

Words surrounded by double parentheses. Example “((bankers))”. The double parentheses is a classic example of how antisemites use simple characters to denote “Jewish” and try to make sure you associate it with “bad.” Again, this has nothing to do with religion. This is anti-genocide and anti-oppression.

Edit: it’s actually triple parentheses, so “(((banker)))”, double is used commonly in role playing circles to denote Out of Character messages, this was a HUGE lapse by me and my memory, and I hope I did not cause it to spread to include people genuinely not using it that way

Names or focuses on 88, HH, or other double letter/digit shorthand that basically stands for Nazi praises (88 refers to the 8th letter of the alphabet, H, and done twice like that it generally means “Heil Hitler”)

There are plenty of other signs I encourage others to share to raise awareness.

Remember, this doesn’t and NEVER HAS had shit to do with religion, especially not Judaism, and attempt to associate them are Zionists attempting to make you downplay the atrocities or they are Nazis who want you to associate the crimes with Judaism.

And yes, they do have the same result, which is why Zionism is often compared to Nazi-ism, because they both try to make this a Jewish issue.

[minickycups]

270 million bombs dropped on Laos by the US, 1964-1973.

[reality-detective]

* * * News Interruption * * *

[psychologeek]

do you really think you're the victim in this situation? children are being bombed every day, do you think they're less human than you?

Children are bombed every day? Wow. Shocking. I had no idea.

(One of my first memories is the sound of explosion, and the way my home shook. I was seven.)

I don't think others are, as you put it, "less human" then me. But apparently YOU seem to think that way.

See, all I do is writing about *my* experiences, and things that actually have a matter to my own life. So yes, I'm self-centric.

You, on the other hand?

Completely unrelated to the situation. Yet, all you have to do is to complain about.... what exactly? That I share my fears, and pain, and struggles? That I have PTSD? That I'm alive?

But again, I shouldn't be surprised. If "not talking" about something is bc you think they aren't human.

Well.

(Your attempt to silence me says it all.)

~

(ID1: sky with smoke-dots. Those dots are missiles. I took this photo from my home.)

(ID2: a newborn on window pane. Screenshot from news.)

This is 10 days old Kay. His parents hid with him as their house was burnt and their friends and family were murdered. When the shooting got quiet, they opened the door of the smoke-filled room and placed him on the window pane to let him breathe. Then, when the shooting got back to the area, they closed the door and got back to pretend to be dead.

(When I was 17, I hugged my 4 yo sister under my grandma's staircase, as we waited for the explosion.)

א.ט. *אזעקה מוקלטת*

This is me and some of my neighbours on a usual day.

Now, this is pretty old - my area, personally, wasn't bombed in a while.

The area I grew up in, where some of my family still lives, can't say the same.

But hi, it's all depending on the context, as was said.

Not like I'm human or anything.

[syrupsyche]

Students hunting down the social media of their teachers in the Les Mis Teachers!AU, and finding:

Combeferre's public Instagram, where he posts and IDs all the insects and animals he sees. Sometimes he uploads links to YouTube videos and news articles for his students who are following him to read. He also has a TikTok where he uploads science experiments with Joly.

Courfeyrac’s private Instagram, where he only accepts students if they've long graduated. His IG stories are loud clips of him in the club, so blurry you can't see what's going on. His IG posts are of him with his friends, as well as screenshots of himself roasting stupid people on r/politics.

Feuilly's public Instagram and Twitter, all of which repost or retweet journal publications and news articles written by his friends in the field. Once in a while he posts a piece of woodwork he's made, and Enjolras is always the first to like and comment a 👍.

Enjolras' public Instagram, which has no profile picture, no description, and only the occasional post of current news affairs with a loooong caption sharing his thoughts. One day a student finds his Twitter, which is entirely in Korean, where it's also 90% of him sharing about news that may have gone under the radar (esp. things happening in Korea/Asia in general) and then 10% of him asking the void for dating advice. No one replies to those 💔.

Bahorel's public TikTok, where he has 3 workout videos and 48 duets of him arguing with people on bad history takes. Sometimes he goes on TikTok lives with Grantaire and they talk about bullshit for 3 hours straight.

Jehan's Tumblr, which is solely dedicated to Romantic literature. They invite students to send them asks and they answer them pretty often, usually about book/show recommendations, further readings, and opinions on poets and playwrights. Every so often an anon will send a scathing ask roasting Jehan's taste, and every time it's Bahorel.

Bossuet's private Instagram, where he only allows students who've graduated to follow. Except the app keeps glitching and his students keep getting in, so every day he has to softblock them again. His profile is pretty simple though, just pictures of him and his friends, his food, yearly graduation photos with his students etc. Alas, all of them have EXTREMELY horrendous IG filters on them. He likes it, okay?!

Joly's Twitter, where he retweets mostly cute/funny animal tweets, interspersed with the occasional Twitter thread where he goes on long tangents debunking myths about historical illnesses like the black plague, the cholera epidemic etc. He's currently curating one about COVID in his drafts. It's 80 tweets long.

Grantaire's public Instagram, which has about 1,320 posts because he posts about EVERYTHING. His breakfast, a nice cloud, a store having a clearance sale (in which he will tag his friends and caption "Shall we go?") etc. He treats IG like a group chat with all his 289 followers. A lot of pictures of his friends too. Whenever his students win an award or competition he posts about them as well, just with a huge censor bar to conceal their identity. He uses up all 10 slots for the IG carousel post, with the 10th picture always being a sneaky photo taken of Enjolras that day.

Bonus:

Marius' Twitter, except it took forever to confirm it was Marius because his tweets are in four entirely different languages. The students only figured it out once they saw a Twitter thread where Enjolras and Marius were debating with each other in Korean.

Éponine's TikTok, where it only has one video thus far, and its her sending off Gavroche on his first day of school. She uses her account to roast Combeferre’s and Joly’s science experiments, as well as bully Bahorel and Grantaire on their TikTok lives.

Cosette's public Instagram, which is a pretty popular bullet journaling account. Very aesthetic; students follow her to get some decor inspo and study tips. Her IG stories are pictures with Valjean and Fantine captioned "brunch with my favourite people!! 💫💗" or blurry pictures of Enjolras coming out of his bedroom at 2pm on Saturday captioned "Bigfoot sighting #39"

[mrsimqle]

I’ll always be there to point and laugh when people act like it’s impossible to depict black and poc in their art especially the damn sims

[dhddmods]

Dissociation guide!

After writing our guide to plurality, we figured a guide to dissociation would be helpful too.

(We also recommend reading our regression & executive dysfunction guide, anthro & alterhuman guide, and intersex guide!)

------

Dissociation is an experience where a person disconnects from themself or reality in some shape or form. This typically occurs during/after a traumatic/stressful experience, as a symptom of dissociative disorders (DID, OSDD, DPDR, UDD, PTSD, etc) and attention-disruptive conditions (ADHD, MADD, etc), or as a symptom of a mood disorder (BPD, bipolar disorder, IED, etc), or an anxiety disorder (OCD, social anxiety, etc.)

Dissociation could occur randomly or have specific triggers. It typically occurs as a protective method for the brain to disconnect from a painful situation, or occurs when a person is flooded with intense repressed memories and flashbacks (such as with PTSD.) It can also be induced through sleep deprivation, hypnosis, meditation, or specific drugs.

Dissociation comes in multiple forms. These forms can overlap (ie; immersive daydreaming + identity confusion).

Dissociative types include the following:

-Dissociative Trance: a form of dissociation in which a person "zones out" to an extreme extent. They do not respond to things happening around them, and may be sitting still or moving around. Their eyes can be open or closed. -Autopilot: a form of dissociation similar to a dissociative trance, however they do respond to the things around them. They move around and act out things that they subconsciously know how to do (ie; cleaning dishes), and can conversate with people talking to them. Their responses may be clear and coherent, or their responses could be slurred, nonsensical, or slow. They might have efficient physical control, or they might act uncoordinated. They may or may not remember what happened after the autopilot is over. -Depersonalization: a form of dissociation where a person feels disconnected from their own body/self, and may not view themself as a real person, or may view themself as a stranger. It might feel like controlling a video game character, or watching a TV show. This could be an in-body experience or an out-of-body experience, where they observing themself from a 3rd person POV. -Derealization: a form of dissociation where a person feels as though the world around them is fake, dreamlike, or foggy. They feel real, but the world/people around them do not.

-Immersive Daydreaming: a form of dissociation where a person enters a daydreaming state, which is more extreme than typical daydreaming. It feels like truly entering another universe, and the real world genuinely feels as though it slips away. A person may be doing tasks while daydreaming (autopilot) or zoning out (trance). Unlike typical daydreaming, it is usually not easy to break an immersive daydreamer out of their daydreams, and they can get "lost", and might even begin acting out what they see in their daydreams in real life (speaking the dialogue, walking around in the same way, etc.) Some immersive daydreamers are able to re-enter a previous daydream in the future, in the same way a system headspace works. If an immersive daydreamer has one of these headspaces, it is known as a Paracosm. If a paracosm has characters within it, they are known as Paras. Immersive daydreaming exists for all people with MADD, and is common amongst people with ADHD, autism, and similar conditions. -Dissociative Amnesia: a form of dissociation, when a person experiences memory loss or blurry memories after an event. Unlike autopilot, they were not dissociating mid-event, and only felt any signs of dissociation after the event was complete. Usually this is a smaller scale (such as forgetting two hours of time), however long-periods can be forgotten as well. In extreme cases, they may forget large portions of their life, and not remember essential details (name, age, location, etc.) Lost memories, in both small and large scale cases, can be revived with time or psychological help. This is common amongst PTSD, DID, OSDD-1a, OSDD 2, and OSDD 3. -Identity Alteration: a form of dissociation where a person's identity (gender, attraction, name, skills, mannerisms, personality, etc) shift for an episode of time, however when that episode is over, the person does not recall the shift happening. Even though they do not remember the shift happening, they might retain skills learned while shifted (for example, suddenly having better art skills, but not remembering how they learned it.) These episodes could last for a short or long period of time, and might be confused as dissociative amnesia or autopilot. For example, a person with a mood disorder who has a huge mood-swing episode (ie; suddenly becoming enraged and destroying household items), but once it is over, cannot remember it happening. Another example is a LITERAL shift in identity; plurality with amnesia barriers, where the person that switched either did not have access to the innerworld, or no innerworld exists, and so the next thing they know, several hours have passed and people are accusing them of saying/doing things they did not do. -Identity Confusion: a form of dissociation where a person has episodes where their identity feels blurry or inconsistent. For example, a person who is partially age regressed, and cannot properly recall their age, and keeps going back and forth between acting childlike and like an adult. Another example would be two (or more) sysmates who are blending in an unstable way, and cannot properly identify who they are or what is happening.

[mist-the-wannabe-linguist]

Girl help why is a fantasy setting using modern American gender terminology

They could've already bounced off of the existing term aqun-athlok and show the gender culture of the North largely adopting Qunari concepts as part of cultural exchange resulting from the literal hundreds of years of war with the Qun. The only openly transgender characters we know of are from Tevinter anyway! They already wanted to show the Qun in a more positive light in Veilguard, having Thedosian queer culture be primarily influenced by the Qun would be a great way to do exactly that

[mergaliscious]

it's interesting how every trait that ppl use to demonize narcissists (except for the ridiculous ones to demonize that are actually harmless) is also very prevalent among the general population, especially among untraumatized and privileged individuals

like yeah, *some* narcissists are assholes, but the traits that make them assholes are extremely common among people who don't have NPD and were simply never told they have to care about other people

it's like neurotypicals/egotypicals will accept this sort of behavior *unless* it was developed as a coping mechanism. Like it's only bad if it's a symptom of mental illness. And fuck that.

[icewindandboringhorror]

I've referenced before how I have a big google document to keep track of every media I've ever seen in my entire life (just for reference because I like to track everything possible lol… I am the Data Collector), but recently as I was updating it, I thought of actually evaluating them to find out random percentages (like for example, out of Total Shows Watched, what percentage did I finish vs. stop watching, what percentage did I like or dislike, etc.)...

Evaluating these things is made easier by the fact that I already place everything on each subsection of the list into 6 broad ranking categories, so I don't have to go back and guess to figure out how I feel about them or anything. The categories are: Ranking 5 - overall best* (despite some criticisms of course because I'm too much of an Analyzer to ever find anything Perfect lol) Ranking 4 - more positive than neutral, but not good enough to be 5 Ranking 3 - either the good + bad negate each other, OR it's just not memorable/interesting in any way enough to be ranked higher or lower (this is the Default category ALL things are placed in if no other rank applies) Ranking 2 - maybe a few redeemable elements but largely more negatives than positives Ranking 1 - So bad that it circles around to being fascinating to observe in some way (not necessarily Funny, or Good, but just interesting somehow) Ranking 0 - Bad in a genuinely frustrating or obnoxious manner

*("best" primarily defined here as most interesting, rather than most good in a technical sense, or some other measure. I tend to value more highly whether there's something novel or thoughtful about the worldbuilding, tone, writing, base premise, etc - than about whether it's actually executed perfectly.)

And here's the amount of shows that have so far been placed into each category -

TV shows ~ Rank 5 (highest) - 20 shows ~ Rank 4 (mid-high) - 28 shows ~ Rank 3 (neutral/default/meh) - 114 shows ~ Rank 2 (mid low) -33 shows ~ Rank 1 (low low but intriguingly so) - 14 shows ~ Rank 0 (iredeemably low) - 2 shows

This would make for a total of 211 TV shows overall. However, there are 57 shows within these list marked as "didn't finish" (typically meaning I quit on the very first or second episode - but log them still to keep a record that I at least had a brief view of them).

So my total of genuinely fully watched shows would be more 154. 211 Total, but a More Accurate Total of 154.

Counting them all and using the Total Number Of The List (211) -- that means roughly 9.5% of all total shows I have ever watched (or at least attempted to watch) have been Mostly Good, 13% have been Moderately Okay, 54% have been either entirely Forgettable or some mix of good + bad that lands them right in the Neutral Middle, 15.6% have been Mostly Bad, 6.6% have been Bad (but in an interesting way), and 0.9% have been Terribly Bad.

Additionally, I didn't even get past the first two episodes of about 27% of the total.

Sooo, discounting ones I didn't finish, my total TV shows ever watched in my life would be about 154 (maybe give or take a few, assuming I might have forgotten some from very long ago).

But instead of entire life, let's just say this is the total for 'About 20 Years' (so, not counting very early childhood when I likely wouldn't remember things I saw/have no detailed recollection of them (like for example, I'm sure at some point when I was like 4yrs old I must have seen an episode of Spongebob or something, but I have zero distinct memories of it, can't quote anything of it, and barely recall the premise - so I don't count it on the list, etc.)).

In that case, 154 divided by 20 would be roughly 7.7 shows a year.

Which is actually surprisingly low considering that I often have stuff on in the background for hours whilst I make sculptures and do costumes and stuff (maybe I should have also marked some distinction between 'things I fully paid attention to' and 'things I kind of half listened to whilst sculpting', but that would further split the categories too much probably lol), but I guess a lot of that is youtube videos or random documentaries, so .. eh.. maybe I get it being lower.

Now, doing the same thing for movies-

Movies ~ Rank 5 (highest) - 4 movies (3.4% of total) ~ Rank 4 (mid-high) - 12 movies (10.3% of total) ~ Rank 3 (neutral/default/meh) - 91 movies (78.4% of total) ~ Rank 2 (mid low) - 8 movies (6.8% of total) ~ Rank 1 (low but interesting) - 1 movie (0.8% of total) ~ Rank 0 (irredeemably low) - none in this category (0%)

That makes 116 for a Total (Actually Remembered) Movies Watched In Lifetime (Or At Least In 20 Years).

116 divided by 20 is roughly 5 or 6 movies a year (I feel this has probably been skewed though by adding everything since like elementary school onwards, as I remember a lot more movies from child/teen years.. Whereas, the past 3 years I feel like I've barely seen maybe even 5 movies?? lol). I also have "Didn't Finish" marked on 18 of them. Which means I quit halfway through about 15% of the total movies.

So, a for broader summary stuff..

I seem to be less forgiving to movies than tv shows, by far. Which makes sense to me, I guess, because I love elaboration and details, so "short form" things that only last an hour or two are often lost on me a bit. My biggest complaint with movies is indeed usually walking away just wishing there had been more exposition, more scenes where characters are doing nothing, more "mindless bantering" conversations, more Quiet Downtime and Lore Elaboration and so on lol, so... of course most 1-2hr films end up feeling a bit Not Enough To Draw My Interest/Nothingy to me.

If you count 5 and 4 as "like" and rankings 2 to 0 as "dislike", then for TV shows I at least somewhat liked 48 of them, and at least somewhat disliked 47 of them.. So it's almost exactly the same lol. I'm just about equally as likely to find something bad as I am to find something redeeming about it. But overall, the largest chance is that I just won't really care much for it at all and it will be tossed into the 'neutral' pile, forgotten forever. Movies have a bit better of a balance, "liking" 16 of them, and "disliking" only 9 of them. So I'm slightly more likely to enjoy a movie than to find it annoying - though still VASTLY more likely to just not find it anything in particular, possibly not even finishing it.

ANYWAY.. this is vague and literally pointless, but like I said, I just really find information fun. Like my document where I've rated every apple flavor I've ever tried (like 40 of them now?), or reviewed every oreo flavor (32?), or ranking data from my entire 10 years of Trying To Make Friends process (out of 100 people, roughly 8% chance of a moderate compatibility, 3% chance of high), or etc. etc.. I love to have random pointless things to analyze I suppose lol.

I doubt anyone tracks things in their life in this same exact way, but I'd be interested in hearing any at least somewhat similar data !!! (like, how many TV shows you watch a year on average, and what percentage of those you like vs. dislike (if you keep track of that sort of thing), etc.)). I guess it might be easier with movies, since I think some people use those websites where you curate a list of movies you've seen and you can rate them or something, so maybe the numbers are already available on those places. :0

[flagellant]

I'm sorry I'm just bitter because I saw someone asking how Hozier could possibly have come up with the concept for the song Eat Your Young. "How could he have come up with the idea to combine themes of gluttony and capitalism and climate destruction and the war machine?!" God who can say how someone might write something which compares gluttony to consumerism, the capitalist philosophy that has consume in the name. How could he have possibly made a modest proposal about the war machine's hunger for the young due to the desire of the powerful for more power? Truly, the idea of this specific combination of criticisms towards capitalism, the war industry, consumerism, and Christian hypocrisy--no one has ever had ideas like these even once for the past fifty or so years

[flying-cat]

I just saw someone say "I wasn't educated on politics so I didn't vote" then why didn't you educate yourself??? We all have little computers in our fucking hands guys this is kind of something to USE THEM FOR.

[old-skyguy]

People who engage in queer discourse seriously need to be reminded of what being queer actually *is*.

It's not fitting into heteronormative standards.

It's not fitting into amatonormative standards.

It's not fitting into gender norms and doing stuff that makes YOU happy. It's taking control of your own body and doing what feels right instead of something that you felt forced/were forced into. This INCLUDES intersex people.

Just because you don't understand someone's identity does not mean you can't be supportive and it does NOT mean you get to tell people whether they do or don't belong in the queer community. They don't owe you thing about a DAMN thing in terms of an explanation in order to justify their queerness. If they say they're queer, they're queer. If not, they're not.

And again. This INCLUDES aro/ace/aroace spec people. It INCLUDES cishet aro/ace/aroace spec people.

It INCLUDES straight trans people. Anyone gnc who identifies with being straight or cis in any way. He/him lesbians, she/her gay dudes, agender people, pangender, it/its, who actually gives a fuck??

This INCLUDES intersex people.

This INCLUDES people who use neo pronouns/identities. It INCLUDES micro labels, even the most obscure ones you haven't heard of because you know what? They use it because it makes them feel good.

It INCLUDES the "cringe" people you think are too weird to be associated with. You can't make up someone's mind about whether they belong especially when they're disabled and have already been excluded from a lot of shit for most of their life, not to mention it's really insulting. Even if they're just "weird" or some shit and not disabled at all, still!! Don't be an asshole! I can't believe I have to say this to a group of people whose entire thing is acceptance and unconditional love for differences, but if you don't accept people in your own group who are different from you, you are the problem!!

Queer just means you don't fit into society's view of what "love" or your sense of self means and I PROMISE you that all these people and all others included in the LGBTQ *Plus* know themselves better than you do. You can ask, politely, if you're curious, but no one owes you an explanation and if they feel like they belong, just leave them be and ignore them if you're really so stuck-up you can't handle queer people who are "weird" or "different" to your idea of queer. Because if YOU are deciding who does and does not get to be included - in YOUR narrow idea of queerness - YOU ARE THE PROBLEM.

Flag discourse and pronoun discourse and identity discourse other whiny little assholes complaining about this and that. None. Of. It. MATTERS. Go to a gay event irl or whatever and *no one is going to give a FUCK.* And if they do, they're not worth your time. I promise ipromiseipromise people irl are open to having actual intellectual conversations about identity and shit and the rhetoric of other queer people just telling you to KYS for using some label or some shit is only because the online world of pointless arguments is bleak and sad and devoid of the connection that actual complex people with feelings and unique experiences exist behind the screen. If you're one of these ignorant people, get better, and if you've ever been on the receiving end of this mind rot, it gets better.

The only way we will ever make a change towards a problem that actually matters, we have to forget the whole "UNITE AGAINST THE CRINGE ONES" narrative and open our eyes and stand together against the real oppressors.

Ridiculing people you hate because they're different will not help and will only hurt yourself in the long run.

[reality-detective]

It's never too late to feel who you glide with in unison, but when it happens... Every fiber of your being will let you know because energy doesn't lie.

People come into our lives through frequency and people leave because of frequency and when we least expect it a magnetic vibration like no other is drawn closer. That magnetic pull cannot be denied and then two become one flowing effortlessly together. 🤔

[gayofthefae]

Found a new, concise way of putting it that I'm gonna try and remember so I can reuse it:

To say, as a straight person, that a queer character's queerness is out of the blue or unrealistic is to claim that they understand the queer experience to be able to identify inaccurate representation of it.

To call a character's queerness out of the blue as a straight person is to claim full understanding of the queer experience.

[weltraumii]

Strfs yah