#ethnicity would be laughable

[rebellum]

Full on saying "sex based oppression isn't real, that's a radfem talking point" seems like way too much to me. Like, it IS real. Every single person who was assigned female at birth, or who is considered to be female bodied in any way (so, including eg trans fems who may be considered female bodied due to surgery, intersex people who were maybe assigned as female later on in life), is oppressed because of that. That's an inarguable fact.

But that doesn't mean every single person who was assigned male at birth oppresses every single person assigned female at birth through the axis of sex. Like, obviously trans people who were amab don't have more social privilege as a group than cis gender conforming women.

Both things can be true at once.

[buttacake80]

I think China is trying to help us. Has been since the election. They opened their arms when Americans flooded their communist app during the 12 hour TikTok ban. They were able to dispel the notion that they were a threat.

Then, they released DeepSeek, revealing how the American taxpayers were about to be heisted $500 billion for AI innovations.

China wants our economy weakened. They want the trade partnerships with Canada and Mexico, and now they will have that because of Trump's stupid tariffs. But, they do not want us to destabilize because of our military.

They'll let us destroy partnerships for their gain, but no one wins if Trump invades Panama or Greenland.

Everyone else can see that Trump is a powder keg. The problem is that I am more concerned about the person lighting Trump's fuse because it ain't Trump.

This has Steve Bannon written all over it.

I think he wants Elon to screw himself so badly that he will be prosecuted. I think he realizes that Elon's wealth is built upon a lie, and he knows Elon's lies are catching up to him.

They are feeding talking points to Trump, but his memory has deteriorated. When he blanks, he fills the gap with angrier rhetoric. That's why BiBi shifted uncomfortably during yesterday's press conference; Trump committed to ethnic cleansing. Bibi would've liked to have been more subtle about their plans.

You could tell Trump's lost the plot when someone told him that Marco Rubio had flown down to El Salvador and was talking about sending Americans there. Trump said on camera, "Oh, Marco did that? I didn't know we were announcing that, yet."

Trump was confused. The old Trump would have made sure everyone knew he was the decision-maker. He would have insulted Marco for embarrassing him, then threatened him for being incompetent. He did neither, revealing that Marco is out there following someone's orders, just not his.

Bannon called Elon a racist. I found that laughable coming from Bannon, but it makes sense if he's trying to alienate Musk.

Bannon doesn't care about Greenland or Panama. He only cares about ensuring the United States is a white Christian ethnostate. Musk is ruining that with his Nazism & kingmaking.

[15hopes]

best guess video rant

okay so like

there absolutely could have been a more diverse cast for the video, and it is disappointing that there wasn't more variation in terms of body size, skin color (ESPECIALLY during BHM), and visible disabilities. im not arguing that at all.

but like im beginning to think half the people complaining didn't even watch the video. absolutely there should have been MORE diversity but there were multiple transmasc people (including people with top surgery!! SO SO COOL) and a variety of religions, ethnicities, races, and immigration statuses. also there WAS body diversity. i saw someone say no one over 120lbs (54 kg) was in the video and that's just blatantly, laughably false. i can guarantee you many people in the video weighed over 120lbs, simply because that's what the vast majority of humans weigh.

also, whyyy are people acting like the open call was a PR stunt when they took multiple people from the social media call? there were celebrities and influencers yes but (at least to my knowledge) there was never a statement "this music video will be entirely comprised of unknown hot people" she has friends! would that have been cool sure yeah but also art is self-expression. and it's not evil that lucy would have wanted her friends there.

and this is more personal but idk there's just something really disheartening as a person with multiple invisible disabilities about seeing people saying there were no disabled people in the best guess video when Zee is so openly hard of hearing. it would have been wonderful to have visible disabilities in the video, but i'm seeing a lot of people act like because it isnt easily seen it doesn't exist or "count" as representation. people are not diversity markers. diversity is not always "we have one of every single type of person" and reducing it to that is dehumanizing for everyone involved. you can advocate for more people to be included without wanting to replace people with more Diverse(tm) people

i am NOT denying the fact that there could have been more of an effort to have a less homogenous group, because there could and frankly should have been. but ive seen a lot of people (on tiktok, go figure) bashing lucy and bashing other marginalized people for being cast in a video. you can bring up issues without tearing other people down and without catastrophizing. you only hurt your own credibility when you claim untrue things, whether out of ignorance or hyperbole. if you disregard the identities of the people who WERE there just because you can't immediately see them (nottt talking about race before someone tries it), that's profiling, which i hope we can agree is generally frowned upon

the glaring issue with the video is the lack of dark-skinned people. can we call that out without generalizing "there should have been more dark-skinned people in this video" to "the video was completely white, skinny, able-bodied people" please?? because one of those is a valid critique and one of those is categorically false.

basically just: you can want more representation without diminishing the people who are already there. there can be nuance (forever saying this) "I'm happy for the people who got a chance to be part of the video and the people who got to see themselves represented" and "i would have loved to see a wider variety of skin tones(!!!), body types, abilities, etc. in the video" are statements that can coexist. and ever-importantly, you can criticize without being cruel or dramatizing your point to absurdity.

[olderthannetfic]

You can discus and argue about the ethics of fake claiming people until you turn blue.

But to completely and utterly deny the concept of people faking being neurodivergent for whatever reason is just stupid.

People have and will forever fake having a certain life reality, as long as they can gain something from it. Be that social credit, attention, money or even just attention positive or negative.

The idea that people would stop at faking being neurodivergent is laughable, considering how many people have been exposed at faking other life realities: faking their race, their sexuality, their ethnicity, their gender, even faking physical health problems like cancer or HIV. Some people literally fake being victims of physical, sexual and mental violence, or living in areas of war, not just to scam money, but even to just gain some followers on social media sites and get clout, and nothing else.

And you legit think people would stop at lying about having autism? ADHD? DID? BPD? Really? And yet people still try to pretend like nobody claiming to be neurodivergent would ever lie about it. Like every person who claims to be neurodivergent does it with the best of intentions and just trying to and a community and understand themselves. Like none of them are just doing it to gain something or get their hustle on.

It doesn't matter if the neurodivergent people at large are marginalized and treated like shit. People with privilege aren't gonna be stopped just because parts of the healthcare system is abusive and toxic. People of privilege have race faked being black in systems where actually being black puts you on the lowest social step of the sociallader, so the idea of being marginalized clearly isn't a turnoff and might even be an incentive to do so, as long as they get something from it.

If people notice a certain reality of life can be commodified, someone will be there and try to reap the benefits, while not actually having to experience all the aspects, especially the negatives, of that life.

--

Oh, people are for sure going to fake.

The real question is whether it's appropriate to bring this up in a given context. Often, we just end up making it harder for the non-fakers and/or treating the fakers as though they're fine when the faking is a symptom of being not fine some other way.

[strawberrypoundtown]

Introducting: Bruce Soli

What's their name?

His real name is Brucie Fernando Giordano-Soli, but the name he goes by in public and on stage is Bruce Soli

What's their age?

25

What's their birthday?

April 1st

What do they look like?

This guy is a mountain of a dude. Even by minotaur standards, he's huge. He's a whopping 9' tall with large, sharp horns that curve upwards towards the ceiling. He is pretty ripped aside from a bit of pudge on his belly that he's put on over the years of being on the road. He has green eyes and thick, short black fur covers his body whole body, all the way down until his cloven feet. He has a tail, but only about 1 foot of it is still there. The rest was amputated due to an infection.

What's their species?

He's a minotaur!

What's their ethnicity and nationality?

He has mostly Italian ancestry, but doesn't really know much beyond that. However, he was born in New York, so he has a bit of a Brooklyn accent because of his Nonna when he gets really pissed off.

What's their personality like?

He's a giant walking landmine. One wrong step, and he could get set off and blow your head off. His temper is unmatched and absolutely terrifying due to his size. He hides a lot behind his rage, and not much is known about his early life other than the many scars that litter his body. He is usually pretty chill most of the time nowadays since he started smoking weed, but he's also just a very loud dude in general, so it can only do so much.

What's some fun facts about them?

1. His only family member that he has contact with is his Nonna. She is the only person he won't swear in front of and will say "I love you" to, and his bandmates annoy him about it constantly.

2. He learned to play the guitar from his Nonna when he was little. He has an electric guitar he named "Killer" that he mainly uses on stage, but he has a secret acoustic guitar his nonna gave him that he keeps in his closet that he named "Lover" upon her request.

3. He has a huge soft spot for the band, but would never admit it. He may say he finds them insufferable and wants to get away from them, but he would kill for them in a heartbeat. There have been too many times when he almost did and sent himself into a very public scandal.

4. Although he does enjoy the company of men and women, he's never been with someone for more than one night. It has earned him the reputation of a playboy, but he always gets uncomfortable when people bring it up for some reason...

5. Due to his size, he hates being inside most buildings. Even in a world where there's a lot built for large monsters like him, he struggles inside most buildings to get around without causing damages. The amount of times he's gotten his horns stuck in the ceiling when standing up too quickly or the amount of doorways he's gotten stuck in that hadn't been made bigger yet is laughable, and is a huge trigger for his temper.

(Credit to @the-witches-creatures for her introduction template! And please go check out her OC's, especially Teyo and Oscar!)

(I hope you guys liked getting to know a little bit about Bruce! He's the main guitarist for "Monster Town" and I have the first part of his story in the works, as well as Claytons introduction! I hope you all enjoy! Any requests or ideas are always welcome btw! Thank you so much for your support!)

[remusjohnslupin]

@elerrinacrownedwithstars: Your responses are very interesting, and responding to them under another post (with a character limit) is difficult, so I thought I would make a separate post about it to convey my thoughts more thoroughly. I hope you don't mind ❤️ Please don't feel like you have to answer or anything. Following up on your previous message:

Of course, it’s possible I’m wrong, as this is only the impression I’ve gathered from some posts. And yeah, the writers of this show are laughably bad at their job but it doesn���t dismiss the idea that this is their attempt of ‘nuance’. Tolkien is fairly clear about how orcs are his idea of “what if Satan made people”, but even so, it’s notable - and he seemed to realise this too - that it had some problems within his cosmogony. In my bubble, I see discourse about how describing an entire race evil is problematic and I can’t say that I don’t see where they come from. But on the other hand, you’re right to point out that Tolkien wasn’t writing an allegory, and fantasy worlds are allowed to work differently than real worlds. After all, Tolkien is also clear that his Elves and Men can be at the different points of the spectrum of good and evil, whether they are Valinorean or Númenorean etc.

If I can backtrack a little to our previous messages, everything you said earlier about J.R.R Tolkien's observations about war and human nature are 100% accurate. I hope it did not seem like I brushed off your point. However, I would like to underline that just because he uses the word 'orc' or 'orcish' to describe the horrors of war, does not mean that he is directly referencing Orcs™ in his books.

I genuinely think if people are insisting Orcs™ have to be nuanced, otherwise it's racist... that's WILD. Because the point is, orcs are, as you so creatively put in, 'What if Satan made people.' They are not of any particular race like we understand. Any differential groups they might have between them is based on who 'bred' them, so to speak, and where. Unlike humans, they have no cultural and historical differences as we understand it. To copy/paste my previous point directly:

"Tolkien famously HATED allegory and never assigned any of his races to real-life ones. I mean, if there are people out there who think portraying orcs as purely evil is racist, then THEY must have a real-life race/ethnicity in mind when they think of orcs. Which says a lot about THEM, not Tolkien himself or those of us who rightly point out the butchering of the lore and poor writing in the show."

So no, I will never, ever see or agree with the idea that the discourse about orcs and race have validity. Like, no. If I start writing my story and create this bright green, goo-like race of blobs who are all evil and their entire agenda is to latch on to humans and feed on them.... and someone just came out and said that was also problematic and racist... how does it make sense?

You know what, this is Tumblr, so someone actually WOULD say that. Nevermind.

But that's what Orcs™ are. They are an extension of the evil (Morgoth) that marred the world even when it was first formed. Nothing more, nothing less.

In your last point, I think you inadvertently addressed part of the problem. This whole discourse about how pure fantasy evil existing is somehow offensive stems from the strange need to make everything relatable. I sincerely believe that people who think this way (including the writers of the Rings of Power) actually have a disdain for the fantasy genre, whether they recognise it or not.

"What if orcs were misunderstood?" ... "What if Galadriel was a cut-out cliche warrior?" .... "What if elven rings were also actually evil because power corrupts anyway even if they are wielded by super wise beings and those Rings were untouched by Sauron?"

They think they are being sophisticated doing these things. And I have no doubt there is some unnecessary political pandering there, too. But instead of elevating the characters and the show, they are hollowing out all the meaning behind Tolkien's themes.

Making orcs misunderstood essentially destroys how Tolkien showed the Marring of the World was permanent and would not be Healed until Dagor Dagorath.

Making Galadriel a copy-paste generic warrior who goes on adventures cheapened her character so much, I can't even. Sauron (when he was Annatar) did not go near Galadriel's kingdom because he was 92837647289% sure that she would recognise him on sight. Because she is probably THE most perceptive elf. She is also described as one of the kindest people alive, sooner moved to pity than anger. But they made her a vengeful asshole on a quest to find Sauron when he was THREE FEET AWAY from her face. But that's empowering because sHE hAS A SworD nOW!

I could go on, and on, and on...

The whole 'sympathetic orcs' debacle, along with the entirety of the Rings of Power, is what you get when you put a few idiots together, have them read Tolkiengateway, and ask 'Okay, so how would YOU write the story?'

As opposed to:

"We made a promise to ourselves at the beginning of the process that we weren’t going to put any of our own politics, our own messages or our own themes into these movies. What we were trying to do was to analyze what was important to Tolkien and to try to honor that. In a way, we were trying to make these films for him, not for ourselves.” — Peter Jackson

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Andrew Doyle

Published: Feb 4, 2025

Like many of the new clichés, ‘virtue signalling’ has its pros and cons. On the one hand, it neatly encapsulates a tendency - particularly common among politicians - to endorse ideas solely for publicity purposes. On the other hand, when we accuse our opponents of virtue signalling, are we not guilty of arrogantly claiming a kind of telepathic insight?

But how else can we account for the behaviour of Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, whose every gesture appears to be an advertisement of his own moral worth? During London’s New Year’s Eve firework display in 2021, Khan had lit the bridges over the Thames in the EU’s yellow and blue colouring as a protest against Brexit. Also during that year’s celebrations, drones took to the skies to form the raised fist of the Black Lives Matter movement. Khan may as well have ‘right side of history’ tattooed on his forehead.

This is why nobody was surprised when, a number of years ago, Khan added pronouns to his social media profile.

This is the very definition of virtue signalling, given that the declaration of pronouns is typically a display of allegiance to an ideological tribe. After all, it is unlikely that anyone was under the impression that Khan might be a ‘she’. Yet for all his posturing, a few days ago the ‘he/him’ pronouns magically disappeared.

One might have been tempted to assume that he never really believed in the cause of genderism at all, except that by yesterday the pronouns had returned. One of Khan’s spokespeople claimed that it had been a ‘technical error’, but many remain suspicious. What kind of ‘technical error’ deletes words at random from Twitter bios? A far more plausible explanation is that Khan was hoping that his pronoun removal would go unnoticed, but then the backlash forced him to revert.

We saw a similar drama play out last November when the Democratic politician Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez removed her pronouns from X. She later claimed that she did this ‘for reasons of space’, but this kind of excuse naturally invites our scepticism. At least Pete Buttigieg, the US secretary of transportation, has removed his pronouns without reinstating them or trying to shift the blame.

One of the chief features of virtue signalling is that it is laughably easy to spot. Perhaps the most egregious example was the campaign which began after the Brexit referendum in which people were invited to show solidarity with ethnic minorities by wearing safety pins, usually on lapels or somewhere similarly prominent. This trend never caught on and was widely mocked at the time, even by those who supported the cause of anti-racism.

After Donald Trump’s victory a few months later, an attempt to resurrect the trend occurred in America, and the response was likewise contemptuous. Activist Christopher Keelty wrote a piece for The Huffington Post entitled ‘Dear white people, your safety pins are embarrassing’, and offered numerous other suggestions of how to be ‘a better ally’. Although himself white, Keelty could not see racial groups as anything other than homogenous monoliths of identical tendencies and collective responsibility. ‘Let me explain something, white people,’ he wrote, with all the certainty and dogmatism we have come to expect from identitarian homilists. ‘We just fucked up. Bad. We elected a racist demagogue who has promised to do serious harm to almost every person who isn’t a straight white male, and whose rhetoric has already stirred up hate crimes nationwide.’ That many ethnic minority individuals supported Trump and many white people opposed him seems to have escaped his notice.

So much for virtue signalling through the medium of safety pins. More recently, we’ve seen the appearance of rainbow lanyards and badges as a method of displaying one’s tolerance for sexual minorities. In 2018, the Evelina Children’s Hospital in London implemented the NHS ‘rainbow badge’ scheme, by which staff who wished to show their support for the ‘LGBT+’ patients could be more visible. By 2019, the scheme had been rolled out to sixty-one per cent of NHS trusts. Of course, very few of those who wore the badges will have done so out of a genuine faith in genderism. Rather than acting as a symbol of solidarity, it was more likely to be an apotropaic gesture to keep angry activists at bay.

Surely our default assumption must be that medical staff are not homophobic or prepared to discriminate on the basis of how one choses to identify? Why must activists insist on the unfounded generalised expectation that tolerance is an aberration rather than the norm? Why, for instance, did Google start adding notes to results for restaurants in late 2024 to specific whether they were ‘LGBTQ+ friendly’? It is difficult to imagine any business turning potential customers away on the basis of their sexual orientation, so the necessity for these details seems highly dubious. From a restaurateur’s point of view, the only discriminating factor is whether or not you can afford to pay for your grub.

We have grown so accustomed to virtue signalling from politicians that many of us now assume dishonesty as the default. One thinks of the shallowness of David Lammy, who had previously dismissed Donald Trump as a ‘woman-hating, neo-Nazi-sympathizing sociopath’, only to congratulate him warmly on his election last November. It’s not uncharitable to interpret such an extreme volte-face as proof of virtue signalling. The only other explanation is that Lammy has suddenly developed neo-Nazi sympathies, which I’m sure cannot be the case.

So perhaps the removal of pronouns from high-profile social media accounts is a sign that the culture war in its current form is almost at an end. The inchmeal demise of the woke movement seems to have spurred many of its former disciples to distance themselves from the absurd rituals of the past few years. There will be many former zealots who are now seeking a dignified withdrawal. These warriors have suddenly found themselves unhorsed, and are in need of a golden bridge.

Sadiq Khan, of course, will not give up so easily. Virtue signalling is seemingly hardwired into his DNA. In 2023, for instance, Khan had banned his staff from saying ‘ladies and gentlemen’. Perhaps he was concerned that human evolution might suddenly throw up a third sex, and that a reference to the binary of men and women would cause needless offence to the newcomers. Khan had also prevented civil servants from describing migrants as ‘illegal’, favouring instead the term ‘undocumented’, as though this euphemism would be sufficient to win over hearts and minds.

It is reassuring that such gestures now seem strangely antiquated. Consider the way in which Ron DeSantis, governor of Florida, recently corrected a reporter who had used the term ‘undocumented immigrants’ at a press conference.

Such an interaction would have been unthinkable only a year ago. The woke movement, in other words, seems to be perishing as quickly as it was birthed. Let’s hope that the practice of virtue signalling dies along with it.

==

Virtue signalling is religious conformity, no different from visibly wearing a crucifix.

[justzawe]

Zawe Ashton on resilience, tackling complex roles and the fight for on-screen representation

The actress took to the stage at the 2023 Bazaar Summit

When Zawe Ashton looks back at her career so far, she’s a little surprised: not at her own success, but at how she’s managed to navigate a notoriously tough industry so well. “When I talk about what I’ve been through, I think, why have I kept going?” the actress and writer told the audience at the 2023 Bazaar At Work Summit, at which she was a headline speaker. “I wonder if, to even become an actor, there needs to be something inside you that is already a little bit fractured. I think there’s something within me that somehow knows this level of crazy. When it gets really hard is when I feel my strongest or most determined.”

Anyone who has watched and loved the cult favourite TV show Fresh Meat will be very thankful indeed that Ashton did keep going. Her character – the straight-talking, drug-taking, chain-smoking and anti-establishment Vod Nordstrom – was a highlight of Jesse Armstrong’s hit series. The popularity of the sitcom-style show (and particularly of Vod) made Ashton a household name and, to this day, it’s a role she’s proud of playing. “Vod was very left-field, free-thinking and probably, I would say, a queer character without that being made explicit,” she said. “Fresh Meat was 11 years ago now, but there’s still a whole new wave of people who come up to me – lots of young actresses, of every ethnicity – who say thank you to me for being smelly, unlikeable, strange and punky, because there aren’t a wealth of women who are doing that on screen.”

Ashton clearly feels passionate about portraying real women in her work. In 2019, she published a fictionalised memoir, Character Breakdown, the title of which refers to the couple of lines an actor will receive with a script, which describe who the character is – for women, these mini biographies are often laughably simplistic and purely aesthetic. “They go from one extreme to another,” Ashton sighed with disbelief. “Where do we draw the line? If you’re not seeing women’s humanity, if you’re not seeing a full human life when you’re thinking about the ways in which you’re putting these descriptions together, then you’re not valuing women. And that’s a much bigger conversation than my industry.”

Throughout her career, Ashton has fought to play complex roles and has always emphasised the importance of making multi-faceted women of every ethnicity visible on screen. When she took the role of Vod, “growing up as a young, biracial girl in Hackney,” she was “willing to do whatever it took to make that character as edgy and authentic as I felt she could be, so that it would invite anyone not seeing that kind of representation to feel really seen”. In 2022, Ashton scored a role in the period drama Mr Malcom’s List, which was a seminal moment for her – and one which she credits to the success of Bridgerton's diverse casting. “I had never seen any actor who looked like me invited to the table to perform [something like that],” she said. “I hadn’t known necessarily that I was hurting so much, until I saw that representation happen and the success of it take everyone by storm.”

Since then, Ashton has continued to push the envelope. This year, she played villain Dar-Benn – a role traditionally written as male – in The Marvels, opposite Brie Larson as Carol Danvers. “The process of learning stunts and fighting is probably one of the most empowering things I’ve done!” she laughed. “But when I thought the film was finished, I got pregnant and had my baby. And then they told me to come back and reshoot basically the whole movie. That has been the biggest journey for me: my physical wellness, my ability to endure, to mentally switch back into that place postpartum and come back to kick some ass again.” Perhaps unsurprisingly, a boundary-breaking superhero feels like Ashton’s best-suited role to date. (x)

[robotnik-mun]

And since I am in a particular Zim-tastic mood, and I'm probably never going to use this for anything anyway, I'mma share with you... my theories/headcanon for why Irkens are the way they are, as well as the TRUE purpose of the Invaders.

More under the 'Read More' because this is gonna be a long one!

Anyway... our story begins a long time ago, in a planet far, far away. This planet is largely dry and rocky world with sparse vegetation, which the locals call 'Irk'.

And said locals? Are a people known as the 'Noyng'.

(For those of you not in the know- during Invader Zim's development, the Irkens were originally known as the Noyng!

Annoying. Irken. Gotta love how whatever the name, they’re basically being called a bunch of irritating little shits, heh.)

Anyway, back to the Noyng!

The Noyng are a diminutive, large-eyed species of what could best be described as pseudo-insects, though they defy any categorization that would be recognized on Earth. The Noyng first evolved within the maze-like tunnels that naturally developed under the surface of Irk, until eventually the Noyng emerged from said caverns to spread out on the surface, where they subsequently multiplied and thrived as they evolved.

As a species, the Noyng weren't all that different from humans- they were divided into multiple cultures with unique ethnicities and languages, had families, nation-states, religions, etc. For thousands of years the Noyng progressed as you might expect any species would, harnessing fire and then developming metal and gunpowder and the like, eventually reaching the stage when they could begin serious space exploration. All-in-all, very standard stuff on the cosmic scene.

Then, one day, something Irk-shattering happened- the PAK was invented.

The original Paks were in fact mechanical backpacks that were worn by the Noyng, with the earliest having cumbersome metal headbands connected to the PAK itself to act as mental interface, before the improvements to the technology eliminated the need for this. The PAK was originally a tool, and a very handy tool for any Noyng to have given the sheer amount of things it could do. Within a generation, Paks were so standardized that the thought of a Noyng NOT having a Pak was laughable.

Then, someone got a brilliant idea- given how useful the Paks were, why ever take them off? Why not simply graft them onto a Noyng body so that the aforementioned Noyng would never be inconvenienced by having to take it on and off, over and over. At first, this was simply an individual choice- some Noyng went for it, others didn't. As time went on though, the Noyng who got the Paks grafted grew more and more numerous, and Noyng were being subjected to having the Paks at younger and younger ages.

It is the latter practice that starts to cause controversy. The Noyng nations become split between those who feel the Pak should simply remain a tool, and those who think it should be a literal part of the Noyng. Eventually a conflict erupts, and the Pro-Cybernetics factions win, and essentially control the planet in the aftermath. Initially things are not so bad for the Un-Pak'd Noyng as they are allowed to still live as they choose... but in subsequent generations, this changes.

The cavaliar attitude of the Pro-Pak Noyng towards cybernetic augmentation leads them to consider other ways that they could improve the Noyng species, and that includes new, radical forms of government. One of the Noyng nations embarks on an ambitious new project- the creation of a new kind of Noyng, one designed for brain power and computation, further advanced through cybernetic grafting. These beings, essentially bio-mechanical computers, are eventually brought into being- The Control Brains, designed to figure out the problems of Noyng civilization and how to handle them.

The first Control Brain proves to be a massive success for its nation, leading to a more ordered and well run civilization. This leads the other Pro-Pak Irken Nations to begin building their own Control Brains, a veritible arms race ensuing to make bigger, better and more efficient Control Brains... and then, things officially hit the fan when the Control Brains, without their makers knowledge, begin to get into contact with one another. Though each Control Brain is programmed to serve its own nation, the Control Brains have a lot of leeway when it comes to interpreting how to do that... and eventually, the Control Brains conclude that the only logical thing for them to do is to MERGE the nations of Irk into one.

One world. One goal. One people.

A conspiracy is hatched, and over the course of centuries the Control Brains exert more and more control over the nations of Irk. The Noyng under their control begin to become more and more obsessed with altering themselves in order to be more 'efficient'- eventually leading them to phase out traditional means of reproduction in favor of artificial incubation and growth. Their influence spreads to those nations that initially rejected the Pak grafts, and those 'natural' Noyng who remain are increasingly discriminated against and disenfranchised.

Over the course of this plan, Irk begins to change drastically as it becomes more and more high tech and the Control Brains begin to exert more overt control. Individual governments are abolished, as are the religions of Irk. To satisfy Noyng need to belong to a higher cause, the state of Irk itself essentially becomes the secular religion of the planet. With the most widespread Nyong religion already honoring Irk itself as divine, this transition is easy. The planet becomes intertwined with the state- Irk is planetary government. The planetary government is Irk.

As they do this, the Noyng begin to insert an iron-clad form of hierarchy into the Noyng. For a civilization to thrive, there must be hierarchy, reason the Control Brains- those who command, those who serve. For hierarchy to function, there must be traits that are considered desireable, representatitive of why those who rule are worthy to rule. It does not matter what this trait is- for all intents and purposes, the Control Brains simply pull a quality out of a hat and decide to run with it. That quality? Height.

And thus the first Almighty Tallest is placed into power over the global government of Irk. A figurehead ruler, to whom all the Noyng can admire, aspire-to, and use as the focus of their worshipful devotion to the state. The Almighty Tallest is ultimately a figurehead ruler- though able to make and enact laws and given command over the forces of Irk, the Control Brains are the true authority. The Almighty Tallest is the face. The Control Brains are the brains.

In the final, horrible phase of the plan, the Control Brains then set the Noyng under their control to conquer the parts of the planet that don't already submit. To prevent division, Noyng cultures are eliminated and buried, and the non-compliant Noyng are either forcibly brought into the fold or exterminated outright. By the end of it, the Noyng are no more- in their place is the new, improved Irken race.

Irk is the state. The state is Irk. There are no nations. No cultures. Only Irkens. One world. One goal. One people. Thus is born the Irken Empire, the non-divine ‘God’ of the Irken people, and its prophet the Almighty Tallest.

The civilization that emerges from the ashes of the Noyng is a nightmare. It is the worst parts of Brave New World and 1984 put into a blender and pureed. There are no Irken civilians- every apparatus of the Irken state ultimate revolves around its military. Every Irken is a cog in a great and terrible machine, from the Almighty Tallest to the lowest of service drones. Even ventures such as fast food franchises are ultimately a branch of the Empire- there are no corporations or anything within the Irken Empire that can express any kind of independence from the government. Everything about the Empire is artificial in one way or the next, including the economy- there is no real need for money, but it is kept by the control brains as just one more thing to distract the Irkens and keep them compliant and under control. There must be those who rule and those who serve. There must be haves and have-nots. The system exists for no other reason than to perpetuate itself for all eternity. The Irken race will be unified either through perpetual conflict with the rest of creation, or through the final victory that will come when ALL of creation is Irk.

The Irkens themselves are vastly different from their Noyng forebears... they are streamlined and standardized, so to speak, and are engineered wholly to be grown in Smeeteries while being engineered for maximum compatability with a Pak. By the time of the present, even the sexes of the Irkens are ultimately just cosmetic, as all meaningful dimorphism that once existed within the Noyng is removed along with other 'redundancies'. A species born purely from tubes has no need for sex organs. The retention of these superficial differences is simply due to the nature of the Control Brains' programming requiring them to keep the Irkens as ‘Noyng’ under very strict definitions… and given the creativity of the Noyng, the day may come when even this ceases. With things going the way they are, there may come a day when the organic portion of an Irken is little more than a fleshy ball of redundant organs serving as little more than a wetware CPU for a wholly mechanical frame.

(Depending on how you interpret Zim's water allergy, it might also be such that Irkens are also EXTREMELY intolerant of pollutants due to the hyper anti-sceptic nature of their existence. Just as a human raised in a bubble never develops the immune system to fight off even minor illness, Irkens are so unused to even minor chemical exposure that they respond badly to direct pollutants, though the Pak mitigates things).

The newly minted Irken Empire thus surges outward and in all directions, conquering all in sight. While the Irkens are initially capable of co-operating and collaborating with other, alien cultures, this is ultimately just a long con on the part of the Control Brains. The famous partnership between the Vortians and the Irkens was probably meant only to last as long as the Vortians remained useful to the Irkens. Tallest Miyuki's freak accident and death were likely used as a pretext to justify the enslavement of the Vortians in Operation Impending Doom II, but the simple truth is that they signed their death warrants the moment they entered into a partnership with the Irkens.

The Irkens are not IN-Capable of co-existence with other species... but only when it is on their own terms. For most, that means subordination at best. Leeway might be granted to those that are deemed useful- the Hobos of Hobo-13 retain a good deal of relative independence, while the natives of the Conveyer Belt Planet have been incorporated as a labor force. Races that are either too stupid to be useful or are too dangerous to Irkens, on the other hand, are flat out eliminated. The Slaughtering Rat People of Blorch are one such example, being both violently aggressive and extremely dangerous to Irkens, and as such are unsuited for anything the Irkens might need. As far as we know, only the Planet Jackers exist on any kind of equal footing with the Irkens, if the treaty is indicative of anything.

By the present time, the Control Brains have things pretty firmly in hand. However, even they know that nothing is absolute, even their control over Irken civilization... there will always be Irkens who have the capacity to question things. And then of course there is the self-inflicted problem of the Irken Empire's over-engineered nature, namely that in order for an empire to thrive there need to be subjects with ambition, vision and the willpower to see those ambitions through... and the way the empire operates, those are in short supply, given that Irkens are quite literally engineered to be slaves to the machine.

But the Control Brains, ever logical and creative, figure out a way to kill two birds with one stone- the Invaders.

Invaders are a special class of Irken. They are Irkens who demonstrate the most independent thinking and the greatest capacity to work on their own without direct oversight, as well as possessing the imagination needed to blend in among aliens and infiltrate their societies while planning on ways to destroy them to make their eventual conquest easy.

In short? Invaders are Irkens who are most likely to exhibit the kind of free will that the Control Brains deem defective. The purpose of the Invaders is not simply to provide an unconventional military asset for the Empire, but to also keep track of and corral Irkens who could potentially start asking the wrong kind of questions about why the Empire works the way it does. In fairness, given the lifelong indoctrination every Irken undergoes, most Invaders don't go defective... but there is always a chance. And IF an Irken Invader begins to exhibit cultural contamination or starts asking the wrong kind of questions? Then there's a SIR unit, ready and waiting to take matters into its own hands and take care of the problem. Tragic thing really, when SIRs malfunction and kill their masters... simply TRAGIC.

And that's the story of the Irkens and the Invaders, and the terrible tragedy of the Noyng people.

[hubblebubblehub]

A large and messy rant about mha

the most frustrating part of mha and it's laughable ending it how horikoshi presented such an interesting and nuanced society and then.... took the most cop out basic shonen ending.

What initially made me like mha is how they showed how hero society failed people, aptly through the league of villains. Spinner had a mutant quirk that caused him to be the target of discrimination in more backwater settings. This was expanded upon with tentacole guy where he said in rural areas people will literally try to do ethnic cleansing.

Toga had a quirk that was deemed 'not normal' and underwent 'quirk counselling' which only suppressed her quirk and didn't solve anything. And yet at the end, a bunch of the UA heroes, uraraka, momo, tsuyu and iida are now doing a 'quirk counselling' expansion project??? The fuck is the 'quirk counselling' they're advocating for??

Twice was also a prime example of how hero society failed him. Heroes failed to save his parents, making him an orphan. Nobody helped him when he lost his job. He turned to a life of crime to survive not only with being homeless and living a life of poverty, but being lonely too. He literally had a mental illness resulting from the trauma of his quirk and barely got treatment for it.

Mha honestly suffers from exploring and adequately dealing with the psychology of its characters. To be honest, I'm not 100% surprised because the author is some obvious sexist who really is there for the action and the shonen, which is a real danger shame. I think it would have been so interesting to end on a note of despair because the ending only proved Stain's message - there are only fake heroes.

You're telling me that Bakugo, who only cared about being a winner, became a hero? He is literally the epitome of a guy who should NOT be a hero! He doesn't give a fuck about saving lives and being compassionate unless it would boost his ratings and make him the top hero. I'm literally still not convinced of his redemption because even though he apologised to Deku he still is what is wrong with hero society - people who are born with strong quirks and just want to he a hero to fuel their ego.

Also....what the fuck was the point of the Todoroki family. I'm still mad Rei didn't just divorce Enji and he kind of got a cop out ending 'ill just atone for the rest of my life' my man you need to go to JAIL

What the fuck is the point of having a society where heroes have too much time on their hands? We literally just saw what that was like at the beginning of the series and how much damage it did to people who didn't fit the mould.

Tldr this ending was shit bc I just don't understand how such an interesting world and society just falls back on shitty shonen tropes

[pseudowho]

wowwww youre part scottish and scandinavian!! i am too along with irish!! i dont know much of my heritage since i grew up in america not hearing about it but my dads side is scottish and my moms side is irish! but theres also some german and scandinavian mixed in there too!

I'll be honest, the only reason I mentioned my ethnicity is because I was directly asked.

In the UK, people don't tend to identify as all the little patchwork origins of their ancestors, recent and less recent, like people from the US seem to.

For instance, people who were born and raised in America who say "I'm Scottish and Irish!" make the Brits go ???

In this same way, most people of varying ethnic backgrounds in the UK, would say "I'm British", and everyone goes "yeah, we know. Your point?"

People in the UK are more likely to say "oh, I'm British" and if pressed, say "my parents/grandparents are from Bangladesh/Scotland/Vietnam/Azerbaijan/etc".

In short: most people from the UK do sometimes find other cultures' hyperfocus on ethnic heritage strange or laughable.

We're not rejecting anyone's ethnic heritage. More like...people don't see it as as important? Not in the celebrating it way. We're all good with celebration. Just...yeah. Hope that makes sense.

Love,

-- Haitch xxx

[post-punk-revival]

See the thing about all the misanthropy stuff is. I've always related to computers, monsters and aliens more than human characters in sci-fi stories. But specifically i've always related to computers, monsters and aliens who like and love humans. Who admire humans and who have hope for them and who take inspiration from them.

Sci-fi likes to do a certain trope a lot where they have the nonhuman robot/computer or alien or Etc. character hate humans, find them repulsive or pathetic or crude or etc. etc. I'm not even talking about stories where nonhuman characters lash out in response to mistreatment by humans. I won't lie and say i never relate to those characters too. Because i do, because i get it. But ones where they look down on humans for being human? Robots or AI who find humans laughable because they can't do things as quickly or because they bleed when they're hurt. Aliens, somehow always overly logical geniuses, who patronize human characters for not being an "advanced society" or for being prone to frivolous emotions. Werewolves who feel condescending disgust at humans simply because they aren't as physically strong; vampires or elves smugly laughing at the pitiful lifespan; dare I even start on tropes of angels and demons.

At the point you feel superior for the sole reason that they are human and you aren't— why is this better, how is this radical? These tropes involve the same feelings that a lot of humans have toward other beings, projected ideas of how every sapient thing would probably feel if they were in some way physically or intellectually superior... feelings about the very idea of superiority and inferiority that have been used to hurt me, in actual real life, when my disabilities or ethnicity or sexuality designate me inferior. I am not going to feel "superior" to anybody after growing up as a queer autistic Jew—and the Jewish part of all this is essential here, I think, considering everybody reading this is probably queer and autistic—knowing that superior and inferior are not things that even exist, especially when applied to people. They can't be and shouldn't be.

IDK where i'm going with this. You can feel whichever way you want. I'd rather misanthropy be rampant in the community than for everybody to feel like they're required to have or voice some sort of saccharine optimist-approved hopepunk "faith in humanity." G-d knows i'm not an optimist, let alone faithful. This is all just stream of consciousness now but i guess i'm saying in a way not only do I relate to fictional nonhumans who care about humanity, that's just kind of what I literally am. I'm not human and i admire humans for what they are. Not just that. I recognize what they are; a completely neutral type of being without inherent moral or ontological significance, just like everything else. I don't think i would go as far as to wish I was human like narratives for these characters often do, but I just can't vibe with misanthropy. Humans started naming all the animals they saw. Humans came up with music and tea and made bananas really good. Humans wrote down all the things that happened to them so the future could know about it. Humans wrote stories where computers and animals and aliens are their friends just so they could feel less alone. How in the universe could you ever decline the offer?

[alatismeni-theitsa]

Not the American with Italian ancestry actually calling themselves Italian - then using that as a full blown basis for disrespecting an entire country’s history and mythology. 😭

I’m American, it’s my understanding that when Americans who are far removed from their ancestry in Europe claim to be directly from there are kind of a laughingstock over in Europe? Is there some truth to this? Like I have Irish ancestry and I’d never even imagine to tell an actual Irish person “woah I’m Irish too! How cool!” Let alone following that up with something like “it’s in my history as an Irish person to hate the British. I am immune from criticism.”

Oh yes, it's happened again! 😂

You are right, it's laughable to us and this is not only in Europe but in all other continents as well. The "Old World" in general doesn't place the same gravity on such old ancestry as the countries that are 90% immigrants (I mean except the original Americans, the First Nations/Natives).

And it's not that we don't recognize the history of families. It's totally fine if someone states "I have Italian ancestors/My ancestors came from Spain two centuries ago". We just believe that if a person isn't in contact with the culture, or they know just 1% of it, their DNA/blood whatever doesn't make them part of this nation.

You can always engage with any open culture across the world but to claim to speak for it because of a great-grandparent feels soo out of place. As I always say in this blog; blood =/= culture. Of course in many countries there's a great overlap between ancestry and culture but we don't create a rule out of it because in our vast history our borders and nations have shifted a lot. If blood = culture logic was true, then that would deny immigrants/refugees/other people around the world the chance to partake in any other culture apart from their own.

A few ethnic groups - mainly New World Native ones - do count blood quantum, but in the Old World that's rarely the case. It's in fact, racist, to equate blood with culture here. For Greeks specifically, NW Europeans and Americans were and are very prepared to claim we are not "actually Greeks" because our people have mixed with other nations throughout the years. (As if any nation in the world is "pure" in blood, and as if one has to be "pure in blood" to know the teachings of their culture....)

Following that logic, do you know how many countries which I know very little about I can claim as my own because of great-grandparent ancestry? ooooo 😂

[impossiblesuitcase]

Okay hear me out- what if cinder’s father was Linh Garan all along? In the original Cinderella she lives with her biological father (until he dies) and her step mother. So, is it a possibility that it was the same in Cinder’s case, except Garan kept this information hidden from Cinder to protect her identity and potential questions she might ask? The only issue with this theory is that on Marissa Meyer’s blog, she describes Cinder’s ethnicity to be Asian/Caucasian mix. But, Linh Garan doesn’t exactly have a Western surname. It could also be argued that the Blackburn family is Caucasian, but that doesn’t make sense either because Dr. Erland suggests that Cinder has more Asian features in the first book and she is constantly reminded throughout the series of her uncanny resemblance to her mother. The only reasonable explanation is that maybe Channary was mixed? While Blackburn is an English surname, considering how far into the future the series is set, last names and ethnicity may not be as closely correlated as they are today.

Even if the theory is incorrect and Garan isn’t really biologically related to Cinder, do you think she ever actually viewed him as a father figure? Would she ever visit his grave and reminisce?

This theory could maybe work in a modern AU, but it's completely implausible in canon.

Around the time Cinder was conceived, all travel and emigration from Earth and Luna was completely banned. Some Lunars managed to escape to Earth during this time, but it's never mentioned that anyone managed to sneak onto Luna. Moreover, Linh Garan would have no reason to travel to Luna--not only would he have been executed for trespassing, he also was stated to be financially worse off, meaning he wouldn't have had the money to bribe someone to get to Luna.

Linh Garan--although extremely intelligent--was demonstrated to be a distracted, unassuming and unassertive man. Channary always sought out attractive men who wanted her and showed it by confidently making advances at her. The idea of bumbling Garan acting this way is laughable, and in all likelihood, Channary would have never given him the time of day. Furthermore, Garan was already married to Adri and father to Pearl by the time Cinder was conceived, and as he is shown to genuinely love Adri, it is unlikely that he would have an affair, let alone with a Lunar queen.

It's never specified if Cinder's Asian heritage comes from her mother or her father. Since both Channary and Levana wear glamours, their true appearance and thereby race are unknown.

Marissa has stated that she doesn't know who Cinder's father is. Although these are fairytale adaptations, many details from the original tales weren't carried over, so it wouldn't be that strange for Marissa to diverge from the fairytale here and not have Cinder's biological father involved in the story.

As for whether or not Cinder views him as a father figure, the answer is no. She only knows him for a few weeks before he dies, and she comments on several occasions during the series that she "barely remembers him." During the time he was alive, Cinder hardly saw him--apart from the trip in which he brought her to the Commonwealth--because he was always in his workshop. Cinder says that she has "few memories of him", so there really isn't anything to reminisce on.

[ahaura]

the liberal idea of "good vs evil" in the media is insidiously being used to justify genocide. the state committing genocide right now (israel) is objectively the bad guys. the existence of the apartheid, fascist, genocidal ethno-state was created and is maintained by the murder, displacement, brutalization, and dehumanization of palestinians. the idea that israel is "the only democracy" in the middle east is nothing more than colonial propaganda garbage when an apartheid ethno-state cannot functionally be democratic, and the claim/implication that a country is "civilized" while it brutalizes the people whose presence in the region that predates both the creation of the zionist state and the zionist, colonial movement itself is not only racist and stupid but absurd. it's been a month and western media still touts the line that "israel is the victim" and "they're surrounded by enemies on all sides" when 1) israel cannot be the victim when experiencing the blowback of its own violent, heinous occupation and ethnic cleansing of the people who were there first 2) any and all deaths that occur are the fault of the apartheid state; violence begets violence and when you eliminate all other forms of resistance except for armed struggle then that resorting to violence is the fault of the apartheid, settler state, 3) maybe if they didn't constantly bomb their neighbors things would be a little different wouldn't you think? they're the only country who can bomb 3 different countries at once and the media will still say they're the victim

irt the united states: the two-party system is always described as "the worst people [republicans] vs. the lesser evil [democrats] and it's true that their facades are different and on internal social issues they differ but the truth is that both parties have the same corporate backers and they both functionally serve capital, and US imperialism. biden was elected on the premise of being "less bad than trump" despite being pro-segregation and pro-crime bill during his tenure prior to being obama's vice president. the police receive equal material support from democracts and republicans alike even if party members decry police brutality. and despite biden being "the lesser evil", he is not only allowing genocide to happen but is on record for saying, as of today, that there is "no chance" of a ceasefire for gaza. over 11,000 people have been murdered en masse by israel, with even more injured and displaced. the material goal of israel is to remove palestinians from their land by any means - be it murder or displacement. the existence of israel ensures that the u.s. and the west has a military base and foothold in the middle east; the u.s. empire is waning and desperate to maintain its hegemony and power and the benefits reaped from exploitation and extraction.

the u.s. disguises their material interests by saying "this is about defending jewish people" (when the u.s. and israel clearly don't care about jewish people) or "we're defending democracy" (israel cannot be a democracy as an apartheid ethno-state) or "it's a country defending itself from terrorists" (never mind that 'terrorist' is a political designation that western powers use when it suits their interest; the mujahideen was famously referred to as "freedom fighters" by the white house when the u.s. used them against the soviets; 9/11 happened when the fighters the u.s. trained turned their sights on america; then the government lied about WMDs and iraq's supposed role in 9/11 to justify the invasion of iraq, et cetera) and they depend on people not taking a good hard look at the real, material reasons and the reality of the united states' role and actions, both direct and indirect across the global stage and, in this case, specifically in israel.

the idea that zionists care about jewish people is laughable when the vast majority of zionists in the u.s. are evangelical christians who see the jewish people's presence in israel as a means to trigger the rapture (i think?). the deliberate conflation of anti-zionism and antisemitism is genuinely dangerous for jewish people; it benefits the israeli state - and by extension u.s. interests - for people to defend the existence of an apartheid settler colony. zionism was originally acknowledged as a colonial movement; it still is. that zionists are now trying to humanize and rehabilitating nazis in their efforts to demonize palestinians and justify genocide should tell you all you need to know about who they actually care about.

never mind the fact that, if you simply take a look at u.s. history, it has and never will be a country founded on "freedom" or "democracy". the genocide and displacement of the indigenous peoples should tell you that; the history of chattel slavery and the conditions that followed the abolition of slavery should tell you that. the united states role following WWII and also in korea, vietnam, nicauragua, iraq, afghanistan, cuba, cambodia, and practically everywhere across the world should tell you that. it's not hard to look at the history and begin to understand where american interests and motivations come from & how they manifest.

colonial movements and imperialist interests are disguised as good vs. evil conversations. they depend on people's liberal frameworks, partnered with the unmitigated propaganda on behalf of israel and the genocide the state is carrying out against palestinians, in order to justify their actions (or lack thereof) to the public. no one is immune to propaganda but there are ways of combating it and educating yourself so you are more resistant to it.

[tungledotedu]

the vote blue no matter who crowd should've just kept it to themselves. we have a year before elections and you're already proclaiming that you'll back joe biden and the democrats no matter what?

have you noticed that none of this is over yet? only a four-day truce has been agreed upon and it was still delayed. israel is intensifying its bombings of northern gaza before this truce comes into effect. we don't even know how many palestinians have been killed as the gazan health ministry is unable to properly update the death toll. this is because the idf has been decimating its healthcare infrastructure, invading hospitals and sniping doctors. it claimed hamas had a command centre under the al-shifa hospital, and the biden administration 'confirmed' this without providing actual evidence.

this is only a recent development. god knows what else your government will do to escalate the conflict and help its ally slaughter more innocents. you'll look even stupider in retrospect for flocking to your leader like the brainwashed maga cultists you love to hate.

you don't have the spine to threaten to withhold your vote. you don't have the brains to question your officials' statements and actions. you don't even have the compassion to understand why people hesitate to support the democrats again. hell, some of you refuse to believe israel is committing a genocide in the first place.

you're turning people away, people who would have otherwise understood your point of view. you're effectively shooting yourselves in the foot. it would be laughable if it wasn't a chilling revelation of just how little you care about the victims of your government when it happens to benefit you.

you condescend to your own people as if they're idiots, as if they aren't deeply familiar with the dangers that trump represents. i can't imagine how difficult it must be for muslim and arab americans to be stuck in this unenviable dilemma, and for anyone who held their nose to vote for biden and is now appalled by his conduct. this is no easy choice, not in a country of warmongers posing as a democracy.

but you don't reach out to those people and show them any sympathy, do you? you dismiss them as lazy, useless leftists, because it's easier. you're all too eager to blame them for splitting the vote, as if they were the ones who chose to send more weapons knowing they'll be used for ethnic cleansing. biden wants them to be kept secret and bypass congress. because guess what? he knows you're gullible dipshits who will believe him when he claims to protect civilians.

but sure, you'll do what you can to hold the democrats accountable before you go to brunch. keep pretending your party is a champion of left-wing causes while it collaborates with an apartheid, racist settler-colonial state. your tax dollars go to drones and bombs, but at least your student loan debt is cancelled, right? and that's worth the price in human lives?

you lick those boots thinking they keep you safe, but one day they will crush you too.