#everybody irritate me

[offthewall1979]

the "mj's real voice was really deep, the high pitched voice was just an act for the public" thing is really tiresome. people just talk differently in different situations. i think he was self-conscious, i don't think it was some grand manipulative scheme. he grew up in the spotlight, with hundreds of thousands of people focused on his voice. he spoke like that as a very young teenager. there are private phone calls where he sounds just as gentle and high pitched as in interviews. there are live performances where he used a deeper voice to command more attention. maybe there WAS an element of manipulation - i do think he was very aware of his image and effect on people - but i don't think it was some elaborate conspiracy

[batsplat]

OT3: casey stoner/his neuroses/the concept of valentino rossi that mostly exists in casey’s head

y'know I have this casey stoner... idk what it is. thematic mind map (literal), let's say, that I like fiddling with and adding things to when the mood hits me. and it does always strike me just how many of his struggles during his careers and issues with the sport can in some way be linked back to the valentino rivalry

casey's sense of isolation? super valentino related. casey's feelings of cultural alienation in a paddock dominated by europeans? even when it's not really related to valentino, casey is the one linking those two things together. casey's issues with other riders not being respectful enough on track? very obviously repeatedly about valentino. casey's discomfort with the performance and entertainment-related aspects of the sport? more valentino. casey feeling treated unfairly by the manufacturers, the media, the marshals, the fans.... keeps coming back to valentino. casey's mystery illness really shouldn't be as relevant to the rivalry as it is, but somehow through this combination of public discourse and whatever comparisons casey's brain is cooking up at any moment in time... there valentino is again

one of the most charming things about valentino's feuds is that in each and every single one, both participants end up being deeply weird about each other? just keep knocking off these banger quotes about the other where you read them and go. hm. what's going on there then. I don't want to make it sound like I think casey is the worst offender with this (not when marc and valentino have their whole thing going on, bidirectionally)... but I do think he's the most susceptible to conflating his valentino issues with like... everything else that was going on in his career. to the extent where his alienation with the sport as a whole, his extreme disillusionment from everything related to motogp, really cannot be meaningfully disentangled from the valentino rivalry. at times it feels like, to casey, valentino literally is the sport. and that's the thing casey dedicated his whole life to!! which means you do inevitably end up regularly going 'wow there's a lot to unpack'. add in a dash of neuroticism...

and yeah you're so right anon!! the neuroses are what end up creating the version of valentino that mostly exists in casey's head, a version that casey is just a touch obsessed with. I always think it's interesting how aware casey is that he doesn't know valentino as a person - and to the extent casey does know him, he gets on pretty well with him... but valentino the person isn't all that relevant to him. it's valentino the character who matters - and can you even really know a character? in the end, all casey can do is rely on his own understanding of that character, as imperfect as it is. and, well, in a way casey is trapped with that character forevermore. if one man comes to embody a sport to such an extent and if that sport has been your life's work, how can you not be a little bit trapped? as he tries to make his peace with the sport and his experiences within it, so too has casey settled on a narrative of valentino that helps him make sense of it all... a very specific understanding of his rival that casey has shaped in his mind and still trots out now when he sells his own version of events to the media. casey learned from valentino, casey learned to be a little more like valentino, casey learned to fight valentino with his own tools, casey tells himself a story of that fight. he still continues to do so - and in the end he will never be entirely free of valentino

[king-magppi]

The brainworms are so strong rn. Twin... Twin what happened...

[medilies]

Do you ever watch s3 and s4 and realise you're not enjoying it that much

[sonitavalentine]

An unpopular opinion maybe, but honestly, all those CAMEOS and I couldn't care less. Like, I watch a tv show about the damn X-MEN, about mutants, I'm interested in those characters and teams, not others. I need no Captain America (okay, the episode where Rogue kicks his ass was cool, I have to admit), no Iron Man, no Dr Strange or whatnot. If I feel the urge to watch something about Avengers no I open the motion media about them. I understand, of course, that they all exist in one universe, but if you erase them from the X-men plot nothing will change.

[jrueships]

yall thought yall were safe from my 1998 temptations movie posting, but, rest unassured, you are not . melvin is old man running toward you with his chronic rheumatoid arthritis at excruciatingly slow speeds as we speak .

he's so :3

[snorpdawg]

AND NOW, A TANGENT ABOUT SOMETHING THAT ANNOYS ME MORE THAN I WANT TO ADMIT.

In Wambus and Triffany’s hut, on the rack next to their bed there’s a belt. If I had to guess, it presumably belongs to Wambus.

But for what reason? The Grumpuses usually go about their daily lives 75% in their birthday suits, so the belt implies that wearing pants IS an option for Grumpuses, but that they apparently just prefer not to.

[devilsskettle]

so funny to me when men complain that they’re also victims of the patriarchy because they’re “not allowed to express their feelings and always have to act like they’re strong and stoic” etc because like, as if women are allowed to express their feelings???? since when

[timothyslucy]

opened tiktok to a fan edit of eric and roselyn and had to laugh at the top comment that read, "i'm just so glad for once that the fans don't ignore the wife and try to push two fictional characters to date in real life" because idk what fandom this person is talking about because there is always that one ☝️ egghead out there commenting on chenford edits like, "i ship them in real life too! 😍" and everytime i see one of these comments it makes me want to throw my laptop against the wall because after 6 years you'd think people would learn that eric and melissa kissing on screen is literally just a part of their jobs as actors.

they're only acting as if they are in love, they will never actually be in love. thanks for coming to my tedtalk.

[philodendrongirl]

2 weeks on buproprion tomorrow ... feeling normal .. suspicious. Going down on my lexapro as well. I do feel a bit different from that lol but its very subtle i feel. Not rlly gonna be noticing much until its a few months in

[necrytalkie1]

I know jve said this before but I dont know what it is about me when I talk quietly that just pisses people (mainly men) off when they talk to me. like I can be talking completely normal if a little bit quieter and it just pisses these people off to no end even if I'm careful with what I say and am perfectly calm! would you rather I just be super rude to you so you have an excuse to blow up on me is that it ? like what is going on

[yourheartinyourmouth]

you know. i get that people offer empty platitudes when they don’t know what else to say. but when that’s the only thing you get back, it starts to be fucking patronizing and it really starts to piss me off. it’s fine if you don’t have anything to say!!!! just don’t say anything! just say “i’m sorry you’re going through this.” and leave it at that!!! i don’t need the Soppy Sympathy Express to show up every time i express frustration over my situation!!!

[mildmayfoxe]

the thing about reading so many romance novels is my threshold for what is a decent reading experience is basically on the ground. what in any other genre would be a completely mid to not very good book is often a shining bastion of decency and basically ok grammar in a barren wasteland of like absolutely dogshit literature with half strung together sentences and only the barest wisp of character development and personality. i’ll finish a book that actually deigns to think for half a second about character motivations and has any kind of vaguely assembled plot and be like “wow. that’s reading baby :)”

[marplediscopuchine]

Whom do I try to fool, whom do I try to trick into thinking that I love nature?..

[widogastsweboffire]

.

[langfield]

Hi, I have a question I was wondering to get some kind of insight from you??? You have thinking skills....that seem a lot better than other bloggers around here and that's a compliment. It's incredibly basic but how do you feel about like the prospect and moralization of 'problematic characters' in the LIS games?? I realize this is loaded possibly in everyway , but I mean the highly moral and controlling nature of this fandom 'cherry-picking' when someone has the audacity to like 'problematic characters.' I realize this is becoming a bigger problem with characters like Nathan, Warren, and Finn. For example Nathan fans are...often accused of being literal pro-sexual violence or are told they 'worship a murderer'. It's so overbearing to the point that the overall controlling nature of this fandom leads people to act like they must shame and humiliate people who like those characters and not only that but they also want to make it 'illegal' for someone to like specific characters. That sounds pathetic, but i don't know how else to say it. I don't want to exactly interject a personal anecdote, but 'problematic character discourse' can lead people to a dark place and it gets ugly so fast it's scary - which is why I'm unfortunately asking this. I'm just looking for some kind of light and reason honestly. I realize this is such a contentious topic and I'm not so sure if i worded this well, but I'm hoping you'll say something reasonable.

off the bat, i’ll say that i already talked a bit about this topic somewhat here : where i discuss puritanical views ( also known as purity culture, which i think plays somewhat of a hand in this topic ) and how negatively i feel about them. bringing up morals as a means of winning arguments over fictional characters is frankly ridiculous and always will be -- especially when they do things like claim the real people behind these accounts are somehow evil or disgusting for their preferences. many of the life is strange characters are extremely flawed and immoral in the things they do, to the point that it’s a mechanic in life is strange 2 in particular. there are many reasons why characters behave ‘problematically’ … some of which are extremely sympathetic and relatable reasons, even if their actions aren’t necessarily excusable. to simplify all that nuance into black and white thinking goes directly against the themes shown throughout these games and is rather small minded in general. but you already know that! i don’t have to explain why nathan is more than just a ‘murderer’, because the game itself makes it obvious and does want you to sympathize with him somewhat. or why finn isn’t some heartless monster because he did something fucked up, a thing he actively apologizes for and a thing that makes sense given his backstory. or how rachel amber is a victim who, like any teenage girl, was flawed and a little desperate, and definitely wasn’t some sort of abuser or evil seductress. i could talk about it, and i’m sure i will in the future, but let me explain my feelings along with my thoughts on this matter of cherry-picking in the lis fandom.

my feelings? simple! i do not like it. i find it dumb and i usually block people who act like asses, which means in this fandom, that’s actually a good chunk of the fans. i’m here to fixate on this franchise and how i do that is via analysis! i’m very character focused, i can spend hours picking apart a singular character until i’m going in happy circles over it … i love seeing why characters are the way they are, what they might’ve been thinking in certain scenes or feeling, how they mesh with their fellow characters, etc etc. the plots of lis are fine too, of course, but if you take one look at my blog as well as my rp blogs, it’s obvious where my interests lie : characters and their relationships. i’m a shipper at heart, so playing around with multiple characters and observing how they would exist in their dynamics is my guilty pleasure and the main thing that hooks me in fandoms. although romance and sex is the core of any fandom, so i don’t think that’s too shocking. i mean, my url is a ship from double exposure, you know? so because of my deadly combination of interests and expertise, i’m prone to being subjected to these accusations and awful opinions -- things that irritate me deeply enough that i do often privately rant to friends about it. i try not to be too hateful publicly, but my discontent with the fandom could fill a river to be honest. my tragic disposition is that i have the very normal ability to find characters or dynamics interesting without necessarily liking them … or, to be more apt, i’m able to put my biases aside for the sake of understanding that people are entitled to their opinions as well as being able to ask myself the questions of ‘is this really how the ship is? is this how the character is? or has my dislike / liking of them clouded my vision?’ the latter technique is how i conduct myself on here and in fic. my most self indulgent and biased opinions or works stay deep in discord or on my personal for a reason! i think most lis fans are chained by their biases and, unlike most, are unable to understand their warped opinions because of it. which is where we run into a lot of the fandom’s core problem, which is that a loud majority of fans are phrasing things as fact despite evidence of the contrary, and they simply don’t care to change those ‘facts’ into opinions because they do not care about the source material. they care about fanon and their own headcanons.

( i should note that this is very normal and not inherently bad! it’s only when these hcs become law that things get dicey quickly. that’s what leads to harassment and the rise of purity culture. they want an echo chamber instead of a group full of creative individuality, because people not creating the content they want suddenly means this other unwanted content must be entirely bad and spoiled, in a way )

i think these personal biases are shown in the wishy-washy moral codes fans push forward. for example, many fans choose to sacrifice arcadia bay and view this as the right choice to make! but then some of these fans will turn around and demonize the blood brothers ending, claiming that sean and daniel are now ‘evil’ for killing those cops at the border, without any regard for the fact that they’ve killed many innocent people in arcadia bay. somehow max’s choice at the end is morally correct while sean’s choice is not. this is also shown in the fandom’s forgiveness of chloe’s character while loathing nathan’s, a character who parallels chloe in many ways ( a comparison that max herself makes in her journal multiple times ). people will say finn is evil and disgusting due to him taking advantage of daniel’s power for what he perceives to be a greater good, but will overlook chloe doing the same thing in lis:1, where she repeatedly wants max to use her powers chloe’s way. and yes, chloe does put them in danger with this ( ie wanting max to go back and shoot her drug dealer ). people will drag safi through the mud but will see rachel as a flawless angel. etc etc. the point is this : these so called moral codes that the entire fandom should follow are shaky at best, and completely hypocritical at worst. their favorites can get away with whatever they want while having their flaws erased or reasoned with, but their least favorites are put on trial and every nitpick they personally have now becomes a real life crime. it does not matter if you obviously don’t agree with what the character’s done, the fact that you like them at all is a punishable offense, simply because these sorts of fans don’t want anyone to like their least faves. if they have a problem with a character, so should you. it’s an ideology that’s even found in how these people discuss the games, with them angrily typing out essays and throwing out insults ( like, ‘you don’t understand good writing’ ) when a game they hate is, god forbid, mildly enjoyed by others. the lis fandom doesn’t want to be a fandom, it wants to be a hive mind, so a method they use to ensure their own opinions stay relevant and undisputable is by using real life morals to scare fans into compliance. think of how some fandoms use the ‘they’re actually found family so this is incest you freak’ excuse when a ship they don’t like just happens to exist in their presence lol. big scary words ( ones that lose all meaning in these sorts of arguments ) do happen to actually scare people and shame them, so it’s never really surprising to me when these terms surface. some other terms used frequently in this way are romanticizing, sexualizing, and condoning. people are so hateful and eager to repress anything they dislike, rather than using tumblr’s blocking features to curate their spaces instead.

and as you said, this sort of discourse gets ugly quick. i’ve seen anti warren anons that claim to hate him because they’re essentially oh so morally righteous then send innocent people the most revolting, most graphic death threats that contain vivid descriptions of rape and torture. i’ve seen my fair share of disgusting anon hate, but even those particular anons shock me with their oozing loathing of people they do not know and are purposefully trying to trigger and scare away. frankly, you’re not morally correct at all if this is how you behave over fictional bullshit. warren supposedly being a ‘nice guy’ stereotype that hurts people in real life is not at all comparable to sending death threats to actual people just because you’re mad they won’t conform. i don’t give a fuck if you like jefferson so long as you’re a respectable human being and understand that many people don’t want to see that man in their space, and rightfully so. just mind your business! find your own space to exist! block tags of things you don’t wanna see and block blogs that make you angry! i don’t care what anyone does, so long as they stop these stupid crusades of purity in what is canonically dark and serious material. yes, people can ship ( insert notp here ) and they’re entitled to that ship and their blog. block them. yes, people can relate to a bad character, and yes they can do that while still condemning their more extreme and cruel actions, it’s not that hard to do, and if you don’t like it? if you can’t understand? then block them. now, are there people who genuinely woobify these characters or ‘fetishize’ the things they’ve done? do some people give off red flags for the things they say about some of these more problematic characters? sure. i’ve come across people like that before myself, but again, i just block them. there’s no point in arguing or harassing anyone on the internet for a plethora of reasons, so it’s better to just mind your business and to create a safe place for you first and foremost. surround yourself with likeminded individuals and filter tags that upset you instead of being cruel or demanding of others and their time. it’s easier for everyone in the long run.

also it isn’t actually illegal to like any of the lis characters anyway. you won’t go to jail for liking, say, lucas colmenero from double exposure … or sean prescott from lis1 and bts. you can’t go to jail for canonical relationships that exist in game, like rachel and frank or rachel and jefferson. or for crackships like nathan and vinh, or whatever else. actually going to jail for your fictional preferences is stupidly hard because it is just that, fiction, and that fiction isn’t inherently harming anyone. cops don’t want to do their jobs half the time anyway! so my advice to anyone is this : don’t ever feel shamed into not sharing your opinions or liking the characters / ships you enjoy. nobody can take that away from you and you will never be punished for it in a way that matters. you do you! that’s infinitely more interesting than following the grain and doing nothing of interest … the lis fandom could do with more diversity in opinions, content, and the likes. and i also mean this for things i won’t like or agree with, because i support the passion if nothing else.

one last reason i could think of as for why people behave in this manner ( outside of bias and a general need to conform ) is the simple fact that complexity is regarded as scary nowadays. people are afraid of things that require actual deep thought … and they’re frightened by things deemed unhealthy or gross by fandom. they’re just as scared of those labels as the people they throw them at are, you know? they don’t want to like things that are ‘bad’ themselves and so they veer on the side of squeaky clean characterization and fluff. they want what is familiar to them and what makes them comfortable -- and there’s nothing wrong with that. nobody has to like what squicks them out! despite my own fondness for nathan, i think everyone is entitled to despise him and to avoid his name like the plague due to the uncomfortable themes tied to his character. i wouldn’t blame someone for it … i might not agree with some of the things fans say about nathan, but that feeling that they have is valid and not something i’d ever dispute. you can’t debate with someone’s feelings on something, only their thoughts and views. i keep that in mind often whenever i want to comment on a post or reblog it with my own spin, because some people aren’t receptive to genuine debates and that’s fine. they can air their feelings publicly so long as everyone else can too, so long as they don’t harass others or claim other fans are ‘evil’ or ‘disgusting’ for their opinions. but yeah, i think fear of complexity plays a factor in all this too. people aren’t really encouraged to use their critical thinking anymore, instead there’s a push to be right or wrong -- to be ‘correct’ above all else. this sense of competition has really infected fandom spaces, and while fandom has never been perfect, morality has only recently started to be weaponized as a means of winning these so called battles.

honestly, there’s so many layers and reasonings to it. most people aren’t malicious and just happen to share the majority opinion! or some people are too ashamed to put themselves out there, so they copy whatever sounds best … or, sometimes, people just don’t care about engaging with media in a nuanced sense, so their views on the media are simple and close minded and that’s fine. one could talk for days about this topic, but i’ll shut up for now. i’m sure i’ve talked enough about it, anyway!