#for this and also the grooming

[phiralovesloki]

It is not ableist or classist to say that it's antithetical to the NaNoWriMo challenge to use generative AI to "write" your story for you.

Socioeconomic class can impede your ability to write. It can mean that you don't have the money for a decent computer to write on, or you don't have consistent internet to use to do research. It can mean that you literally don't have time to write because you're working long hours to make ends meet and when you get home, you can barely feed yourself before you go to sleep.

Disability can impede your ability to write. It can that your hands can't write or type easily, due to pain or muscular atrophy or tremor or missing digits or limbs. It can mean difficulty or inability to position yourself comfortably enough to put words on the page. It can mean exhaustion or pain or brain fog that leaves you struggling to write. It can mean that you struggle with spelling, or with reading your sources.

Disability can also impact your socioeconomic class, and vice versa. Maybe you struggle to concentrate on writing because you can't afford your ADHD meds. Maybe you can't afford to replace your computer because your SSI payments are pitiful. Maybe you live in pain or suffer from debilitating depression, all because of a job that you can't lose because it would mean no food, no shelter.

Not a single one of these situations is resolved or improved with generative AI. Many, if not all of these situations could be resolved with money, whether the money means not needing to work yourself to the bone to make ends meet, or being able to purchase adaptive or assistive tech to help you write, like voice-to-text software or a more comfortable writing desk or your prescribed medication.

"Phira, but what if I use generative AI to write a best-selling book, and it results in me making lots of money, and then I use that money to solve all my problems so I can actually write?"

I mean, you might as well be asking, "Phira, but what if I steal someone else's hard work and take credit for it, and use that to make a lot of money ..."

Because that's what generative AI does. It's a language learning model that barfs out what it approximates to be what you asked for, using all of the real work produced by real people as its basis. It's not writing. It's not yours. You didn't make what it spits out.

People have already made wonderfully incisive points about how no one is entitled to be GOOD at something. I'm hoping that we can also see that it's not "leveling the playing field" for disabled people or poor people. Giving people money and healthcare does that, but generative AI does not.

[pangur-and-grim]

oh Pangur….

[wombywoo]

wedding bells 💒

[gatoburr0]

The divine, one of a kind bride and the ugly ass groom.

[rt-closetcryptic]

I spent way too much effort on this one.

[arttsuka]

I drew this meme too (I should have drawn the groom uglier tbh)

Og picture:

[ovaryuri]

i feel like the reason most people still support sex work (prostitution) is because they have a very westernized, unrealistic view of the sex trade

these days, when most people hear the phrase "sex worker," they automatically think of an affluent OF model that's in a western country and treats it as a fun thing to do on the side. however, they don't realize that these type of people only make up 0.1% of women in the sex trade.

the reality is that most "sex workers" are women, sometimes children, who are forced to be in the sex trade— usually out of survival or trafficked into it. if they're "working" for a pimp/trafficker, they usually don't see a cent of the money that johns use to purchase their bodies. they are most suspectible to stds, unwanted pregnancies, and male violence— with little to no way of protecting themselves. they wish to leave the sex trade, but find it impossible.

if people saw the true colors of the sex work and not the glittery girlboss side hustle portrayal of it seen online and in media, more people would definitely feel disgusted by its premise.

[prismalmelonman]

Touching on Gale, Wyll, and Halsin's traumas being a bit undermined in parts of the fandom

So one thing I notice on Twitter is how some people act about the bg3 characters whose abuses were perpetuated by women.

Gale specifically for this reason (but I will touch on others)bbecause I see him dismissed super often as "can't get over his ex".

But Gale's case obviously be has the line of Mystra being like "she was my muse, my teacher, and then my lover" and sure to some that's a red flag in itself (when it comes to adults I don't really give a fuck about teacher/student) but if you view it from not only Gale's own words "ive been connected with the weave for as long as i can remember"

And that doesn't distract from his genuine love of magic of course. And it also doesn't mean that he's actually been in connection with mystra for an amount of time.

However, if you ascend Gale, and he becomes a god, you get a bunch of new little things. Tara reminiscing of course, but you get a letter from Elminster, detailing that Mystra had Elminster scope out Gale when he was eight!

And sure is that pretty cool that he's a prodigy that got the attention of the goddess of magic at that age? Yes. Mystra is, however, known in forgotten Realms lore to seek young young boys who are in tune with magic to make into her chosen. And from context clues, her chosen can be anything from Elminster and Volo, dedicated wizards who try to keep things in check, etc etc. or they're somewhat of playthings to her.

Minsc also has a conversation where me mentions that weave-touched boys in his homeland were hidden away to hone their craft, then suspecting that it was because of Mystra, given Gale's case.

Gale always seems so proud that he got to bed a goddess, and on the surface, hell yeah, that's cool.

Gale continued to have her attention even as he went to Blackstaff Academy, and Mystra eventually did take him on as an apprentice directly to her, later making him her chosen, and sleeping with him.

The reason it bothers me that people dismiss all of Gale's stuff to just "he can't get over his ex" is because that's is like almost textbook grooming? She was in his life from a young age, shaping and moulding him up as he grew up to be her perfect chosen, rewarding him by sleeping with him, and so on. And then of course casting him away when he has his folly with the netherese orb (and to be fair, it very well could have looked like to her that he was trying to seize the power himself and yes the orb does siphon off weave. That is a problem for the mistress of the weave yes).

But she also tells gale to KILL HIMSELF for her forgiveness.

Gale is much more than "unable to be over his ex" this woman was in his life since he was a kid. She's almost all he has ever known. If course it's going to be difficult for him to 1. Say no to her. 2. Get over the fact that he's lost someone that he spent his literal entire life dedicated to. Honestly if asked, I don't even think Gale would acknowledge or really see that what he went through was, in fact, abuse until it was spelled out in front of him. (Which does happen somewhat with the player character pleading to him that killing himself for mystra's forgiveness is actually horrific and that he should in fact be angry for how he was treated)

Similarly, and this one has been discussed a lot, Wyll and Mizora. Wyll was 17 and actively trying to help his people. 17, in a vulnerable state, willing to do anything to help and prove himself. Mizora very clearly took advantage of him, and regards him as a "pet", refers to him being "leashed", and so on. Personally, I do dislike the sexualization of their relationship, because it very much is also grooming (although a different type. Rather than manipulating and shaping his life from the ground up, she takes advantage of a vulnerable and desperate state to manipulate and contract Wyll into doing her bidding. I won't go too deep I to this one because it has been discussed to hell and back. But I did wanna touch on Wyll's situation as well.

Also, Halsin as well, though that has also been discussed in many retrospectives by a very good friend of mine. Halsin's trauma often get dismissed due to his polyamory, open sexual nature, and his own somewhat diminishing/dismissal of it, which honestly I love the representation of, cause for a while I did that with my own trauma. Halsin was a sex slave to a house of Lolth-Sworn drow, a matriarchal society, where the men are generally used as fodder or for breeding, though male Lolth-Sworn drow can be wizards and rise in the ranks if wizardry, but are limited everywhere else. (Minthara mentions that the third male, and every subsequent male child after third are killed for being"useless"). Halsin often referred to them as "hosts" rather than being captors, (though he does touch on that if the Player Character threatens to sell him back into slavery). Again, everything I'd have to say here for Halsin has entirely been discussed top to bottom by a friend, their link is below!!

Anyway, long story short, I dislike it a lot when Gale, Wyll, and Halsin's traumas and abuses get diminished, even if/when the character themself doesn't see or acknowledge the abuse in the same lens that we, the players, do.

[ehghtyseven]

I met disco today…

he is very cute and very soft and his feet make a most excellent sound when he runs across the floor 😍

[hinamie]

binding vow

[kiwisandpearls]

“This fiction could be used to groom minors!”

I hate to break this to you but literally any type of fiction can be used to groom minors. Even “unproblematic” fiction.

[iheartvmt]

So I attempted to groom Rin myself, and uh, the results were less than stellar, shall we say. I have transformed her from a cute ball of dryer lint into a scrungly little rat dog. My mom gasped, "Where are her curls?!"

I have done her a grave injustice 😅

[susivoi]

GET GROOMED IDIOT

-

Tumblr screwed up when I tried to post this and deleted all my text so instead of a Bee Movie Reference you get me complaining about Tumblr

♡

[twosignificantfigures]

whenever i rewatch criminal minds episodes i'm always reminded that emily is actually crazy good at her job

today i was rewatching seven seconds (best cm episode ever btw nothing will ever top seven seconds) and if you look at emily's face when the uncle was explaining that maybe katie was just playing dress-up you can see in her eyes how she put the pieces together in her head that there was something going on and that the uncle may have done something to katie

it's even more obvious when you watch the clip like you see the moment when it clicks for her but she couldn't say anything unless she had proof of it

and i have to admire paget's acting here too because she was just so good at the subtle changes with just her eyes and body language she was just too good in this ep this was HER ep

i still get chills thinking about the scene where she was getting the aunt to confess what she did to katie and goes "you have robbed katie of her childhood, are you going to steal the rest of her life from her as well?" with so much fury and passion my god she is excellent

[splashammil]

The bride and her ugly ass groom

[myuminji]

the bride walked down the aisle to where the groom stood, and there they exchanged their vows in front of the altar...