#free from poverty

[safesthaveninexistence]

It's shocking how I'm free from everything like the list is endless

[annabelle--cane]

I think I'm particularly pleased about the celia reveal because, as someone who was raised by a single mother, I don't think I often see single mothers in fiction who are reasonably well adjusted and actually care about their kids? I feel like I see happy couples, tortured but loving and soulful single dads, and unstable/abusive single mothers. which isn't to say I think any of those situations are invalid to represent or anything, but when single mothers are always shown as uniquely awful in comparison to married mothers and single dads, the message starts to feel very "women are irresponsible and need a strong man to balance them out."

[shayberri789]

Something about how in chapter 4 of trc Adam is insecure about the fray on his second hand sweater, and how it's a symbol of his background and insecurities, and how most people don't notice it, and if they did, they didnt think better of him for it

And how Blue saw it immediately and it was something she liked about him, a girl too good at seeing the vulnerabilities of other people, but Adam didnt want someone to see his insecurities, didn't want someone to acknowledge that life

But Gansey did. Gansey needed someone to see him at his worst and love him for it, and blue did that

And how Adam needed someone to see him at his most unruly, and encouraged that

And Ronan makes Adam loud

[alex-dontknow]

in simple words:

"yeah we don't wanna end the genocide we just wanna save it for later"

The moment said genocide isn't of the white people, nobody bats an eye.

ALSO.

It's rather telling when a country who's endured an apartheid for decades can identify Israel as one, but not the huge Western powers who caused said apartheid?

The West don't want to admit what they caused and they hide behind their own romanticised history as a woollen shield.

[tastetherainbow290]

Do you believe in human rights?

Ofc

[caimitos]

saw a post about projecting your ethnicity onto a character and started missing vespa ilkay. so so bad

[cbs-scorpion-coffee-shop]

"Collateral damage" is a term invented by people who inflict unknown amounts of damage to others and don't want to take responsibility

[torimidori2-blog]

I'm tired of hearing about what's going on down in Gaza. Don't get me wrong, I'm not tired of the people who are spreading the word about this tragedy. I'm moreso tired of the fact that Israel is doing this shit to Palestinians in the first place. I see all these things on my feed talking about "donate to this Palestinian family so they can evacuate" knowing good and well that I really want to help these people, but I can't because I live in the US where there's an extremely record breaking amount of poverty, especially to queer, disabled, people of color like myself. Then with the whole "share this around" I keep on asking "Share this to who?" because my friends and found family are on the exact same boat. We're all poor and need any money we can get so we won't get kicked out of our apartments, so we won't starve, so we can escape abusive parents ect. We really can't do much about what's going on in Palestine, and it hurts, because we know they're having it much worse. They're literally dying over there, trying to find shelter, struggling to find medical aide for their ailments and sicknesses and they need to pay in order to leave, but their liveleyhoods are also being taken from them. The only thing I can do is spread the word in hopes that my audience is able to reverberate this message anywhere they can. I know my audience is not very big and I'm just starting to be more present online, because I need to advertise my shop, but like, what else can I do? Also, it doesn't help us that the same government who is fucking me and my family up by not giving the homeless housing and fucking up the economy by hiking up the prices of basic necessities is also funding the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. That means the evacuation of Palestinians solely rely on those who are middle or upper class citizens, which again, we're running short on those over here because the richest motherfuckers are being greedy, exploitative bastards and they're fascist, so they are biased against the existence of Palestinians anyway. This is all the product of capitalism and how extremely corrupt it can be, going against people's basic needs and instead using tax money to fund a literal GENOCIDE instead of dealing with all the issues we're dealing with here in the states. Fuck the government. Fuck Biden. Free Palestine. 🇵🇸 🍉

[cienie-isengardu]

Quan Chi's bio states he was basically born to be a slave in the mines. With Shang it's at least debatable whether he 'chose' to be poor of it he was just unlucky but I don't think Quan Chi chose to be enslaved since he was a child and mined minerals for OutWorld's government.

This seems awfully deliberate, like how Liu Kang had a hand in Smoke's family dying as a way for him to join the Lin Kuei. Like Liu Kang gave Mileena the life most iterations would kill for and whilst he did cripple Shao, Shao got the better deal compared to Quan and Shang.

I don't think there's a really good way to justify that one. It feels like Liu is punishing an incarnation of Quan Chi for something he didn't even do. Unless someone wants to make the assumption that Quan Chi was born evil...which doesn't make any sense since we literally see a good version of him and Shang fighting against Titan Shang Tsung.

Even if he was born evil, erasing him probably would've been preferable than subjecting him to slavery given how slaves are treated.

Last time I checked mortalkombat.com there was no official BIO for Quan Chi so I can’t address something I did not read yet by myself - not that I don’t believe your word, I just like be familiar with officially released source material and context before I start throwing the stones at any characters, especially since MK1 already proved with Shang Tsung that BIO, story mode and intros may approach differently character’s origin.

That said, I don’t have a doubt that Liu Kang is biased when it comes to certain people as it is visible in story mode alone how he interacts with the Royal Family or his Champions he considered his friends and for example Lin Kuei serving him and Earthrealm from centuries. He on purpose get involved with characters lives, be it choosing Johnny, Kenshi, Kung Lao and Raiden for Earthrealm’s Champions or deciding that Shang Tsung and Quan Chi won’t get a chance to obtain any power (magic) however the same story mode proved that Liu Kang’s plans could be - and in fact were - foiled by actions of others. Shang Tsung and Quan Chi learned magic due to Titan Shang Tsung’s scheming, Kenshi lost his eyesight again, despite Liu Kang’s hope for different means for his bonding with Sento

so it is not like every character’s life is set in stone and the once made Keeper of Time’s decisions won’t change due to outside forces.

My main problem with accusation that Liu Kang intended Quan Chi to be born in slavery or Shang Tsung in poverty is the implication he intended slavery and poverty to be part of his new era in the first place - and with that he chose to doom billions beings to unimaginable hardship solely to punish two people he personally dislike for things done in previous timeline steered by Titan Kronika who cared only for balance between good and bad, not for the living beings who were her own creations. 

Because Shang Tsung is not the only character we could see living in miserable conditions, as the Edenians infected with Tarkat sickness lived in literal poverty, banished and shunned by society, with little food or basic goods to survive on their own. Quan Chi may be a slave working in mines, but we have the whole Umgadi system that literally takes away freedom from the first-born daughters of edenian families, who from childhood are trained and indoctrinated to put Royal Family’s best interest before anyone and anything, because apparently the monarch is more important that the lives of common people. 

If we agree that Liu Kang in fact decided to include slavery and poverty in his new timeline just to punish two people, following that logic we should also assume that by making Johnny the USA’s famous movie star (with all the references to Hollywood and pop culture we know from previous timelines and our own word), he also allowed history to repeat itself with the European colonization of Americas and coming with it irreversible destruction of native cultures followed by unjust and cruel treatment of the indigenous population and ever further consequence: the Atlantic slave trade and the racial segregation that was part of America’s history preceding the official independence of USA (and racism being part of its history for another ages). All just to put Johnny in comfortable life as close to what his friend had in previous timeline.

What frankly, does not sit well with me knowing what kind of person Liu Kang was once and is currently as Earthrealm Protector. He was not a flawless human and definitely he is not the flawless and all-knowing god now - he doesn’t pretend to be one either. And sure, some of his decisions led to bigger tragedies but the fact he stepped down from Keeper of Time’s position to be just a mere Earthrealm’s deity implies he truly wished to allow people make their own choices. Because as Keeper of Time he could manipulate time and events to his own liking at any given time, but as a mere deity he is forced to play alongside the unfolding events and mortals choices - he may guide people, he may punish those disturbing the established peace, but he does not fulfill characters’ wishes or demand to erase the problems of their world because he did not give himself such power, as intro dialogues suggest is the case:

Li Mei: Why permit crime to fester in this timeline? Geras: It was beyond Liu Kang's power to prevent it. 

or

Liu Kang: It is beyond my power to prevent all injustice. Li Mei: Then it shall always fester. 

or

Scorpion: As Time’s Keeper, you could have abolished kombat. Liu Kang: Even a Titan’s power has limits.

or

Kenshi: With Liu Kang's help, maybe they'll find a cure. Baraka: If he could've helped, he would have done so by now. 

or

Baraka: If you're a god, then cure me. Liu Kang: I did not give myself that power.

or

Baraka: Tarkat is a cruel fate, Geras. Geras: As Liu Kang has told you, we cannot cure it. 

My point is: when a god gives mortals a free will then he must also accept that people will choose the wrong, even outright evil things. Not because anyone is born inherently good or bad, but because things like greed, pettines, fear, curiosity, ignorance or love exist and emotions are as strong an impulse, if not stronger, as is common sense. 

As much as I would really like if Liu Kang gave everyone the same, fair chance for a good life, I think we need to take into account that each character's life does not exist in a vacuum and was preceded by hundreds of lives and choices of other people that lead to this point in time. Choices that could get in the Keeper of Time’s way and push events in different paths that he intended. Like Smoke’s family - did he truly decide to kill them to get Tomas into Lin Kuei as the best way of action or did the Lin Kuei warriors, who found outsiders on the protected by them territory, acted too aggressively on their own and their choices lead to unplanned tragedy? Or Shao’s sickness - was it Liu Kang’s choice to prevent the possibility he will raise one day against Sindel but the plan was foiled by one stubborn father who wouldn’t accept his child’s sickness as it was or the iron discipline of father was a part of the plan from the start? My point is, it is hard to tell where Keeper of Time’s will ends and where start the will of mortals that make each day their own choices, for good or bad. 

Sindel is the best example, as Liu Kang intended her to rule Edenia as a firm yet fair queen and for all we know she indeed is one compared to the previous rulers. Yet what we learn from story mode and intro dialogues put a great shadow of doubt on whether she was truly so great Queen, if the sick Edenians are banished and forced to live in poverty, as their assets were taken according to Sindel's own edict, and in general treated like unwanted trashes. Not only that - Li Mei's intro dialogues says that Outworld has organized crime and Sun Do's beauty hides its darker side as it is far from the peaceful city Earthrealms think it is. Since people often are pushed into crimes by the bad circumstances (poverty, seeking refuge from persecutors) rather than inherent evil, should we accuse Liu Kang he planned such misery for those mortals or we accept that Sindel - generally seen as a good person, even admired by vast number of characters, including Liu Kang himself - made a choices that in fact have endangered or literally destroyed hundreds of innocent lives for ages? The Royal Family got rich off the harm of others, its power was secured by people deprived of their own civil freedom (Umgadi, the Palace Guard). Who should we blame for that? Liu Kang who destined Sindel to be Queen or Sindel herself, who had a power and free will to decide?

Like I said, no one lives in a vacuum and there were countless numbers of mortals before our main heroes were even born. Kenshi is dealing with his ancestors’ desperate choice to join Yakuza for protection and born out of it shame and crimes; their choices affect who he is and what drives him. Bi-Han is affected by his father’s decision and decisions of Lin Kuei Grandmasters before him that shaped reality in which Bi-Han lives now and considers an enslavement, because someone in the centuries old past chose to pledge their clan to serve Earthrealm and by extension, Fire Lord. Did Liu Kang intend such a turn of events or is it an effect of countless choices made by mortals preceding Bi-Han and Kenshi existence?

And so we come back to Quan Chi and the question, did Liu Kang decide to introduce slavery to his new timeline solely so Quan Chi could end in one or did mortals (Edenian aristocracy/government) at some point make the choice to enslave other living beings, including Quan Chi’s family, for their own gain? Because for Quan Chi to be born in slavery it means:

his parents or at least mother - and that alone may implies Quan Chi's being a result or rape - would need be a slave in the first place and

mother was punished for her son’s crimes he did not commit - and if Liu Kang’s plan had succeeded, he would never have committed either.

We can go on with questions like that but I think it comes down to this one matter: do we believe that Liu Kang would intentionally damn a billions of innocents to either punish Shang Tsung and Quan Chi or secure the well-being of his favorites like Royal Family and Johnny or not.

The game and intro dialogues won't give us a definite answer to that and each of us will need to settle this dilemma for themselves. I myself still debate whether to believe or not that Liu Kang sat down eons ago and wrote out how numberless generations will live so a few certain characters end in miserable (Shang Tsung & Quan Chi) or happy setting (Sindel). I do however believe that within Liu Kang's timeline, the Keeper of Time's choices shaping people's destiny and free will of characters can and are co-existing. I won't cross out yet the possibility that Liu Kang indeed decided to include slavery just to fuck up Shang Tsung and Quan Chi's lives - and I won't do it at least until I read the new source material.  However, I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt that slavery and poverty are the outcome of bad choices made by mortals living before the heroes and villains were born.

Of course, this is still not the best scenario and there is no denying Liu Kang wanted a meaningless life for both sorcerers and that he did interfere with events and destinies of mortals. But if he set all life in motion and then immediately step down from Keeper of Time’s position, we need take into account that A) he gave up control over people voluntarily and B) he did it eons before Shang Tsung or Quan Chi - and their families - came to alive and for such a long period of time, many bad things could have happened without his participation or ill will (is Tarkat even part of Liu Kang’s plan or did it happen spontaneously, as a result of the actions of unforeseen forces? As the “forces of nature” balancing things out?). The characters already asked Liu Kang why he did not prevent injustice, why he did not abolish violence, why he did not cure the horrific illness, why he did not make his timeline the better place… but I think to do so he would need to take away the free will, so no mortal could commit a crime again or go against his plan. Which is the total opposition of what he wanted and Liu Kang is aware his world did not improved as he hoped:

Liu Kang: This timeline has not improved as I had hoped. Geras: Thoughts like that led to Kronika’s madness. 

But I guess that is the problem with free will, it allows bad things to happen. There is no win-win scenario and someone will always be harmed - if not by their own choice, then by someone else's, because people do not live in a vacuum.

So, unless Quan Chi’s Bio (that I still didn’t see for myself) outright says Liu Kang decided to made his former enemy born as a slave, I’m willing to give Liu Kang the benefit of doubt that slavery and poverty weren’t on purpose added to his new era just to fuck up two people he didn’t like - even if his dislike is well-understandly considering everything that happened. 

It is easy to look at MK1’s story mode and blame Liu Kang for the characters' background but that is looking at this specific point of time the way we look at NRS and blame them for messing up our favorite heroes for drama’s sake alone. In-universe though? There are plenty of factors outside Liu Kang’s control that shaped the world before any of them came into picture. Like I said, it may not be so easy to determine how much for things to be the way they are now is the fault of god and how much of mortals alone.

Also, in regard to why not just erase them from the timeline, I too myself wondered about that. Or why not make them born in Earthrealm, whereas as mere humans they would pose a threat for a 100, maybe 120 years at best and then be safely tucked in the afterlife. Or why let them both live at the same time and not separate them by ages. My working conclusion for now is that erasing people is not such an easy matter, as people - their histories and relationships - are too well connected threads on time fabric. MK11’s Jacqui ending showed that changing one thing may lead to much more serious consequences. She wanted to spare her father from death at Sindel’s hand and following it the life of revenant. But when she removed that event from his history, in result she erased her own existence, as Jax did not meet Jacqui's mom and thus Jacqui wasn't born. Original Shang Tsung and Quan Chi brought more pain and despair to people than anything else, but since we don’t have an idea how time fabric works or how much it is influenced by the countless erased timelines, maybe Liu Kang couldn’t erase them without erasing more innocent and/or important people? Just a thought to think about.

[autisticlee]

people who say certain jobs don't deserve livable wage because it's "beginner/entry job for teens who don't need/deserve livable wage" will never make sense to me. if the jobs are for teens, why do you expect to get mcdonalds at 11am on a Wednesday by a teen who should be in school? (or any other job that requires work during school hours or late nights past tike teens are allowed to work) do you not want teens to go to and finish school? you want them to make you burgers instead?

and why do you complain about how poor their customer service and food making skills are? you want teens to serve you but complain they aren't good at their first job where they haven't gained those skills yet Because its their first job??? barely paying kids to do jobs that are actually the worst (dealing with your annoying karen ass yelling at them) sure will motivate them to do better /s.

(in many cases, the jobs only pay for the gas required to drive to the job. 4 kids with jobs in my one class in high school complained about that together. they basically were working for free, never had time to do homework, barely slept because they got home late, and got screamed at by karens for being bad at their first jobs)

these people don't want certain jobs like "burger flipping" to have livable wages....because they're jobs only teens should do as a temporary first job.....but they still expect places to serve them during school hours when no teens are available....and they expect adult-level-experience service from these teens who have no experience because it's their first job......yet they dont deserve adult-level pay for adult-level work because they are teens and bad at their jobs......and no adults should work these certain jobs, so if they do, especially during school hours which makes it a full time job for them if they work daily to cover school hours, they dont deserve good pay but are still the only ones available to make your burger.....yet you expect them to all get better jobs super easily because,,,,there's more teens than adults at all times? even during school hours? and every adult can just easily get a good paying job because they're sooooooo easy to get 🙄

please. make sense! get logic in your brains!

and when they complain about certain people dont deserve good pay because they're "lazy" and "don't want to work" yeah who would be motivated to work extra hard for barely any pay and being mistreated lmao let me see you do it. and not all "lazy" workers are lazy. there's some disabled people trying their best but their best looks "lazy" to you ableds. not everyone can afford to work themselves to death for not enough money to cover the medical bills their shitty job causes!

[herunswithscissors]

You know why we are taught to despise the French?

and poo poo their military prowess? Even though they are lovely people & have historically been glorious, brave, and victorious on the battlefield?

And were our partner in our own revolution?

It is because they killed their masters.

And they hold their police in check.

And protest for everything. And chase their police away. And get what they want. And have a pretty nice life.

They had a violent, coordinated people's revolution. Actually several. They kept trying and dying till one finally succeeded. They put the Aristocrats to death.

All the Aristocrats. Not just the bad ones. All of them. Even Marie Antoinette who was just a spoiled princess who quipped a stupid joke that got turned into revolutionary propaganda. She got disposal as well. Some people are just too dangerous to let live.

Because Aristocrats have babies! And those babies will network and rebuild Aristocracy and no Aristocracy may be allowed to exist if the people are to thrive.

That's why. Our Aristocrats don't want us getting Frenchy ideas.

Maybe we should.

[adhdsocialist]

I know we're well past this at this point but the actual issue with a lot of the coverage both activists and like regular news organizations have on the Palestinian Genocide is that people keep misconstruing it as a Jews vs Muslims War.

[random-xpressions]

What a blessing it is to simply be alive, in a world that's surrounded by war, diseases and poverty - all three of which are direct results of human intervention...

Random Xpressions

[nando161mando]

The mindset in this op ed from Stanford before the graduate students go on strike is the exact reason they are striking

[healingheartdogs]

I love being in America where I have to decide if the pain of something clearly going wrong inside my body is urgent enough to risk getting COVID at an ER from sick people and doctors who are no longer masking and having to deal with a grossly inflated medical bill that I already know I can't pay because I have no insurance or income currently.

[bhaalsdeepbat]

Decided my Wyll/Karlach/Tav ot3. Two Warlocks sandwiching their barbarian.