#how are these people real we don't deserve them

[frogchiro]

hhmmmmmggghh need pathetic horny arthur jerking off to thoughts of reader and cumming and cumming until he can’t cum anymore and then just laying there tossing and turning all night

half of it is from guilt over fantasizing about a young woman who he should know would never want an ugly violent bastard like him (or so he thinks 👀), the other half is just sheer desperation for someone to love him and keep him warm at night 💔

—🦌 anon

He may be pathetic and old and horny but that's how we like our men here </3

Poor Arthur won't be able to sleep at night, just tossing and turning, guilt ridden and his poor heart squeezing anytime he glances at the soiled cloths next to him. What is he even doing? Thinking about you, the newest addition to the Van der Linde Gang; a young, proper lady who wanted freedom, whose parents got killed and had nowhere to go and it was just your luck to run into them.

And here he was; Arthur Morgan, reduced to nothing but a simpering fool, getting horny like a boy because the buttons of your blouse were unbuttoned and showed your cleavage, an image that was burned into his mind and ultimately resulted in the mess next to him.

Just a few hours ago he was drowning in mind-numbing pleasure, jerking his fat cock to the thoughts of you here, with him, in his tent where you two would keep each other warm and safe; no risks, no heists, just two people so deep in love that nobody could even tell where one began and where the other ended.

Arthur kept imagining an idyllic life with you, one where you could leave the outlaw life, retire, have your own little piece of Heaven on a quiet farm somewhere far away. Where he could bend you over anywhere he wanted, take you by the hips and mount you silly until both of you were screaming from pleasure.

A life where he could be your big, strong, loving husband who is more than happy to protect you, care for you and provide for you...You and maybe even a sweet little babbling baby on your hip?

But then after he cums with a muffled groan, when his breath and raging hormones settle does he finally get the clarity in his head he needs and...Everything suddenly just seems so pointless.

He is so so guilty because he truly believes that he doesn't deserve you, of course he doesn't. You're still young, have your whole life ahead in front of you, your sweet smiles making even the darkest clouds over his mind go away. You always seem to just...gravitate towards each other, whenever either of you seems to feel under the weather you just kind of find each other. These are the times where Arthur doesn't feel old, sick or like a outlaw anymore, he just feels...good. Whenever you talk with him, joke with him, laugh until tears fall from your pretty eyes at his terrible jokes Arthur feels like he's the happiest man alive...It's a real shame that you probably don't feel the same...

...Or do you?

[verysadlesbian]

Now that I have sat with my thoughts for a couple of days, I want to talk about some things:

There are too many people trying to defend Caitlyn's actions, so I have to say: NOTHING, and I mean absolutely nothing, justifies fascism. "Oh but she's grieving and blahblahblah" you know who else was grieving?! The mother of the kid Jayce killed in season 1. You know who else?! Vi and Powder that saw enforcers murder their parents, just like many other children from Zaun. Caitlyn destroyed her mother's legacy in the police brutality™️ operation, you understand how fucked up this is? Her mother's recording is saying "the people from Zaun deserve to breathe," and she did it anyways. If you sympathise with Piltover, you're either part of the problem or naïve enough to fall for fascist propaganda.

Ekko is the only real one. Not a single slightly evil bone in his body. Everything he does, he does for his people, not in a persuit of power, or revenge. He's genuinely good, so much so that he's willing to hang out with not only Heimerdinger, but also Jayce just so he could protect his community. He deserves so much better and I'll be heartbroken when he finds out that Vi was involved in Caitlyn's operation.

I don't know how Vi can forgive Caitlyn after what happened. I know I wouldn't. It just goes to show that you cannot trust that privileged people are going to be different just cause they were nice to you. Viktor found that out in season 1 and Vi is finding this out now.

Do you guys think the black rose is gonna pretend to be Mel?! I don't play LOL, but it is to my understanding that the black rose can make clones, so it'd be obvious that they're gonna take Mel's identity

Saw some people on twitter and tiktok (of course they were there) denying that jayvik has heavy romantic undertones by stating "they're friends! They're like brothers! Why everything has to be gay now?" and EVERYTHING HAS TO BE GAY CAUSE I SAID SO, NOW SHUT UP! But seriously though, I understand that to cishet viewers, their relationship might seem strictly platonic, 'cause they lack the eye that we, queer people, have for these things. And that's okay. Not everyone needs to understand the nuances of a homoerotic friendship. But in the same breath, they're quick to say that "Viktor was thinking about Sky, so obviously he's straight" and that pissed me off, cause: 1 - have you looked at him?; 2 - He feels responsible for her death (cause he was)! He's thinking about her because he feels GUILTY! that man was not interested in Sky whatsoever; 3 - it's so heteronormative to think that a man and a woman can't be friends, they're so adamant in denying jayvik cause "they're friends!" but they do the same fucking thing!; and finally 4 - HAVE YOU LOOKED AT HIM???

Anyone that sides with Piltover would probably be a zionist as well. I don't have to explain this.

The trio "Sevika, Jinx and Isha" is probably my favourite thing in Act 1, I just can't get enough of them.

[thedailydescent]

🚨🚨I just got the latest news from Yahya:

Yahya (@yahyabkheet-blog) has given me permission to share his messages and pictures that he showed me:

[Text ID:] -What is happening right now? -I am displaced in [the Nuseirat refugee camp]. Tonight there was a very violent bombing near me. A residential block was bombed. My kids and I went out in a C situation. (under picture #1) -I'm really stuck, I don't know what I can do to protect my family. I search for food for my children all day. I have been displaced 11 times since the beginning of the war. I'm really tired. No one feels what we are experiencing. I want everyone in the world to stay by my side I'm not asking for a large amount like $100,000; I am asking for $30,000 so that I can evacuate my children, wife and mother to a safe place where they can live in peace. This is what I want as quickly as possible. There are people in Gaza for whom very large sums of money have been collected. Why doesn't anyone stand by me? Don't my children deserve to live in peace? 😭😭 (under picture #2) -This is my children's food for two days, water with flour and a little spice, to satisfy their hunger and enable them to sleep. [end of Text ID]

Yahya is currently going through hell. He cannot feed his family, his children are starving to death, they haven't been able to make much of any progress with their fundraiser, there is food scarcity in every marketplace, aid is not coming into in their area, and any attempts to make the location they are living in actually livable are thwarted when they are bombed and forced to move to a different location.

This is Yahya's eleventh time being displaced. He hasn't been able to feed his children anything apart from flour and water for two days!

Yahya has lately been telling me what his children have been eating. On good days, they are able to cook a chard plant for lunch. On bad days, it's a mixture of flour and water, or worse, nothing at all.

Fundraising has been made extremely difficult for Palestinians. Because there are no open banks in Gaza, withdrawals are made through commission, which can be up to 30%. So for every $100 Yahya withdraws from his fundraiser, commissions get $30 while he gets $70.

This is not even getting into how g*fundme constantly freezes Gazan's accounts at anytime, or makes transfers unnecessarily difficult.

This fundraiser is quite literally Yahya's lifeline. He cannot live without it, and cannot afford to go without donations. Please continue to help feeding this family.

This fundraiser has been vetted by @/nabulsi and is listed at #110 on the GazaVetters List.

(tagging for further reach- please message me for removal):

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[vivianblue]

Doesn't the existence of bell hooks along with her compassionate and phenomenal works literally disputes the whole idea that "The Left hates men" though?

bell hooks IS part of The Left, and correct me if I'm wrong but her central thesis in "The Will to Change" and "All About Love" isn't to point out how it's failure on leftists for not coddling men enough, but to point out how the patriarchy hurts men as well. The people who should read bell hooks are not mean leftists, but precisely MEN who feels they can and should deserve better than what this system of oppression has to offer them, and open up their perspective beyond the false dichotomy of "Accept Calvinism & Eternal Punitive Justice from The Oppressed" OR "Be The Oppressor & Enjoy Your Privileges (you earn this by being more Superior than other people)".

Men being drawn to the alt-right pipeline is not due to mean women and leftists. It's because like,... it's good to be a man under the patriarchy, because it benefits men at the expense of other people. This is just basic sociological analysis backed by historical facts that we should agree on. However, in some situations even by stating: "privileges exist and a lot are unearned/built on oppressing other groups", you would already be inviting a lot of hostility, because acknowledging this issue for a lot of people is Emotionally Challenging (and I'm saying that with no attached judgement).

We can examine a similar emotional response to see why this would be challenging - White Fragility. According to Ford, Green & Gross (2022), the psychological process underpinned it goes like this:

1. Generally, people want to be viewed as a Good Person.

2. Acknowledging systemic issues and how integral one's role as the "oppressor" in those issues can feel incongruent to the goal of wanting to be a Good Person (and might lead to guilt or shame).

3. This feeling can worsen when the person feels like they don't have the resources necessary to tackle a particular situation without coming off as a racist/sexist/transphobic/etc. (aka what many people would internalize as a Bad Person).

Many men could start out wanting to do good, but then find out that "doing good" requires more than just extending niceness on an individual basis. It's also about working on yourself and learning more about the world and other people's experiences and actively preventing harms, because anyone has the potential to do harm and the damage caused is in correlation to how much power you have over others. Everyone is capable of being racist/sexist/transphobic/etc. in a society where those actions are so normalized. Doesn't mean everyone is Inherently a Bad Person, but it does mean there are a LOT of choices to navigate and you will make mistakes, and people are going to be understandably cautious around you if you haven't worked on yourself enough since again - you can harm them. It is unjust to force people to love you, especially at the threat of you becoming a violent raging Nazi.

The dilemma of "Why should I help the people I've harmed when I get nothing but feeling of shame in return" are common human issues, and it's not entirely unique to cishet white men. The alt-right denies the questions entirely by saying that "No men, YOU have never done anything wrong. If anything it's those minorities and women who are harming you, and you're in the right for wanting to punish them back." Why takes responsibility when it turns out, you're the Good, Rational and Superior Guy all along?

The real answer is quite direct and Literally lies in bell hooks' writings, specifically "All About Love", and is only made difficult and obscure by the relentless effort to paint feminists and leftists as this homogeneous, hateful group who want to antagonize men. It's not about the unconditional love that women and The Left MUST have for men as a Reward for existing and being such a Good Boy. It's about the Love men should have for themselves and the world. Why must you do good by yourself, by women, by your fellow men, by your sons or daughters or neighbors or community? If you love someone, you want the best for them. The best for who and what you love would be for you do good actions and make good decisions that benefit everyone, and yourself. Love is not earned, it's something you do.

“The first act of violence that patriarchy demands of males is not violence toward women. Instead patriarchy demands of all males that they engage in acts of psychic self-mutilation, that they kill off the emotional parts of themselves. If an individual is not successful in emotionally crippling himself, he can count on patriarchal men to enact rituals of power that will assault his self-esteem.”

At the end of the day, women and leftists aren't the problem. It's the lack of resources re: point (3) and again, not due to leftists not providing them, but due to the patriarchy and people having an interest in not seeking them out or censoring them (e.g. the attack on critical race theory in uni).

I couldn't have said it better myself.

[thatdiabolicalfeminist]

Imagine you're cozy at home, doing exactly what you're usually doing when you scroll tumblr at home. Someone knocks on your door. A couple of teenagers from your neighborhood are there, holding a 1yo baby who is fussing.

They tell you their dad is really sick, he has cancer and is having surgery on Monday. Their big brother, the baby's dad, lost his job after the auto shop where he worked was destroyed suddenly. He hasn't been able to find other work.

They don't want much, just a few dollars, they don't want to bother you, but they have to ask a lot of people because they have no other way to get money.

All the charities have said they can't help, too many people need help rn and there's not enough to go around. The baby keeps having problems with malnutrition, and they're worried about the costs of their dad's surgery.

Does your answer change if those kids aren't white? If the reason they're homeless now is because they are of an ethnicity being targeted for extermination? Does kids being far away make you feel like they're not your responsibility?

James Baldwin wrote that the children are always ours, every single one of them, all over the globe. Do you believe that? I do. Every child deserves whatever help and support they need. Every single one. As adults, we owe them protection and care.

That's why I'm asking you to think honestly about what you actually can do to help these kids.

This isn't a hypothetical family. Ahmed, the kids' dad, really is scheduled for surgery on Monday. Nader, aged 17, is real and on Tumblr begging for his life and the lives of his family and a lot of people are shutting the metaphorical door in his face. It's largely due to his hardworking determination and perseverance that his family has gotten so close to their goal.

This is their family btw. Just normal people who probably never expected to be in this situation. Look how cute baby Iman is!! Aren't those kids worthy of your help? Aren't their parents, who have been struggling to protect those children, worthy of community care?

Please help them. You can probably spare $5. Maybe you even have more. Maybe you have family members or friends who could help more if you asked and showed them who they'd be helping.

Those kids are, actually, in real life, right now, asking for your help. What will you do?

Verified here (#4)

[tubbytarchia]

Wild Life Session 4 smallidarity thoughts (+ some Scar and Lizzie)

See it was all fine, nothing to worry about!! Joel couldn't bring himself to kill Jimmy, he barely even harmed him. I'm pretty sure he shot him just once (after Jimmy trampled their crops so. fair)? Joel calmed down, he rebuilt his car, everything is fine. He says at the start that he's wary of Jimmy because of him going after Joel last time, and that's about it for the time being

Jimmy dies and Joel makes a deal out of it and calls him a muppet. As per usual. Meanwhile Jimmy is still adamant to get at Joel whilst Scar tries to deter him because they want to be an alliance

He and Jimmy meet up at some point after their brief interaction at the start where Joel shot him, and they just banter. And Gem and Scar are just standing there like "guyss we're a family come on" meanwhile Joel and Jimmy's exchange goes as follows: Jimmy: "you're the ones with tasty lives!" Joel: "yeah bet you wish you could have a chunk of me!" "Oh I'm having a chunk out of you!" "Yeah and you know where to take that chunk out of!" "Oh I'm gonna take it! I'm taking it!" "You should!" And then Gem and Scar tell them to break it up and Joel goes "we're just flirting!!" ? what the fuck? Genuinely WHAT are they talking about. is this an innuendo of some sort. is this another ambiguous smallidarity sex scene sorry who said that

Jimmy gets a double kill (in the most adorable way btw. The way he weasels his way in there and backs off and comes back to try again all crouched. animal) and goddd people hyping him up is so so sweet. He deserves this. He's also a little bit evil, he's getting the murder rush but I'm happy for him. He needs to kill more people, he needs to get this out of his system, he deserves this, things need to get worse before they get better. ANYWAY Scar all "that was the greatest kill ever on the life series" is so cute. And man I gotta agree. There's more unique and funny and impressive kills but I would not mind calling this the best just for the fact that it's Jimmy. He's competent, he can do shit like this, but it feels like most everyone and the world is continuously against his survival, but here he is... my son...

And then Joel coming up to congratulate him... Really blummin cute. In Joel's POV also, he says "I went to congratulate Jimmy and we had a moment" which I wager he might be referring to the creeper incident as 'the moment' but that'd make no sense to call it that. With that tonation. Why did he say it like that. Stop being cute

But yeah Scar tries to blow Joel up with creepers only for Joel to save him from his own creeper and he's so casual about it. He is incredibly kind to the bamboozlers, it's really cute...

And then Jimmy does it!! He gets Joel!! And he gets him real good!! And can you believe that the first person to kill either of the family duo is Jimmy, of all people. Scott has died by this point too and Jimmy is the one to make a dent in the full 6-life alliance. Crazy. I'm so proud of him. It was seriously really good too, see, when Jimmy puts his mind to something and is able to focus he excels, he really does. And Joel, oh Joel is such a good sport about it. He keeps saying how it was good and fair and that he still wants an allyship with him. Tells him "welcome back to green" aww. And they make a truce, Jimmy got it out of his system and now they can be friends and go kill other people instead and Joel is proud of him... Jimmy "Joel, I finally got you, so I will stop now, so let's do the perfect dap" and then they both count down and clap their hands to simulate slapping palms. Awesome. All of Joel and Jimmy is just really cute this time around. Very happy about them being a more proper alliance now, but we'll see if it sticks... Joel can only be so mean to Jimmy at this point though I don't think he has it in him to betray him or anything lol. Can't speak for the rest of them but not too worried for the smallidarity, it's a plentiful crop...

Also a very important exchange between Lizzie and Jimmy at some point: "I just finangled a load of diamonds off of Joel" "Oh? How did you do that?" "I asked him just really nicely" (lie btw she was moreso extorting Joel) "Oh, that doesn't work when I... I guess... you are his wife, I guess..." "Yeah..." "Lucky for some I guess- right (unrelated topic)" I'm not 100% confident that's what Jimmy said at the end, it's a bit hard to make out but. what? Hello?

I also extend gratitude towards Lizzie for being so nice and supportive of Jimmy, she was the one to suggest the cobweb creeper trap that ended up taking Joel out, but she also insisted that he drink a health restoration stew beforehand in case anything went wrong. Jimmy didn't end up doing so (he was full) and Lizzie is all "why?" and "something could have gone wrong". man. Nice to him...

[geekgirl101]

More 8x06 thoughts. Still processing

I've been trying to express my feelings about 8x06 on paper, and there's still so much swirling in my head. So apologies if this is too long and ranty.

The GA isn't happy for a lot of reasons. One was that Tommy did fit with the 118, he was friends with Eddie and Chim. Two: they were happy Buck was in a relationship, and it seemed like (at least in season 7) that he was finally off the hamster wheel. And they like Eddie and Buck's friendship and don't want to see them together. After all the BS takes I've seen from you-know-whos, I can't say I disagree at all.

It's like neither Buck nor the writers have learned anything from past love interests. Tommy is the one with the most potential because of how well he fits, and he clearly has a lot of abandonment issues. Hey, so does Buck. That could have been a great point to explore.

I don't think Buck needs to sleep around to explore himself. But I do think Buck never fully processed anything.

It's wild that Buck and Tommy dated for six months and NEVER had any real conversations about exes? Tommy does strike me as the kind of person who keeps people at arm's length, who maybe doesn't say much about his past unless he has to. He could have also held back because he was letting Buck set the pace. I know Tommy isn't a main character. But they could have done so much more with this and with him. Hopefully its not the end.

The show also did nothing to show Buck's growth in a relationship, aside from the fact that he kissed a boy and liked it.

8x01 showed us that Buck was competent, professional, and mature, and stupidly I was hoping that would extend to his relationship too.

I think Buck has to figure out what he wants out of a relationship, I hope we see more of Buck talking to Josh or Hen and then he and Tommy work on making a relationship that's lasting, honest, and full of love (if we're grudging up Abby, we can continue the red string here and make that nod too)

What also bothers me is they took 3 episodes to build Buck and Tommy and show us that they have chemistry and that Tommy shows up for Buck, they had two more moments where it was clear they were getting to know each other and were solid in season 7.

And then it took them 1 episode to tear it all down without ever showing Buck showing up for Tommy. They were supposed to be getting to know each other. But six months in, it's like they didn't even know each other at all... or actually. It's like Buck didn't know Tommy at all.

I find it frustrating that we got to see so little of them, and most of it was Tommy doing things for Buck, showing up for Buck, complementing Buck, and taking care of Buck. A relationship has to be a two-way street. You show up for me, I show up for you.

And I'm glad Tommy showed up for Buck. Buck deserves love. But so does Tommy. Tommy was clearly looking for love, IDk if he was looking for a family or anything long term. Maybe he was dealing with a bad breakup and Buck was adorable, and he thought, maybe this could be a thing for now, but he ended up falling for him, clearly, and panicked. But I think on some level he was looking for someone to show up for him too, even when things got hard. And maybe this is foreshadowing. I hope it is. But I refuse to get my hopes up about it, or about Buck's love life ever again.

[lorddeathofmurdermountain]

I'm sorry, I just don't agree. I won't even focus on the fact you contradict yourself; "if a person is writing a ship it means they agree with it" vs "it's okay if it isn't romanticized" which is essentially acknowledging there are situations where the author writes a ship despite not liking it.

However, what I will focus on is, once again, that the characters aren't real. It doesn't matter if a ship is between characters we label minors and adults because they aren't that. When an author writes that ship, even if they really like it, it's not an endorsement of such relationships IRL any more than anything else they write about.

I'm sorry, but most people tend to understand that you can like something in fiction and hate it in real life. Like killing. Incest. And yes, indeed, even relationships between kids and adults.

However, since I like debates, let's examine the situation from the perspective of you being correct. What if the author writing these ships is indicative of them actually liking the idea IRL? Well, it depends. Has the author acted upon their dark desires? No? Then I'm sorry, but they literally did nothing wrong. No matter how much you're tempted to do something bad, so long as you don't, nobody gets to fucking complain.

It's the same issue I have with the hate of pedophilia itself - are the vast majority of pedos who end up on the news utter bastards whom I am highly tempted to say deserve a death sentence? Sure, but pedophilia itself is a condition and people who have it not only can't help themselves (in terms of the attraction itself), they also typically hate themselves for it. Some act out, yes, but a lot of them have been discovered to have snapped and done the unthinkable specifically because of the social ostracization they experience, despite not doing anything wrong initially. Like with prisons that focus on rehabilitating the inmates rather than just punishing them, I think it'd be significantly more practical to help these people out so that they don't do anything rash, instead of constantly stressing them out and attacking them.

Once again, common sense ("people under stress do stupid things", "there's a difference between reality and fiction") is thrown right out the window when it comes to certain topics.

Again, I understand your disgust, but YOU have to understand I have absolutely no damn reason to care what the author finds their guilty pleasure in. Hell, by your logic, this is a perfect way for the author to unwind in a safe way.

This just in

[atlas7seo]

Arcane Season 2 spoilers***

Bruh I love Caitlyn so much. She has rocketed up to be my favorite. It's really refreshing to see people letting their characters be bad. Like I love me a good redemption arc, but downfall arcs just hit different ya know? She's grieving and her reaction just felt so realistic! You can see how her mindset slowly changes. She knows about how one person can make you form an us vs them mentality. Cait makes it clear to the audience about that effect, but as the act progresses you can see her succumb to the very thing she's trying to avoid.

The most fascinating part is that it feels like the story pivoted where Caitlyn and her mom stand in opposition to each other. In season 1 Caitlyn was more of a moral compass character despite being naive, and her mom was framed more as a ruthless individual especially adding on to the fact that she was on the council. But the way they completely flipped that dynamic is amazing. "They deserve to breathe." Caitlyn heard those words her mother left and still used the Gray in the undercity.

Plus it adds to the narrative about police brutality already existing in season 1, we watch in real time what can make someone with good intentions turn ruthless.

And it's even deeper because Ambessa saw Caitlyn. Council member with the messed up legs whose name i don't remember acted like she wasn't good enough, he wanted to get her out of the way. But literally Caitlyn stood up to Mel. She went behind her back, made hextech weapons, and deployed a team. Ambessa seeing Caitlyn as the greatest tool against Mel makes so much sense.

I love Caitlyn Kirammen, i mean she's kinda a bad cop now/maybe military dictator, but like...she's my fav....

[thegreateventof1928]

very long post, I apologize

So glad my wife doesn't have tumblr My best friend (wife (married for tax purposes)) is the literal light of my life. I extend my help to anyone who needs it, or I at least try to. I let people vent to me whenever they need because I know it's nice to have someone listen to you and respond in a meaningful way. Not to say I change much or provide anything substantial- but I always hope I can. And, don't get me wrong, I love doing it! I care about the people who come to me for help and I genuinely try to help all of them. But sometimes I overexert myself and lose all the energy I had to offer. I feel down and low and it really sucks because I know I should be 100% or at least somewhat positive when talking to these people. I can't help but ignore them (selfishly) for the sake of my mental health. It's at these times that I run to her, screaming about the smallest issues in my life. I will yell and cry- stomp my foot and whine about little nothings that set me down the decreasing path and she'll sit there and listen. They always listen. They're the strongest person I know, always have been, life continues to shit on them, and they suffer for it. But after all of that? She sits and listens to me. For the longest time, I thought I was offering her nothing- that she listened out of pity- and that sucked because she means the world to me. But they just came to me today, looking for me to listen (please note that I have before, I'm not a dick, but they definitely deal with me more than I ever "deal" with them) and after we spoke, they thanked me for helping. I wasn't? I didn't do anything at all. I sat and listened like we normally do, but when it really came down to responding, I didn't really put any thought or effort into what I said (as bad as that sounds). I answered her questions genuinely, no forced caring persona or gentle wording. They didn't mind it. They actually enjoyed it. At some point, I found myself also enjoying the conversation, easy banter around a rough topic, we were relaxed and happy and-? I'm confused. Because I'm usually putting all effort into my image for the sake of the recipient- putting on a mask to make the interaction easier and calm. But she didn't care. I was being myself and that made her feel better. I made someone genuinely feel better and it was the most important person in my life. The minute they left to sleep, I felt warmth literally leaving my body. I owe her so much, genuinely helping her, even if it was just this once, made my night so much better. So much better.

[mumblingsage]

I also think it's worth being pedantic about important things...and in that spirit I've spent like an hour writing and deleting various responses to this one (I found myself over-policing my tone and stopped that, so I'll just say right off I have no ill-will toward you and appreciate the contributions, even as I disagree on interpretation in several ways):

First, your tags - "for example a book can really kick off a delusion and set something off that can be traumatic." As I've said in another reblog thread, but it deserves repeating, triggering delusions, compulsions, or PTSD or adjustment disorder symptoms is not the same as causing trauma. We should try to accommodate people with triggers, and much of this accommodation will need to be individualized because the range of potential triggers is vast and often does not include things conventionally recognized as upsetting. I had a loved one make an irreversible error because of a delusion he had that was fueled by the due date on his library card being coincidentally the same as the date of his dentist appointment. That's not a reason for us to have a cultural conversation about the format of due date stickers. Though it could call for a discussion of how we can best support people who are experiencing delusional thinking or psychosis (we are currently doing very badly).

Re: vicarious trauma. Reading the Wikipedia article, I see that the examples given are of real life events reported on in the media, primarily social media and news coverage in the wake of terrorist attacks. I'm not going to get too deep into personal experience here, but let's just say this is not my first time hearing of vicarious trauma, and the important thing is that it is a real response to real harm and disaster. I wouldn't refuse evidence, but have not seen any, that it's caused by 13 Reasons Why or The Bridge to Terebithia or Outlander. (Bellingcat has useful advice for safety and 'metal hygiene' when engaging with firsthand sources of violence. I might use similar techniques when watching clips from a horror movie, but the stakes are not the same. Also, heads up that anyone who clicks through that link will read some text about distressing real-life events.)

"Books can have a significant impact on someone’s mind and outlook and that’s why they want them to be banned." < I agree and I think when people talk about how they don't want kids (or others) to read books about death, violence, sex, etc, they are participating in this. Authoritarians want us to have very particular ideas about these topics and resist any alternative information or thinking about them. When people go around saying "Learning or thinking about something upsetting is the same as being traumatized" they are doing the work of Christofascist Censorship Attempts, and I don't care if it's accidental. We don't need to compromise with them. (I don't have room to open this can of worms fully, but I also think too many people go around saying--for example--"13 Reasons Why traumatized me, I can't believe any library would let a kid read it" and thus send a message to the people around them with real-life experience with suicide, suicidal ideation, etc. that their experiences are unspeakable, untouchable. This social stigma is incredibly harmful.)

"I think it’s more productive to challenge the idea that a book that can potentially cause harm should be banned instead of the idea that books can potentially cause harm." < This is an interesting idea. I love its uncompromising stance. It's one I would adopt if I was convinced books can cause something that deserves to be called "harm" (the two of us may just have different definitions). I definitely believe we all have the God-given right to give ourselves nightmares and anyone trying to 'protect' us from that should be kicked in the fork of the legs.

I'm wondering if, as a society who cares about vulnerable people, we could stop saying "traumatize" when we truly mean "upset"?

I am sick of hearing sad books or movies "traumatize" their readers. I simply do not believe that happens. A traumatic experience might be adjacent to books (I have vivid memories of books I was reading around certain experiences and even how the contents of those books affected my processing of the experiences). But it's not caused by the book. And, y'know. The weather is Christofascist Censorship Attempts outside.

Meanwhile from the other side I continue to be surprised at just how badly people fail to understand trauma and traumatic experiences in general. Watering down the term isn't helping. Find other hyperbole to express that The Bridge to Terebithia gutted you, chewed on your heartstrings, and made you cry your first pair of contact lenses right out of your preteen eyes.

[pareidolla]

// tw abuse rant (nothing angry just moreso exasperated)

i'm going to admit that while i'm enthusiastic for the pristine cut, i'm also a little concerned canon will politely dismiss the tower's abusive elements, and if that happens then i might?? scream????

[coockie8]

I didn't realise who this was until I went to block them, but bogleech found me on DA

Yeah, not shocked in the slightest they don't remember me, that's the privilege these guys have; they get to throw heinous paedophilia accusations at survivors, tell them they deserve to die over fiction and then just move on with their life like nothing happened.

TW: CSA mention, Incest mention

In case you can't tell; with everything else going on my life right now, I have no patience for this left. Don't want a survivor to dump their trauma on you? Don't claim drawings of an imaginary friend are equivalent.

[theghostofashton]

.

[frogsdocrimes]

shoutout to disabled and chronically people with symptoms that are seen as "gross" by the wider world. shoutout to people with digestive issues and illnesses. to people with problems with their stomachs or intestines or bladders or anything else. to people who struggle with vomiting, diarrhea, constipation, or anything else. to people who use diapers. to people with ostomy bags. to people who use the bathroom in other atypical ways. to people who have to collect stool samples for tests/labs. to people on rectally administrated medication. shoutout to people on liquid diets or other specific medical diets, to those with feeding tubes, to anyone with different needs regarding nutrition and hydration. shoutout to those who only sees their condition represented as something weird or gross, as something only talked about as the punchline of a joke.

shoutout to anyone who is afraid to talk about their lives, symptoms, or treatment to those around them for fear of being labeled "gross" or "weird" or "disgusting".

there is nothing wrong with you and you are just as worthy of existing and sharing your experiences as anyone else.

[string-cheese-cake]

Nobody asked but white supremacy is the reason why white women are obsessed with true crime.

So when chattel slavery was becoming cemented in the United States and other European areas, the idea of biological race and racial hierarchy emerged to justify the generational enslavement of Africans and the genocide of indigenous people. Africans and other non-whites were labeled as less developed, more susceptible to their "primal urges" and committing sex crimes and therefore needed to be controlled by white men. Specifically to protect white women.

White supremacy is typically framed as necessary to 'protect' (read: control) white women, the mothers of the next generation of whites. They must be protected from "sexually voracious black men" (read: miscegenation and mixed race children). So white supremacy operates on the myth that white women are constantly under threat of sexual violence and must be protected by white men.

That myth becomes baked into the public consciousness, many unaware of the origin or even that the idea is there. It even becomes less racially based, but there is still a common belief that white women are inherently vulnerable to violent crime. Especially among white women. To be fair, it's difficult to not internalize an idea that you are not exactly aware of but is still seeped in every interaction and bit of advice. Don't wander off, don't talk to strangers, don't go out alone or late at night, cover your body, hold your keys between your fingers, take self defense, watch your drink, don't be under the influence. Your body is soft and valuable and delicate and you must protect it.

This idea of vulnerability is reinforced in the news media, which chooses to focus on stories which fit this particular narrative of white women's vulnerability. Missing white women syndrome. This subconscious belief has saturated society. White women develop an outsized fear of death by violent crime. So what do they do? They embrace it. They eat up stories of families like theirs and the deaths of women like them.

It's been suggested that experiencing that fear of violence in the controlled environment true crime provides can be cathartic, somewhat like watching a horror film. There is also a sense of justice and closure felt when the perpetrator of that crime is punished.

In conclusion; White women love true crime because it's a coping mechanism for their deeply embedded fear of violence which was established and is upheld by white supremacy.