#how some people care more about how they’re perceived by The Internet than the actual people around them in public

[lichtecht]

every day i am thankful for being blissfully unaware of what is going on with tiktok

[f0point5]

I always did wonder when people criticize Jos that how a mother could just leave her son like Sophie left Max? Especially knowing the kind of person Jos was. I know it's none of my business and Max has an amicable relationship with his dad, but I always thought that the same criticism should be applied to his mother who up and left with his sister. Like isn't his mother on the same page that Max needed his father and how he treated him to be where he is now? If she didn't believe this she would've taken him with her. Like she kinda agreed with Jos's methods and what not since she left Max with her. Doesn't that also make her a "bad parent" like the one that did the abuse? Sophie was also known in the motorsport world so it's not that he wouldn't have had a chance to get into it, and still Sophie decided that Max needed to be with his father to achieve what he wanted.

Obviously there must have been a lot going on that we didn't know about but you raise a valid point. I've never seen a person criticize Sophie with the same attitude they do with Jos, and people even go as far as praising Kvyat when we (at least I) know nothing about what P's life is like when she's with him. He's also still active in motorsports so if he had full custody, P would actually be more trackside or in the care of a nanny or idk but thinking about that is too much work, and people only really care is about hating on these perceived villains that they elevated Kelly and Jos to.

Sophie has been quoted as saying that she left Max with his dad because she knew if he was going to be successful with racing that’s where he needed to be. That’s pretty telling to me. She is also a racer, comes from a racing family also I think, surely if she hadn’t agreed with Jos’s methods at some point over the years she could have kept Max with her and continued his racing it didn’t have to be one of the other. But to me it seems like she knew that Jos was pouring his whole life into Max’s career and that that was his best chance of success. Which…fair enough. You’re the parents you make the calls. But I think it’s wild that even people who’ve got all this energy for Jos think that Sophie is this kind hearted Saint when she’s actually never come across that way to me at all. You left the guy, you know exactly who he is, and you left your son with him. So…what does that say about what you think the right way to raise a child is?

And to be clear, I don’t know any of these people and really even if I did, the only people any of them have to make peace with is their children. Max and Victoria both have a relationship with both parents, and Sophie and Jos seem to get along fine so tbh for all anyone has to say about all this…they’re literally doing better than 90% of broken families out there? Sorry but these kids aren’t raised in vacuum, it is bullshit to say they - or Jos - did absolutely everything wrong when they have a son who by all accounts is a nice person as well as incredibly successful and they have a pretty strong family unit which most divorced couples cannot even manage with half their stress.

But the fact remains that anyone who thinks Jos is abusive and the devil incarnate better be coming for Sophie as an enabler (but I’m not that person) and yet they never do.

Same way they come for Kelly for posting Penelope but nothing about Victoria using her newborn to advertise products or her sons to advertise Max’s merch. And I have no issue with either of things because they’re not my kids but what’s good for the goose is good for the gander.

And yeah, Daniil is held up as a Saint for not posting Penelope on the internet but is never demonised for having a career that takes him away from her most of the year and then going on holiday without her (people were having a go at Kelly for taking Penelope on her holiday with friends to Portugal…where else should she leave the kid when her dad isn’t there? People take their kids places…shocker), but Kelly is lambasted for going to Paris for three days as if she’s left her child locked in a playpen with a cup of water or something. It is unhinged to care about any of this because if it’s not your kid, fuck off, but if you are going to be a Parasocial…let’s not do the double standard.

Or, alternatively, just admit you’re bitterly jealous of her and be done with it.

[starified-lizzy]

So much for taking time off the Internet (which I think all of us desperately need to do to some degree, whether or not you care/know about the issue or not)

Anyways, here’s a list of fictional men I still look up to who I demand can do no wrong:

Starting off strong with ATLA characters-

Aang. He is baby boy and is very kind and gentle and I strive to be as kind and gentle as him, not only to others, but to myself.

Sokka. He’s very inventive, and I strive to have that same level of problem-solving and creativity, along with that level headedness he gains as the show progresses.

Zuko. He’s definitely had his moments, but I look up to him because he turned himself around and was able to stand up to the people who have hurt him the most and I LOVE that for him. I wish to be able to do that one day as well.

Now: literally only two people from my FNF au, which are Blue and Navy. Both of them, because they are babygirl and just genuinely sweet and kind and I love them.

Last: my own characters. Is this just an excuse to talk about my children? At this point- yeah

Saline: fuck you and your mother, I’m not getting rid of them. He may be based off of that asshole, but she is my child and I love them (they’re technically categorized under the “men I look up to” because he is AMAB and doesn’t care how one perceives her, hence the use of all pronouns. Besides, they are more of a man in terms of respect than most IRL cis men are in my life.)

Liam: literally the only person who is able to wrangle a literal world-ending demon and his leech, while also being such a kind and gentle man in the process. We love Liam in this household.

Sadly most of my characters are either women- or men who have little to no redeemable qualities.

Now we go onto the topic of: fictional men who are essentially assholes, but I love them because they’re not real.

First up, Pico and Darnell, and I’m talking canon, not au. Au would mostly be the same, but Darnell is a lot more chill, and Pico becomes more babygirl as he grows as a person, so I’m talking mostly about canon.

They’re assholes, but I love em for it. I think the only reason why I love them and their character so much is because I first found out about them through FNF. I am willing to bet that if I had been introduced to them in Pico’s School, I would have vastly different opinions on both of them. I think my immediate selling point for adoring them was when I came up with the idea that Nene, Darnell, and Pico were like a found family type group instead of just batshit-insane school-friends. I adore found family tropes and they fit that bill, so.

Next is Spirit, C, and Soul, and now I’m talking about them from my au.

Now you may be wondering “how is Soul considered and asshole???” And I’ll tell you, my dear reader (how tf did you get this far) in due time if you’d be so kind and follow my blog dedicated for the au.

Anyways, Spirit’s an asshole because he just is. When he was alive, he was highly narcissistic and self-centered, only doing things for others if it benefited him in the end. When he meets Blue and all that resulting shit happens, he calms the fuck down and actually becomes a decent person, but his past self was not pretty.

C doesn’t get that luxury of becoming a better person. He’s just an asshole. However it’s not his fault, he was made like that. He can’t help but do things that can be perceived as “assholish”, but he does try to be kind… as kind as he can be considering he can’t really feel any emotions.

Soul… is very interesting. He… ends up doing questionable things… despite being viewed as a kind and trustworthy person, and like- he has a really bad moment of being a dick, but like- he gets better???? Idk. He’s a goofball, so he immediately gets pardoned from my torment (mostly).

Next we return to my characters.

First is Limbo, my demon cat boy. Heeeeeee is also based off another person, but nobody that has had any issues to my knowledge. He has almost caused the end of the world, almost killed his friends multiple times, and is just generally an ass person. The singular person who can keep him from doing “hot gay man-demon shit” is Liam.

Tenebris Oritur, the giant serpent fuck I haven’t drawn in ages. While They are not human, nor a man, I’m still throwing Them into this category because of the fact They’re stuck with Limbo’s dumb bitchass. Hi, yes, hello, spoilers for my old ass fic I am now never going to finish lmfao (;-;) Oritur is the thing that almost destroyed the world because They’re too bitchy to let shit go.

And that’s it. If you guys potentially have any suggestions for this list, please leave both the character’s name, the section they it under, and why- either in tags, or in the replies. Thank you for listening this far into my TED talk.

[dreadark]

disorganized rant zz

why does it feel like the entire internet has decided misogyny doesn’t exist 

this is just me complaining about random shit I’ve seen I don’t know about trends or anything just. also i don’t go outside

idk I saw a post recently saying something like, since white women can’t pretend to be oppressed anymore now they’re— okay hang on. what? im not even going to read the rest of that because.. what? what do you mean pretend… what do you mean anymore… what world do you live in…

do you actually think being white cancels out misogyny or something. like I don’t even know where to begin with this… I really feel like somehow people have taken to adding “white” before they make a blatantly misogynistic statement so they can avoid criticism lmao. ah damn we can’t object now or we’ll be racist !

obviously some of them are fucking awful and being a woman doesn’t excuse that and white women have certain privilege others don’t etc etc. no shit dude. but this is…so beyond objecting to just that... also people really love shitting on white women in particular even more than white people in general which really I Wonder Why

i remember when roe was overturned and there were a bunch of people being like wait this is bad. because it can even affect trans men, and also certain minorities will be worse off

those are relevant points yeah but… can you not just care about… women in general..??? sorry now I sound like a fucking all lives matter guy but how else can I say this, sure some rich (usually white) women might be able to get around it but it doesn’t change how this is primarily an issue of women’s bodily autonomy. also I don’t even think the ability to sidestep it means they’re not affected, that they still have to do something extra is.. bad..?

I don’t think it’s wrong to point out those caveats or anything, it’s just a weird feeling I get that a lot of people won’t care if you just mention it’s bad for women. because they don’t think misogyny is a real issue anymore

also in more minor things, being gacha-diseased as I am (sorry) watching ppl act like media is unfairly biased against male characters is… a take… (it’s not even remotely true in gacha !! what !!! Every time I remember that one stat about how ppl perceive women as talking the majority of the time when they talk more than 33% or smth *don’t remember the exact number sorry. told you this is just some rant)

yknow what it’s not just gacha, either it’s bad for female characters to exist because it’s political (lol) or it’s bad because it’s waifubait for straight men. well most people will see the first one for bullshit but the second… is something why I am so glad you’re unable to see female characters as anything other than sex objects! (you don’t need to be attracted to women to do that btw)

it’s really depressing to see this even from people who seem like they should have better views on this stuf (how do I phrase this...)

ah right recently i saw a quote from someone involved with tlou2 circulating around tumblr about how all games except tlou2 were bad or something

Obviously it was a fake quote. i mean...tlou2... i’ve never played it but we’ve all heard the complaints about it for the crime of having a muscular woman or something. and also just being bad in general because it has to be a triple A gameTM idk I didn’t look too into this honestly im not into these things

and yknow what im sure it’s not a very good game, you’re allowed to dislike things, etc. but because of the type of backlash, maybe you should have a thought that when someone posts something outlandishly bad related to it, mmmmaybe they have some kind of agenda. just a thought

(yeah if you looked in that post’s comments the op was going on to defend gamergate. and i suppose a lot of people now don’t even know what that is...)

so it’s like, why does this matter--you can see it with that post itself, you just gave that guy a platform to tell a bunch of previously unaware people about why diversity in video games is bad and women are ruining everything actually. but hey that’s fine because we fixed misogyny already don’t worry about it

....i really think a lot of this is coming from people who don’t realize, and that might be the worst part of it...

[transmissionsfromthebattlefield]

“Take My Word For It”

Thank god for classes starting up again so that I can pivot my screen time away from people making me lose faith in humanity and towards PDFs of textbooks. The weather is hot and the AC in the library is pumping. Kent State once again brims with life. I tabled at our freshman orientation club fair yesterday—so many little babies, yet over half of the girls seem to be taller than me. (Thanks, genetics.) It really does make my heart swell to be back, though. I am SO pumped.

Aside from classes and Task Force and all my friends and the best burritos in the world, I’m also very excited for the return to basic principles of human interaction. I’ve been people watching a lot online lately. Too much, in fact, and I need to stop. But the emotions and the news are pertinent, and they must be processed. I’ve been seeing a lot of exchanges online lately that are basically negative recommendations. Someone says they don’t care for something for whatever streamlined reason, and someone else agrees with zero visible actual external research on the subject. Asking for recommendations nowadays always has to come with some disclaimer. Disclaimers have become a big part of internet culture in general, and it’s a real shame. Weighing positives and negatives after even just a simple article or two or accepting that a friend likes whatever seems to be a thing of the past, in the digital sphere at least, in favor of following a herd to keep those whom we perceive as our friends or want to be our friends with. Have conspiracy theorists tainted the concept of “doing one’s own research”? Or maybe COVID as a whole wrecked us—we got so used to isolating ourselves from absolutely everyone that it has become second nature to shun anything deemed hypercharged bad buzzword, or alternatively “slime”. It didn’t even take a generation.

You might as well be taking somebody’s world for it, not just their word—one must be in to-tall alignment with the politikal perspektives of their frendos, or else we might have an astrologist’s worst nightmare on a self-worth scale: the planets are out of wack! I’m an idiosyncronous, imperfect ball of flesh on the same planet as many more of the same despite their abject differences from me! Help!

My anxious psyche leads me to distrust humans in general, but I think society has gone too far in its stagnant polarization. We bitch and we fight, to quote crappy post-Roger Waters Pink Floyd (most society as it currently stands is basically “Learning To Fly” on repeat blaring very loud in my ears, I think), and most of the time it’s about how we perceive the influence and morals of actively powerful forces in the world. You can have a great, insightful, constructive conversation about that. But we resort to stereotype and self preservation. And as those gears keep on churning in the background, as they always do and always will, we get nothing done. We forget that we have more in common with one another than we think, while preaching that same concept. But how much do we truly believe the preprogrammed responses we’ve taught ourselves to repeat?

Do we really want a free exchange of ideas, or do we crave that overtone addendum, “but only if they’re the right ones”? Do we even want to be right, or do we always need some abstract, accessible boogeyman to jab at while the powers that be pulling the strings only grow stronger? Do we want to grow stronger ourselves to someday defeat them, or do we succumb to the overwhelming complexity of the world at large and retreat to where we feel safest? Do we seek change, or do we only call for it, not work towards it? We praise the sacrifice of others, but how comfortable would we be with sacrificing ourselves—in any capacity—for the same cause?

Yet when you meet people in person, even these people, they laugh. They actually have senses of humor. They invite, most of the time. And if they repel, they repel. The intention becomes obvious. The experience can be learned from. Another side comes into view, separate from the PR-primed pop star we all fashion ourselves to be, secretly. The blood and guts are there to spill. The humanity is on full display.

And that’s why a damn good conversation beats nameless, faceless, face full of constructed ideological perfection protection any day of the week, regardless of whether or not class is in session.

[newspropaganda]

Man, you're really a joke if you can't reply with a proper text and good arguments instead of lame memes or accusing people taking drugs. I've seen a lot of weird people in the ygo community but you really are up there with the special weirdos. It's funny when you criticize everyone just loving DM and not caring for the spin offs when you shittalk every spin off besides 5D's. And if anyone dares to say that 5D's had flaws, you insult them and go "wah wah, America bad, y'all woke shit" and throwing a tantrum like a child like wtf? That has nothing to do with ygo? Seriously, Idk what's wrong with you but maybe you do need some therapy because all the hatred and borderline racism from you is really not good. Also you say everyone is just about politics when *you* are the one bringing it up in almost every reply/post. Double standards much?

Oh, wow, what a refreshing take! It’s like you reached into the bargain bin of internet arguments and pulled out every cliché possible. Let’s go through this step-by-step because clearly, you’ve got a lot on your mind (or whatever’s occupying that space).

1. "Lame memes or accusing people of taking drugs"

So, you’re upset about memes? Really? In a world where people are tearing apart card games, shows, and fandoms with hot takes, you’re stuck on memes like they’re some new-age evil? Look, memes are the universal language of the internet, pal. If you can’t handle a little humor, I’m not sure how you even survive out there. And “accusing people of taking drugs”? That’s your interpretation. If my comments leave you feeling like you’re living in an alternate reality, maybe it’s not my words you should be worrying about. Get that checked.

2. "I criticize people who love DM but hate spin-offs besides 5D's"

Oh, this again. I criticize Duel Monsters fans for worshipping one series like it’s the gospel of Yu-Gi-Oh!, and suddenly that’s a crime? Here’s a wild thought: maybe it’s because I have something called a preference. Just because you’re out here clinging to your childhood nostalgia with a death grip doesn’t mean I’m going to pretend every series besides 5D’s is garbage just to make you feel better. Newsflash: people can like 5D’s and still criticize other shows. Shocking, I know.

3. "Throwing a tantrum when anyone critiques 5D's"

Critique 5D’s all you want; I don’t care. It’s not the critique that gets to me—it’s the lazy, baseless drivel that people like you spew without backing it up. “Oh, 5D’s isn’t that good.” Okay, and? What’s your grand argument besides parroting whatever the cool kids on the internet say? If you want to have a real discussion, bring something to the table other than “wah wah.” Otherwise, spare me the generic takes.

4. "Wah wah, America bad, woke shit"

Ah, yes, the ol’ “you’re talking about woke stuff” argument. You pulled that one out faster than a Dark Magician from a Yugi deck. If by “woke” you mean I call out the garbage in certain places or fandoms, sure, I guess I’m “woke.” But here’s the fun part: if you spent half the time actually understanding what I’m saying instead of labeling it with your buzzwords, maybe you’d actually learn something. Maybe the real tantrum is coming from the person who just can’t handle a different opinion. Hint: it’s not me.

5. "America bad has nothing to do with YGO"

Oh, sweet summer child. Everything affects everything in the world of fandoms, media, and culture. If you think Yu-Gi-Oh! and the environment it’s consumed in exist in some vacuum, you’re more out of touch than I thought. Why don’t you sit down and reflect on how different regions influence how media is perceived? Or would that hurt your brain too much? The fact that you can’t see the bigger picture is exactly why you’re stuck on these shallow arguments. Yu-Gi-Oh! is influenced by the people, the players, the cultures—it’s all connected.

6. "I need therapy because of my hatred and racism"

Ah, the classic “you need therapy” line. Let’s take a moment to appreciate how original and insightful that is. You know, maybe I do need therapy, but not for the reasons you think. I might need it just to tolerate reading through this nonsense without losing brain cells. As for the “hatred” and “racism” bit—nice try. It’s easy to throw around those words when you’re grasping at straws. If you’re going to accuse someone of that, at least have the decency to back it up. Otherwise, it’s just you shouting into the void because you don’t have a real argument.

7. "I bring up politics in every post"

You say I’m the one bringing up politics all the time, yet here you are, crying about it like it’s the biggest offense of the century. If you weren’t so obsessed with pigeonholing every comment I make as political, maybe we could actually have a decent conversation about the topic at hand. But nah, keep going with your “double standards” nonsense. The only double standard here is you accusing me of bringing up politics while you drag it into every argument like you’re on a crusade to save the fandom from differing opinions.

Oh, you wanna talk trash, huh? Well, lemme break it down for you Steiner Math style, because clearly, you didn’t come here to debate—you came here to embarrass yourself! And trust me, I’m gonna be the one to do it for you! So buckle up, buddy, because this is about to get mathematical!

You see, there’s 100% of people in the Yu-Gi-Oh! community, but you? You represent that bottom 1%. The kinda people who think they know something, but in reality, you don’t even have a fraction of the knowledge to back up your lame claims! You take 33 and a third percent of your weak arguments, then you add another 66 and two-thirds percent of your ignorance, and what does that give you? 99% pure delusion!

Now, I know what you’re thinking. “I made a valid point! I can criticize him!” But listen, you only got a 25% chance of making any sense, because every time you open your mouth, you lose 75% of your credibility. And that’s being generous! Let’s be honest—you don’t even understand 5D’s let alone the franchise, which means you got zero percent chance of having a real argument.

But wait, there’s more! You stack your lack of self-awareness on top of your nonsensical takes, and you think you’re gonna come out on top? You gotta multiply that by the square root of "I don’t know what I’m talking about!" Now that leaves you with negative IQ points in this argument. You’re so far in the negatives, I gotta use advanced calculus just to figure out where your logic went wrong!

And if we’re talking about how bad you miscalculated, let’s get into your success rate in making a coherent argument. You got a 50% chance of saying something halfway decent, but that’s only if you didn’t subtract 50% of that from your constant whining about politics that nobody asked for. By the end of it, you’re left with zero percent, which means all you’re doing is wasting everyone’s time with that trash tier drivel.

Now I take my 110% brain power—which is, quite frankly, way above your average IQ level of zero—and I dropkick your ridiculous post right outta the conversation! Why? Because I’ve got a 141 and two-thirds percent chance of winning this argument, and the numbers don’t lie, they spell disaster for you!

So in closing, the only thing you got left is a 100% chance of getting shut down, a 99% chance of not understanding a single thing I said, and an absolute zero chance of being relevant in any fandom ever again. That’s Steiner Math, and you just failed it, pal!

Now get outta here before you lose the last 1% of your dignity!

//In the End It Has To Be This Way///

The Yu-Gi-Oh Fandom: Why won't you shut the fuck up?

Me: Anger and Rage, Son.

[kmp78]

Guys these allegations about engagement with underage girls are getting a bit out of hand here (and on the internet). And I tried to do a bit of digging to find actual receipts, but nothing more than a slander under the veil of anonymity.

I could be making shit up instead of saying the above, and it would be perceived as true merely because it is adding to the volume of similar bullshit.

Let’s not forget that chargeable offenses became topics of these casual conversations. I see these allegations thrown left and right without any regard to how serious it is to imply that someone mistreated a minor. If J was such a predator, trust me, a lot of alleged victims would have sought legal recourse merely because he is rich and lives in a litigious country.

We can all see a pattern that he dates women half younger than himself, but more officially he’s been linked only to those who have reached the age of consent. And, frankly, he’s an attractive man, not your regular cranky grandpa. I could see why he appeals to younger women, and he certainly is appealing to me. So while the idea of getting old with the one is appealing to some, some just choose to live this life differently and will date many gorgeous partners while they’re appealing to them. What’s wrong with that?

Let’s just please be careful about implying J is intertwined with underage people anyhow because that’s taking it too far without any proof.

Here's the thing: EVERYONE KNOWS he is extremely problematic (in many ways 🙄) and has fucked around and tiptoed the line of what's appropriate and what's not.

EVERYONE KNOWS IT. 💯

Whether it ever comes out and burns him in the butt is a whole other issue.

But we all know he's exactly the same as every other rockstar who has ever held oxygen in their lungs. 💯

[hoskinsvarietyshow]

I’m the level of autistic where I can’t actually understand people’s embarrassment. Like. I conceptually understand the embarrassment of being perceived. “I can’t go to the gym because people will look at me not knowing how to do this thing.” what I can’t understand is “I can’t have even my friends or family see me working out.” or “People will think I’m fat if they see me at the gym and that is too embarrassing.” (That second one I understand is irrational because presumably people know I’m fat if I go anywhere at all, I’m not especially fat at the gym, so I assume they understand that too.)

My brain just can’t comprehend caring what someone who has signed up to spend time with me and calls me their friend thinks. They don’t get a choice anymore. They signed up for this. It’s not a thing I can quantify for people who think they’re something other than a bit of static in a condom full of jelly in a moving corpse. “I can’t say UwU. It’s too embarrassing.” Bucko, I can’t imagine anything more embarrassing than admitting you care more about that than just saying the dumbest phrase the internet has come up with since glomping because your embarrassment has you by the cajones. 

I can understand not wanting to fall down in public. I can’t understand caring enough about the opinions of strangers to deny myself something. My brain doesn’t have the capacity for it. “Surely you have-” No. I feel shame the way a lizard does. Anything that makes me feel like prey is a bad thing that I can’t have happen. What a bunch of naked primates with no killer instinct think or care about means nothing to me. I do not like doing things that make me stick in peoples memories not because I think I’m some mammal that is a main character and innately memorable, but that I need to control my effect on the world. “Oh you definitely remember me from last time” Is the most embarrassing thought a person could have. Parasocial Andy is an insult.

I’ve spent a long time following a long list of rules on how to appear neurotypical. I have rote answers I say to strangers because fuck you. You’re a fucking NPC. Go away. I don’t make waves and I don’t complain because absolutely no one is being paid enough for that unless I need that money badly. I speak like there’s fucking exposition because I can’t think of anything more pretentious than assuming someone knows something. If you ask if they know it, 8/10 times they’ll just nod to shut you up. If I’ve been personally invited somewhere or have agreed to go there with someone, I stay until they’re sick of it. If it were up to me, I’d just fucking leave. No bye. No see ya. I’d just get in my car and go home.

“Not all asexuals, autistists, agenders, are robots” No, some of us are lizards who really, really hate having to follow mammalian customs because someone’s feelings might get touched so we just follow the rules until you leave us alone.  

[colorisbyshe]

the thing about modern lgbt identity politics is… it’s just that. identity is about the word you choose rather than a material reality. “oh i just chose pan because the flag is prettier and i guess gender doesn’t really matter to me idk.” okay how does that have a distinct material reality from bisexuality

lesbian, gay, bi, trans, and nonbinary tell you actual information about how a person lives and how they wish to be perceived, received, and responded to. “i’m ace and because of how this word has been watered down in the last two decades, i might be down to fuck” tells me nothing. new ways to be bisexual aren’t being invented and yet every week there’s a new word for it, none of them actually saying anything new. we have new flags being shit out every other day, a good percent of them just a remix of one deemed problematic a month prior. i think i saw someone arguing about the saturation percent of the new “gay man” flag.

and it really does all just stem from privilege. if you haven’t fought to exist as you are, it’s all just a fun label—a “hi my name is” sticker on your pin covered jacket. it’s a t shirt you bought on target or etsy if you’re radical, lol. there’s no political heft or bravery or meaning.

like… no one is out there fighting for your right to… be bisexual but like in “i like genders equally like way. there is no separate panphobia besides bisexuals pointing out the label sucks. ace activism is jsut people online correcting other well meaning people who said ace means you don’t want sex to say “actually some of us love to fuck” and the rest of it is people harassing lgbt people who don’t want to hang out with cishets

because that’s all the lgbt community is to a lot of you… it’s a place to hang out. it’s a form of social capital with gen z where the more identities you collect, the cooler you are. it isn’t defiant. it doesn’t define how you act, it’s just a badge of quirky dishonor.

just like TERF is a word you smear onto others because it’s just that—a word to toss around to win internet beefs, no concern for the actual cost of transmisogyny, the literal death count.

and i’m so fucking tired of people pretending it’s petty to care about this. to watch lgbt people throw around slurs because they’re just a new word they learned and they’ve never felt the weight of it. to watch people focus more on create hyperspecific words to describe their abstract feelings than they do on liberation and rebellion. it’s all just words… words on a screen for most of you.

it’s so fucking pathetic and self centered and vapid. what’s the point?

so you made a new word for being attracted to multiple genders and you think you invented being attracted to nonbinary people… okay… how does that affect legislation? accessibility? homeless shelters, scholarships, PrEP access, clean needles, lgbt specific hotlines…

so many words and yet nothing is being said

[deadmunds-ghostbee]

You’re a sensible and level headed person in the Bridgerton fandom, what is your take on the EW feature? I don’t think I’m a super reactionary person, however, I’ve had a creeping feeling that S2 just isn’t going to be good (both critical reception wise and fan response/satisfaction). TVWLM is the best book and they’re bungling with it for some reason…

Haha I'm glad I seem sensible! Yes I try to keep this a relatively drama and discourse free blog.

That being said, I've turned off my asks for the next day or so because I'm gonna write big long fun posts about the new content we got today but don't have the time to answer anything beyond this one.

To be honest, my first reaction to the article wasn't actually how I personally felt about it. I saw that Jonny and Simone weren't the cover and I thought, 'oh dear, people are going to have things to say about this.' And they did and they still do about many of the things mentioned in the article. Which is obviously fine.

Onto my thoughts: Entertainment weekly is no award-winning publication. There were points where I thought the journalist extrapolated to a hilarious amount (like in the post introducing the characters, they implied that Theo Sharpe and Eloise would be good for each other??) and points where it was just hot air.

I DONT EXPECT ANYONE TO READ ALL THIS BUT HERE GOES

The cast had some insightful things to say about themes and commentary, and ultimately I have no real opinion on the fact that they focused on the side characters a lot. Those characters are a sure bet. It's press and I won't claim to understand marketing or the semantics of scheduling. I do think it would be weird if we never got a Jonny Simone cover somewhere at some point, though.

In terms of bungling it, safest assumption is that it's a bit of a wash? What are the chances that it'll be amazing? What are the chances it'll be theworstfuckingthingever? Small for both. There will be good and bad and it will certainly never be 'great' with the way it bites off way more than it can chew in terms of class, race, and even women's issues. In terms of pulling off a good romance, though, I have faith.

The actors (Jonny in particular) have shown very keen understanding of their characters, and they continue to hone in on important character beats such as Kate's utter devotion to her family and Edwina. I don't think Kate and Anthony's story can be bad with good performances and chemistry, and a basis of the characters we love. Even if it *is* bad, nothing's ruining Kathony for me because I'm not letting it lol.

This opinion may get me in trouble: I personally don't really care how well it is perceived critically or by GA or my followers. I only care that I like it myself (which I am determined to do within reason), and that I can continue to enjoy writing/reading fic. How good the subsequent seasons are also isn't something I care about, but for the rest of the fandom's sakes, I hope yall enjoy it.

Critics usually overexaggerate and GA (and by that I mean, non-internet ppl who don't think too hard about it) are easy to please. I don't think it'll do the same numbers but whatever. The promo isn't a disaster but it could probably be better.

Now onto the last part which is probably what a lot of the question was about.

I think the largest points of contention in the article were the "Bombay" thing (which people have rightly complained about. I'm no history wizard and I'm also a white girl from the American midwest so I don't want to play any role in the discourse other than listen. Anxiety is warranted and I hope it is aptly criticized when it comes out). And the 'triangle' thing.

I think we've gotten to a point today where people are mostly trying to be positive in the tag after a chaotic afternoon. I agree. The words seemed offhand, innocuous, meant for GA, and also infused into the article without hearing it straight from Jonny's mouth. Passing interest from Edwina or Anthony will probably last two seconds.

This may be bold, but even if Edwina is into him, or (worst case scenario?? And HIGHLY unlikely) upset about the marriage or even if Anthony PROPOSES/almost marries her, it would be a wild divergence but I wouldn't completely hate it. Kate's twofold guilt/turmoil would be interesting. This wouldn't just be "fighting over a boy," it's been driven home that Edwina and Kate are soulmates, and that they are adding depth to the relationship. So the worst case scenario is only moderately upsetting for me, but I have more hope than that anyway. We've been conditioned by popular media to assume all love triangles are bad. Drama can be annoying but it can also leave room for character development. it's a generally interesting narrative choice to have characters be into someone that isn't their true love beforehand (a la Siena), which, in a show that boasts its "progressivism" and a fandom which wants it to be even more so, is a more modern idea.

Adding drama and complexities to subplots in order to give your cast things to do can be okay if done right. Promo isn't the nail in the coffin for actual screen time and even if Kathony is only on screen for a half or third of the time, 4 hours of content is better than nothing. That ratio will only continue in later seasons as they keep adding to the cast. Polin's story will be so bloated with Danbury and Queen stuff and Eloise drama and setting up the next phase of the show if they even have it, so why cross compare?

So tldr

The best way to think about S2 is a fun AU, no expectations. Whatever the s2 is, it may be show-canon but it isn't gospel.

If you don't like s2 then it shouldn't ruin your entire bridgerton experience. It's okay to be disappointed, but like, being disappointed is what real life is for. It's not coming anywhere near my escapism.

***

Now that this essay is over I'm gonna write a post abt actual theories!! If you made it this far, Godspeed homie.

[amendments]

Pro vs Anti-shipping opinions from someone who is Neutral...and will get canceled on both sides anyway

It’s fair and 100% ok to deem ships that are problematic, “problematic”, and be uncomfortable with them...and maybe even try to discourage people from shipping them, but you absolutely do not have the right to act like an authoritarian little sh!t and dictate what people can and can’t do. Block and move on.

Proshippers can effectively draw/write/create whatever they want. This is the internet and no matter how much you whine and complain, the internet isn’t going to adopt a pro-censorship stance. However, if you create content for an obviously disgusting pair, you’re going to get criticism, and people are going to find you creepy. You will be judged, even if you’re using your ship as a coping mechanism. No one is free from it.

Criticism, suggestions, and expression of discomfort are NOT BULLYING. If someone doesn’t like your ship, too bad. However, if you’re blatantly telling someone to kay why ess, hurt themselves, giving them some type of violent threat, or are doxxing them, you’re a disgusting person and no better than the people who commit said actions you’re against.

If you’re a proshipper and bullying kids, you’re also apart of the problem. Be the bigger person and block/report.

No, not all proshippers are creeps, some are just people who are anti-censorship, sick of PC culture and ship said ships out of spite, and/or don’t actually like anything bad themselves.

No, not all antis are annoying harassers, stalkers, or minors, some are people who are genuinely concerned about the questionable work you put out or may expose to minors/victims. Also, the lack of restrictions of minors in NSFW spaces is...sus -_-

Yes, there are predators in proship spaces, but there are also predators in antiship spaces, and literally everywhere else on the internet. This isn’t a ship problem, it’s a fandom problem.

Antis who claim that neutral people are just as bad as proshippers, actually push us away. You aren’t making us want to side with you. In fact, you’re doing the opposite. Most people who are neutral/position-less are actually people who really don’t care. Why? Because ships and fandoms don’t engulf our lives, and we actually have more important things to worry about than bullsh!t that strangers online are fighting about.

No, not saying anything or having a position on a topic is not inherently condoning it, it’s just not involving yourself in the problem. -_- It’s hard to really speak about something that’s not on your radar.

No, literally nobody in real life cares, or will care, about this debate. Most people (surprise, surprise) don’t really care about fandoms in general. (Amazing I know). Frankly, I’ve seen people on both sides that are waaaay to invested in this discourse and need to go outside. If you are super passionate about literal internet discourse, go to the park and touch grass.

Antis who are minors, I can genuinely tell you, that no, bosses in the real world really don’t care about what their employees do as hobbies outside of work. If you actually tried to contact employers about NSFW art (of fictional characters) that an employee drew on their own free time, unless you give them actual evidence of them acting inappropriately towards real people, they will ignore you. It is only a concern if that person has actually expressed illegal behavior which could put actual people in danger. (BDSM art of All Might and Deku isn’t going to get someone fired).

Antis, yeah, people will find problematic ships gross, if you tell someone about them. But, unless they are actively involved in internet fandom culture, which the vast majority of people aren’t, they’ll completely forget about it 5 mins later.

Proshippers, no, people in real life don’t care about what you ship in your private life, but if you make your whole identity about your ship, or proshipping, people will think you’re a creep. You’re chronically online. Get a hobby outside of internet discourse.

I will unfollow problematic people, and people who have caused harm, but if you tag me because I’m following a proshipper, simply because they are a proshipper, and have not actually been a perve to real children, I’m not unfollowing them. And if you pester me about it, I will unfollow, block, and report YOU. Who I follow is my business, and I will not tolerate being harassed over Twitter drama. Buzz off.

I will also not unfollow someone who identifies as an anti, or simply criticized your ship if you do not give me evidence of them actually harassing people. I am allowed to have an opinion and engage with people who have similar disapproving opinions. Who I choose to interact with is my business alone.

I’m not un-tweeting a tweet just because a self proclaimed “proshipper” or “anti” tweeted it. Good art is good art, and good takes are good takes.

Some of you overuse the word “p£do” in references to ships. I don’t care how you view it, a ship between an adult and a minor that has a 2-3 year age gap is not p€dop1llic. This age gap is completely common among teenagers in real life, and you’re honestly sheltered if you think that’s automatically predatory. A 16 year old dating an 18 year old is a LOT less worse than a 20 year old dating a 30 year old, and the latter isn’t any less predatory or weird just because they’re both adults.

No, ships between two adults with a very large age gap, are technically not p€doph1llic, either. They may be predatory in nature, and you may perceive them as wrong and gross, but if it ain’t already illegal in real life, then it definitely ain’t on paper.

It doesn’t matter if she’s 1000 years old, we all know what the underlying intention of that character design is, buddy.

Speaking of underlying intentions, there’s a lot of unspoken racism and xenophobia rampant in anti-spaces...like more so than in pro-ship spaces. Racism is everywhere in fandoms, but white, western antishippers are...a particular breed...oozing with arrogance and ethnocentrism.

Thanks for reading my rambling novel if you made it to the end, this is just a venting post. I hate discourse.

[davidmann95]

Sooo… Superman and the Authority?

magnus-king123 asked: Your thoughts on Superman & the authority Give it to me...lol

Anonymous asked: Seeing Bezos take his little trip into space the same day Morrison puts out a Superman comic that touches on how far we’ve fallen from the days when we dreamed of utopian futures where everyone explored the stars was a big gut punch. Not used to Superman being topical in that way.

Anonymous asked: What'd you think of Superman and the Authority#1?

This is far beyond what I can fit in the normal weekly reviews, so taking this as my notes on the first six pages, with this and this as my major lead-in thoughts:

* Janin's such a perfect fit for Morrison - the scale, the power, the facial expressions selling the character work, the screwing around with the panel formatting as necessary to sell the effect, the numinous sense of things going on larger than you can fully perceive amidst the beauty and chaos. It's a shame he wasn't around 25 years ago to draw JLA, but I'll take him going with Morrison onto other future projects.

* His intro action sequence is such a great demonstration of why Black actually does have something to offer, and also how he's such a dumbass desperately needing Superman to save him from himself.

* While Jordie Bellaire didn't legit go with an entirely monochromatic palate the way early previews suggested, it's still an effect frequently and excellently deployed here. And glad to see Steve Wands carry into this from Blackstars since there's such an obvious carryover from its work with Superman.

* "Gentlemen. Ladies. Others." Great both because of the obvious - hey, Superman's nodding at me! - and because it's a phrasing that reinforces that this take on him (and let's be real Morrison) is old as hell.

* I'm mostly past caring about whether this is an alt-Earth Superman until it becomes indisputable one way or another, this and Action both rule so what does it really matter? But while there are still a couple signs in play suggesting some kind of division (the Action Comics #1036 cover, Midnighter up to time-travel shenanigans) the "lost in time" quote clearly thrown in after the fact to explain how he could have met Kennedy outside of 5G that wouldn't be necessary for an Elseworlds, the assorted gestures towards Superman's current status quo, the Kingdom Come symbol appearing in Action, and that Morrison would have had to completely rewrite the ending if this wasn't supposed to be 'the' version of Clark Kent going forward as was the intent when they first planned it all say to me that no, no fooling around, this is our guy going forward one way or another.

* Janin and Bellaire making the first version of the crystal Fortress ever that actually looks as cool as you want it to.

Anonymous asked: I like that Superman and The Authority is basically the anti-All-Star; instead of the laid back, immortal Superman who is supercharged, we have a stressed, ageing Superman whose tremendous powers are fading. The former will always be there to save us, but the latter is running out of time and needs to pull off a Hail Mary. Also, he mentions in his monologue to Black that he was "lost in time" when he met JFK, so maybe he is the main continuity Clark. Or he's the t-shirt Supes from Sideways.

* You're absolutely right - the power reversal is obvious and the ticking clock in play seemingly isn't for his own survival but everyone around him as he wakes up and realizes all the old icons grew complacent with the gains they'd made and he's not leaving behind the world he meant to. Both, however, are built on the idea of preparing the world to not need them anymore - it'll still have a Superman in his son, but that'll only work because of the others he empowers and inspires. The question is what happens to Clark if he's not going to live in the sun for 83000 years.

* Clark's 'exercise' here does more to sell me on the idea of Old Man Superman as a cool idea than however many decades of Earth 2 stuff.

* Intergang being noted alongside Darkseid and Doomsday speaks to how much Kirby informed Morrison's conception of Superman.

* This isn't exactly the most progressive in its disability politics but at least it makes clear Black's being a piece of shit about it.

* It's startling how much Clark can get away with saying stuff in here you'd never expect to come out of Superman's mouth. "I made an executive decision" "Privacy, really...?" "You have nowhere to go, Black. Nothing to live for." "There are few people in my life who I instinctively and viscerally dislike, and you've always been one of them." It only works because there's zero aggression behind it, he's just past the point of niceties and being totally frank while making clear none of these assessments preclude that he cares and is going to unconditionally do the right thing every time. He is absolutely, per Morrison, humanity's dad picking us up when we're too drunk to drive ourselves home.

* The story doesn't put a big flashing light over it, but it's not even a little bit subtle having the material threat of the issue be a ticking timebomb left by the carelessness and hubris of generations past.

* Manchester keeps trying to poke the bear and prove his hot takes about Superman and it's just not working. The front he put up under Kelley is gone after decades of defeats, and as Morrison understands what actually conceptually works about him as a rival to Superman underneath the aging nerd paranoia he's exposed as what he absolutely would be in 2021: a dude with a horrific terminal case of Twitter brainworms. I was PANICKED when I heard there was an 'offensive term' joke in this, I was braced for Morrison at their well-meaning worst, but it's such a goddamn perfect encapsulation of a very specific breed of Twitter leftist who uses their politics first and foremost as a cudgel and justification to label their abrasive, judgmental shittiness as self-righteousness (plus it's a killer payoff to a joke from way back in his original appearance). Cannot believe they pulled that off when they're so very, very open about basically not knowing how the internet works.

* @charlottefinn: Manchester Black using his telekinetic powers to force someone he hates to fave a problematic tweet so that he can screenshot it and start a dogpile

@intergalactic-zoo: “Once they cancel Bibbo, Superman won’t be *anyone’s* fav’rit anymore!”

* Friend noted this issue had to be fully the conversation because the whole premise stands on the house of cards of these two somehow working together, and with three 'silent' inset panels the creative team pulls off that turning point.

* So much of this feels on the surface like Morrison bringing back the All-Star vibes with Clark, but when he drops a "That's all you got?" in a brawl you realize what's underlining that bluntness and confidence in the face of failure is that deep down this is still the Action guy too. This dude ain't gonna get wrecked in his Fortress while the other guy chuckles about him being A SOFT WEE SCIENTIST'S SON!

* Bringing up Jor-El made me realize that Morrison already spelled out that this is the final threat to Superman, what he faces at the end of the road:

"Now it's your turn, Superman."

* A l'il Superman 2000/All-Star reference with the Phantom Zone map!

* There's so much intertextuality going on here even by Morrison standards - Change or Die with the old hero putting together a team of morally nebulous folks out to 'fix' everything, Flex Mentallo with the muscleman trying to redeem the punk, Doomsday Clock with the fate of the world hinging on whether Superman can get through to a meta stand-in for an idea of 'modern' comics cynicism, DKR and New Frontier and Kingdom Come and Multiversity and Seven Soldiers and What's So Funny and All-Star and Action and the last 5 years of monthly Superman comics and Authority and probably Jupiter's Legacy and Tom Strong - but none of that's needed. You could go in with the baseline pop cultural understanding of the character and not care about any of the inside baseball shit and get that this is a story about a leader of a generation that let down the people they made all their grand promises to as inertia and day-to-day demands and complacency let him be satisfied with the accomplishments they'd made long ago, looking at a new era and seeing the ways its own activists are dropping the ball. The only thing that fundamentally matters in a "you have to accept you're reading a superhero story" sense is that because he's Superman he's willing to own up to it and listen to people who might know better about some things and try to set things right while he and those who'll take his place still have a chance. And yes, the oldster looking back on their legacy with a skeptical eye and hoping for better from the next generation, hoping most of all that their little heir apparent can fulfill the promise inside of him instead of being a provocating little shitkicker, is obviously also autobiographical.

* The overlaying Kennedy reprisal is such a great visual of a sudden intrusive thought.

* The Kryptonite secret is the obvious "This is going to matter!" moment, but "He lied about his son" is a bit that doesn't connect to anything going on right now so maybe that's important here too? More significantly, the Justice League can't actually be the villains here but that Ultra-Humanite's crew are in an Earth-orbiting satellite makes pretty clear what's up.

* I've said before that between Superman, OMAC, and a New Gods-affiliated speedster this was going to use all of Morrison's favorite things. King Arthur playing a role isn't exactly dissuading me.

* Love the idea that all the antiheroes have their own community in the same way as the capes and tights crew. They definitely all privately think the rest are posers though and that they alone are Garth Ennis Punisher in a mob of Garth Ennis Wolverines.

* Manchester's fallen so far he's gone from trying to convince Superman to kill to convince him to dunk on people for their bad takes and Clark just doesn't get it. Official prediction of dialogue for upcoming issues:

"According to these bloody Fortress scans, the only thing that can restore your powers is an unfiltered hit of dopamine. Don't worry, Doctor Black has a few ideas."

"Hmm. Maybe I'll plant a nice tree?"

"...fuck you."

* Ok I already talked about how great the Fortress looks in here but LOVE this library.

* A pair of pages this seems like the right spot to discuss from Black's original appearance that underlines both his and Superman's inadequacies up to this point:

Responding to the problem of "the government and penal system are hopelessly corrupt" neither of them has any actual notion of what to do about it in spite of their respective posturing beyond how to handle individual outside actors - each is in their own way every bit as small-minded and reactionary as the other. Clark's coming around though, and he's holding out hope for the other guy.

* Superman: Have a lovely mineral water :) proper hydration is important :)

Manchester Black: *Is a dude who can get so mad he vomits and passes out. At water.*

* That last page is the one to beat for the year, and does more to put over the idea of this as an Authority book than that Midnighter and Apollo are literally going to show up. It also feels like Morrison tacitly acknowledging all the ways the premise could go or at least be received wrong - from Superman saying 'enough is enough' to who he's bringing into the fold to go about it - in the most beautifully on-the-nose fashion imaginable. Maybe they'll save us all! Or maybe they'll drown us in their vomit.

[rayshippouuchiha]

Shifty eyes. Here, Ray some more musing on “In Another Life”. Borrow, break, use as you please. (Yes your flailing made me scribble some. Sorry not sorry.)

It’s hard to build a mask back up to withstand his mother’s worry. To behave in ways similar to what he used to be decades ago, so he can carefully shift the mask back towards what he actually is.

(It’s so strange having a mother, going to middle school, the bullies that his mind picks apart like puzzles and could break so easily with a few words, he has to fight the urge to laugh and occasionally the urge to break their bones.)

He’s alone, he’s under armed, and his arms are noodles. The paranoia is softly whispering implications in his head, fanning the dark side of his observations higher, as he scours the internet ever deeper and darker for the history in the Underground for the past thirty years. There’s no mention of him anywhere, his ID number belongs to another (obviously so, he never reached anywhere near being two meters tall) and he’s relieved and horrified. Relieved because there aren’t two of him running around, horrified because he can’t figure out what that quirk did to people, did to him.

(He has too many memories and lingering reflexes for it not to be real somehow. Some of the people based information he knows is slightly off, but the training knowledge he has is accurate.)

Dagoba’s illegal dumping site of a beach seems to be a sad constant. Except worse now than thirty years ago. It’s impressive, in a how the hell did it get this bad and be ignored that long sense. He has a slowly increasing knife collection now though and improvised weights through cleaning; making the paranoia quiet down to whispers and giving him something to do when recollections give him insomnia.

He considers checking on what his friends and peers are doing now, how they’re doing, but there’s a thirty year age gap between them now. It’s too strange. He can’t.

(He looks one night at three in the morning, insomnia kicking his ass. He regrets it. Most are either retired or dead. Some, some never became heroes at all having willingly left the program to be regular students without his encouragement to keep pressing on.)

He watches the grainy footage of Eraserhead he found while building an internet history denoting in fighting and free running with awe. He has very nice form. And despairs because Aizawa-kohai is far too young for him, but his fighting form’s grace and ease of movement across difficult terrain means he likely is enormously strong and that’s attractive as hell. His capture record speaks for itself as to his competence level. (No he shouldn’t be in those databases, but shush.) He can daydream right? He’s a professional it won’t affect his work...

It hits Izuku like a brick that by appearances and the laws of the land that technically he’s the one who is too young for Aizawa. He contemplates his blank ceiling with a frown for a couple minutes after that realization hits. He’s... not sure how he feels about that. Beyond hysterical laughter, but that’s a reaction he’s smothering for a lot of unspoken reasons thank you very much. (Including his reflection. It’s getting a little better with every pound of muscle he puts on, but seeing his face free of lines and his hair having no white at all is so odd.)

(He contemplated how easy it would be to destroy Bakugou’s so called Heroic Career potential last week after a shoulder check and a dismissive snarl of Useless Deku always in the way, stay in the dark corners your betters leave you in. It would be so easy; a pair of broken wrists or too many breaks inflicted on the metacarpal bones, goading into illegal destructive quirk usage in public through innocent sounding yet vicious goading, or force him to self-destruct on UA testing grounds (there are things that make Nedzu instantly disqualify someone from getting into the heroics courses). He has so many options, yet can’t quite bring himself to care over his destructive tendencies much. It’s just a thought exercise he tells himself; he’s pretty sure he’s lying.)

The UA exam is in a week and the beach is now approaching how it was thirty years ago. Disgusting with trash, but there’s no longer mountainous piles upon piles of it. There’s large clearings of sand in-between the much smaller piles of junk now. Izuku’s still not quite sure what to make of his own plans, still a little stunned even after nearly seven months of being “back”. He’s redoing High School, home of hormonal teenagers and their chaos, he’s obviously carried back some of the concussion damage he’s accumulated. He’s mentally old enough to be his soon to be classmates’ parents. Why is he subjecting himself to this nonsense? Oh right, because the Heroics commission is a bag of bastards who’ve make it harder to go through the apprenticeship or independent route unless you have a powerful sponsor, something he definitely doesn’t have. He’s as ready as he can be for an exam that, if this Nedzu is like his Nedzu, has robots in some purpose. The white mammal always did like their machinery and surprises. He’ll have to be ready for anything from rescue simulations, combat, to following the drone. Or if Nedzu had a disappointing last crop of students perhaps all of the above plus a bit more. It’ll be interesting at least.

His self made fact confirming mission of the past thirty years at least made the written exam portion easier. He knows possibly a little too much actually, but at least he won’t fail out. Which is nice. It’s the practical that was a little more difficult than he was expecting it to be. Izuku spotted the hidden conditions sure, but the robots are difficult to take down even with clever tactics. Did last years students coast through or commit willing ignorance and there’s a perceived lack of BFG potential in that grouping? Or is it just the sacrificial one in seven poster year that lets Nedzu pick his preferred qualities the other six years and this showcases the heroics features the Commission wants? He’s not sure. He did pass though. He has the proof in the little turned off hologram disk in the palm of his hand. Eighth. He’s in. He the Quirkless wonder is in 1-A. Ha. Ha. Ha. Choke on it bastards who said he’d never amount to much, he’s gotten into UA twice.

He’s not sure how to rank his first day. On the one hand he has to interact with Bakugou and All Might on a regular basis, on a second hand most of his classmates are sweet kids, and on the third hand Aizawa-kohai is his sensei now. (He’s got to stop thinking about him that way, otherwise it’ll slip and that will result in so much investigation and scrutiny and lack of privacy that it’s easier to dump the habit.) At least it looks like this year will be interesting.

Look no, look, I need this. I want this. I love this. It’s magnificent and I love it.

[testingcheats0n]

Detroit Become Human AU where:

-> Tommy is an up-and-coming livestreamer of the retro game Minecraft- forming part of a fledgling community of all-human players of the game. His growth is slow but steady and he has a future in a genre that had fallen out of fashion with the rise of the newest and more immersive VR games on the market. People love to see an actual human that could make mistakes and win against another fellow human fairly. The nostalgia it brought to some people is also undeniably at play.

It's worth noting that Tommy is a very lonely kid, with a non-existent social life since he and his family had to move to America after his father struck a lucrative business deal with his brilliant protege.

-> Wilbur, Tommy's older brother and only guardian after their father, Phil, dedicated his life to the creation of androids with his young but brilliant pupil Elijah Kamski, is a simple busker. It's hard to find a job at 24 with no previous experience or further education, he had to take care of Tommy, after all. True, their economic troubles never ended, and he could barely provide for Tommy, but at least they had each other, even if Wilbur was off to the streets of Detroit more often than not. He has no idea of his younger brother's blooming career in the gaming industry and is very worried about his future. The solution? A very suspicious android his best friend Schlatt offers for very cheap.

-> Phil Watson is a household name together with Elijah Kamski's, they created one of humanity's greatest tools, after all. Nothing suspicious here, they're definitely not hiding any potential deviancies from the code! In any case, his family never saw a dime of the frankly insane amount of money piling up in his bank account. He has an old phone he carries in his pocket every day with Wilbur's phone number, but he never dares to call it despite RN800, his assistant's, insistence that he was only making his own life harder. He is going to dial that phone number someday. Surely.

-> TU880 is an android from an old companion/educational line, discontinued after a few notable bugs and glitches in their core programming. Nothing serious, or life-threatening, but many customers have complained about disturbing behavior that falls straight into the uncanny valley- he's too human. Schlatt, his previous owner, refuses to disclose where he got TU880 from, nor does he have any legal documentation to prove he is his owner. Wilbur, desperate to find a solution for Tommy's perceived loneliness pays the fifty bucks his old pal asks for the android without asking any questions. It's weird for an adult to go around with a teen model created to counsel adolescents and help them with their homework. TU880 had problems with reading his grocery list, anyway.

-> Tommy is a bit weirded out, he thrives in an internet community which openly despises anything android, but his good friend Technoblade has plenty of useful advice, from maitenance to behavior. TU880 is odd, which he discards as kinks and bugs of the older models, but they get along nicely once TU880's programming kicks in. He likes to help Tommy edit his videos and speak about the problems of adolescence, he is oddly fond of bees or anything small and defenceless and likes to tell his 'dreams' of scientists in labcoats and other kids like him stuck in experiments. Tommy listens with half an ear, TU880 is his friend, after all. He thinks nothing of it.

-> It all becomes a bit too much when TU880 accidentally appears on camera during one of Tommy's streams. People assume he's Tommy's brother, and insist on getting an introduction. TU880 is ecstatic, but from what Tommy's told him, revealing his artificial status might harm his friend's career so he greets the chat as Toby, Tommy's older brother. The community goes wild and Tommy has to pretend that TU880 is his brother (which isn't that terrible per-se) and not the house assistant who has a complete psychological profile of him.

-> TU880 begins to feel strange, both regarding Tommy and his own place in the household. Calling Tommy hus brother is easy as calculus and makes his thirium pump skip a few beats, but he's not sure if he should be getting this attached. He's sure he is malfunctioning in some way, but Schlatt always assured him that he is fine. He thinks nothing of it and instead continues to watch over Tommy.

-> Minecraft is fun, and he eventually gets his own account on Wilbur's old (read: ancient) laptop despite possessing an internal processor powerful enough to play the game at its maximum capacity in his mind, and probably in a 3D holoprojector. At this point, he's in too deep and the friends he's making would certainly ask questions if he were to disappear. He has the opportunity to talk about anything at all to his growing audience, and the community is very welcoming in general once one integrates into their culture. He still doesn't feel it's fair to participate in the tournaments and all the other official competitions. People find it odd, but they assume he's not very good at PVP so no one tends to comment on it for now. It's okay though, he and his new friend Ranboo act as commentators during the events and everyone thinks they're pretty funny.

-> Ranboo is fun to be around. He just gets TU880- or as the internet knows him as, Tubbo. They click easily, sometimes the other boy seems just as confused about other people's reactions and behavior as Tubbo is (despite his in-depth knowledge of psychology. He's not quite connected to Cyberlife's database anymore and his learning algorithm is outdated at best.) and they like to spend their afternoons with Tommy, watching movies. The game overtakes their lives and they spend a lot of time playing privately with the best strategies Tubbo's advanced algorithms and Ranboo's sheer brilliancy can create. That's how they meet their friend Fundy, who is more than happy to keep their Technical Minecraft server a secret, as long as he gets to do his own thing with coding and they test it.

-> Tommy is just happy that he can use the cool farms for his own grinding.

-> Technoblade is Tommy's mysterious internet friend and fellow growing streamer. Everyone is sure that he's an android infiltrating the budding community, but after several years of isolated incidents, investigations, and online scandals no one was able to prove anything. Technoblade just never dies. (Tommy is 50% sure his friend is really an android, the older man simply refuses to comment). It is possible to spend months farming digital potatoes, people are just mean and want drama. Technoblade is just vibing. Incidentally, he's also the first one to figure out that Ranboo and Tubbo are androids. He is also the first one to figure out they're deviants. He doesn't mention it until much later though.

-> Jack and Niki Manifold have successfully founded their own mechanic business for android repairs. Cyberlife mumbled and grumbled at the siblings' repair shop, but in the end it was good for PR so they let them be. Tommy and Wilbur become their friends as TU880's frequent malfunctions inevitably bring the pair to the cheapest android repair service in the city. TU880 can't complain, Niki is sweet to him and understands what is wrong with him just by his description, since his diagnostics aren't working entirely and each an every single one of Jack's repairs last loner than every other mechanic he's been to.

-> Gradually, Tommy's fame becomes apparent, and Wilbur has the time to actually rest and spend time with his brother. He's just happy that they can be together. A weight is lifted off his shoulders and for the first time ever he feels like his little family has a future. Not even once does it pass through his mind that TU880 isn't acting like a typical android- he avoided the things on principle. Once, TU880 calls him his brother and he cries.

-> Sam is Cyberlife's very own private investigator. He is in charge of researching and turning in possible deviants that might help the company with developing a solution for the rising problem. In particular, he's been after the trail of a specific line of androids, the first one released by Kamski and Watson dubbed as TU. According to his investigations the line might have contained the code responsible for deviancy. Further research indicated that Kamski's code was based on a group project from the Dutch university for cibernetics.

-> Fundy is just a 21 y/o with a Twitch account and a passing interest in coding. Nothing serious, nothing suspicious. He absolutely wasn't part of the early AI coding trials that Kamski would later on use as the basis for his own code. If someone asks, he has no idea what ra9 means. He is almost sure that his friends are androids, the thought makes him very happy.

-> Puffy is Phil's new psychologist. Need I say more? Eventual Hurt/comfort baby!!!

[merlinoutofcontext]

wait so why do you think merlin isn’t queerbaiting? this isn’t meant to be rude im just curious

hey! happy to answer, and i didn’t perceive your question as rude at all btw. here are my thoughts, i’m sorry they’re so long but i also don’t think this is a topic that can be summarized in a few sentences, so...

i don’t really know how else to say that it isn’t queerbaiting by just stating that it isn’t. there is very little evidence in the actual show to even claim that the show was at any point queerbaiting. but to be fair, i also think it’s important to note the term “queerbaiting” doesn’t even have an “official” definition so it can mean very different things to different people. this is the definition that i am working with.

“When an author/director/etc. gives hints, and clever twists to paint a character as possibly being queer, to satisfy queer audiences, but never outright says they are so they can keep their heterosexual audience.”

bbc merlin is a family show. and i don’t mean “family show” in the way that it is usually insinuated - as in it’s supposed to be “clean” and “nice” and “appealing” to a family audience, so therefore any queercoded message is bad and not appropriate. what i mean is that it’s a tv show that was expected to be approachable by families of all ages, at any point throughout the series, so that they can understand what’s happening. whether or not you watched the episode that aired the previous week has absolutely no bearing on the next episode. merlin only started having multi-episode arcs in series 3. and it’s this reason why i think so many ppl are dissatisfied with the show, bc it wasn’t meant to be this deep narrative. they didn't have enough time to write in full fledged storylines. but i digress.

i’m going to be using other tumblr obsessed tv show and ship as examples here. 

i will admit that my original post was sparked by some of the stuff surrounding supernatural that’s happened, but i’m not really going to speak to it much. i do think the internet may have went a bit overboard, and i don’t want to sit here and claim spn was queerbaiting its audience because i actually do think thats kind of a subjective thing. but in my opinion, the fact that they waited until their final season, and what appears to be a characters last episode, to make the ship that has been a large driving force of their remaining audience for the past 12 years, canon, does sit a little weird with me. anyway.

lets use another ship as an example that is literally, unequivocally queerbaiting. i don’t care about your opinion here, this show queerbaited the hell out of its audience for 7 literal years. johnlock.

multiple times throughout the show the relationship between john and sherlock is hinted at through the language of the show, by characters in the show, etc. more often than not, the concept of a relationship between them is framed as a joke. additionally, bbc’s sherlock kept the sexuality of their main character (coincidentally the titular character) ambiguous, while also managing to make fun of their audience of shippers for even thinking that johnlock could be a possibility. 

never once in bbc’s merlin is the concept of arthur and merlin being close to one another, or connected by fate/destiny/magic (which is often seen as being coded for sexuality) as a bad thing. not in the text of the show, not by the creators of the show, not by the actors in the show. in fact, even in the last episode, merlin’s devotion to arthur is only ever framed as a positive:

“Some men are born to plow fields, some live to be great physicians, others to be great kings. Me, I was born to serve you Arthur and I’m proud of that. And I wouldn’t change a thing.”

similarly, sometime after this arthur tells merlin to never change. in my opinion, a distinct aspect of a queerbaiting show is when the show places hints in the language used by the characters to say that a character might a) be queer in some way or b) have a relationship with someone of the same gender as them. but then when the fandom talks about this towards the actors, or the creators of the show, it’s immediately pushed away by creators and seen as a negative thing. or it’s completely ridiculous that the fandom would even think of such at thing.

people will argue that merlin’s devotion to arthur, and their relationship in general is what makes it queerbaiting. that by the sheer existence of some longwinded eye contact, or statements of friendship and devotion to each other that the show was queerbaiting its audience. but the difference is that merlin’s devotion to arthur and subsequently arthur’s devotion to merlin was never framed as a joke for the audience, or as a negative thing. it was written as something we are supposed to celebrate about merlin.

this show was never written with the intention for merlin and arthur to be together. it’s a retelling of arthurian myth with a bit of a twist in it. merlin and arthur are meant to be the main characters, but a romantic relationship was never on the table. 

characters do remark on merlin’s loyalty to arthur, but it’s always in a questioning way, a why is this man so loyal to the king? what is the big reason? and, yeah, the Big Reason is his magic and their shared destiny. and yes it’s a valid interpretation that magic/destiny = sexuality, and merlin = gay (used as an umbrella term here). but that doesn’t mean it’s queerbaiting. it’s just subtext.

and subtext =/= queerbaiting.

[mbti-notes]

Anon wrote: INFP with social anxiety here. I have a therapist but we're focusing on some other issues right now. In the meantime, I was wondering if you had some advice for me. I know you're not a professional (you say that multiple times in your posts) and of course I'm not asking you for a fix for my social anxiety with this - I'm just asking your help to understand what part my cognition could be playing in all of this cause I'm really curious.

Basically, my problem is the time frame right BEFORE I meet someone and, sometimes, immediately after. I don't really have problems socializing in the "middle", if you get what I mean; I'm easily adaptable and once I'm relaxed, once I realize no one is there to attack me, my mind starts getting ideas and I kind of know what to say, even though I'm a bit out of practice and I still have problems convincing other people of my emotions (like, mirroring their emotions so that they know I agree with them and stuff like that; for some reason they never ---believe me when I say it with words).

When I make plans, anyway, and I still haven't met the person, I get this anxiety: like I would rather stay home than go there because it's going to be "boring" and I'm probably going to feel like an idiot or make some sort of social gaffe. I mean, I do kinda get bored after a while anyway, but I also know I tend to overestimate that level of "future boredom" to the point it hurts me to even think about showing up and forcing myself to think of stuff I can-- say.

I get anxious because I start thinking about the way people used to treat me in the past (I've always been the black sheep of my family and/or my social circles and I vividly remember some bad things they used to say to me) and I start worrying that, deep down, they still think of me like that and they're never going to forget that "preconception of my identity" and open their eyes to who I am now, or I guess to who I've always been.

I do realize it doesn't make much sense, this "who I ----really am" part - but I've always had the impression that I was a bit different than the "me" they percieved, maybe because after many, many years of being accused of "selfishness" and "inability to tune in with the emotional atmosphere" I learned that in order not to ruin the "social mood" I should've adapted myself to the group - but the problems is that I suppressed "myself" in the meantime (and with myself I mean, like, my real interests, the things I'd like to talk about for ages without-- having to be interrupted or looked down on because, quote unquote, "ok, cool, but we don't really care").

I understand now that if they don't give me hints of actually caring about the subject I should stop rambling like a fool, but this is making me feel like I have nothing "useful" to offer them and therefore bringing the anxiety I'm struggling with. It makes me scared that I'll never be able to be myself around them because of the "social rules" I want to respect to be accepted, & to make----it worse I'm out of practice like I said before and sometimes it just gets too awkward and I want to get out of there.

I bet I'm doing something wrong because friendships and relationships in general are not supposed to be "boring", am I right? And yet until I don't get distracted by the actual conversation, I feel like it's going to be really boring and uncomfortable and sometimes going through it is SO horrible... most of the time I end up making up some excuse to go home earlier and talk----my internet friends instead (thank God for the internet!!!!). Anyway, thank you if you'll answer! And have a good summer vacation c:

-----------------------

The first thing I notice is that your thought process bears a very striking resemblance to many INFJs who struggle with social anxiety due to poor Fe development (see past posts). As a general rule, if I have good reason to suspect that someone might be mistyped, I won't provide info about function development until they undergo a proper type assessment. Otherwise, they might adopt the wrong method of improvement.

You say you want to understand what part your cognition plays in the social anxiety you experience, so I will mention the aspects of your cognition that seem most significant:

1) No Chill: You overthink things to an extreme, to the point of self-sabotage, perhaps even creating a self-fulfilling prophecy (i.e. when expecting the negative actually makes the negative happen). Overthinking means that you're not confronting the real obstacle getting in the way of your socializing. You're constantly trying to envision, imagine, or predict what will happen in a social interaction? WHY? What's the point of that overthinking? It's how you avoid confronting your fear head on.

2) Insecure: Your "predictions" are too often faulty because of being tainted by your underlying insecurities. You're insecure about being attacked, being accused, being misjudged, doing something wrong, being deemed of no value or unworthy of care, not being accepted or acceptable, dying of awkwardness, feeling bored, feeling uncomfortable, and on and on. You've described your thought process in detail. But nowhere do I see you confronting your insecurities, digging deeper into them, in order to understand the root of them. Insecurities are a manifestation of fear.

3) Control: Irrational anxiety is oftentimes about trying to control things that you shouldn't be trying to control or cannot have any control over - it wastes mental energy and leads to futile behavior. As long as you're trying to control social situations and their outcome, you are either trying too hard to make reality match up with your expectations or you're fumbling whenever reality unfolds outside of your expectations - you become rigid and frail. You claim to be "adaptable" but everything you say after that only proves you don't know the meaning of the word. You can't handle unpredictability, hence, the attempt to be in control by trying to "predict" everything. Do your attempts to control actually work? Do they help or hinder you? If they mostly hinder you, then isn't it time to change your strategy? Anxious people often believe that having more knowledge or control is the answer to their fear. But, in your case, the huge cost of being controlling is being incompetent. What's worse, the fear is still right there running the show.

4) Unresolved Trauma: You attribute your troubles to your past. Fair enough. Growing up in a social environment that did not respect and appreciate you is painful, even extremely traumatic for certain personality types. It also makes people too hungry for validation. It's natural that you wouldn't want to feel the pain of it again. However, if that pain remains unexamined and unresolved, you will unconsciously keep seeking to resolve it, which means re-enacting the trauma over and over again throughout life. The proof? Every time you meet someone, your first stance is defensive, because the first thing that comes into your mind is that you don't want to be attacked or invalidated. That old pain is running the whole show because you are deeply afraid of experiencing it again, yet you don't realize that YOU are the one calling it back up and rehashing it. What are you doing to resolve the pain rather than indulge the fear?

5) Self-absorbed: Social anxiety makes people too absorbed in their own thoughts, feelings, hopes, and expectations. They are too preoccupied with what they want, what will happen, how they will be perceived, how they might make a mistake, how they might be attacked, etc. This means they're not truly present with people, so the relationship can't really go far. Driven by fear and insecurity, they are always behind a wall, too difficult to reach.

Even if you happen to meet the right people, do you make it easy for them to befriend you? It seems that you can't open up with ease, you can't go with the flow of the other person when they don't live up to your expectations, you can't keep your emotions in check and misjudge situations, you get bored when it's not about you, you run away instead of making things better. Looking at yourself objectively from the outside, would you want to be friends with someone like that?

If you want to have good friends, you first have to BE a good friend. You want care, love, and validation? We all do. The best way to receive it is to be the first to give it. By being more aware of other people's needs and doing more to show that you care about them, you put them in a better position to care about you and meet your needs in return. This is the difference between actively trying to "make" a friend vs passively wishing for a friend to drop into your lap.

Being a friend isn't about what "value" you have, as though you're some kind of object being appraised and sold. Being a good friend is quite a simple matter of putting out the energy to care and show that you care. When you meet someone who's moved by your care, they will care for you in return. When you meet someone who's unmoved by your care, figure out the real reason why, in order to determine whether you should keep trying or put your energy elsewhere.

You never really know who you'll hit it off with. One of my favorite experiences in life is making a friend in the unlikeliest of places. As an adult, meeting new people is a numbers game. All you can do is keep pushing yourself to meet new people. The more people you meet, the greater the odds of clicking with someone. If you're looking to meet like-minded people, go to places that are likely to have people who share your interests. If you don't hit it off with someone, simply move along. You don't have to be friends with everyone, do you?

Yet, you take every little social interaction so seriously that each step is like life or death - that's what makes socializing tiring, laborious, and unfun. Why not enter into every social interaction with an open mind and an open heart? Why not truly go with the flow, without having to undergo the repetitive ritual of predicting what will happen or fussing over what did happen?

6) Poor Emotional Intelligence: This point is the common thread that runs through the previous points, which is why I keep repeating the word "fear". You have extremely low tolerance for negative feelings and emotions, which means you really need to work on learning how to deal with your emotional life better. Any little sign that things won't turn out the way you want and you start to panic, overthink, blame, or flee. Why do you recoil from yourself and your own feelings and emotions? Why are you so easily shaken by boredom, awkwardness, invalidation, failing, other people's negativity, etc? Why do you react so badly to these things (when others just brush it off and keep going)?

7) Low Self-Awareness: It's not enough to just name the fear ("I'm afraid of____"). Does the label explain why you have this particular fear and not some other fear? It's not enough to blame the past ("It's because of ____"). Why did someone else with a similar past as yours not develop this fear? To get to the root of fear, you have to identify, in exact terms:

what aspect of you has to change to overcome the fear

what aspect of your identity has to "die" (i.e. be let go of) in order to evaporate the fear

Until you answer the fear properly, it won't go away.