#i don't know if we have an equivalent in our country.

[haarute]

for the record as an American, candy corn is not only real but HIGHLY controversial as a candy. Most people either love it or hate it, but half the people who love it also admit that it’s terrible. It has a slightly strange texture and it mostly tastes like sugar. (I’m a love it but it sucks person and I’ll eat a giant bag of it and hate myself for doing so because it’s objectively horrible!) I don’t know if you have any similar candy where even the people who love it also hate it, but there you go. the candy corn lore. hope the “it’s objectively awful” knowledge helps with homestuck lore

oh yeah i've come to learn in the years since that it is in fact real and incredibly mediocre apparently. i'm guessing it's controversial because it's like the leftovers candy that you might be given against your will forcing you to have an opinion on them? but i don't know if i read that somewhere or just assumed that it was the case anyway thank you for your input! i too love unhealthy and objectively awful trash, so i would be delighted to try them out if i ever visit the US alongside a bunch of shitty sodas probably. i'm VERY curious about this texture thing you mentioned now honestly.

[dotster001]

For Tuna; General End

Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three

Choose another ending

A/N: as always, add your votes for the next end here. Also, this end is going to be...familiar at first, but that's just what happens when you jump dimensions.

"So, the end has arrived."

Grim pushed his lens-less glasses down his nose and stared at Silver and Lilia, both of whom were sitting on the other side of a desk.

"I'll be honest, neither of you two is the richest here. That title belongs to Malleus and Leona, respectively. But Malleus will prioritize his country over me, I mean Y/N, and Leona, well let's face it, it's only a matter of time before he disgraces himself and is off the kingdom's payroll."

Grim waved around a sheet of paper.

"Which puts both of you in third place. Oddly enough, your finance situation is nearly identical. So it comes down to who I think would be a better dad. I know this will come as a shock to you both, but Y/N isn't actually my henchhuman. They're my parent."

Lilia gasped in mock shock as Silver just stared.

Grim sighed heavily, leaning back in his seat. “An anonymous source has told me that Lilia is the type of dad to leave his son's alone in the woods to fend for themselves. So Silver, congratulations, I guess.”

Lilia jumped out of his seat, excitedly hugging Silver.

“My boy! Congratulations! We shall have a splendid wedding!”

“Father,” Silver said sternly, gently pushing Lilia away. “We don't have to do this anymore.”

Lilia quirked an eyebrow in confusion, as Grim just stared.

“I know I'll always be your little boy to you, but I'm not a child anymore. You don't have to always put me first.”

Lilia stiffened, but attempted to cover it up with a smile.

“I know, but-”

“Y/N and I don't love each other. Our relationship is purely platonic,” Silver said firmly. “I never wanted to do this, especially knowing how in love with them you are, but now that I've beaten you at something, I can tell you to man up, and confess your feelings.”

Lilia 's jaw dropped. Silver felt the urge to retreat, but stood his ground. He couldn't let his father live with regret. So he played one more card.

“It would be a nice way to complete our family. Y/N would be the perfect step parent for me. I just know it.”

Lilia 's expression softened. “Silver…”

“A true warrior doesn't hesitate in battle! Go!” Silver said with uncharacteristic firmness, making Lilia actually jump and begin to run to the door, before stopping himself with a laugh.

“I've raised the perfect little general,” he giggled.

“Go!” Silver shouted. And Lilia went.

“What the heck was that?” Grim shouted at Silver.

“I'm your big brother now, that's what that was,” Silver grinned, with a mischievous look that could have only come from his father.

….

There was a knock on the front door. Grim was out for the night, promising there would be no bill. So you were just enjoying a quiet night in. You had no doubt that if you opened that door right now, it would be someone who would cause chaos. Probably Ace. Definitely Ace.

One of the ghosts moved to open the door, but you pressed a finger to your lips. He gave a quiet snicker and a nod, and went back upstairs, ignoring the knock.

The knock stopped after a moment, and the room was silent again.

“Who are you hiding from?” A voice whispered right next to your ear, and you screamed.

You grabbed a pillow to defend yourself, and jumped off the couch, turning to face your attacker. Lilia was doing the equivalent of laying on his stomach, and kicking his legs up, except in midair. He was giggling excitedly, and you gave him a nasty glare.

“What the hell, Lilia!” You screamed. “How did you get in?”

He just giggled again, ignoring the question.

“I heard you were all alone tonight. I didn't want you to be lonely,” he hummed.

“I- I'm not lonely!” You shouted. “I have half a mind to kick you out!”

“You won't.”

“I most certainly will.”

“You won't.”

“And why, oh wise Lilia, won't I kick you out of my house?”

He grinned, and floated closer to you.

“Because you, radiant Y/N, are absolutely mad for me.”

You choked on your own spit, your face instantly growing hot.

“Egh ugh, nuh uh!”

“How eloquent!” He burst into laughter. “But a falsehood, I am certain.”

He slipped even closer to you. You took one step back, but after that froze. He gently wrapped his arms around your neck, looking into your eyes, his own burning passionately.

“Urgh, nuh uh,” you whispered.

“Nuh uh?” He smiled slyly.

“Nuh uh,” you said half heartedly.

“Hm,” he hummed. “Then prove it. Kiss me.”

You choked on your spit again.

“Huh!”

“If you can kiss me, and then tell me you really don't love me, I'll believe you and never bring it up again.”

You couldn't do that. You absolutely couldn't kiss him. Because when he was proved right, you'd definitely want to punch the smug smile off his face.

“Time's up!” He shouted, before pressing his lips to yours. 

You hated how good he was at kissing. Even if you didn't love him, you wouldn't have been able to think straight after this, and would accidentally send him the wrong message. But you did love him, which meant you didn't want to stop kissing him.

But Lilia knew that. And he liked to play with his prey. He pulled away, licking his lips as he grinned.

“Well? Still ‘nuh uh’?”

“Nuh uh,” you whispered.

“Mhm. That's what I thought. Anything you want to say?”

You yanked him back in, threading your fingers through his hair, and kissing him as hard as you could. You could feel the vibrations of his triumphant giggle. 

You pulled your pillow holding arm slowly back to hit him, but he quickly separated, gently twisting your arm behind your back, and forcing you to drop the pillow. He giggled and pressed his mouth to your neck.

“I see we'll never get bored together,” he whispered. “You're absolutely amazing.”

“Ha ha,” you said snarkily. He grazed his canines against your neck, and you froze. You knew some of your classmates said he was a vampire but…

"You just smell so delicious," he purred.

“Kidding! Let's make out some more,” before you could glare at him again, and say something snarky, he yanked you to the couch and started kissing you again.

You could get back at him tomorrow. 

Damn.

He was way too good at kissing.

....

Tag list-@shytastemakerthing @stygianoir @leonia0 @lleoll @eccedentesiast-sapphic @supertmntgirl @cxsmicdustdreams @aethermostbeloved @krystalkiller25 @asmallbean3 @theneurodivergentdummy @candlewitch-cryptic @smilingfox22-blog @phantomgaming1920 @the-dumber-scaramouche @noidonothavetimeforthis @bontensbabygirl @xxoomiii @somany-fandoms-solittle-time @bre99 @stupidsimp @sus0daddy @a-small-tyrant @imlost-sendhelp @mizukiblogs @itslucieen @nico707 @red-viewe @fucthisshitimout @kazumify @busycloudy @ny0000mw00m

[doberbutts]

(Some other guy entirely here) I do think there's not much of a reason to be so against the terms tma/tme though, and I don't really understand why some people are? Like, in the same way we want a word to describe our experiences so do transfems, and while I do believe that all trans people are affected by transphobia and misogyny, it's obviously also true that we're affected by it differently depending on how we present, cause otherwise we'd all be satisfied with just the term transphobia (not saying anything new here so far)

So, since it just so happened that the term transmisogyny was coined to mean specifically the oppression transfems face (regardless of what anyone might feel on the matter, that is what it means in practice), what's really so wrong with having terminology to specify whether you're affected by it or not in online discussions of specifically transmisogyny? I'd think that would be relevant enough information, and you're not obligated to share it unless you want to.

I think what's really bothering a lot of people is that these terms exist for half of our community but there's no acceptable equivalent for the other half, and there's constant backlash against attempts to fill that void in the language. But that's not the fault of anyone who advocates for the use of tme/tma, or rather, they are separate issues that I don't believe should be conflated even if the proponents of tme/tma are the same people who are against specific terms for transmasc oppression.

When we do this, from the pov of trans women we are the ones rejecting their terminology and trying to silence them when they talk about their discrimination, and since we know exactly how that feels, I think we as a community should take a step back on the matter and just let it be.

Just because we feel dismissed when it comes to a similar matter doesn't mean we should dismiss in turn.

Not that anyone needs my permission or anything for this but:

I don't really have any problem with the words transmisogyny or trans-misogyny, as I think they are valuable labels to discuss a specific intersection of transphobia and misogyny.

I am not sure I necessarily have a problem with the terms TMA or TME themselves, outside of that I think it is not possible to be exempt from oppression because it will apply to you even if the label itself is wrong. This is also how hate crime and discrimination law works in this country- it is both your label and what the offender thinks of you, not just one or the other.

In other words, the guy who screamed at me about how I'm a Mexican is incorrect because I'm not Mexican, but it is still considered to be discrimination against Mexicans because it was his hatred of Mexicans that fueled the attack. It doesn't mean that actual Mexicans aren't the actual targets or this, but it does mean that it's not possible for me to be exempt from anti-Mexican sentiment. It doesn't mean that hatred of Mexicans doesn't exist, it does mean that if I want to stop getting screamed at for saying non-English words while visibly brown (I said pate, which is FRENCH and not Spanish, in reference to a can of dog food he was buying), then I need to ally myself with Mexicans and see what I can do to help decrease this hatred of Mexicans within my country.

What I do have a problem with is how these words are used and applied.

Caster Semenya is a "TME" intersex woman who was caught by transmisogynist Olympic rulings intended to hurt trans women, and to this day is still not recognized as a woman. How is this exempt from transmisogyny? She is literally being affected by transmisogyny- and interphobia, and misogynoir, and lesbophobia. And there are more examples than that, but this will already be a long enough post.

Moreover, I'm finding a lot of hypocrisy in the theory itself, labeling certain instances of oppression as things only TMA people experience and then refusing to listen when TME people say that they experience it too. I don't really care what or how people talk about their own experiences, but I do think it's a little ridiculous to be told that someone else who is not me can tell me what I experience better than I can. And then refuse to listen when I say that I have felt the hurts they're saying don't apply to me.

If TMA/TME had stayed within the limits you've set, being about descriptors of your own personal experience rather than trying to apply theory to entire demographics in a way that very little other theorycrafting does, I wouldn't have cared. Unfortunately that's not how it's being used and I don't like that.

[darqx]

Some BP/HH/General asks

That mood when you want to share all the things but also want to keep it under wraps for the actual thing haha! Thanks very much anon!

As for your questions, I can't actually be specific cos there's no definitive number I have in mind for either. Basically there are a number of sectors (you can consider them their equivalent of countries - they have less than what we do though), and a number of species of demon of which I've designed about seven of. The ones I've shown before are these guys (and do you think I could find this pic again? No, I had to recreate it cos for the life of me I couldn't remember what ask I'd previously stuck it in lol):

One day when i have enough species and stuff out there I want to make a proper field guide \o/

Thank you very much for the interest! ∠( ᐛ 」∠)＿ I would actually love to for BP, but before I jump the gun there I have to get the comic out first lol. That being said I have made mini-games before featuring the HH versions and some other characs alas they are all lost at the moment to the sands of Flash becoming obsolete 😩

Me and Gato do still collab sometimes (and send each other Xmas presents)! °˖✧◝(⁰▿⁰)◜✧˖°

I have been working on one off and on for a while actually! Hopefully I'll have some pages to post next year or so*, I've been doing a bit of thumbnailing recently :D

*that is the plan but i also don't know where people find the time to do anything with a full time job lol.

Hullo! Glad you are enjoying the snippets of BP I've got here and there :D Here is an older ref on Izm back when i first got the idea (at that time i didn't really plan to do anything with it, it was just an AU. Now it's my main project haha. Anyway the ref is a little bit out of date in that regard.)

I used to have a "field guide" which was also made quite a while ago, unfortunately the death of Flash kinda killed it. Here's a screenshot of some relevant info from it though.

That's an interesting one as it's questionable how sentient souls are after removal 🤔 In my mind its only form is the smoke light, it can "see" to some degree and MIGHT be able to talk (but in a very no one can hear them sort of way, a la i have no mouth and i must scream. So i guess it can think "aloud"). The more time passes the less sentience it has.

It could try, though it wouldn't really get anywhere if it's in Rire's collection. He might just eat it lol.

.D: Good with kids, will be fine in all aspects.

Izm: The fun dad however needs a partner that knows what they're doing to ensure the child safety during shenanigans.

Marcus and Zeke: Also would be good parents though might be more helicopter out of protectiveness/worry when first starting out.

Ren: Geek parent very good for homework help. Some Asian parent tendencies eg "ah see, i told you not to do that right? Now you see what happened."

They are similar to our known society for this! So basically, there are some good families out there (eg Zeke - who is a demon - is from a pretty average loving family), and there are some bad families out there who only care about power or having an heir or whatever.

HH Rire is a human. I differentiate between him and Demon Rire because they are two different characters...even though they are also technically the same character lol. You can consider them as alternate universe iterations of a base "Rire" concept.

I actually half jested this in an old comic lol

I am sorry to inform you that a HH webcomic doesn't actually exist 😅 I did a lot of art, animations and one shots (such as the HHJ comics) with them, but nothing actually planned or serialised or anything. Whatever's currently on my DA or here is basically what exists.

Bringing this image back cos it's relevant lol.

You spelled it correct there though! XD

[germiyahu]

The way in which people on this site and others unironically with not a shred of self reflection, will say things like "I'm America's biggest hater until a Brit starts speaking!" Like, they understand intrinsically what it's like for an outsider to make blanket judgments about the only culture they've ever lived in and ever known and they immediately decide that their feelings about that are true and valid.

And the response is not even "Well you're one to talk about our problems!" or "Um sweaty things here are far more complex than you understand so maybe leave the criticism to Americans," it's usually just "Rah rah bald eagle screeching go America fourth of July beans on toast OI BRUV!" or some other equivalent mockery of a European (or Canadian/Australian) stereotype.

Even if this is just silly joking, they are performing jingoistic nationalism at the slightest prickling of other Western (usually white) people daring to criticize America, even when it's accurate or in good faith. These Europeans (et al.) aren't even calling for the destruction of America, declaring Americans a dirty evil people who deserve nothing but pain and suffering and any calls to wipe them out are justified and any resistance to that is oppressive. They're just making fun of American aphorisms and the response is unquestioned patriotism. And no other super woke Leftie Americans look at this behavior and say "That's actually problematic." They're in on it.

But these same people couldn't possibly conceive of applying this thought process to an Israeli. That's just a non-starter to them. Like there are based Israelis on this site who are patriotic, who make dank memes and all, that much is true. But I'd say for the average Jew (Israeli or not) to react with extreme jingoism at the gentlest ribbing is just unthinkable. They know the optics of that. But Americans can throw a tantrum about being called out as the hegemonic power in the world and expect everyone to think that's actually really funny and cool.

An American can make jokes about "discovering oil" (the subtext being invasion and devastation) when someone from another country says "Wow Americans don't have electric kettles," but an Israeli can't even politely say "I don't think we all deserve to die because our Prime Minister is a corrupt racist shithead." No that's propaganda and genocide apologia. American privilege is real, I think.

[papirouge]

as someone who almost died as a minor giving birth after being raped I think u should care about the lives already here and not a clump of cells. most children conceived thru rape are abandoned or killed later on anyhow

Why are you guys acting like we had to pick a sidd between saving the life of women OR the baby?? What some sort of twisted oppression Olympics is that?? Why couldn't we fight for BOTH? This is precisely what prolifers are for.

First of all, we do care about saving pregnant women's life considering the fact that death in childbirth is ≤0.05% in developed countries.... It shows that a decent healthcare system is KEY in saving women's life during delivery - and that abortion isn't needed. COPE.

The fearmongering around pregnancy kills is inversely proportionate to how it actually does IRL.

Unlike what pro abortionist liars say, no prolifer advocate for less medical help for women. And no, we aren't all Conservatives (I'm personally not) religious (secular/LGTB+ prolife organization are a thing) or males (most prolifers are female) so enough with the tHey hAte wOmeN shtick. We don't revel in women dying in childbirth struggling to get access to pregnancy care. Many of us are mom/have family and know how hard pregnancy & educating children is. You need to stop acting like only pro choicers knew what is was like to carry a baby and deliver it. That's precisely bc we know how hard pregnancy is that we consider women deserve better than a bandaid called abortion.

Abortion is the reason why pregnancy care is sooo behind in extra liberal spaces. By shoving abortion as the only solution for women hEaLthCaRe (because it's cheaper than an actual maternity leave + welfare) they never really bothered creating a decent alternative to help women who'd decide to keep their baby. How can abortion be a ✨choice✨ when the only alternative is sinking into helplessness & poverty? Damn, you guys totally understand it when it comes to prostitution but NEVER have the intellectual honesty to ponder that question when it comes to abortion 🤔

It baffles my mind how pro abortion applauded companies offering abortions instead of a decent maternity leave. You guys are the biggest useful idiots of capitalism while thinking you are soooo subversive 🙄 That's why you are making up false opposition in the form of the big bad traditional backwardish boogeyman to make you sound braver than you are lol There's no traditionalist conspiracy... Most of the planet never stopped valuing family over career or iNdepeNdencE (although there's a definite push for cultural liberalism - of which abortion culture is totally part of) It's just the pendulum naturally coming back after a decade of libfem koolaid.

You're doing exactly what the system wants from you. You're the equivalent of 'eyeliner so sharp it would slays patriarchy' kinda shit. Especially radfem who will scream that women aren't body part (and they're right) yet advocate for the very act of treating our body like such (against our biology most basic function such as fertility/procreation) - if not straight up vilifying its work ("a baby is a parasite"). Would it even occur to you that fetus aren't "body parts" to be disposed of?? You uterus is a "clump of cells" too, you might as well throw it to the trash 🤪

Oh and many of these "poor pregnant woman got arrested for abortion" have been debunked. You guys really need to get over these misleading sensational headlines seeking to demonize pro lifers (weird, I thought there was a back to traditionalism conspiracy 🤔 shouldn't mainstream media be on our side? 🤔). Those poor women either took drugs to kill their fetus or even killed them AFTER their birth (I'm sure there's a masterpost floating around debunking these stories).

Abortion doesn't even stop rape. If anything, if facilitates its erasure (planned Parenthood allying with pimps to perform underage abortion under the radar) You guys are just moving the goal to appeal to emotionalism. Even if rape disappeared overnight you'd stil advocate for abortion so please, shut up about it. You are exhausting.

[theactualsunshinechild]

Fontaine archon storyline still has the opportunity to do the funniest thing ever and try to make Mr. "Genocide on a Whim" Childe a Christ figure by somehow trying to sacrifice him to the primordial sea for the sins of all of Fontaine

That's definitely not the plan, but it would be very funny. I love the concept of making completely un-christ-like characters into christ stand-ins.

I just keep thinking about how much opportunity they have to pull off something very biblical here with the whole "born with sin" "flood to cleanse sins" "literally building Noah's ark" "statue of the seven technically holding a cross" "passing final judgment only belongs to one entity" shit they have going on.

The entirety of Fontaine so far is so full of Christian references, whether intentional or not, that they could absolutely Christ-ify Childe if they wanted to! They're like, halfway there, they just need to sacrifice his ass and bring him back to life and they'll check off bingo.

I would be so grateful if they literally killed and revived him. can you imagine how much extra MC level Angst TM they could stuff into this man?

I love giving my most pathetic meow meows the hardest battles.

plus the added moral quandry of "is it right it to kill one guy to save our whole country even though he is not Fontanian and is blessed(???) by the primordial sea whale thing (pure of their inherent fontanian sin, kind of a son of god equivalent moment)? Is it right to do even if he isn't exactly a good person?"

And then of course the fact that the vast majority of the people affected by this decision would probably say yes, hesitantly or not. Like, if it were a guaranteed fix to the prophecy, there is no doubt in my mind that Arlecchino would be willing to nail Childe to the metaphorical cross herself AND cover it up to his family.

Neuvillette would probably consider it unjust, but could maybe potentially be swayed by the weight of just how many lives would be saved vs One Dangerous Criminal argument. (A Christ and Pontius Pilate reference? Childe WAS arrested and tried and found guilty for a crime he didn't commit by a guy who was unwilling, but forced to pronounce him guilty).

Wriothesley would be against the idea of sacrificing someone legally under his care, but if it's that vs everyone else in the fortress??? He would rather it was himself, as hell bent on fixing issues thrown his way as he is, but the man doesn't even know if he's Fontanian or not, he doesn't have the same circumstances surrounding him as Childe does to even offer to stand in his place.

Basically, if it is a guarantee, sacrificing him is simply the most practical choice that most people would make. In fact, out of all the characters we have in Fontaine, I think only the traveler might even bother truly standing up for him to the very end, because everyone else is very Personally affected, since it's their own lives on the line as well.

And that would be heartbreaking

The ANGST of Childe looking around him and seeing no one in his side in the face of impending sacrificial execution would shatter me into pieces.

Oh god, can you IMAGINE a cut scene of Childe being the first person to be sentenced to death in Fontaine in over a century and desperately looking around and meeting the traveller's eyes and we fucking grit our teeth and look away? Can you IMAGINE?!

That would break me.

Anyway, I don't think they'll do it since that's just not how Genshin writes, but it sure would be a missed opportunity.

[11queensupreme11]

First of all: Long Live the Queen! Hope you're doing great, your stories are a real delicacy... I first discovered your Tsunami fic when I was in my jjk era, but your Arsenic Blues woke up my inner pjo fan. So eager to see how this all unfold.

But for now, time for the Rankings!

My personnal RoR favorites based on the manga only:

1) Shiva--> Not in the harem, but I had to place him somehow. Was searching for a Shiva fic in the first place. Love the himbo energy. At least it's good to see he's one of the "sane" one in your story.

2) Anubis--> Same, feral himbo doggo energy, can we ask for more?

3) Beelzebub--> Noo don't unalive yourself Bb love u so pretty haha🥺

4) Hadès--> All Hail to the King, here for the BigBro energy

5) Poseidon--> Mytho/Pjo fan here, of course he's one of my favorite gods, but I'm not a fan of his RoR portrayal. He's pretty tho.

6) Apollon--> Too effeminate for my taste, I was rooting for Leonidas anyway.

7) Loki--> U ugly ass, stinky ass, nasty ass bi***

Now, the interesting part, the Ranking based on [Arsenic Blues], as for now, until chapter 31:

1) Beelie Bestie 🤗! It seems you will soon give us reasons to hate him, but for now he's my personal favorite. Hope he will overcome his current difficulties. Fun fact: I tried to translate "Beelie" in my language, tried to find an equivalent nickname, I found "Bébou" (pronounced beeboo, another way to say "baby"). That’s so cute!

2) Loki--> I know it's unlikely but... is this bad that I really want him to take Percy's virginity 😳? Your writing is soooo good, it made me root for him of all people. Everyone loves a good outsider, and since he doesn't want to kill Percy anymore, he climbs up the ranking.

3) Anubis--> Favorite from the manga, I was sooo happy to see that u included the doggo. Didn't appear yet, but I have really high hopes for him. Beware the Allmighty Knot!

4) Poseidon--> This is a dark fic, I understand the appeal, the taboo of the incestual relationship, but since he's already her father, her family, the one who has authority over her, I think he has an unfair advantage compared to the others. This is the reason he's kinda low ranked, but I really loved the relationship he built with our best girl. Embrace Fatherhood (but not too much😰)

5) Hadès--> Same here, too much authority over her, doesn't have the appeal of the gradually evolving relationship. Creepy old  uncle, hope your non-existent liver bursts. For now, he's the one who had the most "action" with Percy, so it seems unlikely that he will have her virginity as well.

6) Apollon--> Well, at least he's funny 😅. I'm sorry, but based on his pathetic simpy behavior, I have to give him the stamp of the "Whiny Little Bitch" of this story. Don't worry tho, there always have to be one in a fic, and he's not as bad as his Tsunami counterpart (Yuuta you nasty motherfucker I had faith in you-).

7) The Seventh--> Seeing the results of the poll, it seems I'm one of the only weirdos who voted for Ahura Mazda. Raa would be awesome too, but I have to say I was disturbed when I first saw that angry buff dude in the spin-off. For me, Raa was still that muscle mommy from the webtoon/manhwa Ennead (read Ennead. Ennead is good for your health). I just want the 7th to not be Cu Chulainn. I know I would still love it if you include him (cause ur writing is golden) but that's just a preference of mine.

I hope I'm understood. That's a big ass message, my thoughts are all over the place and my home country is known for having a shit level in english.

If you're interested I could do the same kind of ranking for Tsunami/Bloodflood. Have a great day, Peace!

A SHIVA LOVER OMG HIIIII

the anime did him sooooo good, he's so hot there, i'm glad they didn't fuck him up like LOOK AT HIM

the bonus chapter for chapter 91 is about shiva AND IM SO PISSED IT HASN'T BEEN TRANSLATED YET, I WANNA READ IT SO BAD I DON'T EVEN CARE IF ITS SUPER SHORT 😭😭

also, YES PLEASE you're free to give me your own bloodflood/tsunami rankings too!!!

[orangepanic]

I'm probably going to regret this later.

I had a good friend say to me recently that she's not reading any more books by white men. Clearly she was looking for congratulations. Instead, all I could feel was sadness.

To me, the point of pushing for diversity and representation in media is exactly that. Diversity, and not just to put points on a scoreboard or get kudos from your socially-minded friends but because you actually care about broadening your mind. For too long, too few people's perspectives and experiences have been overrepresented in history and popular culture, which limits our thinking and perpetuates the kinds of marginalization and discrimination that hurt society as a whole. We need to actively, aggressively correct that. But to me that means a process that is additive, not subtractive.

Add books to your reading list by people from different backgrounds and cultures, or that center characters who aren't like you. And "aren't like you" should be broad. Read a different genre than you'd normally pick up. Read about somebody older or younger than you, someone whose brain works differently, or someone who grew up in a different part of the country, even if they might look like you on the outside. Do this, but don't only do this to the point that reading becomes a chore or a performative action, or to the point where you're now cutting out other perspectives entirely. I hear so many sad stories these days about how little people read, and I think part of that is because there's been a push for reading as a requirement, as education, and that only certain kinds of books are okay to read because they contribute to this goal. That's such crap. Read what you want because it is fun! But then also add to that experience with new, different books. You never know what else you might like (looking at you, native Hawaiian vampire story). Growing your reading pie isn't about "no more of this" but "yes, more of that."

And the same can be said for fandom. Fandom has always been as space for people to explore different kinds of characterizations and relationships that aren't heavily reflected in popular culture. That's largely why we have transformative works. But lately I see this almost puritanical push in fandom for everything to check certain boxes when the whole point of fandom and fan creations is to make shit up. Don't see enough hairy-chested mlm werewolves on screen? Draw your favs as hairy gay werewolves who kiss! And if you've never thought about your OTP as werewolves, be open-minded enough to explore it, or to read someone else exploring it just to see how it is and stretch your brain a bit. Maybe you'll like it, or learn about werewolves. Maybe you'll hate it. Either way, support each other.

And like the books, this process should be additive. Push yourself to be open to more ships and interpretations of characters and canon. Also, curate your fandom experience, and if you explore something and it isn't for you, that's okay. It's for somebody else. And the fact that it contains no werewolves doesn't make it wrong, or boring, or toxic, or anti-werewolf, or something you need to tell the creator not to make anymore because you want to be seen in online spaces as coming out against what is unpopular so that you, by reflection, will look popular. If you do this you're looking for the fandom equivalent of kudos for saying you'll never read a book by a white man, leaving everything from Neil Gaiman to Tolkien on the table and thinking that makes you look progressive instead of sad and small and like you're trying desperately to sit at the right table in middle school. In short, fandom isn't a zero sum game any more than reading is. And real diversity in fandom means adding in the content and perspectives and characters we're missing, both on and off-screen, (and not just the ones you like, but the ones you might not) as well as not weeding out the ones that we already have. We can have more together, not less.

[she-posts-nerdy-stuff]

Worldbuilding

Thanks so much for the interest in this series on my previous post, I’m excited to share it with you :)

One of the strengths of the Grishaverse worldbuilding is that the different countries and cultures take clear inspiration from the real world, so the reader is able to infer a lot of the small details without having to be spoon-fed the information. For example, we don't need a long, info-dump explanation as to why surnames in Shu Han are constructed from the prefixes "yul" or "kir" based on sex and the first name of the parent (eg Kuwei Yul-Bo, son of Bo Yul-Bayurr) because we understand that the country is partially inspired by Mongolia. And even if we don't make this immediate connection, looking at characters like Tolya Yul-Batar and Tamar Kir-Batar we understand how to infer the source of the name because of it's basis from many different naming conventions in our world, such as the -son, -dottier, or -bur suffixes in Iceland. Something I think I see authors do a lot is struggle with the balance in this kind of situation, but personally I find that Leigh Bardugo does it really well. We don't need to be told the extensive information about this, even if she knows it or has some idea about it for herself, because it isn't relevant to the story. If we were told about it in great detail during the Grisha Trilogy or the SOC duology, it would feel a lot like info dumping. But by telling us what it's necessary to know about the Shu royal family in KOS/ROW and letting us fill in the gaps, we feel that we have enough information to both understand and keep the story moving forwards. All we're actually told, to my recollection, is that the Shu queens maintain the given name of the first queen of Shu Han rather than their mother's name to unify the family and to maintain the status symbol of the royals. The information we've been given from this that's immediately relevant to the story is an explanation as to why the character doesn't take her mother's name, so we're not confused or distracted by that as we read on, but we also know that Shu Ha, or at least its aristocracy, is a matriarchy, that the Shu people still feel a great respect for their first queen, implying further that there is a great respect for heritage in the country, and that the Shu monarchy feel the need to remind people of that first queen for what is probably a fear of unsettlement in their power and therefore a need to remind people that this is their 'birth right'.

In my book, there are futuristic technologies made possible by the blending of science and magic, such as a scanner that can identify several genetic markers and is connected to a national database in order to identify anyone, that is used very similarly to a passport system, as well as by the justice system. But it's not necessary to explain the set up of the database, or that the earliest generation of the scanner was developed in the 16th Century, because that doesn't move the story forwards. Instead, I focus on the impact that the technology's usage has on one of the main characters, who has to have routine police and governmental contact because she witnessed the destruction of her home and the murder of her family at age 10. The case is so famous that at the equivalent of passport control to know that her information is about to appear on that database and the person is going to know what happened to her is deeply stressful for her, but there are no alternatives because this system is considered far safer than any paper-based system that could be cheated or faked. My aim is to actually say that the scanner recognises the person and brings up their information so that I can use it to move the story forward through the emotional response of the character, whilst letting the reader infer anything else about the system. I also don't have to tell you that the technology has been around for centuries, but if I have a stranger to the technology describe it and casually mention that 'Generation 18' or something similar is written on the side, you know that it's been around for an extended period of time.

I hope this made sense and was somewhat helpful, I thought I wouldn't go into too much detail and instead split this into multiple posts. Thanks for reading, and if there's anything in particular about worldbuilding you'd like me to talk about let me know and I can give it a try :)

[alatabouleau]

German terms of endearments for your fic

.Now, it's been two years since I've fallen into the X-Men/Cherik-fandom and one thing that I have seen continuously is people trying to find terms of endearment in German for Erik to use for Charles (or his mother for him). (I've lost count of how many times I've seen the word "Liebling" spelled wrong) And honestly, no offense. I know it's hard writing a character who speaks a language you don't. And obviously, you're gonna make mistakes. So I thought I'd share my knowledge as a mother tongue in German and let you know some of the most common ways we described our loved ones. ;) DISCLAIMER: I am but one single person, grown up south-east from Berlin, I DO NOT speak for the whole of Germany, nor do I ever intent to, especially since we are anything but a cultural monolith. Just keep that in mind while reading. ;)

Exclusively romantic terms: - Liebste (fem.)/ Liebster (masc.) : literally means "most loved". Closest English equivalent is probably "love" or "beloved". Bit old-fashioned. Makes you sound like a 20th-century-gentleman. ;) Make sure to write it "I-E" NOT the other way around! It would make the opposite sound. - Geliebte (fem.) / Geliebter (masc.): literally "beloved". Makes you sound even older, like Jane-Eyre-19th-century-old. Again, I before E. - Süße (fem.) / Süßer (masc.): literally "sweetie" (I KNOW this is probably now confusing, but trust me.) This is where we get into the... sappy side of German. Like, there are some mid-forty/fifty-couples who use that, but the rest makes it probably just cringe. (I know I am right now really helpful by starting with those that are not really modern, but I've seen this used because people translating English terms so I just wanted to say it here.)

Terms for both romantic and parental love: - Liebling: literally "darling". Classic, neutral, always the safe option for every situation. (I before E ;) ) - Schatz: literally "treasure". Again, safe option, though this leans rather to the romantic side, but can be used for children either way. And then of course, some animal pet names may be used for either children or romantic partners, but honestly, I don't know any couples who do that. So, those will go into the parental category, I'm afraid.

Terms for children: -Spatz: "sparrow". That's what we basically use as "sweetie". You can also use the diminutive "Spätzchen" for either toddlers or said by grandmothers. -Maus: "mouse". same thing. Diminutive is "Mäuschen". Tendency in usage for girls, but can work for either gender. (This is what my Mom still calls me sometimes even though I'm already 22! XD) -Motte: "moth". This is now really rather for girls, and rather those whose names start with M. -Krümel: "crumb". Not used by many, rather comes from the North, also rather used for unborn children in the womb. -Fussel: "fluff". Also not that common but can be cute in my PoV. :) -Hase: "rabbit". Diminutive is "Häschen". This one's rather for boys in my experience.

And then again, at the end of the day, expressions of affection are personal and as we get more personal in German, we tend to use our respective dialects. Yes, there are actually quite a many dialects for our relative "small" country. Around 30, to be concrete. Though they are all decreasing in being used, sadly, as we get more and more globalized and mobilized. However, here are some examples that I know, my knowledge being utterly limited as I am only one single person from the region south of Berlin:

-Kleene (fem.) / Kleener (masc.): "little one". If you ever have a character originating from Berlin or south of Berlin, this can be used for children. -Meechen: "girl" in the dialect of the region called "Lausitz" around the border of Brandenburg and Saxonia. Also for kids. -Schätzelein: diminutive of "treasure" in Colognian dialect. Romantic in nature, though it can also be used in a way like hairdressers in American movies sometimes call their customers "sweetie". (please, if there's a person from Cologne here, correct me on that!) -Liebchen: "darling" or "beloved" in Saxonian dialect, I believe. Rather used by old couples. -Min Dern (fem.)/ Min Jung (masc): "my girl/boy". Northern dialect. In the region around Hamburg, if I remember correctly. Used for kids.

That's it for the moment. I will probably add to this list whenever I learn some new, but I hope this is already helpful for some people. Have a great day! :) Also, if to other German mother-speakers, feel free to share your perspective, correct me if I did put something in the wrong region or enlighten me with other words.

[fantomette22]

The Dogs in Bloodborne!

So @bobbyzombiegg you wanted some headcanons on the dogs right? Following this post. Alright I will, but first i’m gonna recap all the dogs we can see in Bloodborne!

No I'm not talking about the weird beasts. Even the ones we're not sure if they have animal or human origins, I will stay focused on dogs only.

Rabid dog (Yharnam and found in most of the locations of the game)

They seems to be cream coloured but I saw people said it could be brown. It's the dog ennemies we encounter the most often. The chimera in the Nightmare of Mensis are made with them too.

Grey Rabid dog (grey/silver version found in Yaha'rgul & chalice dungeons)

Same breed as the light coloured ones but they have darker fur (grey/silver)

Some might already know but for the ones who don't know this dog highly ressemble the Irish Wolfhound Breed

It's one of the biggest dog in the world. Typically used to hunt wolves (that's how all the wolf in Ireland disappear), deers and big animals.

The breed almost disappear in the 19th century but it was restored into the one we know today with mixing the last ones with the Great Dane, Scottish deerhound, borzoi and even Tibetan dog.

It also highly ressemble the Scottish deerhound, the too breed being very similar and link.

I personally call the ones in Bloodborne just wolfhound because there's no guarantee it's a real breed and again Bloodborne, like dark souls is not our world so I don't think Irish and England exist XD there's equivalent maybe. (And Yharnam would be closer to this universe version or Poland or Czech).

If you are attentive they aren't presented in the hunter's nightmare (see below the old hunter's hound) With the scourge of the beasts becoming worst and huge beasts appearing more frequently the hunters and citizens turn themself to bigger dogs to hunt bigger prey.

Hunting dog (Hemwick Charnel lane & chalice dungeons)

Don't ask me what breed it is I have 0 idea. Greyhound? A mixt breed? Idk. They are principally found in Hemwick too. They have been equip of weapons to hurt beast better I supposed. A hardcore version of the collar of some shepherd dog 😅 The ones left almost in completely autonomy with a herd and half collars with spike to not get hurt by wolves.

Keeper's hunting dogs

Found in the chalice dungeons and are weird mutated fire dogs. They follow their master, the keepers. I suppose they were normal dogs before.

Watchdog of the Old Lords

Idk if that was a dog before. Could be a keeper who transformed or something for all we know. But well it's literally called a "watchdog" so-

The corpses of dead dogs in the chalice dungeons

(I know it looks great but please imagined it's a dog 💀 it's the only screenshot I found)

Sometimes you can see corpses in the chalice dungeons and sometimes there's dogs ones as well. They seem rather "normal". And not really the breeds we already see.

Old hunter hound /rabid dog (Hunter's Nightmare-Yharnam/ The Old Hunters dlc)

So those are probably Dobermann. Used as guard dogs and for protections. During old hunter's era, most beasts were beast patients / human size not huge scourge beasts. So this type of dogs was ideal. With the beast growing bigger having more scourge beasts around the poor dogs become too insufficient. And that's why Yharnam adopt bigger bred like the wolfhounds.

Dobermanns are born with long falling ears and a tail. The tails was cut so they don't got hurt into fight or hunting and the ears because they often got affections. Many countries have forbidden it because with modern standard of life it donees't have any real use now. Contrary to what people think "attack dogs" are not born agressive. It's just that if they aren't trained well and develop comportement issues and agression it's going to be a bit more of a problem than a chihuahua who would have the same issues.

Fish dogs (Hunter's nightmare-Fishing hamlet/ The Old hunters dlc)

Don't ask me please. there's no idea of knowing what they were before. But their fish's head apparently ressemble a viperfish's head, also called a chauliodus, deep sea fish from the Stomiidae family. Not putting pictures here for people who are sensible, I put a link above. Their body as slimed and long (30cm), they lived between 200 and 4000m of depth (3300-13000ft). Those types of fishes (their genus) were discovered in the very early XIX/19th century.

Now my headcanons on why most of wolfhounds in Yharnam have light fur and why the one in Yahar’gul have dark colored ones.

Objectively the most possible answer is simply that the dog’s population of this two area weren’t mixted together. When you have a small portions of individual who don’t mixt with more exterior individuals they tend to end up with similar traits because of dominant & rececive genes (and if it last a LONG time, that’s how new species appears. But it take thousands if not millions of years and generations).

Well my headcanons is much simpler than that and basically for fic purposes. I just thought it would make sense that Yahar’gul hunters kept the darker ones because they need to stay discreet (they themselves have black clothes) etc. And the other would have kept the lighter ones because they are easier to see and recognize at night.

At the beginning of the introduction of the wolfhound races in Yharnam it was probably mixed individuals of different fur coats. With a bit with time, selection and breeding they would end up with most of the dogs being light light colored for the hunters/citizens and church. And Yahar’gul doing the same would ended up with the darker ones.

And bonus headcanons:

I imagined a younger Paarl possibly taking care of the first generation of wolfhound in Yharnam (they were introduced to replace the dobermanns because beasts grew bigger). And i like imagining Gehrman to had help with training and had one of his own :3 a white one (yes I draw it I should do that again) (because you see, to have survived that long and have will to live after Maria passed away and the old hunters dying one by one i imagined it would have been nice for him to have a companion for a time).

[unolvrs]

— FAQ AND KEEPING UP!

so, i'm alive, and this is honestly long overdue. here, i'll be answering some frequently asked questions (just five because i barely have time for this) along with some rundown of what had happened to me recently, and why exactly i was inactive. and some of the expectations/things i want to change when it comes to this account and my ao3 account because guysss, i'm 20 years old! that's crazy.

as always, this will be obnoxiously organized. if you know me and you've been following me for a while, i hate messily-organized things. (which is hypocritical of me because my tumblr is a mess. tbf, when i started this, i had no idea what was going on.) some trigger warnings to take note of: there will be mentions of SA, p/dophilia, harassment, ED, and so. you can use this as a warning for whatever college experience you'll have.

— keeping up with uno

YOU CAN SKIP THIS PART AND HEAD OVER TO FAQ!

as many of you know, i'm currently in college and now, i'm a—yey. one of the many reasons why i was inactive is because i'm very grade conscious and my first semester in college didn't go over so well because i was adjusting. anyway, my liver is definitely fucked. unfortunately, i've taken to smoking too but not to excess because i don't like doing anything at all to an excess.

that's a brief what's going on in my life and health updates. now you guys know i'm becoming just like my father 😇 but it's fine because i have, in the gpa equivalent, a 3.8 to 3.9, something along that range. so my academics are doing amazing!

but, as some of you may know, i studied in the same school since i was in elementary to high school in a somewhat 'exclusive' school that handpicked students. college opened me to so many people in a horrible way because in a span of barely a year, men have ruined my friends and i's lives.

let's start with the rough part: i keep on seeing these two guys i was once involved with around the campus, each known to have SA'd someone/attempted to have SA'd someone after we were involved. which fucks me up every time because the other guy is apparently still asking about me. crazy. and i have no idea what to do about that so i will simply rest in peace. (to others who may ask about why someone who SA'd someone would still be in a prestigious college and roaming around, they were apparently forgiven by their victim. allegedly. i don't know much.)

and a lot of the men i became friends with in college are elitists, socially unaware, privileged, and lowkey sexists. i'm just astounded. in shock. of course, i met some of the best guy friends in college too, of which i'm very thankful for.

HOWEVER, the worst thing happened a few months ago. my close friend was dating this guy in her college in a rather questionable manner. but that's not the point. anyway, i became close friends with the guy too and we integrated him in our friend group, became really, really close.

but there were red flags, of course. i scolded him often for it. and then my friend began telling me stuff about their relationship and i insisted for her to break up because so many bad things are happening already involving his ex. but she stayed with him still (i won't go to details because they were awful) and then it was revealed right before he moved to another country (they planned to do LDR) that he liked kids. he SA'd his ex multiple times. his alleged 'crazy' ex was a victim. he and his friends are awful human beings. they exchanged cp when they were in high school. large amounts of cp. and you guys don't even wanna know what else happened and for that, i'll keep them to myself.

my friend stayed with him for a month or so, until they broke up; he said she was awful for not realizing he's changed...

anyway, that's the context of my deleted post concerning my friend being a ykw. i have cut him off, blocked him everywhere, and he said he hates me lol. we can't do anything about it as his parents are government and law enforcement-affiliated. another day, another win for the elites.

also, some time before that my ED kicked in again but i'm kind of okay now. i'm mentally healthy atm. i'm doing great in school. i'm going for orgs. i have good friends. 😇 i have cut off smoking and drinking since the 10th of august. i don't think i'm gonna go back to smoking some time soon because my mom has a hound's nose for that. but unfortunately, drinking is part of the experience.

— FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS!

when are you updating frog in a well?

you should've heard the scream i let out just now. i have honestly grown tired of jjk and especially bnha, which i never really got into. jjk sucks now, guys... the constant mischaracterization of the characters by the fans, whatever is going on with sukuna, literally everything. at least nobara is alive.

but i want to finish froggie, honestly. it would be an achievement if i finished froggie and that's only my motivation for it. froggie will be updated whenever. that's basically the answer but i want to finish it, promise.

2. when are you updating rain on my parade?

look, i have 3 chapters on it already. completed. edited. ready to be posted but i just can't. i haven't been writing the past few months and i feel like anything i write is absolutely disgusting and just awful. so i can't post anything and i keep on re-editing everything: the commissions, the other things i've written and are just on stand-by.

3. any wips?

yes, a lot. i have posted a bit of details about them. they will be posted when i stop being insecure about my stuff.

4. what have you been doing recently?

watching lots of movies. i'm a film bro now, a letterboxd type of person. drinking, shopping, contemplating about my future.

5. others.

an advice for you guys in college or going to college, please PLEASE be careful with the people you meet, especially the men. i'm sorry to say but it's better to be careful and use as much connections you have to figure out what kind of person someone is. and just because a person seems nice, doesn't mean they're really nice, guys! the p/do guy called me a SISTER.

anyway, also, i want to change "unolvrs" or "uno". so if you suddenly see my username changing in all platforms, sorry. that's all i have to say. thank you.

i'm very excited to go back to writing. but i have these backlogs:

but i have many completed drafts, including commissions, some done in private and will be posted in private as well. i will no longer be posting any comm on ao3, but will have a gdrive for all of them.

and i'm starting to move past the "i can't update any chapter of other fics unless i update froggie". i've been going through that, which some of you may have noticed as i post chapters in bulks. anyway, that's it, i think.

TLDR;

i went through a lot last year and this year.

i will be changing my username from unolvrs and my penname uno to something else.

some chapters, including comms, will be posted on: SEPTEMBER 27.

[arizonaconservativegal]

If you’re a conservative with reasonable beliefs, more power to you, that’s great, we need more people like you.

But you’re doing yourself a major disservice if you take a post about anti-social behaviors from our party and showing you don’t socialize much and just stick your head in the sand and go “nuh uh that doesn’t happen!” Just leaves that avenue open to attack from Democrats.

Both my parents are registered republicans, and my mom has had to distance herself from fellow conserative friends specifically bc of that adrenochrome stuff. (Some of the friends were Korean btw, so i don’t wanna hear racism bs) My friend who isnt a republican but whose parents are both R has her mom sick of her dad bc of this stuff. Even at my job, the guys who talk about politics are work go to the exact topics mentioned in that post you said doesn’t happen. Democrats are just gonna pull up screenshots and use that to undermine everything else youre saying and say its fake and made up too.

Project2025, which I have read, wants to abolish overtime pay unless it interferes with the Sabbath - not religious stuff in general, only the Sabbath and only if you believe in the Sabbath for real. That’s literally only christians and jews. nobody else.

I’m not saying those are your beliefs, I’m not saying that’s what’s going to happen if trump is elected president. But Project2025 is a really big thing and not just bc liberals keep on pointing to it to fearmonger. abortion is one thing but how are we gonna tell people “we dont want christianity to be the main thing we just have morals” if we’ve got big think tanks going “actually we wanna test people for their religon at work” ? radical conservatism is gonna kill moderate conservatism and make people vote dem. my dad even voted for biden last election and hes been a republican since before the 90s. the weird stuff is immature but the things they’re calling weird do happen

Okay look I fully understand that no one wants to believe me here so I'm shouting into the void expecting something to happen and that's ridiculous but I'm going to do it anyway because I still have a few minutes until my conference call starts.

I've been working in Republican politics professionally for ten years. A decade. I'm not talking out of my ass when I say no one is taking Project 2025 seriously. I actually do know that directly. When the Heritage Foundation is mentioned in conversation, people roll their eyes. The thing about think tanks like that is that they don't have to deal with the reality of what they're suggesting. They essentially throw spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks. If something does - then they'll write an actual policy prescription or draft legislation so that lawmakers have something to start working on. I know you probably don't know what the difference is (which I don't mean as a knock on you, it's just not something most people know), but Project 2025 contains none of that. Until the conversations I hear at work start to shift or I see one of those ideas become a policy treatment or draft bill, I'm not going to worry about it. From a practical standpoint, all Project 2025 is today is a Democrat fundraising point.

To your other point, there are roughly 70 million registered Republicans in this country, not counting third party members or conservative leaning independents. Some of them suck. A lot. I'm really not trying to pretend that's not the case. But to write a post claiming that all conservatives are like that is absurd and shows that you don't spend time around us. The very vast majority of conservatives are just normal human beings who go to the grocery store and work boring jobs and take the kids to little league practice and hold extremely boring opinions on politics. Just like the very vast majority of liberals. It would be equally unreasonable of me to go around telling everyone that all Democrats are the equivalent of the Bernie bro who shot up a bunch of Republican members of Congress a few years ago or that they're all the like the people who send me rape threats here or call my old campaign office to say their going to firebomb us. It would be really easy for me to believe that if all I did was spend time around other conservatives and my only interactions with the left were with their raging nutcases. But I spend time around liberals so I know they're not like that any more than we are like that jackass last night.

It is so easy these days to put yourself in a little bubble of people who think like you and only ever see the worst of the people who don't. That used to be difficult for conservatives to do because media was all very left-leaning so even if we didn't personally know a lefty, we still saw them portrayed positively on tv, whereas the left didn't see that of us. With streaming and algorithms and alternate media these days, we are heading in that direction too. Very little scares me more about the future than that.

The only way to fix that is if we all start talking to normal people on the other side the aisle again. That's all I'm trying to get people do to. You don't even have to talk to them about politics. Talk to them about baseball or something, I don't care. Just something so that when you think of the other party, you think of the human beings you know instead of some boogeyman. There are nearly 12,000 people following this blog. That guy last night wasn't one of them - why does he get to represent them? They didn't do anything wrong and they outnumber him, literally almost 12,000 to 1. The only reason anyone listened to him was that he 'confirmed' their bias and they didn't think about it any more than that. They saw one example of what they already believed and let that give them a reason to ignore the mountain of things contradicting them. So I'm pissed at that guy for that and for generally being a shithead.

But I'm still going to say it because it's still true: if you think that's how all conservatives are, you obviously don't spend a lot of time around conservatives.

[splathousefiction]

"For The Children" Is A Puritan Dogwhistle, And It's Time You Stop Pretending People Who Use It Are Acting In Good Faith.

They're not.

Not once, not ever, nor has any policy, political move, bill, terms of service update or edit to an EULA agreement done under this banner been made with good intentions. "For the safety/good of children" is what's commonly referred to as an "Emotional Appeal", a logical fallacy most of you learn about in grade school. Corporations and politicians, at least in America, will happily strip away your autonomy without a second thought while simultaneously ignoring direct and real dangers that many children face literally every single day. They get away with it too, because gaslighting in American politics works.

There's no grand agenda, no chemical in the water nor some mind control via 5g tower by some shady cabal to harm your children.

You know what kids are really dealing with right now?

There's been 64 school shootings in the US so far just in 2024. The number of kids facing food scarcity or only getting a meal at school (often on the free/reduced price tier) has surged since the 2019 lockdowns. More than 1.2 million kids in school right now are homeless. Schools are underfunded by $150 billion annually, meaning kids don't even have access to the resources necessary to receive a quality education.

These are just the causes I can personally think of that we should be investing in "for the children", and yet as literal bodies pile up every year, kids starve and freeze outside in the elements, I've watched our politicians just shrug and say nothing can be done while actively infringing on the privacy and safety of it's citizens.

Instead of doing something about gun control, we've got militarized police in schools and talk of allowing teachers to carry firearms. Instead of taking my tax money and at least feeding the kids, I've watched them be fed stuff so lacking in nutritional value it might as well be dirt. I've seen politicians move to keep the holocaust out of textbooks and reduce the horrors of war to a few paragraphs-always with this country as the winners, the good guys, the MCU equivalent of the avengers coming to save the day. Don't even get me started on housing those homeless children. If the US doesn't care about kids being shot to death, it sure as hell doesn't care about giving them adequate shelter.

I'm not so dumb as to assume there's a single solution or a single cause to any of this, but I'm also not ignorant to the fact that every single fucking time I've heard "for the safety of kids" or "for the good of the children" used by someone, they're about to do something fucking hideous to all of us and get away with it. They're about to rob you of your rights, your humanity, your name and culture if they think they can. And they're gonna get away with it too, because what kind of monster would ever argue against the safety of kids?

"For the children" is a conservative dog whistle. It always has been, it always will be, and every time you see it used it's time to start harassing the shit out of the people saying it by asking them what they're legitimately, actually, factually doing for kids. Because there's a damn good chance their entire argument is built on a throne of corpses.

[hero-israel]

this isn't meant to deny al Nakba or pretend it doesn't exist, but i wonder sometimes why people pretend the expulsion/displacement of hundreds of thousands of people was a unique action taken on israel's part? the jewish people who lived in territories that came under control of the arabs were also expelled during the war. hundreds of thousands of jews were expelled from neighboring arab countries despite having lived there for generations.

it is a tragedy on all fronts, of course, and i dont intend to deny or make light of that. i just find it odd that people talk so much about the 750,000 palestinians who were pushed out by the Israeli army upon our victory of the war of independence yet say nothing about a similar amount of jews who faced the same fate. again, it doesn't make it okay, but as the war concluded the amount of palestinians and jews who ended up being displaced, ethnically cleansed, etc. seem about equivalent. its just that jewish people had a country willing to take them in and yet nobody was prepared to help the palestinians. why does israel alone bear this responsibility? why not jordan? or egypt??

Most people aren't Jewish, most people don't know history in general, most people certainly don't know the history of ethnic groups they don't belong to and countries they don't live in. It is a bad combination for expecting widespread "basic" knowledge. Now add to that latent cultural antisemitism, and the immense demographic imbalance between Jews and Arabs/Muslims. There are always going to be many more people speaking out against us, and against our history, than for us.

I went to Hebrew school through confirmation at age 17 and visited Israel multiple times and did not learn of the existence of Mizrahi Jews until after Operation Protective Edge in 2014, when I saw my close friends repeating antisemitic propaganda and it upset and infuriated me into doing a deep dive into history books on my own free time. I had learned in Hebrew school that "the Jews" were expelled from Arab countries, but we were never taught they were in any way different from Ashkenazim. Practically every single thing I have ever said on this blog was learned on my own initiative, not in any public or even Hebrew school.

The Arab states should have absorbed the refugees of 1948, but they didn't. For the most part, those Arab states have moved on and are willing to work with or at least not actively fight against Israel, and that leaves the Palestinians marooned.