#i literally cried over your tl

[kuneko-kokono]

celebrating my birthday "alone"

happy birthday to the blorbo that changed my life. for the worse. im about to graduate high school and this lad is still in prison....

[l0v3tast3]

Older!pervy!boyfriend!price was sooo vfhdhshsg. I loved it.

But he would probably 100% get you pregnant. And whisk you awy from your parents.

god DAMN you anons are gonna kill me you just keep coming up with better and better ideas (☆ω☆) also uwu thank you anon im glad you liked it :3 <<333

obviously, you can't blame the man for wanting kids. plenty of people do, plenty of people don't, and there's nothing wrong with either. so when he watches you coo at a baby that you pass by while out walking together, you shouldn't be surprised that as soon as you're back home john is pressing your legs into your chest to dig his cock that much deeper into you.

he's like a man possessed; you'll end up a babbling mess, weakly pushing at his chest and scratching at his arms, trying desperately to form the words to ask him for a break. john bends down to kiss your drool-covered lips and wipe away the tears of overstimulation from your cheeks. he murmurs soothingly that you're doing so good, that you'll look so beautiful with his baby, that he'll take such good care of everything, such good care of you.

john's hips slow their assault on yours and melt into a near-hypnotizing rock back and forth as a way of giving you a break. "already so gorgeous, how am i gonna handle you carrying my child, hm? y'think you're already pregnant, darling? mm, i know you're tired, i know sweetheart, we just gotta make sure. jus' one more, promise, bein' such a good girl f'me."

of course it's not "just one more". never mind the fact that he's in his late thirties and most men his age would have probably pulled several muscles by now. never mind the fact that he's cumming in you, buried as deep as he possibly can be inside you for the fourth time that night. none of that matters because the image of your belly round and your tits swollen and heavy with milk, you asking him for help because they're just so sore makes him feel drunk.

and sure enough, a couple weeks later when your period is late, the pregnancy test you take with a shaking leg comes up positive. john nearly cries from happiness when you tell him; he's over the moon, pretty much worshipping you, raining kisses all over your face and neck and hugging you and promising you everything you'd ever want and need. your parents don't take it nearly as well, so you end up moving in with him, to his even greater delight (he's already setting up the nursery by the time you manage to get all your stuff out of your old room).

john damn near makes the call to take a leave of absence before you even take the test, no doubt about it. he makes good on his promises and gets you everything you even mention you're thinking about (sometimes you think he's psychic because he'll get stuff you like before you even say anything about it). you'll never have to lift a finger. he claims it's so you don't hurt the baby, but he's literally taking plates out of your hands to put back in the cupboards when you're still in your first trimester.

when you start showing, john just goes fucking crazy. of course he restrains himself, but thank god your hormones are making you more horny too because the physical proof of you growing his child, your belly swelling and your breasts steadily growing heavier makes him feel like a teenager discovering porn again, constantly fucking horny for you.

tl;dr, john price will breed you literally as soon as you even give a hint of wanting/liking kids

[purplephloxpress]

总有一天 a place to hide (can't find one near) - yiqie

That’s just the thing, isn’t it? Wei Ying feels nothing. He doesn’t feel anything, and this emptiness should scare him. He knows he should be scared. He wants to be scared. He isn’t. Fear itself is never scary; fear is just a response. It means that your body wants you alive. It’s the absence of terror that scares him.

I had SO MUCH FUN with this bind! This one had a lot of firsts for me, and is one that I really poured my heart into due to its particular emotional impact on me (tl;dr - I was a piano major in college, burned out, this fic helped me fall in love with music again). It's an Untamed WangXian Pianists AU (TW for anyone interested that it deals with attempted suicide and life following that) and I tried to tie that into the design details literally everywhere I could think of. Black and white cover paper, music note scene breaks, and my absolute favorite part to create: sheet music title pages. The particular song used for that is a recurring motif in the fic and one that means a lot to me personally, and I knew I wanted to include it somehow. Unfortunately I couldn't find an existing image of the sheet music that was high enough quality to use how I wanted, so I used a sheet music program to input it myself!

This book was my first time doing any sort of edge decoration, and I had fun figuring out how to splatter paint with a toothbrush (Spouse: is that supposed to be blood? Me: no but also... kind of?) and it was also my first time doing endbands! (Shout out to the friends who walked me through it over voice chat one evening, and then rolled their eyes when I announced that I'd torn them out and done them over again. Twice.) I went with red and black for both of those parts to match the main characters canonical color scheme, and also because I liked the dramatic pop of color against the black and white cover.

Spine titling was done once again with a foil quill, and I decided to paint the Chinese title of the fic on the cover. I couldn't find a paintbrush that let me get as fine tipped and detailed as I wanted so I may or may not have used a toothpick to paint it on.

I prevailed over: somehow deleted half of my page numbers and had to reprint the WHOLE THING! Forgot to measure the boards as part of my spine width and had to do surgery with 2mm strips of paper! (Thankfully had allowed plenty of hinge because I didn't realize until I'd finished ALL of the titling and I would have cried if I couldn't salvage it) Truly this is my child and I adore how it turned out. Is it perfect? No. Are there things I would change? Sure. But I learned and I did and I'm so goddamn proud of it!

(See below the cut if you want specific details on the binding)

What pieces went into making it:

Fandom: The Untamed

Pairing: Wei Wuxian/Lan Wangji

Pairing: Wei Wuxian/Lan Wangji

Bookcloth: black Brillianta

Cover paper: black and silver marbled lokta

Endpapers: red cardstock

Titling: foil quill, acrylic paint, acrylic paint pen

Endbands: leather cording for the core, DMC embroidery thread for the bands

Body font: Adobe Garamond Pro

Title fonts: Long Cang and Canva Holiday

Text message font: Nirmala UI

Scene breaks created in Canva

Title page sheet music created using MuseScore

[alex-supremacy4]

OKAY SL MY OPINION ON WW..

might delete later, just felt in a willy's wonderland mood rn (my silliest mood)

tl;dr at end if ur too lazy to read everythimg

tw: mentions of death, mentions of s3x, spoilers, etc

chris did NKT deserve to get killed. he literally didnt. but you know who did? BOB AND THAT BITCH KATHY. AARON AND DAN DIDNT DESERVE TO GET KILLED EITHER, TJEY BARELY EVEN DID SHIT

KATHY AND BOB DESERVED TO BE KILLED. LITERALLY. BOB WAS BEING THE FAT FUCK HE IS, BUT KATHY IS WORSE. SHE WAS TRYING TO SEDUCE CHRIS, AARON AND DAN EVEN WHILE IN A RELATIONSHIP WITH BOB. AND THEN, HAD S3X IN THE MIDDLE OF A LIFE OR DEATH SITUATION LIKE BITCH RECOGNIZE THE SITUATION YOUR ASS IS IN RIGHT NOW. AFTER THAT, SHE DIDNT EVEN BOTHER TO HELP BOB NOT DIE AND WASNT EVEN WILLING TO DO ANYTHING AT ALL LIKE PULL THE ANIMATRONIC AWAY OR HIT IT, ETC. SHE JUST RAN TO THE DOOR AND TRIED TO GET OUT FAST. SHE WAS AN ASSHOLE GIRLFRIEND AND DESERVED TO GET HER ASS KILLED OFF. SO DID BOB, BUT I FELT A BIT BAD BECAUSE HE WASNT EVEN HELPED AT ALL AFTER THAT.

BUT CHRIS. I FEEL SO FUCKING BAD FOR CHRIS. HE DIDNT DESERVE TO DIE I SWEAR. HE WAS SO FUCKING SWEET (excrpt for the time he rammed into bob but not in THAT way, just ran into bob and got them stuck inside of the resturaunt.) AND CARED ABOUT THEM SM. AND THEN HE TRUSTED CAMMY. HE TRUSTED HER HE FUCKING TRUSTED HER. AND THEN HE WAS BACKSTABBED. LIKE NO THAT DIDNT HAPPEN!!! HE GRABBED CAMMYS TONGUE AND CHOPPED IT OFF BEFORE HE COULDVE DIED AND RAN OFF EITH THE JANITOR AND LIV BEFORE THEY COULDVE GOTTEN STOLEN BY WILLY OR THE GRANDMA PEROSN THING CALLED SHERRIF LUND.. (im delusional) But anyways HE DIDNT DESERVE ANG OF THAT.

DAN WAS JUST A SILLY LITTLE GOOBER WHO DIDNT DESERVW TO DIE EITHER, NOOO I DONT KNOW WHAT UR TALKING ABOUT!!! HIS INSIDES DIDNT GET TORN OUT AND EATEN OUT BRUTALLY, HE WAS FIGHTING BACK FOR HIS LIFE AND SUCCEEDED AND SAVED EVERYONE ELSE FROM DYING (except for kathy and bob) AND FLEW AWAY ON A TAP DANCING FLYING OVERSIZED DOG (im delusional pt2)! AND HE WAS JUST TRYINH TO HELP I THINK BUT THEN IT BACKFIRED ON HIM. I HATE YOU SIREN SARA AND TITO GREEN Turtle ASS THING.

aaron.. aaron.. AARON DIDNT DIE NOT MY KID NOT MY BBG. I DONT KNOW WHAT YOURE TALKING ABOUT HE DIDNT GET IMPALED WITH A SWORD BY THAT DUMBASS KNIGHTY KNIGHT BITCH HE LIVED BY REALIZING WHAT WILLY'S SONG MEANT, TURNED TO LOOK BEHIND HIM, GRABBED THAT BITCHES SWORD AND FOUGHT HIS ASS TO THE DEATH UNTIL HE FINALLY GOT HIM AND STABBED HIS ASS!!!!! HE THEN TAP DANCED OVER THAT BITCHES CORPSE, FLEW AWAY WITH HIS FRIENDS (but left bob and kathy behind) AND PLAYED FLAPPY BIRD WHEN THEY GOT HOME! (im delusional pt3). AARON DIDNT DWSERVW THAT SHIT BUT HE TRIED TO STOP CHRIS FROM GETTING AT BOBS ASS BUT THAT DOESNT MATTER, HE WAS SO <33 PLEASE BRING HIM. BACK I LOVE HIM HE SHOULDVE DIED LAST OR NEVER EVEN DIED AT ALL

LIV AND THE JANITOR WERE SO ICONIC. THEY WERE SO COOL AND SILLY AND LITTLE GOOBERS IM SO GLAD THEY DIDNT DIE BUT THE FACT THE JANITOR LET (I THINK) WILLY BLOW TWO POWERFUL ASS ATTACKS TO HIM MADE ME CRY SO VIOLENTLY LIKE WTF. HELLO????????? TELL ME THAT SOMEONE ELSE CRIED AT THAT PART TOO PLEASE I NEED SOMEONE TO SOB WITH ME WHILE WE REWATCH THE MOVIE 4 TIMES PLEEAAHAHAHAHASE IM BEGIGNG YIU. PLEAS3 PLEAS E PLESD RPLEASE.. also im makijg a willys wonderland au with m. characters and sneak peek: kathy doesnt exist so the charavter thats bob is just gonna be. complete asshole with no bitches and dies first 🥶🥶

i HATE THAT BITCH SHERRIF LUND. SHE TRIED LEAVING JANITOR TO DIE AND FORCED LIV TO LEAVE THE JANITOR BEHIND. AND THEN SHE LURED IN WILLY, NOT EXPECTING HIM TO BE BEHIND HER INSTEAED.. AND YOU KNOW EHAT??? SHE GOT WHAT SHE DESWRVED. SHE GOT KILLED AND SLICED IN HALF, LIKE SHE SSHOULD BE. SHE NEEDS TO LEARN HER PALXE AND WHY THE FUCK SHE WOULD SACRIFICE A GOOD PERSOSNS LIFE JUST FOR THAT CRAPPY ASS TOWN THAT IS TOTAL SHIT AND DOESNT EVEN DESERVE TO EXIST.

evan is my silly goofy goober boy and nothing can change that.. EVAN DIDNT KNOW WHAT HE WAS DOING THOUGJ, SO IT CHANGED S LITTLE BIT BECAUSE HE WAS KINDNOF TOTAL SHIT TO LIV IN THE CAR AND KIND OF DESERVED TO GET EATEN BY ARTY ALLIGSTOR OR TITO TURTLE . FORGOT WHICH IT WAS BUT EH.. IM NOT EVEN GONNA BE DELUSIONAL FOR THIS PART BECAUSE H. WAS KIND OF TOTAL SHIT.

tl;dr: kathy and bob are asses and deserved to die. chris, dan, and aaron didnt deserve to die. liv and janitor deserved to live. i hate sherrif lund. i kind of dislike evan but still love him.

thNk you for listening t my rant bye bye

by : khel / micheal ^_^

[avakitsune]

Hi, it's time for vulnerability posting again, despite the fact that's all I'm doing rn. But whatever shhhh I need to whine and complain to get through all this stuff and actually it does help to just. Let it all out. And the person I want to talk to about everything is busy working, and so here I am, blabbering into the ether again.

HOWEVER ONLY 8 MORE DAYS UNTIL I GET TO MEET HIM IN PERSON SO YK THERES THAT

Today is probably one of the worst days of my life. I'm triggered and it's the nail in the coffin for any potential rekindling with my husband. And like, I know some of yall might be like, "really? The election?"

Imagine being married to someone you trust so little that your subconscious won't allow you to sleep if they're physically in your home. Imagine being married to someone who doesn't care if you live or die, so long as they get to have sex with you until you do. Imagine being married to someone who came inside you right after you had to terminate a pregnancy you wanted and he couldn't even wait 3 months to fuck you, and when you cried because you were scared? He said, "I have needs." And then remained married to him for 6 more years because this happened a month after your wedding. Imagine he's drunk all the time. Imagine he leaves you all alone. Imagine he lets you starve, chases you into the bathtub for crying, and blames you for your own illness because you failed to birth his child.

So yeah. The election makes it impossible for me to ever rekindle that flame. I'm over him. I don't want him.

But that's literally not even what I'm posting about???? Lmfao. Like forget all the sad bleh stuff. Wish tumblr posts had footnotes so that I could have put all that in the tags or smth but it's relevant.

I've had to go back and forth in my mind, feeling guilt over the new emotions that have started to grow for someone that actually really seems to see me as a person? Someone who seems to want to know who I am, other than just as a cute plaything—which I am. I care very much if he continues to like me, and I obsess over making sure not to be boring and not to seem aloof by being easily distracted.

Every conversation I have with him, every night I've spent just talking about anything, everything, and nothing at all with him has only made me feel more full and whole. I like how he makes me feel. I'm used to feeling unworthy, small, and bothersome. He doesn't make me feel that way; if anything, I feel that he goes out of his way a bit to make sure to say the right thing—because he wants to say the right thing, not because it's not on his heart. And that tears me to shreds, actually?

To think that someone, barely more than a stranger, can see straight down to my core like he can? And that he's not disgusted by what he sees? He's specifically told me that I'm a woman, not a little girl, and everyone around me has told me the opposite to keep me small. He's not afraid of me. And I don't want to walk away from a man who isn't the least bit intimidated by someone like me.

LOL ANYWAYS

TL;DR: I'm awake and autonomous for the first time in many years, and I'm finally meeting someone who seems like at the very least, makes me feel a sense of forward momentum for the first time since October of 2018.

I will be flooding my page with mini updates while he's here and posting about how cute he is because he is as adorable as he is intimidating. And I just...I don't feel guilty for this. Don't care if I should.

[nugulover69]

taiya hater still not over episode 8 here

we talk about taiya, but what about bunbun in this episode?? he pissed me off too lmao, esp during the robo fight- like the entire team save for taiya got thrown out of their cars, and he's just like "hey lets call this one robo puncher" or whatever like?? show a little concern...

taiya still pisses me off the most in these two episodes, making it seem like mira and jou were in the wrong, but hopefully he gets whats coming to him with this whole "not-dad is in with the bad guys" and whatever tf ishiro is up to lol

i neeeeed to see him realize he's not all as smart as he thinks he is, you can do the "cool" "know-it-all" characters just fine, but you gotta humble them every so often y'know?

Your haterade is potent Anon lmao

And you're right, a character like him who's usually cool headed/confident things will work out needs to have their faith/patience tested bc otherwise there's not much of a story to be had. even Tendou Souji, guy with a literal god complex who is comically good at everything he does, has more going on as a character bc he 1. is visibly shown to care deeply abt the people in his life and 2. ACTUALLY SHOWS EMOTION WHEN HE'S PUSHED FAR ENOUGH . like he cries and everything. can Iuchi even do that

It's curious, since ya know, this is a sentai and teamwork makes the dream work. letting your friend go off on a solo revenge quest seems antithetical to this franchise's whole premise. I think what will happen is Genba will realize he can't actually face his nemesis alone and will come crawling back

What I'd personally want is for Taiya to realize he's actually been too hands off and apologize to Genba for abandoning him when he needed his support most. but I don't believe that'll happen bc the narrative the writers have crafted is weirdly adverse to placing Taiya in the wrong. like there's always something to excuse his shady and detached behavior or soften it at least

I've said it before and I'll repeat it here; he feels like a showa era red who got timewarped into a reiwa sentai. but even that doesn't feel fair to say, bc even showa reds with 2 personality traits to their name have more pomp when it comes to caring abt righteous justice and their friends well being

He's only marginally better than the other worst red I've met thus far, Yusuke from Liveman. Taiya may be a bland dickhead who barely gets punished by the narrative, but at least he's not an active massive asshole to his teammates and also SLAPPED A KID THAT ONE TIME

Actually now that I think abt it, Yusuke at least suffers more. three of his friends chose to become evil and then they blew up the college they all went to. so really, his asshole behavior is at least EXPLAINABLE. not justified but explainable

TL;DR Taiya sucks bc the writers are doing a shit job and they need to make up for it with a heavy dose of red ryona STAT

[dissociache]

My brain is still emotionally scrambled goo rn but TL;DR I managed to finally find my dad's family on Facebook (haven't been in contact with my dad or his family since I was 6-7 yrs old). I reached out to several family members from that side and ended up receiving overwhelmingly positive responses from family members I didn't even know I had (I have an insane amount of of aunts, uncles, and cousins). I've never felt this level of familial acceptance in my entire life..

My father's brother (my uncle Life who I remember loving when I was little) was so excited to call me and we literally ended up talking on the phone for over an hour yesterday.

Y'all...

Hearing my dad's closest brother, who was there at his deathbed until his last breath tell me "your dad never forgot you, he loved you so much, babygirl" is... beyond surreal. I wondered about this for over 20 years bc I loved that man with every fiber of my being. To this day he's still one of the very few men I ever felt truly comfortable and safe around. He never did me wrong.

I can't remember the last time I cried like a baby like that. Im so grateful to not only have this much needed closure but to also be welcomed with open arms into this beautiful family... my beautiful family! I'm beyond overwhelmed with gratitude and joy I'm sorry if this whole post sounds like a mess

[mqfx]

okay so I just had an epiphany. my mom was joking about how difficult I was with my math homework and how much I cried while doing it last night and I laughed along cause yknow... dramatic kid things. I get bored and look through the drawer in my old room and I find my 5-6th grade notebooks and start flipping through them. that's when I realized why I hated doing math homework so much it's just... designed to be complicated and frustrating? calculus was just really long chains of operations (I didn't learn math in english so I'm not sure what they're called but what I mean by it is things like subtraction and division) with increasingly big numbers that would take a long time for me to finish even years later. I get that math gets more difficult over the years, obviously, but why are we giving children big balls of yearn to untangle for hours during their free time?? it doesn't develop good thinking, it just takes more time and frustration? I always cried because the chains were so long I made mistakes all the time and had to start over again tl;dr I'll forever prefer english over maths because maths is just designed to frustrate students

this is the last vent ask that I am responding to and I want everyone to stop sending me these.

I Understand that everyone is going through something, but this is my sideblog. I am a real person with a life and worries of my own, not a public figure, a trained priest or therapist. on my sideblog I am OFF duty. I have boundaries and I need to rest too, physically and emotionally, so I can do the jobs for which I am barely paid. I have a lot going on in my life right now and this sideblog is the one place I shouldn't have to worry or accommodate anyone.

and look, as a teacher I really do understand how frustrating it is to be in school, I sympathize with that, but I am NOT a teacher online. I am NOT a trusted adult online, I am just a person existing in public. I am already responsible for many children at work and a few of them in my personal life. I cannot be responsible here too. do NOT put me on a pedestal IN MY FREE TIME. this is why I usually don't accept followers under 18 and at this point I'm gonna have to block everyone under 18 for MY peace of mind.

lastly, for the record--and this is me being very, very patient right now--math isn't "designed" to be complicated and frustrating and pointless. if you don't like math or can't do it that's fine, but they don't make you do that just to mess with you. it literally, actually does improve Problem Solving skills when you SOLVE PROBLEMS. nobody's sitting in a room plotting to make your life worse specifically. it's math. a NECESSARY SKILL THAT YOU NEED TO DEVELOP AT THIS CRITICAL AGE. not to mention that learning math isn't JUST for math--it's supposed to teach you patience, persistence, and all these other intangible qualities that create personality

again, I understand that it's frustrating (I don't even like math like that) but you need to fix your attitude about this now before it's too late. you cannot go about life thinking that everything difficult is a conspiracy against you. math is not this boogeyman, it's just something you need to train yourself on. if you end up not doing calculus or never learning it, that's fine maybe you won't use it in life, but going through the ordeal of learning anything is not useless.

English (or language arts) is not any "easier" than math except that it's easier for people to get cocky with it and think they're good because it's a more subjective field but frankly--and speaking of controversial opinions--very few people in this world can actually competently read or write or communicate well. if it's "easy" then you need to be honest and ask if you're not just being complacent somewhere

last and most important: learning is a RIGHT. or at least it should be, but for many it is a privilege they just can't have. children all over the world are literally dying when all they want is to learn. think about this and think again about what you just said. go to the woods for all I can stop you but know that hundreds of thousands of others would happily take your place, where their biggest problem is calculus and not bombs raining down on them at any time

if all of this sounds harsh: I am not here to coddle you. these are lessons you NEED to learn. I'm not just being an asshole, this is advice that any well-meaning adult will give you. don't give up because it's hard, don't treat strangers like gods, and don't be complacent with english

[carladuquette]

I’ve been meaning to write this, and I have also been avoiding to write this, because it’s kind of embarrassing. But here it goes.

On Tuesday, I cried in my ED counselor’s office (this is NOT the embarrassing part!).  I was upset that I had already been doing better and I am now doing worse. Feels like I took a step or three backwards. And I was also worried that she was going to be disappointed in me because I hadn’t managed to hang on to what we talked about in earlier sessions. Here’s what she told me. Ready?

Healing is not a straight line.

If you know me as the Close your eyes writer, you know why me having to be told this is funny/embarrassing. If not I’ll get there in a sec. But that’s what she said to me. She even drew it on a piece of paper, going “healing doesn’t look like this“ (draws a straight line upwards), “but like this” (draws a wavy up-and-down line). 

The thing is: I literally wrote about this very sentiment for more than 2.5 years. I wrote a long (looong) fanfiction, about a character trying to heal from trauma and this, healing is not a straight line, was something she had to learn again and again over the course of the story. Because I wrote that for her! I don’t know how many times I’ve used the exact words my counselor used talking to readers in the comments. And yet I have difficulty applying it to my own life. Wild how something can make so much sense for another person and yet you cannot show yourself the same grace.

And to come back to the crying - I tried to hold my tears in and didn’t full-on sob, which was quite the effort. My counselor told me to let it all out. Which I couldn’t do and kind of regret, because my plan to just swallow it down in the moment  and let it out at home didn’t work. Once I’d made it home, I couldn’t cry anymore and I think it would’ve done me good. I literally wrote a scene in my fic where the protagonist hides her face in her hands, so her therapist doesn’t see her tears. And the therapist tells her that she shouldn’t waste her energy on trying not to cry or to hide it, that it’s OK to let it all out 🙃

TL;DR: Healing is not a straight line. It’s just not. You will do better, and then you will do worse and then you will do better again. It sucks when you’re in one of the valleys on that wavy line, but you’ll go up again too. (Trying hard to hang on to that rn.)

Cry in therapy! It’s OK. 

[just-lndifference]

I'm convinced this year is just a dream or simulation or something because generally what the fuck is happening.

someone I looked up to for 5 years that I originally named myself after turned out to be an abuser and wrote the most chat gbt ass ""apology"" and only cares that shubble was brave enough to speak out. (SUPPORT VICTIMS)

taylor swift announced her 5th album in 5 years (not including re records) WHILE WINNING A GRAMMY. and then being the amazing woman she is became the first person in history to win aoty 4 times.

twenty one pilots not only announced a new album, but is open with the lore and released a single that is one of the best songs they've ever made. when clancy drops this whole fandom is cooked.

this is the first time I've genuinely been terrified because of an election. if trump wins I genuinely don't think I'll be safe in this country because of project 2025. I'm a bisexual nonbinary person, I will never have a chance to get gender affirming health care and will lose the right to get married. and that's just the stuff that will happen to me! I can't imagine how scared people that are in more affected groups then me feel if I'm this scared. I know he's a horrible option but if your seeing this and old enough to vote in america PLEASE vote for biden. independents just don't have a chance, yes he funds a genocide but trump will too, and hell do much worse things. as a minor I'm literally begging y'all to think of everyone who isn't old enough to vote yet.

erm this is very unserious compared to the last part of my rant but I like lana del rey now!! 😭 obviously not her as a person (free palestine) but her music. and this is a major unseen development I've aggressively trashed lana and her fans since midnights came out bc of snow on the beach (turns out that it's just a really shit song 🙏). idk shout out to the person who made me feel obligated to listen to born to die (album)

also my henry danger hyperfixation from when I was 10 just decided to resurface?? like yes I had it for like 4 years BUT WHY IS IT BACK HELLO??? idk but ray is like super hot now that I'm older and I really want to date his goofy ass 😭😭 I remember not liking him much for some reason but like.. he's just a silly little guy.. babygirl if you will.. just a little rat boy..

I accidentally convinced 2 people to read the forest fic (neither were clikkies and I just met one of them). I don't think anything more needs to be said I made 2 full grown adults cry over a band they've never listened too 😭🙏

on that note joshler is big on twitter again but it's widely accepted?? idk what happened there but a good chunk of the art on my tl is clancy x torchbearer and I honestly don't mind.

jason kelce retired. in my family it's a thing to hate the eagles but holy shit I cried so much. the edits literally fucking destroyed me. I had no idea how much of an amazing person he was until taylor started dating travis and I wish I had more time to be a fan of this wonderful man while he was still on the field. he's so goofy and always made me laugh, I genuinely love the guy now.

the chiefs once again won the superbowl, I was honestly terrified the whole time and cried a few times that was the most stressful game of my life. I'm so fr I tried to get a rep tv announcement date from the disney plus commercial, taylor immediately being shown when the game came back on with a chiefs jacket that magically appeared out of nowhere that had a number that wasn't a player I lost my shit 💀

I could go on for hours, and it's only March. genuinely so much shit has happened and I'm not ready for more.

[official-kenralie-fanbase]

Thoughts about Sophies and Oralies relationship? What will happen? Are they going to be friends again? Will they become a mother-daughter duo?

I've been wanting to talk about this for a while so thank you for giving me a window anon! And ignore the fact that you asked this over a month ago in my eyes it has been merely a day

(and on a side note if I take a while to answer an ask please don't let that deter you from sending them! I promise I am incredibly honored with every ask I receive and am working on it slowly but surely)

Okay there is A LOT so I'm putting it under a cut

tl;dr: Both Sophie and Oralie messed up involving their relationship, but I think they're going to make up before the end of the series.

Sophie and Oralie's relationship is a really controversial topic everywhere in the fandom, and it's easy to understand why. From where I see it, the two main arguments are either "Sophie completely overreacted and Oralie was 100% in the right" or "Oralie's a jerk who ruined Sophie's life and Sophie had every right to get mad." (Obviously these are exaggerations, not calling anyone out in particular)

(LOL this reminds me of one time I made friends with like a 9-year-old girl -I think I was 16ish- who liked KOTLC, and I had Kenric and Oralie on my phone case at the time, so I showed her my case and she literally took my phone, punched the spot where Oralie was and walked away, never to speak to me about KOTLC again

Anyway back to the analysis)

But as I see it, neither of them was entirely in the right.

As someone who loves both Sophie and Oralie, I think it's a very complicated situation to which neither of them reacted the best way. In Sophie's defense, she did have every right to be upset, even angry. She'd known this woman for what, two years (ish??? I think?) at this point and never once had any indication that she was her biological mother. I would be very angry about that, and I have a stable family situation, unlike Sophie. Sophie's a teenager who's been through a lot of trauma, especially family-related trauma. She had every right to have the reaction she did.

And as much as I love Oralie, I can say without any hesitation that she had a bad reaction to Sophie finding out. There's more about why I think she reacted this way below, but she just kind of froze. Didn't really apologize, didn't explain, just went... hmm, might we say numb??? (*cough cough hint hint*) Not exactly a good way to convince your daughter that you care about her.

BUT I also think that Sophie's reaction to Oralie was a culmination of all of her frustration and anger about the whole situation. She deserved to be mad at Oralie, specifically, but she was also taking out a lot of her anger on Oralie. Because Oralie was a really easy person for her to take it out on. She 1) had been there all along and saw what Sophie went through, 2) had just participated in a highly emotional situation with Sophie in which she was encouraging Sophie to be honest and 3) didn't really fight back.

However, as justified as Sophie's original reaction was, I think she's purposefully holding onto her hatred at this point in the story. I'm not blaming her -I actually think this makes a lot of sense- but there have been many times when Oralie's cried or gotten emotional about Sophie/Kenric/whatnot (she's a very emotional person and I love her for it alright) and Sophie's gone like "sympathy what no I can't feel sympathy I'm reminding myself that I hate her". This is fascinating to me, how she's been betrayed so many times by people she cared about that she doesn't want to let herself believe that Oralie actually cares about her.

And then there's the whole thing about why Oralie reacted that way. She has actively shown how much she cares about Sophie at every opportunity she really could, so why did she not try to convince her daughter about how much she really loves her?

I think it boils down to two things: fear and being an Empath. If Kenric hadn't died, I honestly think that she would have told Sophie the truth much earlier in the series. But after he died, she was scared that she'd lose more people she loved, and purposefully tried to help Sophie while putting up more of a wall between them.

I think Mr. Forkle's death contributed to that as well. In the Nightfall-Flashback era, Oralie is in like two scenes in total. She'd lost one person she loved, and then watched Sophie lose someone she cared about. Oralie blamed herself a lot for Mr. Forkle's death, since he did die to protect her (their relationship is fascinating to me). After that, Oralie put up even more of a distance between herself and Sophie- not because she didn't care. Because she'd watched two people who she cared about die in horrible, violent ways, and the last thing she wanted was for that to happen to her daughter. It was easier to put distance between them, especially since the Council had just been targeted. If there wasn't an obvious relationship between them, the Neverseen wouldn't use Sophie to punish Oralie, as a Council member.

And then there's the fact that she's an Empath. It's obvious from her relationship with Kenric (especially *that scene* in Unlocked that I will never recover from) that she is a pro at hiding her emotions. As an Empath, she has to be. But my theory is that Empaths have to hide their emotions well, but over time, they forget how to use the emotions they've hidden- kind of like a minor version of what happened to Vespera.

I legitimately think that Oralie forgot how to care about Sophie- and not that she ever didn't care about Sophie, she just knew she couldn't actively show her support, so she tried to act more as a Councillor than she did as a mother. She's pushed that side of herself down for so long, not wanting anyone to find out that she's Sophie's mother because of the drastic repercussions that could have, that she's forgotten how to use it. She's used her Councillor guise to protect Sophie for so long that she forgot how to stop using it.

Oralie's helping Sophie with the caches and with finding out what Kenric hid, as emotionally painful as it was for her, is a strong sign that she is trying so hard to care. She's realizing that she can't be a Councillor and a mother at once, as much as she tried (WOAH Y'ALL the parallels to Shannon's own life :| projecting on her characters, she's just like us). That's why she had such a dramatic switch in Stellarlune. The personality swap, the outfit change, the secret office... it's all her trying so desperately to prove to Sophie that she's willing to stop being a Councillor to show her that she cares.

And Sophie still doesn't believe her. It makes sense under the circumstances, but I think both of them are going to regret this.

(subtly transitions into what's probably going to happen in the next book)

I think it's going to take the revelation of Oralie's secret for their relationship to actually heal. Whether Oralie's forced to reveal it herself, someone else reveals it, or it's discovered against her will, I am like 99.6% sure that it's going to be revealed to the world. There wouldn't be such drama around the whole "knowing your parent's identities could topple the world" thing if just that wasn't going to happen.

When Oralie's identity is revealed, Sophie's going to have to make a choice: To stand with her or against her. And I think she's going to stand with her. Because as angry as she is, Oralie is not her enemy. She's a flawed, broken person who's made both good and bad choices- just like Sophie herself. I think Sophie's matured enough by this point to realize that.

There's probably going to be an emotional scene where they make up- and a strong likelihood that this scene happens as Oralie is dying. I described in detail why I think she's going to die here so I won't explain it too much, but it would honestly be just like Shannon to make a super dramatic, emotional scene as Oralie is dying where they finally make up and end on a good note before she dies.

But as much as the angst-loving part of me would eat that up, I also think it would be amazing for them to become a girlboss mother-daughter duo and just like defeat Neverseen members together. I think between these two options, it depends on how late Oralie's identity is revealed. If it's late in the story, like right before the final battle or something, the first is more likely. However, if it occurs early in the final book(s) then I believe it's likely that they do have a good friendship for a while before the book ends.

If Oralie doesn't die, I think she and Sophie will remain friends. Sophie won't call her Mom, and Oralie won't be offended by that, but they'll still have a solid, deep relationship. I can picture Oralie being in the audience at her Foxfire graduation, the two of them having lunch together, Sophie taking her to the Forbidden Cities and showing her where she grew up. At that point, Oralie will likely have sacrificed something major for Sophie (probably her Councillor position) and Sophie will know that, even if she doesn't see her as a mother, Oralie really does care for her.

KOTLC is all about how your family isn't just who you're related to, it's who you choose. So how poetic would it be if it ended with Sophie and Oralie deciding what their relationship will be? They won't be mother and daughter, but they've bonded to have a beautiful friendship despite all the hardship and pain.

[harleiquina]

I've seen this for a very long time and I smile everytime because yes, it is fun because it is real.

However... do you know why is it real?

*cracks her knuckles while dusting Ye Old Knowledge of Advertising in her brain*

Short version:

At least when I was in College 12 years ago, it was a fact (one studied and taught) that men and women* shop differently.

Men tend to be more self-indulgent and literally buy anything that will make them feel wanted/horny/powerful. They pretty much live in a fantasy-land created by Advertisers and their own macho-brain.

Women are more practical, we live on this very real earth and we are used (by society's pressure) to care about Home Economics more. If we buy something we expect to have a product that is in a good price and will do what promises to do. We don't care that much about the concept of a product but the reality behind it.

*I'm not alienating the Queer community, I honestly do not know how their impact is measured or taught at this moment in College (as I said my formation was 12 years ago, in Argentina, were the LGBTQ+ community at the time wasn't thought of regardless of its size -maybe because my teachers were 50+ at the time-. My guess is that these 2 concepts still apply and probably align more with the "female" mindset of "I better get my money's worth for it" but thats a blind guess on my end). For simplicity's sake I'll keep talking about men and women.

Disclaimer: by no means I am saying that women will never be self-indulgent. But it is a fact that we usually put other's needs before our own, especially a mom (who would be buying things for the entire household and not just for herself).

First things first: How are Ads made?

Think of it as an assembly line.

You have the Company that has created a product but they need people to buy it. So they go to an Ad Agency.

In there they'll met the Accounts Team. The Company shares the information needed on a Brief and Accounts does the Briefing (analizing the info and creates an audience for that product).

This new Brief will go to the Media Team that, based off the audience, will think of the better outlets to buy Ad spaces.

Once everything is planned out it is time for the Creativity Team to take over and create the Ads needed. (After the creation the Company returns and if they like the ideas presented then the Production Team takes over and shoots the commercials/takes pictures and prints, edit and all that jazz).

Of course this is an oversimplification, processes takes time and if it is anything similar to my experience in College, many nervous breakdowns.

Get to know your audience

The most important part of the process is to create an audience and to do so we usually have two sets of information.

Hard Info (to give it a name): age, gender, social status, degree/studies, geographical location, income (if applies).

Soft info (idem): ideology, what music/movies/tv/books they like, food and brands they already consume, sports they play/like... pretty much anything that helps to identify a type of person that will buy whatever product we are presented with.

There isn't just one audience, there can be 2, 3, 4... you name it. The easiest example to show you that is a toy commercial: of course it is aimed at kids but it is also aimed at their parents (mostly moms).

Send in the Psychologists!

One of the reasons why I decided to walk away from my career was that we are the Psychologists Gone Bad. You know how any kind of Counselor or Therapist is not allowed to meddle and is just supposed to guide you so you can find the answer yourself? Well... we will tell you that whatever issue you have will be solved with X.

"He DOESN'T look happy..." 🤦🏻‍♀️

In order to do so we not just analize the hypotetical audience but also use some tools like the Mirror Stage

TL;DR babies usually think themselves as a part of a whole (a part of their mom or the same unit as other kids/babies -reason why if one cries everyone else cries-) until they realize that they are a single individual after discovering themselves in a mirror. Thing is that a mirror shows us just a part of ourselves (you can't have a 360° image so you only see the front or the back or the side) and that is where Advertising jumps in and replaces the mirror.

Advertising is not about selling a product (that depends on the stores and the Company that makes it) we sell an idea... a concept... a lifestyle.

Other main tools that probably you know well are the Color Theory and Significant/Signifier and all of this is used to create the "perfect" Ad for the audience.

Quick thought before continuing: According to my Psychology teacher there is no Subliminal Advertising because an Ad needs to be perceived to work and in the moment the Ad is noticed it stops being Subliminal. What you can find are inside jokes or Easter Eggs among creatives, nothing else.

SEX!

Now that I have your attention, read my blog...

Everybody knows that "sex sells" and sadly it is true. However it doesn't necesarily means that all Ads should present an orgy to be noticed... sometimes a hint of an idea is all it takes. But of course it doesn't work for everyone (Ace speaking here).

There is a cleaning products brand called Mr. Muscle (Mr. Músculo in Argentina) that used to look like this back in the '90s

The concept was that there was no need for you to be physically strong because the product itself was strong enough to get rid of the grime.

And now he looks like this because is a lot easier on the eyes...

My Marketing teacher pointed at us that when the character runs towards the camera at the end of the Ad you have a few seconds (less than that, actually) when his crotch fills the screen and now I can't unsee it.

"I am not that dumb, you can't make me buy something with all those tricks"

Oh, my sweet summer child, you probably already have.

Even if these tools are the most common, Advertising relies A LOT on Emotional Manipulation and nobody can escape it.

Once you know what triggers an emotional response on your audience, you got them.

Maybe you grew up with parents/family that always had X coffee for breakfast, or Y cookies remind you of your time in school, or Z soap always left a nice feeling on your skin... we are connected to brands either by first-hand experiences or we inherited them from our family or friends. This is what brands look for, a captive audience that will always buy them (until they experience something else or the company changes the product and "is not the same" lowering sales).

So how do brands compete with each other to either steal customers or get new ones? Through ideals and concepts shown in Ads.

A concept is the first thing a Creative (like me) has to come up with because it will reing everything that we will do for that product. It can be either a single word or a short sentence (that might become the slogan). Creatives beware, it is not easy to find it but once you do you're unstoppable.

This Concept is the door to the Fantasy.

Bursting bubbles

Sorry... I had to... I love Labyrinth

As I said in the short version of this... essay?... men and women perceive and buy things in different ways.

Mom worked in Walmart for 27 years (I believe) and during her time as cashier she noticed this as well.

Men usually buy the exclusive wines, exported cheese, fancy lotions probably because they think "I work hard, I deserve it" while women always look at the price first and then buy it because "you can't allow yourself to spend this amount in something like this". Of course I'm speaking of working-class people, those who are not poor but are not rich either.

It has being said before that men are more visual than women (reason why p*rn is usually aimed at men regardless of who is it really meant for) and they have a delusion of grandiosity that comes of centuries of being on top of the world (I'm so done with this word, but yes... due to Patriarchy). So they already think that are quite a catch for all women so what Advertising does is pump-up that fantasy. If you buy A, smell like B, use C jeans and have D women will flock towards you.

One of the examples we were given was of a female lingerie ad. Usually a girl wearing whatever ensamble in a bed or in a sugestive position. Is clothing for women, will (most likely be) on a women's magazine but it is an ad for men. Because the husband/partner will buy it (or give her hints about it) because he thinks that his wife/partner will look just like the Ad, and even if she doesn't he will remember the model.

What about the counterpart? So a male underwear ad. It will show a six-pack guy in nothing but briefs and a dominant position. Yes, it is eye-candy for women and it is also a fantasy for men that are absolutely convinced that they will look just as good as the model (so it is not an ideal to achieve... they are convinced they are irresistible). The men will just buy it because that image is who they are: powerful, manly, sexy, you name it. But a woman... will see if it is of good quality, if it streches enough, how can it be washed, and so on... and maybe won't even buy it.

This is not a new phenomena nor necessarily attached to Misoginy. My aunt was reading Ernesto Sábato the other day and read me a fragment of an essay where he also speaks about the difference between the male and female mind. His angle was something like "there are not female philosophers because women will always care more about what they can see and touch, they don't waste time in assumptions".

Again, this doesn't mean that all women are like this, it is a generalization, but it has been seen coming over and over again for enough time to make it the rule of thumb.

Yes, of course, Ads do affect women as well because unlike men, women do see them as an aspiration "I have to be thinner/younger/blonder/etc" to be attractive... but is not the Ad that determines who is attractive or not, is the men. As I said before, men are more visual than women, they "buy" the images and look for them in their surroundings making women put on an effort to be preceived desirable by them.

Small parenthesis before you get the torches. I am Aroace, straight. My life does not depend on whether I can "get a man" or not, I was taught to be independent. So no, I do not care if I look "cute" for a guy but when you sit down and analize everything that we women have available (clothing, make-up, hairstyles) and why is it popular among us is most likely because it fullfills a man's fantasy. Eyeliner to make our eyes look bigger, lipstick and blush are born out of the physical signs of a woman's orgasm; high heels to make the but bigger; bras with any kind of wire or padding to make boobs bigger... just look at anything and you'll see it. Yes, some women enjoy those things but eventually the questions "are you doing this for you? Why do you like it? And why?" will appear and it will lead to a big journey of self discovery and yes, most likely will finish with the realization that we didn't have much of a choice. Everything that we can buy to use in ourselves will respond to someone's fantasy of how someone should look like. There is no escape. Sorry.

Not all men

Mmmm... debatable.

I mean, yes, there are men that are not as basic... although it is a basic instinct.

We (humans) are still animals, we evolved but some wild instincts still remain. Our education will limit our reaction to certain triggers but it doesn't mean that we won't feel anything deep down because of them.

Advertising just takes advantage of it.

Welcome to the jungle, baby.

[baeshijima]

UHM??? WAS THAT WAGWFI AND POSSIBLY TRAVERSING REALITIES I SAW YOU TALK ABOUT JUST NOW??? SAY IT AIN'T SO?????

AND NOT TO MENTION WHAT YOU SAID ABOUT RAOUL AND MC. SHUT UP. TRAGEDY FAMILY DYNAMIC??? STOP I DON'T THINK MY HEART WILL BE ABLE TO HANDLE IT WHEN YOU PUBLISH THAT CHAPTER IF IT MADE YOU CRY WHILE WRITING IT 😭

on a real note i don't think you have any idea just how happy i am to know you're working on them again omg?? wagwfi is still one of the stories i reread today and the prologue of tl was so!! literally sucker punched my heart bc of how it set up the tragedy tone 😩 and seeing you describe mc and mila as yuri tragedy just made me brace myself even more oh god...

gosh now i'm preparing myself for your comeback!! i'm glad to know you've been doing well though, and i hope you know me and many other readers will be ready and waiting for your writing 🫶🫶

nonnie... i dont think u know how happy this ask made me.... omg a wagwfi AND tl reader??? on MY tumblr blog???? insanity.

KHDJ NO BUT STOP RAOUL AND MC ARE EVERYTHING TO ME BUT THEY NEED THEIR CANON TRAGIC FAMILY ARC !! ITS PART OF THE PLOT !! THEY MUST GO THROUGH THE STORYLINE !! WEEPS !!

mila and mc... u will hear me yelling in the news (the author notes at the end) abt them and some of the other charas... they make me insanse with how much ive cried over them during planning and the mandatory pinterest boards i have for them and also the new playlist i created for the fic.... esp mc.... mc my baby....

literally in tears rn tho nonnie bc of ur support like hi hello?? giving u consensual hugs and forehead kisses bc ourgh u mayhaps have just spurred me to write the chaps even more... i do want to try and get at least a couple chapters for both stories written before i start publishing again otherwise i will just go on another long hiatus 😭 trust me when i say its in the works tho bc all the editing i was doing last night for my wagwfi chaps.... it was 2 am before i even knew it.... but theyre all edited with mainly grammar and punctuation stuff, but the changes will all be published when i start uploading again !!

sending u all the love rn bc u made me so giddy wth 😩🫶

[defineasian]

4/27

“Take it a day at a time”

That’s what, quite literally, everyone tells me. Maybe everyone tells me that because it’s the right thing to do or maybe that’s just the cliche thing to tell someone after a break up… who knows. I just think when that advice fails you, it feels like just about everything has absolutely failed you.

I was so sad yesterday. I don’t know what happened. I had plans lined up for the entire day from when I opened my eyes to when I got home to shower. And I just couldn’t get you out of my mind. Even when I tried not to talk about you or my feelings, it’s like I couldn’t shake it. I think I just made it worse by trying to keep quiet about it.

The two worst parts of my day were when I was talking to my friend, who asked me “Do you think he even loved you?” And I just started tearing up because all I could think about were some of my favorite things you’d do for me. The way you’d hold me in the middle of the night when you couldn’t sleep in my stupid bed and cover my face with kisses. You’d whisper little things to me and would try to wake me up. Or when you wake up in the morning, you’d surround me with pillows to make sure I feel like I was being cuddled in and work so hard to be quiet as possible.

It was always the little things. I cried over popping my toes in the bathtub and I’ve cried over locking my doors at night and turning on the lights outside. I’ve used my tears over so many things lately... The donut shop, massage oil, my shower head, my garage shelf, even my stupid bedsheets. Most people would probably think I’m a psycho if they really knew how many things I’ve cried over recently. But they don’t know.

They don’t know. They don’t know about all the things you’ve done for me. They don’t know that you always promised me an apple fritter at donut shops because I had never had one before. They don’t know the struggle of hanging my shower head or how we caused a ruckus in my garage putting together my shelf because we didn’t have the right tools. They just don’t know. They wouldn’t know.

When I got home yesterday after dinner, I felt horrible. The weight of all those wonderful memories and how I won’t be able to make any more just hit me like a ton of bricks. The empty house with no dog didn’t make anything better either. The worst thought that came to mind? I no longer have my person.

I cried into my pillow for a couple of hours and eventually drifted to sleep. Did I mention that you’ve infiltrated my dreams too? I have these vivid dreams of us and it’s like my mind is taunting me over what i’ve lost. I can’t even truly rest. But, I tried to lean into the advice, tomorrow will be a better day.

Guess fucking what? I had my first TL shift at work today and it absolutely floored me. I had been waiting for this shift for months and it took me out for the count. I was on my feet literally ALL day and couldn’t take the beating of everyone wanting a piece of me. I am just a person and I can’t cover 3 floors by myself. I’m sorry.

I got in my car and just bawled the whole way home. I’m so exhausted. The fact that my person is gone is what really made everything so horrible. I just wished you were on the phone to tell me “ You did your best today. You still did good. You’re a good nurse”. That’s all I’d want. We don’t even need to talk about anything else.

I know that I could tell myself this too, but it means more coming from you. It always meant more coming from you. If we all actually could listen to what we tell ourselves, the world would be much different… So I cried the entire way home and came back to an empty house with nothing. Then it hit me again.

Maybe that’s what you meant by “emotionally dependent”. Maybe i am weak for not being able to handle all this without you. Maybe asking for support after work was too much. Maybe this is exactly what drove you away from me.

Double whammy, Ang. You couldn’t make him happy and now you can’t even be happy yourself (or be decent at your job). How pathetic.

[sylvielauffeydottir]

Hello, it is I, your friendly neighborhood historian. I am ready to lose followers for this post, but I have two masters degrees in history and one of my focuses has been middle eastern area studies. Furthermore, I’ve been tired of watching the world be reduced to pithy little infographics, and I believe there is no point to my education if I don’t put it to good use. Finally, I am ethnically Asheknazi Jewish. This does not color my opinion in this post — I am in support of either a one or two state solution for Israel and Palestine, depending on the factors determined by the Palestinian Authority, and the Israeli Government does not speak for me. I hate Netanyahu. A lot. With that said, my family was slaughtered at Auschwitz-Birkenau. I have stood in front of that memorial wall at the Holocaust memorial in DC for my great uncle Simon and my great uncle Louis and cried as I lit a candle. Louis was a rabbi, and he preached mitzvot and tolerance. He died anyway. 

There’s a great many things I want to say about what is happening in the Middle East right now, but let’s start with some facts. 

In early May, there were talks of a coalition government that might have put together (among other parties, the Knesset is absolutely gigantic and usually has about 11-13 political parties at once) the Yesh Atid, a center-left party, and the United Arab List, a Palestinian party. For the first time, Palestinians would have been members of the Israeli government in their own right. And what happened, all of the sudden? A war broke out. A war that, amazingly, seemed to shield Benjamin Netanyahu from criminal prosecution, despite the fact that he has been under investigation for corruption for some time now and the only thing that is stopping a real investigation is the fact that he is Prime Minister.

Funny how that happened. 

There’s a second thing people ought to know, and it is about Hamas. I’ve found it really disturbing to see people defending Hamas on a world stage because, whether or not people want to believe it, Hamas is a terrorist organization. I’m sorry, but it is. Those are the facts. I’m not being a right wing extremist or even a Republican or whatever else or want to lob at me here. I’m a liberal historian with some facts. They are a terrorist organization, and they don’t care if their people die. 

Here’s what you need to know: 

There are two governments for the occupied Palestinian territories in the West Bank and Gaza. In April 2021, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas postponed planned elections. He said it was because of a dispute amid Israeli-annexed East Jerusalum. He is 85 years old, and his Fatah Party is losing power to Hamas. Everyone knows that. Palestinians know that. 

Here’s the thing about Hamas: they might be terrorists, but aren’t idiots. They understand that they have a frustrated population filled with people who have been brutalized by their neighbors. And they also understand that Israel has something called the iron dome defense system, which means that if you throw a rocket at it, it probably won’t kill anyone (though there have been people in Israel who died, including Holocaust survivors). Israel will, however, retaliate, and when they do, they will kill Palestinian civilians. On a world stage, this looks horrible. The death toll, because Palestinians don’t have the same defense system, is always skewed. Should the Israeli government do that? No. It’s morally repugnant. It’s wrong. It’s unfair. It’s hurting people without the capability to defend themselves. But is Hamas counting on them to for the propaganda? Yeah. Absolutely. They’re literally willing to kill their other people for it.

You know why this works for Hamas? They know that Israel will respond anyway, despite the moral concerns. And if you’re curious why, you can read some books on the matter (Six Days of War by Michael Oren; The Yom Kippur War by Abraham Rabinovich; Rise and Kill First by Ronen Bergmen; Antisemitism by Deborah Lipstadt; and Israel: A Concise History of a Nation Reborn by Daniel Gordis). The TL;DR, if you aren’t interested in homework, is that Israel believes they have no choice but to defend themselves against what they consider ‘hostile powers.’ And it’s almost entirely to do with the Holocaust. It’s a little David v Goliath. It is, dare I say, complicated.

I’m barely scratching the surface here. 

(We won’t get into this in this post, though if you want to DM me for details, it might be worth knowing that Iran funds Hamas and basically supplies them with all of their weapons, and part of the reason the United States has been so reluctant to engage with this conflict is that Iran is currently in Vienna trying to restore its nuclear deal with western powers. The USA cannot afford to piss off Iran right now, and therefore cannot afford to aggravative Hamas and also needs to rely on Israel to destroy Irani nuclear facilities if the deal goes south. So, you know, there is that).

There are some people who will tell you that criticism of the Israel government is antisemitic. They are almost entirely members of the right wing, evangelical community, and they don’t speak for the Jewish community. The majority of Jewish people and Jewish Americans in particular are criticizing the Israeli government right now. The majority of Jewish people in the diaspora and in Israel support Palestinian rights and are speaking out about it. And actually, when they talk about it, they are putting themselves in great danger to do so. Because it really isn’t safe to be visibly Jewish right now. People may not want to listen to Jews when they speak about antisemitism or may want to believe that antisemitism ‘isn’t real’ because ‘the Holocaust is over’ but that is absolutely untrue. In 2019, antisemitic hate crimes in the United States reached a high we have never seen before. I remember that, because I was living in London, and I was super scared for my family at the time. Since then, that number has increased by nearly 400% in the last ten days. If you don’t believe me, have some articles about it (one, two, three, four, and five, to name a few). 

I live in New York City, where a man was beaten in Time Square while attending a Free Palestine rally and wearing a kippah. I’m sorry, but being visibly Jewish near a pro-Palestine rally? That was enough to have a bunch of people just start beating on him? I made a previous post detailing how there are Jews being attacked all over the world, and there is a very good timeline of recent hate crimes against Jews that you can find right here. These are Jews, by the way, who have nothing to do with Israel or Palestine. They are Americans or Europeans or Canadians who are living their lives. In some cases, they are at pro-Palestine rallies and they are trying to help, but they just look visibly Jewish.  God Forbid we are the wrong ethnicity for your rally, even if we agree.

This is really serious. There are people calling for the death of all Jews. There are people calling for another Holocaust. 

There are 14 million Jews in the world. 14 million. Of 7.6 billion. And you think it isn’t a problem the way people treat us?

Anyway (aside from, you know, compassion), why does this matter? This matters because stuff like this deters Jews who want to be part of the pro-Palestine movement because they are literally scared for their safety. I said this before, and I will say it again: Zionism was, historically speaking, a very unpopular opinion. It was only widespread antisemitic violence (you know, the Holocaust) that made Jews believe there was a necessity for a Jewish state. Honestly, it wasn’t until the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting that I supported it the abstract idea too.

I grew up in New York City, I am a liberal Jew, and I believe in the rights of marginalized and oppressed people to self-determine worldwide. Growing up, I also fit the profile of what many scholars describe as the self hating Jew, because I believed that, in order to justify myself in American liberal society, I had to hate Israel, and I had to be anti-Zionist by default, even if I didn’t always understand what ‘Zionism’ meant in abstract. Well, I am 27 years old now with two masters degrees in history, and here is what Zionism means to me: I hate the Israeli government. They do not speak for me. But I am not anti-Zionist. I believe in the necessity for a Jewish state — a state where all Jews are welcome, regardless of their background, regardless of their nationality. 

There needs to be a place where Jews, an ethnic minority who are unwelcome in nearly every state in the world, have a place where they are free from persecution — a place where they feel protected. And I don’t think there is anything wrong with that place being the place where Jews are ethnically indigenous to. Because believe it or not, whether it is inconvenient, Jews are indigenous to the land of Israel. I’ve addressed this in this post.

With that said, that doesn’t mean you can kick the Palestinian people out. They are also indigenous to that land, which is addressed in the same post, if you don’t trust me. 

What is incredible to me is that Zionism is defined, by the Oxford English Dixtionary, as “A movement [that called originally for] the reestablishment of a Jewish nationhood in Palestine, and [since 1948] the development of the State of Israel.” Whether we agree with this or not, there were early disagreements about the location of a ‘Jewish state,’ and some, like Maurice de Hirsch, believed it ought to be located in South America, for example. Others believed it should be located in Africa. The point is that the original plans for the Jewish state were about safety. The plan changed because Jews wanted to return to their homeland, the largest project of decolonization and indigenous reclamation ever to be undertaken by an indigenous group. Whether you want to hear that or not, it is true. Read a book or two. Then you might know what I mean.

When people say this is a complicated issue, they aren’t being facetious. They aren’t trying to obfuscate the point. They often aren’t even trying to defend the Israeli government, because I certainly am not — I think they are abhorrent. But there is no future in the Middle East if the Israelis and Palestinians don’t form a state that has an equal right of return and recognizes both of their indigenousness, and that will never happen if people can’t stop throwing vitriolic rhetoric around.  Is the Israeli Government bad? Yes. Are Israeli citizens bad? Largely, no. They want to defend their families, and they want to defend their people. This is basically the same as the fact that Palestinian people aren’t bad, though Hamas often is. And for the love of god, stop defending terrorist organizations. Just stop. They kill their own people for their own power and for their own benefit. 

And yes, one more time, the Israeli government is so, so, so wrong. But god, think about your words, and think about how you are enabling Nazis. The rhetoric the left is using is hurting Jews. I am afraid to leave my house. I’m afraid to identify as Jewish on tumblr. I’m afraid for my family, afraid for my friends. People I know are afraid for me. 

It’s 2021. I am not my great uncle. I cried for him, but I shouldn’t have to die like him. 

Words have consequences. Language has consequences. And genuinely, I do not think everyone is a bad person, so think about what you are putting into the world, because you’d be surprised how often you are doing a Nazi a favor or two. 

Is that really what you want? To do a Nazi a favor or two? I don’t think that you do. I hope you don’t, at least.

That’s all. You know, five thousand words later. But uh, think a little. Please. 

[randomcartoonbro]

@glowsticks-and-jesus

Genocide is more than just mass murders. Please educate yourself before speaking. Yes, what's happening in Palestine is worse. I'm aware. This isn't a competition of who's had more people harmed. I've literally donated to Palestinian and Ukraine relief funds. That doesn't change the fact that trans people in some parts of America are on stage 7 or 8. Florida in specific comes to mind. They are in the process of passing a law where, if a parent is trans or a parent allows their child to transition and be themselves, their children will be taken away and "saved from their sinful ways" and the parents might even face further punishment than that. That's literally stage 7: relocation. That's not even to mention that my trans siblings have been murdered in the streets countless times over the decades without a single news station actually giving a fuck enough to respect who they were as a person. Especially my siblings of color. This isn't even getting into the suicide rates continuing to climb out of pure fear of losing rights and never being allowed to be ourselves. I repeat. Educate yourself before you open your mouth. You are not helping the reputation your religion has here, if I'm being so blunt.

TL;DR: Multiple different genocides can happen at once and there are more stages than the mass murders. I wish people would give a shit about any genocide before the people are executed in the streets, but cries for help always fall on deaf ears of those not affected

American trans people are literally in the process of facing legal genocide and some of y'all are still throwing hissy fits over trans men existing? Bestie. If we die, we're dying together. They're not just going to kill me and my fellow trans brothers, but also you and your trans sisters as well as our nonbinary siblings. Infighting and throwing each other under the bus won't save any of us. We're all still fucked whether you're pretentious about it or not. You're not exempt. Don't side with the leopards eating faces party if you're not prepared to be devoured yourself. And it won't just stop at trans people. Gay rights laws are already starting to be affected. Some states have even had mumblings of rolling back interracial marriage. It's a bigger problem than you petty assholes that are online 24/7. We need to work together or things will only get worse. Fight the common enemy and win then, fine, be dick heads to each other. But we need to get our safety first, okay?