#i think there are soooo many biblical references

[pynkhues]

can you explain the biblical allusions in succession? kendall's attempt to cleanse/baptize himself in bathtubs, him essentially being the plastic jesus to logan's god

[gracetoldmeto]

@temporarydaydream sent in this question ages ago and I loved it so much that I wanted my answer to do it justice. 

Dude, I ate this question up I loved it soooo much, I will be going hugely overboard on this answer because I have THOUGHTS haha

For reference, this is the post...

Also, I know you didn't ask about Matt but Im including him here too (for good reason, you’ll see) and ALSO I am nowhere near as well versed in L as I am with Mello and Matt, so his description may be a bit more brief.

....

Wammy’s Boys and Asexuality Headcanons

(ft: L, Mello, & Matt)

...

L:  Aromantic/Asexual (Sex-repulsed)

Oddly enough, L was the most difficult to write for.

L knows that the title of “L” needs to be what everyone thinks him to be. Very little emotional personal life, a need to be perfect or “pure” in a sense (something something Lawlight foot scene and how its a biblical reference yada yada) and a career-focused life dedicated to detective work.

This outlook was likely introduced to him, as well as the other children at Wammy’s at a very young age, but L knows he is simply best fitted to fulfill that standard. He took on the title because it worked for him. He is able to function with less "distraction" than others simply because a romantic or sexual connection is not what he personally values. Only justice is.

Which means he chooses to value refining his skills in his free time, rather than seeing it as work. That's also why Lawlight exists. Light is the only other person able to keep up with L, and both of them value each others intellect in a personal and possibly emotional way. L's values are in his work and no one was ever able to really empathetically understand him until Light. And in a way that understanding and appreciation is intimate enough, especially for L.

...

Mello: Demiromantic/Asexual 

Like L, Mello’s lofty standards for self-achievement are reflected in his sexuality. And a big reason as to how Mello is able to dedicate his entire life to his cause is because he does not have to “deal with” the “affliction of sexual attraction” (if I were to put it in his words). 

However, unlike L, Mello is not sex-repulsed in the slightest. Well, not in a typical sense. Mello has a pretty active sex life but not for the reason some onlookers assume him to be. Mello specifically and exclusively uses his attractive appearance and sex appeal as a tool and ONLY as a tool. Whether it be to obtain information for a job, or just as a no strings attached stress reliever, Mello has gotten in the routine of using sex for a non-sexual purpose because of the one-up it gives him. It him feel powerful and in control in an area many others would feel exposed. 

Consequently, Mello actively avoids sex in his personal relationships because the idea of a sexual relationship has been tainted due to his unhealthy use of the act in his line of work. And that can also be difficult with his demiromantic alignment, if he doesn’t know how to express his feelings. So I think Mello represses. A lot. Which brings me to his relationship with Matt.

I’ll get into Matt’s details next, but Mello is in fact capable of having romantic feelings for Matt, but his actions have left him stuck without a way to communicate that in a way Matt understands. We have an epic stalemate of love languages between the boys and it’s often a train wreck of a miscommunication because neither is capable of meeting the other’s romantic needs without compromise. And Mello already doesn’t do that well.

Mello already does not feel sexual attraction to begin with (even if we ignore his questionable work relationship with sex) and Matt would never dream of trusting a stranger to share a bed with him. They are circles of a Venn diagram that will never naturally intersect.

...

Matt: Greyromantic/Demisexual

Ah Matt. I see him as very similar to myself, so I usually base a lot of my HCs for him around my experiences.

Matt is complicated. He is Mello’s foil in a lot of cases, but in terms of their sexualities, they conflict in more ways than they agree. Specifically because Matt exclusively cannot feel inclined to have sex with anyone unless he knows and feels safe with them. And that is rooted in a lot of trust issues, especially including when Mello abandoned him at Wammy’s. But specifically, Matt would much prefer to feel safe in everything he does, and being in a vulnerable state without trusting the opposite party is just not something Matt can do comfortably.

So when we look at that in the context of his near-lifelong relationship with Mello we run into a massive problem. Matt wants to express his feelings in a more sexually intimate way, whereas Mello actively avoids that in personal relationships in which he is emotionally and romantically invested in. The only way Mello intends to communicate intamacy is in asking Matt for help in his work. And that leads to A LOT of the tension we see between them. 

If Matt wasn't complicated enough, his crushes are usually people he knows as close friends, but not always. However the shortest crush Matt has ever had was about 4 months. The longest (excluding Mello) was 4 years and was on a friend he lost touch with after an unrelated falling out of their friendship.

He almost never acts on his feelings but doesn’t exclusively fit the demiromantic description. The demi label confuses him immensely and is the source of a lot of insecurity on top of his confusion and anxiety around his relationship with Mello, so he falls more into the grey category.

... 

***I am not an expert in this (I’m still learning) these are personal observations and opinions as a questioning demi if I say anything offensive, please let me know and I will correct it, I mean no ill intent here just well-intended character analysis***

Hope this answered your question! Thank you SO much for asking, I had a lot of fun writing this up <3

fin

[automatismoateo]

My city recently released a mandate requiring masks in public. Christians I used to be friends with are going nuts. via /r/atheism

Submitted July 10, 2020 at 09:53PM by AgnocularAtheanist (Via reddit https://ift.tt/3iTeUFM) My city recently released a mandate requiring masks in public. Christians I used to be friends with are going nuts.

COVID-19 is not inherently a political or religious issue. There is a pandemic. Over 130,000 people are dead in the US, and numbers in my city have risen quite drastically over the last week. As a way to improve public spaces and protect people, health officials asked that we maintain social distancing and wear masks for the time being.

You would think that these Christians were asked to sacrifice their firstborn (which, ironically, they might be more willing to do, biblically speaking). Here’s the shared post that has been making the rounds on Facebook.

For me it’s the principle of the matter. First, the virus stats have been grossly mismanaged. Infection numbers and antibody numbers have all been mixed in together. They get posted collectively on the news as “new cases” which makes the virus look bigger than it is in reality. Liberal media outlets are pushing the “second wave” story right now but they are having trouble explaining why the hospitalizations and death rates are going down steadily. Half the total deaths have been from nursing homes. You know, the ones the liberal governors were intentionally sending infected patients back to? If I died in a terrible accident tomorrow and tested positive for the virus postmortem I would be listed as a “Covid death.” Please. I beg you to fact check me. I wish I were making this stuff up.

If we treated flu like this we would probably see a “million flu deaths” every year.

Then, the government decides that the mask is the answer. You and I could google studies done on both sides of the mask issue and find “proof” for whatever view we wanted to hold about it but the issue is deeper than that. Tyrannical governments like communist China and Nazi Germany always build on a concept called “social responsibility” where we have to make sacrifices for each other for the greater good. All of the sudden your safety and prosperity is my responsibility and my safety and prosperity is your responsibility.

But it’s Pandora’s box.

Who gets to decide what is safe and dangerous? The same government that allows cigarette companies to operate and lottery ticket sales to run freely, the same medical system that performs open heart surgery on a patient and then lets his family bring McDonald’s in for him after the surgery, the same cities that say businesses should be required to go against their religious convictions, they all decide I should wear a mask to keep you safe and you should wear one to keep me safe. Even with botched statistics and inflated numbers our new virus is yet to kill as many people as heart disease in our country. Should I be able to come into your home and mandate which foods you can and can’t have so that you are safe? Where is the line? Who gets that authority? As it stands right now, you can smoke cigarettes and eat high fructose corn syrup and drive in big city (now there’s some real danger) and never exercise but “put your mask on or you don’t care about safety.” Lol. What if I believe these people are liars and hypocrites?

Even if I’m wrong, I should get to do what I feel is right.

What if we turn the United States into a country where someone else gets to choose what is best for us? Maybe religion will be “dangerous” ten years from now. Maybe growing our own vegetables without FDA approval will be deemed dangerous. These things really happen in countries where “social responsibility” is the front running message. Us Christians fall for it soooo easily because we really do love our neighbors and want to do things that are noble and just but when the people who say abortion is safe and me not wearing a mask is dangerous, I believe with all my heart that I should have the right to do my own thinking and make my own choice. I have nothing against masks. I have everything against the loss of choice.”

This has some real gems. This is a great guide to posting about ignoring basic health and safety recommendations. First, claim that the numbers are inflated, citing no sources. Then, blame the liberals. Compare it to the flu. Imply that we can’t really know if masks help. State that giving a flying fuck about your neighbor’s health is a communist, Nazi idea. Compare smoking cigarettes and eating McDonalds to having a deadly disease with a ~5% mortality rate. Claim irrelevant “statistics” and provide none. Firmly assert that having the choice to threaten your own health and the health of everyone around you is more important than trying to save lives. Finally, somehow relate this to religion being eventually outlawed and pretending there’s persecution everywhere, throwing in a quick reference to abortion (despite Christians vehemently disallowing people to “choose for themselves” in reference to that practice).