#i was actually supporting Cymru more anyway

[tokyo-daaaamn-ji-gang]

Psst Jojo…

Jojo…

Josephine~

“ITS KNOTT CUMIN HOME INNIT💂‍♂️”

૮(• ε •)ა hmm

-no.1

Idk what you're talking about the best thing possible is coming home, the stray cat the team adopted!

[millionsofbooks]

ok seeing a bunch of posts here about how if you can vote in the UK you have to vote for labour no exceptions it's the only way to get the tories out and just to say THIS IS NOT TRUE. (some of the people saying this are acting in bad faith, some i think are just confused about how the system works here)

what you should do, is check which your constituency is, and look at what the results were for the last general election, as well as for any more recent local elections (e.g. if you're in england/wales the council elections), plus if you can find it, poll predictions for this election in your constituency.

base how you choose to vote off of those. for example, in my constituency, labour will definitely win, no contest, so tactical voting to get rid of the conservatives isn't really a priority. therefore, im voting green, as the party i agree with most ideologically, because while they won't win, giving the greens a higher percentage of the vote will hopefully scare labour into realising that if they keep going to the right, left-wing people will eventually stop voting for them. if you're in a similar situation, you might do the same, or you might vote for whichever left-wing party is the biggest threat to labour in your constituency.

if it looks like the conservatives actually have a chance in your constituency, then you probably want to vote for whichever left-wing party has the most chance of beating them - which might not be labour! check the past election results and the polls for your constituency - if lib dems, greens, snp, plaid cymru, or whoever, are doing better than labour then you should vote for them!

it's also possible that you're in one of the few constituencies where the conservatives are almost guaranteed to win. in that case, you might still want to vote for whoever stands the best chance of beating them, even if they almost definitely won't. or, you might decide that since the tories will win anyway, you might as well vote for who you actually agree with the most, to try and show that party that they do have support where you're from. i think you just have to make a call based on your own judgement there.

anyway. at the end of the day, the most important thing is for you to vote - even if tactical voting for labour is the best option in your constituency, if you absolutely can't stand the idea, it's still better to go vote for the party you actually agree with than to not vote at all.

[gwynbleiddyn]

all the cool kids have pinned posts and i’m at least a year late so let’s go

about

aeron

he/him

raging homo and i will simply Not tolerate masc negativity here y’all went too far with that

dw i’n gymro, a dw i’n dysgu cymraeg 

old enough to have a full time job with office besties so make of that what you will

i cosplay sometimes, i rarely share photos but if i do it’s #aj cosplays

i play dnd sometimes

blog content

bg3 / i said i wasnt going to get involved and then i did. i rotate astarion around my brain like a microwave meal and i think we should be allowed to kiss raphael actually. dyn is my main tav who is in a mlm (monster loving monster) relationship with astarion and sometimes halsin. the rituals are complex and unknowable.

lotro | rop | lotr / my dragon age/mass effect braincells are nuclear resistant. my lotr braincell is what one might call a tardigrade. she’s eternal infinite forever enduring the ages of this world alone etc. etc. i play lotro on arkenstone and i think rings of power is great. that’s all. 

critrole / im a c3 ho and im not interested in reading your meta on why caleb is autistic actually bc ive decided he is anyway and that’s enough for me thank u

destiny / dont get it twisted i play this game for saint-14 only

ac origins -  valhalla / bayek and eivor have me in a chokehold and i spent about 6 months writing frenzied alexios / thaletas content in between those two protags so you could say i enjoyed this trilogy more than anything else ac has ever given me

dragon age - mass effect / they get to share a category like a get-along t-shirt bc these are the only two braincells in my head that will survive a nuclear winter and this is the only way i can control them. i have many ocs. i always want to talk about them. i sent shepard to andromeda, and i rewrote thedas to cope with the harrowing ordeal of facing an egg as my villain. bioware will not let me rest.

ocs - dnd / i play in 2 campaigns, i dm one of my own. blorbo from my dnd is usually referring to maahes, he is an acquired taste so your mileage may vary in how far u can go before u simply want to block his tag. the good news is i wholly support curated dashboard experiences. the bad news is all of my ocs are equally hot messes of morality.

worldbuilding / you may see mentions of myridos; this is my homebrew world and eventual setting for some novels that i’d like to publish one day.

im not above shitposts or random stuff that makes me go hehe (fruity) and i generally do not engage in tumblr activism as a rule. you’re unlikely to find Real World Stuff˜ here unless it involves cymru or annibynaeth i gymru. i tag fandoms and art, i do not tag specific characters with enough consistency to make it safe for blocked tags. i’m open to dms/asks if you want a specific tag blocked - i can’t guarantee i’ll say yes, but i’m v nice about it i promise.

mini tag + link directory 

my doodle tag / my writing tag 

archive of our own

cosplay instagram

[doctorwhich]

alright, intro post! hello! i’m a fictive of the doctor, good to meet you.

⏳ in this particular house, being a subsystem entails a sort of identity roulette. so far only a handful have “fronted,” but that’s subject to change.

⏳ if it helps, you could think of me as having regenerative dissonance. (i know that can be a contentious topic, considering its portrayal, but it genuinely does describe my experience.)

⏳ due to the nature of being a (former) time lord, gender’s a bit odd (i’ve been male, female, both, and neither), so i’ll take they/them regardless of form. gendered pronouns are really more for convenience, i don’t care all that much.

⏳ speaking of things that being a time lord makes weird — i’m an adult, up in, near, or around the 1000-2000s range, and the body’s 22.

⏳ the body also has ancestry from scotland (alba), ireland (éire), and wales (cymru) (among other places), and the system as a whole supports irish unification and scottish and welsh independence.

⏳ fuck terfs

⏳ “#doc’s in” is the main talking tag, but i also tend to sign my posts as whatever form i’m in. we’re all the same person at the core, and sometimes the form that starts a sentence isn’t the one that finishes it, but there are some slight differences. there’s no real rhyme or reason to it, just my own preference.

⏳ i also tend to use whatever number face i’m on as a stand-in for a name, especially in reference to the idiosyncrasies of specific forms, as you’ll see below.

⏳oh, also! my icon’s a (slightly edited) panel from the lost dimension comic, and my header’s from nasa :]

1️⃣ — largely internal, but hello. he/him, though i won’t argue other things for future versions of myself.

2️⃣ — two's recorder privileges have been revoked (on account of the system not having a recorder). picks fights with three a lot, but in a brotherly manner. he/him.

3️⃣ — three's the first one to have a husband, so that's something. not strictly a man, but still undeniably a gay one. picks just as many fights with two in turn. he/him.

4️⃣ — four’s quite an odd duck. just a delightful fool who wants to knit but lacks the focus to finish more than a couple of inches. ironically hates most jelly-based candies (but that's true throughout the system). he/him.

5️⃣ — five is more of a forgetful twink than eight, and that's saying something. mostly fronts with our adric, but not always. he/him.

6️⃣ — a young foolish transmasc, actually very similarly to the host. he/him.

7️⃣ — seven's honestly a bit of a bitch, but he makes it work. mostly only shows up to mediate intra-sys conflict. he/him.

8️⃣ — eight is a hopeless romantic with hopeless amounts of trauma. also took the “war doctor’s” role for a decent chunk of time (the “war doctor” doesn't seem to be in here anyway). he/they/various neos.

9️⃣ — nine’s pretty “as seen on tv,” with the exception of having taken the rest of the “war doctor’s” stint and being more openly nonbinary these days. still a he/him user though.

🔟 — ten’s scottish and a big fucking dork. took the front back when it was time for the fourteenth face. still goes by ten, though. he/him.

1️⃣1️⃣ — the best way to describe eleven is “audhd twenty-something haunted by embarrassing memories of being undiagnosed and unmedicated in middle school.” he/him.

1️⃣2️⃣ — twelve is only scottish when cross, tired, or drunk, just like the host’s grandmother. unfortunately the state of the world means he’s at least a little cross fairly often. he/him.

1️⃣3️⃣ — either sleeping or REALLY LOUD, no real in-between. she/her.

1️⃣5️⃣ — largely internal to hang out with the littles/middles, but does come by the front once in a while to knock some sense into someone having A Moment. he/him

aaaand that’s it. this post’ll get periodic updates purely based on whim. (last updated 20th feb. 2024)

until then, love with all you have, be kind as much as is possible, fight for a better world than you entered, and smash fascism wherever you find it.

saoirse don phalaistín! (yes, i’m aware that’s irish rather than scottish gaelic, but scotland hasn’t been nearly as vocal as ireland, so.)

[siaradwast]

tbh (and im not a politics expert so this isn't an official analysis) i think the reason the labour majority is so big is that people felt they had to vote for labour to avoid the tories getting in (tactical voting/safe voting) rather than actually supporting all of labours policies

but also the election results speak more to dissatisfaction with the conservatives rather than a significantly more left-wing vote

the average person is not super politically involved from what i can tell, so i reckon tory voters who are more right wing have swung to reform due to not believing in the tories, tory voters who are more central have likely swung to lib dem, and then evidently a fair amount switched to labour (although labours percentage vote share isn't very high which brings me on to-)

the green party have won 7% of the vote in total, but only 4 seats. Labour have 5 times the percentage of vote but 100 times the number of seats. im not sure exactly how to word this but i think that like. People aren't generally in support of labour

and plaid cymru gained two seats in wales (not sure if it was a gain from tory or Labour & also the seats have changed) and afaik there's growing support for plaid especially as the Annibynniaeth Cymru (Wrthfasgaidd wrth gwrs) movement grows so I think the next senedd election will be very interesting to see whether Welsh conservatives get any elected senedd members, and if plaid will gain a majority over labour (I also think that perhaps some people who vote plaid for senedd elections might vote labour in generals to try to get rid of tories??)

anyway take everything i just said with a pinch of salt im not a professional im someone who isn't old enough to vote but has been deeply invested in uk politics since the age of 9. ive taken this analysis from what ive heard political analysers on the bbc saying, from what ive heard from ppl i know irl & and what ive seen people saying online

my friends have finally woken up so now we can discuss politics on the group chat!!!!

general consensus is that we are all glad conservatives didn't get in, but none of us really like labour or the labour mp for our constituency, those who could vote chose either plaid or green, we are disgusted by the amount of reform votes, and are also glad that mps who are explicitly in support of palestine have been elected

[fluentlanguage]

#clearthelist October 2018: I Went To Wales And You Won't Believe This Crazy Language I Spoke There

It’s time again for my language learning update with #clearthelist, the monthly language learning round-up sharing language learning goals, support, and accountability.

What Happened In September?

After all the summer’s travels, it was nice to spend a consistent bunch of weeks at home. I got back into my usual language routine — only to the extent that that routine actually exists! I’m not a “1 hour at this time every day” kind of person. In fact that kind of schedule would drive me crazy, so instead I focused on the goals for the month and making sure I maintain that daily contact level.

All in all, a good month for language! Plus, I’ve now started meeting on a weekly basis with Lindsay and Shannon again because we’re putting on a Women in Language sister event in November. Make sure you’re on the Women in Language list to stay up to date!

In other activities, the month was full up with promo, planning and bookings for the next Fluent German Retreat, which will be Christmas themed in December. I. Cannot. WAIT!!!

Travel in Wales: Is Welsh Useless After All?

At the end of the month, my husband and I spend a week travelling in Wales. It was lovely, we visited the Brecon Beacons, I swam in a lake, we walked in stupendous landscapes. By all measures, this trip was a success.

Except…I hardly spoke the language! You may have read how much I spoke in just 3 days at my last Welsh visit, the Eisteddfod in Cardiff., and wonder how come I didn’t get as much practice in this time?

In truth, I couldn’t find anyone who spoke Welsh. You may have heard before how the Welsh language was pushed out by English over the last 100-200 years. In the Brecon Beacons, this is super evident. Lots of people told me about parents and grandparents who “got beaten up in school for speaking Welsh, so they stopped”.

Make of that what you will. I think it’s not funny.

Where I grew up in Germany-near-Luxembourg, it was common to head to another country and for the border region folks to be bilingual. Yes, even in a tiny language like Luxembourgish. No one EVER would call Luxembourgish useless. Yet here in the UK, people do it to the Welsh (and probably the other UK languages) all of the damn time. Why would you have this presumption that a language is “useless”?

Anyway!! Do you have thoughts about this? Share them in the comments below, or come to the Polyglot Conference, buy me a drink and let’s put the world to rights.

The Fluent Show

The Fluent Show celebrated European Day of Languages (26 September) in style this year, with a HUGE 20 language quiz edition hosted by me and Lindsay. We quizzed each other and you lot. I’ve yet to find anyone who recognised all 20 languages. Could it be you?

Listen Here To Take Our 20 European Languages Quiz

Language Goals and Progress

Let’s have a look how September went in terms of language goals. I’ve got a feeling about this one!

Listening

The goal was to switch the radio on in Welsh 2-3 times per week. I managed this in week 1 (starter’s enthusiasm) and in week 4 (the car radio had Radio Cymru). In between, I did watch a few shows on S4C including coverage of Ironman Wales. I’d say 8 out of 10 for this goal.

Reading

Sgwp, Sgwp, Sgwp. It’s the book that keeps on giving. I’ve not set up a pretty good routine of reading the chapter, highlighting vocab, looking it up and putting it into my notebook, and reviewing previous words while I’m there.

I got through more chapters in September, but feel like more reading in Welsh is necessary.

Speaking

Speaking was pretty great! I had two meetings with Nicky and arranged to meet my friends Dafydd and Gavin while I was in Cardiff on the Wales trip.

I also set the goal to get through Say Something in Welsh 2 up to level 18, and in fact I’ve just finished level 19. Da iawn!

Writing

Well…I did download the exam papers. But then I didn’t look at them in detail. In fact, I totally forgot about this goal so it’s time I got back to it.

Through instant messaging in Welsh, I’m noticing that slowly I’m better able to translate “what I want to say in my head” into Welsh language without hesitation. Writing is always a slower skill for me, because speaking comes naturally with my extrovert/gregarious personality.

But as my tax advisor said…”you can’t hand wave through everything”.

Monthly Contact Goal

September looks pretty good, with 22 days out of 30 checked on the “daily contact with Welsh log”. Even when I didn’t speak Welsh to people on my trip, it was contact every day through bilingual signage and Radio Cymru in the rental car.

Other Languages

There’s always a chance for other languages to sneak in, and I did a tiny bit of playtime on the Drops app in Chinese and watched some Netflix with French subtitles.

Goals For October 2018

In October, I’m planning a trip to Croatia and a talk at the Polyglot Conference in Ljubljana, so it’s a busy one. Are you coming?

In October, I want to keep up the current Welsh level and play with a few other languages such as Chinese. I’m hoping to spend a good amount of time with Lindsay and Shannon, so maybe I can annoy them with my practice of tones.

Listening

At this stage, I feel it’s important for me to get lots more realistic spoken Welsh input so it’s definitely key to keep that TV or radio habit up. The goal’s 2-3 times a week, as before.

Reading

It’s not a particularly inspired goal, but I will continue to make progress with Sgwp and have a book of short stories lined up for afterwards. Reading is such a great way for me to grow my vocabulary. At this stage it’s more helpful for new words than online lessons!

Taking into account the big amount of travel I’ve got coming up, my goal is 5 chapters of Sgwp.

I want to dedicate the rest of the time to picking up the good old Chinese in 10 Minutes a Day again. Perhaps I should actually spend 10 minutes a day on it and then I’ll learn way more Chinese!!

Speaking

I will continue to book in an hour or so every week for a virtual paned a sgwrs (cuppa and a chat) in Welsh when my friends can spare the time. I am also craving contact with more speakers, so am considering putting together a Meet-Up Cymraeg here in Canterbury in the next month.

Writing

Tricky! I do want to work on that exam paper, but this month I don’t feel ready. I’ll set a different goal and park this one. My goal is to post a Welsh language caption on Instagram at least once a week.

How Was Your Month?

So that’s it for this month’s goals! Be sure to check out the linkup for #clearthelist, hosted by Lindsay Williams and Shannon Kennedy.

By the way, if you want to hear more about what you can do when you’ve failed to meet a goal, check out September’s Fluent Show episode about goals with tips from me and Lindsay.

Are you setting goals, too? How do you feel about your target language and its usefulness?

Leave a comment below to tell me all about it!

[politicallyamess]

How To Vote in the 2017 General Election (sort of)

I’ve seen sooo many people say that they’re not voting in the UK’s last minute general election on the 8th of June this year simply because they don’t know how to, or have any idea who they would vote for. It’s suuuuper important to vote, so I’m gonna try my best to make a fairly unbiased masterpost w plenty of sneaky links.

where the fuck did this all come from ????

19 April 2017: the House of Commons voted to allow a General Election to take place in June, despite the existence of a Fixed Term Parliament Act which would have prevented an election until 2020.

No one is 100% sure why this is happening. The Prime Minister has stated about 2304923049 times that it’s an attempt to ensure “strong and stable leadership” throughout the Brexit process, while some opposition has suggested it’s an attempt from the Tories to distract from other things going on.

However, it is pretty significant because it’s super short notice and unexpected (Theresa May actually said a few times that she definitely wouldn’t do this) and because everything is a bit weird and messy rn because of Brexit and uncertainty. For a lot of people, this is seen as a vital opportunity to make a change, whether your priority is Brexit, public spending and cuts, or something else.

how do I vote ????

Before you can vote, you need to register !! It’s real easy to do, like you can literally do it online in 5 minutes here.

Even if you’re not sure who you will vote for yet, or whether you will even vote, the deadline to register is the 22nd of May. Registering before the deadline allows you to change your mind, even on the day of the election.

Most people vote at a polling station on the day of the election and you can find your local polling station here. You can also choose to vote by post, or proxy, depending on your situation or preference.

why should I vote ????

Your vote counts!!!!! Here is a super cheesy infographic highlighting the impact that those who vote could have

Voting is the most straightforward way to make a change and have your voice heard. Obvs, a lot of people think otherwise, but events like the EU referendum are useful in showcasing the power of your vote as many voted the way they did because they thought it wouldn’t make a difference.

Hate all politicians and/or think it just isn’t a big deal because it doesn’t make a difference to you personally? Please remember that there are people in this country who rely on a government who will care for them and support them. The NHS, education system, and welfare spending, are all dependent on government decisions. While these things might not play a huge part in your life, your decision to vote can make a huge difference to the people it does matter to. Compassion is cool yo <3

so... who the fuck do I vote for ????

This is where it’s really hard for me to stay balanced :( In this election, I totally recommend voting for Labour in an attempt to stop us from having another Tory government. If this sounds like a good idea to you, here’s a spreadsheet detailing how to vote if you wanna kick the Tories out !!!!

We don’t vote for Prime Minister or a party directly, but instead we vote for a local candidate of a party to represent our local area in parliament. The leader of the party with the most representatives in parliament becomes our Prime Minister.  Your local area is called a constituency, and you can find out which one you live in here. Candidates for election will usually send leaflets through your door or something to let you know who they are and what they intend to do if elected, but if not, you can usually find out who they are through a quick Google search. If they have Twitter accounts or Facebook pages, I totally recommend following those to learn more about them to help you make your decision.

Because this election was so unexpected, none of the parties really have an official manifesto (a collection of their intentions/aims if given a place in parliament) out yet, but should do around the middle of May. Until then, you can base your decision on the fundamental beliefs of the party and the pledges already set out in the media.

The Conservative Party

Currently in government, and have been since 2010

Their leader is Theresa May

Traditionally right wing: believe if you have more money, you should get to keep it, business should be less regulated, and the money they earn is more beneficial to the country than public spending such as the NHS etc

They don’t really have a lot on offer currently when it comes to their aims if they win the election (other than a strong and stable leadership apparently), so keep an eye out for their manifesto and have a Google and a read about their past endeavours

The Labour Party

Their leader is Jeremy Corbyn

They’ve kind of been everywhere from left to centre, but are pretty left wing under Corbyn:  believe in protecting women and minorities against discrimination, regulate business, tax the rich more to provide services for those without

Here is a list of the policies Corbyn has already presented in the media, but also make sure you keep an eye out for their manifesto etc

Other Parties

The Liberal Democrats: part of a coalition government with the Tories from 2010-2015, current leader is Tim Farron, a liberal party with sort of a mix of left and right wing beliefs

The Scottish National Party: current leader is Nicola Sturgeon, they have 56 out of 59 of Scotland’s seats on parliament, fairly left wing with a focus on gaining Scottish Independence, you can only really vote for them if you’re in Scotland though

The Green Party: co-lead by Caroline Lucas and Jonathan Bartley, have had one MP since 2010, super left wing with a focus on environmental policies

Plaid Cymru: Welsh independence party, leader is Leanne Wood, left wing, again can only really vote for them if you’re in Wales

a list of other political parties in the UK, which you can vote for if they have a candidate standing in your constituency

There’s soooo much information available online, but always remember that news sites can be biased and manipulate information to try and support their agenda and beliefs.

If you’re not sure how you align politically (whether you’re more right or left wing) you can do a political compass test. You don’t have to base your decision on this at all, but it’s kinda fun to do the test anyway.

I recommend following BBC News on Twitter to get sort of basic updates on what’s going on, as well as any random politically interested people you might come across who can give you insight into aspects not really discussed in mainstream media. I also personally think that Buzzfeed is a fairly useful news source to use if you’re looking for easy to understand updates and information (don’t hate me). Lastly, talk to your friends, family, etc!! Find out what matters to them and how they feel, and while you shouldn’t let others directly influence who you should vote for, their concerns might help you see things differently and help your decision.

I think that’s everything I have to offer, so PLEaSe pleEEasE remember to vote on the 8th of June 2017, your vote COUNTS !!!! <3

[helshades]

Thank you for this beautiful answer! Evidently, it inspired me a few things, gathered thereafter if you feel like having my opinion. It remindeed of multiple aspects of the red cap crisis that I had forgotten, eg. the start of it on a (kind of) fuel protest, as with the current protests. I want to underline that you mark the beginning of the movement on the June 18th. As I remembered, there was protests before that and the free distribution of headwares by Armor Lux. Concerning that, ---

I think that it provided mainly free Mützen, which is an offer few are able to turn down =) Anyway, I didn’t feel that the implication of company leaders was felt like a more decisive factor than a welcome but potentially uncomfortable support to the protesters, particularly the slaughterhouses employes and FO. So as usual there, it’s a awkard alliance between regoinal politics, laborers forces, and capitalists interests. Personnaly, I wasn’t more thrilled by the quite anti-eco mindsetsthan I’m now. I’ve no sympathy for the mass-producing low-quality FNSEA. If they’re backed into a corner, too bad. Yes, I lament the loss of the eco-tax because of it.

However, at this point of the text, I feel the need to tell that I’m breton. However, I won’t tell you a thing more, please imagine yourself how I reacted to what you wrote. If we thought we’re Wales politically, what does it have to do with the language? By the way those 3 are brythonic celtics, as close as french anditalian. No, we mainly don’t dream of independence. Now sadly I see in your text the old mindset, “province is a playground of aristocrats/medef since they can’t think of what is good for them i.e. the nation.” Of course these forces try to play on other interests. Maybe the difference is that in Brittany we are ready/forced to ally with unsavory characters to advance our (whatever) goals. It’s always like that. Melenchon has good points here. Comparing with today, I agree that the reforms are now not at all emerging from a deputies consensus unlike in 2013. But in Quimper protested far-left independantists and not far-right. Troadec is not far from being a Melenchon twin. He ends on a dismissal though, as he doesn’t see the compromises that are in place. So who have a less popular basis?

I didn’t speak about legality of protest. Nationalist as in considers the nation as it’s defined by it’s ideology and I’m sure you now how the french nation is defined. And why care about the upper echelons, nation or federation of nations, as long there’s a reasonnable say on a smaller scale. France is not a more logical/natural/whatever structure of control that the EU is.  From Brittany, Marseille isn’t more local than Frankfurt is. Well, consider the french institutions as supranational and they indeed decide globally, removing power from the populations. Is it a good or a bad thing? If only it could allow a differentiated application of the eco-taxEU institutions let differentiation happens all the time. Only time will tell how it turns out. Sorry for the discombobulation and thank you for your time.

P.S.: I saw your addndum and understand. You correctly pointed at the differences between the two movements and have been of great assistance to help me refine my thoughts on these subjects. Thank you again.

Thank you! It was a good exercise to brain this, considering I hadn’t given enough thought to the bonnets rouges in a while either, which was a mistake. We shouldn’t let comparisons like this slide when they are being made by politicians such as Édouard Philippe, who I suspect is less politically clueless overall than Emmanuel Macron himself.

Concerning the intent behind the 2013 protests, I think protesters who came to demonstrate freely to defend their rights cannot be held responsible for unsavoury groups joining the free cortège. Manipulated or not, the protesters in 2013, with or without a red cap, were sincere, and I’d wager there were many more ordinary citizens than big business honchoes demonstrating. And they were making many salient points. Where I get Mélenchon’s probable frustration is that ‘awkward alliances’ have historically hurt the French Left quite a bit, and it always takes a lot of time to reconstruct.

I tend to approach the eco-tax issue more from an economic and political perspective than from an environmental one, I’ve come to realise. I didn’t translate it in my previous post but Mélenchon in the same text I quoted (‘The bonnets rouges farce’) made a few crucial remarks about the tax itself:

‘Let us observe the facts. The contract is allowing for proper plunder of the State, which has committed itself to pay [private company Ecomouv] a monthly rent of over 18 million euros a month, starting from 1st January 2014. This makes 20% of the expected takings of the eco-tax, around 85 millions per month. 220 millions a year! And that rent must be paid even during the ‘suspension’ the Prime Minister announced, whereas the State will not perceive a penny. Customs officers have explained they would have been able to set up and manage the very same tax with 5% management fees at best. Resorting to the private sector will therefore cost 4 times more, at least, than public service!

Considering the 650 million initial investment, after 14 years, the pick-up would have been especially costly. Ecoumouv would have collected 3.2 billion euros. In other words, all expenses paid, a total return of 2.5 billion euros! A complete scandal! From now on, it goes with another one, just as insufferable: were the government to suppress this tax altogether, it would have to pay the company 800 million euros! What are François Hollande & friends waiting for to demand a judicial inquiry or to create some parliamentary commission? A flock of bleating sheep is governing the country!

This week, Marianne published a column which I co-signed with other elected representatives, against the pillage that the privatisation of motorways by the Villepin government constituted. The eco-tax is another example of State looting. Both subjects are related. The main goal of the eco-tax was to generate takings that could help finance transport infrastructures. Why is that? Because privatising motorways effectively reduced the takings previously destined to do so! The benefits that [private companies] Vinci or Eiffage are making from the French motorways are as much money as could have either remained in the motorists’ pockets or gone to finance road infrastructures. Once again, here is proof that privatisation is a foe to the general interest. Liberalism doesn’t work when it comes to run any civilised society with a taste for efficiency. Liberalism costs much to society, and nothing works well.’

On a side note, I did mark the beginning of the movement as 18th June, which had me hesitate for a while, actually; not that I elected to ignore, notably, Christian Troadec’s involvement, but I had decided to focus on the 2013 movement only because it was at once what made the government back down and what prompted Mélenchon’s ire.

Now, let us clarify the ‘Welsh’ comment, shall we?

That paragraph was mostly fond irony, in the hope that some Bretons would be reading and get entertainingly titillated. ‘They believe they are Wales’ was a jibe aiming at the independent-country-within-a-country vibe, also based on, precisely, the linguistic relationship between Welsh and Breton, and their foreignness to, respectively, English (a Germanic language with heavy Latin influence) and French (a Latin language with heavy Germanic influence, and some very moderate Celtic influence as well).

On the subject of language—of Brittany being incapable to masquerade as Wales because of its Brittonic language—I was mostly drunk on fatigue and concluding in another window another post on etymology, which led me to write probably the obscurest linguistic reference I have ever made on this blog: linguistically speaking, Breton and Cornish are more closely related than they both are to Welsh. They still pertain, all three of them, to the Brittonic branch of the Insular Celtic languages group—except Welsh has a name that literally means ‘Gaelic’ and this is, like, super annoying. It is, also, completely England’s fault (when is it not) since the actual name of Wales is Cymru. But there you go: you know it’s a Germanic root when English writes it with a [w] but French writes is with a [g].

On the subject of regionalism… It might surprise you, but I’m actually quite divided on this. On the one hand, there are my personal Robespierrist inclinations, and also, mostly in fact, my being the daughter of a History teacher and being a, erm, language specialist, with a certain attachment to the Idea of France as a historic entity because… well, it is the result of centuries of events that cemented our regions into a political unit…

On the other hand, well, half of me is from Isère with strong ties to Lyon, and the other half is firmly, ferociously ardéchoise. From the south. In the mountains. I know very little about pig farming but I’m pretty sure I’m related to at least a couple goats—and, much more seriously, I have always been torn on the question of regional identity because it is of great importance in my family, not least of which because I come from two endless lines of peasants. I have a notion of family roots that is pretty literal, in fact. And, technically, I ain’t French, on either side. My grandparents learnt French in school; it was my parents’ generation that grew up hearing patois at home and speaking French at the same time.

And Ardèche is a very beautiful, but very poor region. I have always been divided, without too much fuss to be honest, between it and Lyon, and I am very well placed to know how unequally financial resources are shared—and, incidentally, the harm it does to the environment, as righteous city-dwellers are rather prone to ignore the fact that most farmers have been constrained to productivism in the first place, expected to feed an ever-growing urban population…

I am, anyway, in favour of a greater, if relative, autonomy for regions, and I’m not necessarily talking about the ginormous, meaningless ensembles that were reinvented recently. I do believe that national institutions are paramount, because they allow us, quite simply, to set up a functioning national insurance system to finance public infrastructures and services for all. However, I may be much of Republican, and I may truly dislike communitarianism under all its shapes, I think we must address Parisianism for what it is.

[anautisticdragon-blog]

An Evil Race; A Lesser Race? Not in The Adventure Zone!

This piece of art sets the scene for what I want to talk about, here. What I feel most fantastic settings do wrong, versus the ones I'm so fond of that actually get it right (can you already guess what one of those might be?). It's by the very talented Rory Lane Lutter, and you can find the original [[HERE]].

I know I've spoken about this before, but... I'd like to talk about this again, I feel it's important. It's so problematic that I feel it really does need a spotlight shone on it. Especially when you consider the reaction to this particular article about Doom.

Just have a read of those comments.

Anyway, this is the problem I'm often presented with when it comes to video games and fantastic settings (a term which I use to encompass any kind of setting which isn't contemporary earth). I just don't see it talked about, much, and it does kind of get under my skin a little bit.

Let's consider how often we see the term 'Lesser Races' in fantasy.

"Why are they lesser races, pa?" "They aren't good, gods fearin' folk like we is, son." "I see, pa."

So, if that kid is then exposed to White Supremacist thinking? "They're inferior because they're not like me, they're not as white and good as I am. Okay, it's just like that game I liked. Yeah, that tracks!"

The usual retort is that 'one can tell the difference between fantasy and reality.'

Yes, well. But can they? What I mean is that on a subconscious level, are you sure that you're never influenced by the powerful stories you experience in a fantasy setting, where you're the hero and the world revolves around you? Can you honestly say that they haven't affected you in any way? Now, how much more powerful of an effect do you think that would have on kids?

Also, let's face it, in almost all fantastic settings? Humans are represented as being as white as a sheet, with little variation.

So it's just.. "A bunch of white guys! Invariably good dudes!" and "The lesser races, so evil."

So a kid is being exposed to this, yeah? And what's worse is that some races are naturally evil, too. So let's say that you have some orcs in a setting, yeah? They're an 'evil' race, they're a 'lesser' race, and... What separates them from humans, again? Oh, right, it's mostly the colour of their skin. This never has any effect on children, you think? Really? You sure about that?

Think of it this way: Would you sit your young, impressionable kid in front of a show that you knew had racist elements? No? Then why would you expose them to obvious allegories of racism which create the frameworks of prejudice in their minds? Now, instead of being angry, ask yourself: Is this a good question?

If you can calmly say it isn't, that it isn't fair? Fine. Logically, though, I think it's pretty fair. I think it tracks.

I mean, sure, it seems innocent to laugh at the white guy sending the goblins off, running away, and on fire but what kind of image does that convey? White power over lesser beings. I don't like this, I'm sorry.

It's also a reason why I'm actually glad that Griffin McElroy threw the D&D lore book out of the window with The Adventure Zone and did his own thing. He didn't care whether the colour of a dragonborn's skin 'says they should be evil by lore.' He just made cool characters that were good or bad according to their very nature, not according to their species.

Whereas D&D itself has dragons separated into good or evil by the colour of their hide. I wish I was joking about that. I really, really hate that because red dragons are naturally evil. Why would this bother me? I hail from Cymru (Wales). We invented the Western dragon, the red. Our druidic ancestors envisioned them as kindly, wise, ancient, and helpful. Similar to Eastern dragons. There are some that cite heraldry to evidence the evil of Western dragons, but hey, guess what? Our heraldry is way more ancient than theirs is. By comparison, their heraldry is the hip, young teen with the backwards baseball cap. Hardly a point of authority, that.

Sure, this got perverted by Christianity, of course, because organised religion in the dark ages absolutely loved perverting the beliefs of the 'lesser peoples' to convert them to their faith. I hate missionaries. Not to ever say that Christianity is all bad, but I might say two things as a gay person. a.) The Christian God is okay but I'm not a fan of his fan club, they won't even acknowledge other gods and I'd imagine that he's not okay with that; b.) There's a lot of really genuinely skeevy, scary shit in Christianity's history that shouldn't be ignored.

Christianity today, of course, is a different beast. Lots of cool Christians out there making something genuinely good out of their religion and I support them wholeheartedly. It's not like it's innately bad, after all. No, people just can make it bad. Like with any institution or ideal; like patriotism, for example. It can all be tainted by toxic notions and depraved exploitation.

I think Clint McElroy, the McElroy dad, is likely Christian. And he's verifiably a Cool Dude™. He might just have had a Christian background of course, but it seemed relevant in his Adventure Zone run so I'd think that this is probably relevant to him. So if he is, I could point at him as an example of why I know things can change for the better.

Things can always change for the better.

Anyway, yeah. Christianity, back when they were doing shady shit, perverted the notion of dragons the druidic Welsh people had in an attempt to convert them. "Hey fuckers, dragons are unambiguously evil! Here's this list of evil shit they totally did!" That's why Western dragons are perceived as greedy and evil today. The more you know, ding ding ding ding.

You have Christianity's shady period to thank for that one. Still, I want you to keep in mind that the Christianity of then is a very, very different beast to the Christianity of now. No hating.

So, yeah. In Wales, you can find the original perception of red dragons and their innate goodness. Sadly, in the wonderful world of Dungeons & Dragons? Reds are evil because of the colour of their hide. And that's really, really problematic. I wouldn't ever expose a kid to that because that's just such a toxic idea. Good or evil is defined by one's personality, identity, motivations, and ambitions. NEVER, NEVER by the colour of their skin.

Allow me to say one more time that I absolutely adore Griffin for tossing out the D&D lore book in his Adventure Zone run. How do I know this? Blue dragons in D&D are defined as innately evil beings full of wrath, they're fiercely territorial in the worst ways imaginable, they're vain, prideful, and arrogant, and just not all that nice. This is all due to the colour of their hide, you see.

Does this describe the Fangbattles, do you think? Does this describe Carey Fangbattle to you? Ha, no. Griffin doesn't give a shit what D&D's questionable lore. And having listened to enough of him and his brothers, I'm more than well aware that even if he knew all about it? He still wouldn't care, he knows better than to ever assign good or evil based upon the colour of skin/hide. He likely already gets this shit and why it's so problematic.

This isn't just D&D, of course. A lot of settings do this. Tolkien's orcs are Universally evil, too. If I had to think of a fantasy setting truly free of all of this? One that actually has non-human races? Well, a lot of Japanese ones come to mind, that's for sure (Shining Force and Phantasy Star et alia). Western is much more tricky, I think that by far the most prominent example that comes to mind is Terry Pratchett's Discworld.

Honestly, The Adventure Zone was very, very Discworld. Even right down to treating non-human races equally and respecting that women can be strong. PTerry was a pretty rad dude.

The long and short of it is that I just don't like the idea of a race, species, or group of beings being 'lesser' or 'evil' based upon mere physical qualities. That defines the very roots or prejudice and that's not ever something I'd want to expose a child to. If you've got a bunch of white men talking about 'those there nefariously evil types, the lesser folk, always up to no good?' Then later your kid's exposed to the views of a group like, for example, the Alt-Right?

I can understand how that perception could cross over from fantasy into reality. I wonder how often that actually happens, I have a worrying suspicion that it's a lot. Fantastic settings do so much to confirm and reaffirm that healthy, normal, white dudes deserve to be in a Superior position, they absolutely should be granted every boon and benefit.

I pointed this out before, but I'll point it out again: If you had a merchant in a game tell you that kobolds stole his fancy merch wagon and all the gold in it; and then you found a group of kobolds with a big pile of gold? What would you do? I'd say... You're going to kill them and take that gold, right? You'll do this without even thinking about it. Kobolds are a lesser, naturally evil, scurrilous race. Whole lot of ne'er-do-wells there, right?

What if that game then chided you because the merchant had pulled a fast one on you and had you kill a bunch of entirely innocent kobolds -- who were just running an honest tanning business -- for his own benefit? And what if you were then arrested on counts of murder and tossed in a cell?

Would you be offended? Would you be angry? Would you feel like you've been misled by the game itself? Why? There are those in the world who'd totally pull a con like that. Just because the character was a white, human guy doesn't make him innately good. Nor do the kobolds have to be innately evil, either. And yet, I could just hear all the furious Alt-Right voices who'd rage and rage over this.

If there's a game developer reading this... Please consider adding this into your game. I'd love to see the results of this. It'd be a pretty great social experiment. I'm going to tag this with 'gamedev' to that end. Please do consider it.

And I have to admit, there's another layer to this...

I'm disabled. I'm physically disfigured, I'm autistic, and I haven't had a good life. As an autistic person, I've always been perceived as a 'lesser being.' That's where my ire at neurotypicals arose from, and it was so difficult to let go of that. It really was. I didn't even hate the neurotypicals in particular who'd made my life a living hell, I hated the person I'd become because of them.

That was a hard thing to face. The thing is? When you're in a situation like that, you find yourself sympathising with and even empathising with the 'lesser races' or 'evil races' of fantasy. I mean, if a bunch of angry white dudes barge into a dragon's den, slaughter it without investigation, and loot all of her shit? That doesn't seem very heroic to me. I don't see that, I don't understand that at all.

It's not like they followed a line of clues, carefully, and deduced that she was the culprit. It's not like they used non-lethal means to incapacitate her to bring her before a court of law. No, some white dude said that this red dragon stole his shit, so off go a bunch of other healthy, handsome, buff, normal, cishet, and oh so white dudes to slaughter this dragon because... dragon, I guess? It doesn't sit well with me.

I don't know why beyond that. I don't know why it's such a big deal to me. I guess, like I said, I empathise. And I can see that this can easily be transmogrified into real world racism and prejudice since all of the elements are there, the framework is all present and accounted for. Superior vs. Inferior, Good vs. Evil, and White vs. Not White. It's all there, right? And it's all deeply unsettling.

Like I said, it's not like white dudes can be all that bad in these settings. It's not like kobolds can be good, either. It's not like this gnoll here could ever be a college professor. I mean, sure, maybe in PTerry's Discworld (god I loved PTerry, I really did, I miss him), and maybe in the McElroy-run Adventure Zone. In those realities? Yeah. But in most? A gnoll just going to be naturally evil cannon fodder. I don't like that. I don't know if that makes sense.

I don't know if you'll ever understand why this bothers me, if you'll ever be able to sympathise or whether this is just going to be alien to you. Whether it's just going to be "Hey, that autistic retard can't tell fantasy from reality. Ho ho ho. Of course it's okay for a group of people to be naturally evil in fantasy."

I don't agree.

Whether in reality or fantasy, no one should be defined as lesser, greater, evil, good, or anything else by their species, or the colour of their hide/skin. In fact, physical factors shouldn't come into this at all. Nor should there be discrimination against anyone for thinking differently. It should be that if a person has the raison d'être of chasing their aspirations no matter how many die or suffer along the way should be viewed as evil.

Evil should be defined by those who cause suffering for their personal benefit, and don't even care that they're causing others pain. This has always been the definition, for me. If you find out you're hurting other people for your own good, and you don't stop because you just don't care? That's pretty evil.

Sigh.

I'm trying to be happier, lately. I'm trying to do my best to shake off my cynicism and focus on what makes me feel better in life. I'm doing my very best to focus on that and feel like humanity itself isn't just some lost cause. I want to get away from the hurt and the pain that I've been held prisoner by all my life. I really want that, but there are still some serious topics I absolutely need to handle. And this is my venting blog, so here it is.

I did feel a bit of a void in my life after PTerry died, I admit. It was hard to find good fantasy after that, a lot of it fell into the nasty pit-trap I described above and I couldn't stomach it. I'd eagerly consumed just about every little titbit of Discworld-related media that I could, and I wanted more, but there could be no more. I miss you, PTerry, you were a light in my life.

Some have tried recommending me alternatives, but few grasp what really got me with PTerry's works. It was that he had a very complete understanding that he was depicting a world, and if that world was rife with racism and prejudices, it wouldn't be a very good world. It would be a depressing, dreary, and sordid place. Utterly horrible, not worth the reader's time.

The thing is? The vast majority of fantastic settings are like that, anyway. They don't seem to care about all of the prejudices they foist uncaringly on the reader. If the reader has experienced a lot of real world prejudice, that's not exactly going to be the most inviting kind of escapism, is it? I want a fantastic setting to set an example of how a world can be better than ours, something we could aspire to be like. Not something that's far, far, far worse than earth, just so we can feel better about ourselves.

I want progressive, positive, inclusive, uplifting escapism! I want escapism where good and evil are defined by intelligent nuances, where what one might have thought as evil may just even be a different perspective. I want intellectuality, even, god damn it. I want things to be just a little bit more clever than "UNGA ME BUNGA! IZ BAD REDD DURGANZ." Is that too much to ask?

Thankfully, I got exactly the kind of cleverness I want from the Adventure Zone. And if you're going to give Griffin a hard time for not staying true to the setting? Frankly... Kindly fuck off? I don't mean to be nasty, but... Fuck off. Faerun is a fucked up, genuinely terrible place, rife with hatred and prejudice. Griffin didn't want that, he wanted the ruleset, sure, but the world he desired to work with was actually Discworld.

And Discworld does have lifts. You be as passive-aggressive about the lifts thing as you want, Griffin. I much more prefer your version of Faerun to the official version, which is a much shittier place to be honest.

So I had Discworld, and now I have The Adventure Zone. I really needed that. Thank you, McElroys. Really. Thank you Travis, thank you Griffin, thank you Justin, and thank you Clint. I mean that from the bottom of my heart. The world I've lived in has been pretty bleak, and whilst I'm climbing out of that hole I sometimes stumble and fall back in a little.

Good escapism like this helps me out, it helps me get back on my feet when I'm feeling genuinely down.

Thank you guys. You're good boys, you really are.

I don't know what to say beyond that other than I need more works in my life that buck the usual trends of fantastic settings. I want more like Discworld and The Adventure Zone. I want to be able to go into something and not be horribly disappointed by another fine example of 'this person is evil or a lesser race because skin/hide colour or species type.'

That shit gets old, yeah?

Now having read this, go back and look at the image I used for this particular piece and see if it invokes any different feelings to how you felt about it before you started reading. Yeah? Maybe? Hard to unsee when you see it, right? And it doesn't need to be that way, I don't think. I really don't. I feel that the creators of fantastic settings could do so much better.

Just take a look at Discworld, and The Adventure Zone. S'funny, I'm proud of the McElroys for doing so well but I genuinely do feel that PTerry would be more than happy to stand alongside their works, too.

So whilst I wouldn't introduce a kid to most fantastic settings, I would happily, gleefully introduce them to both Discworld and The Adventure Zone without a second thought. I'd be a very responsible dad.

#TotallyResponsibleRadDad

But I digress. Yeah, I just wanted to talk about this. It's important to me. It just is. And I'm happy that there are still at least a few good examples of both the science-fiction and high fantasy genres out there.