#ideological difference

[spandexinspace]

The DA2 crew deserved these team meetings. They would have had even worse arguments. Made fantastic use of all being in the same room to argue each other's ears off at the same time.

[strangebiology]

Success is Dependent on Secret Information

A lot of career success depends on you and the work you put into it, as well as luck beyond your control, but sadly, it also depends on secret information, magic words, and stupid little tricks.

That's not fair. I don't like it, but we can help by sharing that secret information--which is the antidote to gate-keeping. That's why I recently wrote this in my Authors of Nonfiction Books in Progress substack:

It can be really disheartening to realize that, when you thought you failed at something because you didn't do well enough, other people had the magic words. For instance, some injustices I've witnessed (that may or may not always be the case, or maybe not anymore!) include:

A good athletic score doesn't get you into a college sport--having a coach or parent talk to the college coach is mandatory

Many school-sponsored scholarships are often not tightly linked to grades, test scores, or financial need, but whether the student said the right words ("I can't afford that") to the right person (presumably some financial office person.)

Apparently, some aspects of some degrees are cheated on by most students (if that's the case, we should tell all students that it's ok to cheat on that so they don't waste their time on something that apparently wasn't important anyway, or worse, fail out just for being ethical.)

Especially related to books: Few people will mention that you can get grants! Not my agent, not my publisher, not the 1 zillion "pros and cons of trad publishing" articles out there mentioned grants (Grant eligibility is a HUGE benefit of trad publishing.) I got more money from grants than my entire book advance!

Let me know what magic words/secret knowledge you've learned, that you wish you knew sooner. Or: the widespread understanding of what information would make a field more fair?

And please share ANBIP with anyone writing, publishing, or seriously about to start writing, a nonfiction non-memoir book, especially if they're interested in the more practical side (I share more about resources and strategy than craft.)

[nyancrimew]

OHHH THATS WHY. Youre european and using european party terms when you see america. American liberals are not european liberals

that's not really how this works bestie, yes the word liberal is used differently in the US, it's used as a catch all for anything left of republicans which makes it completely meaningless for actually describing your political views. that's the point I'm trying to make. also no it doesn't just magically mean something else in the US, it's just that the overall politics of the democrat party more broadly matches what passes as a centre right if not right wing party in europe with an ever so slightly more socially progressive tint.

that's not to say there isn't also people further left describing themselves as liberals, it's just that these words don't mean much in a two party system where both parties have an insane range of actual political ideologies.

[obibail]

"Still not helpful."

[lyculuscaelus]

So lately I’ve been seeing a lot of posts asking people to stop trying to make Odysseus look nice in their works cuz he’s a “messed-up person in the mythology”. Your opinion is valid however I have but one thing to point out:

You want to know who started all this? Who started to “make Odysseus look nice” in the first place?

It’s Homer. It’s nobody else but Homer himself.

A non-Homeric Odysseus would try to murder people out of his own interests. He’d murder Palamedes without remorse (and we’d be cheering over this but it’s a murder after all), he’d attempt to murder Diomedes just to get the Palladium himself, he’d volunteer to kill Astyanax…meanwhile you wouldn’t find any mention of either Palamedes or Nauplius in Homer’s poems, neither did he mention anything abt the Palladium heist (and Diomedes necessity did not happen until Conon’s version), the death of Astyanax, the distribution of war prizes, etc. And all the details in the Odyssey seemed to deny the existence of Nauplius’s vengeance at all, so Odysseus would not take any of the blame.

A non-Homeric Odysseus would be depicted as “cruel, treacherous”, meanwhile in book 10 of the Iliad Odysseus was not mentioned to have killed anyone during the marauding, neither did he promise Dolan anything at all. The negative interpretations are denied by these details subtly put by Homer.

A non-Homeric Odysseus would be widely known as a “coward” for only shooting arrows from afar. But Homer gave him a spear and had him absolutely slaying in both the Iliad and the Odyssey. That part of Ajax’s speech was invalid already.

Most importantly—a non-Homeric Odysseus would be having kids everywhere else, and the loyalty to his own wife as seen in the Odyssey is no where to be found. Meanwhile his lineage was a single-son line made by Zeus in the Odyssey, and his love for Penelope was one of his main drives, especially seen in book 5 of the Odyssey. He loved his family as a loving parent—something you don’t get to see in most of the non-Homeric writings—for most of the time they followed a different tradition indeed, in which Odysseus wasn’t half as nice as in the Odyssey.

TL;DR: in case you haven’t noticed, the characterization of the Homeric Odysseus was quite different from a non-Homeric version of Odysseus. It’s not that Homer didn’t know of the existence of other versions—he knew them too well, which is why in his version of the story, you don’t get to see any mention of them.

[an-ivy-covered-summer]

i know this will be a controversial statement for some people on this website, but you guys need to understand that being a radical communist with zero awareness of the nuance of living on planet earth is really not very different from being an alt-right extremist.

if you’re past the point of using logical thinking and understanding that societies and politics are complex and can be wildly different from one place to another, you’re just a fanatic, in spite of the place in the spectrum you place yourself on. you’re too swayed and brainwashed by propaganda. you’re just a blind fanatic, and your agenda becomes dangerous for real people living in the real world.

[agenericplaceholdername]

"Motion, used correctly, can be more powerful than sheer strength"

"Force and strength work counter to the motion of the world. The universe has its own speeds you need to align with"

"You can never force the motion of the universe to bend to your will"

"We must force the progress we need! Force the world to work the way you want it to!"

One of these teachings is not like the other...

[otaku553]

Some more spy x family one piece crossover doodles :)

A fic may or may not be in progress…….

Edit: the fic is posted :)

[stromblessed]

Even if Marcus having a daughter did turn out to be the red flag in season 1 that showed where season 2 was headed socially and politically, that plot point didn't need to be mutually exclusive with a season 2 plot that was nuanced and interesting re: Piltover vs. Zaun.

Marcus had multiple opportunities in season 1 to stop what he was doing with Silco and actually prioritize his daughter (and his life with her) - or just stop Silco himself, if Marcus had been willing to die or go to prison - but his personal biases and the opportunity for personal gain kept winning out over and over, leading to his death. Which was tragic - even if many of us didn't feel that bad for him - yet inevitable. I never got the sense that Marcus in season 1 was indicating a "both sides are the same" or "we should all just work together" type of plot, but rather, "Here is what the privileged are willing to do - and not do - to maintain the status quo."

In watching season 1, between Marcus having a daughter, Jayce being easily led and reaching too far with his power, and Caitlyn's naivete, I thought that the Piltover plot was taking us to a place where these more privileged characters see opportunities to do better wrt the undercity, but because of ignorance, personal gain, personal biases, or personal injury and trauma, they actively choose to perpetuate the sociopolitical divide and find ways to justify these choices for themselves, regardless of any opportunities they may have to learn, grow, and do better specifically with regards to the undercity. Which helps shed light on why irl power structures seem so rigid and unchanging despite everything. This doesn't mean that the Piltover characters needed to die or anything, but I do think it would've been more interesting if the tragedy element was kept ("fate worse than death" types of tragic endings are more interesting anyway imo), the Piltover/Zaun conflict wasn't "solved" in the end, and the impact of Piltover's apathy and violence wasn't brushed aside. Particularly if there had been a real undercity uprising plotline.

[uniquecellest]

Charles and Erik are two sides of the same coin. Both want mutants to be accepted in society and not feared. However, I fully believe their ideals would've been swapped had things in their childhoods been different. Like in the movies Erik's mom seems to encourage Erik to use his mutation (though this is in a very stressful and scary situation). However had shit not happened in Germany in the 30s and things were peaceful I fully believe that Erik's parents and uncle would've been supportive in him using his mutation, though advising him not to use it to win any tournaments or on others. Though his uncle would only tell him to use it on others if necessary like if Erik needs to save someone.

Charles, however, his upbringing imo gets neglected a lot in many xmen media that the general populous consumes. I know his father experimented on him since the womb and when Charles was a child. I fully believe had Brian kept living he would've kept the experiments going, Sharon unaware. All acting like a normal happy family on the outside. Though one day I do believe Charles would be pushed and he'd accidentally kill his dad just bc he wants to stop the experiments, Sharon would become neglectful though she is unsure if Brian's death was due to Charles somehow (i picture Charles like no more than 12 when this happens) or if Brian locked himself in his lab one too many nights and exhaustion was the cause for his death; either way Sharon still marries Kurt but Kurt knows about Brian's experiments and continues them on Charles and Kurt threatens Sharon and Raven so Charles keeps his mouth shut but he has to wonder how and why humans are like this. The scientific need to keep doing experiments especially on their own kids. Charles grows to resent humans and believe that he and Raven are superior compared to humans.

[feminismisstillahatemovement]

[lordadmiralfarsight]

Revolution fetishism is a horrible political view, especially in this context

Okay, rant incoming, partially related to recent events, but also to earlier thinking on my part.

There are, on the Left, a fair few people that romanticize or outright fetishize the concept of Revolution, of violent popular uprising to wrest power out of the hands of a corrupt elite and give it to the people. Very romantic, very righteous (self-righteous pretty often), very good and nice and sexy. And by the grace of revolutionary fervor and ideological purity, everything will be better after.

Except no.

See, a lot of this romanticization of Revolution comes, to my knowledge, from my own country of France. We have romanticized our Revolution a fair bit, and honestly, looking at the first part, fair. A serious go at giving women rights, a no-cause divorce, abolition of slavery, privileges thrown out, equality between people proclaimed loud, enfranchisement given to minorities ... in 1789. A LOT of good and progress, especially for the time.

But then it got fucky, VERY fucky. The Reign of Terror, under the caring leadership of Maximilien Robespierre, was a fucking nightmare on Earth, caracterized by mass executions on political basis, and by this I mean anyone that opposed Robespierre got beheaded. Political plurality? You mean anti-revolutionary sentiment ! Unacceptable, kill everyone.

A rumor of the time said the Place de Grève was covered in a layer of blood that was ankle deep. Is that an exageration ? Yes, certainly. But the fact it got to that point should tell you something about how intense the murdering was. And that was just one square in Paris, there was the rest of the country to consider too.

But surely, after Robespierre fell victim to his own system and was executed, something better emerged, right?

No. Sweet mother of fuck, NO.

What followed was roughly 70 years of political instability and violence, warfare and civil war, several dictatorships, including attempts to restore absolute monarchy, that undid most of the good brought by the first part of the Revolution. And finally, France stumbled onto political stability in 1870 when the temporary 3rd Republic, that was supposed to wait until the presumptive heir to the throne (who wanted an absolute monarchy) croacked did what temporary things do best and became the permanent system (until its fall).

This was not thanks to the Revolution. It was pure randomness.

Did the French Revolution bring good things? Yes, it did. In its first part. The second part brought chaos and misery for multiple decades. And it took a lot of work and efforts to bring back what the Revolution, the peaceful part, had brought in.

And far too many people on the Left fetishize and romanticize the whole thing, as if we couldn't have had the first part without the second, as if the progress and hope and betterment somehow needed the chaos and murder that came after.

Yes, there would have been a period of conflict, European monarchies would not have accepted quietly a realm the size of France doing away with monarchs. But did we REALLY need the political purges ? Did we REALLY need the paranoia ? Did we REALLY need the massacres ?

But you will find people that answer yes, and say the spilled blood somehow made it pure, or good. And those same people are looking at what Hamas is doing and are cheering. These people don't celebrate the first part, the progress and hope. They claim to be, but they aren't. They celebrate the Terror. They yearn for the unjust "popular tribunal" AKA mob "justice". They dream of executing political opponents or anyone they think is "bad" on light or even absent charges.

And That's why they cheer for Hamas rockets and massacres. That's why they sing when Israeli children are murdered. That's why they attack Jews that don't live in Israel. Because they hope to vicariously live this period of unchecked violence.

Know who was celebrating the RIGHT part of the Revolution ? The Israeli working with Gazan to build understanding. The Gazan protesting against Hamas. The Israeli Arabs risking their lives to save the lives of fellow Israeli and of foreigners, regardless of skin or creed. The Gazan trying to improve things in their homes against the wishes and efforts of Hamas.

Know who IS celebrating the RIGHY part of the Revolution ? The Israeli protesting the way the IDF is bombing Gaza. The people decrying the hypocrisy of blood-thirsty leftists. The people calling for Peace and working to make the political change to allow it.

But the Robespierres of the time, drunk on their own self-assurance, condemn and insult them, claiming that blood must be spilt. But it doesn't have to be. The French Revolution started relatively bloodlessly. It didn't need some great orgy of violence. Oh it wasn't clean, but it was far cleaner than the armchair Robespierres would like it to be. Because it didn't need to be.

And that's my point, really. The people fantasizing about and fetishizing the Revolution always dream of torrents of blood washing away the injustices, of seas of corpses forming a fertile ground upon which progress can grow. But that horseshit. All you get with that is, like the Place de Grève, a sinister place that stinks of rot and death, and flocks of scavengers gorging on your crimes.

All you get is a chance for a Napoleon to arrive. Or Stalin's USSR that so casually carried on with the crimes of the Tsars. Or Polpot who murdered 25% of his population.

If you look at the French Revolution, the right lesson to learn is that you need to know when to stop, and that's before you get to indiscriminate killing. Because once you get to that point ... people that thrive in those settings get in power and perpetuate them.

And to apply that to the situation in I/P ... knowing when to stop means realizing that Israeli are still humans, that Gazan are still humans, that their lives have worth and should be protected, that supporting child killings when it's done by "brown people" is not anymore alright than supporting child killings when done by the IDF. And you people should very well consider the possibility that people inside the IDF are doing all they can to reduce Bibi's ability to order war crimes.

And you should recognize that there are efforts on the part of the IDF, sometimes token efforts, sometimes more than just that, to limit the number of dead civilians. Point me to a case where Hamas did the same. Point me to a case where they tried to get Israeli civilians out of the way instead of targeting them.

Hamas is not a Revolution you want to succeed. It's not about being free. It's about killing. This isn't a "glorious revolutionary action", it's a prelude to the wholesale slaughter and ethnic massacre they dream of. It's a tiny window into their ideal, blood soaked world.

Violent revolution should be a last resort, when there is no other option available, when the system is so utterly broken and shattered that nothing can move, and it should be stopped as soon as the system is unfucked enough to negociate. The I/P situation is not at that stage. Look at how much efforts the fascists of both sides have to invest in maintaining this. Look at how much time and money and efforts they have to invest to keep each other in place. And despite this, people of both sides reach for peace, argue and protest for it, even at the risk of their very lives (especially true in Gaza).

And if you refuse to consider all this, if you insist on following Robespierre, remember this : La Veuve came for him too, in the end.

[what-have-i-unleashed]

hmmmm somewhat a continuation of this

imagine one day killer is captured by the efforts of both the star sanses and epic sanses. but the thing now is that they don't know what to do with killer. like, he's almost impervious to all interrogation attempts, and none of them would stoop to torture to gain information of course.

while everyone is arguing over what to do with killer, color stands up and says he can deal with killer, with the condition that no one spy on him or killer while they're talking. everyone else looks at each other and agrees, since there's not much they can object for now.

so color enters the room where killer is held. and killer is very happy to see his fated enemy after entertaining so many boring side characters.

would be a bit fun/creepy if the interrogation room has a one-way mirror. and during a previous asking (maybe done by delta or swap), color was standing behind the glass watching the procedure, and killer immediately zeroed in on him despite color knowing that the glass is one-way so logically killer couldn't see him. but killer did, just intensely staring at where color was. color moved to another spot, and he swore killer turned his head to follow too. creepy killer yeehaw.

anyway, back to color and killer talking. killer is super ecstatic upon seeing color and starts dissing the other sanses for sucking at interrogation, proudly blathering on and on about he's gonna torture a hypothetical prisoner if he was in their shoes. color cuts him off being like "let's talk about something else" and asks about killer's injuries. killer is all "nah they're nothing compared to the worst ones", and color humors him "are any of them done by me?". killer blows a raspberry like "pfft, you think you're so terrible, o shining hero?"

and now they talk about their previous battles. which ones are the most deadly. which ones are the most fun. killer seems proud about the permanent marks he left on color, and also nostalgic about the ones color left on him. color keeps his opinions neutral throughout the whole conversation. it's best if this feels as if two friends having a chat after a long time not seeing each other. and aren't they friends now...?

and so color finally pops the proposal. he asks if killer wants to change side. he promises that killer doesn't have anything to fear if he joins color. and killer is silent for a moment before bursting into hysterical laughter. like suuuure thing, obviously people are gonna magically forgive him for terrorizing the multiverse. obviously nightmare is gonna leave them alone if he defects. he's been in too deep now, can't color see? there's no hope for him to rehabilitate.

and color is like "of course not! you're worth saving!". but killer wouldn't listen. it's cute that color thinks so. but the reality is that they're fated to be on opposite sides. that's their story decided by the players after all. and killer is content with it. content with having color in his life, even like this. it's best to have color than nothing at all.

{tagging @what-have-you-contained as revenge} {also @howlsofbloodhounds since i think you'd like it}

[lord-squiggletits]

Is anyone talking about Megatronus' cog and how maybe Megatron taking that was also a sign of him being not a good leader.

Is anyone complaining about how Orion got the Matrix going to also complain about how Megatron stole Megatronus' cog out of Sentinel's chest even though 1. he supposedly doesn't believe in Primes and false prophets any more and 2. Sentinel stole that cog from Megatronus' body who he murdered, so Megatron is literally just perpetuating that cycle of treating a dead hero's body parts as a collectible one is owed for having the Vision And Initiative To Seize Power. And being a hypocrite because despite supposedly hating Primes, he still covets Megatronus/his iconography so much he stole his cog and used it for his own despite the fact Alpha Trion (the last living Prime) gifted Megatron a perfectly usable one that he got consensually unlike Megatronus'?

Bc like. If we're talking symbolism into account. Idk it felt pretty symbolic to me that one of Sentinel's evil acts was to steal someone else's t-cog and then what does Megatron do? Steal someone's t-cog. Sure, Sentinel stole it first and was a bad guy so he ostensibly doesn't deserve having his corpse treated with dignity, but like... was it not obvious to anyone else that that act was where Megatron definitively went over the line of "revenge on an evil leader" to "stealing dead a dead guy's organs to suck out his physical power and symbolic presence for himself."

Are we going to talk about that or are we just going to keep bitching about how Orion was given the Matrix while he was dead, not expecting to be given a chance at life again, not seeking power for his own gain, with the consent/blessing of the previous Primes which somehow makes him evil and unfair

[aruinedthing]

season 1 louis telling his family he dipped from the opera cause he was bored and got hungry & then lestat afterwards calling him on acting like he didn't enjoy the opera when he very much did; season 2 louis telling armand he doesn't want to come to the theatre because he had enough of that back in the states... 35 years and still lying about the theatre to hide how much he loves lestat huh

[moe-broey]

Close ups on the pocket details!!! I'm SUPER happy w how the top pockets look 😳😳😳

I think the variety of pride pins with the moral panic button/Mr Faggot beadwork just. Really sells it. Shadow the Hedgehog voice Pee Your Pants. If you're going to be a shithead about me I'm going to be really annoying and do a bit about it. Plus the little golden angel pin... ALSO really pulls the whole thing together. "God help you" Right in front of my guardian angel? Really? 😒And how could I not make mention of. The Skull. I love you The Skull. It's a button (not sewn on yet, pinned) that I filled the details in w nail polish. Oh yeah! Besides the bottle cap pins (acrylics sealed with mod podge and a prayer), the biggest addition there is the chain lining the pocket flap! I think it looks SO SLICK

The pansy was gonna go on the queer side, but then I got the boutonniere idea! And I think it looks nice! Kinda adds to the asymmetry of the floral print/plaid blocking. And... of course.... I have... my friends...... 🥺 Biggest additions here are the glow-star pentagram pin, soda tabs and the heart locket!

I don't really have many new additions to the bottom pockets. Not yet! The only thing I did was stitch one side of the handcuff chain, and rearrange the pins holding up the other side. The cuffs/scorpion was just an impulse addition before going to a concert. But I do like it! And it looks even better now! Meanwhile, that other pocket, I actually have no idea what I'll do. Sakura is just there cause she matches really well, esp w the angel pin actually!