#if anyone comes into my mentions and tries to do flag discourse because i used the toothpaste flag you can stop that before you even start

[sandinmybed]

pride month isn't over until I say it is. will byers with pride flag for the soul.

💙🩵🤍💚💚

will byers my beloved!!! used gouache for this, I'm getting better at gouache guys 😎 the background wash/pride flag is watercolour. the reference picture I used was will at rinkomania watching mike and el run off :( I say I love him and then only paint him sad lmao.

wip shots because a few people told me they like those

you can probably see once again that this is my very tiny sketchbook that I did the mike watercolour in lol.

[transfemlogan]

EDIT: this post is old. Very old. And was very rushed because people kept asking me to post it. While it provides insight onto certain situations, like antiblackness or the lack of flashing lights for years, it doesn't fully go into depth about some of them (like DID & antisemitism) and only offers one opinion into most situations.

It's a great starting point or beginning into learning about certain situations and to begin your own questioning and analysis, but is not a """masterlist""" or a good, in-depth discussion on the things Thomas has done and contributed to.

Take everything in this post with a grain of salt. Take it with "I didn't know that, I will do more research" and if you discover the opposite of what this post is saying and disagree (or if you agree), then that is what I want to come out of this post. I do not want to you immediately take what I say at face value, even if I am/was "correct".

Okay, back to the original post:

Ok. Its been 2 days lets talk abt how thomas participates in anti-blackness, antisemitism, & ableism.

I do have links to almost everything mentioned here, but some of them I do not have. Whether that be because I am expressing an opinion other people have or because I could not find it.

Also, I have something called "aphasia". Some parts of this will be phrased wrong and/or difficult to read. (Look up aphasia I'm not explaining it here.)

If you are a person of colour and want to express your opinion about Thomas being racist, feel free. If you are jewish and want to express your opinion about Thomas being antisemitic, feel free. If you are disabled and want to express your opinion about Thomas being ableist, feel free. I am not trying to speak over anyone. I am a black disabled man talking about things Thomas has done and including my own opinions.

I do not think Thomas does any of this out of actively trying to harm people. This is not me "cancelling" him. This is not me telling you you cannot watch the series or whatever. I am explaining things he has done. You come to your own conclusion about this using critical thinking.

Here is a response by @/voxakumasbitch, along with my own addition, that provides clarity and a more critical response to this post.

Here is a response by @tsfander, that explains the misinformation & faults within the DID section of this post.

DO NOT TAG THIS POST AS FANDOM DISCOURSE.

Anti-blackness:

(note: if you, as a nonblack person, tries to tell me I am WRONG for saying this is racist and antiblack I will literally explode you with my mind. I am a black man, I know what is and is not antiblack & you cannot tell me what is and isnt. Dear god.)

Logan's vocab cards tend to be appropriation of AAVE (African-American Vernacular English), since it's based around what people assume is "internet slang" (for example, in Accepting Anxirty Part 1, Logan uses the phrase "You good, fam?" which is AAVE).

Another character of Thomas' that appropriates AAVE is Sleep, also referred to as "Remy" by fans, in his vines and shorts. This is because he is supposed to be a flamboyant gay man, but again, a lot white gay men appropriate AAVE from black gay men and queens (for example, "slay" is a term that people say came from queer culture, but it is a term that came from black queer culture).

Thomas made a Tik Tok talking about his roles in musicals. (I do not have this Tik Tok as I... do not have Tik Tok for mental health reasons and the idea of redownloading it is terrifying.) One (or multiple?) roles he talks about are ones of black characters. (I hope I don't have to explain how taking black roles in musicals is racist.)

The entire BLM Roman thing

During the height of the BLM protests back in 2020, a tumblr user (I will not say their user) drew a black Roman holding a trans flag. While this in itself is not racist, black people outside of the fandom (and in the fandom) expressed their discomfort with it. This art was later deleted, however their white mutual ended up creating art of black Roman angrily holding up his fist and it was captioned "I frantically drew this in a fit of rage." This user did not post about BLM before this, and also it's very weird to make a white character black to show your support of real black people being murdered.

Here is the post, along with an explanation of why this is racist by me (@/aleiimm) and my TSS mutual at the time (@/mvnte). Obviously, I do not condone the harrassment of this artist.

This sparked a weird """movement""" within the fandom where white fans, ignoring every black fander trying to explain how this is Racist, drew black roman holding up his fist. And because of this "movement", Thomas Sanders reblogged the original drawing, also ignoring every black fander. He later deleted this, without an apology or even a mention.

Here is a post by @/lamp-calm-sanders which explains it better.

(I do think this is a very big fandom problem, though Thomas contributes to it.)

Antisemitism:

This is specifically in relation to Janus Sanders' character being an antisemitic caricature. I have reblogged posts about this, but due to my awful tagging system, I couldn't find them.

(note: I am not jewish, this is me repeating what I have heard from jewish fans and my jewish friends outside of the fandom.)

I recommend finding actual jewish fans and their posts.

Obviously, making antisemitic caricatures is a lot more than just the traits you give the character. I think it's important to identify what was the original idea. In this case, Thomas meant to make a character based off of the "snake in the tree" from the Bible. I doubt he consciously meant to create an antisemitic caricature.

However, most antisemitism is unconscious. Most bigotry is. Just like how white people can be racist, even if they are actively trying not to— because racism spans over years and years— non-jewish people can be antisemitic unconsciously.

Janus is a greedy, selfish, lying half-snake character. There isn't a way to get around that. These traits on their own wouldn't necessarily be antisemitic, but combined they are.

Ableism:

This will the longest section.

In the ad "The Return of the Jam!", Roman refers to Logan Sanders as "Mr. Infodumper" negatively. (Janus also does this in Thomas' Among Us Patreon stream, if I remember correctly, though it is edited out of the YouTube video.)

As an autistic man, I dislike the use of this negatively, however, not every autistic person feels this way. I know autistic people who do not view this as ableist.

Virgil's crofters is named "Cranic Attack", based on on the word "panic attack". I do not have an anxiety disorder, though many people with anxiety disorders expressed their discomfort with this (and also many people said it was fine. Again. Not a monolith.)

Thomas Sanders does make an apology for this usage here (this link includes my response, @/gothybubby).

In this apology Thomas

one: claims that the term "infodump" is negative, which isn't true. The trait is not negative, but the way it is used by Roman (and Janus) is ableist.

two: claims that it is... the character's fault? "we were narratively depicting Roman to be in the wrong for saying it." Not a single character tells Roman off for this. It is not Roman's fault, he's a fictional character, it is the people AKA THOMAS who wrote the script.

And three: that Logan is going to get "vindication" for this. No one wants Logan to get VINDICATION, we want Roman to NOT be ableist.

Here is a response by now deleted user, @/suckerssides, and @/beeceit.

Here is a post by @/turneverybodyintopuppets

Dissociative Identity Disorder & systems

I do not have DID, this is, again, me repeating systems both in and out of the fandom. Also, again, lots of systems have different opinions about whether or not Sanders Sides is ableist towards systems.

I have a friend with DID who does not have Tumblr and is not in the fandom anymore who wants me to talk about this (this is also expressed in the tags of my reblog of my response to Thomas' apology).

I also have reblogged posts about this, but I couldn't find the ones I have reblogged that criticise this.

I recommend finding actual systems and their posts.

Sanders Sides closely resembles DID. Thomas talks about this in his video "Sanders Sides - BEHIND THE SCENES QNA" where he and Joan explains that they are not trying to represent DID, but a man and his singular (one) personality. Joan on their Tumblr made a post where they also talk about this (unable to find it, since their blog is deleted) and explained that they are trying to avoid using terms related to DID.

I know, for a fact, that thomas was going to make a video with systems to discuss DID and make sure to disconnect Sanders Sides from DID. This video was, obviously, never made. (I saw this being discussed in a discord by a system who was asked by Thomas to be in the video, but I am not a part of the discord anymore and I do not have this message.)

Still, it still resembles a system. People have express their discomfort with the sides having names for that reason. People have also expressed their discomfort with Thomas talking about the sides as if they are "real people" (unsure how to phrase this) since it makes it feel more like the sides being alters. For example, when Thomas made a tweet/instagram story where he stated "Logan has a new favourite book."

Here is a Youtube Video by The Entropy System that talks about Sanders Sides and DID

Here is a post by @/kiapet2 and my mutual @/aromanticpatton.

Here is a post by @/sticky7581

Flashing lights tagging

Thomas Sanders sucks as at tagging flashing lights. This is not an accidental, one-time thing. This is continous and has been a thing for years.

I need everyone to know that epilepsy and photosensitivity are serious. Seizures are serious and deadly. I have friends who have had seizures over his videos and I know fans who have bad seizures over his videos. Thomas Sanders and his team know that people have had seizures over his videos.

I have seen people say that he doesn't have to tag flashing and comparing it to trigger warnings. Trigger warnings are a different topic from flash warnings.

Thomas has struggled to tag flashing since 2018. This post by @/cisnesincorbata shows a timeline from 2018 to early 2021 of people sending asks to Thomas about it. I have also sent Thomas asks asking him to tag warnings, along with commenting it on his tweets.

Putting Others First was an episode that a lot of photosensitive people couldn't watch (I also know a lot of autistic people couldn't watch due to the noises and low hearing people couldn't understand Logan's voice). This video took almost a year to get a warning, and even then it is placed in the description, which is NOT a good place for a warning.

Thomas has gotten better at tagging, but this is still an issue that should be talked about. Forgetting is not a valid excuse when people's lives are on the line.

no TL;DR

Writing this post was the most difficult thing ever. If someone else wants to create a TL;DR, feel free, but I am currently out of spoons (look up spoon theory) and my aphasia is kicking my ass.

However, sometimes, things cannot have a TL;DR. Sometimes you have to take the time to read long ass things in order to understand. I acknowledge people have difficulty reading and comprehending things, especially if you are neurodivergent, but a lot of times this can be worked on. I am one of these people.

[nightzskii]

You know gender-mailman is pro endo right? /info /genq

Hes also a big attention seeker and a bad person, using y*an*ere while not being a asian person and ive heard that he gets into discourse only cause of the attention it gives him, and also he self ships himself with 10 year olds(?!?!???!??? Wtf!???) While having pr0-sh1pers in his DNI so uh, yeqh, i dont think hes a good person

You know I'm going to kill myself right? /info /genq

wow, i wouldn't expect for someone with hpd to want attention!! oh my god anon thank you for telling me that! I had no idea! ( Again, adam has HPD. it's in their bio, and if you don't know what it is then SEARCH it up on GOOGLE. )

The yandere one i don't understand. There are so many people who aren't asian who use it but you proceed to only tell me about gender-mailman using it? if only asian people can use it then how about you tell me about five million other people using it too? Why censor the word too? It's not gonna hop out the screen and kill you??

And he doesn't get into discourse, the only way you'd 'hear' this is if you're in a discord server with them, friends with y/n, stalk loves account or if you ARE squish. Sure, Adam may look into it but going into it willingly? No. Just like right now I'm not trying to be in discourse that YOU are forcefully pulling ME in. Are you sure you're not the one looking for attention?

He doesn't self-ship himself with 10 year olds either, he specifically goes for the post-covid versions of them (the adults.) Not once has he said he self-ships with their 10 year old selves, and if its the flags you're talking about then he already gave me an explanation about why he used the 10 year old versions and I gave a solution.

( anyone is free to make ids for these images. )

He still doesn't like proshippers, he still doesn't like discourse and he still doesn't like shit like THIS.

YOU aren't being any better by doing something we've put on our dni, (SYSCOURSE.) If a pro-endo/endo is being nice to us then we'll be nice back, if a friendship forms then it forms. We interacted first not knowing that he was supposedly pro-endo, but we've already been friends and neither of us had any issue of the other being opposite to something they agree or disagree on.

I don't go out and look for endos/pro endos to be friends with them, if one were to come to our inbox and starts being nice then we'll be nice back. we aren't gonna send death threats like some of you anons have been doing to mailman and other friends of mine for either being anti or pro endo, or just for not saying their stance.

we are very much anti-endo but we aren't going to straight out reject people who want friends and are being kind about it. That happened before and it made us feel horrible because we truly had a fun time talking to them. /nav ( Not to mention me and my other friend saw an endo literally get doxxed and death threatened in a discord server that was made to LURE IN endos. We felt horrible about it and tried helping them. )

[mistresseast]

can you explain in more detail why you think the PT weren't good friends for akiren? i'm not asking out of hate or to start drama, i just never interpreted things that way and i'm genuinely curious. i don't think them being brainwashed by maruki makes them "bad friends", but i don't know if that's what you meant either. i'd love to read a proper explanation on this that isn't just people arguing in the notes of that post.

Hi! Yeah, I know the ~discourse~ climate is pretty touchy and not a good place to exchange ideas, so I’ll do my best to put my thoughts on this matter into words. 

Settle in, bc this one is long.

I’ll start off by saying I don’t dislike the PT, nor do I think they’re bad people, and honestly I think they love Joker a lot! Ryuji calling Akira after his fake death and talking about how his ideas on what makes a hero have changed because of Akira genuinely makes me emotional, along with dozens of other scenes with the thieves! They’re good kids who could be really good friends to Akira but that’s not what’s shown in the game. I don’t think it’s controversial to say Akira’s relationships with all of his friends are transactional. That’s kind of the point, all of his confidants arise out of deals, give and take, and in the metanarrative of the game, that’s how it works. You as the player help these characters solve their problems, and through ranking their confidants up, you get access to more gameplay perks. So it’s pretty even!! But like,,Akira, the character, isn’t the player. There’s no in-story mechanic by which he can cash in friendship points for being-good-at-killing-things prizes. Yes, he uses those abilities to not die in the metaverse, but there is no literal, in-universe way to explain how hanging out with someone translates to [insert gameplay perk here]. So you have to look at what is physically happening in the story. Akira hangs out with the PT, stands there while they have drama with another irrelevant character, and then one way or another their problems get solved and they swear to be Akira’s blood brother or whatever. Akira is a crutch for these characters, and they say multiple times that they wouldn’t have been able to do what they did without him. So all of their shit gets handled and Akira gets?? Like actually gets?? What? Inquiries about his well-being? Offers to help him? Questions about his life, his interests? No,,,not really,, But he gets access to a super powerful persona!! Yay!!! Bc everyone knows he’s just a little shadow-killing machine, right? And even the relationships he does get something tangible (as in separate from the mechanics of the game) out of, like Kawakami’s, are built on the notion that if Akira stops providing for whatever reason, the relationship will end. So essentially, Akira is under the pressure of filling whatever role his friends need him in for however long at any time, and he’s been led to believe that if he stops or fails, he will stop receiving any reciprocal care and acceptance.

(And I know this is all gameplay stuff, I know it has to be like this to codify the complicated process of human relationships, I know all of that, I’m just trying to find a deeper layer bc that’s what I do.)

This whole thing comes into pretty clear focus for me during the third semester when you visit everyone in the false reality. Everyone is happy to see him, of course, but they’re clearly wrapped up in their own happiness. Which is understandable, again, I’m not saying the PT need to be attached to Akira to be good friends, but it all still feels off to me.

If they know Joker, then they’d know it’s weird that he just shows up and starts asking these pointed questions while they’re in the middle of something. All of their other interactions with him have been led by them. Yeah, Joker approaches them bc the player has decided to hang out with them, but the other character always chooses the activity and leads the discussion. Akira showing up out of nowhere and asking them to “remember” and “move on” and whatnot should be raising some major red flags. And it clearly does, since their memories do start to return, but they’re all too scared of losing their happiness that they nope out of the conversation as soon as possible, without stopping to consider why Joker might be trying to reach out to them like that. They’re his friends; they should know he wouldn’t just be trying to hurt them or make them unhappy. After all, their entire relationship with him up til that point has been exclusively about Joker trying to help them. This doesn’t make the PT bad people, running away is a totally natural reaction in that situation. They’re just kids, and their minds have been manipulated to a point, but it’s not like they don’t remember Joker or the way they’ve grown since meeting him. In fact many of them mention how much they’ve matured recently, but they never actually relate that back to Akira, despite him being the primary driving force behind most of their personal arcs, even though they definitely remember him. Translation vagueness or deliberate nod to the idea that the PT don’t actually credit Akira with all the hard work he did after their initial lip service? Hmmm. Anyway, their failure to recognize that Joker is struggling just demonstrates to me what was set up all throughout their confidant links, that their relationships are transactional and that they don’t necessarily consider Joker and his individual needs outside of what he provides for them. And when they no longer need him bc that hole has been filled, he simply doesn’t occupy the same place of importance in their lives. 

Makoto’s flashback in particular stood out to me, bc it was from a moment where she was specifically talking about feeling like she finally found a place to belong with the Phantom Thieves (and by extension, with Joker), but then she desperately tries to brush it off. Obviously that sense of belonging wasn’t meaningful enough to her for her to want it back. And I’m not blaming her, of course, any teenager would choose to have their father back over being in a vigilante group lmao, I just thought it was telling that the devs decided to show us a scene that was originally meant to be heartwarming as an example of the harsh reality Makoto wants to forget. All of the flashbacks are from defining moments for the thieves, but that one specifically got me like *thinking emoji*

So his friends are hesitant, despite the fact that they must know something is wrong. It’s understandable, they all stand to lose a lot if someone messes with the status quo. I genuinely don’t think I would react any differently. But there is someone who reacts differently and against his own self-interest. It’s Goro, the one who has arguably the most to lose, who doesn’t turn away from Akira. He seeks Akira out and teams up with him to uncover what’s really going on, even though he has every reason to believe that prodding too deep will literally mean the end of his life. He forces Akira and himself to face the truth because he knows anything else would just be an insult to what they’ve suffered so far. He’s the only one who never flinches, and that, more than any of his friends’ come-to-jesusing (which Akira still has to initiate) is what Akira needs in that situation. For the first time (outside of the brief instances in the tutorial levels), we see a situation where Akira is actually the dependent one, the one who needs help, who needs support. And the only one who has ever provided that, unconditionally, without demanding anything in return, is Goro. I could go into how Goro’s confidant blows all of the others out of the water in terms of building both himself AND Akira as characters, but it’s been said already and by smarter people than me. But basically, despite competition being a core theme of their relationship, Goro is the only character who is portrayed as Akira’s equal. Their contests are all in the name of improving not just Goro, but Akira too. Goro is the only character who expresses an interest in Akira’s inner life and development, and as such he knows Akira better than anyone else. So when Maruki tries to trap them all in a gilded birdcage, Goro won’t stand for it and he knows Akira won’t stand for it either. That’s why he’s so betrayed if you choose to accept the dreamworld. You’re negating the basis of your entire relationship with him and going against your own principles. Out of every character in the game, the one who knows Akira best and refuses to abandon him even when that could mean his own death is Goro Akechi.

I want to reiterate: I do not hate or even dislike the PT!! And tbh I don’t really think they “abandoned” Akira. That post, imo, is supposed to be kind of hyperbolic. Unless it’s referring to how many of them literally sprint away when he comes to talk to them lol. I look at it more like a commentary on how thoughtlessly the PT act as soon as their wishes are granted. I know it’s set up linearly for story purposes, but isn’t it kind of sad how no one checks up on Akira in the week he’s going around talking to people? Especially after he’s been acting so comparatively weird? It’s not unusual that they might be caught up in other stuff, but while you’re going around and visiting everyone, you don’t get a single text or call from ANY of the thieves, for a whole week!! Goro even comments on it directly with his pointed little “I’m sure you’re just as close as you were before” comment. God, he’s such a bitch. Ultimately, the PT do get their acts together, and it’s partially out of the realization that Akira is struggling alone against something and needs their help, which I love and appreciate. I think they are good friends who want to support Akira, but they can’t understand him past the role they’ve placed him in, and until they do, they’ll never be able to be what he needs. Akira loves his friends and knows he can rely on them in most ways, but those relationships will always be dogged by the pervasive fear that he must constantly earn the right to have the relationship at all. What he needs MOST is someone he doesn’t have to perform for, and from what we see in the game, none of the thieves fit that bill. Except Goro. 

I know this was long and rambly and probably pretty disjointed but I wanted to be as thorough as possible and all of my thoughts just sort of gushed out. Obviously ymmv about all of this depending on how you interpret the game, but this is what I arrived at thanks to my analysis so this is what I have for you! Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk

[wisdomrays]

People of Action and Scholarly Ones

QUESTION: What are the lessons today’s believers should draw from the following Divine message:

“Believers should not go forth to war all together. But why should not a party from every community of them mobilize to acquire profound, correct knowledge and understanding of the Religion, and warn their people when they return to them so that they may beware (of wrongful attitudes)” (at-Tawbah 9:122).

ANSWER: God Almighty first reveals that it is not correct for all believers to simultaneously go on a military campaign and take part in war. Then He states that a party should stay behind to gain insight into the spirit of religion and that when their people come back from different fronts, these learned ones should guide them with fair exhortation, feed them with religious knowledge, and teach them what they should know; this is because those people who engaged with the enemy during warfare may have failed to receive the religious education they need.

State of the learned ones and success

In the early period of Islam, since believers told people the truth, and represented and expressed justice, they faced attacks by the antagonists of religion. In such a situation, believers could not say to the enemies coming to exterminate them, “Come on, let us sit in the mosque and discuss first.” Even if they did, those enemies, who were fixed on grudge and destruction, would have tried to demolish that mosque and bury the believers therein. In order to stand against such demolition, they fought to protect their chastity, honor, religion, home, and flag.

After the demise of the noble Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, and during the time of the Rightly Guided Caliphs, may God be pleased with them, similar problems emerged and Muslims had to engage with enemies in different places. During the time of Caliph Abu Bakr they had to fight on eight different fronts in order to repress the cases of apostasy in different tribes. Besides, the Sassanid and Roman empires, which were the super powers of the time, also had their eyes on Muslims. Since they accosted Muslims at every opportunity, Muslims had to fight defensive wars against them in different parts of the world.

In such a situation, had everyone attended war without any exception, there would have been a serious gap in terms of religious education. In the verse mentioned above, God Almighty commands that a group of people should stay behind for scholarly purposes in order to compensate for the lack of knowledge in those who return from war. Thus He pointed out that Muslims must definitely retain their learned state and attain the horizons necessitated by the conditions of their era. If believer fail to attain such a state and horizons, it is not possible to stand against attacks on different fronts anyway.

Cultural envoys

As for the conditions of our era, when knowledge and power of discourse came to the fore, continuing to exist as ourselves will be possible by means of the power of knowledge, pen, and discourse. Therefore, the devoted souls who are the cultural envoys in our time should take their values to different parts of the world—not with weapons and brutal force, but with knowledge, wisdom, love, tolerance, and goodness. The way of peace and love opens the way that leads to hearts, whereas brutal force causes grudge and hatred to rise from the dead. For this reason, unless you remain under invasion and have no any other way but to fight, no solution should by sought through force. As for the issue of using force, it should be evaluated within a perspective of defense or eliminating an inescapable danger.

It is for this reason that the most important duty to be fulfilled with respect to Islam and humanity is going to the four corners of the world, taking our cultural values there, and in the meantime benefitting from different patterns and colors wherever we are, as far as they do not contradict our essential teachings. By coming into contact with different people in the places they go, the devoted souls will both serve as honorary representatives of our cultural values, and they will receive the beautiful sides of those cultures and present them to their own people. However, as they will be predominantly busy with their pursuits of peaceful action, they may not be sufficiently nourished in terms of knowledge and spirituality. Then, it is necessary to edify individuals well-versed in the values of our spiritual heritage, who know our essential sources better, and thus who will help those in the field of peaceful action be nourished as is necessary. Those who undertake the responsibility to deepen in correct and profound knowledge and comprehension of Islam should constantly flow like a pure freshwater spring, nourishing the altruistic souls running in the field, who should in return take what they will from that source and complete their scholarly equipment.

Scholarly ones open to both physical and spiritual disciplines

By referring to acquiring “profound, correct knowledge and understanding of the Religion,” the verse points to the fact that those who stay behind need to be equipped with knowledge pertaining to faith, Islam, and to ihsan, or perfect goodness. Together with that, the sound functioning of these values, their easily being welcome by a society (perhaps of a very different cultural background), and their being liked and valued, depends on correct discernment of non-religious realities and rules as well. Therefore, besides religion, it bears much importance to master the natural sciences, which constitute the basis for most modern sciences. It is important to carry out research in this respect, and behold appreciatively the creation displayed in nature.

While learning religious disciplines on the one hand, modern sciences should not be neglected either. He pointed out that a student’s endeavor would soar only when these two are found together. Excluding one of these two will mean leaving the other devoid of wings. One should neither make concessions from learning religious disciplines, which are the light of the heart, nor ignore modern sciences, which are the light of the mind, reason, and judgment.

In addition, this verse emphasizes the importance of love of knowledge and research. Therefore, one must make very serious efforts in order to master both the religious and modern sciences, and remain like a “student” until the end of their life. The Arabic word for student (talib) means “seeker” of knowledge. No matter whether a person studies religious disciplines or modern sciences, if that person is utilizing the essences distilled from those studies for the sake of knowing God and maintaining a sound balance, then that person will be treated as a true student or seeker of knowledge. So what does such a treatment mean? As the Messenger of God stated, God Almighty makes the way to Paradise easier to one who sets forth demanding to acquire knowledge.

Seeking knowledge is very important and the benefits a scholar can bring to society are great. Thus, one’s society is responsible for supporting seekers of knowledge and doing what they can for them. It is very difficult for someone dedicated to knowledge to devote time for anything else. Accordingly, some Islamic scholars stated that even if they wear expensive clothes and the threshold of their door is made of gold, it is still possible to give alms to seekers of knowledge, because the vitality of a nation depends on such mastering of knowledge. If this cannot be done, the nation will collapse and disintegrate. Due to this stagnancy, some cracks emerged in the Islamic world in the fifth century after the holy migration. With the recession in the 13th and 14th centuries, a complete break down and disintegration happened. We have not been able to straighten up since.

Dignified contentment and remaining under obligation

In response to people’s support and care, seekers of knowledge must do their best in terms of being worthy of such kindness and must not waste a second of their time. Through very serious planning, division of labor, and a discipline of mutual helping, these seekers must be completely focused on this task. They must devote all of their energy to the task so as to be deserving of the people’s regard for them—even if that means sleeping only four hours if necessary and devoting twenty hours of the day to studying. Who knows? When they study with such seriousness, maybe God Almighty will grant them in two years what another person can attain in ten years.

Incidentally, let me share how I feel about one issue: I feel heartbroken for those who go abroad for a PhD, but cannot finish that in even ten years. While the dire need of our country for qualified people is obvious, God will call them to account for wasting so much time. Time is the greatest capital for a human. If a person has taken such a path once, they should persevere, exert their brains, make use of all arguments they can make use of, benefit from all sources they can, and if possible, they should even finish their PhD before the time determined for them.

I wish to underline one more point concerning scholarly ones: Dignified contentment is a very important principle for those dedicated to scholarly pursuits, with respect to the honor of both knowledge and learned ones. Actually, the path of the Prophets is also based on this essential. In many verses of the Qur’an, it is stated that they said,

“I ask of you no wage for that (for conveying God’s Message); my wage is only due from the Lord of the worlds” (ash-Shuara 26:127).

In this respect, scholarly ones should not be obliged to anyone if possible, in any phase of their lives—neither while they are students, nor when they become teachers, or teacher of teachers…

May God forbid, if one does not have this feeling of dignified contentment, and if that person carries out certain tasks for the sake of some returns, such as becoming a manager, director general, MP, minister, or prime minister, then such a person cannot be saved from being obliged to other people. Unfortunately, the concessions they make on account of being obliged will not only cost them dearly, but cost their nation as well. In this respect, those who engage in scholarly pursuits must arrange their lives in accordance with the principle of dignified contentment. They must use the means of their fathers if they can, or they must make a modest living with their own means, if they can. They should live frugally, never becoming obliged to anyone and never having to make concessions.

[gringocaliente]

5 September 2017, The Rise of Totalitarianism

I was going to put this in chronological order, but decided to put my response to it all up front.  The readers, if there are any, can decide for themselves to read what prompted my response on The Rise of Totalitarianism.

“Dear [name deleted],

“We share your love of the environment and in our own way we do our part.  However, we see an even greater near term threat, and that is the rise of totalitarianism from the left.  Absolute insanity is gaining traction; for example, some California legislators want to make it a criminal offense, with jail time, for using the “wrong" gender pronoun.  The violence and hatred coming from the left, the “mainstream” left, is, in our opinion an immediate threat — much more immediate than the environment.

“Not to mention that apologist, spineless Obama who did all he could to encourage rogue nations like Iran and North Korea, the latter of which now has a hydrogen bomb and has no reservations about selling nukes to the highest bidder.  The threat of an EMP device launched from North Korea and detonated over the USA is something Obama should have “fixed” during his 8 years of playing golf.  There are very few options left; diplomacy has proven not to work with N Korea and a military option may be all that is left.  An EMP device that succeeds in taking out the electronics in everything from the electrical grid to your cell phone will result in about 90% of the population of this country dying, and probably billions globally after the USA becomes a 4th world country.

“Even without the threat of 300 million deaths in the USA alone, the totalitarianism that is inherent in the attitudes and actions of the progressives, liberals, or whatever you want to call them, is an absolute evil, just as bad in its own way as Hitler was. 

“When freedom and democracy are once again secure in this country, which today they are not, then we will have time to do more for the environment.  In the meantime, we are ready to defend freedom, democracy and the Constitution against the totalitarianism of the left.

. . .

“I must say that I cannot understand your passion or your single minded focus when the 'father' of 'climate change' (Al Gore) is demonstrably one of the biggest hypocrites alive today, with an electric consumption perhaps a hundred times greater than the average American family.  What an absolute jerk he is.  Maybe 10% of your time should be spent exposing him, and only devote 90% to exposing Exxon.

“Frankly, we think the country may be irreparably damaged (reached its political tipping point) and its survival as a nation is in question.  It is even possible there will be civil war, and if that happens it will be a much worse blood bath than the first civil war.  So you can go “nail” Exxon if that’s the most productive way you can think of to spend your time.  We plan to do what we can, while battling my cancer and my wife’s depression, to preserve freedom and democracy so that when you’ve solved the climate problem this will be a free country where people can live in relative peace and harmony, and Christian bakers won’t be driven out of business by the totalitarian left.

“When you have personal news you want to share, please write, email, or phone.  When you have anything else to share, please share with someone else.

Still a friend”.

==================================

This is what led up to my essay.

My wife forwarded this to a friend who is particularly concerned about climate change, or global warming if you prefer.  He reacted from his single issue perspective which colors everything he does.  But first the item my wife forwarded.  I wish I knew the author, as I’d like to shake his or her hand.  It was written in response to events of the recent horrific flooding in Houston.

----------------------------------------

AUTHOR UNKNOWN (to me):  

“We are still a great people. The rescuers remind us of that. But we lack the culture or the politics to reflect that greatness. The noble impulses that lead men to risk their lives in flooding are there. But our society no longer has the vessels to hold and sustain those impulses. The media doesn't quite know what to make of the rescuers. You can see the itching to return to the stories that it knows and likes. Russia. Trump hit pieces. People punching each other in the street over politics. It swerves at the first sight of a Confederate flag on a rescue boat or Ted Cruz's Sandy vote. It doesn't want to dwell on the best of us. Behavior like that doesn't make sense anymore. Generations have grown up with leftist protesters as their definition of heroes. Look in a history book and the last 70 years consisted of "heroes" who marched around waving signs until they got everything they wanted. And everyday in the news there are more "heroes" marching for illegal aliens, transgender bathrooms, the supremacy of black lives and any other identity politics cause. But waving a placard to the adulation of the media isn't heroism. Saving lives is. Our culture has quickly forgotten that less than two decades ago, men carrying half their weight climbed to the top of the World Trade Center to save lives. They died there. The America of a hundred or even fifty years ago, would have immortalized them. Ours drowned them out in tantrums, in whines, in anger and outrage, in malicious noise. They were a dangerous reminder that we were a great people. And our destroyers desperately wanted us to forget. They wanted us to sink to the bottom. Not to rise to the moment. The secret of so much of our greatness was simply that we tried. We took our best and we made it the cultural norm. Every people tell themselves that they are wonderful and destined to rule the world. The Germans and the Russians believed it and it led them to ruin. But we told each other that we were decent and we became decent. We told our children that the moon could be theirs. And it was. We told them that we could cure diseases. And we did. That we would prevail over the atom bomb. And we did. That we would change the world. And we did. But more importantly, we told them about sportsmanship. We told them to stand up for principles. To take pride in hard work. To believe in the future. To tell the truth. To help old ladies across the street. To tie knots well. To sacrifice for family. To see themselves as heroes, however unlikely. We made all of those things into a culture. That was the secret. Anyone could have done it. You just had to believe. And that culture has been slowly dying. Some days it looks almost dead. Our culture and politics exist to give us permission to lie in the mud. That has become their unhidden purpose. Decency is a dead language. Shock value is our entertainment. Contempt and outrage are our national discourse. The Chinese build cities and islands. We yell at each other over the Internet. It's hard to remember a time when writing the Great American Novel was an ambition. The American novel is dead. Literature, like art, has become segmented into high brow garbage and low brow garbage. The aspirational middle brow culture is dead. The movie theater is filled with billion dollar adaptations of comic books, Disney rides and cartoons. The handful of teens who can be pried away from their phones long enough to watch something they'll forget five minutes later aren't even the target audience. America is a stopover territory on the way to the real markets in the teeming cities of China. How does a culture like that deal with heroism? It can't. It doesn't have the vocabulary for it.”

----------------------------------------

In response to this, our very liberal, single issue friend wrote back:

“Don’t know who wrote this.  Not smart. Here’s what I’m writing.  Researched climate science since I retired [in] 2009.   Its about the Earth math.  Like any system, Earth’s environment responds to a pulse of input like carbon.  How long does it take to respond to reach a steady but higher temp?  30 years.  Here’s the test.  If you apply a reverse pulse, how long does it take to get relief?  30 years, because the physical dynamics are the same. This happened in the 1970s when Exxon discovered they were already destroying the place.  Rather than man up, they voted to hire experts that knew how to confuse the public (mocking libtards) and discredit the same sciences that made them rich.  If  they decide to research how to apply a reverse pulse and then go do it (fat chance), to save their lifetime customers who were only ever given one kind of energy, your kids will see not climate relief in their lifetime (or yours). The Gulf of Mexico is a roulette wheel of grief and death.  Houston will cost $180B.  The bill should go to Exxon, but Sec State Exxon has a better idea:   you can pay it.  Exxon paid-Republicans:   “No problem, and climate is normal, its just nature, goes to the Dems deficit anyway.”   During the 30 year reverse response period, tipping points can be exceeded.  Run past a couple or three of those and climate is out of control, goodby humans. Bugs will be OK. Unfortunately for the planet, during the debate about atmospheric testing of nucs, nuclear winter was modeled and found to be a high risk threatening the common planetary good.  So, we are served by a treaty that everybody adheres to, even the N. Koreans.  Unfortunately, because Sec State Exxon is going to fix climate damage, which is "not happening," with nuclear winter, a sudden climate solution after crazy N. Korea (and hapless  S. Korea, Japan) get vaporized.   “Hey we didn’t know this would happen, but look, Exxon fixed 2 problems.”  End of democracy and life as we knew it.  They are going to dig up every last fossil molecule and meter out nuc bandaids for eons, because they can’t be stopped.  And they LOVE THEIR VOLUNTEER HEROES CLEANING UP AFTER THEIR GRIEF:  IRAQ, SYRIA, LIBIA, AFGHANISTAN, PAKISTAN, RITA, KATRINA, HARVEY, and this list will double and triple.

[survivordivergent]

EPISODE 1 (PART 1) - “WHY U NO MORE ACTIVE DO U WANNA DIE” - PAYTON

Are you really giving me another tribe of 4??? These Hawaii teas, I'm not here for it!

So far Eliza is chill I like them. It is really refreshing to be able to straight up talk to people about being a catfish. It is nice to not fully hide it because idk if I could. So casually talking about the perils of being a fake person with other fake people is pretty nice. But as I said before also ironic that we are on Candor and we are all dirty liars. SPEAKING OF WHICH I totally can see how I am a candor, but I did not fully expect it when it happened. I am really excited to see how this season will operate and if there will be a choosing ceremony and I can jump ship and join Dauntless and get a bunch of tattoos because they do that there

Alright Eliza is the only one who has spoken to me so far but it's literally only 8:16pm so I can slow my roll. Also 10/10 definitely guessing who certain people are... whoops. But they're only guesses!

Not sure which name I'm supposed to be putting... guess I'll put both!

For those wondering, Ed Creegan is a portmanteau of the first name of the Barenaked Ladies' guitarist and the last name of their bassist. I've been on a huge BNL kick lately and I'm a bassist myself. The Ed was just to make sure Google searches didn't pull up anything if anyone tries digging too deep.

Uh, I think I'm gonna try and play this one in the spirit of an alias game. There's no fun in trying to figure out who everyone is, because that takes out the mystery and encourages pre-made friendships. I'm sure it'll come out eventually, but right now I'm looking forward to playing with Kyle Burton, Betty Goldman, Will Cannon and... wait, four person tribes? Shit. This is gonna be tricky.

http://prntscr.com/dfffeg 

yall really put me on a tribe with three ~girls.........and two of them picked avatars that were in ....... iconic...female-centric......alliances................................ im out.

Omg I'm so nervous! A tribe of 4?!? Are you kidding.

This is gonna be the death of me I'm telling you now. I could be teamed up with my mortal enemy

Anyways I'm aligned with Geo. that happened. He doesn't know it yet but I do.

BYE I FUCKED UP IT'S BEEN ONE HOUR AND I'VE ALREADY USED A GILMORE GIRLS REACTION GIF, THERE'S NO WAY THIS IS GOING TO LAST

Confessional #1 Abnegation Day 1

I was excited coming in here, it's a season full of aliases and it means a fresh start. People don't have any preconceived notions of you, which is great.

However, I'm a little worried that because we don't know who we are, that people are going to be relatively quiet around camp, and that's got me sketched out. I might be paranoid, but I feel it in my gut.

From my first impressions, Carolanne is, in your face, a loud personality. I personally feel like I may have a rocky time trying to connect with them. Melissa is a chill individual, they crack jokes, and I'm all down for it. Lake gives off this... aura about them that I think they might be trying to downplay. They come off as super smart, I don't if it's the name, but I can feel it. They're going to be someone to keep my eyes on.

It's going to be scary trying to manage these new relationships, because I do want to know these people, maybe again. Woof, let me tell you, this is going to be an interesting season. I hope at least.

Confessional #2 Abnegation Day 1

It hasn't even been three hours but we won reward. Uh, icons truly. I think that me and Melissa did really well together, it was the two of us that basically did the challenge, mainly Melissa, but we killed it. Amity had won reward before us, but we still managed to get second.

This is great, it's a morale booster, and it unites our tribe. The only thing is that the reward, is the freaking idol. Oh how I hate them. Apparently we get a chance to look for them or something of the sorts. We're getting reward tomorrow, so there's no specifics.

Having an idol is a target on your back, you don't know exactly what to do with it, and it's hard to find them. This is all from my opinion. If I don't end up finding it, it won't be that sad, but there is a risk that the person I would like to go home plays it and screws up the plan. I'm not saying that there is anyone, at the moment, but it's a fear you have in the back of your mind.

Confessional #3 Abnegation Day 2

If i had to pick my favorite on the tribe so far, it's definitely Melissa. They're the most active person, and they killed the challenge. We bonded really well so far, in my opinion, so maybe there's potential to become an alliance in the future.

Even though I am on the Abnegation tribe, a.k.a. the selfless tribe... I'm pretty sure, I do want to play a more, selfish game. I have to play for myself, I've been dragged along before because I have cared a lot for my allies, but I end up getting stabbed in the back. If I have to cut people off or break promises, I'll do it, I want to get the title of Sole Survivor.

The idol system was announced to us, and it's got me freaked out, there's something about it. In the post it exclaims, "But be warned, to find each idol you will have to embody the core values of whichever faction the idol corresponds to." I might be overthinking, but I feel like it may give opportunities to visit other tribes or even swap. I'm not sure, but there's definitely something fishy going on with the idols. You have to expect the unexpected in these games.

Speaking of the other tribes, there's three people that I feel I may know. Ed from Amity, I sense something about him. I think I know him. If there's somebody that I have to guess, it's Erudite's Percy. Seamus is that you? It sounds like him, even though he's in Wonderland, I know that they will allow players still in the series play again. Otto Apollo, has this air about him that reminds me of someone. We'll have to wait and see.

By the way, I'm just putting this out there, but I do believe that Eddie freaking Bracco is playing in this game. We talked before, and he mentioned this series, saying it's an interesting idea. You know who's hosting this season too, Jenn, winner of his first tumblr season. I was with him, and he was saying stuff about applying, but that was like two days before the game started. Plus, he hasn't been replying a lot to me <.< I thought you loved me Eddie!! I talk a lot about other things, and have long confessionals, so Imma be annoying to the hosts I bet. BET!!

Day 2? I think

I've still talked the most with Geo but we got our first challenge and I wanted to quickly contribute something before they all did it without me again and Geo completely shot down my idea!! And then he says ahhh we could be called altitude because we like to get high and the weeed.  I don't think that's actually what he said but that's how I read it.

I've already sworn my alligience to Mr. Geography Man but it's not too late to slit his throat.  

Geo will be sinking to the bottom of Lake Harper if he doesn't start playing smart.

Confessional #4 Abnegation Day 2

We have our immunity challenge, and I'm like, we should try to get an idea on what to do guys. First we're talking about the name for our faction, and Lake immediately says Fides. WHAT?! That sent immediate red flags to me. The fact that they would just say the name of a tribe that is going on in the community. Now I'm thinking, Lake is connected to Lazio, they're either a player or a host. That's really sketchy to me and if they think I didn't notice that, they must be insane.

Carolanne, rubs me the wrong way. I was talking to them, and all they said was, "I agree" in two different chats! Okay Carol, thanks for caring. I must've drinken some paranoia juice during the challenge because my radars are going off the charts right now.

Okay! So let's look at the Grade A passive aggressiveness that's happened on Candor tonight.

Example A, done by me: On 12/5/16, at 8:13 PM, Payton Rodriguez wrote: > be there or be medevaced, probs

Example B, done by Eliza: On 12/5/16, at 9:16 PM, Eliza wrote: > by avoiding tribal, perhaps??

More to come, probably.

So it's Day 2. I feel like I could do better socially but the tribe is generally quiet so I'm not too worried for now. We got first in reward which is great. I'm giving myself a little tap on the back because I pointed out the one thing our tribe was doing wrong. Right now, I think my closest connections are Will (who I already have my suspicions about) and Ed (but again, it's only day 2). Betty doesn't seem to be around that much from what I've seen in the chat. But who knows. She could be chatting up a storm with the other guys and leaving me on the outs. I feel good about the immunity challenge, I'm working on some ideas I'll share either tonight if people start becoming more active tonight, or just tomorrow morning before I leave. As far as my strategy goes, right now I just want to get to know the people on my tribe as much as possible, and use that social connection to leverage some deals. There's 5 idols too, so I want to see if I can get my hands on one this round, just for that extra safety. It never hurts. Anyways, I'm supposed to be getting a new laptop soon, so hopefully I can start doing video confessionals because my fingers hurt. Bye!

I think I may have low-key started some Peter discourse. I didn't mean to do that. Well... hopefully that doesn't go badly for me.

More low-key passive aggressive savagery (no offense to the people in Dauntless I'm just going by the books), from me:

On 12/5/16, at 10:18 PM, Payton Rodriguez wrote: > we’re candor, not dauntless, we’ve still got our intelligence

Passive aggressive, via Eliza: On 12/5/16, at 11:32 PM, Eliza wrote: > Peter can help us out with the rest tomorrow

@peter why u no more active do u wanna die

I'm panicking just a bit bc I couldnt be here to help with the very first challenge because of hosting duties.... I'm really hoping to be able to bond with Jill and Payton more. ITS SO WEIRD because I know that I know these people. I just don't know who they are! Its crazy and it's going to drive me nutso

Lake......doesn't.......drink....... THANK GOD I THOUGHT IT WAS GOING TO BE HARD TO FIND THE FIRST PERSON I WANTED TO VOTE OUT but now WHEW