#if they LIKE SLAVERY and APPROVE of it IN REAL LIFE

[vonclosen]

vent. sorry i’m honesty hangry and upset

actually i’m still annoyed. has anyone in this damn fandom heard of filtering tags. for shit. they don’t like

also like not to be ‘what about’ but seriously if your biggest problems are fucking shipping wars on tumblr dot com i envy you. truly.

[odinsblog]

One of the most durable myths in recent history is that the religious right, the coalition of conservative evangelicals and fundamentalists, emerged as a political movement in response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling legalizing abortion. The tale goes something like this: Evangelicals, who had been politically quiescent for decades, were so morally outraged by Roe that they resolved to organize in order to overturn it.

This myth of origins is oft repeated by the movement’s leaders. In his 2005 book, Jerry Falwell, the firebrand fundamentalist preacher, recounts his distress upon reading about the ruling in the Jan. 23, 1973, edition of the Lynchburg News: “I sat there staring at the Roe v. Wade story,” Falwell writes, “growing more and more fearful of the consequences of the Supreme Court’s act and wondering why so few voices had been raised against it.” Evangelicals, he decided, needed to organize.

Some of these anti- Roe crusaders even went so far as to call themselves “new abolitionists,” invoking their antebellum predecessors who had fought to eradicate slavery.

But the abortion myth quickly collapses under historical scrutiny. In fact, it wasn’t until 1979—a full six years after Roe—that evangelical leaders, at the behest of conservative activist Paul Weyrich, seized on abortion not for moral reasons, but as a rallying-cry to deny President Jimmy Carter a second term. Why? Because the anti-abortion crusade was more palatable than the religious right’s real motive: protecting segregated schools. So much for the new abolitionism.

Today, evangelicals make up the backbone of the pro-life movement, but it hasn’t always been so. Both before and for several years after Roe, evangelicals were overwhelmingly indifferent to the subject, which they considered a “Catholic issue.” In 1968, for instance, a symposium sponsored by the Christian Medical Society and Christianity Today, the flagship magazine of evangelicalism, refused to characterize abortion as sinful, citing “individual health, family welfare, and social responsibility” as justifications for ending a pregnancy. In 1971, delegates to the Southern Baptist Convention in St. Louis, Missouri, passed a resolution encouraging “Southern Baptists to work for legislation that will allow the possibility of abortion under such conditions as rape, incest, clear evidence of severe fetal deformity, and carefully ascertained evidence of the likelihood of damage to the emotional, mental, and physical health of the mother.” The convention, hardly a redoubt of liberal values, reaffirmed that position in 1974, one year after Roe, and again in 1976.

When the Roe decision was handed down, W. A. Criswell, the Southern Baptist Convention’s former president and pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas—also one of the most famous fundamentalists of the 20th century—was pleased: “I have always felt that it was only after a child was born and had a life separate from its mother that it became an individual person,” he said, “and it has always, therefore, seemed to me that what is best for the mother and for the future should be allowed.”

Although a few evangelical voices, including Christianity Today magazine, mildly criticized the ruling, the overwhelming response was silence, even approval. Baptists, in particular, applauded the decision as an appropriate articulation of the division between church and state, between personal morality and state regulation of individual behavior. “Religious liberty, human equality and justice are advanced by the Supreme Court abortion decision,” wrote W. Barry Garrett of Baptist Press.

So what then were the real origins of the religious right? It turns out that the movement can trace its political roots back to a court ruling, but not Roe v. Wade.

In May 1969, a group of African-American parents in Holmes County, Mississippi, sued the Treasury Department to prevent three new whites-only K-12 private academies from securing full tax-exempt status, arguing that their discriminatory policies prevented them from being considered “charitable” institutions. The schools had been founded in the mid-1960s in response to the desegregation of public schools set in motion by the Brown v. Board of Education decision of 1954. In 1969, the first year of desegregation, the number of white students enrolled in public schools in Holmes County dropped from 771 to 28; the following year, that number fell to zero.

In Green v. Kennedy (David Kennedy was secretary of the treasury at the time), decided in January 1970, the plaintiffs won a preliminary injunction, which denied the “segregation academies” tax-exempt status until further review. In the meantime, the government was solidifying its position on such schools. Later that year, President Richard Nixon ordered the Internal Revenue Service to enact a new policy denying tax exemptions to all segregated schools in the United States. Under the provisions of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which forbade racial segregation and discrimination, discriminatory schools were not—by definition—“charitable” educational organizations, and therefore they had no claims to tax-exempt status; similarly, donations to such organizations would no longer qualify as tax-deductible contributions.

On June 30, 1971, the United States District Court for the District of Columbia issued its ruling in the case, now Green v. Connally (John Connally had replaced David Kennedy as secretary of the Treasury). The decision upheld the new IRS policy: “Under the Internal Revenue Code, properly construed, racially discriminatory private schools are not entitled to the Federal tax exemption provided for charitable, educational institutions, and persons making gifts to such schools are not entitled to the deductions provided in case of gifts to charitable, educational institutions.”

Paul Weyrich, the late religious conservative political activist and co-founder of the Heritage Foundation, saw his opening.

In the decades following World War II, evangelicals, especially white evangelicals in the North, had drifted toward the Republican Party—inclined in that direction by general Cold War anxieties, vestigial suspicions of Catholicism and well-known evangelist Billy Graham’s very public friendship with Dwight Eisenhower and Richard Nixon. Despite these predilections, though, evangelicals had largely stayed out of the political arena, at least in any organized way. If he could change that, Weyrich reasoned, their large numbers would constitute a formidable voting bloc—one that he could easily marshal behind conservative causes.

“The new political philosophy must be defined by us [conservatives] in moral terms, packaged in non-religious language, and propagated throughout the country by our new coalition,” Weyrich wrote in the mid-1970s. “When political power is achieved, the moral majority will have the opportunity to re-create this great nation.” Weyrich believed that the political possibilities of such a coalition were unlimited. “The leadership, moral philosophy, and workable vehicle are at hand just waiting to be blended and activated,” he wrote. “If the moral majority acts, results could well exceed our wildest dreams.”

But this hypothetical “moral majority” needed a catalyst—a standard around which to rally. For nearly two decades, Weyrich, by his own account, had been trying out different issues, hoping one might pique evangelical interest: pornography, prayer in schools, the proposed Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution, even abortion. “I was trying to get these people interested in those issues and I utterly failed,” Weyrich recalled at a conference in 1990.

The Green v. Connally ruling provided a necessary first step: It captured the attention of evangelical leaders , especially as the IRS began sending questionnaires to church-related “segregation academies,” including Falwell’s own Lynchburg Christian School, inquiring about their racial policies. Falwell was furious. “In some states,” he famously complained, “It’s easier to open a massage parlor than a Christian school.”

One such school, Bob Jones University—a fundamentalist college in Greenville, South Carolina—was especially obdurate. The IRS had sent its first letter to Bob Jones University in November 1970 to ascertain whether or not it discriminated on the basis of race. The school responded defiantly: It did not admit African Americans.

Although Bob Jones Jr., the school’s founder, argued that racial segregation was mandated by the Bible, Falwell and Weyrich quickly sought to shift the grounds of the debate, framing their opposition in terms of religious freedom rather than in defense of racial segregation. For decades, evangelical leaders had boasted that because their educational institutions accepted no federal money (except for, of course, not having to pay taxes) the government could not tell them how to run their shops—whom to hire or not, whom to admit or reject.

The Civil Rights Act, however, changed that calculus.

(continue reading)

[allthatmay]

So, today my husband said, "Some people think Shanks is a radial leftist, but I think he's the most centrist character in the show. Dragon fills the role of the radial leftist/anarchist that people often attribute to Shanks."

And, huh, yeah. People do often talk about Shanks like he's an anarchist, but he's really not. I've always said that Shanks is a mediator, keeping a tentative peace between the pirate tribes and the government until the time comes wherein the One Piece can be claimed and the mysterious consequences can happen, but that means he is effectively playing the part of a centrist—straddling the fence, as it were. The key difference, I think, is that Shanks knows for certain that change is coming in the form of a rubber deity, and he is trying to guide it into place. All his work is done behind the scenes with very little violence if he can help it.

Now, it's easy to assume that Shanks' plans involve the complete dissolution of the government as it presently stands; that he is simply using his power & influence to mitigate harm for the many until the "real fight" can begin (and, with him having recently decided to chase the One Piece, now it has), but that might not be the case (and, even if it is the case, a lot of centrists use "mitigating harm for the many" as a reason not to take action against some truly heinous acts). The reality may be that Shanks doesn't see the need for the total collapse of the government, or perhaps he knows something about it that we don't (i.e. because he might be of Celestial Dragon blood). I don't really believe this is the case because, as far as I'm aware, Shanks hasn't ever shown any real support for the World Gov but he has shown, time and time again, that he believes in dreams, in people's personal willpower, and in the ability of anyone to become strong and change the future. But the truth is that we can't know his intentions for certain without Oda giving us more information, so my husband's assertion that Shanks is a centrist makes some sense.

In particular, Luffy is what makes this theory interesting: slap him in between Dragon and Shanks, and there's a very real dichotomy between the two "fathers" in his life. See, Luffy idolises Shanks and thinks of him similarly to a father, but he might realise as time goes on that he can't be like Shanks; he might realise that Shanks' ideals will only carry him so far. After all, what good is it to be a pacifistic when your enemy is a powerful government that is comfortable with mass murder?

(My rebuttal is that Luffy is the only one who can be like Shanks. He is effectively Shanks' dream: Shanks wants to be strong enough to do all the work himself, to suffer all the pain himself, and while he is one of the strongest men in the world, he simply can't do that; what he can do is only achievable through the support he has at his side. Meanwhile, Luffy has close support in his crew, and he has the Gum-Gum Fruit! He can literally become a godlike figure and shape the world around him! He can do everything that Shanks wants and needs and, as sure as I am that Shanks wishes he could have done it himself—I'm thinking back to his days with Roger here—he knows that it was never meant to be him.)

This is where Dragon comes in. Dragon, in direct contrast to Shanks, uses violence as a tool whenever he can. He's all about the greater good, for lack of a better term. His thinking is along the lines of, "People are suffering now and we can help, and we have no qualms in forcibly dismantling a government that uses slavery, genocide, and imprisonment to control its populace. We don't wait for the right time to act, we simply act." Do I think Shanks would approve of Dragon's goals? Yes. Do I think he would approve of Dragon's means in achieving those goals? No, but mostly because Shanks is very self-sacrificial and tries to take whatever suffering is necessary for change onto himself, relying only on his small, personal crew, whereas Dragon is happy to let other people martyr themselves for the rebel cause. He lets a small, amnesiac child join them, for crying out loud—something Shanks would never do, not even if the child proved very capable.

If anything is to come from this difference of ideals, I think it's that Luffy will learn from both of them and find his own way to the One Piece and into the world waiting beyond. Why? Well, because Luffy is all about freedom, and no one on the side of Dragon or Shanks is truly free. As for the world itself, it's hard to predict what will happen after Luffy's done with it because it's pretty dependent on Oda's philosophy. For instance, Oda seems to approve of monarchies, which is not something I would personally imagine remaining in a world without a governing body—but, hey, what do I know?

Of course, we all know that the true centrist in the show is undeniably Garp. He will let real, undeniable harm befall those he cares about in order to maintain the status quo, or to stop the government from toppling because [gasp] that would be the worst thing ever! He's a man who believes the government is essential and joins up in order to change it from the inside, only to fall short of his own expectations because he won't stand up when it matters most. Not even for the sake of his beloved grandson.

[olderthannetfic]

https://www.tumblr.com/olderthannetfic/749333039047442432/httpsolderthannetfictumblrcompost74884185043?source=share

Sorry, long rant incoming.

Someone in the replies said it, but I think it needs to be said again where everyone can see it: I think a lot of the attitude that anon is somehow secretly pro-censorship because they think certain preferences are skeevy, and strenuously insisting that bad attitudes can NEVER be media's fault.... idk, maybe take it out of the context of debates about sexually explicit/pornographic media for a moment?

There are works of media that had pretty direct effects on activist and political movements, good and bad. Uncle Tom's Cabin inspired a lot of people to fight against slavery. The movie Birth of a Nation, which showed a history of the U.S. with the KKK as heroic, is considered by most historians to be a major contributor to the revival of the KKK in the 1920s. The Nazis used films, books, music, art, and so on in their propaganda, knowing it would help their ideas go down more easily. The Soviets did too. Every dictatorship did. Even democratic countries have done it as well, usually but not always in more subtle ways.

Do none of those count, because "oh, people who were going to be convinced by Birth of a Nation would be racist anyway"? "Good, non-racist people wouldn't be convinced by it"? I mean, the latter is true: there were plenty of people, especially black Americans but plenty of white allies too, who boycotted the film at the time. The NAACP led a boycott. But do you really think NO ONE was convinced? (What about people who previously didn't feel any way about it one way or the other? Were they just innately more evil, even if it might've just been that they weren't aware? Do supposedly progressive people in fandom realize how much this sounds like Christian original sin rhetoric...) And does it matter purely about media fully changing minds, or also how it galvanizes people who already think one way? If it gives them new talking points, new ways of thinking about it and convincing others? If it helps them believe their cause is more important and worth fighting for?

So why does this all suddenly change when we're talking about sex? Is porn really this special class of media where somehow all the rules about how we can both like things and also be critical of how media (fiction, news media, whatever) influences us - "be critical of the media you love," as a tote bag sold by Feminist Frequency said - just stop applying for some reason? Or maybe if something is bypassing your rational brain entirely and going directly for the pleasure centers, there's all the more reason to think critically about what it's saying? Propaganda is designed to bypass all that, too.

Also, if media really has NOTHING to do with it, that just wouldn't explain why it's disproportionately anime that feature these specific elements that seem to attract more people arguing for why it's wrong to be upset by rape or child exploitation in real life. I don't believe that everyone who watches slavery isekai or lolicon approves of those things irl - I think for the vast majority of people, it IS a fantasy and that's the point - but I have noticed that in places like the Anime News Network or Crunchyroll forums, the comments become a cesspool of creepy people arguing for why ages of consent should be lowered and mean feminists who don't like watching media with rape in it just need to get over themselves, in a way they just don't when you're talking about Attack on Titan or My Hero Academia or Shoujo Romance #4891 or whatever.

As another person in the notes said, abusers ARE opportunistic. They'll use something like Twilight as easily as they'll use the most uwu, soft, "non problematic" ship to argue for why they're allowed to abuse you. But I don't think that means we can't be critical (not calling for censorship, of course! but like, writing op-eds and stuff) of media that makes their arguments a little easier, maybe even directly makes their arguments for them.

You can believe both that everyone has the opportunity to read, watch, listen to, play what they want and make up their own minds about it, and that it's wrong for the government to ever decide what media is and isn't "acceptable," and also believe that media often is saying things that aren't apparent on the surface and that you should be critical of those messages, *especially* with the stuff you like.

The point is just that porn isn't like, fundamentally different from other fictional media in this way. (Or, hell, I would argue that fictional media isn't functionally different from other mass media in this way. If anything, fiction's politics are often more insidious in a way that makes it easier for them to reach people who might not otherwise be open to those messages in the form of, say, blatantly right-wing news media.)

It's particularly strange to me when people jump all over someone for expressing how something can be insidiously creepy in a more mundane way. The line people are upset about that used the word "unpack" was just making the point that even if we can agree lolicon isn't outright advocating pedophilia, even if we agree the point is that it's a fantasy and they're not like real children at all and that's what people like, it's still working within an idealization/fetishization of helplessness, innocence, and dependence, and that still has a lot that you can critique from a feminist perspective. It's still a thing that plays into some crappy societal ideas about who women are supposed to be, and is selling that to men as a romantic ideal. There's still a lot we can talk about there! And it's still totally fair for women to be wary of men where that seems to be all they're into - because for some (and I believe this was what anon was initially trying to say was their experience), it does impact how they treat real women. It doesn't have to be everyone for it to have an impact.

There's a lot of anime that presents women that way, even way outside of lolicon. A lot of it's anime I like! I'm still critical of that aspect of it. I still wish that particular part of it were different.

I still don't see how this makes me "pro censorship" unless I believe some kind of institution should mandate that that not be included. And whether that's the government, or the industry itself (people do kind of narrowly focus on "the government" in a way that would make a lot of industry-run censorship that was still very harmful, e.g. the Hollywood Hays Code, not "count"), or anyone, I very much disagree with that. Creators should be able to create what they want. A lot of what creators are doing with this is unconscious, is reflecting societal biases they learned but haven't thought deeply about.... which is precisely the point of critiquing how those show up in a work.

People love to talk about "secretly 'anti' attitudes" but at the end of the day, support or opposition to censorship is pretty straightforward. You believe someone should be stopped from making a particular kind of media, or you don't. If you don't, you're not pro-censorship, no matter how much you personally may not like that that media or a particular aspect of it exists. Most people who care about media have some media they wish didn't exist. It's about what they do about it that makes them pro or anti censorship. Talk to people who donate to or even work for the ACLU or other anti censorship groups; most of them don't like racist or sexist stuff, but they also don't believe it should be banned and that's the point.

Bringing it back to the discussion at hand, I think the point was just that you can't be blind to how power dynamics influence this stuff. I wouldn't even say specifically cishet men are at fault here, since some people who read this blog seem to think that anyone saying that is automatically talking about bioessentialism as opposed to like, societal stuff (don't ask me why, this has been explained on here enough times in enough different discourses over the years, I think). I'd just say anyone with power in that particular context. There's a reason why it's specifically mainstream media, aimed at groups in power, that tends to draw in creeps excusing the real thing... in a way that just similarly is not true of people in fanfiction fandom, who are usually a member of one or more oppressed categories, exploring that in their own marginal work. Fans of rape fanfiction just don't act the way that fans of slavery rape isekai do. It's because there is fundamentally a difference both when you're someone whom society tells you are entitled to everything you want in this particular arena, and also when a work is mainstream, broadening its reach, and speaking a particular message from the lens of people with economic and social power (who are making these mainstream works) and given approval by publishers/media studios/etc. in a way that is not the case with amateur work with tiny audiences. And, frankly, there's a difference between something that eroticizes rape from the point of view of the perpetrator vs. the victim.

Not a difference in terms of how legal it should be. Not a difference in whether every single person who watches it or likes it is bad. But a difference in terms of what it's saying, how it's saying that, and often the effects they have as a result. That, too, is true with every topic, not just sex.

I feel like a lot of people getting mad at these do fundamentally agree with this, but just have a weird blind spot when it's put in any sort of terminology that reminds them of certain bad arguments they've seen in fandom, uses any words that can be dismissed as "radfem" or "anti" or whatever, and so just refuse to engage with the actual meat of what is being said.

If you do actually believe though that it's wrong to EVER think media can have a negative effect on what people believe about irl issues, because there was always something "already there" that was going to "come out anyway" if it affects you that way (again, people: this is "original sin" rhetoric), and if you ever privately judge people for the media they like you're secretly pro-censorship. You do have to recognzie that both you personally come up short and also most peopel doing real concrete real world things to fight censorship would also come up short!

I think sometimes of an editorial that said "if you love Return of the Jedi but hated the Ewoks you understand feminist criticism" in terms of how you can be bothered by the sexism of a piece of media in a way you'd be bothered by any one individual element of it, and still overall like the whole. And also, you can be offended by something, even wish it didn't exist (don't we as nerds all have entries in some franchise we like or another that we wish didn't exist for fannish reasons?), without believing that it should be officially made to stop existing or have never existed in the first place. That last part does actaully matter as like, its own thing. It is in fact separable from just being able to have personal judgey feelings about media and about the people who liked it.

And opposing it does not mean in any way that we have to just stop thinking critically about the media we love, or that we have to act like media can never have any influence on people. We on the left tend to talk about sexism, racism, homophoia and so on as being influenced by culture and society. Well, guess what is part of society and culture? Fictional (and other kinds of) media. That's part of that societal programming we get. It's why you'll see some of it even from people whose parents very much tried to resist teaching them certain things, because they get it from media anyway. I was raised by strenuously feminist parents: it was the media that taught me what gender roles were and how I was expected to adhere to them.

--

Look, I realize it's a bit rich of me to say this, but people are not going to engage with your actual points if you cannot be more succinct.

[physalian]

Tackling Characters with Mental Health Issues (or, ‘Write What you Know’)

**Trigger warning for this entire post**

This is completely off the cuff and unplanned but here we go. I just read a book that POV switches between its two romantic leads. One of these leads was intended to be written with a severe case of generalized anxiety. I have confirmation from the author that it’s not an author-insert. This character was entirely based on research, not experience.

Without putting them on blast, because they really did try…. While ‘neurodivergent’ or ‘mental health disorder’ isn’t a protected class, it should still fit squarely under other topics you shouldn’t write about if you don’t experience it with a massive asterisk.

TL;DR: If you yourself aren’t part of X minority or suffer Z physical or mental disability, you should not be barred from writing characters with those traits. ***HOWEVER*** writing these characters struggling, suffering, or overcoming this given trait in a pro-cis, straight, white, neurotypical, able-bodied America is not yours to touch.

This suffering isn’t your story to profit off of, when you didn’t actually suffer any of it.

I cannot remember who said it and I am absolutely paraphrasing but for example: White authors can and should include characters of color (and I am a White author). White authors should *not* write about a character of color as their protagonist experiencing bigotry, discrimination, hate crimes, and all that hardship, at the hands of white society. It’s just not your story to tell, and all the research in the world will never give you the lived experience you need to do it justice.

Like, you can write about the concept of slavery existing in a fantasy novel. Or sci-fi. Or some Alternate Universe historical fiction. You cannot write about the American slave trade like you lived it and still suffer the ramifications of it when you didn’t, especially when it is the thesis of your entire book.

Anyone remember that awful Amazon movie, My Policeman? Based on a book written by a straight, white woman whose straight female lead took an entire narrative to whine about how she was jilted by her gay husband and his gay lover who she got arrested and institutionalized so she could keep her husband… and never told them? With the predatory 3rd love interest and the whole ‘liar revealed’ and… yeah. That one.

Unless you do the work very few authors are willing to do, with permission and encouragement and a backing from whatever minority you’re writing about and their stamp of approval that you knocked it out of the park, just don’t. Save yourself the headache.

—

As I read this book, and this entire character’s arc is about her mental health, for 100k words… why would you *want* to take on that responsibility? Why would you want to take on all that extra research, all the stress of making sure you get it right, all the costs of hiring sensitivity readers and the risk of your character falling apart with readers who do fit these traits?

Characters with mental health problems are very, very tricky to get right for one massive reason: Accurately depicting many disorders and anxieties means your character can come across as extremely unlikeable, uncompelling, confusing, and frustrating. These characters won’t make logical choices or arguments, they’re likely to self-sabotage, contradict themselves, argue in circles, and die on molehills they think are mountains. This is just what anxiety does to people in the real world. We are not always compelling protagonists, and we don’t always get happy endings.

Writing illogical characters takes a lot of practice if you yourself are not an illogical thinker and if you’re writing half a book elbow-deep in 3rd person limited, intimately trying to describe how this disorder impacts their daily life, you, my friend, have so much more work cut out for you than you anticipated.

So why?

It got very sticky very quickly when the message I took away from the book was “character A can love away character B’s anxiety” and that just… it’s just not how it works. That is a very dangerous mindset to have, for both parties involved.

Character A does not exist to “fix” Character B, nor should A exist to be B’s therapist.

Making A B’s “medicine” can encourage some dangerous codependency. Especially if they break up, B backslides and spirals, and A takes on guilt for not being there anymore, as if any of this is A’s fault.

It says that ‘curing’ anxiety just takes a little romance. Which. No. B has to love themselves, first, before they’re able to love anyone else or let anyone else love them.

It got stickier when the author accidentally wrote a trauma-induced ace who wanted to start liking sex to please her partner and not for her own peace of mind (with internalized self-hate for her anxieties around sex as if not liking it after a traumatic experience isn't completely justified), as if she wasn’t good enough with the boundaries she had. And the narrative backed it up because she was *cured* after a couple rounds in the sheets—I worked really hard on my Ace character guide to help stop people from doing this.

Had Character A accepted these boundaries B had, and these two come to a creative compromise around intimacy that B does like, it would have been so much healthier. B liked making out, just not being the 'recieving' partner, while A chose to die on a 'if we can't have the sex I want, I can't be in a romance with you' hill and it just broke my heart for B. B wasn't being picky. B was traumatized.

The worst thing you can do to your ace character is a) reinforce the idea that they’ve failed as a human because they don’t like sex and b) reinforce the idea that they “just haven’t found the right person yet” and this narrative hit both in the bullseye.

The author wasn’t trying to write an ace, I can tell, but aceness aside “good sex is the best cure to your sexual trauma” is… also, not great? If you yourself didn’t experience this? The point of all of this was clearly to attempt exposure therapy, it just got so bogged down with other problems that the nuance necessary to stick the landing was completely lost.

If this was fantasy, like Twilight, with Bella’s dangerous codependency on Edward in New Moon, mental health is not the point of that book. The author didn’t set out on a mission to provide respectful representation of depression and healthy relationship goals. It’s toxic as hell, but it also takes a backseat to the actual story and the audience who loves those books couldn’t care less about how toxic it is.

The books aren’t about Bella overcoming her depression. They’re about sparkly vampires and the dangers of… teen pregnancy?

It got even *stickier* when the character revealed she’d apparently been in therapy for a decade and a half, only for her therapist to shrug and go ‘I guess you’re stuck with it’ while her mental health issue became a physical health issue, because she should have had a crippling eating disorder that the narrative didn't at all take seriously.

Why would you want the stress of writing this?

—

I am not at all saying you can’t write anxious characters if you yourself are not anxious. But make that an ingredient of the pie and not the entire pie, yeah?

Ask yourself why you’re doing this. The fundamental argument of that book seemed to be “anxiety can be loved away” and from the very first page, it was doomed. That was the book’s thesis. The entire story hinged on the success of this depiction.

I can’t even be mad, because it wasn’t intended to be harmful, but it inadvertently reaffirmed so many dangerous and incorrect assumptions and stereotypes about mental health. Good intentions historically do not guarantee good results.

If you do not suffer from anxiety, you are still allowed to write a character who experiences it (Or OCD, specific phobias, BPD, what have you). I tip my hat to anyone willing to do all the work to get it right because those are all tall orders, but you aren’t blacklisted from these characters.

But with any minority, anyone who isn’t “cis, straight, white, male, neurotypical, and able-bodied” write a character who is also X, instead of an X stereotype, who happens to be your character.

[kos-tyan]

Hi, I mean this in the kindest, sincerest way possible, but I'd really encourage you to add tags on that new kagehina au. Slavery and rape are both issues that are very real, that affect people currently in the fandom. They are not fantastical or hypothetical, and a lot of people have real trauma associated with both. To see these issues featured in art at all can cause a lot of people pain. On top of that to portray such severe issues in a way that diminishes their damage for a joke, or tries to portray them as if they were romantic, is harmful.

I loved your art, it was always a source of joy for me before, but this is really quite upsetting. People need to be able to opt in/opt out/consent to enganging with content like this, and they cannot do that without propper tagging for the Mute functionality to filter what it shows people. Please seriously consider adding tags to future posts.

Hello, I appreciate your message and the opinion you shared on my recent AU.

Honestly I had some doubts about posting the last page, which includes the "r_pe" word (and some others), because it's a very dark and real topic. I want to say that I don't romanticise nor approve any of the things that made you feel upset. There's no way I would romanticise r_pe or sl_very, it was just not the very best way to show predominance of one character above another one (Kageyama over Hinata in that case). I like to think about relationship development in such conditions (but NOT in real life, only in fictional world, where I can regulate everything what's happening to the characters). I don't show Kageyama doing any of these things. It's the opposite, it's hurt/comfort development and he will be the one who will help Hinata to overcome the situation he got in. Just wanted to clarify my intentions about this story. Again, my point was not romanticising anything harmful, but yes, it could made someone feel uneasy and I'm sorry about that.

What about tags: I'd appreciate if you tell me what tags should I add, I didn't know that was a thing. I know you can hide explicit content on X, which I didn't do too, because I was dummy-dummy and couldn't find this feature, but yeah, how does it works on tumblr? Should I add #triggerwarning or something like that? I really don't know, so I'd appreciate the instruction.

It's the first time I'm writing such answer so I want so apologize for my English, because it's not my native language. I tried to formulate my words ny best.

[mrs-gauche]

If the Spirit!Solas theory happens to be true—and I’m confident it is—then it really gives you a new level of respect for how much restraint this guy has.

I’m talking specifically about his interactions with Dorian. The part where Dorian is trying to convince Solas that enslaving spirits is cool and neat and not wrong because ‘spirits aren’t people.’

Imagine having the strength of character to listen to someone tell you to your face that you are not a person and therefore undeserving of the most basic civil rights without immediately decking them in the face.

Solas puts up with tool much, man.

Oh yeah, definitely! 😂 (As much as I feel for Dorian just trying to find some common ground...) I guess that one line in Tevinter Nights does a great job of putting Solas' attitude on this matter in a nutshell.

[…] roared not in anger, but with quiet contempt. "From this moment, should you ever bind a spirit, then your life is mine."

Keep in mind, Solas has witnessed spirits suffering from the consequences of creating the Veil for at least a thousand years at this point, if only from the Fade. When he's saying "It hurts. It always does." to the Inquisitor after returning to Skyhold and Wisdom's death, he's referring to the countless times he had to watch his friends being drawn to the waking world, either forced, or to see them “wish to join the living”, only to be twisted, bound, corrupted, killed, you name it.

"How small the pain of one man seems when weighed against the endless depths of memory, of feeling, of existence. That ocean carries everyone. And those of us who learn to see its currents move through life with their fewer ripples."

Much like a lot of his banter with Sera taunting him about his grief for the past, at this point, Solas is so old and has witnessed so much history, so much pain, that Dorian's remarks couldn't possibly evoke any real anger from him. It's so insignificant compared to what he has seen. There's a reason why Weekes keeps emphasizing how friggin tired Solas truly is. This is after all the general perception of spirits in present Thedas, aside from a few cultures like the Avvar. He can't blame Dorian for Tevinter raising him to think of spirits as nothing more than "amorphous constructs", just like he can't blame the Dalish for the knowledge lost to time. Similarly to any other argument he has with the other companions, Solas' frustration/resentment is almost never aimed at them personally, but rather at the current state of the world that shaped their perspective. (As is also evident in how his banter always ends up with them eventually coming to terms and grow a mutual/respectful relationship. The only exception being a low approval Inquisitor and Iron Bull if he chose the Qun over the Chargers… In that case, the hostility was definitely personal. 😂)

(That being said, I'm SO hoping for any kind of serious emotional outbreak from Solas in DA4, since there's still like a thousand year old trauma that needs to be addressed. lol)

But yeah, I think, going by his actions in Tevinter Nights, Tevinter is definitely not ready for what's probably coming for them in DA4, now that Solas is actually able to change things. 👀 And isn't it interesting how he will now be facing the Imperium, which was essentially built on the ruins of the empire he brought down/the same slavery based system he once rebelled against, so history kinda repeats itself? lol

I think it's also very telling how Solas will immediately counter Dorian's comments on the treatment of spirits in Tevinter by directly comparing it to slavery.

Dorian: "There's no harm putting them to constructive use, and most mages back home treat them well." Solas: "And any that show any magical talent are freed, are they not?" Dorian: "What? Spirits don't have magical talent." Solas: "Oh, I'm sorry. I thought you were talking about your slaves."

But the beautiful irony in this, as I've talked about in this post, is how this draws a direct parallel to how Solas, in return, doesn't recognize the people of the waking world as real either, at least not until after the Inquisitor considers Wisdom a living being worth saving. This and his admission to the Inquisitor after he returns to Skyhold is imo the turning point in his character development. Imo, this is what leads him to say "Not at first. You showed me that I was wrong." in his high approval ending in Trespasser.

And this is also why I think that the theory of Solas intending to save the spirits first and foremost would make for such an interesting story actually.

The waking world doesn't view spirits as real people. Just like Solas can't accept the people of the waking world as real. So, what will happen if he tears down the Veil, and the Fade and the waking world become one again? The Inquisitor was potentially willing to save Wisdom despite it having already turned into a Pride demon. And in doing so, the Inquisitor unintentionally put up a mirror in front of Solas' face and basically went "If I can see them as real people worth saving, why can't you?".

And if the spirit origin theory is true, then it could make for a fascinating inner conflict. Solas, living in both the waking world and the Fade, having been a spirit and a corporeal person, is now facing the question of who "his people" actually are. Where does he belong? After all, his biggest fear remains to "die alone".

While this was said in more of a joking manner, Weekes' words from 2016 really put it into perspective here. Solas sees himself in that old fisherman he saw in the Fade. He is "the one who lived". So, I picture it like this… Solas is left alone in the Fade after the creation of the Veil. Spirits are now his only company for the next thousand years. Whether or not those spirits were the remaining souls of the elves he tried to save, we don't know, but regardless, I truly believe they are his people. But he is not a spirit. At least, not anymore.

Cole: "You don't need to envy me, Solas. You can find happiness in your own way." Solas: "I apologize for disturbing you, Cole. I am not a spirit and sometimes it hard to remember such simple truths." Cole: "They are not gone so long as you remember them." Solas: "I know." Cole: "But you could let them go." Solas: "I know that as well." Cole: "You didn't do it to be right. You did it to save them." Inquisitor: "Solas, what is Cole talking about?" Solas: "A mistake. One of many by a much younger elf who was certain he knew everything."

In this banter, Cole reveals to us that Solas' mind immediately goes from "It's hard for me to accept I'm not a spirit" to "the people that were lost when Solas created the Veil". To me, this pretty much confirms that the people of Elvhenan and spirits are connected, if not one and the same. It's assumed that the Evanuris mined the Titans to somehow create bodies for spirits to inhabit, and that Mythal gave Solas a body against his will. There's also the theory about the creation of the Veil having caused the separation of body and spirit.

You know, I've written so much about this in previous posts and I don't want to sound like a broken record, but if we consider all those little clues and look at all of his dialogue in that context, it just makes so much sense to me, that what he wants to do is primarily to save the spirits/destroy the barrier for them to enter the waking world without their purpose getting corrupted. There's also still the matter of the Blights and red lyrium otherwise probably consuming the entire world. 😅 I think that's what he's referring to when saying "What I am doing will save this world" in Tevinter Nights.

And remember, "Dread Wolf" is still literally an anagram for "World" and "Fade". 😂 Both worlds colliding is quite literally in his title. lol Whatever the six eyed high dragon sized Dread Wolf actually is, as far as we know, he only seems to exist within the Fade, but how exactly is he connected to Solas and what will happen to him if he tears down the Veil (which btw is also definitely gonna happen… I mean, besides the fact that the Veil is getting weaker regardless of Solas' actions)? ANYWAY.

Sorry for rambling so much (and I feel like my English is a little rusty, too 😖), but I haven't talked about this stuff in a while and the lack of news is killing me. 😂 But your message gave me something to think about again, so thank you! :)

[marvelstars]

Anakin Skywalker & Darth Vader politics

One of the first things that got my attention when I started seeing star wars for the first time, was the way the story flowed so easily between action, politics and warfare and just like every other story of its kind, no hero or group of heros get to shine if their villain isnt something of a challenge for them, physical, moral or political and this is where Vader proves to be such a good antagonist.

Vader is someone who isn´t just strong in the force, he´s physicaly strong, he´s terrifiyng, he´s someone who in a New Hope is a highter up of the Empire and in ESB and ROTJ he´s clearly the second in comand of the Empire, Rogue One shows other Grand Moffs, with the exception of Tarkin, wanting to get his approval to get close to the Emperor and in that way obtain greater political power.

We get a glimpse of Vader´s politics in a New Hope, along with his martial role in the Empire as part of the Order of the Sith/former Jedi and his role as enforcer of the Empire, being one of the few highter ups if not the only one, to engage in open warfare with the rebel alliance.

But it´s on ESB when we get to hear his appeal to Luke towards his main motives, we get a sort of "motives of the wolf" Vader´s pov is to rule the galaxy with his Son to put "Order in the Galaxy" and "Stop the destructive conflict between the rebel alliance and the Empire" this is an actually compelling argument, because since a New Hope we could see Vader didn´t cosider the DS necccesary for the Empire, he defended it because it was part of his role within the Empire and didn´t have the power to overrule the Emperor or Takin on it´s use and creation but it isn´t something Vader himself approves personally and actually looks at it as source for greater trouble within the Empire. He after all called it " A Tecnological terror" this coming from Vader who is himself a cyborg used for bloodshed is a very definitive description. Vader hates the Death Star because he thinks it´s a real abomination, to the galaxy in general and to the force in particular.

So we get a character who´s definitely a villain but whose pov comes from a place of wanting to bring stability to the galaxy, this isn´t a character only interested in power for power sake like Tarkin or The Emperor or who wants more personal power for himself for it´s own sake, he suggests to Luke to take on the Emperor once it became clear the Emperor would not allow Luke to live if he didn´t fell to the darkside and this compliments quite nicely the story when it´s revealed Vader used to be a "good guy" the father of Luke and Leia, a Jedi who believed in peace and justice for the galaxy but whose vision was twisted by the darkside and the Emperor, we know how this story ends, with Vader chosing Luke, his family and justice once again at the cost of his own life and the defeat of the Empire an institution in which Vader/Anakin actually believed so it can´t be said Vader didn´t sacrifice everything he had to save the life of his Son and give the galaxy a chance without the Empire ruling it.

The prequel trilogy presents a very interesting reason to the source of Vader´s political ideology, his history was already interesting if he was just a character interested in politics, who became dissapointed in the Jedi Order, Like Count Dooku but what we find the the PT is even more visceral than that, say what you want about Anakin´s political ideology but as a former slave in a lawless world, ignored by a corrupt republic whose check and balances where only there to keep the status quo in which the interest of the banking clan and the corporations were more important than everybody else and not address the different challenges of the wider galaxy, I could see a young Jedi like Anakin thinking

1.- The System doesn´t work

2.- This system is actively hurting for the people of the republic and for my people in particular.

3.- The republic doesn´t care for the slavery being run on it´s very own underworld, it´s happy to ignore it.

4.- The Jedi Order are the guardians or peace and justice but they are not interested in changing the status quo, they are there to keep it.

Those ideas didn´t came just from Obi-Wan´s discourse over his dislike of politicians or Palpatine´s grooming tactics, those ideas come from the person, the kid who once dreamed to "free all of the slaves" and who grew quickly dissapointed when he learned of the reality far away from his homeworld, just like Padme grew dissapointed in the Republic ignoring the plight of her world but unlike her, Anakin had even less tools to bring to the political debate. As a Jedi he could talk and discuss his beliefs with Padme or Palpatine or even Bail Ordana but he knew neither had any oblitation to give much thought about his ideas, especially when they thought it came from a naive boy unfamiliar with politics, he may have been so but he was certainly familiar with the failures of the republic and it´s consequences.

I can easily see a character like this developing the idea the galaxy needed a stronger force to help put order in the galaxy and while he´s made fun of for thinking this way, I don´t think his idea was Palpatine´s Empire or the "Benevolent Dictatorship" like Vader believed in, Anakin´s idea about someone making people agree most probably came from the way he saw the Jedi Order Operate, with Yoda at it´s head, obviously in the Council they all took votes but Yoda´s influence there when there wasn´t an agreetment was clear and I could see this as Anakin´s vision for the republic, which even has some reflections in the real world, on institutions whose main function is to help open debate when the congress is blocked given it´s disagrements.

Anakin´s tragedy, when it comes to his original political beliefs, comes from the fact that he felt the need to forget his own ideals of freeing slaves, to fit himself into the chosen one the Jedi said they needed, even if they weren´t sure about that prophecy and sometimes put it in doubt and Anakin himself often thought it was just a myth, he broke himself up into different pieces to try to appeal to the people important to him or had expectations on him, he tried to be the Jedi the Order needed in times of war, the teacher Ahsoka needed, he tried to be the friend Palpatine expected, believing he genuinely cared for him, he tried to be a representative of the republic by caring for the well being of people around the galaxy and he did all of this no matter the damage to his mind. He tried to be the husband Padme needed him to become once she became pregnant and their marriage was no longer something that could be hidden so he decided to abandon his Jedi identity to be true to his responsibilities as Padme´s husband and father of their children or at least that was his idea before he had the dream of Padme dying.

So when he has his final breakdown, falls to the darkside and his very vision is twisted by the darkside, Padme no longer recognizes her husband because he effectively isn´t thinking like her husband did, Anakin agreed the Republic needed reform and order but not at the cost of an iron fist like Vader believed. So when he told her he wanted to name her Empress and do everything they always wanted to do, she knew those were not the words of her beloved husband but of a broken man led to madness by all the forces around him and by Palpatine in particular, she saw the signs but didn´t expect it to end like this. I believe this is the reason why Padme and not Obi-Wan understood better what happened to Anakin and hence why she insisted he could be brought back, he just was closer to him, knew him in his home on Tatootine and his closenes with Palpatine.

Padme was right, because while Vader´s mind was certainly twisted by madness and the supernatural influence of the darkside and Palpatine´s grooming, his vision of a galaxy in order came from Anakin´s original innocent/idealistic idea of justice and freedom, of a galaxy that could be more fair than it was before. Vader never truly turned to the darkside despite Palpatine´s best efforts, because there was a part of the person Anakin was that stubornly refused to die and his past and identity were a big part of that. This identity is what Luke calls to life on ROTJ, the identity of the person who believed in compassion as unlimited love, who believed in helping each other to lead to a more fair galaxy.

I enjoy a lot all of Anakin´s and Vader´s relationships, I believe all of them have their charm and bring something to the characters involved but I believe his identity or the importance of his political beliefs in both his fall from grace and his redemption are sorely ignored or worse reduced to a meme or a joke and is such a shame because I don´t think Anakin/Vader´s character and story can be fully understood without bringing this part of the him to the discussion.

[liopleurodean]

how can you look at the story of Anakin Skywalker and not see it as a tragedy.

you have a boy born to slavery on one of the most inhospitable planets in the galaxy, born with powers no one can explain to a father that doesn't exist (and exists in everything) and a mother who cares so much but is helpless. and then others like him come and he is free but his mother is not, and is he really free? because he still calls someone master and his mother is gone and he is forced to follow rules that don't make sense and all he really wants is to be like them but they never wanted him in the first place and he's older than everyone else but he doesn't know half as much as they do but he's ten times more powerful and got to be an apprentice first but his "master" is grieving and maybe? doesn't really like him and everything is his fault even though it's not.

and then the boy grows up and struggles, tries so hard to be what everyone wants him to be but he still remembers and maybe they were right, maybe he is too old but it's too late now and this is everything he's ever wanted, right? and he misses his mom but he's not supposed to so instead he turns to machines that won't hurt him, something that he can fix and won't make fun of him or talk about how he's the "chosen one" (and what does that even mean?) and his master tries to be kind but this boy can tell that he causes problems and no one knows what to do with him and the only person who seems to care is the Chancellor but his master doesn't really like him (none of the Jedi do).

then the war comes. he knows it's not what he's supposed to do but she's the first person who really cares and knows about his mom and she was there, she knew where he came from and none of it matters to her. he gets dragged into the war and he finally has something he can do, he can channel his anger and pain into helping people and saving lives and at the end of the day she's there, someone that he can lean on aside from the Chancellor.

eventually he gets more people. the boy could be considered a man now, but he doesn't really feel like one, but the Jedi think he's ready so they give him an apprentice, someone quick and sassy and full of life and so much like him, and he has to keep her safe on the battlefield and teach her things he doesn't really understand himself and how is he supposed to be a role model??? but he has his Captain who maybe understands a bit and his master who doesn't (except that he does, all too well, but won't say it) and his apprentice teaches him a thing or two and the Chancellor is there like always. and he knows that he's not supposed to feel this way but something about fighting feels right, is freeing in a way being a Jedi never was, but that doesn't make sense because being a Jedi is everything.

the war drags on and things get worse. he loses men all the time (men, not droids, real people who care) and he thought he lost his master but he didn't, but then his apprentice walked away (and he understands, he really does, but she left and now what is he supposed to do), and he keeps losing more people and he's so tired of everything. his apprentice comes back asking for help and of course he wants nothing more, but his friend the Chancellor is in trouble and he's been given orders so he leaves his Captain, the last of his circle, to keep his apprentice safe. he leaves and his master is proud and he saves the Chancellor and she is pregnant and the war is ending and everything finally seems to be working out.

then he finds out the Chancellor is a Sith. his friend, the person who always supported him, even approved of her, and. her. she's pregnant, and he's been having visions. she's in danger, and his master would never understand, never support him, and he tried going to the other Jedi but they ignored him, and his family is far away and she's all that he has left and the Sith is his friend, right?

so he tries doing the right thing. he tells the Jedi that the Chancellor is the Sith Lord and they believe him, but they leave him behind and they've been asking him to spy on his friend, and they insulted him before and now they've sent his master away and the Sith knows, can help her, and he thinks he doesn't have any other choice. so he saves the Sith, kills the Jedi, and now this slave-boy-man is Vader, and the Dark has seeped its way into his mind to cloud his judgement. he goes to the Jedi, because the Sith says they will kill her, the one person he has left, and the Dark is screaming in his mind to blot out the Light telling him otherwise.

now the Jedi are gone, and the war is nearly over but he needs to finish it, because it's the last thing putting her in danger, the last thing that could make his visions come true. but then she arrives, covered in burning Light, trying to tell him he is wrong, but how can he be wrong? she always supports him, she's the only thing he has left, and of course. the master is there, the one that never wanted him, and of course he has turned her away, he always thought it was wrong, of course he's here to try and stop what Vader has started. so they fight, and the master brutally wounds him but refuses to kill which is almost worse, and the Sith comes and fixes him (fixes, yet shackles him up as another slave and it burns), and tells him that he killed her. killed her, and their children, and his master is against him and surely his apprentice is dead at the Captain's hands (and later he finds that the Captain is dead too) and now he truly has no one left. his story comes back around to where it started: a slave boy, alone, with nothing but his power and chains.

later, a boy comes. from the same slum planet, but this boy is Free. the same power, but he is brighter, kinder, never had to kick and bite and claw to be seen as a person. this boy is Vader's son, thought to be dead, proof that the Master is full of lies and was wrong. the Master wants the boy dead but Vader cannot, will not, not when the boy had already been dead for so long. the boy sees Vader, in a way that none since the apprentice ever have (and he still wonders about her, who disappeared before she could feel the bite of his blade), and this child says no. this Free child sees the chains of the Dark around what remains of Vader's Light and refuses to let go.

this child, with the master's teachings and the apprentice's ferocity and the Captain's wisdom and her Light, says Anakin Skywalker is not dead.

what else is he to do but agree?

in Vader's last moments, he sees everyone who ever cared, and realizes that Anakin Skywalker was not alone. Vader was the Master's puppet, and it takes this child, who is not one of his people but rather a piece of all of them to clear out the Dark, moments before both Anakin and Vader are no more.

[twoheadedcalfsanctuary]

DNDADS ZODIAC ASSIGNMENTS TWO!!

Nicky Close-Foster-Freeman- I think maybe ARIES SUN bc no matter who he’s raised by he’s…

Impulsive

Always ready to fight

Much more sensitive than most think!

Unselfconscious, or at least not super self aware/monitoring - openly approval seeking and vocally adores his dad in a way most boys his age would probably be embarrassed about

Will parrot opinions of people he admires, incorporate them into his core beliefs

Grant Wilson- CANCER SUN

Sensitive and anxious

Embarrassment and guilt are especially difficult to deal with

protective

Internal locus of blame

Strong feelings like crushes, pain, or even self indulgent guilt/flagellation are preferable to numbness

Parallels to Daryl and TJ

Terry Stampler jr- CAPRICORN SUN!! father of the zodiac!!!!

Dry humor and expression, occasionally awkward when trying to express really strong emotions

Hardworking (wizard)

Practical, reliable

High levels of pressure on self

Early maturity

actually, maybe a CAPRICORN STELLIUM?? and/or CAPRICORN SATURN/JUPITER? ONE OF THOSE PLACEMENTS IN THE 4TH HOUSE?

Saturn is with him from the beginning as he’s forced to grow up quickly; things come earlier than would normally be expected in life course for him, like grief, loss of family, exposure to general horrors of the real world like kidnapping, slavery, manipulation, and killing, needing to take responsibility for other people's wellbeing/doing emotional caretaking, including for his stepfather- hell Saturn follows him straight to the end: his own death is premature, and he accepted his own mortality before it even happened!

Theme of fatherhood prevalent in so many of his major life struggles- he lost a father young, then had to live with a stepfather he didn’t like, then he had to literally and metaphorically share in the torment of that stepfather’s father, he had to play a role in trying to end it, then he was unable to conceive (? Is that cannon or am I misremembering??), and was unable to connect with his stepdaughter and become a father like he wanted

Lark & Sparrow Oak-Garcia (Swallows)- they have me very stumped. LOTS going on here, and I feel like so much of it is nurture? So I may start with VIRGO MIDHEAVEN because the outer planets supposedly have more to do with who you grow into/what you do for work, which is essentially their main motivators since D.A.D.D.I.E.S is technically work:

Only view themselves in relationship to society’s normal/average

Overly concerned with success in material terms that may supersede actual happiness

Thorough

Mutable

Tough inner critic that sometimes unfortunately leads to a tough outer critic that can alienate people

And then thinking about them as kids, maybe SAGITTARIUS SUN?

Also mutable, but fiery!

Playful, energetic

Argumentative

Exploratory/adventurous

Optimistic:(

Sister sign to Henry :((

BUT please tell me what y’all think about them, I was PUZZLED

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

weird question: i've been an atheist for most my life but grew up with a religious family. What do i do when i see "ex-gays" and those "jesus cured my sons autism" shit propaganda and my brain goes back to being Christian and 12 and therefore having an urge to be "cured/normal"?. it genuinely hurts the biggest religion on earth hates me

The biggest religion on Earth thinks everything was magicked into existence through a spell, humans were created from dirt and a rib and populated through incest... twice, that the Earth is flat and once had giants and everybody speaking the same language, worships a being who murdered millions, regards "objective morality" as coming from a being who endorsed and prescribed slavery, and reveres a magic man who killed a fig tree, called a Greek woman a "dog," and fed 5000 people a satisfying meal with scraps, then died, came back to life and flew up into space like Superman, and will come back to murder and set fire to everyone who isn't his buddy - in that order - and lead a slave colony in a place described as "paradise."

Xianity is stupid. It's very, very, very stupid. People will argue about whether it is or isn't the most stupid, but we need not get into rankings. It's stupid. It's objectively very stupid.

When people believe it, they believe stupid things. They may or may not be stupid themselves - cognitive dissonance and compartmentalization are both real psychological phenomena, and people like genetic scientist Francis Collins do exist - but they believe a stupid thing.

Now, it is possible to believe correct things for stupid reasons. It's possible for someone to believe the Earth is round because anal-probing extraterrestrials told her so. But anything derived from stupid premises - in this case, anal-probing extraterrestrials - we need not put a lot of stock in. Getting the roundness of the Earth correct by accident doesn't vindicate the anal-probing extraterrestrials. (It's actually worse in a way, since this premise is more likely to go unchallenged.) It's reasonable to assume, by default, that any assertion stemming from a stupid premise is itself stupid.

What they're saying is stupid. They start with stupid beliefs and draw necessarily stupid conclusions as a result. You don't need to feel bad that a stupid idea doesn't think very highly of you.

These aren't rhetorical or having a go at you, I mean them more as questions to consider: would Xianity, being a stupid belief, respecting you actually have any meaning to you? Would you actually want the respect of something that is inherently stupid, and why? And if it did, wouldn't that likely be its own red flag?

"Sometimes it's better to be known for one's enemies."

There's nothing wrong with being disliked by those with stupid ideas. Even if they call you names. I've been called all sorts of things by people who think all sorts of stupid things. But their approval isn't something I value or even want.

My advice is, for starters, to give yourself a break. You've grown up surrounded by this messaging. It's not always easy to shake, even if you don't actually believe it anymore. There are going to be things which bring it, and all those feelings, back.

It can be more helpful than you realize to simply recognize, acknowledge and name it. "That's that feeling again. That's that stupid ex-gay crap that made me feel deficient." (Insert your own words.) Because it can help you identify where it's coming from, or if it's unclear, what might have caused those thoughts to return. And then push back on it: "no, that's stupid. That comes from the same religion with a magical zoo boat with billions of animals and nothing for the carnivores to eat but the other animals." (Again, insert your own words.)

Don't let stupid things have power over you. Because they're stupid. Recognize that they're stupid, and call them stupid.

[elek-tavor]

i do really think my least favourite thing about dai, companions-wise, is how much you are sort of watching them be shitty in some way or another (sometimes even tragically shitty) and then you can't do anything about it. like, according to the approval and the potential for romance and all, some of these people can become your friends. but you have no way of properly addressing anything fucked up they believe. like how weird is it that my lavellan is fucking dating dorian but we are just brushing past his insane views about slavery. it's such an "agree to disagree 🥰" mode of relationship that i fucking hate so much, both in real life and - as i'm finding - in fiction.

[astoldbyaja]

The Pink Blossom Ch.12

We could not continue for too long in our heated passion for soon Ujio had his training. We leisurely strolled back through the village and once we were both dried and dressed, we sat on the steps behind his lodge. He sat between my legs as I combed his hair back preparing his mage. He verbally told me while one hand gently moved up and down my leg.

I knew it had to be perfect and so I took my time. Although not the best on my first attempt, Ujio bowed and said it brought him honor knowing that I would at least try to learn something that was important to his way of life.

“Maybe you can teach me a style you like with your hair.” he told. I could see the signs of life in his eyes as he mentioned my hair. I smiled and nodded.

“It would bring me honor to teach you.” I announced. He leaned forward and pressed his lips to mine, and I replied to it. He was kissing me so publicly. Anyone could see.

“Are you not afraid that your people may get upset at you doing this with me?” I asked softly. He hummed gently and pressed his forehead against my own.

“I do not care what they think.” he said gently. Although his words surprised me, I wanted to ask his thoughts on how Katsumoto would feel knowing we were doing this. What if he didn’t approve?

But then again, what if this is all just physical lust we were expressing to each other. I can’t get attached. I smiled against him pressing my forehead into him. It feels real right, the warmth in my stomach that’s not controlled by the warmth between my legs.

After we ate and separated, Nathan came to visit me and we walked about the village.

“These people are so concentrated; I have never seen such passion in doing one’s job.” he said. I nodded.

“These people have shown me there is more to the world than just Christianity. They believe in multiple Gods, and it makes me so curious of how they came to believe in multiple. Their way of life is interesting. I wonder if this is the life they are trying to preserve.” I replied. He nodded.

“I too wonder that.” he replied. I noticed Nathan was avoiding eye contact with me, his mind seemed far from our conversation.

“Nathan what is it, what’s wrong?” I asked. He sighed gently slowing in his walk and looking at me.

“Grace I’ve been selfish. I’ve kept you close to keep you away from the evil people of our world, and every time it gets us into trouble. I can handle trouble for myself, but I can’t keep putting you in danger.” he said. I was confused by his words, and I stumbled over my voice.

“I- Nathan we have been through worse times together. I am supposed to serve you.” I explained, and he just shook his head more.

“But you’re a free woman. I signed your papers, I stamped it with my seal. You shouldn’t continue being with me, I shouldn’t have allowed you to stay with me.” he said. I shook my head not being able to comprehend why he was saying this. I even looked at the silent samurai who was still following us. He wasn’t moved by anything we were saying. I looked up at Nathan.

“Nathan-”

“We don’t belong together.” he said.

“But we ARE together!” I snapped, eyes watering and tears falling. I covered my mouth and looked away sniffling. Nathan’s eyes were growing red with tears of his own and he looked away before looking back at me with mildly hardened eyes.

“When we are released, I am going to send for you to be taken to one of the Northern states, there you will be safe and free to live a good life. You can work a good job, find a husband, and have children-”

I couldn’t hear anymore. I just turned and ran from him running past the silent, elderly samurai. My heart was shattering. Nathan was all I knew after my life at the plantation. He and his wife were all I knew, and in some ways, all I wanted was to serve him until I died. That was my purpose in America even with slavery abolished. I was to be their maid! What purpose did I have now if NOT to serve! What were the beatings, the rapes, the countless pain I endured for if not to bring me to a nice man and wife to serve!

Before I knew it, I had fallen down over my feet, and I land on my hands and knees. I just remain in this position slowly curling my hands into the dirt. My vision is still blurry from tears and my face is hot. I shut my eyes hard and cry a bit more. He was abandoning me in a world of darkness. I hear little footsteps sliding across the ground and I ignore it at first, hearing it’s a child probably. The feet stop in front of me, and the child is speaking. I slowly open my eyes and look up and see a little boy staring at me. He has short hair and pretty eyes. He was honestly the cutest little boy I had ever seen. He seems to be alone. That’s odd for a child to be by himself. He looks at me curiously before holding his hand out from behind his back.

He’s holding up a branch with the most beautiful pink flowers on them. I blinked a bit, quickly wiping my face and getting to my feet.

“Hello. Are you lost?” I asked. The boy just giggled and held the branch up to me some more shaking it. I guess he was trying to give it to me. I had never seen such beautiful leaves before. I took the branch and found myself smiling at the beauty of it. I admired the pink and white flowers and felt myself feeling better. The boy pulls at the hem of my kimono and holds his hand out to me. I was a bit hesitant but took his hand and let him lead me.

I didn’t realize how much, and how far I had run from Nathan… I didn’t want to think of him right now. The little boy led me on the familiar trail toward Katsumoto’s kingdom of a home. He stopped and pointed, and I followed his finger. In the distance I could see the same flowers on the ground blowing with the wind. Did Katsumoto call for me?

I went to ask the child, only to see he was gone. My eyes widened and I looked around for the boy. He was gone like a ghost! I looked at the branch still in my hand.

“Grasuh. Come for a visit?” I heard Katsumoto as he approached with a warm smile. I immediately bowed at him.

“I am sorry, Katsumoto. I did not mean to bother you.” I replied. He nodded slowly, his arms together causing his sleeves to blend together.

“There is never a wrong time for a visit. Ah I see you have taken an interest in the Sakura blossoms.” he said. I blinked a bit.

“Sack-ura?” I asked unsure and he chuckled.

“Some call them cherry blossoms. Come let me show you my Sakura tree.” he said already motioning for me to follow. I did so, looking back over my shoulder in hopes I could see the young boy again.

Katsumoto led me on a stone path toward a beautiful garden with indeed a large tree with white and pink petals. I gasped softly moving to view the petals.

“It’s beautiful.” I replied looking at him with wide eyes. He seemed very amused by my excitement.

“I am guessing you do not have flowers like these in America.” he said walking up beside me. I shook my head.

“Nothing like these.” I replied watching as some of the blossom blew off the tree and landed in my hair. He stood beside me admiring the blossoms.

“It symbolizes both life and death, beauty, and violence. As the coming of spring promises new life, so the blooming of cherry blossoms brings a sense of vitality and vibrancy. At the same time, their short lifespan is a reminder that life is fleeting.” he explained. He sounded so wise in his words, and I held the branch up admiring the blossoms some more.

“I could go my entire life in bondage after meeting you and your people and the pain would not overstep on the beauty that I have seen here.” I replied. He looked at me a bit taken back before nodding.

“I would hope you live a happy and prosperous and safe life after leaving my son’s village.” he replied. I felt my eyes drift down some now remembering Nathan and his want of safety for me. We sat beneath the Sakura tree drinking tea and talking about what we knew of America. Katsumoto has never been, and I advised him that he would learn a lot about war there.

He told me stories of his youth and the way of the samurai. He told me about the many students he had taught and how one of his pupils had become the current emperor of Japan who was losing sight of his culture and letting poisonous people corrupt him. Katsumoto is only rebelling because he believes the soul of his people cannot be erased by greed and hatred.

One of his men approached and bowed. I could make out some of the words. Katsumoto was needed. He helped me to my feet, and we bowed at each other.

“I hope we may talk again Grasuh.” he said. I nodded.

“I look forward to it.” I replied with a smile, and I was escorted back to the village. The sun had long gone down and with it came the cold, I felt maybe I should go see Nathan tomorrow. We had to talk, and I needed to apologize. He was seeing me as an equal whereas I was seeing myself as a slave. He was looking out for me, and I let my fear of being alone cause me to panic. But no one was a slave here. The people were free, I was free. I was a free woman before my capture, and I will die a free woman.

I made it back to Ujio’s lodge. A few dim lights could be seen from the window.

I moved inside rubbing my shoulder some.  As I slide the door shut, I see him exiting his room. However, his chest was bare, and he was only wearing the bottom half of his kimono. I hoped that was what men called their outfits, I did not know. His hair was flowing over his shoulders now. My lord he was beautiful. Was he waiting for me this whole time?

I stared at him with soft and sensual eyes wondering what he would do. I could only imagine what was going through his mind when he sees me. Was I just a body for him to touch and hold, to use because he had the ability to use me?

We just stared at each other for a moment, and a part of me just wanted to ask him what he wanted from me. Did he see me as an experience to tell his war friends? Maybe if I knew the truth, I wouldn’t keep questioning his intent, it would be easy to get my needs met with ease. Ujio began to walk toward me with a slow stride, and I just continued to stare at him for a moment wondering what he was going to do.

He could do anything really. His eyes were darker in the room because of the lack of light in the area and, slowly I began to feel the coolness of his body moving on to me, he was so close.

As he stood over me in the darkness, I suddenly felt any questions to ask him start to slip away. That warm pit in my stomach was back. Immediately, my mind drifted back to that night, his fingers running across my skin, moving down my sides and slowly down my legs. His fingers curling up inside me exploring every inch of me made a sharp shiver shoot down my spine now that he was so close to me, I felt the gentle throbbing arise in my core.

I was like a doe unable to run away from a predator now that it was caught. Ujio’s hands slowly rise, and I felt the obi around my kimono begin to loosen and be pulled away causing the kimono to open. Ujio’s eyes never left my form and I just stood there letting his hands move about the garment.

My kimono began to feel looser, and I felt even more shivers overtake me. I want to say something, but I couldn’t. I felt his hands on my shoulders, and slowly he slid his hands down my arms and as he did my kimono started to slide down.

Ujio’s eyes left me only for a moment in order to look down at my chest as the kimono slid down to the ground. I gave a low yet sharp gasp as my body was exposed to the cool air. It was almost uncomfortable as I felt my nipples harden in reaction to the cold. Ujio’s hand gently came up and gripped my cheeks, and I could feel how possessive his hold was as he began to lean in to me.

“Anata wa watashi no mono dakedesu.” said lowly. There were those words again. Only this time, his tone was firm and commanding. “You are mine.”

Before I could even process his words and what they truly meant, his mouth had captured mine. Immediately his body moved upon mine pinning me to the nearest wall. His cool body gave warmth to mine immediately. I didn’t even think before my arms began to wrap around his neck, curling into his silky-smooth hair. In seconds both our mouths opened so our tongues could meet. I never felt so compelled to have a man’s body against mine as I did Ujio’s. I could not explain it. His skin was soft even for that of a killer’s and his hair was smooth like silk. I couldn’t explain the fascination of him.

Ujio’s hands curled into my back, and he pulled me into his body. Already I felt on fire against him. I somehow managed to get him pinned to the wall,  and we gave low chuckles against the other’s lips as our mouths continued to dance together again. I guess he wasn’t used to anyone ever taking charge over him let alone a woman.

I felt him grab a hold of me and lift my body up and I felt him move me to the nearest room. Before I knew it we were on the ground, his hands moving to pull the rest of my garments off. I let him do this because, I wanted him to. In seconds, he peeled away the bottom half of his robe, and he stopped for a moment and just remained on his knees as he was fully bare to me.

He looked unsure now as if he didn’t know if he should continue or not. He looked away with a mild sense of guilt, and I just sat up slowly and gently moved to take his hand. They were dry and cracked, and I just ran my fingers over the top of his knuckles for a moment before staring up at him. I can only imagine his nervousness never being with a black woman before.

“I’m the same as any other woman.” I said softly, staring up at him for a moment before moving my hands to gently press them against his smooth chest. As I did this, Ujio watched with trance like eyes, his fingers moving over my own. He slowly shook his head as he looked up at me.

“No. You are not the same. You are very different. Special.” he whispered before leaning over me to press his lips into mine. I replied and pulled him closer to me to the point we were back on the ground again only this time, I could feel the excitement growing on him. I felt his cock pressing into my thighs. His fingers gripped my curls a bit tightly, but I said nothing on it. He looked me deeply in my eyes.

“No regret?”

I smiled and shook my head.

“No regrets.” I replied before slowly opening my legs for him. His mouth found mine again. His hands pawed all over my body, and I felt his body rest between mine. My legs parted more, and I remembered seeing the full size of him before. I couldn’t help but feel nervous as if this were my first time. Ujio could see this in my eyes, and he stroked the side of my forehead.

“Watashi wa anata o kesshite kizutsukemasen.” (I would never hurt you) I was familiar with that statement, and I believed him. I would believe anything he told me if kept him close to me. I nodded showing that I trusted him.

He just smiled down at me, his hair flowing over my chest and shoulders. He kissed my hard and I wrapped my arms around his neck and in seconds, I felt his cock head at my entrance and slowly he began to enter me. I was not use to such size, and we gasped against each other’s lips at the feeling my own tightness. My head fell back onto the ground.

Ujio didn’t move for a moment, his eyes shutting for a moment as if trying to control himself, and hie let his forehead fall against mine. He gave gentle kisses all over my face to soothe me. My walls were burning a bit, and I could feel my muscles were like a heartbeat around him.

“May I move?” he asked huskily. I looked at him, the gentleness in his eyes engulfed me.  I nodded and he slowly started to push. I winced softly feeling that tightness still. My stomach muscles tightened and then loosened. Our eyes never left each other as steady pants escaped us.

I raised my hand to caress his face, my hips slowly lifting to meet his easy and steady thrusts in hopes that would make any discomfort leave quicker. I let out gentle moans as he moved against me, his hand moving down to gently caress my stomach, and I felt a soft tickle move up my body and I let out a gentle giggle, my stomach tightening a bit.

Ujio smiled with amusement before taking hold of my face and kissing me deeply, devouring my mouth. His lips sucked on my tongue, and I couldn’t help but moan out more against him. This spurred him to thrust even faster now. I could feel my body begin to accept and crave him more. His calloused arms held my own against his and it only took a few seconds before our bodies were moving in sync with each other. The room was filled with violent pants and grunts from Ujio and submissive moans from me. My body was on fire, and I loved the feeling.

My hands founds his back clawing down them from the heavy and raw and delicious feelings I felt in my core.

Ujio pulled my arms over his shoulder and sat up so I was on his lap and this way he could thrust up into me. I bit my lip hard feeling the pleasure throbbing deep inside me. Our hips moved harder and faster against each other. I wanted more and he was willing to give it to me. My arms wrapped around his shoulders as I kept grinding my hips against his. He moaned and panted hard in my ears, his fingers curling into my hair.

“Beautiful, Grasuh.” he said lowly in my ear. My eyes flutter close as I find my encouragement to start moving harder and faster on him. My walls were tightening up on him hard and we moaned out loudly against one another. I couldn’t help but picture the day he brought me food in the mountains when the samurai caught Nathan and I. I remember the look that I thought was of hatred, and I could see his eyes clearer. He wasn’t looking at me with disgust or hate. He was admiring my face, that much I knew.

Ujio’s POV

I held her close to my body, not wanting to let her go. Being inside her was like feeling a waterfall of pure bliss washing over me. I was honored to have her here with me. The way her skin glows from the moon. She was truly a goddess that I was ravishing. She was mine and mine alone. I would kill anyone who tries to take her from me, a slaver, the American, anyone.

Her legs locked around my hips, and I can feel her fingers clawing down my back. Yes, paint new scars on my back my love. She kisses my chin and my cheeks and holds me close. I felt… safe in her arms. Her warm scent is etched in my mind. The feelings of her heat surrounding me were ensnaring me. She was unlike any woman I had ever felt. To be inside her, to feel her honey coating my cock, sent sensations over my body that I couldn’t explain. I wanted to release inside her, I wanted to give her every drop of me. I wanted her to take my seed so in turn she could give me strong sons. It was always her. Only her.

From the day she saw me behead a disrespectful civilian in town, I had thought about her. She was unlike anything I had ever seen before. She stood tall and radiant beneath the sun. From that day to the day I saw her on the battlefield on our way back from the train station. Fate brought us together. I knew that much.

Grace’s POV

I was getting close- reaching my limit. My moans confirmed it as they grew higher and higher. Ujio held me closeR to him, his face buried in my chest and my hair that covered my breasts.

He growled and grunted harder and faster against me, and I felt my vagina bursting with overwhelming pleasure. I let out a long hard yell as my body shook violently against him. His hands now controlled my hips moving me up and down on him until finally he growled feral like, and I felt all of him shooting up inside me. I closed my eyes panting hard feeling him now motion me to the ground with him. I rested my cheek on his chest, panting heavily. I felt his hand gently petting my curls and I just stared out into the window wondering what it was he was thinking.

“I meant what I said earlier. Anata wa watashi no monodesuhe.” he said slowly. I was his. I replied by kissing his chest once and then leaning up and kissing him softly and he returned it with a bit of dominance to match his words. I passed out in minutes and woke up alone.

My surroundings were unfamiliar, and so I sat up swiftly only before realizing I was in Ujio’s room. He must have carried me to his room. I looked around for him and saw a bowl of what looked like rice, meat and a black kimono. I could only assume he had gone to do whatever duties he had. I ate quietly and then changed into the kimono. Once I was dressed, I paused and thought about what happened last night.

I slept with a samurai, someone who was supposedly our enemy, our captor. Nathan would be disgusted with me if he found out. Which is why he would never know. I had to see him. I left the lodge and moved through the village. Those who passed me dipped their heads in a respectful bow and I returned it.

 I arrived at Taka’s home to see her pouring out some water onto the ground and I stood in front of her until she noticed me. I gave a polite smile.

“Good morning.” I replied. She returned it.

“Good morning. My brother has instructed me to tell you to stop by.” she said.

I nodded not wanting to hold up her day. I turned and moved toward the direction of Katsumoto’s home. As I expected, his place was guarded by samurai who gave me a curt nod as I passed. Once I was on the front steps, I could hear a low focused hum coming from deep inside. I blinked as I heard the sound. It reminded me of some of the women in the fields back in America. They hummed to keep their minds strong. I walked further inside this temple like home and saw Katsumoto sitting in an empty room. His back was to me, but I could hear his chanting. I waited and said nothing. Finally, he stopped, and turned his head to the side taking note of me here.

“Ah, Grasuh.” he replied and slowly stood up and turned to me. He bowed at me, and I smiled and bowed.

“You have quite a voice. You could be a singer.” I replied, and now he smiled wide and laughed.

“Your words are too kind!” he said, and I smiled and bowed my head some.

“When slave women worked in the fields, they could not work in silence. It would slowly kill them like the impact of slavery. So, they sang, everyone did as a way of guidance and to show that no one was suffering alone.” I said and Katsumoto nodded as he listened as if learning some deep scriptures from the bible.

“It is quite a shame you had to be subjected to such horrors… I hope my son’s village has been kind to you.” he said. I nodded.

“It has only been a few weeks, but I am not as afraid as I was when we were first taken.” I replied, and he nodded his hands locking behind his back.

“This is good news to me. Come walk with me. I wish to know you more.” he said, and I nodded and we began to leave the home and now were walking outside beneath the trees. He was glancing at my hair, and I looked down at it. “Forgive me, I am not use to such interesting hair.”

I gave a soft chuckle before shaking my head.

“It is alright. Would you like to feel?” I asked, and he seemed intrigued now and he nodded and gently raised his hand and touched a few strands of my hair.

“Very nice. It is not every day one meets someone of an entirely different world. As I have said before you are the very first African woman I have met. Everything about you is different.” he explained, and I nodded looking around at the sky.

“Your world is also different. Your people wake up with a purpose, where my people used to wake up with the sole purpose of fulfilling other’s needs.” I replied. Katsumoto nodded looking down as if in deep thought.

“This is why you stay close to Nathan Algren.” he said, and I nodded now remembering I needed to see him. I needed to talk to him.

“I used to wish there was a place I could escape to where I would not need a white man to protect me- to preserve my freedom. I had hoped to marry one day and have children and to also see them free to roam the world as they chose.” I replied, and Katsumoto stared at me for a moment, his eyes looked to be deep in thought still.

“How interesting.” he said. I could feel the wind blowing against us and he looked up at the sky. “Soon the snow will come. We will need all the help we can get maintaining the village. If this task does not bring back horrible memories for you, I ask that you help Taka with any duties that must be performed.”

I took in his request stunned that he was asking and not demanding. But as I thought of the women here, I remembered that they were not slaves here. They were protected and treated with respect, the way Ujio has treated me. I looked up at Katsumoto and nodded.

“Yes of course. I have learned so much. I want to help in any way I can.” I replied. Katsumoto smiled.

“I am honored for your help. This way we can share more of our cultures and learn more about each other.” he said. Secretly I hoped I would only get to help Taka. She seemed to be the only woman who didn’t stare at me as if I was some rare creature.

“I guess it would keep me out of trouble.” I said gently and he nodded.

“Yes. This is true, but if somehow you manage to find yourself in trouble with another wild animal, I am sure Ujio will have no trouble getting you out of it.” he said with a humorous smirk, and I paused in my walk with mild shock as he just chuckled and walked further down the trail. “Enjoy your day, Grasuh.” I guess this was his way of dismissing me.

[vergencescatter]

The tragic figure of Marda Ro

I very much see Path of Deceit as a tragedy. The origin of its tragedy - namely, Marda Ro - represents a major driving force in the future of the High Republic.

When we are first introduced to Marda, we meet a sweetly innocent and deeply caring individual. Contrary to some others I've read, I see the sweet and innocent as the real Marda. In the earliest pages, she is forgivably naive, so much so that it is not hard to develop a sense of compassion for her. The way she expresses care for others (ultimately coming to supervise the Littles of the Path), and also a certain care for the natural environment around her, shows that she is well-intentioned. I think these early moment show Marda's true nature, and that she possesses many redeemable qualities.

But her naivety ultimately represents her downfall (and as the reader becomes a source of frustration). Indeed, underlying the origin story of Marda as a tragic figure is the way in which her naivety makes her especially ideologically malleable. She very much struggles to make sense of painful past and of the persistent sufferings she observes in the present. Although she doesn't remember much about her life before living with the Path of the Open Hand, she recalls arriving to the planet Dalna as a child feeling lost and scared. In that sense, I think it is appropriate to see Marda and also her cousin Yana as quite vulnerable; at the their most desperate, the Path of the Open Hand provided them with a sense of safety and collective belonging (however much Yana seems to grow to question her environment). I think this is super important in understanding Marda's eventual fall.

Moreover, we learn that for years after their initial arrival on Dalna, Marda and Yana were essentially adopted and lived as members of the Path (the Path of the Open Hand intervened and paid for the Ro family's release from possible slavery, after fleeing Genetia). It is what they knew, and they impressions of the path on their development - how they come to perceive the galaxy - is unmistakeable. Marda grew to love the Path and the teachings of the Mother (Elecia Zeveron). She developed into a devout member, completely committing herself. The ideological explanations provided by the Path of the Open Hand as to the origins of an oppressive and destructive system, and, furthermore, of why needless suffering exists, in addition to Marda's vulnerability and naivety, is the genesis proper of her hero-to-villain-arc.

This sort of story is not an uncommon one in human terms. In the type of situation that Marda and Yana found themselves, one is perhaps most vulnerable to the lure of ideology - to subscribe to a sort of totalising and extremising view that offers explanation as to the origin of one's suffering, typically in a just-so way. For Marda, she seems to carry a lingering sense of injustice everywhere she goes. Something must be to blame: "the force must be free". At the same time, Marda is clearly searching for acceptance and to find her place in the galaxy. She has a deep need for approval, which again I think speaks to her vulnerability. This combination of psychological and emotional traits clearly makes her the perfect target for a charismatic demagogue like the Mother. As we learn, the Mother knows what bruises to push and is a master of psychological manipulation.

I think all of this explains why, toward the end of the book - as much as Marda might frustrate us - she was never able to seriously question the inconsistencies of the Path, the exposed lies of the Mother, or even Yana's questioning, as and when they were revealed to her. She constantly needs to rationalise whatever inconsistencies that might be revealed to fit with her existing ideological frame of reference. It's like, after so much time growing up in an environment drenched in religious and ideological fanaticism, she has absorbed too much and her subjectively has become too deformed that she can't let go. (Yana, on other hand, maintains some capacity and openness to critical thinking, which, we see, drives her at one point to question and ultimately want to kill the Mother).

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Sure, @flgovrondesantis might be a small, potato-faced fascist with a crippling fear of history accurately taught, and he might have less charisma than a shit-sweating Rudy Giuliani. But he’s also a deeply gross loser who eats pudding with his fingers like a toddler at a birthday party. [The Daily Don]

* * * *

What Ron DeSantis doesn't understand about America

STEVE SCHMIDT

The state of Florida is going to teach its middle schoolers that some enslaved Blacks benefitted from slavery because the slaves learned important vocational skills. The new African American history standards were approved by the Florida State Board of Education yesterday.

What is happening in Florida is a disgrace. It is appalling and shameful. In fact, it should be considered a form of child abuse because it is. Governor Ron DeSantis is currently and deservedly being humiliated across America. His failing and flailing campaign is bankrupt and sputtering.  It is an out-of-touch debacle that will ensure he never becomes president.  The good news is that his political career is almost over.

Ron DeSantis has a lot of defects as a national candidate, but the main one is how estranged he is from the basic decency of the country and her people. He is a champion of cruelty and abuse, who is simultaneously aloof, off-putting, transgressive and extreme. His culture war insanity is appalling to the overall majority of Americans who work hard, play by the rules and want to pursue happiness and joy.

DeSantis is as profoundly estranged from the people he seeks to lead as any candidate I have ever seen. He is an alien, detached from the rhythms of American life. As I often say, it is impossible to love your country if you hate half the people living in it.

The United States is a beautiful country filled with amazing people. Somewhere along the line, Ron DeSantis lost touch with that reality — or more likely never understood it in the first place. He doesn’t really seem to understand the country. It is a big place after all.

I’ve driven across America six times in my lifetime, and I’m getting ready for my 7th. This time, it will be with my 17-year-old son. We are going to go explore some beautiful places neither of us have been before. Along the way, I’ll finally visit my 50th and last state: North Dakota. I’m excited for the trip and the open road ahead.

Optimism towards the future is an elemental value in America that DeSantis and his fellow extremists don’t understand. Anger, grievance and resentment are fuels on Twitter and Fox News, but not in real life. It’s too bad that Ron DeSantis can’t see the good out there. His blindness is disqualifying. He can’t see America, but America can see him with perfect clarity.

After the crash maybe Ron can throw some puddings in the cooler, wet wipes in the glove compartment, and hit the open road. He might learn something along the way. This is a decent country. Maybe he’d come to understand that.

[whumpster-fire]

Was just thinking about how despite being a 5000-year-old djinni Bartimaeus still has "teenage YA protagonist" energy in the best way possible, and you know what, I think it's because so much of YA fantasy as a genre is based around escapism from the some/all of the common childhood/adolescence experiences of being given responsibility without autonomy, not being taken seriously, knowing the world is fucked up and broken but not having any power to change it or your own life for the better, having your life be one long series of being told what to do, where to go, how to dress, who to socialize with, and how to present yourself, and having nothing to be proud of but a list of achievements that at best no one else respects or takes seriously and at worst are just hollow goals that someone else chose for you to work towards because you succeeding makes them look good and succeeding only means being rewarded with more work.

And obviously Nathaniel and Kitty both embody aspects of that angst and frustration with how they're treated by the adults in their lives, but like... Bartimaeus is someone who is constantly saddled with responsibility without autonomy, his life is one long series of being told what to do etc, he's been watching the world be the same broken fucked up place without having any real power to change it or his own life for the better for five goddamn millennia, and all his impressive accomplishments are not taken seriously by others and most of them are things he was ordered to do for someone else's glory or in someone else's name and the only reward for success is more work when what he really wanted was to just go home and take a nap. But during the actual events of the books he's mostly serving masters who have no choice to put up with him saying all the things real teenagers with controlling asshole parents/teachers probably can't get away with saying, so there's that little bit of escapism, and it's in contrast to Nathaniel who has to constantly hide who he is to fit in and gain approval.

Like, I'm not saying that Bartimaeus is actually emotionally on the level of a teenager or that childhood is actually equivalent to slavery, but the things that he struggles with and the way he relates to the world and to other people are in a way very similar to what a lot of kids go through just on a much larger and more dramatic scale and... there's a reason that Bartimaeus feels so much more genuine than any other "ancient and powerful supernatural being that chooses to look like a teenager" character I've heard about despite his vast numerous human lifetimes worth of life experience constantly being brought up by him. Ptolemy's form, or Gilgamesh's Spearbearer before that, don't feel like an impossibly old man putting on a mask, they feel like Bartimaeus's "humansona" that best represents his personality is a depressed, rebellious teenager.