#if they aren't utterly spineless

[originalitysquared]

Can't even read my fucking book because I'm so mad. I think I have to stretch or something.

[1000sunnygo]

One Piece Academy Chapter 43: Aren't you the Big Brother? part 1 (Quick translation)

source | translation index

T/N: The name of the chapter is "niichan darou ga" [ 兄ちゃんだろうが ] - It's vague and I can't accurately translate without knowing the context. We still haven't reached the part where a character said it in a dialogue (in part 2, I suppose?) but based on what we got in part 1, I decided to translate as above ^

The casual everyday moments become irreplaceable memories.

[A merciless blow cutting his only little brother]

Luffy: CORAO!!!

Usopp: What...the hell is this...?

(Law is still under the string's control)

Doflamingo: Law...

You were supposed to be with me. Instead, you stayed with Corazon and became utterly spineless.

If you hadn't brought Straw hat along, this wouldn't have happened.

If you hadn't been listening to Corazon's naive thoughts, this wouldn't have happened.

This is the outcome of your erroneous choices.

Being the pacifist fool that you've become today,

Doflamingo: ...You can't change a thing!!!

Law:... DAMN IT!!

[Wham!]

[Don!]

Trebol: A clash of the Conqueror's...!!!?

Doflamingo: Why do you stop me, Straw hat..?

Luffy: How could you do that? Corao...Corao is...

YOUR OWN LITTLE BROTHER!!

Law: Cora san...!

this is not the day law beats the arc designated heroine allegations

Law: You all, move aside! I'll take care of him!!

Sanji: Cool it, Law. That's not like you.

We'll do something about Doflamingo and the slimy bastard. This is something that we can do.

So you do the thing that we can't do!

Law:

Zoro: Losing your calm means playing right into their hands, right?

Usopp: Trust 'Team Poverty!' That guy's the Joker - So what?

In our side...

Usopp: We Have Luffy!!!!

Doflamingo: You want to throw punch at me? For Corazon's sake?

Luffy: 'Cuz I promised that I'll beat your ass if you do anything bad!

Continues in Reblog ⬇️

[hero-israel]

The "Left" has been braying about fascism for years and yet, and YET, I know none of them have even skimmed a single sentence of Ur-Fascism by Umberto Eco. If you've read it, you'll immediately start saying "Oh that's Hamas!" at basically every point he made.

Hamas has used some of the most conservative and harsh readings of Islamic theology to create a cult of tradition, they fundamentally reject modernity as an evil plague of the West, they call on Palestinians to "resist" and "struggle" and plan grandiose attacks like 10/7 with no real concrete long term tenable goals that can be gleaned- action for action's sake.

Disagreement is treason, that much is obvious. Children in preschool are taught to fear and hate Jews (fear of difference), and at the same time teach the "middle" classes that Jews are responsible for their economic hardship as if they aren't embezzling tens of millions of dollars from a global charity scam, that Jews are ever seeking to take more land and resources.

Hamas is obsessed with a Plot, that plot being every antisemitic conspiracy theory under the sun. They and their supporters believe all of them, or prime their own brains to stumble down those pipelines at a later date. My personal favorites include the Ben Gurion Canal Project, but they're all sub-plots of the Main Plot; Jews are seeking to supplant us.

Hamas frames themselves and Palestinian society as a whole as both too strong to consider humble negotiated peace, and to justify endless warfare, but also too weak to be responsible for their crimes, too pathetic for Israel to ever be justified in taking military action. It's a constant cycle of hyping themselves up as a group of badass radical warriors and then squealing "no fair" when Israel uses modern weaponry to swat them away.

I'm sure there's also contempt for the weak in Gazan society, but it doesn't immediately jump out at me from Hamas' propaganda machine (this is usually shunted onto Jews anyway, who are seen as effeminate and metropolitan, feeding into that simultaneous strength and weakness thing- Israel is weak and unworthy of life, but too powerful they're the bullies actually).

Hamas literally educates everyone to become a hero, they literally groom young boys into becoming radicalized child soldiers who do not have the frontal cortex development to resist such blatant brainwashing. It's literal child abuse. Palestinian women are pretty obviously seen as chattel who must breed the future army that will finally overwhelm Al-Yahood. There is no aspect of Gazan society that can exist for itself, it must all be part of the Struggle against Israel. And everyone, down to the tiniest baby, must play their part.

The Machismo is so blatant it should be comical. But you don't gang rape Jewish women and humiliate and torture kids if you're secure in your masculinity. I mean, there is something emasculating about being constantly beaten and seeming to have no hope for your political goals... while also constantly telling yourself that you're a proud virile warrior and you and the People have the strength of will to accomplish anything... but then these people you see as subhuman and like kind of queer if you think about it... well they utterly crush you every time. And that is all to say nothing about how Hamas relates to feminism and gay rights. And also how Eco describes the Macho Fascist as using weapons as an ersatz phallic symbol and we see so many teenage boys in Gaza being handed guns and it's like oh... this one section of the essay could take years to unpack when it comes to Hamas.

And Hamas definitely treats the people of Gaza (if not all of Palestine) as having one will and one voice, individuality is not considered. We've seen them and their spineless NGO simps refuse to acknowledge that many many Gazans criticize them, protest against them, hold them equally responsible for their current suffering as Israel. There is no One Singular Leader who claims to represent Gazans/Palestinians but that could change at any moment honestly.

And I don't see any evidence of Newspeak, but I don't know Arabic so I don't know. I do see the Western Leftist allies of Hamas engage in Newspeak like behaviors though. But that brings me to my ultimate point of this long ass ask. The Western Hamas girlies are literally, not only legitimizing a fascist organization even though they purport to hate fascism more than anything. They're starting to reproduce fascist talking points, fascist ways of thinking, in their own activism and their own lives! They're starting to think, talk, and act like fascists when it comes to Israel and Palestine, and to Jews more broadly. They're entirely unaware of this because to recognize Hamas as fascists would be to add a LOT of gray into their black and white worldview. When they appropriate the Palestinian national struggle for their own narcissistic delusions of popular revolution in the West, they're taking actual fascist propaganda produced by a fascist organization and applying it to their own lives.

tl;dr, by every metric laid out by Eco, Hamas are fascists, the people who support them and make apologetics for them are (maybe unknowingly) becoming more like fascists themselves, the next few years and decades are going to thoroughly suck but Am Yisrael Chai.

.

[leprosycock]

i know you aren't a fan of qt and i understand that but i think a lot about j feeling so bad about his relationship with lud and being a homewrecker that he tries to be like. friends with qt but she Knows something is going on and she thinks he's pathetic and spineless and she makes him feel so so guilty and small that it like. ruins his perception of himself forever

no no i love qt as a narrative foil specifically.. i loathe her as a person but in terms of a story structure she’s very interesting. i think that’s genuinely more or less what’s going on between them, they have a very odd dynamic that ranges between cold to uncomfortable friends and i love the idea that they essentially don’t know what to do with each other because addressing their issues would cause ultimate collapse. i don’t think that qt could ever genuinely see j as pathetic because she is that utterly obsessed with herself and can’t see anything beyond that, but i do think she sees him as a threat to her begrudging security and that cannot stand so she’s just bitter and catty towards him whenever she gets the chance. which j also does towards her because he is also a shallow bitter mean white woman

[mixmangosmangoverse]

I hope every non Israeli leftist who doesn't accomplish anything immediately is an utterly useless, spineless bastard whose greatest contribution will be documenting the horror their countrymen have unleashed on Jews that they don't even realize Jews have already called out and need to appeal to the west that only listens to non Jews like them.

Yes, OP is Egyptian and the Egyptian government is also bad and they haven't singlehandedly solved everything already. But that's fine because they're human and it's hard. Israelis aren't human, they're just bastard demons who live to cause suffering and are useless beyond that. This is not xenophobia or antisemitism, I just hate (((Israelis)))

“Unlike me, a rage-baiting nationalist from a country that has 99.9% cleansed its Jewish population except for some old ladies in Cairo.”

[meowstix]

as much shit as i give max for his many Ls his win against michael was ABSOLUTELY impressive tbh. like obviously yeah it's built up as being straight up impossible for max to win but also something they don't mention:

the stadium was baseball-themed. in a match where one of the battlers is a professional baseball player.

there was no way that shit wasn't rigged as hell in the PPB's favor i'm just saying

[ask-the-clergy-bc]

Hc of the papas with an assassin s/o would be an interesting thing to see! Bonus points if at some point they tried to assassinate them!

The Papa's with an Assassin S/O

This one actually made me laugh! XD Also for context, these are literally demon blooded Popes so you failed each time.

Papa Nihil: No one has ever accused Nihil of being stupid... but sometimes he does questionable things. Because he can't think of something more sexy and attractive than having an assassin partner! ESPECIALLY one that has tried to (unsuccessfully) kill him. The fact you tried (and actively did so for months) was the ultimate form of flirting. He loves strong, dangerous partners so you are a walking fantasy to him. The more you tried to come after him the more you realized that he was charming in an annoying way. Hitting on you no matter what method you tried. You couldn't just get rid of him. But hey, doesn't stop you from trying! If anything, you know how much he loves your attempts. Nihil also likes to teases you about your inability to kill him. "Maybe next time, amore!"

Papa I: You're not the first person to try and kill him, and you won't be the last. Papa has gotten very good at defending himself against potential dangers. Imagine your surprise when you failed and ended up being interrogated by Papa and his ghouls. Papa was... very reasonable. He had a way of getting information out of you without much force. You ended up more interested in the old man than anticipated. After a few hours of talking you ended up being converted to the Church of Emeritus. Now you serve as the official Ministry Assassin, and your connections back to your previous work has been invaluable! As for you and Papa? It turns out you have a lot more in common than you anticipated!

Papa II: Your mission failed immediately the first time you tried to take out Papa. You've never failed, but then again, you've never had an old skeleton man put you through an entire wooden desk. Neither of you are sure how the relationship came to be. For a long time it was just one failed assassination of him after another. You didn't even care about your client, you were more mad you couldn't get rid of this one old man! But slowly it became more of a game that you both enjoyed. Truthfully, the two of you don't really HAVE a traditional relationship... if you can even call it one. But it is filled with passion and mutual respect. You're as close as you two can be, even though you both sleep with a dagger under your pillow.

Papa III: In your exciting career you've seen a lot of interesting marks. It was rare they spoke to you before the end, and usually it was a lot of begging or bartering. But Papa was the first one to TALK his way out of you doing your job. You weren't sure what made you listen and even hear him out. But he was utterly captivating the way he charmed you into letting down your defenses. What was supposed to be a quick job turned into a dinner date. And then another. And another. And soon you were moved in and active in Ministry life. Papa practically acts like you aren't one of the most deadly people in the room. He's much more interested in your stories than anything!

Papa IV/Cardinal Copia: After scoping out the target you were sure this would be one of the easiest marks. The man was awkward and practically spineless! You were sure once you got past his weird masked guards you were good to go! What you didn't expect was that this weird little man, who slept with a lava lamp night light, was so good at fighting back! More than good. You were disarmed and pinned by a frantic Copia in under ten minutes of sneaking up on him. You both kept awkward eye contact as you both struggled to catch your breath. The fourth emeritus just sniffed before laughing. "you uh... looking for a new job?" To say the least, you have been inseparable since.

[donnerpartyofone]

I watch a lot of true crime trash TV, which feels like a very complicated and ambivalent thing for me, there's a complex of motivations behind it, but definitely part of it is some sort of ritualistic confrontation with my own abuse history. And it's like, obviously these things thrive on the entertainment value of meditating on scary, twisted human monsters, but there is also something profoundly pathetic about the mentality of these kinds of predators. Like one of their most common characteristics is that they can't handle rejection, so they reassert their importance through violence which makes them feel very macho and epic, but they miss the fact that it's profoundly pathetic to need everyone to like you and no one to criticize you. Seriously what kind of fucking baby are you, that you completely lose control of yourself when you realize you are not universally loved. That is so completely, laughably infantile, I can't even find the right word for it. All those violent revenge gestures are just a cover-up for the fact that you're like this spineless, needy, amoebic, utterly worthless excuse for an adult who completely crumbles the second people aren't gazing at you with admiration like you're their fucking son. I guess maybe I'd get a bunch of guns and start making death threats, too, if that's what I had to hide: that I'm a toothless little fucking infant who is completely obliterated by the thought that there is any one person alive out there who doesn't want to like breastfeed me. Pathological men who go after women who reject them, or women who are perceived to reject them even if they aren't even aware that the guy exists, are so fucking weak it's just unbelievable. If you find that you completely lose your mind if anyone says No to you for any reason, then we really need to stick you in some sort of adult orphanage with a wire mother where the rest of society can just totally forget about you until you're fucking dead.

[voidwolfmilf]

The whole 'sub that absolutely worships their domme/dom in every way' trope is common and valid.

But I love seeing other dominants who are just utterly enthralled by their submissives... Yes they hold the power and they're in control and they take the lead, but it's first and foremost because it's what makes their beloved sub happy.

Dominants that cherish, above all else, their sub's smile, willing and eager to do any experimenting their adorable good sub desires.

(Soft gay ramblings below)

Dominants that all but literally worship the ground their sub walks on because that's their sub right there and gosh they're so cute and how did they ever get so lucky?

I see a lot about strong hard dominants but like... Need more of that soft domme energy. Give me those dominants who wake up and make sure they're awake when their long distance sub wakes up, maybe having been asleep on a discord call, and being sure that they can make their sub feel safe as soon as they wake up incase they had a bad dream.

Who hold their darlings in their arms and marvel at how soft and magnificent their sub's skin is as they rub their back or trail soft fingers along limbs or sides.

Now, that's not to say they're spineless or can't be hard... dommes/doms who normally are always giving their subs puppy dog eyes even when they aren't making eyecontact because of how happy they are, but who have to restrain themselves from not being rash whenever someone hurts their sub in anyway because how dare someone hurt their darling? And when things do get lewd, soft and slow, until their sub begs for otherwise, quietly murmuring reasurrances and asking questions to ensure that they communicate with their sub. Even during intense scenes, especially then, actively making sure they're mentally present because harming or upsetting their sub is a nigh unforgivable act that takes them a while to forgive themselves for.

Dommes that would break the world if that's what it took to look after and protect their submissive because their sub is the most precious thing in all of reality and nothing else come's close to as important.

Dominants that check for colors so often with their sub that their sub teasingly double checks that their favourite colour hasn't become green, based on the very happy reactions the dominant has every time they hear that syllable escape their sub's lips.

I dunno, I'm sleepy but just... There's nothing wrong with simping for your submissive and I feel like we should see more rep of that because it's a wonderful flavor that feels very much needed in the hellscape we call Earth.

[feelingbluepolitics]

Why We Need "PC" or a Replacement

For several reasons, it's too bad Republicons usurped the meaning of "PC."

Republicons acknowledge that "PC" has referred to "political correctness," and they really don't like it. They arrived at this loathing through a tortured process that is described in this outstanding, highly recommended article:

"PC" has been effectively repurposed by the Right. As the Right was losing the culture wars, outflanked, uncomfortably cornered, and showing their true color as white supremacists, this term became a popular verbal sword to fight back.

"Political correctness," as used by a Republicon who is hostile to "PC," now means "I am a racist, misogynistic, vicious bigot, and I won't tolerate anyone making me feel bad about it."

Given that "political correctness" was originally an effort to refine language and policies that attempted to avoid offense or disadvantage to members of particular groups in society, we've lost the battle on this phrase.

"In principle, political correctness intends to contribute to greater social equality and fairness. Yet this notion of PC has become obscure in contemporary political discussions. In this situation, it is harder than ever for the idea of PC to win hearts and minds. However, one thing seems to be apparent: those who would like to stick with the ideals of political correctness, should consider giving a new name to their cause."

However, it needn't be a new term. The Left can, and should, unmistakably claim concepts currently under attack by the Right, including "truth," "justice," and "decency." As it happens, decency was the underpinning concept anyway. We can cede the Right's perversion of both "political" and "correctness" in this context, and we can simply revert to the Left as standing for social and common decency. It is the Blue voters who represent this decency.

With that sorted semantically, a problem remains, because ideally we need the acronym "PC" for another purpose.

We have a far more serious semantic mess. We say "Democracy!" The Right says "Republic!" Of course, neither side is going to carry the day with this, because America is technically designed as a democratically elected constitutional republic, because the key problems to avoid on the original drawing board were mobs and autocratic rulers.

America has got way off track, mainly because Republicons for years have been attacking democracy in the forms of our voting and election systems. Now under the sway of trump, Republicons are emboldened to attack not just individual constitutional rights, but the entirety of the Constitution altogether.

Currently the most effective blade being wielded by Republicons is the old but freshly sharpened cry of "socialism." Republicons have reverted to fear mongering based on claims of socialism again and again.

"Conservatives have attempted to tack 'socialism' on policies that today enjoy majority support, such as universal health coverage (supported by 70.1% of respondents in a recent Reuters/Ipsos poll) or free college tuition (supported by 60%).

"The truth is that the 'socialism' taunt is among the oldest and most discreditable of political chestnuts. It’s been used by conservatives to smear Democratic or progressive policies they don’t like (which is most of them) since the 1930s."

The fact that conservatives lost again and again is why we have Social Security, and fire departments, and...Wait. It's a really, really long list. See, for example,

However, this track record of conservative losses regarding trumpeted cries of "socialists!" does not mean we can relax. Far from. And in part we on the Left have helped hone this blade and given new strength to this Republicon parry.

Everyone is now going to think of our current favorite catalyst on both sides, Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, Democratic Socialist.

But AOC is an incremental and misunderstood personification of this also misunderstood stand on the Left, referenced by the catch-all phrase "late stage capitalism."

"According to a 2017 article in The Atlantic, the term "late capitalism" is again in vogue to describe modern business culture, although with a semantic change or an ironic twist. "Late capitalism" has become a catch-all term for various phenomena that express capitalism's distortions of human life, and it is often used in critique and satire. This usage also conveys a sense that contemporary capitalism cannot go on like it does forever - simply because the problems created by business are getting too large and unmanageable." *

See also:

“Late capitalism,” in its current usage, is a catchall phrase for the indignities and absurdities of our contemporary economy, with its yawning inequality and super-powered corporations and shrinking middle class."

But we are in the defining political fights of our lifetimes. We may well need a catch-all message, but we can ill-afford one that derives from ironic, semantic twists.

Ask Republicon-leaning voters what socialism is, and they'll say it's a system likely to be run by their enemies that defines everything in their lives and limits everyone, and takes away freedoms and the possibilities of better lives.

(Yes. The irony here is palpable.)

The term "late stage capitalism" causes problems on the Left as well. "Late stage" sounds like it must mean "terminal," and that until evil capitalism is killed, we are just wasting our time with spineless measures and policies instead of kicking all the losers into the midst of a glorious revolution, right now!

So, uhm. Yeah. As it turns out, what many Americans really do want is not the inequality of runaway capitalism, and it's also not an overthrowing revolution to bring about socialism with unclear parameters.

But capitalism tightly regulated and taxed to serve the public good is neither the stuff of fear mongering, nor is it either political extreme (which now includes the entire Republicon party), nor is it the pernicious, conscience-impaired, useless grid-locking, both-sides-ism of what currently passes for political "centrists."

Capitalism tightly regulated and taxed to serve the public good is...good. In fact, it is urgently needed common sense, and it represents the survival of our national and global economies, as well as the survival of our nation and the planet.

Think about it, putting other political baggage aside. What we need is energetically socialized capitalism. But Republicons have got the drop on "socialism" as a terrifying bad thing, while on the Left we are stuck trying to explain what we mean to people who aren't listening except to grab hold of the word "socialists!" and scream it louder.

Meanwhile, speaking of old arguments, we are still locked in Left-Right, progressive-conservative fighting about Democrats for democracy and Republicons for the Republic. But our reality is not there anymore.

Republicons have wrought terrible damage to our American democracy through vote suppression, extreme gerrymandering, dark money, voting list purges, voter and registration intimidation, and more.

Meanwhile, our Republic, particularly as far as elected Republicons, is absolutely not representative of elected officials who are supposed to represent we, the people.

Our democratic constitutional republic is nearly crushed and gone.

Here's where "PC" could have been helpful.

A "plutocracy" is government by the rich. An "oligarchy" doesn't necessarily refer to the wealthiest people; it just means government by the "few". To describe America, where the wealthy few have overwhelmingly influenced and now bought power, we have a plutocracy and oligarchy at the same time.

This is the 1% forming a "plutarchy." Like "tur-ducken," a plutarchy is a hideous and wrong excess with a few keen proponents. There are those very few people inside a layer of overwhelming power encased in the largest component, money. That's a "plutarchy."

That gives us a "P."

However, we need to acknowledge the utterly destructive role of uncontrolled capitalism in America, creating unsustainable, flashpoint inequality which has made us dangerously partisan, unhappy, and angry, attacking each other.

"Corporatocracy" is an economic and political system governed or controlled by corporations and corporate interests. That is clearly a core part of America's problems, which is another way of saying Republicon taxation and deregulatory policies, combined with anti-worker policies from health care to immigration to suppressed wages, are key forces of destruction.

In other words, the late stage, or fully developed and entrenched corporatocracy is the critical component we are facing as * "the problems created by business are getting too large and unmanageable."

Corporatocracy gives us a "C."

It should be clear that America is currently a plutarchic corporatocracy - unfortunately "PC" for short - which Blue voters and their candidates are solely positioned to fight back against.

It would be handy if, when Republicons fear monger by yelling that Democrats are pushing socialism, we could simply say, "No. We are fighting the Republicon "PC" that is destroying Americans and America."

("CP" also is already taken for another fight against a type of life-threatening cerebral attack.)

Can someone smarter and more creative please figure out how to package this critical messaging? It needs to be better than Republicon C-orporatocracy R-uling A-s P-lutarchy.

[hanging-upside-down]

Revolting sickening wretched ragdoll, fight back. You spineless gutless sickening coward, fight back. You coward, fight back. React, reply, retaliate, do SOMETHING.

You were once so utterly, utterly different, but how, HOW?? Someone so simple as you should stay constant and consistent, not change so unbelievably in so little time and over so little.

What do you call that server, what do you call those things you said, what do you call those things you wrote, those things you made, those things you did, those things you started, that thing you did nothing to save or preserve? What do you call those? I called them gold, I called them splendour, they were somehow my pride and joy. You must have known that, you surely must've. I said it often enough did I not? You seemed uninterested at times, but when you did express your lovely emotions you did it well. So well. I was addicted to it, I was addicted to you. I absolutely couldn't live without you, you were my everything. I was utterly at your mercy. I was lead by you, even if you had nowhere to go. I wasn't me anymore, I wasn't more than a trifling vessel for a heart lead astray by someone it had been demanded to be absolutely infatuated by. It was bound to yours by an imaginary line, a line of grueling obsession and enamourment that was strung so tightly it hurt our chests when we spoke late at night, its suspension so tight in fact that it nearly hurt to fill our lungs all the way but we loved it, even if only briefly, we loved it and each other so incredibly much that we ran out of ways to express it to one another, but we both felt it, oh so deeply and entirely and unforgettably. A kiss wasn't enough, a TONGUE kiss wasn't enough, a tight hug as tight as our arms would pull wasn't enough, declaring us each other's soulmates wasn't enough, swearing to forever take care of each other and each other's hearts with our lives wasn't enough, we *couldn't* get enough, we were always eager and ravenous for more ways to bond, to intertwine, to love each other. I always liked the definition of "to be enamoured". It means "to be filled with love for". It was accurate way back when.

We were each other's mortal drug, our ecstasy, our heroine. We were what we had never seen before, never *lived* before. It burned oh how it did burn, and it sweltered and it bubbled. Our eyes shot open and then fell half closed, crossing our eyes just a little bit. It was surreal, *we* were acting surreal. We appeared in each other's dreams and we coloured each other's cheeks bright pink from all those miles away.

We were so immersed in each other yet now we never talk. Until only recently we were at each other's throats, I was even prepared and and planning to kill you in boiling blood. Who are you now? You're not my Berg anymore are you? You aren't the little boy I convinced myself to love anymore. You aren't the one who sent me those letters, those drawings, those long messages. He is someone different. You are but a new ghost possessing his mind and soul. You pushed the old one out to make room for yourself. You brought with you a new person and I don't like who you've brought with you. Neither do a lot of other people, apparently. I'm glad we left off in a better air this time though.