#informed opinion

[empahla]

Do You Have An Informed Opinion?

That last one is brutal. Do you have an informed opinion? Are you sure? Do you know what an informed opinion is? Did you build your opinion from the ground up, or is it the opinion you were taught from birth? Indoctrination is a popular word these days. Did you adopt familial and cultural opinions whole cloth, or have you made revisions? Do you challenge established opinions? Not just other…

[carnivalcarriondiscarded]

a couple scribbles i cleaned up. also i think i like drawing him in varying states of distress

[yuri-for-businesswomen]

i had a friend who was raped as a teenager and had a really strict mum who did not let her go out so she was really lonely. when she turned 18 she started going clubbing and since we live in a city with a big fetish scene, she started going to the kinky venue. since she was young, naive and very pretty, she was immediately roped in by older men who did bondage shootings with her and everything. she started working in the club. to me, she was clearly groomed, but she works in a fetish shop now and is fully immersed in the scene

i have a friend who answered a job ad for a secretary when she was abroad and she and her friend ran out of money but when they arrived there it was a brothel. they both prostituted themselves for several months. they were only 18. she still talks highly of that brothel, how clean and safe it was, and wants prostitution to be legal

i read the gut wrenching biography of a thai woman who ran away from home, whose parents refused her education and treated her brother very preferably while openly hating her, and entered prostitution in sex tourist destination pattaya at only 13. she was paid by men in their 50s first for her virginity, then to piss on her. she exited at 19 and developed psychosis. she defends sex buyers, hates feminists and wants prostitution to be legal

do you see where im going with this? brainwashing is real. despite the obvious facts, the grooming, the system that pushed and pulled them, the men taking advantage of them; they defend it. so yeah, we shouldnt dismiss firsthand testimony and personal experience, but always take it with a grain of salt, always contextualise, always see it as one part of a bigger picture. liberals dont do that and have duped too many people into not doing it either. „if thats her choice its none of our business“ fuck you!

[crypticmillipede]

stardew valley hot(?) take:: if you pick anything besides “experimental noise rock” for sam’s 2-heart event where you decide his band’s sound, you are simply wrong and non-canonical argue with the wall

like i’m sorry, you really think the town’s resident grunge/emo trio would play “cheerful pop” “hi-energy dance” or “honky-tonk country”?? these guys look like they feed off the souls of dying Hot Topics

[notherpuppet]

Is there any particular reason you use ship names with qpr relationships? (Like using a / or radioapple for examples) It makes it a little hard to tell what's meant to be romantic and platonic in fandoms sometimes, no shame for using them obvi and not pushing you to change your tagging or anything. Just wondering

Well the QPR I'm depicting is pretty affectionate (I mean mostly just xo's, not xxx hahaha) so even if it's NOT romantic, it probably may still be perceived as a ship between characters. I'm purposefully displaying a bond that is affectionate and loving, albeit platonic. So I still consider it a ship and that's why I tag it as such.

So with QPRs like radioapple, radiorose, almimzy, radiostatic, etc. etc. (alastor ships pretty much lol) I just figure that if people don't like to see characters in this ship, they're able to just block the tag. There are ships that I don't particularly like, but I just scroll away. It doesn't really bother me, but yknow; we get to cater a lot of our own social media experiences. There's the block and mute options for a reason.

As for ascertaining whether a ship art is QPR or not, I think someone can inquire or just do a little more legwork to figure that out themselves tbh. Some things may not have been written to be QPR, but may fit inside that idea for someone engaging in the artwork/fanfic. Some things may be intentionally written to be QPR and not coincide with a fan's taste or personal ideas. For example, someone may depict a QPR that includes sex. These are valid QPR experiences. On the flip side, someone may not be depicting a QPR and they include nothing explicit or affectionate, but it still fits into someone else's idea of what a QPR can look like. It's not black and white. There is nuance.

We should individually do the work of assessing if a fanart is something that we appreciate or not. AND YOU DON'T HAVE TO TELL AN ARTIST IF YOU DON'T LIKE HOW THEY DO SOMETHING BTW. Just saying. Pretty RUDE ACTUALLY so yknow I would advocate for NOT doing that. I also don't think we need to put it on the artists to define exactly what they're depicting, since it can be a pretty difficult relationship to pin down. Affection and friendship can look very different for lots of people. And I don't think it's necessary for an artist or writer to spell out their intentions for us. Art is a means to express oneself and to have fun. If we choose to engage in an artwork, then we can also interpret it and come to conclusions of our own.

TLDR; I'm gonna go ahead and tag QPRs as their fandom ship names and I think it's up to us as users to cater social media to our tastes individually.

[sergle]

Opinion Time, bc this is something I've been really curious about: for LONG HAUL flights (think 20-30hrs) is it better to be the Window Guy so you can fully lean against the wall to sleep, and control the window, or the Aisle Guy so you can stretch your legs (and also Piss And Shit) more often without disturbing your seat neighbors?

bonus points if you've been on many long flights and have an Informed Opinion about the seat you were in

[colorful-horses]

pony review clips

[transmascpetewentz]

"Converting to Judaism" lol you're not even a real Jew you just want an excuse to be a Zionist pig

...ok???

[mxtxfanatic]

Let’s talk Yi City Arc! I’ve seen a few posts since my time in the fandom that talks about the Yi City Arc as unnecessary or out of place in the whole of the mdzs narrative. I’ve even seen some suggest that the disconnect is because Yi City was originally a separate story to mdzs, a sort of prototype, if you will, to explain it away. I, too, after my first read questioned the significance of this arc to the overall story. However, the Yi City arc and its placement so early in the novel is actually just a huge and very clever spoiler to most of the important plot points of the overarching story… if you know what plot points to look for, which an un-spoiled first-time reader would not. So let’s talk about those spoilers:

1) The righteous cultivation clans’ refusal to stand against evil—and, really, their indulgence of it—leads to the wiping out of an entire clan and a monastery as well as the deaths of two powerful cultivators unaffiliated with any major sect.

The “righteous” cultivation clans happily ignore that fact that the Jin Clan is amassing power through unscrupulous guest disciples, and it is only when Xiao Xingchen, an outsider, brings the crime against the Chang Clan to light do they bother to pretend to do anything about it. However behind the scenes, the Jin Clan assassinates their only real opposition, and the other clans, great and small, continue to do nothing as Xue Yang is released to commit another massacre. The Jin are never held responsible for their actions. Likewise, all the clans turn away from Wei Wuxian, an outsider, when he calls out the Jin Clan’s crimes against the Wen remnants and accuses them of amassing power via poaching vassal clans and attempting to steal his tools. Behind the scenes, the Jin work to undermine Wei Wuxian’s reputation before joining in to massacre Wei Wuxian and the Wen remnants. The Jin are never held accountable for this, which directly leads into the Xue Yang situation.

2) Xiao Xingchen has his reputation slandered by Xue Yang killing others using his sword.

After Xiao Xingchen kills himself, Xue Yang begins using his sword to enact “vengeance” on the remnants of the Chang Clan, who he considers as having “betrayed” Xiao Xingchen. Finding the signature of Xiao Xingchen’s sword on the slain bodies leads the cultivation world to believe that a disillusioned Xiao Xingchen is killing in revenge. In much the same way, Wei Wuxian is used as a scapegoat by the cultivation world whenever bad things happen, such as the presence of walking corpses or the mass digging of graves. In neither situation does any clan investigate the true events of the situations, happy to blame the easiest suspect and allow the unrest to continue. In both situations, Xiao Xingchen and Wei Wuxian are eventually found innocent of the crimes for which they are accused, and the true culprit is revealed.

3) Xiao Xingchen is betrayed by someone he considered close to him, which eventually leads to his death.

Xiao Xingchen, due to being literally blinded by his sacrifice, ends up running into, rescuing, and caring for his mortal enemy, Xue Yang. Taking advantage of Xiao Xingchen’s blindness, Xue Yang tricks him into murdering a bunch of innocents and his best friend, causing him to commit suicide. Wei Wuxian, similarly, is betrayed by a close friend he kept near, figuratively blinded by a former childhood friendship and the present debt he felt owed to said friend’s parents. This misplaced trust directly leads to his death.

4) Xiao Xingchen must give up his eyes for Song Lan to see again, because Baoshan Sanren is not magical.

This is probably the biggest spoiler of the entire arc, but by the time you get to where this information is relevant, you’d probably have forgotten that this was even said. Xue Yang blinds Song Lan after destroying his home, and to atone for this, Xiao Xingchen goes to his master, Baoshan Sanren, to beg for her help. However, Baoshan Sanren cannot make something out of nothing. Mxtx explicitly writes that tidbit into the narration. Song Lan goes up the mountain blind and comes down with eyes. Xiao Xingchen goes up the mountain with eyes and comes down blind. Song Lan was given Xiao Xingchen’s eyes.

Much later in the story, Jiang Cheng loses his golden core. Wei Wuxian offers the miracle solution of Baoshan Sanren “giving” him a new one. Jiang Cheng, obviously skeptical, questions Wei Wuxian up until the moment he must go up “Baoshan Sanren’s mountain” alone. Wei Wuxian descends, alone, looking pale and weak. Later, when Wei Wuxian is ambushed by the Wen, Wen “Core-melting Hand” Zhuliu touches him and is visibly shocked by a discovery that he then keeps to himself. Jiang Cheng emerges from the mountain with a new golden core, while Wei Wuxian emerges from the Burial Mounds with a new cultivation method wholly independent of the need for a golden core. The Yi City arc tells us why this is: “Baoshan Sanren” cannot make something out of nothing.

And these are just the major parallels I remember off the top of my head. However, while a reread makes a lot of these parallels directly applicable to specific plot points in Wei Wuxian’s own story, I would argue that the biggest role the explicit paralleling is meant to play for a new reader is to make you question the dominant narrative of the main story. The narration tells us that Wei Wuxian is a bloodthirsty man who may as well be a demon, known for cruelty and vengeance. We see none of that from his character when he is resurrected. Then we get a mini-drama where a man with attributes Wei Wuxian directly relates to, with a story Wei Wuxian directly compares to his own life, is scapegoated by society, killed, then eventually vindicated. If nothing else, the Yi City Arc is meant to make you, as a reader, stop and go “Hey, wait a minute, what if Wei Wuxian isn’t the bad guy here???” And once you understand that, you should start questioning everything the prologue told you, just like the juniors start to question what they were told about Xiao Xingchen post Yi City in their group debrief.

[britts-galaxy-brain]

Lily + her diehard stans: They have no evidence! They're just harassing me because I'm trans/for clout/for attention/because they're bored/because I insulted a show they like/ect!

Also Lily's diehard stans: I didn't even watch this video. I refuse to even look at any of these documents. I clicked off this video after 5 seconds. You have no evidence so I'm not taking you at your word. But I'm going to take Lily's word as gospel even though she's never shown a single shred of evidence to back up anything she's said and her stories change every time she tells them.

[whatsitzface]

Fuck every percy jackson "fan" who is still complaining about percy & annabeths HAIR COLOURS being different then in the books. I hope Nico is blonde so that all of you cry and scream like fucking toddlers

[witherbee]

i don't mind if people don't like AJR's music, that's fine, we all have different taste, but the people who are obsessed with making fun of them because they're "cringe" really rub me the wrong way. like, i'm sorry you feel uncomfortable leaning into vulnerability and sincerity; couldn't be me.

[ugly-anarchist]

I think there needs to be some kind of bridge between "do what you want forever, labels are made for you not the other way around" and "these labels mean something and the community around them might get hurt if you don't treat them with respect and also some specific experiences deserve their own specific labels"

Like, I get wanting to be accepting of everyone but at the same time treating queer labels like they actually mean nothing and anyone who tries to say "oh hey maybe don't do that" is just a cop who wants to exclude people isn't great.

Like obviously exclusionism is bad and people who just hate anyone who isn't like them shouldn't have their opinion respected but at the same time it's like... These words are important and the people being like "they're just words who cares" clearly don't respect the history and community effort put into them.

[wenellyb]

Buck and Tommy just got together and there are already hundreds and hundreds of posts in the 911 tags talking about how Buck and Tommy's "break up" will happen.

And it's fine, people are allowed to share their theories, I share mine as well, but I can't help but wonder what's the angle here?

From what I've seen, most people are sure Buck and Tommy are temporary because they're sure "Buddie is Endgame"? But how would they know?

As far as we know Buck and Eddie are best friends and there hasn't been any indication that the writers are planning for them to have à romantic relation in season 7. Reading interviews with shipping goggles on isn't canon, it's fan theory.

If they had planned it, they would have put some "seeds", some small hints here and there when Buck and Tommy got together, showing that Buck and Eddie's relationship is not meant to be seen platonic, like Buck being unsure about Tommy or Eddie being supportive but a little jealous.

But they haven't, all we've seen right now is Buck being head over heels for Tommy, telling his sister what he likes about him and telling Eddie how he can't stop thinking about Tommy. Buck has such a massive crush on Tommy he invited him to his sister's wedding.

Buck's coming out scene to Eddie was so beautiful and emotional, but there was no hint of Eddie being jealous or him having romantic feelings for Buck. We even got the sweetest and most platonic hug ever.

Where exactly are we supposed to get the message that Buck is harboring a secret crush for his best friend? Or are we supposed to imagine that he'll magically develop romantic feelings in the middle of the season?

I don't understand where the "Tommy is a placeholder for Eddie" theories are coming from???

Buck hurt Eddie to get Tommy's attention, his words not mine. How are the writers going to go from that and make us believe that he was in reality in love with Eddie? How would that go?

I have nothing against Buddie, I even like the idea of them, but at the end of the day, I believe what I see on screen. Fan theories are just theories.

I'm sorry but to me, Buck is all about Tommy.

As someone who has seen my fair share of TV shows, I'm wondering why anyone would think that that's the direction the screenwriters are going.

[transphilza]

the only thing i can say is to just be fucking kind and patient with others during all of this. it’s an intense subject that makes people heated for good reason but can we just not completely mercilessly rip into each other while we’re all just trying to process the same information

[supercalime]

The amount of digging, stalking and over analyzing that required for yall to now say “it was obvious” and “we were right all along” is one of the reasons they never went public with their relationship before actual marriage, just like Joey Richter and Lauren Lopez getting engaged and Keith and Becky habersberger out of nowhere telling they had a baby.

I’ve been a fan of smosh for like 12 years and the shipping (yes, I know they said they don’t care, but even if they said to stop yall wouldn’t anyway) and nitpicking every single interaction between cast members (I’m not even gonna get into the fanfics and inappropriate comments) were why I kept my interaction with the fandom to a minimum.

Im happy they’re married, really. I’ve been happy for other influencers before. The issue was never denial. I did wish it was a prank because I knew this exact response was going to happen.

This feels like fans were trying to out them when they weren’t ready. If they truly felt safe making the relationship public, they wouldn’t have gone to lengths they did to hide it. Poor Courtney probably had an engagement ring that she couldn’t wear because of fan reaction. I mean, I remember seeing proof of them together through reflections on a glass! It isn’t normal.

A similar situation has happened in a fandom before. Remember when fans were speculating about a Malec wedding in the shadowhunter finale? Finding every single piece of evidence on social media, bts footage, etc? And in the ending the characters got married? But you know why that wasn’t weird? They were fictional characters, made to entertain us, with story arcs. No actual person was at stake.

And you know, I love smosh and obviously this rant isnt directed towards the fans who are just surprised and happy for them (which I am too, congrats to them), but it still bother me.

Publicly, they were coworkers in a comedy channel who made jokes, played characters, played games, etc. Smosh has never been about romantic relationships between cast members and it saddens me that the fans made most of it about shipping when they have so much more to offer.

The point is, we are not entitled to information about their lives and speculate about it. Too bad this can’t be a learning experience because congrats, yall were “right all along”.