#it's about NUANCE

[gayvampyr]

no offense but you guys need to learn the difference between someone implying their experience is universal and a post simply just not being about you

[tottwriter]

You know, it’s always great to shit on other countries for stuff we don’t understand! I’m so glad that this literally never has any drawbacks and doesn’t contribute to negative stereotyping!

So. The thing people have to understand. America big. UK small.

This doesn’t sound like a major revelation, but in the context of nature/wildlife, it makes a huge difference. In North America, the population density is just so low that, until the industrial era, there really wasn’t any feasible way for human activity alone to impact these species in the same way. Any time humans wanted an area to be free of predators, they just...went somewhere else.

But where do you go when you’re on an island where the sea is literally never more than 72 miles away. And for the most part, it’s considerably less than that. In every direction, there is a coast with a town/village, or a major river where people want to settle. And over thousands of years, as these settlements formed, and people decided they didn’t want to get picked off by apex predators, those animals were pushed back, and back, and back.

There is evidence of Lynx living in the far north of the UK until as recently as about 1,500 years ago, but further south they had already lost their habitat to farmers. We’re talking BC/BCE here. Again, this wasn’t aristocrats, it was farmers. Trying to farm.

Our forests were cleared over centuries, as people laid out fields for crops, and raised livestock to graze on patches of grass. A lot more went during the tudor period, in the name of building ships, because the Tudors, weirdly enough, weren’t really focused on environmental protection, and like..these forests are huge, man! Who runs out of trees??

We lost bears around a thousand years ago, and wolves in the 1760s due to people, again, not wanting to get eaten while they were travelling. And seeing as they were our only large predators...that’s...pretty much how it happened. The varieties of sheep and cows that exist here have evolved to suit our landscape over time, and in areas where deer population get out of control, there are annual culls to stop them destroying all the woodland.

But, while there are absolutely ongoing efforts to reintroduce lost species to the UK, such as beavers and bison, birds of prey, and even boar,  large carnivores are a harder ask. There just isn’t a lot of space here that is suitable. Everywhere you look, there’s another village.

Does the UK have a history of aristocratic dickheads fucking things up for everyone? Well yeah, that’s pretty much what we’re known for. But is the UK a nation of nature-hating psychopaths who go around burning everything to the ground just for fun? No. Not at all. 

While the percentage of the UK which is designated a “National Nature Reserve” is absolutely tiny, it’s important to remember that most of our wild spaces aren’t designated that way. We have privately owned gardens that open to the public, and charitable organisations which protect and maintain large areas of wildlife. (Large by UK standards, at least. But remember, the UK is less than 100sq miles in TOTAL.)

No one is denying that the UK has been wholly shaped by human activity, and at this point, has lost every bit of “pristine” nature, along with many large animals. But this is less due to wanton destruction in the name of sport, and more about population pressures in a small, contained space. Island living is never going to work the same as it does on a vast continent, and efforts to bring back biodiversity have to adapt along those lines.

Likewise, the existence or absence of large, dangerous predators have to be understood along those lines as well. Humans aside, we just... have smaller predators these days. Foxes, badgers, weasels and stoats, even wild cats (In Scotland, and highly endangered, but they are native to the UK). We still have a lot of wildlife. It’s just, deer aside, most of it can easily hide when you walk by.

Actually your society is the freaks for shooting everything that moves and burning half your "nature reserves" every year so that upperclass dandies can eat leaded pheasant. North Americans are the well adjusted ones here, your country has become a desolate suburban lawn in island form

[valtsv]

are we still doing this because i have a late submission

[lgbtlunaverse]

Obsessed with characters who portray themselves as worse than they are. Who are lying to everyone including themselves about it. People generally assume if someone's lying about themselves they're trying to look better but sometimes they're trying to look worse. They attribute agency to where they had none, add intent to accidents, try to convince everyone that this is something they did instead of something that happened to them.

[heartorbit]

if we could stay connected, just like this

[meticulousmaker]

another random thing that stands out to me rewatching Steven Universe as an adult:

throughout the show there's this clear Vibe that Steven has inherited some big magical destiny, right? and it makes sense narratively: he's the son of Rose Quartz, leader of the rebellion, now being raised by her friends who were the last remaining survivors of an interstellar war. he's like a human child in most ways, except he has magical powers that start to become more obvious as he's getting older. no one like him has ever existed before. it's a big deal. raising him and figuring out how he's going to grow is its own unique challenge, because nobody knows what to expect. so of course there's this magical destiny vibe, given all that.

What's interesting to me, though, is that this magical destiny is in no way literally, physically present in the story, it's just something everyone kinda feels. Like, there's not some ancient prophecy about a half-gem, half-human savior. He's not the Chosen One in any literal sense, he just happens to give off Chosen One vibes. And I say that's interesting because it means that the fact he was kinda raised with this Chosen One vibe is completely a decision everyone around him made, for better or for worse. And the show is aware of this, because the weight of Rose's legacy and everyone's expectations of him is a constant theme, and as Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl all grow and develop, they also realize the downsides of them putting those expectations on a child. Like, Steven spends his whole childhood being told about how great Rose was, and how because he's inherited her gem he will probably inherit her powers - and that's not necessarily a bad thing. Imagine how awful things could have been if Steven had no exposure to the Gems and no knowledge of what they were or how they worked, and then his powers started coming in? It was hard enough even when he was surrounded by the most qualified Gem Experts on Earth. But being primed for all of this "you're going to have your mother's magical powers" stuff put a heavy weight on his shoulders, and then the fact that nobody else quite knew how his abilities worked meant he was constantly faced with the adults in his life looking to him with concern because they didn't know what was happening with him. That's gotta leave an impression on a kid - and, well, throughout the show and especially in SU Future we definitely see that it does.

I like the way the show handles the pressure that's put on him, and the fact that everyone is just... trying their best in a completely unprecedented situation. Nobody knows what to do or how to raise this kid, and that inevitably causes problems but everyone is trying. And Steven can feel that everyone is trying without knowing what to do and he just wants to help and not be a burden and none of his caretakers have said that he's a burden but he can feel everyone's confusion and concern and the expectations he's not living up to and he cares so much, about everyone, about everything. He's in an extremely unique position that grants him opportunities to help that nobody else has, and he feels like he's failing everyone if he can't fulfill that, and in the end it never should have been his job to fix things but somebody had to try. Somebody had to try, and he was one of the only people with the ability to stop the Diamonds, stop the war, stop the lies, stop his world and everyone on it from being destroyed... and he was just a kid.

[inkskinned]

the thing is that they're so fascinated by sex, they love sex, they can't imagine a world without sex - they need sex to sell things, they need sex to be part of their personality, they need sex to prove their power - but they hate sex. they are disgusted by it.

sex is the only thing that holds their attention, and it is also the thing that can never be discussed directly.

you can't tell a child the normal names for parts of their body, that's sexual in nature, because the body isn't a body, it's a vessel of sex. it doesn't matter that it's been proven in studies (over and over) that kids need to know the names of their genitals; that they internalize sexual shame at a very young age and know it's 'dirty' to have a body; that it overwhelmingly protects children for them to have the correct words to communicate with. what matters is that they're sexual organs. what matters is that it freaks them out to think about kids having body parts - which only exist in the context of sex.

it's gross to talk about a period or how to check for cancer in a testicle or breast. that is nasty, illicit. there will be no pain meds for harsh medical procedures, just because they feature a cervix.

but they will put out an ad of you scantily-clad. you will sell their cars for them, because you have abs, a body. you will drip sex. you will ooze it, like a goo. like you were put on this planet to secrete wealth into their open palms.

they will hit you with that same palm. it will be disgusting that you like leather or leashes, but they will put their movie characters in leather and latex. it will be wrong of you to want sexual freedom, but they will mark their success in the number of people they bed.

they will crow that it's inappropriate for children so there will be no lessons on how to properly apply a condom, even to teens. it's teaching them the wrong things. no lessons on the diversity of sexual organ growth, none on how to obtain consent properly, none on how to recognize when you feel unsafe in your body. if you are a teenager, you have probably already been sexualized at some point in your life. you will have seen someone also-your-age who is splashed across a tv screen or a magazine or married to someone three times your age. you will watch people pull their hair into pigtails so they look like you. so that they can be sexy because of youth. one of the most common pornography searches involves newly-18 young women. girls. the words "barely legal," a hiss of glass sand over your skin.

barely legal. there are bills in place that will not allow people to feel safe in their own bodies. there are people working so hard to punish any person for having sex in a way that isn't god-fearing and submissive. heteronormative. the sex has to be at their feet, on your knees, your eyes wet. when was the first time you saw another person crying in pornography and thought - okay but for real. she looks super unhappy. later, when you are unhappy, you will close your eyes and ignore the feeling and act the role you have been taught to keep playing. they will punish the sex workers, remove the places they can practice their trade safely. they will then make casual jokes about how they sexually harass their nanny.

and they love sex but they hate that you're having sex. you need to have their ornamental, perfunctory, dispassionate sex. so you can't kiss your girlfriend in the bible belt because it is gross to have sex with someone of the same gender. so you can't get your tubes tied in new england because you might change your mind. so you can't admit you were sexually assaulted because real men don't get hurt, you should be grateful. you cannot handle your own body, you cannot handle the risks involved, let other people decide that for you. you aren't ready yet.

but they need you to have sex because you need to have kids. at 15, you are old enough to parent. you are not old enough to hear the word fuck too many times on television.

they are horrified by sex and they never stop talking about it, thinking about it, making everything unnecessarily preverted. the saying - a thief thinks everyone steals. they stand up at their podiums and they look out at the crowd and they sign a bill into place that makes sexwork even more unsafe and they stand up and smile and sign a bill that makes gender-affirming care illegal and they get up and they shrug their shoulders and write don't say gay and they get up, and they make the world about sex, but this horrible, plastic vision of it that they have. this wretched, emotionless thing that holds so much weight it's staggering. they put their whole spine behind it and they push and they say it's normal!

this horrible world they live in. disgusted and also obsessed.

[erebus0dora]

something something a chat i am in discussing the loneliness of Armand who needs someone to define him and see him, so

"...it was ghastly and awful and loathsome, and beautiful all at the same time."

and yeah i kinda just want to give ppl hugs with anything i do and talk to them in hushed tones, so there you go

[canisalbus]

I kidnapped ur long-nosed cat for a sec

.

[redheadlesbianfreak]

Yes, people do need to take accountability for the partners they choose to date, at least to some extent. And no, this doesn't apply to abusive relationships, that situation is entirely different.

I'm talking about white people who date other white people who are openly racist. I'm talking about "allies" who date other people who are openly homophobic and transphobic. I'm talking about liberal women who date very conservative men. And seeing bigotry as nothing more than a "political issue."

Of course, it's different if your partner lies and actively hides their political views from you. But if your partner is openly voting for people like Trump, openly supporting conservative politicians, openly hating/harming minority groups, then you should leave them. And you should be held accountable if you to choose to stay with someone like that.

[beaulesbian]

» » DRAGON AGE: THE VEILGUARD + Davrin « «

We're with you, Rook.

[keferon]

Did you think I was done? Ahahahaha no, I have more.

Because chapter 70 of MOMU gave me the very dynamic between them that I missed so much, I just blacked out and started drawing uncontrollably lmao

Also. ALSO. I noticed a while ago that Prowl has the habit of..like…constantly frowning. So. I did a bit of research and made this graph.

In 70 chapters, Prowl frowns rougly 104 times. And the intensity of this gesture is very clearly correlated with the development of his relationship with Jazz, as you can see ahahahahah It might be wrong tho don’t take me seriously I’m not good with graphs

[nyerusnova]

Okay I'm weak and couldn't resist diving in, so here are all the cute Timmys from this week's issue, Batman #147:

First, some flashback babbie tims.... (also yes that's him and bruce in matching Wayne-monogrammed sweatshirts I'm crying)

And then for present-day timmy being such a sweetheart aaahhh (and also getting ready to kick ass)

BONUS adorable bruce and tim moment:

[astearisms]

but it ain’t called love without a little tragedy 🍁

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Council of lovefools.

[First] Prev <–-> Next

[dapper-lil-arts]

I'm not the kind of person that's like "Here let me fix the canon" usually but like holy crap gen 5 implied a lot of messed up shit about our hero Twilight Sparkle lmao