#it's feelings you have to examine

[arihi]

Feeling unsafe is not the same as being unsafe and people are unable to distinguish between the two - you always have a right to be safe, but you do not necessarily have the right to always feel safe. This is an underlying theme in a lot of issues, like judging others' kinks, queerness, race, media analysis, and more; what the real heart of the problem is is unfamiliarity, things that people do not know and thus shrink away from in fear or disgust or discomfort. It can be a basic instinct to approach change and unfamiliarity with caution, but it needs to be an intentional act to challenge that fear/world view. It is something that we owe to the people around us, and that we owe to ourselves.

[hinamie]

subject, specimen, spectacle;

should i say that you're dead?

[cheesenchalk]

i never know how to phrase it but something about the way beatles biographers and people in general view paul's reflexive placating persona and determination to smooth things over as manipulative or duplicitous and john's reflexive barbed persona and habit of lashing out as brave and subversive despite both being equally defensive mechanisms to shield themselves from the world that resulted in them saying things that weren't true says more about how we culturally view kindness or friendliness as inherently untrustworthy or flimsy and anger and carelessness as more believable as someone's true nature than it says about either of them in actuality

[ef-1]

In the vein of calling out our favs I'll tell you what Max did:

Max was racing in an iRacing event yesterday

Also racing in the same event is Jaden Munoz who is a Williams driver for their iRacing academy. Jaden is 19 years old iirc

Jaden was a Max fan and there are multiple tweets of him from 2021-2022 praising Max

Max and Jaden started close to eachother at the beginning of the race and were battling for the lead. Max was ahead. Max defended very aggressively, honestly too aggressively, and made two left-right manoeuvres to hold the lead. The contact would not have been so bad but Max was swerving and he dropped right to the back of the grid the moment their cars touched while Jaden kept his position

At this point Jaden says: "Look how dumb he is. He doesn't change, ever. He's so dumb" about Max. This is not a random insult, contrary to the way it was framed. Max had crashed Jaden out 2 weeks ago in the first lap of the 2024-25 GTP IMSA Global Esports Championship season finale. I think it's very important to point out that Jaden was leading the GTP IMSA championship and that was the last race of the season. He would have won it if Max hadn't crashed him out. Max was completely at fault and received a drive-through penalty for that collision

Back to our race from yesterday, Jaden drives a great race and keeps 2nd position

Towards the end of the race Jaden encounters Max again to lap him. The moment he sees that Max is the next car to lap he says "Oh no. Oh no, no, no." Implying that he thinks Max is about to crash him out as retaliation. And that's exactly what Max does: he purposefully crashes out Jaden.

Now we get to the only part of the story that anyone seems to care about which is Jaden's reaction when Max crashes him out which was: "Yeah, I knew it, I knew it. This is why you were gifted everything in your life, Max. You're a spoilt brat. You'd be nothing without your father. You'd be nothing. You'd be a nobody."

That's the totality of what happened. Since then Jaden has been getting a lot of hate on all his social media for saying Max is a spoilt brat who would be nothing without Jos. Honesty had it been anyone else besides a 19 year old Mexican-American kid I wouldn't have written this up. But as a Mexican-American experiencing Trump's Amerikkka I think the reaction towards Jaden is fucked up and unwarranted. He's a teenager with working class parents, gaming is literally his career. He was going to be champion two weeks ago and Max crashed him out, there was clearly residual resentment from that. The prize money for iRacing is probably what Max spends on a dessert in Monaco but again it's Jaden's career, it's his whole job, it's how he makes money. He anticipated Max would crash him out and then Max proved him right. I don't think it's the crime it's been made out to be for a hispanic 19 year old to bitterly point out that Jos was a millionaire who helped Max progress in his career. Again Max is a fav and maybe I'd feel a different way about this if the political climate was different but it just made me very sad and very bitter

thank you sm for writing all of this. Def call out your favs and you're definitely valid in how you feel

[marzipanandminutiae]

tumblr when mental illness makes you withdraw from company: nobody has the right to expect anything of you! take care of yourself! if they don't forgive you and act like nothing happened when you come back into the world, it's on them, not you! it's so very kind of you if you deign to try and overcome this for the sake of those annoying, awful people, but you don't have to if you don't want to! poor lamb!

tumblr when mental illness makes you need reassurance that people don't hate you: you should work on that. you should learn to compromise. expecting anyone on the other side to expend even a little bit of effort to help you is selfish and horrible. maybe just die actually

(NOTE: THE POINT HERE IS THAT BOTH SIDES DESERVE A DEGREE OF GRACE FROM OTHERS AND BOTH SIDES SHOULD WORK ON THEIR ISSUES. I hate that I have to explain it, but this is the Piss on the Poor website, so...)

[nenoname]

a very normal and not at all possessed child

[hellooobees]

I can't stop thinking about how the show sets up selfishness and selflessness as two sides of the same coin. How do you walk the line between making sure your loved ones can achieve their own dreams even if it means hurting yourself, and hurting your loved ones because you're hurting yourself for their sake?

It all goes back to Thame putting up his wish on the orange tree that he'll make all of the other members' dreams come true. Thame, who agrees to a shitty contract and works himself to the bone and makes it completely his burden to prove that Mars is a good investment for the company. Thame, who is made to believe that that very act of love and sacrifice is only debilitating his friends' dreams and the only way to keep his original promise is to leave.

We see Thame essentially being back at square one in this episode. He has to leave and go to Korea alone so the people he loves can achieve their dreams. But so much has changed since then. Thame had found hope, that he could simultaneously keep his promise and be selfish to want both his band and his partner. He's once again been working himself to the bone, giving up all of his time and attention between the band and Po, because his tiredness is such a small price to pay to turn that dream into reality. Why wouldn't he gladly take on all of that tiredness and more?

But despite all of the groundbreaking things he's achieved and everything he's given of himself, it doesn't work. His friends break down around him possibly reigniting the same insecurities from earlier that he worked so hard to ensure wouldn't come to pass. His boyfriend breaks up with him despite Thame promising to take on all of the burden and tiredness to make it work. He's being forced to leave everyone behind and he's being left behind too.

That flip from Thame being convinced that the best thing for him to do would be to leave for everyone else's sake, to the rest of Mars and Po being convinced that the best thing for them to do is to step back for Thame's sake is so so important to me. It's not just Thame who made making his friends' dreams come true into his own dream. The rest of Mars and Po did the same thing with Thame's dream. But how does it all work when the sacrifices you're willing to make for the dreams of your loved ones are at the cost of their happiness because they're at the cost of your own?

Thame's effort didn't go to waste. We see all of that effort manifesting in how it opens doors for the other members and Po so much more easily now. But it's also true that at the base of those new successes lie the shattered hopes of that shared dream between them.

The show sets up the question of whether the person who's leaving others behind feels hurt, and we see so many iterations of it. We see Earn leaving behind the person who was an instrumental part of his success without a second thought. We see Thame giving himself up and leaving for the band's sake. We see Jun leave twice, the first so that his friend would for once think of himself and his own success instead of letting the others drag him away from it, and the second when he's sure that his friend can be what the person that he cares for deserves. We see Pepper being completely willing to leave if the two biggest parts of his life cannot exist together and we see Gam actually leaving when it proves to be true. And we see Po leave because he cannot let himself become an obstacle in Thame's path and make all of their efforts come to waste. If that's the price to pay so that the people they love can have what they want then so be it, right? Their sacrifices are insignificant in the face of that.

But what happens when all those sacrifices still aren't enough? When the cost becomes too huge to bear?

[mblue-art]

aaaa

[sadkachow]

You cannot claim to be anti-AI while still actively seeking out and using AI.

Once again.

You cannot claim to be anti-AI while still using generative AI, no matter the reason.

(Bold/italicized text: You cannot claim to be anti-AI while still using generative AI, no matter the reason.)

Even if you’re just using it to make fun of it or show how bad it is.

Even if it’s only for your personal use, and you don’t plan on sharing it with anyone.

Even if you’re “just” roleplaying on Character AI.

If you are willing to justify your usage of a system created and profiting off of stealing from artists and writers, a symstem that is destroying the Earth, then you were never as “against that system” as you think you were. Being anti-AI isn’t something that exists only in name. You can’t claim to be against AI if you are willing and able to use it as soon as it benefits you. You can’t say you’re for writers’ and artists’ rights if you’re using the very thing that is causing them harm. You can’t claim to care about climate change and saving the Earth if you are participating in the system that is destroying it.

There is no middle ground here.

There is no “Oh, but I-“.

If you have the knowledge of what generative AI is doing, of how it is hurting people, and you choose to use it anyway, you aren’t  against it. You aren’t fighting against that system, you’re upholding it.

You can say how much you hate AI and how horrible you think it is, if you choose to use it anyway, then your actions and your words are not lining up, and the former reveals so much more than the latter.

Stop pretending like AI is something you can condemn only in name, while using it to your heart’s content in your free time. All it does it tells writers and artists that you don’t really care about us, and that any actions you claim to be taking to protect us are performative at best and lies or even outright malicious at worst.

You are—and I mean this in the kindest way possible, even with the fury that generative AI invokes in me—a complete and utter hypocrite. AI is not your friend. It is a tool, and it is a tool that steals from writers and artists in order to function. It is a tool that is using levels of energy and emitting amounts of polution in order to be maintained that are actively damaging the Earth. No matter how much you try to justify using it to yourself, that doesn’t change.

Stop hiding under the guise of being anti-AI while continuing to use it yourself.

[yandere-daydreams]

so malleus is never beating the monster fucker bait allegations huh

[evilkaeya]

I miss my kitten

[danmeichael]

"shen qingqiu is a liar who is lying about his feelings so we can't ACTUALLY tell how he feels about anything"

so you admit that you can tell he is lying and by extension you can actually discern what his true feelings on the matter are and that he's just unwilling to admit to them.

[markantonys]

reddit:

literally every other WOT viewer in the world:

[skunkes]

guy liker moment

[wellnoe]

reading a book that is very interesting in its quantitative analysis but is so weird in its tone!! the place the author chooses to insert emotionality is bizarre and his treatment of mortality of the be all end all of suffering is equally so.

[nohara-rin-dot-mp3]

He's running through the woods, heart pounding, electricity spasming through his twitching fingers. He has to reach the clearing. He has to find Rin so that he can kill her.

It's the logic of dreams- a mixture of foreknowledge and complete helplessness that strings him along to the inevitable ending of his memory-flashback-nightmare: Rin, dead at his hand, staring at him as the last sparks of life fade from her eyes, expression twisting into-

something.

It's haunted him for years. Kakashi doesn't know what she was thinking or feeling during that last moment, but his unconscious mind is always willing to provide a few helpful suggestions.

He moves forward without moving, limbs that are too small following the script without his input, with the ease that comes from dreaming. The world tunnels forward- deposits him into-

"Kakashi," she coughs.

Blood drips out of her mouth, an off-red that is so jarringly wrong that he pauses, leaving his hand extended through her chest. Awareness of his nightmares has never helped him before, but tonight, for some reason, something shifts. This is not the same dream anymore. The forest fades away, and Kakashi soldiers past the script.

"Rin," he breathes. He didn't get to say it, the first time.

She closes her mouth and examines him. The sparks of that thing that he has never named lingers in her eyes even as she smiles softly at him.

"You really..." she says, tone stilted and dull in grating contrast with her expression. "Hah. I always hated you, you know."

It's too absurd, even for a dream. Kakashi draws his arm back, ignoring the sticky, cloying blood that flies free as he does and plants his feet, reeling from the absurdity. "You wouldn't say that."

Rin pauses.

"She wouldn't say that," Kakashi says. "The real Nohara Rin wouldnt say that. It's true that I'm trash... but she still wouldn't say that."

Rin hums, rocks back on her heels. "The real Rin... ha! I guess that's true."

She smiles bitterly.

"I am sorry," Kakashi says. The words are salty-sweet; an apology he has never given, constrained to relive the same fate as he usually is. It might be selfish to take this moment to give it- but-

"I should be saying that," Rin counters. "I shouldn't have jumped."

"No!" Kakashi protests. "No, you were just- you thought you needed to. I could never begrudge you for that."

"It wasn't that," Rin frowns. "It was... well, I wanted to... be known, I guess."

Kakashi shakes his head. It doesn't make sense. It's not the strange, unravel-able logic of a dream, but it's not true. That can't be true.

"Guess it didn't work, huh?" Rin says, voice faux-light. "Ah, well, it was my fault in the first place. For wanting it. It was the wanting that made me deserve it."

"It was my fault-" Kakashi starts.

"Make up your mind!" Rin laughs. "Either I made a noble sacrifice and you were the tool I wielded for it, or I chose to end things in the worst way possible, and caught you in the blast radius. The decision was good or bad- you can't pick or choose the blame."

Kakashi chokes on relief and guilt- this is absolution that he does not deserve, not from her, not here, when she is less real than ever. He holds it close to his heart, anyways, because he is selfish, because he wants to believe her.

"You were always such a hypocrite!" Rin says. "I don't know why I expected that to change."

"This isn't you," Kakashi says. "This isn't Rin."

The unspoken but hangs in the air. The specter tilts her head.

"Thank you," says Kakashi.

"Yeah, yeah," says Rin. "Don't thank me. I only wanted to see how things turned out."

"And how are they?" Kakashi asks. He knows what she's going to say- but even still, he hopes-

"Terrible," Rin says. "I'm really disappointed."

It's exactly the condemnation he deserves.

"No one bothered to try and remember me," Rin adds, shaking her head, tone wistful.

"I remember," Kakashi offers, desperate. "Sometimes it feels like all I do is-"

"You remember the real Nohara Rin!" Rin corrects him. "Not me. Never me. I thought you'd figure it out- but I guess you were never all that interested in looking beyond the basics of your self-flagellation. If you really want to honor my memory- stop using me as an excuse. I only did it because i was mad, anyways."

She catches his eyes, gaze suddenly, startlingly piercing. Kalashi takes a step back, propelled by some deep, primal fear. That's not right- this should be wrong, but he gets the feeling-

Had her eyes always been like this?

"This hole has always been here," Rin says, gesturing down at her missing heart. "I thought people might realize, but you're all stupid, self-absorbed idiots, so none of you thought to look."

This isn't what she's supposed to be mad about. Kakashi has done wrong by her- but not like this. The accusation feels oddly distant, because this wasn't his sin. This wasn't his sin- but guilt crawls up his throat, anyways.

"You just tore down the curtain," Rin says. "So it's not fair that you got credit for for the entire thing. Friend-killer Kakashi? Tch. All you did was look in the box. I was dead the whole time."

He doesn't understand.

The moment begins to unwind. He's waking up- but he has to stay here a little longer, because the one question he never got the chance to ask- the one thing he's always wondered-

"What was wrong?" Kakashi asks in a rush, as the ground falls out beneath him. "Why were you different? What were you feeling, when you died?"

What was that thing in your eyes?

Rin smiles, perfect and angelic, and then her eyes open again, and he sees it- that spark that he has never deciphered. She opens her mouth-

And he wakes up to sweat and dog hair and kunai-patterned sheets, the memory of the dream fading fast.

"It was different this time," he tells Pakkun, when he lifts his head questioningly. "It was... there was something..."

He can't figure it out. His hands are clean, skin an unhealthy white, but utterly untouched by blood. He feels worse than usual- he feels like-

Kakashi lays back down and closes his eyes again.