#like what do you mean you call cops on people

[al3xand3r245]

I would like to consider myself a pretty normal person. Oh, i hadn't started off that way. Attempted murder of your parents at ten years old is a pretty black mark on your record. Still, it had been enough for the cops to be called, CPS to get involved, and soon I was on the road to recovery. People tend to forgive children subject to mental torture. I am aware of my eccentricity, i am aware that i am not a pleasant person to be around. I try play the game as well as possible. I have a day job, i have hobbies.

I even have a somewhat popular youtube channel. It's mostly a place to air my thoughts, focusing on the morbid and disturbing. True crime, horror. It's natural i'd find it attractive. Don't worry, I would never actually hurt someone, i can promise you that. So imagine my surprise when, doing some surface level research for a video on dopplegangers, i find out that the earth bet version of me is a serial killer.

It's a bit of a kick to the face, in all honesty. I may be skeptical of playing the game of respectability, but i do play it. I pretend to have manners, to be polite. Fake it to you make it. It just... bothers me. In a way i can't describe. If i were to have superpowers, that instead of being a hero, i'd resort to butchering anyone i came across.

Everyone likes to think they'd be a hero. That if they were given a chance, they'd be one of the angels. I surprised myself, thinking i'd do that as well. Sure, maybe my empathy is dulled, but altruism isn't the only reason to help people. I though i may appreciate the attention, the acclaim. I suppose being a serial killer at least grant you infamy.

He calls himself Jack Slash, my doppleganger. I have to admit, there is something there. A stupid name that people are obligated to respect, due to the sheer body count he carries. He kills people.

Does it scare me a little i know why? I understand, in a way. A want to watch the world burn. I didn't think i would do it. I didn't think he would do it? Given the opportunity. I was born before the split. I'm nearly forty. I always knew i had a copy. I just assumed he was essentially the same as me. That if he were cape, he would at least on the side of the angels. He isn't, of course.

It's frustrating. Again, I at least try. I try to fit into polite society, try to move past what was done to me. I went through hell, but that doesn't mean i'm going to snap and consign others to it. Barring exceptions. I was ten, the courts agreed I wasn't culpable.

This guy didn't try. He got his power, and decided that he was going to hurt as many people as possible. Because he could. Because no one could stop him.

I sometimes wished I had a power. It's an infantile daydream many have. To right wrongs, to fight crime. To have respect, to be applauded. I didn't know exactly why i wanted it. I assumed it was for one of those reasons.

I now know why i wanted one. I even know how i would use it.

I really wish i didn't know.

ok new funniest earth aleph situation. niche video essayist Jacob Black finds out with horror about the fact that his alternate universe self is Jack Fucking Slash.

Imagine watching a 2 hour video where a man grapples with the fact that in a very slightly different universe he became The Fucking Joker.

[fluentmoviequoter]

Damaged

Requested Here!

Pairing: Tim Bradford x fem!cop!reader

Summary: After a bad evening with your parents, Tim Bradford reminds you that you aren't damaged, and if your family won't be there for you, he will.

Warnings: abuse (emotional, verbal, and physical), 3rd party alcohol consumption, fluff and comfort, protective!Tim, platonic leading toward romantic

Word Count: 1.6k+ words

Masterlist Directory | Tim Bradford Masterlist | Request Info

“Slacking off?” Tim asks. “A little early for civvies.”

You look up quickly, surprised by his presence outside the locker room. “I’m leaving early,” you explain weakly.

“I remember,” he replies, observing you. “Dinner with your parents.”

“Right.”

“Enjoy.”

Dropping your eyes to his boots, you nod and answer, “I will. Bye.”

Tim watches you go, wondering why dinner with your parents puts you on edge. Every time you mention them, your eyes shift, you grow nervous and jumpy, and the strong, confident cop he knows retreats into the shell of a scared woman. It’s a change he recognizes, one he understands, and he knows you lied when you said you’d enjoy yourself.

“You know what I think?” your dad asks.

You’re going to tell me no matter what, you think.

“Your job is bad enough,” he says, interrupting himself to take a drink. “But you could at least dress like a woman while you’re off the clock.”

Glancing down at your outfit, you try not to let his words affect you. Your parents have been like this for your entire life. Some might call it verbal abuse, while others consider it an absence of a filter. Regardless, your parents have never hesitated to point out your every insecurity. The worst part of seeing them, you think, is that they see your scars and rip those old wounds open again, tearing you down with every word they speak.

“Can you afford some new clothes?” your mother asks. “Maybe then you could find a man who’d give you a second thought.”

Chewing your inner lip, you nod silently. You feel like you’re twelve years old again, too big for the frame they try to shove you into. It’s been years since you gave up on trying to please them, but it doesn’t take away the pain.

“Although,” your dad continues, “who would want to start a family with a beat cop who could get shot at any moment?”

“Beat cops are a real family,” you mumble under your breath, fiddling with the napkin in your lap.

You don’t see your mom move, but the sharp slap sound of her palm hitting your face startles you enough that you finally look her in the eye. Your hand raises to your stinging cheek without thought. You know it won’t bruise, and something deep inside you tells you to stand up for yourself, to leave, and never look back.

“I’m getting another drink,” your dad states, stumbling slightly as he stands.

You’ve been in this exact spot too many times, you realize. So, you decide to play the part until they’re ready to leave. Sitting still, you listen, nod, and apologize as you hold back the tears threatening to spill.

“Look at the time,” your mom mutters after you serve dessert.

“And we have people who give a crap about where we are,” your dad adds, laughing at you. “We better head out. Next time we do this, don’t make the- the food like that and buy more drinks.”

“Will do,” you answer, standing.

“That didn’t sound like an apology,” your mother patronizes.

“I’m sorry,” you say immediately. “I’ll do better next time.”

“That means we have to come back,” your dad grumbles.

Not if we can help it, you think.

“Sweetheart,” your mother says, wrapping her hand around your wrist. Her nails dig into the sensitive skin above your pulse point, but you level your expression. “You need to try harder.”

“Sure. I will.”

She releases your hand, but your dad takes it just as quickly, his grip tighter and stronger than hers. You pull back instinctively, and he raises his other hand. When you cower away from him, dropping your chin, he laughs and twists the skin of your arm harshly.

“Better food,” he seethes. “Better news. If we come over here again and you’re still a disappointment… Just don’t.”

“Yes, sir,” you force out.

You stand in place, staring at the dirty dishes on your table as the door slams behind them. Alone, you stumble backward until you hit the wall, your vision growing blurry with tears. Sinking to the floor, you let yourself cry, and within a minute, heavy sobs shake your entire body. You feel paralyzed, your mind viciously reminding you that you and your parents are on a crashing course that only worsens with time.

But, you remember, they are your parents. They loved you at some point, but it’s always been like this. Maybe you are the problem, a voice you don’t recognize says in your mind.

You want to forget tonight, forget the pain in your chest and along your skin, so you reach for your phone. You’re texting Tim before you think about it. You don’t know what to say, but you’re desperate. Anything would be a welcome distraction, so you ask if he’s busy.

It changes from Delivered to Read, but he doesn’t reply. So, you toss your phone aside and pull your knees to your chest, curling in on yourself as if it will make the world disappear. 

A knock on your front door pulls you out of your teary reverie that is on the constant brink of returning to the nightmare of reality. Walking to the door, you hope that it isn’t your parents. You look through the peephole before you open the door, sure your surprise is evident.

“What happened?” Tim asks, his face softening when he sees your tear-stained face and red cheek.

You shake your head as you step back, and Tim follows you inside, closing the door softly.

“Did your parents come over?” he asks.

“Yeah,” you answer, laughing humorlessly. “They were here.”

“Hey,” Tim says. You hold the back of your chair and stare at the table again. “Hey,” he repeats firmly. “Look at me.”

You turn your chin toward him, your eyes glassy and your skin blotchy.

“You’re okay,” he promises, spreading his hands with his palms toward you. “Whatever they said, whatever they made you believe, it’s a lie. Your parents are… they’re abusive.”

“They just-”

“Crossed a line,” Tim interrupts. “I see it every time you mention them. I don’t know what they said or did, but if it brought you here, they are the problem. Not you.”

You rub your chest, failing to lessen the pressure there before Tim steps toward you. When you don’t stop him, he lays his hand on your shoulder.

“What if they’re right?” you whisper, leaning into his touch.

Tim looks between your eyes, then says, “What if my dad was right?”

Your eyes clear as you look at Tim. His question, his vulnerability, brings you back into this moment. Tim is here because he saw something in you. Despite his gruff exterior, he cares about you. And now he’s sharing something about himself to help you. To save you.

“My dad was abusive,” he says. “He shoved my head through plaster, yelled at me, belittled me, made me doubt myself and all that I could do. You? You’re stronger than you think, stronger than your parents make you feel. You are not what or who they say.”

“Then why am I like this?” you wonder.

“There is nothing wrong with you,” Tim repeats, his thumb brushing kindly, comfortingly over your shoulder.

“They…” you begin. “Their voices are in my head constantly, and it’s so loud.”

“They talk with razors on their tongue just to provoke your combat, use new weapons to snap those final strings just to watch you fall back,” Tim replies. “I get it. Their voices, their lies, they follow you everywhere because they’ve ingrained them into you.”

“How do you do it?” you ask, wiping the tears from your face. “How do you do everything that you do, and do it well and confidently, after going through it?”

“You know who you are and what you can do. Place your confidence and your belief in that, not the words they yell trying to make themselves feel like they’re better than you.”

“I don’t think I can do that, Tim,” you argue, shaking your head as you sink into your chair.

“Then shut them up, drown them out, listen to me,” Tim encourages, moving with you. “Whatever it takes.”

“I don’t think it’s that easy. I’m not as strong as you Tim.”

“You’re stronger,” he insists. “And I’m here for you. You’re not alone, okay?”

You nod, willing yourself to believe him. Tim takes your hand, and when your sleeve shifts, he sees the bruise forming around your wrist. Without hesitation, he pushes the fabric up to your elbow, revealing the darkening patch and angry red scratch marks.

“They touched you?” he asks, his voice different than before as he stares at your arm.

“Yes,” you whisper.

“Was it the first time?”

“I…”

Tim releases your hand as he stands. Your unwillingness to answer was better confirmation than he would have received if you had said yes. Tim moves toward the door, on his way to leaving you alone. Again.

“Tim,” you call, your voice strained as tears well in your eyes once more. 

He slows, his hand on the doorknob. “They touched you.”

“Please,” you plead.

“I can make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

“Tim, please don’t leave me,” you whisper, fresh tears running down your face, the salt stinging your raw skin.

He sighs, turning toward you. As he returns to your side, he makes a promise to himself. No one will ever hurt you like this again. He let his dad impact his life for years after he moved away from home. When his dad got sick, it felt as if a strong current was pulling him into the nightmare his dad created all over again. If your parents are so willing to take you for granted, to hurt you, then Tim Bradford will be at your side to stop them from damaging you.

You’re not alone. As long as Tim is breathing, you never will be.

[alaskan-wallflower]

Ok but like can we just talk about how the gang can equivocate to the seven deadly sins real quick (not in the biblical sense)

Ponyboy is lust. Lust isn’t always about sex, as it is in the biblical sense. Lust is defined as “an intense desire or craving for something”, and it doesn’t just have to be sexual. Pony is a dreamer, yes, but his desires to get out of Tulsa, to get through school, to make Darry proud…it could all lead to his downfall. Pony doesn’t want to be seen as some greasy little kid, he wants the Socs to know he’s not just some grease. He craves that title, he wants it more than anything, and he’s willing to do anything to get to it, even if it means fighting with Darry, or trying to fight other people to show that. He wants control. He craves it. That’s his fatal flaw.

Sodapop is gluttony, and not really for food or anything, but for adrenaline. Gluttony is the overconsumption of anything leading to one’s waste, and he needs adrenaline to live. It’s his way of coping, his way of keeping his mind from slipping into the darkness, so to speak. He will do anything to get that hit of adrenaline, be it something harmless, like going out with Steve, or going to a rodeo, but he will go out of his way to get that hit, even if it’s dangerous. He overindulges on this “high on life” persona and ends up slipping into more harmful things, like reckless driving, or resorting to crimes just because it’s fun to outrun the cops, or overindulgence of alcohol. He’ll keep eating up this adrenaline until he ends up killing himself with it, because it’s how he copes. He’s codependent on adrenaline.

Darry is pride. Darry puts himself on a mental pedestal, he holds the “Superman” nickname a little too tightly. He needs to be that. He needs to be stronger-he IS stronger. He’s stronger than anyone he knows. They wouldn’t call him Superman if he wasn’t strong enough, would they? He refuses help, he hates when people question his authority, he needs to be not just seen, but he needs to be heard. Yes, he’s strong, but he holds the gang’s opinions of him way too tightly, to a faulty degree. Maybe the way he thinks is because of a shattered psyche, but he needs people to know he’s strong, and he will let you know.

Johnny is wrath. Johnny doesn’t like fighting, but he needs to. It’s the only way he knows how to survive. The only way he knows how to live is through fighting. His parents fight each other, his dad beats him, the socs gang up on him and fight him, it’s all he knows. Johnny is like a dog, slowly backing into a corner, but there’s only so much more space he can back into, and when he hits the wall, he’s going to bite. His “biting point” was killing Bob. Yes, it was self defense—Pony was going to die, for Christ’s sake, but it was also him being backed so far into a corner that he had nowhere else to go. He had been beaten on all his life, and he finally beat back. He had to, after all. Fighting is all he knows. For all he knows, fighting is how you show love, and maybe that’s his downfall.

Dally is greed. He craves power, in a sense. He knows how to manipulate. He does bad things because he just doesn’t care, he needs people to know he is the most powerful, tough greaser in the East Side, and he will do anything to gain that power. Dally feeds off of fear, on a sense. He constantly needs more and more and more until he snaps, because the one thing he needed, and didn’t want, was taken away from him. No amount of wanting or getting could bring back the only person he genuinely needed. When he realizes this, he just snaps. He doesn’t want Johnny to be alive, he NEEDS it. And so that’s why he snaps.

Two-Bit is sloth. Two is nineteen, still in junior year because he finds school “fun”, he doesn’t work for what he has, he’s overall kinda just a lazy person. He doesn’t have the grit needed to pass by. He’ll fight, he’ll defend his friends with no issue, but overall? He’s very unmotivated. The only thing that seems to motivate him is alcohol, and that could be due to addiction or some outside force. You could argue him to be freed because he “steals things he doesn’t actually need”, but I think he’s more sloth than anything. His lack of motivation and grit is testimony to that, in my opinion.

And Steve is envy. A lot of this is purely headcanon based, but to me, his parents got divorced, and the one time they “needed him” was when they were trying to one up each other and trying to win full custody over him. By the time the legal battles were over, his mom had found a new family, and he had been replaced. All he had was his dad, and even then, he was replaced by his father’s need for alcohol, or a punching bag, or just someone to bully. As a result, Steve grows wary of every person that comes into his loved ones’ lives. If it’s Evie hanging out with a guy friend, Soda wanting to hang out with Sandy and not him, his school friends becoming closer and simultaneously squeezing him out, he’s jealous. Sometimes to a fault. Him and Soda have had many, many, many fights about this. It’s what most of his fights with Evie stem from, and while he wants to change, the constant fear of replacement keeps him envious of every new person who interacts with his loved ones.

I dunno, I like thinking about characters flaws.

[konekomaid]

GOODBYE, YOU

As a Joe Goldberg fan, I have to speak up about the end of the last season... And no I am not a romanticizing him. Also, I prefer the book version Joe because he is raw and not a watered down version, giving him 'redeemable characteristics'. The first book of 'You' is the one and only you need to read to understand who he really is. Keep seeing people in the comments saying, "Hate book Joe Goldberg because he's creepy and or disgusting compared to the show on Netflix." Hmm, how do I tell you this..? Book Joe is the first and real version of Joe. Netflix show Joe is just a watered down version of him, trying to make him somehow likable because, let's be real, if Joe was not likable, you clearly wouldn't want to watch the show.

With that said; there will be huge spoilers for the Netflix show plus the book(s). If you don't want to be spoiled, don't read this post.

Let's start from the beginning because most fans, or rather 'viewers', forget what the show/books are actually about. The show/books are narrated from the perspective of Joe Goldberg, who at the start was a bookseller with a traumatic childhood. His mom and him were beaten by her various boyfriends and Joe shot her current boyfriend to save his mother. Instead of living with her son in peace, she abandoned him to start a new life/family. The Netflix show wasn't going really deep into his childhood (trauma). However, the book(s) gave us a bit more information about his mother and their toxic relationship dynamic. His mother would drop him off or as Joe said 'dump' him at Key Foods. She would tell him they were playing hide-and-seek but he knew they weren't. Joe would play along. Everyone knew about it but no one called the cops. His mother would then return and slap him hard on the face and scream at him to not 'run away' or pull 'that shit' again. He promised to be a good boy. This was explained in the book 'Hidden Bodies'. His mom wasn't abusive towards Joe in the show. At least I couldn't find anything about his mom slapping him. That's a big difference, in my opinion. His mother was more of a victim in the show who was trying to protect her son while she slapped him hard on the face in the book, pretending Joe ran away when she clearly dumped her son. It wasn't a secret, everybody knew, but she still decided to slap Joe and play this charade. And the fact she slapped him hard told me everything I had to know about his mom. I firmly believe that in the books his mom was abusive towards Joe. You have to read the books thoroughly because he would drop vital information about his past every now and then. Some of Joe's stories are lies that he presents to the reader in order to manipulate you, yes, you.

Sometimes he tells the truth;

I believe him when he tells us his mother dumped him at Key Foods and later slapped him hard and screamed at him, pretending he ran away.

and sometimes he lies;

I do not believe Joe when he tells us he was not the one trying to force himself on his classmate in 4th grade but she was the one who tried to take his virginity.

And yes, there exists a scene in the first book that mentions it. In the end, Joe was the one sent to the psychologist, to the dean's office, and to the counselor where Joe had to show on a 'show-me-who-touched-you-where' doll where he touched her.

Why don't I believe him that he's innocent? Various reasons: I'm aware that Joe is the unreliable narrator. I'm also aware that Joe likes to be honest occasionally so that it's easier for him to feed us lies later on. Very powerful manipulation tactic, by the way... I mean, lying to you, but sprinkling in truths from time to time so that you believe me or can't even tell the difference between lies and truths is powerful. I'm also aware he likes to play the victim all the time. When Beck found his box with her bloody tampon and other stuff in it, Joe tried to blame Beck. It's her own fault she found his box with her stuff in it because she snooped around, she's crazy, it's her pms, she's unhinged, a wild animal. He doesn't see anything wrong with stealing her stuff and keeping it in a box. Because Beck belongs to him, she's just an object. I'm also aware that Joe can and probably would rape a woman. Big words, I know, shocking even! How dare I say such a bad thing? Well, the real Joe Goldberg (book Joe Goldberg) is literally spitting this information right into your face. In the second book 'Hidden Bodies' Joe is falling in 'love' with Love but also tracking down Amy (short summary: after she stole a huge cache of valuable rare books, he tries to track her down.) In one scene Joe's engaging in a conversation with Forty. Both talk about scripts and Joe had written down some of his disturbing fantasies. In one of these fantasies, he catches Amy before she was able to steal his books and flee the shop, keeping her locked up in his cage, using her as a slave. What kind of slave? Sex slave, of course. Because that's the only slave Joe Goldberg wants to keep in his cage. And I don't know about you but I don't think Amy would be overjoyed and consent to that. And if you try to tell me it's just a fantasy, he literally killed Beck because she didn't want to be with him. He also talked about how he could give it to Beck right now even though she was screaming/crying for help. And after Beck managed to ran out of his cage and upstairs, trying to escape through the front door (door was locked!) Joe wrapped his arms around her and pulled her behind the counter. He kissed her neck while she was hitting and scratching him in order for him to let her go. He did stop but kept talking about how she was his broken doll. Joe doesn't give a fuck about consent, he pretends he does. There is also no empathy on his side. Sorry, but, "I could give it to you right now but you have to scream and cry!?" doesn't sound empathetic to me. She's scared, she doesn't want to be there.

The name of the girl in 4th grade is Maureen Grady, her nickname 'Mo'. People called her 'Ho Mo', not funny. Maureen was Joe's crush back then, he describes Maureen in the book as gruff, an odd misfit. They were on a trip with the class, touring the deck of a tall ship, it was according to Joe 'boring' so they ditched the tour and broke into the off-limits hull. According to Joe, Maureen told him she would 'steal his virginity', he then punched her in the face, escaped and told the teachers. Joe also added that Mo's the fucked-up now; a twice-divorced paralegal with a profile on OkCupid and a Pomeranian named Gosling, obviously she'll be alone forever. But after telling us that he then says, he prefers to live in the moment, like it's no big deal. All of that appears weird to me. I mean, Joe obviously stalks her, after years, keeping tabs on Maureen. He also dances around the topic, keeping it vague. Joe never really tells us the whole story. And he never straight up says that he is innocent, that he didn't touch her. And Joe never claims that she did touch him. You know who else dances around a topic..? Liars.

You have to try to put the pieces of the puzzle together. Don't let Joe manipulate you.

The book(s) do a very good job in displaying how misogynistic Joe really is. He keeps talking about tits and pussy and sex, objectifying women every second. Joe does not want love or connection, he wants control, sex.

They toned it down for Netflix but that's no excuse for you to say, "I didn't know!" Joe still objectifies them but not in the same way book Joe does. You actually have to use your brain, shocking. You don't even need a high IQ to understand the message.

This is why the ending of the show was so perfect. People who still didn't understand the point of the show were called out.

MAYBE THE PROBLEM ISN'T ME. MAYBE... IT'S YOU.

Pointing directly at you, calling you out.

"They nerfed Joe!" - "Bad ending!" - "We're women ahh!" - "Feminist ending!" - "They went woke!"

Breaking news: Joe Goldberg was written by a... WOMAN, outrageous, I know! Joe is the bitch/slut/whore of a WOMAN, he belongs to a WOMAN, whoa!

"Come on, it's just a show/fiction, why do they have to lock him up? And not give him a happy ending?" Maybe because both the books and the show are written/produced in a way to criticize a lot that happens in real life. Misogyny, anti-vaccine, forgiving or romanticizing a murderer because of his childhood (trauma.) I enjoyed 'You' because it was talking about real life problems in the fictional world. Why is his name Joe and not Steve? Because of the idiom; 'average Joe'. Both the show and the books want to tell us that someone like Joe exists in real life and he's not the huge, intimidating guy who grabs you, screams at you and threatens you. He could be the sweet bookseller, your employee, your neighbor, your professor or your boss. Joe could be anyone and you wouldn't notice it because he's gentle, he's kind, he's supportive, he 'loves' you in a way no one else has loved you before (or could love you...) 'You' is filled with a lot of messages for us. It's not just a show for fun, it never was supposed to be. If you don't like messages in shows, don't watch 'You'. Not every piece of media is just a silly, little fictional story with no real meaning behind it. And that's okay. 'You' was made for the people who love to see real life getting dissected in a fictional world. And it's not just a silly, little story for you to enjoy. It's a confrontation, showing you what's wrong with the real world.

Joe Goldberg NEVER was a good person, he was just able to fool his victims. Yes, he was also a victim back in his childhood. Yes, he has mommy issues. And yes, Joe has huge abandonment issues. But nothing, NOTHING, that happened to him justifies his disgusting behavior. Joe's just recreating what his mother and him had, over and over again. Joe will never find the destined 'you' because she doesn't exist. All Joe does is projecting, manipulating and claiming. "I did this for YOU so YOU belong to me." Book Joe also loved calling Beck a whore/slut/dirty and no, not in the bedroom. Joe wants to degrade her in his mind, to feel superior. Joe also hates taller girls, he's an insecure man. He doesn't need love or a relationship, Joe needs a lot of therapy and jail (which he got, finally.)

"But why did they have to make a joke out of him? She shot him in the dick!" Joe always was a joke. He lasted 8 seconds in the first season. They started it with a dick joke and they ended it with one; it's perfection. Full circle.

I mean, I get the whole complaining about Bronte and Kate surviving but in the end it was their decision to end the show this way. Is it realistic? No. But if you can ask that, then, please, also ask yourself whether it is realistic for an 'average Joe' to manage to kill that many innocent people without being caught. The answer is; no.

Conclusion: The show may be fictional but the topics/subjects addressed are part of our reality. It is an appeal to our society.

[dark-skin-fem]

The antisemitism is an insane reach, with no basis in anything.

The name thing is hmmmm. Apparently Cho and Chang is just an implausible name. They don't exist as a first and last name respectively in any Asian language that it sounds similar to, and both are typically used as last names, (according to what I've read, I'm not Asian) and generally just reads as a stereotypical name for an Asian character. And Shacklebolt is also kinda hmmm, though I agree it's a reach that she was thinking of slavery. She was probably alluding to him being a cop, the guy who literally bolts shackles on criminals. Unfortunately it can read weirdly.

But she also named the guy that turns into a dog Sirius, the bad kid Malfoy (Malfoi), an insane witch Bellatrix, the strict snippy teacher Severus Snape, the werewolf Remus Lupin, the shape shifter Nymphadora, the bad crazy werewolf Fernir Greyback, and the guy whose whole thing was cheating death Voldemort.

I think she just had a certain kind of descriptive naming convention and didn't mean to be racist, but ignorant racism is still racism, especially with the Cho Chang thing. Doesn't mean she as a person is racist, nor is it relevant in the trans discussion. She likely just didn't think that deeply about it, and she's not the first author to (not) have done so.

As a long time HP fan, I can tell you that it was no big thing, something people giggled over even, until she dared to question gender ideology. All of a sudden she's the worst person in the world and she was subliminally hinting at her being a crazy right winger the whole time.

EDIT: the more I think about it the more of these descriptive names I come up with. She named the french veela Fleur and her headmaster Madame Maxime (she was half giant). She named the durmstrang kid Viktor, and his headmaster Igor Karkaroff. The herbology teacher was Pomona Sprout fgs. I think she really just liked naming her characters with a certain theme and didn't know what to do for an Asian character/wanted them to be recognisable as Asian, and made a little mistake. It really is a nothing-burger.

Fun fact, my favourite character names from her: the ineffective, sluggish minister of magic was called Cornelius Fudge, and the sharper, more hardened one was Rufus Scrimgeour.

Gyns, is it just me, or do you also not see the alleged antisemitism in Harry Potter?

I don't get it. I never got it. This wasn't the first time goblins were used in fantasy, no? Wouldn't the ones in the wrong be actually those who see goblins and think of jews? Same with the "racist" Cho Chang name.

All this flew over my head as a kid and continues to amuse me. Y'all see a character with a crooked nose and immediately scream "JEW"? Y'all see a girl named Cho Chang and immediately scream "RACISM"?

[genbabureki]

being on this website is such a culture shock because of the deluge of white suburbanites asserting their way of thinking is completely normal and good instead of absolutely deranged

[kacievvbbbb]

Honestly despite my feelings about how the last arc of MHA went down I really love Deku and his story.

I just feel like a lot of the time we get these protagonists whose whole philosophy is it doesn’t matter what you were born as everyone can achieve greatness. But then the series goes on and it turns out that actually it DOES matter because the protagonist has this really great lineage and these really great powers you can only have through birth they were actually born born, predestined if you will, to do this.

But MHA actually sticks to its guns. Midoriya wasn’t revealed to have some great connection to all might that the universe had put in place. He wasn’t defended from some great lineage that makes him uniquely suited to this. Hell All for one didn’t even turn out to be his father, there was no hidden powerful quirk he was always meant to have. He was just Midoriya Izuku a boy who was in the right place at the right time and simply decided to act while the world did nothing. And that’s what really made him a hero.

I don’t know, maybe it’s just me, but I believe him a bit more when he goes anybody can be a hero if you just decide to act

[fantastic-mr-corvid]

.

[miraclemaya]

i do think especially arguments about this stuff that hinge on going, well im a victim and i think this is bad are unworkable because you will find a hundred other victims who go oh it helps me process it or whatever else

[sturionic]

Activism is not cold-calling.

Activism is not cold-calling, and this is critically important to understand.

I'm seeing a lot of posts on here about 'building bridges' and 'finding community,' and then (extremely valid) response posts saying "BUT HOW??" And I'm going to explain something that can be very counter-intuitive: there is strategy involved in community.

As a longtime volunteer labour organizer, I’ve taken and taught many trainings on the strategy of talking. Something that surprises a lot of people is the very first thing you do in a union campaign. You sit down with your organizing committee, take out pen and paper, and literally map it out. You draw a physical map of the workplace: where are the entrances, exits, break rooms, supervisor offices. Essentially, ‘where is it safe to have a union conversation.’ Then you draw another physical chart of your coworkers. You sort out who is union-friendly, openly hostile to unions, or somewhere in the middle, and then you plan out very deliberately and carefully who talks to whom and in what order.

Consider: If Vocally Leftist Jane walks up to Conservative David and says "hey what do you think about unions," David is going to shut down immediately. He's not inclined to listen to Jane. But if Jane talks to Moderate Jason and brings him into the fold, then Jason is a far more effective strategic choice to talk to David, and David may actually hear him out without an instant reaction.

IMPORTANT CAVEAT: If Conservative David turns out to be Alt-Right David, and could be dangerous to follow organizers, we write him off. We are not trying to reach Alt-Right David. We are trying to reach Conservative David, who may actually be persuaded to find solidarity with other employees as fellow workers. Jason is a safe scout to find out which one he is. It does no one any good if Leftist Jane (or even Moderate Jane who is a visible minority) talks to Alt-Right David and puts herself on his radar. Not only has she done nothing to convince Alt-Right David to join a union - she's probably actively turned him against the idea - but now she's also in danger and the entire campaign is at risk. NOBODY WANTS THIS. Jane was NOT a hero for doing this. The organizing committee was foolish and enacted a terrible strategy to everyone's detriment.

Where you can make a difference is with people who will listen to you. You having a conversation with your well-meaning but clueless Centrist Democrat Auntie, and maybe gently helping her understand some things the media has been glossing over, is way more strategically useful than you marching up to MAGA Neighbour You've Met Once and trying to "build community" or "understand" them. They don't care. They're impervious, dangerous, and cruel. But maybe your beloved auntie will think about what you said, and then talk to her friend Anna who IDs as "fiscally conservative" but didn't vote because she can't bring herself to get on board with Trump. Then perhaps Anna talks to her brother Nic who has MAGA leanings but isn't all the way there yet. Proto-MAGA Nic would not have listened to you, nor would he have listened to Centrist Democrat Auntie, but he might absorb some of what his sister is saying.

This is not a cop-out or an echo chamber. This is you spending your time and energy strategically and safely. You are not a useful activist to anyone if you’re dead. Anyone who is telling you to hurl yourself directly at MAGA assholes like cannon fodder has no understanding of the strategy behind community building, and you should feel comfortable writing them off.

Last point: If you are tired, emotionally devastated, and/or in danger: take a break. This post is for people who would feel better jumping into action, not for people who are too overwhelmed to even think about it right now. You are worth so much even if you’re not actively Doing Activism, and your rest is worth more than “a break period so you can recharge and Do More Activism.” We all deserve the individual dignity of being worthy of comfort, rest & safety just on the basis of being human, outside of whatever we're doing for others' benefit. To deny ourselves that dignity is to devalue ourselves, and that’s the absolute last thing any of us should be doing right now.

[berrysong]

I already have a ton of homework that the mental illnesses wont let me do and a summative essay I have to write in my school's weird study hall-like-thing on monday but like what if I missed school monday to drive 9 hours away, pick up a dog, and go sightseeing and shit with my parents

[theabstruseone]

I slept in and just woke up, so here's what I've been able to figure out while sipping coffee:

Twitter has officially rebranded to X just a day or two after the move was announced.

The official branding is that a tweet is now called "an X", for which there are too many jokes to make.

The official account is still @twitter because someone else owns @X and they didn't reclaim the username first.

The logo is 𝕏 which is the Unicode character Unicode U+1D54F so the logo cannot be copyrighted and it is highly likely that it cannot be protected as a trademark.

Outside the visual logo, the trademark for the use of the name "X" in social media is held by Meta/Facebook, while the trademark for "X" in finance/commerce is owned by Microsoft.

The rebranding has been stopped in Japan as the term "X Japan" is trademarked by the band X JAPAN.

Elon had workers taking down the "Twitter" name from the side of the building. He did not have any permits to do this. The building owner called the cops who stopped the crew midway through so the sign just says "er".

He still plans to call his streaming and media hosting branch of the company as "Xvideo". Nobody tell him.

This man wants you to give him control over all of your financial information.

Edit to add further developments:

Yes, this is all real. Check the notes and people have pictures. I understand the skepticism because it feels like a joke, but to the best of my knowledge, everything in the above is accurate.

Microsoft also owns the trademark on X for chatting and gaming because, y'know, X-box.

The logo came from a random podcaster who tweeted it at Musk.

The act of sending a tweet is now known as "Xeet". They even added a guide for how to Xeet.

The branding change is inconsistent. Some icons have changed, some have not, and the words "tweet" and "Twitter" are still all over the place on the site.

TweetDeck is currently unaffected and I hope it's because they forgot that it exists again. The complete negligence toward that tool and just leaving it the hell alone is the only thing that makes the site usable (and some of us are stuck on there for work).

This is likely because Musk was forced out of PayPal due to a failed credit line project and because he wanted to rename the site to "X-Paypal" and eventually just to "X".

This became a big deal behind the scenes as Musk paid over $1 million for the domain X.com and wanted to rebrand the company that already had the brand awareness people were using it as a verb to "pay online" (as in "I'll paypal you the money")

X.com is not currently owned by Musk. It is held by a domain registrar (I believe GoDaddy but I'm not entirely sure). Meaning as long as he's hung onto this idea of making X Corp a thing, he couldn't be arsed to pay the $15/year domain renewal.

Bloomberg estimates the rebranding wiped between $4 to $20 billion from the valuation of Twitter due to the loss of brand awareness.

The company was already worth less than half of the $44 billion Musk paid for it in the first place, meaning this may end up a worse deal than when Yahoo bought Tumblr.

One estimation (though this is with a grain of salt) said that Twitter is three months from defaulting on its loans taken out to buy the site. Those loans were secured with Tesla stock. Meaning the bank will seize that stock and, since it won't be enough to pay the debt (since it's worth around 50-75% of what it was at the time of the loan), they can start seizing personal assets of Elon Musk including the Twitter company itself and his interest in SpaceX.

Sesame Street's official accounts mocked the rebranding.

[musical-chick-13]

"[man I refuse to name] is innocent! I know this for absolute fact because of research and investigation I have done on my own!"

Yeah, hi, quick question: what were your thoughts on the A.H. v J.D. trial. Did you believe her? Did you "do your own research" then? Did you also claim you knew "for an absolute fact" that she was lying because of "investigative research"?

[gaywineauntsstuff]

Headcanon that bludhaven hates heroes with a flaming passion bc theyre just cops in tights but love Nightwing and therefore vehemently deny his hero status to anyone and everyone.

Like there is no official Nightwing merch bc he’s a criminal he’s committing a crime okay vigilante justice is in fact not legal and he’s not TECHNICALLY on the justice league and he’s NOT TECHNICALLY the leader of the titans anymore. But there are about 400 different Etsy stores that make hoodies, crop tops, joggers, sweats, sunglasses, bracelets, t shirts with nightwings logo or some art of him on them.

Like they love this guy and will get into beef with any Gotham national who tries to claim Nightwing is THEIR hero.

1) hes not a hero he’s a criminal fuck you

2) you have a hero and just bc he’s shit at his job and needs our guy (who is NOT a hero) to help him sometimes doesn’t MEAN SHIT

people are walking around with tiny v shaped blue tattoos or embroidered on clothing but again NOT A HERO BLUDHAVEN DOESNT DO HEROS

There are coffee shops with bad nightwing pun names nightbird, beanwing, nightwinging it and so on

Every third piece of graffiti is this man’s logo

Every sandwich place or fast food chain has a ‘secret menu item’ that’s not actually secret bc everyone orders it and it’s just one of their normal items dyed blue (sodas, desserts, burger buns, condiments so on) some places will sell wings fried in blue panko bread crumbs and call them them ‘nightwings’ ofc these are ALL off the menu you can’t see these items and if you try to order them out of the city you get weird looks.

Superman goes on tv and says Nightwing is one of his favorite hero’s and bludhaven riots. wtf nightwing is your favorite hero you fuckin poser

1) nightwing isn’t a hero he’s a criminal so back off

2) he’s ours you and your frou frou fancy city that hasn’t been nuked by a sentient pile of radiation can fuck RIGHT off

Naturally the only person in bludhaven who is unaware of this is Dick Grayson bc tbh this man is too busy to give a fuck about what his city thinks of him. They trust him to get shit done. Good that’s all he needs okay he has 22 reports he needs to log he’s busy.

Tim Drake professional nightwing fanboy however is fucking furious about this because.

A) dick was a GOTHAM hero FIRST and bludhaven can suck it

B) fuck you nightwing isn’t just a a hero he’s THE HERO and the BEST hero and don’t be rude bc you have a complex

C) all of the cool nightwing merch only ships around bludhaven so has to get it ordered there and it’s just a hassle and he’d pay double he swears just let him get it delivered to where he is please Everytime he stops by bludhaven he leaves with 10 new pieces of nightwing merch and bc he has so much. Damian doesn’t think he notices when some of his doubles mysteriously go missing. He does.

D) since they are anti hero they are firmly unhelpful whenever he or Steph show up bc a case has lead them to the city

The one plus side was watching Jason Todd having a mental breakdown bc apparently in bludhaven redhood counts as a hero and is therefore hated.

“Yous worked with the bat yous a hero thems the rules”

“I KILL PEOPLE”

“Yeah so do cops and people always call them heroes”

“Okay but I kill people to protect the general public I put down scum”

“Cops say they do that too”

“I- okay you know what I’m a hero fine okay. Why isn’t nightwing a hero”

“Vigilante justice is a crime”

“I’m documentably worse than a vigilante”

“But you have worked with the bat”

“For money yeah”

“See you even get paid, face it you’re a hero which means you suck”

“You realize Nightwing has worked with the bat right like way more than I have”

“Listen that ain’t his fault okay, the bats incompetent and so are the rest to you idiots. He’s a nice guy and a good neighbor don’t mean he’s a hero”

“I- what the fuck is in this cities water”

“I don’t fuckin know but it’s prolly better than whatever gothams got in its harbor”

“I- yeah you’re probably right”

[stellardeer]

TL;DR - How would you kick someone out of your house without involving police? and Should you?

My no-note blog is probably not the best place to ask this question, but maybe someone will come along and answer, who knows.

So in the ideal circumstance that we abolish the police, I've been wondering about a specific scenario. Say there is a person in your home, for whatever reason, who has no legal right to be there, and you do not want them there (again, for whatever reason) but they refuse to leave and you want to forcibly remove them from your home.

Most people nowadays would threaten to call the cops on them, and usually that alone is enough to get people to leave. I've never actually had this problem myself, but I've known numerous people who've talked about these kinds of situations (and coincidentally they were all middle class, if that tells you anything...) I, personally, would think twice (or a million times) about calling the cops on someone, especially if the person in question is particularly vulnerable to police brutality. So, even if the police aren't abolished, I still want to know the proper alternative to handle this kind of situation.

I'm a pretty weak, easily overpowered person, so my first instinct would be to like.. call someone I know or go get a strong neighbor or something to help me get this person off of my property.

I know that the specifics of the situation also play a key role here, too, on how to handle it. Like, if the person is reasonable, I would hope that just telling them to leave would get them to go - easy enough. But if they refuse to move.. what do I even do? If it's someone that I know very well, I might think to take a break and just walk away from them and hope we can sort things out once we've calmed down. If it's someone that I don't know very well, though, (not even necessarily an intruder, but just say someone who is overstaying their welcome) and especially if tensions are not even high, I wouldn't really know what to do. Some states even have squatters rights, so like.. sometimes you literally CAN'T do anything about this person being in your home, and in some cases they can even get you kicked out. I think it's kind of obvious that if the person clearly has violent intentions towards me, then I have a right to defend myself, but again, I am not going to be able to do that by myself, and I don't know what the legalities are around asking for help from another citizen, i.e. not a cop, if someone means to do you harm?

And what if you do ask for help and your helper ends up injuring the person in the process of trying to get them out?? I'd imagine it's still better than calling a cop, and risking getting a life-ruining criminal record, or worse, shot and killed. But I'd also imagine there could be grounds for them to sue if they get injured by the helper since the helper is not a professional of any kind and not protected in anyway. Only some states have protections against self defense anyway, and I don't know if it even counts if you invited the person into your home willingly and they weren't being violent to begin with. Like.. if they person is just stubbornly standing there and then your burly neighbor puts hands on them first, I don't think that even counts as self defense for the homeowner? At that point if the person fights back then they have a case for self-defense.

And I don't know what the leftist attitude is towards personal property like that anyway, like should we even have a right to our own home? I don't know the leftist view on that, I get the idea that individualism is not the move, but like.. do we still have our own personal space? Space that we are allowed to bar others from entering? Even if that space extends to the entirety of a 2-bedroom home? I'm asking sincerely, because I really haven't read enough socialist theory, so I don't know what the opinions are on home ownership in general. Like in an ideal society, would we supposedly just allow the person to stay for as long as they like, as long as they aren't hurting anything? That's another part of it, like what if they aren't doing any harm but I still don't want them there? Am I wrong for wanting them to leave, even if I don't know them? Supposing even if they are an intruder, if they haven't stolen anything or hurt me or my animals, but they just... won't leave, should I even be mad about that?

But again, forget an ideal society, let's take it back to reality, assuming that I live in the US and the laws are exactly the same as they are in this moment, police are not abolished, but I am choosing to not involve the police in this matter... what is the right thing to do???? Should I just resolve myself to accept that this person lives with me now?? I don't even live in a state with squatters rights, so I don't legally have to, but.. should I? (more thoughts and anecdotes if the tags if you feel like reading)

[thenixkat]

op really did choose violence onto us because we dared talk about how the new 5/1 building kicked out our relatives#or how that metrosexual airpod kid would literally call the cops on the neighborhood street band for being too loud (via blackfilmmakers)

Fuck it, Urbanism hot take night, none of you bitches actually know what gentrification is