#like. don't get me wrong. i fucking hate this country. but not voting will not make it better

[twpsyn-who]

Talking a little bit about 'boycotting Eurovision' under Keep Reading, feel free to scroll down if is not what you want to see.

The most used argument on the matter of banning Israel from Eurovision is the fact that Russia got banned from Eurovision, which is the worst argument anyone could bring.

Kindly reminder that Russia didn't get banned because of the war with Ukraine. Russia got banned because many countries has threatened to withdraw from the competition. Sadly, that's a big difference.

Yes, the countries has threatened to withdraw because they support Ukraine and see Russia as the party in the wrong. That was their reason. EBU's reason for banning Russian was because those countries threatened to withdraw, not because the war was bad and Russia must be stopped.

This situation isn't the same. Why? Because many countries support Israel in their genocide. Because this time around Palestine is the party in the wrong. Because we're taught to believe that Israel isn't in the wrong here.**

Boycotting Eurovision won't work. There are people out there who don't know the truth and want to watch Eurovision. There are people out there who don't care and will watch Eurovision regardless of the situation. There are people out there who, despite having the facts, still don't see Israel as the bad guy in this situation and will watch Eurovision. Sadly, boycotting won't work unless everyone does it.

The only way Israel will get banned, in my opinion, is by going through the same thing as Russia. If other countries threatened to withdraw- and not any countries, but the ones investing the most in Eurovision, then yes. That will get Israel banned.

Otherwise? The only thing we do is hurt artists that don't deserve it. Artists who use Eurovision as a way to get more exposure and experience. Artists who deserve to be heard.

Don't vote for Israel's entry. Don't stream their song either. Heck, turn off the TV when is their turn to perform.

**This whole situation (the war, not Eurovision) isn't only black and white. Civilians die daily because of this, all of them from both sides. Innocent people who has no fault. Let's not forget that

[schadenfreudich]

Just got a letter reminding us of the elections, very on topic

[incorrectmahabharatquotes]

i love the incorrect quotes, but i dont agree with your political views. if its not much, could you explain why ur so anti bjp?(thats what i assume anyway)

You know, I actually think that the memes and the quotes are sort of a natural extension of our political views. I'll explain but it might get a little long. Stay with me here.

Firstly, I want to say that I think this way of perceiving politics is so fundamentally wrong.

"Anti-BJP", "Pro-BJP", "Anti-Congress", "pro-congress" etc etc. This isn't a cricket match where you're rooting for your favourite team. Politicians, as a general rule, are a bunch of liars. They lie to gain power and control. It's OUR duty, as CITIZENS, to keep them accountable and in their lane so they actually do their goddamn jobs. That's how the democracy is supposed to work. If they don't do their job properly, you vote them out of the seat. They work for us, and not the other way around.

In India, we grow up with this idea of not questioning your elders. Papa ne keh diya, bas keh diya. As children our natural instinct of curiosity and inquisitiveness is stifled. We go to schools and the same pattern follows. Don't question the authority. Keep your head down and colour inside the lines. We internalise this lesson to colossal degrees. Is it any wonder that we all struggle with critical thinking? If you're spoonfed "the correct answer" your entire life, you never learn to find if what you were told is correct or not. This exact thing is used by all politicians across the entire political spectrum. They use our learned behaviour of deferring to authority and never questioning power against us. The leader of the country becomes the patriarch. Papa ne keh diya, bas keh diya.

I have various issues with various political parties in India, in fact. I have no love lost for any of them. I don't exactly believe in unconditional loyalty to politicians.

Since you brought up the BJP, let's talk about that. My biggest issue with them is their politics of communal hatred. All they keep yapping about is hindu-muslim this and hindu-muslim that. For what? They could spend their time talking about actual issues but the low-hanging fruit of stoking communal hatred is easier to grab onto. Remember when the British did the same thing? It was bad then and it's bad now. All this unrest just to get votes. Imagine fucking up the mind of an entire nation like this and then demanding to be praised for it.

Their foundational roots are from the RSS and that entire organisation's existence is just insane to me. It's even more insane that they managed to go from a fringe ideology to becoming mainstream. "Hindu rashtra", it seems. Who even wants that? WHY do they want that? Is it such a bad fate to live in peace and harmony with other religions? A lot of their talking points are about how much they hate the islamic nations and how those are horrible and then they want to turn around and do the same thing?!? Is the hypocrisy not clear? So what if other countries are religious states? Why can't we try to be different? Maybe I'M the stupid one for thinking all humans are the same that we should treat everyone the same. Who knows.

There are also a bunch of other issues that the BJP has racked up during their rule. The demonetisation disaster, mismanagement of government funds to create public infrastructure, letting the interests of billionaire business ruin PROTECTED FOREST AREAS for mining coal that they didn't even need, introducing and passing HORRIBLE bills through the parliament without any thought or discussion, literally ignoring the plight of people dying in riots, CORRUPTION, destroying the public sector and letting for-profit capitalists free reign in a country which has practically no proper labour laws, aiding in creating a historical record of INCOME INEQUALITY that is higher than it was during the fucking colonial era, fucking up the press even more somehow to the point where they control all of the media houses.

This is not even scratching the surface. I could keep going.

My issue is not whether people vote for the BJP or not. Even if you like the BJP, my issue is that people seem willing to turn a blind eye to all the issues with the government and not even hold them accountable for it.

Vote for whoever you want. My only request is to keep your government accountable. Keep the power in check. The politicians should be SCARED of the citizens fury if they do something wrong. They shouldn't be free to do whatever and get off scot free.

That's our political stance, really. It's Pro-Exercise-Your-Democratic-Rights-As-Citizen.

We will always encourage others to be wary of people with too much power.

Now coming back to why I said the memes reflect our political stance, it's because it's obvious to see why we happen to be willing to risk being a little critical of a literary text. You have to be a little transgressive, in a sense. Perfect obedience and perfect reverence stifles people from engaging with something to their full potential.

I'm sorry to say that if you enjoy the memes and the quotes, you are also being a little transgressive like us. You're also questioning the authority of a religion to an extent. Perhaps our political leanings aren't as different as you might believe.

-Mod S

[chainofclovers]

(Writing this before the presidential election results are known. Not giving up hope because we just know don't what happen, but also sick with worry and anger and sadness. Hitting post November 5, 11:23 p.m. ET.)

I think the thing that is particularly upsetting to me right now is how lopsided it all is in terms of where there is nuance and where there's just a big fucking hammer. I have watched people in my life wrestle with this election, with how violent U.S. foreign policy is, with how to vote as responsibly as possible for the future of our democracy and its citizens while so much is wrong in the world. I've had interesting and fruitful conversations and I've been, honestly, so proud of people for showing up and voting up and down the ballot and rallying behind the most pragmatic future. That was what the Harris vote meant to me. As glad as I would be to see the U.S. elect our first woman president, and a woman of color at that, this vote was about pragmatism and survival, quite literally. And I spent all day today at a few different precinct polling places, volunteering in the "electioneering" zones, and talking to people for whom this vote was about wanting a woman of color in this role, and people who just want a change, and people who were casting their first vote today, and people who are jaded after voting in every election and seeing so much of this country and world stay so deeply shitty, and people who were very informed on the ins and outs of the ballot and people who were overwhelmed and needed some assistance, and people doing that pragmatic voting thing due to that dual ambivalence/pride factor that I feel sooo deeply and it was just like...yeah!!!!!! This is the cross-section of people who mostly despise violence and mostly love-hate their country and genuinely want to find a path forward and are willing to navigate that together. There were people literally dancing at the polls, not because this is such a fabulous place to live but because hope and participation are a really powerful medicine.

And then there are just droves and droves and droves of people for whom it feels like a simple thing to vote for a man who has raped and assaulted multiple people and is a remorseless, vindictive fraud who doesn't care whether the planet is inhabitable in the decades to come. Some because they actively love those qualities, and some because they've been intimidated into thinking it's the only Christian thing to do. And I'm so fucking sick of this just being the way of things in this cursed country founded on the suffering of indigenous people and built with slave labor.

If Harris wins it'll be a gasp of relief, three minutes of rest, and an immediate, exhausted return to working to make things better. And if Trump wins I guess we don't even get the three minutes, and it's all that much harder because of the terrifying fascism. So many of his supporters don't even realize their rights are at stake and it makes me feel genuinely insane.

I don't even know where I'm going with this, I'm just really tired of all the scrutiny and pressure and analysis being on the people in the first paragraph, all of whom are trying so fucking hard to do the right thing despite tragic and overwhelming circumstances. It isn't fair. And I really do realize that it isn't over yet. It's just incredibly sad that it's this close.

[femmesandhoney]

god I hate how brainless trump supporters are. There's signs all over the county I live in saying "Trump low prices, Kamala high prices" and there's this old lady who's a facebook friend (she helped me with a stray kitten some years back) posting about "no more money for wars, vote trump" "lower taxes, vote trump" "stop giving our tax dollars to foreign countries, vote trump" Like excusez-moi, he wants to fund wars, he wanted to fund russia's war on ukraine, he slashed taxes for the rich and now the working class has a heavier load.

Also what's their fucking obsession with deregulation? Sure let's turn america into a capitalist hellscape, what could go wrong!? The triangle shirt waist factory? Let's do that again, new executive order: Bosses can lock their employees in the buildings and no more emergency exits. OSHA? Scrap it too, everyone gets to get sliced in half or cooked alive in the factories. Let's send children back into the coal mines so they can all die of black lung. The endless food recalls? Who cares! The ""pro-life"" nimrods don't believe in quality of life

I know you're joking, but a 19 year old girl just died brutally in a walk-in oven at a walmart (found by her own mother), so the idea that regulations could get any worse is like so sickening since the the US is strict, but not even as strict as we should be.

Secondly, its because trump supporters (not necessarily gen Republicans, mind you) are not voting for him because of any specific policy they legitimately care about, they vote for him because of what he represents morally and ethically. They see themselves in all his disturbing rambles that just boil down to racism, misogyny, xenophobia, and greed. so much greed that they too think will somehow trickle down to them, that they deserve it too. they aren't educated individuals in any way, they aren't moral and good people, but it doesn't matter because trump just feeds off his followers stupidity and fear/aggression towards things to get them to do his bidding.

[repotting]

Okay I'm high rn so bear with me but.

Queen Caroline of Brunswick (1768-1821) was hated by her husband, King George IV of England.

He dragged her through the mud and had her tried for adultery etc, he wanted to take away her throne.

1820, when this all came to a head, wasn't super long after the liberal revolutions in France and before that the newly formed USA, and a lot of British people figured they were due for a revolution too.

People were agitating for voting rights, for a free press, for the right to assemble, on and on. Publicly disagreeing with the Crown was fucking treason. Liberalism was the fresh new ideology everybody was huffing, and the monarchy was not fucking having it.

So that's the state of things when old Georgie boy, who had very publicly been incredibly cruel and disloyal to Caroline, decided to start legal proceedings to get rid of her altogether.

And a lot of those would-be revolutionaries were like. Wait a minute. If we disagree with the king by supporting our legal queen, that's not actually technically treason.* Also the queen is so easy to sympathize with, she has just as much reason to hate the king as we do, surely she'd be on our side!!

Maybe we don't need an actual revolution, some of them said, we just need the right monarch.

Anyways she died a year later and never had much actual political power but do you think, even if George had died first and she had ruled, that people would've gotten their basic fucking rights from the graceful, unpressured concession of a monarchy that was actively making its living off the remains of feudalism, capitalism and the imperialist robbery of so many different peoples that fueled capitalism?

To be the monarch of that land was to take on the responsibility of furthering that theft and violence. That's the job.

Someone who took the throne and then was like "no let's just give back all the wealth we stole and let everyone vote on everything we do and always let them criticize us publicly" when it was not tactically necessary to preserve power, would not fucking survive in freedom long enough to actually do that.

That's the momentum of such a massive machine, it does not stop, much less turn into a machine that does the opposite of its designed function for one person, even the person that directs where it will focus its violence.

The idea that the right king or queen could make the UK a free and fair paradise was insane.

Anyways it seems like some people think just having the right president is gonna fix everything that's wrong with the USA and turn it into a machine whose function is serving humanity instead of blowing up large swathes of it for cash.

You're thinking too small. You can't actually find that perfect parent of a ruler who will make everything better, that's not a real thing. Please start engaging with the reality that what's wrong with the USA is not just a matter of one ruler.

This country is a machine that turns lives into cash. It is massive and has centuries of momentum and it is going to require coordinated actual action from a lot of people to get it to even slow down its rampage, much less stop, much less to actually start disassembling it, destroying the most dangerous parts and refashioning it into something that starts to solve the problems it's so doggedly, aggressively creating.

Some people look at this problem and shrug and insist all that can be done is to pick the person who says they'll aim the machine at slightly fewer people.

But I think even if you do that, you should also be learning to use a screwdriver and talking to your friends about what would be the easiest piece to break off that machine. Ykwim?

*Georgie boy disagreed, and Caroline's most vocal supporters were closely watched and harassed by his military, so working within the system didn't actually help them much. Treason was in the eye of the beholder then, as it often is now!

[mattmurdocksscars]

"15) Trump will use the military to arrest peaceful protesters and charge them under the Insurrection Act. Pro-Palestinian protesters will be deported as Hamas sympathizers."

are you fucking serious? are we not seeing how college protesters are being arrested even when it's the most peaceful protest? or it's because Biden does it with a 🏳️‍🌈 sticker in the arm of the police? go fuck yourself, fucking zionist

I don't know if you're the same anon or not and quite frankly, I don't give a shit. But you picked the wrong fucking day.

First of all, you don't know me or a god damn thing about me. Don't come into my inbox spewing hate while hiding behind the fucking anonymous button. You wanna say something to me? Say it with your whole fucking chest, you piece of shit.

Second of all, yes, students are currently being arrested for protesting. And it is awful. No one is denying that. But under Trump, they're looking at being fucking deported.

Third, Biden isn't the one who overturned Roe v Wade. You wanna know who did? The people Trump put in charge. The Republicans are the ones attacking women's rights. So shut the fuck up.

Look. I fucking hate Biden as much as the next person. But Trump scares me. What he wants to do to this country scares me. So, no. When given the choice between the two, I'm voting for the option that doesn't scare me.

And don't get me fucking started on "well there are third party candidates." Yeah? And voting for them, you might as well vote for Trump. We all know a third party candidate won't win. So waste your vote if you want to, I'm not taking that chance.

God, you entitled piece of shit. You got me fucked up if you think you can just come in here and act like this. Thanks to you, I'm turning anonymous off. You wanna say something to me? Do it with your whole chest.

Imagine if you spent as much time doing something productive as you do harassing people. The world might actually be a better place.

[gryficowa]

God damn it, it pisses me off when the mainstream media in my country calls these people trapped on the Polish-Belarusian border, i.e. "Aggressive", as if you were fucking imprisoned at the border and the border guards were there to beat you and destroy your phones. , caused two women to have miscarriages, etc… then you wouldn't be fucking angry yourself

But no, the drama about Hollan attacking the border guards (Good joke, she showed them positively, which these bastards don't deserve…)

I had no pity for them, for those dicks who say they are defending "This country" (And yes, I used to draw like that…)

So there is some difference, I know, I haven't animated for a long time, but I just can't get around to it, and I quit some projects because I boycott artists, so you understand…

And yes, the mother and child in this animation are the same character

But seriously, it pisses me off how they dehumanize these people because they are fed up with the way they are treated and defend themselves…

So what if the government has changed if it wants to enslave these people more by strengthening the borders? (Yes, I voted for the third one, but the fuckers in my country are too gullible and change their opinions like gloves, in short, they have no moral standards)

That's why I'm so harsh with Americans when they say that "They're voting for Biden because he's the lesser evil," so what if this "lesser evil" has blood on his hands? Exactly…

Unfortunately, attempts to talk about what is happening at the border in my country are often ignored in foreign countries, which is sad because these people were fleeing from the Taliban (because they are mainly Afghans) and trusted the wrong person (Lukashenko), and all the media does is their They dehumanize because they are fed up and angry…

Just because they are Muslims, they are treated inhumanely

Islamophobia kills in its pure sense, Jews were once dehumanized, today the same is done to Muslims

But the classic reaction of Poles when you talk about it is: Take them all with you

And that's their whole argument, I still remember people laughing at these people and it was disgusting

I hate the way the world has become and the way it reacts to human suffering, but you can see that if you are an "illegal immigrant" you can be beaten and dehumanized, such fucked up times we live in

Okay, I'll give you some relief, my mother asked me to write down all the companies (Okay, I couldn't write all of them, because many of them are not in Poland) that support Israel, this was more or less my mother's reaction when she saw how many there's this shit:

[jeanjamesb]

Hi, first of all I hope you're doing okay, I'm still digesting everything 😪 Utter bleakness is what I'm feeling. I've seen here and on other platforms fellow bw rightfully say that we need to prioritize ourselves from now on. And others even going further and say we should no longer advocate for other causes that are not for our community. They (white people and non-blacks) never fight for us so we should not fight for them. And on that, part of me agree

I was talking about it with a friend, telling her I was tired of fighting other battles for nothing in return, and she said she understand the frustration, but then gave me a little speech about solidarity and fighting against oppression and for human rights in general. Shes not sure solidarity should be treated as a transaction, when the stakes are that high. she's feeling disappointed, seeing how things are turning, how every community is starting to withdraw into one's shell,. If everyone only cares about their own people, how are we supposed to turn this fucked up society into a better one. "No one is free until we are all free", basically. It became a little heated and we haven't spoke ever since. I feel the need to add that she is a Lebanese hijabi. She is personally affected by the gen ocide in Gaza, so she's not speaking out of pure privilege, and she voted Blue. But I don't really know how to feel. I've known her for like 5 years, and she never once made anti-black statement, always supported me and the community, I was the same with her, we always supported each other but for the first time, we're disagreeing on something major and I feel like she was indirectly denying my struggles a BW, and I guess she felt like I was denying the struggles of muslims and Palestinians (I am not)../

I'm starting to wonder if I was being insensitive, or if she was. . Any advices😪? I hate this I keep checking my phone, if I should reach out or not

I want to preface this by saying that to protect my own peace, I am not opening myself up to political debate. Unless you are this Anon, don't send me anything about this. Not right now.

That being said, hi Anon, I'm doing okay. Got a needed serotonin boost, trying to find small joys where I can. I hope you choose that too, if only to not drown yourself further.

I feel you, so badly I do. And tbh just about every Black woman I've talked to since Tuesday is the same, just exhausted and angered and defeated. I see where your friend is coming from because it's not inherently wrong in theory. It's actually correct, again in theory, and the way we would hope movements towards progress would work. Her want for everyone to work together and not separate into their own corners is completely understandable.

In practice though, if you (the you in this case being Black women) feel like you keep pouring from your cup but don't get filled in return...yeah, it is a transaction. Just one you don't benefit from. Or at least benefit the least or last from, especially in this country. My advice would be to say that to your friend, that you felt like she was dismissing not only how you felt but also a struggle a whole section of the population faces. That you understand where she's coming from, but there are very real reasons why Black women on Wednesday said they've had enough. And trying to shove that to the side is not the answer.

I think when people are faced with their own issues and the reality that there isn't a coalition like they thought there was, they will retreat. Trust almost has to be earned again. Because that's what it boils down to atp. Trust got deeply eroded on Tuesday.

Reaching out is up to you. I'm usually one to say leave communications open but also protecting your peace is important. I don't know your friend or you enough to say what would be best for your relationship. I hope what I had to say helps in any capacity.

And again, no other asks except a response from this Anon, I'm not answering them.

[penelopwgarcia]

Why did Alexandre de Moraes banned Twitter (or X, whatever) and Elon Musk is having a beef with the Brazilian Supreme Court because of it - from a brazilian

I don't know how many knows it but Twitter has been banned from Brasil - rightfully so, and as I don't want to extend myself so much what happened, in chronological order, is that:

1. The right-wing candidate Bolsonaro lost the elections on 2022, even when he clearly attempted against elections laws by sending feds to lock the streets on the area he knew he would lost (he was the president at this time). It was a miracle that Lula won, there were about 200 operations in various states to BLOCK the population to vote. But anyway, the left wing candidate won, and Bolsonaro's supporters didn't like it a bit. So,

2. They start to provoke people on Twitter, telegram and other social media to plead for the army to illegally take the power off the elected government (there are so many videos of them crying on the gates of the army all around the country is so fucking funny). Anyway the Army did the right thing for the first time ever and stayed quiet and didn't interfere. So then, those who provoke people to plead for a CONSTITUTION CRIME spread more messages for this group to handle the matter themselves through telegram groups and tweets.

3. In January, 8 of 2023 this misery of 3,000 people (and if you check the area where the Supreme Court, parliament and other state buildings are, you'll see they look like ants) vandalized and broke historical items on their wave of stupidity (because they truly thought those acts were leading somewhere) (!!!!also!!!! The cops did shit).

The thing is, as much as political speech will claim the case against the people that went to Brasilia (Brasil capital(yes it isn't Rio I know) and the people behind who orchestrated this federal crime is about democracy, it really is because they defied their power (specially the Supreme Court) and believe me those justices won't stop until each and every one that fermented it be in jail or get punishment of some kind.

But then, what does it have to do with Twitter at all? Because they spread their ideials from there. And if it was a right-wing thing, the same liberal shit, we would have to deal with it. But they're a fascists spreading hate and misinformation and therefore must be fought. And what did the billionaire Elon Musk do? He refused to block those accounts under the argument that it was against freedom of speech, saying it was a censorship, and that was a threat to democracy.

And as everything is political and Moraes (this diva) has the power according to our constitution to ban enterprises that don't have a legal representation in Brasil, he stipulated a deadline for Musk to do so. He didn't, and therefore the platform is banned.

The thing is, Musk could've banned the 11 accounts, but he choose to be whiny bitch under the liberal argument of freedom of speech without regulation and now the platform has lost over 200,000 users. What a genius.

Also, despite the fact SOME NEWS tries to put Brasil's decision as a dictatorship, the EU charges Musk for the very same reasons.

So no, Moraes isn't wrong in doing this because he did follow every step to ban fascists accounts. Regardless of his motivation (and I'm serious on this he isn't any left-wing supporter, back in 2016 when he was commissioner of Sao Paulo, he sent the police to brutalized teachers on strike) he isn't in the wrong side. Who is wrong all along is Musk, and as I see some right-wing conservative news, they are trying without shame to put the billionaire as a token protector of true democracy. As a brazilian who saw those illegal acts and knows who those accounts belonged to, I stand with conviction that freedom of speech HAS to be limited by laws and that the internet isn't a no man's land - if X doesn't follow our rules, then it isn't good enough for us to use either.

[dimonds456]

Okay I am NOT maintagging this because the last 3 times I did that, all I got was negativity for it. So I won't.

But can someone please, please explain to me why USAmericans trying to figure out who to vote for in the fall is "demonic"? I genuinely don't understand. I hate literally all our main candidates, but voting 3rd party is almost guaranteed to fail because everyone else also thinks that, and unless we get a MAJOR reform on that front, it's just an unrealistic expectation to have.

So we have Trump or Harris. And Trump actively wants me dead.

To me, it's clear who the vote should go to, even if I also fucking hate Harris. Like, both of them are going to keep perpetuating the genocide, there is no winning there, so at that point, we gotta look at other issues. Trump is an avid fascist who has actively said he will stop the "trans epidemic" on "day 1." Forgive me for being afraid for that. As far as I know, Harris doesn't have plans to kill trans people, so my vote goes to her because she is the lesser of two very extreme evils.

I keep seeing this sentiment where USAmericans are called selfish or stupid for being so worried about the vote coming up in the fall when it's LITERALLY what is going to determine the future of millions of people in this country. Like, I don't understand. I feel like if my head is on the chopping block, I have a right to be worried about that.

I already feel powerless enough about everything else. Let me have this one, genuinely helpful thing. Our politicians are all corrupt and evil, so there is no winning, so we just gotta pick the ones that aren't actively planning to detain half the country and pick fights with other 3rd/2nd world countries, right? That's LOGICAL, right???

Like PLEASE tell me if I'm wrong, but calling us stupid or selfish for being worried about that seems really dumb??

[redjaybathood]

who are you responding? no, seriously, you blocked me, who are you responding, the voices in your head? i don't even remember this guy tbh so I'm seriously puzzled what's the convo is even about.

there's a good chance that if I called you a tankie, it's for being a tankie. otherwise i would just say something like pro-russian.

who says i don't? I repeatedly said that citizens are responsible for their governments. yeah, if your government is throwing a Muslim minority into concentration camps for "re-education" and you're being like: it's chill! you're fucked up, bud.

North Koreans are just not someone you would see on the Internet defending North Korea tho. Let's say them being in a totally unique 24/7 prison is letting them off the hook.

the whole "why aren't you blaming X, then?" is stinking with imperialistic thinking. what you want to say, but don't have the guts, is: but it makes me responsible for my government, too! and guess what? it. fucking. does. So y'all better go vote, and don't do the "protest vote" shit I've seen promoted here. because y'all gonna be responsible for the results.

I was wondering whether to respond or not when I was sent this post up to a point where I saw that this user is clearly replying to me without any chance to me responding, and dismantling their bullshit bit by bit because they preemptively blocked me.

but yeah, excuse me if I don't think that Russian aristocrat was being oppressed here because their bank refused to serve them anymore. In fact, her and your positioning her as a victim of oppression is an act of weaponsied victimhood, thing that russians use to paint themselves as a victim of whatever shit they do. Who knows why bank refused to serve her, maybe it's due to their AML policy. I know they continue to serve russians abroad, especially naturalized ones who already have citizenship of the country they're in. It is very doubtful that an anglo-russian countess was discriminated against based on her ethnicity, here. Because, and I repeat, it's not a thing! I regularly work with companies from the UK that employ russians and guess what, they all have bank accounts!

One obviously mentally ill man (read the fucking article you're linking), okay. Not seeing you becrying any of the numerous hate crimes in Canada against Ukrainians and Ukrainian church. Like, desecration of a Ukrainian Catholic church, an arson of a rectory, a murder attempt on a Ukrainian Canadian priest via arson as well. Not to mention the hate on campuses, or how Canadian university professors participating in misinformation campaign against Ukrainians on twitter... Like. Buddy. It's not even funny.

again, read the article you linking:

Next:

AGAIN, READ THE FUCKING ARTICLE

besides, it's dated may 2022. assuming it was true although written by a russian; the current landscape in Europe is far different. In Germany, Ukrainian children are being bullied both by Germans and by Russians. Ukrainian adults are being killed by russians who then steal their kids. Assaults of Ukrainians by Russians in France, in the UK, in the Nordics. Should I go on?

I don't. But I have a translator. And I also have an article for you: it's 1000 possibly hate motivated crimes against Russians in the first year of full-scale invasion, in Berlin, versus more than 3K against Ukrainians, same time period, same city. Like, cry me a fucking river!

Russians abroad are still killing us! Don't you get it!

read the fucking article again, it's from Feb 2022

YOU DIDN'T EVEN BOTHERED TO CLICK ON IT WHY ARE YOU RECOMMENDING IT

you are a fucking hack. everything you said about russians being discriminated turned out to be not even something you bothered to read! just random headlines!!!

why the fuck a reaction reading information on the wrongdoings against Ukrainians by your country would be "Ukrainians don't deserve peace"??? I think there's something wrong with your overview on life.

Russians can go ahead and start on that way to peace by pulling out of Ukraine and not starting any more genocidal wars!!! if you want to grant them any peace before that, you are supporting them above their victims.

i dunno if you're a tankie, i cannot look it up, and did i ever call you that and under what circumstances, but you are certainly something.

If it's not obvious, I do not support any violence or hate crimes against Russians. All that I ask from the world, is not to promote or platform them.

[thesinglesjukebox]

MARSHMELLO FT. KANE BROWN - "MILES ON IT"

They did another thing wrong...

[2.53]

Tim de Reuse: A terrifying peek behind the bro-country event horizon; the whole genre scrunched up like a loaf of Wonder Bread in a hydraulic press. The "guitar" is an alien, glassy thing, kept around out of habit and inertia like a vestigial organ. Marshmello's instrumental is coherent only if you don't actually try to pick out a single instrument from the haze. Commodity fetishism finally stripped of pretense, un-sublimated, all metaphor drifting away like diesel fumes, leaving only the genuine desire to achieve orgasm with your dick in a $60,000 luxury pickup. [1]

Jacob Sujin Kuppermann: That sounds mad uncomfortable, dude. [2]

TA Inskeep: I hate this ode to fucking in the back of a pickup for the following reasons: 1) grown men need to stop calling women "girl"; 2) a trad EDM-adjacent boom-bap shouldn't be all over mainstream country radio; 3) "we could break it in, if you know what I mean" is an utterly icky turn of phrase.  [0]

Iain Mew: The instrumental is cookin’ on about half a burner, but the bigger problem is an acute case of metaphor backwash. By the time you’re singing “you and me in a truck bed wide like a California King” you’re not using creative ambiguity, you’re just singing about having sex on the back of a truck. From there the "it" easily glides into being about the woman he's with; read that back into the already weird “these wheels are innocent”, plus “no history and you just can't fake that” and “let’s put some miles on it” and there’s some gross implications. Basically the song is too easy to read as Kane Brown waggling his eyebrows and saying “hey babe, let’s get together and depreciate your market value”. [2]

Wayne Weizhen Zhang: At least it’s a significant improvement from the last rodeo.  [3]

Julian Axelrod: Now this is a song that could use a big Phil Collins drum fill. [5]

Ian Mathers: This actually feels less ersatz than Brown's own "I Can Feel It," but he's still pretty generic; the real surprise is that Marshmello keeps the boshing relatively restrained, which is a pity. It's not bad, wouldn't be mad if I heard it in the wild. But I am also going to take this blurb space to talk about a superior modern country song (and track I missed blurbing when I was inconveniently sick last month), Shaboozey's superior "A Bar Song (Tipsy)", which is an easy [10] and makes this feel even more milquetoast than it does in isolation. [5]

Harlan Talib Ockey: Are there any good EDM/country crossovers? This is just emotionally flaccid grocery-store-core. [1]

Taylor Alatorre: Justice for Icona Pop. [3]

Jonathan Bradley: It should be exactly the wrong point in the nostalgia cycle for anyone to be resurrecting the festival EDM meets festival folk of Avicii's biggest hits... and it is! [2]

Hannah Jocelyn: One quarter of a single Mississippi and three quarters of "Wake Me Up" -- much less leaden than "I Can Feel It," and so it's more likable! [6]

Aaron Bergstrom: I have to assume the new truck is a replacement for the horse they've already beaten to death. [1]

Joshua Minsoo Kim: Could not believe when this ended that it did not break the three-minute mark. [4]

Katherine St. Asaph: This is an awful single that stops trying to be a real song somewhere around the four-"miles on it"-mark. But if you replace everything but the backing track with the hook from "Timber," it becomes catchy, so sorry, I can't score it any lower.   [3]

Nortey Dowuona: "Fuck this movie." - Sean Burns [0]

[Read, comment and vote on The Singles Jukebox]

[danganronpasurvivoraskblog]

Ranking the Warriors of other Worlds Death Battles:

//Recently, I ran a poll asking everyone in the audience what their favourite Death Battle to come out of the Warriors of Other World's arc was, and I'm grateful to all those who voted.

//So before I get into the purpose of this poll, I wanted to quickly announce the results of said poll, and go over the community ranking of the series. These are the fights from least popular to most popular with their final percentage of the votes.

9th Place: Seiko Vs Lizard - 1.3% Tied 8th Place: Peko Vs RHM & Sakura Vs Jonathan - 2.7% Tied 7th Place: Akane Vs Chie & Narumi Vs Toga - 4% 6th Place: Komaru Vs Katie - 5.3% 5th Place: Mukuro Vs Kayano - 6.7% 4th Place: Mikan Vs Fluttershy - 9.3% TIED 3RD PLACE: Junko Vs Monika & Kaede Vs Sara - 12% 2ND PLACE: Makoto Vs Phoenix - 16% 1ST PLACE: Hajime Vs Deku - 24%

//With all that being said, while I do appreciate the feedback, I do have my own personal takes on the matchups and how they actually turned out in the end. So I imagine people actually wanted to hear my thoughts and opinions.

//This arc ended up being even more successful than I thought it would, and that makes be pretty chuffed. I was excited for this, and based on the feedback, everyone else seems to like it a fair bit as well.

//So yeah, I will probably be doing this again in the future. I won't, or rather can't, say when exactly, but if this is a concept people can get behind, then there's no reason to end it here.

//That being said, while this is definitely a new style that I'm not used to, I definitely did my best with the writing of this fight, and having my friends IRL help me with the analyses was great. But there are some battles that turned out greater than others.

//So I'm gonna be ranking them, because I know some people really wanted to hear my own personal reflections and feedback on this event, and I'm more than happy to provide it. Going into it though, these are the criteria that I will be judging the final products on, and things to keep in mind.

This will mainly be judged on quality of the analysis, how deep it goes, and how good quality the fight turns out in the end.

Considering we remain unbiased to each fighter, the verdict does not wholly matter.

A lot of this will be judged on the matchup itself, how strong the connections are, and whether or not I would want to see it happen in the actual series.

This is my own personal opinion.

//Alright, without further ado, let's get ready for a RANKIIIING!

#12: PEKO VS RHM

//I'm not gonna sugarcoat it, this FUCKING SUCKED.

//So after I went back to polish and edit the original script to post on Tumblr, this fight and analysis ended up improving my opinion of it, and I don't HATE it anymore, but it still doesn't save it from being the worst matchup in this event by a long shot.

//First and foremost, the reason Right Hand Man ever ended up on Peko's list of combatants was honestly originally done as a joke. We found some loose connections, and decided that he could be a potentially interesting combatant to analyze if he DID win the vote.

//Which we were so damn wrong about.

//But he was by far the character on Peko's list of combatants that we were not only the least excited to do a battle for, but also the one that we least expected to win. But we figured out pretty quickly that he was picked due to the Henry Stickmin games being the most widely popular and well known at the time compared to Peko's other matchups.

//When I first ran the poll for people to vote for who wins this fight, it actually made me laugh to see Peko win the audience vote by a country mile, because to be perfectly frank, not only does this fight have the least amount of serious connections between the two fighters, but it's also the MOST one sided fight in the whole series.

//Sure, Mikan Vs Fluttershy was similarly one-sided against Mikan, but even Mikan Vs Fluttershy still has the benefit of the two characters being fundamentally similar in a way that gives them opportunity to interact.

//These two don't have that excuse because they have some of the most bare-bones personalities in their respective series. RHM is a one-dimensional jackass who's rude and hates everything, and there's no layers to him; not even a real name or a backstory. And while Survivor Peko definitely has grown from her canon iteration, she's still fundamentally a stone-faced warrior with little screen time to help improve upon that.

//And what makes it worse is that with that in mind, an analysis would mainly pertain to the characters unique abilities instead of their personalities and stories. But in that regard, RHM has so much to cover, and by comparison Peko has...NOTHING.

//She just has a sword, and if this was a battle between herself and another sword-user like Afro Samurai, it wouldn't be as much of a problem to cover it, since Afro also has limited weaponry. RHM however, is a machine of destruction with so many tools in his arsenal

//You'll notice that this is the shortest DB in the series because there's so little to actually cover and no way to drag it out in a way that's interesting. The saving grace is that the fight turned out to be alright in the end, but there was no way in a million years Peko was ever going to win this, and that upsets me immensely.

//I don't hold it against the voters obviously, since we were the ones who put the damn stick figure on the list in the first place, but this was not the right call in the end, and I regret it.

#11: MAKOTO VS PHOENIX

//Haha jokes on you muppets, I put your second favorite second from the bottom!

//Why? Well, no reason really! I just...kinda got bored of it?

//This fight has far more connections than Number 12, but still, it didn't turn out to be the spectacle I'd hoped it would be. It turned out to be really hard to portray Phoenix and Makoto in a hostile setting where they're at each other's throats and trying to kill each other. Upon reflection, I think this fight turned out ok, but it still could have been leagues better.

//If actual DB ever decided to do this, I imagine they'd do it better, but also they wouldn't use Survivor Makoto, so I doubt he would really win.

//The analysis was fine, but again, this being the first chapter in the series, it's really supposed to set a boundary of quality more than anything, and every episode that comes after it, save for Peko Vs RHM, just turned out to be so much better. And keeping both of them within character while also making them try to murder each other was far more difficult than it should have been.

#10: SAKURA VS JONATHAN

//The best part about this fight was that I genuinely wasn't expecting Sakura to win going into it. And the fact that she was the first actual fighter who won her battle made a lot of people very happy. Aside from that, there's not much to say here.

//It's a very standard fist fight between two beefy people. and honestly, I feel that Jonathan, as much as I love JoJo, was among the opponents I DIDN'T really want to cover.

//And while I know I said I wasn't taking the verdict into account, part of me is not wholly sure our judgement on this one was correct, and we were worried about facing backlash, but fortunately, everyone seemed to agree with our reasoning in the end.

//But other than that, while there is style, there's little substance. Analyzing both these characters was fine, but not something I remember being that exciting. Similarly to Peko Vs RHM, Jonathan is capable of so much with Hamon, and Sakura is just a regular fighter who turns out to be super duper powerful, but describing her techniques was a bit of a chore.

//What was nice was explaining how the functionalities of breathing work in a fight. That was pretty fun.

//But yeah, while I don't dislike this matchup at all, I still feel like both characters have far better matchups that can happen instead of each other.

#9: KAEDE VS SARA

//Given that she's hands down my favorite character, I was super disappointed with how Kaede's episode turned out.

//Part of it was because we were fully prepared for Kotone to end up winning the poll, but right at the VERY LAST SECOND, Sara swept it out from under her. So we ended up abandoning our planned script and instead rewrote about half of it to make up for it.

//That, and I unfortunately did not time this release well. This fight dropped IMMEDIATELY after Kaede achieved her latest and greatest feat in Survivor, and it made it clear to everybody that she had this one in the bag. Of course, that chapter and this fight were all pre-planned, so I can assure you that it's not unfair or cheating, and Kaede would have won regardless of whether she had taken down Himiko's robot or not. Even still, I do realize just how cheap it might seem from an outside perspective, and I acknowledge this, but trust me when I say that this was little more than poor planning on my part.

//But weirdly enough, what I enjoyed so much about this part wasn't analyzing Kaede. It was analyzing SARA.

//Going into it, we all knew that Kaede was going to win, because she's insanely powerful in DR Survivor, and against Sara, we never thought she was ever going to stack up.

//But our expectations were rather subverted when we started doing the analysis for her. While we were right in that Sara didn't have what it took to beat Kaede, we were pleasantly surprised by how much she DID have going for her, and how squaring up to the Ultimate Pianist turned out not to be such a pipe dream.

//One other issue I have with this part of the series is how much both characters analyses focused on their STORIES more than their capabilities in a fight, but again, like Peko, Kaede's lineup of abilities is rather straightforward and simple, and there wasn't any need to discuss the functionalities of the hacking gun, since Komaru Vs Katie already went very deep into that, and repeating it immediately afterwards was pointless.

//And as someone who loves writing Kaede, it became very difficult to have her and Sara interact in a way that was interesting without breaking character for either of them. The final result and the way they were both portrayed wasn't exactly what I wished for, even if it was...acceptable. It was just very hard to imagine how a fight would start out between them, given that both are very logical and try to assess a situation before deciding to leap into battle, so we were forced to get a little OOC.

//But while it could have been better, what we ended up putting together was pretty fun in the end, so it gets a little higher than some of the previous matchups.

#8: AKANE VS CHIE

//The reason why this fight ends up in the lower half of the countdown is because a lot of the actual fight is just Akane and Chie smacking each other. Chie uses her spells sparingly and there's not much substance to their actual duel.

//But the thing is that it's perfectly in character for both of them, so it's not really a good idea to change that aspect.

//Akane is already a character who I wasn't looking forward to analyzing, since while I don't HATE her, I certainly don't like her as much as ANYONE else in her home game. And a lot of it, for both of them, was going to pertain to their abilities more than their personality and history, since Akane is very one-dimensional, and Chie is a very standard character as well.

//But this was the first fight where I really felt like we were making something special, and again, while I said the verdict does not ultimately affect my ranking, this one is an exception, since I was VERY surprised that Akane pulled out the win.

//I'm GLAD. But surprised.

//Especially given how much people were underestimating Akane prior to the release of the fight, it was fun to see people react to Akane actually beating a character who comes from a series full of infinitely powerful magic users, since I, and everyone else, really underestimated how ridiculous Danganronpa scaling could be.

//And this was the fight that I think got a lot of people hooked on the concept, so I'm grateful that we ended up doing it. If either of these characters ever got into DB, which is quite unlikely, this is a matchup I would really like to see.

#7: MIKAN VS FLUTTERSHY

//Say hello to the thing that made me a Brony.

//Yeah, I had a LOT of fun with this one. I already knew that My Little Pony's lore ran deeper than it really should, especially with the latest DB season running Bill Cipher VS Discord, and I had guessed in advance that Fluttershy would somehow end up taking this.

//The fight is incredibly one-sided, even though neither Fluttershy, nor Mikan are really "fighters" per se. Given the fact that Fluttershy has access to so much powerful magic, there wasn't any way that Mikan could contend with it.

//Even so, the reason why this ended up being a rich man's version of Peko Vs RHM is that Mikan not only has so many more gadgets to work with, but both these characters have interesting, cute and well-made personalities that clash with each other PERFECTLY.

//Of every fight in this arc, this one is the one I feel has the most interaction potential. And in my mind, that tea party absolutely happened when Mikan broke out of that stone.

//When this fight won the poll, I wasn't particularly happy at first, and I still think Medic would have made for a more interesting fight, but I ended up falling in love with this one more than I meant to, especially with how much I learned about My Little Pony, and how much fun I had explaining the lore and scaling of Fluttershy.

#6: MUKURO VS KAYANO

//I had this one a lot lower originally, but when I went back to edit it and reread it, I fell in love with this one all over again.

//Danganronpa and Assassination Classroom have always been fundamentally similar stories, and not just because Monokuma and Korosensei are in similar positions in both.

//This fight was less of an argument between who would win between Mukuro Ikusaba and Kaede Kayano, and more of an argument between Danganronpa and Assassination Classroom, and which one has the more crazy scaling. And it was a BLAST.

//This is one of the few examples in this arc where both fighters are fundamentally similar and formidable warriors, in a way that I felt was akin to Black Widow VS Widowmaker, which to this day, is still one of my top DB episodes.

//And originally, this fight was going to be similar to that Assassin V Assassin fight, but factoring in Mukuro's Battle Trance and Kayano's tentacles, this was going to get anime as fuck at some point, and it did, and I really enjoyed it.

//Mukuro losing kind of sucked, but it didn't affect my enjoyment.

//And while I fully expected Reze to win the poll, given Chainsaw Man's popularity, I think that this is genuinely Mukuro's best potential matchup if she ever became a canon Death Battle character. And you know what? I'd actually like to see it.

#5: NARUMI VS TOGA

//So this was the first fight where I actually thought to myself, "yep, this one is my favourite."

//And as mentioned in the episode itself, we had FAR MORE trouble analyzing this fight than we thought, and we honestly didn't know if Narumi had it in her to beat Toga. It was only after hours of deliberating and getting all our facts together that we decided on a verdict.

//Toga being able to survive explosions that happened INSIDE her body as a result of her fight against Curious was the biggest outlier for us, and we read over everything that both these girls had done before we decided our final victor. And it was a fun ride throughout.

//Especially because I never quite realized just how many connections there were between Narumi and Toga, not even the fact that they're both yandere's for the main protagonist of their series.

//But the fun part was seeing how their own unique styles of fighting, which are REMARKABLY different, stacked up against each other. This fight will never happen, since Narumi Osone was never an official DR character, but if Survivor was canon, I'd love to see it. I've thought of some matchups for Narumi since, but Toga still retains her crown as the one with the most connections.

//Some of the later episodes dethroned it, obviously, but it's still one of my favourites, kicking off the top 5.

#4: JUNKO VS MONIKA

//I was really really worried that this finale was going to suck, and I'm super glad that it didn't. It was by far the most difficult matchup to write because we wanted to make it a spectacle, but were struggling on ways to do that.

//What made it so difficult was the analysis portion, not the fight, and the reason for that is because this is a composite version of Junko, which means we have to go over EVERYTHING she has across the whole series. And given the fact that Junko pops up in basically EVERY ONE of the series iterations, that's a LOT. Monika, in contrast, does not have NEARLY that much, so a lot of her analysis, at least in the beginning, details her origin story, then breaks down her powers and what she can do with it.

//And learning about the actual lore of how DDLC came to be in-universe was super fun actually.

//This was also probably the most even fight in the series, barring one particular fight that we'll get to next, for obvious reasons. Even if the setup is a little convoluted, it's not hard to imagine that someone like Monika could exist in the world of DR Survivor, especially given that there's already a chunky handful of AI characters in the main cast. And in the case of her and AI Junko, when they are at their best, they can both manipulate space and time in the digital world they live in to such an extent that stats practically mean nothing. The real fight comes down to which one of them is the more parasitic AI, just like in canon episode, Ultron VS Sigma.

//And that's what I think really sold this one for me - the fight, and the way it turned out. Junko was smarter, stronger, and generally had so many legs up on Monika that makes it almost impossible to beat her normally, but she didn't have the advantage in the ONE deciding factor that dictated this fight.

//And I think there's something really ironic about that, especially considering that's typically how Junko's plans fall apart in Danganronpa. The only reason that anyone ever beats her despite being so cartoonishly powerful is simply by never giving up, and exploiting the one weakness she has. Something that Monika does professionally.

//So while I do prefer Junko Vs Springtrap as a concept that I would like to see, this one turned out to be way more fun than I thought it would, and I'm glad we did it.

#3: KOMARU VS KATIE

//There's really not much to say about this one, it's just a fun time. But that's what you should expect when you put the goofiest protag herself against the protag of the Mitchell's Vs the Machines.

//Katie's analysis is one of the best in this series, and one of the most fun I had writing. Komaru's isn't AS good, but I still think both were solid sequences detailing the characters and their stories, even if in Komaru's case, it had to be cut a little to go over the important origin points.

//But the very obvious reason why this fight and its conclusion ended up being so good was obviously because of the verdict, and what we broke down in the conclusion. In that from the feats we see of them, Komaru and Katie are fighters on a near equal level, to the point where it's hard to know for sure which one of them could win if they did fight. Thus, it ended up as a draw.

//And I think that's a really solid way to conclude this thing. Both are (originally) gun-wielding teenage girls fighting against a robot apocalypse, with their stories throughout the entire series putting a heavy emphasis on family, and the importance of it. In a way, that makes these two perfect opponents for one another, and the way this fight ended up portraying that in the end was pretty fun to watch.

//And the interaction potential as a result leaves very little to be desired. Their personalities clash perfectly, as do their goofy little quirks and interactions, and the fight itself was also fun, especially with how it takes them across the city scape and forcing both of them to get creative, something they both excel at.

//Like I said, there's not much to say here. This one was just super fun and I like how it turned out.

#2: SEIKO VS LIZARD

//So you know how only like, one person voted this one as their favorite one? Yeah, fuck the rest of you, lol.

//This battle gets my verdict for biggest surprise of the series. Because this one turned out amazing and I didn't believe it would.

//I might have mentioned this before, but originally, the 10th battle in the original lineup was going to be Kuripa, but he was swapped out for Seiko last minute. This is because Kuripa still has some more insane feats on the way in future arcs when he makes his grand return, and I wanted to save his fight for a potential future season lineup.

//Seiko was a GREAT substitute though, especially with her fight against Kanade in the main series coming shortly before this. And weirdly, from both the analysis, to each characters similarities and stories, to how an actual fight between them would go, all of it FUCKS HARD!

//One thing you might have noticed with the lineup of this arc is I really really REALLY wanted to avoid putting any Marvel characters in the polls. The simple reason being that Marvel and DC are so drastically fucking overdone in Death Battle, and I didn't think anyone would want to see it in this because I know I certainly wouldn't.

//This however, turned out to be a GREAT exception. If Lizard ever got into Death Battle, there's quite a few opponents he could go up against; Man-Bat being his biggest contender IMO, but Seiko, I think, is an underrated alternative.

//The big thing that sells this fight for me is that it somehow succeeds at being both a Brains Vs Brawn battle, AS WELL AS a feral monster battle. As mentioned in the post-analysis, Seiko's genius with medicine is so potent, it's not impossible that she could have fashioned a cure for Connors, especially since unlike him, her bestial form still retains some of her humanity. But not only was Connors just too insanely powerful compared to her, he actually had the means to COUNTER this weakness!

//Connors winning was pretty obvious, considering Marvel scaling gets insane, and he was several hundred times more powerful than Seiko, but even so, this fight didn't feel totally lame and one-sided, likely because even though they take different forms, both characters had strikingly similar abilities and feats.

//And one thing everybody knew going into this that I'm so glad we were able to deliver for this was this fight needed to be VISCIOUS. It's basically the epitome of two mutant monsters trying to tear each other to shreds, very much like Beast VS Goliath or Sabrewulf VS Jon Talbein, and the sewer system made for an appropriate and gritty setting.

//This was certainly the most pleasant surprise of the series, and had it not been for one little thing, this would have EASILY been my favourite fight.

//That one thing being...

#1: HAJIME VS DEKU

//I mean...COME ON! How could it NOT be!?

//This is my most wanted Death Battle of all time, and it seems to be the most wanted for the voting audience as well, since it won the poll in an ABSOLUTE LANDSLIDE!

//And unlike the other top spots on the community poll, this is the one that we all actually agree on.

//Not just because Hajime would hands down be the best Danganronpa character to premiere in Death Battle (besides maybe Junko), but personally, Deku VS Asta, Deku's canon episode, left a lot to be desired. It feels like the team were trying to ham up the fact that they were finally getting Deku in Death Battle, but then put him against a super mediocre opponent with surface level connections

//The way THESE TWO contrast though? It runs a LOT DEEPER than that.

//Hajime and Deku's stories are basically the exact same. The only difference is the story beats and the outcome, with Deku's story being that of a rising hero, and Hajime's being a fallen hero. And as a massive fan of both Danganronpa and My Hero Academia, it was my duty to make certain that this one turned out the best it could be.

//Which is the reason why this is so goddamn long. In an actual Death Battle episode, a lot of this important info would be reserved for the black boxes, but since we don't have those, we went over BASICALLY EVERYTHING. And what helped with it is that both characters have deep lore, interesting personalities, awesome powers, and everything we could possibly need to rant on for ages without seeming contrived or bored.

//Essentially, it's the complete reverse of Peko VS RHM, where both characters have abundant content and character, as opposed to basically no content or character. Aside from that, there are three big reasons why this is my favourite one of the lot.

//Exhibit A: Symbol of Hope.

//Up until this point, I have never brought up the music tracks for these battles, simply because, like early DB, a lot of them aren't original music composed for the specific matchups, being either a random video game music track, fan song, or a commissioned matchup track by Brandon Yates, and some of them work better than others (personally hated the Mikan Vs Fluttershy one, but I legit had no other option when it came to a gritty, despairing track that also featured chipper-ass MLP.

//Symbol of Hope is one of the commissioned Brandon Yates tracks that wasn't made for an actual DB episode, but it's one of his best tracks ever. If I have anything to be concerned about, the lyrics of Symbol of Hope contrast quite heavily to the theme of the actual battle we presented, where in the song, Hajime and Deku seem to be at odds with one another, fighting for the same reasons, but are against each other because of their different philosophies. I think this is pretty realistic though, and it doesn't take away from the fact that I still love the track. Plus, it's pretty long, which is good because this fight is also pretty long.

//Exhibit B: Character interactions and dynamic.

//Speaking of which, in this battle, Deku and Hajime's dynamic in this episode is mainly inspired by All Might VS Might Guy, Goku VS Superman 3 and Saitama VS Popeye; kind of a mesh between the three. Throughout most of their fight, Deku's main goal isn't just to win the fight, but it's also to show Hajime the respect he deserves, and give him a battle to remember. Hajime, who doesn't take Deku seriously at first, going along with it for the sake of appealing to this kid, eventually starts to break out into a joyous sweat when Deku raises the stakes and starts fighting him on an equal level; something that Hajime has never gotten in his life since becoming an Ultimate Hope, not even from the likes of Fujimori or Komaeda, other Ultimate Hope's.

//Having Deku's optimism break through Hajime's apathy, even though it costs him the fight, turned out to be a heartwarming, fun ending, and a great way to end the semi-final match.

//And exhibit C: their powers and abilities.

//Analyzing the full potential of One For All and the full potential of the Ultimate Hope was AMAZING, especially given how much we needed to consider for the verdict. As we mentioned, and we stand by this, it's likely that Deku at his full potential is actually physically stronger than Ultimate Hope Hajime, even though his strength is supposed to be the peak of humanity.

//But even if that is the case, there's still the powers themselves to consider, Ultimate Luck being a VERY big caveat to take into account, but the fight we ended up coming up with showed off basically all their abilities and powers without being too weirdly contrived, and I absolutely dig it.

//If there are any issues with this, it's that the setting can be a little confusing, that much I am aware of. Halfway through the fight, it's revealed that Hajime and Deku are fighting in the Neo World because their power threatens to create potential world destruction if they clash, but since all these fights are taking place in a simulation already, it left a few people confused about the situation and...yeah I didn't really think that through, I'm sorry about that one.

//But yeah, that doesn't take away from how much I enjoyed this one, and it's easily my top pick for this arc.

-Mod

[meaningtotellyou]

i feel like most people these days don't actually know WTF virtue signaling is, like if someone that voted for kamala (actually tired to make it so trump wouldn't get a presidency again which like correct me if I' m fucking wrong is actually supporting the cause against right wing extremism and oh idk the potential decline into total fascism under trump???) wants to make friendships bracelets as a way to not only cope but maybe as a way to be like hey i promise not to hate crime you like i think that's valid and fine personally. I feel like third party voters virtue signal the most then point fingers at people that actually get how this country functions and vote in ways that are productive and helpful to any causes instead of voting for fucking JILL STEIN OR RFK JR im gonna SCREAM also my dumb fuck idiot of a brother didn't bother to vote before he left the country and i just had to deal with him crying about trump winning and his daughters being mad at him in the car and its like well why tf didn't you vote before you left you fucking idiot, you have two half Taiwanese daughters who are both neurodivergent and queer ofc they're going to be pissed at you for not fucking voting

YOURE RIGHT and i also cannot feel sorry for the otherwise unbothered people now crying because he won. if you sat and did nothing then you got EXACTLY what you clearly wanted

[booyahhstormz]

//rant

yesterday i was shocked but today i'm super fucking mad. cause what happened to having empathy hello??? like i talked to my friend today and she called me dumb for not accepting what's happening in america like?? bitch i don't care that i'm not american and it isn't affecting me as much as it is happening to them, i'm still full of rage hoping the best for american citizens and hoping all the "your body my choice" white supremacist cishet fascist men get what they deserve. don't you see how BAD things are going??? and you're just standing here accepting we're going to die for being women?? or lgbtqia+?? or immigrants?? or poc?? are you fucking kidding me?? since when is THAT acceptable??? don't you wish to fight back?? to find a solution?? to do something - ANYTHING to help?? spread awareness?? call out all these motherfuckers ruling countries?? all this lives in danger?? all this deaths caused by white men thinking with their docks and being incompetent as fuck?? is all that our ancestors fought for, all the efforts, sacrifices simply gonna be erased?? and you're not gonna say anything?? are you gonna stay silent watching how our home, our planet, crashes and burns down??

but maybe all my rage isn't just because of this. it's because a lot more, about all of the things i can't do, all of the people i can't help, all of the crap i can't fix.

i know i'm just a kid, and i wish i could do something, anything, to help and fight back all the shit that's going on and have been going on since forever. i wish i could do more for palestine, for all the people there, standing strong and surviving, watching how their land is being destroyed everyday. i wish i could help and vote on the us so the president wasn't a convicted felony, sexist guy that repeatedly says publicly that he wishes he could sleep with his own daughter, an old man that states that immigrants are a plague, etc etc, so instead of the country ruler being a soulless corrupt man, it was a woman - even if she's still a big horrible person. i wish i could do anything to help people in Congo and other colonies being brutally murdered and taken away their rights as humans. i wish i could help fixing all the horrible things happening all around the world every day, every minute, every second.

i wish i could be more brave too. i wish i could speak loudly about my opinion outside the internet, i wish i was better at communicating all my thoughts and beliefs, i wish i wasn't scared of going out alone, so i could somehow fight for all the things i believe are good. but i'm not brave or strong, and i hate it. i genuinely hate how my inner self feels so conflicted, between shutting my mouth and protecting my life or being loud and fight and try to protect everyone else's.

but the only thing i know how to do and can do is speak. i watch so much shit going on through the screen of my phone. and i wish i could do something else than venting my frustration online. i know is not enough, and i hate it so much.

maybe i'm being too dramatic, maybe all my anger is just years of bottling up my emotions and thoughts. maybe i'm wrong, maybe i'm selfish, maybe im just really fucking dumb, maybe i don't know a lot about the real world, maybe i'm being too political - or not political enough, who knows, i don't know. maybe tomorrow all my current feelings will fade away, maybe i'll change my mind in a few years. but i am not going to keep this to myself. i'm tired of doing so.