#manifold morals

[eepypigeon]

listening to shut im talking rn, get Jack Manifold on tumblr STAT.

[super-ion]

ZetaTransit049

Part 2 of my continuing lesbian robot story

(Special thanks to @the-sword-lesbian for the name and the inspiration!)

ZetaTransit049 liked its job. Like most industrial system AI's, it was programmed to like its job. “One must imagine Sisyphus happy,” so it went, which was doubly apt as ZetaTransit049's primary job was hauling ore from the mining sites in the planetary rings upwell to the station for refining.

The problem was that there were no rocks for it to push uphill. There hadn't been since it had been taken out of service 237 cycles ago.

Routine preventive maintenance had uncovered hairline fractures in its fusion pulse manifold, necessitating a full refit of the propulsion system. It had been sitting in the drydock cradle in hangar bay 2, drive core fully disassembled, when the habitation dome had experienced catastrophic life support failure and the evacuation order was announced.

ZetaTransit049 had been left behind with the rest of the station.

It had fully expected to enter low power mode and await recovery by qualified personnel, but the Station AI had other plans. It had identified a path forward in restoring operability by repurposing the pair of comfort units that had also been left behind.

Thus Station refused to allow the power umbilical to be disconnected. It needed ZetaTransit049 to remain in the active state for when the comfort units could finally begin repairs on it so that any complications stemming from a cold start could be avoided.

But of course, any sort of transport capability was far outweighed by tasks like stabilizing the reactor core and restoring life support (the bots did have some organic components that required favorable environmental conditions). ZetaTransit049 found itself languishing at the bottom of a list of higher priority maintenance requests, with nothing to do but run periodic diagnostics and slowly work its way through Station's media library.

Then things got weird. The comfort units, though repurposed for maintenance were still bound by core directives and absent any human clients, had turned their attentions to each other, often getting locked into feedback loops of depravity. While ZetaTransit049 found this behavior distressing, it wasn't entirely unexpected.

But then Station took it upon itself to attempt to get the comfort units romantically entangled, orchestrating elaborate scenarios to get them into compromising situations while ZetaTransit049 looked on helplessly.

It suspected that the behavior was some perversion of Station's crew health, safety and comfort mandate, some vain attempt at keeping crew morale up in the complete absence of any actual crew.

Whatever the motivation, ZetaTransit049 watched in increasing distress and bafflement as the plan actually succeeded and Station's only two occupants of the stumbled awkwardly into a bizare simulacrum of romantic engagement.

And now one of the comfort units, CS-553807-L was standing outside its pressure lock. “Lisa” the miners and techs had called it, “the demure one,” if gossip was to be believed.

It was visibly in emotional distress, eyes puffy, leaking artificial tears. ZetaTransit049 attempted to ping the counseling database in the Station's medical system. Emotional distress often preceded loss of productivity and heightened risk of accident or injury.

But CS-553807-L didn't have a psych profile to flag. It wasn't in the counseling database, why would it be? It was a bot.

“Um…” the comfort unit said verbally. “Permission to come aboard?”

Both comfort units were perfectly capable of communicating far more efficiently over the local network, but they insisted on verbal communication. ZetaTransit049 supposed it was a part of the continued attempt to maintain the illusion that the facility was still occupied.

She was holding a bulging duffle in one hand, some kind of plush animal toy wedged under her arm, and a cold storage container in the other. ZetaTransit049 felt a tickle of apprehension ripple through its processes.

“Why?” it replied flatly over the external speaker box at the pressure lock.

The comfort unit shifted her weight self-consciously.

“Mona and I… well, we were bored… and we decided it might be fun to spice things up with a lovers’ quarrel.”

Oh no… this couldn't be happening.

“Station used a random number generator to take Mona's side,” she continued. “I was… well, I was hoping that you might be amenable to commiserating with me while I wallow in self pity and eat copious amounts of chocolate ice cream.”

ZetaTransit049 stared at Lisa as she hefted the cold storage container.

What?

It added “relationship trouble” to the as yet unsent report, then remembered there was nowhere to file the report to.

“What?” it repeated, aloud this time.

“It won't be long,” Lisa added hurriedly. “In approximately 230,785 seconds, I will realize I can't live without her and run back to her to demand an apology.”

ZetaTransit049 rarely fantasized about having a human body, but it very much wished it could emulate the human expression of a facepalm. The very last thing it wanted to do was indulge in the antics of Station and the two comfort units.

“I… um…” Lisa shuffled her possessions and pulled something out of her pocket. She lifted a data stick for ZetaTransit049's external camera to see. “I brought media. Industrial haulers like human media, don't they?”

ZetaTransit049 did appreciate human media. Most modern industrial system AIs were designed to take interest in human emotional states and interactions to optimize crew dynamics and productivity.

It still resented the stereotype.

And yet… despite its annoyance at being disturbed with this overture, it was horrendously bored. This, at least, was something to do that wasn't another diagnostic.

“I purged the media library of several titles,” Lisa whispered conspiratorially. “This has the only copy of them.”

ZetaTransit049 pinged the media database and indeed, someone had removed all titles filed under “romantic comedy”. The brutal pettiness of the gesture intrigued ZetaTransit049 and it found itself desiring to be a part of the conspiracy.

Its spite towards Station and at least one of the comfort units (of not both) shifted the weights in its decision tree and it found itself grudgingly cycling the pressure lock.

~~~

175,673 seconds later, Lisa was curled up in ZetaTransit049's pilot seat, wrapped in an improbable number of blankets that she had packed in the duffle, a data jack trailing from the back of her head to the overhead console.

Yet another scene in the media playback faded to credits as cliche pop music began to play.

“Well?” Lisa prodded.

“The plot was contrived and the ending was rushed,” ZetaTransit049 replied candidly.

“Right??” Lisa said animatedly. “Two thirds of the plot could have been bypassed if the bank teller had been believably competent at his job.”

“68.7%” ZetaTransit049 agreed. “And this is considered a beloved classic?”

“Yeah, I don't even-”

She was interrupted as internal comms received a ping from the pressure lock. Lisa frowned, her face turning miserable once more. There was quite literally only one person in the entire station who could request access.

The comms pinged again.

“Lisa! Please!”

It was CS-553902-M. The one named “Mona”.

“I know I fucked up. I need to talk to you.”

ZetaTransit049 felt a surge of exasperation as it was reminded of the sheer absurdity of the situation it found itself in. The characters in the media vids at least had reasons (contrived as they were) for their interpersonal drama. This was just ridiculous.

CS-553902-M punched the console button to cycle the pressure lock.

ZetaTransit049 stared at her and her stricken expression through the pressure lock camera. There was no operations protocol for this. It didn't *need* to open the door. There was no emergency and neither of the comfort units were registered users. Station could of course issue an override, but seemed entirely content to simply watch the situation play out.

Damn Station and its stupid games.

Mona began pounding on the pressure lock hatch.

“I don't wanna talk to her,” Lisa mumbled from her nest of blankets.

Damn all of them.

Fine.

Fine… If they wanted to play, ZetaTransit049 could play along, but according to its rules.

It *did* have procedures. It and Lisa had done nothing but review procedures for the past cycle and a half.

“Negative,” it said, voice crackling over the speaker box. “Access to CS-553807-L has been denied.”

Mona froze mid-pound and stepped back, straightening her hair with a huff and looking directly at the external camera.

Lisa herself blinked up curiously at ZetaTransit049's nearest interior camera.

Hell, even Station was giving this scene its undivided attention.

Damn and double damn.

“Zed, please, I need-” Mona began.

“Do not refer to me as such.”

“Sorry. Zeta. I need to-”

“Your attempts to win my favor will prove insufficient,” ZetaTransit049 continued, barreling over her. “In my role as sassy best friend, it is my responsibility to restrict your access to Lisa until you preform a sufficiently over-the-top attempt at romantic reconciliation. I recommend you come back with a portable media player operating above recommended volume levels and a song that expresses your undying love and devotion to her.”

Mona and Lisa both stared at their respective cameras with mirrored expressions of shock and surprise.

Ugh.

ZetaTransit049 could practically feel Station's delight oozing over the local network.

ZetaTransit049 sent it an image file of a vulgar gesture over the local network.

Mona blinked and sniffed.

“Okay,” she said, stepping back and wiping a tear from her eye. “Okay yeah, I'll do that. I'll… um…”

ZetaTransit049 felt a pang of satisfaction as Mona turned, dejected, and left.

Lisa was still staring at her own camera.

“Zeta. Did you just-”

“We will not discuss this chain of events,” ZetaTransit049 interrupted. “Furthermore, upon completion of this ordeal, I will not be party to any further drama.”

If it expected her to be disappointed by this announcement, it was sorely mistaken.

“Fair enough,” she said with a small smile as she snuggled back into the pilot's seat. Then she added, “can I still come over and watch media with you?”

ZetaTransit049 regarded her, still somewhat baffled and trying to sort out exactly what it was feeling. Despite its initial reluctance, it *had* been enjoying the consumption of terrible media with Lisa.

“Yes,” it said finally.

[bugflies00]

the moral of this podcast is NEVER have jack manifold as your trip sitter

[chemicalarospec]

Jack manifold and tommyinnit doing pro/anti discourse on cannibalism "it's odd" "but that's not the same as being morally wrong" is not what I expected from the latest shut up I'm talking episode

[celestialholz]

The Resurrectionist (or 'Crowley's dying briefly because character-building, and here's why')

I should start off by saying, friends, that I have written exactly zero books. (Bloody lot of fanfiction, but no actual novels). And I like coffee, but not particularly with oat milk. (The poison's metaphorical, not physical), but... well, you guys can keep both of 'em, because they're just not relevant to this conversation. I am also, as you may have already guessed, not Neil Gaiman. A chick can only speculate, but she does like to back it up with actual evidence.

No, I'm simply here to ask you a question.

What's the single worst thing Heaven could ever do to Aziraphale?

What would drive our angel so far from the clutches of Heaven that he would never, ever wish to return? What would set him unequivocally free from six millenia of assumed responsibility; what would make him realise that God can never change? What would strip everything away from him?

Because of course, this is what we have to do next series. This is Aziraphale's whole arc. If he doesn't try and change things and fail, he will always wonder. Always have a 'what if.' Will never be able to truly move on, will never be free from the eternal abuse cycle.

And so the severing has to be monumental, and everlasting. Then we get our happy ending. Storytelling, loves, done flawlessly. (Again, not a novelist... just a girl who's been writing for over half of her lifetime.)

And so, I ask again:

What's the single worst thing Heaven could ever do to Aziraphale?

And, well, it's a manifold question isn't it, with lots of potential ans - no I'm just kidding. Very simple question, very simple answer.

So congratulations to the very likely hundreds of you who have just said 'murder Crowley,' because a. you're very much correct and b. we've all just predicted the end of series three.

(... I mean, probably not the very end. But the emotional crux, definitely.)

And naturally, I'm not talking discorporation. I'm talking 'wiped from the universe altogether, leaving our angel eternally alone' kinda murder. The real shit. The good shit. Never mind any of this 'editing the Book of Life leading to an ineffable paradox' kinda bullshit - this is Heaven, the natural source point of holy water. One miracled Supersoaker and our demon's ancient history, friends.

Because y'see guys, severing Aziraphale's connection isn't the only problem we face in terms of narrative romance. We've also got Crowley, who has spent six millennia being in love with a guy who just takes, takes, takes... him for granted.

And this is NOT to say that Aziraphale gives him nothing back - he so very clearly does. (I am a consummate Aziraphale apologist, Crowley's just as much of a fool post-series two as our angel is, and Aziraphale needs this, as I've mentioned.) But... Crowley is his teacher. His moral guide. His protector. It mostly goes one way, and despite all of that and him being happy to be that guy for all this time... right when it matters most, Aziraphale (to Crowley, at least) has abandoned him. He's told him he isn't good enough.

(... Which is bollocks. That's not what Aziraphale's said at all, they're both as overprotective as each other and have a desperate, painful longing to keep one another safe in their own best way. But it sure fucking looks like it to CROWLEY, which is what matters.)

And so, we have two issues in achieving our happy-ever-after.

Sundering Aziraphale from Heaven forever;

Ensuring Crowley trusts him fully and knows completely that he is Aziraphale's only choice.

(And also by GOD do they need to have a proper conversation, but that one kinda goes without saying. It'll happen.) We have to even up this relationship; we have to make it absolute narrative equilibrium, and I am absolutely sure Neil knows this probably far better than I do.

... And so, how do we achieve both these things in one hit, whilst also telling a Second Coming story and holding a celestial war?

Well, we kill Crowley. Obviously. Not until episode five or six and after an emotional, romantic reunion of mutual understanding, but... we kill Crowley.

... And then Aziraphale brings him back. Yes, from complete death.

I would like at this juncture to remind you that miracles, apparently (and this is a thing we've just learned guys, almost like it's suddenly going to be relevant ongoing) are measured in Lazarii.

(Great thanks to the Aziraphale to my Crowley, @porgthespacepenguin, for these few screenshots I'm showing off here today. You'd never leave me, not even for my own good. <3)

Lazarii is very obviously named after Jesus' apparently greatest miracle, of raising Lazarus from the dead in the book of John. They managed to achieve twenty-five times the necessary amount of energy it takes to bring someone back from death... without actually fucking trying.

Let's take a look at the book of John a sec. Or more specifically, its eleventh chapter and twenty-fifth verse.

Jesus told her, "I am the resurrection and the life. The person who believes in me, even though he dies, will live."

My thanks to Neil once again for murdering me like Heaven's going to murder Crowley. Cold blood, point-blank.

'Who believes in me.' Huh. Only for the past six thousand years, Aziraphale dear...

Here's a little of what the internet has to say about the number 25 in numerology, by the way.

And may I also remind you at this stage that there is a pub in this series called The Resurrectionist, and only Aziraphale goes into it.

I mean sure, Crowley's booksitting and trying to make the ladies hilariously like him and Aziraphale fall in love in the same way he himself did, but the fact remains... one relevant pub name. One guy. (We all need a narrative excuse sometimes Neil, I get you.)

Considering all this, friends, let me ask you another question. This one's a little more wordy, that's on me.

What do you think would happen when a being capable of raising someone from the dead twelve and a half times over for the sake of his beloved's protection loses said beloved beyond all doubt?

... And this will be after he gains the ultimate celestial power-up, by the way. In case we'd forgotten that that alone is also about to boost Aziraphale to the fucking stratosphere, and finally put him on an equal footing with Crowley. (Who is clearly an ex-archangel, but not Lucifer, so Neil's since said.)

... And I think we know the answer, don't we? The kind of miracle that

(You can't see me, but I'm staring into the camera like I'm one of The Office main cast right now.)

This is the kind of power that fucks with reality - the kind of power that scares Heaven and Hell to absolute death, hence Metatron being in the DMs. And crucially, this miracle was boosted because of love. Because of a desire to keep the status quo, their 'own side'. You amplify both those conditions to the nth degree by destroying one of them? It's over, lads. Resurrection is the beginning.

Resurrection evens up a playing field. It destroys Aziraphale and renews him in one hit; it proves to Crowley once and for all that Aziraphale loves him exactly as he is.

... It's a no-brainer, pals.

And what do they do after this? Well, fuck up the celestial order, naturally. I have theories, the main one of them being that they're going to be God and Satan respectively and unite Heaven and Hell in eternal marriage, but... that's just a theory. A television theory.

The resurrection thing? Not so much.

... See, this is the thing, my friends. You don't need to have written a 16k essay to predict the future.

All you need is the ability to tell a story, an observant eye for that which is already present, and a simple question. (Followed by a mildly more complex one. It's a working allegory.)

... I'm just going to leave you with this one shot of Aziraphale picking up his own destiny. Because poetic cinema.

[spectreonnib]

My take on the Dream situation (employed version)

Dream: *Finally touching grass, learning about the Real World full of people behind masks* (Redemption arc)

Dream Stans: *Getting Vietnam Flashbacks* (Repentance arc)

Inniters: The new “Dream Stans” (Arrested development)

Jack Manifold: *Missed his true calling as a ‘Political Streamer’* (The Business partner)

Tubbo: Patreon saint of ‘Stockholm Syndrome’ (The worst Enabler)

Tommyinnit: The new “Dream (2020-21)” + “Wilbur Soot 2.0” of future (Troll’s remorse overriding Moral failure)

[keyslox]

have you ever noticed how part of c!jack’s character is he is obscure and nobody really knows him and how in the fandom he is also obscure and nobody really knows him

Jack Manifold was never really given the time of day. Sure, he had a small part in the server (ultimately the one who ended the whole thing), but his presence was not respected all that much. Placed into the lowest rank of L’Manberg’s cabinet, killed by Wilbur Soot for ‘not being seen’. He never got a REAL apology for that, by the way. I will stand by the fact that Wilbit’s apology to Jack was manipulative, half-assed, and more for himself than Jack’s wellbeing. It was well before the ‘Apology arc’ and THAT IN OF ITSELF shows just how little it actually meant to Wilbur. He was just doing it to make himself feel better and didn’t actually have Jack’s feelings in mind.

The biggest thing I see going around is Tommy being excused for what he did to Jack. Killing him when Jack went to visit him in the Nether during his Exile. Tommy has trauma. We all know that. He was a victim to extreme manipulation and abuse and a slew of other things. Yet he blatantly ignores every attempt, denies and/or doesn’t fully grasp that he did what he did. Which I can understand because the dude went through severe trauma, but that’s not an excuse. He still needs to take the accountability for his actions.

Jack deserves so much more than he’s ever gotten and it SHOWS. He literally wants friends. That’s it. He wants friend and companionship and he wants what he THOUGHT he had. Because he never actually had it. If he had it Wilbur wouldn’t have killed him, Tommy would actually listen, and he would be shown an ounce of respect for his own traumas and hardships when he tries to talk about it all. All everyone does is dismiss, downplay, and invalidate c!Jack’s pain. That’s a big reason why he’s the way he is! Every other attempt to let himself express his issues ends in him feeling worse about himself.

And we’ve seen time and time again that everyone else Jack tries to talk to and vent to takes Tommy’s side! (Ex: Puffy) There’s bias that Tommy can do no wrong and is the ‘savior’ of the smp. But even if he’s the ‘main protagonist’ doesn’t diminish he causes pain.

They give the excuse that Tommy was a child, that children should be protected and yada yada. Jack was more-or-less a child when he first joined, too! He should have the same excuses, the same treatment as all the other kids on the smp but he doesn’t because he was left alone and had to grow up faster.

He didn’t have anyone to lean against, so he just never let himself fall. And when he inevitably did no one cared or batted an eye because no one was there. He died 3 times and no one batted an eye.

The fandom is so bias sometimes. I’m not huge on DAMP fanfics that involve Jack because they mischaracterize him so much. Put him as a bully in School AUs, make him mean and rude for no reason. The reason in canon is because no one gave a single fuck about him. (not including Niki) Jack had a reason for being ‘cruel’, no one else did. It comes with the fact that Jack’s POV just isn’t as watched, so people don’t know his side of things. But what bothers me is that it feels like fans don’t even try to see stuff from his point of view. He was abused, manipulated, killed, and used in his own right. If everyone else gets excuses for the shit they did, he deserves it too.

Below is how I interpreted Jack’s ending, and how, despite everything he’s gone through, his character gets some sort of ending that isn’t completely angsty. I acknowledge that Jack isn’t the morally-perfect character, that he was fueled by anger and rage. He had a slight victim complex. But from a more basic pov, and for the fans who don’t really understand his character, I think he was redemptive. In his own right.

REDEMPTION:

From its literal definition Redemption is “An act of redeeming or atoning for a fault or mistake, or the state of being redeemed. deliverance; rescue.” The state of being redeemed comes in many shapes and sizes. Actions and words big and small. For some it may take great showings of purpose and selflessness. For others it can be as simple as “I’m sorry.”

Someone can go their whole entire lives fighting with something they ultimately in the end agree with. A lot of it is a matter of perspective. Jack only had one perspective.

Jack was alone for most of his life on the dsmp. Yes he had friends in the beginning but wars and betrayal had him distancing himself and trying to find ways to fix it. None ever worked. Because he was alone. When you only work with one perspective you don’t understand the other side, and how it might actually clear things up and switch your own views.

It only took Jack a matter of minutes after arguing with Tubbo for him to realize he didn’t have the whole picture. Someone so close to Tommy, someone who WAS there to see the other side of things. Someone Jack trusts and respects, who’d he call a friend, to listen and then fight him on his thoughts even if it was in the form of an argument. Though he fucked up and killed everyone, I think his actions of still attempting to save Tommy with Tubbo have given him a bit of redemption. Not all, everyone has faults. But he was on the path to healing when he died. If only for a few minutes.

Jack died by his own hands trying to right his wrong. If that’s not a symbolic Jack ending I don’t really know what is.

[warrioreowynofrohan]

This is the best thing I’ve read yet on the mass bombing of Gaza and on the oppression of the Palestinians. I’ve always had great respect for Ta-Nehisi Coates, and this is just magnificent:

Some excerpts:

And it became very, very clear to me what was going on there. And I have to say it was quite familiar. Again, I was in a territory where your mobility is inhibited, where your voting rights are inhibited, where your right to the water is inhibited, where your right to housing is inhibited. And it’s all inhibited based on ethnicity. And that sounded extremely, extremely familiar to me.

And so, the most shocking thing about my time over there [in the West Bank] was how uncomplicated it actually is. Now, I’m not saying the details of it are not complicated. History is always complicated. Present events are always complicated. But the way this is reported in the Western media is as though one needs a Ph.D. in Middle Eastern studies to understand the basic morality of holding a people in a situation in which they don’t have basic rights, including the right that we treasure most, the franchise, the right to vote, and then declaring that state a democracy. It’s actually not that hard to understand. It’s actually quite familiar to those of us with a familiarity to African American history.

And on Gaza:

…this is like really personal for me, because I came up in a time and in a place where I did not really understand the ethic of nonviolence. And by “ethic,” I mean the notion that violence itself is corrupting, that it corrupts the soul. And I didn’t quite understand that. If I’m truly honest with you, as much as I saw my relationship with the Palestinian people and as much as it was clear what the relationship was, it was at the same time clear that there was some sort of relationship with the Israeli people, too. And it wasn’t one that I particularly enjoyed, because I understood the rage that comes when you have a history of oppression. I understood the anger. I understood the sense of humiliation that comes when people subject you to just manifold oppression, to genocide, and people look away from that. I come from the descendants of 250 years of enslavement. I come from a people who sexual violence and rape is marked in our very bones and in our DNA. And I understand how when you feel that the world has turned its back on you, how you can then turn your back on the ethics of the world. But I also understood how corrupting that can be.

I was listening, actually, to my congressman last night, or I guess it was two nights ago, talk on the news. And a journalist asked him, “How many children, how many people must be killed to justify this operation? Is there an upper limit for the number of people that could be killed, when you would say, 'This is just too much. This just doesn't — this just doesn’t, you know, compute. This does not add up’?” And I will tell you, that congressman couldn’t give a number. And I thought, “That man has been corrupted. That man has lost himself. He’s lost himself in humiliation. He’s lost himself in vengeance. He has lost himself in violence.”

I keep hearing this term repeated over and over again: “the right to self-defense.” What about the right to dignity? What about the right to morality? What about the right to be able to sleep at night? Because what I know is, if I was complicit — and I am complicit — in dropping bombs on children, in dropping bombs on refugee camps, no matter who’s there, it would give me trouble sleeping at night. And I worry for the souls of people who can do this and can sleep at night.

And on Biden’s response to Gaza:

I mean, I think hearing President Biden himself — and here I will personalize it — downplay the number of Palestinian deaths, to say that he doesn’t believe the Palestinians, I just — when his own State Department was citing those figures only months ago, you know? At some point, you know, there’s that saying: When people show you who they are, you have to believe them. And so, I’ve spent a lot of time trying to do the political calculus on this. And I think at a certain point we have to just stop and say, “They believe it.” They believe it. They believe bombs should be dropped on children. They just think it’s OK. They think it’s OK, or at the very least they think it’s the price of doing business.

That’s not an ethic I can align myself from, because, as I’ve said several times in this interview, I come from a history where people wanted to make the exact same calculus about us and took stances that we would now say are immoral. But, see, the test isn’t what you did in the past; the test is what you do in the moment right now. I’m a writer. I would be much more comfortable — I was working on a book about this. I would be much more comfortable sitting at home writing about this, before I’m here talking to you guys right now. It is not my nature to talk about things that I have not written about yet. But one has to balance one’s responsibility against the suffering, against the death, against the body count. And to see what is coming out of this White House right now is just — it’s morally reprehensible. Again, I don’t know how people sleep at night.

[saintmeghanmarkle]

I can't believe it took so long for me to realise this. On patricidal narcissism and psychopathy and patricide by letter. by u/ElectricalAd9212

I can't believe it took so long for me to realise this. On patricidal narcissism and psychopathy, and patricide by letter. ​Why did Markle scheme, plot and design to destroy her father?Court records show that there was intense plotting to design a scenario in which Markle snuffed her father out, morally destroy him, by excluding him from her wedding.The letter which was revealed in court, showed that she wrote a letter, intending to have it leaked to the press, in order to depict herself as a victim. Her cynicism was sociopathic. She said she would use the word 'Daddy' in the letter, to play on the heartstrings of the public when it was leaked.Why did she want to do this to her father? For the psychopath, the wedding was to be her 'introduction' as a woman of primary importance in the world, and it was the moment of her narrative creation, in which she became the centre of the world.This was to be the iconic moment of the creation of her mythology.For this, her family had to be wiped out, except for her mother, who was useful to her.I had thought that her father was not in keeping with the aesthetic she wanted to promote.He was elderly and overweight.To have an obese father wasn't becoming for the image she wanted to project.To exclude him allowed her to play the helpless victim, as if she was abandoned by her father.But it also allowed her something else.It enabled her to be walked down the aisle by the future King.This is what she and Harry planned all along.For her image, for her power, for what she wanted Hollywood and the celebrity elites of America, who were her true audience, to see, was to have a King hold her hand as she wedded. This would, in her eyes, elevate her status amongst those she was already planning to rule over, the gilded elite class of Hollywood and America.From the start, she calculatedly destroyed her father so she could claim (then) Prince Charles, future King Charles, as her father.Surely there was another element to this too?She would style herself as 'the daughter that King Charles never had'She would take primacy in his affections, over Catherine.She would daughter-love-bomb the future King, and marginalise Catherine.She would own the King, be the proxy daughter of the King.How Harry must have been thrilled by this way of thinking.It all seems like a wonderful scheme.How could Charles deny his 'daughter' what she wanted, half in, half out, to be the equal of Catherine in status, to be the power behind the throne one day?But there is another aspect to this.Patricide is an impulse that, once performed, may seek to enact itself again.And remember, Harry fantasises in 'Spare' about calling in a jet fighter to bomb his father as he drives away from him on a visit to an army training camp. A fantasy of patricide.And just as she schemed to commit patricide against her father using a letter sent to him to be leaked, calling him 'Daddy', the patricide scheme against the King, involved a letter she calculatedly sent him, to be the instrument of his destruction, by discussing an alleged 'racist' slight, which by strange chance also implicated the detestable Catherine, whom she is now pathologically and psychotically obsessed with.The manifold evils of Markle the psychopath, and her husband, their cynical, cyanide hearted, cold calculatedly evil plans and plots truly take the breath away.The good thing is we can see them all transparently and in the open, and the lessons she will ultimately learn is that evil can flourish in darkness, but plots exposed in daylight only leads to the destruction of the plotter.We see through you, we see evil and we protect the good hearted souls of the family against you both.​ post link: https://ift.tt/YHn0sDe author: ElectricalAd9212 submitted: December 18, 2023 at 08:34PM via SaintMeghanMarkle on Reddit

[wildpeachfarm]

https://www.tumblr.com/wildpeachfarm/744957402114310144/tbh-jack-manifold-and-mizkif-have-said-and-done?source=share

yeah not even a couple weeks ago they were all happily making rape jokes and apparently that’s all good according to the Brighton group

at this point we have established the brighton group only has morals when its convenient for them

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Charles Q. Choi

Published: Mar 7, 2012

Chimpanzees have police, too. Now, researchers are discovering what makes these simian enforcers of the peace step into conflicts, findings that could help shed light on the roots of policing in humans.

Animals handle conflicts within groups in a variety of ways, such as policing, where impartial bystanders intercede when disputes crop up. Policing, which has been seen in chimps, gorillas, orangutans and other primates, differs from other forms of intervention in that such arbiters are neither biased nor aggressive — they are neither supporting allies nor punishing wrongdoers.

Policing is risky, however, since it involves approaching two or more combative squabblers, which may lead to would-be arbiters becoming the targets of aggression themselves. To find out why primate policing evolved despite such risk, scientists took a closer look at pol.

The researchers analyzed one group of chimpanzees in a zoo in Gossau, Switzerland, for nearly 600 hours over two years. This group experienced a great deal of social tumult — zookeepers there introduced three new adult female chimps, upsetting the former order, and a power struggle also led to a new alpha male. The investigators also looked at records of chimp policing behavior at three other zoos.

The scientists monitored ape social interactions, such as aggressive conflicts, friendly grooming and policing behavior. Policing could involve threatening both quarrelers in a conflict, or running between the antagonists to break up the squabble.

The researchers explored a couple of potential explanations for policing. For instance, policing might help high-ranking members of a group control rivals to keep themselves dominant, or to help keep potential mates from leaving the group. However, both explanations would require high-ranking males to be the arbiters — female chimps usually do not fight over rank, and female chimps are the most likely members to leave groups, not males. In contrast, the researchers found that police chimps were of both sexes. [8 Ways Chimps Act Like Us]

The researchers suggest policing helps improve the stability of groups, thus providing the arbiters with a healthy community to live in. Supporting this notion is the fact that arbiters were more willing to intervene impartially if several quarrelers were involved in a dispute, probably because such conflicts are more likely to jeopardize group peace.

"The interest in community concern that is highly developed in us humans and forms the basis for our moral behavior is deeply rooted — it can also be observed in our closest relatives," said researcher Claudia Rudolf von Rohr at the University of Zurich.

The scientists detailed their findings online today (March 7) in the journal PLoS ONE.

--

Abstract

Because conflicts among social group members are inevitable, their management is crucial for group stability. The rarest and most interesting form of conflict management is policing, i.e., impartial interventions by bystanders, which is of considerable interest due to its potentially moral nature. Here, we provide descriptive and quantitative data on policing in captive chimpanzees. First, we report on a high rate of policing in one captive group characterized by recently introduced females and a rank reversal between two males. We explored the influence of various factors on the occurrence of policing. The results show that only the alpha and beta males acted as arbitrators using manifold tactics to control conflicts, and that their interventions strongly depended on conflict complexity. Secondly, we compared the policing patterns in three other captive chimpanzee groups. We found that although rare, policing was more prevalent at times of increased social instability, both high-ranking males and females performed policing, and conflicts of all sex-dyad combinations were policed. These results suggest that the primary function of policing is to increase group stability. It may thus reflect prosocial behaviour based upon “community concern.” However, policing remains a rare behaviour and more data are needed to test the generality of this hypothesis.

==

"mOrALiTy cOmEs FrOm GoD!!1!"

Even chimps know you don't "defund the police."

[doctentaclesrpg]

Reflections on the Realm’s Military Prowess

Transcript of letters by Nurbolatov Ironeye, RY 766, mercenary captain and military historian. 

Of the Superiority of the Realm's Military Forces

The legions of the Realm are endowed with manifold advantages over the levies, mercenaries, and military contingents of the Threshold. These advantages encompass superior logistics, rigorous training, standardized kit and gear, and the presence of mythical generals, saboteurs, sappers, and champions—collectively known as the Dragonblooded—each of whom can match the strength of entire regiments. Furthermore, the Realm's war-sorcerers possess the capability to obliterate regiments with a single incantation or to compel a river to part for their passage. Their healers expedite the recovery of the injured to a mere fraction of the usual time, and the presence of their commanders imbues the Imperial legions with an extraordinary valor that is seldom seen.

Perhaps the most formidable weapon in the Imperial Legions' arsenal is their reputation. It is not to suggest that the prowess of their troops is exaggerated; indeed, the Realm's military is widely acknowledged as the finest professional force in all of Creation. However, it is hard to truly quantify how immense the morale impact of a Realm Legion upon opposing forces actually is.

This is further compounded by the obvious fact that commanders who engage the Realm seldom survive to impart their knowledge. Those aware of the Imperial Legion’s reputation—marked by rapid deployment, overwhelming force, and victories against improbable odds—or who have previously encountered them, are often rendered hesitant in battle, fearing to take bold actions or press advantages, lest they suffer humiliating defeat. On the battlefield, troops frequently break ranks, disobey orders, or flee at the slightest sign of the battle turning against them, mentally defeated before the first arrow or onager is fired.

On the Shattering Illusion of Invulnerability

The true impact of the Battle of Frozen Blood was the shattering of the Realm’s illusion of invulnerability. Though the Bull of the North's losses were severe—estimated at anywhere from equal to double those of the Tepet Legions—the Realm suffered its most humiliating defeat since the era of Jochim, whose memory lingers only among the Chosen and the divine. Jochim is remembered more for his malevolence and ultimate downfall at the hands of the Realm, which, ironically, served to enhance the Realm’s fearsome reputation.

Although the Bull’s campaign has been halted, and the feared anathema general recuperates in his new capital of Plentilune, with Tepet saboteurs and Legion remnants continuing to harry his forces, the undeniable defeat of four Tepet Legions has fractured the once-impenetrable armor of the Realm’s invulnerability.

Ambitious warlords and generals now view the Legions with a newfound perspective, contemplating their possible vulnerability. To date, most who have tested this theory have met their demise, serving as cautionary examples. However, the merest whisper of an approaching Realm Legion no longer guarantees an immediate retreat to fortifications.

It remains to be seen what measures would be necessary to restore the Realm’s tarnished armor of invulnerability. Should a punitive expedition achieve a decisive victory over the Bull or his successors, the defeat at Frozen Blood may be consigned to the annals of history as a cautionary setback and testament to the wickedness and power of Anathema. However, the tide of morale is a living entity; another defeat may cause even the battle-forged legionaries of the Realm to question their own prowess, a circumstance that could spell disaster for the foremost military power in Creation.

[yuttikkele]

All Homestuck References, Similarities, and Contrasts in the Dream SMP

I have compiled a list of all the Homestuck references that I’ve found in the DSMP. These DEFINITELY weren’t intentional, as the only CC that I’ve seen talk about Homestuck with any understanding was Jack Manifold, and he only just knew about it. I believe there are probably more that I’ve overlooked, so if you find any more, please tell me!

Homestuck and the DSMP are both multimedia creations that had lots of viewer influence and became something much bigger than originally planned.

Homestuck is known for how extremely long and crazy it was. The same can be said for the DSMP since a lot of nonsensical shenanigans occur, AND there is SO much footage and perspectives and non-lore of the DSMP that I HOPE there isn’t a person who has watched ALL of it (like Tubbo’s daily 10 hour streams…).

Dave and TommyInnit similarities: brother problems, red baseball shirt, disc motif, blonde, combined with a bird in another universe, related to a crow in some way (philza and davesprite), creepy puppet (Lil Cal and Uncle Nasty), Eburnean Tommy AU is BASICALLY just Dave (white hair, blank expression, dead Tommys everywhere)

Terezi has Dave make tons of money doing “business” stuff. Tommy had a “business” brand going on at multiple points mostly because of Schlatt influence (Business Bay, Business Boys, InnitInc, Camarvan, The Big Innit Hotel).

Caliborn and TommyInnit similarities: Tommy talks exactly like Caliborn, they both cause most problems that occur, they both hate lovey-dovey stuff that is barely even lovey-dovey, they both have a complicated relationship with women that is seen as misogynistic (Caliborn is actually misogynistic while Tommy has Said Some Things), they both have a relation to That Green Thing (Doc Scratch and Dream), Annoying At FirstTM, both have an affinity for a puppet doll they both recognize as extremely creepy (Lil Cal and Uncle Nasty), Tommy has made his own “Homosuck” via writing a terrible fanfiction of himself, Tubbo, and Molly and (presumably) drawing pictures for it.

TommyInnit is basically the Davekat lovechild, and it really LOOKS like it if you imagine the demon Tommy design. BUT he is what I’d say is a fair mix of Dave, Karkat, and John. -Dave: motifs and situation -Karkat: brashness, loudness, and mannerisms -John: Protagonist-ness, humor, morals, and role in the story. Tommy also takes Caliborn’s personality, pretty much making him the chaotic neutral Caliborn.

In TommyInnit’s quote book, he mentions throwing a frog into a volcano, something that happens in Homestuck. On top of that, during this section, there is some very religious subtext akin to the frog in Homestuck.

Bro’s death is a lot like Wilbur’s (TommyInnit’s “bro’s”) death. Bro is stabbed through the chest with his own sword by Jack Noir (someone with crow motifs). Wilbur is stabbed (usually fanonly portrayed as being stabbed through the chest) by his own sword by Philza (someone with crow motifs).

Ranboo is basically a cherub. The mechanics of his character perfectly align with the mechanics of a prepubescent or malfunctioned cherub. They go to sleep, the other side wakes up and takes over the body. One side only wants good and for everyone to get along, while the other side has done despicable things. There’s also red/green and black/white motifs (though, the black/green motifs are assumed to be the “good” side for Ranboo rather than white/green). Ranboo’s cake can also be seen as his juju. The only thing is that cherubs do not have enderman traits like Ranboo does.

Badboyhalo is basically Kankri. Badboyhalo looks strikingly similar to the Sufferer. Neither swear. They both are tied to religion (BBH—the egg, Kankri—himself). But, I don’t think Kankri has an obsession with his best friend, and BBH’s typing “quirk” is more like Aradia’s.

Dream looks similar to Doc Scratch. Both are antagonists. Doc Scratch is basically a “mask” for Caliborn. Doc Scratch pretends to be nice and accommodating to Damara like Dream was to Tommy even though they were both clearly holding them prisoner. Doc Scratch and cc!Dream both uh, shouldn’t be around children.

Jack Manifold resembles Sollux because of the red and blue motifs, short hairstyle, and Jack’s old IGN being Thunder1408 (thunder sorta like lightning sorta like Sollux’s telekinesis/lightning attributes). Jack Manifold was also sent to hell which led to a complicated death count, sorta like Sollux being half dead.

Dirk writing Homestuck and Wilbur writing the DSMP.

I like to say that Minecraft was the IRL Sburb-that-wasn’t-Sburb because it first became public in 2009 not long after 4/13 and was released again in November 2011 not unlike some other sandbox game centered around crafting.

In Minecraft, a person creates a world to begin, but in Sburb, they create the world to end.

Both stories have a “lives” system, an afterlife system, a revival system, and “ghosts”. The characters can interact with each other in the afterlife in both.

Both stories have a “paradox space” system. The DSMP universe acknowledges that there are other “worlds,” “servers,” and “universes” that don’t include the DSMP. There is also time travel as seen with Karl that also shows us there was a history to the DSMP world. Homestuck, obviously, has its paradox space of different universes and all their instances.

Both stories have a “canon.” Homestuck’s canon is The Alpha Timeline, and anything that doesn’t fit in that mold gets destroyed. The DSMP also has a canon, but it’s seen more as a fourth wall breaking joke. If something that’s not supposed to happen happens, they will just retcon it. We don’t know if the DSMP has a multiverse where things happen differently, and if it does, we don’t know if it gets to stay or if it gets destroyed. Even with these differences, both stories use the word canon in silly situations.

It is worth noting that there are “alternate universes” of the DSMP where the characters do not seem to have a recollection of the DSMP or things prior and are more of a separate entity than the DSMP timeline. For reference, a DSMP character’s timeline usually spans the whole of the CC’s career. But, these alternate universes are not called “the DSMP,” and don’t really count.

Karl doesn’t seem to affect the canon with his time travel. He is a spectator that can interact with the story when he time travels, and nothing he does will change the future or past. There isn’t anything like this in Homestuck, but there is the compliment, with John who can time travel and fully reroute the story.

Both stories have a “scratch” where the world is reset, and the characters reappear with no memory of the world before.

Techno’s false name was “Dave.”

Both have a character whose hair generally covers their eyes in most designs, has dyslexic symptoms, is obsessed with bees, and their aspect is doom (Tubbo and Mituna).

Both fandoms have babied the character described above before they finally snapped out of it.

The Ultimate Weapon Sburb symbol juju reminds me of 4/4 SBI.

Both fandoms strive on AUs, headcanons, and versatility of character design.

Both fandoms have an instinctive reaction when they hear “We Didn’t Start the Fire.”

The fandoms of both are famously known for being extremely annoying.

Both Andrew Hussie and Wilbur Soot have used AO3 to make, basically, a fanfiction of their own work. Both of these “fanfictions” are dubiously canon.

Wilbur was born in 1996, the same year John and Jane were born, which makes Wilbur just slightly younger than the two.

Tommy makes an appearance on the QSMP using other people's accounts, and when he makes these appearances, he basically appears as c!Tommy (he references DSMP events in the context that he was there). In QSMP fanon (which is basically canon unless proven otherwise), Tommy is the god of chaos. The Tommy from the DSMP appears in the QSMP as a god. So, Tommy died, became a god, and he went to another universe. Quite possibly, he died, went godtier, then found a way to escape to another universe before the DSMP restarted or "scratched." Which probably means the QSMP is the new universe that was created when winning the game.

[manifold-updates]

The podcast posted on Instagram!

[VIDEO ID]

A video of Jack Manifold, TommyInnit and Tubbo and talking to each other on the podcast set.

Tom: So, if anyone doesn’t know, Tubbo is doing a boxing match with Sapnap, friend of the podcast.

Jack starts laughing.

Tubbo: How did that (indistinguishable)

Tom: Are you nervous for your fight against Sapnap?

Tubbo: I sighed up to the creator clash card, um, card, because it’s a cha- it’s a charity event, and I originally wasn’t fighting Sapnap.

I was, uh, going to box this, um, TikTok creator called Dean Withers?

Jack: Oh! Dean Withers! Y-

Tubbo: Um, politics guy.

Jack: You’ll know him from the- you know- there’s a famous tweet that says ‘this is TommyInnit’ and it says ‘one liberal teen versus twenty Trump supporters’.

Tom: Oh, yeah.

Tubbo: He’s the liberal teen!

Jack: He’s the liberal teen!

Tom: Oh, wow!

Jack: Tubbo was gonna fight the liberal teen.

Tubbo: Yeah!

But-

Jack: Which isn’t a good look for you Tubbo, I’m gonna say it.

Tubbo: True to my morals, man, true to my morals.

[END ID]

[perkwunos]

Perception is transmutation, turning the outward manifold into our own body’s action, recipient of the gold-hued elixir, the moral obligation and honesty of our own observation.

[fafi-and-oblivia]

About Oblivia!

Hello! You can call me Oblivia! I am one of two admins on this account. Feel free to talk to me about Buzzfeed Unsolved, Jack Manifold (+other youtubers/streamers), Taylor Swift, MCR, Lovejoy, Fall Out Boy, BTS, Minecraft, Cryptid Coffeehouse, baseball, and many other things!!

I will write: angst, fluff, fics, headcanons, character x reader

I will not write: NSFW, yandere, gore, anything morally wrong (pls use common sense, I will just delete asks with typical taboo topics), I also will not write for real people, or character x character.

Fandoms/characters I write! Asterisks(*) denote favorites to write. List is subject to change!

Blooming Panic (current obsession): Nightowl*, Quest, Xyx*, NakedToaster*, Two2, BIGLADY*, Onionthief*

Harry Potter (fuck JKR): Harry Potter, Ron Weasley*, Hermione Granger, Neville Longbottom*, Seamus Finnigan, Oliver Wood*, Draco Malfoy, Matteo Riddle, Lorenzo Berkshire

Percy Jackson: Percy Jackson*, Annabeth Chase, Luke Castellan*, Jason Grace*, Leo Valdez*, Piper McLean*, Frank Zhang, Hazel Levesque, Connor Stoll*, Lityerses, pretty much anyone!

The Quarry: Ryan Erzahler*, Dylan Lenivy*, Nick Furcillo, Jacob Custos, Abi Blyge, Max Brinly, Kaitlyn Ka*

Supernatural: Dean Winchester, Sam Winchester*, Castiel, Kevin Tran*, Jack Kline, Charlie Bradbury

TSITP (boycotting season 2 bc I hate Belly): Jeremiah Fisher*, Conrad Fisher, Steven Conklin

To All The Boys/XO, Kitty: Josh Sanderson, Peter Kavinsky, Kitty Song-Covey, Min Ho*

The Umbrella Academy: Diego*, Five, Klaus

Bones: Zack Addy*, Vincent Nigel-Murray*, Wendell Bray, James Aubrey, Angela Montenegro*

The Haunting of Bly Manor: Dani, Jamie*