#mask hesitant

[akanemnon]

One last heart-to-heart.

So I don't know if this is technically a mini, or a full part (hence the different layout). This was originally not written as part of the script. But I felt it was way too important to not bring up. Especially considering Susie's run-in with that emotional parasite and that whole (not) throwaway line from Lesslo about Kris having been literally discarded and abandoned as a child.

Let's just call it part 91-1.

FIRST - PREVIOUS - NEXT

MASTERPOST (for the full series / FAQ / reference sheets)

[guhbwuh]

[thebaldursmouthgazette]

I think people have it in their head that solas in inquisition is his “true self” but like. He’s manipulating the inquisitor the whole time too. That’s not his true self, that’s another mask he’s using as a tool

His plan was to use the orb to tear down the veil after the conclave. He allowed corypheus to find the orb, with the goal of swooping in after the explosion at the conclave to rip open the fade from there. The inquisitor disrupted his plans as much as they disrupted corypheus’ plans, and as much as corypheus disrupted his plans by staying alive. In that moment, both the inquisitor and corypheus are the people who fucked up his plans.

He doesn’t join the inquisition out of some altruistic desire to save the world from corypheus. He joins the inquisition because he wants the orb so he can tear down the veil. Which means stopping corypheus and retrieving it from him AND either retrieving the mark from the inquisitor or finding a way to use it through the inquisitor to his purpose.

He doesn’t stay with the inquisitor following the conclave explosion to save their life. He’s there to study the mark and figure out how to remove it. He can’t, so keeping you alive to preserve it is the next best thing.

When he talks to you about stuff like blood magic, or debates on the personhood of spirits, he is not speaking as a humble elven apostate trying to convince you of his point of view, he’s gauging your reaction to things to learn about you and how to manipulate you. In one of these conversations he even brings up a hypothetical world without the veil, because he’s trying to gauge the inquisitors reaction tho that possibility (which is very much not hypothetical to him)

At the end of the game it has become obvious he’s not getting the mark from the inquisitor anytime soon, he’s not going to be able to manipulate the inquisitor to join his cause, and the orb is broken. He has no use for the inquisitor or the inquisition, so he leaves. It’s all a pretence, and it’s one he abandoned in an instant.

This image he presents of a humble elven apostate with generally good intentions who journeys in the fade and has knowledge that has given him unconventional views he wishes to debate on is not who he truly is, it’s a mask he’s put on to get to a position where he can try to manipulate things

[rbtlvr]

once again thinking abt how. we dont know what loop is like/how they would act in normal circumstances. like. we only ever see them interact w siffrin, where theyre putting up a mask basically the whole time. and the only other interaction they have with anyone, ever, is with the party in act 5. and i dont think thats a good indicator of how they would normally act either considering most people would act different when confronted with people exactly like the ones they were grieving

[cementcornfield]

Ja'Marr Chase at the Kenzo Fashion Show

[zukkaoru]

[ID in alt]

when characters with very carefully crafted personas begin to crack and expose the truth behind the mask. nikolai, who has spent the entire time he's known fyodor plotting ways to kill him, is horrified when he actually sustains a life-threatening injury. and not only is this the first time we see him express an emotion like this, but he's also stumbling over his words - both verbally and internally - which is not something Nikolai does. he's confident. he's smug. he's a clown and the world is his circus. he's a performer and the mask stays on for everyone.

until fyodor's death is real. he never expected fyodor to be the one to die. he brought a radio with him to celebrate. he wouldn't do that for dazai. he claims he wants to kill fyodor, and he probably thinks he does, but he also didn't truly believe it was possible. he set a goal he didn't believe was achievable. except it was, it is, and it's happening right now before his eyes and--

it doesn't feel like he thought it would. it doesn't feel like freedom. it feels like a new cage you built for yourself.

[hijinxinprogress]

The JL keeps trying to stop Captain Marvel from talking to the media (and it’s not working)

The jl held a meeting about marvel’s conduct with cops bc he got a little too excited and suplexed a cop completely fucking forgetting he’s a 7ft buff ass man (the video goes viral for months) and the press is having a fucking field day with this bc ‘Captain Marvel Hates The Government!’ ‘Justice League Member, Captain Marvel, Shows His True Colors…?’ ‘Fawcett Superhero Attacks Civilian!’ ‘Captain Marvel Sends Police Officer to ICU!’ ‘Philadelphia Hero Puts Public Servant In Coma’ and shit like that is on the front page of every newspaper, magazine, and tabloid for the next eight months at least

so they’re like ‘hey you gotta say something! The people think you hate the us government esp the police!’ and he’s just sitting there confused before he says very slowly and clearly ‘But I do…I fucking despise them’

Barry and Hal are fucking losing it bc this is the guy that says ‘darn!’ in the heat of battle and has said on multiple occasions ‘Well, that’s not very nice, now is it?’ to opponents that destroy worlds for fun

like this guy still tries very hard not to make faces at the broccoli on his plate in front of the jl (and fails)

this guy hears a yj member or even the very adult titans cussing and going on the longest rant bc ‘I’ve not heard such foul language in all my years-!’ and what’s this ‘‘I’m an adult’ nonsense?? I’m older than Ravens grandfather 🤨 When you get to be my age-’

they’re all so pissed when they hear him cussing like a sailor playing video games on cyborgs phone the next day and he’s playing fucking temple run at that

[temeyes]

if ghost becomes a captain himself,,, do y'all think he'd be asked to take his mask off for good?

[llitchilitchi]

me and @oduvany binged Redwall together a little while ago so I decided to doodle a DSMP/Redwall crossover feat. mice c!DTeam, fieldmouse c!Tommy and dormouse C!Punz

[covid-safer-hotties]

A literature review on vaccine skepticism: An intriguing intersection of history and virology.

Abstract

Global pandemics can be tackled by two means: lockdowns and vaccinations. As vaccination has a low impact on economic outcomes and better acceptance by people, it is the preferred method by most governments as a medium- to long-term solution. Vaccines have played a significant role in reducing the global burden of infectious diseases. They are designed to teach the immune system how to fight a particular infection before it causes a disease in subsequent exposures by creating a memory. Although vaccines effectiveness is well known, anti-vaccination movements pose significant challenges, even in high-income settings, leading to outbreaks of life-threatening infectious diseases. Hesitancy to take vaccines is not new and began with the first vaccination of smallpox. At that time, the problem was solved by a regulatory obligation to take vaccines, declared in England and Wales in 1853, which eventually led to its eradication in 1980. Different studies show that there is a decline in awareness of vaccines, hesitancy to take them, and concerns and trust issues regarding healthcare professionals. These problems have been rising over the past few decades for several reasons, notably, because of misinformation spread by social media. Therefore, the objective of this review is to provide a brief overview about vaccine hesitancy and attributable factors, illustrate the different types of vaccines, show the major challenges of vaccine development, and illustrate the pros and cons of each type.

[scribeofmorpheus]

"Those stone walls, Celene thought, likely dated back to when the elves first built Halamshiral. She wondered if they ever imagined that one day, those walls would protect human nobility from the elves who burned on the other side."

Masked Empire, Trick Weekes, p.132

[knox-knocks]

what are y’alls thoughts on a certain rainbow angel goalkeeper maybe being not as nice as she puts on…

[millenniumcrows]

Little doodle of Kieran from last night

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Amanda Geduld at The Guardian:

A political battle over school-based Covid protocols in early 2021 quickly turned personal for one Colorado family, whose son’s cystic fibrosis – a life-threatening genetic disease affecting the lungs and other vital organs – made him susceptible to complications from the virus. Kate Gould said the classroom became a dangerous place for her son after hardline conservatives took over the Douglas county school board and the district removed masking requirements. After a prolonged back-and-forth, involving a pulmonologist and a special education attorney, district leaders finally agreed to an accommodation for his classroom, mandating masks. But mere weeks later, the superintendent was fired and, under new leadership, the district again removed the masking accommodation without consulting doctors or Gould, she told the 74 in a recent interview. Almost four years later, Gould and her family live in southern California – where they moved during the pandemic for the mask and vaccine requirements in place at the time – and they and other parents, advocates and health experts are gearing up for what could be the next front of the school culture wars: a broader attack on school vaccine mandates by the incoming Trump administration. Currently, all 50 states have vaccine requirements for children entering childcare and schools. But with Robert F Kennedy Jr – who has peddled baseless conspiracy theories and once said: “There’s no vaccine that is safe and effective” – potentially at the helm of the Department of Health and Human Services, advocates and parents are right to fear a rollback of requirements, enforcements and funding, according to interviews with about a dozen experts. “The anti-vax warriors have made it inside the castle walls,” said Richard Hughes, a George Washington University law professor who teaches a course on vaccine law. Kennedy’s legitimization and the different levers he could pull, experts told the 74, could have an immense impact on vaccination rates and the spread of preventable, contagious diseases in school-aged children. If confirmed by the US Senate, Kennedy would take control of an agency with a $1.7tn budget and 90,000 employees spread across 13 agencies, including the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Dave Weldon, nominated by Donald Trump to head the CDC, has also endorsed debunked theories, blaming vaccines for autism and some chronic diseases.

[...]

While most school vaccine requirements come from states, the recommendations they’re based on begin with federal agencies, such as the CDC, and enforcement is often left up to local districts. This leaves room for both federal influence and “a hodgepodge of enforcement”, said Northe Saunders, executive director of the pro-vaccine Safe Communities Coalition, who sees battles around school-vaccination mandates playing out at the federal, state and school board levels. Experts agreed the federal government is highly unlikely to attempt to take vaccines off the market or categorically ban mandates, and most don’t anticipate individual states will do away with their long-standing requirements. But James Hodge, a public health law expert at Arizona State University’s Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, pointed out: “You don’t actually have to pull the vaccine for people to stop using it. You have to raise doubts about it.” That can happen by planting seeds of misinformation, he said, or by starting to require that vaccines be assessed differently for approval or federal funding. Any slight drop-off in parents vaccinating their kids entering schools or daycare can result in disease outbreaks, an outcome Hodge said he expects to see over the next year or so. Such declines are already taking place.

[...] Parents across the country are able to apply for exemptions if their children are unable to get vaccinated for medical reasons. Most states also have religious exemptions, and 20 have some form of personal belief exemptions, leaving a varied landscape. School vaccine mandates have been around for more than a century, and while some pushback has always existed, it wasn’t until Covid that there was a real spike in vaccine hesitancy, according to Kate King, president of the National Association of School Nurses and a school nurse in Ohio. The source of the skepticism has shifted, too. Hodge, of ASU, said: “Rarely have we seen the federal government behind those debates in a way that this next administration could be.”

Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, sees the potential “unraveling of decades and generations of protective vaccines”. For a vaccine to get approved, it must first go through an advisory committee at the FDA. Another committee at the CDC then develops recommendations for vaccine schedules, which state legislators rely on to determine their school policies. Kennedy would have an enormous impact on who serves on these committees, and he could stack them with anti-vaccine advocates. Kennedy could also request a review of all vaccines that have been previously approved by the FDA and subject them to new requirements. Many vaccines are paid for by the federal government. If Congress – under HHS’s direction or on their own – were to begin pulling that money, some of the most vulnerable children across the country could lose access to immunization. Trump has threatened to defund schools requiring vaccines for students. “The moment you start tacking on any price tag to a vaccination – any price tag whatsoever, even fairly minimal – you do see vaccination rates go down,” said Hodge. Beyond policy actions, experts warned of the power of rhetoric. The mere presence of a federal official who is skeptical – or outright hostile – towards vaccines gives the opposition more credibility. Since the enforcement of these policies is typically left up to a school district, some advocates are anticipating increased pressure on school board members to take anti-vaccine positions.

The normalization of anti-vaxxer extremism is one of the saddest things that has come to plague the USA in recent years, and that’s due to right-wing influencers and GOP politicians banging the drum about “freedom” with baseless innuendo about the efficacy of vaccines.

The potential confirmation of RFK Jr. to head up the HHS and Dave Weldon to head up the CDC will further confirm this disastrous normalization of this trend.

[bitevibe]

college is a bit quieter than i thought it would be right now so i finished the... supersize future keychains i have been working on for a while. my sewing skill is... well, i have never really sewn seriously before, so i'm still prickling myself a lot and making a lot of mistakes, but i'm happy with how those turned out! i still have to attach some keychain rings to them so they can accompany me into The Horrors (college).

[myfckingnameisnuwanda]

Thinking about The Ultimate Sacrifice again TnT