#no more shitty conspiracies

[bloofbloofbloof]

they’re gonna be asexual lesbian jewish geckos getting married. making it wholesome. They gonna kiss.

This is gonna be the dialogue

Drunk Pleiadian at the Big Gay Jewish Reptilian Wedding.

[cheesebearger]

full on begging anti-civ people to explain just a little bit more what they mean by "destroy society" and "everything means nothing" and "civilization must end and all products of civilization" i desperately need you to clarify what you mean. those are intricate concepts that encompass vast swaths of the lived experiences of all people on earth, and it is deeply confusing.

instead of slapping down every possible idea for living more sustainably as a species, i would genuinely like to see some alternatives suggested. what do you want the future to look like? what does the "end of society" mean to you? because i feel as though the primary issue among anarchists is that no one can quite agree on what they mean by that, and what they want to see happen in the future. i struggle with it myself!

i just don't think defeatist rhetoric is very actionable, and i also think many anti-civ bloggers tend towards using nihilism to avoid engaging with the practicalities of what their philosophy is asking for - to the point where it gets rather confusing trying to figure out what, exactly, they believe the world should become in the aftermath of the destruction of civilization.

[mynjnx]

Reading my inboxes again and almost half of them are just about Louis Leroux

[polo-yaoman]

I know

Käärijä didn't win because Finland isn't real

They can't hold Eurovision there

[eats-the-stars]

Love to torment my sister's do-nothing boyfriend. easiest method is simply doing things to reinforce his belief that my cat is actually my familiar (he is genuinely superstitious to this degree). this is easy for me because my cat is very responsive and easily trained. our recent accomplishment? she is meowing and i say "Cashmere, inside voices" and she pauses and then takes up meowing again...but quieter. Saw my sister's boyfriend struggling really hard not to immediately "call me out" in front of my sister.

[betweenlands]

if i see that "villagers are antisemitic because big nose and purely fanon greed so i turned them into literal sheeple instead" post one more fucking time i am actually going to lose it

[bigmeansweatydyke]

the long-ago aforementioned cool bi girl turned wannabe cathtradwife friend is currently getting flamed on facebook by friend and acquaintances. karma's a bitch ya shoulda known betta

[snekdood]

here's the thing about writing villains-

you're never going to get ppl to stop writing villains who want to control everything, who are evil for evils sake, who are manipulative and liars or whatever. who are just bad people who seem irredeemable- most peoples idea of a villain is whatever they fear most.

and just because there might be stereotypes about certain demographics surrounding these ideas doesnt mean they are inherently bad to have in your writing in general. the reason those stereotypes exist is because people wrongfully assume that a certain demographic is a certain way either through their own fears or from propaganda/conspiracy theories they're cooking up or have consumed-- which are all built around fear.

its normal to fear someone who wants to control everything. the problem comes in on whom you're projecting that on to and whom you think wants to do that. it's prolly not a good idea to make a villain- who wants to control the world and all of its money- jewish. its probably not a good idea to make a villain- whos a controlling manipulative abusive liar who will do everything to get their way in spite of who they hurt- someone with npd. it's probably not a good idea to make a terrorist-y type villain a muslim or of middle eastern decent. it would probably be a good idea to try to avoid adding stereotypes surrounding whichever demographic you're concerned about your character being misread as to your villain if you're already worried they're gonna be misinterpreted by uncharitable people online.

in my case, im making a vampire villain who wants to control everything. it would probably be really fuckin dumb of me if i added a bunch of jewish stereotypes to him along with that, considering theres a lot of antisemitism in how a lot of vampires in different forms of media were conceptualized and a whole ass conspiracy theory that jewish people already do control everything.

i dont think "wants to control the world" or even "secretly does control the world" is necessarily a bad place to start when creating a villain, it's all about what you do after that point. and its also all about keeping in mind different stereotypes/conspiracy theories/tropes/etc. around that idea that have harmed different people. it only becomes antisemitic if you draw the character the way antisemites draw jewish people, or add a bunch of conspiracy theory fueled ideas to the character, or add a bunch of jewish iconography around the character, or just make him in some way readibly jewish or just straight up make him jewish. the more you educate yourself on stereotypes/conspiracy theories/harmful tropes/etc. surrounding whichever demographic you're trying to avoid making your villain be misread as and actually avoid trying to make that character that way, i think the better off you'll be.

remember that those stereotypes/conspiracy theories/tropes/etc. all exist because someone wanted to make whichever demographic into a villain. those fears already exist in peoples minds, they just want a place to put them, and a lot of people will find a scapegoat to place them on to. it's not that those fears at their basic level are wrong or bad to have or wrong to use as a jumping point in your writing, it's that people sometimes project those fears on to other people, typically marginalized people, and again, for propaganda's sake or bc of their own fears of other people or whatever. if you avoid projecting those fears on to demographics targeted by said fears and thus avoid making your villain of said demographic in every way that you possibly can, the better off you'll be.

people will be uncharitable and read things in bad faith no matter what you do. if you're a creative, you already know the internet spends no time (and hardly any actual critical thought) in dismantling something they've deemed problematic, likely because they dont even like the thing they're critiquing but need to make it seem like its somehow a Moral dislike of the thing. ya gotta ignore it and have faith in at least some of the people viewing what you create to actually hear what you're trying to say. you also gotta take into consideration actual constructive criticism of what you create, because you might have a blind spot in this regard. try to avoid listening to people who seem off the bat antagonistic and demanding bc they likely dont even have a justified reason to be mad at you over if they're acting that way. if they have something they want to say to you bc they actually wanna change your mind, they're not gonna approach you apathetically, dismissively, passive aggressively, as if they know everything and are above you and are the most moral person in the room- people like that dont actually care if you change whatever it is you're doing and just want a self-justified reason to be mad at you that makes them look good for critiquing you, if they did want to change your mind they would try to approach you in the least confrontational way that that particular individual can manage.

ultimately, listen to people actually effected by these things so you know what to avoid and figure out how to not hurt them.

[cats2019forthenintendoswitch]

Honestly something that baffles me about HP is how every time JK*R received a criticism she like, takes steps to make the world actively worse. The elf slavery is probably the most clear example of this: while it's tone-deaf (let's say James Cameron-esque) at best, the clear moral of that subplot in the second book is that:

🌸Slavery is Bad🌸

so ya know. We can agree on that at least. If she'd just left it at that we'd have a children's fantasy book that addresses a human (sapient magical creature in this case I guess) rights issue in a less than stellar manner.

But no, when people complained that this was handled poorly, or that the subject may have been a bit too dark for the whimsical magical school for kids series, or that it raised serious concerns about wizard society as a whole, rather than leaving it alone or even doing some more white saviorism, she said: no, actually, slavery is fine, the slaves love it! The one they rescued is just a freak. Which is... probably the worst thing she could've chosen. Like admitting the world is fucked up and wanting to fix it was already on the table, so why did she do THAT? Why include a clear metaphor in your writing if then you're gonna say "oh the thing that it's referencing is bad, but it's actually cool here"???? What????

There's like countless examples of this kind of horseplay and then at the end it seems like the only material change compared to the previous status quo is that Wizard Alcatraz no longer uses literal soul-sucking demons. Like even the rich wizard nazi family still gets away mostly scot-free.

How. How did so many people like this??? How did so many ADULTS like this where the fuck was the reading comprehension. The media analysis. Did no one besides Ursula K. Le Guin think about this shit.

Say what you want about the current state of media but at least we can call the MCU a steaming hot pile of garbage and that's like, a mostly uncontroversial opinion. How the fuck was THIS the holy grail of untouchable media in the 2000's. How was this such a dark time. Was it 9/11? Fuck it let's blame it on 9/11

[badolmen]

Love when a new trend crops up on some other platform but I don’t learn about it until there’s a post going around about why it’s generally problematic/a dog whistle/etc.

[sogoodtoletgo]

Artist friends, please don't use StickerMule

Full tweet

I've been on the "Fuck Stickermule" train for a few years now after they posted COVID conspiracy bullshit, and it was found out their CEO was a Trump / Anti-LGBTQ+ donor.

Take your business elsewhere. Just because they have good deals occasionally shouldn't mean they should be able to use your money to support shitty recipients.

Some businesses I'd recommend checking out:

StickerGuy -Been using Sticker Guy for like 15 years for my bands stickers over the years. They have some of the best vinyl stickers I've ever used and those things are practically indestructible. Ridiculously good prices too.

RockinMonkey - I've only ever used them for one run of holographic stickers but the quality is so good and I'd definitely go to them again if I were to get more printed.

StickerNinja - Never personally used but I've seen so many people recommend them and their quality shows on their socials. And I'm fairly certain they're BIPOC owned, super pro-LGBTQ+ and are very vocally Pro-Palestine which is a plus in my book!

StickerApp - has been getting a lot of positive feedback in the reblogs! Vograce - I've read some good things about them in the reblogs, and I've also seen some people on Tiktok showing off acrylic keychains they've made with their services!

EDIT [7/18/2024]:

Found this cool document full of information on other sticker / merch printers with a ton of comparisons and examples compiled by Theresa Chiechi! They also have a series of Tiktok videos linked on that page showing the different businesses they've tried. Be sure to check it out if you want a comprehensive look into your best options.

Please feel free to leave any other suggestions!

[it-may-be-dull-but-im-determined]

As it's also totally valid if you do happen to prefer contact lenses though, you don't have to actually buy those via your optician either - once you have your prescription and have trialled a lens brand you know works for you, there are plenty of much cheaper generics out there that you can brand match online (I use Everclears via VisionDirect in the UK) and then double checked they were safe with my optician next time I had an appt.

can we talk about how literally 64% of people wear glasses, and yet we NEVER see them in movies/tv unless it's on some nerdy or uncool character? why do we adhere to such a weird beauty standard that subconsciously makes us feel bad for,, not being able to see???

[marthamaewhovier]

Anyway Rebel Ridge was fantastic btw

[dravidious]

You're more amazing than desks

When it comes to 2-drop uncommon black enchantments that give +1/+1 counters for removing one or more creature cards from your graveyard, we've got

[235uranium]

I do not understand when people complain about the lack of group events in p5 because this game already has a massive amount of cutscenes. I've been stuck in cutscenes for over a week.