#not actually solving or even understanding problems

[cozzzynook]

TFA

So one day Bumblebee locks himself in his room and comes out a week later with a Sparkling in his arms announcing to everyone, in the most casual yet proud way in the universe, that he has a baby. The entire base freaks out because, number 1: Bumblebee had a baby and, number 2: no one knows who the Sire is.

The entire team, after much chaos, scolding, and Bee yelling at them to shut up because they scare his little femme, finally calm down and accept the Sparkling as part of the group and promise to take care of her and support Bee with all.

Overall, everyone is very sweet and helpful, always there supporting Bee (who turns out, surprisingly, to be a great Carrier) and the little one. They are very kind, caring and understanding.

The problem comes when, eventually, suspicions about the Sire become more and more serious because Bee keeps saying that "there is no Sire" when asked about it, as if it were normal, and the Autobots start to wonder if it's possible that they're a Decepticon. They run to Ratchet (who has examined the baby to make sure she's healthy) to ask if he has any idea who is responsible, but he refuses again and again. When they ask if it's possible a Decepticon, Ratchet finally gets angry, believing that they're accusing Bee of betrayal, and tells them that no, if they were, Sparkling would have Decepticon traits, since Cons CNAs are very dominant. The little girl is an identical copy of Bee.

That actually doesn't help at all to solve the mystery and instead turns the base into a game of Sherlock Holmes because now all the robots are paranoid about the other being the Sire. When they're with the mom and the baby they pretend to be normal but when they're alone they accuse each other (they're also twice as suspicious because they've all been very affectionate with Bee and the baby since she was born and that makes them look more guilty) they even accuse Ratchet but that ends soon because Bee starts trying to get his baby to say the names of the team and when they get to him he tries to teach her how to say "grandpa".

In general, everything is a disaster that pretends to be normal around the little ones.

The Plot Twist: Neither is the Sire. No one. Bee is actually part Insecticon and that makes him able to reproduce via parthenogenesis like bees, meaning he has given birth to a clone of himself. Ha.

I wasn’t expecting this plot twist but i like it, Picasso.

[elveny]

Hm. I don't watch CR, so I can't talk about that but I do know Dragon Age, and I think where your argument concerning that falls apart is the fact that the critique is not about a world state ("Thedas would be better if the Veil fell") but about narrative failure ("the narrative/plot didn't deliver what it hinted at over the course of three and a half games").

At least the critics I read and agreed with don't want a "Step 3. Utopia", not at all. The criticism about the Veil not going down is that it feels like a narrative copt-out, it feels like laziness. We have three and a half games where the narrative hints at (and in Veilguard even openly says) that the Veil was a mistake and is already failing. Majorly. Across the planet. In Veilguard, we learn that it was never intended to be this way, the ritual that created it didn't properly work, and that it is bound to the lifeforce of seven people, five of which are already dead.

Throughout the games before, we learned that spirits and demons are not necessarily what we think they are, we learned that the Veil itself hurts them and can contort them into something they're not. We learn that there are HUGE misconceptions about the nature of magic, spirits, history, religion and that better understanding of all of it can massively improve circumstances and understanding between all kinds of people. EVERYTHING hints at the Veil coming down.

Narratively, it would have been imperative to take these themes, work closely with them and bring them to... if not a close, then to the next level.

Instead, Veilguard either completely ignores them or tells you what to think about them straight away, handwaving any questions aside. Including the Veil. There is no discussion about spirits or magic or about what bringing the Veil down would mean. We are told "you don't want that, we need to stop it", but we don't really know how. We are told by Solas, the one who wants to bring the Veil down, that "he would've taken steps to minimize the chaos and the loss of life" yet we can never ask him what that would've entailed and what the actual chaos might be. We get different accounts of what the world might be if the Veil comes down ("it would be horrible" vs "it would be wonderful") but we can never form our own opinion or ask what this horrible vs wonderful would look like.

Instead of using that immensely interesting theme and exploring what might be, we are told what we have to think. Also, we aren't even solving the problem. The Veil was failing when it was bound to seven people and our solution is to bind it to one person - and then letting that person go into immense danger. If that danger kills Solas (and he is very much killable, we saw that ingame), the Veil is coming down, whether we want it or not, uncontrolled and unchecked. That fact is not talked about, not recognized, not acknowledged in any way.

It is very, very clear that the DA team wanted to put a checkmark behind "the Veil problem" by making us keep it and sending the person it's tied to into "the Fade" and will not talk about the problem again. That's why they told us what to think about it and how it's solved, no options. From a narrative POV, that is a very lazy choice - especially for a game series that used to capitalize on personalized game choices and world states. And it's not only about the Veil, even though that is a huge symptom (and the most visible) - it's about everything else too. All the problems and misconceptions, all the injustices in the world state etc., are ignored and kept in the Status Quo.

The Veil not coming down, or at least it coming down even being an OPTION, is a narrative failure. And being angry, disappointed and sad about that narrative failure has nothing to do with wanting a utopia in Thedas or having a power fantasy. In fact, even if we look at it from the POV of your post - the Veil not coming down is symptomatic of not working towards change.

Injustice and oppression were major themes in all DA games (expect Veilguard. Even DAI had these themes, though already diminished to DAO and DA2), but Veilguard made sure to not touch upon them, even retconned them into never having happened, and make sure to tell us that "no, no, we don't want to work on change, everything is exactly as it should be, don't question anything." Which is exactly what a lot of the DA players that have issues with Veilguard (and indicative with the Veil not coming down) don't want.

Thoughts on how the Dragon Age and Critical Role Fandoms both have members using "destroying the status quo" as a main argument that characters should initiate a cataclysm (i.e. releasing Predathos/bringing down the Veil)?

It's the power fantasy of believing that you, often a lone individual, can fix things with one dramatic action without having to engage in the difficult and unglamorous toil of continuous and sustained work improving conditions at a daily and material level.

It's the power fantasy of thinking that you can fix (repair) something without having to acknowledge that things are never fixed (stable) because it is dodging that a single dramatic action cannot on its own accomplish anything without a relationship to the conditions as they are in a real sense, an understanding of what creates and upholds those conditions, and continuous and often boring or unpleasant or smaller work to sustain movement toward improvement.

It's a memetic flattening to simplify engaging in the concepts of hegemony and systemic oppression. Oppression existing and being upheld by our prevailing cultural attitudes and systems of governance is indeed our status quo in, since this is where I live, the United States. The concept of "status quo" in itself, however, is simply a term for what the current state of affairs is, so I find the idea of destroying status quo as an always inherently progressive act without reference to what that status quo IS or to what we are changing suspect at best. I know what these fans MEAN to point to, yes, so I'm being a little deliberately obtuse in that prior sentence; however, I find that many of these fans do not themselves know what they are referring to when they invoke the status quo, hence why am I being so. Many of them do believe that the destruction of the status quo — regardless of what that status quo is — is indeed itself a noble endeavor. This line of thinking is pursuit of an ideal isolated from any meaningful connection to conditions of the narrative world or its relationship to how it affects those conditions and is simply pursuing itself for itself.

Often, I also find that even those who can correctly point to what the state of affairs is, they often struggle to meaningfully or coherently lay out what this cataclysm's relationship to that state of affairs is (often the case with Dragon Age) or how this cataclysm will resolve or change that state of affairs for the better (often the case with CritRole). Generally, there's a sense that this cataclysm will free everyone to pursue improved conditions, but — even if this cataclysm action would remove a barrier, and that's often a dubious if at best — there no sense of what the next step is or how this will be accomplished meaningfully and materially. It's always very "Step 1. Cataclysm / Step 2. ???? / Step 3. Utopia" without any sense of how to build or maintain that improvement, at which point we're back at my prior points about power fantasy.

My thoughts essentially boil down to power fantasy and pursuit of a memetic ideal for the sake of itself.

[dolliels]

HANAHAKI..

synopsis: hanahaki + the second years. you don't like them back.

WHAT IS HANAKI? a fictional disease in which the victim coughs up flower petals when they suffer from one-sided love. It ends when the beloved returns their feelings (romantic love only; strong friendship is not enough), or when the victim dies. This problem can also be solved if the victim goes through surgery, but since the disease is caused by a grief of such a strong emotion, love, the patient will lose all ability to feel.

riddle 

riddle grew up alone, mostly. every time he seeked for comfort, for company, it’ll fall apart. it would always go wrong, he’d lose everything the moment he got too greedy.

riddle still struggled to properly face trey and chen’ya after all those years, even if he got better with it. it was too embarrassing, too lame. he felt like a loser. a sore loser who deserved nothing. oh sevens, did the world have something against him?

things were looking on the bright side. he was out of his mother’s furious grip, he has more freedom than he ever did (even if he goes by strict rules) he could make as many friends as he liked and hang out with them as much as he liked.

he still preferred being private, however. he liked his friends, you included. they were more understanding of him than any other member of the school. although he’d twist and turn in bed when he thinks back to his overblot (how embarrassing of me! he thinks) he would still much prefer being with those who accepted him a long time ago.

you weren’t too big on sweets. you liked them, sure, but the more you ate the more your mouth felt itchy. knowing riddle’s sweet tooth, sometimes, you’d secretly pass your unfinished slice of cake or unfinished strawberry tart to him. riddle rosehearts, the strict, germaphobic, lowkey a dictator, heartily took it,

if it were anyone else, he’d just stare at them in disbelief. but the thought that you bit into the very sweet treat, it threw him over the moon. he’d read of indirect kisses before, in cheesy romances he read in his spare time. he doesn’t know if this is actually an indirect kiss, but don’t make fun of him, he’s still learning!

riddle has a lot of firsts, like the first time he tried that strawberry tart, or the first time he learned that playing with friends is fun, or the first time he ever overblotted, or the first time he fell in love.

you were his first love.

he turns red when alone, imagining your face and your laughter and your joy. your silly mishaps that he has no heart on lecturing you over, or your inability to understand some of the assignments. he finds all aspects of you cute— wonderful? he doesn’t know how to describe what he’d feeling, but it gets him all giddy.

he’s frustrated often, the way he started blushing violently when you ever get in close contact with him and how you always, always seem to be unaware of this. oblivion would send you to hell.

he’s been feeling quite nauseous lately, probably because of his failed attempts of clumsily sending you signals about how he feels.

it was to a point where he threw up… petals? petals…??????? oh my god, he’s throwing up petals!!!

riddle distinctively remembers reading about this during his first year, a disease of romance, love, and failure.

his heart sinks. maybe that’s why you failed to notice.

things never go his way, riddle thinks. he’s always feeling alone. every time he gets greedy for comfort, he loses it at the highest point of his life. when things are getting better, it takes turns for the worse. that’s why riddle likes to follow the rules.

by his third year, riddle’s back to being his strict, controlling prefect. except something’s different, he’s not as angry anymore. 

that’s to be expected, though. ever since the surgery, riddle has never been the same.

ruggie

He has grown up to treasure everything he has. 

ruggie isn’t as financially stable as others, he wasn’t lucky to be fortunate enough to get what he wants, whenever he wants.

So when he does get what he wants, ruggie makes sure to keep it close to his heart like it means everything. Most of the time, it does mean everything, all of it. his life.

he hardly gives away his things (please don’t mention the kids at the slums, he’ll turn awfully shy.) and takes anything he’s given.

when you would give him the tiniest amount of food, he’d gladly snatch it from your hands and walk away snickering.

easy target for food is what you are, he thinks.

most of the time, when people give things away to him, ruggie just assumes that it’s unwanted. he’d take leftovers no problem. it’s only when you’d constantly hand things to him, always have something to give him and remember he exists, does he think you’re odd. I mean, he’s fine with taking the forgotten leftovers, but what could he possibly do when you don’t forget him?

watch ruggie clumsily fiddle around with his fingers, scanning the area for your presence. he has learned to not worry, as you always manage to come find him everyday without fail. he feels noticed.

he starts to crave for that attention.

ruggie treasures things. he keeps them close in his heart very carefully. but what would he do when you steal his heart instead? where can he hide all the things that mean everything to him?

somehow, he doesn’t mind. he wants you to see him more, ruggie bucchi, his true self.

the crave he has for your is for some odd reason, unmet. you’re oblivious to his shy antics, the way his ears turn flat when you walk away or the way he holds onto the hem of your shirt just for a second longer.

notice him.

notice him.

notice him.

when you see the way he unconsciously covers his mouth whenever you meet eyes with him, or the how he’s constantly going to the infirmary, will you finally notice him?

there’s a trail of your favourite flowers.

ruggie bucchi keeps all the special things close to his heart. when you take his heart away, how else can he express his pathetic, unrequited love? by coughing up a disease ruggie would’ve called embarrassing and shameful if it weren’t for you.

azul

azul is sensitive. he notices things way too easily. the tiny, insignificant details of someone and how they react, he will notice. that is how azul finds out how a person truly feels about him.

even if azul and that other person were considered close friends, azul would still notice the tiny little details that make him unlikable to them even just a little. it’s been a habit for as long as he could remember.

everyone always had something they disliked about azul. it was fine with him, that was normal. everyone dislikes everyone about anything. it’s not like it deters long lasting relationships. azul shrugs it off, it doesn’t bother him. it’s comforting, even, knowing what people think about him.

so it was obvious to say it was near-horrid when no matter how much time azul spent time with you, he could not spot anything off about you, anything that said you didn’t like him.

as much as azul notices how people act around him, he also notices other people. he knows all their flaws, their good sides and their bad sides. even if he couldn’t read your thoughts about him at all, he still expected to see something out of the norm about you, a bad trait, something that made you human.

to him, you had none.

were you god? how come you were near-perfect in his eyes? during cold months, the tips of your nose and ears would flush pink like a cute plum while azul turned embarrassingly pink. he thought it was ugly and didn’t make him look good, but there nothing to prove that you thought the same. he couldn’t tell anything about you at all.

you were like a confusing puzzle piece to him. unsolvable, unreadable, flawless. perfect.

it took a while to adjust, but his unwavering respect for you turned into wavering thumps of his heart and dodging eyes. maybe you weren’t perfect after all, maybe azul just likes you.

the terrible urge to impress you grew stronger everyday. 

he wanted to look as perfect as you did to him.

how can he possibly ever look perfect,

when he is sick?

hovered over the toilet, azul clutched his chest as petals slid out of his mouth as if it were apart of him. well, it is apart of him, I guess. his love for you is one with him after all.

azul is sensitive, but he tries not to show it. not only is he good at catching the little things, he’s quick to anger or get hurt. the best he can do is hide them. so he hides the feeble emotion he calls love and comes back after winter break just as the same. he’s dutiful and runs his business like he normally would, and still hangs out with you time to time. he just feels more… empty? you’ll never know why he seems to be this way, no one really knows about the surgery.

jade

jade leech is often avoided by many people.

people find him creepy, odd, off-putting, unnerving… and more comments he hasn’t bothered to find out about.

those names don’t really bother him. in fact, he enjoys it. he loves watching people squirm in fear over something he says out of the blue. It’s exciting to watch a person try to decide if they should run away or not, unaware of jade’s capabilities.

he’s used to people avoiding him. for the sacrifice of entertainment, he isn’t all that popular. jade leech is used to it.

you were different, however.

your simply didn’t find him creepy. anything he said that was weird, you’d laugh it off and say something weird back too. jade’s height, creepy smile or the way he talks, it doesn’t seem to throw you off at all. you’d smile and wave at him when no one else dared to, you’d easily graze your skin against his and pay no mind, you’d approach him without second thoughts. It was like mutual trust, something jade has learned is difficult to find when you’re him.

so you meant everything. you were just as new and exciting, a pleasant surprise from the predicted fear everyone else has. you made him feel… seen for the first time in his life. 

soon, everything you did was like a horror movie (weird analogy, I know. but it’s jade leech we’re talking about!) the intensity of when the killer would approach, or when the character is alone and vulnerable, his heart pumps like wildfire as he watches expectantly to see what the new surprise would be. his favourite feeling was when the victim would die or escape, the tightening in his chest releasing as he excitedly watches what would happen next. that was you. you were his favourite feeling.

he loves the way your eyebrows moved in expression when you talked, he loved when you sneezed and looked around expecting a “bless you,” he loved the odd ways you attempted to hold your mug comfortably and most of all, he loved you. he love you very, very much.

jade leech is used to all kinds of things. he’s used to people avoiding him, he’s used to his brother’s tendencies to groan and complain at everything, he’s used to azul’s creepy capitalist tactics.

what he’s not used to, however, are the bubbly, excited emotions he feels when he gets to experiment with his beloved mushrooms, the way you took over his thoughts like the plague and most of all, he wasn’t used to the flowers spilling out of his mouth. 

this was odd, per say. jade knew of the hanahaki disease. he knew of all the downsides of it. but he never worried, because, how could he, jade fucking leech, ever love someone so pathetically?

he hoped that you’d love him back too. he oh-so deeply wished he was just as new and exciting to you as you were to him.

the blood meticulously dripped amongst his fingers, flower petals sticking to it alike. he laughed at himself. he’s always imagined that if he’d ever possibly get this disease, it’ll be flowers related to the water like lotuses or water lilies. he never thought he’d start coughing up such pathetic land-dweller flowers.

it was fine, though. jade would get used to it, eventually.

because after all, he’d rather die than stop loving you.

floyd

floyd is scary, he knows that. He’s quick to anger, moody, tall and intimidating. He’s doesn’t really care, though. He just does what he wants. He doesn’t think it’s that big of a deal.

he likes fun surprises, something new, exciting. he thinks you meet that of that.

you’re not as scared as others, you respond to his pranks and squeezes positively, you respect his mood swings and he even caught a few glimpses of you defending floyd. he thinks you’re so cute!

it’s not odd to talk about the leech twins without mentioning you. floyd follows you every and jade just goes wherever floyd goes. it’s like a little trio.

others when he gets upset, return his squeezes (hesitatingly…he hugs tight!) and find him rather silly than scary.

jade thinks you were almost made for floyd, considering how well you two get along. although jade has been with floyd the longest, he can only tolerate to a certain. for you, however, it seemed to go endless. you were so much more patient with floyd then with anyone else. although floyd made be subtle about it, he’s grateful.

floyd adored you. you were everything he loves, for he loves you.

loved you.

loved? (love)

floyd started to ignore you. you’d tilt your head in confusion— you were upset. why would your best friend suddenly act like you weren’t even there? he wouldn’t even get mad, he’d just turn the other way.

it was only so long ago when floyd was hunched over in his bed from a terrible stomach ache. jade was horribly surprised to see bloody petals staining floyd’s bedsheets.

floyd never bothered with these things. for the first time in a while, he read a book out of his own volition to figure out what it was, only to rip the pages apart when he read what hanahaki was.

childishly declaring that he loves you no more, floyd would stay away from you like the plague, whilst secretly filling his system with flowers that will kill him for ever loving someone so deeply.

floyd is gonna disappear from your life completely eventually. you’d wonder what caused your best friend to suddenly hate you, while his family mourns over the loss of a loved one, as floyd refused treatment, because he foolishly decided to love you one day. 

kalim

kalim grew up very sheltered in a loving family. The only concept of love he has is of his parents, who hold hands tightly and gush over the cutest things. they often warn him of the danger of love, and that he must be careful about the person he wants to spend the rest of his life with.

kalim, although clumsy and stupid, always kept that in the back of his mind.

you were like a breath of fresh morning air.  growing up knowing very little, you were the newest, most brightest experience there was. kalim was sure you were the one. he was completely sure, why else would his heart thump so fast?

he’d hug you and hold your hand, give you gifts you could never even imagine having and tell you how much he appreciates you.

kalim hasn’t gone around to mouthing the word “love” yet, but he knows that you know anyway.

so when he started coughing up petals, jamil was quick to inform the al-asim family. kalim was confused, he didn’t understand. this love wasn’t unrequited, there was no way!

it doesn’t matter, though. he’s gonna continue loving you, you and him are gonna be happy together someday, eventually. maybe not in this universe.

kalim woke up in a hospital bed, his heart heavy.

he loves you. but he forgot what that feels like. he loved you. somehow.

jamil

jamil is smart. he’s smart and knows his worth. this is why he hates being in second, he knows he deserves so much more.

why does he always to have do worse than kalim? why does he always have to be second place? jamil is smart enough to know his potential. he also knows how much he’s holding himself back for the sake of hierarchy. he hates it.

it’s not a surprise when jamil finds himself unconsciously doing slower than certain people to appear normal. his main purpose in life is to not stand out, hide in the shadows, survive. like predator hiding from prey because if found, it will be caught by the silly humans.

you’re completely different from him, though. you’re as normal as a person can be, yet you aim to reach for the stars and hold it close to your heart. jamil understands your desire to outshine people all to well. he’s been in that spot, is in that spot. he pities you.

so he sticks around. he’d casually follow you, hang out whenever he can, help you with assignments so you can be the best version of yourself. he’s voraciously living through you. if you achieve your goals, that’s enough for him. at least he was apart of something meaningful for once.

it catches him off guard, however, when you encourage him to reach for his goals as well. it’s like you’re holding his hand and pull him amongst the galaxies to gently place your hands onto the hot touch of a star.

he knows that’s near impossible to reach, from the moment he was born, his life was chosen for him. but he thinks he could reach the small goals.

jamil secretly pats himself on the back for grazing against your skin for a second longer than usual, treat you to a nice meal or help you ace a test. he hopes that at least one of the goals he could reach in this lifetime is to be with you.

jamil is smart enough to know that he’s not just sick. not when blood trails down his chin to his arms, as flowers spill from inside him.

he thought that maybe, just maybe, he could have something for himself for once. not hold himself back, grasp tightly to what he wants the most.

jamil is smart enough to know his own worth. he’s definitely not worth enough to you.

silver

silver likes the little things. he enjoys the way birds chirp in the early morning, or the way the dandelion petals flow against the wind as he watches you scrunch your nose and blow on it. and then both of you guys start sneezing. ah, summer pollen, a reminiscent part of nature.

he loves the way you hold your pencil, the way you like to tie your shoelaces, how you cut your sandwiches. these small, unnoticeable traits catch his eye quite often, and he’s developed a fondness for them.

he’s a man of little words. silver doesn’t talk much, so when he thinks of these things, he never says it out loud. maybe that’s why it took you so long to notice how he felt about you.

he was so calming, and so gentle, it tugged at your heart when he’d smile softly and tilt his head ever so slightly so the cute birds could carefully place a beautiful flower crown on his head. he’s so princely, you think. a perfect knight in shining armour, loved even by the nature.

often you’d tell him how lucky any girl would be to be loved by him. your comments made silver hopeful.

silver is a man of little words, he likes to spend his days watching rather than showing. when he does finally speak his true thoughts, he genuine, honest. his words roll off his tongue so easily and smoothly, perfect fit for such a princely man (as you call him)

so when silver does finally open his mouth to speak, talk, say of what he felt in that very moment, he throat closed up. maybe he was nervous, maybe he was lame, because to both of your guy’s horror, blood spilled.

he didn’t really know what was happening. only when he felt the urge to throw up in the infirmary did he realize what was going on.

he was familiar with hanahaki. his father always told him stories of how fae would love so strongly to humans who hated them, that those who were unlucky would be induced to vomiting flowers.

when silver thought he was fae, just like his sweet old father, silver swore to himself that he’ll never love a human. now that he knows that he is, in fact, human, silver starts to doubt himself. maybe is, in a way, a fae.

it’s alright, though. silver is man of few words. he likes to watch rather than show. he doesn’t mind what could happen to him, he won’t tell anyone. he’ll just watch you from afar, filling his heart with melancholy love until he reaches his end. which might be soon, for he loves you so strongly.

this is also from my old acc, this was a req but i rlly liked wriitng it yayy (I literally named this doc 'what the flip' and i opened it by an off chance, i totally forgot about it lol)

[burr-ell]

God I desperately need someone who thinks that choosing NOT to go into Predathos's cage would be somehow "maintaining the status quo" to explain to me how anything after the Solstice is "status quo". Have these people not been listening for the last three years? Exandria is already changed for forever.

Right, like we literally all just found out about aliens!

It's also a bit silly for two reasons. One, none of the Hells actually care about that as a reason except Ashton; the rest of them just kind of shrug and nod along to the idea of having control over the situation as opposed to Ludinus. Two, once again, no one has managed to explain what exactly is a problem with the "status quo" that actually, genuinely necessitates freeing Predathos. Not Ludinus, not Ashton, not the fandom, no one has provided any reason for doing this that couldn't be solved by reforming systems that are almost entirely driven by mortals. (Y'know what was missing in that tantrum Ashton threw at the Accord in Vasselheim? Any mention of Hearthdell. Any attempt to elevate their voices. Tell me your activism is performative without telling me.)

That's what gets me about Ashton dunking on Ludinus last night—they're so close to getting it. They're so close to remembering that realization they had after shardgate, that looking for someone to blame and taking out all your anger on them isn't productive and doesn't change anything and just makes you whiny and self-centered. But instead they're like "well it's not bad when I do it!" and in the midst of it all they don't have even the slightest understanding of who the gods are or their history in the world. They just want to be angry and take it out on an authority figure like every other impotent punk who likes an aesthetic and wants to be angry but can't be bothered to learn how community organizing works. Get over it! Grow up!

[silver-soul00]

Xavier Thorpe is not good for Wednesday, he is a person with more than a few problems

As with Tyler, the post on Xavier should not be taken personally.

If you are a fan of Wavier amen do not be offended.

(THANKS ✨)

• Xavier often attempts to ‘save’ Wednesday or protect her, even when she does not ask for his help.

This behaviour surfaces when he insists on involving himself in her problems or gives her unsolicited advice.

This type of attitude can be explained by the saviour syndrome, a behavioural pattern in which a person feels the need to solve the problems of others in order to feel valid. Studies show that relationships based on this pattern tend to undermine the autonomy of one of the parties, leading to tension and dissatisfaction

Going into detail: The saviour syndrome, identified by Stephen Karpman in the Drama Triangle model (1968), describes a common dynamic in relationships in which one person assumes the role of ‘saviour’, often without the other having asked for help.

This behaviour is not altruistic, but an unconscious strategy to feel needed or valued.

Subsequent studies (1990) have shown that this role can become problematic when the ‘rescued’ person perceives a loss of control over their life or sees their real needs ignored.

Let us give some concrete examples in this regard:

When Xavier tries to save Wednesday without her consent. A key illustration is when he insists on warning Wednesday against Tyler, asserting that he ‘knows best’ his intentions.

Even though her concerns turn out to be well-founded, Wednesday does not relish the way he attempts to monitor her decisions.

The gift of the phone. Xavier gives Wednesday a phone to ‘help’ her stay connected.

While the gesture might seem altruistic, it is actually an implicit endeavour to insert himself into her life on her terms, ignoring that Wednesday does not wish to communicate through traditional means.

Therefore, we could conclude that this behaviour highlights how Xavier does not respect Wednesday's autonomy, which can create tensions. In relationships, lack of respect for a partner's independence can lead to resentment citing Deci & Ryan (1985, self-determination theory).

Simply put, not only does Xavier disregard Wednesday's desire to not want to be in touch with social, but he gives her the phone mainly to try to stay in touch in a non-possessive way.

• Xavier shows signs of frustration when Wednesday does not respond to his gestures of affection in the way he wants, for example when he expects her to appreciate his portraits or interpret his behaviour as romantic.

According to a study on relational expectations (Murray et al., 1996), when a person expects emotional reciprocity that has not been explicitly established, a feeling of emotional ‘debt’ is created. This is toxic because it generates pressure on the other partner.

Murray et al.'s (1996) study on unrealistic expectations in relationships identified how people who project their romantic fantasies onto their partner are frequently disappointed when these are not reciprocated.

This dynamic creates an implicit emotional debt, in which the perceived ‘distant’ partner feels pressured to fulfil these expectations.

Concrete examples to better understand:

Xavier's insistence on his paintings of Wednesday. Xavier paints numerous portraits of Wednesday (remembering later that he does this while spying on Wednesday) without ever gaining any real appreciation from her. This behaviour reflects an implicit desire to be emotionally reciprocated, which Wednesday does not fulfil.

His reaction to Wednesday's emotional rejection. When Wednesday does not show gratitude for his help or take a romantic interest in him, Xavier seems frustrated, as if he deserves reciprocity in return for his efforts.

One must keep in mind that these dynamics can lead to an unbalanced relationship, where one party tries to ‘earn’ the affection of the other. In Wednesday's case, the pressure to conform to these expectations is toxic, considering her independent nature and disinterested in traditional romance.

• Xavier often tries to impress Wednesday, e.g. by showing off his artistic skills or trying to prove his innocence in an almost obsessive manner.

These behaviours indicate a desire for validation on his part.

Studies on emotional dependency (Bornstein, 1992) show that a partner with a high validation demand can become an emotional burden, especially if the other partner is not inclined to offer constant reassurance.

Emotional dependency, as described by Bornstein (1992), occurs when a person constantly seeks reassurance for his or her worth through others.

This behaviour can become overwhelming for the partner, who feels he or she must always be available to provide this validation.

When Xavier tries to impress Wednesday with his artistic powers. Xavier uses his ability to bring paintings to life to impress Wednesday. Although these abilities are extraordinary, his constant need to show his talent to Wednesday seems like a way to seek approval.

His behaviour during the accusations. When Xavier is accused of being the monster Hyde, he is more concerned with convincing Wednesday of his innocence than actually resolving the situation.

This shows how he gives too much weight to her opinion.

Wednesday, as someone who is not interested in praising or reassuring, is not compatible with someone who needs constant confirmation.

This creates an emotional disconnect and fuels conflict in the relationship.

• Xavier expresses jealousy towards Wednesday's bond with Tyler and becomes suspicious of his choices.

Although he presents these feelings as concern for her safety, the subtext seems to be possessiveness.

Possessiveness is often associated with toxic relationships, in which the partner seeks to control the other under the guise of protection.

This behaviour has been documented in studies of abusive relationships (Dutton & White, 2012).

Possessiveness is a sign of potentially toxic relationships, often stemming from personal insecurities (Dutton & White, 2012).

Even when disguised as preoccupation, this form of control undermines a partner's trust and autonomy.

Rehearsing what I wrote:

Jealousy towards Tyler.

Xavier expresses jealousy at the closeness between Wednesday and Tyler. Although he tries to justify his behaviour as ‘concern’ for Wednesday's safety, his tone and actions betray a sense of ownership.

Control over Wednesday's decisions. Xavier attempts to influence Wednesday's choices at various times, such as when he warns her against his risky plans, implicitly trying to dictate what she should do.

Relationships in which one partner seeks to limit the choices of the other through emotional or physical control lead to power imbalances.

This is incompatible with Wednesday, who values her independence above all else.

Finishing with the last issue

•Xavier seems to belittle Wednesday's investigative skills and judgement, as if she were incapable of dealing with the situation on her own.

According to studies on power imbalance in relationships (Connell, 1987), a dynamic in which one of the partners does not recognise the skills and competence of the other leads to emotional imbalance and loss of mutual trust.

Connell (1987) describes how unbalanced power in relationships, where one partner underestimates or ignores the other's capabilities, generates inequalities and undermines mutual trust.

This is particularly true in relationships where the dominant partner fails to recognise the agency of the other.

Here's the evidence:

Xavier belittles Wednesday's abilities.

Although it is clear that Wednesday is an extremely capable person, Xavier tends to intervene or suggest that she may not know what she is doing, such as during the investigation of the Hyde monster.

His protective attitude.

Xavier assumes a patronising role that implies Wednesday needs protection, an idea she finds not only unnecessary but also irritating.

Remembering that even in real life there have been cases that are disturbingly reminiscent of certain of Xavier's ways:

Such as the 2016 British case: A man stalked his ex-girlfriend after seeing her talking to another man. Although he was not in an official relationship, he felt ‘entitled’ to be jealous and monitor her actions. This culminated in constant phone calls and stakeouts under the house.

Or a Canadian case from 2020: A man manipulated his ex-partner using phrases such as ‘Don't you realise how much I care about you?’ or ‘Everything I do is for your own good’ to try to convince her to get back with him. This behaviour, known as emotional manipulation, has been documented in many stalking cases.

[aberellan]

"Socialisation means shit without understanding biology"

And what do you know about human biology? Humans cannot exist without society, what you get wihtout it are maugli children. Every supposed biological fact about humans always exists in the context of society and there is nothing you can do about it.

"But even in animals the males control and coerce the females, separating them from each other and dominating them due to major physical strength"

I fail to see any other specie that has an arrangement in any way resembling others. Supposedly "male dominated" female chimps and baboons spend 90% of their time away from males, they meet only for mating. And in artificial set ups like the zoo where females and males are forced to communicate with each other, chimp females actually usually become the leaders in their community. Supposedly "male dominated" female gorillas spend their time together with only one male silverback being present. Where is "separation"? Animals are separated by nature - they do not need society to develop. They congregate only for the sake of maximasing individual survival. Claiming that animal males separate "their" females is simply wrong. Because the said males are also separated from each other, very much unlike our human men. And their "major physical strength" is as "important" as it is in humans - even female gorillas successfully fight back, even though their males are literally twice their size, they simply attack one male together, problem solved.

"Probably just go on with the system that sustained male supremacy"

So you agree there is a system? Wow, that is surely some progress for a person who cannot see any difference between animals and humans! Although, the advice to "go along with the system" is just as thoughtful and subversive as the advice to "keep your head down, look out for your own interests and snatch some extra cake at the fuhrer's birthday" in the times of dictatorship.

"The animalistic need of mating and reproducing"

If women wanted to mate and reproduce, they probably would have just mated and reproduced, no? And yet they feel the need to get a ring on it, sign some whacky contracts, live together "til death do us part", be romantic and have a "fullfilling sexual life", that they artificially ensure doesn't result in any accidental children. And when it comes to their children they are asking for something no other animal does - to support them economically later and care for them in their old age. In fact they want those things much more than they want to "mate and reproduce".

"We understand that nothing will change. That men and women are the way they are."

The audacity of saying this shit, when matriarchal/egalitarian tribes where all those "eternal biological issues" simply do not exist is astonishing. Thinking that your way of living is the only one simply because you have never bothered to see anything outside of it - just how priveleged can you get?

blackpill 'feminism' is fucking crazy

like i get losing hope. i get feeling like nothing's going to truly change and i get feeling the constant weight of the knowledge that patriarchy naturally evolved and despairing over the fact that demonic males will always in some ways have the upper hand, and that there may be biological bases for behavior.

but this? what the fuck are you doing? biology won't mean shit if we as a society work to resocialize human beings, and it may genuinely have a chance of working because human beings are intelligent, social beings. we could make a new path for evolution. its genuinely stupid to not think socialization as a factor in male and female behavior. even if socialization is like 5% of the reason, we have to work to stamp out that 5%, and figure things out from there. if anyone is serious about the liberation of women even from a personal, self-oriented standpoint, like your own liberation, that is what we have to work towards.

even if in the grand scheme of things change wasn't possible, even if it was futile to try and even if our struggle was nothing but a short, fiery burst of a rebellion in history, i can die easy knowing that i believed, and i tried, and many of my sisters believed and tried to reclaim our humanity.

[needlesscontrarian]

Saw a post about media analysis and the concept of "when all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail" and how certain kinds of media train you to approach them in a certain way, which can make approaching media which is radically different challenging and lead to misinterpretation.

It reminded me of a class I took a little while ago on crisis communications. This is a brand of corporate communications based on... well crises. What corporations should say/do after something big and bad happens to/because of them. Could be anything from a terrorist attack to a sexual harassment scandal.

I had a lot of trouble in this class. Not academically. I got all my work done just fine. I just thought that the concept was a bit dodgy. Like we talked about an oil company really fucking up their communication after a big spill and how the CEO didn't talk to the press and public well. And my first thought when I heard this was "well maybe they shouldn't have been transporting all that oil given what we know about the environmental hazard" and my second thought was "it doesn't really matter how they talk to the public afterward because our society is built around needing oil and no matter how shitty they are we still need to buy their product."

Our final paper was to analyze how hospitals approached the covid pandemic from a communications standpoint, where they went wrong, and design a crisis communications plan for future pandemics. And I wrote mine about how the covid pandemic didn't get out of control because healthcare providers failed to communicate the nature of the pandemic in an accurate and useful way, but because of a systemic failure at every level for the government to adequately address it. My "crisis communication plan" was that hospitals needed to become politically engaged with the public and tell them that in order to adequately address future pandemics, we need publically-funded hospitals where medical professionals are empowered to directly help their communities instead of expecting a system of elected bureaucrats to know exactly how to deal with complicated social and medical issues. Because the problem is not what hospitals say, it is what hospitals are even allowed to do.

My professor's grading notes were "not what I was looking for but good points." I think I got a B on that paper.

This also makes me think of cryptocurrency. How there are all of these issues with our economy, and instead of fixing those problems, a bunch of computer programmers decided they had the solutions and designed a currency that doesn't fundamentally change the nature of money but sure does involve a lot of programming. We've been talking about this in my class on digital media and I just keep saying "These problems aren't about whether the technology is good enough, it's about what we are asking the technology to do. We cannot have a decentralized and democratically controlled currency because capitalism is not democratic or decentralized." (My digital media professor has been much more receptive to these criticisms and has joked that I should be teaching this section.)

When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. When all you know how to do is write a press release, every problem is the result of not writing a good enough press release. When all you know how to do is program computers, everything is a problem of not listening to the people who know how to program computers.

[nerdy-hyperfixations]

"Ford is intellectually smart and Stan is emotionally smart" is a statement that makes me want to nose dive into academic studies in order to single-handedly redefine the categories of intelligence because that *cant* be right.

[lady-raziel]

hilarious that with each new day that passes a new bit of dirt from JD Vance's past gets discovered and plastered over the internet...it's almost as if this is why presidential campaigns have always announced their running mates well before the convention...so that if glaring issues with a candidate came to light quickly there would be time to replace them on the ticket before they were officially locked in...it's almost as if certain things in political campaigns were done for a reason, donald...because the very same critical failures had happened before...but no i'm sure you and your guys attempt to recreate a fantasy version of history while ignoring all the reasons that history was a disaster will work this time...because you are built different and the 10000th time trying fascism will work like a charm...

[sweetcloverheart]

While I don't disagree with your criticism, I feel it isn't taking into account that Marinette's anger toward Paris in the story is portrayed as "understandable but bad" since this fic is a deconstruction/playing Saltinette for horror, as the point is that Marinette blaming the citizens is meant to show that she (or at least the version of her pre-giving up guardianship) has gone off the deep end. Like her letters had her blaming people for getting Akumatized over the smallest things, even when the reasons were understandable/not their full fault (like Kagami and her parents). While the fic is sympathetic to what pushed her to this point, it also makes itself pretty clear that she's obvious not being rational in her anger nor should be considered such.

(Got a little rambling after this point)

And even then, the story also explains that the issue wasn't that the citizens (understandably) relied on her; it's that she felt they took her presence as Ladybug and her powers for granted, and as such refused to make actionable changes that would have eased the burden because, well - why would they need to? So long as Maribug has the Miracle Cure, anything bad that happens (either because of Hawkmoth or their own impulses) gets undone, so why do anything about their own issues or find ways to avoid Hawkmoth's influence? Andre can continue indulging Chloe's tantrums and do nothing to help prevent the birth of more Akumas, citizens can continue giving into their anger over the exact same problems and making magical contracts with the man responsible for half their issues, and everyone can keep expecting Marinette to clean up whatever messes they caused, whether she was in or out of the mask. Sure, not all of them likely believed this or felt/acted that way, and pre-amnesia Maribug could very well be exaggerating circumstances to keep her work from being undone (she did lie about the Princess Justice incident), but she clearly felt there were just too few to justify enduring any longer, especially if it took two full years for her to have a complete mental breakdown. The situation seems more a commentary about how the status quo repeats issues for the sake of placing the burden of maintaining itself on Marinette (since the ladybug miraculous is required to solve anything and everything in the show) and makes it come off like no one is learning anything from their akumatizations than the citizens "deserving" punishment for daring to need a hero because some billionaire decided being a magical terrorist and using their emotions to make villains was a better use of his time than therapy or helping his grieving son - or at least that's how I interpreted it.

Plus the Marinette in this fic is uncritically supposed to be the bad guy here (sympathetic due to her mental state and events, yes, but the bad guy all the same); Her giving Lila the Ladybug earrings is bad. Her abandoning the citizens to the new Hawkmoth and Lilabug's selfish whims is bad. The fact that they're in a timeline barrelling towards Lila becoming mayor and creating a loyal cult is bad. Her lacking sympathy in their plight is bad. Her blaming folks for being taken advantage of during moments of emotional vulnerability is bad. Her tricking Luka into getting her the Black Cat ring and having a plan in place to unreality him and remake him into her "perfect loyal boyfriend" if her does ultimately betray her is bad. Nearly everything happening in the fic is meant to be seen as bad, because this version of Marinette is so broken/damaged from her time a Ladybug (as the issues just kept repeating themselves, like a endlessly spinning wheel) that she is determined to have her "happy ending" one way or another, even if it means building on the backs of the people she once swore to protect and helping her enemy harm more people. This is a villain origin story, a tale of petty revenge gone wrong. This version is what Saltinette actually is when you strip away all the justification bias and self-righteous catharsis - a damaged but ultimately selfish girl who's willing to do whatever it takes to get hers and achieve "justice" for all the "wrongs" done upon her, consequences be damned, and we're all here to see the inevitable 12 car pile up it causes (or at least I am).

(That being said, I do think someone made a much kinder/fairer version of this story where Marinette gives the earrings to someone more responsible and things get better for everyone that's also pretty good.)

(If it isn't too much trouble) Tell me the juicy details on why you hate TwoLetters!Saltinette!

Well, after daring to read The Karma of Lies, I learned my lesson and opted to stay away from salt as much as possible, especially since the stories were from the same author. So I only read the last chapter of Two Letters, just once. But just that last chapter, and the bits and pieces I’ve heard and read from other sites, has painted a clear enough picture that I still have a good idea what it is I hate about her.

Aside from the usual behaviors she exhibits in fanfic (her hypocrisy in complaining about getting akumatized because of Lila while not doing anything substanial to fix the situation herself, ruining lives of her former friends over what’s really no more than petty high school drama, etc.), this girl, out of some warped mindset, decides to give her earrings and her heroine position over to a girl who she KNOWS is a lying, self-absorbed sociopath who will most definitely abuse the powers for her own selfish gain at the expense of others… to punish the public? I mean, at least on some level, I can understand why she wants to see her friends punished, but the whole fvckjng city?! She’s going to leave them at the mercy of someone she knows will not protect them and instead hurt them badly, and for what? Because she’s resentful of them depending on her? Well, of course they’re dependent on her, they’re living in a time when they’re in danger of literally being turned into monsters just for having emotions! I get hating that they seem to pressure her, but they have a perfectly valid reason to be pressuring her to help them when she is literally the only thing saving the, from a magical madman. I’m pretty sure common curtesy takes a backseat to rational fears.

[hero-dualies-3]

always remember that you can block people over the pettiest of things

[milfbrainrot]

"claire's a bad mom" claire chose to have her kids claire tells her kids bedtime stories and claire pretends not to be in life threatening danger when she's terrified for her own and her kids' safety to help them stay calm and literally only wants to know if they're okay before prioritizing herself and keeping them far away from danger by rescuing herself i think ur just racist

[bueris]

okay maybe I should seriously reconsider my path in life and sell my soul to marketing or journalism instead

[prentissluvr]

guys i think i'm like... a conflict resolution god like. i can't even lie i'm so good at that shit... HAHAHA STOP THAT'S SUCH AN ODD THING TO SAY WHATTT

[ruvviks]

made the realization my vampire story would work best as a video game and now i can't stop thinking about it

[tardis--dreams]

Feeling homicidal at work today ♡