#or at least i think

[beanzabear]

ok lesbians (only you by the platters beeteedubs)

more doodles

[aromantyczno-liryczna]

And then it proceeded to not send the ask

[affluent-havoc]

[zaddyazula]

fucking hell just figured out why the la-li-lu-le-lo is in the order it’s in

[zekkopunks]

i completely forgot the ghetsis fight happens here in bw2 hahaha oh no

[onemattwolf]

trying to compartmentalize the fact that he most likely blocked me so what i've sent hasn't gotten to him.

Apparently there's no real way to tell on android.

After the last message i sent him (i mean i guess the last message he probably received) i woulda blocked me too.

It was rude. I was still floating on the edge of mania. And it was very final.

Maybe the friendship ending had to happen. but not like that. Thinking he may not have gotten the apology, also explaining the extent of the unwellness at the time, is such a depressing thought.

Because he'll never know, then. That i'm sorry.

I know i need to practice radical acceptance here like my therapist keeps talking about. It happened, you did that. Move on.

But holy shit.

I'm so stupid in the grand scheme of things, specifically with people and forming any kind of relationship. but no one really clues into that anymore. i seem pretty competent these days but it just makes it worse.

I feel like i need to give up trying to get closer to people. no one really seems to want that from me, anyways. i don't know why. am i too transparent?? am i just trying to form close bonds with the wrong people??

Like, i don't even know if anyone has ever even formed a proper crush on me. Or at least one that sticks after they get to know me better. I know i'm on the aromantic spectrum and often don't form crushes, so it's sorta rich of me to be whining about this. But at the same time, sometimes i wonder if it speaks to a greater issue.

That there's something wrong with me.

[yeepof]

I understand that tall men are our POV characters, but surely being like a foot taller than everyone around them would have some occasional consequences

[mias-back-from-the-dead]

tbh i think the funniest phenomena that's been happening in the last couple years is "youtuber, having gone too deep into the research hole, has been made an investigative journalist against their will"

[batcavescolony]

Katniss is such an unreliable narrator. She says "Then something unexpected happens. At least, I don't expect it because I don't think of District 12 as a place that cares about me" girl you deliver strawberries to the Mayor, you hunt and trade for the district, when you fell at Prim being chosen someone caught you, when you went to Prim people parted for you, when you volunteered EVERYONE stopped. Idk how to tell you but I think you're a pillar of the community.

[skylendra]

Depiction of the marine in one piece

So about the marine in One Piece. ACAB all the way for me, but it doesn't seem like it is the case for Oda?

The thing about his writing is compassion. Even when he stumbles and is clumsy, you can still feel like it's rooted in love. And I think it is also true for the marine.

For exemple, the world government is corrupted, it is stated multiple times, they take credit for feat that aren't theirs, like alabasta and tried for Dressrosa, they protect the Tenryuubito, even with them being objectively bad, they don't care about civilian and innocent that much, like with Ohara and Flevance, authorizing slavery even through they abolished it, they support the "native hunting competition", propaganda, children traffic, racism and so on. So yeah, not a very good picture I would say.

And we can do direct parallel with real world's governments. And if we do, then the marine is the military/cops of our world, they enforce the law, protect the world noble, and impose the will of the WG.

With that in mind, the depiction of marine is really well done.

Absolute justice is a direct critic of some view (I would say Kant, rationalism and authoritarianism/fascism, but I didn't dig that much yet). And it is portrayed as a bad thing.

Determinism with Luffy being characterized by being Dragon son as Ace was Roger son, and considered a threat because of their heritage, even though they didn't have any contact with them. And that Sengoku, the one who divulged the info, knew that. Here again, something from real life, with people from a low socio-economic class being deemed more bad for the same crime. Or you know, black people.

The whole greater good bullshit.

Corruption. Nezumi (the marine who accept bride from Arlong) doesn't face any consequences. He tried to take the credit for the fall of the Arlong Pirates once the Straw Hats beat them up. And in real life, this kind of things is rarely punished or even noticed. So that one is on point for me.

Incompetence with Spandam (being the nepobaby he is) just accidentally ordering a Buster Call. Just a simple oupsi for him ig.

Desensitization towards atrocity. We can see Garp just laughing at the idea of Rayleigh being sell at a human auction (ch 500). And like, yes, kind of funny, Rayleigh is too powerful for that. But also, Human Auction???

Incapability of radical necessary change, with how Garp stay in this order he knows is harmful in the hope of doing the right thing. He despite the tenryuubito and refuse to climb the ladder to conserve his freedom to do what he judges right. But still, he is part of the system, he is a willful complicite.

For SWORD, it's too soon to tell. But that's a can of worm. They can basically do what they want. So really it's up to their moral compass. We don't know if they have to be held accountable, and before who.

But there is one aspect that bugs me. And it's probably something insignifiant and I'm being nit picky, but its the depiction of the average marine. I will try to be coherent about this.

So. What tipped me off about this skepticism I had was the Fan Letter or rather the reception of it. And I know it's not Oda that directed the whole thing, and I absolutely loved this episode, but still. The big brother is wildly loved, and really for reasons. But also. He is a marine. And that's when I finally realized.

Average marines are depicted in a good light. Most of them are overwhelmed with the crazy power scale, which makes sense. It is used to highlight the feats of powerful characters, just like in most manga. But also, not everyone of them can be powerful. Some are just average and trying to go through the day.

But also they are ingenuous, well intentioned and mostly good people.

The first illustration of this is with Morgan, Helmeppo's dad. The marines under him are tyrannized. They are forced to collect heavy taxes and arrest - if not outright kill - anyone that displeased Morgan. And those who disobey are executed as "traitors". After Luffy intervened, they thank him.

The kind of environnement that Morgan established is a fertile ground for downward spiral. It unleashes a good load of bad shit, because people will not be held accountable for their bad behavior, and even rewarded, probably. (And that's not me saying that we need law or other way we will just try to kill each others, it's more like people in position of power/authority can more easily tend to abuse if they go uncheck.) This leads to corruption more often than not. Like, we can do a parallel with cops, mostly in western societies (because I don't know much about others). Most cops, when they integrate the system, are not racist asshole (in the sense of actively acting on it, they still have biases just like everybody, or maybe are more incline to have them, idk). But because the environnement of the institution, this racist/sexist and so on behavior is enabled, they start to be compliant about their colleague's behavior, they protect each other and be an united front. And so, snowball effect, some start to do bad shit and they are unnoticed. And that's why we say ACAB. But, not in One Piece. The average marine doesn't start to embrace this behavior, even unwittingly.

And I'm glad that they aren't shown as raging assholes. Because in real life, cops are not necessarily bad guys, but they are bastard in a way that they came from something bad/corrupted, the original meaning of the term. They just complied and participate with the system. And at the same time they can be proud father, good husband or even decent people. You know, the banality of evil.

For those who don't know, it's based on Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil, by Hannah Arendt, a Jewish woman who covered the trial of Adolf Eichmann, an important organizers of the Holocaust. Basically the dude's job was to make the railroad the more efficient possible. And contrary to what we could expected, the man was not a sociopath, neither was he a evil genius or a main antagonist. No. He was an average man. He had a wife and four children. He tried to do his best job. He listen to his superior. And that was quite a realization at the time. The idea that what we think as "monster" can really be anyone. It's not written on their face, they have friends, a job, a house. And its still something we forget, like for rapist and the famous "no he is a good guy, I know him".

I think, that's what bug me. The average marine don't have accountability to be part of the marine. Most of the time, the marine is depicted as having some black sheep but not nurturing it. Its like an isolated incident, not representative of the marine. But we explore way more different kind of piracy, with for exemple Straw Hats being the romantise and active hero, Shanks being an advocate for status quo or at the very least a reformist, BlackBeard being the more conventional stereotype. Most of the real bad shit, like oppressing a country, was done by pirate (Arlong, Hody Jones, Doflamingo, Big Mom, Kaidou on one hand and only Morgan to represent the marine). And yes, I get that the Straw Hat have to fight against pirates to get the One Piece. But also against the Marine.

The cruelty and atrocities of the world noble is never even close to compare, even in its depiction. But still. We don't see much of casual attrocities from the marine going on.

For exemple, with Caribou and the marine at Sabaody. He tortured a marine. And yeah, no don't do that. But it is depicted as a bad thing, we are supposed to feel sorry for the guy and condamne Caribou. But you wont make me believe some marine didn't do some awful shit too. Like we know for the world noble. But the Marine too. Like after capturing a pirate, during the trip to Impel Down, at Impel Down. But even against civilian. Because it happens in real life. Cops commit abuse of non criminal all the time. And it should have happen particularly against fishman and merfolks. The racism is not more intense in the marine than the rest of the population. (Even though as far as I remember, the racist one are the world noble and the nobles in general, not the average guy of the One Piece world. So it's more a them problem than a systemic one really. Even if there isn't much of non human in the marine, like most of Cops are white in USA. Which make it even more frustrating that we don't see them being racist, even as a non central plot, just offhand comments or shit)

But it is like if we take of the outcast of the marine, then everything will be enough. Because its not structural in this way. Yes, they show Tenryuubito as bad, and the problem depicted by Oda may be the idea of world noble rather than just them being bad person. And yes, the problem of Imu and so on will be deal with later. But. I don't know. I have a bad feeling about that. Like beating Imu and putting someone worthy in their place will be enough. I mean, Oda seems to approve of monarchies, if the monarch is "worthy" or a "good" person. Like for Alabasta or even Fishman island and Wano.

At the same time, I see where those idea are rooted in. Like One Piece is a Nekketsu. Luffy frees people and leave, because that's not up to him and he doesn't want it. But I don't know, it would have been interesting if a state is not taken over but more slowly spiral down, like for fishman island. But at the same time, while really brilliantly depicted, it's considered one of the worst arc. Because Hody is weak (on purpose) mostly.

But. What do I know? Oda is been cooking for years so maybe I'm wrong. And I wrote way too much for just an unsettling feeling about the depiction of marine.

[technovillain]

i come from the universe where everything is the same except disney heroines get like an ounce of their fathers' obviously dominant genes and their clothes are like 80% more historically accurate. it's beautiful here.

[2] [3]

[wolfythewitch]

I'm gonna haunt you in your head

The things we did, the last words I said

[lazylittledragon]

some domestic shadowlachs <33

[humming-fly]

I love how Gerald was trying to keep Shadow from spoiling anything about the future meanwhile literally everything Shadow says and does around Maria is the biggest death flag ever

[desertowlet]

Anya would probably play some of her music during the more difficult days on the ship, good thing the Captain Curly has taste at least.