#please use this information for all your

[appleciderp]

As some of you guys may know, I'm obsessed with Soap having a journal. I recently just bought a collectors edition MW3 just for the Journal (It legit only cost me like 20 bucks + shipping because the box was damaged)

Here are some little tidbits I didn't see when I looked up the journal in the past! Under the cut, since I'm gonna ramble a lot.

It's a small notebook of ~14cmx9cm (~5.5"x3.5" for you Americans). I expected it to be a proper Moleskine-sized, not pocket. But I guess it makes more sense.

I've said it in the footnotes of my fic, but Soap has at least 4 pens he constantly uses. Black, Red, Blue, and Green. He also has a yellow pen, an orangy-brown pen, and a pencil that crops up occasionally. I also think there are 2 blues; a lighter and a darker. Boy's carrying around multiple pens. You can see for yourself on the PDFs, but I feel it's not talked about enough.

After the "They're smooth, Price has taste" there's a cardboard Cigar Band. It's a "Villa Carla" brand, which upon a quick google search, is fake. He either wanted to know the brand (which he could have quickly written down the name instead) or he likes keeping items like that as memories.

After the final plans, there are about 7 pages blank before the last quote (which is speculated to be written by Price) The first page immediately after the plan is ripped out. At first, I thought it was the previous owner (I just bought it second-hand, the journal is a bit crumpled; but I like it, it's a bit more realistic) but the ripped page is slightly thicker and slightly different in texture. Plus, why rip out a page?

I didn't want to put my speculations on it, but I fucking will. Soap wrote his "If I Die" letter. We know it's somebody else who wrote the last quote in the book, so why else would the "last page" that Soap wrote be ripped out if it wasn't something to give to somebody else. Because what would be the odds that Soap ripped out a random page and it ended up right after he wrote his last entry.

Much like Moleskin notebooks, there's a pouch in the back, this part made me happy. There are 5 items:

Russian newspaper clipping, two different areas are highlighted. One underlined in red pen with "Man of the People" written on it.

Another diagram of a fight, this time with a Range/Elevation Chart overlayed and some "Quick Dope Cheats"

A fake "Hotel Lustig" matchbook. Filled with images of matches and a textured strip on the back.

Finally two team photos, one for each MW game that came before.

So it's OBVIOUS he carries this journal around with him, but he keeps lil memento's in it as well.

The love and attention to detail make it one of the prettiest Collectors Edition items I've ever owned.

[1000sunnygo]

I did write the summary on the wiki lol - happy to see that people use it! On a separate topic, and if you're interested, I remembered another bonus story released for Jump Victory Carnival 2021 about Luffy and Law bug hunting for beetles (imgur /a/Txt6ayl). It hasn't been included in any of the volumes (like the rest of the JVC stories)

LMAOAOA

the image quality got significantly worse after lettering, here's the raw link (credits: @walrsu)

THIS NERD NAMED 4 BEETLES IN 2 PAGES (the 'welcome ⬆️' signboard HAHA)

+ Luffy's face in this panel 😭 I love him being a little shit with Law

This made my day, thank you again!

[stormofdefiance]

True knowledge exists in knowing you know nothing || Dr. Ratio & Socrates

Okay, I legitimately laughed out loud writing that title, but listen. LISTEN.

Ratio's inspirations derive from many sources; from referencing Archimedes's brain-blast in the tub, to being doomed to have his head bonked by Newton's apple ad infinitum in his idle animation, to his ultimate line ('esse est percipi' / 'to be is to be perceived') a direct quote from Berkeley on Idealism - it's apparent that his design nods towards scholars across time periods rather than being a direct parallel to a singular academic.

Nevertheless, just for fun, I've been rotating Ratio and ancient greek philosophers around in my head and have had a great time chewing over how parallels Socrates in particular. I am in no way saying that Hoyo even thought about Socrates while they were designing Ratio, but I thought I'd share my thoughts. I think there are some worthwhile parallels to be drawn that touch on all aspects of Ratio's own philosophy regarding ignorance, the value of knowledge, and his deep appreciation of life. So, let's get into it.

Ratio is interested in humanity and curing 'ill minds with knowledge', that 'to turn a blind eye to the folly of others is not an etiquette, but a wicked worldly practice.' Ignorance is a disease - this is a concept that can be viewed through a Socratic lens. Socrates believed that that virtue and knowledge were impossible to separate from one another, and that virtue could be developed through acquiring knowledge and insight. If knowledge is virtue, then ignorance is vice. In Socrates's mind, no one would rationally choose to do something bad. People might choose to do bad things, but this is rooted in their own perception of the world - as in, someone would only choose to do something bad (for the world, or for themselves) because they believed (erroneously) that it was the right or good thing to do. To Socrates, the cure to this was knowledge: 'There are two kinds of disease of the soul, vice and ignorance.' & 'What does most harm in the world is not sinfulness but ignorance'.

To Ratio, 'If ignorance is an ailment, it is the duty of the scholars to weed it out and heal the universe'. He views his own ignorance as 'filth' that must be cleansed through methods such as reading. He also views knowledge as a method for humans to overcome their problems - 'Another day has passed. If your problem still hasn't been solved, is it possible the problem is you?' & 'You look distressed. Is something troubling you? if so, you can figure it out for yourself.' These statements sound harsh, but they also clue us into Ratio's philosophy - that through self-examination and improvement, one can overcome one's ailments.

Socrates was also known for being a trouble-maker, he was abrupt and tactless and did not care for someone's social standing nor decorum. He was also known for using what is now called the Socratic method, asking a series of questions that ultimately seek to show contradictions in the beliefs of those who posed them, and to move systematically towards a hypothesis free from contradiction. Socrates rarely made assertions himself - after all, he had no wisdom of his own. But he could interrogate others in order to expose their own foibles, much to the embarrassment and annoyance of those around him. He was once described as a 'gnat' chewing on the 'lazy horse of Athens', causing it to wake up and spring to life due to his persistent gnawing and prodding. Ratio also employs the Socratic method - 'I'm asking questions' - and also adopts sophist tactics such as playing devil's advocate and taking opposing sides (with both himself as seen a story quest, and with others as we see with his texts urging us to take up a side so he might debate us). Through questioning and interrogation, upsetting what we consider social convention and norms, we can dispel contradictions and thereby come closer to some form of truth.

To add to this - as highlighted in the replies below - Ratio’s skill ‘intellectual midwifery’ is a reference to the Socratic method. The idea being that Socrates helped those around him give birth to the knowledge that was already within them, rather than treating his students minds as empty vessels for him to fill with his own answers. Again this is beautifully echoed in Ratio - he doesn’t want to tell you how to live your life, he wants you to work out for yourself what it is you need, thus empowering oneself through self-examination and questioning.

Socrates did not believe in writing anything down. He believed that face-to-face communication was a far more effective way of communicating knowledge - which means, unfortunately, what we know of Socrates is primarily derived from secondary sources. Much of what we know about him today comes from Plato's dialogues, and Plato was known for liberally exercising artistic license.

Although Ratio is not dead, I find it interesting that his character story is told exclusively through secondary sources. To quote - '…There are no less than eight documentaries detailing his legendary exploits, and over a dozen memoirs about him. However, despite the plethora of commentaries, none of them seems to provide a compelling perspective.' It's as though there are no surviving fragments penned by Ratio's hand and all we have to go on is through the lenses of other people. This challenges us, perhaps, to try to think about our own interpretation of Ratio since secondary sources cannot be taken as a wholly unbiased account - and once again employing the Socratic method and empowering the reader to come to their own interpretation.

While Socrates left no writing behind, he was interested in spreading knowledge. Socrates spent most of his life in Athens, a city that was, during his lifetime (~470-399 BC), a hotpot of scholars, wisemen and philosophers. Athena, the Greek god of wisdom, was named after the city - her symbol the owl that is also appropriately perched on Ratio’s shoulder. Also in Athens at this time where the sophists. The sophists were a class of intellectuals who were known to teach courses in various subjects - but often for a high fee, and generally centred around the idea that persuasion and the use of knowledge as a tool was more important than wisdom or truth itself. There's some debate about whether Socrates could be characterised as a sophist himself, but, crucially, he is characterised as refusing to take payment for his teachings. He was born a plebeian (perhaps you might describe it as a mundane background.) He was known to dress in rags and go barefoot, speaking to and (often antagonising) people from all walks of life, preferring the marketplace as a center of debate than palaces or courtrooms. I can't help but think of the sophists as similar to the genius society (or at least Ratio's depiction of them in contrast to himself), cooped up in ivory towers and gatekeeping knowledge to the most privileged. He doubts if Herta's talent is always helpful to others, he compares Screwllum to a 'monarch'. Then again, the sophists may in fact be a bit of a parallel to the Intelligentsia Guild - from Ratio, 'when someone is willing to listen to knowledge that is being disseminated and circulated, a price is created'.

Socrates (or at least the Platonic depiction of Socrates) was at one time declared the wisest man in Athens by the Oracle of Delphi. Socrates balks at this assertion - how can he possibly be the wisest man in Athens when he in fact knows nothing at all? This was not a claim made of modesty - he truly believed that he had no wisdom, that he was unsure what 'wisdom' itself even was. Ultimately, Socrates concludes that the only way that the Oracle could be correct is that by actually acknowledging that he knows nothing he paradoxically is the wisest man in Athens. All wisdom, therefore, is rooted in wondering, with wondering only possible if one is open to admitting one's own ignorance.

What I love about all of this in relation to Ratio is that Ratio styles himself as a mundanite. The Intelligensia Guild advocates that 'all knowledge must be circulated like currency' and accepts 'all beings… who seek to learn'. Ratio has no time for the satisfied self-styling of intellectualism, he himself states that 'to speak knowledge, we must first make people realise their own folly.' No one is above criticism in this regard, even himself - again, to quote 'Whenever someone agrees with me, I feel like I must be wrong.' Again, I feel as though he would resonate with Socrates here: 'Smart people learn from everything and everyone, average people from their experiences, and stupid people already have all the answers'. With Aventurine, he is quick to mock his appearance as over-the-top and vapid - once again making it clear his distate for vanity and hollow displays of showiness (albeit he may have been acting for Sunday's sake here. Also, no comment about this coming from a man who runs around in a toga, lmao) Equally, with Aventurine, it is clear that Ratio is willing to learn from him - he apologises when he offends, he abhors his methodology and yet he still relies upon it and trusts in Aventurine's plan, he is drawn to him in some ways precisely because he is so different to himself. Aventurine (at least styles himself) as impulsive to Ratio's slow and steady methodology, Aventurine whose learning has been entirely self-made vs Ratio who has spent his life in classrooms, Ratio who scoffs at Aventurine's favourite games of chance yet adds slot machines to his simulated universe. And to Socrates, the experience of aporia – in all of its discomfort and disruption – is the very catalyst of wonder, and that wonder was not just the root of wisdom but also the way to live a good and happy life. There is something beautiful in this to me, and this extends to Ratio. Ratio fundamentally cares about life. For all his brashness, his lashing out against 'idiots', his harsh demeanour - he wants people to live good lives, he wants to contribute to the good of humanity - all people, even those he is annoyed by, he cares so profoundly and absolutely about life. The entire reason why he is obsessed with wisdom and learning is not to exalt or elevate himself, not as some kind of ritualistic expression of piety towards a deity, but it is instead an expression of devotion towards life itself. Ratio has a strict work out routine not so that he can show off his body, but because living healthily is living well and working out is a component of that. Even the way he fusses and worries about Aventurine, someone he is pointedly irritated by, reveals how deeply his care runs. So so much of his character is centered on caring for life, even if it is not immediately obvious.

Finally, I'd like to highlight some ways in which Ratio is not like Socrates. First of all, Socrates was repeatedly described as 'ugly' by fellow philosophers Plato and Xenophon - this is contrast to Ratio being repeatedly described as 'handsome'. This is an interesting subversion to me (albeit likely an indulgent one) as in both cases both men attempt to distance their physical appearance from the weight of their words. Ratio wears the bust for many reasons, but way to view it is that he is attempting to stop his appearance from bearing any influence in the subject of debate.

Socrates was also said to be blessed by a divine touch, and as we know, this is something that agonises Ratio as Nous has not yet turned THEIR gaze towards him.

Lastly, Ratio has - thankfully - not yet been ordered by the state to drink hemlock for all his trouble-making and blustering. Though perhaps he may someday be put on trial by the IPC if the theories that he is working alongside Aventurine to undermine the corporation are true - we will just have to wait and see.

Thanks for reading my little ramble. I'd be super interested in anyone's thoughts if they'd like to share, but regardless, I'll leave off on some of my favourite wee quotes from the Rat man:

'Even a life marked by failure is a life worth living - it is only in moments of solitude and despair, when help is absent, that fools grasp how to pick themselves up.'

'Do stay alive. I wish you the best of luck.'

[dynamitekansai]

THE USOS REUNITE WWE SMACKDOWN (OCTOBER 25, 2024)

[monsterfuckermilligan]

i have a theory that the baby!jack fanaticism in the fandom partly comes from the fact that on june 26th, 2017 (less than two months after jack was introduced as a character) the us supreme court ruled that queer couples were allowed to adopt in all 50 states. so naturally, as kelly died giving birth to jack, dean was in the midst of his widower arc, and the fandom thought that jack was going to be a baby, we had a wave of romanticization of infant adoption for destiel.

[aloe-plant-yippee]

Im literally so sorry for any american that sees this im not even american and i nearly cried and started panicking the fuck out when walking to school this morning. please stay safe <3

[stellewriites]

really fucking grinds my gears how my dad knows just how to make me feel fucking guilty for putting up boundaries and saying no

[jinxed-sinner]

Because I feel like it, here's an in-depth breakdown of how fics involving Alastor are tagged in regards to Asexual Alastor type tags and Aromantic Alastor type tags. Also just to note I definitely messed up my counting on this post where I reference the same tags. This time I'm adding the entire tag (which in Al's case includes Hazbin Hotel in parentheses). Additionally, AO3 doesn't have gray-romantic tags, just gray-sexual tags, and I'm only going by canon tags (which are tags that have been wrangled). I will also be adding the fic counts for Allosexual Alastor and Alloromantic Alastor.

In the Hazbin Hotel fandom tag, which has 31,740 fics, 19,911 of which are also tagged with Alastor as a character:

Asexual Alastor (Hazbin Hotel) - 2,454 fics

Aromantic Alastor (Hazbin Hotel) - 1,493 fics

Aromantic Asexual Alastor (Hazbin Hotel) - 1,401 fics

Demisexual Alastor (Hazbin Hotel) - 556 fics

Demiromantic Alastor (Hazbin Hotel) - 208 fics

Grey-Asexual Alastor (Hazbin Hotel) - 111 fics

Demiromantic Asexual Alastor (Hazbin Hotel) - 42 fics

Allosexual Alastor (Hazbin Hotel) - 15 fics

Alloromantic Alastor (Hazbin Hotel) - 8 fics

In the Alastor/Lucifer Magne | Morningstar tag, which has 3,515 fics:

Asexual Alastor (Hazbin Hotel) - 1,090 fics

Aromantic Alastor (Hazbin Hotel) - 307 fics

Aromantic Asexual Alastor (Hazbin Hotel) - 283 fics

Demisexual Alastor (Hazbin Hotel) - 135 fics

Demiromantic Alastor (Hazbin Hotel) - 77 fics

Grey-Asexual Alastor (Hazbin Hotel) - 54 fics

Demiromantic Asexual Alastor (Hazbin Hotel) - 7 fics

Allosexual Alastor (Hazbin Hotel) - 2 fics

Alloromantic Alastor (Hazbin Hotel) - 1 fic

In the Alastor/Angel Dust (Hazbin Hotel) tag, which has 2,608 fics:

Asexual Alastor (Hazbin Hotel) - 583 fics

Aromantic Alastor (Hazbin Hotel) - 87 fics

Aromantic Asexual Alastor (Hazbin Hotel) - 80 fics

Demisexual Alastor (Hazbin Hotel) - 65 fics

Demiromantic Alastor (Hazbin Hotel) - 10 fics

Grey-Asexual Alastor (Hazbin Hotel) - 21 fics

Demiromantic Asexual Alastor (Hazbin Hotel) - 2 fics

Allosexual Alastor (Hazbin Hotel) - 9 fics

Alloromantic Alastor (Hazbin Hotel) - 3 fics

In the Alastor/Vox (Hazbin Hotel) tag*, which has 2,111 fics:

Asexual Alastor (Hazbin Hotel) - 796 fics

Aromantic Alastor (Hazbin Hotel) - 403 fics

Aromantic Asexual Alastor (Hazbin Hotel) - 388 fics

Demisexual Alastor (Hazbin Hotel) - 73 fics

Demiromantic Alastor (Hazbin Hotel) - 34 fics

Grey-Asexual Alastor (Hazbin Hotel) - 12 fics

Demiromantic Asexual Alastor (Hazbin Hotel) - 6 fics

Allosexual Alastor (Hazbin Hotel) - 1 fic

Alloromantic Alastor (Hazbin Hotel) - 1 fic

*This includes Radiosilence fics.

In the Alastor/Charlie Magne | Morningstar tag, which has 1,120 fics:

Asexual Alastor (Hazbin Hotel) - 100 fics

Aromantic Alastor (Hazbin Hotel) - 22 fics

Aromantic Asexual Alastor (Hazbin Hotel) - 17 fics

Demisexual Alastor (Hazbin Hotel) - 30 fics

Demiromantic Alastor (Hazbin Hotel) - 7 fics

Grey-Asexual Alastor (Hazbin Hotel) - 13 fics

Demiromantic Asexual Alastor (Hazbin Hotel) - 2 fics

Allosexual Alastor (Hazbin Hotel) - 0 fics

Alloromantic Alastor (Hazbin Hotel) - 0 fics

Let's now count up the total number of fics tagged with one of the tags I mentioned aside from Allosexual Alastor and Alloromantic Alastor, under the assumption that no fic is tagged with more than one of them (which I know isn't true but we're going off of that anyway):

In the Hazbin Hotel fandom tag - 6,265 fics

In the Alastor/Lucifer Magne | Morningstar tag - 1,953 fics

In the Alastor/Angel Dust (Hazbin Hotel) tag - 848

In the Alastor/Vox (Hazbin Hotel) tag - 1,712 fics

In the Alastor/Charlie Magne | Morningstar tag - 191 fics

Let's also look at the specific percentages of fics in each ship tag that have some form of Asexual Alastor or Aromantic Alastor tagged, rounded to the nearest whole number:

In the Hazbin Hotel fandom tag - 20%

In the Alastor/Lucifer Magne | Morningstar tag - 56%

In the Alastor/Angel Dust (Hazbin Hotel) tag - 33%

In the Alastor/Vox (Hazbin Hotel) tag - 81%

In the Alastor/Charlie Magne | Morningstar tag - 17%

I would like people to keep in mind that the numbers for Alastor/Vox don't account for Radiosilence. If you want the specific numbers for how many Alastor/Vox fics on AO3 are also tagged with One-Sided Alastor/Vox (Hazbin Hotel), about 23% of them are, and 149 of those (31%) are tagged with Aromantic Asexual Alastor.

Additionally, this is only fics where the author tagged that Alastor is some variant of asexual, aromantic, or both. There's the possibility that more are untagged.

A grand total of .11% of Hazbin Hotel fics also tagged with Alastor have him written to be allosexual/alloromantic, so just under 80% of all fics tagged with Alastor are either stories where Alastor's asexuality is irrelevant, left vague, or just not tagged for whatever reason. Only 20% of fics being tagged with Alastor being somewhere on the aroace spectrums doesn't mean that only 20% of fics involve Alastor being aroace.

Anyway please take these stats and use them to inform your opinion of Alastor fanfiction

Also, some bonus statistics:

Non Sex-Repulsed Asexual Alastor (Hazbin Hotel) Stats:

About 3% of Hazbin Hotel fics in general

About 14% of Radioapple fics

About 5% of Radiodust fics

About 8% of Radiostatic fics

About 2% of Radiobelle fics

Sex-Favorable Alastor (Hazbin Hotel) Stats:

About 1% of Hazbin Hotel fics in general

About 1% of Radioapple fics

A little over 3% of Radiodust fics

About 1% of Radiostatic fics

A little over 1% of Radiobelle fics

Sex-Favorable Asexual Alastor (Hazbin Hotel) Stats:

About 1% of Hazbin Hotel fics in general

About 1% of Radioapple fics

About 2% of Radiodust fics

Under 1% of Radiostatic fics

Under 1% of Radiobelle fics

Additionally a little over .5% of Hazbin Hotel fics in general are tagged with Sex-Repulsed Alastor (Hazbin Hotel). In terms of Alastor ship fics, the Sex-Repulsed Alastor tag is most popular with Radioapple fics, second most popular with Radiostatic fics, and Radiodust and Radiobelle tie for third place.

Again, please use these stats to inform your opinion before harassing people because you aren't comfortable with Alastor not being sex- and romance-repulsed

[sqlmn]

Lightning, water, and fire! Like forever before the plot starts. By the time the plot starts, the lightning and fire deities have been subjected to punishment by the two gods that picked them.

Oh (the fire deity) is first to be punished. They basically decide that since they're going to live for a long time, gotta set some long time goals! And they opt to be the wrath of the gods since most of the other deities are too 'soft' in their opinion. So Oh just. Smites humans. This isn't really a /good/ thing and in their defense mentally, they do it to help Ymber since he's the softest of them all. So their punishment by the gods is to be split in two, effectively halving the power of one into two. (Now they are in a male and a female body and use both male and female pronouns apart since they together make they but apart it feels weird to be they. But prior to the split they use they/them. Also the split bodies go by the names Ohiwe and Ohime.)

Fulj is the second to be punished. She falls in love with a mortal woman and that is a crime according to the gods. Mortals and immortals are not to be together and it will only bring suffering to both sides. So her punishment is her memories of the woman are stripped and her body basically broken to the point she can't remain physical all the time.

Ymber, unfortunately, is the one who blames himself for the discoveries and punishments. If he had only tried to restrain Oh more then maybe they would have chilled out and stopped before being punished. If he had only tried to persuade Fulj to not continue seeing the mortal woman so often perhaps she wouldn't have been punished. So he's just increasing the guilt on his shoulders every day that he remains unpunished since the elder gods have both laid down to rest. They can't enforce their laws anymore and none of the deities are keen on harming one another at this point. They just want to continue existing in peace.

[melancholic-pigeon]

Alright, this is my last comment on the issue, for real this time.

@nerdykeppie is staffed by unprofessional, rude, cruel people who double down on their entitlement to be unprofessional, rude and cruel in public to their former customers.

You should know the sorts of people you're giving money to if you patronize them. The founder is liable to misread your words, lash out at you in anger over something he misunderstood, and generally behave like a tantruming child even if you go out of your way to be polite and give him the benefit of the doubt when he lashes out at you over his own poor reading comprehension.

I'm done getting into this. No, Spider is not ~required~ to be professional on his (public) personal blog which is closely tied to his business. I just think it's extremely stupid to double down on his "right" to be unprofessional on his public blog when he owns a business that is clearly tied to said public blog, because it reflects very poorly on both his personal character and his business. I think it is hilariously foolish and an extremely poor decision to openly advertise and defend your founder's unprofessionalism, which speaks of general lack of professionalism and poor judgment throughout the whole business, not just from Spider (though his lack of good judgment and public unprofessionalism is the most obvious).

So. Best of luck in the people involved resolving whatever problem in their lives that they're taking out on me, and beware interacting with them in any way because they will absolutely be rude as shit to you and then smear you in public and private for (/checks hand) apologizing for a miscommunication because you didn't mean what they incorrectly interpreted you to mean.

I can't fucking believe they still think they're in the right here and *I* am the one who needs to be ~asked not to contact them again~. You answered me THREE TIMES *after* I had blocked you because you cannot let go of the fact that you were wrong about a stupid fucking plastic pumpkin and the fact that I went OUT OF MY WAY to give you the benefit of the doubt.

(two of those three asks were frantic apologies because I genuinely felt terrible, and they were both met with meanness and scorn and snide insults about my communication failures.

Lol. Me. I'm the one who is failing to communicate and has poor reading comprehension because you misunderstood me and started lashing out like I personally strangled all of your pets for having the filthy nerve to apologize and try to clear it up.

Yeah. I'm the villain here. Sure, Jan.)

I'm done now, but enjoy having your unprofessional, cruel, immature nonsense publicly exposed. I stand by my actions (the ones I actually took in real life, not the fake pretend ones you made up because you misunderstood what I wrote) and I look forward to you experiencing the natural consequences of your own.

Don't give money to childish jerks.

[camzverse]

wish some of u were into typology id love to know how youd type some fnaf chars so bad

[redley-of-many-noodles]

I made an interesting discovery today.

(I would especially like to hear your thoughts, @analogue-system )

To start, some context.

I don’t ‘surf’ the plurality tags like I frequently do aspec and destiel tags (despite not being involved in either!), but I’ve seen some things relating to them.

Primarily, a lot of people putting “endogenic systems dni” or “non-traumagenic systems/supporters not welcome” in intro posts and the like. I’ve also seen a much lower concentration of systems that identify as endogenic, but that was from my For You page, so the algorithm’s bias may have been at play there.

From what I’d read about DID in a psychology class a few years ago, and interviews I’d seen on Azeal’s YouTube channel, I knew that severe trauma can cause DID to develop or intensify. Using that, I guessed that the meaning of ‘traumagenic’ was relating to that fact. That systems form through trauma. Everything I’d heard up to that point seemed to fit with that. But then, what did ‘endogenic’ mean?

I made another assumption.

I had seen a lot of negativity towards endogenic systems, and had heard a system talk about a Discord server they were once in, which was filled with people allegedly trying to ‘naturally’ become plural. This server was also said to immediately turn on the system after they were medically diagnosed.

My brain connected that dot to ‘endogenic,’ and the fact that it was somehow distinct from ‘traumagenic.’ I was satisfied with that conclusion, too.

But then my Author Brain got to Author Brainstorming. I wanted to make sure I knew the exact definitions just in case that one story idea ever came to fruition. So I searched the internet for,

“traumagenic vs endogenic.”

And I found an interesting article.

One from a system that’s been a part of the community for quite a while now.

The system that coined the terms ‘endogenic’ and ‘traumagenic.’

I’d like you all to read it.

Seriously, read it. Read it carefully. Don’t just toss the entire thing out the window as soon as the author uses one word you don’t like.

Read. It. All.

And think about it.

There’s not much I can say that the article didn’t nail right on the head — great job to the Lunastus Collective on that! — so I’ll just ask you the tried and true questions you’ve probably seen a dozen times before.

If you don’t like [x], why?

If you hate endogenic systems, or think they aren’t actually plural, why? What’s your reasoning? How much actual evidence is there to back it up? How much of your argument, when you take a close look at it, is just bias?

Same thing to those who feel similarly towards traumagenic systems. Why?

Assuming endogenic systems to be “fakers” who were impersonating a disorder to mock those suffering from it or to get attention came naturally to me. I hadn’t really seen the term ‘endogenic’ or its meaning discussed at all, and it made sense — just like plenty of people have faked Tourette’s and autism for TikTok views, it made sense that people would fake DID too.

And don’t get me wrong, for every disorder that’s been featured in the news or a movie there’s a crowd of people who will pretend to have it for attention. I have no doubt there have been people pretending to have DID under the endogenic label, but the same is likely true of traumagenic.

I’m not plural. I’m not an authority on plurality. But the Lunastus Collective is the first actual authority on the subject I’ve seen discuss endogenic systems in any other light than “go fuck yourself and die.”

Even if I’m being woefully misled and somehow stumbled onto misinformation from the most nefarious, diabolical liar to have ever graced the Earth, I feel like that’s a problem. That people respond to a word with that much hostility.

It’s an attitude that reminds me of aphobes and terfs in how dismissive and disrespectful it is.

So, if you’ve read this far and have been genuinely giving thought to the matter, genuinely trying to look at this from all sides — please, talk to me. Share your thoughts. If you have sources of your own to share, please link them in the comments or reblogs or anything.

I don’t want this to be a post centered around hate and conflict. So please, approach with grace, not to have a fight, but to have a discussion. Even if you do so grudgingly.

[isfjmel-phleg]

😐

[ehlnofay]

all love and joy to all my darling american internet friends and mutuals etc etc but if I ever have to learn another thing about us news ever again I think I'm going to blow something up

[yuichiroswife]

IMPORTANT, PLEASE READ!

{ There is a hacker/scammer going around on Discord claiming that they've "accidentally reported" people (in this case, me) for Illegal Purchases/Phishing Links which very obviously isn't true because everyone who knows me personally knows I don't have any money to do shit like that nor do I have the skill to set up phishing sites.

The main reason I know this is a hacker/scammer is because I had another incident like this over on Steam and the message/"staff ticket" is literally word for word the exact same as the one I got on Steam a long while ago. The person quite literally copy pasted this shit it seems.

So please beware of this person or others like this person going around and claimed they've reported you. Instead of panicking and doing what this person says, immediately go to the OFFICIAL Discord site and submit a support ticket like I always do with any platform I'm on. I usually make it a general question since I'm never sure what category it would fall into, but directly ask the staff if you have been reported for the things said person may claim you've been reported for and make sure to add screenshot of the entire thing for proof. Don't panic and instantly remove them. Just block them and view the messages.

Make sure you all stay safe and look out for one another! }

[oldguardleatherdog]

let me start by saying, I'm okay to agree to disagree on this, and I respect you greatly as my queer elder. I hesitate to even send this because I don't think this cause is worth dogpiling (and not even the fun way) on anyone against and , like , I will continue to follow and admire you as a mutual who has been through a lot of the hell that I'm going through right now and got to a place I want to someday be. (for context, I am currently housing & food insecure and am trying to live in a queer-accepting city)

Posting will never be praxis, you are my brother in arms no matter what you call trump or cops or whatever. There are some fat liberation blogs that take issue with calling cops "pigs" for a lot of the reasons I bristle at calling Trump a fatass, and like, if someone is actively fighting cops who can and will actively hurt me and my found family, I don't care what names they shout while doing it. So I see where you are coming from and I'm glad you fight for me. I fight for us too, in what little ways I can while I keep me and my found family afloat. I do better work in the community just by existing around people as a living breathing transgender than I could do in a million posts on this website.

I do think that this is a valuable conversation to have, though, even though you are completely right that this is a trivial thing and not at all the bigger, more real issue at hand. I think it's still important, on online platforms such as this, to talk about how we refer to the other people on this planet.

Think about why you didn't call Trump a "retard". You certainly could have, it doesn't *not* apply to some of his behavior. I know people of our generations once used that word a lot, and we don't anymore. Why and when did we change that? I honestly don't remember. For me, my aunt was medically classified as "retarded" and she was the best person I'd ever met, so I decided that word shouldn't mean bad things. The first time I ever hit someone was over them using that word in a derogative way. it wasn't about "mental illness positivity" it was about humanizing the people that word has been used against - people who have been stigmatized and oppressed with that word.

Right now, hopefully, the same thing is happening to the word "obese". Fat people are less likely to be hired, granted loans or secure housing. they can be kicked out of airplanes and fired from their jobs because of their body size. There have been laws proposed to take fat children away from their parents and "treatments" proposed to wire children's jaws shut and starve them to make them thinner. They are often medically mistreated and misdiagnosed. I once went to a doctor with an ear infection and instead of antibiotics, he prescribed me *bariatric surgery.* I have been refused transgender top-surgery because of my BMI, which keeps me at a passively higher risk for self-injury and worse.

I do not care about body positivity. Honestly, between being fat, trans, and poor, I'm at a point where I've given up on ever feeling good about my body again. All I care about is getting jobs and meds and keeping a roof over my family's head and food on our table. Normalizing the idea that fat is a bad thing that anyone can change continues that stigma. When you use Fat as an insult, you are saying fat=bad. Fat is a neutral thing that some bodies can be, like short or tall or lean. The revolution needs to be intersectional, and body size is another axis of oppression that needs to be acknowledged, just like sexuality, gender, race, class, disability, etc.

If you've gotten this far, thank you for hearing me out. I'm sorry that others are just performatively parroting the same things over and over. Civility is bullshit, and if you still want to use body shaming as one of the ways you fight against bigotry, it doesn't really matter to me. Just as long as you acknowledge anti-fat bias as part of that bigotry too.

Thank you for writing and sharing your life experiences with me, and for your solidarity as well. You're striving to make your way as part of a despised minority in a world that's turned unspeakably harsh toward you in an aggressively mean way seemingly overnight, and I admire you for the life you have lived, for your courage and perseverance during this difficult time where resources are scant and your housing and food security is uncertain at best.

(FWIW, after I was bombed out of my Lower Manhattan home on September 11th, my income went from six figures down to nothing overnight, and I was homeless and destitute for years. Twenty years ago, I was where you are now, and I can tell you that what you're enduring today will not last forever, that there is light and hope and blessing in your future, that you're not as alone as you might think, that you must never give up.)

What more can I do to make the point that "fat" has nothing to do with this? As I've said, I grew up obese, and it wasn't until I enlisted in the Army at age 17 that I was able to free myself from my violent and abusive family and unlock the potential of the body that had been hidden under layers of fat and shame all my life. I know that my path is not for everybody, that many others are not so fortunate, and I ceased long ago to think that fat equals bad or lack of character or any other pejorative attitude that society has attached to it for generations. I hope I've made that clear and that you take my word as truth.

I am not saying "let's fat-shame Donald Trump to make him feel bad." I am saying that I'm deeply troubled by the LGBTQ+ community prioritizing hurt feelings over the very real damage that's being done to us right now all over the country by Trump, his minions, his proxies, and his cult of bloodthirsty followers and worshippers. Trump's accomplices in Congress and state legislatures and Moms For Liberty are taking over school boards all over the country, banning books and emptying library shelves and harassing teachers and librarians to the point where they're being run out of town, where the State of Missouri has defunded its entire public library system rather than follow a court order to restore books banned just for featuring LGBTQ+ characters.

DeSantis and Abbott have put in place policies that are unspeakably brutal, that are forcing trans people in Florida to slowly and brutally revert to their pre-transition state, that have given health care providers in Florida the right to deny treatment to you and me and all LGBTQ+ people because we are gay, lesbian, non-binary, trans... but God forbid we should call Trump mean names!

We've seen what happens when we buy into the "when they go low, we go high" fantasy pipe dream. This is not the way the world works, it has never been, and we need to put this loser idea in the trash bin where it belongs once and for all.

We're being attacked and harmed in unspeakable ways that are happening now. This is not theoretical or hypothetical. It's happening to us, to those we love, this minute and every minute of every day. And worse is in the pipeline - they're writing laws that will place us under virtual house arrest, that will regulate where we're allowed to go in our own cities and towns, when we're allowed to be seen in public, when and where we can shop, how we're allowed to dress, even what we're allowed to say and SING, for Christ's sake!

And I'm supposed to be concerned about some minuscule hypothetical percentage of my own people being OFFENDED because I'm somehow being insensitive and violating some trivial picayune social justice warrior philosophy, because there's a possibility of some fragile flower taking it personally, and that I should shut my mouth and let the MAGA nutjobs run roughshod over us? Oh, come let Daddy kiss it! while our brothers and sisters are suffering in real time. Sickening.

Anyone who has a problem with my stance doesn't have to follow me or emulate my proven effective tactics as an activist with 37 years of successfully defending our rights under my belt if they're so dainty and delicate and easily bruised. Everyone else that sees this for the strawman bullshit it is, get ready to hit the streets with bullhorns and whistles once again. We've got work to do.

Your arguments are strong and well-reasoned, and I accept and acknowledge everything you're saying. We can disagree on this, certainly, and still work together to turn back the progress that the MAGAs are making, restore our rights, and protect ourselves and each other. But that will require the snowflake contingent among us to get their collective head out of their collective ass, stop whining, and get with the damn program. Calling me names and telling me I'm being a bad gay activist is a waste of time and energy that should be spent fighting the fascists and the haters who are out to kill us.

And to you, my friend and fellow traveler with a radiantly beautiful soul and spirit, I urge you to hang in there, to keep the faith, to keep caring about life, to work with me to secure our own future and the future of our kind. I send to you my very best wishes, energy, and prayers that you will find your way to a place of health, security, stability, and love for yourself and for this precious community to whom we've both dedicated our lives, who mean the world to us.

Yours In Service, Animal J. Smith