#political ish

[ml-image]

politic ish, cont.

from, with apologies

what percent of cost should be profit?

Does a dollar amount of profit mean anything... i stole $50 or i made it from my organic farm... i made $50?

The US isn't capitalist, it corporatist. rarely has it been "las a faire" /free for all capitalism so demonized.

Are corporations and capitalism bad or grotesquely misshapen by constants? Who is voting those in? My congress person clearly isn't the problem... right

Listening to counter augments and explaining to yourself why they're wrong is the best thing you can do to strengthen your own :

Thomas Sowell on the Myths of Economic Inequality

more independent thinking, Harris econ talk @ 11min+

[sanyu-thewitch05]

Called it back on January 14th!

And to the 100 people on the poll, from the way things are going, it looks like you might’ve chosen correctly.

Link to the poll even though you can’t vote. But just as proof.

[wukyma]

As promised, I brought my take on Trojan war Polites but it turned out a bit uhhhhhh dark. Blood tw and generally sad things, enjoy! *goes to bawl my eyes out in a corner*

○○○

I had the idea that as a child/teen Polites really loved animals and their death made him sad, but Odysseus and Eurylochus often went hunting so he accompanied them, not really thrilled about it

Since Ody said it's alright to hunt, Polites changed his mindset with time,, it kind of stuck with him during the war; while fighting humans he would see birds instead just to block out the reality that horrified him

(I tried to make him look a bit younger here than usual)

Probably he would have nightmares about it, now with actual birds (?)

And despite being sick and tired himself, Polites would still take care of others, especially Perimedes (idk in my headcanons he is the youngest one since we don't have any official ages ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(•-•)⁠_⁠/⁠¯)

Also a version with glasses! Idk why the one above seemed more natural, but I just can't leave him without them :'D

[dietmimo]

The Ex.

Contrary to popular belief, they still get along well.

[atopvisenyashill]

Thoughts on the Alysanne is Maegor's daughter AU? I feel like it has some interesting potential, and it vastly recontextualizes different parts of Jaehaehae (I do not like him sjsjsjs) and Alysanne's relationship (such as Jaehaehae's treatment of their daughters) but I wanna hear what you think about it!

I’ve touched on this a bit before but since you actually want to hear my thoughts, allow me to present to you my Jaehaerys Is The Goddamn Worst, And Alysanne Annoys Me Too: An Essay lmao but my answer is basically “yeah all of what you just said.”

I think it makes Alysanne much more palatable (to me) as a character because as she stands, she just fixates on forcing her daughters through these fucked up marriages at too young an age bc it traumatized her to be married and pregnant at 15 too but she’d never admit that being a willing participant in her own kidnapping by her brother-husband was the single worst thing that ever happened to her, and because Alysanne doesn’t want to admit it (and Jaehaerys would never see it as wrong or a mistake) F&B really shies away from delving into the fact that Alysanne is as deranged of a mother as Cersei is. So as she stands, she’s very flat to me because she’s presented very flatly and inconsistently. She’s so in love with Jaehaerys, she’s maritally raped by Jaehaerys, she’s a loving and doting mother, she forces her daughters into marriages when they’re the same too young age she was, she accuses her teenage girls of being scheming whores then gets angry when her husband accuses their teenage girls of being scheming whores, and worst of all we are just told “Maegelle tells them to make up so they do” so we don’t know why Alysanne gets over all of this. What is the point of riding a dragon when you never use that dragon to protect your daughters from unwanted teen marriages? We’re just not given a good enough justification for why her behavior is so weird and frustrating towards her daughters.

Make her Maegor’s daughter though…most of her behavior as an adult makes more sense. Like a worse version of Rhaenyra’s childhood almost - a father desperate for a son, but lowkey obsessed with his daughter, who makes all his hang ups about his parents the problems of every woman around him, except Maegor is out here blood sacrificing and torturing and starting wars and forcing babies on wives he discards quickly and brutally. Then here comes Jaehaerys on a white horse green dragon to save her from the horror her life has become, and he loves her so much he runs away with her even though Alyssa says they shouldn’t marry because people won’t like it. And they have beautiful children, and a beautiful marriage, and build a beautiful kingdom.

Then her pregnancies start getting dangerous. Gaemon, then Valerion, die. Alysanne thinks of the shriveled up mutants she called brothers, if Maegor’s taint has passed to her. Her perfect husband ignores her no, and forces Gael on her. Alysanne remembers that he said nothing to Rogar when Alyssa died, merely wept. Then her daughters start to die. Daella, Alyssa, Viserra, all within a few years. Then Jaehaerys makes Saera watch as he murders her boyfriend, calls her a whore, and says Alysanne cannot follow Saera to Lys. Alysanne thinks of Maegor torturing the Harroways over Alys’ presumed infidelity. Jaehaerys says he’s sorry, and her daughter badgers her into forgiving him, and she remembers how she helped Jaehaerys badger Alyssa into forgiving Rogar. Not two years later, Jaehaerys passes over Rhaenys. Alysanne thinks of how she was never enough for her father, how she felt so superior to Rhaena banished to Dragonstone and resented by Aerea, yet there she is dragging Gael away from court because she can’t stand to be with Jaehaerys. How her father was surrounded by dead women and dead babies and how Jaehaerys is surrounded by his own dead daughters, but surely she did the right thing, surely Maegor was worse, surely the realm is better off? Is he right to pass over Rhaenys? Is she enabling a man just as monstrous as her father? She will never decide, because Maegelle will guilt her about keeping Gael isolated at Dragonstone, and Alysanne will do as she’s told, just like Rhaena, and Alyssa, and Jeyne, Elinor, Ceryse, Alys, and Tyanna, just like every one of her daughters.

I do get why Alysanne is Alyssa & Aenys’ and not Maegor’s. The weird Targ babies, the line not descending from Visenya, Jaehaerys and Alysanne being held up as the perfect Targaryen couple specifically because they are brother and sister and dragon riders. I do even think canon Alysanne is likely traumatized by her time as a hostage on Dragonstone, and the ensuing war, and the trauma bond that caused with Jaehaerys, and it makes her idolize Jaehaerys, and then he isolates her at Dragonstone so he can swiftly and safely marry, groom, and knock her up. It’s not like,,,, a fun time, and it’s enough to make anyone crazy and weird about their daughters, but I think having her father be Maegor makes Alysanne herself much deeper because it gives her, as the most beloved Targaryen queen, a blood tie to the most hated Targaryen king, and a marriage to the most beloved Targaryen king. It fits better with a lot of the themes of the main series (again, imo) - forcing the spotlight on the outsiders to see how the affect the story from behind the scenes. The fall of Aegon’s sons, and The Long Reign, not told from the PoV or to serve the PoV of any of the kings or princes, but of the queen that tied them all together.

[skykiuwu]

Hahahaha Ody redesign again

[statesys]

our christmas experience:

- woke up blurry and disorientated

- STOCKINGS CHOCOLATE RAHH

- arguments

- oh now we're talking politics okay adios

- oh hey new guy

- MORE CHOCOLATE

- oh I feel sick

- PRESENTSSSS /pos

- PRESENTSSSS /neg

- oh hey new guy

- ohmg this cow clock is adorable look at it's little nose

- WHY HASN'T FELIZ NAVIDAD PLAYED YET DAMMIT

- she likes the gift hrehehe ☺️

- MORE FOOD IM GONNA

- panic attack x2 combo move

- overstimulated combustion

- oh hey new guy

- oh hey new guy

- christmas dinner is gonna kill me

- oh hey new guy

- alcohol hrnrgh tastes FOUL

- FELIZ NAVIDAD PRÓSPERO AÑO Y FELICIDADDDDD

- willa please stop singing I can't take this

- oh hey new guy

- why're we ranking eating soap and licking windows

- more politics

- oh lord that's a lot of dishes

.

- oh hey new guy

- LACTOSE INTOLERANCE 😨

[princesssarcastia]

i really hate reading them 99% of the time because they're so hard to do well. and because everyone else usually focuses on the things i find least interesting about it.

but it's sooooo fun to imagine what your favorite characters would do as feudal lords. it's a fascinating question: what would this character do with unlimited executive and probably military power over an area of land and its people? people who depended on them? would they be a good ruler? a bad one? would they take it seriously? do their inherent qualities make them better suited to that role than the modern era? or are they truly a product of the time and place they come from?

because I'm me, this thought exercise is a chance to daydream about "what if I held a gun to this character's head and forced them to get involved in politics?", really.

on one end of the scale you have anakin skywalker, who would....not....have done well as emperor, or frankly as any kind of feudal lord. maybe don't give him more power over life and death, or taxes, or food supplies. maybe don't.

on the other end of the scale, you have jed bartlet, who i truly believe would have been more comfortable with unilateral authority and a divine mandate. somebody make that man a king. let his staff profess their undying devotion to him on their knees, the way they so desperately, secretly wish they could in canon. i feel like it would Fix Them. Leo McGarry wants soooooo badly to swear his sword to Jed. you know it in your heart to be true.

[rtc-obsessed-gworlie]

I might loose followers for this, but if Trump wins this election, I might not live to see 14.

[lazyveran]

Heyyyy how is it going? I had a question about the political marriage au.

You talked about how jealous katara is of tylee, is it because tylee is azula’s ex (or even someone azula had intimate relationship with)? Or cause tylee is a tease and clingy to azula but azula is oblivious cause it’s tylee she had always been like this.

How is the relationship between tylee and azula in your au?

Thanksss for this amazing au I can’t wait to read the fic.

SO. i have many thoughts on this. my personal fun time hc characterisation for ty lee is that she's kind of (insanely incredibly) toxic when it comes to attention seeking and personal relationships. my idea of ty lee is that she endlessly chases attention - any attention, good or bad - and drops anything and everything once she thinks she's not getting enough/losing/getting bored of said attention. however she IS locked in for life to her childhood friendships with azula, mai and zuko because they afford her the only stability she's ever really had. essentially, shes co-dependant on the group and a toxic, flaky attention-seeker. i LOVE her and her insane brain.

NOW. the way that relates to the azutara au is that ty lee is highkey annoyed azula now has a wife that's taking up her time and emotional investment. very rude. she's grown up with azula and has this possessive attachment to her and to the INTENSE devotion and attention azula gives ty lee (yipeee emotional issues!!). azula is pretty much used to ty lee being like this, it's just one of her normal quirks like auras and whatnot, so she doesnt bat an eye at it. oh ty lee is hanging off her arm directly in front of her wife? that ty lee, she's so silly!

i think im leaning more on the idea they had this really super intense friendship as children (in love with each other and never realised it/said anything) and that kind of carried on/morphed into this strange, a-little-too-close-for-best-friends situation as adults.

katara has to watch in excrutiation as ty lee teases and goads (poking to get attention) while azula defends the damn woman because "this is just how ty lee is" as in she's EMOTIONALLY DUMB and can't see the very obvious weird ass dynamic they have. katara gains a fun new sixth sense called *detect when ty lee is being weirdly intimate with azula* as a result. its very effective

[mathematical-cheese]

I've seen a few people complaining that the UK politics tag is full of jokes and I just... Have you never heard of satire? That comic of the people in a train station is satire about the closure of ticket halls in the UK.

Also maybe people don't want to be serious all the time, maybe they want to post satirical shit because they're mad that the government is full of clowns who are so out of touch from the people that it's unreal.

And I don't see any complaints about all the memes made from Trump's mugshot coming from the same people. Are they not also joking about something that is serious?

[ml-image]

Politic ish, Apologies

from, with apologies

deeper than the question

[kitausuret]

There's something interesting I've realized about the concept of a "living wage" in the US that has only really occurred to me since I got a better job that.. you know, pays a living wage. (Just for the sake of what I mean, I earn over $20 USD/hr, I work full time, and I live in Nebraska. My partner is the same as far as wages.)

This fall, my partner and I got our first house. It's 3 bedrooms, 2 bath, small but finished basement. It took a lot of negotiation and stress but with the help of an A+ realtor and loan expert, we got it. Yay!

Now, we were used to paying rent, but paying a mortgage was going to be almost double. This was fine, we could afford it. While we recover financially from some things we had to do (replace a deck, fix a cracked pipe, you know the usual) we have been a little more careful about our spending. Even with that though, we're still able to get groceries and eat at a restaurant once a week and buy holiday gifts for our friends and families. It might be a couple years until we can shell out for a little vacation, but that's okay.

My point here though is that... this is what it should be like for everyone. A two-income household should be able to get a decent little house and have a few fun luxuries and still have enough in savings if you need an emergency car or home repair or veterinarian bill or the like. A living wage needs to be more than just a roof over your head and food on your table. You should be able to invest in things that make you happy (like a nice bike or video game console) and things that make life easier (like a toaster oven or snowblower).

We both work desk jobs. It's stressful but we can work from home and that also saves money. But for everyone in every kind of job, or even if you can't work, you should still be able to live. And that's why it's important to support higher wages, better disability support, and universal basic income. Everyone deserves the opportunity to be happy and feel safe and secure.

So when you see local petitions out to raise the minimum wage, when you see workers striking for an income they can actually live on, and when you see measures that will help people on the ballot, remember that when you support them, things DO change for the better.

[elegantmarigold]

The conversation between Gwen and Sam at the end of the episode is going to haunt my nightmares. Like, WHAT IS THIS CONVERSATION?? Somehow this is the exchange that sticks with me possibly the most so far because the vibes are so discordant, that's the only way I can describe it. These are two people who are being miserable near each other and against each other but not at each other. They are sliding past each other, both separately having a *very* bad time and neither stopping to communicate at all about it.

[thr4shit]

Ah yes, thanks, mother. :/

You're right, I should drill holes in my head so I can have swappable Mr. Potato Head eyebrows.

[kindred-spirit-93]

THIS IS EPIC: Polyphemus

dangit im 13 seconds in and look what the winions made me do:

sorry for the bad quality lol. humor is how i cope with impending doom :')