#protected disclosure

[ryanwclement]

WHISTLEBLOWING!

by Ryan Clement, barrister IN THIS BLOG I discuss Protected Disclosures aka ‘whistleblowing’ within the context of employment, which is what a whistleblower has to make in order to be protected from suffering a detriment or be dismissed because they ‘whistleblew.’ A PROTECTED DISCLOSURE is a qualifying disclosure that is made by a worker to, for example, their employer or a body that has legal…

[reasonsforhope]

"The world's coral reefs are close to 25 percent larger than we thought. By using satellite images, machine learning and on-ground knowledge from a global network of people living and working on coral reefs, we found an extra 64,000 square kilometers (24,700 square miles) of coral reefs – an area the size of Ireland.

That brings the total size of the planet's shallow reefs (meaning 0-20 meters deep) to 348,000 square kilometers – the size of Germany. This figure represents whole coral reef ecosystems, ranging from sandy-bottomed lagoons with a little coral, to coral rubble flats, to living walls of coral.

Within this 348,000 km² of coral is 80,000 km² where there's a hard bottom – rocks rather than sand. These areas are likely to be home to significant amounts of coral – the places snorkelers and scuba divers most like to visit.

You might wonder why we're finding this out now. Didn't we already know where the world's reefs are?

Previously, we've had to pull data from many different sources, which made it harder to pin down the extent of coral reefs with certainty. But now we have high resolution satellite data covering the entire world – and are able to see reefs as deep as 30 meters down.

Pictured: Geomorphic mapping (left) compared to new reef extent (red shading, right image) in the northern Great Barrier Reef.

[AKA: All the stuff in red on that map is coral reef we did not realize existed!! Coral reefs cover so much more territory than we thought! And that's just one example. (From northern Queensland)]

We coupled this with direct observations and records of coral reefs from over 400 individuals and organizations in countries with coral reefs from all regions, such as the Maldives, Cuba, and Australia.

To produce the maps, we used machine learning techniques to chew through 100 trillion pixels from the Sentinel-2 and Planet Dove CubeSat satellites to make accurate predictions about where coral is – and is not. The team worked with almost 500 researchers and collaborators to make the maps.

The result: the world's first comprehensive map of coral reefs extent, and their composition, produced through the Allen Coral Atlas. [You can see the interactive maps yourself at the link!]

The maps are already proving their worth. Reef management agencies around the world are using them to plan and assess conservation work and threats to reefs."

-via ScienceDirect, February 15, 2024

[artzybumpkin]

Dude's down on his luck, nowhere safe to go, and then out of the blue his estranged brother he hasn’t heard from or seen in over a DECADE reaches out to him requesting he come to some buttshuck nowhere town in Oregon STAT....

All the while he's about to pop....

....

What could possibly go wrong??

[uncanny-tranny]

Every now and then I remember I am significantly older than the legalization of gay marriage in my country and I take psychic damage every time. I am not that old, like my life has just begun.

Just... Remember our rights didn't just descend from the heavens hundred of years ago. It is still a fresh memory, a blip compared to the timeline of the world.

[jaxihammer]

You will never convince me that Isabel Lovelace is not disabled post-canon. Think about it.

Of everyone in the crew, she's spent by far the longest time in space. Sure, she's probably been exercising, but that isn't going to fully stop her muscles atrophying. Her bones are going to weaken. Not to mention the fact that she went into the cryo chamber, which we know isn't GREAT for you (I know Eiffel is kind of an outlier but still. Even once is gonna fuck you up at least a little).

Then add to THAT the fact that the body Lovelace has now was created by the dear listeners. Not only are they recreating a body that's already undergone almost a thousand days of the trauma of space; they're doing it with zero existing knowledge of how a human body functions in Earth's gravity. The clones are almost perfect, but there are notable differences in internal organs, and I wouldn't be surprised if Lovelace was put back together with some inconsistencies.

All this to say, I think Lovelace would become a mobility aid user when the crew lands back on Earth. Everyone on the crew would probably end up in physical therapy, but the damage done to her body would be by far the most extensive. Whereas I don't doubt Jacobi, Minkowski, and Eiffel could regain most if not all of their mobility, I think Lovelace would use a wheelchair, and eventually with PT could use crutches or a cane some days. Even if she were to regain muscle function, she would probably have some sort of chronic pain that would necessitate mobility aids!

In conclusion Let Her Be Disabled thank you for coming to my TED talk

[luesmainblog]

With those manscaped ads going around again, here is a reminder to my penis-having friends out there: Do not put anything scented on your junk. I’m serious. It sounds harmless, especially since you have a closed sexual system, but it can genuinely be a very dangerous thing to be doing for a number of reasons. 1. You never know if you’re allergic to a product until you use it. Do you REALLY want to find out you’re allergic to some super specific scent oil mix because you put it on your nuts? 2. Whatever is on your balls will end up rubbing onto your underwear, and as you move throughout the day, it will inevitably make its way to your urethra. It may only be a little bit, but if your urinary track is sensitive enough, that can lead straight to a UTI. Believe me, those are incredibly not fun. 3. But let’s say you only wear it during naked times. Totally fine, right? Nope; you’re STILL at a risk for a UTI because of how scent actually works. When you smell something, it’s because there are particles of that thing in the air, and those particles make it into your nose and your nose essentially “tastes” those particles. Now, for most stuff, that’s fine. However, those tiny particles - when there’s enough of them - can still make their way into your urethra over time if they’re close enough, and once again, that can lead to an infection because there is a foreign matter in your pee hole that doesn’t belong there. (this is the reason so many vages end up with UTIs when using scented pads, when normal pads don’t do anything to them. it’s the scent particles.) 4. This product is given to you alongside masculine grooming items, and if you think it’s difficult to shave your knees, you’re about to learn the fear of god the first time you try to shave your nuts. this goes double for especially wrinkly folks. Now, shaving is entirely your choice, but imagine getting deodorant in a bleeding nick on your NUTS. can you say Ow? and god forbid that thing get infected because you introduced a foreign entity your body didn’t like. I don’t think anyone wants infected balls. 5. The following can also apply to any partner you may have if you’ve freshly put it on, or if you’ve been wearing it around all day in a pair of underwear or pants(again, that stuff’s gonna end up rubbing onto the rest of you). So even if YOU’RE not allergic, or sensitive to UTIs, your other half might not want to suddenly get hives in her vag, or a sudden yeast infection, or a frot-induced UTI because you got yourself all deodoranted up before funtimes. none of this even gets into the possibility of irritation, the risk of spraying on one spot for too long(chemical burns on your balls, bro, never fun), the fact that scents could end up masking a change in your scent that would normally alert you to go see a doctor, there are MULTIPLE reasons to consider whether or not you REALLY need to put deodorant down there. I don’t know if this post will blaze, as the message is inherently nsfw, but I sincerely hope it will. You shouldn’t use ball deodorant for the same reasons you shouldn’t use scented pads, and you ESPECIALLY should not be putting a scented SPRAY anywhere near your pee hole. obviously this is all a personal risk thing, some people will be able to go 15 years perfuming the hell out of their sack and never face a problem, but it genuinely worries me that this is being advertised as totally normal, sexy, and risk-free. I just want the public to be informed; y’all might not be as used to the ways beauty companies will lie and hurt you for a quick buck. Be safe out there, and please, take good care of your sack.

[bobbie-robron]

I mean, we’ve only been married a few days. I thought we agreed to stop keeping things from each other.

18-Oct-2018, episode 1

[girderednerve]

The NFL began to institute reforms [in response to 2010s concerns about brain injury]. New on-field rules were put in place: Defenders were prohibited from lowering their heads to tackle an opponent with their helmet or from hitting “defenseless” players in the head or neck. Contact was limited during practice, and the league instituted a “concussion protocol” every concussed player must follow before returning to the field. There were now “spotters” at every game, whose sole job is to survey the field for players who might be injured, and independent neurological consultants to offer a medical diagnosis that would theoretically be uninfluenced by a team’s desire to get its players back on the field. Concussions were still happening every Sunday, but the league appeared to be trying to alleviate the problem and it became easier for fans to watch with a cleaner conscience.

The media also stopped covering the subject with the same urgency. “You know enough about the press to know that one reporter comes along and is able to gain traction with something, it gets exposed and then everybody moves on,” [Alan] Schwarz [a sportswriter who has extensively written about CTE among football players] said. Investigative journalism in the sports world has shrunk — the sports department Schwarz worked for at the Times no longer exists — and the NFL was now in business with practically every major media company. Even Schwarz admitted that it became hard to find fresh ways to write about the issue. “It got tedious — ‘Oh my God, another dead player had CTE,’” he said. “It got to be sort of, ‘Duh.’”

When we spoke, Schwarz said he could think of only one thing that might produce an actual recalibration of how Americans think about football’s risks. “Everything would be different if an NFL player died on the field due to head trauma,” Schwarz said. “If Tua were to seize up and somehow not recover, then that would change the entire conversation.” ... Chris Nowinski [a longtime activist focused on brain injury in football] wasn’t sure it would. “I love Alan, but a player can die on the field from a brain injury and it’s not gonna change anything,” he said. “People will say, ‘It’s only happened once in the history of the NFL.’ They’ll compartmentalize.” ...

Predictions that youth football would collapse as parents kept their children off the field have also not come to pass. Youth football participation steadily decreased for more than a decade after news about CTE started to break, but it is on the rise again. Roughly a million boys still play high-school football — twice the number that play either basketball or soccer — and it remains possible in much of the country to sign up your 5-year old to be a linebacker. Most surveys of parents find that they understand there are risks but that they also don’t want to keep their kids from playing. The enduring appeal of youth tackle football is often chalked up to the promise of a college scholarship, but for many parents and kids, football is simply the best of a limited number of options. Earlier this year, when student reporters at the University of Maryland visited the small town of Lexington, Mississippi, which is in the state’s second-poorest county, one parent pointed out the football team remains popular in part because the entire county has no swimming pools, no soccer fields, no tennis courts, and no YMCAs. (Youth-football participation has gone down more dramatically in wealthier communities.) Tackle football’s continued popularity among young people was, in this sense, a sign of a bigger failure. Last year, researchers found an advanced form of CTE in an 18-year-old high-school football player who killed himself. By early September of this season, three boys had died from brain injuries they suffered while playing high-school football.

Fans, it seems, have chosen to believe the NFL has largely done what it can. “They addressed the majority of the ethical issues — the stuff that made them look bad — and now suddenly the story is ‘It’s just sad,’” Nowinski said. “What people are missing is that football has gotten more ethical, but it’s not necessarily safer.” The point was that, because the NFL was no longer denying the problem, and every NFL player should now know the risk they are taking with their brains, a large part of the ethical burden on the league and its fans has been lifted. At the same time, while the number of reported concussions in the NFL has trended down over the past decade, they haven’t gone away: In fact, the number has increased in each of the past three seasons, and last year’s total of 219 is roughly equivalent to the total from 2018. (The total also doesn’t include the blows to the head that go unnoticed.) Because doctors can only diagnose CTE postmortem, after cutting into someone’s brain, we still have no way of knowing for sure whether CTE is developing in Tagovailoa’s brain or anyone else’s. But researchers have now examined hundreds of brains of former players and found that the portion who had CTE has remained consistent at around 90 percent.

Even so, Nowinski didn’t want to tell Tagovailoa what to do. “The reality is that the NFL doesn’t have to be safe,” Nowinski said. “If the players aren’t being lied to, they can choose to have a dangerous job.” The NFL’s chief medical officer, Allen Sills, said that the league would not get involved in Tagovailoa’s decision, citing “patient autonomy and medical decision-making really matters.” Football had entered its era of personal responsibility....

[docholligay]

It's so hard when a story comes at it with completely different assumptions than you. The story calls what's going on with Rue love, and true love, and says that's enough to have saved Mytho. I can respect that the story is about that, and understand that, but it feels so meaningless to me. We found out what, like 2 episodes ago. that Rue even knew him when she was little. So we've had no time in invest in what he might mean to her, we're just supposed to take it on faith.

Not for the first time, I worry that this story is so caught up in the idea of its 'reveals' that it forgets that we need to be emotionally invested in what it asks us to care about, I would say 80% of the time I would prefer time to work on an idea to the surprise of it. A surprise can be done with EXTREME skill, but that's not always or even often the case.

Please note I have never seen this and am watching spoiler-free! Please don’t confirm, deny, or explain anything, even if it’s historical or cultural! Thank you! There is a discussion discord here for all your spoilery needs!

[sad--tree]

bound and determined 2 finish watching season 1 of yellowstone 2nite but god help me if this isn't one of those "awful ppl being awful 2 each other" type of shows. like, im Invested now but christ is it a slog. unfortunately i started having Thoughts And Feelings about these terrible assholes several episodes ago so. :|

[tele-mesmerism]

i KNOW theres that epilepsy blocker for browsers but a lot of ppl are on mobile idg why tumblr & whatevr other soc media cant just add a filter option for possible epilepsy triggers. and eyestrain would be even easier right?? to not have to rely on user tagging when thres like 20 different variations of flashing lights to tag bc no one is consistent. WHICH. COME ON just look at what other ppl tag those things you dont have to make up your own word for it and adding a / or #cw just puts sm1 at risk for not being able to guess what unnecessary tag youre adding

[hamblinfamilylaw]

Prenuptial Agreement Solicitors

Prenuptial agreements are not just for the wealthy or those with trust issues. They are a valuable tool for protecting your financial interests, providing clarity in the event of divorce, and preventing potential conflicts. When considering a prenup, it's essential to have open and respectful communication with your partner and seek legal advice when necessary. Remember that a prenuptial agreement can be a proactive step towards a secure and harmonious marriage. For more info, visit Prenuptial Agreement Solicitors.

[johnbrace]

Applications by Defendant Jack Beecham to vacate 14th August 2023 trial date and have public funds pay for transcript of previous hearing both denied by HHJ Swinnerton at Liverpool Crown Court

Applications by Defendant Jack Beecham to vacate 14th August 2023 trial date and have public funds pay for transcript of previous hearing both denied by HHJ Swinnerton at Liverpool Crown Court                                                            By John Brace (Editor) First publication date: Friday 28th July 2023, 17:36 (BST). Queen Elizabeth II Law Courts (Liverpool Crown Court), Derby…

[just-sg]

Prefacing this that it's meant as an explanation, not by any means a lecture or rant or anything. Genuinely don't know why this came up on my dash, but I figured I'd try to give a sincere answer.

-

It's stalking in as much as any real teenage girl with a celebrity crush is "stalking" her idol by putting up posters and following his every Tweet and insta post. It's stalking in the way that any anxiety-ridden high schooler who romanticizes the idea of "love" but is terrified of rejection might want to find excuses to be close to someone she admires even if she can't work up the courage to talk. These are both real and pretty normal things people do, but in the context of the show, they (like most things) are exaggerated to extremes.

Chloe can't just be rich and spoiled; she has to be the mayor's daughter, literally named Bourgeois, and practically run the town herself. Gabriel can't just be famous; he has to be the most famous fashion designer in the world. There can't just be a local rock star; Jagged has to be a direct parody of Mick Jagger.

And Marinette can't just be an anxious girl who goes out of her way to figure out Adrien's schedule so she can bump into him in the hallway and sit at the next table over at lunch; she has to memorize his schedule for the next 3 years. It's part of "the bit", it's part of the tone of the worldbuilding. In this particular instance, it makes people more uncomfortable than a lot of the stuff, and that's understandable. It's just not meant to be taken more seriously than everything else that's so over-the-top.

As far as the "that's not love" thing though?

Correct! Later on, Marinette herself acknowledges that, in multiple ways on multiple occasions.

Even as early as season 2, she realizes that not being able to talk to someone isn't a basis for a relationship or a sign of love, and also that she is able to talk to him during the times she treats him like a friend. She sees that as a negative sign, but it's always been the root of her genuine feelings. When she fell for him the first time, it was from him sincerely apologizing to her, admitting he didn't have many friends and wasn't sure what to do, and then putting concern for and an effort to be kind to her above his own insecurity anyway. It was a friendly gesture, delivered with a softness that made her want to protect him, even though she couldn't understand that part at the time.

She tries to pull back on numerous occasions, for different reasons and lengths of time. Sometimes it's pure obsession and sunk cost fallacy and force of habit dragging her back, but sometimes it's from other places, and over time it's increasingly that she's becoming closer to him as an actual person and getting past her fangirling and, more importantly, anxiety.

Because that's ultimately by far the root of it. By her own admission, Marinette doesn't actually want big fairy tale happily ever afters and grand gestures. She wraps herself up in fantasies about everything going Exactly Perfect specifically to create an impossible bar for herself so she has an excuse to keep aiming to achieve the unachievable and never has to actually DO any of it. She's so terrified of either being rejected or of getting close only to be disappointed that she works herself up on purpose as an avoidance tactic. And it is deeply, severely unhealthy, and the show is extremely aware of that.

And that's part of what eventually helps make it sweet and satisfying.

On Adrien's side, he's the deuteragonist and has a lot of important moments and agency, especially as Chat Noir, but in his civilian life, he is in very many ways a Damsel in Distress, and that's a good thing. Adrien is abused, neglected, with rock bottom self-worth, convinced love is something to be earned and never sure if he deserves it, but so filled with love for everyone else that he never wants anyone to worry about him. He's also a self-destructive martyr and that's actively a bad thing that causes Ladybug stress far more often than it helps anyone. But Marinette's here saying no, you do deserve love, you deserve to live and to be happy, just because you're you. You don't have to do anything to earn this and I am angry that anyone ever made you think you did. And that's powerful both for dismantling toxic masculinity and traditional ideas that men need to be the stoic protectors, and for telling victims everywhere that no, the people who said you were unworthy were just being cruel, you deserve love.

And on Marinette's side, it was never the famous model or the handsome prince or whatever fantasies that she wanted. It was just the sweet, soft, sincere, and generous boy who gave her his umbrella. Every single time she falls for any version of him, it's when she's having a bad day or even outright breaking, and he puts aside everything else and puts her first. There's a visual motif every time it happens to mark it.

This is also exactly what makes her so immediately comfortable around Luka, incidentally. But as much as she does also have strong feelings for Luka, the difference I think is that Luka is extremely good at taking care of everyone including himself, and Adrien isn't. Marinette is in the traditionally masculine role here, where love includes fierce protection. That's why so many canon fantasies paint her as the knight to Adrien's princess. She wants someone who will be there for her but also needs her to be there for them in turn. She wants to feel both supported and useful, and that's in line with everything else about her. Being Ladybug is easier than being Marinette, because she stops worrying about herself when other people have problems she can help fix.

And even though 5 seasons was a gruelingly long time to wait, it's been wonderful watching these feelings evolve from Adrien being oblivious and overly naive (through no fault of his own but that doesn't mean it couldn't have rough effects on others at times) and Marinette equating love with obsession and spiraling into it on purpose, seeing them grow into two people who have genuinely been through a lot together and care about each other very deeply.

So, in addition to the identity shenanigans and all the variable dynamics between those of course, that's the appeal of the core ship in Miraculous.

Incidentally my ideal endgame would be a poly ship of at least 3 if not more people, and if I had to choose just one couple I still kind of like Lukanette more, heh. But the Adrinette evolution is still also very sweet and good.

Wane I was a kid, I always just hated miraculous ladybug because she stocks the main love interests, which is like super creepy and I could never get behind why people ship them together and wanted them to end up together. She literally has cut outs of magazines of him and in her room. and knows his schedule like that's not love, that's stalking.and that's werid.

I'm just wondering if anyone else felt the same about this series. If you ship them together do you no hate if you do, this is just my opinion

[sgrplumditz]

You had his baby and he didn't know (Pt. 2)

A/N: Thank you for all the positive feedback! I am so beyond grateful that you guys enjoyed the 1st part. I never fathomed to get this much attention from my first post, which means I didn’t really intend on making a part 2. But with such gratitude and motivation… here it is!

· · ─────── ·��· ─────── · ·· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·

She had told him everything, and through it all he did nothing but soothe her, keeping her small hands in his as her soft voice filled their ears. It wasn't until now that she had realized how absurd it was to feel nervous to tell him the story of her unaccompanied pregnancy, and her introduction to motherhood.

Like herself, he also held no resentment, or distaste toward the secrecy behind the conception and birth of their beautiful baby girl. Simon's only intention was to understand her and her decision to keep their child a secret from him, but in the midst of her reminiscent disclosure he couldn't help but feel alienated, guilty and a rollercoaster of many other emotions revolving her and his daughter.

His usually hard, and stoic gaze had softened for her -- which wasn't an unusual occurrence for him when it came to her, the mother of his child. "Hey, you're alright" he soothed when he noticed a stray tear race down her soft cheek. His thumb instinctively coming up to stop the salty drop of emotion in its track, and likewise she instinctively leaned into the feeling of his large hand that cupped the side of her face.

The moment was tender, intimate, comforting -- it was everything that she craved from him from the moment she found out she was carrying their child. Their baby girl seemed to be emotionally connected to her mother. The sound of her fuss and whimpering coming from the playpen where she had been placed to rest. Both her and Simon's attention was drawn to the infant the moment her restful cooing was replaced with the sounds of discomfort. Her mother knew that she was most likely hungry, but her father, Simon seemed to only be alarmed by the sudden crying. It was evident that his protective nature had taken over -- a quality of his that could not be tamed or ever be put to rest.

"She's just hungry, Si" she spoke, breaking the silence between the two. The melancholy aura of the room immediately being lifted as she chuckled softly at his high alert behavior as it only reminded her of the first few nights that she was home from the hospital with her daughter.

As she normally would she gently picked up their daughter, making sure to keep a firm hand on the back of her neck to support it. Her maternal nature was in full effect as she spoke sweet and soft words to the baby girl. Her cries being soothed, and her simple mind now distracted at the sight and sound of her mother. Simon watched this all divulge in front of him. He didn't know whether his heart ached because he had missed hundreds of moments like these or if he felt such sorrow because he didn't share the same bond with the tiny being that he helped create.

He let his the thoughts and endless "'what if" possibilities consume his mind while she prepared a bottle with the infant still resting in her arm. She was small, measuring out the length of her mother's forearm. Normally she would make the bottle with ease, but as time went by and the baby girl grew, the process slowed down. She was careful and calculated making sure that the baby was always safe in her arms.

"I can take her if you're alright with it" spoke Simon in a mildly nervous tone. “It’d make it easier for you to prepare her bottle, yeah?” he spoke again, using the feeding time as an excuse to finally hold their daughter. But he was nervous? Simon doesn’t get nervous. He has always been incredibly calm and collected to the point of mastering stoicism. He wasn’t nervous to hold the infant — that was the less of his worries.

There were so many special events that he had missed while he was away. Core memories that he doesn’t have with her or her mother. He missed the pregnancy, the first kicks, the birth, the first powerful cries from her little lungs, the first feed from her mother’s full and lactating breasts, the first skin-to-skin contact —which he read was essential for bonding in newborns, the dad walk out of the hospital after being discharged as a family — the one where he knew his overprotective nature would automatically take over.

So many factors playing into the aggregation of his nerves, but there was a single one that was keeping him on edge the most. Simon was nervous that he wouldn’t be able to bond with the small and fragile being that shared half of his DNA. Being absent for so many critical events made him doubtful in his ability to be and feel like a genuine father. All of his nerves dwindling down and relying on this very moment.

But none of it mattered. The pessimistic thoughts that lingered in his brain practically disintegrating. As if the warmth of his daughter’s small body destroyed every doubtful fiber in his own. She was no longer just his biological daughter, but a part of him. His soul was tied to hers, his emotions was connected to hers, his breath was for her. His entire being was engulfed by her.

The baby adjusted herself in his broad, tattooed and muscular arm by leaning her small face into his chest, as if she sensed some sort of familiarity in him. Like mother like daughter.

She watched their entire interaction curiously. She saw his hardened exterior breakdown at the moment their daughter’s infant body fit into his arm like a puzzle piece. It was obvious. Just like she felt her daughter was made for her, she was just as equally made for him. The instant connection between the father and daughter was electric. This was everything she had wanted and more.

She always knew Simon would be a great father — he was a great guy after all — he was attentive, protective, polite, masculine, and so much more, but she never fathomed that it would have been as magnifying as she felt it to be.

Simon’s gaze turned to her and she swore she saw his eyes glistening, tears threatening to spill. No words were exchanged between the two, but she knew exactly what he was feeling and thinking. As their daughter’s mother, she felt those exact emotions as well.

She was then engulfed by his scent. His arms embracing the two most important girls in his life, but it was not just a typical embrace of joy — it was firm, passionate and filled with urgency. He needed them.

With their daughter still resting in his arm, he used his free hand to remove a stray strand of hair from her face before he firmly cupped it. A soft kiss landing on her forehead.

He pressed his forehead to hers and exhaled softly before breaking the silence, “I am so proud of you” he said — his english accent thick and correlating respectively with how emotional he was.

“I am so proud of you” he repeated again, “but you are never doing anything like this alone. We do it together. As a family”.

[jonathanrogersartist]

How 'The Acolyte' Disappointed Me, and Why the Themes of 'Star Wars' Matter

Someone recently commented on my 'On the Dark Side, the Jedi and the Moral Decay of Star Wars' essay with these words: 

"A lot of words for saying 'I don't like the newer media, but I won't get into specifics as to why.'"

Okay! I shall then finally clarify those specifics....

That first essay has, so far, been my biggest success on this blog, and it's attracted a number of interesting responses. Full disclosure: I wrote that fresh off the heels of feeling depressed over how the Acolyte ended, and after reading/listening to several of Leslye Headland's interviews, where she went into great detail about her ideas behind the show's choices, the themes she's trying to get across, and what personal baggage she brings to Star Wars. 

Why was I depressed?

Because the show's finale ended with the deeply problematic implication that Osha, by killing Sol and joining Qimir, has achieved true self-actualization. As Leslye herself put it, it's a 'positive corruption arc.' Interesting way to phrase it. 

Furthermore, Vernestra's actions that frame Sol for several murders, all to protect her own reputation, and to avoid oversight by the Senate, confirmed one of the things that I was really worried this show would do as soon as we began learning plot details, which is that it's leaning into this very persistent edgelord take that the Jedi are actually big ol' bastards not worth seeing as heroes. 

It's the Dave Filoni gospel of the Jedi Order as a morally broken and fundamentally hypocritical institution, a decaying monument to religious hubris, who brought about their own destruction with their arrogance and so-called rejection of emotion making them lack empathy. 

This is, as many of my followers know already, a giant misreading of George's storyline in the prequels, and what he was actually telling us about the Jedi's philosophy and code. And in my experience, it gets us some vicious pushback when we try to inform fans of it, even if we back it up with proof of George's words. 

George really did intend the Jedi to be the ultimate example of what a brave, wise, and all-loving hero should be, and are very specifically inspired by Buddhist monks. They do not 'repress emotions': they learn to regulate their emotions, so as to not let the negative ones feed the Dark Side, and they have the moral fortitude to focus on their spiritual duty. They're professionals that have dedicated themselves to a higher calling, and who still feel and display the same emotions we all feel, unless I watched very different movies from everyone else. We see that Jedi characters can still crack jokes, cry when they are sad, become scared or anxious, feel strong love and loyalty to their peers, and can even be righteously angry in some situations BUT always knowing when to pull back.

The Jedi of the prequels were victims of manipulation by Palpatine, and were caught in between a rock-and-a-hard-place with the Clone War, and they were ultimately destroyed not by their own actions, but by the treachery of Anakin Skywalker, who failed to overcome his own flaws because he refused to really follow the Jedi teachings, and was gaslit by Palpatine for decades on top of that. 

Leslye's take on Star Wars, based on how she wrote the story of the Acolyte, is that "yup, the Jedi were doomed to destroy themselves by being hypocritical and tone-deaf space cops," and she also outright compared them to the Catholic Church (this reeks of Western bias and misunderstanding of Eastern religions). The one that really stunned me, was when she said she designed Qimir to be her own mouthpiece for the experience of being queer and suppressed, who isn't allowed to just be her authentic self in a restrictive world. Which, to me, implies that Leslye wanted to depict the Dark Side as actually a misunderstood path to self-actualization that the Jedi, in keeping with their dogma of repressing emotions, only smear as 'evil.' 

Let me remind you all: Qimir is officially referred to as a Sith Lord, by Manny Jacinto, by Leslye, etc. And what are the Sith, exactly? 

Space fascists. Intergalactic superpowered terrorists. Dark wizard Nazi-coded wannabe dictators, whose ideology is of might-makes-right, survival of the fittest, and the pursuit of power for power's sake. To depict followers of this creed as an analogy for marginalized people who have literally been targeted and murdered throughout history BY the real-life inspirations for the Sith.... I find revolting and tone-deaf by Leslye. 

SO.... seeing how that show ended, and reading up on how Leslye intended it to be interpreted (Osha's 'triumph' over the 'toxic paternalism' of Sol/the Jedi in general), really put me in a funk, because deep down, I could just sense that this was not at all compatible with the ethos of Star Wars. It made me go on a deep-dive into the BTS of the writing of the prequels and George's ideas about the Jedi, and it's how I discovered the truth that Dave Filoni has been pretty egregiously misrepresenting George's themes for several years now, usurping George's words with his own personal fanfic about the motivations of characters like Anakin, or Qui-Gon, or the Jedi Council, etc. 

His influence on the franchise has caused this completely baseless take on the Jedi to become so widespread as to rewrite history for modern fans. Who are utterly convinced now that this anti-Jedi messaging WAS George's vision all along, and they get real mad at you if you show them actual proof of that being a lie. 

And the Acolyte is perpetuating this twisting of the very core of Star Wars. This is what I meant by the 'moral decay of Star Wars.' 

The Star Wars saga was made by George Lucas in 1977 to accomplish these specific tasks: 

To remind people of what it really means to be good.

What evil actually looks like, and how it comes from our fears and greed.

To teach kids how to grow up and choose the right path that will make them loving, brave, honest people that stand up to tyrants.

To give the world a story that returns to classic mythological motifs and is fundamentally idealistic, to defy the uptick in cynical and nihilistic storytelling after the scandals of Vietnam and Watergate broke Americans' belief in there being such a thing as actual heroes anymore. 

THAT is the soul of Star Wars. That is what George meant for this remarkably creative universe to say with its storytelling. But I sincerely think that what the Acolyte told, was that morality is relative, the heroes of this saga are actually bastards, the fascist death-cult is misunderstood, and a young woman being gaslit into joining said death-cult is a triumphant girlboss moment. When it actually comes across as the tragedy of a broken person choosing the wrong path that will only make her miserable, full of hatred and powerlust, and hurt innocent people along the way. 

The Acolyte betrayed one of George's most critical lessons: that the Dark Side ruins people, and if you want to truly become your best self, you must choose the path of Light, and the Jedi are the ones who have best mastered that path. So if the future of Star Wars is to continue framing the Jedi and their teachings as some corrupt and immoral system that is making the galaxy worse, then I would rather stick to rewatching the classic scripture of Episode 1-6. George wrote a complete and satisfying story, that is thematically consistent, and in my opinion should have been allowed to rest. 

I will not hate on new fans that love the new material, but I will pity them if they really think any of this is actually faithful to George's vision (they may very well simply not care, either, which troubles me too), and I am afraid of a show like Acolyte teaching young people to see the Jedi's philosophy as wrong, and the Sith as having a point. 

(P.S. I have a moral duty to clarify this, given the discourse around the show: No, this is not a problem with 'wokeness,' or diversity, or representation; that side of the fandom is very sick in the head and not to be taken seriously. 

It's a problem with Leslye's themes and tastes as a storyteller, being fundamentally against the ethos of Star Wars and how it soured the entire show in hindsight for me... a show that I was actually really liking, before the finale dropped its thematic nuke.)