#same old arguments

[acti-veg]

I am honestly finding it hard to take seriously the fact that you advocate harm reduction in the very next sentence to you criticising a vegan on the basis that they aren’t able to cause zero harm. Do you believe in harm reduction or don’t you?

We know that veganism doesn’t cause zero harm, and this all or nothing absolute moral purity = ethical while doing your best and still causing harm = unethical, regardless of your intentions or how much less harm you’re causing, is as juvenile a conception of ethics as I’ve ever seen. Veganism is literally about causing less harm, of avoiding exploiting animals whenever possible and practicable, while acknowledging that it is impossible to never harm anyone while living in a capitalist society.

If we followed your advice and used soil and plastic pots to grow all our food, we’d still be causing harm because as you yourself told us, plastic is bad. Are gardeners buying metal tools that are often produced in unsustainable factories? How was the metal extracted? Is the handle plastic? What fertiliser do they use? What about the increased water use? What about taking up land that could be habitat for insects? Even though growing your own food is causing less harm, it still causes some, therefore gardening is unethical. Do you see how ridiculous that line of reasoning is?

This notion that complete moral perfection is ethical and that anything falling short of that impossible ideal is automatically unethical, is about as juvenile a conception of ethics as I can imagine. The likes of Piers Morgan and Fox News pundits argue like this to every environmentalist they ever interview. If someone strives to make the personal sacrifices required to cause less harm to animals and to the planet by being vegan, it is beyond cynical to respond to that with ‘well ACTUALLY do you garden? What about plastic?’

Besides, while this may be surprising to you, animal skin and plastics aren’t the only materials in existence. You’re fallaciously presenting a false dilemma where there are only two options, animal leather or plastic, when you know full well that other options exist. Have you heard of hemp? Cotton? Linen? Jumping from the fact that we oppose leather to concluding we must support plastic is intellectually dishonest at best.

Even if I personally was shovelling agave into my mouth with a conflict diamond-encrusted plastic spoon, that would not be at all relevant as a critique of veganism. That is also a fallacy, by the way; you don’t know how to adequately attack the position so you’re attacking the person instead, which is pretty transparent.

Why do we have to keep going over these same points over and over; surely we all want the same thing - to encourage people to make choices that cause less harm. So why can you guys not just engage us in good faith, instead of tying yourself in intellectual knots to try to prove that yes, we too are unethical. Does it at least make you feel better about your own choices?

It is ok to be “that annoying vegan.” Veganism isn’t just a lifestyle choice, it is a moral imperative. When you make an ethical decision you aren’t just deciding that this is wrong for you; it isn’t like saying apples are nicer than oranges. People don’t believe prejudice is wrong just for them, or adultery, or abusive behavior. Ethical statements are truth claims; you are professing the belief that this thing is wrong. For everyone. It is every bit of ok to be “that annoying vegan” because that stereotype only exists to silence us.

[luxlightly]

I don't know how to break it to you all but a bad parent will parent badly with books and a good parent will parent well with an iPad.

Ipads don't make the "ipad kid". What upsets you is a child who is being given something distracting and potentially obnoxious to those around them so that the parent doesn't have to deal with engaging with their child. And it's not new.

I grew up before the invention of the ipad and the complaints were the same. It was "tv kids" and "Gameboy kids". And it was book kids too, though people rarely complained about those kids because it didn't make noise and bother them personally so they no longer cared. Because the "it's for the good of the child!" argument dried up real fast as soon as it was something that didn't affect them.

A good parent who is engaging with their child's interests can do so with an iPad or television. A bad parent can say "take this and leave me alone" with a book or a toy. The problem is that some kids were raised by objects. By whatever kept them busy and entertained and away from their parents. Sure, there are parents who need to realize that's what they're doing and would benefit from changing their parenting style by limiting electronics use, but "if you give your kid an electronic toy, it means you're a bad parent" is not the same thing and largely misses the actual source of the problem.

Your arbitrary standards of what "good children" doing "good child activities" is as restricting.

[jinxed-sinner]

Age gap discourse with Hazbin ships is WILD lmfao. btw the only one of these I've seen personally is Huskerdust age gap discourse but you can literally make this argument for EVERY SHIP IN THE SHOW

"Huskerdust is weird because Husk died when he was in his 60s or 70s and Angel died when he was in his 30s" they've existed for the same amount of time, and Angel's an adult. Let him date the old cat

"Radioapple is weird because Lucifer is thousands of years old and Alastor died in the 1930s in his 30s/40s" THEY'RE BOTH STILL ADULTS.

"Chaggie is weird because Charlie's 200 years old and Vaggie died in the 2010s" Charlie literally acts like a 20 year old, as does Vaggie, and we don't even know if Vaggie dying and becoming an exorcist is still canon???? For all we know she could be OLDER than Charlie lmao

"Staticmoth is weird because Val died in the 70s and Vox died in the 50s" THEY'RE BOTH ADULTS

"Cherrisnake is weird because Cherri died in the 1980s in her 20s and Pentious died in 1888 in his 40s!" NO IT'S NOT THEY'RE BOTH ADULTS.

Literally you can make arguments against any Hazbin ship that amount to "they're both adults but it's STILL WEIRD because of death years" and if you do that, it's bizarre. Every character that's been introduced in Hazbin so far is a whole ass adult (yes even Niffty). Shipping anyone with anyone isn't weird because of age gaps, it's potentially weird because of canon character dynamics lol

i'd also like to point out though that there is a non-zero chance that multiple characters, as they spent more time in Hell, matured more mentally as they gained more (after)life experience. Would their brains change to reflect that? Who knows, but we literally see characters mentally mature in the first season (with Cherri, Angel, and honestly Lucifer being good examples of this)

[beepborpdoodledorp]

fnaf fans will look at security breach in the most black and white sense imaginable it’s almost incomprehensible ‘the Glamrocks are soulless AI and Gregory is a poor defenseless child’ ‘Gregory is an irredeemable monster who kills the poor Glamrocks without remorse’ have you considered it’s possible for both sides to be victims. that they can also be a little fucked up too. have you

[familyabolisher]

here is a rewrite of an essay from last year, on bad critical writing on apple tv's severance and what we can do with the office job narrative if we want to get inventive and a bit more materialist about it. thanks :~)

[puppyeared]

i feel like im not making any sense but does anyone else feel like there are stories that let u run with them and ones that spell everything out for you

[piko-power]

My Personal Headcanon On Why Amy's Love For Sonic Died Down Lately (and their dynamic)

When they were younger, Amy's love for Sonic was pretty extreme, and Sonic was, understandable, uncomfortable for the most part. He knows she means well, but that girl needs to calm down.

She can fight, but sometimes her hammer could only stun her enemies for a while. (It took her a long time to get rid of that robot that has been chasing her around Station Square.) She wasn't fully independent yet, even if she fought on her own a couple of times.

She often follows Sonic and his friends around. She is part of the team, but she was not a strong as she is now at the time yet.

She admires Sonic. A LOT. And Sonic knows that. Obviously, he could only run away from something like that, since he is NOT ready for that kind of thing, and whether Amy takes the hint or stop, she still loves him.

...BUT, I think things were slightly starting to change between her and Sonic after Lost World.

Remember this line?

You remember that? Okay, okay. Here's another totally unrelated question:

Before the events of Lost World, when was the last time Amy said "I love you" to Sonic out loud?

...YEP. 😈 (Unless I'm missing something, let me know lmao)

As more games and adventures come out, the characters get slightly older, and Amy is 12 to 13 now, and she is most certainly at that age where her body starts to change, but especially on how she views Sonic.

She knows she loves Sonic, but it was this moment during her change where she actually wanted to admit that she loves him.

I believe that Amy was all about sharing her affection to him not through confessions, but through obvious hints. Sonic totally got it, and there was no need to confess. Sonic knows she loves her.

...But she never said it. And she almost did, but she never did again for a while.

I think this was the moment in her life where, oh, God, she actually loves Sonic. SHE LOVES HIM, WHAT.

And she was looking back at all the times she had with Sonic that she can now see were unpleasant to Sonic (At least that's what she thinks) and that's probably why she isn't so expressive about her love to him than how she used to back then.

She wasn't sure what to do with this realization, and sets aside it for a while, and nearly stayed as her casual, peppy self... until the Eggman War happened.

During the 6 months of being with the Resistance, fighting Eggman's army all day and all night, all she can think of was Sonic.

She dreams that he still with not just her, but with her friends. She just wanted to see Sonic again, she just wants to be with her hero again.

But I'd like to think that she was also thinking about how she used to treat Sonic back when they were younger, how Sonic would almost always run away from her whenever she asks him out, or always look so uncomfortable whenever she gets so close to him.

Cringing at those memories big time, she wanted to change and hopefully when Sonic is okay and comes back, she can be better for him.

...Or will he still find her uncomfortable regardless? Would he even be happy to see her at all if he did survive?

But, hold on! She can't just give up her love for Sonic! He made her who she is today! A peppy, nature-loving, hammer-swinging, confident, brave... loud-mouth... annoying... Sonic obsessed... weak... pathetic... lonely little girl.

If she gives up on Sonic, it'll be like she gave up on the one hedgehog who saved her life. If she didn't she'll still be the same ol' Amy.

I also like to think she had parents a long while before she met Sonic, and was even expecting a little sister, but a robot invasion happened from where she was and attacked her parents and instead of trying to save them, after getting hurt, she ran away, hoping that they'll come back okay. But they never did.

She was all alone, and needed someone, a friend, a new family, someone who will hold her hand, anyone, to be there for her. But she was ignored by lots, and at that point, she's better off by herself, but still longed for company.

Eventually though, her tarot cards told her her future hero, and there might be hope after all. She encountered Sonic, held onto the belief of the cards tight, and the rest is history.

So, with that headcanon in mind, not only did Amy loose her parents that she didn't save because of her cowardliness (she was only so little at the time that happened) and also Sonic, who she thought will be her only hope, but now gone.

She doesn't even care if he did come back, he'd probably hate her now after everything she did to him, always talking about their "future wedding" or forcing him to go to Twinkle Park.

For the last few months of the war, it was nothing but Amy mentally beating herself up for either refusing to change or moving on, and they are both not fine choices.

She loves Sonic, but he does not love her, and she finally, finally realized it. And it's probably for the best if no body loved her at all.

But of course Sonic did survive and all of her worries wash away in an instant, she's just not expressive about her love for Sonic AT ALL now, since she's still worried about it but rather not mention it to Sonic because it doesn't matter.

If Sonic doesn't love her, then her feelings don't matter to him, and according to Amy herself, that is okay.

But also, I'd like to think that Sonic was thinking about his friends a lot up in the Death Egg for the past months, sometimes it's Tails (worried for his safety), sometimes it's Shadow (because he's wondering why he would join Eggman.) At some point, for a few days, Amy was in his mind the longest, and he felt bad about how he thought he was rude and pushy to her.

He wondered if she's not thinking about it too much, and if she is, will she give up on him? Yeah, he doesn't feel the same and still not looking for a relationship, but it's so strange but interesting how anyone could ever like someone like Sonic the Hedgehog. Amy was never afraid to show that, and she probably might be now.

He couldn't help but feel guilty. They were kids when she was like this, but he was so... arrogant at the time too. Not a lot happened at the time yet. He'd always have trouble expressing how much he value his friends, until he shattered the Paradox Prism. (I'd like to think Prime took place before Forces. It makes sense.)

She is such a sweet girl, and he probably made her believe that he didn't care for her. Just because he doesn't feel the same, that doesn't mean he hates her at all.

He wished he never ran away from Amy... Worrying for his little bro and wishing to be a good person for Amy was when Sonic cried in the Death Egg for the first and only time.

Frontiers, in my opinion, is kind of confirming their dynamic now. Sonic is a lot more sincere and kinder to Amy and she is not all hyperactive and lovey to Sonic. There is probably a real reason for this now.

They are both hiding their feelings from them, and they are both unaware of this. Amy, hiding her mental issues from Sonic, and Sonic, hiding his guilt away from Amy.

None of those things are important now. Sonic is with Amy and Amy is with Sonic. They are here with each other. They can be finally be better for each other now.

They don't care if they'll ever be something more when they get older. None of that matters anymore. They are here with each other. They can be finally be better for each other now.

Maybe someday they'll both talk about it, but for now, the present is important. They care about each other too much to think about it right now.

It's the kind of love that is unbreakable. It doesn't even have to be romantic. It's just love. Love is important for everyone, in any form. It's something Sonic and his friends need. And especially Sonic and Amy.

Amy Rose is the living embodiment of love, and without her, a lot would go downhill for Sonic and co. Heck, if it weren't for her, Shadow wouldn't have never remembered Maria's promise, which lead him to save the world with Sonic, before he temporarily disappeared from their lives for a while.

She is always there to lend a helping hand for anybody, even bad guys like Metal Sonic, and despite what she had been through, both in Forces and headcanon wise, she still fights back, even without her hammer.

She will pick you back up on your feet, reminding you that you are important and that you are loved, and that you should never give up. It's pretty much the words of encouragement she herself needed also...

She is still the happy, hyper, butt-kicking hedgehog we all know and love, but she still need someone to pick her back up on her feet after so long. Thankfully, she has her friends and her blue hero. The hero who made her who she is today.

I think Amy has no idea how important she thought she is, but Sonic does. Sonic knows fully well how important she is to a lot of people. It's about time he returns the favor to her. It's his turn to remind her how much a lot of people love her.

How much he loves her.

And I feel like The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog was the moment where their dynamic really shined, but also the starting point of their relationship not only healing, but also the next chapter of what's to come for them.

Everyone, friends old and new, gathered around for a special birthday. A birthday for the confident, unshakable, and radiant Amy Rose.

It was such a special moment in Amy's life. After years of chasing and following the people she look up to, she is part of the team, but most importantly, she is part of the family.

She is fully realized as someone more than just a fangirl, but someone strong, courageous, creative, kind and a big inspiration for others.

I feel like this moment here...

-is where Amy is eternally grateful to call her friends her family. A family she thought she'll never have again. She's not alone anymore, and as long as they're by her side, she'll never will be again.

Her chasing days are over. She's finally caught up to them. She's finally home.

And it's all thanks to Sonic.

If it weren't for him, she'd probably be alone forever. Her past moments with Sonic might be embarrassing to look back on for a while, but they are good memories regardless, because they involve him.

Sonic saved her life in more ways than one, and despite everything, he's grateful to have her too.

He cares about her. He really does... And in her eyes, that all she needed to know. As long as Sonic loves her in his own way, she'll be happy.

Amy hasn't given up on Sonic. As long as Amy always supports him, he'll be happy.

Maybe sometime in the future, they can talk about their problems, but that's a story for another time. At this point, they need to. Right now, they are happy. They are okay.

They are here for each other. They are finally better for each other now.

"You guys won't ever leave me, right?"

"Wouldn't dream of it."

[aimasup]

throws up my hands in mock resignation but also a hint of frustration Okay Valentino is a cool villain I guess

He's like. Genuinely unsettling. Wish the show struck a better balance with his character sometimes (like sometimes when he's onscreen I have to skip over because I feel queasy and sometimes he's so unsubtle he feels more like a prop than a guy who's going to be a Huge Deal in s2)

[alpacacare-archive]

inside you there are two wolfs

[athena5898]

Given the nature of my blog at this point, i tend to shy away from posting about media stuff. Buuuuut I think there are a lot of younger people experience this slightly "political" dude bro phenomenon so I kind of want to walk them through it. So Dawntrail the most recent ff14 expansion. Is actually pretty good. Now if you listen to some aspect of the community you are going to get some other........."perspectives" on that. Dawntrail is flawed, of course it is. This is the expansion that would have been in development during mid to post 2020 AND it's the expansion that needed to come around after Enwalker to build up the new story. Endwalker that spent YEARS building up to a climatic finish. What does this have to do with the first paragraph? Well, I'll tell you.

Dawntrail focuses on the story of a coming of age of a nontraditionally feminine woman lead Wuk Lamat (who is voiced by a trans voice actor) and we, the heroes of the world, are now going to help and take a back seat to this person. Who she and the entire expansion is based on Indigenous people from various parts of "America" so you know, they should be front a center and our out-of-town asses *should* take a seat in the back (some of you will read this and immediately go "oh that's why it's getting extra hate") If you do not know and was lucky enough to not be a woman or non cis het white male in the 90s trying to play video games or enjoy nerd culture....All of what I just stated is a big problem. Dude bros as I like to call them, (aka someone who you will always be curious if they were or would be part of Gamer Gate. Also please note a dude bro doesn't have to be a man...trust me on that) hate this kind of shit. They naturally feel threatened when the media's focus is not about them. So what do they do? They take legitimate criticism of something and BLOW IT THE FUCK UP. Suddenly that thing that was kinda annoying, is now just the fucking worst. A story beat drags on a little long? Worst media ever. A character has a minor plot hole? Worst media ever. dialogue a little blah at one point? Worst media ever. etc etc etc These are the same kinda people mind you who will write a 8 page essay how (insert average mid action movie here) is the most amazing masterpiece of a film. (which I don't really care about, but it shows that these people are not exactly the most objective purveyors of media arts as they like to claim to be when it's suddenly about their misogyny and white supremacy) I'm bringing this up cause I'll notice some well meaning people being confused saving things "well...I kinda get *this* part of the criticism but...not this other stuff. Why is it a big deal" or some version of this. They don't actually care that much, they just care that an Indegenous GNC cat woman is getting more screen time then their precious gods gift to Eorza WoL. If they had made this expansion about a white guy or our WoL and it wouldn't of gotten nearly the same level of backlash. People will disagree with me, but I'm sorry this is just a fact. And because this is the reading comprehension website, no it's not bad to dislike Dawntrail. No it isn't bad to think a character is annoying. But the patterns are there and the chances of this JUST being about the real issues is just fucking zero. You dont' spend that much time complaining about ONE character as the focus if it isn't about the bullshit dude bro gamer pride. Honestly given how fucking gay this game is I have no idea how these people play this game without burning up like a vampire touching sunlight ALSO...I'm a ex wow player who played that game for the story (I was 14, give me a break) from BC all the way up to 7.2. So I kinda know what i'm talking about when it comes to toxic dipshit gamer behavior *looks back at that last paragraph* god that's so fucking sad. Oh fun fact, according to Wuk Lamat's voice actor Sena Bryer, all voice acting for the new area in Dawntrail was given to Latino/Indigenous voice actors for every single character. (from this area of course) *edit* lol yeah anyone saying i'm wrong is just a fucking grifter or liar. Found this while looking something else up. You know it's bad when the god damn director has to step in and say "yo you little assholes cut it out" https://www.pcgamesn.com/final-fantasy-xiv-a-realm-reborn/naoki-yoshida-wuk-lamat

[theygender]

I'm in an information systems class rn and we're starting out with Excel which I'm already really good at and use in my job daily and tbh it's so frustrating. I'm successfully completing the tasks my assignments want me to do but then I get marked wrong and when I go to check how the system wanted me to do it I'm like "Why would I do it that way?? That's so much less efficient"

[goodpointsandbadpoints]

I am absolutely on board with the shadow of rose dlc having Rose be pissed at Chris and everyone.

she's sixteen and having a miserable time at school.

from her perspective, Chris is overbearing and unreasonable (without explaining anything to her, I ASSUME, in classic Chris fashion).

on top of just being a miserable teenager, she's confused/irritated about her powers and her father, with basically no way to remedy either.

It's so fascinating to think of her POV vs Chris' POV of the whole thing. Based on what I know of the timeline between re8 and the dlc, Chris and co. have been able to keep her from falling into the hands of anyone who would exploit or tamper with her as a bioweapon. But I imagine that she feels very alone/trapped/misunderstood.

[thosemintcookies]

I think there's a huge disconnect these days where images are communal when it's about saying right click save to nft bros but somehow protecting the sanctity of image ownership when talking about artists online. Like follow the thread. Thinking you Own an image or idea just because ypu made it does a disservice to the idea of art-as-sharing including engaging with remixing and recontextualizing and replication.

Like yes artists deserve recognition over the products of what they make but monopolizing something intrinsically shred is so wrongheaded. IP law will not protect you when it's always the richer culture producer who can gird up with lawyers to defend that your works are derivative enough to be considered theirs not yours.

Like yes talk about injustices and bad usage as they exist but it's not a problem with ai. Same shit can be said about using Photoshop or something come on now

[the--firevenus]

Honest to god if your entire criticism to aang and his final decision to spare ozai is "it's boring!" then I think you should stop watching ATLA and better yet stop talking about aang character in general.

Because I know you'd whole argument just miserable to listen to, your whole point of view to the world is miserable, lack of whimsical and joy, may one day you found that again for now, shut up.

[makorragal-312]

Me: freaking out and on the verge of tears over Bi!Buck confirmation

My mom in the background: Oh, so they finally made them gay?

Me:

[jackmkelly]

i think i owe lillie my life a little bit for saying brooklyns supposed to be older /smarter than manhattan bc ive always been a [stage] spot is older than jack person but like yuppp yuppppp thats his older sister!! thats his older sister who is so hard on him but only because she loves him! she can be as mean as she wants (i.g., telling jack to “go back to the refuge” after scabbing ..) but Only she can do it! they are a big sister and a little brother ur honor.