#so arguing 'violence is bad :(' is doubly stupid

[aditublog]

Tresdin was furious. She growled at the stupid fucker who didn’t stop bothering her even after she had told him to fuck off. Repeatedly and explicitly.

The man, some kind of ogre or something, grinned. Fuck, he wasn’t intimidated by her because he thought his height and strength made him superior. And irresistible. Neither was true.

“Since you don’t want to leave me alone, I suggest a fight.” She didn’t even pretend not to be angry.

The ogre laughed, which was a low rumble that vibrated in Tresdin’s body. “You, fight against me? You stand no chance.”

“Well, then why don’t we?”

“No.”

“If you win, I’ll fuck you, as you so obviously want me to.” She wouldn’t. Well, she wouldn’t lose and therefore she wouldn’t fuck him, but she needed a bait. She could hardly hit him in the middle of the bar, because then she’d be the bad one. Then she’d be kicked out for starting a fight.

The ogre froze, then a wide grin spread over his face. “Sounds like a fair deal.” He leaned closer and Tresdin forced herself not to flinch away. “I’ll go easy on you. So you are able to fuck me after you lost.” Another rumbling laugh as he stood up.

Tresdin ground her teeth, then she took a last gulp from her drink. She wouldn’t touch it when she returned and instead order a fresh one.

A few other creatures left the bar with them, clearly having listened in on the conversation and curious about the fight. It wouldn’t be easy, Tresdin was aware of that, because she wasn’t wearing her full armour and a hit from the ogre would be painful. Really painful. She had to block every single attack or better evade. She was strong enough to block but it would rattle through her bones.

“You can keep your puny weapon.” The ogre waved at Tresdin’s lance, which wasn’t puny at all, but she was glad she didn’t have to argue with the ogre about it. Without a weapon it would’ve been a tough fight. With it, it would be no challenge.

Aware that it was never a good idea to humiliate an opponent, no matter how stupid that opponent was or how angry they had made Tresdin, she held back in the beginning. She even pretended to struggle though she had to force herself to do so. She was angry, so very angry, that it always had to come to this. Some males simply didn’t understand a ‘no’. They didn’t even understand the word ‘lesbian’. They didn’t know how to fuck off. They always knew after she was finished with them and she hoped they would remember it when they encountered the next creature who told them ‘no’.

Tresdin always told them to remember it.

When she was finished with her opponent, the ogre staring up at Tresdin with wide eyes (staring up because he was lying on the ground and she was pressing the blade of her lance against his throat hard enough to draw blood since he obviously only understood strength and violence), she leaned down, into his face. “I suggest you learn to accept when someone tells you to leave. And I doubly suggest you learn what the word ‘lesbian’ means so you won’t make the mistake of trying to ‘convert one with your dick’ another time. I know you now. I can find you again. And a second time I won’t make you look so good while losing.” She straightened. “Now fuck off.”

She watched him scramble to his feet. She gracefully ignored his growl, his glare and the baring of his teeth. But she watched him until he had left. She wouldn’t turn her back on him. Not because she wouldn’t be prepared for an attack or because she feared he’d overpower her with such an attack, but because she’d probably kill him should he try it. It might be satisfying to do that but she’d prefer not to. Not over something like this, no matter how angry she was.

The remaining evening was quiet. A few creatures avoided her, others nodded or smiled. And a bit later, a nice and friendly fairy approached her. This was how she had imagined the evening, not getting annoyed by a stupid ogre. She could’ve totally done without that. But at least now she wasn’t bothered again.

[tpquill]

A Mothers Heart.

As a parent, to loose your child before you, I can’t imagine how great the loss would be. I could summarise it with the feeling of being trapped inside a garbage truck, unable to move as the walls of the crusher weigh down on you. The emotion so crippling, it literally brings your body to its knees, your heart breaking into a million pieces (figuratively) with the desolate “why.” Screamed from your lungs. We are not conditioned to accept children to go before adults - they are the generation to follow us; leave their mark on the world, enjoy reckless youth and constant mistakes to be made. Falling in and out of love and growing with each stupid mistake they make.

But never to die from gun violence…

My husband joined the British Army to protect his homeland, to be proud of serving for her majesty’s armed forces when he was 17. He was taught weapons training, he actually became quite good at it, he earned his cap badge, he became a weapons instructor; teaching other soldiers how to correctly use a various assortment of guns including SA80 or a M16 (British equivalent to an AR15) you were taught correct procedures and your weapons were locked up at night in the armoury - forbidden to go home with you.

He had a personal weapon, he carried a gun licence, he had to go through psychological assessments for his gun license every couple of years. If we went on holiday, he had to hand his personal weapon in to the nearest police station along with his license to be locked away until he signed it back out again. Why am I telling you all this? Because I am not against guns, I am against the flagrant abuse of the rules the US touts every day by leading Republican congressman and the blood money rich NRA. I’ll explaining as a mother of 3 the absolute stupidity of protecting the 2A against a child’s life - ANY LIFE for that matter.

We made sure the weapon that was in our house while are kids grew up was never seen, was always locked away or somewhere they could not reach. It was never cleaned in front of them, they knew it existed and they were told repeatedly that it was dangerous and the only reason dad had it was to protect him against bad men (he was a soldier after all) and to protect his family if anyone was to harm them.He didn’t go grocery shopping with it in his hand or get coffee from Starbucks visably seen in a shoulder harness - he was not that brain dead stupid! When the US constitution was created, it was during the time period when weapons were basic and suffice to protect land and family. Now there’s an obsessive and irrational belief that the more outrageous weapons you can purchase means your family will be doubly protected - it’s a disease of the mind, an impulsive and sickening illness these people are suffering. Never mind the ghoulish Christmas card family gatherings, with children as young as 5 posing with an automatic pistol in their hands - what the actual fuck! Now that, is child abuse!

I started my thought process outweighing the very idea of losing your child before you go and how it would feel. Now imagine that child died because one madman decided they were pissed off enough with the world that they went into a store and purchase a semi automatic gun and a box of ammunition. To load that gun and bring it with you to a school, to decide that day, your child was going to die…that your little, happy monster who greeted you that morning with hugs and laughter, couldn’t find the other shoe they kicked off ungraciously the night before. To argue with you because you haven’t braided their hair the way the wanted or put the wrong colour of hair on the ends, or forgot to wash their football kit because you were busy making dinner or busy with their homework or just struggling because you’d had a hard day at work and your boss was being an asshole. You kiss your kids goodbye as they rush through the school gates…never to see them again. Your life stops, you stop breathing, the world around you suffocates you into silence. As a parent, I can recall every moment with my children as the grew up, I can remember how small they were at 9 and 10 years old, especially my daughter; so much more petite than her two older brothers. I can still see their faces as we dropped them off at their schools, watching as they ran to join their friends or still had their head buried in the latest Harry Potter book as they walked slowly to the door. These memories I cherish. In the shadow of the mass shooting at Dunblane; our UK government passed in Parliament the banning of semi automatic and automatic weapons. A legislation was passed on gun control, background checks, psychological analysis on anyone wishing to purchase a firearm in the UK. No one was being stopped from buying or owning a gun; you just needed to follow the required guidelines that were put in place for safer gun control, including as I mention armed forces as personal use or recreational (gun clubs) the enormous ignorance of the gun touting activists in the US, decrying their fundamental right to own a gun (a gun, not 50+) is why there are so many mass shootings, copycat attention seeking lunatics, hell bent in getting their 15 mins of fame.

The world saw it 2 yrs ago when America went down the rabbit hole of insanity during the riots at the Capital; it has been running on that toxic drink for many years before that, but this new wave of the absolute need to protect an amendment that was written in to their constitution by men, who did not foresee the kind of dangerous war combating weapons that are so freely available to purchase, because the demand for their ‘basic human gun toting rights’ is under threat. Tell that to the 19 children of Robb Elementary school in Uvalde in Texas - or that’s right you can’t. 19 parents have now to face the fact that their children won’t be skipping or running down the path because they’re late for soccer practice, ballet lessons, music lessons or simply to go home to their favourite pet, because they missed them all day. As a mother; my heart bleeds for the loss of their young lives, as an adult; I feel awash with grief for the parents of those little souls no longer with them. As a human being; I am wrecked with anger at those in charge, who have done absolutely nothing to stop this happening again and again and again. When is it enough? How many more young lives have to be cut down, how many people have to be murdered before a government (those crisis actors that are holding up the need to put laws into place) to stop more like Uvalde and the countless school shootings before from happening again? To those that believe it’s your right to own a gun, especially a gun like an AR15 I put this question to you; for what purpose. Why do you need a gun like that?

Hunting? No that’s what hunting rifles are for.Sport? There’s any amount of sport pistols that are used at regulated gun clubs. Vermin eradication - see any form of hunting rifles as they are just as good - kangaroos are classed as vermin in Australia and they don’t get hunted and removed of the lands they’re hunted on by an AR15. That type of weapon is used in war operations - see the current ongoing war in the Ukraine - have you signed up yet?

The only way I can fully accept the need to purchase a weapon of the more dangerous of capabilities is to kill people, not vermin or food - human beings and the types of weapons that are used this way are by properly trained army combatants, who went through several months of training on how to use, clean and carry as part of their survival kit. Not jumped up, angry drug/steroid infused wannabe freedom fighters of whatever video game influenced dog of war team they call themselves to make them look tough. Want to be tough? Join the armed services in your country - be real men not action figures. Make your country proud by fighting for them not against them. And leave the children alone. Leave the people of colour you don’t like the look of alone. Leave the people getting on with their own lives and not annoying anyone else - alone.

A mothers heart should not have to break apart because she has to bury her child before her - no parent deserves that.

[feroluce]

TatST - Ch 1: Secrets

For Day 1: Secrets of Ritshou Summer Week by @shouritshou! Please enjoy the first chapter of Together at the Same Time!

Warnings: Major character death, violence, injuries, blood, concussions

Shou is acting weird. Like, weird even for Shou.

Ritsu wakes up to the smell of meat cooking in his nose. 

He fumbles for his phone, something that's become the first part of his daily routine since he convinced his parents to get it for him last year. A quiet chime plays as it unlocks, Ritsu sleepily rubbing at his eyes until his ceiling looks less blurred. He can already see out his glass door that it's going to storm later...maybe he'll just stay in bed for a while longer. He can still smell breakfast cooking and it's making his stomach growl, but he doesn't want to leave his warm bed yet. Ritsu pulls the blankets up to his ears as he rolls onto his stomach and tries to ignore the little pang in his heart when there are no new messages from Shou. Because really, it shouldn't be that much of a let down. He's probably not even awake yet. Shou tends to stay up late and sleep in late, doubly so on weekends. So it's completely normal to not have a new message and he shouldn't be so disappointed. Ritsu's phone signals a new text message and he snatches it up to check his notifications in record time. Dammit. Damn Shou and his handsome face and his cute freckles and the new pang in Ritsu's heart that is the exact opposite of disappointment but just as unwelcome and painful. Shou: We're going somewhere today! I'll come pick you up! Shou: And don't skip bfast it's bad for you The first one isn't unusual. Shou is restless and he is always finding something to do. The second text, though, is...oddly specific. Ritsu widens out his psychic senses just to make sure Shou isn't hiding somewhere with his invisibility (which also isn't unusual). He can't Feel Shou sneaking around anywhere, although that doesn't always mean anything. His ability to hide his presence rivals Shigeo's and supposedly Reigen's.

Reinvigorated with the promise of an adventure, Ritsu rolls himself out of bed and drags his feet across the carpet. He wonders if he should bother to bring an umbrella or not. It might just be in the way.

Shou: Don't bring your umbrella btw you'll just lose it

Shou: And wear shoes without laces

Ritsu sticks his head into Shigeo's room on his way by, just to make sure Momozou hadn't come by to visit without him knowing. There's only one futon on the floor, though, with one head of black hair poking out. Telepathy and invisibility make for a horrifying stealth combo.

Me: Why are you being so specific.

Shou: Just a feeling

Shou: Don't worry about it

Ritsu is torn between not worrying about it and knowing better until he walks in on Shou in the middle of picking his outside door’s lock.

“Ricchan! Lemme in, we're going somewhere today and we need to get going!” Shou looks up at him from where he's kneeling and his stupid grin is so bright that Ritsu wonders for a moment if the storm clouds cleared up. And he considers it, he really does…

“Why should I?” But sometimes Ritsu feels like being difficult.

“C'mon, I came all the way out here! Don't be a dick.”

“Impossible. I'm always a dick.”

Shou snorts at him. The sound doesn't carry through the glass, but Ritsu knows the face he makes when he does it. “Yeah, well, y’are whatcha eat, I guess.”

Ritsu pulls the curtain shut.

The indignant “Awww, c’mon, it was funny,” is muffled by the thick fabric. Ritsu had just recently reset that lock, he reasons he has at least a couple minutes before Shou gets it figured out. He's just barely finished stepping into his shoes, though, when the door slides open and Shou breezes in, bringing in the smell of rain. He's getting too good at that.

"So where exactly are we going?" Ritsu always asks when Shou just shows up to whisk him away like this, but he had stopped caring about an actual answer over a year ago. Shou can make even mundane, boring things exciting. He could say they were just going to the corner store and it would still be fun. So it doesn't matter what the answer is, because Ritsu will follow along regardless.

"Places." Ritsu side steps to make room for the eventual circuit that Shou will make through his room. Even though they see each other almost every day now, Shou always walks by his bookshelf to look at the framed pictures sitting there. Or maybe he just scans the book spines, trying to figure out which one might be Ritsu's journal. "I found some pretty cool abandoned stuff past Mud Boat Mountain. Like they just half bulldozed some tourist places and then left them!" Shou stops in front of Ritsu's desk, leaning back against it with his hands stuffed in his jacket pockets. He doesn't pace, doesn’t play with any of the pens on Ritsu's desk, doesn’t even look at the shelves.

The sudden break in routine is more than enough to remind Ritsu of the strange text messages from that morning. 

Shou is acting weird. Like, weird even for Shou.

And he only realizes it more and more as Shou babbles about whatever he's found out in the mountain ranges. There's something off about his rhythm, about the way the words roll off his tongue. And Ritsu isn't sure of exactly what it is, but he can pick out that it's wrong. It maybe wouldn't be wrong coming from anyone else, but it's wrong for Shou and at least to Ritsu, Shou isn't just anyone else, he's Shou.

And Shou does eventually move, but it's only to steal a jacket out of the closet. The one that's changed hands so many times between the two of them that Ritsu can't even remember who it belonged to first.

Something like unease settles into Ritsu's gut, twisting up his insides.

It only gets worse from there. When they both leave the house, Shou keeps finishing Ritsu's sentences or answering questions before he's even done asking them. And this isn't unheard of, Shou can read Ritsu like an open book after so much time, but it's never been to this extent. Part of it makes Ritsu nervous simply because it's something new with no obvious explanation, but the other part worries that this means Ritsu is just that obvious. How much as Shou figured out about him recently? Does he know about Ritsu's Secret and that's why he's acting strange? Does Shou know that he likes him? "Yo, Earth to Ritsu!" Right. The convenience store. Snacks for on the way. It's not until they're back on the route to Mud Boat that Ritsu realizes he hadn't grabbed the salt water taffy he always brings home with him. He really is preoccupied. "Hey...Shou, hold on, I forgot Nii-san's candy." "Eh? Isn't he gone for the weekend, anyway?" Ritsu has just opened his mouth to answer that no, where did Shou even get that idea, when his phone trills in his pocket. Shige: I'll be gone when you get home. Shishou needed help and Serizawa is still out of town. Be back Monday. Ritsu's blood chills, bits of it clogging up his brain and trapping his thoughts in a clotted-off loop. Something is wrong. Something is really, really, wrong.

"Shou... Shou, how did you-?" "Peach ring?" When he looks up from his phone, Shou is suddenly a lot closer, holding a piece of candy up to his face. His eyes have gone from warm to overbearing, something that burns so hot and bright the flame has gone blue. Ritsu knows when he's being told not to ask. He opens his mouth again only to bite the peach ring out of Shou's fingers. ○●●○●●○ Now that he knows Shou is keeping Secrets, too, Ritsu goes on high alert, his feeling of everything being off-kilter only multiplied from before. "And so then- Then I told this guy that if he didn't speak- If he didn't start talking, I was really gonna light a fire under him-" "Shou, oh my god." It's a little hard to concentrate on that, though, when Shou is holding his hand because touching makes it easier to keep them both invisible. This didn't used to rile him up nearly as much as it does now. His only comfort is the fact that Shou can't see him, either. When the bus finally pulls up to the last stop at the base of the mountain, they both drop down to the ground without breaking hold, Shou kicking against the window and cackling when the people inside startle. Ritsu wonders if Reigen is going to get a call on Monday about evil spirits riding on top of public transport and messing with the passengers. The bus pulls away and Shou drops the invisibility and Ritsu drops their hands and turns before Shou can notice if his face is as unbearably red as it feels.

"...C'mon, it's not too much farther now." Ritsu is pretty sure he's just imagining the disappointed tone in his voice. Shou guides him up the mountain side, occasionally grabbing his sleeve to stop him from taking specific paths because trust me, Ritsu, you'll just give yourself a concussion like a dumbass. Ritsu bites his tongue and doesn't argue against it. When they float up the last bit of cliffside, they're greeted by a few run down old buildings, sides caved in and toppled by time and creeping vines. Their walls spill out like entrails, littering the ground with wood and glittering broken glass. "Pretty cool, eh?" Ritsu has to admit, it is pretty cool. They both walk forwards and it takes Ritsu a moment to place why the act itself is so weird. He's grown familiar with the sight of Shou's back, he could redraw the freckles on the nape of his neck almost as well as he could the ones on his face. Because Shou is always leading and Ritsu is always content to follow wherever Shou might lead him. But now Shou is all but glued to his side, shorter legs working to keep pace. He's keeping him close, keeping an eye on him, and Ritsu doesn't know what to think about that. And the longer they go on exploring their new discovery, the more antsy Shou seems to get. He's always energetic, always doing something, but it's never with this uncharacteristically nervous or paranoid feel to it. Shou keeps checking the time on his phone, he turns towards any sound that he can't immediately see the source of. His nerves are fraying like old rope. "Ritsu." He startles, because Shou hadn't said anything in a while and his jumpiness is starting to rub off on him. "Be quiet a sec. Don't move." They both go perfectly still until Shou's head whips towards the ceiling. Ritsu's eyes follow and then he can hear it, too, creaking along the old rubble. Footsteps. "Ok..." Shou's voice drops to a whisper. "Ritsu, put up a barrier. Thick as you can. On my mark. Three..." Ritsu tenses up, aura manifesting around them both in refractile bluepurplepink. "Two..." Shou drops his stance, reaching out and grabbing Ritsu to pull him closer until his concentration nearly stutters. "One!!" Ritsu's barrier balloons around them and too many things happen all at once for him to keep track of them all. Something drops in from the ceiling and something else swings in from the window and- Shou suddenly has Ritsu behind him backed in a corner and the desk near them flies open and stuff comes pouring out the drawers- And the entire desk goes hurtling across the room and someone screams and glass shatters and wood splinters- Something collides with his barrier and it pops like a bubble and then- And then Shou is being ripped screaming out of his hands- And suddenly there's a fist in his face and it isn't Shou’s because Ritsu knows what Shou’s fists look like, especially when they're right in his face, and this one isn't Shou's- Ritsu is dragged out and away through a hole in the wall and halfway through the woods all at once before he can get his bearings, but he lashes out as soon as he does. Practiced weak spots, eyes, nose, throat, solar plexus, hands wreathed with aura and one fist shoved up under the ribs before both hammer down onto the back of the person's bowed head. Ritsu sends them flying, maybe into a tree, maybe over a fucking cliff, he doesn't care, it doesn't matter as long as they're not in the way because he needs to get back to Shou. He races back to the old building and Shou is standing close to where they'd been before, visible through a massive hole blown in the wall of the second floor, Ritsu isn't even sure it was there before, but oh thank god he's still standing and he's alright. Shou pulls the hood of their jacket up one-handed right before he sways backwards and plummets. It's such a short fall that Ritsu only barely manages to grab him with telekinesis right before he crashes into all the debris below and that in itself scares him even more, because Shou doesn't even try to catch himself, he just falls and he's completely limp as he dangles in the air. Ritsu eases him down as gently as he can, but he can feel his heartbeat in his ears and it's making his control shaky. It isn't until he has him laying flat on the ground that Shou's eyes peer open again. "Shou! What happened, did you get hit? Are you bleeding? Where does it hurt? Is your head alright?" And Shou just blinks up at him like he's trying to recalibrate, turquoise irises rolling like compass needles until they realign with their true north and settle on Ritsu's face. "Ritsu...you did it. I knew you'd pull through on your end." When he smiles, his teeth are stained pink. "They have a bad habit of...of underestimating you." Shou's arm comes up and pats his cheek, but it's only the left one. His right stays crooked on the ground. Ritsu's eyes catch on the red starting to pool under his back, under his head, and the sight tangles in the spokes of his brain until the wheels grind. "Don't." Shou's hand, the only good one left, grabs Ritsu's wrist before he can reach the zipper to get a look at where the jacket is soaked to his skin. "Ritsu, just...just trust me. Don't." He doesn't stop Ritsu from calling an ambulance at least, even though he's starting to fear there's no point in it. Shou's teeth are starting to chatter and Ritsu's heart and lungs are starting to spasm and he's bleeding out all over the ground and- "Listen to me. L-Listen. Ritsu." Shou stops to grit his teeth and spit blood. "Ricchan. It's all...everything's gonna be ok. I can do this. I'll do...I'll get i-it right next time. I was so close this time. Ricchan, it's gonna be ok." "...You knew." Shou had been acting weird all day long. Like he already knew everything that would happen. "Shou, you asshole, you were keeping Secrets, you knew, and you still- You still...!" "Which is why...I know that everything's gonna...gonna be ok." Ritsu finally makes himself look Shou in the eye. He still looks dazed, his pupils mismatched in size. Concussion. "C'mere. My head is...it hurts. I...pillow." Ritsu manages to get Shou's head on his lap, desperately trying to ignore the sticky wetness seeping into his jeans. He figures it's the least he can do. "Ricchan. Tell me-e-e...tell me a, uh, a story." "You seriously want...?" "Mm. Tell me...haha, tell me about the time...about when Kamuro and, and Tokugawa tried to...catch Momozou ditching." "I...Shou, you already know that story. You were there for some of it." "I know... It's, uh...a good memory. I love...like the way you, you tell it." Shou settles in while Ritsu recites something from back in middle school, Kamuro and Tokugawa deciding tardiness was their new target and Momozou was the worst in Salt Mid. "So Shinji is still hanging halfway out the window and... Shou. Sh-Shou, stay awake." "Mm." He doesn't open his eyes again. "Keep...going. Still listening..." Ritsu closes his eyes, too, because that way he can almost pretend this is just another night where one of them had a nightmare and went crawling into the other's bed and he doesn't have to watch his vision swim. "And...and Hikaru is trying to, to pull them both back in, but Momozou is so d-damn big and heavy that...th-that..." Ritsu squeezes his eyes shut tighter. He's not sure he wants to see.

"Shou...?" Nothing answers him but his own hiccuping breaths. "Shou, c'mon, you shouldn't...you're not supposed to sleep with a concussion. You can't..." He can't do this to him is what he wants to say, but he already knows it's pointless because there's no one there to hear it, because Shou is a fucking liar and he had said that everything was gonna be ok and Ritsu didn't even get to tell him his own Secret and nothing about this is even remotely ok. One hand clenches in the sleeve of their shared jacket and the other clamps over his eyes until it makes kaleidoscope patterns on the inside of his eyelids. He and Shou weren't supposed to be separated, they did everything together, they were a pair, he doesn’t want to imagine having to look forward and not seeing Shou's back like always because Ritsu is the only one he trusts to watch his back. They weren't ever supposed to be apart. Something bright burns beyond his eyelids and it's the only reason Ritsu peeks out between his fingers. Orange, yellow, and pink, an aura he knows almost as well as his own, but now in the shape of a person. Two wide white eyes slowly open across its face, meeting his gaze head on. Shou's ghost is sitting in front of him, staring at him. Ritsu watches, partly mesmerized and partly horrified, as he cups his hands together and something builds there, crackling with energy. Shou's eyes crinkle up like they do when he smiles and suddenly everything starts to pull. Nothing looks like it's moving, but Ritsu can feel it, like he's being sucked in, like his very soul is being forced out of him through a straw. Everything is compressed, crushed, crumbled down to crumbs as it's drawn into the tiny black hole held carefully in Shou's cupped hands. He can feel the world condensing into a single point, the preparation for a new universe because the best thing about this one was dead and gone. And Ritsu swears, just at the last possible second before the big bang, that he feels Shou's heart jolt beneath his fingertips.

[bugfeelings]

the only discourse gif ill ever reblog

On Laci Green, and the idea that we should give red-pill neo-nazis a chance for equal discussion.

So if you haven’t seen Laci Green’s video, here it is. I saw someone respond to it on twitter, and because I’m a glutton for punishment I went down the rabbit-hole and came out with this. Kind of a rant post and kind of a way for me to organise my thoughts vis-a-vis callout culture vs redpill culture. If you want to discuss this w me please take it to DMs. I’m not responding to any reblogged replies & I absolutely will block you if you reblog this.

I don’t usually participate in discourse, and this is probably the only contribution I’ll ever make to that community (can you call it a community? who knows) because the discussion Laci’s trying to have is one I have a lot of thoughts on, and one where until now I hadn’t settled on a solid opinion. A while ago I was talking to this guy who (I didn’t realise at the time - I was young and really stupid) was a straight-up neo-nazi. So we had a lot of discussions in which he was like “[minority identity] is killing the world & hate speech against it is a good thing, like I’m just saying uwu desu” I regret 90% of the conversations I ever had with him, but they provided a really interesting perspective, and introduced me to the kind of circular logic & buzzwords redpillers use to talk their way around people. It also opened my eyes to how difficult it is to have a reasonable conversation with someone whose fundamental beliefs include “I don’t care about anyone but myself, and white men are the real victims of the world.” You can’t convince someone like that of anything. So that’s my experience with redpill culture, and with that in mind, here are my thoughts.

Let’s do this.

The human experience is messy. Activism doubly so. The whole argument about SJWS-vs-redpillers-one-is-as-bad-as-the-other had a hold on me for quite a while (see above). And yeah, there are a lot of issues with online social justice. Callout culture is incredibly toxic. It doesn’t give people space to grow, learn, and apologise for honest errors (often borne of ignorance rather than malice). If someone makes one mistake, it’s the end of the world - they’re harrassed by people with little-to-no real-world experience. This in my experience is especially true of content creators (see the whole taako fiasco). I can’t stand discourse, because I think arguing for the sake of arguing and proving you have more SJ brownie points than the person you’re talking to is pointless. On top of that, typically nobody changes their mind, and the “winner” of the discussion is the most recent reblog. 

So there are definitely issues with the SJ culture.

HOWEVER

Comparing these issues to the fedorabro-redpill-4chan-”alt-right” asshole culture that’s gained a terrifying amount of momentum in recent years is straight-up moronic. Treating both sides as equal, and indeed facilitating debates between the sides, helps nothing, and does in fact give a powerful platform from which redpill enthusiasts can spew hateful vitriol. The right’s indignance at not being treated to a fair, civil and logical debate totally overlooks the difference between the two sides, both in terms of power dynamics and fundamental ideology. People disagree with SJ culture because they don’t want their privilege taken away. People disagree with redpill culture because they don’t want their right & humanity stripped from them. It’s impossible to engage in a civil discussion when one party sees the other as subhuman. 

Laci talks about “de-facto” suppression of free speech towards the redpill community. Frankly, it’s bullshit. Nobody is attacking the right’s right to free speech. Free speech protects you from government retaliation when you express your ideas. Kind of like what it’s not doing in trump’s administration at the moment (and not towards the right). Free speech is not the right to be hosted, listened to, or be free from consequences when you say things. If you’re being an asshole, people are free to tell you so, to totally ignore you, or to stop giving you a platform to voice those ideas. 

Laci also argues that speech is only harmful where it actively promotes physical violence. She makes the analogy that “comparing the use of a slur to a punch in the face downplays the seriousness of the punch in the face” (or something like that. I can’t be fucked watching her video again.) I’d argue it highlights the harm slurs can do. I’d argue speech can very much be harmful, especially when it targets specific aspects of people’s identities. For example (and I’m sure there are more I’m not familiar with), LGBTQ+ people are globally far more likely to attempt suicide than the general population. While we are also more at risk of physical violence than the general population, the risk of physical violence isn’t the only thing prompting us towards higher rates of mental illness and suicide attempts. Slurs and anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric directly contribute to feelings of isolation and self-hatred, thus contributing to suicide rates. I’d say that’s pretty fucking harmful.

SJ and discourse culture can be suuper harmful and toxic, but it doesn’t come close to the straight denial of humanity redpillers get up to on a daily basis. And they have the gall to want to be treated equally in political and academic spheres. As if they don’t already hold the majority of power and wealth in the world, and aren’t calling for the cultural or literal extermination of every minority group they can find. And their argument is that it’s logical, that stupid SJWs are too angry and emotional to ever engage in a rational debate with. 

I want there to be absolutely no doubt that I think sharing the views of redpillers and giving them a platform and opportunity to be taken seriously, is a very bad thing. The point at which people’s ideologies threaten the humanity of others is the point at which you should stop listening and taking them seriously, and start showing them the door. Logic may have a place in identity discussions, but not a place that supersedes morality or the voices of marginalised identities.