#so that’s what they’re looking for

[lacewise]

Hey, you! Yes: you! Random person on the internet! I need to talk to you about something.

Nearly everything on social media (yes, that thing too) (yup, so is that) (yes, especially me) is marketing. That’s a morally neutral statement. It’s not “good” or “bad” or even “morally grey”. It is the way we have organized the internet, especially platforms on the internet.

If people are fighting for attention, eyeballs, interest… you’re going to get marketing. In this truth, people have different goals: entertainment, education, money, etc. That’s all still morally neutral.

Where it gets morally bad is when you buy into the marketing without any research. Where it gets even worse is when people tell you if you fact check the information you see on social media, *you* are morally bad. Why don’t you just buy into the marketing? Why don’t you just accept the buzzwords? And a lot of it seems to be an updated redux of “tolerate my intolerance!” (Which evolved to, “Hey, I’m just asking questions” then to “What if it’s really true? What if [blank innocuous thing] is the root of all evil?” And now it’s, “We have to do something!!! There’s no time to fact check!!! If this is really happening, there’s no time!!!”) Which I should not have to explain… is bad.

Let me explain anyway though: the increase in urgency and making it time sensitive is meant to send you into a panic. That fear/anger/anxiety response tells you you need to do something, right now! But it’s so difficult to know what… don’t worry, don’t freeze, don’t think, they have the answer! Do this right now! You have to! There’s only a few seconds left! You NEED TO DO THIS YOU—oh you’ve done it. Phew, crisis averted! You’re our hero! Now make sure to tell all your friends or nothing you did matters and you will be d—ned for all eternit—thanks for sharing! We need more people like you!

The difference between this and something actually time sensitive is something that is legitimate will 1) often not work you into a panic, because they’re just trying to make you more informed/legitimately interested, 2) they will give you actionable steps and 3) the tone is completely different. Here’s another example:

Hey, everyone. I’m sorry to say this but [politician] has betrayed our [community]. We met with [politician] and they promised us they would fight for our [very specific purpose, usually with its own specialized vocabulary]. Today they voted against that. But we’re not giving up! Please, pressure [government body] to change their minds about [issue] and vote again in our favor! This would [specific impact]. We are also working on this [alternative solution]. Please donate here! We’ll keep you all updated and together, we will will achieve [favorable result]. We won’t back down! Thank for your support!

Even if the legitimate advocacy is angry, devastated, resigned, or scared, you will still see the elements of specific information and solutions pertaining to a specific situation, especially using jargon pertaining to the specific situation, urging you to learn more or ally with them without 1) centering yourself, 2) accidentally spreading bad information, or 3) accidentally harming other communities in solidarity with theirs. Learning more and supporting movements is supposed to be an *ongoing process* not a “winner-takes-all” sporting tournament, with you as the star and hero.

If people are telling you not to get a second opinion about something that isn’t easily verifiable (especially if there are no primary sources to consult), that’s morally bad marketing.

You may be wondering why I’m framing this as “morally bad marketing” instead of “propaganda” (which is literally correct). That’s *also* marketing. I’ve found that propaganda is a loaded word in most contexts, and if you tell someone they’ve fallen for it, they’ll get defensive. However, if I frame it as a scam and focus my attention on the people manufacturing the scam (whether that’s outrage, bigotry, etc) sometimes it jolts people into realizing how flimsy the premise actually is. Which is very!

If people aren’t using their own activism and infrastructure to gain acceptance and solidarity. If people are using other movements’ platforms to get attention to their own (like stealing hashtags), especially if they use *different phrases and jargon* to gain acceptance in different communities, and keep coming up with new rhetoric every time their ideas don’t penetrate the demographic they’re targeting—these are all red flags of a size that could blanket Texas. Discarding one marketing strategy for another takes time, especially with decentralized communications. If multiple strategies are being employed at once on a large scale: I highly doubt that’s decentralized at all. If it looks like a sales funnel, talks like a sales funnel, etc…

Further, if you see a sudden proliferation of accounts that don’t seem organic, or someone is selling One Weird Little Trick to complete your life, cure your ails, bring about World Peace! [Blank] hates it!

You need to flee. I need you to understand my *very* clearly on this—you need to *flee* immediately. The *best case* scenario is you are being tricked out of currency.

No one doing this is *ever* selling solutions. They are feeding you fear and self-loathing, then selling you the feeling of control. “You can do it! You can change the world! We can do it! We can do it together!” But never, ever once telling you what “it” is. At least not at first. It’s always a lifestyle, a thing, a movement. “Sure the world has gone to pieces [true] but you’re better than the last people who messed up [source?] you can fix it! Just let us tell you how [no, this is a cult, RUN]”

And, again, this can apply to anything, including: companies selling you ‘lifestyles’, companies selling you that one super niche product that will fix your life forever, up to and including literal propaganda campaigns.

The thing is: it’s not about you. It’s about what they can take from you, while you smile happily, feeling privileged (so, so proud) they took it. They let you market for them while they took your money, time, humanity, etc! And it’s all because you’re so wonderful! And brave! And subversive! And whatever else you want to see yourself as!

[soapbbox]

A Quintesson attack leaves Megatron in need of repairs.

Let’s pretend this takes place early where Megatron isn’t incredibly paranoid about back stabbing (Starscream) yet

[800db-cloud]

i’m literally shaking buy them brown contacts pls

[bread-blogs]

First we got Scott whispering to Logan, "Don't you dare break her heart. Be the best at what you do. Heal."

Then we got, "She can't say it. But I can... I love you, Logan. Stay with me."

Can y’all be NORMAL about this man?

[ninja-knox-ur-sox-off]

Hedghodg Snugglz

[lotus-pear]

i love you royal trio (minus akechi)

[boobilby]

Being even more cringe than usual

Featuring my friends drawing of Joel, who I’m pretty sure they don’t even know, @dustystripe is the friend

[zorangezest]

another batch of humanformers! have some eviiiiiil people!

I just cant help myself when it comes to human designs they are so fun to draw

[lycandrophile]

it’s so funny to me that people used to try to warn me “if you go on t it won’t make you androgynous it’ll just make you look like a man” because 1) i do want to look like a man, that is famously a major part of being a trans man but also 2) t literally has made me androgynous?? like they were wrong on both counts. i got most of the looking-like-a-man changes that i wanted (deep voice, broader body, hair all over my body including my face) and i also give every single cis person in a five mile radius a stroke every time they try to figure out my gender. the assumption that trans men wouldn’t actually want to look like men and the assumption that cis people are good at correctly gendering us once we’re on t are both weird as hell.

[remxedmoon]

yeah ok buddy

joke stolen from this post 🩶

[still-snowing]

smooch!

[theresistanceneverquits]

There’s not enough people talking about how important Stephanie is to Damian’s growth pre-Flashpoint.

Bruce had seen Damian as a beast to be tamed, Tim sees him as a ticking time bomb, and Dick is far better with him but he’s still an authority figure for Damian to combat with. But then he meets Stephanie, a college-aged girl who nobody trusts and he bullies her relentlessly and becomes inseparable from her.

She doesn’t interact with him based on his past, but on what she can see. This 10 year old just threatened to kill her? Wow he doesn’t get outside much. He’s not old enough to have seen Gremlins. What do you MEAN you’ve never been inside a bouncy house before we are fixing that immediately.

They are like cousins to each other. They poke fun at each other for being lame and stupid and Dick has to tell them both to shut up. She doesn’t see him as a project to be molded and redeemed, he’s just a kid with a crappy childhood like her and if he’s nice to her for 5 seconds she’ll do something with him to let him feel like a kid. And he doesn’t look at her and see a liability or a failure or a lost cause, like everyone she’s ever interacted with does. When he’s awful to her, it’s because he’s an obnoxious preteen boy.

And then you get the “there’s room in our line of work for hope, too” scene. Because Damian has gotten to know Steph and he can’t fathom why she’s here. She obviously has had to deal with crap and is still working through being kept on a leash by Nightwing and Oracle, but she isn’t broken like the rest of them are. Damian is surrounded by people who were molded and shaped and torn down and broken to become the monoliths that they are, and then there’s this girl who seems so at peace with herself and is constantly making quips, and it’s so foreign to him.

And she tells him that she’s in his world because she believes people are worth fighting for.

[crowskullls]

I couldn’t be a minecraft creator because if I was doing freaky gay roleplay with my friends and then got called siblings I would just end it all

[cosmosnout]

Unnaturally soft Zosan bc they gotta start being nice to each other at some point

[royaltea000]

[stress relief doodle] just wanted to let you guys know that he’s always had those stupid tassels dw

[lotus-pear]

smoke break