#so they can feel morally pure and virtuous in their ability to feel without ever needing to be incentivized to act

[hussyknee]

Same with academia. Especially decolonial academia.

Some people in Hollywood only care if and when they can make a buck off of it

If the only time you Hollywood fuckers can be bothered speaking up about this is after a trial commences, expect to get told to STFU

You had the chance to be on the right side of history

✨

[wildshero]

@hyruleir​ said: aloe, amaryllis, anemone, begonia, lavender, mint, poppy, snapdragon, zinnia

{ x - accepting }

aloe - how does your muse handle grief ?

He takes it all in internally. This part of the silent knight that continuously will stay with him. His grief is silent, but do not mistake it for not feeling. Link internalizes it so as to not burden others with his grief. When he regains his memories fully, and learns fully of who all has died because of his failure he grieves. When he goes through the Champion’s ballad after the final blight fight is the first and potentially only time he has ever openly grieved. Learning exactly what they went through and barely making it out himself it tears him up both inside and out and he cannot control that grief. Hyrules knows this day as everything seemed dull in a way that it never had before.

amaryllis - what is something or someone that your muse takes pride in ?   how do they express that pride ?

He takes pride in his duty as a knight for sure. But that is obvious I would like to think it is at least. However post Calamity he takes pride in how Hyrule is flourishing again with the wilderness and civilizations as few as they are working in tandem in a way that hasn’t been seen before, the proof of this is with the growth of the Silent Princess. They express their pride by embracing what they are prideful in. He embraces the role of Zelda’s knight, and he embraces the wild land that he is the hero of.

anemone - how does your muse view the world ;   as a cruel   &   unforgiving place ,   a land full of wonders ,   or something in - between ? where does that world view come from   (   what experiences ,   life lessons ,   etc .   ) ?  

Oh definitely a land full of wonders. This comes from his own desire to explore and be one with the land, but it also comes from the ability to do so, so freely once he wakes up after one hundred years. He is still Zelda’s knight but he doesn’t have the same pressure on him he once felt. It is completely different. I also think part of it is sparked from Zelda’s love of research of the land. He matches that with his love to explore and collect things for her. But it is definitely something from within after all he is dubbed as Hero of the Wild.

begonia - how cautious is your muse ?   are they prone to noticing red flags ,   or paranoid to the point of untrusting most everyone ?   why or why not ?  

Link isn’t really cautious at all. He is cautious around travelers on the road because they could be Yiga but they have a very large tell which is the Banana question or typically asking about the Hero so directly. Link is though a generally trusting person and willing to help anyone and everyone. After all he ends up helping build a town, only Link would be roped into doing that. But further he’s not cautious, he is strategic but not really cautious.

lavender - how easy is it to gain your muse’s trust ?  once their trust is broken ,   how might one go about mending it ?  

Gaining the full force of Link’s trust is very hard. Getting Link to trust you, not so much. But gaining all of Link’s trust is not an easy feat, very few have done it. Those people are the original champions, Zelda, the champion successors, Bolson. I’d say the Sheikah but Link has a very complicated relationship with them so they don’t have the full force of his trust, I also think they would be the first to break it due to differences in how Zelda should be protected. If his trust is broken mending it isn’t easy. Its never been done, but also his trust has not ever been broken. But mending it would take a literal act of Hylia for it to happen. Link is a kind person at heart, and to betray that openness he has, its not something Link wants to forgive.

mint - does your muse view themself as virtuous   &   moral ?  what do these words mean to them ?

I like to think he is. I’m not sure what he thinks. I think everyone in Hyrule both pre and post 100 years definitely thinks he is virtuous and moral and it is definitely how he comes across to citizens with his willingness to help them in their needs. To him they don’t really mean anything but a title he carries, and I feel that it is a weight that he will realize is weighing down on him, at least he did before the 100 years. After the 100 years he stopped worrying so much about what others thought, but I think it definitely has an ability to creep again especially with breath of the wild 2 on the horizon.

poppy - what comforts your muse ?

The sounds of nature. Link likes being out in the wild. He likes the wind in the trees, the crickets, the sound of a waterfall. His house is just far enough away from Hateno that he gets that, without being totally separate from society. But he loves the sounds and smells of the forests. Korok forest and the Faron region jungle and grasslands. Also Zelda. In Creating a Champion with the original translation of the text Link says he wants to see Zelda smile again, and that he is doing this to see her smile again. So I think in part is seeing Zelda smile, but also just her as a person. Before the Calamity Mipha was someone who he found great comfort in as he grew up around her. I also think that both Urbosa and Daruk were two that Link also found comfort in because both of them allowed him to not be a knight, and they saw him for more than the knight he was, but the person he wanted so desperately to always be.

snapdragon -  is your muse merciful ?  why or why not ?

It entirely depends on the person. Link is not merciful to the yiga or the monsters, but other citizens in Hyrule, other people he gives multiple chances to. He gives ways to correct their wrongs a notable example of this is the Gerudo who is littering in the water source. However, when it comes to combat and fighting an enemy Link does not hesitate.

zinnia - how has the loss of fallen comrades and/or loved ones affected your muse ?   has it taught them anything or given them any new perspectives ?

It tears him apart. Upon regaining his memories he feels immense guilt. As stated above when he finishes the last blight fight from the Champion’s ballad he is in pure anguish over his failure over how he lost them. It tears him apart, and nothing can ever fill their roles. He is lucky their abilities and their spirits are their as a guide because at least he has that. It is not them, it does not make him whole but he fully feels their loss and always will. It like the scars from the guardians will always mark him out. Loosing them taught him it is okay to not only be emotional over what he loss, but rejoice in their legacies. He knows Urbosa would be beyond pleased of Riju and her bravery. He knows Daruk would cherish Yunobo and his courage. He knows Mipha would be proud of her brother Sidon and his heart. And he knows deep down despite all the irritation he and Revali had for each other, he knows Revali would be puffing out his feathers in satisfaction at Teba and his power. While the champion’s successors might not be the champions they may never take that place in Link’s heart, loosing them only showed Link just how big his heart can be. Love for his friends and family is never lost, even if memory fades, there will always be something to help you remember along the way.

[clouds-of-wings]

I wrote this like 3 weeks ago and actually got over it since but @tardigradedeathposture wanted to read it, so here’s the lightly edited rant.

---

I was going to not write about how crap I thought the Witcher TV show was but it keeps bugging me and whatever here’s my rant.

So as my followers might know, I played the games (yes even the first) and mostly liked them, especially the second, which I think is a great game and actually better than the third, which I still enjoyed. The first, well, had its moments. I’ve read the first book about 5 years ago after playing the second game for the second time but couldn’t really get into it, I watched the old Polish TV adaptation and found it sort of quaint but nothing special. So of course I was skeptical of the prospect of a TV show but also sort of interested.

Well good things first. I thought Henry Cavill played Geralt pretty well actually. People hated him when he was first introduced but I think most were won over by his performance. He isn’t quite like the Geralt I know, but that might be due to the script. Second good thing, Jaskier isn’t quite as incredibly annoying as he is in the games, though still annoying. But at least he isn’t a pimp here. Third good thing, Chireadan, because Elves <3

But apart from these aspects, I think I haven’t watched such a stupid show since Once upon a time (which was so terrible that it caused my gallbladder to ache non-stop, so I had to stop after the first half of season 1. Witcher didn’t do that, so I guess it wasn’t quite as bad as OUAT). I know the series follows the story laid out in the books, and actually my problem isn’t even what happens, but how it’s presented, in that story and characterization manage to be tepid and tropey and also illogical and self-contradictory.

Take Yennefer for example, because her character annoyed me the most.

Now I’m not a fan of her in the third game either but at least she has a consistent (terrible) personality and a will of her own there. I read that she’s a better character in the books, so okay. Maybe they butchered her on the show. I honestly don’t remember the book I read very well anymore, as I said, I couldn’t get into it.

She is explicitly said and shown to do very badly during her mage training and to be bad at court politics, she’s barely even shown doing magic before the last episode, but she gets to “ascend”, whatever that means, while the other (far more deserving?) students get turned into eels. Later her teacher says she was the best student she’d ever had (?? when? where?) and gives her trust and responsibility for zero reason and Yennefer goes on to save the day, sort of.

She gets, in one of the most unrealistic scenes on the show, cosmetic surgery that involves an extensive spinal operation and the removal of her uterus WITHOUT NARCOTICS and half an hour later she wows everyone at the prom ball. IIRC, in the books and the games the sorceresses and sorcerers alter their appearance using, uh, magic instead of having some guy rip out their spine. And the sorceresses explicitly make themselves beautiful because “that’s what their clients expect”, just like the sorcerers make themselves appear as “venerable” old men - because it’s the pre-conception their clients have. It’s subversive, John-Karen, because the mages somewhat cynically show themselves to be genre-savvy by exploiting the... why am I explaining this. It’s obvious to everyone except the idiots who wrote the show. The point is, it’s not about their personal empowerment, but they could have done something with Yennefer’s “ugly to beautiful” transformation and they didn’t, so that sucks too.

From the whole way she’s presented, it becomes clear that she would be a terrible mother (”happy childhoods make for boring conversation”), yet we’re supposed to feel sympathy for her quest for fertility. And she’s constantly bitter about her lack of it - when the surgeon told her very clearly that she’d be losing her fertility as a side-effect of the operation and she explicitly agreed to it. This wasn’t something that was forced upon her yet she acts like it was.

Just like in the game, she has zero concern for other people’s wishes or boundaries. I mean she cast magic upon a bunch of people and made them sexually assault each other, and the show just frames it as “sexy lady hosts an orgy”. Then she accuses Geralt of not paying attention to other people’s boundaries because he made a wish she doesn’t even know the specifics of (lol).

Yennefer is a pretty terrible person, which would be fine in terms of character, if she were actually presented as terrible. Yennefer actually has pretty exactly the personality of Cersei Lannister, but Cersei was intentionally portrayed as vicious, power-hungry, dishonest and irrational. We weren’t supposed to see her as a good person and that made her a great character. Watching Cersei was fun and interesting. Watching Yennefer is grating because in any sane universe, a woman like that would not be the hero. That’s also why I think it’s absolutely false to call TW “the new GoT”. TW is worse than even late seasons GoT.

However, the show loves her so much that it randomly gives her super-powers whenever it suits. In the fight in front of the dragon cave, she’s as good with a sword as Geralt, even though she has no training and no muscles and he’s literally been mutated to become a better fighter. In the last episode, she easily deters the attack by Nilfgaard and then destroys their camp (??) with magic when up until then she was only ever shown to be very bad at magic. (Unleash *~the chaos inside you~* god who wrote that script?)

But in the end, almost her whole story is determined by the effect she has on men. Despite all her qualities that we’re supposed to blindly believe she has, it’s her looks and the fact that some men like her constant pointless insults that determines what happens to her. The archeologist guy in the beginning is the only one who stops her from totally failing at mage training. The king she wows with her good looks and her early 21st century dress becomes her employer. Geralt and the Elf guy falling for her. The knight guy she manipulates into going to dragon mountain with her. Her only skill that she is somewhat consistently proven to actually possess is the ability to charm and seduce men with her beauty and her sparkling personality.

Unfortunately, this characterization is somewhat common among “strong female characters”. All the important female characters on American Gods are that way as well. Wonder Woman is (in the film, I haven’t read the comics) close to it as well. Random pointless superpowers, but her story is actually determines by everyone being head over heels for her because she’s pretty. I don’t really know why this counts as “feminist”, but for the media industry apparently it does. I think it’s rather the opposite.

But, god, Yennefer wasn’t the only terrible character. I also hated the way they portrayed what were apparently supposed to be Scoia’tael adjacent Elves in the first episode. Can you imagine Iorveth or Yaevinn make common cause with those planless caricatures? I absolutely love the clearheadedness and ruthlessness of the Scoia’tael in the games. They rebel against human oppression with the decisiveness of people with nothing left to lose. The Elves are portrayed as a mentally somewhat superior race who see themselves as the rightful owners of the land and are absolutely furious at humans using brute force to disinherit them. I love the absolute lack of moral high ground and of “virtuous victimhood”. I love the elitism turned to bitterness. I love the way they frame things like telling Elvish legends as acts of resistance (which is something that has plenty of real-life parallels). I love (since it’s fictional and all) the vicious treatment of human civilians, since, you know, from the Elves’ perspectives there are no civilians among the humans. In the games, you’re clearly made to understand that both the Scoia’tael and their opponents have committed terrible acts, and then, because this is war, you’re expected to pick a side anyway. Which was both easy and fun for me as a huge Elf stan in general, but I love that it’s not supposed to be an easy choice.

So I’m just talking about a short scene in the first or second episode, because that was the only time we see Elves who have Elf-specific problems, but I just hated that scene, because it steps into exactly the tropes that the games avoided. They complain, act irrationally and are portrayed as helpless, morally pure victims who won’t actually do anything that will do more than just slightly inconvenience humans. Toothless! Exactly as Hollywood would like oppressed peoples to be, righteous in their suffering, maybe stealing some bread but that’s all they will do.

Another thing that really bothered me was how unpolished it was. Hahaha! Terrible pun alert. They took everything Polish out of the story, see what I did there? I would have loved to see those houses with the flowers painted on them for example that are based on a real Polish village. What we got was just a bland Medieval(TM) world that could be anywhere and had no discernible features. It also obliterated the charm of the costume design. I found myself longing even for King Henselt’s unbelievably stupid belt because at least it had some character. And the weird and awesome creature design as well. None of it was on the show. Can you imagine that in a million years creatures like the three Crones from TW3 would show up on the show? Of course not, because a female character who won’t give the viewer a boner is obviously not worth showing.

And I don’t even understand how they managed to include Geralt being aware of his outsider status and thinking about it and to somehow make it boring anyway. But I’m really tired of writing and thinking about this now, so this is the end of my rant about like... half the things that annoyed me about the show.

[celestialsoft]

⤻   *       GREETINGS AND HELLO !!!! :   IT IS I   ,   ADMIN EDIE !    HERE ONCE AGAIN HERE TO POST AN INTRO  :~))))  

this time i’m here to introduce you to my tenderhearted wee bab of an angel who clears my skin and grows by crops tBH, FRANK KANGDAE LONGBOTTOM, my lionhearted boi who deserves e v e r y t h i n g ( literally ; empty out your pockets and give EVERYTHING u have to frankleface longbooty—— he . deserves . it . all . !!!!! ) if you’d like to plot, please like this post or hmu in my im’s & without further ado —— here’s frank ! pls love him

⤻   *       APPLICATION   —— !

* ╰    ( KIM YOUNGKYUN )┋have you met ( FRANKLIN KANGDAE LONGBOTTOM ) ? ( he ) reminds me of ( deep loneliness and deep kindness grown in equal parts —— and he speaks, so overcome with love, that i forget we are at war. he grew up hanging lanterns on hilltops to make sure the moon could see at night ; and practiced catching droplets of rain with his lips —— because even the clouds deserved a little romance. ' i infinitesimal being, drunk with the great starry void ' —— tenderhearted boy , luminescent boy : boy frightened , boy destroyed. unravelled by kindness ; compassion consumed —— on the precipice of supernova , he burns brightest in the darkest hour. he looks to me as if he were a man forged entirely of tenderness and the sun ; yet he is the sweet nocturne that plays despite how the beginning of the end has begun ). a ( twenty-one ) year old ( tenth ) year ( gryffindor ), the ( paladin ) is known to be ( + tenderhearted & + clement ), yet ( — oversolicitous & — pensive ). that explains why they’re majoring in ( healing ). rumour has it, ( frank ) is siding with ( the order ) in the solemn war that blazes beyond the castle walls. ( edie, 22, aedt, she/her )

⤻   *       ABOUT FRANK  ——   !!

ahhhhh, frank longbottom —— where do i even start ????? if there’s just one thing that you should absolutely know about frank longbottom, it is that he is a gosh darn heckin’ angel. his heart is ??? so ??? genuinely pure ??? just thinking about it makes me want to tear up tbh

frank is the kind of boy who will charge straight into the carnage and chaos of the whomping willow to save a cat. he’s the kind of boy who hangs out by the edge of the black lake, worried that the giant squid is feeling lonely. he’s the kind of boy who sees the potential for good in everyone & everything, and is genuinely confused and appalled by acts of unkindness and malice when they occur. he chooses the path of benevolence, always, and he wants to keep everyone he loves safe so he carries the weight of the world on his shoulders and feels like it is up to him, & him alone, to SAVE THE WORLD and make it a better place. i repeat for you my fronds : frank longbottom gosh darn heckin’ angel. but my god, is he a broken one.

⤻   *       BACKGROUND   ——   !!

frank was born into a sacred 28 pureblood family who cared very little for blood purity, but a whole lot for social justice & fighting for what is right. thomas and augusta longbottom first met at the ministry of magic, where their ‘ left-wing ’ progressive ideas about wizard / muggle / magical creature relations brought them together. their love brought frank longbottom into the world ; a child who was, from an early age, exposed to concepts of in/equality, systematic oppression, privilege, biased public policy, and injustice through his parents.

under the steady & tireless virtuous guidance of his mother and father, frank longbottom bloomed from infancy into childhood with a strong sense of egalitarianism & selflessness that most children only learned well into adolescence, and he had an awareness of the injustices of the world that many people did not gain even well into adulthood. yet despite his parent’s rather strict & heavy hand in discipline, there was always a remarkable air of benevolence and incorruptibility about frank that refused to be befouled.

nevertheless, frank was a terribly lonely child. he was homeschooled by a thoroughly screened, left-wing half-blood governess, and she was just about his only connection to the outside world. it goes without saying that sacred 28 pureblood socialising events & parties were off-limits and out of the question for frank, and since the longbottoms lived in suburban muggle england, frank was always too scared to socialise with many of the children in his neighbourhood, fearful that he would accidentally expose his magical lineage & incur terrible consequences for his folly. shut away in a house of absolute virtue and morality, frank longbottom was a victim of utter loneliness & never got to experience the world his parents adamantly taught and trained him to save … until his letter from hogwarts arrived, that is.

⤻   *       HOGWARTS   ——   !!

frank was a heckin’ confusing four-way house hat stall during his sorting. the hat sensed the resolute loyalty and benevolence of hufflepuff in him, the love and respect for knowledge and learning of ravenclaw in him & the tenacity and ambition to achieve his goals of slytherin in him, but ultimately, the sorting hat settled on “ GRYFFINDOR ! ”, declaring its choice with a booming roar. above all, the sorting hat sensed frank to be brave —— willing ( & desperate, even ) to fight for what is right. it’s a shame that frank, to this day, doesn’t seem to see this bravery in himself. but by the warm beacon of the gryffindor common room fireplace, under the twinkling candlelights of the great hall, and at the top of the astronomy tower ( the stars and galaxies at the reach of his very own fingertips ), frank, at hogwarts has grown to be exactly the kind of person his parents have always wanted him to be : stalwartly true ; combatting hate with kindness, and enveloping cruelty with warmth. he loves deeply and vastly, and he honestly radiates this other-worldy quality of brightness ??? he’s the light in the dark, and oh how he shines. 

however —— the fact that he’s already grown into someone that his parents are proud of doesn’t stop frank from still wanting to be better, and wanting to save the world. what frank doesn’t realise is that he can hardly save the world if he can’t first save himself. he’s constantly emotionally and physically exhausted ; spending every moment of his time helping those around him and making sure to change to the world one kind act at a time. slowly but surely, frank’s bleeding heart and compulsion for kindness is coming to the point of being harmful to his own health and wellbeing. 

so yeah … … . though frank is falling apart, he never lets this show & he really tries to never make this anyone else’s problem. through the haze of responsibility and moral duty that has always clouded frank’s life, there’s still a profound tenderness and warmth about him ; and among all his advocations and efforts towards justice & peacetime, it’s difficult to discern just how deeply scared, lost, and confused the boy is in a world that refuses to cease changing right before his very eyes ; an inevitable war upon the horizon. 

⤻   *       LITTLE HEADCANONS   ——   !!

frank has always been V MAGICALLY GIFTED. he showed his first signs of magic when he was just one and a half, when he had a terrible nightmare & woke up screaming in the middle of the night. instead of waiting for his parents to come and calm him down though, frank simply closed his eyes & focused on his breathing. when his parents stumbled into the room ; sleep hazy in their eyes, they could hardly believe what they saw : the entire room, covered in flowers and lush foliage —— something that frank had somehow conjured up to keep himself calm ( b/c untamed childhood magic be CRAZY ). frank is now able to command wandless magic, which is a GODSEND tbh b/c he’s such a sleep-deprived mess & he loses his wand c o n s t a n t l y istG

being a sacred 28 pureblood with quite advanced magical abilities, frank has always been in high demand for pureblood partnership through an arranged marriage. his parents, have always hastily shot down offers ( bc they aren’t all up in that pureblooded nonsense ! ), but that hasn’t stopped pureblooded parents from reaching out anyway :/ yIKEs :/// 

frank is part of the slug club ,,,,,,,,,,,,, and like ,,,,,,,,,,,,,, every single other club / extracurricular. baby longbottom is an OVERACHIEVER EXTRAORDINAIRE —— YA BOI DOES NOT KNOW HOW TO CHILL. it’s not that frank is driven by any sort of particular ambition and self-interest, though ?? rather, frank’s heavy involvement in every aspect of school life stems from the aforementioned incredible pressure of his parent’s expectations ; frank applying himself to every possible aspect of school life and extracurriculars in the hopes that he will make them proud

frank has so little chill that he’s actually started sleepwalking … yikes ????? it probably doesn’t help that frank is involved in almost every sport club tbH, & he is also gryffindor quidditch team’s seeker. the thing is that he could never give any sport up. sport is so cathartic for frankie my boi, because it helps him forget his worries & his responsibilities. while he’s playing sport he is just a body —— he is pulsing blood, deep breaths & he is free.

⤻   *       OTHER FUN FACTS / GENERAL SUMMARY DOT POINTS ABOUT FRANKLEFACE LONGBOOTY   ——   !!

THE MOST CLEAN CUT KID OF THE YEAR AWARD GOES TO : frank longbottom, OFC. innuendo is lost on the kid ( he is v v v lost every time someone uses the word ‘ wand ’ as double entendre ), and has only consumed alcohol once in his life —— and even then, it was by accident ( it was in a spiked cherry berry trifle at an end of year christmas party back in first year ). 

LATELY, THOUGH, frank has taken up smoking. he does it in secret ; one cigarette every night in the astronomy tower, or by the black lake. if anyone ever found out about this frank would be MORTIFIED & would legitimately probably DIE of shame, so ………….. *coughs* someone pls walk in on him smoking one day. 

it’s so strange, because frank is incredibly in touch with the real travesties and injustices of the world, but in many ways he’s completely naive and lacking in real life experience. he is such an experientially sheltered kiddo, someone pls take him out and get him RAGING DRUNK bc he needs to chill out tbH

#mumfriend

takes literally 15 minutes out of each of his days to have a few conversations with a few of hogwarts’ cats ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, what a loser ??

gets excited when people ask him for help with their homework ( hELP ME ???? )

excels at all his subjects, but has a particular soft-spot for astronomy, herbology and care of magical creatures :’)

LOVES KNITTING —— stress knits a lot . he’d like to just knit the entire world up into a snug lil blanket and keep it safe and warm 

wants to single handedly save the world

did i mention ????? babe is a gosh dark heckin’ angel

in the mirror of erised, frank would see all his friends and family happy and smiling —— but he wouldn’t even be in the frame. mY HEART BREAKS OVER THIS HEADCANON TBH

frank has a cat named alexis de tocqueville 

i’ve run out of things to dot point & this is probably WAY TOO LONG ALREADY ANYWAY ??? so i’ll stop :o :o :o but please come and interact with my son ?!!!!!!??!? i love yall peace out

[qiu-yan]

👀👀👀👀👀👀 this is super interesting

[spoilers for golden kamuy below]

you are super right about their backgrounds being similar: as you said, both characters are the lowborn bastards of a high-status man and a low-status entertainer, both characters feel some sort of way about their moms, and both characters commit fratricide. and both characters enact some incredible violence upon their fathers due to said fathers' wrongdoings against their mothers. despite also having read both works, i did not make that connection myself, so i'm very 👀 to see your analysis.

i think you bring up two especially interesting points: [resentment of the "morally pure" socially-sanctioned brother-figure], and [guilt]. i'd like to discuss these in more detail.

long ass reply below.

resentment

i really like your point about the "moral purity" of the brother figures that both jin guangyao and ogata kill, how that "moral purity" is in some aspect only possible because the brother figure holds a level of class privilege that jin guangyao and ogata themselves do not have access to, and how the kills can be said to be driven in part by resentment of said "moral purity."

the last point is more obvious with ogata, who (if i'm recalling correctly) directly complains about yuusaku's "moral purity" in his internal monologue multiple times - and also tries to get asirpa to kill him, just so that she will have violated her no-killing vow, simply because she reminds him of yuusaku. it seems that, whenever ogata encounters someone he sees as "morally pure" in the way yuusaku was, he hates it: he first tries to get the person in question to violate their "moral purity;" then, if he fails to do so, he kills them. this seems to be the result of ogata trying desperately to prove (to who? the world? himself?) that his self-perceived lack of moral purity is in fact normal; that everyone in the world is actually like him.

i'm not as sure about this, but i think you can also say that jin guangyao's murder of nie mingjue was also drive, in some part, by resentment of nie mingjue's socially-sanctioned "moral purity." i think that, to jin guangyao, nie mingjue represented "heroism" - more specifically, both something genuinely virtuous that jin guangyao legitimately admired, and the socially-sanctioned, socially-constructed concept of a "hero" itself. meng yao genuinely wants to be a heroic person - however, for the majority of his life, he's only ever been spat upon by the rest of society as the son of a whore.

but nie mingjue was different. nie mingjue, a respected general and the highborn sect leader of a legitimate great sect, recognized meng yao's abilities. to put it more cheesily, he believed in meng yao when no one else did. that someone both as morally upright and as socially recognized as so would then in turn recognize meng yao must have meant the world to him. it must have felt like nie mingjue was telling him: "you, too, can be a hero."

but then meng yao's circumstances change. he becomes jin guangyao. in the process of becoming so, he commits all sorts of moral violations; due to these moral violations, he loses the faith of nie mingjue. but here's the thing: jin guangyao could not have survived and accomplished what he did without committing those moral violations. nie mingjue can go around following his own moral compass because he's physically powerful and the highborn leader of a still-powerful great sect, but jin guangyao, the bastard son of a whore, cannot do that.

jin guangyao tries to explain this to nie mingjue. he tries again and again to get nie mingjue to see that he's in an impossible position. but nie mingjue refuses to accept his reasoning. jin guangyao says: "if i do what you are asking me to do, i will die." in return, nie mingjue says: "then die."

nie mingjue was the first person to say that meng yao was more than just the son of a whore. yet now, through his repudiation of jin guangyao's reasoning and excuses for his actions, through his refusal to accept that jin guangyao "had no choice," nie mingjue says (in jiggy's view):

"i take back the dignity i gave you before. you in fact cannot be a hero."

"the fact that you are unable to resolve this situation without causing some moral violation is proof that this path was never open for you. such is intrinsic to your nature. such cannot be separated from your very existence. from the very beginning, there was never any place for you here."

this is not what nie mingjue said, but i think it’s what jin guangyao heard.

there are of course a wide number of other reasons as to why jin guangyao ended up killing nie mingjue - nie mingjue tried to kill him on three separate occasions already, nie mingjue put him in an impossible situation, his dad wanted him to kill nie mingjue, nie mingjue insulted his mom, and so on - but i think this resentment played a part, too. and it explains why jin guangyao kept nie mingjue's severed head in his private storage long afterwards.

guilt

or, the feeling some kind of way part. i like the way you contrast them here, in that ogata - despite his best efforts to pretend otherwise - is in fact haunted by guilt, while jin guangyao....is not.

ogata is an interesting character because he seems to be trying to prove two opposite and contradictory points via his actions simultaneously. on one hand, he wants to show that what he believes about himself - that he doesn't feel guilty about killing people, that he doesn't feel it is wrong to kill people - is in fact true for everybody. everyone actually thinks this way. no one feels guilty when they kill someone. that "killing is bad and makes you feel bad" is simply a polite fiction everyone in society has agreed upon. ogata is a normal person - the fact that his parents did not love each other did not affect him at all.

peak ogata moment.

on the other hand, though - what he believes in himself is also a self-fiction he convinces himself is true. it isn't that ogata actually doesn't feel guilty - rather, it's that he's convinced himself that he doesn't feel guilty. "no one would feel guilty about killing their brother" is the claim he aims to prove in order to justify the preceding statement "i don't feel guilty about killing yuusaku" - except this preceding statement, "i don't feel guilty about killing yuusaku," is also a claim he needs to prove.

i think that's why ogata seems to go out of his way to be such an asshole throughout the story. chronic backstabbing disorder, constantly switching sides and thus alienating everyone, and a consistent refusal to bond with any of the other characters unparalleled by anyone else in the story: it's as if he's going out of his way to prove (to the world? to himself?) that he is an aberration. that he is cursed. that gleeful violence is simply his nature, in a way that cannot be changed.

why?

i think it comes down to the idea that [a child of two parents who don't love each other is cursed]. on one hand, all of ogata's actions are directly stated to be for the sake of disproving this idea: he insists that everyone is just as morally corrupt and empty inside as them, he hates genuinely "morally pure" people and goes out of his way to destroy them (as described above), his actual goal is to become commander of the 7th, just to prove to his shitty dead dad that the bastard son can achieve what the dad achieved.

on the other hand, though, i think deep down ogata has actually accepted this idea as truth. deep down, he's convinced himself that since he is a child of two parents who don't love each other, he's fundamentally cursed. the violence in his life, the suffering in his life, the fact that he killed his mom, the fact that his dad refused to acknowledge him even as he slowly killed said dad, the fact that he killed his brother - was all inevitable, due simply to the circumstances of his birth. this way, none of it was avoidable. this way, all of it was fated. this way, he doesn't feel bad about any of it - because he's a cursed child who doesn't feel guilt. so he doesn't feel guilty. so he doesn't feel guilty. so he doesn't feel guilty.

but this is a fallacy. in other words, it's a Cope. because, deep down, ogata does in fact feel guilty about killing yuusaku. ogata is in fact a human being. he wanted his mom to love him, he wanted his dad to love him, he wanted paternal affection from lieutenant tsurumi, he knows he was in part manipulated by tsurumi into killing yuusaku. all of the above bullshit about proving various statements to the world only exists because ogata does in fact feel guilty.

now, as for jin guangyao...i think it's entirely reasonable to argue that he legitimately does not feel guilty. i think it's also entirely reasonable to argue that, while he does feel guilty, his approach to guilt is such that [a jin guangyao who feels guilty] is indistinguishable from [a jin guangyao who does not feel guilty].

in the latter case, jin guangyao approaches feelings of guilt in a manner vastly different from ogata. ogata says: "yes, the thing i did was wrong and unnecessary, but i literally don't even feel bad about it at all. i am someone who doesn't care." jin guangyao instead says: "yes, the thing i did was questionable, and yes, i do feel guilty about it. but it was also necessary; i had no other choice." ogata's reaction to guilt as a result of evildoing is to lean into the evil and deny the guilt; jin guangyao's reaction to guilt as a result of evildoing is to accept the guilt and deny the evildoing.

everything jin guangyao gets criticized for by other characters, he justifies with one word: necessary. i think this is probably how he justifies things to himself as well, as he carries on calmly every day with his feelings of guilt: yes, it was terrible, but he had no other choice. if he did in fact kill jin rusong, that's what he tells himself. and if he did not in fact kill jin rusong (because sect leader yao is not a reliable source), that's probably still what he tells himself in order to cope: jin rusong had to die, every additional day jin rusong lived was an increase in the chances of the incest marriage being discovered. therefore, his death makes things easier. therefore, he was going to have to die anyways. therefore, there is no need to be sad.

so long as the harm caused was necessary, jin guangyao can live with guilt. so long as the harm caused was necessary, jin guangyao has no need for guilt.

but in order for this Cope to work, jin guangyao needs two other things to be true. first, jin guangyao's actions have to be normal. everyone who was put in jin guangyao's position has to behave the same way he does, make the same choices he did. everyone who is forced to choose between their ethics and their life must choose their life. after all, jin guangyao is a normal person: every decision he made was a decision any rational person in his position would have made. all human beings are actually just like jin guangyao. the only reason why their hands are cleaner than his is because they got lucky. that people pretend otherwise, that society pretends that ideals like "i will die for justice" exist, is a polite fiction - one that is only able to maintained because the people who believe in it have never been put in jin guangyao's position.

that someone would choose their abstract moral values over their life, that someone would choose to die for what they believe to be justice - it is not merely unthinkable. it is not permitted.

second, jin guangyao has to be uniquely cursed, such that all of his choices were inevitable. all of his justifications are based on the unique horribleness of his circumstances - he's the bastard son of a whore, his status and life depend wholly on his father's goodwill, his cultivation is weak, he was forced into a secretly incestuous marriage with his own half-sister - the fundamental axiom of all his self-justifications is that, due to these horrible conditions, jin guangyao is always at risk of death. the mere existence of these conditions means that anything jin guangyao does that alienates enough of the gentry puts him at risk of death.

therefore, the idea that [jin guangyao could have been saved had he only made different choices] is not permitted. it is not merely untrue that he might have dodged the incest marriage had he honestly asked his sworn brothers for help, the possibility is not permitted. it is not merely untrue that he might have chosen to kill jin guangshan instead of nie mingjue, after nie mingjue demanded xue yang's execution - the possibility of this is not permitted. nor is it merely untrue that jin guangyao, upon being blackmailed, could have chosen a less drastic option than immediately trying to wipe out the entire jianghu - no, jin guangyao must be trapped, he must have no other choice, so this very thought is not permitted.

thus, perhaps what ogata and jin guangyao have in common regarding their approaches to guilt are the two statements: [i am normal, everyone is in fact like me], and [i am uniquely cursed, so all of my choices were inevitable]. it's just that, for jin guangyao, these two statements are consistent with each other (as the first describes his internal psychology and the second describes his external social position); while for ogata, these statements instead contradict each other (as they both describe his internal psychology).

if they met

i think ogata would hate the public-facing lianfang-zun. this fellow bastard son of a whore, who instead of becoming cursed like ogata, was beloved by the people; who instead of becoming cursed like ogata, went on to become "morally good." and it'd only be when all of jin guangyao's secret murders were exposed that ogata would relax, because then both of ogata's self-beliefs would be proven. he is normal, because even the kindest politician in this world was secretly an unrepentant killer. and he is cursed due to his birth, because this fellow bastard son of a whore is clearly cursed as well - there was no other path available for either of them.

meanwhile, if jin guangyao realized exactly why ogata called him "cursed" - that it wasn't because of jin guangyao's external social position, that it wasn't because of society; rather, ogata simply believes that children of parents who don't love each other are intrinsically broken in some way - it would drive him insane. jin guangyao already has to deal with an entire society of people who think he's inherently unclean due to the circumstances of his birth - and now he has to deal with this edgelord's bullshit too?

thus, jin guangyao would respond with: no, i am not the same as you.

but you did just as much fucked up shit as i did, ogata would reply, so how are you any different from me?

i had no other choice. i wish there had been a different way.

you're lying.

and now both of their coping mechanisms are at risk, so they start biting each other.

meanwhile, if they met while both elbow-deep in corpses or whatever, i think they might instead get caught in a loop of "wow i'm so normal :) and you're so normal too :) :) everyone is like us." and so long as no one asks any clarifying questions then it's all good.

bonus: the moms

i think both of them are using their moms as an excuse to hide the fact that they wanted their dads to love them. at least a bit.

it's a good thing jiang cheng doesn't exist in the golden kamuy universe, because if he ever met first lieutenant tsurumi it would be so joever for him

[massistocchifontana]

The Honour Triangle: Purity, Virtue and Honour

Purity, Virtue and Honour

Purity is the first task of a triad necessary for men to master. The key aspect to understand purity is in its definition. 

The dictionary definition of purity is freedom from adulteration or contamination, or freedom from immorality. 

 Realistically it does not matter what day and age we are born into or come from, or from which society we have grown up in – sexuality is undeniably present in all of us at every moment behind the veil or without the veil. The problem here is that we are never taught to understand or connect with our sexuality from a young age. We automatically connect purity with its dictionary definition due to the sexual undertones, and how society has grown further to connect the term with this understanding. In my mind, I see your “Mother Theresa Prototype” as the ideal and would be an image of purity in human form to strive for. 

 I am by no means being blasphemous in my comparison with Mother Theresa and the random Joe Blog who thinks primarily with his penis. However there is something I need to highlight, and this is the similarity between the two. 

 Joe Blog experiences the same euphoria as Mother Theresa! Their passion and dedication have transcended towards two very different belief systems. Mother Theresa’s conscious focus and dedication is towards God and she experiences the warmth, comfort and elation of being engulfed by God’s presence and beauty in the world, in her life, and in the life of others, and furthermore connecting with the beauty in miracles that life offers us. 

 Joe Blog’s conscious focus is on strippers, sexy women, debauchery, sex, physical gratification and money. We assume that there is no correlation between the two, however take a second to explore the mode in which Joe Blog worships all of the above. The strippers for example provoke a mindset of absolute adoration and love for the female being and physical form on display. This is similar to the absolute adoration and love we feel for a statue of the Buddha or the Mary mother of any other religious figure. It is not about the sexualisation of the stripper but the feelings of adoration, appreciation, passion and love being felt. 

 Taking this stance we can all experience purity, however I believe the key question is how do we experience purity in thought or action or both?

 On average, the human mind experiences 75000 thoughts in one day, many of which are unconscious and rarely acted upon. How could we ever truly be pure in thought? I ponder this question often and in many respects I do not believe that Mother Theresa never had any impure thoughts during her time on earth. Instead I believe she was able to connect absolute elation with pure thoughts and deeds with the aid of conditioning or habit and she was then able to chose whether she wanted to act on these intrusive thoughts or not. 

 Her choice was clearly one which was guided by the hand of God to which she invested her time and energy and prayers into being a symbol of peace in aiding the bodily and psychological suffering of others. She was able to transform what to others may seem a chore and yet when she encountered someone suffering she would be there with them and suffer with them. She was able to transform something negative into kindness, compassion and empathy, which in turn brought her closer to God. She was able to achieve the three levels of fulfillment—psychological, physical and spiritual. 

 Joe Blog on the other hand, experiences purity in his ability to adore the human form and femininity. However he does not transcend the physical to learn to endure and understand the psychological and spiritual—he is trapped in the purity of the physical form. 

 This brings me to the second part of the Honour triangle—Virtue.

 The second leg of this tripod is founded on the presence of moral standards. Our moral belief system is mostly derived from our parents or the people we are in contact first when born into this world, which is later, reinforced by people who socialize us into the world. I do not believe in or see the benefit of having guilt attached to morals because guilt is a state of self punishment whereas high moral standards are based according to ones ability in feeling what is an emotionally correct way of living ones life. The choices that Mother Theresa makes versus Joe Blog may be morally sound to each individual, however not in contrast with the other. This is where the challenge of morality enters. 

 “Compassion is the basis of morality” (Schopenhauer)

 “Do not be too moral. You may cheat yourself out of much life. So aim above morality. Be not simply good, be good for something. (Thoreau).

 There is no need to debate one’s morals – but I can assure you this. As human beings we have enough emotional intelligence to know what is morally sound to us. If we dig deep and really ask ourselves that fundamental question of whether something truly sits well with us, we will know the answer.

 Once we are able to connect with this response then we are more available to adjusting our behaviors accordingly. This is a struggle for every human being but should be seen as part of a lifelong dedication to learning how to master it. I feel that as men we do not allow ourselves the opportunity to master this, but instead avoid digging deep and delving into our psyche with the intention of leaving a legacy of greatness in our sons and daughters. Too much is focused on the superficialities of life and not enough on the gift of human experience and connectedness. 

 An additional problem arises with the debate on virtue and morality, in that your view of morality and what makes you virtuous is not necessarily what your partner/girlfriend/boyfriend/wife/friends/family might see as fitting for them.

 This brings me onto the final and most important part of the triangle—Honour.

 The verb “Honour” is defined as “regard with great respect”. This definition is different from the noun, which is defined as “high respect and great esteem”. I focus predominantly on the verb because as children we are taught how to differentiate between a noun and a verb by recalling that a verb is a “doing word”. The key factor to consider here is, how does one “do Honour”?

 In my view it is about making conscious decisions, which take in regard others, and how one’s choices would impact on the psychological wellbeing of another. I am by no means suggesting readers to become people pleasers, however what I will suggest is that for your partner to feel loved, the second they feel considered will allow them a feeling of bliss and containment. Honour is not about one large honorable act. Instead I find great enjoyment in the accumulation of many honorable acts of kindness without the desire to reap benefit. It is a selfless experience that holds the hope that someone else will observe an act of kindness and replicate it. 

 The fundamental act of honor is doing what is righteous and fitting for us, and where we experience resistance to it, it is necessary to take a step back and reflect on why such resistance has come about to the given situation. Resistance, fear and anxiety are all tools that can be used to assist in our growth towards being more honourable. 

 The ultimate battle we have has to be with our heart and mind. Our choices in life are founded on the balance between heart and mind. We will always find that this is where conflict arises and the sooner you find a balance between the two, the more readily available you will be to face life. If something plays on your conscience, this is where real reflection needs to take place. Always remember, that words cannot be undone but an action is filled with a thousand words… so make them count. 

 Via Con Dios 

[ablankviewingofblank-blog]

An Aristotelian Viewing of Fantastic Mr. Fox

The worlds of Wes Anderson rarely follow the rules. Not only are they aesthetically pristine in a way the real world could never be, but they also suspend the humdrum regularities of everyday life in a way that can only be called—fantastical. The world that Anderson creates in Fantastic Mr. Fox, however, takes things to a whole new level. We’re not talking the unlikelihood that a high school would consent to Max Fischer’s ridiculous amount of onstage pyrotechnics. We’re not talking a Khaki Scout tree house built to a staggeringly unsafe altitude. Hell, we’re far beyond Zissou having a full sauna complete with Swedish masseuses aboard the Belafonte. The fact is, all of those things are highly unlikely, but they’re still physically possible. In Fantastic Mr. Fox, we’re straight up breaking the laws of nature, baby. Animals exist as humans do; they speak English, wear clothing, and carry out their lives in communities fixed with schools, real-estate agencies, and grocery stores. If it wasn’t enough that animals live as sentient, rational creatures, they also coexist with human beings. Wait, what? That’s right, and, despite acknowledging their weird, anthropomorphic neighbors, human beings still consider animals to be lesser creatures. The impetus of Mr. Fox’s existential crisis (maybe we could even call it a mid-life crisis? I don’t know how long foxes live) is starting to come to the fore. Mr. Fox’s crisis results from the realization that he must continue to function both as a wild animal and as a rational creature. Still not a human, though. Just a fox wearing a tie. 

For all intents and purposes, Mr. Fox truly is a rational, wild animal. If you’re an Aristotelian, you’re probably shitting yourself right now.  Don’t panic! We’re going to examine this “rational, wild animal” under an Aristotelian lens and see what the hell is going on inside Mr. Fox’s head. Plus, once we understand how Mr. Fox fits into an Aristotelian framework, perhaps then we can answer another question: what would Aristotle say about Mr. Fox’s decision to do his “last big job?” 

For Aristotle, every substance is made up of both matter and form, form being the physical arrangement of the thing and matter being the substratum that makes up the form. (Physics, 190b10-191b10)  For each substance (individual), the soul is the form of the body, and the body is the matter. Thus, the form of a substance is much more than just what it looks like, much more than just the shape of a thing. In the De Anima, the soul is indeed described as more of a life force that all living things possess. (De anima, 412a7-15) Aristotle believes that the soul follows a hierarchy of functions from plants to humans, with humans  possessing each prior function. The hierarchy is separated into three degrees: nutritive, sensitive, and rational. A nutritive soul is the soul’s ability to simply sustain its body, a sensitive soul sustains but also moves and perceives, and lastly a rational soul is one with the ability to use reason. Human beings are the only creatures that possess all these qualities (De anima, 414a28-414b1).

Now, the fundamental problem lies in trying to pin down Mr. Fox’s essence. According to Aristotle, an essence is what makes a being what it is or, as Aristotle phrases it, the “whatness” of a thing. (Metaphysics, 1029b) In other words, it is that characteristic of a being without which it would cease to be that type of being and which differentiates it from other types of beings. For example, the essence of man is his capacity to reason, which distinguishes him from other animals. Hence, the famous definition of man as the “rational animal.” Now, how do we come to know the essence of a being?  Well, the type of soul a certain being has makes it so that being is equipped with certain powers for action. Thus, the essence of a being is instantiated by its nature, that is to say, its natural dispositions for action. You can think of an animal’s essence as being evident in its “work.” For example, we see a beaver’s essence in its natural disposition for building dams. Recall now the opening scene of Mr. Fox, when Felicity and Mr. Fox are caught in a fox trap, Felicity tells Mr. Fox that she wants him to find a “new line of work,” an impossible request of a wild animal, since an animal’s “work” is what qualifies and characterizes it. To find a “new line of work” for Mr. Fox would be to undergo what Aristotle calls a substantial change i.e to change his very essence so that he is no longer a fox. (Physics i 7, 190a13–191a22). This search for who he is and what it means to be alive is what prompts his questioning of the role he plays in nature as a rational animal. This should be your “oh shit” moment. Mr. Fox is definitely rational. He’s also definitely an animal. By definition, it seems like Mr. Fox is…human? But he’s also a fox?  My brain hurts?

Now, for human beings, our purpose in life is to achieve excellence through the habituation of virtuous actions, which we are able to do through our power to reason. (Nicomachean Ethics i 7, 1097b22–1098a20; cf. De Anima ii 1, 412a6–22) This is tied to Aristotle’s teleological view of nature, that is to say that everything has a natural “end,” or “final cause” to which its life is directed. So, we see Mr. Fox’s crisis is even more serious than we thought. Because he can’t figure out who or what he is, he doesn’t know his purpose in life, his final cause.

To be honest, I’m not sure why it’s just Mr. Fox who’s having an existential crisis. All of those animals should be freaking the hell out. All the animals in Fantastic Mr. Fox seem to be aware of their own, individual natures. For instance, when the Fox family considers moving from their hole to a new home inside of a tree, Mrs. Fox remarks, “have you ever considered that foxes live in holes for a reason?” Or, when the farmers strike and all the animals find themselves fleeing underground, Phil the mole exclaims, “I just want to see…a little sunshine.” To this, Mr. Fox replies, “But you’re nocturnal Phil, your eyes barely open on a good day.” It is evident that each animal recognizes that they are a different species with different characteristics and strengths. However, there seems to be a base ignorance of the fact that these animals would not normally interact with each other in nature, and this proves to be a problem at certain points of Mr. Fox’s mid-life crisis. For example, Mr. Fox employs Kiley the opossum as his second in command when deciding to steal chickens from Boggis, but he realizes too late that, unlike himself, Kiley is not equipped with the proper teeth to kill a chicken with one bite. Wait a second, though. Kiley and Mr. Fox are bros! They’re equals, even! They’re both rational creatures! Yet, their essences seem to be entirely different. Mr. Fox is torn between this strange dichotomy: all the animals are fundamentally different, yet all posses the same intellect. No wonder Mr. Fox is struggling! Not only is he supposed to feel guilty for acting on his instinctual fox urges, but all of his friends and neighbors are also different species from him! They’re all essentially different and yet essentially the same! To make matters worse, they’re all essentially the same as humans, yet somehow inferior?? Eugenics, much?? To put it simply, Mr. Fox has no idea where he (or anyone for the matter) fits into Aristotle’s grand chain of being.

Mr. Fox is fighting an internal battle between two fundamentally different essences. On the one hand, he has an instinctual, animalistic fox essence that’s making him want to do hoodrat stuff like steal chickens, and on the other is his rational essence, which clues him into the fact that stealing chickens is irrational because it jeopardizes the safety of his family. Aha! So, not only is Mr. Fox a rational creature, but also an ethical one. You see, Aristotle describes a voluntary action as an action that can be rationalized as good or bad by the agent of the action. (Ethics, 1105a31-36; 1105b1-4)  For an ordinary fox, stealing chickens would not be immoral at all, since they need to steal to survive. Plus, foxes don’t even have a concept of right or wrong to begin with, so they’re not culpable for their actions. Mr. Fox, on the other hand, can survive without stealing chickens. Remember, they have grocery stores. With juice boxes and dancing.  Further, Mr. Fox definitely has the ability to distinguish right from wrong. Mr. Fox is therefore left wondering why he’s even a fox at all if he’s not supposed to do what foxes were born to do. He says, “Why a fox? Why not a horse, a beetle, or a bald eagle? I am saying this more as like existentialism, you know? Who am I? And how can a fox ever by happy without a—ahh, you’ll forgive the expression—a chicken in its teeth?” So, it seems like the “last big job,” is selfish on Mr. Fox’s part, as the price to pay for his desire to be “fantastic” is the deception of his family and his dragging them into his dangerous schemes. On the other hand, it is equally selfish of Mrs. Fox to demand that he reject his natural tendencies. 

At the heart of it, because Mr. Fox is a rational creature with the ability to distinguish between right and wrong,  Aristotle would argue that he must be thought of in human-like terms. After all, Aristotle describes virtue as something purely human: “But clearly the virtue we must study is human virtue; for the good we were seeking was human good and the happiness human happiness. By human virtue we mean not that of the body but that of the soul; and happiness also we call an activity of soul.” (Ethics, 1102a13-16) This further proves that Mr. Fox must be thought of as a human in every respect except for the wild animal instinct that he suppresses. Mr. Fox should be held morally responsible for his actions because he has the ability to realize that the wellbeing of his family is more important than his animalistic urges. To put it simply, in pulling his last big job, Mr. Fox is being a reckless dick. In fact, after everything has gone to shit, when Mr. Fox has screwed everybody, and all of the animals are hiding out underground, Mrs. Fox pulls Mr. Fox aside and asks, “why did you lie to me?” Mr. Fox replies, “because I’m a wild animal.” No, Mr. Fox, you are a rational animal, and also a bad role model for your son. By the way, just because he’s little and not very good at fox things and sometimes wears tube socks on his head doesn’t mean he isn’t fantastic, either! 

So, is there hope for Mr. Fox? Well, we gotta talk about the wolf. Mr. Fox remarks several times throughout the film that he has a phobia of wolves, not a fear of wolves, but a phobia. This motif serves two points, the first being that Mr. Fox is aware of the fact that wolves are a natural predator of foxes, and thus acknowledges that animals have a different mode of existence than humans, a different spot on the food chain. Secondly, the wolf is a metaphor for the wild part of Mr. Fox’s being, the part of him that cannot be tamed or gentrified. Just before the climax of the film, as Mr. Fox, Ash, and Kiley ride away on Mr. Fox’s motorcycle, they spot a lone wolf in the distance. Unlike every other animal in the film, the wolf is undressed, walks on four legs, and does not seem to speak English (or Latin). Mr. Fox and the wolf share a silent, yet understood moment. They both raise their paws in the air, and Mr. Fox leaves with a newfound respect for the creature he once feared. This encounter symbolizes Mr. Fox’s acceptance of his wild side, and his decision to renounce it to embrace his life as a civilized husband and father.

At the end of the film, Mr. Fox has come to terms with his existence and the role he must play in the lives of his family members and the members of his community. He realizes that he can still be fantastic by just being himself, and can still be a “wild” animal without hurting his family. If he can’t steal chickens from Boggis, geese from Bunce, or cider from Bean, stealing from their grocery store is an ironically civilized, and perhaps even a noble compromise. Sort of like when you quit smoking because it’s killing you, so you take up vaping instead? It’s sort of the same, and maybe it suppresses your urges for awhile, but it will never compare to a fresh, smooth American Spirit (yellow pack, ofc).  But, that’s the price we pay to be responsible human beings. Or responsible foxes, I guess. 

So, what did we decide? Mr. Fox is a human. Stealing is bad. The world of Fantastic Mr. Fox is fucked up.

Thanks for reading. Submit requests for future ___ viewings of ____ !

* I should say that this is a painfully truncated summary of Aristotelian philosophy and I wanted to touch on so many more things. But alas, at the risk of this being *too* long, I stuck to some very, very basic Aristotelian stuff. We can touch on some deeper stuff in future viewings. 

[garywonghc]

Maitreya’s Semtsema (Part 5 of 6)

by Khenchen Appey Rinpoche

We have seen in the previous part of this profound teaching on the qualities of the Buddha how His mind is unfathomable, utterly and permanently aware, and free from all conceptual fabrications and duality. His Mahakaruna, or Great Compassion, embraces every single being and knows each one’s defilements and their respective antidotes. There is not a single one of the Buddha’s activities that is not completely virtuous and dedicated to the benefit of all beings. Another among the qualities of the Buddha that this eulogy describes - is His omniscience, His perfect knowledge of the spectrum of all phenomena without exception.

All the qualities described here are inherent in the three kayas, or bodies, of the Buddha. The first among these is the dharmakaya, or form body. This true body is one that is devoid of any impurities or obscurations, and it is defined by its complete realisation of the lack of inherent existence of phenomena. The dharmakaya refers to the mind of the Buddha.

The second kaya is the sambogakaya. This refers to the enjoyment body of the Buddha. This is a manifestation of the form body, which by definition spins the wheel of Dharma of the greater vehicle, the Mahayana, and the only disciples who receive teachings from the sambogakaya are Bodhisattvas.

The third kaya is the nirmanakaya. This is a manifestation of the sambogakaya that appears to beings of superior qualities. It is the result of a deliberate act by the Buddha of assuming any physical form that can be seen by beings and is beneficial to them.

There are three kinds of nirmanakaya, containing as many manifestations as are needed to suit the needs of beings of different levels or predispositions. The first of these three is birth nirmanakaya. An example of birth nirmanakaya is Maitreya Buddha, who is currently residing in Tushita heaven. Although He is enlightened, He is the reigning Buddha in Tushita heaven.

The second kind of nirmanakaya is excellent nirmanakaya, referring to the excellent qualities possessed by this manifestation of the Buddha. An example of this is Shakyamuni Buddha, who assumed a physical form and displayed twelve great deeds of enlightenment in order to bolster the faith of disciples.

The third is artistic nirmanakaya, and an example of this is the story of the Buddha when, shortly before attaining mahaparinirvana, He tamed a proud disciple called Rabga. The latter was a great Gandarva, or king, who was so proud of his lute-playing talents, that he felt that he didn’t need to attend the Buddha’s teachings. In order to correct Gandarva Rabga’s arrogance, the Buddha artistically assumed the form of a lutist and, challenging the proud musician to a contest, played infinitely better than him, shattering his exaggerated sense of self-importance. Gandarva Rabga was one of the last disciples to be tamed by the Buddha.

There are three levels of enlightenment, with that of the Buddha being great enlightenment, or mahabodhi, which is superior to the other two levels. Mahabodhi means that the Fully Enlightened One has perfect knowledge of the nature of both relative and ultimate phenomena, of the way things appear in the relative form and the way things actually are in ultimate reality. The Buddha is omniscient and is able to sever the doubts and obscurations of all sentient beings. If a being is able to make a single mistake, he is likely to make others, and is therefore not fully enlightened. On the other hand, there is absolutely no possibility that one who is fully enlightened can make the slightest mistake.

The next set of qualities with which the Buddha is endowed, is that of the six perfections. The six perfections are the path of the great vehicle, and one who has accomplished these perfections has, by the same token, overcome their opposing factors. And so here, the author pays homage to “You who are without grasping”. An act of giving, whether it be offering one’s virtuous behavior or one’s body, must be free from grasping to either the act itself or to its result. Here, the Buddha’s total freedom from grasping to acts of giving is being praised.

The second perfection is that of morality, and here the Buddha is praised as “You who are without moral fault”. Most beings, as ethical as their conduct may be, are prone to committing moral infractions at some point or another. But the Fully Enlightened One will never transgress moral dictates by an iota. His morality is perfect.

The third perfection is patience. “You who are never distracted” applies to the Buddha’s quality of equanimity, acquired through the practice of patience. This means that whatever harm is directed to Him, instead of letting Himself become disturbed or agitated by this, He remains in an unperturbed state of tranquility.

The fourth perfection is diligence. “You who do not remain lazily” refers to the quality of diligence, whereby the Buddha never ceases to engage joyously in virtuous activities, without ever being affected by any kind of indolence or laziness.

Meditative concentration, or samadhi, is the fifth perfection. This is the ability to remain one-pointedly focused on the object of meditation without being distracted by anything or being agitated by discursive thoughts. There is never a single moment when the Buddha is not in samadhi.

And the last of the six perfections is that of wisdom. This is the knowledge of the nature of things as they are, not as they appear. It is the understanding of reality, totally free from discursive elaboration. The Buddha’s mind remains fixedly in the understanding of things as they are, and there is no object or phenomenon whatsoever that causes it to fall prey to digressive thought.

Thus ends the eulogy to the Buddha composed by the Lord Maitreya. He now pauses and elaborates no further. This is not because he knows no additional qualities of the Buddhas that are worthy of praise, but rather because He feels contented with the ones that He has expounded so far.

Sakya Pandita, who felt that there were more qualities of the Buddha that were worth praising, writes the rest of the Semtsema. This begins with the two meaningful activities of accomplishing perfection for oneself and for the benefit of others. He writes; “You who have acquired all obtainable excellent qualities”, alluding to the Buddha being endowed with both common and unique qualities, that is to say, those gifted by arhats as well as those unique to the Buddha. In short, the Buddha possesses all conceivable qualities. These very qualities provide Him with the potential to engage in activities that lead not only to His own accomplishment, but also to that of others.

These activities of the Buddha directed to the accomplishment of others are of inconceivable magnitude and constancy. The Fully Enlightened One never ceases even for a fraction of an instant to benefit beings, and He constantly benefits as many beings as there are atoms.

Further, the Fully Enlightened One knows everything that is knowable and carries out every single beneficial activity that needs to be completed, and each one of these activities leads to accomplishment. So these three: perfect knowledge, activity, and accomplishment - constitute another set of the qualities of the Buddha.

Sakya Pandita then begins to describe a further set of qualities of the Buddha called the ‘thirty-seven attributes of enlightenment’, or ‘Bodhipaksha’. These are divided into seven categories, the first of which is called the ‘four frames of reference’. This indicates the qualities of mindfulness of body, feelings, consciousness and mental attributes, through which the Fully Enlightened One achieves full realisation of selflessness, of the lack of inherent existence of self.

The second of the seven categories is that of the vigours, or exertions. This refers to the four pure accomplishments, or the four thorough renunciations attained by pure effort. These are: the joyous effort of destroying non-virtuous habits, not introducing new non-virtuous habits, sustaining existing virtuous conduct and introducing non-existing wholesome conduct.

The third category is that of meditative absorption. In this context, meditative absorption refers to the ability to create miraculous appearances. There are four attributes related to this faculty, called the four legs of miraculous accomplishment, which points to the fact that meditative concentration is as important to attaining enlightenment as legs are to walking.

The fourth and fifth classifications are the five faculties and the five powers. They both have the same five components – faith, energy, mindfulness, concentration and wisdom, but their meaning is different in each respective category. For example, the five powers have the potential to destroy their opposites – doubt, laziness, and so forth, while the five faculties empower one to carry out activities conducive to helping beings. While the first three categories are related to the path of accumulation, the two latter ones are linked to the path of preparation.

The sixth category is the seven factors of awakening, and is related to the path of seeing, which leads to insight into the true nature of things. This is related to the meditative stabilisation of the first bhumi or state of enlightenment.

The seventh and last category is the Eightfold Noble Path, which corresponds to the path of meditation. Having gone through the first three paths of accumulation, preparation and seeing, one arrives at the path of meditation, where one becomes stabilised in the state of full realisation.

Moreover, the verse “I pay homage to you who have well accomplished all thirty-seven attributes” is very important, in the sense that the arhats and pratyekabuddhas also possess these attributes, but that the latter are only fully accomplished by the Fully Enlightened One.

And here, Sakya Pandita begins the eulogy of the Buddha’s nine meditative absorptions. These are the four samadhis of meditative concentration, the four meditative stabilisations in relation to the formless realms and the meditative stabilisation of total cessation.

The function of these meditative absorptions or samadhis is to eradicate all defilements and mental afflictions of all beings residing in the three realms of existence. The author says “You who have brought perfect completion, the power that crushes the hard, uncultivated soil”, referring to the mind stream of beings that is completely hardened with residues from afflictions and is difficult to penetrate. The power of the Buddha’s mindfulness and teachings is able to crush and pulverise the hard soil of the mind stream of beings.

And then, the author pays homage to the quality called ‘the three thorough doors of liberation’. The first among these is the thorough door of the liberation of emptiness, illustrating that the Buddha’s mind sees no inherent duality between subject and object, but only sees its absence. The second is the thorough door of wishlessness, which means that the Buddha’s mind is no longer concerned with contaminated phenomena, whether this is form, object or body. There’s not a single object that His mind covets or feels aversion to. Third, is the thorough door of signlessness, which means that the Buddha’s mind remains in a state that is free of signs. Signs of empty and non-empty, existent and non-existent - these are all dualistic concepts - from which the Buddha’s mind is free.

The three thorough doors of emptiness, wishlessness and signlessness are also within the domain of arhats, but only the Buddha is endowed with their perfect forms.

Sakya Pandita goes on to praise the conquest of the Buddha over the four evils or maras, the first of which is the klesha mara, or mara of the defilements of desire, hatred and ignorance. The Fully Enlightened One has completely overcome and destroyed any trace of these afflictions. The second mara is that of the skandas, or psycho-physical constituents to which we’re subjected due to our karma and defilements – we have a psycho-physical body that is the basis of all our suffering, whereas the Fully Enlightened One has overcome the desire to have a body. As for the mrityu mara, or mara of death, the Buddha is not threatened by it because He is not pushed by the desire to take a body that can die. Also, the devaputra mara, or mara of the son of god, is one that creates obstacles and harm to those who engage in the practice of the dharma, and it can be easily defeated by the Buddha.

The verse “To you who have subdued well” pays homage to the one who, through eons of practicing wisdom and compassion, has made His mind both worthy and powerful in order to conquer the four maras. The first three maras are subdued by the practice of wisdom. Because primordial wisdom is the root cause for the realisation of the lack of inherent existence of the self, it defeats the defilements, or kleshas. Once the kleshas are defeated, the desire that pushes one to be reborn is also defeated and, as mentioned above, if we are not born into an ordinary body, then we are not subject to death.

As for the mara of the son of god, this is vanquished by compassion. If one practices loving kindness and compassion toward all beings, the chances of attracting obstacles are greatly reduced and eventually eliminated.

And so the Fully Enlightened One has completely vanquished all the maras, and is free from any kind of obscuration or defilement.

[marcusssanderson]

50 Frederick Douglass Quotes about Freedom and Progress

Our latest collection of Frederick Douglass quotes that will inspire you to stand for what you believe in.

Frederick Douglass was an American social reformer, abolitionist, writer, and orator whose work helped educate people about the horrors of slavery and helped move the abolitionist movement forward.

Born into slavery around 1818, Douglass taught himself to read and write before escaping from slavery in 1838. In the early 1840s, he began attending meetings of the abolitionist movement and later became a national leader of the movement in Massachusetts and New York.

Although he did not receive any formal education, Douglass penned several biographies and dozens of speeches, thus proving that black people were just as intelligent and talented. In his 1845 bestselling autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, which was influential in promoting the cause of abolition, he outlines his experiences as a slave.

Even after the civil war, Douglass remained active in advocating for equality, liberty and human rights. He died in 1895 after suffering a heart.

Long after his death, Douglass continues to serve as an inspiration to those who fight for equality and a more just society. In that respect, here are some inspirational, powerful, and enlightening Frederick Douglass quotes and Frederick Douglass sayings to inspire you to always stand for what is right.

Frederick Douglass quotes about freedom and progress

1.) “It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.” – Frederick Douglass

2.) “If there is no struggle, there is no progress.” – Frederick Douglass

3.) “To suppress free speech is a double wrong. It violates the rights of the hearer as well as those of the speaker.” –Frederick Douglass

4.) “Some know the value of education by having it. I know its value by not having it.” – Frederick Douglass

5.) “Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have the exact measure of the injustice and wrong which will be imposed on them.” – Frederick Douglass

6.) “Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet deprecate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground.”- Frederick Douglass

7.) “The soul that is within me no man can degrade.” – Frederick Douglass

8.) “We have to do with the past only as we can make it useful to the present and the future.” – Frederick Douglass

9.) “Once you learn to read, you will be forever free.” ― Frederick Douglass

10.) “The white man’s happiness cannot be purchased by the black man’s misery.” – Frederick Douglass

Frederick Douglass quotes about slavery

11.) “I didn’t know I was a slave until I found out I couldn’t do the things I wanted.” – Frederick Douglass

12.) “No man can put a chain about the ankle of his fellow man without at last finding the other end fastened about his own neck.” – Frederick Douglass

13.) “Knowledge makes a man unfit to be a slave.” – Frederick Douglass

14.) “Fugitive slaves were rare then, and as a fugitive slave lecturer, I had the advantage of being the first one out.” – Frederick Douglass

15.) “What to the Slave is the 4th of July.” – Frederick Douglass

16.) “There is not a man beneath the canopy of Heaven who does not know that slavery is wrong for him.” – Frederick Douglass

17.) “Slaves are generally expected to sing as well as to work.” – Frederick Douglass

18.) “Slaves sing most when they are most unhappy. The songs of the slave represent the sorrows of his heart; and he is relieved by them, only as an aching heart is relieved by its tears.” – Frederick Douglass

19.) “A man who will enslave his own blood, may not be safely relied on for magnamity.” – Frederick Douglass

20.) “For of all slaveholders with whom I have ever met, religious slaveholders are the worst. I have ever found them the meanest and basest, the most cruel and cowardly, of all others.” – Frederick Douglass

Powerful Frederick Douglass quotes that’ll open your eyes

21.) “Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe.” – Frederick Douglass

22.) “The thing worse than rebellion is the thing that causes rebellion.” – Frederick Douglass

23.) “It is not light that we need, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake.” – Frederick Douglass

24.) “A smile or a tear has not nationality; joy and sorrow speak alike to all nations, and they, above all the confusion of tongues, proclaim the brotherhood of man.” – Frederick Douglass

25.) “The life of the nation is secure only while the nation is honest, truthful, and virtuous.” – Frederick Douglass

26.) “The destiny of the colored American … is the destiny of America.” ― Frederick Douglass

27.) “The man who is right is a majority. He who has God and conscience on his side, has a majority against the universe.” ― Frederick Douglass

28.) “Freedom is a road seldom traveled by the multitude.” ― Frederick Douglass

29.) “A man is worked upon by what he works on. He may carve out his circumstances, but his circumstances will carve him out as well.” ― Frederick Douglass

30.) “Our destiny is largely in our hands.” ― Frederick Douglass

Frederick Douglass quotes that teach and inspire

31.) “The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.” – Frederick Douglass

32.) “A battle lost or won is easily described, understood, and appreciated, but the moral growth of a great nation requires reflection, as well as observation, to appreciate it.” ― Frederick Douglass

33.) “I would unite with anybody to do right and with nobody to do wrong.” ― Frederick Douglass

34.) “A man’s character always takes its hue, more or less, from the form and color of things about him.” – Frederick Douglass

35.) “People might not get all they work for in this world, but they must certainly work for all they get.” – Frederick Douglass

36.) “Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.”  – Frederick Douglass

37.) “Man’s greatness consists in his ability to do and the proper application of his powers to things needed to be done.”  – Frederick Douglass

38.) “Right is of no sex, Truth is of no color, God is the Father of us all, and we are all Brethren.”  – Frederick Douglass

39.) “The thought of only being a creature of the present and past was troubling. I longed for a future too, with hope in it. The desire to be free, awakened my determination to act, to think, and to speak.” ― Frederick Douglass

40.) “I love the pure, peaceable, and impartial Christianity of Christ; I therefore hate the corrupt, slave-holding, women-whipping, cradle-plundering, partial and hypocritical Christianity of this land.” ― Frederick Douglass

Other inspirational Frederick Douglass quotes

41.) “I prefer to be true to myself, even at the hazard of incurring the ridicule of others, rather than to be false, and to incur my own abhorrence.” – Frederick Douglass

42.) “A little learning, indeed, may be a dangerous thing, but the want of learning is a calamity to any people.” –Frederick Douglass

43.) “A gentleman will not insult me, and no man not a gentleman can insult me.” ― Frederick Douglass

44.) “My hopes were never brighter than now.” ― Frederick Douglass

45.) “The relation between the white and colored people of this country is the great, paramount, imperative, and all-commanding question for this age and nation to solve.” ― Frederick Douglass

46.) “I will give Mr. Freeland the credit of being the best master I ever had, till I became my own master.” ― Frederick Douglass

47.) “Experience is a keen teacher;” ― Frederick Douglass

48.) “To enslave men, successfully and safely, it is necessary to have their minds occupied with thoughts and aspirations short of the liberty of which they are deprived. A certain degree of attainable good must be kept before them.” ― Frederick Douglass

49.) “He treated me as a man… He did not let me feel for a moment that there was any difference in the color of our skins.” ― Frederick Douglass

50.) “They suppress the truth rather than take the consequence of telling it, and in so doing prove themselves a part of the human family.” ― Frederick Douglass

Which of these Frederick Douglass quotes was your favorite?

Despite being born into slavery and receiving minimal formal education, Douglass rose to become a prominent activist, author, and public speaker. He proved that slaves had the intellectual capacity to function as independent American citizens.

Besides being a believer in the equality of all mankind, Douglass also believed in dialogue and in all people uniting irrespective of their race and ideologies. Hopefully, these Frederick Douglass quotes have inspired you to always fight for what is right.

Did you enjoy these quotes? Which of these Frederick Douglass quotes was your favorite? We would love to hear all about it in the comment section below.

The post 50 Frederick Douglass Quotes about Freedom and Progress appeared first on Everyday Power.

[conquerthenight-rpg-blog]

WELCOME TO NEW YORK CITY, Jules!

YOU’VE BEEN ACCEPTED FOR THE ROLE OF EVE ( Danielle Campbell FC )

Note from Admin Sofia: I don’t know how to start, honestly. Your application has won me over -- completely, without a doubt. Everything, from headcanons to her biography, your pinterested board and the description of her entire being just screamed Eve to me. I’m so glad I get to fill my wanted connection with such a talented writer!

Prior to roleplaying please refer to our checklist and make sure to set up your blog and follow everyone on the blogroll. Please open your submit box and ask. Please send us an ask so we can link your blog. Thank you for applying and congratulations!

OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION

♟ NAME/ALIAS, PRONOUNS & AGE ♟

Jules, she/her, I’m 21. My time zone is EST.

Due to the nature of this roleplay, all applicants have to be 18 or older.

♟ TRIGGERS ♟

removed for privacy

♟ ACTIVITY & TIMEZONE ♟

Est - As far as my activity is concerned I would rate myself a 7 out of ten due to my heavy work schedule. Plus I’m going to be starting up school here soon, but I wouldn’t have a problem keeping up with the activity and such. I’m obsessed with my characters and almost prefer to live their lives than mine.

♟ EXPERIENCE ♟

I’ve been roleplaying ever since my second year of highschool. About seven years for tumblr alone plus some addition time I spent on jcink and proboard forums.

IN CHARACTER INFORMATION

♟ NAME♟

Eve:  Life, living, lively. Famous bearer: the Old Testament mother of the human race who tasted the forbidden fruit, precipitating the Fall of Man.

♟ SPECIES ♟

A witch, a graceful entity with all the tricks up her sleeve.

♟ AGE ♟

As Eve is over 6000 years old, she appears to be at the mere age of 21.

♟ FACECLAIM ♟

Face #1: Danielle Campbell

Face #2: Taissa Farmiga

♟ OCCUPATION ♟

Eve is the owner of a really interesting witches shoppe called Entwine. The main attraction is her abilities, she offers people spells to obtain what they most desire. Usually these trades include a severe price, or an unexpected consequence.

♟ BIOGRAPHY ♟

Eve was tailored to be the good wife. Created of bone and marrow to serve under the tight reins that Adam created. And those reins were tight; he was the definition and aesthetic of control, he was confident, especially being the most favorited creation that God himself eluded. Eve valued him as if his skin was formed of gold and heart of rubies. The second Eve’s eyes had laid upon him she instantly fell captive to love, cherishing her husband like no other and hastily picked up the pieces that Lilith had left behind. She was carved from Adam’s marrow, boiled into Eden with an innocent mind and gracious heart. And oh, how she loved Adam and their children. The life she lead was pure, virtuous, and lively. But soon the toils of human nature struck, curiosity delving deep within the subtle roots hidden under fine ivory flesh. Eve was tired of following rules, tired of being at the beck and call of Adam’s every whim, and in that moment of explicit rambunctious action, Eve and her tempestuous ways ate off of the forbidden fruit and proves her gluttonous. There was a slight trial before the fair maiden was expelled from Eden and caste off to Earth with nothing but magic brewing within her veins.

Upon awaking, Eve soon felt a roaring fire of hatred blooming within, every memory and through flooding to he everlasting conscience, relearning her past and feeling everything on a deeper scale, it was as if her humanity had intensified after everything she had gone through. It was infuriating, especially after everything that she had done for Adam. The way he pointed fingers towards her, was sickening. Revenge was such a silly concept, but Eve wanted Adam to be destroyed. She vowed that she was going to be the one to do it too. She was going to need help, especially if she wanted to get anywhere anytime soon. It wasn’t long before Eve found that she wasn’t alone. A group of Earth’s inhabitants surrounded her, and eminated their warmth over her bare body.

Eve learned the power of persuasion. She gained affinity with her followers by detailing their every wish and desire.She used her nearly profound powers to grant them small tokens of affection just to keep them at bay. The control was within her grasp. She finally felt everything that had ever been on option in Eden. And with her new power, the Empress of Magic started to profit from her abilities; gaining wealth and information from the sheep of the lands, bringing happiness to those who bargained for it. However, Eve soon learned that her powers aren’t always as faithful as she presumed. With every spell  she cast there’s always room for more than just positive consequences, but negative ones as well. Humans began to fear her and her ways of magic, calling a court to have the woman hanged for her devious crimes. The followers she held near and dear came to her rescue on the brink of her death, and she ran to solitude.

Centuries pass, and an uproar of legends and stories are told through the grapevine of a man that shifts into a horrid beast. A monster that looks much of a wolf but his actions prove he’s stronger, faster, and the ultimate winner of brawls. This man holds an alpha status; and is said to be named Adam. Upon hearing these rumors, and digging up any information the witch could bother to bear, it was under her speculation that the wolf was her Adam, the man who single-handedly destroyed her entire existence. The minx traveled through land and sea, traveling throughout the continents to obtain any and as much information that she possibly could find on him. Once Columbus founded the great land of America, the witch decided to make that her home, finding all the necessities to build her empire like non-other.

To this day Eve is continuously building, and growing. She reserves her right to be the goddess she once was. Soon everyone will know  of her reign, and she will get revenge on everyone who has ever deceit-ed against her. Hopefully, just hopefully, she will gain the control she needs to revive her sons, so that she can take back what’s rightfully her’s.

♟ HEADCANONS ♟

Head Canon #1: Eve is extremely fascinated with human nature. It’s something that’s always been of interest to her. You can often find her in stores or markets just observing people within the vicinity, sometimes taking notes of certain subjects, and learns how to behave around them through her rigorous studies.

Head Canon #2: She’s been an extremely good cook since she began traveling through the different continents and countries within them. With her studies of human nature, she has learned that people love cooking and so she too found that love within herself. Soon she began to excel at her newfound culinary expertise. Within her shoppe is a bakery of sorts, where you can find an assortment of soups and fresh baked goodies made to order.

Head Canon #3: Eve has everlasting compassion for people, and finds herself extremely torn between her greedy ambitions and helping the causes of humanity. She will stop at nothing to convey peace whilst pursuing her own ambitions in order to gain power and conquer those who have defied her in the past.

♟ CHARACTERISTICS ♟

Naivety:  [ having or showing unaffected simplicity of nature or absence of artificiality; unsophisticated; ingenuous. ] : – Although Eve has walked earth for thousands of years, she has in many cases succumb to naivety. Her major failing is her lack of judgment due to circumstantial occasions such as: falling in love, trusting others, or helping those who need not be helped.

Compassionate: [  a feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for another who is stricken by misfortune, accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering. ]  : – Those who brought with them misfortune are always given her sympathy. Although she rules with an iron fist, she finds herself caring deeply for those around her, and would do anything to deter their suffering.

Virtuous: [ conforming to moral and ethical principles; morally excellent; upright ] : – Eve always yearns to do the right thing. She goes out of her way to fix things, and work as a little soldier of light when needed. Her morals are intact, and due to this, people tend to fear her less. In turn, they treat her as a queen. That, they love more than someone they fear. Minus the whole, “eating the forbidden fruit” thing.

Obstinate: [ firmly or stubbornly adhering to one’s purpose, opinion, etc.; not yielding to argument, persuasion, or entreaty. ] : – There was a promise that Eve made to herself that she wasn’t going to allow people to control her. Additionally,  she was going to stick to her views and hold to her morals above any and all contempt that could sneak past her.

Obsessive:  [ being, pertaining to, or resembling an obsession ] : – Although she would probably outright disagree, Eve is extremely obsessive. It’s been 6000 years and she still wants revenge for what Adam did to her. That’s merely one example of how obsessive she is. Eve obsesses about almost everything, and lately she’s been obsessing about her appearance, as well as how people view her, but actually SEE her as well.

Rebellious: [ defying or resisting some established authority, government, or tradition; insubordinate; inclined to rebel ] Even though the witch is extremely virtuous, there are moments where her curiosity will hinder that side of her. With this, she blooms within her rebellious nature.

♟ EXTRAS ♟

here, and here

♟ ANYTHING ELSE?♟

Everything is great, thank you for your consideration!

[marcusssanderson]

50 Frederick Douglass Quotes about Freedom and Progress

Our latest collection of Frederick Douglass quotes on Everyday Power Blog.

Frederick Douglass was an American social reformer, abolitionist, writer, and orator whose work helped educate people about the horrors of slavery and helped move the abolitionist movement forward.

Born into slavery around 1818, Douglass taught himself to read and write before escaping from slavery in 1838. In the early 1840s, he began attending meetings of the abolitionist movement and later became a national leader of the movement in Massachusetts and New York.

Although he did not receive any formal education, Douglass penned several biographies and dozens of speeches, thus proving that black people were just as intelligent and talented. In his 1845 bestselling autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, which was influential in promoting the cause of abolition, he outlines his experiences as a slave.

Even after the civil war, Douglass remained active in advocating for equality, liberty and human rights. He died in 1895 after suffering a heart.

Long after his death, Douglass continues to serve as an inspiration to those who fight for equality and a more just society. In that respect, here are some powerful Frederick Douglass quotes to inspire you to always stand for what is right.

  Frederick Douglass quotes about freedom and progress

  1.) “It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.” – Frederick Douglass

  2.) “If there is no struggle, there is no progress.” – Frederick Douglass

    3.) “To suppress free speech is a double wrong. It violates the rights of the hearer as well as those of the speaker.” –Frederick Douglass

  4.) “Some know the value of education by having it. I know its value by not having it.” – Frederick Douglass

  5.) “Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have the exact measure of the injustice and wrong which will be imposed on them.” – Frederick Douglass

  6.) “Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet deprecate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground.”- Frederick Douglass

  7.) “The soul that is within me no man can degrade.” – Frederick Douglass

  8.) “We have to do with the past only as we can make it useful to the present and the future.” – Frederick Douglass

  9.) “Once you learn to read, you will be forever free.” ― Frederick Douglass

  10.) “The white man’s happiness cannot be purchased by the black man’s misery.” – Frederick Douglass

  Frederick Douglass quotes about slavery

  11.) “I didn’t know I was a slave until I found out I couldn’t do the things I wanted.” – Frederick Douglass

  12.) “No man can put a chain about the ankle of his fellow man without at last finding the other end fastened about his own neck.” – Frederick Douglass

  13.) “Knowledge makes a man unfit to be a slave.” – Frederick Douglass

    14.) “Fugitive slaves were rare then, and as a fugitive slave lecturer, I had the advantage of being the first one out.” – Frederick Douglass

  15.) “What to the Slave is the 4th of July.” – Frederick Douglass

  16.) “There is not a man beneath the canopy of Heaven who does not know that slavery is wrong for him.” – Frederick Douglass

  17.) “Slaves are generally expected to sing as well as to work.” – Frederick Douglass

  18.) “Slaves sing most when they are most unhappy. The songs of the slave represent the sorrows of his heart; and he is relieved by them, only as an aching heart is relieved by its tears.” – Frederick Douglass

  19.) “A man who will enslave his own blood, may not be safely relied on for magnamity.” – Frederick Douglass

  20.) “For of all slaveholders with whom I have ever met, religious slaveholders are the worst. I have ever found them the meanest and basest, the most cruel and cowardly, of all others.” – Frederick Douglass

  Powerful Frederick Douglass quotes that’ll open your eyes

  21.) “Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe.” – Frederick Douglass

  22.) “The thing worse than rebellion is the thing that causes rebellion.” – Frederick Douglass

    23.) “It is not light that we need, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake.” – Frederick Douglass

  24.) “A smile or a tear has not nationality; joy and sorrow speak alike to all nations, and they, above all the confusion of tongues, proclaim the brotherhood of man.” – Frederick Douglass

  25.) “The life of the nation is secure only while the nation is honest, truthful, and virtuous.” – Frederick Douglass

  26.) “The destiny of the colored American … is the destiny of America.” ― Frederick Douglass

  27.) “The man who is right is a majority. He who has God and conscience on his side, has a majority against the universe.” ― Frederick Douglass

  28.) “Freedom is a road seldom traveled by the multitude.” ― Frederick Douglass

  29.) “A man is worked upon by what he works on. He may carve out his circumstances, but his circumstances will carve him out as well.” ― Frederick Douglass

  30.) “Our destiny is largely in our hands.” ― Frederick Douglass

  Frederick Douglass quotes that teach and inspire

  31.) “The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.” – Frederick Douglass

  32.) “A battle lost or won is easily described, understood, and appreciated, but the moral growth of a great nation requires reflection, as well as observation, to appreciate it.” ― Frederick Douglass

  33.) “I would unite with anybody to do right and with nobody to do wrong.” ― Frederick Douglass

    34.) “A man’s character always takes its hue, more or less, from the form and color of things about him.” – Frederick Douglass

  35.) “People might not get all they work for in this world, but they must certainly work for all they get.” – Frederick Douglass

  36.) “Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.”  – Frederick Douglass

  37.) “Man’s greatness consists in his ability to do and the proper application of his powers to things needed to be done.”  – Frederick Douglass

  38.) “Right is of no sex, Truth is of no color, God is the Father of us all, and we are all Brethren.”  – Frederick Douglass

  39.) “The thought of only being a creature of the present and past was troubling. I longed for a future too, with hope in it. The desire to be free, awakened my determination to act, to think, and to speak.” ― Frederick Douglass

  40.) “I love the pure, peaceable, and impartial Christianity of Christ; I therefore hate the corrupt, slave-holding, women-whipping, cradle-plundering, partial and hypocritical Christianity of this land.” ― Frederick Douglass

  Other inspirational Frederick Douglass quotes

  41.) “I prefer to be true to myself, even at the hazard of incurring the ridicule of others, rather than to be false, and to incur my own abhorrence.” – Frederick Douglass

  42.) “A little learning, indeed, may be a dangerous thing, but the want of learning is a calamity to any people.” –Frederick Douglass

  43.) “A gentleman will not insult me, and no man not a gentleman can insult me.” ― Frederick Douglass

  44.) “My hopes were never brighter than now.” ― Frederick Douglass

    45.) “The relation between the white and colored people of this country is the great, paramount, imperative, and all-commanding question for this age and nation to solve.” ― Frederick Douglass

  46.) “I will give Mr. Freeland the credit of being the best master I ever had, till I became my own master.” ― Frederick Douglass

  47.) “Experience is a keen teacher;” ― Frederick Douglass

  48.) “To enslave men, successfully and safely, it is necessary to have their minds occupied with thoughts and aspirations short of the liberty of which they are deprived. A certain degree of attainable good must be kept before them.” ― Frederick Douglass

  49.) “He treated me as a man… He did not let me feel for a moment that there was any difference in the color of our skins.” ― Frederick Douglass

  50.) “They suppress the truth rather than take the consequence of telling it, and in so doing prove themselves a part of the human family.” ― Frederick Douglass

  Which of these Frederick Douglass quotes was your favorite?

Despite being born into slavery and receiving minimal formal education, Douglass rose to become a prominent activist, author, and public speaker. He proved that slaves had the intellectual capacity to function as independent American citizens.

Besides being a believer in the equality of all mankind, Douglass also believed in dialogue and in all people uniting irrespective of their race and ideologies. Hopefully, these quotes have inspired you to always fight for what is right.

Did you enjoy these Frederick Douglass quotes? Which of the quotes was your favorite? We would love to hear all about it in the comment section below.

The post 50 Frederick Douglass Quotes about Freedom and Progress appeared first on Everyday Power Blog.