#societal structure

[jbfly46]

The people who cause the most problems in America come from money, because they act like children and money amplifies the effects of their actions while allowing them to deflect consequences, along with society at large mimicking them just because they have money.

[wonderingaccountant]

The Fragility of Sacred Institutions: Trust, Authority, and the Decay of Society

Adam Smith in his work, The Wealth of Nations, describes the need for a structure of laws that people can rely upon. Without delving too deep, if people are going to make choices, build companies, or enforce contracts there must be guiding principals that all agree upon to ensure that the risk we take isn’t going to be infringed upon by others. This is a fast and loose description of one part of…

[zomb13s]

Psychohistory and the Inevitable Future of Society

In the vast expanse of human history, there have always been cycles of progress, decline, and war. The study of these cycles—and the prediction of societal outcomes based on scientific principles—is known as psychohistory. This concept, deeply explored in science fiction yet grounded in realistic socio-political theory, paints a sobering picture of the future. It posits that large-scale events…

[angryaromantics]

I do feel like, as the cost of living crisis skyrockets, non-partnering aros are going to get hit harder and harder. There is no framework built into the infrastructure of our society for people who don't have a dual-income household, and it does become more difficult as you age to reliably live with friends.

There is, of course, the option to live with strangers, but that has it's own varied and dangerous downfalls. Hit just as hard, or perhaps even harder, are going to be those in abusive households who's chances of being able to afford to leave grow slimmer.

Like, this stuff IS grim, so we've gotta start making good financial decisions, and supporting each other where possible.

[idkaguyorsomething]

a support group for people with “unconventional” daemons. jeff with his flounder he has to carry everywhere in a huge tank. lois with her poison dart frog everyone is afraid to touch. sam with their elephant that’s the reason they can never go higher than two stories in most buildings.

[furiousgoldfish]

Does anyone else feel like the society is structured in a way that has people forced to obediently and submissively endure harassment and abuse from their bosses and people in authority, but they're allowed to take out their frustration on anyone who is powerless to inflict consequences on them? Like their own employees, service workers, their spouse, family, children. There's no consequences for hurting the powerless and loads of consequences for standing up to authority, even if you're standing up to them for a good reason. It's almost like things were designed to be this way.

Shouldn't it be the opposite though? We should focus on standing up to people in authority, because they're likely to abuse authority they have, so there should be no consequences for challenging this authority, it needs to be challenged. We should have severe consequences for hurting those who can't fight back, because they need that protection the most.

[valtsv]

[caliburn-the-sword]

i find it really annoying that people are all like "omg ella totally pranked bridget on purpose as a plot twist since that was the only thing they changed in the past and they successfully stopped her from doing that"

did none of you listen to get your hands dirty?? or even pay attention to anything about ella's character at all?? or pay attention to the original cinderella fairy tale?? bfr

an IMPORTANT detail of the cinderella fairytale is that cinderella was BANNED from going to the ball by her unreasonable, evil stepmother. the vase gave lady tremaine a valid excuse to ground ella in the movie, but if not for the time travel intervention, she would have found some other reason to just ban ella from going to castlecoming to try and get her own daughters to snag a prince. at THIS point fay would swoop in and save the day, but because she's already been established as bad at magic, THIS is why she is limited by midnight - after all, if ella wasn't banned and went dress shopping with bridget, how would the glass slippers ever be so important that she ended up getting her daughter her own glass shoes

two, the villains ONLY crack open the evil cookbook to lord it over red and chloe to rub their loss in their faces, once they think the coast is clear because red and chloe have ALREADY dispatched merlin's security, and they got too self assured. without time travel, they would've been racing against the clock to get out before they were caught by merlin. they wouldn't have had time to crack open the book. so once they were FINALLY safe i believe they would've been more cautious. perhaps ulyana would have consulted the souls of the black lagoon, or maybe one of her friends snatched it out of her hands and froze themself opening it in their excitement. it doesn't matter, all we need to know is that ulyana figures out that she has to trick someone good into opening it to the page she needs. since we know that ulyana intended to pretend to be bridget's friend, i think it's possible that she herself tricks ella into opening the book by telling ella she wants to make amends with bridget, which makes the betrayal so much more intense for bridget and explains away why she'd be so angry at her in the modern day

[whatyourehungryfor]

there is something there in how season one introduces characters that embody tropes (such as the burnout, the popular girl, the nerd, etc) that are subsequently deconstructed and played with; the impact of these tropes regarding how they are perceived is felt in universe and with how the audience sees things. and then in later seasons the characters are put into boxes yet again but this time very literally assigned more concrete roles within the group and well. call me crazy but perhaps these roles might also be restrictive and we shouldn't fall into the trap of defining the characters by them. its not like the show goes out of its way to show how damaging that is in universe or anything…

[secretly-a-catamount]

You’ve heard of gay best friends who get confused for a straight couple get ready for the alternative: straight couple that gets confused for gay best friends

[homeostasister]

Was anyone going to tell me the new Sultai are incredibly based?

[ratcandy]

Ok. Look at this for a second ok?

wasps

zasp

general ultimax/fuff

wayde

voi

reeves

bees

crisbee

ants

n/a

What’s all this? Well let me Tell You: this is a (possibly non-comprehensive) list of all the bugs (hymenopterans specifically) in bug fables who go by he/him pronouns yet have stingers .

For those who do not know, Stingers are modified ovipositors. IRL, bugs born male generally Do Not have stingers, seeing as ovipositors are an egg-laying organ. notice: there are 5 total wasps, 1 bee, and no ants (the only ant who goes by he/him in the game is Monsieur Scarlet, and he does not have a stinger - but this isn't really noteworthy because None of the ants in-game are drawn with stingers).

so like. My question is . What's going on with the wasps. I mean I’m pretty sure literally all wasps we see with he/him pronouns have stingers. Is it just because drone wasps are born less often or Do you guys think wasps are more predispositioned to be trans/transmasc specifically. I would chalk this up to the devs just not knowing if they hadn’t shown at least a Little understanding of bug biology already . Maybe they don’t know about the stinger thing but STILL.

I want to talk about the lore implications .Can we talk about it can someone worldbuild this with me can someone hold my hand and frolic with me. Does anyone want to live in this beautiful world with me

(for anyone wondering - no i have not been able to find any transfem characters thru the same means... nor through the means of Wings (male ants will typically have wings)... unless you want to count Bumble and Rebelle, who as velvet ants should absolutely have Very Large stingers, but seeing as neither have wings and velvet ant stingers don’t Jut Out as other wasps’ do anyway… mmmmwho knows) (that is unless you want to argue all the ants in the game EXCEPT Monsieur Scarlet are trans because none of them are drawn with stingers) (which would be incredibly funny . all things considered)

ok That’s my trans bugs post. If I missed anyone pleas tell me I’d love to update my list. And if you want to talk about how wasps are more likely to be trans u should talk to me about that too

CORRECTIONS / ADDITIONS (edited due to replies):

Removed Ritchee from the list since Ritchee's pronouns are confirmed she/her in the artbook

Rebelle and Bumble are shown in concept art to have wings, so HEY, we might Actually have Two transfem characters ,

Carmina is another velvet ant in a similar situation as those two (no wings nor stinger, so ?) who I Forgor about

[serpentface]

Question about Couya! Since she is a bastard what are the reasons about her being brought into the main family by her father. Was it genuine care for his child or a way to save face politically/socially? Is her birth mother alive? Do you think she would have had a better life growing up anywhere else?

This is in large part due to how cultural perceptions and legal punishment of adultery varies between male and female citizens, looped into the very strictly patrilineal kinship system.

By legal definition, the word for 'adultery' applies only to situations where a man has an affair with a married woman, or a married woman has an affair with any man. Other forms of affairs (eg a married man having an affair with an unmarried woman) are wrapped into a broader set of sexual misdemeanors and aren't often charged or punished in practice, and the punishments are comparatively minor (if an unwed woman's father pursues charges, the man in the affair is likely to just pay a fine). On a social level, extramaritial affairs in general are certainly not Approved of and seen as lowly and dishonorable, but the average response is significantly less harsh/more willing to entertain Nuance with men than with women.

In this society there's differentiated shades of bastardry depending on the contexts of the child's birth, as well as a distinction for 'nameless bastards' (has not been claimed by their biological father or maternal grandfather, or claimed in adoption).

a) A child born to an unmarried woman via an unmarried man: non-issue for father, potentially serious social harm for the woman (especially if she has never been married and expected virginal, much less severe as a widow or divorcee). The child will not be notably disadvantaged in of themselves (their status will depend more on whether they are claimed and thus provided the social security of a family patriarch), the father will experience no hard disadvantages in claiming them.

b) A child born to an unmarried woman via a married man: mild sexual misdemeanor for the father carrying levels of social shame, even more serious social harm for the woman (often framed as not just loose but a manipulative Seductress of a married man). The child might experience minor to moderate social disadvantages, the consequences of the father claiming them are purely social and will not typically be severe. (Couya is this)

c) A child born to a married woman via an unmarried or married man: both man and woman have committed a crime and can be severely punished. The biological father can technically claim the child but will be disincentivized from doing so. This is the form of bastardry most comparable to the conventional definition, in that it is heavily stigmatized and has effects on concerns of kinship and inheritance.

In addendum to this, if the adulterous wife's legal husband claims the child, this may be punishable if determined to be active concealment of adultery (which is also a crime), and has EXTREME social consequences either way. (Either you're a cuckold too stupid to notice that your wife has been skipping out on you, or you're a MEGAcuckold adultery-accessory willingly rearing another man's child after being horribly shamed by him).

(This is separate from adoption- a man who marries a woman with an unclaimed child after the fact (whether it was a product of adultery or just a general out of wedlock birth) and claims the child is an adoptive father, he is not concealing adultery or being cuckolded.)

A child born in an affair can be considered an heir to their biological fathers (descent and kinship is fully patrilineal and on a Basic level it doesn't matter who the mother is), and can very smoothly and legally be claimed when the affair was not considered criminal adultery. The concern on that front is social perception rather than material legal consequences or kinship issues.

Couya's birth mother was an unwed servant working as a housekeeper for her father Saizen, so the Crime of adultery did not take place. It would be considered a minor sexual misdemeanor, and the woman's father was not about to pursue charges against a nobleman who could Ruin him (and had also formally expressed that he would claim the child, which meant he would not be saddled with a nameless bastard granddaughter). So the concerns here were entirely social.

The affair might have started beforehand but the pregnancy that produced Couya occurred after his wife's third viable pregnancy ended in the premature birth of a underdeveloped boy deemed necessary to euthanize (and tbr would Not have survived either way). This was after Livya Haidamane had a couple early term miscarriages, two viable but very difficult pregnancies wherein one child was very weak and sickly for the first several years of life, and struggled to conceive every time. A lot of people are going to be at least a little sympathetic to a married man having an affair and claiming a bastard in this context. It's definitely ideal and practical to have more than two children, and his wife (while not outright infertile) clearly could not reliably bear healthy children. (The average response is going to be "Well he shouldn't have done it but like, I get it")

Couya being claimed by her father was a mix of genuine care and saving face. Initially it was MUCH more the latter than the former. Saizen made attempts to hide the servant's pregnancy and to keep his own wife out of sight during the late term (to prevent the baby appearing after his wife had been seen Extremely not pregnant). But there's some levels of care involved, he could very easily have fired the pregnant servant and had nothing to do with his bastard and she would have no recompense whatsoever. The choice to keep and claim the baby and ensure its entrance into the world bore as little social scrutiny as possible is an act of care for his own progeny.

This was Not an act of care for Couya's birth mother (beyond the fact that concealing her pregnancy would benefit her in hiding that she is not only Not a virgin prior to marriage but had a child). She probably would have been about 17-19 at the time and was fired a few months after giving birth, and most likely never saw Couya again after this point (if she did, it would most likely be in the context of seeing her as an adult Odonii in public and noting her to look Scarily familiar). She has an Okayish chance at still being alive, she'd be around 50 (and a person who survives the high infant mortality and birth casualty rates stands a good chance of hitting their 60s), though she could very well be a casualty of the drought+famine.

Whether or not Couya's life would have been better is kind of a mixed bag. She had an awful fucking childhood in large part because her adoptive mother Livya Haidamane hated her. (Livya was ultimately a pretty horrible person but not just like. An Evil Bitch. She had A Lot going on and Couya was a living breathing insult to her and reminder of like, every one of her dashed hopes and dreams). Couya is also autistic and presented very intense symptoms as a child in a society that is Not equipped for a mass-understanding and support of cognitive differences. But she still did have an immensely privileged life with profound physical/economic levels of security inaccessible to the vast majority of people in this region, including her birth mother. Saizen also actually Liked her and cared about her, he just wasn't a routine physical presence in any of his children's lives.

Had she been left with her biological mother, she would be in a very disadvantaged situation as a nameless bastard to an unwed mother. Her biological grandfather may or may not have been willing to claim her, and her mother would have great difficulties in finding a husband (which is ultimately necessary for the security of women in this society). I think her mother was a relatively kind person but not like, a perfect angel. She would probably have complicated feelings about her bastard daughter, especially one whose very existence materially disadvantages her and was very, very difficult as a child. So this probably would not have been a good situation for Couya either.

If you broaden the question to ANY other family completely divorced from the circumstances of her birth, yeah it definitely could have been better. But in her case it's like either "Life of grotesque socioeconomic privilege but in an abusive household" or "Life of profound socioeconomic disadvantages in a household that Probably wouldn't have been this abusive but certainly wouldn't be healthy". There wasn't really a good option for her.

[ethernitty]

spoilers for longform 50 the off season

okay so i know sam addressing tom as the groom is just a height joke but it set me down a mental rabbit hole so have this dissection of gender thats really just an excuse for me to infodump

as this is all set off because of the wedding scene ill start there; there is a noticeably more progressive understanding of gender in this play universe than in reality 1895, and this has been going on for a while (eg. god himself or herself or themself, and the officiant/mrs daltrey saying shes late with this), still i think the characters of angelina and john (as these are the only ones whos clothing ill be talking about) are still dressed relatively within the standard of 1895.

now the 1890s were a time when womens wear started to take after mens fashion and bifurcated garments for women (such as split skirts and bloomers) came into fashion, and im personally of the opinion angelina might own and wear some of these, however since shes been set up on this date by her father, a proper earl whos friend and fellow earl did insist on john switching bottoms with him so john wearing "more appropriate trousers instead of his kilt", which leads me to belief that while shed still dress with male influences she wouldve put on a skirt (i imagine shes in a walking suit or something similar in this scene)

the scene progresses and john gets shot leading them to flee to france, obviously this is done in a haste and we dont see them going back and taking clothes, but since angelina has said she knows how to deal with this i presume she might have known that they would be staying there for a while and needed more clothes then they were wearing, which leads me to two option, one she went home really quickly and packed some clothes, or two that she bought new clothes in france. this second option while possible isnt the one my mind goes to, because while she does come from wealth she doesnt want to be associated with her father anymore, (the eulogy was probably already in print, but i think she telegrammed it from france to england), which leads me to belief she doesnt have much access to more funds then she had on her or couldve grabbed at a moments notice. so continueing with the first option, she wouldve grabbed womens clothing that might have tinges of masculinity but will like make them both read as woman (yes i know john has short hair, that was a trend for women in the 80s and again mrs daltrey is old)(for fellow trans angel truthers, i think that she might have some old clothes stocked away in a set place in her closet, which probably (going off luke and toms build) would fit in width but will be too long) also 1895 was when sleeves peaked in volume (they were massive) but she might have been wearing stuff slightly out of date, and with smaller sleeves (which ill get back to) now of course johns pant are still intact so he couldve been wearing them at the wedding, but that still leaves us with the top portion, now if hes wearing something slightly ages from agelina, (i mean a womans jacket or something) it would have some small poofs in the sleeves and a somewhat voluminous skirt which would be resemblant of 1830s mens fashion, which if we match that with angelina possibly wearing something bifurcated and somewhat outdated 1890s to wear, would make sense of mrs daltreys confusion, this would mean that shed likely be above the age of 75

i realise this has now become more of a hypothetical costume rant then a gender rant but i do still think its very intresting

[moonshynecybin]

who do you think would deal better with being isekai'd into omegaverse, marc or vale? alternatively which is more compelling

most beautiful ask. in the world. so funny. ummmm i think. vale is maybe more compelling because his issues with it would be. perhaps unsolvable and endlessly complex. guy who is a lil weird about gender, not terribly into the concept of marriage, and is pretty fundamentally adverse to being. shall we say emotionally legible/vulnerable. exposed. and omegaverse as a genre is all about exposure. its all. giving into the base instincts of your body and those same instincts giving you away to the object of your affections. its going into heat and the person youre in love with is the only one available to help you through it. its scenting someone and that being a crystal ball of their emotions and bodily state ESPECIALLY ie how much they want you specifically. its needing someone so bad you are literally insensate. its getting bonded 5ever and ever irrevocably, OFTEN in the heat of an instinctual moment without the relationship negotiation that happens irl. a genre centered around a betrayal of the body/heart to the mind, in many ways

now imagine you didnt actually grow UP in an omegaverse so you have no toolbox to DEAL with all that. sensory input off the SHITS. and. like suddenly and without WARNING now vale can feel in his CHEST exactly how distressed marc marquez is about every one of their interactions. and how much he wants his ass. like truly every part of his hind brain is like jesus christtttttt i should be inside him right tf now im a terrible alpha. and then the higher part of his brain is like what the fuck. what the fuck. i am not responsible for marc, what the fuck. and oh hey theres a bump on my penis i need to ask people about this right the hell now. thats vale. so i see this as a somewhat fraught comedy of sex errors where his ADHD ass is treading horny water trying to learn alpha manners and also. much more complexly. not fall into all of the traditional alpha expectations/roles. that little trap of gender. because at heart vale is a little trickster who loves to buck expectations!!! and maybe his journey here is realizing that he can just be himself comma sex freak. and that leaning into those "alpha" traits doesnt mean he is conforming lmao he can still have his own unique version of his family. learning the norms of a society and what makes sense to him and what still doesnt. sorting through the weeds of it. and that being vulnerable rules sometimes. and that marc loves him. because that last one is kind of hard to ignore now... again because of that emotional and physical vulnerability that comes with the genre... honestly him knowing all of that about marc without having to actually TALK about it may solve some of their problems tbh. like why work through all that verbally when you can sniff them and then fuck them. kind of the omegaverse fantasy in quite a few ways

marc. jeez louise. i think would HATE it more. at first. control freak 9000. maybe has to miss races for heats. suppressants arent legal. experiencing weird omega sexism if we want to go that route OR. my favorite. has been lying to the press about his status since he presented. tiniest 15 yr old youve ever seen: im an alpha ! :3 uh sure bud. sure. i bet. SO actually maybe he falls into a world where hes just been white-knuckling it for the last billion years during race weekends and most of the paddock kind of KNOW (scent blockers only go so far...) but are lowkey afraid to call him on it dlkjdfljldsfd... similar to vale in this scenario, he sort of has to learn how to omega— and when his heat hits during summer break and his ass start leaking in the middle of the spanish equivalent of walmart, he finds a psycho little ziploc bag of sweaty vale shirts under his bed and he genuinely is like girl what the hellllllllllll.... wiggin out. and his next heat he turns up to race with truly NO practice managing it all, so its way more obvious than normal and the farce is growing thinner and vale literally pulls him aside to be like hey are you GOOD ? but in that valentino not that i care about your ass kind of unspeakably divorced way and marc is like woag. bc a pheromone truck just ran him over. eyes glassy face flushed sweaty as hell mouth a little open.... and he opens his mouth to make an excuse and nothing comes... and then obviously they fuck like its the end of the WORLD

and like i DO think marc pulls out of it more cleanly than vale overall, bc something in HIS lizard brain would be deeply soothed by like. excelling at being an omega. getting an A + in being a bottom. doing that for vale, specifically in the context of pushing his body to the absolute LIMIT to do it.... hes locked in. its go time. and then theres the insane possibility of vale putting his mouth on his neck and them getting basically soulbonded forever where they have to have crazy sex every few months ? hes like ummmm okay. i could get used to this for a while lmao

[umactuallycallie]

Predictably, Heathcliff. I adore him. Every time a Goodreads review says he’s the villain an angel loses its wings.