#that was the POINT

[bungone]

Actually no im not done because I know it gets talked about a lot but Lolita is such an interesting piece of media; not just the book itself but people's attitudes towards it.

like, first off, there's the actual author (nabokov) who goes out of his way to talk about how childish, mokeyish, immature and whatnot Dolores is in the most unnappealing possible ways, and then specifically said that he didnt want the kind of cover that every single fucking published edition of Lolita has?? With girls who are either being sexualized or very obviously having "a good time" which is absolutely not what Dolores was doing in the book?? I really, really, don't think anyone who designs these covers has even opened the first page because what. the. fuck.

It's so obvious that my man Humbert Humbert is an unreliable narrator, but gee, I guess we learned to take everything we read at face value, and also everything that comes from a protagonist's mouth as the "correct" way of viewing things, both in the book and in real life?

And even then, maybe, just MAYBE I can excuse the people who talk about how the book is fucked up because it's "glorifying pedophillia".

Maybe they had a really shitty english teacher. At the very least, they're reading it and understanding that the actions of Humbert Humbert aren't okay? They got to the halfway point. Maybe their education sytem failed them.

Maybe they had a really shitty high school english teacher that never taught them the skills necessary to understand this kind of writing. Maybe they're just dense, that's who they are as a person, and it would take someone going out of their way to point it out for them to consider the possibility.

But then there's the fucking apologists?? Like, putting aside the whole Dolores being 12 (which, yeah, is akin to putting aside the whole book, but bear with me for a second), Humbert Humbert not only kidnaps her (illegal), lies to her for a long time about her mother (not illegal but generally shitty), but is implied to have committed murder (illegal, not sure if implied is the right word here because it absolutely happened and everyone knows it), and sexually abuses Dolores (very illegal). These are crimes. He is a criminal. Say what you want about the justice system these are crimes that absolutely should be crimes.

He's clearly not an upstanding citizen, and I fail to understand how some people look at all his behavior and go "oh yes, the the man who killed a woman and kidnapped a 12 year old girl is just misunderstood, and he did those things for true love" like fuck no.

I like Lolita. It's an objectively good book. The quality of writing (high quality, I mean, I normally hate first-person writing but I actually liked Lolita), it's a great psychological horror piece that doesn't rely on things like shock value and overused tropes. The characters are all multi-dimensional and frankly, act realistically. But that's all it is. A psychological HORROR piece. It's not romantic. If anything, it's meant to make you sympathize with Humbert, and then you're supposed to take a step back and be like, "Wait. Why am I sympathizing with him? I'm not a pedophile." Because yeah, he's a complex character but that only goes to make him realistic in terms of the kind of pedos that exist in real life.

Pedophiles are people too. Mentally ill people, really, really shitty people who need serious help, but reducing them to "not human" only makes them an "other", which makes you forget that on the outside, they look like normal people. That have friends and family and go to school or have jobs and order coffe and read in libraries and yeah, maybe you sat next to one of them an entire year in organic chemistry. They're not weird stalkers that hang out in bushes in parks. Some of them, maybe, but not all. Nowhere near all.

man that derailed fast.

[anachronic-cobra]

I'll be honest, if their idea of improving on the original ATLA is to remove the character traits the characters overcame within the narrative as part of their growth because they paint the characters in a bad light or whatever, I don't think they know the show well enough to be remaking it. What next? Are they gonna erase Iroh's military history because good people can't have ever made the wrong choice in their lives? Is Toph gonna be polite and cooperative the moment they meet her because you should never be rude to people? Is Zuko just gonna be a good guy pretending to be evil because no one understands character growth and nuance is too subtle?

[vampiricgf]

the day people stop trying to bait arguments in the main tags of fandoms is the day I'll know peace. you cannot control what someone else is doing. yes you may hate some shit, I know I hate some shit I see occasionally, but that is why there are features on here for you to use so you see less of what you hate. stop doing this essentially

and then crying foul when the people you're loudly shitting on do end up arguing with you because of course they will. you put that purposefully inflammatory post in a main tag for this sole purpose

[skeletonpoett]

I was spoiled for Basil's death but I can happily say that this chapter is not where I was expecting it to go

[mrdrhenwardhykle]

IF the term "Woke" actually came from the movie "They Live", doesn't using it in a bad light essentially prove the meaning right?

Because essentially, being "Woke" in that scenario was the right thing to do, AND it actually reflects how in-control the upper class is of the lower class, and how they survive off of consumption and reinforcing a cycle.

[deepspacehoney]

It's almost that time of year again where folks participate in the month long spooky art challenge that they started weeks in advance but pretend they didn't

[goldlightsaber]

some people think they’re being really edgy for pointing out that barbie wasn’t a leftist masterpiece ghostwritten by marx himself

[theliterarywolf]

Unironically, my fave character from kizazi moto was the "Babe" secretary. I just like how consistent she was with it, and she had such a fun energy.

Oh, from "First Totem Problems"

Yeah, she was fun. A lot more enjoyable than our main character's ancestors, for sure.

[heartbeetz]

I love saying "raised in the restaurant industry (literally)" on Jazz's ref sheet but also You Guys Don't Get It. It's TRUE.

My parents owned a restaurant when I was born, and less than a year later we moved towns so they could open a different one. We lived in the basement of that restaurant and tiny baby me's playroom was back near the big industrial kitchen. Customers knew me before I could even talk bc my parents always wanted to show off their kid. I knew fancy-ass restaurant orders as a toddler bc that was what I was surrounded by.

A few years after that closed and they split, my father opened another restaurant with a separate upstairs living/office area that younger me used to stay in after school until we went home for the night. And I'd hang out in the kitchen and at the bar before/after hours just eating from the line, sitting in the walk-in fridge for fun, and getting drinks from the soda gun.

And THEN he closed that place, moved again, and opened ANOTHER tiny place a handful of years ago, which I ALSO could hang out in whenever I wanted. I'd just walk to the restaurant for lunch instead of eating in the school cafeteria.

My father's always loved being a chef, and my mother's always loved waiting tables. I've had free access to restaurants my whole life. I am THE restaurant baby.

[charlesoberonn]

It's gonna be such a funny mess when Donald Trump dies of a stroke on April 1st, 2024.

Naturally everybody will think it's fake because of the date only to lose their minds (both positively and negatively based on their opinion of trump) when realizing it's real

There will be massive celebrations in the streets and on social media and lots of predictable "don't speak ill of the dead" discourse about those celebrations

Weird evangelicals will pull some weird number trick talking about how Jesus was conceived on April 1st and that makes Trump a sort of messiah and people will make fun of that

The Republicans (after they're done with the faux-sadness and faux-outrage) will stomp over each other to be his successor but none of them will succeed. They'll tear each other apart and have no single nominee for the November elections.

There will be discourse about if Biden and the living former presidents should go to his funeral (they won't, he was a traitor insurrectionist)

The Ukraine-Russia War immediately goes in favor of Ukraine as morale in the Kremlin is reduced. China similarly backs off from its threats on Taiwan.

Ten thousand new memes are made, some sticking around for years to come.

Not a month later a bunch of unofficial biographies of Trump hit the bookshelves, many with new details about just how awful he was.

[lambergeier]

the real danger of spending too much time with friends is you stumble out of ten days of happiness and good food like oh my god THAT was real life. my job means NOTHING

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Knowledge Revenge.

[unsung-idiot]

don't show him modern technology; it won't end well

bonus under the cut:

[swan2swan]

Whoever conceived and animated this moment, I hope they're doing well and thriving. This is S-rank romance stuff here.

[incohorace]

what studying literature feels like

[aimasup]

Favouritism

Bill get a hold of yourself man