#the most fucked nonsensical political system ever
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trying to relax by writing some tomarry except i think about the political system and economy of the wizarding world for more than three seconds and start spiraling and have no option but to open a new googledoc and start writing the lamest rant-thesis about fictional politics ever.
#it actually makes me insane its not even funny#basically wizards live under a puppet regime and have no democracy whatsoever#imagine being literally taken a way to a magical world from yr awful orphanage only to realize its got#the most fucked nonsensical political system ever#id become worse than tom riddle actually#ik ik its because jkr didnt care enough about worldbuilding#and canon itself is often left (purposefully?) vague but the implications...#also fanon but i dont blame anyone like literally the best i can come up with while working with and not against canon is like...#this muggle-pureblood alliance that essentially controls all of the wizarding world#thats extrapolated from some pretty unpopular assumptions that i never see brought up in fic but i think canonically it makes sense?#idfk man#i just needed to talk about this
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There's a specific genre of shitty antisemitic joke that I have seen fly under the radar (as it was designed to) a LOT more often lately - especially since Kanye started going full mask-off nazi - so I feel the need to issue a warning about it. Namely, the genre is jokes that get spread around by people who aren't willfully antisemitic because outside of conspiracy brain rot land, it appears that the point of the joke is absurdism.
As an example, let's examine the 23-and-me lizard DNA test that I've sadly seen floating around unquestioned.
Because, see, to the average person who isn't willfully antisemitic, this genre of joke comes off as nonsequiturs, or hilarious mistakes - you, as a person with some level of basic observational and critical thinking skills, living on Earth and not in whatever batshit mirror dimension conspiracy theorists think we live in, might very well end up getting a giggle out of it because, HAH, we KNEW those DNA ancestry kits were a scam! If you're not a deliberate antisemite but not really up on the dogwhistles, it doesn't scan as anything awful because you're put in mind of things like feeding a photo of something decidedly not human into that one selfie-to-anime neural net, which sometimes works and produces interesting results because the thing is looking for specific patterns and trying to make anything fit - not things like blatantly lying about doing something like that in the hopes that normies who see the absurdity and want to have a laugh at a scummy company's expense will pass it along to people who unironically believe that Jewish people are actual literal lizard aliens and the test proves it.
This is the same strategy that guy at the game awards pulled. You, a person living in reality where the main source of political corruption is just the basic consequence of an economic system that makes power pool in the hands of anyone willing to exploit enough people, a world of banal mundane evil, know damned well that QAnon-pizzagate-satanic ritual abuse cult conspiracy bullshit is, well, bullshit, if you're even familiar with the details of what they believe at all. When someone crashes the stage and thanks Rabbi Bill Clinton, you may very well laugh because to YOU it is a blatant absurd nonsequitur.
Problem is that to someone else, someone who's deep into that shit, it's either someone letting the truth slip, or someone backing the deep state into a corner - whichever is more convenient to believe.
This is one form of how the far right uses memeification (CW: the example discussed in the link is a rape "joke") - it means something totally different to the in-group than it does to the out-group. To you, it's funny because it's nonsensical; to them, it's fun because they think they're onto something huge and they're about to blow this shit wide open and it's going to be their great moment of triumph.
I cannot stress enough that no matter how absurd an antisemitic conspiracy theory sounds to you, there are people who believe it, unironically. There are people who unironically believe that Jewish people are very literally not human and no amount of evidence to the contrary will ever change their minds. There are people who believe that we're born with horns and tails and pointed ears and have them surgically altered to fit in with good Christian humans like some kind of extremely high-stakes game of Among Us. There are people who believe that we steal, ritualistically abuse, and kill Christian babies. These beliefs, while fringe enough that, yeah, most of you who this post is aimed at have never heard them in the wild before very recently, are not nearly as fringe as you probably think they are. Just look at fucking Kanye. This asshole has more fans than there are Jewish people in the world.
So I'm begging you to please, bare minimum, be careful of "absurdist" jokes about Jewish people, especially if they reference lizards, money, banking, or government power. Also, you may see Jewish people debating how religious laws may apply to fictional creatures, but outside of that context you should also be wary of any time Jewish people are mentioned in the same sentence as vampires, dragons, goblins, zombies, fantasy demons, or any number of other fantasy creatures known for greed, feeding on humans, or both.
If the reason it seems funny to you is because you'd have to be really stupid to believe it's true or makes any kind of sense - it's probably looking for you to spread it to people who are, in fact, that stupid.
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Second Army disorganization
Siege and Storm- Chapter 14
One of the most frustrating and famously nonsensical passages of Grisha trilogy, easily explained through doylist approach- the author's inability to write strategy or politics and demands of the genre, requiring a weak, unfit heroine to defeat immensely powerful opponent way out of her league:
Alina: Oh no, they dare to oppose me again! :(
Isn't that why would you want to establish a council in the first place? So you get constructive criticism and suggestions to do things better?!
My objections to the notion Alina came up with representation of Grisha can't be more obvious:
Army is a structured organization. There are ranks and councils by default. No amount of ignorant teens will persuade me calling it "Second" makes it otherwise.
Any big organization has a structure. Even if Second Army were only about education, there would be councils and posts on different levels. Hell, school system works that way.
Alina: I'm gonna have the useless ones represented, because we're not doing things like the Darkling, but that doesn't mean I'll respect them myself or abandon my prejudices. Fucking nerds. Weidos...
Another YA nonsense- you cannot put people into categories based on their physical predispositions, and expect the mental ones to fit accordingly. You can have a huge, muscled guy, skilled in delicate handiwork. You can have a tiny wisp of a girl beating the living shit out of you (popular trope by itself).
Now why should sensitivity to metals get you a spot in labs, if you're a strategic genius? Or incredibly skilled, witty rhetorician? Isn't it more likely you'd be required to complete basic training to stay healthy and prevent accidentally endangering others, while being assigned to whatever you're most useful at?
And what about those weak or less intelligent ones? Are they bringing coffee and arranging entertainment?!
It also fits this fan interpretation, that Materialki are often neuro-divegent, so they are tend to be kept away from battle for their own sake.
Alina wasn't involved in practical running of Second Army before. Just because she doesn't know about something, it's not a totally fresh idea.
I'd be afraid of a girl, who almost murdered a bunch of people for asking questions, too.
At this point, I'm gonna run with the idea that all the older Grisha are torn between face-palming and silently laughing their assess off (so Alina doesn't overhear and her clique doesn't resort to violence).
“But what do they do in there?” I asked, not entirely sure I wanted to hear the answer. “Only the Corporalki know. But there are rumors that they’ve been working with the Fabrikators on new … experiments.”
Shadow and Bone- Chapter 8
... and that says nothing about the field, or the little groups in noble houses. People tend to stick together with their own, when in strange enviroment. I'm sure such bonds dissolve immediately after their return "home".
I've also delved a little into the sitting order here.
A few lines earlier, Alina noted Materialki didn't show up to complain. Who is so horrified then?! Not them, for sure.
Ironically, this fits into Fabricator-brain theory linked above AND the most logical explanation- Materialki have basic self-defense training, but only those, who are able to, continue. Alina isn't particularly friendly with any of them, so how would she know no one had EVER bothered to teach them? Alright, there are none in her class, but as far as we know, it consists of a Squaller, an Inferni and a Heartrender. Not the most saying sample.
Having a third of all Grisha helpless doesn't fit into the picture of Aleksander's leadership:
“That’s what Botkin always says. ‘Not showy, just to make pain,’” I said, imitating the mercenary’s heavy accent. “Smart guy.” “The Darkling doesn’t think Grisha should rely on their powers for defense.”
Shadow and Bone- Chapter 17
You don't have to become another Bruce Lee, you only need a chance, when they drag you out of bed in the middle of the night.
What tradition?
This is rather well-written group of angry, disorganized people. It might start with a reasonable goal, but soon everyone talks about something else than others, and the message gets lost in the noise.
Tradition doesn't equal "the way things are done". Neither of them is the same as "the need for structure and people knowing their places". The third one is a legitimate concern, although one could argue it's exactly what Alina's attempting.
This whole scene very much reads like:
The author is desperate to prove the Heroine isn't quite useless- she has good ideas! Look! *whacks a hundreds of years old stategist and survivor par excellence with stupid stick*
#Grishaverse#S&S Chapter 14#The Darkling#Alina Starkov#Second Army#Materialki#grishanalyticritical#Second pseudoArmy#S&B Chapter 8#S&B Chapter 17#meme#V#Siege and Storm#Grisha trilogy#books#quotes#Leigh Bardugo#anti Leigh Bardugo
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buckle up, this one's a doozy
Idk if it's actually a doozy, but this is the story of how I deconverted from a cult and got my egg cracked at approximately the same time, all thanks to... weed.
Let's set the scene, shall we?
It is December 22nd, 2021. The pandemic has been raging for nearly two years at this point. I am, at this point, still a believing mormon. That said, my attendance to church meetings has been incredibly spotty, with the most reliable method to get me to worship being choir practice.
I am laying in my bed in the evening, and of all possible things, I am thinking about weed. Namely, the church's policy about weed, and the absolute failure that is the war on drugs, and my personal belief system (and also about whether or not I should try weed for my anxiety disorder).
What's mormonism's policy on weed, you ask? Well, it's surprisingly liberal for a whole-ass cult, but still has enough nonsense for the events of this story to play out. To put it simply, you can absolutely use weed for medicinal purposes, but recreational purposes is a big no-no.
This, of course, presents a dilemma: where do you draw the line between recreational and medicinal use, especially in the case of, say, using it to medicate an anxiety disorder? I'm sure that the Church-Approved™ conclusion is "That's between you and The Lord, figure it out yourself, good luck!" I don't remember if I came to that conclusion or not, but I know for a fact that my "prove beyond a shadow of a doubt before you make an important decision based off of Feelings Supposedly From God Or The Holy Spirit" ass would not have been satisfied with that answer.
So I think about it in terms of politics, and logic, and science. After all, science is just our frail and minuscule way of comprehending all that Our Father Who Art In Heaven has created, right? So if Our Father Who Art In Heaven can't give me a straight answer, science surely can.
I come to a few conclusions. First of all, there are very few people, if any, who are qualified to draw that line. I am not included in that group of people. Secondly, nobody in their right goddamned mind would so much as try to draw that line unless they have some serious qualifications in the variety of fields that it applies to. Third of all, and this is where shit starts to unravel very fucking quickly: who in the goddamned fuck are a bunch of old white men who've probably never seen a gram of weed in their entire lives to think themselves qualified to draw that line?
The shelf cracks. The prophets are fallible, even in this day and age. Not only are they fallible, but whoever made this decision is a FUCKING DUMBASS. God must be looking down at them and shaking his head disapprovingly, huh?
So I think to myself, yknow what, this is a stupid fucking rule. And my autistic-disregard-for-stupid-fucking-rules-having-ass was not about to tolerate it. So what do I do? Metaphorically speaking, I chuck it out the window. Who cares? I'm gonna do weed for my anxiety, and if anybody tells me that I'm disobeying god, I can tell them that god doesn't fucking give a shit about weed if he's as kind and loving as the prophets say he is.
A moment passes.
Now wait just a goddamned second! If I'm chucking this rule out the window, isn't there something else I should re-examine? If I'm disregarding what the prophets have said for my own pleasure and recreation, isn't there something regarding the lives, livelihoods, and joie de vivre of countless other people, myself included, that I should be looking at?
Suddenly, the years of (pent-up and suppressed) sheer fucking indignation of the way queer people have been othered by the church hits me all at once, full fucking force. I am angry, angrier than I have ever been. Abso-fucking-lutely not. No. If the prophets are wrong about weed, then they're DEFINITELY wrong about queer people.
And in this moment, I make a decision. "Until the mormon leaders get their shit together, I'm out! I'm fucking done! I'm gonna go live it up and get blazed out of my gourd for shits and giggles, and maybe I'll try a tiny sip of beer, and by god I am going to transition-"
"HEY WAIT JUST A GODDAMNED SECOND"
[Plain text ID: Text in a large, bold, italicized red font that reads "HEY WAIT JUST A GODDAMNED SECOND"]
Shelf shattered, omelette made of my egg, life ruined for the better.
The next morning, I come out to my mom and sister. I still believe in god and mormonism and yadda yadda, I just think the leadership needs to get their heads out of their asses.
Not long after, I decide to finally check out exmormon spaces. Yknow, get the full experience.
I am bombarded with "HOLY FUCK IT'S A CULT. IT RUINED MY LIFE. IT RUINED YOUR LIFE. IT TORE MY FAMILY APART. IT'S NOT EVEN REAL. READ THE CES LETTER, CHECK MORMONISM AGAINST THE BITE MODEL. THINK FOR YOUR GODDAMNED SELF FOR ONCE IN YOUR LIFE."
I check the sources provided. Well, I'll be damned. They weren't kidding, that mormonism sure can cult started by a con man. At this point, I am now beyond the point of no return. There's no going back. I have seen the light. I want out forever, I want my records removed, mom pick me up I'm scared.
My family never looks at me the same way again :>
#byrd chirps#byrd is an exmo#exmo#exmormon#ex mormon#im feeling very exmo in this chilis tonight#exmo stuff#ex religious#religious trauma#ex christian#exvangelical#exchristian#deconvert#apostate#deconversion#image described#described#image id#image description#image id in alt text#id in alt#LISTEN. YES IT WAS KINDA TRAUMATIZING TO FIND OUT I WAS RAISED IN A CULT AND BECOME AN OUTCAST FOR SEEING THE SITUATION FOR WHAT IT WAS#BUT. LISTEN TO ME. THIS IS LIKE THE FUNNIEST POSSIBLE WAY THIS COULD HAVE HAPPENED.#I CAN'T EVEN DO WEED OR DRINK BEER BECAUSE I HAVE PSYCHOSIS AND CELIACS DISEASE.#THE *THOUGHT*. THE MOTHERFUCKING **THOUGHT** OF SOMETHING THAT I SHOULD NEVER EVEN ***TOUCH***#BROKE MY SHELF. CRACKED MY EGG. RUINED MY LIFE FOR THE BETTER. SAVED MY LIFE.#THAT'S FUCKING HYSTERICAL
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Is the ideal superhero story/setting one that you would read even without villains?
I guess by definition yes, because it would be ideal?
I think this depends a lot on what you mean by "villains." I don't necessarily need supervillains in a story, but are we also talking about street crime, organized crime, corrupt cops and politicians, etc? Because I do think you need conflict, and natural disasters only go so far.
I'm not a person who cares all that much about villains, and I think modern superhero comics are way overinvested in supervillains and constantly upping the ante in showing how badass they are and endless pages of nonsense about "look at us, our destinies are intertwined, clowns are the natural enemy of bats" like SHUT UP. If I never read another story with the goddamn Joker in it again it will be too soon. There's also that old chestnut of "superheroes create supervillains" which I find fucking exhausting and contrived as hell. Like just because you dress up as a bat to stop a mugger, it's your fault someone else decides to murder people with riddles? What??? "Don't help anyone, you'll create monsters!" SHUT UP!!!
Street level heroes do particularly well in stories where they're fighting organized crime and corruption; some of the most beloved stories and eras for Batman, Green Arrow, and Daredevil focus on this. (Green Arrow should probably almost never fight supervillains. His villains are so dumb.)
Even Superman - one of my favorite Superman eras ever is the Golden Age, where there were almost no supervillains and the ones he fought were often relatively harmless and it was more about exposing their cons than fighting them (Prankster, Toyman, my beloved J. Wilbur Wolfingham). These stories, again, often focused more on corruption and exploitation - which, crucially, means that Clark Kent has as big of a role to play in the story as Superman. I'm not saying get rid of Lex Luthor and Brainiac (although I think Lex also works best as a corrupt businessman instead of a guy in green and purple armor), but I do think there are many stories that can be told about Superman that don't require supervillains. And I think that requires refocusing on the idea that Superman is not here to fight bad people, he's here to help ordinary people.
But on the other hand...I don't know what the hell you would do with the Flash without supervillains. I just don't see how anything else would challenge him. "The Flash exposes a corrupt politician" just doesn't work for me unless said corrupt politician has hired Captain Cold for protection or something, I don't know why.
So I'm not saying get rid of supervillains, because they have their place. But I think the current emphasis on them is unnecessary, and overemphasizes the importance of, like, punitive and retributive justice and heavily militarized policing. There are not bogeymen in our streets in wacky costumes murdering dozens with freeze guns or whatever, but there is widespread and systemic corruption and abuse in business, politics, and law enforcement, so if we're going to have inspirational stories about defeating evil, I know where I think the emphasis should be. Superhero comics don't always have to be drawn from life and I enjoy a silly story where the Flash fights the Rainbow Raider as much as anyone else, but I think every so often it would be helpful for writers to take a step back and think "Hmm, what is this hero actually fighting and why?"
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You're right about trap and wrong about femboy. The former was always a slur, the latter never was. Both come from roughly the same segment of the internet but from wildly different times. Trap was ages and ages ago when "feminine person with a dick" was inherently and obviously bad to cis men. Femboy comes out of those who, many, many years later, appreciated and wanted to be feminine people with a dick. It is, at worst, kinna fetishizing of GNC men, but it it's theirs to reclaim and it does not refer to trans women and never has. In part that's actually because of the 4chan crowd's transphobia, ironically - many of them like femboys and many of those don't like trans women, so why would they refer to them with a term they consider positive? It just doesn't fit.
did you miss the part where i said i was there? where i was a victim? i'm almost 32, i saw it all happen.
this is revisionist nonsense.
you came in here to prove me wrong and then demonstrated what a "third gender" is perfectly. who, pray tell, has always been called tr*ps/femb*ys and treated as a subset of gay men? who is viciously attacked by these same people the moment they gain enough self-respect to call themselves a woman? which labels do these people immediately jump to when an AMAB character is reclaimed as trans? when have they ever looked at a feminine character with a penis and said "yeah, that's a trans woman?"they absolutely both refer to us. the claimed distinction only occurs in the fevered transphobic mind.
for the record, they have also always bashed people they call tr*ps as mentally ill, while saying that femb*ys are not (or at least, not in the same way). it's an abusive relationship designed to keep transfems from ever transitioning while they're exploited sexually ("you don't want to be mentally ill...do you? you're different from the filthy tr*nnies"). they get off on trans women being in the closet, that's what all this "failed man" and "boy wife" shit is about.
oh look, here's a "feminine man with a dick" enjoyer proving my point.
the fact that channers distinguish between the two labels is completely irrelevant because they don't have any concept of transfemininity beyond "feminine man i can exploit." their only concern is "how gay does this make *me*," not any sort of inner world that their victims might have. tr*p was just way too close to approving of transness (despite them still thinking it was gay), so femb*y came in to be a more insidious label that firmly classifies us as gay men.
please explain f*tanari/ot*konoko next. do you think all those guys who go to ot*konoko brothels here in japan are just gay boys appreciating a feminine man with a dick? those labels come from the same subcultures we're talking about here and serve the same purpose.
Daisuke Ishiwatari, a goddamn Japanese cis man who helped seed all this in the first place, figured it out and tried to correct the damage he'd done. Somehow transfems are the most eager to not understand their history of being oppressed and to preserve these systems.
are you afraid that gay/bi men will attack you? if they have a problem with this, fuck em. they helped create this mess and keep giving these labels legitimacy for their own benefit. i know who my allies are.
EDIT: sorry, i need to chill out. i just think you're wrong on this, not a bad person or anything
to quote a more eloquent friend, "femb*y exists to be tr*p but politically correct"
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ALL MONEY ASKS GET REPORTED TO STAFF AND BLOCKED.
[mostly queue operated : 10 posts per day]
Extra socials I rarely use:
Bluesky
Tik Tok
(⬇️check before following me.⬇️):
TAGS
[ #noodity and/or #smutty (if you don't want to see artistic nudes or smutty art reblogs. I have a good reason for not tagging these #nsfw)
#spoilers (I tag anything new for any fandom coming out as #spoilers to keep you all spoiler free.)
#fandom, #fandom discourse (if you don't wanna see me complain about fandoms)
#horror, #tw blood, #body horror and #dark art (if you don't want to see fun splatter or spookiness that may be triggering since some people er... don't like it as much as me.)
#personal, #personal pics #ramblings, #rant, #rant in tags, #!!! (if you don't want to see the most random ramblings ever along with pics, long winded tag rants and me boosting things... although I would want you to boost things in the #!!! tag)
As well as #witchy things (if you don't wanna see me talking my "evil hocus pocus" stuff)]
#politics, #news, #SA mention, #true crime are also recommended to blacklist if you don't like such subjects (and my ranting violence at criminals and hating on the injustice system. I'm a huge pig with badges hater especially since I see 97% bad shit)
#me being blasphemous is pretty self explanatory.
Things That Will Get A Block
Associating with people that have hurt me and my friends
Content thieves. Art, fanfiction etc. Plagiarism and art reposts without credits to get attention on yourself with other people's work is a no.
People that start fights over literally nothing. People that are overly reactive and see "something bad" in anything and start drama about it.
Homophobic, transphobic etc people get blocked.
Right wing conservashits and western commie shits (which are just as bad as conservatives) get blocked. I grew up in a conservative family and I've heard your kind of nonsense repeatedly. None of you are creative and bring nothing new to your "arguments" so I see no point in searing my damned eyes with your uninspiring stale bullshit.
Racist twats get blocked. I ain't gotta see your dumbass. Nobody does.
Porn bots, empty accounts, business accounts, weird content that gives me ick (if you don't tag your poop, diaper and piss play, necrophilia, age play, etc... all which I don't want to see and properly filter.)Like I've got weird fictional interests and personal but even I've got my limits and people ain't even tagging it to avoid getting banned in random main tags that has nothing to do with it.
Even at my married grown hag age I've had guys act inappropriately towards me almost immediately after I made the mistake of following them back. Block, reported. I'm too old for that shit.
Don't waste your time sending me asks or DMs asking for money. Some of you spam this shit to the point of becoming overwhelming. Fuck outta my asks and dms with this. You're obnoxious and its too damn much. Tired of having 30 asks begging for money and dms from fake ass accounts asking me for money cos I made the mistake of thinking they were a legimate follower. Sincerely fuck off and away to my block list.
Minors. Like where are your parents? If I find a minor following me, I'll at least do a soft block. Follow me when you're an adult.
If I block you for any of these things you'll probably stay blocked forever unless something happens that it was a misunderstanding etc..
Random Things About Me
[Status: Taken 💍 but we share each other with fictional characters]
[🧿🔮Ecletic Bruja. Some of my stuff is closed practice but I do share generalized info. Just not closed ancestral matters..]
[Horror/Gore movie/book obsessed: I also reblog a lot of dismemberment and innards which explains the #body horror or #tw blood tag.]
[A bit of a classical art snob. I love old art, the darker and more tragic the better. You can find pretty things of this nature as well as fandom fanarts in #art]
[I ain't 100% "politically correct". I can drag both left and right and my politics can fluctuate between center-right or center-left depending the issue. Example: I support the death penalty (as long as there's no reasonable doubt whatsoever. If there is any doubt, cut the bullshit. Especially these racist ass bloody red states that execute innocent people. If you're gonna do this shit be fucking sure first. Also start executing ped0s instead of people that accidentally killed one person in robbery- ok I'm ranting) and abortion. I also support guns but not everyone having them and there being some more restrictions/background checks etc. That was just some examples of my stance on some subjects. (Made bold for emphasis)]
[LGBT+ safe space🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️🌈 (if you don't like that gfy]
[I have writer's block on everything sorry]
[Dark Humor galore💀]
[Perverted Humor galore🥵]
[🗡 I will only follow back if I like your content and aren't a shitty p0rn bot or some money begging bullshit. I want actual mutuals to interact with and fangirl with, not a bot or a one post blog that only wants money🗡]
[Hablo Español and can understand spoken/read Deutsch and Portuguese]
[My blog is for me. Don't tell me how to run my shit unless you're a masochist.]
[Account is monitored with statcounter]
#pin#before you follow#read more for the rest#minors dni#naz/is get blocked. go k y s#spam/scam/money asks are all reported and blocked. had enough of your shit
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Well! Second DMing session ended with the guy who made me do it, who was going to "help" me, hanging up on me mid-session and texting
So much for "I don't care if you don't know how to do it, I'll walk you through it," I guess.
I was very clear from the outset that I think most ttrpgs, and ALL DnD rules, are arbitrary math nonsense that you need a college course to understand, specifically created by terrible people to force everyone else to put up with their infantile, unintuitive view of the universe. I told him I hate this crap. He manipulated me into trying it anyway. Guess who hasn't changed his mind, and guess who is now throwing a temper-tantrum about it? I TOLD YOU this was a bad idea.
I read the book. The 8 books. It doesn't matter. They're math textbooks written by bad writers and my eyes kept glazing over. I don't understand why any of these rules exist. I'm just forced to memorize formulas. That I don't respect.
There is no space for reputation, or politics, or combat scenario realities, or random accidents and diseases, or genuine surprises, or living in an apathetic, living, breathing world that doesn't give a fuck about your Chosen One status. It is wizards casting fire balls, because the guy doing that hates his mom, and made up a rule set where he can play his weird stupid power fantasies. His weird, stupid, RACIST power fantasies, if this last group's predilections is any indication.
I don't have patience for this. It's arcane and unrealistic and sucks the joy out of everything and it ISN'T FUN.
If you love it, great. I'll get out of your way. But it runs counter to how my brain works and I fucking hate it. I love the idea of using dice to RP events and see what happens. But at some point of complexity you are just obeying someones precious little rule-book so obnoxious math nerds who memorized it can be smug about exploiting loopholes.
Go play a video game for that. That's not a healthy social interaction. That's yet another version of a group of fucked-up people being whiney and dogmatic about random shit they made up, specifically so they can be cool in a world they specifically designed for that purpose. And what the fuck is that? I hate them, and I hate that.
My old mantra was "nerds with math ruin everything." I was always half-joking, but only half. I have zero respect for everything this is, and what people are apparently looking for from it. It is frustrating and boring and limiting and stupid to me. I don't enjoy it. And I don't even want to ever play it again, because I dread being doomed to waste my brain power sorting out weird meta game math shit that doesn't seem to take into account any defensible simulation of actual reality.
I have spent 120+ hours over the last 5 months trying to get into this. Trying to get a handle on why people like it, to figure out the secret I am missing. I have spent stupid amounts of money on stuff, to that end.
And I either lack the 3000 IQ space brain to get it, or I absolutely get it, and I just absolutely hate it. Either way, I've had enough.
I want to do a D6 system that is just "roll against opponent, bigger number wins, DM RPs what that means." That's loose and interesting and feels like real life. The rest can go jump in the river.
"YEAH BUT THAT'S UNFAIR TO PLAYERS!"
The world is unfair to life. You're not 12 anymore. I don't get anything out of playing around in a baby world made for babies. You're just mad because it isn't going to work in your favor the way I'm proposing it.
It's like Tim Cain said about programming RNG. You give them real RNG, everyone gets mad because "it's not fair." Because RNG isn't fair. They don't want RNG, they want to be autocrats of reality, then soothe themselves that they're not in fact cheating assholes by claiming "the numbers worked out in my favor."
When the reality is that the system was specifically designed over 50+ years to give them an advantage. And that isn't RNG. That isn't playing a role. That isn't being a real hero by self-sacrificing and being randomly lucky and muddling through. It's just egotistical self-delusional nothingness.
Like, maybe these kinds of games are STILL niche things for a reason? Maybe the only really popular and profitable entries are video game and movie versions where you don't see the math, BECAUSE you don't see the math? Like I don't think I'm alone in not giving a shit about this byzantine, nerfed crap.
That doesn't make me better. Do whatever you want. But if THAT'S what you're doing, count me the fuck out.
I did my time, and I'm sick of this shit.
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Are you a Feminist?
Are You A Feminist, the introduction of Jessa Crispin's 2017 feminist manifesto
Do you believe women are human beings and deserve to be treated as such? That women deserve all the same rights and liberties bestowed upon men? If so, then you are a feminist, or so all the feminists keep insisting.
Despite the simplicity and obviousness of the dictionary definition of feminism, and despite years of working at feminist nonprofits and decades of advocacy, I am disowning the label. If you asked me today if I am a feminist, I would not only say no, I would say no with a sneer.
Don't worry this is not where I insist I am not a feminist because I am afraid of being mistaken for one of those "hairy -legged, angry, man hating feminists" who are drawn up like Boogeyman by men and women alike. Nor will I now reassure you of my approachability, my reasonable nature, my heteronormativity, my love of men and my sexual availability (despite the fact that this disclaimer appears to be a requisite for all feminist writing published in the last 15 years.) If anything, that pose- I am harmless, I am toothless, you can fuck me -is why I find myself rejecting the feminist label. All these bad feminists, all these Talmudic "can you be a feminist and still have a bikini wax?" discussions. All of these reassurances to their (male) audiences that they don't want too much, won't go too far - "we don't know what Andrea Dworkin was on about either! Trust us!" All of these feminists giving blowjobs like its missionary work. Somewhere along the way towards female liberation, it was decided the most effective method was for feminism to become universal. But instead of shaping a world and a philosophy that would become attractive to the masses, a world based on fairness and community and exchange, it was feminism itself that would have to be rebranded and remarketed for contemporary men and women.
They forgot that for something to be universally accepted, it must be banal, as non-threatening and ineffective as possible. Hence the pose. People don't like change, and so feminism must be as close to the status quo - with minor modifications - as it can be in order to recruit large numbers. In other words it has to become entirely pointless. Radical change is scary. It's terrifying actually. And the feminism I support is a full-on revolution. Where women are not simply allowed to participate in the world as it already exists - a world that because it was devised by a patriarchy in order to subjugate and control and destroy all challengers is inherently a corrupt world - but are actively able to reshape the world. Where women do not simply knock on the doors of churches, of governments, as capitalist marketplaces and politely ask for admittance, but create their own religious systems, governments, and economies. My feminism is not one of incremental change that is so revealed in the end to be The Same As Ever, but more so. It is a cleansing fire. Asking for a system that was built on the express purpose of oppression to um? please stop oppressing me? Is nonsense work. The only task that is worth doing is fully dismantling and replacing that system. This is why I cannot associate myself with a feminism that focuses dementedly on ""self empowerment,"" whose goals do not include the full destruction of corporate culture but merely a higher percentage of female CEOs in military officers, a feminism that requires no thought no discomfort and no real change. If feminism is universal it is something that all women and men can get on board with, then it is not for me. If feminism is nothing more than personal gain disguised as political progress, then it is not for me. By declaring myself a feminist I must reassure you that I am not angry, I post no threat, then definitely feminism is not for me.
I am angry and I do pose a threat.
-Jessa Crispin, Why I Am Not a Feminist, Emphasis mine.
Crispin, J. (2017). In Why I Am Not a Feminist (pp. ix–xii). introduction, Melville House.
#jessa crispin#quotes#feminism#feminist manifesto#liberal feminism#radical feminism#revolutionary feminism#why i am not a feminist#feminist quotes#introduction#resources#radblr#radfem#reading list#reading#radical feminists please interact
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Discovered the allure of Topsters & made a chart of the games that significantly influenced my tastes. Not really a top 25 although I believe most of the games of the list are good. Ramblings under the cut.
TLOZ: Twilight Princess was my first Zelda as a child & while not a particularly interesting Zelda gameplay-wise it cemented my fascination with that kind of dark and decadent aesthetic.
Persona 3 is again the first Persona I've ever played. Not the best & with many larger-than-life sterotypical characters but it does have a lovely apocalyptic atmosphere and the sexiest dungeon concept bar none (sorry persona 4 tv world you were not It)
Hexcells is my favourite puzzle game. Perfect difficulty curve, minimal & functional aesthetic, little spatiality sense required to finish it. The whole trilogy is honestly brilliant.
Disco Elysium literally what is there to say about DE that hasn't already been said. Masterful dialogues and characters, deeply political while being smart and complex about it, it has one of the most interesting fantasy worldbuildings of recent memory.
Final Fantasy X was my first FF. Bizarre & unique if nonsensical world, great party interactions and often dumb but really really rich with overarching thematical meanings so
We Know The Devil I believe it's up to personal taste in the end whether you'll like this or Heaven Will be Mine more, but to me the minimal religious setup & the very realistic teenage dialogue take the cake. Also Saturn is #so me #releatable #girlsbeinggirls
Boku no Natsuyasumi 2 I bet everyone's sick of seeing it on their dash but what can I say I adore its day-to-day routine and the character subplots and its sound design and the beetle battles and
The House in Fata Morgana is maybe my favourite visual novel of all time. Often cheesy, frequently melodramatic, the epic highs and lows of its writing did not stop me from loving its intricate fantasy plot and multifacted characters.
Valhalla cyberpunk ok too long of a name. The bartending part was fun, the fauxanime thing is well MY thing and the #quiet cyberpunk adult disillusionment of its dialogues stuck with me in some way. Not great but really solid & it worked a lot for me for reasons I am not entirely sure of to this day.
Danganronpa is a terrible and complicated horror b-movie with cartoon characters and stupid but captivating mysteries. I genuinely believe the trials are absolutely cool and adrenaline inducing though & I would love more of this except better I guess
Darkest Dungeon a game in which every inch of its systems and aesthetic choices works in perfect synch to convey the hopelessness of this brand of lovecraftian horror. Also the turn-based combat is soooo fucking good
Final Fantasy VII THE final fantasy ecc ecc what can I say. One of the few games I played when the stereotypical version of the characters I saw in popular culture was so much less interesting than the actual story beats and the direction the plot went in. Packed with genre-defining moments and lovingly mystic at times.
Pyre is probably my favourite Supergiant game even though Hades is far superior in gameplay terms. The peculiar worldbuilding and the choices you make are really something unique to this one and they very much stick with you during your playthrough and even after that.
The World Ends with You when I played it Neku and Joshua were on my mind 24/7 I was on that fujoshi grindset which is quite peculiar for me. Weird and fun gameplay too but to me the main thing was the killer premise, its characters and its commitment to peculiarity in the JRPG landscape at every turn.
Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria weird ass sequel of a game I didn't play that spawned my love for this kind of combat. Perfect blend of tactical and reaction-based that's usually a mess but here it works and its glorious. The story was whatever but frankly who cares
Black Closet is probably the most obscure game on this list & I love it. I adore the setting, the writing of some of the subplots, the tight mechanics and even its wonky UI designs. Try it and be captivated by the playful eroticism of mystery and power NOW
Ib foundational as everyone knows. Kind of tied with Yume Nikki in my mind but in the end I played Ib more and I was in awe of its finale systems and the genuinely anxiety inducing gameplay moments. Epitome of you're a kid and something fucked up happens.
Analogue: A Hate Story my favourite Love game even though it's only vaguely sci-fi. Funniest thing about it it's probably that its title works even if it's a silly pun on her previous game
999 I like Danganronpa so this one was a given since it's even less stupid. Puzzles are ok but I was here for the characters & plot because I am a mystery junkie at heart.
Lisa: The Painful managed to work with the legacy of Earthbound without making a lol so random uninspired clone. Profoundly different in its subject matter while incorporating a lot of the bizarre & offbeat humor of its inspiration. It also deals with its themes in a quite brutal and blunt if not at all tactful way which i really respect.
The Stanley Parable is one of the first things I've played as a returned prodigal PC gamer and it blew me away at the time. Full of neat little secrets & mysteries and with a lot to say about the relationship between the player, the game and the narrative frameworks we encase our lives in.
Earthbound is my love and joy and nothing else will ever come close to recreate what I experienced playing it, which is why I never played Mother 3.
Digital Devil Saga yeah I've never played an SMT to the end but I played this duology and I was deeply impressed by its combat system and its weirdass apocalyptic world and even my party of broken people. I was on board for that Gainax ending baby
Dragon Age: Origins was the only good DA actually. I am also the only person who hasn't played it for the worldbuilding and the lore because I'll be frank it's run of the mill fantasy stuff except for some things but I adored my party and the choices I could make and some plot moments so yeah. Still a fan of the saga despite everything
Opus Magnum is the only Zachtronics game I've played but I'll have to play Hackers one of these days. I still have all the gifs saved and I am NOT a minmaxing person irl but this one sinked its claws into my skin and for thirty hours I was an engineer
#eng#personal#very vaguely personal#i wanted to keep my impressions brief and carefree so they're a little bit silly and less analytical than usually#as you know i would love to hear your thoughts on your super important games so if you do it please tag me#edit: can you believe i didn't put vtm bloodlines in here? i was crazy. anyway yeah vtm is the 26th now
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Welcome to Uta's blog population like 2.
helooo I'm Uta or several other names. I go by it/void and many other prns. check my prns.page >here< !!
read this very important thing written by my meowtual please, thanx :D
a lot more detailed info under the cutt ~
DISCLAIMERS ABT ME / BYF ;;
I say slurs (only those I can reclaim!)
I rarely am ever serious!
I can be very sensitive to rejection!
I'm very apathetic in regards to other people; I wish I wasn't!
I can be very harsh or rude on accident!
im basicallt INCAPABLE of processing if/when a joke is taken too far!! :(
Pls tell me if I fuck up i will not know :(
BASIC INFO ;;
diagnosed and medicated ADHD, peer-reviewed as "def autistic" by my autistic little sister and older brother, depression (or at least some of the symptoms)
divorced parents, adopted at birth!
in general there is something fundamentally wrong/silly abt me
i LOVE homestuck, hiveswap, ddlc, genshin, hsr, crk, cats, borzois, drawing, singing, gacha, voice acting, animation, rain world, etc. (hyperfixations r bold and italic like this!!)
i like spiritual stuff (shifting realities, subliminals, etc) and i may reblog stuff like that sometimes <3
i have a bf!!!! NOT ANYMORE /silly
my fav color; tie between red, black, n white. pink n yellow are very close shared-second places
im here to be gay and shitpost man
OTHER SOCIALS ;;
spacehey - cheapjumpscare noplace - hiveswap pesterchum - hollowClown spotify - uta ౨ৎ ⋆。˚ tiktok - qualia.automata
DNIS . . .
thin ice ;
anti-endos / don't believe in endo systems, but don't harass or fakeclaim people abt it (i have friends who are endo and they are very cool!!!!!)
post abt politics Regularly (stresses me tf out)
post abt religion christianity at ALL
if you were that one person who told me I was silencing asians by having a cute/pink/"kawaii" aesthetic blog on tumblr in like 2020. yes that was the actual reason. im being so forreal. /silly but also /gen on this being something that actually happened
DNFI (do not fcking interact) ;
anti-endos / don't believe in endo systems, and DO harass or fakeclaim people abt it
pro-contact / anti-recovery towards paraphilias
nsfw/kink/18+ centered blogs (i am a minor :/)
pro-harassment/anti-anti-harassment
doxx people or support those who do
believe/participate in cringe culture
pro 🇮🇱 or otherwise not pro 🇵🇸 (its a genocide mf)
^ post pictures of gore n dead kids in relation to the genoc¡de w/o tagging, censoring, or warning ANYYY of it (the reason i left twt)
im on your dni (respect your own gd dni)
RANDOM ASSORTED NONSENSE I THOUGHT WAS FUN !! ;;
my true zodiac is Pittarius !! [homestuck]
probably a
i tend to fixate on characters/whatever so hard i either Want to be them, believe i Am them, or both.
^ speaking of, at the bottom of this post is a list of stuff am that way about
^^ i should add here that the personality assigned doesnt contribute to this (though it certainly helps if i can go "THEY JUS LIKE ME FRR") i just. fixate so hard i go "mm i should be [whatever]" or "i mustve been [whatever] in a past life :D"
^^^ i am, most of the time, not under one of these episodes (idrk what else to call them but im not distressed rlly so shrug)
i barely ever remember to categorize things but i will remember for this blog i promise
ORGANIZATIONAL TAGS ;;
#shut up uta! - yapping. rambling even. general Posts tag. #definitely not stolen! - reblogs !~ #uta time travels (again!) - queue'd posts.. mostly going to be whatever im currently horrifically nuclear levels of autistic abt #uta; nobody needs to know this - TMI posts; complaining abt periods, personal life, etc. etc. etc. it can and will get weird here #uta hears voices part ??? - askbox....... #uta pls shut up fr this time - LIVEBLOGGING ~ #(not) uta; [ANY-CHARACTER-NAME-HERE] - for when i am Fixating So Hard On A Character That I /Gen Believe I AM Them. Temporary. pls humor me/play along /gen. #uta's sprites - Sometimes I post homestuck / hiveswap sprites! this is the tag for that :3
Characters / Things Uta sometimes IS (not exhaustive) ;;
italicized = more current / more likely to be this than not | bold = even more current | italicized & bold = almost always this
PROJECT SEKAI ; Minori Hanasato, Airi Momoi, Emu Otori, Kanade Yoisaki, Mafuyu Asahina, Ena Shinonome, Mizuki Akiyama VOCALOID / VOCAL SYNTH ; Xi Yi, Hatsune Miku GHOST & PALS ; Tamari [RECKLESS BATTERY BURNS], Say [CHATTERING LACK OF COMMON SENSE], Cakey [APPETITE OF A PEOPLE PLEASER], Teto [PATHOLOGICAL FASCADE] HIVESWAP & HOMESTUCK ; Charun Krojib, Dave Strider / Davesprite, Jade Harley, Karako Pierot, Meulin Leijon, Nepeta Leijon, Tyzias Entykk GENSHIN ; Collei, Fischl, Furina, Hu Tao, Kirara, Lumine, Qiqi, Xingqiu, Yae Miko, Yoimiya COOKIE RUN ; Peach Blossom, Caramel Choux, Linzer, Mozzarella, Affogato, Strawberry Crepe, Cream Puff, Kumiho, Espresso, Vampire, Stardust, Black Pearl, Whipped Cream, Roquefort, Butter Pretzel, Scorpion, Bellflower, Sour Belt, Crowberry, Pizza, Black Garlic, Coffee Candy, Baguette, Gim, S'more, Strawberry Cream, Astronaut, Starch Noodle, Strawberry Stick, Lotus Dragon, Lychee Dragon, Sugar Swan POKEMON [SPECIES] ; Absol [MEGA], Bewear, Blacephalon, Breloom, Carbink, Chatot, Cramorant, Cursola, Darkrai, Dedenne, Delcatty, Delphox, Eevee, Furfrou, Furret [SHINY], Galvantula, Glaceon, Hatterene, Iron Valiant, Jirachi, Kommo-o, Leavanny, Lucario, Lurantis [TOTEM], Luxray, Lycanroc, Maractus, Mareanie, Meowscarada [SHINY], Mew, Milotic, Mimikyu, Mismagius, Mudkip, Nihilego, Pheromosa, Pyukumuku, Raichu [ALOLAN], Rayquaza [SHINY], Sandslash [ALOLAN], Scoliopede, Scorbunny, Serperior, Shaymin, Smoliv, Sneasler, Solgaleo, Sylveon, Tapu Lele, Thievul, Tinkaton, Torracat, Tsareena, Vaporeon, Wooper, Wynaut, Xerneas, Zoroark [SHINY] POKEMON [HUMANS] ; Justy [JELLOAPOCALYPSE DOGS IN LOVE], N, Ingo, Emmet, Roxie, Clemont, Lisia, Lillie, Ilima, Mallow, Acerola, Marnie, Allister, Klara, Sabi, Florian, Penny, Iono, Rika, Ortega, Kieran, Lacey MISC ; wip.... sorrgy :(
Uta's Glorified Kinlist [IN THE KINNIE WAY] ;;
CHARACTERS ; Kanade Yoisaki, Mafuyu Asahina, Ena Shinonome, Mizuki Akiyama, Charun Krojib, Dave Strider, Fischl, Yoimiya, Strawberry Crepe Cookie, Espresso Cookie, Sprigatito, Ingo, Emmet, Iono, March 7th SONGS ; Born2Run [PENELOPE SCOTT], Hammerhead [PENELOPE SCOTT], Sweet Hibiscus Tea [PENELOPE SCOTT], Baxter Ward is Under Fucking Siege [PENELOPE SCOTT], anarchy [EGG], Digital Girl [KIRA], Nobody [MITSKI], Gay Jokes [RIO ROMEO], Mirror Man [JACK STAUBER]
#shut up uta!#definitely not stolen!#uta time travels (again!)#uta; nobody needs to know this#uta hears voices part ???#uta pls shut up fr this time#(not) uta; [ANY-CHARACTER-NAME-HERE]#uta's sprites
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Now that I’ve seen the move...
I’m reading so many hot takes on Twitter regarding Talokan fighting with Wakanda. The worst are people saying Shuri isn’t good enough to be BP because she doesn’t have the skills... completely forgetting she made all the suits/tech, fought alongside the soldiers and her brother, and guided a shitty CIA op to help them in the middle of fighting during the last move. Fuck outta here. Shuri held her own. That mantle belonged to her.
Spoilers ahead...
The other take I found funny (and ignorant to the reality of the WF worldbuilding) was folks mad that Wakandans were getting their ass beat by Namor’s people. #1 Namor told them people he had more Talokanil than Wakanda had blades of grass, and #2, imagine an entire nation filled with the properties of the heart-shaped herb in their DNA. Every Talokanil has the strength and healing powers of the BP, and only the BP is blessed with that compared to regular Wakandans. So unless Shuri is going to mass produce 3D printed herb for everyone in her nation, the Wakandans were going to get washed fighting Namor and ‘nem.
For my own two cents, I ain’t mad at Namor for doing what he said he was going to do to protect his people. This man saw first hand how colonizers act. Witnessed the brutal changes in real time for 500 years. He is not going to fuck around with Wakandans who have lived secure in a bubble all their lives. The climate, oceans, and marine life are already suffering due to colonizers neglectful/selfish behavior, so of course he’s going to come hard to keep his people hidden and keep white folks from getting his vibranium deposit. He held out an olive branch with centuries of experience backing him as a ruler of his people. Ramonda messed up by not heeding his warning. She of all people already knew how these white folks were acting with her (that whole UN scene showed the treachery of the French and their American ally--The CIA). For her to not recognize a powerful ally to keep her own people safe too was a political and tactical error on her part. You got through a technologically advanced nation’s security system? Bay-bee, we about to sit down and talk in a diplomatic way first.
Namor had every right to clap back even if that meant taking out Wakanda first, (Ramonda included). Sucks for Wakanda and Shuri, but again, this is a man who has lived through the worst of white nonsense (unlike Wakanda whose only bad thing ever experienced was T’Chaka being killed). He knows where it will lead if they are discovered again because history backs him up. An old head is not about to have a repeat of these bitches coming for their people and resources once more. Shuri recognized that when she asked to go to Talokan (she wasn’t kidnapped, RiRi was.) Namor heard her talking to her mother before, that’s why he was willing to allow her into Talokan... the only surface dweller to ever go there.
Now I’m not a fan of fridging characters to motivate other characters to act on something or grow their arc (especially if the character is male and the fridged is female--an old tired trope), but I decided to let Ryan Coogler tell the story he wanted to tell because of all the stuff he went through with the cast to get this film made. I hope people don’t lose track that White supremacy/White Imperialism/Capitalist bullshit is the root cause of everything in that movie. Ross and his people being the main villains. (Ross will stay on the hook because he knows what the CIA is all about and he perpetuates their violence with a milqtueoast appearance making people think he is a cute/nice ally. He isn’t. He represents the White Supremacist machine fully. Any dude once married to Val is just like her. Some of the most racist people (co-workers) I have ever met were nice, helpful, and pleasant-looking, but did horrendous non-violent things to perpetuate white supremacy when no one was looking.
People can go back and forth all they want about whether Ramonda sacrificed herself, or Namor killed her. I mean, both things can be true. He caused the water sinkhole she jumped into to save RiRi where she drowned. We can also argue that Nakia didn’t have to kill those two women in Talokan even though she was there to save two other women, but she did what she needed to do in that moment to protect a loved one. Again, white supremacy and the white military industrial complex started all this shit. They used a Black girl genius’s invention in the hopes of extracting a resource they would use to exploit Black and Brown folks globally. Namor came back to tap that ass. I can’t be mad at him too much. War sucks for everyone. He said what he said. Ramonda dismissed it.
Of course, my thoughts are based on a one time viewing of the film. I saw the first one 7 times (might’ve been 8, lol!), so I may have to do more viewings later as things I missed the first time will come to my attention. Heck, I may change my mind on some things later. For now, whew...the takes are all over the place regarding Shuri.
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Did I ever write an essay here on Edward Bernays and propaganda? Dissociative amnesia go brrr so I'll see if I can quickly bash something out to distract myself from cramps. This post is going to be completely uncited and I'm barely gonna fact check myself so if any of this sounds interesting I strongly recommend looking this stuff up and if I'm wrong then yay! You'll learn something by doing so.
So who is Bernays? No he is not a sauce made out of butter, egg yolk, and white wine vinegar, he is the nephew of Freud and regarded as one of the most influential men of the twentieth century and the father of Public Relations.
He was very interested in his uncles work, and worked in the fields of psychology and sociology. His main schtick was that he viewed humanity as deeply and fundamentally irrational, illogical, emotional, and needed to be controlled lest they fall into chaos. Through Freud's work on psychoanalysis he devised a way to influence the masses by playing on their emotions and insecurities, something which we should all be very familiar today in politics and advertising.
Before Bernays, advertising was very, like, practical. "These shoes will survive up to a thousand miles of walking, they're comfortable and hand crafted with fine leather" kinda thing. People were interested in what products could do for them and made informed choices. Now though advertising is much more about lifestyle and aspiration. No joke in 2021 I saw an advert for a company that sells kitchens that said you needed to drop 20k on a new kitchen to prevent "zoombarrassment" when you work from home because all your colleagues will think you're a bad person and shame you for it.
Where we're at with this stuff today with algorithms and stuff is that engagement is key. If people are talking about you, if you're trending, then that's good. And the best way to get people talking about you? Controversy. Budweiser, Gillette, and I think a brand of coffee machine?, all jump out as recent examples of companies capitalising on a hot social issue to generate free advertising by whipping the masses up into a frenzy. Rainbow capitalism isn't only bad just because they hope that if they put a trans women in an advert that you'll buy it, it's also much worse because they're actively trying to piss off conservatives and fascists and incite flame wars as the official sponsor of transphobia. On the one hand, yay representation, but on the other, every time this happens I get to see just how many people in the world fucking hate me for existing. They're actively contributing to a global pandemic of deepening division and increased risk of violence.
And politicians cottoned onto this too. Boris Johnson is particularly good at this, and it's called the dead cat technique. If he ever feels like things might get tricky and might actually have to do a politics, he throws a dead cat on the table in the form of some inflammatory or bizarre remark because it shuts down the conversation. I mean, there's a dead cat on the table, how can you talk about anything other than the dead cat? His go to increasingly became trans people towards the end of his political career, just constantly talking about penises, absolutely obsessed with penises, but there's this really incredible interview he did where an interviewer asked him what his hobby is and he started talking about making London buses out of milk crates. It's absolutely nonsensical but you can also tell he's choosing his words very very carefully. Why? Because during the Brexit referendum he put a massive lie on the side of a bus and he wanted to manipulate the search results for when you search "Boris Johnson Bus".
Another technique politicians absolutely adore is being completely contradictory in your positions. Say you're committed to providing an inclusive and compassionate asylum system while actively dismantling said system. Say your committed to reducing wealth inequality while actively increasing it. Say you're committed to reducing national debt while actively increasing it. It keeps your opponents confused and unable to oppose you because they never know what your true position is and therefore what theirs should be, and it also provides you a get out clause. If someone accuses you of being against something? Just point to all the times you supported it. If someone accuses you of supporting something? Just point to all the times you condemned it.
So why am I writing any of this in the syscourse tag? Because a lot of syscoursers use these techniques to grow their own popularity and reach. It honestly doesn't even need to be a conscious effort, those who engage on syscourse over at Twitter are rewarded for doing this whether they know it or not, and then it gets brought here. Thankfully Tumblr isn't as bad, but we still feel it's effects. Whenever I see absolutely deranged "anti endos do this" or "pro endos do this" stuff I just assume it comes from Twitter because I struggle to find it here when I look, but the beefs and long standing arguments are still very twitteresque.
I do think it's important to be aware of this stuff though, because when you understand it all becomes deeply unserious. You may not be immune to propaganda but at least you can learn to recognise and step outside of it. When a syscourser admits to openly trying to be inflammatory to the other side and enjoying watching them get upset over it, or if you notice them restarting old arguments after not being talked about for a few days then you can finally give yourself permission to let go and not get involved. You can no longer take anything that person says seriously, because you can't ever know if they are being serious. They literally told you that they do it on purpose, therefore anything they say fails to be credible or sincere. If it pisses you off? It's meant to. If it's factually incorrect? It's supposed to be. Feel like writing a call out post to denounce them? That's exactly what they want you to do because you're talking about them. Keeping them fresh and trendy at all times.
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TW: discussion of transmisogyny, Bigotry it’s a pretty heavy rant
Man I really tried to keep these takes of my dash but they’re like fucking cockroaches and I can’t get rid of em. Do not fucking reblog or share this to a large audience, I’m probably gonna be taking a break from tumblr for a good while.
Hey if you only ever mention transmisogyny to engage in the discourse in the discourse of who it affects, or you only bring it up to discredit the oppression trans women face, you’re a rat bastard. We do not focus our discussions about oppression towards people who might get caught in the crossfire, and for good reason. Yes, it is important to help people when they are battered and beaten down by oppressive systems and bigoted behavior, regardless of context. But we do not fight homophobia for the betterment of heterosexuals, we should not denounce transphobia on the case that it might end up hurting cis people, and I know that a lot of y’all understand how blatantly awful it would be to only discuss misogyny through the lens of how it affects men.
and yet, this website is full of people who are far more concerned with hashing out the petty specifications of who transmisogyny affects, than doing anything meaningful to combat it. This website is full of people who think that transmisogyny is a big fancy word those “crazy trannies” use when they don’t get their way, who think it’s just some nonsensical obstacle to transgender unity. I want to be fucking frank, if you think like that, you’re missing the goddamn point. If you think you understand transmisogyny and believe it to be functionally the same as transphobia, you do not actually understand transmisogyny.
it is an insidious and constricting net of policy, attitudes, language, beliefs and behavior. It is the reason that transgirls have to be polite with their tongues and gentle with their opinions, if they’re even allowed to formally exist. it is the reason I’ve seen so many blogs by transwomen disappear overnight with baseless accusations of predatory behavior. It is the reason I heard coworkers and friends brazenly talk about their suspicions to our peers who were closeted trans women. It is the reason they jumped to the conclusion of predatory behavior with no evidence. It is why I personally know at least 5 trans girls who were framed as predators and kicked out of my college queer student cultural center overnight, without even talking to them. It is the reason the queer community objectifies us, holding our predatory and powerful caricatures in reverence while they harass and frame us the moment we get too uppity. It is the reason trans girls have the most to loose with the current wave of legislature trying to ban drag in the US. And I’m fucking done, this shit is too real, too much of my fucking life, and I’m tired of y’all repeating the same preschool ass takes for years, dragging an important ideological concept through the slur discourse mud without saying a goddamn thing about how to fight or challenge transmisogyny.
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i have no idea why it is so fucking difficult for people to take a fucking middle ground stance on the whole thing. like it's true that there is not some kind of secret enormous satanic mind control conspiracy, and it's true that memories "recovered" from any kind of recovered memory-related therapeutic technique are NOT reliable. it's true that hypnosis is not a valid form of therapy, nor does it help you remember things - it's more likely to make you believe whatever shit your therapist is unwittingly selling you with leading questions.
that doesn't cancel out the observable fact that people who undergo serious traumatic events often have memory problems related to the trauma, and that dissociative disorders like DID which both make that amnesia more pronounced and make those memory deficiencies problematic on a daily basis do exist. people may and often do spontaneously remember/comprehend more about traumatic events later, most often without a therapist's intervention. and while obviously the satanic panic stuff is total 1000% BS, cults and abuse within cults also exist. like you would have to be actively ignoring reality in order to deny those observable, corroborated phenomena.
i don't like conspiracy-peddling or pseudoscience any more than the next guy, but some people take such a hardline stance on this that they themselves are ignoring scientific reality, and it's like....you have to understand that as much as "there are 10 trillion satanic cults stealing our children with special government technology and they can do mind control!" conspiracists are peddling an agenda, so are the people who say "no one can ever have dissociative amnesia, and anyone who reports a memory deficiency in regards to childhood abuse is automatically delusional, intentionally lying, or both." that is also political. think for a minute about why that second statement might be dangerous and how it might be used in the legal system, say, like when elizabeth loftus provided expert testimony in defense of ghislaine maxwell.
and furthermore, like, stop fucking listening to the grey faction (i am bitching about this bc they were who i saw brought up in order to 'debunk' dissociative amnesia). they are not experts?? they are primarily concerned with saving their own asses from satanic panic related stigma. they're closer in practice to the second stance i talked about, like, this "dissociative disorders are fake" nonsense that does not actually help anyone.
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Hear Me Out...
When I say Defund the Police, this is what I mean.
For fiscal year 2023 (July 1, 2022 - June 30, 2023) New York City paid out 1.45 BILLION (with a b-b-B) in settlements from 13,227 claims and lawsuits against the NYPD. This is ALL directly from the tax payers pocketbooks. In a city that had to cut over five million from HIV funding and over 50 million dollars from the public library system. In a city with the highest cost of living AND the highest unhoused population.
This number is down only slightly from FY 2022, which was 1.56B. While it may look like it's heading in the right direction, the number of claims increased for 2023 from 12,188 for the 2022 FY. So they paid LESS for an increase of over 1,000 claims.
The NYC taxpayers are on the line for these because the department isn't responsible. Their officers are able to do whatever the hell they want for the most part and are not only held accountable administrationally, but the department has a free and clear card.
You want to see excessive force and misconduct claims go down and an actual change in accountability within the police? Make it so those claims and lawsuits have to come from their union. Once they see their dues start to skyrocket (like our car insurance rates) you'll see a massive change. Increase their dues and actually make it so that it doesn't take an actual arrest of an officer to dismiss them from the force. You don't have to get arrested to be fired from any other job, why are the people who are allegedly there to serve and protect us - civil servants - except from this?
One tweet about a political stance an employer doesn't like gets people who are professors, doctors, teachers, cashiers--anyone really-- get fired, but physically assaulting, wrongfully searching, coercing, even killing someone doesn't?
Why are police the exception to the rules they supposedly are supposed to enforce? If I slammed a person's head into the sidewalk., I'd be in jail on felony assault charges, but a cop gets a paid vacation to appease the public and gets to go back to work the next Monday?
That 1.45 billion is in ADDITION to the 5.83 BILLION dollar budget the NYPD had for FY 2023.
Now before you come into my messages and comments with some bootlicker nonsense, I know in a city with over 8 million residents there is going to be more spent on the police department. But, how about we relax with the overtime.
Before y'all even come in my comments with the racist/homophobic comments about several ISOLATED incidents yesterday at the park, remember that white men celebrating a fucking sports team winning a game causes more chaos.
Anyway,
I was at NYC Pride yesterday, and there were more cops than I think I've ever seen at any Pride event they have had. They were flooded in the streets and the subways. They were even riding the subways with us. I wonder what cost all those extra and unneeded officers (who were mostly standing around talking and just giving attitude all day) cost the city.
This isn't to say that police presence shouldn't be at crowd control and safety monitoring events, especially in today's political climate. Still, the fact that the majority of the officers that I encountered yesterday were giving people attitudes and being aggressive in their presence for no reason is astounding. If you can't handle a crowd of people behaving like a crowd of people, maybe you shouldn't have a job that involves dealing with crowds.
That being said, if that money that was taken from the city budget to cover these lawsuits for excessive force, misconduct, and wrongful deaths, wrongful arrests, etc. had to be paid by the police officers directly, not only would we see accountability and liability, we'd see the amount of their crimes go down. Now, if we used that money and funded mentorship programs, anti-recidivism (especially for youth/young adults) community actions, programs to ensure that people's basic needs are being met, job readiness, affordable job training, addiction services, veteran's services, mental healthcare, affordable healthcare, and other community-based programs that could do a world of change if they had the funds) we'd also see a lot of crimes start to diminish as well because the fact of the matter is that a lot of crimes that we tend to associate with urban areas are crimes of poverty. If we help solve the root of the issue, you'll see many of the chain of events start to ebb.
HOLD THE POLICE DEPARTMENTS AND THE POLICE OFFICERS ACCOUNTABLE FOR THEIR ACTIONS.
If you're going to sit here and cry about not all cops or some nonsense, then you should be the first person who would want the "bad apples" out of the picture. If you're a "good cop" you should want the ones who make you look bad and ultimately make your job harder to be held accountable. The good ol' boy culture HAS to end. You want the public to blindly "back the blue" while you literally kill us. I am aware the many officers who try to report misconduct by their coworkers are harassed and threatened, often to the point where they leave the force. Is that what we are supposed to be backing?
AND THEN THEY HAVE THE AUDACITY TO WANT TO PUT A COP CITY IN QUEENS? Why should tax payers be on the line for 225 MILLION DOLLARS to continue to militarize the police? The price tag could fully fund multiple community-based non-profits for a year or one for multiple years. Make it make sense.
Make them pay where it hurts the most: their wallets.
#acab#nypd#fuck the nypd#no to cop city#i have a lot of opinions#and if you don't like them the block button is right there#i promise I wont mind#but i will block you if you come here talking crazy
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