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mosswillow · 4 years ago

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Hi! What does ABO mean?

Oh man this question is so much more than you probably realize haha.

(but oh how I do love giving obnoxiously detailed answers to simple questions)

My explanation is in terms of M/F relationships but it works for most M/M ones as well. M/M is extremely popular and common in ABO. There’s a whole history and nuance behind the conversation of M/M ABO that I won’t get into.

ABO stands for Alpha, Beta, Omega. You may also see people write it like A/B/O, Omegaverse, or Alpha/Omega.

it’s a universe that is set up around a hierarchy structure where people, who are referred to as Alphas (usually men but female Alphas exist in most fics), are the leaders in society. Alphas are physically bigger and stronger than everyone else and typically smart as well. Their nature is to be dominant and often are very possessive. Betas are next in the hierarchy. In most fics they make up the majority of society and are basically just like normal people, the only difference being that they can (in most fics) smell the difference between Alphas , Beta’s, and Omegas. Omegas are the last in the hierarchy, they tend to be smaller and weaker than Alphas and Betas and are generally submissive in nature.

Alphas and Omegas are the typical relationship you see in an ABO fic, they’re biologically wired to be together. Alphas can use a tone of voice, referred to as an alpha command or just a command. This forces Omegas (And in some fics Betas and lesser Alphas) into submission.

( an example of a command; “Stand still,” the Alpa commanded. Her body locked against her will, like there was lead in her feet. she tried to move but couldn’t disobey him, her biology forcing her to submit.)

ABO is connected to werewolf/animal instinct. They all have distinct smells which for Alphas and Omegas can be intoxicating when they come across someone who is compatible with them. Alphas will “claim” Omegas via a bite on a “Mating gland” which usually sits in their shoulder area. In some fics the mating bite can be anywhere. In a lot of fics this claiming bite creates a bond between the Alpha and Omega, sometimes like an invisible string or pull and sometimes telepathic.

The smut is a little different as well. Alphas have something called a knot. When having sex with an Omega their knot will swell inside of the Omega and lock them together. In some fics this happens every time an Alpha comes and in others it’s only during an Omega’s heat.

Omegas have “heats”. The frequency of their heats varies by fic. In some fics it’s once a month, in others once a year. It’s basically intense horniness accompanied by pain, cramps, and slick (tons of vaginal discharge, like what happens during normal smut but just more) that can only be helped by an Alpha knotting them. It lasts 3 days to a week depending on the fic. In a lot of fics Alphas have to claim an Omega during their heat. (or just want to, the instinct to claim being higher during heat) They usually do this from behind, knotting them, pulling them up, and biting the back of their shoulder where the mating gland is. In some fics Alphas also have mating glands that Omegas bite and in others only the Alpha claims the Omega.

Alphas will, in a lot of fics, go into “Rut” when an Omega is in heat. They feel an intense need to take are of the Omega, knot them, and breed them. Sometimes they are in pain as well if they’re not knotting the Omega. In some fics Alphas will go into rut regularly even without an Omega and in others a Rut is only triggered if they come into contact with an Omega in heat.

This universe is incredibly problematic in a lot of ways but specifically with consent. People who don’t like it usually have one of two issues. Either they don’t like the inherent problems around consent that come with it, or they’re turned off by the idea of heat/rut and knots, (Or male pregnancy makes them feel weird. Omega males can get pregnant in most ABO fics). People who enjoy ABO usually like it for the preditor/prey, breeding kink, animal instincts, Dubious consent, dominant/submissive, possessive behavior, soulmate/perfect mate aspects. People who like it also sometimes read and write it to explore ideas around patriarchy or to deal with their own trauma if they grew up in oppressive environments.

None of my werewolf fics have knots or heats/rut, they follow the hierarchal structure, have natural dominant/submissive personalities, and Alphas retain the ability to command. Simple Silver also does not contain knots and heats and is not werewolves. Those would be good ones to start with if you want to try out ABO but don’t want to go all in. I believe all my other fics have both knots and heats. To Be warmed By The Fire (Reylo) is one that’s pretty mild (I mean in terms of heat smut) but does have knots and heat.

obviously pretty much everything I write contains dubious consent/non con so be careful there if you want to read any of my ABO stories.

If you have any questions let me know. ABO can be really confusing and hard to explain well and in depth. I know I probably forgot stuff and there are things I didn’t go into (like pack structures within ABO and Alpha/Beta/Omega triad relationships, and other less common ABO stuff like Deltas and Gammas.)

Oh, and you know I also have an abo marvel fic on my ao3 as well that isn’t on Tumblr. It does contain heats and knots but it’s also a kinda good introduction in a lot of ways because the protagonist doesn’t know she’s an omega and the fic is about her getting used to it. I believe it’s called It’s Just A Lot (I’m like 80% sure that’s the name at least). It’s not a typical Alpha/Omega relationship, the OC is part of a pack with all the avengers. It is also a soulmate fic where they have soulmate marks which is not super common in ABO but also not that weird to see.

#anon answers #Moss explains #a/b/o explanation #what is abo #alpha beta omega

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flying-elliska · 6 years ago

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I rewatched samedi 9:17 and samedi 11:07 and wow i’m emo

The clips start off very similarly - golden morning light through curtains, dark grey/blue bedsheets, high contrast between light and shadow, focus on planes of skin. But the rest is very different in tone and focus.

Samedi 9:17 is the thrill of a new love ; they’re both floating on a cloud, in their own little bubble. It’s bliss, it feels almost like a sacred moment. But it’s also suspended in time, separate from the rest of their lives. They ran away from their girlfriends into the night, a trip of self-discovery, and now nobody knows where they are. Lucas isn’t out. They talk about difficult choices and parallel universes and other theoretical selves that can do the things they can’t. It’s a moment of safety and warmth, but it feels like something pops as soon as the world comes into the picture. At the end of the clip, when Lucas asks if it’s Lucille, there is something resigned in his voice. He’s happy with Eliott’s decision to stay, but he’s not making any demands.

Samedi 11:07 feels sharper, more urgent. They’ve confronted the real world, but they’ve also hurt each other. They’ve also learned that in the end, it doesn’t matter, because the pull between them is stronger than any mistakes they might make. It almost feels dangerous, like the threat isn’t the world anymore. Lucas has come out, he’s more confident, he actually wants answers, he’s able to express his needs, and there’s something so raw about the way he says ‘I want something serious’ - this is a boy who’s been hurt and disappointed by people a lot, who’s tried to pretend he was strong and maybe thought he was weak for wanting love, and here he is putting it all on the line, for a guy who’s constantly sent him mixed signals.

And Eliott - he’s heard Lucas talk about “crazy people”, this has hurt written all over it, he even tried to distance himself and go back to his old, dysfunctional but safe relationship, but it’s no use. Like he said, he met Lucas and nothing else mattered. It’s beautiful and it hurts and they can’t keep themselves away from each other anymore (the paint scene was a perfect representative of that, of the intensity of those feelings, of them coming to the light in all the myriad of nuances. It’s not just dark and light anymore. It’s a rainbow.)

This clip goes through so many emotions, it’s incredible. Samedi 9:17 feels holy and pure and simple in comparison - this clip is messy. They have witnesses - the roommates being proud but also a little obnoxious like a rowdy family, Lisa’s scathing remarks, paint everywhere. Eliott just ran to the fridge to make food for Lucas, and made a mess of it, and it’s so sweet, the way he wants to show off by asking if they weren’t too noisy, and domestic too, but Lucas isn’t ready to pretend everything is fine. They spent the night together, and yet somehow there’s even more tension between them than before. Lucas is done pretending this isn’t important. Eliott kind of waves his returning to Lucille away as if it meant nothing because for him, it didn’t. He’s entirely focused on Lucas, as if he could wipe all the possible obstacles on their way out of existence if he wants it hard enough. If he wants it hard enough maybe it will all work out somehow.

He says he’s here to stay like a prayer, like he wants to convince himself he will be able to, that maybe this time his shadows won’t reach them. He’s too terrified to be entirely truthful, but at least he isn’t running anymore. Step one.

And I guess the point I wanted to make by comparing the two clips (apart from A+ poetic use of curtains) is that I love the dance between these two so much, how their bond is always this exhilarating mix of uncertain and inevitable.

The first time they kissed, Eliott invited Lucas into his world, a secret place where they were able to meet in the middle, the darkness liberating, and afterwards in that bubble they were able to be open with each other. Then as they reconciled (and slept together for the first time) they claimed a place for their love in the real world in all its messiness (almost publicly lol) in a bright explosion of colors, and afterwards they’re trying to come to terms with the full extent of their feelings.

They’re both so brave, and they make each other even more brave. They've come so far and they keep moving forward even if it brings them closer to their most vulnerable parts and intimate fears. Because they found something worth it in each other.

I love the progression of it all, the interplay between light/dark, hidden/shown, masks/vulnerability, light and dark/colors. I’m gonna be writing meta for years, bye.

#skam france #skam meta #elu #lucas x eliott #not very coherent sorry #but !!!!!!

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wonderfulworldofmichaelford · 6 years ago

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Episodyssey: Equal Fights

It’s been a while since I did one of these, and Shockingly the first time I’ve talked about The Powerpuff Girls. I think for a situation like this, we should all ease back into the series with a fun, lighthearted topic that I think we all can enjoy.

So let’s talk about feminism!

(I’m sure this is most of you reading this right now.)

“Equal Fights” is a rather infamous episode of the show, in which the girls try and accost a female robber named Femme Fatale who manages to turn the girls into man-hating straw feminists, much like she herself is. That is, of course, until positive female role models teach the girls what it really means to stand up for women and that people like Femme Fatale are merely paying the idea lip service so they can deflect blame and criticism from themselves. Pretty lighthearted and fun for a kid’s show, eh?

This is one of the most divisive episodes of the entire series these days, and honestly, I do kind of see why. Like, this is a superhero action cartoon aimed at kids, and it is dealing with a very serious topic, and since this show isn’t known for its deep moralizing or anything it’s obviously not going to be able to give this topic the 100% due that it deserves. And in a lot of ways it doesn’t; this is a pretty watered down look at a very big topic, even more constrained by the episode’s 11 minute runtime. It takes a brilliant mind to cram such serious topics into such a short timespan.

(Not all shows can be the same level of godly quality as Captain Planet)

But on the other hand, I do think there is value in introducing stuff like this to younger audiences, especially younger girls. I think stuff like this can give you a lot to think about, a lot to read up on, a lot of questions to ask, even if it isn’t necessarily perfect at portraying the issues at hand. And honestly, even if it is pretty simplified, the message of this episode most definitely has its heart in the right place. You should be willing to call out people who are trying to use feminism as a free pass to be an asshole, you should correct girls who think being empowered means they are superior, you should try and educate calmly and try and steer younger people who are being lead astray by false icons to the righteous path. Like, this isn’t a bad message to send to young people, these are all very good things.

I think a lot of the problem honestly lands squarely on how Femme Fatale is written. She’s just not a particularly interesting villain at all. The term “strawman” is used so utterly poorly in internet arguments these days it has basically just become a codeword for “thing you said I don’t like,” but if ever there was a strawman character, it is Femme Fatale. And again, it’s not like what she represents is good or right, but she’s seriously hamfisted and… uhhh… cartoonish to the point where it’s almost laughable that she could ever lead anyone astray. All that being said, I can’ say she serves her purpose poorly, she just could have used some better or more nuanced writing to her, as most of her positions are absurdly transparent, particularly the one in regards to superheroines where there are so many obvious answers that it’s painful.

(THIS position of hers is perfect, though)

And yeah, I get it, 11 minutes blah blah blah. But here’s the thing with PPG: the villains are all quirky, interesting, and fun, even if they have simple and cartoonish personalities. A lot of these villains can fit into a lot of different stories, and they don’t just have one role that theye always play. Mojo can pull of petty crimes and scientific schemes and it makes sense, Him can kick the dog and poke the poodle and you can buy it, Princess can be a snotty brat in one episode and literally trying to hijack Christmas in another and you can buy it because while these are simple characters they have the sort of personalities you can bend to fit a situation.

Femme Fatale does not have this. She is literally a straw figure meant to be struck down by FACTS and LOGIC and REASON. And while she serves that purpose well, she does not feel like a PPG antagonist at all. It’s no wonder she was never used as an antagonist again, because really, what the fuck other stories could she be in? Any story in which she was a major antagonist would feature her being an obnoxious man-hating straw feminist espousing the same ideology that was stripped apart and shown as garbage in her first outing. She just does not have the foundation for a good or interesting character, which is a real shame too because her costume, design, and voice acting (courtesy of Grey Griffin or Grey DeLisle as you may know her) are all perfectly fine. It’s just that all of that ends up being wasted on a character who only exists to be proven wrong.

(Her Psycho Analysis score is 2/10)

I guess this is really just a case where I can see where anyone’s opinion on this episode is coming from. On the one hand, it does have good messages and morals, and it does show that you shouldn’t allow people to use feminism as a smokescreen to hide their actions, as well as giving a sort of brief history lesson about Susan B. Anthony.

But on the other hand, it centers on a bland antagonist who exists solely to be the antithesis of the message and is extremely unsubtle and hamfisted in its moral, and given the restrictions of the show it doesn’t really give the topic the full examination it deserves. The episode is ultimately a mixed bag, one that I think has value but is most certainly flawed.

It’s kind of sad, though, that Lauren Faust views this episode as such a huge failure on her part. Like, yes, maybe she did try and tackle a topic that was far too big for a kid’s cartoon show about superpowered preteens who beat the shit out of a monkey with a giant brain who talks like a dictionary describing Lex Luthor stealing forty cakes, but this is not writing of hers that is devoid of quality or merit.

No, that’s an entirely different episode of a show she wrote.

(I’ll be getting to THIS cunt eventually)

#Episodyssey #Powerpuff Girls #Equal Fights #The Powerpuff Girls #PPG #Lauren Faust

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headlesssamurai · 6 years ago

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Has everyone asked you about Jupiter Ascending?

@godzillaapproved

Yo, I ought to apologize to you for taking hella long to properly respond to this. It’s holiday season over thisaway, sure, but I ain’t nearly vain enough to assume just anybody gets why that can suck up a dude’s time. Reckon I’m sure there’s tons of national celebrations all over the world I’d never know about otherwise. Bah, I say! Going out and socializing is one of the few things more overrated than all those shitty Apple products. But yeh, in my case it was less the celebratory spirit of holiday festivities and more a sudden spike in workload, so my mental energy was roughed up by that, plus I was doing a new workout at the same time. Thus, whatever free time I had left was spent obsessively hammering away at the Steam sale items I’d recently bought. It’s like a coping mechanism. Well, that and cheap wine anyhow.

Regardless, regardless—holy shit what an obnoxious fucking way for me to open this up—this Ask of yours came at an unusually coincidental time. A friend and I have been meeting up every weekend to watch like semi-recent crappy movies just as a way to enjoy a bad drink and a good laugh. She likes to laugh, and I like to drink, so it works out. After working our way through every Transformers film by Michael Bay, then Cameron’s Avatar, Terminator: Genisys, The Amazing Spider-mans, Spielberg’s Crystal Skull, Ready Player One, and some of the more abysmal DC films, our last escapade into nonsense was the estimably hilarious Gods of Egypt, which reminded me of one of those excremental quicktime-event video games. You know, like Detroit Becomes Human or some shit like that (Oh wait, is it Detroit Coming of the Humans? Meh).

As luck would have it, like, the day before you asked me about it, the next film at which I suggested we take a crack was the Wachowskis’ own Jupiter Ascending, which my friend had not seen at that time. Nor had I, since first viewing it in theaters.

>>SPOILER WARNING: IF YOU CARE ENOUGH TO, UH… YOU KNOW, CARE

I was intrigued to give this movie another go. It’s struck me that I’ve got an odd streak of pleasantly enjoying movies a lot of people can’t seem to stand, or which some people even hate with utter vileness on the verge of hunting down the producers with a roll of duct tape, power tools, jugs of petrol, and a matchbook. I’ve enjoyed, for instance, Hardcore Henry, Elysium, and Joseph Kosinski’s Oblivion, all of which not one person I know in real life could offer a single word of kindness. After my first viewing of Jupiter Ascending, I was left to consider whether or not it was the sort of movie I should enjoy and allow others to hate and disparage, or if it just wasn’t that good. I recalled leaving the theater with a sort of “Hm” sound, and not much else. But given my history with rooting for an underdog, was I wrong? Is this movie actually good, or cool in some way? I couldn’t defy the sensation that I’d missed something.

The answer, it seems, is more complex than a simple yes or no. Then again, as Mason and Goat Han Solo often remind us, “there’s no nuance on the internet”, so even my assertion there about complexity may be in gross error.

For the unfamiliar, Jupiter Ascending is a science fiction tale with vibes of less-cliché aesthetic choices for its visuals, some cool references to UFO conspiracy theories, and aims at a more expansive universe that would no doubt have been further explored in sequels had this film been better received by audiences and critics. I’ll say outright, it’s a disappointment to me that we weren’t given the chance to see more films in this mythology, because there’s some really cool stuff going on in this weird, imaginative universe. The story centers upon the character of Jupiter Jones (Mila Kunis), an average working-class young woman in Chicago who is shocked to discover not only that aliens exist but that she happens to be the reincarnation of a galaxy owning empress, which entitles Jupiter to ownership of a large portion of the cosmos, the least part of which is Earth itself. But as the Aussies say, something’s a bit suss about the whole affair, and the wondrous glamour of this technologically advanced universe is concurrently party to a dark truth.

An immediately intriguing element of Jupiter Ascending is its attempt to set-up something which, while perhaps greatly inspired by a few other fictional works, is an original property, not a sequel, reboot, adaptation of an existing work, nor a spiritual successor to something else. Rather than merely being intrigued by this fact, I also respect it, because high-concept science fiction films aren’t something a studio likes to go for unless they have a preexisting audience, like adaptations of a book series or something. So it’s always bold when someone can cobble together the resources to really take a chance on something like this, even if it isn’t well received. After all that’s how films like The Matrix, The Terminator, Ridley Scott’s Alien, George Lucas’ Star Wars, and John McTiernan’s Predator come to be in the first place. Another example, I didn’t quite enjoy The Last Witch Hunter, but I recall respecting that film’s risk in its attempt at a new property for similar reasons.

Irrespective of your own personal tastes as a moviegoer and consumer of science fiction, it can’t be denied that the Wachowski’s are measurably talented filmmakers. Their doubtless skill at framing shots, blending effects with reality to present an integrated experience, and choreographing action sequences with such lethal precision it’s always incredible to watch; all of these things can’t be argued, and this attentiveness for the craft is all very present in Jupiter Ascending. Toward the beginning of the movie, there’s an aerial chase sequence that promptly accelerates into one of the most engaging, gripping action sequences in memory, heavily fantastical sci-fi elements intermixed with almost Fast and the Furious levels of insanity. The sense of gripping speed alone as two characters cling to the outer hull of a spacecraft was helplessly intense and left me quite keen to see what else the movie had to offer further down the line.

Additionally we have some awesome art design and stylistic choices regarding the look of this sci-fi universe, both the appearance of aliens and the design of their technology was familiar and unique at the same time. There are beings referred to as “Splices” which are intermixes of humans and various animals, giving some people bestial characteristics which are just weird enough to be cool to me without verging over the edge into absurd territory. There are cybernetic enhancements, gravity boots, phalanx style energy shields, neural synthetic wings, motherfucking jet-bikes of course and, though I never would have dreamed, motherfucking lizardmen! That blew me away, dude. Others may think it’s stupid, but lizardmen are one of my favorite sci-fi/fantasy creatures of all time, and they look so badass in this movie it was unbelievably awesome to realize I was actually seeing a proper lizardfolk on screen. With lizardmen and jet-bikes, Jupiter Ascending quickly marks two-out-of-five on my Generally Awesome Things I Like To See In Science Fiction list. It’s a real list, in my head, I swear.

The starship designs were inspired by art deco architecture in cities like Chicago, lending Jupiter’s cosmos a feeling more of Herbert’s Dune-iverse than something like Star Trek, which I appreciated since we don’t see that type of style quite as much. Top all that off with a fantastic score from Michael Giacchino and you’ve got some great tools to tell an awesome story.

So the thing is, it’s not just skin deep either, while the film does lean heavily on its visuals and action set-pieces, this is a genuinely interesting universe. Michael Bay’s Transformers, for instance, also has cool visuals, some passable action scenes, and dazzling special effects, but is it interesting? The answer is no. Because Bay’s movies, while briefly entertaining, are ultimately hollow. There aren’t any subdermal layers beneath the facade of spectacle. But in Jupiter Aescending there’s clearly something else going on, the touch of true filmmakers for one, yet also the potential for so much more. The groundwork, the craftsmanship and attentiveness is all here. It’s really what they choose to do, or not do, with that potential which ends up disappointing. Not, as in the case of Bay’s movies, the utter lack of potential for greatness from the start.

Though some fandom-card carrying ideologues may acerbically disagree, an acceptably comparable film whose potential for greatness was also mostly wasted for middle-of-the-road mediocrity is the recent Solo: A Star Wars Story, by Disney Interactive– I mean, by Disney behind the appropriated guise of Lucasfilm. Whatever else you think of that film, and while I agree from a mythological standpoint its very existence was in extremely poor taste, the talent, the production value, the mark of the craft was there. None of this was, however, capitalized upon to create anything truly profound. Jupiter Ascending’s unfortunate drawbacks are of a similar form.

I’d like to state emphatically however, I’m not trying to punish the film nor act as its apologist. Reckon I always end up saying this, but I am really just some dude. Sure, I read a lot of books and stuff, but that doesn’t appoint me some grand authority on the subject of fiction. These thoughts I try to convey in my write-ups are meant merely as opinions, framed in the form of investigating the quality of a film or game or whatever. To that end, I’m compelled to side with most folks in that, whatever else its got going for it, there’s some major deficiency holding back Jupiter Ascending from rising to a higher form of entertainment. So if the production values are high, where’s the casus belli all the angry critics are seeing here?

To puzzle that out, we ought first to determine by what criterion a truly good story is shaped. In that regard it’s likely the wisest to begin by reckoning what sort of story we’re dealing with here. Most people are wont to jump straight to the whole Hero’s Journey every dickhead YouTube reviewer read about in some sparknotes book while using the shitter at Barnes & Noble. But Joseph Campbell’s mimetic architecture isn’t the only sort of story that exists, not even in science fiction. Consider, for instance, anything written by H.P. Lovecraft, Darren Aronofsky’s The Fountain, Kubrick and Clarke’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, Jonathan Glazer’s Under The Skin, Philip K. Dick’s various works, Andrei Tarkovsky’s Stalker, Stanisław Lem’s Solaris, Alex Garland’s Ex Machina, or Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar. These stories, while very sci-fi in their scope and measure, are far more introspective, and very contemplative when contrasted against fiction of the more traditional heroic adventure genre. Hell, even Paul Verhoeven’s Starship Troopers while appearing a mindless war movie on its surface is fundamentally a cautionary allegory. While conquering adversity is certainly a theme of its own within each of these stories, the breadth of that adversity’s effect on the narrative varies wildly, as well as the nature of adversity each character must face. Other heavier components, like displacement, post-humanism, philosophical allegory, are also usually present in such stories.

All of this likely seems a bit excessive to point out, but I promise it’ll get relevant later. But, uh… yeh. The next time some liberal arts asshat tries to tell you there’s only one real way a story can go, you can be safely justified in telling them to get bent. I mean read, yeh, tell them to read more shit, and watch more movies. That’d probably be more productive. But also tell them to get bent, the fuckers.

There can also, however, be stories that blend styles. The 2004 rebrand of Battlestar Galactica incorporates several philosophical elements, self-reflective, and meditative thematic ideas into its narrative of what would otherwise be a fairly standard science fiction conflict in outer space. The Wachowskis’ own The Matrix is a perfect example of a classic hero’s journey which also incorporates introspective themes into its lore, plot, and mythology, wherein the internal conflict of the protagonist is just as important as whatever external adversity he is meant to overcome. Where Battlestar Galactica 2004 uses its thematic material to craft a sci-fi adventure story, The Matrix uses a sci-fi adventure story to explore its thematic material. Seen in that light, I think the Wachowskis wanted Jupiter Ascending to have similar weight to its narrative, but they ended up recycling a sort of “human harvest” idea already seen in The Matrix (and arguably done in a more engaging way).

Jupiter Jones herself is a catalyst for an inter-familial conflict within a wealthy interstellar hierarchy. Though alien races do exist, the most dangerous aliens happen to be humans themselves, extraterrestrial humans of course. In Jupiter’s universe, it turns out that the wealthy and powerful have the ability to live forever (an idea also explored in the Neftlix adaptation Altered Carbon), but only by seeding countless worlds with humans, then harvesting these humans like crops and breaking these millions of people down into a sort of primordial youth serum by which the lives of the affluent may be extended.

Advanced genetics in Jupiter’s universe are the highest form of technology, and it is stated in all the cosmos the most sought-after resource is time. This is the reason these advanced humans out among the stars are able to splice human and animal genes, essentially creating entirely new races, and the reason why Jupiter herself is seen as a reincarnation of a woman who once owned countless stars and planets. Genes, to the wealthy and powerful, have a near spiritual significance. Jupiter is referred to as a Recurrence, a person who is long dead but whose gene-print inconceivably reappears in someone who is born centuries or even millennia later. This is seen as a near miracle, and thus is recognized by interstellar law as a legitimate reincarnation, giving this new person the same rights and privileges, and inheriting all the property previously held by the deceased person whose gene print they share.

And that’s where the conflict comes up. Jupiter is sought out by three siblings of the Abrasax family, one of the most elite and powerful families in the universe, of which she is the reincarnation of their mother and thus entitled to re-inherit all of their resources and capital which they currently control. The kids are Kalique (Tuppence Middleton), the well-to-do, but compassionate one, Titus (Douglas Booth), the more two-faced of the three who acts innocent but is clever as a viper, and Balem (Eddie Redmayne), the stereotypical villain of the piece who seems to have nervous ticks and an inability to raise his voice above a certain octave except in times of extreme stress. Of course, since Jupiter’s now meant to control everything they currently own, none of the three Abrasax kids can be fully trusted. Jupiter doesn’t have to face these three one-percenters alone however. She is accompanied by Caine Wise (Channing Tatum) an ex-soldier and wolf-splice, known as a Lycantant, who is hired by Titus to safely retrieve Jupiter from Earth before his siblings can get to her. Caine’s former commanding officer, a bee-splice known as Stinger (Sean Bean) also appears from time to time, as well as officers of the Aegis, an interstellar law enforcement agency.

If you are having a hard time following the characters here, it’s probably because there just isn’t much to any of the characters other than what I’ve already written about them. And therein lies the primary flaw with this film. The characters aren’t interesting, and the greater tragedy is that the characters are written to be uninteresting. Where a ton of care and attention went into crafting the look, feel and depth of the wider universe acting as the story’s setting, the characters within this story are criminally underwritten.

Earlier, I went to great lengths to illustrate the wealth of variety throughout genres of science fiction, just how many different types of stories we might get within this narrative framework. The purpose of explaining all of that to such a degree was meant to show you that not everything has to follow the same narrative flow. Sometimes stories can be more abstract, less character driven, less action heavy. In that regard, a story exemplar like Blade Runner doesn’t really need to have strongly written characters because the interpersonal aspects of its journey are less important than its atmospheric setting and stylistic momentum. The gravitas comes from a different place than in stories which are more character driven.

However, if a story does want to give us something more conventional, then it’s extremely important that the characters are strongly defined, well established and, even if not likable, at the very least interesting. Though a bit out of this wheelhouse, Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby is notorious for featuring a dramatis personae of terribly vain, horrible sociopaths, but many of these characters are still written in a way that makes them interesting. Jupiter Ascending fashions itself as an epic space opera, a stylized adventure journey which goes from scrubbing toilets in Irving Park to rocketing through a wider spectacular galaxy. Within that story structure, the characters need to be given their proper attention, especially the protagonist. Only, this is not the case with this movie. In fact in Jupiter Ascending, the characters almost appear as afterthoughts, which is most unfortunate.

Despite being the protagonist’s love interest, Caine seems to have been given the most depth, as a literal lone-wolf personality, an orphan of a sort, a former soldier disgraced for an act of savagery, who longs to regain his military status as a Skyjacker, and was sprung from a prison called Deadland to rescue Jupiter from the clutches of filthy rich egomaniacs, a class of people he seems to utterly despise. Yet even Caine’s various portions of characterization are never fully explored, and he mostly serves as a vehicle to come dashing in and pluck Jupiter out of trouble over and over again. Secondary characters, other than Stinger (more on him later), are hardly there other than to function as a taxi service or exposition dump where appropriate, which is a shame since some of them have a great look but nothing else going on in the writing department to make them memorable. The Abrasax siblings are basically three different flavors of the same smug Soylent privilege, though Kalique seems to exist only to explain things for the benefit of the audience, and Balem seems to be accidentally memorable thanks to Eddie Redmayne’s unusual performance. Titus has some cool psychotic vibes with his underhanded motivations, slippery silver tongued bastard that he is, but even his role as the trickster doesn’t get its due in the end.

Stinger, Caine’s former commanding officer who is now an Aegis Marshal, is also written slightly deeper than even the Abrasax siblings. He took the fall for Caine’s misstep in the military, so he also lost his wings and was disgraced for it. Despite this, he is willing to help Caine and Jupiter throughout the story, and though begrudged he seems genuinely good at heart. Stinger’s point of interest however comes from his traits as a Splice between human and bee DNA. Yes, this leads to a funny line of dialogue, but there are some great examples of show-don’t-tell with Stinger, in that having bee instincts he seems superhumanly able to anticipate motion and react to it ridiculously quickly compared to most people. This ability gives him an edge in everything from fistfights to navigating massive fields of hunter-killer mines. This is hardly important to the plot, but I thought it was cool since it’s never stated outright, just displayed through his actions. Another example of a great idea that’s mostly left adrift.

Jupiter herself starts out as a typical protagonist for a Hero’s Journey. She’s a Jewish Russian immigrant who leads an unglamorous life cleaning bathrooms and tidying fancy homes for her family’s housekeeping service, apparently has bad luck with romance, and hardly ever has time to really do anything she enjoys. Typically, once these elements are presented, there will also be a revelation of something more intimate about the protagonist, her dreams and ambitions, something she longs to one day achieve, her hobbies or personality, perhaps a personal drawback or fear she wishes to overcome. But the most we get about Jupiter is that she wants to buy back a telescope which was once stolen from her astronomer father by the same thieves who murdered him (which we see early in the movie in an awkwardly directed scene). It’s not made clear if Jupiter herself has a genuine interest in astronomy, nor even what any of her interests happen to be.

This becomes a recurring problem throughout the film. Since no real internal conflict or personality of any kind is established for Jupiter, she isn’t led through any personal journey or self-exploration, nor anything which allows her to grow or evolve as the narrative opens up and accelerates. She’s basically just along for the ride, one of those wrong place wrong time sort of things. Her journey is entirely surface level, external forces dragging her around the stars without her having any real say in the matter nor agency of her own. She as very little idea of what she wants or who she is, from what we can tell, because we have no idea of those things either. Mila Kunis does a fine job with the material she’s given, but the material just isn’t much to run with, and if there is a drawback to her performance as an actress I promise in this case the fault is not with her.

The terrible lack of characterization hurts everything in the movie from its ethical conceits, plot momentum, all the way up to the romance subplot which only feels forced and lacking chemistry because the two leads aren’t properly written. They could have had chemistry, but its difficult for archetypes to interact without endowing them with personality. It’s a fundamental flaw from which all other flaws of the film stem because the personality, the character of the protagonist in this type of story is a fundamental element from which many other elements of the story stem.

Even towards the end, when Jupiter is forced into dangerous heroics and aggressive bravery it doesn’t feel like much of anything because for all we know she was brave all along, or maybe she wasn’t. We’re never given the chance to find out. Her larger moment of heroism comes not in a violent action of conquering the badguy (though she does beat him with a pipe later... in self-defense of course), but in refusing to compromise to Balem’s ultimatum, either resign her ownership of Earth or allow Balem to murder her family. It’s interesting to note that instead of rocking up and blowing his head off with a blaster, she just tells him to get fucked, which is a cool idea, non-violent protagonists are few and far between. Though the climax would have been far more satisfying had we gotten to know Jupiter much better before she gets to this point. Ultimately, the lack of strong characters make the progression of the movie feel awkward, and the denouement seems to come out of nowhere. It’s really too bad, since many facets of this film’s setup seemed to bear promise, and it’s more tragic than infuriating, leaving an audience with a countenance more in sorrow than in anger.

Like Jupiter herself, thematic elements are also only half-explored. The idea that genetics have advanced to such a point that life-regeneration has become a reality within this star-spanning civilization (albeit a reality exclusively available to the filthy, insanely wealthy) is an interesting idea, and there’s a lot of potential for the ethical quandaries related to that sort of technology, and what makes it possible. Yet little of this is given attention beyond the horror of Jupiter discovering the Abrasax family regularly kills billions of people for longevity and profit. Is their life-extending operation the only one out there? Or is it an industry? Are there black market dealers who develop and trade their own youth serum off the books? It’s all kind of muddy and little of it is given any explanation or nuance.

As we’ve established, Campbell’s hero’s journey isn’t the only way to go about a sci-fi story, but in Jupiter Ascending it’s like half-started without any of the follow-through, and the characters which should be the heart of the story are greatly lacking any depth. The film’s been compared to a Disney-style princess story, and even references Cinderella at one point, though it does seem to be aiming higher than this. Yet, the lackluster character writing and flat dialogue all make the story somewhat impotent, whatever its aim, leaving the movie looking like a majestically beautiful gild-feathered eagle, which just happens to be blind. Fun to look at, but has absolutely no idea where it’s going. I can’t articulate enough what a shame this all is, since there really are some cool ideas and sci-fi content here. I truly wish, as a sci-fi enthusiast, that Jupiter was truly able to ascend.

I’d recommend it as a fun romp through an intriguing galaxy, but it’s more useful as an example of how to get everything right with a movie, everything other than the thing that really holds it all together: a well-written protagonist. Still, I’m no intersectionalist, but it’s nice to see the girl get the guy at the end of the story, the way guy protagonists get to get the girl at the end of all their stories. That was a pleasant feeling, even if it wasn’t quite earned with everything come before it. Plus, you know; lizardmen, and jet-bikes. The Wachowskis are generally great at what they do though, just maybe have a tough time channeling it. Here’s hoping they can get back to us with something truly badass in future because the level of commitment to the craft seen in this movie is extraordinary, even if the reach exceeds the grasp in this particular case.

侍 headless

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louiscoleus · 5 years ago

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Creating Buyer Personas: Where Content Marketing Begins

You are only as good as your database.

No not your technology hardware. Your digital rolodex of potential clients

Why wouldn’t you be—You have a big list and you’ve been busy blasting that list with all kinds of marketing messaging. Ever stop to wonder why you’re not getting better results? What if optimizing that list is the key to securing a more efficient sales process?

Or maybe you’re reading this and thinking that you’re missing more than just a great list. Sure, you’ve got one, but it’s nothing to be proud of. You’re not even totally sure who exactly you’re marketing to or how to reach those specific prospects with the right message at the right time.

No matter where you’re starting from, we can’t stress enough the fundamental importance of developing detailed information to describe your key types of customers. Creating buyer personas is where the entirety of your content marketing starts.

It’s critical intelligence for both your marketing team and sales team.

It’s the process by which you determine who is buying from you already and what potential groups should be buying from you, but aren’t being properly marketed to yet.

The Key to Content Marketing: Identify Your Audience

It’s okay to start with a wide net. In fact, this is an important step, but it’s often the only step that most businesses are actually implementing. Your wide approach is going to capture, at a very general level, anyone who may potentially benefit, at some time or another, from your basic products and services.

However, depending on how broad or niche your business is, this wide net could be too wide. That’s why it’s also important to dive deeper and find specific communities that could benefit from unique aspects of what you provide. Identifying your target audience is necessary if you want to maximize your conversion rate—we love “How to Find Your Target Audience in Three Easy Steps” (by, Foundation Inc.).

Complete a Buyer Persona Exercise

We always recommend investing the time to conduct an official buyer persona exercise. What would this look like? Over the course of one to three days, the critical stakeholders for your company should sit with a marketing expert to go through strategic questions and answers for each sub persona that can be identified.

You’ll be amazed at the nuanced information that you can obtain by observing how these answers vary from one persona to the next. This critical data will help you understand your customers and truly transform your content marketing efforts!

Identifying and describing more specific, segmented buyer personas can help your business accomplish the following:

Reach a handful of “movers and shakers” within a specific community in order to mobilize the entire group.

Set up very specific, targeted drip marketing to reach the right client with the right message at the right time.

Harness the power of referrals to engage segments by developing brand ambassadors.

Integrate the efforts of your sales and marketing teams to streamline your sales cycle and optimize your closing potential.

Did you find us with the keyword:

Creating Buyer Personas

Thank you for your response

The Godfather of Segmentation and Practical Examples

We’re all familiar with Chicken Soup for the Soul, the widely popular book series, boasting 250 titles and over 500 million copies sold in dozens of languages. The author of the original Chicken Soup for the Soul is like the Godfather of segmentation. The man knew how to make and market a product to match a niche market. There’s a book for teachers, one for graduates, a version for firefighters, and the list goes on and on.

The point is: everyone wants something specifically for them. This is true about many things in life—and it’s true about marketing messages too.

No one wants to be put on a company’s drip marketing list to receive information and offers totally irrelevant to their interest and need. But that’s exactly the kind of unwanted communication you’ll end up sending to your lists if they aren’t specifically segmented.

A practical example for you:

If you run a hardware store that sells a variety of home and yard improvement goods, you will need to segment your list to distinguish between homeowners who have purchased your product, in small amounts at random times throughout the year, and business owners, who may need larger quantities of higher quality materials on a more regular basis.

Within your business owner persona, you would want to establish some sub personas to get those lists nailed down to even more of a target audience.

Some business owners may only shop for paint from your store because they own a painting business.

Others are landscapers and are really only concerned with yard improvement supplies and only during certain seasons.

A third group do general carpentry and renovations, so their interests would be more focused on tools and lumber.

Imagine if your lists weren’t segmented and a local homeowner received marketing emails from you about how to get wholesale discounts on orders of ten or more pallets of mulch? Consider the potential losses for your business.

First of all, that customer would be getting the wrong offer from you, which means you’d be missing out on an opportunity to send them the right message. But maybe even more importantly, your marketing—which was intended to be targeted and relevant— has now suddenly become obnoxious and unwanted. That potential customer may even unsubscribe from your list due to receiving an irrelevant email.

Establishing an Advocate

When you segment your audience, consider the fact that the decision maker may have a key influencer. For example, a CEO may task someone on his team to do all the upfront research and vetting for any new product purchases or business partnerships.

Your goal is not only to get the right message to the right client at the right time, but it’s ultimately to connect to an advocate within a company and nurture that relationship as its own unique buyer persona. You’re looking for that person who really wants your products and services and understands exactly why their company needs you.

Create messaging for the persona within the persona—your advocate, or “the influencer.” When objections are raised in-house, they’ll already be armed with answers and fighting on your behalf, long before you ever even meet that CEO (or whoever the decision maker is) for the first time.

Developing a Value Ladder

We’ve all seen those recommendations on Amazon. “People who bought this item, also bought x, y, and z.” Amazon is smart. They know that it’s 70% more probable to sell to an existing client than it is to generate a sale from a new prospect. And according to Revenue Hub, it’s nine times more expensive to generate new clients than to simply keep current ones.

So, rather than reinvent the wheel every time, maximize your lists with strategic segmentation.

Establishing a buyer persona is just the first step. You’ll want to also segment your lists by distinct persona and also according where specific leads within each persona are in the buyer’s journey. Then develop corresponding value ladders that plan to appropriately upsell or cross sell other products or services that they would be inclined to want.

Stay up to date with the latest digital marketing news. Like us on Facebook!

Marketing Automation and the Integration of Sales and Marketing

Systematic marketing occurs at the intersection of your buyer personas with lead scoring and customized drip marketing—all tracked through your customer relationship management system (CRM). When your list is properly segmented and your content marketing is developed for specific buyers, your marketing automation can kick into full gear.

Not only that, but your sales and marketing teams will be working together at this point to collect, share, and use the critical data about potential customers in order to generate warmer leads and close sales more effectively. The ultimate goal is to eliminate possible points of drop off for a potential client during their sales cycle.

Tip: Use your CRM for all it’s worth. Add every note and flag that can be added to a prospects account. Connect financial projections to your list of leads currently sitting in various stages of the sales cycle. This will help your business quantify the value of your pipeline and prioritize certain leads in order to reach company goals effectively.

Take the Next Step

Collecting your list is simply a small part of the process. And this is where the average company fails. They gather a big list and blast it with all kinds of general messaging. This misses the entire point of content marketing and it wastes the value of your list, which is one of your greatest assets.

Maybe after all this discussion on buyer personas and segmented lists, you might be sitting there thinking, “Okay, I need to back up. I’m not sure I even have a handle on what content marketing is in the first place.” If this is you, we have a great resource to help you get started. Check out our free ebook Getting Started With Content Marketing.

In this ebook, we help you get down to the details concerning what’s necessary to start an effective content marketing campaign. It’s an approach that will dramatically increase the likelihood of your site visitors returning to you when they’re ready to buy. Download it if you’re ready for a powerful, positive impact on:

Lead generation

Loyalty in your customer base

Industry influence

Sales

Otherwise, if you’re looking for more information on how to gather critical data through a Gap Assessment and comprehensive buyer persona development, use this simple form to contact us today.

The post Creating Buyer Personas: Where Content Marketing Begins appeared first on Farotech.

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justlyph-blog · 8 years ago

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I've Been Wrong: Conspiracies Ruined My Skepticism

Conspiracy theories ruined my skepticism. It diluted my ability to discern between reality and a dismal place where "The Powers at Be" are inescapable. It made me bullshit my way through all arguments and many casual conversations even. As a young kid I was always fascinated by science. And so when I decided to skip the direct to college route, I prided myself on being able to learn with a science drive mindset, beyond what "traditional" schooling would teach me. But I am the living example of how easy it is to fall victim to both innocent misinformation and straight up disinformation I am no Google sleuth, nor am I an auto-didact. Though I have both consciously and subconsciously held that opinion of myself in the past. It wasn't until I saw myself in a former coworker of mine that I realized how stupid I'd been. Though I fancy myself such a "moral" person, I saw myself in a flat-earth believing regular meth user. Though I've personally stayed away from such drugs, and I am firm believer in commonly accepted astrophysics, I couldn't bring myself to feel like a better person than him. Though I've stayed away from "hard drugs", I've still dabbled too heavily and experimented with problematic things. And moreover, I've still fallen victim to all too similar conspiracy theories. See the catalyst to my change in perspective was that, ultimately flat-earthers don't so much as believe explicitly the earth is flat. Many only accept that fundamentally the powers at be secretly control us, and therefore any conclusion can be made from that alone. The crux of the flat earth argument is something (absent of their perceived intent) that isn't entirely unfounded. Simple economics will tell you yes, there are wealthy people, who are friends, and who do conspire, to get you to give them money. That's not a bad thing. That's not evil, that's business. That's capitalism. What I realized then was that, if you believe people are "controlling" you, you therefore accept you are being controlled. And that is a dangerous mindset to have. Distrust in everything I was exposed to lead down a weird rabbit hole of seeking out terrible people to validate my terrible ideas. I was wrong. About almost everything. And this isn't the first time. I felt this way when I left my religion, I felt this way when I stopped being an adamant atheist, I felt this way when I stopped believing in my own made up version of spirituality. I felt this way when I stopped believing that I was in any way- smart. I've always been susceptible to any kind of simple answer or meaning to life, even if said meaning had terrible consequences. I feel blessed to have been taught at a young age critical analysis. My susceptibility to any logical or easy answer corrupted that skill. In the first few years of my "personal research" I was better at discerning valid and invalid information I sought, but I still didn't get it all that right, all that often. I was still a dick about what I believed. A very loud, obnoxious dick. And I'm a sponge. I've always been a sponge. One of my worst qualities is how much I've tended to take on the qualities of those around me. And conspiracy theorist kept making me doubt whatever baseline level of reality I had accepted at any given point. I want to still be skeptical, forever. But I wanna be skeptical of my skepticism too. I don't know jack shit. Yet I've been that guy who argues to many of you who were getting degrees in the subject matter I was talking out of my ass about. Any half-valid opinion I may have had at any point in time was always invalidated by my bastardized perspective on skepticism. And with that, I want to publicly apologize to anyone that's ever had to deal with my entirely theoretical, half baked conspiracies. I want whole-heartedly to earnestly work to learn from how much I've failed to learn. But I will say this, I related to that flat-earth believing kid, because I saw in him what I saw in myself. He didn't want to listen to anything I said. I, like most of us have refused to listen in many a discussion. I understand now hard it is to listen to a conspiracy theorist. Because I was only able to take away from that, an empathy for the rationale of their beliefs. But he, like I have often, failed to enter the conversation, ready to be wrong. And that's the point of this. One, to admit I've been wrong about alot, if not most things. I'll concede to most of my beliefs in the last 5 years, have all been wrong. I'm ready to be wrong. I'm ready to continue being wrong. I'm ready to listen. I'm ready to talk to people I believe are wrong, and accept I might be wrong about them or their belief or my own. I'm ready to accept just learning about everything again. Skepticism is a beautiful thing, and is fundamental to critical analysis. Contrary to what I used to believe, skepticism is a vastly different thing than conspiracy theories. Anybody can theorize any conspiracy, but a deeper understanding of any idea comes from being skeptical of one's own skepticism. Be it proved right or wrong, the only way to deeply understand something is to be skeptical. Try to disprove the device your reading this on "exists", and you'll still come the conclusion that it almost definitely exists, but you now may have more of a philosophical explanation that you can defend your belief in. I want to rejoin reality. I want to rejoin society. I want to rebuild burnt bridges. I want to be a better friend. I want to be a better listener. I want to learn from my mistakes. I wanted to believe that I could exist by not interacting with society. I wanted to believe that not risking making a fool of myself was worth not existing. I wanted to believe that I was doing good in the world by creeping into the shadows and just wallowing in my stupidity and mistakes. But I now I understand I owe it to myself to try. I owe it to the world to take a chance at trying to be better. I owe it to myself to try and break even. I owe it to my friends for doing the right thing and not interacting with me when I was a piece of shit. I owe it to my friends who became better people without me in their lives. I fully accept that if I died tomorrow I'd have left a net negative impact in the world. And I feel horrible about that. I want to be wrong about that. But to do that I gotta learn and grow. This is not a call to action. This is not a plea for attention. This is not me begging the world for forgiveness. This is me telling the world, I fell victim to conspiracy theories because I was wrong about believing the fundamental idea that I am almost entirely controlled by the world. This is me actively trying to drastically shift my locus of control, and focus on what I know. I know emotion. Anyone that's ever argued with me knows I'm quite reliant on emotional ideas. Which isn't bad for art, but is terrible for logic and productive conversation. It's a weird goal to have but ideally I don't wanna have opinions. And the few Ill inevitably always have- i wanna accept they could be entirely wrong, and accept that others may very well invalidate said opinions at any point. I don't wanna feel embarrassed when i'm wrong. I want to feel excited that I learned something. And conspiracy theories don't teach you anything. The only morale you walk away from conspiracy theories is that the world is fucked. Furthermore I would like to point this out. I didn't deserve to be talked to because I was an asshole, but there are some genuine and sincerely respectful conspiracy theorists out there that genuinely want to learn and be wrong. Even though I was certainly not one of them, they do exist. That said, listen to them closely, and you'll find the root of most conspiracy theorists' beliefs are that they just feel disenfranchised. They feel lost as a lowly pawn in a world of millionaires flaunting their power. Which is an understandable perspective, but that doesn't actually mean it's an accurate perspective. Personally I felt disenfranchised only to later realize I was just a petty kid who thought he knew better than everyone and didn't wanna take opportunities give to him. But some genuinely have been disenfranchised, by any number of variable circumstances. But at the end of the day, just as they seek and deserve respect despite not having anything, those with things or power deserve respect too. They both deserve equal respect. Yes there are those that abuse their wealth and power. But there are also those that use wealth and power to do amazing things in the world. The world is not black and white. Good people do bad things and bad people do good things. The world is complicated, and almost everything requires a nuanced perspective to accurately understand both sides of any given discussion. I am wrong, and I want to continue to be wrong. But I want to learn from being wrong. So now, all I can do is start over and re-teach myself discernment of what's is and and is not legitimate. I will undoubtedly be wrong again. But I want to to forever move on from the idea that I am more controlled by my reality than I control it. Surely it's a bit of both. But I've come to the undeniable fact that I at least have much more control over my own life, than I previously cared to admit. And with that, this is me taking control of my life and professing to the world- Yes, I am an asshole, I have been for one for quite a while, but yes I want you to tell me why I'm an asshole, and I want you to tell me what I was wrong about and how wrong I was. All my friends are becoming experts in fields I know nothing about. And instead of talking to them about what little I think I know anymore- I want to instead listen and learn from them. It's taken many of you years to build a life. It's taken me years to slowly destroy mine little by little. I'm not even being dramatic there. My own bullshit ideas about life led me down a path that would isolate me and burn bridges I may never get back. To anyone that's ever tried to tell me someone I interacted with or listened to was a terrible influence or an illegitimate source of information, I'm so fucking sorry. To all my friends that warned me of the terrible situations and people I sought out that would influence me even when I swore they wouldn't, I'm so goddamn sorry. To all my friends who called me on my shit and eventually stopped interacting with me, thank you. You did the right thing. You needed to be around better people and I needed to learn how stupid I was. So with that I'd like to re-iterate: I am wrong. I will continue to be wrong. You don't need to tell me how I was wrong, for thats entirely on me to seek out legitimate reputable information now. But if you want to, I'd be happy to listen and learn. TL:DR skepticism > conspiracy- -y lo siento, soy un pendejo. Ahora diceme porque, por favor

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