#they tell themselves they couldnt possibly have anything in common with someone who supports or belongs to a marginalised group they dislike

[gil-notskajla]

"Xerath's past from childhood to imprisonment" headcannon (including some of the cool ideas form @fattyaly ) ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) let's go:

• Xerath had many scars from corporal punishments and brutal indelicacy of previous owners.

• Xerath's human height was below avarge - undernourishment durring his service as a lesser slave disrupted his childhood development. When Azir took him in, his diet became more proper but the damage was already done.

• Xerath was quite lonely, durring his service to royal family. When he was a normal slave, he had his mother, father (when he was still alive) and other slaves. Everyone worked together and supported each other in the darkest hours. When Azir made him his personal slave, his living conditions improved greatly but his unusualy close bond with a royal elevated him in the eyes of fellow slaves who didnt know how to treat him anymore - as one of their own, or as someone above them, not to mention the jealousy, while for free citizens and nobility he was still a mere slave and nothing more.

• He had other slaves working under him as for example his bodyguards, who he cared for and did everything he could to improve their living conditions, since he experienced the same life when he was younger. They were also an additional motivation for his plans of slavery abolishment.

• Xerath and other slaves serving the royal court members created an information net and that's how he knew the gossips better than Azir.

• That's how he learned that Azirs father truthy despises his last alive son - Emperor didnt keep his tongue behind the teeth around slaves who served him. Mistake.

• Xerath knew that Azir was really close with his mother. That's why he tried his best to make her infertile, soo that killing her wouldnt be nessesary. He failed and knew that Azir's assasination from that point on was just a matter of time. He chose his and Azir's lives over rest of royal family.

• Xerath risked his relationship with Azir constantly to make him realise that slaves are people with feelings and needs too. Azir took quite long to finally acknowledge that but even smallest progress in that matter made Xerath proud of him.

• Xerath probably didn't appreciate Azir sleeping with slave girls. After all they couldn't say know, but he couldn't stop Azir from doing this...

• Azir provided him with a great autonomy, mostly for executing his will, which sometimes gave Xerath seemingly greater power than some noble houses what annoyed literally everyone.

• Xerath's parents were his teachers and only people who he would ever call his family besides Azir. They planted the concept of freedom in his mind which stayed with him forever. Mental image of his parents, their unconditional love has been inseparably tied to concept of freedom. That turned family and freedom into highest values for him.

• That's also why Xerath turned 180° soo rapidly when Azir "officially abadoned" the freedom project. Azir was the only family ever since Xerath lost contact with his mother. By remminding Xerath that he is indeed, just a slave and not in fact his brother, he violated not only one but two of Xeraths highest values - freedom and familial bond.

• At first Xerath was a bit jealous of Azir's wife but knowing he could never compete with her for Azir's attention and conflict would mean Azir getting annoyed with him, they ended up on good terms. By this i mean of course ideal benelovent, kind master/docile, friendly slave relationship. After Azir "betrayed" Xerath, Xerath acted the same way towards her to not arouse suspicion but since he no longer believed Azir to be his brother, he no longer thought of her as his potential future family. (Azir's oldest official son was around 18 (close to adulthood) when  the cataclysm happened soo he had to be married for at least 18 years, probably he got married before his final refusal to Xerath. Also, that would make them at least 36 years old at the time of Ascension.)

• Same for Azir's first son. At first he was happy for Azir, that his step-brother has a child, but after the fight, he didnt care anymore. Every next child just remminded him how priviledged they are, how horrible his childhood was and how many children are still being born to slavery while they lead idyllic and ignorant lives.

• Xerath wanted to steal the empire and impersonate Azir after Ascension in which he would make it look like he himself died.

• Xerath had access to Azir's Ascension ritual preperations. He gained as much information as he could about the mechanism of ascending and adjusted it to himself in order to gain as much power as possible in case his role-swap-by-assasination didnt work, he couldnt impersonate azir and had to actually force everyone to obey him despite his true identity (that would explain why his plan was "in motion" and why he "couldnt back down no matter how much part of him wanted to").

• After Azir fullfiled his promise Xerath knew that Baccai are a thing (it was probably common knowledge soo, duh) and was afraid that his personal adjustments would cripple Azir what would bring dishonor on him in the best case scenario and get him detronised/banished hopefully together with his family, court and Xerath, or kill him in the worst. If Azir died, his life would be over as well, since he made many enemies and Azir was the only person keeping him on the top - in position from which he could do anything. Without Azir, Xerath was nobody. And he couldn't tell Azir that he spiked his Ascension ritual and risk his rage. In this situation he could only utter "I'm sorry." and proceed with his plan wondering why Azir didnt tell him and carrying the confusion, guilt and anger for the rest of his life.

• By impulsively blasting Azir of daasis, Xerath made it very clear that he is sabotaging the ritual. That probably caused him to panic that Sun Priests will stop the ritual what would cause him to become either weak and crippled Baccai, die or just allow the soldiers to capture and execute him. With his magic he forced Priests to continue, desperately, for as long as he could. In fear of consequences and unaware of his surroundings he prolonged the ritual what drained the Disc, caused the shockwave, initiated the cataclysm, disintegrated his ascending body and turned him into unique, unstable, energetic being.

• Ascension ended with stasis in which he got lowered back to the ground, barely concious. Nasus and Renekton were already waiting for him with sarcophagus, ready to catch him. That explains why he didn't manage to react and got captured soo easily.

• In the tomb, Xerath and Renekton fought for days but when Renekton realised he is unable to kill Xerath and Xerath not really caring if Renekton dies or not, they found themselves their own corners where they sat alone with their demons, sometimes talking to each other when in desperate need of social interaction.

• Xerath is indeed the most powerfull Ascended in terms of raw power but his body is very unstable. He can literally kill himself by destabilisation from using too much of his magic.

• Soo many horrible things happened on the day of Ascension, that if he addmited that he was the one responsible for death of thousands, not only randoms and Azir but probably also many aquaintances of even friendsp, he would go complitely mad. He told himself the entire story over and over and over again, twisting it bit by bit every time to justify his actions and why all this bloodshed was nessesary in order to fool himself and subconciously protect his mind from insanity by blaming everything on Azir and his bloodline.

• He repressed the fact that he is a Baccai. He stays in denial soo that he wont have to acknowledge that despite all that hard work, he failed everyone, even himself and became fragile like glass. He stays in denial deluding himself that there is nothing wrong with him and hiding it from himself by prising his "flawless" ascended form, hoping that the problem will cease existing if he forgets about it.

• Xerath and Renekton probably learned how to fall into some form of stasis in order to loose conciousness and skip time because, as fucked up as they are, they are in really good shape as for people who have spent 36,000 times longer period of time than avarge recommended dose of isolation causing irreversible mental damage irl. (i think that riot kind of forgotten about them when making the timeline and now stasis is the only logical explanation for how well preserved their minds are.)

[viralhottopics]

Fox & Friends in the henhouse: how Trump’s beloved show wields power

The president and the Fox News morning show have built a symbiotic relationship: the program defends Trump as it helps set his agenda

I like that group of three people, Donald Trump said this month. They had a man who was saying: Trump is the greatest president ever and there will never be one like him.

Trump was referring to Steve Doocy, Ainsley Earhardt and Brian Kilmeade the hosts of Fox & Friends and a segment he had seen on the show. Its one of the presidents favorite programs, and it may well be the most influential television program in the world.

On 7 March, the president tweeted five times in direct response to topics discussed during the three-hour Fox & Friends, on the Fox News Channel. It wasnt a one-off.

On 29 November, Trump suggested that anyone caught burning the American flag should lose their citizenship or spend a year in jail. He sent his tweet at 6.55am ET 30 minutes after Fox & Friends ran a piece about a protest in which someone burned the American flag.

At 6.04am on 26 January, Trump blasted off a tweet about Chelsea Manning, the whistleblower whose sentence was commuted by Barack Obama. Manning had just published an article critical of the former president.

Donald Trump visits the show in 2011. Photograph: Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images

Ungrateful TRAITOR Chelsea Manning, who should never have been released from prison, is now calling President Obama a weak leader, Trump wrote. Terrible!

At 5.50am, Fox & Friends had carried a banner that referred to Manning as an ungrateful traitor. Mediaite noted that the anchor that day, Abby Huntsman, had said Manning was slamming President Obama as a weak leader.

The next month, Trump echoed a Fox & Friends suggestion that UC Berkeley should not receive federal funding. He also mused that Obama had been too soft on Russia 12 minutes after Fox & Friends held a discussion about how Obama had been too soft on Russia.

Fox News turned down an interview request for this piece, but by any standard its morning show has had a remarkable year. As Trumps popularity soared, so too did the number of people watching.

According to Nielsen media research, between February 2016 and February 2017, the program increased its viewership by 46% averaging 1.7m viewers a day last month. It is by far the most popular morning show on cable; on average, MSNBCs Morning Joe brought in 847,000 viewers this February, while CNNs New Day reached just 639,000.

Fox & Friends, which airs every weekday, is in some ways a typical breakfast show. It combines light, fun features a recurring item on Monday was a video of a toddler getting swept off her feet by a door; on Thursday the show celebrated National Puppy Day, with harder news and commentary favorable to Trump.

On Monday, Trump was being criticized in much of the mainstream media as he has been for weeks over alleged ties to Russia among his campaign aides. In the Fox & Friends studio, efforts were being made to tell viewers why Russia connections dont matter.

FOX & friends (@foxandfriends)

“Put the narrative aside. Report real news.” -Mom Deborah Antignano on media’s coverage of alleged Russia-Trump campaign ties http://pic.twitter.com/kn1kJhqCyh

March 20, 2017

The people tasked with this were the Security Moms a group of four women, presumably mothers, who are sporadically wheeled out to discuss national security issues.

Appearing above a chyron that said News You Cant Use, the four women set about trying to convince themselves, and viewers, that American families are just not interested in reports that Trump advisers may have been colluding with Russia to help him win the election.

Earhardt kicked off proceedings by asking the Security Moms, who were seated in tiers like the members of Queen in the Bohemian Rhapsody video, if any of them were concerned that President Trump and his campaign colluded with Russia to get elected?

No, the moms said as one.

They want to uphold this narrative as if its factual and its not factual, said Deborah Antignano.

A caption popped up, identifying her as the mother of a 13-year-old girl.

Report real news. Do away with the fake news. Because Americans, quite frankly, were all tired of it.

That was the end of that. Except later that day came a bombshell.

The FBI director, James Comey, told the House intelligence committee the FBI was investigating possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. He added that there was no basis to support Trumps claims that he had been wiretapped by Obama.

For Fox & Friends, this presented a problem. They had to address Comeys testimony: it was the news of the day. But they had to do it in a way that told the viewers including the president there was nothing to see here.

They had already deployed the Security Moms on Monday. They couldnt summon them again. There are no Security Dads. Something else was required.

The solution was to clip together 20 instances of Comey declining to comment and tell viewers: You didnt miss much.

FOX & friends (@foxandfriends)

If you missed yesterday’s congressional hearing with FBI Dir. James Comey, you didn’t miss much… http://pic.twitter.com/AnJdtWcGxK

March 21, 2017

A hostile work environment

In Fox & Friends world, Trump is never wrong and everyone always loves Trump. Its quite a contrast with the liberal world of New York City, where the show is filmed.

The Fox News studio is one block south from where NBCs Today show is broadcast, and four blocks north of ABCs Good Morning America. Those two shows average about 4.5m viewers and their studios are common tourism spots.

People stand at windows behind the presenters, waving frantically and calling family members to tell them to turn on the television. The shows encourage this both have sections on their websites giving directions for fans. Every day, scores of people line up outside. Its fun. Its convivial.

Fox & Friends, despite also being filmed against a backdrop of midtown Manhattan, does not do this. If anything, the studio is hidden away. If you manage to find the address, all you are met with is the imposing grey concrete of Fox News brutalist headquarters.

Theres no opportunity to stand outside. No ogling through the windows. The backdrop of the show is a view of Sixth Avenue but filmed from 50ft up. If youre committed, you can still get onscreen, as the Guardian did on Wednesday. But youll never be more than a blob in the distance.

Unwelcoming and fortress-like, Fox News HQ stands in stark contrast with Fox & Friends the show. With those videos of toddlers toppling over, the puppy visits and the reassuring asininity of the Security Moms, its a warm and cozy place.

The three hosts seem to get along well. Doocy, who looks a bit like a scarecrow whos just had his hair done, is the alpha male. Kilmeade, a New Yorker with close-set eyes and a childlike curiosity, is the everyman. Then theres Earhardt, a former CBS reporter who is probably the most intelligent person associated with the show.

But despite the apparent intimacy, Fox & Friends has not always been a happy place to work. For seven and a half years, Gretchen Carlson got to sit alongside Doocy and Kilmeade. But she was bumped in 2013 and then, in June 2016, fired from Fox News altogether. She brought a lawsuit against the channels then chairman, Roger Ailes, accusing him of sexual harassment. Fox News settled for a reported $20m. Ailes resigned in July.

Carlsons complaint was filed against Ailes, but it also named Doocy. Her fellow presenter had created a hostile work environment, Carlsons claim said, by regularly treating her in a sexist and condescending way, including by putting his hand on her and pulling down her arm to shush her during a live telecast.

Doocy stayed on, apparently unpunished. Fox News did not respond to questions about whether he ever faced disciplinary action.

Do you love Trump?

The mutually beneficial relationship between Trump and Fox & Friends you provide feather-smoothing, ego-boosting coverage, I agree to tweet positive things about your program and sometimes appear on it did not spring out of nowhere.

For four years before running for president, Trump had his own slot. He appeared weekly, usually by phone, on Mondays with Trump.

The segment was a platform for the kind of rambling, free-form missives that came to characterize his 2016 campaign. Trump would call up to weigh in on a variety of issues sometimes war, sometimes jobs, sometimes the Oscars and, increasingly often, Barack Obamas birth certificate.

Fox & Friends would air the billionaires claims without criticism, and with no acknowledgment of how damaging they were.

In a March 2011 clip discussing the issue of whether Obama had been born in the US he was Trump said, without evidence, that the then president had spent millions of dollars trying to get away from this issue. At the end of the conversation, the hosts chuckled.

Donald Trump, who we all know was born in this country. All you have to do is read the side of his building, Kilmeade said.

The Fox & Friends hosts would frequently ask Trump if he was going to run for president. At times, they seemed to be actively encouraging it.

A celebrity stroll with Donald Trump.

In a clip from 7 May 2015, Kilmeade went on a celebrity stroll with Trump a walk down Fifth Avenue that was essentially an exercise in showing Fox & Friends viewers just how popular, and how electable, Trump was.

You seem to have this natural relationship with the so-called blue-collar worker, Kilmeade told Trump, who pointed out possibly using alternative facts how many people on the street seemed to like him.

Look at the response, Trump said, pointing at five people who remained silent as he walked past.

A little later, a truck drove past and the driver leaned out of the window.

Do you love Trump? Kilmeade shouted.

I know you, the driver responded.

If he did love Trump, he had a funny way of showing it.

I enjoyed being with you. I love your show, Trump told Kilmeade.

Then the future president, not known for the consistency of his views, showed that when it comes to Fox & Friends, at least, his commitment has never wavered.

The three of you are fantastic people, he said of the hosts. I wouldnt do this for anybody but you.

Read more: http://ift.tt/2n50S5O

from Fox & Friends in the henhouse: how Trump’s beloved show wields power