#this is STILL such a major issue in the community and it pisses me off to no end

[fozmeadows]

Speaking as an Australian currently living in America: I don't want boring, because boring implies business as usual. Ordinary. Something that makes no waves, that doesn't rock the boat. Which isn't to say I don't want stability on a day to day level - I absolutely do! But IMO, a major part of why we've ended up at this particular political crossroads is because successive governments have either damaged various social systems or failed to meaningfully repair that damage, and the cumulative effect of this neglect is now all coming due. In my lifetime, we've stripped funding and jobs from our universities in general to an absurd extent, but particularly to the humanities, as well as gutting TAFE. We've spent decades refusing to upgrade tons of major transit infrastructure because nobody wanted to deal with the inevitable pushback that accompanies both significant government spending and planned delays, with predictably bad results. We've made environmentally unsustainable mining practices an economic lynchpin while functionally abandoning rural communities when it comes to things like telecommunications, hospitals, the post office, jobs and transit. We've failed to build new affordable housing or rein in predatory landlords or materially fix the high cost of living, all while the price of childcare continues to skyrocket. We've continued to lock up migrants in offshore detention centers despite the clear moral evil this represents, as well as failing our Aboriginal communities in innumerable ways; and we've stood in lockstep with some truly heinous foreign policy decisions just because our longtime ally America was the one making them. And while our left-wing governments - including the newly re-elected one - have a far better track record than those on the right of at least trying to address these problems, they've also, at times, held equal responsibility for them, very often due to an unwillingness to upset the apple-cart.

And that simply cannot continue. Assuming it was ever a viable approach, it sure as shit isn't now. Climate change is real. We need to invest heavily in green energy - Australia should be at the forefront of wind and solar power, but we're not, because the fossil fuel industry still has its claws in everything. Given daily proof of the horrors produced by unfettered, money-driven STEM industries, we need to be heavily reinvesting in universities in general and the humanities in particular, because education matters, expertise matters, and trying to streamline our school systems away from "frivolous," non-business degrees is actively harming us all. We've got a tiny population relative to the landmass we inhabit, and a pressing need for more infrastructure, more workers, more doctors and nurses, more everything - on that basis alone, even if it wasn't a moral and humanitarian issue, we should be making more room for migrants and helping them succeed.

What we need, in other words - what I want to see - is not boring, everyday politics, but radical politics. I want Labor to use their majority to actually get shit done. I don't want smug, look-at-us-playing-nicely-with-the-other-children centrism that keeps all the major feathers unruffled in the moment but which nobody will remember ten or twenty years down the track. I don't want an unmemorable government. I want a government that is willing to piss people off in service of building a better future. I want a government that's willing to break with the Trump administration out of commonsense and ethical principle rather than toadying up to them or hedging its bets in hope of an absent pat on the head for staying pointlessly, thanklessly loyal to an insane clownhole and his posse of villainous dunces.

Maybe it's just me, but I can't help but feel that, even 50 years later, Labor is still, in some fundamental sense, haunted by the specter of the Whitlam Dismissal: the idea that, if you go too far left, the powers that be will see you stripped of your office, because a little corruption is de rigueur, but if you make university free and introduce Medicare and legal aid and acknowledge China without sufficiently bending the knee to God and the market, then you're fucked.

In short, I don't want boring. I want change, and the hope of a better fucking world, and politicians who are willing and able to use their majority to fight for it.

To the Australians and the Canadians, may the time from now to your next election be so fucking boring. Just, the most boring. So boring.

Boring as fuck.

[bunnelbaby]

the audacity of some people who invade your personal safe space and act as if they have the authority to police your regression. so what if you prefer not so child friendly media while regressed, have fictional caregivers or regressors from darker sources, slip into your headspace while high or intoxicated or regress in a non traditional way in general? if they have an issue with how you regress, they should simply mind their own business and move on rather than harassing you. you aren’t doing anything wrong by regressing the way you do because there is no right or wrong way to regress!

[halalchampagnesocialist]

I was thinking about it more and I think another reason the rhetoric of "no Jews, no news" and "where were the protests for X issue" pisses me off aside from downplaying Palestinian efforts in raising awareness and organising for Palestine is that it assumes Palestinians have a wide range of support in comparison to other causes. Protests for X and Y issues are held and organised by those relevant communities but the particular issues Zionists love to hold up are already opposed by Western countries in which some of these communities live in. Syria being a great example of this. Western governments opposed Assad, provided funding to militias to oust him, saw his backers (Iran and Russia) as enemies etc, so naturally they strongly denounced his atrocities. This energy does not exist with Israel. The minute world leaders issue even the softest condemnation of Israel, Zionists go mad. But even then, we've seen support for Palestine grow a lot this past year, we've seen the ICJ rule that Israel is plausibly committing genocide, and we've seen the ICC issue arrest warrants but what has that achieved in reality? Not only do these governments still back Israel with funds and weapons, but they have done nothing to stop the war. Palestinians in Gaza are still killed daily, and Palestinians in the West Bank are still occupied. The only ones who were actually defending Palestinians were groups like Hezbollah and Houthis which the West has bombed due to their attacks on Israel, whilst Arab states supported that whilst standing idly by as Israel continues to destroy Gaza further. You must be living in some alternate universe to cynically assume that the vast majority of people care about Palestine and not X issue only because Jews are involved.

[maxdibert]

Why do you think Sirius gave up on his family? Do you think he thought they would forgive him for becoming friends with a blood traitor so he just did what he wanted but as the war progressed he realized he has to actually make a choice? Like he took it as a rebellion and angst at the beginning and only later realized how real the pressure was? Did he not love them enough? What was the deal there? (I know you are a Snape account but I love your takes on other characters as well that's why I'm asking for your opinion on this. Btw I read your fic and I love the way you write Snape's internal dilemas)

Well, you can ask me about any character—I don’t exclusively talk about Severus hahaha and i love to rant about things so... Also, Sirius? Can’t stand him. But I like him as a character because I find him so cynical and hypocritical that he’s absolutely fascinating. I’ve always had this love-hate relationship with rich kids from ultra-conservative families who play at being progressives and think they’re these righteous justice warriors but, at the end of the day, are still just privileged kids with privileged prejudices and privileged habits. And I mean that sincerely—no irony intended. I’ve met plenty of people like that in my life, and I think Sirius is a very realistic representation of the cognitive dissonance that people like this tend to have.

That said, here’s something I’ve always thought. Obviously, this is a personal headcanon based on my own experiences with people who fit his profile, but I think it holds water. Usually, people like this—those who grow up in oppressive environments and eventually become atheist anti-religion types, join the communist party to scandalize their ultra-right-wing parents, or turn into crypto bros after ditching the vegan hippie commune their parents raised them in—do this stuff in late adolescence, almost as adults. But Sirius? He starts rebelling really early, as a kid. By the time he’s 11, he already feels the need to rebel against his family.

It happens the moment he meets James, when James establishes that Slytherin is the worst. Sirius comments—offhandedly, without any resentment or anger—that his whole family’s been in Slytherin. He doesn’t seem like he’s at war with them yet, but you can tell he kind of likes the idea of not being in Slytherin just to piss them off. Add to that the fact that he hints in OotP that his dad was a pushover and calls Regulus an idiot—like he was just a fool—but he doesn’t seem truly resentful toward either of them. Sure, they didn’t have a great relationship, but when he talks about them, it’s more with antipathy than hatred. All of this leads me to the same conclusion: mommy issues.

Sirius had major mommy issues—or at least, that’s how I see it. Rich boys with daddy issues rebel by trying to become powerful men, detached from the arena where their fathers succeeded, but determined to surpass them. Rich boys with mommy issues? They turn into psychos. Seriously, that’s just how it works—I don’t make the rules. I think Sirius always clashed hard with Walburga because (and this is my favorite part, because this isn’t just a headcanon; I’m absolutely convinced of this from the little we see of their interactions—or of him with the portrait—in the books) they had the same shitty personality.

Walburga was a dominant, explosive woman with an imposing, even despotic, character. It’s very reminiscent of Bellatrix and, by extension, very much like Sirius. I think Regulus and Orion had similar personalities—the same kind Narcissa shows: arrogant, smug, classist, but restrained and composed. Egocentric, but calm. Walburga, Sirius, and Bellatrix are the other side of that aristocratic coin: the type who believe they’re entitled to everything and everyone, the kind who bulldoze over everything in their path. They’re wild and uncontrollable personalities, especially if someone tries to rein them in.

In my mind, Sirius took after his mom, and Walburga couldn’t stand having someone so much like her constantly challenging her authority. Sirius, meanwhile, couldn’t stand her trying to control him. So at age 11, his rebellion was probably just a tantrum aimed at his mom, a way to piss her off as much as possible. From there—and thanks to James’s influence, as well as the credit Sirius gave James because, spoiler-not-spoiler, James was also a rich pureblood wizard like him—he started adopting James’s worldview. Not because it was rooted in firm beliefs or clear reasoning, but because James had a family that wasn’t insane, so he was probably right. And if parroting James’s ideas at home gave his mom a few gray hairs, all the better.

It snowballed and escalated until the relationship was unsalvageable. James offered him a place to stay if he wanted to leave, and Sirius moved out. But the start of it all? A tantrum aimed at mommy. Sirius has some massive mommy issues he just can’t handle. And the funniest part? He’ll do anything to avoid being like her. He’ll go to any length to do the exact opposite of what she would do. But in the end, because they share the same awful personality, he behaves in the same violent, despotic, narcissistic way she did—just with different victims: Kreacher or Severus, for example.

It’s a brilliant little Oedipal case study.

[idkmanwtfishumanityanymore]

No I’m sorry Y’all I’m seriously still so fucking pissed off abt this episode, and I have to scream into the digital void about everything wrong with it and how downright mocking it felt or I’m gonna EXPLODE-

FIRST OFF, MY BIGGEST FUCKING ISSUE. Moon, near the end, says that “Bad people are bad people, no matter what dimension it is” or something similar.

HOW THE FUCK DOES SOLAR EXIST THEN, HM?

BECAUSE IF I REMEMBER CORRECTLY, SOLAR STARTED AS “NICE ECLIPSE”, BUT WAIT.. HOW CAN THAT BE POSSIBLE WHEN “BAD PEOPLE STAY BAD, NO MATTER THE DIMENSION”??? CAUSE I’M PRETTY FUCKING SURE ECLIPSE WAS BAD WHEN THAT HAPPENED, AND SOLAR WAS A GOOD VARIANT OF ECLIPSE.

YOUR LOGIC FALLS COMPLETELY, FUCKING, FLAT.

IF SOLAR, A GOOD ECLIPSE CAN EXIST, WHY IS IT SOOOOOO FUCKING IMPOSSIBLE FOR A GOOD BLOODMOON TO EXIST? HM? ANSWER ME THAT, HYPOCRITE.

THE ONLY FUCKING REASON, THEY WERE EVEN CONSIDERED “GOOD”, WAS BECAUSE THEY DIDN’T KILL. SOMETHING THEY ORIGINALLY, HAD TO FUCKING DO OR ELSE THEIR INSATIABLE BLOODLUST, WHICH WAS HARDWIRED INTO THEM, WOULD FORCE THEM TO GO AND KILL BECAUSE IT WAS PAINFUL TO IGNORE IT.

AND DON’T EVEN FUCKING GET ME STARTED ON HOW DISRESPECTFUL THIS FELT TO ANYONE WHO WAS (REASONABLY) PISSED OFF ABOUT HOW BLOODMOON’S CHARACTER WAS HANDLED, AND THE PEOPLE WHO ACTUALLY HAD AN ATTACHMENT TO HIM???

THIS WAS THE DEFINITION OF “If I give you what you want, will you fuck off?”

THE WRITERS, (probably fucking Davis), JUST TOSSED SOMETHING BLOODMOON RELATED AT THE FANDOM, TO GET US TO STOP CRITICIZING HOW HORRIBLY THEY HANDLED BLOODMOON AS A CHARACTER.

THEY JUST CHUCKED IT AT US, AND BASICALLY SAID; ��Fuck off already, look, they can NEVER be actually good, they’ll always be bad, now stop whining”.

WE LITERALLY SAW THAT THEY COULD BE ATLEAST DOCILE-ISH IN A WAY, BACK WHEN THEY VERY BRIEFLY LIVED WITH FOXY AND FC. FOXY THOUGHT OF A WAY TO KEEP THEIR BLOODLUST AT BAY, THEY HAD ENTERTAINMENT IN THE FORM OF THE BOUNCY CHICK, AND THEY ACTUALLY SEEMED KINDA OKAY WITH LIVING THERE.

BUT NOOOOOOOO, THE FUCKING WRITERS GAVE US A GLIMPSE OF WHAT A VAST MAJORITY OF THE FANDOM WANTED, AND IMMEDIATELY RIPPED IT AWAY LIKE 3 OR 2 DAYS LATER BY HAVING THEM BOTH ABRUPTLY GO AFTER FOXY, AND HARVEST GOT FUCKING KILLED.

THEY WERE FUCKING DEPENDENT ON EACHOTHER TO SURVIVE AND FUNCTION, THEY WERE LITERALLY EACHOTHER’S OTHER HALF. WE CAN CLEARLY SEE THIS WHEN BLOODMOON IS STRUGGLING WITH PLANNING AND CALCUTION, BECAUSE THE OTHER TWIN HANDLED IT. THE OTHER TWIN KNEW HOW TO PLAN, AND CALCULATE SHIT FOR THEIR PLANS, THE REMAINING TWIN WAS THE BRAWN, AND THE OTHER WAS THE BRAIN IN SIMPLE TERMS.

AND DOUBLE DON’T GET ME STARTED ON HOW BLOODMOON WAS LITERALLY HARASSED AFTER HIS BROTHER WAS KILLED???

MONTY AND PUPPET, BOTH, FORCED BLOODMOON TO SIT ON THEIR STUPID LITTLE FUCKING PODCAST, AND PROBED HIM WITH ENDLESS QUESTIONS ABOUT HIS BROTHER.

FOR FUCKS SAKE, MONTY’S FIRST WORDS AFTER THE TIMESKIP WERE “How’s it feel bein’ an only sibling?” OR SOMETHING INCREDIBLY SIMILAR, AND YES, I’LL GIVE PUPPET SOME CREDIT, SHE SEEMED A TINY BIT DISAPPOINTED WITH MONTY FOR OPENING WITH THAT, BUT LIKE 5 OR SO MINUTES LATER, SHE WAS PLAYING THE FUCKING DEATH OF BLOODMOON’S BROTHER, ON FUCKING LOOP, AND EXPECTED HIM TO WATCH.

AND THEN THEY HAVE THE GALL TO CALL THEIR COMMUNITY, ONE OF THE MAIN REASONS THEY CAN EVEN HAVE SUCCESS FROM THEIR CHANNELS, CRAZY, FOR THINKING THAT THEY WENT TOO FAR, AND HAVING EVEN THE SLIGHTEST BIT OF SYMPATHY OR EMPATHY FOR BLOODMOON.

THEY CLAIM WE’RE INSANE FOR HAVING BASIC HUMAN REACTIONS TO SEEING SOMEONE LOSE A LOVED ONE.

THEY CLAIM WE’RE MENTALLY UNSTABLE FOR SYMPATHIZING WITH THE TWINS AND THEIR TRAUMA, WHICH MIGHT I ADD IS NEVER FUCKING ACKNOWLEDGED??

IF ECLIPSE IS ABLE TO HAVE A REDEMPTION ARC, BECAUSE HE’S “NOT THE SAME PERSON”, AND “A CLONE”, WHY IS IT SO IMPOSSIBLE THAT THE TWINS, WHO ALSO WEREN’T THE SAME PEOPLE, AND WERE ALSO CLONES, TO BE EVEN SLIGHTLY REDEEMED??

I DON’T FUCKING CARE IF THEY WERE STILL KILLERS, IT WAS STILL HARDWIRED INTO THEM, IN BOTH ITERATIONS.

I’m not going to touch how predatory Ruin was with them back in October right now, or ever, because I’m honestly appalled that the writers WENT THERE with their script.

Every fucking argument made in this stupid fucking mockery of a video falls flat, and directly conflicts with past fully canon information, and I’m fucking pissed.

on a lighter note, more (JUSTIFIED) complaints about the loan-shark!twins;

OKAY WHY THE FUCK DID THEY SEPARATE THEM INTO “BLOOD” AND “MOON”, COULDN’T THEY HAVE ATLEAST TRIED TO CONNECT WITH THEIR COMMUNITY AND USE ONE OF THE MANY RENAMES WE’VE HAD? BLOODY AND HARVEST, SYTHE AND HATCHET, CRIMSON AND MAROON TO NAME A FEW, BUT “BLOOD” AND “MOON”??? GOD HOW FUCKING DISCONNECTED CAN THEY BE?? THERE’S ALSO ALREADY A MOON THAT EXISTS, SO HOW THE FUCK DOES THAT WORK? HOW CONFUSING DOES IT GET WHEN THEY’RE IN THE SAME ROOM AND SOMEONE SAYS “MOON”, BUT ONLY MEANS ONE OF THEM???

And then the sheer fact that they were literally traumatized by the thought of drinking blood- like I’m sorry but that is NOT enough to traumatize anyone, unless they have like, a crippling phobia of blood. Hemophobia or something like that I think. And considering they say they “bleed people dry” (financially), I don’t think they have a fear of blood, or they wouldn’t use the saying-

So there ya have it, me, in the dark, at 10:33PM on a Friday night in July, on the 26th, writing a whole ass essay assignment because of how PISSED OFF one single episode made me.

I’m gonna go die now. (For legal reasons I mean go to bed /Gen)

[sillydeimos]

No no- PLEASE elaborate on what Hank is thinking with the whole dying thing. I like thinking about what might be bouncing around in that murderous noggin of his

sure! i can elaborate on that.

TLDR: hank struggles with wanting connection, how he's perceived by others, and communicating his own feelings. when doc tells him that he's different and not like other people in my post, it's not acknowledging hank's feelings and treating him like he's different when hank might not even want that. doc is making assumptions.

disclaimer i might just start rambling for too long so. under the cut if you really want to read about my thoughts and such

i think with hank, theres two sides of him that are incompatible. the first one, the killing machine, an emotionless heartless brute that is hellbent on death and destruction...and the second one is just hank wimbleton, the person.

i think a lot of people forget that hank is just some guy. pre all of this shit, he wanted to play volleyball and learn the guitar. i mean hell even mid battle, like hank isnt even that strong? his stats are pretty average. his real power is tactical and resourcefulness. (and yes i know he can literately rip peoples' heads off but he's still not the strongest, he still gets majorly schooled by MAGs)

so i think hank has problems that he internalizes, he can't really connect with others and he doesn't care for the majority of what 'friendship' even is or entails. he feels like it's stupid because to him, he has a reward mindset. if he engages with someone, what does he get out of it? what is the end goal? he can't really justify just interacting with someone to interact with them. he doesn't grasp connection or bonding. the other issue is that he just can't exactly like. feel that way? he has low empathy, and he can't just force himself to start caring about those things. you really have to be patient with him if you want to have any kind of dynamic with him that isn't murder, and most aren't willing to be patient.

...but the other part of him really WANTS to know, he wants to grasp those ideas, he wants to be like other people but the problem is other people don't treat him how he would prefer and that pisses him off. he doesn't have the language to describe his own feelings and what he wants, and he gets frustrated with himself over his inability to properly communicate his needs.

and the other standstill is doc. doc can understand hank, relate to him on a certain level, even... but like. i don't know if anyone else notices this but in canon doc kinda. lowkey doesn't recognize hank's personhood.

he kinda treats him like a resource. like sorry not to post doc slander but y'know morally grey characters in all that.

like, look at the wording here. finding a hank. not finding hank, just a hank. any hank will do. and even beyond just hank, like looking in doc's room here, you can see a poster in the back that says '5 monies on san'

doc's literately betting on the lives of his mercenaries like MORALLY SPEAKING THIS IS ALL REALLY BAD! and i understand the angle some might have for this with thinking like, 'oh hank probably just doesn't care.' but like. doesn't he care?

so i think he's struggling with two sides here. one is genuinely wanting human connection, the other is wanting to be nothing but an emotionless husk because having feelings is icky and it reaaaaaaally distracts you from being an unstoppable killing machine.

but the universe had other plans for him.

just saying though if you personally don't believe me or just think of hank as not even being human in the first place as i know a lot of people do view him as an entity, that's totally fine and i understand that angle.

[randomthefox]

I find it so annoying and disconcerting that The Audience is not allowed to simply discuss media anymore without the creators of said media engaging in the discussion. Breeze did not tag Evan Stanley in their tweet. They were simply voicing their own thoughts, in their own space, on a public platform. Artists who work on the comic found (or more likely, were sent) their tweet, and decided to engage with it. In a very defensive and condescending manner, it must be said.

I keep going back to this, but the creators of the IDW Sonic comics do not seem to be aware that they are creating an official product that is being sold for money. They act like they're creating a web comic or something. A passion project that they're making for fun, and we're being assholes by criticizing their fanart. It's incredibly unprofessional, and I don't mean that in a derogatory way, I mean LITERALLY unprofessional - this is behavior that you see from people who are NOT professionals. If I find a comic on deviant art, say for example Ghosts of the Future, and I start complaining about how bad it is, then the artist and creator of that comic is more than well within their rights to defend their creation which they drew in their own free time and have posted free of charge as an expression of their own passion.

If I SPENT MONEY on a PRODUCT that was PUT ON SALE by a MAJOR PUBLISHING CORPORATION then I am allowed to say whatever the hell I want about what a piece of shit it is, and YOU as a contributing creator to that product are well within your rights to SHUT THE FUCK UP AND PISS OFF. Who the fuck do you think you are? What do you think our relationship is? I bought the fucking ticket, I can say whatever the hell I want. If you don't want me to be able to do that then GIVE THE MONEY BACK. The five dollars I spent on this comic issue is the free pass that gives me the right to wipe my ass with it in front of your face, and the money in your hand that you were paid in exchange for producing that comic means you have to sit there and watch silently with NO INPUT OR RESPONSE WHATSOEVER.

The way these creators feel like they have the right to respond to fan discourse and criticism like this is so INSANE. Like, first of all, everything I already said: you produced an official product that was manufactured for sale. This is a transactional relationship, and the transaction is completed as soon as I spend the money. After the money changes hands the relationship is officially over and you have no input from that moment onward. Second of all,

how is this not punching down? How is this not inciting harassment? Evan is 100% knowingly exploiting her status as a much larger and prominent account to intimidate critics into silence and putting a target on a much smaller account and essentially giving her fanatical followers carte blanche to attack them with righteous indignation.

There is a zero percent chance that she is not aware of what she is doing.

These comic creators (and I don't just mean the creators of IDW Sonic either this is a massive problem with western comic books in general tbh) have a serious problem where they think that we are peers. We're not. You are the creators. We are the audience. We are not peers. This is not a respectful discussion between equals. Comic creators in this day and age are all comic fans themselves, they became comic creators because they were fans and got the dream job of getting accepted into the comic industry, but they never acclimatized to realizing that they are now part of that industry and thus NO LONGER PART OF THE FAN COMMUNITY. They act like we're all still just fans discussing the thing we're a fan of, and they have just as much of a right to take part in that discussion as everyone else. But they aren't, and they don't. They gave up that privilege when they started accepting a paycheck.

The fact that they do not realize that and keep doing this shit is destructive to fandom spaces and discourse. The response to what Evan Stanley has done with her tweet needs to be "SILENCE BRAND" en mass, because that's what she is now. She is The Brand. And she needs to be treated as such, especially since she is seemingly unaware of her status.

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

Am I the asshole for hanging out with someone less in-person, and more online?

Here me out first please.

My buddy Austin (he/him) and I usually hang out at least every other week, if not every week. We've been doing this for the last few years after we both got more conformable doing in-person hangouts after the covid vaccines reached the general public in our country.

About a year ago, Austin was in a car accident (not a major one, don't worry) and walked away with a mild concussion (doctor's description). Ever since that car accident, Austin has been super sensitive to sound. In his words, walking across his floor in socks sounds like elephant stomping. His floor is carpet. Typing on a phone is so loud and distracting he can't hear anything else. Birds outside his house sound like they're chirping directly into his ear. He vents to me often that having a regular-volumed conversation sounds so loud it's painful to him.

When I'm over at his house, I try to be as quiet as I can. I'm careful to soft-step around the house and not take my shoes off. I try to shuffle or slide through the kitchen and other rooms that are not carpet so I make less noise. We whisper or half-whisper half-speak to each other in conversation. Movies we have subtitles on and the volume turned down to almost 0%. But Austin still looks like he's in pain by the end of a couple hour hang-out. Sometimes he'll get up and put in earplugs and then come back to continue the hangout. I feel really bad that he's putting himself through so much.

The last few months, instead of always hanging out in-person, I've been suggesting doing something virtual and letting Austin decide which he wants. I figure that if we're gaming, he can wear his earplugs or mute the game and we can use game chat or text each other to communicate. Same with watching movies, we can both adjust our volumes to our comfort levels (and leave subtitles on still. I don't mind them). Sometimes he wants to just do things online, and sometimes he insists on hanging out in-person. It's been about 60/40 online to in-person so far.

We hung out last weekend and first Austin said let's hang out in-person, but the night before we were supposed to hang out, he told me he rather hang out online this time. I was cool with it, but when I let my roommate Geoff (who is also good friends with Austin) know that actually I'd be home most of the day Saturday and answered Geoff's "why are you hanging out with Austin online again?" with "i don't know, Austin probably wants a quiet weekend instead", my roommate started accusing me of infantilizing Austin by hanging out online instead of in-person, that I'm abandoning Austin because his "auditory disablility is too inconvenient for fragile able-bodied feelings" (Geoff's words), and how since Austin hasn't explicitly said that in-person hanging out is too loud for him, then I'm being ableist by assuming things are too loud when he hasn't directly said that I am too loud. I argued that I don't think of Austin as lesser, I just don't want to cause him any unnecessary pain, and it's pretty obvious when things are too loud for him without words, because you can read the "Make it stop" / "No more" expression on his face. But Geoff doubled down really hard and told me i should be ashamed of treating Austin like he's incapable of making his own choices.

I was pissed and just walked out with my laptop. We did our movie day with me on the local library wifi instead. I don't think for a second I've taken away Austin's ability to choose, since I let Austin make the call on in-person or online!! But I'm also completely able-bodied. I haven't even experienced a temporary disability-experience like needing crutches during injury recovery or anything. Geoff has a chronic pain and fatigue disorder, so he has more experience with microaggressions than I do. So I don't know if I'm right about this being a non-issue, or if Geoff is right about me being ableist against Austin's noise sensitivities. It keeps eating at me now, and I don't want to bring this up with Austin since I already know he's really insecure about his new volume tolerance levels. Am I an asshole for doing online hangouts with Austin instead of sticking to only in-person stuff?

[chai-lemonade]

Small rant because I am PISSED at Collegeboard.

I’m transgender and was finally able to get my name changed (not legally, simply as a note in my records and my birth name made invisible to others) in my email and school system; which is connected to Collegeboard as I take numerous AP classes and the PSAT (and eventually an important SAT.) I received about 5 different emails congratulating me for being BrAvE eNoUgH to add a preferred name to their system, all of which used my deadname to congratulate me. On Changing My Name. It felt ironic, so I just laughed it off.

Than the problems began.

I take my PSAT a few months ago, and when scores come out, I’m unable to access it. Period. I went back and forth over the course of 20 emails, giving over my information and communicating just to be told at the end that it was never an issue they could help me with and that it was a “login issue” and that was somehow my fault. That maybe I was just misremembering my password despite the fact that I could get into my account.

I called, and was told the same thing. I was eventually able to get my guidance counselor to physically print out my scores because that was the best she could do for me (still couldn’t access them through my account!) I scored within the top ten percent in my state and have a 3.9 GPA, which qualified me for a recognition program that gives out important scholarships (which I need any I can get or else I’m not able to go to even an in-state part-time college) as a First Generation College student.

I got an email notifying me of this, and when I clicked the link, I was immediately blocked through my account from the page, saying i was never invited to confirm my eligibility. I try again, same thing. I meet the requirements, but it won’t even show me the page. Once again, I realize that making two minuscule changes that shouldn’t have affected anything have blocked me from ANOTHER important thing for college. It has been a year since I changed my name and I am still unable to access anything through Collegeboard and have received zero help for the numerous times I’ve reached out.

While it’s not explicit transphobia, it is still a BLARING issue of bias programming; for a company that set aside the time to make code to send an email when you change your name, I absolutely should not be experiencing such major issues that are continually blocking me from important opportunities due to changing my preferred name in the system. I don’t know who else this has happened to, but I don’t think I’m the only one.

Sort out your bugs and stop forcing trans kids to jump through a million hoops to access basic features on your website and still be excluded from important opportunities before sending out your automated emails for pride.

[chaoticlandworlder]

Legit so disgusting how so many ppl are jumping at the chance to criticise Max. In the past few days, I've seen so many social media comments calling him names like 'brat', 'manchild', 'immature' etc. + belittling his racing skills.

So many ppl are also completely spinning their own narrative, acting as if Max is the only driver to ever be heated up during a high-adrenaline race. According to them, Schumi, Senna, Lewis etc. have never lost their cool and always take the blame for every single incident. (Note: this is NOT a hate post ok- any driver examples I use is just to show the hypocrisy of these ppl. I mentioned these drivers cuz it's based off genuine comments I saw.)

First of all, Max had every reason to be upset during the race. The major Hungary updates RBR had been hinting at for weeks underwhelmed (don't give me the 'it's still fast anyway'- this is F1. Every driver and team expects their car to be the fastest, not just fast. If you don't understand that, you don't get the point of F1- an engineering competition. Also RBR has been struggling with the same kerbs issue since 2022.), with Max struggling with various issues during the race.

Additionally, the strategy was not great; Max gave the 1st pitstop decision a pass, but then they repeated it for the 2nd pitstop. RBR was hoping that the tyre delta would salvage the race but c'mon, Christian Horner admitted after the race that they got the data wrong and miscalculated how fast they needed to gap the others cars per lap to overtake. From Max's pov, RBR repeated the mistake of the 1st pitstop, allowing him to be undercut again, by both Lewis and Charles, dropping him back to 5th when he started 3rd, on a track known to be hard to overtake. Furthermore, this race was more a race of undercutting than actual on-track overtakes; one prominent example that showed the power of the undercut in this race was Lando, who was stuck behind Oscar for the vast majority of the race. Yet once they undercut Oscar, Lando ended up 3s+ ahead of Oscar, with the gap increasing to ~5s+ as the laps went on, with Oscar unable to catch up. To make matters worse, Max had told the team that undercutting was impt BEFORE the race. Finally, I love GP (Max's race engineer) but honestly they were just antagonising each other during the race. The most obvious example was the sarcastic remark of 'some gentle introduction' after Max did a fast outlap so that he could catch Charles and Lewis, which just made Max even more frustrated. After which, there was literally radio silence for 15 mins, no communication of modes, gaps etc. Max himself mentioned after the race that it did not help that instead of being a calming presence, they (presumably RBR, including GP) did not listen to him and even argued with him. So this mixture of the team not listening to him, repeating the same mistake twice, underwhelming upgrades and poor communication on the radio contributed to Max frustrations in the car. (Oh but according to crofty (sky sports) it's cuz Max did not get his beauty sleep despite Max having followed his standard sleep schedule. Because sleep outranks good strategy and the best car in F1. 🤡 Kids these days and their simracing.)

Could Max have been more polite? Ideally, ig. But GP too was confrontational when he should have been trying to resolve the issues with Max. Was Max wrong in terms of calling out the strat? No. Also, it's so easy for ppl to judge, lazing on their couch. This is a high adrenaline sport for goodness sake, with millions of dollars on the line and millions of people watching their every move. Randos get pissed off at a slow moving vehicle on a normal road; imagine how it would be to be a racing driver going at ~200mph, with the expectations of the team, fans etc. weighing down on you.

Some are arguing that Red Bull generally does well so Max has no right to be upset. Lol. Idk how ppl don't get it into their heads that this is a SPORT. In every sport, any top performing athelete and team knows that every single match/race/point etc matters. You're not there to say "Oh we've won in the past so let's just throw away some games". You're always there to deliver your best. With this kinda logic, Lewis should also have no right to be upset/disappointed with Mercedes cuz didn't they deliver him a championship winning car for years? Idk lmao this particular line of logic is so weird.

I've also seen so many people saying things along the lines of "Max always complains", "Max can't win without the car"- a really weird one considering one only has to look at the recent races to debunk that, "Max blames everything on the team" etc. Be so fr literally every driver 'complains'. A notable case was Austria 2023, where Toto had to come on the race to tell Lewis to 'just drive the car' because he kept going on about it in multiple races last year. Most of the time they're just giving feedback. When they're genuinely 'complaining', it's often cuz they've been screwed over by their own team. See some cases just in this race alone: Alex on the indecisive tyre choice by Williams, Daniel on the screwed up strat by by VCARB. Max wasn't even wrong about the strat. The comment that 'Max blames everything on the team/ When everything goes well it's him, when it doesn't it's the team' is so laughable because if there is one driver on the grid that is consistent in thanking his team and rarely himself, it's Max. You literally just have to see the previous race, Silverstone 2024 where he could've easily said him making all the right calls to pit was essential to getting P2 in the end. Instead, he gave the credit to the team. He's also quick to apologise when he's in the wrong. See Spa quali 2023 after his outburst in Q2. Or when he bought ice cream for GP a few years back to apologise. Also idk where ppl get the idea Max treats his team like shit? Time and time again, people who worked with him have mentioned how they love working with him. For this particular weekend, he literally treated the team to dinner the night before the race but these ppl will never talk about that. What's said on the radio is in the heat of the moment, which ALL the drivers have done. And Max wasn't wrong either; maybe ideally he would have conveyed it nicer, but again, they're all pumped up on adrenaline.

As for the incident, it wasn't even that bad? It looked bad cuz the wheels touched, making Max's car fly up + cuz it was btwn Max and Lewis, certain 'fans' immediately jumped into their hate frenzy. Idk I find it so weird that people keep harping on about it when Lewis said immediately after the race that it was a racing incident. (Those clowns trying to liken Max to Alonso in Austria 2024 need to rewatch the collisions instead of looking at static pictures is all I can say lol cuz Alonso's was straight up a T-bone while Max-Lewis was a wheel bang.) And anyway, ALL drivers get into incidents no matter their accomplishments (Lewis in Monza 2023, Charles hitting Lando in fp this year, Carlos-Oscar in Miami 2024 etc.). The narrative that Max gets into incidents more than the other drivers is just untrue. In fact, this brings me to my next point. The moment Max is half of any incident, regardless of whether he is at fault, so many scumbags immediately completely trash him like a bunch of rabid dogs. For example, Max-George last year at Las Vegas 2023, where Max was not at fault at ALL; George even admitted he wasn't looking in his mirrors. Or Lap 1 Turn 1 of that same race, where ppl to this day are shitting on Max for 'pushing' Charles off-track- when there was literally an oil spill on his grid spot before the race, making that side slippery despite efforts to clean it up, with others like Alonso and Carlos spinning at the same point Max 'pushed' Charles. His onboard then even showed he tried to steer in but the car didn't budge. Besides, he got a penalty that slowed him down a lot (when Lap 1 Turn 1 incidents don't usually get a penalty- idk how ppl can think the FIA favours him lmfao- and no matter what the haters who prob didn't even watch the race said; serving the penalty in the pitstop dropped Max much further back than just swapping positions would have) AND he apologised to Charles right after the race (but noooo he never takes the blame).

The hate ppl have for Max (and tbh, some other drivers) is honestly quite alarming and weird. Like, these grownass ppl are hating on a 26 year old at the top of his game lol. It doesn't help that the media (especially the British media) feeds, if not started, this hatred frenzy. Just see Austria this year, where the media and 'fans' completely blew the incident between Max and Lando out of the water, only for multiple current and ex F1 drivers to call them out on their bs lmao. Again, for Austria 2024, Lando and Max spoke after the race too. But it doesn't fit their narrative so these ppl will never bother to mention this.

Slight tangent but for ppl who try to justify it by saying 'oh it's how it is cuz Max is dominating'- I understand where yall are coming from (see Seb 2013 lol), but the hatred for Max is particulary overwhelming because there are much more fans now, mainly due to DTS and consequently, F1 becoming popular/more popular on social media platforms like TikTok, Twitter etc. As such, Max is arguably facing higher levels of vitrol, since DTS didn't exactly favour him (understatement of the year lol) and many fans who 'watch' F1 through social media just jump on the hate bandwagon without actually watching races/fact-checking. This is worsened by how the media (mainly the Brit media) jumps at every opportunity to put Max down. Sky Sports in particular, being the main broadcast for most fans, often feeds this hate (esp if David Croft or Ted Kravitz is speaking). Finally, all this is only worsened by how social media allows this hate to circulate much more quickly and widely.

lol sry for the rant but gosh it gets tiring seeing the toxicity of so many F1 'fans'.

[salarta]

Polaris is the Moment

On a drive today, I was thinking more about Polaris/Lorna Dane and where we are as a society. When you get down to it, Lorna would be the perfect character for exploring modern issues. The problem she has is people working at Marvel who are too up their own asses with their toxic nostalgia to recognize and respect this.

Trauma

Literally no matter your view of Lorna, trauma has been a major element of her usage throughout her entire existence.

The biggest and most important case, of course, is surviving the Genoshan genocide. She witnessed the horror of a modern genocide firsthand. Magneto, her father, has genocide background too, but his is from the Holocaust. Being that happened almost a century ago, a lot of younger readers will of course respect that, but there are changes to society since then.

Of course, there's the genocide that Israel (mainly Netanyahu) is carrying out toward Palestine, and now is starting to do it to Lebanon. If Marvel today were less corporate and more responsive to the moment, the comics would reflect this matter and address it. It's been a year already.

But even setting aside the genocide (which feels wrong to say, and Marvel should feel even worse for pretending never happened with her), she's had several traumas. She's been mind controlled and possessed multiple times. She's had her body itself forcibly changed twice (Zaladane and Apocalypse), with changes that caused her to indirectly hurt people (the stupid ass hate aura type power via Zaladane, and diseases as Pestilence). Many people around her have died, which isn't unique to her, but ball it all together with all else she's endured and it's a hell of a lot.

Lorna isn't new to trauma. So as we live in a moment where we're putting real thought into our traumas, Lorna offers a far better window into that reality than most Marvel characters, let alone X-Men characters.

Technology

When Lorna was created in 1968, we had TV, radio, phones, and the infancy of computers. But that's it. Back then, if you didn't live in a city, you could probably still get by. And your communications and social circles were entirely local, aside from perhaps pen pals. You still used paper and coin money, and checks, for transactions. Credit cards as we know them were extremely new.

Cut to today. Basically everything is tied in with technology and the internet. Most money transactions are done online. We often do more social interaction online than off. We rely on computers for just about everything critical to how society functions. Most people would be fucked if we lost all of that. And the internet is the core way for misinformation and disinformation to spread and get made now.

Lorna's powers are electromagnetism. Not just flinging cars around because they're made of metal. A woman like that, powers like that, at her age in the comics? Why the fuck isn't she being used in relation to technology more? Why isn't she accessing the internet with her mind? Why isn't she tricking her enemies by sending them fake messages imitating the voices of the enemies' allies? Why isn't she kicking ass in both the physical and virtual worlds?

Because toxic nostalgia held by people like Brevoort says she needs to alternately cry into Havok's lap and suck his dick while getting captured cause all she can supposedly do is fling cars around. That's why.

Geoscience and Climate Change

Lorna was going for a geoscience degree back in the 70s. At the time, it happened only cause of a stupid excuse to write her out of the comics by having her leave the X-Men with Havok and do the same degree as him.

We can do better now. And while the 2020s X-Factor pissed me off in most ways, one of its few positives was establishing that Lorna has a PhD now.

That her powers involve electromagnetism means she should be able to directly tap into and sense the Earth and its electromagnetic field. She's already done it in Giant-Size X-Men when she threw the island Krakoa at the time into space. This connection SHOULD mean she has a sense of things going wrong with the planet.

Now, I want to very heavily stress something. I do think there are other characters for whom this topic is better suited, like Storm within X-Men and Marvel because of her weather powers, or Poison Ivy in DC because of climate change's impact on plant life. If the story is heavily focused on these things, I do think those characters take higher priority than Lorna for tackling them. Same as I would find it wrong for Storm to tackle the Genoshan genocide when she didn't experience it, or acting like she's a greater authority on electromagnetism than a character (Lorna) whose entire power set is electromagnetism.

But in a world where all's fair and done well, Lorna can definitely be a voice in the overall story of addressing climate change. She can address it in academic ways and specific to the electromagnetic side of things. Limited scope that suits the character's background.

You would think that a woman with this background would care about this issue. At least, that would be the case if Marvel actually reflected the moment.

Identity and Self-Expression

This topic is SUPPOSED to be the bread and butter of X-Men. The entire concept of X-Men came out of the civil rights era. So, technically, all characters in the franchise can address this issue.

But Lorna has background that makes her better for addressing it than most X-Men characters.

Her very first issue, way back in 1968, introduced her as a woman who had naturally green hair but always dyed it brown to avoid attracting attention.

Why?

Even before she realized consciously that she was a mutant, she was very concerned about her identity in the world and how people perceive it. She was hiding her own features, hiding her uniqueness and true self, to fit in. So you have to ask why. Did her foster parents push her into it? Was she getting bullied? Did she have stalkers obsessing over her? Was she simply worried about not being able to function in society and make connections with others if she stood out too much?

There has to be some kind of reason. And this hiding of a natural feature of who she is in order to fit in fits with how we're approaching identity and self-expression in the modern age.

Yet, she's existed since 1968. Which is another strong part of Lorna with this topic. The issues we're discussing when we delve into identity and self-expression aren't new. They're just finally being acknowledged and explored more broadly. Addressing this kind of thing with Lorna has advantages over doing it with a brand new character because doing so reiterates how these matters are not new. They've been around forever. Using a newer character, especially creating one specifically for this purpose, would miss the mark in a big way because doing so implies these issues didn't exist until recently. When that's just not the case.

Aside from hair, there's also the gold and red costume she briefly wore in the 90s. The point of it at the time was Lorna becoming more comfortable with her body, being more willing and eager to show it off. Then there was a ton of backlash to her wearing it, and she was put in a team costume.

I'm not advocating for going back to that costume, to be clear. She needs something that suits history, personality and powers, and that costume only handled a single facet of her personality. My point is, she has additional background with self-expression matters.

In closing, if Marvel weren't stupid levels of regressive and up their own asses with sexist nostalgia, Lorna would be a lynchpin character in this moment. We've seen repeatedly now how readers actually want more of Lorna, the real Lorna, not the toxic nostalgia for sexism take on her, and aren't getting nearly enough.

She broke out on Gifted for a reason.

She won the X-Men vote for a reason.

Marvel acts like she has nothing to offer, deliberately ignoring the evidence of their own eyes. Here, I've highlighted four elements of who she is that should make her essential for Marvel to use meaningfully, as a major X-Men character.

That Lorna's potential like this is not only ignored but deliberately undermined tells you much of what their real interests and desires are when they think they can get away with it.

[theguytoendallguys]

Alright. I have some things to say about the demeaning of Ricky Potts, both within the canon and the Ride The Cyclone fandom, because the more I think about it, the more it pisses me off.

First, I would just like to say, I am not physically or verbally disabled, and I am not trying to speak for or take away from the lived experiences of disabled people. Feel free to correct me if I say something accidentally ableist during this rant, as I wish to be as respectful as possible when tackling this issue. Second, there will be a lot of discussions of ableism, and several mentions of sexual scenes/scenes where sex is discussed, so if any of that triggers you, I suggest you click off this post or scroll past it.

That being said, let’s talk about the demeaning of Ricky Potts in canon first. There are a lot of scenes where Ricky is actively demeaned, usually by Ocean. (i.e. Ocean calling him “sweetie” or other typical pet names, which is very gross considering they are not canonically dating, or even implied to be, hell, Ocean actively says at the end of the musical she never got to know anybody in the choir on a personal level, not even Constance, her “best friend”.)

One of the instances that most pisses me off is when, during/after “every story’s got a lesson”, When Ocean says that porno has no lesson, Ricky is able to speak up and express his opinions on this subject, contradicting Ocean’s own. Ocean responds to this by completely dismissing everything Ricky said and blaming Constance for what Ocean is implied to perceive as “ruining Ricky’s innocence”. (Quote: “now you’ve got sweet old Ricky Potts saying that porno is magical!”) There are many other instances of Ocean acting demeaning towards Ricky, but this is what is in my opinion the worst and most infuriating one.

Now, I’m not saying that you’re ableist if you like Ocean, or that you shouldn’t like Ocean. I like Ocean, I think she’s a fun character. This, however, does not change the fact that a lot of her actions and comments do read as ableist (because they are) and that she is the main canon source of ableism towards Ricky. Again, I’m not saying that you can’t like Ocean, but her ableism does need to be acknowledged by the fandom, and I wish it could be acknowledged in canon, and maybe in future productions it could be, depending on the director.

Now, let’s talk about the ableism in the RTC community, shall we? Before I continue, I would like to clarify that I’m not trying to call anyone ableist or say that they’re a terrible person because of the things I’m about to state, this is not my intention. I merely want to shed light on why certain things in the community come off as ableist. Specifically, the fandom consensus on SABM.

Generally, majority of the fandom, from what I’ve seen, usually treat SABM as a gross song about a horny teenager. Now, it’s understandable for adults to be uncomfortable with teen horniness, however, what bothers me is a) that completely ignores any and all of the deeper text and/or subtext contained within the song, and b) Noel’s lament, is, too, a horny song, the same length, and nobody seems to shit on Noel for it, like, at all. I have seen so much hate for Ricky because of SABM, but none towards Noel because of Noel’s lament. Maybe it’s because I haven’t been in the fandom long enough, but it still seems weird and biased towards Noel. There is a lot in SABM that goes ignored by most of the fandom, (i.e. the fact that Ricky was so neglected he had to create an entire fake universe of alien cat people just so he could feel wanted by anyone, the underlying themes of love and war that Ricky has created for this fake universe, etc.). The point of SABM is to show that Ricky is not a baby, but rather a normal teenager, and that he is so much more than just his disability, which not many people in the fandom seem to recognize. Ironically, the one time he’s able to canonically speak without being silenced (SABM) is one of the most hated on and neglected things in the fandom.

Thank you for coming to my TED talk.

[evilmskitty]

Jurassic World Chaos Theory and communication

Season 2 spoilers, be warned: long post ahead~

(Now that I’ve simmered down from my high horse, and can look back at the opinions from fresh out of the oven)

Communication is a big theme throughout season 2 (and 1 really), often highlighting major points in certain episodes.

Miscommunication and lack of communication, were often intertwined with different characters. Just to be clear, I am not a big fan of the miscommunication trope because it gets me pissed off. Mostly because it can be very realistic, which hits close to home sometimes. Brooklyn’s character and story line are majorly in this trope.

Brooklyn spends time working on shady shit to get a story and put an end to the shady shit. In doing so, we see her neglect maintaining her friendships/relationship because she’s using it to cope. Then said shady shit comes back to wreck her life up, which she knows can harm her friends. Brooklyn does try to include Darius in last minute but then it gets skewed after the awkward confession. She gets attacked, not expecting to be alone, in a trap set for her. She entertains the idea of staying dead when it’s presented to her. Vetoes it. Andddd then is shown that it’s still very dangerous for her to return and tell her friends. So back to staying dead, because it’s safer for everyone.

Brooklyn continues to be radio silent and in doing so misses a lot of what happens in season 1. I don’t think she knows the group was hunted down or why they were all in Africa other than tracking the Broker there. What she knows is glimpsed from the news, the Broker, and Ben. Her conversation with Ben does irritate me, however it shows how difficult both their situations are. Brooklyn is trying to keep them safe and Ben is trying to find proof she is alive/what happened/what they’re dealing with, neither are in a good spot to really reach out and actually break down what’s happening.

Ben is left to either keep his promise not to say anything or tell the group. We watch it cause him such a visceral reaction he has a panic attack. Once he calms down, he thinks it over. Ben makes the decision to tell the group, and is immediately thwarted for plot reasons the rest of the episode and those following. Which causes more doubt and the desperate scramble for more proof. It builds up and he reaches out to the most levelheaded person he trusts to talk him through it. Yaz. Once again is thwarted by plot and because the doubt is eating at him but so is the guilt. Yet that scene also shows the build of up different communication issues.

We’re seeing Kenji having self sacrificing tendencies (borderline suicidal which is another topic altogether) to avoid feeling the heavy burden of emotions, worrying the group. Darius is wandering off to hyperfixate on dinosaurs to avoid having to discuss his feelings (as one does) or make sure Zayna is okay (if I see anyone shipping them I will cringe into dust). Sammy is also mostly making sure Zayna’s okay but is actually dealing with her emotions (improving from season 1) along with Yaz.

Darius is tasked with talking to Kenji, who Yaz has tried to get through to, both of them getting nothing but the mask he puts up. It isn’t until Ben is stuck in the position of telling them about Brooklyn or keeping quiet does anyone get through to Kenji. Also due to Darius wanting to avoid talking about his emotions again. Ben gets through to Kenji, but Kenji doesn’t get to what’s eating at Ben.

All of these come together during the last 3 episodes. Brooklyn who is unaware that the phone was eaten by a hippo, thinks Ben went out of his way to find her there. Ben who is overly baffled that his friend is here in person and not dead doesn’t really know what to say, much less willing to argue anything. Kenji who is an outsider watching the exchange, festering emotions explode. The rest of the group watch in horror as their supposedly dead friend works with the Broker. When they all meet back up, Ben is confronted with trying to explain his side and there’s a lot being thrown at him. Darius takes lead because he knows this won’t help anyone (in the moment) and they need to get out of the facility. But also because he’s still reeling from everything as well. (Someone pointed out he’s due for his breakdown next season which is very likely that boy is going through it).

In the end, the very thing Brooklyn had gone quiet for, didn’t really matter. The group was still targeted even after her death. They still ended up in Africa at the research facility. Still experienced danger and possible death many times. But she doesn’t know the whole scale and is desperate to keep them safe. So she continues to shut them out, continuing to get as much evidence as she can without involving them just she doesn’t know which is less she’ll have to lie and so they don’t know so they won’t be in harm’s way.

(There’s also my whole thoughts on the confession scene which is another unreliable narrator/miscommunication trope. Darius acts as if he made a huge confession to Brooklyn, likely due to the guilt of not being there during the attack, when in reality it wasn’t. Brooklyn fresh off a break up with their mutual friend catches the slip of tongue to mean exactly what it actually means for Darius. Love, in love, and she reacts to it. Which fair, but it shows how both sides dealt with it. Brooklyn brushes it off, Darius can’t stop feeling ashamed for it.)

(The recent posts I made were hot flash opinionated and fresh from watching the show in full bc I’m a certified slacker and knew I would hyper-fixate if I watched it when I had shit to do)

[thegazettejournalmirror]

GREENDALE'S 1st TUMBLR ISSUE OF THE GAZETTE JOURNAL MIRROR!!

March 11 . 24. - a Quality publication of Greendale Community College

This issue's hot topics:

GLOW Party: Raging success, or total Dean-saster?

Elixirs, Potions and Me - Leonard Rodriguez rumoured to be in a cult for immortality.

An all-new update on the Winger-Perry wedding!

INCLUDES an exclusive interview of @prayingshirleybennett on getting the star couple engaged!

GLOW Party: Raging success, or total Dean-saster?

This past week saw the biggest, showiest party this year has seen so far - one anonymous attendee even suggested it was ‘reminiscent of those ragers people go to in the movies, you know, where they all get drunk and play beer pong.’ The party was nicknamed ‘GLOW Party’ in honour of the glowing cat owned by Troy Barnes and who is suggested to have been at the centre of the party’s inception. While it’s undeniable that this party was no disappointment in the wow factor, many will agree that the night became sour only a few drinks in.

The party invites were reported to have been sent out via a Tumblr post of student ‘Rayla Leone’ and by widespread messaging, word of mouth and Greendale’s official announcement Tumblr page, run by the Dean.

By the time day school was out only a few short hours later, the entire body was buzzing with the news, with the exception of the majority of the staff who remained uninvited and are still said to be ‘pretty darn pissed’ about the affair. 

A member of staff who asked to remain anonymous commented; ‘It’s just rude. That study group and all their little friends just pick and choose who they like. Always running the school! Even the pets were invited. Huh. And what if I wanted to see a glowing cat?”

When asked to elaborate on the grievance with said study group, the member of staff refused to comment further and terminated the interview.

According to varied sources, there were few discrepancies when the evening’s ‘rager’ began in the apartment of student ‘Rayla Leone’. In fact, our sources went as far as commenting how seriously fun’ it turned out to be and how they had  ‘needed the night off from mid-terms.’

The sources claimed there were drinking games, uno, spin the bottle, snooker, foosball and even a heated game of twister before the event turned bleak. 

We know that there was originally a small amount of cheap alcohol on scene, but some basic information such as the strengths and quantities remain unknown. However, Tumblr posts claim that student ‘Britta Perry’, belonging to the aforementioned study group, was known to have brought in a good amount of ‘blue raspberry svedka’ which has been blamed for the extreme hangovers and blackouts party-goers experienced the next day. 

There is also a strong likelihood that the party was mass-roofied, not unlike Greendale’s own Halloween party late last year, the events of which are still unknown despite intensive investigation and the shared experience of bite mark scars. 

Many rumours are known to have arisen of a personal nature to many students and staff and yet the largest event of the night in question is a recent development in the ‘Evil Timeline Debacle.’ Troy Barnes’ glowing cat, named ‘Lightbulb’, the centre of the party, was reported missing the following morning. Not many had yet shaken off their hangovers and as such no action was taken until the later hours of the day. 

The evil timeline members are said to have infiltrated the party and stolen Barnes’ ‘alien’ cat in exchange for a ransom of $1,000 and invitations to the upcoming Barnes-Nadir wedding. This wedding is allegedly platonic though evidence of this is still unclear. 

The evil members were also suggested to have roofied the party in order to get away with their act.

Jeff Winger, student of law and close friend of Troy Barnes, was called upon to pay the ransom. Following his agreement the cat was returned safely to Barnes that afternoon. 

In respect to the likely trauma induced by the sudden event, the Gazette Journal Mirror did not question Barnes on his experience. 

Images were posted of the event but other than mere speculation no further rumour or scandal can be confirmed or denied at this current time.

Elixirs, Potions and Me - Leonard Rodriguez rumored to be in a cult for immortality.

Leonard Rodriguez (né Briggs, he changed his last name to garner the Hispanic vote during his campaign for Student Body President) has reportedly been endeavouring to attain immortality.

The evidence is finite, and his methods are unclear, yet it nevertheless remains apparent that there is certainly something occurring behind the scenes. 

On his ask-blog, @leonardlikesthissite, Rodriguez often posts his Saturday events under the tag ‘Saturdays with Leonard.’ 

On a typical weekend, this includes activities such as swimming, clubbing, or jigsaws, (we particularly enjoyed this pizza review.) Once, he even posted about the political debate with his opponent and fellow student, ‘Magnitude.’

On this particular weekend however, Rodriguez alarmed many of his fellows and friends by posting ‘This Saturday Leonard is doing a ritual that may or may not lead to immortality!’ under his usual tag. When asked by another student ‘how’, Rodriguez denied details. 

He did however hint that Greendale’s AC repair school had something to do with the ‘ritual.’ 

Here at the Gazette Journal Mirror, we cordially wish Leonard the best of luck with his ambitions. May our school's longest-attending student, in his own words, ‘Live, laugh love,’ for his new eternity. 

An all-new update on the Winger-Perry wedding! 

According to the official Greendale announcements page, run by Dean Pelton, the Winger-Perry wedding will take place in Greendale itself. This has been a source of great excitement for many of their friends and indeed those at the school, too. 

Dean Pelton instructed that a repost of this statement would secure an invitation to the wedding. 

There have been a few comments here and there about the current attendees and who is in the wedding party. This remains limited so we must stress that no invitations can be guaranteed in the reposting of the wedding announcement. 

Further conversation about the upcoming nuptial of Winger-Perry has been unreported. 

Exclusive interview with Shirley Bennett!

Interviewer: Hello there! 

Bennett: Helloooo! So nice to be doing this todayy! And so exciting that the paper is making it to the interweb blogs, hehe!

Interviewer: Nice to have you. I agree, it is exciting. We’re all buzzing to go for the first release! Now, let’s talk weddings. Can you confirm that it was indeed you who incited the engagement in the first place?

Bennett: Oh yes! Of course I can, it was simply my duty to my Lord above and my friends, too. I didn’t want them to get sent to the burning place way down below all because they didn’t say a few little vows! Vows before God that is.

Interviewer: I see. And what does this union mean to you in terms of friendship?

Bennett: Well, from the start of being at Greendale I always used to say to Jeffery that two white people as cute and single as them should be together. I’m not saying I…stirrredd the pot…but I’ll say that maybe if I hadn’t said some things to Jeffery about Britta they might not even be together!

Interviewer: Would you share those details with us?

Bennett: OOooooh noooo! Heehe! It’s too personal, I can’t do that, it would be unholy. And unfriendly!

Interview: Well then, that wraps things up. Thanks for coming to our interview, Shirley!

Bennett: Thank you, and thank you, Lord and savior above!

[melorambles]

can't stop thinking about Rings of Power and I have Opinions. They gave Galadriel the Captain Marvel treatment. why? yeah she's the most badass female character the general audience will recognize by name alone, but she's not badass because she's a petite warrior woman. she's badass because she's incredibly wise and magically powerful and trained under the Tolkien equivalent of either an angel or demigod or a minor goddess (depending on how we interpret Melian).

If they absolutely had to make their female character a combat badass who is hotheaded, angry, and revenge driven. In the same setting as young Elrond, Gil-galad, and Celebrimbor. And they couldn't change the major plot points of what we've seen so far. I think they'd have been better off using Celebrian. (It also solves the problem of me screaming at the screen about where that Celeborn is.) Hear me out: yeah, Tolkien probably wouldn't have ever thought of her as a warrior, but technically he never said she wasn't. There isn't really enough information about her to contradict existing canon, especially in the setting they picked.

They could still name drop Galadriel; contrasting Celebrian with her mother at every turn. Give us the conflict of Celebrian trying to get out from under her mother's shadow and being compared to her and how Galadriel would handle everything. Maybe the problem stems from the fact that they are reacting oppositely to grief and Celebrian cannot understand her mother's seeming lack of reaction and Galadriel thinks her daughter is reacting as a hot-headed youth. Maybe Celebrian doesn't take her mother's foresight and visions seriously (because you're mother saying she's 'seen the road you're taking and it is a dark one with many challenges' or something definitely is something a daughter would be pissed to hear, no matter how wise your mother is) and Galadriel is trying to give her daughter space. I don't know, i've never emotionally communicated a serious issue in my life. that's what writers are for.

Those of us familiar with the lore would get the treat of watching her interact with Elrond for the foundation of what we know will become their love story. (it doesn't need to be shown at all, cause elrond loved her in secret for literal decades if not centuries, so they can still try to BS us with fake-out relationships.) Those not familiar get to see the contrast of Celebrian, daughter of the wisest most powerful elven lady in existence, on a revenge quest for the death of her beloved uncle (if they still had to use Galadriel's brother's death for backstory purposes) versus a brilliant young healer Elrond half-elven, survivor of what is functionally mass murder and having lost pretty much everyone he cares about (multiple times). They probably approach loss and death and grief very differently and it could create great character moments and conversations.

the fact that the show hasn't really done anything with elrond eventually becoming the best healer on middle earth is also disappointing. if they'd made celebrian their protagonist, and focused on elrond as a healer it would have also provided an interesting flip of the more typical man-warrior/woman-healer setup.

Also, if we go the route of Celebrian having spent years as a terrifying avenging warrior, scourge of the Enemy, it creates a new sort of dynamic to what happens to her in the future. Her capture and torment at the hands of orcs in the future isn't a woman getting fridged (possibly as revenge against her family members) to give her sons motivation to become terrifying warriors, and add another entry to the long list of reasons her husband is sad. It's a legendary and terrifying warrior in her own right getting overpowered, tormented, and instead of succumbing to her injuries, choosing to seek healing and trusting her husband to take care of the kids and follow when they were ready. If handled well (not that I think the show would actually cover that time gap and event), it could be done in Tolkien's 'war is horrible and love drives us' themes.

[tirfpikachu]

as a wheelchair woman who isn't validated by all the terms or sayings in the english language, trans ppl need to start giving eachother the advice to build resilience as a community instead of inciting bitterness against The Cissies and actually accept being the exception to the rule. you need to realize that language, especially language important for activism reasons, doesn't need to completely change to include you in every single area. sometimes someone will say something about walking or stairs or driving or lots of things that i physically cannot do, and at first it pissed me off when i still was feeling jaded about being disabled, but i really did find so much peace after i actually accepted it. i don't think many trans people have actually fully accepted being trans, being different. if it was a close friend i was having a one-on-one talk with, the difference not being acknowledged might feel a bit weird at times, but i would never expect a total stranger to alter their language just to include me. that would feel super awkward and clunky and just feel like trying to pander to me out of excessive politeness. i nowadays understand that sayings and og definitions of terms may not include me... and that's okay!! even as a gay person, in feminist spaces, women will talk about men in dating and it's obviously implied that they're talking about straight & bi men without them needing to specify the straight part every single fucking time. it would be so tedious and unnecessary. i totally accept them using it that way in certain contexts. it took me a while to get there, but i now see it neutrally.

the thing is trans ppl themselves even use sex/agab-based language for the overwhelming majority of people and only ever care when the person is considered too gnc to look/act like a "normie" male/female person. they also will talk shit about men without saying cishet before it everytime, it's just implied, and you can tell from context clues. why isn't that the case with women/womanhood? why can't woman be both a biological sex and also a gender role that some may transition into or wish to? why can't feminists use the first definition, the og version of the term, when talking about generic female issues? why can't trans ppl add nuance if needed, but also sit back and understand that marginalized groups need to discuss things at length and having to insert a billion caveats every single time when using a term that applies to the GRAND MAJORITY of people living as men/women slows down our activism and just frustrates everyone for no good reason? you have to understand that you're an outlier. you have to understand that you're outside the norm. blm activists don't mention people with skin disorders every single time they discuss race dynamics. gay activists don't need to mention trans ppl who live as the opposite sex/agab every single time they talk abt gay issues. female folks don't need to mention male/amab ppl in every single female/afab-specific discussion unless it's relevant. just as trans ppl can focus on their own issues too without needing to watch their tongue excessively to cater to non-trans feelings. sometimes you need to know that you're the exception, and as such ppl won't need to mention that not all people can drive when talking about road accidents, or that not everyone can get the vaccine done in their arms if they're amputees, or that some gay people are ace so they don't need to worry about being caught having gay sex and facing homophobia for it. sometimes you gotta learn that you're not always gonna be the center of the conversation, especially in conversations involving differently marginalized people. bio women & transmasc ppl don't need to mention transfems on issues of abortions or genital mutilation or sex-specific laws. bio men & transfems don't need to center transmascs to validate their identities when talking about the aids crisis, which primarily affected male homosexual people. feminists should be allowed to use women in the biological sex definition, and trans activists should be allowed to use women to mean anyone living as a woman in society.

the overwhelming majority of people aren't trans, and cis/bio women are an oppressed class in huge numbers. so sometimes trans ppl have to learn that men & women as terms are primarily used referring to one definition, while they, as trans people, fit another definition of the words. and that's not the world being cruel to spite you. people of course can be cruel to trans folks; if they purposefully misgender somebody or outlaws adult transition completely and mock trans bodies etc that can really harm someone's mental health. but you cannot seriously expect words like man & woman, words that initially have always referred to body types and were made to facilitate communication between two radically different people with different needs and baggage, to be used with endless trans-related caveats every single time. even trans people themselves often don't do it! same with using they/them for people without them asking you otherwise being called a bigot. that's getting into silliness territory for me. as much as being trans sucks, trans people need to build resilience to being different than the norm. and not just through inside jokes and memes and snarky discourse. they could learn a lot from the physically disabled community, honestly. i know how much it sucks to realize how someone is talking doesn't reflect your own personal experience. but sometimes you have experiences that differ from the norm, and that's okay! you can chuckle a bit and shake your head and move on with your life. it doesn't need to be seen as an attack or make you feel totally abandoned by the leftist community. you won't always be included in every social justice conversation. someone's definition of something might not include you everytime. and it's tiring. it's annoying at times. but it can also be okay. the more trans people try to change the fabric of society to an extreme amount and give extreme demands, the more the world will see them as emotional, impulsive toddlers who are out of their minds. they're actually worsening the image of their movement instead of helping anyone. they're leading to more transphobic prejudice, not less. why not just understand that words can have different meanings? that as long as someone doesn't have bad intent and otherwise is a good ally, them using words meant to make conversations easier and more succinct can be literally no big deal? you can be like "oh okay, this is about cis/bio women" and move on if it's super obviously the case. if you have an interesting insight as a trans woman or a transmasc person you can chime in, but otherwise just read between the lines and not interrupt important feminist discussions.

sometimes you actually do need to desensitize yourself to these things and practice radical acceptance of exactly who and what you are. you don't need to try to tear up leftist spaces and reshape them to awkwardly fit every single micro experience marginalized people can face all at once. you can have different discussions for different things and use words in different ways. having control issues about that is actually making things worse for you in the long run! and making you look pretty dumb to your allies who really are in your corner, but have issues of their own. i don't need people to mention not everyone can walk, drive or work every 5 seconds to include me. especially not on a random post. it would feel weird!! it's okay to not fit every average conversation. you don't need to harass people, especially feminists, into changing their language in every single conversation and make debates last 5000x longer. sometimes you just wanna talk shit about men without having to specify that it only applies to xyz type of men. sometimes you want to complain about being a woman and refer to body issues that typically come with being a woman. sometimes you talk about man/woman dynamics and it'll mostly apply to non-trans folks. it's okay! trans ppl can definitely add comments for nuance if it's of interest, or make their own posts on their own very complex experiences. but you cannot keep slowing down the feminist movement and try to force other activists to do things that are just unreasonable, things that many trans folks don't even do themselves!!