#this is the: because of people like you the real victim's are not believed

[generallemarc]

you care more about proving a woman wrong than you do about improving society. Typical.

Why yes, that is the worst possible way to interpret "it is neither my fault nor my responsibility that members of my demographic do bad things."

Why do you think it’s unreasonable for women to be afraid of the group who commits 90% of the violent crimes?

For the same reason you think it's unreasonable to be afraid of the race that commits the majority of those crimes. Oh, but when you use crime statistics to reinforce your bigotry it's ok, because your statistics are because the demographic you're talking about is just objectively evil.

“being in very real danger of rape and murder”

As a victim of rape, there are two possibilities here: either you are a fellow victim venting rage, or you're lucky enough to not be a victim and are trying to tell me that you understand rape better than I do, that you magically know that every man is Schrodinger's rapist in spite of all the data you were relying on for your bigotry a second ago showing conclusively that rape is usually by someone the victim knows, which I can personally attest to. So, which is it?

Fourth, here are some links about reverse sexism and why it’s ridiculous:

Oh, some articles from a bigot telling me her bigotry isn't akshually bigotry because I'm not oppressed enough for people to judge me by my demographic? Lady, there is no combination of words in the English language that could ever convince me that being a bigot, which is judging someone based on their demographic, which is what you are doing, is akshually ok for this or that contrived exemption. I hold everyone to the same standards, because unlike you I believe in equality and not the supremacy of one group over another.

women are pushed out of male dominated industries (it’s not that we think it’s too hard or too dangerous, it’s that it’s hard to break the glass ceiling.

Oh, so there's women lining up to take jobs in logging and mining? Women are being artificially held back from their dream jobs in being manual laborers on construction sites? Show me. Show me that, specifically. Show me women wanting to work in the bad jobs.

You’re wrong and nobody cares that your feelings are hurt.

Projection does not become you, my dear.

Because women might have the ability to hurt your feelings, but men COMMIT 90% OF THE FUCKING VIOLENT CRIMES. THESE TWO THINGS ARE NOT THE SAME

And there's the collectivism at the root of every dumbass ideology ever conceived. Because Group A members have done bad things to Group B members, it is ok and in fact morally good for individual members of Group B to act like shitheads to members of Group A. What you're doing can't possibly be bad, because children are starving in Afri-I mean, because other people have it worse so your problem doesn't ma-I mean, because men oppress women in all these first-world democracies with countless women holding more power in their little fingers than most men could ever dream of. You wanna see real, genuine gender-based oppression? Try the Middle East. They are, and I say this without a shred of irony, in desperate need of feminism, of the classical model that you and your kind abandoned that simply called for both sexes to be treated equally in all things. But you'd rather defend your own bad behavior than direct your attention towards advancing the cause of women who, unlike your privileged first-world ass, actually need it.

man hating will never be progressive. you can't take terf shit and slap a rainbow coat of paint on it and act like it's somehow now based and woke and pro queer rights. snap out of it.

[marshemillow]

"CP" is used by real child molesters to downplay the fact that they are traumatizing real children in real time by passing it off as just another porn category.

And you're okay with that, because you want to protect fictional characters made of paper and pixels more than real living breathing children with flesh and blood who can think and feel just like you do.

Thanks for proving my point anyway though, dumbass. Just fucking embrace being evil, you're not fooling anyone. Your moral outrage is as fake as the fictional characters you want to protect. Anyone can fucking see it if they have eyes. How would you feel knowing that people think watching fake cartoons is just as bad as the worst thing that ever happened to you? Would you be okay with people comparing your very real trauma to people shooting pixels in Counter Strike and saying it's the same thing? Would you not feel invalidated by people comparing real gun violence to a fucking video game and saying it's just as bad as that?

No, that's not the same thing, because in your mind, sex is different. Sex is special. It makes crimes worse by default because "attraction" makes everything worse and you don't see how that hurts real rape survivors because you think rapists are driven by attraction. That is literally TEXTBOOK purity culture. You believe in thought crimes, in the ability to be "evil" even if you haven't harmed anyone, which also hurts people with intrusive thoughts.

No no no, none of that fucking matters. Who cares about real cult survivors? Who cares about real victims of violent crimes? Who cares about real children? As long as your sensibilities are protected, as long as you don't have to be a little uncomfortable for even a SECOND because you refuse to take your own internet experience into your own hands, fuck everyone else.

So you try to use shame to control me. That's all you have. You use shame to manipulate all your anti friends, so surely it'll work on me, right? Even though you don't know my fucking life. You don't know what I watch, you don't know what I'm "addicted" to, but you throw that accusation at me anyway because you have no real arguments. You just think if something is gross to you personally, that must mean it's immoral.

But sure. I'm the one misusing terms. I'm sick of you people and your bullshit. It's literally nothing. It's a paper-thin mask you hide behind so you don't have to face all the people you've hurt by turning the internet into a cesspit of harassment and shame over FAKE FUCKING FICTIONAL CHARACTERS.

You may be content in your cesspit, but you're not dragging me down with you. Fuck off.

[thecourtjester-e]

Do You Have to Let it Linger? Part 4

A/N: y’all wanted a twist? (Short chapter the end is near)

CW: substance abuse, angst, yearning, depression, anger issues

SCHLATT POV

“GOD, you can be so STUPID.”

As soon as he said it he froze. He tossed the phone onto the table and put his head in his hands. As he heard the phone hangup from the table he felt like he couldn’t move. His face started to burn as anger rose up in his chest. He looked for the nearest victim to aim this mindless rage at. He picked up a controller and chucked it as hard as he could across the room. He could feel the tightness in his chest rise and tears threaten their way into his eyes. God, he hated that he let himself do that. Why the FUCK did he do that???? Schlatt’s frustration from the week all culminated into this moment. The confusion of why y/n had ignored him for a whole week, racking his brain to remember every little thing he did and said to you at the wedding for some explanation. And all to find out it was because you like him and you think he doesn’t like you back. It made him mad. You couldn’t be further off.

In the beginning of your friendship the flirting had been for fun. He did think you were stunning, but it was all in jest, at first. It slowly grew into a real blooming friendship beyond the clicks and views he genuinely grew fond of you. Your personality, your quirks, and little traits. He would watch to boost numbers, but then he found himself tuning into your streams on his second account to just watch. He found your voice entrancing and the way you moved and danced hypnotizing.

He couldn’t believe that you thought he didn’t feel the same. The fact that you had a “big fat crush” on him was enough to make his heart jump, do a backflip, and fall out of his ass. He was so dumbfounded that you couldn’t see how crazy he is about you.

At first he grappled with his own fear and uncertainty, could he let someone in in this way? Was it worth it? You guys lived so far apart. Not to mention how public it could all get and the bombardment from the fans. He was terrified. As the days turned to a week his fear turned into intense longing and pain. Pain knowing how he had hurt you. He missed your constant communication that he had grown to rely on in a way. He just missed hearing you and seeing you. How your smile lights up rooms and your raw charisma enchants all who watch. He couldn't stop seeing you up there singing at the wedding. And how you smiled at him while laughing and dancing. The memories practically uncorked the bottle themselves. Minimal resistance was found when lifting it to his mouth. Each sip felt easier and easier.

Ted called sometime during the second week while the bottle was half drunk. Interrupting his quiet stalking of your stream.

“Schlatt.”

“What.”

“You gotta tell her man,” Ted pleads. He had been bothering Schlatt to spill his heart since the wedding. Then, even more so after this whole ordeal. It tired and aggravated him.

“No dude.”

“Jared Schlathew,” Schlatt scowled at the nickname as Ted continued, “I know we’ve known each other a while, but I’ve known Y/N longer. I’m going to have to tell her soon man I can’t keep listening to her heart break like this.”

“Ted, I sweartgod, if you tell her you won’t hear from me again. Ever,” he slurred and sipped.

“I don’t understand the big deal!”

Schlatt cuts him off, “I can’t, Ted, I fucking can’t! I already hurt her man, who’s to say I won’t just hurt her further or… I don’t know! I’m no good for her. She deserves someone better. She deserves to get over me…”

Ted sighs, “Schlatt, genuinely, you are one of the most kind hearted individuals I've had the pleasure of meeting-” Schlatt scoffs, “You have a rough exterior, yes, but I’ve seen how she melts your icy shell. I wouldn’t allow you anywhere near Y/N if I didn't think you deserved her, man. But I truly do think you are one of the greatest people I get to call a friend. So please, skip the angst, and get on a plane.”

As he hung up he turned your stream back on. Your presence was much duller than your normal effervescent self. He studied at the screen while you absentmindedly answered the chat.

“Ok, well I have another cover I’ve been working on so,” you sit up with your guitar a little better and begin to play “High and Dry” by Radiohead. Through his drunken haze, Schlatt sat and listened to you sing as if you were speaking directly to him.

“Fuck it.” Schlatt opened his phone and booked a flight.

———

[ilikekidsshows]

Is it bad if I started to feel sorry and want to root for Lila instead of Marinette?

There was time when fell into the echo chamber, believing that Lila is bad, she's horrible for threatening Marinette and trying to destroy her life, she's a bully. But when I watch Volpina again... I can't blame Lila for hating Marinette and Ladybug, not when in that very episode, Ladybug proudly humiliating her because of jealousy.

Marinette stan say what Marinette do is justified, because she doesn't like lying and no one would like it when others lie about them, she has the right to be mad. and Lila also endangered people by lying about being Ladybug friends in the internet, which is a false statement considering ONLY Adrien know about her 'ladybug bff' lie. Sure, Marinette can be mad but it still doesn't justify her humiliating Lila in public space. Another Marinette stan told me 'it doesn't matter because there's only Adrien there' but it's matter, no matter how much the audience is, even it just one person, humiliating people is never justified anything, especially when the lie is not even something outrageous. I don't think any IRL celebrity would be mad if a teenager claimed to be their bff.

What Marinette do to Lila is even more outrageous than whatever lie Lila spouting in class, and yet Lila is the bad one? Lila's lies in Ladybug episode and in Onichan is the only one I consider bad, but then again Marinette has been harassing her nonstop everytime she's attending the class. Even when Lila claimed to have a disability, she never stop harassing her but somehow it's okay because Lila is bad, Marinette is good. Because yeah, people need to proof their disability or else you're a liar. It's guilty until proven innocent. Weird weird. 🙄

It just hilarious when Marinette stan say that Marinette is the victim and she's done nothing wrong, because Lila is Marinette victim first and foremost. She just decided to fight back instead of forgiving Marinette and be her ally. I wonder if Adrien decided to fight back and stop forgiving Marinette would he become an antagonist as well?

I'm not saying Lila is justified in every bad thing she do, but it's understandable. Marinette isn't any better than her because nothing about what she do to Lila is understandable, it just make her worst. The only saving grace here is Lila doesn't have real disability and the show painted her as the antagonist/villain.

The recent leak just make her worsen, more than I imagined, because the girl has real disability there. I thought having new writers and the 'sofr reboot' will make things better.

---

This ask actually goes perfectly with a little thought exercise I gave myself: what if the Lila “storyline” was told from Lila’s perspective? Because, like, she would make for a pretty good lead for an “underdog protagonist decides to go full-on villain protagonist against an asshole” story with only very slight, if any, tweaking into the course of events.

You transfer into a new school and don't know anyone, so you make up a bunch of stories to make yourself seem cooler to your new classmates. You even meet a really cute boy who isn't seeing anyone, so you go a bit overboard trying to impress him. You steal a book he was really into for ideas and then try to hide the fact that you did so. Suddenly the local superhero is there screaming at you and embarrassing you in front of your crush. Clearly she isn't all that.

Next time you go to school, you find out the most popular girl in class is making stuff up about you, and she follows you around at school, trying to catch you in a lie and publicly humiliate you. She even corners you in the school bathroom so you lash out to get her to back off. Next even the boy you like is getting on your case about lying. You're certain she's been telling him things about you to make you look bad.

Somewhere along the line you find out why the school’s queen bee's been bullying you, she makes it obvious that she likes the same boy you do and has decided that he doesn't get a choice, he’s going to end up dating her. You try to fake that you're already dating to get her to back off and discover that said girl is stalking the boy you both like, but you decide to keep it a secret. It's not like that info would help you; all your classmates flock to her and support her even when she's clearly in the wrong and constantly disappears with lies about where she's going. You can tell, you lie enough yourself. It's like whenever your rival is around, your classmates become mindless idiots who’d believe anything.

The superhero situation is also getting worse. You get a chance to make things harder for the big, beloved superhero. You’ve seen her little sidekick fight Akumas alone, but she’s never had to do that. You don’t think it would really hurt her, you wouldn't be that lucky, but it would be pretty satisfying to see her on the ropes for once. So, you try to get an Akuma to beat her up a bit, maybe that’ll knock her down a peg, but the heroes win pretty effortlessly once again and now everyone treats you like you're a monster for just wanting Ladybug to have a slightly worse day for once. You don't see what the big deal is but you know you hate Ladybug and Marinette, the bullies who are praised as saints.

[catras-breakup-song]

it’s already annoying enough that they still, in 2025, 4.5 years after the fifth season ended, run blogs almost solely dedicated to hating on a cartoon since they can’t find a better hobby, but what really bothers me at this point is how they have to make their superiority complex everyone else’s problem and go out of their way to bully & harass stans over their posts under the guise of “debunking arguments” (which, even if that is true, debates aren’t always inherently invited and dragging someone into them by assuming “existence of post = open discussion” when they aren’t interested may violate a boundary), usually indirectly so that we don’t know and won’t respond to it.

glimmadora shippers (who are catradora antis, nothing wrong with just liking the ship itself!) are definitely the most frequently guilty, thinking of 1-2 blog usernames in particular here, and they largely overlap with the first group in your list — many of them tend to also be lumity fans (again, so am i, i have the owl house showrunner’s art of them as my main blog’s icon; that alone is not the issue) and compare it to catradora because if it’s not perfect fluff then it’s apparently not acceptable to portray in (animated) media. it’s rather ironic because they are so loud about being against toxic behavior + obsession with people minding their own business, but have no problem actively engaging with these things online in order to make sure others know they hold the wrong opinion over pixels + lines on a screen.

the ones that have really surprised me though, are hordak & shadow weaver stans. it’s a cheap excuse to accuse them of ableism* & misogyny & lesbophobia (and trust me, i also hate pointing fingers at baseless bigotry when it doesn’t apply tot the situation), yet abusive characters in this show are clearly fine to enjoy just as long as they’re not catra, which therefore implies… exactly those ideas. they hide behind a façade of caring about ableism via entrapta’s writing** and the end scene of 4x01 when catra holds hordak’s crystal over his head to bribe him, but either they’re very biased and cherrypick who deserves protection from discriminatory beliefs based on a subjective “perfect victim” status in the fandom, or they’re simply weaponizing those criticism arguments in order to silence opposing voices among the discourse regarding catra’s redemption arc getting more attention, since she’s a main character, than the cardboard cutout big-bad villain, who wasn’t supposed to have anywhere near as much development or sympathy given from the beginning. i roll my eyes when they complain about how season five catered to her so much, especially instead of hordak, because the show has literally always been primarily about catradora and the best friends squad by extension; hordak was nothing more than a tool for the narrative. that means you got what you came for, so you can either stay mad or leave ─ i highly suggest the latter for everyone else's sake.

i’ve been collecting receipts of the latter group that you can check through all the various reblogs (it’s not a neat consecutive thread unfortunately, sorry) in the notes here, just because it’s difficult for me to believe those takes are actually real if i can’t prove it to even just myself, lol lmao.

another thing i’d like to mention is that i’ve seen antis mention biphobia coming from she-ra stans a few times now, and as a bisexual activist who is unapologetic about calling that crap out without any respect for the perpetrator, the funny thing is… this is pretty much the only fandom where it hasn’t occurred that much in my experience, let alone to such an unbearable level — mind you, i’ve been here since june 2020 (not on this account, but wherever SPOP existed on the internet). it’s always been much more prevalent in arcane spaces, hell even the owl house with three prominent bisexual characters and only one canon lesbian is filled with far too much erasure & policing regarding our identity. also no one ever cares about bringing up bisexuals unless it’s to hate on us somehow, so i always find a sudden uptick in concern from monos that can be essentially read as a “gotcha” or otherwise supporting detail rather than its own thoughtful discussion to be deceitful and i tend to be quite wary of it. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

*ableism in this case comes from catra’s heavy BPD-coding, which i can speak on as i also have it — or at least share most of its symptoms consistently, which has been overall agreed upon by my psychiatrist.

**that’s not to say how entrapta being autistic was handled, especially in 5x02, isn’t problematic, especially considering i’m autistic too and that has rightfully made our community uncomfortable, generally speaking. i just don’t trust authentic critique with genuine love for the character or even basic respect for this piece of media as a whole to come from that crowd specifically.

i'm losing my mind how are there STILL ACTIVE CATRA HATE BLOGS it's been FOUR YEARS how are you still this mad about a female abuse victim!!!!!! how do you STILL not get it!!!!!!!!!!

I have been in enough fandoms to understand that some of the people who stick around the longest are those who act the most scarred after watching the media. It's like stockholme syndrome. Or it's like hating the thing is what gives them drive in the world.

I have also been on the other side of this. I remained a Homestuck blog for a whole four years after the ending made me depressed about Terezi Pyrope, even lasting an additional year and a half after the dogshit epilogues released, through to the demise of Hiveswap and Homestuck^2, before I realised enough was enough and let Adventure Time give me sanctuary again.

But Homestuck had its Gamzee fans who hated the comic and fandom, Adventure Time had its Lemongrab fans who hated the show and fandom, and it seems She-ra has its fair share of antis.

The She-ra antis consist of the following groups, from my observation:

Former fans who got obsessed with some other show and have to bash She-ra because it ain't cool anymore. Usually Owl House fans but can be from anywhere. Their hate is universally connected to propping something else up, and is never done in isolation.

Hordak fans who hate Catra and maybe every other character and crew member and the show. There are a lot of the reverse, Catra fans who hate Hordak, which is part of why this group is so persistent, as a "counter" to this Hordak hate. However, the Catra fans who are Hordak antis MOSTLY do not hate the show (they are just... out of touch with it and generally have bad takes). I've seen one or two extreme cases of Catra apologists accusing Adora, Scorpia, and even Entrapta of abuse, but they were completely alone in their feelings. The Hordak fans who hate Catra tend to also hate Glimmer, Mermista, Adora, Bow, and say that the show is ableist or whatever, but they do not actually harbor much love for Entrapta. Her victimisation is an excuse for their behaviour and they have no understanding of her chaotic character. Do not interact.

Glimmadora fans (the ones who purely seem to exist to make 'Spop Is Abusive' posts). Why the fuck Glimmadora fans hate the show so much, I do not understand. But these are probably the most In-Your-Face of these three groups. While the Hordak fans mentioned above have a lot of similarity to Homestuck Gamzee fans or Adventure Time Lemongrab fans in the weird way they'll hate on the show for doing their blorbo wrong, Glimmadora fans don't have that evidence because they don't really care about Glimmer or Adora. They have absolutely nothing to say about the show, other than that it is Bad. My theory on these Glimmadora fans is that they really liked the Glimmer and Adora ship on a superficial level, and then the show decided to have its Deeper Themes and give Catra and Adora a messy, complicated relationship. There was a lot happening after season 3 where people went "CATRADORA IS REALLY ABUSIVE AND CATRA IS HORRIBLE AND YOU SHOULDNT SHIP HER WITH ANYONE". This period was SO fucking harmful to the fandom that it never recovered, so much work was lost and deleted from AO3. People would say "Glimmadora is a much better ship anyway". But then when season 4 rolled around and, uhh, Glimmer was acting like a little shit all season (for good reason but she really fucked things up with Adora), and Glimmadora crumbled into ash? Well the Glimmadora truthists felt like the show was working against them and that Season 5 was a grand conspiracy to make the Abusive ship Catradora canon!!! The funniest part of this is I sympathise a lot with these feelings. I used to be a Glimmadora truther myself when I watched the show in fall 2021. I was like, "wow, look how nice this ship is. And they go with catradora in the end?? Fucking HOW???". But then seasons 4 and 5 happened and.... yeah, I was disappointed with how Glimmer and Adora's friendship ended up, but I was ENAMORED by the messiness of Catra's character and how raw her and Adora felt about each other even in spite of all the bullshit. I never made excuses about the show being abuse apologising. I analysed it purely in how believable the relationships were and what the intentions of the characters are.

Of these groups, the ones responsible for the most actual SPOP Anti blogs are undoubtedly the Glimmadoras. The only time I've seen something similar, so many antis appearing, was because of Steven Universe ship wars. You have NO IDEA how petty people feel about Lapidot, Amedot, all the dots, all the amethysts. A crew member was chased off the internet over it, or left the internet over the show's own decisions, depending on whether you believe the """screenshots""" that were taken of Zuke's ""private blog""".

[ramblingidk]

I'll get shot for this but it's why I'm staying anon, it's funny being around antis as someone who just lurks as unlabelled and idgaf what ppl do, because I can say the exact same words abt why someone will proship but just replace the word proship with selfship,,, AND ITS THE EXACT SAME!!! THERE IS 0 REASON TO BEEF ON THIS STUFF, only reason I don't get "caught" is just saying "ew yeah I hate (insert group)" which I really don't and it sucks having to do sm bs to avoid life endangerment over a damn ship.

Genuinely I've lost friends over the harassment that antis do because they just can't be online anymore or literally kill themselves after about the 5th time they get doxxed.

Anti harassment goes both ways, but antis seem to act like they were cut first when someone bites back.

Also very real more ppl should be touching grass bc the biggest "proshippers" I've met have been irl or just regular ass people because no one circle jerks their superiority over shit that isn't real 🎉

I don't understand what the big deal is and why it is about fictional pairs. I remember when I was in the Undertale fandom back in the late 2010s there would be a TON of people shipping things like Frans, sansceet and so on. Yeah there were plenty of people saying it's bad and weird, but there was way, WAY less drama then before 2020 when normies flooded the internet. I do know there have been life endangering dramas even then about stupid things like a Frans artist or someone supposedly drawing Rose Quartz from SU "too thin", but I don't believe those issues were as big as nowadays. I wonder how things even got to this point...

I'm so sorry to hear about your friends. It's obvious, but no one should ever have to go through that. It's crazy to think that so many people out there are willing to leak someone's real life location (or in other words literally commit a crime) over things that most definitely don't harm anyone. Again, I wonder how it got to the point where that is normalized...

Yeah, a lot of antis seem to have a giant victim complex lmao. I never understood what's with them and actively infiltrating our community spaces after they specifically tell us to find or make our own, especially when they're an older age (15+). I'll never forget that I literally had a 26yo anti trying to argue with me (a minor) about proshippers in the self ship communit, can you imagine being an adult but still being an anti

And absolutely! Most of the time the proshippers are the normal ones living a good if not decent life. We touch grass and shower and are cool unlike these basement dweller gremlins who spend their time contributing nothing but damage to everyone 👍

[silentsuffering]

Abuse Reality #3

Persuading people of negative things about their peers is abuse. Crazymaking is abuse. Intentionally causing a person to become paranoid about their peers, through slow and steady indoctrination, repeating negative things over and over until they believe them and go looking for them is abuse. Doing this to a person about their partner and to this person's partner about this person is an active attempt to undermine and destroy their relationship - And ABUSE. It's manipulation. It's triangulation. It's scapegoating. It's crazymaking. It's indoctrination. It's robs the victims of their sense of safety with others and isolates them. It robs the victims of their sense of reality and makes them doubt everyone and everything. It makes the brains of the victims run on high-stress, hypervigiliance overtime. It places a person on eggshells, permanently.

It forces permanent extreme stress on them, raises their cortisol levels, damages their immune system, causes brain damage to the hypocampus and amygdala and can cause or significantly worsen pre-existing autoimmune disease. A person can actually be tortured to death very slowly and horrifically by applying such extremely messed up techniques.

And to the abusers: Your friendship or relationship with the person you separated your victim from does NOT become real or genuine or healthy, just because you did this to someone! You are NOT truly loved by the other half of the couple or friendship that you sabotaged and split up! You manipulated one person or multiple people into hating and fearing someone else or each other and likewise into believing you're a different person than you are. They will never like you for you. They liked the person you abused for who they were. You can never replace this person! Everything negative your supply feels for the person you split them up from is what they actually feel for you, dear narcissist!

[hushedstars]

The way Cheum didn't berate Atom for making up THAT KIND OF lies about Boston? Aha. Okay.

[sunkissedliterarylightofchrist]

@artist-issues - why do you believe the death penalty should be completely and totally abolished? explain?

*cracks knuckles* Justice is one of the things I am most passionate about in the entire world and I am so glad that you asked. So presenting-

Why The Death Penalty Should Be Abolished - from a Christian

[This is a heavily condensed version because Tumblr is mean and deleted the entire thing the first time I wrote it, so, here's the short answer]

There are two different theories of justice that are used in the sphere of law. Retribution and Restitution. Retribution is when you punish someone as vengence for an act that they committed, and restitution is when you establish justice in a way to pay back the wrong that was done in the crime. They are two different schools of thought and there are a lot of arguments each way and the more you learn about it the more fascinating it gets, but I firmly believe that the way that God has created justice and law firmly sits in the way of restitution, and all Christians should come to that conclusion when studying the Bible and advocate for such.

According to its use in the Bible, God instructed the Israelites to use the death penalty in cases of rape and murder. To quote @/artist-issues from the comments-

A lot of God’s commands about civil law and justice seem to have to do with what can be *restored* to the victim of the crime. If the criminal takes something that doesn’t belong to them, for example, Exodus 22 shows the principle of the thief restoring what they took, and giving back double—so they’re restoring, and they’re losing something, themselves, in addition, because of their sin. But when someone rapes another human, they’re taking something they cannot restore to the victim. Ever. Same way when they murder; they’re taking something that can never be restored to the victims (plural, because not only is the murdered party dead, but they’ll never be restored to the other victims: their loved ones.) Plus, human life has inherent value. Which really means something, with real-world consequences when that value is totally defiled and ignored. That’s why Genesis 9:6 says “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.” So God commands the death penalty. I think both because it IS the just thing to do, and because, knowing humanity’s sinful nature, God also knows that the death penalty is the only way to get depraved humans’ likelihood to COMMIT those crimes to actually drop in number. But both those things are sort of irrelevant for you and me: the bottom line is, if God says it’s okay, it’s okay.

And she is correct and spot on, I agree with almost every syllable of this dissection of Scripture. God has permitted the death penalty in response to rape and murder.

HOWEVER. I think once you start to add in other factors of historical context and modern day society, if you stick to that conclusion to the same degree you are sorely mistaken.

I believe that as of today, in 21st century America, that the death penalty should be overturned in all cases and that no crime whatsoever justifies its use. While our justice system is a lot better than some countries currently or historically and I am very thankful for the fact, it is still messed up.

People are on death row for years, which utterly destroys them physiologically, there is systemic racism and injustice in the bias against minorites (see the very end of this post), it is incredibly expensive for all parties (most notably taxpayers!), the methods of execution like lethal injection can be cruel and unusual, those with intellectual disability and those living in poverty are targeted, and lengthy trials hurt everyone. And most importantly, the rate of how many of those cases the defendent is actually innocent is incredibly staggering and gut-wrenching. And, there is no reliable evidence that the death penalty deters murder- in today's context.

We live in a different world than the Israelites did, plain and simple. Society's ideas of justice have progressed, and I'm not saying that as a way to crap on the ancient world and how uncivilized it was, far from it, I'm just saying that these values have changed, and most of it due to Christiantiy in fact. So we have to look at things in their historical context.

They lived in a revenge culture! If A stole B's camel, B would go kidnap A's sister, then A would murder B's parents, which would make B go burn down A's house and land with all of their family inside, A would torture B to death which would make B's children take up arms, and it could continue to escalate until there were multi-generation bloody wars going on. And do you know what God did when he introduced the concept of capping punishments to the Israelites? It stopped. Very little at first, just among them, but over time and as the other nations saw the power of the Hebrew God, they listened and changed themselves. And now, because of how God has changed society's concept of justice, there is no more need and very little want for extreme and overbearing punishment.

But, with these developments, the fear of punishment has slipped, undoubtably so. People think a lot less about punishment before commiting a crime unfortunately. Because it isn't as extreme anymore, or if it is its for all the wrong reasons in all the wrong places. And because of this, after decades of research, there is no solid evidence that the death penalty has any influence whatsoever on violent crime. Today, having life in prison is a far better way to correctly punish someone rather than excecute them, because now we're morally imprinted on a society that God has shaped to view punishment differently.

But more so- because there have been so many screw-ups when it comes to this that it makes me weep. Please read Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson. Please go and take a look at that link and think about what you read there. Human error and sin have lead to so much pain and suffering that was totally undeserved and evil. Innocent people are dead, mentally disabled, or physically so. People who were in fact guilty still faced heinous circumstances that outweighed the wrong that they had done by a staggering amount. And both the innocent and guilty have staggered under the weight of injustice that has wrongly convicted them and ruined their lives- if they lived.

Also, we need to remember that our job today with the justice system is not to give out the final punishment that person may or may not deserve in this life. That's Jesus' job on judgement day. The laws that Ancient Israel had back then should be treated differently than 21st century America today. The law is good if used properly- but the death penalty isn't that today. The holy men who used to distribute God's justice in Israel would do so by God's standard, and everyone understood and submitted under His authority willingly. They understood the why behind it. Did those guys who decided on punishment ever screw up like today and commit injustice? I don't know. I'm not going to speculate. But what I do know? According to the way that God outlined what the acceptable use of the death penalty, that is good. That is justice. I completely and totally agree with that.

But that isn't America today. America is not a Christian country. And we don't function as a theocracy. A lot of very powerful people blaspheme God and do not care about the morality He has laid on our hearts. And people are wicked and will do wicked things, not caring for those they have hurt. They have wielded the justice system to hurt people, the innocent yes, but also the guilty more than they deserved. Which is also unjust. And because of people's action, or inaction, so much pain and suffering has manifested in the world.

And look- God can do anything. Absolutely, 100%. The heart of kings is like water in His hand. Even if we screw up, His plan will come through anyway and He'll use it for good. But Scripture makes abundently clear that our actions do indeed have consequences and do have an effect. I'm not God, there is a lot of gray area, I don't fully understand it or how it lines up for or against His plan, but all I do know is that He has set things before us to achieve and it is our duty to carry them out with everything that we've got. All I can see when I look at the justice system today is overwhelming evidence for a need for reform and to protect the incarcerated- those who do in fact deserve to be there, as well as those who are innocent and are suffocating under the weight of injustice.

Unfortunately, the death penalty is not unconstitutional… as of right now. We can amend it to be so however. And same with abolishing it on a state by state level, we could get there. Which is why we sorely need more Christians to go into law, civil rights, and politics, despite how hard and ugly they can be. We need more people to stand up and shout that this is vile and wrong and hurts the world. There have been some huge wins against capital punishment! In Furman v. Georgia it was decided that the death penalty is cruel and unusual punishment when the punishment was not proportional to the crime. This lead 35 states to pass refined death penalty laws and Congress to pass statutory guidelines for death sentences. Praise God and hallelujah! If we can continue this and stregthen it, we very well could be on the way to better justice and abolishment in the not-so-near future.

I doubt that our country will ever reach a place of being able to perfectly align the legal system with Old Testament law and advocate for the death penalty in the cases that the Bible states. Because society and culture today are different. A majority of people in the judicial system are not religious, let alone Christian. So they're not thinking in the way that we think about these things. And I've barely touched on the fact that logistically, the death penalty costs so much money and time that it is literally cheaper to feed and care for someone spending seventy years behind bars than it is to pay for the legal proccess of that person's case, on both the defensive and offensive's accounts, but its true. A HUGE reason to totally abolish the penalty due to our culture today and how its changed. And it is going to be far better to advocate for life in prison rather than death- because that means anytime there is human error, we're looking to release people from jail with a big check rather than mourn over the fact that if we had just been a little bit better at our jobs in the legal system, we wouldn't be leaving flowers at their grave.

In conclusion, I firmly believe that it is the calling of the faithful to save as many people as we can. That means that we evangelize and preach the Gospel to the world no matter what. While Jesus is the only one who saves, and one only comes to the Father if He has first called him, we’re called in Romans 10 and many other places to tell as many as possible. Because how can they come to God if they never know Him? Which is why Christians are called to preach the Gospel to every tounge, tribe, and nation.

I apply the same philosophy here. I am going to do everything in my power for the rest of my life to save the physical lives of as many people as possible according to my convictions and what I see God calling for us as His children to do to the justice system as it is the way it is today. Because how can I hope to save someone who is dead, or so mentally damaged they may never be able to grasp the Word? Before I can work to save their souls, I have to save their life.

SIDE NOTE: anyone reading this who doesn’t believe in racial injustice needs to wake up and go read some statistics and go look at the EJI website, It is real, it is happening, and it will keep happening until we stop racial inequality. Believe it or not, while there are no laws that spell out racial inequality that are still in force, it is still very much present and active socially, especially in the Deep South. If you do not believe in racial inequality and how its affecting innocent people, either ask me more about it or just unfollow me. I might not post about this topic often but it doesn’t mean I am filled with a fiery passion and conviction to bring forth change every time I think of it.

Reminder that the death penalty is highly unethical and should be completely and totally abolished with no exceptions.

[ocpder]

Non-traumagenics stop acting oppressed for being a system/disabled when you are not disabled because you're not a system challenge

[rxttenfish]

the "people in horror movies make stupid decisions in moments of high stress because of Bad Writing" thing has gotten so bad that its started to infect how people talk about actual real life atrocities. "oh, these people were just stupid and deserved to die, why didnt they do this" well first of all they had literally no way of obtaining insights through visions of the future, they were actively dying of months of poisoning and grievous injuries, and you cant even be nice to people doing inoffensive things if you wake up slightly earlier than normal, so perhaps we should reconsider your perspective on the situation.

[gibbearish]

every time i see discourse about fundraisers go by on here im just fully struck with the realization that not a single one of you people have either taken a cybersecurity fraud prevention course or bothered to take one singular second to consider the website youre on. this is the broke bitches website. none of us can afford to fund our mutuals' grocery bills, much less entire evacuation funds, and CERTAINLY not FAKE evacuation funds taking advantage of genocide victims. all this shit abt how people are deliberately choosing not to fund every post that passes their dash because they hate palestinians literally just does the work of actual scammers for them by laying the high-pressure sales tactics groundwork, and the "do you guys have any idea how hard it is to keep coming up with new attention-grabbing fundraiser posts?" ones just ring EXTREMELY hollow because YEAH! YEAH I DO! and so does everyone i follow! and everyone they follow! because all of us are FUCKING BROKE and surviving on crumbs! i just saw one that said "i make sure to keep $40 in my wallet at all times so i can give $20 to any panhandlers i see, this is the same" and its like!! good for you, thats very nice, but like!!! you need need NEED to take a step back and realize that /being able to do that/ is a position of privilege, not the default setting to be a good person. i wont discount that some people do ignore fundraisers specifically because of racism because Of Course, but like. a) yelling at them isnt gonna make them stop, or more accurately yelling at /everyone else/ isnt gonna make those people stop, and b) trying to apply that as a blanket motivation for everyone just. realistically doesnt work. not donating is a nonaction, it is the literal default status, and while in specific situations you can use CONSISTENT absence of SPECIFIC actions to track a person's motivations SOMETIMES, broadly speaking that just. doesnt work.

there are 8 billion people on this planet. most of them will never know you exist. of the ones that do, most will not be able to help you. of the ones that can, most will not be on the broke bitches website passing the same communal $20 around. consider your audience and stop shitting on fellow poor people for having the gall to need to be careful with their money. and if you are genuinely only posting your fundraiser to tumblr, like. im sorry, but you need to anticipate not reaching your goal and prepare accordingly. theres a reason the last big scam scandal people talk about actually getting the money is like. all-or-nothing era, as a website none of us have the funds to make that kind of thing happen anymore or the security to risk it. a fundraiser not meeting its goal on here is not a personal sleight against whoever made it, its just how life goes sometimes. and it's unfair and it sucks and we should help however we can, but. sometimes you just arent able to help someone else, and continuing to feel responsible serves only to torture yourself. and blaming OTHERS serves only to move that guilt from yourself off onto another person. i imagine that has to be where a lot of the vitriol comes from, is people who cant afford to donate more getting pissed at people they see as having the funds but choosing not to share them, but again, sometimes you just are not able to achieve the goals you set out towards, through no fault of the specific parties involved.

people on tumblr choosing to buy groceries rather than potentially donate to a scam are not your enemy and are not the ones facilitating a genocide. we're all victims of the same horrific system, the question is just how that system manifests its influence on each of us. poverty kills just as thoroughly as a bomb. everyone is just doing their best to survive, and as much as we like to pretend that everyone should be a perfect selfless angel that puts others before themselves no matter what, humans are by default a selfish species, and it is a lot easier to say what youd do in theory than actually do it. and there's a reason you have to put on your own oxygen mask before helping the person beside you, youre of no help to anyone if youre too dead to do anything.

[butch-bakugo]

Why are vetted accounts sending people stuff like this.

I mean it's clearly copy-pasted and sent to multiple people but this isn't even a donations ask. Imma guess the reason people aren't responding is because you're accusing them of not doing enough for Palestine and sending it to multiple people who you clearly don't check because I've been posting about and for Palestine since oct 7th when I learned about it.

Also yes he is looking for donations, you can check his account and find it. Why are you sending this guilt trippy stuff to people and accusing them of not caring enough? You don't know me? You send these to multiple people so your clearly not checking the account in question. This dose nothing to help you personally or the Palestinian cause, it just pisses people off and makes them question vetters.

[hikarielizabethbloom]

Reading and watching Miv and Charlie's interviews is so interesting because they've been saying over and over what I've been saying over and over about Gal/Sau relationship. Sometimes the same fucking words. Did they go through Tumblr posts, saw some of mine and thought 'I like this'? Or are we we simply on the same wavelength.

Either way, it's funny that some fans that are now cheering, got into a tantrum and called me a bad shipper for writing down the same thoughts.

[narwhalandchill]

btw if u equate childe and aventurines backstory in any fucking way please leave this blog and unfollow me <3 preferably block me while ur at it too uwu

[giantkillerjack]

The cool thing about a horror movie that takes place in a mental hospital and, shockingly, actually turns out to be on the side of mentally ill people is that it avoids all the common disgusting pitfalls of mocking, demonizing, and infantilizing mentally ill people.

The downside is

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

[It's much scarier.]