#this is why i hate working with americans

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Boss politics antitrust

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/11/12/the-enemy-of-your-enemy/#is-your-enemy

Xi Jinping inaugurated his second term with an anti-corruption purge that ran from 2012-2015, resulting in a massive turnover in the power structures of Chinese society.

At the time, people inside and outside of China believed that Xi was using the crackdown to target his political enemies and consolidate power. Certainly, that was the effect of the purge, which paved the way for reforms to Chinese law that have effectively allowed Xi to hold office for life.

In 2018, Peter Lorentzen (USF Econ) and Xi Lu (NUS Policy) published a paper that used clever empirical methods to get to the bottom of this question:

https://web.archive.org/web/20181222163946/https://peterlorentzen.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Lorentzen-Lu-Crackdown-Nov-2018-Posted-Version.pdf

Working from the extensive data-files published during the corruption trials of the purged officials, Lorentzen and Xi Liu were able to estimate the likelihood that an official had really been corrupt. They concluded that overwhelmingly, the anti-corruption purges did target corrupt officials, some of them very highly placed.

But when they considered the social graph of those defenestrated officials, they found that they came from blocs that were rivals of Xi Jinping and his circle, while officials who were loyal to Xi Jinping's were spared, even when they were corrupt.

In other words, Xi Jinping's anticorruption efforts targeted genuinely corrupt officials – but only if they supported Xi's rivals. Xi's own cronies were exempted from this. Xi did use the anticorruption effort to consolidate power, but that doesn't mean he prosecuted the innocent – rather, he selectively prosecuted the guilty.

Donald Trump will be America's next president. He campaigned against "elites" and won the support of Americans who were rightly furious at being ripped off and abused by big business. The Biden administration had done much to tackle this corruption, starting with July 2020's 72-point executive order creating a "whole of government" approach to fighting corporate power:

https://www.eff.org/de/deeplinks/2021/08/party-its-1979-og-antitrust-back-baby

Trump will have to decide what to do about these efforts. It's easy to say that Trump will just kill them all and let giant, predatory corporations rip, but I think that's wrong. After all, the Google antitrust case that the DoJ just won started under the last Trump administration. Trump also sued to block the absolutely terrible merger between Warner and AT&T.

I think it's safer to say that Trump will selectively target businesses for anticorruption enforcement – including antitrust – based on whether they oppose him or suck up to him. I think American business leaders know it, too, which is why every tech boss lined up to give Trump a public rim-job last week:

https://daringfireball.net/2024/11/i_wonder

Trump killed the AT&T-Time Warner merger to punish CNN. He went after Google to punish "woke" tech firms. That doesn't make AT&T, Time Warner or Google good. They're terrible monopolists and the US government should be making their lives miserable.

Trump will not need to falsify evidence against corporations that are disloyal to him. All of America's big businesses are cesspits of sleaze, fraud and predation. Every merger that is being teed up now for the coming four years is illegal under the antitrust laws that we stopped enforcing in the Reagan era and only dusted off again for four years under Biden. They're all guilty, which means that Trump will be able to bring a valid case against any of them.

This will create a trap for people who hate Trump but don't pay close attention to anticorruption cases. It's a trap that Trump sprung successfully in his first term, when he lashed out at the "intelligence community" – the brutal, corrupt, vicious, lawless American spy agencies that are the sworn enemies of working people and the the struggle for justice at home and abroad – and American liberals decided that the enemy of their enemy was their friend, and energetically sold one another Robert Mueller votive candles:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/12/18/schizmogenesis/

Over the next four years, Trump will use antitrust and other corruption-taming regulations to selective punish crooked companies. He won't target them because they're crooked: he'll target them because they aren't sufficiently loyal to him.

If you let your hatred of Trump blind you to the crookedness of these companies, you lose and Trump wins. The reason Trump will find it easy to punish these companies is that they are all guilty. If you let yourself forget that, if you treat your enemy's enemy as your friend, then Trump will point at his political rivals and call them apologists for corruption and sleaze – and he'll be right.

It is possible for Trump to fight corruption corruptly. That's exactly what he'll do. But just because Trump hates these companies, it doesn't follow that we should love them.

[beardedmrbean]

Centrist Democrats are slamming their far-left colleagues following Election Day, arguing that their emphasis on "identity politics" and other issues handed huge victories to the GOP.

Rep. Ritchie Torres, D-N.Y., argued that President-elect Trump has "no greater friend than the far left." Like-minded Democrats say racial politics, anti-police rhetoric and gender hysteria are alienating millions of voters.

"There is more to lose than there is to gain politically from pandering to a far left that is more representative of Twitter, Twitch, and TikTok than it is of the real world," Torres wrote on X. "The working class is not buying the ivory-towered nonsense that the far left is selling."

Longtime Democratic strategist James Carville put it more bluntly in a Sunday interview with the New York Times, calling "defund the police" the "three stupidest words in the English language."

"We could never wash off the stench of it," he said.

Torres is one of several Democratic lawmakers in both the House and the Senate who have called out his party's "nonsense." One centrist House Democrat complained to Axios on Monday that the "identity politics stuff is absolutely killing us."

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., argued on Sunday that Democrats are "out of touch with the crisis of meaning/purpose fueling MAGA."

"We don't listen enough; we tell people what's good for them. And when progressives like Bernie aggressively go after the elites that hold people down, they are shunned as dangerous populists. Why? Maybe because true economic populism is bad for our high-income base," Murphy wrote.

Not all Democrats are ready to make a change, however. When Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., broke with his party to condemn biological males playing in women's sports last week, he faced an avalanche of hate.

"Democrats spend way too much time trying not to offend anyone rather than being brutally honest about the challenges many Americans face," Moulton said in a New York Times report. "I have two little girls, I don’t want them getting run over on a playing field by a male or formerly male athlete, but as a Democrat I’m supposed to be afraid to say that."

The statement resulted in calls for Moulton to resign, and at least one of his staffers quit in protest.

Massachusetts state Rep. Manny Cruz suggested Moulton's stance was "a betrayal" in a post on X.

"Congressman Moulton, your commitment then was protecting the LGBTQ community, standing up for their rights, and compassion. Now, on a political whim, our Congressman has betrayed the words he signed onto just last year by scapegoating transgender youth in sports for the failures of the national Democratic Party and leaders to win the presidential election. You said you 'would stand with Nagly and with all our community … against all forms of bigotry, discrimination, bullying, and harassment,'" Cruz wrote. 

Salem city Councilor Kyle Davis, another Democrat, called for Moulton to resign. 

"I’m not looking for an apology from [Moulton], I’m looking for a resignation," Davis wrote in a post on X.

Moulton refused to apologize and instead doubled down in a statement late last week.

"I will fight, as I always have, for the rights and safety of all citizens. These two ideas are not mutually exclusive, and we can even disagree on them. Yet there are many who, shouting from the extreme left corners of social media, believe I have failed the unspoken Democratic Party purity test," he said.

"We did not lose the 2024 election because of any trans person or issue. We lost, in part, because we shame and belittle too many opinions held by too many voters and that needs to stop. Let’s have these debates now, determine a new strategy for our party since our existing one failed, and then unite to oppose the Trump agenda wherever it imperils American values."

[patriottruth]

Every male trump voter in the United States is about to learn the truth about the deeply-rooted genetic rage that all living American women and girls of all ages have toward any and every male who voted, or who even would vote, for donald j. trump...

Luke 11:51 from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, this generation will be held responsible for it all.

Every generation of American women have been victimized by trash like donald j. trump, nick fuentes, and every worthless piece of shit like them. It's like in Kamala Harris' presidential campaign vs. donald trump's presidential campaign:

Is her laugh perfect? Are her hair, clothes, and makeup flawless and has she avoided wearing a similar-looking outfit and/or fashion accessory more than once? Is she physically fit and pretty? Is she perfectly spoken at all times while being simultaneously pleasant and non-offensive? Is she enunciating perfectly at all times? Is she presenting herself in a refined, sophisticated, and high-class manner at all times, while simultaneously coming across as a lady of the common folks, without sounding fake, forced, condescending, or patronizing?

But donald trump? Lazy, fat slob with caked and greasy spray-on fecal application, wearing the same thing every time, and then there's all of that no-class, low-class, low-IQ, no-IQ, uneducated, boorish, word-slurring, mindnumbingly boring, retarded screaming-at-clouds, hateful Nazi grandpa routine showcasing extreme cognitive decline...and he and everyone like him in the United States gets a free pass, patted on the back, congratulated, awarded, rewarded, glorified, and celebrated as the living avatar of "American Exceptionalism" and genetic perfection while calling any women they work with their "work-wives" and expecting them to dress and act as a 1930's, 1940's, 1950's, 1960's, and 1970's wife should for her "loving" husband (whom she's entirely dependent on and thankful for).

Kamala Harris is being brutalized and treated as if she's the worst failure in American history, yet, if we can actually trust the swing state results, it's possible that trump may have only won each of the swing states by tens of thousands to less than 150,000 in most cases; and at this time, donald trump only has around 3,000,000 more popular votes than Kamala Harris nationwide (Hillary Clinton beat donald trump by 3,000,000 popular votes in 2016 with 5,000,000 less votes than Kamala Harris received in 2024). Why wasn't donald trump brutalized in all the same ways for losing to Hillary Clinton by 3,000,000 votes in 2016?

And then there's the lie that no one showed up to vote for Kamala Harris because of a whole host of reasons you normally hear coming out of the mouths of male domestic abusers; but it's coming from men and women talking heads at the main media outlets. And let's not forget about how those domestic abuser insults include being incapable of managing money (a man's job, a breadwinner's job, but never a woman's job or entitlement). Kamala Harris is receiving massive 1930's, 1940's, 1950's, 1960's, and 1970's misogynistic abuse from every possible outlet that was cordial to her until the last poll closed on November 5, 2024.

American Women Have Only Had a Legal/Constitutional Right to Vote to Advance the Human and Civil Rights of All American Women and Girls Since August 26, 1920 (104 years).

American Women and Girls Have Only Had Access to Real Financial Independence Since October 28, 1974 (50 years).

American Women and Girls Have Only Had Access to Real Business Ownership Since October 25, 1988 (36 years).

The entire American story of real human and civil rights for American women and girls is only as old as most living American grandmothers and their daughters, granddaughters, and great granddaughters.

American males of all ages are about to be tested for their character, qualities, truth, and honor; and the ones who fail the tests they'll never realize they're taking won't be reproducing more donald trumps, nick fuentes', and trump voters.

There are stories all over Reddit about American Thanksgiving and Christmas get-togethers being cancelled and people cutting trump-voting family members and former friends out of their lives for voting to end their human and civil rights, freedoms, privileges, and entitlements that American women and girls of all ages have only started to really enjoy for the last 50 years.

American women in their 90's and 80's placed all their hopes and dreams in their daughters who are now in their 60's and 50's; and those daughters placed all of their and their mother's hopes and dreams into their daughters who are now in their 30's and 20's; and those daughters placed all of their hopes and dreams into their daughters; but because of every last trump-voting male in the United States, all of those American women and girls' hopes and dreams are in the process of being completely and permanently destroyed; and all of those pre-K and K-12 daughters now have less rights than their great grandmothers.

You can't treat other human beings that way and think they're not gonig to feel certain ways about it.

I really wouldn't want to be a male trump voter right about now...

After nick fuentes made his little "Your Body, My Choice," "Men Win," and "There Will Never Be a Female President...NEVER" speech, women doxxed him, showed up at his house, he pepper-sprayed one and kicked her down a flight of brick stairs, police and EMS showed up to care for the woman, and now little nick fuentes is hiding in his mommy's basement so she can protect his "Alpha Male" self.

Fool around and find out is definitely the phrase of the day.

[ujunxverse]

.

[synthe4u]

The stress was beginning to seep in. Your eyebags becoming more visible by the day. No one could tell you were more tired than the past week.

You were more quiet and less aggressive in your talking. You seem to have lost your spirit in a way, but of course, the man in the mask figured it out.

Ghost eyed you on the other side of the room. You were bobbing your head, nearly falling asleep before being shaken awake by the slight fall of your body.

You were being distracted by the lights and paid no mind to Ghost's wandering eyes.

It wasn't until around 2100 (9:00pm) when he knocked at your door. You weren't asleep yet. Your light was still on.

Opening the door you asked, "Is something wrong?"

You hadn't changed out of uniform and still seemed out of it.

"Why aren't you asleep?"

"Why are you awake?"

You snapped back at him. You weren't in the mood. You've been tolerable all day, no arguments or fights, but it's clear he came to ruin that.

He stared at you in silence. The mask made him more intimidating which caused you to fess up.

You ran your hands through you hair, frowning in disgust at the knots in your hair.

"Just some family problems is all."

"Losing sleep over your family?"

You sighed, "What do you need?"

"Need you to sleep so we could complete this mission."

"I'm not broken, I can still do the mission."

Silence permeated the hall, other than the occasional fizzle from that one light the base swears isn't broken or haunted.

"Can I come in?"

The door widened a foot further, allowing the masked man inside. You didn't understand why you would let him in. You don't let anyone in your room, at least, not for silly matters like this.

He followed you further into your room after shutting the door, and settled on the side of your bed. You didn't have time to question it before you fell.

Collapsing on the spot, Ghost caught you before the ground could do actual damage to your body.

I guess the sleep had caught up to you, just as Ghost had caught you.

Sleep truly is not for the weak. Stay healthy, guys.

.............................................................................................................

masterlist

[peribound]

you know how in japanese teddies name is kuma but they changed it in translation? what if that was the same case for every character. yosuke? nah man that’s gonna be some shit like kyle. i just threw up in my mouth typing that i hate you kyle

[redjaybathood]

Less glib answer, it depends on whether he's actually a Ukrainian. The girl obv isn't - despite her name, she singles him out. It's not "we're Ukrainians", it's "he's a Ukrainian immigrant", as in, formerly from Ukraine, it's unknown how long ago he immigrated. Ethnicity means fuck all to nationality; nationality is a political matter rather than something unchangeable and informed only by your origin. He might as well be American - I do despise her to throwing this away, as we don't get enough hate as it is.

I also wonder what native language he switched to, that she doesn't say.

Another matter why some people in America who care about Ukraine would vote for Trump in genuine belief that he would help Ukraine - is them being disappointed in Dems dilly-dallying and honestly doing a lot to protect russian military objects. Thereas Trump is Republican, republicans are supposed to be more militaristic, more aggressive. Like Bush, right? So I guess they expect him to lift the current restrictions on weapons provided, and send more weapons too, because it also helps US on many levels.

There are also people of Ukrainian origin in America who are outright working against Ukraine, like that woman politician, Victoria something, ugh. Hate her tbh.

But yeah, basically, the same way someone from Mexico or Cuba or wherever would vote for Trump. They're Americans now.

[every-sanji]

[shannonsketches]

like why did they change where Vegeta was when Cell announced the cell games in the anime

why did they make this vegeta starting shit with yamcha instead of chillin in the lab with his family? why did they take Bulma out of the lab? Why'd they say she was Out while Dr Brief was repairing 16? Why did they change Bulma working on advanced robotics to running in late with her baby?

it's the same scene except: - Bulma's actively at work being a scientist - Vegeta's not being rude to her (or anyone else!) - Vegeta waits for Trunks instead of leaving the room - Cell interrupted the airwaves, which means Trunks and Vegeta were just hanging out with Bulma and Dr B while they were working

Those are all Great Character Details!! That the anime rails against!!

[ultramaga]

In Australia, regardless of who you vote for, things stay pretty much the same. Why?

For example, in Australia, Leftists have screwed up the country, making it more and more sexist and racist. How? Because they decided to create a "totally independent" body to police sexism and racism and so on, called the AHRC. Now if a Leftist screeches for the death of people of a certain group, the AHRC checks against the list of approved targets. Basically the government claims to be neither sexist nor racist, because it has checked itself. It just pretends that the Leftists of the AHRC are just somehow coincidentally coming up with the same conclusions that they do. So any politician who wanted to remove the discrimination would have to sack a huge amount of the civil service here, who are almost entirely staffed by people who hate the country and every one in it. Leftists saw that the way to infiltrate and subvert wasn't through democracy, but through the back doors. And if a politician tried to reform thing here, chances are they would be ruined and retired. All of the media, with maybe the exception of Sky News, would pump out propaganda against them, and every member of the huge civil service, down to the teachers, would be quietly pushing for their destruction via social media. You do not speak against this if you are a teacher, or you will be next.

I remember decades ago I spoke to a Labor Politician called Peter Garrett.

Yep, that was him, back in the days he was an edgy rocker. Anyway, he told me he didn't believe in any of the things he'd been saying. He'd gotten elected on words he'd sung, but had never meant. I argued that Australia needed a Bill of Rights, like the Americans had. He told me primly that the Labor Party had decided that the serfs do not need such things. I was hardcore Labor as a child, and that started my drift away. I had a look at the rival Party, but found it was just a watered down version - really, that's predictable as I believe the same marketing company was determining their policies. None of them had the guts to believe in anything, because they wanted the cushy chair and the cushy pension, and if they spoke up against the status quo, they'd be tossed out and left to drown in the sea of media hatred.

There are no independent voices on Aus. Media, not really. I watched ABC Australia the other night and they were discussing the election, and Fox News. I was confused as to why they thought they were important - most youtube channels have more viewers. Hell, I remember when Sargon of Akkad regularly pulled in more views. He was a gigantic influence globally, but he was never mentioned by the ABC. He was erased from existence - but they couldn't do the same with the Joe Rogan show, not entirely. The funny thing is Joe used to be their sort of guy, used to believe the things they did, but the Leftists moved hard away from Freedom and to Totalitarianism, and ever since it has been the quiet little youtubers and podcasters who have been moving the needle. JRE is important, but if he was assassinated tomorrow, the resistance to Leftism would carry on. Hell, Asmongold was just another gaming channel, and it became politicised. Leftists have become too awful and powerful to be ignored. You can't just tune out after work now, when loading up Dragon Age means having someone lecture at you for hours about gender pronouns.

Everywhere you look, there is Leftist propaganda, often State funded like with Dustborn, which taxpayers were forced to pay for. So it's natural now for normal people to look for a game, give up, look for a movie, give up, look for any goddamn thing that entertains - and the only thing left is youtubers encouraging them to burn the whole damn thing down and start again.

[jevilowo]

TOP TEN WORST TYPES OF TF2 MISCHARACTERISATION: (in my opinion)

Woobified Scout (we've all been subject to it at some point)

"Feral" (rapist) Sniper (scary)

Not smart Heavy (man has a phd, smh)

Seme/Uke ass Heavymedic dynamic (and also woobified Medic)

Those "it was a girl all along" type Pyro fics (they fill me with such raw feral rage its insane)

Asshole dad Spy (can be fun in small doses but gets taken way too far 80% of the time)

Racist/Homophobic Soldier (HE WOULDN'T. Unless told to predjudice the enemy BUT THATS IT)

To the same extent, needlessly assholish Soldier (only exists to add another billion Scout Angst fics to the pile)

When Engie is "the normal one" (he's a maniac with a god complex, get it right)

Demo being ignored, or just having his alcoholism be the only thing about him

An honourable mention is making Ms Pauling straight /j

[iaminjail]

day 17 - alternate universe

guys i fw genderbend aus sooooooo hard i love the girlypops

[lateseptemberdawn]

would bts be bts if even a single one of them was missing? the answer is no, and here is why.

saw a comment just now on lost mv about rm being the secret behind bts's success and that just sent me to the previous similar claims about taehyung and jungkook and that just led me to think that bts really would not be what it is if it weren't for all seven of them. like. each and every one of them brings something so crucial and fundamental that it becomes impossible to imagine bts to be what they are now without even a single one of them. and since i like to dig through personalities and characteristics, im going to thrive making this post so lets get into it:

Namjoon: Obviously the leader and a damn good one at that. he is the brains of the group. the fact that he knows english is itself a great reason for their establishment in the west but of course its much more than that. his writing and composing skills are no joke, first of all. his mature perspective on life and people helped a great deal in sort of identifying exactly what take to have on any circumstance. he knows emotions, is damn good at identifying them in himself as well as others, which becomes helpful in pinpointing what their fans want and expect. i wouldn't say he's a saint, i wouldn't say any of them are, and i suppose it'd be hard to be Good and Humbled after the heights they've touched but, he's very good at projecting himself and his team as well. his leadership skills are so refined you can tell its inherent because the way he takes stands and also makes sure all the members are represented is honestly a treat to watch. i wouldn't call him the backbone of the group because that's the next member we will be talking about.

Seokjin: He is the backbone. recent weverse interview offered a damn good insight to his mentality and i have to say, it's beyond whimsical or naïve. in today's day and age, and even before, especially for a korean man, to have that much confidence and self-assuredness that manages to not be toxic or overly forced onto the others is a fresh wave of breeze in a world where men are desperate to be noticed for the smallest of things. his maturity differs greatly from namjoon, as i think their foundations of their life philosophies are separate from each other. while namjoon is more of a worldly-wise guy, seokjin is more into the self aspect of life, and both of them combined are a very healthy ideologies to grow up around. seokjin may have had moments of suffering and self-doubt, that is not what i'm insinuating, but the fact that he's grown past those phases in such a beautiful way is inspiring, not only to the fans, but especially to the younger group members. he is insanely good at handling the member's separate personalities, even better than namjoon who i think is more tied around the professional aspect of their personalities. this is not to say that he doesn't know them personally very well, of course he does, but it means that he probably doesn't know best how to interact with them on a more personal, nuanced level, which i think we will all agree, seokjin is a genius at. ("what if he flings it?" "then he flings it.")

Yoongi: Yoongi, of course, the musical genius, he brings in passion to the group. I will admit i dont really know all that much about the fundamentals of music, but i know enough to know that Yoongi is definitely a genius of the field. while i think that namjoon is more of a lyrical genius, yoongi sure knows his way around words as well. but his strength is definitely in composing. and he's insanely talented at that. his early passion in rapping and his emotional connect to it fueled his rage and his need to be successful at it, and i feel contrary to what it seems like, he is the type to not let go of his dreams no matter what. i feel he is someone who picks his battles for the long haul and never ever thinks of quitting, no matter how hard it gets. that tenacity i think he shares with every single member on some level but in different ways. i think namjoon is more practical and reasonable in his pursuits, and jin is more self-studying, but yoongi seems like someone who, if has decided for himself that it is something he needs to do, will simply jump into it headfirst, and no matter what else he might need to do, he won't hesitate in doing that, will simply try until he gets it. being such a musical genius, he knows the musical strengths of his group mates. he identifies and values each aspect of bts, theirs strengths and weaknesses, and knows how to work through them. he not only recognises their specialties, but also encourages them greatly, resulting in the betterment and strengthening on bts as a muscial group.

Hoseok: Hoseok is the perfectionist. a very strict one at that. he does not play when it comes to professionalism, especially his field of it, and that's helped the group in strengthening this other aspect of idol life. of course, dance is one of the main things that makes any kpop act famous. and hoseok is definitely a huge part of the reason why bts is known for its choreographies. hoseok is serious when it comes to dance and synchronization and being absolutely perfect on the stage and in front of the camera. its not that he does not tolerate mistakes, but that he has that leadership quality of knowing who to push, when to push and just how hard to push them. but hoseok comes with dual benefits, because he is of course the sunshine of the group. hoseok is perhaps the best at compartmentalising, at distinguishing his personal life from his professional one, because he snaps the moment he recognises the need to slip off his professionalism. he is an incredible person to be around. that is evident in his compact relationships with the members. he shares a special friendship with each and every one of them, they all trust him to share their time with him and he shares a sort of playful comradery with every single one that it is always a treat to witness. he brings in that flavour of friendship that brings life to the group as a whole, because his closeness with every single one of them separately, in couples, triplets, quadrats or quintets or all seven of them together is the exact same: it brings playfulness to the front, a sort of easygoing, casual, free atmosphere that tells that he is someone who is a great friend. he brings in discipline as well as that humanness that needs to be tied together in order for anyone to reach anywhere in life, that bts has thruough hoseok.

Jimin: While hoseok brings in the professional aspect of dance in the group, jimin brings in his own separate flavour to it. one that, in my opinion, is the richest out of all of them. similar to hoseok, jimin too is a perfectionist. his perfectionism, however, revolves more around himself, as in he strives and strives to be the absolute best version of himself that he can be for any bit. he seems like someone who compartmentalizes in the extremes, as in he completely immerses himself in the environment he is in. his artistic vision appears to be rigid to him, it can maybe get him in his head, and that is perhaps why he gets lost in it sometimes. his solo does mention getting lost in feelings, going crazy in his reaching, and while they may not be autobiographical, it still says something about him. his personality is more loving and pure, he is caring in a way that seems angelic, knows himself and in that also finds it easier to know others, similar to seokjin. jimin brings in the heart of bts. he is simply full of feelings, but he is articulate and knowledgeable in navigating through them. his addition in the group is his loveliness and his exquisite talent. not only is he an exceptional dancer, but his voice is simply a whole other thing all together. his range and tone is so unique and vast, that bts manages to seamlessly transcend musical restrictions. his vocals are no joke, he is also a good enough rapper, was almost trained in it as well. what jimin brings to the stage when the performance is on is something that only he can bring. he sets the stage in sensuality without even trying, he expertise in the dance forms brings bts that all-rounder status with a depth that would not be possible without jimin.

Taehyung: The face of bts, no doubts at all. he is the one that brings in the crowd in bulks with a single blink of his eye. and i wish i was exaggerating but from my own experiences and almost experiences and judging by what i was listening in the fast-growing fanbase during boy with luv era, i really am not exaggerating at all. its not just his face either. or, perhaps it is, but it's not just his face that does all the work. his personality is such that it just sticks out. not always in the best way, we all know he also has the most haters out of them all as well, but the point stands; he attracts. with the least efforts, he becomes the crowd magnate that if nothing else, makes bts known at the very least. his position in the group has always been dynamic, from the very beginning to even now. being a hidden member, not having any main positions; sharing the visual position with jin, sharing the vocal positions with jungkook and jimin, no separate training to get him into the dance line-up, not enough training in being a rapper -- taehyung has had to prove himself to earn any position at all. but he has achieved his own place in the group in the same effortless manner that he does everything else. and that is what beings in the charisma. while his singing or dancing or visuals or rapping are incredible in themselves, it's no secret that he has grown to betterment. unlike jimin or hoseok or yoongi, taehyung seems to do things simply because he wants to do them. and he seems to be the type to want to be Good at what he does. he is also perhaps the one member in the group whose personality has changed the most over the years out of all of them. that makes him dynamic, it makes him captivating because he does not remain constant and seems to hold parallels inside himself. his uniqueness contributes immensely to the factor, because it doesn't take long to recognise that taehyung is far from being the average person you meet, in fact, he is nowhere close to it. he is smart in a way that he keeps hidden. perceptive in a way that is surprising every single time he lets it break out. he is effortlessly perfect, and he makes it known. he is in control of how he is perceived and that makes him clever in a way that keeps people on their toes whenever he shows up.

Jungkook: The pure, sheer, talent. he is the one that is born for it. the one that can do it all, and can do it all well. like the younger sibling in families, jungkook too is the handyman of the group. there is nothing else to say, he simply really was born to be jungkook of bts. it helps that he is insanely humble and incredible grateful for bts, because that makes him the fuel that that keeps the group running. he lives for bts, not for himself, but for this life. and while that is problematic on a lot of levels, it seems like he sort of is getting the hang of what it means to be a human. it is understandable, since he was recruited at a very young age, and that is also what contributes to him being theoretically perfect. every group needs undiluted talent, talent that can be molded into whichever vessel that is needed, and in bts, that talent is brought in by jungkook. he was acknowledged and acclaimed for it in the beginning itself, he is known by being perfect, and that ideal, the ideal of perfection in all its forms, thats what jungkook symbolises. his perfection comes from not only his born talent, but the fact that he puts effort behind it. him having perfect pitch is what he is born with, but he has trained himself in such a way that he can reach any vocal range at all. he has an energetic body, but he pushes himself to drive that energy out in every single performance to the point of near collapse. his perfection comes from his efforts, his efforts come from his humility, and that comes from keeping the truth of his talents to himself and keeping to work on them. he has never been one to sit idle, or be satisfied, or held himself back. when he gives, he gives in full. and perhaps that is the he is the one that feels the most amongst all of them. his gratitude towards the fans is what keeps them loyal like he is. he never fails to mention his fans for his success, never takes their support for granted, and despite being not as good as namjoon at voicing his feelings, he has such a face that reveals it all. his devotion to his fans is one that is rare to see anywhere else, and that's what maintains the hold bts has on its fans. jungkook is humble to a fault, but the fact that he is learning to think of himself is another beautiful thing entirely.

thus bts would definitely not be bts if even a single one of them wasnt part of it. brain, backbone, passion, discipline, heart, face and talent. even a single aspect goes missing, and you don't have bts. its another thing that they definitely would not be here if it weren't for bighit to push them in the west specifically with its insane pity-gaining and story-selling since the beginning of the formation of the group, but that's a whole different matter all together. bang-pd certainly had no good intentions for the boys individually or even separate from being idols who work under his company, so it makes me not want to call him or the company the soul of bts, but when you really look at it, i guess it wouldn't be too far off the truth to say they sort of did end up selling their souls to the company with its own selfish goals so it would somehow in a twisted way make sense. but anyways, yes, bts is bts because of bighit/bang-pd as well.

[putridpride]

happy (not that stoked) Labor Day to all the mfs that work today. especially if y'all aren't getting time & a half or double time. Thank you for working because it's what u have to do to survive. Labor Day is only a blue collar worker/office job kinda holiday, so bless you all that are working like it's any other day, I promise we see ya and appreciate y'all <3

[hussyknee]

Not entirely sure how I'm expected to respond when I point out something is white as fuck and the person I'm criticizing goes "I'm literally PoC!!" Okay? Good for you? Get well soon??

I literally live in South Asia, a place still nursing the world's worst colonial hangover. That's like one billion brown people desperately in need of joining Bootlickers Anonymous. If I had to respect the rancid takes of every yahoo that lives here I'd have to drown myself in the sea.

Living in white countries does something odd to diaspora brains. If you call yourself BIPOC in your own head long enough you end up forgetting you're just a garden variety idiot mainlining white supremacy like everyone else.

[todayisafridaynight]

THIS IS GONNA SOUND SO MEAN BUT WHY DO U LIKE RYO AOKI/MASATO

masato hot