#this one gets really political
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So, let's talk about Jet. Both the episode and the character. I think I've discovered here the core philosophical flaw that's really going to haunt the rest of the Last Air Bender's runtime and exponentially expand in Legend of Korra.
Before we really get into this, I will acknowledge a boldness to Avatar: The Last Air Bender. This came out in 2005. So, Bush has just been solidly re-elected, the imperial invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan are in full swing, and the American propaganda aparatus is firing on all cylinders to ensure public support for all of this. That a story about fighting colonialism and imperialism would even come out of a major studio (Viacom) at that time is nothing short of a miracle. It was a very brave story to tell at the time.
That being said, we still have a problem. Despite this story's core conceit of anti-colonialism, it remains a fact that, like most Western creatives, the creators of Avatar are Liberals. And while from a distance they might obviously be able to agree that imperialism is terrible, it very much hinders their ability to engage with liberation movements. A problem that we see for the first time in Jet.
Watching the episode, and seeing the way this story deals with this character, I can't help but be reminded of every time I've gotten into a conversation about Palastine and been brick walled by "But what about Hamas!?" Because that's exactly what the Freedom Fighters are meant to stand in for. They are the liberation movement that goes too far. Hamas, the IRA, the Mau Maus, etc. Righteous goals but just too much violence and inconvenience for Western Liberal sensibilities. Scratch a Katara and an Ozai bleeds, apparently.
Maybe Jet just had to be a sacrificial lamb to get the whole project off the ground. Like I said, the American propaganda aparatus was Hell bent on promoting not one but two imperialist wars at the same time, and maybe a "Well, don't fight colonialism too hard" is what was required to keep the green light on. But considering how quickly the Legend of Korra descends into bare faced anticommunism in its first season, I'm not really inclined to believe this was just a solid they were doing for the network.
And I guess the thing that really grinds my gears about this is that Jet is never forgiven for this. In a story where a genocidal warlord like Iroh can find redemption, the angry 16 year-old boy who lost everything to colonial atrocity can not. He is doomed and eventually condemned to death by this offense against the Liberal worldview of his creators. Executed for being unpalatable.
#richard rewatches avatar (yes AGAIN)#avatar#avatar the last airbender#atla#jet#freedom fighters#this one gets really political
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A Pragmatic and surprisingly comforting perspective about the Trump 2nd Presidency from the ACLU
***Apologies if this is how you found out the 2024 election results***
Blacked out part is my name.
I’m not going to let this make me give up. It’s disheartening, and today I will wallow, probably tomorrow too
AND
I will continue to do my part in my community to spread the activism and promote change for the world I want to live in. I want to change the world AND help with the dishes.
And I won’t let an orange pit stain be what stops me from trying to be better.
A link to donate to the ACLU if able and inclined. I know I am
#us politics#donald trump#election 2024#aclu#a promise to myself#how is this comforting you May ask#bc we are not fighting alone or uninformed#we have good and strong groups in our corners defending what we believe in#it’s not over yet#we have to try and pushback#added Alt image descriptions since this is leaving containment#happy to see many engaging with this to either donate time or money or both#really warms the cold heart of mine#wow this broke containment#overall it’s been pretty nice seeing people engaging with it ready to roll up their sleeves and get to work#they did the travel ban right at the beginning of the previous presidency too#also every major civil battle in the last century#brown V board of education- the one that desegregated schools#loving V Virginia- legalized interracial marriage#roe V wade- legalized abortion#United States V Nixon- watergate scandal WHICH LIMITED US PRESIDENTAL POWER#Edwards v. Aguillard- helped allow schools to teach evolution#Planned Parenthood v. Casey- another abortion case#ACLU v. NSA- to stop the NSA spying on wikipedia users#Ingersoll v. Arlene's Flowers- fought to stop LGBTQ discrimination from businesses#Obergefell v. Hodges- case that legalized gay marriage#literally WAY MORE GUYS#so don’t fall into dispair! these are literally one of the good ones!
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You know I used to think "tumblr's absolute refusal to actually engage with the Trolley Problem in favor of insisting that there must be a third, morally pure option that doesn't require them to make a hard decision and anyone who asks them to make a binary choice is just a short-sighted idiot is really fucking annoying, but I guess it's not actually doing any harm".
Anyway that was before we asked tumblr at large to decide between "guy aiding a genocide but making progress elsewhere" and "guy who would actively and enthusiastically participate in a genocide and would also make everything else much, much worse for everyone elsewhere" and the response was that there must be a third, morally pure option that doesn't require them to make a hard decision and that anyone who asks them to make a binary choice is a short-sighted idiot.
#there is not a third option. it is either trump OR biden#and one of those will be much MUCH worse for palestine#i'm really really sorry that these are the options. i wish they weren't.#but WHAT third option are you trying to take here? what on earth is your proposed outcome#that will actually make things better for palestine?#because letting trump win the election is NOT going to help them#i'm sorry but you need to set aside your feelings and take the option that will lead to less harm to palestine in the long run#you talk such a big game about how people need to be willing to make sacrifices to help palestine#but you yourself aren't even willing to hold your nose and vote to stop things from getting worse?#or did you think 'sacrifice' only meant not getting mcdonalds for a few months?#us politics
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Always use "excuse me" if you have to get into someone else's personal space.
Someone at the store is standing in front of the shelf where there's a can you want to grab? Don't just reach into their personal space without warning, say "excuse me" or "pardon my reach" first so that they at least have a warning that someone is about to reach into their personal space, and most importantly, so that they have a chance to move before you get into their space.
Or if someone is standing on a walkway or in a doorway you need to get through, don't just silently shove past them or squeeze past them, say "excuse me" so that they have a warning that a someone is about to squeeze or shove into their personal space, and they have a chance to move out of the way before you do you.
People deserve a fair warning if someone is about to squeeze or shove or reach into their personal space. A lot of people are not okay with having someone, but especially a stranger, randomly shove or squeeze or reach into their personal space without warning. They also deserve a chance to move out of the way first for the sake of their comfort.
Try to avoid just staring at people who are in your way and expecting them to read your mind that you want them to move. Most people cannot, in fact, read minds, so having someone stand in front of them and stare at them often only leads to making them feel uncomfortable and frustrated.
But also more importantly, if you are standing somewhere someone needs to get to, and they say excuse me, you should move aside for them even if just temporarily, so they can avoid the discomfort of having to reach into your personal space or squeeze past you.
If someone is saying "excuse me" it's because they would like you to move because they don't want to have to get into your personal space, whether it's out of respect for you, or just because they themselves are not comfortable getting in your personal space.
All of this goes double for people with trauma and/or people who are neurodivergent. If someone has trauma related to abuse or assault they may find it more upsetting or possibly triggering to suddenly have someone shoving or reaching in their personal space without warning.
Or, many types of neurodivergence can make it especially disturbing and unpleasant to have someone else in your personal space, especially without warning.
You can never be 100% sure who is and isn't traumatized and/or neurodivergent, so always practice respecting other's personal space by giving them a fair warning with "excuse me" or "pardon my reach" before getting in their personal space, and moving aside when you hear those magic words. Or, even if someone isn't traumatized nor neurodivergent, it's still fair to not like someone in your personal space without warning and not being given the opportunity to move first.
#manners#politeness#courtesy#good manners#etiquette#I'm so sorry I really tried to make this one shorter I really did#I trimmed the fat as much as I could but this was as short as I could bring myself to make it#Where I live most people will just shove into your personal space without saying anything#or just stare at you until you get the hint and move#and I hate it so much#Especially because I am both neurodivergent and have PTSD so I really hate people staring at me and/or shoving in my personal space
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because there is nothing to lose the people saying biden should resign now so kamala can still be the first female president are absolutely right but why stop there? inauguration day is 70 days away let's make "president for a day" a real thing. say "fuck it we ARE going to do the arbitrary quota DEI bullshit you accuse us of" and speedrun first [category] presidents. revolving door type thing.
first female president. first openly gay president. first transgender president. first president who has been to space. first president gamer president. first mime president. just play president bingo and hit as many categories as possible while we still can. make all of trump's #47 merch unusable by forcing him to be the 115th president instead. who cares anymore let's peacefully transition power but do it in the most chaotic hot-potato way possible
#us politics#politics tw#election 2024#joe biden#kamala harris#this is how bernie can still win!!!#like fuck it even let hillary have it for a day since she wanted it so freakin bad#each person pardons the one before and half the action is just pardons#if they're gonna dismantle the justice system as well as all the other systems of government just preemptively pardon anyone#if there's a policy that really needs to get passed just do executive order chain where each new person goes 'ditto'#make everything so frickin complicated to untangle that the trump admin has to spend the first 100 days#just sorting through paperwork#maybe malicious compliance and bureaucracy was the answer all along#'i guess you guys wanna do autocracy but we're gonna make it really irritating for you'
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sisko: *sigh* against my will and for complicated political reasons I am sent to save your sorry cardassian ass yet again. just get in the fucking car already pls
gul dukat: there's a hidden meaning in that! the usurper of terok nor obviously desires me carnally
#star trek#star trek ds9#ds9#benjamin sisko#gul dukat#'really captain this is quite pathetic -- you don't need to go to all this trouble to get my attention ;) just offer me my office back'#sisko stares into the camera with real but understated suffering b/c that's what happens to a person dealing with dukat#poor sisko. he's trying to have one (ONE) nice uninterrupted date with kasidy and he gets sent to bail dukat out AGAIN#nightmare assignment#gul dukat is the political cockroach of the alpha quadrant and now we all have to live with it for seven seasons
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i think L should've tried harder to piss light off. provoking light into slipping up would not only be hilarious i also think it would be extremely easy and effective. not saying you could get light to actually confess this way, but he would definitely make more dumb mistakes if, for example, L kept interrupting their homoerotic brain chess matches to insist that kira is actually matsuda because the butts match
#death note#rookposting#more ideas:#light tweets his detailed and reasoned thoughts on politics and law on his 122 follower twitter account#L uses his 1.4M follower acc to quote tweet him constantly with the word 'wrong' in all lowercase#L makes light watch detective pikachu and keeps going 'you should take notes light-kun i think you could learn a lot from that hamster'#(this one's anachronistic but it works on two levels because light is also irate that L is calling pikachu a hamster)#L keeps 'forgetting' light's name#L listens to light making an argument and stares at him for 0.4 seconds and then turns around like he never spoke#the taskforce gets a dog and L names the dog light. light (person) is now light 2#L keeps countering light's arguments with blatantly nonsensical rebuttals but interrupts him every time light tries to argue back#see L wouldn't do any of this because L is more concerned with playing their gayass game than he is with winning#but if for example L wanted to win instead of lose he should listen to my ideas about offering everyone a cup of coffee except light#because light should really take it easy on the caffeine it's starting to affect his complexion
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Soap can outdrink Ghost and Gaz. No doubt.
He can match Price pretty well but more often than not he can outdrink Price.
He tries to outdrink Alejandro and Rudy once. Manages to outdo Alejandro. He blacks out and wakes up several hours later and Rudy is still drinking.
He tries to outdrink Nikolai one occasion that they dub the incident, never once does he even think about it because it's been months and he still gags at the smell of anything vaguely alcoholic.
But these instances lead him to his best plan yet, get Rudy and Nikolai in the same place for a night and see who can outdrink the other.
#john soap mactavish#simon ghost riley#kyle gaz garrick#captain john price#cod nikolai#alejandro vargas#rodolfo rudy parra#jokes on him if he does it just results in the two sharing their deepest life stories and traumas to eachother#alejandro and price have to bully their respective partners to bed#rudy very politely tries to convince alejandro to let him get a cat for the base because he really wants one just let him get a kitty pleas#nikolai smacks johns arse then promptly falls into bed and is asleep within two minutes
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I hope leftists who think they’re above voting for president or are voting for Jill Stein or whoever because it’s their stupid way of protesting the system feel good about themselves, especially if Trump wins partly because of your negligence 😍 I know you’re not doing shit to plan the proletarian revolution, especially before January, so you guys better not complain about something harming you that you didn’t even bother to try and change
(edit: changed the last part bc I wrote “…if life gets a lot worse for you” cause that does nottt sound right at all and I apologize for writing that)
#if you have the option to help make change and do nothing then that’s your fault#ah yes! taking absolutely no action! that'll show the corrupt two-party system!#I’m literally a leftist too I don’t like aligning with the democrat party either but like… what other choice do we have right now#why not just vote for the one who sucks less#also you do know Jill Stein and Rudolph Ware don’t give a fuck about you or any leftist issues right#like they’re literally just there to get in the way for people who are too dumb to realize they’re basically just handing a vote to Trump#sorry for my raging here we see that I am very nervous for this election lol#and i know i'm being dramatic i don't actually want life to get worse for anyone but like... if you're anti-trump but don't vote for kamala#you're basically just getting what you asked for#american politics#vote blue#us politics#i know trump supporters are the ones to be angrier with ofc but this type of people are really irritating too#breaking: 20-year-old chronically online tumblr user changes the minds of thousands last-minute by ranting (/s)
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Fascinating how Polites, the character who is the personification of Odysseus' optimism and is only in 5 songs, is more grieved and appreciated than Eurylochus, a character who is his own person and is in 11 songs.
#I'm being a hater but meh :/ it's just kind of baffling to me. Don't get me wrong. Polites plays his purpose for the musical#and it is neat how Jay took one line from him in the Odyssey and got silly with it and basically created his own character.#but like... All we know about Polites is that he's nice... that's literally it. He's Odysseus' optimism personified. which is why he died.#And it's not as though it isn't sad that he died. It's just that we got to know Eurylochus longer and truly get to know him more#is it because with how little people know about Polites other than “uwu sweetiepie” people like that so they can headcanon more?#is it because Eurylochus is “too complex” and therefore “not likable”??#idk. I'm gonna be burned at the stake for this I know it. but I don't understand it.#like during “Love in Paradise” it wasn't “Open Arms” that made me sad. It was “How much longer...” and “Waiting...” that made me sad#I mean I'm an “UwU sweetiepie” too (not right now though clearly lol) so maybe I'm “meh” about him because he's just “me”?#Mad rambles#shot by odysseus#epic the musical#polites#eurylochus#hm. maybe I shouldn't tag this but I'm actually really kind of curious as to why people cling to him so much?
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while i'm thinking about terror character characterisation i think it's so vitally important to let crozier keep his rage after he recovers from alcoholism. he may temper it better now that he has full control of his faculties and direct it more rationally both out of a sense of responsibility of care for his men and guilt for the harm he caused while in the grip of the drink, but make no mistake that it's still there. good people don't have to stop being angry to be good, and recognising your capacity for violence doesn't stop you from being capable of it.
#🐉#its literally one of his defining traits that hes too honest and passionate for politics#this isnt really a criticism either because most people understand this in fanworks#im just very passionate about the importance of letting people stay angry even when they get better (← melanie king enjoyer)#the terror
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Heyyyy since there's talk of the Breezepelt Attacking Poppyfrost scene going around, I just wanna remind people that he explicitly does that because he was groomed by the Dark Forest. Jayfeather points it out on the page that Breezepelt's stated motivation doesn't make sense, because it's not actually a rational idea Breezy-P came up with. It's then shown that actual factual evil demons are exploiting the anger he has from being a victim of child abuse, to indoctrinate and manipulate him into radical violence
I wrote a little essay about this with citations and stuff. It wasn't "for no reason," and anyone who tries to use the scene as "evidence" of Breezepelt being Secretly Evil to justify the abuse he underwent as a kid either didn't read it, has bad reading comprehension skills, or is cherrypicking on purpose.
Crowfeather emotionally and physically abused his child, Breezepelt was socially alienated by WindClan as a result, which leads to this moment. That is what is on the page.
#Breezepelt#This is one of the few character arcs in the series with proper setup and payoff like. Pls#The Attacking A Nun scene is part of it#The book says that the demons influenced him to do that#Political groups targeting disenfranchised and traumatized groups is Radicalization 101#Pls this is one of the few bits of really REALLY unironically good writing in the series I'm dying squirtle#Kill them by pointing out the scene is literally proof that Breeze DIDNT act on pure bloodthirst#Or ambition or whatever#OTL#Warrior cats analysis#Breezy-P get behind me
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THIS ☝️☝️☝️ the fight woulda been a whole lot easier if we got Kamala but americans chose hard mode so no slacking for the next 4 years
#for the record this goes double if you chose not to vote#if you really believed that we would be able to affect just as much change with our activism under a fascist government as a democratic one#then you better PROVE IT.#get your ass up and out there and WORK for the change you didn't believe would happen under Kamala#because you had the confidence to believe that so back it up for the next 4 years NO slacking#your activism better be on X games mode#US politics#us elections#tiktok#video
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hilarious that with each new day that passes a new bit of dirt from JD Vance's past gets discovered and plastered over the internet...it's almost as if this is why presidential campaigns have always announced their running mates well before the convention...so that if glaring issues with a candidate came to light quickly there would be time to replace them on the ticket before they were officially locked in...it's almost as if certain things in political campaigns were done for a reason, donald...because the very same critical failures had happened before...but no i'm sure you and your guys attempt to recreate a fantasy version of history while ignoring all the reasons that history was a disaster will work this time...because you are built different and the 10000th time trying fascism will work like a charm...
#us politics#politics tw#i view the MAGA movement like this:#the conservatives have been desperately trying to jam a square peg into a round hole for a very long time#and they keep trying because one of these times its GOT to work! a very long time ago they heard the hole was more squarelike#so if they just TRY hard enough it will work!#failing to understand that the hole has become weathered and changed over time and the solution they are trying#will never work (if it ever did)#and then donald trump comes along and looks at the square peg#lobs one of the corners off and proclaims 'this is a triangle! THIS will work! I am so smart!'#and everyone around him is like 'whoa! this guy gets it! he's a genius and understands the problem! he's our savior!'#ignoring the fact that the peg is not a fucking triangle. it's just a deformed square now#so its still not going to work. and even if it WAS a triangle it still wouldn't work because THE HOLE IS ROUND.#it's the same damn peg but it looks a little different so everyone thinks its a genius solution that is DEFINITELY going to work#so they're all excited! they're FINALLY going to prove those idiots trying different types of oval pegs wrong!#they were right all along and it just took donald trump to see it! thank goodness he came along!#but that's just it-- he WAS just COMING ALONG. he was just walking by and saw an opportunity. he never spent time trying to make pegs#all he did was saw a crowd and took a chance to break an already failing peg even further#but because the people were desperate and it was different enough it seemed revolutionary#and now some of the conservatives--who can still see that the 'triangle' peg isnt a triangle are starting to look around#and see that elsewhere there have been some who have forced a triangle into the center of the round hole#and these people think well what if we ACTUALLY tried a real triangle?#and it does not matter to them in the slightest that it will never be the true solution to filling the hole#they just want credit for solving the problem#and so they are going to back donald trump and when the time is right put a real triangle in his hand#while the people trying ovals are busy arguing over the right type of oval#and once the triangle has been jammed into that hole...well...#it is going to be really really hard to force out#anyway thats a long and complicated metaphor and i probably should have just put it in its own post aaaaaahgh#long story short dont be a fascist triangle alright
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I don’t know how to explain any more clearly that it doesn’t MATTER if it seems legitimate to you. You have got to fact check every single headline and post and claim on the left just like you need to do on the right.
The left is NOT immune to misinformation and rushed reporting. And the more emotionally polarizing or shocking the talking points, sound bytes, and headlines are, the worse it is and more frequently it happens.
Learn to verify through multiple independent sources. If you can’t do that, you can’t trust it.
If you have to wait extra hours for the real information to come through vetted channels—NOT just one individual somewhere everyone links to, and not just one single media source either, EVEN if it’s a major news network—thats just how it has to be. What news outside of genuine local disasters near you TRULY needs your outrage and post-sharing in the next hour specifically?
Misinformation works best by not seeming like misinformation and by fitting in with the rest of what you already expect to see. It doesn’t help anyone to not be able to recognize and avoid the stuff.
#hey little star whatcha gonna queue?#and before I get any angry anons saying I’m making the argument that both sides are the same#I am not. and nowhere did I say that#and if your immediate reaction to any amount of criticism of leftist spaces or communication#is knee jerk outrage and defensiveness#this is an invitation to explore why that is for you.#this isn’t about anyone on here this is from conversations I’ve had with a few people IRL who have shared leftist misinformation a lot#so if you’re feeling attacked by this post and I haven’t directly spoken to you multiple times about misinformation with you responding bac#this isn’t. a vague post. about you. okay?#I cannot reiterate enough THIS IS AFTER IRL INTERACTIONS NOT A CAL OUT VAGUEPOST#and as one final note. IF YOU FOLLOW PEOPLE. WHO CONSTANTLY USE. THE MOST INFLAMMATORY WORDING CHOICES POSSIBLE.#YOU SHOULD NOT FOLLOW THOSE PEOPLE NO MATTER WHAT THEY TALK ABOUT.#no one communicating in true good faith to ALL PEOPLE about facts uses loaded language more than occasionally#the sooner you learn that the better. and that really starts narrowing down the pool of who you want to actually listen to (while still#verifying anything they tell you)#get higher standards!!!! and read some books or watch lectures about actual effective communication to broad groups without using tribalism#and also. anyone on the left trying to convince you of massive efforts and conspiracies that are anti everything#is also wrong 99% of the time and not a good source to listen to#never EVER assume conspiracy when it can be more simply explained through either#ignorance obliviousness incompetence financial greed or misunderstandings#the end. I’m really done this time. I’m just sick of seeing so many people fall prey to this#shh katie#cult escapee#politics and current events#don’t get swept up in the constant tsunami of performative online activism#election 2024#world events
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do you remember exactly where you were when basically im gay dropped? are there other d&p videos/content that you’ve had that experience with? am reminiscing and curious
#I was living in New York and I had to go soon so I had my phone propped up on the shelf in the closet so I could watch while getting ready#(kind of hilarious that my phone was literally in the closet while I watched him come outta the closet!)#but then I was crying and grinning#and I just remember feeling so unfathomably proud#and becoming a mess and I just couldn’t even remotely begin to process it all#and then I had to go to work and just be normal and not say a word and I just wanted to SCREAM don’t you know don’t you all know#you need to know!!!!!!!#and then I passed timothee chalamet on the street we nodded politely at each other that’s literally not remotely a lie#real rush of a day that was#I clocked him from like 3 blocks away bc yes I was gagging for him at the time and yes cmbyn changed my brain chemistry fuck you#I think I privated all my charmie bookmarks after the cannibalism stuff dropped lol but maybe not too lazy to check#ANYWAY.#dan and phil#phan#dan’s finest work one of the best videos on the platform period really such a beautiful perfect brave piece i love and appreciate him so.
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