#unfortunately i am not immune to propaganda

[happymeishappylife]

Like many of you are, waking up to the news this morning was shocking, saddening, and worrying. And while I am a believer of getting every last count, the numbers don't look strong enough to flip these results, as unfortunate as that is. But unlike 8 years ago where I felt miserable, lost, and unable to focus, I don't feel that way this time. Maybe thats because I got ready for work, just like I always do. Maybe thats because I know I will be talking to people who voted for this today, even a couple who didn't like the guy.

But overall, I am ready to keep fighting. And what this election has shown me more clearly is that we have to fight, but we also have a lot of work to do. The polarization in this country is ripping us apart and we need to fix that before we can fix the country. And to do that we need to do 3 things:

1. We need to build our communities back.

We are at a point with politics that people have made them their entire identities and thats all they consume, feel, and react to. We need to instead find a way to connect people to people. And we need to find the things we enjoy so we can get to know our neighbors as people with interests and not just people living on our streets. We need to raise each other up, help where we can, and we need to celebrate others achievements. That will help in this scary time and hopefully bring us back to a civility to discuss the heavier topics without making it feel like we need to attack each other or rip each others throats out.

And how do we do that?

2. We need to get people offline.

The 24 hour news cycle, political podcast and constant commentary is not healthy for anybody. Not only because it keeps everyone in a constant state of anxiety, but also because it traps people in their echo chambers and lets propaganda and radicalization breed into minds of otherwise normal people. And we are all susceptible to propaganda, don't think you are immune because you are on the other side. Its also getting worse by the spread of misinformation, AI, and bad actors who want to divide us and make us hate each other.

Now of course, we should be paying attention to what our leaders are doing, but we don't need to read every tweet or hear every soundbite. Instead, pick two times a day where you are ready to consume the news for 30 minutes or an hour. And don't take one source as gospel. Hear the news event, and double check other outlets to see how they are reporting it. Find the actual recordings and not just the clips. Because sadly, there is not a reputable news source anymore. And after that time, go do something else you love so you can start connecting to people in real life and relax which help the mental stress.

And yes, being online helps organize these events, but in person events will benfit us so much more. So please, find a way to disconnect from the virtual world and find a way to connect to real people again.

3. We must engage people to do their civic duty.

And no, I don't mean converting them to your side because everyone gets hostile about that. I am talking about, getting them engaged in the process at all because I have a sneaking suspicion that like 2016, a majority of Americans didn't vote at all this time.

But how do we do that?

We don't wait four years. In fact, this goes for people who are politically active too because we keep turning out every four years, but ignoring the elections where our votes really matter and affect the most change which can help make all of us feel like our vote does matter.

So start with your Town/City council. You don't have to watch the hearings/meetings (because they are arduous, trust me, I attend them), but read the news the day after, find out what they discussed, voted on, rezoned. Do you like it? Great, vote to keep those people on the councils. Don't? Vote them out. These elections happen every year and also involve ballot measures that affect your taxes and community. Understand the process and get involved here first, then your county, state, and them the federal. Then it won't be intimidating to get into and it won't be as polarizing.

And you may think 'but why should I vote for the superintendent when I don't have kids in school or the agricultural commissioner when I am not a farmer?' Do you want our society to be taught well or poorly? Do you want our food to be ethically produced or make us sick? You don't need to know the ins and outs for every issue or position but you can at least make sure qualified people are in those roles to make those decisions and not just people hoping for a platform.

So don't despair. I know thats hard today. I know it will feel desperate right now, but we can't give in. We can't give up. And we can survive this.

[superalloyman]

Spiderman 2099 doodles

[elipri]

If I told yall that this is one of my favorite scenes in the whole series, would you believe me? As much as I love damianya, what REALLY makes SxF stand out to me is the political nuance and care that Endo puts into his work.

This scene in particular has stuck out to me because I know it could very well apply to me as well. If I was told that the guy getting punched was a nazi, I'd have the same "positive" reaction, even though there's no verifiable evidence for that. And I think it's important to acknowledge that, because propaganda exists to rob us from our very human feeling of empathy. It is a vile weapon in order to dehumanize and justify unspeakable acts of violence. All I ask is to please not fall for it and to be on the side of the civilians, no matter what.

Because it's a slippery slope otherwise.

[r4bidcherry]

are you a will ship basically anything aroace or a very critical of shipping culture aroace

[shima-draws]

One of my friends showed me a song from the One Piece movie and now I want to watch it OH NO……do I need to have prior OP knowledge to watch the movie or can I just walk into it blind and get a general understanding of what’s going on

EDIT: Sorry I’m a dumbass I totally forgot that there’s multiple OP movies. It’s One Piece: Film Red!

[fragilecapric0rnn]

"this new stranger things promo won't get to me"

"oh yeah? well here's steve harrington AND the original monster hunting trio AND the core four and you know what? here's a crumb of wheeler sibling heart-to-heart"

FUCK

[2dieavirgin]

captain casey... =)

[lopsided-whiskey-grin]

friends, I have gotten the BEST ghostsoap prompts over the last few days and am so fucking excited to share them with you when I finish writing them! I seriously haven't been so inspired in my writing in YEARS and it is all thanks to these two boys. So keep those prompts coming! Don't be shy! I'm down so bad for these military men lmao

[spooky-something]

Hey, guys. Just so we know, every single person within the main political parties are pieces of shit including, YES, Democrats!!! Trump is a disgusting bigot, but Biden and Harris are genuinely no better whatsoever. The only difference is that they attempt to hide this via propaganda, and it works extremely efficiently. Fun fact: Trump is NOT associated with Project 2025. In fact, after doing research, because yes, I too, am not immune to propaganda, I learned he's actively DISTANCING himself AWAY from it. Does this mean I support Trump? Absolutely fucking not. I hate him beyond fathomable; but I hate Biden and Harris just the same! Remember, they're not good people. Just because fucking posts on here say something and it sure seems they're better, does NOT mean what you see is true. You are NOT immune to propaganda. Let's not vote Trump OR Harris. Third parties exist.

rb for bigger sample size. i'm actually really curious about this.

[ambrozians]

both mercs likely starting from the pit lane tomorrow oh i’m ending it all

[romantichore]

I am unfortunately not immune to propaganda nor am I immune to pathetic long-limbed men with velvety voices and long flowing red hair who rip their own eyes out and have a snake trapped in their body, pray for me 🙏📿

[i-love-your-light]

too many thoughts on the new hbomberguy video not to put them anywhere so:

with every app trying to turn into the clock app these days by feeding you endless short form content, *how many* pieces of misinformation does the average person consume day to day?? thinking a lot about how tons of people on social media go largely unquestioned about the information they provide just because they speak confidently into the camera. if you're scrolling through hundreds of pieces of content a day, how many are you realistically going to have the time and will to check? i think there's an unfortunate subconscious bias in liberal and leftist spaces that misinformation is something that is done only by the right, but it's a bipartisan issue babey. everybody's got their own agendas, even if they're on "your side". *insert you are not immune to propaganda garfield meme*

and speaking of fact checking, can't help but think about how much the current state of search engines Sucks So Bad right now. not that this excuses ANY of the misinformation at all, but i think it provides further context as to why these things become so prevalent in creators who become quick-turnaround-content-farms and cut corners when it comes to researching. when i was in high school and learning how to research and cite sources, google was a whole different landscape that was relatively easy to navigate. nowadays a search might give you an ad, a fake news article, somebody's random blog, a quora question, and another ad before actually giving you a relevant verifiable source. i was googling a question about 1920s technology the other day (for a fanfiction im writing lmao) and the VERY FIRST RESULT google gave me was some random fifth grader's school assignment on the topic???? like?????? WHAT????? it just makes it even harder for people to fact-check misinformation too.

going off the point of cutting corners when it comes to creating content, i can't help but think about capitalism's looming influence over all of this too. again, not as an excuse at all but just as further environmental context (because i really believe the takeaway shouldn't be "wow look how bad this one individual guy is" but rather "wow this is one specific example of a much larger systemic issue that is more pervasive than we realize"). a natural consequence of the inhumanity of capitalism is that people feel as if they have to step on or over eachother to get to 'the top'. if everybody is on this individualistic american dream race to success, everyone else around you just looks like collateral. of course then you're going to take shortcuts, and you're going to swindle labor and intellectual property from others, because your primary motivation is accruing capital (financial or social) over ethics or actual labor.

i've been thinking about this in relation to AI as well, and the notion that some people want to Be Artists without Doing Art. they want to Have Done Art but not labor through the process. to present something shiny to the world and benefit off of it. they don't want to go through the actual process of creating, they just want a product. Easy money. Winning the game of capitalism.

i can't even fully fault this mentality- as someone who has been struggling making barely minimum wage from art in one of the most expensive cities in america for the past two years, i can't say that i haven't been tempted on really difficult occasions to act in ways that would be morally bad but would give me a reprieve from the constant stress cycle of "how am i going to pay for my own survival for another month". the difference is i don't give in to those impulses.

tl;dr i hope that people realize that instead of this just being a time to dogpile on one guy (or a few people), that it's actually about a larger systemic problem, and the perfect breeding grounds society has created for this kind of behavior to largely go unchecked!!!

[sollucets]

by the way. finally after weeks another txt member did show up to the cereal aisle. taehyun no longer languishes alone on his cereal box. theres still only two of em though lmao

got jumpscared at my place of work by kang taehyun cereal

i have to admit im a bit mystified, largely because these are literally oops! all taehyun, theres no one else, so it is impossible to “collect all six” and also there are only five members of txt although i assume maybe one is a group picture?? i even looked in the back just for fun but its all taehyun. wild. anyway it was mostly just startling because he was in my headphones at the time too

[reddevildoodles]

Unfortunately, I am not immune to the Billsona propaganda

It's been years since I've seen Gravity Falls but he was always a favorite of mine

[bluecanvasshoe]

i just wanted to come out here and say that i absolutely do not support neil druckmann, nor the last of us. when i bought remastered, i wasn’t yet aware of the implications and meanings behind the last of us. i am now, and while i grew up with the games and im not sure if that connection will ever be erased, i am completely against what the story implies and is based on. whatever content or merch i wanted or planned to buy is no longer something i’ll be purchasing, and i encourage whoever is reading this to do the same. if you want to help Palestine, you can do the following:

(P.S.: i unfortunately am unable to copy and paste links for whatever reason; for that i apologize)

-research. doing extensive research on the colonization and history of Palestine and israel helped me to understand the true story behind what’s happening. many things like reports from the International Committee of the Red Cross, UNICEF, Human Rights Watch, World Health Organization, Britannica (for the history or Israel and Palestine,) journalists (there are many accounts on tiktok that have videos from journalists available, and a few are listed below), etc. (ALWAYS check your sources and websites are credible, non-bias, and correct. spreading misinformation is harmful and does not benefit anyone. you are not immune to propaganda.)

-donate. searching up “donations for Palestine” gives you a wide array of options unique to your country

-sign petitions. you can find many on change.org.

-support protests in your area and participate in them if you are able and willing

-educate others about what’s happening and credible sources (again, check your sources)

-show support to Palestinian journalists or photographers like Bisan Owda, Motaz Azaiza, Hind Khoudary, Plestia Alaqad, and more. you can find many accounts on tiktok with reposted videos from many different Palestinian journalists, though i encourage supporting their actual accounts

-listen to the stories and experiences of Palestinians. moreover, when doing so, show respect and kindness

-when you hear something about Palestine or israel online, always make sure what you’re viewing is correct and not altered.

if i’m missing anything, please tell me! i’m always open to learning more :)

[midnightshard06]

Shadow is starting to rethink deciding to work with Eclipse. Unfortunately he needs him, and Eclipse is willing to help him take down Black Doom.

I am not immune to the Eclipse propaganda. Since I've dipped my toes into writing the guy figured I should try and draw him too. I'm already starting to like the dynamic between these two.