#when people speak up about propaganda that's what they're talking about

[fozmeadows]

There's a lot of conversations to be had around the current influx of Americans to Xiaohongshu (RedNote/Little Red Book) ahead of the TikTok ban, many of which are better articulated by more knowledgeable people than me. And for all the fun various parties of both nationalities seem to having with memes and wholesome interactions, it's undoubtedly true that there's also some American entitlement and exoticization going on, which sucks. But a sentiment I've seen repeatedly online is that, if it's taken actually speaking to Chinese people and viewing Chinese content for Americans to understand that they've been propagandized to about China and its people, then that just proves how racist they are, and I want to push back on that, because it strikes me as being a singularly reductive and unhelpful framing of something far more complex.

Firstly: while there's frequently overlap between racism and xenophobia, the distinction between them matters in this instance, because the primary point of American propaganda about China is that Communism Is Fundamentally Evil And Unamerican And Never Ever Works, and thinking a country's government sucks is not the same as thinking the population is racially inferior. The way most Republicans in particular talk about China, you'd think it was functionally indistinguishable from North Korea, which it really isn't. Does this mean there's no critique to be made of either communism in general or the CCP? Absolutely not! But if you've been told your whole life that communist countries are impoverished, corrupt and dangerous because Communism Never Works, and you've only really encountered members of the Chinese diaspora - i.e., people whose families left China, often under traumatic circumstances, because they thought America would be better or safer - rather than Chinese nationals, then no: it's not automatically racist to be surprised that their daily lives and standard of living don't match up with what you'd assumed. Secondly: TikTok's userbase skews young. While there's certainly Americans in their 30s and older investigating Xiaohongshu, it seems very reasonable to assume that the vast majority are in their teens or twenties - young enough that, barring a gateway interest in something like C-dramas, danmei or other Chinese cultural products, and assuming they're not of Chinese descent themselves, there's no reason why they'd know anything about China beyond what they've heard in the news, or from politicians, or from their parents, which is likely not much, and very little firsthand. But even with an interest in China, there's a difference between reading about or watching movies from a place, and engaging firsthand, in real time, with people from that place, not just through text exchanges, but in a visual medium that lets you see what their houses, markets, shopping centers, public transport, schools, businesses, infrastructure and landmarks look like. Does this mean that what's being observed isn't a curated perspective on China as determined both by Xiaohongshu's TOU and the demographic skewing of its userbase? Of course not! But that doesn't mean it isn't still a representative glimpse of a part of China, which is certainly more than most young Americans have ever had before.

Thirdly: I really need people to stop framing propaganda as something that only stupid bigots fall for, as though it's possible to natively resist all the implicit cultural biases you're raised with and exist as a perfect moral being without ever having to actively challenge yourself. To cite the sacred texts:

Like. Would the world be a better place if everyone could just Tell when they're being lied to and act accordingly? Obviously! But that is extremely not how anything actually works, and as much as it clearly discomforts some to witness, the most common way of realizing you've been propagandized to about a particular group of people is to interact with them. Can this be cringe and awkward and embarrassing at times? Yes! Will some people inevitably say something shitty or rude during this process? Also yes! But the reality is that cultural exchange is pretty much always bumpy to some extent; the difficulties are a feature, not a bug, because the process is inherently one of learning and conversation, and as individual people both learn at different rates and have different opinions on that learning, there's really no way to iron all that out such that nobody ever feels weird or annoyed or offput. Even interactions between career diplomats aren't guaranteed smooth sailing, and you're mad that random teenagers interacting through a language barrier in their first flush of enthusiasm for something new aren't doing it perfectly? Come on now.

Fourthly: Back before AO3 was banned in China, there was a period where the site was hit with an influx of Chinese users who, IIRC, were hopping over when one of their own fansites got shut down, which sparked a similar conversation around differences in site etiquette and how to engage respectfully. Which is also one of the many things that makes the current moment so deeply ironic: the US has historically criticized China for exactly the sort of censorship and redaction of free speech that led to AO3 being banned, and yet is now doing the very same thing with TikTok. Which is why what's happening on Xiaohongshu is, IMO, such an incredible cultural moment: because while there are, as mentioned, absolutely relevant things to be said about (say) Chinese censorship, US-centrism, orientalism and so on, what's ultimately happening is that, despite - or in some sense because of - the recent surge in anti-Chinese rhetoric from US politicians, a significant number of Americans who might otherwise never have done so are interacting directly with Chinese citizens in a way that, whatever else can be said of it, is actively undermining government propaganda, and that matters.

What it all most puts me in mind of, in fact, is a quote from French-Iranian novelist and cartoonist Marjane Satrapi, namely:

“The difference between you and your government is much bigger than the difference between you and me. And the difference between me and my government is much bigger than the difference between me and you. And our governments are very much the same.”

And at this particular moment in history, this strikes me as being a singularly powerful realization for Americans in particular to have.

[etz-ashashiyot]

Generally radicalized people are radicalized for a reason: their radicalization does something for them and/or they believe that their desire to reshape society in a way that they believe will fix things does something for them. The key to deradicalizing them, then, is to figure out what that need is and fill it with something else.

Most of the time, people don't actually want rivers of blood, they want justice for wrongs that they feel aren't being heard.

Most of the time, they don't actually hate [X] minority - they don't even know anyone of that minority! They hate the false strawman version of that minority that is completely detached from reality, but that's been sold to them as the source of their problems.

And most people are honestly kinda lazy, lol. They are not going to physically fight for their fucked up ideas unless either (1) they are backed into a corner and literally must, or (2) they get swept up as part of a larger mob where the bully mentality takes over and the few people leading it decide to turn it into a violent mob.

So you gotta suck the wind out of their sails.

This works best if they are in or adjacent to your own communit(ies), because you will have more insight into what this is doing for them.

For the goyische leftists that have been radicalized into Jew hate lately, it's a combination of things. It's a feeling of powerlessness as the world slides rapidly towards fascism and climate crisis. It's the ghosts of unaddressed colonialism that they are choosing to impose their emotional catharsis on this unrelated and falsely analogous situation to enact what they feel would be just in their own society on people safely half the world away. Why there? Well, it's because it's a very small area with all of the culturally significant places that they grew up hearing about from the Bible in church, so it carries emotional weight. Most importantly, both parties are small and neither party has much international power to stop them, so they are able to impose their own narrative on the situation and speak over everyone actually there. Anyone who tries to correct them is drowned out. And, it's the history of Soviet antisemitism that is baked into the DNA of most western leftist movements and which Jews have never had the numbers or power to force them to actually confront.

Jew hatred is extremely convenient and Jews have been murdered in large enough numbers that we are easy to talk over.

Now usually, when you start pointing these things out, and especially when you start pointing out how ineffective and self-serving their "activism" on behalf of Palestinians is, they are too radicalized to do anything but react emotionally. They will spit out talking points, but none of these things actually address any of the above. They usually just devolve into "but but, Israeli war crimes!!" like it's a talisman against accurate allegations of antisemitism.

Why won't they listen to reason? When you show them how what they're saying is literal Nazi propaganda with the swastikas filed off and "Zionists" being used as a stand-in for Jews while they simultaneously vociferously deny any connection between Jews and Zionism? Why won't they take any accountability for their bigotry? Why won't they, at a minimum, listen to the Palestinians who want peace even if they won't listen to Jews advocating for the same thing?

It's because then they would have to give up the major benefits that they've been reaping from this situation: the social capital, the excuses to act out, the glow of feeling totally righteous in their fury, the catharsis - and trade it for the extremely unappealing process of actually becoming a decent person and a better advocate for their cause. It's hurting people they don't care about and they have a whole lot of organizations and institutions and people with actual power who materially benefit from their misdirected anger stoking the flames, and helping them lie to themselves that they are actually helping someone besides themselves and the handful of true beneficiaries behind the conflict.

They are being used.

And in twenty years they'll wake up and realize that they spent their youth shouting Nazi and Stalinist slogans of hatred that only benefitted right-wing hawks on both sides who make actual money and power off this conflict at the expense of two persecuted minorities. But they will be ashamed and will bury that behavior underneath silence and excuses.

This happens in every generation, by the way. Every 70 - 100 years, people find a socially plausible reason to hate and kill Jews because it is easier than standing up to the people with actual power. We are people they know they can hurt, and so long as they lie to themselves about who they're hurting and why, it feels really good.

Overcoming that directly has never worked.

It doesn't work because catharsis and punching down or laterally feels productive and owning their biases and bigotry and developing practical long-term strategies is tedious and often feels like shit.

What I've seen real activists do is to address the need for catharsis, praise, and to feel useful in other ways, because they are often less attached to the specific lowest hanging bigoted fruit and more in the rewards it gives them.

If we want to see this change, yelling at leftists that they're being bigoted morons feels good (productivity! feeling a sense of reclaiming control and power from helplessness! catharsis! We are not immune to these human needs either) but it's counterproductive. You don't convince a toddler to give up the shiny dangerous toy by trying to just snatch it away - if anything, you've now cemented this as an epic struggle for all time against the cold, cruel, injustices of the parental controls. No, you have to give them a new, safer toy.

My position is that if we want to see movement on this, we need to suck it up, stop yelling at the radicalized, and start finding ways to help Palestine that both feel gratifying and are actually pro-peace.

And, for the true sick fucks who really do want rivers of Jewish blood (and if a bunch of Gazans are martyred in the process, oh well)? That's where we need our true allies to help us fight back the most. This type of person will never respond to anything but power, so they will back down if they feel that they are truly threatened. To get the rest of the fair weather friends on board, we need to show how these violent tantrums are actually threatening their new catharsis, gratification, and progress so that they aren't swayed by the bullies and instead want to guard their new emotional investment and moral high ground.

Ultimately, we all want to feel like we're the good guys. We want catharsis. We want instant gratification. We want to see movement. We want justice for the wrongs committed against us and those we choose to see ourselves in community with. Many of us have real-world serious grievances that are intractable and that we don't have the individual power to fix, but are intolerable as things currently stand. These people aren't special; they aren't different from us and we aren't different from them in those ways. The problem is that activism - real activism that actually moves the needle - will typically not give you that satisfaction or meet those needs, and most people don't have the mental space to meet those needs in a better way, so punching laterally becomes the quick fix solution. Meanwhile, the people in actual positions of power benefit from this gladiator fight.

And until actual activists reckon with that reality, we are going to see more and more of the same.

[hollowed-theory-hall]

Sometimes I think about Harry being sent back to his relatives after his 4th and 5th year, and I lose my mind a little. It's bad enough he's sent back at all, but these two summers especially. Like how are you looking at this traumatised, grieving kid, who has been tortured and lived through some truly horrible events, and think taking him to people who hate his very existence is a good idea??? And no adult checks on him in person. They're watching him post gof sure, but no one actually speaks to him. No one tell him anything outside a few cryptic messages, he's left hurt and isolated. It's just crazy to me.

(Crazier that some people complain about Harry's behaviour in ootp. He's mild, all things considered)

I know!

Like, I don't know what Dumbledore was smoking, honestly... like, even if we're being generous in our interpretation of his actions and say Harry really needed to spend some time with Petunia every summer to keep his blood protection going (personally, I don't think it's the case, but I'm being generous), he doesn't need to spend the whole summer there. Like, he could stay there for one afternoon, one day, a week, maybe, max? Why does he need to stay there longer? Why between GoF and OotP Dumbledore plan for him to stay at the Dursleys the whole summer when Grimmauld Place was probably safer?

But, like, after OotP, at least the plan was for Harry to only stay with the Dursleys for a bit, even if longer than I would have left him there (which is none at all), but the concept of just spending there enough time so he could refresh the blood protections before going to the Weasleys is decent, like, I can understand that. Dumbledore came to pick him up on June 12th, a bit later than I would like, but he still spends most of the summer and his birthday with the Weasleys.

What I don't understand is leaving him completely cut off from everyone who cares about him and from all information about the Wizarding World (aside from Daily Prophet propaganda) after Voldemort returned, murdered Cedric in front of Harry, and tortured Harry. Like, what the hell?

I can't fathom how he could think this is a good idea. Like, at all. Between OotP and HBP, I get it assuming the blood protection really works like that or he believes it does, but the summer between GoF and OotP is near unforgivable, man.

I mean, I recently reread the graveyard scene for my fic and that was horrifying. Like, every time I reread it I am horrified anew at what happened there and what Harry went through... just, that whole scene is a lot (and maybe I'll do like a little rundown of it, since I feel like it needs talking about), and, like, damn, you're right that Harry's response is mild compared to how it could've been in OotP.

OotP Harry will always be one of my favorite Harrys (I love him in all the books) and I will forever stand behind his anger being a trauma response and that he isn't actually hot-headed. OotP was Harry reaching his limit, and boy, did it take a lot to get him to his limit. I mean, he's the opposite of a hothead considering just how much he had to suffer to reach his boiling point. I talked about his trauma responses here and his anger in particular here.

[astrobydalia]

Astro knowledge

A short more educational post for y'all!

work by astrobydalia

Pisces/Neptune rules marketing while Gemini/Mercury is more about sales. They’re both deeply related but difference is Gemini is the salesman that appeals to your reason and resorts to mind games (Mercury) in a one-on-one to convince you why you should buy into something. Marketing on the other hand is ruled by Pisces because it appeals to the collective unconscious (Neptune). It’s all about crafting subliminal messages that make you see that product/idea as more appealing even when you know what you're seeing is not realistic. Very related to propaganda as well. This is also a field that requires a lot of creativity, they're constantly using metaphors, hyperboles or even making up little fictional stories to sell a product...

I've already said this but for anyone new, the planet that rules real love is moon not Venus. See the full explanation here

Where Sagittarius is in your chart will bring luck and happiness, but Taurus does give off expansive (or dare I say expensive) energy too. Where Taurus sits in your chart is an area of your life that will be more grandiose in nature cause Taurus rules over indulgence and pleasure. You could experience some sort of privilege when it comes to this house, the themes of this house come to you in abundance with little to no effort. Some examples:

Taurus 1st house: have a striking and bold appearance, gives off luxury and attractive vibes regardless of their looks. These people could come across as a "high value woman/man" without trying

Taurus 7th house: very active and abundant love life, lots of suitors and business partners landing on your lab, they want to provide for you and/or give you lucrative opportunities

Taurus 9th house: having access to high quality education or elevated knowledge. Probably attended a very exclusive or expensive collage, payed vacations vibes, easy and frequent relocations

Taurus 10th house: almost untouchable reputation, very respected and liked by others, is always seen as innocent or harmless, lots of success with their ventures

The 2nd house also talks about your roots and upbringing but in a more objective and material sense. This house and the position of its ruler can be very telling of how your actual social and economic context shaped your basic values. It can also talk about your house as the 2nd house rules over real state, lands, properties, etc. The 4th house is more about your home, how you were raised within that reality and how it impacted you emotionally at your core

Example: Libra risings could come from an environment that shaped their values around survival and money gains due to Scorpio 2nd house (I've seen very commonly they come from marginalized groups or humble beginnings or very financially competitive environments). So they have a family that is very demanding and expected them to work or be a boss from a young age (Capricorn 4th house)

Speaking of, 2nd house does not ONLY rule money!!! It rules RESOURCES and anything that you own that is highly valuable and you can put a price on!!!! And yes of course since these things are valuable they can be easily monetized, traded, used to make you money. This can be your skills, assets, real state, etc. The 2nd house is your piggy bank basically

There's a lot of talk about how 11th house is how you make money in your career while 2nd house is how you spend it. Well this is technically true but I'd like to add more explanation to this. In derivative astrology 11th house is 2nd (money) from the 10th (career) so it does show how you actually make money from your career. 2nd house is where you get money but 11th house is how you make money. Your 11th house is the multiplier (credits to @cosmicpuzzle for that fact) while 2nd house is where your financial stability lies on. In other words 11th house is indicative of how you generate more but 2nd house is all about what you already have, its about what you can make with what you OWN already, it deals with money that is already available through your resources' value (again, you piggy bank). This does 'make' you money in a way like if you lose your job and are lacking money your 2nd house where you turn to for example if you own a house you can rent it, you can buy a rare item that costs a lot, selling your art or any other natural skill, etc. The concept of value is important in this house bc it can increase or decrease (while 11th house increases and multiplies). The more valuable your resources are the more potential money you have available which means more financial stability and wealth. Anyways hope all that makes sense

We often refer to water signs when talking spirituality but truth is fire signs are very spiritual in nature as well. Fire symbolizes the spark of life itself, nothing could exist or be created without it. Aries deals with the basic ontological conception of 'I am, I exist', Leo is about how the self manifests and create itself and Sagittarius is about the purpose of the self. Living beings need heat to thrive/live and just like fire radiates heat your spirit radiates energy, creativity, passion, action, inspiration, purpose... and that's what fire signs represent. I'd say fire represents the fundamentality of spirit while water is more about the complexity of inner world.

Just like Aries is the "natural" ASC for a birth chart, Libra is the natural ASC for a composite chart cause a birth chart represents the chart of an individual (Aries) while composite represents the mutual relationship between two people (Libra)

When you develop the themes of a certain house in a healthy manner, you naturally start attracting the themes of the opposite house. This goes to show you that things in astrology aren't as compartmentalized as they seem, everything works together in certain way SPECIALLY axis'. Examples:

You need to focus on yourself first (1st house) to find the right partner (7th house)

You need to investigate and learn (3rd house) in order to find higher answers (9th house)

When you invest successfully (8th house) you earn more available resources (2nd house).

When you develop your hobbies and individuality (5th house) you find keen people (11th house)

When you heal spiritually (12th house) you find healthier habits (6th house)

There's this misconception that you have to disregard your South Node in order to develop you NN, but the thing is the SN is the starting point that can lead you towards developing your NN. This can happen as a harsh and painful lesson tho if you liger too much on your SN. For example NN in Libra need to learn to compromise in this life, there's a lot of focus on the self and independence, but eventually this placement teaches them that if you really wanna develop yourself in full potential (Aries) eventually you'll need others (Libra). If they linger too much on Aries SN they could experience a harsh lesson that forces them to count on others

work by astrobydalia

[metalobrukht]

You all DO NOT fucking understand.

A “what did I do-o-o-o 😭😭😭 I'm just a little guy, I'm apolitical, what do you want from me-e-e-e 😭😭😭😭” russian is not a “good” russian. It is a product of russian propaganda they've got going on inside the country. It is what they've been brainwashed to think like. Their government feeds them contradicting lies and punishes for speaking up, so they sit quietly, not even wanting to learn about Kursk.

They went on a protest when there was no electricity due to infrastructure damage. They went on a protest abroad when a russian nazi singer got blocked on Spotify. Why don't they protest the war while living in Britain? Why do they either not give a fuck or attack Ukrainians abroad? It is THEIR choice to see Chechnya, Georgia, Ukraine, Syria and then ploof on their backs receive belly scratches that Western folk happily provides.

They don't engage, then visit Crimea in the summer and run in complete bewilderment with tears on their faces when there's a bomb. What war? They're apolitical, guys. How could you? What did they do? Of coooourse they can call a Ukrainian a cowshed animal and still be apolitical (in russian of course, so you, their western friend, don't think bad of them). They can mock any language that got trapped under the empire however they please and not notice any oppressive undertones. You all did not hear what they think about Belarussian or Ukrainian — NOT when they're confronted, but when they speak in their space and in their language.

Image 1, “Dead languages of russia”

Image 2, “Guess why the fuck there are so many nationalities in ruzzian empire and why is that their culture is being erased. A bonus question: by whom? An extra hard question: do ordinary russians think that these people have the same social status as them? Do they think that some nationalities are subhuman?”

Of course they call for “peace”, because, you see, war is bad, because fuck the war! — because it's a surface-area nice thing they can say to get friends, because they're too “pure” to follow up with “they should give up so the killings stop giving me a bad reputation and I DO NOT GIVE A SINGLE SHIT about death when it's not on my Twitter feed”.

I know what a Westerner would think about this. At the very, very best, literally peak compassion I've met maybe twice, it would be: “Damn this is xenophobic, but I bet they're going through a lot right now, so I won't tell them that they're wrong”. And the funny thing is that I am not wrong. They're just nice to you, because your nation is not the funny one that belongs in the stables. If they're an opposition, they just want a better russia, not a free Ukraine.

And I'm talking about “leftists” here (not sure if it's the correct term, like, politically), the ones being befriended and cherished online. Shit the openly genocidal ones produce, which are many, is far beyond Western comprehension.

[genderqueerdykes]

genuinely why do you believe in this transandrophobia bs. it’s MRA for trans people. We are affected by transphobia but misandry and "androphobia" aren’t real. We are not oppressed as a result of being men. plus most transandrobros always speak over transfems. - a tired transmasc

because it's real and i've faced it. friend, you do not need to hate yourself that bad. you do not have to self flagellate and pretend you do not experience a specific type of transphobia. you have been persuaded by rad fem pilled people to hate yourself and deny that you suffer a specific form of oppression. transandrophobia does exist, and pretending it doesn't for the approval of rad fems won't make you any safer or enjoy your trans manhood.

you're hurting other trans mascs & men by saying the oppression they face isn't real. reducing it to "just transphobia" is denying that those people are specifically being targeted because they are TRANS MEN and nothing else. you are hurting your trans brothers and siblings when you say this. you're hurting YOURSELF to say this. please be kinder to yourself. please stop telling yourself that what you're going through isn't real. you're not helping anyone except conservatives to deny that trans men & mascs face specific forms of oppression

i know you're tired, but sucking up to rad fems will not make your life as a transmasc easier. denying that you face a specific type of oppression is not only hurting you, but every other trans man and transmasc around you. if you care about other transmascs and trans men, stop denying their pain and suffering and telling them how to phrase it. you are legitimately hurting other people when you say this, why do you not care?

you do not care anywhere near as much about yourself and other trans men as you think you do, especially if you say "transandrobros". if you view other transmascs standing up for themselves as being "transandrobros", you really do not respect yourself or transmasculinity at all. and no, "most" trans men are not horrible to trans women. "most" trans men do not talk over trans women. trans men talking about their issues is not "talking over" trans women. please upgrade your opinion on other transmascs. you have a TON of internalized transandrophobia to get past. being a transmasc does not mean that you do not harbor internalized transandrophobia. because you clearly do as of right now.

hating transmascs and denying what we go through doesn't make transfems and trans women like you more, just so you're painfully aware of this. this kissing up to transfems and trans women by throwing transmascs and trans men under the bus is so old and tired. you're not getting transfem brownie points by being transandrophobic. all you're doing is hurting other people.

you don't have to self flagellate and pretend you don't have a specific struggle for the approval of people who are not transmascs or trans men. you're holding yourself and all of your siblings back. i'm a proud trans men's rights activist. we're something that's needed. we are not magically cis men who face no oppression after coming out as trans men. be kinder to yourself. this behavior is hurting trans men and sucking up to rad fems at the same time. why do you WANT to throw other transmascs under the bus? why do you WANT to shit talk other transmascs? it doesn't make transfems like you more.

i'm sorry you've been brainwashed into thinking that ALL mascs and men are inherently dangerous predators that can never be oppressed, but it's just not true. do better for yourself. do better for your siblings. do better for your family. kissing up to trans rad fems will not make them like you more. they're just using you as a tool to spread their propaganda. this is conservative behavior, and you're just plain wrong if you pretend that transandrophobia doesn't exist. being smug doesn't make you right.

[adhdnojutsu]

I have misgivings on how Israel abuses (to mind in its limited knowledge of the situation) its position of power over Palestine and how my country, the USA, enables it. But the population is there because the USA promised to guarantee their safety years ago so I feel like that more on us for shuffling people into what could only become a war zone. And I can’t pretend to know a solution that does right by both sides, but more dehumanization is never the cure for dehumanization. And frankly, I’m sorry tumblr is such an echo chamber that they can’t see that someone who’s home and family were affected isn’t going to view October 7th and the subsequent invasion the same way they do.

This is what I wish more people would understand. Israelis and Palestinians (and Jews and Arabs at large) cannot be expected to hold much space for each other. We have hurt each other too much and are currently hurting, a lot. But uninvolved people taking sides as aggressively as they do, to the point of dehumanizing one side, is just WEIRD, especially from the left. If you got no skin in the game, I don't blame you for picking sides based on sympathy or whatever, but lay off the dehumanization and the dismissal/mockery of one side's suffering. "But Israel is stronger" okay but the individual Israeli hurts, bleeds, and dies the same as anyone else..?

One tiktok creator whose name I sadly forgot, said it best. "You cannot end one genocide by supporting another and think you're righteous" or something to that effect. Telling us to accept diaspora when we could live in our ancestral homeland is fucked up. And I mean, people including the left are abusing us in diaspora, too, just look at American campuses:

And yes, echo chambers are another weirdness the left has been way too into. Somehow, the more open-minded a group of people thinks they are, the more they curate and filter what they're exposed to. You can give them hard historical facts, even Palestinians themselves saying "Hey maybe Hamas sucks" or the literal Islamic Fatwa Council saying "Hamas is literally a scourge on Islam", and these people will still go "STFU zionazi propaganda whore". Me just expressing upset about October 7? "Genocidal raging zioscum". We can't even MOURN OUR DEAD without being dehumanized. A big part of my increasing anger is fuelled by the left's cruelty, because Hamas broadcast what they are, but the left wants to be seen as the compassionate safe space for all minorities - except Jews who don't make a huge display of how much they hate Israel.

Israelis are human beings. I can't believe this needs to be said. If, say, leftist Americans don't wish a cruel death on the MAGAs that just voted a lot of people's rights away, where do they get off screeching for more dead Israelis ("intifada" that just killed another Israeli child this week)? Even if we were colonizers, existing somewhere shouldn't be punishable by death, especially when we're born there and didn't go out of our way to move there and kick a local out of their home.

I can't speak for all Israelis, but as far as polls go, most of us wanted to co-exist until Hamas pissed all over our good will on October 7. I mean, of course we'd change our minds..? How many cheeks are we supposed to turn? The incessant missiles since 2002 were one thing, but wilful, point blank, selective cruelty? We're done and we get to be. The world really hates when Jews stop taking abuse. Remember: the American left was more outraged about a Jew teasing an allergic pro-Palestinian student with a banana from a safe distance, than it was about Jews getting burned alive in their beds. Clearly, there is NO degree of fighting back that is tolerated from us. If brandishing a banana is as bad as bombing a Gazan hospital, then the only way we can ever hope for compassion, is by surrendering and letting ourselves be slaughtered. I'm not even uncritically supportive of the Israeli government. Every single time I talked about Netanyahu, it was hostile. My leaving Israel was an act of protest. MILLIONS of us have protested the government in recent years, but are not separated from it the way Palestinians are separated from Hamas. I unconditionally support Israel's right to exist regardless of who governs it, because it's literally my home. Those are literally my people, my family, my friends. I cannot wish for their annihilation, and judging me for that is crazy. But to conclude from that that I'd cheer when Palestinian children get bombed is crazy. It's even crazier from people who don't give a fuck about Israeli children who were carefully selected to be murdered.

People like to say "Israelis are white, so fuck them". To actually rank lives by race is inherently racist (and was never the point of BLM, an equality movement). If someone murders you for your race, no matter which one, that's the ultimate subjugation: the death penalty on ethnic/racial grounds.

And this what you get when entering countries most of which are actual dictatorships or fascist. Hamas' Gaza is de facto fascist because Hamas is. The US are shaping up to be. But only Israel is all evil, apparently, and Palestine is all victimhood. Iran? Culture with a side of women's issue. This is absolutely crazy.

[deepspacespicy]

Part 1 blurb to toxic AND doomed shockwave x cybertronian reader: before the fall

I have been so PLAGUED by thoughts of Shockwave I swear to god this idea has been in my head for days (also note that I haven't read any of the comics where half of this lore comes from so if I get something wrong please tell me 😭)

So this goes back to the Senator Shockwave days right. Expressive, vibrant, empathetic, iconic, etc.

Then there's you. Lower class worker, probably a service bot of some kind like a waitress or factory drone.

He meets you when you're scrounging together energon to feed yourself. You lock eyes with him and freeze, not only because obviously you recognize him but because you know he knows too that all the excess energon is supposed to go back into storage, but... you havent had enough to eat recently.

I don't think Senator Shockwave would ever report someone for a victimless crime and as such turns a blind eye, even going so far as to keep your boss occupied so you can finish scrounging, which you remain suspicious of until he contacts you again later.

He's amicable like every politician is supposed to seem, but then he starts asking you questions, like how often you get rations and if they're of any decent quality. You tell him to frag off, thinking things some weird pity thing for clout but he apologizes for infringing, but that he suspects a global energon shortage is in the horizon, a result of expansion and over population on the planet. He tells you he's working to find an alternative energon source for the future of Cybertron.

You tell him to take his fear mongering propaganda elsewhere, but much to your horror he does not. Even worse, the longer he wears on your patience the more you think he might actually have a point. Even while arguing where you can, by the end of the encounter you're forced to concede that he might be on to something, but it makes no sense as to why he'd waste his time to tell you all this when he could be campaigning for more support.

His optics twinkle when he speaks. "It wasn't a waste." He says. "You believe me, don't you?"

He departs shortly after, citing a need to get back to that campaign of his. You watch him leave, baffled by the encounter and left wondering about the future.

That was, unfortunately, far from the last you'd see of him. He seemed to seek you out, which was crazy, because every time you spotted him you clicked your tongue and rolled your eyes.

You're strong-willed and you're smart. That's what he likes about you. It takes a while of him wearing you down with his presence before you realize you're actually fairly comfortable around him. He doesn't treat you like a subject or as the lower class bot you are, he treats you like a friend, a peer even. You give up trying to understand him and before you know it, your walls have come down and he's waltzed inside your spark.

You can't see each other with any frequency due to his busy schedule but you keep up via comms and he comes to visit you whenever he can. It's always been harder for you to travel to him all the way up in the nicer parts of Iacon but he's always told you he didn't mind.

You become confidants, he tells you about Orion Pax, his hope for the future, and his concerns and arguments with the functionists on the senate. He talks a bit about his experiments but doesn't go too deep in detail about them. They put you off a little because generally they do seem a little unethical but this is before he's willing to actively put people's life at risk, so you tentatively agree that the ends will justify his means.

[darcyolsson]

as someone entrenched in the fandom for too long... would you mind sharing your insights as a newcomer what you think the most fascinating or insane things you 911 fans are doing👀 the things we believe or talk about like normal that as an outsider with media literacy are wild to you

BUCKTOMMY!!! bucktommy. going online and seeing that the main two sentiments are "bucktommy are soulmates forever" and "tommy is the literal devil and he needs to die" was truly baffling. before starting the show i thought buck and tommy were for real a good couple, you know, kind of like a compromise: we won't show buck in a queer relationship with eddie, but we can show him in another functional gay relationship. reader, this is not the case. they're SO messy and obviously not actually good for each other and i LOVE it. tommy got buck basketball tickets for their 6 month anniversary even though buck notoriously really hates basketball. this is obviously extremely painful to watch. however thankfully he's immediately upstaged by buck getting him NOTHING. they're perpetually in a terrible boyfriend-off and i'm obsessed with it.

needless to say i'm really confused by how few people (in the main tags at least) share this sentiment. the bucktommy soulmates camp are watching his show with their eyes and ears closed, the tommy devil truthers do not know how to have fun. they're obviously not going to be endgame on account of the show emphasising how much they do not work over and over again, but i'm going to have great fun while he's here. the only way i can really make sense of this really extreme divide is that it's is more about fandom wars than it is about anything happening in the actual show, i understand getting so annoyed by a certain group of shippers you become even more annoying about your own ship. this is a fandom tale as old as time. but then it's made weird again by the show very obviously not wanting you to see buck and tommy as a particularly functional but still educational relationship? it feels like there's a very clear message being sent and everyone has turned their phone off.

speaking of shipping, the way y'all talked about it i really expected buddie to be heavy subtext throughout the entire show but at least for the first 6 seasons i barely saw it if i'm honest! i know more about the behind the screens lore now which has made it make more sense, i know for s5/6 the showrunner was very anti-buddie, but until the swich to abc i didn't really read their relationship as particularly romantic (except in s4, which i recently learned was supposed to be setup for canon buddie s5 until it was shut down by fox)

also this goes without saying but starting the show i 100% expected buck and eddie to be the main, if not most interesting characters, but i honestly didn't care much for them until s7 😭 in general the degree to which tumblr ignores virtually every other character is....... well it's not surprising at all but. you know

ALSO . i feel like tumblr heavily misrepresented eddie to me. i knew him as tumblr's darling so i kind of expected him to be a morally upstanding man. finding out he's pretty much the only member of the cast who keeps consistently doing lowkey evil things was an incredible reveal. i have to confess i didn't really like him at first because of it but then grew on me, not because he's a better person now or whatever but mainly because he's taken his annoyingness to pure derangedness. like, being in the US military and treating your girlfriends badly? boooo. you suck. cheating on your girlfriend with a woman who looks exactly like your dead wife and then doing a little dead wife roleplay with her when she shows up at your door having cut bangs? genuinely what the hell is wrong with you i want to watch 10 seasons of this

it's also why, for once, i do in fact believe in the "this male character who's dated loads of women is actually gay" propaganda, because eddie keeps taking a sledgehammer to every single intimate relationship he has except buck, who, lbr, essentially functioned as his romantic partner at several moments in the show. initially i thought it was just a Tumblr Shipper Way Of Viewing Things that but as it turns out it's actually a really reasonable interpretation. my bad!

funnily enough my entire opinion of buddie remains unchanged. before i started the show i thought "it would be nice if they went canon, and there's a real possibility, but given the way these things usually go i wouldn't bet any money on it" and i still feel the exact same way. yes season 8 seems to be obviously setting up for it. however i've seen this before many times and every single time the outcome was queerbaiting i fear........ so net 0 buddie. i do like them, i'd love to see it, but i've been hurt so many times i do not have it in me to hope </3

tl;dr no one on this website understands tommy like i do and i dont even care about him and eddie might be a little bit evil but i like it so it's fine

[not-gray-politics]

While I understand what they're going for I kind of wish people would stop using the word "redneck" as shorthand for "conservative" or "bigot". Working class and impoverished southerners aren't inherently evil or right-wing just because our governors are shitheads.

I get it, our states are responsible for some terrible things, both in the present and historically. And yeah, there are some shitty people who've sunk themselves into conservative propaganda. But believe it or not, I live here too. There are queer people here. There are people of color here. There are disabled people here. And painting us all with the same "lol right wing idiots" brush, and weaponizing classist stereotypes against us when we hate the way things are just as much as you do if not more, only serves to harm us all.

(By convincing red states that there are no leftists or progressive people there, and that everyone who lives there sucks, you're also contributing to a general sense of isolation and hopelessness that prevents us from organizing and changing things. I've felt it from nearly every leftist and liberal I've talked to. It's hard to focus your energy and make a difference in your community when life has constantly told you that you're fighting alone. There are so many more of us here than any of us can begin to know, we just have to find eachother. We've just been systematically discouraged from doing so. We worry about our safety in speaking up while the right is emboldened to do whatever the hell they want because they've been told it's "their state". Start challenging that narrative. It's OUR state too.)

[fairuzfan]

Your post about how many people are unknowingly falling for & spreading propaganda... yeah. I typed up a whole spiel of a comment on one of your posts the other day that I ended up deciding not to not actually post because it felt like detailing, but seriously. The amount of well meaning, genuinely anti-zionist people ignorantly sharing zionists' posts because they just don't pick up on the leading undertones is honestly more terrifying than than the amount of actual zionists in some ways.

I'm someone who was born into a doomsday cult, and seeing all these people falling for the exact same blatant (or so i thought lol) recruitment/manipulation tactics I've seen used by them my entire life has absolutely fucking terrifying. These are people who are actively trying to combat zionism, but I guess the general public is so uneducated about propaganda/cult tactics that what immediately reads as blatantly manipulative, misleading bullshit to me just doesn't even register as strange to most people. Not to be repetitive, but seriously: fucking terrifying.

There's so much focus on the way people/groups who want to manipulate you will use language of fear, but in this case especially, people need to realize they will almost always appeal to your compassion before they appeal to your fear.

It's all peace and love and happiness because that's what gets people in the door. You preach (or post) the mushy, happy, fun stuff that makes people feel good to draw them in, and you slowly start peppering in the ideas you actually want to lead them to believe later on once you've got them wanting to believe you.

This also has this added effect of helping the group or person's image. Even the people who you don't manage to draw in will have the impression of you as someone who runs their mouth 24/7 about how you're full of love and want the best for everyone, which is especially useful for when you inevitably want to frame yourself as the victim to demonize the people who will inevitably oppose you. If your first and only exposure to a person is seeing them calling for world peace and universal love, you are much more likely to be inclined to believe they (and by extension their cause) are the sympathetic, loving, peaceful good guys being unjustly targeted.

Sorry for rambling, but like... really. It won't always be something nefarious, of course--the vast majority of the the time, it won't be--but I think we would all be in a much better situation if people took it as a general rule of thumb that you should always be a little suspicious of overly vague talk about peace and love.

You're EXACTLY right. I really appreciate this message, because you put to words a lot of my inherent analysis of arguments and ideas. I like grew up with this rhetoric so it's easy to spot for me, but the way that people speak about "peace" as the overall goal when they're zionist is so blatant to me because there is no material change in the scenario they propose but rather a calmness where Palestinians are ignored.

And picking up on subtext of a lot of messages is something you have to have a muscle for kinda because of how subtle it is. The frightening part is, you're right, that the indoctrination part of zionism is the most harmful part because you appeal to their pathos — their fear, their sense of safety, etc — and you go on down the rabbit hole and slowly start being radicalized and pro-zionism or you might not even be pro-zionism 100% but enjoy... soft zionism as a mutual of mine put it once (if you read this and want to be tagged, lmk). Which soft zionism is the MAIN opinion in many liberal circles btw, its not an uncommon opinion.

I even remember once sharing a post by a zionist because i saw them talk about esims but when i went on their blog a few days later because something rubbed me the wrong way, I noticed their pinned and I was like "oh dam I gotta delete that other post" like that's how often this happens.

Idk, I try to combat this by putting sources or approaching from a standpoint of logical arguments rather than identity-based politics (although, sometimes i think there are some things that people who are a certain identity can be the only true experts on) so that I try to encourage actual engagement with ideas and walking them through thought processes rather than "I'm palestinian so just trust me."

Like even with my one fact checking list, idk if I succeeded but I wanted to emphasize that there are multiple factors you should consider when confronting ANY sort of information and should not blindly trust things. News sources have regularly burned or ignored Palestinians so I know a lot of us are really sensitive to these things, but I don't know! I hope people can engage with ideas more than just surface level thinking in general because it helps everyone when you actually interact with the point of view the other person is providing rather than just blindly trusting/distrusting people.

[cyren-myadd]

Hey this is a what if question for Prisoner of War that’s been on my mind since the last chapter and I wanted to hear your thoughts on it. What if Spider’s secret was found out by the higher ups of the R.D.A but instead of sending him back they make him their poster boy. Because it really would be a huge p.r win for them. The son of Miles Quaritch, who’s not even legally old enough to fight, sneaking his way into their army to avenge his parents and finish what his father started. The R.D.A could make a deal with Spider where they let him stay on Pandora long term, he gets an apartment to himself, a top notch education, and military training. In return Spider gives them promo material. I imagine it like that montage in Captain America: First Avenger. They’re putting Spider on posters alongside his father, filming him against a green screen, even staging scenes like taking Spider back to Quaritch’s body so they can recreate the moment Spider found his dad’s dog tags. 

I imagine Spider would hate it. I can imagine him either running away and then getting to discover Pandora on his own terms or sticking it out, biding his time until he turns 18 and can properly enlist. But then recom Quaritch enters the chat. Their handlers don’t tell either of them about the other's existence so they can ambush them with a “happy family reunion.” The cameras are rolling when Spider and Quaritch enter the room from opposite sides. They’re both stunned to say the least. I could go on but I want to hear your thoughts. Take your time though. I know you're working hard on Prisoner of War and don’t want to take you away from that. 💙

omg I love this idea so much! I can totally picture the RDA higher-ups looking at this tall, blond, good-looking teenage boy with a sad backstory and seeing nothing but dollar signs 💲💲💲

Like, maybe in this au of my au, Maverick ended up spilling the beans and Spider gets called to the higher ups office and he's completely panicking, desperately trying to come up with what he could say to avoid getting sent back to earth, but to his surprise, the higher ups are all excited to meet him and they tell him the deal: be their poster boy and he gets to stay. Spider hates the idea, but he doesn't have much choice so he agrees.

You brought up Captain America, but this also makes me think of Katniss in the Mockingjay, where they're trying to push her to be this figurehead but it always falls flat because traumatized teenagers aren't great actors. They have him film scenes where he pretends to fight na'vi while yelling about fighting for humanity or whatever, but they're not very convincing. The film crew tries a bunch of different things with him, and eventually they figure out that Spider's propaganda is most authentic and believable when Spider is actually feeling it himself. They have a sit down interview where they just ask Spider to describe how he enlisted in the RDA and wants to make his dad proud, and the raw emotion on his face as he talks is a million times better than any staged scene of him fighting a fake na'vi. They circulate the video around the RDA and send it back to earth and it quickly becomes very popular.

Then they take it a step further and bring Spider back to the site where his dad's body lays and have Spider just speak his mind about how he wants to make sure his parents' sacrifice wasn't in vain. Spider is no shakespeare, but he's completely genuine with everything he says, and that makes a greater impact on audiences than the best-written script ever could. This video gets even more popular than the first, and RDA enlistment rates even increase by a few percents. Spider hates having his personal feelings broadcast to the world like that, but Maverick tells him to suck it up because he's getting paid so well and gets to stay in Bridgehead with a nice apartment.

The RDA higher ups get very excited when they notice Spider's candid video with his dad's body seemingly inspires more people to enlist, and that's when they cook up the idea for an even better candid video: Spider reuniting with his dad in the flesh. They wait for Quaritch to decant and reorient himself, and then they bring Quaritch to the room where they do the interviews and tell him he's about to make an enlistment video. Quaritch thinks making videos is a waste of time when Sully is still out there, but he reluctantly goes along with it. Same thing with Spider, his film crew fetches him and tells him they have a new video planned, and they just have him walk into the room where Quaritch is sitting and start rolling the cameras.

Quaritch sees the cameras start rolling when this blond teen walks in and he immediately knows something is wrong, but Spider doesn't pick up on anything. He's used to ignoring the cameras, and he doesn't recognize Quaritch, he thinks he's an avatar so he starts talking to him like "oh, hey, man, are you gonna film the new video with me? It's nice to meet you, I'm Miles. Miles Socorro."

Quaritch had his suspicions, but when Spider introduces himself as Miles, it still comes as a shock. His jaw just drops and Spider tries to act polite but he's really weirded out by this random avatar staring at him like that. Quaritch looks at Spider, looks at the camera, then looks back at the admin guy who brought him here who's already got a box of tissues ready and he figures out this is some kind of weird stunt. The realization does not make him happy.

He immediately starts hollering at the film crew to shut off the cameras and get out. Quaritch was scary enough as a human, but now as a recom he's twice as terrifying, so the other humans scramble to get away from him. Spider is also freaked out, but Quaritch is too overwhelmed by the shock of meeting his son to realize he's scaring him. Quaritch gets down on his knees and grabs Spider by the shoulders to better look at him and yells, "boy, you better not be lying to me- is your name really Miles Socorro?"

"Yes! What the hell, get off me!" Spider yells and tries to squirm away, but Quaritch is too strong.

Quaritch does that thing parents do where their kids scare them and they don't want to show they're scared so they act angry instead. He grabs Spider even more tightly and yells, "what the hell are you doing here, boy? You're supposed to be back on earth! Safe!" (he doesn't know how bad earth got in the past several years) and then he turns and starts yelling at the film crew and admin guys who haven't made themselves scarce yet, "why is he here? Did you people bring him here?"

A couple of the guys start timidly trying to explain what happened, but Quaritch is too mad to really listen and he just starts chewing them out, not caring to hear that Spider came here of his own volition. The whole time he keeps one hand on Spider, like he's scared he'll disappear if he lets go, and Spider is progressively getting more and more scared of this unstable seeming avatar who just started yelling for no reason. In the back of his mind, Spider recognizes Quaritch's voice, but he's still too confused by everything to make the connection.

"Sir, you're scaring him!" Finally, one of the film crew gets through to Quaritch and he realizes he's holding onto Spider's arm really tightly and lets him go.

Spider backs away and rubs his sore arm, glaring the whole time. "What's wrong with you, are you crazy?"

Quaritch is just at a loss for words because he's still processing everything. One of the admins sees an opportunity to recover the situation and maybe get a heartfelt moment on camera so he discreetly gestures to the film crew to start filming again and steps between Quaritch and Spider.

"Miles," he says, grabbing Spider's hand and trying unsuccessfully to pull him closer to Quaritch, "this is your father, Miles Quaritch."

Spider just stares at Quaritch, studying him. Now that he's over the shock, he recognizes the voice and the face and the tattoos, but he can't reconcile the fantasy of his dead dad he's had in his head for all his life with this big angry freak standing in front of him.

The admin guy starts explaining project phoenix and keeps trying to pull Spider closer to Quaritch for the cameras, but Spider won't budge. He doesn't even hear what the guy is telling him, he can't do anything other than stare at the alien wearing his father's face. Quaritch has finally calmed down enough to think about someone other than himself and realizes this must be a huge shock for Spider as well. He squats back down to try and seem more approachable and reaches out a hand for Spider while the guy keeps talking, but that finally snaps Spider out of his surprise. Spider recoils from his hands.

"No," he shakes his head in disbelief. "No way, my dad's dead. You're not my dad."

Quaritch's ears flick downward and he pulls his hand back, but his face remains stoic.

"That's what I was trying to explain," the admin guy says, "project phoenix. Before he passed, your father uploaded his souldrive, which was implanted into this new body. His personality, memories, feelings, it's all right here. For all intents and purposes, this is your dad, Miles." The guy tries one more time to pull Spider towards Quaritch, but Spider is at the end of the rope.

He pushes the guy away and walks out of the room. "What? No way, no fucking way! That is so fucked! That is some-- some THING you cooked up in a lab, don't try to tell me it's my dad!"

Quaritch tries to call after him, "Miles-"

"Just stay the hell away from me!" Spider yells and he storms out of the room.

Everyone goes quiet after he leaves. Quaritch stays kneeling on the floor, a carefully blank look on his face.

"Maybe we should've talked to them before we introduced them to each other..." One of the film crew whispers. Quaritch's sharp ears hear it and he roars at them to get the hell out and they all run, leaving him alone. Later, the higher ups try to apologize to Quaritch for springing that on them without warning, but Q is having none of it. The higher ups walk out of there feeling grateful Q didn't throw any of them through a window.

Quaritch gives it a day before he tries to approach Spider. He goes back to the admin guys who started the whole fiasco and asks them where Spider is and they direct him to his apartment without a fight, eager to avoid getting chewed out again.

When Spider opens the door and sees Quaritch standing there he just closes it again before he can say anything. Quaritch's patience is wearing thin and he politely calls through the door that he knows Spider was startled yesterday but he would really like to talk to him. Nothing. He tries again, saying that Spider can't avoid him forever and they need to talk this out. Nothing again. His patience snaps and he starts yelling at Spider to open the damn door. Finally, he tells Spider he'll sit out there as long as he has to because Spider will have to come out for food at some point.

Spider must've heard him because soon Quaritch is interrupted by Maverick trying to bring Spider some food from the cafeteria. Maverick wondered why Spider asked him to bring food to his apartment, but once he sees Quaritch, he knows why. Quaritch sees Maverick and the food and realizes Spider is still trying to avoid him, and it just pisses him off even more. Maverick tries to awkwardly introduce himself, but Quaritch just snatches the food from his hand and pounds on Spider's door again and yells "dinner's here, boy, come 'n get it!"

"Fuck off!" Spider yells back.

Maverick just watches the whole display feeling really uncomfortable. His tablet gets a message and he looks at it.

"Was that Miles? What did he say?" Quaritch asks.

Maverick looks at the very rude message Spider typed about Quaritch and tries to be diplomatic. "He politely asked if you could leave and let him have his dinner."

Quaritch scoffs because he knows Maverick lied about the polite part. "Who are you anyway?"

Maverick introduces himself as Spider's friend and explains how he's the one who discovered Spider's identity and turned him in because Spider refused to stop going out into the field. Quaritch thanks Maverick for looking out for Spider and says he's a good guy.

"Listen, sir, do I have permission to speak honestly?" Maverick asks.

"Go ahead."

"I get you want to talk to Miles, seriously, I can't imagine having a kid and then missing the first fifteen years of his life-- but has it occurred to you that you might be, um, freaking him out with the way you're acting?"

Quaritch knows Maverick is right but he's too proud to admit it. "Miles has nothing to be scared of. He would know that if he would just open the damn door!" He adds raising his voice for Spider to hear.

"Yeah, but maybe he just needs a little time? Maybe let him approach you when he's ready? I mean, this is a big shock for him..."

"Oh, he's shocked? Try waking up blue!" Quaritch scoffs. then his expression darkens and his ears flatten back. He says in softer voice. "Look, Maverick, I'm trying not to make a scene here, but you didn't see the way the kid looked at me. He thinks I'm a monster. So I don't care if I have to sit out here all night, I need to have a proper conversation with him whether he's ready or not, so he'll see there's nothing wrong with me."

Maverick sits with his back to the wall next to Quaritch. "Miles doesn't think you're a monster."

"And how do you figure that?"

"'cause he told me. Last night, after that whole fiasco, he came and talked to me about it. I've never seen the kid so upset. He told me what he said to you, but he says he didn't really mean it-- honestly, I think he feels kinda bad about what he said."

"He doesn't think I'm a monster?" Quaritch's ears perk up in relief. "Then what's he hiding for?"

Maverick shrugs. "I asked him if he wanted to talk to you and he said no. I tried to get him to tell me why, but he wouldn't answer. To be honest, I don't think even he knows why he doesn't want to talk to you."

"Then what the hell am I supposed to do then? I don't want to corner the kid, but he's not giving me much of a choice!" Quaritch throws his hands up in frustration. "I am me! I'm Miles Quaritch! How else am I supposed to prove that to him if he won't talk to me?"

"You know what... that might actually be the problem..."

"What?"

"That you're you- that you're Miles Quaritch."

"The hell is that supposed to mean?"

Maverick hesitates. "God, I don't even know if I should be telling you this... but Spider's told me about his childhood and it was pretty rough, growing up as an orphan on Earth and all that. No one ever really stepped up to fill the hole you left in his life-- the role of a dad, you know?"

Quaritch shifts guiltily, but doesn't interrupt.

"And I think Spider grew up, seeing things on tv or seeing other kids with their dads, and he got this idea in his head about what a dad is like. He used to talk about you all the time, like all the things he would do with you if you were still around, and it always gave me the sense that he has this, um, sort of, idealized version of you in his head. Listen, sir, I don't know you personally, but what I did know about you didn't match up with the stuff Spider talked about. I never had the heart to correct him, 'cause I figured it wasn't doing any harm. I could be completely wrong here, but this is what I think happened: Spider's got this fantasy of you in his head where you're this perfect dad or whatever, and then you show up in person out of nowhere and you're... uh..." Maverick stops himself from saying something and nervously gestures at Quaritch.

"I'm a little rough around the edges." Quaritch admits.

"Yeah, something like that."

Quaritch crosses his arms and huffs, "so the kid's mad that I don't want to play catch in the backyard and make pancakes on Saturdays? Tough shit. If he thinks I'm bad he shoulda met his grandpa."

"I don't know, sir, I told you, I'm just guessing. I just wanted you to know Spider doesn't think you're a monster... and maybe giving him a little space would help." Maverick prompts.

Quaritch still looks frustrated but he relents. "Alright fine." He knocks on Spider's door and says "alright, kid, you win. I'm gonna give you space. I won't come back here. When you're ready to talk to me, I'll be in the recom barracks." and he walks away.

Once he's gone, Maverick grabs the food and Spider opens the door to ask "wait did he actually leave?" Before Maverick can properly answer, Spider is running after Quaritch. It doesn't take him long to catch up, but he's out of breath from following in Quaritch's bigger footsteps. He finds him in a thankfully empty area outdoors, close to the recom barracks, but far enough away that the other recoms won't hear them talking.

Quaritch is surprised but happy to see Spider willingly chasing after him, until Spider opens his mouth: "What the hell are you doing? Are you just gonna walk away from me? Again?"

The added "again" stings, and Quaritch immediately gets as pissed as Spider. "I thought you wanted me to leave you alone, you little shit!"

"No!"

"Then what the hell was all that? One minute, you're telling me to fuck off and locking me out, and the next you're pissed at me for giving you space? Make up your damn mind and tell me what you want!"

But Spider doesn't know what he wants. Quaritch freaks him out and he doesn't want to talk to him, but at the same time, when Quaritch finally left his door it made Spider feel sick to his stomach, as if he was being abandoned again, like he'd been abandoned by so many adults in his childhood in the foster system, and his instincts told him to follow after Quaritch, but once he got to him, seeing him freaked him out again. Spider scuffs his foot on the ground, trying to think of what to say.

Quaritch doesn't have the patience or the emotional intelligence to deal with this, so he snaps "Well, what is it then? Stay or go?"

"Don't go," Spider says in a small voice.

Even as irritated as Quaritch is, hearing Spider sound so pitiful makes him feel a little bad, so he sits down on the sparse patch of grass outside the barracks, the only green thing in sight. He doesn't say anything, he just watches Spider.

Spider digs the toe of his boot into the grass and avoids eye contact for a few minutes. Finally, he says, "so this is really you? You're my... dad?"

"Technically not. You understand what a recombinant is, right? Your father, my genetic donor, is dead, but I have his soul drive-- same memories, same personality, same thoughts and feelings and all that shit."

"Yeah, I understand that my real dad is still dead, but you-- you're like a perfect copy of him, just bluer? So the way you act is the way he would've acted? This is how he was like?"

"Yes."

"Oh..."

Quaritch can tell Spider is disappointed and it hurts him, but he tries not to let it show. "Look, I'm not gonna pretend I was ever gonna be the perfect father. I was never gonna read you bedtime stories and help you with your homework and all that. In fact, I never wanted to be a father in the first place..." he sighs heavily, "but we're here now. You seem like a halfway decent kid, and I think I'd like to get to know you. And I'm an asshole, but if you decide you want to get to know me..." he shrugs, gets to his feet and starts walking towards the barracks.

Spider doesn't follow, but he doesn't have that awful feeling of abandonment anymore. he returns to his apartment and eats dinner by himself. Eventually, he works up the courage to visit Quaritch. And then he visits him again. And again. Until Spider is regularly spending time with him. They're not exactly a father son duo, there's an awkward space that persists between them no matter how much time they spend together, but Spider's not unhappy with it, and neither is Quaritch.

[numberonetacostan]

I actually really like the idea of Taco speaking French.

I wanted to ask if you have any other headcanons for that, honestly not many people use that, I've seen here and in one fic where Taco's personality changes to her s1 self and she doesn't understand English.

The idea of Mephone watching movies with both French and British villains in them and mixing those ideas together is a interesting one.

HELLO THERE!!!!^^ WELCOME AND THANK YOU THANK YOU FOR SENDING IN AN ASK ABOUT TACO SPEAKING FRENCH. ESPECIALLY ONE ASKING FOR MY HEADCANONS ABOUT TACO SPEAKING FRENCH. I LOVE THINKING ABOUT TACO SPEAKING FRENCH <3<3<3<3 MY BILINGUAL QUEEN!!!!!!! ☆*:.｡.o(≧▽≦)o.｡.:*☆

Taco occasionally forgets a word in English, but can remember it in French. No one else speaks French. This leads to an impromptu game of semi-charades as she tries to mime what she's talking about while saying the French term for it over and over again. It doesn't usually work but she tries.

When Taco is speaking English, her insults are often as refined as her diction (see: vile vial for Testy, tablet tabloid for Mepad). In French, this is not the case. Her insults in French are the equivalent of derogatory terms such as "raggedy bitch" and "ass muffin", but no one else can understand them, so they assume they're just as fancy as her English insults.

I'm not sure if this one counts, since it's not really a headcanon since it's very much not able to fit in canon, but if Taco had a place of origin that wasn't Inanimate Island, like if she wasn't made by Mephone, I like to think she'd be from one of the islands in the English Channel, off the coast of Normandy. Some of them are owned by France, some of them are owned by England. The English ones are significantly more populated though, so I'd say she'd be from either the Bailiwick of Jersey or the Bailiwick of Guernsey. She'd have grown up with both English and French. (And possibly Norman but that's not canon nor the point) Okay sorry onto more actual headcanons.

Someone at some point gifts her the flag of France and calls it a "French Pride Flag". If you want it to be a well-meaning misunderstanding, Goo gives it to her. If she's being mocked, it was Nickel. It could even be a joint gift from both of them, in which Goo had a nice little idea first and Nickel joined in to be a little shit.

Speaking of Goo, I think he'd find her being bilingual very cool and want to learn French himself!!! He tries, but silent letters end up deeply confusing him. Why are they there if you don't say them? Is French scrabble different from English scrabble because of this? Are the letters upset that they don't get pronounced? So many questions. Taco gives up on teaching him.

Post tacomic getting together (none of my posts are immune to propaganda sorry) Taco would say that she is Mic's little flea. "Ma puce", meaning "my flea" is a term of endearment in French that sounds a tad more... derogatory in English. Taco does not realize this and everyone agrees that she is indeed Mic's little flea.

I think shows and movies that Mephone watched while he was still at Meeple definitely influenced him making his own characters!!! As for who Taco might be based on? Hm. Well I don't watch the widest variety of things, I tend to find one thing I like and obsess over it, but maybe Veruca Salt from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory could be one character that inspired Taco's accent? She's a little British girl who wants and will makes sure she gets. Maybe Scar from The Lion King, another liar and betrayer? Even Frollo has a British accent, there are a lot of solid villains that could have inspired her. As for the French, we could continue with older Disney stuff and say Lumière, even though he's not a villain, with his proper attitude he could work. Even Gabriel Agreste from Miraculous Ladybug could work. Although he doesn't have a French accent, he is French and a terrible father just like Cobs, so he may come to mind when Mephone is making his "evil" original character.

Before you sent this ask I'd already been planning to make a post of Mic's adventures in learning French so that will be coming soon as well!!! Thank you for this request!!! :D

[theamityelf]

Sorry if this is annoying but what would makoto naegi's daemon be?

(More from the Daemons AU in this masterlist.)

Not annoying at all! I'm really leaning rabbit for him; at least 2 characters (Kyoko and Mukuro) have compared him to a rabbit or a bunny, and it really puts the Monokuma versus Usami thing in an interesting light, lol. Also it adds a layer to Junko calling him an herbivore, and it means I get to imagine the song "Bad, Bad Rabbit" over any of the many times Makoto is accused of something.

In general, having a rabbit daemon provides justification for others to underestimate him, all while kind of hinting at how he spreads his hope to others. (Rabbits reproduce, hope reproduces?)

Just picture Makoto walking somewhere with a brown rabbit hopping alongside him, always. If he's in a hurry, he and the rabbit are both running; the rabbit can run way faster, but daemon and human can't get too far apart without hurting themselves, so the rabbit takes care to only outpace him a little. If they're in danger, he holds it close.

As is usually the case for boys, his daemon is a girl. His parents named her Emiko; he calls her Emi. And I'm thinking she settled when he was, like, twelve. Pretty normal.

Unlike Hajime's more contentious relationship with his daemon, Makoto and Emi get along pretty well. They argue a normal amount. Where Hajime's daemon pesters Hajime with all his buried anxieties, Emi has a more subdued temperament. She's usually sitting on Makoto's lap; he emotes more than she does. When he loses his temper or otherwise is overtaken by emotion, she is kind of quiet. Which isn't because she isn't feeling the emotions; his soul isn't super outwardly emotive because he's kind of internalized that how he feels isn't a high priority for other people. When she feels a strong feeling, she'll mostly just tense up and he'll stroke her back to try to soothe her.

She's more extroverted than Hajime's daemon, though. Hajime's daemon pretty much only speaks to him, until all the stuff has happened and it can't trust Izuru. Emi is very social and friendly with the daemons of Makoto's friends and acquaintances, she sometimes is the one to introduce them (herself and Makoto, I mean) to new people, and she often makes observations about how other people are doing or acting. (She becomes less socially adventurous after the killing game. She sticks to Makoto and his friends more and generally only talks to new people if she feels moved to express compassion.)

It's still taboo to touch someone else's daemon, but people feel strongly tempted when they look at Emi; she looks so soft and fluffy. Symbolic of how people find themselves really wanting to be close to Makoto, despite themselves.

Plus, she sometimes chimes into conversations with the weird, random stuff Makoto thinks but doesn't say.

Farther along the timeline, I like Makoto being an important person, post-killing game, and having SUCH a vulnerable daemon. Like, I want people setting non-lethal traps for rabbits, because if they can get Emiko in a cage, they'll have a huge amount of leverage over Makoto.

Imagining there's propaganda images of a rabbit standing victorious on top of a demolished Monokuma. Maybe the Future Foundation tends to use images of a white rabbit, even though Emi's fur is brown, which is symptomatic of how they care less about what Makoto actually is and represents than what they think they can spin in their favor.

And here's a sketch that I can only justify to myself by remembering that it's practice.

[littleeagle16]

MY CONVERSATION/DEBATE WITH GUSTAF SKARSGARD

So, starting April 30, 2025 I've been speaking to Gustaf Skarsgard regarding a plethora of things. The biggest issue that we disagreed on was the Israel-Gaza war. He believes it to be a genocide and occupation on the part of Israel. However, the research I did (and even sent to him) says otherwise and therefore, I am not convinced.

I already knew that, being from Sweden, he's a leftist. So, it wasn't surprising to me that he would be anti-Israel. However, he still led me to believe that he was open-minded enough to try to understand and listen to the opposing view. He claimed to have looked at the sources I sent him but admitted he only saw them as propaganda and basically stopped. This was a bit dishonest to me. You can't claim to want to understand the opposing view but then not listen or read the sources where they get their info.

Yes, I myself watched, listened, and read everything he sent me until he practically admitted he wouldn't be looking at any of my links anymore. At that point it was clear to me he didn't want to learn anything from the opposing view, he just wanted to be right and to argue. A few times he said he wasn't going to talk to me anymore because, "I'm not getting through. When you've come around, I'll be here." Which only confirmed my conclusion: he wasn't interested in learning anything, he just wanted to argue.

Interestingly, this also confirms the rumors I've read on other social media platforms and forums about how pretentious he really is. This has been admitted even by people who have met/know him and live in Sweden:

So, it's very arrogant to think you know what's best for millions of other people all over the world. He basically made it sound like HE knows what's best for America/Americans. This is absolutely pretentious. This was very early in the conversation, and I couldn't believe he was already proving the rumors to be true so soon.

There were a few times where he would borderline attack my character and accuse me of things that were simply unfounded and uncalled for just because I either disagreed or simply because he was unable to convince me of his perspective.

(Yes, he did actually stoop to that level earlier in the debate where he was speaking like a jerk). There was even another instance where he said something to me and I asked for a link to the source/proof and I kid you not, he said "No! google! Fact check!" Here I am, sending him all the links to all the sources I've been reading and fact checking regarding all the things he brought up to me, and he couldn't take a few seconds to copy and paste a link? I had to prove his argument for him? This was just lazy on his part imo, but I digress.

Then, there were moments where I saw a little bit of humility:

The paragraph above - I appreciated the names of the sources he gave though strongly disagree with his last statement/sentence. So, all over the place. Before you all come at me, yes I provided links and evidence to support my position. One of the very last things I said regarding the Isreal-Gaza war was:

Notice the last response I copy and pasted from Gustaf above, where he mentioned ICJ was one of the sources where he gets his info from. Now all of the sudden ICJ can't be trusted or he chooses not to believe what they say because it doesn't support his perspective? I find this odd. It's almost as if leftists WANT there to be an occupation and genocide just so they can justify their anti-semitism. I would've thought that if the situation in Gaza doesn't fit the criteria for "occupation," according to the Hague Convention, then leftists should be happy that there IS NO occupation. But instead, they're angry that it's not.

Don't get me wrong, if ICJ determines that Israel is truly committing genocide and that there IS an occupation on the part of Israel, then okay, I will accept. But if they determine that both of these accusations are false, then all leftists and critics of Israel will have the sin of bearing false witness and slander on their conscience. I'd rather not live with the guilt of falsely accusing someone or group of people of committing some of the most heinous crimes against humanity. I'd rather err on the side of caution and wait for the verdict from the highest court in the United Nations - ICJ.

Overall, I'm grateful for the conversation/debate. I did learn from him and educated myself in the process. However, Gustaf Skarsgard is absolutely pretentious and arrogant. But he has his moments.

I didn't know whether I wanted to post this because I hate politics and the division it causes anymore. However, I mainly wanted to showcase a bit of Gustaf's personality for any Skarsgard fans out there. If I wanted this to be ALL about the political discussion I would've copy and pasted the ENTIRE conversation/debate. I didn't want that.

[lynxindisguise]

Obviously Project 2025 and the attack on women and members of the LGBTQ+ community is absolutely horrifying and very much real, no matter how much Trump has tried to distance himself from it.

But I want to talk about what's in the Republican Party's actual plan, because these are probably the things that will happen first, and it may also be helpful in terms of speaking to conservative relatives (especially the ones who are not fully gone far-right MAGA worshippers and are, instead, confused as to why everyone is so upset) about what exactly they voted for.

Mass deportations. This is the main platform he ran on. On a human level, this is horrifying, and it's going to cause unthinkable and unconscionable suffering. Maybe it'd be helpful to discuss how immigrants (including privileged white legal immigrants) pay taxes, can't vote, don't have access to benefits, and cannot risk committing even minor crimes for fear of deportation. Maybe it wouldn't. So. On an inhuman level, this is very expensive and a massive waste of resources. If you can't get people to give a shit about other human beings, you can at the very least ask how these deportations are not going to detract resources and attention away from the 'American needs' they keep harping on about.

Getting rid of all environmental regulations and AI regulations and amping up use of coal and oil. This is devastating for the entire world in the fight against climate change. I think this is how Trump means to reduce inflation, though his entire 'reduce taxes and reduce inflation' plan is so incredibly vague. At best, it's more trickle down theory bullshit.

Reducing American involvement in foreign conflicts. This sounds really great, actually. And yet. No foreign conflicts are specified—except for strengthening support to Israel. So. It would seem that the US is becoming even more involved in genocide, and most likely less involved in aiding Ukraine.

Improving the American education system. Hilariously, Trump's solution to a failing education system is to get rid of the Department of Education and leave everything up to the states? When you read on, it becomes clear that this is so schools can teach exclusively American history—and a very specific, propagandized version of it at that.

He mentions wanting to build a DOME MISSILE DEFENSE SHIELD around the US? Why is no one talking about this? This is formally written down. What the fuck does that mean?

He also talks about REDUCING censorship and protecting freedom of speech. In the coming years, I would ask your conservative relatives to hold him to that.

They also promised affordable housing, college, and healthcare. There's no plan for how the fuck they're going to do this while decreasing taxes, but I'd tell your conservative relatives to hold him to that as well.

The whole plan is here if you feel like reading the word 'great' 800 times. If you don't want propaganized idiots telling you you've fallen for the 'leftist propaganda,' come armed with indisputable facts of what the Republican Party has said they will do.