#you also are so radicalized (negative) that you only recognize other assholes who are radicalized incl to the right as people anymore

[ovisiphorus]

What’s with stupid online leftists hyper focusing on whatever online, probably fake story they can use to demonize “shit libs”. Do you people not understand that people can just be angry about the election and being browbeat by you guys’s nonchalant attitudes that denied the full scope of a Trump 2 win WITHOUT it meaning they’re evil or privileged white richies who are basically fash?

Saying “well I hope everyone knows what they’re getting” is not fash shit and you guys are really slobbing on trumper knob for some reason. It’s irritating af. Also, I think you idiots really just hate Black people fr. Can you let people be fucking frustrated? Or no?

“UwU if they say ‘I hope you get what you voted for’, that’s horrible and evil and you can tell they never had anything to truly fear bc they use it as a weapon!” Do you people hear yourselves?

Definitely hate the majority of Black people for sure!

[itsjustthechems]

Musings on Danse's political/moral alignments

I saw a post mentioning how a lot of the Fo4 fandom associates Danse with current American conservatives. I disagree, and just want to ramble about my feelings on the subject.

Yes, he is a meathead asshole.

I totally understand taking Danse at face value and assigning him mentally to the "bigoted bootlicker" category. That's totally valid. Unless you travel with him extensively and pay close attention to his ambient dialogue, it's understandable to figure that's just how Bethesda wrote him.

Danse's backstory

To understand Danse's moral and political standings, we have to take a look at his origin story. As far as Danse is aware, he grew up alone in the Capital Wasteland. He was an orphan that scrounged for scrap metal and other junk, which he sold to get by. He had no known family, parental figures, or mentors of any sort. He had one friend, Cutler, who was around his age. The Brotherhood of Steel, much like the real U.S. military, preyed on people like this for recruitment missions. Teenagers of low socioeconomic status - hungry, lonely, desperate, unsure of their purpose. Of course Danse and Cutler would elect to join the Brotherhood, which promised them food, protection, somewhere to sleep at night, and above all else - camaraderie. During one of his affinity dialogues, Danse admits that joining the Brotherhood seemed like the only way to escape his situation.

The Brotherhood took advantage of Danse and other soldiers' naivety and lack of experience by instilling fear and hatred of the misunderstood (synths, ghouls, mutants) and using those negative feelings to shape their training. Dare to disagree with their belief system? At best, you would be disciplined. Verbally abused by the Elder and shunned by your friends and mentors. At worst, you'd be booted out - back to the Wasteland you had been taught to fear unconditionally. Back to starvation, radiation, poverty, and isolation.

After a year of service, Cutler disappeared on a mission. Danse searched for him for three weeks, finally tracing him to a super mutant hive. Cutler had been exposed to FEV and had become a super mutant. Danse killed him. He admits that he doesn't know if it was the right thing to do, but it was what he had been trained to do.

That was the first circumstance that really gave me a glimpse into the nuance of Danse's beliefs. Like...wait, he questions his oh-so-precious-and-infallible training?

Is he still a douche to almost all non-human NPCs? Yes. However, I don't think he knows how to be anything other than a condescending, militant, Brotherhood heavy. That kind of attitude is what got him promoted so quickly. It's what got him out of his bottom-of-the-pecking-order trainee position, where he had felt singled out by his superiors. He learned that bigotry and cold-heartedness were the only methods of survival and success in the Brotherhood.

His character arc

Danse is not meant to be a one-dimensional, blatantly bigoted character. If he was, I don't think Bethesda would have made him romance-able. In fact, that's why you can't romance him until after his character arc quest: Blind Betrayal.

Spoiler alert! On this quest, you find out that Danse is a synth. He had no idea, and has a subsequent identity crisis that leaves him suicidal. This is the breaking point in the struggle between his own innate morality and his Brotherhood training. His default stance is that he should be killed to uphold the Brotherhood's code — he even offers to do the deed himself to protect the Sole Survivor from disciplinary action (a true testament to the brutality of the Brotherhood — Danse would rather die than allow Sole, his best friend, to face Maxson's wrath). However, through charisma checks, you can remind him of his own humanity and convince him not to harm himself. This breakthrough leads him to recognize that synths are truly nothing to be afraid of.

After Blind Betrayal, he will agree with most dialogue options supporting synths. According to the wiki, any leftover dislikes regarding synth-related dialogue are glitches.

There are other moments in separate quests that reference his moral confusion — for example, he likes when you help Kent, who is a ghoul, but doesn't like if you flirt with Holly, also a ghoul (maybe that's just some jealousy, lmao).

He also dislikes when you give Virgil, a mutant scientist, the serum that will help him return to his human form. My personal headcanon is that seeing Virgil cure himself forces Danse to address the fact that he might have been able to save Cutler, but killed him instead, due to his Brotherhood brainwashing.

Evidence of Danse's fiscal/economic beliefs

Danse is a COMRADE. You heard me. This man's pussy pops for socialized medicine. When you walk through Milton General Hospital, he says: "Facilities like this were funded by privately owned corporations more interested in making a profit than helping mankind."

You heard me, this man hates capitalism. Behold:

"Vault-Tec built places like this to conduct unethical experiments on human beings. Just thinking about it makes me sick."

"It was corporations like this that put the last nail in the coffin for mankind. They exploited technology for their own gains, pocketing the cash and ignoring the damage they'd done."

"Private corporations like Vault-Tec ruined mankind. All that brainpower put to waste..."

"This is disgusting. I can't believe Mass Fusion dumped these barrels here. This is the perfect example of how environmentally irresponsible the ancient corporations behaved."

"This is exactly the reason that science never belonged in the private sector."

Ugh. Really gets me goin'.

Conclusion

He has several other comments that suggest he is generally anti-war, is very pro-education, shows appreciation for the arts, loves children and animals...several things that conservatives couldn't care less about. He reacts angrily to greed, assaulting or harassing any non-hostiles (including synths, ghouls, and mutants), turning your back on beggars, harming non-hostile animals, etc. In my opinion, he's a pretty stand-up guy once he completes his character arc.

Does he still love the taste of boots? Yeah, and he probably always will. :/

Bethesda did him so dirty by not finishing his character arc. The fact that he still gushes about the Brotherhood and acts as if he's still in their ranks after Blind Betrayal is pretty clear evidence that he's a generally unfinished character. I think he had the potential to become a more accepting, radicalized, philanthropic individual after recognizing the shortcomings of the Brotherhood's ideals.

But yeah. I love this handsome dumbass, and I personally consider him a comrade, not a conservative. Kudos if you read this far into my crazed ramblings!

[aonrivers]

Pregnancy, Birth, Postpartum, and Baby Time! (TMI warning) - Part 01

Recently I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. For nine months I read articles and expectations of things to happen and to come, but honestly nothing prepared me for the truth of it all. Sure my friends told me some stuff, but nothing like what I experienced.

I’ve decided to write the nitty gritty of it all along with tips for new moms that I wish I had too. This is going to be major TMI, but when you've given birth, nothing seems like TMI anymore - especially because in the labor room you've got about ten people you've never met before (yes, even your doctor) staring at your asshole and your crotch. With introductions out of the way, are you ready? Here we go!

Part 1 of IDK how many...

Truths about being pregnant:

1) First and foremost... Officially remove negative people in your life the moment that stick says positive. This is Tip #1. I planned on doing this for months before I got pregnant but being pregnant pushed me to do it sooner. I was tired of being stressed out and having negative things told me by certain people in my life and I wasn't going to have it continue during one of the most stressful and most beautiful times of my life. I closed the door on many friendships during my first few weeks and even though it still bugs me that I had to do it, I'm glad I did and recommend others to do the same (even when you aren't pregnant). 2) Tip #2 I can offer is either before or during your pregnancy, plan a vacation. I was on vacation when I got pregnant and planned a trip with my best friend when I hit mid third trimester (would've been sooner but 2020 was a hellish year for the world). 3) I bought a belly book after a few weeks of finding out I was pregnant. My friend recommended it and it was really cool to document every week and my thoughts and post my belly bump pictures, but then second trimester hit and the book was wrong... I ignored it until the third trimester hit and it was wrong again. What was wrong with it? They claimed my trimesters started in certain weeks that were 2-3 weeks off. I Googled my trimesters and checked multiple sites - the book was wrong. So I finally said screw it and created my own. I bought a scrapbook (use a Michael's coupon, that shit is expensive) and I began to craft my own book. 4) A huge suggestion: take those belly bump pictures!! It sounds silly but it's super cool to have. Not only do you get to see your belly growing, but you can put those pictures in your scrapbook like I did. I took the same pose in the same place every Friday. Then I found a really cool app that you could put words on your images and ended up doing that for my Instagram posts. 5) My 3rd tip is make sure you have a really good relationship with your doctor and they believe in the same things you do. I think this is important because I wasn't happy with the thought of being pregnant with my normal doctor then I ended up not being happy half the time with the doctors I went to while pregnant. I wish I had that doctor patient relationship you think every pregnant lady has. I kind of had that with my crazy, beady-eyed doctor I had seen for thirteen years, but when it came time to have a child, she just didn't align with me. She was pro everything I'm not and became a little too radical for me. Be who you wanna be, believe and think what you wanna believe and think, but don't push that shit on me - and that's the direction she started going. So in the end, I left her and went with my friend's doctor... Who happened to have 5+ doctors and a midwife.... Midwife was cool and maybe two of the doctors, but the rest I wasn't a fan of. I didn't even know the doctor who I gave birth with and it was very impersonal with the doctors I saw during the checkups. For example: one doctor would come in, glance at me, talk to me while staring at the computer screen, then leave. I also didn't get ultrasounds done with them, only heartbeat checks. It just wasn't a journey with them like I thought it would be and should've had. Now speaking of those sweet black and white first photos... 6) Sonograms are beautiful things to have. I got a nice picture frame for my second trimester image and have it on my dresser with a cute doll and my childhood music box. Treasure these little pictures. Take pictures of them to keep and reprint because the ink will fade on the ones the tech gives you, but for the love of God, hide your personal information when you post them. Sonograms say your name and birthdate, along with where you got the picture taken then more information on your child. It irks me to no end when people post this online. Especially on Twitter, which is a public forum. Shit. I didn't even post that on my private Instagram. 7) Next Tip: Call insurance to confirm multiple things, such as: what's covered during pregnancy/hospital stay/postpartum, if the hospital is covered, and if your Pediatrician is in network. Just because the office says "yes we take Aetna/UHC" doesn't mean they're in network. 8) Something that I will be telling everyone I know who is pregnant (which honestly isn't many) is scourge the internet for those pregnancy sites. Most sites and stores offer sample boxes. If you start a registry, they send you one too. Try: Amazon, Babylist, BuyBuyBaby, Walmart, Target... The list goes on. Check What To Expect's website for a list of all the sample box sites. I got about ten boxes that all had great stuff inside: bottles, pacifiers, breast milk pouches, diapers, lotion/shampoo samples, wipes, pads, and a few other smaller things. I honestly haven't used any of it, but plan to soon. 9) A great tip my friend told me was to go on those breast pump sites and check to see if your insurance is covered. My insurance ended up covering up to $300 for a breast pump. Of course I went with a $300 breast pump and paid an extra $30 out of pocket to have a few more parts included in my purchase. It was a great idea and is highly recommended for new moms to take advantage of! (I went with Spectra for a few reasons... It's definitely quieter than the Medela pump (the hospital had this one), and there's a nifty nightlight on the pump handle with two settings. It's super useful and I actually use the nightlight feature every night...) 10) Another great tip is to make that baby registry and share it!! People you don't expect will buy stuff. I used Amazon and got a bunch of perks. After my shower, I bought the rest of my stuff with the discounts Amazon offers. It was 2 bulk orders where both had 15% off entire order. I also get discounts on diapers for a year or, I think, the equivalent of $600 spent. Both perks were extremely helpful. 11) FYI, pregnancy is ten months, not nine. They tell you this in articles on The Bump and What To Expect, but I figured I'd say it anyways. 12) You won't miss your period during this time. I sure don't. 21 years so far is long enough for me. 13) The nausea is real and it sucks. It gets to the point where you don't wanna try for baby number two because you're just so over it after being sick for three months straight. 14) Nausea doesn't mean you're hanging over the toilet bowl throwing up the only food that doesn't make you sick. You can just have that knot in your throat all day that's teasing you about having to throw up. Not fun. 15) Being tired is also real and I have no idea how working moms-to-be do it. I work from home, so taking power naps was easy to do. Most of the time, I couldn't keep my eyes open. And it took about three months to find out why... (see next number) 16) YOU'RE NOT ONLY GROWING A HUMAN INSIDE YOU BUT A FREAKING ORGAN TOO!! That's right folks. The placenta isn't just chilling inside you waiting for the day you get pregnant. It's growing right alongside your little baby, taking your nutrients and energy so it can form and power up your little embryo/fetus. 17) If you're a vivid dreamer like me, the dreams are definitely weird. They tell you this, but for me, my dream self becomes pregnant too. I literally went through my dreamworlds pregnant. 18) Boobs hurting is an understatement. My boobs hurt so badly from the hormones and getting ready for milk that I didn't even wanna touch them when I was showering. 19) Your boobs become hideous. I have small breast - a nearly A has been my measurement in the past, but becoming pregnant, I became a large B - probably going into a small C cup. And not only did the boob itself get bigger and veinier, but the nipples got bigger and darker (confirmed by my friends, doctor, and websites that women experience this change). I honestly don't recognize my boobs anymore. I also don't even know why I wanted bigger boobs growing up. They suck. It's not the backaches (I didn't have any while pregnant, surprisingly), it's the fact that when you sleep on your side, that boob gets crushed and goes numb. 20) Boobs leak as they start forming that first collection of milk aka colostrum. So be aware. Being braless is great but those milk stains aren't cute. And it's not like a normal wet spot either where your nipples are. It's a wet stain with a milky ring around it making it totally unattractive. 21) Your nipples will become numb aka no stimulation. At least for me. My nipples are still numb but I guess it goes without saying why (think about it). 22) On websites, they will tell you that your cervix swells and some women enjoy sex more with their new closed off vagina, but not for me. It hurt to do anything down there. My husband and I had one position available and when the bump got bigger, we became celibate. And boy does the guilt take over... So expect this to happen - you're not alone if it does. 23) Your sex drive may be gone. As I said above, I swelled up down there and it was very painful having sex. With that, the sex drive was killed. My poor hubby suffered through these nine months and continued to suffer after birth because- well I'll get to why suffering continues after birth later. 24) Craving food may not happen for you. I didn't crave anything unusual. The only thing I ate on a daily basis were two English muffins with butter. On weekly basis I had three scrambled eggs on those two English muffins. This occurred maybe 2-3 times a week. Other than that, my "cravings" were the same. I wanted Taco Bell and all the other normal stuff I ate when not pregnant. 25) Paranoia for what you're eating will definitely hit you. Guilt will too. Paranoia because you're checking Google to see if you were allowed to eat that pasta with garlic sauce; and guilt because you're eating crappy junk food and feel like you're depriving your baby of nutrients. But like my friend told me, your body provides the baby what it needs and to stop being paranoid. Also those prenatals pack a punch in vitamins. 26) This isn't really nitty gritty or a tip... it's just something I personally did while pregnant and that was - I stayed away from the foods they tell you to like the high mercury fish and cold cuts, but I ate hot dogs and medium cooked beef. But those meats were cooked 170°+ which they recommend if you wanna eat your normal foods. You can also eat cold cuts but it's highly recommended they're warmed up. These meats contain listeria which is something we can defeat by ourselves but our little babies in the womb have difficulty in doing. Another thing I did in regards to food was I stayed away from foods I was allowed to eat but made me sick when I wasn't pregnant. I just didn't want to deal with the sickness. 27) Sleep however tf you want to sleep and that's exactly what I did. Sleeping on my side is not something I do when not pregnant and certainly didn't happen while pregnant. That is, not until the last month or two. I'll elaborate... I'm a back sleeper. I slept on my back and felt my baby every night tucking into one side of my belly because it was comfortable for her. It wasn't until those last months where the weight of my baby was actually pushing on my spine and yes you can feel it. It's a heavy pain that forces you to side sleep. 28) Those pregnancy pillows are shit. Seriously. They're bulky and annoying. My friend bought me a super nice one that went under the head, down the back, and cupped between the legs and I used it for five minutes. I'll find use for it one of these days - maybe gift it to my friend who is due in April - but right now it's just taking up space downstairs. I tried the slanted pillow for my belly. That lasted a month. What did it for me was that silly "As Seen On TV" pillow. It's that white, guitar pick looking pillow you shove between your knees to keep your legs leveled and your spine straight. That's literally the only pillow that helped me when my belly got huge. My bed worked out in my favor cupping my bump. 29) Being pregnant in the summer isn't that bad. Granted I had AC/Central Air the entire time. But seriously... You know why it also wasn't so bad? I could wear tank tops and dresses. Those were my maternity clothes. I bought maternity leggings for $4 when Kohl's had them on sale. They sucked. The belly piece went over the belly nicely, but the back road my back fat in a very uncomfortable way (and I don't really have back fat). Also, flip flops were my Godsend. When my feet swelled, flip flops were all I wore. Can't do that in the colder months! 30) I basically became a heater. Probably because I gained 4lbs of blood and water and a baby and whatever else was going on in my body. I normally sleep with a fleece blanket and a comforter; even in the summer. I could only use my fleece blanket while pregnant. I was surprisingly warm enough. Which leads me to the next sleeping factor... 31) Sleeping naked was a must. Here's why... Besides being hot all the time, waistbands hurt me and shirts bugged the crap outta my body. 32) Being commando all the time was a must. It was super nice being commando. I didn't have to worry about a period making a grand entrance and the waistband and around my thighs weren't hurting. 33) A nice buying tip: the baby grows super fast. And if your baby is born in the fall or winter, chances are the stores only have summer clothes. So make sure you get those larger outfits for the months to come! 34) Ask for larger clothes for that baby shower. It'll help down the road. 35) Shaving stops when you can no longer see down there and when you can no longer bend comfortably to shave your legs. Of course that didn't stop me before I went to the hospital. I cleaned up the best I could from the belly button down, but still managed to miss that one spot on my damn kneecap! 36) Back to baby... Flutters start being felt really early. Feels like gas but it's the baby. They say 16 weeks but I was feeling the flutters at 12 weeks. After the flutters came the kicks and jabs, and the constant wondering if I had a mini Mike Tyson in my belly. Especially when my belly would convulse like she was using my organs as a punching bag. I came across only one random article that explained what that was... Hiccups. Yes, the baby gets hiccups in utero and if your baby is like mine, the damn things continue outside the womb annoying your little bundle of joy like your own hiccups annoy you. 37) Sometimes you'll panic when you don't feel the baby moving much. Babies in the womb still need sleep I was told. If you get no movement at all within 24 hours no matter what you do then definitely call your doctor. (Your doctor should tell you this during a visit.) 38) I was told this: babies hear you and mostly everything around you outside the womb. This is true. My baby would move from her comfy right side to the left just to get closer to where my husband was talking to her. 39) Third trimester is when everything starts getting real, possibly painful, and definitely the feeling of "I'm over this". They mention this on those websites and they're not joking. 40) Every night I popped two tums just to keep the acid reflux down and the heartburn away. They say major heartburn means you've got a hairy baby and they weren't kidding (more on this later). 41) Waddling actually does occur. At first I felt like I was just doing it because I'm pregnant and subconsciously I'm making fun of pregnant ladies you see in movies. But you really do waddle and wonder if your walk will ever be the same again. (Spoiler: it does.) 42) My feet and legs swelled by my 8th month. They were slowly swelling into the third trimester but it was super noticeable towards the end. But I also ran into a health issue which I'll get to later... The swelling actually hurts. It feels like you're walking on water bags and on top of that, the bottom of your feet feel like you walked all of Disney World nonstop for a week straight. Do yourself a favor and put your feet up and rest. I hardly did this. I just had so much stuff I wanted to get done and I don't like asking for help, so I did everything myself until it got to the point where my husband or mother-in-law were yelling at me. 43) Getting a cold while pregnant sucks. Coughing and blowing your nose is kind of hard because you start to worry that your upsetting your baby. Plus, now you gotta think about medicine. What's safe and should you even bother... Luckily your doctor gives a list of safe medications. 44) Swelling in the feet could be something completely different than just the normal "things to expect in your third trimester" so be aware and prepared for problems that can arise that you weren't expecting. Like what happened to me. Even though those monthly appointments turned weekly get annoying, especially when you gotta drive thirty minutes to your appointments, they're not pointless. In week 38 I had protein in my urine and my blood pressure was high. The protein was not a UTI like what I got when I conceived back in December. That protein was a glimpse into something pretty scary if not caught early during pregnancy. It's called pre-eclampsia. Luckily I was two weeks out from my due date so inducing me wasn't too big of an issue. My baby was fully grown. Only way to get rid of pre-eclampsia is to remove the placenta - hence the early birth of my baby. But some mom's aren't this lucky and lemme tell you something. This was something that was never brought up to me during my doctor visits or on the websites I visited. They don't tell you that pre-eclampsia can happen at any point or that it could come back, and possibly worse, in your next pregnancies until you've been tested positive for it. I was in the hospital for five days after giving birth. My kidneys, heart, and platelets were all affected. Thank God I'm cleared now, but knowing about this ahead of time would've been nice. I could've looked for signs which were massive swelling in legs and feet (luckily I had no headaches or blurry vision). But like I said, I was tested positive late in the game. Some mother's aren't. Part 02 will go into labor and the TMI things that go on when you're admitted into the hospital.

[fantastic-nonsense]

Alright folks, today we’re going to talk about Luke ‘Golden Boy’ Skywalker and the Throne Room fight, because I had the misfortune of running into someone who so fundamentally misunderstands Luke’s thoughts and actions during the Throne Room scene in Return of the Jedi that it sent Kill Bill sirens running through my head.

So! Luke “two seconds after hearing my father is a genocidal asshole who cut off my hand goes 'yeah no I can't kill him I'm gonna turn him instead with the power of love!'” Skywalker! He literally saves the entire galaxy with emotion and love! But it's a selfless love, not the selfish and fearful attachment that Anakin had towards Padme during ROTS while he was spiraling. It's compassion, not attachment. And therein lies the difference. That's why Luke becomes a full Jedi when he faces Palpatine and Vader in ROTJ; he learns to embody the entirety of what it fully means to be a Jedi during that fight in the throne room when instead of fighting he throws his lightsaber down and says "I will not fight you, Father." He chooses diplomacy, redemption, and love instead of vengeance. He chooses non-violence over power and control. He will believe in anyone, no matter what they’ve done to him or the people he loves, and would rather die than lose a chance at helping someone become their best selves. His defining moment is a radical act of embracing his feelings and choosing love.

Contrast this with earlier in the fight, when he loses control over his emotions and gives into the Dark Side, going buckwild crazy and getting to the point where he slices off Vader's own hand in a parallel mockery of the Bespin fight. Think about why that is what got Luke to stop and back down. He was so much more powerful when he was feeding off of the Dark Side, right? Using his negative emotions made him stronger, right? Yeah sure...in the short run. But what did he become in those few moments he drew on the Dark Side? What would he have become if he had kept doing it?

The Dark Side feeds on you. It turns you into something you're not. It whispers at you and tells you that you can do so much more, be so much more, if only you would let go and stop adhering to those pesky morals and values and codes. It turns good people like Anakin Skywalker into twisted, mottled versions of themselves that no one who knew them before can recognize because they are so trapped under their delusions of grandeur and desperate desire for power.

An interpretation of the Throne Room scene that has Luke throwing his weapon away and choosing pacifism because he’s giving up or accepting his fate or finally believes he can’t save Vader is wrong because it disregards Luke's agency as a character and his actions up to that point in the narrative.

I'd like to take a moment to bring in the big guns and pull two George Lucas quotes on everyone:

GEORGE LUCAS: Well, it is about transformation. And — and ultimately it’ll be about transformation of how young Anakin Skywalker became evil and then was redeemed by his son. But it’s also about transformation of how his son came to — to find the call. Luke works intuitively through most of the movie until he gets to the very end. Everything up to that point is very intuitive. He goes back and forth with his emotions about fighting his father or not fighting his father. Finally he comes to that decision to say, ‘No, this is — this is what I have to do. I have to simply throw my weapon down.’ And it’s only that way that he’s able to redeem his father, which ultimately is the issue. It’s not as apparent in the first three movies, but when you see the movies I haven’t made yet, that — the issue of how do we get Darth Vader back is really the central issue. How do we get him back to that little boy that he was in the first movie? That good person who loved and was generous and kind? [x]

And [compassion], Lucas says, is what “Star Wars” is really all about. Sure, there are also larger themes like what makes someone a hero, what is friendship, and what makes people sacrifice themselves for something larger, but really, it’s about compassion, and loving people.

“It’s still…you know…basically [just] don’t kill people, and be compassionate,” Lucas said in an interview with Charlie Rose at the Chicago Ideas Festival earlier this month. “Love people. That’s basically all ‘Star Wars’ is.”

Luke has ample opportunity to perpetuate the cycle of violence; he has Vader down on his knees! He cuts his hand off in a parallel to Bespin! And then he looks at Vader, sees himself in him (oh look! Parallels to the Cave in ESB!), and then makes the active choice to reject the cycle of violence and embrace non-violence and love instead:

Luke stared at his father’s twitching, severed, mechanical hand—and then at his own black-gloved artificial part—and realized suddenly just how much he’d become like his father. Like the man he hated. Trembling, he stood above Vader, the point of his glowing blade at the Dark Lord’s throat. He wanted to destroy this thing of Darkness, this thing that was once his father, this thing that was...him.

Suddenly the Emperor was there, looking on, chuckling with uncontrollable, pleased agitation. “Good! Kill him! Your hate has made you powerful! Now, fulfill your destiny and take your father’s place at my side!”

Luke stared at his father beneath him, then at the Emperor, then back at Vader. This was Darkness—and it was the Darkness he hated. Not his father, not even the Emperor. But the Darkness in them. In them, and in himself. And the only way to destroy the Darkness was to renounce it. For good and all. He stood suddenly erect, and made the decision for which he’d spent his life in preparation.

He hurled his lightsaber away. “Never! Never will I turn to the dark side! You have failed, Palpatine. I am a Jedi, as my father was before me.” -Return of the Jedi novelization

Luke is choosing compassion, love, and family over anger, fear, and hate. He's choosing to stand up and go "I am a Jedi, like my father before me" instead of bowing to the same temptation Anakin did. Any interpretation of this scene that frames Luke's decision as anything other than a radical act of defiance is misunderstanding the basic point of what Star Wars is trying to teach you. Dooku stands in front of Anakin at the beginning of ROTS at his mercy, and at Palpatine's goading, Anakin kills him. Vader stands in front of Luke at his mercy in the Throne Room, but though Palpatine goads him Luke turns around, throws away his lightsaber, and says "You've failed, your Highness. I am a Jedi, like my father before me." It's a cinematic parallel; it's Lucas deliberately working with the same themes and showing that Luke chooses a different path than his father, and through choosing that different path succeeds where his father (and the Jedi) failed: he pulls Vader back to the Light and saves the galaxy through an act of unconditional compassion and faith. It's not giving up; it's having faith.

Luke has spent the entirety of his interactions with Vader in ROTJ up to this point urging him to break free: "[Anakin Skywalker] is the name of your true self, you've only forgotten...I know there is good in you." "Search your feelings Father...you can't do this. I feel the conflict within you, let go of your hate." "Come with me." His entire conversation with Vader in that moment is one implicit "let me help you" plea.

His words in the Throne Room aren't for the Emperor's sake; they're for Vader's. "I am a Jedi, like my father before me." Even as he accepts certain death by his final denouncement of the Dark Side to Palpatine's face, he is still trying to save his father. Because that's what Luke Skywalker is: he is a clear and authoritative “Never! I’ll never turn to the dark side" in the face of certain death. He is, at his heart, the man who sees so clearly and who believes so completely that he casts aside his lightsaber rather than fight to save his own life—not because he’s given up or because he’s weak or a coward, but because of his faith—because Luke Skywalker will die sooner than give into hatred. He will lay down his weapon sooner than turn to darkness, and by his faith Anakin finds a way to struggle back to the light, kill Palpatine, and fulfill his destiny.

This is why viewing all six episodes as a single story instead of as two different stories is so important: Star Wars is ultimately a story about the Fall and Redemption of Anakin Skywalker...how he falls due to selfish love and the fear of loss and is saved through the unconditional love and compassion of his son. He is both damned and saved by the power of love. Luke succeeds where all of the other Jedi fail. And he succeeds by explicitly rejecting the desires and advice of Obi-Wan and Yoda (the metaphorical stand-ins for the Old Order), who tell him that Anakin is gone and Luke needs to kill him.

It is only through rejecting the tenets of the Old Order, embracing that selfless love and compassion and (positive) emotion, and having faith that Anakin can still be brought back that Luke succeeds, becomes a full-fledged Jedi, and saves the galaxy. He succeeds by embodying Padme and her final words of "I know there is still good in him" rather than Obi-Wan and the doctrines of the Old Order. He rejects both the Old Order and the Sith, and that is why he becomes “not the last of the Old Jedi, Luke, but the first of the New,” because he recognizes the flaws inherent in the Old Order’s teachings and is free to chart a new path forward. He succeeds by choosing love over fear and hate. As Matthew Stover so eloquently states in the Revenge of the Sith novelization, "The dark is generous and it is patient and it always wins – but in the heart of its strength lies its weakness: one lone candle is enough to hold it back. Love is more than a candle. Love can ignite the stars.”

[mindcoolness]

Why Your Values Don't Make You a Good Person

New Post has been published on http://www.mindcoolness.com/blog/values-good-person/

Why Your Values Don't Make You a Good Person

Humans want to survive and flourish, to live and live well, to be and be well:

Well-being is the integration of pleasure and meaning in life. We want to feel good and fulfilled. We want hedonic and eudaemonic happiness.

A good life is a positive well-being balance over a lifetime. If, on your deathbed, you were to look back at every moment you have lived, summing up all your pleasures and pains, all your moments of joy and suffering, and all your experiences of purpose and emptiness, you could create a happiness balance sheet that weighs your positive experiences against your negative experiences. A positive final balance signifies a good life.

People who thoughtlessly do what they want—in a state of passion, led by emotions—maximize short-term well-being, whereas those who wisely do what they truly want—in a state of mindcoolness, led by reason—maximize long-term well-being. The latter are more likely to live a good life.

As humans, our ultimate goal is to have lived a good life. That is our True Will. Good is whatever helps us do what we truly want, which is to improve well-being in the long term. But how can we know for sure what will ultimately make us happy? Until we have perfect self-knowledge and a complete science of happiness, all we can do is rely on the pieces of evidence we do have and on the wisdom of moral heuristics:

Objective evidence comes from the fields of psychology and cognitive science. Clinical psychologists tell us how to preserve mental health (minimize suffering), positive psychologists tell us what makes life most worth living (maximize fulfillment), and cognitive scientists tell us how irrational impulses make us not do our True Will. Yet what these experts say is often impractical and still far, far away from a complete picture.

Moral heuristics come from the fields of religion and philosophy. The wisdom traditions give us rules of thumb for how to live a good life, usually focusing on concrete virtues. They teach us, for example, that the best long-term outcomes are achieved through courage not cowardice, prudence not ignorance, moderation not gluttony, humility not hubris, generosity not greed, kindness not animosity, and so forth.

Now, what are we to do if we want a good life not just for ourselves, but also for those around us? Since we do not have a reliable science of morality, we must again rely on moral heuristics, namely, on value systems and moral principles. These are not good per se, but good only insofar as they allow people to live good lives. The good life qua long-term well-being is the only intrinsic value. All other values are instrumental.

For example, the moral principles known as human rights are not good per se. They are good only insofar as they prove to be useful heuristics for improving human flourishing. Will humans live better lives if they are free from brutal torture and free to express their thoughts? Not necessarily, but very probably. This probability is what makes human rights ethically good. Similarly, human life is not sacred. There is no such thing as “dignity” in the natural world. But even though humans are not objectively endowed with dignity, it is probably good to act as if they were. Like money, dignity is a useful fiction. However, its usefulness is limited.

Consider people who use the myth of human dignity to argue for economic equality, free health care, free education, and free housing. “Free,” of course, means “tax-funded,” so others will counter with different moral heuristics, say, the values of fairness and liberty. None of these values can settle the controversies of egalitarianism and social spending. When values clash, our common moral heuristics fail.

To move ahead, we must abandon the heuristic approach to morality. We must quit arguing in terms of rights, values, and principles and find back to our common moral ground: the will to live and live well. Although evidence-based utilitarian probabilities might be difficult to calculate, they are our only possible way forward.

But people are rarely willing to let go of their values and principles. Many take pride in being “principled” and believe that staying true to their values is what makes them “good people.” Sure, a “man of principle” may have well-developed moral heuristics, but he may also have a dogmatic, bigoted devotion to them. In extreme cases, he might kill for a principle or die for a value, even though a value is essentially just a word, a useful myth—a myth, however, that, if dogmatized, transforms from a means to achieve a good outcome into an end in itself.

Who wouldn’t want to have easy solutions for difficult life problems? Who wouldn’t want a simple recipe for being a good person? Core values and cultural norms simplify life, and they do so with such effectiveness that most people fail to recognize how their own deepest values are essentially just instrumental heuristics. Hence, they cling on to them as if they were the be-all and end-all of moral goodness. Even worse, people like to define the good life in terms of their personal values and say stupid things like, “A good life is a life lived in freedom with joy and integrity.” This is utter moral confusion: freedom is a vague heuristic to increase well-being, joy an aspect of well-being, and integrity an umbrella term for different moral heuristics.

Let’s take a closer look at freedom, a core value that everybody loves and pretty much everybody defines differently. Libertarians uphold freedom as the primary moral principle. Freedom is indeed vitally important,1 but on its own, it is empty, and it is not the end of the story of ethics. The true primary moral principle to live a good life by maximizing well-being in the long-term. Setting freedom as the primary principle would absolutize an instrumental value, would dogmatize a moral heuristic. Most people do this: libertarians dogmatize liberty, liberals dogmatize equality, and conservatives dogmatize order. It sure is good to be free, just, and loyal, but only to the extent that it promotes well-being in the long-term, which is the gold standard of morality.

Unfortunately, that is not what people are brought up to believe. Since the promotion of long-term well-being is unfathomably complex, all we can do is rely on moral heuristics. Consequently, moral heuristics in the form of value systems and moral rules are what cultures transmit, what societies teach, and what people become passionate about. But our moral education doesn’t present these values and principles as heuristics. Instead, we learn that they are absolutely and intrinsically good. We learn that embodying and fighting for our values makes us good people. Because of such education, we become ideological, become dogmatic about justice, liberty, equality, loyalty, identity, etc.,2 even though these values solely have instrumental worth.

Well-being alone has intrinsic worth. It is the superior moral dogma, the ultimate value. Well-being is the only dogma we should hold on to because it is, if we are clear about what we truly want, the factual end of all human volition. Saints and villains, hedonists and ascetics, fascists and liberals, tribalists and cosmopolitans—they all, despite their radical value differences, desire well-being in some form or another. Anybody who claims that he doesn’t want to be well in the long term is wrong, categorically wrong. This is because the notion of well-being is so broad that it incorporates everything that can make a person feel good. It even includes a person’s desire to feel bad if he somehow gains meaning from suffering.

A critic could argue that the dogma of all-encompassing well-being is so abstract that it is practically irrelevant, and he would be right to an extent. After all, that is precisely why we need moral heuristics to navigate the moral landscape. Without the guidance of virtue traditions, value systems, and international rights, we would be commonly lost in the complex potentiality of human experience. But we do need the dogma of abstract well-being, particularly when our moral heuristics clash, if only to remind us that no special rights and no specific values are the ultimate moral truth.

We need the dogma of human flourishing to stop fighting and to start finding solutions—solutions we all want. Sure, humans are selfish and want solutions that primarily promote their own flourishing. But we must not forget that humans are also social creatures who rely on others for cooperation, and nobody will cooperate with an asshole who refuses to care about other people’s well-being. Therefore, we want win-win solutions that allow everybody to live a better life.

[sarahburness]

The Absurd Hero: An Inspiration In Overcoming Challenges

Did you ever lose something that changed you completely? Something that obliterated your expectations, squashed your goals or undermined your existence? Did you ever run out of everything meaningful until you found yourself staring blankly into a void?

This common yet unsettling experience is a disguised blessing that only a few people recognize as such. Why a blessing?

Because it’s only when a slate is wiped clean that you can write on it. It’s only after a bully comes over and shakes your Etch-a-sketch that you start considering what to create next (sorry, 90s kid).

Life is complex, especially in today’s world where we can browse options to the point of paralysis. It’s no wonder that a lot of people find themselves in need of renewal or a serious self-assessment. But, that’s not a moment of failure. It’s a jumping off point for overcoming challenges.

Philosopher Albert Camus uses the Myth of Sisyphus as a metaphor for the human condition. You know Sisyphus, the guy in Greek mythology who was condemned to push a rock up a hill for eternity only to have it roll back down again? Yeah, he’s the one.

Camus refers to Sisyphus as the epitome of an “absurd hero” or a person who experiences, hopes and tries in spite of his undeniable mortality.

A lot of people might think of this “hero” as more of a loser, slaving and living a foolish life in vain. But, that’s a misunderstanding, because a hero has the opportunity to first change himself and then the world. He doesn’t have to be useless or hopeless. Rather, he can grow, learn and thrive against all odds and that makes victory even sweeter.

Sisyphus has a powerful weapon in his arsenal: radical acceptance. The hero understands that he is but a speck in existence with no special significance. He accepts it without a hint of denial and, most importantly, he doesn’t give up after becoming aware of this. He doesn’t give himself away to a “default” life. Simply, he makes the choice to keep himself and all the burdens that come with him.

“The one truly serious philosophical problem is suicide.” – Camus

Sounds morbid? It really isn’t. What it means is that when we’re faced with life-altering events, questions and even despair, that’s when we actually choose life. We suddenly realize what kind of life we want and why. Prior to that, we’re just existing.

So, you might think, “What do all these metaphors really have to do with me?”.

They can serve as a guide in overcoming challenges, handling transitions and going through hardships.

Calling this crazy, rock-pushing fellow Sisyphus a hero shatters every common notion we have about what a hero is. He’s not glamorous, flawless or doing anything remarkable at first glance. He’s not even saving people. So, then why is he (aka. YOU) a hero?

Camus calls him the “Absurd Hero” because of his persistence in the face of absolute struggle. He feels and he doubts, but he continues in spite of the oblivion staring him in the face each day. This concept of a hero is much more realistic than Superman or the Green Lantern.

People aren’t exactly eager to become the Absurd Hero. It’s challenging.

So, when does a plain old person become an “Absurd hero?”.

It could be after a divorce, confusing college years or a long-term job loss. While all are generally unpleasant experiences, all of them have one thing in common- they force you to reassess yourself, your goals and your plan of action. They force you to face major life questions that most people don’t think about often.

It feels something like plunging into a dunk tank after some lucky pitcher finally hits the target. It’s not the asshole target-hitter that you should be focusing on. It’s the plunge.

When everything at the core of you is in question, you find an answer.

I’m talking about moments of total lucidity. That’s when Sisyphus (aka you) is at the top of the hill, pitifully watching his big dumb boulder roll all the way back to the bottom. Feeling helpless and depressed is often unavoidable but contrary to what society tells us, there’s no need to be ashamed of negative feelings. They are catalysts that keep us alive and choosing.

You thought your big dumb boulder (marriage, business, friendship, whatever) meant something. Well, it doesn’t anymore or maybe it never did. Now, you’re dumbfounded.

Here’s where it gets interesting.

No one ever wants to face things like uncertainty, being miserable, or starting over. Yet, these are the exact things that will lead you to clarity because they’ll force you to find it.

Some of us can remember these moments right down to the date they happened while for others, everything just belongs to a blurry time frame. For some, these kinds of moments never happened yet or maybe they never will.

It can be confusing, excruciating, or simply unpleasant. You could spend a moment in it or maybe a few years. Regardless, it ends in choice. Once becoming conscious of a dilemma, some choice is inevitable, even if you choose inaction.

In other words, you have to choose your own rock—your boulder that you’d be willing to push up that giant, eternal hill. This might sound torturous, but it won’t be. Once you’ve found the right thing to push for, you’ll always be fueled.

“The struggle itself towards the heights is enough to fill a man’s heart.” – Camus

So, how do you find a reason to live when all of the obvious ones were exhausted, didn’t work out or weren’t fulfilling?

Get back to the basics.

Think of the things that you never tire of. The things that always provide you with inspiration and the things you could see yourself helping others with on a broad scale.

There’s your rock. Now start pushing.

See Also: 5 Key Insights For a Happy Life from Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations

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from Dumb Little Man https://www.dumblittleman.com/overcoming-challenges/