Tumgik
#A conspiracy unmasked
amer4real · 8 months
Text
Tumblr media
3 notes · View notes
mellpenscorner · 1 year
Text
Spotify LotR audiobook thoughts 4/?
Hot take: book!Merry is the true mom friend of the Hobbits. Sam is protective of Frodo, but Merry’s the one who’s looking at maps and worrying about where they’ll go next and talking with Strider about what they should do. Not to mention he was the one that spearheaded the whole conspiracy to keep Frodo from going alone. I always knew I liked book!Merry.
3 notes · View notes
Text
Watching ROTK for Downfall of Sauron Day and once again I have chosen the Extended Edition. And, look. I know they couldn’t include everything and it’s nearly 4.5 hours long already. But the Scouring of the Shire is SO IMPORTANT to Tolkien’s themes and especially to Pippin’s and Merry’s character development. And I really don’t think the confrontation between Theoden and Saruman is adapted very well *anyway*, and to just… stick the deaths of Saruman and Wormtongue on at the end? So the hobbits don’t get the victory? No!
21 notes · View notes
Text
Tumblr media
TROOPS OF DOOM WILL SPREAD JUDEO-BOLSHEVISM -- PIECE BY PIECE BY PIECE.
PIC INFO: Spotlight on a postcard first published in 1939 titled "Bolschewismus ohne Maske" ("Bolshevism Unmasked"), with an illustration of a Communist soldier attempting to rule the world with a hammer and sickle against the backdrop of a yellow star of David, implying the Nazi opinion that Jews were behind the Communist phenomenon.
FULL OVERVIEW: "Not everyone who had read "Mein Kampf" took seriously the rabid outpouring of filth and hatred it contained. But in his own words, Hitler described how his eyes had been opened at an early age to the "two menaces" which threatened the existence of the German people: Communists and Jews.
These two objects of his hatred would become, after his seizure of power, subjected unrelentingly to vicious propaganda and heinous persecution. That Marxism, or Bolshevism, was to Hitler a "doctrine of destruction" which itself must be destroyed for the survival of all Germans may be seen plainly in the picture on this official postcard from the Great Anti-Bolshevist Exhibit organized by Goebbels' Ministry for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda.
"Bolshevism unmasked," reads the inscription over a world engulfed in red flame and branded with a hammer-and-sickle in the center of a yellow Jewish Star, recalling Hitler's rant in "Mein Kampf" that "in Russian Bolshevism we must see the attempt undertaken by the Jews in the twentieth century to achieve world domination!" A ghostly image of Death as an armed revolutionary clutches in both hands its weapons of destruction. The exhibition was held in Vienna in 1939. Six years earlier Communists had been among the first of those countless victims rounded up for the concentration camps."
-- UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON
Source: https://search.library.wisc.edu/digital/AFEMLOIYBU6FPX9A.
2 notes · View notes
sonxofxgondor · 2 months
Text
Tumblr media
2 notes · View notes
thiswaitingheart · 2 years
Text
Do I need to sign up for the email-LotR? Not really seeing that I reread the book(s) pretty much regularly once per year anyway and know most of FotR by heart. 
Will I do it anyway? You bet, if only for Maximum Symbolism and Significant Date Alignment. 
And also, it’s autumn. It is time. 
(shoutout to @vapaus-ystavyys-tasaarvo for convincing me. XD) 
8 notes · View notes
amorremanet · 1 year
Text
*hums to the tune of “I’m Gonna Wash That Man Right Out Of My Hair,” but it’s about blocking people i don’t want to deal with*
0 notes
pettytiredandjewish · 2 months
Text
So uh… to the “pro-Palestine” crowd
- harassing random jews on the streets (and online) isn’t going to help Palestinians
- swarming and blockading college campus buildings (and hospitals) and chanting genocidal slogans at jews isn’t going to help Palestinians
- defacing synagogues and jewish owned stores isn’t going to help Palestinians
- displaying antisemitic signs and waving nazi flags isn’t going to help Palestinians
- chanting for intifada isn’t going to help Palestinians (Hamas would love that though)
- spreading Hamas propaganda isn’t going to help Palestinians
This doesn’t help Palestinians- but it sure does help Hamas who’s goal is to wipe out Israel and all jews. Also Hamas could care less for Palestinians- why do you think they are being used as human shields???
Doing all of these things makes you antisemitic (some of y’all were probably already antisemitic, and is using the I/P conflict to go fully unmasked). You doing this is causing harm to so many people. And to be honest- doing this shit shows that you actually don’t care for Palestine. In fact you are using this conflict to go fully unmask and be raging antisemitic little asshats.
Instead of doing something that could help those who are affected by this war, you are harassing jews, defacing synagogues, and calling for intifadas. Why is that? (I know the answer- but humor me). Why is this acceptable? How does harassing and harming jews help Palestine? And how does supporting Hamas (a terrorist organization) help Palestine?
Also I may get hate for this but I don’t care: anti Zionism is antisemitism. The term anti Zionist was created during the soviet era by one of the soviet leaders. The Soviet Union hated jews and wanted to stamp them all out. One of the ways that they “succeeded” was “persuading” jews that their culture and religion was dirty. That they- the jews should be ashamed of their “Jewishness”. And that was how anti Zionism came to be.
I said what I said. If you don’t like it then maybe you have some thinking to do.
Also as another fucking reminder:
Stop fucking spreading vile antisemitic shit (and stop harassing Israel citizens) !!! This includes:
- blood libels
- organs harvesting
- holocaust denial
- “hitler was right”
- “gas the jews”
- lizard people
- “jews are rats”
- “jews are rich”
- “jews control the media”
- “jews are landlords”
- the majority of conspiracy theories
- Zionist occupied government
- Zionism is racism
- stop fucking reading protocols of the elders of Zion
- “from the river to the sea…” is a genocidal chant.
- stop calling Israel a “terrorist” state and stop saying that all Israelis are terrorist (people are not their fucking government)
(Just to list a few)
I said what I said and if you don’t like it- the doors over there.
Am yisrael chai! ✡️
396 notes · View notes
smolestboop · 6 months
Text
Tumblr media
Bagginshield-tober / Day 9: Song
The voice of Pippin was suddenly lifted up above the others in one of Bilbo's favourite bath-songs. - LoTR, The Fellowship of the Ring, A Conspiracy Unmasked
The entire bath-song lyrics/poem below!
Sing hey! for the bath at close of day that washes the weary mud away! A loon is he that will not sing: O! Water Hot is a noble thing! O! Sweet is the sound of falling rain, and the brook that leaps from hill to plain; but better than rain or rippling streams is Water Hot that smokes and steams. O! Water cold we may pour at need down a thirsty throat and be glad indeed; but better is Beer if drink we lack, and Water Hot poured down the back. O! Water is fair that leaps on high in a fountain white beneath the sky; but never did fountain sound so sweet as splashing Hot Water with my feet!
328 notes · View notes
togglesbloggle · 2 months
Text
Just Between Us
If we're being honest, I'm really fascinated by secret societies.
This is in part an artifact of my Southern-ish upbringing, maybe? Like, the cultural tradition of (mostly male) secret societies isn't discussed much except as a joke or in the past tense, but they held on much longer in some places than one might naively think, the American South included. I was kinda-sorta invited to join the Masons once (there’s no such thing as an actual invitation; you have to ask.  But if somebody tells you this fact in confidence, they’re kinda asking you), and there are some groups associated with the Boy Scouts that they ran us through as a sort of 'trainer' secret organization. If you hang out in the right places, you'll eventually notice recruitment efforts for less benign versions- typically, right-wing militia groups work this way. And there's the Klan, of course, at the most evil end of the spectrum.
People tend to mark the heyday of the American social conspiracy as being in the first half of the 20th century, but as far as I know the pattern of highly gendered secret societies goes back basically all the way as far as we can track such things.  Much older than any of the societies themselves, anyway. The pattern is surprisingly robust across different cultures, and it’s also a clear precursor to ‘modern’ stuff like the Delta Force in the US military.  Even the famous white hoods adopted by the KKK (the second KKK that is, the resurgence from after Birth of a Nation was filmed) predate that organization by several centuries, and were a common motif in European secret orders going back at least to the late medieval period.
This is probably an under-examined part of why the Red Tribe’s got the weird narrative vulnerabilities that it does; why the odd beliefs so often take the form of conspiracies and ‘inner circles’ where the true evils are unmasked and the true righteous fight takes place.  A lot of them- particularly the older set, who came of age before the web- have direct experience with the world working this way!
I’ve been ruminating on this, lately.  Less because of the societies themselves, and more because of their second-order effects, the kind of unacknowledged changes that the presence and absence of really prominent secret organizations can make in the social fabric.  Think about it- if you know, if you really actually know with confidence, that there are networks of people (in practice, men) out there scouting for potential members, and that these groups have real and undeniable power over your world, then that immediately changes your landscape.  
For one, it passively encourages you to demonstrate the virtues of prominent societies in the hopes of being invited to join them, and you’ll be very self-policing in order to achieve this, because you never know who’s watching.  If those secret societies have a reputation for honesty, fortitude, and generosity, you’ll try to be honest, and enduring, and generous.  If they’re terrorists waging a campaign of racialized violence across America, you’ll be not just emboldened but incentivized to act in more racist ways at all times, for the promise of power and belonging as much as for any deeply felt racism you may feel.
And for another, it has a way of surrounding you with an intensely magical world.  You see your fellow-members in public, and wink, and know; you see others winking, and sharing an understanding, and wonder.  By their very nature, it’s ambiguous what, exactly, a secret society is capable of, how large it is, and so on.  The episode of The Simpsons making fun of the Masons plays on this to great effect, bouncing back and forth between (on the one hand) this huge ancient and wealthy organization controlling the fate of the world, and (on the other hand) the more grounded reality that a secret society in practice is an excuse to have fun hanging out with your friends and drinking a few beers.  But when the ‘secret society density’ hits a certain threshold, the banal realities of any given organization give way to the possibility that you just haven’t found the right secret society yet, the one where all the decisions are really made and all the power is really held.  You start asking a lot more who?-type questions, instead of how?-type questions.
Third, and I think this is probably a lot more important than people give it credit for, secret societies were one of the unacknowledged pillars of male homosocial intimacy, and their gradual disappearance from the landscape over the last seventy or so years has created a much more emotionally barren and hostile world for gender-conforming men.  It’s not unusual for someone to note that men seem really starved for intimacy; articles about men relying entirely on girlfriends and wives for their emotional support and comfort are a dime a dozen.  But consider that participating in a standing conspiracy of fellow-travelers is also an opportunity to practice emotional intimacy with other men, and that these are the perfect conditions in which to share feelings and offer mutual emotional support without contravening masculine norms.  And when participating in one or more such groups is the norm, they can become a load-bearing part of the culture of gender itself; traditional masculinity in the absence of secret societies may simply be less viable, but because nobody can talk about secret societies, it’s equally challenging to diagnose the problem.
I’ve been dancing lightly around one of the more important manifestations of the secret society in the modern era, which is of course being a sex pervert; it’s not the first conspiracy you think of, but it’s one of the forms that survived the internet boom, so it’s a good example.  The Friends of Dorothy were a secret society in every way that mattered, back in the day, and many of their modern successors still are.  As with the Masons, one pretty much has to invite oneself, but they’re usually quite welcoming to new members that show an interest.  Consider the ways that these groups reward and cultivate certain virtues, even outside their perimeter; consider how they re-enchant the world; consider how they open the door to close friendships and emotional intimacy with others.
It’s the social power that fascinates me as much as anything, I think.  As with everything this powerful, it’s often quite evil; actually it’s far from obvious that secret societies in toto have been a force for good in the world.  But is there some way to cultivate that social potency in a way that’s ordered to the good?  Some lurking alternative to the brute power of statecraft and economics and social norms?  So very enticing…
146 notes · View notes
flightfoot · 1 year
Text
Miraculous Ladybug Fanfic Recs for 2022
As a lot of you know, I read metric butt-ton of Miraculous fanfics, so I wanted to share with you 19 multi-chap fics, and 16 Miraculous one-shots (I just went through all the ones I really wanted to rec people instead of trying to fit a particular number) that I think y’all should take a look at. I tagged people’s tumblr blogs when I knew them, but I may well have missed some, especially if their username was different between AO3 and tumblr. Feel free to tag authors who I missed. Note that I’m only counting fics that were completed in 2022, so no ongoing fics. Enjoy!
Multi-chap fics:
When The Morning Comes by @into-september:
Gabriel Agreste has been unmasked as Hawkmoth, and the girl who was fighting him all these years turns out to be Tom Dupain's daughter. And standing between them is Adrien Agreste with his life in shatters that Tom Dupain has no way of piecing together.
But baking is at least a place to start.
I love how this not only digs into Adrien’s character, but Tom’s as well, especially how both of them have been estranged from their fathers. I haven’t seen that come up much.
---
Walking That Mile by @nomolosk
Nino and Alya wake up in the wrong bodies. Several things result from this, including, but not limited to, identity reveals and a better understanding of what their respective best friends are going through.
Never knew I needed Nino!Plagg and Alya!Tikki in my life, but there you go XD. It’s not all fun and games though, this is a Hawkmoth Takedown fic as well, and dealing with the effects of that.
---
The Sidekick Conspiracy by @bring-the-storm:
It's common knowledge among the heroes of Paris that their sidekick, the civilian Marinette Dupain-Cheng, is actually secretly their leader, pretending to be a normal girl who just ‘happens’ to show up at battles. Common knowledge to everyone except Marinette. What do you do when you're in the center of a conspiracy that doesn’t actually exist? In which Marinette is confused, Chat has no idea what's going on, Master Fu just wants Marinette to be safe, and everyone is misinterpreting the situation.
This one is just fun! Marinette has no idea she keeps on being given jewelry all of a sudden, and Fu’s frustrated that she won’t actually USE the damn Miraculous already.
---
As the dust settles by @pengirl91:
After Ladybug lost everything and yet her partner stood by her, she realized what she had been trying to lie to herself about for months. She is undoubtedly in love with him. The only problem is that she's terrified of what that could lead to and there's a monumental task ahead of them before it might be safe to act on her feelings for him... more than she already has.
Post Strike Back with my hopes, wishes, and predictions for season 5 as I wait with great impatience. Now complete.
The meat of this story is mostly a SentiAdrien fic. Adrien discovers that Gabriel is Hawkmoth, so Gabriel orders him to stay silent about what he found out, as well as giving orders to help him with plans to obtain the Miraculous he needs. Luckily, he doesn’t know that Adrien is Chat Noir...
---
A Little Fall Of Rain by @funnydoesntlookdruish:
Unable to transform in time, Marinette sacrifices her life to save Adrien from an assassin. With the help of the Kwamis, Adrien is able to bring her back to life, but it comes at a price. One that Adrien alone must pay. Now, Adrien is forced to keep even more secrets. The fact that Marinette is alive and that she has been his Lady all long. More than ever, they must defeat Hawkmoth. Only then can Marinette return to her life.
This one’s pretty angsty, arguably even more on Adrien’s end than Marinette’s. As part of their cover, Adrien has to be injured pretty badly, in ways that couldn’t be reversed if not for magic.
---
Strangely Familiar by @sunfoxfic
Alya Césaire’s life is perfect. Indeed, between the success of the Ladyblog, how well she’s doing in school, and the fact that she’s a superhero who has never bore the weight of a crisis of epic proportions, her life almost couldn’t be better. Almost.
But Alya has always been a go-getter, and so she’ll chase after that perfect life if it kills her. Which is how she ends up rushing to move out of her father’s apartment and in with Marinette, Adrien, and a complete stranger: Nino Lahiffe. And in fact, her life does seem perfect — she and Nino are fast friends. They spend a lot of time together and get to know each other really well.
But in the end, fortunate situations will bear unfortunate truths, and she learns things about herself that aren’t quite comfortable. Like I said, though: Alya has always been a go-getter, and she won’t let new feelings deter her from chasing after her perfect life.
This is the single longest DJWifi-centric fic on AO3 (which is a travesty) and it is GLORIOUS. Alya and Nino are both well fleshed-out here, with their own problems and baggage they’re dealing with, but it’s easier together.
---
final girl by @picayunearts:
Marinette has ninety-nine problems, and the superhero trio of Paris counts for a hundred.
[AU where Marinette follows through on giving up her earrings after Stoneheart, but becomes the Guardian to protect her replacement.]
This is just great. Marinette thinks she failed, but the other heroes wouldn’t agree. And eventually, she gains some confidence in herself as well.
---
Over and Over by @stcrsquad:
Marinette Dupain-Cheng has had the worst day possible. She's failed to confess to Adrien (again), made an embarrassment of herself, and got into a fight with Chat Noir.
Adrien Agreste has had the worst day possible. He is tired of being pushed aside by everyone, including his crime-fighting partner Ladybug.
Luckily, fate (and Bunnyx) works in mysterious ways because they wake up again on the same day. A do-over. Except it keeps happening. Can the two figure out what they need to fix to break the loop, or will they be stuck forever?
Look these two will sit down and has things out even if it takes being stuck in a time loop together to make that happen.
---
When Bunnyx Brings A Baby by @funnydoesntlookdruish:
Marinette thought she was up to any challenge. She was Ladybug after all! But when Bunnyx arrives with a baby in her arms asking her to babysit, Marinette quickly learns that Akuma battles are easy compared to taking care of a baby. A baby that seems to know her and for some strange reason... Adrien?
Anentry in the “Lovesquare has to babysit their future children” genre! This is just adorable. Has an ongoing sequel too.
---
The Call of the Running Tide by @nemaliwrites: 
To escape an arranged marriage, Adrien runs away from home, leaving behind all that he has ever known. In search of easy transportation, he sneaks aboard a ship at the docks. Everything seems like it is going according to plan — until he finds out that the ship belongs to the fierce pirate captain Ladybug.
I’m amazed this isn’t more popular. I mean, Lovesquare pirates!AU, with the Miracuclass as Ladybug’s crew? Come on! 
It mostly has Adrien trying to fit in with the crew, find his way, that sort of thing. Though there is a confrontation with his father at the end.
---
metamorphosis by @peachcitt:
“I was thinking about that time you hated me.” “Why?” "I don’t know." “I didn’t.” “I know.”
or
three years after hawkmoth's defeat, marinette is still trying to figure out her version of normal. there's also sleepovers.
This has been a very popular fic so most people probably at least know of it, even if they haven’t read it themselves, but in case someone out there hasn’t: basically, Chat runs off with the Butterfly and Peacock Miraculouses after Hawkmoth’s defeat and never shows up again, worrying Ladybug sick and making her fear that he died. But then a mysterious new Butterfly Holder starts attacking Paris, only he seems a lot nicer than the last one, more of an Anti-villain than anything...
A Major Test of Strength by @nemaliwrites:
There is only one thing in Paris hated as much as the akumas: Ladybug herself. In an effort to help the Savior of Paris, Adrien winds up on the wrong end of an akuma attack — only to find himself stuck reliving the same day.
With enough time, anyone can be a hero, and as he continues dying over and over, he is forced to confront the idea that these loops may be just as much of a blessing as they are a curse.
This is loosely inspired by “All You Need Is Kill”, but no knowledge of that manga is needed to understand the story. There’s a bit of a mystery element going on as Adrien tries to figure out why he keeps dying even when he takes steps to prevent it, how he keeps coming back, and what the deal is with Ladybug, anyway. 
---
Cataclysm by Lucid:
When Chat Noir uses Cataclysm on an akumatized ring that ends up being his amok, Marinette is left alone to solve the mystery of Hawkmoth's motives and bring back her missing partner.
This Sentiadrien fic does something I haven’t seen really explored before: it delves into what might happen if Adrien had to be recreated after having been destroyed, and the problems that might arise from that attempt. I love when we get to see Adrien’s perspective especially.
---
in case you don’t know me tomorrow by @thelibraryloser:
“We live in a crazy world where pieces of our lives can be erased like they never even happened. I just wanted to memorize this moment so… so I could keep it, if that makes sense.”
Adrien's heart gave a little flutter. She wanted to keep this moment, meeting him. She wanted to keep… him.
“I understand exactly what you mean."
In a world that has created a way to selectively delete memories, no moment is truly safe. So how do you hold on to something when the memory of it is gone? And how do you keep fighting for someone when you're the only one who remembers?
This is a SEVERELY underrated fic. It’s got some shades of “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” in the world, though the plot is very different - the memory erasure ain’t willing. 
Basically, the first few chapters are establishing Adrien’s and Marinette’s romance, and then the rest of the fic is dealing with Gabriel being an absolute DICK and using any means at his disposal to break them apart. It’s fantastic and I highly recommend reading it!
---
Shelltering Others by @rosie-b:
When Ladybug wakes Nino up in the middle of the night to scold him for revealing his identity, he thinks his career as a Miraculous holder is over. But instead, Ladybug gives him the opportunity to prove himself by becoming Chat Noir's confidant and learning his secret identity through a scavenger hunt of sorts. Will Nino pass Ladybug and Chat Noir's test, or will he fail to put the pieces together in time?
Quick disclaimer here: the first chapter looks kinda salty towards Nino, with Ladybug laying into him for revealing his and Alya’s secret identities to Adrien and Marinette. She’s mostly just trying to scare him into taking them seriously, though, since she herself has just proposed that Nino become Chat’s secret-keeper, and he can’t afford to be lackadaisical with that identity. I highly recommend getting through at least chapter 2 of the fic when giving it a shot, because this had some great character development and introspection for Nino, on Chat Noir, Adrien, Ladybug, and himself. 
---
run boy run by tinuviel_tinuviel
Nino was sprawled on the floor of his room with Alya when his phone chimed, in the quiet of a premature autumnal sunset. It was one of those lazy evenings that had become rare lately. Contrary to popular belief, he and Alya could get studying done when in the same room, and he was elbows-deep in late assignments, which meant his phone was on Do Not Disturb, which meant the notification could only have come from one person.
ADRIEN 🐈: cmoe ove rnow ADRIEN 🐈: like riggt now ADRIEN 🐈: plag NINO: that is literally incomprehensible NINO: wait is that you plagg ADRIEN 🐈: mov faster
So this is a “Adrien finds out that his father is Hawkmoth and consults with Nino about what to do” fic, with Nino throwing Hawkmoth off Adrien’s track, though inadvertently at his own expense. Love Nino’s perspective here, and I always enjoy a good Hawkmoth-takedown fic!
---
Restorative Justice by @kasienda:
Chloé has never been a fan of Ms. Bustier’s community building activities. In fact, she detests them. She doesn’t want to learn about the drab boring lives of her peers. And she absolutely can’t stand it when their confessions make her feel things. Feelings that she doesn’t even have names for. But when Adrien unknowingly shares his struggles with his double life, Chloé vows she will do anything to get Ladybug to set things right. Even if it means pissing off the heroine. Chloé was already mad at her anyway.
I ADORE people talking out about what hurt them, with everyone growing to understand each other, and focusing on making recompense rather than just punishment, so this was fantastic. This isn’t all about Chloe either, Marinette, Adrien, Alya, and Nino all get to hash things out with each other as well in a group session, and it’s just really, really nice to read.
---
48 Hours To Make You Love Me by @mysticraven20:
“When did you stop?”
“Stop what, M’Lady?”
“Stop loving me?”
When two heroes miss the minibus for their winter get away with the gang they have no other choice but to make their way to the resort by themselves.
After avoiding their feelings for years, a freak snow storm makes them reconsider more than just whether to carry on driving.
Luckily, they find a quaint little bed and breakfast where suddenly they’re thrown into a situation where their feelings can no longer be held back; but, is it too late?
The interference of an elderly couple after an eavesdropping accident helps both Adrien and Marinette come to terms with their feelings and their actions.
Through movies, hot chocolates and snuggling to keep warm, Marinette wonders if it’s possible to make Adrien love her again, and more so can she do it by the time they need to leave their little sanctuary?
This just has a lot of adorable Adrienette shenanigans, with a fun time travel twist that had me inwardly squealing XD. If you want some Lovesquare fluff, this is a good one.
---
team is a four letter word by @ladyofthenoodle:
Alya didn’t want to come between Ladybug and Chat Noir. But she didn’t want to stop being Rena Rouge either. And if Chat Noir didn’t want to talk to her, then she’d need to find a different way to prove all three of them could be a team.
Her plan unintentionally brings a few secrets to light, which leads to even more secrets coming to light, which leads to... well, Alya is sure it'll all work out eventually.
This is a season 4 fic, with a heavy emphasis on repairing the relationships that were damaged, or could have been damaged, during that season. I love how everyone gets to really feel and react, be hurt and then gain understanding, with a happy ending to cap it off!
One-shots:
hella enchanted by @xiueryn:
Years ago, Marinette's father died and she was left with her awful stepmother. With magic forcing her to obey every command, she lived as a servant and gave up hope. When a man appears, searching for the very fairy that blessed her, Marinette decides to give life one more try. AU.
(a different ella enchanted au.)
Even though it’s a one-shot this one is pretty long, clocking in at over 30k words. Absolutely worth a shot, though. The first third is basically Marinette dealing with being pushed around because of her “blessing”, and the other two-thirds is just some adorable fluff of her and Adrien touring the country together. 
------
Is it cool that you’re in my head? by @bring-the-storm: 
Alya stared at the picture plastered across the homepage of every single tabloid and news site, whispering every curse she could think of under her breath. SHOCKING SECRET ROMANCE BETWEEN LADYBLOGGER AND PARISIAN SUPERVILLAIN REVEALED!!! the headline announced, casually shouting the words she had been dreading for all of Paris to read.
--- Alya had always assumed that someday Paris would discover that she had secretly been kissing their most wanted vigilante, but she had never thought it would happen so soon. As the domino effects of her relationship with Ladybug go spiraling through her life, Alya turns her sights towards the one responsible: the elusive superhero Hawkmoth.
AKA Someone outs Alya and her girlfriend so she retaliates by deciding to take down Hawkmoth
I recommend this to anyone who either A. Loves Alya and wants to see more of her in a starring role, or B., wants to see an AU where Parisians could feasibly believe that Hawkmoth is the good guy, and that Ladybug and Chat Noir are, if not villains, at least reckless. 
----
We’re breaking free (there’s not a star in heaven we can’t reach) by @pauliestorylover:
Wing binding was a symbol of prestige in high society, but Adrien would much rather be born a pauper than be forced to bind his wings for another day. Becoming Chat Noir might be the chance he had been waiting for to break free and gain a taste of the heavens.
Meanwhile, Nino and Marinette were quickly learning the joys of the pastime called ‘hating rich old white men who moonlighted as supervillains’.
Excellent Wingfic here! It’s got some excellent worldbuilding in it. I especially like how it’s customary to exchange feathers with people you’re close to, and put them in particular places on your wings to symbolize what they mean to you, whether they’re friends, family, or lovers. That particular piece of lore is used to great effect in the story.
---
How Could I Not? by SorryJustAnotherPerson
In fairy tale books, Princesses were saved by nights from ferocious dragons. Those books were not their story, but Rose was happy to flip over a new page with her Juleka every single day.
Many years ago, she was put to this tower by her parents and her kingdom, along with a fire breathing dragon, so she could find her prince charming one day. How foolish for them to not calculate her falling in love with the dragon. I mean seriously.
How could she not?
I love fairy tale type stories, especially fractured fairy tales. And Juleka being a dragon is awesome. This is just a fun and adorable story.
---
Once Upon A Time by kao_rei:
"Humans fear wolves. I mean, we're horrible, sickening creatures, aren't we?" Adrien laughed.
"I don't think so," Marinette muttered. "Well, not anymore when I met you."
Marinette's days are all the same—she puts on her red cape, makes deliveries for her parents' bakery, and goes home to rest before another busy day. Adrien is a wolf-boy who watches her from afar, awaiting the day they finally meet to change their stories.
While falling in love may bring about some challenges, they're willing to fight through them together because they'd never settle for a "the end". They want a "happily ever after", too.
(In which Marinette is Little Red Riding Hood, Adrien is the Wolf, and they fall in love somewhere between deliveries, flower fields, and shiny red apples).
Did I mention I love fairy tale stories? Because I do.
---
(pockets full of) stones by felledstar:
Even though he wants to be “normal” and go to a “normal school” and have friends just like everyone else, Adrien’s discovered that he’s… not very good at it. It isn’t that he’s a superhero in his nonexistent spare time, or that he’s got a job modelling for his father, or that he’s got so many activities that it takes a whole other person to keep track of his schedule. It’s that… he’s always tripping over things that everyone else seems to know that he… just doesn’t know.
First day of school and we already have two lovebirds.
But there are some things that he does know, no matter what anyone else—Nino, Plagg, the entire population of Paris—thinks.
How he feels is one.
Whatever. She’s just a friend. A friend.
He loves Ladybug. Marinette is his friend.
Why doesn’t anyone believe him?
This is an aroace!Adrien story, that digs into the effects of amatonormativity on people. Especially with how the class all assumes that Adrien would be romantically interested in Marinette, and tries to matchmake him and Marinette in order to make both of them happy, much to his frustration. Based on what the class did in Guiltrip, I could see this happening. They love and care about their classmates and want to help them as much as they can, but that doesn’t mean they always know how best to do that.
---
Lady... bird? by @graaythekwami:
“Marinette!” Tikki called, flying towards the small room of water. “Marinette there’s an akuma– we need to transform!”
The parrot’s head popped up, recognizing these words. They were always said when the report came on TV– a routine he had come to know well. Akuma report, we need to transform, and finally–
“Tikki!” The bird cawed happily. “Spots on!”
This story is just hilarious. Tikki ain’t happy afterwards XD
---
I Won’t Let You by @generalluxun
After Gabriel's defeat, two individuals not party to the celebration run into each other, and find each other.
The summary doesn’t give much of an idea of what the fic’s about. Post-Hawkmoth Defeat, Chloe and Felix run into each other at the celebration of Gabriel’s downfall, and vent about their problems. Neither of them think the other one has it too bad - Chloe’s worried about disappearing, since her worth was entirely tied to her family’s prestige and wealth, and being seen as friends to a terrorist is gonna cripple both of those, while Felix is on edge about Ladybug having the Peacock Miraculous, since she has the ability to kill him at a moment’s notice (yes this is a Sentifelix fic). 
They both make each other understand the turmoil the other is going through in extremely visceral ways, showing the other what it’s like to be them, in the circumstances they’re in. I don’t want to spoil what, exactly, they do, but needless to say, it’s worth a read.
---
don’t you worry child by kopycat_101
Marc and Nathaniel have a good life, married and living together in a cottage in the woods. But they consider having children at some point.
Marc in particular really wants to start a family with his husband. He knows the fey are real, so he goes searching in the woods to find one to strike a deal.
He may get a bit more than he bargained for in the process.
This is based on a tumblr post that’s been going around, which I think a lot of people will recognize as they continue going through the story. That post is credited at the end of the fic, so as not to spoil the plot.
---
Chat Walker’s Trial by @pearl484-blog
Instead of Catwalker showing up to serve as her new Chat Noir, Ladybug is stunned to find that Chat Noir has returned to her, having "improved" himself by repressing his emotions, memories, and willfulness. Deciding that this will not stand, she organizes her teammates to convince Chat Noir that giving those traits up and becoming the perfect partner was not the right move, but how can she argue against perfection?
Adrien Augreste 2022 entry for the day 23-24 prompt: Swap
This is a really intriguing fic. Instead of becoming Cat Walker in Kuro Neko, Adrien instead runs across a mage who helpfully provides some spells to make him into the “perfect” partner for Ladybug, magically suppressing his emotions and urge to rebel, as well as his memories of being Chat Noir, in order to make sure he doesn’t love her anymore. Ladybug, naturally, is distraught about this, but since Chat did all of this of his own free will, she needs to actually persuade him it was a bad move, which isn’t as easy as it sounds. It’s exquisitely painful at times with the amount of self-hatred Chat has for his previous self, and how the Miracuteam is divided on how bad these changes actually are, since he does seem more focused now - though the holdouts are a lot less on board when they think of someone who’s closer to them going through this process.
---
disconnected by @just-an-ordinary-fan
Lady Wifi believes she might be the only one who does not want to obey Hawkmoth's orders.
When she sees another akuma hesitate in the battle, she finds she might not be entirely alone.
I actually wrote my own fic, Nullius in Verba, based off of this one. It’s short but has an intriguing premise, with all the akumas being transported to this warehouse after the fight’s over, having been basically forced to do Hawkmoth’s bidding. The akumas also don’t seem to remember who they were before, or even that they WERE ordinary people before, which is an interesting twist.
---
Shadow of the Chat by @pearl484-blog
Chat Noir discovers that he has a living Shadow. Unfortunately for him, it is not fond of Ladybug.
Inspired by the prompt: 5 times Character A and B thought they didn’t have anything in common and 1 time they realized how similar they are.
I wrote a fic based on this one and @wackus-bonkus-maximus fic “One Does Not Love Breathing”, basically importing Shadow into odnlb in order to help take down Monarch. It’s called “One Does Not Love Shadows”, btw.
Anyway, I love how this one-shot uses some of Carl Jung’s ideas about everyone having “shadows”; parts of ourselves that we consciously reject or suppress, and using that to get Chat some help. If you’ve ever played a Persona game, this will be familiar to you, as those games are based off of Jung’s ideas as well.
---
Day 7: Book by @andromeda612
During one of his works, Marc comes across a rather interesting book.
MarcNath AU fic here! Basically Marc is a super powerful warlock, and is brought in to help with the case of a lying witch who apparently caused a lot of problems for people, using her magic to help fool everyone. She’s actually dead by the time the story starts, and everyone’s trying to go back through and figure out what she’s done and why memories surrounding her seem to be foggy. Meanwhile there’s a book she left behind which appears to be sentient, and which Marc’s taken a liking too...
---
Find the Sentimonster by @taketwoinink:
Nino has a lot of conspiracies. He watched one too many mystery movies and now fancies himself a detective. It's not often that he gets the entire class together for an interrogation, but it's never fun. Chloe makes everyone's life miserable and Marinette and Lila never get along.
And this time? Secret sentimonsters in their class? The fate of Paris hanging in the balance?
Mylene doesn't need this stress in her life.
This is based off of an episode of Glitch Techs, so if you’ve seen the show, it might be familiar. I just really enjoyed watching the class trying to puzzle out who the sentimonster spy might be, with all the wild accusations and theories being hurled around, especially knowing the actual truth.
Come Take My Hand by @carelisswriting:
Luka heard his soulmate for the first time when he was ten. All he knows about her is that she likes fencing. It's just a coincidence that Kagami likes fencing, right?
(Lukagami Soulmate AU, written for the Miraculous Ladybug Secret Santa Exchange!)
I’m a sucker for soulmate fics, and this had an interesting take on it, with your soulmate able to hear you thinking only about the thing you’re most passionate about. Loved Kagami’s way of showing Luka she’s his soulmate especially!
---
When Feelings Are Too Big For Words by ClockworkCaptain:
When Luka takes a gig playing for a drag show he's falls hard and fast for the drag queen Buttercup who uses her performances to work through her own emotions. Meanwhile Adrien's been using drag to work through his own emotions and thinks maybe Luka coming back into his life and showing interest might mean a second chance.
Made for @mlsecretsanta 2022
Published on New Year’s Eve, this just barely makes it to the deadline for this list. I’m glad I don’t need to wait a year to talk about it though! One of the issues I tend to have with Luka shipfics, and with Lukadrien especially (though I think Lukanette actually has this problem worse) is how Luka tends to disappear within the fic and the pairing, feeling more like “The Love Interest” than his own person. Not so here! While most of the intrigue surrounds Adrien, I still got the sense of Luka being his own person, not just existing in the fic for Adrien.
 I adored Adrien getting to display an aspect of himself through persona and performance - that does align well with how he approaches Chat Noir -  and overall I just had a lot of fun with this fic!
786 notes · View notes
michaellangdonswhore · 7 months
Note
Hi, I just saw you poste so here I am? maybe an ethan landry x reader who is smiliar to stu (Personality wise?) you can choos reader gender. like the act 3 there it reaveld that ethan is one of the ghostface and reader is quite sad/grumpy cause they like him and know he is a killer. "Man, I really wanna date you ):, but i cant cause rules of friendship, like you wanna kill my friends.... " I am sorry if this is not very specific but do what you wanna with it :)
Tumblr media
warnings: like none this is just a blurb. prob bad I wrote this so quick and I don't feel like proofreading because I want to write something else. xoxo
word count: 1.6k
---------------------------------------
There's three of them and there's three of you. You stand with your friends, Tara and Sam, severally injured. Detective Bailey was standing with a gun pointed towards you with two masked killers standing next to him.
"You?" Tara scoffs.
"Yeah, of course me," Bailey shrugs. "Frankly I expected more from you after what you did to us."
"Us?" You repeat.
The person next to him begins to take off his mask, revealing a smily familiar figure beneath.
You scoff, because out of all of your friends, you genuinely didn't believe it was him. Sure, everyone joked about it, but he was... he just seemed to innocent. Ethan seemed so vanilla.
Also, you liked him, so you were a firm Ethan defender. No matter how many times you were told to trust no one; especially Ethan after Anika was murdered, you did.
You just couldn't believe it. Ethan- who you had confided in, cried to, almost made out with had pretty much, quite literally, stabbed you in the back.
"Mindy was right. It was easy to juke the roommate lottery," He spoke, so confidently, which was so unlike him.
This really hurt- in many different ways. You actually thought you knew him and understood him. You had never seen this person before.
"I mean all I had to do to meet you was room with a conceited, condensing alpha literally named Chad. Fuck, it felt good to kill him!"
He presents his mask.
"This was your grandmothers, Sam. Nancy Loomis? Really runs in your fucking family, doesn't it? Speaking of family..."
"Wait for it..."
"My name's not Ethan Landry!" He says excitedly. "Is it, dad?"
Well, isn't he just full of surprises.
"Dad?" Tara scoffs.
"Well then that just leaves..." Sam looks at the only one unmasked. "Mindy?"
Luckily, it's not.
"Hey, roomie," Quinn says. "You didn't see that one coming, did you?"
"Well, yeah, we all thought you were dead," You scoff. You turn to Tara and Sam. "That's one way to get off the suspect list. Creative, I must say."
"Yeah, you'd be amazed what a grieving father could get away with." Bailey says.
Ethan's staring you down with a hungry look in his eyes. It was all a game to him.
You can't help but actually roll your eyes in the situation. The audacity you have. This ends with all out hell breaking loose-
Quinn slices deep into your arm with her knife and Bailey starts laughing.
"You stay the fuck away from her!" Tara yells as you stumble back, beginning to look for an exit plan.
This was not how it was supposed to go.
Why couldn't it have been someone else? Anyone but him? You just felt so stupid.
"What is this?" You ask them all, specifically Ethan. "You did this as a family?"
"She should know better than anyone," Ethan shoots a dagger at Sam.
"I don't know what you believe, but I didn't commit the murders at Woodsboro!" Sam groans, sick of explaining the same thing over and over again.
"We know that. What do you think this is? You think this is based on some bullshit conspiracy theory? Bailey scoffs. He gives Sam a pitiful look. "Come on. Who do you think started those rumors in the first place?"
Quinn raises her hand and laughs, "Do you know how easy it was to turn Sam from the hero of Woodsboro into the villain? How easy it was to convince the world to believe the worst in people rather than the best?"
"It's not enough to just kill someone these days," Ethan adds, "You have to assassinate their character first. So when dad here discovers your horribly mutilated bodies, posed with Sam wearing her father's mask, he'll say some poor dumb bastard read on the internet that you're the real ghost face and took matters into their own deluded hands."
"It's the perfect alibi!" Bailey chuckles. "And all the best lies are based on truth."
He points to Sam, "You're a killer. Just like your father."
"No, I'm not!" She yells back.
"Yes you are, motherfucker, you killed our brother!" Quinn screams.
"What are you talking about?"
Great. Another surprise.
So, Ethan's a killer. Quinn's not dead. And their brother was the last ghost face. Great.
"You told us your brother died in a car accident," You shoot daggers at Ethan.
"No, you sweet dumb thing. He died at Woodsboro."
He's pointing his knife up, using it to make a point.
"You're Richie's family?" Sam looks distraught.
"Yeah," Bailey nods.
There's an awkward moment of silence, interrupted by Ethan stabbing Sam in the chest and filling the room with laughter.
"She's finally starting to get it!" He exclaims.
"Have I been a perfect dad? No. Have I maybe over indulged in Richie's interests in these movies? Yeah. He even made a few of his own. There's a very special bond between a father and his first son."
"Ouch." You look over at Ethan, impulsively. "That's gotta sting."
You take another small cut to the shoulder from Quinn. You couldn't tell why she wouldn't just kill you right then and there; it would certainly get the point across.
"What?" You look offended- almost as if you weren't meaning to be offensive. You look back up at Bailey. "And just because you sucked at raising your kid doesn't mean you get to take it out on... literally children."
"Yeah, well I think we're a little past that point now," Bailey sighs.
You open up your mouth, gaining your voice back before Quinn nips at you again, causing nothing but a wince to escape your throat. She's warning you for interrupting.
"I built a tribute to my son," Bailey continues. "This is where you have to die, Sam. Because everyone dies, Sam!"
He's beginning to rile up, pointing his gun at her now.
"Everyone that had to do with the death of my son has to die." He says. "Put on the mask."
"He was a man baby." Sam smirks. "He made his girlfriend do all the killing for him."
Quinn begins to charge at her, but Tara manages to knock her away, and that's when Kirby decides to wake up and shoot Bailey to the ground. Ethan then tackles her, stabbing her harshly in the abdomen in the process.
You act swiftly, taking a nearby brick on the floor at charge at him, slamming the brick into his head and knocking him off of Kirby.
The knife is still in her stomach, you and Ethan fighting each other on the floor in the corner while everyone else does their thing. You notice Sam and Tara climbing somewhere out of the corner of your eye. You want to get to them, but this might be the last time you can ever have your hands on him again.
It's almost if he's not fighting back, though; and it's like you're not fighting hard enough. It's like you're scolding him, like a wife hitting her husband with a dish towel for not liking the food. Except it's with a brick in your hands.
And he's laughing at you while you're doing this, knows that you couldn't possibly hurt him.
"Stop."
"Stop what?" He smirks. "You're the one hitting me with a brick."
"Stop laughing!" You groan. "This isn't funny."
You hit him a little harder.
"Ow!" He grabs his arm. He rolls his eyes and walks back to Kirby. "Where's my knife?"
As he retrieves it, you hear a gunshot and then see Tara swinging off the balcony, being held up by Sam. Ethan has his knife now, and he's swinging at Tara.
This is your moment to act again; you charge at him once more, bringing him to the ground. Not to your surprise, he overpowers you and is now holding you tight, knife pointed at your neck to ensure that you don't move. Bailey's gun is aimed at Tara, but now switching between the both of you.
"Take care of her, Ethan," Bailey says, aggravated that this is taking so long.
He nods, dragging you into the corner of the room; and then into a separate room. You're trying to fight back, kicking and digging your nails into his skin.
You know he won't kill you. He would've already.
Once you're alone, completely alone, he loses his grips. However, he's still holding tight enough to prevent you from moving anywhere.
It's silent for a moment. Neither one of you are talking.
"If I wasn't like this..." He begins. "If I didn't do this-"
"What?" You ask. "Would I have considered being with you?"
He awkwardly blushes. What a time to blush.
"You always did read me so well."
"Clearly not well enough." You groan and roll you eyes, escaping his grasp and pushing him off of you. You're not fighting him, and he's not trying to fight you, but you are keeping your guard up in case he decides to attack.
But he won't.
"So?"
"How can you expect me to answer that?" You question. "Like yeah, I would've loved to date you, but you're kind of trying to kill my friends and me. So, I don't really think the whole relationship thing would work out."
He sighs.
"I should've asked you out sooner," He says after a moment of silence.
"Yeah, you really should've." You snap back.
It's weird. This is the Ethan you knew. It's like he's back. Ghostface or not, your dynamic hasn't changed.
Your brief moment of peace was interrupted quickly though with another gunshot. This freed you of your delusion- that he was this normal guy.
Freed from his grasp, you ran back to the main room to find your friends perfectly fine. Both Quinn and Bailey basically looked dead, and Sam was in the Ghostface robes. You figured some sort of poetic justice had occurred.
But now it's three against one, and there's nothing you could do to save him.
188 notes · View notes
frodo-with-glasses · 2 months
Text
More Reading Thoughts: A Conspiracy Unmasked
Ohohoho here we go >:-D
Merry like “hmm, I can tell something’s fishy about this, but we’ll have to talk about it later”
The Brandybucks being described as “virtually a small independent country” is GreatTM X-D
“…as a matter of fact, [the Bucklanders] were not very different from the other hobbits of the Four Farthings. Except in one point: they were fond of boats, and some of them could swim.”
*Phil Dragash Merry voice intensifies* I LOVE BOATS Y’KNOW HOW MUCH I LOVE BOATS SO MUCH I MEAN THEY’RE SO COOL AND BOATY AND THEY FLOAT
Aww, Sam’s already getting a bit homesick :-(
Gollummmm
Frodo: “I mean we already ate, but we could eat again.” Merry: “Say no more, fam”
Frodo seeing Bilbo’s things in the new house and being “sharply reminded” of him :-C Hello it is once again Crying About Frodo and Bilbo O’Clock
BATH SECTION YEAAAAAHHHH
“Which order shall we go in? Eldest first or quickest first? You’ll be last either way, Master Peregrin.” HAHAHA GETTIM FRODO
And Merry like “excuuuuse me, you should know by now that I’m better at planning and logistics than that; there are THREE tubs >8-D”
And Pippin splashing Frodo with the bath water 🤣 This whole section is so stinkin’ CUTE
I, too, cannot properly dry my hair until I am out of the steam in the bathroom. Frodo is the most relatable ever.
Merry has such dad energy 🤣 “You’d better clean up your mess, Pippin, before you get any supper!”
The squabbling over the mushrooms haha
Ooooohh The Talk is here
It honestly makes so much sense that Pippin is the one talking when Frodo refuses to. Frodo is trying to keep secrets, and Pippin has zero filter.
Also Merry reading Frodo like a book is SO GOOD
“You are miserable, because you don’t know how to say good-bye. You meant to leave the Shire, of course. But danger has come on you sooner than you expected, and now you are making up your mind to go at once. And you don’t want to. We are very sorry for you.”
THAT’S MY SMART BOI
I can’t wait to draw this part
“You do not understand! You must go—and therefore we must, too. Merry and I are coming with you. Sam is an excellent fellow, and would jump down a dragon’s throat to save you, if he did not trip over his own feet; but you will need more than one companion in your dangerous adventure.” Awww, Pippin!!
Also the foreshadowing, wow
Hahaha Merry presenting Sam like “TA-DA! Our chief spy!!”
Sam: “Gandalf did say to take someone you could trust, sir!” Frodo: “But I can’t trust anyone, apparently!” Sam: :-C
Oh oh oh it’s this part…!!
“It all depends on what you want. You can trust us to stick to you through thick and thin - to the bitter end. And you can trust us to keep any secret of yours - closer than you can keep it yourself. But you cannot trust us to let you face trouble alone, and go off without a word. We are your friends, Frodo. Anyway: there it is. We know most of what Gandalf has told you. We know a good deal about the Ring. We are horribly afraid - but we are coming with you; or following you like hounds.”
MERRY MY LAD I LOVE YOU TO DEATH
That’s true friendship right there
Frodo like “I am NEVER trusting that you are actually asleep ever again” 🤣
“Three cheers for Captain Frodo and Company!” I’m going to melt 🥹
Merry once again being the G.O.A.T. by having the ponies prepared
“It seems to have been a very efficient conspiracy.” HECK YEAH IT WAS
I love that Fatty has barely talked through the whole chapter except to blurt “NOT THE OLD FOREST” at the very end
Merry continues to have Dad Energy by breaking up the almost-argument between Pippin and Fatty
Oooof the dream about the Sea…
64 notes · View notes
mariacallous · 4 days
Text
X has locked and suspended the accounts of journalists and researchers who shared the alleged identity of a neo-Nazi cartoonist known as Stonetoss after the cartoonist appealed to site owner Elon Musk.
The incident, critics say, highlights once again how Musk has not only welcomed extremists onto his platform but has repeatedly boosted their conspiracies, engaged with their accounts, and seems to have protected them from scrutiny.
A lengthy X thread posted by the antifascist research group Anonymous Comrades Collective last week claimed that Stonetoss is a man named Hans Kristian Graebener from Spring, Texas. Stonetoss cartoons, which feature simple and colorful imagery coupled with racist, homophobic, and antisemitic language, have become hugely popular among right-wing communities since they were first published at least seven years ago.
In its telling, the antifascist research group linked the Stonetoss cartoonist to another anonymous racist cartoonist known as Red Panels by comparing their voices from appearances on extremist podcasts. The researchers say they found an email address linked to Graebener that was used to register the Red Panels accounts on the far-right social media platform Gab. Then, the group says, it was able to match up comments made by Stonetoss with events in Graebener’s life. In one case, Graebener took a trip to Japan in 2019 with a Houston IT company he then worked for; at the same time, Stonetoss posted a picture on X of a “welcome to Japan” sign with the comment, “Finally made it to the ethnostate fellas.” The research group has been doing this kind of work for years and has been credited with unmasking numerous other extremists, including those involved with a neo-Nazi homeschool network.
Graebener has not disputed anything the researchers uncovered. He did not respond to requests for comment from WIRED to his personal email address nor to the email address on the Stonetoss website, and he did not pick up calls from phone numbers associated with his name.
The Anonymous Comrade Collective thread got a lot of attention on X, racking up at least 13.5 million views. On Thursday, the Stonetoss account appealed to X users who have “a direct line” to Musk, X’s owner, to help to get the thread deleted. Musk has, in the past, shared an altered version of a Stonetoss cartoon about the collapse of society. “If Elon's idea of a ‘free speech’ website is one where people can be intimidated into silence, the outcome will be a site where the Stasi will drive out all dissent,” Stonetoss wrote. The account also tagged Musk and offered to share a list of people to target.
In a subsequent post, Stonetoss said this appeal was not about him but about other “artists.”
“This is about others I know personally,” Stonetoss wrote. “There is a whole ecosystem of artists out there who cannot (or have stopped) making art because of people on twitter organized to punish them IRL for doing so.” The cartoonist also added that sales of his plush toy were “going gangbusters” since his alleged identity was revealed.
Hours later, the account associated with the Anonymous Comrades Collective that posted the thread was deleted, and the account was suspended. On Friday, dozens of users, including a number of researchers and journalists, began discussing the incident and posting some of the details of the research, including Graebener’s name.
X locked down many of these accounts and ordered them to delete the offending tweet to get full access to their accounts back. Among those targeted were Jared Holt, a senior research analyst at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, who covers right-wing extremism; Hannah Gais, a senior research analyst at Southern Poverty Law Center; and Steven Monacelli, an investigative journalist for the Texas Observer. (WIRED has also published Monacelli’s work.)
X also imposed a ban on sharing the link to the Anonymous Comrades Collective blog detailing its research. WIRED verified this on Monday morning by attempting to post the link, only to be met with a pop-up message that read: ‘We can't complete this request because this link has been identified by X or our partners as being potentially harmful.”
Even with the crackdown from X, people kept sharing details of the Stonetoss investigation.
“We all just started posting his name; it was like a Streisand effect,” Alejandra Caraballo, a clinical instructor at the Harvard Law School Cyberlaw Clinic, tells WIRED. “They're just trying to censor his name, and then everyone started getting their accounts locked.”
Caraballo, who shared screenshots of the messages she received from X with WIRED, managed to circumvent the initial ban by appealing it and claiming, ironically, that she was the victim of mass reporting from antifa who were attempting to silence her right-wing viewpoint.
While that appeal was successful, Caraballo was quickly locked out of her account again when she changed her username to “Hans Kristian Graebener is stonetoss.” That resulted in a 12-hour suspension, and when her account was reinstated she was soon punished for earlier posts that shared screenshots of information about Graebener. Caraballo’s account has now been suspended for seven days. Shortly after this article was originally published, Caraballo’s account was restored by X, without an explanation.
An X representative says that the company, following a review of the actions taken against the accounts of Anonymous Comrades Collective, Holt, Gais, Monacelli, and Caraballo, stood by its decision.
“The posts that were removed were all actioned correctly,” says Joe Benarroch, head of business operations at X, adding that the posts violated the company’s “posting private information policy” for “outing the identity of an anonymous user.”
While X does have a policy around sharing private information, the company’s terms of service on March 20 did not mention a policy related to outing the identity of an anonymous user, and Benarroch did not respond to a request for clarification. On March 21, after WIRED published this story, X updated its privacy policy to specifically prohibit posting the ”the identity of an anonymous user, such as their name or media depicting them.”
“According to X’s terms of service, posting someone's name does not constitute doxing, but, many accounts, including my own, have been made to delete posts that merely mention the name of the racist and antisemitic cartoonist Stonetoss,” Monacelli told WIRED before the change. “I've never seen enforcement like this before.”
This policy change could possibly be in response to a post last month from Musk when he wrote, “Any doxxing, which includes revealing real names, will result in account suspension.” Still, in an interview with Don Lemon released on Monday, Musk said that moderation of hate speech is akin to “censorship.”
There are now hundreds of posts on the platform which name Stonetoss as Graebener. There are also numerous accounts on the platform that changed their profile name to “Hans Kristian Graebener is stonetoss”—and they haven’t all been suspended.
“This is completely arbitrary and under Twitter's own community standards it says that a name is never considered private information,” Caraballo tells WIRED. “There's an immense double standard here of the neo-Nazi comic guy being protected” by X. But then, she says, “The people that do this to anyone on the left are not only followed by [Musk] but are boosted by him. It's completely inconsistent.” To her, it seems that whoever Musk favors gets protected, and anyone else is banned. “This is also a pretext for them to be able to go after anyone that they dislike,” Caraballo says.”
Caraballo and others have pointed to accounts like Libs of TikTok and far-right troll Andy Ngo, both of which have shared private information about trans people but have not had their accounts suspended. Musk has also engaged with posts that doxed individuals on X, with seemingly no recourse for those accounts.
For anyone who has tracked Musk’s actions since taking control of X in October 2022, this incident is no surprise. Musk has systematically removed the guardrails the company had put in place to prevent hate speech on the platform and has welcomed back racists, antisemites, and transphobic posters who had been previously banned.
In recent months, Musk has repeatedly endorsed racist conspiracies like the great replacement theory and has engaged with numerous accounts spreading disinformation and hate speech. Just this weekend, Musk interacted with Martin Sellner, the founder of a white ethnonationalist group in Austria who previously communicated with and accepted a donation from the man who shot and killed 51 people at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, in 2019.
After they deleted their posts, most of those restricted for sharing Graebener’s name have had their accounts unlocked. However, the Anonymous Comrade Collective account that shared the details about Graebener is also suspended, and a representative tells WIRED they are unsure when or if it will come back.
36 notes · View notes
intersectionalpraxis · 6 months
Text
wearing a mask should have been something we normalized, but due to pandemic fatigue, western (hyper) individualism, contradictory information from multiple bodies of major health institutions, & overall apathy about a virus that, for many, doesn't seem serious, not many people see it as a legitimate form of protection or even as something we could do out of courtesy for those who are immunocompromised/high-risk/don't want to get covid
i've argued with anti-maskers and anti-vaxxers before, and it never ceases to amaze me how deeply they believe masking up is oppressive (hence the continued rise of animosity and conspiracy theories) and that covid is something the government made in a lab.
masking is something that has saved millions of people's lives, and governmental pushing of unmasking by taking away mandates and ignoring the importance of taking precautions in one's life has & continues to create huge consequences for so many people; including severe illness, making worse an illness or condition one had previously, long covid, and even death.
covid has been and continues to be traumatizing to so many of us and our bodies and just doing something simple like masking in indoor spaces, especially after superspreader events like concerts and sports games. or at grocery stores, malls, in buses because it DOES make a difference.
i'm tired, too, but i literally lose nothing by masking. there are a few medical conditions that i understand are exceptions, but for a majority of people, it's not a risky practice
it's just so heartwrenching to hear sentiments like "i'm not living in fear like you" and "covid is over" and "life has to go on" when i, like many people who mask/distance/mitigate risks, are living our lives but just not one in denial.
we don't like in a covid zero world. we just don't.
62 notes · View notes
sonxofxgondor · 3 months
Text
Tumblr media
2 notes · View notes