#Because the dictator NEEDS to do well in order to justify his continued rule and continued insistence that his country has it the best

[freebooter4ever]

😭😭😭

#Boots penguins liveblog #I have no country loyalty dont come at me #I would have rather seen geno score that one #Also the narration being like *and sid knows how it feels to have that pressure of an entire country on his shoulders too* #Like fuck no its not the same #having egotistical I Invented This Game canada pressuring you is a different kind than #The pressure of a struggling dictatorship that has thrown billions of dollars into this publicity campaign #Because the dictator NEEDS to do well in order to justify his continued rule and continued insistence that his country has it the best #Out of the entire world despite solid evidence to the contrary #Like as someone who does not give a shit about sports? #The only thing i remember about the 2014 ol*ympics was the politics #And from what i remember r*ussia did not come out of it looking so great #Poor geno #Its shitty that when you just want to represent your homeland and have pride in where you come from #Anyway i now know that tj guy's name now lol #Thats insane that the us kept repeating the same poor guy holyshit

[bigskydreaming]

Part of why I harp on about Last Laugh all the time is because its not just about Dick killing the Joker which is what Jason always wanted someone to do for him, to know that he mattered enough for that......but also when you erase Last Laugh or discard it because it just doesn’t fit into your perception of the characters as fanon has dictated, like.......another huge factor of the Jason-Bruce-Dick dynamic falls by the wayside as well.

And that’s how Jason’s not only always been convinced that Bruce would kill to avenge Dick’s death.....but in ADDITION, Jason has always been convinced that Bruce would be more forgiving of the kinds of actions Jason has taken, aka murder, if Dick had been the one doing it.

Because see....the other thing Last Laugh showed aside from Dick’s feelings about Jason’s death......is that Bruce very much was NOT okay with what Dick had done. Bruce always said he brought back the Joker because he knew Dick wouldn’t be able to live with having done that, but IMO it was NEVER about what Dick could or couldn’t live with, it was about what BRUCE could live with Dick having done.

Because regardless of the Joker being resuscitated.....Dick was still keenly aware of the fact that he’d still beaten him to death first. Jason’s resurrection, Dick being revived after his own death, those never erased the impact of their actual deaths, rendered them moot, and neither did resuscitating the Joker. If Jason died and it matters? Coming back doesn’t make that unmatter. If Dick only was dead for a couple minutes tops, that doesn’t mean Luthor DIDN’T kill him and he wasn’t still dead; he’d still actually died.

The same is true of the Joker’s death, no matter how short-lived it was. Dick still DID it. Dick was still very cognizant of that. Dick actually struggled with this for a number of issues, though I don’t think that really was about regretting what he’d done so much as that he’d let the Joker ‘win’.....AND it was ALSO about how Bruce saw him now.

And IMO you can’t argue that Bruce only resuscitated the Joker for DICK’S sake and because DICK couldn’t live with that.....when Bruce notably, distinctly, NEVER EVER EVER actually....engaged Dick on the topic of what he’d done there. 

Ever. 

He went back to Gotham and never made a single appearance to help Dick process things, even when others like Wally showed up in Bludhaven while Dick was holing himself away from the world. Bruce and Dick literally NEVER spoke of it again. Because Bruce wasn’t okay with what Dick had done. He didn’t know how to forgive him or look past it, so he basically did everything in his power to make it so it basically never happened. 

And the difference with UTRH is....when Jason showed up, by the time Bruce knew it was him, pretending Jason hadn’t done the things that Jason wasn’t the least bit ashamed of was never actually even an option.

So I don’t actually think Bruce is any more inclined to forgive Dick of things like murder because its Dick.....I think Bruce had to force+quit all thoughts of Dick actually killing, in order to preserve his relationship with Dick. 

(Even though his relationship with Dick still suffered, because Dick was still keenly aware that Bruce was not okay with what he’d done, and like, not trying to understand WHY Dick had done it or that he was actually maybe okay with having done it albeit outside of the context of it having played into what the Joker wanted him to do. Like, Dick after Last Laugh still very much angsted about Bruce’s assessment of him after it, and did need that reassurance that Bruce still loved him and forgave him....and what Bruce actually gave him is “I’ll agree to never reference it as having happened and look past it for the sake of our relationship” which is very much NOT the same thing. And with, as I’ve also gone into before, this no doubt being HUGELY central to why Dick was so lost and shaken by his fears of having let Bruce down AGAIN by letting Blockbuster die. These things are absolutely connected.)

The flip side of this is that......I don’t think Bruce was any LESS inclined to ‘forgive’ Jason of murder just because he was Jason and not Dick. In that case, it was just more about the fact that there was no way for Bruce to even TRY to force+quit out of his awareness of what Jason had done. Denial wasn’t going to cut it in the same way it had with Dick, because Dick’s ‘crime’ had been one and done.

But THEN, the flip side of THAT - or maybe we’re just on a tangent now, oh hell, who can keep track, let’s all just agree that flips were flipped and tangents were...tangented - like, the other interesting facet of this for me is if Bruce HADN’T been so intent on forcibly ignoring or forgetting that Dick had killed the Joker, for the sake of their relationship or whatever, or if someone else had brought it up - not only could this have improved Dick and Jason’s relationship, it also could have forced Bruce to confront the logical fallacy inherent in like...his MAIN ARGUMENT for why he was so deadset against Jason’s choices. 

And that all goes back to how Bruce has a tendency to project his own worst flaws onto his children, and be paranoid that they’re going to go down the same dark paths he constantly is trying to keep himself from straying down - ironically in part due to how he uses his childrens’ similarities to him in order to build common ground and see a place and purpose for himself in their lives in the first place. He sees himself in his children, that’s what draws him to them in the first place, and makes him act to bring them into his own life and build a home for them....but there’s a double-edged sword element to this too, as Bruce I think often perceives his worst fears for HIMSELF in his childrens’ actions and choices....and acts based on that. Rather than keeping centered his awareness that for all that they are LIKE him in various ways, they are their own people. As different from him as they are alike.

See, because like....Bruce’s primary reason for why he can’t ever allow himself to kill, even someone like the Joker....is because he KNOWS himself, and knows that if he ever allowed himself to cite precedent by doing it even just once.....he’d open up the door and progress through it past a point of no return, whereupon he’d never STOP being able to come up with justifications for why he should also kill this villain and this one and this one. Its the slippery slope argument. He can’t ever start down that slope, because he doesn’t trust himself to ever stop.

And he projects this same logic onto his children, who he seems so much of himself in....the good AND the bad. And so his fears AND his judgment, for both Jason AND Dick when they kill, even just in one special case....is that it sets them both on the same slippery slope. Because they are after all just like him, right?

But also they’re not....as evidenced by the fact that Dick DOESN’T KEEP KILLING. The Last Laugh is basically an outlier (assuming we don’t count Creighton, which I don’t rate the same because while I think Dick definitely did kill him, it was a clear cut case of self-defense and thus a totally different ballgame). Its significant that Dick killed, not just because he did it, and not just because Bruce didn’t actually ever forgive him for it....but also because...despite Bruce being afraid to face or acknowledge it because of how it played into his own fears for his own worst self and choices.....Bruce facing it is exactly what needs to happen in order for Bruce to ever acknowledge that his actual fears of the slippery slope....DID NOT HAPPEN, with Dick. Dick’s never used what happened with the Joker to cite a precedent, to justify to himself the choice to do that again with another villain he had just as much reason to hate.

And from THERE....once you connect all these dots and all these parallels and contrasts and intersections......its notable not just that Jason has killed, and with intent and without regret....but also that there IS no rationale for taking it for granted that Bruce acts differently with Jason’s crimes than he would if Dick committed them, just because its Jason and not Dick.....because the key difference is not WHICH of them did it, its the CIRCUMSTANCES of them doing it....and Jason’s circumstances not affording Bruce the same luxury of denial.

And then from THERE, finally, the coup de grace at the end of it all:

Is it also makes it equally notable that....just as Dick’s lack of killing again after the Joker, like, establishes a counter argument for Bruce’s fears that such a thing is inevitable once Dick killed even once....and with this fear being WHY he comes down so hard on the topic of even his children killing villains guilty of heinous crimes....

Dick’s lack of killing others after the Joker ALSO establishes a PRECEDENT....for the fact that no, killing someone does not make it IMPOSSIBLE to ever step BACK from that ledge if one so chooses. ‘Pulling the trigger’ as it were, even just once, initially....does not doom one of Bruce’s children to a lifetime of never being anything BUT a remorseless killer who can never choose a different path.

And of course, the fact that Jason killing certain people DOESN’T mean that he can’t ever stop, like....this is actually central to the entire Batfam’s dynamics as a whole?

Because after all.....literally every canon story, continuity or fanfic that has Jason reunite with the family to ANY degree, after having killed....which is like, basically all of them.....

These all take it as a given that....Jason is absolutely fully capable of choosing not to kill. He is not LOCKED into anything, beyond the possibility of having any kind of relationship with his family whatsoever, just because he’s killed....with the proof being like....literally all the stories where he still has a relationship with his family despite having killed previously or even still killing in some circumstances in the present!

The slippery slope does not rule all, is the thing. And the proof that Bruce’s fears of the slippery slope once slipped upon, being a one way street straight the fuck to hell, like.....the proof that that’s more a HIM problem than a hard and fast rule that can only ever play out one way for everybody Bruce see himself reflected in?

That proof literally begins with Last Laugh. With Dick. Paving the way for Jason there, rather than making a case for how actually things with Jason and Bruce would look totally different if it had just been Dick and Bruce there instead.

The second you acknowledge that the comics and most fanfics ALREADY take it as a given that Bruce’s projection of his own fears of the slippery murder slope is like....NOT actually any more of an inevitable death knell for Jason’s relationship with his family than Jason’s own actual death knell meant shit about his own longterm survival.....

Then Dick’s killing of the Joker in Last Laugh becomes extremely relevant not just because of what it reveals about how Bruce’s views on murder and his sons doing the murder is NOT actually conditional, based just on which son it is that does the deed most dirty....

It also becomes extremely relevant because of the precedent it establishes in countering the very argument/view that is central to keeping Jason from having any real relationship with his family until Bruce gets the fuck out of his own and everyone else’s way on this front.

[rnelodyy]

C!Dream, the status quo, and why conflict is okay sometimes.

In this fandom, there is a lot of talk about conflict, who causes it, who avoids it, who is to blame for it, et cetera. An argument often heard from c!Dream apologists to justify his abysmal treatment of L’Manburg in general and c!Tommy in specific is “He was just trying to stop people causing conflict! He was protecting the server by stopping these conflict-causing maniacs!”

And it’s not hard to see where they get this idea from, because c!Dream repeats this sentiment a lot, from his “happy family” speech, to the speech during the final disc war about how c!Tommy causes constant conflict, to the fact that he always portrays himself as a reasonable authority figure trying to calm down these feral creatures always fighting with one another (and we’ll get to that idea…).

My reasoning for explaining how c!Dream’s worldview is deeply flawed may be a bit controversial, so I decided to write this essay to explore the following idea:

Sometimes, conflict is good actually.

(all /dsmp /rp, names refer to characters, not content creators)

Conflict, in itself, is morally neutral. It’s the context surrounding the conflict that allows us to ascribe morality to it. This fact makes this topic a LOT harder to discuss, because morality is subjective. What I’m writing here is all my own opinion, you may agree or disagree on some points, I just ask that you read it through and please don’t start shit over this.

Anyway, the context. It’s dependent on a number of factors.

Justification. Why was the conflict started?

Intent. What is the desired outcome for either party?

Proportionality. If the conflict is started out of revenge or punishment, is it proportionate to the wrong committed?

Power Dynamic. Is the person on the receiving end more, less, or equally as powerful as the person starting the conflict?

For example, let’s compare the L’Manburg War for Independence with the intervention during the Final Disc War.

Justification:

Dream declared war on L’Manburg because he saw them as traitors, and the land they occupied as rightfully his. Therefore, them making a country of their own where his rules didn’t apply was a violation of the status quo he wanted to uphold.

Punz and the others intervened because they didn’t want Dream to kill Tommy and/or Tubbo, and were tired of his constant meddling in their affairs.

Intent:

Dream’s intent was to attack L’Manburg until they surrendered, no matter how much hurt he’d cause or how many lives he’d take.

Punz and the other’s intent was to stop Dream from killing Tommy and Tubbo, and stop whatever plan he had to keep the server under control.

Proportionality:

L’Manburg declared independence in response to brutal violence as retribution for clumsy attempts at crime, on land nobody except Wilbur was using, were explicitly pacifistic and invited Dream to make an embassy in their land to discuss trade. Dream responded by declaring war, destroying their land, luring them into a trap and killing them, and continuing to beat them down until they surrendered.

Punz and the others intervened after Dream dragged two teenagers out into the wilderness to fight him, with little chance of them ever returning. This was after months of Dream’s meddling in conflicts he had nothing to do with, trying to control people’s actions, ripping Tommy away from his home and abusing him in secret and, in the end, destroying the place most synonymous with freedom from his rule. They intervened by getting Tommy and Tubbo to safety, letting Tommy (the kid who arguably suffered the most at Dream’s hands) take his items and beat him to death twice, then locking him up in prison.

Power Dynamic:

L’Manburg was significantly less powerful than Dream and his goons, with less skilled fighters and heavily inferior gear. They held their position fairly okay at the start, but after the Final Control Room, they were basically defenseless against Dream’s assault.

Dream had always had unprecedented power on the server. He’s leveled entire countries, crowns and dethrones kings when he feels like it, overruled the decision of a court of law, and in the end, had Tommy and Tubbo completely at his mercy before the intervention. Even beating Dream was seen as such an insurmountable task that it took fourteen people (excluding Clingyduo) to take him down.

The thing about conflict, even violent conflict, is that it’s not always negative. If your sister is being abused by her boyfriend and refuses to report it out of fear, you’re gonna be hard-pressed to find someone unable to sympathize with you if you go over to his house and break his nose.

What is a defining feature of conflict, is that it disrupts the status quo.

That’s not to say that some characters are always disruptors and others always preservers of the status quo. For example, during the Disc War, Tommy is the one trying to preserve and Dream the one trying to disrupt (the status quo being: Tommy owns the discs), and during the L’Manburg War for Independence, Tommy and Wilbur are disrupting while Dream is preserving (the status quo being: Dream has absolute power and the entire server needs to follow his rules).

It’s ALSO not to say that this disruption is always bad, because sometimes, the status quo fucking sucks, and throwing it on its head is the right thing to do. Overthrowing Schlatt is seen by everyone on the SMP and pretty much every fan as morally correct, as while Schlatt being president was the status quo, it meant he was ruling as a dictator, exiling his political opponents, imprisoning and heavily taxing dissenters, being verbally and physically abusive to his cabinet members, and forcing a guest at his festival to execute a sixteen year-old boy for spying for the political opponent he exiled.

Conflict being a genuinely good force of societal change isn’t usually brought up in the fandom though, at least not consciously. A lot of people, both on the server and IRL, see conflict only as a source of hurt and pain, and try to prevent or avoid it as much as possible.

And here’s where Dream differs from someone like Ranboo. Because while both Dream and Ranboo operate on the assumption that all conflict is bad all the time, Ranboo shows this by becoming conflict-avoidant to the extreme, to the point where he refuses to pick sides in pretty much any conflict, no matter how obviously good or evil one side is. Meanwhile, Dream shows this by becoming controlling to the extreme. Mitigating conflict isn’t enough, he needs to control everything to prevent all conflict ever.

In Ranboo’s case, this is less due to ideology and more due to personality. Ranboo is a deeply anxious person, and hates being in the middle of fights. He’s also… not very self-critical? He has issues with self-worth, but he very rarely takes a look in the mirror to inspect what it actually is he believes and says, making him very gullible and convinced of his own righteousness. But while that’s a VERY interesting character trait, Ranboo’s conflict-avoidance doesn’t make him a very good character to examine in the context of conflict and what it means.

So let’s look at Dream. Because, despite claiming to want to stop conflict, Dream CONSTANTLY starts conflicts or escalates existing ones. The L’Manburg War for Independence could’ve been entirely avoided if Dream hadn’t lashed out so heavily at a nation of pacifists who made their own area to avoid violence from authorities. As I explored in my George Vod Analysis, the griefing of George’s house would’ve been a lighthearted dispute between two people if Dream hadn’t taken over the entire thing and turned it into one of the biggest diplomatic crises in the server’s history. Mexican L’Manburg hadn’t even existed for an hour before Dream came by to kill its residents and destroy its land.

So why is Dream so focused on stopping conflict, despite constantly starting it himself? Why is THAT his hill to die on?

Simple. Dream wants to prevent disruptions to the status quo. That status quo being “Dream is the one in power and everyone has to listen to him.”

But you can’t say that out loud. If you say “everyone needs to listen to me otherwise it’s not fair”, you sound like a whiny five year-old at best, and a tyrant at worst. So, instead of saying that, Dream says “I just want to prevent conflict, keep the server peaceful.”

Remember what I said about one party being the disruptor and another being the preserver? Well, Dream’s status in the early days of the server is almost always preserver of the status quo. The only times he’s the disruptor is if disrupting that status quo serves to strengthen the status quo of him being in power. For example: Stealing Tommy’s discs is a disruption of the “Tommy’s discs are his and his alone” status quo, but strengthens the “Dream is the most powerful dude on the server” status quo, because the discs give him power over Tommy.

By fighting L’Manburg, he was trying to preserve the status quo, because having a government on the server meant he no longer had absolute power. Hell, REALLY early on, he decided to kill George and burn all his stuff because George had full diamond while everyone else was still running around in iron armor.

However, after L’Manburg’s independence, Dream’s focus shifted. Instead of preserving the status quo, he’d disrupt it in order to return to the status quo as HE wanted it, with no nations, and himself at the top.

But again, that wouldn’t look good. Making yourself the undisputed ruler of the entire server is not good for optics, so instead, Dream hides behind the excuse that he’s just trying to stop conflict, or seeking retribution for slights against his nation.

By this point, Tommy, the only person who CONSTANTLY refuses to bow to his demands, becomes his scapegoat. Tommy is loud, enjoys chaos and getting on people’s nerves, and causes, admittedly, a LOT of conflict. Lighthearted, non-serious conflict with very little actual consequences, but conflict nonetheless. It’s not hard for him to start smearing Tommy’s name, painting him as this feral child at fault for every conflict ever, mostly because a lot of people already believed something like that to be true.

The idea that Tommy is uniquely destructive or chaotic is complete bullshit. Tommy is definitely on the more chaotic side, but he’s not that much more chaotic or destructive than your average server member, he’s just really loud and annoying about it, which makes the things he DOES do stick out more. But Dream, especially during the Exile Conflict, continuously pushed the idea that Tommy is the only one creating conflict on the server, that Tommy is responsible for all conflict ever, and that without Tommy, everyone would be at peace.

And at some point… Dream started believing this himself.

His speech during the Final Disc War illustrates this perfectly. He tells Tommy that ever since he joined, there’s been nothing but war and terrorism and conflict, and that those originated from the attachments Tommy brought to the server. That, by cutting off his own attachments, exploiting everyone else’s, and getting rid of Tommy, he could restore the old status quo, before L’Manburg, before Tommy, when everything was peaceful and no conflict existed. Except, Tommy is too fun to fuck with, so instead of killing him, Dream was going to lock Tommy up in Pandora’s Vault, probably for the rest of his life, to continue breaking him.

This is a prime example of Dream falling for his own bullshit.

First of all, Tommy didn’t cause all those wars, he was actually on the receiving end of most of them. A vast majority of the wars and terrorism Tommy got caught up in were actually started by Dream, or Dream was actively helping the guy who started it.

Second, Tommy didn’t bring the concept of attachment to the server. He gets very attached to things, true, but attachment is a very basic part of the human condition. Even Dream, the guy openly shunning all attachment, isn't immune to it, in the end, he’s attached to the server as a whole, and Tommy, who he gave almost biblical importance in his narrative. Like Tommy said, if you have no attachment to things, why does anything matter at all?

Third, getting rid of Tommy and controlling the entire server with their attachments… that wouldn’t have restored the status quo, because the status quo exactly as Dream envisioned it never existed. He’s not chasing a past that was ruined by Tommy, he’s chasing an idealized fairytale version of the past where everyone was friends and frolicked around in the fields and there was never any conflict, before Tommy came along and ruined everything. Before Tommy joined, there was a SHIT ton of conflict, from minor disputes over theft, to the above-mentioned incident where Dream destroyed George’s stuff, to the lemon tree conflicts that wound up being taken to court!

Except, even this idea of Dream wanting to restore an idealized, made-up past is only partially true. What Dream is looking to return to and uphold is a world where he was the only authority and nobody questioned him. The status quo he wants to return to, no matter how much he denies it, is the one where everyone was at his mercy and he could do whatever he wanted without impunity. However, because he’s convinced himself that conflict is the issue, not disobedience, even if his plan succeeded, he’d have to keep the entire server in a chokehold to get them to follow his ideal plan.

Because conflict is inevitable. Anywhere where there’s two or more people sharing a space, you’re going to run into conflict at some point. People will have disagreements, they will fight, they will have miscommunications, they will have a bad day or accident and antagonize someone else.

Resolving these issues through conflict, whether it’s verbal, physical or legal, will result in a healthier community in the long run, because people’s pent-up frustrations will get an outlet, and people will try to hash out compromises or accommodations based on the reactions they get. It’s not always the ideal solution, but it’s better than just sitting everyone down, telling them to play nice, and smacking them over the back of the head as soon as they start complaining.

But conflict threatens the status quo. And as Dream involves himself in more and more conflict, they increasingly start threatening HIS status quo. So in order to maintain his status quo, conflict needs to be stomped out as soon as it crops up, no matter how minor it is.

So, now to paint a timeline through this lens.

Dream started off as the ultimate power on the server, able to do whatever he wanted without consequence. Tommy joined and threatened that status quo, but he was just one guy, so keeping him away and occupied wasn’t too hard. It was fun, even.

Then L’Manburg came, and posed the first substantial threat to Dream’s rule. Dream tried crushing this rebellion before it had a chance to take root, but in the end, Tommy traded his discs (the things Dream was using to control him) for L’Manburg’s independence. The status quo changed, L’Manburg was here to stay.

However, L’Manburg still posed a threat to Dream’s rule, so manipulating events to destroy it became Dream’s next priority. He supported Schlatt during the election in the hope he’d destabilize the nation, then sided with Pogtopia in secret to help overthrow the government, then helped Wilbur with the TNT to blow L’Manburg sky high, then betrayed Pogtopia for Schlatt’s side for the revival book. When Pogtopia won, Dream was egging Techno on through whispers to try to get him to go ape shit, so with Techno’s withers and Wilbur’s TNT, L’Manburg was gone, and the old status quo had been restored.

Except it hadn’t been. L’Manburg was rebuilt, with Tubbo at the helm this time, and a new status quo was put in place, with L’Manburg still there and still a threat. However, with Wilbur’s death, Tommy was left almost completely unprotected, and Dream took his chance to get Tommy thrown out of the country, hoping to get his biggest threat out of the way, as well as being able to sink his claws into the L’Manburg Cabinet.

Dream isolated Tommy in exile and tried to break him to the point where he wouldn’t put up any resistance. During this time, he also commissioned the prison, which he claimed to only be for the most dangerous members of the server, but is a pretty transparent attempt to enforce his rule by making a place where he can stick anyone who disobeys him. The server is slipping more and more out of his control, with more factions popping up and more people outright defying him, so like any dictator, he takes harsher and harsher measures to stay on top.

Tommy escapes exile, and while Dream is keeping tabs on him, he can’t directly control him anymore. So, to prevent Tommy from returning to L’Manburg and stopping his plans at disrupting the status quo, he blows up the community house, frames Tommy for it, and goes to Tubbo to demand Tommy’s disc, the only reason destroying L’Manburg was disadvantageous for him. Tommy jumps in to defend himself and takes L’Manburg’s side, but in the end, Dream takes both the discs, then destroys L’Manburg with Techno.

By this point, the status quo Dream wanted to craft is almost complete. L’Manburg is gone, there are no other major factions threatening his rule, and he’s pretty much set a precedent for what happens to dissenters. All he needs to do now is get rid of Tommy.

Except he can’t kill him. Over time, Dream has become obsessed with Tommy, to the point where he’s started seeing Tommy as the lynchpin of the server that everyone else gravitates around. Tommy is almost a living MacGuffin: he brings chaos and attachment which gives him power, but in the right hands, that power can be harnessed to create order.

(This is absolute nonsense of course, Tommy is just A Guy, his presence itself doesn’t create chaos, and controlling him doesn’t mean controlling the entire server because a lot of people just plain don’t give a shit.)

So instead of killing him, Dream tries to put him in prison. He even outright says that he wants to finish what he started in exile, this time with even tighter control and no possibility for escape.

He goes to kill Tubbo for multiple reasons: Tubbo is no longer useful to him, Tubbo can be used as leverage to keep Tommy compliant in prison (the possibility to revive someone’s best friend is a pretty valuable bargaining chip), and Tubbo would absolutely raise hell if Dream threw his best friend in jail for no reason.

If Dream had gotten his way, he’d be able to blackmail everyone on the server into compliance. Tommy, his scapegoat, would’ve been in prison, so now without a scapegoat, he could’ve probably gone one of two ways.

He could’ve created a new scapegoat to blame all new conflict on. Quackity would’ve been a good candidate, he’s VEHEMENTLY anti-Dream, and would’ve had no qualms about starting shit with him. Whether it was with El Rapids or with Las Nevadas, Quackity would’ve been the biggest anti-Dream voice in Tommy’s absence. So c!Dream would keep Quackity around, blaming him for everything that goes wrong… Until Quackity would get too uppity and either gets murdered or put in jail with Tommy, and the cycle repeats until either people rise up, or everyone who isn’t completely subservient is in prison.

Or, he could’ve cracked down EVEN HARDER on conflict. Anyone creating a new nation gets stomped into the dirt, anyone fighting over resources gets murdered, anyone squabbling over griefed property gets thrown in prison for weeks at a time, all the while their property and pets that they care about more than anything else get dangled in front of their noses. Anyone who’s ever read any more than five pages about the dynamics of dictatorships can see that this kind of repression is basically ASKING for revolution, especially since Dream has shunned all friendships at this point and his only ally is only there because Dream pays him.

(this is all speculation, we don’t know what would’ve actually happened, dont yell at me)

The status quo Dream is trying to return to never existed, and the one he creates in the process isn’t sustainable. Stopping every conflict ever is completely unsustainable and detrimental to the larger community, which Dream knows, because he uses conflict CONSTANTLY to get his way, while still presenting himself as a peacekeeper. What he’s really against is disruptions of the status quo, because the status quo allows him to do whatever he wants and control the server as much as he wants.

Conflict isn’t inherently bad. Some conflicts are harmless, some are necessary disruptions of the status quo. Conflict itself is morally neutral, and trying to prevent all conflict ever leads into some… iffy territory. Remember when Ranboo yelled at the L’Manburgians for participating in conflict the day before Doomsday?

Anyway. Please examine situations with more nuance than “conflict bad”, it’ll make for much better analysis. Trust me. /nm

#dream smp #dsmp analysis #dsmp meta #dreamwastaken #c!dream #idk if this made any sense at all #i feel like i just slapped a buncha stuff in a google doc and completely bullshitted a conclusion from it #but anyway #just something to think abt i guess

[grumpyhedgehogs]

only following orders

Summary: Cody's communicator has been broken for weeks and he's been too stubborn to fix it; in other, related news, Order 66 isn't set off, Order 6 is, and the clones justify their overprotectiveness with military regulations in the aftermath.

Cody’s comm unit has been on the fritz for weeks now. It hasn’t gotten as bad as that one time when Rex’s got shorted out completely after an unfortunate fall into a river, nor as bad as when Waxer’s broke so badly it shocked him the next time he tried to turn it on. There’s just been some interference, a couple dropped calls (thankfully nothing too important--Cody’s been sure to take anything extremely delicate through the comm in his helmet, and he doesn’t really mind being able to truthfully tell some senators that, no, actually, he couldn’t get around to asking General Kenobi to give them special treatment, and you know what, they were actually breaking up a bit). He’s got to go to the quartermaster for it soon anyway; it wouldn’t do to have one of the highest commanders in the GAR be unreachable, especially so close to the end of the war. He resolves to get it switched out after the Utapau mission.

Cody is tired . The Separatists are in strong force on Utapau, and while Obi-Wan is more than capable of holding his own with Grievous, Cody worries. It’s a dignified worry, but he has to admit that it’s a little overwhelming when enhanced by nine or ten cups of coffee and about a gallon of adrenaline coursing through his blood. The fighting is over but he hasn’t seen Obi-Wan since returning his lightsaber, and he always feels better when he can keep his general within eyesight. It's driving him nearly to distraction. That’s his excuse for opening the call from a secure channel on his handheld comm rather than his helmet and Cody is sticking to it. The miniaturized figure makes Cody arch his brows behind his visor, all flowing robes and black hood. Very dramatic. Cody’s seen better at the Jedi Temple on a lazy Sunday morning before laundry day.

“Commander Cody, execute Order 6-- bzzt . ” The Emperor’s figure wavers, sways, and disappears as his order takes hold. The comm does, in fact, let off a static shock at that, but Cody’s already too far gone to do more than let it fall from numb fingers.

“Good soldiers follow orders,” Cody says, his lips moving like someone else is controlling them. He raises his boot and crushes the comm unit under his heel. It’s like Cody is watching all of this happen from very far away even though he knows he’s stuck in his own body. He grinds the broken plastic and metal into the dirt with vehement anger, then raises his hand to his visor and retransmits the order throughout the 212th. After, he reaches up and snaps off the transmitter on his helmet too, just for good measure. Parjai Squad is in the air again, and Sergeant Barlex can be trusted to transmit Order 6 throughout the rest of the GAR as soon as Cody’s relay reaches the 2nd Airborne Company before cutting off his communications too.

Order 6 is completed. All around him, the 212th is destroying their communication units as fast as possible; Boil chucks his straight off a cliff. Cody gives him a nod when he snaps to a salute afterwards. The Order still pricks at him, though, a strange, slick feeling, oozing along his spine into his brainstem. It burrows teeth into his mind, like the jaws of some great beast shaking its prey by the throat. “Good soldiers follow orders,” Boil says, still not dropping his salute, and Cody finds himself repeating the words back mindlessly.

Good soldiers follow orders. But his orders have been completed. What now?

“Orders, we need new orders,” he hears one soldier mutter nearby. His head pounds, Order 6 curling, white hot, through Cody’s frontal lobe. There’s no way he can make sure the order is carrying out across the other battalions and it stabs at him. What other orders do they have? Cody puts a hand to his bucket, desperate to rub at his temples. There’s a wetness on his face; he thinks his nose might be bleeding. Rex used to go over the rulebook with him before all the batchmates were tested on Kamino.

“Listen to this one,” Rex says, laughing in the semi-darkness of their bunk. “‘Order 49: in the event that communication with the Republic or Senate is unavailable under presumption of corrupted or compromised systems, secure Jedi command as quickly as possible through any means necessary. Treat any obstacles with hostile measures.’ They want us to secure the Jedi ? What do the Jedi need protecting from?”

“Execute Order 49,” Cody shouts; his voice breaks, weaker than it should be. This headache is killing him. He sees Boil jump into action, shouting Cody’s order to those nearest him. Then they shout too, on and on, until Order 49 turns into a wave through the ranks. The rest of Ghost Company immediately begin to get the ships ready for departure; some of the gunships take off, getting into position to escort The Negotiator to safety. The bombardment measures and cannons the 212th had set up to break into Grievous's compound are dismantled and put away in seconds. My battalion, Cody thinks proudly, is very good at following orders .

My battalion, Cody realizes, are not themselves. But then he hears a call of his name and rank and the thought is lost to him.

He turns just as General Kenobi’s mount reaches level ground and Kenobi disembarks. The ever present worry eases slightly at the sight, but then Order 49 slams into his skull. It is all Cody can do not to rush to the man and bundle him into the nearest airship. He has to secure the Jedi. He has to follow orders. Cody is a good soldier.

“Commander Cody!” Kenobi calls again across a quickly clearing battlefield. The Jedi’s head swivels, taking in the soldiers preparing to leave. “We’ve made fast work of the end of the war, but I never thought your brothers would be so quick to get back to Coruscant.” General Kenobi nears him now, dropping the reins he’s been holding onto and patting the beast once on the neck before stepping to his commander’s side. He’s smiling. “That anxious to be rid of me, are you?”

Cody opens his mouth, a moment of clarity seizing him. Obi-Wan’s bright eyes gaze straight into his through his bucket and Cody thinks, what am I doing? But what comes out is, “Good soldiers follow orders.”

The general’s brow furrows. “Come again?”

“The Emperor has issued Order 6, sir.” Cody says. His jaw works, chewing over the words he actually wants to say, chewing over what is happening? Obi-Wan, what's happening to me?  “Communications are compromised. Order 49 is now in effect. Immediate retreat is necessary.”

“Emp--Order--Cody, what?” Kenobi’s hands come up, reaching out, and Cody tenses, but he only places them on Cody’s shoulders. The gentleness is strange. No commanding officer has gripped him so carefully before. “Cody, what’s wrong? What are you saying?”

“Order 6, General,” Cody replies, just as helpless and useless as Kenobi’s hands on his shoulders. His own hands, working independent of his brain, reach out and steady the man before him. The Negotiator is almost ready. Boil and Waxer will give the high sign when they’re ready to board. In the meantime, Cody slips Kenobi’s communicator from his belt, deftly palming it. He keeps a sharp eye on Kenobi’s expression at the same time, because the man is paling fast and looks a little green around the gills. Order 49 dictates he must see to the Jedi’s wellbeing and if that means he’s got to lend his bucket as a makeshift--well, bucket, then so be it.  

The Jedi reels. “What is Order 6? Who is the Emperor? Why--why would you--”

“The Emperor transmitted Order 6--get rid of all communication units, effective immediately--approximately twenty-four minutes and thirty-six seconds ago, General.” He raises Kenobi’s own communicator and, ignoring the man’s squawking protest, slams it into the rock beneath their feet. “Communications are compromised.”

“Why would you ever listen to--”

“Good soldiers follow orders.”

Somewhere in the back of his head, Cody wants to scream, wants to rage. His chest fights to hyperventilate. His eyes are watering. His nose is bleeding even more now. There’s a pronounced trembling in his limbs; the Jedi must notice, because Kenobi reaches out and grips his hands, bringing them up to his chest, cradling them there. Kenobi's heart pounds underneath his knuckles.

“Cody, please.” Kenobi’s eyes search his; distantly, Cody wonders what he feels like in the Force. Whatever it is, judging from the look on his general’s face, it’s not good. “I don’t understand. Who is the Emperor?”

Again, his mouth opens on its own. “That’s classified information, sir. Order 7 includes a clause dictating that any ruling Emperor’s identity must be protected from public knowledge, for that individual’s protection and continued survival.”

“Of course it does,” Kenobi replies. “Because Force forbid any of this is ever easy .” He gathers Cody’s fingers into one hand and reaches up to place his other palm against the side of his commander’s neck. His fingertips brush the bare skin where Cody’s blacks end just before the bottom of his bucket. Cody’s spine snaps straight, shoulders coming up, but Kenobi holds on, gently, gently. In his mind, Cody screams.

Yes, yes, it’s me, I’m here, he pushes out with all his might. His Orders swirl through him, trying to push him back, keep him down. There’s a door waiting to lock behind him somewhere in his mind, hiding a deep, dark black Cody doesn’t think he’ll ever return from. He doesn’t know how the Force works, per se, but trying to push his thoughts out into it is better than surrendering to oblivion. I’m here!  

General Kenobi draws in a sharp breath and pulls away slightly. The hand Cody instantly pulls from Kenobi's and drops to his waist flexes involuntarily, but the Jedi doesn’t step back. “I heard you,” Kenobi says, quick and low, like he doesn’t want anyone else to hear. “I heard you Cody. I’ll help. Let me help you, alright?”

“Negative. Assistance is not needed; Order 49 states Jedi command be secured before all other forces.” Over Kenobi’s shoulder, Boil waves. Cody sends him a nod. “Order 49 is now in effect, sir. I have to ask you to get on the ship.”

“Cody--” Kenobi cuts off with a frustrated noise and drops their hands but stays close. Cody’s body stiffens, ready for resistance. Cody’s mind reels from the lost contact. “Commander. I--please state Order 49’s parameters for me.”

“Jedi command must be secured at all costs in the event of total communications failure, sir. Any hostile forces may be taken out by any means necessary to secure the Jedi. Any resistance from Jedi may be disregarded and treated as command being incapacitated. Power structure moves to next in line until threats to Jedi have been neutralized.” General Kenobi’s face does some interesting gymnastics throughout the explanation, but he doesn’t start yelling or running, which Cody takes as a good sign. He also seems distracted; this works in Cody’s favor, though, because Kenobi doesn’t realize his commander has begun slowly walking them both towards where Boil waits on the landing platform. As soon as they begin the trek towards the ship Cody’s headache eases.

“And all these orders come from the Emperor?” His face is still troubled. Within himself, Cody feels the old urge to reach out and brush his fingers over his fringe, hold on until the lines in Obi-Wan’s face smooth away, but he can’t seem to act on it. Then Kenobi’s eyes snap up to his visor again.

The Jedi stops moving. Cody takes another step and turns his back to the ship, carefully keeping hold of him. He doesn’t tighten his grip, but it’s secure; if Kenobi wants to get away, he’ll have to use the Force, which Cody knows he’d never do. Obi-Wan never uses the Force on his men. “Yes sir. If we could keep moving, Order 49 instructs us to get Jedi out of active warzones, General.”

The general doesn’t move. His feet drag when Cody takes a step back, pulling him along, but he doesn’t fight. “An Emperor--the Republic has fallen.”

“Sir?”

A Kenobi distracted is a Kenobi easily moved. Cody doesn’t mind keeping quiet if it means Order 49 doesn’t stab quite so sharply into the backs of his eyes. His nose has nearly stopped bleeding. It’s almost enough for him to be able to open his mouth and say something not pertaining to orders, but then he catches himself and his jaw shuts with an audible click.

“An Emperor with the power to topple the Republic--Only a Sith could--” Kenobi’s eyes are glazed over, far away, and within his own mind, Cody hides the bright beam of hope that lights in him. “But why would a Sith protect Jedi?”

“I don’t know, General.” Boil waves them in and Cody gives Waxer the go-ahead to raise the ramp after them. Something aching and nervous in his chest eases once his general has set foot on The Negotiator, but his shoulders are still tense and high. It’s not enough. Kenobi is shaking under his hands, he’s distant. His face is bruised, his clothes scuffed and battered. His hair is covered in dust. He’s fresh from battle and likely experiencing emotional and psychological turmoil. Cody would be operating within the parameters of Order 49 if he were to take Kenobi to rest in his private quarters--so he does. Kenobi doesn’t speak again until Cody’s gotten him settled on the edge of his bunk. He isn’t receptive to being pushed gently to lay down, so Cody gives up on that for a moment and goes to the bridge to confirm take off.

When he returns, the general is pacing the length of his quarters, gripping at his hair and muttering under his breath. Cody assesses the situation and drops his blaster and bucket by the door before entering, hands up like he’s approaching a scared animal. Order 49 was correct; command structure needed power taken from the Jedi right now. Kenobi is more rattled than he’s ever seen him. Inside, Cody feels about the way Obi-Wan looks.

“A Sith wouldn’t protect a Jedi!” Kenobi exclaims when he catches sight of his commander. Cody pauses and nods. Best to agree with him for now. “Unless they got something out of it--like, say if the Sith was at the center of the Republic and needed to make himself look good to politicians before setting off a galactic war! ” His voice rises in pitch at the end, his eyes wild. “I can’t believe it, I’ve been so blind--Dooku even told me--”

All the blood drains from Kenobi’s face. Cody lurches forward on the balls of his feet because for a second it looks like he might faint. Then General Kenobi whirls around and starts rummaging through his desk. “The Senate ! I sent Anakin there for years, I knew there was something off about the Chancellor, I knew it . And--and Padme, and Bail, Commander Fox, they’re all there-- Cody, where is my spare communicator?”

“Communications are compromised. The crew would have gone through each room to make sure no unit was left for us to be hacked or tracked with.”

General Kenobi turns back to him, looking near feral, a strange light in his eyes, just on the edge of hysterical. “Oh, well that’s just perf--urk! ”

He cuts off suddenly as his head jerks back on his neck like Cody's just struck him across the face. Cody, whose hands have been hanging uselessly by his sides, lunges forward to catch his commanding officer before he slides to the floor. He thinks for a moment that he has actually fainted now, but Kenobi’s blue eyes flutter open and shut once, twice, three times before he gasps and opens them wide. There’s burst blood vessels coloring his sclera as he pants. Cody adjusts his grip on the Jedi, wrapping both arms around him. He looks like he needs something solid to hang onto. Order 49 tells him Cody needs to provide that, and for once his inner voice doesn’t try to fight it. “General!”

Kenobi doesn’t come fully back to himself until Cody’s managed to heft him up and transfer him to the bed. It’s little more than a cot but it’s better than the metal floor; Cody lets Order 49 push his hands into bringing up the covers around his general, smoothing out the wrinkles. Kenobi mutters something under his breath but whatever happened, he’s definitely not all there yet. Cody goes to the ensuite and returns with a damp cloth. The process of wiping blood and grit from Kenobi’s face is familiar and warming; it’s almost enough to let Cody push his fringe from his face, to tell him he doesn’t know what’s happening but that he loves him, to tell him to run--

But then Cody stops himself because why would he do that? Order 49 says he has to keep watch over Kenobi, not let him flee.

“Anakin--” Kenobi murmurs. Cody leans closer to hear. “Something--Cody, something terrible has happened to Anakin--I can’t feel him through our bond anymore. I’m supposed to be able to feel him in the Force. I don’t know--I don’t know what to do .”

“The 501st will secure General Skywalker as per Order 49 stipulations after they have carried out Order 6, sir. He will be safe.” Cody hesitates, fighting himself, fighting Order 49, fighting the Emperor. Through gritted teeth that want to bite off his tongue more than let the words out, Cody whispers, “ I’m here, Obi-Wan. ”

Hands close around the sides of his head just as white hot pain lances through his skull again, the orders punishing him. Obi-Wan looks right into his eyes, bruised and beaten and just as lost as Cody, and says, “I know, Cody. I’m here too. I’m here with you.”

It’s all Cody can ask of Obi-Wan now. Cody curls as close as the body-which-is-not-his-body will allow and prays it will be enough.

“It’s--it’s alright,” Obi-Wan assures softly, a little too fast to be truthful. He’s bleeding from his nose too. Cody wipes it away. “I--we’ll go somewhere safe, just like you want, and we’ll find--we’ll find Ahsoka, she’ll be with Commander Rex and they can help find Anakin. We’ll--we’ll fight the Sith together, Cody. I swear it.”

“I have to keep you safe,” Cody says, and means it in every way he knows. “I will keep you safe.”

“In that, Cody, I have the utmost trust. I always have.”

#sw #star wars #star wars the clone wars #obi wan #obi-wan kenobi #commander cody #codywan #cody sw #sw fic #star wars fanfiction #clone wars #clone wars fic #waxer and boil #my writing

[rainofaugustsith]

SWTOR and Companion Death

So. Some thoughts about companion deaths in SWTOR in general.

I'm not a fan.

SPOILERS FOR KOTFE ONWARD.

I do know the name of the franchise is Star WARS, and people die in wars. It would probably be extremely unrealistic if we had a scenario where our characters spent literally 17 years of their lives (and counting...well, 12 if we don't count carbonite) fighting and nobody around them died.

However, in SWTOR I think that most of the deaths could been avoided. I don't think they benefit the story. I think that all they really do, in the end, is deprive the audience of a lot of interesting characters. 

I do think there are occasions when a player's character may wish to reject or kill a companion, but I also feel that there are ways to write so that it is an exception, and not commonplace.

And we have not even gotten to the NPC deaths. It has been a bloodbath for years with SWTOR and the writers show no signs of stopping it. Nathema - the body count from Nathema has taken almost twenty NPCs out of the main story. Onslaught? Yeah. Many more. It's become more unusual for an NPC to actually survive for the duration than to have a kill option.

I feel there are better ways to write than to take a Game of Thrones approach and kill everyone. When you eliminate everyone's beloved characters, and you leave the player with nothing more than a rotating cast of strangers, it's quite difficult to get into the story after a while.

Going through the companion deaths from KOTFE to Iokath:

Tanno Vik: The voiceover artist who played Tanno Vik died several years ago, and apparently the devs decided not to make the character recruitable in KOTFE because of that. I can understand this one. It seems that Tanno may die regardless of your choices, too. If you spare him during your meeting, he may not have survived the attack on Asylum, especially if the PC chose to use Valkorion's power.

HK-55: Yes, we get it, you wanted to show everyone that Arcann is a big old monster. The "thrown into carbonite," "slaughtering the Scions" “subjugating both the Republic and Empire” and "ruling as a harsh dictator" plot points didn't get it across quite enough. Dramatic. Yes. And they do bring HK-55 back

My objection to this death is not that they did it - because it actually does fit, even if it's a little extreme - is that they didn't make HK-55's return available to all in the actual main story of the game. I can understand making Shroud of Memory a bonus, because it's cute and funny but doesn't tie super directly into the main plot. But Arma Rasa? I think that should have been for everyone. Yes, I know you can buy it now - and I did - but I still think it should have been main story. If it were, we could have enjoyed HK-55's commentary in the rest of KOTFE and KOTET.

Kaliyo Djannis, Aric Jorgan: Fan service. But it makes no fucking sense. What exactly are you killing them for? They didn't listen, after they tried to compensate and salvage a mission that had gone south? They were left in the lurch because your PC was mission critical and went on a hallucinogenic hiking trip and didn't show up? There's literally nothing you can do to make the mission go right. It always fails, no matter who is in charge or what you tell them to do.

In Kaliyo's case, I really question why the devs thought that she, of all people, would be the character that most players would just love to spend an entire chapter with in one-on-one quality time in KOTFE. I think her kill option was a response to that - "yes, we forced you to play a chapter with this character but look, you can let her go now." Or perhaps it was a response to the frustration some players had with not being able to kill or reject her in the class story.

I think the class story could have sustained a branch where Kaliyo was asked to leave after the Wheezer incident. I think it's reasonable that a player's Agent may not have wanted to continue associating with her at that point. There were four other characters who could have taken her dialogue in the class story missions. But to do it years later? Eh.

In Aric's case, I have no idea what they were thinking. I've never had the feeling he's a character that is widely disliked. They needed to give an option to kill someone along with Kaliyo. I don't know. But it's weird and doesn't make sense IMHO.

Senya: So she's saved her boy. We get it. But considering that Senya also spent several chapters insisting that her children needed to be brought to justice, and was fully willing to engage Vaylin in combat if not kill her - the change of heart was confusing. I think Senya's fate was attached to Arcann's simply to give Arcann greater odds of survival. It seems that people like Senya even if they don't like Arcann. If the two had been separated, I really think less people would have saved Arcann.

Koth: Fan service. Nothing but fucking fan service. I'm sure it had nothing to do with Koth being a LGBTQ+ Black man who actually protested the player's actions and didn't let them off the hook. No, nothing to worry about here with that. That;s sarcasm in case I need to clarify. If things get to the point where Koth has left, your character literally works with him to save the ship and then can kill him while Lana stands there and watches and not a single person protests. After Koth has hijacked the ship and planted a bomb on it. The ship he adores. I can’t even. They could have done so much with this character and they just...did this instead. And then chose to completely ignore him even if he remained in the player's story. I still am salty, years later, that he didn't even get a cameo in the Nathema story. It's not as though the Gravestone's fate would have bothered him at all, amirite?

SCORPIO: One of the few kill options that actually might be justifiable, but the larger question is why she was trusted so much to begin with. And why the game feels it's light side to let her merge with a planet that keeps a necropolis of billions of organics it has slaughtered as research subjects.

Arcann: I feel Arcann should be handled and considered separately because he was not established first as a companion. He was framed and written as an adversary for all of KOTFE. But here we are forced to choose between "let Arcann live and become your new BFF who takes over Lana and Theron's place of trust with no punishment for his crimes" or "kill him on live television! I'm sure I'll be an Instagram Influencer now! Follow me at AllianceCommanderOdesssen uwu!"

Vette; Torian: Completely unnecessary. You have an Alliance that is so large that fighters are literally on the cliffs and in the trees helping you as you progress through the chapter. The Gravestone's taken to the skies. And yet nobody is available to swing by Torian or Vette's position to help them. You and Lana/Theron or Senya/Arcann are literally THE ONLY PEOPLE EVER who can do that. Oh, and the super-smart Hutt scientist in charge of your Research and Development team has given Vette an assault cannon for this huge battle against strong, skilled forces, despite the fact she's only operated an assault cannon...once? For a few minutes? *thumbs up, Oggurobb!*

I feel this was simply done to try to evoke emotion and to erase any sympathy the player may have had for Vaylin, since it immediately follows the Nathema sanitarium visit.

If they really felt the need to go with this, I feel they could have tied it to player actions earlier in the game. Did you do a lot of Alliance Alerts? Did you raise the Specialists' influence above 10? Did you do some of those veteran Star Fortresses and pick up a few extra companions? Then maybe you have enough extra personnel to save both. Quinn: More fan service, served up for those who would have liked to kill or reject Quinn all those years ago in the class story.

Just like Kaliyo - and Skadge, and Tanno Vik - I think the class story could have gone on without him if the Sith Warrior had been allowed to reject him after the Quinncident. I would have rejected him at that point. The writing in the class story could have sustained it. They could have given the healer role to one of the others. And then you'd get a branch where if Quinn was present, he'd show up on Iokath. If not, it would be someone else from the Sith class story, like one of the many Moffs the Warrior meets. Maybe the dude from Ilum, since he doesn't die. Or Hesker.

Theron: Now, here's the issue. The story sets up a scenario where asking Theron to leave because you no longer trust him is understandable. But I plead the case that it never should have gotten to that point. The entire betrayal story was completely unnecessary. Theron NEEDED to go undercover like that? He had a secret language he and Lana developed and just never used it to tip everyone off? He thought frying the Commander on Iokath or throwing her out the train window would be fun? After working so hard for peace, he literally sparked the next galactic war by tipping off everyone about Iokath and manipulating them all into going there so they could learn lots of fun new ways to kill each other?

Come. On. It doesn't make sense. Even in a spy game, I don't think Theron would have really thought that prodding the Empire and Republic to war with each other and the Alliance would have been worth it.

I feel like they could have done so many other things with the Order of Zildrog, and even had the same flashpoints, without making Theron appear to betray the Alliance. 

DS Jaesa: *sigh* So she saw the Commander on the Holonet, never thought of coming to Odessen and instead went to Iokath to slaughter Alliance troops. Oh, and threaten to kill Lana, who may be the player’s partner. Again, it sets up a scenario where it makes sense that a player might kill her, but why was that even necessary? The scenario itself doesn't make sense. If you have Master Ranos, she says that Jaesa was spotted hunting for artifacts, I think? Maybe just maybe they could have worked with that?

Xalek: You're killing Xalek for...um...terrorizing miners...and...yeah. Okay. Dude was in the class story for about five minutes so I don't think anyone knows what is going on here.

Broonmark: Yes, he's basically a cold-blooded killer. But he's going after this Wookiee senator because he's allying with the Republic? Or getting some Talz to be allies? The Talz already seem to be aligned Republic. He's a bit late to that party. Why is it that I don't think Broonmark would be into politics or watching the news and would not care about this?

Rusk: Um, yeah, Bey'wan, about that guy you wanted me to recruit, he's, um, dead. Because I decided to sell him out to a Black Sun gang leader. Don't be mad?

Skadge: One of the few kill options I think most could agree is...not that bad. Your mission with Rusk is to kill him. He was an adversary in the game. My headcanon for my bounty hunters is that he never gets on the ship after Belsavis. There’s no way they would have ever brought him along. Another case of correcting something from the class story?

#swtor #swtor critical #rain plays swtor

[thevindicativevordan]

Mongul

Wanted to chat about another Superman Rogue who has been around a while: Mongul.

Background

Now this guy enjoys something of a mixed reputation. On one hand he, unlike many other Superman classic Rogues, has actually been in some good stories. There’s the iconic For The Man Who Has Everything by Alan Moore which is the perfect encapsulation of his core character traits. There he’s a hulking brute, with enough raw power to go toe to toe with Superman and actually hurt him with physical force alone. He’s crude, making misogynistic comments to Wonder Woman, and gleefully reveling in the conquest he plans. Yet he’s also clever, using the Black Mercy to incapacitate his foe, and has an air of faux affability to him that only adds to his menace. 

It should come as no surprise that an Alan Moore story is still Mongul’s best showing, but there are other stories worth mentioning as well. There’s Superman: Exile, the first meeting between the Post-Crisis Superman and Mongul and personally one of my favorite Post-Crisis Superman stories. There’s Mongul’s debut Pre-Crisis issue where he and Warworld first appear. There’s his attempt to hijack the Sinestro Corps during the Johns era of Green Lantern. Finally there’s his usage in Bendis Superman, which has been the first time in ages he’s been treated as a serious threat, and given an interesting way to serve as a contrast as Superman.

So why does he suffer from a mixed reputation? Well...

He sure does look familiar doesn’t he? He was created by Len Wein and Jim Starlin, and Starlin you might recall was the creator of Thanos, who was a ripoff of Darkseid. So Mongul is a copy of a copy, lacking the grandeur of Darkseid and the ambition of Thanos. He and Apocalypse are both cast in Darkseid’s mold, and have both gotten one really great and iconic storyline that guarantees they’ll stick around, but have also not traditionally fared well outside that one story. Also like Apocalypse:

He has a really bad habit of jobbing and being used by writers to prop up their characters. Jurgens used him to prop up Hank Henshaw in Reign of the Supermen and Henshaw again along with Zod in the Rebirth arc Revenge!, giving him a reputation as a joke. He also got killed by Sinestro pretty easily during his coup attempt.

Besides that he’s also unfortunately been treated as a generic tyrant for Superman to beat up, lacking much in the way of characterization, or in being a meaningful contrast to Superman beyond “Superman uses his strength to serve others, Mongul uses his to oppress them”. For a while I kind of wrote him off as a lost cause, someone that really didn’t offer anything as a Superman opponent beyond that one Alan Moore story. But recently I’ve changed my opinion; I’ve come to believe Mongul does in fact serve an important purpose and should be treated as an essential part of the Superman Rogues Gallery. Part of this turnabout was caused by really enjoying his usage in Bendis’ Superman run, which caused me to do a reread of Mongul stories, and got me thinking about who Mongul is, what he’s about, and what role he plays.

What Role Mongul Plays

A crucial realization hit me while I was rereading Mongul stories: Mongul is The Bully of the Supermythos.

He’s the guy who doesn’t delude himself into thinking he’s the hero like Lex does. He doesn’t consider himself above petty emotions or notions of right and wrong like Brainiac. He doesn’t have a sympathetic background like General Zod does. He’s the guy who enjoys pounding people into the dirt, who doesn’t mask his desire to lord over the populace behind pretenses of noble intentions. He’s gleeful as he crushes his enemies beneath his heel, he’s petty in that he enjoys forcing people to fight for his amusement, he’s dangerous in that while Darkseid can be bargained with, Mongul is always going to prefer to take what he wants via force and is powerful enough to do just that. In other words, he’s the exact kind of guy Superman started out wanting to take down, just living in the cosmic space where Superman can actually kick his ass without it feeling like punching down. 

That core ethos, beautifully summed up in All-Star Superman, is in direct opposition to Mongul’s entire lifestyle. When the United Planets starts to form in Bendis’ Superman, Mongul is outraged, not just because it may pose a threat to him, but because the very idea of the “weak” uniting into a stronger whole downright offends him. He runs Warworld to cull the “weak and unfit” of the universe for his own amusement and entertainment, the petty schoolyard bully who has turned a planet-sized Death Star into his own playground, and he climbed to the top via crushing anyone that stood against him with his own two hands or outwitting them with his brain. He’s got no time for others who think they can rise above their station in life without the physical/mental power to back that desire up. If Superman believes that everyone is capable of greatness, Mongul is a firm believer that greatness is the sole purview of the very few (and really only himself). 

This core conflict allows writers to bring back the bully hunter of the Golden Age and early New 52 t-shirt and jeans Supermen. Here’s a guy, a foreign ruler no less, who is actively oppressing people. We get to enjoy seeing Superman taking on a foreign dictator because he’s off in space instead of doing so here on Earth where thorny parallels to American interventionism abroad would be raised. Superman can be the Champion of the Oppressed again, and that’s always something I enjoy seeing.

I’d also like to bring up why Mongul was originally created. Len Wein wanted a foe for Superman who could match him physically. In other words, Mongul is like Doomsday if Doomsday actually had a personality. Mongul offers the opportunity for deeper exploration of Superman that Doomsday can’t. We know this literally because Mongul’s best story isn’t just a slugfest between the two the way Doomsday’s is. For The Man Who Has Everything is one of the best explorations of just how damn lonely being the Last Son of Krypton is for Kal. Exile explores the ethics of Superman’s no kill rule, his belief in the sanctity of life, his struggles to hold onto that belief in the face of the cruelty of others. His usage in Bendis’ run is to illustrate just how fragile the United Planets is, how easily it can break apart, and how hard Superman is going to have to strive to make it work. PKJ used Mongul in his Future State Superman: Worlds of War stories to show the lengths Superman will go to liberate others, his defiance in the face of Mongul’s attempts to break him. There’s an opportunity for psychological evaluation of Superman when Mongul shows up that just isn’t there with Doomsday. That alone is reason to keep him around, but he also brings a bunch of cool shit in addition.

Cool Aspects Mongul Brings to the Supermythos

He’s got a Death Star that doubles as a gladiator coliseum, where we get to see Superman compete with other gladiators from across the cosmos. Mongul lets Superman channel that Conan brutality in a very entertaining way, putting Superman in a setting where he’s facing lots of foes who can go up against him with raw strength and numbers alone. 

It’s a place that channels that pulp science fiction that Superman was borne from in a very entertaining way in my opinion. Also they should set a Superman video game there (but that’s another blog post). The gladiators are also useful, either as oppressed prisoners for Superman to liberate, and showcase directly how he makes life better, or as bloodthirsty mooks that can actually challenge Superman without dimishing him.

The Black Mercy is an awesome science fiction concept. While it’s been overused in relation to Mongul, it’s also the embodiment of the unknown wonders and threats of DC Cosmic. In the right hands it’s a great tool for exploring characters’ psychology. 

Bendis and Fraction reestablished that the name “Mongul” is a legacy one. The current Mongul is from a long line of Monguls, the sons killing their fathers when their fathers show weakness. Given how Rebirth has established the importance of legacy to Superman with Jon, something continued by Bendis, this may be a very crucial aspect to play off of. The way “Mongul” as a mantle is assumed is a dark contrast to the way the “Superman” mantle is taken up by others after Clark. Exploring the Mongul father-son relationship in contrast to the Clark-Jon relationship may be in the cards for the PKJ run given Mongul will be the first classic Superman Rogue appearing in PKJ Action. If not I hope some other writer will take a chance to explore the way the two contrast and compare with one another because it could be very interesting.

What I Would Change About Mongul

I think there’s already a pretty damn solid base to build off of with Mongul, but some aspects that I would play up to better establish him as separate from both Clark and Darkseid:

Making him more of a hedonist. This is a guy who eat, drinks, and fucks, and enjoys himself while doing so. He loves being a bad guy and isn’t “weighed down by his sins” or any such nonsense

Showcase his knowledge more. Mongul is smart, he’s been all over the cosmos, he learned about Warworld and the Black Mercy, show that he knows other dangerous secrets as well. Weapons, planets, florua, fauna, Mongul knows stuff not even the Guardians do

Establish some underlings. Instead of having Mongul job, use some of his gladiators, elite ones raised above the riffraff who can pose a threat and hold off Superman while Mongul accomplishes his goals

Appearance wise I’d like to make him look more different from Darkseid. I’d want to draw on dinosaurs for his look. If you need to justify it, just have another son replace the current Mongul and become the new Mongul, or have Mongul modify himself with enhancements in order to beat Superman

Mongul is cool and brings a lot to the table, DC just needs to stop treating him as a jobber and more as a legitimate threat. I was happy with how Bendis used him, and I am hopeful that PKJ will continue to treat him well. He’s a villain who actually has stories that showcase why he rocks, and not just cool ideas that have never come together like other Superman Rogues. Hopefully he’ll get more opportunities to showcase that.

#superman #mongul #dc comics #alan moore #brian bendis #phillip kennedy johnson #len wein #jim starlin #warworld #future state

[atomic-taco-muffin]

The Lost Princess Chapter 4

Warnings: fluff/angst

Rating: SFW

Xehanort had brought you inside and sat you down on his bed. He sat down in front of it and looked at you carefully. He wanted to know where you came from. But you didn’t have anything that said where you were from. 

“Where did you come from, little one?” he asked. You didn’t say anything but played with your blanket. He smiled and picked you up. 

“I think I better show you to the others. Maybe they’ll know what to do,” he said. He brought you to where the others are and they were shocked. 

“W-why do you-how do you?” Eraqus asked. They were all so confused. 

“I found her near the docks in a basket. I don’t know where she came from and I don’t know what to do,” Xehanort said. 

“Well, you did find her. And from the looks of things, she likes you,” Urd said. Xehanort looked at you and saw that you were playing with his hair. He smiled and took your hand in his. 

“I guess I’ll be taking care of you from now on,” he said. 

“Da-da!” you said. 

“AWW!” the girls said. Xehanort smiled and held you close to him. 

“Welcome to the family, (Y/N),” he said. 

~~~~

The MoM was sitting on a rock in the Keyblade Graveyard and saw Xehanort approach him. 

“So?” the Mom asked. Xehanort took off his hood and looked at the MoM.

“Yeah. It wards off the darkness. It’s useful,” he said. 

“Told ya! So, how’d it go? The tour.” the MoM said. Xehanort walked closer to the MoM and sat down next to him. 

“I learned...the reason for my existence,” Xehanort said as he looked at the MoM. 

“Ohhh? Tell me more,” the MoM said. 

“All around the world, people live seemingly peaceful lives. They believe themselves to be moral and virtuous, but it’s all an act. Darkness lurks in the pit of everyone’s heart. Their light is a total farce.” 

“Sounds like your trip around the world opened your eyes, but you got a little more than you anticipated. Must’ve seen a lot of darkness.” Xehanort leaned back and looked at the sky. 

“Those who are weak, and who desire greater power, simply strip the strong of their power, and convince themselves they’ve earned it. That’s how people become tainted by darkness. They believe what they want to believe, using hollow reasons as justification. They repeat this cycle, and their darkness grows,” Xehanort said. 

“So you’re saying the weak feel the need to justify their actions to maintain a sense of self. Can’t let that slide?” the MoM said. 

“No, it’s better they be ruled by darkness. People carry out delusions of having power, but it’s a lie. They are but sheep pretending to be wolves. Though I admit, I can understand why.” 

“Ohhh, never heard that one before, a keyblade wielder willing to side with the darkness? Why not just let them be until the darkness consumes them?” 

“Because left alone, the world would fall into chaos. There needs to be order.” 

“You sure about that? Why not just sit back and watch it play out?” the MoM asked as he stood up. 

“Understanding hearts is difficult; more so the emotions within. I simply realize that it’s easy to dismiss what you don’t comprehend.” Xehanort said. 

“All right, all right...The world needs you, I’ll grant you that one.” 

“I don’t know what I can do, but I will act. What comes next is too important.”

“I suppose letting false light dictate the future might be a...pretty lousy move. So? You can make a change, you have that power. What do you want for the world?” 

“Power, eh...? Who knows? My training’s coming to an end, and the exam’s not far off. Maybe I can gain some clarity then.” 

“You’re letting the exam decide? Listen to me, the results don’t matter. You believe the world needs you. Sounds like you already know where you’re headed.” 

“It’s funny. Somehow, I can sense where I’m supposed to go, and what I’m supposed to do. Yes, even this coat, there’s something familiar about it, as if I’m meant to wear this.” 

“Hmm...No...you’ll ditch it soon.” 

“What do you mean?” 

“I mean that one day you’re going to outgrow it.” 

“How so?” 

“If you truly possess great power, the darkness can’t control you. You won’t need a silly old coat to stay safe. In fact, you’ll be the one controlling the darkness instead. Me, on the other hand, I’m too much of a scaredy-cat to ever take mine off.” 

“Who are you really? Some kind of fortune-teller?” 

“Well, I could lie and tell you that’s what I am, when I’m actually a brilliant artist, or even a scholar. I could tell you that I dream of world peace, when I’m actually planning for its destruction. The truth is what you see with your eyes, not what you hear.” The two of them sat in silence for a moment till the MoM spoke up. 

“Oh! Before I forget: did you happen to find a baby in a basket?” he asked. 

“Yes. I did. Why? Is she important?” Xehanort said. 

“Quite the opposite actually. That girl has the power to stop my plan of destruction. And only a person with a black heart can stop her.” 

“And how does this person stop her exactly?” 

“By killing her, simply.” 

“What? Is there another way of stopping her without killing her?” 

“You care about this girl, don’t ya?” 

“Of course. I’m the one raising her after all.” 

“Hmm, there might be. But, I’ll let you find that out for yourself.” 

“So, your name?”

“What did I just--Never mind, I guess there’s no harm. My name is...” 

To be continued...

#kingdom hearts #kingdomhearts #kingdom+hearts+x+reader #kingdom+hearts+imagines #kingdomhearts x reader #kingdomhearts imagines #kingdomhearts+x+reader #kingdomhearts+imagines

[takerfoxx]

She Ra and the Power of Redemption!

A’ight, so, She-Ra’s coming back in a few days for their final season. Obviously I am SUPER excited about it, but before it drops, I need to get something I’m kind of worried about off my chest.

See, I’ve talked before about my big pet peeve in fiction, in which good or at least sympathetic characters do really bad things and don’t suffer appropriate consequences, sometimes because the writer just doesn’t understand the weight of what happened and wanted to rush a redemption arc or maybe get a little dirt on their heroes without really considering the implications or wanted to do something shocking and was clumsy and/or lazy about or even felt that they were justified even when they clearly weren’t. It’s even killed a few onetime favorite series of mine.

And I see the potential for She-Ra to make that same mistake here. And I think anyone who’s seen the show and has interacted with the fandom knows what I’m talking about.

I’m talking of course about Catra and Hordak’s potential redemption arcs.

Catra’s redemption is topic number one with the fans, because everyone wants to see it, but most people want to see it done right. The Catradora thing is the fuel on which the fandom runs, and I know quite a few people that would pop dem bottles if it were to become canon. And I totally get it: Catra is a magnificently written character, one who is super compelling, complex, and sympathetic, and her dynamic with Adora is just dripping with all sorts of tension. It’s the best friends to lovers AND enemies to lovers in the same package. Who wouldn’t want to see it?

Except, there is a problem...

See, one thing I have highly praised this show for is how, despite being a show targeted toward little girls, it paints a very realistic picture of abusive relationships and handles the subject with all the seriousness it deserves, from how they’re formed to how they continue to how the cycle goes from abuser to victim to next victim to so on. Horde Prime abused Hordak, Hordak abused Shadow Weaver, Shadow Weaver abused Catra and Adora, Adora broke free while Catra did not, Catra then abused Scorpia, Entrapta, Lonnie, Kyle, Rogelio, you get the picture. And they show it so wonderfully, in all of its forms.

But that leads us to that problem, and that is despite definitely being a victim of abuse, and despite all of her sympathetic qualities, Catra is still a terrible person! She became as much an abuser as Shadow Weaver, with how awfully she treated Scorpia, with backstabbing Entrapta and manipulating Hordak, with bullying her subordinates, to everything she’s done to Adora and all the lives she ruined from her exploits as Hordak’s second in command. She masterminded the destruction of Salineas, sent Entrapta off to die, treated the only person who has given her unconditional love like shit. Her damage and insecurities have driven her to worse and worse behavior, up and to including almost destroying the fucking world just so Adora couldn’t win again! TWICE!

Basically, after handling the abuse themes so well, it would really, really suck for her to just be taken back and forgiven like nothing had happened or only minor consequences after she inevitably switched sides, because that carries the message, however unintentional, that abuse victims should forgive and take back their abusers, that it’s up to them to be the bigger person and invite those who hurt them back into their lives, which history has only shown will just restart the cycle all over again.

However, all of that does not mean I don’t think Catra is beyond hope, or that she shouldn’t be redeemed at all. She is absolutely a victim of all the terrible treatment Shadow Weaver and Hordak put her through since childhood, be it physical, mental, or emotional, and I am NOT about to hold an emotionally traumatized teenager to the same standards I would hold those more fortunate. Plus, we’ve seen how much her actions haunt her, from her nightmares about Entrapta to her psychological breakdowns to everything Double Trouble exposed about her. And I do truly want what’s best for her.

So how should the show go about it? Well, I think my half-joking wishlist from earlier just about covered it: after switching sides and helping the Alliance ward off the Horde, Catra should leave. Whether or not she makes amends with Adora, whether or not she’s forgiven, Catra needs to leave those she’s hurt and go somewhere else to start over, to separate herself from those she has so many insecurities about and work on bettering herself. Because after everything she’s done, she really does need to put in a lot of work in order to properly fix herself before she can even think of reforging relationships with Adora or Scorpia or Entrapta. 

And honestly, I still think the Crimson Waste is perfect for her. She thrived while down there. And it does seem like it’s been set up specifically for her. And then...maybe a few years down the line, after she’s come to grips with herself...well, we’ll see.

Now, as for Hordak...

Look, I like the guy, I honestly do. His relationship with Entrapta gave me life, seeing how he was literally grown in a vat to be Space Hitler Jr., it’s no wonder that he turned out like he did. 

Buuuuut...he’s still a murderous despot with buckets of blood on his hands. I’m sorry, but he can’t have a switch sides, now it’s all good happy ending. He just can’t. 

Fortunately, even though he was far worse, his possible redemption has an easier solution. You know how Horde Prime restored him to factory settings, wiping his mind and sending him off to be processed or whatever?

What if he stays that way? What if he never gets his memories back? What if Hordak, the evil conquering dictator that ruined so many lives, just stays gone? But the newly wiped Hordak, upon encountering Entrapta, is able to recall just enough to know that he cares for her, prompting him to break free from Horde Prime’s control for her sake? Call it the Kubo and the Two Strings solution.

As for Shadow Weaver...no. Just no. She has no redeeming qualities at all. Everything bad that ever happened to her are a direct result of her own actions, she doesn’t have the brainwashed/designed that way excuse that Catra and Hordak have, she’s never done a single decent thing since becoming Shadow Weaver, and even after switching sides has continued to manipulate Glimmer and gaslight Adora. No redemption for her. And since Noelle has said that she hates killing off characters, I don’t see her getting killed either.

So just swap her for Angella. Send her to the other dimension and get our girl back.

And as for Entrapta and Double Trouble...dude, I don’t even know. Like, they also did bad things, but they’re kind of in their own weird moral worlds, and I don’t want to let them off the hook but also can’t fathom how that would even work...

You know what? They’re the weird exceptions that prove the rule, I guess.

(also note that even if they botch this, it probably won’t kill the show for me, as it’s still a kid’s show and it has built up a ton of good will, so my overall feelings will still be very positive, I’d just be bummed that they dropped the ball in this one, albeit very important, area)

#she ra and the princesses of power #she ra #spop #adora #catra #hordak #shadow weaver #entrapta #scorpia #double trouble #catradora #redemption #abuse tw

[emersonmanandnature]

May 25, 2021

The Illusion Of Religion

I question the sanctity of our lives, an illusion of religion given the facts of the horror of death at the hands of viscous oligarchs, dictators, military, the US corporations, the wealthy and the people they put into office to placate the citizens of this world they govern for profit for they are the true rulers of our lives, they own us and this little speck of dust called earth in a vast universe of deadly sins.

The bibles brutal suffering of god’s children under the rule of wealth and power has always been without change even when a prophet was born to teach his followers the revelation of hope, of freedom from the clutch of evil or was it a prophet? or a Roman leader conquering regimes after regimes and not wanting a revolt of his worker ants promised them a wonderful life after their misery ripened on this planet.

His voice powerful and believable in order to placate the people making them less angry and hostile toward the powers that own them, that murdered and destroyed civilizations for their addiction of more and more power over all cultures. That sounds a lot like the united states of crime!

If the word of god is our truth then why revise his words of perfection. Why change parts of the bible to exploit the feeling of the masses to wait for death before one can see, feel god’s presence in a paradise built just for us.

Are we not retreating, pulling back in fear, allowing some mysterious past to control our future without our consent of purpose?  

What a facade of truth, if you look behind the mysterious words of a supposed god in an ancient book we will find the illusion of our future lives built around a fantasy of manipulating us with passionate lies.

If man is to wait until death then what is the purpose of creation. Isn’t creation god’s gift to human beings.To live a life free of fear and wars.

Oh that is right god booted adam and eve out of paradise because eve ate a simple fruit. And that justified our god to get angry and demand their expulsion from his loving constricted paradise of do’s and don’ts.

It sounds like god had a tantrum just like the wealthy have their tantrums when a bill is passed for the people and not a bill bribed to give money to them the elites of corruption.

It sounds like a mean landlord demanding his monthly rent for his unemployed inhabitants.

The bible a historic voice of the people’s despair looking for something, someone, anyone to end their misery and lift their spirits up to a glorious feeling of everlasting love for all his creations.  

Why the bait and switch move in eden with the apple. Is god really a trickster, a powerful being that loves to see people suffer by breaking his inconsistent rules.

Our god created an infinite universe to show off his power but he forgot a simple rule, he himself demanded of his flock of sinners here on this speck of dust to believe in an invisible character from a book of past encounters with tyranny and murder, and he our god promised to guide the faithful to worship a godly character like himself, a character built around everlasting peace and he would name his creation jesus and all that followed his son would rise up from death as he did, a little scary but necessary, and enter a heaven not present on this earth for this earth is owned by wealth of the few but a place in a far away galaxy where all praise the father, son and holy ghost.

This mother earth is the playground of wealth destroying the world and the inhabitants.

The bible did nothing to change the power structure of our corrupt society of the rich war lords of greed. It allowed the powerful to ignore christ and any other prophets through their brutal addiction to power over their slaves which have remained the same all the way up to this present moment.

The selfish rich rule over all mankind and anything on this earth is theirs to do what they will, to pollute, to destroy mother nature and the people must pay the horrific price of the destruction of a paradise that evolved not by a god but by the forces of nature.

It feels like human evolution was a desire for power over others and to survive one must suffer from the egotistical fraud of crooks until death do you part.

If god is seen as all powerful, but so far invisible, why then wouldn’t the people see themselves as a reflection of that power and become the sanctified heroes to be worshiped as god’s themselves.

Eliminating the middle man and taking over this world for their own personal playground.

You can’t expect human beings to fully understand the reasoning of a powerful god that created them and then abandoned them to suffer in slavery, poverty, wars, hunger and destruction of their planet for profit only to be told that they would have to wait for the grim reaper to come and take their life so they can rise up to the heavens and be present to worship god, christ and the holy ghost all over again. Say what!

The bible reveals the meaning of life and the responsibility of human beings to their creator.

And the words of the bible speak of hell and damnation as a teaching tool to strike fear in the people to obey the forces of evil alive and well on this planet of riches not for the working man and woman but the elites of corruption.

But quotes of love were mostly directed upward to our savior and his ghostly apparition from a book that never took shape over this world because of the differences in cultures around the planet.

Their god is not our god and because of that it was and is necessary for us to convert their unique individuality to our way of life and if that doesn’t work we will do god’s will and slaughter them.

What is the meaning of life? Do each of us have our own unique interpretation of what life means to us and not the herd instincts of mind and body control that is now the state of mankind through centuries of the wealthy demanding they worship them as there godly power and you must do all they command for they are the power, the glory, the masterminds of deception and misrepresentation of the prophets words?

Each person has their own point of view that pieces together the void of a complex web of double talk, manipulations, deadly wars, false witness, the corruption of religion as a cash machine, our internal beliefs, no matter what they are in this corrupt reality of gluttony, money is worth more than human lives, but when we find our inner power that gives us strength to walk through the valley of death knowing we will survive then we have a chance to turn this hypocrisy of religion to work for the people not against their independence.

Your imposing external beliefs are ego driven, to be seen is more important than being present in life, to create a personality is more important than to lend a helping hand whenever possible to other human beings.

As we project outward in this complex reality shifting under us at all times, we lose sight of our true savior, our inner self will, for we need to take responsibility for our actions not as christian soldiers but as human beings empathetic to others of all races! Life is not a rigid belief but an opening of oneself to the beauty that surrounds us.

We must not become self driven with blinders on doing all that can be done to make us a powerful force without morals or ethics.

We must see ourselves openly, knowing we are only human and we will do our best to give back to others with a helping hand.

Why do we continue living a lie, deceiving ourselves that paradise in the sky is heaven and not mother earth, a spinning planet in a vast universe and see it as our only home, our only paradise?

Why do we accept the criminal wealth as our earthly leaders when they are if the bible is true hell bound!

Technology has no independent guidance. It is conditioned like we are to act when demanded.

Technology has no depth of feelings and communicates only what you want to hear.

Technology in the long run separates us from each other by distracting us from living a life of sincere truth and not the lies of corporations making contact with us through a device that feeds all our personal information to clients that spend millions of their greedy money to entice you buy products you don’t need.

We are no longer personal with each other, we put a barrier between us and began to enjoy our instant gratification without effort of individuality but a cliche speaking words that are not ours.

We are absorbed by technology making it a front for ego’s demanding, selfish necessity, of being seen, heard and liked.

Can you hear the marching troops moving from house to house for their tech spies are able to listen in to private conversations and they heard a plot to enjoy life through caring actions but that goes against all corporate control, for if you love others how are they to take advantage of your selfishness through their propaganda machine of hate and the goodness of greed. These sneaky manipulators want to feed you their propaganda of fear through their websites that isolate you from others you once cared about.  

Our cool facade of intelligence and style is an abomination for we have always been from the very beginning of our existence creatures that hunt and kill for food and domination over another tribes, it is in our instinct as animals to destroy anything that tries to liberate anyone from the earthly desires of material destruction.

In order to feel the power importance we all need a band of like minded people that hate others as we do.

We act in violence as an instinctive necessity for we have no depth of empathy for anyone or anything different from our herd.

Wealth takes what someone else made and makes it their own.

#wealth #technolgy #morals #criminal wealth #retreating #violence an instinctive necessity #cjcorwinoriginal

[fedonciadale]

I don't understand why people think Dany abolished slavery. Didn't she allow people to be sold into slavery and then get a 10% cut of it. Isn't she benefiting financially from slavery. And she doesn't care about smallfolk or women and children. Didn't she order a merchant's daughter to be tortured in front of her parents just to get some names. Didn't she allow rapists to get off scot free because they were her followers.

(2) Also I hate when people say that we condone slavery.  Dany won’t end slavery.  She’s not revolutionary.  She won’t end slavery in Lys.  She probably “freed” the unsullied because barristan told her that the westerosi won’t like it and she didn’t want to giver up her dragon.  She allowed slavery to continue and is benefiting from it.    

(3) Also people justify Dany crucifying the masters of mereen.  But in the same book we had Gendry join the Brotherhood because one of the reasons was because they gave the Hound a trial.  Nobody is doubting that the guilty should be punished.  But Dany doesn’t care about justice.  If she did, she would have followed barristan’s advice about giving trials.

Dear nonny,

this became rather long.... 

well, apart from the fact, that Dany is a perfect example for the PoV trap, she is also a perfect example for a fallacy that is a common trap for historians: Which is to deduce from results to intention. 

GRRM really has a very good understanding not only of grey characters, but also about how very weird the connection between intentions and results can be. He writes about people with good intentions who yet somehow manage to blunder (Robb), he writes about people with bad intentions who yet manage to do something good (argueably, Littlefinger poisoning Joffrey and freeing Sansa from King’s Landing - his intentions are far from pure, but at least Sansa is not executed for killing Joffrey).

There is the phenomenon in history, where you have good results that derive from people with selfish intentions. There is the phenomenon that you have very grey people who nevertheless are at the right place to do the right thing at the right time. Sometimes change only comes with violence and then after welcoming the change people realise that the change hasn’t been that good after all. It is very rare that change comes after a peaceful revolution, but it does happen. And we should really value these examples, because they show that it is possible to change things and not shed blood. I would argue that the East German Revolution and the Fall of the Berlin Wall is such a case.

So, the truth GRRM explores is, that ‘history’ and change is complicated. Heroes aka entirely good people do not exist, people can have good intentions and the results are disastrous and people can have selfish aims and yet may unintentionally do something good on the way. They are accidental saviours in a way. 

There are historical examples for this. Charlemagne wanted to be able to better communicate his orders throughout his realm and he instigated an educational reform whose consequences are still visible today (in the very letters we use). Frederick Barbarossa wanted to boost his power in Italy, gave a privilege to the lawyers of Bologna and boosted Roman law (with consequences that went well beyond what he wanted). 

Churchill was not a very nice man. And yet his decision to stand up against Nazi Germany was the right decision and he was the right man at the right place. 

The French revolution brought change if only in the way that the nobility never again ruled without the need for legitimization. And yet after twenty years France was ruled by a dictator who waged war on Europe….

So, if you ignore the PoV trap and the logical fallacy of the non sequitur of result  and intention, what people see is the following:

There is a society that practices slavery. They have horrible ideas and horrible customs: Sex worker slaves, military slaves that are brainwashed into killing machines that follow every order. And then there comes Dany. She is repelled by the “education” of the Unsullied, which is validated by Barristan’s remarks about free people and she buys them, sets them free and punish the slavers. So Dany arrives in Astapor, she buys Unsullied and suddenly it looks like slavery is abolished. Freedom is what Dany promises.

The result of Dany’s politics is good, isn’t it? She destroyed the existing system. That must mean that she abandoned slavery! Slavery is bad, someone who abolishes slavery must be good. That must have been her intention all along! So people deduce from the result (which is only a short term result like many results that are achieved by violence) to Dany’s intentions.

In that light, does it matter, that she used slaves in the first and second book? Does it matter that her personal slaves that were given to her never had a real choice? Does it matter that we never see her think that slavery in principle should be abolished?

So, this is the logical fallacy that has duped so many people into thinking that she is good.

Now, that the abolishment of slavery is not her intention does not mean that it could not evolve to be her intention and it doesn’t mean that nevertheless the abolishment of slavery could evolve to be the result of her actions. That is why we have Mereen and ADWD, the famous 'knot’/blot. We see in Mereen, that the destruction of the system did not work. That a peaceful transition is very tiring, complicated and hell of a work. And it bores Dany to death and we see her increasingly frustrated. That is why we see her more and more ready to use violence. As in the case of the wineseller’s daughter. We don’t know her name or her age, but we know that Dany orders her to be tortured (preferably in such a way that she doesn’t see it, she has empathy after all, even if she trains herself to lose it). Her impatience leads her to look for the tool that has served her so well until then: violence.

Now, we come to the next fallacy : Does it matter that she uses violence, when her intentions are so good (as we have ‘established’ by the fact that she ‘abandoned’ slavery).

I recently argued with a Dany stan about the fact that Dany is extremely violent. And they asked me, what I would have done. Well, apart from the fact that I do not live in Essos, I told them, that the very first thing I would have done, would have been to kill the dragons, so that I would not be tempted to use them. Because it is so easy, isn’t it? Just destroy the bad people…. They are slavers after all. They don’t deserve to live….. 

This is a very dangerous way of thinking, because a) why would we (and we are grey people as well, because humans are not ‘good’) have the right to condemn others to death? I am with Tolkien in this: I cannot give life to people who earn it, so I should not condemn to death either. and b) violence is not a solution. It often seems like a solution but it is not. So, the Dany stans accused me that I would do ‘nothing’ (because all my ideas involved slow and gradual work against slavery and that is simply not fast enough, in this they are like the person they stan) and c) where is the rule of law if people are just randomly put to death? If the world is not black and white how can it be right to kill People randomly just because they belong to a certain class. As the French said in 1789 and after: Les aristocrats à la laterne! (Hang ‘em all!). 

But violence breeds violence….

So, I think Dany’s actions are wrong in a number of ways. First of all her intention is not the abolishment of slavery. If it was she should have acted on this intention and freed her personal slaves… If it was she should have stayed in Essos. If it was nobody in Westeros should ever see her ass. And we expect her to come to Westeros in the books as well, don’t we?

Secondly, even if her intention was to abolish slavery she goes about it in a brutal and violent way, which may seem like an easy way, but history teaches us, that it never is an easy way. Therefore the abolishment of slavery does not work as we see in Mereen. And Dany allows for slavery to be re-established elsewhere than Mereen (although the masters were swapped) and then she profits from slave - selling in Mereen. So, you might cut her some slack about Astapor, because she can’t be everywhere, but getting money from slave selling surely crosses a line? If she was after the abolishment of slavery she should not do that. That is hypocritical.

Thirdly there is her attitude towards law. She is a law unto herself and she constantly makes her own rules. If you want to set up a new system you need a new constitution, but we don’t see her aiming at that. It is indeed one of the things where the Starks are a foil to Dany. They act within the boundaries of law (even if it is a law we might not approve of in every detail).

And last, she works to destroy the system from above, by putting herself on top, not by working from within. She is a ‘saviour’ from outside and she has little to no wish to learn about the culture she wants to improve. She might well laugh about the ‘floppy ears’ the Mereenese wear in her own mind, but she laughs into their faces. It’s insensitive and the behaviour of a White saviour.

This is why Dany is an accidental saviour, if she is a saviour at all. Her intentions are selfish rather than good, her methods are questionable, and she can’t be held accountable because she acts outside the law. So, she is a catalyst for change but that change isn’t necessarily good. The system goes 'back to normal’ only with Dany on top - not bound by any rules.

In this context, it is worth looking at how the acquisition of the Unsullied is worded and staged in ASOS :

"And here he waits." Ser Jorah and Belwas walked beside her to the litter, where Drogon and his brothers lay basking in the sun. Jhiqui unfastened one end of the chain, and handed it down to her. When she gave a yank, the black dragon raised his head, hissing, and unfolded wings of night and scarlet. Kraznys mo Nakloz smiled broadly as their shadow fell across him.                  

Dany handed the slaver the end of Drogon's chain. In return he presented her with the whip. The handle was black dragonbone, elaborately carved and inlaid with gold. Nine long thin leather lashes trailed from it, each one tipped by a gilded claw. The gold pommel was a woman's head, with pointed ivory teeth. "The harpy's fingers," Kraznys named the scourge.

Dany turned the whip in her hand. Such a light thing, to bear such weight. "Is it done, then? Do they belong to me?"

"It is done," he agreed, giving the chain a sharp pull to bring Drogon down from the litter.

Dany mounted her silver. She could feel her heart thumping in her chest. She felt desperately afraid. Was this what my brother would have done? She wondered if Prince Rhaegar had been this anxious when he saw the Usurper's host formed up across the Trident with all their banners floating on the wind.

She stood in her stirrups and raised the harpy's fingers above her head for all the Unsullied to see. "IT IS DONE!" she cried at the top of her lungs. "YOU ARE MINE!" She gave the mare her heels and galloped along the first rank, holding the fingers high. "YOU ARE THE DRAGON'S NOW! YOU'RE BOUGHT AND PAID FOR! IT IS DONE! IT IS DONE!"

She glimpsed old Grazdan turn his grey head sharply. He hears me speak Valyrian. The other slavers were not listening. They crowded around Kraznys and the dragon, shouting advice. Though the Astapori yanked and tugged, Drogon would not budge off the litter. Smoke rose grey from his open jaws, and his long neck curled and straightened as he snapped at the slaver's face.

It is time to cross the Trident, Dany thought, as she wheeled and rode her silver back. Her bloodriders moved in close around her. "You are in difficulty," she observed.

"He will not come," Kraznys said.

"There is a reason. A dragon is no slave." And Dany swept the lash down as hard as she could across the slaver's face. Kraznys screamed and staggered back, the blood running red down his cheeks into his perfumed beard. The harpy's fingers had torn his features half to pieces with one slash, but she did not pause to contemplate the ruin. "Drogon," she sang out loudly, sweetly, all her fear forgotten. "Dracarys."

The black dragon spread his wings and roared.

A lance of swirling dark flame took Kraznys full in the face. His eyes melted and ran down his cheeks, and the oil in his hair and beard burst so fiercely into fire that for an instant the slaver wore a burning crown twice as tall as his head. The sudden stench of charred meat overwhelmed even his perfume, and his wail seemed to drown all other sound.   Then the Plaza of Punishment blew apart into blood and chaos. The Good Masters were shrieking, stumbling, shoving one another aside and tripping over the fringes of their tokars in their haste. Drogon flew almost lazily at Kraznys, black wings beating. As he gave the slaver another taste of fire, Irri and Jhiqui unchained Viserion and Rhaegal, and suddenly there were three dragons in the air. When Dany turned to look, a third of Astapor’s proud demon-horned warriors were fighting to stay atop their terrified mounts, and another third were fleeing in a bright blaze of shiny copper. One man kept his saddle long enough to draw a sword, but Jhogo’s whip coiled about his neck and cut off his shout. Another lost a hand to Rakharo’s arakh and rode off reeling and spurting blood. Aggo sat calmly notching arrows to his bowstring and sending them at tokars. Silver, gold, or plain, he cared nothing for the fringe. Strong Belwas had his arakh out as well, and he spun it as he charged.   “Spears!” Dany heard one Astapori shout. It was Grazdan, old Grazdan in his tokar heavy with pearls. “Unsullied! Defend us, stop them, defend your masters! Spears! Swords!”         

When Rakharo put an arrow through his mouth, the slaves holding his sedan chair broke and ran, dumping him unceremoniously on the ground. The old man crawled to the first rank of eunuchs, his blood pooling on the bricks. The Unsullied did not so much as look down to watch him die. Rank on rank on rank, they stood.

And did not move. The gods have heard my prayer.“Unsullied!” Dany galloped before them, her silver-gold braid flying behind her, her bell chiming with every stride. “Slay the Good Masters, slay the soldiers, slay every man who wears a tokar or holds a whip, but harm no child under twelve, and strike the chains off every slave you see.” She raised the harpy’s fingers in the air … and then she flung the scourge aside. “Freedom!” she sang out. “Dracarys! Dracarys!”   “Dracarys!” they shouted back, the sweetest word she’d ever heard. “Dracarys! Dracarys!” And all around them slavers ran and sobbed and begged and died, and the dusty air was filled with spears and fire. (ASOS, Dany III).

So, there are so many important hints in this passage, first of all, Dany wants and army and she acquires an army (without paying for it), but most importantly, Dany still holds the scourge, that is a symbol of her ownership  when she gives the order to the Unsullied. She orders them to kill not only the slavers, but also the soldiers (who do nothing but follow orders) and teenage boys (unless you want to argue that a 13year old boy wearing a tokhar is not a child), at a moment they are still hers. And we should remember that the Unsullied are brainwashed to follow orders. We saw that when they did not act for their former masters.

So, Dany gives them freedom after she gave them the order to execute revenge fantasies. It is telling that the Unsullied do not repeat the shout for freedom, but just 'Dracarys’. It is telling that she first makes sure, that she really owns the Unsullied before she gives the order.

It is telling, that she carries out death sentences without trials, that she does not care for nuances. That she would not even spare teenagers. This is mirrored in her POV. It is only the ‘slavers’ who die, no word about the soldiers or others. For Dany it is her and the people she owns and them.

Seeing, that this is highly problematic, even if it would have been a lasting and roaring success (which it is not, remember the system returns) does not make me a slavery apologist. 

I do think, the situation would be different, if the slaves themselves had decided to rebell and overthrow the system and Dany had decided to support them. But then she would not be the one in charge...

Thanks for the ask!

#anon ask #Daenerys #DarkDany #This is tagged DarkDany for a reason #Dany and slavery #She is not an abolutionist #Her intentions are selfish #Her Methods are questionable #She acts #outside of the law #She wants an army #She wants to be on top #Accidental saviour #if at all #White saviour trope #to a t

[orthodoxydaily]

Saint&Reading: Fri. Oct., 23,2020

Celebrated on October 10_Julian Calendar

Saint Ambrose of Optina (1891)

Alexander Michailovich Grenkov was born Nov. 23, 1812 in the Russian province of Tambov. His parents raised him strictly and with fervent piety. Since he was of a priestly family, it was no surprise when he entered the Tambov theological seminary in 1830. He did well in his studies and was ranked among the top students.

About a year before graduation Alexander became seriously ill. He promised that if God healed him, he would become a monk. Although his prayer was answered, Alexander seemed to forget his promise.

After graduation from the seminary he took a position as tutor to the children of a certain landowner and remained with this family for a year and a half. After this he became a teacher at the local parochial school.

One day in 1839 Alexander and a friend visited the famous hermit Father Hilarion to ask him what they should do with their lives. Alexander was surprised when he was told to go to the monastery of Optina Pustin, where they had great need of him. In September of that same year, however, he seemed to be prepared to continue with his teaching career.

One night he was invited to spend a pleasant evening with some friends. His conversation was witty and brilliant, and all his jokes and puns were on the mark. Although his hosts were amused and impressed by him, Alexander was disgusted by his own frivolity. Perhaps his unfulfilled promise to become a monk weighed on his conscience.

The next morning he quit his job and arrived at Optina in October of 1839. After a trial period he decided to remain in the monastery and dedicate his life to God. He received the monastic tonsure in 1842, and was given the name Ambrose in honor of Saint Ambrose of Milan (December 7). Ambrose knew the famous spiritual directors Elder Leonid and Elder Macarius. He was the cell attendant of Elder Macarius, who undoubtedly influenced the young monk’s spiritual development.

Ordained as a priest in 1845, Father Ambrose’s reverence and piety in celebrating the divine services were noticed by the other monks. His health began to decline shortly afterward, and he had to ask to be relieved of all duties. In 1846 he was so ill that the Mystery of Holy Unction was administered to him. He bore his illness without complaint and slowly regained his strength. By 1848 he was able to walk with the aid of a cane.

Father Ambrose began to help Elder Macarius with his correspondence and in preparing the Russian edition of Saint John Climacus’s LADDER OF DIVINE ASCENT, which was published by the monastery.

When Father Macarius had to go to Moscow in 1852, he designated Father Ambrose to take his place until his return. Father Ambrose never gave his personal opinions when he was asked for advice, but always referred people to the writings of the Fathers. If someone did not understand the text he was given to read, Father Ambrose would explain it in simple terms.

Father Macarius died in 1860 without naming anyone to succeed him as Elder. By divine providence, all the other possible candidates either died or were appointed as abbots of other monasteries. This left Father Ambrose as the undisputed spiritual director of the monastery. In his role as Elder, Father Ambrose had to receive many people each day to hear confessions and give advice. He used to say, “The Lord has arranged it so that I would have to talk to people all my life. Now I would be happy to remain silent, but I cannot.”

An average day in Saint Ambrose’s life began at 4 A.M. when his cell attendant came into his cell to read the morning Rule of prayer for him. After this he would wash and have some tea, then he would dictate replies to the many letters he received every day. Visitors would be lining up even as he was having breakfast. Sometimes he would take a break after two hours, but more often he would continue seeing people until noon when he had his lunch.

After lunch he would go out into the next room and greet more visitors. People would call out questions and he would give an appropriate response. He took a short rest at 3 P.M. then talked to people until the evening. At 8 P.M. he had dinner then received more visitors until 11 P.M. At that hour the evening Rule of prayer was read, and Father Ambrose begged forgiveness of the brethren whom he may have offended by thought, word, or deed. After three or four hours of sleep it would all begin again. This routine would fatigue a strong man. It is remarkable that Saint Ambrose, who was often in poor health, was able to keep it up for so many years.

From all over Russia, people flocked to the venerable Elder. The writer Tolstoy visited him on at least three occasions, and left impressed by the wisdom of the holy monk. Fyodor Dostoevsky came to Optina in 1878 after the death of his son Alyosha and was profoundly affected by his meeting with Saint Ambrose. The novelist used Father Ambrose as a model for Starets Zosima in The Brothers Karamazov.

The saint founded Shamordino convent in 1884. This convent, which was near Optina, opened its doors to women who were poor, sickly, or even blind. Most convents were very poor and had to rely on the incomes of women who had a certain personal wealth in order to remain open. Saint Ambrose made it possible for any woman who wished to become a nun to follow this path of salvation.

Shamordino began to decline after the death of the first abbess, Mother Sophia. Saint Ambrose went there in June 1890 to straighten out the convent’s affairs. He was unable to return to Optina due to illness, then winter made it impossible for him to travel. Father Ambrose continued to see visitors at Shamordino, even though his health continued to deteriorate in 1891.

By September, it was clear that he had not long to live. He fell asleep in the Lord at 11:30 A.M. on the morning of October 10 1891. Throngs of people attended his funeral and also his burial at Optina. Fathers Joseph, Anthony, Benedict, and Anatole succeeded him as Elder until the monastery was closed after the Russian Revolution.

The Moscow Patriarchate authorized local veneration of the Optina Elders on June 13,1996. The work of uncovering the relics of Saints Leonid, Macarius, Hilarion, Ambrose, Anatole I, Barsanuphius and Anatole II began on June 24/July 7, 1998 and was concluded the next day. However, because of the church Feasts (Nativity of Saint John the Baptist, etc.) associated with the actual dates of the uncovering of the relics, Patriarch Alexey II designated June 27/July 10 as the date for commemorating this event. The relics of the holy Elders now rest in the new church of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God.

The Optina Elders were glorified by the Moscow Patriarchate for universal veneration on August 7, 2000.

Saint Ambrose was glorified in 1988 by the Patriarchate of Moscow as part of the Millennium celebration of the Baptism of Rus.

Source Orthodox Church of America

Synaxis of the Elders of Optina

Hieroschemamonk Leo (Nagolkin), 1768-October 11, 1841

Hieroschemamonk Macarius (Ivanov),  1788-September 7, 1860

Archimandrite Moses (Putilov),  1772-June, 1862

Abbot Anthony ( Putilov)  1795- August 7, 1865

Hieroschemamonk Hilarion ( Ponamarov) 1805-September 18, 1873

Hieroschemamonk Ambrose (Grenkov) , 1812- October 10, 1891

Hieroschemamonk Anatolius I ( Zertsalov) 1824-January 25, 1894 

Isaacius I (Antimonov)  1810-August 22, 1894 

Hieroschemamonk Joseph (Litovkin), 1837-May 9 1911

Archimandrite Barsanuphius (Plikanov), 1845-April 1, 1913

Archimandrite Anatolius II (Potapov) July 30, 1922 

Nectarius   (Tikhonov)  1857 - April 29 1928 

New Hiero-confessor Nikon  1888- June, 1931

 New Hieromartyr Archimandrite Isaacius II ( Bobrakov) 1865-January 8, 1938

Luke 7:31-35

31And the Lord said, "To what then shall I liken the men of this generation, and what are they like?32 They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling to one another, saying:'We played the flute for you, And you did not dance; We mourned to you, And you did not weep.'33 For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, 'He has a demon. 34The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, 'Look, a glutton and a winebibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!'35 But wisdom is justified by all her children.

Philippians 3:8-19

8Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ9and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith;10that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death,11if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.12Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.13Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead,14I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.15Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you.16Nevertheless, to the degree that we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us be of the same mind.17Brethren, join in following my example, and note those who so walk, as you have us for a pattern.18For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ:19whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame-who set their mind on earthly things.

#orthodoxy #orthodoxchristian #ancientfaith #originofchristianity #holyscriptures #gospel #sacred texts #spirituality #wisdom

[basicsofislam]

ISLAM 101: The Position of Good Character in Islam: Part 2

3. Noble character in all aspects of life

The Family

Islam stresses the importance of noble character among all members of the family, as the Prophet ﷺ said, “The best of you are those who treat their wives the best, and I am the best of you in this respect.” (Sunan At-Tirmidhee: 3895)

Despite being the best human being of all time, Prophet Muhammad ﷺ shared household chores with his wives and helped around the house, as ‛Aa’ishah, one of his wives, once said about him, “He used to help his wives with the housework.”(Saheeh Al-Bukhaaree: 5048)

He also used to joke with his family members. ‛Aa’ishah ~ said, “I accompanied the Prophet ﷺ on a certain journey when I was young and thin. The Prophet ﷺ asked the people to move on, and they marched ahead. Then he turned to me and said, ‘Come on, let us have a race’. I raced him and I won the race. He did not mention this incident again. However, when I later put on more weight and I forgot all about this incident, I accompanied him again on some other journey. He asked the people to march ahead, and they did. Then he asked me to race him. I raced him, but he won. The Prophet laughed and said, ‘This was to make up for my previous defeat.’”(Musnad Ahmad: 26277)

Trade

Because people’s love of wealth may get the better of them and prompt them to engage in forbidden practices, Islam stresses the importance of observing noble character which serves to put an end to such practices. The following are some examples of the points Islam stresses in this respect:

It warns traders who deal with fraud against a severe punishment on the Day of Judgement, as the Qur’an states, “Woe to those who give short measure or weight; those who, when they take a measure from people, exact full measure, but when they give them a measure or weight, hand over less than is due.” (Soorat Al-Mutaffifeen, 83:3).

It urges traders to show kindness and leniency, as the Prophet ﷺ said, “May Allah have mercy on a man who is kind when he buys, when he sells and when he demands his due.”(Saheeh Al-Bukhaaree: 1970)

Industry

Islam advises workers to observe a number of ethical principles and standards, including the following:

To be as highly proficient at their jobs as they possibly can. The Prophet ﷺ said, “Allah likes to see that when you do something that you do it well.” (Musnad Abu Ya‛laa: 4386, Al-Bayhaqee’sShu‛ab Al-Eemaan: 5313)

To honor their obligations, as the Prophet ﷺ said, “The signs of the hypocrite are three: when he speaks he lies when he promises he breaks his promise and when he is entrusted he betrays the trust.” (Saheeh Al-Bukhaaree: 33)

4. Noble character under all circumstances

There are no exceptions whatsoever when it comes to talking about a good moral character in Islam. A Muslim is required to follow the dictates of Islamic law and observe noble character even in times of war and in difficult times, for there is no such thing in Islam as the end justifies the means. In other words, bad or unfair methods of doing something are by no means acceptable even if the result of that action is good or positive. It is for this reason that Islam has laid down rules and criteria which govern Muslims’ behavior even in times of war so that they would not succumb to fits of rage, driven by intolerance which feeds their anger and satisfies hatred and malicious and selfish tendencies.

Some War Ethics in Islam

 Islam commands justice even with non-Muslims and warns against wronging them in any way: The Qur’an says, “Do not let the hatred of others to you make you swerve to wrong and depart from justice. Be just: that is next to piety.” (Soorat Al-Maa’idah, 5:8) That is, do not let your enmity for your enemies exceed the limits and turn you away from justice in either words or actions.

It strictly forbids treachery and betrayal when dealing with the enemy: Islam forbids treachery and betrayal even against the enemy, as the Qur’an states, “Allah does not love treacherous people.” (Soorat Al-Anfaal, 8:58)

It strictly forbids mutilation of dead bodies of enemies: It declares mutilation of corpses strictly impermissible, as the Prophet ﷺ once ordered, “Do not mutilate people.” (Saheeh Muslim: 1731)

It prohibits the killing of non-combatants, destroying the environment and causing corruption in the land: Upon dispatching a military expedition to the northern borders of the Roman territory, Abu Bakr As-Siddeeq, the first Rightly-Guided Caliph and the best of all the Prophet’s companions, addressed its leader, Usaamah ibn Zayd, saying, “Do not let your army kill young children, old people or women. Do not uproot or burn palms or cut down fruitful trees. Do not slaughter sheep, cows or camels, except for food. You will come across some people who have set themselves apart in hermitages; leave them to accomplish the purpose for which they have done this.”(Taareekh Ibn ‛Asaakir, vol. 2, p. 50)

Some Aspects of the Prophet’s Life and High Moral Standards

The Prophet ﷺ was the epitome of good character and personal integrity. When ‛Aa’ishah ~, one of the Prophet’s wives, was asked about the character of the Prophet ﷺ, she replied, “His character was the Qur’an.” (Musnad Ahmad: 24601; Saheeh Muslim: 746) This means he translated the noble teachings of the Qur’an into reality.

Humility

The Prophet ﷺ was so humble that he did not like people to rise to their feet upon his arrival and he even forbade them from doing so. Although no one was dearer to his noble companions than the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, they would not stand up for him when they saw him coming, for they knew that he disliked that. (Musnad Ahmad: 12345; Musnad Al-Bazzaar: 6637)

• Before ‛Adiyy ibn Haatim, an Arab notable embraced Islam, he came to Madeenah to find out about the new faith. “As we were making for [the Prophet’s] house,” he later recalled, “there met him an old feeble lady with some children who asked him to stop and he stopped for a long time while she was telling him of her needs. I said to myself, ‘This is certainly no king; he does not behave like Chosroes or Caesar.’” (Musnad Ahmad: 19381)

His actions and movements while in the company of his companions were characterized by homely simplicity and utter humility, so much so that a stranger would not be able to tell who he was. Once, a man came and said, “who amongst you is Muhammed?” (Saheeh Al-Bukhaaree: 63)

Anas ibn Maalik  said, “Any of the female slaves of Madeenah could take hold of the hand of Allah’s Messenger and take him wherever she wished.” (Saheeh Al-Bukhaaree: 5724) The expression “take hold of the hand of Allah’s Messenger” is an indication of his extreme kindness and prompt response to the young and the weak. This report reveals the Prophet’s utter humility, in that it mentions his readiness to attend to the needs of some of the most vulnerable members of society, women and female slaves.

Once he declared, “A person who has an atom’s weight of pride in his heart will not enter Paradise.” (Saheeh Muslim: 91)

Mercy

The Prophet ﷺ said, “Those who are merciful will be given mercy by the Most Merciful. Be merciful to those on the earth and the One above the heavens will have mercy on you.” (Sunan At-Tirmidhee: 1924; Sunan Abu Daawood: 4941)

His mercy embraced countless aspects, including the following:

Mercy towards children

A Bedouin once came to the Prophet ﷺ and said, “Do you kiss your children? We do not kiss them.” The Prophet ﷺ said, “Can I put mercy in your heart after Allah has removed it?” (Saheeh Al-Bukhaaree: 5652; Saheeh Muslim: 2317)

On another occasion, a man saw the Prophet ﷺ kissing his grandson, Al-Hasan ibn ‛Ali, and said to him, “I have ten children, but I have never kissed any of them.” The Prophet ﷺ looked disapprovingly at him and said, “He who does not show mercy to others will not be shown mercy.” (Saheeh Muslim: 2318)

Once he carried his granddaughter Zaynab while standing in prayer, and he put her down gently when he prostrated. (Saheeh Al-Bukhaaree: 494, Saheeh Muslim: 543)

If he heard a baby crying while the mother was praying behind him, he would shorten the prayer so that the mother could attend to the baby’s needs. Abu Qataadah  narrated that the Prophet ﷺ said, “When I begin the prayer, I always intend to make it long; however if I hear a baby crying, I shorten it, as I do not wish to cause his mother any distress.” (Saheeh Al-Bukhaaree: 675; Saheeh Muslim: 470)

Mercy towards Women

The Prophet ﷺ urged his companions to look after girls and show kindness to them; he used to say, “Whoever is in charge of any of these girls and treats them well, they will be a shield for him against the Fire.” (Saheeh Al-Bukhaaree: 5649; Saheeh Muslim: 2629)

He even stressed that women must be given their rights and be well cared for and commanded Muslims to make this issue their concern and to advise one another to do so: “Take good care of women.” (Saheeh Al-Bukhaaree: 4890) He was a shining example of kindness to family members. He once sat beside his camel and put his knee for Safiyyah ~, one of his wives, to put her foot on, in order to get onto it. (Saheeh Al-Bukhaaree: 2120) Whenever his daughter Faatimah ~ came to visit him, he would get up to welcome her, take her by the hand, kiss her and make her sit where he was sitting. (Sunan Abu Dawood: 5217)

Mercy to the weak members of society

The Prophet ﷺ commanded people to sponsor orphans and look after them. “A person who takes care of an orphan and I will be like this in Paradise,” he once said, joining his forefinger and middle finger together by way of illustration. (Saheeh Al-Bukhaaree: 4998)

He considered a person who looks after a widow or a poor person just like a warrior who fights for Allah’s cause, or like one who performs prayers all night without slackness and fasts continuously and never breaks his fast. (Saheeh Al-Bukhaaree: 5661; Saheeh Muslim: 2982)

He regarded showing kindness to the weak members of society and giving them their rights a strong reason to gain Allah’s victory over the enemy as well as gaining more means of subsistence: “Seek help among your weak ones, for you are given provision and help only because of the weak amongst you.”(Sunan Abu Dawood: 2594)

Mercy towards animals

The Prophet’s comprehensive sense of mercy extends even to animals and insects. He urged people to show kindness to animals and warned them against harming them or laying loads on them which are more than they can bear. He said, “Allah has prescribed proficiency in all things. Thus, if you kill, kill well; and if you slaughter, slaughter well. Let each one of you sharpen his blade and let him spare suffering to the animal he slaughters.” (Saheeh Muslim: 1955)

Once he noticed a mound of ants which had been burned up. “Who has set fire to this?” he asked. One of his companions replied, “We have.” “No one should punish with fire except the Lord of the fire,” he disapprovingly said. (Sunan Abu Dawood: 2675)

Justice

The Prophet ﷺ upheld justice under all circumstances and judged by Allah’s rule even if that was against one of his closest family members, in compliance with Allah’s command, “O you who believe, be upholders of justice, bearing witness for Allah alone, even against yourselves or your parents and relatives.” (Soorat An-Nisaa’, 4:135)

When some of his companions came to intercede with him on behalf of a noblewoman who had committed a theft so that she would be spared the punishment, he said, “By Him in whose hand is Muhammad’s soul, even if Faatimah, the daughter of Muhammad, committed a theft, I would cut off her hand.” (Saheeh Al-Bukhaaree: 4053; Saheeh Muslim: 1688)

When he declared all forms of usury (ribaa) forbidden, he stated that the first usury he declared entirely remitted was that of Al-‛Abbaas ibn ‛Abd Al-Muttalib, his own uncle: “The person whose usury I claim authority over is Al-‛Abbaas ibn ‛Abd Al-Muttalib; it will be abolished, all of it.” (Saheeh Muslim: 1218)

A civilized and cultivated society in his estimation is one in which the weak can claim their rights without fear or hesitation: “Woe to the nation whose individuals do not give the weak his due in full.” (Sunan Ibn Maajah: 2426)

Benevolence and Generosity

The Prophet ﷺ was the most generous of all people, and he was most generous of all in the month of Ramadaan when Jibreel met him; Jibreel used to meet him every night in Ramadaan until the end of the month and teach him the Qur’an. When Jibreel met him, he would be more generous in doing good than a blowing wind [which comes with rain and prosperity].(Saheeh Al-Bukhaaree: 1803; Saheeh Muslim: 2308)

He never denied the request of anyone who asked him anything. Once a man came to him and asked him for something. The Prophet ﷺ gave him a flock of sheep filling the area between two mountains. The man was so happy that he returned to his people and called them to Islam, saying, “Embrace Islam, for Muhammad is so generous that he gives in charity without fearing poverty.” (Saheeh Muslim: 5423)

Once he received eighty thousand dirhams, so he placed the amount on a mat and gave it in charity, not turning away anyone who asked him for something until the full amount was distributed. (Mustadrak Al-Haakim: 5423)

On another occasion, a man approached him and made a request for something, and the Prophet ﷺ said to him, “I do not have anything right now, but you can buy something in my name, and I will certainly pay for it when I get the money.” ‛Umar  turned to him and said, “Allah has not made it compulsory for you to do something beyond your capacity.” This comment offended the Prophet ﷺ a great deal. The man then said to him, “Spend in charity without fearing poverty, for the Lord of the Mighty Throne will not decrease your wealth.” The Prophet ﷺ smiled and his face was radiant with happiness. (Al-Ahaadeeth Al-Mukhtaarah: 88)

When the Prophet ﷺ returned from the Battle of Hunayn, some new converts from the Bedouin tribes who were eager to get their shares of the spoils of war followed him. They drove him to a tree where one of the uncouth Bedouins snatched his mantle off his shoulders, thinking it was part of the spoils of war. “Give me back my mantle,” he said, “for if I had as many camels as the trees [around here], I would divide them all among you. You know very well that I am neither miserly, nor deceitful, nor cowardly.” (Saheeh Al-Bukhaaree: 2847)

May Allah’s peace and blessings be upon Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, for he is indeed the epitome of excellent moral character in all aspects of life.

#allah #god #islam #muslim #revert #reverthelp #reverthelp team #convert #new revert #new convert #new muslim #muslim revert #muslim convert #welcome to islam #revert to islam #convert to islam #how to convert islam #prophet #muhammad #quran #sunnah #hadith #help #dua #pray #prayer #salah #muslimah #hijab

[a-wandering-fool]

The hysteria over Donald Trump’s National Emergency Proclamation with regard to the Mexican border is peak stupid even by the standards of the times, in which almost everything Trump does is portrayed with cataclysmic predictions.

This time around, it’s not just the usual Democrat and media suspects, but also some Republican Senators who worry that Trump is setting a precedent for a future Democrat president to use the National Emergencies Act to spend money for climate change or other perceived liberal emergencies.

Other conservatives claim Trump is violating the separation of powers in the Constitution, and usurping the role of Congress in authorizing spending. Chris Wallace, interviewing Rush Limbaugh, suggested that Trump’s National Emergency Proclamation was the equivalent of Obama’s DACA and other immigration unilateral action and that if you condemned Obama, you can’t justify what Trump is doing.

We’re told it’s “a contemptuous document. It’s the proclamation of a monarch,” a “dictator move” that is “forcing a constitutional crisis” and “the damage to the constitution is likely to last for generations.” As if that wasn’t enough, it’s a “threat to the rule of law” and “an attack on democracy.”

The  reality of the Trump emergency proclamation is quite different than as portrayed. Trump is using a statute Congress passed, the National Emergencies Act, which provides that the president can declare an emergency (which is not defined in the statute). There are currently 31 active National Emergencies, and 58 national emergencies have been declared, most of which don’t sound like “national emergencies” in any real sense.

The National Emergencies Act enables the president, among other things, to spend money already authorized by Congress under statutes that provide for use of such funds when a national emergency is declared.

A politically neutral analysis at the Lawfare Blog by Scott Anderson and Margaret Taylor explains how the use of this statutory authority works. It’s not unrestrained power by any means, and certainly does not even purport to supplant the constitutional order. Rather, the spending is relatively narrow and allowable only to the extent there is a specific congressional authorization in the statutes relied upon.

It is not nearly the equivalent of what Obama did on immigration. Obama implemented executive policies which directly contravened existing legislation and created a new class of persons, found nowhere in the immigration laws, who were immune from deportation because Obama said so. Trump, by contrast, is not contravening any law, nor is he usurping Congress’s control over spending authorization.

It also sets very narrow precedent. In order for a future president to do what Trump is doing but as to climate change, the president would have to find statutes where Congress already has authorized spending in an emergency on matters related to climate change. I understand that some Republican Senators genuinely are concerned about presidential powers under the National Emergencies Act. The remedy for that is to amend the Act or rescind it altogether.

One can disagree as to whether there is an “emergency” as that term is used in a catastrophic sense, but that is not what the statute requires. Professor Jonathan Turley explains, Why Trump will win the wall fight:

Presidents have long declared emergencies based on their inherent executive authority. The use of that authority produced some conflicts with Congress, the most famous seen in the case of Youngstown Sheet & Tube Company versus Charles Sawyer, in which the Supreme Court declared that the federal seizure of steel mills during the Korean War was unconstitutional because Congress had never granted President Truman that authority.

However, Congress later gave presidents sweeping authority under the National Emergencies Act of 1976. While this law allows for a legislative override by Congress, the authority to declare national emergencies is basically unfettered. It is one of many such laws where Congress created the thin veneer of a process for presidential power that, in reality, was a virtual blank slate. At the same time, Congress has continued to give the executive branch billions of dollars with few conditions or limitations….

Democrats insist Trump can be challenged on his use of emergency authority since they do not believe an emergency exists on the southern border. They will fail spectacularly if the case gets to the Supreme Court. While the source of funding can be challenged, there is no compelling basis to challenge the national emergency declaration.

Harvard Law Professor Jack Goldsmith further explains:

Trump’s actions have been greeted with now-familiar claims that he is sparking a constitutional crisis or threatening the rule of law.

Considering just the substance of what Trump has done, these are large exaggerations. Everything Trump proposes to do purports to be grounded in congressional statutes and much of what he aims to do does not rely on emergency power. Trump is not relying solely on Article II executive power, and he is not invoking executive power to disregard a congressional statute. Moreover, the statutes in question expressly give Trump authority in the areas in which he claims them.

There will be questions—some of them hard, and without obvious answers—about whether Trump’s legal team has interpreted these congressional authorizations, and the conditions on their use, accurately…. The executive branch every day relies on vague or broad or dim delegations of authority, and courts usually uphold these actions. And as Trump himself stated many times, courts will ultimately sort out his claimed statutory authority in the wall context as well.

Nor is Trump’s claim of emergency power outlandish—at least by the standards of past presidential practice. Many charge that Trump is declaring an emergency when there is no emergency. But this begs all the relevant questions. The relevant statute on which Trump relies does not define the term “emergency.” Presidents have always—really, always—had discretion to decide if there’s an emergency. And presidents have often declared emergencies under circumstances short of necessity, to address a problem that does not rise to an “emergency” as defined in common parlance to mean “a serious, unexpected, and often dangerous situation requiring immediate action.”

There is no threat to the rule of law. To the contrary, Trump is utilizing powers Congress expressly gave to the president in the way Congress intended. Maybe you think that’s bad policy for Congress, but as Prof. Josh Blackmun points out, “Congress cannot claim that the president is subverting the rule of law when it gives him the precise authority he needs to accomplish his goal.”

The claim that Trump has admitted that there is no emergency because of his statements at his press conference does not negate his discretion legally, or factually. The statement “I didn’t need to do this” is plucked out of both the sentence and the context. He said he could build a wall over time without this declaration, but that he wanted to do it faster. Because the situation is an emergency. Plucking a few words out of context may make for a Twitter legal victory, but I don’t think it will make for a court victory in the end at the Supreme Court.

It’s possible to disagree with something Trump does without losing your own mind. Really, it’s possible, it just seems impossible for some.

There is no constitutional crisis. There is no dictatorship. There is no monarchy. Get a grip.

A president is taking action under a statute, the courts will determine if that action is authorized by the statute or inherent presidential powers, and we’ll survive. Just as we survived the Travel Order, where #TheResistance lost not only it’s s–t, but also the court case in the Supreme Court.

======================

I’ve been on the fence about this issue and this looks like a good legal analysis of the action.   I’m still going through the links.

[sebeth]

Injustice #4

Warning, Spoilers Ahead…

 Injustice: Gods Among Us # 4 by Tom Taylor.

 Dick and Damian spar in the Batcave. Dick critiques Damian: “You keep aiming for that killing blow, you’re trying to hurt me, which I’m trying not to take personally by the way, but it’s not all about the body and head. Your opponent has sticky -outy bits that are easier to reach. Not only does your opponent have sticky-outy bits, they may also have had some bad circumstances that led them to a point where you’re fighting them. Some criminals deserve a second chance. Second chances are harder with a severe brain injury.”

An angered Damian hurls an escrima stick at Dick’s head, which is caught by the newly-arrived Superman.

“That’s not very sporting, Damian.”

Dick assures Clark: “It’s okay, Superman. I knew it was coming. He tries it all the time.”

The opening scene is foreshadowing for later events in the series. Damion’s routine hissy fit with the escrima sticks will end up having severe consequences.

Events before the beginning of the series in this universe are rather vague. We don’t know the circumstances of Damian’s introduction to the Bat Family. I would assume it’s similar to the mainstream universe. Damian appears older than 10, possibly in the 13-14 years old range.

Tim became Red Robin in this universe but we aren’t given details. Did Final Crisis happen? Was Bruce lost in time and presumed dead? Or is Dick’s mentorship of Damian similar to the animated movies?

Superman is at the cave to speak to Bruce. Damian says Bruce is “broodier than usual.”

Damian thanks Clark for killing the Joker: “Not that the Joker’s gone, everything just feels safer, you know?

Dick asks Clark if he’s okay. Clark says he’ll manage.

Clark demands to know where Bruce was when Ma & Pa Kent were kidnapped.

Bruce tells Clark that he has to “stop what you’re doing”.

“I have to stop what? Stop saving lives? Stop bringing dictators to justice?”

“You’re scaring them.”

“They should be scared. They should be too scared to press the button. They should be too scared to pull the trigger. They should be too scared to hurt each other. You taught me that. You’d do exactly what I’m doing if you were me, if you could do what I can.”

“You killed a man, Clark.”

“I did. And every time you let that madman live, how many more did you condemn? Did you even feel responsible? Did you even feel guilty?”

“Every time. But we don’t get to choose who dies.”

“One death. To save millions.”

“One. Death.”

“It always starts with one. That’s how justification works. But once you justify something once, you can do it again and again. It becomes easier. Right and wrong blur.”

I find myself on both sides of their argument. Bruce is absolutely correct on the slippery side nature of taking the law in your own hands. Superman and company have no right to run the world. On the other hand, killing the Joker is something that should have been done years ago. The Joker’s body count is in the hundreds if not more. There is no hope of redemption for him – and even if he suddenly regretted all of his previous actions, there is no way to atone for his scale of murder. And this is before the Metropolis massacre. The Joker – and Harley’s – death toll is now in the millions!

A Japanese fleet harpoons whales in the ocean only to encounter a very angry Aquaman.

Aquaman sinks the ship causing the Justice League to respond.

Diana urges Arthur to withdraw. Arthur refuses – the ocean is his kingdom and he will protect it as he sees fit.

A worried Atlantean soldier blasts Diana, starting an Altantean-Justice League brawl.

We return to the Batcave where Clark accuses Bruce of loving the Joker: “You’re not sitting in the dark mourning Metropolis, are you? You’re mourning him. You’re angry at me for taking the Joker away from you. You loved having him around. Your constant nemesis. The two of you played your stupid game and people died. Why did you let him do this to me, Bruce?”

While the suggestion of a Bruce/Joker love match is disgusting, Bruce should have ended the Joker years ago. Honestly, the Joker should have been killed – and left dead – in the Death of the Family storyline.  After the paralyzing Babs/murdering Jason combo act, the only thing the writers seem to do with the Joker is have him commit yet another atrocity. Boring and redundant.

Clark continues his rant, bemoaning the loss of his wife an unborn child. Clark specifically mentions the loss of his unborn child denying the world of another Kryptonian, “someone who would have made me feel less alone.”

Maybe Clark should try being nicer to Conner!

Clark criticizes Bruce’s parenting skills: “You’re sitting in the dark, ignoring Dick and Damian. How many friends did they have in Metropolis? Have you consoled them? Have you held them? Your parents died and left you, Bruce. What’s your excuse for not being a father?”

I don’t know if the events of a future Injustice annual were planned out at this point but if they were, Clark’s speech is rather ballsy and hypocritical considering his treatment of the Titans in the aftermath of the destruction of Metropolis.

Did Clark ever consider Bruce is “sitting in the dark” at the Batcomputer because he’s searching for his missing son? The one Clark banished to the Phantom Zone?

Dick and Damian wouldn’t normally have “friends in Metropolis”. Jon was never born and Dick doesn’t hang around in Metropolis. Is Clark’s “friends in Metropolis” rant the first clue Bruce has regarding the whereabouts of the missing Tim and the Titans? Is that the reason Bruce punches Clark at the end of his speech?

Clark switches from angry to concerned in a second, examining Bruce’s hand. Normally, I’d say it’s a typical Clark move, but in the Injustice-verse it’s a sign of Clark’s growing instability.

The Batcomputer alerts the duo to the brawl in the Atlantic Ocean. Clark decides to head over there.

Bruce warns Clark: “You can’t yourself above us, Clark. You’re right. I’m not saying I’d act differently if I had your abilities. I’m not saying I wouldn’t try to impose peace but you…you’re a better man than I am.”

Not anymore, Bruce.

Alfred asks “Master Kent” if he’s staying for tea.

“I’m afraid not, Alfred. And you don’t have to call me ‘Master’”.

“Good. Let’s remember that.”

Alfred is not fond of Clark’s shenanigans.

Aquaman has summoned a creature so huge that its arrival causes a tsunami. That’s right, the Kraken has been unleashed.

Batman warns Aquaman via a communicator: “Listen to me. He’s coming. He’s in angry. He’s in pain. You’re hurting his friends. You need to stop or there’s no telling what he may do. Do as he says.”

Superman wants Arthur to withdraw the Kraken.

Arthur does after reminding Clark the League started the brawl. Which they did. Arthur attempted to calm the situation down after his soldier blasted Diana. Diana decided she was “tired of words” and started the rumble.

Arthur and Clark argue.

“I called for a worldwide ceasefire.”

“Even your voice does not reach down into the deep, Superman. If you wish to rule the surface world…”

“I do not seek to rule, only to protect.”

“I understand, with the destruction of Metropolis, you lost your kingdom. But you can’t have mine.”

“I do not want…”

“Superman, whether you see it or not, your reign is beginning. But the sea is mine alone to command.

The League realizes “Atlantean armies are rising in countries across the world.”

Superman: “Arthur, what is this?”

“A reminder. I am not some self-appointed leader of an insignificant country who can be bullied into submission. Every port. Every ship. Everything that flies over the oceans does so with my blessing. Your world would halt grind to a halt if I willed it. Every land mass borders the sea. Your entire world is inside mine. Consider this a show of strength. Now get the hell out of my ocean.”

Bruce fumes: “You idiot. He’s not going to respond to an ultimatum!”

Clark orders Diana, Hal, and Billy to accompany him: “Aquaman is using his strength. It’s time we showed him our strength. It’s time we showed everyone who would threaten the world just how much power they’re dealing with. No more holding back.”

The foursome then lift Atlantis out of the ocean and re-locate it into the middle of the Sahara desert.

That’s the show of strength? Lifting a city containing thousands of civilians, women and children, and putting it in the middle of an environment where they are unable to breathe or tolerate the extreme heat. Sounds more like a murder plan.

It should be noted the panels containing the “rising Atlantean armies” only showed the Atlanteans standing in formation on the coasts – not actually attacking.

I’m not defending Arthur – he, along with Clark and Diana, all acted like immature toddlers having a fit.

The forcible removal of Atlantis is where any remaining sympathy for Clark went out the window. He acted like a terrorist. A “proper show of strength” would have been engaging the Atlantean armies not threatening unarmed civilians. It boggles my mind that the rest of the Justice League has been fine with Clark’s actions.

Diana is clearly a more sinister version of herself in this universe. She’s been egging Clark on the entire team and she is the cause of the Atlantean confrontation.

Hal should know better – Sinestro was removed from the Green Lantern Corps because of Superman-like actions – but he’s shown bad judgement in the past so I could maybe see him siding with Clark. It’s still iffy as Hal hasn’t been traumatized by the destruction of Coast City in this universe.

Hawkgirl – well, if she’s “Hawkworld” version of Shayera then she would be comfortable in a military-run world

Raven – will be shown to have fallen under Trigon’s influence so she’s clearly fallen to the “dark side”

Cyborg, Captain Marvel, and Flash are simply too good/sweet to fall in line with the dictator posse. Boggles my mind to see the trio blindly following Clark and Diana’s orders.

Diana informs Clark that Arthur is ready to speak to him. Clark demurs, stating “I’ve achieved nothing by talking today.”

More like cowardly refusing to own up to his actions.

Arthur urges Diana to steer Clark “away from this course of action”, warning her that “you will have scared a lot of people today. Ordinary people who will not want gods and aliens telling them what they can and can’t do.”

Diana refuses as she believes “this course of action is what’s best for the world.”

Diana returns to Clark and informs him that Arthur “will pull his armies back into the ocean”.

Clark has Billy and Hal return Atlantis to the ocean, nothing “this action didn’t sit well with either of them.”

Diana tells Clark “Don’t worry about what they think. You did the right thing. You did what needed to be done.”

“So you’ve said.”

“I won’t let you doubt yourself.”

“What else?”

“What?”

“Surely Arthur had more to say.”

“No. Nothing.”

Diana omits Arthur’s concers and his expressed sympathies for the loss of Lois.

Diana is quite the sinister manipulator in this universe. She’s all but hurling Clark down the “slippery slope” of his actions.

It’s easy to see the reasons of Clark’s descent. He’s lost his wife, unborn child, and his entire city. He’s isolated his parents in a fortress instead of mourning with them. He has a fierce anger towards his best friend because of the Joker and is unwilling to listen to Bruce. Diana, his other best friend, is urging him to indulge in his worst impulses. And the rest of the Justice League – minus Arthur – is too cowardly to call him out.

Next issue: It gets worse. Of course, that could be the summary for every issue.

#Injustice #Superman #Batman #Aquaman #Wonder Woman #Damian Wayne #Dick Grayson #Justice League

[eorzean-tale]

Prompt #17 Without a trace (Thanksgiving Make Up)

This is part 3 of my lore series, where I try and analyze some of the tidbits of info we got from Encyclopaedia Eorzea, volume II. This series only focuses on the Seeker of the Sun M-tribe lore, particularly four of its characters that were highlighted in the book and shared in the BRPN Discord. For this part, I’m going to look at M’aht. There will be spoilers from the lorebook below the cut.

Part 3 M’aht Nunh

“My path may take me to the ends of the world, but my heart shall ever be here.”

From Encyclopaedia Eorzea

Together with his fellow nunh, M’rahz, this Seeker of the Sun once led the people of the M Tribe. When necessity forced them to revert to single-nunh rule, rather than face his friend in a duel as tradition dictates, he relinquished his title and left the village. He took with him his beloved son, M ‘zhet, and the two lived in isolation in the mountains of the Fringes. Yet M’aht never forgot his people, and he continued watching over them from afar. In the course of his vigil, he caught wind of a dastardly Qalyana plot to unleash frenzied beasts upon his village. Facing the creatures alone, he succeeded in herding them inside a cave, but he could not avoid the baneful touch of their petrifying poison. With the last of his strength, he entombed the beasts in stone in stone before turning into stone himself. He was but twenty-five.

He was a tia, dammit!

First of, he should be called M’aht Tia, as he was no longer nunh when he died. Nunh specifically means ‘breeding male’ and when a nunh is defeated, he goes back to being a tia. I feel like this is either a very silly mistake to make, or somehow the M Tribe still saw him as a breeding male even after he left. It could be because he shirked tradition and refused to fight, leaving him a weird form of limbo, but either way, he should be called a tia, or it should be a bigger deal that he’s still referred to as a nunh.

Criminally insane?

My friend @tirocupidus described Aht as criminally insane, I call him criminally stupid and/or criminally badly written. It’s just… too much to even write out without it getting wordy, so I’ve made a list for better readability.

M’aht was extremely young when he became nunh?

That’s right. If you do the math his son was nearly six when he stole him from his tribe (more on that later) and he was 25 when he died. Assuming this happened very shortly after they left, that means M’aht must have been 18-19 when he became nunh. Given that they make a big deal out of his co-nunh friend Rahz being 23 when he became nunh, it’s weird that they don’t make a big deal out of this.

Or maybe that’s because if Aht and his son had even a year or two on their own outside the tribe, that means that he was a minor when he became nunh and fathered the boy, yikes.

Shirking tradition is bad for the tribe

I hate how they make it sound like it was some sort of noble sacrifice for him to refuse to fight Rahz and leave, when in reality it is the single most selfish thing he could have done. It instantly shows me that he was a piss-poor leader with no foresight whatsoever and I hope he was just a nunh and not an actual leader like his friend.

If the two nunh had controlled their and/or their huntresses’ urges better, they could have easily kept both on as nunh for quite awhile. Remember that they make the choice to go to one nunh not because they didn’t have enough huntresses to justify having two, but because they still had too many mouths to feed and this was a way to limit tribal growth. It’s stupid, but I’ve discussed this the other parts already, so let me move on to the fight itself.

So in order to determine which of the two nunh was physically the strongest, they had to fight. Not to the death, mind you. It’s simply to see who could beat the other. The other one could have remained in the tribe as a tia, and help them out with their skill and knowledge, but instead of that, Aht decided to leave the tribe and take his son with him.

So in one swoop, he robbed the tribe of knowing for sure they have the strongest male as nunh, and robbed them of two tia that could help them in their time of need as well.

One might argue that fighting is a silly way to determine who is going to be nunh, but you have to keep in mind that the position isn’t one of leadership usually, but merely one of breeding. Seekers are nomadic hunters, living far away from the comforts of the city, and weaker individuals might be burdens that won’t survive. They increase the odds of their children surviving by having them with the strongest, most capable males. It’s not a preference, it’s  necessity that mimics what you see in most species in nature. I’ll say it again, it’s not some noble sacrifice on his part, he robbed the tribe of two tia’s and the chance to be sure who the strongest male is.

Kidnapping children

You know what you call it when someone takes a child away from their friends and family, to go live in isolation somewhere where they’ll never see them again? That’s right, kidnapping.

That’s what Aht did to his poor son. One might argue that his mother was dead, as they later say he became an orphan when his crazy father died, but he very likely had grandmothers, aunts, siblings, and other people in the tribe that cared for him. This isn’t a town where no one knows their neighbors, these tribes are very tight-knit communities with lots of family bonds thanks to the nunh-system. Males are also rare among Miqo’te, so stealing one away is quite a blow.

I’m also wondering about the other children he must have sired, as he had been nunh for half a decade at least. Did he not care for those? What was his long-term plan for himself and his son? Why didn’t the tribe stop him from taking the boy? It’s a very weird thing to just gloss over, in my opinion.

He was stupid, and he died a stupid death

So the dude decided to live close enough to the village to be able to keep such keen track of it that he alone found evil plots against it (so he didn't’ leave for the resources, that’s for sure), then somehow got stuck fighting the evil-doers alone (some of those able huntresses over yonder might have helped) and got his kid stuck all by himself. Apparently in-game, the boy doesn’t even know what happened to his father, and the M Tribe has to tell him, which leaves me with even more questions, like why didn’t they damn well help, and why didn’t they get the kid if they knew his dad was dead?

Ugh, I’m done with this character. I feel like no one bothered to draw out a timeline for him. They just tried to make him sound like some tragic hero, but he really was just stupid and/or nuts. What is your take on him?

#ffxiv #FFxivWrite2018 #final fantasy 14 #seeker lore #seeker of the sun lore #tribal lore #seeker of the sun #m tribe

[dogopower]

Satan, Prince of This World

“hire” used in this regard can mean more than “to obtain pay for services.” It can mean to render service and give unlimited obedience to an earthly power in the hope of obtaining earthly and supernatural rewards.

When, as Staff Training Officer for the Canadian Naval Reserve Division 1943-4, I lectured to the officers and men on the subject of “Discipline and Obedience.” I shocked some of the Divisional Commanding Officers by telling their subordinates that no officer or man was required to obey an order that is contrary to the Commandments of God, i.e., Natural Law or the Dignity of Man. Many of the most horrible atrocities committed in the name of God against the human race by Satanists, were committed by innocent men carrying out orders. How very convenient! If subordinates are required to obey ALL orders, then all the S.O.S. (who control all those in High Places) need do is see that orders are given to do things that serve the Devil’s purpose.

Christians in Holy Orders should never forget that regardless of any consideration, including the oath of obedience they give to superior authority their first allegiance, like that of a soldier or sailor, is to God. No oath can bind them to commit sin. Keeping silence, or failure to tell the whole truth regarding the W.R.M.., is a sin against God and a crime against God’s creatures. “Tell the Truth and shame (confound) the Devil” should be the motto of every militant Christian. This truth was repeatedly emphasized by the late Pope Pius XII, when he told parish priests they are responsible for the secular as well as the spiritual welfare of their congregations, and should guide the members of their flocks on social, economic and political matters. He showed his will in this regard when, in 1957 he asked all faithful Catholics to pray for the “Silent Church.” The word “Church” as he used it, means the “Whole body of Christian believers; the ecclesiastical organization or power as distinguished from the State.” Don’t let anyone tell you differently. If they do, they lie. If they lie, they serve the Devil’s Cause.

The Luciferian conspiracy could not have developed since our Lord died, to its semi-final stage if those who have pretended to be Christian clergy, dedicated to God, had not sinned against Him by maintaining “Silence” on this all important subject.

Let me remind my readers that NO ecclesiastical authority, Catholic or non-Catholic, has challenged the truth of what I say on this subject. Hundreds of ordained priests and ministers have admitted that I have convinced them of the TRUTH. The majority of them excuse themselves from helping me openly by saying “I am under discipline.”

I am afraid God does not accept that as a valid excuse. God dispensed with all forms of compulsory discipline. Under God’s plan for the rule of the Universe we are free to love and serve Him of our own Will, or go to Hell in our own way. It is time we stopped making excuses and proceeded to prove to God that we wish to love and serve Him for eternity.11

11 I feel justified in making one further remark to protect my readers from those who slander me and my work. In addition to being mentally restricted by the curriculum of their schools and colleges, those who slander me were brought up in an atmosphere of social security. In the majority of cases their education, or indoctrination, was paid for by multi-millionaires who set up so-called Charitable Foundations so they could dictate the curricula of the educational institutions which they endowed. It has been proved that these millionaires belong to the international financial cartels who have financed BOTH sides in every war and revolution fought in the last two hundred years. It is logical to assume that this being the case, the curricula of the educational institutions they endow are not directed to making God’s truth known, but to limiting knowledge regarding the truth, so that the Luciferian conspiracy can be developed to its final objectives.

My slanderers have never had to worry about where their next meal came from. They have been babied along and encouraged to develop an inflated ego regarding their knowledge and importance. They may have suffered a few hardships, but they always knew they would be looked after provided they remained obedient to those their benefactors placed over them.

My life has been entirely different. Due to a serious accident, my father died in his forties. At the age of thirteen I was left to shift for myself. When fifteen I was at sea, working an average of twelve hours a day. I rose to be a Master Mariner, and a Commander in the Canadian Navy. I have written enough sense to have had ten books of non-fiction published and incorporated in reference libraries throughout the world.

I did all this by the Grace of God and my application to a dedicated cause. I was determined to find out, if possible, why human beings can’t live in peace. It is only fair to mention that I rejected offers of fame and fortune, because such offers always had strings attached which would have prevented me continuing to see after, and publish, THE TRUTH. The only thing I ask from God is that He permit me to live long enough to pass on what I have learned about the WR.M. to others.

While my traducers slept in warm beds and lived in comfort and security, carefully guarded from danger, I battled my way on the stormy seas and lived a life which brought me in intimate contact with all that is evil. I became intimately associated with Bolsheviks, Nihilists, and Nazi proselytes. But, notwithstanding that, I wanted to help the underdog, and had the urge to be a ‘Do-gooder.’ By the Grace of God, I never was convinced that by joining any so-called reform organization, I would be doing the will of God. It is beyond my comprehension how the hierarchy of many religions embrace men who have worked openly in the W.R.M. for