We're curious, since you apparently were anti-endo in the past
Was there any specific event or conversation or experience that got you to start contemplating the idea you might have been wrong?
I know you've mentioned talking to a buncha big name docs and going "okay I think I'm on the wrong side of this debate" but what got you to the point of even bringing it up with them in a genuinely open minded way?
We think its an interesting topic for people who've escaped any kind of shithead mindset, not just anti-endo stuff, and so we're oft curious what pulls people out of those pits
This has been a loooonnggggg time coming.
I wish there was just one event that did it, if it was that simple I'd be putting everyone I come into contact with into that situation.
I spoke with Kymbra Clayton in early 2021 about her paper, Critiquing the Requirement of Oneness. It was on a bunch of, "proof endos exist," lists, and it didn't sit right with me. I was surprised to find that she wasn’t... quite anti endo, but she was upset that her work was being used to support them. Her paper was specifically about the shift in clinical circles from final fusion to functional multiplicity as a possible treatment goal. It sort of sent me deeper on the anti side, but it made me realize that, holy crap, I can talk to these people???
So I emailed Colin Ross later that year, desperate to prove someone else wrong, and despite numerous back and forth emails, he was completely pro endo. I never spoke about that conversation until I made my post about it... jeez, what, two weeks ago? What even is time.
But from there, I worked through other doctors, pro and anti, from both my personal, professional circles, and anyone else who would respond to inquiries about their work on whatever social media they were active on. Mostly, as therapists, they stressed the importance of understanding and kindness, regardless of personal beliefs.
I ended up helping a lot of endogenic systems learn about DID, and I realized that, wow, shocking, being nice facilitates conversation. As I got nicer, people were more willing to talk to me about their experiences. I saw how many people were really struggling and I realized that I wanted to help them more than I wanted to be right.
I got REALLY goddamn tired of hearing, "we don't have DID," and I realized I had to concede on that point. There was ZERO conversation to be had if I couldn't get my head around that. But if not DID, then what?
The more I heard, the more I shaped my own thoughts and understanding, the more I broadened my academic searches (wow, there's more terms to Google than just "DID trauma"), and the research was just overwhelming.
I wanted so badly to see the Stanford Tulpa studies fail that I actually started to enjoy the other work of the doctors involved (specifically Tanya Luhrmann, Michael Lifshitz is a little out there for me, but he sure is passionate). The more I read, the more I understood what they were hoping to accomplish and prove, and the more I saw ways that this kind of research can help people.
I don't agree with everything, but I'm still excited to see where it goes, and I realized it's okay to have mixed feelings and opinions, as long as I could be respectful about it.
I've been sneaking out endo safe content for about a year now, adding it on as the last tags. I've discussed at length about my changing beliefs. I'm shocked that no one noticed??
But I didn't actually change my stance publicly until the antis turned on me.
With this new round of antis from TikTok, they were posting stuff about DID that wasn't correct. At all. Some of it was disgustingly wrong. I tried to correct them, gave them pointers and resources to use, explained things they weren't understanding. I gave an amazing play by play of how @sophieinwonderland was going to tear their post apart, and managed to get it pretty damn close to what actually happened! That was fun.
And in return, they called me an endo and started an actual smear campaign against me.
(Hi, friendos, another reminder to get off my blogs and block me, please)
It was the straw that broke the back. I had held on the anti label specifically to be able to work within the anti community, but I was clearly not anti, these were clearly not my people, and they weren't interested in learning. Their actions and behaviour were beyond low. I wanted nothing to do with them.
But, I mean, I guess some people noticed my slow shift, because when I did reach out into the endo community just before I made my first Colin Ross post, they were quick to pull me in without question.
The acceptance and kindness that has been shown to me is... breathtaking. I can't think of a better word. The conversations that I've been having with people have been more interesting and beneficial than ever before.
Syscourse needs to involve actual conversation, and I've finally found that on the pro side.
TL;dr I wanted to prove endos wrong SO badly that I accidentally proved them right
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PSA: Mana doesn't exist in Dungeon Meshi
Some translations of Dungeon Meshi (specifically the English anime and Yen Press manga) have used the word mana to describe magic, when the original Japanese simply said magic (mahou, 魔法) or magical power (maryoku, 魔力).
Ryoko Kui does not appear to use the word mana (マナ) at any point in the manga, the published extra materials, or her blog, so calling magic “mana” is an addition made only in some translations.
For example, the French translation does not use "mana." If you know of other translations that do or don't use mana, let me know!
The use of the word mana in English comes from Maori and its earlier Proto-Oceanic ancestor language.
It describes a form of supernatural power tied to social status, respect and strength. Mana is a religious concept for many Austronesian cultures, and is not really "magic" in the way pop culture has defined it.
As best as I can understand it from an outsider's perspective, mana is more like attributing a supernatural quality to a person's charisma, or the awe one feels when faced with a natural wonder like a mountain or the ocean, or the intimidation one feels when facing a powerful group.
The use of the word mana as a generic term to refer to magical power has been criticized as being cultural appropriation of a real religious term, still used by living people, to describe fictional magic.
In addition to this, using an Austronesian word at random in Dungeon Meshi for one of the most important and fundamental forces of the universe (magic) is inorganic to the world that Kui has constructed, which is rooted primarily in Greco-Roman, Hindu/Buddhist Indian, Middle Eastern, and Germanic cultures.
Using mana to refer to magic would suggest that the Ancient culture from before the cataclysm was Austronesian, but the rest of the manga does not support such an idea at all.
There are references to Austronesian and Oceanic cultures in Dungeon Meshi, but they are mostly tied to the orcs, who don't appear to use magic, and whose culture clearly doesn't, and has never had, the social power to define what word the rest of the world uses to refer to "magical power."
How did a Maori word get so popular in English?
The concept of mana was introduced in Europe by missionary Robert Henry Codrington in 1891 after he wrote a book about his time in Polynesia. The concept was then popularized further in America in the 1950s by Mircea Eliade, an extremely influential religious history scholar at the University of Chicago.
Mana was first introduced as a magical fuel used to cast spells in the 1969 short story, "Not Long Before the End", by Larry Niven. Around this time it also became popular with new-age religious groups.
It has since become a common staple in fantasy fiction and games.
So why translate it as mana?
The choice to translate "magic" and "magical power" as mana was probably made to try and make Dungeon Meshi sound more like a video game/RPG, since so many Japanese fantasy manga feature video game or RPG mechanics, and translators working on Dungeon Meshi would have no reason to assume it would be any different, especially at the very start of the manga.
However, Dungeon Meshi is much closer to High/Epic Fantasy, like Lord of the Rings, and throwing random gaming terminology into the translation when it wasn't in the original text ("mana", "newbs" and "inventory" instead of "magical power", "newcomers" and "supplies") feels out of place.
I think adding the term mana is a disservice to the hard work that Kui has done with her careful attention to linguistic detail and culture.
In the process of working on my Dungeon Meshi research paper on real world cultural references, I have studied over 100 names and words used by Kui, and I have found that she is remarkably thoughtful and consistent in what real world cultures and languages she pulls from, and what fictional cultures she pairs them with.
Obviously I don't blame the translators for not knowing this, they had to make translation decisions before the entire manga was complete, and most likely they were doing work for hire, with no idea what Dungeon Meshi was about.
They had no way of knowing Dungeon Meshi wasn't a video game fantasy comic, and were just trying to rush through their work as fast as possible in order to get paid, and move onto their next project.
Once it became apparent that Dungeon Meshi was High Fantasy and not a world that functions like a video game, they'd already used the word mana, so there was no going back.
In an ideal world, if the translators had known the type of story Dungeon Meshi would become from the beginning, if they really wanted a single word to translate "magical energy" into, they could have picked a word that belongs to one of the language families I mentioned before, rather than using mana just because "everybody uses mana, so readers will know what it means."
What should I call magic power then?
If reading all of this has made you want to stop calling it mana, hooray! Thanks for listening to me rant. You could just call it magical power, if you wanted. Nothing wrong with that!
But if you want something a little less clunky, here's an incomplete list of possibilities in some of the languages most commonly referenced in Dungeon Meshi. Please note I have not done due diligence on every one of these, I believe none of them are exclusively religious terms still in use, but just words that could mean magic (both fictional and real) in various languages. If I'm wrong about any of them, let me know.
INDIAN: Maya, prana.
MIDDLE EASTERN: Sihr, kiisum/kesem.
GRECO-ROMAN: Ergon (as a euphemism), goteia, physis, numen/numina, mageia.
GERMANIC: Seidr, galdr.
(This post is an excerpt from my Dungeon Meshi essay with additional elaborations.)
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Gojo and nanami are definitely the most misrepresented characters in fanfic in my eyes. I share the same sentiments with you about nanami and people writing him as if he's geriatric because he's just a no nonsense, work and go home, responsible adult. He knows what memes are, and he knows how to use a smartphone, he even used video game terms when he was fighting dagon! ("It's like he has infinite HP") He would know who doja cat is!
As for gojo, I feel like a lot of writers conflate his extroversion and somewhat silly demeanor for having people skills. It's canon that his lack of social skills is his one main flaw! And you can see it through the way the other characters interact with him: Ijichi is scared of him, Nanami thinks he's flippant, and Utahime straight up despises him and he thinks she's just joking about it. All of the Tokyo students save for Yuuji and Yuuta think he's weird and find his silliness off-putting. I just don't think he'd be very popular in those college AUs that write him as some kind of social butterfly who's friends with everyone, at best, he'd be well-known for his good looks and family name and being glued to the hip to Geto, who would definitely be the more popular one of the two. He'd probably also put people off by making insensitive comments (intentional or not) when trying to hold conversations, he's just not a guy that can easily understand other people or be understood. That's just my take tho
i've already spoken my thoughts on nanami, but,,, yeah T-T he's a very 'no frills' character, and since it's difficult to make a character who's only goal is to be boring, y'know, interesting, people tend to just settle on making him act older/overly mature/overly stoic, instead. i get why it happens, but i do which creators would engage with how funny he is as a character from time-to-time. that poor man is bare-knuckling it through life, blasting cobra by megan thee stallion and trying not to get the sixteen-year-olds he works with killed and he should be more appreciated for that.
and i couldn't agree more with the gojo stuff T-T T-T the popular fuckboy is a very common archetype that a lot of people want to write around, and as the resident pretty boy, i get why people want to slot gojo into it, but it's literally canon that not a single damn person can stand being around him for longer than an hour at a time beyond, like, two high-schoolers and the ex-boyfriend who hasn't spoke to him in ten years. i think the only canon-compliant way to write for him in an college/no curses au would be like. that guy who everyone assumes is popular because he's rich and attractive, but actually has like two friends and is way better at sports + housework than his overly pretentious major. he just kind of sucks, and it's important to me that people recognize that as one of his most endearing traits.
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With the whole chaos going on, I have a few things to say here..(a neutral perspective) This might not reach the involved individuals but here we go:
Fans fighting Fans: Do any of us realise that the fans which are arguing and fighting, their idols or whoever they r a fan of, are if not best friends, friends atleast civil with each other. So why don't we also follow their footsteps.
Digging out past: In their personal clash of opinions, they start dragging the celeb's past. Do they forget that those celebs r also human first and they can make past mistakes when just like us. I'm sure most young people have had some bad relationships that didn't work out, or hook ups or whatever. They are allowed to have personal lives. How would u like if someone dug out ur past relationship or your body count and presented in public with a possibility that three quarter of it is false or lie. If you can't understand the meaning of the term 'privacy' then atleast try to look up the term 'empathy'.
PR to make good impression: The term PR means 'public relations.' More than good reputation, it works as a barrier between personal life and professional life. Nobody announces their personal life in their work space to their boss. In case of celebs, the audience and the fans are the boss. They have every right to have a PR. So if someone shames a fan for believing in PR stories then I'm sorry to tell u but that's the whole point of PR to make believe. And if you know smth personal about the celeb you don't have the right to sell it on internet. Again the reason is privacy and empathy.
Fans becoming offended when their idols are questioned: Saying this from a neutral perspective, every celeb is asked what they do. Each one of them faces trolls. Even Ishan did face trolls and some of them were big celebs themselves but there is a saying, "Actions speak louder than words." Every starkid faces questions like, what does he/she do? and that they r there because of their family but do you ever see Ananya Pandey or Babil or Arjun Kapoor act like they owe explanation. They just work to prove themselves. Then why do 'certain' fans get worked up. Relax and understand this is the social world where these celebs will have to face such things. Trolling is smth each and every celeb faces and if you keep defending ur idol, it's waste of time. I would suggest that wait for the day ur idol shuts them by their work.
Homophobia and clash of opinions: Assuming people's sexuality and degrading others opinion is also very wrong. Yeah ok u think they r straight while the other thinks they r gay. None of you know the actual answer, only the person in question knows that. Then why would u both argue to prove your point. Sometimes it's not even about gender, it's about the person and thier nature that one falls in love with. So you're free to assume ur opinion but not free to degrade other's opinion and make them guilty about it.
Respecting the boundaries of being a fan: there's a nice and simple way of being a fan- appreciate and accept. Just appreciate whoever you're a fan of and accept that some might not like them. And before shaming the other celeb, think once of your idol will like it or not.
So a simple summary of the situation is
-have empathy and respect boundaries of the celebs.
-take jokes and accept that there is no point in fighting.
-enjoy ur time as a fan without ruining others experience.
-past is past and people change and grow upm
That was my general perspective. You're still free to form opinions but please do it respectfully and peacefully. This is not a battleground. I hope some people find this as an eye opener and if not realise their mistakes but atleast read it with an open mind and consider your actions. Wishing you a good day ahead.
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