#I really have no words for people who lack the basic minimum amounts of sympathy and understanding | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

kob131 · 3 years

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byjiwECylIE

So EruptionFang made a video about Raven Branwen.

Considering his last video I watched (his Volume 8 Episode 2 Breakdown) was basically him shitting himself continuously because he’s STILL bitter about his headcanon being disproven, I don’t have high hopes.

But who knows, maybe he’ll make a good point.

0:00 - 1:24 “In RWBY, other characters get torn down to make Team RWBY look better, like the show only wants you to like Team RWBY! No one gets to be fleshed out or understood by the show! It’s SOOO disrespectful!”

...

*SMASH!*

Sorry, that was the sound of me faceplanting so hard I smashed a desk in half.

Really, Team RWBY never rises up and only other characters get torn down to make them look good? Yang never had to develop from being reckless as all hell to actually using her head in a fight? Blake didn’t have to get over her own fears and learn to accept help from others? Weiss didn’t have to struggle against her own personality to become a better person overall? Ruby didn’t have to struggle against the world itself and her own worldview to keep going?

This shit that is OBSERVABLE IN THE FUCKING SHOW didn’t happen? Sure, and there are two Adams. Even by the example you visually give (Avatar The Last Airbender)- Team RWBY still rose up like Team Aang did.

And don’t give me that ‘other characters get torn down!’ bullshit. The Ace Ops weren’t made to look bad to make Team RWBY look good- They failed because of their own personal flaws that were already established before that fight (Harriet’s recklessness, Elm’s temper, Vine’s detached attitude, Marrow’s disconnect). And Adam wasn’t torn down AT ALL: he remained the same damn character throughout his appearances and failed through his own failures born from his character.

And funny how you talk about other character not getting developed and yet ignore the Ace Ops’ boss. What’s wrong? Oh yeah, Ironwood IS developed (EXTENSIVELY. As in, we know more about his thought process, reasoning and actions than even WEISS, let alone Blake, Yang and Ruby.) so he just becomes a walking debunking of your OPENING ARGUMENT.

Not even past the intro and I’m already pissed.

1:46 ‘Any character’s righteous revolutions-’

Which didn’t exist, was disproven in the first episode and completely ignores BASIC writing tropes (like ‘Villians LIE’).

But please, keep talking about your delusions.

1:56 ‘There is an inescapable bubble Raven is in by both the audience and the characters!’

Spoiler Alert: It’s a bubble Raven HERSELF made in the first place.

‘A bubble that she’s a coward and cares about no one but herself.’

True and effectively true. I’ll explain WHY later.

(Nothing to say about the ‘Meeting Yang and Raven’ part, moving on)

8:37 - 8:51 *quotes Shane’s letter, portraying it as a cruel choice to ignore the Volume 2 stinger scene.*

So now we’ve moved on to tearing off chunks of Monty’s corpse and Shane’s grief to use for his own headcanon. Fan-fucking-tastic.

I have absolutely no sympathy for anyone using this- partially because it’s always using an emotional connection to Monty to manipulate the audience. Partially because this was a DUMB decision.

Where the FUCK would Raven fit into Volume 3? Even the section EF takes from is about a fight that everyone agrees wouldn’t have fit into Volume 3 at all and served no purpose and this is the ONLY mention of Raven. Combine this with how Volume 3 is structured (where Raven can’t do anything that Qrow didn’t already do), how ambiguous the final scene of Volume 2 was, the Mary Sue accusations against Yang at this point and Raven’s revealed personality- She wouldn’t WORK in Volume 3. Just because Monty had the idea doesn’t make it a good one. Fuck, he BROUGHT ON Miles and Kerry BECAUSE he knew he wasn’t a writer and his last contribution (Maidens) was BY FAR the worst aspect of RWBY which proves that even more.

EF, you’re bitching that Raven wasn’t shoved into a Volume already overstuffed and lacking in time and resources. With NO purpose and contradicting her personality.

Congrats on encouraging bad writing.

10:43 ‘It doesn’t make sense that in introducing the maidens and making Raven one, they cut her attacking Pyrrha to get her Maiden powers!’

Yeah- nice headcanon. Too bad your own quote says they didn’t know the purpose, Shane’s letter never says the purpose either and you even say it’s speculation. Also too bad that we’re suppose to SYMPATHIZE with Raven on some level later on and a large part of why Cinder isn’t portrtayed as sympathetic is that she KILLED Pyrrha, Raven’s theoretical target. Thus Raven’s attack would make her even MORE unlikeable.

‘B-but it changes the context of what we know, like Yang’s search for her!”

And how?

“Through her message to Yang, which was hostile and angry!”

... Really? The message of “I won’t save you again” is angry and hostile? It seems more matter of fact to me, informing Yang she won’t help her again not out of anger or dislike but through her worldview, which would be disconnected from her emotions on the surface.

Qrow’s words never include an insult or attack on Yang, like calling her weak or mocking her. You can INTERPRET it as hostile and angry but that depends on the subjective worldview of the person. The actual words and message don’t carry hostility or anger. They carry apathy.

‘B-but it splits her character in two-!’

Oh my god, did you SERIOUSLY try to pull another ‘Two Adams’ on me?

Raven DIDN’T HAVE a character to spilts in those two appearances. We knew nothing about her as a person. Her saving Yang and that supposed talk could have been for and about ANYTHING. That’s why there were so many theories: NOTHING was known. And nothing about those actions inform her character without context, which Volume 2 never gives.

This ‘first Raven’, like CJ Black’s ‘First Adam’, DOESN’T EXIST. It’s just a headcanon you refused to accept as being debunked.

‘W-well, Raven still looked after Yang when her arm was cut off!’

In bird form. And only bird form. And never directly interacts with Yang. All in a form Yang DOESN’T KNOW she’s in. Suffering from problems RAVEN HERSELF caused. WITH A FUCKING PORTAL TO HER AT ALL TIMES.

‘B-but her actions say that she DOES care!’

I knew PRECISELY what arguments you were gonna make the moment I started this video. Because they’re the SAME DAMN SHIT I’ve seen to defend Raven before. And let me go ahead and tear it down now: Raven being around in bird form means NOTHING. Without Yang knowing it’s her, it is meaningless. It’s WORSE than nothing because it demonstrates that Raven could have been with Yang throughout her life with no apparent cost to her because SHE WAS ALREADY DOING IT. And it means she watched Yang struggle with her abandonment and the toll it took on her family and ESPECIALLY Yang and did NOTHING to fix the problem.

Even ignoring the portal thing, taking this one scene in a vacuum- her looking at her depressed daughter and then fucking off paints her as either so lacking in empathy that she can’t be bothered to help HER OWN CHILD or so ill equipped to be a parent she makes TFS Goku look like...well, Taiyang. With CONTEXT, (still ignoring the portal thing), she CAUSED this depression by scarring Yang all those years ago and made Yang’s life worse for it. With the portal, she couldn’t even do the barest of minimum standards.

You can try to portray this as beautiful all you want: Nothing is shown stopping Raven from actually BEING A PARENT FOR ONCE before this and after this, we KNOW it wouldn’t be difficult in the slightest and she STILL chooses to not help. It’s one of the worst cases of parental apathy I have ever seen and fuck you for trying to bitch out the creators because you chose to IGNORE CONTEXT.

‘Instead of making it so Raven abandoned Yang because of her Maiden powers, they instead chose to abandon her role as a mother!’

You mean they had a character make a decision that completely fits with how the audience would perceive the character at this point?

Everyone, consider what we know about Raven. She’s Qrow’s twin sister, meaning she’s logically just skilled and strong as Qrow is. She’s also a Maiden, something that gives characters an IMMENSE amount of power separate from their normal abilities. She has a decoy so no one knows what she actually is. She has a portal to and from Yang at ALL times. She’s as strong as the strongest non-Maiden character shown so far, IS a Maiden bolstering her power beyond the Maidens we DO know of and can instantly be there for Yang at any time in her life and get away if someone tries to go after her, which makes no sense if it’s about her being a Maiden because she has a DECOY for this thing.

And yet, with all these things working for her, giving her every advantage that DEFIES the common trope EF is pushing- Raven still ditched her, ditched her a second time and couldn’t even be bothered to give her deeply apathetic message herself. And now supposedly, Raven would suddenly become a mother to Yang...and we’re expected to feel happy about this.

Yeah, no. People would be outraged that Raven got off scot free. In no part

“Everyone keeps being hostile and angry with Raven, who is also being hostile and angry. This means that the other guys are just pidgeonholding her into this role!”

Yes, a trend that Raven HERSELF causes. Qrow is hostile towards her because she tried to act as though she cared about her family to Qrow, a character shown to be a loyal person, but ignores her own DAUGHTER when it’s supposedly about family. Yang is hostile towards Raven because she knows Raven could have been there for her but chose not to, all while she NEEDS to find her ACTUAL family. Even Taiyang’s look at the end of Volume 5 makes sense as if she’s there, that means she’s likely running from their daughter, whom she has failed as a parent YET AGAIN despite Taiyang giving her a generous interpretation.

Raven is being forced into a role SHE MADE FOR HERSELF.

“This isn’t how it was at the beginning of the show. Yang and by extension the audience is sad and curious while Raven and Qrow are angry and toxic.”

Again, you ignore context.

Yang knows NOTHING about Raven and was abandoned by her. Of course she’d be sad and curious.

But Qrow is different. He DOES know Raven, saw first hand what her actions have done to his family while being the type of person who would HATE this and Raven is actively being manipulative while also avoiding him as he asks for help in SAVING THE WORLD.

Later on, Yang finds Raven...after learning that Raven had every chance in the world to be there for her and chose NOT to. All while Raven exudes arrogance and a selfish pride in being a ‘prize’ for Yang to work towards.

Then Raven proceeds to use her as BAIT, abandon her, try to turn her against the family that HAS been there for her, insults the father and uncle who loved and cared for her- all for more power...that wouldn’t even solve the problem Raven has. She stabbed her own brother and daughter in the back...for nothing. Because of her own flaws, something Yang fought against and overcame making her more mature than her MOTHER.

And after all that, she is given one last chance to truly show her love for Yang: to help her and join her. To go with her and put herself at risk for Yang’s safety or at least taking the Relic so Salem will target her instead of Yang. And what does Raven do? Abandons her AGAIN.

Abandons her to run off near her ex, the man she left with a child and a broken heart. She uses her connection to him to run away from her responsibility as a parent, running away from THEIR DAUGHTER. The girl he raised up without blaming Raven for anything, instead trying to paint a good picture of her in Yang’s head.

No shit people are hostile or unhappy with her- She keeps FAILING.

‘Oh hey, they made her an antagonist and thus EVIL! The writer’s CLEARLY think that there’s no way a parent who abandoned their child can be anything other than EVIL!’

... Then how come they portray her as conflicted and sad in the finale of Volume 5?

Much like how Adam’s unmasking fundamentally BREAKS his previous arguments of ‘HE EVIL!’ because it helps humanize Adam and give him pity and sorrow, the same is done here with the finale and Raven’s final actions so far. If Raven were evil, she wouldn’t have tried justifying her actions. Salem, Tyrian and , actively evil characters, don’t act like Raven. And they certainly don’t show regret or sorrow for their actions or conflicts about the results. This goes AGAINST how people perceive evil, even in the show itself.

So if she’s supposedly EVIL, why is her climax all about aspects that are fundamentally incompatible with how evil is portrayed in the show?

Answer: Raven’s not portrayed as evil. She’s portrayed as FLAWED, with actual negative flaws that cause her grief and pain like any normal character. EF is just throwing a fit that a ‘character’ he likes isn’t being treated as positive.

‘Volume 4 wasn’t where we got our first impression of Raven, it was Volume 2 and 3!’

And what impression could you get?

That she’s strong...and that’s it. At least, that’s it for positive traits. Raven is strong because she scared off Neo and that’s all the positive traits we have of her.

Everything else is negative. She apparently doesn’t care enough about Yang to stay around in any capacity for whatever reason. She refuses to see Yang and is largely apathetic towards her. She can be there for Yang but chooses not to. And her own twin brother Qrow doesn’t really like her.

The things we saw of Raven then paint a picture of someone who doesn’t care about Yang in any meaningful way. Even though I’ve chosen to ignore the portal thing, I really shouldn’t because she showed the portals off since Volume 2, meaning since her physical introduction she ALWAYS had a path to Yang but never chose to. EF acts as though these aspects of Raven didn’t exist before Volume 4...when the barest minimum of thought shows them in before that.

‘Their biggest mistake was the Volume 2 end credits scene since it goes against everything they wanted to do with her as a character!’

Yeah...and you argue for including it even though your own source shows that the other writers KNEW this issue.

‘The first impression we got of her was her saving Yang’s life and then confronting her!’

Yeah, and guess what? Those are not inherently positive. She could have saved Yang to manipulate her and use her as a pawn for all we knew. For as many positive interpretations you can give for these actions, I can give a negative interpretation. All because these actions lacked context at the time so it was neither positive nor negative.

The context dictated what these actions were. And context defined them as ultimately positive...but flawed. Which you conflate with malice.

‘The Volume 2 scene was meant to be a kicking off point-’

For what? Once again, the scene is not inherently positive. Raven never shows care or love for Yang in that scene, all she shows is a desire to talk (which without context of what she says, what it means, what her intentions are, how informed she is and how she uses this opportunity- makes it neutral.)

After this you do this cartoonish ‘oh they changed direction!’ thing without a single shred of evidence beyond a letter made by a grief madden man which doesn’t even say what you are saying. You keep assigning direction to something without a clear direction.

‘So how do you address her Maiden plotline with her Yang plotline?’

You make it about her personal failing of trying to use power to hide her cowardice, show that she lies to herself as well as others to justify her actions and show how she fails? Like how they showed that her ditching Yang lines up with how she refuses to take action until backed into a corner, gets confronted repeatedly with her flaws as her daughter (someone far weaker and less informed) keeps going and the show forces her to see how she’s being cowardly?

‘Don’t do one.’

... Translation: ‘i didn’t like what the show did so I’m gonna do selective remembering to make it look like nothing happened. ... What? I did it with Adam.’

Regardless of how you feel about the plotlines- They were BOTH addressed. It wasn’t dropped, it wasn’t forgotten- It was resolved as I have shown multiple times here.

And here at 20:33 I’m ending this. It’s pretty damn clear that Erup-Cole is just ignoring whatever doesn’t fit his view. Instead of taking a look at what happened and trying to understand the pattern that comes, he’s making up a pattern and patchworking it together through cherry picking.

I see that he hasn’t changed from his Adam tantrum, because this is the EXACT SAME VIDEO, just stretched out and about Adam’s MILF form. And I do mean ‘Adam’s MILF form’ because I don’t think a character with such superficial similarities to him getting the same treatment is a coincidence.

Cole, you can’t try selling me something with THIS much bullshit. It’s like trying to serve me a maggot infested steak and telling me it’s well cooked. You’re full of shit and no matter how much you try to hide it, it won’t change.

Your headcanons are not canon and it’s your fault you take such offense. Deal with it.

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musicprincess655 · 7 years

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Knight and Bishop, Ch. 7

Pairing: Semishira

Rating: T

Tags: a/b/o, royalty au

read on ao3

“Only the player with the initiative has the right to attack” - Wilhelm Steinitz

“He’s an arrogant, obnoxious, spoiled little rich brat.”

“Tell us how you really feel, why don’t ya, Eita,” Kaito said, hands held up in surrender. Eita kicked back his ale, feeling unusually irritated, even for the situation. “Next you’ll be tellin’ us how he killed your ma and kidnapped your sisters.”

“He’s gonna get someone killed,” Eita snapped. “This isn’t funny, Kaito.”

“I’m not sayin’ it is,” Kaito replied. “But don’tcha think you’re overreactin’ just a bit? You can’t expect him to mourn forty six soldiers he didn’t know.”

“I don’t expect that,” Eita sighed. “I’m not insane. I’m not mournin’ ‘em either. But I recognize that they were people who deserve to be honored as humans who lost their lives. You shoulda seen his face, someone coulda spilled his chess pieces and he woulda looked the same. They weren’t people to him.”

“Why does it matter?” Kaito asked. “The war’s basically over, isn’t it? You’re not gonna have to deal with him much longer.”

“I’d rather not think that when we’re not sure how this will play out,” Eita said. “This could go on for a while. It’s nearly summer, it’s not like they have to stop to wait out a blizzard.”

“Why does this particular kid get under your skin?”

“Because he has power,” Eita said. “I don’t think even he knows how much he has yet. He’s literally holdin’ lives in his hands, and I don’t think he realizes that. That’s the kind of commander that gets his soldiers killed. He won’t listen now, what makes you think he’ll listen later?”

“I still think he’s got a special way o’ getting’ under your skin,” Kaito said.

“I don’t like arrogant kids, you know that.”

“He’s not really a kid, though.”

“He’s sixteen.”

“Nearly seventeen. He’s nearin’ manhood. And you’re not far into manhood yourself.” Eita refused to admit that Kaito had a point. “You don’t have to treat him like a kid. You can treat him like an equal.”

“I do…”

“You don’t,” Kaito interrupted. “You think you know better than him because he’s young and inexperienced. You’ve admitted that he’s smart.”

Eita looked away.

“I don’t disagree that his lack of care for lives is concerning,” Kaito went on. “But you’re not bein’ fair. I doubt he’s ever seen a battle. He prob’ly doesn’t know what it is to fall in battle, and he doesn’t know what it is to lose friends to swords. His smarts are there, he just needs time to learn how to use ‘em right. You don’t have to dismiss him because he doesn’t understand everything you do.”

“I didn’t come here for you to be right,” Eita grumbled. “I came here to drink and vent.”

“You came here to bitch.”

“I will admit to nothin’.”

Eita waved for another pint, but Kaito shook his head at the barmaid.

“You’ve had enough,” he said firmly. “Any more and you won’t be movin’ for the hangover.”

“I’m hiring a new best friend,” Eita complained.

“You’d collapse without me.”

“Don’t you have duties to your wife?” Eita asked. “Somethin’ about getting’ her pregnant?”

“Mind ya business,” Kaito said, but he was grinning. “What I do with my mate in our bed isn’t your concern.”

“It is if you’re botherin’ me instead of doin’ it.”

“Semi-san?” a voice interrupted what was about to turn into a playful fight. They both turned to see a page. “The queen requests your presence.”

“What does she want with me?” Eita asked, resisting the urge to roll his eyes. It was harder with the amount of ale he’d had. Kaito was right again.

“It’s urgent,” the page said. Something about her face convinced Eita that arguing further would be a bad idea. He stood to follow her, proud of how steady he was. If someone looked too close, they would see his glassy eyes and flushed cheeks, and he might have some issues with impulse control, but otherwise he’d seem perfectly sober.

The walk from the barracks was long. Eita had to admit he could see the benefit of having him in the castle, even if he did prefer to stay with his own company. It was inconvenient to send pages looking for him this far out.

The queen zeroed in on him the minute he entered the library, and he had to resist the urge to glare at her. She was the real problem here. Shirabu was a secondary concern, but the queen was the one who was really going to get someone killed.

“You’re late,” she said curtly.

“You led me to believe we had nothing to do until we got more information,” Eita replied, as politely as he could handle. “I don’t see why spending a night with my company is a problem.”

“Because we have situations like this,” she hissed, brandishing a letter. Eita felt his blood run cold at the implication. If she was calling him out this late… “We have more information.”

Eita settled faster, sitting next to Shirabu. He felt significantly more sober.

“You smell like the barracks,” Shirabu muttered.

“That’s where I just came from, pretty boy,” Eita muttered back. “Sorry to offend your delicate sensibilities.”

He didn’t have to look to see the scowl spreading across Shirabu’s face. One point to him.

“A rider from the advance guard made it back to the Iron Wall,” the queen said, interrupting them both. “The battle we won was a trap. We were meant to win. They wanted to draw our army farther into their territory so they could divide us.”

There was silence as that settled into them all.

“How far away from our territory are they?” Ushijima asked quietly. Eita was surprised to hear from him so soon. He usually watched things play out for a bit before chiming in with his opinions about how they could be doing better. Usually, Shirabu was the first one to speak, if not Eita himself.

“When the rider left them, nearly one hundred miles north of the wall,” the queen said. She looked more distressed than Eita had ever seen her before. He remembered that her mate was in that situation, and she probably deserved a bit of sympathy, even if he didn’t want to feel it for her. “She said she barely made it out before Itachiyama closed in. The king is still stuck.”

“Our first priority should be getting him out of there,” Eita said. “We need to send more men to the Wall. We’ll work out some plan to go in and help him get back to our territory.”

“One hundred miles north of the Wall would be about here,” Ushijima chimed in, pointing on the table. “There’s a mountain pass just below them. If we can get them through here, we can hold them at the pass.”

“Itachiyama probably has a much larger army than we think,” Eita warned. “We’ll have to come up with something that counters them having a superior army, just in case.”

“I think with our style of fighting versus Itachiyama’s, holding them at the pass should be possible,” Ushijima said. He seemed much more intense than he usually did, but then, his father was in danger. “Anything that can help us prevent loss of life would be good.”

“You will lead as many soldiers as we can muster up there,” the queen broke in. “Semi-san, you will be in charge of your company, since you all seem to work well together. With Saitou-san still gone, Shirabu-kun will have to go as well. We don’t have time to wait around here to come up with a strategy. This is a rescue mission now.”

“My company can be ready to go by tomorrow morning,” Eita said.

“If not tomorrow, I can muster a large force in two days,” Ushijima agreed.

“Shirabu-kun?” the queen asked. It was only now that Eita realized Shirabu hadn’t said a word since the queen had read the news to them. He turned to see a shell shocked look on Shirabu’s face. He shook himself out of it to answer the queen’s question.

“I’ll be ready to leave when everyone else is,” he promised. They stood to leave and prepare, but as soon as they were out of the library, Eita grabbed Shirabu’s arm.

“This wasn’t your fault,” he said. Shirabu’s blank look turned to a truly ugly glare. He didn’t seem at all pleased things hadn’t gone his way. “No one can plan for everything. You gave us a solid strategy, and it worked. You can do it again.”

“Why are you being nice to me now?” Shirabu snapped.

“Trying something,” Eita admitted honestly.

“Trying something?”

“Not treating you like you’re a kid because you’re inexperienced.”

Shirabu didn’t reply.

“Just focus on your next move,” Eita told him. Shirabu mumbled something Eita didn’t quite catch. “Sorry?”

“I only won that battle because they wanted me to,” Shirabu said a little louder. He looked surprisingly vulnerable.

“That’s not the only reason,” Eita argued. “I wouldn’t have agreed to your plan if it wasn’t a good one. It kept loss of life to a minimum. Just because we were supposed to win doesn’t mean they wouldn’t have taken as many of us with them as they could. You didn’t let them.”

“You were telling me yesterday I wasn’t taking those forty six seriously enough,” Shirabu pointed out.

“You were treating them like pieces instead of men,” Eita explained. “But you did keep a lot more than just them from dying. You should be proud of that.”

“I don’t need you to praise me.”

“I’m going to do it anyway.”

Shirabu still looked surprisingly vulnerable. It was a good look for him. He lost that nose in the air look.

“Get some sleep,” Eita said. “All we can do now is pack it up and go.”

“Semi-san.”

“Yeah?”

“Tell anyone we had this conversation, and they’ll never find your body.”

Eita stared at him in shock.

“Was that a death threat?”

“Did I stutter?”

“Brat,” Eita shook his head. He was almost disgusted at how fond that was. “I’ll remember this the next time you look like a kicked puppy.”

“I did not!”

“Totally did.”

“Fuck you!”

“Quite a mouth on you there, pretty boy,” Eita teased. It was worth it to see Shirabu turn an ugly shade of red. This was how Shirabu worked best – with a fire lit under him. “Someone been teachin’ you naughty words?”

“I’m not a child!”

“Not with a mouth like that, you’re not,” Eita laughed. “Go get some sleep. I’ll fight you tomorrow if you want.”

“I know how to use a sword.”

“I bet you do,” Eita conceded. “But I could still beat you in a fight. Your weapon is your brain. So go rest it so we can use it when we need it.”

He turned and left, Shirabu looking shocked at the compliment, no matter how backhanded it had been.

“Go die!” he shrieked, and Eita had to resist the urge to laugh. He walked to the barracks to tell everyone to be ready to go by tomorrow morning.

“You were right, by the way,” he said, finding Kaito. “As if you’ve ever been wrong.”

“What in particular was I right about this time?”

“Treatin’ Shirabu like an equal gets me a lot farther,” Eita said. “I think I can work with him now. He’s learnin’ fast.”

“Don’t ya look proud,” Kaito grinned. “I’d almost say you like him.”

“He’s not too bad,” Eita said.

“Oh no,” Kaito said in mock distress. “You like him.”

“I what now?”

“You like like Shirabu,” Kaito teased. Eita rolled his eyes.

“Please. I just learned how to be in the same room with him. I’m not about to try going after him.”

“He could be your one true love.” Kaito couldn’t keep himself from laughing at that. “Just think. Your children would be the sassiest brats the world’s ever seen.”

“You can stay, you know,” Eita rolled his eyes. “Mari’s a better fighter than you.”

“You wound me.”

The next few days would be insane. A few laughs were what everyone needed now.

#my writing #a/b/o #royalty au #kab #semishira #haikyuu!!

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roughstar · 6 years

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New thing, gonna write thoughts on stuff down as a series

First series is called "what's wrong with America" this is part 1, 'Education'

The problems:

A lot of people agree that our education system is outdated. It was designed to spit out factory workers during the industrial age, and hasn't significantly changed since. Learning isn't really a goal for it, as much as retaining enough information to pass a test is. People are also expected to be independent (which plays into Individualism, part 2 of this series) so they don't develop good communication skills, which also results in public speaking being a huge problem, which inhibits natural leadership and further adds to the problem of, ironically, the inability to manage yourself. The education system creates that inability by forcing students to follow strict schedules and instructions, expecting very little deviation and unquestioned obedience. In other words, the system wants self-sufficient followers instead of free-thinking pioneers, kinda like having robots instead of programmers. This (along with individualism) create people that don't critically think. This leads to a lot of people in society that only regurgitate stuff they heard somewhere else. They aren't digesting it and drawing their own conclusions; conversations and debates all become an echo chamber.

Tldr; bad educational system leads to people that don't think for themselves.

When people who don't think debate, they will not change their opinions. They spout whatever they've heard on the topic before and dismiss any points made against it, and we get two polarized sides that refuse to comprimise or come to an agreement (something I will talk more of in part 4). This makes people (rightfully) sound like idiots, no matter how far they got in our broken educational system.

Basically, if you can't critically think, your degrees are completely meaningless in determining your intelligence.

But if you do have a degree, you're probably good at a skill (assuming you didn't just cheat/bullshit your way through college and actually tried to learn a skill) and that makes you valuable, right? WRONG. A bachelor's degree is (or rather, should be) just as valuable as 2 years at a trade school, but we stigmatize not going to a university and train our kids from early elementary school to jump right into one after they graduate high school. And you bet your ass banks and the government take advantage of this to the fullest, because capitalism (part 5).

Student loans are a long con you (and I) have fallen into by being trained for university our entire academic careers.

And better yet, people go to university when they're unsure of what they even want to do. They go because they feel they have to, when they just barely became adults and can hardly be trusted ro make their own important decisions, because that's when they are easiest to manipulate.

University is not for everyone, nor is it the only meaningful option.

So, in essence, what's wrong wit our education is:

Our school system is outdated

School trains people to be robots and discourages divergence

People don't learn critical thinking

It trains us for university which sets us up for debt

We're forced to make big decisions when we aren't very well equipped to which interferes with our future

So what do we do about it?

Well, reforming the education system to include community, harbor a genuine learning environment, and teach important life skills (including critical thinking) would help, but would require a lot of work and community activism. The details can be worked out when that ball eventually gets rolling, and we may certainly have to wait until our current administration moves aside for a more competent one.

In the meantime, you can learn to think critically and question everything you believe. Some good questions to think about:

Why do Ibelieve what I do? Is there hard, scientific (yes, Scientific because Science is studying why things are the way they are, and is the closest us humans can get to understanding Truth. The denial of science itself will be talked about further on) evidence to support what I believe? What do opponents of what I believe have to say? Why do they believe something that conflicts with what I do? Is one side (either my own or the opposing side) regurgitating arguments and consistently using logical fallacies? Typically there is some truth to both sides, so is there anything untrue with what I believe because of the truth on the other side? How much of my belief is influenced by emotions, being sympathy (do I feel so passionately because I believe it affects people's whole lives), fear (do I believe what I do because the alternative is frightening to think about), selfishness (do I have something to gain with my beliefs), or loyalty (we've always had this belief so why change now, what's the harm in keeping it)? What are some consequences of realizing my belief, both immediate and long-term?

Next, if you're still in high school, don't go to college unless you are ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN that you know EXACTLY what you want to do, have researched every way of achieving the skills required to get there, and have a reasonable way of paying that is NOT DEPENDENT on how well you do in college or involves borrowing money. And even if you do decide college is right for you, have a backup plan. Shit happens even with bombproof plans, so make sure you can accomodate if that happens. Plan your housing, income sources, and curriculum well in advance since those are usually what forces people to drop out the most. Keep relationships and partying to a minimum, you have many many years to do that after college. I don't know much about fraternities/sororities but I do know they are a HUGE time commitment so if you decide to join one, you have to be good at time management. College is NOT like high school in the amount of workload you get, you typically can't wing your homework the night before or in other classes before the one it's due in. Also, study for midterms and finals, winging them like in high school won't work. College is an investment, don't squander it. If that doesn't sound fun, please consider a trade school or internship somewhere, since college lacks work experience and the other options give you a leg up on that, which in most cases is more important anyway. Also, nothing is wrong with chilling for a few years after high school before jumping into college or commiting to another big decision; don't believe that you won't go back to school if you stop. If you want your degree bad enough, you will find a way to go back.

I don't want to tell you what to believe, all I ask is you think it over.

#what's wrong with america #thoughts on stuff

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