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mxpseudonym · 2 years

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The Jaded Hour

Pairing: Luca Changretta x Male OC (or characterized reader)

Reader Gender Expression: he/him pronouns, gay man

Summary: How long has Luca known that The Jaded Hour is a gay bar and why does he go there so often?

Length: 1679

Warnings:

Ask : So my little idea was, Luca, wearing a very nice fashionable red tie and going to a speakeasy, to you know get himself a nice little drink, and has the nice red tie, and gets a few long stares, before someone comes up to him, real friendly fellow whos chatting, asking where he got it or something, they talk, he buys Luca some drinks, he's being nice, and maybe flirting slowly, general stuff, slowly flirting, Luca gets confused and tries to explain he's not into that(he is he's in deep catholic guilt denial about it) but they point out the tie and all that, something happens, maybe they just talk, maybe a kiss or two, something I dunno..

A/N: I hope you enjoy this as much as I enjoyed writing it! I didn’t know how to end it without writing a whole five-part series about their relationship, so hopefully, it doesn’t feel too abrupt. Also, I took some liberties.

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Despite its name, The Jaded Hour was neither a bitter nor worn-out place. It was simply an indulgent speakeasy in the discreet red district of New York that stayed open until 4 am while other above-board establishments were long closed. The Jaded Hour had the means others did not: a high-end guest list, an insomniac bartender, and a frequenting Changretta.

It was the last point that made staying open late a necessity. When Luca snuck away from his responsibilities, it was to make it to The Jaded Hour at 3:30 am in time for the last call. Yet Albert the bartender never griped at him. Even when it was the two of them after 4 am hit, Albert cleaned slowly and enjoyed the conversation, usually.

“I’m telling you, this Count of Monte Cristo thing is incredible,” Luca insisted. His voice was gravelly from the late hour, cigarettes, and old-fashioned, but it added to the ambiance. Meanwhile, Albert raised a tired eyebrow at him while he polished his last crystal glasses.

“You give everyone a reading list?”

“Just you, so you can tell me what you think. I wanna know.”

Albert sighed and looked at the clock.

“Well, I don’t know when I’m going to fit in reading books.”

“All the nights I’m not keeping you up, give yourself something to do,” Luca insisted once more.

“Fine. Fine, I’ll let you know what I think.” Albert couldn’t hide his grin as Luca took a victory swig of his cocktail and then reached for his coat.

“Perfect. Hey, thanks for letting me keep you up all this time, I appreciate it.”

“It’s no problem.”

“Good. Oh yeah, I took care of Jaded’s rent again this month, hope you don’t mind.” Luca winked, not even letting Albert’s protests reach his ears. Albert looked around the empty bar in disbelief, but only for a moment before laughing.

“That bastard!"

Thursday nights were when the red district was at its worst, which meant it was the best night for a thrill. People poured in and out of the brothels and smokey restaurants, with no exception for The Jaded Hour. Albert’s excellent hearing and lip reading saved him and his bartending apprentice as men shouted over each other and the live music at the bar. The music wasn’t his favorite, but it was worth it for the explosion in purchases and tips for the night. But what made it special was that, in many circles, The Jaded Hour was known as the best gay bar in the city.

It wasn’t purposeful, really. But Albert’s acceptance of all to the bar and his dutiful matchmaker capabilities were coveted. Men of all kinds, macho to elegant, blue-collar workers to elected officials, stopped by with a request: could you let me know if you meet anyone for me? And his matches, though simple suggestions at most, were always excellent. Thursdays were a game of rapid-fire hookups, with pointed looks between Albert and those who found someone in the crowd who intrigued them. With a slight nod or shake of the head, Albert gave his recommendations left and right until the sun came up. He had seen it all at this point, and all was well.

Or so he thought.

Albert wasn’t blind. Luca Changretta was a whole package: tall, handsome, smart, and witty. Was he a mama’s boy? Yes. Was his family one of the most notorious mafia rings in the city? OF course. But tall and handsome covered a multitude of sins, even if he was straight. Something Albert was sure of until the very moment the man who was several hours too early for their usual meeting sauntered in. Albert nearly dropped his glass as Luca found his way to the bar.

“Surprised to see me that much? You look like you’ve seen a ghost?” Luca chuckled as he pulled off his suit jacket.

“No, I just am, oh!” Albert nearly jumped when his eyes traveled to the red silk hanging around Luca’s neck. There was no scenario in which Albert could see Luca knowing red ties were the flashing signal to other men that he was open, and then Luca wearing it anyway. On a Thursday. Unless he… no. “That tie you’re wearing? It’s nice.’

“Yeah, I wanted to try something new,” Luca said immediately as if his response was ready. Albert squinted at him for a moment, perhaps a physical attempt to read between the lines.

“I don’t,”

“Here!” A call from the other side of the bar ripped Albert out of his trance, and he left the delicate silk a mystery. The next half hour was a lesson in patience. How many men could send looks of inquiry to just one lone man sitting at the end of the bar? Luca probably caught this much attention everywhere. With every shake of his head, Albert felt his teeth grind. What he couldn’t do, however, is not accept the money when someone sent over a drink.

Albert placed a glass in front of Luca. He ignored the eyebrow raise as he poured the finger of scotch to perfection. He looked at Luca then huffed out a laugh.

“It’s from the man over there,” Albert informed him, nodding in the direction of the sender. “His name is Devin and he’s actually quite nice. He’s also on his way over.”

If Albert could have stayed glued to the conversation he would have, but an influx of people poured into the bar and a fight almost broke out. Every time Albert looked in Luca’s direction, there was a different man. What exactly was he looking for? Albert started giving the go-ahead to those who inquired about his late-night friend, but none of them seemed to work out. Just when Albert was going to give the go-ahead again, Luca stood and sent him a salute before heading out.

It’s not that Albert thought he’d never see Luca again, he just didn’t expect to see him six hours later. Passing Albert’s apprentice on his way in, Luca came in at 4 am with no fear that Albert would kick him out, and he didn’t.

“This really is the best place and time,” Luca mused, looking around at the beautifully empty bar. Albert was already making an old-fashioned when the teasing started.

“Heartbreaker,” Albert teased, “I didn’t know that you enjoyed fruitcake or that you were so picky. Not that I’m sure you know what happened.” The drink was placed before him, and Luca drank half immediately.

“Oh yeah, I picked up on that pretty quickly.” He chuckled. “I didn’t realize there were so many codes.”

“There are, and you chose quite the day to get tripped up in it.” Albert laughed, leaning against the bar.

“It was interesting. I’ve never been interested in men before, but that wasn’t half bad.”

“Really? We get all kinds around here: married ones, ones who like straight men, some who like all types.” Albert listed them off. “I can play matcher for you?”

“Can’t I keep coming here to be with you like this instead? I don’t need a red tie for that, do I?” Luca snipped. Albert just blinked at him. What was this about?

“Not really, not when it’s just me.”

“Just you?” Luca scoffed. “What’s your type?”

“Hm?”

Luca reached up and pulled on Albert’s collar, making the grown man gasp. It took a moment to understand that Luca was thumbing the red pin Albert put on his lapel every now and again. Was it possible that Luca knew what he was doing?

Albert was about to scold him for confusing language when his eyes fell on the chain that was around Luca’s neck. If it was a familiar gold that Albert saw often, at the end of it was the crucifix. He sighed, the Catholics had a specific talent for making bad flirts. He reached for the brandy and took Luca in. There was, also, the possibility that he was wrong and that Luca would deck him. Still, he gathered the strength.

“That’s a good question. I keep finding people I’m not allowed to like.”

“Who is it, exactly, that you aren’t allowed to like? And why did you keep sending me those guys back there? You want to set me up?” Luca accused, not shying away from eye contact like Albert wished he would for just a second, just to let him cool down.

“It sounds like there’s something you want to tell me,” Albert said slowly while reaching up to grab Luca’s hand.

“I’ve never been attracted to men.”

“Okay.”

“But I think we’ve got somethin’ and I want to go after it. But if you’ve got some other idea,”

“You’re the person I can’t like. Because until 7 hours ago I thought you were straight,” Albert explained then leaned closer. “I’m going to kiss you, and you can do with that what you will.”

His lips were on Luca’s before the gangster could say anything, but it only took a second for their lips to slide against each other with equal vigor. Albert could definitively say it was the best kiss he’d ever had, with all of Luca’s pent-up emotion pouring into it. Albert’s hands curled into fists when he felt a hand in his hair and a nip at his bottom lip that was quickly soothed with Luca’s tongue.

“Does this mean you’ll read all of my books?” Luca murmured when he pulled back for a moment. Albert nodded dumbly.

“I mean, I was already going to read them, but goddamn.”

“Good, I’ve got a whole library.”

>> Luca Changretta Masterlist <<

>> Mx’s Main Masterlist <<

>> Mx’s Peaky Blinders Masterlist <<

#Luca Changretta #request fulfilled!#Luca Changretta x male reader #Luca Changretta x male oc #Luca Changretta Imagine #Peaky Blinders Imagine

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groupmains · 2 years

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Hex shards of fate ps4

But at Gray Dawn, by its own pace, it takes a long time to achieve this kind of immersion, and there is usually a lack of involvement when we should be most horrified. This should not be a problem in itself, since there are many ways in which a video game that begins in this way makes us participate in what happens and manages to involve us in the events. So to speak, we jumped on the bandwagon in the middle of the story. But in Gray Dawn there is nothing that makes us feel the latter the game begins when events have already happened about which we do not have any kind of decision, the relationships are already established and the dynamics created. He tends to use psychological terror over the classic jumpscare, which may seem like an improvement, but the narrative prevents player involvement.įor the terror to work, the player must be involved, either by the mere fact of going through a scene in the first person or by feeling empathy towards the character and being affected by what happens to him. Although it has disturbing scenarios, it limits too much when you can feel tense and when not. And Gray Dawn had the pieces to be a great horror game, but in the end it falls into something that seems to not know what it is, because it separates the areas of terror from those of exploration. This is where the developers demonstrate their ability to make you feel tense. Because, as I said in my analysis of The Station, the level design of these types of games is usually what calls me. The other day he wrote on Twitter that “to be a person who gets scared even playing Gone Home, I think too many times buying scary games.” I was indirectly referring to the fact that whenever I look for titles that I would like to try, I end up looking at horror titles. The story is as much about discovering what has happened as it is exploring topics such as guilt or faith, all from the prism of the Catholic religion. Developed by Interactive Stone, this studio based in Romania proposes an adventure that combines elements of horror games with the mechanics of walking simulators. Gray Dawn is a title that is defined as “a religious horror game”. In the same way, we must set out to discover what has happened without being sure what we will find in the end. God sends Abraham, Isaac’s father, to sacrifice him, but at the last moment, an angel appears to prevent him and God tells him not to sacrifice his son, which was a test of his devotion. This name reminds us of one of the stories in the Bible: the sacrifice of Isaac. He is accused of murder, and the story revolves around proving his innocence. Abraham, a Catholic priest, must discover what happened to David, a boy who was exorcised. Continued abuse of our services will cause your IP address to be blocked indefinitely.London, Christmas night, 1910. Please fill out the CAPTCHA below and then click the button to indicate that you agree to these terms. If you wish to be unblocked, you must agree that you will take immediate steps to rectify this issue. If you do not understand what is causing this behavior, please contact us here. If you promise to stop (by clicking the Agree button below), we'll unblock your connection for now, but we will immediately re-block it if we detect additional bad behavior. Overusing our search engine with a very large number of searches in a very short amount of time.Using a badly configured (or badly written) browser add-on for blocking content.Running a "scraper" or "downloader" program that either does not identify itself or uses fake headers to elude detection.Using a script or add-on that scans GameFAQs for box and screen images (such as an emulator front-end), while overloading our search engine.There is no official GameFAQs app, and we do not support nor have any contact with the makers of these unofficial apps. Continued use of these apps may cause your IP to be blocked indefinitely. This triggers our anti-spambot measures, which are designed to stop automated systems from flooding the site with traffic. Some unofficial phone apps appear to be using GameFAQs as a back-end, but they do not behave like a real web browser does.Using GameFAQs regularly with these browsers can cause temporary and even permanent IP blocks due to these additional requests. If you are using Maxthon or Brave as a browser, or have installed the Ghostery add-on, you should know that these programs send extra traffic to our servers for every page on the site that you browse.The most common causes of this issue are: Your IP address has been temporarily blocked due to a large number of HTTP requests.

#Hex shards of fate ps4

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theoi-crow · 3 years

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extremely serious question, nathan! HOW DO YOU GIVE THE GODS HUGS???-WHAT!!? this is like-!! so happy for my heart you must tell me the details<333

Oh my gods, I never realized how much I've been waiting for someone to ask me this! This ask is about this post: (LINK)

I believe developing an emotional connection with the gods can help establish a spiritual relationship that can help one grow, not just as a follower, but as a person as well.

(Like everything else, different followers will have different beliefs and won't agree with the above sentiment, so these methods are for those who want to add them to their practice. Everyone honors the gods differently).

Why these methods were developed in the first place:

I grew up in a very Catholic environment that utilized fear and formality as an appropriate form of worship. This combined with the physical discipline my family incorporated during religious events often left me feeling paranoid about my behavior around religious figures, eventually leading to spiritual imposter syndrome and the inability to talk about my own problems because neurodiversity was a taboo subject since, according to the family priest, would lead to "improper behavior before the Lord."

I wasn't able to be properly diagnosed until years after moving out, and it took me even more years to finally convince my family to seek much needed therapy.

Part of the reason why I was able to do all of this was because Ares taught me:

"Formality does not always equal a good relationship, especially when the follower requires affection to create strong bonds with their gods."

This does not mean that formality never works for anyone because there are people who prefer having a set schedule, strict rules and rituals with a more esoteric or ancient aesthetic.

This post is aimed more toward those of us who feel paralyzed in such environments that lack a more relaxed atmosphere that would allow room for mistakes, practice and improvement. Those who prefer gods that understand our disabilities, executive dysfunction and hold us when the world feels distant.

Depending on the follower and the god:

-Some gods might prefer a more formal relationship while others will hug and hold you as soon as you start crying.

-Likewise, some devotees prefer a more formal relationship while others, like myself, prefer a godly hug whenever I feel like the world is crashing around me.

So keep a clear communication regarding consent, be honest about how comfortable you are with the idea of being hugged and if you're not, please be sure to establish that boundary with the gods.

Note: Boundaries are there to help create clearer communication and will not offend the gods. If you feel like setting boundaries will negatively affect your relationship with the gods, please look into your personal history and feelings with setting boundaries. Oftentimes growing up with authoritative figures like parents, caretakers or teachers who might have caused fear when boundaries were needed, often lead to feelings of discomfort when needing to set spiritual boundaries with beings we perceive to be far more powerful than we are, much like how we previously perceived caregivers when we were children. I talk a bit more about this here: (LINK) and (LINK)

And finally, please be respectful of the gods who do decline affection but also be honest with yourself regarding your needs requiring affection.

For example: As previously established, I have a lot of religious trauma regarding the need to be formal in front of a god. Due to this, I mostly work with gods who like affection while I occasionally work with those who don't because it keeps me from falling back into old religious patterns of guilt and perfectionism.

While there are formal gods who are very understanding of those of us with disabilities, the strict atmosphere makes me forget that my Depression, Executive Dysfunction and PTSD are allowed to coexist within my practice.

A formal form of honoring the gods and a more relaxed affectionate form are just a matter of preference that can also coexist.

There are special occasions where my practice is as formal as a midnight ball while other days, dedicating an act of getting out of bed and high five-ing a god is as spiritual as it gets due to my depression.

So without further ado here are the methods I learned from Ares to show and receive affection:

How to Hug Gods:

The Mental Method:

This is by far the easiest method because it only requires you to imagine you are hugging your god.

You could be doing anything but as long as you imagine you're hugging your god, you're doing it, the god doesn't even have to be present but they'll still receive it, much like a virtual hug.

Pay very close attention to sensations!

Sometimes you'll suddenly get a mental image of a god hugging you or showing affection.

-For example: Sometimes I'll be doing my own thing and suddenly get a tingling feeling on my forehead with a mental image of Aphrodite kissing my forehead.

Sometimes I'll feel Ares' warmth on me much like how he did during this moment, posted by @thepastelpriestess : (LINK)

Note: There are also people who have gods that do not take on a human form when they interact with them: (LINK) If you're someone who has a god that does this, politely ask them to please take on an animal form or whatever other form you associate with them that you're able to hug.

As a child, there would be times where I'd hug Ares in his wolf form.

If you do this enough times, your body will start to remember and be conditioned to mentally see godly affection triggered by your emotions which leads to the next method...

The Emotional Method:

This method is a conditioned response to the previous method but requires you to practice with sensations that get triggered by your emotions. Your emotions can be as simple or as complicated as you need them to be.

You can be happy, mad, sad, etc. You don't always have to stick to just one emotion and it's healthier if you allow yourself to truly feel your emotions. This can also be used as a form of healing in order to process whatever triggered that emotion.

Having a god comfort you during these times can help you feel like you're not alone and remind you that you are allowed to be human in order to really feel your feelings. Especially when society encourages us to ignore our emotions and shames us for having and showing raw emotions.

For example: whenever I start crying, I often sense Aphrodite lending me her lap or shoulder to cry on as she strokes my hair or rubs my back. I also feel Aphrodite when I see something so beautiful it makes my heart feel like it's being filled with warmth while my eyes fill with tears.

This method has helped me on days when I don't know what to do but need the gods to be there for me.

It has also helped me remember that I'm not alone in my journey because it triggers an automatic hug from Aphrodite who kindly reminds me that emotions are there to tell me when it's time to take a step back, take a deep breath, listen to my needs and practice self-care because I'm worth my own love too.

The Physical Method:

This is the most dynamic of the methods and requires something physical to hug. This can be a pillow, a stuffed animal, a willing pet, a willing person, etc.

What you do is ask the gods to temporarily take the place of whatever you're about to hug and hug it.

You can hug it for as long as you two have agreed on (remember to ask for a longer time if you need it, just make sure all parties are in agreement).

This is the first form that I used when I was little because it helped me practice using my imagination because it helps you remember the sensation of hugging or being hugged.

There are other methods as well, but these are the big three that I have been consistently using since I was little.

I hope these helps and please remember that your practice is between you and the gods.

#greek gods #aphrodite #ares #ares devotee #helpol #hellenic polytheism

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tricktster · 4 years

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the twilight series suddenly makes 100% more sense if you read them under a specific premise that, i contend, is heavily supported by the text:

Much like Amy’s diary in Gone Girl, the books in the Twilight Saga are verbatim reproductions of in-universe diary entries carefully and deliberately created and curated by badass unreliable narrator Bella Swan as a means to achieve immortality.

Prerequisite assumptions:

1) Bella actively and persistently wants to become a vampire, both diagetically and (I contend) non-diagetically. The average vampire novel format often fails to capture realistic human behavior in one highly specific area: the protagonists are frequently mortals who grapple with the choice of whether to become a vampire. This is stupid, because being a vampire would obviously be dope as hell; particularly in the Twilight Universe, where vampires are not required to take a human life to survive, and indeed, have the capacity to live full and rewarding lives while integrated* into the human community.

(*integrated-ish; see Assumption 6)

2. There are too many coincidences for Bella to have encountered the Cullens by sheer chance, only to be the ONE person that Edward can’t live without (due largely to the novelty factor of not being able to read her ding-dang thoughts.)

3. Diagetically, the Volturi don’t even know Bella’s psyonic gifts until New Moon, but we also know that the Volturi scour the globe for recruits to enlist into the protection of their governing body.

4. Nobody wants to be a voiceless cog in a bureaucracy.

5. Nobody, and especially nobody in high school, wants to be a high school student forever.

6. Vampires in twilight are, as a group, cartoonishly terrible at disguising their true nature.

7. Forks is a backwater town approximately 3.5 hours away from the biotech hub of Seattle.

7. George W. Bush and Dick Cheney can eat my farts and they deserve to be preserved in this snapshot of an innocent author’s mind slowly unraveling.

Proposed timeline:

In 1993, there is a key system meltdown at a improvised biohacking startup in Seattle, rendering all innovative genetic modification experiments into a puddle of brown sludge that nobody can figure out how to dispose of per Federal regs, since they don’t even know what it is.

The broke founder of the startup, who for the purposes of this timeline I will call Jeff Bezos because that’s who it was, eventually grows tired of all the discussion about what to do, and just pops it in a barrel, drives a few hours out of town, and dumps it in a pond.

Bella Swan, a small child, is hanging out at a park with her family friend Jacob Black (and a ton of his friends) when they all decide to wade in a slightly murky pond. Thereafter, they are transformed.

Bella grows up as a normal, highly powerful mutant with a +20 to deception checks and wisdom saves. She lives in Arizona, but up until 2002, summers in Forks. While in Forks, she picks up on the local lore about a family of vampires who don’t eat people.

Because Forks (population: 17 + Charlie’s mustache) is boring, Bella bones up on the only interesting thing about it, i.e. Vampire Hometown baybeeeee.

In 2000, George W. Bush gets elected president, and his evangelical politics and general bumbling ineptitude informs Bella’s opinions on authoritative governmental entities.

In 2001, the Cullens make their intention to move back to Forks known, but they take a while because they need to pack all their stupid graduation hats and volvos, etc.

Later in 2001, a psychic Volturi scout rolls through Forks to ensure that nobody within living memory recalls the Cullens, and notices an anomaly in the psychic field.

The scout goes to confront Bella about joining the Volturi, and Bella immediately clocks him as a vampire, because vampires in the Twilight Universe fucking suck at looking/acting human. This leaves the scout in a bind: she’s too valuable to kill, but she’s a pre-teen, and therefore too young to be transformed per Volturi authority.

The scout warns her he’ll have to kill her if she discusses the existence of vampires with any human. He then tells her he’ll be back in five years, and begins to sweet talk her on how good life will be when she’s a vampire, beautiful, immortal, powerful, etc. Bella asks if she has to kill, and dude says “nah, actually there’s a bunch of vegetarian vampires who are moving back here soon. Fucking nerds, but otherwise they’re doing well.” Bella is all about becoming a vampire, because Bella is a rational actor.

Bella moves to Arizona, and as the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are unjustifiedly initiated, she recognizes that while she DOES want to be a vampire, she does NOT want to be a foot soldier in any war that she can’t support. She needs a plan.

In 2004, Bella is watching her step-dad’s minor league baseball game when it occurs to her. On her own, she’s a target for the Volturi, but if she had some people to watch her back, she might be okay. Of course, nobody fucks with the Volturi on behalf of some rando human. She’ll need to con her way into a coven who’ll have her back and also give her that +10 to constitution via vampiric transformation, which she desperately wants because she’s a rational actor. And where are the non-volturi vampires that might have her back? Fucking Forks.

Bella moves to Forks in 2004, and upon seeing the Cullens, she immediately clocks them as vampires even though they left their “we’re all vampires” booty shorts at home, because, as previously discussed, vampires in the Twilight Universe fucking suck at looking/acting human.

Bella notes that all the vampires but one are paired off in heterosexual bliss, and takes note of the straggler as a potential vehicle to vampyrdom.

Bella figures out that Eddie can read everyone’s mind but hers, because Edward Cullen fucking sucks at looking/acting like a human who can’t read minds. Bella further observes that Eddie has a huge undead boner for her.

She’s found her mark. Now she just needs to convince him that she’s better off as part of the coven than on her own. Problem: Eddie’s a self-pitying insufferably guilt-striken perpetual adolescent who keeps himself busy by feeling sorry for himself because he’s a vampire, angst angst angst etc etc. Also, I think he’s Catholic, so add some more guilt in. She’ll have to win him over by convincing him that they’re destined to be soulmates.

What does a vampire used to having complete insight into everyone’s mind but his crush’s want? A method to know what she really thinks of him. Bella begins writing a “diary” knowing that there’s no way in hell Eddie won’t sneak in and read it. So she Gone Girls it, and begins to lay a trap to lure him in. That first diary? Twilight.

This was just in the movie but a stoner chases her around with a worm on a stick. Nothing to do with this theory, I just like that part of the movie. Where’s my spinoff about that guy?

Eddie won’t give Bella what she wants (eternal life) by the end of book 1, even though she asks him to EXTREMELY POLITELY. Time to hit the diary with some more promises of undying love.

Bella reconnects with her old friend Jacob and the rest of the Mutated By Jeff Bezos Boys. Alas, they cannot turn her into a physically powerful sexy immortal with a bite, so she’s still stuck with plan A) win over a whole family of vampires with big Mormon energy. It’s the long con.

Edward’s angst abruptly takes a swing towards terminal. He’s absolutely your classic sadboy, perhaps because Bella now has one (1) friend that he knows about.

When Eddie begins to drift away on account of Angst, Bella conjurs up a secondary love interest who, coincidentally, is ALSO a sexy supernatural entity, and is much less coincidentally just Jacob.

We should establish here that Edward is like a 107 year old white dude and so even though Diary!Bella pretends not to see it, Metatextual Frame Story!Bella knows that dude is super racist.

Jacob Black is three things: 1. Like Bella, a mutant (although one with shapeshifting abilities), 2.one of Bella’s oldest and most trusted confidants, and 3. down to clown on an elderly teenage vampire who keeps stereotyping him. Sure, says Jacob, I’ll take the form of a werewolf. He seriously thinks we’re all just beastmen, huh? Hey look at me now, I’m Regis Philbin because this is 2005 and Who Wants to be a Millionaire is still sort of relevant. Sick.

Edward does not like that Bella has one (1) other friend. Bella and Jacob plot to use this to their advantage and lure Edward back on the wings of jealousy.

Eddie gets himself into trouble on account of Angst and poor communication, so Bella has to go rescue him from himself/the Volturi.

Aro finally meets her and gets to test her powers, which impress him. Now she’s back on the fucking radar.

I forget everything that happens in Eclipse, so i have chosen to omit that part.

Eventually she extracts a quid pro quo from Eddie; i’ll marry you if you turn me into a dracula.

We don’t really call ourselves that, Wet Blanket Cullen replies, entirely earnestly.

Bella gets married at 18 in 2006, and Eddie starts to backtrack his promise about changing her. This won’t stand.

Well, look, he’s an elderly guilty catholic/mormon teen who probably still uses super racist terms, but she’s stuck on honeymoon island, he has certain angles that work for him, and seriously what are they gonna do but fuck? Bella’s alternative is listening to her “husband” drone on about his interests, which are almost certainly Car, How Do I Post a Minion Picture on Facebook, and Licorice Used To Be a Lot Cheaper in the Good Old Days.

Whoops a fetus.

Bella recognizes that she’s GOT to have this baby: time’s running out, and Bella knows that at least two of the Vamps in her coven will cut ties if she terminates or otherwise fails to carry this baby to term because of the conservative religious subtext. She’s going to have to stick it out for 9 months, even though it’s a risky call.

Bella gets what she wants after giving birth. “My time as a human is over, but I've never felt more alive. I was born to be a vampire.” That’s a direct quote. Except now she’s got a (pretty cute and easy) baby that she desperately wants to protect from Turning Into A Vaguely Religious Cullen Dressed Head To Toe In Cream Colored Wool.

Bella decides to fake her own death and escape with the kid and Jake so they can form i guess a detective agency. Bella will get “killed” by the Volturi, move to Sydney, and open up shop, and Jake will take the kid after her a few months later.

They’re gonna need a reason why Jake gets the kid though, and there’s only one reason to do anything amongst the Cullens: a heterosexual love interest with a super problematic age gap.

Jesus, Jake sighs, is Eddie really going to believe I’m in romantic love with your actual infant? Does he really think that little of me?

Yup.

Bella tries to draw the Volturi’s attention.

Works too well.

The Cullens call up all their vague acquaintances, who are at least kind of fun. Particularly that one dude who keeps getting angry about British conduct during the American Revolution.

Well, fuck, now the Volturi are bringing an army to fight their ragtag army of Vampires Who Are Cool And Interesting Enough That We Can Safely Presume They Are All Definitely Gay. Bella can’t let those guys die, they’re the first actually compelling vampires she’s ever talked to.

Bella saves the day because she’s OP.

All the Cool Vamps start packing up to leave and Bellz almost goes with them, but the Cullens would just keep sending missionaries after her if they knew.

Bella finishes her fourth journal with the vague warning that the Volturi are still out there somewhere and they miiiight just try and get her.

Two days later, she stages a scuffle and gets the fork out of Fucks. Her journals are the only clue.

Sirius Black and baby nessie follow once edward has stopped sobbing into his cream colored sweater and moved on to Extended Power Pouting.

Bella recruits her own army of fledglings.

Bella stages a coup against the Volturi and succeeds.

Bella sits on the iron throne with a hot lady vampire on each knee and they all kiss and stuff.

Nessie I guess forms a post punk band?

Edward dies from aspiration of a brussel sprout that he ate because he just wanted to feel something.

Charlie and Billy get married.

Charlie’s mustache develops a cult instagram following, providing them with a modest retirement income.

Jacob shapeshifts into Bill Murray and is always crashing weddings.

Bella’s stepdad is off in the B plot this whole time winning the world series with the help of a kooky angel.

There. Fixed. My soul is at rest.

36K notes · View notes

warsofasoiaf · 4 years

Text

The Celtic Tiger - A Kaiserreich Ireland AAR Chapter 6: Three Days in Halifax

“I am a war man in times of war, and a peace man in times of peace.” -Michael Collins

The Second Weltkrieg had seen millions of men dead on every continent save Antarctica. Europe and Asia had turned into rolling battlegrounds of armor and artillery, the fields littered with bodies and the hulks of tanks. The rivers were choked with fuel and blood. The seas could erupt at any time into a sudden death of torpedoes and naval bombardment, and the coasts were saturated with mines. What made the war worse is that it seemed that progress anywhere was slow; countless soldiers were dying for very little gain much like the First Weltkrieg.

The Entente had been suffering a crisis of leadership. The Dominion of Canada had seen setback after setback, and had failed to secure any landing zone on the British Home Isles. The Tories had been unsatisfied with King Edward’s performance and leadership during the war, and this had only exacerbated his low public standing. The king had frequently become a figure of public scandal for being spotted with young debutantes, and had expressed his wish to marry recently-divorced American film actress Constance Bennett. The Church of England had fiercely protested the proposal, as it was improper for the head of the Anglican Church. The Tories and Labour parties both expressed their desires that the King either call off the plans or abdicate the throne. When delegations from the West Indies Federation and the Dominion of India supported abdication, the King knew that his time on the throne was at an end. As 1940 came to a close, Edward formally abdicated the throne in favor of his brother, coronated as King Albert I. “Bertie,” a shy and awkward man, seemed to be ill-suited to lead the country at war. Some of the more militant members of the Canadian Exiles had hoped to install Prince Henry, but the traditionalists among the Exiles and the Tories both shot the proposal down; Albert was the oldest and the true and proper heir, nothing would dissuade them from that.

As his first act upon assuming the throne, Albert ordered an assessment of Entente military capabilities against the Internationale, which ways that the Entente could secure a better forward operating location to prosecute the Reclamation of the Home Isles. Launching from French Algeria and attacking at Marseilles or from Sardinia to Piedmont was fine for the European mainland, but the Home Isles were special. The French, naturally, were supportive of the idea of liberating their homeland first and then launching an attack across the Channel, but that didn’t satisfy the British Exiles. Iceland did not have the infrastructure, and shipping to Norway was considered too far and remote. All options had their own unique undesirable elements to them, and it fell to King Albert to pick which risky option would be the best for his population-in-exile.

Albert’s response surprised international observers across the world, when he formally invited the Reichspakt to discuss “matters of shared concern in the struggle against syndicalism” with a conference in Halifax. Given Albert’s tour of service against the Germans in the First Weltkrieg, everyone thought that there would be too much bad blood for any large-scale Entente-Reichspakt cooperation. The two empires had sworn non-aggression pacts with each other, but that had largely been a practical matter since both empires were waging war with the Internationale and the Japanese Co-Prosperity Sphere. King Albert had potentially offered a further degree of cooperation and coordination with their European rivals, shocking foreign policy observers across the world. This shock was doubled when Kaiser Wilhelm agreed to the proposal. The Kaiser, whose health had been declining due to the stresses brought on by the war, elected to come in person along with his foreign minister.

“The German’s war is not going well. The Communards can afford to keep most of their army on the border and push against the Germans in the west, and the Vozhd can do the same in eastern Europe. But there’s too much bad blood between him and the English. He’ll torpedo the deal, mark my words.” Kevin O’Higgins, the foreign minister, had ruefully predicted. “I doubt the Marcheal will be willing to formally surrender Elsaß-Lothringen to the Germans. There’s too much pride, too many wounds from the First Weltkrieg.”

“I have little hope for them.” Richard Mulcahy agreed. “They can’t even agree on a mediator for the damn thing! The United States can’t be an effective mediator, they’re angry that Germany supported Huey Long. The Danubian Federation can’t be a mediator, they’re long allies of the Reichspakt. Even the International Mandate can’t mediate the conference since they restored British voting rights; their only goddamn job is to mediate between the powers. So now Quentin Roosevelt and Karl I are guests, not arbitrators.”

“Did we offer to mediate as well? I’m certain the Entente would have shut that one down, but I never heard anything about it.” Collins asked.

“They never even bothered to respond.” O’Higgins shrugged, but as soon as he said it, Collins stood up from his desk.

“Their mistake. Mulcahy, look for transit for three to Halifax.”

O’Higgins, mouth agape, could only stutter out, “You can’t be serious.”

“I can and I am.” Collins ordered. “Keep our presence quiet. This will be a conference to remember.”

***

Halifax was an unusual choice for high-level diplomatic talks. Nova Scotia was a rougher province than Ontario, devoted more to resource-gathering and the fishing industry than to high-level diplomatic summits. Ontario seemed like it would have been the first-choice. Quebec had seen riots against the draft for the war effort, but Ontario was still the capital province. But Collins had no experience in high-level diplomatic summits, and never had to set the venue for one. His first high-level summit, in fact, had him walking in as a semi-uninvited houseguest. O’Higgins had been able to bargain for a position with one, having the proposal being floated through Quentin Roosevelt and wielding the guilt of leaving Ireland to dangle in the wind with all the skill of a Catholic mother. King Albert could hardly deny Ireland a spot at the negotiations, not when the war against the Internationale was the chief concern. Ireland had been fighting against them the longest, and had the most experience against the continental armies.

The first part of the day was largely relegated to ceremony. So many visiting heads of state, there was a great deal of pomp and circumstance to go through. A novice observer might have thought it to be a waste of time, but Collins understood the craft of it. Making the Reichspakt nations feel welcome would put them in a more conciliatory mood. Information had always been key in the diplomatic game just as it was in the war. Collins had told Mulcahy to check the quarters that they had been assigned for any bugs, and he could only imagine checking the light fixtures and telephone receivers while he stood in the cold Nova Scotia air and listened to the Royal Canadian Band play the anthems of each of the visiting heads of state.

Collins could hardly get a free moment, he had been a darling in the press for both nations. From his successful handling of Black Monday to his repulse of the Internationale’s invasions with an army almost one-tenth the size of those who he was fighting. The handsome young revolutionary had turned into a seasoned and capable head of state. In both war and peace, there seemed to be no limit to what this man and the nation he led could do. Some Canadians, particularly those British Exiles, had strong opinions about the Ulster peace process. Mercifully, only a few held signs against the mastermind of Bloody Wednesday, far more held signs expressing their support. Collins didn’t doubt that some of those supporters would turn on them should the British King look to re-establish Ireland as a dominion or free state, but that would be a problem for another day. Collins needed to have his head on straight, because one misstep could doom the war effort.

The host for the event, King Albert I, looked young but eager. He looked optimistic, bright-eyed and driven. Past the smiles, Collins could see a man who was deeply troubled and trying his best to put a brave face on the event. As the processions wore on, the king looked less and less comfortable, yet stood proudly for each procession of head of state, with he and the Canadian Prime Minister welcoming each delegation. The plight of such a young king, freshly coronated and now thrust into the largest and perhaps most important conference of his life was sympathetic, even from an English king. When it had been Collins’s turn to be presented to the cheering crowd, he had expected a chilly reception, but he had been pleasantly surprised. He could see a few Irish tricolors being waved by the onlookers, far more than he would have expected from Candians of Irish heritage. When he shook King Albert’s hand, the monarch had told him: “I am pleased that you are here, Mister President. Welcome to the Dominion of Canada.” Collins had decided to maintain decorum by declining to mention that he hadn’t been invited, and had returned the greeting. “I feel quite welcome, your Majesty. Allow me to congratulate you on your coronation.”

The other main luminary for the event was the exact opposite. Kaiser Wilhelm looked tired and worn. He was pale, and walked slowly with the support of his wife and Empress. Collins had guessed that the stress had been taking his toll on the older man. His eyes were sunken and dark, and his mouth was pursed tightly. The leader of the Reichspakt looked like an aging dreadnought, with its sailor desperately bilging out water to keep her afloat. To Collins, the man appeared unsure of what the affair may hold. If he had no hope for the talks, it’s likely he would not have come, but he did not seem to appear conciliatory despite his frail condition. King Albert may have been his first cousin once removed, but that familial relation had meant little to Albert’s father during the First Weltkrieg and would not get in the way of his ambitions to secure Germany’s place in the sun now.

These two titans would be Collins’s targets, not for death but for life. Ireland depended upon a successful negotiation, and he had not come so far to fail now.

***

After the ceremony, a luncheon, and a private visit for King and Kaiser to the coffin of King George V, waiting to be interred in Westminster Abbey, the tall order of diplomatic business began. Both the Entente and the Reichspakt recognized the need for coordination between their armies to better overwhelm the Internationale’s defenses. A reconfirmation of their nations’ non-aggression pacts was a given, but success in this war would require far more than that. It would mean a need for intelligence coordination, military access, and even joint operations between the two alliances. In this statement, both the King and Kaiser were in firm agreement.

However, the exiles in Canada and French Algeria had made it plain that they intended to recover their territories in their entirety, and that this was a hard line for the Entente. Their return to their territories was their primary goal, and the successful conclusion of the war would only be after the rightful governments of Britain and France were restored and their territories returned to their proper administration in their entirety. The Reichspakt protested this; the core goal of the war should be to end the syndicalist menace once and for all, not to restore the British and French governments. “The syndicalists declared wars of aggression against the Reichspakt, along with Ireland and the Republic of Italy,” the Kaiser spoke loudly before a coughing fit brought him to a halt.

“This is true, the Internationale is a threat to world peace.” Collins interjected. He may not have been approved to be a mediator, but he wasn’t about to have the conference die in the first session. “And we cannot lose sight of that. Surely then, there can be something of strategic interest that the Reichspakt could use, that we can confirm by agreement at this conference in exchange?”

The Kaiser had yet to compose himself from his coughing fit, but his foreign minister took charge. “We are prepared to discuss our demands, but we are simply asking that the primary recognition be on the defeat of the syndicalist menace. I believe it is appropriate to turn to the matter of a common cause in the Italian Theater. The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies is prepared to coordinate naval patrols with the Kingdom of Sardinia. Two Sicilies is prepared to maintain the army lines if Sardinia can help maintain clear seas in the Mediterranean. Since the majority of the German and Dutch navies are in the Pacific, Italian operations will depend upon Sardinian and French naval power. We understand that the French strategic direction looks to be a crossing at Marseilles. The Reichspakt is prepared to increase the pressure on the front between the Socialist Republic of Italy and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies to divert Italian manpower away from potentially reinforcing French garrison troops in southern France.”

Collins folded his hands to hide his frown. The Reichspakt knew what it was doing, but Collins didn’t have to like it. Without a hard line of its own to establish, and thus focusing on matters that could have been saved for later, this conference was off to a bad start. There was no question that the German Emprie would have in mind a host of concessions to offer in exchange for taking no territory, particularly from France, and that should have been the first sticking point of the conference. Perhaps the Kaiser had hoped to foster a spirit of cooperation by settling some small affairs first, or perhaps to make the Entente feel invested so they would be reluctant when Germany offered its demands. Perhaps it could have even been considered a good ploy, but Collins thought that the war had no time to waste on such matters.

***

If the first day of the conference was dominated by things of lesser importance, the second day of the conference was sure to surprise Collins in the other direction. The Kaiser, looking much healthier than he had the day before, had opened the conference with his list of demands. “The German Empire demands that, to alleviate territorial concerns, that the Entente recognize colonial possessions currently administered by the German Empire in Central Africa and East Asia as confirmed colonial possessions. In addition, to facilitate the prompt and swift reconstruction of France into the European community, France would join the Central European Customs Union as a constituent member.”

The French government had been taken aback by the request. The recognition and acknowledgement of German colonial gains was an expected demand. With the war currently raging in East Asia, if the Germans were able to successfully fend off Japan and Siam, they would have far more legitimacy than the French held on ever since their successful defeat of the Indochinese Revolt led by Ho Chi Minh. Deustche-Mittelafrika was widely seen as a colonial failure, with the corrupt Stattholders extracting resources from African fiefs. Such lands, even if the Entente could reclaim them, would be ungovernable, especially with a more assertive Somalia and Ethiopia pressuring decolonization efforts and the Internationale’s Anti-Colonialist Committee launching terror attacks in Morocco and Algeria. France still maintained its hold on northern and western Africa, and administered it far more capably. The lost colonies were already lost; there was no need to hold on to them.

Joining Mitteleuropa was the larger concern; it was no secret that while the organizations did benefit all member countries, the lion’s share of the benefits went to the German Empire and several structural rules served no other purpose than to enrich Germany at the expense of the other member nations. Several nations within Mitteleuropa were almost forced to join the union out of necessity in the wake of the First Weltkrieg, and chafed at some of its restrictions. France had protested this requirement, asserting that it had the potential to threaten the recovery of the French government and economy. The Dominion of Canada also had its own concerns, namely how the Mitteleuropa rules and regulations would interfere with the Imperial Economic Development Council, the Entente’s own economic development organization. Much more loosely structured than Mitteleuropa, and centered on economic advisors and medium-term projects, the actions of the IEDC could be seen as a violation of trade agreements and regulatory oversight agreements that were present in Mitteleuropa. “Sorting out the idiosyncrasies of how these two great organizations would interact would take months of policy consultation, something that is well beyond the scope of this conference,” King Albert offered.

“So are the necessary withdrawal arrangements for territories. We understand the need for the details to be sorted. At this point, we are only seeking a pledge that once the French government has fully retaken its position and has successfully re-established governance following the cessation of hostilities, that they will join Mitteleuropa in totality.” The French delegation deferred the answer until the next day, asking its economic advisor to meet with the Canadian Minister of Finance and work out a quick answer as to whether or not such a plan was even feasible. Collins despaired. Had he been named the mediator of this discussion, he would have made sure he understood the various proposals of negotiation before any of them had set foot in Halifax.

“The French delegation makes a sound point,” Collins offered the Reichspakt delegation. “It is worthwhile to understand whether the French government is capable of complying with a demand and maintain its current treaties and commitments. Now, let us discuss shared planning between our nations’ intelligence services. It would be advantageous for us to find ways to streamline the sharing of intelligence gathering for both aerial and naval reconnaissance, and the establishment of signals officers that can ensure ground troops can benefit from enemy intelligence. G-2 has offered several proposals that may be adopted quickly by our respective army signal corps.”

All Collins could do was attempt to keep the discussion moving forward.

***

Deustche-Mittelafrika had been even more fragile than any could have predicted. Periodic mismanagement by the colonial administration, made worse by the disorganized and often mutually-contradictory procedures and byzantine support structure between the regional colonial governors and allied local leaders. The Stathalter, Hermann Goering, had run an infamously brutal colonial regime in his attempt to provide Germany with raw resources. Even domestic protest had risen steadily as word from journalists, dissidents, and other sources continued to trickle in from the dark continent. “Goering has become Kurtz of Joseph Conrad’s novel in every way. He holds himself as the great iron man of Africa, more force of nature than man and every bit as pitiless. He conceives of himself as inseparable from the nation. Rising industrial outputs are the equivalent, in Goering’s eyes, to climbing Mount Kilimanjaro. He holds himself as a vital thriving heart, and purges those who do not think as he does.”

As protests continued to mount, high-level members began to depart Mittelafrika. Ernst Junger, noted author and new thinker, departed for Deutsche Ostasia. The Reformgruppen, an alliance of German colonial officers who supported greater autonomy and partitioning of Mittelafrika, returned home after Goering refused to return to German courts to fight the Black Dossier of abuses compiled by his brother Albert. Theodor von Hassel, who had grown disgusted with Goering, had even publicly spoken of democratic transition. “It is intolerable that Prussia may have a Bundesrat, but nowhere in the entirety of Africa can anyone offer even a breath in its governance.” Famously, he had met with Somalia and had encouraged their own path to democracy, and when their constitution had been articulated, he had gone to Mogadishu and proclaimed Somalia “the bright heart of African democracy.” Somalia had taken those words to heart, and had founded the African League for Democratic Independence, espousing the desire for African nations to gain control of their own governments and achieve ethnic self-determination.

Mittelafrika had debated invading Somalia to end this threat to their colonial overlordship, but repeated flare ups and Goering’s corruption had caused more and more of the component colonial nations of Africa to turn against him. Over the course of one day, spontaneous demonstrations, some believed to be influenced partially by Somalia and Emperor Haile Selassie in Ethiopia, and others believed to be organic, had risen from the Ivory Coast to Nyassaland. Goering had disappeared, and more than a dozen groups claimed to have ended the madman’s life once and for all. The German colonial government had scrambled, with only the Namibian colonial administration holding on to a shred of territory, now called Deutsche-Südwestafrika. The newly independent countries wasted no time both in suppressing their own internal revolts and going to war with each other, and Ethiopia and Somalia had almost declared war on each other.

***

Late into the evening, Collins had sat with the French delegation, drinking wine long into the night and working with their advisors. Ireland had long been a member of Mitteleuropa and had chafed under its regulations just as the other member nations had. The French government-in-exile had been curious to see if the German offer was genuine, but had quickly run into a row when France had brought up that Ireland had not made entreaties to France in the Open For Business Initiative. Collins had tried to defend himself, saying that French Algeria had little in the way of businesses to open in Ireland. At the time Ireland had been courting for investment in 1936, the French exiles had been conducting their own Transsaharan survey, and were building a Algers-to-Mali railway, hardly conducive to opening a business in Ireland.

“I heard the Jacobins had hoped to open an automotive plant in Dublin. Was that true?” came a pointed question.

“They did. While they were sending boys to fight in the United States, fighting my own volunteers, they came hoping to give themselves a place to peddle syndicalism to their employees while they were stuck on the line. I’ll say, telling the Communards to piss off was satisfying. You and I fought on the right side during the Second American Civil War. Let’s fight on the same side again.”

The news of Mittelafrika’s collapse worried the German and Portuguese delegations immensely. The Kaiser had elected not to postpone or abort the proceedings at the Halifax Conference. Collins had speculated that to do so was to declare weakness in the face of the Entente. This had left the state of the conference in a terrible balance; one of the concessions that the Reichspakt had agreed to were the British and French colonies they had taken over after the Weltkrieg and the syndicalist revolutions. With those colonies no longer under their control, Kaiser Wilhelm may have hoped to demand further concessions from the Entente nations in exchange for their support. Collins had advised against it, with the loss of their African holdings the Reichspakt was weaker, not stronger. If the French had accepted the demands for Mitteleuropan membership, then the conference could be successful. They had already secured themselves in Indochina, there was no need to rock the boat further.

“In light of recent events, to further cement ongoing peace between the Entente and the Reichspakt, the German Empire requires the French government to formally renounce their claims to the territory of Elsaß-Lothringen. This will solidify the borders between our two nations and lead to lasting peace in Europe.” Kaiser Wilhelm addressed grandly, much to Collins’s shock. “This will be the German Empire’s final demand.”

The French delegation immediately stood up and stormed out of the council chambers. Collins, sunken-eyed from his late night, called the session for a recess, and sent O’Higgins to talk the French delegate down from aborting the conference altogether. On his fourth cup of coffee, Collins had no appetite as he met with Richard Mulcahy and Kevin O’Higgins.

“What the hell is Kaiser Wilhelm thinking?” Collins tried to keep from raising his voice. “He just lost one of his largest colonies and now he wants to demand more?”

“He’s overplaying his hand. He doesn’t want to appear weak.” O’Higgins offered, trying to explain the Reichspakt position. “And with the loss of the African colonies, he wants to be seen as someone who delivered, not someone who capitulated to the Entente.

Richard Mulcahy shook his head. “I don’t blame him for wanting to project strength. They’re sharks out there and they smell blood.”

Collins scoffed. “Well, he did it in the worst possible way. Looks like I’ll need a secret weapon. Mulcahy, go and grab my bag from the cloakroom. Bring the small brown case.”

***

When the session reconvened, the tension was so thick the room felt like a jungle. Once the session was called, the French delegation immediately spoke.

“I do not see the reason in promoting further concessions. It is evident to us now that the Reichspakt has not come to bargain with us as equals.”

“That is a gross mischaracterization. The Reichspakt has already graciously seen fit to agree to the territorial integrity of the Entente, and sees no reason why it is not also free to claim its own sovereignty regarding its own territories.”

“And demanding that France surrender her economic sovereignty as well?”

“A speedy rebuilding and recovery is in German interests as well as France, and the best way to secure that is membership within the Central European Customs Union.”

As the discussion became more and more heated, Collins, the unofficial mediator, slowly opened a brown case seated on the desk, and pulled out a glass bottle, filled with a dark brown liquid. Few even noticed as Collins took the bottle into his hand, running his fingers over the finely-crafted neck, before taking the bottle, and smashing it as hard as he could against the hard oak table. The loud crash brought every delegate to quiet, and that pause held as the thick smell of whiskey began to fill the room.

“That...was the Cairedas bottle on display in the Dail.” Michael Collins began. “Five years ago, we made four of those bottles to commemorate a spirit of friendship and shared optimism for the future. That bottle was priceless. Now look at it, there are pieces of priceless scattered all over this table. Take a piece of it if you want, go ahead, cut your finger on something priceless and see how valuable it is. Because that’s what we have now, nothing.”

“Every single one of us has reason not to be here. And if that’s all that we have, then this is all we’ll ever be, pieces of something greater made worthless by the struggle. And those pieces will be swallowed up. If not by the syndicalists, by Savinkov. Is that all we are?”

***

It would have been poetic for the sides to have come to an agreement after Collins’s speech, but it had taken several hours of negotiation to work out an acceptable compromise. The Entente formally recognized their lost colonies as German territorial possessions. The Reichspakt agreed to take no territories from the Entente and not to interfere with the rebuilding process of the Entente nations save through mutual treaty, unconditional foreign aid, or private donations. Portugal vowed not to cause or entice any actions against the German colonies in Namibia. France agreed to join the Central European Customs Union, but did not have to leave the Imperial Economic Development Council or the Imperial Scientific and Academic Council, nor did IEDC or ISAC initiatives fall under the jurisdiction of Mitteleuropa or the Kaiser Wilhelm Society. France would also be permitted to maintain all previously existing trade treaties with Entente nations, providing it a significant advantage over other Mitteleuropa member states. Signals operators from each alliance would be detailed to the other alliance’s divisions in the interests of unified communications and joint operations at the divisional level.

Ireland, belonging to neither alliance, would also engage in sharing intelligence with both nations. Entente planes could utilize the air bases in Belfast to support combat operations on the British Home Isles. Ireland would participate in joint planning as a non-aligned full belligerent power. If necessary, the Dominion of Canada could utilize Irish territory temporarily as a staging ground for naval invasions of the Union of Britain. It was certainly not a small sacrifice, but Collins made it gladly.

As the Irish delegation prepared to depart, Richard Mulcahy whispered to Collins, once he was sure that they were on their plane and away from any Canadian microphones placed in their quarters.

“I didn’t know you took the Cairedas bottle from the Dail.”

“I didn’t. I just paid Saorstat to make a replica.”

“You cheeky bastard. What were you going to do if they called your bluff?”

“Thank God, we’ll never have to find out. Come on, we’ve got a war to win.”

---

King Edward Abdicates

Collapse of Mittelafrika

Successful Halifax Conference

Alright, as I said, the format was a little different in this one, wanted to do a little character work for Collins. Less pictures in this one since the game doesn’t really replicate treaty negotiations (hell, it doesn’t even allow non-members to participate, but that wouldn’t do for this AAR) Decided to be a bit showboat-y at the end since in the Anglo-Irish treaty negotiations he was quite the darling of the London crowd. Had some fun playing around with the setting, even if it might get a little past the point.

Two more chapters to go, the war and the peace afterward, plus an appendix to detail my units and my national focuses to give a picture of this new Ireland. Hope you like this one.

-SLAL

#kaiserreich #creative #celtic tiger

21 notes · View notes

tellywoodtrash · 4 years

Text

shaadi mubarak 01+02.09.20 lb

01.09.20

oh ho kusummmm, don't be so rukhiii rukhiiiii. this is a delicate momentttttt.

the actual physical discomfort preeti is in while stepping into the house. my hearttttttt.

kusum is so hella mad and wants to smack the shit outta.... well, someone, that’s for sure.

the actress playing juhi has heavyyyyyyy dalljiet as anjali vibes no?

preeti is having TUMHARAAAAAA SASURAAAAL!!!! waala breakdown. sis chill for a sec.

kusum been knowing that this shit was coming. she looks so damn mad.

priyanka FORSHO has history with tarun. i get the feeling he might have rejected her coz she's not "refined" enough or some such thing.

"beta hi khota nikla toh bahu ko kaahe sunaana?" 100% nailed it.

i fully get how kusum can be perceived as callous but she's just someone with duniya ki samajh and doesn't bother sugarcoating her words for effect. she speaks the plain truth, not what anyone ~~wants to hear.

also she is totallll self confidence goals.

"ram ji ki laathi kaise maathe pe baaji!" lmaooooo

oh no preeti heardddddddddd.

sumedh running to do damage control, bless his heart.

kusum like BRO DON'T YOU TRY TO SHUT ME UP I'M STILL THE BOSS OF THIS HOUSE SO HELP ME GOD

the badly cgi'd exteriors are so blah. like, surely you can devote a day or two to taking some establishing shots and then use them over and over?

poor KT can't shake the visuals from his head.

KT really the rudra of this house huh. a spoilt, doted on lil BABY man.

lol mom and chaachi are instanttttt shippers.

cheesy man has secret center of angst.

ouff again with this sasuraal waala ratttt.

juhi is best beti.

GOD WHO MAKES THESE DUMBASSSSSS FUCKING RULES ABOUT WHO GETS TO LIVE WHERE ITS BLOODY 2020 FFS SOCIETY AS WE KNOW IT HAS COLLAPSED JUST DO WHATEVER THE FUCK YOU WANTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

juhiiiiii asking ALL the rightttt questions.

yes juhi you establish that haq!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

lmao kusum is so me.

great, piyu has a new reason to hate juhi's fam.

GOOD LORD SHE'S SUCH A FUCKING DRAMA QUEEEEEEN. she's second on the list of "ASSHOLES WHO NEED TO DIAL IT DOWN, WAY DOWNNNNNNNNN" after tarun.

kusum trying to find some peace of mind.

oh ho, piyu has a backstory, where she was shipped off to gaon by her parents for some reason. ok i feel a little bad for her (but not thaaaaat much also.)

juhi sambhaale toh kitne maaon ke draamey sambhaale aaj???!

BETI KE GHAR KA PAANI TAK BLAH BLAH BLAHHHHHHH

sumedh ko koi sach mein koi mantriii banao. he is best man for the job.

KT is always expected to perform the dialogues of his movies, like some kinda circus monkey?????

KT and his mom are veryyyyy wholesome.

ummmm, literally none of these people said any of these things, preeti. ainvaaayi khayaali khichidiiiiii of unpleasantness you're cooking in your head.

this fucking samaaaj is the jaddd of allllll problems. fucking burn it all down to the grounddddddddddddddddd.

02.09.20

KT wants to call chaabi waali to check on her. sweet.

great, preeti left her phone over at tarun/rati's.

OMG THIS BITCH. NAATAK?!!?!? MY GODDDDDDD, FUCK YOUUUUUUUUUU RATI.

KT didn't believe a worddddd of that bs.

bless this man's empathetic heart. he Soft.

RATI I SWEAR TO GODDDDDDDDDDDDDD I HOPE THIS GHAR OF YOURS FALLS ON YOUR DAMN HEAD.

and tarunnn, i wish you'd fall into a moat filled with hungry crocodiles.

sumedh is trying to find diplomatic solution while kusum eavesdrops lol.

oh i think sumedh and juhi handle some kinda family business together. sweet.

SUMEDH BE SETTING HUSBAND GOALSSSSSSSS. YOU RAISED A GOOD ONE, KUSUM.

lmaoooooo kusum and her ramji sayings are my fav.

my god, bohut hi besura bhajan chal raha hai subaah subaah.

i wish the walls of this house weren't so AGGRESSSIVELYYYYY BLUE. it makes the space look claustrophobic and dark.

(recently painted an accent wall in my living room, and this comment is a result of having read 30 thousand home decor blogs in a week.)

every time i see that wall hanging over preeti's face in that photo, i lol. kusum you're so deliciously petty.

khatarnaak music and ainvayiiii ka tevar for kusum.

LMAO THE MISLEAD WITH THE TWO MUGS OF TEA. KUSUM YOU PETTY ASS B I LOVE YOU SO MUCH.

juhiiiiiiiiiiiii is literalllll sunshine.

and sumedh got them a special pass to go to some mandir in pushkar. god bless these twoooooo kidsssss.

preeti has enough self-flagellation and guilt to put the best of catholics to shame.

LMAOOOOOOOOO KUSUM RUNNING AWAYYYYYYYYYYYYYY TO HIDEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE AND DO NAATAKKKKK.

i guess to get some attention + to get preeti to stay home with her???

yupppppp, she fully wanted quality time with preeti.

hahahahaha raajeshwari sachdev is honestly a gifttttttt that i didn't expect from this show but i'm soooooo glad it gave me.

askjfhkdsjfshksjf kusum's comments on youngest daughter's (kajal?) dungarees.

kajalllllll fully knows how mummy works. i like her best of the sisters.

"purkhon ne aakhein di hai ya cctv? kuch bhi na chupe thaanedaarni se!" hee hee heee

kusum + kajal tying for best maa-beti jodi with preeti + juhi.

"door se dikhaana tha toh photu kheench ke bhej deti; nimbu kharchne ki kya zaroorat thi???" hahahahahaha

lmao kusum tum juhiiiii ki saas ho ya preeti ki.

GOOD LORD WHAT IS THIS NAAGIN MUSIC?!?!

kusummmm ainvayiiiii mein tang kar-ing preeti to see till what extent she'll bend over backwards to accommodate the nakhras.

i mean, i don't blame preeti for wanting to leave this place.

oh god KT's mom is gonna do some totally unnecessary matchmakingggg. LITERALLLLY WHO ASKED FOR THISSSSSSSSSS??!?!?!

stop calling a 40 year old man A LADKA, jesus. daaant haath mein aa jayenge phir bhi desi maaa ke liye apna raja beta LADKA hi hai.

kusum is totalllly miffed at preeti's over-formal, farmabardaaaar behaviorrrr.

OH HOOOOOO KUSUMMMMMMMM TAAAANA MAT MAAROOOOOOOO

I SHALL NOT BE FOOLED BY THE RED HERRING PRECAP I'M SOOOOOOOOO FUCKING HYPED FOR TOMM'S EPPPPPPPP IT'S GOING TO BE FUCKING GLORIOUS AND BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

#shaadi mubarak #sm lbs #episode liveblogs

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farm2turntable · 4 years

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Frank Sinatra was deeply affected by Frank Jr.’s Dec. 1963 kidnapping. Sr. habitually carried 10 dimes in his pocket thereafter, mindful he might need them for emergency payphone calls.

Below, a transcript of Sinatra’s response to a prison chaplain’s letter.

July 27, 1964 Dear Father Schmit:

Mrs. Sinatra and I were disturbed by your letter of June 27, 1964, written on behalf of Barry Keenan and Joseph Amsler.

Since you have had no prior relationship to the Sinatra family, we assume that it was not the purpose of your letter to give us religious guidance. Accordingly, there could only be two possible purposes for your letter: (1) a request that we forgive Keenan and Amsler, and/or (2) that we take some action to express our forgiveness in order to alleviate the punishment the court has imposed upon them.

At the outset, I feel I must tell you that in my opinion it is presumptuous for you to ask us to forgive them because the very request presumes that we harbor some antagonism towards Keenan and Amsler, or that we have expressed such antagonism, or have otherwise sought to punish them or to encourage their punishment.

During the trial, I resented the fact that the press reported the proceedings in a manner which made it appear that it was a case of Sinatra vs. Keenan and Amsler rather than The People of the United States vs. Keenan and Amsler. It is obvious to me that the conduct of the defendants and their attorneys encouraged the press to write the story in this manner. Therefore, it was very distressing to find that after you had been exposed to them, you have also concluded that this is a case of Sinatra vs. Keenan and Amsler because otherwise you would not make the assumption that we must be encouraged to forgive them.

Mrs. Sinatra and I have been meticulous in conducting ourselves to conform to the decision that we each arrived at independently, that the determination of the guilt of Keenan and Amsler and the punishment to be imposed in the event of their guilt were matters with which we should not be concerned or take a position. We were concerned that the persons accused of the kidnaping should receive a fair and impartial trial and that if found guilty, the punishment imposed upon them be an intelligent punishment. Fortunately, we live in a country that expends great sums of money to assure defendants of a fair and impartial trial. After the trial, we were thankful that a procedure had been established by Congress and invoked by Judge East as to Keenan and Amsler, pursuant to which extensive medical, psychological, and other evaluations were made at the Medical Center in Springfield, Missouri, so that Judge East would have all the guidance that it is humanly possible to make available to assist him in his decision.

From the time our son was kidnaped, we placed the entire problem in the hands of the United States Department of Justice and we were indeed thankful that the Department, through the Federal Bureau of Investigation, was able to return our son to us unharmed. We were also thankful that the kidnapers did not harm our son.

Just as we left the solution to the crime to the FBI, we have never taken any position with the Department of Justice with respect to the prosecution of the persons alleged to have committed the crime and did not in any way communicate with Judge East to make any recommendations whatsoever about the punishment – since we did not think it was within our province to take a position. The crime is not just against the Sinatras, but a crime committed against society with respect to which the excellent machinery established by the Federal Government should function on behalf of society without interference from the victims of the crime or others.

After reading this letter, I hope you will understand why I must resent any statements which imply that there is a need to advise us to forgive Keenan and Amsler and any implication that we harbor any animosity by reason of the kidnaping crime.

In your letter you state that you are convinced that Keenan and Amsler will try to make amends for their conduct and that they have often expressed their sorrow and regret for the suffering caused by the kidnaping and what you describe as “perhaps some embarrassment during the trial.”

Your use of the words “some embarrassment” caused me to wonder whether you fully understand that the defendants Amsler and Irwin by permitting their counsel to make opening statements in court about a “hoax” and to make statements to the press outside the court proceedings about the claim of “hoax,” and the conduct of the defendants during the trial and afterwards has caused the Sinatra family great anguish and suffering. As a result of the conduct of said defendants and their attorneys and the effect this had on the manner in which the press reported the case, suspicion was created in the minds of many people as to the honesty and truthfulness of our son. Nothing has been done by the defendants subsequent to the trial to help remove that suspicion. To refer to this conduct as “perhaps causing some embarrassment” is to indicate a lack of sensitivity as to the harm done by the claim of “hoax.” Aside from what you refer to as “embarrassment,” their conduct in permitting this claim of “hoax” was, in my opinion, another crime against society. This claim meant that both the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation were either parties to the “hoax” or too stupid to realize that the kidnaping was a “hoax.”

In my opinion, Mr. Amsler and the other defendant, Mr. Irwin, deliberately lied on the stand concerning this fabricated defense of “hoax.“ It would seem to me that if Mr. Amsler were indeed sorry and wanted to make amends, he would be man enough to insist that his counsel publicly disclose that the “hoax” defense was a hoax perpetuated by defendants Amsler and Irwin upon the court and the public.

It requires more than expressions of regret to a Chaplain or to others at your Medical Center to atone for sins – particularly when those expressions of regret should be examined in light of the fact that they were being made to persons who are going to write a report upon which the Director of the Bureau of Prisons would prepare a recommendation to Judge East with respect to the sentencing.

As to Mr. Keenan, while he did not testify as to a “hoax,” it would seem to me that he should also be man enough to make extensive efforts to publicize the fact that the claim of “hoax” was completely without substance.

Perhaps the defendants in this case will be able to convince the authorities that must now sit in judgment as to the length of their sentence that they want to make amends to the victims of the crime, but it is my hope that the persons upon whom the duty of making that judgment now rests will impose a stricter test. They have an opportunity to make amends by taking direct and vigorous action to dispel any suspicion that the kidnaping was a “hoax” and that my son participated in the arrangement of his own kidnaping for the purpose of gaining publicity. In my opinion, my son has either gotten over the effects of being kidnaped or will easily get over any adverse effects of the kidnaping since I think he is a strong person; however, unless something affirmative is done by the defendants, the cloud of suspicion which hangs over his head will continue to affect adversely his life and his career.

Up to this time I have remained silent on the subject of the manner in which the trial was conducted and the harm done to my son by the claim of “hoax”, but your letter, written in the name of God, has caused me to break that silence.

 Very truly yours, FRANK SINATRA

Father Roger Schmit, O.S.B. The Catholic Chaplain United States Department of Justice Bureau of Prisons Medical Center for Federal Prisoners Springfield, Missouri

#Correspondence #Catholicism #Frank Sinatra #Kidnapping #Psychic Wounds

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things2mustdo · 3 years

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“White people are terrible,” “I have white privilege,” and “most of the world’s problems are caused by white people” are three general statements countless social justice warriors and their enablers agree with. Yet they are all based on the severest distortion of reality. You or I should no more apologize for being white than an African-American should for being black.

Just as many blacks, Hispanics, and other minorities are made more pliable by the media and the establishment by being told they are eternal victims, white people are made more pliable by agreeing that they need to always feel guilty. Using an SJW “anti-racism” that feels awfully like the leftist version of a Nazi book about hereditary, white people supposedly inherit the evil deeds of dead dudes who owned slaves prior to the Civil War or arrived on a foreign continent in a year like 1492 or 1788.

The establishment-enforced guilt is even greater for those directly descended from such people, but even culturally and genetically unrelated individuals like Polish- and Italian-Americans, whose ancestors pretty much all arrived after periods like the slavery era, are held accountable, too. Why? Even if we ridiculously assumed we can find descendants “guilty” of their ancestry, the white guilt thesis is like putting all of Harlem’s young black men in 2016 under house arrest because 20 of them were involved in a vicious street brawl… in 1937.

Provided you adhere to our creed, neomasculinity and the Return Of Kings community form the broadest functional church you will find. We do not care where you come from, so long as you support our goal of a return to masculine societies that emphasize community-building and do not apologize for taking pride in their own cultures. ROK readers who are black, white, Asian or something else are all equal in this regard.

Here are just three of many reasons why I will not hate or feel guilty about my skin tone.

1. I’m the descendant of victims myself because many of my ancestors were from oppressed ethnic and religious groups

Look at those privileged starving Irish!

Are you heavily Irish-blooded, like me? Italian? Polish? Ukrainian? Were your ancestors Catholics living in heavily Protestant areas, or perhaps Huguenots who had to flee persecutory France?

It’s funny how SJWs prance on about white privilege when over half of all whites who emigrated to America, Canada or Australia, from the Puritans to Yugoslavian Civil War refugees, came because the civilian government or monarchy representing another ethnicity or religion essentially chased them out, had killed their family members, or wanted them dead, too. Many of the white groups who did take the journey, particularly the Italians or Irish, were then subjected to quotas and mistreatment in places like New York for years.

A great deal of my ancestors were Catholics in Prussia and other Protestant parts of northern Germany. This section of my family tree is replete with persecutions, including one great-great-great-great grandfather who lost sight in one eye and movement in his arm after being brutally assaulted by a Prussian policeman. His crime? Being an ethnic German leaving a Catholic church on Sunday in the 1800s. Catholic churches were only for “subhuman” Poles. Catholic Prussians were seen as traitors who belonged in Bavaria, prison, or dead. He ended up eking out an existence as a tailor with one good arm, after both he and his brother were repeatedly refused admission to the civil service for their faith.

In addition, I had Irish immigrant forebears whose fathers, mothers, brothers, and sisters died as a result of the Potato Famine. One of these ancestors, the eldest child in his family, was working in Dublin to make money for the family when, in the space of three months, he received news that his parents, all his sisters, and all but one of his brothers had died from starvation, malnutrition, or diseases related to them.

When my aunt did the genealogy over three years, she counted 37 family members in one corner of an Irish county who died from starvation or starvation-related illness in 13 months. The famine was predicted and even aggravated by the British. Considering the squalor into which the occupiers had driven the Irish Catholics, the whole ordeal was fundamentally caused by them, too. With only an extra mouth to feed, this great-great-great grandfather of mine took his barely school-aged brother with him to Australia two months later. What role did these two have in oppressing others, white or non-white, that I should feel shame about today?

Look further back into my family tree and you find German, Dutch and Swiss Jews, many of whom were shunted around various locations within Europe, depending on what limited patience local authorities had for yarmulke-wearers at the time.

With this lineage, what exactly do I have to apologize for, aside from my supposedly very, very privileged, at best lower middle-class English forebears from drab West London and grim Yorkshire? Most of them never saw a dark person, let alone mistreated one. To boot, the vast majority lived poor, thankless lives without clean sanitation, abundant food, or anything close to job security. And these are the stations in life, through no fault of their own, that 95% of your ancestors reached as well.

2. Minorities and other non-whites frequently treated and still treat each other far worse than white people did

Rwandan genocide, anyone?

From the pre-Columbian Central and South American peoples to the Rwandan genocide, non-whites have very often treated one another even more abysmally than whites have treated them. European technology may have amplified the number of indigenous and other deaths in places like the Americas, but raw hatred, aggression, and the continuity of violence can be found in even greater quantities in non-white historical squabbles.

Europeans have also been incorrectly blamed for things like infectious diseases, despite the scientific work of antiseptic procedure pioneer Ignaz Semmelweiss being years, sometimes even centuries away. Meanwhile, non-whites have been allowed to kill non-whites without serious condemnation from SJWs.

For example, critics of the Iraq War and the attempted rebuilding of post-Saddam Iraq have said that the whole country is based on a fiction that dates back to the European post-World War I mandate systems. In other words, if Kurds, Shia Arabs, and Sunni Arabs inhabit the same country, they kill each other! Whilst it is appetizing for SJWs to blame the big, bad British and French for this, it is far from the truth. Kurds and Arabs have been butchering each other for countless centuries. The greatest Muslim figure of all the Crusades, Saladin, was consistently mistrusted because of his Kurdish origins. Similarly, intra-Arab or Arab-Iranian Sunni-Shia violence is age-old and has little if anything to do with Europeans.

Last year, Rock Thompson wrote a superb piece about the hypocrisy of attacking Columbus Day in the Americas. His work exposed the double standards of many Native American and also Central and South American tribes, who pretend their ancestors were routinely peaceful when, in fact, they regularly engaged in deplorable acts of gratuitous violence, including human sacrifices and the sadistic mutilation of enemies who were not so ethnically different. The conquistadors and Puritans are falsely seen as the harbingers of cultural and racial genocide in the Americas. Local indigenous tribes, however, were already hunting each other down for sport well before the tall ships arrived.

3. White-majority countries make the humanitarian world go round

A tent city the Saudis refused to make available for fellow Arab Syrian refugees.

Whenever you find an aid program for starving Africans, war-torn Arabs, or other suffering people, chances are that a number of white Westerners are behind it. Even if they’re not all white, they invariably come from white-majority and/or white-founded Western countries, or are funded by them. All to assuage the guilt of white people living in 2016 who feel the need to apologize for a European colonial regime that replaced almost always far more brutal indigenous ones.

Western countries also welcome non-whites in droves, both as immigrants and as “refugees.” The recent Syrian crisis is a testament to this (over-)generosity. While Saudi Arabia refused to accommodate fellow Arab Syrians in their already-constructed tent city, used normally for the Haj Priligrimage, Germany and other European states bore the brunt of those fleeing, including through the open door policies of leaders like Angela Merkel.

In general terms, white people care more about the developmental outcomes of non-whites. Wealthy non-white countries like Japan and Korea have perfected a system of meticulously keeping their populations pure and rejecting the asylum claims of over 99% of claimed refugees. This asymmetrical state of affairs is ironic when Japan’s own history of colonisation, notably the Rape of Nanking, is taken into consideration.

White guilt is also very profitable for certain establishment figures and zealous entertainers. It’s why twats like Bono and Bob Geldof get up every morning, after all. And, far from sucking the world dry, white folks have repeatedly tried to make it better. Very often this generosity is taken to an extreme, but the point of white-majority countries acting and non-white countries stalling or ignoring remains valid.

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dreamworksconvict · 5 years

Text

She-Ra: Racism Problem Pt. 2

Thanks to everyone who said nice things about my earlier post!!!! I like am really invested in representation and media so I’m glad it’s being received well.

I also want to add a caveat that I’m not trying to cancel She-Ra. I just want to hold media to a high standard and think that we can critique the things we like.

Next I want to talk about some pretty heavy topics: the White Savior trope and colonialism. Again, I’ll be pretty spoiler-heavy here. I also want to warn people that there will be mention of genocide and antisemitism. I’ll be writing about Hordak in the next part.

In the fourth part I want to add an addendum about Catra being coded as Latina, which I think is a valid interpretation. I also want to talk about the ableism present in the show with both Hordak and Entrapta, which is a separate issue so I’ll label it differently.

Imagine a story like this:

“I am a white-coded, able-bodied, implied cisgender protagonist who has a Special Trait that makes me Stronger and/or More Unique than other characters. I also have some connection to Some Evil Colonizers from Space. Oh no! Some Evil Colonizers from Space have showed up to threaten me and my Token Diverse friends who get about half as much screentime as I do! Wait a second, “evil?” There’s no such thing! They’re only Misunderstood Colonizers Who Didn’t Mean It, and/or there was More to the Story. Maybe they came from a Dysfunctional Family or were Abused/Bullied! I think the people/places they colonized may have been Secretly Bad or Just As Bad all along, too! Wowee! Let’s all have a Heart-to-Heart and/or sacrifice one of my Token Diverse friends to save the day!”

Which story am I referring to? Well...

Voltron... or She-Ra... or Steven Universe.. and probably others...yeah.

(And for those who claim that Keith isn’t the protagonist of Voltron, well... I mean he is... but that’s an entirely different essay. But notice how Lance and Hunk are actually smaller than the other characters on the screen and are partly transparent, and that Allura gets pushed to the back row and is mostly covered? Yikes...)

(On my previous post, someone also noted that Steven is half-Jewish. I was not aware that Rebecca had confirmed this officially. As I am not Jewish myself, I don’t want to speak over this, but I do want to point out that you can be white and Jewish, as it is a Diaspora identity. There are many Jewish ethnicities, such as Ashkenazim, Sephardim, and Mizrahim. I also wish that we had seen more of that in the show--like Steven celebrating Hanukkah, or learning Hebrew, or having a Rosh Hashanah celebration... From what I can tell, Rebecca only confirmed this on a Reddit AMA post. So I don’t know specifically how Steven identifies because that was never clarified in the show, but it seems like he is coded as white. Definitely feel free to disagree, this is just how I’ve interpreted the show, especially given its treatment of colonization.)

On top of all three of these shows recycling a very similar plotline, they all share the White Savior trope. Teen Vogue has an article talking about how this is linked to colonialism and I highly encourage checking that out. I’m going to pull a large chunk of text from there because I think it’s really important and applies to animation, not just live action films.

“Many white people in films based on the stories of POC are often subliminally depicted as godlike saviors, heroes who are rational and judicious to the core. They are usually deified men or women — glorified and righteous — like scripture out of a Holy Book. Look at Hillary Swank in Freedom Writers. The white savior somehow always ends up usurping the narrative. And in this centering of whiteness and white characters, the POC characters end up becoming props, which only perpetuates ideas of our otherness and unimportance, which then establishes a status quo of racism. Whiteness is again normalized, and POC are decentralized. This is particularly problematic because whiteness is not only favored in Hollywood but also in society at large; white privilege is ever-present and ubiquitous.”

Look at the center poster for She-Ra: Adora is pictured in white and gold and red as an accent. She’s bathed in a golden light. This color combination is no coincidence, because we already associate that combination with religious iconography, like the Vatican.

(I also want to make a note that this is specifically associated with Christian/Catholic iconography. A lot of these shows could be classified as antisemitic in their handling of colonialism and genocide. I would argue--and will be arguing in my thesis--that Season 6-8 of Voltron’s plot heavily relied on antisemitic tropes, especially as it related to Lotor and the Alteans. But that’s for another day.) (Also see my discussion of Steven Universe’s Jewish identity above.)

So how exactly does She-Ra follow the White Savior trope, how is it similar to other stories’ utilization of the trope, and how does this all relate back to colonialism? I would say there are two main factors: setting up Adora as a white heroine with a darker-skinned foil (Catra), and setting up a narrative where Hordak “isn’t that bad of a guy, really.” For this part I’m gonna focus on Adora.

1: Adora as the White Savior

Adora is from the Horde. Keith is half-Galra. Steven’s mom is Pink Diamond.

All three of these protagonists have some personal tie or connection to a group of colonizing villains. The Diamonds want(ed) to take over earth and suck the life force from it, as they’d done on other planets. They also used a super-weapon to with the intent to kill all the rebel gems. The Galra created an empire and also sucked the life out of planets. They also created a super-weapon that could kill an entire planet, and had already committed genocide against the Alteans. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Big Bad of She-Ra, Horde Prime, has similar goals. Hordak certainly does.

There is an ever-so-slight separation of Adora from the other two protagonists, who, at the start of the series, do not know they are related to the villain group in some way. (Steven doesn’t know he’s a Diamond.) Adora, on the other hand, starts the series as a villain. She’s part of a group that has actively been fighting and destroying the Princesses and the planet. The first episode notes that she is particularly good at her job, with Hordak nominating her for Force Captain. Adora also notes that “this is what [she’s] been working for her entire life.” When Catra and Adora leave the Fright Zone, it is not out of goodwill. They simply want to go for a joyride on a skiff.

When Adora gains the power of She-Ra, she acts ignorant of the Horde’s actions. The first episode, Adora is completely defensive of Hordak. She even claims that “Hordak says we’re doing what’s best for Etheria.” It is not until the second episode that Adora begins to have any remorse for her actions--but also note that Adora’s main motivation during the first half of this episode is to continue onward with Bow and Glimmer because she wants to know more about herself, not repent for her actions. It is not until the end of the episode that she begins to become a bit more self-aware, but there is a key phrase that Glimmer utters that is very key to the White Savior narrative: “I feel like maybe you’re here to help us.” This line comes after Glimmer apologizes for not trusting Adora. Adora. The Horde soldier. The soldier from the group of colonizers who were responsible for the death of Glimmer’s father.

Ok sure.

Consider how realistic this is. (Not that fantasy has to be realistic, but when you’re working with a narrative based on systemic violence, you need to at least be considerate of how this works in reality.) Adora has been trained to fight and kill Princesses and their allies. She’s been trained to take over Etheria and strategically destroy and/or take resources to weaken them. Yet she acts as if this is all news to her. Suddenly meeting the people she’s been trained to destroy causes her to repent, and suddenly the people who have been victimized forgive her and trust her within two episodes.

Here’s what I think is going on here: given the current hyper-conservative political climate and rampant xenophobia in the world right now, white creators feel the need to put a white person as the hero as if they’re claiming, “See, this character--and subsequently myself--aren’t like those other bad white people!” They want a degree of separation from the reality that they have white privilege and are part of the problem.

There is no truly “woke” white person. White people have been raised in a society where they benefit off the oppression of the chosen “other,” in this case black and brown people. Even if you do your research like I’m doing, you still will mess up. White people cannot rid themselves of privilege no matter how hard they try, because in this current society, the legacy of colonialism, imperialism, and racism have made it so that white people will ultimately be more successful and have more opportunities for success than others. (Also, there is no ethical consumption under capitalism, so even attempts to be considerate about taking advantage of laborers cannot be completely successful.)

All of this results in a lot of White Guilt. Thus, we end up with narratives where the white colonizer character suddenly has a change of heart and fights against the system without really challenging the core mechanics that put that system in place. But fighting against oppression and violence doesn’t make a white person special--it just makes them decent.

It also ignores the fact that white people, to be blunt, haven’t done shit to advocate for inclusion and equity compared to literally everyone else. I want to pull another quote from the Teen Vogue article:

[White saviors] perpetuate an idea that is essentially a historical banner of colonialism: People of color need white people to save them. To this day, some people still latently believe what imperialists such as Rudyard Kipling said, that colonialism was important for everyone: the conqueror and, most importantly, the conquered. That without the colonizers, the colonized had no hope of survival. And by constantly churning out movies with plots in which white people "save" people of color, Hollywood reinforces colonialist dictum.

Why does Glimmer think that they NEED Adora to be saved? Why is this white woman the only one who can do it? Sure, Adora has the power of She-Ra, but remember that giving Adora, a white woman, that power was a CHOICE made by the writers. They could have given the sword to someone else, they could have made Adora a PoC... but they didn’t. So suddenly, because Adora, ex-Horde soldier, is there, the Princess alliance can be reformed, people start working together, the rebellion is saved! etc. etc. etc....

So then it’s extra ironic (and honestly is pretty predictable given this White Guilt narrative) when the White Savior trope goes right along with The Colonizers Weren’t Actually Evil, Just Misunderstood.

This post is way too long so I’ll continue in the next part.

#she-ra #racism #colonialism #white savior

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bigskydreaming · 4 years

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To me the most strange thing about the Dick is a manchild take is that often the same people that say this are the same people that say that Dick's primary characterization should always be as a pillar of support for Bruce and the others. So, basically that Bruce and the others are so helpless that they should be mothered by a manchild. As a preference, I find it it kinda ???

Exactly! There’s no consistency to it, and the thing is, I feel like a lot of people tend to treat Dick as a plot device rather than an actual character in his own right. What I mean is, even in big ensemble fics that feature almost the entire family, when most everyone has their own little storylines, Dick’s sole storyline is acting as a supporting character in everyone else’s storyline. Essentially, its like rather than people going into writing a fic with a specific characterization of Dick in mind already, like they do for most characters, I feel like a lot of the stories out there start with the author figuring out what their plot is, what their preferred characters are doing….and then Dick’s characterization within their fic tends to end up being almost completely determined by what role they want him to play.

Like……as you said, a huge facet of his core characterization is that he almost always prioritizes being a pillar of support for Bruce and the others….but in fanfics, he’s just as likely to be the antagonistic foil that’s causing drama within the family by not understanding Jason or favoring Damian over Tim or whatever…..and its like he ends up that way purely because writers want some internal strife within the Batfam, but they want Tim and Jason to get along, and they want Bruce to interact with Jason as a son and Damian’s too young to cause the kinds of disruptions within the family from internal/ideological disagreements that authors are usually after….so Dick ends up shoehorned into the role of obstinate last holdout getting in the way of the whole family getting along because he just can’t get over himself or whatever.

But then go two fics down from that one and its a whole other ballgame, because in this fic now, Dick gets along with everyone, everyone loves him, but ultimately in the end his lack of contributing to family drama comes from the fact that as far as that fic is concerned, he’s too ineffectual to ever actually be a problem for the family. He’s just kinda there, solely because he was the first kid Bruce took in, but no attention is paid to the fact that he created Robin, DEFINED Robin. And instead the fact that he’s still alive at all is basically implied to be a fluke because he’s not really that bright compared to the others, not really exceptionally talented compared to the others, the only thing he has going for him is he has seniority, and he’s just too gosh-darned happy and perky and nice for anyone to stay mad at for long……so Dick ends up shoehorned here into the role of comic relief, either by cracking jokes constantly and never taking anything seriously for the sake of ‘family morale,’ or just by being the butt of the rest of the family’s constant jokes. With these fics, you get 50/50 odds of it going either way.

And then on the very next page of fics you’re likely to run into one where he’s supportive of all the others rather than antagonistic, yes, and he’s considered competent and effective at what he does, sure, but now with these fics, he’s basically relegated to the role of wallpaper, because the story’s not supposed to be about HIM and the authors don’t want him drawing focus away from their preferred characters. He’s not the character people should be hoping or expecting to see in a starring or even a major role, when reading their fics, is basically what the sentiment feels like there.

Like, he’s there, he’s present, he’s competent and helpful, but it largely ends up feeling like all of that is because ironically, having him NOT be there and coming up with reasons and justifications for that….would draw or require more focus on him than they want to spend. So instead he’s present in the story, but that’s about it.

He largely just….exists, within these types of stories. At best he’s there to be a glorified bodyguard to his various siblings, and be hanging around so that he can swoop in and save them from any major danger that isn’t the direct focus of the plot…..but he has little to no scenes other than ones where he’s directly acting to save, rescue, emotionally support or offer sage wisdom or a shoulder to lean on, for any of his siblings or Bruce himself.

He has no problems of his own, as far as the fic ever mentions, no priorities or personal ambitions beyond ‘always be available for whatever his family needs, whenever his family needs it’ and everything you learn about him in the first couple chapters of that story, when establishing his place/status quo within that particular fic….like, who and what he is and cares about and prioritizes and even just talks about in the first couple chapters will basically still be the exact same things in the final chapters of the fic….because absolutely nothing throughout the fic has actually affected HIM, changed HIM, impacted HIM in any kind of meaningful way that would lead to actual character development or even just….change.

…wait, hang on, I take that back. There is one sizable exception in these types of fics, where there is focus on Dick’s POV and him being impacted by the plot and ‘changing’…..but that exception comes in one form, and one form only: Scenes Where Dick Self-Flagellates and Regrets Being the Worst Brother/Son Ever to Jason, Tim, Bruce, etc. And reflects on how massively he’s failed or let those members of his family down at one point or another in the past, when they have only ever been there for him, consistently, without fail, and thus they deserve better than his previous fuck-ups with them and he staunchly vows to Make It Right and from this day forward, Do Better and dedicate himself to being the best brother, son, blah blah blah that ever lived.

(With the problem being - or well, my problem at least, lol - like…..rarely if ever are these things Dick is beating himself up over, like…actually his fault or things he should feel like a terrible human being for. And granted, Dick has a definite canon tendency towards self-blame and assuming the worst of his own actions and the fallout from his actions, so its not like its out of character for him to be an unreliable narrator in this regard…..BUT like….when you’re using an unreliable narrator to like, beat himself up for being just the worst ever, you kiiiiiiinda need to balance that out with the narrative or someone else in the narrative at some point contesting that unreliable narration…..and being like….what? No??? Omg enough with the Catholic guilt Dick, you’re not even Catholic, and you definitely aren’t responsible for me dying in Ethiopia at the exact same time you were light years away on an entirely different planet, dumbass.” ANYWAY).

So I mean….there are all these various roles Dick plays in different kinds of almost….I wanna say like ‘genres of Batfam fanfiction’……and IMO that’s how large parts of fandom manage to juggle all these completely contradictory views of Dick without ever finding it odd or illogical that he can be considered to be both the Batfamily’s primary source of emotional support one second, and the thorn in everyone’s side the next. Because many people, I feel, just aren’t approaching his character in terms of how his characterization, and thus his presence, would affect their plot, result in specific kinds of dynamics, interactions etc…..rather, they’re looking at it from the complete opposite direction. They do all that with the characters they’re more interested in writing, and then when they have most of it figured out, they basically just pigeon hole him into whatever gaps in the plot need filling, and go with whatever popular take on him is most convenient for what their story still needs or is lacking.

And it all kinda loops back around, I think, to make it this sort of self-perpetuating cycle…..writers aren’t as interested in writing Dick as they are the other siblings because they don’t find him all that compelling, except what they actually don’t find all that compelling is probably more accurately labeled various fanon views of him that have at most just a superficial relationship with his more developed canon characterizations.

But regardless, they’re not that interested in him as a character, due to mostly equating him with fanon takes that prioritize his usefulness as a plot device with ready made connections to most anyone else a fic needs to bring in, rather than trying to view him, understand him and relate to him as an actual character in his own right…..so they too end up also just using him as a plot device rather than try and even just give him some more development themselves.

And it all feeds back into itself, forming this constant feedback loop that’s ironically mostly just fueled by itself, rather than anything outside that loop of perception and perpetuation….like, y’know, his actual stories and his actual well-established dynamics with various other characters.

Its like….you know how sometimes people are like “how would you describe yourself/this person/this character in just three words, like what are the three words that best encompass them in your mind?” Like…..that’s not SUPPOSED to be an easy thing to do. That’s SUPPOSED to be a hard - and revealing - question, because three words is a very very limited frame to try and condense entire personalities into in a way that’s in any way actually specific to them as an individual rather than just a list of generic traits that could equally apply to any number of people.

And yet….I do not think a lot of Batfam fans would consider that a hard question to answer about Dick Grayson, and therein lies my eternal frustration. Like I’m pretty sure we can all predict what a lot of those answers would be: “funny,” “angry,” “cheerful,” “supportive,” “moody,” “hopeful” and various other things related to either 1) Dick the Emotional Support Non-Entity, 2) Dick the Unattainable and Impossible to Match or Even Relate to Standard or 3) Dick the Antagonistic Foil, etc.

But my point is……I do not think a lot of fans would find it difficult to reduce Dick down to just a short list of generic character traits….because that’s the pattern I’m talking about in fics. A huge amount of his depictions in fic could be summed up with just two or three adjectives….because whatever role he’s been designated in a particular fic……that’s it for him, most of the time. As in…..he doesn’t at any point break out of that very specific and definitive box the fic puts him in because its been slated as the role/place/designation he’s most ‘useful’ to the plot and the other characters and the story over all. So whatever he is in that fic….he’s usually JUST that one thing. His actions are usually perfectly in sync with whatever the other characters expect those actions to be, his mood is fairly consistent throughout with very little variation, and his motivations are usually fairly superficial and don’t require a lot of digging under the hood to see what’s really going on deep down beneath his surface level.

*Shrugs* Anyway, that’s my take on all that, and the various contradictions that all conversations about him are practically immersed in, all at the same time. Granted, I’m biased as hell and who can say if I’m actually on to anything there or not, but for me the most telling and pertinent question about fandom’s perception of Dick Grayson is:

When one of the few things everyone can agree on about him is that he’s a natural performer and the face he presents to people around him is often just a mask hiding his true thoughts and feelings….

Why on earth aren’t more writers interested in pulling back the mask and seeing, writing, revealing or expanding upon whatever might be underneath?

Cuz the way Dick’s primarily used in fics literally only makes sense to me if you’re prioritizing his role in fics based on what the plot or other characters require.

Looking at him purely on a character level, in terms of archetypes? “Eternal secret keeper who even (successfully) keeps secrets from the rest of a family made up entirely of people who are both adept secret keepers themselves and adept detectives”…..

Like how the hell do you tell me that archetype’s only narrative appeal lies in advancing everyone else’s plots? For all intents and purposes, Dick is essentially the trickster archetype within the Batfam, innately predisposed to constantly come into conflict with his chosen father figure, given that Bruce in contrast embodies a stern lawful judge type archetype. Thus with the two of them operating off of entirely different world views that nevertheless can overlap just often enough to make that not quite a given….given that trickster archetypes, by their very nature, have flexible alignments and can go in entirely different directions from one story to the next, all while still being true to themselves and their core archetype.

Then you have Jason, with it being hilarious to me that people so often write Jason as being convinced Bruce will never understand him the way he does Dick, that they could never have the kind of bond Bruce and Dick had in his eyes…..with the funny part about this IMO being that Jason is one of the Batfam MOST similar to Bruce, archetype wise. Because Jason also operates almost entirely off of his own convictions, based entirely off his own moral code….WHICH IS THE EXACT SAME THING BRUCE DOES….the only part they actually disagree on is the precise specifics of their two differing moral codes.

Jason has always had FAR more in common with Bruce than he realizes or cares to admit to, and if you look at Dick as a trickster archetype forced reluctantly into the role of arbitrator or peace-keeper purely because there’s no one else stepping up to do the job, even though its not a role he’s ideally suited for because of how it constantly forces him into shapes and actions that are contrary to his own nature and thus result in so much of Dick’s personal conflicts ultimately being with HIMSELF….

….eternally torn between trying to be true to himself and who he wants to be, while at the same time trying to be what his family needs him to be because he’s the only one of them with a track record showing he at least is willing to bend to try and accommodate all their conflicting viewpoints, whereas they all tend to try and just bulldoze each other into submission instead….which never works because they’re all equal parts Immovable Objects AND Unstoppable Forces at the same time…and each too stubborn to admit that their siblings/father/children are just as stubborn and willful as them so they could easily stalemate each other indefinitely, if they didn’t have a mediator present, who has enough flexibility to contort himself into whatever configuration is needed to find some kind of bridge or common ground between two conflicting family members who each refuse to budge even an inch….

Well anyway, my point with that little random offshoot was just that personally, I think Dick gets fed the fuck up with both Bruce and Jason at times and just wants to knock their heads together because its so frustrating to him that neither of them can see how alike they are and thus how they’re always THIS CLOSE to finding common ground, they literally just need to like….each move an inch to the right and maybe pivot like five degrees or less…..lolol.

Anyway. I kinda got carried away there with unnecessary narrative analysis and archetypes and whatnot that literally nobody asked, but umm, in response to your actual message itself….err…yes. Agreed. As a preference, I too find bwuh????? to be the most accurate response to the frigidly cold take that ‘Dick is the emotional support pillar for the Batfam but also Dick is massively dysfunctional and a disaster baby who is literally the worst of the Batfam at taking care of himself and not just dying because his favorite pizza place doesn’t deliver on a Tuesday and he doesn’t know how to get food another way so he’ll probably just starve I guess.’

Oh well.

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beneaththetangles · 4 years

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BtT Light Novel Club Chapter 19: Spice and Wolf, Vol. 2

We started the Light Novel Club with Spice and Wolf, and now we have returned to this classic title for more wheelin’ and dealin’ with a wolf goddess. Joining me are TWWK and Jeskai Angel as we pick apart volume 2…

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1. What are your overall thoughts about this volume?

TWWK: After a slow start, volume two hit me much the same as volume did, with an appreciation for Hasekura’s writing. There were of course moments of action, but most interesting aspects remain related to economics, trade, and culture, and for one with little interest in two of those three topics, I’ve found these novels to be spellbinding. I enjoyed volume two very much.

Jeskai Angel: The good: the first volume’s economic lectures were a bit tedious. For vol. 2, business dealings remained front and center, but this time the story did a much smoother job of weaving the economic ideas into the narrative. Also, I liked Holo and Norah. The rapid escalation of schemes and counter-schemes toward the end of the book was fun. And I like the mysterious, ambiguous way the presence of other supernatural forces besides Holo was worked into the world.

The bad: I remain uncomfortable with the negative depiction of the literal-Roman-Catholic-Church-in-all-but-name, but at least it wasn’t any worse than in the first book?

The ugly: ultimately, despite this volume’s good qualities, I enjoyed it even less than the first book (which I didn’t especially care for in the first place). As for why, well, I’ll talk about the protagonist under the next question.

stardf29: Overall, I thought this was a solid second volume. It started out a bit slow but once Lawrence finds himself in trouble and has to find his way out of it it got more interesting. The wrangling of economics is interesting enough but the main highlight continues to be the developing relationship between Lawrence and Holo.

2. What are your thoughts on the characters (old and new) in this volume?

Jeskai Angel: After reading the first volume, I felt somewhat ambivalent about Lawrence, but vol. 2 solidified my negative outlook toward him. Lawrence is greedy, arrogant, stubborn, selfish, and deceitful. There were signs of these traits in the previous book, but they are more glaring — and, indeed, central to the plot — this time around. Lawrence is a realistic (verging on downright cynical) depiction of how we humans often behave. He’s not entirely evil, having feeble benevolent instincts and a conscience that tends to be ignored, but it’s not enough for me like, respect, or enjoy reading about him. The most positive emotion I could muster toward him was pity, along the hope that if he survives this, maybe someday he’ll grow into a better person. Lawrence’s story is instructive but depressing, a little like stories in the Bible about people sinning. Maybe this pays off with character growth some volumes later, but at least for now, it’s not much fun.

On a more positive note, Holo remained entertaining. The author does a strong job of balancing her ancient wisdom and her youthful mischief. It’s also great seeing Holo endlessly outsmart pretty much everyone, validating her claim to being a wisewolf. Finally, Holo actually seemed more genuinely God-like in this volume. The way she forgives Lawrence and keeps offering him salvation, despite his stupidity and rejection of her and endless dependence on her, is the best part of the story.

Besides the two leads, characters from vol. 1 had no presence. This is logical, in some respects, given that it’s the story of a traveling merchant, but it’s also strange that the author would just dump all the time spent developing characters and setting for the first book. Given the emphasis on travel thus far, I wonder if the series continues with this episodic format, where each volume visits a new city with all new characters, or if the author eventually starts to weave other recurring characters into the tale.

Norah was the standout new character here, a dynamic combination of innocence and naivete with competence and perceptiveness. This actually made her the most unpredictable character in the book. I could never quite tell just how smart and capable versus inexperienced and trusting she really was, and thus couldn’t anticipate what she’d do.

TWWK: I agree with most of your assessments, Jeskai, regarding the characters—first volume included. I couldn’t remember any characters other than the dual protagonists, but the ones introduced in volume two were far more memorable, and particularly Norah. She’s lovable for sure, but because of her capability and somewhat mysterious past, and because of the double-crosses that have already occurred over two volumes, I always had this thought in the back of my mind: “I hope Norah doesn’t betray Lawrence and Holo, but I could possibly see it happening…”

Holo was a pretty awesome in this volume. Her character was rounded out more through this adventure, making it easier to root for her. I’m fact, I wonder if she’s too likeable heading into volume three, an almost-perfect character whose “imperfections” are quirks the readers enjoy.

Lawrence, though, is as imperfect as Jeskai says, but I like that about him. I don’t find anything about him too off-putting. Hasekura has crafted a protagonist who is smart and determined, but constantly learning or being reminded that he’s “not there yet.” Further, the nervousness he sometimes demonstrates adds a cuteness that paints him as a very anime male protagonist, even if the setting of this novel and atmosphere created is very different from the norm.

I like him, I think, for personal reasons as well. He reminds me quite of myself when I was younger—someone always scheming, who thinks of himself as having greater character than he does, and who is not quite as smart as he believes he is. There’s a great amount of pride in Lawrence, as previously mentioned, but he responds well in humility—and that’s a trait I find rather admirable (and lacking when I was the merchant’s age).

stardf29: To start with, given that the story seems to focus around Lawrence and Holo, it makes sense that they are the only returning characters here. That said, Norah definitely was quite a lot more interesting than you’d expect a one-off character to be, as you two have already described. It makes me wonder if, at this point, the author was planning to have her come back in a later volume.

Holo continues to be quite interesting and a lot of fun. As befitting of a deity, she always seems to be a step ahead of the humans around her, whether it be in her knowledge, power, or simply in her social interactions. I get the feeling that I’m starting to get to know what she’s like, but it still feels like there’s a lot more to her I don’t know. And that works well for this sort of “human deity” character. At the same time, we do see some more of her “human”-ness here, with the sense that she cares about Lawrence a lot and wants to be someone special to him.

And now for Lawrence. I still like him overall here as a flawed character, who’s willing to use underhanded tactics when in a pinch but is not so far gone as to not at least feel some guilt when doing so. I do have to agree that this is more of a feeling of “pity” than anything, seeing him do what he does simply because if he doesn’t, there’s basically no future for him. And I do hope that he can eventually find himself in a better position and then, perhaps, he will have a better moral compass to follow. So yeah, I guess I find that sort of character interesting enough to work for me as a main character, and as a counterpart to Holo.

3. Having Holo come to the rescue is a great thrill, but is it a good narrative choice?

Jeskai Angel: Probably not. Holo also really saved the day in vol. 1, but I think it felt quite a bit different because… A. it was the first volume and we hadn’t seen this story before, and… B. even if he wasn’t the lead solver of problems, Lawrence was less stupid and more proactive. There was a better balance between his contributions to the plot vs. those of Holo. The second volume recycled the plot of the first in major ways, but with Lawrence causing more of the problems and contributing less to the solutions, which I think was ultimately unsatisfying. I think another reason why “Holo saves the day” worked better in vol. 1 is that she was more mysterious back then. How smart is she, just what is she truly capable of…these were more murky issues in the first book. Similarly, the help she offered Lawrence was more unsolicited. Those factors helped keep the first volume from feeling like Lawrence just depends on Holo to solve all his problems. In contrast, Lawrence openly, repeatedly relies on Holo in the second volume, and her wisdom and powers have been much more clearly established, leaving less uncertainty about how things will play out.

“Now let me be clear,” I have no problem with a god or god-like character saving a protagonist; such can be an extremely satisfying plot development. For example, what if the narrative were presenting a message about how Lawrence needs to trust a god more instead of putting all his faith in his own abilities? That could be a perfectly fine message. But Holo and Lawrence both go out of their way to downplay Holo’s divinity, which undermines any chance of a “trust a higher power” type of moral. Likewise, there’s no hint of a cautionary lesson about the dangers of excessive self-reliance or some other such thing.

That leaves us with a protagonist who seems kind of cowardly and wimpy as he passively waits for his werewolf girlfriend to fix everything.

So in the end, I hesitate to say that “Having Holo come to the rescue” is a “bad” narrative decision, per se, but I think that choice was implemented in a less than satisfying way.

TWWK: I get what you’re saying, Jeskai, and I don’t disagree. Although you’re much harder on Lawrence’s character than I am, I’m still not real happy with the point, which was said on more than on occasion in volume two, that if things don’t work, it was okay cause Holo could just do everything herself anyway.

However, I do detect a humility in Lawrence that maybe you feel isn’t present. Two volumes have built him up into a good merchant, but one who is still young and relatively inexperienced, meaning that he’ll make good decisions most of the time and then some really bad decisions. When he’s done so, Lawrence has readily admitted what a bad situation he’s put himself in, but that pride he has (and maybe his youthfulness as well) leads him to have this gumption that maybe isn’t supported by reality, as well as forgetfulness to incorporate what he’s learned.

Ultimately, I wonder where the author is headed in all this. I hope that Lawrence matures and is able to both grow and bring something more than simple companionship into the relationship with Holo,while she is used as more than as a terrifyingly awesome deity with a cute side. I would love to see her help him grow so that he can actually save her at some point, and even better, that a situation arises where neither necessarily needs to save the other, but rather a more complicated situation develops that require solving. Two volumes in is both too early, I think, to expect that or to judge whether Holo’s wolf form is used too freely, but it’s not too early to question it.

Jeskai Angel: The same (or nearly the same) behavior can hold radically different meanings depending on context. Thus, Lawrence’s reliance on Holo could conceivably stem from positive sources (e.g. humility), or negative sources (e.g. cowardice). I would say I see how some of Lawrence’s actions have potential to be interpreted as signs of humility. I just didn’t feel like the narrative context gave me much justification for taking that more hopeful view.

stardf29: Holo is literally a deus ex machina. (I feel like I made that joke in the vol. 1 discussion too…)

Anyway, looking at it, it seems to me that the “drama” in Holo’s rescue isn’t actually in whether or not she will rescue Lawrence; that much definitely felt like a foregone conclusion. The drama was more in whether she would kill Norah in the process, which would weigh heavily on Lawrence. So in that sense, the rescue itself was pretty cool in its expectedness (like an OP isekai hero rushing in to save the day), but it still provided just a bit of drama, as it turns out.

(Jeskai Angel: Heh. I remember reading a review of some volume of Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? that complained that the outcome was too deus ex machina. Bear in mind this is a story where like half the supporting cast are literal gods. Forget the “ex machina part,” you can just stop at “deus.”)

4. What are your thoughts on the relationship between Lawrence and Holo as of this volume?

Jeskai Angel: I’m not really clear on the timeline for vols. 1-2, but it felt to me like Lawrence and Holo’s relationship was moving surprisingly quickly. Maybe I missed the indicators of time passing, but in my head, they went from total strangers to seriously caring about each other to open flirting in the space of a week, maybe two. Not saying this is necessarily a bad or completely unrealistic thing, just that it really surprised me. “That escalated quickly,” indeed.

One of the more interesting dimensions to the relationship is how Lawrence perceives Holo. At different points in this volume, he thinks about her as an ancient goddess, a spooky scary supernatural monster, a get out of jail free card, a business consultant, a friend, a woman, an obstacle, and so on. I can’t help but think of the numerous images the Bible uses to describe our relationship with God: he’s our father, king, shepherd, brother, master, high priest, savior, friend, bridegroom, sacrificial lamb, the original of which we are images, the vine from which we grow, and much more. It would be cool if the series didn’t downplay Holo’s deity so much and instead more openly embraced to the chance to explore the true complexities of human-divine relationships.

TWWK: Jeskai’s absolutely right in that the relationship took quite a jump in this volume—I quite liked it, though, for a couple of reasons. I get so tired of how anime (and television shows, especially in the past) skirts around relationship development, titillating viewers and readers with jumps in development before resetting or moving backwards again. It’s annoying and unrealistic. I think the development in volume two is authentic, though. The familiarity and love (romantic or otherwise) between these two has formed by the extent of their sacrifice for one another and shared experience of near-death and disastrous situations and through their growing affection for one another. It’s nice to see, and it allows room for all sorts of growth in future volumes—primarily, toward what it means for a normal man to have a relationship with a wolf goddess.

stardf29: Yeah, things definitely moved quickly for these two, though not so quickly that they’re already engaged/married or anything (I’ve seen my fair share of those in LNs). It’s definitely nice to get some movement in their relationship and not have to suffer through a lot of waffling about, and while it’s moving fast, their relationship still feels believable, at least as much as one can imagine given Holo’s fantastical nature. They’re closer, but there’s still some distance between them, as there should be.

And yes, there are definitely many facets to how Lawrence sees Holo, which is cool to see. At this moment, he still by and large has to rely on her, while understanding that he cannot control her, either. It’s fascinating to see, and again, this is the highlight of this series for me so far.

5. Do you think this series has any relevance for the current real-world economic crisis?

Jeskai Angel: Not really? I mean, there are timeless truths that come up, like the importance of information, but nothing that seemed to have especial relevance to current circumstances. Any attempt to make application from the story is complicated by the fact that many ideas about economics aren’t universally accepted truths. So do we accept all the author’s underlying assumptions? If you made a bunch of economists, businessmen, investors, etc., read this series, I’m confident you’d get a variety of responses disagreeing with various claims made in the story.

TWWK: Beyond the intricacies of economics, I do see a kind a parallel here in how an unexpected fallout affects people. There’s a tone of dread throughout the volume, particularly because of the weight upon Lawrence’s shoulders but also because of his partners in the deal, who were the first to bottom out. With so many losing their jobs right now and suffering so greatly, volume two offers a chance for us to perhaps feel along with them a bit, to experience the desperation that might be experiencing, and more importantly, then, to act and help others.

stardf29: Yeah, I asked this question because I saw how the main conflict came about because of a major event suddenly being cancelled and couldn’t help but think, “well now, that suddenly sounds very familiar.” I suppose it’s true that there’s no real “life lessons” or anything going on here; the characters by and large act in their own self-interest to keep themselves going rather than try to change anything on a greater scale, even resorting to an “illegal” activity like smuggling to get by.

But maybe that is the “lesson” here: by and large, people are going to be concerned about themselves first and foremost. They simply can’t afford to care about everyone else’s problems when their own livelihood is at stake. At most, some people might care about a few others’ plights, like how Lawrence wanted the plan to succeed for Norah’s sake, even if that was largely brought on by the guilt from involving her in the first place. All this is to say that, while we can talk about the greater picture, we have to at least understand that most people are worried about themselves and their own survival, and interact with them with that in mind.

6. What are your thoughts on the illustrations for the Spice and Wolf light novels?

Jeskai Angel: There were illustrations?!

^ accurate reflection of how much of an impact the illustrations had on my experience with the book

I honestly can’t remember any of the pictures, despite having finished reading the book just a few days ago. To be fair, I tend to glance over the illustrations in most of the light novels I read, so this isn’t really a knock on Spice & Wolf in particular, but still, nothing stood out enough that I even recall the pictures.

TWWK: (Bad anime fan, you!) Illustrations are part of what makes light novels special, and Spice and Wolf’s stand out, both positively and negatively. Holo is shown partially nude, and I imagine it’s the same throughout the series, which I think hampers the potential audience for a work that must be packaged as “mature” when the writing is mature in a different way. Imagine younger audiences reading about ECONOMICS? There’s a missed opportunity here.

Otherwise, while I appreciate how the simplicity of the artworks and colors used on the cover convey the same rustic feel of the rest of the novel, they feel quite amateurish. I wonder if the growth of the light novel industry has led to better artists being part of it, because this more classic series features some of the worst art I’ve seen. That said, I haven’t read as many light novels as you two have, so my survey is limited.

(Jeskai Angel: *accepts rebuke* Yes, Twwk-senpai. I’ll do better in the future, senpai.)

stardf29: Looking over the illustrations, and I have to agree that the art isn’t really all that much of a highlight here in this volume. The simplicity of the art style is one thing here, but I think what really hurts the art in this volume is that it is pretty much all just characters. For the most part they aren’t really doing anything, and as a result the illustrations for this book is basically a glorified portrait gallery. (As a side note, there are other light novels that have this issue.)

It’s a bit unfortunate because vol. 1 was actually a fair amount better about this. There were some really nice illustrations there that actually captured events and emotions: ones like Holo clinging to Lawrence that uses a nice three-panel structure, or Holo in wolf form making an attack in the underground sewers. The art style might be simplistic but the pictures themselves are dynamic and interesting and there just wasn’t that in this volume. Hopefully we can see more of the good illustrations in later volumes.

And while in general I didn’t really care for the illustrations this volume, I did like the one of Norah holding her sheepdog. It might have still been more or less a portrait but at least it portrayed a bond between the two of them, so that was pretty nice.

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Thanks for joining our discussion! You can post your own answers and thoughts about the volume in the comments.

On April 30th we will announce our next titles, but here are some clues for those titles…

The cry of Selene

“…suppose that five taxa have been clustered by UPGMA based on a matrix of genetic distances.”

See you then!

#Light Novels #Spice and Wolf #Ookami to Koushinryou #BtT Light Novel Club #Author: stardf29 #Author: TWWK #Author: JeskaiAngel

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free-martinis · 6 years

Link

Words by ROBIN SWITHINBANK

Photography by MATT HOLYOAK

Styling byGARETH SCOURFIELD

“It’s not the kind of thing you’d expect to hear a movie star say, at least, not one who has starred in some of the highest-grossing films of all time. ‘I’m not part of the Hollywood A-list,’ says Martin Freeman, shrugging his shoulders. ‘I’m genuinely not. No. Nowhere near.’

That might sound unduly modest, but the thing is, despite appearing as the titular figure in Peter Jackson’s $3bn Hobbit super-franchise; despite being part of Marvel’s universe (twice, most recently in Black Panther); despite appearing alongside the likes of Billy Bob Thornton (as Lester Nygaard in the Coen-brothers-inspired TV hit Fargo) and Benedict Cumberbatch (as Dr John Watson in Sherlock); and despite being an Emmy and BAFTA-award winning actor (both for Sherlock), he’s not.

‘For a lot of people, the Hobbit was played by Bilbo Baggins,’ he says, that familiar look of knowing resignation writ large across his face. Surely playing the heroic halfling has transformed his career and spun him into the red-carpet superstar galaxy? ‘I don’t know how many people after that thought: “Get me that guy.” I genuinely don’t know. It didn’t feel like it made a massive difference to me. Honest to God.’ Perhaps that will explain where he keeps those awards. ‘On my roof,’ he quips. ‘So people can see them.’

It’s tempting to cast Freeman as unhappy. There’s certainly a tension in him. In person, he’s courteous and engaged – he says words like ‘genuinely’ and ‘literally’ often and fervently – but there’s a sharpness to his opinions, and there’s plenty that riles him. That said, he seems at one with his lot. Mostly. ‘I will allow myself to be proud of that,’ he says of his awards, clearly trying not to big himself up. ‘I do alright. I do OK.’

Martin Freeman might have done some blockbusters in his time, but his first love is independent film. His latest vehicle is Ghost Stories, a proper spooky, throw-your-popcorn-in-the-air fright fest. It’s also an anthology – the fashionable format of our time – featuring the mercurial talents of Paul Whitehouse, Alex Lawther and Andy Nyman. Freeman appears in the third and final act as a wealthy city trader with a ghost problem no prominent psychiatrist has been able to explain. It’s a bleak piece, but it’s funny, too, particularly when Freeman’s natural comic talents are front and centre.

‘People are being hit badly. I’d happily vote for someone who’s going to tax me more’

It is also, for reasons that can’t be explained without spoiling the film, another reminder that the 46-year-old is one of our most versatile actors (‘To be a good comic actor means you’re a good actor, right?’). We spend 10 minutes discussing the film, which Nyman co-wrote and co-directed with Jeremy ‘League of Gentlemen’ Dyson, before it dawns on us that we can’t really talk about it. Not on paper, anyway. One salient detail gets the full treatment, before Freeman jumps in: ‘Don’t give that away, for f**k’s sake!’ he implores. ‘This is my first interview for the film and I’ve already f**ked it up…’

Freeman is not known for his candour. He doesn’t do a lot of interviews and he’s no self publicist (he’s not on social media), only letting it slip that he and Sherlock co-star Amanda Abbington had split after two kids and 16 years together in an interview with the FT a year after the event. Is he with anyone now? ‘Well,’ he says, folding his arms. ‘I would never tell you if I was.’

Conversation about his background and family is therefore a bit stilted. He was born in Aldershot and grew up the youngest of five siblings in Teddington (‘yes, those are the facts.’). His parents split not long after he was born, but he recalls a happy home. ‘We kissed a lot and hugged a lot,’ he says. ‘I mean, it wasn’t The Brady Bunch – we also f**king screamed and shouted a lot.’

They were creative, too, a ‘showy-offy family, no wallflowers’. He’s the only career actor, a path he was encouraged to follow, particularly by his mother, who never got the chance. ‘I was only met with support,’ he says. ‘I didn’t have to leave home, I wasn’t booted out. I know people who faced active hostility from their parents, because it’s so unsafe and it’s in the lap of the gods whether you’ll be able to feed yourself or not.’

These days, Freeman is certainly able to feed himself. Over the past 20 years, his talents have served him well. His big break came in The Office, the mockumentary cringeathon that also made household names of Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant and Mackenzie Crook. ‘I’m very proud of it,’ he says of the show that in 2004 became the first British sitcom to win a Golden Globe for Best Television Series – Comedy or Musical. ‘I still think it’s a phenomenal show. And I still think the central performance [Gervais’s] is one of the best things I’ve ever seen, let alone acted with. I could not have wanted a better break.’

The apocryphal stories surrounding the show are legion, but the one about him originally auditioning to play Gareth, Crook’s character and the butt of all the jokes, rather than Tim, is true. Gervais and his co-creator Merchant spotted something in Freeman audiences have come to know him by. ‘The Office is basically a room full of Laurels and one Hardy, which is Tim,’ Gervais once told The Sun. ‘Tim’s character is pretty common in comedy – that person who thinks they’re better than everyone else, but it doesn’t seem to get them anywhere.’

For a time, it seemed Freeman might suffer the same fate. He became known as the guy that did ‘that face’. He once appeared on Never Mind the Buzzcocks and was invited by host Simon Amstell to do a ‘sigh-off’ with Gavin & Stacey’s routinely put-upon Mathew Horne. Did he worry he’d never lose that tag? ‘Yeah, I was nervous about that,’ he admits. ‘The thing is, I can do that face. But that face, it’s Oliver Hardy’s face. Not my face. He did it 70 years before I did. That’s just me channelling Oliver Hardy.’ Gervais was right, then.

During the mid-2000s, he picked up roles in Love Actually and Hot Fuzz, and played the lead in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Then came Sherlock, The Hobbit, Fargo, the awards and a lot more public attention. ‘I was out last night, having a drink with a friend, walking around town. There are people following you around with camera phones in your face – it’s not pleasant.’

The public is never far from Freeman’s mind. He’s openly political, not exactly in a ‘Ladies and gentleman, the next President of the United States of America’ kind of way (we’ve established he’s not Hollywood – he doesn’t even own a home in the US), but he did front a party political broadcast for the Labour Party in 2015 and endorsed Jeremy Corbyn’s successful leadership bid later that year. A question about fairness opens the floodgates. ‘I do genuinely think this Government is f**king up. I really do,’ he says. ‘And that’s not to say that a Labour Government would be doing much better. But I think people are being hit genuinely really badly, who shouldn’t be. That’s why I’d happily vote for someone who’s going to tax me more.’

Pardon? ‘I think I should be taxed more. I’ve got more money than a lot of people. In my lifetime, there have always been homeless people. Now there’s even more. Food banks, and people being made homeless by not being able to afford their houses, and not enough social housing being made or built, and austerity on and on and on… I don’t know what we expect to happen, but if you’re doing that and cutting the police, what the f**k do you think is going to happen?’

‘We’re getting more polarised. The inability to see the other side is a problem. Social media has helped do away with nuance’

He’s only too conscious of the conflict in being a very wealthy movie star who thinks more should be done to support the disenfranchised. ‘I get it,’ he says. ‘I get why people say: “Who is this prick?” I get it. Most people aren’t as lucky as me. That’s just the truth. So I can see easily why it comes across as pontificating, why it comes across as being champagne socialist. Which is what we’re all called, as soon as you’re not on the dole. If you’re vaguely famous and say anything left wing, it’s a very easy stick to hit you with.’

That’s the natural framework of popular discourse, though, surely? A binary response is easiest. ‘But we’re getting more polarised,’ he retorts. ‘Definitely. The inability to see the other side is a problem. Unless someone is actually driving down your street in a Panzer, then I think you have to keep dialogue. Social media has helped do away with nuance. If me and you have a disagreement here, we can still have a cup of tea. But we do it on social media – then you’re a Nazi.

‘We can’t go on like that. I will easily say I think Trump is a vile pig, but I don’t think every single person who votes Republican is a vile pig. That would be crazy. And I certainly don’t think that about everyone who votes Conservative. It’s not my team. It’s not my party. But do I know Conservatives? Do I like ’em? ’Course I do. Can I not stand some Labour people? Yeah, I can’t stand some of them. So, my hope would be, genuinely, that we start to put our phones down for a minute, and actually not get involved in these f**king wars, which are so safe to have, and so self-righteous… It costs you nothing to be an armchair activist.’

In Ghost Stories the themes of guilt, good and bad and choice run through the piece, holding it together. In one particularly chilling scene, Freeman’s character utters the deliciously portentous line, ‘I didn’t believe in evil until that night…’ He was brought up a Catholic, but isn’t ‘card-carrying’ now. Does he think the film is a modern parable, a wake-up call to burst our secular bubble?

‘Maybe,’ he says reluctantly. ‘I’m one of the only people who I know in my world who isn’t an atheist. I like the questions. That’s where the interesting stuff happens. I’m equally uneasy with hardcore unquestioning atheists as I am with born-again Christians with their hands in the air and their eyes closed. In the same way that yes, I’m of the Left, but there are people and things about the Left that make me very uncomfortable. The sort of unquestioning, demonising of anyone who doesn’t agree with you, kind of thing. I see that in atheists – if you don’t agree with me, you’re intrinsically a moron. And that isn’t helpful. The older I get, the more I realise you need dialogue.’

This, it seems, is the real Freeman. Vocal, ardent, yet nuanced. But he’s not claiming the soapbox. ‘Let’s face it, I wasn’t a very good omen in 2015,’ he says of his virtual doorstepping days. ‘I don’t want my voice to be a political voice. I’m not some political genius. There’s one thing I’m good at, and it’s acting. I have absolute faith in my ability to do that.’

Like it or not, he has a voice. Thank goodness, it’s not the hashtaggable, awards-season friendly voice of many of his fellow actors. He’s more balanced than that. More open to argument. That’s what we saw – and loved – in Tim. In Lester. In Bilbo. In Freeman, we see life’s ambiguousness, its ludicrousness, its ordinariness.

Freeman has to go. He’s got ‘kiddy things’ to do. He’s an active father when he’s not working, and frankly, I’m holding him up. In a flash, he’s gone.

#Martin Freeman #Jackal magazine #interview #link

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pamphletstoinspire · 6 years

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Why Growing Up with Relativism Has Millennials Searching for New Rules for Life

Written by: Isaac Withers

How growing up with ‘you do you’ without ‘practical wisdom’ has left young people searching for rules for life:

‘They try to accuse people like me who believe in empiricism and the enlightenment of somehow what they call moral relativism, as if its some appalling sin, where what it actually means is thought’. This was a statement that Stephen Fry made in the 2009 Intelligence Squared debate entitled ‘The Catholic Church is a Force for Good in the World’ and it captures well the cultural conversation around relativism and truth. Is relativism a damaging and destabilising thing, or is it in fact just free thought?

Well, before we get in to it, a definition for the term would be helpful. The Oxford English Dictionary defines relativism as ‘the doctrine that knowledge, morality, etc, are relative rather than absolute’. Put simply it’s the belief that your morals are not universal truths but are in fact more personal opinions ‘relative to’ or ‘related to’ your upbringing or class. At first that may seem like a totally inoffensive idea but it is a debate that has continued passionately over the decades between liberal and conservative thinkers. Paul Ryan, four years before he became Speaker of the House said, “If you ask me what the biggest problem in America is, I’m not going to tell you debt, deficits, statistics, economics—I’ll tell you it’s moral relativism.” How could this idea possibly be that important?

How Prevalent is Moral Relativism and Why?

Across the generations we can see a statistical rise in the idea that morals are relative. In their research, ‘The End of Absolutes: America’s New Moral Code’ the Barna Group found that over half (51%) of millenials were moral relativists compared to only 39% of the pre Boomer generation of Elders. It is then perhaps not surprising that in Barna’s more recent study of Gen Z (those after millennials) found that only 34% thought that lying was morally wrong. Jonathan Morrow, one of the researchers stated, ‘When only 34 percent of Gen Z can agree that “lying is morally wrong” – that’s a big problem. Not only is our culture deeply confused about moral and spiritual truth, gender and sexuality, but we are getting to the point where no one will listen to someone else’s point of view unless the completely agree with them.’

Young people will also be aware that society has held too collective moral norms that were wrong not too long ago, with Jim Crow segregation laws only ending in 1968 and with marital rape only being made illegal in 1993 (both in the US). Clearly, we have collectively been morally wrong before as a society, which would suggest that morals are relative to the time period.

The Greek Response and the Moral Animals

An interesting counter to the idea that diversity encourages moral relativism however comes from Dr Norman Doidge (author of ‘The Brain that Shapes Itself’). Doidge writes ‘When the ancient Greeks sailed to India and elsewhere, they too discovered that rules, morals and customs differed from place to place, and saw that the explanation for what was right and wong was often rooted in some ancestral authority. The Greek response was not despair, but a new invention: philosophy. For the ancients, the discovery that different people have different ideas about how, practically, to live, did not paralyze them; it deepened their understanding of humanity and led to some of the most satisfying conversations human beings have ever had, about how life might be lived.’

Doidge’s comparison of the ancient response of philosophy, to the modern response of relativism, is really fascinating; that cultural differences in the ancient world did not get rid of long held truths but encouraged comparison and philosophical conversation. That certainly sounds like more fun to me. Doidge continues that, ‘Aristotle argued that though specific rules, laws and customs differed from place to place, what does not differ is that in all places human beings, by their nature, have a proclivity to make rules, laws and customs. To put this in modern terms, it seems that all human beings are, by some kind of biological endowment, so ineradicably concerned with morality that we create a structure of laws and rules wherever we are. The idea that human life can be free of moral concerns is a fantasy.’ Doidge goes on to describe humans as ‘moral animals’.

How has Moral Relativism Affected Young People? All the above quotes from Norman Doidge are actually from his introduction to Canadian clinical psychologist Dr Jordan B. Peterson’s ‘12 Rules for Life: an Antidote to Chaos’. This book rose to be a number one Sunday Times and International Bestseller, and Peterson has been called ‘one of the most important thinkers to emerge on the world stage for many years’ (Spectator). His lectures have been watched on YouTube sixty-four million times to date. His rules for life are ‘traditional wisdom’, presented through the collective stories and religions of many cultures, calling people to unifying human truths and to live responsibly in order to find meaning. Why would this become a sensation – especially among the young audiences he attracts?

Doidge, in his introduction, presents his theory about Petersons’ millennial audience. ‘They are, I believe, the first generation to have been so thoroughly taught two seemingly contradictory ideas about morality, simultaneously… The first idea or teaching is that morality is relative … the additional claim that one group’s morality is nothing but its attempt to exercise power over another group. So, the decent thing to do – once it becomes apparent how arbitrary your, and your society’s, “moral values” are – is to show tolerance for people who think differently, and who come from different (diverse) backgrounds. That emphasis on tolerance is so paramount that for many people one of the worst character flaws a person can have is to be “judgemental.” And, since we don’t know right from wrong, or what is good, just about the most inappropriate thing an adult can do is give a young person advice about how to live. And so a generation has been raised untutored in what was once called, aptly, “practical wisdom,” which guided previous generations. Millennials, often told they have received the finest education available anywhere, have actually suffered a form of serious intellectual and moral neglect.’

When I read that, I totally understood why a book that was just ‘rules for life’ had become a phenomenon – because to progress your life in the right direction, you have to believe there is a right and a wrong direction – a relativistic society would never offer that to young people. But it goes deeper than that too. Peterson believes that without these foundations it is impossible to find meaning in life.

‘In the absence of such a system of value, people simply cannot act. In fact, they can’t even perceive, because both action and perception require a goal, and a valid goal is, by necessity, something valued. … We are not happy, technically speaking, unless we see ourselves progressing – and the very idea of progression implies value. … We must have something to set against the suffering that is intrinsic to Being. We must have the meaning inherent in a profound system of value or the horror of existence rapidly becomes paramount. Then, nihilism beckons, with its hopelessness and despair. … So: no value, no meaning.’

But this is not merely intellectuals making statements about young people; this is what Peterson says young people tell him all the time.

‘They say one of two things … a quarter of them say ‘when I listen to you talk it’s as if you’re telling me things that I already know’. It’s like yeah well that’s exactly right because that’s what archetypal stories are … the other thing that people say and this is more like three quarters of them is ‘I was in a very dark place, I was addicted, I was drinking too much, I had a fragmented relationship with my fiance and I wasn’t getting married, things weren’t going very well with my family, my relationship with my father was damaged, I didn’t have any aim, I was wasting my time – some variant of that. I’ve been watching your lectures, I’ve decided to establish a purpose, I’m trying to tell the truth and things are way better. … People stop me on the street all the time and tell me exactly that story, which is just wonderful! … It’s like the lights are going on.’

New Rules: Guilt vs Shame

And yet, Peterson is not the only sign of a secular reawakening to objective morality. We are seeing this come through on the political scene too in America. In ‘How the American left is rediscovering morality’, you have former Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders saying ‘It’s hard to imagine why anyone would be involved in politics if one didn’t have a moral sense of right and wrong, of justice and injustice’ and newly elected New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez saying ‘Everyone’s going crazy about socialism and democratic socialism. For me, that’s not my seat. My seat is a moral seat.’ Whatever you think of their policies, those are interesting things to say.

In some ways, we are seeing a new emerging culture of moralism, but perhaps in not as healthy a way; David Brooks, in his piece ‘The Shame Culture’ for The New York Times, claims that, ‘College campuses are today awash in moral judgment. … Those accused of incorrect thought face ruinous consequences. When a moral crusade spreads across campus, many students feel compelled to post in support of it on Facebook within minutes. If they do not post, they will be noticed and condemned. Some sort of moral system is coming into place. Some new criteria now exist, which people use to define correct and incorrect action. The big question is: What is the nature of this new moral system?’

Andy Crouch writes compellingly that we are moving from a culture of guilt to a culture of shame. Crouch draws this from anthropologist Ruth Benedict who wrote about her discovery of shame culture in Japan in her 1946 book, ‘The Chrysanthemum and the Sword’. This book, ‘popularized the idea that Japan was a “shame culture,” in which morality was governed by “external sanctions for good behavior.” In other words, you know you are good or bad by what your community says about you. By contrast, in a guilt culture such as the West, you know you are good or bad because of an “internalized conviction of sin”—by how you feel about your behavior and choices.’

Crouch thinks that Benedict’s statements about Japanese culture are ‘sweeping’ but that the insight ‘that some cultures place a higher priority on preserving honor and avoiding shame—has remained.’ Crouch points to the online mob that manifests on social media as proof of this, as well as how university campus controversies egnite so fast. He also claims though, that whereas the opposite to shame in Japanese culture was honour, we are not evolving into an honour-shame culture but ‘are starting to look something like a postmodern fame–shame culture. Like honor, fame is a public estimation of worth, a powerful currency of status. But fame is bestowed by a broad audience, with only the loosest of bonds to those they acclaim.’

Of this theory, Brooks remarks,‘The guilt culture could be harsh, but at least you could hate the sin and still love the sinner. The modern shame culture allegedly values inclusion and tolerance, but it can be strangely unmerciful to those who disagree and to those who don’t fit in.’

How do we help young people in this?

It’s a messy issue, but perhaps the most helpful things the Church can do for young people is offer them a space for the existential conversations, and to offer them that strong guidance on right and wrong whilst engaging their search for meaning.

Bishop Robert Barron sums up the classical morality versus modern morality debate humorously. ‘The modern approach is boring. I say it because it locks the subject so much into himself, there’s no thrilling adventure of discovering formal truth or discovering finality and purpose. All that matters is my little world of my desires, my identity, my sense of myself. I think classical morality … is a much more thrilling, much more adventurous project.’ The Church might first have to convince younger generations that truth exists, or even potentially exists, but when it does that, it also needs to provide a space to explore the different truths in that philosophical tradition. Something like the Alpha course springs to mind here, just the space to thrash the basic ideas out and not be told you are wrong, just to have the conversation of meaning that people are starving for.

Essentially the Church needs to hold to its guns on morality, though it could do with some explanation on the term sin. Again to a generation scared of judgement, sin sounds awful, but its Hebrew origin comes from the archery term for when an archer missed the mark, meaning in a moral sense that sin is a misdirection of our truest desire. An important emphasis too would be that the Church has these morals to protect people from harm. When Jordan Peterson was asked why people are responding positively to his message, he replied, ‘well I’m actually on their side.’ Young people need to be able trust that the Church is on their side, not moralising for no reason, that in the words of Saint John Bosco: ‘Enjoy yourself as much as you like-if only you keep from sin.’

Ultimately, a society without a belief in sin has no need of a saviour, and even Jesus in his famous ‘do not judge’ teaching says ‘why do you observe the splinter in your brother’s eye and never notice the great log in your own?’ (Matthew 7:3) There He’s calling for a deep knowledge of our own flaws first to enable our interior transformation, but He is not refuting that there are things in life that are damaging, as His core teaching was ‘repent and believe in the good news’: that balance of the two.

Peter Kreeft, professor of philosophy at Boston College and The King’s College, says it well in his book ‘A Refutation of Moral Relativism’:

‘What do you think Jesus meant when he said “judge not”? Do you think he meant “don’t judge deed, don’t believe the Commandments, don’t morally discriminate a just war from an unjust war or a hero from a bully?” He couldn’t have meant that. He meant “don’t judge the motives and hearts, which only God can see.” I can judge your deeds, because I see them. I can’t judge what your motives are, because I can’t see that.’

In all this we have to remember though that it is not just about rules and morals, that that is not the primary reason for Christianity. As Pope Benedict XVI put it so perfectly, ‘Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction.’

#relativism and new rules for life

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prinzenhasserin · 6 years

Text

Fandom5K 2018

Dear Writer!

I had so much fun doing this exchange last year, and please don’t feel obligated to use my prompts. This letter is just in case you might want to poke at some more of my likes. Generally, I’m open to a lot, and will be happy with any rating from gen to explicit.

My AO3 account is here. My prompts are pretty ridiculous in places. That’s just how my mind works! Feel free to play them entirely straight, or subvert them to your hearts desire. I’m not so much a fan of darkfic, exceptions apply for hopeful/happy resolutions.

Feel also free to include other characters or OCs as side-characters, if they are necessary because of plot reasons. ❤️

(If this letter cribs a lot from my other letters, it’s because I’m lazy, and my likes don’t change around that much :D You can find some of my other letters under the exchange letter tag. I hope you have fun creating!)

Likes:

loyalty

odd couples!

found family, dysfunctional families that nevertheless love each other

historical stories for same-sex pairings that aren't unhappy but that fit with the society of the time (so like, spinster ladies living together; bachelors-for-life); I also like homophobia-free societies!

cultural differences! age differences! height differences!

heists, rescue missions

character driven narratives

dragons, fairy tales, magical realism, urban fantasy

Space AUs

competent characters

people not realising they’re the most competent at their job/hobby

people failing their way to success

happy endings, earning your happy ending, open yet hopeful endings

cynical humour

mutual pining

everything is better in suits, corsetry, fancy dresses

crossdressing

Identity shenanigans (secret identities, mistaken identities)

Blatant Lies

Enemies becoming friends and/or lovers

outsider POV

epistolary, poetry, unusual narrative formats

orange/blue morality (that is, not entirely human morality); grey/grey morality

non-verbal expressions of affection

Kinks I’m always down for:

wall sex

shifting power dynamics

semi-public sex

lots of foreplay, drawn out orgasms, edging

desperate sex, drunk sex, we-just-can’t-help-it!sex, sex for life-affirming

sex toys

sex toys in public (though I get embarrassed if someone else notices)

DNWs:

infidelity in mentioned pairings

suicide

permanent character death

Yuri!!!on Ice

Pairing: Lilia Baranovskaya/Okukawa Minako

Freeform Tags: Getting Together, Established Relationship, Interpersonal Drama, Smut, Character Development

How do these two know each other? Did they meet when Minako was a shining new ingenue? Did Lilia feel like her position was threatened, or did she teach her replacement? Was Minako perhaps the reason for Lilia/Yakov's divorce, or was she perhaps Lilia's rebound? (I would love if there was a presence of time and place in this, if the characters background would be a strong drive for whatever they are doing, but PWP would be great too)

…they are my favourite pairing coming from Yuri!!! on Ice, because they seem so utterly competent, and have amazing life journeys, and yet they are only hinted at in the series.

I know I don’t want infidelity, except here I wouldn’t mind if Lilia and Yakov are married still (they could be separated, or just in an open relationship, or on their way to get a divorce, too)

Minako seducing an older, more experienced Lilia? Lilia seducing her bright-eyed ingenue

Minako and Lilia competing for the same roles, and admiring each other’s techniques without being able to admit it.

Or, during canon, applying their rivalry indirectly by competing with their skaters?

Les Trois Mousquetaires | The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas

Pairing: d’Artagnan/Athos; d’Artagnan/Jussac

Freeforms: Action/Adventure, Getting Together, Canon-Style Plot, AU - Canon Divergence, Fix-it fic

d’Artagnan/Athos

d'Artagnan pays so much attention to Athos, and his many swings of temperament, and he has such a crush on him! It's hard to tell if he wants to be him, or bang him, and I really really want the latter. When Athos says, he's sworn off of women, what he means, he's only interested in men, right? right? that is to say, I'd love canon divergence, where they end up together (and please, with the possibility of longterm happiness) If you want to set this before Milady's appearance, sure! If you want to set this after Milady's appearance, I would love to see the dramatic fallout of Milady flirting with d'Artagnan, or hurt/comfort after Athos kills his wife the second time.

Treville makes them root out the Cardinal’s spies out of his ranks! They have to spend a lot of time close together; or Treville makes them go on duty together, because Athos is very experienced, and that’s not the only thing he’s experienced with ;)

d’Artagnan needs help managing the estate the King grants him, and Athos lends a helping hand

I like a good helping about catholic guilt, but not just specifically about homosexuality.

d’Artagnan/Jussac

Then, there's also Jussac--and their rivalry is set up so well! The longstanding Cardinal's Guard against the new impulsive Musketeer? Perfection. And then Jussac disappears, and it made me so sad. So, rival hate!sex? Are they assigned to protect someone and have to arrange themselves with each other? Are they banding together for a greater enemy? Is one of them blackmailed for their sexuality, and they can only go to the other for help, because nobody is going to believe the gossip they have about the other? I'd prefer if the blackmail doesn't put emphasis on homophobia, just that the sexual behaviour was not socially acceptable.

They are wooing the same mistress. Because of reasons, they have to hide in her closet together, and the only reasonable recourse of action is banging each other.

Foiling an assassination attempt? getting imprisoned together, because they duelled in public?

I'd also be game for a total AU! But please preserve the general fucked up character dynamics, because they are what I like about this canon.

Gokusen (Manga)

Pairing: Sawada Shin/Yamaguchi Kumiko

Freeforms: Canon-Style Plot, Humor, Mystery/Procedural, Smut, Slice of Life

I want to see Yankumi/Shin as a couple so badly--and I would like to see how they interact with the world. Will Shin become a Yakuza member to oppose his father? Will Yankumi be accused of using the highschool as a Yakuza front? Will she still call Shin to come and help her beat up people when he's a fancy lawyer? How will the other groups react to Yamaguchi's boy toy?

How does Shin convince Yankumi to have sex with him? (A wonderful fic I got was with plenty of bad yakuza movies, which :D :D :D but I am always open for more! Maybe Shin speaks to Kumiko’s competitive spirit? Maybe he asks her to spite the police commissioner, by doing it in his house? Maybe there is some heavy kissing because they are trying to escape thugs/police/Kumiko’s students?) Is he getting kidnapped left and right before they actually get together because all and sundry already think they’ve been doing each other for years?

If they are already in an established relationship, how does Shin deal with Yankumi’s students (especially when one of them develops a crush)?

I’d be also super interested to see how other people view their relationship, like Shin’s father, Kumiko’s grandfather, the other yakuza groups, her students– or simply Kumiko and Shin setting out to fight an up-and-coming group of delinquents, rescuing kittens, or Shirokin, from an overzealous school commissioner?

I have no problems about depicting violence, or graphic criminal activities, but please no major crimes involving children.

Crossover Fandom

Pairings: Elle Woods (Legally Blonde)/Cher Horowitz (Clueless); Jane Marple (Miss Marple)/Phryne Fischer (Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries); John Constantine (Hellblazer)/Severus Snape (Harry Potter)

Freeforms: Canon-Style Plot, Mystery/Procedural, Smut

Elle Woods/Cher Horowitz

I imagine them meeting at a charity dinner, wearing the same dress and insisting that the other wears it better. Or through a sorority donation drive, where Elle lets her car get washed by girls in Bikini, and then they start flirting. Or, if you want to use the other Legally Blonde movie--how about Elle Woods running for Senate, and meeting Cher during a workshop for foreign policy? I'd love to see either one of them running for office, too.

I am here for all the tropes: does one of them have an ex who invited them to their wedding, and they really need a date? high school reunion? stranger at a bar?

Also excellent would be: Elle does criminal law, Cher is in charity work, and they need to solve this embezzlement case.

But I’m also here for the porn, because that would also be amazing. Or like, buying a house together. Getting married. Deciding to adopt a puppy together.

Jane Marple/Phryne Fisher

Do they meet during the war? We know Phryne was an ambulance driver, but maybe Jane's code division was a euphemism for spy work, and Phryne has to get her across enemy terrain? Would also love a story later in their lives, where they visit each other to solve murders and gossip about life.

teaming up to solve a murder!

teaming up to drive a poor inspector up the wall

teaming up during the war, codebreaking! and seeking comfort with each other

they went to girl’s school together, and now have to relive old glory days!

definitely here for Phryne and Jane being each other’s lesbian experience

John Constantine/Severus Snape

It's a pairing with everything I ever wanted: So much inferiority complex wrapped in a shabby facade with too much bravado and not enough sense of when to back down, and they're both such delightful fuck-ups and it's glorious. I mean, this is definitely not the first evil person who John Constantine wanted to fuck, and it's nice that he sometimes helps out with the more structured magic. AU's are great, as long as they both keep their magic, and their general personality. Would also read a Severus-Snape-Lives!AU in which he's resurrected because the devil didn't want him, or whatever, or he goes to the US to hide with a more Legends of Tomorrow!Constantine. Basically, anything is good.

they’d be so glorious together! I’m here for all the fucked-up-ness this pairing can generate

hatesex? sex pollen? :D i hate repeating myself, but really, anything would be great; I’d love a AU in which John convinces Severus to not join the death eaters because they are all wankers anyway

or a AU in which Severus survives and joins John on madcap adventures trying to survive eldritchs horrors

or like, a one-night-stand that ends in Severus hearing the prophecy and defecting from Lord Voldemort

also, I’d love if they’d bonded up over their chavness, or something. really, anything would be great

Original Work

Freeforms: Smut, Getting Together, Mystery/Procedural, Action/Adventure, Humor

17th Century French King's Male Musketeer/17th Century French Cardinal's Male Guard

The Musketeer/Cardinal’s Guard request comes from my love of 'enemies to lovers' and 'love across enemy lines'. The real life feud between the two corps is a great premise for this! I'm more interested in the adventures they have. How do they resolve it? Do they end up getting new jobs, or succeed in ending the feud, or forever pretend to hate each other?

(See also my prompts for d’Artagnan/Jussac for a more specific pairing of this dynamic!)

Some interesting prompts:

The King requests that they work together to... guard a diplomat? foil an assassination? root out some bandits?

They start wooing the same woman, but then it turns into some strange kind of one-up-manship, and then it turns into gay chicken, and then it turns into a proper relationship and when they retire they get a cottage in the woods somewhere

they hunt down the thief who stole the King’s jewels and happen to get into a storm. Luckily, there’s an inn not far from where they are, but when they get there, there’s only one bed...

Art Thief/Museum Curator

This is also an excellent request for enemies to lovers! Do they meet during a casing of the joint, all the while the museum curator thinks the art thief is just a normal art appreciator? Or the Thief becomes an art thief because the museum curator is bemoaning that more and more of the art disappears into private collections far away from the public eye?

I’m here for all the identity shenanigans! maybe the curator realises their new lover is a thief, and they deliberately talk about paintings that they’d like to see, and fake incredulity when they’re suddenly rediscovered?

fake dating that turns into real feelings?

I have no preference for gender combination! I’d love this dynamic absolutely anywhere, anytime. Singapore 2018? Paris 1940? New York 1920? Set in space?

Or like, the museum curator finds them in the act of stealing, and is more upset about how they keep handling the priceless art than the actual stealing (it belongs to the jerkass major who cut funding for the arts, you see)

Master Thief/Put Upon Art Restorer Just Trying To Do Their Job FFS Steal This One Next Week

Basically, the same prompts as above apply! I’m very interested in this rivalry! How does it play out? Does the Thief only steal sanctioned paintings? Does the art restorer understand what kind of power they have?

Is the Thief trying to slowly seduce the art restorer by getting them “new” paintings to restore, and the art restorer is just... very done with this.

perhaps the thief keeps faking these very elaborate paintings, and aging them with all sorts of techniques, and the art restorer is just, like “why would you do this to art?”

Female Mobster/Woman Who Is Running Their Front As A Legitimate Business

I love the dynamic of scary person/person who is not afraid to talk shit about them -- and I can see the endless conflict there could be between the two of them. What is this Front? A restaurant? An orphanage? A charity organisation? Either one would be great, and need a lot of know-how, and the female Mobster can just suck it up and keep hauling in the crates, because they need this, dammit.

One gets kidnapped by rivals, and the other has to go in to save her

the mobster was just looking for someone to run the front-- they don’t need it to make any profit, since it’s just a front, but now it’s evolving into an actual business conglomerate, and all thanks to one woman--success is very attractive

Selkie Pirate Captain

Look, okay, I love Age of Sail, and I love fairytales. I just think the adventures of a pirate captain selkie could be super interesting!

Do they fret about the crew finding out about their secret? I’m very into found family tropes, and it would be very interesting to see how the crew reacts to the reveal. Perhaps they’ve known all along? And tried to protect their captain to the best of their abilities?

The best thing about selkie captains is that they are resistant to sirens, and they can always find the way home, in every storm

I’d read about them going treasure hunting! Or perhaps captain is after a Great White Whale and their life’s mission is to see it dead

would also read a shipfic! (heh)

#exchange letter #fandom5k letter

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