#but i feel like we overcorrect

[daffythefox]

i feel like people say "abuse is always intentional and a choice" because it helps them believe that they haven't and will never abuse someone so long as they believe abuse is wrong.

Do you think every abuser woke up and thought "today I will abuse someone on purpose"? Probably some of them, but not all. Some abusers genuinely think that abuse is just how relationships work. Sometimes kids abuse other kids before they grow up and realize what they did was fucked.

If you decide that abuse means "person intentionally abusing another", what about people who were abused by people who weren't intentionally abusing them? Is that not real abuse?

I'm not saying that you shouldn't be angry at your abuser. I think you should be angry at whoever you want to be angry at. But I think looking back at your actions and checking "was what I did okay? how did my actions impact the people I love?" is very important, especially for people with NPD, where having issues understanding how your actions impact others is a symptom.

Having NPD makes forming and maintaining healthy relationships way harder. I would know. It's also way harder to control emotional outbursts while you're having one (and emotional permanence issues mean once you stop having one, it's hard to imagine what it felt like).

Introspection about why you did the things you did, if/how you hurt someone you care about, trying to make it up to them, and minimizing the chances that it will happen again, are very important. In "npd abuse" spaces, this introspection is usually shut down by "well, if you think you might be a narcissist, you're not one". But I think this introspection can be very helpful, so long as the introspection doesn't begin and end with guilt/shame.

#actually npd #npd #me when i write massive post rambling about things #i just feel like in the NPD tumblr community we're so focused on 'narc abuse doesnt exist' #which makes sense #that is the wider conception of our disorder #but i feel like we overcorrect #''people with npd dont have issues with being in healthy relationships and are always the victims'' isn't a good perception of us either #i have not had coffee yet today #i want to go to sleep #me when i

[honeyblockm]

generalizing statements like 'all men are evil' are for sure wrong but also i think its important not to cut discussions of gender out of the picture esp bc they are extremely relevant in this case as misogyny is a big part of wilbur's abusive actions and the wider discussion of the. social environment of cc spaces that enables things like this. so.

#also i think its important 2 watch how we talk abt this wrt rhetoric abt gender thats veering in2 radfem territory and ableism #but wrt to the gender stuff it feels like some of the stuff on my dash is also touching on being an overcorrection? like. yeah cis men are #not singularly capable of doing abuse but also this is a conversation abt a space wherein cis men are particularly #empowered and protected 2 abuse their power #so. #and also its worth having grace for ppl who may feel particularly sensitive abt this topic and not aggressively police every part of #how theyre responding to this. .um #yens

[volitioncheck]

nvm this is still on my brain. kim does not like to watch harry suffer… to say that kim takes satisfaction in harry’s pain is a huge misconstruing of his character.

the “getting thrashed like a schoolboy” line comes from a board game, lol. it’s a tease, not a cruelty. there’s never any line that implies that Kim enjoys seeing Harry taking actual morale damage.

he can be amused if you fail a check, but the check is always relatively inconsequential, and again, Harry isn’t taking damage in these.

Failing to pry the trash bin open:

Failing to shatter Ruby’s lorry window:

(also in both of these examples he only responds smugly if you choose for Harry to stubbornly dig in his heels. if Harry gets huffy, Kim teases. If Harry backs down right away Kim won’t rub it in, which feels significant to me! it reminds me of that recent post goin around about Kim meeting your energy!)

and here’s some reactions to failed checks where he does take damage.

Failing the jump to get your cloak:

Failing to break down Plaisance’s door:

he’s not laughing if Harry’s taking damage because he’s not a dick lol.

aaaaand here’s some other instances of morale/health damage and kim’s reactions.

alternate dialogue for failing the harbor jump:

after the call with precinct 41:

seeing bullet holes in the wall:

most significant examples to argue this point for me come when harry has done something to jeopardize the RCM’s image. which kim goes on and on about the importance of maintaining— and yet even here, he still extends worry and assurance.

telling Billie about her husband and handling it badly:

hardie authority check failure cock carousel:

aaaaand the car. this line is one of the most mask-off kim moments we get in the game in my opinion, honestly.

tying this back to the schoolboy line— that line doesn’t show up if you have a negative reputation with Kim. if you have <1 rep, it gets replaced with him calling it “about four hours of our lives that we'll never get back,” lol.

it’s affectionate ribbing!! twisting it into anything else is bizarre 2 me lmao!

anyways. kim is a foil to every other cop we meet in the game specifically because he doesn’t view harry as a punching bag or a lost cause. gottlieb does nothing but sling jabs and glib jokes about harry’s health. torson+mclaine and the others laugh at harry’s panic attack over the radio. in response to harry’s suicide-by-car attempt(!!!!) jean yells about RCM budget. all kim’s lines in response to harry’s check failures and health-damage are consistent, explicit textual contrast against the callousness of the rest of the RCM. twisting kim’s character here requires a bad faith interpretation of the whole game.

#disco elysium #kim kitsuragi #sometimes i think that fandom Hot Takes get posted just for the sake of contrasting with the majority interpretation of the media #which can be fun lol. i personally love being a pretentious contrarian when the shoe fits. #keyword when the shoe fits #sometimes it just comes off as #the thing where positive interpretations of the thing are somehow seen as lesser or naive #which i feel is so antithetical to DE’s core philosophy #it’s not naive to interpret a hopeful story as hopeful #it’s not naive to interpret a kind character as indeed kind #kindness has as much literary value as cruelty in storytelling #overcorrecting for the sake of overcorrecting in this case just feels very. meanspirited #i don’t want to come off as antagonizing because we are all just posting about a video game on tumblr dot com at the end of the day #it’s okay to Have Differing Opinions On Media #but like. there’s a reason the post Did Not Resonate lol #oh also if anyone has a link to the other post i referenced i’d love to link it in the post properly i just couldn’t find it </3 #me talking

[musical-chick-13]

"This show is SO good, you should watch it!!"

I gotta be honest. If I look at a character list on Wikipedia and get five characters down without seeing a single woman, it's probably not for me.

#I have no patience for 'there is exactly one woman in the main/supporting cast' anymore #unless the writing is INCREDIBLE and the themes are explored with a type of depth and nuance I can't get anywhere else (like shiki) #(daily media plug for shiki) #then I just. probably will not vibe with it. if there are no women. (also shiki DOES have interesting female characters in it) #and this isn't to say that like. things involving men or talking about men or that have a male protagonist are Not Worth #My Time that is NOT what I'm saying at all. I just want like. several women. who show up and affect the story. like LITERALLY that is all I #am asking for. I feel like that's just. the bare minimum. but alas. #mel screams about fictional ladies again #there are plenty of things that are male-character-focused that I enjoy and even genuinely think are good! but I do want people to #ask themselves why they aren't willing to go to bat for media that DOES have more women in the cast than men. #(I mean. the answer is misogyny. but I want people to be. aware of that. and evaluate accordingly) #(evaluate meaning 'acknowledge I have some biases I need to continue deconstructing' not 'drop interest in everything tumblr #user musical-chick-13 personally doesn't like') #I feel like so many times we get trapped in this space between overcorrection via 'don't like ANYTHING that's pRoBLeMaTiC in ANY way' #and people taking the 'it's fiction it's not that deep' to the conclusion of 'because I cannot actually hurt fictional characters because #they're not real that means I am incapable of hurting irl people when they talk about those characters' #like there is. nuance here. there is a middle ground. and most people have NO interest in finding it lmao #and like...if you carry your biases from irl (which EVERYONE HAS. INCLUDING ME. COURTESY OF LIVING IN A PREJUDICED SOCIETY.) into a #direct and one-to-one evaluation of stories or characters that allow you to exercise those biased ideas. then that reinforces those biases #like. no hating...for example every anime lady isn't the same as structural misogyny like the pay gap or anti-women violence #but if you automatically associate the idea of 'female character' with 'lesser-than' it strengthens the already-present societal idea that #women are not as important or dynamic or worthy of support and attention as their male peers. if you are willing to see every (white) #fictional man as having interiority and depth but struggle to see that in any fictional woman then it adds to the things society is already #telling us about women. it creates an association of 'women' with 'inferiority' and uh. that's what misogyny is. #it is not the same as misogynistic crimes against irl women but it IS a reflection of the rhetoric and societal impulses that lead to them #and even if it's a reflection and not the actual thing. it's still important to break down and examine and reevaluate because #if we don't examine our OWN biases. then even if we tear down the greater oppressive structure we'll just end up building it back up again #no your thousands of words of m/m fanfiction or liking late 2000s shonen anime isn't responsible for misogyny nor are these things #inherently misogynistic. I just want like. some acknowledgement that something being 'for fun' doesn't automatically mean that bias/ #prejudice is nowhere to be found

[paleode-ology]

unsure if I’m being normal, extremely weird, or just neurodivergent rn send help

#ode by ode #am I crazy or is this normal but I think so little of myself that I���m convincing myself I’m being weird #OR is this weird but bc I know my threshold for normal is a bit fucked so in turn I overcorrect and can convince myself I’m being normal #or is this just a neurodivergent thing so it feels like the right thing to do and isn’t inherently weird but is something I’d be judged for #anyway I sort of met this girl #by which I mean she’s an usher at a theater I go to a lot #and she’s ushered the last two shows I’ve been at and both times we made eye contact and she smiled at me #and I’m pretty sure she recognized me today #and we definitely bonded over both being gay when I talked about Oscar Wilde at a post-show talk #and thennn I found out that the theater prints a list of every employee in their programs #and I went through the list of ushers and found her on Instagram #bc I really wanted to say hi and talk to her and learn her name #but both shows I had to leave w my family before I had the chance #so I. I followed her??? on Instagram???? is that crazy?? #like should I say something????????? #was this unhinged or normal or what #help help help

[jonnybyfayewebster]

falling in love is stupid and horrific and every time i feel the urge to tell him i love him somebody should appear and shoot me in the head

#oh god #emotionally closed off girls meet healthy relationships #what do i even do when im not being lovebombed from day one #the feminine urge to feel fear every time u realize ur becoming emotionally dependent on somebody's presence in your life #actually. this is REALLY interesting bc i think my relationships with my friends have changed since i got out of my last relationship #like ive been overcorrecting yknow #we were codependent and he used my emotional vulnerability to manipulate me #as well as using me as his therapist and making me responsible for his happiness #and i'm really terrified of that happening again. #im really glad that ive learnt how to be independent #as well as loving being by myself and existing in solitude #but the way i feel actual fear about this makes me think i've gone TOOO far #idk! its whatever! #god i wanna treat him so right #ive been so fucked up by so many relationships #i wanna be so good for them #i wanna know what alannis meant when she said ive never been this healthy before #ive never wanted something rational #why did i put this ALL in the tags

[gotham-bird]

Bruce: Why do I feel like I live in a zoo? *gestures vaguely at his children shenaniganing around him*

Jason: *skidding to a halt by him* Your first child was kidnapped from a circus, what the hell else do you expect???

Bruce: He was NOT KIDNA-

Dick: *gasping and clutching his nonexistent pearl necklace* I’ve got STOCKHOLM SYNDROME!

Bruce: *staring blankly at him* No you do not, and stop telling people that.

Duke: It’s either that or we tell people we live in a cult.

Tim: *in the distance* A FURRY CULT!

Bruce: I AM NOT A FURRY!

Duke:….. I hate to disagree buuuuuttttt….. Tim has a point.

Jason: Just face it. The universe saw your parents got killed, tried to fix it and give you a family, waaaaaaay overcorrected, and now you’re stuck with us!

Bruce: …..maybe I’VE got Stockholm Syndrome…..

#dick grayson #nightwing #batfam #batman #red hood #stephanie brown #batfamily headcanons #duke thomas #damian wayne #red robin

[piratecaptainscaptainpirates]

Right, so, I've been seeing some persistent misconceptions in fanfiction where a character has ADHD. I'm a man of color with ADHD and I want to clear some things up. This is specifically about how people tend to write Ed Teach, but it can apply to other characters you're writing with ADHD. And I'd love if other people with ADHD, especially other people of color with ADHD, have any additions to tack on!

These things are NOT what ADHD is.

ADHD does not make you "stupid." This whole thing was inspired because I just read a fic where Ed cites his ADHD as evidence he's "dumber" than the other characters (and this was supported by the writing in the story). There is no correlation between ADHD and intelligence, and we know that Ed is a genius!

ADHD does not automatically mean that someone can't finish school or can't succeed in demanding academic fields. I'm working on my PhD. It just means your character needs coping skills.

ADHD does not mean that someone will "hyperfixate" on or suddenly lose interest in relationships, whether romantic or platonic.

ADHD doesn't mean your character struggles with personal hygeine or keeping their home clean. Please stop making me read fics that characterize a man of color as dirty or incapable of keeping his home clean and excusing it because "he has ADHD!"

ADHD doesn't mean that your character will need someone to look after or supervise everything they do. Ed does not need a White man to take care of him or make sure his work gets done.

ADHD doesn't mean a character will be unable to sit still, focus, stay on-task, or sit in silence 100% of the time. We all have different tolerance levels and those can change depending on current circumstances.

Here are some more realistic, interesting ways ADHD can impact successful, smart characters of color, like Ed.

He might feel the need to be hypercompetent, all the time.

He might get frustrated with himself. ADHD can be frustrating! You can be on top of things 99% of the time at work and school, and have people look up to you, and then you'll realize that you've been forgetting to book that doctor's appointment for six months straight now and you'll feel like a failure.

He might overcorrect symptoms. For example, he might have trouble keeping a neat, organized space and know that messes stress him out, so he overcorrects by being a bit of a neat freak and avoiding mess wherever possible so his space never becomes unmanageable.

He might struggle with The Evil Boredom. That's when you feel super understimulated and nothing is enough to help.

He might have trouble sitting still or saying quiet when he's nervous, feeling strong emotions, or in a boring environment or trying to do a boring task (the scene where Ed struggled with being still and quiet while fishing, while also feeling strong emotions of guilt, was super relatable).

I like to write AuDHD characters (with both autism and ADHD), and it can add a fun new dimension! I personally headcanon Ed as AuDHD. When you have both, symptoms can be frustrating because they can feel contradictory (for example, my autism demands I keep a neat, tidy space and I like routines, but my ADHD means I have trouble keeping things tidy to my standards and routines are super boring).

And finally but crucially: it's obviously okay to headcanon a character as ADHD or with any other neurodivergence when you're White. However, it's important to remember that the experience of neurodivergence looks different for people of color. Boys of color with ADHD, for example, are often overdiagnosed with ODD and labelled as "defiant" or "uncooperative." I often avoid telling White friends and coworkers that I'm AuDHD because it tends to make them infantalize me, as if I haven't already proven to them I'm a capable adult. People of color often have to go undiagnosed or without appropriate medications (if needed) and/or are misdiagnosed. If you're writing about a chracter of color with ADHD, I really recommend finding a sensitivity reader.

#ofmd #our flag means death #ofmd ed teach

[ghosts-bandwagon]

Hii. Can we also get Ghost's version of the hcs you just wrote about how Price is during arguments etc... Thank uuuuuuu xx

Ooh yes I love this one, here’s the Price version for those curious!

Personally, I feel like his anger is implosive instead of explosive. He’s spent so long trying not to be explosive in his anger that he’s overcorrected and wound up making it implosive instead

As far as what would cause the argument, it could honestly be over something so stupid like not washing the dishes after cooking. But as far as what causes the buildup, it’s his own stress from work, maybe you’re having a bad day and snap at him a little, things like that

It seems like he lets things slide but it builds and builds and he wants to say something but he (incorrectly) believes you should just know that he’s getting progressively more and more upset

Eventually he snaps and it’s ugly. He definitely gets really mean, he’s bringing up the things that upset him- even if it happened a month ago, he’s passive aggressive, his tone is incredibly harsh, he’s insulting you without directly insulting you if that makes sense

It’s really hard for him to calm down once he gets going so having patience is so fucking important. Equally, if not more, important is hitting the brakes before the situation starts spinning out of control

If you’re able to catch him before he gets going and you’re calm and apologetic, he’ll pump the brakes. He’s still worked up but it doesn’t get to a nasty breaking point

Even if what set off the argument was his fault and it’s upset you, you have to stay calm and gently bring it to his attention

The argument might go better if you gently suggest taking a few minutes to breathe and come back calmer, even if you’re doing it for yourself it’ll force him to take a second as well

If you’re angry and you’re showing it, it easily becomes a screaming match and no one wins. He reaches a point that he walks away and disappears, doesn’t matter how hard you’re crying, yelling, doesn’t matter. He’s walking out and cooling off and he’s definitely ignoring you

Even when he comes back, he’s avoiding you like the plague. Not only is he still seething but he’s even more worked up about being so worked up in the first place, he hates getting angry, especially if it winds up directed at you

The key to arguments with Simon is staying calm, rational, and being patient and gentle

When things have calmed down, it helps to talk about how to avoid that in the future, remind him that you can only know what’s wrong if he tells you, remind him that you can handle it and that it’s better for everyone in the long run if he talks through his feelings

He completely agrees with you and he’s apologizing for getting so angry, he doesn’t mean it, doesn’t mean a word he says when he’s upset, it just builds and builds and he can’t stop it

When his anger subsides, he’s left with guilt and shame and disgust with himself for getting so worked up and in such an ugly way, he makes it up to you by being extra affectionate, he’s not leaving your side at all, he’s holding on to some part of you

He orders from your favorite restaurant, put on your favorite show, massages your hands, shoulders, legs, anywhere you’ll let him

God forbid he made you cry though, he’s beating himself up so hard. He’s so focused on doing everything and anything to make it up to you, but when you’re asleep on his chest, legs tangled with his, eyes a little puffy from crying earlier, he’s on the verge of tears, his self loathing at its strongest

He’s so torn up about arguing with you, it’s physically painful for him because he hates it so much. He’s not as bent out of shape about it if the argument gets stopped before it begins, but he still feels really rotten for letting it get to that point

#simon riley x reader #simon ghost riley x reader #ghost x reader #cod x reader #mw2 x reader #cod mw2 #cod mwii #cod headcanons

[professionalchaoticdumbass]

in the past week or so ive seen a lot of people posting about how there's this oversexualization of trans girls on the site, and I gotta agree, there are way too many people (including other trans women!) who act like we're all dtf 24/7 or always super kinky and horny. I've been tired of that stereotype for ages and i am saying this as a rather sexual trans girl myself...

...but I think people are overcorrecting a bit now, and are starting to veer into "trans women shouldnt be talked about sexually / need to be shielded from it" territory. and, to me, that's really dangerous, because outside of some queer spaces - and even within them- the sexuality of trans girls is heavily scrutinized, as is attraction to us. as much as I dislike certain aspects of the memes and jokes that kickstarted the stereotypes, I'm kinda grateful for them as well. girldick jokes helped with my bottom dysphoria, voice kink shit helped me like my voice, and the whole "tgirl tummy tuesday" thing gave me a lot of confidence in my body where I hated it before. I think this open appreciation of trans sexiness has done a lot for both me and others on tumblr.

again, obviously its got its problems - people end up assuming every trans girl is horny, or only spread positivity if its related to sex with us, and of course the people who do have dysphoria from the things that are being sexualized are left out (like those the "girls without dicks are like angels without wings" memes, ugh, feels icky every time). and on the note of comparing tgirls to angels, we also started getting treated like we're ethereal fertility goddesses and that t4t sex was some inherently sacred ritual. spoiler alert, trans girls are normal-ass people and t4t sex can be holy for the participants but its generally a pretty normal thing to do as well

coming back to the "don't sexualize trans girls" posts now, I think they were initially going in the right direction, but at this point I'm starting to raise an eyebrow at more than a few of them. I'm not gonna whip out the "youre a sex hating puritan if you post about it" accusation because that is obviously wrong but again, I think people are definitely overcorrecting and starting to turn this into a (false) dichotomy when it's not. its a complex topic and each individual trans woman will feel differently about it.

(I feel like the internet just erases any nuance in favor of a two-sided, highly polarized flamewar with unrealistic views on both sides. actually i wouldn't even say this is a super-nuanced discussion because its really not that hard to say "fetishization is bad, but so is suppression of sexuality". will this post just end up being a void scream and people will continue drawing lines between one side and the other? probably. but I am a stubborn bitch and I have hope that we can be reasonable.)

anyways I'll close this off by saying that I wrote this between around 1:30 and 2 AM on terrible sleep the night before, that I hope what I said is coherent enough, and that I will keep being a trans girl who is openly sexual, gets horny over other trans women, and is proud to be transsexy as fuck. I will keep being critical of jokes and trends and memes that stereotype us, even from our own community. I will keep being angry at how poorly us trans folks are treated with regards to our sex lives, bodies, and relationships between the two. I will keep loving and lusting over trans women without fetishizing them. And I will keep doing all of these til the day I die.

#taking a break from the late night funnies to get serious for a change #this is... sorta a vent post? idk. #please dont tag this with 'transmisogyny' i do not like that term #feel free to reblog though. if enough people are shitheads ill turn reblogs off but again i have hope we can be nice. #transmasculine folks please feel free to add anything else you feel is relevant! im writing from the perspective of a transfemme #who mostly spends time in transfem spaces and i obviously dont have the experiences of a transmasc so. yknow. add on if you have something #alright thats all for now back to your regularly scheduled sleepy/funny posting

[pacificwaternymph]

Okay actually can we talk about Lego Monkie Kid's Sun Wukong?

Because genuinely? He is one of the best examples of the "Flawed mentor" trope that I have ever seen.

Rant under the cut

Most flawed mentors are presented as these perfect pinnacles of heroism, and we see zero evidence to the contrary up until some antagonist eventually comes along and plants the seed of doubt in the protagonist's mind. And on the surface, Wukong does fall into this territory as well.

But then you really look at him and you realize that his flaws were already built into him, the whole time. His character was written with his flaws in mind. There were always signs that he was not the hero that MK idolized him as.

Another point is that a lot of times, even when shows attempt to keep the mentor as a sympathetic character, the fandom is often quick to turn on them because it can seem like they never really cared about the protagonist when you look at their actions in retrospect. It often feels like they were just training the protagonist to deal with the problems that they left behind. The best examples I can think of for this are Dumbledore and Obi-Wan Kenobi from the original trilogy.

But that's not the case in LMK. Sun Wukong genuinely cares SO MUCH about MK. And it is made incredibly obvious just how much he cares in literally EVERYTHING he does. Even his mistakes, the things he kept from MK, he does because he thought MK would be better off without that knowledge, and he's trying to spare Mk the pain.

And the thing is- Sun Wukong does put MK through a lot. MK is stuck dealing with the villains and problems that Wukong left behind when he retired. But something Monkie Kid does that a lot of other shows don't do is that the show actually acknowledges it! Multiple characters call Wukong out on his behavior!

and then Wukong himself actually addresses it. He acknowledges that yes, MK shouldn't be dealing with this because he should have dealt with it when he had the chance. And he APOLOGIZES FOR IT! WHICH IS SO IMPORTANT!

Even after we see his past and realize that yeah, he really messed up, a lot, he still remains sympathetic and likable. We're still rooting for him just out of the fact that he's trying so hard. He's trying not to ruin MK and he's failing, and he knows he's failing, and you can see how much that hurts him. He just wants to keep his friends safe.

He's tried so hard to learn from his past mistakes and take responsibility for them, to the point where he is actually overcorrecting, which still gives him room to grow! And we see him grow! We see him learn to trust others and confront his past and do his best to mend the relationships he fractured. And all the while, he still feels like the same character at his core.

Genuinely, Wukong is the best mentor character I have seen in a while. And it's why I love him so much.

#lego monkie kid #monkie kid #lmk #sun wukong #lmk sun wukong #lmk mk #qi xiaotian #was ranting about this in discord and decided it deserved to go on here too

[katboykirby]

The fact that we've had SEVERAL Pop Quiz events in a row - quite a significant few, altogether - with essentially no romance at all.... and especially no kisses??

I literally do not even remember the last time we got to kiss anybody in a PQ event story?

I really, truly do not want to be cynical about this, but the simple fact is that Obey Me! is a dating game, first and foremost. The romance with "seven handsome demon brothers" is front and center in every form of ad or promo. But we're getting no romance. I truly, truly hope that this isn't the writers/devs overcorrecting and censoring themselves because of how many minors are playing this game (even though the ToS says you need to be 20+) and/or any complaints they've gotten about "inappropriate content" (like the complaints that lead to them removing multiple kissing/romantic scenes from the main story and past events)

OM feels like it's getting incredibly sanitised, which is just absolutely ridiculous for a game about living in hell and fucking actual literal demons.

Let me KISS one of them, holy fuck.

#obey me #obey me nightbringer #omswd #obey me satan #obey me solomon #satan #obey me barbatos #barbatos #obey me Lucifer #obey me mammon #obey me leviathan #solomon

[qqueenofhades]

Hi just wanted to say thank you for taking the time to thoughtfully respond to these anon messages. I work in dc w a fairly wonky set and i cant overstate how haunted the DC Professional Thought Havers are by the spectre of the "low propensity voter." I think these ppl (myself included LOL) thought we had everything figured out ahead of the 2016 elections and then never recovered from the way it ended up going......i feel like in all the years that followed.....the liberal bubbles.....the coastal elites.......the hillbilly elegies......the real america....the ohio diners....the pennsylvania diners.......the polls......the 2020 horserace....while part of an earnest attempt to understand What Happened, were primarily self-indulgent, self-flagellation for being "out of touch" bc of a self-diagnosed "elite" status that then turned into ANOTHER myopic view of the world, just opposite, where the "libs" are hapless and everyone else remotely to the left are primarily victims to the unstoppable supernatural forces of the Right. Then in 2020 the narrative flipped AGAIN and once again, instead of taking the opportunity to expand a worldview and having the bravery to confront their own shortcomings, the opinion havers and wonks and beltway pressers have decided to groupthink their way into writing off democracy altogether. Its BEYOND frustrating to see! Like damn volunteer at a soup kitchen or smthn instead of being obsessed w the fact that i vote lol

Yes, and there are several reasons for that. First, despite all the factors that contributed to Trump's shock win in 2016 (anti-Clintonism, white backlash to Obama, general low voter enthusiasm, Russian disinformation, etc) we should never forget that until James Comey decided to announce 10 days before the election that he was reopening the EEEEEEEMAILS case, even though we all knew there was nothing there, she was leading fairly comfortably in the polls. And while we will never know how the 2016 election would have gone without that, which imho was one of the most unforgivable acts of blatant sabotage by a public official in American history, it's also true that we saw her poll averages start sliding almost in real time, as people who hadn't really been keen on voting for her anyway decided firmly not to and Trump was able to scrape out 16,000 votes across PA, MI, and WI to take the Electoral College. Which... we all remember how we felt that night, right? (Or in my case, early morning, since I was overseas?) We don't, we really, really don't want to feel that way again. Just saying.

As such, the media (which had already beat up Clinton nonstop during the BUT HER EEEEEMAILS saga) drastically overcorrected and as you say, began writing endless angsty handwringing pieces about Trump Voters in Rural Ohio Diners and giving endless sympathetic airtime to how "economically left behind" they felt, regardless of the fact that open racism, especially Obama backlash, was and remains the principal animating feature of Republican politics (since their only economic platform is that which makes very rich people even richer and Democratic economic policies are the only ones actually targeted at helping ordinary people). The hangover was so strong that even when Democrats had a massive 2018 midterm result and flipped the House blue for the first time since the post-ACA backlash lost it in 2010, the Conventional Wisdom was now beyond any doubt that Democrats were doomed for a generation or something, and not that Trump had squeaked out a fluky win (while losing the popular vote) due to endless Russian/Comey/third party-etc interference and wasn't actually that powerful. Even in 2020 when Biden was leading fairly steadily and things were going to hell with Covid, etc. etc. TRUMP IS UNSTOPPABLE, TRUMP IS GOING TO WIN.

(And now. Like. I know Trump thinks Trump won in 2020, as do a large majority of his cultists, but that doesn't mean he did.)

Even after that, when Roe went down in 2022, that made no difference to the RED WAVE COMING!!! narrative, and the amount of smug white male pundits insisting that abortion just wasn't very important and people weren't going to base their entire vote on it reached truly disgusting levels. We're now seeing the same thing with the constant "people won't vote for democracy and/or abortion rights" blast, when as you say, this narrative has just been completely made the fuck up by a lot of groupthinking DC media who are determined that this time, Trump really is going to win and then they get to be principled chroniclers in opposition or something. Not to mention, the basic principle of "democracy and abortion rights are good" do in fact win by thumping margins every time they're on the ballot, including in deep red states. But there is literally not a single piece of empirical evidence despite the massive amounts of it supporting the truth (i.e. that Democrats are doing historically well in competitive elections since 2018 and there's not really a major reason to think this will change in 2024) that will get the media to change the "Democrats in disarray and Biden Iz Doomed" horserace BS they so love. They don't like Biden because he's boring and competent and just does the job without being insane, because it's totally a great idea to treat American government like a reality show! (Recall the infamous comment by the CBS CEO who literally said that Trump was bad for America but great for CBS, because he pulled in high ratings and therefore lots of money and visibility for CBS. We live in the worst timeline.)

As such, the mainstream media has a vendetta against Biden, is determined that this time Trump is super definitely going to win and everyone will see how genius they are, and not-so-secretly wants Trump back because a) he's good for money and ratings, and b) because the media conglomerations are owned by oligarchs who have a vested interest in making sure that Democrats and their policies never get too popular. Notice how the once self-proclaimed centrist independent Elon Musk has turned into a rabidly alt-right fanboy ever since the Democrats really got serious about taxing billionaires as a key part of their platform. Likewise, insisting that Biden Iz Doomed makes Democrats nervous (and thus more likely to tune in) and Republicans gleeful (and thus more likely to tune in), so there's literally no incentive for the media to even try to report things accurately. You could create a very different narrative of the 2024 election if you just remotely bothered to write about things that have actually happened as they have actually taken place, rather than bending over backward to insist that Biden being four years older than Trump is a worse crime than 91 felony indictments, 2 impeachments, 1 insurrection, 450 million dollars and counting in punitive jury verdicts, more major criminal trials coming down the pipe, and just demonstrably being the worst human being alive in so many ways. I mean. Wow.

The good news, as I said in my other post, is that when people actually vote, these utter bullshit narratives get routinely blown out of the water, and that's a good thing. Because it turns out that unlike Super Smart Beltway Pundits' Super Smart Predictions, the average American does actually like democracy and freedom for women to make their own personal healthcare decisions, and they vote accordingly. So while yes, it's being made harrowingly much harder than it needs to be because of how much the media simply refuses to report that basic fact, and there is no amount of evidence that will convince them otherwise, at least we're trending in the right direction and, if we all pull our weight, can do it one more time. I realized the other day that I hadn't heard a fucking peep about Ron DeSantis in the last two months, and oh, how glorious it was. I yearn beyond words for the day (God willing, soon) when the same is true of Trump as well.

#anonymous #ask #politics for ts

[alex51324]

That Tweet, take 2

OK, so my first reaction to That Tweet, by Djenks, was as follows:

My money is on DJenks realizing that he shat the bed & now furiously trying to write himself out of the corner he's in. (My second guess is that he basically already knows there won't be a Season 3, but there's some network or business-related reason for not announcing it yet.)

But now that I've had a bit more time to think about it, I am kind of seeing a scenario where he could've intended it to be a fuckery all along.

Step one is that we imagine him being a bit disappointed by how Lucius's death fooled absolutely no-one. It's likely that he was planning for the reveal that he was alive to be a much bigger moment than it actually was; maybe he even has some Big Reveal ideas that he had to put on ice once it became clear that there was very little actual suspense surrounding Lucius's fate. This is, obviously, since I don't know him personally, a big hairy guess, but it seems like a very plausible reaction for someone to have, when they put a lot of effort into planning a surprise and it falls flat because everyone guessed it.

Step two is him deciding to sell Izzy's "death" a little harder, with the emotional death scene and the funeral (where we do not actually see the body, and a mourner, Wee John, is missing) and all. It's laying it on a little thick, in my opinion, but again, we did all confidently (and correctly) assume that Lucius was alive based on the evidence that "this show wouldn't do that" and "The Stede-Ed reunion won't work if he's really dead," so you can see how a showrunner could, hypothetically, get to--

Step three, is Djenks opening up his socials at the crack of dawn on Thursday morning, expecting to see reams of speculation and analysis about how Izzy could have survived, and being genuinely shocked to instead find seas of angry and devastated fans suggesting that he should perhaps give up television in favor of a career in going and fucking himself.

Step four, realizing that he drastically overshot the mark re: creating genuine suspense over character death, he tweets out a big obvious hint.

I don't love this interpretation--for one thing, there is nothing in the episode we saw that would provide a plausible in-universe reason for faking Izzy's death. It would be pretty easy to create one--have Prince Ricky No-Nose vow personal vengeance against Izzy Hands in specific for calling him a syphilitic cunt/his role in foiling the "end of piracy" scheme--but we did not see anything like that. To make the funeral scene work as a fuckery, it would be necessary to insert a flashback between the "death" and the funeral in which A) this happens, and B) the other characters find out about it. That's a cheap trick that I personally hate--the old, "Haha, I made you feel a thing by deliberately withholding context"--but again, if it's an overcorrection for the complete and abject failure of the effort to create suspense around Lucius's fate, I guess I can live with it.

If Izzy's death is a fuckery, that addresses a lot of the other problems with the finale. First, Ed and Stede's obviously-doomed, harebrained scheme to give up piracy and be innkeepers (in a dilapidated shack, on an island where we see no other people or settlements) is plausibly funny, as long as we aren't thinking that Izzy died for it.

Second, the tonal whiplash of going from the funeral to the wedding is also fine if everyone involved knows perfect well that the guest of honor at the funeral is actually recuperating just offscreen.

(Thirdly, there's Captain Frenchie--I haven't seen much discussion of that, but the only problem I had with it is that I can't think of any moments from the season where he stood out as being a leader for the crew. I might've missed something; he's not one of my particular blorbos, but it wouldn't have taken much, just something you can look back on and see how it was setting up him becoming captain.

And, crucially, we do have those few little moments of setup for Frenchie as First Mate to Captain Izzy. Frenchie was there during the dark days, during which he presumably underwent some skill development, pirate-wise, and definitely bonded with Izzy to some extent. We see him holding Izzy's hand during his breakdown, and he presumably helped hide him and definitely lied to Blackbeard about it, and then how they were sitting in the cell on Zheng's ship--it isn't a whole lot, but you can look back and see why it makes sense for Izzy to pick him.)

Making Izzy's death a fuckery doesn't do anything to fix the way the whole Zheng thing fell flat. (Why give her a massive fleet in the first place, only to take it away? Why did we get those scenes of ships being towed across land? What was she doing selling soup on the Republic of Pirates? For that matter, why did she come to the Caribbean in the first place, after becoming Pirate Queen of the Chinese seas?) It doesn't help with how Ed and Stede keep repeating the same beats of getting closer, then running away, then reuniting without ever talking about their relationship or their issues. It doesn't address why the Kraken Era had to go that dark, if the whole thing was just going to be smoothed over in the space between episodes 4 and 5, and how Ed never really takes responsibility for any of what he did.

However, middle installments of trilogies are notoriously difficult to write, and it isn't particularly fair to judge them before you get to the last part. Most of the weak points could look better in hindsight once we know how it all turns out.

(And, not for nothing, as long as Izzy is alive, we can still get something where Ed reckons with the Kraken Era, and particularly-but-not-exclusively what he did to Izzy. I don't see how that works with a dead Izzy, though--it's too easy for Ed to keep minimizing what he did and offloading blame onto him.)

There isn't a whole lot of evidence for an Izzy Lives scenario. All we have is:

This Show Wouldn't Do That (which, recall, was point 1 in why we didn't believe Lucius was dead. However, it is weakened by the absence of point 2--unlike with Lucius, the person who "killed" Izzy isn't a character we're expected to like or root for.)

No body at the funeral. I initially interpreted the funeral as being intended as proof that Izzy was really dead, a sort of "don't get your hopes up, guys," after what happened with Lucius. But again, if we're thinking about the framing of Izzy's "death" as an overcorrection to how completely non-fooled we all were by Lucius's, maaaaaybe not? I mean, if he really wanted to hammer the nail into the coffin, we would have seen Izzy lying in the grave, or his body being sewn into a shroud of sailcloth (as was the custom), or something. (Also, point 2b, the unicorn did have two legs.)

No Wee John at the funeral. There are certainly Doylist reasons he might've been left out--maybe the way the shooting schedule worked out, it saved money or some other resource to just leave him out of that scene, something like that. But for an in-universe reason, "somebody had to stay back and nurse Izzy" makes a lot of sense. (I mean, if this show operated on real-world logic, someone would have had to stay with the ship, but that's never been a concern before.) Wee John helping Izzy with his makeup for Calypso's birthday was presumably a bonding experience that involved some vulnerability on Izzy's part, so it would be weird for him to just nope out of the funeral, but plausible that Izzy would find him acceptable as a caregiver.

Stede and Ed's conversation over Izzy's grave could, just barely, make sense as a conversation about how Ed and Izzy are now on separate paths, with no particular guarantee that they'll see each other again. It takes a certain amount of massaging to make it fit, but it almost could? (Except Zheng's part really doesn't--unless the grave actually contains someone Ed cares about, or she isn't in on the secret that the funeral is a fuckery.)

I'm not in love with any of this, or even particularly convinced by it--my enthusiasm for any Season 3 is going to be pretty dampened, unless the announcement that it's been picked up includes the information that Con O'Neill has a contract to appear as a major character in all 8/10/whatever episodes--but IDK, I guess it's maybe not outside the realm of possibility? Ish?

#our flag means death #ofmd #izzy hands #I'm just spitballing here

[icannotholdmypen]

I love when Mike gets mad.

Usually when we see married couples in shows, especially straight couples, you either have straight-up misogyny (don't-tell-the-wife-she'll-bitch-about-it/don't-tell-the-husband-he'll-get-mad) or they overcorrect and you get impossibly placid and understanding couples that never feel any human emotions.

But Mike and Alison are a realistic, loving, respectful couple, and so Mike does get mad. Someone's watching him shower, someone's meddling with his work, someone's prodding his nose in the night, my god a fucking bomb is exploding on him. He has the absolute right to be mad.

and Kiell does such an incredible job at portraying it. you never feel like Alison is in danger because her husband is mad around her, or even at her. you never feel like he's an idiot either, or that he comes around too easily because he is scared of coming across as misogynistic (something that happens mostly when the writers or actors are actually pretty misogynistic and are trying hard not to be, which explains why it isn't like that in this case).

anyways idk how to conclude this line of thought but that's it, shout out to mike cooper and kiell smith-bynoe, you are also the main characters in this story, and shout out to alison and mike for being the most equal and healthy straight couple I've ever seen

#mike cooper #kiell smith bynoe #bbc ghosts

[animentality]

thinking about how gortash keeps emphasizing how he and durge “always knew we had to work together to avoid the failings of our predecessors.” like he knew infighting and petty betrayals are why an alliance between the dead three never worked before, so he was probably the one trying to defuse any arguments with durge by being like we TALKED about this, we HAVE to stand together!

but they overcorrected. previous alliances might have fallen through because the chosen couldnt get along, but this one fell apart because the chosen of bane and the chosen of bhaal fell in love. and i bet he tried to deny it at first. “we just work extremely well together, we know the value of alliance, thats all” until durge goes missing.

and he tries to convince himself he doesnt care. “we still have a chosen of bhaal, i can still make this work. if i miss durge it’s just because they were easier to work with, thats the only reason.”

and then he finds the prayer of forgiveness. and i dont even know how he would continue to delude himself after that, heres proof their feelings were becoming more than just a working relationship. and he lost that. :)

Gortash: democracy is bad. people need to be forced to do things for their own good. the world needs a dictator. i don't think i can take it over on my own, though, so i'll get a co-tyrant, and just get rid of them later. hey, scion of bhaal, let's work together.

Dark Urge: ok.

Gortash: fuck, you're so hot for that. oh no. maybe i don't want to get rid of you.

#baldurs gate 3 #enver gortash #dark urge #durgetash