#cultural determinism

[hephaestuscrew]

Renée Minkowski is extremely into the abstract concept of Crew Bonding in such a way that it impairs her ability to actually bond with the particular crew that she has.

She wants them to have Christmas dinner together and give each other Christmas gifts, but she's not made an effort to learn Eiffel's feelings about December 25th and to think about what he might like to do that day.

She wants them to each say what they are thankful for at Thanksgiving, but when she says she's "thankful to have such a great crew on this mission", it sounds extremely unconvincing, as if she's just saying what she thinks a Commander ought to say at a Thanksgiving dinner on a space station, rather than expressing any genuine sentiments or revealing anything personal about herself.

She wants them all to participate in the talent show "to boost morale... bond as a crew, and... have a great time doing it", but Hilbert and Eiffel's reactions make it clear that talent shows do the opposite of improving crew morale for them.

Christmas celebrations and thanksgiving dinners and talent shows are all things that could potentially have a positive impact on morale and bonding for some hypothetical space crews, but in the way Minkowski approaches them, none of these things are particularly helpful for the morale and bonding of the people who are actually in her crew. Minkowski puts real effort into group bonding activities for her crew, but they are always based on general ideas about crew bonding, rather than on thinking about the individuals around her and what she can do to connect with those people in particular.

#Wolf 359 #w359 #renee minkowski #renée minkowski #I think she was probably even more intense about crew bonding stuff earlier in the mission #By the beginning of S1 she's just going through the motions to some extent #Also telling Eiffel 'that's actually less horrific than what I was expecting' to his thanksgiving contribution #isn't exactly a good way to encourage him to contribute #She tells him not to do smoke rings for the talent show as well #which under Wolf 359 science is sensible #but it's also reflective of a determination to get people to participate in the way that feels right to her #rather than the way that's natural for them #Tbf Eiffel at least seemed to enjoy that thanksgiving dinner #but it doesn't really seem like it brought them closer together #Especially with culturally loaded things like Christmas and Thanksgiving #there should have been a discussion there #but that's the thing #communication #and understanding her crew as individuals #those are things she has to learn #I'm also not saying that successfully bonding with Hilbert would have made any difference to anything #but pre-Christmas-mutiny it was an aim of hers at least on paper #Another thing to note is that Hera is partially excluded from some of these things #She's the only willing participant in the talent show #but Minkowski gives her a part with two lines #Minkowski encourages Hera's contribution of what she's thankful for #but only after Hera's asked if she could say something #Oh also I think that Minkowski's thanksgiving speech sounds like she'd planned those lines out before she even got up to the Hephaestus #She isn't thankful for her crew. Not at that stage. She's saying it through gritted teeth #But she'd planned on having a crew she was thankful for

[creekfiend]

I think a lot of this 'religion is necessarily oppressive' stuff honestly is kind of like the confusion about ppl thinking that like, slavery and scientific racism and etc came about BECAUSE OF beliefs that Black people etc were not fully human rather than those beliefs -- those ARGUMENTS, really -- being JUSTIFICATIONS that were invented to allow white ppl to continue to engage in slavery which was at its core about economic exploitation. Like that most systemic bigotry serves a Useful Purpose to those in power and that's why it exists; the policies aren't put in place because of the beliefs. The cart isn't pulling the horse. Christian stuff was used to justify the same things that later, "scientific progress" was used to justify in the west (e.g. scientific racism, eugenics, etc. Very very very much rooted in the idea of certain beliefs and cultures as inherently more rational and forward thinking because BEING RATIONAL AND VALUING SCIENTIFIC PROGRESS WERE CULTURAL VALUES AT THE TIME.) (This does not say anything about Science. It says things about Institutes and power and oppression.)

Similarly, you see a lot of people saying "well religion is used to justify oppression by the people in power" and its like yes. Religion is not unique. Beliefs about what is true about the world -- ideology -- can always be used to do this and frequently is.

When there are common beliefs held by a majority of people in a given culture those beliefs will be used by the people in power to explain and justify the things they do to maintain power and control in society.

This isn't a function of religion. It's a function of power.

When people say "well, this religious rhetoric is/was used to justify misogynistic legal standards in this society" the answer is yep. And if it wasn't that it would be something else because that society had an investment in that specific kind of oppression of women. We have seen this morph into 'rational' 'scientific' explanations for women's inferiority and justifications for making women second class citizens once the cultural values swing more towards rationality and science, as well. Thats... regular.

Like... love to have a good faith convo about this with someone who doesn't get weird and reactionary about "Religious People" but sure not seeing much of that going on. Weirdly.

Anyway.

#jewish #i think this can be a tough pill to swallow bc it necessarily involves #accepting that your secular ideology and philosophy can be exploited just as easily for violence and harm #as religious ideology can #because thats humans babey #fascinating also to me is the phenomenon of people believing that bc they do not subscribe to any beliefs that they see as #''religious'' or ''spiritual'' they are immune to magical thinking of any sort. #i promise you that is not true in the slightest. #and also the things that we each identify as SILLY AND OBVIOUSLY UNTRUE FAIRY TALE SHIT is... culturally determined hee hee #im sorry to tell u that no one is objective about reality. thats rough buddy!

[brother-genitivi]

Star Wars Culture Week Day 1 - Music & Art featuring Barriss! @starwarscultureweek

In my culture, we have special spoons used for percussion. You clack the backs of the spoons together to create a beat to accompany the dance. This is usually done at weddings.

Usually you would have spoons in both hands, but sometimes there are too many people and not enough spoons! Spoons will often break due to the force of people’s clacking (especially if they’re having fun). Many broken spoons on the floor is a sign of a good event.

The first technique I know of is fairly simple - place a spoon face down so the inside is resting against your palm between your thumb and forefinger. Place the next spoon face up so its back is against the back of your first spoon. I prefer to rest it between my middle and ring fingers.

The second technique I find harder to finesse (and I’ve definitely not mastered it yet). Weave the spoon between alternating fingers - pinky, ring and middle with the back facing your palm. Pinch the other spoon with your thumb and forefinger, making sure to have its back facing the back of your first spoon. Now clack away :)

taglist: @tatert07s @penandsaber

#star wars #the clone wars #tcw #barriss offee #star wars culture week #sw culture week #SWCW #based off turkish culture <3 #surprisingly i have not gone overboard with patterns. but i tried including barriss’s original patterns #I’m determined to make her the most fashionable space hijabi #my art

[bonefall]

a field guide specifically about the creation of the clans and stories about the early clans would have been SO COOL but no we spend an arc with clear sky

on that note tho are there any cool legends the clans share about the beginning of the clans in BB?

If the writers go 5 minutes without saying Clear Sky smells nice they will die

COOL LEGENDS BB!CATS HAVE ABOUT THE DAWN ERA:

Generally, stories from this time are heavily mythologized. It is the era of legends and high fantasy, with its founders being remembered as abstractions more than real cats.

So ideally I'd love to tell arcs where every appearance of the founders in StarClan is like seeing angels. Monstrous, powerful beings that are more elemental than feline. Then, suddenly, you get to go back and see them before their appearances were twisted by generations of fantasy.

The Red Squirrels and the Gray Squirrels (Pishkaf om Chakchak) A ThunderClan myth, especially popular after the exile of SkyClan. The story goes that the wretched gray squirrels once decided to persecute the humble red squirrels. So the red squirrels appealed to Thunderstar to save them, but Skystar decreed that might makes right, and refused to manage the gray squirrels in his territory. It's treated as a kitten story, a parable about the importance of managing one's territory and defending things with low threat level.

Bumble Mumble and the Rogue of Rot The Clan cat version of a tower of babel story. It's the story of an unnamed rogue who steals the kittens of Turtle Heart and Bumble Mumble, killing Turtle Heart in the process. In response, Bumble lets out a mournful wail that strips the Rogue's words away and scrambles language forever.

Sun Shadow Steals the Sun The story of One Eye's defeat, slowly morphed into a cute tale about why you can't stare at the sun. The legend goes that One Eye was unbeatable, wearing a pelt that could not be scratched, even as all the founders united to defeat him. Sun Shadow realized that the only thing that could defeat him was the power within him, and so he challenged him to "show all of his might." Through this, his flesh was burned, but he gained a power above all. He guards this now as the sun itself, but would have to give it up to the next person who defeats him in a staring contest. So don't look!

Snake Claw's Serpents Newest one I'm still working on; but once upon a time, in his hatred of serpents, Snake Claw slew all of them from the deadliest adder down to the most defenseless slowworm. But without snakes to fear coming into their burrows, all the prey hid there, and all the cats of the Clans went hungry. He begged StarClan to return the serpents, and they agreed-- but he would need to craft them again, from memory. He spun his hate into love, but each one still came out endearingly wonky. It's why a grass snake has no venom, a slowworm's tail can fall off, and some adders are green. And most importantly, it is why "Snakes" (serpent in Clanmew, "Sis") have scales despite being "Worms." He forgor.

That last one's still changing though, I think it's very cute but I also want to make sure to put Snake as a character rework before the fun legend I want him to have, lmao.

#Snake was probably just particularly good at catching adders and they made the story up #With a name like Snake you have to be at least a little interested #Nominative determinism and all lmao #Since there's no slash in BB I have a lot of room with him #I'm thinking he might end up connected to RiverClan tbh #I'm half tempted to make him a composite with Petal's adopted kid Birch. Have that be an old name #So Birch and Alder are Red Claw and Snake Claw #I think I'd be able to do it since there's no shortage of random background characters in BB #BUT ALSO it would make him pretty young when I want him to be Thunder's age #But RE: I'm not held back by sticking close to canon for this arc so it's not AS big of a deal to shuffle the timeline a bit. #clan culture #Better bones au #BB!DOTC

[all-things-jily]

Gotta say, if there were more PSAs about teaching fellow fans how to use Tumblr and how to correctly tag and how to NOT overtag with unrelated ships and about staying in our lanes, instead of always those about how we should all respect each other's ships (even if we hate them) and learn to live peacefully together and put up with other ships because it's fiction anyway, we would all be having much better results much sooner and with less friction. This is why tags exist in the first place, you stay in your lane with the things you like, I stay in my lane with what I like, that's it. This is not a shipping group project.

#tagging culture #fandom culture #feeling more determined than ever

[hotwaterandmilk]

I'm still not well so this isn't going to be articulate, but I wanted to say something anyway.

In the wake of Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies (amongst other titles) being purged from streaming I've seen countless posts saying "This is terrible, we need to stop this practice -- they might purge a good show next!" and yeah, for sure a lot of titles being impacted by streaming purges/lack of physical media/a decline in archiving right now aren't going to be remembered for changing the world.

However, I think it is vital that we fight to preserve these titles for their own sake not just because "What if next time it's something we actually like?!" There is value is preserving things widely regarded as "bad" not just because I have firm beliefs about the absurdity of taste, but because who gives a shit if something is deemed "good?" Actual human people put their time and energy into realising these artistic visions. Even if the results are arguably not "good" or "popular", should the efforts of these artists be lost to the sands of time? No, no they fucking shouldn't.

I share a lot of art on this blog from titles very few people consider culturally important or valuabe. However, I don't look at the things I collect & share like that. Even some of the most objectively absurd titles I own are still pieces of art that were developed, published, and consumed by humans in the real world. Whether they've turned out to be broadly memorable or not is irrelevant because they existed and that in itself makes them worthy of preservation so that others can choose to familiarise themselves with them long after the original creative team is gone.

So yes, we should all be trying to preserve the media that's important to us and not let corporations try to stamp out every trace of a financial (though not necessarily artistic) misstep. However, it shouldn't take the threat of something we, personally, like being taken away to stir us into giving a shit.

Even the demise of less admired works should concern us and make us start to burn copies of Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies because it might not mean anything to you or I right now, but to some kid in 20 years it could be a seminal experience that leads them to follow their dreams. Or it could become a cult classic that people reflect on at watch parties years in the future. Or it could continue to be a footnote in the history of television that nobody really cares about.

Ultimately I don't think it matters what level of value we arbitrarily assign to media now or in the future, we should be trying to preserve as much of it as possible so that generations from now people can enjoy the option of engaging with these titles should they so wish.

#personal #idk i just feel strongly that even trash should be allowed to exist #and all of us be able to access it if we so choose #some of the most meaningful film experiences of my life have involved B movies and other “low” culture properties #i'm not well enough to even start rambling about high and low culture and the rich #but as an audience we should be able to select what we want to consume #and we should be able to access it regardless of local laws or cultural norms #that's why the efforts of archivists and media preservationists from the lost media wiki to the louvre are so important #“but this spongebob ad had no impact on society who cares if it is accessible or not?” #you can't determine the value of something based solely on your own experience with it #so yeah spongebob ads and episodes of wheel of fortune should continue to exist #and so should the trashiest shoujo manga in the world #god and i haven't even touched on how disproportionately things like this affect work by artists of colour #queer artists and disabled artists #it's super fucking shit and i refuse to let streaming take away these media choices #ok back to my covid sick bed

[red-dead-bisexual]

this hc literally makes no sense but, consider, what if Rufus is Arthur reincarnated

#he spent 7 years as a stag and died of natural causes and decided to try out being a dog #AND HEY IS THIS JACK MARSTON #PICK ME PICK ME YOU GOTTA PICK ME I'M THE GOODEST BOY IN THE LITTER also I hope your dad is being a man and taking care of you and your ma #also in my culture there is this myth that your options of what you may reincarnate as is determined by your rights and wrongs in your life #You need to be nearly a Saint to be a human again #but being a mammal is a good option in general #if you were actually a bad person you would probably become a worm or a cockroach or like a fish or whatever animal that is “repulsive” #I think Arthur would kinda enjoy being a dog or a horse like it's not as good as being a human but still fairly better than other options #red dead redemption 2 #rdr2 #arthur morgan #john marston #abigail roberts #abigail marston #jack marston

[docholligay]

If you aren't interrupting kissing to fight about the definition of seas vs lakes, are you even lesbians?

#*kiss* the caspian sea is fucking landlocked #and the great salt lake is saline as hell #what is your determinant? #also doesn't the black sea just have one outflow? then what the fuck is the st lawrence canal? #*kiss* it's whatever we've called it babe that's called culture #*scowl kiss* i don't expect this from YOU. the great lakes are inland seas. resolved. #they're lakes babe. lakes #*kiss* #what happens when two very cool women get married

[exeggcute]

forgive me for sharing a wapo link (in my defense I only wound up here because I was reading a wired article about twitter bots that linked to this one) but this is a good and recent-ish (~2019) article about how major social media sites outsource the thankless, soul-killing work of content moderation to contractors in the philippines. 

gonna slap a fairly broad content warning on this one for “several semi-detailed descriptions of the violent and fucked up things people post online,” which of course includes Basically Everything, so read at your own risk.

a highlight (emphasis mine):

The technology hardware industry has long operated by amassing armies of outsourced factory workers, who make the world’s smartphones and laptops under stressful working conditions, with sometimes fatal consequences. The software industry also increasingly leans on cheap and expendable labor, the unseen human toil that helps ensure that artificial intelligence voice assistants respond accurately, that self-driving systems can spot pedestrians and other objects, and that violent sex acts don’t appear in social media feeds.

The vulnerability of content moderators is most acute in the Philippines, one of the biggest and fastest-growing hubs of such work and an outgrowth of the country’s decades-old call center industry. Unlike States, who mostly screen content that is shared by people in those countries, workers in offices around Manila evaluate images, videos and posts from all over the world. The work places enormous burdens on them to understand foreign cultures and to moderate content in up to 10 languages that they don’t speak, while making several hundred decisions a day about what can remain online.

#the biggest takeaway here is that moderation is a massive labor problem #but I also hadn't thought about how much moderation falls on people who may not have the cultural context for things like hate speech #someone who lives outside the US and speaks english as a second language is being asked to determine whether a tweet is e.g. homophobic #(also I have many thoughts about the wired article about bots but that gets too much into Sensitive Work Info territory...) #content moderation #digital labor

[morethansalad]

I don't know if any of my followers here are into Human Design (it's a bit like astrology, but a bit more practical in its application).

A lot of people try to eat intuitively, or find a way of eating that suits them. But that's difficult to do when your mind is clouded with so much conflict over what is best. Diet culture has poked its head into many healthy eating spaces time and time again. And every body is different, with different needs. So, you have to let go of all the crap to really start tuning in with your body and nourish it properly.

In Human Design, there is an aspect called digestion (or determination). It dictates how you most efficiently digest/intake information. It's not just limited to food (food is information for your cells). The digestion aspect challenges you to step out of how you may have thought you ought to eat (or learn) (or live in general).

I have some guides on reading & interpreting your Human Design chart over on my other blog. The Primary Health System: HD Variables post talks particularly about finding your digestion/determination aspect. Or, if the Human Design system is not your thing, I have a SAD Diet Transformation series (to help you get out of patterns of eating that don't bring you joy).

#morethanfood #digestion #determination #human design #birth chart #diet culture #unconditioning #relearning #exit the matrix #nutrition #intuitive eating #astrology #physical health system #phs #vegan #nutritarian #raw vegan #vegetarian #wfpb #whole food plant based #standard american diet #fitblr #healthy lifestyle #holistic health #holistic habits

[aro-culture-is]

aro (questioning) culture is feeling weirdly neutral and vaguely grossed out at the idea of living the rest of your life in a romantic relationship but simultaneously really really liking someone and not being sure if finally this is the fabled "falling in love" you've heard so much about or if you just really wanna be QPR best-buds-who-sometimes-kiss for the rest of your life...

.

#Anonymous #aro culture is #aro #aromantic #actually aro #actually aromantic #ask #mod phoenix #questioning aro culture #honestly my experience is that *most* people who have that experience #of 'don't want romo relationship' and 'really liking someone' at the same time in the type of language you're using #usually end up determining that in that case it was not romantic attraction and that they are aro/aro-spec

[centaurianthropology]

How close do YOU come to the Medieval European ideal beauty standards??

Tall

Blonde

Pale as fuck

Forehead that is truly a Fivehead

Nose neither large nor small (ephemeral??)

Tiny mouth

Long neck

Narrow shoulders

Tiny tits

Pot-belly

Dump truck ass

Wide hips

Thick thighs

Has feet

Or, alternatively:

Middle aged dude

#Medieval European beauty standards #are hilariously different to modern standards #just goes to show that #honestly #there is no 'biologically determined' beauty standard #it's all cultural bullshit #ANYWAY #11/14 #I may not be hot now #but in Medieval Europe #I would be the foxiest spinster in the village

[haveyoureadthisfanfic]

Summary: Superman and Batman get tied together by the Lasso of Truth.

Author: @mithen

#official fic poll #haveyoureadthisfic #pollblr #fanfiction #fanfic #internet culture #fandom culture #tumblr polls #fandom poll #Bound and Determined #dc universe #dcu #dc comics #superbat

[yaburnae]

obsessed with the idea that all 3 a.rcheron sisters had ringlet style curly blonde hair as infants and children, eventually growing out of the curls but not quite out of the unruliness

#i think it's one of several reasons nesta fashions her hair the way she does #if it's not up she's always found it unmanageable and that's just Not Done #how her sisters can manage beautiful hair she's got no clue but probably it's luck which she's never in her life had #even as fae it's hard to break those habits and she wouldn't dare use magic to glamour herself more than she already naturally does #i've always said she keeps her hair up because of trauma but also certainly out of decorum and ensuring she's always presentable #the day someone gets to see nesta with her hair down is the day they know they've earned her trust #she's also frightened by the prospect of anyone other than herself handling her hair and on top of that hair is just personal #which i find very fascinating because the illyrian culture that i am working on determines hair as very sacred #rituals involving hair care and styling are very common #god fucking forbid i reference fucking g.ame of t.hrones but isn't there that thing about braids and rank or whatever #inch resting thoughts me thinks.......

[sundayswiththeilluminati]

FINALLY somebody addressing why I am sad about Rasputin’s characterization this season. Let grandpa get ANGRY let him get PISSED. Let him drop warsats on people again

The three pillars of the Warmind Rasputin in the Destiny narrative are mystery, tragedy, and power. Those are the story roles he fulfills and the themes and settings he provides. The Warmind DLC emphasized mystery and power. Season of the Worthy emphasized power and tragedy. Season of the Seraph so far has leaned hard on the tragedy with a side of mystery. That’s fine. It’s better than fine; I’m living for a Rasputin season that finally hammers home to the general player population how emotional his entire story is (and not just the parts with the Iron Lords) if only because I’m no longer the crazy person sitting in the corner yelling this computer is extremely sad actually here’s a 12-page lore essay based on deep analysis and textual inference. We’ve never encountered Rasputin in such a weak state before and that makes it the best time for a vulnerable narrative. So this season has gone for tragedy with backup mystery. That’s fine.

But let us not neglect his third role.

Why is it so important for Rasputin to demonstrate his power? Or, put another way, why is it so satisfying when he does? When Red shot down the Almighty, regardless of whether you liked the season or even the event leading up to it, when the Almighty shattered and that shockwave cracked across the Tower I bet you felt something. We’ve seen display after display of might from a range of characters, yet nothing - maybe this is a function of who I hang out with, but - nothing evokes as visceral a response from players as when the Warmind acts. Why?

First off I think a lot of people enjoy the narrative of the sleeping giant, the dormant volcano rumbling to life. Remember when the ents go to war in The Two Towers? It’s a real thrill to watch something vast stir itself to war on our behalf, and I am one thousand percent here for that exact trope. Second, Rasputin has a clear and easy-to-sympathize-with motive for some righteous revenge. Third, he has every right to and absolutely should get very, very angry and boy is it cathartic to watch someone vent that kind of fury against the status quo. Fourth, sometimes it’s just fun to watch big space explosions. But after giving it a lot of thought I think there’s another key aspect: because Rasputin is our home team.

Rasputin represents humanity, far more than Guardians do. In the Destiny universe Rasputin embodies the apex of human technology, engineering, creativity, power - human, not Guardian. So we all have a little bit of an affinity for the Warmind, not us as Guardians but us, the players, as human beings, because he is humanity’s representative at the table of Destiny powers. The weapons Rasputin wields are weapons we recognize as our own. The technology he builds evokes real concrete tech we use. He quotes books we’ve read, he plays music we listen to, he cites our history. He’s the home team, and we are all, whether we know it or not, way down deep we are all cheering for him just a little bit, because he represents the real world we live in pitting itself against the greatest threats fantasy and scifi can conjure up. Nobody gave him Light or picked him out as the special Chosen One. All his strength is our strength. When he exercises that power, we see our own civilization sticking up for itself against the unknown. He is, in all goddamn seriousness, Flag Admiral Stabby.

So I guess I’m wrong about what I said at the beginning. There are four aspects, not three, to Rasputin’s role in Destiny: mystery, tragedy, power, and humanity. He is the representative of what the human race can build and do. So let him wake up and demonstrate that maybe humans came late to the table but we sure didn’t waste any time. Let him wake up and remind everyone that humanity’s fate won’t just decided by the immortal god-children who terrorized them for centuries in concert with alien factions with superior technology and much longer histories. Humans can do incredible things when they put their minds to it and they don’t need a paracausal permission slip to try. Let Rasputin show the solar system the creativity, tenacity, and stubborn defiance we like to imagine as our species’ defining traits. Let him bring a gun to a wizard fight. And let him win.

#Destiny 2 #the Warmind Rasputin #Season of the Seraph #I mean and also it is fun to watch things explode #but yeah I thought for a while to work all this out #and I think there's something here that's key to Rasputin's popularity #he is us #he is our technology and our weaponry but he is also our culture and history #no magic no blessings no special chosen fate #just steel and fire and determination #there's a colonial narrative in here about how humanity is barely hanging on in its own solar system #while far greater powers turn it into their playground and battlefield #but that's a whole other essay on its own. #output generated #overthinking is my superpower #this is the wager of existence

[dreamerwriternstargazer]

Even during the darkest times of oppression, these women are still fighting and hoping and daring to celebrate Eid and that is… amazing, Masha’Allah Allahumma baarik laha

#free palestine #free Gaza #Palestine #Palestinian culture #eid #star speaks #Israel will never win against a people who have this hope and determination and courage Insha’Allah #Instagram