#i get more and more radicalized (become more reasonable) every day

[be-the-glenn-to-my-maggie]

Melissa Barrera is the coolest person I know and I hope she knows that. The Scream franchise made a huge mistake and they will regret it.

#supporting genocide is so deeply uncool #I’m so so disappointed #melissa barrera #scream #scream 2022 #scream vi #melissa og #melissa on scream #i get more and more radicalized (become more reasonable) every day

[pikahlua]

Uh oh, it's sleepy grumpy Pika. Y'all know what that means, right?

It means I have no filter for my opinions.

If you're dissatisfied with the way Katsuki's bullying of Izuku is handled in MHA because you expected him to be confronted by someone else about it in some way, it's probably because you are unaware of the difference between bullying and attitudes towards it in Japan versus in your country of origin. I believe everyone would benefit from researching bullying in Japan. They do NOT view it the same way the west does, y'all.

And I guarantee when you learn about it, you're gonna find some stuff that makes you uncomfortable and horrified, because it's gonna take a while for you to get enough information to give context to a lot of the history and attitudes you'll find. AND EVEN THEN, EVEN WHEN YOU HAVE THAT CONTEXT, you're still definitely not going to like it.

However, with any luck, you'll see how MHA's portrayal of Katsuki's bullying is shockingly sympathetic and heartwarming to many people. It's because, from the perspective of a Japanese audience, Izuku was not targeted and bullied by Katsuki in the way we're used to seeing such situations portrayed in the west. Izuku was bullied by everyone. His classmates, his teachers, the pro heroes he encountered, and society in general ALL participated in the bullying of Izuku, because societal pressures to conform in Japan are MASSIVE, and that can often manifest as one form of bullying or another.

Katsuki's bullying is just the one that the story chooses to flesh out. It's the one that Horikoshi develops. Katsuki is the bully that changes his own perspective first and drastically, the one who realizes the greatness in Izuku and accepts that and comes to his side long before the rest of society can catch up. It is largely understood by the Japanese audience that Katsuki in middle school didn't seek Izuku out and follow him home every day to beat him up; Katsuki mostly ignored Izuku until Izuku would do something to remind Katsuki of his insecurities, and so he would lash out. And no one else at let's say Izuku's middle school would understand the true reason why Katsuki would lash out because what he does resembles what all of Izuku's bullies do to him: pressure him to conform. Pre-One For All Izuku stands out as different and constantly tries to rise above his position to become something society decrees he cannot be. Therefore, a significant part of Japanese society will generally approve of attempts to make him conform, even when some of those attempts are harsh and cruel and unreasonable and reactionary. MHA presents a caricature of that in the form of Izuku's middle school.

The fact that Katsuki identifies this toxic behavior in himself later in the story and decides to actively do something to change it IS the radical part. It's the piece that fits into the themes of MHA. It highlights a generally-accepted behavior in society that maybe society should rethink. It's asking for society to reconsider how it pressures people to conform, that sometimes nonconformity is good or at least should be tolerated to some degree. That's why Katsuki's story focuses so much on how his old behavior stems from fear. From the perspective of a "properly-functioning" collectivist society, pressure to conform should be done for the good of everyone in the society, not out of fear and misunderstanding. Katsuki's character arc provides one potential map for others in society to see the light and get to where he does.

And that's to say nothing of how Japan's versions of confrontation or retribution often look different from how they do in the west, that many of the forms of confrontation some people in the western fandom cry out for with regards to Katsuki sound absurd to an audience in the know. The karmic punishments Katsuki endures throughout the story are often overlooked by western readers, and is it any surprise? That readers from some societies--societies that laud nonconformity, tolerate counterculture, openly criticize the systems that be, preach about individual freedom and responsibility and justice and fairness, and watch and make movies and TV shows and other media about how victims of bullies achieve their righteous revenge--often miss how MHA doles out subtle, divine, poetic, karmic consequences for Katsuki's actions? That such readers often don't feel satisfied by MHA's dramatic ironies which serve more to guide Katsuki in a harmonious, productive direction rather than vindictively punish him and rest on its laurels as it laughs at his deserved misfortune? I don't blame anyone for feeling unsatisfied when their own societies have built up their expectations in such ways, but I do hope to draw your attention to it.

Now, does that mean you have to like and accept the Japanese attitudes about bullying? That you have to agree with the framing of pressure to conform as beneficial and productive? That, if you're triggered by the lack of overt condemnation of bullying in the story, you still have to like MHA? That, if you have personal traumatic experiences with Japan's bullying situation, you should shut up about it and accept that it's a good thing? No! In fact, I personally would hope that you don't! I think everyone should always have their perspectives on ANYTHING challenged so they can rethink and improve them, and Japan's attitude towards bullying is no exception! (And MHA actually does that in its own way!)

(And even saying that, I will always acknowledge that my perspective and opinions on this issue are heavily colored by my own experiences in life and the society in which I grew up and the ideas to which I've been exposed. This is and always will be my bias.)

But the question of what's the correct take on bullying is an entirely different beast. The question at hand here is about understanding the story and its characters as presented in MHA. If you don't come at this with a basic acknowledgement of how Katsuki's story reads to a Japanese audience in-context, you're going to be upset about what you see (which is a reasonable reaction). But I think if you're going to read a story, it's only due courtesy to understand the context surrounding its creation before you try to hold it to far-removed, foreign standards. There's a reason literature classes go over the history and context surrounding the older works they study. MHA is a Japanese story written for a Japanese audience. To focus on how it does not adhere to the typical western narrative of a bully's character arc is to miss the point entirely. If you are reading the story outside of Japan in a language other than Japanese, it is being translated so that you can read a Japanese story, not a story from your own culture. It's rude and self-defeating to expect stories from other cultures to suddenly cater to your own.

TL;DR Understanding the social context that informs bullying in MHA just might actually make the story more comprehensible and enjoyable for anyone who dares to learn about it, what do you have to lose?

#wow i thought this post would be a one-liner #meta #pika rants #anime only friendly #katsuki bakugou #linguistics fun #? #more like sociology fun

[unhingedmarvelandclassicwhobuff]

Apparently at some point MCU fans collectively agreed that the Blip takes place on October 17th, 2023. Which is today. So I figured I'd take the time to detail the four biggest reasons why the time jump in Endgame was a universe-shatteringly horrible idea that should never have seen the light of day

the absolute biggest problem, of which there are many, is the fact that countless people died as collateral damage in the initial Snap. Hell, we are shown it in the Infinity War post-credit scene with those multiple car accidents and that helicopter slamming into a building. And that was just the tip of the iceberg; imagine how many planes crashed because the pilots were dusted, or how many babies starved because both their parents were dusted, or people who may have died on the operating table because a surgeon got dusted. All of these people are totally ignored. It's never so much as mentioned when talking about bringing everyone back, and Tony insisting that the last five years remain unchanged is implicitly saying all of those people remained dead when the dusted returned.

the second big problem with this plot point is that it's used as an excuse for every character except Nat to be totally unrecognizable. Bruce becomes Professor Hulk, Thor gets fat, Tony has a family (and I fucking love how the movie inadvertently says he just let the world rot for five years instead of using his billions of help. That is 100% in character for him), Clint went on a mass killing spree, and Steve... I actually have no idea what made him change so radically. None of this is shown to us at all, it's just told to us.

this is less a problem with Endgame and more a problem with Phases 4 and 5, but the other worse thing about this development is that absolutely nothing has been done with it. Far From Home played the time-jump for comedy, WandaVision had that one great scene in the hospital and then did nothing else, Shang-Chi had a singular throwaway line about the Blip, Hawkeye had that one neat visual of getting Snapped from Yelena's POV and then nothing else, Multiverse of Madness had a single conversation where Strange wonders if letting Tony have his way was the only way to save the universe, Quantumania had a single scene addressing the homelessness issue and then nothing else, and I think Secret Invasion tried to do a bit of a look at how Talos reacted to the Blip, but that show was so awful that I'd rather not think about it. The only projects to do anything at all with the Blip as a major plot point are Falcon and the Winter Soldier and Eternals.

the fourth and final massive problem with the Blip is pretty simple yet complicated; it ignores the absolutely insurmountable societal implications both the Snap and the Blip would have. Think about it; half the fucking universe disintegrates into ash. There are SO many things that would do to just human society alone. But even more importantly, five years after all those people were declared dead (meaning wills are executed, spouses remarried, jobs and homes redistributed, etc) those people suddenly reappear, and from their POV it's only been a second. Just to put it in perspective, the Snap happened on April 29th, 2018. Doesn't that feel like forever ago? If the Snap were real, all those people would have been gone until today. That is such a huge mindfuck that I'm shocked no one went insane. And even looking aside from the psychological impact, all those people are pretty fucking screwed. Far From Home had a single scene addressing this, then promptly forgot about it.

My final point is less of a problem and more of an amusing byproduct; since Tony directly forbids Bruce from undoing the last five years, that means the events of WandaVision, Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Hawkeye, Multiverse of Madness, and Secret Invasion are on some level his fault. That’s fucking hysterical.

I suppose I'll be absolutely fair and say that rewinding time isn't a morally perfect solution either, as you would be erasing any maturity the survivors gained during those five years, as well as anyone born in that time. But that's just all the more reason to NOT HAVE A FUCKING TIME-SKIP!!! I still think the only reason it was done was for cheap shock value.

All in all, the five-year time jump is the single worst major plot point in the MCU. Fight me.

#anti endgame #the blip was an awful idea #anti tony stark

[copperbadge]

Sam, I must know what sort of things Gerald blogs about on his Tumblr. How old or active is his account? Is his identity a secret?

It's actually a reference to an older post where @dignitywhatdignity pointed out there was no way Ger wasn't on Tumblr. :D Reproduced my response below -- first, Photogram:

I can picture Jerry’s Photogram in my head very clearly because I’ve had to research the children of rich people and their fucking obnoxious instas, and Jerry’s is probably equal parts expensive cars, club glam, and scenic vistas, but mainly because that’s like…what you do. It’s just kind of the done thing, like wearing a shirt when you leave the house. 

Update: Gerald's photogram has shifted radically -- he still treats it as a Thing You Do but especially now that he's a dad it's a lot more Parenting Lifestyle stuff. Because a few of my friends have had babies in the last two years and I had to research the babies my fictional characters were having, the algo now thinks I have baby fever, so I get a lot of Parent Influencer content, and I bet Gerald does a lot of sly fun-poking at that stuff. Like, posting a photo of a bottle warmer and a bib-washing tabletop machine with commentary like "You cannot buy any of this in the shop I don't have, but if you're going to buy one stupid thing as a parent, buy the bib washer. Not a single shirt you own will be unstained but the bibs will be immaculate."

They don't post pictures of Serafina, though -- there are a couple of official portraits for PR reasons but day-to-day that shit is locked to friends and family only. (There are special websites for this, I have friends who use them, it's pretty neat.) The only time random candids of her are out there are usually when someone snaps Michaelis toting her around Fons-Askaz with her cousins -- the "King Emeritus and Royal Ducklings" are becoming a very familiar sight. At least once a week Michaelis takes Noah and Joan out for an afternoon in town with Sera in a snugli and the twins in a stroller. Don't ask him about his stepson and grandkids unless you really want to hear about them.

Meanwhile he also definitely has a secret super-weird tumblr and nobody can figure out if he’s roleplaying or shitposting or what when he posts stuff like “The family groupchat is all well and good until it starts heavily impacting local politics.” Are those horses really his or is he just visiting a barn? Is that…a photo of a plate full of appetizers at “My cousin’s latest house party” with Angela Merkel in the background? He certainly has some strong feelings about Princess Diana and equally strong feelings about Tsar Nicholas. Why is he one of only three people the official Eddie Rambler tumblr follows?

Gerald's tumblr has also slowed down since the diagnosis and becoming a dad, but the content is still random as hell and more authentically wild than his photogram. Again, no photos of Serafina, but it's very evident that whoever is running that particular tumblr has had a kid, or is pretending they have. He gets asks accusing him of faking shit for clout and every time he does, his response is simply to write the ask on a sheet of paper in longhand and photograph it in front of a famous European landmark and/or political figure.

Alanna tolerates this because it does keep him out of mischief and sometimes he takes Serafina with him to whatever landmark he's visiting, and she gets to have a quiet apartment to herself for a while.

(”Eddie Rambler’s on tumblr?” someone asks, and someone else replies “Name me one other TV chef brave AND stupid enough to be on tumblr” and then you realize it is in fact the official Eddie Rambler tumblr saying that.)

Eddie doesn't post to his official Tumblr anymore because he rarely has time and doesn't need to do the self-promotion, but Katie in Communications checks his inbox once a week and brings him the most entertaining asks to respond to. He's currently hovering somewhere around the level of Neil Gaiman in terms of "Famous people who are inexplicably on Tumblr."

Ultimately there develops a running joke that Jerry’s tumblr is run by either a) an upper-class vampire (rude) or b) the elected king of a micronation on the Mediterranean coast with a name nobody can spell (super rude!) 

One time Gerald accidentally pocket-posted a blurry selfie to his Tumblr but it was so poorly focused and clearly accidental that a bunch of people got mad at him for violating the privacy of the Duke of Shivadlakia. He had to pretend to have a week-long beef with himself to save face. He eventually got Noah to take a selfie with him, blanked out Noah's face, and then claimed the Duke had forgiven him and here was a selfie with him as proof.

It's a hard old life, being Duke of Shivadlakia, but someone's got to do it.

#shivadhverse

[mamoonde]

i really really really love the idea of wei wuxian revolutionizing modern cultivation over breakfast and conceptualizing these different theories simultaneously because the adhd brain has no brakes and the only reason it took him a decade to publish all these ideas was because he could not stick to a single train of thought long enough to finish (verbalizing) it, let alone put it down on paper coherently.

the only reason he even got to publishing them eventually (and enrolling to cultivation theory grad program to get on that track) was because one morning, his undergrad thesis advisor, lan qiren, finally got fed up and sat him down for an early morning progress check-in because it was midterm season and wei wuxian still hadn't decided on a topic.

wei wuxian, fueled by an unhealthy amount of redbull and three all-nighters, finally word vomits all his 'convoluted' ideas which he'd thought were uselessly obvious and redundant (because he's gone over these like a bajillion times, it's very plain-as-day to him, so he probably just hasn't read the articles that say these exact things).

lan qiren, teacup frozen halfway to his mouth: ...first of all, i only understood half of how you got to these conclusions, which only means they are indeed too convoluted and will need to be pared down; secondly: you have never mentioned any of these ideas before. why.

wei wuxian: oh. haven't i? oh well, i just thought, xyz, because, obviously, abcde. which is really what the 2 centuries old law on ghjkl was alluding to, right? and so, logically, xyz.

lan qiren: [mind blown, screaming, good gods this is the same child who's always tardy and spent freshman year pulling on the metaphorical pigtails of my straight-laced nephew?!?!??!??!?!] ..again, why...how have you never even spoken or submitted these ideas?

wei wuxian: because!!! they're so obvious!! surely, it's been published somewhere already? i can't be the only one to connect these dots, surely??

lan qiren: incredibly, you are. no one else has even thought to question tradition nor pursued more thoughts on the law of ghjkl, with half as much...sound arguments as you seem to have. in the past century, the focus of modern cultivation has tended towards practical uses and tools, some fine-tuning, perhaps. not entirely new theories.

wei wuxian: huh....

lan qiren, sighing, feeling a migraine: your problem with your thesis is not a lack of focus or ingenuity, but likely to be more a lack of recent, evidentiary sources. you will need to become very familiar with the university archives and dig deep for sources that will back up every argument you make.

he jots down notes on a paper. "you will also need to strictly adhere to the structure and methodology of these articles, especially given how radical your thesis will be. if you are diligent enough, you may just be able to submit your thesis without too much of a delay." he slides the list of materials to a gaping wei wuxian. "depending on your output then, we can discuss the possibility of submitting this for peer review."

"peer review." wei wuxian repeats. "as in, that thing where some uppity committee of old coots put their stamp of approval for it to become the reading materials of undergrads like me. you're joking."

lan qiren chooses to ignore the sentiment about peer review committees being uppity old coots, especially considering how he can't completely deny it on account of some of his colleagues, but also as a member said peer review committee, he isn't exactly pleased about being lumped in the same category.

wei wuxian backtracks at his unamused look. "right, you're not joking, of course you're not." he slowly inches the list towards himself. "right, yes, i guess i'll uh, get to it then. ok bye."

----

idk, just, waves hand at wei wuxian candidly explaining new modern cultivation theories over cheerios at 2 in the afternoon to lwj who's trying to help him structure his grad thesis, getting mind blow dick hard at how this messy genius who's talking with his mouth full of half eaten cereal is the object of his affection....

wwx: --oh, oops, your highlighter fell

lwj: mn

wwx: ...aren't you gonna get that?

lwj: it's fine; i'll pick it up later. finish your thought.

wwx: right... i'll pick it up for you!

lwj, fighting for his life, trying to think unsexy thoughts: NO! sit. finish your meal, and then your thought.

#big brain wei wuxian #wei wuxian #genius wwx #in an interview for modern cultivation magazine he's asked: how do you do it? #wwx: adhd! #also a dedicated partner who tolerates your midnight rambling about spiritual energy and entertains your endless what ifs scenarios #bonus points if your partner is lwj who has amazing notetaking skills and a phd in decoding wei wuxian notes #wangxian #mdzs #modern cultivation au #also i love a supportive mentor lqr dont you #a mellowed out lqr who has a little more tolerance for radical ways of thought as long as theyre rooted in morality and good will #mamoonde short fics

[indigostudies]

What are those apps you usually post in your productivity updates?

hi! here's a breakdown of apps i use, as well as websites and other resources i've used/use for my learning (mainly chinese, though some of these resources can be used for other languages as well).

apps i use every day:

dot languages: this is a chinese-specific app where you select your hsk level, and then read articles at that level. there's a pop-up dictionary, an option to show pinyin, post-article vocab practice (audio, matching, translation, and writing), and the option to have your articles either in simplified or traditional.

TOFU learn: a blend between flashcards and writing, you can find decks for various things, including hsk level-specific decks, and you learn new vocab with the stroke order and then write each new term three times—once with an overlay (so the term is visible), and then two times from memory. there's also a review function, which helps you practice terms you've already learnt, and each term has audio that goes with it. i use it for chinese, but there's decks for esperanto, french, german, italian, japanese, korean, norweigian, portuguese, russian, spanish, swedish, and turkish.

the pleco dictionary app: my favourite chinese dictionary app; allows you to translate from english to chinese or chinese to english, has options for writing, radical, vocal, and keyboard entry, and has both traditional and simplified characters.

ankiapp: this one's not particularly complicated; it's a flashcard app, where you can make your own decks or download decks other people have made. it uses a spaced repetition system to help you remember terms—you rate yourself from worst to best on how well you remembered the term, and that determines how many times it'll pop up afterwards. it also gives you an overall grade for each deck, which is a nice way to measure your progress.

duolingo: probably my least favourite of all of the apps i use; the chinese course isn't the best, and now that they've removed the notes/grammar information option, there's no way for people who aren't already fairly familiar with the language and its inner workings to learn them if they exclusively use duolingo. it's okay for maintenance practice, though, but i'm already almost finished with the entire course and i would say it barely reaches to lower hsk 4, so i wouldn't say it's a good tool if you're more advanced.

apps i have but use less often:

readibu: this is sort of like dot in that it's an app for reading in chinese with a pop-up dictionary. however, that's where the similarities end; readibu has novels, short stories, and articles aimed at children, and each of those are further split into genres. readibu also lets you add your own web-pages and read them on the app, so you can use its pop-up dictionary with them. it's aimed more to intermediate and upper intermediate learners, with hsk levels ranging from hsk 4 to hsk 6. the only reason i rate dot above readibu is because dot has a larger range of levels (hsk 1 through hsk 6 i believe? but it may go higher) and exercises built in to help you learn the vocab.

the chairman's bao: also a chinese reading app, though if you use the free version, you only get one sample article per hsk level (hsk 1 - hsk 6). i believe that every so often you get a new sample article for each level, but i'm not sure what the interval on that is. it also has a pop-up dictionary and a flashcard option for saved vocab.

du chinese: another chinese reading app; it has articles divided into newbie through master (six levels in total, though they don't line up perfectly with the hsk in my experience), and new articles are free for a certain period of time before becoming locked behind a paywall. there's a pop-up dictionary and a vocab review/test option for vocab you save.

memrise: flashcards with audio, depending on whether you're using an official course or a user-generated deck. decent, but it can get repetitive.

hellotalk: not exclusively chinese, but i believe it started off mainly aimed that way. you set your language, and then your target language, and then you can talk to native speakers who have your language as their target language. potentially incredibly useful, but if you're like me and extremely introverted you may have a hard time using this app, since it requires a lot of one-on-one interaction.

slowly: i haven't actually gotten around to using this, but it's sort of like a digital penpal app, as i understand it. you can learn more about it here.

websites and other miscellanea:

this massive mega drive by @salvadorbonaparte (languages, linguistics, translation studies, and more).

this masterpost by @loveletter2you (linguistics, languages, and language learning books/textbooks).

this masterpost on chinese minority literature by @zaobitouguang

the integrated chinese textbooks by cheng and tsui, which are the textbooks i use for self-study—there's textbooks and workbooks, as well as character workbooks (though these can easily be cut out without suffering from the loss).

mandarinbean: graded readers, hsk 1 - hsk 6, with a pop-up dictionary and the option to read in traditional or simplified

chinese reading practice: reading, beginner through advanced (three levels), with a pop-up dictionary and some additional notes included on vocab and language-specific things non-native speakers might struggle with or not know.

hsk reading: graded readers, hsk 1 - hsk 6, divided into three sections (beginner, intermediate, advanced). does not have a pop-up dictionary, but does have an option to translate the text, post-reading quizzes, and notes on important vocab with example sentences.

my chinese reading: reading from beginner to advanced (four levels); has a pop-up dictionary, the option to play an audio recording of the passage you're reading, notes on key words, things that are difficult to translate, grammar, and post-reading comprehension questions.

the heavenly path notion website, which i would say is one of the best resources i've ever found, with a massive number of guides, lists of chinese media in a variety of forms, and general resources.

chinese character stroke order dictionary: what it says on the tin; will show you the stroke order for a given character.

hanzigrids: allows you to generate your own character worksheets. i use this very frequently, and can recommend it. the only downside is if you want to create multiple pages at once, you have to pay; however this can easily be circumnavigated by creating only one sheet at a time. you can download the sheet as a pdf and print it out for personal use.

21st century chinese poety: a resource i only came across recently; has a massive collection of contemporary chinese poetry, including translations; much more approachable than classical poetry, which can often be incredibly dense and hard to parse due to the writing style.

zhongwen pop-up dictionary: if you're reading something in chinese on a website that doesn't have a pop-up dictionary, this is a must. i've never encountered any words that it doesn't have a translation for so far, including colloquialisms/slang. i use it to read webnovels, and it's been a fantastic tool. you can also save vocab by hitting the r key when you're hovering over a word/phrase, making it easy to go back and add terms to your flashcard deck(s).

chinese reading world: a website put together by the university of iowa; split into three levels (beginner, intermediate, and advanced), with thirty units per level, and ten modules per unit, as well as multiple proficiency tests per level. each module is split into three parts: a pre-reading vocab quiz, the reading with a number of comprehension questions based on it, and a post-vocab reading quiz. it also rates you in relation to someone with a native proficiency based on how quickly you read and answer the comprehension questions, and how many vocab questions you get right.

jiaoyu baike: an extensive chinese-to-chinese dictionary, put out by the taiwanese ministry of education. you can find an extensive write-up on it here, by @linghxr.

social media etc: see this post by @rongzhi.

qianpian: another chinese-to-chinese dictionary; @ruhua-langblr has a write-up on it here.

this writeup on zero to hero by @meichenxi; initially aimed at chinese learning, but now has expanded greatly.

music rec's: this masterpost by @linghxr.

tv/film: youtube is a great place to find chinese tv shows and films, and they often have english subtitles. if you can't find something on there, though, you can probably find it either on iqiyi or asianvote, which have both chinese and other asian shows and films (though you'll want an adblock if you're going to use the latter). i use these a lot to watch things, and have discovered a lot of media through these, and then novels through those when i went searching to see what they were adapted from.

polylogger: a website for logging the amount of time/type of language study you do. has a wide variety of languages, and the option to follow other people. still, it's a fairly basic site.

#chinese langblr #chinese language #chinese learning #langblr #chinese #mandarin #langblr resources #resources #汉语 #indigostudies #inbox #indigo ink

[lookbluesoup]

I think something that gets missed in a lot of the "good guy characters are boring" debates online is that there doesn't actually have to be a debate. There needs to be a deliberate awareness that conflict is what drives story. And the source of the conflict doesn't have to just belong to the narrative.

Good guys can be incredibly interesting and dynamic if given the chance.

I do think it's harder to write a compelling hero than it is to write a compelling bad guy (or even antihero) because... villains are usually about conflict. They create competing interests. It's usually their specific function in a story. They often surrender to their impulses, and sometimes they say what we, the audience, are thinking - because a lot of good villains are characters who took a noble idea to an ignoble extreme.

And in a sense, "good guys" can seem flat compared to the villain, depending on how the story is written. If they're just nice, polite, moral, mild-mannered. always have self-control, always know what to do, never face any serious challenges to their morality then... there's no real innate conflict. There are no questions to answer.

But in real life? It is really. really. hard. to be good. Which I think can even make the hero characters like this feel a bit threatening or disconnected from the viewer.

There is so much potential to show the hero being human in stories, that gets missed. The good guy becomes a lot more interesting when they have serious reasons to doubt themselves or their ideals - and even if they don't doubt them, then that stubbornness becomes much more narratively significant.

Or times when doing the good thing means going against what their friends or family want, what other people who claim to share their beliefs want, or what we the audience want that puts them in danger of ostracism or injury. When they choose to do something radically, dangerously, kind in a situation when we, the audience, would expect and understand them to do otherwise. When they face backlash for it. When their kindness isn't repaid. The person they want to help spits in their face, or didn't want help to begin with.

I'm not just talking about a character who sticks to their guns and stays upbeat. Those are difficult things to go through, even if you've got healthy coping mechanisms. Letting the character struggle with it, in one way or another, makes it more believable. Even if they still make the right choice in the end each time.

All that being said, if someone is enjoying a character who's just... good. Who doesn't face any serious conflicts in their story, who always wins and gets to go home happy at the end of the day? Maybe it's that person's real life that has the conflict, the stress, the unresolved questions and tension. Maybe that good guy is the balance to the villains running rampart in their real life day to day, and they need to see that character win, over and over, to balance it out and keep hoping.

We live in a world today where there's... a LOT of conflict. Every day. Everywhere. News spits it in our faces because bad news sells better. Work can be hard to do and hard to find. Family can be difficult to deal with. Health can be stressful.

So I don't think it's wrong for some people to want to read "simple" stories where the good guys can just be good, because stories are humanity's mythology. It's our escape. It's how we give context to our lives. We need "good guys" just like we need "bad guys."

#wyn gabs #storytelling #writing #text #long post

[sunder-the-gold]

Do you think that Scott Pilgrim Takes Off was a series that was written by people who either hate the source material so much that they want to change it or love the source material so much that they want to make improvements to it?

First, I want to make it clear that I'm only strictly answering your question, and I'm not addressing the unrelated question of "Is Scott Pilgrim Takes Off any good?"

Second, a confession upfront. I haven't read Scott Pilgrim or watched the movie. I was definitely interested in watching this animated adaptation as my first introduction to the story, but I currently don't even have my own Netflix account, let alone have watched Takes Off for myself.

But I've been paying attention.

In that linked article, Grabinski, the writer for the 'adaptation', admitted that "There's a lot of ideas I did end up having that Bryan felt were wrong for Scott. Most of them end up in there..." (emphasis mine)

Have you heard about the Criterion of Embarrassment? It's the realization that historians had, that no person or nation would have a reason to record a lie about a great defeat or embarrassment. That if they passed such a story down in monuments, writing, or legends, it must be because they suffered a very real tragedy that they were desperate for their descendants to not repeat.

You may be more familiar with a modern take on the idea, through social media. "Posting your 'L's online", "telling on yourself", or "you could not have paid me to confess that".

Netflix is a corporation, and there is very little difference between a corporation and a nation. They seek profit to survive and grow stronger in a world filled with vicious rivals and would-be allies. Maintaining a strong, confident image keeps rivals from becoming too aggressive, and convinces would-be allies to continue investing support into what seems like a profitable venture.

Grabinski is a servant of Netflix, and will do his master's bidding for money.

Remember all the bullshit that Kevin Smith told the world about Revelations? Market strategy. Profit at any cost. Never admit when someone catches you with your pants down.

I'm not saying you should assume Grabinski's positive claims are lies. If a corporation tells me that grass is green and the sky is blue, I don't immediately assume everything I knew was a lie. That would be paranoid and self-defeating.

But what I will do is step outside to double-check, and see what the corporation may be lying about. The grass may currently be dead-brown, and the sky may currently be storm-green.

Grabinski admits that he asserted his vision in direct, knowing opposition that of the original creator, many times.

The same original creator who would have to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement with Netflix that would gag him from saying anything negative about a venture into which Netflix invests a lot of money. So we also have to remain skeptical of silence and a lack of counter-claims.

But although we have to take positive claims and silence with a grain of salt, we absolutely should believe someone when they confess something that they would have EVERY REASON to not make up or confess unless it was a genuine fear and embarrassment to them.

"There's a lot of ideas I did end up having that Bryan felt were wrong for Scott. Most of them end up in there…"

"At the end of the day, if I don't feel like I've gotten away with something or like I robbed a bank and I'm not getting arrested, then I kind of feel like I fucked up when I made something anyway."

"There was a very long time where I felt like someone was gonna knock on a door and say, ‘Actually, you guys shouldn't do this.'"

A guilty conscience, by itself, isn't absolute proof of guilt. A conscience can be burdened with unworthy premises.

But this man couldn't reorient his conscience despite working with Bryan on this project for THREE YEARS, while wanting us to believe that he has Bryan's full, uncoerced blessing. And Grabinski can't stop telling on himself.

So we must use those embarrassing confessions as a fork to winnow the chaff from the grain.

"Our rule was that nothing would go on the show that either of us didn't like..." which is a positive claim that directly contradicts the embarrassing confession that Grabinski directly defied the creator "many" times to include things that "felt wrong" for Scott Pilgrim.

"If there's something Bryan didn't think was funny, it didn't go in there." But he'd already confessed to including things Bryan didn't agree with, and everyone can find something funny on its own merits without agreeing that it should be funny or that it belongs in some particular piece of art.

The Test of Love

How do you know someone truly loves something? That they seek to serve it, and not merely to use it?

Jesus of Nazareth had some things to say about love.

When asked what God's most important command was, he didn't just answer that the most important command was to love God. Because anyone could claim they loved God and that everything they did was in service to God. Madmen and monsters have done terrible things 'in God's name'.

So Jesus also told the people what the second-most important command was, because obeying this second command is how you know whether someone truly loves God.

"Love your neighbor as yourself." Because when you hurt God's other children, you are hating God.

What Am I On About?

Netflix does not love Scott Pilgrim if it disrespects Scott Pilgrim fans.

Netflix does not respect Scott Pilgrim fans when it uses False Advertising to avoid the possibility that some of them wouldn't have watched Ramona Flowers Takes Over.

Netflix does not love the fans when it is counting on hurt feelings to drive internet backlash, and for backlash to give it free marketing through Tumblr controversy.

Netflix DOES NOT LOVE. It produces and consumes. It is a corporation, designed to profit and survive.

A corporation will only sell worthwhile products as long as it fears you won't otherwise buy its products. But if you buy its products after it has blatantly lied to you, the corporation loses some of its fear.

It will lie to you again. It will try bigger and nastier lies. Because it does not love you, and you stopped making it fear you.

Netflix already did this with Masters of the Universe: Revelations.

Square-Enix did this with the Final Fantasy 7: Remake.

The corporations are all watching eagerly to see how successful this strategy is. Because none of them love you, and they are always hungry.

A final word: "Even THOSE fans? But I hate those fans!"

I don't think someone who focuses on how Scott Pilgrim is a 'bad person' is superior in any way to someone who denies Scott Pilgrim is a 'bad person'.

I think both sorts of people are myopically using Scott Pilgrim as a way to deny that they are ALSO 'bad people'.

And this meme also applies to what even the other characters of the story conclude about both Scott and Ramona!

"You two deserve each other -- not in the sense that no one else is good enough for either of you, but in that both of you should be quarantined together."

Ramona doesn't deserve a free pass denied to Scott.

If Ramona Flowers can be a good character because she's a 'bad person' who selfishly hurt a lot of people and who has to go through an entire story where she confronts her flaws, makes peace with her past, and tries to improve as a person...

Then Scott Pilgrim was not a crime against humanity for getting VS The World to tell the same sort of story.

Guess what! We're ALL 'bad people' who have selfish desires, who don't fully understand other people or what we're doing to them, and who have to learn how to be better people!

You don't get to point at a main character with real, ugly, human flaws and say "I'm better than him, so he shouldn't exist!"

You don't get to ignore a main character's flaws and say, "He's perfect the way he is and so I have every right to act exactly like him without any criticism!"

Because when you deny you're another 'bad person' like the rest of us, you not only refuse to improve, you become an even WORSE person.

#scott pilgrim #scott pilgrim takes off #sunder says

[see-the-fandom-imagines]

What's in it for me?

Chapter 11

Chapter 1     Masterlist Pairing: Kyouya Ootori x Reader Author: see-the-fandom-imagines Warnings: None, really Author’s Note: Sorry this took again forever, I will upload the next 4 chapters in the next days :) Thanks for reading <3 Tag List: @radical-bunny, @redsakura101​, @ellouisa17​, @hyunjinsslutbbg, @fairyv-ice

Link to Ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/46325452/chapters/116633701

<p>During lunch you had more or less willingly positioned yourself inbetween Mori and Kyouya and were highly glad that you could focus on Mori and the twins across from you. You were a little more relaxed now as the whole atmosphere seemed to have calmed down a bit and while half-heartedly listening to a story Kaoru told about Hikaru's first stuffed animal you let your mind wander and you thought fondly about Kyouya’s reaction to half the products in the supermarket. He had almost reminded you of Tamaki, mesmerised by all the offers and sales, although you were sure he would have been almost insulted if you had told him that.<br />

A small smile creeped on your face, but faltered again, when suddenly you felt Kyouya’s leg bump into yours, ripping you out of your thoughts and not moving once the contact had been established. Irritated you looked up at him, but he was nodding at Hikaru, presumably listening to something the older twin was saying. You moved your gaze back to your food and decided to not move your leg either. Yours had been there first and to be honest, you didn’t mind the touch. Quite the contrary.</p>

<p>After lunch everybody finally said goodbye and went their separate ways, including you. You just wanted to turn around and get home, your bed was calling for you after a day like that, when suddenly you felt a hand on your shoulder. Surprised you turned around to see Kyouya standing behind you, nodding towards his car. “Let me drive you home.”<br />

“Oh, it’s fine, really”, you reassured him. You felt like he had done enough for you over the past couple of weeks, and you really didn’t want to owe him more than you already did. “It’s not very far, I can take the train.”<br />

“It is late, your part of town can become quite dangerous, and as a member of our club we have a certain responsibility towards you. Furthermore I might use the chance to introduce myself to your aunt now, too, if she is at home.”<br />

You squinted, trying to figure out his real motives. Of course, he had to have some form of gain from his, but was meeting your aunt really reason enough for him to take a detour? But you were also kind of exhausted and knew arguing with him didn’t make sense anyways. Furthermore you weren’t necessarily too opposed to the idea of spending more time with him, wether you wanted to admit it or not.<br />

He got into the car before you, not holding open the door for you, you noticed, but you didn’t actually mind. You didn’t care too much about stuff like that and something made you feel like it was some form of weird compliment. He did not hold up an appearance for you, and somehow you liked seeing that.</p>

<p>You climbed in behind him and adjusted your seatbelt, painfully aware of him watching your every move and trying to ignore the butterflies his stare set loose in your belly. Suddenly he spoke out again.<br />

“Are you not going to thank me?”<br />

“For kidnapping me?”, you retorted, and the smile appeared back on his face. Suddenly you were very aware that you were in a highly confined space with Kyouya alone. And although there was probably a driver somewhere in the front of this car, there was a screen between you and them just like in the movies that separated you.<br />

“Fair”, he said, leaning back in his chair, but you noticed the tiniest smirk playing on his features. The car began to move and you didn’t even question how the driver knew where to go. Maybe he actually was kidnapping you, you never knew with Kyouya. You were sure you were worth a little bit of money on the black market.<br />

“Let me see if she is home first, though, or you have kidnapped me for nothing. And I am not paying for the gas!”<br />

He chuckled and your heart jumped a little.<br />

“No worries”, he said, “in that case you can repay me differently.”<br />

You rolled your eyes, trying to to keep your mind away from the gutter, but smiled. You would not give him that win that easily. He was just saying this to tease you, some form of friendly banter you two had silently established between each other. With anyone else you might have called it flirting, but with Kyouya it felt like he was just provoking you, somehow testing how you would respond. Why you hadn't quite figured out yet, but you knew that he liked to be challenged. After all this time together you had understood more or less how his mind worked. Well, most of the time.<br />

“Also”, he spoke up again, interrupting your thoughts, and you watched him shift a little in his seat as his hand glided into his pocket, suddenly revealing a small box wrapped in paper and decorated with a small blue ribbon. You looked up at him with big eyes. An invoice? A time bomb? Or maybe it was just...<br />

“What’s that?”<br />

“It was your birthday, wasn��t it?”<br />

“Yeah, but…”<br />

“Well, in most places in the world, people gift each other something for their birthdays.”<br />

You were almost speechless. “You got me a present?”<br />

“It appears so.”<br />

“But… why?”<br />

You noticed that he hesitated. You had caught him off-guard with that question you noticed It almost seemed like he wasn’t entirely sure, either. Dodging the question, he moved his hand, as if to place it back into his pocket. “Well, if you don’t want it, I’ll return it.”<br />

“No, no!”, you quickly said and bit your lip as you saw his challenging gaze. He had known you’d react like that. This round went to him. “I mean I was just surprised. I don’t get a lot of gifts normally.”<br />

“I know you told me you find it frightening when I do something  that could be considered... nice, but do not think I am doing this just to do you a favour.”<br />

You hesitated for a second, but then you held open your hand and he dropped it in your palm. “Open it. I can't give it back, if you don’t like it.”<br />

Carefully and with big eyes you began unwrapping the small package. It revealed… “A daruma?” Carefully you took it out of the small package and noticed that a little charm was hanging around its neck. It was a simple leather band with a seashell attached to it. You looked up surprised.<br />

Kyouya shrugged, and you noticed that he actually seemed a little bit nervous, head turned away to look out of the window, feigning indifference. But the way his eyes trailed back to you revealed, that he was waiting for your reaction. “Well, it’s not blessed, nor is it New Years, but I saw it and I thought, maybe you’d like it, but I’d fully understand if …”<br />

“Thank you. I love it.”<br />

You noticed him relax a bit into his seat. He nodded, now turning back to you. “I saw it in Okinawa. And since you had said you liked the beach, I thought, maybe you actually enjoy things like that. I didn’t choose anything expensive as I did not want to make you uncomfortable." And then he added in true Kyouya-fashion. "I recently read that by purchasing a birthday gift, you will improve employee morale and help the recipient feel valued.”<br />

You nodded slowly, but couldn't suppress a small chuckle. Even if it was just a present out of courtesy, you really loved it. And something told you that maybe, just maybe Kyouya had actually done something nice for you, just because he wanted. You knew he wasn't as cold as he always acted to be. “I do feel very valued", you finally replied, "In case the annual review comes up, I will be sure to mention it.” The daruma sat in your hand, the light breaking in its still empty eyes. “Thank you”, you said again, this time a bit softer. You carefully placed it back in the box, careful not to break it. “So I have a free wish and a memory.”<br />

You stroke carefully over the little package with your thumb, smiling down at it. It was simple, but that didn’t matter. Kyouya had given you a present. For your birthday. And it meant an awful lot to you.<br />

After a short silence he spoke up again. “So, what are you going to wish for?”<br />

You thought for a second, but then shook your head. “Well, I can’t tell you yet, can I? Maybe I’ll let you know once it became true.”<br />

He scoffed. “It’s a daruma, not a birthday cake.”<br />

You shrugged. “I don’t mind. It’s a secret." You carefully placed it in your bag, and instead took out your phone. “I should tell Miwako that I am coming home, though.”<br />

But as happy as you had just felt a second ago, as physically sick were you getting now, because when you lit up your phone screen you noticed that you had five missed calls. Your heart, which had been beating happily until now, seemed to miss a beat, as you could feel the familiar feeling of uneasiness rise up in your throat.<br />

“What the hell”, you whispered, and noticed Kyouya shifting, but you didn’t look at him. Suddenly you had a really bad feeling.<br />

You held the phone to your ear and listened to the familiar beeping, until your aunt picked up, her tone making your blood run ice cold. Something had happened.</p>

<p>Without a word you handed Kyouya the phone, your voice dry and emotionless. You noticed your hand was shaking. “She wants to talk to you.”<br />

Miwako had not actually told you what had happened yet, she had wanted to know if you were still at Haruhi's and although she had hesitated for a split second, she had requested to speak with Kyouya once she found out that he was taking you home. You tried to focus on your breath, on his expression as he talked. Fear was creeping up on you and made it hard to breath. You heard your aunt say something indistinguishable for you and suddenly Kyouya looked at you, expression serious and it didn’t help. You had never seen him like this. You tried to focus on his features to calm you down, his sharp cheek bones, his perfect skin. The neatly combed hair, the full lips and the dark brown eyes that wouldn’t look away from you. You noticed a small beauty mark on his chin and you wondered if he had always had that, tried to think about everything else than what your aunt was going to tell you in a moment.<br />

Kyouya didn’t say anything about you staring and instead he handed the phone back to you after what felt like forever. Your hand was still shaking as you picked it up from his grip, his fingers brushing against yours, and you wished they would have stayed, you wished he would hold your hand, keeping you safe and steady, but instead he was just watching you, prepared for whatever would come next.</p>

<p>-----</p>

<p>You dropped the phone, your breath was going rapidly now. “Stop the car”, you hissed and as Kyouya didn’t react you said it even louder. “Stop. The car!”<br />

Kyouya gave the order to the driver and although your gaze was still focused on your own feet, you felt him pull in to the left and stop. The second the car stopped, you ripped open the door and ran outside. “(Y/n!)”, you heard Kyouya’s voice behind you. “You can’t just – ”, you heard him get out behind you, but you didn’t care you ran the past few metres to the closest bush you saw and you just threw up. Your stomach was cramping and you couldn’t keep in anything from the lunch you had just shared together at Haruhi's place. You didn’t want him to see you like that, but you also couldn’t make it stop.<br />

He hesitated getting closer to you at first, but finally seemed to get over himself and knelt down next to you. He didn’t look at you, you noticed from the corner of your eye, his gaze was lifted up into the sky to give you at least a little privacy and you were thankful for it. He had positioned a hand on your back, kneeling next to you at the roadside, waiting for you to be done.<br />

You coughed a few more times and looked up to see him hold out a textile handkerchief to you. You didn’t protest, but just grabbed it, cleaning your face, trying to understand what was happening. You were still breathing rapidly and you felt the first hot tear, running down your face. You tried to bring sense into what just had happened, but you couldn’t. Your mind was full and you didn’t know on what to focus first. You buried your head in your hands and let out a silent scream, your body heaving with sobs your mind filled with sheer panic.<br />

You were on your knees in the middle of the city, right in front of the guy you liked and who after this would surely never be able to see you the same way, unable to move a muscle. Your body was heaving with sobs, but no noise escaped your mouth. It was all your fault. Your aunt was in danger. You had ruined it all, she should have never taken you in. You destroyed her life yet again. She could have gotten away if it wasn’t for you.<br />

Suddenly you felt two hands on your shoulders, gently pushing your upper body up, so that you were forced to sit up. You still let your head hang low, your eyes pressed shut, it was all too much.<br />

“(Y/n)”, you heard Kyouya’s clear voice through your haze of noise, feeling his hands gently press into your shoulders. “(Y/n), look at me.” You didn’t move. His grip tightened, but not enough to hurt, just to emphasize his words. He said it again, more demanding this time. “(Y/n), I need you to look at me.”<br />

You tried to take a deep breath, opening your eyes and looking up into Kyouya’s face. Something about the expression on his face made all the noise and all the voices become quieter. You tried to block out everything else, the street, the people watching, and just focus on his face, his eyes, his voice, his scent. You just felt his hands on your shoulders, saw his face in front of you and heard his clear voice. “Your aunt is safe. I have dispatched two officers of our police force.” You wondered when he had done that, but it didn’t even matter. You nodded carefully. “One in front of your house. And one in front of the hospital. She is going to be safe.”<br />

Your breath became calmer again, you were mesmerized by his voice and by his eyes. You couldn’t look away. The fear subsided slightly. You still couldn’t speak and you were still trembling.<br />

“And I have promised your aunt to keep you safe, too, and I am very intent on keeping my promise.” You nodded. He let go of your shoulders without a warning and stood up, looking down at you expectantly. “Get up. You're stronger than this.” He wasn’t going to help you up. He expected to get up yourself. All he did was hold out a hand for you to grab, but the rest you had to do yourself. You wanted to collapse again, but you took a deep breath. He was right. You had done it before, you could do it again. Your aunt was safe, that was the most important thing and you couldn’t rely on other people for the rest of your life. “I do not know what exactly is going on, but I can promise you that nothing is going to happen to you.” His voice was firm and it was exactly what you needed right now. You believed him.<br />

You took one last breath, before you took Kyouya’s hand, using it to stabilize yourself while standing up. You were still trembling, but you could somewhat think again. “Very good”, he said, and your heart leaped in your chest. You wanted to do well. You nodded carefully, your voice still hoarse and your throat hurting from puking and crying. “Thank you”, you said awkwardly not knowing what to do now, trying to bring sense into your head.<br />

“Get in the car”, he ordered, although his voice was a little softer now. “I am going to bring you back to Haruhi’s place.”<br />

You nodded and followed him into his car. You were staring at your knuckles, your fists were clenched so hard that they had begun to turn white.<br />

“I am sorry”, you whispered, and Kyouya looked at you, as he scooched in after you. He didn’t say a word, but instead after a short pause, and what looked like him considering the situation, wrapped his arm around your shoulders and pulled you into his chest, holding you tightly. He didn’t say it was alright, he didn’t tell you all would be fine. He was far too pragmatic for that. He was just sitting next to you holding you, calmly, and although your heart skipped a beat at the sudden contact, you actually managed to calm down and breathe again. Suddenly, you felt safer. He didn't have to say another word for you to understand that he was not going to let anything happen to you. His touch grounded you. The rest of the car ride was silent, you trying to calm your breath, breathing in his scent, and him, silently gazing out the window, his muscles tensing up every now and then, when you felt the car come to a stop. For a few seconds the whole world seemed to stand still, until you heard Kyouya's voice speak up in the silence.<br />

“I'll keep my promise." And with these words he let go of you and the car door opened. Ranka-san was already waiting outside, ready to greet you. You nodded, not able to speak, but you hoped he still understood what you were trying to tell him. Right when your foot touched the pavement you felt his grab on your wrist one last time. You turned around to him. “I’ll call you.” He had said, expression stone-cold as you had gotten out of the car. Ranka immediately rushed towards you, taking you tightly into her arms and you welcomed the embrace. You looked at Kyouya’s car drive away silently, while Ranka carefully guided you inside. You felt even more miserable. Your parents really had to ruin everything. If you had been sure that there was no way he liked you back before, now you were absolutely certain that a Kyouya Ootori would never be with a pathetic girl whose own parents didn’t even want her. And if that wasn’t even the worst, again you were nothing but a burden to everybody. Haruhi and Ranka included.</p>

<p>-----</p>

<p>You let yourself drop on the floor in your room, your back against your wardrobe. It had been an exhausting day. After a night at Haruhi’s and what felt like forever, Miwako had finally decided that it was fine for you to come home. Carefully you had gotten out of the station and ran home, all the time worried that a familiar face would pop up or similar. But nothing happened. As it seemed, they didn’t know where you lived. At least not yet.<br />

Your gaze fell on your backpack, and you pulled it closer to you. You opened it and fished out the small package with the blue bow.<br />

Carefully you got out the Daruma. It was looking at you with blank eyes, and you stared back, feeling as empty as the little doll. Tentatively you took of the little charm and tied it to a little opening in your phone case. Then you got up and looked around the room for a marker. Once you had found one, you sat back down, popped off the cap and began to write your wish. Shortly after you carefully drew in the left eye of the Daruma, who was now halfway looking back at you. You placed it on your desk and just sat in front of it, looking at your new little friend, thinking about the man who had given him to you. The man who probably now saw you in a completely different way than he had before. If you maybe had had some hopes that he might like you before, you knew now he for sure would not. You hadn’t wanted him to see you in such a state. You hated being so weak and usually you weren’t. It was just that whenever your parents would be involved it would all come back.<br />

Shivering you remembered the nights in the cold room, barely any belongings, no friends, waiting for the next punishment to come your way. You played with your little charm. These days at the sea with Miwako had been your only way to get out. Three days without fear. Before you had had to go back. You had begged her so often not to bring you back. But it had taken years for the abuse to become visible enough that she would betray her own sister and run off with you like that. You didn’t blame her. It had been a big step and you were happy she had been brave enough for the two of you to take it.<br />

Suddenly the phone in your hand began to ring and before you had even looked at the display you knew who was calling. You bit your lip, thinking for a second, before you eventually picked up.<br />

“Hello?”<br />

“It’s me.” You knew it was him, you had ignored his call already twice this evening. You were too embarrassed and not ready for the talk you knew would follow. You had been so embarrassed about how weak you had gotten. About what this simple phone call had done to you. This wasn’t like you, you used to fight. When you didn’t reply, he spoke up again.<br />

“Are you alright?” His voice sounded cold and emotionless and you knew he was mad at you for not picking up earlier.<br />

“Yes… Thank you again. I don’t think I can ever repay you.”<br />

“Not all my life revolves around favors, you know?” Ouch. You were silent for a while.<br />

“Kyouya-senpai, I…” I am sorry. I am embarrassed. Please don’t think lower of me because of what happened today.<br />

“I think you owe me an explanation.”<br />

You nodded. “You’re right”, you whispered. “I am sorry. I will tell you, I promise just…  not now. Please”, you begged, and you were surprised that your voice broke. You were so tired.<br />

“I hope you are aware of the expenses I had to spare for you in the past week alone.”<br />

“I know, I am sorry.”<br />

“I do not want to hear you apologize.” Tears formed in your eyes at his harsh words. You wished he would just stop talking, you were already feeling bad enough. He cleared his throat and continued speaking, his voice a bit softer. Maybe he had realized he had been too harsh on you. “I mean, there’s no need to apologize.” Another short break. “I was worried.” Surprised you hick-upped. You hoped he hadn’t heard it, but if he had, he chose to ignore it. “I want to help you, (y/n), but I cannot do that, if you will not tell me what is going on! All your aunt told me that she needed me to get you to Haruhi safely and that she couldn’t go home herself either.”<br />

“You’re right”, you agreed.<br />

“I won’t force you”, he finally said to your surprise. “Stay safe. I’ll see you next week.”<br />

After this call you felt emptier than you had before.</p>

<p>Little had you known that he had focused on whatever else as to control the anger that had risen in his chest. He didn’t know who had hurt her like that but one thing was sure, they were going to pay for it. He had theories of course, after all, Kyouya wasn’t stupid. He could count one and one together, but either way he needed to know what was going on with her. What happened to her in the past. He bit his lip, staring at his phone, thinking about what it was that he was feeling.<br />

He had come to care about (y/n) he had to admit to himself. Deeply. Was this still just having a crush? Either way he knew that he wanted to protect her and that he wanted to get rid of whatever or whoever was torturing her this way. Having seen her breakdown in front of him like this, had almost shocked him. She was usually very put together, smart, witty and always had an answer. But from one second to the next she had absolutely broken down and a tight knot had formed in his chest seeing her like this. He had wanted to hug her, take her in his arms, but he wasn’t sure if what she needed maybe was space, so he had opted for that.<br />

He knew she was strong enough to get through it herself, but he still had wanted to help her. He had rarely felt as helpless as in this moment. The last time she was in danger he had lost control. This time he wanted to keep it for her sake. But little did she know that the second he had let go of her, the second his car drove away, he had exhaled shakily, fists clenched, trying to suppress the anger that he had kept in his chest ever since he had talked to her aunt and the worry he had tried to deny up until that point.</p>

#ootori kyoya #ohshc kyoya #ootori kyouya #kyouya ootori #kyouya #kyouya ootori x reader #kyoya ootori x reader #ohshc x reader #ohshc fanfic

[mswyrr]

"Ballad" politics and absolute monarchy

So, Collins quotes Thomas Hobbes' Leviathan at the beginning of Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.

“Hereby it is manifest, that during the time men live without a common Power to keep them all in awe, they are in that condition which is called Warre; and such a warre, as is of every man, against every man.” — Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan, 1651

This relates to the debate that went on in Europe over absolute monarchy - when it first came about (arising out of a prior order where individual nobles had a great deal of control over their own areas, even able to make war against each other without the king's permission: that is, there was no central authority with a "monopoly on violence") it was in light of truly brutal religious wars. There was a sense--like during the war that precedes Ballad--that nobody was safe anywhere, you couldn't go about your life in even the most basic ways without violence and terror.

This was particularly true in France, the place where absolute monarchy first really took off, with events like St Bartholomew's Day (1572) Massacre and the assassination of Henry IV (1610) by a radical for trying to make peace between Catholics and Protestants, haunting the whole discussion.

Leviathan's frontispiece is an image of the entire body of the people brought into order and peace in the body of the unifying absolute monarch:

Notice how all the people (subjects, not citizens) are not facing us or each other, but looking to the absolute monarch and, in doing this, there is stability and order? That image (and the concept of control of nobles who abused their power) sort of embodies the hope of the advocates of absolute monarchy.

Now, it became a horror show! It's a bad idea!! But there's also the fact that people were looking for an answer and some people thought it fit the bill. It's important to look at the context for why people might be persuaded of that.

I was really excited when I started listening to "Ballad" audiobook and heard the Leviathan quote. I think it's neat that Collins chose to reference this period of history in Gaul's sincerely held ideology and to make Snow someone who doesn't have any particular ideology - he just wants to maintain his comfort and privilege and to have control and her ideas are convenient for that. A pre-made set of justifications for what he comes to realize he wants most for less intellectual reasons.

I think Dr Gaul's going to become an even more interesting character (and contrasting voice to Lucy Gray and her Covey ideas about people and the "natural" order of human beings, which are basically a form of anarchism), since the trailer has her say something not in the books:

"If you want to protect people, then it's essential to accept what human beings are and what it takes to control them." (first trailer)

(rubs hands together) I feel like she was more of a flat character in the book, but with Viola Davis in the role and a deepening of the character she could be really fun to watch. I hope we get more of Lucy Gray's Covey culture and anarchist ideas too. The fact that the director talks about it as a struggle over ideas--conceptions of the human and of what a good social order is--really makes me giddy.

I think the quote by Rousseau that Collins also starts with is meant to represent something closer to Lucy Gray’s pov:

“Man is born free; and everywhere he is in chains.” — Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract, 1762

#the ballad of songbirds and snakes #the hunger games #lucy gray baird #coriolanus snow #volumnia gaul #my meta #thg meta

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for not wanting my brother to follow Islam?🐢

(Emoji so I can recognize my submission)

⚠WARNING⚠: This is a reaaal long one and also contains discussion of some potentially triggering subjects.

I'll try and explain this as concisely as I can but this is just a part of a long ongoing issue I have had with my brother. I (16F/X) have been at odds with my brother (19M) over a multitude of subjects. We debate often but the problem is he is very stubborn so the debates usually don't result in anything beyond me being frustrated and his opinions remaining unchanged. The problem is that he has unfortunately started going down a nazi rabbit hole and picking up all sorts of extremely harmful ideas. I'll list some of them for you so you can get a general picture: Denying evolution, the rothschild conspiracy, general antisemitism, transphobia, monarchism /facism, calling all sexual content filthy, misogynistic ideas, hating on atheists, etc. As an atheist who is also aroace, nonbinary and also very progressive, this makes me feel greatly uncomfortable. Let me be clear, I don't think I'm the asshole for opposing these ideas, the part where I could be the asshole is me opposing his transition into religion. A lot of his more radical ideas started sprouting after he started getting into Islam like the whole denying evolution thing and his rampant antisemetism. Also just to be clear, I have nothing against Muslims and I am not trying to say that Muslims inherently don't believe in basic science, it's just the particular circles that my brother has been exposed to that are giving him these ideas. However I will acknowledge the that it might be my own implicit bias that is making me reject his own interest in Islam. I'd also like to note my brother has been struggling with his health basically his entire teen life, where he has trouble sleeping, has barely any energy and this has led to him becoming depressed. He barely has any interests and those he had he's recently said he no longer enjoys. It's clear to me this is why such toxic ideas have appealed to him, because he feels disconnected and lonely. He barely goes out, he barely eats, he sleeps until the early afternoon, he has to shave and shower every single time he goes out and if he accidentally nicks himself while shaving he will adamantly refuse to go. It really upsets me to see him this way because I can tell he is suffering but he will never talk to me about it. However it doesn't change the fact that he has said some truly abhorrent things. I have tried many times to show him he's wrong or to gently guide him towards a more progressive and educated outlook but he is too stubborn to change.

This fully came to a head when we were having dinner together with our parents and he kept repeating the same arguments that god must be real because XYZ or, evolution is fake because XYZ and I would tell him why I disagreed with his reasoning. Continue in circles for two whole hours. This ended with me telling him that he was a dumbass and that he should stop watching religious content.

I feel I am an asshole here because just as I don't want to be forced into a religion, I shouldn't force him out of one, but I feel since he's picked up religious ideas he's only gotten worse. Just yesterday he officially became a Muslim at a nearby mosque. I feel I should be happy for him but I can already see problems that may arise. He has to do 5 prayers (salat) a day at certain times and this morning he slept through two. I also worry about Ramadan since he's already very skinny and barely eating, I don't think further fasting will help at all.

Even worse, he's been spreading some of his ideas to my parents. They don't take on all his BS thankfully but they have absorbed some of the more troubling stuff, particularly his transphobia. I try to avoid queer topics as much as I can for this reason but whenever it does come up I always feel sick just sitting there listening to them.

Yet again I want to reiterate that Muslims are not a monolith and do not all share the same opinions but an unfortunately high number are greatly opposed to the idea of queer people. Not to mention many hold strong beliefs regarding the strict divisions of male and female. I don't know. Yet again, it could just be accidental Islamophobia on my part but I don't think it's a coincidence that he started getting more extreme once he got into particular Muslim circles.

So tumblr, AITA?

What are these acronyms?

#aita #am i the asshole

[be-the-glenn-to-my-maggie]

I don't get why people are stressed about the titanic sub, there are no people on board. Only billionaires.

#titanic sub #titanic submarine #i get more and more radicalized (become more reasonable) every day #melissa og #melissa on things that are happening #oceangate #titanic

[inquisitor-apologist]

Thinking of another Star War AU I Will Not Write. This time, it’s an Imperial Ghost Crew one:

Sabine Wren fails to escape the Imperial Academy, and is, for some reason, forced into a mentorship program with Hera Syndulla, an extremely competent and talented new ISB agent coming out of a decorated career in the Imperial Navy. Sabine hates her on sight. She attempts to run away at least five times a day (Hera always seems to know where she is), and makes no secret of how much she wants to join the rebel terrorists they are currently hunting. The only upside to the situation is Agent Syndulla's ancient, borderline illegal droid (he doesn't want to go through Imperial reprogramming, and Hera won't make him) who lives for chaos and is absolutely willing to hack into a Star Destroyer’s comm system to blast the Republic anthem and smuggle in smoke bombs.

Hera Syndulla was captured in an Imperial raid when she was a kid (11-12) and placed in an Imperial reeducation facility. She graduated top of her class at the Imperial Fighter Academy and served as one of the Empire's most talented TIE pilots until she was promoted to the ISB. And now she has to wrangle a teenage Mandalorian whose favorite hobbies are high treason and vandalism. Sabine's relentless rebellion starts to change her mind on the Rebellion, especially when Sabine tells her about the Duchess and what the Empire's done to Mandalore.

Chopper, of course, goes where Hera goes, even though the Empire is far too orderly for his tastes. He somehow found her after her capture and reeeducation, and covertly replaced her astromech at the Fighter Academy. He commands an army of Mouse Droids on the Star Destroyer, and takes great pleasure in using them to sneak bugs and smoke bombs into Officer's quarters. In his opinion, Sabine is the best thing that's ever happened to him--she's an excellent gunner, a fellow chaos lover, and she's gotten Hera to loosen up a bit, so it's easier than ever to sneak off with her codes to prank the Admiral.

Ezra was captured with his parents on Lothal and put into Project Harvester, where he was eventually transferred into the Inquisitorius as a Junior Inquisitor. As such, he is extremely repressed. Sabine takes one look at him and decides he's her new best friend, and by the Force she is going to radicalize him. They become fast friends, and are soon the bane of every Senior Officer's existence. But no one can track the mysterious disappearance of all of Admiral Konstantine's pants back to them, of course. They bond over shared Imperial Trauma and eventually decide that they need to get out of here as fast as fucking possible.

Kanan was captured after Order 66 and was tortured into the Inquisitorius, so he's even more emotionally constipated than Ezra. He is Struggling with attempting to parent a teenager because Vader and the Grand Inquisitor's solution to everything was torture, and for some strange reason, he doesn't want to do that with Ezra. Also, he's extremely confused whenever he looks at Hera because he gets Feelings other?? than unquenchable rage??? and he does not know how to process this At All. He ends up covering for Ezra and Sabine's shenanigans because they're just kids and he doesn't want to see them punished. So no, Admiral Konstantine, he has no idea how all the security tapes for your room on the night your pants were stolen disappeared, it's a complete mystery.

Zeb and Kallus are the leaders of the Rebel cell they're trying to capture, because there's absolutely no way Zeb would ever be Imperial. Kallus and Hera were friends back at the Imperial Academy so they've got that best friends to enemies dynamic, and Zeb and Kanan have a really old rivalry--Zeb has a habit of sneaking Force Sensitive kids out of the Empire's reach, and Kanan's been halfheartedly hunting him for years. They are absolutely kriffing, and keep asking Hera and Kanan when they're going to finally do it. Kanan is so embarrassed he can't speak, and Hera looks straight down for so long that the rebels make their getaway unchallenged.

#imperial au #imperial ghost crew #star wars #rebels #star wars rebels #sw rebels #imperial hera syndulla #hera syndulla #inquisitor Kanan Jarrus #kanan jarrus #imperial Sabine wren #inquisitor ezra bridger #sabine wren #ezra bridger #chopper rebels #chopper #c1 10p #rebel kallus #garazeb orrelios #rebels au #sw rebels au #star wars au #Kalluzeb #kind of

[heliza24]

The Radical Act of Quitting (and Wilhelm)

This is a little more personal than my Young Royals metas normally are. It’s really one-half personal essay, one-half show analysis.  It’s something of a spiritual successor to my post about radical acceptance and Simon’s arc in season 2. And it’s also about the reasons why I want Wilhelm to renounce the crown by the end of season 3. (I am stating that early, because I know many people disagree. Feel free to engage but please do so with kindness; a lot of this is quite vulnerable for me.)

I’m disabled. Specifically, I have a chronic condition that began in my early twenties, and slowly got worse and worse until I was finally diagnosed at 28. I’m 31 now, and I’ve had to grieve the person I once was many times over. I used to be a dancer, I used to be an adventurous eater, I used to love to travel. My chronic pain and restrictive medical diet have taken those things away from me, piece by piece. But the thing I mainly want to talk about right now is quitting my job. At the time of my diagnosis, I had worked at my job full time for three years. For a few years after my diagnosis, I tried to remain at my job part-time, because I loved it. I worked in the music industry, and I had the best team of coworkers. I had a great work/life balance, I was never stressed about work. I looked forward to each day in the office. When I went to events and had to introduce myself during an ice-breaker, I would usually include a fact about my job. I found a lot of my identity there. All of my work directly supported musicians, which was something I was very proud of.

So I tried very, very hard to hang on to my job. My company gave out these ridiculously heavy plaques for employees who had been at the company for 5 years, and I was determined to get one. But it was really hard. I could no longer type sitting up for more than a few minutes, so I did every day from my lap desk in bed. (This is still where I write all of my fic and meta!) I struggled to talk to customers on the phone while I was in pain. The office was closed because of the pandemic, but I would have had to work from home regardless because I couldn’t handle the commute.  Every day was a slog. And my pain and fatigue weren’t getting better. In fact they were continuing to get worse as time went on. Finally, my five-year work anniversary arrived. I made it, but I felt like a runner barely stumbling over the finish line. It was the end of 2021. I talked with my friends and my therapist and my disability benefits lawyer. “I don’t think I can keep working,” I would say. And then I would cry, because the thought of letting go of this last part of my identity, when my illness had already taken so much, was so horrible.

After several months of deliberating and grieving, I quit.  My boss begged me to reconsider (God bless him, honestly). Was there anything he could do to better accommodate my needs? Could I work a different schedule to let me sleep more? Could I work freelance on specific projects they really needed me on? I wanted to say yes so badly. But I knew. The longer I held on, the more I fought, the worse my health would become. And the worse my health would become, the more I would struggle with work. The joy I had felt during my first three years in that office had already drained away. I was fighting just to get through each day, and I didn’t want to fight anymore.

I recognize that having the resources and disability benefits to even consider quitting is a huge privilege. There are a lot of disabled and chronically ill folks who struggle through work at great detriment to their health because they can’t afford not to keep working.  So I recognize how lucky I was to be able to quit. I am so grateful for that option, even as I mourn all the things I have lost.

In my meta about Simon, I talked about radical acceptance and how it has been my guiding light as a disabled person. Embracing radical acceptance means that I have done my best to accept what I can and cannot do, and what I can and cannot control, without judgment. I accepted that I needed to walk away from my job. But how was I supposed to define myself without it?

Capitalism defines most peoples’ self-identity, whether they realize it or not. We identify with our jobs, or with the “grind” culture, or with the moral goodness associated with working hard. But here I was, without a job. And I had my whole adult life ahead of me. I had to find a way to make a new identity outside of work.

Around this time, I started to gravitate towards stories where characters are faced with similar decisions, even if I didn’t realize it yet. And let me tell you, there aren’t many of them.

@bluedalahorse and I talk about this a lot. In our ultra-franchised world, the point of stories, even those that are supposedly about rebellions, is often to return characters to the status quo, so that the next movie/comic/episode can pick back up where the last one left off. And when there is a significant change in the status quo, it is usually because the characters worked, and pushed, and struggled to achieve that change. It’s very rare to see a story about someone who walked away from something that was harming them. It’s rarer still to find something that deals with the aftermath, as characters work to re-establish themselves.

I’ve found a lot of comfort in true stories of people leaving cults and high demand religions, and of queer people forced to leave their conservative families behind. In all of these cases, people are consciously abandoning a predominant belief system that is harming them, and have to start over as they craft their new sense of identity. (I am also queer, which adds an additional level of connection). Often people in these situations come to rely on their found family, a thing I have also found to be true in my own life.

I quit my job in between seasons 1 and 2 of Young Royals, and I don’t think I realized how many themes connected my experience to Wilhelm’s until I was watching season 2. Wilhelm is the protagonist of Young Royals, and his central dramatic question has always been: will he fulfill his duty as a royal? Or will he quit, and discover who he is beyond the system he was raised in? Simon is a huge part of this decision, obviously, but the question has never been strictly about Simon.

While I have no personal experience with the monarchy, I do know what it’s like to consider walking away from a role that you assumed you would fill for the rest of your life. I know what it’s like to think about quitting your job.

There’s so much pressure on Wilhelm to assume the role of perfect Crown Prince. He’s told constantly—by Kristina, by Jan-Olof, by the court-- that he can’t let his family or his country down by deviating from this role in any way.

This is a pretty common experience for people who are trying to quit something. They are told that they will let down those around them if they leave. People who are leaving high demand religions are told that they will not be able to enter heaven.  Queer people in conservative families are told they can’t come out because “it would break [elderly relative]’s heart and kill them.” When I quit my job, I thought a lot about how I’d be letting down my coworkers and everyone who knew me as a hyper-competent career-driven person.(This included some of my doctors by the way, who expressed their disappointment in my failure to adhere to their idea of a “worthy” disabled person, i.e. someone who soldiered through the pain and continued to work. Some withdrew care because of this and honestly I will never forgive them). And maybe I was letting people down, and maybe ex-Mormons really will spend the afterlife in outer darkness, and maybe all the grandmas of queer people will be so upset that they kick the bucket when their grandkids come out. But ultimately, if your happiness or safety or well being depends on leaving, it doesn’t really matter. You have to do it anyway.  You have to abandon the things that you can no longer carry. You have to discover who you are on the other side of religion, of the closet, of capitalism.

I think about this every time people in the fandom talk about how Wilhelm leaving the line of succession will create a constitutional crisis, or impact all of Sweden negatively. I am personally pretty anti-monarchist, but I honestly can’t even tell you if I think that Wilhelm removing himself from the line of succession would bring about the end of the Swedish monarchy or not. Honestly, I don’t really care.  I care about Wilhelm. I want him to seek happiness, to search for the future that must live on the other side of this oppressive system he finds himself in. A constitutional crisis? That’s Kristina’s problem, that’s Jan-Olof’s problem, that’s the government’s problem. Radical acceptance means focusing on the things you can control, and Wilhelm can only control his own happiness.

When this issue gets debated, I often see people argue that Wilhelm is too young to make the decision to give up the throne. But the reality is that we ask teenagers to make decisions about their futures all the time. @bluedalahorse wrote a great piece of meta about that here. I love what she said so much I’m going to quote it directly:

Nonetheless, we ask teenagers of Sara and Wilhelm’s ages to think about decisions that affect their future all the time. We ask them to consider what career they’ll pursue or what university to attend. Teenagers who grow up in various denominations of Christianity consider whether they’re going to go through with Confirmation or sometimes Baptism. Other religions (ones where I can’t speak from as much personal experience) have various other rites of passage around this age, and various cultures have coming of age rituals. For some teens, they do these things willingly and with their whole heart, whereas for others, they do it to please their parents or families or for the social norms of it all.

And if Wilhelm is too young to decide to give up the throne, how can he be old enough to decide to keep it? Surely the decision to take on the governance of a country, even in a symbolic way, requires as much, if not more, maturity than the decision to pursue a less high-powered career elsewhere.

When people in the fandom claim that Wilhelm is too young to make this decision, I hear Kristina telling Wilhelm to wait until he’s 18 to come out, because only then will he be responsible enough to deal with the consequences. That’s a delaying tactic, and nothing more. People who don’t want you to leave will ask you to delay your decision over and over again, because they think that if they can kick the can down the road just a little farther, they’ll never have to lose you.

I also see people argue that Wilhelm isn’t qualified to make a decision because he doesn’t know enough about the “real world” to know what he is choosing. To be honest I don’t think most teenagers know much about the “real world”. I definitely didn’t. But we ask them to make decisions that will affect their futures anyway. And here’s another way to look at this: Wilhelm has plenty of places he can look to for examples of how “ordinary” people live. He can find out what it’s like to be from a noble but non-royal family from the students at Hillerska. He can talk to Simon and Linda about what their lives are like. He can read the millions of books, or watch the thousands of movies and TV shows that feature non-royal protagonists and were created by non-royal artists. But only Wilhelm knows what it is like to be Crown Prince. No one else has had that experience. So I would argue that actually, Wilhelm is the only one qualified to make this call.

Ultimately, the agency and mental capacity of people who are quitting is often doubted, usually by the people who have the most to gain by keeping them in place.

So many people have so much invested in maintaining the status quo. And as soon as you invest in a system, someone daring to leave puts your world view into question. Why are you dealing with so many oppressive rules if someone else can just leave? We see this a lot with high demand religions and cults; if someone threatens to break free, the members often join ranks and work together to pressure them to stay. What has your sacrifice as a woman in a patriarchal religion meant, for example, if another woman can decide to simply walk away? Does Kristina’s grim life of duty and sacrifice matter, if Wilhelm can just opt out and seek happiness instead? 

Then of course, there are all the benefits that an oppressive system confers on its most privileged members. Those benefits are in danger of disappearing if enough people quit, so high ranking people will work to keep others in line.  Think about all the people who benefit from the monarchy: all the staff who work for the royal family, all the nobles who get their reputation by proximity to the monarch, and everyone in Sweden who in general benefits from the image that a long-standing institution of white, straight, conservative power projects.

And those aren’t people Wilhelm needs to be responsible for (or should be concerned with placating, to be honest). If the monarchy fails because Wilhelm leaves, it’s because there’s always been a fault in the system. Those relying on this outdated system have signed their own fate.

No one knows fully what life will be like after they quit. That’s the radical acceptance part of quitting. You have to make a blind leap, and discover a whole new world once you land. Wilhelm is no more sheltered than anyone before they take this leap. Everyone who quits—a religion, a cult, a job—has to go through this process of rediscovery.  You have to learn by doing. People do that successfully all the time, and I believe that Wilhelm can too.

When I was talking about this meta with @bluedalahorse, we talked a lot about Plato’s allegory of the cave. That story goes something like this:

Several prisoners have been kept inside a cave their entire life. They are chained to the spot, and cannot move. They are facing the back wall of the cave. Behind them is a fire, and in between them and the fire, their captors walk back and forth, casting shadows on the wall. Because the prisoners have been kept in the cave their entire life and have only ever seen shadows, they think the shadows are real. They think the only thing that exists in the world is shadows. Until one day, one of the prisoners is set free. He goes outside for the first time, where he is blinded by the sun and overwhelmed by stimulus. But he discovers the real world. He now knows that the shadows he was used to are pale imitations of the real things. He’s so excited that he goes back to tell his fellow prisoners what he has learned. But the prisoners get angry at him for challenging their world view. They don’t believe him, no matter what he says.

There are a lot of ways you can interpret this story. Some people think that Plato is talking about the role of philosophers in society. Some people use it to explain a philosophical concept he writes about elsewhere called “forms”. But I think one thing is clear. Plato didn’t write the allegory of the cave (and it didn’t stick around in human imagination for thousands of years) because he thought you should stay in the cave. Leaving the cave is hard. You will be met with resistance. But discovering the real world, when you were only seeing shadows before, is worth it.

I want Wilhelm to leave to be happy, to see the real world instead of shadows. But I also believe it’s what the story demands. It’s the only answer that makes asking the dramatic question—should Wilhelm conform or rebel?—worthwhile to me.

To be king, but to be the first gay king, would be such an unsatisfactory ending for me. It reminds me of how hard I tried to keep my job—by working from bed, by reducing my hours. My boss could do the best he could to be accommodating, but ultimately working was harming me. You can’t adapt the monarchy enough to make it a non-damaging space for Wilhelm, because there will always be people pressuring him to conform to its straight, stoic ideals. Those ideals have been around for hundreds of years, and to put all of the burden of reforming them on Wilhelm is unfair and unrealistic. If he does stay, I see him struggling to change a system that is not designed for him. Even if he does make small victories for representation or inclusion in that context, it will come at an enormous emotional cost. I just don’t think it’s worth it. Not when there’s a whole world where Wilhelm could be doing good, important work– in whatever arena he chooses– that won’t also come along with inherent emotional trauma. 

Believe me, there’s a whole world to be discovered after you walk away from something that’s damaging you. You grieve, yes, but you also grow. Since quitting I’ve been able to love my friends harder, to treat myself better, to give back to the disabled community.  I think if you talk to most people who have committed a similar act of radical quitting they’ll say the same thing.  I want this future for Wilhelm, but I also want this kind of story to exist for all of us. I want there to be a story that represents those of us who have had to make these kinds of decisions. I want there to be a story that can encourage people who are currently wrestling with their desire to leave and the pressure to stay. And I want there to be a story that shows the hope, the bravery, and the self-belief that is required to walk away and seek a brighter future.

#young royals #prince wilhelm #wilhelm young royals #my meta #my crip media reviews #this turned out to be very long thank you if you read it all

[anarchywoofwoof]

the fact that we judge every last category of human being by the most extreme examples that their relative ideologies have to offer is a true moral failing built on the back of decades upon decades of attacks on intellectualism and the undermining critical thinking.

we have allowed visions of the most radical members of all corners of our society tearing down social constructs that weren't even built for us to drive so many people toward hating their neighbor and believing that "they" have far less to lose than "we" do. whoever "we" is. whatever superior social class you find yourself identifying with.

i know that the human experience is often interacting, either directly or indirectly, with hundreds and sometimes thousands of people a day, a week, a month, and it may get lost in the sheer number of us walking the earth, but there is so much more that unites us than tears us apart. the challenge has always been convincing people of this before it's too late to change their minds.

it's not too late to change your mind. it's never too late to step back and rethink the level of care and consideration that you have for your fellow human being, regardless of race, color, creed, circumstances, upbringing, morals, etc. until they have given you just reason to do otherwise or have caused you undue harm.

this is not a "turn the other cheek" post. this is, however, a "check my prior posts before you make an assumption on what this means" post. sometimes, honestly? yeah. you have to punch them in the face and there's no amount of moralistic grandstanding you can sufficiently pull off with a nazi or a fascist to make them see reason.

but start challenging your preconceived notions on what it means to be alive and living the same existence from a different perspective. start with your neighbor. start with your co-worker. start with your professor or your manager or fuck, the stranger in line at Baskin Robbins.

building community sometimes means restoring faith in the existence of community. there's so much hate and it takes so little effort anymore to instill the tiniest bit of hope in people who otherwise would become one of those extreme examples that i mentioned in the first paragraph. consider your impact.

#text #anarchy #anarchism #anarchist #bork bork thoughts #community

[pinene]

Would you elaborate on the shame thing? I feel like it’s so fucking true and I didn’t even realize that like since I’ve addressed my own shame I have been able to start getting my life actually together :p

I genuinely need to write an essay about this, but so much of us harbor an incredible amount of shame, and use it as a punishment to replace consequences, preventing us from ever learning. If you notice how dirty your room is, you feel deeply ashamed of it, and that bad feeling seems to “count”. As long as you feel bad about failing, it’s okay that you failed. This rots us out from the inside.

rather than approach problems pragmatically, we approach them from how to avoid shame. It’s never “what functionally needs to be done to tidy up my space?”, but rather “Okay I’m gonna clean my ENTIRE room tomorrow so I stop feeling bad about it” and then rinse and repeat, always failing to meet the goal, taking out more “shame debt” as I call it to pay for failure. Shame feels bad. Shame is the fear of losing connection. To yourself, to others. If you feel shame every time you are honest (eg “my room is messy”), you will start to lie to yourself to avoid it. You will think “I’m a neat person who has a temporarily messy room”, “I’m an organized person who’s fallen out of practice”, “I’m an employed person who’s gonna get a job any day now”, “I’m a person who wakes up early but has been failing to, better set my alarm for 9am every morning even though I don’t ever wake up from it”.

This is deeply problematic for a couple reasons. First of all, dishonesty prevents progress. People think without shame, nobody can improve, but that’s bullshit. It’s the opposite. The first step to achieving a goal is knowing where you currently are relative to it. But if admitting where you currently are brings you a deep amount of shame, you simply never will. Second of all, if you are dishonest with yourself, you will never feel successful. If you think that you’re a person with a clean room without a clean room, then you will constantly feel dissatisfied— and when you DO finally snap and clean your room from a place of shame.. you can’t be satisfied. Because there’s no fulfillment in being exactly where you expect yourself to be.

So life becomes drab. There’s no point to anything. You don’t feel a connection to your space, there’s no zest. You think only about how you’ve failed, how to keep side-stepping shame, never how to grow, how to get what you want, how to deeply, fully consent to experiencing your own life. “Free time” aka chilling and sitting around in the bullseye of your comfort zone becomes paramount, because you don’t know how to accomplish things without feeling badly about yourself. If your goal in life is to avoid shame, you can’t really live. Hard things become impossible, because you will hate yourself if you don’t complete them, and even if you do, you’ll hate yourself for how hard it was.

There is a very sneaky self-loathing that I don’t see anyone talking about, that I struggle(d) with a lot, where your self esteem may be average or even high. You might think you’re hot, smart, funny. But at the end of the day, you are still competing for your own love. You withhold it. You think that you should do better to earn it. You only have love for a hypothetical, better version for yourself.

The only way out is radical self love. To love someone is to be invested in their journey in a positive way. Invest in yourself. Even the parts of yourself you don’t like. Especially them. They need the most love. You need to be honest with yourself. Your room is dirty because you have been making it that way, and have failed to clean it. That’s okay. That’s who you currently are. And that person still deserves love.

Love, for yourself, and for others, is never “earned”. It’s discovered. Through conversation, touch, collaboration, etc. You have discovered more about yourself than anyone else, I’d imagine. So where’s that love?

TLDR; kill the cop in your head, stop practicing a psychological microcosm of capitalism with an economy of shame. Love yourself and others unconditionally, even and especially when they don’t meet the mark