#it's those kinds of guys who think they are deep and philosophical because of it

[micechicken]

Okay, I still think it's super hilarious that Dubstep was taken from the UK and made better (which is actually called Brostep btw)

#I hate “true dubstep” it's SO boring #but everyone thinks it's like “deep thoughts” and so cool #it's those kinds of guys who think they are deep and philosophical because of it #it's actually really funny #but they're also british so they always feel that way it seems #I don't listen to EDM cause I wanna sit there I wanna dance and hear all the complex sounds #especially since dubstep now comes from drum and bass which comes from hip hop #it makes me really mad how they will hate on hip hop but then will turn around and be like ''drum and bass is so great'' #like you are completely leaving out the influence hiphop had on drum and bass and dubstep #like where do you think they basic pattern came from

[mageknight14]

I loved how NEO pulled the rug out with Rindo’s character. At first, he generally seems much more sociable and outwardly friendly compared to Neku and then the game quickly goes "yeah, nah, he’s a huge fucking mess too." He’s a good kid fundamentally at his core but he can also be whiny, hypocritical, passive-aggressive, and kind of insensitive at times. He has a tendency to be judgemental and harsh to the people around him while not acknowledging his own faults, like when he complains about Beat joining the team even though he saved their lives beforehand because he’s not Neku or when he gives Fret shit for fawning over Eiji Oji and Kanon while falling for Motoi’s BS. He’s so pessimistic about himself and others that not even a death game that heavily emphasizes the value of teamwork can get him to fully come out of his shell, which is where his time-travel powers come in AND EVEN THEN it’s a double-edged sword since on one hand, it forces him to actively step up to the plate and survey the situation to find the best possible solution, which leads to him slowly growing out of his shell, but on the other, it also leads to him becoming overly reliant on his time travel so that he can walk back from potentially life-changing decisions without having to worry about it since he has a magic reset button. Which ends up biting him in the ass. Hard.

He’s one of those types of people who is ultimately a thinker and planner instead of a do-er, but his being young and overly impressionable takes this personality quirk to such an extreme that he's foundationally useless to most groups. He’s the type of person who you have in a group project who sits around and does nothing, but then complains with the project does poorly because he couldn't be bothered to speak.

He's so unconfident and directionless that he uses effectively Instagram as a means to listen to someone who sounds like some 2deep4u philosopher post dumb flowery bullshit that effectively has all the meaning of "Drink water when you're thirsty." and he admits to finding such "deep" meaning in these posts that it supposedly helped him through life. Because he's 15 and doesn't know anything.

However, all of this makes him interesting as a character because he’s, again, still a fundamentally good kid at his core. While he’s shown to have a fuse, he is also the kind of person who has the ability to think his emotions through. That's what we ultimately see when he and Fret finally talk and drop their beef. The game depicting Rindo's capacity for self-awareness and emotional reflection is a positive revelation of his character strengths. He proves that he's capable of recognizing when he's in the wrong and knows how to apologize, a trait he shows quite a few times throughout the story, while also doing everything he can to set things right as well as be more understanding toward how his friends feels.

He’s kind of the guy who will drop everything to help a little kid out, even when there’s no tangible benefit to doing so and he and the others are shown to be on limited time, shows empathy to his friends/fallen enemies, and feels massive amounts of guilt for his actions, even if he didn’t know better at the time.

Hell, the entire endgame is fueled by his selfish yet understandable desire to save the people he cares about most from total erasure, to the point that he’s willing to risk thousands of lives to do so. But not only is he shown to be internally grappling with himself regarding his decision but he’s also willing to take responsibility and ensure that EVERYTHING goes right not just for himself and his friends but the people of Shibuya in general, in a parallel to Neku’s own selfish if understandable decision to put the bonds he formed in the original game (particularly with Joshua) over the actual city.

Characters aren't interesting simply by switching between 2 different character traits. They're interesting when all those traits are being expressed at the same time for reasons that are consistent within their internal logic. You gotta be a good writer to pull that off and you gotta know when to show off these dimensions during your story to achieve proper dramatic effect when the time calls for it and NEO I feel does this pretty damn well.

#rindo kanade #twewy #the world ends with you #neo twewy #ntwewy #neo the world ends with you #analysis post

[hopeyarts]

ASHA’S FATHER SHOULD HAVE DIED TO HIS WISH BEING CRUSHED (WISH IDEA)

🌟————————————

This is just an idea I have for my Wish AU. It also could’ve been a fix to the movie if they wanted King Magnifico to actually be evil. It’s a twist idea, but we’d get the point that he’s been a villain way before the start of the film. No this didn’t happen in the movie because Magnifico just finds out that he can do such a thing towards the end.

So in the movie Asha’s father, Tomás, died of an unknown illness. What if that unknown illness was the after effects of having his wish crushed by King Magnifico? Magnifico does this because of something Tomás did or said that simply questioned his rule, just like how Asha questioned his rule years later. It could be a connection and a revelation for Asha to realize that Magnifico isn’t all that he seems. For this to work, in my opinion, is that Magnifico should’ve taken the people’s passion/spark to even commit to their dreams anyway instead of the memory of their wishes. That would’ve made Magnifico more villainous, and I can get into that idea in another post. For now, I’ll just call these passion/sparks “wishes” for the sake of being simple.

The timeline of events for the connection between Tomás and Magnifico would go like this: Magnifico and Tomás know of each other as they are both astrologists and philosophers or whatever. They have some professional relationship or they’ve been friends for a long while. Tomás could’ve also been a founder of Rosas alongside Magnifico and Amaya. Those are just three other ideas. Anyways, the point is that Magnifico thinks Tomás is all buddy-buddy with him and decides that he can trust him enough to keep the secret that everyone won’t get their wishes granted along with some very bad details. Tomás, seeing how ominous and suspicious this is, questions him why that’s the case and if he could just give the wishes back. Magnifico gets angry at him for even doubting his reign, especially because he’s actually crushing the wishes to get more power. After an argument ensues about how Magnifico is giving his citizens false hope and everything, Magnifico takes Tomás’s already given away wish from the ceiling. He threatens to crush his wish if he even speaks about it to anyone. It is at that point that Tomás’s passion/spark/wish is to reveal the lies about the kingdom to the people. Because wishes can change right?

Tomás stares him in the eyes and says that he won’t be backed down that easily. So Magnifico crushes his wish and Tomás is now in a deep state of grief and depression. This sadness is so devastatingly strong that Tomás dies of a broken heart (inspired by Chef Gusteau from Ratatouille). This is why no medicine helped him get better. That is why it is an unknown illness to Asha and everyone else. With his wish crushed and the job is done, Tomás is sent home. He doesn’t want the same thing to happen to Asha or anyone because Magnifico is too powerful to be stopped. That’s why they need a higher power to defeat the amateur. It is human to think like that.

So that night after his wish getting crushed, Tomás is unable to do much about the situation. He can only speak and his last words to Asha is that “the stars are there to guide us. To inspire us. To believe in possibility” whatever he says. Being a philosopher and a guy who’s always talking about the stars (like they’re the real beings that can make our dreams come true), this would make sense for him to tell Asha this.

But this could give Asha an arc. She’s wished to the stars that her father could get better, but he never did. She didn’t know that this unknown illness was the result of a crushed wish, and so she misguidedly blamed the stars for what happened to her father. Almost like a “why didn’t you help me when I needed you?” Kind of like Magnifico in that one graphic novel or something. Also, I’m still thinking if Magnifico should’ve have that sympathetic backstory. I mean, honestly I thought he was bullshitting about it until the movie confirms it was true because of his constant fear and paranoia (movie Magnifico is not a villain ya’ll, that’s just a misunderstood man that fell into the hands of an evil book 💀🙏🏽).

That’s why I think this whole idea could’ve made him both a more compelling character and villain. And Asha could’ve been a more compelling heroine if she had a better arc where at the start of the movie, she’s like every other citizen putting her belief and faith into King Magnifico after the stars didn’t answer her prayers and and she feels resentment to them. Then she finds out what he’s doing with the wishes somehow (crushing them) and is now questioning everything she knows. She remembers her father’s words and looks back to the stars/heavens she’s been neglecting for the past couple years. She questions EVERYTHING and by the end of her song “This Wish” she should now fully look up to the stars to guide her towards helping the people.

I know Asha questions Magnifico during her song, but it is known that she’s always looked up at the stars. But with this idea, we can have her stay away from her father’s beliefs in the stars, and once she knows the truth about the falsely-benevolent King Magnifico, she takes her father’s words again and gives it another try. Then Star or the Blue Fairy appears.

Additionally, Asha would later learn in the movie that her father died because his wish was crushed and absorbed by King Magnifico. She realizes this when he crushes Sakina’s or Sabino’s wish and she remembers the effects. Or King Magnifico could just gloat about it to her when they’re magic-fighting or something.

This can be tweaked in the future, but it’s a nice little draft for this idea I’m just pouring my thoughts into. I will be posting more ideas and hopefully an official outline of how this movie could be fixed!

#wish #disney wish #wish 2023 #wish movie #disney asha #asha #wish asha #wish au #wish alternative universe #wish king magnifico #king magnifico #disney king magnifico #wish tomás #disney wish tomás #wish fanfom #this wish #wishing star #wish star #wish idea #disney hire me #hopeyarts #fyp #fypシ #disney #disney fairy godmother #disneywish #kingdkm of rosas

[mrsbsmooth]

Future Islanders: My thoughts

My predictions about the Islanders we haven't seen yet, based on their character designs. This information will be 100% accurate, guaranteed*

*Not at all guaranteed

Spoilers under the cut. 18+. Contains gratuitous swearing.

Love his style, love his vibe, love his earring. He's so cute, and seems like he's gonna be really fun and flirty. But dear God, when I saw his surprised face, I just:

Those eyes - those fucking eyes. They are lifeless. Like this man has seen either seen some shit or had some serious plastic surgery, and I worry about him. I just… oh god, I got the ick so fast it's not even funny. And then I realised he got the same as Ozzy and got the Rocco flirty face which ends up looking like this emoji specifically

Definitely has a cool job though - maybe a runway model, artist, or some other artistic profession. Definitely from a cool part of Inner London.

*Editing to add:

It’s been brought to my attention that the way I worded this criticism is rather offensive, and I want to clarify what I meant. When I mentioned Andy’s eyes, I was referring to the way they were drawn. Usually when animating a character you’ll give them smile lines or crinkles to show a smile “reaches their eyes” etc, but this looks like they just slapped a shocked mouth on him and nothing else. My intention isn’t to make fun of his eye shape itself, or of any aspect of his ethnicity, it was a poorly worded/thought out criticism and I’m sorry 🤍

Villain. Calling it now, she's a villain. Her pose is too cool and confident to be anything other than a villain, because GOD FORBID Fusebox give us a strong, confident WOC that doesn't have some deep, unbridled desire to get her claws into whichever man we tell her we want.

I LOVE her design though. She's got super cute outfits, and isn't afraid to show a bit of skin (THAT CORSET TOP GIVE IT TO ME!) so definitely great style. I'm calling it now - she's a model. Might even be French. If she's French and a complete and utter bitch I might just fall in love with her, give me the pain, urgh.

SNAAAAKE SNAAAAAKEEE AHHHH IT'S A SNAAAAAKE

Don't let the glasses fool you. This man is a snake. I knew it from the second I saw him, and it's only been confirmed in the Casa postcards that @oliverslove posted. Never trust a blonde man (except Lewie, trust him with your life and ass).

Judges you on your book choices, but hasn't read one himself in years. Namedrops philosophers but has never had a unique thought in his life. Thinks some of Jordan Peterson's ideas "aren't actually that bad, when you think about it".

This is a man who looks innocent on the outside. "Oh, look at me, I'm a cute little nerd who reads books and plays D&D". But I guarantee, he's a fucking asshole. The kind of guy who thinks women owe him something, so treats them like dirt when they don't give him what he wants.

THAT SAID, his daywear is super basic but very cute, and he's wearing Versace underwear, so he's probably loaded. Jobwise - I'm putting my money on marketing or some other office-type job.

Okay, yeah, she cute. But I am suspicious of her too. Something about her screams Lily from S3 to me, like she's gonna come in purely to take my man. And what's worse, in the Casa postcard she's in bed with a girl, so she might even be taking my girl too!!!!

Love her style, but don't love her vibe. I can't even develop any thoughts outside of wild jealousy.

🤢 sorry, let me just *throws up in my mouth*, 🤢 Felix 2.0, God, I hate his character design so much. When I saw him briefly in his daywear I got SO EXCITED because I thought we might be getting a dadbod, but no, apparently the guy who walks around in the camel-hair woven poncho has a FUCKING EIGHT-PACK (FUSEBOX IN WHAT UNIVERSE?!!??!?!??) Then I thought he might be an environmentalist type, you know, vegan, save the animals and that. But then I saw his LEATHER JACKET and SHARK TOOTH NECKLACE and God damn it, I've lost all faith. This guy wants so bad to be Rocco it's not even funny, at least Rocco was decent looking, this guy has a pig snout for a nose and a smooshy face, don't ask me to elaborate, I hate him, and don't get me started on the fact he's wearing SANDALS with his FORMALWEAR

Smokes so much weed he can't get it up, will disappoint anyone who comes near him. Stay away, 0/10.

Gold diggers come get your man! It's Lucas Beresford-Smug the third. If this guy doesn't have a double-barrelled last name and a numeral in his name I will buy a hat and fucking eat it. Absolute guaranteed 100% arrogant FUCKHEAD, giant twat, thinks he is God's gift to women until he inevitably meets MC and falls so desperately in love that he changes his ways to show her he's the man she deserves. Yeah, okay, the storyline's predictable. Yes, he's likely an insufferable, sheltered, self-obsessed pig. But does that make me want him any less? ... No it does not.

Already posted it in response to @rebelrayne's husband's thoughts but what kind of spoilt little asshole wears a US$20,000 watch IN THE FUCKING SHOWER!!!!!!!

I don't care that it's water resistant to 100m you don't wear a $20k watch IN THE SHOWER and expect people to not think you're a complete and utter fucking asshole. He's a Jasper/ Lucas / Tom hybrid, with Taron Egerton's body and face, I'm getting a short king vibe but maybe that's just from the way his suit is way too big through the shoulders for him, making him look like a 1920's gangster. Works in finance or medicine, I will stake my life on it.

Blindfold this man, kidnap him, and handcuff him to the bed in the hideaway, he may very well be the death of my loyal Lewie route. He is so fine I can't breathe, it's something about the beard. Bearded men are the death of me. And if he's Ozzy's older brother, sorry, suddenly I can't breathe.

I have very few thoughts about him other than the fact he's a fucking stunning piece of artwork that, if real, I would physically need to take a bite out of. I am barking at him, god fucking damn. The arrogance and confidence and big dick energy required to wear an all-cream outfit is just... urgh, someone splash me with water.

Unfortunately, like his brother and Andy, our beloved and holiest daddy (Marshall) also got the Rocco treatment for his flirty face

It's not as bad because his beard covers the smirk, but holy shit, Fusebox, do better. I don't want to be doing a steamy scene with the boys and they whip out THIS. It makes me want to punch something. DO BETTER.

What an absolute waste of a hot-guy name. This dude looks like John Travolta had a child with Littlefoot from The Land Before Time. His mouth looks like it was slapped on his face as an afterthought, his eyebrows are too thick, and the only hot face he has is his angry one, which I'm going to be trying to elicit as often as possible. He looks like he's been to prison, Wentworth Miller vibes but not in a sexy way. Tried to join the skinheads but they didn’t want him. Tried to get a teardrop tattoo to look hard but everyone just ignored him. Strongest of strong dislike, 0/10, I will slander Toby until the day I die. Boooo. BOOOOO.

#litg s6 #litg season 6 #litg dt #litg doublte trouble #litg character review #litg andy #litg chloe #litg elliot #litg flo #litg francis #litg #litg marshall #litg toby #litg hamish

[magnusarchvile]

So anyways I've been in a philosophical kinda mood lately.

And I feel like if I don't get this out of my system somehow I'm gonna explode.

So for context, I was watching a video discussing the themes of Bioshock and there's one line in particular that's been stuck in my head for a while now.

"Are you a good person? Or are you only good because it's easy to be good?"

For those who aren't aware Bioshock is a video game that deals with a lot of deep philosophical subjects like human nature and the inherent problems with creating a utopia, especially one founded on pure objectivism.

One subject that it unfortunately failed to explore as well as it could have, and in my and many other people's opinions should have, is what costs you're willing to go to in order to stop an evil organization and what lengths are you willing to go to to be good.

See, in Bioshock there are these things called Little Sisters, small female children mutated and trained to travel around the city collecting adam (basically GMO juice that gives you superpowers) while accompanied by Big Daddies (massive old school diver looking guys with huge drill hands) (keep up this isn't getting any easier)

Anyways if you kill these big daddies you're then offered the choice of what you want to do with the little sisters. You can either save them by somehow using adam to remove the mutations or you can kill them rip them open and take their adam for yourself (I never said the moral choice was subtle).

And this is where we get to the whole point of this. See, the game makes it out like killing the little sisters is the only way to get adam, which you need to get various plasmids (powers) to make the game much easier for yourself.

Except it's not.

If you choose to save the little sisters instead, fairly regularly throughout the game you'll be rewarded with large sums of adam as thanks for being a good person anyways. So why would you ever choose to be a bad person outside of just being a bad person. Obviously most people are going to be good because there are no consequences for doing so.

And that's what I mean by failed. The game gives you a moral choice that could have been extremely impactful if it had the courage actually go through with it. Are you really willing to kill an innocent little girl if it means having the power necessary to stop the organization that made these girls the way they are in the first place? Do the ends justify the means? Does stopping them really make you a good person in the end after all you've done?

Or do you have the strength to be a good person, even if it's hard.

This is what's been on my mind lately, considering if I myself would have the strength to be good if put into a desperate situation for survival, knowing that being good could be the difference between life and death. Would I keep my morals even if it severely lessened my odds of survival? Or would I just do whatever it took to survive? I honestly can't really say to be honest. I know we'd all like to think we'd be selfless and virtuous in the face of crisis but it's a very different thing when it's just hypothetical and when disaster is at your doorstep.

To bring this around to some kind of conclusion, I kinda wanna just pose the question I've been asking myself to any of you as something to think about. Are you a good person, or are you only good because it's easy? Would you have the strength to do what's right, even if it's hard? Something I think we should all be asking these days.

#bioshock

[rumble-aint-a-rumble-without-me]

I'm not sure if I already asked you for something already (and if i did, my bad), But could you do two-bit x fem!reader, you have free reign over what happens in the fic, I just ask it be platonic best friends. Thank you!

Hi! I’m going to make these into a set of headcanons, I hope you don’t mind that-

So I’m thinking just general best friendship for Two?

That’s kind of what you requested?

And I’m gonna go for it-

So I hope you like this! 🤟

Being besties is going to be a chaotic time, I can promise you that, there’s never going to be a dull moment if you’re hanging around Two

I love the vibe that you’ve been friends since you were young in school, like grade school and you guys just kind of grew up together

You guys probably had to be separated at some point because you wouldn’t stop talking to each other during classes-

They ultimately realize that Two-Bit is going to talk with everyone or just shout at you from across the room so it’s best to just stick the two of you together and leave you be

I’m seeing platonic dates to the drive-ins and diners to cause trouble?

You guys run between the cars, fooling around and catching up with everyone you know there

At the diners, you blow straws at the waitresses and get a few plates of food that you both end up sharing, taking food from each other’s plates

You're probably one of the only people he really trusts with his handy-dandy black switchblade?

Like he'd willingly give it you, you probably don't have to ask very much for him to loan it out to you

He trusts you dude, there's a good trust going between you guys

Oh! Stealing stuff together!

You’ve got hands and you’ve got pockets, assets that Two-Bit is definitely going to take advantage of

He’ll just hand you stuff and give you one of those looks and you better just prepare yourself to run as fast as you can before slipping whatever it is into your pocket

Because of that ^^ you’re probably gonna end up in jail with him a few times

Lucky for you, Darry’s usually got bail money and if you pester him enough, he’ll usually come and bail the two of you out

He always asks you to be his partner on projects, no matter what class it is, he’ll just look at you, eyebrow raised as he waits for a response from you

If you answer with anything other than yes, you’re crazy-

You’ve just gotta be good friends with his girlfriend, Kathy, too, I almost forgot about that part

Y’know the one from the book with the brother who’s really a hood and is so greasy he glides when he walks and gets oil changes instead of haircuts?

That Kathy <3 she’s great and I love her and I bet she’s the kind of girl who has never done anything wrong in her life

You and Kathy regularly have get-togethers where you talk about Two-Bit, conversations spanning good and bad things!

Two-Bit likes to pout because he’s never invited to those nights but he’ll get over it

If he’s gotta babysit his younger sister, you can bet he’s calling you to come to hang out

His sister probably likes you better anyhow, at least, that’s the excuse he’s gonna use to get you to come over

Two’s mom probably likes you too, she kind of looks at you like another one of her kids, you’re over quite a lot

Two-Bit’s definitely the kind of friend to pick you up in the middle of the night and grab food then just sit around having a deep discussion with you

His philosophical conversations in the early hours of the morning are something everyone should experience in their life

Filled with laughs and jokes but also really deep thoughts, it’s a roller coaster of emotions that gonna help you two grow closer as besties <3

All in all, Two-Bit would be a most excellent pal to have, he’d be a great bestie who would do his best to rope you into all his schemes and pay you back in food and fun 

#the outsiders #the outsiders headcanons #the outsiders hcs #dillo’s writing #two bit mathews #aint we the hoi polloi

[ijemmaokafor]

Winter is Coming (with @fleetsummers)

Fleet and Jemma organize the pantry, indulge in some gossiping, and philosophize on matters of the heart.

Fleet: -bounds in from outside, pink-cheeked and bright-eyed- Jemma! Sorry, sorry, I think I'm a little late, I got in a tiny bit of a leaf heap situation with Luna. -laughs, brushing stray leaves off his coat and then strips off his gloves and scarf- It's still kind of weird whenever something normal happens. Like running through raked-up leaves with a dog.

Jemma: Don’t you ever apologize for a bit of frolicking. Besides, it gave me time to get uuuuus -she retrieves the item from her bag with a flourish- a new scale! It’s got a tare button and everything!

Fleet: -his eyes light up and he claps, clasping his hands as he looks at the scale with hearteyes- No! OH my gosh, that's gonna save us so much time. And math. I'm good at math, don't get me wrong, but I'm also lazy.

Jemma: I don’t know it’s max capacity, so we should probably save it for the small stuff, but I’ve asked the raiders to look for one of those hanging scales, like in grocery stores? But bigger, if possible. Gonna need to raid a butcher shop soon now that we’ve got a real livestock operation.

Fleet: Stop, stop, you're making me wanna make a shopping list. Do we ... can we do that? For the raiders? Or is that frowned upon?

Jemma: DO IT. They won’t be able to get all of it, or something might have to wait. It’s kinda up to the head guy to prioritize things, and he does right by the town so we trust him to make those calls. But I’ve got an in with him that I’m not averse to exploiting.

Fleet: -pauses in pawing at the scale, a little taken aback- Really? We're talking about Isaac here, right? The one who bit my dad?

Jemma: -tempering her excitement- Yes. Not his finest moment. Is he alright? Your dad?

Fleet: -is quiet for a moment- The thing is, Jemma ... I kind of understand why Isaac got mad. I don't think Daddy's exactly the sort of man that you'd want going after a woman you care about. It's just Ike didn't have to hurt him like that, so savagely.

Jemma: I don’t think anyone would disagree with you there. Probably not even Ike, if he were able to be objective about it. Ike on his own has a lot of demons. Add his complicated history with Mayra to the mix and…well it’s no excuse. He usually has raiding as an outlet. He hasn’t had that outlet in a long while. Your dad just said that wrong thing at the right time.

Fleet: I know my dad's far from a saint. Even Uncle Sol didn't want to go see if he was okay after he got hurt. -toys with his scarf, thinking about it- I mean he did go, after I poked him a little, and that's probably not great of me because they have their own history together and I'm sure Uncle Sol has valid reasons for being estranged, but ... look at where we are now! Look what we've survived! I want them to move past it all!

Jemma: -she smiled, a little sadly- Maybe they will, some day. And hey, if Sol went and saw him ‘cause of you, that’s a hell of a testament to how much he cares about you.

Fleet: -frowning slightly, looking down as he folds his scarf up- It's probably hard for other people to understand why I'm so protective of Daddy since it's almost like he...enjoys riling everyone up. But I think it's just a show, y'know? Deep down I think he wants to belong, it's just being rejected outright if he shows how needy he is would mess him up worse than existing as some kind of pariah. I dunno. Maybe that doesn't make sense.

Jemma: It makes a lot of sense. You been told before that you have high emotional intelligence?

Fleet: No! I've been told before that I'm high maintenance, does that count? -laughs, shoving his scarf and gloves aside- I come from a big family so I'm used to all the work, y'know, all the compromises and stuff to get along. Did you? Come from a big family? Or is it working with the public that makes you so diplomatic?

Jemma: -pulling out her notebook and pen- Working in local government is what did it. I was an only child, and I was lucky to have a really level-headed family. Not calm, exactly, but…gracious. Gave each other a lot of grace, immediate forgiveness, that kinda thing. Didn’t have a lot of need for mediating, y’know? Did you like the big family thing?

Fleet: -pushes up his sleeves, taking out his own notebook and pencil as they're getting down to business, as well as one of their prized calculators- I loved it. So many cousins, and then family friends on top of that who were basically cousins, and aunties, and uncles, and everything. It was messy but I always had an audience and a shoulder to cry on. -sucks on the tip of his pencil, looking at Jemma thoughtfully- It shows. The graciousness. I don't mean this in a dismissive way but you seem sorta ... unburdened.

Jemma: I always wanted siblings. I had tons of friends all through school, so I was never without company, but I was SO jealous of my friends with brothers and sisters. -reflects for a moment- I try to let go of as much as I can. Make room for carrying the good stuff with me. Easier said than done sometimes.

Fleet: I'm nosy. You might have noticed by now. But! -tosses his head a little- You are, as we just discussed, a very gracious person so I'm taking full advantage of that. -smiles, reaching over to hold her hand for a moment- Plus if we're gonna be doing a job as persnickety as this one together, I think we should feel comfortable with questioning each other! I get extremely shirty about how to categorize certain things and I fight with claws.

Jemma: Oh, I love a workshop mentality, by all means, reconfigure our systems if you’ve got ideas for improvement. But you don’t have to bring out the claws, I rarely put up enough of a fuss to warrant them.

Fleet: Really? Okay, good, I'll take you at your word on that. -heads towards one of their shelves- I thought I might be stepping on people's toes doing things my way but honestly, every here's very agreeable. Except Zack. But I think I found my own way around him.

Jemma: -raises her eyebrows as she starts making a chart- Oh, do tell. He’s one of the tougher nuts to crack around here.

Fleet: -in between reporting back on their stocks for her chart- We got off to a rocky start, that's for sure - I didn't think I'd get bullied for being queer the minute I got to town! -he snickers at the ridiculousness of it, clearly unbothered- I think Zack isn't used to people not being afraid of him, but understanding what he's capable of. He doesn't scare me but I know what he could do if he's pushed. It's a delicate balance. Gotta get a boy too puzzled by you to keep on trying to threaten you.

Jemma: -she hums in laughter to herself- Well then, maybe we’ll just make you the town Zack-whisperer. Between you and that ex-wife of his, it sounds like he’s in good hands. Nobody else has given you trouble, though?

Fleet: Nooooooo, I'm a ray of sunshine, nobody has any beef with me. Maybe they will with his House of Usher ex, but that's none of my business. -trots over to Jemma- Level with me. Has anybody in town ever given you trouble?

Jemma: Nothing serious. Council meetings have involved spats sometimes. I’m a big proponent of getting rid of the precinct protocol, so that causes occasional head-butting. Your dad flirted with me a little more than I cared for, but it seemed harmless. The only person I ever had genuine trouble with got booted from town ages ago, for unrelated reasons. So nobody these days!

Fleet: -hangs on her word, eager for the gossip- Who is it who likes the precinct protocol? Ermano and Isaac? Dr. Brandon doesn't seem the type. My dad flirting with you - that I believe. I hope he hasn't tried anything since then. He seems a little ... -shifts, measuring this out- ...fixated on Mayra. Has nicknames for her, got this healing salve from her....

Jemma: I think it’s mostly that they’re just comfortable with it. No one is opposed to another option, it’d just take a lot of work and it’s taking a while to convince them to make it a priority. -she winces a little at the mention of Mayra- That seems like potential trouble. Not to meddle or anything, but she’s awfully vulnerable right now. And no disrespect to your dad, but Cole seems just the type to foster all her bad habits

Fleet: -pushes in a little closer to Jemma- That's what I'm worried about. I don't know if she's overly trusting, or if she thinks my dad's attractive, or she thinks she's just being nice and helping him out, but it's ... it could be trouble. Maybe I should talk to her. Maybe it would have more of an impact coming from me, because I'm his son and I love him.

Jemma: My guess is equal parts trying to be helpful and lowkey attracted to him. But if you talk to her, maybe be gentle about it? She’s not one to be told what to do.

Fleet: -breathes out, gratefully- Thank you. That's the best possible advice. This isn't something I wanted to really have to try and find somebody to talk to about, who wouldn't act like Daddy's already committed a crime right off the bat.

Jemma: -she shrugs- I’m a woman dating a guy with a propensity to rub people wrong. I’m all about benefits of the doubt.

Fleet: Yeah. What's, uh ... what's that about, anyhow? -holds up his hands for a minute- Not trying to be confrontational, believe me, considering the Zack of it all. But I think mine's a little more to do with vanity. I'm horribly full of myself.

Jemma: I love the guy. Our first interaction was kind of insanely vulnerable. He’s shown me his soft underbelly and…and I love him. Can’t help it. Wouldn’t want to if I could.

Fleet: -chews this over for a few moments- I've never felt that way with a lover, insanely vulnerable. Physically sometimes but that was the point. Never emotionally. I always went for older men who were emotionally unavailable because then I didn't have to worry about their feelings. -grimaces, thumbing his nose- Kind of obvious that I have daddy issues, that's unavoidable, but at least I figured that out early.

Jemma: Sometimes that makes all the difference--just knowing what your issues are gonna be. The emotional stuff is my favorite part, truth be told. Even when that means heartbreak, I just can't pass it up.

Fleet: You're braver than I am, Miss Okafor. -shakes his head, going back to the shelf- Maybe someday it'll seem worth the risk to me. But not now. Right now my heart stays in its shellac.

Jemma: Nothing wrong with that. But all that talk you were doing about reconciling and making the most of the end of the world? Seems like that heart of yours is already eager to be put to use.

Fleet: -pauses, then turns to look at her- Okay, you are reaaaaaally good at this. Anybody ever tell you you have astronomical emotional intelligence?

Jemma: -full-on belly-laughing- Yeeeaaahh, it was a self-selling point on my resumes back in the day. Believe me, I can verge into preachiness with it, I've had more than one friend remind me they wanted a vent session, not a therapy session. But it comes in SUPER handy nowadays.

Fleet: -laughing too, distracted from what he's doing- PLEASE tell me you used it as a humblebrag! I love a good unrepentant humblebrag. But seriously, though - this really is the time for it. Have you found that? Like, your most exaggerated traits seem almost mild now because everything else is so amped up? It makes me wonder just how OTT some of the people in town were normally!

Jemma: -nodding aggressively, then patting his arm- Y'know actually, my favorite thing to look for in people was how into the whole rat race they were before everything went down. Like sure, life has gotten objectively way harder and worse, in a lot of ways. I don't blame anybody that misses the things that used to bring them comfort. But in some folks, you can almost watch them, in real-time, totally come to life in this new reality. There's a guy named Doug who used to run a hedge fund, dude was almost a billionaire, but it turns out his great peace and passion is water filtration. The guy's obsessed with charcoal and experimenting with ash. He never would have known!

Fleet: -repeats, solemnly- He ever would've known. I'm kinda looking forward to discovering what I never would've known about myself. I'm starting off small, I guess - branching out the kind of guys I'm into. I wouldn't have done more than glance at Clint before, since he's undeniably cute, but now I'm going on an honest-to-god date with him.

Jemma: Clint!? Quiet bayou Clint? Oh, now he must've taken a shine to you to come out of his shell like that. Good for him. Good for you! -sighing with a smile- This is all a shit show in so many ways. It's easy to forget that here behind the walls, with all the safety. And it's not a smart to forget it. But, it's also kind of a gigantic gift.

Fleet: Maybe that's my thing. Sniffing out diamonds in the rough, at least when it comes to paramours. -giggles a little, considering that word that had puzzled his uncle- It's probably bad that now that I'm here I've completely switched off the part of my brain that thinks about that kind of survival skills, for past the walls. -makes a determined face- I'll give myself till the end of the year to purposely not think about it and then I'll go back to being more mindful.

Jemma: It’s not bad, honey, you’re still very new to the whole concept of safety we’ve got here. Enjoy it while you can, there’s always a reality check around the corner.

#with: Fleet #fleet001

[kromlock]

A transcript of my relationship with JK Rowling

Joanne: Hey kid, would you like a decent children’s book? It’s a little dark but it’s also a fun quirky story about a magic school.

Me: Oh hey, I like lots of those things! Hey, this is pretty good for the stuff that’s usually aimed at my age group!

Joanne: Yes, cool. Here’s a sequel. It’s foreshadowing some political intrigue and has a gut wrenching portrayal of the horrors of slavery, but I swear it’s still for kids.

Me: Oh wow, this is even better than the first! Hey, you’re a pretty good mystery writer too.

Joanne: Why, thank you! Now this next one gives Harry some deep backstory.

Me: Wow, I love this! You did a great job shattering the illusion that James was such a great guy!

Joanne: I beg your pardon?

Me: Well, I mean, you kind of outed James as the bully, and like even though it doesn’t excuse his behavior at all, Snape was right about Harry’s dad.

Joanne: ……huh.

Me: And I loved the disability rights theme so much I didn’t notice the part where the central character in the disability metaphor then turns his condition into a deadly liability in a boarding school. Or the skin crawling ideological implications of that.

Joanne: Hold on a second. I have to do something.

Me: What’s up?

Joanne: Just jotting down notes. Snape…. Was… Right….

Me: Well I didn’t mean it like THAT…

Joanne: Skin crawling… ideological…. Implications…. Okay, all done. By the way, here’s an extra long book!

Me: WHOA HOLY HELL does the shit hit the fan here! The bad guy’s back in action, the government is Fucking Horrible, and the Avengers are assembling. And that gleam of triumph in Dumbledore’s eye! I bet you’re going somewhere great with that! God I can’t wait to find out what happens next. It’s just… umm… a couple things.

Joanne: Yeah?

Me: Why did it have to be so long? And I like plot twists and all but this was just weird and convoluted.

Joanne: No, but you see, more is better.

Me: Huh. I guess I see your reasoning there. But another thing I just realized. This is a bad school.

Joanne: Excuse me?

Me: It’s a death trap and the faculty is incompetent. 

Joanne: Dumbledore is a legendary sorcerer, philosopher, and warrior!

Me: But that doesn’t make him a good teacher! That’s a completely different skillset!

Joanne: And about the death trap! That’s because of Voldemort. He does evil things.

Me: Voldemort didn’t resurrect an ancient blood sport for children. The first event was throwing teenagers one by one into an arena with a pissed off dragon to just see what happens.

Joanne: They were all supposed to be of age, and the binding magic contract-

Me: They couldn’t just rewrite the contract? Do they have to use the exact same cursed artifact that they used thousands of years ago, with the only guard around it having easy exploits?

Joanne: ….

Me: Come to think of it, the other books were pretty fucked up too. It’s quicker to list the school years where someone doesn’t die on campus.

Joanne: I-

Me: And I don't mean "Old Professor Giddyfart passed away in his sleep last night. He was 239 years young." I mean "Our star pupil was murdered in cold blood by Wizard Hitler during our international child bloodsport tournament."

Joanne: Technically that was off-campus.

Me: "Last year our students almost had their souls stolen by undead horrors that were posted here -at a fucking school- because that’s a good idea. This was minutes after almost being mauled by our werewolf on staff."

Joanne: They were only there because they thought a convicted-

Me: "Oh, that was also the same day we had a former Nazi combatant come to lop off the head of a hippogriff who actually did maul another student for the dreadful crime of not paying attention in class.”

Joanne: 

Me: "Oh and the year before it turned out we just kinda had a basilisk in the plumbing and it kept turning students to stone, it was really annoying, totally disrupted the curriculum”

Joanne: But that was because-

Me: "Oh and the year before that one of our teachers was possessed by the still-living shade of Wizard Hitler. He set a troll loose in the school to try and steal our Bring-Shades-Back-To-Life Macguffin. We just figured it was the safest place because our unhinged headmaster is fucking Hercules, Perseus, and Theseus rolled into one. He could've taken a sabbatical to guard it without putting children in harm’s way, but he's just that quirky!"

Joanne: Well, perhaps Dumbledore isn’t all perfect-

Me: "What's that? Oh yeah, it's guarded by goddamn Cerberus, and a series of challenges even more dangerous than goddamn Cerberus. But don't worry, we sealed the door with a spell that a first year student can unlock."

Joanne: What are you getting at?

Me: Where’s the lawsuits? Absolutely nothing was done to rein Dumbledore in. Well, except for once and it was the one time the danger wasn’t his fault and it was at the behest of the bad guys and swiftly overturned.

Joanne: Government regulation?

Me: And what the fuck was with that “Hermione is an idiot for being against slavery” thing? That made me feel icky.

Joanne: Well, I will be right back!

Me: Oh, okay.

Me: Maybe that was a bit rude. Every story has its flaws.

Me: ….

Me: Wow, Lord of the Rings is really good.

Joanne: Here’s book 5! Harry Potter and the Reason Government Regulation Is Bad

Me: Uh… this is quite a bit longer than the last one.

Joanne: Yes.

Me: The one that I thought was way longer than it had to be.

Joanne: Yes.

Me: And I just read it, and like nothing happened in it. You took the shortest story so far and padded it out with a weird political manifesto.

Joanne: More is bette-

Me: And it’s not even good politics! Anyone but the most Randian hardcore libertarian would want to do something when a school actively contributes to the death of a student.

Joanne: Yeah but the person doing it is juuuuuust a fucking cunt.

Me: I mean, yeah I have to admit she was a pretty good villain. Kinda overshadows Voldemort though, you should really step up the menace in your main antagonist because all he’s done so far is get his ass kicked by a bunch of high school students.

Joanne: Ohhhh just you wait. Okay I’ll be right back.

Me: Oh, okay.

Me: I think we really connected that time.

Me: …..

Me: Huh, Revenge of the Sith was pretty good actually.

Joanne: Okay, this one is all about Voldemort. Also I heard you like Lord of the Rings, so you’re in for some good stuff!

Me: Do tell!

Joanne: So the One Ring was cool right?

Me: Oh yeah, it’s menacing as hell.

Joanne: Well Voldemort made SEVEN One Rings! You can One Ringify any object in this universe.

Me: …please tell me you gave it a name other than One Ring.

Joanne: I sure did! It’s called a Horcrux.

Me: ….Horcrux.

Joanne: You got it!

Me: …….so you can turn anything into a One Ring?

Joanne: You bet! And that diary from book 2 was a One Ring.

Me: Hey that’s a pretty cool retcon.

Joanne: Or maybe… I had it planned all along.

Me: No you didn’t.

Joanne: And just you wait, I have a big twist on those things coming in the next-

Me: It’s that Harry’s scar is a One Ring.

Joanne: …

Me: What? It’s kind of obvious.

Joanne: ….anyway they’re being super careful to make the school safe now so YOU’RE WELCOME. Plot hole fixed.

Me: This book ends with a bunch of Wizard Nazis infiltrating the school, assassinating the headmaster, spray painting a Wizard Swastika in the sky, trashing the place, and just walking out. So yeah, pretty safe. You know what, screw it. The movies are pretty good so I’ve tricked myself into still liking this shit. Hey, if you keep up your writing pace then Harry’s gonna graduate the same year I do! You gonna have the grand finale out in time?

Joanne: I sure am! Here it is, it’s more than worth the wait.

Me: WHOA now this is more like it! The last book was kind of a mess, but this? I love the dystopian setting and the breaking of the formula, and the moral complexity of Dumbledore, and you even managed to do some cool stuff with that Horcrux shit. And ohhh, the schoolgrounds are an actual castle so of course that’s where the final battle takes place, and it’s still fucked up that this is a school but that’s also pretty cool. And here’s the final confrontation, aaaaand…..

Joanne: And? And?

Me: …..what the hell was that ending?

Joanne: Excuse me?

Me: The bad guy dies on a weird wand ownership technicality? Not a whisper about freeing the slaves or undoing any of the other heinous shit the government does and permits? Harry names his son after the greasy incel who blew it with his mom when he shouted slurs at her and never got over it?

Joanne: Severus is a tragic figure who never stopped caring about the woman he loved!

Me: He held on to a creepy obsession with the idea of her while devoting his professional life to tormenting her surviving loved ones.

Joanne: He had to keep up appearances to fool Voldemort.

Me: He tried to poison a sensitive awkward child’s pet in front of his class, just because he could! Well before he was a blip on Voldemort’s radar! You know what, the movies have been doing a pretty good job cleaning up this mess so far, so I guess your job’s done. Oh, one more thing. I still don’t know what the hell was up with that gleam of triumph in Dumbledore’s eye?

Joanne: Oh, that’s a thing to do with his blood and Lily’s protection and the power of love and-

Me: You didn’t have anything planned, got it.

Joanne: Well, I never! I bid you farewell! And by the way, you were wrong! Harry’s scar wasn’t a One Ring! Harry’s SOUL was a One Ring!

Me: …okay, bye 

Me: Say, the movies really did clean up that bullshit. You know, I think the series was pretty good after all.

Me: ……

Me: Well the new God of War was a pleasant surprise-

Joanne: BACK BEFORE PLUMBING WIZARDS SHIT THEMSELVES!

Me: Uh, what?

Joanne: THE AMERICAN TERM FOR MUGGLE IS “NO-MAJ”

Me: Is this a troll account?

Joanne: DID I MENTION TRANS PEOPLE ARE A BLIGHT?

Me: Oh no, this is just awful. Please stop tarnishing your weirdly good reputation.

Joanne: I WILL NOT BE SILENCED! MY NEW BOOK IS ABOUT HOW INTERNET TROLLS ARE BEING MEAN TO MEEEEE

Me: You know, maybe I can do without Harry Potter in my life.

Joanne: I’M BEING CANCELLEEEEEEDD

#harry potter #trans rights #literature

[momo-wants-siesta]

Seven Days in Purgatory [Review]

Today I'm reviewing the dashington WIP "Seven days in Purgatory" by the author named I* also know in the COG forums as "Sel_Lee".

This piece is presented as a kind of psychological thriller, where the protagonist is an amnesiac person, now trapped in an adorable little house with their supposed partner.

I must admit that as a premise, it's certainly original and interesting, and I'm looking forward to see where it all goes.

CHAPTER 1

So the MC wakes up in what seems to be a bedroom, with the big difference that they are surrounded by medical equipment.

Not creeepy at all.

So what we get to know (Which is not told to us by the narrator but by the only other person we can interact with) is that we had some car accident, and this is why we been recovering at home. In Finland. Because that's totally what people do when their signifcant other falls into a coma. Nothing suspicious here.

So we get to choose our name as players, or we can have our totally-not-sus partner to remind us of it.

I'm squinting at you Anthony.

At that moment is obvious that our memory is clearly muddled. Some of the things that we seem to "remember" add ups to what our partner has been saying, but once again the memories are too confused and muddled.

I'm totally getting this vibe of fake security, for the whole ambiance the narrative puts us in. And the back that the MC seem to look rather unhealthy is clearly putting me off. I think I get the eerie vibes not only from the partner, but for the MC themselves.

There's some weird dissonance in there.

We go to sleep, and we have a psychedelic dream that takes us to the next chapter.

CHAPTER 2

Well we wake up in the most violent way possible, but darling is there to make sure we okay.

At that moment, the MC is clearly having some weird mental deluded state. I love the smell of past trauma in the morning, what can I say.

That the two characters were in a deep relationship and it's not lie, its quite obvious. Now the question is, if it was a healthy one.

MC has a memory place. Now given what happened, that's a big red flag to me. Like maybe I'm getting paranoid, but I'm getting the unreliable narrator vibes here.

Not to say this dude mind palace is complete mess and all over the place. I call on the guy being a complete psycho. I call it already.

This could be one of those "Who is trapped with who?" situation quite quickly. But I digress.

Okay so this time we are getting actual memories. That we have to believe are real. It's good to know that the MC wasn't exactly the most social person in there. But honestly I would feel the same with having to work with assholes.

There's this sudden quotes in the middle of the narrative, that are totally putting me off, but I mean it as a good thing. It almost feels like a someone reading a play out loud.

Freud's bullshit jokes are always appreciated.

Okay now we are going deep. Seems that the MC was quite the philosophical special potato. This still creeps me out.

I'm calling a tomato in the mirror. I'm calling it.

Hubbie didn't like to talk about other people it seems.

Now it's Queen time sprinkled with a bit of identity crisis.

You gonna call me genre savvy here, but those two are too cultured in such a modern setting. I read enough stuff, to say this smells fishy.

Okaaaaaaay, big reveal. Hubbie says he works for the FBI.

So you telling me, we have a prison nurse and a FBI analyst, living together in some isolated Finland cabin. And that's totallly normal.

Why is a federal agent out of the country? This is putting me off big time.

Well one thing is for sure. FBI hubbie is a horny animal.

And after a bit of Vivaldi we go back to the memory palace, to see what fucked stuff we are finding this time.

There's nothing like a room full of bodies and some dramatic castle at the top of the sea.

Psychotic bird killing. It's a good way to end the chapter.

CHAPTER 3

And we start with a Fairytale, as a way to emulate the obvious daddy issues along with some old daddy homophobia. So now we get even more trauma, it seems.

Now we get to explore more onto this whole social paradigma on the MC, trough the years of parental abuse.

So after a creppy tour around the nightmare cabin and some digging, we get listen to the enormous bird of wisdom.

Then I'm presented with some deep questions, and ofc I gotta choose what kind of kinks is the MC in. I'm a woman of a culture after all.

WELL IT'S GOOD TO KNOW THE MC IS SOME KINKY MOTHERFUCKER.

Thank you bird of wisdom.

To this point it's rather obvious to me, that those two end together, bonding over the past family trauma.

Anthony is being hella nice, but with the whole setting it's givng me some deep dissonance vibe. Almost as if the man is trying to hide something from the MC. Or maybe just being wary? Who knows.

Night never comes huh. So they are truly up there.

Now we have this little romantic picnic.

And now for the next dish, a bit of bloody food. I love how the MC can be rather child with it.

That was the creepiest exchanging of vows ever. Is this going to be some sort of psycho duo of love?

And with this totally normal interaction, we finish the chapter.

FINAL TOUGHTS

Well I wasn't expecting for this review to be this long, but it happened.

Now, it's obvious this IFs is not for everybody. But the author already warned about some degree of lack of player agency (unlike other) so one cannot truly complain.

Now as per my personal opinion. I been thinking deeply about what to say. This is quite something. This IF, this story, it's special. I'm not saying is the best thing ever or anything, but it has this vibe, this aura, that makes it shine between all the other works.

What is obvious to me, is that this is no amateur author. The way the narrative is flowing, how a lot of elements are described, there's a consistency there, almost like a rythm.

I have to admit I became fascinated by the story that it's been playing in front of my eyes. If the author is doing something that I consider is vital, is that they are trasmiting the feelings and the vibes of what it happening quite properly.

I will say it, it's been a while since I read an IF with this deep level of emotional inmersion, and I'm satisfied by it. I enjoyed the whole reading process, since the start to the end. It's a truly curated play, and I have doubts about it.

The setting is confusing, it's murky, and that's a great feeling when the story is about an amnesiac MC. You know there's something in there, almost like as I said before, we are not getting the whole perspective on it. This reminds me of an expresion that I read on a Japanese VN "You cannot truly hurt the moon, because you are unable to see it's truth form. So you will end stabbing the moon's reflection against the lake instead."

So we lack about of information, but the author manages to pull it properly, and it doesn't become a bother. On the contrary, it's like a puzzle slowly being completed, and you just want more and more pieces.

I like how the narrative goes into themes, and into situations that a lot of authors are afraid to go in. And I love to be able to look and analyze the psyche of the two actors in this play.

So I hope I can read more of this in a future, since this is a truly well done piece.

#if game #if wip #seven days in purgatory #interactive fiction #reviews

[steshathinksart]

Bimbology

My first reflection focused on how I was haunted by philosophical thought and how all I want sometimes is to just turn that voice off for even a second.

Enter Bimbology.

This movement embraces being purposely empty-headed, even stupid. It could be seen as anti-feminist, if it weren't so fucking empowering. It is a direct challenge to the dominate mysoginistic concept of "rationality", which is a concept that was made by white hetero men for white hetero men. Bimbology is about validating different ideas of intelligence. It's a giant fuck you to Descartes and Kant and Hegel and the whole list of privileged people who have discounted the experiences and ideas of people not like them. And because I hate those guys, I'm down to jump into the deep (shallow) end of the Bimblology pool.

My first artistic foray into this area of existence is my knitted tapestry - Ummmm...(I don't get it). See my previous post for how it looks. As far as the meaning behind the image, I've taken the rallying cry of cis male rationality "Cogito ergo sum", smashed it down and broken it apart. There is no thinking and there is no "I am" anymore. There's just a amorphous, illegible person walking into a historically established space and destroying it by not understanding it. It's kind of like the subversive way of undermining racist and sexist jokes. You say "I don't get it" so much that you force the speaker to explain to the point that all of the bullshit behind what they've said falls apart.

I'm pretty happy with it. So much so that I'm actually considering doing more of this giant, time consuming knitted tapestry stuff in *gasp* PINK *gasp*.

#hauntologywriting #hauntology #knitting #fiber art #art #bimboification #philosophy

[adultswim2021]

Xavier: Renegade Angel #1: “What Life D-D-Doth” | November 5, 2007 - 12:00AM | S01E01

PFFR comes to Adult Swim! Many comedy-liking dorkwads who had a flair for appreciating “the good stuff” would refer to this as Vernon Chatman and John Lee’s follow-up to the celebrated Wonder Showzen. The show concerns the titular Xavier, a bizarre-looking humanoid bird-like creature who is covered in hair, has knees that bend in reverse, and one of his arms is a giant snake. He’s positively gruesome-looking, but sure thinks highly of himself. He’s a drifter who mostly walks various deserts until he wanders into civilization and becomes entwined with some plot or local goings-on.

I’m loathe to quote wikipedia; I don’t even like it when people do it in torrent descriptions. But this sentence impressed me to the point that I sorta gave up trying to clumsily reword it just so I could pretend to have done my job here, so I’m quoting it: 

Xavier features a style characterized by an elaborate and nonlinear plot following the humorous musings of an itinerant humanoid pseudo-shaman and spiritual seeker named Xavier. The show is known for its use of ideologically critical dark comedy as well as surrealist and absurdist humor presented through a psychedelic and satirically New Age lens.

It’s also done with some of the most hideous computer animation you’ve ever seen. 

Now to regurgitate stuff I half-remembered from an interview I probably read in 2007 when the show came out. The show’s main target of satire is the ugly vanity that comes when mediocre thinkers try to answer deep questions. It’s about the dangers of philosophical thinking, if you will. Most people with any capacity for critical thought have arrived at the idea that human beings are basically destructive monsters, and that our planet might be better off without what we call intelligent life. Humans are different from animals because we can feel anxious about our mortality. This causes us to create gods and imagine some attainable version of godliness, and this basic anxiousness is the lifeblood of our ultimately destructive civilization. It’s what I assume that book The Denial of Death is about, but I have not and will not read it, because my pastor once told me that if I read it I won’t get to go to heaven after I die. 

The plot of this episode is that Xavier wanders into a town in Connecticut that’s overrun by ornery rednecks. After being harassed by a trio of locals (who break his shakashuri, his special mystical instrument), he tries to ask the visitor center computer the question “What Life Doth?”, causing it to go haywire from all that very important pondering. All the computers in town are infected with this philosophical virus, so the computers are dumped in the lake (at Xavier’s insistence; it’s important to note that nearly every action Xavier is responsible for winds up being the wrong, most destructive one). This taints the town’s water supply and causes all who drink or bathe in the water to become lower-polygon versions of themselves. He attempts to right this wrong by infecting the computer with a human disease. 

In the single funniest scene, he is nervously handed a jug of AIDS that was left behind in the lost and found of a US Army base. Xavier goes there to obtain one of the army’s secret diseases, and enters the base by leaping through a glass window and leaves by leaping out of a different glass window. The animation’s crude nature makes the jokes feel dashed-off, and that eventually becomes part of the humor; the anti-selling of the visual gags. It’s jazz, baby. Also: the I WANT YOU poster with Osama Bin Laden instead of Uncle Sam really gets me. Those guys really have a flair for that kind of off-putting visual satire.

Xavier reveals that he has the ability to blow minds. We also get a little bit of backstory. Xavier was very biblically sent downstream by a silver metallic guy, spent time in a strict religious academy, and spent his teenage/young adult years with a shaman. In one scene Xavier recounts gazing into a fire in the shaman’s dwelling and seeing his future self; it’s Xavier moments before, in the current-day setting of the episode, having this very flashback. Future/Current Xavier interacts with his younger self, tricking him into reaching into the fire. When we cut out of the flashback, current day Xavier brags about tricking his younger self into burning his hand, showing his scar to prove it. If that doesn’t blow your mind, what will?

I mention the blowing minds things because it plays into the final scene, I think. I’ve already humorlessly rehashed enough of the episode, so I’m skipping the ending bits. Sorry.

Then-current reference: When Xavier talks about how he’s going to squash the computer menace, he does so in his typical self-aggrandizing way, saying that when it’s over he’s going to  “collect (his) kudos”. That was some early Myspace jargon; instead of the more universal “likes” Myspace had “kudos”. I’m highlighting this because it’s a joke that seems especially lost to time. It’s actually entirely possible that “kudos” were phased out by the time the episode aired. I also remember at one point they switched either to or from “props”. 20 seconds of googling didn’t give me the answer right away, so I gave up on trying to find out.

I have to admit something: when I first saw this show I sorta didn’t know what to make of it. I do think this show is rather difficult to comprehend. That’s because a lot of the dialogue isn’t so straight-forward. In fact, this is one of the most densely written shows on Adult Swim. Nearly every line of dialogue is a hilarious joke, or at least contains an amusing turn of phrase. Shows only get more jam-packed in its second season. I remember rewatching the series when season two wrapped up and this episode seemed remarkably slow.

Anyway, back when this premiered I showed it to my best friend and roommate Andrew, prefacing it with “I’m not sure this is good or not”. He laughed so fucking hard at it that I also laughed hard at it. From then on, I was fully in and on board. If there’s anything to be learned from this story it’s this: I don’t actually have taste.

#adult swim #adultswim2021 #xavier: renegade angel

[grahamstoney]

Cults are Fun, Easy and Popular

New Post has been published on https://grahamstoney.com/spirituality/cults-fun-easy-popular

Cults are Fun, Easy and Popular

I’m fascinated by the phenomenon of cults, and our inherent vulnerability to the influence of charismatic leaders. The topic also touches on another personal interest, the human desire and ability we have to embrace supernatural and unsubstantiated beliefs.

My personal definition of the term cult is:

A derogatory term for any religious or philosophically-based minority group whose core beliefs and values you don’t personally agree with.

Yes, I know it’s a little different from the wiktionary definition, but I want to emphasise that cultness is in the eye of the beholder. It’s a derogatory term, rarely used by the members of the cult in question, although they may use it freely referring to other cults; just not their own. When you’re in a cult, you don’t see that it’s a cult. So when someone else uses the word cult, what they really mean is that they don’t like the other group and don’t agree with their beliefs or values. And they probably aren’t that happy about the whole mind-control thing, indoctrination processes, people devoting their lives to lost causes or cult leaders getting rich and/or famous at the expense of their members. I get that.

So why do people join cults, and why do they stay?

Successful cults seem to have these attributes:

A charismatic leader

A belief system that offers hope

A strong sense of community

Disincentives for leaving

Despite the emphasis our society places on rational thinking, we are emotional creatures deep down. We make all our decisions based on how we expect the outcome will make us feel, then we create rational justifications for why we’ve made a good choice. People join cults because it makes them feel good; at least initially. Once they’re there, they may stay because they think they will feel bad if they leave. Which is probably true. I felt pretty bad when [intlink id=”530″ type=”post”]I gave up Christianity[/intlink]; and then there’s the whole deprogramming and admitting you got it wrong thing. The fear of feeling bad if you leave is quite well-founded.

Take as an example Harold Camping from Family Radio. It would be easy to write people like him off people as nutcases, but he’s hardly an isolated incident. This guy has made millions from his prophetic pronouncements of doom and it doesn’t matter that he said the world would end on May 21, 2011 and yet it clearly didn’t. He just makes a new pronouncement that reinterprets this apparent failure as if everything is still going to plan for the real end of the world, on October 21 when:

“…we can be sure that the whole world, with the exception of those who are presently saved (the elect), are under the judgment of God, and will be annihilated together with the whole physical world on October 21, 2011”.

As a retired engineer, he gets rich and feels powerful like never before spouting this kind of crap. People listen to him. They pay attention to his every word. Engineers don’t normally get that kind of respect. I’m a retired engineer too, so I can relate. I want people to listen to me too. But is the world really going to be annihilated later this month?

Yeah, right. I’ll stick my neck out and prophesy that absolutely nothing out of the ordinary will happen on October 21, and come October 22 or so we’ll have a new pronouncement from Mr Camping claiming that the world actually did end but we just didn’t notice. Along with a new end date. Of course if you keep prophesying disaster long enough, eventually you’ll land a date where some natural disaster actually happens by sheer coincidence and ignorant people will think you foretold it, because matching coincidences is how our brains work. The interesting thing about failed prophecy is that some followers actually strengthen their faith and allegiance to the cult leader in an attempt to avoid their uncomfortable feelings of having obviously backed the wrong horse.

People inside cults are always the last to acknowledge that it’s a cult. Scientology is a classic example. I have to be careful what I say, because Scientoligists are litigious and have no sense of humour. I bet they try to prove me wrong with a lawsuit, forcing me to explain the concept of irony to them. Anyway, their religion is the perfect example of how people are willing to follow a leader without questioning or researching the basis of his teachings. All it takes is a quick trip to your local library or Google search to discover that Scientology’s founder, L. Ron Hubbard, was a science-fiction writer. So he creates a religion using the latest teachings of the human potential movement mixed with some loopy alien schtick, and amasses mega-rich followers. He makes a fortune and a few hundred lawsuits later, his cult is well established. Clearly what Scientology teaches works to some degree; the Dianetics audit process sounds like cross between hypnosis, Rogerian and Narrative therapy. But you can learn everything you need to know about healing the emotional baggage from your past down at the local library without buying expensive Scientology training packages.

Mormonism is another great and relatively recent example than reeks of being made-up. The story of Joseph Smith acquiring the Book of Mormon has holes in it you could drive a Mach truck through; yet millions believe it without question. Another fun thing about cults is the way they point fingers at each other, without noticing the flaws in their own belief system.

People’s Temple leader Jim Jones and the Jonestown massacre is a frightening reminder that our vulnerability to cult leaders can end horribly. The Branch Davidians and the Waco seige is another. Need I mention Charles Manson or Heaven’s Gate?… Hey, who did they leave behind to keep the website running? It would be easy to write these off as isolated incidents only affecting very vulnerable people, but they keep happening. A lot of it comes down to the hypnotic effect that charismatic leaders can have on any of us. Adolf Hitler managed to hypnotise millions of ordinary Germans into supporting unspeakable violence against marginalised people. Unless we acknowledge our personal vulnerability to this kind of influence, we remain vulnerable too.

I’ve been interested in personal development for a long time, searching for some kind of cure for the low self-esteem and anxiety that seemed to cut right to my core. One of the most powerful courses I’ve done is The Landmark Forum, which often attracts the cult label. Landmark’s teaching is based on taking full responsibility for your life, creating amazing possibilities for yourself, inspiring other people and then using peer pressure to keep you accountable for making it happen. It’s pretty amazing stuff, and I still use some of the distinctions I learned there from time-to-time: Am I a spectator, or am I in the game? Am I being responsible here? Am I blaming others and running a racket on them? I’m currently doing their Living Passionately Seminar to get a sense of purpose and to live my life with ease and grace. It’s only week 1 but I’m starting to feel more excited about life already. And I can relax now because I even just did this weeks homework!

As my first Landmark seminar leader said: “It’d be a weird cult that keeps telling you to get in touch with the people in your lives”. One of the most powerful things I learned at Landmark was to stop being defensive. When people start slapping derogatory labels like “cult” on your latest thing, don’t get all reactive; just ask what they mean by that and look where else in their life cynicism, resignation and fear might be hurting them.

But some of the people I meet at Landmark act like robots; always busy applying distinctions and thinking thinking thinking. Totally out of touch with their emotions. Not really in the present, as [intlink id=”355″ type=”post”]Eckhart Tolle[/intlink] would say. Ultimately, the idea is to internalise the concepts and be responsible, be powerful, be present; not to think about it all the time. Depending on how you use them, the same tools that can make you more present and deepen your communication with others can also make you less present because you’re thinking about the tools all the time. That leaves you more detached from your emotions, and hence your personal power.

Another amazingly powerful course I’ve done is called Path of Love. Their process is awesome for dealing with troubling emotions like guilt, fear, and shame. I’ve done it twice, and I highly recommend it. The process is heavily based on the teachings of Osho, previously known as the Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. He had an amazing ability to mix Eastern and Western philosophy and teach it in a hypnotic manner that made many of his followers fall in love with him. His teaching contains much practical wisdom: he invented dynamic meditation, because he recognised that the Western mind was too busy to just sit and that we needed to move our bodies in order to break the constant cycle of nervous thinking. His advocacy of open sexual relationships also appealed to the generation who just missed out on the whole 60’s free love thing. And he was funny. Everyone loves that.

Yet Osho’s foray into setting up an ashram in the U.S. showed that all was not well and something had gone amiss, at least for some Sannyasins. Back when I was in high school, the Orange People scandal broke when his sidekick Ma Sheela ran off with buckets of the faithful’s cash. You could blame her, but what on earth were said faithful thinking; didn’t they notice their guru’s penchance for expensive Mercedes’ on his daily drive-bys? Why did they keep giving him money? When interviewed by Australian current affairs program 60 Minutes, Ma Sheela’s response to the scandal was: “What can I say. Tough titties”. This legendary answer got a picture of her giving us all the bird plastered across the front page of the daily newspaper, and thence across the folder for my Year 12 Economics notes. I had no idea that 20 years later I’d come full-circle and find myself at a course inspired by the teachings of the very guru she betrayed. I don’t care about Year 12 Economics now, but I sure wish I’d kept the folder. Yet despite the scandal, I find the process the Bagwan inspired tremendously powerful.

At one of the emotional healing bootcamps on the life coach training course I did run by Beyond Success, Paul Blackburn jokingly described the community surrounding his successful personal development company as “It’s a cult, but it’s a good cult!”. He probably also said we shouldn’t quote him on that; I can’t remember. Well at least he has a sense of humour about it.

Most recently, I’ve begun to start my day with a series of Yoga, Meditation and Breathwork that I learned from the Art Of Living foundation, in an attempt to deal with the stress and anxiety that I experience from chronic fatigue syndrome. I wouldn’t say I enjoy it, but I do feel better afterwards and it seems to be helping. Art Of Living appears to be dedicated to noble goals like world peace through inner transformation, yet even it has its detractors. There’s a charismatic leader, a belief system mixing Hindu & Buddhist ideas, a strong sense of community, and disincentives for leaving; like only being allowed to do the full Sudarshan Kriya in groups with other followers led by an officially sanctioned teacher.

Seems like just about any organisation can be considered a cult. Some people even wonder if public speaking and leadership training organisation Toastmasters is a cult.

Nowadays, I like to joke about the cults I join. Not take it all so seriously. Almost any group you hang out with has cult-like followers avoiding dealing with feelings like loneliness and powerlessness. Even the volleyball crowd I used to mix with had a coach with some followers who played and trained with religious zeal. Every major religion has teachings to help followers avoid anxieties like our primal fear of death, and religions share many of the cult attributes I mentioned earlier: Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Catholicism, etc etc all have a charismatic leader, belief systems, communities and disincentives if you up and leave. But they’re too mainstream to be considered cults by most people since they’re not small minority groups.

I’ve decided to start my own cult. I’ll be a witty, engaging, entertaining and charismatic cult leader. A cut above the rest. My followers will love me, and they’ll know how to show it. Women will throw themselves at me, and men will throw their money as I dispense indispensable wisdom. I found this great video to help get me started:

Ultimately the thing that really interests me about cults is how the leaders became so persuasive that people were willing to follow them no matter what. I’ve just read The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Persuasion for some tips, and it said that when our willingness and ability to think is low, people are easily persuaded by ideas that are fun, easy and popular. That must be what it is.

#art of living #Beyond Success #buddhism #Christianity #cults #family radio #Harold Camping #heavens gate #Hinduism #Islam #jonestown #Landmark Education #osho #Path of Love #Paul Blackburn #Scientology #Toastmasters #Spirituality

[madewithonerib]

4.] Why Don't We Understand?

Let me show you let me give you an example how life-changing this should be. In our situation, we live in the middle of New York — which is at the heart of modern western secular culture.

Some years ago, a man, a Canadian Philosopher Charles Taylor wrote a magisterial book called: The Sources of the Self

I don't recommend it at all, it's really a tremendous book; it's a nice big thick book. A philosopher wrote to philosophers, and so it is not an easy book to get through.

     But it's a magisterial account of how modern      western society's understanding of self and      identity is so different than every other      culture & every other century.

You see even today in non-western cultures & in previous centuries how did you find your identity

   •  How did you find out who you were?

Your parents told you and your people told you and they said this is who you are, this is who you should try to be.

And if you aspire to that & if you fulfilled that then everyone said you're a good person & you had self -esteem.

In other words, every other culture your family & your people said here's who you are & then when you lived up to that then they affirmed you & you felt you had self-esteem & self-worth as a person

But Charles Taylor says we are the first culture in which “No, we say you decide who you want to be —you determine who you want to be. You do not let anybody else tell you.”

But once you go deep in your heart & you figure out who you are, then you come out. Now Charles Taylor says, “We so desperately need affirmation from everybody, I mean we've come up with this identity all by ourselves & now suddenly we go out into the world & we demand recognition!

     We need recognition, we      demand constant affirmation.”

He says we have the most fragile identities in the history of the world because we need everybody pretty much to affirm them.

We cannot take it if people dislike us, or disagree with us or don't affirm us. We can't take it we are the most fragile identities in the world.

4.1] Downfall of Social Sciences

Now somebody who has been writing about this recently is a guy named Freddie DeBoer, I think he's on the staff of Brooklyn College.

He lives in Brooklyn & he's a good writer and he writes a column & he writes a blog & recently he wrote a great article about this very thing about the fragility of modern identity

that Charles Taylor writes about & he wrote this in an article called “You Can't Fake It.”

So the article starts like this:

     I have been increasingly preoccupied by a      basic question recently why is everybody      such a wreck?

And now listen he goes through a list he says first we have this vast intellectual architecture telling us that physical attractiveness & hierarchies are cruel & gendered & unfair.

………………………………………………………………… And this is correct but we still care so much about being hot—and we judge each other about it & all of our papers & humanity seminars are entirely inadequate to ending that condition. …………………………………………………………………

Secondly we have a political critique of all the ways in which “notions of human worth” are dictated by our traditional inequalities of race & sex & class.

We have a whole set of political concepts of self- care designed to fight all those negative effects, we have a self-help culture that constantly tells us you are wonderful, brilliant unique light; and you alone can shine the way in a dark world.

We have very woke.

He said we have a woke world of marketing.

All the marketing is always affirming you, affirming you. He says he has a gym nearby where he lives in Brooklyn & the gym's ad says join the body acceptance movement.

He points out if you actually did join the body acceptance movement there'd be no reason to join a gym.

But he says,

     “See everything is there to help you      feel good about yourself, & then he      says we've also got social media tools      to craft a perfect idealized vision of      ourselves curated to the millimeter      that we can present to the world..

     exactly the kind of self that we want      to present.

Then he says & none of this is working, none of it works, and this is what he sees around Brooklyn:

     I see people who are the most outwardly      secure and confident they never betray a      hint of doubt or guilt or remorse.

     They project cool at all times, they are      popular; they're getting plaudits and      positive affirmation all the time. They      are academically and professionally      successful, they have money & respect

     And yet the flow of life reveals that      inside they hate themselves, they all      hate themselves.

     None of that stuff matters, none of it      gets at the core self-hatred within & I      am beginning to wonder is this the      human condition?

4.2] Heart of Flesh Thru JESUS CHRIST

See Charles Taylor would say yeah, but modern culture aggravates it. And here's what the Bible would say yes.

But what Freddie DeBoer calls self-hatred:

     Why is it with all this stuff we're doing      all these ways of making ourselves feel      good about ourselves that we are just      screaming affirmation & recognition so      deep down: Why it's not working at all?

The Bible would say that we're not OK is a universal sense that we all know deep down inside that we're sinners—so this thing that he's describing is

      like a rock on everybody's heart; it's a rock       on your heart & you know what the social       media & you know what the self-help &       the therapy & the self-esteem..

      You know what all these things are?

…………………………………………………………………       Water pistols trying to deal with that rock       but this in JESUS CHRIST, the FATHER loves       you even as HE loves JESUS! …………………………………………………………………

      Even as!

4.3] No Longer Trying to Self-Soothe

That is not a water pistol! That will blast that rock off of your heart—that will explode the rock off your heart if you believed it.

   •  Do you believe it?    •  Do you realize it?

That's what the Lloyd-Jones says:

All of your problems come from the fact that you don't really believe it. It's not really there & it is not a reality to you.

So this is the thing you most need.

You need to believe the Gospel, not just believe the Gospel—but believe the Gospel!

Beholding the Glory of CHRIST P1,2,3,4,5,6 | Timothy J. Keller [John 17:20-26]

#Why We Don't Understand #The Sources of the Self #Charles Taylor #Freddie DeBoer #Beholding the Glory of CHRIST #Timothy J. Keller #No Longer Trying to Self-Soothe #Heart of Flesh

[sanguine-salvation]

👫 - for Em!

[ Send a 👫and I’ll write four headcanons I have about our muse’s relationship - ACCEPTING ]

Em is one of a very few who not only gets to touch Viktor without expressed permission, but can actually lay against them or even on occasion hug them. Viktor has a lot of twitchy trust issues about touching from other people, but given Em's very peculiar death-touched nature, they actually feel a little more at ease around them. Besides, they find them to be very interesting in conversation for being so very optimistic, and their talks can get weirdly deep and philosophical. Viktor actually loves it, they love talking, and they love getting into those kinds of talks, so Em might even get to see them all passionate and excited on occasion!

Viktor saw someone following Em once, who definitely looked a little too much like a pursuer of some sort. They ambushed him and killed him, because said guy was “not allowed” to hunt Em in their humble opinion, but when they later met up, they only mentioned to Em that they “ran late having to deal with something”. They may or may not have actually washed the blood off. Even if they did, they probably missed a spot.

They bring each other food when they can manage it. Viktor doesn’t actually know if Em needs to eat? They also haven’t really bothered asking, so they go ahead and do it anyway. Usually small things like granola bars or whatever they’ve stolen most recently. They’ll just casually hand them over. It’s less a ‘you need to eat more’ thing, and more a ‘I am okay sharing territory with you, I think you are a safe place’ thing, but they’re not good about putting that in words.

Viktor also tends to guide Em through areas where they know no one goes or are otherwise safe to sleep in or travel through. Yes, this means that Em routinely gets to walk through VERY OBVIOUS GOTHAM ROGUE TERRITORY being lead around by a constantly blood-stained cheery-smiled serial killer, but not a lot of people go out of their way or stop their business to pick shit with Viktor if they’re not causing trouble already, so it usually works out.

Bonus: I’m pretty sure these two just infodump about spiders and bugs back and forth. :3

#i have a place for you || answered #dance with || draggeddowntothedark #// whoops almost lost this in the drafts aaaaAAAA

[rickodyssey]

Postmodernism is Postintellectualism

What stood out to me most in this chapter was Postmodernism. I can think of no better word to describe it than disgusting. It’s inconsistent, contradictory, and childish. I wish I could live long enough to see Hegel’s pendulum swing back, away from the direction of subjectivism/relativism. I wish I were born in another philosophical era. This is the worst era in philosophy and intellectual history since the medieval times. That is probably the direction this philosophy ends. 

“Nothing is true” is another contradiction. It’s a contradiction because it claims that it’s true that nothing is true. In other words, it’s nonsense in its most basic and literal meaning. It’s like Justin Bieber’s song “Never say never.” I truly detest these philosophies that stem from a deep-rooted belief of relativism or subjectivism. They come from a place of a well-meaning heart and lazy brain. Despite the best intentions, the consequences are hell. If nothing is true then nothing is wrong with anything and there is no progress and no good to aspire to. Schizophrenia, a living nightmare, becomes attributed to being merely a personality trait, nothing different from any other subjective experience such as listening to music. Suffering is dismissed as simply being a different way of living, rather than worse. Hitler was an alright guy who was no better than Jesus Christ. There is evidently be no reason to be a feminist or any kind of activist, since nothing is wrong.

I have to point out that this is not an extreme interpretation. This is only a literal interpretation. I’m merely interpreting definitions. Furthermore, If nothing is wrong then then I should get a 100% for this rumination.

Most of the people that make these statements are very tolerant and open-minded. While those are virtuous traits, they, like any other virtues, become harmful in excess, outside the Golden Mean. Karl Popper addressed the problem with tolerance succinctly in what is now known as the “Tolerance Paradox”. It is as follows: a truly tolerant society is not feasible, since even intolerance would be tolerated. If intolerance is never confronted or dealt with, but is tolerated, the society eventually will be overtaken by the intolerant.

Hugo. (2015). 1984 War is Peace. Medium. A Medium Corporation. Retrieved December 1, 2022, from https://medium.com/@cafe4it/the-meaning-of-war-is-peace-freedom-is-slavery-ignorance-is-strength-6dca5f7389f9.

#rumination #ksu #nonsense

[juicyjustin]

just got a 93% on an essay about communism,, for reference my average in that class was about 65-70%. that is my personality summed up if you were wondering

#i’m not even a communist #although its a common misconception #i talk about it a lot #but thats because its so interesting #but i cant talk about why i find it interesting #because its hard to discuss the human condition #without sounding like one of those fake deep philosophical guys #who thinks they’re the epitome of genius #but is actually just really edgy #but like its so cool #how the human condition is unable to function under kindness #its like we weren’t built for it