#look. i have no horse in this race (atheist) | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

basedkikuenjoyer · 4 months

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Our sixth book in the series (fourth in written order) The Silver Chair is one of the hardest Narnia books to write about. It's a weird one but most fans I've known like it and I bet it's a fair few people's favorites. This time we're done with the four Pevensie siblings and our holdover is Eustace Scrubb from Dawn Treader. More mature and changed by the voyage here with a classmate Jill. Back to the same vibe as The Magician's Nephew pair with a way better Uncle Andrew stand-in out of our main man this blog will always stan, Puddleglum. I know you lovelies out in Tumblr land love Puddleglum.

Imagine Eeyore playing D&D as a frogman paladin. Pessimistic as hell, though he assures us he's a weird optimist for his Marsh-Wiggle race, but he goes hard. I have never forgotten the sheer emotion that came across when Puddleglum found out he committed the major taboo of eating a talking animal. He also gets the best chance to showcase why I like the fine line CS Lewis walks with Christian elements in the series.

Has to do with the main plot. Underdark this time and now I'm starting to appreciate where my love of fantasy sea, desert, and cave journeys come from. Caspian's son Rilian has been taken by an evil queen brainwashing him. Evil queen does lean into being a figure for atheist arguments but it's important to note that the tone is a very fine line. Imagine making a criticism of Youtube Athiests leaning on specious reasoning to dunk on a prominent Christian. It ties in more with the series setting up Eustace & Jill through a criticism of English schools, Digory in Wardrobe bemoaning how they don't teach logic anymore. And what seals the deal to me is how Puddleglum lays it out in a bit of an author filibuster...making explicit the idea that he thinks the question of whether or not Aslan and the world of Narnia above are actually real isn't important.

The idea of those things matters in its own right, especially if those ideals inspire him to be a better person. The belief that this worldly life is but the first step on a much grander journey, the faith that the world is a more special place than mankind can fully grasp does not need to be true if it gives us the drive to make a better Earth. I can get behind that at least. This is also a man who very much believes in the idea of maintaining whimsy & childlike wonder for much of the same reasons. That's pretty ballsy for Christian philosophy, looking at the clergy I know today I only know one example who'd comfortably say something like that and he's still an asshole that really could do with reading The Last Battle more closely. I'm not a religious person by any stretch, but it absolutely pisses me off to see charlatans looking for a hot take trash a wonderful child-friendly series that teaches critical thinking and examines the nature of belief as mere Christian propaganda.

Other than that you see the writing start to mature. Special shoutout to The Horse and His Boy getting a nod as a famous in-universe tale. Which is awesome for a very 1001 Nights inspired side story. Even more so when it is a foreshadow or callback depending on which order you read the series in. Eustace & Jill are a solid pair. I don't think they have the chemistry Digory & Polly had but weaker character chemistry for CS Lewis is still better than most. Great, great entry in the series that is a fun story for a kid but gives you some real meat if you revisit as an adult.

#chronicles of narnia #the silver chair #the sidestory between the years #I also know a guy that used to tour with the band silverchair which i find funny but didn't find a way to mention

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earhartsease · 1 year

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I don't particularly have a horse in this race (atheist jewish upbringing, agender) but when you're doing portrayals of Jewish people, maybe don't always make it "man wearing a yarmulka and possibly prayer shawl" because there are Jewish women too - it seems like people always default to "dude who looks like a rabbi or a yeshiva student" and never "woman wearing a sheitel or a head scarf" for example - even when it's a cartoon animal

#jewish representation

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rainbowxocs · 1 year

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BIO:

Name: Yukai Mori (愉快森)

Alt Names: Yukai Hayashi (愉快ハヤシ)

Special Titles: Former Wakagashira (ワカガシラ) of the Hayashi Family

Nicknames: Kai-Chan (快ちゃん)

Age: 21

Pronouns: She/Her (In English.)

I Pronoun: Watashi (わたし) (A neutral/formal way of saying I in Japanese.)

Sexuality: Lily (Yuri 百合, Lesbian), Polyamorous, Demisexual, Demiromantic.

Gender: Cis Girl.

Species: Human.

Disorders: Insomnia, Bulimia, NPD, Autism, PTSD.

Physical Conditions: Lazy Eye, Legally Blind (Wears Contacts.)

Active Addictions: Nicotine (Cigarettes), Caffeine.

Religion: Atheist.

Job: Barista, Vtuber, Local Newspaper Journalist, Museum Tour Guide.

Major: Journalism.

Lives in: Okutama, Tokyo, Japan, 2024.

Languages: Japanese, English.

Height: 5’8”

Race: Asian.

Ethnicity: Japanese

Accent: Yamanote.

Vehicle: Black Motorcycle.

Weapons: Scissors, Pistols.

Alignment: Neutral.

Text Color: Red.

Main Hobbies: Sewing, Gaming, Writing, Puzzles, Chess, Reading, Bonsai, Hanafuda, Poker.

Favorite Drinks: Black Coffee, Watermelon Monster Energy, Jasmine Tea, Sake.

Favorite Fruits: Oranges.

Favorite Meal: Omurice, Curry, Spring Rolls.

Favorite Snacks: Hot Chili Seaweed Chips.

Favorite Dessert: Cherry Kakigori, Chocolate Chip Icecream.

Favorite Flower: Spider Lilies.

Scent: Cigarettes.

Awareness: Suspicious, But Doesn’t Care. (Effect: None.)

Birthday: December 8th 2002 (Sagittarius, Horse, AB+)

Theme:

Playlist:

Fun Facts: She was the head writer of the Newspaper at her Highschool, Has information on literally everyone in town.

Special Interests: History, Sonic, Quilting.

Comfort Object: Soap Shoes Sonic

Stims:

Stims with one of these.

Stimboard: LINK

Moodboard: LINK

Fashionboard: LINK

Family:

Shi Hayashi, Tentei Hayashi (Parents)

Chie Mori and Makai Mori (Sisters)

Adelaide Yami (Former Goat)

Friends: Are Yoru. (BFF)

Romantic Interest: Odoroku Bakari (Girlfriend)

Pets: Senshin (専心) (Akita), Chiryo (治療) (Black Cat), Katsu (かつ)(Pigeon)

Brief Personality: There are many faces to the name “Yukai Hayashi” some people see her as a tormenter, a vile woman who would do anything and cheat any rule to get what she wants. But if you look more closely at her, looking past her intelligence and her ability to know everything about everyone. She is dealing with allot of emotional trauma.. Now that she’s going by the name Yukai Mori, she has shown a softer side to herself and an ability to change her story.

Brief Backstory:

The Hayashi Family comes from a long line of matriarchal yakuza. And when Shi Hayashi had her first born. She was expected to follow in those footsteps.

Born Yukai Hayashi, She is the Golden Child of her family. The eldest of her sisters and also her parents only biological child. She only has vague memories of when she wasn’t doing crime. Of her and her former best friend Odoroku playing on the play ground, until her mother decided to get her family into organized crime.

Yukai learned to lie, cheat, and break anyone that comes in her way. When she was in Highschool, she made an information empire, selling anyone’s information, dark secrets, weapons, hits, to the highest bidder.. She became the Head Writer of the Newspaper as well, which allowed her to control all the information at her school.

However, after graduating Highschool and starting to become an adult, Yukai, broke. She finally couldn’t take the constant pressure that her mother and father had put on her. The constant pressure to be the best, to be good. So she cut off all her long hair and ran away. Changing her name and never looking back..

Yukai is slowly learning how to love herself, and to repay for what she has done. Thankfully she has her Best friend Are, and her new girlfriend Odo, to have a support system.

#oc reference #oc bio #Yukai Mori #Yukai #Yukai Hayashi #oc #OCs #rp #art #my art #my ocs #long post #Spotify

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magical-mage-dude · 22 days

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Having the privilege of getting to be in the path of totality yesterday, I will relay my experience.

Sitting in church parking lot, brought there by a devout atheist, we stare up at the sun. The hours spent out racing clouds finally having culminated up to the this. A tiny slice is eaten from the sun. The people around us oooh and ahh in excitement. A rich green field full of crimson clovers stretches down beneath us. Three horse emerge to graze in the afternoon heat. Crows caw in the distance. A bird of prey rides the rising thermals. A dutiful bumblebee bounces from flower to flower.

We chatter and joke amongst ourselves, glancing up at ever present orange crescent through darkened lenses. A child squeals in horror from an ant crawling on her shoe.

“Yeah, They do that.” Her mom informs her in exasperation.

“Yeah they do that.” I mutter in agreement ,watching the gently swaying grass.

“The light seems dimmer.” I insist to my group.

They laugh and disagree.

It does. It’s an though the world was placed in photoshopped and the contrast was being lowered ever so slightly. The air is cooling ever so slightly and the wind is picking up. A single cloud blows over e sun.

“It’s the eclipse!” We jest as it’s shadow races up over the hill. I check the sky. Still clear of clouds.

Cars race by on the highway beside us. No one pulls in. How can they not stop? Do they not know what is about to happen? Do they not care?

I make a pinhole camera. Tiny moons dance on a sheet of paper. I show my mom how to make on with her hand. It’s an eternity before the sun stars to shrink. My brother discusses wind with my dad.

15 min till. I look up and squeal in excitement. I am seeing the edges of the crescent disappear right before my very eyes. The crowd yells in excitement as everyone scrambles to look.

Everyone goes quiet now. It’s chilly now. The sun is bright and high like summer but the wind feels like autumn. Bird still caw and the bee still buzzed. The horses are unbothered. Two more cars roar by. A Motorcycle follows. No one pulls in.

The sun is a finger nail now.

I call for timecheck. Five minutes till. They called me crazy before, but now the light around us is obviously lower. It’s as though you are on darkened stage standing under a bright spotlight. Everyone yells as streetlights come on. A truck with its headlights on blows by. It does not pull in.

I whip my head up the sky. An impossibly tiny dot of orange hangs in the dark lens. The sun is Impossibly tiny but still bright enough for me to quickly jerk my head away as I try to take an unguarded peak. Under my eyelids I see a vision of a pale moon with a blinding white flare cascading over the side.

It’s so close. I’m quivering in terror and excitement.

Then.

The sky flickers. I miss the first diamond ring for fear of ruining my vision. But I don’t miss what’s next.

Pictures do not describe what happens. In every picture, the sun seems too small, too distant, the sky pitch black.

Here. The sun is as big as a full moon in the sky. It’s… it’s a hole. A black endless hole. A black hole. I am looking at Sagittarius A in my solar system.

I am gripping the concrete in terror. I possess a fear of wide open uncovered skies. I feel as though I will fall up in it. Being on a hill under a huge sky was nerve racking when I stepped of the car. Now, staring up at hole, a hole! It’s gone! It’s gone! It’s gone! We’ll be sucked in!

I pant in awe and terror, holding back tears. Everyone is screaming, hollering, and yelling. I am holding my mothers hand. I am torn between fixing my gaze up wards or all around. The sky is a deep purple black. It fades in a sunset shadow orange on the horizon all around us. That’s the sun’s light, I realize. We are under the moons shadow.

I check with the glasses to see if the sun is still there. The lenses are dark.

I stare up again, my brother urging everyone to look at it. It goes so fast, he’d warned us before. The Corona beams out from behind the moon in grey beams. They are straight and angular, like point of a jagged crown. Watch the edges of the moon, my brother says, you will see the refraction from the mountains.

I look. There. On the bottom, a tiny faint blurry spurs of red dances. I see blue next to it. Then deep blue. I’m shaking to record these down.

There is a planet, too bight to be a star, southeast of the moon and another northeast. I don’t which they were.

It feels as though the world will stay like this forever, eclipsed in darkness with only streetlights and light from the horizon to illuminate the world.

Then. The sky flickers. A bright flare pierces, pierces! Over the side of the moon. The diamond ring.

The worlds is thrust back into light. It’s so bright! It was just dark and now it is bright! Like a light switch! There is only a sliver of orange is the glasses but it is bright!

The sun has returned. And just like that. Everything is like before.

The crowd packs up. The streetlights go back out. The saturation of the of world returns. The chilly air begins to warm back up. I discuss return trip plans with my group, trying to hold the fleeting majesty of what I’ve seen in my mind.

#solar eclipse #me #i am dumb #bad paint job

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vitos-ordination-song · 1 year

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This is something I’ve really struggled w for years but… again my issue of not having an acceptable/understandable narrative… Incest has loomed large over my life and for a long time was not something I was equipped to deal w at all. It was a scary and difficult thing. I think for a lot of people it is. I’ve since done a lot of academic and personal studies on the subject. Now I can talk about it w like, no sense of shame, and yet even bringing it up to others makes me fear the stigma.

I had actual incest in my family—my grandfather was a rapist and pedophile who went after his daughters and others (he was a preacher and had a lot of opportunity). However I didn’t know about this as a kid, and neither did my mother—she only found out later in life when her sister came forward. My uncle had been praising their father on Facebook and she seems to have just broken at that. I once had a dream that my grandfather, who I in fact never met in real life, was at a family reunion and everyone was just treating him as one of the family. I think that’s indicative of how it felt under the surface—he wasn’t there but his marks were everywhere and though much of his first family (he divorced my grandmother to marry my mom’s childhood best friend) distanced themselves from him, they still acted out a lot of his traits—sadism, racism, etc.

At this point I just take incest as a fact, and also I think that psychosexual bonds between parent/child are almost a given if the relationship continues as the child ages. But what that looks like can take a lot of different forms. My mom came out of her childhood totally unable to handle that people are sexual beings (really a lot of denial of animality in general in WASP circles). I can remember her sexually shaming me at age like, 3. Obviously it got worse as her children aged. I feel sometimes like metaphorical FGM was done to me. And even deeper, like she treated me as if I was her sexual abuser from the time I was a baby.

I had an incestuous complex around my father and brothers from age 10-15 or so. I don’t think that’s uncommon really, and it was made worse by our family’s insular nature. I really didn’t have normal friends, and I wasn’t even aware that I was going to go through puberty and develop a sex drive. So i was just stuck at home with my brothers. I had an emotionally incestuous relationship with my drunken father, who I nurtured as if I was his wife or mother. He acted inappropriately towards both me and my sister, but most of that was going back to when I was a toddler. He used to grab at my not-formed breasts and call them tickets.

In general the family had a lot of incestuous ties, my mom is still to this day interfering in my oldest brother’s relationships w girlfriends (he’s almost 30), and she treats the other brother (the black one) like a prize race horse or a young boyfriend she can show off on her arm. All the siblings were too close. I only know my own experiences but I wonder how things were for them—I’ll never know, I just know that age 12, all of this was way too much for me.

I think the number one thing that makes this hard to talk about is I don’t have a normal “victim” narrative. A lot more people have weird family incest stuff than common wisdom would claim, but the fact that I had actual (not just dynamic based, emotional) incest in my family made me think about it more—but there I wasn’t the victim. And my dad never did anything “that bad” to me that I remember. But what did happen?

When I was 13, I decided I was a lesbian and stupidly trusted my brothers and told them. They immediately ran off to tell my parents. Of course I also told them I was an atheist, but somehow my immortal soul wasn’t as important as my sexuality. My dad never talked to me about it once—the most input I got from him was one time I walked in on him watching lesbian porn in the living room. However, my mother spent months of my life cornering me, making me go on long car rides with her, so she could try to talk me out of it. I got slapped, I got forced to listen to her Christian conservative propaganda, I got guilted with the potential that a grandmother might not be able to rest In peace—and I got accused of incest.

I will never forget it. I was in the living room. She decided to confront me in front of my brothers. She went on about how gross and bad lesbians are, and then she went, “if I bared my breast to you right now, would you be attracted to me?” I was stunned. A lot of other back and forth went on, and then I ran out of the house; she locked me out for the night. Later, on a car ride to school, my brothers said that, if I was willing to do something so perverse as have sex with a woman, surely I would be okay with sleeping with them too.

All of that really broke me. More than anything, I think I was terrified they were right. I never felt comfortable touching them after that and there were times they let me know my touch was disgusting. The fear was that I was complicit; I was a pervert; I was sexually depraved and wrong. It was so confusing and a really hard time in my life (this was by no means the only thing going on).

At this point I don’t feel that self-blame anymore. I can see it in context. What happened was that I was punished, scapegoated for something that was the entire family’s sickness. Similar things happened with one of my brothers (scapegoated for the family’s crimes) and sister (scapegoated for the family’s lies). I’m not going to deny that I was sexually attached to family members! Arguably that’s a part of adolescence; the important thing is that you don’t stay there. The entire family had weird sexual boundaries, and it was the fault of my parents for not preventing that. Why should I feel bad that at age 13, when I was highly confused and sexually repressed, I was overly close with my older brother—literally one of the only significant relationships in my life at the time?

And again, it’s like, y’all can call me names all you want, but I’m the only one of my parents’ children who isn’t attached to them at the hip. We’re all adults! The youngest of us is 23! But my oldest brother lives like 20 minutes from them, lived in their house for years, the other one goes to church with my mom every weekend, the last one wants to be nurtured like she’s still a child (though I have to say those last two have limited autonomy for complicated fucked up reasons). But what I’m getting at is that they’re all still a big incestuous unit and I refuse to be a part of it.

#imagine if I had literally anywhere I could talk about this

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prozach27 · 2 years

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#honestly a lot of us in the lgbt community have religious trauma #and I was atheist for a long time as a result #coming back in to Catholicism and reclaiming my experience of it has been really gratifying and fulfilling in different ways #especially when it means drowning out voices of people who are homophobic and critically examining literature for the overall moral message #but it does get really tiresome and frustrating how accepted and encouraged it is to talk down about Christianity in the queer community #especially Catholicism #which like this isn’t an ooooh Christians are persecuted post #it’s more of a…#queer people who decide to re enter religion on their own terms while being critical of organized religion’s failings deserve respect post #like I’m fine it’s just really annoying and predictable how often I come across it #too queer for religion too religious to be queer #which is so funny because I’m not some choir singing religious zealot #my entire philosophy is just… the Bible has metaphors for how to be better and finding a community that you vibe with can help u be better #critically analyze whatever you come across and engage in the rituals that give you peace and calm while trying to improve #some folks don’t need any of that while others enjoy it #I don’t typically have any horse in the race of looking down on Christianity or Catholicism because organized religion should be critiqued #it’s just exhausting and further isolating when it repeatedly and gleefully comes from queer spaces #you can dislike religion and criticize it without actively pushing out ppl who responded to religious trauma differently #esp when there’s so many movements trying to counter that very prejudice in the church that we work to support #even if it’s not your cup of tea mocking any religion is pretty cringe - criticize yeah but mocking is just bleh #let those of us navigating these complicated adventures not get further mocked by our own community pls ty

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stephenjaymorrisblog · 2 years

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Cultural Counter-Revolution USA

Post-Trump Era, Part 2

Stephen Jay Morris

12/12/2021

©Scientific Morality

What a life I have! I just had hernia repair surgery. My doctor told me not to lift more than 20 pounds and to get plenty of rest. You should see my abdominal and groin area. My balls look like they were blown up, like balloons. My scrotum is a dysentery green color. It looks as if a gang of leprechauns took turns kicking my nuts, or a herd of horses stampeded over my private parts.

Doing physical things is part of my daily routine, so in the absence of that, I have time to watch the daily news. Most of the news of late is about rock stars dying of old age. I am starting to get lonely in the land of the living. Then, of course, there’s politics. Yeah, dude—good old American politics. We’ve got a lot idiots on the so-called Left, but when compared to the Right, we win 100 to 1. The Whites are the master race? I don’t think so. Every time I hear about Right wing antics, I shake my head so much that my neck will soon need orthopedic attention. I’d best stop watching the news.

White wing members of our American discourse misunderstand not only the definition of racism, but the concept of it. I won’t revisit this point; I’ve written about it ad nauseam. Racism is more than calling someone a name or telling ethnic jokes. When I call a certain element within the White race stupid, i.e. the poor and working-class Whites, it’s because it’s true! If the poor Whites realized how they are being manipulated by the honky Ruling Class, they would form a unified front with Black and Brown people against capitalism. Obscurantism is the Ruling Class’s technique for keeping poor Whites in line. Just listen to their stupidity running rampant on social media. Racism keeps poor Whites divided from other poor groups. “Those illegal aliens not only want your jobs, but they want to rape your wives, too!” They spread lies about public schools, the latest being about the teaching of CRT. Imagine if public education was abolished. All we’d have is home schooling and religious/private schools. Yeah, that would mean more government socialism for the rich. Yummy!

Now, let’s look at this thing, “Culture Warfare,” in the USA. There’s no such thing! The only culture we have in the USA is capitalist culture. Material values is causing religion in this country to devolve into nothingness. It’s fading away. That scares the rich WASPs to death! How will they control the White working class without organized religion? Maybe they can get them hooked on Meth; just like the CIA “allegedly” got poor Blacks hooked on crack?

Here is the truth: In order to have cultural warfare, you must first have a political revolution. The Red Chinese had a political revolution followed by a cultural one. The Religious Right wants to do this all at the same time. Through their cultural revolution, all will be cleansed of capitalist culture. After the Christian Civil War in America, there will be Christian Cultural Warfare. America will have a moral cleansing. No more video games unless they’re Christian. No more porn, no more summer vacations, no more premarital sex, no more freedom! Christianity will be the only religion and only Conservatives will be allowed to have guns!

The only difference between North Korea and Iran is that North Korea is atheist and Iran believes in God. Otherwise, they are both totalitarians. If the Evangelicals take over in the USA, say goodbye to Freedom.

It’s time to learn about petrol-politics and Christian Theocracy. Time is running out for them both. We do not need fossil fuel anymore, nor do we need Christian values. They have both reached their expiration dates.

#culture war #american politics #stephenjaymorris #poets of tumblr #baby boomers #anarchism #propaganda #authoritarianism

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willowaudreykeyes · 4 years

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Monster AU Idea that I don’t know what to do with

Literally what the title says. Idk what to do with this, but its in my head and so i need to write it down and share it before my brain explodes. Talk about it or ask about it; whatever you want. As long as I know about it as it is still my idea, go nuts.

@ladyedwina @sparrowofsong

Warning: Does involve murder, being captured, lots of depressed Roman because I’m mean to him for no reason and it makes me sad, gory removal of fingers (not detailed but it is there), suicide mention, me swearing a lot, stabbing(not detailed), hints of Roceit; Intrulogical and qpr Pattmile

Spider Monster Who-Realises-That-His-Race-Sucks Virgil

Born like this. Was raised to be alone but he likes being around others to feel safe, so it makes him a little awkward and even anxious around others.

Hates the rest of his kind because he’s the only one who doesn’t want to eat people. So now they all wanna kill him.

He can retract his extra legs but it leaves small bumps in his back, so he likes to wear his over-sized hoodie to help hide them.

Janus saved him from one of his own kind. Travelled with him and Logan before getting separated by Monster Hunters and running into a lonely wolf-Patton.

Is now Patton’s spider child, despite the fact that said father figure is afraid of spiders. And that Virgil is technically older then him. He does try to look past the ‘too-many-eyes’ and ‘long, hairy legs’ thing; which Virgil appreciates.

The only one of the group that knows how mobiles work and he finds it funny as fuck.

Werewolf Underdog (ha) Patton

Runt of the litter.

Can shift between a humany appearance, an actual grey-brown wolf and a bipedal werewolf. He isn’t the third one often and actually enjoys being a more typical wolf as he can be passed off as a wolf-dog hybrid and has gotten free bones and pets.

Ran away from his pack as they didn’t want him to die but also didn’t want him to get stronger, then raised a bunch of homeless orphans at a young age and also defended them from a trafficking ring by ripping out a bunch of people’s throats.

Yeah... he brought them to an orphanage afterwards as it’s safer then the streets. Then he ran away again; at this point he’s only 15-16.

Lives alone and homeless for a few more years before running into Virgil and immediately adopting him.

Patton helped Virgil find Janus and Logan so now he has more children (who are all older then him but he ignores that).

No one will go hungry EVER with Patton is around. He is the caretaker of this pack and he will not let his pups feel hungry ever-

He’s not over how shitty his pack was to him and it’s very obvious.

When he meets Emile though, it lifts a lot of weight off his shoulders as he learns not to be so all-bearing of others issues. And he also feels safer talking to him about his old pack as he doesn’t want to be pitied by anyone.

Tired-As-Fuck Vampire Logan

Who’s like 600 years old and knows that a lot of History that the modern day tells everyone is wrong and HATES that he’d be found out if he started yelling at people how wrong they are.

Parents wanted him to drop science and be a farmer. They, and his younger siblings, all died when their crops were poisoned two weeks after he moved out to do his science elsewhere.

Oh and he was bit by the person who 1. Was his partner in science and 2. He was head over heels for them because they let him take risks but still made sure he was safe as he did them.

So that pissed him off quite a bit. Because he almost instantly killed the couple who took in the sickly scientist because the wife cut her finger. He managed to kill the cow instead but he ran away afterwards and never saw them again.

Ran into Janus 300 years later -after travelling a LOT and learning a LOT and nearly dying a LOT and feeling so much that he doesn’t wanna feel anymore because that’s 300yrs of friends dying- and decided to travel with the one type of guy who won’t die of old age!!!

Then Virgil appeared. Then Patton. Then the Twins. Then Remy. Then Emile. He wishes that his dead heart would stop making him want to protect them all to his last breath but what can ya do?

He will murder anyone to save the others- but much prefers to just stay inside and just experiment on the occasional new thing that he finds.

Protector. Leader. Professor. Tired. Doctor. Cantor (yes he was Jewish for a little while after the bite but now he’s Atheist). University Chancellor. Lots of titles and he got them all legit too, although some are a little out of date.

Do not ask how he feels about the others. Especially Remus. He will glare at you without a word before moving on with his life.

Naga Will-Steal-You’re-Last-$5 Janus

Age? Social construct. He hints at being around Logan’s age but that could be give or take a hundred years or so.

He can shift between having a tail and legs- but ofc much prefers the tail. But he hates that his teeth change with it as it makes him hold his ‘s’ more when he talks.

When no tail, the left side of his face is very scarred. Someone tried burning off the scales on his face but the scars only appear when he’s trying to look human. When he has his tail, his scales replace them and they look fine.

Do not touch his hands or he will strangle you with them. They’re sensitive as hell without his gloves and he doesn’t know why.

He can hypnotise you to take a fucking break and he’s not afraid to do it (except on Logan as he’s somehow almost entirely immune)

Doesn’t like hypnotising his friends unless its just to take a break or to pull them out of an anxiety/panic attack. Every other living thing isn’t off limits though.

Lived alone until he met Logan. He also liked killing everyone he met until he met Logan. The only reason he didn’t kill Logan was because the nerd almost chopped off the end of his tail. The others don’t know this and it’s staying that way.

Has a cane to walk with for days that his legs decide that they wanna be a tail but he’s in public for some reason and he can’t and it sucks.

Almost killed Remy when they first met. Literally- he stabbed him in the side. Now they’re best buds over it and it was weird how quickly it happened too.

Has stolen Roman’s last $5. He will not be returning it. He hasn’t spent it because he finds him cute funny when he’s mad.

Siren But-Flips-Off-The-Sea-And-Heights Roman

Was born a Prince! With his weirdo of a twin. They were well liked and he was next in line for the throne and he was gonna be given a wife-

He wasn’t happy that it HAD to be a wife and when he argued that he wanted a guy; everyone turned on him and threw him into the ocean. So... fuck them.

Sirens saved him by turning him into one. He hates it.

Was forced to eat kelp or people. He chose kelp. He hated it.

Was dragged out of the sea by his brother who had been thrown into the evil swamp nearby and is now a banshee. Not as bad but he’s still rather pissed.

Although he was a little sad when he heard, 100yrs later, that his entire kingdom died of the plague. He moved on quickly though.

He hates the sea and doesn’t go near it. If it all dried up one day, it’d be the happiest day of his life. He doesn’t even eat seafood anymore as it makes him upset just looking at it.

He still likes to sing. He can control if it’s going to mind-control those who hear it or not; but it’s a little annoying as he can’t get too into it without accidentally losing control. Doesn’t stop him though.

He learnt how to play multiple instruments, made anonymously published books, the money-earner of the two. Although he was jealous that Remus was better at more hands-on stuff and is slowly, but happily, learning how to craft things from wood.

He and Remus never separated. Even when Monster Hunters sprayed him with water, forced his tail to appear, and took him to a facility to be imprisoned forever. That’s another thing he was mad about since Remus refused to just fucking RUN but he was happy to see his brother be proud of him when he dug VERY sharp teeth into a mans arm.

Had to be carried out by Janus when he, Logan, Patton and Virgil decided to free everyone inside. Every other creature could run except him, which led to him and Remus staying with them.

He definitely, 100%, no-doubt-about-it got a massive gay crush on Janus when he taught him how to fight. And sword fight. And dance. And how to look after his rather pretty scales.

In the 200-300yrs since he’s had a tail, he hasn’t ONCE really looked after them. So when Janus helped him out and made his scales less gross and more gorgeous, he actually started liking his tail a bit.

The Ocean can still go fuck itself though.

Oh and the one time they visited the Seattle Space Needle? Yeah, fuck heights too.

Banshee Will-Eat-Your-Fingers-If-Given-The-Chance Remus

After Roman got thrown into the ocean, he went on a rampage. He didn’t kill anyone, but he sure as hell got close to murdering their shitty father.

They tied him up and tossed him into the nearby swamp, where he nearly died. He inhaled days worth of magical fog that eventually turned him into a banshee. Which is just the ability to scream so loud that he makes people pass out, which is useful. Oh and sharp teeth that he looks after really well.

He managed to escape the forest, he screamed at a passing merchant and took his horse, and went to the ocean where he found Roman depressingly eating kelp on a rock off in the distance.

He literally got on a boat, dragged the surprised but happy fish into it with him, and made sure that they would never be separated again.

Didn’t care about what happened to their old kingdom.

He learnt how to make weapons, how to blacksmith, how to glassmith, how to make clothes- Literally anything he could since Roman kind of sucked at making anything that wasn’t music or a story of some kind. Fine by him since he knew the quality of the weapon he was stabbing people with.

When the hunters forcefully made Roman’s tail appear, he tried to scream to make them all pass out but they were ready and punched him out. He would have found it a little funny if he didn’t wake in a jail cell with a thing over his mouth.

The two worst things about it: He couldn’t see Roman and know if he was okay and he couldn’t cuss out the guards.

When that nerdy but very murderous vampire broke in and helped him out of the prison, he returned the favour by biting off the fingers of a guard that had broken Logan’s glasses. He later on fixed said glasses as well but he thought the fingers removal was a better thank you.

Loves Logan; only Roman, Janus and Emile have figured it out. Virgil thinks he’s plotting to kill the vampire one day, Remy doesn’t pay attention and Patton thinks that Logan is a good influence on him (he’s not wrong as he slowly stops describing brutal murders and talks about gross facts that Logan does and doesn’t know)

Remy No-It-Isn’t-Short-For-Remington-Yes-I-Am-A-Dragon-Roman

Born as a shapeshifting dragon. Was supposed to live like a recluse like the rest of his kind but said ‘fuck that’ and now works at a clothing store in a town full of morons for entertainment.

His kind does get tired rather easily so he lives off coffee. He is addicted and luckily for him; his body won’t get used to it so he doesn’t have to heighten the dose of caffeine in every drink. Yay!

Two things happened when he first met Janus and Roman. The first is that he got stabbed by the Naga because he may or may not have seen him wearing some shiny rings that he REALLY wanted. He wanted it more then Janus, so he found it okay to do- but got stabbed for it.

Two; he then bit Roman (who kinda deserved it when he tried to ‘slay the dragon’ when Janus had saw his unnaturally-bright brown eyes) and was dragged to see everyone to figure out what to do with him.

He managed to talk his way out of being murdered by Remus by sheer amazing personality (he’s x5 sassy when afraid and Remus thought he was hilarious) and just decided to hang around everyone just because he could.

Being stabbed turned into a joke between him and Janus and now they’re besties who totally don’t steal from random assholes that they run into down the street. It’s a now competition to have the shiniest collection (Janus is winning but gives Remy the occasional shiny thing as he knows that dragons get very mad about hoard sizes sometimes)

When they all moved towns, he dragged them to one where his old friend Emile was. He also introduced Virgil to Starbucks and their coffee and is still getting berated for it to this day.

Oh and when he does manage to let himself be a dragon, he’s about as large as a horse and has really pretty black scales with a light brown underbelly. His eyes turn bright green too. Virgil calls him Starbucks’s best mascot.

Emile Is-A-Disney-Fairy-Stereotype

Can grow and shrink on command; can also make his wings appear and disappear although it does hurt not to have them out almost daily.

Pink wings and pink hair. Very popular fairy attributes (for both fairies and Monster Hunters)

Can see aura’s of humans and monsters. They look very different depending on species but he LOVES seeing human ones the most as they are often filled with more colours.

Is a therapist, is a cartoon nerd, is able to make you a dress that disappears at midnight

... Can also see your dreams but doesn’t like doing it as its intrusive and it feels like he’s breaking some kind of human Confidentiality agreement

Being a therapist has changed a lot of his views on personal space (like the whole dream thing he has). He’s very in-your-face when excited, but as a kid he would CLING to people at every chance he had. Even strangers. It wasn’t a good habit.

Became a therapist, an independent one too, because a human friend of his died of suicide and he blamed his therapist who was telling him a lot of bad advice. And said therapist wasn’t supportive of his friends gender-identity crisis as he was very strict on ‘born a boy is a boy’ kind of thinking.

Now Emile takes in teenagers for free and adults at a lower price then a normal therapist. He doesn’t have a great living space (upstairs from his office don’t tell anyone) but he doesn’t care!

Met Remy as he was one of his patients once. He can tell when someone isn’t human due to their aura’s and nearly fell out of his chair when a FUCKING DRAGON walked in.

After Remy finished his sessions, he still visited occasionally and always remembered his favourite drink (chocolate smoothie with whipped cream and caramel shavings and a chocolate stick or five sticking out- and Remy thought his coffee addiction was bad)

And after not seeing Remy after six months, only to find that he has made friends with a lot of other creatures made him so happy.

Then confused when they all dragged in this fairy therapist into their group. Where Logan asked for the occasional emotional advice (not at ALL related to Remus-), Janus made sure he got a better living space, Remus and Virgil gave him someone to talk to about darker cartoon ideas, Roman (after the 18 times he asked for a magical dress) started making cartoon-stuffs for him, and Patton...

Patton helped him realise that he was still very gay despite the AroAce that he was. He gave him head scritches when stressed, the help he needed trauma-wise, the cartoon marathons with the doggo using his legs as a pillow-

And Patton gave him someone to talk to about all his feelings about his clients (without breaking any rules ofc). And about his old friend and the terrible therapists that he’s met.

He will admit to anyone that he squealed when Janus told him that Patton was pan aroace. Seriously, just ask. He is not ashamed of his excitement of the fact that he has a CHANCE WITH THE CUTE WOLF DAD.

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shcwclf-archive · 4 years

Photo

[ MILA MINKOVA. 36. CIS FEMALE. SHE/HER] is here! They’ve lived in Silver Lake for [ 3 MONTHS ] and are originally from [ SOFIA, BULGARIA]. They are a [ PROPERTY DEVELOPER ] and in their downtime love [ COLLECTING CARS ] and [ FLIPPING HOUSES ]. They look a lot like [ CRYSTAL REED ] and live [ ON SILVERWOOD TERRACE ].

hi new friends, i’m ay and this is mila. she’s a bit of a revamp so I’m still figuring her out. below is her bio, but also a little bit of other info.

TRIGGERS PRESENT: organised crime, pregnancy, childbirth, divorce, death, military mention, alcohol, drugs, firearms.

general information.

full name ludmila kseniya konstantinova pavlova mikova

known as mila minkova

age thirty-six

date of birth june, 14, 1984

place of birth sofia, bulgaria

zodiac gemini

gender cisfemale

nationality american

religion atheist

orientation pansexual

relationship status widowed

physical attributes.

face claim crystal reed

height 5′7 ¾

weight 126 lbs

hair color brunette

eye color hazel

tattoos quite a few

outfit/clothing style high fashion / biker chic dependant on mood!

background information.

hometown sofia, bulgaria / trousdale LA

current residence silverwood terrace

spoken languages english, bulgarian, spanish, italian, russian, turkish, romani (balkan & vlax)

education level college graduate

occupation property developer & mother

familial information.

mother nadedzdha pavlova nee minkova

father dragomir pavlov

siblings nadya pavlova, aleksandr pavlov

children freya ksenya minkova-fallon (8) colt aleksandr mcgregor (19)

spouse jack patrick fallon (deceased) damien john mcgregor (divorced)

personality.

positive traits resourceful, artistic, perfectionist, resilient

negative traits hot-headed, manipulative, vengeful

likes tattoos, cars, her children

dislikes butterflies, assholes, pumpkin

biography:

ludmila kseniya konstantinova pavlova mikova is daughter of late Bulgarian Mob Boss Dragomir Pavlov who passed away in 2003.

Her family currently own and run the Kingdom hotel chain and in the past, this chain ran as a front for any and all illegal activity. Their hotels are worldwide and their money flows like nothing else. Mila’s father was once considered the richest person in Europe.

Mila spent most of her life growing up in Trousdale, california however, travelling whenever and wherever, living a lavish life in trousdale until she fell pregnant at 16 and was shipped off to boarding school after the first few months of her son’s life.

Having always been a party girl, it was hard for Mila to accept that she was a mother, so she was a pretty fucking bad one for the first few months of her son’s life.

If it hadn’t been for the expensive Nannies and the hired help, Mila’s son wouldn’t have had the greatest start to life at all. How could he when his mother was so consumed with herself that she’d rather go out than stay at home and care for him?

The school changed that though, pushing her to her limits while getting her sober and allowing her the time she needed to straighten herself out.

Mila graduated with her GED, her mother then allowing her son to live with mila, but only if mila stayed at the family home, back in LA.

LA proved to be a little difficult and while Mila was so used to the life she had before, she’d rather throw herself into work.

Mila hired a nanny and decided to apply for college, gaining qualifications in property & real estate, business management, and accounting.

While she was single for most of her son’s young life, Mila found herself reconnecting with her son’s father, and the pair ended up getting married when Mila was still fairly young and starting out her career, but while it was nice to be a family, mila soon discovered that he wasn’t the man for her, in fact he seemed to be everyone elses man, and not hers.

her divorce was finalised around the time Mila got into working for the family business, developing five star hotels and luxury resorts around the world.

She can’t exactly remember how she met jack, it was possibly through a friend, but all she remembers was how utterly smitten she was with him from the very beginning. jack was a navy seal, a man who quite literally put his life on the line for his country time after time and continued down that road. mila was well and truly in love and the moment he asked her to marry him was quite honestly, one of the happiest days of her life.

eighteen months later and freya was born, without her father in the country and sadly, without ever meeting her father. while mila doesn’t know exactly what happened to jack on tour, she knew the man, while only shortly in her life, was there for a reason, and freya was that.

With her youngest now eight, Mila has spent the time buying property, indulging in the finer things in life, and living a rather frivolous life, while not dealing with grief.

She’s been in town for three months now, her family with her, though her son now does his own thing. she’s scouting a new area for a resort or hotel to expand the family chain and she’s hoping one pops up soon, while she is flipping a few houses around town.

She’ll take her time though, looking over other businesses in town, seeing which she can sink her fingers into.

extras:

mila decided to move away from the pavlov/pavlova name when she left school, opting to use her mothers maiden name of minkova.

mila can come off harsh and cold, but she was raised by mobsters, so she takes a while to warm up to, but once you get on her good side, she’s fiercely devoted.

She has two Dobermans and a dachshund (which is technically freya’s) but no cats as she is allergic. She also has horses at a country property.

She has always had a fascination with firearms and weaponry (mostly due to her upbringing) and has been shooting since she was 7 attending competitions for her school back in middle school.

She was captain of her school Equestrian team.

her love of cars started in her fathers garage as a young child, also tinkering about with her brother and cousins helping them in any way she could. her brother became quite into the street racing world, and mila followed for a short time in her late teens when she wasn’t busy elsewhere. her son’s father was also heavily into this scene.

connections:

i’m legit open to any sort of connections, but I may submit some into the main.

she’s only been here two months, but I’d be suppppper keen for some awesome platonic relationships

maybe a flirtation at a bar, possible one night stand that got awkward as mila isn’t one to hang around after and generally sneaks out in the early hours of the morning, or... right after if she isn’t trying to be subtle.

someone she works with

someone who worked with or has dealt with her family in the past (possible law enforcement etc)

someone who knew her husband/ worked with her husband (he was a navy seal)

please IM me if you want to plot, and I can always throw you my discord :)

#slintro #mila:intro #organised crime tw #pregnancy tw #death tw #childbirth tw #divorce tw #military mention tw #drugs tw #alcohol tw #firearms tw #akjdsfhakj i'm being safe

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wittynameme · 3 years

Text

update to the “a confession” feasco.

if you dont k ow what im talking about just look up “a confession” on my page and read all the way through . (its an unorganized mess im so sorry)(my name is chloe plz ignore that.

f:For the racist thing- A country with two different races might have a bad history with each other. So generally the country that got the beat down the most is gonna hate the other, so that country's people are gonna be racist and against them. With the stealing thing- Animals steal eggs and what not all of the time. Also with artifacts the governments take those and preserve those for the future. Racism is bad I understand that because it usually is because of someone's skin which is wrong to be against someone for there skin tone. Stealing is also bad, like robbery and shoplifting and so on

me:you do realize that you just used like , three natoriously rasist talkinhg points used by kkk members all the time right?

me:you think that humans are naturally rasist because of a war and the winners tell the story and the losers are bitter about it? in this case the losers of this "beat down" being africa?the "rasism is natural" thing . the "africa is just bitter" thing.or are you sayig whights were the victims? which in that case is the "whights are being attacked" thing

f:Both aren't necessarily wrong actually

we are not like dumb animals, we have the ability to know when we sis something wrong .yes animals steal but the full grown people who grave robbed thoghs tombs did so because they thought they could and should have known etter

and the "its for there own good were just keeping them safe" thing implies the people we stole it from wont take care of it. even if they dont its not our call cause the mummys are not ours, its not like they want the artifacts any less tha we do

So you're saying we shouldn't take artifacts and preserve them and let people destroy them and sell them off.

Chloe it assumes we just love these mummys more than they do and were scarered they will hurt it so that completly justifies us keeping it from them.we should ask permission first

That's what they do

Chloethe whole "its for preservation" thing is exactly what the british museum said when people lobied for the artifacts to be moved to and african museum.

"they"

africans fuin and sell there artifacts as trinkets?thats ALSO a rasist sterio type.

That's just how the world is ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Chloe no it isnt you have been fed propaganda and you dont even know itall the things you said have been used by the kkk constantlyits like ypur reading right out of there apologetic s book.

I don't see the problem in that. I'm a person of history. Does it help to mention that my preferred ideology is Socialist-Imperialist. Does it also help to say that I'm also Atheist/Satanist. I'm also a Republican and conservative. I also see things from abroad. I also believe history should be preserved at all costs.You sent Today at 12:18 AMif you knew the hystorical contexts of the arguments you just used i dont think you would be usseing them

What are you talking about?You sent Today at 12:20 AMi litteraly just said where the "were preserving them" argument comes fromYou sent Today at 12:21 AMand if you love the accurete preservation of hystory than you must be anti confeterate right?sent Today at 12:21 AMNoYou sent Today at 12:22 AMthe confeterates literraly flodded public schools with confeterate propaganda and tried to pass laws that forsed american nationalism to be taght in schoolYou sent Today at 12:23 AMand banned any books deemed"against the confeteracy"You sent Today at 12:23 AMmost of the confeterate monuments are from the 60sYou sent Today at 12:23 AMas a fear tacticYou sent Today at 12:24 AMnot real authentic confeterate statuessent Today at 12:24 AMOkay..You sent Today at 12:24 AMthe flag we assosiate with the confeteracy is actually very resentYou sent Today at 12:25 AMcan you guess who poularized the confeterate flag we see today?You sent Today at 12:25 AMa literal kkk dragon who adopted it as a symbol of the "opressed whights"sent Today at 12:25 AMThe Confederate flag is not popular, the Confederate battle flag isYou sent Today at 12:26 AMthats what i was talking aboutsent Today at 12:26 AMOkYou sent Today at 12:27 AMmost of the people who say they are modern confeterates adopted the flag and lable as something to stand under for a more modern political agenda , usually whight nationalism.You sent Today at 12:27 AMbut the spin it as "were being opressed by minority groups"sent Today at 12:28 AMTo a degree yesYou sent Today at 12:28 AMthey dont want to preserve hystory , they whant to preserve this weird fantacy world where the 1940s were the good old days , there perseptions of hystory.

What's wrong with ww2?You sent Today at 12:30 AM.....uh people diedYou sent Today at 12:30 AMthere was a warYou sent Today at 12:30 AMa war of the worldssent Today at 12:30 AMWell yeah that's what happens in warYou sent Today at 12:30 AMgermany , italy, and japan were ruled by horrible dictatorssent Today at 12:31 AMWrongYou sent Today at 12:31 AMehy do you just say that like thats normal??? like thats a good thing?sent Today at 12:31 AMKinda yeah

wtfYou sent Today at 12:32 AMyour a nazi lover?sent Today at 12:32 AMNoYou sent Today at 12:32 AMi thoght you said you were americansent Today at 12:32 AMI amYou sent Today at 12:32 AMthen tell me you hate nazis

No, I don't hate any ideology

but you hate the one that caused the halocaust more right?

millions of peole died it shouldnt take you that long to type "yes"

No I look at them negatively, it was some horrific things they did but they never did anything to meYou sent Today at 12:36 AMso what !You sent Today at 12:37 AMthat they have never done anything to you!You sent Today at 12:37 AMthay never did anything to you because your whight conservitive and not jewish

say itYou sent Today at 12:38 AMsay the halocaust was bad and hitler was evil

say the halocaust was bad and hitler was evilsent Today at 12:40 AMYou know Judaism is just a religion. Yes the holocaust was bad. Hitler was good at bad, just depends on how you look at it.Jimmy Goodson sent Today at 12:40 AMGood and bad*You sent Today at 12:40 AMhe was evilsent Today at 12:41 AMIn some aspects yesYou sent Today at 12:41 AMwhy wont you say it? why do you beat around the bush?Aa

Because he did some great achievements toYou sent Today at 12:42 AMwhat the fuckYou sent Today at 12:42 AMlemmy guessYou sent Today at 12:42 AMthe train thingsent Today at 12:43 AMNoYou sent Today at 12:43 AMno he did not that is a rumor satrted by neonazi groups-You sent Today at 12:43 AMthan what!You sent Today at 12:43 AMwhat prey tell could pissibly be worth so many lives? you scare mesent Today at 12:47 AMHe United a shambled country. He fixed the economy of Germany. He put Germany back on the world stage. Helped stop hunger and joblessness in Germany. He made the first super highway. Because of him Europe is a prosperous place. Without him NATO wouldn't be a thing. And so on.

you think communist germany was a thriving economy? even if it was that would be outshadoewd by the mountain of dead bodyssent Today at 12:50 AMWho ever mentioned communist?You sent Today at 12:50 AMand the second bit?You sent Today at 12:51 AMnato was made to stop him??????You sent Today at 12:51 AMto stop the red scurge?sent Today at 12:51 AMAll of that was before ww2 (for the top part), Germany was fascist.You sent Today at 12:52 AMand what is the deffinition of fascismsent Today at 12:52 AM...You sent Today at 12:53 AMa dictator who tortures and brainwashes people , opressing the right of others.You sent Today at 12:53 AMisYou sent Today at 12:53 AMnotYou sent Today at 12:53 AMasent Today at 12:53 AMNo...You sent Today at 12:53 AMgoodYou sent Today at 12:53 AMthing a dictator who tortures and brainwashes people , opressing the right of others.You sent Today at 12:53 AMisYou sent Today at 12:53 AMnotYou sent Today at 12:53 AMasent Today at 12:53 AMNo...You sent Today at 12:53 AMgoodYou sent Today at 12:53 AMthingsent Today at 12:54 AMYou got the fascist thing wrong but okayYou sent Today at 12:54 AMyou missed the other 4 texts following it but oksent Today at 12:55 AMThat's not the definitionJimmy Goodson sent Today at 12:55 AMI also don't see the problem in a dictatorshipYou sent Today at 12:56 AMand you call yourself an americansent Today at 12:57 AMI never said I call my self anything I never said I call my self anythingYou sent Today at 12:58 AMso you just hate everyone then?

No I see everyone as equalsYou sent Today at 12:59 AMequally ok to murder in the persuit of money and metirial growth?

equally ok to murder in the persuit of money and metirial growth?You sent Today at 1:00 AMyou can see why im upset right!sent Today at 1:00 AMThat would be different thenJimmy Goodson sent Today at 1:00 AMYea I seJimmy Goodson sent Today at 1:00 AMSee*You sent Today at 1:01 AMwell you just said it was fine the halocaust happened because hitler ultimatly ended up creating economic ad political grrowth That was before ww2 and yes the holocaust bad.You sent Today at 1:04 AMwhy did you not just say that in the first place?

I said that sometime beforeYou sent Today at 1:04 AMyou cant call a horse a horse when you see a horse? I guess ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

the fact you shrug at the holocaust discusts me

the fact you shrug at the holocaust discusts meYou sent Today at 1:06 AMi hope you never hold any knind of power

Okay?Jimmy Goodson sent Today at 1:07 AMI have my own country technicallyYou sent Today at 1:07 AMwell its not americasent Today at 1:08 AMIt technically somewhat owns America I have my own flag, ideology, religion, currency, map, and so on

(he then directs me to this link after i ask him what the fuck hes talking about)

https://www.nationstates.net/nation=the_orangeempire?fbclid=IwAR1PpZaq_r6oVFXdZ0j3WZnoUIbH3c1suPEfD58msuX_gFB9T9FJq1X3fOQ

this guys actualy insain

i need a hug.

#public school #facebook #politics #tw #facebookisterrifying

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saintfreda · 4 years

Text

character introduction — fredericke “freddie” dickinson dawson.

with a new & improved bio since the first one i added to the blog was far too rushed (and this one’s only... slightly better). TRIGGER WARNINGS: depression, death, financial problems, domestic abuse, violence, pregnancy, child abandonment.

“ look what i found , look what i found ! an artificial light , well , come gather round ! this is why we have lovers and why we have fighters . this is why the arms race and the particle colliders. mine is a humble flame , just a little white lighters — and it belongs to me ” (♫).

NAME : fredericke ann dickinson . an old name, another’s name — as tangible as ghosts now, an echo from the bottom of a well. whatever was left of fredericke dickinson now goes by the name of freddie dawson, fred for some friends (st. fred for the funny ones). AGE : thirty-eight (born september 12, 1977). PRONOUNS : she/her. GENDER : cis female. LOCATION : charming, ca. OCCUPATION : bartender (hoopers). SEXUAL ORIENTATION : bisexual. RELIGION : atheist. AFFILIATION : none.

PERSONALITY : “saint fred” — is it a nickname, a self-fulfilling prophecy? is it the destiny of the ones who were born to atone sins they can’t remember anymore? she remembers hearing it the first time, after covering a friend’s shift for the third time — she thought she liked the sound of it then, but it crawled under her skin, turned into a thought, a question, burrowed itself between the folds of her brain until each morning she’d open her eyes and think to herself: is this the day i become a martyr? thing is, it comes easy to her, playing the saint — always smile, always laugh, be there for everybody. have a safe shoulder to cry on, a wise joke to crack, a clever trick to keep her audience interested and intrigued. and still it’s a mask, or perhaps a layer of the hundreds she’s buried deep within herself. there’s things of her — true, honest pieces of the grotesque patchwork she’s made of herself — that flow up to the surface now and then, bubble up on her face: curiosity, a sharp humor, an ability to cut reality into thin strings of cutting-edge wisdom. then there’s the façade — a smile to hide the hollowness within, laughter to cover the screaming that won’t come. she’s made herself a shelter of her loneliness and is proud of it, it consoles her at night, thinking her self-imposed exile from a life worth living would be enough to make up for the good she couldn’t do. she calls everyone “friend”, would follow anyone into battle and yet won’t let them in — so scared, so frightened that they might look inside and find nothing but rot inside. but the outside, oh the outside is beautiful: as nurturing as a mother, warm and thrilling like that first drop of whiskey after sundown. sometimes she makes herself bigger than her demons and then she burns bright, fuel on the fire: it’s a show for others, for she can’t protect herself (she’s never been good at that, never good at nothing but running). there’s an unspoken safety distance she keeps with everyone, and everything’s warm until the line’s crossed — what lies behind the confine of the bar counter is a wasteland, no place any man or woman could set foot in. POSITIVE TRAITS : nurturing, clever, good spirited, humorous, wise, motherly, diligent, quiet, loyal, protective. NEGATIVE TRAITS : closed off, impulsive, proud, resentful, self-deprecating, bitter, frightened.

BIO —

TRIGGER WARNINGS : depression, death, prostitution, domestic abuse, violence, sexual abuse, child abandonment) .

“why’d you get so obsessed with that word, freddie? who told you about saints?” “grandpa did, he said he’s named after st. peter”. “and why do you care?” “‘cause he said saints do good things. i wanna be a saint, too”. “why on earth would you want that?” “‘cause, ma — i wanna save everyone”.

—

there’s a lifetime from that moment to now. she can remember it, but it comes in flashes, a hazy hue of desert gold — she remembers the girl she was, bright-eyed and restless, never shying away from the trail of a question. prying, relentless: the whole world could be simplified to reasons and whys, and she would hunt them the whole day long, out in the dust storms like the wind, not even it could dare question her spirits. whatever happened to that girl? dull, watered down: erased, and her own has been the hand rubbing her existence off her own life.

she couldn’t tell how it happened, or when it began — surely that summer of twenty-three years ago must have played its part. her mother losing her job (too tired, too tired all the time: too sad to see a doctor, too weak to even get out of bed anymore), bills piling up. her older sister trying hard to keep things afloat with an underpaid gig at the laundry, but it’s not enough. it’s never enough. one day grandpa comes home and he’s making math in his head, calculating how much longer they can survive if he sells the farm, the truck, the horse. that night freddie asks, how come their dad’s not around? he could provide, he could help them? grandpa grows colder then, gaze darker than the clouds gathering on the horizon: i’ll burn this place to the ground before he sets foot in here.

that side of the family, either way, is cunning and insidious, and it comes knocking at the door, offering business, a way to salvage the farm. it is victor, freddie’s uncle, who brings the offering: grandpa throws him out in spite, and freddie watches it all while she’s sitting on the fence outside, skin burning gold from the sun, dust sticking to her like glitter. you’re pretty, victor says: you might be your family’s only chance, you know? she doesn’t (can’t) understand, but she’ll walk any way that can save grandpa, his horse, her mother’s strength, her sister’s dreams of becoming a nurse.

turns out the way is a dark and winding one, one where she has to suck up the terror when a man touches her skin and she has to say yes, please, more, i’ll be anything you want, the key to unlocking all the dark and sick desires you’ve buried in there and can’t speak to anyone, not your wife, not your daughter, not your mother: give them to me, she whispers, let the darkness out. at night she takes hour-long showers to try and rub the darkness off of her, and it won’t come off, it never does — but grandpa didn’t have to sell the farm, and even if he was against her getting a job (said she’d be a waitress, don’t worry pops, i got it), the day he realized he wouldn’t have to sell the horse he smiled: it felt like the gates of heaven themselves would open.

she hates her job, but doesn’t mind the company. they make her work in a dismissed motel, along with girls about her age and her damage, and there is an unspoken bond of loyalty between them — the guys, too, when they’re guarding the doors they smile at them as fondly as they would their sisters (but they wouldn’t let their sisters in a place like this, no). there’s carl, who never speaks but smiles at fred each time he sees her. there’s billy, drives her home every night before victor can volunteer. there’s sonja, who teaches her how to punch a man’s throat when he gets too handsy. there’s a sense of family, while her own begins unraveling around the suspicion that something dark is going on.

the farm is saved, but mom’s not getting any better. depression sucks her up, little by little, and she drifts away more or less peacefully, doesn’t dare oppose resistance — she dies a morning of october, and neither of her daughters can speak of it. grandpa has to put down the horse a week later. she’d thought she’d saved everyone —— how come the darkness still won’t leave?

she grows sadder, dark as the clouds that won’t seem to leave their town alone. she finds an unexpected shoulder to cry on in the person of johnny, billy’s cousin and yet another one of victor’s men: johnny’s sweet, he makes her laugh. he begins driving her home at night instead of billy (his cousin’s not happy, she can see this: but he nods his agreement anyway and doesn’t protest, he can’t, johnny’s older and wiser and he’s still just a kid). the rest of it is as old and predictable as it gets: he says he’ll make an honest woman out of her, she retorts there needs to be an honest man for that to happen to begin with. they laugh, they kiss, they promise — five years later, she’s twenty-five and married, almost happy. almost.

she wants to leave her job. johnny said he can’t stand the thought of someone touching her where he should, and she tries: but victor won’t have it, no, did you think it was a temporary gig? come on girl, you’re smarter than that. he’s filthy, he humiliates her — beats her just to prove he can, he owns her. she comes home with bruises and johnny’s angry: if you couldn’t quit, he says, it’s because you didn’t really want it. his bruises are added to victor’s, perfectly symmetrical blooms to decorate her skin. she begins cracking, her very essence tearing at the seams — she was trying so hard to save everyone, how the fuck is she gonna save herself now?

billy comes over sometimes. his commitments to what he likes to call “street things” keep him out of the motel now, but he needs to check on her — she makes up excuses to keep away, hide the signs. says she’s got a bad cold one day, the other she’s just not feeling. one day he’s got enough and forces her to open the door: a busted lip, both her eyes grown purple with the blows. his anger is scalding hot but she manages to calm him down — it’s okay, she says, he just gets angry sometimes. i’ll find a way out of it somehow. he leaves in a hurry, never shows up again: the unspoken fear in her mind, that he’s gone and done something terrible he’ll regret, almost brings a relief to her sore mind. perhaps he’s killed him, she thinks. perhaps i’m free.

johnny comes back and it’s business as usual. she tells herself she’s gotta be strong, gotta leave this town, gotta make it out alive. she packs a bag and leaves it hidden under the bed, but the same day she realizes it’s been two months since her last period — surprise comes in the shape of two parallel lines on a stick. maybe this is the answer: it’s not herself, but this thing inside of her that’ll save her. when she tells johnny he’s over the moon, he’s burning with joy — says he’ll be a good man now, he’ll speak to victor himself and force him to leave her alone. the truce lasts two months: one night he comes home tired from work, bruised from a fight, and she hasn’t cooked dinner. he beats her within an inch to her death that night. in the morning, she grabs her bag and calls her sister. i’m sorry, she says through the tears. i fucked up. i need to come home.

grandpa’s dying, angie says. old age catching up to him, so all he does is lie in his bed all day and ask for movies to be played continuously on his tv. it’s an odd family they recreate now, the nurse, the dying man and the pregnant sister. there is a soft, mournful balance found, until one night victor shows up demanding to see her and when angie claims freddie isn’t there he has his men thrash the house just to get the point across: he can. he owns her.

she sits by her grandpa’s deathbed that night and weeps. i’m sorry, pops, i’m so sorry: i tried so hard to be a saint, to save everyone. perhaps he’s just exhaling, but it sounds like he’s laughing. child, he says, saints always die either virgins or martyrs. you fucked up the first — now you just gotta pray you’re good enough for the latter.

grandpa dies two weeks later, and freddie’s not there. right after victor’s visit, angie gave her money just to get her away from them, and bring her trouble with her — grandpa dies a week before her baby’s born, taken out of her and delivered into a nurse’s hands without so much as a goodbye. they ask, would you like to see your baby? freddie turns and pretends she didn’t hear. wherever the baby will end up, it’s gotta be a better fate than the child of a martyr.

and yet in the morning she wakes up and finds herself without strings. a chance, a tangible way to start over again somewhere — an ad for a wanted bartender brings her out to charming, california. not much of an eden or a promised land, but it’s far too easy to get a fake i.d. and put on a brave face — much braver than the one she’s worn so far.

#charming.intro #FILE / mine's a humble light.

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thisguyatthemovies · 4 years

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New look at an old story

Title: “Queen & Slim”

Release date: In theaters Nov. 27, 2019; on disc/streaming March 3, 2020

Starring: Daniel Kaluuya, Jodie Turner-Smith, Bokeem Woodbine, Chloe Sevigny, Flea, Sturgill Simpson, Indya Moore, Benito Martinez, Jahi Di’Allo Winston, Bryant Tardy

Directed by: Melina Matsoukas

Run time: 2 hours, 13 minutes

Rated: R

What it’s about: A black man and woman on a Tinder date become reluctant fugitives and folk heroes when, during a traffic stop, the man shoots a racist police officer in self-defense.

How I saw it: It would be easy to dismiss or embrace “Queen & Slim” as the blackening of the legend of Bonnie and Clyde. But music video director Melina Matsoukas’ feature-film debut, with screenplay by Lena Waithe, does far more than just add a different race to the tale of the notorious 1930s bank robbers. And to pigeonhole “Queen & Slim” as simply a Bonnie and Clyde tale would be selling it short. The similarities are there, most notably the story of doomed lovers on the run from the law who become counterculture folk heroes. But so are differences aplenty.

Queen (newcomer Jodie Turner-Smith) is a standoffish, sometimes combative defense lawyer. Slim (Daniel Kaluuya, an Oscar nominee for his role in “Get Out”) is warmer but living life without direction. He is a religious man (Queen is an atheist) who works at a Costco. They meet in a diner on a Tinder date (Queen is only there because she had a bad day and had no one to talk to), and it’s clear this is likely to be their only get-together.

But on the drive home, Slim is pulled over for failure to signal and erratic driving. The white police officer is aggressive and condescending, even though Queen and Slim are cooperating. When the officer pulls a gun on Slim, Queen gets out of the car and peppers the officer with questions about his authority. When she reaches for her cellphone to record the situation, he shoots and wounds her leg. Slim and the officer scuffle, and Slim grabs the officer’s gun and accidentally shoots and kills him.

They (Queen mostly, based on how her black clients have been treated by the legal system) decide to toss their cellphones and flee Ohio. Now a couple who seemingly had nothing in common are bonded by a situation neither of them are prepared for. They make plans on the fly, ultimately deciding their best bet is to get to Florida and somehow make it to Cuba. Whether they get there is almost inconsequential. “Queen & Slim” is a journey, not a destination. And while Queen and Slim are chasing freedom they almost certainly will not find, they also are chasing their own legend. They are creating a legacy neither of them planned to leave.

That journey is part road story, part love story, part social commentary. Kaluuya and Turner-Smith have nice chemistry, though it is obvious at times that he is the more experienced actor. Their love story might be a familiar one (two people who don’t seem to have much in common or even like each other almost always fall in love in the movies), but here it feels fresh. Part of their process of falling in love is their trip. They first start going down the path of becoming a couple when they stay at the home of Queen’s uncle (Bokeem Woodbine as Earl), who helps them with money, clothes and a car. They stop at a field full of horses so that Slim can ride for the first time. They visit a black blues bar so they can share a dance and glass of bourbon. They first make love in their getaway car.

Where “Queen & Slim” varies most from Bonnie and Clyde is in their reluctance to celebrate what they have done. Whereas Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker went looking for trouble and were ruthless criminals, trouble found Queen and Slim; they didn’t set out to kill a police officer and become fugitives. Bonnie and Clyde became folk heroes with the help of the white press, which often embellished their deeds. The media in “Queen & Slim” label them cop killers, even after a video of the traffic stop goes viral and much of the public (especially the black part of it) sides with them and even idolizes them. Queen and Slim seem uncomfortable with their folk hero status; they just want their old lives back, knowing full well that cannot happen.

Whether you see Queen and Slim (we don’t learn their real names until the end of the film, and we don’t really learn much about them) as heroic might depend largely on your race, socioeconomic status and political leanings. While Matsoukas and Waithe have made a story about the American black experience from a black perspective, it doesn’t always fall along racial lines. Queen and Slim encounter an older black mechanic who tells them he would have just taken his ticket and gone on after the traffic stop. The couple are betrayed by a black man who appeared to be helping them. They get help from a white couple (Flea and Chloe Sevigny) who operate a modern-day Underground Railroad station. Early in their journey, Queen and Slim are helped by an off-duty Hispanic sheriff’s deputy, but they are forced to deal with him when he learns they are fugitives. But a black police officer who comes face-to-face with the couple lets them go when his white fellow officers aren’t around. And a black restaurant owner congratulates them as “cop killers” and wants to know if they are part of the new Black Panthers.

“Queen & Slim” takes its time, especially as the story gets well into the road trip, but the pace isn’t an issue until the length starts to add up (2 hours and 12 minutes). One scene is troubling and perhaps not necessary. A young black man (Jahi Di’Allo Winston as Junior) idolizes the couple and attends a protest in which participants chant about freeing the couple (even though they haven’t been arrested). Junior confronts a black police officer, who calmly asks him to leave the area. But Junior pulls out a gun and shoots the officer dead. Queen and Slim seem indifferent upon hearing of the shooting; they had not encouraged anyone to use violence, except inadvertently through their actions. It’s not clear why Junior killed the officer, other than maybe he just wanted to kill a cop, black or white.

“Queen & Slim” is a gorgeous film, thanks to cinematographer Tat Radcliffe; many of its scenes could be framed and hung in a gallery. The colors and lighting, and some impressive set pieces, are reminders that while this might be a socially relevant crime drama that is at times violent and unnerving, it is, at its core, a love story. And it’s a love story that can stand on its own despite the too-easy comparisons to a similar story from another time, place and race.

My score: 79 out of 100

Should you see it? Yes, it can be an uncomfortable watch and it goes on for too long, but it makes a bold statement about racial tensions between blacks and law enforcement and is bound to incite discussion.

#movies #movie review #movie recommendation #queen & slim #daniel kaluuya #jodie turner-smith #melina matsoukas #lena waithe #race relations #bonnie and clyde #crime drama #racism

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dogmapod · 5 years

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01 Falun Gong

Hey everyone, welcome to the show Dogma: A Podcast About Cults, I’m your host Denis Ricardo.

This show is about cults. The origins, practices and abuses of cults. So, if you are uncomfortable with descriptions of sexual, physical and mental violence and abuse, this is not the show for you.

I’m gonna try to keep it light and fun, but this stuff can get kind of dark… so you’ve been warned.

Today we’re gonna look into a cult by the name of Falun Gong. It’s one that not a lot of people have heard of, but are surprisingly very familiar with.

It’s a fairly young cult, not more than 27 years old. It began in 1992 in the northeast of China and was founded by a guy by the name of Li Hongzhi. I’m going to apologize on the pronunciation of some of these proper nouns, I am really bad at pronouncing the tones in Chinese languages.

The cult all began with Li Hongzhi running a public qigong seminar in the city of Changchun.

Qigong is an ancient Chinese practice of meditation and slow movement for the purpose of self-healing. It was and is still used in many Chinese communities as a form of alternative medicine.

The modern qigong movement started in the 1950s, shortly after the Cultural Revolution started by Mao Zedong.

Mao was a pretty hardline atheist, and believed that superstitious practices were not good for the advancement of China and communism. So, soldiers in Mao’s army adapted qigong to just be about meditation and focus, taking out all the of the spiritual elements of it. The practice was pretty popular and remains very common to this day.

Li felt a little differently about qigong, though. He feels as though the spiritual elements should be restored. So, he did just that.

Falun Gong was actually in the Chinese Communist Party’s favor, and initially saw it as a good movement. But they quickly changed their mind after they thought the movement was getting a little too independent. The Chinese government is notorious for monitoring the religious practices in China. So, in 1999 the Chinese Communist Party branded Falun Gong as heretical and began a massive propaganda campaign against the group. It mostly focused on negative articles in state-run press, which Falun Gong was quick to protest.

In April of 1999 10,000 Falun Gong protested outside a government compound in the capital Beijing demand that the government recognize them as a religious movement and stop persecuting them.

In China there are only 5 officially recognized religions because it is an atheist state. Those are Buddhism, Taoism, Catholicism, Protestantism and Islam.

Side note, just because I’m formerly Catholic,

China’s relationship with Catholicism kind of interesting, China does not recognize the power of the Holy See’s authority to appoint bishops. So Catholics in China aren’t “Roman” Catholic or “Orthodox” Catholics they’re “Chinese” Catholics. Their relationship is contentious, but China has granted the Pope the right to reject any of the Chinese appointed bishops.

But moving on… at this point, the leader of Falun Gong, Li, was already in New York at and he was getting the cult off the ground here in the US.

But things were pretty bad for Falun Gong practitioners in China.

Reports of forced re-education, extrajudicial executions, harvesting of organs and attacks by the Chinese police at the behest of the Communist Party against Falun Gong practitioners surfaced. But, it’s not the easiest to corroborate these claims, because neither Falun Gong or the CCP are necessarily the most upfront about their practices. The New York Times has said there has been at least 2000 deaths in 2009, though Falun Gong claims that number is nearly twice that. An independent investigator, Ethan Gutmann estimates there were at least 65,000 Falun Gong members killed for organs based off of interviews. Chinese authorities do not publish statistics of Falun Gong members killed or not killed.

OK, do some less depressing stuff, Falun Gong’s main practices.

Falun Gong is a blend of traditional Chinese beliefs, Taoism, Buddhism and Confucianism.

They have three central tenants of power Truthfulness (真, Zhēn)*, Compassion (善, Shàn)*, and Forbearance (忍, Rěn)*. Thank you, Google Translate. These are achieved through meditative exercise and performance.

*these words were reproduced with Google Translate pronouncing them

Falun Gong’s teachings say that everybody is innately good and divine, but that we have descended into darkness and accrued bad karma. Reincarnation is handled by different gods for different people and ultimately the goal is to be released from the cycle of samsara and to reach enlightenment.

This sounds pretty normal for an Asian religion like Buddhism. So far so good? [With hesitation in their voice] Yeah, it gets a little weirder.

Falun Gong emphasizes traditional Chinese teachings and disregards scientific claims like evolution. This also explains why they are vehemently against communism because it is not Chinese, it’s a European philosophy.

As I said before China is an atheist state, and typically Buddhists do not have an issue with evolution and Buddhism. I couldn’t find any numbers specifically citing the public acceptance of evolution in China, however. But I have found that it is taught in school like here in American coastal elite public schools without much of a hitch.

David Ownby, a professor at the Center of East Asian Studies at the University of Montreal interviewed the leader Li Hongzhi and said that Li claims there are 10,000 supernatural powers, such as clairvoyance, precognition, levitation and transmutation and these can be achieved by humans.

Li stated at a lecture in Australia that

“…homosexuality, organized crime and promiscuous sex are not the standards of being human.”

His stance on homosexuality lead to the rescinding of a Nobel Peace Prize nomination by San Franciscan legislators back in 2001.

Li and Falun Gong have also been criticized for their teaching of mixed-marriages. A New York Times article from 2001 states

“[Li] said interracial children are the spawn of the ‘Dharma Ending Period,' a Buddhist phrase that refers to an era of moral degeneration. […] he said each race has its own paradise, and he later told followers in Australia that, 'The yellow people, the white people, and the black people have corresponding races in heaven.’ As a result, he said, interracial children have no place in heaven without his intervention.”

Many practitioners of Falun Gong have denied this and have pointed out that many of its members are in mixed-race families.

But, let’s not forget the aliens.

So Li in general seems to be against most modern things. In a 1999 TIME Magazine interview in he said:

“The aliens have introduced modern machinery like computers and airplanes…everyone thinks that scientists invent on their own when in fact their inspiration is manipulated by the aliens. In terms of culture and spirit, they already control man…the ultimate purpose is to replace humans. If cloning human beings succeeds, the aliens can officially replace humans”

Li also thinks very highly of himself. The BBC, quote:

“…he is a being from a higher level who has come to help [mankind] from the destruction it could face as the result of rampant evil.”

Having a leader proclaim to know the way to save humanity is one of the signs that the leader’s group is a cult.

So, remember when I said that another one ways to get to their three central tenants was performance? Well, you know how they do it? By selling you $150 tickets to see the spectacle of 5000 years of traditional Chinese dance while listening to anti-atheist, anti-communist propaganda… it’s Shen Yun.

So apparently Shen Yun ads popping up everywhere is now a meme, but I’ve grown up in California all my life, and I swear I’ve been seeing these things since at least 2008. These things aren’t new to me. But I guess they’re finally getting to middle America, so people can joke about it.

I said before Falun Gong was anti-Communist and anti-evolution? Well, it shows up in the performance

Here’s a sample of lyrics from a song in the show called “Awaken”

"So long ago you came down to this world For millennia you have reincarnated here Fighting to get ahead, the true you has faded Self-interested actions have cost you your purity Atheism is a pack of lies The heresy of evolution now eclipses the Divine word Amidst disaster, people complain that the gods have forsaken us Do not use science to drive humanity toward danger You came to this world for salvation, your destiny To return to heaven is your soul's deepest wish You came to this world for salvation, your destiny To return to heaven is your destiny."

And, as I said before, the group is condemned by the Chinese government. The Chinese embassy made a post on their website, calling Falun Gong an anti-communist cult, that it undermines US-Chinese relations and that Shen Yun is a political tool for this cult and is anti-Chinese agitprop. This was all in English, and I find it a little weird they’d call it “agitprop” because that’s typically reserved for communist propaganda. So I found it a little strange.

But clearly this is also propaganda, it’s a statement by a government body, and all reports on its more outrageous beliefs are from western publications so there is a bias. But straight from the horse’s mouth is the anti-evolution message and we know that these performers don’t get paid.

In the end, it’s hard to classify this as a cult. It has cult-like elements, like surveillance by a government, a savior-leader. But it lacks a hierarchy and I could not find anyone who had left the movement and faced consequences for it, which are typically signs of a cult.

It’s got some very out-there, potentially dangerous beliefs, but is it a cult? [With hesitation in their voice) Personally, I’m gonna say yes, though I don’t think it necessarily ticks all those checkboxes, so maybe it can’t really be classified as a cult.

Now comes the fun part, where I get to beg you for money. I come to you hat in hand to maybe just consider throwing a dollar or two to my Patreon. I can’t offer much right now as far as donor rewards go, but I will try my best to give you access to episodes early and maybe some other fun side projects that I have available that are still loosely related to cults. That you so much if you decide to be ever so gracious.

Thanks so much for listening, that was the first episode. I will put all of my sources in the description. Most are from Wikipedia, but I checked to see if those sources were legit, so lay off me.

New time, we’re going to be focusing on a cult a little closer to home and maybe some of you remember this cult very vividly.

All right, take care and goodbye.

Citations:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falun_Gong

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Falun_Gong

http://www.atheistrepublic.com/forums/atheist-hub/shen-yun

https://culteducation.com/group/1254-falun-gong/6922-is-falun-gong-a-cult.html

https://www.jewishpolicycenter.org/2010/11/30/china-conundrum/

http://faluninfo.net/category/persecution/killings/individual-cases-of-falun-gong-deaths/

https://www.amnesty.org/en/countries/

https://books.google.com/books?id=Bwqkwx4SWS0C&printsec=frontcover&dq=ownby+falun&client=firefox-a&cd=1#v=onepage&q&f=false

Song Credits:

“Frozen Jungle” and “Dreaming of You” by Monplaisir under the name Komiku (http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Komiku/)

“我们是毛主席的红卫兵 (We Are Chairman Mao’s Red Guard)” found at Songs of China’s Cultural Revolution (http://academics.wellesley.edu/Polisci/wj/China/CRSongs/crsongs.htm)

“Dies Irae” found on Archive.org (https://archive.org/details/GregorianChantMass

“Ride to the Party” by Monplaisir under the name Anonymous420 (https://chezmonplaisir.bandcamp.com/album/this-is-not-you)

Consider joining the Patreon!

#Falun Gong #Shen Yun #Cults #Cult

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billyggruff · 6 years

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Things Steven Universe can learn from The Prince Of Egypt about complex villains

Initially you might think that these two pieces of animation have nothing in common. One is a seemingly light hearted television show with lesbian space rocks, the other is one of the most underated and powerful movies I think I’ve ever seen (this coming from an atheist).

However there are fairly strong parallels between the two from a narrative perspective, and the former can certainly learn from the latter on how to handle certain topics.

Both stories involve tyrannical regimes, and both have evil characters that are shown in a sympathetic light. Both the Pharaoh and the Diamonds committed atrocities against their subjects while still caring about their own families. Both devalue the lives of their subjects and turn a blind eye to the slaughtering and culling of “undesirables.” Much like with Prince Of Egypt, Steven Universe wants to give depth to its evil characters and and put them in a more empathetic light. However they handled it rather poorly, and there is even those who would say that SU doesn’t even HAVE villains in it.

youtube

After wrecking a temple during a horse race, the Pharaoh scolds Ramses about his recklessness and irresponsibility. It’s shown through his subsequent conversation with Moses that he is trying to prepare his son for taking on the mantle of Pharaoh and that he cares for them both. He’s not a one dimensional monster, he is a human with thoughts and feelings and loved ones. You can tell he truly loves them both in this. However this does not detract or soften the blow of the evils he had committed. In fact it’s even more of a blow to Moses because of it.

youtube

After being confronted by his long lost sister about his true origins, he ends up having a nightmarish vision of what happened the night he was sent away. He goes to investigate to see if it was true, at which point he finds those damming hieroglyphs.

The Pharaoh understands his grief. He even explains that he “had to do it for the greater good.” However the true horror of it comes out with his callous line

“Oh my son...they were only slaves.” That delivery and the context of the situation speaks volumes. Yes, he cares deeply for his son. However if he had never been adopted into the family he would only have been a disposable slave to him. The love and affection he shows for his own kin stands in stark contrast to the disregard of life he feels towards other people.

THAT is what evil looks like in real life. Someone who can be both loving and caring to some while being able to callously oppress, dehumanize, and slaughter another.

Steven Universe SORT of had this with the “what’s the use of feeling, blue?” scene. It is clear that the Diamonds care for each other and miss Pink Diamond. The also almost touch on this in the Trial episodes. However they have yet to really touch on that balance of showing the duality of how they view things. The love they feel towards each other, and the callousness they feel towards the Off Colors and rebellion. We see the results of their actions when they aren’t there, however when they are on screen, especially in the case of Blue Diamond, they are far too often shown in only an empathetic light.

You need to be able to strike that balance, especially with the framing, to show they are evil while still being a person. It is a tougher task than just making a Saturday morning cartoon one-dimensional type of antagonist, however when it is done right it creates wonderful drama.

youtube

You can see it between them, that strike of brotherly love and intense ideological differences. They care about each other, yet because of the evils the system and Ramses was committing they could not be able to see eye to eye here. This movie has a stronger narrative footing since Moses grew up with Ramses and actually cares for him, while the diamonds are far more removed from Steven and the Crystal Gems.

I can see ways they’ve attempted to make balance with their empathetic portrayals and their evil deeds, but you need to show this duality more on screen and less through hearsay and stories. Hopefully through shining a light on a far stronger story like the Prince of Egypt we can help avoid shoddy portrayals of villains in the future, if not fix Steven Universe’s current issues with them.

Also the music in Prince is amazing

#su critical #complex villains #The Prince Of Egypt #Steven Universe

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