#most of these systems are capitalism and i was gonna say that instead of the system

[witchinatree]

my favorite genre of media is gay people vs the system™

#good omens #archive 81 podcast #nimona #the magnus archives #i genuinely cant think of any more #my bad guys #most of these systems are capitalism and i was gonna say that instead of the system #but i wanted to include good omens #these gay people also often have a wet cat protagonist i think #jonathan sims #jon sims #ballister boldheart #ballister blackheart #crowley #anthony j crowley #nicholas waters #my favorite part of using tumblr is adding more in the tags than the actual post

[professor-doc-emeritus]

I love the dichotomy we get between jinshi and the emperor that shows off how the traits that make jinshi a great prince, boss, friend (husband 👀👀👀👀) are the very same traits that will make him a terrible emperor.

His hard working streak that lets him handle his weird assignments with grace and manage the clashing egos of the inner palace is what will get him killed by overwork as emperor since he has no real head for delegation. It took 11 volumes and the intervention of most of his immediate family just to get jinshi to hire a secretary. The emperor always being free to host parties, sleep with the consorts, and bust jinshis balls in-between it all is, much like lakan always being free to annoy maomao, actually a sign of him being god-like at delegation and organizational management.

His lack of ego and willingness to look the fool if it gets the job done is great for avoiding political snafus and getting to the truth of things. It's genuinely the thing that makes all his expeditions to the western capital so wildly successful: he really doesn't gaf about how he's seen by the public, so long as the job gets done and his friends aren't in immediate danger. It's also the exact opposite of what you need from a head of state who's legitimacy is not-insignificantly based on the public perceiving you as an instrument of the will of heaven. The emperor being willing to kill people and their families over slights jinshi (and most sane human beings) would be willing to let slide is cruel and inhuman, but it's also what keeps the populace at large from being able to organize against him and challenge the imperial power.

Jinshis compassionate streak, his urge to save as many people he can and find the best solution for everyone possible, makes him great to work for. He'll give you assignments that match your hyper fixation, work around your crippling social anxiety, give you a post that just-so-happens to involve you staying with the love of your life for a few months. More over, he isn't gonna risk his life and your position over petty ego or greed when he can find a peaceful solution instead. But the hesitation he feels at using people like tools, and his unwillingness to act if it means throwing people under the bus, is what will lead to death and destruction if he's the emperor. Especially in a time of war. The current emperor is willing to ruin lives and crush nations if it reaches a goal, advances an agenda.

Finally, jinshis loyalty, I'd say even more than his looks, is what draws people to him. He loves his toys, can't stand to give them up. It makes him a great romantic figure. But when you're the emperor, and you need to be willing and able to marry someone for political ends, produce as many heirs as possible regardless of who with, and set aside the feelings of those women for your own sake, that loyalty is poison.

Idk, so often in stories with these systems they sorta follow the logic of "if he's a good person he'll be a good leader." I think it's cool to have a series talk about how being a leader involves being EXTREMELY comfortable with being an asshole, for a myriad of reasons, and how someone being pleasant to work for wouldn't make them an effect monarch.

#its also important to note that despite all the shitty things the emperor is shown being/doing #he genuinely is portrayed as a well loved and effective leader #who does his best to reach his version of compassion #john mulaney has a good bit about working with celebrities for snl #and how in their world their version of polite/acceptable is very different and it can lead to tense situations #i think a lot of the emperor's actions are like that #like in a vacuum they're dick moves #but in the context of who he is and what his duties are you see why he does them #the apothecary diaries #jinshi #ka zuigetsu #spoilers

[theremina]

Adoption causes way more intergenerational trauma and collective health crises than I think many "kept" people realize.

If you bother to read it, the science is clear: adoption is violently traumatic, causing devastating, irreversible health issues for millions of human beings. Yet I'd have more luck conveying the severity and longevity of my own trauma to most non-adoptees with "I was dropped on my head as a baby."

Heck, I didn't begin to contend with the horrors of my own situation until my mid forties. Being yeeted directly after birth into foster care and eventually adopted by lovely, well-intentioned folks who were not prepared *at all* to help me deal with the lifelong neurodevelopmental disorders and physical health problems directly caused by my abandonment at birth has permanently damaged me. I'm saying so as one of the "lucky ones".

I adore my adoptive family. They're incredible parents. We love each other dearly. This doesn't change the fact, not for one second, that I wouldn't wish adoption on ANYBODY. Thankfully, my folks understand this. I wish more adoptive parents did.

The modern adoption industry* is, by design, deeply misogynistic, racist, transactional, ableist, imperialist, colonial. Ignorance and hate and apathy and coercion and subjugation and dehumanization and capitalism keep the machine running.

We're already seeing the beginning of Baby Scoop Too: Electric Boogaloo on Facebook. On Twitter. On Instagram. On other social media platforms owned and controlled by obscenely wealthy white men who don't consider private adoptions to be unethical.

You may *think* that legalized human trafficking doesn't really effect you, but soon, if the Christofascists continue their cultural blitzkrieg, the amount of infants and children who end up in the foster care system, adopted by unqualified people, in devastating private "rehoming" situations like the one shared above, or worse, is gonna SKYROCKET.

So...I'm barely on Facebook anymore for a few different reasons. One of them is that I couldn't handle watching a whole bunch of ignorant self-proclaimed feminists making shitty adoption jokes after Roe was overturned.

Another reason is that Facebook is LITERALLY A BABY MARKET.

ADOPTIVE PARENTS ARE BUYING AND SELLING CHILDREN ON FACEBOOK. WHAT THE ACTUAL UNFORTUNATE FUCK.

Nearly 100 million American families are in the adoption triad, with a majority of adoptees' needs and voices being considered last instead of first. It's so backwards.

Non-kinship adoption is a systemic violence that cannot help but touch the lives of billions. That is so very, very bad for ALL of us, not just abandoned infants and children or their struggling parents.

Some straightforward response questions for every person who has ever asked me about about my adoption:

Are you a feminist? Are you antiracist? Are you a humanitarian? Anti-ableist? Do you consider yourself lefty, liberal, or otherwise progressive? Do you respect science? Then please reevaluate your perceptions of adoption.

For every adoptive or bio parent you listen to, listen to three or more adoptees. For every shitty adoption "joke" you've ever told, check in with an adoptee (or first mom) in a kind and caring way. For every ignorant question you've ever asked an adoptee about our "real parents", crack a book!

Please. Do some research. Learn. Please. Center transracial adoptees, international adoptees, disabled adoptees, queer adoptees. Please. This stuff impacts all of us just as surely as countless other aspects of systemic rape culture do. Try to understand. Please.

I'm more certain than ever that we must abolish before we can rebuild.

Please give a shit. Please.

*The fact that adoption is an industry at all should shock and horrify us all, and yet... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[image description: a screenshot of a Facebook post with a black border and caption reading, “Welcome to America, where people try to regime adopted children on Facebook Marketplace.” The Facebook post itself reads, “So basically they either want him to come back home, or have CPS place him in a foster home. Or I can find someone willing to take him in, and ‘under the table’ pay them the stipend, we get. If CPS places him they will have to have an open case against me. In doing that I will lose my job. I cannot work at a daycare, school, group home etc. if I have an open active CPS case against me. How the hell do I go about ‘re-homing’ my child? Should I create a post in market place? Through no fault of our own, we are being forced to re-home our thirteen year old son. He can be the most loving, helpful young man. He does suffer some learning difficulties. He comes with a complete wardrobe and a monthly allotment. Only serious inquiries please.” End id]

#karpoozy #adoptee #adoption is violence #adoption is annihilation #adoption is racist #adoption is sexist #adoption = imperialism #adoptee voices #adoption is legal human trafficking #cw rape culture

[weirdmarioenemies]

Name: Luigi (Lederhosen)

Debut: Mario Kart Tour

Happy Pride Month! At a glance, you might think we're being silly again, and I wouldn't blame you. How on earth could Luigi (Lederhosen) possibly relate to Pride Month?

Well, take a closer look at his hat... do you see it?

That's right! Luigi (Lederhosen) is proud to be German! And what better way to celebrate that pride than to wolf down a thick, juicy sausage? After spending so long in the closet as an Italian-passing man, Luigi has decided to start showing his true self! Congratulations on coming out, Luigi! We're as proud of you as you should be of yourself!

The concept of a Mario gacha game is really, really funny to me. If you've followed this blog for a significant amount of time, you know Mario has a PLETHORA of wacky and obscure characters you could fill up a gacha with!

But ol' Nintendo has a very specific idea of how the Mario brand should look, and none of those characters are part of it! So instead, they have to either dig deep for the most obscure Basic Mario Characters they can think of (this is how Goomba Tower and Baby Wario got their doctorates!) OR dress up the Main Mario Cast in a variety of silly outfits! Mario Kart Tour opts for the latter!

And since Mario Kart Tour has courses based on real world locations... that's how Luigi (Lederhosen) was born!

Luigi (Lederhosen) was put into the game alongside Berlin Byways, or rather, Berlin Byways 2 because that's the version they implemented first for some reason. But I'm going to use a picture of Berlin Byways 1 on account of I think it's funnier. They turned the Berlin Wall into a wacky Mario Kart stage hazard with Whomps! And now it advertises BaNaNa Boy, yippee! Let one slip! Not long now until this gets ported to Mario Kart 8 Deluxe!

Luigi (Lederhosen) also has his very own kart! Meet the Fast Frank, which comes in two varieties! One which is red like your average, everyday sausage, and one which is

Needless to say, Luigi (Lederhosen) is not a Weird Mario Enemy. We could never consider Luigi an enemy, and ESPECIALLY not a version as proud as this one! But nonetheless, there IS a Mario enemy we need to talk about, one much more sinister than any other...

That's right. It's time to talk about predatory business practices!

Name: Predatory Business Practices

Debut: Capitalism

You see, if you download Mario Kart Tour and boot up a fresh save right now, you won't be able to immediately select Luigi (Lederhosen), nor will you be able to select either of his Fast Franks!

Luigi (Lederhosen) is a character in a gacha game, a rare character at that, and one that's only available during limited periods! If you want to unlock our frankfurter friend, you're gonna have to grind, and the odds are stacked against you... the game wants you to crack under the pressure! They want you to spend your money on overpriced rubies, and even then, it's STILL only a chance! Gacha systems are the WURST!

I was lucky enough to get Luigi (Lederhosen) in Mario Kart Tour without spending any money, but I am not a better woman for it. I think it's unfair that most people will never get a taste of Luigi's sausage! Everyone should be allowed to witness Luigi wave his wiener around in pride!

#luigi (lederhosen) #mario kart tour #weird mario allies #happy pride month #mod hooligon

[dichromaticdyke]

hey another thing since my brain is broken and i have an MA in literature i'm gonna analyze the lyrics of "aortic desecration" and "SOS."

under the cut this time since last time my brain vomited a bunch of aotd analysis it went on for way too long sorry.

but seriously i wrote a fuckton here over the course of two sleep deprived sessions, so you'll either think i'm a madman or a divine genius.

okay for simplicity, "aortic desecration" lyrics are gna be in red and "SOS" lyrics r gna be in green. i hope tumblr made those colors distinct enough for ppl with colorblindness.

[intro] we're all going to die [x3] eventually [verse 1] toxic waste, acidic paste degradation crushed by a plane, driven insane mutilation cranial glitch dumped in a ditch gangrenous stitch

this is already a lot. nathan's coming at this with the idea that he has to write the most brutal and fucked up song of all time, so he just reminds everyone of their mortality and lists a fuck ton of ways that might happen (many of which do happen during the performance of this song). but even his point of adding eventually after saying how everyone wil die is interesting—it's like that was also tacked on during the performance like, "yeah but not today please haha." not a whole lot to go into here, except the way the first verse ends.

failure has entered your soul

now first of all, some sources have this line as "madness has entered your soul," but i've only ever heard "failure." and i think that makes sense—before this song even started, nathan realized that he wrote the wrong song but it was too late. i think once he got through the majority of the first verse, he went off-script, so to speak, and instead of singing about death, he started singing about realizing his own failure and mistake and how that was about to lead to the apocalypse. this continues into the next verse

[verse 2] how could you be so fucking naive? you fled for refuge and fell to your knees you spoke the words and brandished your heart you left yourself open to be torn apart, torn apart

hi brendon small i would like some recompense. he's speaking exactly to himself, how he was so naive to think that a song of salvation would be a song of death, how he was running from everyone and tried to do this all on his own. he sang about death because that was what he believed was the only thing he knew how to do, he refused to actually do some introspection and figure out what salvation was. and now here he is.

[chorus] aortic desecration how could i be so wrong? disemboweled publicly this is the dying song [bridge] look out bleed [x8] [chorus] [outro] aortic desecration atrial annihilation pulmonic devestation

so this chorus and the outro are fun for me because they're doing that thing that brutal death bands do where they just throw in a bunch of big words that sound scary and fucked up. and they are! aortic desecration essentially refers to a violation of the heart, since the aorta is the main part of the circulatory system and it's been desecrated. nathan broke his own goddamn heart by doing exactly what he feared—causing the apocalypse. he says as much in asking how he could be so wrong? as for being disemboweled publicly, well, here's what my literature MA ass immediately thought of. in sylvia plath's The Bell Jar, she writes about being suicidal and depressed, and one of the ways she considers killing herself is by disemboweling herself in her bathtub. this also reminded me of the way the god character killed himself in the film Begotten. so my initial thought, as gruesome as it is, is that nathan has kinda metaphorically killed himself in front of the whole world by singing the song that he knew was wrong. historically speaking, disemboweling people while still alive was also a form of torture and capital punishment, so that checks out. then he says "this is the dying song," fully recognizing what he's done. the final lyrics of the song once again refer to fucked up shit happening to the heart, with the atria being your heart's upper chambers, and "pulmonary" referring to your lungs, though typically in the sense of bloodflow.

then of course we get him chanting for the world to bleed, but also proclaiming, "look out." now at first i thought this was just kind of an ad lib—it's not uncommon in music to have lyrics like that that are added just to help the flow but don't actually add much to the content of the words. i don't think this is the case especially when comparing this to "SOS," but for now i'll start by just pointing out that "look out" very easily could've doubled in meaning as being a warning to the world. like, this isn't just fun and games any more—actually look out, you're actually going to die.

as for "SOS"...

[verse] last breath skyward dark sign closing line no time to mend this life take this hand this last time

alright this is pretty straightforward. this is their last chance to get it right, if it isn't too late already. but there's also that line of "skyward," which is the first instance in this song of recognizing the doomstar itself. there's no mention of the doomstar at all in "aortic desecration," which is kinda strange if you think about it. not even in the dying song is there an acknowledgement of why the apocalypse might be happening, mainly because the dying song—once nathan realizes what it is anyway—is primarily about hopelessness and fucking up. why even acknowledge the greater power at work when this is nathan's fault (in the context of the song)? but instead nathan acknowledges that the focus has to be on the doomstar, but also on everyone coming together and standing against this force that is greater than all of them. this song immediately establishes the haste in what they're doing, immediately countering the deflection in the dying song. nathan tried making the dying song work by saying, "we're all going to die eventually," but nathan here has the perspective to realize, no. people will die now, are dying now, it might already be too late to fix this, but dammit they're not giving up yet. [chorus] we're the shadows of the infinite we stand alive we're nothing but the soil of time beasts in the night reach with my open hand bound for all time in the shadows of the blazing star fused, we're the light

"shadows of the infinite" is an acknowledgement of their godlike powers, which they've either been completely ignorant to during the majority of the series or just didn't want to admit (think back to "how can i be a hero?" when none of them wanted to step up and do what they had to do). yet despite this acknowledgement of their divinity, their power, they are also recognizing that they are still just people. they can't do anything by themselves, they have to work with other forces. being "nothing but the soil of time" is a reference to being a gear in the wheel of the klok—clock, time, etc., yet also being "beasts in the night" refers to this unhinged power and danger they still hold. "reach with my open hand" is the most obvious line, with the animation in this scene directly reminding us of nathan's conversation with the whale prophet. once again, a reference to the doomstar, and the final line foreshadows nathan using the dethlights alongside both dethklok and the army of the doomstar. these are the people that must work together with this divine power to take out something greater.

it's also worth noting that while the official line seems to be "fused, we're the light," i can ALSO hear it is "fused with the light." so it can be interpreted either as, nathan and the band and the army of the doomstar all coming together to becoming the light/dethlights, or nathan and the band and the army of the doomstar being fused with the light/dethlights. it's not that much of a difference i guess, but a slight different implication of whether or not they themselves are the light or if the light is a separate entity. [bridge] now rise (rise) [x8] movin' out, movin' out [chorus]

this is the part that convinced me to make this a comparison. this is a direct parallel and contrast to the bridge in "aortic desecration," with calls to bleed being replaced with calls to rise. they even chant it the same number of times, guys idk what to tell you. PLUS there's an echo repeat of "rise" throughout this bridge, and while it could very well be a literal echo, who else wants to believe it was all the other members of dethklok singing it? kinda like the "die, die" in the duncan hills jingle? and then the "ad lib" of "look out" is instead replaced with "movin' out." instead of nathan telling everyone to run away, be watchful, be fearful, he's calling on them to come with him and fight with him.

have i talked enough about how brendon small is a fucking genius?

plus based on a few shots from this performance during aotd, i think toki might have been playing lead. which would be super cool, because this would make this the second song that is confirmed to have toki in the lead, the other being "blazing star."

anyway i've fooled you all because now i wanna talk about "blazing star." i know this song has been out for a decade now and has been analyzed a bunch, but i wanna look at it specifically now with the context of the movie.

first off, before i get into the analysis, i'm pretty sure the performance of "blazing star" at the end of the doomstar requiem never happened. i think it was purely non-diegetic, just like half the songs in this whole opera, but it was presented as a proper dethklok song to symbolize the band being reunited and looking towards their next big hurdle of the actual metalocalypse. my main reason for thinking this is that the idea that dethklok saved toki, wrote this song, performed it for the world while announcing, "hey toki's back and he's okay," is DIRECTLY in contrast with the opening scene of aotd where the band makes their first public appearance since saving toki and a standard dethklok performance trigger's nathan's ptsd. i know metalocalypse isn't known for continuity, but they would've mentioned dethklok having a performance post-rescue. and nathan in aotd is so ready to not face his destiny, there's no way he would write and perform a song about exactly that. he's also adamant that he doesn't sing about hope or life, but that's exactly what "blazing star" is about.

enough preamble let's look at that song.

[verse 1, nathan] the glowing clouds, the diamond's birth the spiral cluster descends to earth the nebulas conspire to bring the signifier and the death of a king

already with more context from aotd, i'm obsessed with this. it's setting up the doomstar and the destiny of the doomstar being either the death of salacia or of nathan. i haven't spoken yet about the parallels between nathan and salacia, that's something that's going to take a WHILE to work out, but the long and short of it is, they're powerful beings who can only achieve their full power when being reunited with four other souls/people. GUYS. they are very clearly meant to parallel each other. knowing now that the doomstar is a portal meant to reunite salacia with the "four souls," it's unlikely that this "death of a king" is inherently meant to refer to salacia, because the doomstar would have to be inherently anti-salacia, which it's not. at that, it seems like this "king" is probably meant to be nathan, or all of dethklok, since it's through their deaths that salacia would be reunited and the metalocalypse would happen. it's hard to tell tbh, the doomstar is a neutral figure—all we know is that it can bring death, and it holds power that other figures can harness.

i'm a man with a tortured sight i fear this dream will end tonight the water beasts continue singing we try to wake but we're not dreaming

THIS i find incredibly fascinating. it's no secret at this point that nathan had been dreaming about the whale prophet for who knows how long, and this is very clearly referring to that. the first line of this section even foreshadows nathan being the only one to remember the night they rescued toki. what i find interesting is the contrast between nathan "fear[ing] this dream will end" but also "try[ing] to wake but [isn't] dreaming." these are directly contradictory at first glance—he's scared of this dream ending, but he also wants to wake up? unless these are two completely different dreams.

the first half of aotd, nathan, pickles, skwisgaar, and murderface aren't rescuing toki, aren't even letting themselves think about him. they're only focusing on partying around the world, and they sing a whole song about how they love being useless billionaires and don't want to be heroes OR regular jackoffs. i think that's the first dream—being DETHKLOK, having no problems, doing whatever they want, that's the dream nathan is scared is ending. because after that night of rescuing toki, of harnessing the dethlights, everything has gotten so real. they can't ignore it anymore.

at the same time, realizing that there are greater forces out there trying to destroy the world, trying to use them to destroy the world, everything with the church of the black klok—that must feel like a dream. that's the dream he wants to wake up from.

he wants to stay in his dream of being rich and powerful, but he doesn't want to be stuck in the dream—the nightmare—of the literal apocalypse.

i'm gonna find you i'm running out of time i gotta play this part this is my lot in life with this power i am endowed the end is coming so bring it on now

again, another reason i don't believe this song was diegetic. this is the first moment of clarity he had about the metalocalypse, about how he had to do something about it, whether he wanted it or not. again, in the beginning of aotd, he had no interest in this. i guess it's possible he went back and forth on that (i wouldn't be too surprised), but again, this is a pretty hopeful message, all things considered. he even says "bring it on" to the fucking apocalypse. tell me again about how you don't write songs about hope, nate. i only buy that if he never wrote and performed this song.

[verse 2, pickles] oh the keeper wields his scythe oh you gotta kiss this life goodbye there is another place beyond we'll meet in time and i will greet you all in the next life, yeah

having pickles sing in general is based, but i've never fully understood why he was in this song. like if anything, this song feels like the kind of ballad that would have EACH member of dethklok sing a little bit, so it's strange to have just pickles and nate. it gets less strange with the hindsight of aotd, where their relationship was the primary emotional focus. but let's actually look at what pickles is saying here. it's pretty standard stuff: death is looming, but if worst comes to worst we'll be together in the afterlife.

i wanna fucking throw up (positive). what was that offdensen said to pickles in aotd? "be a true friend, even if it gets messy." pickles's verse is NOTHING but, "hey nate things are getting bad but i'll always be with you." I'M NOT REACHING THAT'S ALL THIS IS.

[chorus, nathan] the blazing star, it burns so bright the darkened power, the dethly light bring it on now, this is our time we're the new regime, together we'll fight

again, standard stuff. doomstar, dethlights, fighting together. all things considered, this could have been the song of salvation. there's not much i can really say other than the fact that since it wasn't, it must not exist in the metalocalypse world, right?

toki had the solo on this song. i don't have to speculate for that, it's made abundantly clear with the animation in the ending sequence of the doomstar requiem. he had the solo because this whole song is about the band coming together to face something greater than them, and they wouldn't have had the power to do that if they didn't have toki with them. it's also them recognizing the worth toki has in the band—at first, it seemed like his worth was just making skwisgaar play better (that was certainly the implication at the end of "the duel"), but it's greater than that.

let's say i'm right—let's say i'm right and toki also had the lead/solo during "SOS." what does that tell you that toki is granted the opportunity ot have the lead SPECIFICALLY DURING SONGS OF HOPE AND CAMARADERIE?? he, much like murderface, is foundational to the band. murderface is the voice of dissent, toki is the voice of hope.

and let's say i'm wrong, and toki only had a solo during the song that doesn't actually exist. that's fine too, because if "blazing star" is meant to be a symbolic, non-diegetic song, then that still proves my point of toki being foundational to the band ("even if you don'ts do nothings") and, more importantly, their divine power.

wow that was a lot if you got to the end pls like comment and subscribe.

#Metalocalypse #Army of the Doomstar #Dethklok #Nathan Explosion #Pickles the Drummer #Toki Wartooth #dichromaticdyke.exe #written in a fit of divine madness

[werewolfcave]

GOD OK I was getting my psych degree when it was announced they'd be adding Maruki

and I was sitting here like "Atlus is gonna fumble this so hard i just know it." because in collectivist countries/cultures like japan, you mind your business and don't air out your problems.

AND I WAS RIGHT I WAS SO RIGHT AND IM SO MAD ABOUT IT.

like thanks for making a prominent to the story therapist be a big time bad guy you CLOWNS. BUFFOONS.

Sorry I just. I needed to say! I AGREE hes interesting and I see a lot of traits that would make a good therapist but BOY HOWDY. He makes me so fucking mad the way he was handled lmao

Okay I totally get where you're coming from and do agree framing a therapist in a bad light especially as the first therapist in the series is going to have negative consequences. BUT when I was talking to my own therapist yesterday it occurred to me that Maruki is a genuinely a fascinating critique of the clinical psych field. Because, as my therapist pointed out; "[Maruki] makes you realize how silly and unrealistic the idea of no one experiencing pain is. It makes you stand back and stop idealizing that idea of no one experiencing that pain because it's so absurd and harmful."

I then added onto that by pointing out how a lot of his ideals are a very interesting reflection of the psychology field when you look at it from a Western Standpoint (I am not sure how it is from an Eastern Standpoint I do apologize about that), because in the West we are very caught in the idea of Intervention instead of Prevention, and Maruki is obviously under the same idea.

See the Clinical Psychology field fails when it views things under the medical model, that mental health problems are something one can just "cure". Viewing pain as unique to the individual and that it's something that can be fixed is a very temporary solution. Instead there needs to be prevention, which is focusing on that pain comes from systemic places, and that we need to reform society rather than focus exclusively on individual pain. I will get into how we can tell Maruki is focusing on intervention exclusively in a moment, but first let me further lay out what Intervention vs Prevention is using an excerpt for a Reflection Essay I wrote for my Community Psychology Class:

"The concept of Prevention vs Intervention can best be explained up with a parable often credited to sociologist Irving Zola. The parable tells of man standing on the edge of a river, when suddenly he spots someone drowning. The man jumps into the river and drags the person out, and just when he manages to get that person out, he hears someone else. So he goes in to drag that person out as well. And it repeats. Eventually the man is exhausted and there is still people falling into the river. It is then that he realizes he never even thought to go upstream to check how people were falling in in the first place. This parable tells of the way that intervention by itself will never be truly successful, because there will always be people falling in, and never enough resources to keep pulling people out. This most efficient solution would be to fix whatever is causing people to fall in."

It should be stated that Intervention is not wholly unnecessary, as I go on to say in that same essay:

"Yes there has to be someone who goes upstream to address what is getting people in the river in the first place, but that isn’t possible with someone staying downstream. Because of we yet to prevent the harm from being done, we do still need intervention. To allow the preventionists to do their work they need the interventionists to keep that hurt at bay until we can prevent the hurt from happening in the first place."

Now, returning to Maruki. Maruki obviously has the idea in his head that he can remove points of pain for people, and that at all costs someone, to be healthy, must avoid a situation in which they get hurt. We take all of this with the fact that capitalism, corporations, etc still exist in this world. Let me break that down as to how this itself is a prime example of how his idea of a world with no pain does not take into account systemic oppression nor works as a long term solution.

A.) If one's pain stems from, say, low wages making it hard to pay rent and thus having to work multiple jobs, Maruki's solution would likely be to raise the amount of pay for whatever job is preferred by the person and continue from there. We do know that he makes it so that way Okumura Foods is a more idealized company that treats its workers fairly and has more ethical sources for its food. But this only works within the short term, as there is still a need to get money to put food on the table, to keep a roof over your head. Economic stress is still there even when paid well enough, because there is still the fact that you must keep getting more of a limited resource to pay for the ability to live. There are still people who come out on top, there are still people who are working the factories, there are still people who must do backbreaking work. Additionally Maruki is of the mindset that if your dream isn't working out you must abandon it, which will leave those whose dreams lie in underpaying jobs (such as an artist who makes a living through their art, and is hit with art block that keeps them from producing work) they are to abandon that for something that will keep a roof over their head. This leads to a rather soulless existence.

B.) To quote the Combahee River Collective, a Black Feminist organization that is responsible for intersectionality really making it's way into the collective consciousness, in their Coalition Statement:

"We realize that the liberation of all oppressed peoples necessitates the destruction of the political-economic systems of capitalism and imperialism as well as patriarchy."

That is to say that systemic oppression cannot be undone without the removal of capitalism. Scholars such as Cedric Robinson and Ruth Wilson Gilmore talk of how capitalism itself is rooted in the oppression of racial minorities, especially Black people. This is a concept called Racial Capitalism, which put as simply as possible in the Wikipedia entry for this concept is:

Racial capitalism is a concept reframing the history of capitalism as grounded in the extraction of social and economic value from people of marginalized racial identities, typically from Black people. 

While not a study on Japan itself, and instead China, here is a fascinating chapter on Racial Capitalism in China wherein it states:

Emptied of their former political content, the disarticulated concepts of race and ethnicity have often been reduced to foreign and domestic modes of social differentiation in the reform era, which can allow nationalists to claim that there is no racism in their country and can allow China scholars to deny the relevance of race to the field. Yet, the externalization of race and racism is particularly dubious these days as China’s participation in global capitalism has been accompanied by prominent examples of Islamophobia and anti-Blackness.

And to address how Racial Capitalism is relevant to Japan itself, we are to look at Race Relations and the Capitalist State: A Case Study of Koreans in Japan, 1917 through the mid—1920s by Kazuhiro Abe. From the Abstract:

"Expansionist Japanese capitalism developed racist ideologies toward Korea and the Koreans. In 1910 Japan annexed Korea. After 1917, Korean labor was imported on a large scale into Japanese society, where racist attitudes were rapidly taking shape. However, cheap Korean labor produced a wage differential that caused a split in the labor market along ethnic lines. Thus, competition for jobs between Japanese workers and Korean immigrants transformed racial prejudice into overt ethnic antagonism."

From the talk of the Theoretical Framework at play:

"The analytical framework employed here is the synthesis of several current theories of race and ethnicity. It draws heavily on Marxist theories of race relations, and especially on the split-labor-market theory. In the Marxist tradition, as Wilson argues (1978, pp. 4-9), there are two major approaches to race relations. One is orthodox Marxist theory emphasizing the manipulative role of capitalists who seek to divide the working class racially by exploiting racist ideologies so as to preclude the emergence of a unified working class. (For an example of this position see Reich 1971 and 1981). The other approach is the split-labor-market theory systematically developed and elaborate by Edna Bonacich (1972, 1975, 1976). This theory involves three groups of actors: business, higher paid labor, and cheap labor. The labor market becomes split when cheaper labor is introduced into the market. Capitalists prefer to use the cheap labor, and the higher-paid labor consequently faces threat of displacement. The higher-paid labor group attempts to forestall such displacement by excluding cheap labor from its territory. If exclusion is not possible, the higher-paid labor establishes a caste system to systematically block the access of cheap labor by certain occupations. The success or failure of these attempts largely depends on the amount of political resources the higher-paid labor group can mobilize"

All of this is to say is that while not on purpose, the game implies to us a complete lack of understanding of systemic injustice that causes much pain in the first place. Maruki is very purely intervention and has no interest in prevention.

Maruki himself talks about totalitarianism and how it is something that forces everyone under one ideal, and Goro himself points out (in an implied sense) that that is precisely what Maruki is doing. He is forcing people into his idea of intervention and no pain, while doing nothing to rid the world of the root cause of unjust pain. He is creating a totalitarian dystopian world without any sort of self-awareness.

#takuto maruki #persona #persona 5 #persona 5 royal #persona 5 royal spoilers #p5 #replyin to y'all #anyways so yeah. blasts you with what I learned from Community Psych Critical Psych and Critical Diversity Studies

[n3xii]

self help gurus vs capitalism

I don't like when self help gurus will be like ''yea capitalism is apart of the problem but you still have control over your situation so stop playing victim"

Most people who are anti-capitalist are not using their critique of the capitalist system as an ultimatum between taking responsibility and victim hood. in fact, we know we can only control whats in our hands. we know that we are responsible for healing ourselves in order to create a better world. we know that hard work is what it will take to improve our lifes and circumstances. if anything, thats why most of us advocate for community outreach, working with others, volunteering, protesting etc. most of us work harder than the self help gurus do. but we are also sick of the regurgitated, condescending and often times contradicting content trying to convince us that the reason we are sad, lonely and poor isn't because we are working our asses off to make some ceo richer, or because our tax dollars are being used to fund mass murder of Palestinians, but because of our "mindsets" manifested our situation. its a glorified, twisted form of victim blaming. and i dont think alot of these self help gurus realize they are only supporting the systems they claim used to victimize them as well.

Alot of these self help gurus don't want you to be aware or at the very most, pointing the finger towards systematic issues because its not in their best interest if you realize that most of your issues arent because of YOU. In fact, many self help gurus advocate for selfishness and isolation so that you focus more on yourself, your problems, staying inside your own little bubble...

healing yourself does make the world better, spending time alone in is at many times very necessary in order to obtain clarity and a stronger sense of self. but in order to create real change, we must be mobilized as a collective. despite our differences, despite our wounds and traumas, most of us are unified against oppression, fascism, and exploitation. and that will require us to come outside of our bubbles in order to help each other.

I just read a response from a self help guru to a person pointing this out explicitly saying that we shouldnt be mobilizing against or blaming our issues on capitalistic systems, instead we need to work on ourselves because its our fault were in this situation regardless of capitalism. its a blatant admission that this type of prosperity content is meant to discourage action and moralization against the systems that oppress us.

fuck people like this. They use their claimed experiences of overcoming hardship as a way to redirect a persons pain and frustration towards themselves and not at the systems that put them in that circumstance in the first place. read that again.

at some point were gonna have tor reconcile with the fact that alot of these self help gurus are three prosperity gospel preachers in a trenchcoat. they preach spiritual healing, self accountability and praise the capitalistic systems that give them the outreach they have. the more sadder you are, the easier it is to make money off of ''healing'' you.

#self help #self help gurus #late stage capitalism #capitalism #imbored #writing #rant #leftist #i need to sleep

[chai-fi-rush]

Hi-Fi Rush and Capitalism

I've seen multiple posts about how Hi-Fi Rush is capitalistic/neo-liberal propaganda and like. I'm not gonna say they're wrong but I'm also going to say it's a little more nuanced than that. Or at least there's multiple angles to look at this thing and I want to do that so I will.

Also I just want to quickly say that I think that even if something endorses certain aspects of capitalism while critiquing others doesn't mean that what it does critique is meaningless, or that everything that critiques capitalism should end with a radical change in it's story's system. Sometimes things that are sort of milquetoast can be fun or make some good points, albeit not rly something to strive to.

The first thing to address which is undeniably on the side of those posts I've seen is that HFR basically assumes that capitalism is the default. It tacitly accepts that the system must function through capital, and not just at the end where instead of getting rid of the company they just replace the CEO. This comes up the most in Zanzo's level when CNMN and Macaron say that budgeting and development are a balance. There's no implication that the idea of well-managed projects shouldn't have to rely on money to be able to function, just that Zanzo himself is bad with money due to unrealistic goals and Kale's light hand as long as he gets what he wants. Honestly, this is where a lot of real life people get tripped up on. They genuinely have a really hard time conceptualizing how a world without capital would function and often think of it as some lawless world. So, even when they disagree with capitalism they often try to think about how to change it without the removal of currency.

That being said, it's more accurate to describe Hi-Fi Rush's early stages not as a critique of capitalism, but as a critique of the conditions of capitalism (I know to us red-blooded commies those things are basically the same but hear me out). The only point where money is really important to the plot is in Zanzo's level and the overarching point of Kale using SPECTRA as a market manipulation tool. There are also undercurrents of class when it comes to Chai and Kale as foils, but that point is also linked with ableism (which is linked with classism under capitalism, but the game is very purposefully vague about Chai's backstory so I don't necessarily feel comfortable making too much speculation about it). The game vlog's heavily discuss the labor and physical exploitation of their employees, such as how all of the old Vandelay units such as CARR1E are being overloaded for the sake of productivity and you know. The fact that there are three or four Mondays. But the game rarely mentions the wages of the employees. I'm not going to say it never does even though I don't remember a time, but needless to say the actual working conditions of Vandelay's labor force is a much bigger focus. It does sort of come into play when Kale talks about how he's planning on firing almost everyone once SPECTRA gets up and running (something we are supposed to consider is Bad because without those jobs those people won't have money).

Breaking all this down abstractly, HFR is a story about corrupted intentions. The game's narrative exists in two different camps, the experience of what Vandelay is right now, and how everyone talk about what Vandelay was when Roxanne was in charge. Obviously, the first one is going to be more powerful. Characters like Peppermint, Macaron and Korsica can talk all day about how cool Roxanne was, but we basically have to take them at their word. There's no reason for us to consider them untrustworthy, but lets just say that as an audience member it's hard to fully reconcile the idea without actually seeing any of it in action besides Roxanne being kind of chill in the final cutscene and some vlogs about how the company used to work (particularly from O5KAR).

But what we can glean from this narrative is that Vandelay under Roxanne was not productivity driven. You get this idea from both the Zanzo and Roquefort levels, and a couple of those aforementioned vlogs. One that comes to mind is about how production used to take the time to actually fix defected products, but under Kale they all just get immediately scrapped because it's faster to just make a new one. Roxanne was someone who wanted to make things whereas Kale just wants to sell them. I mean, Roquefort is literally crushed underneath the quarter profits. HFR has a lot of metaphors, and they never really claimed that any of them were subtle.

Something that hangs over the entire story but rarely comes up (even within meta discussions about it) is that Project Armstrong was something born out of Roxanne's love for her disabled daughter. It's not just that she came up with the implant tech and then had Kale make the project as a scheme, Peppermint specifically says in Track 12 that it was Roxanne's idea. This was something that was made to genuinely help people, and Kale warped it into something that would get him more customers because it's not profitable to just "help people."

That's the story that HFR is trying to tell. It's about a project that was good, became bad through its management, and then had people who believed in the original intention of said project (I should note that Korsica's inclusion as someone who hadn't worked pre-Kale was also probably intentional so it wasn't solely a return to the old guard). The game isn't trying to say that any company can be fixed with the right leadership, that this one had its reigns taken away for the sake of profitability. A corruption of intentions. If you're willing to accept capital as the implicit base of society, it's incredibly inoffensive, but if you can conceptualize outside of that system it becomes a hand-wavey response to the problem. We all know that "just put good people in charge of capitalism" isn't actually a solution the the problem.

It's also worth mentioning that HFR bears a lot of meta-narrative about the video game industry specifically. The director said that some of the emails were literally taken from ones that he had received. It draws attention to its relationship in several ways, ESPECIALLY with the addition of Vandelay Gameworks. It's all stuff that can be applied to companies in general, but there's still that undercurrent of game devs upset about crunch time or being forced to throw out something that they worked hard on at the last minute because it "Just doesn't work." The kind of people who love what they're working on but work underneath conditions that make it feel like hell.

Anyways, hope that made sense. Hope I didn't sound too apologetic because I also take beef with endings that handwave capitalism away as an individual issue. Honestly, I think that HFR has far more interesting things to say about disability, but that's something that has to be its own post.

#hi fi rush #hi fi rush spoilers #hfr #meta

[its-tortle]

wrapped game!!!! stucky (obvi) & number 23 my love xx

hi teesha! this one was slightly tough -- to me, this is a song about the religious iconization of technology and capitalism in our modern society -- but i think i made it work? it's a bit weird, but i hope you like it anyway!

You're gonna get yourself killed

Before you can run

Just 'cause you've got your own theme song

(Fastest gun in the solar system)

Don't think you're alone

Don't think you're whole, love

Don't mean that you're holy

Don't mean you're the only one

To save us all

The moments after returning to base camp are chaotic. There are so many soldiers at once, most of the celebratory, many of them exhausted. The troops from the base camp gather and mingle with the rescued soldiers, and for moment Bucky is lost in a sea of back-claps and cheers and a number of relieved and tearful hugs.

The whole thing is overwhelming, honestly, after the dank dark rooms of the Hydra base and the ache he still feels down to his tired bones. He slinks away the first moment he can.

He walks through the camp a little bit aimlessly, thinking he’ll find Steve’s tent or maybe just pass out in the first empty one he finds that isn’t too mothbitten. His eyes scan the sea of tarp and then the long lines of the barracks. There’s what looks to be stage beside it all, and while it has the desolate look about it that everything here does, it’s adorned with bright flags and banners in red, white, and blue. 

Bucky vaguely registers himself walk to it, not sure if it’s the colors that draw him to it -- brighter than he feels he’s seen in years -- or the peculiarity of the show stage amidst the hellscape they’re all living in.

As he steps closer, his eyes hone in on the set of posters stapled to the structure. They’re nearly as garish in color as the banners.

Captain America! they read. The Star-Spangled Man With a Plan.

The subtitles go on about the USO girls and the show to win the war. It all looks like a blur of patriotic bullshit that Bucky doesn't know he ever really believed, but certainly doesn't after what he’s seen here. He almost wants to rip the paper off of the wood.

But then, in the middle of all the pop up writing and star-spangled banners, is Steve’s face. It’s not a perfect likeness -- the nose is too straight and the eyes not green enough, and they didn’t get the freckle on his cheek -- but it’s Steve all the same. It’s his smile and his brow, and that familiar determined set to his jaw that is so familiar to Bucky, even if the jaw is a bit squarer than he’s used to.

Staring at the poster, there’s a twist of something in Bucky’s gut, something indefinable. There’s some pride in it, sure, and whole lot of love, but intwined with it is a sting of resentment and bitterness. Bucky almost hates the man on the poster. He loves Steve.

“There you are.”

Bucky jumps at the sudden voice behind him, immediately calmed by the familiar cadence. He turns to find Steve looking at him, his eyes the right shade of turquoise and his nose crooked from that fight with Tommy K. in fifth grade. The twisted something in Bucky’s chest warms.

“Hey,” he says a little dumbly. “I was- I needed some air.”

Steve just nods. His gaze on Bucky is heavy, and Bucky would be squirming beneath it if he didn’t know he was leveling the same one back at Steve.

After a moment, or maybe four, Steve gestures at the stage behind Bucky. “You missed the show,” he says, and his little self-deprecating smile is so familiar is makes Bucky want to cry.

“Was it any good?” he asks instead.

Steve shakes his head with a little snort. “Absolutely not. They threw stuff at me.”

“Can’t blame them,” Bucky says before he can tell himself not to. “I mighta done the same if it didn’t know it was you.”

Steve swallows, but then just nods again. He looks at Bucky like he knows there’s more coming. He’s always been able to read him like a book.

“I just-” He loosely gestures at the posters behind his shoulder. “What is this? Did you ask for this?”

Steve shakes his head quickly. “No. I didn’t. You know me, Buck.”

“Then why?”

“I wanted to fight,” Steve says, with such quick determination it almost cuts Bucky off. “I wanted to fight, and you were in Europe, and I kept getting kicked out of every enlistment center because I was 5’1’’ and couldn’t breathe right. So, when they gave me a chance, I took it. I didn’t know they were gonna put me in tights.”

Despite himself, Bucky can feel his lips quirk at the corners. “It’s not the tights I have a problem with.”

Steve snorts. Bucky’s lucky he can’t tell what flirting is, really.

“And anyway,” Steve continues, “I can’t be mad about it at the end of the day, cause it got me here. I- I got you back, and now I get to do what I set out to.”

Bucky is almost surprised, then wonders how he ever could have been. “You’re gonna fight.”

“Yeah,” Steve says. And then he must tell that Bucky is getting angry, because he lets out an exasperated huff and gestures to his body, the one that’s still so unfamiliar. “C’mon Buck, that’s what this was made for.”

“This?” Bucky repeats. Steve’s early retort had done nothing to soothe his anger. “What do you mean, this. Steve, it’s you. I don’t care that the serum is a weapon, not when it’s become your body.”

Steve’s shoulders square. “I’m not some fragile little kid anymore, Buck-”

“And yet you still have something to prove!” 

That shuts Steve up. Bucky watches his stony expression and feels his anger give way to desperation.

“I just-” He takes a deep breath. “I know you, and I know you want to- need to fight. And I will have your back, but I don’t want you to mistake your Captian America schtick for invincibility. Just because you’ve got big muscles and your own theme song doesn’t make you the sole holy hero that’s gonna win this war. You’re gonna get yourself killed, going into it alone.”

A muscle is Steve’s jaw twitches, and Bucky thinks he’s already learning how to read Steve through the changes in his body. After a moment, the blond nods.

“You’re right,” he says. “And I don’t- I didn’t ask to be the icon, really. I just wanted to keep you safe.”

Bucky laughs a little, despite that ever-twisting something in his gut. “Well, you better believe that goes both ways.”

Steve smiles then, and it’s one of those wide, pretty ones that set Bucky alight. He opens his arms, and Bucky steps in between them like he’s been doing it for years. His cheek fits perfectly in the crook of Steve’s shoulder.

“Thanks for calling me out on my bullshit, Buck,” Steve mumbles into the side of Bucky’s head.

Bucky laughs into Steve’s skin. “That’s what I’m here for, punk.”

send me a number and a ship and i'll write a ficlet to match the song on my wrapped playlist!

#oh my god what is this #i was gonna sit down for 20 mins and write 500 words #and now its an hour later and heres 1k #fuck i need to do my readings #anyway #idk how i feel about this?? #but here you go i guess #not my best work but eh #stucky #stucky ficlet #tortle writes #prompts

[fourhornedsatyr]

As an avid fan of Mike Pondsmith's Cyberpunk setting I cannot help but just look at the year 2024 in the US and be like: Yea Mike, you were a little off and a bit ahead, or a lot, but like holy fuck the internet and cyber tech has been so misused and is now the tool of corporations to fuck us over.

First off, phone phishing??? I have spam filters and still get 2-5 phishing phone calls a day that, if I do pick up, try to trick me into giving away my voice and data. This has become so common that literally no one I know answers a call unless they know the number or are actively awaiting a call from an unknown number (for job interviews, appointments, etc).

We, on the regular, deal with AI that is meant to steal our voices, names, and other cruical data. This has brought us to manage unknown numbers the same way we manage superstitious entities such as fae in fairy tales. How fucked up is that?

Streaming, once an alternative to and then a replacement of video stores, has come to replace TV and is severely less consumer friendly as access to media has become severely fragmented by the corporate nature of these services. I won't even get into the decreasing quality of popular media, just simply look at Disney to see the shift.

Social media? Something that was meant to connect family, friends, and community? Yea, that's now a sespool of ads, has algorithms that will try to feed you misinformation, and has been made into an addictive drug meant to keep people seperated and inactive in the freetime that we have.

There's come a large group of people in my generation (gen Z) and those who came before us (Millenials), who simply do not pay for our media. Piracy of old and new movies, shows, videogames, music, and even books has simply become the norm because we cannot afford to pay for it, and what we can access on the corpo sites has been severely reduced in quality by easily evaded ads.

And what do I have to say to that? We live in a capitalist society and we gotta play the game to live until we break it. They can't create a product that we're willing to use? Boohoo, someone outcompeted them by providing us with a product that removes ads that only serve to degrade, seperate, or comodify us. Corporations act like they deserve our subservience, money, and labor -- they don't.

Moving on from just entertainment and social media, search engines, our phones, and nearly everything we have to access the internet is used to track us and sell our data so that we may be comodified more efficiently by the corpos. We may say "I'm gonna google that", but many of us have stopped using google and other engines because of how bad they are at actually giving us good results. Task specific search engines and ones that don't track or sell our data (like duckduckgo) have become common place.

Also, just, most people do not own their own media? Some people don't own a single movie, show, song, book, videogame, or any other digital media and instead opt to stream them (ie spotify) or purchase access to them (ie steam). I know very few people in my generation who own a cd player or any type of physical music, and it just throws me.

The internet and digital tech could have been so much better and can do so much good, but no, it's used for capitalism instead.

Wage theft, job theft, piracy, and phishing.

Down with the capitalist system, let's bring on a future wherein our art, knowledge, social forums, and automatons are not weaponized against us so that we may share the resources we need to survive, thrive, and live fulfilling lives.

#anarcho socialism #anarchism #cyberpunk #socialism #leftist #corporate greed #social media #anti capatilism

[teal-sharky]

You could call me an AI researcher or engineer. I have a bachelor's in Control Systems specifically, but did my thesis on AI OCR and did quantifiably well. I'm enthusiastic about AI; both the romantic ideal that Sci-Fi has been foretelling for decades, as well as... Whatever we got so far.

But this? This is scary. And not in the immediately obvious ways.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/buzzfeeds-stock-soars-another-73-as-analysts-weigh-in-on-ai-shift-and-meta-deal-11674843945

I'm not even gonna get into the reality of Capital once again replacing paid labour with machines; that's not new, that's been going on since industrial revolution. And I really don't think it matters that much that it's now hitting higher and higher up the "privileged proletariate".

What IS actually scary to me it's that we're about to very tightly close a very short feedback loop in the very core of our cultural consciousness, and I say this with my System Control intuition; I bet it's about to be unstable to as shit.

Okay it's BuzzFeed, but why would it stop at this point? Why not use it for more general press and media? Dramas, plays, music, textbooks, scientific articles?

I'm not even thinking about the economical or moral implications here (they are terrifying to me too, but I find the things I actually understand substantially scarier).

What happens when a couple cultural generations are wholly or partially based on regurgitation of the last iteration already coming from not people-processing-info but instead info-processing-info? We're looking at a system where human entirely leaves some of the process of cultural, scientific and social development and becomes only the observer, and most of the feedback it gives will be again, processed by the organs-without-body before they are considered.

I don't even think it has to be automatically bad; I know AI isn't evil, or more importantly, nor more so than humans have always been.

But it will be different. And the scariest thing is how quickly will it move.

You thought social media made the world too fast and difficult to navigate? Polarised? All or nothing-think prone? Wait till the "news cycle" doesn't take days but a few tensor accelerator cycles on some computation cluster.

Someone gets shot and the AI will go through all the stages of all the possible opinions and counteropinions and all the interested parties and all the assumptions in a second, and then decides what to actually tell you based on how you reacted to the yogurt ad it showed you a minute ago.

Lot of our society may have well been kept relatively stable by the glacial way the society as a whole process things. We've been digesting the latest cop torture murder for what, a week now? What happens when the main narrative is thoroughly preprocessed before it hits the first public person to think about it? Again, there doesn't even have to be any malicious intent or deliberate bias; we wont even be able to pass that judgement in time before the next thing happens.

I like computers, I like neural nets and I like the idea of an AI. I just really don't like the system we see emerging here. It smells with really wild resonant harmonics and catastrophic epileptic like spams, but the system in question is the whole world.

#ai #society #social feedback loop

[newjerseydumpster]

Willkommen to Ulmich!

This is the unnecessary consequence of me wanting the protagonist of a shitfic to be a silly german middle aged woman. Please accept this funky little map before I open the exposition floodgates!

General Information

Ulmich is a region in what would be Pokemon's equivalency of Europe. It's pretty much just a yassified PokeGermany. It's in the center of this alleged "PokeContinent," and shares a border with the Kalos region to the west.

The official language of Ulmich is Ulmichan (which is just German), though most Ulmichans are bilingual, fluent in both their native tongue and either Galarian (English), Kalosian (French), or another.

The legendary Pokemon of Ulmich is Bundesaetos, a regal black eagle that Ulmich credits as its founder. Instead of using "Arceus" as a sort of stand-in word for "God," Ulmichans will often use "Bundesaetos" instead. This is not to say Bundesaetos usurps Arceus as a God, but rather that it's such an important piece of Ulmichan culture that it warrants its own everyday use.

Despite this, Bundesaetos hasn't been sighted in quite some time.

Cities [In Order of Population]

Zergen is the capital of Ulmich, as well as its most populated city. It's the industrial, financial, and government heartland of the region, a true concrete jungle if the country ever had one. This city is quite fast-paced and crowded, so cars aren't the most effective form of transportation. Instead, Zergen's got quite the underground transit system, providing commuters access to most of the city.

Additionally, Zergen is home to Zergen International Airport (ZIA), and Zergen University, among others. As far as the Pokemon League goes, Zergen has no gyms, nor is it the home of the Elite Four - but it's a must on the bucket list for tourists!

Waldig is the second most populated city in Ulmich but definitely has Zergen beat in terms of trade. It's the one Ulmich city that's right on the sea. Besides ingoing cargo ships from Galar, Kalos, or Paldea, Waldig has quite a lovely maritime beachfront and a shockingly successful cruise industry! Waldig is home to Ulmich's first and easiest gym, specializing in Water-type Pokemon.

Schwassberg is the third most populated city in Ulmich, which is quite ironic considering its placement in the more treacherous reaches of the region. However, it's mostly unperturbed by the Stahlgrenze Range due to its placement juuuust outside of its boundaries. Schwassberg residents are noticeably more laid-back than most other Ulmichans, and this is exemplified best in their world-renowned annual beer festival (Yes, we're talking Oktoberfest). You're gonna see a lot of silly Unovans come to Schwassberg for a keg or two.

Schwassberg hosts the eighth and final gym, as well as the most difficult. Considering the range that surrounds it, it's appropriate that the gym specializes in the Steel-type.

Munseedorf, lying right by the heart of the West Munsee River, is home to lovely scenery alongside the calming sounds of Munsee's current. Being closest to Kalos, a lot of Munseedorf's population is fluent in Kalosian, and the general culture is much more mixed between Kalos and Ulmich than in other parts of the region. Munseedorf houses the sixth gym, specializing in Grass-type Pokemon.

Strossem borders the Kitzberg Range to the east. As such, the city provides lovely, albeit daunting views of Mt. Kleinkrieg. Known for the "Strossem Sausage" and a thriving skiing industry, the city's doing quite well for itself. Strossem is home to the seventh gym in the Pokemon League lineup, specializing in the Bug-type.

Nachtfurt is the closest to what you could consider smack-dab in the middle of the region. It is widely considered as the "garden city" of Ulmich, as even the most urbanized squares of Nachtfurt are sprawling with gardens and forest cover. It's definitely got a gothic academia vibe. Nachtfurt is home to the fifth gym, which specializes in Ghost-type Pokemon.

Vechtwald, aside from Zergen, must be Ulmich's most blatantly historic city. Walking around the central streets will display a centuries-long myriad of architecture, from the newest marketplace to the oldest cathedral. Vechtwald is home to the second Pokemon gym, working with Dark-types.

Rosenschen is a city caught in the aridest part of Ulmich. Surrounded by the Rosenkranz Desert and Norwuste Range, Bundesaetos knows that it's a bit hard for things to grow. Citizens make it work, though, capitalizing on a sort of cowboy aesthetic to attract tourism. Rosenschen's gym is fourth in the League lineup, focusing on the Ground-type.

Mecklenstadt is the ninth and final city of note in the Ulmich Region. While it's not a buzzing metropolis, Mecklenstadt is quaint and historic, a much less busybodied rendition of Zergen. The city itself is probably best known for both its many Pokemon sanctuaries alongside its monopoly on Ulmich's northeastern beachfront. Mecklenstadt houses the third gym in the Ulmich League, Dragon-type in nature.

Towns and Villages

Rodenheim is the northernmost settlement in the Ulmich Region, situated at the very crest. It's like Waldig, but a much more downsized and rural version. If Ulmich were a game, Rodenheim would be the player's hometown.

Nordmund is primarily known as a fun art town. Have you got a love of gardens, old imperial palaces, and chocolate? Nordmund's got you covered, so long as you can put up with pretentious hipsters.

Kirchatz is very similar to Vechtwald in the old architecture field, minus the city aspect or secularism. Kirchatz people tend to be pretty religious, so if you're an Arceus-fearing fellow then I suppose you'd be right where you ought to be. For the rest of us, it's a bit awkward - but at least the churches look pretty.

Kalingen is a glorified rest stop. I believe in Kalingen slander.

Augureich, sitting right at the base of Ulmich's highest peak, is a village absolutely pelted by rain and snow. Augureich's a mining town, to be sure, but it's also full of spirituality and mystique. Legends say that Augureich was the birthplace of Bundesaetos. If you manage to outlast the blizzard on the way, here's to hoping you have enough money for a monk!

Gipfelitz, Ulmich's southwesternmost point, is the home of the Pokemon League itself. That's right - this little place is where the Elite Four and Champion conduct business. In Gipfelitz, upon a horizontal mountain face, belies a massive cathedral: The Pokemon League building. Walk right on in! If you dare.

Waterways

River Munsee is Ulmich's longest river, spanning out to reach across much of the northern and central reaches. Because of its shape, Munsee is divided into two parts: East and West Munsee. These rivers are vital for the prosperity of Munseedorf, Nachtfurt, Nordmund, Vechtwald, Strossem, and Kalingen.

Brandewitz River is the lifeline of Zergen and Waldig, and certainly the busiest waterway in the region as a result. Both cities use Brandewitz to ship their cargo to and from their ports, as well as the rest of Ulmich through smaller channels.

Herald River is the most straightforward river geographically speaking, but it's a lot more turbulent than Munsee or Brandewitz, with rapids in some areas that will not hesitate to knock you down. Schwassbergians really love to paddle around in it though, so I guess it's not so bad.

Mountains and Deserts

Rosenkranz Desert is the one and only desert (or prairie area, for that matter) in the Ulmich Region. In real life, Germany doesn't have any deserts - at least not truly, but south of Berlin (or Zergen, in this case) lies a pocket of pseudo-desert area referred to as the Lieberoser Desert. Rosenkranz is based on that pocket, though a lot drier. While not a sand dune type of desert, it's an area more similar to a desertified prairie land.

Norwuste Range is Ulmich's third tallest range. There's not much to write home about other than it being much tamer than Kitzberg or Stahlgrenze. Not to mention drier.

The Kitzberg Mountain Range is Ulmich's second tallest range altogether, and home to the second tallest peak in Ulmich: Mt. Kleinkrieg. The peak's name, meaning "little war," is well deserved, considering how dangerous it can really be to climb. While not as tall as Augureich, it's imposing on its own. Climbers, please perform your due diligence.

The Stahlgrenze Mountains are Ulmich's tallest range, housing Mt. Augureich, the region's highest summit. If Kleinkrieg's a freakshow, then wait till you see Augureich. The thing's surrounded by a nonstop blizzard, and if that wasn't bad enough, it also happens to be an active volcano. You see, unlike Kleinkrieg, there is NO climbing Augureich. Should you ever decide to ignore my warnings and climb the glorified death rock anyway, here's to hoping the monks in the town can give you a blessing or two before you depart. Happy days!

I've been working at this for two hours at the VERY least so I'm gonna tap out now. But if you're seeing this, thanks for sticking around! I bringeth upon thee a star sticker ⭐

#pokemon #pokemon region #fakemon #fakemon region #germany #missy lore #missy draws #ulmich #bundesaetos #why do i do this to myself smh

[domoz]

9, 11, and 16 for the ask game! Your choice of fic (or all of them for 16)

(Ask game) 9 - What is your favorite dialogue you’ve written so far?

If I'm restricting myself to just founders stuff (and lbr I dont remember enough about older stuff to be able to quote it off the top of my head) it's probably this bit from this oneshot because the lines are so cold (imo).

"If you want it to stop --" Says Butsuma, forcing Tobirama's face to turn the other direction and digging the kunai in to the other side, a perfect match to the first cut "-- Then stop me. Get strong enough to stop me." But Hashirama can't stand up. There's no sudden burst of strength -- he used that up ages ago. All he can manage is to drag himself a few inches forward through the dirt, fingers just able to reach where a spot of blood (his brother's blood!) has been flung to the ground. "Please." His voice is hoarse, "Please, I understand. Please stop." The look Butsuma levels at him is cold, a frown that says he doesn't believe him. He tilts up Tobirama's head, cuts a final slash into his chin, before letting go. Standing up, stepping back, uncaring of the way his son has dropped to the ground like a puppet with it's strings cut. "Guard your heart or grow strong enough to keep it safe, Hashirama. Those are your options."

11- What scene are you most hyped for this chapter/fic?

For Hand over Hand Over Hand, there is a bullet on my outline labeled "Hikaku's very long and sexy day" which I think about often, and is basically: Hikaku doing what he signed up for to the extreme, and going from Tobirama, to Madara, and back to Tobirama all in a row.

For another fic... the whole second arc of Trust in Reverse, which is a fic where Tobirama and Izuna were forced to marry, with the expectation that it would fail. The arc is all courtly drama and the two of them begrudgingly working together to figure out why it all happened in the first place (and learning to trust each other along the way :)) Not a scene exactly, but most of that fic is in the outline phase.

16 - Write the next 5 sentences and share. ...For every fic you say? (...I was gonna put a readmore here, but the text editor tumblr assigned me for this post wont allow it. So, sorry if this is annoying long)

Brothers in Bond

Before he could stew on that for too long, the door pulled open with a creak that was deafening in the relative silence of the room. Izuna scowled reflexively, unused to having to squint into the light -- not that it mattered. Whoever this was, they were wearing the same nondescript grey uniform and mask as the shinobi who had captured them in the first place. Two more, dressed the same, slipped in to flank door even as it was pulled closed and latched from the outside. The chain quietly scraped on the stone floor as Tobirama shifted his position to better study the new arrivals. Tight security, Izuna thought with a mental sigh, and shitty interrogation tactics.

Trust in Reverse

There is no greeting, but instead one handed gesture at the papers on the table. "Infrastructure plans." He explains, voice so flat that Izuna can't tell if he thinks if this is serious or all a ridiculous farce. "Utilities. We're inevitably going to have to share, since we're living so close, and moving forward without input from both sides is asking for trouble at this stage." No, he must think it's all bullshit if he's asking for Izuna's opinion on -- he glances down -- plumbing. He's not educated on sewer systems, aside from the one mission he'd taken to the capital that had required him to crawl through them for several hours. This is some kind of trap -- has to be.

Wood Tar, Charcoal, Ginger, and Honey

Tobirama doesn't show a hint of fear at a compound full of active sharingan tracking his movements, nor so much as react when he's searched for weapons. He easily hands over the pack of medical supplies he's brought, only raising an eyebrow at the challenging look that Hikaku gives him when a pack of senbon is pulled from an inside pocket. "You're free to have your own healers examine the contents, it all has medicinal use." He says evenly,the way he folds his arms betraying nothing but annoyance, "And I'm unlikely to need any of it right away." "Take it." Madara grunts with a wave of his hand, already gesturing for Tobirama to follow him. He doesn't have time for this, and Izuna certainly doesn't, either.

In the Corner of Another Room

Izuna can admit to enjoying a little luxury from time to time, but he's still a shinobi born and raised. He can pass as an air-brained nobleman when he has to, and even enjoy it, but excess still makes his skin crawl when he thinks about it too hard. The inn and onsen high up in the mountains is lovely, truly, but the price tag to stay there is most certainly not. Mission success will make this more than worth it, but his nagging guilt at the cost combined with the constant vigilance makes him unable to really sit back an enjoy it all. He could -- his mark isn't due to arrive for another few days, yet -- but Izuna was trained better than that.

Heart of Flowers

Madara slips into his office without knocking. It had taken him a while to figure it out, but Tobirama doesn't actually chew out everyone who comes in unannounced, just those who insisted on loudly interrupting his work. Madara would never pretend that he hadn't before, or that he never would again, but the village had helped him start to be patient in ways he'd never had to be before. He is, in fact, capable of not tearing out Tobirama's throat. These days he doesn't even want to, most of the time.

Fic Trio (Specifically, Ambitious Uses for Hands and Tongues)

His entire existence has whittled down to to the agonizing white-hot pulse of not-quite pain. At some point -- Izuna doesn't know when, he was already starting to lose time even when he was conscious -- the feeling spread, changing from something sharp into a full body prickly-numbness that made it impossible to think or to keep his eyes open. He'd always thought it'd be cold, but he feels warm, almost pleasantly so, except for the uncomfortable points of heat that are pressing into his side. Fingertips, he manages to dredge up after what might have been an age or might only have been moments. Who's touching me? And why doesn't it hurt?

Hand Over Hand Over Hand

He raps on the door anyway, and hefts the bottle he's brought along when it opens and Izuna appears in the crack, squinting meaningfully. He lights up at the sight of it -- it's umeshu, from the same brewer that Tajima used to buy from when he went into court; the cheaper stuff he drank himself, not the fancy gifts he presented the daimyo, and by extension, the stuff he hid under the floorboards that Izuna and Madara got drunk on for the first time. Madara got sick, Tajima forced him to train through it as punishment, and he's all but forbidden plum wine from the house ever since, but Hikaku knows Izuna still has a fondness for the stuff. He'd been planning to give it as a birthday gift, but he hadn't anticipated a need to apologize for all but supplanting Izuna from his previous life at the time, either. Nor did he think he'd be trying to learn about the man who was his rival and worst enemy.

What if Hashirama was Evil

Only when Madara's shadow falls across him does he look up, but his red eyes are glazed and uncomprehending, and his head lolls back to its awkward resting angle after only a moment, too tired or too uncaring to struggle. Madara looks him over more closely. He looks dirty and scuffed up like he's been in a fight, though all of the minor wounds have already stopped bleeding. He hasn't even been properly stripped of weapons, just stopped from moving by the wood wrapping his wrists together and his arms behind his back. Madara grimaces but kneels down and starts going through pockets. Much as he hates the idea of doing what's so obviously been planned for him to do, the fact of the matter is that he's got no information, and Tobirama almost certainly does.

#ask meme #oops! no writing tag #........... i aint gonna tag all that. itll be in the fics anyways unless i edit it out

[androgynousblackbox]

could you expand a little bit on why you think the VIPs of Squid Game are anti-imperialist? i feel like i know what you mean but i want to be sure

I actually think that they are part of the anti-imperialist message that goes hand in hand with the overall anti-capitalist theme, not that the characters themselves are supposed to be anti-imperialist. I know that was probably what you meant and I got it, but just to clarify lol

Okay, so I have been reading a lot about this because I was waiting for someone else to adress this, but almost unsurprisingly, considering it was gringos talking, they didn't and not even leftist gringo seemed to even think about this. I think that the VIPs are intentionally written as they are and come off as, well, bad because this show doesn't care about glorifying rich white gringos and instead will plainly and clearly point them out as a responsible in everything bad that happens. I mean, just in a narrative stand point, they are responsible for all the bad shit that happens because they literally financied it just to see asian people (because we have no fucking clue if Squid Game happens on any other place) killing each other for fucking fun. The old guy goes on this entire rant about how he felt empty and there was no excitement on his life so that is why he decided to start the games, but he could have never pull the shit he did without the VIPs and without them wanting to have a fun show. So, already, and very obviously, these are our bad guys. They preyed on these people who were already vulnerable and literally desperate enough to want to risk their lives. Fuck, by the end they very clearly tell us that after everything they STILL kept tabs on the protagonist to make sure he got in the plane and move on from the whole issue, so who is to say that they didn't do that for all the players too during the period in which they decided to get out of the game and even pulled the strings to make their situations even shittier just so they would be more "motivated" to come back? They obviously have the money and resources, so why not? Would they really spend all that time and money into making this entertainment thing for the rich and then just, forget about it because the lower class said no? LOL, of course not. Bet you too that the players who didn't came back to the game end up fucking dead, absolutely. Alright, but then you look further than what and have to ask yourself about the decisions that were made. These could have been rich people from literally anywhere on the world. This a big production, if they really wanted to they could have pull that off. Fuck, they could have grabbed other rich asian people who also happened to speak english to put on that place. But they chose to put white men with gringo accents in these roles. Why? Well, because you can't adress anti-capitalism without adressing anti-imperialism and particularly how the USA works inside of this system to leech off everyone else. I am not an expert into the relation between Korea and the USA specifically, but from what I have read of some people, it's not great, in fact it fucking sucks, so it makes perfect sense that choosing to represent the ultimate evil this korean product went out of their way to manifest it on the bodies of unpleasant, crude, disgusting, awful gringos. Not gonna lie, I am kinda horrified when I see people expressing dissapointment that the VIPs weren’t cooler or something like that because that would have made the message go to shit. Go to a western american show to see rich people being badass and cool while they gorge themselves on the resources they deny to everyone else, and they are classist and racist and mean and petty but still kind on a “but you want to be like them, don’t you” way. You go do that if you want it so much. The VIP are a perfect representation of how we, we as everyone who is not american, views gringos from the exterior, especially those that have the most power over our lives and what happens to us. They aren’t cool and slick. They aren’t sophisticated and funny with interesting conversations. It’s Donald Fucking Trump and all his friends presented without any mercy or consideration because fuck that, you are paying to see this people get killed so why the fuck would you ever deserve that. They are akward and gross and annoying and vapid because how else could you represent such evil?  Like, okay, sure, some people could say “but those were the only english speaking actors they coul grab, there wasn’t any intention behind that” and to that I say fucking nonsense, because either way they work with the theme and message of the show and if you think “they should have been more intimidating” then you missed the fucking point. 

[shortsketches]

Apologies for the big wall in your ask box, but I'm dying to know the thoughts that your characters (not just Sherman) would have on a particular character of mine. I've got a Cog OC who used to be a Short Change, but the kicker is they stole their way to the top of the corporate ladder, soaring through ranks all the way up to Robber Baron, and not by means of normal promotion. They would sabotage their fellow Cashbots and use their collected assets and even their parts to gain an upper hand, eventually resulting in their high status within the branch. What makes this even funnier is that this particular Cog wants to see the entire capitalist corporation crumble to the ground, and if it means associating with Toons and other suspicious characters, they'll gladly take any opportunity. "The enemy of my enemy is my friend", after all.

No worries, I love walls actually, gives me stuff to think about; I'm just gonna answer in text since there's a lot to cover here across four primary ocs.

Starting w/Sherman first since that's the blorbo that rotates in my head the hardest so I sorta Know The Most About That™ in particular at the moment. Can say right off the bat that your OC and Sherman are shaking hands and same hatting on the "Lets see this bitch burn" and the "Time to associate w/toons and other Suspicious People™ on both sides" type thing, but there are things Sherman is a bit hesitant about. Chiefly, the concept of directly going to the top of the ladder. While Sherman did work with people who were higher up (cough cough Chuck), Sherman himself would refuse to work up the ladder.

While being a complete bastard with scrambled ethics, Sherman did hold some weird personal rule of not complying or working with the system he was trying to dismantle, and grinding to the top through any means would go against that one rule he had for himself. Instead, he valued the idea of planting seeds that would potentially disrupt Cog Nation in other ways, chiefly by finding a way to make toony cogs; with a whole generation of toony cogs that don't find any value in upholding cog society, the system would crumble since Sherman thinks that things like Cog Nation and the cesspit of capitalism exist because most of cog society decides/believes in a narrative that upholds it. The way he sees it, things only exist when people believe in something put value into it. Sherman doesn't really have many qualms about your OC running off and using the parts of other cogs given Sherman straight up fights cogs for toons and will use some of those cogs as research subjects or yoink a part here and there for other things. It's just a less savory but mundane part of the job for him.

Second, Chuck. Chuck is interesting because while he opts to defect to join the toons and tries to wash his hands clean from Cog society, he still upholds certain Values™ that aren't super easy for him to shake off even years after the fact. That's partially because Chuck only had the illusion of choice given that Cog Nation would only allow him to avoid getting a death warrant after his involvement w/Sherman if he accepted promotion that would instantly jump him up to be Robber Baron in what would essentially be a renewed vow to Cog Nation. He refused because he recognizes its a society he no longer wants to uphold because he knows what hell toons go through and that he cannot in his right mind perpetuate this shit, so he ran off and bargained his Secrets™ from his time as the CFO's right hand to prove to the toons he's legit in order to find a place in toon society to settle.

Despite this, Chuck has a set of ethics that would despise the concept of stealing your way up the ranks. He was in a hard grind from the bottom to work his way up to where he got, and at one point he would have wanted to be a Robber Baron no hesitation. With time and changed perspectives, he understands that in societies like Cog Nation, a lot of people, especially those in power, do not attain that legitimately a lot of the time. It's a system where many people cheat for power. Chuck's belief in a meritocracy was naive as hell and in many ways detrimental, but despite being aware of that, he'd still loathe thinking about cheating upwards. Additionally, he doesn't mind your OC associating w/toons because y'kno... Chuck lives in toontown. With toons. Raising two toons ahsfgsd... He is side eyeing about interacting with other Suspicious People though. He's tired, the things he did while he was with Sherman was enough for one lifetime, and he knows he wants to hit the bricks if someone is doing something that seems off.

Edna and Kelvin, the kids (as adults) are going to be side eyeing hard. When Sherman left them so they could live with Chuck when they were both pretty young, Chuck made a point to not tell them what Sherman did; he knew they'd find out soon enough from toon society since the shit he pulled was broadcasted, written about, thoroughly documented, dude actually was put on trial in front of a toon court since y'kno... Toontown still technically has laws and a judicial system and he did some Very Not Toony Things.

By the time both of them are adults starting to find their paths (where they're ultimately working together bc they're the twins that get anxious when they're separated too long), they know about what Sherman did and have to live with the knowledge that they are the children of a war criminal and the only person who they can talk about that with is Chuck. They do not know which toons they're working with know that they aren't Chuck's kids, but they're not about to put themselves on blast either, but that's beside the point; Point is that if they knew what your OC was doing, they're not going to vibe. They see similarities to Sherman and they do not want any of that near them period.

To some extent, they're sort of suspicious about cogs coming forward to help the toon resistance as a whole ever since learning more about what was up w/Sherm. They're both mature and know that's a sweeping generalization and that inevitably there are cogs helping in good faith, but the second anyone new comes around, they're on alert. If they knew what your OC was up to, Kelvin is a bit more quiet about his concern but Edna is going to let everyone she can know that she thinks something's up. Enough toons were hurt in the past and she ain't sleeping until she feels a threat has been eliminated.

#asks #sorry if this feels kinda roundabout and not super organized #or on topic to the question bc i had a lot i wanted to put down here lol

[dramaphan]

Big bitch baby dan comeback video live reaction by me who hates him take one ACTION

I’m putting this under a cut it got too long rip

•immediately what’s he wearing. Long socks short pants ass bitch go change

•”a ton of conspiracy videos” where

•content warnings you say 👀

•went to find the cw and holy hell this man had a whole ass production crew and for what you could have saved so much money if this was an insta story

•content warnings for mental health, body image, stress, gay trauma, and whining and swearing 💀

•don’t worry asswipe my cheeks stay clenched when you speak to me

•so far this is sounding like my Dan video wet dream but I know he’s going to ruin it I’m waiting patiently for him to fuck it up somehow

•”those crusty olds” you mean YOU SIR???

•Dan we all know what YouTube is and how it started why do we need this history lesson MOVE ON

•yeah what if you did that. Made a funny little video.

•is he really going to sit here and act like he was never in it for the money are you gonna sit there and lie to me for an hour and a half

•why’s he putting his whole pussy into this performance bro just tell me where to buy the tour tickets. I won’t but can we get to the point

•alright we’re getting a little more self awareness now I can appreciate that

•”can people not be mean to me” no next question

•”I hate capitalism but-“ shhhhhh

•clickbait keeps you awake but that tweet could stay up for an hour huh

•”it was fun, funny” yeah can we get to the part where you make fun and funny again

•this man did NOT just 🤪✌️ I need a minute to calm down

•#killalllandlords get to the POINT

•not to be insensitive to the struggle or whatever because I also spend every waking moment working and stressing about it but me and you both could just get different jobs probably

•you can’t force creativity, good thing the absolute most popular thing at your peak was people sitting on their beds talking about their day. Hella creative

•it was luck, next

•how am I only 12 minutes in this has gone on for five hours

•at what point were you doing what we wanted

•oh wow it’s been like 3 minutes and he’s been making points the whole time just thought I’d pop a nice thought into this

•very quickly realizing that me and Dan would hate each other irl

•probably shouldn’t be laughing at the phrase “closeted death defier” like morally I probably shouldn’t be laughing at that

•Dan you leave girlwiththedogs alone don’t drag her into this

•man all we wanted was a candle haul nobody gives a shit if you have kids or dont

•mf just told me to sit and stay like a dog and yes I’m obeying but STILL

•so what I’m getting from all this is that the man had a job he hated and just kept working there instead of getting a job he didn’t hate. Relatable.

•if YouTube is for titty then why don’t you have your titty out come on man focus

•okay I did get an ad right after “enjoy the ad” and BOY that’s kinda funny

•it was a sensodyne ad btw, Dan knows I got gingivitis

•oh followed by a Pringles ad. The Pringles are probably what gave me the gingivitis

•smells like jealousy? Idk man

•he even managed to make “you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink” into a 30 second monologue no fucking wonder this video is so long

•very fond of fucks per minute as a measurement system on this we agree

•”youtube isn’t homophobic” my brother in Christ you just spent a solid couple minutes describing exactly why they are in fact that

•”people at youtube care about the creators” who’s eating your ass for this

•just like, imagine if this guy had tossed a job application into a McDonald’s in 2012. The way he’s talking it sounds like he’d be making similar money

•”watching the graphs and switching out thumbnails” get his ass

•I feel like you could also tweet “what did you guys think of the video” and the audience would just, like, tell you

•his pussy is out again

•this man has some serious beef with the elderly his grandma really said some shit huh

•yes Dan but you see if you don’t like doing twelve jobs you could still also get a job that is just one job. That’s is also still an option.

•”I’m not an influencer, I’m a creator” name five things you’ve created in the last 3 years

•we’re doing the tv show seasons analogy again send help

•see you think if you miss an upload your audience hates you but if you miss an upload your audience really just wants you to answer the question “hey, where’s that upload?” Y’know. Communication of any kind

•Phil apartment fixture still going strong I see

•I would like to see the drama fiasco over sharing timeline just for a minute

•50 minutes in supposedly this is where it’s supposed to get interesting but so far I’m just not having any sympathy

•funny how the concept of hiring an editor and or a lights guy made him think his career would be over so he. Ended his career about it

•”I couldn’t imagine making anything else on YouTube ever again” so why didn’t you say that

•I think the moral of this story for me is going to be that I do understand and respect the emotional turmoil of being rich and famous but literally you could have just said all of this at the time and everyone would have been nicer to you about it

•Dan pays for YouTube premium that’s it I’m done here

•57 minutes and all he’s really done is shit talk and praise YouTube in the same breath who is eating his ASS FOR THIS

•the only reason I haven’t come for you in the night is because I respect your privacy you bitch

•scripted comedy mini series by Dan stop that’s even worse than standup

•I feel like I would hate this show with every fiber of my being but I need to know who he would cast as his girlfriend

•so you stayed too loyal to the mega corporation who sucked your soul out your butthole and it stunted your growth as a creator? Weird

•okay yeah again let’s go ahead and talk about the pandemic like it’s done and over and not still currently killing people yes I will continue to be annoyed by this

•”not a single reply, explanation, or out of office be right back email” wow that must have been really annoying none of us could ever relate

•”swallowing is a gesture of respect” swallow my foot

•an hour and five minutes just to answer the question “why did I quit YouTube” with “because they suck”

•kind of poetic that while Dan was having this communication battle with YouTube we were feeling the same damn way about his ass

•I guess we were wrong about YouTube being up dans ass. He was up theirs and they were just desperately trying to shit him out

•I’ll hand it to him, he’s got more patience than me. 7 months??? Answer my email in no less than one week or find another good little boy, fuck you

•he’s seriously so loyal and for what. They ghost you for 7 months and you’re still scooping up the scraps they throw at you? I quite literally would have made “go fuck yourself” my email sign off

•fuck the myth dude

•then why did you!!! Fuck them!!!!

•god this is really a full entire movie about a man who hates his boss but won’t leave the company

•Dan buddy there’s absolutely no way in hell that this show is worth letting YouTube fist you up to their elbow whenever they want

•if this video doesn’t end with him deleting his channel and burning YouTube to the ground then why are we wasting our time here

•Dan why don’t you think they dangled shit over your desperate head that’s exactly what they did hello are you blind

•I know y’all spoiled the tour so I know that announcement is coming and I swear to god if he partnered with YouTube for it there’s like no hope for him

•how would I respond? I WOULD LEEEEAAAVVVEEEEE but here you are on my screen so????

•buddy they don’t feel remorse burn their house down

•”should I just quit YouTube for good?” Yes?? Obviously???

•he’s fucking stupid

•like hello you just went on a monologue about how depressed you were because YouTube keeps pegging your ass without lube and you’re just gonna. Keep letting them. Are you good

•like at what point has therapy gone too far and made you too kind of a person. Man needs reverse therapy now

•man’s promising a lot rn I don’t trust it

Okay FUCK it’s done I made it some final thots:

I’m not resubscribing. Turns out 8 minute wish videos and fake storytimes are more suited to my lifestyle than feature films about some guy. I do really appreciate having a bit more insight into why the hell he dropped off the face of the earth and only showed his face for a quick bag but I do think he’s an idiot for not abandoning the whole platform after they screwed him over that severely like actually burn their house down why are you still choosing to let them make money off you