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birdybirdnerd · 10 months

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👀 bifrost incident stage play????

youve opened pandoras box my friend. get ready

okay so i had this idea back in 2019 when i first got into the mechs and specifically first heard tbi. im a theater kid and have chronic amv/animatic brain where i visualize things real easy, so when i first listened to this album i was SLAMMED with the realization that, actually, tbi is PERFECT for a stage adaptation

imagine, if you will:

inspector lyf, at his desk side-stage and in front of the curtains. stalking across the stage, talking direct to the audience as he waves the black box, setting the stage and the story ahead and theorizing as to whats going on

the first chords of odins launch speech are heard, and the curtains open wide on the exterior of the train, odin at a podium, and a crowd listening intently

during each of lyfs speaking parts (cold case/person of interest/etc), he walks across the stage and explains things, as the set changes behind him. new characters arrive, spotlights shining as lyf wonders what theyre doing there, if they were the one that sabotaged the train

in the style of kabuki theater, the stagehands are dressed all in black, silently moving the set around the actors, changing things and completely invisible, the audience accustomed to ignoring them at this point

lokis song comes, and the whole time she sings, she is beset by these stagehands, dragging her around like another set piece, harassing her, interacting with her but still invisible to everyone else. sigyn tries to get her attention during her song, tries to pull her into their wedding dance- but the stagehands keep pulling loki into dances of their own, all while sigyn has no idea why her wife wont so much as look at her

losing track, lyf is losing track and the suspects are lined up onstage, singing, taunting as lyf stalks among them, grabbing their arms and faces and demanding answers. as he loses his mind, falling into despair, they turn to him and grab him back, pull him down, yell the only words they have left at him as he despairs.

the live band is dressed in theme, all steampunk-ed up, on a mini stage off opposite lyf with minimal lighting on them, until- expert testimony comes by, lyf bemoans having to go to the imprisoned bandits that annoy him so, as he crosses the stage, only for the lights to rise on the band and guess who theyve been the whole time!

red signal. lyf stands center stage, frozen in place as he chants, summoning that squamous something from beyond the veil, as those stagehands, all-black, all-invisible, shift and change before the audiences eyes, pulling out rainbow scarves, makeup once hidden shining bright and vivid in sudden black light. they dash off the stage as the rip between worlds widens, run amok the audience, slamming through doors and screeching as lyf voice raises higher, higher, until-

intermission

and when the audience comes back, the stage is... wrong

more black light, the set has warped and twisted. rainbow lights shimmer brighter on the backdrop, splashing in pools on the stage and the actors faces. the stagehands run free now, the monsters from behind the veil, the unholy things now attacking the actors directly, tearing them apart as the train falls into chaos

thor confronts the all-mother, transformed; she stands at the top of a podium now, the top of a platform while her costume has expanded around her, grandiose robes melting into a massive, writhing puppet manned by the stagehands, a bright and staring eye projected behind her head, staring at the audience, watching. thor fights off the hands, loses, and finally throws his hammer at the eye- replaced with a bright, white crack as the stars claim them both

loki and sigyn share a final tender moment in the engine room, they get their dance in before sigyn slips the line into her wifes arm. they share a final kiss as the curtains close on them, leaving...

lyf, standing center-stage. bottle in hand, exhausted, terrified. he bids the audience good luck, laughs wryly about the bandits disappearing - at some point, the live band quietly disappeared from their side-stage - and slips behind the curtain

terminus

the radio static fizzes, and as we hear the panic spread across the galaxy, the curtains part for bows. the bell tolls, flashing that bright, staring eye back as all other lights go off, plummeting everyone into dark and stark relief

so yeah, ive thought of this a normal amount

#the mechanisms #the bifrost incident #personal #my writing #technically??#anyways i havent actually opened the doc this is all in in years #but ive thougth about this and turned these thoughts and visuals over in my head enough times #that i completely one hundred percent was able to just rattle all this off the cuff #can you tell im autistic. anyways if i had unlimited budget i would one hundred percent make this #but theres so much that i just cant see happening on your average local theaters budget. so

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satanfemme · 3 months

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I think it's interesting the way children's autonomy and adult autonomy go hand in hand, and the way the ongoing attack on trans people makes this relationship more obvious than ever (at least to me). republicans were recorded discussing their "endgame" of banning transgender care for everyone regardless of age, and in it they rationalize these previous years' focus on banning transgender care for minors by claiming it's just because they need to "take small bites" in the campaign towards their end goal. they blatantly state that they do not think anyone, regardless of age, can consent to gender transition, but only with minors is it so socially acceptable to claim they aren't capable of consent.

because of this widespread idea that children are not capable of consenting to anything, or capable of expressing any form of autonomy, and because of the idea that they are a second class of citizens beneath adults (and often more specifically: beneath their parents, who they are the "property" of), children become the ideal target for this kind of political action. these republicans knew people were less likely to question it if they infringed the rights of children, so that's why they started their ongoing attack on transgender people with an attack on trans children.

the revelations of this audio recording should not be surprising to anyone who's been paying attention, but personally this drives home the idea to me that in order to protect both children and adults we as a society need to reframe the way we view the autonomy of children. I don't know the perfect solution here, but the way children are currently viewed is clearly dangerous, and as LGBT people we need to be more proactive allies to children because our struggles go hand in hand and always have.

#is that a solid analysis? I'm tired and this is just off-the-cuff but these are my thoughts and feelings #and regardless: autonomy for everyone by any means necessary

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geth-consensus · 27 days

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Fallout show spoilers below. A mostly exhausted rant, of sorts.

Bethesda’s fetish for keeping the world of Fallout perpetually quantum locked into nothing more than a post-apocalyptic wasteland just makes everything feel so…purposeless.

First the Commonwealth, and now the NCR. Why should even bother getting invested in these factions when they’re just going to be destroyed/reset later on. Worse actually. They’re always destroyed off screen. We don’t even get to experience their decline. Just a second hand, expository explanation after the fact.

And if a faction as ingrained into the series as the NCR isn’t safe from being just offed off screen, then what is even the point anymore. The series reduced to nothing more than an endless wasteland of raiders and baby faced vault dwellers forever, until the end of time.

Unless of course you’re the Brotherhood of Steel. A faction Bethesda are more then happy to bend over backwards to break canon for. Or the Enclave, who will seemingly always persist no matter how many times their leaders are killed, or bases blown up.

Just…what’s the point anymore. Why should we care? The world will never be allowed to recover. Any interesting stories it could provide atomised in the single minded drive to keep everything in ruins, and to forever keep this world trapped in the state in which it began.

As the eternal aftermath of the Great War…

…and never allowed to be able to move on from it. Never again allowed to move forward. To just move on.

#fallout #fallout show #fallout show spoilers #musings #my musings #for complete transparency I’ve only seen up to episode 2 so far #but the internet fully spoiled it for me #the show is still enjoyable as a piece of media #but I strongly disagree with the direction the lore is taking #this was an off the cuff series of thoughts cobbled together #but I’m so annoyed I felt the need to verbal vomit about it

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aweisz · 4 days

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i have a thing to say

#you know how if you wear rings/a watch/a tight bracelet or whatever for the whole day you will still feel it when you take it off #im having thoughts but like. leather cuffs or collars or whatever. you know #totally not inspired by what i feel rn because of wearing 7 rings + a watch + 3 bracelets + a leather cuff today teehee

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dewdoles · 5 months

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Personality development headcanons

#ragbros #I think diluc as a kid was one of those extroverted introverts with a heck ton of energy but none of it went to socializing #whereas kaeya was extremely closed off and reserved #who tried his hardest to make himself invisible or useful to someone to justify his existence #also kid kaeya can and will psychoanalyze every person he comes across #to a scarily accurate degree #meanwhile diluc is like social skills what’s that #(he was always off in his own world studying exploring #or causing havoc when he really wanted attention lol)#then as they get older diluc becomes more grounded in reality thanks to knightly and older sibling responsibilities #kaeya becomes less crushed by the weight of his reality and lets himself lighten up and enjoy the company of the people he loves #idk just some off the cuff thoughts #I am trying to capture their Vibes #I would love to read other people’s thoughts on this topic!!

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vulcanette · 5 months

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I watched the Mother God series on hbo and. There’s a lot to say but my first impression is just to be in awe of how powerful delusion can be and how our thoughts really construct our material reality. I found myself in horror of their ‘convictions,’ and felt like the series did not do enough to paint these people as monstrous. Not in the way they treated Amy Carlson but in their BUSINESS efforts of spreading their lies and selling their tinctures and snake oil to people…. that really pisses me off the most. I feel like maybe a little too much grace was given to people who were preaching the harmful message that all illness stems from ‘energetic misalignment.’ Reminds me of these micro Christian cults that preach that “healing is yours” if you’re “godly” enough. Really nothing pisses me off more than new age spiritualists blaming poor and sick people for their own pain.

#love has won #mother god #a small diary entry #personal #just some thoughts right off the cuff #hope and faith really scared me bc they were truly Zealous and would not allow the any questioning of ‘mother god’s’ bullshit doctrines

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neep-neep-neep · 3 months

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the first time Auden kisses Frey's cheek while they're chatting on the roof of the tower of Binnoi and Frey falls 200 feet before Cuff does the balloon thing to break her fall again and yells at her and she is just staring at the sky immobile

#forspoken #frey holland #auden keen #freyden #she slides off onto the ground #the sound of rapid fire footsteps of Auden having run all the way down the tower to check on her #the soldiers staring from their training in the square #the upper city passersby looking like wtf #a familar vooshing into the air to see why Frey is paralyzed and nuzzling her until she comes to her senses #Auden looking terrified kneeling beside her #Frey trying to “act casual” as she sits up beet red #Cuff: and here I thought only cats could addle your mind #ficlet

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whispers-of-masser · 5 months

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@dalishthunder you tagged me for a WIP thing back on July 26 and just missed me; a few days prior I went on an indefinite break. I didn't see the tag till just now, logging back in for the first time in months and scrolling through my dash – it was so far back it wasn't even in my activity log and I've already lost the post lmao Anyway here's a lil something I just thought of for it. In return I'm tagging you back, cause uh ... why not lol

~~~

"Hey. If we were animals, what kind would we be?"

You blink at Khash's sudden question, glancing over to the tree stump she's perched on, Xelzaz sitting on the ground right in front as she braids him a flower crown.

Before you can even think of an answer, Nebarra stomps past with a disdainful sniff. "You and Xel would be lizards, what else? And our dear dragonborn... well, as if that isn't obvious."

Xelzaz shoots him a lazy glare. "Your lack of originality is as astounding as ever, Nebarra. You even managed to forget to list yourself."

"Oh!" Khash's hands pause their braiding momentarily. "I know what Nebarra would be!"

"An eagle, I expect," the Altmer drawled. "Or something equally–"

"What? No – a mud crab!"

For several long seconds, there was silence.

You're the first to laugh, Xelzaz quickly joining in, even as Nebarra splutters an indignant, "What?"

"I mean," Khash begins, pointing at him with a bundle of yet-unwoven flowers, "you're covered in a hard shell of armour, a sword and dagger for pinchers, always fighting stuff much bigger than you – and you're cranky like one, too."

"She's got you there," you manage to laugh.

#uhh yeah that's it #ive been awake for over 24 hours at this point; Im surprised I even managed to write this much on the spot and off the cuff #but yeah hi after 3 or so months lol #it was fun coming back to a tag; ik I don't sound very enthusiastic rn but Im just tired I promise lol #my thoughts are splintering so uhh peace out im out #skyrim nebarra #whisper writes #skyrim khash #skyrim xelzaz #i don't think i tagged this fully but eh who cares lol

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glavilio · 9 months

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my annoying beastars thoughts under the cut. continue if you dare

the thing that makes beastars so interesting to reminisce on is that it is poorly written in such a way that it becomes actively difficult to engage with the story without interpreting it as a gay one. its really only aesthetic in the first part of the story, but after louis runs off and the murder investigation arc starts, all of the character points set up with legosi and his relationship to herbivores as interspersed with love are severed from haru as she's almost completely sidelined. the only conversations between legosi and haru are ones in which legosi is being a terrible partner, never hitting any actual beats that might progress their relationship's development. meanwhile, all of the beats furthered in a romantic or even sexual context are feature the relationship between legosi and louis, and while i don't think the story or author are intentionally pivoting, that fact + all the suggestive framing between louis and legosi + how legosi's character foil riz is pretty overtly queer-coded, ends up making a very compelling story almost entirely by accident. there are plenty of aesthetic and incidental things that make the story really... gay (which are sometimes half played for laughs, like like legosi french kissing riz to identify unknown saliva by taste), but i think the the most poignent examples are the more subtle but critically important plot beats like this:

(itagaki really should've had the foresight to involve the the actual intended love interest in the story, so they would be able to put that character in this very important scene. id argue this chapter is THE most important component of legosi's romantic arc, and yet haru is still MIA)

this is why everything goes so downhill so quickly (aside from the drawing-burnout on itagaki's part, and the random nonsense concepts of course). from a character standpoint, everything set up in the first part with legosi's character has pretty much been resolved, while his relationship to haru specifically is totally underdeveloped. so itagaki decides to just revert legosi to a previous state, undoing all the character progression and making him jarringly unlikeable as he appears to have learned nothing. meanwhile, louis has almost nothing to do, and haru still does not get the focus she desperately needs from the story. instead, random elements are thrown together, a few of which stick, but don't adress any problem or shortcoming of the story thus far and instead just make them more glaringly obvious as previous arcs are vomited back up half-digested as the story flails around, trying to latch back on to what worked. beastars was always a character driven story. the world was interesting, but could not stand on its own without the interesting dynamics that pushed the first and second arcs forewards. when those disappeared, the whole thing seemed retroactively suspect: the reader is forced to consider if the story was ever really that good in the first place.

the story tries to have it both ways. if it has ended here, it wouldve been the perfect conclusion to louis and legosi's character arc. the story with legosi as a protagonist would need to end here, or very shortly after, because legosi's internal conflict is largely thematically resolved, even if his relationship with haru isn't, because the story substituted louis, rather seamlessly, into her role in legosi's development. of course, it would be better if the story ended with haru actually having a character arc, but to move naturally past this point it would need to switch POV characters (ideally to haru herself). instead, it has to make an abrupt and very clumsy shift to continue with legosi, and fails both the potential for haru's conclusion to work and retroactively weakens everything that happened up to this point. i think a great deal of blame lies with the context in which beastars was being produced as well: a good editor should've caught this in advance, and the story was likely renewed for new chapters without a plan or really the full enthusiasm of its creator. thats speculation on my part but itagaki's interviews seem to strongly imply it. i have more thoughts but perhaps they are better saved for another time

#this is all very off the cuff and not well thought out so dont take it too seriously. teehee

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themidnightcircusshow · 2 months

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Every new thing I learn about James Somerton's process just drives home how he almost (but really doesn't) knows what he's doing. Yes, of course you use the sources you read as a jumping off point. Of course you copy and paste the important sections into your outline document so you can reread them. That's why you put them in quotation marks.

#James Somerton #honesty time: I totally believe he did this by accident #his entire problem is that he writes like a fandom account with bad takes #his anecdotal evidence that Todd in the Shadows spent a two hour video trying to find sources for?#they're all fandom drama taken out of their cultural context #(yes fandom counts as a subculture and therefore has specific context)#and all of it gets attributed to straight white women coz everyone knows shippers are all straight and cis women /s #he simultaneously treats his videos like bad fandom meta and Documentaries of Great Importance and those just do not mesh #it's part of why his videos were so unbearable if you actually knew what he was talking about #he learned how to make a youtube video essay. He did not learn how to write or study any of his chosen subject matter #I think that's also why he was not expecting to be called out the way he has because I suspect he probably thought everyone wrote this way #a lot of old video essayists especially the Chez Apocalypse bunch were very good at not broadcasting just how much went into their videos #so their style that has now become the norm feels incredibly off the cuff but is heavily researched #but also they are using that research to support their own hypotheses and ideas as you are supposed to #so I wonder if when he got called out he just brushed it off because surely he just writes the same way everyone writes #(and hey fandom posts are rarely cited because they assume everyone knows what they are talking about)#it almost makes me feel sorry for him but all I can think about is how catstrophically bad he is at this job #oh and for everyone wondering: I've found the best way to research is to put quotes in quotation marks #paraphrasing in either different punctuating or a different colour #and your own personal thoughts based on the source in something different again #all with the correct citations for your preferred style #this makes sure you have everything cited so when you put it all together you can do it easily without having to go back through it all #and prevents this from happening #(tbh I'm kinda sad I'm not still teaching. This would have been a perfect meme for how to do your damn citations week)

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blinkpen · 1 year

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drew zoe a few times today and while they're completely unrelated with entirely different tones, contrasting crops from what i drew early in the day vs a doodle comic what i just hashed out quick makes it seem like he just got z-targeted by the necrin for daring to have a single moment of mental peace which. yeah that sounds about right

#doodles #zoetrope #necrin #[necrin voice] aww you thought the day was gonna end without it going wrong??? Absolutely Not #blood cw #abstracted and obfuscated but just in case #i may have accidentally made him too cute in the first one #and so my brain did that weird primordial instinct thing where it sees something cute and Oh My God It SO Cute Squeeze It Until It Dies #and thats why he ended up having a Real Bad TIme in this random off the cuff comic my id was restoring balance or something

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coffinliqueur · 2 years

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God, I sure do love bisexuality, aromanticism, and being bisexual and aromantic.

#text post #misc.#nigel talks #lgbtqia+#bisexual #aromantic #i would also tag this as shitposts because it's a flippant off-the-cuff thought but i won't because it's also just genuinely true.

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revasserium · 4 months

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in 2023, i wrote and posted 76 things to this blog and... i think that's something to be proud of :)

#i did a quick count on my notion #and this doesn't count some of the things i wrote and posted off cuff on tumblr... like some of the bulletpoint headcanons and stuff #that's.... a lot more than i thought tbh LOL #esp considering i picked this blog back up kinda halfway through the year #well like in april but still!!! 76 thingies!! !#this is a reminder that sometimes you gotta remember to look back at the things you've accomplished #bc sometimes its way more than what it FEELS like you've accomplished #🌧 raindrops

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nazmazh · 6 months

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I don't think it's a thing, or at least not as pervasive of a thing as previous iterations of it, but it seems like True Crime Podcasts never really got the full Moral Panic(TM) treatment that other dark/lurid media got in their times.

Like comics were put under the yoke of The CCA, which effectively killed the crime (true or otherwise) genre, because it was believed to be a corrupting force.

Rock music, TTRPGs, and video games got an extra dose of Satanic Influence flavour in their panics, without even necessarily being all that lurid anyway, but especially with HUGE variability in tone and style between works in the same medium - Like KISS and others leaned into the "Ah! We're so strange and scary!" vibe. And several rockers intentionally pushed the boundaries of "acceptable" sexuality and expression for the times, sure. And much of the demonization of rock is rooted in racism because it was developed from African-American music styles (with certain genres, where the influence, and popularity with Black people was more obvious, got hit especially hard because of this). But like, the freaking Beatles were seen as potentially "dangerous" and "unwholesome" (the scandal of it all!) even before they leaned fully into New Age and other general weirdness that I could see as being especially off-putting to the kinds of people that go on these moral crusades.

Violence and any sort of sexual expression/depiction in movies and TV was blamed for corrupting the nation, especially the youth - and to some extent still is. Doubly so for video games.

Computers, the internet, and social media are still seen as direct pipelines of filth into vulnerable minds.

Heck, even Novels were seen as a craze that would drive the women and youths towards inappropriate behaviours, back when they first started being published - Too easy to print and distribute (way more possible for people with ill morals to publish material!), too conviently accessible by anyone - Not needing as careful of handling or storage, and much less likely to get damaged being carried around than previous printing methods; they'd distract from duties and anything could be published in those books, and they'd be easy enough to conceal from disapproving guardians due to how compact they could be

But I can't say that I've really seen much, if any real targeting of True Crime Podcasts with these sorts of accusations in any sort of very visible way. Not even from the usual moral crusader suspects (though I'm sure some of them no doubt are out there railing against the podcasts, because that outrage against everything is what sustains certain kinds of fundamentalists), and certainly not in the mainstream media - The most I think I've seen is a few mild, often self-deprecating, jokes, said with genuine fondness, in a few more trope-savvy works here and there.

And that's despite the presence of many of the crusaders' favourite punching bag traits:

- Lurid subject matter

- Often sensationalized presentation

- New form of media

- Easily consumable by the masses

- Incredibly popular, especially paired with a rapid rise in popularity

- Especially popular among women (who, as we know from previous panics, clearly have such delicate sensibilities and fragile, malleable minds that they absolutely, positively cannot be trusted to make their own decisions about media consumption. CLEARLY.).

I would make a note about it definitely being popular with young women, which it is, sure. But honestly, I'm reasonably certain it's not especially more popular with them than with older audiences. The podcast format specifically may not necessarily be the favourite medium for a older potential audience member, especially compared to a younger potential audience member, but there's plenty of people middle aged and older that happily listen to podcasts. However there is an absolute glut of true crime shows on TV, often marketed towards women. The Investigation Discovery spin-off channel is pretty much all true-crime shows and documentaries (with maybe some Based on a True Story- style dramatizations thrown in for good measure). And even though it's not specifically, explicitly a women-focused channel in the same way, say the Hallmark Channel or Lifetime are, much of their shows formatting and much of the marketing material definitely leans toward targeting and retaining women specifically as an audience. I can remember my grandma contentedly watching the channel all day long. And let's not forget the archetypical "Lifetime Movie" is generally taken to mean a True Crime "It Could Happen to You"-cautionary tale-dramatization.

Heck, even the collection of books inherited by grandma when her mother passed away included a large amount of non-fiction books about "Tracking The Murders of [such-and-such] County" and suchlike. So, no, I don't believe the True Crime fascination is exclusively a young person phenomenon. It's been around in some form for quite a while and maintains its appeal across age demographics.

So, what gives, moral crusaders? Where's your campaigns declaring True Crime Podcasts a danger to society? Where's your press tours? Why don't you have politicians taking the floor in meetings/council/congress/etc., to declare this media to be the scourge of the nation and the latest existential threat to Western Society? Won't SOMEBODY think of the children?!?!

I know we as a society aren't all stuck watching the same news/media sources anymore, and in many ways we're not as beholden to the control/influence of the, often (but not exclusively) Evangelical, Christian institutions that used to really push this stuff as an issue to the forefront of public discourse, but I can't believe that they'd've just completely gone away and stopped trying to force everyone else to adhere to their sense of indignation and live under their moral code.

It's almost as though they're not stirring up as much outrage about this because they found something else they think is a bigger problem and/or stands a better chance of catching on with mainstream audiences.

And... oh.

Oh.

Oh no.

Well.

Shit.

I started writing this ramble upstairs, watching TV with my parents. They've been watching that "Based on a True Story" show. And that's what got me thinking about the pop-cultural niche True Crime Podcasts have found themselves in, and reactions to them compared to reactions to other forms of media that have discussed/depicted violent crimes and other controversial subject matter in the past and present (See also: Only Murders in The Building).

This was supposed to be an all-"Haha, isn't it kinda silly how things are?" little quip about how "Outrage ain't want it used to be". From my very privileged white dude point of view. But I think I stumbled into something here. Something that I might not even be the best person to talk about. So I won't go too in-depth on subjects I'm very much out of my depth on, but, I do kinda wanna get to my conclusion.

So uh...

Yeah, okay.

The Moral Crusaders are busy with other topics.

They've found bigger fish to fry, so to speak.

They're out there railing against favourable and even neutral depictions of queerness in media, especially children's media.

They're out there railing against social justice, racial equity, historical rectification, truth and reconciliation.

They're out there railing against science and education and instilling earnest curiosity in people.

Against secularization, diversity, and inclusivity.

Against correction of their own misinformation and indoctrination.

They put it all under one banner these days, and rail against it all as though it were a conspiracy to deliberately supplant them.

They're too busy crusading against "Wokeness" - Their idea of what that means, anyway.

I don't think it's the only reason there's not a big crusade against True Crime Podcasts, as I've said above, Christian morality has reduced official and unofficial influence in so-called Western society than it did in times past. And there's much better access to resources for getting different information and opinions on a subject than the people immediately around you and whatever the handful of news channels and papers you have access to tell you. That is to say, sources that require very little effort on one's own part. It's a heck of a lot easier to google something or check wikipedia than it would have been to have to trek down to the library and ask if they have any books or journals or magazine or... any sort of information about a subject.

And it's not like their boogeyman of "wokeness" isn't anything new for them to crusade against. They've always complained about it in some form or another - Who could forget the outrage against children's media back in the day?:

"Is Bugs Bunny gay?" "Is Spongebob gay?" "Is Tinky-Winky gay?"; "This book discusses subjects that should only be talked about between a mother and her daughter! It's disgusting!"; "I couldn't let my kids watch anything with magic in it - That's the devil's work! That's why I don't trust these mainstream educational programs!"

In terms of more outrageous complaints about children's media.

That's not to mention complaints about other media - Those expressly intended for adults. Or complaints about progressive actions taken in society in-general. Some of these have typically appealed only to the most vocal of cranks - The kind of things complaining about depicting characters who do un-Christian things in works, or that students are being taught proper sexual education or that vaccination is mandatory for entry into institutions like public schools.

But there's plenty of complaints that don't garner immediate pushback from less-extreme conservatives or even so-called moderates: "Why is there so much diversity in casting these days? Why can't they just make their own shows?", "Why are they coming after that comedian for telling edgy jokes?", "Why are they pushing this global warming crap down our throats so much anyway?"

In "wokeness", they've found something that seems to not only unite everything under one banner, but resonate more strongly with some people than the old canards of "liberal" or "politically correct". Sure, there's always been people who have said those with the same contempt and venom that they use for the truly heinous things of the world. But in co-opting "woke" from the original meaning among Black people expressing solidarity with each other and encouraging others to to remain aware of the social and political issues that definitely, almost-always negatively, affected their lives, the moral crusaders have found something that strikes a nerve with a large swath of people who might otherwise have not agreed that several of their bugbears actually needed opposing. Now, there's a single enemy ideology that pervades all culture-war issues. It's all connected, you see. Something you thought was harmless? No! You see, that's just how they're going to infiltrate your mind! Your childrens' minds! Don't give them any ground at all!

Awareness of an issue was and still is basically the mildest thing to ask of someone else. As a call to action, "Stay Woke" is a pretty small request.

The crusaders make it out as though it's a battle-cry, a command - A decree that all aspects of all things must adhere to the most progressive, indeed, transgressive views, opinions and approaches on all subjects. That this is upending the previously established status quo just for the sake of upending it. And that this interpretation is the one adopted by all powerful entities in society - Government (especially including the education system), mainstream media, big businesses, etc. And that these entities have oppressive reasons in mind to force those beliefs on society. And that dissent against this woke "nonsense" is the objective truth in a world gone mad! It's an imperative to preserve your way of life!

And, uh. No.

Whatever world they're living in where that's actually happening is quite different from our reality, of course.

Honestly, though? It doesn't need to start out seeming like a big conspiracy - Even asking for honest awareness, in good faith, might be enough to infuriate non-crusaders. People don't often voluntarily to entertain the notion that things they do, things they've done, and things done in their name by others, that they continue to benefit from, are indeed "bad" actions.

Because that now feels like a personal attack against them. They're bad people for not pushing back against this. They must be considered complicit. How dare you think that of me!?!

And then, then the crusader-types just need to introduce the notion that this consideration being "demanded" of this otherwise passive group is the result of a slippery slope of this entire progressive, questioning mindset. Acknowledging any part of it means accepting all of the crusaders' hyperbolic claims about what that ideology actually means.

Through the magic of "Wokeness", it's all connected - It's all out to get you.

Where does it end? Didn't you see how they treated that one guy? Surely, he's no monster. If they can go after him for something so harmless, what's stopping them from coming after you next, for something that's probably even more innocuous?

Moral crusaders know the value of a good persecution complex.

It's not just asking you to be aware of how your presence in the world affects it. It's targeting you. Right?! That's surely the point of this is to find a guilty party and punish them! They're going to make you take the fall for this and directly suffer the punishment for it! You can't let that happen!

It's not even as explicit of a line of reasoning as this.

But either way, the moral panic is spreading and the crusaders are getting a bunch more people loudly on-board with their crusade.

They're banning books and calling for show cancellations under the whole banner of "woke ideology".

They're getting their press tours. Speaking with friendly talking-heads to puff themselves up, then going on with people unwilling to challenge their claims in the interest of fairness - And even if the commentators do push back, the crusaders will spin it as "the woke mainstream media trying to suppress our beliefs" and use that as a recruiting tool.

They're getting their politicians going on rants in city council meetings. During campaign rallies. In congressional/legislative sessions. In published opinion pieces.

In judicial rulings.

In enacted legislation.

The crusade continues. In many ways, it's as pervasive and successful as it's ever been.

It's not True Crime Podcasts that have been the subject of a moral panic this time around.

They must not be "woke" enough to bother with.

#ramblings and rantings #culture war #social issues #moral panics #long post #(Don't act so shocked - I gave my blog here that 'Assorted Rantings' title for a reason)#(so the occasional ramble/rant is to be expected right?)#Been in a real write-y mood lately for some reason #hopefully this scans reasonably coherently #this took way longer to write out than I thought it was going to #that first half was basically done #I was already to click 'post' and send it out into the world #but as I was asking that question in that paragraph the answer hit me #and I realized I couldn't avoid discussing the elephant I'd just spotted in the room #that's kind of why it feels at least a little like two separate posts tbh #this was largely off-the-cuff so I am happy to receive any corrections to my interpretation of things #or any hard evidence for or against my assertions

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listlessdionysian · 5 months

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Stories Are All We Are

I've loosely paraphrased a line from Cristina Bacchilega's 2015 paper Narrative Cultures, Situated Story Webs, and the Politics of Relation in the title - because it's something I think about a lot. Hell, I think about that paper regularly when I'm working - especially in the long hours were the words come like a slow drip from a leaky roof and I'm under it with a sauce pan just waiting, waiting for that soft plink.

But there's another, more poignant line (paragraph, really), and I want to unpack this with you if I may:

"Stories construct our worlds and us at the same time, emerging from actual negotiations with and in these worlds. Stories create and weave together the social networks that define us whether we belong to them or we other them. Stories shape our conceptions of these worlds, and they have material impact on these worlds, the human ones and the other living ones (natural and spiritual) we are a part of."

Daniel Quinn's novel Ishmael talks about stories as interrelations: narratives (and acts) that state how we connect to each other and the world around us. By extension, a culture is a group of people who have agreed on a story to make into a reality. He used this framing as a way to explain why western-society seems so hell-bent on its own ecological destruction: it is pursuing a story where the normal rules of resource use, population growth, and just generally sharing the planet and taking your turn, don't apply. It's a story where humans have ascended to knowledge held only by the gods.

That Bacchilega quote says it better than I can - a story is both an expression of our understanding, as well as a tool or even a force that impacts, expands, or even limits that understanding. When we talk about history as a narrative - we mean exactly this. Each volume of history, each new perspective is an expression or interpretation of past events - both presenting contemporary attitudes to the actions or attitudes of past generations, and also a shaping of cultural knowledge that may influence or affect future generations.

David Stannard (1992) made effective use of Leonard Thompson's conception of 'political mythology' in his analysis of European colonial violence in the Americas. Putting it as simply as I can, a political mythology is a narrative that tries to create a historical, or even sometimes 'scientific', basis for a ruling ideology or class.

Think Social Darwinism, or those people that bleat on about 'Alpha Males'. It's the pursuit of rationalisation or exoneration. Previously settled (or mostly settled, inasmuch as any of these things can be) historical discussions around the evils of imperialism, colonialism, racism, and any stripe or shade or form of bigotry can be reopened if it suits someone's platform or goals.

It can also be much, much smaller.

Each of us have our own stories - and isn't that just a worthless, pithy statement at times? But it is true. We are each creating and living out our own stories - billions of narrative threads and character arcs jostling for space alongside each other. The threads weave in and out, casting little fields of affect on each other, only to disappear over the horizon as they pursue their own terminus. The way we tell those stories to ourselves and to others affects us, deeply. If we behave badly, or mistreat others, we are tempted to explain away our behaviour. The narrative shifts and warps in order to keep us at its centre, as the hero of the narrative.

So it pays to think while you're writing.

What is the story I'm telling and how does it connect to others? Am I working to explain or exonerate, or to criticise or condemn? Who does this help? Who does this serve?

That's not to say it should be a conscious part of the drafting process, exactly. I know and have heard of many writers scuttling themselves in the pursuit of an ideologically pure novel - finding that such pursuits tend to seize, rather than grease, the wheels of storytelling.

No - save it for the edits. That time when you've set your work aside for a little while and come back to it, hoping you've gained sufficient distance and objectivity to amend and improve your work. Read it, involve yourself in it at both narrative and craft levels - and question yourself.

As I said before: stories express and they influence.

What are you expressing?

What are you hoping to change?