#or do you actually know cultural references

[fromgoy2joy]

I sat next to the protest today.

I wrote fan-fiction about two gay jewish dads raising children to the play list of the chant- "No peace on stolen land!" on an American college campus. It isn't a name brand one either, nor does it have any legitimate ties to Israel. The anger is just there- it has rotten these future doctors, nurses, teachers, and members of society.

I don't even know what to call their demonstration- it was a tizzy of a Jew hatred affair. At points, there were empathetic statements about Gazans and their suffering. Then outright support of Hamas and violent resistance against all colonizers. Then this bizarre fixation on antisemitism while explaining the globalists are behind everything.

"Antisemitism doesn't exist. Not in the modern day," A professor gloated over a microphone in front of the library. "It's a weaponized concept, that's prevents us from getting actual places- ignore anyone who tells you otherwise."

"How can we be antisemitic?" A pasty white girl wearing a red Jordanian keffiyeh gloats five minutes later. "Palestinians are the actual semites."

"there is only one solution!" The crowd of over 50 students and faculty cried, over and over.

"Been there, done that," I thought, then added a reference to a mezuza in the fourth paragraph.

Two other Jewish students passed where I was parked out, hunching and trying to be as innocuous as possible. We laughed together at my predicament, where I am willingly hearing this bullshit and feeling so amused by this.

"Am I crazy? For sitting here?" I asked them. My friends shook their heads.

"We did the same last week- it's an amazing experience, isn't it?”

We all cackled hysterically again. They left to study for finals. Two minutes later, I learned from the current speaker that “Zionism” is behind everything bad in this world.

Forty-five minutes in, a boy I recognized joined me on my lonely bench. He came from a very secular Jewish family and had joined Hillel recently to learn more about his culture. His first Seder was two nights ago.

He sat next to me, heavy like the weight of the world was on his shoulders. There was just this despondent look on his face. I couldn’t describe it anyone else, but just sheer hopelessness personified.

“They hate us. I can’t believe how much they hate us.” He said in greeting.

And for the first time all day, I had no snarky response or glib. All I could do was stare out into the crowd, and sigh.

#fromgoy2joy thoughts #jumblr #jewish #jewish convert #jewish tumblr #jewish conversion #jewblr #tw antisemtism #antisemitism #am israel chai #am yisroel chai #am yisrael chai #Jewish on campus #jewishness #judaism #antisemitism mention #leftist antisemitism #goyim don't touch

[jonjaydami]

So I need to know what animal they think is the batfamilies special interest.

Like we all know they are on the spectrum like look at Bruce. He's a 30 year old man that dresses as a bat and don't get me wrong there are several reasons he dresses as one but it always has something to do with the animal itself and I always think that's funny how it's even used as a joke in several comics, and animated movies/ shows.

So Bruce knows everything about bat's, shape color, species, what food they eat and how they live and even the different culture views on bat's. He could talk all day about it if asked and he always does it with the utmost care. Like he was giving a speech at a gala or speaking to the league.

I think we all know Dicks is obviously Robin's. Cause why else would he choose to be a brightly colored vigilante that's after a bird from the north? I feel like after moving in with Bruce he took a quiz on what bird he would be cause he was studying birds in school and got a Robin and took that to heart as a passion and not only learned everything about a Robin's but that had just become his identity for awhile and he loved it. Bruce when he heard it at first had thought it wouldn't work but after making him his own costume and even watching several videos on the birds he thought it fit his son nicely.

Jason didn't break away from the Robin role and embraces it actually. But he was always way more shy when it came to discussing his favorite. I think he would have a fascination with bugs and snakes and would absolutely be the kid with a spider or a beardy. He once convinced Bruce to get him a baby beardy and then it became an obsession. He had a sweatshirt that even had a cartoonish looking beardy printed on it and he proudly talks about it to any one who asked. Bruce would silently close his eyes and soak in all the information about them he could.

I totally think Tim loves frogs and even sea creatures. He has a tank with shrimp in it and his boyfriend makes fun of him and calls him a shrimp farmer but he also has a tank that has glass frogs in it. It's a huge tank that takes up over half his room and he loves just watching them sleep and even makes cute little tiktoks with them. He always is getting cute things for the habitat and going shopping. He also takes Damian on these trips. Because they both enjoy walking around and even stopping to pet or talk to the people who bring in their dogs. Bruce also enjoys walking into Tim's room and seeing the frogs and shrimp and even says hello to them before leaving again.

Damian is no stranger to having a soft spot for animals but I know he loves cats and dogs. He is definitely a cat person. Alfred the cat is his prized possession and he will proudly take pictures and then draw them. He loves using his animals as drawing references and has multiple books filled to the brim of just them. Sometimes if they are really good he goes to Bruce and asks them to be laminated so he can hang them up in his room because they deserve to be celebrated and respected. He also tells Bruce odd facts about his animals. How Alfred (the cat) specifically likes to sleep on his left side and enjoys being scratched behind his ears the most.

Bruce loves his weird sons because he is weird and for Christmas he always gets them something related to their animals because it's like a bonding experience for them. Some days they don't even talk about anything but their animals but I can imagine them all settling on a couch and out of pure bordem putting on documentaries and spending time just listening and learning. Of course this could also lead into some heated debates about who's animals is the best.

Jason: no you don't understand

Damian: *scoffs* actually Todd you never understood anything

Dick: ok well I set the whole thing for Robin soooo

Tim: oh please you were eight!!

Bruce: I think we are forgetting how bats-

Kids: *groan because they have been hearing about bat's for over half their lives and are tired*

Alfred just walks in and smiles as he sets a pitcher down.

Alfred: actually you are forgetting how important bee's are to the environment. Which is why I plant only the best pollinator friendly flowers

Cue to everyone rioting cause after all this time Alfred has never talked about the fact he is in fact a bee guy. Ever since he started working for the Wayne's they let him have full control of the gardens and he always loved that in the bleak of Gotham he had his own personal eden with the flowers. Bruce's parents also appreciated him for this and would let Alfred do as he pleased when he would passionately talk to them about the bees. Even when they passed away Bruce had always assumed Alfred just did it because he didn't trust anyone else.

Which was part way true but he loves watching them bumble around and bump into each other as he works.

If anyone knows what Duke, steph, and Cass would like please comment or feel free to debate!! Just please remember to be nice and save the bees 🐝

#batman #they are so silly #batfam #dc comics #damain wayne #jason todd #tim x conner #tim drake #bruce wayne #alfred pennyworth #dick grayson #i live for this #i love them #headcanon #animals #debatable #go ahead and try man #your honor they are autism and adhd coded #special interest #no objecting in the court of krypton #teach me how to dougie #once again the chat is tweakin #dc incorrect quotes #dc universe #incorrect dc quotes #dcu #justice league #dinosaurs #i love dinos at least #this is what i get for being a hippie

[greenerteacups]

I'm on my nth re-read of books 1-4, and I keep finding new things to be delighted by, on top of the old reliable lines that make me giggle every time. Like in book 4:

“Yeah,” said Harry, whose success had overdosed him with optimism. “Hey, think about this: you reckon I can just Banish the water and walk down?”

“Oh, bless, he thinks he’s Moses.”

How does (presumably pagan-ish or non-religious based on holiday celebrations) Draco know about Moses? Does he think Moses is a wizard??? I mean... he DID accomplish several miracles with a big stick. Any of the implications here make me cackle

Oh this is awesome, I've been wanting to talk about this for ages: I think wizards know what the Bible is! And Christianity, and Judaism and Islam, and I think there are practicing members of all of those religions (and more!) in the Wizarding World. Here's why.

The Bible (Old Testament specifically — Draco's references lean towards the OT because that's the broader cultural referent, it's the common glue of the Bible/Quran/Torah and if wizards know any Abrahamic text, it's that) is a huge, ubiquitous, world-shaping cultural text that was thousands of years old before the International Statute of Secrecy. The date of 1692 for the SOS means that any muggle culture before the 17th century is fair game, even if it's not accepted by wizards. So that's why I think atheist/agnostic/pagan wizards should still have at least referential familiarity with it.

The fact that wizards celebrate Christmas (NOT Yule, although obviously in Lionheart they do both) tells me that there is at least vestigial religious belief in the population. Expressions like "Merlin" in place of "God" tells me that wizards probably have a different relationship with it — Merlin's generally treated as a kind of prophet? — which is giving "splinter sect of Christianity defined by the emergence of Merlin as a separate prophet for wizards," but I'm not gonna spiral too far into that headcanon, because this is a lore analysis post. But that's my working idea, here.

The first-order response to the "what about magic?" problem is: Not everything that happens in the Bible can be explained by the Harry Potter magic system. Water into wine, sure. Resurrection? Impossible, as far as 99% of wizards know. Harry Potter is the only person we know of to be fully resurrected, and even he's never technically full-dead. Moses parting the Red Sea? I mean, we can imagine spells that would do it, but think about how much water is in the fucking sea! We don't see anything of nearly that scope happen in the series. And what about manna? We know for a fact that you can't use magic to make food!

But let's sidebar that, and drill down on what you can explain. Water into wine. Curing the sick. Okay, cool. There's still a big difference between "established in-universe ability that has been ritualized and turned into technology" and "literal miracles." Walk on water? Sure, you could probably perform a spell for that. But does Jesus? Do we know, for a fact, that he had a wand, or that he cast a spell? Had the spell for that been invented yet? Are you even sure he was a wizard? Can we prove it? Moreover, would it matter?

This leads me to my bigger point about the nature of religious belief: if you believe the dude's divine, having magic doesn't change anything, right? Because he's still the son of God. Christians don't believe Jesus was divine because he performed the miracles; they believe he was divine and so performed the miracles. There are many different IRL-theological stances on how much of the supernatural stuff in the Bible "actually happened," and you can be a skeptic about the scientific facets while still subscribing to its broader philosophical and religious claims about God.

Even if you take Jesus and other Abrahamic characters out of the question, there's still a place for religion in wizarding society, because of the afterlife. With the exception of ghosts (who by their account have never been fully "dead," and so don't know it) and inferi, the relation between the wizarding world and the afterlife is a one-way conduit. That means there's still plenty of room for wizards to adopt religious beliefs specifically about the afterlife, and religion would still play a social role in defining how people approached those topics.

Finally, the pagan elements of the Harry Potter series read less to me as an espousal of sincere religious conviction and more as a ritualistic vestige of prehistorical magical practices. Since the universe's magic draws heavily on pagan ceremonies — especially in the realm of potions/herbology/magical creatures — ironically, I can't imagine paganism as a religion in the universe of Harry Potter. Like, it's just straight-up true! It would be like starting a religion around meteorology, or chemistry. There's no element of mystery or divinity involved for faith and belief to fill in the gaps; you know how magic works, and you can be good at it.

What JKR did with the magic system — apparently on accident — was to textually validate huge volumes of pagan practice without invoking any of the associated spiritual or religious beliefs. And since we live for seven years in the mind of a competent, practicing wizard who does tons of magic without seeming to believe in any particular god at all, I have to infer that you don't need to. Rowling has, again, likely not on purpose, built a universe whose central conceit is: "what if the pagans were just straight-up right?" and revealed the answer to be: "well, then it wouldn't be paganism anymore."

#greenteacup asks #harry potter

[scaredshadowsswap]

(I hope my English is as understandable as possible) I'm embarrassed to ask this but I was constantly asked how the SCP staff would react If they meet an androgynous person for the first time D:

Your english was great! I actually have a lot of ideas for this at the moment, but this is the first time I’ve gotten a request, so it might not come out right. I wrote this generally as the non-binary or genderfluid type of androgynous, but I think it applies just the same to people who just look androgynous :)

Clef:

Clef is probably pretty understanding, but that doesn’t make you exempt from one-liners that cross the line. I imagine Clef will make a lot of pop-culture references, so there’ll be no direct insults, but you may be called the names of famous androgynous people. Be prepared to answer to Annie Lennox or Boy George at least once. No matter your identity, he’ll call you the name of whoever your hair is closest to. Since you’re the first androgynous person Clef meets, you’ll be hearing it a lot, since he has no one else to tease. However, Clef’s insults are not reflective of their opinions, because Clef insults everyone. I think he’d almost like working with an androgynous person more? To Clef, your appearance would be a plus in certain field ops and Foundation situations, so Clef’d probably want you on their MTF.

If you work directly under Clef, he’d be fun and terrifying, just like normal. He’d definitely have an issue with anyone who made fun of your appearance and was serious about their comments, but he’d find a roundabout way of scarring them mentally for life :)

Kondraki:

If it was just seeing you in passing, Kondraki wouldn’t care. If it was working with you, I don’t even know if he’d notice. Kondraki is notoriously bad at names, which makes me think he’s probably also not great at faces. He seems like the type of guy who would take 4 months to notice your hair is firetruck red, so I wouldn’t worry about Kondraki at all. He only cares about if you are hardworking, if you’ll do his paperwork for him, and if you’ll change the coffee filter.

That being said, you’re the first androgynous person Kondraki is meeting. Since you look different from most of the people he works with, he’d probably love taking pictures of you because you’re a unique muse for photos.

Iceberg:

Iceberg will absolutely open the conversation with an insult about your appearance. How you respond will determine how he views you, almost like he was testing you. For best results, answer calmly, confidently, and do not reply with another insult, as he seems quite sensitive. His “Why do you look so weird?” would best be countered with a simple “I don’t know, but I like it!” or something along those lines. He will probably roll his eyes and not say anything else, but he will speak to you again in the future. However, I don’t think Iceberg would have an issue with you looking androgynous at all. I think he’s lacking a filter, and will say whatever pops to mind in a sort of mean way. He was simply acknowledging that you look different to what he is used to, but I think he’d like the style. If you end up becoming friends, he may begin to emulate aspects of your style. He would definitely gift you a scarf sometime to see you you’d style it so he could copy it for future reference.

Gears:

Gears is a short one because he wouldn’t care, or at least, he wouldn’t let anyone know. He is cold, reserved, and respectful, and treats you exactly the same as he treats most researchers. Even if you were working directly below him and he got closer to you, I don’t think he’d acknowledge your appearance except to tie it back to work. “Your hair is a mess, I suggest sleeping at your apartment tonight instead of on a couch” or something like that. Never a comment he wouldn’t make to someone else. However, I think he’d compliment you if you ever changed your hair/makeup/wardrobe, so he definitely notices and thinks positively of it.

Shaw:

Shaw would LOVE it. She’s been genderfluid for a very long time due to 963, so it would probably be a shock to them when they saw a person who looked gender-neutral and/or androgynous. But, it would be a pleasant surprise. He’d probably invite you to tea sometime or some sort of poker event, but you two are besties for the resties.

Shaw would definitely confide in you about their issues related to 963 very quickly, but they’re a decent judge of character and wouldn’t overwhelm you with their struggles. She will absolutely recruit you into her pranks, and sometimes play some on you.

Rights:

Rights would also love you, but it’s because she’d have so many ideas. She’s fashionable, and would have so much fun giving you ideas, whether it be for an everyday casual office outfit, or a formal suit or dress. If you worked directly with Rights, she’d be very low drama with you.

Glass:

Glass is a therapist, so he’ll probably be pretty happy to see that you are doing something that makes you comfortable. He might be able to give you advice on how to deal with some other staff who aren’t as accepting. Glass is a pretty short one because I can’t imagine him caring about your appearance past making sure that you felt comfortable in your skin.

Strelnikov:

Strelnikov…He’s from Russia. I think of Kondraki as traditional, but Kondraki is from Massachusetts, and Strelnikov is actually from Russia, and I think it would take him some time to get used to it. He calls all the male nurses “babies”, so I wouldn’t expect very much from this man.

If you’re hoping for any respect from him, you’ve already raised your standards too high. He may try to pull your records to find your sex at birth, he may snoop through your apartment, but he will not play fair or kindly. He might make comments about it, but at the very least, he won’t talk about you behind your back. Every comment he ever makes about you will be to your face. He might come around…three years later…

#agent strelnikov #dr alto clef #doctor kondraki #scp #scp fandom #scp headcanons #scp foundation #dr rights #dr gears #dr iceberg #dr kondraki #dr shaw #dr glass

[knowlesian]

ngl i lowkey blame the rise of snark as the baseline mode of interaction in geek culture for cinemasins type commentary becoming a big deal and thus for the smug nitpicking that tends to dominate so much of fandom now

#like. look i know snark culture didn’t invent this issue #i too have seen mallrats and jason lee playing the most annoying kind of comics fan #but also like. the way people think attempting to poke holes and Be Smarter Than The Media is how you do critique #like. or we could try engaging with the story and remembering suspension of disbelief is a thing #yes obviously sometimes media just Fucks Up #but i saw somebody refer to a scripted line that got changed in filming as a CONTINUITY ERROR today #people have been so poisoned by this style of critique that they enter all media Trying To Beat it #it’s tiresome it’s annoying often it’s not even factually correct it’s just people not paying attention and wanting a hot take #like. maybe we could all try engaging with the story actually being told? maybe?

[aroaessidhe]

2023 reads

What Stalks Among Us

YA thriller

two best friends skip a field trip to explore some old forgotten backroads - and get trapped in a looping corn maze full of weird shit, including their own dead bodies

they have to figure out how to get out, what’s killing them, what’s causing the maze, and face their traumas

fat girl MC with anxiety, both are bi and have ADHD, no romance

#What Stalks Among Us #aroaessidhe 2023 reads #sarah hollowell #wait i just noticed it's them on her shirt on the cover... #i enjoyed this a lot! #it really immediately gets into it huh. not any build up. but in hindsight that makes sense #it gets a little repetitive in places but it works and I love how it all tied together #no romance #(it DOES explore past abusive relationships as a theme but very much just the effects of healing from that rather than showing #much of the actual relationships) #I really love how it emphasised how important their friendship is without there even being a question of it being romantic #(but also exploring that a bit re: the side character stuff in a way that I think is great) #it does make references and then explain them a lot (though also i get that could be an adhd thing with ur mind going on a tangent) #she even is like man i wish my brain would stop making all these pop culture references! #that plus a few other aspects of the writing felt a bit unsubtle - but also it is YA its allowed to be #that and a few other aspects of the writing felt a bit unsubtle - but also it is YA its allowed to be #also some of the references made me laugh LMAO. including: #'remember when you thought the maze followed crossroad rules from supernatural. do you think the maze knows about super hell' #i cannot fault someone for saying heckin wimdy because I sure do that. well not 'heckin' but #anyway felt like realistic teens #bisexual books

[allthegothihopgirls]

i hate tiktok i hate short-form video content i hate tiktok 'influencers' i hate herd mentality i hate it oh my god

#anti-tiktok #i do not have the app nor do i watch instagram reels or youtube shorts #or whatever other platforms influencers copy + paste their 'content' on #but somehow the culture and 'trends' and drama still seep somewhere into my media consumption #i don't know where or how it happens but i know more about current tiktok bullshit than i care to #i hate how much tiktok exists outside of the app #like you could delete facebook or snapchat or even instagram #and not have to go any further to actively avoid content from the app #but tiktok is just one huge internet virus #the (or similar) content is posted EVERYWHERE #plus influencers are super annoying on every other platform #(not talking about the ones who actually have a talent or niche or whatever to post about) #also tiktok is in conversation everywhere online #and people WILL talk about and reference tiktok things outside of tiktok. a. lot. #anyways i dont like it never will #. #gothihop speaks

[bijoumikhawal]

People discussing Israel's racist policies and Israel's policy of fucking over non Rabbinic communities and fucking up the transmission of diaspora cultures (such as the teaching of languages) is not the time to go "we don't need gentiles in our intracommunity politics". Foundational to Israel is "maintaining a Jewish majority". These communities are attacked in lathe part because they are seen as not being as Jewish as White, Ashkie, Western European Jews (with respect to how Eastern European Jews are also often mistreated), or their Judaism is otherwise seen as deficient. The maintenance of this majority is also why Palestinians generally, cannot really get an Israeli citizenship, even if they wanted to, and sometimes even if they can prove they are of Jewish descent. "Who is a Jew and what is a Jewish culture" is a constructed boundary: for the past 70 odd years it has been a boundary used for violence. If you want anti-zionists to have politics informed by the needs of Jews, they must be party to these discussions.

#cipher talk #Also seeing a post like 'talking about racism in Israel feels bad bc it casts Ashkenazim as evil elites imo' #(Person saying this WAS white AFAIK and that's very funny given not all Ashkenazim are white- and most posts I've seen #Are made by Jews or POC focusing on whiteness more than 'Ashkienormativity') #Then seeing a post like 'I don't believe you care about Yiddish if you only use it to attack Hebrew >:(' is nuts #Which is it do 'gentiles' care too much about Ashkenazi culture and use it as a weapon or do they pick on them as the acceptable group of #'Bad jews' (as people like to put it)? #And ngl any white person pulling this right now definitely doesn't care that much about JOC normally. If they did they'd let them say when #They're uncomfortable lmao because thar is the point of reference you need when discussing racism here #Otherwise you're just doing the 'white person shuts down conversation about racism because they feel upset' thing that everyone does #Including gentiles. Including gentiles who belong to groups (like white Latinos white Irish and Scottish people etc) who have faced #Marginalisation discrimination and genocide #And if you as a white person aren't doing that that tells me you either don't care to pay attention or you don't talk to JOC #So you don't know when JOC are actually uncomfortable and a lime is being crossed #And that's pretty bad because there's quite a few Mizrahim who are aggressive Zionists lmao and would love for you to use them as shield

[worstloki]

Loki's favorite Sabaton song?

(Can't be Swedish Pagans because that's Thor's favorite)

i don't listen to music so this is not a good question for me but also I don't think the bros would listen to stuff with heavy Christianity symbolism and the paganism would be like. a gag for them?

#going off Thor 1's baby reference to being worshipped #and since I like the space alien interpretation #I think Thor would be especially uncomfortable with the idea that ppl r actually worshipping myth versions of them btw #like there's a difference between being a hero in someone's eyes bc you fought back an alien invasion #and then people religiously believing you're a certain way or connected to a whole reviving belief system #Tony: hey what do u guys know about the myths and paganism? you know? like when people-- #<the bros both staring at the ground like they didn't hear him> #Thor and Loki youngadultcore #like how awkward is it for them think about it #especially if they do/don't have their own beliefs with Valhalla or like cultural values we see onscreen

[ezraphobicsoup]

sometimes i think i’m a fully proper binary guy. and then i think about gender for a minute too long and

#no but i am a guy i’m not non binary #but equally what makes me a man? what is masculinity?? how can i identify with something i don’t understand?? but i am a man! but why?? what #does that mean???? what makes anyone anything and does it matter??? no of course not! all that matters is that people can comfortably view #themselves and that’s the point of gender; to be comfortable #and gender *roles* are just bullshit and not real. but if not for gender roles where does gender come from?? again does it matter???? #i mean really. we’re all just people and it’s about being happy. these boxes exist for a variety of reasons but if there’s happiness in the #box then you take the fucking box #you can have as many boxes as you like. or none! you just do what makes you happy. .. but then what makes me happy #cause as i say. i am a man completely. i wouldn’t be happy if someone referred to me as not a man. but am i a Man? do i want to be? #if masculinity is built upon stereotypes and i can never truly meet those stereotypes then what makes me a man? it’s the feeling of it? #the euphoria in being someone’s son. someone’s brother. someone’s boyfriend. you know? maybe that’s all it needs to be #i don’t have to understand masculinity to be a man. maybe no one actually understands masculinity or feminity for that matter because theyre #not tangible things. that’s what it boils down to it’s fucking intangibility and culture isn’t it #and i mean i think in a sense that’s beautiful? gender boxes can suck because of what we say are in them but really inherently? the fact #that humans have such an array of ways to make ourselves feel more comfortable in how we talk about ourselves? that’s incredible #i think that’s all i have to say for now #once again this is macbeths fault fuck shakespeare why does this always happen #ezra’s real life rambles #tldr i am a binary man but in a silly way i think. ever so slightly to the left. but i like being seen just as a guy and that’s easy enough #sorry to uh broadcast this on tumblr dot com if you read all of this i hope this was interesting

[canichangemyblogname]

Coffee stop stranger to my friend watching a TikTok video: “A terrorist organization uses that phrase to call for jihad, just so you know.”

Me playing dumb because I know this person is just being Arabophobic and Islamophobic: “Which phrase? Alhamdulillah?”

*a pause while they “think” because they don’t know Arabic and have no clue what they’re actually arguing against*

Them: “Yeah. You kids need to stop saying it. It makes people uncomfortable.”

Me: “THANK GOD you were here to tell us. Where would we be without you?”

Old people are so bold and they love to comment on things that are none of their damn business 😑

#A terrorist organization uses a version of this phrase! #okay… so… that means what? #that kids in the US calling & protesting for peace. freedom. and a ceasefire actually want mass death and wide violence? #I’m sure someone would unironically answer ‘yes’ #And it’s just… mmmmmh. No. #critical thinking could be your friend #just because it makes you uncomfy does not mean it’s violence #Skinhead terrorists in the US use the acronym ‘ACAB’ #but no one serious would accuse a black person who supports BLM of being a skinhead calling for police deaths during the ‘day of the rope’ #nor would anyone serious suggest that ‘ACAB’ in response to police brutality against black people is a white supremacist slogan #A yt person saying: ‘ACAB makes me uncomfy’ and pointing to the fact terrorist groups use it in reference to hanging ‘race traitors’ #is not evidence that black people are calling for widespread violence and mass death against yt ppl (even tho yt ppl may argue so) #your assumption that anyone who uses the phrase is a terrorist and is using it to commit and encourage terror and mass death #is nothing short of arabophobia #believe it or not. Arab people. phrases. political movements. customs. and culture are not inherently violent #Palestinian liberation does not see rights the same way you do #It’s not a zero-sum game #there’s no pie of rights where ‘more for you means less for me’ #believe it or not. one people’s rights do not come at the expense of another people’s rights #but I know you think they do given privileges come at the expense of rights #going around demanding random Arabs (esp. Palestinians) and Muslims ‘condemn Hamas’ #every time they advocate for Palestinian liberation #is just as Arabophobic or Islamophobic #as it is antisemitic to demand random Jews condemn Zionism or the Israeli govt. #every time they express the sentiment: ‘Gee. I feel like I’d be more welcome and comfortable in a Jewish-dominant and majority nation.’

[fourspiceblend]

It's funny cause for the most part of the game, I didn't really care about people's criticisms of Engage's writing and thought they were just mad the story was straightforward and didn't try to be overly complex... But now that I'm (finally) reaching the endgame, there's a loooot of weird plotholes that 3H would be jealous of lol.

#i think that what bothers me the most is the fact that we don't know how elyos really works #because with a few exceptions the supports don't really go into it #and the paralogues focusing on the emblems and fanservice references to the older games is a huuuuuge missed opportunity #my experience has still been overall positive but the cracks are definitely showing lmao #thinking thoughts #to be fair i do love how unlike 3h we do actually get to see the four nations have their own identity and explore them after a battle #because BOY was 3H lacking in that aspect just because they wanted to sell you a red herring #but there's telling and not showing. and there's showing and not telling. and one isn't necessarily better than the other #i need a bit of both you know #3h doesn't wanna delve too much into the intricacies of each country because the second it would do so #the whole ''da church controls errything'' red herring would fall apart and the devs really don't want that #so we gotta stay in the monastery at all times and since the monastery is in the very small chunk of land the church DOES control #it helps to keep you in the dark about how things really work #even though the storytelling makes it clear the central church barely controls anything and only intervenes when ASKED #meanwhile elyos really really shows you each kingdom with detail when it comes to aesthetics and culture. which is neat! #but we know little to nothing else even though they keep hinting that the kingdoms each work differently #and we know even LESS about lythos which bothers me the most! #and none of this would bother me at all if we didn't have stuff like the brodia/elusia conflicts in the background #or the existence of a fell dragon religion. or fucking gradlon. or the many dragon races. or kagetsu being a prince #or lumera suddenly having a child and everyone going along with it etc

[idiosyncraticrednebula]

I see that usage of the term "toxic masculinity" has waned in the last 3 years. Thanks God it's finally dying. People just aim that word at anything that isn't some super soft a$$ crap.

#overused terms #txt #i hope misogyny and patriarchy are next in the list of “words that are used so damn much they lost their meaning” #it might have been about pointing hypermasculine/macho/ultra-masculine behavior that people back then used to refer to as precisely that #in the beginning but then it became about shaming normal masculinity #because you know men are the oppressor class so everything they do is wrong #the same goes for white people heterosexuals cisgenders able-bodied people “neurotypicals” #they are all part of the oppressor category. f*ck nuance and having basic intelligence. just buy into retarded sh*t #like honestly. people simply used to refer to these kinds of men as a$$holes/jerks #if we go by how it was INITIALLY used. not how it is used now #that behavior had never been accepted by civilized society at large and still isn't #like rap was heavily criticized back then because of the “toxic masculinity” it radiated. people called it “hypermasculine”. this was #going on in the '90s. now we can get into how it was racially motivated but it proves how people have never accepted jerk behavior or the #perception of it. y'all think society accepts that crap when christianity and chivalry actually came about to combat that #cuz the society it resided in was really barbaric and needed it to be channeled for GOOD. they needed virtue and heart and care #it's the opposite of “toxic masculinity”. i mean christianity is still a “patriarchal” (in the actual traditional sense: role of fathers) #but it's the most benevolent that has ever existed and ever will. no society has ever been perfect and christian have still dealt with tons #and tons of issues but christianity is still the most benevolent and fair religion on the whole planet. it's not even up for debate #**culture #rule**

[joansblondells]

everywhere I go… I see their faces…

#covid fatigue has me watching barbie monster high bratz etc like it’s my job #and this just made me cackle #hellcheer monster high au when…. #also just now realising this 6 sec clip is vaguely hilarious out of context #lmfao #like ​is this funny or have my brain cells officially turned to pulp. I am very out of it #op #💘 #they actually do haunt me #the curse of a ship which draws so heavily on a massive variety of cultural references #high school high fantasy etc etc you know #chatting shite! back to sleeping beauty

[in-tua-deep]

I drew up this merfolk character based on a pajama shark while i was at work! decided to digitally line and color it when i got home, though i did use colored pencils to do the original drawing lol

anyway i call them samira but,, don't get me started on the complex mer naming lore that has been tumbling around my brain all week

#my art #merfolk #every month is mermay if you try #pajama shark mer #mer #but yeah samira lives in my monster and magic 'verse which has its own set of magic rules and people #so yeah merfolk in that world worship the old ones which are basically big old sea monster that are created by and linked with deep magic #and because the old ones are made of magic if they are named it impacts what they are #it's super super forbidden in mer culture to name or nickname an old one because it WILL change them (almost always for the worst) #actually cold ones are just old ones who have gone mad after being named and started killing merfolk #there's an entire cultural role of merfolk who essentially kill cold ones to protect the merfolk but in return they can never be in a pod #ANYWAY that's beside the point #the point is that mer culture has weird name vibes because of this whole thing #basically strangers Do Not Refer To Strangers and they'd just say like. 'this one. that one.' #acquaintances would refer to another mer by the name of their spawning ground which at least denotes group #after that you may get a 'call name' provided by a mer which can change #they basically just get to like. decide their name of the day #FINALLY the ultimate level of intimacy is someone bestowing a name upon another mer #this step is usually pre-agreed on because it is INCREDIBLY rude to name someone who doesn't want you to name them #it's all to do with the old ones. like a 'you know me well enough that i will not be changed by whatever name you give me.' #'or if i am change it would be for the better' #this is some long ass rambles for a simple picture but YEAH #samira's name is a given name - given by their partner santino

[crimsonblackrose]

Wait...wait what? I thought my blog was just getting a fluke in a spike of activity. I thought the activity was like people finding their way through the middle of nowhere because of my posts and being like hey thanks. Not...not big name author’s assistant asking me if I interview authors on my podcast that I stopped doing like two summers ago.

Cue panic. 

#mumblings #like where the heck did you all come from? #(not you reader different blog) #like why am I getting e-mails to review fast fashion when my face is never on my blog? #so I find that one amusing because I said yes once to one of those and the item never arrived 😅 #but this author is...huge #or at least like vaguely huge in my mind because I'm pretty sure her work caused a pop culture reference #I assumed no one would ever really read my book reviews #definitely not the writers/assistants of writers themselves #omg I probably should actually check my notifications more often #It'd be good to do it but at the same time one of the reasons I stopped was because the software I was using was found to be compromised #so I don't have editing software now #me looking at my blog at my podcast and am that meme *can't let anyone know I live like this* #what a friday morning #Me also reading my comments late #this thing's from October but still omg #I don't even remember the review I'm pretty sure I was like this is a huge content trigger warning book that I thought I wouldn't like it #but I did because it was so well written and the voice #which feels so cringe but I was heavily on booktwitter at the time which 0/10 don't recommend #I meant to read the sequel but I haven't yet #I mean this ship might've sailed it's been a while since the comment was sent to me #but omg omg omg omg