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lord-squiggletits · 4 months

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Also speaking of absurd plots in Barber's writing, shout out to that time he wrote a scene of Optimus and the US President talking. And the US president who's a black woman and her father was a civil right's activist has nothing to say about the fact that a police officer in her country getting killed by Jazz was a big reason ppl don't trust the Autobots? Like, a major diplomatic incident b/t humans and Autobots just never gets discussed? Optimus never goes "so heyyy the reason my soldier killed a police officer is because he was about to kill injured and surrendering Autobots, can I get a pardon for that? Or maybe some kind of editorial where we get to clear the air and show both sides of that incident? In the spirit of transparency and fairness not only to your people but also mine?"

Like.

The black female president whose father was a civil rights activist has nothing to say about an incident of a police officer about to fire on surrendering suspects, and then the media treats his attempted killing as him being the noble police officer just doing his duty who was completely in the right to shoot??? Why was this major diplomatic incident not part of some major convention between humans and Autobots? Why did Jazz/Optimus never get to share their side of this incident on an official political or diplomatic channel? Why did Barber write one of his politician characters as being left-leaning and clearly in-tune with social justice issues, having nothing to say about a police officer from her country (a country infamous for police brutality and racial inequality, which she would know personally because she's a black woman) being the subject of an interplanetary dispute causing tension between Earth and the alien civilization trying to help them not get colonized by Decepticons?

Instead the purpose of that scene was like... I don't even remember, it was basically the US pres going "my father was a civil rights activist" and Optimus is like "hm I guess I'll leave Jazz out to dry for the sake of diplomatic relations." I don't understand why the only possible outcome of the story was for Optimus to just abandon Jazz when, as Jazz' commanding officer and a representative of Cybertron, he would've been within his rights (and indeed, may have had such meetings during the war) to demand some sort of trial to clear Jazz' name? Like, the fact that Optimus had this diplomatic power but didn't even try to use it, and the US President had a character background to make her sympathetic and she didn't bring up a trial either, just feels like a massive plot hole.

It's just so fucking bad because not only does the treatment of that incident not make sense logic wise (an international/interplanetary? incident of that magnitude is DEFINITELY something that would be discussed between the leaders of the two nations in question), it also kind of makes Barber's attempts to put progressive politics in the comics look really stupid? Like. Shouldn't a black female president whose father was a civil rights activist go "Ah yes, unfortunately I'm very familiar with pro-police propaganda and the way police are often potrayed as people who can do no wrong. We should talk more about this incident of your soldier killing a police officer, maybe have some sort of trial to determine wrongsoing. Because the fair thing to do is to give alleged victims an attempt to speak and not just assume the police are in the right." Like the US President isn't supposed to be a super important character in the plot or anything, but I just think it's really fucking weird to add this US Civil Rights Era background to one of your characters and then have her not react sympathetically at all to an incident of attempted police brutality.

It really seemed like that whole plot of Optimus deciding that public image is more important than saving Jazz feel super forced and stupid, not to mention it portrayed a minority character with activist backgrounds as being apathetic to an issue she should have a lot of stake in.

...

Also have I mentioned that the incident I'm referring to of Jazz killing a police officer was an event specifically orchestrated by Megatron? Who seeded mind-controlling, paranoia-inducing guns among Earth's populace with the specific goal of poisoning Autobot-human relations? And Megatron literally did an evil monologue about this plan in front of Spike and another Skywatch operative, and Spike is still part of the military in the present day, meaning that he would've known that Jazz killing a police officer was just part of a plan by Megatron BECAUSE HE WAS LITERALLY RIGHT THERE WHEN MEGATRON EXPLAINED IT AND IMMEDIATELY RAN TO TRY AND STOP THE INCIDENT FROM OCCURRING???

#squiggposting #btw this isnt a criticism of 'putting politics in comics is bad!!!'#it's just me pointing out that the politics were handled poorly and the character with an explicitly progressive background #kind of makes her look like a hypocrite and just plain stupid #it confused the message of the story and made me as a reader go 'why didnt she just help OP and jazz then??'#and it made the ensuing plotline of jazz going 'omg OP betrayed me what a horrible person and traitorous friend'#feel like it was forced just to make OP look like a hypocrite #like it really just made no sense to me. if barber wanted to write a story about war leaders and dehumanization or w/e #he couldve written it waaaaaay better

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thisgodwontforgiveyou · 3 months

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i get what they were going for with bug ashley and i guess doing the anti joke of having her just really realistically react to everything and be a completely normal person could have landed but they got so insanely scared simultaneously of being called misogynistic and also of straight men not being able to jack off to her and especially straight women not being able to jack off to her and it just imploded the character concept

#and it pairs poorly with new leon who is like way more reasonable and mellow #having her act like youre fucking crazy!!!!!!!!!!! for doing like. completely mundane shit in reaction to your looney tunes environent #just doesnt work. like all her reactions and interactions were clearly written to be funny in contrast to original leon #but this leon is just some guy whos there doing things #also the fucking agonizing You Have To Be Able To Ship Them In A Fandom Way thing makes me wanna die #i dont even give a fuck if they revised their relationship to be romantic or w/e but its not that its the far worse thing of just #really painful Emotionally Sincere moments like them constantly reaffirming each others safety in just the most #unnatural and steven universe ass ways it makes me wanna fucking cry from cringe every time #and then luis calls you on your smellphone and the tone just becomes completely alien bc hes like. a reality tv personality #hes not even a joke he just feels like a real guy they would get on a tv show cus hes weird and offputting

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bergamotz · 7 months

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i think one of the problems w how we deal w ppl who do a lot of drugs is that what we refer to as drug addiction is at least 2 different things. thing A is the compulsive taking of or desire 2 take drugs. thing B is the overconsumption of drugs by a person who's life sucks or who cannot function w/o them. sometimes doing drugs everyday is the best option! and all "drug addiction" is thought of by the powers that be to be the first thing. and then also physical addiction/dependence is another complicating factor

#speed valium and phenibut were all the second thing 4 me #kratom has been the only drug that i feel like i have to take despite that it isn't rlly doing anything 4 me on a daily basis at least #which is kinda funny bcuz its barely a drug #a lot of this is that its physically addictive/kinda sucks at a low dose/u don't have 2 b on it all the time #so it isn't just background noise and that makes it harder 2 taper #trying tho #this is poorly written but w/e

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jals-stuff · 26 days

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Any mashle character w/ an elder sister with two/three lines!!! kya...

hello anon! unsure if you wanted imagines or an actual story so I'm gonna just.. go ahead and... mhm. some of them are in multiple spots...

mashle characters with a double/triple liner elder sibling short headcanons!

warnings: lowercase to the max, poorly written

some of them would just always look up to you like you're their idol! everything you do is literally a blessing and you're so so cool, too. they want to be just like you one day, and as long as they aren't, it's all good because they can flex and be so proud to show you off to their friends! they always bring you up during conversations!

—finn, love, lemon, abyss, charles, lévis, domina, ryoh

then there's the "i'll be stronger than you one day, just you wait!" crew, that's actually proud of you but will never admit it. sure, you're a triple liner, suuuure, you have an INSANE amount of magical power, but it doesn't mean anything! yet when you're blissfully unaware of it, they gloat about how strong you are and how cool you look. kind of tsundere if you ask me

—wirth?, cell, abel, lance

there's the cute sibling rivalry thingie going on where you two fight alongside each other and they just keep count of how many enemies they've downed, kind of challenging you in a fun way

—margarette, mash, renatus, ryoh, kaldo, meliadoul, delisaster

some of them want to become stronger than you only for the sake of being able to protect you, because you're their dear family and they refuse to let you get hurt. besides, if anything ever happens to you, they want to be able to take over.

—rayne, margarette, mash, lance

some just acknowledge it, they're neither proud of it or pissed, they just accept that you're stronger. when asked about it, they'll say it's a great thing that such a strong mage is from their family!

—orter, carpaccio, milo, sophina, doom

Y O U E X I S T, T H E R E F O R E, I M U S T B E A T Y O U

—wirth, famin

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besttropeveershowdown · 2 months

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The Worst Trope Ever Showdown: Round 1, Side B

Love Triangle

Two characters are both in love with the same person.

Propaganda:

It's all drama that distracts from the main plot. Unless it Is the main plot in which case the audience usually already Knows who they'll end up with so it just serves as pointless, and if they don't then it means people might get attached to the wrong person and it ends up upsetting half the people.

Idgaf about your romance drama I'm aro I'm here for the CRIME. Plus it's often written just because people want characters to be in relationships like shut up and fight a sea monster or something. / all love triangles do is cause violent ship wars polyamory is the solution to all problems

Romantic subplots are often done poorly. However, if you'd like to take your romantic subplot to new levels of awful, try a love triangle! Has double the amount of will-they-won't-they slog, twice as many annoying love interests, with extra unnecessary drama!

It nullifies interesting female characters in to who to choose wars and can cause rifts in fandom, especially if the author’s favorite to win the love triangle is obvious from a perspective outside of the narrative.

Humanoid Female Animal

Mainly a thing in animation (tho comes up in CGI in otherwise live action movies or w/e). the male of an animal species will range from somewhat anthropomorphic to looking pretty much like a normal animal, but the female of (supposedly) the same species will be extremely anthropomorphised & sexualised. often includes long hair on the head, heavy makeup, and boobs where the animals they are supposed to represent usually have none of those, and the males usually don't have any either

Propaganda:

ugh. UGH. can a female not exist without being a sexy sex doll? can a female not be hairy and animalistic like the male counterparts? can a female not have ANY interesting design features/ any design at all except 'sexy'??? CAN A FEMALE ANIMAL LOOK LIKE A FUCKING ANIMAL PLEASE. IF YOU'RE GRANTING THE MALES THAT GRACE WHY NOT EXTEND IT TO THE FEMALES JFC. IS THE ONLY PURPOSE OF A FEMALE CHARACTER OF ANY KIND TO BE SEXY TO THE AUDIENCE??? IS IT????? (also they just always look terrible like c'mon that thing is meant to be attractive somehow? to be visually pleasing to you somehow?? (sorry)

gotta slap a bow and eyelashes on to Girl character design bc god forbid we can't tell the boy and girl bunny/lion/deer apart!!!

Aside from the obvious sleazy aspect, it is also, in my opinion as a working character designer, deeply uninspired and often a symptom of a lack of real consideration going into the designs and/or world-building.

#the worst trope ever showdown #wtes polls #anti tropeaganda #love triangle #humanoid female animal

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centralperkchenford · 7 months

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do you think you can ever write Ava a little bit older (maybe 11-13ish) who becomes very interested in crime docus like her mama and one day stumble into a very poorly written docu about Caleb and Rosalind? Maybe it's in school and suddenly she just become inconsolable that Tim had to pick her up from school because Lucy was busy but only when Ava sees her she starts to calm down? I know everyone loves ans adores dadford esp. with your little Ava but I hope you can do more Lucy x Ava too 🙏🙏🙏

I got inspiration for this one in the middle of the day at work. It will also be my 200th fic on AO3 😌

Hero

Tim gets the call from Ava’s school at noon, he’s sitting in his office looking through the files when his phone buzzes. Ava’s school flashing on his phone and he snatches it up.

“Hello?” He answers his eyes scanning the paper, there’s a noise in the background that sounds like crying and then the woman on the other line is speaking.

“Mr. Bradford?” She asks. “This is Mrs. Wilkins the principal from John Burroughs Middle school. I’m calling about your daughter Ava. We tried calling your wife.” Tim sighs Lucy was out on a case and probably couldn’t get to her phone.

Tim sits up immediately. “Is she okay?” He asks panic rising in his chest, the schools rarely called about the kids but when they did it was usually something serious.

There’s a pause and then Ava’s shaky voice comes over the line. “Daddy.” She says and his heart sinks even more. Ava is 12 now and in 6th grade, she rarely calls him daddy now unless she’s upset.

“Hi baby. What’s the matter?” He asks. Ava takes a deep breath and let’s out a shaky one.

“I-I watched this crime documentary last night that one of my friends told me to watch a-and it was about mom. And e-everyone was asking what happened b-but I-I didn’t know and I just couldn’t think. T-they kept asking and singing that song. A-and I-I feel like I-can’t b-reathe.” She sobs and Tim is already out of his chair and grabbing his keys.

“Sweetheart what did I tell you about watching those documentaries at night?” Tim asks softly. Ava hiccups and her breathing gets faster. “I-I’m sorry. I-It w-as stupid. I’m stupid.”

“Ava breathe. You are not stupid.” Tim says softly. Ava doesn’t answer and then Mrs. Wilkins is back on the line.

“She’s really upset. Nothing we say or do is calming her down. Can you come pick her up?” The principal asks.

“I’m on my way.” Tim says. “She’s having a panic attack. She needs to breathe. Tell her to breathe. Think happy thoughts.” Mrs. Wilkins hums in acknowledgment and tells her he will be there in five minutes.

He makes it to the middle school in four and half minutes and he’s in the office in two minutes. The secretary leads him back to the principal’s office where is daughter is sitting her knees pulled up and her face buried in her knees.

Tim sighs and kneels down and lifts her head. Her eyes are red and puffy and she has tear stains on her cheeks.

“Hi sweetie.” He says. She lets out a sob and falls into his arms burying her face into his chest. “Where’s mom?” She says her voice muffled. “I want mom.”

Tim’s heart breaks as he stands up pulling his distressed daughter with him. Her backpack is on the chair next to where she was so he grabs it and slings it over his shoulder. “She was busy Aves.” He says. Ava cries some more and shakes as she looks up at him.

“Is s-she okay?” Ava asks. “Is she—” She buries her face back into his chest.

“Yes Ava. She’s okay.” Tim says leading his daughter out of the room. “She’s okay.” Ava lifts her head up.

“W-why did that man do that to her? W-why did she have to go through that?” Ava asks. Tim sighs not really knowing how to answer that. He doesn’t even why Lucy had to go through that, it still made him queasy thinking about Lucy suffocating in that barrel.

“I don’t know Ava. I don’t know. But your mama’s a survivor and she’s the strongest person I know. She made it through.” He says as he signs her out.

“I hate that man.” Ava mumbles. “I’m glad he’s dead.” Tim couldn’t agree more with a statement, he just hates that his twelve year old was the one who said it.

“Why did your friends suggest this documentary if they knew it involved your mom?” Tim asks. Ava turns red and looks away from him tears welling up in her eyes. “Not my friends more like my bullies.” She mutters. “They didn’t tell me.” Tim takes a deep breath and let’s it out.

“Ava..” He starts but his daughter shakes her head, her breathing becoming fast again.

“I-I know. I know. I just want mom. Please.” Ava says through her tears. Tim sighs as he leads her out of the office, he already has his phone out. Ava walks next to him her hand slipping into his. He looks over at her and presses Lucy’s name. She answers on the first ring.

“Hey.” She says. “Where are you? I came to your office to have lunch but you weren’t there.” Tim sighs and glances over at Ava who has her other hand over her chest as if willing her heart beat to slow down.

“I had to pick up Ava.” He says quietly. “Are you at the station?”

Lucy sucks in a breath. “Yes I am. Is she okay? Is she sick?” She asks.

Tim sighs. “She’s not sick.” He answers. “Can you meet me in my office?”

“Tim what’s going on? Is Ava okay?” Lucy asks her voice becoming frantic.

“Luce. She’s just a little freaked out. Okay? I will explain but she needs to see you.” He says. “Just meet us in my office.”

“Okay.” Says Lucy and he knows she’s not completely calm and neither is Ava who is staring at the ground.

Tim hangs up and nudges Ava forward. “We are going to see mom sweetheart.” He says softly. “Just breathe.”

Ava is shaking again by the time they get to his truck. And he wonders why she kept watching the documentary when she realized it was about Lucy. Ava had a curious mind, she was extremely smart but sometimes never thought things through.

“Do you hate me for watching it?” Ava asks as he backs out. Tim shakes his head and looks over at her.

“No! Ava, I could never hate you. But why did you keep watching it?” He asks. Ava shrugs her shoulders and looks out the window.

The ride is silent all the way to the station and Tim knows the only thing that will calm down Ava down at this point is Lucy.

***

Lucy paces the length of Tim’s office nervously wondering what the heck happened to Ava that freaked her out so much. She hates when her kids are upset, and Ava her ever brave child who always puts on a brave face even when it hurts. Something must have really triggered her for her to be so freaked out.

The door opens and Lucy looks up to see Ava, tears pooling in her blue eyes as she stares at Lucy. She seems frozen and then Tim appears behind her, his hand on her shoulder.

“See Aves? She’s fine!” He says. Lucy gives him a look but before she can question it, Ava is rushing towards her and is in Lucy’s arms in seconds. Lucy hugs her tightly and gives Tim another questioning look over her head.

“She uh watched a crime documentary about…” He begins but stops when Ava starts sobbing. Lucy could only guess what it was about. Her daughter got her love for crime documentaries from her and it was only a matter of time before she stumbled across what that was about Caleb and Rosalind and her.

“Oh baby.” She mumbles. Ava hugs her tighter as she calms down her fingers gripping her shirt.

“T-these girls told me to watch it, they said it was good but it wasn’t. I had to see…you and it just.. they painted him in a good light like he was..” Ava cries. Lucy rubs her back and she’s not sure if she’s more angry at these girls or who ever made this documentary.

“Sweetheart I’m so sorry.” Says Lucy. “Why did you continue to watch it?”

Ava hiccups and looks up at Lucy. Her eyes red and puffy, “They said if I didn’t they would tell everyone who I like.” She says. “And they would spread it around so it gets to him. I didn’t know it was about you mom. I..And I know you have talked to me and Daisy about it before but I didn’t know how bad it was.”

“Baby why didn’t you tell us about these girls?” Asks Lucy soft brushing some hair out of her eyes. “We could have helped. We will help.” She knows Ava protects everyone around her, she has stood up for her and Tim more than once. And she’s especially protective over her siblings, she would go to war for any of them. She has never had a problem with bullies before.

Ava takes a deep breath and shrugs. “I thought I could handle it myself. I used my words like you and dad taught me. But they are so mean. They make fun of me. A-and today t-they kept asking. And singing that song. And I couldn’t handle it. I hate it! I hate that you went through that.” She starts sobbing again and Lucy pulls her tighter. Her heart breaking into pieces as she holds her daughter, being in that barrel was the most traumatic thing that has ever happened to her. But holding her still innocent daughter in her arms she felt like she was experiencing it all over again.

“Oh baby.” She says. “I hate that you even know about this. Let alone saw anything about it. But you know what your dad told me?” Ava shakes her head against her chest still sobbing.

“I survived. It was the first day of the rest of my life. And he was right. I survived. I fell in love with your dad and we had you Ava Rose, you saved me even more. You and your brother and sisters are the best things that have ever happened to us.”

Ava looks up at her and Lucy cups her face. “You are beautiful Ava. And brave and smart. I know you protect everyone you love but sometimes you got to protect yourself and stand up for yourself. I know you can do it baby, but daddy and I will help okay?”

Ava nods and hugs Lucy again, sniffling as she does. “I’m glad you survived mom. You have taught me how to be brave. And to survive.” Ava says softly. Lucy smiles at her and then looks over her shoulder to see Tim reappearing in the doorway. She hasn’t even noticed him leaving.

“You are still so young Ava.” Lucy says. “I don’t expect you to understand everything that has happened. But your dad—your dad saved me. He didn’t give up, he did whatever he had to do to get to me.”

Tim makes a noise from the doorway and they both look at him. “I don’t know what that documentary said or what it showed. But your mom saved herself Ava.” He looks at Lucy his eyes soft. “She’s right I did get to her because I didn’t give up. But your mom was smart and left a clue for me. I saved her because of that. And that is the truth, your mom is amazing. She is my hero because of that.” Ava looks at Lucy, and for the first time since she had come into Tim’s office Ava smiles. And it’s a real Ava smile one that Lucy knows and loves.

“You are my hero too mom.” She says quietly. “You always have been.” Lucy chokes back at sob as she hugs her daughter and she realizes there’s nothing better than this. She feels Tim’s lips on top of her head muttering how proud he is of both of them.

They would figure out the problem at school later but for right now Lucy wants to hug Ava and Tim because it’s comforting and it’s everything she needs.

#chenford #the rookie #tim bradford #tim x lucy #chenford fanfic #lucy chen #chenford fic #anon answered #Ava Bradford-OC

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thatshowheinventstalin · 10 months

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An... intro post.

"Go ahead, put anything." I've stumbled upon the term "whump" somewhere around the end of 2018. I've had a liking for scenes w characters suffering for as long as I remember, so seeing a distinct term for this felt a bit... funny? Like, the fact that it's a thing and not something individual. So, I started searching for whump stuff on tumblr whenever I was in the mood for it. Was a bit easier than searching in general media hoping to find anything at all. At some point I thought I'd like to create something myself, too. This blog was created on 15.11.2020. So, it's about three years old now, despite this being the very first post here. I didn't plan it to be like this — my perception of time is just very sped up. --- They say you should list your favorite tropes in an intro post. I... like seeing despair. Hopelessness. Without any acceptance of the situation you're in, and with a desire to change it — and, at the same time, no way out despite all the effort, with all the struggling being in vain. Suffering in general, too. Extreme, physical or mental. Accompanied by the same emotion of despair. ...I'd say it's often hard for me to find content I'd enjoy, so it's way more complex, but it's also hard to put into words in more detail than this. I'm not really into totally broken and submissive characters (for the above reason, e. g. I like when there's a will to fight). I'm also not into medical/facility/lab whump for personal reasons. Think personal triggers, that sort of stuff. --- I'm not a native English speaker, and I generally struggle with words, on top of that. My own stuff would probably be very poorly written and low-quality, but it is what it is. I appreciate when people point out my mistakes. I'm very disorganized and have been depressed for a lot of years, so I'll probably be very slow and unproductive as well. I'm not sure if anyone will read this at all, but if you are, don't expect much from me, I guess. That's... all, probably. Sorry.

#whump #whump community #whump intro #intro post

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transmutationisms · 10 months

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sorry could you explain your chatgpt essay thing again? i get the general gist of it (who cares if they cheat) but i still cant grasp it entirely as someone who hasnt experienced the college system 💔 i had thought that essays were a foundational part of undergrad education? and so cheating on that part would essentially mean that: a) their education/understanding is "invalid" b) it discredits the work of other people in the same system/their classmates c) their future publications/written work in academia are going to be of worse quality d) in cases of people going to non academia jobs, like being a doctor or a lawyer, this would negatively impact their clients e) they have bad work ethic = will not survive job industry

my guesses are that just in general theres no direct correlation between these things but ppl assume there will be? and that if a plagiarized essay ruins everything then the system wasnt rlly that good?

the only one im rlly unsure of is the second one, but i suppose thats always been a problem with any type of academic cheating amongst peers, and will persist unless academic rankings/validation of excellence/general attitudes toward "success" r also banished. still, while i rlly dont care abt anyone i know cheating on stuff like this lol, i cant help but empathize w students struggling under that same system feeling frustrated. tho Man seeing the lack of empathy they, in turn, can have with chatgpt users. idk, is it just a lose lose situation until you get through the system?

ok sorry again and also thanks

hi, no worries. let me try to break down my position here.

i had thought that essays were a foundational part of undergrad education

i mean, this varies widely by course / degree / department. but, even when it's true, it doesn't mean that the essay is inherently a valuable or helpful exercise. undergrad essays tend to ask for one of a few very formulaic responses and ways of structuring an argument. essays also often have a specific prompt, which can be better or worse in terms of its potential to generate engagement with the course / material. often professors who are getting a lot of chatgpt essays turned in are designing essays poorly (ie, asking for the types of formulaic responses that students find unengaging and unhelpful for their own academic development), and / or failing to provide instruction and support in how to actually write an essay.

on a more fundamental level, we often take for granted that essays are and should be foundational to an undergrad education, but i simply don't think this is self-evident or always true! what are we training students to do, and why? there are certainly jobs, career paths, and academic research areas in which essay-writing is an important skill. there are others in which it's not. the assumption that all undergrads need to demonstrate the same sorts of writing skills says more about the university and what pedagogues value than it does about those students' actual chances for future career success / financial stability. if we're designing assignments that, for many students, are mere hoops to jump through, then we shouldn't be surprised that many of them find ways to make the hoop-jumping faster and easier.

so cheating on that part would essentially mean that: a) their education/understanding is "invalid"

again, what i'm trying to get at here is larger questions about what we value in education, and why. it's true that if you don't practice writing the type of essay the academy demands of you, you won't learn that skill. but, why do we assume that skill is useful, valuable, or necessary in the first place? how many people actually need to write that way outside of undergrad classrooms? even for those who are intending to pursue a career in academia, the writing taught in undergrad should be, at best, a stepping-stone on the path to more effective and interesting means of written communication. once again, if the skill being mandated by the university is not useful for students, it should not be surprising that many of them resent having to demonstrate it, and turn to tools like chatgpt instead.

b) it discredits the work of other people in the same system/their classmates

this is an argument that many educators make, and i wholeheartedly disagree with it! first of all, i simply do not believe that student a's academic performance is relevant to the assessment of student b's. if a professor is grading that way, that's terrible grading and a terrible pedagogical philosophy. if a student has learned something from their coursework, that shouldn't be undercut or devalued by anything that their classmates have or haven't done.

what this type of argument points to on a deeper level is the fact that university degrees have acquired a sort of double meaning. although the university likes to propagate high-minded rhetoric about the intrinsic value of education, the degree granted is a class barrier that serves to allow certain people access to certain (usually promised to be higher-paying) jobs, and bar others from these jobs. this is a large part of what i'm talking about when i say that the university serves to perpetuate and enforce class stratification. and their narrative about degrees being markers of individual merit and achievement is undercut by the fact that they also plainly fear losing prestige status by granting degrees to those students considered 'unworthy'. if you can make it through an undergrad education without learning the skills the university purports to teach, that's a pretty massive indictment of the university—which, remember, is collecting a lot of tuition money for these degrees.

c) their future publications/written work in academia are going to be of worse quality

lots of assumptions baked in here—that undergrad essay-writing teaches 'good' (effective / clear) writing; that many academics don't already write poorly by these metrics; that aspiring academics have no other way of learning written communication skills (eg, outside of the academy, or in grad school).

d) in cases of people going to non academia jobs, like being a doctor or a lawyer, this would negatively impact their clients

firstly, i would again point out that in many non-academic jobs, academic writing is simply not a necessary skill; secondly, in both of the examples you cite here, these are people who need to go through a lot more schooling and training after undergrad, where they pick up what written communication skills they actually do need (eg, legal writing looks nothing like standard undergrad essay-writing anyway); thirdly, MANY people getting an undergraduate degree are intending to pursue jobs for which they need neither undergrad essay-writing skills, nor further higher education—there are so many reasons a person might want / need a college degree, and so many careers in which this specific academic skillset is simply not relevant for them.

e) they have bad work ethic = will not survive job industry

again, i think this is making some pretty big unstated assumptions! in general i don't really think that 'work ethic' (or the related 'laziness') is a useful way to try to evaluate people's behaviour, and this is a good example of one way in which it fails. if, like i said, we are dealing with a system in which people are told they need to receive a degree in order to have access to jobs they want and financial stability they need; and in which many of them are being forced to demonstrate a specific writing skill they may never need again and may have no interest in; and in which they are often not even receiving adequate training and help to learn and demonstrate that skill, even if they do want to; and in which they may be working other jobs, caring for family members, dealing with disabilities the institution does not provide support for, or any number of other life circumstances that make schoolwork difficult at best to complete; and in which a tool exists that may be able to help them complete some of this work freely and quickly... like, i simply do not fault students for using that tool!

there are so many points of failure in this system long before we get to this moment: the increasing pressure to get a college degree in the first place; the poorly designed curricula that prioritise skills considered 'standard' (for whom? why?) over skills that students actually need or want to acquire; professors who don't actually teach students how to write, yet expect them to turn in essay assignments anyway; specific essay assignments that are uninteresting and / or unhelpful to students; lack of support for students who are struggling with their workload or assignments in any number of ways (and no, 'come to office hours' is not adequate support for so many students and situations).

i simply do not care about people 'cheating' a system that is so fundamentally broken and unjust. it doesn't matter. the ability to write an undergrad essay is such an incredibly trivial and specific skill, and one that most people simply do not need. it doesn't make a person generally 'smarter' (fake concept) and certainly does not make them any more competent at the vast majority of jobs, careers, or general life skills. even for those very few who do need to know this specific thing, i reject the assumption that the university is the only way to learn it, or even a particularly effective way. once again, if chatgpt is successfully completing assignments, maybe those assignments weren't very good in the first place! and even the theoretical amazing professor is simply not able to counter all of the structural issues and inequities in the university system that produce students' desire to turn to tools like chatgpt in the first place. the textbot itself is simply not the issue here.

#academia #long post

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baberoe-archive · 2 months

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there is a version of masters of the air that traces the tuskegee airmen and the 100th bomber through the war in parallel stories that merge in the prison camp that actually seriously analyzes racism at the time and as it exists today in our historicization and mythmaking around wwii. perhaps even a version that does justice to civilian resistance movements. and instead we have.

i appreciate you saying this bc i think it needs to be talked about more, but if you could link the other version you talk about? i would leant to watch it, thank you!

hi! what i actually meant in this post was that there could have been a version of this masters of the air show that did what i was talking about in that post, not that a show like that existed. i apologize for that -- i am now realizing my original post was worded very poorly 😭

from a quick google search there are two movies made about the tuskegee airmen: the tuskegee airmen (1995) and red tails (2012), though i haven't seen either. im sure books also exist, but i am not the one to ask about this. if anyone out there has more resources please share!

i will also take this opportunity to direct attention to tuskegee university's online photography collections, which has work from prominent early black photographers. i took a class on african-american photography last semester, and the tuskegee institute came up specifically when we were discussing w. e. b. dubois's display on african american life at the 1900 paris exhibition. the goal here was to directly confront the racist and dehumanizing exhibition of black and indigenous people in colonial exhibits by showing african-american life georgia, which included a number of universities including tuskegee. all the materials (i think?) are at the library of congress and available for browsing here. if you are interested in learning more about this (or black photography in general), deborah willis and shawn michelle smith have written on this exhibition and black photography more widely (deb willis is The scholar for most things black photography, and she is an incredible photographer in her own right.)

also while i'm at it. through a lens darkly (2014) is a documentary on black american photography directed by the practicing photographer, filmmaker, and scholar thomas allen harris. we also watched this for my class, and it looks at the history of black photography and incorporates contemporary artists frequently. great introduction to the field!

#sorry this became about photography i just know more about it and did not want to answer this w nothing productive lol #ask

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thrawns-babygirl · 1 year

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Caught (Crosshair x M!Reader)

decided to try and rewrite the last prompt i completed for a male reader. I haven't written male reader insert EVER so let me know if there is anything that can be improved. I will hopefully be writing more M!Reader stuff in the future as being a Crosswhore is an experience that isnt defined by gender and I hope to feed all of my loyal subjects.

Rating: E (18+) Warnings: Mutual masturbation, fleshlights Word Count: 1200+

Masterlist

didnt tag my usual taglist as im not sure how many of you would be interested in m!reader lmao

The Batch were avoiding you. Not an uncommon occurrence when they returned to Kamino after missions, who wants to get poked and prodded by a Doctor before you even get a chance to relax and unwind a little? But orders are orders and the Kaminoans are relentless when it comes to the health of their prized unit.

Hangar bay? Nope. Mess hall? You can’t hear Wrecker from down the hall so that’s a bust. Armory? Well Tech usually sees to fixing anything himself, but it can’t hurt to look. Failing that you turn to walk towards their barracks. You had told them that you would avoid coming to their barracks as much as you could, being very well aware that it was really they only place they could relax while on Kamino surrounded by regs, bounty hunters and doctors who wanted to run scans and tests on them. You were however on a deadline, and needed to perform their routine medical check before the end of the current rotation.

You don’t even know why they avoid you so vehemently, it must take far more effort on their part to hide from you for hours or rotations at a time instead of just getting it over with. Even Tech, the paragon of logic and reason doesn’t convince the others its better to just get it over with and that genuinely surprises you.

Placing an ear to the cold metal of their barracks door you strain your ears to see if you can hear the sounds of the absent clones behind the door, only to be met with silence. Standing back up straight you ponder your best course of action, if you com them and tell them to come back to the barracks they will know you are here and continue to avoid you, if you wait out in the hallway for them, you run the risk of Hunter sensing you’re here before they return and diverting his brothers further. Why couldn’t they make life easy for you?

You finally decide your best course of action is to let yourself into their barracks and simply wait for them to come to you, they had to sleep eventually, right?

Inputting the medical override code into the door panel, you brace yourself for the ever-present stench that lingers in the Batch’s barracks before closing the door quickly behind you as you take in the sight before you.

Laying on his bunk, head thrown back on his pillow naked as the day he was decanted is Crosshair, thrusting himself up into a clear sleeve that’s wrapped around his cock. There is a thin layer of sweat covering his body, his chest his rising and falling as he releases ragged breaths. You can see the tip of his cock appearing and disappearing as he works himself with the toy, eyes screwed shut totally oblivious to your presence.

You scramble to figure out your best course of action, do you risk leaving and having the door alert him to your presence? Do you finally act on your poorly hidden attraction for the man?

A shuddered groan of your name makes your decision for you. You cross your arms over your chest and clear your throat causing the sniper to jolt upright on his bunk.

“W-what are you doing here?” his eyes are wide, ears tipped pink as his wide eyes lock with yours. He’s desperately scrambling for something to say, to try and get the upper hand but he knows its futile. He knows you’ve seen and heard too much.

“Oh don’t mind me, just enjoying the view” you smirk at him, he still looks like he’s on edge, but he relaxes slightly as he takes in your relaxed stance.

“You could enjoy more than just the view if you want doc” he’s breathless, hand still wrapped around the toy that’s caging his cock, the dark head of his length peeking through the clear silicone that’s choking his shaft.

“Maybe later, I do have a job to do after all and you and your squad are making my life very difficult. So I’ll cut you a deal, you give me more of those pretty sounds you were making, finish yourself off and get your squad here” you walk towards him, moving a chair out from the table in the centre of the room and bringing it over towards his bunk and plopping yourself down “and I’ll let you do whatever you want to me later tonight” he swallows, throat bobbing as his hand slowly resumes its motions over his weeping length.

He closes his eyes, head falling back into his pillows as he slowly picks up the pace. Lewd squelching sounds fill the room as the silicone glides effortlessly over his slicked-up cock. You can see beads of precum forming at the tip before being wiped away with each drag of the toy up and down his shaft.

He hears shuffling coming from the direction of your seated form, prying open his eyes he finds you opening your pants to release your half hard cock, a hand wrapped around the base as you begin to stroke yourself in time with him.

“You said my name” your voice is a sultry whisper, your eyes never leaving his length as you speak, “what were you thinking about?”

“K-kark doc, everything-” another low moan falls from his mouth as his hips begin to rise up off the bed slamming himself into the toy. He’s close, you don’t know how long he’s been going at it but with the way he’s panting you can tell he is at the end of his rope.

“Specifics” you speed up your speed on your own shaft, bringing yourself closer to your own peak as you watch the sniper come undone in front of you.

“Thinking about- Hng- about cumming in that tight ass of yours” he hisses through clenched teeth, his eyes locking with your hard length again, watching your hand stroke up and down as you stand up off the chair and approach his writhing form.

With a ragged moan of your name his cock twitches as he releases ropes of hot cum all over the toy and his abdomen, continuing to run the silicone over his still throbbing length to the point of overstimulation as he watches you move towards him.

“Open” you demand, and he glares at you before reluctantly obliging, opening his mouth and sticking his tongue out. You place the tip of your length on his tongue before spilling into his mouth with a groan of his name, watching as he swallows every last drop.

You put your pants back on, smoothing over your uniform before placing the chair back where it belongs at the table in the centre of the room. Crosshair pulls his now softening cock out of the toy with a slick sound before rising on shaky legs to head to the refresher and clean himself up, glancing at you before wordlessly entering the ‘fresher and locking the door behind him.

Just in time too, when you hear the water start running, the door to the barracks slide open and reveal the rest of your wayward patients. You greet them with a smile as they stand at the doorway, startled to see you sitting in their quarters in wait for them.

“Boys, I’ve been waiting for you” you give them a look that hopefully conveys your irritation.

Crosshair did help you kill time before they got back so maybe you would still reward him later anyway…

#Crosshair x reader #crosshair smut #crosshair x reader smut #tbb crosshair smut #bad batch crosshair x reader smut #bad batch smut #the bad batch smut #tbb smut #bad batch crosshair #bad batch crosshair smut #bad batch x reader smut #tbb x reader smut #crosshair x m!reader #crosshair x male reader

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devilsskettle · 4 months

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idk something about this to me seems so like. idk. like you know how people will be like haha i like this bad cringe thing but ONLY ironically because it's cringe :) but actually they just like the thing and they're scared of being judged for it? this is like haha i support women and stand up to men who are being misogynistic but i also need to make it clear that i agree with those men and they're right to hate those women* (*fictional) btw please validate my thoughts and opinions because they still align with misogynistic male behavior while shallowly suggesting that i have a feminist belief system :)

edit: actually though because it just becomes a way to say which female characters you fucking hate while feeling okay about it because it's just a jokey joke we're all feminists here :) and i see hashtag rey from star wars and it's like okay haha i get it she was poorly written by men and highjacked as a character by a notoriously vocal subsection of the fanbase because of a ship or w/e but then i see

and it's like okay well. now i am about to defend a female character with my life after YOU said you didn't like her. why is skyler white a magnet for misogyny and vitriol, she's a fantastic character and she is 100% understandable in her actions given the circumstances she was forced into. fuck you fr

#reading into this WAY too much i'm sure this wasn't the intention #it's funny and true and definitely not that deep but it just rubs me the wrong way idk #like hehehe we all hate female characters :)#nobody can handle even mildly unlikable female characters. we are never getting out of the sexist media landscape we live in rn #and even the little jokey joke saying you defend 'unlikable' female characters from unwarranted sexism needs an asterisk #anyway.....#not even making this rebloggable it is so special snowflake sensitive lmao but i feel that it is true #like i KNOWWWW i know what they mean. i get it. w/e. but also........ idk. why can't you just like female characters more :(#like for real. no asterisk #edit: may be time to rewatch breaking bad ?

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hidingoutbackstage · 9 months

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If you don't mind, how exactly is Ashley in the remake a perfect victim? Also, I think you mentioned something about her being oddly patriotic in the remake once. Could you elaborate on that also, if you did?

Of course I will take any excuse to talk abt Ashley at length (and any excuse to criticize re4make lmao) Long meta under the cut

Basically when I say that remake Ashley is a “perfect victim” I mean that she is written in such a way that she is exactly sympathetic to the audience without anything negative about her for maximum sympathy points. This is especially true when you compare her to her characterization in the original.

In og re4 Ashley is a scared, kidnapped 20 year old. She screams for help when she gets kidnapped because that’s a game mechanic and the whole point of the game is to rescue and keep Ashley safe. But her scream was “annoying” or “obnoxious” to a lot of players (which, like, skill issue? I played 4 and would only hear her scream once or twice per action scene she was present for, because keeping her safe was my priority. That’s literally the point) Ashley also feels and looks young in the original, which is true. She’s 20 years old. That’s not that much time to be an adult, especially for a girl who’s likely been very sheltered since she was at least 16 (when her dad became president) if not her entire life. She’s scared. She’s going to react to her feelings of fear when she sees herself coughing up blood, or hesitate before jumping off a ledge. But fans saw that as her being childish (again, she is only 20) She’s also sexualized by Luis (and the player if they decide to be a creep) and rightfully has an angry/disturbed reaction to it. But fans saw that as her being “bitchy” instead of a justified reaction. You’re supposed to fear for Ashley’s safety. She’s vulnerable. Your purpose is to protect her. But people would talk at length about how much they wanted to harm and kill her because she was annoying, or had poorly written dialogue they didn’t like, or because she was childish, or she got in the way of the gameplay (again, skill issue) or, above all, she didn’t “deserve” to get rescued.

So for the remake, they decided to adjust her. And I do think adjustments were necessary! They could’ve made her outfit more practical (they didn’t) they could’ve reworked some of her mechanics for the new style of gameplay (they did) and they could change moments of dialogue and game mechanics to be less creepy towards her (they did thank fucking gd) but the other changes? Were unnecessary and actively focused solely on endearing her to the player, which left her a shell of a character and a perfect victim with nothing to her as a person. She’s a textbook prop character.

Starting with her appearance, they did my girl so fucking dirty in the remake. In the original she’s clearly meant to be young, with her soft, makeup-less face and outfit that looks pulled out of a Tiger Beat issue (I’ve compared her outfit to 2000s Ashley Tisdale, which I think might’ve been inspiration for her but I can’t say for certain) but the remake ignores that. Instead they decide to make her look much older, and it blows. They give her a full face of makeup (like they do for all their women nowadays but w/e) and a hairstyle that covers her ears (because apparently people found her ears in the original unattractive???) they give her fucking BLUE EYES which makes no gd damn sense as she had brown eyes in the original, they give her an ugly orange blazer to wear overtop of her classic outfit which is something a 20 year old college student in the early 2000s would never wear to a party, I don’t care who she is, they give her tights under her plaid skirt when they could’ve just given her pants (they should’ve given her her beta outfit, honestly, but they didn’t) and an eagle pin and eagle necklace because get it? She’s Baby Eagle, she’s the daughter of the president. That’s her only fucking character trait, “President’s Daughter” (that kinda bleeds into my “she’s annoyingly patriotic now” thing but I’ll get back to that) So Ashley looks way older than 20 now, which is disappointing. They could’ve really leaned into how young and innocent and scared she looks if they wanted her to look like an actual 20 year old in 2004 instead of a 20 year old Instagram influencer in 2022 (who they actually based her face on)

But not only does she look more mature, she acts like it too. She’s quieter now, doesn’t scream for you every time she gets kidnapped, instead there’s an on-screen visual indicator as to how Ashley’s doing, which I do think is a better game mechanic (I might just be a very visual person lol) but the only reason they did that was because fans of the original wouldn’t shut up about how annoying her screaming was. In the remake, aside from some of the darker cutscenes, the only time Ashley cries out in genuine sounding fear is when Leon himself gets critically injured. The only time she’s allowed to show real fear is when she’s caring about you, the player. It rubs me the wrong way. She also doesn’t kick and scream as much when being picked up, and instead of dying, mostly, she just gets knocked to the ground and you have to pick her up, and when you ask her if she’s okay, she meekly says yes.

She’s also “more useful” when she Does Not Need To Be. She puts out the fire on Leon after the Mendez fight. She helps Leon turn cranks in the castle. She doesn’t need to be given herbs for healing anymore, so she’s less of a “burden” to you and your limited resources. She takes the Plaga out of Leon’s chest (like she did in the original) (but it’s offscreen for some reason?) She’s also your hype man! She’s constantly telling you how cool you are and how impressed with you she is and how great you’re doing in the gun range and how she wishes she could be like you. Like okay I guess, but if you pay attention, her dialogue almost never talks about herself, it’s about Leon or the situation they’re in. She, like the game itself, never considers herself first. Which is ridiculous, since she’s the focus of the entire gd damn game.

They amp up the torture she and Leon go through, which I honestly like, I think the og was lacking some in the horror department with the concept of an infection that slowly takes over the mind and body of those infected, it at times felt more silly than scary, like their irises physically turning red. So I think the changes to make it more terrifying are welcome, and man are they terrifying. Ashley is stripped of her coat and scarf and has that black goop stuff forced down her throat with symbols painted on her face. It’s tough to watch. But the scene makes you feel more for her so it did its job.

Ashley being separated from Leon also isn’t her fault this time around, so you can be more sympathetic towards her. Instead of panicking and running away and being separated from Leon, this time her mind is taken over by Saddler, which separates her from Leon. See, it’s not her fault! Her mind was taken over! So there’s nothing to angrily blame her for <3

The reason I’m so furious that remake Ashley is a perfect victim is because they felt the need to make her a perfect victim. Plenty of people, myself included, played the og and LOVED Ashley, she was a cute character with some funny lines and moments and she was endearing, like a little sister to Leon. But because of the toxic male gamer space at the time and the large distaste for victims who are imperfect, those who yell and get angry and are too loud or obnoxious, the makers of the remake felt obligated to make her more endearing to the player, so you would have a REASON to sympathize with Ashley. Which we didn’t need! She’s a 20 year old whose been kidnapped! That itself should be enough of a reason to feel for her! But the remake has to play up her endearment to the player, make her not scream too much, not make her imperfect or too loud or too angry or too obnoxious, just a prop character who’s here to make you feel good about what a good job you’re doing and who’s physically attractive and thus you’re programmed to like her. It’s fucking exhausting and annoying is what it is.

Despite how it looks, I’m not a 100% re4make Ashley hater. I think they DID improve upon things that needed to be improved, mainly how she was treated by the narrative. Now she hides in lockers instead of dumpsters (it doesn’t happen much but still) and the game doesn’t grossly sexualize her, and the devs were clear that they wanted nothing romantic between her and Leon, and they did improve upon some mechanics, like I said I like the visual indicator that Ashley’s been kidnapped because it actually shows you where she is instead of you having to listen for where she is or look around a group of 10 enemies to find the one carrying her. There was just SO much potential to have Ashley be a really good CHARACTER, but the team was so focused on making her palatable, they forgot to give her any semblance of a personality.

(Oh and while we’re here, another reason I hate her lack of character/personality is because they WERE able to give character and personality to other characters, i.e. Luis, Krauser, and fucking Salazar, but not to the woman who’s the main focus of the fucking game. Beats me)

Okay now for the patriotic stuff. I fucking hate it lol. Og RE4 was willing to talk negatively about the American government, which was interesting! This game came out during Bush’s presidency and the war on Terror. There was a genuine disdain for America from other countries, hence why the villains in the original were so anti-American and their plan revolves around making sure “America won’t think they can control the rest of the world” and all that. It’s INTERESTING. The problem is that America is so far up its own ass now, that people would likely boycott or dislike a game with an anti-American sentiment in it. Which is actually such bullshit for RE4, by the way? The VILLAINS are the anti-American foreigners, you play as an American hero. If they were so worried about the game coming across as anti-American, just point out that it’s the VILLAINS who have that point of view, and you’re good. There was no reason to hide the anti-American sentiment the villains have as much as they did in the remake.

Ashley furthers this idea that the game can’t be mean to America by being annoyingly patriotic. There was NONE of this in the original, btw. Her father was the president, and she wanted to go home. That was it. Now, she has a line where she tells Leon she would like to become an agent like him, saying “We can protect the U.S. from any and all threats” like boooooo that’s so lame. Like I said, her necklace and pin are both eagles. There’s no character reason for that, it’s just because she’s the president’s daughter, and an eagle is a symbol of America. Also Leon later jokingly says to her, “keep this up and I’ll be out of a job,” furthering the idea that Ashley, upon seeing a cool badass American soldier, is just smitten with the idea of becoming one herself. She’s an insert for all the people watching/playing who are the reason Call of Duty keeps making games, hoping it’s username will sign up for the military. It’s a tool for propaganda. ASHLEY is a tool for propaganda. It’s completely stupid

#sid answers #cbros5 #sid rants #sid bitches #resident evil #ashley graham

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mlmxreader · 13 days

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And don’t get me wrong there’s nothing wrong with spice books but like I just think it’s an issue when it affects your real life. And I just feel like these “dark romances” are just getting out of hand. I hear arguments that those book help people with trauma and that might be true, but me personally I don’t understand how the books that revolve around men taking advantage of women and being sexually brutal and toxic is healing to someone (speaking from someone who went through some trauma as well) and I can’t understand how constantly reading those books can heal someone.

And I understand that these books are written by women and intended for women so that’s probably why I just can’t relate to something like that. But I just find the whole genre and the executions of the situations to be extremely strange

pornographic books become a problem when the line btwn porn & actual reading material become blurred. that's where the issue lies, bc when you read ONLY for sexual gratification, you're gonna rot your brain!!

"dark romance" has changed a LOT, bc it's no longer dark romance. it's more "he's an abusive cunt and she thinks he loves her despite the constant and consistent emotional/sexual abuse". AND THAT'S A PROBLEM!!! and it's a problem bc not only is it FURTHERING the 50 Shades effect by continuing to normalise, romanticise and glorify abusive relationships, but it's also making it HARDER for actual dark romantic writers to create what they do.

I mean, I had this conversation w one of my psychiatrists, who IS a trauma specialist, and no. it doesn't help. it recontextualises what happened in the WORST ways and is akin to self harm. and I can speak as someone who HAS studied the effects of fiction real life that yes, when you normalise and glorify these things (my main focal point was JAWS, so in my instance, it's shark killing), then you WILL see a reflection in real life. and that doesn't mean it's ALWAYS bad, I mean, there's so much MORE representation of marginalised groups NOW than there was 30-50 years ago, and that's GREAT! but it's incredibly disingenuous to suggest that fiction ≠ reality or vice versa.

the reason why you find it strange is the reason why everybody else does: sexualising sexual abuse is FUCKING WEIRD! doesn't matter who it comes from, it's fucking weird, and yeah, when you put stuff like that onto the internet? people can, will, and SHOULD rightfully judge you for it. a shitty execution is, like, George R R Martin, who HAS written things poorly but has NOT glorified or romanticised it - it's not E. L. James, who PURPOSEFULLY turns it into pornographic content just to push a narrative that abuse is "sexy".

bc the thing is: dark topics CAN be handled well without becoming pornography. just off the top of my head: Lolita, The Colour Purple, Sapphire's Push, the Red Dragon Trilogy, American Psycho. all these books contain "dark" contents, but none of them sexualise or romanticise or glorify it at all. it's not an excuse to turn sexual abuse into wank material and then say you're writing "dark romance", bc you aren't - you are not Nabokov, or Alice Walker, or Sapphire, or Thomas Harris, or Bret Easton Ellis, or De Sade or Jeff Lindsay, or Ralph Ellison. you aren't. you're just a weirdo who gets off on rape porn.

#asks #gayaristocrat #nsft/mdni

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clueingforbeggs · 2 years

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I've seen people complain that Trill is a poorly designed constructed alphabet because it's clearly not designed with writing in mind, but I have a theory that the Trill alphabet was never meant to be written because the Trill didn't actually invent writing as we know it. They used stamps.

Like this does not look like it could be written, but if you had a collection of stamps with bits carved into or out of them, then maybe. Especially as many of the letters are rotations of each other. (A + B, C +M + Y, D + N + O, E + P + Q, F + R + S, G + T + U, H + V + W, J + X, K + Z), like I think for the full Trill alphabet, in both capitals and lowercase, you'd need a total of 22 stamps. And whose to say that there weren't in the past more rotations for letters which just got dropped?

Like these are aliens, why can't they have gone straight to the printing press but probably more primitive? Why should they have evolved writing in the same way as humans?

#star trek

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antiloreolympus · 1 year

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5 Anti LO Asks

(Note: All of these asks are before episode 206 (Season 2 finale) so some may be dated.) 1. fastpass spoilers everyone who says persephone is just y/n at this point is right. she's an unsympathetic asshole (chasing a dude in a relationship and trying to dodge punishment), every man wants her, nothing is really her fault (introducing eris was so fucking cheap), and after zeus told her about his trauma she was incredibly callous about it. the worst part is how RS claims she isn't a mary sue and how the readers want persephone coddled. i honestly believe some fans see themselves as persephone, so they take any of her L's as a personal attack. god.anyways zeus best character

2. LBR, she will NOT make Aphrodite/Hephaestus endgame, so what's left exactly? Aphrodite uses a disabled man to "get back" at Ares? Hephaestus is tricked into a loveless marriage so Aphrodite to get back at Ares? Maybe they can follow the mythology (bc RS won't follow any of it unless its to make a disabled man miserable and demonize a woman who isn't Persephone) and have Aphrodite cheating on him and then blame HIM for not being hot like Ares. This whole thing is so bad no matter how you cut it.

3. I think Persephone being labeled as Queen of The Underworld is just.. way too soon in the comic. Like, how we were used to seeing her, she didn't really have any life of her own. She had the role of Demeter's child, someone who studies and is in constant care, but that was dropped the moment she met Hades. ...and that's about it. Persephone going to the overworld would have been a great experience for the readers to see her own grown leadership. How she's not being hidden away by her mother or by Hades for her crimes, how she deals with them head first, how she compared to Demeter in terms of being a leader. Maybe she's more modern, or more creative, maybe she created new flowers based on the underworld or Olympus (since we haven't seen her grow anything else but pedals). Maybe during her depression, her failed duties are what casted winter onto mortals. But no, instead of seeing her development, seeing what she knows vs what she's learned along the way, the timeskip just added a bandaid and said that she's as flawless as ever. It's such a grab bag of a timeskip, we don't get to see that development or see Persephones struggles, we just have to trust that it's there, and it did in fact happen. The story could also pull a Thanos in the future, remember the whole 'child labor' excuse they randomly pulled to make him look like a hypocrite? No doubt in my mind that things will be made up for Persephone as she goes. One flaw will be countered by a memory we were never exposed to, making an endless utility belt. It's annoying, the one thing people read any H and P story for is to see Persephone develop into her own character. She's just so hollow that it's unreal

4. I mean, it’s not just the fact LO defenders have bad excuses. It’s just the fact any hand-wringing defense of it can easily be beaten with more than two seconds of thought. It doesn’t matter how many excuses you try, it’s still a poorly written, declined art comic full of poor pacing, silly fan service and retcons, and a treasure trove of misogynistic, racist, queerphobic, antisemitic, ableist, and classist tropes, and much more. The reason defense of it often fails is bc it’s just not that good

5. Tbh the fact you can take her name off of the comic and still think a man made it is a BAD thing. I know there are some people who try and defend it with some loopy logic of her “reclaiming” the misogynistic way women are depicted by men or w/e but that’s?? Not true?? The whole thing screams MALE power fantasy? If anything that’s worse, Rachel is a woman who is undoubtedly has dealt with misogyny yet is like “ok but it’s good when when a guy I like does it” which like no?? That’s still bad??

#anti lore olympus #anti lo #lore olympus critical #lo critical

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