#soapbox

[murderballadeer]

if you really only wear makeup and shave your legs for yourself then why are you so afraid of dismantling the standard that makes it socially mandatory? if you do it entirely by choice and for yourself then what do you lose by allowing other women to choose for themselves not to wear makeup and not to shave their legs?

#soapbox

[lady-phasma]

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZPRwdv6EP/

you've most definitely seen a variant of this before but i had to send it anyway because it made me think of you

Yes!! I love when people send me blorbo content! As for your second ask (that I had already reblogged it) - this is actually great because I decided to do something a little different that I might not have done on a reblog of someone else's post. I'm about to get real auntie.

I will thirst and objectify (respectfully) to my heart's content because I know myself and I give no more fucks at my age. However, not everyone is at the same point in their lives.

Masc folks: this is not the standard of masculine beauty!

This is unrealistic and even Austin will not look like this now that filming is far behind him. This is not sustainable. Mainstream media has gotten more on board with discussing unrealistic expectations of feminine beauty, but they still have even further to go before they discuss this enough!

Humans have thirsted over exceptional beauty since our history first began, but (because I am who I am) this is a reminder that you look exactly how you need to look. You can want to improve for yourself, that's fine. But whether or not you are thirsting alongside us and see thirst posts and silly gif reblogs, do not ever think that you aren't gorgeous because you don't look like this. Don't ever think you aren't perfect exactly how you are, in your version of masculinity. You are beautiful.

#I'm omnisexual and attracted to masc presenting folks so I care about y'all okay? #austin butler #austin butler thirst #auntie prattles #asked and answered #love my moots #thanks for coming to my tedtalk #no one asked me #feyd rautha harkonnen #feyd #feyd rautha #psa #soapbox

[aspharah]

hey bro can we like adopt paralleling themes and symbolize opposites but in a two sides of the same coin kind of way? it doesn’t have to be weird. wait what do you mean thats gay

#swear 90%+ of my favorite ships r like this #for example #stevebucky #moicy #blackbonnet #ineffable husbands #and um. can i say it #kavetham #haikaveh #beiguang #xingyun #wriolette #anyways bye #soapbox #txt

[sonarsunbeam]

fandomification and shipping is fucking up how some of yall consume media and i mean it

#soapbox #continuing in rb

[britomart]

⭐ britomart Follow

not a big fan of those gimmick posts tbh [¹][²][ᵃʳᵉ ʸᵒᵘ ˢᵘʳᵉ?]

References [ edit ]

^ Britomart, V. (2023) "not a big fan of those gimmick posts". Internet: Tumblr.[ᵃ]

^ Britomart, V. (2023) "Drafts". Internet: Tumblr.

Notes [ edit ] a. ^ Have you heard of Inception?

See also [ edit ]

Gimmicks

Jokes

Punch lines

Further Reading [ edit ]

Reading Comprehension Questions (2023). Reading Comprehension Questions. ⇗ Text Post Tropes (2023). Text Post Tropes. ⇗

External links [ edit ]

Tumblr⇗

This post was last edited on 11 January 2023, at 13:14 (UTC).

COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS:

Define irony and discuss its usage here.

What do you think the purpose behind this post was?

Is the self-awareness within the comprehension question an additional gimmick or simply part of the main gimmick?

What does this post say about how much time the author spends on the internet?

ADDITIONAL ACTIVITIES:

a) Try making your own post!

#um. hi everyone. #soapbox #wish i could give u an explanation for this post other than that i had tumblr and wikipedia open in separate tabs and thus

[kenstewdivorce]

Like as an alcoholic I HATE the fatphobia related to any form of treatment. The idea that I should stop drinking cause it'll make me lose weight, the way doctors will point out my "beer belly" before they talk about my liver or my kidneys or the social aspect of my drinking problem, the way people only care about my drinking problem cause it makes me fat. You don't care about me as someone who's struggling with addiction.

#soapbox

[grungekitty-77]

Not that anybody asked, but I think it's important to understand how shame and guilt actually work before you try to use it for good.

It's a necessary emotion. There are reasons we have it. It makes everything so. much. worse. when you use it wrong.

Shame and guilt are DE-motivators. They are meant to stop behavior, not promote it. You cannot, ever, in any meaningful way, guilt someone into doing good. You can only shame them into not doing bad.

Let's say you're a parent and your kid is having issues.

Swearing in class? Shame could work. You want them to stop it. Keep it in proportion*, and it might help. *(KEEP IT IN PROPORTION!!!)

Not doing their homework? NO! STOP! NO NOT DO THAT! EVER! EVER! EVER! You want them to start to do their homework. Shaming them will have to opposite effect! You have demotivated them! They will double down on NOT doing it. Not because they are being oppositional, but because that's what shame does!

You can't guilt people into building better habits, being more successful, or getting more involved. That requires encouragement. You need to motivate for that stuff!

If you want it in a simple phrase:

You can shame someone out of being a bad person, but you can't shame them into being a good person.

#guilt #shame #rant #soapbox

[bluegiragi]

"Enjoying yourself?"

"Y'know I am, L.T."

see early + nsfw content on patreon

used this tumblr ask as an excuse for a fluffy mini-comic

#some softness to break up all the spicy #ghostsoap #ghostsoapkonig #soapbox #simon ghost riley #john soap mactavish #konig #john mactavish #cod mw2 #giragi art

[movie-theater-butter]

I just know that if I grew up being a James Somerton viewer my anxieties around being out somewhat proudly would be 1000 fold. How much damage does it do to a young queer's mind to be told that they're alone, that every entertainment industry giant and every straight woman sees you only as a product and not as a person? And not only that, but that this man's channel is the only safe place for you, the only place in the world that will not persecute you. How much damage does it do to be told only the "boring gays" survived the AIDs crisis and that's why there's no creative LGBT works (which is SO false I can't even put it into words) as a young queer? I can't even imagine what that'd do to me. To anyone.

#james somerton #soapbox #lgbtq #i just don’t get it #i really dont get it #hbomberguy

[geronimostiltonofficial]

man it baffles me how everytime hozier releases music people still seem to fail to grasp that his artistry is extremely politically charged.

like this is the man that got famous from a song criticizing the church for its hypocrisy that has a music video explicitly calling out homophobia. since the beginning of his career hes been making music that explores themes of leftist activism, particularly in the context of ireland and its colonial legacy alongside vocally lifting up the black voices and artists that inspire his music. and yet still im seeing people take unreal unearth, an album that is very much about both the failings and beauty of society through a very political lens and make it about their shows!!! thats so fucked

#soapbox #hozier #hozier 🤝 mitski: having their very complex and nuanced artistry boiled down to cheap sound bites by their fanbase

[cryptocism]

Since I think about clones like I’m getting paid for it, I've been rotating those alternate universe "what if Bart and Thad were actually raised together" scenarios in my brain, with Thad either post-redemption-arc or pre-villainy. Because adjusting Thad's character to fit an ally role while still keeping true to his core motives and personality is so so fascinating to me.

Like I think there's an immediate first instinct to slot Thad into a "bad" twin category: ie rebellious and prickly, doesn't get along with people, mean lil shit. And obviously it's not wrong bc we're outside the realm of canon, but the reading still feels a little left of center.

Because Thad is mean and prickly in canon. In the Impulse comics he belittles Bart and Bart’s friends/family constantly in his appearances. He loves to goad, and monologue about his own superiority and intelligence. He’s very Not Nice, and he causes many problems, and he even does it on purpose.

But, I think it’s important to consider the context. From the jump Thad knows very little about anything except which team he’s on and who he’s playing for. He gets his orders from an unseen authority and he carries out his tasks because success means his team wins.

For all his self-aggrandizing talk, everything he does is in service of an end goal that doesn't actually center him. He's trying to get revenge for grievances he's never personally suffered, retribution for actions never committed against him. Everything he does is on someone else's behalf.

Thad sees in black and white, us or them. Up until the final few issues of Mercury Falling, Bart and co. are Thad's enemies, of course he's not going to be nice.

So Thad's motivation seems pretty simple: Thawne Supremacy™.

But it’s in Mercury Falling where this starts to fall apart, and the real core of his motivation gets revealed. Thad pretends to be Bart and suddenly Helen is nice to him. Bart’s friends think he’s funny. Bart’s teachers are impressed with his grades. Max ruffles his hair and gives him hugs and tells him he’s done a good job.

If he was actually an inherently mean and standoffish character, if Thad actually had significant personal stake in the Thawne VS Allen conflict, the weight of such tiny acts of kindness wouldn’t completely break him the way that it does in canon.

Thad thinks his goal is superiority and revenge and Thawne Supremacy™, but he's chasing validation. Thad doesn’t have a personal stake in the Thawne VS Allen conflict. He wouldn't get much satisfaction if he actually destroyed Bart and his family. Thad's personal victory would be the recognition after the fact: the praise and attention from the other Thawnes (a group of people he has literally never met) for his success.

He wants validation. That's basically it. And the fact that he gets it so easily from Bart's family and friends doesn't align with how he's told himself things are supposed to work.

Actually tangentially, Bart and Thad’s respective relationships to authority is so diametrically opposed and tbh kind of subversive in a superhero narrative. Where the hero is the one carving his own path without regard to social or societal rules, no fucks to give what anybody thinks of it. And the villain is a chronic people-pleaser.

Just based on Thad’s reaction to simple praise and affection from Max I really think Thad’s motivation has more to do with the response he gets than whatever the details are of any given task. He has no actual personal convictions beyond getting positive attention, and whatever he did have crumbled as soon as Bart’s friends laughed at his joke one time. Which of course leads into the core of his whole conflict at the end of Mercury Falling. He cares too much about Bart’s friends and family now, he doesn’t want to kill them, but worse than that, he’s faced with the sudden realization that he’s on the wrong side.

The Allens gave Thad everything he actually wanted and needed, but his conception of himself is inexorably tied to the Thawnes: who gave him jack shit. These two facts are in opposition to each other, and he can’t reconcile the reality of it.

Anyway all this to say, in an AU where Bart and Thad are raised together or Thad gets an actual redemption arc etc etc, I think my personal take on Thad’s personality whether it be pre-or-post-villainy would be one that is extremely socially conscious. He is much more of a people-person than Bart. Whether he's actually accurate in assessing people's feelings and how to respond to them can be hit or miss, but he wants to behave in a way that gets people to like him.

Pretending to be Bart isn’t remarked upon as, like, a difficult task for Thad. In his internal monologue he’s literally bragging to himself about how easy it is. But what’s especially notable to me is where his act differs from Bart's typical MO. Everyone notices, and lots of people comment, and presumably if Thad didn’t have the excuse of Max’s illness to “motivate” Bart to do better he would’ve been found out immediately. And those things are, specifically: paying attention in class, doing his chores, staying on task, and being helpful around the house. The one thing about Bart he chooses not to emulate is Bart’s rebelliousness.

Thad wants to prove himself, constantly, to whatever authority he respects (probably Max in this scenario) and will do whatever it takes to make that happen. In contrast to Bart, who only listens to authority when the shit they're saying actually makes sense to him. It’s excessively difficult to convince him to go against his own interests. (And I think a key part of that is Bart’s security in knowing that no matter how much he fucks up or doesn’t listen, the people he loves will always love him back.)

Thad’s got the people-pleaser in him that has to deserve whatever he’s given. It’s why he’s happiest when he’s given a clear goal or objective to complete, because it gives him an opening to prove himself.

All this to say that if we are quantifying Bart and Thad as a "good" or "bad" twin, in the eyes of every authority: Bart is the bad twin. Bart is the bad twin, Bart is the bad twin. Bart is the one who doesn’t care about school and whose grades vary wildly depending on his personal interest. He’s the one who goes off to do dangerous shit for fun and gets in trouble constantly and doesn’t do his chores and is thoroughly unconvinced by any authority figure trying to sell him bullshit. 

Thad is the one who needs to know all the rules just so he can experience the joy of following them. Relentlessly obedient. He'll put all his effort into doing all the right things that’ll endear him to whoever he wants to impress - meaning he’s the asshole who reminds the teacher about the assigned homework. Bart might be the most popular boy in school, but Thad is a pleasure to have in class.

Like Thad can (and should) still be high-strung and short-tempered and sarcastic and edgy and mean, because he is. But he can’t be doing all that without rhyme or reason. Colouring every interaction has to be that one-zero binary of ally or enemy. He needs to have somebody he’s proving himself to: a team he’s on and a team he’s against. He’s not an inherently rebellious character. He can go up against The Enemy, whoever he deems as such, but it has to be in service of a hypothetical future in which somebody eventually tells him he did a great job.

And in the interest of continuing to beat a dead horse, it connects to their respective upbringings. Thad and Bart were both raised in VR, but Bart’s experience had the side effect of basically hard-wiring him against insecurity. His world was a playground tailor-made for him, and he was never made to feel bad or insufficient about any aspect of himself. His first interaction with a real human person was Iris moving heaven and earth to save him, without him knowing her, without her knowing him, with no reasoning for the act needed beyond Being Her Grandson. Which is probably a significant factor in why Bart moves through the world with frankly atomic levels of autistic swag.

Thad’s VR upbringing installed self-consciousness in his psyche before any other personality trait. As in: he is immediately made conscious of himself and his relationship with everyone he will ever encounter. He’s told two things: he’s a clone of someone else (inherently derivative, lesser) and that he was made to be superior (a status to achieve). Which is such an instant clarifier for Thad’s everything. Where superiority is a condition that everyone either has, or does not. It’s the one-zero binary again: are they better than me or am I better than them. Being above others is mandatory, and if his superiority is ever challenged by hard evidence or god forbid nuance Thad’s brain physically cannot take it. He needs to be better, to be worse is unthinkable, and there is no other way to be.

And this status of better or worse is, crucially, not up to Thad to decide. He needs The Authority to validate him. Bart never tries to prove himself because he has nothing to prove. Thad’s entire identity hinges on the self-worth he gets from doing a Good Job.

It is such an inherent part of his motives in the Impulse comics canon, which is why it always feels a little off when he’s interpreted as a jackass indiscriminately.

Like I don't think he needs everyone to like him. But I do think he has either one person or a set of very particular people that he needs to like him. Everyone else is either in that circle or outside of it.

(Which is why Bart is such a great foil for Thad tbh. There is no set of words or behaviors that’ll change Bart’s opinion of Thad, because Bart is unaffected by obedience or charm. So ironically Bart is probably one of few people that Thad doesn’t bother to put on even a little bit of an act for.)

While Bart goes with his instincts, his personal beliefs and convictions at all times, Thad is hyper-conscious of big-picture goals. They balance each other out that way. Thad's keeping track of whatever expectations he has placed on him, and how his actions reflect on him and the team beyond short-sighted solutions. He's a team player. AND he's an asshole.

#soapbox #dc #thad thawne #thaddeus thawne #inertia #bart allen #impulse #like he cannot be mean indiscriminately... u must interrogate WHY hes mean and to whom #if hes being raised with Max and Helen he would not intentionally do anything to make their lives more difficult #if hes being raised by Meloni same situation #he needs to be trying to get validation from SOMEWHERE u know #and of course he'll mess up and hurt the people he loves or wants to impress he is a human being #but while that can sometimes be the result #that is never the Goal u kno #not his Core Motivation #i feel like the more i talk about this the less sense im making

[murderballadeer]

they shouldn't have cast timothee chalamet as bob dylan they should have had 83 year old joan baez dress as him and do her dylan impression for two hours

#soapbox

[cowboycomics]

need to start a masterpost of scott summers autistic moments. maybe then you would all understand

#soapbox

[codypunk]

5 minutes and 46 seconds

tumblr user sweatermuppet // wrestlemania XL // kerri maniscalco, kingdom of the wicked // wrestlemania XL // chopped s15e6 // WWE RAW 1/8/24 // yves olade, bloodsport // WWE RAW 4/8/24 // anna akhmatova, the guest

#cm punk #drew mcintyre #punkintyre #drewpunk #web weaving #wwe #soapbox

[kujousaramybeloved]

something something haikavetham moodboard

#genshin impact #kaveh #alhaitham #kavetham #haikaveh #guys the first one… Has me on the floor. #also i have more #these i feel like aren’t as good for making edits with the characters but yeah #i think about them a regular amount #soapbox #image

[britomart]

BELA LUGOSI is DEAD and ME i feel also not so good

#👍👍 #soapbox #bauhaus