#Collection and Extraction

[beesmisc]

I just finished rewatching voltron season 1 and I’m wondering at what point does “You’re the only person on this team who is locked in” turn into “I want you so bad let’s go on a mission together and say meaningful things to each other”

[angrybatart]

🦆

(Based on when I was trying to hide and had an Apex Predator run up to join me.)

[hinge]

Hinge presents an anthology of love stories almost never told. Read more on https://no-ordinary-love.co

[barbiegirldream]

I hope it's very literal the idea that the Ten Stonehearts carved out their hearts. To take a blade probably made of Diamond and carve deep ripping out the hearts they don't hold dear to take on the lifeblood of Preservation. Faith so strong you can live through the shared power of an emanator. To look at the entire universe and be willing to give it all to your Aeon. The Ten Stonehearts if this is true become one of the most radical religious groups in the cosmos hiding their goals behind credit and debt collection and asset gathering.

Which if you look at Aventurine making a point to confront an emanator of Nihility and ask about the nature of the Path and Aeon... while sacrificing his child-self along the way... yeah the Stonehearts are probably our final boss

[mistic-sins]

Turning up the heat! Hope you can grab that token shard before our buddy here beats the crap outta you!

[shershayariaayi]

In another timeline, I confessed to you. Whether you would’ve reciprocated or not, I’ll leave that up to you.

But in another universe I would have gathered the courage to tell you that for me you have hung the stars and planets in the sky. You are the sunrise I would not mind giving up my sleep for.

That loving you has become easier than breathing. That I imagined you whenever the poets and songs sung about worshiping someone to the level that everything mine automatically changes its ownership to your name.

That I am not ashamed or embarrassed to fall in love with my best friend. That I am not afraid to change myself for the better if it means I have the honour to communicate with you for however short or long time.

In another life, I would’ve professed to the one person it mattered the most: you.

- z.t. (Extract from a story I’ll never finish)

taglist: @curseofaphrodite

[biblicalhorror]

The best thing about the star trek original series episode "A Piece of the Action" is how Captain Kirk does not even attempt to mask the fact that he is having the absolute time of his life the whole time

[hinge]

Hinge presents an anthology of love stories almost never told. Read more on https://no-ordinary-love.co

[binah-beloved]

one day, Binah would like to watch the stars with you. but what if there are no stars anymore, by the time she leaves the Library? perhaps they've all been burnt out, and the moon has been too cold for her liking, ever since she became enraptured by your warmth. perhaps they were harnessed for their energy. perhaps some great monster ate them up for supper. she can't bear to see you disappointed, after you waited so long to see the night sky again.

maybe, instead, you'll see the fireflies together. they're almost like stars, after all, except they hover and land on your fingertips, winking and blinking in an almost cheerful pattern. they only appear in sparse areas in the Outskirts, where the dry grass has overgrown up to your waist. getting there alone would be a struggle and a half. but Binah thinks it would be worth it, to see dots of light on your face accompanying your happy smile again.

[thislittlekumquat]

Every time I see a banana bread recipe that does not involve crisco, I acknowledge the superiority of my own banana bread

[scriv3lloirl]

penis

On a scale of 0 to -10, how badly do you need yer' teeth? Cus I'm boutta take em all, buddy.

[femmeroi]

Something about shooting games makes people soooo toxic

[hinge]

Hinge presents an anthology of love stories almost never told. Read more on https://no-ordinary-love.co

[fancypantsrecords]

James Duhamel & One Take Tigers - Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Extraction Original Game Soundtrack | Laced Records | 2022 | Yellow Translucent with Black Splatter

[cherryblossomshadow]

Stop Changing the World With Violence

Are lone gunmen as entitled as the elite they claim to defend against?

Rachel Donald, Planet: Critical

Excerpts:

When the CEO of UnitedHealthcare was gunned down by a masked man on the busy streets of New York, the internet erupted with visions of what this could mean. Was it a vigilante? A victim of the American healthcare system? A former employee? A revolutionary? Was this the event that would trigger a mass movement against extractive capitalism?

In contrast, extractive capitalism barely blinked. In fact, UnitedHealthcare executives carried on with their 9am meeting barely two hours after Thompson was killed. It is a shocking and revealing fact, one that makes perfect sense when you stop to think about it. Brian Thompson was as unimportant to UnitedHealthcare as its customers because the customers who die from denied insurance policies can be replaced, just as CEOs who are killed can be replaced.

.

The tone [of the manifesto] speaks volumes. It certainly would not surprise me if this was the manifesto of a 26-year-old who thought they were the very first person ever to face the reality of corruption and greed “with such brutal honesty”. It would also not surprise me if that 26-year-old, self-isolating from any community with whom to discuss their beliefs, came to the conclusion that murdering a CEO would in any way help.

.

You might think, given everyone lives within the same economic system and falls on the same spectrum of suffering, that assassination attempts are carried about by a range of people which reflects the diversity of our societies. That is not the case. If we look at Presidential assassinations in the United States, the alleged perpetrators are always white, and almost always in their mid-twenties:

John Wilkes Booth was 26 when he assassinated Abaraham Lincoln

Charles J. Guiteau was 39 when he assassinated James Garfield

Leon Czolgosz was 28 when he assassinated William McKinley

Lee Harvey Oswald was 24 when he assassinated JFK

John Hinckley Jr. was 26 when he attempted to assassinate Ronald Reagan

Thomas Crooks was 20 when he attempted to assassinate Donald Trump

Murder is one of the most vivid acts of entitlement in the world.

Frankly, it’s unsurprising that those on the top of the social pyramid created by extractive capitalism would typically be the the only group to think themselves as bearing the right to take another’s life for the wider sake of society.

.

I believe acting in self-defence is imperative in a crisis. I would like to see the climate movement engage in more acts of self-defence. I support the right to sabotage the private property of polluting industries in protest, and I don’t believe we have to forgive our abusers if ever we reach a moment of collective justice. I think the fight to save the earth’s systems and our own societies from collapse is a fight to save ourselves. It is a collective act of self-defence, and it is utterly justified. Its very collective nature sets it apart from lone gunmen who believe they are the arbiters of honest assessment and have the last word in what the world should look like.

.

Systemic change is complex. It cannot be achieved by a single act, or a single person.

.

The reality of human violence is the result of thousands of years of extractivism and exploitation. It promotes violence because it feeds off of violence. Those who engage in violence at its service are in no way excused, but

rather than argue their evil nature we should reflect upon their lack of imagination and cowardice.

These people don’t want the world to change because it suits them very well. This is actually a perfectly normal conclusion. That they don’t want it to change at the expense of others is a conclusion that can only be supported by an economic, political and cultural system which promotes separation and individualism. Everything is geared to support that narrative.

Those who are thriving in it are perhaps not all evil—they’re just very good at doing what they’re told and see no reason to question the world they maintain.

.

Brian Thompson’s murder won’t stop for-profit maximisation of healthcare in the USA. It has provoked more conversations about it, certainly, and galvanised, if not radicalised, a cross-section of the internet who are intrigued by the daring and physique of the alleged killer. Some will say his actions were worth that alone. Yet, simply talking won’t help American society progress towards a more equitable future. To get there, they will have to organise systemic attacks on the infrastructure—both ideological and physical—which makes extractivism and exploitation possible. To arrive at a future of non-violence, we must coordinate and defend against violence. To do so alone is fundamentally inefficient.

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The radical flank is a critical wave in any social movement, making the peaceful protesters look amenable and worthy of an invitation to the table: MLK’s ideals were buttressed by the radicalism of Malcolm X.

I have seen arguments to suggest that Thompson’s killer represents the radical flank. I worry these arguments are misleading because they suggest that any single person acting alone has the same right to change the world as a collective of people who have hammered out their ethos and strategy by listening to one another and sharing their lived experiences. I worry that a movement will be reduced to a single person, painted as heroic or evil, who will distract from the relentless on-the-ground organising taking place all across the world, and especially in the USA in the lead up to Trump’s inauguration. I worry we will fall prey to utilitarian arguments where the ends justify the means and murder takes precedence over justice. I worry young men in their twenties will think they have found an easy way to achieve the greatness they believe themselves entitled to. I worry we will conflate killing in cold blood with self-defence.

.

Extractive capitalism won’t stop for anyone, and if violence is its currency then no amount of death will ever be enough to shock it into submission. It must be dismantled, hospiced, destroyed; such is a labour of care and dedication and bravery. And, to be brutally honesty, that is much harder work than any single act of violence.

[kismetconstellations]

Why are K/L shippers like this?

Is Shiro honestly so intimidating to them that they have to bash him (and obviously Allura, as well. Can't bash Shiro without the obligatory tandem Allura bashing)?

[nicole-the-hololynx]

nothing quite like pirating a game you actually own simply bc you can't be assed

[hinge]

Hinge presents an anthology of love stories almost never told. Read more on https://no-ordinary-love.co

[shershayariaayi]

There is something comforting about a bookstore being placed on a busy street. It is like having a white piece being surrounded by black pieces in chess; like that one kid quietly eating their lunch while being surrounded by kids who are running, screaming and creating chaos. It is like being on a crowded beach with noise cancellation earbuds. It’s being different in the midst of commoners yet somehow not so different that everyone starts noticing you.

- z.t. (Extract from a story I want to finish)

taglist: @curseofaphrodite

[artemis-crimson]

I am a Noam Chompsky hater for many many reasons but first and most personal among them is what he’s said about Grenada in the past, when he dies I’m going to throw a party and I’m going to type up my Nana’s recipe for ginger beer and share it with everyone in celebration.