#On Discourse and Practices

[chongoblog]

I'm going to be so real you guys, as someone who has loved Mario Kart and had it be an integral part of my life ever for literally as long as I can remember: Rainbow Road in Mario Kart World is making me an emotional mess.

They could put a $150 price tag on this game, and I would come out it saying it was worth the price and then some (for myself personally). I genuinely do not give a single shit about how much this game costs. Not that it's not worth discussing in a larger context, but there's so much fucking love in this game, and the shitty business decisions from Nintendo aren't decided by the people who put that love into the game.

I'm working on a post just bringing up Some Things I noticed

[phlorealcalicanto]

I just read all of Worm in like a month and I kept frantically reaching for the next chapter thinking surely, SURELY this is the one where the tension between Taylor and Rachel reaches a breaking point and they fuck messy style while some unspeakable calamity happens around them. And it just. never happens. (the fucking I mean, the calamities keep happening a bunch)

[marietheran]

See, the vibe I unfortunately get from a large part of the American Protestant online space is far too many people unaware of their obvious scrupulousity positioning themselves as moral authorities, and it's frankly – dangerous.

[bogkeep]

the fondest memory i have of getting to be at my Most annoying and pedantic was back when i was hanging out at a forum, and some guy was like, loudly complaining about overhearing a group of teen girls at a grocery store say harrison ford was the best actor ever. he was deeply incensed that these girls were not even CONSIDERING other historically acclaimed and objectjvely better actors before making their absolutely definitive statement.

on one hand it's already funny enough that we had to explain the concept of a hyperbole to who i remember to be a middle aged man, and maybe it was just a way of letting him concede with grace (he really did act like he had never before heard of the concept of teens making exaggerated statements without meaning it literally. like i'm autistic too but i struggle to believe that).

unfortunately because of who i am as a person, and because it was in my art history student era, i was like, sure, i'll play along. what are the objective criteria for Best Actor Ever. by what measure do we make this claim. how do we define an actor, how do we define excelling at the skills of an actor. how do we ensure that we account for bias towards gender and race? are the insitutions awarding actors for good performances objective? does such a thing as as The Best Actor Ever even exist? how do you know your favourite actors are objectively better and it's not just the perception from what your generation prefer in terms of media? people across time and place have vastly different ideas of what art is good and beautiful - did you know that many roman marble statues were painted in their day, and today we in western cultures would find the colors garish and much worse than the pure marble white? or how we love the sculpture nike of samothrace, but objectively that is a broken sculpture missing its head and arms, and it's very likely that the ancient greeks would not find her as pleasing as we do today, but because of the culture of art we have today we find elegance in the way it is broken? and -

i think the guy made a fair attempt at engaging with the discussion before he gave up. i will give him that

[transprophetic]

"there's so many radqueers in the proship community☹️☹️"

yea so weird so many pro para/kink, pro people identifying however they want believers are in the "ship whatever you want and be as kinky as you want it doesnt harm anyone" community. you'd think there'd be a lot more hateful people in the "live and let others live" community yk? so sad to see such things

[moonlit-hexes]

Witchcraft Practice & Disability

I have often struggled and grappled a lot with the concept of my practice being able to co-exist with my disabilities. I have been practising witchcraft since before I was made aware of my disability, but my disability sure made themselves aware throughout my practice.

From being unable to get up, plan or do Anything for major events and days, to the simple mundane task of going up to my altar and saying thanks to all my spirits. Every single task was dictated or rather, negated by my disability and my inability to function or do anything.

The only discourse for the same, is a persistent reminder of, "meditate everyday only then are you a witch," "you cannot be a witch unless you have a daily routine and do something everyday" and the list just goes on.

When will we have a collective talk about how such ideas are rooted in sheer ableism and the capitalistic idea of constantly working and being active? Rest is objectively a part of the cycle of nature, periods where we flourish and are active and others when we rest.

Why are we not allowed to extend the same to our bodies and our spirit?

And this is not to say that all spirits and deities you will be working with, will be okay with you vanishing for months on end. Unfortunately promises and oaths made to the spirits do not follow the same rules for disabilites. There are deities and your spirit team that might excuse you and give you that time, but not every spirit you make a contract or contact with are obligared for the same. They are not obligated to stay or do anything in the period that they are not being fed or given something in return. And that is okay. That is why we bite how much we can chew.

But that is in very specific situations, with very specific spirits. You are not ruining yourself or your practice by not being active for a week or for months or hell, even years.

Your disability does not make your practice "armchair witchcraft" (i really bloody hate that phrase).

You are allowed to take breaks. You are allowed to come back later. You are allowed to mourn being unable to practice when you want to. And you are allowed to ask for grace and time from your spirit team and deities.

Your practice is your own and it is horrifying how norms are policed by non-disabled, able-bodied and neurotypical witches for what they feel entitled to.

If you are one of them, clearly, this space and post are not for you. If you do not understand how people go months and years away from their practice, then this is also clearly not for you.

I want to talk more about what can be done during the major periods of breaks, and what not to do. This is not to throw shade at the posts that talk about - pulling 1 card from your bed because sometimes even the energy for that is lacking. (and that is for future posts)

We are disabled. We have needs. We will take up space. We matter.

And a special fuck you for the people who believe that taking medications will "hamper" your intuition.

I would love for other disabled witches to also share about their experiences and how they navigate these periods <3

Happy witching to you and a protective period of Samhain for your loved ones ✨🎃🍂

[leahthedreamer]

The ISU needs to re-ban backflips for the Olympic season because not only is it ugly but the locals and four year fans are going to start insufferable discourse over it.

[spop-romanticizes-abuse]

it's funny how people call adora dumb or dense for “not realizing that catra loved her” when catra thought that double trouble was her friend after they made it extremely clear to her that they're only in it for the money.

what is more sensible and understandable—

a. considering someone a friend when they have constantly demanded money for their services and told you time and time again that they only care about their own personal gain; or

b. believing that the person who has been abusing you since childhood doesn't like you?

[ingravinoveritas]

I am entirely floored at the discourse that's been happening on social media (mainly Twitter) since Michael confirmed that his first crush was on John Taylor, to where I actually saw someone describe Michael as a "non-practicing bisexual."

Not only does this go right back to what I wrote last year about how in the past it was only okay for men to be gay/bisexual on TV and in film as long as they never acted on it, but I am nearly 100% certain that if Michael had said his first crush was a girl, no one would think he hadn't thought about kissing or having sex with them. In one fell swoop, this manages to disregard every other comment Michael has made about finding men sexually attractive, not to mention him going to the Scala Cinema in Kings Cross in the '80s--a place known for having late night gay orgies and nicknamed the 'Sodom Odeon'--and coming up with an entire head canon for Aziraphale and Crowley revolving around that.

Also, Michael Sheen has not spent the last five years making it extremely clear--both on and off screen--that he would fuck David seven ways from Sunday (and probably already has) just to have his sexuality erased by calling him a "non-practicing bisexual"...

[parkitaco]

if i wrote a practice kissing fic would you guys promise to be normal about it

[starryoak]

Making memes out of my headcanons, part 3, swinging bats at hornets nests edition!

[glitter-stained]

I have a whole post drafted but it sounded too much like preaching so instead I'll just say this: no matter our feelings regarding fanon, I think it would be really great if we all came together and egged tom king's car. I think we, united as a group, could achieve it. And I think this is what Duke Thomas would have wanted us to do.

Come on guys, just think about it. I bet he drives a cyber truck.

[sagegreenyaps]

Hey, I get that you don't like that person's stance, but they don't deserve to die or to relive their own trauma because of it. Don't dehumanize your enemies.

If you're at the point where the most substantial thing you could say to somebody is a threat, just silently wish the best for them.

Wish that someday they'll stop being an enemy. Wish for character growth.

(Note: This is not asking you to "fix them." That's not your job, and helping people with the mindset of "fixing them" is not actually that helpful. If they ask for civil discussion-- and are genuine-- then it's your choice whether you permit it or not, but don't try to force your point without listening to them. Don't "fix them." It very likely is not going to work, and will very likely instead give them a bad/worse taste in their mouth about you and what you represent. Sometimes it is best to leave people be, in all honesty. You don't have to save the world, doing what you can is perfectly acceptable. Promoting good-will and stability in your own space is just as-- if not more-- important as stepping outside of said space.)

[rat-rosemary]

dream in the photos gives me some Omega Vibes like the way he's letting dr donut grab him and how he's posting, idk if i'm stereotyping omegas but he never looked more like one. Which makes me worried bc his heat could start at any moment and he's away from his pack :((

I always thought Dream was an omega (He has made a lot of little comments over the years that make him feel like an omega to me) and I think over the years he has really grown into it and owned it you know? Like how he has really become more confident in himself and his appearance since his first irl event

I think Dream has everything under his control, we dont gotta worry. He knows what he looks like and he's not afraid to play if up for a camera, and we know he loves toying with people. Honestly we should be more concerned with Dr donut, seeing how Daquavis looked after he was set free from the drantion

[liketwoswansinbalance]

College advice??

Never skip any readings and never use AI.

Think about it in this way if the temptation ever arises: most likely, you (not necessarily you, Anon—the general, collective "you" applies throughout) will be paying for your tuition and you don't want a machine to rob you blind of the chance to do the intellectual labor yourself. After all, would you give your education to someone else? No, right? So, an unthinking machine that produces hackneyed clichés of all things has absolutely no right to it either.

If that is not convincing enough, think of this instead:

Past generations never relied on AI or the "easy" way out (which results in less learning), so do you want to be worse off than them? Do you want to be "inferior" and less accomplished? No!

(If you "must" cheat, at least try to learn your lesson or something from the experience. Better yet, do not cheat at all! If you have, you've shortchanged yourself and have dented your integrity/self-image.)

Or, to put it even more extremely: do you want to represent the (probable) decline in academic performance as time goes on? Become a statistic? No. Right?

No one should want to be viewed as part of "those kids" whose literacy and writing skills have dropped, to the point that professors complain they have to teach/reinforce the basics before they even get to the target-level material you've paid for or earned your way to. Wouldn't you feel guilty if your professors complained about that, a problem which never before existed in their time? If you're not a part of the problem, you can at the very least separate yourself and feel like you're in a better position than those classmates who do use AI or who pad their papers with meaningless fluff.

Thus, the pressure isn't on, per se, but you don't want to become representative of the stupid side of humanity—and I imagine no one would want to if they could prevent it and have to sense to think for themselves.

Please, do yourself a favor by just trying, revising, and asking questions. It's not that hard.

And now, argument the third:

Would you trust a professional who only graduated because they relied on AI and are, in reality, incompetent? There's no telling what could go wrong and God forbid they were a medical student who should have failed who's operating on you.

Feel free to ask any questions.

[theancientfootsteps]

I really wanna make a post about my complex thoughts and feelings about sola scriptura but I am also utterly unqualified to do so