#and I can easily blame the education system

[starbirdciraus]

I drew her being a suspicious creature cause I was told doing so would help improve art skills (and I also wanted to see if I was capable of sus)

[lexirosewrites]

Hello hello! I have an angsty slick Sunday submission for you today 👀

So I learned today via Instagram (because we all know what the American education system is like) that a pregnancy depends largely on the male partner’s health before the pregnancy.

Now… we all know Eddie’s diet consists largely of Spaghetti-o’s, Yoo-hoos, beer, and the like, to say nothing of the weed and the physical exercise he most likely does not do.

I think you can see where I’m going with this.

Alpha!Eddie meets the love of his life in omega!Steve, they bond, they go into heat/rut, and Steve gets pregnant. They’re thrilled.

Steve’s doing all the right things, he’s on all the right medicines and supplements, he’s (lightly) exercising, he’s hydrating… all the things.

No one knows why he loses the baby.

(Please hear me out- even if it was widely known in the 80s that the father’s health had an impact, Steve would never blame Eddie.)

No one knows why, but it happens, is the thing, and it hits Steve hard. He drops into depression, is nearly catatonic in his grief.

Eddie’s there for him throughout all of it. Of course he is. That’s his mate, he loves him, even through this. Of course he does. And Steve usually bounces back so easily… I mean, take a look at Starcourt, at the Upside Down. He wasn’t just hurt physically. In the case of Starcourt, he was literally tortured, and he pulled through just fine!

So of course he’ll pull through this.

And… he does. He pulls through. He’s not even just going through the motions any more; he’s genuinely enjoying life, Eddie can tell.

Still… it doesn’t stop the twinge of sadness he feels through the bond when Steve catches sight of a pup with their parents. He brings it up eventually, but Steve quickly shuts him down. He doesn’t want to talk about it.

So Eddie thinks, okay, he won’t talk, then maybe some direct action will work. So he tries.

Steve refuses to do anything unless Eddie’s got a condom on. Spirals halfway into an anxiety attack when Eddie doesn’t immediately understand.

They never do end up with those six little nuggets.

Steve never does lose that twinge of sadness when he sees a pup out with their parents.

He knows he can never have that.

convinced you guys hate me and want me to be sad all the time🥲

[ardbar]

You! You get it!! They keep the Pros mad and the Noobs, not because they hate the Noobs too, but because they need the Pros to Fear What Could Be. I wonder how often a Pro falls and their former neighbors look at them with terror, thinking, "that could have been me." But it comes out as angry words towards their once friend. Their friend knows that it is fear they speak with, not anger, but that doesn't make it hurt any less.

As for the Masters, I wonder if they even Know beyond Theory. Like yeah, they know it isn't great on the Noob level. But they don't ever go down that far. They don't know that they're only given raw meat to eat and they have to risk their lives to do so, they don't know that the education system is Literally Nonexistent, they don't know that a Noob's life span is not counted in decades like theirs, or years like the Pros, or even in months, but in weeks. In days. They don't know that the average life span for them is only a few weeks.

This is not willful ignorance, not fully. They have never been down that far. They have never even considered the possibility that something could be that wrong, because surely the Champion wouldn't ever allow anything to get that bad, right? After all, he says that the Noobs are fine and it's dangerous to go down that far anyways. They don't have the safety blanket of the Pro Level if they miss a jump.

Just like with Evbo, how can they possible ask for an answer to a question they do not know exists?

But Evbo is the champion now and even when he was only a master, he shone light on what was happening down there. He claims that when he left he was considered not just an elder, but *ancient*. They ask how old he is, thinking he must be nearing 100 or 200, but he simply replies, "I am five years old."

OOO it would have been really cool to see people actually rank down and see how others view that. I wonder if there would be any sympathy, or if they would blame the fallen person. If they had been good enough they would never have fallen, they should have just done better.

Also your point about the master's I think is very interesting. It is personally not something I have given too much thought to until now so please forgive me if my points aren't as thought out as they could be. I really like how you describe the master's just being ignorant of the life in the noob level, they only have passing knowledge of it. But I also think this would be true of their knowledge of the pro level as well. While we don't know exactly how long the champion before Evbo had taken over for we can assume it's a decent amount of time because the system seems pretty set in stone with very few people fighting against it. What this means is a majority of the people on the master level were probably placed there by Seawatt and his whole memory lab thing. It was also mentioned that Master's almost never go down to the pro level. I think they would create an ignorance of not only the noob level but of the entire system. I think this would also really parallel how out of touch rich people but specifically how people born into the with wealthy are.

I think this adds an extra layer of it because it would make it so the masters are just as much a victim of this system even if it does benefit them. Many of them may look down on the pros, and noobs but they still do believe that through hard work it is possible for new members to join their ranks. Their actions aren't malicious they have just never been given a reason to not trust the system. Its the same reason old people say oh if you set aside x amount of money you can buy a house easily. That is there lived experience they can't comprehend this changing. At best masters have a basic understanding of the pro level and since everything is relatively normal there they have no reason to wonder what the noob level is like.

Also I love the whole, "I'm 5" line that would be super intertesing to see someone do something with that.

[chroniclesofbts]

Call Me Home Part 3

Idol hybrid BTS x hybrid foreigner reader

Warnings: implied sexual themes, smut, angst, fluff, polyamorous relationship

If you’re not 18+ please, do not interact.

As always, my works do not represent BTS in any way, this is purely a work of fiction.

*short chapter, I cut this part in half because it was so long*

Y/N's POV

Coming to, I can hear voices around me and an annoying beeping. Listening intently I hear the words, "not heat", "too risky", "trauma", and "management". The monitor attached to my heart gave away that I was waking up, the beeping increasing. My eyes flutter open, the light blinding me initially.

"Hey, welcome back. You really scared me there" Jin said softly, sitting on the edge of the hospital bed. "I thought my face was just too handsome for you" he joked to lighten the mood.

"How are you feeling Miss... ?" A woman in scrubs asked

"Fine, head is a little heavy, I'm a little sore too. What happened?" I questioned

"You passed out in the shower with Jin. You didn't hit your head or anything, he managed to hold you up and call Jungkook for help." I flushed at the thought of Jungkook seeing me naked. "Can I ask you some personal questions?" The doctor asked gently, "Your pack can stay here or leave if you feel uncomfortable at any time"

"Um, s-sure" I stuttered

"Do you have any nightmares?"

"Oh, uh yeah, most people do though" I joke

"How many a week?" She says writing things down on a clipboard.

"Uh it depends, maybe like 5?" Jin's hand finds mine, and holds it in a comforting manor.

"Do you ever feel numb?" She continues

"Yeah, I guess if I get too overwhelmed I do." I answer honestly

"Do you feel like you startle easily? Have trouble concentrating?"

"Sometimes" I answer, starting to close in on myself.

"Last question, where do you see yourself in the future?"

"I mean, how far out? I see myself with the pack, for as long as I have left" I answer, feeling Jimin lean his head on my shoulder from the right side where he was sitting.

"I see, thank you for answering my questions, I will talk to your packs leader and you should be able to go back to their dorms in the next few hours." She smiled, motioning to Namjoon to follow her.

"How long was I asleep?" I ask Jimin

"3 days, you must have been tired and your body was recovering from the shock to your system with the pills you took." Jimin explained.

"Why was she asking all of those questions?" I ask him nervously, "Did I do something wrong, are you going to replace me?" I whimper

"No! No, baby, never" Jin said, squeezing my hand. "We just want to make sure we can help you, make sure we can be enough for you"

"Oh, why?" I mumble confused as I feel myself blush.

"Because you deserve the perfect pack" Jimin said, pushing his nose further into my scent gland.

"Wait, I thought I was in heat" I look at Jin, who looks away bashfully.

"Your body has never had a heat, it wasn't ready for a heat, your body was fighting the medicine, it caused you to get sick. Right before you passed out I could smell the shift in your hormones, I just didn't figure it out until you passed out. I, o-overwhelmed your b-body. I c-caused it, I am so sorry" He cried, "we don't deserve to be your pack, we couldn't even take care of you as soon as we got you"

"Jin, I don't blame you. It's not your fault, how could anyone have known? You caught me, right? I didn't get a concussion. It's okay"

Before he could respond, Namjoon came in the door followed by a man I had never met before.

"This is Sejin, one of our managers. After talking with the medical staff, we think it's best to start you on a month of medicine to encourage a natural heat cycle. This will also give your body time to adjust to being in a pack, as well as let your mind work through everything that has happened recently. With the rush of moving and education, now this, your body and mind are overwhelmed. We want to make sure you're completely healthy and ready." Namjoon explained as the nurses started to detach me from all of the medical equipment.

"Take it easy for the first week, bed rest for the first 5 days at least. Your body is recovering and we don't want anything to delay the process." The nurse explained.

"Here, we brought you some clothes, its ours, but we will get you your own soon" Jungkook said, handing me some clothes that smell like all of them. He helped me up with a blush and led me to the connected bathroom to change. I quickly changed into the sweatpants and shirt, pulling the drawstrings so they fit move comfortably. I opened the door and found him waiting outside, eyes widening, pupils dilating, at me in their clothes. He extended his hand to me and started to walk me over the the wheelchair.

"I don't need that" I said, trying to pull out of his grip.

"Okay" Jungkook smirked, sweeping me off my feet, "but you can't walk, doctors orders. I prefer this way too" he winked.

"W-wait, actually, the chair l-looks fine" I stuttered through my embarrassment.

"Sorry, cutie, I like this way" He smiled, staring at me with a fondness I haven't seen yet. He carries me through the lobby and outside to the waiting car. Jimin's mouth dropped open as he whined about how unfair it was that he got to carry me, causing a few others to grumble too. He hands me to Namjoon, who pulls me close in his lap, shoving his face into my neck and relaxing. The drive was filled with lots of joking and flirting, I swear my face was always flushed. Jin steals me away from Namjoon to carry me inside and up the stairs to their room. It has a large bed where they obviously sleep all together, lots of pillows and blankets resembling a den. Jin gently lowered me into their den, showing through actions that he could care for me. I immediately relaxed, realizing that even being surrounded by predators, I was safe. I let my eyes flutter closed, my body pulling me under with exhaustion. The last thing I register is a body laying down gently next to me, in their animal form, their purring lulling me deeper into dreamland.

Taglist open (please let me know if I missed you): @dachshunddame @minjianhyung @minhanbyeol

[moderndayamymarch]

i’m not sure where this idea that dumbledore is the reason tom riddle became wizard hitler came from but i don’t buy it. i know the cool kid thing to do is blame dumbledore for every bad thing that happens in those books, but dumbledore isn’t the reason riddle was like that™️.

by the time dumbledore first meets riddle- he’s already traumatized those two kids in the cave so badly that they’ll never recover, killed some girl’s rabbit and hanged it from the rafters, and is a klepto. the kid literally meets the all childhood behavior indicators of a serial killer.

dumbledore in the meeting with riddle only displays concern for riddle and the other childrens’ well-being. he offers to help riddle and tells riddle that stealing/intimidating other students isn’t permitted at hogwarts. and he’s valid for pointing that out!! riddle admits to intimidating/stealing from the other kids. that’s something dumbledore kinda can’t let slide.

ppl cite dumbledore making a snide comment to harry about riddle wanting to be special as evidence he was out to get tom. current dumbledore made that comment as the result of knowing who tom riddle became. past dumbledore only vows to keep a close eye on him. present dumbledore even says he had no idea he’d just met wizard hitler. and past dumbledore’s not wrong for keeping an eye on riddle. also that’s common practice in the education system. when a child is noted to have behavioral issues (esp when those behaviors concern other students), admin will have a school counselor keep an eye on them or assign them a para. dumbledore also obv didn’t turn anyone against tom. everyone else loved him! so dumbledore’s watchful eye obv didn’t impact riddle’s school career really at all. all of the teachers believed he was a good role model student and he was even named head boy.

also even if, a teacher not liking or trusting you does not mean you get to become a neo-nazi. harry put up with snape’s bs and it didn’t lead to him declaring himself a “lord” and splitting his soul into pieces.

it was also the 1940s/30s and muggles did not have the psychological abilities/knowledge that we do today. wizards 1000% didn’t. if he’d been sent to a psychiatrist then, they just would’ve said some freudian bs about his mother and not actually helped with his problem of lack of empathy/guilt

the reason that riddle’s like that™️ is actually pretty understandable and makes sense psychologically. we know now (and actually by the 50s) that children who are starved of physical contact/emotional connection/and stability in early childhood can struggle to develop empathy, feel guilt, form connections, and that can lead to deviant immoral behavior. riddle grew up in an orphanage in the 40s during wwii with no familial connection. having abilities would make him feel “special” and better than the other orphans bc his abilities are the only thing he has going for him. add that to the above issues, and you’ve got someone that would abuse their powers for their own gain, especially to feel “special”. like tbh riddle’s prob not that different psychologically to like charles manson or jim jones (which is peak irony that a therapist in the muggle world could actually easily be able to explain his psyche while the wizarding world struggles)

my final point is this: dumbledore, while extremely flawed, isn’t the reason tom riddle became voldemort. if anything, slughorn and the old headmaster drove him to that end through their enabling far more than dumbledore did by keeping an eye on him. we even saw in riddle’s diary that “keeping an eye on him” consisted of dumbledore basically asking tom “you good?” when seeing him in the corridor. a behavior that reminds harry of dumbledore’s own interactions with him. and yeah eventually dumbledore called riddle out and was like “i heard you’re a fascist now” but that was after riddle had killed his own father, set a giant snake loose in the school, started calling himself “lord voldemort”, and started the wizard hitler youth

[angel-in-your-basement]

imagine trying to shame some rando online n being like "I was raped as a child and its so bad that I'm taking the time to winge to a stranger about kink insted of using the block button" broski has no friends or they'd talk to them about it insted of complaining at anon.

Hi! I appreciate the support!

There is one thing about this that I want to gently point out, though, and I hope you don’t mind me using this as an example.

I don’t want you to feel bad about it, because we all do this because we are taught to do this. We are literally conditioned to do this from the time we are children. So I am not upset, I’m not blaming you, but I think this is a good way to talk about the deep rooted shame we all have and participate in.

Under the cut so that a) you can choose to read it or not and b) ya know ya girl is long winded.

(For those who don’t know what ask this is about, Tumblr won’t let me link it but you can find it under the #kink education tag on my blog)

The ask you’re talking about was someone trying to shame me into feeling bad. And now, this ask is shaming that person for doing that.

Here is my issue with that: shame begets more shame, and shame causes us to isolate and repress things, which leads to them being expressed in unhealthy ways. One of the reason I have this blog is to express “shameful” thoughts and feelings openly because talking about them is one of the only ways we stop feeling shame and start learning how to process them in healthier ways.

Now, I could have easily responded to that person with shame. I could’ve told them to fuck off, that they were a miserable person etc., and I probably would’ve felt justified in doing it. It might’ve felt good, briefly. But, really, what would that have accomplished?

People who lash out like that anon did do so because they are hurting, and because they were not taught or don’t have the resources to regulate themselves. Basically, it’s like a child having a tantrum, because most people were never taught to deal with their feelings in better ways than crying, screaming, saying mean things, etc. I don’t mean that in a demeaning way, because we all have a nervous system that operates on the level of a scared animal or child. It’s how we’re wired.

So I could’ve lashed out back because it hurt me to read those things, and all that would’ve done is create more hurt in both of us. But because I could see it for what it was, which was someone who was deeply hurt in a way that has nothing to with me, I could take a second and choose how I wanted to react without my nervous system choosing for me. And because I DO have the skills and resources to regulate (most of the time, I’m not perfect either!), I decided to engage in way that was calm, compassionate and still holding them accountable for their actions.

I’m not naive. I don’t expect that my answer to their ask changed their mind. But as much as possible, this is how I choose to operate in the world: with compassion and understanding, while also maintaining accountability and boundaries. And of course, sometimes I still tell people to fuck off lol.

At the end of the day, we’re all just people doing our best with our very limited resources. I don’t think I am above the person who lashed out at me, because I have lashed out at people. I am just lucky enough to have the support system and resources to learn how to handle things in a healthier way.

So my gentle little reflections for you and anyone else when looking at a situation where someone is lashing out: ask yourself what kind of deep hurt would make someone act like that. I have felt scared and hurt and alone, just like I imagine that person did, and that lets me have some perspective and some compassion for them.

Thank you for coming to my TED talk ☺️ I so appreciate you and everyone else who takes the time to support me, and who enjoy my content and my deep thoughts about all of this.

[mysticdreamcafe]

Continued...The blame game of (and not limited too) veganism

So, I've gotten some feed back that says I sound like I work for or own a dairy or other meat factory type business. I ask those people to read my previous post again. I'd say to read it out loud word for word and see if you don't get a different meaning other than the one you expected to get when you saw the title. That's not an insult btw, but just a fact of being human. We judge on site instantly and build from there. This has been proven and those tests also prove it's hard to break that preconception without determination, effort, and willingness.

The point of the post was...

That bullying or guilting people into eating what others want them to eat shouldn't take place. Educate them, don't guilt them. Show legitimate research that shows eating purely vegan is good for the animals, both on farms and in the wild. Show that it improves the quality of soils and water systems.

By playing the guilt or bully cards you are only pushing people away from the topic that is important to you. One of the posts I received about veganism was about milk. I don't remember the exact wording but I absorbed the message as: Milk doesn't agree with you because you aren't a baby or baby cow.

Some humans DNA actually changed to accept milk into adulthood. Those who did found it was easily consumed by the infirm and elderly so they could recover and/or not starve to death.

That was the point of my post. EDUCATE people so they can make an informed decision. I don't drink milk, personally. If you do I don't care.

As I said in my previous post...I personally think of peoples dietary consumption the same as their religious, sexual, or political choices. That is to say it's none of my business and I don't care. It doesn't affect me. Only my choices do that...well and maybe the governments but we won't go there.

I stopped all social media to get away from people shoving things in my face and started blogging here. I blog about my wellbeing, tarot, intuition, dreams, and so forth, with the understanding that if it isn't your cup of <fill in drink of choice> then move on.

Critical thinking, understanding, empathy, and knowledge could change the world one day.

MV

[drdemonprince]

Hey Doc, any advice on how to determine at what point something crosses the line from me struggling with nueroconforming communication and becomes discrimination?

Context:

I'm out trans at work but have not disclosed my autism. I am constantly getting tone-policed and told I don't communicate well. I keep implementing feedback and communicating as clearly as I can with the criteria I am given, and I keep getting ignored.

When I'm blunt I'm told I am being harsh and need to be softer. When I'm soft I'm told I need to be more blunt to get my point across. When I'm detailed in asking for something I'm told I need to be more brief if I want people to actually read my requests. When I'm brief my requests are ignored entirely and unless I produce screenshots or email chains I'm told I never asked at all. ETC. No matter what I get ignored until the minor issue I was flagging becomes a huge emergency, and then I am asked why I did not say anything sooner.

While this pattern of being ignored has happened to me many times at past workplaces, there were never complaints about my communication skills when I was closeted and boymoding, people just admitted they ignored me and it was their fault. However this is with a new company than the one I worked at before I was out so I'm having a hard time telling if I'm being fucked with for being trans or if this is just the "normal" 'tism office experience but the blame is being shifted to me at this new place. I want to take feedback and learn to be a clearer communicator but starting to feel like my communication is not the issue.

Note: this is not a sexism thing because I have two coworkers and one supervisor who are cis women that do not have this problem, everyone listens to them.

Thanks so much, been pulling my hair out over this for a year now and feel like I'm going crazy.

This is a very, very common experience for trans femme people -- and it is absolutely caused by transmisogyny. I have noticed that trans women truly cannot win. When they explain information carefully to try and educate others, they are accused of being condescending, inaccessible, and difficult to understand. When they cease trying to be heard by people who willfully refuse to hear them, they get criticized for not being approachable or a team player. They're penalized for assertiveness, being told that it's too masculine, and then if they're passive, they get completely ignored.

You are not crazy. You are not making the wrong choice or communicating poorly. You are being targeted by a pervasive systemic bias, and there's probably very little that you could do to make it not happen to you.

A friend of mine once told me that when they were in kind of an awkward-feeling phase of their transition, people suddenly stopped laughing at their jokes. Cashiers, coworkers, random acquaintances at parties, and other people they had easily charmed in the past would suddenly react as if they were not there. Instead of even acknowledging their remarks, my friend was met with a completely neutral stone-faced expression.

For my friend, this phase eventually dissipated and their transition progressed and they arrived at a place where they felt more comfortable and other people found them easier to read by binary, cissexist norms. They still had to deal with sexism in their highly male-dominated workplace, but after a certain point, they became an acknowledgeable human again.

This wasn't about passing as cis, not exactly anyway, because my friend actually never passed as cis ever in their life, not even before their transition. But it was about legibility and their social positioning as a trans femme. When their transition was obviously a thing that was happening but which cis people didn't know how to read or respect, my friend dealt with the full force of transphobic prejudice, and it did ebb a bit once they arrived at a place where they were both more comfortable in themselves, and (probably more importantly, unfortunately) other people were more comfortable with them. The best way I can explain it, from what they told me, was that it was a combination of transmisogyny and hatred of nonbinary and gender-nonconforming people.

It was horrific and unfair that they had to pass through that, and of course many nonbinary and trans femme people live in that area of dehumanization and isolation for all of their lives. But I felt that was a worthwhile anecdote to add, because in some ways it has some parallels to what is happening to you. It might be that gradually people start treating you better, in line with more everyday workplace sexism, as I've witnessed many trans femme people eventually get professionally slotted into a more collectively accepted feminine role after being disrespected for many months or even years. But it does not always happen either, and even when it does, it was after enduring a ton of abuse and learning how tentative people's acceptance always really was -- and there's no unknowing that and unliving it once you have.

I think the workplace culture that you're in is treating you in an unacceptable way, and that you've already tried far more than you should have to in trying to make yourself legible to them. I don't have high hopes that anything you do could have the power to shift this toxically transmisogynistic culture. It's not how you are communicating, it's not how you look, it's not because you're Autistic, it's not because you're a woman -- it's because they are transmisogynistic and are penalizing you for their discomfort and lack of communication skills.

You can, I think, absolve yourself of any feelings of responsibility for managing how other people react to you. Hope can sometimes be a poison that we keep drinking over and over again, believing that we have control over whether or not it will harm us. It's okay to accept instead that nothing good will come of drawing from that well, and choosing not to imbibe it.

The choice for you, then, is how best to survive in an environment where you are treated this way. What can you do to document that you are performing the work as asked? Can you request examples or templates of 'correctly' done work, or explanations, so that you can point out that you are meeting expectations as they have been outlined? Are there people at work who have been treated unfairly too, whom you can communicate with?

(Transmisogyny, I have noticed, often parallels anti-Blackness in certain mechanisms that it uses. Many Black people are accused of being "confusing" to understand when they try to explain basic experiences of bias, or are seen as too "hostile" in similar ways, particularly Black women, and sometimes community can be built along those or other lines. If you have a union, I would certainly consider speaking to union leadership about this if you trust them. Be careful in how you go about agitating against pervasive problems like these at work -- the messenger is frequently punished. But, you might find some solace and some possibility of a culture change in the long-term if it is fought for alongside comrades rather than alone.)

Realistically, you will probably need to build an escape route for yourself. Whether that's by psychologically detaching from your workplace as much as possible, letting them fail for having not listened to you, and finding your belonging elsewhere, or whether that's by finding another job or quitting is for you to decide. I wish the options were better, but I think taking honest stock of what the problem is and accepting that it's not a social dynamic that you have the power to correct can be clarifying, at least. I hope people with similar experiences will sound off in the comments with advice or validation.

Best of luck, and I'm so sorry this is happening. Please keep me updated on what ends up working best for you.

[familyabolisher]

Apologies for bringing up a topic you've already discussed at length, but I've read through your posts on "anti-intellectualism" and completely agree with you on all counts. But I'm just now curious about how you'd define the increased culture of outright rejection of critical analysis (vague though the term is) as opposed to simple disinterest. Situations like people dismissing any deep analysis of systems, media, texts etc with "It's not that deep", or hostility towards fuller and in depth responses to statements (especially on social media with the ever prevalent "not reading that"), with the result often times being that anything requiring slight effort to engage with, or that isn't entertaining is dismissed completely.

Although I understand that these are just peoples reactions on the internet, and not systemic or material issues, I'd love to know your thoughts on how that cultural behaviour and trend could be classed, if not as anti-intellectualism.

(there are obviously a huge amount of external reasons (the attention economy, media, education etc) for people to react in that way, so I'm not blaming people personally, nor do I think everyone needs to go read Hegel and become a master critical thinker, but I do think it is a trend that has some damaging effects, especially as a response to any criticism of capitalism)

talked a little about it here—i guess i would ask what you're actually seeking to accomplish with the word "define," because there's no one explanation that can neatly account for every individual rejection of the practice of critical reading, and nor should we be seeking to find one. certainly 'anti-intellectualism' doesn't cut it, so i would just reiterate the point i made in the initial piece—how people feel about critical analysis, what their base skill level in critical analysis actually is, how that skill level is articulated, what their relationship is to the work or works in question & the respect with which they are willing to treat it are all highly contingent questions which cannot be easily explained away but instead merit thorough materialist investigation. ultimately as marxists we have to be materialists; our investigations should seek these material explanations, which means interrogating normative epistemes, education & academia, how we define "literacy" & its social use + social distribution, who benefits and who winds up disadvantaged. the "anti-intellectualism" position is broad enough to be near enough useless when it comes to articulating actionable responses; i also find it cruel.

also tbqh whilst i do get impatient when people don't "want" to engage with challenging narratives in ways that i find intellectually stimulating and would rather watch marvel film #47384 or whatever, i think it's good to take a policy of, like, blocking and moving on, curating your feed, and remembering that you don't + shouldn't have access to that person's relationship to the media landscape and the sorts of analytical tools that they may well only ever have encountered in a hostile educational setting, as well as working towards showing that engagement with "difficult" works is a) possible and b) fun and worthwhile. often people's reluctance to engage with works that have a (perceived) higher entry barrier (however ethically questionable that perception might be) simply comes from the fact that they lack/believe themselves to lack the right tools for engagement, and don't want to be made to feel "stupid" by not "getting" it—they preemptively go on the 'let people enjoy things'-esque defensive to counter this. the more candidly we talk about critical practices & the more digital airtime we give to less "mainstream" work, and the more space we give people to not understand things/to ask questions/to communicate and share ideas rather than participating in the big pissing contest of who can be the most Media Literate, the closer we get to resolving these sorts of tensions, imo.

[petewentzisblack1312]

question coming from also a third world supremacist (i think?) figuring out political ideology: how did you form yours?? i think i remember you saying you used to go off of empathy before forming a more solid worldview and i'd wanna know how to start that. apologies if i'm completely off base and you didn't say that in that case it's just nice to follow someone who's not from a first world country thank you for that

sorry this is quite meandering. i dont have a clear cut answer of a specific turning point, its just been a journey of learning ive been on as ive come of age. as for how to go about doing it yourself, id say to stay curious, but also stay skeptical. learn about the patterns that repeat in history- the way outsiders are blamed for problems, the way the world tends towards complicated answers, the fact that things are more often implicit than intentional- and be wary of them when you are confronted with an answer. remember that 'common sense' is not an edict passed on by god, its the culmination of a lot of decisions, some made with ulterior moments, so interrogate who benefits from you believing certain things that 'everyone knows'. and try to get some bearing on the theory behind certain philosophies and modes of thought. it could be a video essay, if you just need to get your foot in the door. my mentor is wary of documentaries and video essays because he thinks they can lie to you easily, but a book can do that too, especially if you think it cant! still, the audiovisual language is very easy to take at face value, and its more difficult to assess the legitimacy of a youtube video or documentary than it is with a book thats been cited by other authors a lot.

anyway, my own journey. i did in fact say my ideology is founded on empathy first and foremost. i was already pretty left leaning (but without a framework, just very 'live and let live') at that point but one of my teachers in secondary school (who ive known since my sister went to that same secondary school over 10 years prior) (hes the guy i call math dad occasionally) used the times allotted for christian education and christian family life education which were basically free periods during which were supervised by our homeroom teachers (though its not really supposed to be that) to teach the basics of anarchist philosophy (like what can or should be considered violence) to our class, and i was really engaged in that framework. there were only two people in the class who were interested in that myself included so he eventually stopped but hes always been something of a guide to my beliefs, and this introduced me to anarchism as a philosophy.

i have to say what radicalized me beyond just my love of my fellow human was curiosity. i wanted to know why the caribbean is poor. i wanted to know why certain people are mistreated. i wanted to understand racism. and it was a gradual process for me but eventually i learned that pretty much all real bigotries are systemic, but i didnt fully understand why those systems were in place until i started to understand the 'flaws' inherent to capitalism, or rather, the way its supposed to work. all these systemic injustices are in service of capitalism.

i was still quite imperial centric until fairly recently in my life though, id say like the past 5-7 years ive become more and more critical of modern empire and more disillusioned with its manifestation worldwide and as you might imagine especially in the caribbean. i hate tourism now, while it tends to be something both major parties invest in to some degree (its the liberal position). while im a little less superficially patriotic than the average st lucian, im very invested in our politics, though i find it difficult to navigate as a lay person for a myriad of reasons that frustrate me. as much as i have opinions on politics and policy, im not an economist or political scientist or commentator and have auditory processing issues that make it just hard enough to sit and watch parliamentary debates and things like that that i dont.

i would be remiss if i didnt shoutout the tumblr community for also informing my politics. ive been introduced to all sorts of people and all sorts of problems and all sorts of ideas by being on this website for as long as i have, and listening and learning and looking into things myself.

[c-optimistic]

For months now, I’ve watched in horror as posts about genocide and stopping a war have stopped and turned into talking points for the election. ‘Vote blue no matter who’ I see plastered everywhere, as though this messaging is anything but a fresh coat of paint over a rotten and dirty and collapsing structure, unable to hide the stench or the oozing of the blood of those who suffer every single day under the policies enacted by the current administration.

I don’t particularly care who any of you vote for. And I’m happy to reassure you I live in a red state where my vote is meaningless. I just don’t really comprehend this refusal to admit that we’ve been down this road before. ‘We gotta save our democracy,’ and ‘don’t you know that we’ll be living in Gilead,’ and ‘how can we save anyone else unless we secure our rights first?’

A lot of people much smarter than me, more eloquent than me, with bigger followings than me, have spoken on this. And I don’t particularly care to rehash political arguments beyond pointing out one thing: when a party stops talking policy and starts only fear-mongering, we’ve already lost. Blame citizens united, blame the Supreme Court, blame lobbying groups, blame dark money, but at the end of the day, the two parties have far more in common than they have differences. They got the time to send billions worth of weapons to kill innocents, got the time to ban TikTok, got the time to make the rich richer, and while they’re doing all that, they have us squabble over scraps. The red guys drape themselves in a flag and shout that the gays and immigrants are out to get them, and the blue guys drape themselves in a rainbow and say actually no, men with guns are gonna force us into nuclear families.

It’s funny, isn’t it. How both these parties get along just fine when it comes to money and murdering babies. But somehow, when it comes to helping vets or giving kids a good education or respecting a small government or caring about the environment or getting affordable healthcare, then the other guys are intransigent and out to get us.

I don’t care for the lesser of two evils argument. I don’t believe that our only choice every four years is to be scared enough to vote for a politician who seems to keep doing the same thing no matter whether there’s a R or a D next to their name. It’s heartbreaking to see people I respect choose to turn away from those who suffer in the name of minimizing damage, as though we’re all powerless somehow.

Most of all, I wonder if any of us truly comprehend what those who suffer at the hands of our policies hear when we say these things. That our safety matters more? That it’s okay for us to halt pressure on our elected leaders for the sake of a democracy that we’ve convinced ourselves we have? Do we think the homeless vet with cancer in California dealing with sweeps by a democratic governor has time to wait? Or that kid with polio in Gaza? While innocents are sentenced to death as a result of a broken criminal legal system and the democrats have—for the first time in over a decade—removed death penalty abolishment from their platform? We scream ‘vote blue no matter who’ and our tax dollars go to bombing kids in shelters, go to separating families at the border, go to funding wars and havoc and pain worldwide, and we ignore that both the nominees are more willing to appeal to the basest of human behavior rather than choose to make the world a better place for everyone and not just a few.

I didn’t watch the convention. I couldn’t. Why this celebrity worship of politicians who have done nothing to deserve the praise? Why turn our political leaders into paragons without reproach rather than what they all actually are: people. People who are corruptible, greedy, easily manipulated, and willing to sacrifice large swaths of innocents for the sake of their careers. Why should we celebrate either of these nominees? Why shouldn’t we instead demand better? Demand real policy outside of just ‘the other guy is worse.’ I know he is. That’s not the issue.

I don’t want slogans and pretty words. I don’t want to be scared into voting for someone I know will carry on a genocide, all in the name of saving myself. I want real actionable plans. I want to keep pushing those in politics to fight for something other than lining their own pockets. Civic duty is about more than harm reduction. It’s about more than merely securing the best outcome for ourselves. It’s about fighting, with each other, not against, for a fair and equitable society for everyone. I don’t believe we are without power, that true change is out of reach. They wouldn’t try so hard to silence us and keep us distracted by fighting each other if we didn’t have power.

And yet, I have no hope whatsoever that we will obtain any meaningful political change. Not today, not in November. Not for those children in Gaza, not for those unhoused folks in California, and certainly not for the average American, who has more in common with her flag waving and rainbow wearing neighbors than any politician.

But don’t you worry, I’m sure in four years’ time, we’ll all have a new bogeyman to be scared of, and we can start this whole process yet again.

[tirfpikachu]

I know what that post is you're responding to and it's so true

Like the "karen" in the story is obnoxiously passive aggressive to an extreme degree and reinforces the female socialisation of the women in her own life in the same way, so it's hard to feel sorry for her. But I'll never really blame a woman for being unwilling to directly confront a misogynistic man . So at the very least it's complicated and two-sided, but since the female website has no feminist consciousness they're treating it as a simple case of Bitchy Prude being ableist to the Silly Little Guy who doesn't understand why he shouldn't be misogynistic.

yuppppp it's such a classic narrative honestly

autistic/disabled men will do creepy shit, or misogynistic bullshit, and then they (or their loved ones or random apologists) blame the women for feeling objectified/unsafe around the dude. so there's a new awkwardly wholesome spin on the whole thing. meanwhile you just don't see autistic/disabled women on a large scale do things like this to other women or men. of course some do - i have faced creepy behavior from women, i know this - but it's not seen the same way and it's not nearly as many who do it as men do, and of course it's not systematically rewarded the same way. all the misogynistic autistic blorbos, the misogynistic disabled male cinnamon rolls, the men of color who further patriarchal ideals and use claims of racism to get out of any criticisms or use fear tactics to keep women & female people in general quiet. they will so easily use any marginalization they can claim as a shield to do creepy or misogynistic behaviors.

i also ofc think radblr has a huge issue with silencing the really fucked up real ableism and racism that is way too common from female people in our spaces and using feminism as a shield to excuse it, brushing off the systemic powers on a different axis that female ppl with certain privileges can have over marginalized men. yes, in many cases - such as this one - it's just women talking shit about different flavors of bigotry they face from different types of men, the same way communities of color dissect the ways that different types of white women weaponize their whiteness against them, or the way that disabled people bond over how abled people of all kinds (including abled women) weaponize their higher range of mobility to deny disabled people, especially disabled patients and disabled children (including adult children) basic human rights, treating us like dogs, like objects. i have seen all kinds of bigots and abusers. ALL bigots and ALL abusers should be called out. but i think people like that OP saw female abusers and female bigots get away with things, and then painted everything with a wide brush and decided that coddling creepy and misogynistic men was the woke thing to do no matter the context. the brainrot has now spread to the whole libfem or mainstream feminist movement. it has rotted it to its core.

sometimes look at them and still see my old self, so i naturally soften up and i don't want to just humiliate them out of it. that never truly works. the way that many radfems, especially blackpill radfems, tend to treat female people who are unfortunately stuck in this mindset is overwhelmingly counterproductive, as cathartic as it can feel. i see this behavior in mainstream tras as a form of overempathy linked to female socialization, the obsession with hugging the underdog no matter what, with uplifting the rebels, with twisting the narrative to coddle the vulnerable at all costs. the mother theresa plight, the self-martyrized maiden (or transmasc twink) who is so bold and brave and tender-hearted but deeply stuck in black-and-white ways of thinking, at times due to autistic traits. i'm not fully sure how to get them out of this mindset. i think there just needs to be more education out there, non-inflammatory education. cuz listen, i love a little inflammatory remark here and there myself with certain kids of brainrotted morons, but many of these people are actually deeply intelligent and caring. they just haven't run into words or voices that said things in a way that made things click in their heads. they also don't want to believe that even marginalized men could weaponize things like this or that they themselves could be weapons that reinforce the status quo in a brand new way by giving it a woke twist.

thankfully, not many male people are in these spaces, so here in the heart of leftist male apologism we only have to deal with a small population of bad transfems who take advantage of it, and the occasional cis dude who is easily mocked so he doesn't survive very long, or learns to quiet down. the cis men who do get blorbified on tumblr often have blank enough areas of political thought, or enough basic leftist aesthetics, that eager female tumblr users will fill out these areas with whatever best takes they agree with and just let the guy exist. meanwhile if you're a female feminist you will be harassed left and right to give your take on whatever will get you cancelled, because female folks are always tougher on their own than on the other side. the other side can win them over easily because the bar of entry to impress is so low. but to be considered a Real Feminist tm you need to constantly stay on top of feminist trends like it's fashion. tumblr turns politics into an art form and things run out of style fast. the type of feminism that centered those who have faced misogyny in their daily lives is seen as boring, overdone, and they're very blasé about it. but shielding the opposite side of the population? that still feels fresh, it feels shocking, it feels exciting, and it doesn't involve uncomfortable self-analysis for once. mainstream feminists have a fascination with the male sex and it often ends up backfiring.

they are already obviously very, very curious about the male experience, if only by all the male content they make. on top of them usually feeling attraction for cis/bio men. so it's very easy for them to say, "hey, actually, WE are the privileged bitches here." or even "this guy may SEEM bad at first, but look, guys! he was just struggling! he gets a free pass! he's kinda cute, actually, if you think about it." it's very exciting for them to see a story that would end up on r/wholesome. they see dissecting the misogynistic aspects as boring now for how obvious of an argument it is. they're constantly trying to give things a new twist, and the wholesome blorbo twist is quite addictive because of how "offensive" it's seen in here. they think they're rebels amongst rebels. or at least i did, back then. tumblr is a text-focused platform full of writers, and i think at some point politics crossed with fiction and aesthetics in many feminist minds. i myself was constantly trying to keep on top of what was said too commonly, to bring out a new angle that hasn't been said before. i was constantly looking for special exceptions to the stereotypical rhetoric of cis men being shitty, in large part because i was terrified of how many really were awful, and i needed to know there were good ones out there. that desperate search for The Good Ones paired with the aestheticization and watering down of female politics, and wanting to find a brand new call to action instead of the same boring old female-focused one... that was a very bad mix for me. and i kept not following through irl. when i'd be alone with a disabled man, i kept feeling a twist in my gut of instinct. but then i'd see it as my internalized ableism, and give it a shot. and then he proved me right. usually. if he didn't, i would blame myself like crazy for days.

i think tumblrinas have a deep, deep connection with guilt that is now bordering on addiction. we guilt others and we guilt ourselves. i think many tumblr feminist writers will say things one way, but in the moment, in the thick of the action irl, they will go with their guts. they will think, oh shit, i need to use my female survival skills in this situation. even if the male/omab person is marginalized on a different axis. it just kicks in. and later that night, when that would happen, i would be crying and blaming myself. i'd tell myself it was just all in my head, the risk was obviously not there. we teach ourselves to unlearn the basic instincts we learned as female kids. we teach ourselves to coddle and fictionalize real cis men, because the truth just hurts too much. many tumblrinas are too exhausted by their day-to-day lives to do real feminist analysis, so it's easier for them to see us as overthinking bitchy snobby prudes. but they'll most likely peak too, someday. hopefully it won't come from a horrible experience.

i'm seeing more female/ofab people think twice and seek out real feminism now, more than i've ever seen honestly. posts like this are frustrating as fuck, but not all is lost. i knew that by replying on the og post, and then making a post on my own blog about it, i would tempt curiosity from mainstream lurkers. it's why i made my url tirfpikachu, something visible, something unusual. i don't want people to be stuck like this. radfem analysis is essential to female mental health, and to the mental health of anyone facing misogyny in their day-to-day lives. and female people being told to unlearn their basic instincts is dangerous as hell. even wholesome posts like this will stick with people, make them think in similar situations that they're being crazy and bigoted, despite all their instincts kicking in and the logical discomfort setting in. it can lead to more men and male ppl getting away with misogyny/creepiness, to a higher rate of assault and unaddressed bigotry. it all compounds over time. so it's more essential than ever to offer these people not only inflammatory, meanfem type activist posts (i have a meanfem side myself) but also ones that offer a more gentle approach. to me it's 1000% worth it.

either way, we need to throw rocks at that guy.

[eloliasthoughts]

My thoughts about living in Canada

This is just going to be a rant about what life in Canada is like from my perspective. I'm a descendent of the original Canadian settlers, and life has been pretty terrible, pretty consistently, my entire life.

I'm from a very old part of Canada, and things haven't been good here for a long time. My people are stuck in a cycle of poverty and abuse that has lasted for many generations. I was beaten, neglected, abused, and abandoned as a child and I was never shown any compassion or support from my community. I nearly lost my life several times to suicide, because no matter how much I tried to reach out for help- there was none.

My province is very poor.. the existing health care and mental health care systems are inadequate. They are really just for show.. unless you're a danger to society you won't get any help with mental health care. If you've attempted suicide and are brought to the hospital they will send you home. If you go to the ER because you're afraid you will attempt suicide they will turn you away. Wait times in the ER for non life threatening injuries can be 16+ hours. People die of heart attacks in the waiting rooms. If you have a rare condition or something that isn't easily diagnosed, good luck. You will never get anyone to listen to you.

There is no sense of community here. The attitude that prevails is sink or swim, i suffered so you need to suffer too, kill yourself or get over it. So many of us have no family who even have the capacity to love us, and we're left to struggle trying to survive in a place where we're despised for even existing. It's a shitty life in Canada. Canadians are not the nice, compassionate people they are known to be. They are unforgiving, judgemental, and small minded.

My people have been oppressed for a couple hundred years by the Jewish family who monopolized every single large industry in the province. They now control our local government, they make shady tax cuts, and pay barely a pittance to the province who made them who they are now. They are largely to blame for the poverty and abuse that has taken hold of my people. There is no money for education or health care because of them. We suffer because of them, but without them we would starve. We're given barely enough to survive on, and we're forced to be happy with it.

The influx of immigrants to the country has overwhelmed our already stressed social systems. Canada is building less than a quarter of the homes needed to keep up with immigration. With this in mind, our federal government decided to increase immigration anyways, to a completely unsustainable rate. It's very basic math.. the more immigrants we allow in, the more Canadians end up on the street. This isn't a conspiracy, it's happening right in front of our eyes. There are homeless encampments across the country in every single province, in every single city. There is no excuse for Canadians to be treated this way in our own country.

To get into the ridiculous amount of corruption that has taken place within our federal government regarding immigration would be a post on it's own. It's a lot to get into, but Canada is falling because of it. There will be no salvation for this country. With the way things are heading we have maybe a couple years left before people start revolting. It IS that bad. Take it from someone who's experiencing it first hand. We can't afford to be blind to the truth anymore.

I doubt anyone will see this post, I barely even know how to use this website. I'm mostly just venting.. It's extremely depressing and I have anxiety attacks regularly because of how bad things are here. I just want someone to hear my voice.. my thoughts.. I wish someone cared about us.

[thepolyamorouspolymath]

Fun fact to share with anyone who tells you about how they vote Trump because of prices or the economy, the "gas and eggs" lie that even leftists seem to believe...

Eggs have gone up in price around $0.70 since 1980 as has gas when adjusted for inflation.

So no it wasn't a choice between wallets and human rights -- because those prices haven't changed much.

It's taking more of your money to pay for essentials because of an artificial housing crisis (of Republican support), an out of date utility system (of Republican support), and wage suppression (of Republican support.)

You can check here

for prices on goods like gas and eggs and milk, adjusted for inflation every year.

The idea that Republicans are better on the economy is a lie. It's simply not supported by actual data. If we were in 1925, then we could debate the value of liberal and conservative economic policies -- they were both largely untried, simply theoretical math.

But it's been almost a century and every time conservative economics have been put in play, a market crash and recession inevitably follow. When liberal policies have been put into place, we rebounded from the biggest economic disaster in history to the longest period of sustained growth, created the middle class, funded not only our own part in WWII but a goodly portion of the UK's as well, paid to reconstruct Europe, increased education, created a safety net for our elderly (FDR post Hoover depression), had an economic and technological boom, a soaring stock market, ran a budget surplus, (Clinton post Reagan/Bush recession) restored industries, improved healthcare, came back with 72 months of sustained job growth (Obama post Bush 2 recession).

Now I will not blame Trump for the economic problems in his last year in office -- pandemics can happen to anyone and while better economic policies could have helped, that's theoretical which is up for debate, and I'm here to address FACTS. Hard data from unpartisan sources that is publicly available FACTS.

And Biden's "terrible" economy? Yeah we had the lowest inflation in the western world (EU inflation in 2023 was 6.59% versus US inflation in 2023 was 4.1% -- as of October 2024, inflation was at 2.6% versus Trump's 2.3% inflation rate in 2019) at a time when inflation is INEVITABLE (literally every pandemic has an inflation period after it, since forever -- look at the Black Death sometime), the highest GDP (21.43T for 2019 versus 27.36T for 2023) and GNP (21.73T in 2019 versus 29.03T for 2023) in history, jobs growth every quarter (unemployment rate of 3.7% in 2019 to 3.6% in 2023, which means we not only got back everything we lost from COVID, but then some), and an increase in the median wage from $35k per person per year to $59k.

For those of you who have some weird devotion to tax rates in 2019, the federal income tax rates were 10%, 12%, 22%, 24%, 32%, 35%, and 37%. In 2023 they were... exactly the same. Your tax rates remained unchanged by Democrats at all. Also the largest budget deficit in history occurred under Trump's first administration. Personally I find these less than irrelevant (FDR put on a top tax of 94% and spent more than anyone knew you could spent and it paid off spectacularly.) But if you want to claim to be a fiscal conservative (tell me you don't understand history or economics without telling me...) then you should care.

The stock market is the worst indicator of economic health as its based on perception rather than value and has relatively little effect on daily life for most people. So how did it do under Trump (pre Covid number) versus Biden?

The S&P 500 value as of January 2020 was 3289.29. As of October 2024, 5705.45.

Again, those are all publicly available numbers.

STOP LETTING THEM GET BY WITH THE IDEA THAT THEY ARE GOOD FOR THE ECONOMY BECAUSE NO THEY ARE NOT. THEY HAVE LITERALLY NO DATA TO SUPPORT THAT.

Economics is a hard science. Data matters.

We can debate the role of religion or parental control or the fundamental nature of man. But basic arithmetic? No, sorry that question has been answered.

And anyone who tries to use it as a justification for supporting Nazis is wrong, lying, or both.

[whenimgoodandready]

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! We can not stand ideally by and let this injustice continue! Someone needs to grow a spine and tell those oppressors to shove whatever it is they’re spewing at us up their a**! I’m talking to you Sabrina Raincomprix! You need to end that toxic “friendship” you have with Chloe and be more upfront! And you Ms.Bustier! You need to put your foot down and start disciplining Chloe for her b*tchy behavior! And I’m most definitely talking to you Damocles! You’re the God damn principal! Do your job! You worship an owl themed superhero and you’re not living up to the justice they were trying to preach to you!? Shame on you! Just how are these three gonna do that!? Let’s see:

*Confrontation-The class is taking an orientation assignment on what schools would be fitting for them regarding their future careers. It’s what they call Lycée. It’s how the French educational system works there. If one were to pursue journalism (Alya), they’d be more focused on literary courses. If one were to be a filmmaker or artist (Nino and Nathaniel, respectively), a performing art school is best! An environmentalist? (Mylene) Green Peace! A hairstylist? (for “unicorns”/“dragons” Rose) A beauty school! (Maybe she can style those flying T-rexes that now exist?) A love for helping people? (Sabrina) Nursing school. A spoiled b*tch who can do whatever the f*ck she wants cuz she’s got connections and another who can easily bullsh*t their way into life as long as they don’t get caught!? (Chloe and Lila crickets chirp) Yeah, they got no future for themselves :P. What about Adrien? He’s not modeling anymore, so what’s he gonna do!?…….he doesn’t know…….(whispers) sentibeing. With all these different goals in life, it makes them realize they won’t all be together next year and thus no more Le Resistance. Awww, that sucks.

To further sabotage Marinettes life, new class rep Lila and deputy Chloe force Sabrina to falsify the classes application forms with obscure careers (ex.Sporto Kim as a physiotherapist! Lol!) and leave Marinettes desire for fashion school untouched so as to place the blame on her with the excuse that she’s trying to get revenge on everyone for voting for Lila as class rep instead of her. The akumatized victim was Juleka who’s wish to be a mortician, (well, she is goth! But I thought she wanted to be a model!? (“Reflekdoll”). Oh well), is now saying she has to repeat the year! Again! Wait! When was this pointed out that Juleka was repeating the year? Did I miss something!? Another surprise that we were supposed to find out instead of foreshadowing!? Ugh! Whatever, she gets akumatized into her signature akumatized form, Reflekta, with her given miraculous power of The Tiger, and goes on a super megaton punching spree to vent out her frustration. Lame! But hey! I don’t have any ideas either on a villain who’s theme is repeating a school year! What would their look be!? What would their power be!? So yeah, they just…..went with what they know. The only difference is Reflekta can not only turn people into copies of herself, but also with her mind set!…..Eh.

Sabrina Raincomprix! Ms.Bustier! Principal Damocles! Let me just say, on behalf of everyone in the fandom, IT’S ABOUT F*CKING TIME! They say patience is a virtue, but whoever said that probably didn’t have anything good to keep themselves anticipated for next week! Sabrina finally put her foot down and outed Chloe and Lila as the culprits to the doctored application forms and even though Lila countered it by saying she (Sabrina) did it outta jealousy over Lila joining in the group, Sabrina did get one over on the both of ‘em when she and Marinette exposed the two over the crime and reveal Lila’s true colors. Marinette constructed a makeshift restroom with hidden microphones and a two way mirror (where did she get that!?) with help from construction workers and permission from the principal (how’d she convince him?). Although Sabrina had conspired a lot of misdeeds for Chloe, the pressure finally got too much for her as it included her whole class and trashing their future careers and it wasn’t worth it for a petty hatred against a single person. Just wish that inner courage was there seasons ago. For Ms.Bustier, she admitted she was too easy on Chloe for trying to get her to change, but she strictly tells her that from now on, it’s no more carrot! Only the stick! The cold hard stick! (Hmm, must be the pregnant hormones). Was this cathartic like we all assumed it would be!? Am I satisfied to see Chloe get busted and Lila exposed for the conniving little b*tch that she is!? NO! It wasn’t and it wasn’t cuz I was already spoiled by this, but because the girls did not actually get their comeuppance! Chloe easily got away with it through her dads mayoral connections (although Principal Damocles did stand up against Mayor Bourgeois and decided to quit so as not to be abused in hurting his own students anymore) and Lila or Cerise!? Just walked away, dropped her identity and went with another in a new school! WHO THE F*CK IS SHE!? (I’ve heard “Orphan” rumors!) Yeah, NOT SO CATHARTIC! The whole thing with “Cerise” was completely forgotten about during the reveal of how those “useless” anti-akumatizing charms work and there was no mention of anyone calling the ambassador mother about all this! Another sucky moment in all this was only Ms.Bustier apologized for not believing Marinette about “Cerise” and not Alya or any of her classmates cuz that scene was deleted for God knows why even though that would’ve been sooooooo much better for us fans to see and make it cathartic! (breathes) Now that the three I mentioned grew a spine, it’s a shame we’ll barely see any of it cuz of the remaining time the characters have before school ends and how the season is ending too. Despite that, good job Sabrina! You’ll make better friends. Ms.Bustier, show no mercy on Chloe with what little time you have with her in class (even though the next two eps are gonna be Hell!) and farewell Principal Damocles! Hope you find a new job and thanks for teaching us how those anti-akumatizing charms work! (and Congrats on breaking your speech impediment Juleka for encouraging him on that). Maybe next season we’ll see how they stay more confident and assertive?

[noctarcanum]

24 és 1 az oc cuccra Dakotarol

dude you picked excellent, lore fitting questions, d i v i n e if you see a typo or anything no u didn't

1 ) What memory would your OC rather just forget?

Dakota already forgot a lot of things due to trauma and magic frying his brain here and there. His lack of memories make him a very unreliable narrator. The huge gaps in his life are a constant source of conflict that he can't do much about, so if that man wants to forget something, you know it is bad. It is not an entire act he wants to forget, just one second, right at the end of the first 'book'. Dakota follows his intuition and goes down on a selfish path so he can learn magic from an ancient being not yet known to him. All they know is that it is very far away and not something one easily survives. In the meantime, a lot of shit goes down in the middle of the city (that I don't want to get into bc its spoiler-y ahah) and Dakota and James can be easily blamed for them all - another reason for him to go. But James begged him to not leave. Never asked, only begged. Dakota looked back once, and saw his face, the desperation and misery in his eyes.

He didn't regret leaving, only looking back, because that sight would haunt him for a long time. He hates it, because the very memory of it can make him question everything. And the fact that he felt bad for a billionaire out of all things

24 )What is an alternative life path your OC might have gone down? How different would their life be if they'd made those decisions?

THIS is also an excellent question bc it is explored a bit in the story !! Dakota attended a prestigious boarding school thanks to an anonymous donation to gifted folks. From there, the Orion City University of Magic was one step away... except, before his graduation year, the state withdrew almost all funding to magical education, meaning there were only paid places in every major. Having no support system after high school, he started working right away any job he could find. His skills as a mage were quite needed, even without a university degree, but they quickly led him to borderline illegal jobs. After he saved enough money for his first year in uni, he had a criminal record and could no longer apply. He loved learning and researching, he would've made quite the academic weapon. Sooner or later, he probably would've become a teacher at some point, because he loved doing alternative approaches to everything.

With that degree, he wouldn't be in constant survival mode and wouldn't suffer form PTSD (or at least not with severe symptoms) after having to live on the streets. He could actually allow himself to focus on relationships and hobbies, just general wants that are past basic needs.

Art is from 2022, an old concept where James and Dakota were the same age and in the Academy together. (Then I made James a lot older and had him attend fancy business school back in Japan)