#circus-of-values

[eugenedebs1920]

Every maga in the comments…

Right wing media may be the most effective propaganda machine in modern times. So many maga will deny objective reality, despite it being as clear as day, because either the mandarin Mussolini said so or they heard it from some Russian paid, right wing personality.

[hood-ex]

I'm only just now looking at Batman and Robin: Year One, and right off the bat, I noticed Waid has already made a connection to his writing from Batman vs. Robin #3.

In Batman vs. Robin, Dick, while under a possession that made him air his deepest grievances, berated Bruce for taking him away from the joy and recognition he got as a performer in the circus, and instead of getting to continue that experience, Dick Grayson was hidden behind a mask.

Batman vs. Robin #3

In Batman and Robin: Year One, Bruce brings up the fact that only a few weeks ago, Dick had an adoring crowd chanting his name. Now, in the present, Dick is masked and anonymous.

Batman and Robin: Year One #1

[onemore2morrow]

Ragatha get behind me, the internet is misunderstanding complex women again

[for-the-love-of-this]

How is it that Jax managed to be less mean than Ragatha?

(This sort of serves as a part two to my tadc main theme analysis post)

Jax uses the words "like" and "sad."

Ragatha uses the words "annoying" and "happy."

Like and sad contradict each other.

Annoying and happy contradict each other.

(The word annoying could've been "I don't like it," but intentionally wasn't)

All in all, both have a positive and a negative connotation, but one line is meant to be hurtful.

Jax (unintentionally) was being nice. If what I said in my prior post applies here, this means that he was simply saying that he likes Gangle better when she's being herself; when she's not hiding her true identity. The main face she's stuck with every time the comedy mask breaks is the real her, and she shouldn't keep hiding herself.

You can argue that she's used to Jax's rudeness. Either way, Gangle is able to stand her ground even after hearing something that (on the surface) sounds pretty mean. And Jax has always managed to keep the mask away from her.

But when Ragatha spoke to her in a similar fashion, Gangle's reaction changed. She has to walk away.

Here's the difference. Ragatha states that Gangle is annoying when she wears her happy mask/fake personality (yes, she calls Gangle annoying AND fake in the same breath, subliminally).

It's a more cruel version of what Jax said. She is someone who has shown little to no lack of concern with most characters, but the truth serum (a.k.a the pink sauce) caused Ragatha's irritation to rise to the surface... and perhaps a character flaw akin to jealousy? This was after Ragatha told her she's way more responsible... "Why are you even the boss anyway?"

[frutista]

this post about dick being a misnomer in bruce's parenting is pulling my thoughts because i've done some research into the lives of circus kids and yeah, a kid born in a circus family generally starts contributing ('working') at a young age, around 2-3, for several reasons, but this imparts a strong sense of family-community and contribution ('pulling their weight'/'doing their part') in a way that gets described as feeling less like an obligation and more like a willing responsible behavior. several kids attribute an early acquisition of money skills to this. sidenote is that a lot of the kids who leave the circus (parents decide to enroll in school, parents stop working, etc.) say that they miss the circus and that without the circus their life is so incredibly boring. they're raised in the environment, it's not just what they know, but it's their family, their livelihood. these kids start training for their acts from an early age, like six-eight. a fifteen year old was described as being late to start.

anyway also on the point of 'the graysons raised their kid so good' like sure yeah that's their kid and they did play a major part in his childhood and raising him but i also think it's important to consider the difference between dick being raised in a supportive and interworking community and in a less connected house with a rich man and a classic butler.

[blaithnne]

Hey, so, this might sound weird, but your post about Ragatha tadc is seriously fucking me up. But thank you for writing it! I've had to face a lot of hard truths over the past few hours lol. I hope it's ok that I talk a little about what I mean.

I have known that I'm autistic for years, but I've never once considered that I mask in public, let alone mask at all. I've always struggled with making friends, and even when I did, I never felt like I was close to anyone. I never understood what I was doing wrong. I'm kind and cheerful, and I try to see the bright side of things and help people where I can. I always thought that was my genuine personality, and I think I am, but now I think I'm realizing I put on an act for people.

The latest episode of tadc stuck with me right after I watched it. I connected with Ragatha in a way I hadn't before, but it wasn't until I read your post that I understood why and realized all of this. She's the first character in a long time where I can say, "Oh. She's me. Literally me."

I don't even know who I really am anymore. I've spent so long sanding down my edges and trying to fit in, and never be annoying or considered uncool, that I don't think there's anything underneath my mask.

Anyway, I'm sorry for venting all of this unprompted. I just wanted to thank you again for making that post. It really meant a lot to me. I hope you have a wonderful day.

Oh dude, thank you so much for sending this in because you are REAL ASF!!

I think the best part about my Ragatha post getting so much traction is the amount of people who have opened up about relating to it. I mentioned briefly in the tags of that post that I wasn’t actually sure if what I was talking about was a common autistic experience or if it was really just a me thing, it’s something I had chalked up to autism after some personal introspection but not something I’d ever seen anyone discuss. I made the post in the first place because it was an angle I hadn’t seen anyone highlight. So it’s been really comforting to find out that I’m not alone in this struggle, and if this post has helped you figure out something new about yourself then that’s truly an honour.

Masking is weird. Autism is weird! We as autistic people tend to take things very literally, which extends to the definitions of our symptoms. We’ll be asked whether or not we take everything literally, and we’ll think “well no, I don’t take every single thing I hear literally, so I don’t do that”, without realising that we’re doing it right there and then! I think it’s the same with masking, or at least it was with me. I always thought masking was more intentional, a choice one makes — a mask you can take on and off at will, but it isn’t, and that’s what makes it so hard to deal with.

Masking is something you learn to do from a young age, it’s a learned behaviour which become almost instinctual. This makes it really fucking difficult to unlearn, because by the time you realise you have to, you’ve already built your identity around the walls you’ve put up, and now it’s up to you to figure out what’s real and what’s fake, what you need to keep in order to survive in this world, and what you need to discard for the very same reason.

I spent years of my life terrified of being disliked, because for a very long time I was. So I learned how not to be, I learned to be polite and quiet and funny and I built my identity around being those things. I learned what everyone in my life liked, what different social groups valued, and I became a copy of whoever I was talking to. Every friend I made would talk about how we had the exact same sense of humour, because I only laughed when they did. I have forever sworn off playing Cards Against Humanity, because I realised that when you build your identity and value your self worth around the idea that you’re the funny one, putting yourself in a situation where your ability to make others laugh is judged and ranked is ridiculously stressful. It’s funny the things that prompt realisations about yourself.

Eventually I realised that in making myself a perfect copy of everyone I interacted with, I had robbed the people around me of the chance to get to know me. What would people think of when I was gone, what would they miss? How can you miss someone who only mimics you, who’s just sort of generally nice and not really much else. I had no unique identity, no personality for people to latch onto. I used to take pride in the fact that even those who were notorious for disliking others still liked me, until I realised it was only because I had provided them with no unique identity to dislike. I realised that at least if I was hated, I was thought of, I was known for who I was and not for what I did. I was appreciated when I was around but not missed when I was gone and that realisation absolutely killed me. But I also think it sort of saved me.

Realising you’re masking is the first step to unlearning how to do it. It’s a long process, it’s one I’m still undergoing, but it’s so worth it. Finding your voice and your identity is absolutely a worthwhile endeavour, but that doesn’t make it easy. The hardest part for me was finding the courage to be disliked, accepting that not only was it inevitable that some people would dislike me, it was actually a good thing! Those things that some people will hate about you — maybe you talk too much, or you’re often quite grumpy — are the very same things which others will love about you. You have to give people a person for them to get to know, to be drawn to, not a perfect copy of themselves who can satisfy their every desire and laugh at all their jokes.

You don’t need to be perfect, nobody really wants you to be. You have to be you. You have to figure out who that is. You have to allow yourself the space to be messy and ugly and weird and unique, you have to learn not to care what people think about you, and oh my god that’s the hardest thing in the world. I’m talking here with a lot of authority and like I know all the answers, but I only came to this realisation within the past two years, after I graduated high school and moved away from everyone I’d ever known growing up, and finally got my diagnosis. I’m still bad at remembering this stuff, I still automatically put on a front when I talk to people, because I still don’t know exactly who I really am without the mask. And even the parts of me I do know, I struggle to figure out how to show them in a socially acceptable manner. I struggle to approach conversations in a way that’s not methodical and quite calculated, because I don’t know how else to.

But I’m also getting better, bit by bit. I’m learning to work with my autism and not against it, accepting that I will interact with the world differently from others, and some people might not like that, and that’s okay. I’m learning to uncover who I am, the hints of my true identity peaking through the mask. Maybe it’s okay to approach conversations a little methodically — I recently learned that when people start up small talk by asking about the weather or some such thing, it’s usually not actually because they care about the weather, it’s because they want to talk to you! They’re just looking for a way to start a conversation, they’re saying “I don’t know what to say to you right now, but I want to talk to you, so I’ll start with this.” Isn’t that so sweet? All these things that neurotypical people know instinctively, I’ve had to learn manually, and it’s given me a greater understanding and appreciation for the people around me.

I have a terrible memory, but I’ve learned to memorise almost everything when it comes to my friends and what makes them comfortable and happy and what their lives are like, and that’s not bad information to have in the slightest. What’s important is that you don’t build your identity around that information, you allow yourself to use the knowledge youve acquired over the years you’ve spent masking without it consuming you, use it to help you but not to define you. All this stuff is just tools to give people a bridge to get to know the real you, so make sure there is a real you for them to get to know. You’re beautiful and unique, there is somebody absolutely wonderful underneath that mask of yours, and it’s your job to give people the honour of getting to find out who that is. If someone doesn’t like what they find, that means you’re doing a good job. You’ve shown them what you’ve got and they’ve made their decision, and now you’re one step closer to finding someone who’ll appreciate you. If you hadn’t shown them the real you, you might’ve spent years following that person around and let them befriend your mask, only making it harder for you to open up to them after you’ve gotten to know them better.

You know another thing I’ve learned about myself lately? I ramble a lot! I go on and on and on and my big long paragraphs will surely annoy some people, but if just one person reads this and it helps them, then it’s worth it. Besides, it helped me quite a bit to write it all down. Thank you for sending this ask in anon, I hope life treats you well, and I wish you the absolute best of luck in finding your identity. I have a feeling you’re going to like what you find!

[awakefor48hours]

After this newest episode of TADC, I just realized that it’s easy to do a DanDaDan AU with Jax as Okarun.

[beepborpdoodledorp]

feel like I’m going insane with this but does anyone else think the in-universe explanation as to why Spudsy’s was so NPC-reuse heavy was because Caine had to make it up on the spot? We know he already had an adventure for that day fully planned but it got changed at the last minute because of the suggestion box. The NPCs are all incongruent to the theming and even one of the food items not only has the face of but is presumably named after an abstracted player, which the face decal would be an asset Caine already had access to. But the thing is the building itself seems perfectly fine and not like a bunch of cobbled together assets so maybe Caine had already made a fast food building for a previous adventure and slightly altered it for the Spudsy’s adventure? Or most likely option I am completely overthinking this

[dragonsbluee]

Me and my brother casually discussing how we would survive in One Piece/what we would do first:

Me: I'll pull a classic isekai move; find a stable island (somehow), open up a small shop, and stay the hell out of the way. Maybe I'll open a betting ring based on the newspapers, but there's no way I'm getting involved.

Brother: Bitch you went to theatre school. You're joining the Buggy Pirates the first chance you get.

Me: ....

Brother: I've had to sit through your MULTIPLE rants on how the series treats clowns and the logistics of how they would run a pirate circus.

Me: okay but-

Brother: YOU WORK WITH CLOWNS!

[barrymccaulkinem]

im going to need to see some stellar reviews of Abnimals before i'm willing to check it out. i fucking loathe puritanical self-censorship clean comedy, and the choice to do it when they did regardless of intent disgusts me

[eugenedebs1920]

My god is tubberville dumb as a box of rocks! Trigon!? F*ckin trigon?!! You mean triangle? If anyone ever questioned whether they were smart enough to make a difference in this country, just remember Tommy Tuberville is a United States senator.

Also… Cmon Alabama! Are you trying to live up to the stereotypes about you. PICK BETTER REPRESENTATION!!! Jeeze!…

[notasapleasure]

Kay, thanks for this link, reading the essay was almost quasi-religious to this lifelong atheist. It's an absurdly optimistic piece and all the more rebellious for it, I think.

I could quote so much more from it, but perhaps this is the most relevant bit right now...

For radicals, fetishizing the guillotine is just like fetishizing the state: it means celebrating an instrument of murder that will always be used chiefly against us.

Those who have been stripped of a positive relationship to their own agency often look around for a surrogate to identify with—a leader whose violence can stand in for the revenge they desire as a consequence of their own powerlessness. In the Trump era, we are all well aware of what this looks like among disenfranchised proponents of far-right politics. But there are also people who feel powerless and angry on the left, people who desire revenge, people who want to see the state that has crushed them turned against their enemies.

Reminding “tankies” of the atrocities and betrayals state socialists perpetrated from 1917 on is like calling Trump racist and sexist. Publicizing the fact that Trump is a serial sexual assaulter only made him more popular with his misogynistic base; likewise, the blood-drenched history of authoritarian party socialism can only make it more appealing to those who are chiefly motivated by the desire to identify with something powerful.

-Anarchists in the Trump Era

Now that the Soviet Union has been defunct for almost 30 years—and owing to the difficulty of receiving firsthand perspectives from the exploited Chinese working class—many people in North America experience authoritarian socialism as an entirely abstract concept, as distant from their lived experience as mass executions by guillotine. Desiring not only revenge but also a deus ex machina to rescue them from both the nightmare of capitalism and the responsibility to create an alternative to it themselves, they imagine the authoritarian state as a champion that could fight on their behalf. Recall what George Orwell said of the comfortable British Stalinist writers of the 1930s in his essay “Inside the Whale”:

“To people of that kind such things as purges, secret police, summary executions, imprisonment without trial etc., etc., are too remote to be terrifying. They can swallow totalitarianism because they have no experience of anything except liberalism.”

[putting-gummigoo-in-places]

Put him in xfohv

[linkedin-offficial]

i never thought i'd find someone who makes my 2 fav things as of recently... [sky + tadc]

more !!

HIIIII u sent this right as i was going to bed HRHGJG so good morning have this <3

i dont have many ideas as of now so .. thems :]

[papayafiles]

always a good day to remind everyone that hp is very much a bds boycott target!