corwynnasmith

[corwynnasmith]

what annoys me about explaining evolution to people who don’t think it’s real is that everyone’s idea of how it works seems to be from this

Whereas the reality is far more like

[corwynnasmith]

One of the coolest things to remember is that because prey animals have eyes on the side of their head, they are looking at you when they're in profile, not facing you! Hot tip for artists and animal lovers!

[corwynnasmith]

Just so you know, a normal response to a child breaking something is to first check to see if they got hurt and then if they’re old enough make them help clean it up. And then afterwards explaining to them how to avoid doing that in the future. At no point is yelling necessary to make them understand why they shouldn’t do that.

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just saw a sign on the side of the road that said “you misunderstood: bring back my lawnmower” that six word story goes crazy

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Obviously “America is Great Again” is a fantastic critique of capitalism and American propaganda, which would be enough to make it an incredible scene on its own. It’s a great song and a great demonstration of the show’s themes, and it’s really well done.

But there’s a tragic layer to that song that really elevates it for me, and that’s because it’s specifically MacNamara singing it.

MacNamara first is introduced to seem like a stereotypical patriotic army guy in the scene where he knocks Paul out. However, he then subverts that in the next scene where we learn his true morals, namely that he believes in love and humanity as his higher purpose and he will put that above the orders of his country if they conflict. He chooses to let Paul live because of that, and when Paul asks if he can save Emma, MacNamara gives him his gun and tells him to go. We learn, as does Paul, that despite his appearance and general vibes, he is a genuinely good person who wants to help and is willing to put his moral code above his patriotism.

But when he gets apotheosized, he becomes the complete opposite. Suddenly his loyalty is to his country only, and his own moral code is erased in service of that, which causes contradictions between the lyrics of AIGA and his thoughts in the scene with Paul. “You can’t run because our borders are closed” when he was helping Paul escape in a helicopter as a human; “Americans should fit a mold” when he didn’t at all fit the “douchey army patriot” mold he was presented with; “There’s only room for right and wrong” when he clearly is able to choose between his own morality and his orders, indicating a more complex outlook instead of a binary. He becomes the stereotype he was subverting, and in doing so he becomes someone that the real MacNamara would have hated. That’s the tragedy of that song, and of the whole show really, is that the people who become part of the hive mind lose their true selves and are only able to act in their stereotypical roles, even if that’s nothing like how they actually were as humans.

There’s also something to be said here about how the us war machine and capitalism corrupts people and makes them into something they would never have been otherwise through a forced loss of personhood but I can’t figure out how to phrase that so

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it's so funny to me that conservatives think the reason university students become more liberal is because of the actual course material and not like. the fact that universities in the US introduce are oftentimes the first place Americans are introduced to a walkable environment with affordable health care, with community spaces for any affiliation under the sun where they give you free resources and cheap food. with included public transit and opportunities for training in your field of choice. and you realize that for how much you're spending on tuition/taxes, yeah, you do deserve these things, it would be insane not to have those. and then you graduate and go back to having to buy a car to drive 20 minutes to the grocery store.

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Socotra Island, Yemen - Author: Sad_Stay_5471

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AFFIRMATIONS

you do NOT have chuunibyou

you have DARK POWERS

your cursed eye MUST NOT be unsealed

your redemption IS within the ETERNAL PARADOX

you CAN ask the cashier for that water cup BY YOURSELF

[corwynnasmith]

at a tribal finance conference listening to a quileute tribal council member talk about how companies have bought every house in forks, wa because it’s a tourist destination so they can’t hire people to work for the tribe

anyway fuck stephenie meyer for profiting so intensely off of racist stereotypes of quilteutes and all native people while never contributing a dime to help them solve the problems she caused!

if you have the ability, you can donate to their move to higher ground fund here: https://mthg.org

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[source]

[corwynnasmith]

im

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whoa whoa whoa, are you enjoying yourself right now? rookie mistake. you're supposed to be afraid and angry... yeah no all the time. how else will you prove you care about all the problems?

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It is a truth I can hate and know is true ✨✨

Sooooo few people are actually willing to defend the basic human rights of people who have committed crimes. Like I know it's not fun but if you genuinely believe in human rights as a concept you can't be okay with the state violating them in prisons I'm sorrrrry. Having moral principles is not always a fun time.

[corwynnasmith]

I love that I share my house with one of the most efficient apex predators millions of years of evolution could produce. I love that two of nature’s most prolific machines met and were like “hmmm. We should lay around and do nothing together”. Now we’re both fat and happy and full of meat. The hedonism of it all

[corwynnasmith]

Yesterday my brother asked if I'd ever had back pain and I had to do The Stare for a few seconds before I was like "yes.... and all of my joints, daily... Since second grade" I'm 29 & he is 25

And the other night I was like, breaking down trying to keep my dog from eating the living 4/8 baby bunnies left after she found a nest, literally sobbing and making a barricade out of trunks and chairs, very audible very visible, go back inside, my father: "why didn't you ask for help??"

I get this and it has invaded the rest of my life lmfao 😭

thinking about how i just… never complained about anything as an undiagnosed autistic kid. i was dressed in button-down shirts that made me feel like i was choking all day to the point i could only think about that and corduroy pants that filled my ears with nothing but the sound of the fabric rubbing between my thighs all day. i was fed food whose texture made me feel sick. i was scolded for being strange and rude when i was going out of my way to be nice or helpful. 

but i never brought it up. when i had tantrums or cried, it was always about tiny unrelated things that set me off after all the stress had built up. i knew that these experiences were uncomfortable, but seeing no one else around me complain about them just made me assume that life was meant to be kind of painful in those ways. 

even today it barely crosses my mind to tell people when i don’t like something, and i’m quick to accept requests that are actually too much for me because of the idea that everyone else can do it. ironically, most neurotypical people are much better at saying that they don’t want to do something, even when this is often due to something as simple as not feeling like it as opposed to me who is struggling due to sensory, executive function, or socializing issues. 

i wish i had learned earlier that it’s not just good, but also necessary to tell people when something is hurting you. that you’re both allowed and supposed to take action to make life less painful for yourself, especially when that pain isn’t going to earn you anything. i wish i was able to make requests for my own good without automatically feeling guilty for being ‘selfish’. 

[corwynnasmith]

My tip for compliments is to just say your thoughts/reactions out loud. When someone tells you something cool, tell them it's cool. If you notice they have a pretty hair flip, tell them their hair is doing great today with the little flip. Do you like the buttons on so-and-so's shirt? Did they finish a job really fast? Have they been working a lot on a project? Are they always holding the door for people? Did you see them making people laugh multiple times this week? Literally, if you see something, say something ✨

People do like to feel seen

Obviously don't do this sexually unless you're in a sexual kinda relationship with them 😭🤣

No "your badonkadonka got that honkahonk"

Pls

And it could backfire if you're like "I noticed you always get in 2 minutes before work starts cuz I see your red truck with the green stripe.... Good job" that becomes ✨ Stalking ✨

five random social “skills” i learned due to life experience

it’s okay to bring up your own experience when someone is telling you about their experience, as long as you circle it back to them. “is that what you mean? is that similar to your experience, or was yours different? what did you think of xyz?”

follow-up questions are always okay! when someone is done explaining something to you, ask them something along the lines of, “so, I just do this & that? / and then [result] will happen?” soo many people will appreciate your effort to understand and it’s also a good way to end a conversation instead of the slightly awkward “oh, okay, thank you– yes, thanks. got it! thank you.”

remember the details about people to refer to later. even if it’s just small talk. if you think it might be awkward, you can casually be like “wasn’t it you who told me about this..?” which indicates that what they told you was, in a way, important to you.

never underestimate the power of compliments. not only will you make someone feel good, but chances are they’ll expand on the conversation by adding where they got something, how they feel about something or simply how much they appreciate you noticing.

make kind honesty a habit (even more so than brutal honesty). tell people about the things you admire about them, express your gratitude even when it’s for mundane reasons, give advice to help others be better and not just to be critical, take a moment to tell someone you appreciate their presence, conversation, etc. be open and generous with your love and watch it find its way back to you.

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