On the value of biting bullets
As llong as you are not on a debate against an opponent whose goal is to make you look bad, I cannot overstate how good it can be to bite bullets. By biting bullets I mean admitting to things that sound or make you look bad as long as they are not outright false.
It may feel like you are just throwing blood on the ocean for the sharks to pounce on you but it can sometimes, surprisingly, appaciguate the other person. It can work as an assurance for them that they are not crazy and most importantly that you are not crazy, that you can see what that other person sees.
It can also be a bit of a power move to shamelessly admit to something, it can disarm an opponent who is expecting to browbeat you with guilt or shame. If you are un bothered by some label or position they are trying to give you it can demonstrate that they have nothing but moral outrage and no real argument.
But also generally is just a good way of helping the conversation move along and make sure everyone is on the same page.
One example of this was when I was arguing about veganism with my gf (she's vegan and I'm not). Since I'm not stupid I freely admitted that yeah, industrial farming and slaughtering cause uncountable, abject suffering for animals of a monstrous nature and scale. I also admitted that I didn't care. That animal suffering, in my account, is just not morally relevant. That my morality extends as far as humans go and not much farther. That I am more than happy to eat meat knowing the horrors that had to happen for me to eat it.
At first she was a bit concerned about this until I clarified that I do have an ingrained response to feeling bad if an animal suffers in front of me. That if I see a puppy or a rabbit or whatever in pain I am going to feel sad about it. That reassured her that I'm not a sociopath.
And honestly I think afterwards she almost respected my position. She already thought me eating meat was evil before this argument and so I think she appreciated that I didn't try to hide behind the dogshit arguments that most vegans get when challenged (oh they don't suffer that much, eating meat is totally necessary and inevitable, if the rest of the world has a meat industry then obviously I, as an individual, then have no option but to eat meat (this one in particular is just so stupid)). I just accepted that and got to the bottom of the matter which is that our moral axioms are inconmensurable. That at a fundamental level I care about different things than she does.
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multilingual batkids. they learn each others languages so they can mix and match. for example:
tim in french: have you figured out how we’re gonna tell b we’re not going to that gala yet?
damian in arabic: no i thought that was thomas’ job?
duke french: me? no jason said he’d do something
jason in arabic: hey don’t drag me into this!
dick in romani: i’m gonna kill him i really i am
steph in russian: who are we killing?
dick in english: ah! nobody! wait i didn’t know you spoke romani
tim in greek: you’re an asshole
jason in english: wait my greek is rusty say it again slowly
tim in greek: you’re an asshole
jason: …. you motherfucker
cass signing: nice drawing
damian in chinese: thank you
dick yelling at bruce about something he did
jason in spanish: what language is he speaking right now?
tim also in spanish: uh all of them i think
jason: does bruce even know-
tim: no he doesn’t
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Loustat short comics - There is nothing else until the storm is over - Interview with the Vampire TV Series
text transcription under the cut ⬇️
Fake magazine illustration
Page 1
Daniel : So, tell me... Did you see Lestat again?
Page 2
Louis : When he's not on Tour, he would occasionally visits.
Page 3
Daniel : So you're what, now? Friends?
Louis : [Hello Lestat.]
Lestat : [Hello Louis.]
It would be too simple. You know us.
Louis : [ That's new. Still enjoying the glitz and glamor?]
But there is this arrangement we are both fine with.
Page 4
When two people hurt each other so deeply, what is left afterwards?
Page 5
Things like that, it seals doors once still unlocked at the time. Can time really heal everything?
[Mets moi dans mon cercueil, Louis, Louis...]
Page 6
[Stay down chéri, I don't want to fight like this. I'll stay. I'll stay, I'll never leave you ever again. I promise. I'll be happy. For you. For her. Please please please please]
Some things were flipped over to show the truth. Others, I learned to see differently. I faced my wrongs.
[I'll be anything please please please please please please. I didn't know it was a gift. I wore it like a curse. I was selfish. I wanted you to suffer. Because I was. Suffering. I came to thank you.]
Page 7
Do we love each other still? Yes. Can we live under the same roof, share the same spaces, the same bed, for an extended period of time, again? No. But this raging, all devouring passion, it is now replaced by something that can never be altered. Is this the price we had to pay to finally be equals?
Page 8
We have never been more understanding of each other. A shadow of something that could have been from the start. Friendly jokes. Bickering I will never admit enjoying. Respect. And then, the always surprising softness. So eerie after all that happened. Yet, we always welcome it.
Page 9
Daniel : [How dramatic. Not ready to live together again, yet he's all over your coffee table.]
Louis: [I didn't buy these.]
Daniel : [Sure. Will you let me know the next time he passes by?]
Louis : [Well I can't. This is his safe place. You will have to find him by yourself I'm afraid.]
Daniel : [Of course. He can't make anything easy. As if he didn't have enough safe places with his ten properties.]
Page 10
Louis: [Nice chat. Bye, Daniel.]
Lestat : [Only when I'm not on Tour, hm?]
Louis [Approximately.]
Lestat : [Thanks.]
Louis : [Did you really just say thank-]
Lestat: *kisses Louis* [...too soon?]
Page 11
Louis : Almost a century is enough waiting.
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Fact: The earliest reliably dated use of the phrase “fucked up” appears in the court records of a US Navy court-martial case from 1863; the way the phrase is used suggests that its meaning was already well known at the time, but this is the first known printed record of it that we can confidently put a date to.
Additional fact: Bram Stoker’s Dracula is set in 1897.
Conclusion: It would not anachronistic for your Dracula fanfic to have a character describe the Count as a fucked up old man.
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Danny has been reincarnated.
Which was an odd thing to realize, it wasn't even a slow one he just... snapped into it one day. One moment he was staring at a wall out of boredom the next, well, he was staring for an entirely different reason.
It was a task for his now young -he thinks around three years old?- mind to work its way through the memories, but it wasn't like he had much else to do honestly. So, what does he know?
His name is Danny, like, his actual name and not just a moniker. He was once a halfa and he already knows he's going to be missing invisibility and intangibility. He, well, died. For like, a second time which actually makes sense because reincarnation-
Anyways.
He was a clone of two people from this thing called the Justice League which, weird name but probably some government or activist group. Wonder Woman and Superman. Which were pretty weird names to name your kids but eh.
He doesn't really remember much besides that from this life, or the one from before but he's an adult! He'll figure things out once he gets out of this containment tube thing.
Did he mention he was in a test tube? He's a tube baby now. He thinks? Or maybe it's more like he's being contained.
Whatever.
So he breaks out. Thank you apparent superstrength that he has no idea why he has but he's not going to complain! He then wandered around all of the other test tubes, able to remember just enough of English to see that yea, they're dead.
He probably was too, before he had memories zapped into him. Or a vegetable.
He then finds this really big container, checks it out, then opens it because the clone inside isn't dead!
'Project Match' it said. He'll just call him Match.
Was he thanked for helping him? Nope. You would think that he would be thanked or at least somewhat respected for saving this guy but nope!
He was, quite literally, held up by his leg and dangled in the air. Who dangles a three-year-old?! Well, he was technically and adult but still! The next few things were a blur but after pulling off the old Fenton charm he found him and Match outside as he tried to stop him from attacking random people.
Luckily the charms and privilege of the youngest (he's assuming he's the youngest, because he's physically three) was more than enough to get through to him. Sure, the guy couldn't form words, really aggressive for literally no reason, really weird but also absolutely cool looking eyes. But he worked around the first issue by developing their own personal language from like grunts and stuff, the second he once again used his youngest privilege to boss him around and the third a pair of sunglasses easily fixed.
He just had to steer Match clear of those random S crest mark thingies. Which was a weird thing to hate but hey, he's not there to judge.
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