#Because that means its a real issue and there’s people who want to solve it

[sizzleissues]

Planned/manufactured obsolescence is bad. You shouldn’t have to go to the manufacturer to repair broken items.

My father: But that’s how they make money. *continues explaining that this is just how it is now and really what everyone should do is just not buy from those companies or not be stupid enough to be tricked into bad deals where the product bricks itself after three years, he would know, he does business and has to deal with these companies all the time and everyone has to buy licenses nowadays to use a printer. And there’s nothing we can do about companies getting away with making shitty products, that’s just the way it is and he’s perfectly happy to let it keep going that way because he cannot visualise anything else even though he lived before it was so prevalent.*

Me: Yeah, i know. But can you admit it’s bad. Your phone made prior to this trend in business still works. Now an iPhone which costs 700x times the price bricks itself after three years. That’s bad.

Him: No. How will businesses make money?

Me: MAYBE BY SELLING GOOD LONG-LASTING PRODUCTS THAT DON’T END UP IN LANDFILLS AFTER TWENTY MINUTES OF USE

[rodeodeparis]

sorry if this isn't that deep but could you clarify what you meant on your last post? i'm just not sure if you're saying these people would've fallen for zionism or if i'm misunderstanding you really badly

that is exactly what i'm saying

[justinspoliticalcorner]

ANNA BONESTEEL AND EVAN GREER at Them:

Pride Month is over. As the “LOVE IS LOVE” banners come down and companies lose the rainbow gradients from their logos, we’re faced with a painful truth: LGBTQ+ people, especially the most marginalized among us, are in the crosshairs of a queerphobic backlash that is targeting our health, our histories, and especially our youth. And things are getting worse, not better. According to NPR, half of all US states now ban gender-affirming care for people under 18. Eight states now censor LGBTQ+ issues from school curricula via “Don’t Say Gay” laws, and two more states are considering similar legislation this year. The number-one book targeted for censorship is a graphic novel memoir about gender identity.

This June, Democratic lawmakers marched in Pride parades and spoke on stages, vowing to protect our community and fight back against legislative attacks on queer youth. But some of these same lawmakers are actively pushing federal legislation that would cut LGBTQ+ youth off from resources, information, and communities that can save their lives. Currently, 38 Democratic senators support the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), a bill that is vocally opposed by many queer and trans youth, along with a coalition of human rights and LGBTQ+ groups. As a queer- and trans-led advocacy group focused on the ways technology impacts human rights, our organization, Fight for the Future, has seen bills like KOSA before: misguided internet bills that try to solve real problems, but ultimately throw marginalized people under the bus by expanding censorship and surveillance rather than addressing corporate abuses. KOSA’s most obvious predecessor is SESTA/FOSTA, a Trump-era bill that its supporters claimed would clamp down on online sex trafficking. Instead, the bill did almost nothing to accomplish its goal, and has actively harmed LGBTQ+ people and sex workers whose harm-reduction resources were decimated by the subsequent crackdown on online speech.

Like SESTA/FOSTA, some of KOSA’s supporters have positive intent. Many lawmakers and organizations support KOSA because they are concerned about real harms caused by Big Tech, like addictive design features and manipulative algorithms. But, also like SESTA/FOSTA, KOSA doesn’t touch the core issues with Big Tech’s extractive, exploitative business model. Instead, KOSA relies on a “duty of care” model that will pressure social platforms to suppress any speech the government is willing to argue makes kids “depressed” or “anxious.”

Under KOSA, platforms could be sued for recommending a potentially depression- or anxiety-inducing video to anyone under 18. We know from past experience that in order to protect their bottom line, social media companies will overcompensate and actively suppress posts and groups about gender identity, sexuality, abortion — anything they’re worried the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) could be willing to argue “harms” kids. How do you think a potential Trump administration’s FTC would use that kind of authority?

Other features of the bill stretch its censorship potential further. Despite language claiming that the bill does not require platforms to conduct “age verification,” to meaningfully comply with the law, platforms will have to know who is under 18. This means they’ll institute invasive age verification systems or age-gating, which can completely cut off access for LGBTQ+ youth who have unsupportive parents, and/or make it unsafe for queer people to access online resources anonymously. KOSA creates powerful new ways for the government to interfere with online speech. For this reason, the bill is like catnip to extreme right-wing groups like the Heritage Foundation, the coordinators of Project 2025, who have explicitly said they want to use it to target LGBTQ+ content. KOSA’s lead Republican sponsor, Marsha Blackburn, has also said in an interview she wants to use KOSA to protect minors “from the transgender.”

The Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) purports to protect children, but in reality, it’s a censorship bill that would impact LGBTQ+ youth. #StopKOSA #KOSA

[leia-doodles]

Monster high G3 rant

Watching the TV series and I’m kind of disappointed.

This will be my second watch of season 1, I’m rewatching after the current season 2 episodes.

the show feels very flat in my opinion. They’ve given the characters a lot of cool traits, but they’re used for like one episode and then never brought up, or they only use one specific trait 24/7. Like Frankie in this generation, they have the ability to electrocute, extend their body parts, and they get visions from the people they’re made out of. Specifically they get visions from this one recurring doctor/ scientist. The idea is cool, but the vision literally is there to give exposition about something conveniently. Like when they are trying to solve the puzzle of clawdeens mom, Frankie’s vision just conveniently tells them what to do and how to do it.

In that same episode, we see manny taur. A Minotaur character. And right away we are just told that he’s good at puzzle solving, and so is draculaura! They’re rivals! But this is the first time I’ve ever seen or heard about draculaura being into puzzles, let alone her one sided rivalry with manny. And as the episode ends, she’s like “well you can be the rightful puzzle master” but it feels so flat. There has been no build up to this moment.

Another example is lagoona. In her designated episode, she is rooting for torelai to win the fear-leading captain over draculaura (another thing that has no build up as to why it’s important to her) lagoona explains that torelai is holding a secret over her head, and if it gets out she will lose her status as the fiercest monster in school. But this is the first time we have heard this!! In previous episodes there’s no mention of her being scary or fierce. Or even her super fast swimming skills. It’s just brought up and glosses over with a “be who you are, it’s okay to like what you want! We all have secrets 🥹” but there’s no real character development.

My last example will be the way draculaura is presented in this series. From what she tells us, she has high standards to live up to as a vampire. She needs to look good for her day so she studies endlessly and is striving for perfection. But she also has a love for witchcraft, which is banned in monster high due to its connections to humans. This can be a cute premise, but they NEVER show draculaura compared to any other vampire to show how she’s supposed to act. They never give us episodes where she blows off her friend’s shenanigans because it makes her look bad, and they never really show her dad being so overbearing. They don’t show us WHY humans are hated. And even though witchcraft is banned, whenever anyone finds out about it they’re just cool with it? No push back or anything. The only character to challenge draculaura was torelai.

This all may be very nitpicky, but MH is a character driven franchise. Character relationships with each other and their surroundings are very important to me. I want to feel the so called pressure these characters are being put under. It doesn’t have to be ultra serious 24/7, but issues get resolved within one episode and then rehashed a few episodes later with no further development. Especially with characters like Cleo and lagoona. They have been benched as side characters in this show, and side characters get much worse treatment.

‘The general episode progression is like this - introduce an issue, introduce a high stakes situation that involves the school, have all or one of the main 3 engage in a sequence of fights against this issue(or rapid solving of said issue through convince) - issue is resolved and lesson is told to viewers-characters reset for the next episode.

I know this is a children’s show, but that doesn’t mean it needs to have bad writing, not all kids are high off cocomelon. Kids deserve good writing in their media!

My next rant will be about clawdeen and her story this generation

[qqueenofhades]

https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2024/02/white-house-israel-gaza-palestinian-state/677554/

i think this is a pretty decent article in general, but this is a passage i particularly want to highlight:

"The U.S. can’t force Israel to do anything it regards as anathema to its interests. All Washington can do is lay down its own markers, including open recognition of a Palestinian state and a clear warning to Israel that its rejectionism will do significant damage to bilateral relations. The bear hug of support that Biden has provided for Israel over Gaza, at times with no international backing, cannot be gratis. The U.S. has a right, indeed a responsibility, to demand Israeli cooperation on this indispensable priority. Failing that, Washington will have to reevaluate the merits of America’s special relationship with Israel.

That is unlikely to happen before the U.S. election. But Biden might be more willing to apply the full weight of American influence on Israel if he wins a second term. Historically, second-term presidents—freed from the domestic political constraints of seeking reelection—tend to take on such issues with more determination. And if Biden really believes that U.S. interests—and ultimately Israel’s future—rest on the creation of a Palestinian state and normalization with Saudi Arabia, he could act decisively."

like i can't see any scenario where Biden's re-election would make the current situation worse! idk why it's so hard for some people to get!

I mean... yeah. I literally said the other day that Biden would be much more likely to go MORE left in a second term, because he's always gone more left when he's been pushed before, he wouldn't have to face the general electorate again, and because he's already in such a precarious position right before the election (which again, NETANYAHU KNOWS and is using to his advantage in attempting to get Trump back in). There's also the fact that literally nothing, no cause whatsoever for anyone anywhere, would be helped by Trump being elected instead. But that's apparently "baseless fearmongering" for Online Leftists who resent it when reality intrudes on their glorious revolution fantasies and/or anyone points out the basic real-world consequences of their rhetoric, so...

We've already seen that Biden can be successfully pressured, in four short months, to make drastic changes to decades of long-standing US/Israeli policy. There's no reason except sheer brainrot and terminally online idiocy to think that re-electing him will make the current situation worse (and on the other hand, as noted, many reasons to think that now he will be able to act more forcefully and without the worries of being sabotaged in an election year). Yet for the Schrodinger's Imperialists who think all Western and American influence is Always Bad, but Acktually Good when it relies on being used as magical thinking to instantly solve major global/geopolitical crises with literal millennia of roots and sources, this is just really hard, I guess. GENOCIDE JOE. There, that's easier.

[mamamittens]

Fun little headcanons before bed that I've had on my mind for a while.

How would (X) handle you not being able to look/talk to them because you think they're too pretty?

(it's me, I can't look and talk to people I think are really pretty. Don't look at me with your pretty eyes damnit 😭)

Marco

Now, quite reasonably, Marco is going to assume you're just intimidated (and he's not... Wrong???) And give you space. This is assuming you're on the same ship and prone to running into each other otherwise he wouldn't need to think about it much at all.

This does get troublesome when time doesn't fix the issue. Unless he's your direct commander it just gets... Frustrating. Sure you're not together all the time but he gets a bit tired of being treated like he has the plague. Eventually, he's going to confront you about hating him.

Only to be baffled by how you're studiously avoiding eye contact. And you're blushing madly. And can't seem to string together sentences.

Oh.

Now, he gets a little mean. Screw him. He thought you hated his guts for the longest time. He milks it a little, just enough to see you sweat that he's definitely onto you. But if it approaches real anxiety or fear he takes a step back and handles it differently. He doesn't want you to be uncomfortable after all.

Ends up having a small but genuine conversation with your backs to each other.

Afterwards, he's preening to himself.

You really thought he was so damn pretty you couldn't talk to him.

Luckily, he thinks you're pretty cute too.

Ace

Immediately assumes you hate him totally and completely. So much so that it takes some time for people to figure out who's avoiding whom. And it takes even longer for someone to convince Ace that there's something going on. But once that idea is planted in his head he's going to worry over it. Constantly. It will literally haunt him.

He needs answers.

He's going in a tad aggressive, demanding answers so he can make peace with the obvious truth that you hate him. Getting pissed off that you won't look at him--clearly you're disgusted by him. Fuck, can't you at least have the balls to say it to his face??? What's he gotta do to get you to admit how much you hate him?

Then he sees how hard your blushing, face hot as you hide behind your hands. And he assumes that he's effectively been bullying you and maybe you don't hate him but clearly you're terrified of him (so close yet so far...)

So now he's apologizing, getting all worked up himself because now you definitely have to hate him! He's just going to... Go now. Sorry...

It's only when his back is turned that you can string together a response to explain that he's too pretty to handle.

It's a solid two minutes before he can think again, he's so fucking thrown by your explanation. Turning on instinct before remembering the problem so he hides his face in his hat, which is great cause his face is bright enough to function as a lighthouse.

Face now hidden behind a hat he gets to the bottom of it. He's... Absolutely baffled and almost doesn't believe you but the sheer awkwardness is convincing enough on its own.

Now he's got a new problem.

How does he get you used to his face so he can see your cute face himself whenever he wants?

Thatch

Immediately he wants to solve the issue. He may not know what it is but he certainly isn't a shrinking violet! It's actually kind of impressive how persistent he is given your determination to not be confronted with him in person. He constantly laments that he can't hold a conversation with you now matter how hard he tries! That you always end up running from him--he's not that rough looking is he? Is it the hair? Please don't be the hair he might actually cry

Finally, after turning in some favors, he essentially corners you. Turning up the charm (oh sweet summer child that is not helping) to talk through this little issue between you. But! You're not looking at him! How will you know he's being sincere if you can't see his face?!?

And hey... You're looking kinda flushed you good? Are you sick?

He goes in to coddle you a little and is startled at the dying sound that slips out, your hand immediately covering your face in sheer embarrassment.

Oh... Oh?!? OH?!?!

He wastes no time preening to himself, instantly figuring it out while asking if there's anything he can do to make it easier to talk (batting his eyes like a nerd). You're so damn cute he pulls you in for a hug while laughing a bit.

All those plans for nothing! You didn't hate him not were you scared of him (sorta).

Looks like he's gotta make new plans so he can see more of your cute reactions for himself.

Now imma pass out for work in... 5 hours lol, no wonder I sleep for 17 hours on the weekend, yikes 😬

[the-bramble--patch]

I’ve been seeing a few posts on minimalism going around, one being @bisquitt’s post on sustainability and minimalism—how the two terms shouldn’t be conflated, and how real sustainability is about anti-capitalism in the forms of reuse, repair, and community interdependence. Another is @allstrangeandwonderful’s post on how Minimalism is an aesthetic based around coping in the "corporate hellscape" we live in—contemporary designers gravitate towards neutral colors as a respite from the warlike corporate use of color to catch the attention of a consumer (See Mina Le's video on this concept also. She offers up a few possible reasons for this trend towards "greige" interiors, one being the inundation from advertising we experience in our everyday lives).

I wanted to talk about these concepts and tie in some other things I’ve been seeing around.

Imo, minimalism is anti-consumerist, but not anti-capitalist. The lifestyle and aesthetic is intended to address the systemic problem of living in a consumerist society on an individual level. Instead of ending the capitalist system that thrusts consumerism on us all, it suggests that minimalists create a safe space away from consumerism. It is not interested in changing the system, only the individual. What really drove this home for me was watching The Financial Diet on YouTube interview The Minimalists, the guys who kicked off the trend. She keeps trying to ask them about the underlying issues Minimalism acts as a band-aid for, and they keep dodging her questions.

The lifestyle choices bisquitt offers up as sustainable are typically lumped under the umbrella of Solarpunk: “fixing shit around your house. thrifting. patching clothes and handing them down. a community garden. potluck dinner parties. farmer’s markets. a barter system among friends and neighbors. kindness. love among community members.“ These things do not conform to the minimalist aesthetic tenets of order, function, and simplicity. They are often vibrant, mismatched, and chaotic, messy even (see my post on solarpunk aesthetics here). This is because solarpunk aims to solve the same issues minimalism does, but on a societal level. Solarpunk is working towards a utopian future of degrowth, where the forces that Minimalism is in opposition to will no longer exist. This allows for everyday people to reclaim vibrancy from corporations. That busyness is only desirable in a world where capitalism isn't such a burden. Solarpunk advocates for simplicity in all but design, instead of the other way around.

Another thing is the separation between meaning and function present in Minimalism. Minimalism is often associated with deriving pleasure from experiences, not things. The physical space is deprioritized (I know the movement is about changing the physical space, but the idea is that the physical space just makes your life more efficient) for a kind of zen outlook about mind over matter. Solarpunk is much more holistic in its recognition that inner peace comes from a play between the external and internal worlds—from connection and respect for people, things, and resources. Instead of removing meaning and beauty from a space to prioritize the mind, Solarpunk instills it, to elicit interaction with the world instead of a retreat from it. Thus, Solarpunk rolls meaning and function into one: a visibly mended shirt is both functional (the hole is gone), and meaningful (it says much more about the politics of the wearer than one mended invisibly). Another example is the bottle walls commonly used in Earthships: Making the bottles visible is beautiful, and it communicates that the builder is interested in using sustainable material.

In short, minimalism is individualist while Solarpunk is collectivist, and the aesthetics of each reflect that. Retreating from a broken society will not fix said society. Sustainability needs to be solved on a societal level, so minimalism as a solution to overconsumption just isn't gonna cut it.

[mayabishopgold]

If you haven’t gotten/done it and are interested in doing it, I’d love to know your top 5 favorite Marina moments and why 😊

Thank you for the ask!!! I had not gotten it! This one is a bit more difficult because it keeps changing tbh. But also, I am an angst freak so I'm sure there are moments that are VERY different from other people's lists.

5x17: "Your left eye is bluer than the right one" This is probably everyone's favorite comfort scene. I remember being obsessed with it, especially the music, for months after it aired. The chemistry, tenderness, intimacy between Maya and Carina here are unmatched. Honestly, it's the only scene I remember from that episode. It gives us a peek into their home life—Maya usually comes home and wakes Carina up like that, and Carina sleeps on Maya's side of the bed when she's not there.It's in scenes like this, where they feel so real as a couple. Marina at its finest.

4x14: "Maybe we hardly know each other. Maybe we should just take a break." I love how they fight. My top 5 could easily just be them fighting. This one has so many beats: Maya proposes they get married to solve the visa issue, Carina refuses, saying it's just bureaucracy. For Maya, it's not just paperwork – she thinks they're incredibly lucky to have found each other. Carina feels they're already married and doesn't need a piece of paper to prove it. They go back and forth, throw a few more things in each other's faces, and Maya royally screws up by mentioning Gabriella. leading to the infamous, "Do you still want me to take you to the airport?". Pure gold.

4x07: "I did all the things/Thank you, no one's ever done that for me" Meaning no one has ever taken care of me, no one has ever loved me like this. That whole episode is incredible and I know there are other flashier scenes, but this little moment? It spoke volumes about how deep Maya's love runs. And Carina got it—she knew exactly what it meant. That storyline made it clear they were destined to be endgame.

3x08: "I am the truck." This is the first time Carina gets a glimpse of what’s behind the walls Maya has built around her heart. I love how her whole demeanor changes instantly when she sees Maya breaking down and goes straight into comfort mode. A lot of people, myself included, headcanon this as the moment Carina starts falling in love with Maya. And we are right.

6x09: "I know I made mistakes and I know I scared you. I'm sorry. I love you." Carina, who had moved out 2 episodes prior, comes back to their apartment using a pretty lame excuse (shampoo?), clearly just wanting to check on Maya. She’s worried and needs to see how her wife is holding up. The tension is palpable, and the music? Perfection. The scene is a mix of angst and hope, showing the very delicate process of healing and reconnecting they are immersed in. My favorite S6 Marina scene.

[olderthannetfic]

Part of the issue with the idea that we need to separate out sex and romance designations on AO3 is that I feel like with most shippy fanfic I've read, there's some degree of both happening. And there are also a lot of fanfic where the degree of it is ambiguous. Like, they're having sex but it's up to the reader, or merely implied, or a spoiler etc. to what degree there are romantic feelings as well.

Also, part of why they're conflated in fanfiction and by larger society is because that is.... also how real-world relationships often work for people who experience both sexual and romantic attraction. Romantic attraction is often a thing that grows over time to someone you were initially sexually attracted to, and you're not always certain to what degree you're more motivated by one or the other in a particular moment necessarily. They're often mixed together for a lot of people. Like it sucks if that's alienating to people who only experience the one type of attraction or the other, but I think it make sense for romantic fiction to reflect how a lot of real people experience romance IRL.

Also it's.... a problem that is just SO easy to address by adding more tags. I've both written sexual fic where there was no romantic feelings between the pair, and romantic fic where there was no sex, and it's super easy to just.... indicate that in the other tags. (I mean the rating often makes the latter pretty clear all on its own.)

But if we created separate tags for sexual and romantic relationships, that would create a whole bunch of new problems, starting with that most ship fics would probably feel the need to use both, people would be unsure if the sexual one counts just for if they actually have sex or also for sexual attraction even if it's not explicit (or what if it's "sexual attraction" but they just want to kiss rather than fuck for XYZ reasons), and even if it's clarified as the latter you will have people think that any fic that uses the "sexual relationship" tag must automatically be M or E.... it would be a mess, and not actually solving a problem because most people can make it clear enough which one it is by using additional tags anyway. If it ain't broke....

Like I'm already annoyed when people don't understand / vs. & and tag something & that is really / or vice versa, or feel the need to tag both even though it's clearly / just because "they are also friends" or because it's a slow-burn. Can you IMAGINE how many more of those problems we'd have if sex and romance had separate tags?????

--

The main reason that anon is so pissed is that the vast majority of people don't agree with them, do not care about their argument, and will never care no matter how much they explain.

AO3 being in line with the status quo of the entire world is just more salt in the wound.

[wine-dark-soup]

Re: what in the seven hells are the elementals

The nature of the elementals has been the source of GREAT confusion and, in my opinion, it always felt like the writers tiptoed around it because the twelveswood went through great changes after 1.0 to try and correct gameplay and lore issues... which they succeeded to do... although... partly.

The elementals went from terribly potent entities who could curse you with the greenwrath (meaning. death. plain and simple) to mostly passive entities that lost their power and can only voice their discontentment.

So like, seems quite simple, right? powerful thing lost its power. but if it stopped there i wouldn't be writing that post. the elementals were feared as much as they were respected, and since they became passive forces... this fear... remained. you must not anger the elementals. not just listen to their counsel through the conjurers and padjal. you must not anger them. but then: why don't gridanians take action? i mean, technically, they do, there are plenty of quests done in the name of the elementals. but if the elementals call to you to kill invasive beasts, why don't they do just that to solve the rampant injustice - racism, inequalities, etc - existing in the twelveswood? surely injustice means the balance of the forest (which they are the wardens of) is disrupted? surely the elementals should be mad?

and so players were left with this for uuuuh a solid decade with no real explanation as to why things were that way. the elementals were mentioned here and there as happy or sad or angry, depending on your actions. and you know, that's fine. nice fantasy tool and all. AND THEN.

Nophica tells you, in the quest The Heart of the Myth:

"Tell me, have you ever met an elemental? Many hold that they were born of me, and as I mentioned, they are the voice of those who abide in the Twelveswood. At times, they may seem excessive in their actions, but it is out of an abundance of love. So pray be good to them, and heed their warnings!"

THEY ARE THE VOICE OF THOSE WHO ABIDE IN THE TWELVESWOOD.

I REPEAT: THEY ARE THE VOICE OF THOSE WHO ABIDE IN THE TWELVESWOOD.

The natural-considered-divine entities and the common people were ONE AND THE SAME ALL ALONG. It's like the writers finally gave closure to that plothole in a single sentence.

It makes perfect sense: the elementals from 1.0 were dangerous creatures because the world was full of madness and on the brink of destruction (and also gridanians were more hostile to the outside world, which is why the elementals didn't welcome strangers and cursed them with the greenwrath).

The elementals from 2.0 onwards are thus less powerful because the will of the people got broken after the calamity, and, as the plot goes on, you can interpret their silence as a sign peace is coming back to the world. or their massive fear as a sign a threat is looming.

This is great! I love that! Just like the Endwalker tank rolequests have stressed, balance in the black shroud is actually actively maintained by mutual concord between its inhabitants. So retroactively, this is why people were finally allowed to dwell in the woods and leave their caves: the elementals - the people themselves - were ready to work together to make this place their home.

That makes the elementals mini-primals, sort of, i guess.

OK, it's all well and good, BUT IT DOES RAISE MORE QUESTIONS.

number 1 being: what are padjal exactly then?

i'll make a tentative answer: it's established that the will and faith of the people can alter the appearance and very nature of things. so if the first dwellers of the twelveswood decided - albeit unconsciously - they needed people to decipher their own will, they manifested them. babies were born with distinctive signs (horns and long lives) and powers (the ability to listen to the elementals).

that implies one can't always listen or understand their own desires, wants, or fear, and needs an interpret. which is great imo. i sure don't know what i'm doing a lot of the time. the padjal thus became the living symbol of the forest's balance - and you turn to them if said balance is disrupted. And if they are balance itself, it stands to reason the elementals would grant them and only them the power to wield white magic.

of course, that also implies padjal are just vessels, just like ysayle was to shiva, for example. and we know how bad that was for one's humanity and sense of self. there could be a whole thing about that and how damaging it is or how, conversely, it could be a sign of concord, but we have to content ourselves with the guardian tree speaking through kan-e-senna turned oracle as a symbol of union.

number 2: SPEAKING OF, what is the guardian tree then?

I have no real answer for this one. It's made of aether and it's very ancient; it may be the Ultimate elemental. The will of the forest and its people made visible.

(there could be questions about why the elementals were seemingly made of aether if they are mostly manifestations of dynamis, but after all, primals are born of a mix of aether concentration AND prayers - dynamis - so if we accept they're a sort of primals, here is that. but why are their aether differently aspected? because people can, too, shape their aether so it bends towards a particular element?)

number 3: OKAY. BUT THEN, IF THE ELEMENTALS ARE THE PEOPLE ARE THE ELEMENTALS, WHY DON'T THEY STILL SOLVE ALL THEIR PROBLEMS? WHY DON'T THE SEEDSEERS ACT? HEH?

yeah. yeah. that's still strange. but i think it boils down to what i said earlier: the will of the people may not necessarily lead to good things - e.g racism creates the need to go through a ritual to prove the elementals you're worthy of living in the forest. and the people don't necessarily know how to interpret what they feel and see. and the summoning of primals didn't solve the problems the beast tribes faced.

In short the elementals are a symbol of balance but themselves - the people - disagree about the way to reach balance. this shows the limits of the padjal's role. they still have to serve everyone... but everyone disagrees on what makes them happy... but the padjal see the balance (or hear it, i guess) in their mind and know they can't let it tip one way or the other...

i suppose this is why we mostly see individual actions in the game: we have to treat one problem of the woods at a time. the closest we get to a real manifestation of balance is again at the end of the EW tank rolequests. everyone agrees to work in unison and recognizes kan-e-senna's efforts, even if they're not enough. so now the forest is more peaceful, though not completely, but if everyone works towards achieving a longlasting peace, the elementals are pleased, because that peace is what the people wants.

one can imagine they're now working on solving their systemic racism and class issues... but ok, that last part is wishful thinking. the way they treated this was clearly a bad writing problem that they never recovered from. they could, if they wanted, we KNOW how good the writing team is now, but i think they're off to new horizons and have been for at least five years. the "the elementals are the voice of those who abide in the twelveswood" was intended, in my opinion, to give us some answers before moving to the game's next arc for good.

unless one day they come back to developing the city states (and gridania most of all, maybe through the void plotline?) again but who knows.

[free-my-boy-grumbot]

what are the religious themes and parallels of ASOUE part thirteen?

I’m so glad you asked! and completely unprompted, too :)

okay so you know that karl marx quote “religion is the opium of the people”? and how that means that religion allows its followers to turn a blind eye to societal problems and to ease people’s concerns about their life? yeah well lemony snicket did that literally. the island in The End is a result of Ishmael realising that he had lost control of VFD. originally, he wanted to create a peaceful society of noble, well-read people — this led him to enforce a black-and-white view of morality onto its members. obviously, there were people who criticised this, but believe it or not ishmael is not an open minded man. once again, he believes that there is an objective view of morality, and those questioning it are inherently evil. so, he convinced the volunteers that those people were dangerous, which led to a schism, which led to. well you know. anyways that was a gross oversimplification because that’s not what i’m talking about! what i was going to say was that he took some people affected by the schism — people who were also seeking an escape from the horrors that VFD had put them through — and he created a civilisation for them on an island. the only source of drinkable water on this island was cordial contaminated with opioids, and he knew this. in fact, he actively stopped newcomers from creating a water filtrations system. he then did everything in his power to make the inhabitants forget their old lives. he convinced them they’d ended up here by shipwreck, he made them bring him anything that washed up to determine if it was “safe”, he stored any reminders of the past on the other side of the island and banned the inhabitants from going there.

“nothing wrong with a little opium for the people!!” SIR. SIR THERE IS. Ishmael believes that peace should be achieved through any means necessary. therefore, if a problem has become too difficult to solve, he is all for simply pretending it doesn’t exist. This is why he gives the opiates to the islanders. He believes that maintaining a peaceful VFD has grown too complicated, and that the only way a peaceful society can exist is if its members unquestionably accept his rule. He not only believes morality to be black and white, but enforces this belief onto the volunteers, teaching them that following his authority is inherently “good”, and those who oppose or even question it are inherently evil. Since he couldn’t run a society like this in the “real world” — he would always have opposition, which would always mean conflict — he simply created his own, smaller world, where the civilians were too high off their balls to think critically about his leadership. After that, he only had to seem benevolent on the surface because they would all be too comfortable to dig deeper.

Now, black-and-white ethics, dictation of peace, dismissal of societal issues, and lack of scrutiny towards authority are all classic criticisms of religion, and you could definitely draw some parallels between Ishmael’s style of leadership and organised religion. This has all been quite generic antitheism so far. BUT THAT’S NOT ALL!!!

There is an apple tree on the “bad” side of the island. the tree is hollow. there is a library inside, containing any books which may remind the islanders of their past life. these mostly include books from the volunteers and firestarters, the “good” and “bad” sides of the schism. one might say it’s a sort of. a s. a sort of tree of knowledge of good and evil, if you will.

And then later in the book, klaus and violet, a man and a woman, are given an apple from that tree by a snake. classic daniel handler subtlety <3 so ofc this represents genesis, but here is where we get Wierd With It.

The apple saves the baudelaires. They were poisoned with the medusoid mycelium, and the apple immunised them. in fact, the apple is not presented in a negative light in the slightest. this has VERY interesting implications in my opinion and it makes me think that daniel handler is saying, in the bible, eve was also never wrong for eating the fruit! we would be nowhere without the knowledge of sin and death and suffering, there would be no art without it, nor would there be appreciation for the good (ok this part might be me)! eve was in the right, and so was the snake!! which is also incredibly fitting because everyone thinks that the incredibly deadly viper is evil but it actually wouldn’t hurt a fly (we know because monty tried to feed it flies :))

“ohhh ur overthinking it” yes on purpose overthinking this series is my number one hobby. anyways i just thought daniel handler was making an interesting point here :33 anyways i will add more stuff if i think of it

[cryptovalid]

The politics of Operation Zero Tolerance

If you've followed X-men '97, you know that's it's more than competently executed nostalgia-bait. It's a deconstruction of the original ideological framework of the X-men. I'll be riffing off of the way that Operation Zero Tolerance mirrors real world alt-right ideology and where the show might lead this theme. Spoilers ahead up to episode 8. It's a long one.

So the reflections of the January 6th insurrection, Great Replacement conspiracy and stochastic terrorism are pretty spot on. But what do the Prime candidates actually believe?

Mutants are constantly referred to as 'the next step in human evolution'. This frightens some non-mutants, who see themselves being replaced. Their solution is to subjugate mutants.

I want to focus on some of the ways this doesn't make sense first.

1. Evolution doesn't have well defined 'next steps': every new generation is slightly different from the previous, so that over time new traits will emerge and become common, and others will become less widespread. In the comics, this is not why mutants exist: the are the result of alien tampering with human dna: the Celestials implanted the X-gene in some humans. So 'mutants' are demonstrably just a strain of humanity, and the main reason humans have mutant babies is that their own genes are getting expressed in a new way.

2. No amount of control or violence can stop this. The rate at which mutants appear isn't even dependent on their own reproductive success since most mutants have human parents.

We don't know why more and more mutants are being born now, but OZT will not stop this. It's not even their goal. When they say human being are being 'replaced', they actually mean replaced as the ruling class of the planet. Bastion's 'utopia' doesn't have less mutants being born, just used as slave labor.

This really puts the anxiety of OZT into focus: they want to maintain privilege. They aren't really being 'replaced', any more than older generations are always 'replaced' by younger generations. They are primarily afraid that mutants will render them obsolete in the labor market. But if mutants can be forced to do unpaid labor for their benefit, that doesn't threaten them.

The way this parallels the rhetoric of the alt right is striking. Obviously, the reasons why jobs are moving overseas are different: colonized populations are more exploitable by capital. But the fears are the same: my children are different from me, and if I'm not valued for my labor, I will become poor. Like OZT, the alt right also chooses to enact violence even though it won't solve either of these issues. the MAGA-crowd threatens non-conformity and asserts its dominance to maintain its relative privilege over other groups. This is why it's all culture war stuff. The alt right isn't interested in striking to improve conditions for workers, it will attack immigrants and minorities they perceive as competition. Never the bosses that make the hiring decisions. It's scapegoating.

Even child and slave labor are on the table. Because again, this 'economic anxiety' isn't triggered by other people doing the work, just by other people getting money, care and respect that they feel they are owed.

It's not the solution that matters to OZT or the alt right: it's the catharsis of violence and control. It's interesting that OZT actually has a better point: mutants are inherently better at some jobs, some mutants ARE inherently dangerous. Their anxiety is way more warranted.

And I think that is what makes OZT hit so hard as an allegory: it is a steel man version of every bigot's rhetoric, and it is horrifying.

Where might the show take this theme? I don't think the show will end with the X-men fighting Magneto, as that would undermine the show's thematic support for his ideals. Magneto might be defeated, but that will not be the finale. I think the institutional support for OZT will be the closing statement.

The events of episode 8 will be blamed on the X-men. There's just too many ways that a sleeper that Wolverine cut to ribbons can be spun and Bastion has stated multiple times that he understands the optics of martyring mutants. In my opinion this explains how the primes failed to kill a single X-man, even though Trask could take down the whole team.

This twist will (I think) be used to set up the Avengers as the final threat: the X-men try to reason with Magneto, the Avengers attack him, and maybe Xavier erases Magneto's memory as a prelude to Onslaught.

Onslaught can then lead into Heroes Reborn; when Onslaught threatens to kill the Avengers and Fantastic Four, Franklin Richards creates a parallel universe, where they live out their lives in blissfull ignorance of mutants. I believe this could explain why the MCU does not have mutants: it's the Heroes Reborn Universe (The FF could live in a separate universe).

So how to put a button on OZT? I don't think that they will end as a political force (these ideas will remain relevant in the fiction as in the real world). I think the show will obviously set up a fight with Bastion, but the ideological refutation will have to come from Mrs. Da Costa. She is the poster child of an apathetic liberal, who will only support mutants in fashionable ways. If she ends the series giving up her social status to save her son, perhaps even dying, it will thematically reinforce the need for allies to be traitors of their own privilege.

This ties in with my final speculation. This is a weird one and a reach. We have not seen Roberto Da Costa's father. We also don't know where Bastion's father is (who is essentially Nimrod). Is it possible that they are half-brothers? Emmanuel Da Costa is a prominent anti-mutant member of the Hellfire Club, and it's strange he hasn't shown up yet. Honestly, this could possibly explain why Roberto is so light-skinned. Which I do not want to make excuses for otherwise.

[picturejasper20]

Watched Disney Wish Spoilers below

First i want to start with saying that King Magnifico is probably the highlight of the movie. His characterization is interesting and different from other recent disney villains. He has an arc and his own motivations that are linked to his development in the movie.

One thing that is interesting is that he starts sort of a good guy that wants to help people to grant their wishes and wants what he believes is the best for his kingdom. This comes from how in his past he lost everything so he wants to others to live well.

But, he is also terribly afraid of losing everything like it happened to him when he was young. As the story progresses he becomes more and more paranoid until he lets himself be corrupted by black (?) magic in attemps to push down everyone who questions him.

And that's great! That's a cool villain arc- a corruption arc- which i feel it is quite rare to see lately. It's a nice way to show how people with good intentions can lose sight of their initial goals over time.

Now when it comes to Asha... she isn't an unlikeable character but at the same time it feels like she lacks real flaws in the movie. As someone else who watched the movie told me ¨her motivations aren't much different if any other character from the town was put in her place¨. Because, yeah, it feels like there isn't much else to her besides that ¨she cares about her people¨ and ¨she wants the wishes to be given back to their owners¨.

She never has to exactly overcome some flaw of hers in the story aside from not knowing Magnifico wasn't looking for the best interests of the people... which is solved three minutes after she learns about it.

I mean, this has been a problem with other Disney female leads in the last years. The main difference, however, is that they had some form of arc in their respective movies.

Moving on to other characters, they didn't feel that interesting nor memorable. Again, i don't hate them but i didn't care much about them either watching the film. I feel the ones outside King Magnifico i did like were the queen a bit and the star character, they were sort of cute.

On last point in terms of characters, Valentino didn't add anything to the movie. He didn't have some purpose nor added in moving the plot forward. I think the film could worked the same if he wasn't there.

Now to narrative and themes. I got to say that it is all over the place. While the message is there, it feels like the movie doesn't dive too much about it leaving you were more questions than answers. For example, there is one part one of Asha's friends questions why they can't just ask King Magnifico to give their wishes back- something that is never exactly given a proper answer.

The pacing is chaotic as well. The first 30 minutes the film jumped from one plot point to the other, having like 3-4 songs in only one third of the movie. King Magnifico and Asha are seen getting along together in one minute and in the next minute they get into an argument and Magnifico decides to consider her now her enemy. It's like the movie doesn't allow time to let you digest what you are watching because it is already jumping to another important thing.

On the ¨everyone is made of stars¨ thing, i found it weird and i didn't fully get what they were trying to say with it. I guess it has to do with one having control of its own destiny? I don't know.

I would say that the biggest offense of Wish is how King Magnifico gets defeated... the characters sing a song and supposedly summon their star power and with that alone they defeat the villain. It almost feels like deux ex machima and dissapointing. There were other ways they could have made the same thing work with a better execution.

A lot of the movie feels like there were some productions issues when making it. It feels like there are scenes that are missing and things that were going to be explored in deeper detail that got cut out.

In all, i wouldn't say that i hate this movie... the thing is that it has plenty of issues. Things that should have been better polished and given more detail. There are some interesting things in here, the problem is that more often than not they don't reach its full potential. I would say that Wish is worth of watching for King Magnifico but everything else is forgettable.

[ivygrowsc]

America Ferrera's breakthrough career

I just want to point out that this woman has delivered 2 cinematic, historical, browsing, impeccable speeches about the frustrations I feel about being a woman. And that actress of course is the one and only America Ferrera herself. Let's talk about her debut role in the movie — Real Women Have Curves. The 2002 independent film based on the play by Josefina Lopez is one of my all-time favourite movies I have watched in my lifetime. And if you somehow know this movie through another suspicious Greta Gerwig connection, I implore you to watch this. The movie was directed by Patricia Cardoso. At the time when it was released, America Ferrera had already filmed another movie but this movie debuted first putting her on the map. She was only 17 years old! Josefina López wrote the play when she was 18 years old. In 2019 it was the first Latina directed film to be included in the National Film Registry at the library of Congress. Taking inspiration from her real life, Josefina wrote Real Women Have Curves about Ana, mostly centered on her relationship with her mother Carmen, played by Lupe Ontiveros. This movie is touted, not only for its representation of women in their real bodies, it also delivered a warm and loving portrayal of Latina families and neighborhoods in Royal Heights and East Los Angeles. Again this isn't a time where Latinas, even today, are represented in a full and nuancent light. So to not only have this Latina family but to have them placed in East Los Angeles which has been criminally and stereotypically portrayed as "dangerous", really meant something and still means something today. And the message of that film being "there's so much more to me than my weight". I think this might serve as a comfort watch for many women around the world.

I don't understand how we were made to believe as children, that America Ferrera was the biggest woman to ever grace our tv screen. The Sisterhood Of The Traveling Pants is what I call perfection in cinema. If I ever will have a daughter in the future, she is required to watch this movie. Because every little girl needs to understand what sisterhood and what community is. I feel like girls today are not watching sisterhood displayed on television, or even in movies. It's always these toxic relationship, these toxic friendship — not to say that neither of those can't be toxic and bad, because even within this friend group they all have their own issues with each other, with their families etc. But it's not about the problems, it's how they solve them, how they come together. And I feel like this message should be displayed for the young girls today. And I just love how diverse the friend group is, because nowadays it seems like every teenager I see on tv are like the same skinny, white blondes. If you haven't seen this movie make sure to have a box of tissues nearby because it's going to make you cry.

The dark side of pretty privilige is, you don't get to be funny, intelligent, respected — you just get to be pretty. So I've just finished watching Ugly Betty, I fully recommend, and I realised the only female character who's actually respected within this show, is Betty. If you don't already know the concept, Betty gets hired to be the assistant to the chief. Because he sleeps with his assistants, they decide to get him an "ugly" girl so he won't sleep with her. But she's hired for Mode, which is kind of like Vogue/Cosmo type of magazine. So naturally she gets bullied. They treat her like crap because she doesn't look like the ideal Mode girl. But the crazy thing is, since none of the men want to sleep with her, they actually respect her. They start to treat her like a human being with ideas. Then she becomes one of the most liked people by anyone in their team. On top of that, all of these gorgeous women get treated like absolute crap. No one listens to them, their ideas are not heard, and they're not respected. So it leaves a very clear message: wether you are gorgeous or "ugly", misogyny will still hunt you down and it will catch you. For Betty, men don't look twice her way. They treat her bad from the moment they see her. Just because they don't want to sleep with her, they don't find her attractive. For the beautiful women in the show, like Amanda who is painted as the gorgeous blonde, men only want to sleep with her, and they don't see that she's smart. Go back to watch the show and you'll see how horribly the other women get treated compared to Betty (and they have some good cameos in this show).

As we are reaching the end, we can claim America Ferrera as "that girl". The term is, in my opinion, used for anyone who dresses like a fashionista and acts like the queen they are. But it's much more than that. I think, to achieve that title you have to be also impactful and encourage other women to be what they want to be. America really proved it by playing the Emmy Award winning role of Gloria in Barbie, directed by Greta Gerwig. I think every cis, heterosexual white male should be forced to sit down and watch this movie. The message behind the Barbie movie is about going from being a girl to being a woman. Barbieland is what our childhood felt like; we were safe, naive, independent and everything seemed perfect. The real world is what womanhood actually is. It's scary, sexist, there's pain and we're faced with so many challenges, while still being held to unrealistic expectations by society. "We mothers stand still, so our daughters can look back to see how far they've become". America Ferrera's speech about how hard it is to be a woman, really affected me and made me tear up in the theather. "It is literally impossible to be a woman. You are so beautiful, and so smart, and it kills me that you don't think you're good enough. Like, we have to always be extraordinary, but somehow we're always doing it wrong. You have to be thin, but not too thin. And you can never say you want to be thin. You have to say you want to be healthy, but also you have to be thin. You have to have money, but you can't ask for money because that's crass. You have to be a boss, but you can't be mean. You have to lead, but you can't squash other people's ideas. You're supposed to love being a mother, but don't talk about your kids all the damn time. You have to be a career woman but also always be looking out for other people. You have to answer for men's bad behavior, which is insane, but if you point that out, you're accused of complaining. You're supposed to stay pretty for men, but not so pretty that you tempt them too much or that you threaten other women because you're supposed to be a part of the sisterhood." America Ferrera the woman you are, thank you so much for helping me and other women to believe in theirselves. Happy international women's day! <3

[actuallyfalin]

I dont interpret ruan mei as evil because she’s autistic, not because autistic ppl cant be evil and terrible but because she has a very aeon-like complex that is intrinsically tied to her autism and special interest in life and aeonhood.

MORE UNDER THE CUT

Aeons are neutral about their Paths, like how Lan doesnt give a fuck about if you feel blessed by their genocide or not or how Sunday almost reached aeonhood but couldnt because he wasnt completely neutral about his stance etc.

Ruan Mei's pursuit of aeonhood is, in a way, very selfish, in the sense that she’s willing to sacrifice a lot for it but it’s also neutral in a very scientific and detached way. She’s a very detached person in general, and doesnt really allow herself attachments, so she’s okay with sacrificing things because hey, it doesnt concern her.

It’s very much tied to her autism because she has very Specific things that she cares about, and even when she cares its not in a way that’s easily understood by others.

Her actions dont come with malicious intent but because she’s so tunnel visioned on her pursuit of aeonhood, she fails to recognise that her understanding of life is very much lacking and very much, hurtful in ways that are not computed through logic and science.

Like. She knows that her creations yearn for her affection but she is unable to give it back to them because 1) shes detached shes not particularly attached to them, whatever affection she forces herself to give would be fake 2) shes also super busy. So she entrusts them to the Trailblazer because she knows that TB would have the capacity and capability to care for them the way she couldn't. However, she fails to realise that her creations wants affection from HER, as their mother and creator. She knows she's hurting them but she doesn't entirely understand the root of the issue, so her solution, though a way of her showing her care, doesn't really solve the problem.

Another example is her cloning the emanator of propagation. Her attempt at bringing back the bug wasn't because she wanted to destroy the world but to test the limits of her understanding of life, destroying the world was simply a consequence that she didnt care about. That sounds bad, but it doesn't mean that she wanted to destroy the world, she just didn't care if getting results meant sacrificing everything else. However, she also knew it would have been a disaster, so she set a self destruct function AND assigned TB to take care of it. She doesn't realise that her attempt at cloning alone was extremely reckless and putting TB through it by deceiving them, even though she ultimately had "good" intentions, was hurtful at a personal level. In the process of trying to make her experiment more safe for the sake of others on the space station, she deceives TB and inevitably hurts their feelings and trust.

Ruan Mei wants to go further and further, but the part of her that has learned socialisation and does truly care about the welbeing of others, actually stops her from doing so, even if she may not necessarily realise it.

Ruan mei is someone who is not able to fully, properly CARE because she doesnt allow herself any forms of attachment, hence her apathy but she does SHOW care through her actions. However, because such care is not seen as natural, or even understandable by the vast majority, it goes under the radar. Most people don't understand her way of caring, and they don't try to. This is evident both in game and in real life by people who couldn't properly grasp her character in the quest.

Sorry that I digressed quite a bit but it ties in a lot with apathetic autistic people, and even just apathetic people in general who DO show care but it goes unnoticed and is scrutinised because it doesnt immediately come off as comprehensible and overtly caring to neurotypical people. It's common for people to think autistic behaviour is uncaring or dismissive, because they don't see us playing by their rules and don't make the effort to understand at all. Ruan Mei is a character who is extremely autistic coded, and her devotion to her research reads very much as an autistic person with a special interest. Special interests can cause the tunnel vision that Ruan Mei exhibits, and autistic people can and have neglected ourselves and others in the pursuit of our special interests. It doesn't mean that we don't care about other people anymore, we just prioritise our special interest above all else.

Ruan Mei isn't evil, shes just neutral and just doesnt have the same capacity to be emotional and attached as everyone else. The things that are important to her, aren't as important to others. The things that are natural to her, just aren't natural to others.

[redjaybird]

[SO. Almost Vincent murder mystery.

So at one point in the dream, it has been acknowledged that someone has tried attacking Vincent before, just to point out for starters. (i mean who wouldn't?)

So, like, I was at work (dunno what kind of work, i was just apparently at work)? And i got a phonecall to come home because someone has been almost murdered in front of my home (home in dream was a house we used to live in, not currently live in). so i had to go home and check this out and get people in to help with that and get VincentBryk to the hospital. (ps. he was mostly supposed to be Vincent, but there were occasional hints to bryk himself, as well, apparently. so, yeah. dream combining stuff as it do. prob helps that thats Vincent's fc.) I was actually upset by this whole deal, man. and a bit traumatized, because he was very bloody and very, i think, stabbed. a lot. he was a mess. but yeah i was upset because, like, yeah, Vincent is a giant asshole, but like, man what happens when he's gone? what then? what do i do? i had this vague connection to him that i didnt really want to lose?

but yeah, he got taken to the hospital. i went back home to try to figure out the mystery of who done it. why would someone do this? i mean i get why, but also why? in front of my home? i think i have a little hint of a friend of mine who might have done it based on something they said at one point, but i never got a chance to bring it up for some reason. discussing with others about who could possibly do this, what their motivation was, etc.

at one point the hospital had to put Vincent's insides into a blender to help figure out what the deal was??? or its supposed to help fix him somehow, idk. (and im starting to die now as i type this fksdjfksdjfs.) that was a thing.

he was a little conscious for things, didnt tell us who did it, though.

there was a little thing like someone put something on my computer that was trying to point out why he was bad. but there was no way to tell if that was a real issue or not or if it was a statement that never officially got released to let people know he did this bad thing specifically. and that was like, o this could be one of the motivations. but still dont know who.

but yeah. Almost dead Vincent. mystery never got solved.]